ICYMI - Between The Pages ~ Live with Catherine Lanigan (PT1)

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Between The Pages
Live with Catherine Lanigan 

April 05, 2017 on our Facebook Page 

(Part One) 

I’d like to welcome everyone to Still Moments Magazine’s live interview! Our special guest today is Catherine Lanigan. Catherine, what can I get you to drink, and perhaps your favourite snack?
Catherine Lanigan Hi, Darlene! I'm good with my grapes and though I have tea about now, I missed my morning coffee! In the afternoon like this, I like hot tea. Of course, in the summer, that would be iced tea. To snack, I’m grapes and nuts. Not grape nuts, but red grapes because they’re supposed to be healthy for me and almonds.
Still Moments Magazine grapes are yummy, and thank you for the green tea. It was different (as I've never had it before ) but good.

Please tell everyone a little about yourself.
Catherine Lanigan I am the author of over 45 books now. I just found out that I have written 15 books as of this month for Harlequin. I didn't even know! Isn't that so bad?
Still Moments Magazine  That's amazing! You've been very busy.

Catherine Lanigan But, I guest the biggest thing about myself is that I have always thought of myself as an adventuress. This past summer I completed 4 barrel rolls and 4 loops in a stunt plane
Catherine Lanigan When I lived in South America, in Quito, Ecuador, I'd climbed a volcano, walked along a dirt road with rose farms on one side and Eucalyptus groves on the other.
Still Moments Magazine Wow, that was quite an adventure, both exciting and scary. Sounds like you’ve had many fun adventures. I can’t imagine what’s next on your bucket list.
Catherine Lanigan I think I have to create a whole new bucket list! LOL.
Still Moments Magazine You are quite a dare-devil, lol.
Helen DePrima Enjoyed a similar flight in a Stearman bi-plane -- what a rush!
Catherine Lanigan NOW I ask you, isn't that just the coolest? And the pilots were all fantastic.
Still Moments Magazine I bet your pulse was racing!

Catherine, I heard you sprained your ankle and broke your ribs during a Lab puppy rescue. Can you tell us what happened? 
Catherine Lanigan This is so crazy. Three weeks ago now, we had this horrible wind storm. I could barely walk from the WalMart doors to my car, the wind kept pushing me. I got to a four way stop on my way home and the house on the northwest corner had just put up a new fence. Well, a six foot section had blown down. A beautiful Yellow Lab and what looked like a boxer mix, puppy, I surmised from the fact that the dog was like a young colt. He jumped around and ran straight into the traffic. He went up to the cars, which were NOT stopping and tried to jump up, like he wanted to go for a ride. I drove on, thinking surely, the owner would come out and see the fence down and the dog was out. I got one block away, and kept watching in my rear view mirror. But no owner. I turned the car around, went back, parked and got out. The dog was across the street. The factory down the road had let out. Now there were lots and lots of cars. All of them not stopping for this dog who wanted to play in the middle of the intersection. I called to the dog and finally, he realized I meant him. He rushed over toward me. Strong, lean and easily 70-90 pounds, he jumped toward me, knocked me down and then was all over me. I twisted my ankle, and I thought, “If I wind up in a ‘boot’ over this, I’ll be really mad.” I didn’t pay attention to my ribs or shoulder. I finally got up. Still no owner. I went to my car and got my cell phone and called 911. In the middle of my conversation , this old, and I mean old, woman came out through the blown down fence and saw the dog. She said, “I’m going to get a stick and beat that dog!” I screamed, “You are NOT going to hit that dog!” I said into the phone, “Are you getting this?” I asked the dog’s name and when she said it was “Duke” I called to him and told him he would get a treat if he went into the house. Finally, I got both the dog and the old lady into the house. And I told the lady that 911 had our conversation on record. When I got back to my car and leaned back against the seat, I felt the pain. I went to my doctor and she said, “Yep. Looks like two broken ribs.” So, there’s nothing you can do for them. Just live through it. But in the end, I know the dog didn’t get run over and if that woman tried to hurt the dog, she knew the cops were on to her.
Still Moments Magazine That is a crazy experience! You put yourself in harm’s way to save that dog’s life! That’s brave of you and very caring. And kudos to you for calling 911, and for warning that lady to not harm the dog.
Kate James If I didn't love Catherine already, this would have done it!
Beth Carpenter Catherine is so brave, she can even have adventures at WalMart parking lots.

What is your connection to the movies Romancing the Stone and The Jewel of the Nile? And is it true you’ve met Michael Douglas? 

Catherine Lanigan The story is a long one, especially since I wrote the novelizations of both Romancing and Jewel. And that means that I took the screenplay and turned it into a novel. This was back before Fed Ex. Computers and we wrote our books on IBM Selectrics and used “correct tape” for our errors. To make a long story short, I took a 99 page screenplay and turned it into a 365 page book in less than 28 days. I had to allow for three days Blue Label shipping to get the screenplay back to New York. That left 25 days. I took a sabbatical from my 7 day a week job and wrote nearly 14 hours a day. (I was young.) Michael flew me to Hollywood to meet everyone during re-shoots. Because that was the year of the Swine Flu, all the people who were to be in my “entourage” were sick. So, I had no one to escort me around. I “had” to hang with Michael in his office for the better part of a day and then go to lunch with Kathleen and Holland Taylor. Then I sat with Michael while he had his makeup put on. Oh, it was such hard work. LOL. Then that summer when the book and movie launched in Europe, I was sent to Italy to promote the book. The Italian publisher threw a yacht party for me on a 92 foot yacht and there were 48 European newspapers represented at the party. The premiere was held in a coliseum that was 400 years older than the coliseum in Rome. I had practiced two lines in Italian that I spoke to the thousands of people crowded into the coliseum. I was told there were 25,000 people there that night in Taormina, Sicily.
Still Moments Magazine  That is an awesome story! And to have been hanging our with Michael must have been the biggest treat!
Catherine Lanigan I'm so serious...he was the MOST gorgeous man in person. I tried really hard to be natural, but MY GOODNESS!
Still Moments Magazine  Now I can say I know a celebrity because you've rubbed shoulders with them which makes you one! lol!
Catherine Lanigan You are too funny.

Still Moments Magazine By the way, you are so beautiful in those photos, making the other woman (lol) seem unimportant.
Catherine Lanigan WOW what a compliment! Thank you. THAT was a long, long time ago.
Monique Martin I was so jealous of you!
Phyllis Rae Uzelac She still is!!

Catherine, it is very hard to believe that as a teenager you were asked to promise to never write again. Have you had an encounter with that professor since being a New York Times best-selling and award winning author? If not, what would you say to him today? 
Catherine Lanigan You know, I never ran into him again, but the little old nun who WAS my mentor at college, sent him a copy of every book I published with a note: “I TOLD you so.” If the guy was still alive, I would say “thank you.” Being angry over the lost of 14 years of what could have been my writing life, has spurred me to stay the course through the rest of my life and keep writing. Because of him, I will never give up. Ever.
Still Moments Magazine  I guess he was that 'push' that you needed. And your readers have him to thank for all the wonderful stories you give us.

Catherine, what do you like to do when you’re not writing? 
Catherine Lanigan Seriously, sleep. When I’m not sleeping I read, listen to music. Garden in the spring and summer. (I don’t mow. Just piddle around in the garden. I love to shop garden shops. I’m addicted to flowers.) And I bake for friends.
Still Moments Magazine LOL on sleeping! And I can honesty speak for your baking skills which are superb! Those cookies were delicious!
Catherine Lanigan I'm laughing. Yes You do know first hand! And those lemon cookies are now a new favorite of mine, too!
Still Moments Magazine I expected them to be plain sugar cookies then the lemon hit and was a nice surprise.
Kate James If you don't mind me chiming in, I have the pleasure of knowing Catherine, and I wonder if she EVER sleeps? She's always on the go and doing wonderful things!

To continue our chat, read Part Two of Live with Catherine here: 
http://stillmomentsezine.blogspot.ca/2017/04/icymi-between-pages-live-with-catherine_7.html