Mountain Musings: Character Interview

Today I'm welcoming PJ Fiala to my blog. She's going to interview Dot McKenzie-Lapahie, a wolf shifter, from my Free Wolves series. Dot is currently the CEO of Lapahie Enterprises, and mate to Gavin Fairwood of the Fairwood pack. So glad you could drop by, Patti, and glad to see you again, Dot. Now on to the interview.

1. Where were you when you heard about 911 and how has it changed you?

I was waitressing at a little diner off the interstate in the middle of nowhere, North Carolina. What passed for breakfast rush was over, but we still had some truckers getting their morning caffeine fix. One of the truckers got a call from his manager to warn about the possibility of delays along his route and that was the first we heard about it. Hank, the boss, kept a small TV in his office and we all huddled around it to watch the news. I cried, I admit it. Up until that point, I'd never paid much attention to politics because I was too busy trying to stay ahead of whoever was chasing me, but that event changed everything. Now I understand how what goes on in the world around us impacts all of us for good or bad.

2. How do you approach tough decisions?

I've had to act on impulse too many times in my life, so I rely on instinct, Now that I'm running a business, I'm slowly learning to take the advice of people who have more expertise than I do in their specialties, but when it comes down to the final decision, I still rely on my gut.

3. Are you organized? If so, what do you do to keep yourself organized?

It's not hard to stay organized when you own next to nothing. Now that I'm running a company, it's a lot different. Thank heavens I have an excellent assistant who keeps me in line. Still, all those lessons I learned from living minimally come in handy to help me stay organized even though I have more things to keep track off.

4.When was the last time you saw your family?

It depends on your definition of family. My mother and stepfather are dead, and it's been six months since I've seen my aunt, but the Fairwood pack is my family now, as well as the kids at the school and the staff at the business. I'm with the pack almost every day and at the school at least once a week and it's an amazing how much support I get from everyone involved.

5. How do you spend your time in the summer months?

Same way I spend the winter months. Working But at least in the summer I get to ride my motorcycle more often and that really helps me relieve stress.

6. What's your favorite vacation spot and why?

I haven't had a real vacation in forever. Even when I was working in Florida, i rarely took time off to explore the state. Don't tell Gavin because he'd want to drop everything and take me somewhere immediately, and I can't leave right now. But when I was a kid, my mother and stepfather took me to some caverns in the Smoky Mountains and they were really cool. I'd like to go back some day.

7. What's your favorite drink and why?

A glass of ice cold water. Nothing beats water fresh out of mountain stream during spring, when the snow is melting.

8. If you could pick one person from history to share a meal with, who would it be and why?

Wilma Mankiller, the first female chief of the Cherokees. She was an inspiration to her tribe as well as women everywhere. I'd love to talk to her and pick her brain for ways I expand the school and help even more shifters find a place in the modern world. Maybe she could help me figure out how meld the competing sides of my background—Native American, wolf shifter and a little bit of Irish heritage.

9. When you need a creative fix, what do you do?

I'm not what you would call creative in an artsy kind of way. I never advanced much beyond the gluing macaroni on paper stage. One of these days I'd like to learn how to crochet. It seems like such a relaxing activity and heaven knows, I've had more stress in my life than I like to think about.

10. Do you like to cook and if so, what's your favorite dish? Care to share the recipe?

Despite all the time I spent working in diners, I'm not much of a cook. The places I worked didn't serve haute cuisine. But I don't have to be because Gavin is a meat eater and he cooks the perfect steak. I do make a mean tossed salad, but he only eats enough of his to make me happy.

But one of the favorite things I remember my mother making was chicken and dumplings. It was a pretty simple recipe. Cut up and wash a whole chicken and put it in a large pot. Add enough water to cover it, and bring it to a boil. Lower the temperature of the burner to keep in cooking but not boiling. Cook for a couple of hours, then remove the chicken and set aside. Add two cans of cream of chicken soup to the pot and continue cooking the mixture.

While that's happening, cut up the chicken into bite-sized pieces and add back to the pot. Now make dumplings dough according to your favorite recipe or from biscuit mix. Bring the mixture in the pot to a boil, and add wide egg noodles. The more you add the thicker the end product will be. Next drop spoonfuls of the dumpling dough on top and finish according to the dumpling directions. (It will probably be about twenty minutes for the dumplings to cook.) It's as easy as that!

To find out what other characters reveal about themselves, follow the links below.

And don't forget, tomorrow Stories of Sun, Sand and Sea goes live! Get your copy now!

June 27 Interview a character. Imagine you could step into the world of your novel and interview the characters like they were real people. What would you ask them? What would they say? (Alternative - if your novel were made into a movie, what famous actors would you have play the main roles?)
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