Interview with Regency Author, Julia Justiss

A very special welcome to my guest, Harlequin Historicals author, Julia Justiss, who has so graciously agreed to to give us a fun and revealing look into the life of a historical author.

Donna: What genre or sub-genre do you write? Why did you choose this genre?

Julia: I write Regency Historicals. I grew up on historical fiction, found Georgette Heyer and traditional Regencies while in college and was hooked. Naturally, when I decided to write my own stories, I stayed with the type of tale that had always fascinated me.

Donna: I have the same fascination! So, tell us about your book, From Waif to Gentleman's Wife.

Julia: Recently disappointed in love, Sir Edward Austin Greaves is happy to accept the challenge of bringing a failing agricultural property back into productivity. But when his carriage is attacked by Luddite agitators on the way to Blenhem Hill, he realizes the situation is more complex than he anticipated. So he’s dismayed and rather suspicious when destitute governess Joanna Merrill, claiming to be looking for her brother, the discharged former estate agent, arrives at midnight and faints on his doorstep.

Simple courtesy requires him to offer her temporary shelter—though the desire he feels when he catches her in his arms is anything but gentlemanly. Something about Joanna’s large dark eyes, slender frame and brave story strike a responsive chord deep within this guarded man. Just how much he risking by allowing Joanna Merrill to remain under his roof?

Donna: Sounds like another winner! When did you start to write and how long did it take you get published for the first time?

Julia: I’ve written since I was in elementary school. Starting with story ideas for Nancy Drew mysteries, I went on to poetry and short stories in high school and college. Then, after reading some Regencies that I felt I could have written better, I took the plunge and wrote my first novel. Children intervened, and it wasn’t until 1994 that I began writing again. My second complete manuscript won the Golden Heart for Regency in 1996 and was bought by Harlequin in 1998.

Donna: A Golden Heart is quite an honor. And well-deserved, I’m sure. Tell us a little about yourself. What is your typical day like?

Julia: Since I have a day job as a part-time high school French teacher, I leave home around 6:15AM for a local coffee shop to get some writing in before I have to be at school at 10:30. I try to put some more time in after I get home around 5:30-6PM. Then dinner, maybe a bit of reading or t.y. and sleep and do it all over again.

Donna: It’s an endless endeavor, isn’t it? Tell me, how do you write? Are you a pantser or a plotter? Is it your characters or your plot that influences you the most?

Julia: I’m definitely a plotter! With my writing time so tightly limited, I need every minute and can’t afford to write a scene I later decide isn’t essential to the story. So I make a pretty detailed synopsis before I begin and use it to keep me on track—although, of course, the story often takes unexpected turns. I may have a roadmap of where I’m going, but it’s always the characters who drive the plot, and sometimes they end up striking off in directions I haven’t anticipated!

Donna: I know exactly what you mean. Those pesky characters just aren’t always obedient, are they? So, veering off a little; you cannot bear to live without what food?

Julia: I’d be lost without chicken, fish, and salad. Chocolate ice cream and oreo cookies are every-once-in-a-while indulgences.

Donna: Yum! So tell us, what’s the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done?”

Julia: That one’s easy! While on my first trip to France after college, I was trying to tell the landlady of the bed & breakfast I’d just checked into that I was hungry (“J’ai faim.” ) But in my not-so-accurate French, I pronounced the “m” (which is not supposed to be pronounced) so the lady thought I was saying “J’ai femme”—I have a woman. She kept looking at me strangely and saying “quoi?” (what??) When I gave up and said instead that I was looking for a restaurant, she burst out laughing. At that point, I realized what I’d apparently done was tell her I was a . She laughed again each time she saw me for the whole time we stayed at the hotel.

Donna: That’s funny! If it’s any consolation, you probably cheered the landlandy by giving her something to laugh about that day. Do tell us what are you working on now?

Julia: I’m working now on the story of Greville Anders, the brother of e Joanna Merrill from WAIF. Fired from his estate manager’s job, Greville is knocked unconscious and delivered to a press gang by the embezzling employee he was about to turn in. Returning after six months as a common seaman on a Royal Navy man-of-war, he’s billeted at the home of Lord Bronning while he recovers from wounds received in a skirmish with pirates. Her sights set on a London Season and a brilliant match. Bronning’s daughter Amanda is dismayed by her father’s unsuitable house guest, even if he claims to be cousin to a marquess. With her beauty, charm, and amply dowry, Amanda can look as high as she likes for a husband. So why is she finding the totally ineligible Greville so annoyingly appealing?

Donna: I can’t wait! So going back to your newest release, where can we find it?

Julia: WAIF is available at Walmart, Borders, Barnes & Noble, Target and Books-A-Million stores that stock Harlequin series titles, as well as at the on-line bookstores of those companies, and from eharlequin.com.

Julia: You can find all about WAIF, including character sketches and photos of the Nottingham locale, as well as advice on the writing life, research tidbits and notes on my next release, THE SMUGGLER AND THE SOCIETY BRIDE, at my website, www.juliajustiss.com.

Donna: Julia, it’s been a pleasure having you today. Thank you for being my guest.

Interview with Historical author, Laurie Alice Eakes

Historical Hussies: So, tell us a little about yourself. When did you start to write and how long did it take you get published?

One of these days, I'll come up with a good answer for this. It's a bit complex. I wrote my first novel when I was knee high to a gnome, but I didn't do anything with it. I loved writing and played around a lot, but I went to college, worked, went to some more college, worked, moved a gazillion times, got addicted to research... But the stories were always there. I sold three novels to small presses and they got good reviews, but then I got my MA in writing, got an agent, and finally sold to a traditional publisher. Altogether, 19 years passed between when I wrote my first novel and when I sold my first novel to a traditional publisher, but in actual writing years, I'd say probably I wrote for six years if I put all the fits and starts together.

H.H: How did you break into publishing?

I broke into publishing the first time, the small press route, by happenstance. A friend told me about a publisher looking for novels with characters with disabilities. My first novel, which had been sitting around for years, fit the bill, so I dusted it off and sent it in. They contracted it. RT gave it a **** review, but I made about $200.00 on it and it didn't seem worth the time or effort. I did sell two more to small presses, then gave up. The next time, which was five years later, I got the nastiest rejection I'd ever heard of anyone getting and was going to give up altogether. I had a good corporate job and had little time to write. But my agent encouraged me to try one more project. That sold to Avalon and ended up winning the National readers Choice Award for Best Regency. It took me two years to sell a second one, but now I've sold seven books in five months—four to Avalon and three more to Barbour Books, who bought my second one.

H.H: What inspired you to write romance?

You know, I love other genres and read most of them, esp. mysteries. But nothing makes my soul sing like romance. I believe in everlasting love and think that we're meant to be in pairs. Look at Noah's Ark. Pairs. O everything. I played matchmaker with friends in school and was pretty successful. What better way to play matchmaker but in books, where I can guarantee the outcome?

H.H: What genre or sub-genre do you write? Why did you choose this genre?

I write sweet historicals and inspirational historicals. So far, all my contracted books are in the 19th century in America or England. Why these subgenres? I love a message of hope and belongingness; forgiveness and acceptance getting across to people without preaching. The inspirationals lend to these messages more strongly than secular books, but I prefer to write the sweet because I'm just more comfortable writing sweet and they don't' conflict with my Christian message in the inspirationals.

H.H: What difficulties does writing this genre present?

Lots of don'ts in both the sweet and the inspirationals. I have to be extra careful that I offend no one, so feel a little constrained at times. At the same time, I love the challenge of getting the reader to feel the pull between the hero and heroine, that tension of attraction, without being overt in what I say.

H.H: Tell us about your other works, books, stories, etc.

I have these three books coming out with Barbour, which will be books 2-4 for them. The first one, Better than Gold, is a mystery romance set in Iowa in the 18770s. People are hunting for lost gold said to be hidden in this small town. It's re-released in a compilation with two other books under the title Wild Prairie Roses.

My next book with Avalon is scheduled for a June 2010 release, where my heroine is a doctor and the hero was a doctor blinded in an accidental shooting and how both live through tragedy and rebuild their lives and careers. The Avalon series is all about career women in the 1890s—doctor, lawyer, merchant (ship captain) chef.

H.H: What are you working on now?

I am working on the second book in the New Jersey Historical Series for Heartsong Presents by Barbour books. The first one was set in 1809 and centered around the glass industry in NJ and will be out around Christmas. This one is in the north and takes place in 1858. The third in the series will take place in Cape May in the 1890s. But before I write the third one, I have to write the second book for my new Avalon series. This is about a female lawyer in the 1890s.

H.H: That sounds very unusual. How do you write? Are you a pantser or a plotter? Is it your characters or your plot that influences you the most?

I am a plotter. Once I learned to plot ahead of time, I started not only finish manuscripts, but selling them. My stories have definite plot, even a little suspense, but they are definitely focused on the characters.

H.H: I love those character-driven stories! How do you choose your characters' names?

I use all sorts of resources. One thing I try to do is use surnames from the state or county in which the story takes place. Then I check popular names at the time of the story for the right names. Then I go to meanings of the names. It's quite a process and takes me a while to decide.

H.H: Do you write with music playing? If so, is the music likely to be songs with lyrics or only instrumentals?

Classical music. I have satellite radio so the classical station is on all day. Lyrics totally distract me

H.H: What has surprised you about being a published author?

How it kind of freaks people out. I live near Washington, DC, where it's what do you do, not who are you in greeting. When I say author, people kind of get quiet. You can hear their brains clicking—in what box do we put a writer? It's kind of amusing. I didn't know it would be a conversation-stopper as much as it's a conversation starter.

H.H: What do you like to do when you aren't writing?

Watch old movies, especially Bogart and either of the Hepburns. I'm also into Foyle's War right now. I like music of all kinds, especially live, and theater. Hiking is great, but I don't get enough of it in these days.

H.H: What one thing do you like most about writing? Least?

I like the independence, having a job I can do whenever I like. I don't like the insecurity of it, the wondering when or if the next contract will come.

H.H: What was the most unusual way you came up with a story idea? What made you to think, ‘hey, I could make that into a story?’

Probably the inspiration for my next Avalon book, but if I tell, it gives away the crucial surprise in the story. So maybe the Iowa historical series I wrote with two other authors. The little bit about lost Civil War gold no one ever found. Well, what if a lot of people seek it and someone actually finds it?

H.H: If you could spend an hour talking to anyone from any time in history, who would it be? And Why?

This is hard to answer. Right now, I'm thinking maybe John Fielding of Bow Street. Why? Because he was blinded, yet still did his job and did it amazingly well, at a time when blind people were generally hidden away or left to beg and definitely not given meaningful work to do.

H.H: I love the Bow Street Story! How do you do research for your books? What’s the most interesting bit of research you’ve come across?

I research in libraries and on site and on-line. I've had several graduate hours in how to research, so am pretty good at it, forming a search-string and all that. I love original documents when I can find them, so Google Books is a blessing for the public domain stuff. Same with Gutenberg. I've also gotten some great books from InterLibrary Loan, and never forget Microfilm. Lots of old stuff on Microfilm, fiche, and now on CD.

Most interesting? Probably all the work I did on midwives when working on my master's in history. They were interesting women in Early Modern Europe and North America, much more influential than other women generally were. I can go on for hours about midwives.

H.H: What advice would you give aspiring writers today?

Write. Finish. Rewrite. Finish. Submit. Write more. If the fire, the call, is inside you, you won't give up until you reach your goal.

H.H: Thank you for the Interview.

Thank you for having me here today. Please come visit my blog, where I am posting a free read at fairly regular intervals. This is a story I wrote, but which I never intend to sell, so am giving it away to my readers for fun and enjoyment.

Interview with Historical Author Miranda Neville

H.H: What genre or sub-genre do you write? Why did you choose this genre?

I write historical romance. I've always loved historical novels since I was a teenager devouring Georgette Heyer and Jean Plaidy. I guess I've always had a hankering to write one myself. Last year my father was moving out of my childhood home and I found a box of my old high school stuff that included several unfinished regencies. (They weren't any good!) I've never really considered writing contemporary fiction.

H.H: Tell us about your book, Never Resist Temptation.

Never Resist Temptation, set in Regency England, starts with that old romance staple, the e who is lost at cards by her wicked uncle. Jacobin, being a feisty lady, runs away and goes to work as a pastry cook at the Brighton Pavilion. Then her uncle is poisoned by a dessert she made and she’s on the run again. The good news is she’s been offered another job; the bad that her new employer is the winner of that card game. Anthony, the Earl of Storrington, has his own reasons for employing a pastry chef. He’s unaware of her true identity but things soon heat up between them and he is torn between his growing attraction and his plan to use her for his own ends. Jacobin has to overcome her distrust and team up with Anthony to prove her innocence.

H.H: And it's a great book, too, I must say! So, when did you start to write and how long did it take you get published?

It took about five years between starting my first novel and finding a publisher--for my third. Manuscripts one and two will likely never see the light of day.

Historical Hussies: So, tell us a little about yourself? What is your typical day like?

I grew up in England but I've lived in the United States for almost thirty years. These days my home is a traditional style New England house in beautiful rural Vermont. I own a small business which runs smoothly enough to give me time to write, especially now my daughter is in college.

I wish I could describe a brilliantly disciplined writing schedule. Up at 6 am and four pages before breakfast. That kind of thing. Alas, I am pretty haphazard, though I do try to write SOMETHING, even a paragraph, every day. I do spent a lot of time planning the next section or chapter of my WIP in my head: while driving, walking, making dinner etc. Then, when I'm ready to write it down it comes out pretty easily.

H.H: Tell me, how do you write? Are you a pantser or a plotter? Is it your characters or your plot that influences you the most?

I am very much a plotter. I have a chapter-by-chapter plan before I start a book. Which isn't to say things don't change, a lot. But I prefer to know just where I am going even if I end up taking detours.

I tend to begin with the idea for a story. Then I work on characters who will meet the demands of the plot. Once the characters are set they control things. Changes to my original idea are almost always character driven. "That won't work because he wouldn't behave like that." Most annoying!

H.H: That sounds like a great way to do it. And what are you working on now?

I have a two book contract with Avon for a series surrounding a group of Regency rare book collectors. I used to work in the rare books department of Sotheby's auction house so I'm drawing on my own background here.

H.H. Wow, that’s cool! Well thank you for being our guest here today. It’s been fun chatting with you. I look forward to you next book.


Miranda Neville’s debut romance, Never Resist Temptation, was published by Avon in March.

Interview with Historical Hussies Contributor, Joyce DiPastena

Historical Hussies would like to introduce to you, our readers, the authors who are and will be contributing to this blog. We kick off our introductions with a question/answer interview with Joyce DiPastena, author of the medieval romance, Loyalty’s Web.

Historical Hussies: When did you start to write and how long did it take you get published?

Joyce: I dabbled with writing as far back as high school, but I started my first novel in college. I didn’t think of it as a “novel” at first, just as another story that I was “dabbling” with. But the characters really captured my imagination, and unlike my earlier writing efforts, all of which had eventually fizzled out, these characters continued to propel me forward until six years later, I found myself with a full-fledged novel on my hands. (Yes, it took me four undergraduate years and two years of graduate school to finish my first book.) And yes, in case you’re wondering, my first book was a medieval novel. ☺

That novel was never published, and neither was its sequel (which took me another six yeas to write). Loyalty’s Web was the third book in my series. It was also the best written, since I’d learned tons more about good writing technique since those very early efforts. Still, it remained unpublished for probably a good fifteen years while I worked on other projects. It came close to being published by a national publisher once, but my potential publishing house merged with another house, my editor was let go and Loyalty’s Web was dropped. Throughout all those years, I continued to return to Loyalty’s Web and polished and repolished and polished it again. I always thought I had a good story, and I never completely gave up on it.

HH: How did you break into publishing?

Joyce: By the end of 2006, I’d pretty much given up on ever finding a publisher for my books. I’d never seriously considered self-publishing before, but technology was changing. With the new print-on-demand option, I no longer had to invest thousands of dollars to self-publish a garage-full of books that I knew I’d be too shy to ever try to sell. But now, for a relatively small investment, I learned that I could self-publish, get my book posted on Amazon and Barnes&Noble.com, and my books would be printed only as orders were placed for them. I found myself thinking, “I’ve allowed all my books to (figuratively) sit tucked away in a drawer for all these years. I can either leave them there till the day I die, or I can take a chance on them, try a print-on-demand self-publishing program, and see if there really is an audience out there for my stories.” I figured I would never know if I never tried. So in 2007, I began by self-publishing Loyalty’s Web.

To my surprise, people actually started buying copies and seemed to be enjoying them! Later that year, I learned about a contest for published books that allowed self-published entries. I decided I had nothing to lose by entering, so I did. Early in 2008, I learned that Loyalty’s Web had been selected as one of five finalists for a Whitney Award. Loyalty’s Web didn’t win, but it caught the attention of a small publishing house called Leatherwood Press. Their editor contacted me and expressed interest in republishing Loyalty’s Web for a wider audience. And the rest, as they say, is history.

HH: What genre or sub-genre do you write?

Joyce: I write a sort of medieval cross-genre. Romance, with strong mystery, suspense and political elements…a drawback in the national market, according to the many editors who turned me down because they didn’t know how to “peg”, and therefore, market my writing. But Leatherwood Press has shown wonderful faith in me, and readers’ response has been extremely positive. Leatherwood has marketed Loyalty’s Web as a romance, and a romance is always at the heart of each of my stories, but there is usually much, much more going on alongside the romance. I like to play with lots of different plot threads, but in the end, my stories are ultimately about two people falling in love and living happily ever after.

HH: What difficulties does writing this genre present?

Joyce: I suppose the obvious answer to this question would be “research”, but I love researching my novels. I guess the greatest difficulty is finding specific bits and pieces of research that I need for my story. You’d think the internet would have made that aspect of writing easier, but I haven’t always found that to be the case. So much on the internet is “general” rather than “specific” oriented, plus a lot of it is simply splashed on a website without any clear authentication of where the site came up with their “facts”. I prefer to know I have a reliable source before I insert a bit of research into my novels. Two reliable sources confirming the same fact is even better. I continue to have my best research luck with good old fashioned books. Book sites like Amazon.com have made it much easier to track down research books dealing with delightfully arcane bits of medieval knowledge, so in that respect, that internet has truly been a blessing.

I have a blog called Medieval Research with Joyce, if your readers would like to take a look at some of the books I found particularly helpful in writing Loyalty’s Web. Some of those posts may be making guest appearances in future Historical Hussies blog posts. ☺

HH: What are you working on now?

Joyce: I’m just at the very beginnings of what I’m calling my “troubadour book”. The hero, a very young man, is torn between whether to become a knight, as his birth entitles him to, or follow his love of music and become a troubadour instead. Don’t ask me about the heroine. She’s still very much in flux! If you’d like to read something of my current wrestles to get this story off the ground, you can read my post on “Alligators and Me” on my JDP NEWS blog.

HH: What has surprised you about being a published author?

Joyce: What surprises me the most is that people will actually plunk down money to buy something that I’ve written. What thrills me the most is when they actually enjoy my book!

HH: What do you like to do when you aren't writing?

Joyce: Sleep, eat, watch TV…all that good lazy kind of stuff.

HH: What advice would you give aspiring writers today?

Joyce: Write because you love to write and never give up. It took me over twenty years to get my first book published. There were times I gave up on publishing, but I never gave up on writing. Of course I wanted to be published much earlier, but I simply wanted to write even more. Learn all you can about “good writing”, then write what you love and write from your heart. If you love what you’re writing about and it comes from your heart, that will come through to your readers. And have faith that you will have readers one day, no matter how long it takes. To paraphrase Saint Paul, “The race is not to the swift, but to he who endures to the end.”

HH: Can you give us a summary of Loyalty’s Web?

Joyce: Sure. Here’s the backcover blurb:

In twelfth century France, King Henry II of England has just finished quashing a rebellion by his power-hungry sons and now seeks to tame the lawless barons who supported them in this corner of his "Angevin empire." To this end, the king has sent the Earl of Gunthar as his royal representative to ensure that Prince Richard and his former cohorts faithfully adhere to the terms of the peace treaty.

Far from being welcomed with open arms, Gunthar no sooner steps foot in the county of Poitou than he is greeted by a series of assassination attempts. All appear to be linked to the former rebellious prince through the agents of the family and friends of young Heléne de Laurant. A clever, intrepid young woman, she realizes that the only way to prove her loved ones’ innocence is by exposing the true assassin. Heléne races against time—and dark secrets of the past—to unmask the killer before the kingdom plunges back into war.

Fierce determination gives way to mutual attraction as Heléne and Gunthar spar over the identity of the traitor. But their blinding magnetism almost causes them to overlook an even deadlier threat from an entirely unexpected direction.

HH: It sounds fascinating. Where can interested readers purchase a copy of Loyalty’s Web?

Joyce: Loyalty’s Web is available on Amazon.com, DeseretBook.com, or in Deseret Bookstores in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington state.

HH: Thank you for joining us today, Joyce. We look forward to your future posts on Historical Hussies.

Joyce: Thank you for the interview. It’s been a delight to share some of my thoughts and reflections with your readers. I’m excited to be part of this group, and look forward to sharing some of my research with your readers in the future!

Interview with K. Celeste Bryan

Today, I have a guest blogger. I am interviewing historical author K. Celeste Bryan, also known as Kat.

1. Welcome, Kat! So, tell us a little about yourself? What is your typical day like?

I bet most readers think we sit around all day and munch on chocolates or browse through bookstores at our leisure, or perhaps vacation in the Bahamas every winter. Ha! Nothing could be further from the truth, at least in my little corner of the world. Most days, you’ll find me sitting at my computer praying my muse is patient today. There’s a fat kitty on my lap and a big dog curled up at my feet, but I wouldn’t trade one minute of my writer’s life for another.

2. When did you start to write and how long did it take you get published?

I have written in one form or another most of my adult life. I started researching histories of pioneers in America and then joined the US Web Historical Sketches site. I was fascinated by the stories about out industrious ancestors and soon, the “what ifs” surfaced and full-length novels took over my brain. I began writing historical fiction and then branched into romance.


3. How many stories did you finish before you were published?

I was very blessed to be accepted by a medium-sized publisher for my first book. When my contract ran out, I submitted some stories I had been working on for two years, and they too were accepted. I now write for New Concepts Publishing and The Wild Rose Press, wonderful publishers.


4. How did you break into publishing?

Oh, I knew nothing about it, but had written this story and my cousin any mother asked me every day to read the next Chapter. When it was complete, they encouraged me to send it in. “Where?” I said. So I bought a copy of Writer’s Digest and sent it in two publishers. One didn’t take my type of story, and the other bought it.


5. What inspired you to write romance?

When I realized how many women read it, and don’t read historical fiction. Romance accounts for a majority of the sales in the book industry. And . . . of course, I love writing about dashing heroes and sassy heroines.

6. What genre or sub-genre do you write? Why did you choose this genre?

Generally, I write historical romance, but somehow an element of paranormal worms its way into all my novels. I like the concept of the paranormal, the suspended belief concepts. Anything can happen in a paranormal – ghosts, time-travel, shapeshifting, and let’s not forget vampires and werewolves.

7. What difficulties does writing this genre present?

For historical, your research must be very accurate. Readers are astute these days and will call you on mistakes. My editor recently caught one of these oversights in my novel. I had referred to a book in the novel only to find out the book hadn’t been published until two years later. OOPS!
Thank goodness for editors.

8. How much time do you devote to writing each day?

At least five, and then another three answering e-mails, promoting and marketing.

9. Tell us about your other works, books, stories, etc.

Presently, I’m working on a pirate historical and tossing around a Highland warrior novel. And there have been readers asking for a sequel to Where The Rain Is Made, my time-travel, shapeshifter book. Hmm, this is going to take some heavy plotting.


10. How do you write? Are you a pantser or a plotter? Is it your characters or your plot that influences you the most?

I’m often asked this. I’m a rather unconventional writer, I think. I plan the story in my head for months, every scene, every conversation between the characters, until I know them inside and out. I need to know how they would react to a situation, whether or not they would actually say what I write down. Then I begin a scene, and most often it’s not Chapter One, but ends up somewhere in the middle of the book. From there, I work backward or forehead if called for. I never outline and don’t use note cards. It just doesn’t work for me.

11. What has surprised you about being a published author?

That people buy my books and then e-mail me to tell me how much they loved it. I still can’t get over this. I love my books, but hey, I’m a little biased, so I don’t expect other people to fall in love with the story or the characters. It’s so nice when they do.

12. 18. What was the most usual way you came up with a story idea? What made you to think, ‘hey, I could make that into a story?’

When my youngest son was ten, he became fascinated with Native American lore, particularly Cheyenne dog soldiers. We checked out everything from the library pertaining to the subject and I listened for hour upon hour about their customs, their beliefs and . . . their brutality, courage and honor. At some point, I figured, hey, I should put all those hours to good use and write a book about the Dog Soldiers, thus Where The Rain Is Made.

13.What advice would you give aspiring writers today?

Be patient, persevere and pay attention to everything in the market. If family and friends tell you to get a real job, ditch them. Listen to your gut while you’re writing. Pretend the character is standing over your shoulder. Ask, would he really say that? Would she really do that? You’ll know the answer.

14. Thanks for joining me today! Good luck with all your writing!
Thank you so much for having me. I really enjoyed it. From now until the end of February, I’m hosting a “reader’s special.” These are tough economic times for all, and I’d hate to think readers stopped buying books. If you purchase either Where The Rain Is Made or Sojourn With A Stranger, I’ll send you the other one free (e-format). E-mail me your receipt (minus your credit card information) and I’ll send you the book that day.

Happy reading!
K. Celeste Bryan
kcelestebryan@aol.com
http://www.kcelestebryan.com
http://katskwipsandrants.blogspot.com/ (Kat’s Kwips and Rants Blog)