Darlene's Book Nook: Guest Post and Giveaway with Kate McGuinness, author of Terminal Ambition

Friday, October 26, 2012

Guest Post and Giveaway with Kate McGuinness, author of Terminal Ambition

Hi, everyone!

I am pleased to participate in Kate McGuinness' Terminal Ambition Virtual Blog Tour hosted by Pump Up Your Book.

About Kate:

After leaving the corporate world, Kate was determined to master writing and riding, pastimes that often led to confusion in the telling. Her studies of creative writing proved to be more successful than her horseback adventures which included a broken leg! However, her love of horses remains.

Kate also took the opportunity to be more fully involved with her son’s life – too involved, he would say. She enjoyed watching scores of soccer games and cheering his team on to a divisional state championship. All grown up now, her son lives in Eastern Europe and teaches English as a second language.

In addition to Terminal Ambition, Kate writes on women’s issues for a number of online sites. Her essays have appeared in Role/Reboot, Jezebel, Fem2pt0, Women’s Media Center and Ms. JD. You can follow her on Twitter @womnsrightswrtr.

Kate lives in a utopian community in the Midwest with her husband, dogs and innumerable squirrels.

CONNECT WITH KATE ONLINE:

Welcome to Darlene's Book Nook, Kate!

Kate has written a guest post, so I will now turn the floor over to her.

Writing Fulfills Many Dreams
By Kate McGuinness

I started to write Terminal Ambition because I had seen many women damaged by sexual harassment and discrimination during my legal career. I was a partner at a major international law firm and then became the general counsel of a Fortune 500 company. Some women were able to shrug off harassment while others were driven to the brink of suicide.

I was determined my book would educate women about their right to be free or harassment and discrimination but I realized I had to do it in an entertaining context. My effort at education would fall flat if no one read it. I know many female readers love romance novels.

I’m certainly a fan of that genre. On the other hand, I know some women disdain romance novels. Going that route would eliminate many of the potential readers I wanted to reach. I settled on a legal thriller with a romantic subplot.

I can promise you that the romance will blossom in the sequel, Erotic Capital. However, I’m not sure if the relationship will end in happily-ever-after!

I had fun working snippets of romance into Terminal Ambition. The heroine and the love interest tease each other and he touches her playfully. She lusts after him but thinks he’s only interested in gorgeous young things.

I have to admit these bits were easier to write than constructing consistent tension. I’ve been thrilled by the number of reviewers who consider Terminal Ambition a “page turner” and who say they couldn’t put it down. One even titled his review, “Warning You’ll Stay Up All Night.” Keeping readers on the edge of their seats is hard work.

Another enjoyable aspect of writing about these characters is that the heroine, Maggie Mahoney, is a fashionista who lives in Manhattan. Researching her clothing was fun. To maintain the brisk pace of the novel, I had to delete many of these descriptions but the research found a home on my Pinterest boards.

I set up a Pinterest board for Maggie’s fashions. That was a hoot so I went on and created a board for her jewelry. Her husband was extremely wealthy and relished buying her fancy pieces to wear to black-tie events. He considered her “the best of all his possessions” and wanted to show her off.

Those two boards inspired me to create another on “Maggie’s Favorite Things” and even one on “Lawyers’ Prized Possessions” for other characters who are predominantly male.

In addition to writing Terminal Ambition, I also blog about women’s rights. (A collection of my blogs on these issues is on my website.) I created several Pinterest boards on these topics, including sexual harassment, media’s objectification of women and body image distortions created by photoshopping.

I’ve had fun conveying my message about women’s rights both in words and images. Please check them out!

Thanks so much for joining us today, Kate!

About the book:

Maggie Mahoney wants justice for women at her law firm.

The firm chairman wants to be Attorney General.

Only one can win.

Sweeny, Owens & Boyle sits at the top of Wall Street law firms. Brilliant and beautiful, Maggie Mahoney became a partner and the trophy wife of its managing attorney. Her husband's death renders Maggie an outsider with the firm's male establishment and creates a power vacuum.

Obsessed with his dream of becoming the next Attorney General, firm chairman, Andy Anderson, chooses a surprising replacement: Jack Slattery, a reputed sexist. Jack's background hardly qualifies him for such a prominent position. Maggie suspects Jack has something on Andy, but what is it?

Andy's ambition drives him to desperate measures. With proof of misconduct in hand, Maggie demands justice, but it comes at a high price.

If ambition rules, can justice prevail?