Vicki Lewis Thompson

This week is a real treat for me. I want to welcom Best Selling Author Vivki Lewis Thompson and thank her for sharing with us! If you can't tell, I am a huge fan. From Talk Nerdy To Me to Nerd Gone Wild and Gone With The Nerd I have fallen in love with Ms Thompson's books. I hope that if you are not a fan, when you finish with this interview you will be :)

Without further ado, Welcome Ms Thompson!!!

What is your favorite thing about being a romance writer?
All the happy-ever-afters! I’m an optimist, and the minute I discovered romance – late, like in my thirties – I fell in love with the optimistic tone of the books.


What was the hardest part of writing your book?
Juggling other obligations. Sure, I agonize over scenes and plot points, but I love the process of writing and am sometimes frustrated that I don’t have more hours in the day.


Are you a plotter or a pantser?
Pantser. I’m forced to plot in order to give the editor some idea of what I plan to write, but I’m always happier when I can turn the characters loose and see what they decide to do. It’s a scary way to write, but I like living on the edge.


What do you hope readers take with them after reading one of your stories?
Joy in living. Reality can whack us upside the head and sometimes we think there’s nothing going on but bad news. I would love to believe my books bring laughter and delight into a reader’s life.


If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything on your road to publication?
I wouldn’t change a thing. I’ve been published for twenty-five years, and it took me eighteen of those to jump from Harlequin category books like Temptation and Blaze to a single title, which was NERD IN SHINING ARMOR. That had to happen when the time was right and I was ready for that step. Every writer’s path is different, but mine has suited me perfectly.



What song would best describe your life?
“Break My Stride” by Michael Wilder “Ain’t nothing gonna break my stride, nobody gonna slow me down, oh, no, I’ve got to keep on moving . . . etc.”


If you were a tool, what would people use you for?
I’d be an all-purpose opener – for wine bottles, CD cases, boxes of Godiva chocolate, and minds.


If you came with a warning label, what would it say?
Warning: Cockeyed optimist. Constant smiling and laughing can be annoying if you are wedded to gloom and doom. Cockeyed optimism is also highly contagious.


If you were a superhero, what special power would you have?
I would be Dazzle Dame, a superhero with the power to focus everyone’s mind on the beauty of the world. I’d even be able to make cockroaches attractive . . . somehow.


What’s number one on your list of things you hope to do before you die?
I want to take a trip down the Amazon, but not like Bogart and Hepburn. I’d prefer a little more luxury.

Sommer Marsden

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Desiree Holt

I would like to thank Desiree Holt for joining us this week. *CLAPPING* We recently posted a review for Dancing with Danger over on Seriously Reviewed and wanted to learn a little more about the author who could pen such a great story. So without further ado, I give you Ms Holt!

What is your favorite thing about being a romance writer?
D-Being able to bring a satisfying love story to readers and have them tell me about it.


Are you a plotter or a pantser?
D-Definitely a pantser. I start out with a bare outline but I am so into my characters I have to listen to what they tell me.


What’s something fans would find fascinating about you?
D-I carry a small 9mm in my purse and can score 236 out of 250 on the target range.


Do you work on one project at a time? Or do you multi-task?
D-I definitely multi-task. My brain is always busy.

When not writing, how do you relax?
D-I read and watch football.


What song would best describe your life?
D-Jimmy Buffet’s Changes in Attitudes, Changes in Latitudes


If you came with a warning label, what would it say?
D-Beware! Wild woman at large!

A biography has been written about you. What do you think the title would be?
D-Living Large


What is sexier boxer or briefs?
D-Definitely boxers


If you could be a shapeshifter, what form would you take and why?
D-Wolf, because I totally love wolves. They are my favorite creatures. Next to my cats, of course.

What’s number one on your list of things you hope to do before you die?
D-Visit Alaska

Here are a few of the places you, the readers, can go and check out some of Ms Holt's work! Happy Hunting :)
www.desireeheolt.com
www.desireeholttellsall.com
www.myspace.com/judithdesiree

Cat Johnson

I would like to thank this weeks author, Cat Johnson for stopping by and answering some questions for us. When I read A Prince Among Men, I fell in love!!! It is such a sensory delight to be able to partake in. Ms Johnson is definitly a very talented writer and should be on every TBR list out there. Here is the link to the review we posted on A Prince Among Men feel free to pop over and check it out. There is a buy link with the review for all of you who would like to read this delicious tale ( and you all should :)

Did you have any other careers before devoting yourself to being a full-time writer?
Cat: Oh, yes. I did everything! Bartender, waitress, tour guide, harpist, retail, marketing, real estate, all instead of doing what I was meant to do, write.

What are your upcoming releases?
Cat: I am in the process of re-releasing some titles from my Linden Bay Romance backlist through Samhain, both the military series and the cowboy series. So the next release is actually a re-release of Unridden, Book 1 in my Studs in Spurs cowboy series. And we are about to start editing Book 2, Bucked from that series, which will be a new, never before seen release. That is very exciting. I also have a fun short story coming out from Sapphire Blue Publishing in November called “Gillian’s Island”. It’s kind of a fun twist on the old TV series Gilligan’s Island.

What was the hardest part of writing your books?
Cat: For all my books, but especially for the military and cowboy ones, the hardest part is accuracy. I really want the characters to talk like cowboys or soldiers. I need the facts and details to be accurate. That is why I am very lucky to have a small group of people who help me with that. I talk to the cowboy and the Marine who help me with the facts as much as possible on the phone so I can absorb their dialogue and syntax. I reread many times every word the soldier writes to me while he’s deployed in the warzone and use those details for scenes in the books. I need the details to be realistic, but at the same time they can’t overpower the story or the romance. It’s a delicate balance.

Are any of your characters based on real people or events?
Cat: Definitely. The soldier, Marine and cowboy who are my fact checkers have inspired characters in my books. And I get ideas for books while watching real events on the TV news all the time. I just kind of wrap them up in my fictional romance.

Is there a message in your novels that you want readers to grasp?
Cat: I always try to make my military books relay to the reader the real life hardships that both those serving and their families experience. But sometimes the message isn’t even that major. I’ve written in some of the hardships of being a writer into Unridden since the heroine is a romance novelist. I hope that gives readers a glimpse into my own life. Mostly, I just want them to come away feeling good and believing that happily ever after can exist.


LINKS
http://www.catjohnson.net/
www.myspace.com/authorcatjohnson
www.facebook.com/authorcatjohnson
www.twitter.com/cat_johnson

Now for the fun Are you Serious? Questions

What’s a guilty pleasure you have?
Cat: Drunk Texting! LOL.

If you came with a warning label, what would it say
Cat: “Mood subject to change without notice.”

What is sexier boxer or briefs?
Cat: I like the third option—Boxer Briefs

Where is the craziest place you’ve ever had sex?
Cat: The 18th green on the golf course I worked at.

What’s your favorite curse word?
Cat: I tended bar on an all male crew and there I learned to curse like a sailor. My fav curse by far is the f-word. It’s so versatile. It can be a verb or an adjective or even inserted in the middle of a multi-syllable word!

Anna Leigh Keaton and Madison Layle

I would like to thank a very talented pair of authors, Anna Leigh Keaton and Madison Layle, for granting us an interview. If you have never read anything these ladies have written all I can say is shame on you :) They are a must read in the erotic world.

When I finished reading Incognito 12: Arresting Victoria the sequal to Pleasure Club: The Cop, I knew these ladies were going to be on my favorites list. So please sit back and enjoy the interview. We are in for a treat :)

There are two parts to a Seriously Interviewed interview. The Serious Questions and the Are You Serious? fun questions. We hope you all enjoy.

What is your favorite thing about being a romance writer?
Madi: I love the creativity. I have a great life with my family and friends, but I can’t imagine not exploring other worlds, too. Some might say a writer’s life is like that of hermit, but I disagree. I met Anna Leigh online. We don’t live in the same country, but through our writing (and via the power of the Internet), we’ve become the best of friends. It’s been a wild ride so far, and I look forward to many more exciting stories to work on with her.


Is there anything special you do to get in the mood to write?
Madi: I can write day or night, but I can’t write with anyone looking over my shoulder, so I usually get somewhere alone with my laptop, maybe turn on some music, and write. And brainstorming scenes online with Anna Leigh always gets me in the mood to write.

Are you a plotter or a pantser?
Anna: I used to swear to being a 100% pantser, but I’m not sure that’s true anymore. But Madi, who I write with, is a true plotter—with graphs and charts and family trees for characters, which does come in very handy, but I’m glad she keeps track of all that garbage for me!

Madi: LOL! (Sorry to interrupt, but I had to laugh. It’s true. I keep meticulous notes. I even did a floor plan of a cabin for a book we’re writing right now, so we could visualize the scenes the same way.)

Anna: I used to literally get up in the morning, sit down at the computer, and start typing and see where the characters would take me. Sometimes I still do this, on short projects, but lately I find myself working ahead of myself in my mind. I still don’t take notes or plot, per se, but I will run upcoming scenes in my mind to see if they’ll work. With a day job and a family to try to keep in line, it’s easier to know a little bit where I’m going now. But I still find it very fun to sit down and start typing; it’s just harder to do with the longer, more complex stories than it used to be.

If I was a first time reader of your books, which one would you recommend I start with and why?
Anna: That depends on what subgenre they might want to read!
I have some very light erotic romance, such as my Serve and Protect series. Novella-length spicy romances. There’s also The Pleasure Club series. These are short, intense erotica pieces that are just a lot of fun, written by myself, Madi, and some other talented erotic romance authors. I’ve dabbled in a little paranormal with Dante’s Salvation and Time and Again, and fantasy with the Woodland Magic series. I have a long-standing love affair with cowboys that comes through with an erotic romance novella, Risking It All, and ’Til Death Do We Part, a heart-wrenching triad novel co-authored with Madi, which won the 2009 EPPIES.
I also write mainstream romance under the name Leanne Karella. (There’s a free, downloadable PDF of short stories on my Leanne Web site)

Madi: In addition to Anna’s long list of published works (*grin*), there is the much more intense Incognito series, most of which we co-authored together. These are award-winning, best-selling BDSM romance novels. Romance being the key here.
And I have a solo book in Anna’s The Pleasure Club series, called The Dungeon Masters. If you want dominating vamps, try the first book in my Erotic Bites series, called Seduction’s Bite. If you’re interested in really short sexy stories of a naughty, wicked kind, I wrote Entranced just for you. And, like Anna, I dabbled in some other fun, erotic paranormal stories, like a Rajan’s Hope or Return to Me. The mildest story I’ve written is my first short story, Diary of Dreams.

What do you hope readers take with them after reading one of your stories?
Anna: I specialize in emotion. Everything I write I try to fill with heart and soul, deep characters, and plots that will keep the readers reading. I hope to make my readers laugh or cry and remember the characters I write as if they were old friends.
Madi: Ditto.


Do you write under more than one name? Why?
Anna: Yes, I do, because I write two very different types of books. As Anna Leigh Keaton, I write the spicy, hot, sizzling, sexy books, while as Leanne Karella, I write mainstream romance—the kind my Mom is allowed to read.


How do your family and/or friends feel about your book or writing venture in general?
Anna: Actually, I’ve been constantly amazed, even after 5 years of being a published author, that my family and friends not only support me, but actually talk about me and my writing to other people. (I’m talking about my “normal” friends, not my writer friends.)
As a writer of romance, I sometimes wanted to hide what I did. My ex once referred to a 100k word historical I labored over for years as “your little love story”. (Can you see why he’s my ex?) So I hid my naughty little secret for years, writing only when alone, reading all the How To Write Romance type books only when no one could see me. Then one day, one of my brothers found a copy of that same historical I’d written, read it after cajoling me for hours that he would not laugh or make fun of me, and when he was done, he got on my tail and hounded me for two more years until I started submitting my books to publishers. About a year after I started submitting, I was on the phone with that brother screaming and laughing because that book had been accepted at a publisher.
Since then, I’ve discovered, he brags to all his friends that because of him I’m now a published author. He even introduced me to one of his business associates as “the writer in the family.” There is nothing better than a support system behind a writer. It can be such a lonely business if you don’t have those patting you on the back, letting you know that they’ll support you whether you make it big or not.


Do you work on one project at a time? Or do you multi-task?
Madi: Oh, I definitely multi-task. It’s necessary when working with a co-author. I have about four solo projects underway now, plus stories planned with Anna Leigh. For instance, I’m working on the first book in a planned shifter series with Anna Leigh, but I also have the second book in my Erotic Bites (vampire) series, another solo story that will be part Anna’s multi-authored series, The Pleasure Club, and I’m sure Anna Leigh will want to being the second story in our Once Upon a Time series soon. (Is it any wonder why I’m a plotter? *wink*)
Anna: She makes me sound like a task master, but I usually have a couple books going at the same time. Usually one co-authored book with her, and one I’m doing on my own. Then there’s the one or two long mainstream romances that I work on when I have the time and the little people in my head get back to them.


What song would best describe your life?
Anna: Bounce by Bon Jovi.

Madi: It’s My Life by Bon Jovi. (Yep, is it any wonder that we get along so well? I’m still chuckling over the fact that we’d both pick Bon Jovi!)


If you could be a paranormal creature, which one would you be?
Madi: Definitely a shifter of the wolf or large cat variety. Although I’ve written a vampire story that is the first in a series (I’m working on the second book.) I have a passion for reading shifter novels and am eagerly looking forward to writing a new co-authored series that some sexy shifter heroes.


What sound drives you crazy?
Madi: My alarm clock. I prefer days when I can sleep as long as I want or get up whenever I’m good and ready. Guess that’s why I prefer the writer’s life.


What’s the perfect romantic evening?
Anna: A night out with my hubby, without the kiddo, talking, laughing, and in general relaxing together and forgetting any and all worries for a few hours. Doesn’t matter where we are or what we’re doing as long as we’re together.

You can erase one embarrassing experience from your past. What will it be?
Anna: As an author, I don’t think I’d erase anything. Where else would I find the humor to write about?


If you came with a warning label, what would it say?
Anna: Gets bitchy when not left alone to live in her imaginary worlds when she wants to be there!

A biography has been written about you. What do you think the title would be?
Madi: That’s easy. It’d have to be Incognito.


What is sexier boxer or briefs?
Madi: Either…when they’re taken off. *wink*




Here are some titles coming from these ladies soon :)

Madi: The Pleasure Club: The Dungeon Master – November 2009 (a very erotic story that’s part of Cobblestone Press’ WICKED line)

Anna: Inferno: Training Session – November 2009 (the first in a new highly erotic BDSM romance series)

BOTH: Once Upon a Time: Midnight Hour – December 2009 (1st story in a naughty BDSM fairy tales series written by Madi & Anna Leigh.)


* Please share any links your Web site, Myspace, blog, Facebook, Yahoo group, etc. with the readers

Anna: http://www.annaleighkeaton.com/ or http://www.leannekarella.com/

Madi: http://www.madisonlayle.com/ or http://www.incognitoseries.com/

Or you can find us on Facebook by searching Anna Leigh Keaton or Madison Layle. We accept all friend requests.