A full-time writer and speaker, Zoe M. McCarthy writes contemporary Christian romances involving tenderness and humor. She is the author of The Invisible Woman in a Red Dress, Gift of the Magpie, and Calculated Risk. Believing opposites distract, Zoe creates heroes and heroines who learn to embrace their differences. Zoe and her husband live in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.
Website and blog: zoemmccarthy.com
Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/default/e/B00ODC1ZNW/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/9322145.Zoe_M_McCarthy
Interview with Zoe M. McCarthy
What inspired you to write this story?
The Putting Green Whisperer will release September 14, 2018, but I started writing the book in December 2012. That year, John and I joined my sister and my brother-in-law at a PGA seniors tournament at Rock Barn Country Club and Spa in Conover, NC. My sister and I sat on the fifteenth green and watched the over-fifty golfers putt and move on to the next tee. In one group, a male and a female caddy stood side by side on the edge of the green with their backs to us. The two young caddies talked quietly while their players prepared to putt. He was tall, and she was petite with her blond ponytail protruding from her pink ball cap. My heart experienced a sappy moment, and romantic what-ifs cluttered my mind. I turned to my sister, pointed at the caddies, and said, “My next book will be about those two caddies.” It wasn’t my next book. Two other books published before The Putting Green Whisperer.
Tell us about your latest book.
In The Putting Green Whisperer, Allie Masterson, as a teen, experienced two tragedies. Her mother died and her pro-golfer father abandoned her in his inability to handle his grief and guilt. Allie has stockpiled defenses around her to prevent opening old wounds or incurring new injuries. She immerses herself in everything golf, something she’s good at; she distrusts people and often jumps to wrong conclusions; and she relies on herself.
Then she meets Shoo Leonard.
Shoo caddies while his injured hand heals. He has the gift to read golf greens and is an accomplished golfer. He’s still raw from a broken engagement and is focused on breaking into the PGA. When he meets fellow caddy Allie, he regards her as a ministry, until she offers him encouragement and the training he needs to meet his PGA goals. She becomes his best friend.
Then Allie falls hard for Shoo.
As they travel from tournaments in NC to those in San Antonio, San Francisco, and Mexico their wounds heal. But will Shoo ever want more than a fist-bumping-buddy relationship with Allie?
What did you edit out of this book?
I edited out many golf activities and an unlikeable heroine. Cutting many golf references put more emphasis on the romance and less on the golf. After I removed the surly heroine and replaced her with a heroine readers could cheer for, the book shaped into a moving story.
What does literary success look like to you?
In the last few years, God has placed in my writing journey four writing markers. First, a workshop leader and a book he recommended encouraged me to write every word with the Grand Creator. Second, two editors pushed me to strive for excellence in my work. Third, I received the desire to pray for excellence in every person who touches manuscripts and books. And forth, our local writing group joined Word Weavers in pursuit of writing excellence. So, for me, literary success is when I pursue excellence in my relationship with my Co-Author, in my writing, in the workshops I teach, and in the prayers I pray for people in the publishing industry.
More about The Putting Green Whisperer:
Suddenly unemployed, petite and peppery Allie Masterson returns home to Cary, North Carolina, where she caddies for her father on the PGA Seniors Tour. There, she encounters Shoo Leonard.
The easygoing caddy frustrates Allie, but Shoo’s uncanny ability to read the contours of the greens and his determination to overcome a personal hand injury, fascinate Allie. She agrees to use her sport science degree to become his trainer…and then she falls for him.
Shoo Leonard is grateful to Allie for her singular determination to get him ready for the PGA tour, but he isn’t ready for anything more. Still raw from a broken engagement and focused on his career, he’s content to be her fist-bumping buddy…but then he falls for her.
What seems like a happily-ever-after on the horizon takes a turn when Allie decides she’s become a distraction to Shoo’s career. Is it time for her to step away or can the putting green whisperer find the right words to make her stay?
Book link: (Release date 9-14-2018) https://www.amazon.com/default/e/B00ODC1ZNW/
Happy reading,
Thank you, Ginger, for hosting me again. I appreciate you.