Author Spotlight - Jacqui Jacoby

Today we welcome new Samhain author Jacqui Jacoby into the Minxy spotlight.

1. Tell our readers a little bit about yourself.
I am a kick-ass, rocking, still going strong, retired mother of three, married thirty years to the same man who shares our empty nest. I love Earl Grey tea, drink Snapples to obsession, and have a thing for make-up and eye shadow colors. I feel every woman is entitled to a regular pedicure on the basic principal she deserves to be pampered and I am a grown-up with imaginary friends who I do talk out loud to when no one is watching. And I’m shy!! LOL

2. What number book is this? First? 100th? 200th?(Nora only!)
This is my second book out, though the first was a first only run of a Time Management book. With A Vengeance was the first legitimate book I wrote (though the third) and that was … maybe nine or ten books ago? Something like that. I have not produced as much as I could as I did end up ill and had to take some time off.

3. What inspired this book?
Music. There was this band I listened to at the time and when I heard them, I thought plot and characters. And the need to see a woman who could handle herself. This book was written before tough chicks were popular so it led the crowd even if it wasn’t discovered right away.

4. Who or what was the inspiration for your hero?
I had several. An actor named Spencer Rochfort from the early nineties. Scott Leonard of the band Rockapella. David Beckham in a certain photo … that is how it works for me. It’s not ever “the actor” or “the musician.” It’s **one** particular photo that is **it** … it is the one to capture what I was looking for. The overall person might not appeal to me at all, but that ONE photo … nailed it!! It’s been so long since I wrote the original, I no longer have the photos.

5. Have you any burning ambitions to write a story in a different genre?
I started out in CIA Action Romance. In 2004ish I switched to Paranormal. I have not wanted to leave that arena. It’s way too much fun to get to make facts and things like ghosts and goddesses. I just got down completely ripping apart vampire myth and rewriting it. It was a blast.

6. In what way is being a published writer different to how you thought it would be?
In the process? Nothing. I am still doing what I always did: writing stories that appeal to me rather than what might appeal to a market. If someone says to me “write a sequel to Vengeance” (as they have) I can’t just turn on the magic button and make that plot appear. In the submitting aspect of the story telling, more work. A lot more work. Editing, deadlines, promoting. Promoting is a big one and drains the soul, a bit, I think.

7. What was the most fun part of writing this book?
Research. I got to spend three days with a rock band for research. I spoke to the CIA and they were not only helpful but friendly. I got to go see places, use places I had been. It was a lot of fun. To this day, all these years later, I do not buy an outfit without thinking “Would Jaime wear this?”

8. Do you have a writing routine? Do you write every day, and is there a time of day that works best for you in terms of being productive?
Yes. I write every day. Seven days a week. Holidays and birthdays included. I usually hit about six hours, but maybe ten and have gone fourteen depending on the project. I sleep late so I don’t start to write until about 11:30ish. If I have nowhere to be, I will be in my pajamas –cute ones, of course, with my hair done and make-up on. The creative writing, getting the story down, that is fun. Every second is an adventure. The editing and spell checking and formatting, is the fourteen hour, “I have a six week headache” day. I just did that for my new project which goes to New York on Monday with a publisher already requesting it.

9. Are your family and real-life friends supportive? If so, in what ways? If not, do you have another support network for your writing?
I had a party last week to celebrate the launch of With a Vengeance. It was an intimate gathering or family and friends. My daughters joined us for the cake cutting via Skype and my long time friend in Australia used Facetime. It was amazing and so sweet!!

10. How long does it take you to complete a book?
With A Vengeance, I wrote in 1994. I revised it nineteen times based on agent/editor interest and I submitted it fifty-eight times before I stopped counting. And then I just stopped counting. I was still submitting it. DEAD MEN PLAY THE GAME, going to New York Monday, I wrote it in seven months, from conception to completion. I wrote the first draft of the second book in the series, DEAD MEN SEAL THE DEAL, 100,000 words, in thirty days. So … I guess it depends.

Blurb

The more she wanted out, the more they dragged her back in.

Daughter to murdered CIA officers, niece to a deputy director, Jaime Walsh has never known life outside the world of espionage. Until a high-action case in Buenos Aires leaves her gutted. Physically, emotionally…and professionally.

She’d planned for her long-overdue vacation to be a time to rest and reassess. With her longtime partner Stephen not far behind, it’s a tropical paradise away from work. A paradise where boundaries will be tested.

From their training days, Stephen Reid has watched Jaime kick ass while performing what has become his second job—watching her back. But now his feelings have grown.

As best friends look at each other in a new light, they like what they see. And Jaime dreams of a new life outside “the company”.

Except someone from their past won’t be satisfied until Jaime and the man she loves are hunted to the brink of death. Now Jaime must find the strength to trust her heart and let go of her fear. Before she loses everything…


With a Vengeance is available direct from Samhain, and from Kindle and Kindle UK. You can find out more about Jacqui at her website www.JacquiJacoby.com.