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Sandbox Archives View Interviews by Category - Author, Publishing Professionals or Other 2005 - 2006 Sandbox Interviews
Sarah Wendell of Smart Bitches Usually, when I make an ass of myself, it doesn’t end so well. But when I stalked the wrong guy at the RT convention this year, it turned out totally different than you’d think . I made a cool new friend, and I’m pleased to welcome him to the Sandbox this month. Please slide over and make room for Scott Carpenter, aka SL Carpenter (aka Not-John-Scalzi), an author for Ellora’s Cave and Samhain Publishing and the Art Director for Samhain. Problem Child: Hi Scott! Welcome to the Playground. I guess the first question would be, how crazy and scary did you think I was when I approached you in the bar? Scott Carpenter: It’s not often I get approached by a pretty woman that gives me that come hither look and a wink. After you asked if I was John I almost said yes. I was actually flattered. PC: You write erotic romance. How’d you get started writing romance? Many male authors get odd looks for writing romance, much less erotic romance. Have you faced this? SC: I fell into it. I wrote some humor books but those are hard to sell. So I decided to write about something I liked. STRANGE LUST was born from me taking sexy stories and turning them on their ears. Really, where else can I tell stories about phone sex, porn movies and women with strange electrical devices that talk? At first the publisher wasn’t sure what to do with me and asked me to change my name, but my wife said just be myself. Authors like me being different. Readers are really great about it when they meet me. PC: You’ve also co-authored several books with Sahara Kelley. How did that partnership get started and how do you two work together? Is it tough switching between writing with a partner and writing on your own? SC: She stalked me. Like you and John Scalzi. She is a writer for Ellora’s Cave and she read my books and I made her laugh. We started emailing each other then talked about writing together. Now we talk almost daily and she is one of my best friends. We live 3000 miles apart but it is great. Writing together is really hard to explain because we are really different. Usually we come up with an idea and hash it out on the phone then go back and forth. I tend to write more of the male parts and she does the female. Most disagreements are her telling me that women don’t fart or fluff themselves. PC: What do you like best about writing? SC: I like the freedom of letting go. When I started I was full on going places other places wouldn’t let me. Then I started getting more into longer stories. I have a redemption fetish because all my heroines either get even or find a better place. PC: What tips would you pass on to other writers – male or female – who wanted to write erotic romance? SC: Be honest with your characters. Don’t be afraid to cut loose. Free your little angel and demon on your shoulders telling you what to say and not to say. Remember who your audience is. I write for women, I have to remember and respect that because I have to get things right. I need to look at situations from a woman’s perspective. If I don’t then the reader will not bond with the characters. PC: Since we’re on the topic of advice, what was the best piece of advice you received when you started writing? The worst? Any advice you now wish you’d taken? Ignored? SC: Best advice was to not lose “my voice”. To be myself. Readers can tell if you are faking it. Just like a man can tell when a woman is faking it. Well…maybe. If I would have listened to people about promoting myself more maybe I would be more prominent but I like being a little fish. We get away with more naughty stuff. Worst advice, really haven’t gotten bad advice. I have been really lucky with the people I have met. They watch out for me. PC: You’ve done some beautiful covers for Samhain. Which job came first – the writing or the art? How’d you get involved doing cover art for a different publisher? SC: Writing came first. When I was signed I asked to do my own cover and it grew from there. I love doing covers because I get to tell part of a writer’s story with an image. I was Art Director for a few other publishers and did some covers for Ellora’s Cave. They have their own department and don’t use outside artists. When Samhain opened I knew the publisher and she asked if I would do covers for her. I said “of course” and then ended up running the department. It is such a joy to be able to see the art for a cover all over the net. PC: Tell us a little bit about the process for creating a cover. How do you decide the “feel?” The elements? Do you solicit input from the authors? SC: The process is really basic. We get input from the author and Editor. The artist talks with them to get a concept and then designs the look of it. Finding the perfect image to convey the story is the real challenge. I try to get the “feel” from them. The author is closest to the book so their comments are really important. Editors look at it overall and know what the story is. PC: You also write for Samhain. Do you do your own covers? Do you have any input on your Ellora’s Cave covers? SC: Yes and yes. I love writing for Samhain. They let me release my muse. Of course I do my own covers; being Art Director has it’s perks. Ellora’s Cave has a great artist there that does my covers. I fill out the cover form and she really listens and does great work. Kind of hard not wanting to do my own though. PC: What’s next for you? What are you currently working on? SC: I have a book called “NEED YOU NOW” coming out in October from Samhain Publishing. I started a couple of new stories because I always have ideas floating around in my brain like snowflakes. I was going to write about a female stalker that mistakenly approaches the wrong guy….. PC: One last question…what is up with all the rubber chickens? :) SC: If I tell you, I’d have to show you. The rubber chicken has a mystical sexual life-force. It cannot be tamed and must be respected. Go to my site and look at the “Funny Foto” section and you’ll see. (Thanks Marcus for the photos). PC: Anything else you’d like to add? Anything I didn’t ask? SC: This was really fun. Not much to add, except I encourage everyone to read Kimberly’s books. And mine too if you are in the mood for something different. Writing romance stories is fantastic. Sharing my take on a story and hearing others talk about them is why I do it. I was a good boy Kim so where’s the Doritos you promised? PC: Doritos and the first round are on me in LA next year. Thanks so much for coming by! Please come visit again. This month we welcome another of my Ruby Slippered Sisters, Liz Talley, whose first book debuted last month with Harlequin SuperRomance. Vegas Two Step, a June 2010 release, takes the reader from the bright lights of Vegas to the quiet porches of Oak Stand, Texas, in a makeover story with a happy ending. Please join me in welcoming Liz to the Playground! Angel: Let’s get the usual stuff out of the way. :) Liz, tell us a little about yourself. How did you start writing? Liz Talley: Well, like many authors, I liked reading and writing in school. My head was always in the clouds dreaming up crazy scenarios usually involving me and Scott Baio or Shaun Cassidy. It drove my family batty. I read voraciously, but writing wasn’t particularly something I loved when I was young.My college roommate planted the seed. She said that I read so many books that I’d probably write one one day. I started playing around with writing anytime I was bored. One day I started a Regency romance. Three years later I typed, “The End.” From that point, I needed to find out how to get published. I thought it would be relatively easy. Poor disillusioned me. Angel: What led up to your first sale? What made this book The One? LT: I wrote my debut novel on a whim. I got the idea when my roommate at Nationals put knee-high hosiery on with her sandals. It was really hot and I wondered, “why is she doing that?” I attended a workshop that allowed attendees to pass up pitches. It was for a Blaze editor. I was writing historical, but my competitive nature insisted I pass up something, so I wrote a hook about a librarian getting made fun of by cheerleaders for wearing hose with her sandals so she goes to Vegas, gets a makeover, and happens to fall in love. It wasn’t a great pitch, but the idea intrigued me. I spent that night writing the first chapter. Ironically, the next day after the GH/Rita ceremony, I met my editor for the first time. Nice irony, huh? I’m not sure how I knew it was the one. I guess I didn’t, but I did think I’d found my niche in writing. I just loved what I was writing. Angel: Would you mind sharing your Call Story with us? How much time passed between your call and when your book appeared on shelves last month? LT:I got the call mid-September. The book had gone through several revisions before selling, which I don’t think is atypical for a Harlequin author. It was a regular Friday and I’d gone out to run errands with my husband. I returned and checked caller id. Harlequin Enterprises showed up. My heart hit my toes. I kinda panicked and ended up calling Harlequin rather than my voice mail. I told the receptionist that I had the wrong number and hung up. Felt a bit stupid. I checked the voicemail and my editor said for me to call her back. I did, she answered, we chatted pleasantly for a minute, and then she asked if she could call me back in an hour. What could I say? So for a whole hour I waited on pin and needles. I was so nervous I went to the bathroom four times and my husband had to root in the medicine cabinet for something to calm me down. Finally she called and said they wanted to acquire my book. At the end of the call, my editor remarked that I had been awfully calm. It was then I told her I’d taken a xanax. Angel: How many books did you write before this one? (Feel free to share a rejection story with us.) LT:I wrote two historicals. One finaled in the Golden Heart, but I didn’t really have much luck with it. I’ve had plenty of rejections. Even had one agent send my SASE back empty with “not for us” scrawled across the seal. Even my mailman knew I’d been rejected. Hey, rejection happens a lot in this business. Angel: What has been the most surprising thing that’s happened since you sold? The scariest thing? LT: I wish I had something more interesting to place here. I’ve had a pretty smooth transition because people are nice in the romance world. I’m still learning about how to be published. I think the biggest surprise is that I can’t get an agent. I guess I thought that if I sold category books that an agent would want me. Not the case. But that’s okay. My editor seems to like what I’m doing and is actually wanting more proposals from me, so I like where I am now. I just want to keep writing better stories each time. Angel: Just like me, you’re a writer juggling school age children (and in the summer, no less!). How has writing and publishing impacted your family life and schedule? LT: It’s been hard. My boys don’t understand why their personal assistant is on the computer so much. Shouldn’t I be fixing them a drink and finding their ankle socks? LOL. Just like many moms I run this place, and that means I’m often putting my writing aside to go to swim meets or baseball practice. Summer is hard, but I try to squeeze it in where I can. Usually in the morning before they wake up and demand their breakfast. Jeez. I think I’m raising little princes. Angel: What is the best and worst writing advice you ever received? LT: Best – you can’t sell it if you don’t write it. Angel: Plotter or Panster? LT: I wish I knew. Currently, I’m hybrid. I like being a pantser, but if I’m going to write 2-3 books a year, I need a map of where I’m going in my story. So lately, I’ve been doing a character sketch of my h/h, then writing the first three chapters, and then writing a 5-6 page synopsis. I feel free to change the synopsis if I need to, but I do find having a plan better for getting the plot lined out evenly. Just for Fun: Angel: Your website has a totally cool feature that allows the viewer to change the colors and picture to various seasons. Where did that idea come from? LT: My fabulous, creative website designer Liz Bemis. Angel: What’s involved in your ideal of a relaxing day? LT: Up early with a good cup of coffee – just me, the dogs, and the sun. A leisurely breakfast with my husband, a tour around my flowerbed to pull a few weeds, lunch at a nice place with a terrific glass of wine, shoe shopping, coffee at Starbucks, and then grilling beside the pool. That night, early to bed with a good book. Angel: What’s the one thing most people wouldn’t guess about you? LT: I’m an LSU Tiger fanatic. Love football and baseball ridiculously. I even follow college recruiting and post on the college message boards. Can you imagine what those guys would think about my being a woman…and a romance writer? :) Liz, thank you so much for joining us this month! You can find out more about Liz Talley and her books at her website, www.liztalleybooks.com . Thanks for having me. It was a pleasure! Katherine Garbera is the USAToday best-selling author of more than 50 books. Writing is the chief focus of her time after her family and the only thing she likes more than working on her own books is reading other authors. She is a frequent speaker at conferences and loves the opportunity to talk about writing with anyone who'll listen. Katherine might be a new friend to the Playground but I definitely see her being one for a very long time! Welcome to the Playground, Katherine.
Katherine: I found it by accident. I always liked making up stories but growing up I thought writers were special people and that I wasn't in that group. Then when I was 20 one of my friends said to me "anyone can write" and I was like okay I can do this. So I started writing but didn't get serious until I was 23. Then I wrote and finished my first manuscript and three years later I was published! Insti: In looking at your backlist you are very prolific! Not only do you write for Silhouette Desire but also Romantic Suspense, Kensington Brava with a Blaze, NASCAR and some Bombshells thrown in for fun. Do you find switching from one genre to another is difficult? How do you handle writing for different lines at the same time? Do you have multiple projects going at once or just one? KG: I love writing for different lines and telling different kinds of stories. For me changing from straight romance in Desire to the action-adventure stuff I do at Brava is a lot of fun. The NASCAR book I did for my dad. He's a huge fan of NASCAR and I knew he'd love it if I wrote one and he did love it! Insti: Many of our readers juggle not only a love for writing but also family and full-time jobs. How do you find that balance between your writing and life? KG: I try to be in the moment whatever I'm doing. Nights and weekends belong to my family and then during the day I am very disciplined and write form 9-3. Sometimes I have to write in family time or do family things during my writing time but I just try to make the time I do have count. Insti: Is there a specific reason you seemed to gravitate to writing Desires? Why do you think these specific books have been so popular over the years? KG: Well I thought I was writing a Special Edition when I sold my first book to Desire! But I love Desire books. I think I gravitate toward them because of the heroes. I like angsty, wealthy men who are sexy! I think these books are popular because no matter how independent we are as women we want a strong man who thinks and acts like one. Insti: Is there one piece of advice that you wish you’d followed before you were published? Any words of wisdom you think every aspiring writer should know? KG: Read is the best advice. And write. Every day, don't talk about writing or read writing books and think that counts as writing. Sit in the chair and produce pages that makes you a writer. For Fun KG: I worked in the Magic Kingdom and at Disney's Hollywood Studios in attractions and as a Guest Relations Hostess so I do know a bit about the parks. My tips would be to get there early and hit the attractions that have long lines first, also to see Fantasyland during the 3 o'clock or 9 o'clock parade. Funniest story was when I was working the 3 o'clock parade at the Magic Kingdom in front of the castle and it started raining. Most people were running to get out of the rain and this one guy just starts taking off his clothes and strips down to a Speedo type bathing suit and calmly puts his clothes in his backpack--Disney has a shirt, pants and shoes policy so this guy I'm working with is like he's yours go tell him to get dressed. I was 17 and totally embarrassed by this but I did it. :) Insti: If you could disappear to anywhere in the world where would you go? KG: Paris or maybe Florence. And I'd eat and write and explore the cities. Insti: If you weren’t writing what would you be doing? KG: I honestly don't know maybe a chef because I love to cook. Thanks for visiting with us, Katherine! Be sure to pick up Katherine’s latest releases Secrets, Lies…and Seduction, His Royal Prize and The Pirate. (The Pirate cover is amazing!) And don’t forget to visit her at www.katherinegarbera.com Charlaine Harris is the New York Times Bestselling author of over forty books and novellas, including the acclaimed Sookie Stackhouse / Southern Vampire series (which I adore.) The series has been adapted to a series on HBO – True Blood, which starts its critically acclaimed third season this summer. With her 10th installment in the Southern Vampire series coming out this May, too, we’re pleased to be able to squeeze our way into Charlaine’s busy schedule. Smarty Pants: Welcome to the Playground! I can’t tell you how excited we are to have you joining us today. Tell us a little about background and how you ended up where you are today. Charlaine Harris: It’s a mystery to me. I was born in Tunica, Mississippi, the poorest county in the United States . . . at the time. Since then, the gambling boats have come in, so things are better for the most part. My mother was a homemaker who worked as a librarian after my brother and I grew up, and my father was a farmer who became a schoolteacher and then a principal. SP: Can you tell us how you came up with the idea for the Southern Vampire series? CH: Yes. I wanted to frame a series that would bring readers with me from the mystery scene but also reach out to readers from other genres, and I decided I wanted my central protagonist to be a young woman who was dating a vampire. The whole premise built around that given fact. SP: Previously, you’d been writing the Teagarden and Shakespeare mysteries, but the Sookie books were a big change. Paranormal romantic mysteries with some suspense and humor, too. Talk about genre-blending. Was it a hard sell? CH: Yes, very. It took my somewhat reluctant agent two years to find a home for DEAD UNTIL DARK, which got turned down many, many times – and not always in a polite way. SP: We’re anxiously awaiting the release of book 10 – DEAD IN THE FAMILY . Can you share a little about what kind of trouble Sookie’s in for this time? No spoilers, of course, but I was absolutely traumatized by the end of book 9 and curious as to where the next book picks up. CH: The next book resumes with Sookie’s gradual recovery from the events of DAG. As Sookie recovers her zest for life, the action picks up in the plot, and family members of many of the characters pop up to cause trouble. SP: With such a long series planned out (I think I read somewhere there would be 12 books?) do you already know how it’s going to end? Several of us have argued at length about who she’s going to end up with and why. (I’m very enthusiastically lobbying for Sam.) CH: I have signed for three books after Number Ten. I’ll have decided before that if I’ve reached the end or not. Yes, I do know how the series will end. SP: Can you tell us how the HBO series came about? How has your life changed since the show premiered? CH: The books had been optioned before, but the producer didn’t manage to get a project off the ground by the time it expired. One of the offers on the table when that option ended was Alan Ball’s. I considered the proposals of all the people involved and decided to go with Alan’s. He had picked up a book when he was early for a dentist appointment, since there was a bookstore near his dentist’s office. Luckily for me, he was attracted to the cover of DEAD UNTIL DARK. Yes, of course my life has changed a lot, but I hope not in ways that will disrupt it. SP: What do you think about the changes they’ve made to your original stories? Do you get any inputs into plotlines? CH: No, but then Alan doesn’t make suggestions for how I plot the books, either. I knew there would be changes, and I’m cool with that. SP: Ok, last question about the show, and its über important – is Alexander Skarsgard, the actor who plays Eric on True Blood, as beautiful in person as he is on the show? :) CH: Alexander is a very attractive man with a great sense of humor. When he hugs me, it’s like a Great Dane hugging a Pomeranian. SP: The latest in the Harper Connelly series, GRAVE SECRET , came out last fall and in April, CRIMES BY MOONLIGHT is being released in hardback. Can you tell us about your other books and series for readers who might only know about your vamps? CH: I edited CRIMES BY MOONLIGHT for Mystery Writers of America. I have a Dahlia short story in it. Also in 2010, DEATH’S EXCELLENT VACATION, the third anthology Toni L.P. Kelner and I have edited together, will be on the shelves with an original Sookie short story. I’ve also written two mystery series, the Aurora Teagarden books about a Georgia librarian, and the Lily Bard books, which are edgier. Very fortunately for me, they’re all in print now. The Sookie Companion will be assembled this year, though I don’t have a pub date on that yet. SP: Sounds great. Let’s skip to a little writing process now. Do you consider yourself to be a plotter or a pantster? CH: A pantster, which is both good and bad. SP: When plotting or writing, do you have any special rituals or tools to help? Storyboards? A CD of tribal drum music? A lucky pair of underwear? CH: No. I’ll try that next. I’m always looking for ways to smooth the process and improve it. I don’t think you ever stop doing that. SP: As writers, we get bombarded with rules and advice which can be quite confusing! What piece of advice was the most valuable? What do you wish you'd ignored? CH: Well, one writer told me in 2000 that vampires were finished. I ignored that. I don’t remember any advice specifically. Strange. Just For Fun: CH: Gardetto’s snack mix. SP: If you could go on vacation anywhere and money was not a consideration, where would you go and what would you do? CH: I’d go to Pompeii to see the excavated ruins. SP: What authors or genres do you like to read for pleasure? CH: I read all genres, mystery, science fiction, urban fantasy, horror, a little romance. I have a long list of writers I won’t miss: Lee Child, Karen Chance, Diana Gabaldon, Robert Crais, Patricia Briggs, Laurell K. Hamilton, E.E. Knight, Charlie Huston. That’s just a random sample. SP: What would we be most surprised to learn about you? CH: I have no idea. I have a very humdrum life in many ways. SP: What's next for you? CH: More of the same, I guess! Check out Charlaine’s website at www.charlaineharris.com for more information on her and her books. Watch the shelves for CRIMES BY MOONLIGHT this April and DEAD IN THE FAMILY on May 4th. The third season of True Blood premieres on HBO this summer, so don't miss it. This month the Playfriends welcome author Julia London, a New York Times and USA Today best selling author of over 20 historical and contemporary romance novels, including the popular Desperate Debutante and Scandalous historical series and the contemporary Summer of Two Wishes. Not only is she visiting our website this month, but the Playfriends will get to meet her in May when she comes to northern Alabama to be the guest speaker at our local chapter’s 13th Annual Romance Readers’ Luncheon. We’re very excited!!! Thanks for joining us this month, Julia! Angel: Tell us, how did you get started writing romance? What inspired you to finally attempt publication? Julia London: Sort of by accident. I wasn’t happy in my job, and one day I picked up The Lion’s Bride by Iris Johansen at a garage sale. I didn’t realize it was a romance novel until I started reading it, and I loved it. I read several after that and thought, maybe I could do this. I knew I was a good technical writer, but fiction? I had never even thought of it. So I tried it by writing one page. It was a random scene and I did it just to see if I had any talent at all. I thought it was decent and wrote another page. And another. In the end, I had one long and bad medieval romance that was not fit for publication. But I learned something from that experiment, and that was how to structure a novel. So I tried again and wrote The Devil’s Love, my first book. As for finally attempting publication, a sister made me send it off. She basically told me she was so tired of hearing about this writing experiment, and that if I didn’t send it off to a publisher or an agent, I couldn’t talk about it anymore. Well. With that challenge, I went and got a book on how to get published, followed the advice to get an agent, and sent out a query to five agents who took new authors in romance at once. By the end of the week, I had an agent. A week later, I had a contract for two books. That sounds very fairy tale, but in truth, it was just pure dumb luck. I hit an agent with the right product for the market at the right time. A great stroke of luck, but luck all the same. Angel: You write both historical romance and contemporary romance. What led you to write in both genres? Do you find that you get ideas for different time periods from different sources? JL: I began writing contemporary romance because I wanted to stretch my writing wings. I had written six or seven historicals and felt I was getting a little stale. The two sub-genres present different challenges, and I believe that going back and forth keeps me fresh in both. As for ideas, I get those in so many places, it’s hard to pinpoint. But yes, I’d say that ideas for my contemporaries are taken from headlines and newspapers, while ideas for the regency historicals come more from the ether and my own fantasies. What is common to both is that the romantic conflicts transcend time and place. Romance is timeless. The struggle between men and women is timeless. That part never changes. Angel: On your website, you discuss your writing process and how you work on both genres simultaneously. Lucky girl!!! I know a lot of authors who wish they could work on 2 projects at the same time, much less in 2 very different genres. What led you to the realization that this would work for you? Why do you think it works so well? JL: I’m not sure I realized it as much as it was just required to meet my deadlines. I consider it multi-tasking. When I worked in government, I generally had several big projects brewing at once and had to be able to move between them. Writing different books at the same time is the same sort of skill. Somehow, I have the ability to turn off one book when working on the other. Angel: You say that each new book is harder to write than the last one. Can you tell us why? JL: Because I want every book to be better than the last. It feels like I am constantly trying to improve the way I write and deliver the story, but I am hampered by the same obstacles and demands on my time and brain. I struggle with it. It gets harder and harder to write quality fiction. I want to write like I did before I was published, with nothing on my mind but the book. Angel: I read on your website that you like to get that first draft over with as soon as possible so you can get to the good part – revisions. A woman after my own heart!!! What is it you love about the second part of the writing process? JL: I wouldn’t say I love the revision process, lol. It’s hard work. But the thing about the revision process is that I at least feel like I have some control over the book. When I am writing the draft, I know where I would like the story to go, but sometimes it just doesn’t work out the way I pictured it in my head, and it always looks lame to me. The revision process is the place where I can step back and look at the big picture and improve the manuscript to get it where I want it. Angel: What’s the best advice you’ve received on your writing journey? What’s the one piece of advice you’re glad you ignored? JL: One piece of advice came from an editor who told me to take every situation and turn it on its head to bring out the tension. As for advice I’ve ignored, that’s easy—advice from well-meaning writer friends. I’ve had them tell me to change publishers, to change agents, to try different genres. I was lucky to learn early on that you can never compare your career to any other career and you shouldn’t try. There are too many variables in one person’s journey and even with each of an author’s books. If I had done what various friends advised at various points, I doubt I would be invited to your reader’s conference today. I’d probably be the greeter at Rudy’s Barbeque. Angel: Can you tell us what’s coming up next for you? JL: I am writing more women’s fiction. One Season of Sunshine is another book set in Cedar Springs, Texas. It’s about a woman who comes to Cedar Springs in search of her birth mother. She goes to work as a nanny for a man whose late wife still fills that house. But things are not as they seem, and she begins to fall in love with the family while realizing that not everything is okay with them. It’s a story about how our pasts shape who we are today. In November, The Year of Living Scandalously, the first book in The Secrets of Hadley Green quartet, comes out. I am really enjoying writing this series because there is a bit of intrigue in them. In the first book, our hero shows up at an estate to buy a horse and is shocked to discover the countess is a fraud. He knows she is, because he knows her. He threatens to expose her, but she convinces him not to do that, and in fact, to help her, because she believes a man was wrongly hanged for a crime he did not commit, and only she can uncover the truth. Every book in this series solves a part of the mystery, but then opens another aspect of it. Just for Fun Angel: You’ve traveled a great deal, all over the world. What’s the place you most enjoyed visiting? What do you love best about coming home? JL: I always love to go back to Ireland and the U.K. I just really really like it there. What I love best about coming home is sleeping in my own bed and not having to haul luggage around with me everywhere I go. Angel: How would you spend your ideal day? JL: Reading, watching movies, doing nothing. I never get to do that, and even on those days when there isn’t much going on, I feel guilty for taking big chunks of time to read or flip channels. I rarely ever do it, but I want to. Angel: Favorite food? JL: Brownies. Big ones, small ones, chocolate ones, blonde ones, nuts, no nuts, I don’t care. I. Love. Brownies. Angel: What’s something we’d be surprised to learn about you? JL: That I paid for graduate school by studying Arabic. It was a National Defense scholarship. The government paid you to learn a language like that, and in the event of war, you could be called up to translate. Fortunately, by the time the Gulf War rolled around, I was long gone and out of the time period they use to call people back. I can’t remember any of it now, other than how to write my name. Thanks so much for having me here! I am very excited about the luncheon and can’t wait to meet you all in person. You can learn more about Julia at her website www.julialondon.com . If you live in the southern part of the US and would be interested in meeting Julia at this year’s luncheon on May 15th, you can find details at www.heartofdixie.org . This month I’m excited about introducing our readers to one of my fabulous Ruby Slippered Sisters, fellow 2009 Golden Heart Finalist Addison Fox. Her debut paranormal book, Warrior Ascended, will be released this month from Signet, NAL, and we at the Playground are excited to celebrate with her! Angel: Addison, tell us a little about yourself. How did you start writing? Addison Fox: Danniele – thanks so much for the invitation! I’ve been a lifelong reader and have always had an interest in writing. In college, I was an English minor and took several writing courses and it’s just always been something I was drawn to. Thirteen years ago, I moved to a new city for a job and along with that life change, it just felt like the time to try my hand at writing. I’d toyed with the idea off and on, but something clicked and I decided to try my hand at it. It took me 5 years to write two books and then, in September 2002 I joined RWA and the local chapter in my town, the Dallas Area Romance Authors, and that was all it took. For me, joining RWA made all the difference. I was suddenly around a group of people who understood my dream and understood this part of me that is drawn to the writing life. I got to meet and get to know authors – people who had actually found success at this profession – and it made me realize that it was achievable. Once I joined RWA and DARA, I never looked back! Angel: What led up to your first sale? What made this book The One? AF: I wish I could be more precise, but there really was just something about these stories. I just had a feeling the Warriors would be “The One.” (Of course, I’d had that feeling before, so what do I know! :) ) That said, there was something about the idea for the Warriors that I felt had real sales potential. I even remember when I got the idea. I was sitting on the couch, not even thinking about writing or plotting, and these two ideas just popped into my brain - warriors and astrology. I quickly jumped online and started looking into various aspects of the Zodiac and within about an hour I had the idea, almost fully formed. What’s been the fun part for me as a writer is how the history of Western astrology is very closely knit with Greek mythology. And as soon as I realized I had those two canvasses to play with, I knew I had an idea that had real depth when it came to character development. Angel: Would you mind sharing your Call Story with us? How much time passed between your call and when your book will appear on shelves this month? AF: I love telling this story – thank you for letting me share it! My agent had the book on submission with NAL and we knew there was interest. I got an email from her the morning the call came at work that said, “Are you going to be around tonight?” which basically signed the death warrant on my attention span that day at work! I immediately called my sister to squeal and we then proceeded to email all morning (again, there went that productivity...) as we pondered what it could all really mean. Fortunately, the process didn’t take all day and my agent called me around 2 to let me know NAL wanted to buy it. I had to slip out of a meeting to take the call, which was probably better since my enthusiasm in said meeting was about the same as a dentist visit! I slipped out of the meeting and hid in a back corner of the office behind a wall of cubicles trying to get all the details AND keep my voice down AND try not to pass out from sheer excitement! The whole day was everything I could have imagined and so much more. There really is something so incredible in that moment – it’s the culmination of a hope, a dream, a wish and a prayer, all coalescing at the same time. The call came November 20, 2008 and the book will hit the shelves March 2, 2010. In many ways the wait has felt endless and in many other ways it’s flown by! Angel: How many books did you write before this one? (Feel free to share a rejection story with us.) AF: I’d written ten full-length manuscripts before this one – 7 adult manuscripts and 3 young adult manuscripts. Rejections are always hard, no matter where they come from, and I logged well over 150 rejections on the path to publication. And I’ve continued to log more after making the sale. I’ve had other, non-paranormal projects that have gone out on submission and just haven’t clicked with an editor. I got an odd bit of perspective a few years ago when I realized there were a lot of similarities in what I do for a living in my day job and the rejection process. I work in advertising and I get pitched ideas for my clients all day long by various media companies. There are plenty of ideas that just don’t work but many times, I pass on the opportunity because of other reasons. The idea isn’t right because it’s too like something we’ve already done or have in the works with another media company. Or, even if it’s a great idea, it’s something that hasn’t worked in the past. Publishing is the same way. An editor may have just bought a project that’s similar to yours or the house may have done a series a year ago on Zombie-Werewolves in Prague and it didn’t do very well. Those are the things we don’t know as writers but which do have an influence on the rejection. The best thing we can do is to keep writing and keep submitting. It only takes one connection to make a sale. Editors move houses all the time, direction of lines change, new lines open, etc. Our job is to have the product ready to go when the opportunity arises. Angel: How do you plan to celebrate your first release? AF: I haven’t mapped out the exact events yet, but I suspect it will involve squealing in the bookstore and taking pictures with the book in hand and a nice dinner out. Angel: What has been the most surprising thing that’s happened since you sold? The scariest thing? AF: The most incredibly surprising, touching thing has been how excited people are for me. I always knew selling a book would be a big deal to me – we seek publication because it matters to us. What I never expected was just how excited others would be for me. It’s been so humbling to hear that a good friend of my sister’s in-laws has been telling everyone she works with to buy the book. Or that my cousin has passed out my promo materials at her job. Or that a colleague went onto Amazon and pre-ordered the book. It has made me realize that I am surrounded by this amazing support network of people who care about me and care about my success in a way that I truly never understood before. And with that realization, has come an even deeper understanding of just how lucky I am to share my life with so many amazing people. The scary part...they’re all going to read the love scenes! :) Angel: Warrior Ascended is the first in a series of books about Immortal Warriors created by the goddess Themis to protect mankind from chaos. Can you tell us where the concept came from? How many books are currently planned in the series? Are there release dates for the upcoming books yet? AF: Although the initial idea came from that blended thought of warriors and astrology, the world has really come to life for me with the overlay of Greek mythology. When researching astrology, I found that the inspiration for the Libra constellation is the Greek goddess of justice, Themis. Themis was also Zeus’s first wife. If you go back to the early ages of mankind, as written by the Greeks, Hesiod and Ovid, humanity supposedly went through successive ages – Golden, Silver, Bronze, Heroic and Iron. As each age passed, life got increasingly bad for humans and the fifth age was a time of misery for humanity. That is where the series launches and where Themis makes her Great Agreement with Zeus so that she can create a race of protectors for the humans. Of course, because Themis is all about the scales of balance, the warriors need an opposing force and that’s where Zeus’s daughter with Hera – Enyo, the goddess of war – comes in. There are thirteen warriors currently conceived in the series (Gemini has two for the twins) and I’ve sold the first two books at this point. Kane Montague, my Scorpio Warrior, is the hero of book two. His story – WARRIOR AVENGED – will be out in September. I can only hope I am fortunate enough to write stories for all the warriors! Angel: For our fellow writers, can you tell us the most powerful advice you’ve ever received? AF: The most powerful advice I’ve ever received is from my father. He’s always told me I can be whatever I want to be. Along with that advice, though, he always added that you have to work at things. Those accomplishments of true value come with an incredible amount of hard work. From a writing perspective, I received some advice early on that made all the difference for me. Sometimes it can be daunting to think of writing an entire book, especially as we juggle the demands of our lives – family, small children, work, etc. Instead of thinking about that, focus on writing a chapter a week. Accomplish that goal, then move on to the next week and the next chapter. It was very valuable advice when I began because it helped me to think about my writing goals and my output/page production very differently. It’s a much easier thought to digest the need to write 3 pages a day for a weekly goal of 20-21 pages per chapter than focusing on...oh wow, I have to write a whole book! For Fun: Angel: What’s something about you we’d be surprised to learn? AF: I’ve taken the subways in Tokyo all by myself! A few years ago I went to Tokyo for work and I kept hearing all about the incredible sushi down at the fish markets and that you had to go there early in the morning when the day’s catch came in. So I googled how to get there, caught the subway line that ran beneath my hotel and took a little adventure at 6AM. Not only was it a very empowering feeling to do that on my own, but the sushi was THE MOST AMAZING, AWESOME SUSHI I’ve ever eaten!! Angel: What’s involved in your ideal of a relaxing day? AF: Books and a latte usually float to the top of the list if it’s just me! :) I also find spending time with my loved ones goes a long way toward relaxing the stresses of day-to-day life. Whether it be family or good friends, going back to the well and refreshing the soul with the people who share our lives, for me, helps to give perspective and a wonderful view of my blessings. Angel: Coffee or Tea? AF: Both! I am a coffee drinker until Noon and then switch over to tea for the rest of the day. You can learn more about Addison and her new release, Warrior Ascended, at her website, www.addisonfox.com . Addison, thanks for joining us this month on the Playground! February 2010 - Marilyn Shoemaker The Playground is excited to have one of our biggest fans in the Sandbox this month. Marilyn Shoemaker is well-known for her review blogs. We’ve ended up on a few email loops together and one of us ends up being the “other” Marilyn. She’s a huge champion of the romance genre so please make her welcome. Playground Monitor: How did you go about becoming a reviewer and blogger? Marilyn Shoemaker: Hi Marilyn, thanks for inviting me to the Sandbox. While working at a major cruise line I was introduced to the romance genre by a couple of co-workers. During our lunch hour we would discuss what we were reading, share books and we eventually started a small library in the Princess Cruises lunch room. I loved the books so much that I emailed a few of the authors and attended some local book signings. It was through that contact with some of those authors that I was asked to consider posting my reviews on Amazon and Barnes and Noble or posting comments on romance forums. Now seven years later, I review for Pink Heart Society Reviews and have started my own review blog as well as a blog sharing industry news on Romance Author Buzz. As my reviewing progressed, I also joined my local RWA Seattle Chapter where I’ve met so many talented authors. PM: How do you decide what books to review? MS: At first I chose Harlequin Presents, Silhouette Desire and Special Edition because they were quick reads and I had a career and children still at home. Then as the years went on, authors started contacting me and/or sending books and the rest is history. In fact two of your authors here at The Writing Playground….Lynn Raye Harris and Kimberly Lang gave me the great honor of reviewing their debut books. PM: Do you ever compare your reviews to other reviews of the same book? MS: I compose and post my reviews first so I’m not influenced by others. My writing style is very simple and my reviews sincerely come from my heart. Then, if I get a chance, I do look at other bloggers reviews especially those reviews of my favorite authors. PM: Why romance? Do you have a favorite sub-genre within romance? MS: The sheikh genre. A friend introduced me to Susan Mallery’s Desert Rogue series. I enjoyed them so much and started posting reviews to a website dedicated to the genre. The site had interesting articles, a forum where people posted reviews, listed authors and titles for the genre. Then the site went down due to spam. I had invested a lot of internet time posting reviews on that particular site, so that’s how my blog Romancing the Desert -- Sheikh Books was born. I’ve also found I enjoy women’s fiction which at one time was known as “chick lit”. Two Harlequin authors I had already been reading, Roxanne St. Claire and Jane Porter introduced me to their books. Once I read St. Claire’s Hit Reply and Porter’s The Frog Prince I was hooked. PM: Covers and titles. Do they ever influence whether you even buy a book much less read it? MS: What influences my personal purchases are the book description, the author, the subject, reviews and I usually go on line to see if there is a “behind the book” story. I find that sometimes the covers or titles to not reflect the story. If you’re an author reading this blog, I sincerely pay attention to the dedications; I think they reveal so much about the author and the book. PM: Who are your favorite authors? What are some of your favorite books? What is/are the book(s) you read again and again? MS: That’s a hard question. I’m such a Harlequin Presents fan first and foremost and I’ve read 90% of the authors who write for the line. Susan Mallery who writes for HQN. I adore her family themed stories i.e. The Lone Star Sisters, Marcelli Sisters and The Buchanan’s. Believe it or not, her sheikh books which were part of her The Desert Rogues are some of my favorites due to her sense of humor, the passion between her characters and there is always a lesson to be learned. Her heroines are always strong and intelligent women and give as good as they get. And then Marilyn, I enjoy reading our mutual friend Roxanne St. Claire who writes romance/suspense and her brilliant Bullet Catcher series. What makes this series amazing for me are the hot heroes and her secondary characters. In each of her books she always has that one special scene that takes your breath away. You’re also a fan so you know what I mean. PM: Tell us about what you do when you’re not reading romance, blogging and reviewing books. Job? Hobbies? MS: For 22 years I worked in the travel industry so I enjoy traveling or cruising. When I’m not reading or working at my part time job, I enjoy spending my time with my family and friends, dining out, going to movies, of course shopping or attending a Broadway show being performed here in Seattle. During the summer months, I spend a lot of time at my family summer home on the water at Hood Canal, swimming, gardening and of course, I’m always reading. PM: Now just for fun. :) Coffee, tea or hot chocolate? MS: All of the above. Hot chocolate for special moments. PM: Chocolate or vanilla? MS: Chocolate of course! PM: Crispy or original recipe? Or would you prefer steak? MS: Steak, medium rare. And seafood as I’m so lucky to live in a city known for its fine dining and seafood restaurants. PM: Dream vacation spot? MS: I’ve seen a lot of the world via cruise ships. I think Australia, due to my reading by some of the Presents authors like Annie West, Trish Morey, Robyn Grady and many more. These authors have intrigued me with their descriptions of the Australian country side, beaches and Australian major cities. I would also like to see more of Italy and visit the UK. PM: Anything else you’d like to share with our readers? MS: The romance community and the friendships I’ve made through blogs like this one I would have never believed possible. I’ve witnessed others in this romance community, who have never met, reach out to help others in time of need which I find truly remarkable. About Marilyn Shoemaker: Marilyn has lived in Seattle, Washington and worked in the travel industry for over 22 years. At present, she’s working part time at a nationwide clothing store, Chico’s. She has two incredible children. Her son Chris recently graduated from Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Seattle and desires to work in fine dining. Her daughter Keri lives and works in Washington DC and is the director of her DC PR firm. They have been the joy of Marilyn’s life. She was married to a Seattle firefighter who after retirement went to work in sales at Holland America Cruise Line. Married for over 30 years, they enjoyed their children, travel and spending time at their summer home on Hood Canal. Ron passed away three years ago. He was Marilyn’s best friend and like the romances she adores, it was love at first sight. Reading romance is her passion and sharing it with others gives her great pleasure. There’s nothing better than receiving an author’s email saying thanks for “getting my book” or a reader’s comment ”because of your review, I’m going to buy the book.” She is looking forward in 2010 to stepping out of the box and reading new authors and genres. Marilyn’s Romance Reviews: http://marilyns-romance-reviews.blogspot.com/ Romance: Author Buzz: http://romance-author-buzz.blogspot.com/ Sheikh Books: http://romancing-the-desert---sheikh-books.blogspot.com/ Pink Heart Society: http://www.pinkheartsocietyreviews.blogspot.com/ EHarlequin: Post reviews as “Reading in Seattle” The Playfriends are tickled to welcome Sarah Wendell from the Smart Bitches, Trashy Books blog to the Sandbox this month. In addition to her blogging duties, she’s the co-author of Beyond Heaving Bosoms (with fellow Smart Bitch Candy Tan). Hopefully Sarah brought massive man titty with her, so slide over and give her lots of room… Problem Child: Hi Sarah and welcome! Oh where to begin… Okay, let’s start at the obvious place: romance in all its bosom-heaving glory. How’d you get your start as a romance reader? Sarah Wendell: Petty larceny. I was a late reader, and I'm not sure if that was because I had trouble seeing text (I have horrible eyesight), I was having trouble learning to read, or I wasn't interested in what there was to read, but in elementary school I had a tough time of reading comprehension. I was moved backwards in reading groups and got it into my head that I wasn't too bright because I didn't like reading, unless I was reading Sweet Valley High or the like. Amazing how many people found romance with the SVH series as their gateway drug! So, anyway, my junior year, maybe sophomore year, I saw the class valedictorian in the library and she was reading this HUGE paperback novel, and I immediately got all intimidated and angsty (I was a 16 year old girl after all) about how she must be reading something totally superior to anything I read, though I was always on the lookout for something new to read that I might like. I worked up the nerve to ask what she was reading, and lo and behold, the clouds parted on a chorus of harps and trumpets, and light fell through the windows in gleaming columns as she replied, "It's a romance novel. You haven't read one?! OMIGOD you HAVE to try one." She dragged me over to the wire rack of paperbacks and started pointing out all the ones she'd read - and that she'd dogeared all the "bad scenes" that she didn't like so other people could skip over them. (Those would be the rape scenes - it was the early 90s after all, and romance still had a healthy 'Thanks for raping me!' plot line.) Then she told me about the book she was reading - Midsummer Magic by Catherine Coulter - and excused herself to go to the ladies room. I started reading the first chapter, loved it, and ran to the checkout counter to take the book home with me before she got out of the bathroom. See? Petty larceny. PC: What made you decide to take your love of romance novels public with the SBTB blog? SW: Candy and I had a long and meandering email conversation wherein we somehow got to the subject of how much we like romance, how hard it was to find critical reviews of romances - or anyone in person who, as Candy put it, wouldn't start revising downward their estimation of your intellect after you confessed to loving romance novels. One of us suggested a review blog - and the other agreed, and Smart Bitches was born. I don't think the clouds parted with harps and trumpets, though. PC: How did you and Candy get together? Are you high school friends or something? SW: We met online, like any two people with a true passion for something that you can't discuss at a cocktail party. PC: SBTB got really big, really fast. How’d that happen? SW: We have no idea. We never advertised, and we only told a few people we knew about it. But once one group of readers or writers found it, the link was passed around and around and suddenly we had this amazing community of people talking with us. PC: What do you think is it about y’all that gives SBTB such a strong voice and place in the romance community? When scandal erupts in Romancelandia, SBTB usually has a huge conversation going on about it. SW: We start conversations because we want to talk to the folks who hang out at our site, and without fail I always learn something from them. I think our conversation threads are strong and interesting because we try very hard to maintain consistency and authenticity with our writing. Whatever it is we're writing, that really is our opinion, and, as I like to say, the underlying rhetoric of anything I write is that I'm as full of shit as anyone. So folks are welcome to disagree with me, and they do. Then it gets totally interesting. PC: Many authors live in fear of being reviewed on SBTB. (Not only for the possibility of snark, but for the pile-on in the comments that can follow a snarky review.) Do you only review books that are sent to you (in other words, the author takes her own chances)? SW: We review books that are sent to us by authors, by publishers, or recommended to us by readers who think we'll like or scream with hilarity a particular book. PC: Do you review most/all of the books you read? Are there books you read just for fun, knowing you won’t be reviewing them on the blog? SW: I do read for fun, but often if I start a book thinking I won't review it, I find I have a lot more to say about it when I read without my "What the review going to be?" hat on. PC: Is it getting difficult to read just for fun? Is it hard to turn off the reviewer part of your brain? SW: Nope. I read better that way! PC: What’s the best book you’ve read recently (whether or not you reviewed it)? SW: Hmmm. I just finished Proof by Seduction by Courtney Milan, and while there's a few plot points that make me go, "Hur?" the writing and the emotional layers of the characters were absolutely savory. PC: Have the number and types of books sent to you to review made you step outside your usual, favorite genres? Did you discover new favorite authors or genres you probably wouldn’t have read if not for SBTB? SW: Oh, yes. And I get reintroduced to genres that I didn't think I'd like, from category romance (boy was I wrong - LOVE it) to romantic suspense (fine, so long as there are not priapic fern-owners) to paranormals. PC: So let’s talk the Bosoms now. How did the book come about? Were you approached by someone to take your insights off-line and into the bookstores, or did you do the approaching yourself? SW: The book is entirely the fault of Rose Hilliard at St. Martins, who emailed us a long time ago and said, "Have you ever thought about writing a book?" Our answer: "BWAAAAHAHAHAHA. No." She talked to us about the genre and what she thought we could do, and sent us sample proposals so we had an understanding of how to write one - and eventually after a whole bunch of "BWAAAAHAHAHAH. Ok." moments, we had a book deal. PC: A large portion of your target audience already loves the genre. How’s the response been from those outside of Romancelandia? SW: Anywhere from, "You wrote a book about THOSE books?" to "Oh, COOL, I LOVE those books!" We've heard it all. PC: While I fully support the study of romance from an academic standpoint, I do think it’s important to embrace the genre for what it is – without excuse or apology or implying it’s something it isn’t. (Okay, so that’s not a question – just residual trauma from my thesis rearing its head.) At the same time, the romance genre has to reflect the struggle and growth of the demographic it speaks to and represents. (Still not a question. Hmm. My interviewing skills suck.) What do you think the study of romance novels could add to the discourse on feminism, women’s studies, women’s rights, etc.? (Ooh, that’s a question!) SW: I think that romance novels represent an anthropological and sexual history of women in the 21st century in every single aspect. Whether you examine the themes of courtship ritual or whether you analyze the fact that for 60-plus years, women have been operating independent creative businesses writing fictional narratives for an audience of mostly women that generates over $1.7 billion dollars US annually, there's something in there for everyone to learn and appreciate. PC: Along those same lines, do you catch heat from the use of terms some would consider perpetuating the stereotype of romance (trashy books, heaving bosoms and the like)? SW: Yup! It's part of our drinking game: any time someone comes to leave a cranky comment and says we're nothing but "trashy bitches," we have to drink. We deliberately chose the words for that reason: we've already called ourselves Bitches and we already used the word "trashy," so now that we've got that down, what else you got? Nothing? Then listen up, because romance is awesome. PC: Were you at all nervous when it came time to read reviews on your book? SW: Sometimes. Some of them we responded to, because we like to do what we're not supposed to do, and others we giggled at, but the reviews from sources whose opinions carried a lot of weight with me made me nervous, because it's a different thing entirely to have a discussion about a book when the book is one that you wrote. PC: Any big plans brewing for the SBTB blog? Or you and Candy? More books? SW: More of the same, with awesomeness, we hope! PC: Your regular readers probably feel they know you pretty well. Is there anything they’d be surprised to learn about you? SW: I really, really, really wanna zig-a-zig ha! PC: And now for the lightning round… Coffee or tea? Both! Vampires or Shapeshifters? Shifters. Skirts or pants? Both (not at the same time) Contemporary or historical (yeah, you gotta choose one)? Historical Skittles or M&Ms? M&MS! PC: Thanks, Sarah, for playing on the Playground! We hope you’ll come back and visit soon! Sarah and the other Smart Bitches can be found at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books. Check out their book - Beyond Heaving Bosoms available now.
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