Welcome Women's Fiction author, Christy McKee!

Hi Christy! Welcome to my blog - this is the first time we've 'met' so I'm glad to welcome you here and to be a part of your ongoing tour. I absolutely love your book cover - so eye catching! You must be really happy with it. Okay, let's get on with the questions....

1)   What is your writing routine? 

Monday through Friday, I write in three time blocks: 9am to 1pm, 2pm to 5:30pm and 10pm to 12pm.  Most mornings I make my breakfast and put it on a tray and take it into my office to nibble and write at the same time. I do spend about one hour on email, Twitter and blog posts before I dig into my WIP. Usually by 1pm my office assistants, two Labs Gracie and Lambeau, are aggressively reminding me it’s their lunch time. After they are fed, walked and satisfied, I return to work and go until 5:30. My late night stretch is working on my blog or guest posts on others. I do work on the weekends but only three hours each day.

2)   Which author/s inspire you to write?

Jill Shalvis—whom I’ve recently discovered, Susan Mallery, Barbara Delinsky, Dinah McCall/Sharon Sala, Robyn Carr, Janet Chapman,  and Christina Dodd.

3)   Which is your favorite romance subgenre to read? 

This is a tough one because I go from one extreme to the other. I like dark paranormals, with vampires, shape shifters and civilizations in need of saving but on the flip side, I really get a kick out of light and funny contemporaries. For me, dark paranormals are a place for totally escaping from the present while humorous contemporaries provide an entertaining diversion in the present, if I don’t feel the need to escape. I suppose that’s why I have one of each genre going at the same time.

Contemporary romance is my favorite to write. Locations, characters and exciting situations are easily created and inspired from the life going on right outside my door. Not my office door mind you—the outside door to the green grass and trees and the rest of the real world.  Paranormal writers have my utmost respect and awe for the worlds and species they masterfully create.

4)   How do you deal with criticism/rejection?

It depends on where the criticism is coming from.  I entered a contest two years ago and was set back on my heels with the remarks and criticism I received. My first reaction was defensive. How can these people say that about my work? But when my feathers were less ruffled and I took a few cleansing breaths, I realized that all three judges were saying the same thing and they were right. You’ve got to get past taking rejection or criticism personally. Writing is a competitive business; you are going to get a lot more rejections than offers. It’s never personal. Accept it and resubmit or query some where else.

5)   What do you expect from an editor?

The only editor experience I’ve had has been with the line editor and the content editor, from MuseIt Up Publishing, working with me on Maybe Too Good to Be True. They were both excellent, willing to discuss ideas, compromise and listen. They both exceeded my expectations for the “editor” experience.

6)   Tell me about your latest release

Maybe Too Good to Be True is the story of Gabrielle March a talented writer and videographer—buried in debt— who dreams of starting her own video production company. When a modern day fairy god mother offers Gabrielle a piece of an international empire, she finally has the financial means to make her production company a reality. The only thing standing in Gabrielle’s way is herself.  She doubts her talent, her experience and is plagued by the destructive mindset that she is a small town girl destined to be nothing important, a spectator of life.

7)   Back cover blurb

Gabrielle March is summoned to an oceanfront estate in Massachusetts by the matriarch of Atlantic-Hastings International where she is presented with a hefty block of shares as amends for a crime committed against her family. The stock—worth several million dollars—can give her the means to make her dream come true if only she can muster the courage to break free from her past and believe in her unique creative talent.    

Pierce Hastings, son of Gabrielle’s benefactress, grudgingly agrees to take her under his wing and acclimate her to Atlantic-Hastings.  Never one to mix business with pleasure, Pierce stuns himself when he ignores his own self imposed rule. Gabrielle’s complete lack of artifice, unvarnished honesty and quirky sense of humor are intoxicating to him―and he’s rapidly becoming addicted. He’s blindsided when Gabrielle confesses that, in spite of her growing feelings for him, she will never fit into his world of power and privilege.

8)   Which is your favorite character in the book?  Why?

Gabrielle is the character with whom I most empathize. Although she’s beautiful, held an exciting news anchor position at ANN, she still feels like she is only a spectator in life; always the girl with her faced pressed up against the glass; always on the outside looking in.  Her vulnerability and fluctuating self esteem are two traits that I have often coped with myself. Even as I wrote this book, I was cheering for Gabrielle to come through. 

9)   What are you working on right now?

Too Close for Comfort

         It’s the story of  widow Lilly Talbot  who ventures north to Vermont to lay          claim to an old lake house, “Pointe Cottage.”  On arrival, she’s blindsided     by two immediate problems: Her roof is about to slide into Lake Champlain      and the man who can fix it will only agree if she trades him room and board          for his labor. Practically broke, Lilly has no choice but to give in. It    wouldn’t be so bad if the man was normal, average looking, but this   contractor was a pro football knock off, one hundred percent hard core male        and he made her uncomfortable.

 

         After serving time for insider trading, Mac McQueen turned his life around and is now a respected builder of eco-friendly homes in Haley, but he has no         illusions that he’ll ever build one for his own family, since the word “felon”     seems to strike fear in the hearts of most women. He’d wanted Pointe         Cottage for four years…, now he wants Lilly to become part of the deal.

10)                  Advice to aspiring novelists

Believe in yourself.  Set a writing schedule and stick to it. Educate yourself; so many wonderful, affordable opportunities to learn exist on the internet. Writing can be lonely. Join a few on-line groups and get to know other writers. We all suffer doubt and disappointment from time to time. Take advantage of the camaraderie on-line and you will be energized and uplifted.

11) Where can readers find you?

http://www.christymckee.com

http://christymckeewriter.blogspot.com

http://twitter.com/ChristyMcKee

Maybe Too Good To Be True

by Christy McKee

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

Gabrielle March is summoned to an oceanfront estate in Massachusetts by the matriarch of Atlantic-Hastings International where she is presented with a hefty block of shares as amends for a crime committed against her family. The stock—worth several million dollars—can give her the means to make her dream come true if only she can muster the courage to break free from her past and believe in her unique creative talent.    

Pierce Hastings, son of Gabrielle’s benefactress, grudgingly agrees to take her under his wing and acclimate her to Atlantic-Hastings.  Never one to mix business with pleasure, Pierce stuns himself when he ignores his own self imposed rule. Gabrielle’s complete lack of artifice, unvarnished honesty and quirky sense of humor are intoxicating to him―and he’s rapidly becoming addicted. He’s blindsided when Gabrielle confesses that, in spite of her growing feelings for him, she will never fit into his world of power and privilege and has no desire to try.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EXCERPT

            “You don’t kiss like you want to stop. I think what you really want is to be kissed and a whole lot more.” Pierce raised his large hand to run a finger slowly across her mouth. “I’m really going to enjoy educating  you, Gabrielle.” His twinkling blue eyes roamed over her.

            Was he talking about sex? This overly macho male thought he was going to teach her about sex? What did he think…she was like, sixteen? “Listen Bucko. I don’t need to learn about sex from you. I…”

            His mouth quirked into a self-satisfied smile. “Good to know, Peaches, but I was talking about your indoctrination to Atlantic-Hastings. Mother put me in charge of you. We’re going to be spending lots of quality time together.”

            Mercy. What was Elizabeth thinking?

            “Hold on a second.” He looked down at her. “You’re looking a little shaky, Peaches. I don’t scare you, do I?”

            The towering, six foot four, male irritated the hell out of her, but he didn’t frighten her one bit. Truth was her reaction to his searing kiss scared the stuffing out of her.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

My addiction to reading emerged  when I was ten and down with measles. My mother, trying to keep me entertained,  brought home a stack of Trixie Belden and Nancy Drew books. Within days, I’d consumed them all and asked for more. That’s when it truly began−the pleasure of reading which would eventually lead to my writing.

I can’t pin point precisely when I knew I was different from everyone else−at least from my tight group of  hometown friends. Didn’t everyone have movies playing in their heads starring beautiful  characters leading adventurous lives in exotic places?  NO—they did not. Did that mean  they  were normal and I was the odd, slightly wacky duck?  My answer to that conundrum came when I attended my first writer’s conference in Savannah. Nervous about being on my own at the crowded event, a kindly writer from Texas took me under her wing and introduced me to at least a dozen writers.  Surrounded by so many writers who were so like me, I  fit  right in. I wasn’t an “odd” duck after all; I’d simply been in the wrong pond!

As a result of that conference, my desire and conviction to write blossomed. Still working a full time job at  a Louisiana cancer center,  I carved out time to write every night and on weekends. My first manuscript went through four incarnations, and a year under the bed,  before success came knocking.

Today my family and our two Labs—Lambeau, the Green Bay Packers unofficial mascot  and Gracie, who is just plain, sweet Amazing Grace—live  in a picturesque little town in Ohio wrapped around a lovely town square with an intricately carved gazebo where weekly band concerts take place all summer long.   

http://www.christymckee.com

http://christymckeewriter.blogspot

http://twitter.com/ChristyMcKee

Christy will be awarding a digital copy of Maybe Too Good To Be True to a randomly drawn commenter at every stop and a $30 Amazon GC to one randomly drawn commenter during the tour.

Follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here:  http://www.goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2012/06/virtual-book-tour-maybe-too-good-to-be.html

 

Over to you!! Comments??