Interview with Starr Ambrose

Hey everyone, today I am chatting with author and very dear friend Starr Ambrose. If you haven’t picked up a book by Starr, now’s the time! She is awesome.

Hey Starr, thanks for being here and thanks for the opportunity to interview you. Let’s start off with an easy question. Tell us a little about yourself? Family, hobbies, likes, dislikes?
I'm married with two grown daughters. I live in the country with a couple horses, some chickens, two dogs, and 10 cats. That pretty much tells you what I like - animals! Between them and my writing, I'm always busy. Dislike - people who drop off their animals in the country, hoping they'll find a good home. I can't tell you how many don't make it that far.

So many authors out there today have an agent. Do you have an agent? If so, how did you acquire them?
My agent, whom I adore, is Kevan Lyon of the Marsallyon Lit. Agency. She's smart, savvy, and always available. I acquired her in a backwards fashion - I sold my novel to Simon & Schuster's Pocket Books through a contest, and then went in search of an agent. Several were interested, but Kevan impressed me the most with her concentration on building my career rather than selling one or two books.

What's your writing day like? Do you follow a set schedule?
I try to write every day, and that's as much of a schedule as I'll agree to. If I want to go to lunch with friends, I write at night. Time of day doesn't matter, as long as it's not too early. I have no idea how some writers can get up at 4 AM and whip off ten pages; my muse sleeps in. (My muse is actually a rebellious little bitch with many bad habits; it's a love-hate relationship.)

Now, how about a tougher question. Any secret vices readers would love to know about?
But then they wouldn't be secret, would they? Oh, okay, I'll give you one - I probably spend more time reading than I do writing. If you don't think that's a problem, then you haven't had to deal with editorial deadlines. It's a wicked, wicked indulgence, and I don't intend to give it up.

What do you read in your spare time? Favorite authors? Favorite book?
Mostly romantic suspense authors and several contemporary. A few favorites: Tami Hoag, Laura Griffin, Suzanne Brockman, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Sandra Brown, Nora Roberts. I also read a lot of straight mysteries, plus some non-fiction that mostly deals with politics or natural science.

What genre would you love to write in, but haven't attempted?
Science fiction - but I'm not very good at it, so I'll stick to reading it.

Please tell us about your current and upcoming releases.
Love to! On Nov. 24th my second romantic suspense for Pocket hits the shelves - OUR LITTLE SECRET. It's an action-packed romp through Washington, D.C. Proper, responsible Lauren Sutherland and laid-back Drew Creighton are polar opposites who agree on only one thing - her sister's marriage to his father, a powerful senator, was a huge mistake. They'd love to talk them into an annulment, but the newlyweds have disappeared, and even the Secret Service can't find them. Lauren and Drew uncover explicit photos and an elaborate blackmail scheme while evading kidnappers and government agents. And of course their personality clash turns out to be fueled by an attraction that grows stronger each day. This gets sexy, people!
Currently, I'm doing edits on my third book, THIEVES LIKE US, which will come out in the fall of 2010. I absolutely love this book! It's a continuation of two secondary characters from LIE TO ME and re-visits most of the same people and places. It involves stolen jewels and the Russian mafia, mixed with a charming ex-jewel thief and a woman who's understandably leery of romance after her first husband turned out to be a psychopathic criminal. Jewelry, thieves, murder, and a sexy hero - what's not to love?

Where do you see yourself in 5 years? 10 years?
A. Writing novels
B. Writing novels while my husband enjoys his retirement

What's your favorite movie? Music? Drink? Food?
Evil questions! I wouldn't even be satisfied naming ten favorite movies or music. Drink - iced tea. Food - depends on the day. Fresh bread and pasta dishes are always way up there.

Tough question again, what's your favorite book that you've ever read?
Shame on you, Patti - this is the most evil question of all! So I'll play it safe and say, LIE TO ME by that clever new author, Starr Ambrose.

If you were stranded on a desert island, and could only take along one thing, what would it be? Choices are chocolate, a hunky guy, or a book?
The chocolate - I can write my own book with a hunky guy in it. (Good answer Starr)

Where can readers contact you? Do you have a website? Blog? Email they can use?
I absolutely love hearing from readers! Contact me through my web site, www.starrambrose.com , or at starramb@aol.com. Thanks for reading!

I want to say a very big thank you to Starr for answering my questions and I hope you all will check out Our Little Secret as well as Lie To Me.

My Curious Observations

I've been in a strange mood lately, noticing things that I normally wouldn't--or at least not pay much attention to. Below is a list of things that have struck me as either quite odd or curiously interesting.



1. Since when do I find it normal that people push dogs in strollers?

2. Men really like to look at themselves in the gym mirror.

3. The Bluetooth headset is one of the ugliest inventions, albeit practical.

4. Men seem to have stopped asking women out on dates. Well, in Montreal anyway.

5. They're still making horror movies. I guess, with the endless violence and awful things that happen in real life, these movies are an inspiration to us all.

6. There's not enough cotton in clothing. Hello designers! Don't you know that many people are allergic to wool and acrylic? (Actually, this is more of a complaint.)

7. Most people don't look good in cigarette jeans, but wear them anyway. (By the way, I'm still waiting for the return of the normal rise jeans. Kinda tired of tugging them up when I sit so my panties don't show.)

8. Jon and Kate (of J & K Plus 8) make yahoo headline news more often than the likes of Brangelina.

9. The convenience of automatic flushing toilets: Either they flush before you're done, forcing you to jump clear of the bacteria-infested water. Or, they don't flush at all, and you can wiggle in front of that red thing all you like...it ain't gonna happen.

Dear Spirit

Happy Friday folks!

I just wanted to drop a line and share some good news. I'm running a new column at The Pagan and the Pen website known as Dear Spirit. Dear Spirit is a spiritual Dear Abby column of sorts. Every other week, roughly the 15th and the end of the month, I'll post two questions sent to me by various readers at erin_sinclair_writer@yahoo.com and perform a mini-tarot reading for the readers who submit a question.

The link to the site is noted below:
http://thepaganandthepen.wordpress.com/

Click on the tab marked "Dear Spirit". If you'd like to participate rules and a disclaimer are posted.

Second, I'd like to announce that I had my first radio interview as an author! Woohoo! Cat Johnson with All Romance eBooks Blog Talk Radio interviewed me on November 2, 2009! Stop by and check it out. I think it went well despite the fact that I was nervous and sounded like I had a cold, hahaha, but all in all it was fun, fun, fun!

The link to the site is noted below:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Whats-Hot-In-Romance

Click on the header marked Erin Sinclair. Cat and I chatted about my interest in all things esoteric plus some of my collected works to date along with my latest release Witch One?

Finally, I just received my publish dates for the rest of my Fallen Angel series! On April 15, 2010, The Betrothed, Book 2 will be released! On May 15, 2010, Garden of Eden, Book 3 will be released!

Life just keeps getting better and better! Until next week!

Erin Sinclair
"For love that's out of this world!"
www.erinsinclairauthor.com

Found Writing

By A.J. Llewellyn

You hear about Found Art all the time, but I rarely, well in fact I never read about the literary equivalent, Found Writing.
This is the story of how a #1 best-selling E book almost wasn't...and how some stories finally find their homes...
Back in the day when I went to pitch meetings at film studios, my house was filled with story synopses (four pages) and treatments (ten pages) all of them ready at a moment's notice to be sent via fax to some development executive's office.
I had an agent and she loved my work. I practiced all my pitches on her and went off to meetings, but in spite of some great responses and near-calls with actual deals, I remained empty-handed.
I had a dream after watching a particularly odious athlete mouthing off about love and women and wondered how he would react if he woke up as a woman one morning?
Well, it was an idea but I took it even further and ran to my agent's office the next morning and pitched her the idea for Tall, Mean and Darkly, a play on the 'tall, dark and handsome' stereotype.
My idea was this: A guy's wife dies. They had a pretty good marriage, not perfect, but he loved her. She comes back. As another man. How will he cope with not only having her back from the dead but with a dick?
The agent stared at me. "And?" she said.
And?
Was she kidding me? I thought this was a great idea. I could see it as a movie. Right there and then she burst my bubble. I put aside the four-page synopsis I'd pounded out.
A couple of months ago when I was in a rare mood to clean up the place, I found it again.
Tall, Mean and Darkly, was I think a little too adventurous back then even though Ghost was a big hit...I realized my agent at the time didn't like the gay element in the story because for the husband to accept the wife as a man he'd have to be...gay.
In my newish career as an author of gay erotic fiction, I didn't have to worry about upsetting any executive's sensibilities. I pitched the idea to my co-author Stephani Hecht and I think the book is not only one of my best and certainly our best collaboration to date, but its stellar sales have been a redemption for all those shutdown ideas I ever had.
It was a reminder that agents and those in The Biz who should know a good idea from a bad one, don't.
It was a reminder not to listen to negative thought. Not to stop the creative process. No doesn't mean no in the writing world. It just means its time to get it to somebody who'll say yes.
I owe a lot to Stephani who jumped in with both feet and contributed her own wonderful ideas to our collaboration.
I have to also thank our publisher, http://www.extasybooks.com/ for running with it - and to our fantastic cover artist Martine Jardin for turning out such a wonderful cover.
Yesterday I sent my former agent a note letting her know about Tall, Mean and Darkly. She wrote back that she often wondered what I did with it. She said she'd followed my career and had this to say, "I think of all the commissions I could have been earning from your book deals. Let me know if you need help in that area."
Yeah, right!
If you have an idea, however remote or weird, don't listen to No. Find your lost writing and Just Do It.
In the meantime, Stephani and I are doing the sequel to our book. Taller, Meaner, Darker comes out February 1. I can't wait!

Aloha oe,
A.J.

This and That

Here I sit at my desk. It’s 7:05 am in the morning and I find myself wondering just what I’m going to write today. I almost never get up this early but knew I needed to do so today since it was my blogging day. It didn’t help that I went to bed last night with this very issue on my mind. What surprised me the most, is I don’t really have much to say this week. And for the woman who always has something to say about most things, this is pretty new.

It maybe because I have a book coming out in just eleven days, count them, and I’m still putting on the final touches. The eBook world is amazing in this because there are such fast turnaround times. But this one is a small book and will be very, very clean when it gets there. I’m not only going to go over it with a fine tooth comb, I’m going to have my critique group trounce on it as well. It will be so squeaky clean once it gets to the editor, there won’t be much left to fix.

Now back to my lack of subjects. It maybe that I’m also in NaNoWriMo which is National Novel Writing Month. It’s where you write a book in a month. The book I’ve chosen is my Christmas book, An Elf’s Love which zooms in on Merna Locklin and her would be kidnapper, Trevor Haines. What better way to spur me on except to get a chance for winning lots of prizes for doing something I had to do anyway. The word count we have to aspire to is a mere 50k which breaks down to a mere 1700 per day. A drop in the bucket when I look at the scheme of things.

I could talk about just how depressing the economics is as I have just had another friend impacted by another unexpected layoff. My heart clutches everyday for people I know and my own son who works for the construction industry in the worst place in the world to work right now. And with twins on the way, my oldest and I have discussed what he would do and how I could help if it happened. For those of you in this situation, things have to get better. They just have to and I know I’m trying to do my share by being a good consumer when I can.

I could talk about how my youngest gets up, watches TV for at least a half an hour before hopping into the shower. After about twenty minutes in, I go tell him because he’s almost made himself late for school. Then he gets out, takes his time to get dressed, putzs around a little more and asks me to write him a note for being late. I get a wicked glee when I look at him and ask him whose fault it is for him being late. He stomps out the front door cussing and yelling because I’m being so unfair. He knows I’ll only write him a note when he has a diabetic episode. Everything else, he has to deal with and he has only himself to blame as he wanted to be treated more like an adult. Welcome to the real world, kid! LOL!

I could talk about how my new puppy has forced me to be more active and by being more active, I’m beginning to lose weight. I even started to keep a diet diary because that’s the only thing which keeps me honest during the whole process. Or I could tell you about how when I popped out the batteries of my scale, I sent one of them flying behind my stove. It had been years since I had actually moved the stove, and I had to because I didn’t know what the battery size really was. The dust bunnies back there nearly killed me. But I got the battery, evil little flat thing that it was. LOL!

I could talk about just how beautiful it is today out my front window. For those of you who don’t know, my office is in the front of my house and I have one of three picture windows. It has a lovely bamboo shade over it which allows me to watch the world in the day without anyone seeing me. Now, night is a different thing as everyone sees me which is one of the reasons that I don’t write in this room very much after dark. I have my little travel computer for that. Today so far, I’ve watched the kids walk to school, seen people walking their dogs, the humming birds drink from the hollyhocks and the sparrows take up residence on my front lawn for whatever reason. The wind is calm, the sky is blue and the temperature is perfect.

Naaa....I don’t have anything at all to talk about today!

The winner of this week’s FREE eBook giveaway of Subtle Invasion is booklover0226, Tracy D! Next week, I’ll be giving away a copy of The View From Santa’s Sleigh as we gear up for the Christmas holiday bash! See you all then...

Lynn