Be sure to attend our chat in our new chatroom on November 15th at 9:00 pm EST. You'll find the link conveniently located on the All Romance eBooks home page. The evening will be filled with hot shapshifters and sexy vamps! Not only will we be chatting with author Vivien Dean, author of last month's pick, A Sentry's Touch, but we'll be posting the first-fifty-free download code for Dead Sexy. The first fifty customers to use the download code will get a free copy of Kimberly Raye's Dead Sexy. Speaking of Kimberly… Wildfire would like to welcome USA Today Best Selling Author Kimberly Raye who's new release, Dead Sexy, is our ARe—The eBookclub pick for this month.
And, as an extra bonus we also bring you interviews from Jennifer Mueller and Lynne Connolly!Kimberly RayeAngela: When a new book comes out, are you nervous about how readers will react to it?
Kimberly: Yes, most definitely. My readers mean everything to me and I value their opinions most of all!
Angela: What is your writing process? Do you outline, fly by the seat of your pants, or a combination of both?
Kimberly: I'm definitely a "pantser". I usually have an overall premise for the story and an idea of where I want it to go, but the actual plot usually develops as I write.
Angela: When you write, is atmosphere important? For example, do you use mood music or candles? Do you need complete quiet to concentrate?
Kimberly: Luckily, I require no atmosphere whatsover or I would be in BIG trouble! I have three small children and the atmosphere at my house (on a good day) is chaotic at best. Music is definitely out unless it's the theme song for
Noggin or
Scooby Doo (my kids won't let me watch or listen to anything else!). Basically what I do is try to keep them occupied. If they're busy and not bugging me, I can dive into the writing regardless of the noise around me.
Angela: The editing process is so critical. In your opinion, what are the most important aspects of the editor/author relationship?
Kimberly: I think it's important that the author and editor have the same "vision" for the book. Meaning, if I'm going for lighthearted and sexy, her expectations need to be for lighthearted and sexy. Otherwise the relationship is headed for disaster. I give oodles of thanks on a daily basis that I have such a wonderful editor at Harlequin. I have been working with Brenda Chin for nearly ten years and we have always shared the same vision since day one. She lets me write "my" story, whatever that may be. And if I need help, she is more than willing to give me her expert advice. She is invaluable!
Angela: What's next for you?
Kimberly: More Blaze books!!! I love writing for Blaze. They are truly the books of my heart and can't imagine myself leaving them behind to dedicate solely to my single title career. I plan on balancing both (more funny urban fantasy from Ballantine and sexy-as-all-get-out romance from Blaze).
Angela: Do you work with an agent?
Kimberly: I have a wonderful agent. Her name is Natasha Kern. We have been working together for over ten years. I do, however, have an agent nightmare of my own (NOT Natasha) and agree with the consensus that a bad agent is worse than no agent at all. Be very careful when choosing an agent. This relationship, like the author/editor relationship, can make or break a writer's career.
Angela: Most people envision an author's life as being really glamorous. What's the most unglamorous thing that you've done in the past week?
Kimberly: Laundry!! I have a large family (my elderly mother lives in a mother-in-law suite at our house) and I do at least five loads per day. So unglamorous, particularly when I'm pulling dead bugs and old food from my son's pockets prior to washing. I swear that boy keeps EVERYTHING!
Angela: Do you ever experience writer's block? If you do, how do you cope with it?
Kimberly: I don't believe in writer's block. If I did, I would never get any work done. There are always obstacles (life, etc.), but it's the ability to work through all of the tough times that makes someone a career author. No matter how tough, I write. I write everyday even when the words are not flowing. I can fix a bad page but I can't fix a blank page.
Angela: Describe the space where you write.
Kimberly: I have an office, but I only use it for the business side of my writing. I actually write in the middle of all the chaos (the sofa, the dining room table, the kitchen--wherever the kids are at so that I can keep an eye on them). I'm also notorious for writing in bed in the morning before they actually get up (this doesn't last long, however, because they're worse than chickens!).
Angela: What do you do when you aren't writing? Any hobbies or special interests that you can tell us about?
Kimberly: I volunteer for the various organizations that my kids are involved in. For example, I'm the team mom for my oldest son's football team (meaning I provide drinks and food for 72 players EVERY week, and believe me these boys are like bottomless pits!). I also coach my six year old daughter's cheerleading squad (which is too funny because I was so NOT a rah-rah in high school, but a brainiac!). I'm also the room mom at school, a library volunteer, and the scholastics coordinator for our youth sports league. For myself, the only thing I really do is read. I LOVE books (not just my own!) and can be found at the bookstore at least once a week.
Angela: Out of all of the characters that you've written, who is your favorite and why?
Kimberly: My favorite character is always one I'm writing right now. In the Blaze I just finished, I fell in love with the hero's parents who camp out in his front yard because they are determined to catch him off guard and de-program him (they think he's been brainwashed by a cult when he's really been turned into a vampire). They are too funny in all of their various attempts to "capture" him and I'm really partial to them right now. (You can read more about them in April in my next Blaze,
Drop Dead Gorgeous, a follow-up to
Dead Sexy which is out now.)
Angela: Are there any absolutely-must-have characteristics for your heroes or heroines?
Kimberly: Heroes MUST be alpha! I like rough and tough macho guys.
Angela: What books are currently on your nightstand?
Kimberly: Gemma Halliday's
Spying In High Heels. An excellent book!
Angela: Dealing with writing deadlines can be a challenge. What do you do to cope with the stress?
Kimberly: I try not to think about it. I just take one day at a time and try to reach my page quota for that particular day. If I think about the overall picture, I'll be too terrified to write!
Angela: Do you remember the first romance novel that you read?
Kimberly: I'll never forget it! It was Susan Johnson's
Blaze. From that moment on, I knew I wanted to write romance.
Kimberly Raye is the bestselling author of more than thirty-five novels. She's been nominated for several Romantic Times
Reviewers' Choice awards, as well as a prestigious RITA award. Her books have been featured in several major magazines, including Better Homes & Gardens
and Glamour
, and her novel Sometimes Naughty, Sometimes Nice
was a Cosmopolitan
magazine book club pick. She lives deep in the heart of the Texas Hill Country with her husband and their young children. You can visit her on-line at www.kimberlyraye.com.Backlist:Til We Meet Again, Silhouette Books
Now And Forever, Silhouette Books
Only In My Dreams, Leisure Books
Faithless Angel, Leisure Books
Something Wild, Leisure Books
Gettin' Lucky, Harlequin Books, Love & Laughter
Breathless, Harlequin Books, Blaze
Shameless, Harlequin Books, Temptation Blaze
Restless, Harlequin Books, Temptation Blaze
Midnight Kisses, Leisure Books
Midnight Fantasies, Leisure Books
How Sweet It Is, Harlequin Books, Duets
Love, Texas Style, Harlequin Books, Duets
Christmas, Texas Style, Harlequin Books, Duets
New Year's Babies Anthology (Featuring Kimberly Raye, Eugenia Riley, Jennifer Archer), Leisure Books
A Stranger's Kiss, Leisure Books
A Stranger's Desire, Leisure Books
Dylan's Destiny, Harlequin Books, Trueblood Texas Series
Midnight Fantasies Anthology (Featuring Kimberly Raye, Vicki Lewis Thompson, Stephanie Bond), Harlequin Books, Blaze
The Pleasure Principle, Harlequin Books, Blaze
The Sex Solution, Harlequin Books, Blaze
The Fantasy Factor, Harlequin Books, Blaze
Burning Up Anthology (Featuring Kimberly Raye, Nina Bangs & Cheryl Holt), St. Martin's Press
Kiss Me Once, Kiss Me Twice, Warner Books
Sometimes Naughty, Sometimes Nice, Warner Books
Sweet As Sugar, Hot As Spice, Warner Books
Texas Fire, Harlequin Books, Blaze
Texas Fever, Harlequin Books, Blaze
Tall, Tanned & Texan, Harlequin Books, Blaze
Boys Of Summer Anthology, (Featuring Kimberly Raye, Julie Leto & Leslie Kelly), Harlequin Books, Blaze
Dead End Dating, Ballantine Books
A Nascar Holiday Anthology, Hqn Books
Dead And Dateless, Ballantine Books
Your Coffin Or Mine?, Ballantine Books
Dead Sexy, Harlequin Books, Blaze
Writing As Kimberly RangelShadows, Leisure Books
The Homecoming, Leisure Books
Writing As Kimberly Randell:In The Midnight Hour, Berkley Jove, Haunting Hearts
Sinful Anthology (Featuring Kimberly Randell, Lori Foster, Suzanne Forster & Maggie Shayne), Berkley Jove
Coming Soon:Tex Appeal, Harlequin Books, Blaze
Drop Dead Gorgeous, Harlequin Books, Blaze
Just One Bite, Ballantine Books
Links:WebsiteMySpaceJennifer MuellerAngela: What influenced you to get published? How long did it take for your first book to get published?
Jennifer: That would be my husband. I had written for years, something like 15 now, but about 4 years ago he said
you write so much why not try to get published, so I did. It took about two years from my first submission until I was published though.
Angela: When a new book comes out, are you nervous about how readers will react to it?
Jennifer: Isn't everyone? I don't write what might be called traditional romance, there's usually a lot more going on in addition to the romance, often with some very hurt characters. So yeah, I do get nervous when they are first out as to how they will be received, but so far I have to say they've all been received very well.
Angela: What makes your characters so vulnerable yet strong? Can you describe them to us? What do you do when characters stop talking to you when writing?
Jennifer: For the most part I've always written a story to be as realistic as possible so that makes for lots of women with troubles struggling to get through them. That's why I wonder sometimes when a new book comes out as to how it will be accepted. They're usually working hard to get through it, but might be rather tired of the struggle like all of us. They're usually real people in unusual circumstances. How do you describe them in a few paragraphs even when I have written close to 50 stories? Its too hard to boil them down into only a few words. I don't have too much of a problem with them not talking to me. I write as much story as they tell me, if that makes it 5 pages or 500 I stop when their story is over.
Angela: What about the heroines for these determined heroes? What makes them strong enough to capture the heroes heart?
Jennifer: Well when you usually start with the heroine its the other way around. I usually have the woman's situation figured out and then put the man in a position where he's able to help in the current situation eventually. They don't always know that he can help when it starts, of course, or there would be no story.
Angela: You have some great secondary characters in your books. Will we see spin-offs in regards to them in their own storylines?
Jennifer: I don't often do spin-offs or sequels for that matter. I have one sequal in
Egyptian Days for
Egyptian Nights, and I have a series started but its not published yet. I might follow the same family in various eras like
History Lessons, but I don't often see the characters in such a way.
Angela: Describe the space where you write.
Jennifer: Right now it's just a table in what should be our dining room; we moved this summer and I still haven't completely gotten things arranged to have a dedicated space for it. But seeing as I wrote using pad and pen sitting on my bed in Kenya in the Peace Corps I can write really anywhere.
Angela: Do you ever experience writer's block? If you do, how do you cope with it?
Jennifer: I don't get writer's block so much, I'll get lack of ambition more; I'll have the ideas but not the want to sit at the computer to get them down.
Angela: Where do you get your inspiration?
Jennifer: I'll have to go with the ever popular everywhere, I know you've heard that before. But writing mainly historicals they do come from all over. Places I've been, TV, books, something someone says.
Angela: What's the most interesting piece of fan mail that you've received?
Jennifer: Oh I don't rightly know, oh wait yes I do, two people have told me that reading my stories have helped them get through bad times when they would rather not have to think of the real world. A sister's cancer and death, and Hurricane Katrina. Those two stick with me the most.
Angela: What do you do when you aren't writing? Any hobbies or special interests that you can tell us about?
Jennifer: Writing is my hobby so I'm always doing what I love. I also have a degree in forestry and now that my daughter is older I'm looking to get back into that. My only other real love is travel which I don't get to do near enough. I might actually get back overseas though in 2009, we're talking of Dublin and Edinburgh.
As a Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya a few years back Jennifer Mueller traveled quite a bit and now just wishes she was. A lot of the places she's written about she's been to, a lot of them she hasn't. Rafting on the Nile in Uganda, living in a Montana ghost town, African safaris, European youth hostels, the Black Hills of South Dakota all fill her scrapbooks. Now a daughter takes up most of those pages, but she still travels in her head every time she writes.Backlist:The Dancer's Secret, Dark Castle Lords
Crusader, Dark Castle Lords
The Dragon's Pearl, Dark Castle Lords
Behind the Mask, Dark Castle Lords
Lord Dronovic, Dark Castle Lords
An Arrangement among Gentlemen, Romance at Heart Publishing
All my Dreams, Romance at Heart Publishing
A Little Roman Scandal, Romance at Heart Publishing
Women of their time, Romance at Heart Publishing
The Odyssey and Other Stories, Romance at Heart Publishing
Writer's Block, Romance at Heart Publishing
The Mountaintop, Midnight Showcase
A Speakeasy named Hell In Sweet Challenge, Midnight Showcase
The Mountaintop in Fantasy Romp Digest, Midnight Showcase
Egyptian Nights, Linden Bay Romance
Egyptian Days, Linden Bay Romance
History Lessons, Linden Bay Romance
Rose among the Heather in Regency Romp, Aphrodite's Apples
Far from Home, Aphrodite's Apples
Samburu Hills, Chippewa Publishing
The Wolf Within, Digital Pulp Publishing
Till death do us part, Digital Pulp Publishing
Coming Soon:Havana Holiday, Red Rose Publishing
Ancient Walls, Red Rose Publishing
Her Father's Daughter, Dark Castle Lords
The Angel of Bally Ferriter, Aphrodite's Apples
Links: WebsiteMySpaceYahoo groupLynne ConnollyAngela: Did you always know that you wanted to be a writer?
Lynne: Yes, and I always was, but I never thought about publication until a few years ago.
Angela: What is your writing process? Do you outline, fly by the seat of your pants, or a combination of both?
Lynne: Always outline. I tried to do a seat of the pants book once, and I ended up writing a book twice as long as it should have been! I need to know where I'm going before I set out on the journey!
Angela: Do you feel pressured when you sit down to write, to live up to the standards that readers may have set for you?
Lynne: Not when I write. When I do that I lock myself away with my characters. It's when I sit down to edit that the doubts start to set in!
Angela: What do you think is the level of sensuality/heat in your books? What can readers expect from your books with respect to sexual content and sensuality?
Lynne: I write from highly sensual to erotic. Most of my books are male/female romances, but a few are ménages. I write as the characters dictate, so if my heroine is a sheltered young woman, she won't have a potty mouth, but on the other hand, I have written about rock stars, so they do know all the words and use them! Since I write historical romances as well as contemporary paranormal romances, the heat levels do vary. But I do believe that an adult romance should include sex, as a couple never really know each other until they've been to bed together.
Angela: When you're writing a book, does it ever take a turn that really surprises you?
Lynne: I do plan it, but the plot isn't set in stone so if the book takes an unexpected turn, I'll stop and re-plot. As I get to know the characters better, they will sometimes refuse to do something, so I have to think again, or they will present me with a revelation that turns the whole book on its head. For instance, I wanted Ryan and Gina, from
Icefire, to be at odds for most of the book, but they just wouldn't do it!
Angela: Most people envision an author's life as being really glamorous. What's the most unglamorous thing that you've done in the past week?
Lynne: I have two cats, so it's probably clearing up the cat sick. At least we haven't had any feathered tributes this week!
Angela: What are you working on now?
Lynne: I'm writing the third
Pure Wildfire book for Ellora's Cave, to be called
Moonfire. The second book,
Icefire, is with my editor, and we've started on the edits.
Moonfire is about Jake, the bassist with the band, the man who has a mysterious wife stashed in the country.
Angela: What do you feel is the most important thing that a first-time author should know?
Lynne: To keep going. It's a very hard career, there are a hundred aspirants for every published author. And keep learning, too!
Angela: What one book does every aspiring romance author need to read?
Lynne: For "How To" books I found Joseph Campbell's
The Hero with a Thousand Faces and Deb Dixon's
Goal, Motivation, Conflict. But for inspiration, the Lymond series by Dorothy Dunnett, to see how a historical series should be written!
Angela: What is next for you?
Lynne: The
Department 57 series at Loose Id is continuing, and I plan a few surprises for the new year! More historicals, and a brand new paranormal contemporary set series!
Lynne Connolly lives in England with her family and her cats. She writes erotic paranormal romance and highly sensual historical romance, and loves both genres. She is an avid reader and writes surrounded by her doll's houses, which is another obsession she tries to keep quiet!Websites:Lynne ConnollyMySpaceNewsletterSisters of the Night blogUK Historical romance blogMy personal blogThe Mavens of the Pen blogBacklist:
Laura, Uncial Press
Vanessa, Awe-Struck Books
Noblesse Oblige, Champagne Books
Yorkshire, Mundania Press
Last Chance, My Love, Samhain Publishing
A Chance To Dream, Samhain Publishing
Cats' Eyes, a
Department 57 book, Loose Id
Coming Soon:Sunfire, Ellora's Cave Publishing
Icefire, Ellora's Cave Publishing
More in the
Department 57 series, Loose Id
If you would like to request an interview, please send a query to info@allromanceebooks.com
Until next time!
Angela Lovell
Wildfire Interview Coordinator
All Romance eBooks
