Thanks so much for reading about these great authors. In case you're wondering who I am, I write books for teens. I'm the author of the Latina YA novel, GRAFFITI GIRL (MTV Books, May 2007) a Double RITA 2008 finalist, and the Contemporary Paranormal YA, INVISIBLE TOUCH (MTV Books, September 2008). Please scroll down for more information, and I hope you enjoy the interviews.
Words of an Author with Emily Gee
Hello RITA Nominee, Emily! Thanks so much for chatting with me. Could you please tell us a little about your writing background and how you made your RITA nominated “Best First Book” sale :)?
Emily: Hi Kelly! Thanks for the invite!
My writing background? I did the hard yards that most of us do--years of writing and rejections! Thief With No Shadow (Solaris) was the sixth book I wrote, and the darkest. It sold during the middle of grape harvest--twelve hour shifts, seven days a week--and the email from my agent almost went unread!
Readers and writers often like to get a behind the scenes peek of an author's writing routine. It would be great if you could please share your typical writing day schedule.
Emily: Typically I get up early and go for a long walk, then sit down to write until it's time to go to work. For me, walking is great thinking time. If I ever get stuck, I walk--and by the time I've been around the hills, I've figured out the solution to my writing problem.
Often I write in the early evening. A glass of wine switches off my internal editor and I go a lot faster!
Please tell us about your RITA nominated debut novel, Thief with No Shadow, and what we can expect from your characters.
Emily: Thief With No Shadow is a dark fantasy novel with strong romantic elements. Magic runs in certain bloodlines and the heroine, Melke, is a wraith--feared, hunted, and when the story opens, desperate to save her brother's life. Both Melke and the hero, Bastian, are bound strongly by honor, integrity, and family.
Actually, my favorite character Is Endal, the dog. You can expect him to be funny and wise and not blinded by prejudice.
Sounds really good! How did it feel to receive the RITA finalist call?
Emily: There was difficulty phoning New Zealand, so for me it was a RITA finalist email :) I was stunned and thrilled and walked on air for days!
What's up next? Do you have another project in the works? If so, please tell us about it.
Emily: My second dark, romantic fantasy novel The Laurentine Spy (Solaris) is due out next year, as is my first regency romance novel for Harlequin Mills & Boon, The Earl's Dilemma (not nearly so dark, and written under the pen name Emily May). I'm currently working on a second regency novel, and will then write another fantasy novel--possibly the first book in a trilogy.
Congrats on being a RITA finalist, and best of luck, Emily! I’m looking forward to meeting you in SF! Would you like to close with a writing tip?
Emily: Thanks, Kelly--I'm really looking forward to meeting you in San Francisco! As for writing tips: If you're stuck, go for a walk!
***
Emily Gee grew up in a house full of books—her mother worked as a proof-reader and librarian, and her father is a well-known New Zealand novelist. Emily has studied a wide number of subjects, including Geology and Geophysics, Canine Behavior, and Ancient Greek. Her varied career includes stints as a field assistant in Antarctica and a waitress on the Isle of Skye. Most recently she has worked in the wine industry in Marlborough, New Zealand.
Emily loves to travel and has lived in Sweden, backpacked in Europe, and traveled overland in the Middle East, China, and North Africa. She enjoys climbing hills, yoga workouts, watching reruns of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and reading. Visit her website, http://emilygee.com/.
Words of an Author with Rosemary Clement-Moore
Hello RITA Nominee, Rosemary! Readers and writers often like to get a behind the scenes peek of an author's writing routine. It would be great if you could please share your typical writing day schedule.
Rosemary: My ideal writing day goes something like this:
Get up, have coffee, read some blogs, update my own, answer e-mail, get dressed, have more coffee, get the “real life” stuff done. Then I work all afternoon, with breaks for stretching my legs. (Or, more accurately, playing Guitar Hero.) After dinner, I watch a little TV, then work a few more hours. Or a lot more hours, if things are going well or I’m on a deadline.
Please tell us about your RITA nominated debut novel, PROM DATES FROM HELL (such a fun title!), and what we can expect from your characters.
Rosemary: PROM DATES FROM HELL is a supernatural mystery novel that is ostensibly for young adults, but has a lot of humor and subtext aimed at adult adults, too. (Like Buggs Bunny cartoons, you know?) Maggie Quinn is an honors student who can’t wait to get out of high school and get on with her plans of becoming a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist. But when Twilight Zone stuff starts happening just six weeks until graduation, she has to get her girl detective on and figure out what’s happening, with the help of her sarcastic best friend, her psychic grandmother, and a good looking college student who knows way too much about the supernatural.
Sounds like a great adventure! How did it feel to receive the RITA finalist call?
Rosemary: Aside from being thrilled and honored? Here’s the story. I was, naturally, on tenterhooks and finally I decided that I needed to take a shower and pretend it was a normal day. In other words, pretend I didn’t care if I didn’t get a call. But Murphy’s law was entirely in effect, and the phone rang just as I lathered my hair, so I ended up taking the call wrapped in a bath towel with soap dripping in my eyes and the dog licking shaving cream off my legs. It was AWESOME.
haha! What's up next? Do you have another project in the works? If so, please tell us about it.
Rosemary: The sequel to PROM DATES FROM HELL comes out in August (very soon now!). In HELL WEEK, Maggie gets on the college newspaper by writing a story only a freshman can--she infiltrates sorority rush. But she manages to pledge a sorority that’s in league with the devil. (Don’t you just hate it when that happens?) So she has to extricate herself before initiation makes her stay on Greek Row permanently hellish.
And in the third Girl vs. Evil book, Maggie and her BFF spend their first college spring break stuck in South Texas where they have to take on… El Chupacabra.
Congrats on being a RITA finalist, Rosemary, and best of luck! I’m looking forward to meeting you in SF! Would you like to close with a writing tip?
Rosemary: I compare writing to becoming an Olympic gymnast. Classes and coaching are vital, yes, but the only way to actually become any good is to do the floor exercises. As a gymnast develops balance and muscle memory, writers have to develop their voice, their flexibility with words, their ‘ear’ for dialog. And the only way to do that is to write. Don’t let your inner editor tell you its crap. It might be, or it might not. Just keep writing until it’s not crap anymore.
***
Rosemary Clement-Moore has been writing stories her whole life, even when she should have been doing other things, like algebra homework. Despite this inauspicious beginning, she managed to acquire a master’s degree in communication, along with an extremely eclectic resume.
A recovering thespian, she now puts her drama queen skills to work writing books full of “smart (and smart ass) characters” (Kliatt). She lives in Texas with her husband and arguably the cutest dog on the planet. For proof, see her website: www.rosemaryclementmoore.com.
Words of an Author with Helen Brenna
Hello RITA Nominee, Helen! Thanks so much for chatting with me. Could you please tell us a little about your writing background and how you made your RITA nominated “Best First Book” sale :)?
Helen: Hey, Kelly. Thanks for Inviting me!!
Oh, boy. Where do I start?
TREASURE, my first book sale (third completed manuscript) was a long haul. I, as well as my agent, had expected to sell my fourth book first, but, when that didn't happen, I went back to do revisions on TREASURE. (2/07 Harlequin Superromance)
When TREASURE won Georgia Romance Writer's Maggie contest for unpublished authors, the door Into Harlequin magically cracked ever-so-slightly open. A suspense editor there really liked the story and asked for revisions and even though she was very happy with what I'd done, she couldn't make the deal happen. THAT cracked open a different Harlequin door. A Superromance editor then read my book and made another set of suggestions for revisions. I was truly ready to quit writing at this point, but decided It couldn't hurt to give it one last shot. Tada! The sale!
It's amazing how opportunities can shift like that--so glad you didn't give up! Readers and writers often like to get a behind the scenes peek of an author's writing routine. It would be great if you could please share your typical writing day schedule.
Helen: I'm not sure I have a typical day, other than I'm more of a morning that night person, so most of my productive time takes place first thing while I'm, more often than not, In my pajamas. LOL I'll take a break to have some lunch and walk my dogs, a flat-coated retriever and an Australian shepherd, then I'm back at It. I work most days until 5 and spend some nights and weekends plugging away at things. I have 4 books coming out In 2009, so this'll be a busy year.
I should clarify here that TREASURE Is a Harlequin series romance, so It's no longer available for order. You can only buy It used on-line or In your favorite used book store. My most current release PEAK PERFORMANCE, however, Is available new.
Please tell us about your RITA nominated debut novel, Treasure, and what we can expect from your characters.
Helen: TREASURE Is an adventure romance with a wonderful alpha hero and a heroine so ready to tackle her demons that you can't help but fall In love with her. Jake Is an underwater treasure hunter In search of the mother lode of all lost Spanish galleons and Annie knows exactly where to find It. She harbors a secret, of course, and possesses a cursed Spanish cross that just might take down Jake's whole crew. It's a fun, fast-paced read.
How did it feel to receive the RITA finalist call?
Helen: I was actually out of town with my family on spring break when the calls came through, so I read about It through my emails. When I saw the first email notifying me that TREASURE finalled In the Contemporary Series Romantic Suspense category, I couldn't believe It. The second email telling me of the Best First Book nomination brought me to tears! I was completely overwhelmed. It was so fun to celebrate on vacation with my family that night!
What's up next? Do you have another project in the works? If so, please tell us about it.
Helen: Oh, I've been busy. After TREASURE, my second Harlequin Superromance, Dad for Life, came out In 6/07. And this past May, my first Harlequin NASCAR romance, PEAK PERFORMANCE, was released and can still be purchased on-line or ordered through your favorite bookstore. In October 2008, I'll have another adventure Superromance out, entitled FINDING MR. RIGHT where I got to take my characters to sunny Greece!
I'll have another NASCAR romance out In 3/09, and a Superromance trilogy set on my fictitious Lake Superior Island coming out starting In August 2009. In other words, stay tuned!
Wow, a wonderful list of upcoming reads! Congrats on being a RITA finalist, Helen, and best of luck! I’m looking forward to meeting you in SF!
Helen: Congratulations to you, too, Kelly!!
Would you like to close with a writing tip?
Helen: You can't sell It If you don't write It!
Helen Brenna grew up the seventh of eight children in central Minnesota. Although as a child she never dreamed of writing books, she was a voracious reader, cutting her teeth on all the Harlequins she could get her hands on.
With a BS in accounting, she started career life as a CPA and thought she’d end career life as an old CPA, but the decision to stay home with her kids made all things possible. Not only has Helen won the coveted HOLT medallion and a Maggie award, her books have also been nominated for Romance Writers of America’s prestigious RITA awards and a Reviewer’s Choice award by Romantic Times.
She continues to write away, living in Minnesota with her husband, two children, two dogs, and three surly (who can blame them?) cats and would love hearing from you. Email her at helenbrenna@comcast.net or send mail to PO Box 24107, Minneapolis, MN 55424.
Bloggers can chat with Helen and several other authors at ridingwiththetopdown.blogspot.com or visit her website at www.helenbrenna.com.
Words of an Author with Hank Phillippe Ryan
Hello RITA Nominee, Hank! Thanks so much for chatting with me. Could you please tell us a little about your writing background and how you made your RITA nominated “Best First Book” sale :)?
Hank: Wow. I love to be called RITA nominee! Thank you. My writing background? I'm the investigative reporter for the NBC affiliate in Boston, and I've been a TV reporter for the past 30 (yikes) years. But you know, being an investigative reporter is kind of like writing a mystery: you’re looking to tell a good story, with compelling characters. You’re tracking down clues, doing research, searching for answers--and you hope, in the end , to have a satisfying conclusion, where the bad guys get what they deserve, and the good guys triumph, that there’s some justice and that the world is changed for the better. And that's exactly what I've tried to do in turning to fiction. It's just--In television, you can’t make stuff up.
My sale? Well, it was fantastic. A road paved with many rejections and a fair amount of tears. One particularly dismal day, I remember I said to my husband--Is Charlie McNally (my main character) going to DIE? Is no one going to get to meet her?
My husband is very patient. No, he assured me, Charlie is not going to die.
Soon after, Ann Leslie Tuttle at Harlequin told my agent Kristin Nelson that she loved the book! And that was that. I got the good news on my voice mail...and I still have the bit of paper I wrote it down on. It's magneted to my refrigerator.
Readers and writers often like to get a behind the scenes peek of an author's writing routine. It would be great if you could please share your typical writing day schedule.
Hank: Ah. Sleep Is the first casualty. I get up around seven. Go to work at Channel 7. Some days I'm tracking down criminals, wiring myself with hidden cameras, confronting corrupt politicians. Other days I'm writing investigative stores. Other days, I'm in the edit booth, making the stories you see on the air. My stores are usually on the 11 pm news.
Then I come home about 7. And scurry to my study to write. I write til about 10--then we have dinner. (My husband has eaten a lot of pizza since I started the Charlotte McNally Mysteries!) Then after dinner, sometimes I sneak back to the computer and write til about 1.
Weekends, I start writing at 10, then go til about 4. I only allow myself to check my email every hour on the hour. I do about 1000 words a day, if I'm really zooming. I go back and revise, then revise again, then print out my pages and curl up and revise again. The next time at the computer, I insert my changes, and go from there. So I always get a jump start.
My study has windows looking out onto beautiful maple trees. Lots of birds and squirrels. I have a big antique horseshoe-shaped desk. I have two little rocks by my monitor, carved with the words: Patience and Imagine.
I truly love it. Even on the days it's not so easy.
Please tell us about your RITA nominated debut novel, PRIME TIME, and what we can expect from your characters.
Hank: PRIME TIME introduces Charlotte "Charlie" McNally, a 46 year old investigative reporter for a Boston TV station. (Hmmm, okay, I hear you. But hey--she’s younger than I am. And can say things I can’t.) She's smart, she’s savvy, she’s successful--but she’s married to her job in television. And she begins to worry--what will happen when the camera doesn’t love her any more? Will she be a media old maid?
So--she’s on the hunt for the story that will save her career--if she doesn’t find it, she'll certainly be replaced by someone younger and more beautiful.
Then one day, she finds some weird spam on her computer--and she begins to suspect some of it may be more than cyber junk mail. In fact, she thinks it may be carrying secret messages to the big-money group of insides that knows how to decipher it. Problem is, the last outsider to crack the code wound up in the local morgue. So she could be on the trail of the biggest story of her life--or the one that will end It.
She also meets a dishy professor who reminds her of her favorite Atticus Finch--but is he just a little too handsome? And a little too helpful? Or is her life about to change a lot more? Remember it's a series…so who knows who's in the next episodes!
PRIME TIME won the Agatha Award for best first mystery.
Congratulations on the Agatha, Hank! Let's talk about the RITA nomination, how did it feel to receive the RITA finalist call?
Hank: Hilarious. I was at the station, at work on some deadline story. Dangerous tanker trucks, I think. And the phone rang--I didn’t know whether it would be a source with the scoop, my producer with some new information--or a wacky viewer who wanted to tell me some story they decided I just could not miss. (Most often? They’re wrong.)
So the voice says--Hank Phillippi Ryan? Yes…I said. Very wary.
I'm calling from the RITA committee, and…
I must day, I barely heard the rest. But happily, I'm a reporter, so I was taking notes. My scrawled notes--which I also saved and put on the fridge--say exactly what the caller told me: "It's like the Oscars, girl." "This is so huge." And my favorite: "You can put this on your tombstone."
When I got another call later that day, saying I'd also been nominated for Best Romantic Suspense--well, let's just say I wasn’t any calmer. I'm sure that person's eardrums will never be the same.
I hear some people know what day is RITA day. I didn't have any idea. So I still get goose bumps. And I'm endlessly grateful.
What's up next? Do you have another project in the works? If so, please tell us about it.
Oh, yes. It's very exciting! PRIME TIME and the second Charlie McNally mystery, FACE TIME are going to be re-issued as MIRA Books in July and August 2009. Then the brand new AIR TIME will be published by MIRA in September 2009, then DRIVE TIME in 2010.
Wonderful! Congrats on being a RITA finalist, Hank, and best of luck! I’m looking forward to meeting you in SF! Would you like to close with a writing tip?
Hank: Thank you! For writers? You know--trust yourself. There's a lot more in that brain of yours than you realize--so relax, and let all the wonderfulness come out .And don’t give up! There's a quote on my bulletin board: "What would you attempt to do if you know you could not fail?"
You'd just--go for it, right? So do that!
***
Award-winning investigative reporter Hank Phillippi Ryan is currently on the air at Boston's NBC affiliate, where she's broken big stories for the past 22 years. Her stories have resulted in new laws, people sent to prison, homes removed from foreclosure, and millions of dollars in refunds and restitution for consumers.
Along with her 26 EMMYs, Hank’s won also won dozens of other journalism honors. She's been a radio reporter, a proofreader, a legislative aide in the United States Senate and an editorial assistant at Rolling Stone Magazine.
Her first mysteries, Prime Time (which just won the prestigious Agatha Award for Best First Novel of 2007, and is a double RITA nominee for Best First Book and Best Romantic Suspense Novel of 2007, a DAPHNE nominee, and a 2007 Reviewers' Choice Award Winner) and Face Time (Book Sense Notable Book), were best sellers The next in the series, Air Time and Drive Time, are also coming soon from MIRA Books
She and her husband, a criminal defense and civil rights attorney, live near Boston. Please visit her website at http://www.hankphillippiryan.com
Words of an Author with Jamie Carie
Hello RITA Nominee, Jamie! Thanks so much for chatting with me. Could you please tell us a little about your writing background and how you made your RITA nominated “Best First Book” sale :) ?
Jamie: Like many writers, I loved stories and writing as a child. I was the quintessential "book worm" reading every chance I could get - propped up on the window sill as I washed dishes (yes, by hand:), while babysitting, on the bus, during class (with my romance novel hidden behind the pages of an algebra book), etc. I wrote poems and songs and in my diary for years. And I read. I read everything I could get my hands on - especially historical romance.
Years past and I found myself the stay-at-home of two little boys. I had been reading historical romance for so long that I was a little bored and wanted something different. I read and reread the classics. Then I tried the "Christian romances" but was disappointed in the too saintly characters. (This was twelve years ago - they're much better now!) One night, I was at the computer. It was dark and late and I could feel the cold coming up through the wooden floorboards (we lived in an old farmhouse at the time). I remember thinking - Alaska, blizzard, young woman fighting for her life. Then I just started typing. Three chapters later I felt a thrill of discovery. This was what I wanted to do with my life! Snow Angel was born that night, but more, my love for novel writing was discovered as well.
Finding a publisher for my manuscript was another long journey! Eight years of studying the publishing industry and the craft of writing, lots of roller-coaster ups and downs and near misses. (You can read the long version of this story here). When B&H called and said they wanted to publish my book, well, it was one of the best days of my life. Two three-book deals later and I can hardly believe all that has happened since.
What a great journey, Jamie! Readers and writers often like to get a behind the scenes peek of an author's writing routine. It would be great if you could please share your typical writing day schedule.
Jamie: As more and more deadlines loom, I am beginning to be better organized with my time. But the truth is I'm not a morning person. I like to write late at night, in the dark, with my headphones on. :-)
Please tell us about your RITA nominated debut novel, Snow Angel, and what we can expect from your characters.
Jamie: Elizabeth is a woman who has had everyone and every experience fail her. In that, she has learned how to "make it on her own." When Noah meets her, she doesn't even recognize her need for love. She has so thoroughly buried her needs and desires that when they surface, she is terrified and runs away. Noah is the man who can tear down the walls around her heart - with patience and persistence and sacrificial love. He's the one who won't give up. He simply loves her with his whole heart and more, with his actions. What follows is the tale of a hard-won heart. But one he willingly gives up everything to call his own.
How did it feel to receive the RITA finalist call?
Jamie: Well, at first I thought it was a telemarketer, so I wasn't exactly exuberant when I answered the phone. As I realized what she was saying, that Snow Angel, this book I had tried to get published for eight long years, had poured my heart and my life into, was up for a RITA . . . I began shaking. I thanked her, gushing and squeaking my shock. I hung up the phone. I stared at the phone - still shaking. A RITA!?! Then I called everyone in my family and told them the news. I think my hands were shaking for well over an hour after that and I could not sit down!
I can feel your excitement through your words, Jamie! What's up next? Do you have another project in the works? If so, please tell us about it.
Jamie: In April 2008, my second novel, The Duchess and the Dragon came out. I love the hero in that book - Drake Weston, the Duke of Northumberland. Tall, dark and drop-dead gorgeous, he would make anyone question their upbringing as he does to the sweet Quaker girl, Serena. Then in January 2009, Wind Dancer will come out. This is a story close to my heart as it is set in Vincennes, Indiana, my hometown, during the George Rogers Clark days of the American Revolution. I will have a book trailer for Wind Dancer up on my website www.jamiecarie.com in a few days. Fourth book - I just turned in my manuscript for a story I'm calling Red Like Scarlett which will be out June of 2009. Whew. French Revolution. The haunted and hunted Count of St. Laurent and a woman named Scarlett who is pregnant with another man's child. I learned so much writing that novel. Now? I will be researching for the fifth book, Emma's story. Set In the mountains of western America, during the time when we found our way to the Pacific Ocean (Lewis and Clark). I'm excited to get started on it!
They all sound wonderful, Jamie! Congrats on being a RITA finalist, and best of luck! I’m looking forward to meeting you in SF! Would you like to close with a writing tip?
Jamie: My best advice is to have faith and persistence. Believe in yourself and then sit down and do the work. Write your heart. Bleed into it. Don't worry about the market or getting published (at least while you’re writing it:) just write your story. You are the only person ever created who can write the story in your heart.
Thank you Kelly!! I'm looking forward to meeting you in SF too!
***
Jamie Carie is an inspirational fiction novelist who believes in the power of story to touch hearts and change lives. Her debut novel, SNOW ANGEL, a USA News Book and ForeWord Magazine award winner and RITA nominated novel, is a can’t-put-down story of redemption, hope and healing. Her second novel, THE DUCHESS AND THE DRAGON is a passionate tale of love between a reckless Duke and a serene Quaker woman. And her third novel, WIND DANCER, is a story of captivity and then the freedom from captivity. Jamie lives in Indianapolis, Indiana with her husband and three boys… and a giant of a dog named Leo.
Words of an Author with Terri Garey
Hello RITA Nominee, Terri! Thanks so much for chatting with me. Could you please tell us a little about your writing background and how you made your RITA nominated “Best First Book” sale :)?
Terri: I've been writing seriously for the last eight years, and completed four manuscripts before I began working on my RITA nominated book, DEAD GIRLS ARE EASY (a quirky paranormal romance), back in 2004. I'd finaled in a lot of contests with earlier manuscripts, but I just couldn't seem to break through that final barrier to publication. In 2005, I queried three different literary agencies with DEAD GIRLS ARE EASY, and was thrilled to sign with my #1 choice, the Jane Rotrosen Agency. Not too long after that, my dream came true when it sold to my #1 choice of publisher, Avon HarperCollins, in a two-book deal. The sequel, A MATCH MADE IN HELL, is a July 2008 release. I've also released a novella in the paranormal anthology WEDDINGS FROM HELL (June 2008), and am under contract for two more full length novels. The only drawback to the whole experience was that initial two-year wait from first sale to bookstore shelf—publishing is definitely a "hurry up and wait" type of business!
Readers and writers often like to get a behind the scenes peek of an author's writing routine. It would be great if you could please share your typical writing day schedule.
Terri: I'm an "early-to-bed-early-to-rise" kind of person who finds herself much more creative and productive in the morning than in the afternoon. I don’t have a set schedule, but after breakfast with my husband, I take a power walk with the dog and then sit down to work at my desk. I take a short break for lunch (usually reading while I eat), and then I’m back to work. I’m still there at 5:00, just like anyone else with a day job, even though I work at home. (Now if only I could convince my family that “working at home” really does mean “working”!)
Please tell us about your RITA nominated debut novel, Dead Girls Are Easy, and what we can expect from your characters.
Terri: DEAD GIRLS ARE EASY is the story of Nicki Styx, a young woman whose life is changed forever after a near-death experience leaves her with the ability to see and hear spirits. It's dark humor with a Southern slant—the angst of a young woman on the edge, a healthy dash of sex and voodoo, a sprinkling of spookiness. There's a budding romance with the hot doctor who brings her back to life, a murder mystery involving a close friend, and a lot of hard choices along the way. It's meant to make you laugh, make you think, and hopefully send a few chills down your spine. I don't want to give away the plot, but what Nicki eventually comes to learn is that dead girls are easy… it's the live ones who cause trouble!
How did it feel to receive the RITA finalist call?
Terri: Getting that phone call was one of the most exciting moments of my life—getting a second call fifteen minutes later was indescribable! I actually thought there’d been a mistake, and they’d notified me twice in error! It wasn’t until the very nice lady from RWA explained to me calmly that I’d finaled in two different categories (Best First Book and Best Paranormal Romance), that it sunk in. (Well, actually, it took another few minutes after I’d hung up to sink in… I think I was numb at that point!)
With my second call, Terri, I had the same reaction! What's up next? Do you have another project in the works? If so, please tell us about it.
Terri: Like I said earlier, I've since released both a novella and a sequel, both in bookstores as I type this interview. I just finished the first draft of my third full length novel (yay!), entitled YOU'RE THE ONE THAT I HAUNT (April 2009), which will be followed by a fourth, as yet untitled, in November 2009.
Congrats on being a RITA finalist, and best of luck, Terri! I’m looking forward to meeting you in SF! Would you like to close with a writing tip?
Terri: The best possible advice I can give any aspiring writer is to get those words down on paper! Even if they're awful! The more you write, the better writer you'll be. Those first four manuscripts of mine may never see the light of day, but that's okay by me, because if I hadn't written them I'd never come to the point I am today.
Thanks for chatting with me, Kelly, and best of luck to you, too! See you in San Francisco!
***
A Southern girl with an overactive imagination, Terri Garey grew up in Florida, always wondering why tropical prints and socks with sandals were considered a fashion statement. She survived the heat by reading in the shade, and watching cool shows like the The Twilight Zone and the classic gothic soap opera, Dark Shadows. Born too late to be a hippy and too early to be a Goth, Terri did the logical thing and became a computer geek. Balancing a career with marriage and motherhood convinced her that life was too short to rely entirely on the left side of her brain, and quirky ideas about life among the undead began to replace the dry logic of computers. Deciding imagination was her best weapon in the war against reality, Terri dove even deeper into the world of the unexplained, and started writing her own demented tales from the dark side. Visit Terri on the web at http://www.tgarey.com or http://www.harpercollins.com/terrigarey .
Words of an Author with Deanna Raybourn
Hello RITA Nominee, Deanna! Thanks so much for chatting with me. Could you please tell us a little about your writing background and how you made your RITA nominated “Best First Book” sale?
I always knew I wanted to write historical fiction, so I double-majored in history and English. I wrote my first novel at 23, then spent the next 14 years opening rejection letters! I finally scored with Silent in the Grave--my seventh or eighth book--when MIRA Books offered me a multi-book contract for that novel and two sequels. When the second book was finished, they offered me another contract, so I plan to be around for quite a while!
Great determination, Deanna! Readers and writers often like to get a behind the scenes peek of an author's writing routine. It would be great if you could please share your typical writing day schedule.
When I'm writing, I work early and I work every day without fail. I only write for a few hours, and I'm finished by lunch time. The rest of my day is spent noodling over what I'm going to write the next day. I find it much easier to think when I'm not at the computer! I plan things out in my head while I'm making the school run or doing laundry or working in the garden. I thought that was odd until I read that Agatha Christie used to do the dishes when she was trying to work out a plot problem. By the next morning, I know where I'm going and I have a very good idea of how I'm going to get there. If I need to ease into it, I polish up what I wrote the previous day, then before I know it, I'm off!
Please tell us about your RITA nominated debut novel, Silent in the Grave, and what we can expect from your characters.
Silent in the Grave is the first book in the Lady Julia Grey series. It follows a London aristocrat as she investigates the mysterious death of her husband and becomes entangled with a rather delicious private inquiry agent. My favorite description of the book is "Jane Austen meets 'Clue'".
How did it feel to receive the RITA finalist call?
Surreal! I danced around in my study and scared the dog when the first call came. When the second call came telling me I'd been nominated in another category as well, I pretty much screamed the house down. It was so unexpected and absolutely thrilling.
What's up next? Do you have another project in the works? If so, please tell us about it.
I have just finished the line edits on book three in the Lady Julia Grey series, Silent on the Moor, in bookstores March '09. I'm spending the summer reading and plotting my next book, a mysterious historical novel set in Scotland and Transylvania in 1898. I am in a froth of anticipation to write this book! It's going to be darker and more sensual than the Julia Grey books, so there are new things for me to play with.
Congrats on being a RITA finalist, and best of luck! I’m looking forward to meeting you in SF! Would you like to close with a writing tip?
The single most important thing I do as a writer is put my bottom in the chair--every day. Writing is an art, but it's also a craft, and like any skill, the more you do it, the better you get. So do it often.
A sixth-generation native Texan, Deanna grew up in San Antonio, where she met her college sweetheart. She married him on her graduation day, and went on to teach high school English and history. She wrote her first novel at the age of twenty-three, during summer vacation. After three years as a teacher, Deanna left education to have a baby and pursue writing full-time. Fourteen years and many, many rejections after her first novel, she signed a three-book deal with MIRA.
After one too many hot Texas summers, Deanna and her husband packed up their daughter and their Labrador and moved to Virginia, where they enjoy the fall leaves but deeply miss good Tex-Mex cooking.
Deanna would love to hear from you! Drop by her website, www.deannaraybourn.com where you can sign up for e-mail updates, get the latest tour information, and peruse the award-nominated Blog A Go-Go.
Words of an Author with Amy Wallen
Hello Amy, thanks for agreeing to chat! Could you please tell us a little about your writing background and how you made your first sale?
Amy: I’ve been writing most of my life. I worked with Janet Fitch, author of White Oleander, for about 4 years on MoonPies and Movie Stars. She was a huge influence on my work. I’ve worked with Mary Gordon, author of Pearl and Stories of Mary Gordon, et al, for about 6 years and she’s been a big influence and guide toward letting Flannery O’Connor influence my writing and ideas. My first sale was this current book that we are touring—MoonPies and Movie Stars. The publisher is Viking/Penguin, and Plume for the paperback. I got my agent, Meg Ruley at the Jane Rotrosen agency in NYC in about April of 2005, and by Memorial Day weekend I had two offers on it.
Readers and writers often like to get a behind the scenes peek of an author's writing routine. It would be great if you could please share your typical writing day schedule.
Amy: I start to write at 9am. I have several other projects, like a national public radio show and teaching a novel writing class at UC San Diego, and two cats, so I am constantly jumping up and doing other things, but I always try to stay focused and sit back in front of the computer and get back to the story. If I’m stuck on where to go next, I go for a long walk, or a big hike and riffle through all the scenes in my head until I’m clear again.
Please tell us about your novel, MoonPies and Movie Stars, and what we can expect from your characters.
Amy: The paperback of MoonPies and Movie Stars was just released on June 24th. It’s the story of Ruby Kincaid, the owner of a six-lane bowling alley in Devine, TX. When Ruby spots her runaway daughter on a ButterMaid commercial, she sets off for Hollywood to find her and make her own up to her responsibilities. Along for the ride in the Winnebago are Imogene, the daugther’s mother-in-law who now claims to be a star-in-law, and Loralva, Ruby’s rattlesnake rattler earring wearing sister who has a dream to be on the Price is Right and meet that sexy Bob Barker. It’s 1976, Hollywood is ripe with craziness and from game shows to strippers, these Texas ladies have a big adventure ahead of them.
Sounds great! What's up next? Do you have another project in the works? If so, please tell us about it.
Amy: I have a contract with Hyperion to write another book. I’m about half way through. It takes place in Burbank, CA at a senior artists colony When the benefactor of the colony dies, the residents have to figure out how to keep the place going.
Thanks so much for sharing, Amy! Best of luck with your writing career! Would you like to close with a writing tip?
Amy: Write your heart out, and then write some more.
***
Amy Wallen was raised by a wild pack of Texans. But she's an oddity to the Texas cousins because she never lived in the state, and still likes barbecue, beer and pinto beans. Because her dad worked for an oil company, she grew up in Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Nevada, Nigeria, Peru, Bolivia and Oklahoma. She's still crazy for plane rides. Most of her writing inspiration comes from spending her summer vacation helping out her grandmother at her roadside convenience store on Highway 90 in Brackettville, Texas.
She graduated from the University of Oklahoma, Norman in 1986 with a BA in Journalism/Advertising. She majored in Advertising thinking she could be a creative writer and make a living-another one of her silly illogical ideas, like when she thought skydiving would be no big deal, or that aerobics would be enough of a workout to insure she was in shape for her trek to the Everest Base Camp. Upon college graduation, she decided she'd had enough of the Midwest and took off for San Diego, California with no job, a few hundred dollars, and the key to an apartment of a friend of a friend. She worked her way through a variety of jobs from advertising to legal administration. All the while, she plodded away at her short stories, essays and novels.
Currently, Amy teaches creative writing at UC San Diego Extension, leads an advanced private read and critique group, along with other occasional workshops around San Diego. She hosts the monthly open mic prose reading sponsored by San Diego Writers Ink and she sits on their advisory board. She started piano lessons at the age of 40 and can now play the Alfred Hitchcock Presents television show theme song, and John Lennon's Imagine. Visit her at AmyWallen.com.
The Girlfriends' Cyber Circuit
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