Sometimes the best way to know a person is by asking questions, where you can learn more about what makes them tick. Let’s see who is visiting us today.

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What is your name?
– – Maddy Stewart

How old are you?
– – When you first met me, I was 31, but that was five years ago.

What is your profession?
– – I’m a freelancer for a fashion magazine called “Hot Style” that comes out of New York City. I used to be a senior editor.

Do you have a significant other?
– – No. I can’t even think of falling in love right now, but there is someone who’s been particularly kind to me at a time when I’ve needed it.

What is his name?
– – John D’Orfini

What is his profession?
– – D’Orfini is a detective in a small town in New Jersey called Spring Haven. I met him when my eight-year-old daughter disappeared and he was in charge of the case, along with the FBI.

What town do you live in?
– – New York City

House or building complex?
– – I live on the fourth floor in an apartment building in Chelsea.

Do you rent or own?
– – My former husband and I owned it, but I bought him out, so now it’s all mine.

What is your favorite spot in your house?
– – It used to be my daughter’s room. Now, since she’s gone missing, it’s hard for me to go in there.

Who is your best friend?
– – Kay. . . we’ve been friends since middle school. I used to share everything with Kay, until . . .

Favorite vacation spot?
– – My daughter, Vinni, and I used to vacation together at the Jersey Shore. I’ve traveled there now without her, but only to meet with D’Orfini.

Favorite color?
– – Vinni used to talk about having a blue garden—only blue flowers—when she grew up. I guess I’d have to say blue, too. Thinking about it makes me feel closer to her.

Favorite artist?
– – That’s an easy one. The artist, Kaethe Kollwitz of Germany, stole my heart when I began to paint through my sorrow.

Favorite author?
– – I haven’t been reading much. It’s too hard to concentrate on words. This is why I paint now.

What about sports?
– – Nope. I was never an athlete. My ex-husband loved football and reading the NYTimes over Sunday brunch in a city restaurant. When I had Vinni, I just wanted to be with her. We did though go to Dylan’s candy shop uptown all the time.

Are you a morning or a night person?
– – The past five years have been very difficult. Sleeping was almost non-existent when Vinni first disappeared. Eventually, over time, I did begin to sleep again but then I dreamed these wild dreams. I dreamed of bizarre images that never made their way to the canvas but somehow, they slipped into the subconscious of my mind when I slept. When I finally crawled out of bed, I walked block after block in the city. I didn’t have a plan of where I was going. I just walked. At night, well . . . that was the worst. The darkness. Guilt crept over me. Sorry. I’m not sure I really answered the question.

Guilt?
– – Yes. I started to paint and eventually my work was recognized in the art world. It was crazy. Everything happened so fast and yet it didn’t . . . not really. Remember, my daughter’s been missing for five years. If I didn’t paint, I probably would have gone mad.

In a few sentences, what is a typical day in your life like?
– – As I mentioned earlier, I’m freelancing as a writer for a fashion magazine. My last assignment took me out west where I interviewed the latest hot young models—fresh off the farm. Two of them were only fifteen—just two years younger than Vinni would be now. So, I don’t have a typical day in the sense that I wake up, go to work, come home, cook dinner. You know . . . something like that. Also, I can tell you that my life is about to change. I just have to follow the rules. I know this sounds confusing, but you’re going to have to believe me, that I have had to make choices over the past five years that have impacted my life in ways I never thought possible. Things are about to change and there is nothing typical about any of it.

You can read about Maddy in A Matter of Chance, the author’s debut novel.

When eight-year-old Vinni Stewart disappears from a Jersey shore town, Maddy, her distraught single mother, begins a desperate search for her daughter. Maddy’s five-year journey leads her to a bakery in Brooklyn, where she stumbles upon something terrifying. Ultimately, her artist neighbor Evelyn reconnects Maddy to her passion for painting and guides her to a life transformed through art.

Detective John D’Orfini sees more than a kidnapping in the plot-thickening twists of chance surrounding Vinni’s disappearance, but his warnings to stay away from the investigation do not deter Maddy, even when her search puts her in danger. When the Russian Mafia warns her to stop sniffing into their business, Maddy must make a choice whether to save one child―even if it might jeopardize saving her own.

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Meet the author
Julie Maloney is the founder/director of WOMEN READING ALOUD, a non-profit organization devoted to promoting women writers. She is a trained workshop leader in the Amherst Writers and Artists Method and holds an MFA from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She is a former dancer, choreographer and artistic director of the Julie Maloney Dance Company in New York City. Her book of poems, Private Landscape, was published by Arseya Press. Her poems have appeared in many journals, such as Tiferet, WomenKin, Paterson Literary Review and others. She is a frequent speaker on “Writing as a Life Tool.” As director of WRA, she leads writing workshops throughout the year. Julie will return to the island of Alonnisos in September, 2018 to lead her eighth international writer’s retreat in Greece. In 2017, she led her second writer’s retreat in the south of France. Her debut novel, A Matter of Chance, was published by SheWrites Press in April, 2018. Visit Julie at juliemaloney.net

All comments are welcomed.