Welcome, Doris! I am so happy to have you here today. I have to say how gorgeous your latest cover is, you must be thrilled, it's beautiful. I don't think we've chatted before today so I am very happy to meet you and learn more about your work.
Let's get started with the interview!
1.
When and why did you decide you wanted to be a published author?
I started writing a
VERY long time ago,(in the ‘70’s, while working, going to school and raising a
family) and always had the hope-dream-intent to be published. Inspired by the many wonderful romance
and historical writers I’d read for most of my life, I wrote for the joy of
putting down the story in my head.
Then I realized I’d like people to actually read the story. That’s when I had to settle down and
learn the craft of writing. It’s
an education that never ends.
2. What is the best and worst
thing you have learned from an editor/agent?
“The truth can hurt” is
the best and worst thing I’ve learned from both being represented by an agent
and submitting to them. As writers
in love with our characters, stories and the very words that seem to come from
our souls, an agent can give us a reality check before an editor gives us a
rejection. The right agent can
serve as editor, teacher, business advisor and mentor. A few years ago I submitted the “book
of my heart” to an agent who actually had the decency to call me and tell me I
was a very good writer and it was a very good story—but before it could sell, I
had A LOT of work to do on it.
Then she told exactly what was wrong. While her advice hurt, I could
suddenly see that she was right in many, many ways. I stopped sulking about the rejections I’d already received
and went back to the computer, determined to make it better. I’m about to resubmit to her with a big
“Thank you” attached to my query.
3. Favorite Authors
Margaret Mitchell
started it off in her immortal, “Gone with the Wind”. Kathleen Woodiwiss and other pioneers of the Historical
Romance genre kept me hooked, along with old movie adaptations of wonderful
romances that sent me to the books.
No matter what the period, I’m drawn to authors who put me in their
characters’ world, and make me remember them for years.
4. What is your typical day
It’s
hectic, but manageable. While I
have a very demanding “day job” as a Human Resources Executive, I also have a
wonderful husband who is retired and takes care of everything at home. So when I get home at night, I don’t
have to cook. And on the weekends,
I don’t have to clean (except my own laundry). I try very hard to work on my
writing for an hour or two at night and perhaps one day of the weekend. But even if I don’t get down writing
something, the Story is in my head all the time, telling itself to me on my
commute, in an odd moment of the day, or during a rare lunch hour. I never let it go.
5. Share your blurb or short
excerpt from your latest release with us.
I’ve
been fortunate to have The Wildrose Press publish two of my books in the last
six months as part of the Passion’s Legacy Series. The most recent book, Passion’s Secret, which was released
April 20th is the first in chronological order and introduces the family secret
that haunts the Langesford/O’Grady family for generations—I hope. Following is a brief summary of the
series:
Follow
the lives, loves—and haunting secrets of four generations of one of Georgia’s
founding families. From the heart of the French Quarter in New Orleans, to New
Mexico’s sacred Taos Pueblos, and to the jungles of Cuba, this amazing family
takes life and love to the limit and never looks back.
Passion’s Secret 4/20/12 – Blurb:
1866 - Haunted by the sins of their fathers...Searching for the treasure of a lifetime.
She’d
never give in
Camilla
Langesford has no intention of letting her ailing father’s new Yankee partner
steal their plantation. But
Patrick O’Grady isn’t like other carpetbaggers. While claiming to be a soft,
Northern businessman, his powerful body, brooding Irish Temper, and pewter-gray
eyes speak of a shadowed past. And
his soul-searing kisses melt her frozen heart—until a deadly secret shatters
it.
He’d
never give up
Langesford
Plantation is the former Pinkerton agent’s last chance to solve a mystery that’s
haunted him for four years.
But he didn’t plan on the chestnut-haired virgin with smoldering green
eyes and a fiery temper, who dogs his every step. And after a secret tryst in a hot-spring grotto, he
discovers a treasure worth more than a cache of gold bars—until one night
changes everything.
Together is their only hope for survival
Passion’s Secret – Excerpt:
Patrick talked to her from the other end of the pool as he bathed,
his deep voice young and carefree. “I've heard of hot spring pools, but never thought
I’d enjoy one in private with a beautiful woman washing my clothes,” he
chuckled.
“Just your shirt, Mr. O’Grady, and this is an emergency situation.”
But Camilla couldn't forget the sight of his bare chest, the corded muscles defining
his strong arms, or his soft voice when he’d called her beautiful. Suddenly,
she ached to reach out to something, or someone. But certainly not a Yankee! She shouldn’t have
brought
him to her secret haven where she could lay on the fresh grass and dream of faraway
places.
Now, the position of the sun told her it was well past luncheon.
“You better hurry,” she called. “Or we'll be late and my honor will be severely
compromised.”
“We wouldn't want to do that, would we, Camilla?” warmed her ear,
and her neck tingled from the caress of his breath.
She turned to meet his smoldering
gray gaze and wide smile. A heartbeat later, she was in his arms, her palms
resting against the still-damp, curling hairs on his chest. Her heartbeat
quickened at the feel of his warm,
moist
skin against her fingers, his strong thighs pressing against hers through the
thin, cotton dress. And when he kissed her, his lips suckled hers, top lip
first, then the bottom, while his tongue tickled them into a smile.
She knew she should stop him, but the heat that spread though her
body wouldn’t be denied. She’d
never
felt anything so...right. With her eyes closed, the curves of her body molding
against the sharp angles of his, her hands slid up the rugged landscape of his
chest and her arms wrapped around his broad, sinewy shoulders. Then her lips
parted to taste him.
6. Who would you cast to play
your hero and heroine in a movie.
This is a dream
most writer’s dream about and the rest don’t admit, but I have to say the
question sent me to the internet. It’s
important to me for them to have the right physical characteristics, and the
eyes are SO important. Chris Pine,
from the new “Star Trek” and “Princess Diaries” seems to have that glint in his
gaze, and enough Welsh blood to pull off the moody, secretive, half-Irish
Patrick. Of course, he’d have to
audition.
Anna Paquin
from “The Piano” could work with auburn hair. Camilla is young, but mature for
her age and has a lot of anger as well as pent-up passion and courage. I think Anna could work. My second choice is Emma Stone from
“The Help”. What a wonderful
search to consider. Thanks for
asking.
7. Did you plan to write this
book? Or write it as it came?
Yes,
to both questions. I LOVE
historical novels, the post-Civil War era and the era of Western
Expansion. But what inspired me to
write this story was a tattered old book I found in a trunk of unclaimed
freight my Grandfather bought in the 1930’s. This first-person account of love
and devotion that survived unspeakable trials and tribulations was written in
1837, and I knew I had to build something around it. I also love secrets and the “sins of the fathers”
theme. That was all I had, a
smelly old book, a time period, and a theme. Then I wrote it as it came. What a wonderful experience!
8. What surprised you the
most when you became published?
After
the excitement that someone actually liked my work enough to actually go to the
expense of publishing it, I felt FEAR:
The fear of not being able to do it again. That people wouldn’t like it. That no one would buy it. It was a fluke, I was a hack. Then came the challenge of both marketing AND doing it
again. After spending years focused on the craft of writing, and even with an
advanced degree in business and working for one of the largest book
distributors in the country, I was not as prepared as I should have been for
the business of selling books. Now
I’m finding it’s almost as much fun as writing them.
9. Do you have a dedicated
writing space? What does it look
like?
I
sit at a desk all day at work, so when I write I like to be mobile. I also live in sunny, SW Florida and
can write indoors or on my lanai facing the lake. And then again, there’s always the comfy couch. I move around as the mood and climate
dictates for my draft writing, but when I need to focus on editing and
polishing it up, I need a less distracting environment. For that, I’ve reserved a small,
“spare” bedroom space with my favorite pictures on the walls, my books, good
light and a comfortable chair.
10. What’s next for you?
The
Langeford/O’Grady family won’t let me go.
I’m currently working on book three, Passion’s Promise, set during the
Spanish American War in 1898. I
also keep seeing the next generations of this amazingly brave and loyal family
doing and contributing extraordinary things into the 20th
Century. Like most writers, the
stories just keep coming, and I hope they never stop.
Author
photo and contact information:
Website:
www.dorislemckeauthor.com
Facebook:
Doris Lemcke Author
LinkedIn:
Doris Lemcke
Email:
dlemcke80@gmail.com
Passion’s Spirit – 10/3/11
1892 -Hearts,
Worlds Apart --Passion, vengeance and greed set
half-Apache orphan, Elena Santiago, and Sean O’Grady, the restless heir to
Georgia’s Langesford Plantation, on a deadly race to find a lost cache of gold
bars hidden in the sacred Taos Pueblos.
Two
lost souls from different worlds fighting a passion forbidden by race, culture
and social status; they must learn to trust, as well as love each other, if
they expect to survive.
Passion’s Spirit Excerpt
When
Sean pulled away, Elena looked into his eyes wondering, is this what love feels
like, or is it only lust? She decided that nothing as beautiful as the moment
they’d just shared could be evil. But it could never be love, either. She had
felt his passion press against her and ached for him to fill her. Now she was grateful
he hadn’t.
They
were from different worlds still at war with each other. He could never survive
in her world and she refused to live in his.
As
if he read her thoughts, he leaned into her, whispering so close to her ear
that it could have been a kiss, “Why can’t you be Mary Louise? And I the Apache
brave who will eventually claim you?” Then he turned to stare at the stream
patiently following the course nature had carved out for it.
The
question echoed in Elena’s mind. For a moment, his heart had beat to the rhythm
of hers. The curves of her body had melted into the angles of his as they
breathed the same breath and tasted each other’s souls. For a moment, they had
truly been one body and one soul.
Now
separated, the chilly breeze that stirred the pine needles at their feet told
her that when she was with him, even angry, she was whole. And though he
changed his moods faster than the mountain gods and was promised to marry a
weak and silly white woman, part of her would always belong to this loco
Gringo.
She
also turned her gaze toward the river. “We can only be who we are.”
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