Q. Is your husband the Naked Duke?
A. NO!
Q. How long does it take you to write a book?
A. I'm still figuring out the answer to this question, and I just
finished book 5 (The Naked Baron). It took me over two years to write
my first book, The Naked Duke, but I worked on it in fits and starts. I'd write
regularly for a month or two, and then when things got busy with the kids, I'd
stop for a while. I was also learning how to put a novel together. I went
through three or four full drafts. Now I write faster--but not very fast,
especially when life intervenes. At the moment, I'm writing a book in
about a year.
Q. How did you get published?
A. After I'd finished a draft or two of The Naked Duke, I joined the Romance Writers of America. I stumbled onto an email loop of people writing Regencies just when published author Susannah Carleton was beating the bushes for manuscripts to enter the 2004 Golden Heart contest and keep the Regency category alive. Since I'd saved our neighborhood swim team and school Cub Scout pack, I was used to helping groups in need. I edited my manuscript to fit the category length and, after Susannah graciously helped me write my first ever synopsis, sent it in. The story made the final round. One of the editors who judged it called to offer me a contract.
Q. Why don't you use a pseudonym?
A. When my editor called, I was so shocked, I couldn't think. It's probably just as well. I have a hard enough time remembering one name these days.
Q. Is your family proud of you?
A. Hmm. Sort of. When your immediate family consists of five conservative males and you are writing stories with s-e-x in them, mortification seems to be the predominant emotion.
Q. Who are your favorite authors?
A. Over the years I've had a number of authors on my must read list--Georgette Heyer, Joan Wolf, Mary Balogh, Madeline Hunter, Nonnie St. George, Julia Quinn, and Barbara Metzger. I also like science fiction and anything by one of the
Romance Unleashed authors (you'll find links to their sites on my links page
or go to www.romanceunleashed.com).
And I'm a slave for life to Lisa Kleypas, who gave me a cover quote for The
Naked Marquis, and Eloisa James, who provided a quote for The Naked Earl.
Unfortunately, now that I'm writing, I'm not reading as much.
Q. Where do you get your ideas?
A. I don't know. I've read many, many Regencies over the years, so I have a pretty good feel for the genre.
Deadline panic helps. And often I follow my characters--as they
develop and interact, they guide the plot and even generate ideas for
future books. The idea for The Naked Marquis, for example, came
when I wrote a scene in The Naked Duke. Charles, the hero in The
Naked Marquis, tells Sarah, the heroine in The Naked Duke, that he
doesn't envy his brother his title, that he would never want to be the
marquis--so of course I killed off his brother for The Naked Marquis.
Q. What are you writing next?
A. The Naked Gentleman--Meg Peterson's story--will be out in April 2008.
I just handed in The Naked Baron, scheduled for 2009, which tells
the "pre-story" of two characters
you'll meet in The Naked Gentleman. Now I'm getting ready to dive
into a novella--my first. The Naked Laird is set at the house
party that takes place in The Naked Baron.
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