Welcome to The Author Spotlight where authors get treated like the stars they are!

Today we have with us Patricia Sands, author of The Bridge Club!

Patricia: Hi there! I’m so glad to be here and thanks … the limo, flowers, champagne and bridge mixture, of course … all SO unexpected! I believe I see our friend Melissa’s touch there. You do make authors feel like stars!

Tricky game, bridge. Tell me, how did you first begin your journey into this card game?

Patricia: Well at first it was all about the bridge mixture … who doesn’t like chocolate? Seriously, like a lot of other students, I began playing at university - when I should have been studying! When I began working, several of us discovered we loved the game and decided to get together on a regular basis to play … when we weren’t partying. I can’t say that we were dedicated and serious about cards in those early days. Later, I married a guy who was a far better bridge player than I was and that helped my game tremendously!

But don’t be fooled by the title of my novel, The Bridge Club, the story has very little to do with cards!

Not only is this book about a bridge club, you are actually part of one. Do you find that the book mirrors reality quite a bit?

Patricia:  Absolutely, The Bridge Club is fiction based on fact and much of what occurs in the story really happened within my real-life bridge club although the lines are often blurred. There are ten of us in reality and I only wrote about eight characters, blending some aspects of different women’s personalities. They all gave their permission for whatever I wrote and have been my biggest cheerleaders. After forty-some years we all still are connected in a very special way although some of us are geographically separated. We organize getting together and the internet keeps us constantly in touch. These kinds of friendships are priceless and that’s the bottom line of the message in my writing.

I loved how this book took you down a journey of eight women and the lives that they share. Such strong bonds between the women! It's hard to get so many people together for that long of time. Inspiring! Do you have any advice to a group of young friends to help them stick together over time?

Patricia: I know all authors agree that one of the very best aspects of being published is hearing from readers. It makes all the blood, sweat and tears of writing a novel worthwhile! I’ve heard from readers as young as 23 and as old as 82 … love it! Some of them talked about the wonderful friendships in their lives and others spoke of how they had never experienced this kind of friendship and wished they had.

It’s never too late to begin to build friendship, in my opinion. Most of the younger readers who had already formed strong friendships in school said The Bridge Club made them determined to nurture the friendships so they could offer each other the same kind of support and opportunity to build memories.

So, in a nutshell, my advice to young friends is to always remember this: to have a good friend you have to BE a good friend.

Something you don’t think about when you are young is this. Girlfriends are girlfriends, whether you are 26 or 76!

I LOVED all the food. What's your favorite dish at a party?

Patricia: No question! The asiago/artichoke dip The Bridge Club served is SO delicious served with veggies or crackers. I’ll be happy to share the recipe.

Such a heart-warming story Patricia. Did you find that the story naturally progressed or were there umpteen drafts involved?

Patricia:  When I began to write the story I was simply doing it for fun for the real ladies of my bridge club. However, as people read parts of my work, they encouraged me to consider turning it into a novel for publishing and that’s when it became fiction. I knew there were important stories and experiences to share to which many people would relate. Of course there were changes and rewrites during the editing period, which always make a writer’s work even better. I loved that part of the process.

This is not a story where a plot weaves itself through from chapter to chapter. Instead, after the first chapter tells how these friends first came together there are eight chapters that each focus on one member of the group and a situation she faced where it was the tremendous friendship of the Bridge Club that helped her through. You grow to know each woman well. It’s the friendship they built through all those years that helps them deal with the serious challenge they face in the final chapter.

The whole journey of writing took about four years and when I self-published through iUniverse it was exciting and rewarding to receive their Editor’s Choice, Rising Star, and Reader’s Choice awards. The Bridge Club was also a finalist for the ForeWord Reviews 2010 Book Of The Year (General Fiction) and a finalist for the Next Generation Indie Awards 2011 Book Of the Year (Debut Novel).

I am a complete novice at bridge. What would be the first thing that I should bear in mind when playing?

Patricia:  The game of bridge itself is such a small part of this novel but I would suggest a novice take lessons, play with friends, and keep your sense of humour! It takes a while to get into the game and learn the rules but it’s so much fun to play for people of all ages.

Right, this book was so much more than cards. It was the interrelationships between the players and the lives they led. In a group of eight people, do you find that there is pairing up or ganging up or is that something that is washes away over time?

Patricia: That’s such a good question. I’m really glad you asked it.

I find it so interesting that some people – I don’t mean you -  expect there always to be conflict and drama among groups of women. One of the reasons I wanted to publish this book was to affirm that there are many solid friendships that thrive without this kind of negative behaviour. I’ve had this confirmed by many readers who have also commented they were happy to read a story which showed women getting along in a truly positive way instead of being portrayed as backstabbing and gossiping about each other.

Of course there are always disagreements and differences of opinion but good friends work through these challenges in a positive way. Not every woman relates to the “real housewives” approach to conflict resolution!

Agreeing to disagree and respecting each other’s opinions, being open to advice you may not initially want to hear, and always speaking to each other from a foundation of caring makes all the difference. This may sound too good to be true but I think it’s a philosophy everyone can easily adopt. Maintaining a good sense of humour helps too! We’ve certainly had some good laughs through the years!

What set you down the writer's path? Was it a goal from a young age or something that unveiled itself over a course of time?

Patricia: Becoming a writer at this point in life has been a complete surprise to me but I seem to be right into a new career. I’ve been a photographer from a very young age and always told stories through that medium so perhaps this was kind of a natural transition. It certainly wasn’t planned but I’m loving it!

As you know, social media becomes a huge part of your life when you publish a book. Connecting with so many incredible writers, including the amazing Melissa Foster, has been a great experience. Blogging and interviewing, promoting and sharing information with other writers all help to develop your writing skills. I’m halfway through my next novel and hope to have it out for summer reading. It’s about a woman in her mid-fifties who has a crisis occur, thinks her life is basically over and then discovers it is really just beginning in better ways than ever. I’m having a lot of fun writing it.

My stories are not chick-lit per se but more about women’s life experiences and how we empower each other through the true friendships we establish. There’s something for women of all ages.

If you could whisk your arms like a genie and make something come true, (but only once mind you), what would you do?

Patricia: Uh-oh, this calls for an answer like wishing for world peace and a cure to terrible suffering. I mean, who wouldn’t want that? At the very least, couldn’t we all simply abide by the Golden Rule and treat each other as we wish to be treated?

I ADORED the ending to this book. It was very unexpected! Always such a joy to see a good 'twist'! Have you had a lot of feedback about it?

Patricia: That’s the chapter about which I hear the most from readers. Book clubs, in particular, tell me they have the greatest discussions about it with a lot of differing opinions.

Without giving anything away, people often write to ask me if they are correct in deciding which character is the focus of the ending. If they are correct, I’ll tell them and if they aren’t they often go back and reread and write me again. It’s great to have that interaction with readers.

Certainly, it was the most challenging chapter to write and I worried that it might be too controversial but it was based on a personal experience that affected me profoundly. I knew I had to write about. As far as response to The Bridge Club goes, it’s a subject on which everyone has an opinion. As a writer, that’s a good thing!

Thank you for joining us on The Author Spotlight Patricia! It was a pleasure to have you on here! And as a bonus treat, a picture of the REAL Bridge Club.

And since you're the best audience ever been, (No, I am not beneath suckage of uppage), there is a FREE RECIPE! YAY! Thank you so much Patricia!

Artichoke/Asiago Dip for veggies, crackers, toasts

•         2 cups grated asiago cheese

•         ½ cup mayonnaise

•         ½ cup sour cream or ½ cup plain yogurt

•         ½ teaspoon salt

•         2 garlic cloves

•         6 -8 ounces marinated artichoke hearts

•         ½ teaspoon lemon juice

Directions:

1.      Mash up the artichoke hearts in a bowl along with the minced garlic.

2.      Add the other ingredients.

3.      Mix it all together and refrigerate until using.

4.      All the proportions can be tweaked according to personal preference. You can also serve this recipe hot! The cheese gets all melty and yummy!

Note:  The Bridge Club actually prefers it hot! This is mentioned in The Bridge Club when the ladies are driving up north and enjoying their traveling cocktail party in the van.

Patricia Sands' Blog

Patricia Sand's Website

Patricia Sands on Facebook

The Bridge Club on Facebook

Patricia Sands on Twitter @Patricia_Sands

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