Month: June 2019

The number of different paths to success are amazing! Here’s one writing path that led contemporary romance author Katherine L. Evans from Wattpad to bestselling status with works that are “superbly captivating.” But let her tell you all about her books and her writing process. Here’s her official bio and then we’ll dive into the actual interview.

Katherine L. Evans is a bestselling author of emotionally-driven love stories that stay in your heart long after you reach The End. With a background in 19th-Century English Literature and Journalism, she has been honored with several writing awards, and her work has been featured in academic literary journals and anthologies. As the author of more than thirteen contemporary romance novels, Katherine’s work has been described by readers and book bloggers as “heartfelt, entrancing, and superbly captivating.” She is a native of Austin, Texas, where she lives with her three best guys, her husband, son, and yellow lab named Dave.

You can get to know her better at www.katherinelevans.com, and follow her on Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads.

Betty: How many books have you written and published?

Katherine: I just celebrated the publication of my thirteenth novel earlier this month. Outside of novels, I’ve contributed to three anthologies, with two more slated for the forthcoming year.

Betty: What genre(s) do you write in and why?

Katherine: The vast majority of my novels (eleven out of thirteen) are contemporary romance. I’ve always been drawn to stories about relationships. As a child, I read books that focused on friendships, and now it’s exclusively romantic relationships. People can be fascinating and the dynamics within which we relate and interact with each other is not only entertaining, but is an endless source of complexities that can teach us more about ourselves.

Betty: What themes or motifs did you use in your recent release and why were they important to your story?

Katherine: Breaking the Rules is all about off-limits affection and embracing the unexpected. We can’t always get the exact happy ending we have in mind, but if we have an open heart, we can often find something even better. The story follows a woman who starts out head-over-heels in love with someone who has some very problematic shortcomings and doesn’t have her best interests at heart, but she soon realizes there’s something else out there that ultimately gives her what her heart always truly desired.

Carson McDermott does what he damn well pleases. As the eldest son of one of the wealthiest families in New Orleans, he did his time in college and law school, and now he placates his family by keeping a day job as a contract attorney. By night, however, he’s gunning for the title of the city’s most eligible bachelor and samples the finest women the Big Easy has to offer—including the beautiful blonde at the bar next to him one particular evening, who seems to be in a really foul mood. And Carson knows just the way to cheer her up.

Sabrina Deneau is unlucky in love and back in her hometown of New Orleans after ten long years away. When the man she’s been pining after for two years gives her the ultimate brush-off, Sabrina slinks off to a bar to drown her sorrows—and the sexy stranger attempting to coax her out of her bad mood at a bar one evening is the perfect place to start.

After a mind-blowing one-night-stand, Sabrina is in much better spirits and opts to join her older brother and his friends for dinner the following evening—only to find herself seated right next to Carson.

Sabrina and Carson agree there can’t be a repeat of the one night they had together, but she’s still got his phone number… and he’s still got hers.

She’s still stuck on using him to heal her broken heart.

And Carson can’t seem to tell his best friend’s hot-as-hell baby sister no—even though he knows it might literally get him killed if anyone finds out.

Amazon

Betty: Do you have a specific place that you write? Revise?

Katherine: I am a couch writer! We have the softest, squishiest couch in the world, and honestly, writing at a desk feels too much like being back in school.

Betty: Do you have any writing rituals while you write? Did you have a special drink, or music, or time of day that you gravitated toward?

Katherine: I always have a coffee and a water, and for every book I’m working on, I create a new playlist to fit the tone of the story. Headphones are also a must, given that I live with three very loud boys.

Betty: What helped you move from unpublished to published? A mentor or organization or something else?

Katherine: I started out writing fiction on Wattpad back in 2014, and the story I posted got so much traffic and enthusiasm that it became one of the most popular ones in the romance category, so I thought I’d query a couple of publishers. I got three contracts within a week and picked the one with the best reputation. After being with them for three years and five novels, I decided to go the indie author route and now publish exclusively through Amazon.

Betty: What do you think is your greatest strength in your writing?

Katherine: Tapping into the depth of emotions. All of my books consistently receive reviews that state the reader ran the gamut of emotions. So when you read any of my books, prepare to laugh, cry, swoon, and pretty much everything in between.

Betty: What comes first when you’re brainstorming a new story: setting, situation, characters?

Katherine: Generally, I take something I see or hear in real life that involves some kind of complicated relationship dynamics and let my imagination run wild from there. So it’s typically a situation, and from there I figure out what the characters’ histories are that would land them in that situation, and eventually choose a setting that compliments the story.

Betty: Do you have a structured time to write or is more fluid/flexible? Do you have to write between family obligations or do you set aside a block of time?

Katherine: I adopted Chris Fox’s concept of the “tortoise enclosure” and starting my day with writing. To avoid being interrupted, I start writing at 5 a.m. every morning, which gives me two hours of uninterrupted writing time before everyone wakes up.

Betty: What is one recent struggle you’ve experienced in your writing?

Katherine: The quantity of books I’ve written over the past twelve months has caused me to recently develop serious emotional exhaustion. My Romance in New Orleans series is a true saga in that it’s long and emotionally complex, with many characters that share multiple complex connections to each other, and also has a great deal of tragedy in varying degrees. It’s been a marathon, and as I approach the end, I’ve noticed my stamina is waning a little.

Betty: Do you participate in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month)? Why or why not?

Katherine: I participated in Camp NaNo earlier this year to help my friend get enthusiasm for her cabin, however I never saw the need for NaNoWriMo given that I typically write a 90-100k word novel every month anyway.

Betty: What are you reading right now?

Katherine: As a huge supporter of my fellow indie authors, I’m currently reading Holding Out for Paris, by Gabrielle Ashton, which is her debut novel. It’s wonderful, and I can tell this young lady is going to go far.

Betty: What is your favorite genre to read?

Katherine: Romance, of course! But I also love Nineteenth Century British Classics

Betty: What are your keeper books? How often might you reread them?

Katherine: Wasted by Marya Hornbacher and Jane Austen’s Persuasion. At least once every couple of years.

Betty: When you’re writing, do you read in the same genre as your work in progress or something else?

Katherine: I do! If I’m ever struggling to get words out, I know it’s that my creative tank is low and I need to refill it with inspiration from my peers in the romance genre.

Betty: Do you have a “day job” or do you write full time?

Katherine: I am very fortunate to be a full-time writer! Prior to writing books, I was a freelance writer in the marketing industry, so writing has always paid the bills for me.

Betty: What do you wish readers knew about the publishing industry?

Katherine: That it’s nowhere near as glamorous as it seems and it is a LOT of work. It also stops feeling super exciting after releasing your second or third book. You arrive at a point where it’s just part of the job. You still love it, but it is WORK.

Betty: What advice do you have for new writers?

Katherine: You can’t avoid marketing, even if you are traditionally published, so get started on learning the ropes as soon as you can.

Betty: Any hints of what you’re next writing project might be?

Katherine: I have a wildly dramatic and emotional series finale in the works for my Romance in New Orleans Saga, one that is going to break a lot of hearts of the readers of this series, but that will also mend those broken hearts in beautiful fashion. My next series will be a spin off set in a fictional mountain town just outside of Portland that follows one of the relatives of a major character from the RNO saga. Tentatively titled Eastwood Valley, this new series will debut in 2020.

Betty: What kind of writing would you like to experiment with? Or what’s a different genre you’ve considered writing but haven’t yet?

Katherine: I’m secretly dabbling under a pseudonym in Gaslamp Fantasy, which is similar to Steampunk except that the focus is on the magic rather than the machinery.

What an interesting path to publication and finding your readers, Katherine! Thanks so much for stopping in and sharing your background and writing process.

Betty

P.S. If you haven’t already, please consider signing up for my newsletter, which I send out most every month, including news like new covers, new releases, and upcoming appearances where I love to meet my readers, along with recipes and writing progress. Thanks and happy reading!

Visit www.bettybolte.com for more on my books and upcoming events.

My next guest is award-winning historical fiction author Jessica James. I read the description of her book and it sounds like my kind of story! But I’m getting ahead of myself. Here’s Jessica’s official bio and then I’ll get right to the good stuff…

Jessica James believes in honor, duty, and everlasting love—and that’s what she writes about in her award-winning novels that span the ages from the Revolutionary War to modern day.

She is a three-time winner of the John Esten Cooke Award for Southern Fiction, and has won more than a dozen other literary awards, including a Readers’ Favorite International Book Award and a Gold Medal from the Military Writers Society of America. Her novels have been used in schools and are available in hundreds of libraries including Harvard and the U.S. Naval Academy.

To combat the sedentary career of writing, Jessica works as a part-time stagehand at the Majestic Theater in Gettysburg, Pa., the “grandest small town theater in the nation.”

You can find out more about her and her books at www.jessicajamesbooks.com, or follow her at BookBub, Goodreads, or Facebook.    

Betty: How many books have you written and published?

Jessica: 10

Betty: What genre(s) do you write in and why?

I began my career writing historical fiction (Civil War), and thought that’s what I would always write. However, a book called Meant To Be begged to be written and started me on a new path of romantic suspense and thrillers. Lacewood will be my first novel in the women’s fiction/mainstream romance genre, but it combines all of my favorite things…history, mystery, and a deeply poignant love story that spans the ages.

Betty: What themes or motifs did you use in your recent release and why were they important to your story?

I’ve always been fascinated by history and I’m drawn to old houses. Lacewood incorporates both of these and melds together some of my other favorite things, like small towns, country life, and majestic old trees. Our military is also very important to me so my heroes are usually soldiers or veterans. Lacewood focuses on a modern-day veteran and a soldier from the Civil War, so readers get two love stories for the price of one.

Sometimes love is just too powerful for one lifetime…

Two people trying to escape their pasts find a connection through an old house—and fulfill a destiny through the secrets it shares. Part love story, part ghost story, Lacewood is a timeless novel about trusting in fate, letting go of the past, and believing in things that can’t be seen.

A powerful and poignant tale that vividly conveys the heartache of war, the tragedy of loss, and the fulfillment of destiny…even when souls are separated by centuries. Lacewood takes readers on a journey that connects the past with the present—and the present with eternity.

Amazon     Apple   Books2Read     

Note: Lacewood is on sale for $3.99 through 6/22/19!

Betty: Do you have a specific place that you write? Revise?

Jessica: I do all of my writing, editing, and reading on a very comfortable chair that I bought with money won through the John Esten Cooke Award for Southern Fiction. It was a big splurge, but well worth it!

Betty: Do you have any writing rituals while you write? Did you have a special drink, or music, or time of day that you gravitated toward?

Jessica: I’m a morning writer and need complete silence (except for birds chirping).

Betty: What helped you move from unpublished to published? A mentor or organization or something else?

Jessica: Determination and a stubborn refusal to quit.

Betty: What comes first when you’re brainstorming a new story: setting, situation, characters?

Jessica: For Lacewood, the thing that came first was sycamore trees. Strange, I know, but all of a sudden I began noticing them during my travels. (They are the trees with snowy white limbs). Most people would probably disregard this sudden fascination, but being a writer, I knew there must be a reason. I began to do research, and found that they were once called lacewood, due to the lacy pattern of bark on their trunks. Hmmm. Lacewood sounded like a good name for an old house…Imagine the stories it could tell… And thus, Lacewood was born.

Betty:  Do you have a structured time to write or is more fluid/flexible? Do you have to write between family obligations or do you set aside a block of time?

Jessica: First thing in the morning is definitely my writing time. I try to avoid morning obligations as much as possible because that is definitely when my creative juices are flowing. Afternoon time is for mundane activities like marketing or catching up on emails.

Betty: What is your favorite genre to read?

Jessica: I read a lot of non-fiction for research. Reading fiction is a rare treat. I do make time to read whenever a new Vince Flynn novel is released.

Betty: What are your keeper books? How often might you reread them?

Jessica: My bookshelves are mostly full of 19^th century or early 20^th century books. I did tons of research in the early days of writing historical fiction in order to get a feel for the flow of words and use of vocabulary in the Victorian era. Those books are now impossible to part with.

Betty: Do you have a “day job” or do you write full time?

Jessica: I took a part-time job when I began writing seriously because I found that I was spending 12 hours a day (or more) sitting in a chair. The job was as a stagehand at a performing arts center, which can be very physical on show days. That was about 14 years ago, and I’m still there, working everything from orchestra concerts to operas, Broadway shows, comedy acts, and top touring bands. It’s a perfect fit for me.

Betty: What do you wish readers knew about the publishing industry?

Jessica: I wish readers knew how much authors value their feedback, and how important reviews are to us. If you like a book, take the time to write a short review or spread the news through social media. It is much appreciated!

Betty: What advice do you have for new writers?

Jessica: A-B-C. Attach Butt to Chair.

Betty: Any hints of what you’re next writing project might be?

Jessica: Readers have been begging me to continue my Phantom Force Tactical series, so I think that’s where I’m heading next.

Thanks for sharing about your writing and your stories, Jessica! It must be fun to be involved with the theater, too. I’m off to buy Lacewood… Happy reading, all!

Betty

P.S. If you haven’t already, please consider signing up for my newsletter, which I send out most every month, including news like new covers, new releases, and upcoming appearances where I love to meet my readers, along with recipes and writing progress. Thanks and happy reading!

Visit www.bettybolte.com for more on my books and upcoming events.

I’d like to introduce you all to a fellow historical fiction/romance author, Gina Danna. Like me, she writes in different time periods and locations. I’ll give you her professional bio and then hop right into the interview. Enjoy!

A USAToday Bestselling author, Gina Danna was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and has spent the better part of her life reading. History has always been her love and she spent numerous hours devouring historical romance stories, always dreaming of writing one of her own. After years of writing historical academic papers to achieve her undergraduate and graduate degrees in History, and then for museum programs and exhibits, she found the time to write her own historical romantic fiction novels.

Now, under the supervision of her dogs, she writes amid a library of research books, with her only true break away is to spend time with her other life long dream – her Arabian horse – with him, her muse can play.

You can learn more about her and her books at www.ginadanna.com, or follow her on Facebook or Twitter.

Betty: What genre(s) do you write in and why?

Gina: I write historical fiction and historical romance – most of the time combined in a historical fiction with romantic overtones and some straight historical romance. For my Ancient Rome and Civil War, they have to correct, especially the Civil War, which means having the history and historical persons in it. My Regency tend to be more romance, though with historical background. If that makes any sense.

Gerard Jennings had done his duty for God and Country and returned to England to assume a title he had never wanted nor deserved. Sweat and blood were not all he left behind in war-torn France, he’d also left his heart with the woman he’d loved and lost. Forced into a society that no longer fits the man he’s become, the new Marquis of Linnwood drifts through a sea of debutantes to fulfill the family obligation of finding a wife. None attract his attention until he meets the one who tugs at his reluctant heart – Lady Charlotte.

A runaway pup, a damsel in distress, Lady Charlotte is rescued by Lord Linnwood only to have her reputation ripped to shreds by petty gossip. Her fiance withdraws his proposal, leaving Charlotte forever ruined. The dashing Marquis again comes to her aid by making her his wife. 
Though deeply in love with her husband, Charlotte can’t bridge the distance between them and spends night after night alone. His haunted past shadows their lives and she must find a way to not only dispel his ghosts but ease his grieving heart. Will it be enough to also save his tortured soul?

Amazon     Apple     Kobo

Betty: Do you have a specific place that you write? Revise?

Gina: No, not really. I work a full time job so my co-workers see me lugging my laptop with me and I get as much as I can get done at work as well as home.

Betty: Do you have any writing rituals while you write? Did you have a special drink, or music, or time of day that you gravitated toward?

Gina: I need quiet – which can be amazingly hard to get when you have a job like I do and live in an apartment!

Betty: What helped you move from unpublished to published? A mentor or organization or something else?

Gina: I think what drove me was the first RWA group I joined – Missouri Romance Writers (MORWA). Very encouraging group. Great support!

Betty: What comes first when you’re brainstorming a new story: setting, situation, characters?

Gina: Timeframe – of course, but after that, it’s the characters. My main people are very loud, so they’re the driving force by all means.

Betty: What is one recent struggle you’ve experienced in your writing?

Gina: A recent struggle was working to finish a novella for a summer anthology, putting the 4^th book in my Civil War series aside so I could finish, only to have the group literally fall apart. So I had this book just waiting. It’s being released on June 17^th. J

Betty: Do you participate in NaNoWriMo? Why or why not?

Gina: I did so for a couple of years and succeeded – Go Me! But my current job now steals a ton of my time. It’s a busy season for us, so I haven’t been able to even think about it…

Betty: When you’re writing, do you read in the same genre as your work in progress or something else?

Gina: No, I try NOT to read the same genre/time period as my current works in progress. Fear it will mess my muse so I avoid it till after I’m finished.

Betty: Do you have a “day job” or do you write full time?

Gina: Yes, I have a day job – I work for Southwest Airlines

Betty: What advice do you have for new writers?

Gina: Keep writing! Listen to your muse! Not the market. If you try to write just for the market, that’s a tricky thing. It changes rapidly in comparison to writing so don’t do it.

Betty: Any hints of what you’re next writing project might be?

Gina: Well, I have a Christmas Regency novella for this winter (total romance) and finish the 4^th book in my Civil War series, hopefully start on book 5.

Thanks for stopping by and sharing about your interesting background and your writing process. Best of luck with your future writing career, too!

Betty

P.S. If you haven’t already, please consider signing up for my newsletter, which I send out most every month, including news like new covers, new releases, and upcoming appearances where I love to meet my readers, along with recipes and writing progress. Thanks and happy reading!

Visit www.bettybolte.com for more on my books and upcoming events.

Today I’d like for you all to help me welcome romance author Allie McCormack. She’s written some fascinating and entertaining stories I think you might love. But let’s find out more about her and then about her writing process and the stories she loves to share with readers. Let’s start with her bio and brief statement about herself:

Allie McCormack is a disabled U.S. military veteran, now pursuing her lifelong dream of being a writer. A long-time member of Romance Writers of America, she has lived all around the U.S., as well as a year in Cairo, Egypt as an exchange student and a year working in a hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. After a somewhat nomadic life, she settled in Tucson, Arizona with her two rescue cats. You can visit Allie’s website at http://www.AllieMcCormack.com.

Allie says: “A writer is who and what I am…a romance writer. I write what I know, and what I know is romance. Dozens of story lines and literally hundreds of characters live and breathe within the not-so-narrow confines of my imagination, and it is my joy and privilege to bring them to life, to share them with others by writing their stories.”

Find out more at her website http://alliemccormack.com/j, and follow her on Twitter or Facebook.

Douglas needed a miracle. What he got was a genie…

Veterinarian Douglas McCandliss considered himself an ordinary kinda guy with an ordinary kinda life. He had no idea why he’d bought the old silver teapot, and when a young woman appeared before him claiming to be a genie, he almost wished he hadn’t. If only she wasn’t so damned cute.

Ebullient and cheerful, Jacinth loved granting wishes and helping people. So she was thrilled when her teapot’s new owner, a single father with custody of two young children, asked her to stay until he could find a nanny. The problem was, the longer she stayed, the more she was attracted to Douglas, and she was certainly not willing to turn over care of Ben and little Molly to just anybody. But she was a 900-year-old genie, and had no intention of falling in love with a mortal. None whatsoever.

This is the second book in my Wishes & Dreams paranormal romance series.

Amazon     Amazon AU     Amazon CA     Amazon DE     Amazon FR     Amazon IN     Amazon UK

Betty: How many books have you written and published?

Allie: 6 written, 4 published (so far!)

Betty: What genre(s) do you write in and why?

Allie: I write in romance genre only, mostly because I’m a die-hard romantic, and the stories that come to me are *always* romance! I can’t imagine writing anything else. I write both multicultural and paranormal romance.

Betty: What themes or motifs did you use in your recent release and why were they important to your story?

Allie: I have the recurring Djinn (genie) theme with some Arabic overtones, since Djinn originated in pre-Islamic folklore, and I used both Islamic and pre-Islamic accounts of Djinn, as well as the Arabian Nights tales, as the basis for my world-building. Also, I lived in the Middle East and had some experience with the culture and I enjoy recounting that; I feel like it adds touches of exotic flare and interest to the stories.

Betty: Do you have a specific place that you write? Revise?

Allie: Absolutely! My L-shaped desk sits in the center of a bay window looking out over the Sonora Desert and the Catalina Mountains. It’s a spectacular view, and 3 days a month, the full moon rises straight up the middle of the center bay window, directly above my monitor. I’m a career typist, so after more years than I want to admit to, sitting at a computer desk (with good posture) typing is far more natural to me than anything else, and I do my best work here. I do have a laptop that I take out to restaurants for a prolonged writing session over a meal, which is fun too!

Betty: Do you have any writing rituals while you write? Did you have a special drink, or music, or time of day that you gravitated toward?

Allie: Absolutely. I have to have a full glass of iced tea at my side when I get started. I have a writing playlist…I need music to write, I can’t have silence, but also it has to be mostly instrumental only, because vocals tend to pull my out of my head. I also have specific snacks just for writing; high-energy/protein, low on carbs and sugar and anything that’s going to make me sleepy.

Betty: What helped you move from unpublished to published? A mentor or organization or something else?

Allie: I’ve been writing and writing and writing, and had all these manuscripts in more or less finished state. I was still querying agents and publishers like mad, when one day I realized that my judgement was clouded; I was still in the mindset of 2000, when I first started writing for publication. Indie publishing wasn’t even really much of a thing back then, small presses and ebooks on CD (as pdf’s) were just beginning to proliferate, and Kindle wasn’t invented yet. Being traditionally published was THE way to go, if you wanted any respect for being an author. But here we are, with…well, everything!…available to authors who want to self-publish. This enlightenment kind of rocked me off balance, and I came to the conclusion that there wasn’t all that much incentive for me to continue to hold out for traditional publishing; I could do everything myself! Now… this isn’t to say that I wouldn’t LOVE to be discovered by Berkley (who, by the way, has never heard of me), but at this point, a publisher would have to offer some pretty good inducement (Marketing!!! Promotion!) to change my mind. One last thing that really tipped the scales is that, if I self-published, I wouldn’t be required to write explicit sex scenes if I didn’t want to, which, mostly, I don’t. So I found a terrific professional cover artist, someone to do professional formatting, and I never looked back!

Betty: What do you think is your greatest strength in your writing?

Allie: My ability to get lost in the story I’m telling. I immerse myself in the story/world, and bring it to life.

Betty: What comes first when you’re brainstorming a new story: setting, situation, characters?

Allie: Characters, absolutely.  They show up in my head and make their story known, and I delve deeper to find out the setting, the situation. I’m not so much creating as I am uncovering!

Betty: Do you have a structured time to write or is it more fluid/flexible? Do you have to write between family obligations or do you set aside a block of time?

Allie: Definitely fluid. I don’t have any obligations (except to feed the cats 3 times a day!), so I can write whenever. The only set block of time is Saturdays from 1-5 pm, when I co-hostess a write-in. All that aside… my best writing time is after 10 pm. I have no idea why, but that’s when the ideas come, the words flow, when my focus/concentration is best.

Betty: What is one recent struggle you’ve experienced in your writing?

Allie: Ugh. My back went out in early January, and I’m still having problems with it now (end of March at the time of this writing). It’s limiting the amount of time I can spend at my desk writing. While I can take the laptop to the recliner, writing like that doesn’t feel natural, it’s awkward and odd, and that stifles the creative flow. If I have to do that, I usually focus more on editing. It’s slowed me way down; I’m still on the final read-through/polish of A Gift of Jacinth, although I’ll be done with that by the time this interview goes live! J

Betty: Do you participate in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month)? Why or why not?

Allie: Absolutely!!! This will be my 12^th year, and I’ve “won” 4 of those. I actually plan my entire year (and publishing schedule) around NaNoWriMo. I make it a HUGE event in my life, where I work on something new and really let the ideas come flying. It’s not for everyone, because everyone writes differently, but for me it’s a huge motivation, and I look forward to it with excitement and anticipation. It’d be fair to say that NaNo is the highlight of my entire year!

Betty: What are you reading right now?

Allie: I’ve been re-reading old favorites lately: Georgette Heyer, Nora Roberts, Christine Feehan, Dick Francis.

Betty: What is your favorite genre to read?

Allie: Romance!!!

Betty: What are your keeper books? How often might you reread them?

Allie: WAY too many to list here…I can re-read my really old favorites (Georgette Heyer & Nora Roberts) as often as 2-3 times a year, others such as Christine Feehan, Anne McCaffrey, Lord of the Rings, about once a year.

Betty: When you’re writing, do you read in the same genre as your work in progress or something else?

Allie: Definitely something else. If I stay in the same genre, my mind is busy making comparisons. Or at least subgenre; for instance, I can read Georgette Heyer any time since those are Regency romances. I can read Christine Feehan while I’m writing my multicultural romances, but not while I’m working on the paranormal romances.

Betty: Do you have a “day job” or do you write full time?

Allie: I’m disabled, so I don’t have a day job; however, I deal a lot with chronic pain (and the associated depression), and I find ways to work around those issues. Which is the main reason I don’t have a writing schedule or a specific time of day that I write; I write when I am able!

Betty: What do you wish readers knew about the publishing industry?

Allie: That reviews COUNT! That writing is not easy… it’s hard work, emotionally draining as we pour out our hearts and soul into the written word. Then editing, editing, editing, editing, editing to polish it into perfection. There’s the nightmare that is marketing and promotion, even for traditionally published authors. And finally, releasing your book out to the reading public. If you read and like a book, please, please, please! Write a review and let us know!

Betty: What advice do you have for new writers?

Allie: Just keep writing! That’s how you improve your craft and skills, how you develop your “voice” and it’s how you gain confidence.

Also, ignore anyone who says you “have to…” do this, that or the other. No, you don’t. Writing is an individual experience. Some very famous authors are “pantsers” (write “by the seat of their pants” with no plotting ahead of time), and it’s just as legitimate as plotting/outlining. Writing by pen and paper is just as valid as typing on the computer or dictating into your phone’s recorder app. Love adverbs? Go for it (within reason, but ignore those who claim adverbs are bad). There’s a lot of BAD advice floating around out there, claiming to be the One and Only True Way to (insert activity of choice). RUN from these people!

Learn to be able to judge critique impartially as you can; if a comment isn’t positive, is there still merit to it? Are you hearing the same comment from several readers? You have to learn when to shrug it off, and when there might be something in there you can use. And never take it personally!

You’re going to run into a lot of people who belittle your dream of being a writer, and from some of the most surprising sources: family, close friends, people you otherwise count on for support. It’s going to happen. Accept that, and start trying to figure out how you’re going to deal with it. Believe me, when someone close to you makes fun of you or tells you you’re wasting your time or asks when you’re going to write a “real” book…it hurts!

Betty: Any hints of what you’re next writing project might be?

Allie: Absolutely! I have a 16^th-century paranormal (vampire) romance in an Arabian-Nights type setting; it’s a trilogy, with one primary story arc (the romance) spread across three books. I’m totally, totally excited about it! In fact, I’m so excited about it that I’m not allowing myself to work on it until after my last book being released this year has been sent for formatting, because I know that once I get into that world, it’ll be hard to pull myself out, and I don’t want to have to be having the tug-of-war of *having* to be doing something else when I want to be writing on my trilogy.

Betty: What kind of writing would you like to experiment with? Or what’s a different genre you’ve considered writing but haven’t yet?

Allie: Honestly, none. This is where I belong, where I’m happy, and I have no desire to expand into other areas.

Thank you for your service, Allie! And wow, what great advice and cool stories you have to tell! Thanks for sharing with us about your writing process and upcoming stories. Working and writing through pain and discomfort I know can be a huge challenge, but I’m glad you’re finding a way to tell your stories. Wishing you all the best with your career!

Betty

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