As part of our countdown to Readers & ‘ritas 2018, our Meet the Author interviews help you get to know the authors joining us in Texas on November 9-11. Read on to get acquainted with Deborah LeBlanc, and purchase your ticket to meet her in person at Readers & ‘ritas! Pitch us your newest book in one sentence. Nonie Broussard, a closet medium who works at her family’s funeral home (which she hates), joins a gaggle of misfit paranormal investigators and finds herself with ghosts who insist on following her home in TOE TO TOE. If you could meet one of your characters in real life, who would you choose and what would you do? The character I would choose would be Tawana Batiste from A HOUSE DIVIDED, and what I would do is tell her to buck up and get with the program! What gets your creative juices flowing when you’re brainstorming a new story? The most important thing that gets my creative juices flowing is a perfect book title and finding pictures of the main characters. Which part of Readers & ‘ritas are you most excited about?  I look forward to meeting all the readers who are coming…

As a writer, I work hard at breaking away from stereotypes, which isn’t always easy, especially if it involves a culture you’re not that familiar with. Such was the case with GRAVE INTENT, my second book. One of the main characters was from a particular Roma clan, and I knew very little about gypsies except what I’d seen on television or read in books. A good bit of research, including spending time with an actual Roma family, did wonders to help me break out of any mental stereotypes about the culture. In my newest book, WATER WITCH, I didn’t have that problem since many of the primary characters are of Cajun decent. Being Cajun myself, it was easy to write what is real instead of winging it on perception. Oddly enough, I ran into a situation not long ago that, for me, really put a different spin on stereotypes. I say ‘oddly’ because it happened here in the south, in territory I’m pretty familiar with. For the story to make sense, however, let me take a moment to clarify the definition of a stereotypical southerner…. Below are some common traits often used to portray a stereotypical, modern day Southerner: •…