Q: How long have you been writing?
Since high school – I started college as an English major, but switched to Fine Art. I planned to teach high school, both English and Art, but while doing my master’s in education I decided that teaching wasn’t what I wanted to do. I changed directions and got a job in the oil industry and I’ve been there for over 25 years. But I still do art and still write.
Q: How long did it take you to publish?
Once I started writing for publication, about three years. One year on my own, and two years after I joined the WHRWA.
Q: How many manuscripts do you have hidden away/under the bed/in storage?
I have about five unfinished manuscripts tucked away in files on my computer. Most of them are at least the first 5-6 chapters. And I have about three finished manuscripts that are looking for homes.
Q: Do you have a writing schedule and if so, what is it?
Yes, I write for about two hours each day after work, when the kids are doing homework and before dinner. Later in the evenings, I edit. I go to work before 6am and get home around four, so I have time. And on the weekends, I write as much as I can around family activities. And I have every other Friday off, so I try to write all day. It averages about 20hrs a week.
Q: Do you have a critique group? If yes, how many are in the group?
Yes. Currently, we have four members, but we’re hoping to have a fifth join us this month. Each of us writes something different, and I love that. It exposes us to more genres than what we write in or what we read. And as far as I’m concerned good writing is good writing. If you can tell a story that captures my imagination, pulls me in, and makes me care about the characters, it doesn’t matter to me if it’s YA, inspirational, romantic suspense, or paranormal.
Q: If this is not the only critique group you’ve participated in, how many others did you have before finding the one that worked?
When I first started I was in another critique group and it was truly wonderful. There were four of us, most new to writing, but we had one multi-published author and she was so generous with her comments and criticisms. I learned so much from her and the others, no matter what our levels were. A good critique group is
worth its weight in gold. If you respect and trust the members, they can be your support group, keep your writing honest, push you to excel and help you to find your voice, not lose it.
Q: When developing an idea for a new story, which comes first – the plot or the title or the characters?
For me, it varies. Sometimes it’s a title, sometimes a scene that plays in my head or a song. Most of the time, the characters step forward and say, “Write about me!” On my website it says, “It’s all about me,” but really, it’s all about the characters. Plot usually follows. Once I know the characters, they guide me to what
the plot should be, according to their situations or their needs.
Q: How do you handle new story ideas that pop up when you’re in the middle of a project? (ex: notebook by the bed/separate word file, etc?)
That happens all the time to me. I stop, write down the scene(s) and then go back to the other piece. If not, I can’t get it out of my head, and it affects what I’m writing, or my sleep, because I can’t let it go until I write it down. I do all my writing on the computer, except edits. I do my edits on paper. It’s easier for me to catch mistakes on paper, and to quickly write changes or additions in between the lines. I always use a red pen. And it has to be a certain brand of pen, too. Yeah, you could say I’m just a tad obsessive/compulsive. But only a little. But it pays off, my editors have said I have some of the cleanest manuscripts they’ve ever seen.
Q: Have you ever gotten to the middle of a project and got bored or lost your momentum? If so, how did you handle it?
Not really, and if I do, I skip it and write the next scene or the ending to get past it, then go back and fill in. Usually, I work on more than one project at a time. Right now, I’m writing the third story in my series, In The Company of Men. It’s a medieval m/m romance that continues the story in the second book, Jackson’s Pride. And I’m also working on finishing McCallan’s Blood, a werewolf story, and I’m going to start a new novella this week for a deadline in May. When you jump from one to the other, they seem to stay fresh. I’ll write one, then suddenly, something for the other story will pop in my mind and I’ll jot that down and then go back to the first, second or third.
Q: What is the best advice you ever received?
“Keep writing”. It’s really simple, but if you don’t w rite, you can’t grow. The more you write the more you learn about writing, your voice and what it takes to tell a great story that people want to read.
Q: What is the worst?
“If you write that, you’ll never get published”. If you write from the heart, it shows. A good writer can write anything and make it sing. And there are so many options open to writers now that we don’t have to get pigeon holed into one genre or another. I can write both gay romance, ménages (which are super hot right
now), sweet romance, romantic suspense or paranormal, and I do. Whatever I want, the sky’s the limit. There is always a demand for good writing, no matter what the genre.
Q: What is your favorite part of the writing process?
Getting lost in the story. Breathing and sleeping and living the characters so much that I can talk about them as if they are real people. It sort of creeps my friends out, but my writing buddies just nod and smile. My husband listens to me and makes hysterical suggestions, most of which I don’t take, but he knows me and supports my writing. And he’s extremely well read, so when he has a critique, I grumble, but in the end, I listen. Usually.
Q: What is your least favorite part of the writing process?
Editing. I do a lot of editing. I write a chapter or two, and then I make several passes checking for grammar, spelling, word choice, word repetition, sentence structure, etc. #ot to mention, additions, changes or deletions. I use a LOT of paper this way.
Q: Which came first for you – the editor or the agent?
The editor. I had pitched so many stories at numerous conferences, sent off tons of requests, even won a few contests, but nothing ever came from it. So, by the time I signed up for the nationals in Dallas in 2007, most of the agents/editors were taken. Only a few were left, and one of them was Treva Harte from Loose Id, an epublisher. I checked out their sight and what they were looking for, downloaded a few books that peaked my interest and fell in the genre of gay romance, and checked their reputation out on some loops. Then, a month before the conventions, I began writing The Mercenary’s Tale. It was more than half done when I pitched it to her. She loved the premise and asked for the full. I went home, finished it and sent it to her a month later. She accepted it in October, asked me to expand it to full length, and in February of last year it was published. Turn around time, less than five months. Since then, I’ve had six other books published with Loose Id. And a het paranormal romance with Liquid Silver. This year I’m contracted for two more at Loose Id, and have just signed contracts for two books at another publisher, Amber Quill, and invitation only e-publisher. My goal is to publish eight books this year, one more than last year, so I have a lot of writing to do.
Q: How many contests did you enter before you sold? How many did you final in?
Dozens. Literally. It was costing a fortune to enter, print and send copies, but I looked at it as an investment in my career and tax deductible. I finaled in two of those- third place in TARA’s inspirational category, with a request for a full from Steeple Hill, and a first place in the Lone Star, in the paranormal genre, with no requests from editor or agent, which was such a disappointment. It was the last contest I entered. I really searched myself about what I wanted to write, what would make me happy and hold my interest, and although there is always a touch of faith in my books, I didn’t want to write inspirational. I knew I wanted to write erotic romance. And I knew I was tired of waiting to hit the lottery with my writing going the conventional path to publication. I wanted to be published and start to make money right away and for me, e-publishing was the right thing to do. I’m glad I did it and I couldn’t be happier with my success. Or with my publishers, editors, cover artists and all the people who run those businesses.
Q: How do you promote your books?
Since I sell through my publisher’s websites, I have a website (which anyone, even before you sell a single thing, should have) and I joined several loops, including those that deal with gay romance. One of those loops reaches over three thousand readers/writers, most of them gay men, who are now just beginning to catch on to gay romance, believe it or not. Most gay romance is sold to women, not men. I have my calendar marked with the days of the weeks that certain loops allow promos and excerpts and I post on those days.
I’m active in my publisher’s loops where we interact with other writers and readers and my publishers send my books to internet romance review sites. I’m lucky, and that I have several reviewers who’ve requested that I automatically send them a copy of my latest to review because they don’t get it from the publisher and love what I’m writing. I also have postcards of all my covers printed with the blurb and websites on the backs to hand out, and of course, business cards. This year, I’ll be attending the RT convention in Orlando, where I’m going to do the e-book book-signing event. And my first book with Amber Quill, David’s Dilemma will come out in paper two weeks after the e-print version and it will go to Amazon also.
Q: Free Form: Here’s your chance to tell us anything you’d like—tidbits, advice, funny stories, pet peeves, hopes, dreams, etc.
My best story – One of my good friends (a fellow girl scout mom) who knows what I write (several of us meet for dinner to celebrate each book that comes out), was at her Galleria beauty salon, very upscale, getting her hair down by “Mr. Phillippe.” At the next chair, “Mr. Raoul” was doing another woman’s hair and the two stylists started to chat. One said, “Have you read the new Lorenz book? It’s to die for! So hot! You’ve got to read it!” My friend nearly fell out of her chair and said, “That’s my friend. I know her!” And after all the squeeing was over, they treated her like a princess, getting her wine and making sure she was happy, just because she knew me. She called and told me she was going to drop my name more often! Wow! That just made my month! I’m still grinning about it.
