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Interview with Romance Author Amanda Nelson & Lisa-Marie Potter

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About Amanda Nelson & Lisa-Marie Potter:
Amanda and Lisa-Marie are a co-writing team of best friends who share imaginary worlds, including a short story, Shivers, published in Moments Between online magazine.

Lisa Marie Potter (BIPOC): I am a mom of four who grew up in Nottingham, England, home of Robin Hood, and now I reside in Alaska with my husband and golden retriever, Samson.

Amanda Nelson: I grew up in Maryland and moved to Arizona, where I attended Arizona State University. Currently, I live in Mesa, Arizona, with my husband and four kids.

Both of us review books on our social media and love hiking in Olympic National Park, fighting over our fictional crushes, and acting out scenes from our books.

What inspires you to write?
We are pantsers, meaning we write by the seat of our pants. Usually, we start with a sliver of an idea and a character based on a shared celebrity crush. From there, we talk about who the character is to us and what he would want, what he does for a living, and what scenario would put him in a rom-com-type situation. Then we brainstorm a loose outline, but, depending on inspiration in the moment, the outline is seldom followed.

Tell us about your writing process.
Considering we live in different states with different time zones, we always have to coordinate our schedules each week to accommodate life outside of writing. But at the beginning of every work session, we spend at least an hour talking. As best friends, there's always something to say, but if we get it out early, the writing flows easier.

We also write in dual point of views, so typically one of us takes one character and the other portays the second.

How do you develop your characters?
Our male main characters are always physically based on a celebrity crush. From there, we ignore what we know about him in real life and picture him as the perfect man, envisioning how he'd act and react to certain scenarios. Luckily, we agree with almost everything about the guys; the women in our stories, though, tend to vary with generic trope responses. But none of our characters talk to us; we just know them well enough to write their personalities into our scenes.

What authors inspire you?
Stephenie Meyer has been our most influential author. The two of us bonded over the Twilight series (not the movies), and it was because of those books that we were inspired to write a story of our own.

How do you keep going in the midst of distractions?
Haha! We are constantly distracted, but usually, one of us wrangles the other in, reminding the other to focus on the task at hand. We also find that setting goals and deadlines are enough pressure to keep us on task.

What are your hobbies when you need a break from writing?
Lisa-Marie: I love archery. I have my own bow and strive to get to the range as often as possible. I also have a nephew in England who has taken up the sport, and I love to FaceTime him and compare targets.

Amanda: I love watching Bob Ross. I have taken five Bob Ross classes, including several with Lisa-Marie. I even have my own set of Bob Ross oil paints and will follow along with his videos as often as time permits.

What romance genres do you write?: sweet contemporary romance

Do you write in genres that are not romance related?
Our first completed manuscript is a YA speculative time travel novel. It has a romance subplot, but it's not the main focus. We are currently revising it into a dual point of view.

What formats are your books in?: eBook, Print

Where to find out more about the author

Website(s)
Amanda Nelson & Lisa-Marie Potter Home Page Link
Link To Amanda Nelson & Lisa-Marie Potter Page On Amazon
Link to Author Page on Bookshop

Your Social Media Links
Goodreads
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
LinkedIn
Instagram

All information in this post is presented “as is” supplied by the author. We don’t edit to allow you the reader to hear the author in their own voice.

Interview with Romance Author Mira Ahonen

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About Mira Ahonen:
Mira Ahonen is a University lecturer with PhD in natural sciences, author of several scientific papers and books, autobiographic novel Awakening and multiple fiction novels in Black Souls MC series. She's also a bass player in a hard rock band. She's happily married to the love of her life, Fire, for ten years now. Between him and training Belgian Malinois dogs with behavioral problems that they're adopting, her life is kept always interesting.

What inspires you to write?
I just finished the 20th book in the series, so I guess I'm kinda addicted to writing at this point. Originally, the series happened like this – a friend of mine used to always tell me how I have an interesting life and I should write a book about it. When he died in an accident, I decided to listen to him and write. Originally, it was supposed to be just the one, autobiographical book. But while I was writing it I was limited in my plot, since it had to follow what really happened. And the whole time I was thinking, I would write this and that differently. That's why I wrote the second book where I let my imagination run wild. I thought this is it for sure, since I never saw myself as a writer. But then I woke up the next day and there was that new story in my head, loosely inspired by the life of my other friend. And it just had to come out. It continued in that way for all the others and at this point I don't know when it will end.

Tell us about your writing process.
For me it always begins with an opening scene. A certain situation and a certain character just appears in my mind and I need to start and write. I write each day, sometimes I forget to eat, sometimes I don't go to sleep, because the story just needs to come out. I don't write outlines usually, but sometimes while I'm not writing (yes, sometimes I need to do other things no matter how I don't want it at the moment) a certain plot development comes to mind and then I do write that one up, so I can lead the story to that point. It went that way, with no outlines or character sketches, just all in my head, up to the first ten or so books in the series. Then I ran into problems, since the number of characters and complexity of the world became too great and I started mixing up names. For that reason I was forced to sit down and write all the characters in a table, and it was a long and tedious process. Especially since I needed to put the character age on a timeline, one character that was in his early twenties at the series start should be in his forties now, in the 20th book, calculations sometimes boggled my mind. Now I keep the table on my computer and update it after every new book. And it is not my favorite part of writing. I dislike it even more (if possible) than endless grammar checks (and I always find so many errors, no matter how many times I read through, I honestly don't get that. It's literally neverending, I'll always find something to change.)

How do you develop your characters?
When I start the book I literally have no idea what will happen. They do speak to me and they want out. For me, when I start writing a new book, the process is all consuming, and I can't rest till it's done. Often, I'm annoyed with my characters, things they do or the way they think, and I can't believe the things that end up happening in my books, but the process takes a life of its own and sometimes I can just go with the flow and watch where I'll end up.

What authors inspire you?
I don't think that there are authors that inspire me in a way that I follow their work or try to imitate their style of writing, at least I don't do it consciously (who knows what we pick up without knowing?). I'm mostly inspired by life, whether my own experiences, or things that happened to my family or friends, or I've seen happened. As for authors, there's only one thing that comes to mind and I think that I do use that one from time to time – I think I read somewhere that one of my favorite authors, Lois McMaster Bujold, said that when she's writing she thinks of the worst possible things that could happen to her characters and then she does it to them, or something like that. Well, I do that sometimes as well.

How do you keep going in the midst of distractions?
When I write, I just ignore everything around me. Honestly, I think aliens could've landed in my living room and I'd have no idea, nor would I care greatly, since I need to finish the chapter, so quit bothering me you pesky alien.

What are your hobbies when you need a break from writing?
I work a lot with my dogs, also play music with my band, go out with my husband, a lot of things really. But I don't need a break from writing, never that. It's just not the only thing I do, and I try to squeeze it all in. Somehow.

What romance genres do you write?: MC romance, also known as biker romance

Do you write in genres that are not romance related?
Yes, I write scientific papers and books. I also published several newspaper articles about music and traffic and probably some other stuff I can't remember at the moment.

What formats are your books in?: eBook

Where to find out more about the author

Website(s)
Mira Ahonen Home Page Link
Link To Mira Ahonen Page On Amazon

All information in this post is presented “as is” supplied by the author. We don’t edit to allow you the reader to hear the author in their own voice.

Interview with Romance Author Vered Neta

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About Vered Neta:
My Name is Vered Neta. Since the 16th century, my family has lived in what today is Israel, but for the last 28 years, I’ve been living all over the world.

Today, I live with my husband in Tenerife in the Canary Islands on an off-the-grid farm, creating a sustainable life through permaculture agriculture and a food forest that we tend on our farm.

We live in the middle of a pine forest, and the nearest village to us is 3.5 miles up the mountain, so it's basically me, my husband and our chickens, dogs and birds here. We also have a grown-up daughter who lives in London.

What inspires you to write?
The main reason I am writing is that I want to use this medium of stories, whether novels or movie scripts, to inspire people to live a full life. I believe we all deserve to live up to our potential. I believe that when humankind focuses on fulfilling their potential, we can create a better world. My main purpose in writing is to bring kindness and harmony into the world.

Tell us about your writing process.
In the battle between “Plotters” and “Pantsers”, I am definitely on the side of the “Plotters”. I can’t think of starting to write without a structure or a goal for that specific writing period. The thought of staring at the blank page is so scary for me. I have to start by having a clear idea, structure, and goal in front of me before even sitting down to write the poetic part of the writing.

I start with a huge Whiteboard that I have on my wall in my office, and from there, I use the Beat sheet option in Final Draft Software, whether it would be for scripts of novels, I MUST have a beat sheet before I start writing.

As part of my "Plotter", I create what is called "Bible", where I describe the characters in general, but not to too many details as otherwise I will get lost. That way, I know where I am going, but I leave space for the creative part to appear once I start writing and the characters take off the page and lead me.

How do you develop your characters?
As I wrote, I am a big believer in having an outline. I know each character before I start writing them. However, I'm a very auditory person, so when I finally sit to write, it's a dangerous period at home as I keep on talking as I write. Therefore, there is always a sign outside my office on the door: "If you hear any loud talking from this room, it's only me talking to myself, so there is no need to take it to heart or respond."

Sometimes, the characters answer me back, and I need to listen to what they have to say to me, and that's when creativity takes off and the planning and charts are thrown out of the window.

What authors inspire you?
This is an unfair question. I have so many of them. I used to be a lonely child, and books were my haven. I used to say that people can disappoint and betray you, but books are always there for you, so I surrounded myself with books.

I would go through periods of reading the Classics like Dickens and Jane Austin and the Bronte Sisters, and then expand to Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy and Kafka and, on the other side of the world, authors like Gabriel García Márquez and Paulo Coelho.

Today, my favourite genres are historical fiction, fantasy and women's literature, but I also read many non-fiction books about philosophy, personal development, spirituality and, of course, the craft of writing.

So, as you can see, I have an eclectic influence. What they all inspired me to write about was human nature and human relationships. They inspired me to write stories that would bring light into the world, even during hard and dark times, stories of hope, kindness and love.

How do you keep going in the midst of distractions?
I'm fortunate enough to be writing at an age when my kids are grown up and out of the house. I also live in the most peaceful area one can imagine, so there are no outside distractions.

To avoid the inner ones – I turn off my mobile phone and work offline to avoid the temptation of surfing the net and falling down the rabbit hole of websites. If I realise that I need to check something I write it down on a Post-It note and check it out later.

What are your hobbies when you need a break from writing?
I work on our small homestead farm, walk with my dog in the mountains around us and dance to tribal music when I need to release some frustrations and emotions.

What romance genres do you write?: Chick Lit, Women's Fiction and Historical Romance

Do you write in genres that are not romance related?
I write Historical Novels and these days I started writing a "cosy mystery" novel and mainly Women's Fiction and Family Saga

What formats are your books in?: eBook, Print

Where to find out more about the author

Website(s)
Vered Neta Home Page Link
Link To Vered Neta Page On Amazon
Link to Author Page on Barnes and Noble

Your Social Media Links
Goodreads
Facebook
LinkedIn

All information in this post is presented “as is” supplied by the author. We don’t edit to allow you the reader to hear the author in their own voice.

Interview with Romance Author Joanne Patterson

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About Joanne Patterson:
Hello everyone!
Thank you for your interest in my books. I didn’t start writing until I was in my 70’s. The first book is based on my story when I worked for an airline. The next two just expanded the story. I loved writing them and I hope you enjoy them too. I do love country music and my main character in all three books is a country music artist from Nashville.

I’m from a small town in upstate New York. My hobbies are my dogs (two shelties at the moment) astrology and reading. I’ve traveled a lot in my airline days but l decided to live close to where I grew up. I spend a lot of time on social media keeping up with the friends I have made along the way.

What inspires you to write?
I had a story to tell in the first book. It turned out to be an inspirational novel. I know it helped a lot of women which made me happy. Becky was quite a character so I continued her story through two more books.

Tell us about your writing process.
This will be hard to believe I know but I’m a seat of the pants writer. I don’t use any notes or outline. I just sit down in the evening and write. I have written all three of my books with a stylus and an iPad. I just need the surroundings to be absolutely quiet.

How do you develop your characters?
I have no idea what or how the stories will develop. Book 1 however had true glimpses of the story so I had to follow that. In the second book I had no idea how it was going to end until it did.

What authors inspire you?
I’m a big Nicholas Sparks fan.
Also follow Kate McGahan who writes brilliant books about pet loss through the eyes of her deceased dog Jack.

How do you keep going in the midst of distractions?
I only write at night when it’s quiet at my house.

What are your hobbies when you need a break from writing?
I love animals and have shelties at the moment. I do read when I have time. Also spend time outside walking in good weather.

What romance genres do you write?: Inspirational, general, romantic suspense, western romance.

Do you write in genres that are not romance related?
Have never done that, not yet anyway.

What formats are your books in?: eBook, Print, Audiobook

Where to find out more about the author

Website(s)
Joanne Patterson Home Page Link
Link To Joanne Patterson Page On Amazon

Your Social Media Links
Instagram

All information in this post is presented “as is” supplied by the author. We don’t edit to allow you the reader to hear the author in their own voice.

Interview with Romance Author Jessica Berg

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About Jessica Berg:
Hello! I'm a Midwest girl, born and raised, and my farming/rural background has played an integral part in who I am and what I do. I live in South Dakota with my husband of twenty years and four children (two boys and two girls), and a supposed-to-be miniature Australian shepherd. Something must have jumped the fence, however, as Fitz is a bigature and larger than even normal Australian shepherds. Welcome to my world!
I love my job as a high school English teacher and the 23-24 school year will be my 19th year! I also am an adjunct English professor with two local universities.

What inspires you to write?
There are a lot of things that inspire me to write but I mainly take inspiration from three things: my love of family, the prairie in which I grew up, and the intricate human relationships that bind us all together, for good or bad.

Tell us about your writing process.
The inner battle between outliner and pantser is an eternal one with me! My natural tendency is to write by the seat of my pants and then freak out when things devolve into chaos. My brain tells me to outline, and whenever I ignore logic and order, guess what happens? If you guessed that I regret pantsing and start outlining, you'd be correct.
For my outlining, I use Novel Factory. I have tried poster board and sticky notes, but it's too willy-nilly for my brain to handle. I wish I used this method as I love all the colors, and it would give me a reason to feed my Sharpie addiction, but alas, I stick to online outlining.
I am not an author who does character sketches. I do have a basis for their wants, needs, and motivations, but I don't do personality tests, etc. I don't even know their birthdays (unless it's pivotal to the plot). For me, my readers are so real in my head, and I want to give them life in my manuscript, not spend time writing up sketches. I know this works for many authors, but all authors write and create differently, and what works for one might not work for another.
I try to write daily, but as a full-time teacher and mom of four, writing time is a gift from the writing gods. When I do have time, though, I lock myself away, gear up either music by Enya, Jennifer Thomas, or Two Steps from Hell, and write until my kids come calling. As for the writing mood? Well, honestly, if I waited for the mood to strike, I wouldn't write much. That's the part about writing that never really gets talked about. Authors need to write, whether the mood strikes or not. Write, write, write is my advice, whether or not the muse strikes.

How do you develop your characters?
While I often joke and say that I write to quiet the voices in my head, I don't listen or talk to my characters. My interaction with them is knowing them well enough to know if they would say or do something. Now, my gut will tell me that a piece of dialogue is wrong or that a character would not do what I just had him/her do. I think my natural instinct comes from just knowing people and my avid reading habit.

What authors inspire you?
There are so many, but here are a few that pop into my head: Jane Austen, Agatha Christie, Charlotte Brontë, J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Kristen Heitzmann, Nora Roberts, M.C. Beaton, Mary Balough, and the list could go on and on, but as you can see, I have an eclectic reading taste and read everything except for horror or YA.

How do you keep going in the midst of distractions?
Oh, what a great question!! I have many distractions, but my family supports me in my writing, and my husband will take the kids for a while if I need to pound out a few more words or another chapter. When I can't find the time to write, I do keep a notebook with me to jot down my ideas or changes I know I need to make, so that way when I get back to my computer, I don't have to sit there and try to remember the amazing idea I had while making supper.

What are your hobbies when you need a break from writing?
I love playing piano, embroidering, gardening, doing puzzles, and exercising (love for this one might be a stretch, but it keeps my mind active, and I actually have some brilliant writing ideas that strike while I'm doing bench presses).

What romance genres do you write?: contemporary, suspense

Do you write in genres that are not romance related?
I write contemporary romance and romantic suspense, but I also write cozy mysteries, but as romance simmers in my veins, I incorporate as much romance as that genre allows:)

What formats are your books in?: eBook, Print, Audiobook

Where to find out more about the author

Website(s)
Jessica Berg Home Page Link
Link To Jessica Berg Page On Amazon

Your Social Media Links
Goodreads
Facebook
Instagram

All information in this post is presented “as is” supplied by the author. We don’t edit to allow you the reader to hear the author in their own voice.

Interview with Romance Author Faye Hall

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About Faye Hall:
I am from rural northern Queensland, and I write Historical Romantic suspense novels set in and around the Burdekin region. As well as romance, my books contain local history, place names, crimes, drama and scandal.

I used to be published with Venus Press, Red Sage and Beachwalk Press, but since the closure of these companies, I have taken to independently publishing.

As well as a published author of 15 novels, I am a wife, mother of 5 school-aged children, stepmother to 4 adult children and carer for my elderly mother.

What inspires you to write?
I grew up in rural North Queensland and I loved listening to the stories of the families that migrated to the district from overseas looking for a new life with new opportunities.

Ever since I started writing I wanted to tell these stories and the struggles of the people who came to North Queensland and the relationships that endured to tell their stories.

These are the stories I want to write and tell readers about.

Tell us about your writing process.
I always start with a character outline and basic plot ideas on paper. When I put these into the computer I try to expand on them, but if that's not possible, then I go back and try to expand the plot on paper first.

As for writing at a specific time – I have 5 school-age children still at home so I write mostly early mornings and late at night. Weekends are good sometimes too. My office is in my bedroom which is my comfort zone but also easy for the children to come and speak with me whenever they need to. I tend not to isolate myself away from the family when I write, nor do I usually write in dead silence.

Music is always good to get me in the mood for writing and developing a story, mostly anything from musicals. If I need inspiration, then an old romance movie I've seen a hundred times is usually the best thing to get me back on track.

How do you develop your characters?
I start with character features and their family background or reason for being where they are when the book starts on paper. From there the characters tend to surprise me, for good and for bad. Some I actually don't like how they develop, but I can't envision writing them any other way either.

What authors inspire you?
I got into writing because of Amanda Quick novels, but also because of Agatha Christie novels. So many have inspired me though, especially those that have had to deal with rejection after rejection just because they didn't follow the trends or expected requirements.

How do you keep going in the midst of distractions?
Hahaha I started writing when I had three children under 5 years old so distractions were constant. I guess I was lucky in the respect that as I write I saw what I was writing as a movie playing in my head so when I got called away, it paused for the most part.

If I do tend to loose where I was up to, I just go back and re-read a few pages and it usually gets me back on track.

What are your hobbies when you need a break from writing?
I love spending time with my family and doing a little gardening. I also love baking, which the kids allow me lots of practice doing.

What romance genres do you write?: Historical Romance, Romantic Suspense, Romantic drama, Historical Drama, Romantic Thriller, Australian Romance

Do you write in genres that are not romance related?
No, but I do incorporate suspense, crime, murder and drama into each of my books.

What formats are your books in?: eBook, Print

Where to find out more about the author

Website(s)
Faye Hall Home Page Link
Link To Faye Hall Page On Amazon
Link to Author Page on 4th Avenue Press Australia

Your Social Media Links
Goodreads
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
LinkedIn
YouTube

All information in this post is presented “as is” supplied by the author. We don’t edit to allow you the reader to hear the author in their own voice.

Interview with Romance Author Barbara A. Luker

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About Barbara A. Luker:
A life-long resident of southern Minnesota, most of my works have a Minnesota connection and each book centers on a solid love story, family and what we do for those we love. In 1998, I survived an F4 tornado that destroyed three-quarters of my hometown and, maybe more impressively, I have survived over three decades working for the City of Saint Peter and the 12,000 people that “pay my salary”! I share my life, and a lot of times my computer keyboard, with my polydactyl rescue cat, Annie. Interesting fact? Discovering my grandmother was a closet writer was so influential in my passion for writing, led me to honor her by including her name (Lillian) in each of my books.

What inspires you to write?
It's a simple answer. I am inspired by the failings of people and the hope that love will find you even when you have given up. The two seem incongruous, but life is messy and doesn't always go the way we want. People have faults and can be bad, but finding someone who you love, someone who loves you back unconditionally, can provide the strength we need to get through anything and to overcome the influence that bad people often play in our lives. My stories are about love and romance, but always come with a twist that makes you wonder if simply being in love can overcome difficulties.

Tell us about your writing process.
I know many authors who diligently outline every paragraph and chapter of their books, but that's not me. I write where the words take me and often, that is to a completely different ending than I had first imagined. Writing the beginning and the general ending, as I work on the middle, that's when things take turns and the story goes a whole new direction.

Because my books often have many characters and those characters are sometimes intricately intertwined, I have learned to flush out my characters in the early part of a manuscript. This helps me remember to focus on the intricacies that bring a character to life for readers. By the end of a book, I often feel like I know the characters better than some friends!

When I am really into a story, you can find me sitting in front of my keyboard at all hours of the day and many times in the middle of the night. With a full-time job limiting my ability to write when thoughts occur to me, I have developed the habit of carrying a note paid and using my phone as a recorder so that random thoughts that occur to me aren't lost before I can work on the book again.

I have no set times to write and no word count to meet and not having those goals to meet removes any pressure I may feel to produce and allows whatever flows out of me to be natural, and hopefully, entertaining.

How do you develop your characters?
My characters talk to me, but not in the way you might expect. I can hear their voices in my head. As the story develops, it plays like a movie reel in my head and each word of dialogue, I write sounds to me like they are really talking with inflections and accents. When I first realized it was happening, I realized why movies portray writers as eccentrics!

But characters develop organically for me. I might know what my character does for a living and how many people are in their family, but as other characters with relationships to the main characters come into play, more of what makes each of us an individual develops about them.

What authors inspire you?
I love all genres of literature, but there aren't many authors who have inspired me to write. Other authors as diverse as James Herriot, Vince Flynn and Kristin Hannah, have inspired me to read and I believe reading opens us all up to the world.

How do you keep going in the midst of distractions?
Life gets in the way sometimes and I think accepting that the book and my writing will still be there tomorrow helps me get past those distractions. It's important to remember that when our lives are ending, the people around us and the memories we make with them will be what was important. The legacy we leave behind is that we lived our life and not that we have books on a shelf.

What are your hobbies when you need a break from writing?
My sister and I have developed this penchant for 1980s rock band concerts from groups like Foreigner, REO, Air Supply, Richard Marx, Rick Springfield, Rod Stewart, and the Little River Band. We love concerts where you can sing along to every song and you know every song. Going to the concerts are great little getaways and we make glorious memories together.

What romance genres do you write?: Contemporary Romance and Romantic Suspense

Do you write in genres that are not romance related?
Not currently, but there is one book that I have been working with that will be quite different. It's a work of fiction, but it will focus on the influence social pressure has on us and how, like the children following the Pied Piper, we can all be easily swayed into doing something that is wrong. It's something that I think could be a really outstanding book and, because of that, I'm taking my time to write.

What formats are your books in?: eBook, Print

Where to find out more about the author

Website(s)
Barbara A. Luker Home Page Link
Link To Barbara A. Luker Page On Amazon

Your Social Media Links
Goodreads
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn

All information in this post is presented “as is” supplied by the author. We don’t edit to allow you the reader to hear the author in their own voice.

Interview with Romance Author Faye Hall

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About Faye Hall:
Faye Hall spent her early years listening to stories about the families – including her own – who settled townships in and around her hometown in North Queensland, Australia. The local townspeople, including her own parents, told her stories of corruption and slavery, along with family secrets and forbidden love.

Faye’s passionate stories combine controversial subjects and provocative encounters as her characters struggle to survive the lifestyle in early rural townships throughout Australia.

When she’s not writing, Faye enjoys sharing a bottle of wine with her husband and encouraging the varied interests of their larger than average family.

Explore the world of Faye Hall, Australian Historical Romance Author on her website https://www.fayehall.com.au

What inspires you to write?
I get most of my inspiration from the stories of my families when they migrated to Australia during the 1860s.

Tell us about your writing process.
I try to handwrite a basic character description and some plot idea with some dialogue before I type it on the computer. From there I try to let the characters tell me what should happen.

How do you develop your characters?
I only ever have basic characters details like origin of birth, hair colour and so on when I start. The rest comes with the story.

What authors inspire you?
Amanda Quick and Agatha Christie.

How do you keep going in the midst of distractions?
I have 5 school age children so distraction is a daily part of every day life in my house. I've learnt to go with the flow and write where and when I can. Sometimes it's every day. Other times there are weeks between writing.

What are your hobbies when you need a break from writing?
Is drinking wine and eating cheese hobbies? Seriously though, I also like gardening and cooking.

What romance genres do you write?: Historical Romance, Romantic Suspense, Romance

Do you write in genres that are not romance related?
Not at this stage, but I do try to show some other genres in my current work to help develop the romantic side of the story..

What formats are your books in?: eBook

Where to find out more about the author

Website(s)
Faye Hall Home Page Link

Your Social Media Links
Goodreads
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
LinkedIn
YouTube

All information in this post is presented “as is” supplied by the author. We don’t edit to allow you the reader to hear the author in their own voice.

Interview with Romance Author Greta Rose West

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About Greta Rose West:
Greta Rose West was a floundering artsy flake until Jack showed up, knocking on the door of her brain, pounding on it, and then he just plain kicked it down. She's a boy mom to a grown freakin' man, and she lives in NW Indiana with her husband and her two precocious kitties, Geoff Trouble and Sally Mae Midnight. When she’s not writing, she’s reading and devouring music. She enjoys indie films no one else likes, and her favorite food is Aver’s Veggie Revival pizza.

What inspires you to write?
Places and music. My cowboy romance series was inspired by a road trip through the Teton Mountains. When my family and I crossed the Idaho border into Wyoming, I was mesmerized! Cowboy Jack Cade came to life in my head and camped out for ten years until his story was published.

I recently took a trip to Denver, Colorado for a concert and drove through the Rocky mountains and loved it. Characters pop into my head everywhere I go.

Tell us about your writing process.
I'm definitely a pantser. When I'm writing one book, the secondary characters start to push back and then I write their story next. My plots ebb and flow as I write, though I start out with a general outline in my head.

How do you develop your characters?
My characters come to me with their backstory already formed. In the revision process, they evolve and grow though, and by the time I publish their story, they are all the richer for it.

What authors inspire you?
I'm inspired by all kinds of romance authors, but even more, I was inspired in my twenties by authors liked Barbara Kingsolver and Tim Sandlin, who also wrote about Wyoming.

How do you keep going in the midst of distractions?
You just do it. You can't let yourself get bogged down by what everyone else is doing, and you have to commit to writing. Maybe not every day, but I feel like I owe my characters their day in the sun, so that drives me to keep going, even if it's only for five minutes at a time.

What are your hobbies when you need a break from writing?
I listen to music constantly. I'm big into indie folk right now, but I love all kinds of music. I go to live concerts whenever I can and just spent my time in Denver, CO attending a Gregory Alan Isakov show he and his band played with the Colorado Symphony. It was epic.

Of course I love to read, and do it whenever I can. Usually romance, but not always.

What romance genres do you write?: Cowboy Romance, Western Romance

Do you write in genres that are not romance related?
I write all romance, all the time.

What formats are your books in?: eBook, Print

Where to find out more about the author

Website(s)
Greta Rose West Home Page Link
Link To Greta Rose West Page On Amazon

Your Social Media Links
Goodreads
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram

All information in this post is presented “as is” supplied by the author. We don’t edit to allow you the reader to hear the author in their own voice.

Interview with Romance Author Stephen Moody

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About Stephen Moody:
Stephen Moody is a Scottsdale artist, who specializes in abstract art of the human form.

He graduated in Communications, studying Broadcast Journalism, but followed his passion of creating art.

This is Stephen's first novel, but he has written for several industry publications, with his own monthly column: You Heard It from Moody."

His love for art and women inspired this story of passion with a spiritual element that resonates in the heart of a twin flame.

Stephen is currently writing the sequel to this novel, this is a trilogy. Hold On to the Love – Forbidden Love is the first of three novels.

What inspires you to write?
I had a dream about a friend of mine. I wrote to her on Messenger to tell her about the dream, not knowing how she would receive it. I was surprised by her response, she told me to write a book about it. So, I did. 5 weeks later I had the first draft of my 90K word novel – Hold On to the Love – Forbidden Love.

My dreams inspire me and often show me the next chapter or two. Then I wake up and go write. I find it exhilarating.

Tell us about your writing process.
I have a brief outline, more like a skeletal outline. The rest is by the seat of my pants, listening to the dreams I've had that write the next chapter visually in my head.

How do you develop your characters?
I have a clear cut view on my characters. But sometimes they may change through the editing process to make their actions and character work better with the plot of the book.

What authors inspire you?
J.K. Rowling, the fact that so many negative things happened in her life and she kept writing and became very successful. I like stories of rags to riches, showing the determination of the human spirit.

How do you keep going in the midst of distractions?
If it is something serious, I'll stop and take care of it. If it is something that can wait I keep writing and will take care of it when I have finished.

What are your hobbies when you need a break from writing?
I'm a painter. I'm not sure if writing my novel was taking a break from my painting or if painting is taking a break from my writing. In any event I stay busy creatively with my writing and creating oil paintings.

What romance genres do you write?: Romance – Erotica

What formats are your books in?: eBook, Print

Where to find out more about the author

Website(s)
Stephen Moody Amazon Page
Link To Stephen Moody Home Page

Your Social Media Links
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Instagram
YouTube

All information in this post is presented “as is” supplied by the author. We don’t edit to allow you the reader to hear the author in their own voice.