FAQ
General Questions
Why did you go indie? To have the freedom to write the stories me and my readers love. I am currently writing a mafia romance series, Syndicate Rules, with several books already published in it.
Where do you get your ideas? Everywhere. All of life experience, everything I read, see or hear about is fodder for my imagination. I ask questions all the time about everything. My family puts up with me, but I know sometimes my inquisitive nature can be embarrassing.
Who or what inspired you to become a writer? This is sort of like asking what inspired me to breathe. I need to write. Full stop period. But there was a conversation in the bathtub with God at one point…
How long did it take to get published? I wrote for over four years before getting what I call serious and then it took another almost five years to publish. So, about 9 years.
Do you plot your books ahead of time or do you write by the seat of your pants? By the seat of my pants. I start with a story idea, get my characters talking to me and go for it.
Does your husband have any input in your books, i.e. do you talk to him, ask his opinion, have him read any parts of it, or is he strictly hands off? I used to have him read all of my books for male point of view. He stopped doing that when my deadlines go so tight I couldn’t afford the time to wait on his input. Now that I’m indie, he reads my books and gives me feedback before I send them to my editor. He has always been a great resource for technical info and I’ll ask pick his brain when I’m having trouble understanding why my hero does something. 🙂
Who are your favorite authors? This has changed over the years just like my writing. While I still occasionally read romance authors like Christine Feehan, Jayne Ann Krentz and others, I have a new list of autobuys. Currently, I’m loving mafia romance authors like Neva Altaj, Cora Reilly, and J.T. Geissinger. Whatever Cate C. Wells writes, I will read. My favorite cozy mystery author is Dianne Freeman and my favorite thriller author is David Baldacci.
How long does it take you to write a book? Depends on the book. Seriously. All I can say is that writing inspired goes a lot faster for me than writing because I have a contract.
What do you tell other people who want to be writers? To write. Nothing teaches like doing. To read. Fill the well. Don’t give up. Write the book you want to read because no one is going to spend as much time with the story and characters as you are.
Do you get to pick your own book covers, and if not, do the couples on the cover look anything how you imagine them when you write the story? As a traditionally published author, I had very little input. As an indie author, I am fully in control.
How do you stay disciplined and on deadline? This is a personal thing. Like anything else in life, it is about priorities. I am motivated to write my stories. Therefore I write. Sometimes, I have to make myself write when I don’t want to. Sometimes, I have to write when other people wish I would be doing something else, but there are no tricks I know of to make this part easy. There are no magic fixes. The only person who can make you write is you.
Do you develop a character’s image solely from imagination or do you picture someone you know, a celebrity, etc. to aid character development? Are your characters based on real people? Characters always have bits of people in them, just like we have bits of each other in all of us. Sometimes I find it helpful to search out an image of a person who looks like the character in my head, sometimes I don’t, but I never start writing a character with a conscious decision to pattern their physical or personality type after someone real. To me, my characters are real…or as real as can be inside my head. They are themselves always…not pattern cards of someone else.
Do you ever see yourself “retiring” from writing? I used to say absolutely not, but the industry changed a lot and for a while, I considered retiring. Now that I’m an indie published author, writing the stories burning in my heart to be written again, I can’t imagine putting away my keyboard. I’ll keep writing as long as I can feed the passion to do so.
About Northern Fire
What are the books about? This is a series of standalone single titles set in the fictitious town of Cailkirn Alaska (where the snow is cold, but the men are hot), a small town on the Northern Lights cruise route. Sexy contemporary romance…yeah, baby!
About Brava
Will you be writing another series like Ready, Willing & And Able for Brava? I did. Satisfaction Guaranteed was the first in a several book series about the agents working for The Goddard Project, which I followed with a couple more mercenary books (The Atrati) for Brava, introduced in Close Quarters (my 50th book – Sept 2010).
NB: as of the release of Heat Seeker in Feb, 2013, I currently have no plans to write more books in the TGP or Atrati series.
About Harlequin Presents
Will you be writing any more Presents? No. Although I have indie published several billionaires and royals, I will not be writing for Harlequin again.
Why did you stop writing Presents? Because I could no longer write the stories I was passionate about or that my readers loved. The marketing driven editorial guidelines for the line did not mesh with the stories I tell.
About the Historicals
Will you be writing any more historicals? Not at present. I still have a thick file folder full of historical story ideas, but I think my next series will be paranormal – maybe historical too.
Will you write anymore Selwyn books, like their children’s stories? I don’t know. It could happen. 🙂
About the Children of the Moon
Is your novella in UNLEASHED connected to MOON AWAKENING? They are both from the same werewolf world, but the novella is a contemporary story about the descendants of the werewolves in Moon Awakening.
Will you be writing Duke’s story? I finally released his story in early 2023. Montana Moon is available in Kindle and Kindle Unlimited and is part of a 2-in-1 paperback, Montana Wolves.
Will you be writing more stories in the series? I don’t know. I’ve self-published three full length Children of the Moon novels since 2019 and one novella (Montana Moon). But right now, I don’t have any stories kicking around my creative brain. Watch my upcoming release page for if that changes.
If the questions hasn’t been asked and you want the answer, email Lucy and she’ll try to answer it for you. If it’s a question that comes up frequently, the answer will be added to this page.