10 Questions With...Jennifer Estep

Jennifer Estep is one of my and my wife's most loved authors. Her Bigtime, Mythos Academy, and Elemental Assassin series have been favorites of ours and she's got a new series, Black Blade, coming soon and we can't wait. Jennifer has a new book out today Black Widow which is the 12th book in the Elemental Assassin series. For those unfamiliar the series is about Gin Blanco, an assassin known as the Spider and also a BBQ joint owner. She can control the elements of ice and stone which aid her in her duties as an assassin. I can't recommend this series highly enough as it's got fantasy creatures such as giants and vampires, an assassin who isn't conflicted about what she does to pay the bills, and a supporting cast of characters for which you'll want to root. Leave a comment and you'll be entered in a random drawing to win a copy of Black Widow (open to US resident's only). Winner will be chosen on Black Friday. Thanks to Jennifer for taking the time to answer my questions:

1. What is your favorite part of the writing process? 

JE: Typing “The End” on a book. LOL. Seriously, though, I always enjoy finishing a book because it is such a sense of accomplishment, that I have taken all these thousands of words and hopefully turned them into a story that folks will read and enjoy.

2. What is your least favorite part of the writing process? 

JE: Reading and re-reading through my books. I do several drafts of each book, along with copyedits, page proofs, and more. So by the time a book is finally finished, I am thoroughly sick of reading and re-reading it so many times.

3. What, outside of writing, makes you happy? 

JE: Reading for fun, of course. Also, watching movies and TV, and hanging out with friends and family.

4. What, outside of writing, do you hate to do and wish you could hire someone to do for you? 

JE: Washing dishes

5. What word do you love? 

JE: Macabre

6. What word do you hate? 

JE: Can’t

7. What is your favorite food when under deadline?

JE: I love comfort food, so fried chicken, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, and cheese fries are all good with me.

8. What profession, other than yours, would you like to give one of your characters? 

JE: I think it would be fun to run a bookstore, so one of my characters will probably do that at some point in one of my books.

9. What profession, other than yours, would you not have a character do?

JE: Probably being a dentist. Does anyone really like going to the dentist? LOL.

10. If heaven exists, what three books would you like to find in the library there?

JE: Beauty by Robin McKinley; Casino Royale by Ian Fleming; and Bank Shot by Donald E. Westlake

Thank you...

My to-be-read pile is huge. It's made bigger because I'm in graduate school and thus reading for pleasure is something I don't get to do often. Yet there are those authors that, as soon as they publish a book, I am going to buy it and start reading. I want to take a minute and acknowledge those authors and say thank you for the pleasure they've given me. So to:

Nikki Duncan
Jennifer Estep
Liliana Hart
Candace Havens
Mark Henry
Nicole Peeler
Vicki Lewis Thompson
Jaye Wells

Thank you for doing what seems impossible. You take the English language and you pluck out words and put them to paper. You create characters that then come to life and put your words into action so that as we read these characters become real to us. For a few hours (in my wife's case) or a few weeks (*grumble* stupid grad school taking up all my time *grumble*) we can lose ourselves in the world you have created. So keep writing and I'll keep reading anything and everything you publish.

10 Questions with...Vicki Lewis Thompson

NYT bestselling author Vicki Lewis Thompson has written over 100 books including the Nerd, Hex, and Sons of Chance series. When not writing Vicki can be spotted hanging out at Disneyland and it's not unheard of for new employees to ask her for directions. Vicki's latest book, The Perfect Man, released in September and she has two Christmas themed books set for release in November. You can find Vicki at her website and on Facebook.    

1. What is your favorite part of the writing process? 

Writing a scene that works, a scene that sings and dances and makes me want to do the same.

2. What is your least favorite part of the writing process? 

Writing to a specific word count.  I used to be able to hit the word count better in the early days of my career than I do now after more than 100 books.  What's up with that?

3. What, outside of writing, makes you happy?

Riding Grizzly River Run at Disneyland, hanging out with my family, traveling with writer friends, connecting with readers, and listening to my cat purr. 

4. What, outside of writing, do you hate to do and wish you could hire someone to do for you?

Housework, and I do hire a housecleaner!  Also jury duty and taking my car through emissions. 

5. What word do you love? 

Serendipity.

6. What word do you hate? 

Semi-automatic.

7. What is your favorite food when under deadline?

Very sharp cheddar cheese. 

8. What profession, other than yours, would you like to give one of your characters? 

Talented visual artist, which I'm doing with my current WIP.

9. What profession, other than yours, would you not have a character do?

Undertaker, which is probably not the PC way to describe that profession anymore.

10. If heaven exists, what three books would you like to find in the library there?

Huckleberry Finn, To Kill a Mockingbird, Winnie the Pooh

On being a romance author's fan

1. Authors are people who write books they are not the character in their book. The reader is very familiar with the author’s character but remember the author is not that character. The author also doesn’t necessarily believe all the things they write. It’s called fiction for a reason.
2. Writing is work. It is the author’s business and livelihood. Remember that when you email them or comment on one of their social media sites. They are working and might not be able to get back to you promptly so be patient. Most authors love interacting with their fans but
3. You want to get to know an author but you need to respect their privacy. Some authors are an open book. Some authors reveal little about themselves or their family. Respect that and don’t pry into their personal lives.
4. Many published authors also have day jobs because for many writing won’t pay all the bills. For every Stephen King or Danielle Steele there are many authors that struggle to build their readership. If you have an author you love you can help them out by mentioning their book to your friends, writing reviews on Amazon, Good Reads, etc., and by buying their books and not looking for a free source. Pirating is illegal and is not hurting the publishing company nearly as much as you are hurting the author.
5. The single worst question I’ve heard asked of a romance author was during a book tour when a young man asked, “When are you going to write real books?” The author was very polite and didn’t go off on the young man though I think some of us in the audience wanted to for her. Authors write real books no matter the genre. They put their heart and soul into what they write and the finished book is a real book with characters that make you feel, that move you, that make you want to know more about them. What could be more real than that?  

10 Questions with...Jaye Wells

With my apologies to Marcel Proust, Bernard Pivot, and James Lipton I am asking 10 Questions of my favorite authors. First up is Jaye Wells who is the author of the Sabina Kane and Prospero's War series of books. Cursed Moon, the second in the Prospero's War series, was recently released. Jaye can be found on both Facebook and Twitter as well as lurking in coffee shops hoping to overhear conversations that might become part of her next book.

1. What is your favorite part of the writing process?

The days when I am really in the zone. I lose track of time and totally get into a rhythm. It's magic.  

2. What is your least favorite part of the writing process?

The last two weeks before deadline.  

3. What, outside of writing, makes you happy?

My family, cooking, good bourbon, travel, and reading.  

4. What, outside of writing, do you hate to do and wish you could hire someone to do for you?

Laundry.  

5. What word do you love?

Fecund.  

6. What word do you hate?

Panties  

7. What is your favorite food when under deadline?

Something-something-carbs-cheese-sugar-alcoholic-caffeinated.  

8. What profession, other than yours, would you like to give one of your characters?

Mortician 

9. What profession, other than yours, would you not have a character do?

Accountant or sales 

10. If heaven exists, what three books would you like to find in the library there?

Fahrenheit 451 by Bradbury, Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris, and a book explaining the meaning of it all.

I'm David and I Read Romance

I grew up in a house where books filled the shelves. I can't remember a time when my parents didn't have a book they were reading. I was and am the same way. My reading began with Dr. Seuss and moved on to Encyclopedia Brown, to Stephen King, and to Clive Cussler/John D. MacDonald/Ed McBain. I devoured books. My father loved westerns but they held little interest for me. My mother was a big romance reader and those didn't interest me either except as a young teen when I'd flip through the book looking for key words like "petal" or "manhood" to read the sex scene I'd find there.

Fast forward to 1999 and my wedding. A friend of my wife gave us, as a wedding present, the book "Nerd in Shining Armor" by Vicki Lewis Thompson. My wife is visually impaired and thus reading at night was nearly impossible thus I read the book to her. You have to understand that up until this point my romance reading was nearly nil and what I new of the genre involved damsels in distress who were often raped by a man with whom they then fell in love. I thought all romance was like this but thanks to Vicki's book that notion soon got tossed. I found myself laughing out loud at Vicki's book and cheering on the couple. This was good writing with a funny story and it grabbed my interest and didn't let go.

As we read though it dawned on me that Vicki's book was not unlike the action/adventure books I'd been reading. In both genres the guy (alpha male) met a woman, they had some type of conflict (usually external in that someone was after them), the guy helped the woman, and they ended up falling in love. The major difference is that in the action/adventure books the hero would move on to another woman by the next book. Those books of adventure or mystery were in fact romance books.

My wife and I made it through all of Vicki's books we could find, we read all of Meg Cabot, then Jennifer Estep, and after about 15 years of marriage I still read to my wife many nights though the iPad, Kindle, and Audible have made books accessible to her. What do we read together? Romance. I had no idea that there are so many genres under the umbrella of romance or that there is such good writing. This shouldn't have surprised me but as I had previously had little exposure to the genre it did come as a pleasant surprise. The umbrella of romance covers everything from historical fiction to romantic suspense to humor to new adult and the list goes on and on. As for the good writing, how is this for an opening line? "Digging graves is hell on a manicure." That opening line comes from Jaye Wells spectacular book, "Red-Headed Stepchild." I read that line and immediately wanted to know more and that's just one example of the good writing to be found in the romance genre.

Romance is often seen as a dirty word. It's something of which men should be ashamed to read. I say it's something we read all the time without recognizing it as such. The next time your man is looking for a book go out and buy a book by Vicki. Pick up one of Jennifer's elemental assassin books, or one of Jaye's Sabina Kane books, or buy a suspense novel from Laura Griffin and then tear off the front and back covers and give it to your man. I bet you'll be surprised by his reaction.