Welcome to my weekly Author Spotlight. I’ve asked a bunch of my author friends to answer a set of interview questions, and to share their latest work.
Today: Pat Henshaw [pronouns she/her] was born and raised in Nebraska. She has lived on the U Sās three coasts, in Texas, Virginia, and now California. Before she retired, she held a number of jobs, including theatrical costumer, newspaper features reporter and movie reviewer, librarian, junior college English instructor, and publicist. She loves to travel and has visited Canada, Mexico, Europe, Egypt, Thailand, and Central America as well as almost all fifty US states.
Now retired, she enjoys reading and writing as well as visiting her older daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren on the East Coast and playing havoc with her younger daughterās life in Washington State.
She thanks you for reading her books and wants you to remember that Every day is a good day for romance.
Thanks so much, Pat, for joining me!
J. Scott Coatsworth: How long have you been writing?Ā
Pat Henshaw: Like most authors, Iāve been writing since I was a child. Iāve been telling myself stories my whole life as well. My published writing career began in the 1970s when I was hired by theĀ Houston PostĀ and began writing book and art reviews. After theĀ Post, I wrote for a number of publications, includingĀ Publishers WeeklyĀ where I wrote book reviews. My fiction writing career began during the early 2000s when I self-published a novel,Ā The Vampireās Food Chain, about a female vampire who gets tangled up with The Gods. Itās still available from the big A.
JSC: Whatās your writer cave like? Photos?
PH: When our daughters were living at home, my writer cave was pretty much that. The room, not much bigger than a space which can hold a single bed and maybe a chest of drawers, has one window looking out over another room in the house. I liked to think of it as my nest. When our kids moved out for college and then their own adult lives, I expanded my nest into one of their bedrooms.
Now my writer cave has a single bed, bedside table, chest of drawers, L-shaped desk with computer and work area, and shelving forā¦well, Iāll explain all of that below (with photos).
JSC: What does success mean to you?
PH: As you can see, Iāve had an extensive career writing, and I hope to continue as long as I can. Success to me has always meant a reader who walks up to me or who writes to say they read my story and enjoyed it. Success is making readers feel happy, to leave them with a warm, cozy mental hug at the end of a story. Enough other writers delve into the angst of living. I want to be the writer who makes readers smile, sigh, and bask in the good things in their lives.
Money? Sure, Iād like to make money, but happiness is my real payment.
JSC: How did you choose the topic for Bright, Shiny Love?Ā
PH: Scott, Scott, Scott. Sigh. You know this isnāt really the question.
The real question is how do topics choose any author.
I interviewed Arlo Guthrie once and asked this same kind of question. His philosophy is that, in his case, music is floating around us everywhere. Some we can hear; others we canāt. If weāre songwriters like he is, one song breaks through, tickles us, plays with us, tempts us, until we canāt ignore it, and again in his case, we have to write it down, sing it, play it, perform it.
Writing isnāt much different. A what-if beckons a writer in a coffee shop, follows them home, and wears them down. Voila! A new book emerges. We donāt choose the topic. The topic chooses us.
JSC: What was the hardest part of writing this book?Ā
PH: Sitting down and doing it. Iāve been telling myself stories in my head since I was a little kid and knew what a story was. Sitting down and writing it? Yup, thatās the difficult part.
JSC: Tell me one thing hardly anyone knows about you.Ā
PH: Iāve talked to some amazing people in my life. When I wrote for the Post, the Houston Chronicle, the Journal Newspaper group, USA Today, and so many other publications, I was a features writer. This meant when celebrities were on tour for an upcoming project, I was in line to interview them. Besides Arlo, Iāve talked to, among many, many others, people as diverse as Liberace, Jodi Foster, Big Bird/Oscar the Grouch, and David McCullough.
JSC: Tell me about a unique or quirky hobby of yours.Ā
PH: Iāve always been fascinated by dollhouses and miniatures, so when I found out about groups whose members made small objects, I fell into the rabbit hole. For years, I made quarter-inch miniatures, which means the scale was one quarter inch equals one inch in size.
My masterpiece is a bookstore called Clues (see photo). Everything in it is handmade using paper, wood, glue, and guile. I like to think of quarter inch as the smoke and mirrors of miniatures. Thereās not enough space to be too precise, but I want you to believe it all is precision.
When my hands got too shaky to work in quarter inch anymore, my daughter got me a MinionsĀ Lego set. I hopped out of the miniature world and into the labyrinth of building blocks. Now Iāve made over one hundred sets and am happy with it. You can see some of my creations made from kits in the photos. Iām still learning how pieces can interconnect. When I feel comfortable, Iāll design my own creations.
JSC: What action would your name be if it were a verb?Ā
PH: My name is a verb: Pat. (Laughs) Iām answering this question because itās short and snappy, and the other answers have been long and verbose.
JSC: Whatās your drink of choice?Ā
PH: Another short, snappy answer: iced tea. All day, every day. With Sweet ān Low.
JSC: What are you working on now, and whatās coming out next? Tell us about it!
PH: This has been a banner year for me. Since COVID, Iāve been in a writing slump. But I wrote a holiday story last year, Fragile as Glass, and the ice jam broke. It was followed by Love, Step by Step and A Helping Hand box set.
Just released on Saturday is the second in the Art of Love series after Fragile, Bright, Shiny Love. Then June 28, Arriving at Love, about an Olympic athlete and a college English professor, releases.
As far as whatās after that, Iām about finished with a two-part Christmas/holiday story. Iām writing A Lovely Plan for the Holidays as a Christmas in July story with A Lovely Holiday as a JMS Books Advent calendar story.
Also planned for the rest of 2025 and into 2026 are a third Art of Love story, a Valentine story, a Foothills Pride reunion story, and a stand-alone or two. If youāre curious, you can follow the progress of these on my website,Ā www.pathenshaw.com.
And now for Pat’s new book: Bright, Shiny Love:
Metal artist Martin Murphy knows dragons donāt talk, especially the dragon crafted of sequins on a former flameās vest. So when the dragon seems to reach out and tells him to help its creator Ty, Marty refuses to believe the illusion. The sparks between him and Ty, on the other hand? Theyāre as real as it gets.
As he and Ty reconnect after so many years, Marty sees firsthand how the big manās innate kindness and willingness to help others consume his time and energy. Maybe the dragon was right, and Ty needs saving.
While Marty is willing to try, what he really wants to do is pounce on the man and keep him all to himself while they walk down the path to HEA. Does that count as saving him?
Publisher | Amazon | Universal Buy Link
Excerpt
One day in the fall of ninth grade, he came up to me while I was leaning back against the school wall watching some older kids flirting. It was one of those glorious autumn days when sitting in a classroom was like going through medieval torture. Getting outside during a free period topped everyoneās agenda.
I was basking in the sunshine and storing up as much of the dying summer weather as I could before I went back to being shackled to my desk.
Ty sauntered up, stood in my line of sight, blocking the sun.
āHey, Martin.ā
I didnāt look at him, but gave him a phony-casual, āHey, Ty.ā
My heart was pounding. I probably looked scared, probably more delicate than usual. I wasnāt scared or feeling particularly vulnerable, though. Just shy. Very, very shy. Ty didnāt scare me but made me feel uncomfortable in an antsy sort of way. I felt like a jumping bean next to his solidness.
He nodded casually, stepped away, turned, and joined me in a lean against the bricks. He was a strapping six feet something. I was a lithe five feet six, to my mind not tall and not short. And definitely not delicate. My head came up to his armpit.
Teenage boy unease blossomed between us. Who would speak first? About what? What was there to say really? My mind was blank.
Side by side, we leaned. Surreptitiously, I took his measure. Was he taking mine? I hoped he liked curly-haired dishwater blonds with light brown eyes. I was drawn to his commanding dark brown hair, cut short in military style, and his matching dark brown eyes. And muscles. I couldnāt resist a solid kid, especially Ty.
Slouched against the wall, we had to look like we were posing for a poster about kids on the verge of high school greatness. Or maybe not. Maybe we reeked of excessive mischief.
āYour mom is the one who makes the stuff for the craft fair, right?ā he asked in a low, cracking baritone as if we were about to share secrets.
Without a glance at him, I nodded slowly, uncomfortably. This wasnāt how my first real conversation with him was supposed to go. We were supposed to talk about something important, like us, not our mothers.
He was right, though. My mom was the leader of the parent brigade of crafters who sold their wares at the big money-making fair right before Christmas and at several smaller events during the year.
His mom was head of the opposition, a group of women who called the handmade items junk and trash.
Ty and I were on opposite sides of glitter and sequins.