Hey Sunday Brunch lovers! Okay, so last week we learned that everyone wants to go to Josh Lanyon’s Catalina Island Writer’s Retreat if he ever has one. We also know that islands figure big in a lot of people’s secret desires. So does solitude, autonomy, and the occasional mountain cabin where one can get away from the cares of the day!

Last week’s winner? Tawny!

This week my guests will share their answers with us, and you, gentle readers, can give your answer to my question in the comment section below. I’ll choose one random person from the comments and reward them with an ebook surprise, it’s that simple!

Tell me what your answer to today’s question would be in the comments, and you could win an e-book!

This weeks question is:

What is your greatest fear? 

As the author Carol Lynne – This will probably sound really crazy to people, but I’ve lived in the world of Cattle Valley for so many years that I sometimes find myself worrying about the residents. Ezra and Wyn aren’t getting any younger, and Erico has that heart condition. I know bad things can happen to good people, and the longer I continue to explore the residents of Cattle Valley, the more I fear something horrible will happen. The grandstand collapse a few years ago was devastating to the residents, and they are finally starting to heal.

No worries, I have no plans to kill off one of my beloved characters. That’s the crazy thing about this irrational fear. I have to remind myself that I have the control when it comes to the residents of Cattle Valley, but I’ve been living in their world for five years. They genuinely feel like friends, and I think it’s perfectly natural to worry about the people we love.

As Carol Lynne the mom –

I thought long and hard about this question. I hate snakes so much that I spotted one three years ago in my flower garden and haven’t planted a damn thing since. Still, I wouldn’t say that’s my greatest fear.

I’ve never been afraid of dying. I think it has a lot to do with my belief that there is life after death. However, the thought of dying without being able to say goodbye to my girls or help get them set up for life without me, terrifies me. I’m a forty-eight-year-old divorced woman with a twelve and thirteen year old. I started late in life, and I’m scared my procrastination is going to catch up with me.

It’s a fear most people don’t think about, but I’m not most people. So, instead of cluing my girls into my fear, there are a few things I slip in each day. I always, always tell them I love them at least three times a day, morning, afterschool and before bed. I also like to sprinkle my wisdom dust on them each morning as we drive to school. I used to wonder whether or not they were listening, but my oldest daughter’s actions lately proved they are. Both of my girls have good heads on their shoulders. They have a good set of values and the ability to open their minds and hearts to new things. The best thing about them is they make me proud each day. I can almost see the adults they’ll grow up to be.

My job with them isn’t near finished, but I have to admit that it gives me a bit of peace to know they’ll be fine should something happen to me. Still, I want to say goodbye. Some people want to go quickly when it’s their time, but I want to milk every second I am blessed to have them in my life.

(Carol, I put both your answers here because I liked them so much!)

Purchase C-7 Shifters: Seeger at   Amazon    ARE    B&N

What is my greatest fear? You mean I have to pick just one? A few years ago, I might have said failing at this whole writing gig, but I’ve now seen enough royalty checks in the single digits to realize, I’d do it anyway, big payout or not. So maybe…I still fear the same things I feared in grade school. Putting myself out there and having people point and laugh. I’d like to think, as I venture out into the adult world into a group of my peers, that this is something that I could feel confident no longer happens. We all know the truth, though. I’ve been on the outside for a long, long time, and the truth is, it never gets easier.

It’s just this sort of thing that bring Don and Griff together in Not as Easy as it Looks. Don needed a hero, and Griff was his. In fact, Howard needed a hero, too. And Griff came through for them both pretty definitively. Maybe we all want it to look like this; big and bold and in-your-face, but maybe, for most of us. it’s more subtle, like mine was, but either way, it’s nice have a champion. — Author Jaimie Samms

Buy the book: Dreamspinner

Okay– book story. My greatest fear used to be feeling penises in the dark, and then I really felt an actual live penis and that went away immediately! Then my biggest fear became snakes in water. Yup, you know, eels, or fish– touching something slimy, alive, muscular and visceral touching my body where I couldn’t see.

It was laughable, really, because I grew up around Folsom Lake and the American River, and I even learned to waterski in the Sacramento River, which had 1000 lb. sturgeon in it and everything.

I should have been okay with fish nibbling at my toes.

But I wasn’t, and so, in my first book, Vulnerable, I thought I’d exorcise that demon by having a vampire grab my heroine around the ankle after existing under water in wait for her. Oooh, I thought– that’ll get rid of that fear for good!

Uhm, no. Writing as therapy failure of the first water.

Now I freak out in water where I can see my feet. I will swim out (I’m a very strong swimmer) and frolic with the grace of a manatee (who are graceful in the water but not so much out) and as soon as a weed or a fish or an air bubble from a breathing turtle hits my toes–

I spaz out, flounder, and almost drown.

So, yeah. I could go deep here and tell you my most psychological fear, but, really, that’s too much like being naked. So I’m going to go with things touching me under water. Spazzes me the hell out, every single time! — Author Amy Lane

Come visit Amy at www.greenshill.com, at her FB Page Amy Lane Anonymous, and on Twitter under @amymaclane.

Purchase Triane’s Son Learning at Dreamspinner Press!