In Which the Author, Who Assures You She is Definitely this Odd in Real Life, Interviews Herself

• What were you like as a child?

Okay, first, this is an awfully personal question to lead off an interview with and I’m already questioning your motives, interviewer.

I’m told as I child I was energetic and active, to the point of being annoying. I would walk up to perfect strangers, to introduce myself as “shy”. I sang Disney songs ad-nauseum. And I liked to create lots of little stories with my friends. I also remember being dreamy and distracted, sometimes very absent-minded. I HAVE NOT CHANGED MUCH, HAVE I.

• Who was your role model growing up?

Again, I am side-eying you for this focus on ancient history. Move along, ma’am.

My role model growing up was definitely Belle, from the animated Beauty and the Beast movie. I, too, wanted to sweep down a staircase in a beautiful yellow ball gown and have a castle-worthy, five story tall library.

• How were you first introduced to writing?

In an author capacity, I introduced myself to writing through Google. There are a lot of stellar resources out there for free on the Internet and I gave myself a crash course in creative writing that way. It remains to be seen whether I did a good enough job. I have considered firing myself and telling myself it’s due to funding cutbacks (when everyone knows it’s just that I’m terrible at teaching).

• How did your friends and family react to your first book?

They were super supportive and excited for me. Especially my little sister, she’s my first beta reader and always has constructive feedback. And my friend Sandra immediately bought both of my books and texted me reactions as she read which is pretty much the gold-standard for an author friend. You’re wonderful and I love you, if you’re reading this.

HOWEVER. My parents still don’t know I write erotic romance and we are not going to tell them. They literally sent me to talk to a psychiatrist when they found out I was sexually active at 17. Let’s just say sex was not an open topic in our household. While I have matured and worked past the issues this taboo caused that’s not the way my parents will think. I’m fine with this and I don’t see the need to rock their boat just for the sake of seeing it sink.

• Do they give you ideas for your new characters or new stories?

Yes! They do sometimes throw ideas or want to see more of a particular character. Usually as they’re beta reading for me, they’ll say “I love this part, and it would be so cool/funny if this happened . . . ” I always appreciate it, because it kicks my imagination into gear and I use what they gave me. Sometimes just to mess with them and do the exact opposite of what they suggested, of course.

• Why did you choose the romance genre? Have you ever considered writing in any other genre?

I didn’t choose the romance life, the romance life chose me.

I love it when a movie/show/book in another genre has a romantic subplot. It automatically guarantees I’ll be WAY more interested ¯|_(ツ)_/¯ . Romance fulfills my need to give people a happy ending, even though they’re fictional people I made up. I’ve never considered writing in another genre because romance has everything I need. If I want to write a SciFi romance, I can do that. Same with fantasy, contemporary, historical. The genre is endlessly adaptable.

• As an author now, what does your daily schedule look like?

The once piece of writing advice I’ve taken and used continuously is to write when you are the freshest. This advice came from Chuck Wending, who you should all be following online, by the way.

As a stay at home mom I had considerably more time to write. Not endless amounts, but a LOT. Now that I’m back at work full time I have not written anything but blog posts since August of 2021. This is part of the cycle of life, and I wrote as much as I could while I was home so I could stockpile a little. Someday the wheel will turn and I will be able to carve out more writing time again. So it goes.