Raise a glass to Kim Gruenenfelder....plus a book giveaway

Introduction and interview by Tracey Meyers

One of the things I enjoy about conducting CLC interviews is when the answers I receive back from an author make me want to sit down with them, in real life, and learn more about them. Kim Gruenenfelder is one of those authors. I can just imagine us sitting down talking about her novels and the website she created (eciah.com) while having a glass (or two) of our favorite wine (as we happen to like the same kind).

In addition to being an accomplished writer in feature films, episodic teleplays and stage plays, Kim has written five novels including her latest Love the Wine You're With (reviewed here). Kim lives in Los Angeles with her husband and son. Visit her at her website, Facebook, and Twitter.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press, we have FIVE copies of Love the Wine You're With to give away!

Synopsis:
Jessie is finally about to realize her life-long goal of owning her own house, the first step to a wonderful marriage, kids, and life with her boyfriend of three years, Kevin; except after they find the perfect place, Kevin suddenly gets cold feet.

Nat is having a passionate affair with her gorgeous British boss Marc—unfortunately, he’s married. Now what?

Holly is an actress who still waits tables to pay the bills, and who is coping with the recent loss of her father. A particularly bad audition, where she snaps and tells off a big director, leads her to wonder what to do when you stop loving what you do. (And also what to do about her hot neighbor. Because, you know, hot neighbor.)

After each girl finishes a particularly awful workday, the three friends meet at their favorite wine bar, which has been sold by its owner for a huge profit and will close that night. In a moment of tipsy brazenness, Jessie suggests that the three of them open their own wine bar in the gentrifying Echo Park area of Los Angeles. An unapologetically girly place for good wine and good friends—which leads to a challenge for each woman: how do you fix a life that’s not actually broken, but needs an upgrade? (Courtesy of Amazon.)


Where does the inspiration for your stories come from?
Wow. I want to say, “I haven’t a clue”. But I guess my friends, my life, and/or subjects I haven’t seen written about that I feel need to be discussed. For example, in “Love the Wine”, one of my characters has been with a married man for awhile, and she’s in love with him. I had never written about that relationship before because, at first glance, a mistress is not a sympathetic character. But after talking to a lot of women over the years, I have discovered that many of them were with married men at some point during their dating lives. The relationships have run the gamut from a woman dating a man she found out was married and dumping him immediately to one hanging around for years in the hopes he’d leave his wife (he did not), to the husband actually leaving. And, in one case, a friend who dated a married woman who had not yet come out and told her husband. I find all of these women very sympathetic in real life, and without exception they were tormented by how they got into this mess. So I decided to write about something that was complicated and messy. I suppose I’m getting to a point in my writing where I’m trying to write about things that are messy. Life is messy. Maybe writing is my way of finding answers to the mess. Of course, it’s me, so I will always still try to find the humor in those situations.

What is the easiest and most difficult part of the writing process for you?
The easiest part is rewriting. Getting the first draft down is the hardest part because it’s crap. All of it is crap. For every author. Every time. But when you start rewriting, you at least have the scene down, and it’s now a matter of getting to rework it to say what you want to say.

Who had the greatest influence on your writing career?
I don’t think I can name just one influence. Certainly my family. My parents were both English majors and writers. My great grandfather had two novels published and was a journalist. There is a vague familial relationship with Dorothy Parker I’m fond of. And I have a slew of aunts, uncles and cousins who are paid writers of some sort or other. And we also had working actors in the family who work from the writing. So the world I grew up in was filled with books and plays and TV scripts. That was my normal. My uncle Ken is an actor, and throughout my childhood he regularly talked to me about everything from the writing of Shakespeare (which he performed on Broadway) to the script from a Wonder Woman episode he guested on in the late 1970's. It took until I had a son of my own to realize how lucky I was to be brought up in a world where art was a legitimate thing to talk about and aspire to make. Not that I think that my books will ever rival Shakespeare, but maybe they are Wonder Woman good. ☺

Do you believe in astrology and horoscopes?
The short answer is “No”. But I will admit to reading the I Ching or Tarot cards just for fun and I do feel like there are unexplained parts of the universe that we call coincidence but that one could argue is a sign. I have no idea. I’m neither super religious nor atheist, and I’m constantly still looking for answers.

My favorite type of wine is:
Champagne, Prosecco or Cava. I love the celebratory aspect of them.

You created the word “eciah” and founded/created the website eciah.com. According to the site, eciah is, "moment in your life when your future suddenly gets a lot brighter.” What is your great eciah?
The moment the pregnancy stick showed two lines. My husband and I had been trying for awhile, and I was starting to resign myself to the fact that it might not happen for us. While I am very proud of my novels, by far my son Alex is the best thing I’ve ever done. If you’d like to read the whole story, go to www.eciah.com and click on pregnancy and babies. I’m under Kim Gruenenfelder. (And please! Share a story of your own. We need more stories!)

Side note: Melissa A recently shared a story on eciah.com. 

Thanks to Kim for visiting with us and to St. Martin's Press for sharing her book with our readers.

How to win: Use Rafflecopter to enter the giveaway. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us. If you have trouble using Rafflecopter on our blog, enter the giveaway here. 

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Giveaway ends June 13th at midnight EST.