surfingcheryl

Profile Information:

Hometown:
Hanalei, Kauai
About Me:
I'm an escapee from the big city, hiding out on the windward side of the northernmost Hawaiian island.

Thriller author, mom of a five-year-old, breast cancer survivor, former speaker/consultant on patient care or the lack thereof. (Now there's a real horror story. Don't get me started.)

Send me a note. Not too many writers/ readers out here.
I Am A:
Writer
Website:
http://www.cherylswanson.net
Books And Authors I Like:
Ruth Rendell, Jane Hamilton, Sherri Reynolds, and ANY woman who writes suspense or thrillers (let's beat the men at this game)
Movies And TV Shows I Like:
The Shawshank Redemption

Comment Wall:

  • Mary Saums

    Hi, Cheryl - You remind me that I need to get more books by Ruth Rendell. She's the best. Glad to see you here!

    Jul 24, 2007

  • L. A. Starks

    Welcome to CrimeSpace.
    LAS

    Jul 25, 2007

  • Dennis Venter

    Ah, Shawshank - what a great movie. Welcome to Crimespace, is it okay for me to resent you for living on an island? :)

    Jul 25, 2007

  • Jack Getze

    Hi Cheryl. I'm sure it's changed since I was there in 1976, but Hanalei Bay was the prettiest spot on earth I've ever seen. That waterfall...the clouds always around the top of the mountain. Wow. I envy your digs.

    Jul 25, 2007

  • Burl Barer

    Be my friend, okay. You can let me use your car sometime, and i'll come over and raid your fridge, etc.
    Yeah, winning the Edgar on my first book was -- all downhill from there!! LOL

    Jul 27, 2007

  • Krystal Waters

    I use the same motto! Dori from finding nemo singing, "Just keep swimming!" lol

    Jul 27, 2007

  • shirley dicks

    thanks for your comments..... I thought these groups were pretty much the same but they aren't...this one doesn't allow any promotion of any kind and the other two do....so I just have to remember which one I'm on if I'm going to do any promoting.... I'm not finding my website doing much of anything in selling copies so not sure if my site isn't done right or what I need to do to it... but it needs something.. Shirley www.shirleydicks.net

    Jul 28, 2007

  • Dennis Venter

    I hear you about the money - I think part of the reason I don't go back to trying to write novels is because even on our small South African budgets, chances are I'd make more as a TV writer than I would as a novelist...still, there's more to it all than money, right? Like, say, living on an island...

    Jul 28, 2007

  • Linda Ladd

    Hi Cheryl--it's nice to meet you! I'm glad you enjoyed Head to Head. Dark Places, the second Claire Morgan book, is hitting book stores as we speak! It looks like you're doing pretty good--what a great cover! I wrote about 20 romances before I switched genres to mystery/thrillers. Most of my romances were bestsellers but it was really hard to make the switch, after being pigeon-holed as a romance writer. My novels still have a strong romance element, but the emphasis is on the investigation and how the serial killer evolved. I'm building from the ground up at the moment, but I am having a ball! I do love all this creepy stuff! Wish I was in Hawaii with you! Do you really surf?

    Jul 29, 2007

  • Linda Ladd

    You won't be bugging me, not in the least. Keep in touch. I'd like that. That's why I'm here--to talk to other writers and readers. And I'm really enjoying it, too!

    I've never been to Hawaii but your island is where my son and his wife went on their honeymoon. They fell in love with it. I'll take you up on that surfing lesson, too, if I ever make it over there. I used to play tennis and water ski to beat the band but age is catching up with me. However, I will go surfing, if you'll get me on and give me a push like your five-year-old. : )

    Keep up the good work!

    Jul 29, 2007

  • Morgan Mandel

    This is our life - write, promote.
    Morgan Mandel

    Jul 30, 2007

  • spyscribbler

    Me? A protagonist? I don't think so, LOL. I lead a very boring life in a small, little town. :-)

    Nice to meet you! By the way, I jumped over to your website. Very cool!

    Jul 31, 2007

  • surfingcheryl

    Best kind of protagonist, in my opinion. You're a nurse at the local medical center and have just started to notice there is a lot of cancer among children. While tending a particularly heartbreaking case, you catch a handsome, mysterious stranger--speaking broken English--trying to film the child. Furious, you turn him out of the room. He stalks you and you find out he's a Russian filmmaker and is making a extremely terrifying documentary about the devastations of environmental pollution. (Your town, you discover, has been a secret toxic dump for a chemical company.)
    The two of you fall desperately in love--then he mysteriously disappears. You jet off to Paris, then Moscow, trying to find him. You fall into the hands of the Russian Mafia...Big chase scene through the dark streets of Moscow. Finis.
    That's how we do it. At least, that's how I do it. Life CAN change--in an instant. And not just in novels.

    Jul 31, 2007

  • Krystal Waters

    I like to stop by and say hello every once in a while. Hope your summer is going well and you are enjoying yourself.

    Here in Portland, Oregon we have a race for breast cancer. It's a 5k, through the streets of the city. I ran in one of them with a team of people from the hospital staff I worked with.

    stop by my page sometime and give me a shout! I love to talk with people.

    Kristine

    Aug 3, 2007

  • Lyn LeJeune

    Keep up with the writing...I worked in healthcare and understand the horror of lack of care- good subject for a murder mystery.
    My book, The Beatitudes, Book I in The New Orleans Trilogy, will be out in the fall and I am donating all royalties directly to the New Orleans Public Library Foundation. My blogsite www.beatitudesinneworleans.blogspot.com has excerpts, recipes, and news, and you can see the many prominent authors supporting me, such as Alafair Burke, Julie Smith, Ken Bruen, and many others. Hope you let me be your friend. Lyn Lejeune.

    Aug 5, 2007

  • Lyn LeJeune

    I sure hope so....he's just c'est bon! Read an excerpt of my book at www.beatitudesineworleans.blogspot.com. Just heard that the final book will be i the mail in a week and then ready in September ...those New Orleans libraries will be rebuilt one book at a time, one brick at a time, one reader at a time...

    Aug 7, 2007

  • Gemma Halliday

    I live near SF, so lemme know if you need any local info. As to film stuff - I might suggest talking to some film extras? They pretty much know their way around film sets, but aren't quite as busy as "stars" so are generally willing to share any info they have. It’s been a while since I did any film work, but I’m sure there are message boards or forums for film extras.
    And, yes, I did extra and film work for a few years, so that’s how I got the little tidbits I’ve put in my books. :)

    ~Gemma

    Aug 14, 2007

  • norby

    cheryl-just visiting here after constantly forgetting since I use a different browser now. Sent you an email.

    Aug 19, 2007

  • Rick Mofina

    Cheryl: thanks so much. Fell in love with SF each time I was there. First time I hitchhiked alone all the way from the east side of Toronto.
    Second time I was there as a crime reporter and got to hang out with the SFPD Homicide Inspectors, who helped me when I really needed it. So yeah, my heart's there, in the Hall of Justice.

    Aug 22, 2007

  • Newt Love

    Hey! If a author writes a novel in the forest, and nobody reads it, did it make a sound?
    I'm newt, slithering from the shallow end of the gene pool, into the open ocean. Sharks are likely to eat me before the salt water kills me, but who wants a quiet life?

    Aug 27, 2007

  • Newt Love

    Here is my favorite book... the one I would take to a desert island. It is by Henri J.W. Nouwen: http://www.amazon.com/Reaching-Out-Henri-Estate-Nouwen/dp/0006280862/ref=sr_1_10/102-0199495-2248947?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1188283798&sr=1-10

    Aug 28, 2007