Hi, Lynne!
It wasn't until I sat down to post your interview today that I realised you were from the UK as well. Welcome! I have lots of US writers visit with me so it's nice to see you here too. Shall we get started with the interview?
1) Did you set any goals for 2011?
I try not to do that now because I’m not very good at achieving them, which may be down to the fact that they have been pretty crazy in the past. I mean create the next best seller and become an overnight success, win the lottery and retire on my own private Island and enter the London marathon, when the furthest I’ve jogged is to the car.
Seriously though I think one’s goal should be happy in what they’re doing and make sure it continues that way.
2) What is the best part of the writing process for you?
All of it, from the researching that opens a whole new world to me, to the words as long as they keep flowing and then to that feeling of becoming totally at one with my characters by knowing how they are going to talk, act and behave.
3) The worst part?
Once finished, the hardest part is sending my baby out into the big bad world and waiting for what kind of response I get. Then if my writing is accepted for publication, the promotion begins and as I can be a little reserved and introverted, self-publicity doesn’t come easy for me. I prefer the writing where I can disappear into my characters’ lives.
4) What is the book you wish you’d written?
Any one of the best sellers would have been nice. Failing that, I’m still hoping to write a historical novel one day, inspired by reading Daphne Du Maurier’s Jamaica Inn and being reminded of the black and white photos of the Inn my grandparents ran, very rural beside a creek where the barges would come and nestled deep within the smuggling territory. I hasten to add that is where the similarity ends.
5) Favourite author/s & book/s?
When I was in my teens, it was quite a mixed bag from classics like White Fang, Papillion to the crime and intrigue books of Sidney Sheldon, Harold Robbins and Jackie Collins. Historical romances, I started with Rosemary Rogers, Kathleen Woodiwiss and Daphne DuMaurier and moved on to the romantic suspense novels of Anne Stuart. Now I read such a range from different genres, it would be difficult to name favourites’. At the moment I am reading, Hurry Up and Wait, a sort of coming of age story set in the 80’s. Before this, I was reading Bram Stoker’s Dracula, so you see it is very varied.
6) Tell us about your latest release?
Run To You is a romantic suspense set in New York. However the idea for the story came about many years ago when there was a safety deposit vault robbery in London. The setting changed and a host of characters were born and then the big question came about, what if?
7) Tease us with a blurb/short except
Blurb:
What if you transfer work and home to another Country after you have been betrayed by someone you thought loved you? What if you then get targeted by a smooth talking handsome Irishman who then turns out to be a cold blooded killer? This is what happens to Liz whilst living and working on a temporary visa in Manhattan, New York. Blackmail and assisting a bank heist is the beginning, witnessing a murder and her life under threat comes next. Who does she run to and who can she trust? Is Jack, a Detective with the NYPD, such a man or will her unwillingness to trust anyone, even a man who has stolen her heart, cause him to doubt her innocence and turn him against her.
Excerpt:
Jack straightened up and faced her. An innocent dragged into blackmail, robbery and murder or a brilliant deceitful gangster’s tart looking for an escape plan and a dupe to help her carry it out. It was decision time. He went over to her and gently lifted her chin with his fingers so her gaze met his.
“You’ve got a lot of explaining to do, sweetheart, like what’s your involvement in all this. I need some answers fast because at the moment it doesn’t look too good for you.”
Her pupils were widening as the alarm built up, making him aware his words were obviously sinking in. It was callous of him, but he was only being truthful, there was no soft option. “I radio this in and the cops and Feds are going to be swarming in and seeing what I’m trying not to think. That you helped your boyfriend with the bank raid, he double crossed his buddies, got taken out and now you are trying to act the victim here to save your own neck.”
“No,” she cried out and started shaking her head uncontrollably.
8) What is your favourite attribute of the hero and heroine
A hero who can be relied on and be tough if required but also has a reachable sensitive side that can be tapped into.
My heroine must be a little sassy and is loyal and protective of loved ones.
9) What’s next?
Keep writing and hopefully finish my latest romantic suspense set in Oxfordshire, England and involves all the ingredients I love to write about, dark secrets, romance and a murder.
10) Tell me where you write?
Over the years I have written in bizarre places that remain my secret but finally at Christmas I purchased on eBay an antique desk complete with leather inlay. A bit worn admittedly but in my eyes it was perfect and is placed in front of a window overlooking our garden. The room itself unfortunately serves many purposes, a dining room for the rare times we have guests and then a quick tidy away and it becomes the guests’ bedroom. Not forgetting my two Siamese cats who love walking to and fro the desk if they feel they are being ignored.
11) Where would you like your career to be in 5 years?
On the best sellers list, of course, but as a writer I do have a tendency to daydream.
12) Where can we find you?
http://www.eternalpress.biz/book.php?isbn=9781615724338
Great interview, Lynne - feel as though I know you better now! Are you a member of the Romantic Novelists Association by any chance? If not, I cannot recommend them highly enough. If you want to contact me with any questions, here's my email: rachelbrimble@googlemail.com
Okay, now over to you guys! Comments?
Great post! I too find the promotion hard and tend to be introverted as well. The one time I did a book signing, I was a nervous wreck! Enjoyed the blurb/excerpt and I'm thinking this will go on my TBR list! Good luck with sales!
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