Please welcome Madelyn Ford to the blog, author of Faith Revisited. Thank you for agreeing to answer my nosy questions and share them with everyone visiting today.

Q: To begin, please share which genre(s) you write in…
A: First off, I’d like to thank you, Amanda, for having me today. I write paranormal romance. I’d love to be able to write in other genres but when I try, something paranormal always jumps onto the page.

Q: How long did you write before you received your first contract for publication?
A: I had been writing seriously for about two years before receiving a contract with LooseId. Faith Revisited was the second manuscript I’d sent around so I feel blessed that it happened fairly quickly.

Q: Out of all the stories you’ve written, which is your favorite?
A: My favorite story is actually the first thing I wrote with the hope of publication about the angel Muriel and her vampire mate, Ezra. It was where I began building the world I like to play in and while I have since changed the facts of their story in other works, it is one I would love to rewrite someday.

Q: Do you need to be in a specific place or atmosphere before the words flow?
A: I need two things to write, a place with no distractions and my music. I am a people watcher so I can’t write when other people are about. With my music, I have found that each book has a different tone. If I can find the right music, the book seems to write itself. Bale, from Faith Revisited, only wanted to listen to AC/DC (the males I write about can be demanding that way 

Q: What’s the strangest source of inspiration you’ve found for a story? Read the rest of this entry »

Please welcome Mary Eason to the blog, author of Forbidden Passion. Thank you for agreeing to answer my nosy questions and share them with everyone visiting today.

Q: To begin, please share which genre(s) you write in…
A: I’m kind of a jack-of-all-trades author. I love writing contemporary romances, such as Forbidden Passion, but my first love has always been romantic suspense. I have three romantic suspense novels currently out through Cerridwen Press. And recently, I’ve started writing Inspirational romances, which is such a challenge as well as being extremely rewarding.

Q: How long did you write before you received your first contract for publication?
A: Seriously, about a year, but I actually started the writing process as a pre-teen. I wrote my first romance, filled with the typical clichés and corny romance. It’s still in a drawer somewhere. I didn’t seriously consider writing until much later. My first published book was a paranormal romance.

Q: Out of all the stories you’ve written, which is your favorite?
A: I’d have to say I have two favorites. The Things You Think You Want, a romantic comedy published through Samhain Publishing has a lot of me in it. The story is about a small town girl going to the big city but she never leaves her small town roots behind. There are some very tender, touching moments from my life in there. My second favorite story is Don’t Close Your Eyes, a romantic suspense thriller that has a touch of paranormal. I love this story because it reunites two lovers who had thought they’d lost each other forever.

Q: Do you need to be in a specific place or atmosphere before the words flow?

A: No, I can write just about anywhere. Usually on my couch with my laptop. But the story itself simmers for a while in my head before it comes to life.

Q: What’s the strangest source of inspiration you’ve found for a story?
A: Lots of authors say this, but I still think it’s odd that most of my ideas come to me in dreams. Weird.

Q: If you could offer one tidbit of information for new writers, what would it be? Read the rest of this entry »

Please welcome Julia Knight to the blog, author of Ilfayne’s Bane and Love is My Sin. Thank you for agreeing to answer my nosy questions and share them with everyone visiting today.

Thanks for having me!

Q: To begin, please share which genre(s) you write in…
A: Well I get ideas for all sorts – but my first love is fantasy, with generous helpings of romance.

Q: How long did you write before you received your first contract for publication?
A: About three years – not all that long really! When I got my first acceptance I thought it was one of my friends playing a prank *laughs*

Q: Out of all the stories you’ve written, which is your favorite?
A: My new one Love Is My Sin, so far. I learnt so much in the editing process for Ilfayne’s Bane and that all translated into a stronger book the second time around. Besides I’m a sucker for my hero….He’s a rather intense, noble sort of chap, and that always makes me swoon

Q: Do you need to be in a specific place or atmosphere before the words flow?
A: Not really – though I find inspiration always strikes more when I’m somewhere I can’t write it down. Then I have to try and remember it till I can find a pen. At work they’re used to me running up shouting ‘Pen! Pen!’ and they keep a notebook handy for me too.

Q: What’s the strangest source of inspiration you’ve found for a story? Read the rest of this entry »

Please welcome Jeanne St. James to the blog, author of Banged Up, Rip Cord and Double Dare. Thank you for agreeing to answer my nosy questions and share them with everyone visiting today.

Q: To begin, please share which genre(s) you write in…
A: I write erotic contemporary romance: male/female, male/male and male/male/female. Though my Phaze release Rip Cord is a m/m erotic novella with a “happy for now” ending. It’s not a romance per se.

Q: How long did you write before you received your first contract for publication?
A: YEARS! I’ve been writing since I’ve been about 13 years old. I’m now 41. However, I only started submitting to publishers in fall of 2008 and contracted my first release (Banged Up) within 6 months. And within 6 months after that had contracted two more stories.

Q: Out of all the stories you’ve written, which is your favorite?
A: It’s hard to pick! If I have to pick, I’ll pick Double Dare, since it was a blast to write since it was my first ménage a trios story.

Q: Do you need to be in a specific place or atmosphere before the words flow?
A: Yes, I need to be on my laptop, not my desktop computer and I like to be in my living room recliner. And I am more creative in the evening.

Q: What’s the strangest source of inspiration you’ve found for a story? Read the rest of this entry »

Please welcome Isabelle Rose to the blog, author of The Laurel. Thank you for agreeing to answer my nosy questions and share them with everyone visiting today.

Q: To begin, please share which genre(s) you write in…
A: Erotic romance, fantasy, and horror (paranormal).

Q: Out of all the stories you’ve written, which is your favorite?
A: At the moment I would have to say The Laurel (Coming out soon through eXcessica Publishing) is my favorite. It’s a novelization of the Greek myth about Apollo and Daphne.

Q: Do you need to be in a specific place or atmosphere before the words flow?
A: Not really. Inspiration can strike at any moment. I just have to make sure I have a notebook and a pen on me at the time otherwise I might forget what I wanted to write in the first place.

Q: If you could offer one tidbit of information for new writers, what would it be?
A: Write any chance you can get and never ever give up. Writing is the most joyful thing in the world (at least to me), it’s the business side of it that can sometimes kill the creativity that lives inside of you, don’t let it. You need the business part of writing in order to be successful as an author. Anyone can write, not everyone can be an author.

Q: Do you have an evil day job or do you write full time?
A: I used to have an evil day job…I traded it for being a stay at home mom. Luckily my son still takes naps and that’s when I can squeeze in a few quiet moments of writing.

Q: What’s your favorite dirty word? Read the rest of this entry »

Please welcome Juniper Bell to the blog, author of “Doll”. Thank you for agreeing to answer my nosy questions and share them with everyone visiting today.

Thank you for having me! I’m excited to be here.

Q: To begin, please share which genre(s) you write in…
A: I write contemporary erotic romance, for the most part, although I’m veering in some new directions. I’m working on a Regency ménage that’s a lot of fun.

Q: How long did you write before you received your first contract for publication?
A: I started writing erotic romance about two years before I got my first contract. The day before I got the news, it just so happened I’d crashed my car into a ravine, so I had whiplash and trauma and neck spasms. But I still managed to celebrate!

Q: Out of all the stories you’ve written, which is your favorite?
A: Ohh, what an impossible question! “Doll” is the most intensely emotional, “The Extremist” has a hot, mysterious hero, and my next book, “Training the Receptionist,” is the steamiest. I couldn’t possibly choose between them.

Q: Do you need to be in a specific place or atmosphere before the words flow?
A: If I had to do that, I’d never get anything done! I grab my writing time where and when I can. I’ve learned to tune everything else out so I can write. But I have to say I get my best writing done when I have no Internet access. The Internet is a wonderful thing, I love it for so many reasons, but it’s a huge distraction.

Q: What’s the strangest source of inspiration you’ve found for a story?
A: Well, this is going to sound … actually, I don’t know how it’s going to sound, but I get a lot of ideas during sex. Scenes and images pop into my head, and later on I write them down. Does that make me weird? I really hope I’m not the only one this happens to.

Read the rest of this entry »

Please welcome Brenna Lyons to the blog, author of the Xxan, Kegin, Night Warriors, Renegades, and many more. Brenna has been published more than 80 times in the last seven years, more than two dozen of them novel-length. Thank you for agreeing to answer my nosy questions and share them with everyone visiting today.

A: Thanks for having me!

Q: To begin, please share which genre(s) you write in…
A: I write in many genres but mainly spec fic (fantasy, urban fantasy, science fiction, and horror), with or without romance or erotic content involved. My style is milieu-heavy and fairly dark.

Q: How long did you write before you received your first contract for publication?
A: I’ve been writing poetry seriously since I was 7 and competing in various writing contests since I was 11. I was first published in a local newspaper (journalism) when I was 13. I won a place in the Young Poet’s Symposium at the University of Pittsburgh at 15, won a four-year college scholarship with a timed essay when I was 17, did my first public reading of my poetry when I was 19, and wrote my first novel when I was 32 (actually a two-book serial novel titled PROPHECY). That novel was signed a little more than a year after I started writing it and nine months after I finished writing it. So, depending on how you want to count that…I signed my first contract either 26 years after I started writing seriously or nine months after I finished writing my first novel.

Q: Out of all the stories you’ve written, which is your favorite?
A: That depends on my mood. If you asked me today, I’d probably say my newest Wolkin story, another of my Kegin series spin-offs. But I’d only say that, because I’m working on it right now, so I’m particularly attached to the story right now. On other days, I might name one of my other worlds and books.

I re-read my work a lot, depending on my mood. When I’m in a down mood, it might be Night Warriors or my straight-genre horror stuff. In an up mood, it might be my Born Investigators, Grellan War, or Kegin and Kegin spin-offs (Kielan and Wolkin worlds). In an intense mood, it might be my Xxan or Renegades worlds. Since I write in 20 series worlds and stand-alones, I have too many choices to concrete it to just one favorite.

Q: Do you need to be in a specific place or atmosphere before the words flow?
A: The better question would be, “Do you have to be in a specific place to stop the flow?” Unless someone is hovering over me, trying to engage me in conversation and/or being loud and disruptive, the words are going to flow. My muse is something of a leather-clad, whip-wielding taskmaster. Or is that taskmistress? She reminds me a lot of a nun I had as a teacher in first grade. And she never sleeps. Is it any surprise I rarely sleep, either?

Q: What’s the strangest source of inspiration you’ve found for a story? Read the rest of this entry »

Please welcome Roxanne Rhoads to the blog, author of Eternal Desire. Thank you for agreeing to answer my nosy questions and share them with everyone visiting today.

Q: To begin, please share which genre(s) you write in…
A: I write in a couple: erotic romance, erotica, and paranormal erotic romance and erotica, mostly paranormal but some contemporaries too.

Q: How long did you write before you received your first contract for publication?
A: I’ve been writing since I could hold a pencil or pen in my hand but I didn’t start doing it as work until 2005 and one of my first stories was accepted for publication in Playgirl Magazine then I received a contract for another story in ebook form through Midnight Showcase. Since then I’ve been published in magazines, anthologies both print and ebook, and in several of my own short ebook and print books.

Q: Out of all the stories you’ve written, which is your favorite?
A: Eternal Desire, a paranormal erotic vampire romance set in New Orleans during Halloween.

Q: Do you need to be in a specific place or atmosphere before the words flow?
A: Sometimes words and ideas will pop up anywhere at any time, but when I work I force them to come to at least get some words on the page. I have learned that once I get the words coming the story will usually take off on its own. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m a featured author over at The Rainbow Studio this month, where I answered questions about my newest release, Reckless Passion, and shared a scary picture of myself for everyone’s amusement.:D

Stop by and check it out if you have a few minutes.

http://www.theromancestudio.com/rainbow/who9.php

Please welcome my guest this week, author Anneke Jacob. Thanks for being here, Anneke.

Q: To begin, please share which genre you write in…
A: I write bdsm erotica, because these have been the stories that have been in my head forever, wanting to get out. I might have another story or two in there of other kinds if I look, but so far, bdsm is what it’s been.Q: How long did you write before you received your first contract for publication?
A: I spent about four years writing my first book, ‘Owned and Owner,’ in the evenings and on weekends, whenever I could find the time. At first it was for my own amusement, but about halfway through I began to see that it might be publishable. When I was more or less done I offered it to a couple of publishers; the second one took it. The first expressed an interest in seeing something else from me, but that was all I had — no poetry or short stories tucked away. Novels are it; I seem to be a one-trick pony.

Q: Out of all the stories you’ve written, which is your favorite?
A: Out of all my two stories? lol ‘As She’s Told,’ my second novel, is my favourite, because I put into it everything I’d learned writing the first one and then some. Everything I had, really. It was enormous fun to write; I loved it. It also won an award, the National Leather Association Pauline Réage Novel Award – so I can’t not love it!

My first book, ‘Owned and Owner,’ is science fiction, set in the future on another world (a standard bdsm fantasy, to tell you the truth – makes all the slavery legal), and its porn roots show more than I’d like. I touched them up a lot, but they’re still there. But from the beginning, ‘As She’s Told’ got every attention to structure and language and characterization that I could give it. And since the book is set in my own home town of Toronto, I got to ground the story in a real place: in streetcars and ethnic enclaves, on the Toronto Island ferry. Groping winter winds, lush summer backyards. With the sights and smells to match. Great fun, after having to invent everything for ‘Owned and Owner.’

Q: Do you need to be in a specific place or atmosphere before the words flow?
A: I need time and no distractions. Which is tricky. Because I normally write only on weekends, it’s sometimes hard to keep the flow going. Ideas continue running through my head on Monday, and Tuesday a little, and then it fades. By Saturday I have to work to get back into it. Which probably has a lot to do with the length of time it takes me to write anything. On the other hand, I do a lot of thinking about the plot, the characters, etc. while I’m driving or in the shower. Showers are great for creative thinking. Until the hot water runs out.

Q: If you could offer one tidbit of information for new writers, what would it be? Read the rest of this entry »