Read the Excerpt for Your Color Power
Read the Excerpt for Talgorian Prophecy

Your Color Power The Interview via Chat

d|k - How long have you lived in Florida?
MA - I moved to Florida in 1988 met my husband here and then we moved to North Carolina for a short while before work brought us back to Florida eight years ago. I'm originally from Southern Virginia so we had moved up there to be closer to my family for a while.

d|k - Do you write under any pen names?
MA - I write under two names. As Melissa Alvarez (my real name) I write self help and metaphysical nonfiction. As Ariana Dupr I write paranormal romantic suspense.

d|k - Are your novels based on any interesting paranormal experience you've had with clients?
MA - Well, they're not based on experiences I've had with clients as much as they're based on how I've experienced psychic and paranormal things. Because I'm a clairvoyant advisor, when I give my characters psychic abilities I try to make them as true to life as possible in order to help people understand what it's like to be psychic and to also understand their own abilities. I've had people read my books and then tell me, "You know, I have the same thing but I didn't realize what it was until I read your book." Even though the books are fiction, I believe that you can entertain and teach at the same time. For example, in Night Visions, the heroine has dreams that come true and she's fighting her abilities about of fear. In Talgorian Prophecy, the heroine has many different psychic abilities that she has accepted and embraced even though others around her mock and ridicule her. I've experienced both of these kinds of things first hand so I'm able to portray those feelings in my characters.

d|k - Can you give us a sneak peek at your latest book?
MA - Sure! I'll give you a peek at both Talgorian Prophecy (fiction) and Your Color Power (nonfiction). Let's do Talgorian Prophecy first since it recently was named as a finalist in the Colorado Romance Writer's Award of Excellence contest and just this week was named a finalist in the 2008 Dream Realm Awards in the Speculative Romance Fiction category.

d|k - What inspired you to write "latest book?
MA - When I first started thinking about the book, I wanted to do something with shapeshifters. Then the plot really just unfurled from there by asking what if - what if the heroine had a kid and that kid was abducted. What if he was abducted by a serial killer - how would she fight him - ohhh.she's psychic and uses those abilities but what if she knew the killer had taken the child to the mountains but she's unfamiliar with tracking but her ex knows the mountains like the back of his hand and what if.you see what I mean? LOL I think what inspired me to write this book is what inspires me to write all of my books - to tell a story or put together a nonfiction work that will hopefully touch and teach people in some way while allowing me to be creative during the process. In the case of Talgorian Prophecy there wasn't one event that sparked the idea but in the case of Night Visions there was so I'll tell you about that. I had just laid down to go to sleep when I saw the opening of Night Visions play out in my mind's eye. I got up, wrote the whole opening scene that I'd seen and the book was born. My two new nonfiction releases Your Color Power and Analyze Your Handwriting were written specifically for The Lotus Circle's "To Go" series. I recently received my rights back due to the publisher closing so I released them through Adrema Press.

d|k - What inspires you to write in general?
MA - It's the creative process. I'm prolific when it comes to getting the book written as long as I can find the time to write. In addition to telling a story that touches people, that makes them think after they put down the book (I hope) or writing informative nonfiction pieces, I think the other thing that inspires me to write is to have a finished product that I created. I'm a storyteller at heart and for years didn't write anything down. I should probably write down all of the stories I made up to tell my kids too. I do have a couple written down but haven't found the time to illustrate them. I've also written for places online. I've been the Guide to Romance Fiction at About.com, a columnist for Suite Magazine's 13th Floor and most recently was the Paranormal Examiner at Examiner.com just to name a few.

d|k - Are there any 'hot spots' in Florida you like to visit?
MA - I'd love to go to Cassadaga for a week because I haven't visited there yet. I like St. Augustine and the Keys too. Ocala is beautiful and I'd love to have land up there. We breed Friesian horses (think Zorro's black horse from the movie) and about a hundred acres for the horses and kids to play on would be amazing.

d|k - Any favorite place to visit other than in Florida?
MA - I love going home to Southern Virginia to visit my family. I also enjoyed the Virgin Islands and would love to go back there one day. It would also be fun to take a cross country trip by car to see my brother in Seattle - don't know if I could stand it though - can you imagine how many times over the 3000 + miles that my three kids would ask if we were "there yet?" LOL I've always wanted to go to Ireland and Scotland too because my ancestors were from those countries.

d|k - What do you enjoy most about writing?
MA - Creating characters that are readers can relate to and plots that will keep them turning the pages. I try to hook them from page one and never let go. As the Guide to Romance Fiction at About.com I reviewed thousands of books. If I wasn't captivated from the beginning then I'd lose interest very quickly. I try to write so the reader doesn't lose interest.

d|k - What do you enjoy least about writing?
MA - Finding the time to actually DO it. LOL I have three kids, a slew of horses and dogs who are all in training and it's definitely a juggling act. (guess who the trainer is?) There's not really anything about the writing process that I don't like. I enjoy it all - even revisions.

d|k - Have you read any good books recently?
MA - Oh yes - I'm an avid reader as well as a writer and usually go through a few books a week. I just finished Dark and Deadly by Jeanne Adams last night - it was a great debut novel and I'll definitely be reading more by this author. I also read Unseen by Nancy Bush (another great book and author that's an auto buy for me) and all of the Romantic Suspense titles from Silhouette for June in the past week to ten days.

d|k - What has been your favorite story to write so far?
MA - I'd have to say it's Talgorian Prophecy. That book just flew from my fingertips and I really tried to dig deeply into the emotions for those characters while giving them a plot that was layered enough to let the "Talgorian Prophecy" gradually reveal itself. That way, when the characters do find out what it is, they're able to look back in the past to see how it had affected them. Some of it is very subtle but all links together in the end.

d|k - Is there a genre/sub-genre that you haven't written yet but hope to try to write in the future?
MA - I'd like to try a straight contemporary without the paranormal or psychic elements. LOL We'll see how that goes since it always seems to work its way into my books somehow. I'd also like to write a thriller.

d|k - What is your favorite type of promoting that you do for your books?
MA - Interviews like this, word of mouth and online promoting. I used to be big into all of the yahoo groups but I had to cut back on all the posting I did there because I found it hard to keep up with all of that plus my family, animals etc and still find time to write. So, I've really focused on my website and other select avenues for promotion (yes I tweet!) instead of trying to be everywhere at once. And I talk up books a lot - mine and my favorite authors - just yesterday I was in Walmart and they were unpacking the new releases (I was dying to dig into those boxes LOL) when the guy asked if he could help me. I saw the unopened Harlequin box on the floor so I said, Oh, I'm just looking for the new Harlequin releases. He replied they're right there - you can look through them. YEA!!! So I'm digging through the box, talking to the guy and joking around (he wanted me to stock the shelves too which I happily replied that I'd do but then he said no he had to scan them) when I happened to mention that I was also a writer and knew some of the authors I was pulling books for out of the box. He told me that he hoped one day he'd be putting my books on the shelf - I said I hoped he would be too! LOL It was a fun banter but I introduced him to a couple of authors as I pulled those books out too. What goes around comes around right? ;-)

d|k - After (your latest book) what do we have to look forward to from you?
MA - Right now I'm working on a metaphysics book. I used to offer mentoring to people who wanted to learn more about their psychic abilities and how to develop them. The time element involved in mentoring was high so I decided to write it all up in book form. It's already grown from one book to two just based on the outline. The first one is near completion. But before I write the second one I have another nonfiction book to write. In the past six weeks I've experienced some devastating losses in my life, so much so that I've had to suspend doing psychic readings until the Fall to give myself enough time to get centered and balanced again (first time I've done that in fifteen years of doing readings online), but along with these losses were some truly miraculous metaphysical events. When the Virgin Mary appeared to me, and I took pictures and it was clearly the Virgin Mary, I knew these events had to be written down even though I didn't know the outcome when she appeared. Now I do know the outcome but it doesn't change the lesson so that book has to be written as soon as I'm able to write through my tears. Once those are completed then I'm going to write another novel, which I'm planning to start in the Fall. I also have another book that is complete but it has a deck of cards that goes with it that I still have to illustrate. So, I have a lot of projects on my plate.

d|k - Thanks so much for taking the time to 'chat' with us. Before you go, please be sure to add anything I may have missed that you want your readers to know and the best way for them to contact you.