Pump Up Your Book Promotion “We take books to the virtual level!”

Today I am interviewing Kathye Quick who is on a blog tour with Pump Up Your Book Promotion. You can read the interview below and at the end of the interview you can read her bio and the book summary of her current release.

Phoebe Jordan: When did you know that writing romance was going to be the thing that you would do with your life? Which author inspired you to start writing romance?

Kathye Quick: I began to write in 1988 after reading a cajillion romances and thinking “I could do this.” Turns out I really couldn’t. I had an awful lot to learn about writing. Mainly reading romances is not the same as writing romances. There wasn’t one author that inspired me as much as there was one author who helped me. Barbara Breton, a New York Times Bestselling Author was getting started herself back then. She was a Harlequin author who I met at a bank one day. We began talking and she encouraged me to come to a local writer’s group that weekend. I did and that’s when I began to find out just how much I didn’t know about writing romances.

Phoebe: Did you know what type of romance you wanted to write about or did you experiment with different genres before you chose the one that you felt was for you?

Kathye: I wrote a contemporary romance I thought was the bomb. It was. Literally. I couldn’t PAY to have it published back then. As I said, I had a lot to learn. Now I’m comfortable writing anything and I do!

Phoebe: What was the first fiction you ever wrote? And do you still have it with you?

Kathye: WINCH!! The contemporary romance I wrote was called DUTY OR DESIRE. I actually still like the name. It was about a Police Officer and the women he left many years ago. Can you tell he ultimately had to choose between duty or desire? Needless to say it was awful. I had it on disk, but I lost it when I lost my house to the flooding of Hurricane Floyd back in 1999. Maybe that was someone’s way of telling my just how bad it was!

Phoebe: How much research do you have to do for your novels and does it take you a long time to gather that research?

Kathye: This is probably not the right way to do it, but I research as I go. So far it’s been working. If I find that I’ve written myself somewhere I know nothing about, I get on the Internet and Google.

Phoebe: How did you come up with the concept for your novel Cynthia and Constantine, which is part of your Beyond Camelot, Brother Knights series?

Kathye: Believe it or not, the concept for Cynthia and Constantine, my new release from the Wild Rose press, sprang up during a season of American Idol. (To find out more about how Kathy came to write Cynthia and Constantine come back on Wednesday, May 20th to read her author guest blog about it.)

Phoebe: How did you come up with the concept for your Beyond Camelot, Brother Knights series and how many more books do you think will you be writing for that series?

Kathye: If I like something I want to know more. I love the Arthurian Era and mythology, so I knew that just one book was not going to be enough. There will be a sequel to this book called Jane and Braeden because in the course of fleshing out the story so it would be long enough for a book, Jane’s character became an integral part of the story and now we need to hear her story also.

Phoebe: How do you come up with each of your characters for your novels? How do you choose their names out of so many names out there?

Kathye: My characters are a mix of people I know and my fantasies. My hero, Sir Constantine is the perfect knight—honorable, brave, kind and gallant. He’s also based on my husband who’s darn cute. Lady Cynthia is definitely based on one of my friends, Cynthia. She’s blond, beautiful, independent and true to what she believes. While the names of my characters in Cynthia and Constantine came from American Idol, believe it or not I Googled to find names. Try it. For my fantasy series I’m writing for example, I Googled “Ancient Greek Names” and then read them until I found one I liked. Then I adapted it to a more modern sounding name. You can also Google “baby names” or something to fit the timeline or genre in which you are writing such as “western names” or “native American names.”

Phoebe: Do you have a favorite character that you really enjoyed writing about in your novel Cynthia and Constantine? Did you have a character that you felt you could really relate to in your Cynthia and Constantine?

Kathye: I like the feistiness of Lady Cynthia, the mystery of Jane, the honor of Constantine and the loyalty of Sir Braeden. Lord Simon is a necessary evil and of course, he can’t work alone, so we needed someone to be a catalyst to get the action started in the form of Ranaulf, a townsman who found there was money to be made by getting certain information to his lordship.

Phoebe: Do you have a process of how you start to write your novels?

Kathye: Start with the blood on the floor, I was always told. That means, start your novels with something happening. Then the reader will need to find out why it happened or who the action is going to affect.

Phoebe: Which do you like best, writing a series or writing stand alone novels? How is writing each different for you?

Kathye: BRADEN AND JANE will be the second book in this series but I actually have a three-book contemporary series done and coming out at the end of this year/beginning of 2010 for Avalon Books. That series, grandmother’s ring, follows the Archer family siblings, 2 girls 1 boy, in their quest to find their soul mates. I named the books after my family’s birthstones, Amethyst, Sapphire and Citrine. What is fun about a series is that you know the characters from one book to the next. But I also enjoy writing stand-alone books. For me it depends on how involved the plot is and if my secondary characters develop a life of their own.

Phoebe: What process did you have to go through to get your first book published and did it take you long?

Kathye: As I mentioned before, I began writing in 1988 and had a lot to learn. Finally, when I was ready to submit, I wrote about a hero and heroine who met during a Hurricane and submitted it around. The rejection letters came, but some of them were actually encouraging. Then Hurricane Floyd hit the east coast. The foundation of my house collapsed and I lost just about everything I owned up to four feet on the first floor. But I also got a call from an eBook publisher—Starlight Writers—who said they wanted to publish my book. I think that call helped me through the next eight months of rebuilding. Starlight Writers does not exist any longer, but the book was then placed with Wings ePress that is going strong today. I will be forever grateful for that call. It helped me through some pretty dismal times. But if I thought my first book would have been so prophetic, I would have written about a lottery winner instead of a Hurricane!

Phoebe: Do you ever get writers block? What do you do to get rid of it so you can get back to writing your novels?

Kathye: I live in writer’s block some days. When I hit that wall, it’s normally because I didn’t think through the story enough and I have no idea where it’s going. That’s when I pull out a book and read or pop in a video. That gets me thinking and I can usually restart. It may mean tossing out the last ten pages, but sometimes that’s OK too.

Phoebe: Which aspects of writing do you enjoy the most and why? And what is your biggest writing pet peeve? (overuse of exclamation points, adverbs, bad guys named Wayne, etc.), if you have any?

Kathye: I love bringing the characters to life. They become real people to me over the course of the book. I get kind of sad when it’s time to say goodbye and miss them when they are gone. I detest bandwagons. Let me explain. Once something gets popular in a certain genre, everyone jumps on the bandwagon and the market gets saturated. Like now and vampires. The market is saturated. There are some very talented vampire writers, of course, but there is also a lot of testing the water type writers. Out of respect to the really good ones, I won’t have any of my characters bite anyone.

Phoebe: What is the one writing tool can you not live without?

Kathye: Actually there are two—Undelete and Google.

Phoebe: How do you handle your writing schedule and your personal life without going insane?

Kathye: A lot of my friends and all of my family say it’s too late already for me to worry about my sanity. Since I work full time until I win a Pulitzer or two, I found it difficult to write and get enough sleep to be coherent in the morning until I met Janet Evanovich one day at one of her books signings. She told me that (at that time at least) she writes 3–5 pages a day and that’s it. That translates to 90-150 pages a month. So realistically your book could get done in 3 months. I gave it a shot. It works. I try to average 75 pages a month, with the first frat done in about 5 months. So far, so good. Thank you, Janet.

Phoebe: What do you do to relax after having spent a long while writing? Do you have any hobbies?

Kathye: Relax? There’s no relaxing in writing!!!! But after I finish a book, I take off two weeks before starting another. At least I try to only take off 2 weeks once that turned into 6 months. Not good. Not only was it hard to get started again, but I was totally clueless on what was happening in the industry. Now I say 3 pages. 3 pages and you can be like Janet Evanovich. (See sanity is not present in me!) But I love gardening, shopping with my BFF, Judy, and watching reality TV.

Phoebe: Is there any advice that you would give to an aspiring romance writer that you wish someone had given you?

Kathye: Advice and insight. Writing is hard! But if you keep at it, keep your dream in front of you, you can do it. It may take 10 years like it took me, but never give up. Failure is simply not knowing how close you were to success before you quit! (I didn’t make that up, but I don’t remember who did).

Phoebe: Is there any writing tips, research tips, promotion and marketing tips that you would give to an aspiring romance writer that you wish someone had given you?

Kathye: When in doubt—Google. Seriously, it’s a great tool. You can get enough information on anything to be able to get through your scene. I just found a great article on what it felt like to ride in a Black Hawk helicopter that I needed to finish the last book in my grandmother’s ring series, the hero is in the military and flies evac missions in Iraq.

Phoebe: Do you have a favorite genre you like to read? Who is your favorite author(s)?

Kathye: I love historicals and sci-fi or paranormal. I started out reading the Native American historical romance by Cassie Edwards and branched out from there. I like Maggie Shayne for paranormals. Yes, I know she writes about vampires, but she’s one of the good ones just like Caridad Piñeiro, who I adore.

Phoebe: What are you reading now? And what do you plan to read after that?

Kathye: I’m reading Nina Bangs, ETERNAL PLEASURE now. It’s a paranormal. Not sure what I’ll read next. It’s time to begin another book soon. Thanks for having me. If so inclined, come by my website at and check out what I do write!

AUTHOR BIO:

Kathye Quick has been writing since the sisters in Catholic School gave her a #2 pencil and some paper with ruled lines. From stories about her family for Writing Week in fifth grade, to becoming editor-in-Chief of her high school newspaper, The Blueprint, to 1999 when she realized her dream of being published, Kathye’s love of the written word span numerous genres. She writes contemporary and career romances for Avalon Books, romantic comedy and historicals for Wings Press, urban fantasy for Cerridwen Press, and most recently medieval historical romances for Wild Rose Press. Kathye is one of the founders of Liberty States Fiction Writers, a group launched in January 2009 to help writers of all fiction genres in their journey to publication. She had been a member of New Jersey Romance Writers and Romance Writers of America since 1988 and considered it an honor to have been NJRW President in 1992 and 2001. Kathye’s fifth hardcover romance for Avalon books, ‘Tis the Season, a holiday romance complete with Santa Claus, a sleigh ride and a New England snowfall earned a 2006 HOLT Medallion nomination.

Her debut historical romance, Daughters of the Moon, from Wings e-Press has been heralded as a flawless glimpse into the world of the ancient Greeks. Writing as P. K. Eden with writing partner, Patt Mihailoff, Firebrand, an urban fantasy based on the fall of the Garden of Eden, has won two Reviews Choice Awards and many five-star ratings. In August 2009, Avalon Books will publish her three-book contemporary romance series entitled Grandmother's Rings. The books, Amethyst (August 2009), Sapphire (December 2009) and Citrine (early 2010) follow the Archer family siblings in their quest to find their soul mates using rings given to them by their Grandmother. Kathye used the birthstones from her family for her inspiration for this series. While writing romances has been her dream for many years, the book of Kathye’s heart, is a non-fiction work entitled, Hi Mom, How Are Things in Heaven, a book that developed after the death of her mother and deals with coping with grief though humor. She is currently still working on the concept for this book. In her “other” life, Kathye works for Somerset County government. She is married with three sons. You can visit her website or her blog.

BOOK SUMMARY:

Lady Cynthia of Abertaine is trapped. Not only has her fiancé, Sir William Leyborne, not been back to the castle for over ten years, but she’s also not a titled Lady. Lord Simon of Cowell, a renegade warlord aligned with Mordred against Arthur and his Knights, has declared himself sovereign over Leybourne Castle and everything that once belonged to Sir William—including Cynthia. Sir Constantine, Knight of the Round Table, has come to the shire to give Cynthia the news that her fiancé has fallen in battle. With him is William’s oral will giving all he owns to Cynthia as though they had been wed. But when he finds Cynthia and discovers the shire under the control of an evil warlord, he knows he cannot leave without first driving Simon and his soldiers from the land. Drawn together by an attraction older than time, Cynthia and Constantine soon discover that though a vow made by a knight’s honor has brought them together, it may just also cost them their lives. You can buy this book at Wild Rose Press, Amazon.com and Barnes & Nobles.

Pump Up Your Book Promotion “We take books to the virtual level!”

Rie McGaha was born and raised in northern California along the shores of Humboldt County where her grandmother often took her to search for seashells and watch the humpback whales migration. Though her father was a bit of a gypsy and moved his family all over, Rie always enjoyed the trips back to Eureka, California where many of her 12 children and 23 grandchildren still live. As a dreamer of dreams and being born with a gypsy soul, Rie has lived all over the United States. Settling in SE Oklahoma with husband, Nathan, she enjoys a quiet life in the Kiamichi Wilderness where she takes in abused and neglected animals, nurses them back to health and tries to find them new homes. The ones that don't find new homes remain with Rie and she currently has 18 dogs and 1 cat. Between her husband, children, grandchildren and all of the animals, Rie tries to find a few moments to write. She is currently working on Ancient Blood, the sequel to Blood Line, and Caleb and Arion the second and third installments of the My Soul To Keep Trilogy. She also writes reviews for Romance Writers United. For more information, visit Rie at website or read her review blog or even check her out on YouTube. BOOK SUMMARY: Truck driver, Joshua Kaine and his wife, Jessie, enjoy the freedom of the open road until one night on a lonely country road Josh is attacked by a rabid dog. After killing the animal, Joshua becomes very ill, but quickly recovers. Weeks later, when the full moon rises and Josh begins howling, the trouble has just begun. Drawn by an unknown force, Joshua finds himself in a remote mountain area at The Gathering where he meets Garan, a gray wolf who has walked the earth for thousands of years, and Joshua learns the rabid dog was actually a werewolf and his clan is now after Josh. On the run, hunted by a clan of werewolves, and searching to undo his plight, Josh ventures into the swamps of Louisiana in search of an old, black woman who holds the key to his existence. Josh is pushed to the limits, and when the merciless werewolves kill his wife, the hunted becomes the hunter.

Today I am interviewing Rie McGaha who is on a blog tour with Pump Up Your Book Promotion. You can read the interview below and at the end of the interview you can read her bio and the book summary of her current release.

Phoebe Jordan: When did you know that writing erotic romance was going to be the thing that you would do with your life?

Rie McGaha: LOL, I'm not sure I ever knew. I started out writing sweet romance, using words like "shaft" and "sweet love trail" to describe anatomy. It sounded ridiculous when I read it to myself, so I started using common language and felt it was a much better match for me.

Phoebe: Which author inspired you to start writing romance?

Rie: I don't think I can pick just one because I was influenced by different works by different authors. Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches series comes to mind, I just loved that whole storyline. Some of Nora Roberts' earlier works, the historicals, are some of my favorites. I love Sherrilyn Kenyon, Alyssa Day and Lynsay Sands too.

Phoebe: Did you know what type of erotic romance you wanted to write about or did you experiment with different genres before you chose the one that you felt was for you?

Rie: I write in different genres now, everything from paranormal, time travel, to contemporary, and I usually cross genres in the same story!

Phoebe: What was the first fiction you ever wrote? And do you still have it with you?

Rie: The first fiction I ever wrote was in the 8th grade and it was a historical about a teacher who came from the east coast to the wild, wild west to start a school. I can say it was very, very mild compared to what I write now, but there was still an element of romance. And no, it's long gone and I hadn't even thought of it till now!

Phoebe: How much research do you have to do for your novels and does it take you a long time to gather that research?

Rie: Research really depends on the storyline, but I do more research for historicals than I do for contemporary work. I love American history, so it's not a burden for me to get lost in my research. But, I am writing erotic romance and it's not the great American novel, nor is it intended to be. I write for pleasure, amusement, entertainment and titillation. It's purely fiction so I don't feel bad about tweaking history if I need to or about changing the facts to suit the story. My short story, Grounded, was loosely based on Greek god, Dionysus, the god of wine and revelry. He was the son of Zeus, whom I put in the story, but he wasn't the son of Aurora, nor did he have a brother named, Ira, who were also in the story. The real story of Dionysus is pretty graphic and didn't suit my needs, so I tweaked it until it did. That's the fun of writing fiction, it can go anywhere my mind takes it.

Phoebe: How did you come up with the concept for your novel Blood Line?

Rie: Funny story. My husband, Nathan, was a truck driver and a huge sci-fi fan. He's absolutely mesmerized by vampires and werewolves and zombies. One night on the road, he had a dream he was attacked by werewolves, so when he told me the dream, I laughed of course. But as I got to thinking about it, I thought, hey, this might work as a book, and it did. I'm working on the sequel, Ancient Blood right now!

Phoebe: How do you come up with each of your characters for your novels? How do you choose their names out of so many names out there?

Rie: Well now...I don't think up the characters, the voices in my head do that, and the characters they tell me about already have names. I know how that sounds, but it's the truth! All my characters are like actual people to me. I know everything about them, including their family history.

Phoebe: Do you have a favorite character that you really enjoyed writing about in Blood Line?

Rie: I really enjoyed writing about all the characters in Blood Line, but my favorite is Ganda. She's old and wise and she's figured out a lot of things in her life. She's strong because she's been through so much in her life, and she's loving and caring, but you really don't want to mess with her or get on her bad side!

Phoebe: Did you have a character that you felt you could really relate to in Blood Line?

Rie: Yeah, I kind of think Ganda is a version of me, but unfortunately, I can't kill anyone with a single bite!

Phoebe: Do you have a process of how you start to write your novels?

Rie: I really don't. If the voices in my head aren't talking, I'm not writing and they can take really long breaks sometimes!

Phoebe: Which do you like best, writing a series or writing stand alone novels? How is writing each different for you?

Rie: I prefer stand alone because they are easier for me. Although Blood Line has a sequel, I didn't write it thinking of what would come next. Ganda took on a life of her own and demanded her own story, so Ancient Blood was born. I think if I ever wrote with a series or sequel in mind, I probably wouldn't be able to start the first one!

Phoebe: What process did you have to go through to get your first book published and did it take you long?

Rie: Wow, yeah. I had one of those nightmare beginnings with a publishing house that was horrible and I didn't know anything and they didn't enlighten me, so we didn't work well together. I've had so many rejections for my work that I don't even expect offers now! Which is good in a way because I don't get upset over rejections either. When I first submitted to Noble Romance Publishing, I expected a rejection, so imagine my surprise when I was offered a contract for my first book with them, Deadly Dreams.

Phoebe: Do you ever get writers block? What do you do to get rid of it so you can get back to writing your novels?

Rie: I personally don't get writer's block, but the voices in my head do. Or at least they are silent for long periods of times, so I just presume they are off partying or can't think of any new stuff.

Phoebe: What is your biggest reader pet peeve, if you have any? (stock characters, unresolved endings, predictability, everything wrapped up hurriedly in the end, etc.)

Rie: Predictability is the worst, followed very closely by using sweet words to describe sex scenes. When I pick up a book and have it figured out before I've finished the first chapter, I will skip to the end to find out if I was right, and I usually am. When I read sex scenes, I want to hear real dialogue, real terms, not silly stuff like "love shaft" or "love canal"...I don't know anyone who really talks like that!

Phoebe: Which aspects of writing do you enjoy the most and why?

Rie: I personally love writing the gritty, dirty, nasty, bad guy scenes. I love making my bad guys not just bad, but down right scary, make you have nightmares bad guys!

Phoebe: And what is your biggest writing pet peeve? (overuse of exclamation points, adverbs, bad guys named Wayne, etc.), if you have any?

Rie: Dialogue tags drive me crazy. I recently reviewed a novel and just about couldn't get through it because of the inane dialogue tags. For example, the author wrote, ""Father?" A scantily raised and archly penciled brow came with the query." Don't do that! It takes away from the story.

Phoebe: What is the one writing tool can you not live without?

Rie: Does my editor count? LOL I still like to use pen and paper to make notes. I sometimes write whole chapters longhand, it just helps me connect my brain and ideas. I type so fast that my brain can't keep up sometimes so I like having pen and paper.

Phoebe: How do you handle your writing schedule and your personal life without going insane?

Rie: Oh, that's sweet, you think I'm sane now! LOL My kids are moved out, my husband is gone all day, so I have lots of time to myself.

Phoebe: What do you do to relax after having spent a long while writing? Do you have any hobbies?

Rie: I have a three-person Jacuzzi in my bedroom!

Phoebe: Is there any advice that you would give to an aspiring romance writer that you wish someone had given you?

Rie: Don't wait until you are published to join writing groups, get a critique partner, and start getting your name out there now before you start promoting a book.

Phoebe: Is there any writing tips, research tips, promotion and marketing tips that you would give to an aspiring romance writer that you wish someone had given you?

Rie: Always get someone else's opinion about your work. It can be very difficult to be objective about something you've spent months working on, and it can be very difficult to see typo's, so let someone else read you and give you constructive criticism. You'll never know all there is to writing, so keep learning as you go.

Phoebe: Do you have a favorite genre you like to read? Who is your favorite author(s)?

Rie: I pretty much read all genres, except I'm not a big fan of sci-fi. I love James Patterson and his Alex Cross books. Alex is the perfect man, but I fell in love with Alex's partner, John...I was so upset when James Patterson married him off!

Phoebe: What are you reading now? And what do you plan to read after that?

Rie: I just finished reading an ARC to review called Home After Dark by Darryl E. Robidoux. It's an autobiography and I just loved it. My reviews are posted at my review blog. Up next, I'm reading Spank Me Once anthology available from Noble Romance Publishing.

AUTHOR BIO:

Rie McGaha was born and raised in northern California along the shores of Humboldt County where her grandmother often took her to search for seashells and watch the humpback whales migration. Though her father was a bit of a gypsy and moved his family all over, Rie always enjoyed the trips back to Eureka, California where many of her 12 children and 23 grandchildren still live. As a dreamer of dreams and being born with a gypsy soul, Rie has lived all over the United States. Settling in SE Oklahoma with husband, Nathan, she enjoys a quiet life in the Kiamichi Wilderness where she takes in abused and neglected animals, nurses them back to health and tries to find them new homes. The ones that don't find new homes remain with Rie and she currently has 18 dogs and 1 cat. Between her husband, children, grandchildren and all of the animals, Rie tries to find a few moments to write. She is currently working on Ancient Blood, the sequel to Blood Line, and Caleb and Arion the second and third installments of the My Soul To Keep Trilogy. She also writes reviews for Romance Writers United. For more information, visit Rie at website or read her review blog or even check her out on YouTube.

BOOK SUMMARY:

Truck driver, Joshua Kaine and his wife, Jessie, enjoy the freedom of the open road until one night on a lonely country road Josh is attacked by a rabid dog. After killing the animal, Joshua becomes very ill, but quickly recovers. Weeks later, when the full moon rises and Josh begins howling, the trouble has just begun. Drawn by an unknown force, Joshua finds himself in a remote mountain area at The Gathering where he meets Garan, a gray wolf who has walked the earth for thousands of years, and Joshua learns the rabid dog was actually a werewolf and his clan is now after Josh. On the run, hunted by a clan of werewolves, and searching to undo his plight, Josh ventures into the swamps of Louisiana in search of an old, black woman who holds the key to his existence. Josh is pushed to the limits, and when the merciless werewolves kill his wife, the hunted becomes the hunter. Available at Noble Romance Publishing and also you can enjoy the book trailer of Blood Line below.

It is such a pleasure to have one of my favorite authors as a guest here on my blog today. I was approached by Dorothy Thompson to host Lisa Jackson here on my blog a month ago and I grabbed at that opportunity immediately. This is her first stop on her Virtual Book Tour with Pump Up Your Book Promotion agency, which Dorothy Thompson is the founder of. I got her new release Left to Die, which I finished over the weekend so I could have my review of it for today and here is the link to the review. It was such a great opportunity for me to interview Ms. Jackson about her writing and current release and the first book in her new series. Lisa Jackson is a New York Times bestselling author that writes to most intense novels with murderers and serial killers that keep you guessing until the very end and heroes and heroines that makes you think that they are real people instead of just characters. Here is how my interview went with Lisa Jackson went:

Phoebe Jordan: When did you know that writing romance was going to be the thing that you would do with your life?

Lisa Jackson: It kind of just happened to me. My sister read an article in TIME magazine when my children were very young about mothers writing romance when their children were asleep and she decided we both should give it a whirl. We did. We both sold. (First her, then me) That was the beginning of a nearly 30 year career as an author.

Phoebe: Did you know what type of romance you wanted to write about or did you experiment with different genres before you chose the one that you felt was for you?

Lisa: I always wanted to write romantic suspense as I was a suspense/mystery reader. Believe me, it took a while to get here. I started writing category romance and was instructed to "take out the suspense." So, there was a little suspense in those first books, but later in the last fifteen years I've been able to infuse more, which suits me just fine.

Phoebe: What was the first fiction you ever wrote? And do you still have it with you?

Lisa: My first attempt was with my sister and another woman. Entitled STORMY SURRENDER, it was rejected all over New York and is long gone. I have no idea where it is. Next year my first book written with my sister, author Nancy Bush, will be published. WICKED GAME comes out in February 2009, the first joint effort since the ill-fated STORMY SURRENDER.

Phoebe: How much research do you have to do for your novels and did it take you a long time to gather that research?

Lisa: I research as I write, but I have a library of nonfiction books and rely on the Internet as well as professionals in fields from psychology to law enforcement.

Phoebe: How did you come up with the TO DIE series?

Lisa: I wanted to set stories in a smaller, rural environment and the plot for LEFT TO DIE came to me. It just so happened that years before my editor had suggested I write about detectives who were partners and both female. I wasn't too keen on the idea and set it aside until I started writing LEFT TO DIE and the character of Regan Pescoli formed in my mind. She's just so out there--a single mother of two who has a wild streak. Her partner, uptight Selena Alvarez has her own secrets. Once I met these two women, who are NOT the heroines of the story, I was on my way. As soon as Jillian Rivers hit the pages, the story really formed. (Yes, Jillian's the heroine who just learns that her first husband who left her holding the bag on an investment fraud is actually alive!)

Phoebe: Do you have a process of how you start to write one of your novels? And is it the same or different with each novel you write?

Lisa: Each novel is different, of course. But I always write from a detailed (50-70 page) synopsis which takes about as much time to create as the actual manuscript.

Phoebe: How did you feel when you finally saw your first published book came out in print and how do you feel about your other novels being published?

Lisa: It was and is always a thrill.

Phoebe: How many books are you planning to write for the TO DIE series after your first novel Left to Die? Do you have any other series or stand alone novels planned after you finish the TO DIE series?

Lisa: Currently I have three books planned for the TO DIE series. LEFT TO DIE in August 2008, CHOSEN TO DIE in August 2009 are already approved. The third BORN TO DIE is still pretty rough; I haven't written a full synopsis yet. So we'll see.

Phoebe: Which do you like best, writing a series or writing stand alone novels? How is writing each different for you?

Lisa: I like both, really. Stand-alone novels are new and fresh each time, you don't have to worry about keeping things straight from book to book. But writing a series is like meeting old friends again, they're comfortable. They have histories already written. I really do enjoy both.

Phoebe: How do you handle your writing schedule, your book signing appearances, and your personal life without going insane?

Lisa: Badly. It's important to give the most valuable things in your life time, energy and love. You have to be able to prioritize.

Phoebe: What do you do to relax after having spent a long while writing?

Lisa: I love to spend time with my friends and family. We play cards, hang out at the beach. I do crossword puzzles with my sister and play with my dogs. Currently I'm planning some trips that don't involve a book tour.

Phoebe: Is there any advice that you would give to an aspiring romance writer that you wish someone had given you?

Lisa: It sounds corny but write from the heart rather than for the market. If you do, your story will be unique and fresh. That said, don't expect to sell something that is unmarketable. It's a business.

Phoebe: Is there any advice that you would give to an aspiring romance writer looking to find a critique partner and/or critique group that you think would be beneficial and wish someone had give you the same advice?

Lisa: Be careful of whom you chose. Make certain that person has the same vision for your book as you do. Your critique person must be totally trustworthy and as into your books as he/she is with his/her own. They should be fun, yet serious and one partner can't write three books in a year and the other struggles with one. It has to be a give and take situation, like a marriage. Just don't be afraid of divorce if things don't work out.

It was such an honor to interview Ms. Jackson and learn more about her and her writing. I hope that you check out Lisa Jackson's new release Left to Die which is now available at Amazon.com, Barnes and Nobles and any of your local stores. Comment away about the interview and any questions you may have that I might be able to answer.