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December 2007 - Kimberley Young October 2007 - Portia Da Costa May 2007 - Kelley St. John, Interview 2 March 2007 - Linda Winstead Jones January 2007 - Agent Caren Johnson December 2007 - Kimberley Young Back in Dallas in July, during a break between workshops, I was sitting next to a pretty brunette in a white pantsuit. I was secretly admiring her ability to wear white without spilling something on it (as we all know I’d be covered in dirt and tea stains within moments of attempting that fashion) when she struck up a conversation. It took a minute for me to get a glimpse of her nametag, which boldly stated “Kimberley Young, Harlequin Mills and Boon.” Yikes! I wasn’t in “Meet-an-Editor” mode—much less “Meet-a- Senior-Editor” mode. I stumbled over my words, trying desperately not to say something stupid. But she was friendly and fun and agreed to be interviewed for the Playground. I guess I managed to keep my foot out of my mouth. (Even if I did forget the name of my book when she asked me…sigh.) So, y’all slide over and give Kimberley some room for her bucket and spade. Hi Kimberley! Welcome to the Sandbox! Problem Child: The first, and most pressing (to me, at least), question is are you a “Kimberley” or a “Kim?” KY: Either is fine…but let’s go with Kim! PC: Huge Congratulations on having three RITA finals and a RITA win this year. (Note to those who don’t know/remember: Blind-Date Marriage by Fiona Harper was a double finalist in the Best Traditional and Best First Book categories, and Claiming his Family by Barbara Hannay won the RITA for Best Traditional.) Is it as exciting for editors as it is for the authors to final and win? Do editors have their own “bragging rights” competition for who has the most books in the running? KY: It’s so exciting to see your author’s name up there in bright lights! But I do really feel it’s their achievement – I’m there to be their biggest cheerleader. I do absolutely love getting an editor’s plaque though. In the London office, all editors’ plaques are proudly hanging in the boardroom. Naturally, I am very sad to see the traditional category go. PC: Is it difficult to have two authors up against each other in the same category? KY: Yes and no – you want as many authors as you can to be shortlisted, I’m just glad I’m not the one who has to pick between them! And the Harlequin Romance authors are so supportive towards one another I know they celebrate each other’s success! Marion Lennox and I certainly had great fun taking pictures of Barbara Hannay’s RITA to send to her in Australia. PC: Let’s back up a little. You’re obviously a fabulous editor; how’d you get started in the business? KY: Thank you! I started as a fresh-faced graduate out of University! I did an English Literature degree, traveled the world for a little while and then started at Harlequin Mills & Boon as an editorial assistant. I’ve always loved the books and the people so much, it’s a dream job. PC: What’s the best part of your job? The worst? KY: The best is reading books and getting paid for it - I still have to pinch myself sometimes when I’m curled up with a good book at my desk. The worst…definitely proofing! PC: You have great guidelines for your line, Harlequin Romance, up on the eHarlequin site. Are you looking for new and first-time authors? Any additional advice you’d like to offer to folks targeting your line? Any pet peeves and turn-offs we should know about? KY: Yes. We are always looking for new writers who can bring something fresh to the series. When Harlequin Romance and Silhouette Romance merged we changed our guidelines and gave the series a new, fresh look. So please, if you haven’t already, try us out! The most effective piece of advice I can give any aspiring writer – read as many current books as you can! This is always the best guide to what readers and editors are buying! Know the series you are targeting, the similarities as well as the differences. Look at what’s being published and what’s not. For authors targeting Harlequin Romance, it all starts with the characters and their emotional conflict, this has to drive the story from the first page to the last. In between that we publish anything from laugh-out-loud to three hankie reads, classic to contemporary, royal to rural…the list goes on. Just make those characters come alive in the world you build for them. No real pet peeves… PC: What jumps out at you in a synopsis or the first couple of pages that makes you say “I want to read this”? What kind of things make you immediately reach for the reject letter? KY: I always go straight to the writing, and read the synopsis second. And I’m always looking for that unique voice. Always play to your strengths as a writer. If I feel I’ve read it before it loses my interest quite quickly. PC: Here’s a nitpicky, obsessive question (maybe not at bad as the “Courier New vs. TNR” one, though): Should American authors be adjusting their Spell Check settings to British English before they submit? KY: Okay…this is my pet peeve! It honestly makes no difference to me at all – as long as I can read the submission anything goes. But just for the record, we edit depending on where our author lives, so it’s different for our UK, US and Australian authors. For American authors we use Webster’s dictionary. So you don’t need to worry about it! PC: Are there issues American authors do need to keep in mind when submitting to the London office? KY: None at all. PC: Out of curiosity, how many submissions do you get in an average week? About how many do you request to see more of? KY: Weekly, probably 10-15, though there are some very busy periods of the year when that shoots up, post conferences etc. It’s difficult to put a number on how many I request, some times I won’t request any…then I will request 5 in a row. PC: If you could give newbie writers one piece of advice they HAD to follow, what would it be? KY: One of my authors once said this and I thought it was the most inspiring piece of advice I’d ever heard: you don’t need to be a great writer – just a wonderful storyteller. PC: If you could stomp out a rumor about writing and/or publishing once and for all, which one would it be? KY: That “editors” are only buying certain themes. It’s never about the editor, it’s all about the readers! Agents, editors, publishers, publicists etc all have a role to play but it’s the readers who decide what they want to read and sadly, what they don’t want to read. It’s always, all about the reader… PC: Since we met at the RWA Conference, I have a few questions about Conference from an editor’s point of view. What do you look forward to at Conference? Anything you hate or dread? KY: I really look forward to seeing my authors, the non-UK based ones especially as this is the only chance I get to see them. The RITA awards of course, especially if one of my authors is nominated…and I always have a ball at the Harlequin Party! I really enjoy the author/editor appointments, I always feel bad when authors are very nervous! PC: It must be tough taking pitch appointments. Do you ever get really excited about a project pitched to you? Do you ever have an author not follow through and never send the requested material? KY: Yes I do get very excited about pitches and bought a wonderful, wonderful author from my first ever RWA conference - where I was probably just as nervous as she was ;-) It is difficult when you get back to your desk to keep track of everyone you’ve met and everyone who’s sending things in. But yes there have been story ideas I’ve been interested in and never seen. PC: There’s a rumor floating around that editors will request at least a partial at these pitch session so as not to hurt the writer’s feelings face-to-face. True? KY: With all good rumours there is usually a grain of truth in them… and I would say there’s an element of truth in this. Firstly, it’s all in the writing! A story can sound wonderful but if it’s not written in a captivating way it’s not going to be published. So, yes I would ask to see three chapters of things I’m not 100% sure about to see how the idea has been executed. But I will say to the author…you may need to think about X, Y and Z before sending it in. However, I have also said no thanks, I don’t want to waste an author’s time or mine by requesting something that doesn’t fit our lists. KY: I have had someone pitch to me in the swimming pool ;-) PC: Okay, I’ll wrap this up now. I have a ton more questions, but I know you’re a busy woman with future RITA finalists to edit. Do you have anything you’d like to add? KY: Thank you for inviting me, and good luck in your writing careers! PC: Thanks so much for stopping by! Please come back any time! KY: Would love to! October 2007 - Portia Da Costa If you are a regular reader of erotic novels, a book by Portia Da Costa has probably been on your bookshelf. Portia lives in England with her husband and beloved cats. Portia writes for Britain’s Black Lace imprint as well as Ellora’s Cave in the U.S. She’s joining us this month on the Playground to give our readers a little information and insight into her and her writing. Instead of our usual sandbox or swing set interview location, I decided to have a tea party under the big shady tree, so please lift your teacups and give a big Playground welcome to Portia Da Costa. Playground Monitor: Has writing always been in your blood? Or did you have another calling before writing? Portia Da Costa: Actually, I think my first creative calling was to be an artist, but I just didn’t quite have the talent. I used to love drawing pictures of my film and television star heroes, but I was really more of a copyist than an originator. I got a lot of enjoyment out of it though, until the day a friend challenged me to write… PM: When did you first decide you wanted to be a writer? PDC: The friend I mentioned above challenged me to write a story for her, so she could illustrate it. She thought that because I was a voracious reader, and I was a librarian, I would be able to write as well. I tried to tell her it probably wasn’t that simple, but I decided to have a go at writing a story anyway, just for myself. I really had fun with my little story, and even though it was probably awful, I had a feeling that I could do better with practice, so I decided to continue writing. PM: Why did you write your first book, what is the title and when was it published? And how many books to do have published to date? PDC: Well, the first few books I wrote never got as far as publication, because they were awful too! :) The first book that actually got published was a sci-fi erotic novel called ADVENTURES IN THE PLEASUREZONE, published back in 1992 [I think] by Nexus Books. There was no erotic romance then - or even erotica especially for women - so my first two books were actually marketed as erotica for men. But I like to think women read them too. To date I’ve had 21 novels published, plus two novellas [with two more in the pipeline] and also two collections of my short stories. PM: Tell us about “The Call” when you sold your first book. PDC: Alas, there was no actual call. I just got a very nice letter from the editor of Nexus, telling me they wanted to publish my book. He suggested a few changes, but it was a definite ‘yes’! PM: Do you have a set writing schedule? Are you a plotter or pantster? Any little rituals you go through before you sit down to write? Any special items on your desk or in your office that inspire you? PDC: Nope, I have no schedule at all. I wish I did have one, and I keep vowing and vowing to be more disciplined and write during specific hours… but I always slip back and write in a very haphazard fashion, some days lots, some days woefully little. I’m a combination of plotter and pantser, I think. I usually come up with a rough outline first, so I’ve got a roadmap for the book. But once I get started, I allow myself to stray from that if better ideas occur to me in the course of the writing. No, I don’t have any special rituals, other than remonstrating with myself for doing anything *but* getting started with my writing. I write on my laptop, sitting on the bed, usually surrounded by books and magazines and cats. Oh, and one or two photos of Vincent D’Onofrio to inspire my hero scenes. J PM: Why erotica? With so many genres, what drew you to writing erotica? What do you think is the biggest misconception about erotica? Would you classify your books as erotica or erotic romance? PDC: I wasn’t originally drawn to writing erotic specifically. I started out writing romance, but with hot love scenes. Unfortunately, none of these early works were up to publication standard, but a writing advisor suggested I try writing full-on erotica as I was good at writing the sex scenes, and the erotica market [for men] was far easier to break into at that time. So, I did go that route and my first book got accepted. However, I do often wish that I’d persevered with the romance writing at the outset because I am a romance writer at heart and even though many of my books can’t really be considered romance, they’re written with a romantic sensibility. In the last few years though, I’ve committed myself to writing erotic *romance*. I love romance both in fiction and in life, so even though my books are full of hot sex, they’re really about men and women finding each other and forging a love relationship. The biggest misconception I’ve encountered about erotica is that it’s all about the plumbing ie. relentless descriptions of body parts squelching together. LOL! To me, the best erotica is about what’s going on in the characters’ minds and their emotions while they’re having sex. That’s what I find most exciting and fulfilling as a reader and a writer. PM: Who is Wendy Wootton? PDC: She’s me. A lot of people know me by my real name because I’ve managed to acquire so many silly pseudonyms along the way that it’s confusing otherwise! :) PM: Do you find that your fan base is mostly in the UK or has it spread around the world? How do you promote trans-Atlantic? Does your publisher help with that or are you pretty much on your own? PDC: Hard to tell. I’d like to think I’ve got fans all over the world, and I’m sure I have, but I only occasionally get actual fan mail. I treasure what I do get though, and also the kind things that people say on blogs and message boards about my writing. I try to submit my books for review in the US, and participate in American promotional activities, but I’m comparatively new to it and sometimes find it hard to balance the promo with the actual writing. I’m still working on getting the mix right. For writers at my level, publishers do help a bit, but the main work has to be done by the author. PM: Have you had any translation problems for Americans reading your books? Unusual sayings that are unique to the UK? And how about checque versus check, kerb versus curb, bonnet versus hood (on a car that is)? PDC: No, not really. I think most of what I say in my books ‘translates’ pretty easily and the context helps with any British colloquialisms. I also think readers are becoming more and more global in their outlook and are familiar with alternative spellings etc. PM: Do you have any fun stories about your fans you’d like to share? PDC: I’m sorry, I can’t really think of any. A male fan did once attach a photo of his ‘anatomy’ to an email, but that was more disturbing than fun really… PM: Do you have any tips for authors on this side of the pond who would like to submit to Black Lace? PDC: Mainly, I’d recommend aspiring Black Lace authors to read the guidelines carefully and also read as many of the current books as they can. I don’t think there’s a particular secret, or style, or theme to Black Lace nowadays. It’s a very diverse imprint, so it’s wide open to all kinds of hot sexy writing with a romantic flavour. PM: Now for a little fun… PDC: This’ll sound weird but I don’t really take vacations as such. I’m a bit of a homebody and I love to be in my familiar space. But if I was to take a dream holiday, I think I’d love to visit Paris in Spring and stay in a beautiful, romantic five star hotel. Either that, or take a trip on the Orient Express to Venice… with James Bond and/or Hercule Poirot! PM: Have you ever visited the United States? If so, what was your favorite spot? If not, do you have any plans to visit and what would you like to see here? PDC: No, I’ve never been to America. I hope to attend the Romance Writers of America conference one of these days though. If I was travelling purely for pleasure, I think New York would be my first destination, in order to see the locations for Law and Order: Criminal Intent and some of my other favorite shows. Oh, and Las Vegas would be nice, for CSI location spotting too. PM: What authors are on YOUR bookshelf? PDC: Currently, Saskia Walker, Madelynne Ellis, J R Ward, Nalini Singh… but I must have upwards of several thousand books in my house. PM: What’s your dream job? What’s the job you’d starve before doing? PCD: My dream job is winning the lottery and not having to work at all! :) Not sure how to answer the second question. I think I can buckle down to most things if it’s necessary. PM: Favorite hobbies? PDC: Watching television, reading, hanging out online. PM: Favorite way to spend a relaxing evening? PDC: Watching the television at home with my husband, or going out for a simple meal such as fish and chips or a carvery roast, followed by a drink in a local pub or working men’s club. PM: Some of our readers, moi included, are cat owners. Will you tell us about your kitties? PDC: I have three cats and they’re all adorable and the apples of my eye. Kuffer is a tuxedo male of around fifteen years. He used to be a bit of a loner, and rather aloof when he was younger, but now he’s really, really affectionate and loving, a complete ‘mommy’s boy’ who loves to lie beside me while I’m writing. Alice is a calico female, around ten years old, and a real character. She’s typical of her coloring, which we tend to call tortoiseshell over here… ie. she’s a classic ‘naughty tortie’. She loves to hang out in the garden mostly during the summer. Mulder is a little black girl. She’s around ten, but she’s rather undersized, and we think she was probably the runt of a litter. She came to us as a stray, but sometime before we got her, she must have had an accident as she limps heavily and has no tail. This doesn’t bother her at all though, as she’s the fastest and most agile of all our three. PM: What’s coming up next for you in publishing? PDC: Well, at the moment I’m finishing the editing on my 11th Black Lace novel, GOTHIC HEAT [sequel to Gothic Blue] and that’s out in April 08. When that’s completed, I hope to be doing a short novella for Total-E-Bound, the British erotic romance epublisher, and following that probably another contemporary for Black Lace. The next things I have coming out are an October reprint of my Black Lace erotica title, HOTBED, and after that another novella. It’s a vampire tale called BUDDIES DON’T BITE, and it’s in the Black Lace Lust Bites anthology that’s out in November 07. PM: Anything else you’d like to add? PDC: I’d just like to thank you for a lovely interview. It’s a been a pleasure and lots of fun! :) Portia can be found online at www.portiadacosta.com and at her blog at www.wendyportia.blogspot.com. The Playfriends are thrilled to welcome romantic suspense author Brenda Novak to the Playground this month. Her current release, Dead Right, is garnering praise all over (especially from Angel). We hope you enjoy our visit with this very talented author. Angel: Dead Right is the third book in a trilogy following a family with more than one deadly secret. I loved all three! This series had some complicated twists and turns, plus each book has its own mystery, romance and resolution. How did you keep up with all the threads and make sure they all tied up so neatly in the third book? Brenda Novak: I’m so glad you enjoyed the whole trilogy! The characters, especially Clay, are some of my favorites. Even the less perfect ones, who became their own worst enemies, were interesting to me. I don’t like perfect characters. I like human characters, ones who struggle and overcome—or even fall. Because I don’t write anything down as far as an outline or even a list of characters, I sometimes have trouble keeping such a far-reaching story arc straight. This was the “tightest” set of connected books I’ve ever written (meaning their plots were tied as intricately as the characters). But I’m a very “organic” writer—I like getting inside my characters’ heads and seeing where they take me. I want to be surprised as much as the reader, which means I let myself go. Then I have to go back and make sure everything is consistent and right. A: The book trailer for Dead Right is played when a reader opens your website at www.brendanovak.com. The atmospheric scenes and, of course, descriptions of the book are intriguing, not to mention the soundtrack! Book trailers seem to be popping up everywhere as the hot new thing on authors' websites. Can you tell us the process you went through to develop the trailers for your "Dead" series? How effective do you feel this tool is in selling books? BN: I’m such a visual person. I even learn visually—can remember something I’ve read far longer than something someone told me, so trailers are a natural for me. I’ll take time to watch a video trailer when I’m in a hurry, but I won’t read something that would probably take the same amount of time. So I’m trying to reach others like me. I’m also hoping to appeal to a younger audience (by this I don’t mean anyone under 16) because the average Internet user is probably fairly young, and we can’t give the next generation entirely over to video games if we want a job in twenty or thirty years. LOL For all the DEAD books, I simply wanted to establish the mysterious and suspenseful tone, so I focused on music and images that would evoke that. A: I guess I got a little carried away jumping right into your books! Let's back up and have you tell us how you came to start writing and what happened on your road to publication. BN: I caught my daycare provider drugging my children with cough syrup and Tylenol to get them to sleep while I worked as a loan officer. Once I found these over-the-counter medications in my baby’s bottle, I realized what had been going on and could no longer trust anyone with the care of my children. I decided I needed to work at home, but I wasn’t sure what to do. I knew I was a good typist and considered starting my own secretarial business. Fortunately, I was also reading a good book at the time that inspired me to try my hand at writing. Once the bug bit, I realized I’d found my calling in life and have been writing (and loving it!) ever since. A: What would be the "Must Follow" advice you would offer pre-published authors out there? BN: I get asked this a lot, so I’ve boiled it down to the one most important thing: Believe. That’s it. It’s that simple. If you truly believe in yourself, you’ll learn whatever you need to learn to make it, you’ll take advice from those who know more than you do, and you’ll do more than talk about writing. You’ll write and you’ll edit and you’ll write some more, until you sell something. A: You've won many contests and awards with your published books. We're quite into the writing contests around here ourselves. Would you give us your opinion on the continued value of contests for published authors? How do you decide which one and how many to enter? BN: I’ve been very fortunate to have done as well as I’ve done on the contest circuit. I like entering contests. I find the positive feedback encouraging, and I appreciate the fact that contests put my books in the hands of librarians, booksellers, and avid readers who might not have tried one of my novels. I try to focus on those who are judged by bookseller or industry professionals, but I’ve been known to enter others, too. I consider it a mini-sampling initiative. It helps to final or win—then others in the chapter that sponsored the contest might also be encouraged to try my work. When I was unpublished, I entered contests for basically the same reason: to set myself apart. I wanted something great I could add to my query letters. I knew one final or one win wouldn’t be too impressive—almost anyone can get one under his/her belt. But when I started placing in a large number of contests, I felt the consistency said something and added it to my query letter. A: At RWA National (2007) I attended your workshop on Overcoming Discouragement, which was a great inspiration! What advice would you give authors on maintaining an optimistic outlook in the face of rejections from editors, agents, and contest judges (to name a few)? BN: I know you’ve heard it before, but you have to regard this as a business. You cannot let it hurt your feelings when someone passes on your work. An agent or editor rejection simply means that ONE person didn’t like your manuscript. Just one. Don’t let it get under your skin or it will kill your enjoyment of the process, which is what taking joy in your work is all about. If you enjoy the process and like what you’re writing, you’re already successful. A: The Diabetes auction you hold online is a raging success, having raised a total of $240,100 for Diabetes research. On your website, you talk about how your son's struggle with the disease sparked your interest in doing this. Tell us how the auction came to being and your plans for next year. BN: I’m thrilled about my auction. I had no idea when I started it that it would turn out the way it has. I have my writer friends, reader friends and diabetes friends to thank for that. On how I got started—Once my son was diagnosed, I had a burning desire to fight against this terrible disease (the 5th deadliest killer and an absolute epidemic in America). I learned about all the terrible things diabetes does to the body, realized from living with it how hard it is to manage, and decided I would do everything I possibly could to put an end to it. I started praying (or meditating, if you don’t believe in God <G>) about what I could do but the answer didn’t come right away. It came a few months later, when I went to a silent auction at my son’s school. It was poorly attended and not very successful, which got me thinking that there had to be a better way than trying to get X number of people all under one roof at one time. And then it hit me—I have thousands and thousands of visitors at my website each month (over 20,000 on my mailing list). I decided to ask these fans to help me make a difference, and they’ve definitely risen to the challenge. My first auction three years ago was more or less a test market. I wanted to see if the idea would really work. I raised nearly $35,000 that year—and was very excited to see the immediate success. I had no idea it would only get better and better, but the next year, that number nearly doubled and, last year, it doubled again. I’m hoping to break $200,000 in 08! Already, I have some fabulous things (and am taking donations of items all year long). One of my most exciting is from Superromance Author Anna DeStefano. She’s doing a whole section of designer purses and wallets (Isabella Fiore and others, see below). I’m going to spotlight this and other items in my monthly newsletters (you can sign up for the newsletter at www.brendanovak.com). My web designer will once again be donating his services, I’ll be donating my mentoring package, and many, many agents, editors, publicists and other industry officials will be participating as well.   A: You talk about your five children on your website. For those of us struggling to write with children at home, would you tell us your best strategy for keeping balance (and sanity)? BN: I’m not going to lie to you. It used to be VERY hard. I started writing when my youngest was a baby, and I had to type with one hand while trying to nurse him. LOL Now he’s ten years old and can help me out instead of the other way around. Thank goodness I’ve been blessed with such capable and well-adjusted children. Now that they’re all in school, I simply write while they’re gone—nothing to it. J But I would caution anyone who’s trying to do it with children to realize that they’re only young for a short time. You’ll get your chance. Meanwhile, pace yourself and get in a good two or three hours where you can. A: You are hosting a really cool "Whodunit" murder mystery contest with author Karen Rose, that runs through September 15th. (See details at Brenda's website) How did this unusual idea come about? BN: Karen and I wanted to do some joint promotion and take advantage of being on the cover of RT Book Review Magazine (August issue). We felt the best way to do that was to sponsor something unusual and exciting (with lots of prizes!) that would interest readers enough to get them to visit our websites. From that, we came up with the idea of our Whodunit game, where each person who plays gets to be the detective. The first person to correctly guess who killed socialite Abigail Dafonte (played by my daughter <G>) will win his/her name in a Karen Rose or Brenda Novak novel (and, as I mentioned above—there are also lots of other prizes). I’ve had so much fun writing the installments. It’s a different kind of writing than I’ve ever done, but I’m pleased with the result. Karen Rose will be taking over and finishing up, so I actually got off easy. I think it’s easier to write the first half and set everything up, and she’s eager to start killing people off, so we’re a perfect fit! LOL A: What's coming up next for you? BN: I’ll have a new romantic suspense trilogy out next summer—TRUST ME (June 2008), STOP ME (July 2008), WATCH ME (August 2008). These books are about three women who met at a victim’s support group and decided to create an organization that helps the victims of violent crime. The cases they handle are diverse and, of course, they have issues from when they were each a victim of some kind of crime, which gives them something very personal to solve (and personally dangerous!). A: What's your most relaxing way to spend an evening? BN: I love to hang out with my husband. Sometimes we go out to eat, hit a movie, exercise, run errands—a variety of things, but I always look forward to sharing the evenings with him. A: Favorite ice cream flavor? BN: Cake Batter (from Cold Stone) A: Do you have any hobbies? BN: Does fundraising count? LOL I’m afraid I’ve let most of my hobbies go as I’ve become busier and busier and busier. I don’t even shop any more. With five kids who are all very active in sports, we almost always have several practices a night and tons of games beyond that. So I guess watching my children play volleyball, soccer, football, baseball, and basketball has become my hobby. Other than that, the whole family enjoys mountain biking. And, of course, I love to read. I like to do research more than I like to consume fiction, however. I’m currently doing some really fun research for a series I plan to write that is wildly different from anything I’ve ever done. A: What's the one thing most people don't know about you? BN: That I’m shy! Seriously, no one believes me because I come off so direct, but I’m an introvert and I’m not nearly as assertive as I seem to be. I have to make my husband handle anything that involves returning food to a restaurant or saying the dreaded N word (No). Thanks for joining us! You can find more information about Brenda at her website, and she hosts Expert Fridays at www.fogcitydivas.com . You can find a schedule of upcoming topics on her website. Dead Right is available now! New York Times Bestselling author Carly Phillips writes fun, sexy reads that any girl could love. Better yet, she's friendly in person and even indulges her readers in a picture or two (see below). She's a self proclaimed soap opera addict and even lets her dog Buddy answer her fan mail. A girl after my own heart. The Playfriends are very excited to welcome Carly to the Playground. Smarty Pants: Welcome to the Sandbox, Carly. The swing set has been a-twitter with your upcoming visit. To start off, how about a little background? Your website says you were a lawyer who liked law school, but not practicing law. How did you get from there to the New York Times Bestseller list? Carly Phillips: Thank you for interviewing me! I met so many of you at RWA and it was awesome. You’d think it was a long answer but it’s short! I really hated practicing law. I did love the school part, which is why writing must work well for me! I quit law first, then I was home with my colicky baby and read, read, read. I discovered that there was a romance section and I was in HEAVEN. Then I decided to try and write one. SP: What was the spark that caused you to make the leap and write your first book? What motivated you to keep writing over the years until you finally sold? CP: I can’t remember the spark. You don’t know how many times I’ve replayed that question in my mind – how did I go from reading to wanting to write and I just don’t know! All I know is that once I decided to write, I KNEW I wasn’t going to quit. I felt like I’d come home. The desire to sell motivated me, pure and simple. That and I had stories to tell and I loved telling them. SP: You started in category with your first sale to Harlequin Temptation, then later made the jump to single title. Was it tough to make that move? You’ve also done several anthologies. What changes do you have to make to your writing/thought process in order to write short stories for anthologies versus the longer category novels versus your single titles? CP: It was easy for me. It shouldn’t have been, but it was one lucky break in a series of them, honestly. My agent had lunch with an editor who had an idea for a trilogy about a mother who fakes being sick to get her bachelor sons to settle down and give her grandchildren. They asked me if I thought I could write it and I said YES! THE BACHELOR, THE PLAYBOY, THE HEARTBREAKER were born. How did I have the nerve to think I could write a single title after category? I have no idea. I just told myself, “You can do it!” I’m a “short writer” by nature so anthologies aren’t hard for me. The thought process just gets a bit more “stilted”, LOL. On the other hand, they are a lot more challenging to write because you need to get the motivation and conflict and emotion into 100 pages. I’m never convinced I nail that part in the anthologies – that or I let the negative reviews get to me on those. Just kidding. I just write from the heart and hope for the best. Seriously. But short category is a talent. It taught me how to tell a story and it enables me to write today. I loved Harlequin Temptation and I miss it. SP: We recently had Vicki Lewis Thompson on our blog, who also was a Reading with Ripa book selection. How did that experience change your career? CP: Kelly Ripa MADE my career. I owe her to exposing me and romance to a broader audience. I know Vicki well, and I know she feels the same way. There are no words to express the gratitude I feel towards Kelly Ripa. SP: Let’s talk about process. Are you a plotter or a pantser? Which comes first for you—characters or the situation? CP: I’m a pantser … and I suffer for it, believe me. I write and go back and add, and go back and add, and fix, and tweak all because I didn’t plan … but I can’t plan. It’s not in my genetic makeup. :) SP:What was the best advice you received as you were starting out (you don’t have to tell us whether you heeded the advice or not, but we’d love to know!)? CP: Don’t obsess over the first book. Don’t believe you have to sell every book you write. Just finish one book and go onto the next while that is out. Keep writing, keep growing. Best advice. I stand by it today. SP: What was the one piece of advice you wish you’d ignored? CP: hahaha. I really have to think about this one! I’ll get back to you. :) SP: You recently emcee’d at the RWA Golden Heart/Rita Ceremony in Dallas. Was that a lot of pressure? Any embarrassing moments no one (or everyone) saw? CP: I thought I was OK until I zipped up the dress … and then I freaked out in my room. I asked if I could change my mind (I was kidding of course) … I’d never read from a teleprompter in my life. I remember flubbing how many manuscripts were received for the GH … but eventually I relaxed. I ended up on a natural high and I was so relieved when it was over, but so proud I survived. I was so … humbled … Nora Roberts Emcee’d last year. How did I earn the right to even be asked? I love the RWA Board for thinking me worthy. I hope I did them and all the RWA members proud. Clothing malfunction? Oh YES! Night before leaving for Dallas – I pull out the planned dress. Keep in mind I didn’t go shopping because I had a few gowns I love … NEVER TRIED THEM ON. Needless to say, they didn’t fit. THANK GOODNESS this one, hanging in the basement, did! CP: CROSS MY HEART is the story of Ty and Lacey, childhood sweethearts who are separated by circumstances - they fake her death to save her from going back to an abusive uncle - and they reunite years later so she can reclaim her inheritance before he does - or before someone prevents her from doing so. It's a love story and it also introduces Hunter and Molly who have their own story in SEALED WITH A KISS due out September 25th. SP: You’ve said that in Cross My Heart, you’ve delved deeper into the emotions of the characters and added more romantic suspense to the story than you had in past books. How big of a challenge was this for you as a writer? How’d you work through it? CP: The bigger challenge wasn’t the emotions – I think I do that anyway – it was the lack of light characterization – and that was intentional – at the time I was doing hardcovers for both books and I thought readers should have something different in a Carly Phillips book in a hardcover and a paperback. In the end, we decided to go back at least for now to paperbacks – so I asked to put SEALED WITH A KISS in paperback too. As a result, CMH AND SWAK are books I consider a departure – and I’m proud – and afterwards – 2008 on, readers can expect SOPHISTICATED SEXY FUN from a Carly Phillips book. More like the HOT ZONE novels. The bigger challenge in CMH and SWAK was the heavier plot. Honestly? I missed my older, funnier, eccentric, light characters! SP: Our very own Instigator is a huge Grey’s Anatomy fan and you’ve written a novella for the Grey’s Anatomy 101 anthology. Can you tell us about the anthology and your specific story? CP: My story is fun – (well it doesn’t READ fun because it’s nonfiction – but it’s – what would have happened to Meredith and Derek if Addison hadn’t shown up – and you know what? I thought the essay was interesting as speculation because these are two deep characters! It’s hard to give you info. And not give much away on a short essay … but I hope you’ll check it out! SP: Our playground troublemaker, Problem Child, has what we call “mood hair.” You never know what color it will be when you see it next. You seem to have a similar hair obsession. What is your hair like today? CP: OOOH MOOD HAIR> I need to hang out at the Playground. LOVE the name MOOD HAIR. Today – I am reddish brown; curly with bangs. I have an appointment on Tuesday, however. I can promise to remain curly. Not sure on the bangs. Not sure on the color. Will keep you posted … with pics. What I look like now is the pic with me and my dogs on my website. www.carlyphillips.com and scroll … what is your MOOD HAIR friend’s hair like? Tell me more … SP: Last I saw, it was red with blonde highlights, just short of shoulder length, with a flip. I haven't seen her for two weeks, though, so it could change. Complete this sentence: My readers… CP: ROCK. My readers are loyal. They are diligent. They are smart. They call me on errors and make me better. THANK YOU! SP: Ok, now for a couple fun questions...Coffee or tea? CP: Tea. Decaf. Must be Lipton. SP: Something most people would be surprised to know about you? CP: I’m rather boring … and I have a fondness for Club Penguin. CP: Tropical. Beach. SP: If you couldn’t be a writer, what would you do for a living? CP: I can’t imagine doing anything else. SP: What are you working on now? CP: I’m between books. Doing preliminary work on a new, hero driven, trilogy. I can’t wait to give out more hints … :) SP: Thanks for stopping by, Carly! Come back any time. CP: THANK YOU for having me! I’d love to come back more often. You’re all so much fun! Be sure to check out Carly’s upcoming releases – Cross My Heart, available in stores now, Grey’s Anatomy 101, coming in August 2007 and Sealed with a Kiss, out in September 2007! You can also learn more about Carly, her writing, and other fun tidbits of info at www.carlyphillips.com or blog with Carly at www.plotmonkeys.com. Before I started writing with any degree of seriousness, I was a book reviewer for an online romance community. One of the first books I reviewed was called TAMING THE OUTLAW and I remember thinking that I’d love to be able to write like that. The following summer, that book won the Rita award for Best Short Contemporary Romance and I was sure I wanted to be able to write like that. The author of this book is Cindy Gerard and since then I’ve read many of her books and even hunted down a lot of her backlist. She’s nominated for a Rita again this year in a different category, but the writing is still just as good as it ever was. I have been known to tell folks that I want to write like Cindy Gerard when I grow up. So it is my distinct pleasure to dust the sand off the teeter totters and welcome award-winning author Cindy Gerard to the Writing Playground. Playground Monitor: Hi Cindy and welcome to the Writing Playground. Why don’t you tell our readers a little about yourself. Cindy Gerard: Hi guys. Not much to tell really. I’ve been around the romance business since 1991 when my first Loveswept was published. After 7 books I moved to Silhouette Desire with my good buddies Leanne Banks and Susan Connell where we actually wrote the first author generated continuity for Lucia Macro when she was the senior editor there. It was called Sons and Lovers and I’m still very proud of that project. On a personal level, my dh and I live in Iowa on a mini farm with our English Pointer, Ellie, our two cats, Buddy and Sly and Tom’s quarter horses – too many too name :o) We have one amazing son and an equally amazing daughter-in-law who, fortunately live within 2 hours of us so we get to see our 3 adorable, brilliant, huggable grandchildren on a pretty regular basis. I write full time now and feel privileged to be making a living doing so. PM: Tell us about your road to publication. Have you always been a writer? Or were there other professions along the way? CG: I worked many jobs for many years before I started writing. I’ve been a clerk in a county treasurer’s office, a bookkeeper in a lumber yard, a sales clerk/alterationist at a men’s clothing store and my longest career was with the Department of Human Services working with state and federal assistance programs. During the course of my years with DHS, I was a case worker, a policy specialist and one of 8 trainers in the state. Needless to say, it was a busy, grueling, often rewarding career and many times frustrating career. PM: How does your family feel about having a romance writer in their midst? CG: Ha. That’s been a work in progress. At first, before I was published, I heard a lot of ‘go for it’ but I don’t think their expectations were all that high. Once I sold my first book (a Loveswept titled: MAVERICK in 1991), I think they were all secretly surprised. And I don’t think anyone ever thought I’d end up making a paying career out of it :o) My hubby is my biggest supporter and I love it that my daughter-in-law is one of my biggest fans. PM: You’ve enjoyed tremendous success (and a Rita!) writing category romance. What prompted the switch to single title romantic suspense? CG: You’re right about the category career. And I’ve been very blessed with good fortune. I’ve got 5 Rita finalist pins now (Including this year with UNDER THE WIRE, book 5 in my Bodyguard series a finalist in single title romantic suspense.) I wrote nearly 30 books for both the now defunct Bantam Loveswept line and Silhouette Desire. I loved writing category romance but found myself gravitating toward bigger stories, bigger romance – bigger everything – and there just wasn’t room in category to write those stories. Ironically, the first 3 Bodyguard books were originally pitched to Silhouette Desire but because they were too big, were rejected. Since I loved the stories, I decided I had to try to sell them in the single title market. Consequently, my agent and I worked together to revamp the proposals and give them yet a bigger book feel. Those proposals turned out to be my breakout single title proposal. PM: Where did you get the idea for the Bodyguards? There are six books out in that line now, the most recent being INTO THE DARK, which was released last month. Will there be more Bodyguard books? Or do you have something else waiting to be written? CG: The over arching concept of the Bodyguards came about after 9/11. I read so many stories about returning military veterans and I wondered what these super alpha males did when they came back home after living by their wits and being fueled by adrenaline. I found out, via researching the web and contacts with former Spec. Ops guys, that a lot of them go into securities work. From that, the Bodyguards were eventually born. I have loved writing this series. I love my guys at EDEN, Inc. and from the mail I’ve been receiving, readers are loving them too. But, all good things must come to an end and INTO THE DARK is the last official BG book. Now that’s not to say that we won’t ever see the Garretts or Manny or Jase again. I have a feeling they’ll be popping up in my new series. I’ve just signed a 3 book contract with Pocket to write about the guys of Black Ops., Inc. And if anyone out there has read INTO THE DARK you will have meet the heroes of the first 3 B.O.I. books. Gabe (Archangel) Jones, Sam (the quiet man) Lang, and Johnny Duane (sexy cowboy) Reed will all have their own stories. No firm titles or pub dates yet but I’ll post on my website as soon as I have news. PM: What’s the best writing advice you’ve received? The worst? And what advice would you give to someone trying to get published? CG: Best advice? Finish the book. I know so many writers who start a project they are excited about then lose interest somewhere in the middle and drop it to work on another new and exciting idea. It’s a mistake. Truly. You have to finish the book. You have to prove to yourself and to a publisher that you have what it takes to stick with that book through the tough parts – which, in my experience is everything past the beginning :o) Worst advice? Trying to fit your writing style or process into some other writer’s idea of what works. Everyone has their own process. You need to find something that’s comfy for you and go with it. As to advice for someone trying to get published: Stick with it. It’s hard sometimes. I know. Been there. Done that. I have my stack of rejection letters, believe me. It took a long time for me to make that first sale. And it’s a struggle to keep selling because the competition is tough. But, I’m living proof that someone with no college degree and no writing credentials can not only sell, but can make a living loving what they do. And if you’ll indulge me for just a second here – I’m also proof that that same high school educated writer can hold her own. Case in point: INTO THE DARK, with a modest print run, hit #61 on USA TODAY, #11 on Publishers Weekly paperback fiction bestseller list AND #27 on the New York Times paperback fiction bestseller list. Talk about dreams coming true :o) PM: What impact has the Internet had on your writing career? CG: The internet has been HUGE for me. I do much of my research on line – whether it’s reading articles about geography, weaponry, Spec Ops, etc. It’s an amazing resource and I can’t imagine the time it would have taken me to complete the volume of research I do without it. PM: Like the Playfriends, who met through their RWA chapter, you are part of a group blog – Riding with the Top Down. How did the RWTTD gang get together? CG: First let me say that I LOVE the RWTTD authors. What an amazing and talented crew! Second, I don’t know how they got together :o) I only know how I got my seat in the convertible :o) Lois Greiman, who I adore, asked me to guest blog, so of course, I did. I had so much fun and as it happened one of the group had to drop out so they asked me to join. And I feel honored that they did. Now for a little fun. PM: What’s your dream vacation? CG: Dream vacation? Well, I’ve got to tell you, I’ve had my share of them this year – with more coming up. I LOVE going to NYC and got to do that in March when I attended the PASIC conference. I LOVE that city. Spent a few days sunning and snorkeling and swimming with the giant manta rays in the Grand Caymans in April at the invitation of a friend who has a condo down there. That has to be way high on my list of dreams come true. I also spent several days with 5 great friends white water rafting/camping in the Grand Canyon on the Colorado River in May. Talk about a trip!! Beautiful, breathtaking, amazing! I’m also going to Italy to attend the Women’s Fiction Festival in Materra in Sept. Visiting Italy is just, well, it’s stunning to me that I’m actually going to go. We also have a cabin in northern Minnesota where we gather 3 or 4 times a year with family and friends. I love those times at the lake … especially when the grandchildren make the trip. What fun!! PM: Which hunk’s photo is hanging in your office/on your computer screen/stuck to the back of the closet door? CG: Rudy Reyes. Owww, doggies. Rudy is a former Force Recon Marine who was in the Recon Unit that led the initial drive into Baghdad when the conflict started. Rudy and some of his Force Recon team mates posed for a calendar and the proceeds benefit families who have suffered losses. PM: What would your readers be completely surprised to learn about you? CG: That I love to fish and I bait my own hooks :o) PM: Vanilla or chocolate? CG: Vanilla ice cream dipped in chocolate :o) PM: What job other than writer would you love to try? And which would you rather starve than do? CG: Seriously – I always wanted to be a singer. And yes, I can sing :o) I could never be a politician. Too much public scrutiny, second guessing and, well, politics involved. PM: Complete this sentence. My readers are... CG: Amazing, funny, gracious, generous and very eager to read about Gabe and Jenna :o) At least according to the notes I receive they are. PM: Thanks for playing with us, Cindy. Feel free to come back any time. CG: It’s my pleasure. Thanks for the invitation and please know that I love to hear from my readers. I’m receiving buckets of mail these days and sometimes I’m a little slow answering but I do answer all of my mail. Cindy Gerard’s latest book is INTO THE DARK, a June 2007 release from St. Martin’s. For more information about Cindy and her books, you can visit her website at www.cindygerard.com or her blog at www.ridingwiththetopdown.blogspot.com . Sassy. Sexy. Funny. Unique. Rollicking. Smart. Fun. And those are just the descriptors for her upcoming book. Go to Jane Graves’ backlist and you have to toss in suspenseful, action-packed, wild, outrageous, fresh, award-winning, and RITA–nominated. Wow. The Playfriends are very impressed (and a bit jealous!), and we’re tickled to have Jane visit the Sandbox this month. Problem Child: Let’s start with a little background. You have a degree in Journalism; were you working as a writer before you started writing romance? Jane Graves: Nope. I've never held a job as a writer. In spite of having the good fortune to study with the infamous Jack Bickham at the University of Oklahoma, once I graduated, I didn't write again for almost fifteen years. Oddly enough, after I got my degree, I went back to get the classes necessary to apply to medical school. But then I met my husband, and we were married. When I had only one Biochemistry class left to complete my pre-med requirements, the oil company he worked for transferred him to Denver. We decided to have a baby. And I became a stay‑at-home mom. It wasn't until years later that I even tried to write again. By the way, these days I laugh hysterically when I imagine myself as a doctor. Academically I could have handled it, but personality-wise? I don't know whether I became an airhead as grew older, or whether I was always that way and never realized it. If I were, say, a plastic surgeon today, there would be a whole lot of people wandering around with ears where their noses used to be. PC: What was the spark that caused you to make the leap and write your first book? JG: We got a computer. In 1993, we bought a used PC-XT for $200 from a guy out of his garage. It had no hard drive, only a floppy drive, back when floppy disks were actually...floppy. But suddenly I could save words, and I was off to the races. For a long time I just played around with short stories. I had one published in Women's World Magazine. But it wasn't until 1995 that I read my first romance novel. I fell in love with them and decided to give writing one a try. PC: You currently live in Texas. Are you a native? I ask because your backlist has definite Texas overtones. Is that simply a love for your state, or is there something about Texas and Texans that make good book fodder? JG: You have to promise not to tell anybody this. I'm not a native Texan. I'm from, uh…that state north of the Red River. As we say in Texas, "I wasn't born here, but I got here as fast as I could." I've lived here for twenty years, and I'll never live anywhere else. Why do I write books set in Texas? Because I hate research. So much so that I almost always write about places I'm already familiar with. I've had reviewers who've tried to ascribe meaning to the fact that certain books of mine are set in Texas, but no. Sorry. It's the research thing. And I figure writing fiction means making stuff up, so I try my best to do that as much as possible. PC: You started in category, then made the jump to single title. Was it tough to make that move? What changes do you have to make to your writing/thought process in order to write short stories for anthologies versus the longer category novels versus your single titles? JG: I made the jump to single title very quickly after selling my first two books to Harlequin Duets. I put together six chapters and a synopsis of my first ST, and my agent sent it out. Three weeks later, we had a two-book offer from Ballantine. I was really fortunate that all the stars lined up for me on that one--the right story at the right time with the right editor. And I sold my first book to the Temptation line the same week. PC: With the Temptation line gone, do you see your voice and style fitting in well with another Harlequin/Silhouette line? Or are you planning to concentrate more on single titles and less on category? JG: To tell you the truth, I'm not too sure right now. I loved writing for Harlequin--I'm still mourning the loss of Temptation. But I'm not sure which line I'd target if I decided to submit there again. I'll probably be concentrating on single title for the foreseeable future. Unless Temptation comes back from the dead. PC: You wrote your first Harlequins under the name “Jane Sullivan,” and now you’re writing as “Jane Graves.” Was there a reason for the pseudonym? JG: When I sold my first book to Harlequin Duets, they thought "Graves" sounded too somber for romantic comedy and wanted me to take a pen name. When I sold to Ballantine, they wanted me writing under my real name. So suddenly I had a split personality. The big bummer is that the reason I took the pen name vanished after I'd written two books for Duets and the line went south, and I was stuck with two names to promote. JG: I gotta tell you. I love this book. Authors always like some of their books better than others, but this one is right at the top of the pile for me. The heroine is a spoiled trophy wife who lives Plano, Texas, an upscale suburb north of Dallas. She gets her life jerked out from under her when her husband sends her on a vacation with a friend, cashes in their assets, sells their house, embezzles $300,000 from his employer, and skips the country. She's left with nothing but the clothes in her luggage, her neurotic Chihuahua, and her beloved Mercedes Roadster. She'd like nothing more than to marry rich all over again, but who does she find herself falling for? The sexy ex-cop turned repossession agent who comes after her Mercedes. She hates blue collar men, and he hates high maintenance women. Instant conflict. I love to create heroes and heroines who are polar opposites, then peel away their layers to show how they connect on a deeper level and fill in each others' blanks. If I've done my job, in the end the reader will not only believe they've fallen in love, but that there's nobody else on the planet who's better for each of them than the other. I'll give you guys a sneak peek at an interactive Flash presentation that was created for this book. It's not officially up yet--it'll be on the new website I have coming soon. But you can play with it now if you go to http://www.janegraves.com/hotwheelsbonus.htm and start clicking. You'll find all kinds of fun things! PC: Let’s talk about process. Are you a plotter or a pantser? Which comes first for you—characters or the situation? JG: I'm a pantser. 100%. And I'm the weirdest one you'll ever talk to, because I have a writing process that's marginally insane. I'm a puzzle-piece writer. From the moment I begin a book, my mind goes off in a hundred different directions. The first thing I put on the page is usually the first scene or part of a scene I imagined when I conceived the book. That might be the opening. Or the black moment. Or the first love scene. Or just a dialogue exchange that comes to mind. Then I start jotting down bits and pieces of anything else that comes to mind that these characters might say or do in the course of the story. In the beginning, I poke around at the file where all this stuff is and work on whichever scenes or parts of scenes seem the most interesting. After a week or two, I'll have enough of the setting and the characters on the page--though in no discernable order--that I can settle in and get the first scene on paper. If I'm putting together a proposal, eventually I have to force myself to finish at least a chapter or two so I can sell the book, but it always changes when I actually write it. I've never written a story from start to finish and then gone back and revised. I just hop all over the place until I plug the last hole. The last words I put on the page to finish a book might be a transition between scenes in chapter three, or a description in chapter twelve. That's how fragmented my writing process is, and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. But it's the only way I've ever been able to write. (Back to the plastic surgeon thing I talked about before: Would you really want somebody with a brain like mine standing over you with a knife?) When you read Hot Wheels, take a look at the teaser chapter in the back of it for my next book, Tall Tales and Wedding Veils. When Tall Tales comes out next year, compare the two. It's the same story, but a lot of the details have changed. That's because I don't really know the beginning of a book until I've written the end, but I had to give them a teaser chapter before I finished the book. PC: Humor is obviously an important aspect of your books. Is it hard to be funny? How do you know that what’s funny to you is also funny for your reader? What tips would you offer newbie writers about writing humor? JG: Being funny is the easiest thing in the world--if you're a funny person. It's all about your outlook on life. If you're the joker in the back of the room cutting up during a "serious" workshop and you have to smack yourself to stop giggling, you probably have what it takes to write comedy. If you come out of a public bathroom with twelve feet of toilet paper stuck to your shoe, and instead of being embarrassed about it you have someone take a picture of it, you probably have what it takes to write comedy. If you send your editor Hoops & Yoyo e-cards, you probably have what it takes to write comedy. I've been asked many times to do workshops on writing comedy. But personally, I don't believe you can be taught how to be funny. You can learn techniques to help you express your funny thoughts, but nobody can teach you to have the funny thoughts in the first place. As far as knowing if what's funny to me will amuse my readers, in the beginning it was a shot in the dark. You don't know until you write it whether other people will laugh or not. Fortunately, enough editors, agents and readers find the same things funny that I do that I can actually sell books. My best advice to anyone trying to write comedy is this: Let it rip. Don't hold back. Make the characters bigger than life and twice as funny. Janet Evanovich didn't get to be a New York Times bestseller by keeping Stephanie's cars intact and telling Lula to shut up. PC: What was the best advice you received as you were starting out (you don’t have to tell us whether you heeded the advice or not, but we’d love to know!)? JG: It came a long time ago from Harlequin author, Judy Christenberry. She told me that if I wanted longevity in this business, I couldn't be a pain in the butt to work with. She said it was fine to disagree, but to do it respectfully, and to pick my battles carefully. And yes, I've always heeded that advice, and I pass it on every chance I get. After Judy told me that, I said, "If my head ever gets too big, will you pop it for me?" She assured me she'd be ready with the pin. We should all have that friend who's ready with the pin. Over the years, I've had five editors at three different houses, and I've never had a moment of discord with any of them. I had a long and rewarding relationship with an editor who other authors swore they couldn't work with. And I've never had any trouble selling books and staying published. PC: What was the one piece of advice you wish you’d ignored? JG: Honestly? I can't think of a single thing. Really. I've just always been very careful who I listen to and whose advice I choose to take. PC: Complete this sentence: My readers… JG: My readers believe that laughter is the best medicine. I just fill the prescription. PC: Some just-for-fun questions: JG: Coffee. And lots of it. To be specific: Caramel Macchiatos. And all that caffeine people want out of theirs? They can put it in mine. PC: Heels or flats? JG: Flats. Although I do intend to buy heels for the RWA National conference this year--a pair of leopard pumps. Look at the cover of Hot Wheels and High Heels and you'll see why. It's all about the promo, baby. PC: Have you ever had Texas Hair? JG: Ha! Are you kidding? I lived here in the '80s. Of course I had Texas Hair! The question is, how could I ever have thought that was attractive? Then again, I used to wear Joan Collins shoulder pads, too, and I thought I looked fabulous. That kind of fashion blindness can only be cured by time. I once had my husband dig through some boxes in storage for a pair of gold shoes I'd bought years before because I needed them to wear with a formal gown. In my memory, they were stunning. He found them. They stunned me, all right. I laughed out loud and threw them into the Goodwill bag. JG: Anywhere a cruise ship can take me. My husband and I just got back from a week aboard the Grand Princess out of Galveston. If it were up to me, I'd live on a cruise ship. They almost had to get a stun gun to get me off the Grand Princess. "Lady, the cruise is over! Get OFF the ship!" PC: Alternate career choice? JG: Ever watch Flip This House, that show about renovating real estate for profit? Several years ago, my husband and I flipped a couple of houses. I might like to do that again. You simply can't believe how some people can screw up a perfectly nice house, and how much money you can make by unscrewing it. PC: What are you working on now? JG: I'm wrapping up Tall Tales and Wedding Veils, also set in Plano, Texas. The hero is a secondary character from Hot Wheels. The story features one of my favorites matchups‑‑the charming, handsome womanizer who falls for the ultra-serious Plain Jane. Through a weird set of circumstances, they end up‑‑oops‑‑marriage in Vegas, and before their annulment comes through, something happens that forces them to spend a month pretending to be happy newlyweds. Again, polar opposites. It sure has been fun to toss the two of them together and watch the fireworks. PC: Thanks for stopping by, Jane! Come back any time. JG: Hey, nobody dumped sand down my pants or smacked me with a plastic shovel. I consider that a good day at the Sandbox. Jane Graves’ newest book, Hot Wheels and High Heels, is a July release from Warner Forever and available for preorder now from Amazon. For more information about Jane and her books, visit her website at www.janegraves.com. Jane will also be guest blogging on July 3rd! Be sure to stop by the blog! We first interviewed Kelley St. John in January 2006 right after the release of her first book Good Girls Don't. Now she's back to tell us about the newest twists in her career and how life has evolved for her as an author. Please welcome this Playfriend favorite back to the Sandbox! Angel: Kelley, the last time you were here, you had only one book on the shelves. Since then you've released Real Women Don't Wear Size 2, and have a slew of upcoming books. Can you tell us what's on tap for you this year? Kelley: I’d love to. :) I’m excited to add Harlequin Blaze to my line-up. I met Brenda Chin early in my pre-published days and thought I’d really enjoy working with her at Blaze. That’s an understatement. She’s a plotting genius and an excellent editor, so I’m thrilled to have sold six books to Harlequin Blaze. I have the first three coming out this year, in May, July and September (sexy paranormals about mediums who help ghosts cross over to the other side). The next three of THE SEXTH SENSE series will be released in the same months in 2008. I’ve also sold two more books to Warner. TO CATCH A CHEAT will hit the shelves in November 2007, and THE LOVE DOCTOR will be released in November 2008. A: Goodness gracious, woman! When do you have time to sleep? (We think she's on some kind of super vitamins she won't tell us about.) Kelley: Sleeping is overrated ;) Joking, of course. I do sleep, but sleep is sometimes tough to come by during the deadline crunch. A: Now that you are past the "debut author" stage, how have the demands and thrills of your career changed your approach to writing? Have you found scheduling a problem with so many projects on deadline, plus your children getting older? Kelley: Actually, older children are an asset to a writing career. I’m no longer playing mom-the-taxi, since everyone in the house is driving, and that frees up quite a bit more writing time each day. Scheduling is something I’m still adjusting to, particularly when it comes to revisions, copy edits and galleys. When I scheduled the due dates for my 2007 books (I have four out this year), I neglected to include the necessary time for copy edits and revisions on the calendar. Big mistake! Thankfully, I have a husband that virtually takes over when I’m in a major crunch, and he let me concentrate on all of the overlapping deadlines. By the way, I’ve allowed time for all of the revisions, copy edits, galleys and promo in the schedule for 2008. (Live and learn.) A: On top of writing, you have also been elected to the national board as Secretary of Romance Writers of America. Could you explain to readers what that involves? How has it changed your view of RWA as a whole? Kelley: Personally, I think it would benefit all RWA members to either serve on the Board or at least attend a Board meeting when they can. There is an abundance of thought and analysis that goes behind every decision made, and it is eye-opening to say the least to learn how hard the Board members work to do what’s best for the organization as a whole and continue to help our membership grow and build our strength in the industry. As secretary, I prepare minutes of the Board meetings, issue “hot sheets” to inform the membership of urgent information and meeting results, and generate the synopses of board meetings for the Romance Writers Report. The job does take quite a bit of time, but I find it very rewarding to know I’m serving such an amazing organization, and the organization that put my career on the right path. A: You wrote a large number of books before you were published, I believe, and have an impressive list of contest placements. Could you explain to all us pre-pubs how you maintained your dream to write despite the wait and disappointments? Do you think any of those old manuscripts will ever see the light of day? Kelley: Continuing to write throughout my pre-published days is what helped me improve my craft and definitely helped me to get my name in front of those agents/editors via contest placements. Regarding old manuscripts ever seeing the light of day, three already have ;) Of course, there was quite a bit of revision involved, but the first two Warner books were on the contest circuit before publication, and the six book mini-series for Blaze, The Sexth Sense, was originally a short paranormal book written for the Silhouette Soulmates line. I intensified the plot, intensified the sexuality, and added an entire family of mediums and te-dah, THE SEXTH SENSE was born (and sold). YEA! A: You snagged agent Caren Johnson before you had any publishing credits, which we've heard can be tough for most people. Can you tell us how you went about acquiring an agent before you sold? Kelley: I had been searching for an agent for two years when I signed with Caren Johnson. At the time, I had a quirky women’s fiction book that was getting some major interest from a large publishing house, and I knew I’d need an agent to handle the deal. I queried my top five agents with the new book, and received offers from three. Of those three, Caren was the newest agent in the business, but she was the most excited about the project. I could tell she really “got” my writing and had a game plan for promoting it to the publishing houses. She also told me she’d sell my work within a year, and I believed her. She actually sold the first two-book deal to Warner in ten months. And no, it wasn’t the quirky women’s fiction book. The editor at Bantam who was so interested in the women’s fiction book ended up leaving the company shortly after I signed with Caren, and then we received interest in my romance books, so the women’s fiction book was placed on hold. We’re planning to bring it to houses around the end of 2008, though, and I’m very excited about it. A: You've done several television appearances and interviews since you sold. What advice would you give other writers about dealing with the press? Kelley: Breathe. Breathing is always good. ;) Seriously, the main thing to do is be yourself and smile. And listen. Listen to the questions, and don’t feel as though you have to blurt a response. Allow yourself a moment to think about your answer, then speak clearly. Also, it never hurts to find out a little about the interviewer before going on a show or doing a radio interview. If you’ve done your homework, you can also blend information about their program into your responses, and the interview comes across as more of a chat between friends, making the interview more interesting for the viewers/listeners. A: This year you will be publishing with Harlequin's Blaze line. What has been the biggest difference in dealing with Harlequin (category) and Grand Central Publishing (single title-formerly Warner)? What made you expand into paranormal? Kelley: The biggest difference is the length of the story. Blazes are shorter, though mine did run longer than the average category book (all of mine were around 70,000 words). Brenda allowed me to expand into subplots and really deepen the characterization of the Vicknair family (the six medium cousins who are the key characters in the series). As a result, I believe all of my Blazes have a single title feel within the category format. I’d had the idea for these particular paranormal stories for quite some time, at least a couple of years, and have always had a fascination with the concept of ghosts “stuck” in the middle. Naturally, the fact that the ghosts in this series are extremely sexy also makes their stories particularly fun to tell. A: You'll be presenting a workshop at RWA Nationals on Self-Promotion for authors (The Playfriends highly recommend this workshop. It's wonderful!). Besides writing a great book, what is the biggest way you reach out to your readers? Kelley: I reach out to readers in many ways (all covered in that workshop), but I’d have to say the biggest way is with the contests I offer on my website. So far, I’ve given away three beach vacations (to publicize the beach settings in Good Girls Don’t and Real Women Don’t Wear Size 2) and am currently giving away a Louisiana plantation vacation to promote the Louisiana plantation setting in THE SEXTH SENSE books. My contests are accessible through www.kelleystjohn.com For Fun: A: What's your favorite way to spend a relaxing evening at home? Kelley: Movies and popcorn. If the movies have Harrison Ford, Denzel Washington, Gene Hackman, Owen Wilson, Brad Pitt or Gerard Butler – even better! A: Favorite pet? Kelley: Chocolate lab, named Lucky. A: Favorite ice cream flavor? Kelley: Bruster’s White Turtle. YUM! A: Come on... tell us when you REALLY sleep? :) Kelley: On the day I meet a deadline, I REALLY sleep. The whole night. It’s an amazing night! :) You can find out more about Kelley on her website at http://www.kelleystjohn.com . And don't forget to check out the Playground blog on June 26, 2007, when Kelley joins us to talk about Promotion for Authors. Susan Kearney is a USA Today bestselling author of over 40 books. Her books—for Harlequin Intrigue, Blaze, and Signature, Berkley, and Tor Romance—cover the three hottest genres going: sexy, suspenseful, and paranormal. Susan joins us in the Sandbox this month, and we’re absolutely thrilled to have her here! Problem Child: Hi Susan! Thanks for stopping by! Susan Kearney: Thanks for asking me. I’m glad to be here. PC: How’d you get your start writing? Is it something you’d always wanted to do? SK: I was always reading and never thought about writing for a living. I started writing a historical romance novel while in college but never finished it. Then while in my 40’s and while watching my kids swim, I was reading a book titled Warrior’s Woman and thought it was so great that I wanted to write stories like it. So I wrote 3 futuristic romances but couldn’t sell them. I switched to historicals, sold two books to Zebra and then they shut down the line and the books never came out. Shortly after that I sold to Harlequin Intrigue and wrote about 25 books for them. PC: Other than length (and the line’s requirements), what’s the biggest difference between writing for Harlequin and Tor? SK: With Harlequin the stories have to fit many requirements, tone, language, subject matter, and hooks. With Tor I have more freedom. I can write edgier, use more subplots, more point of views, more variety of setting. And if I want to add one paranormal element or three—it’s up to me—I don’t have to worry about if I’m deviated too much from what other writers in a line have led readers to expect. PC: Your February and June 2007 books are with Tor. Will we be seeing you on the Blaze or Intrigue schedule any time soon? SK: I’m afraid not. Tor is keeping me so busy that I just don’t have time to write for anyone else right now. PC: You have a wonderfully varied background to provide inspiration for your books, but where do you get the ideas for the paranormal elements? SK: I wish I know. I play the what if game a lot. What if he can dominate her while they make love? ISLAND HEAT. What if the reverse happened and she could dominate him? SOLAR HEAT—coming out Feb 08. What if 6 women win the lottery, lose the ticket and a killer stalks them? KISS ME DEADLY summer 07. What if a computer fell in love and made herself a body—would the hero love her? THE DARE. What if a woman has to make love to regenerate her cells or she dies? THE ULTIMATUM. I guess I wonder about strange things but they fascinate me and I think that comes out in the variety of books that I write. PC: Your editor at Tor, Anna Genoese, is someone many of our Honorary Playfriends would like to sell to. What’s she like to work with? SK: Anna is the best. She supports my work. She’s my inhouse champion for all battles that need fighting. She’s awesome. And she never, ever tries to change my voice or shoots down an idea just because it hasn’t been done. I love working with her. PC: Let’s talk process and craft for a minute. Are you a plotter or a pantser? Is there anything in your own writing you struggle with or agonize over? Any weird quirks in your process you’re willing to share? SK: Sometimes I plot, sometimes I don’t. I don’t have a process. Every book is different. I used to plot a lot, then found out that when I did my characters suffered for it. Because I was making the characters do what I would do—instead of letting them flow. However, when I don’t plot, the tension isn’t as tight. So what I’m working on now, is setting up the conflict, aiming for plot points and then letting it rip. And there is always something my critique partners find in every book that needs fixing. I want to write it right the first time but have realized it’s never going to happen. :) PC: Any craft or writing tips you’d like to share with the aspiring writers here? SK: Read Dwight Swain’s The Techniques of the Selling Writer. Everything you need is in that book. PC: What’s the best piece of advice you received before you were published (whether or not you heeded it)? The worst advice? SK: Best advice—stick up for myself. We are trained to be nice, not to cause waves, but we need to fight for our work and what we believe. Worst advice—editors told me I don’t write well enough to sell. Luckily I didn’t listen. And yeah, one told me that after I’d sold thirty books. She couldn’t understand why I sold so well. PC: Is there something you know now, but wish you’d known back when you were first starting out? SK: I’d wish I’d known that good stories, good writing and talent doesn’t equate with success. There’s a huge luck factor. PC: I see promotions for Island Heat, your February release, everywhere these days. Do you spend a lot of time marketing and promoting yourself, or is Tor responsible for most of that? What is your approach to promotion? How do you balance your time between the business and craft sides of writing? SK: I spent a lot of time promoting ISLAND HEAT. It started when I found a model for the book cover. Then helped my daughter photograph them. I also wrote most of the book’s back cover copy, wrote a script for the book trailer that you can watch on my website www.susankearney.com, and helped produce the trailer. If you go to my member section you can see pictures of me working on the set. Then there’s booksignings, interviews—like this one and traveling wherever Tor sends me and keeping my web site up to date. I try not to be on deadline when a book is released but that’s not always possible. So if I’m on deadline, I write my pages first, then do the promoting when I’m done. I have to remember—there is nothing to promote without product. That means writing. In addition I work with a fabulous publicist, Shannon Aviles who helps me too many ways to count. PC: What’s your favorite aspect of this business? What’s the worst part of the job? SK: My favorite part is when I see the book cover. There’s something about the cover that makes the book real for me. The worst part is when I get a bad cover—luckily that hasn’t happened since I’ve been at Tor. J PC: Some “just for fun” questions…
PC: Any parting words you’d like to add? SK: I’d like to encourage readers to try one of the books. If you’ve never read a futuristic, try ISLAND HEAT—it’s set on Earth and is meant to break readers in who are unfamiliar with the genre. I’ve had so many readers tell me they’d never read this kind of book but liked my romantic suspense so they tried one and loved it. PC: Thanks for being here! Feel free to come back any time. SK: Thanks for having me here. Visit Susan’s website at www.susankearney.com for excerpts, book trailers, games, contests and more. March 2007 - Linda Winstead Jones The Playfriends are pleased to welcome Maven Linda Winstead Jones back to the Sandbox. Linda Winstead Jones has written for four different publishers under five different names since 1994. She’s a three-time RITA finalist and winner of the 2004 RITA in the paranormal category. 2005 saw the sale of her 50th book. Her most recent release is the first in her Children of the Sun Trilogy, Prince of Magic, a Berkley Sensation release for March 2007. On top of all that, she’s a neat person who’s able to find time to hang around with us! SP: 2007 is a big year for you! Your Berkley Trilogy, Children of the Sun is coming out in March, April and May, then you have another Trilogy written with Linda Howard and Beverly Barton in May, June and July; the Raintree Trilogy with Silhouette Nocturne. I’m tired just thinking about all that work! Have you recovered? LWJ: Pretty much. I usually don’t work between Thanksgiving and Christmas, at least not much, so that gave me some recovery time at the end of the year. January was spent doing a lot of deep breathing and preparation for my newest project, and now I’m ready to get back to work. SP: Can you tell us a little about the new Trilogy? LWJ: At the end of The Star Witch, I had pretty much closed all the doors and tied up all the loose ends. But really, “pretty much” just doesn’t cut it. <g> I left a couple of babies out there and I wanted to know what happened to them, and there was still the Isen Demon in Level Thirteen. Those two elements didn’t have to “cook” very long before I knew I had to continue. Prince of Magic begins twenty-five years after the end of The Star Witch. There are two lost emperor’s sons out there somewhere, and a demon that must be fought. It was very cool to bring back the sisters, for brief but important appearances. SP: So far, you’ve gotten some great reviews on Prince of Magic, including mine which will be featured in School later this month. Does a good review make you excited or nervous? LWJ: Can it be both? <g> Yes, it’s a relief and a gratifying pleasure to know that someone really liked the book, but then the elevated expectations come into play, and I get nervous. This reviewer over here loved it, but there’s always someone who doesn’t. This is such a strange business. I spend a lot more time agonizing over bad reviews than I do celebrating good ones. That’s just wrong. SP: How was it to work on the Raintree with writers that are also close friends? LWJ: Great fun, really. The three of us plotted the Raintree books for years! We played, we researched, we plotted. We worked together and mapped out the characters and our magical world. Writing is usually a solitary pastime, so this was a real experiment. I think it worked very well. SP: How did this process differ from writing a continuity with your publisher? LWJ: First of all, three writer friends can put their heads together and plot as a team in a way a dozen strangers can’t. Secondly, I feel much more invested in the books because they’re entirely ours. Our plots, our characters. Another difference is that in the Raintree trilogy, all three books take place during the same time period – the same week – instead of running consecutively as most continuities do. It was the only way we could make it work as it should. SP: The Sisters of the Sun Trilogy and your new Children of the Sun Trilogy are fantastic, yet very complicated. I find myself reading them and wondering how you so intricately weave the various threads throughout the different books. How much plotting do you do before you start writing a trilogy? Do you plot all three books before you begin the first? LWJ: Even with a convoluted trilogy, I start that first book with my characters and a basic plot – nothing more. The rest pretty much unfolds as I write. I have been called an “organic” writer, which I guess means I fly by the seat of my pants. Things will happen in the first book which will affect the unfolding plot for the second book, and so on. When I wrote Prince of Magic I didn’t yet know if Rayne, who is the heroine of the third book, Prince of Swords, would be a heroine or a villainess. At that point, anything was possible. I enjoy the process so much when anything is possible. If I had the entire trilogy plotted out, I’d probably feel as if the story was told and I’d lose my enthusiasm. SP: What sort of techniques do you use to plot and tie the storylines together? Story boards? Spider graphs? LWJ: No story boards, no spider graphs. I might scribble a few notes in a notebook, but then I end up putting the notebook aside where it’s lost in a pile of research books and catalogs, never to be seen again. I do start with a page or two on my computer, a paragraph for each of the books, that keeps me on track. SP: What do you do when you’re writing to make each book stand alone without making readers of the series feel like you’re repeating yourself? LWJ: Hopefully, if the characters are fleshed out and real and complicated, their stories will all be different. Characters are everything, IMO. The best plot in the world won’t help if I don’t love the characters – and a plot that’s perfect for one character won’t work at all for another. SP: The world in your Columbyana books is familiar, like it could be hidden in an undiscovered corner of the world, yet a fantasy with a distinctively historical feel. How did you go about world building for these books? LWJ: Like the plots, the world unfolded as I wrote. I could see the landscape, and I could tell you what lay in each direction. The map, such as it is, is in my head. I wanted it to be real and yet different, which is why there are familiar plants and animals as well as redberries, linara trees, tilsi, and leaves that turn blue – amidst the yellow and orange – in autumn. I don’t want to overload the book with a lot of strange words and descriptions, but a few make it clear that we’re in an alternate world. SP: Now for one of the cliché interview questions...Where do you get your inspiration and ideas for these stories? I often find myself reading and thinking...how did she come up with that? LWJ: The short answer is – in my hammock. <g> The wonderful thing about writing fantasy is that you can truly let your mind wander. All fiction begins with “what if?” and with fantasy/paranormal the answers to that question are endless. SP: Your first trilogy was released over the course of two years. The new one is being released back to back – March, April, then May. Did your writing strategy differ between the two trilogies? For example, did you write the last three back to back instead of writing another story in between them? LWJ: I wrote a romantic suspense or two for Silhouette Intimate Moments in with the Sisters of the Sun books. Honestly, I can’t recall exactly how it worked, schedule wise, but I was juggling quite a bit. With the new trilogy, I was able to go straight from one book to another, with only a break here and there to work on the Raintree book. I do think the continuity was easier without the breaks in between, though sometimes it’s nice to take a break and write something different. SP: Research when writing paranormal can be tricky. What reference books are the most valuable to you when you write in the fantasy / paranormal genre? LWJ: I have a number of books on medieval weapons, and the usual books on historical clothing, but what really helps me are the paranormal books. I have books on ghosts, witches, wizards, and things that go bump in the night. I LOVE to search the used book store and find a really old book – something written in the 19th century is best – where supernatural activity is explored and discussed. I can see which beliefs have survived unchanged, and I can get a historical perspective on supernatural concepts. I never know what’s going to be helpful. I have books on Celtic Lore that I use quite a bit, and recently I discovered a translation of an old Sanskrit tale that’s quite beautiful and sparked an idea or two. SP: You are very lucky in cover art, lately. Both of your Berkley Trilogies and your Raintree covers are fantastic - some of the best cover art I’ve seen. Typically, authors have very little control of what they get. How much input did you have in the cover design process? Did it vary by publisher? LWJ: Normally the author has little to no influence in cover art, but I’ve been lucky. With all the Berkley books, the editor sent me early concepts and asked for my opinion. They were so good I couldn’t be anything but pleased. With the Raintree covers, we were very specific about what we wanted, and what we got was very, very close. (So far. I haven’t seen Beverly’s cover yet.) Again, no complaints! For Fun: LWJ: Why did my mind immediately go to food????? Chocolate. Pizza. Crab and Merliton soup. Can you tell I’m dieting? (Again, always.) There are other indulgences, though. I love to kick back with a favorite DVD or go to the movies. I go to the theater so seldom, it’s a real treat. Speaking of theater, I could be a real Broadway musical junkie, given half a chance. Love them. Wait, you only asked for one indulgence. Sorry. Life’s too short to stick to only one. <g> SP: If you could go on vacation anywhere and money was not a consideration, where would you go? What would you do? LWJ: I have five grandchildren, so this year’s vacation is to Orlando, where like last year I will exhaust myself trying to keep up with them as we go from park to park and try to hit every ride. My fantasy vacation would probably be to a tropical island where there was beautiful blue water, no insects, and room service. I would read, hike (but not strenuously), swim, and nap. The food would be to-die-for and low calorie. Or else this would be the island of no calories. That works for me. Not very exciting, but it sounds good. SP: What would we be most surprised to learn about you? LWJ: I played trombone in my high school band, and that’s where I met my husband. I can still hum the third trombone part to the National Anthem. I’m unorganized and have a terrible time throwing anything away. (I recently found a miniskirt from my high school years. It’s so small I could maybe wear it as a hat. I did not throw it away.) Some commercials make me cry. And that’s enough of that. SP: What’s next for you? Can we look forward to more Columbyana books? LWJ: Yes! I’ve just started a trilogy called (at least for now) The Emperor’s Brides. I would tell you all about it, but it won’t make any sense until you’ve read Prince of Swords, so for now it’s a deep, dark secret. Stay tuned. For more information, you can check out Linda’s website at www.lindawinsteadjones.com or look in the Sandbox archives for our original Meet the Mavens interviews. Kristi Gold began writing romance at age twelve when she and her sister made up stories about a popular television host. But it was 1992 before she started writing her first full-length mainstream romance. In 1996 she was an RWA Golden Heart double finalist with two longer books, but in 1997 she turned her attention to short contemporary. Her first series submission was rejected, but in spite of that, she sold to Silhouette Desire in July 1999. That book, Cowboy for Keeps, debuted in July 2000 and went on to be a Rita nominee for Best First Book in 2001. To date Kristi has sold 27 books to three different Harlequin/Silhouette lines. Her books have garnered numero |
