Author Spotlight - Catherine Bybee

I first met Catherine through The Wild Rose Press, our shared publisher, and she struck me as such a warm and helpful person, so I am incredibly pleased that she has gone from strength-to-strength and become a #1 bestseller on Amazon, as well as hitting a whole variety of bestseller lists. It couldn't happen to a nicer person. (Unless she were a Minx, of course!)

Those of our blog readers who hang out in the eHarlequin community forum will already know Catherine's amazing story. She took a manuscript that had been rejected by Harlequin and self-published it on Amazon. That story, Wife by Wednesday, has become a runaway success, and she is here today to share a little insider info behind the story.

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What is your writing process?

I’m a pantser. I have an idea in my head with a basic outline of my characters and I run with it. Lately I’ve not been writing as much as I’d like, but when I’m in the ‘writing groove’ I will dedicated five hours a day to getting new words on paper.

Everyone who writes knows it's not easy - what methods do you use to keep at it on days when it would be so much easier to go shoe shopping?

I understand that in order to keep readers I need to infuse the net with a new book a few times a year. Very few authors can write one book a year and call this a career. I try and remember that and force my butt in the chair. It helps that I have fans now that tweet me and ask when my next book is coming out. It’s like a little cyber whip reminding me to get to work. LOL

Keeping fit: Do you have an exercise regime to counterbalance all those hours sitting at a computer?

“Next Question!”
Ah, yeah… about that… I wish I could say that I’m on top of a good exercise routine but I’m not. I try and walk or get to the gym a couple of times a week but often fail. Does a sticky note reminding me count as points toward my goal?

Do you believe in writer's block?

Not as its own entity. I think if something is going wrong in the story the book won't flow and the writer has a hard time moving the story forward. When this happens to me I will re read all I’ve written to that point and usually find where the problem is. Some stories flow like water and others get caught up in the stream. Doesn’t make one book better than the other, just easier for the author to put out.

Have you ever used an incident from real life in a book? If so, did it get you into trouble?

Certainly there are little glimpses into my life. I have a character or two that are nurses and I’ve taken what was my day job into this work. I waited tables when I was younger and will never forget those ‘lovely’ experiences. LOL – does it get me in trouble? No. I would never compromise a patient’s privacy or anything like that. As for my friends in books… I guess you could say that I will sometimes tie in certain personality traits that I see daily. And of course there are those people in my life that have ticked me off and we all know we as writers paint them as our bad guys. LOL “just kidding”.

In what way is being a published writer different to how you thought it would be?

I guess I saw more glamour to the job. But the truth is I’m sitting in my bathrobe right now in an empty house writing. Unlike some, I knew promotion would be a part of being a bestselling author, so that doesn’t bother me. I actually like the promo part of the job.

Promotion is no longer a dirty word. In what ways do you strive to reach more readers?

I respond to each and every positive comment I’m given on the social networks. I won’t debate someone who didn’t like a book, or something I did in my work. I try and do interviews often. I tweet, facebook and blog. But I don’t try the hard sell. I don’t go on daily and say ‘buy my books’ – I will retweet a positive comment or a review. I’ll let others say they like my work and then tell the world about that. But not to the point where it looks like spam. Nobody likes spam.

What is your top promo tip for other authors?

Write your next book! All the promotion in the world isn’t going to sell your books if you don’t have books to sell.

What did you learn while writing this book?

I learned that I could write a novel without anyone turning furry or shifting in time. Most of my work is paranormal so this book, Wife by Wednesday, is a straight contemporary and I wasn’t sure I could do it.

Guess I can!

What was the most fun part of writing this book?

Rich hero and needy woman. I took a basic romantic outline and then twisted it and made it new and exciting for many readers. I really enjoyed writing this book.

And just for fun: what would your hero’s honeymoon destination of choice be?

A tropical island in the South Pacific where they never left the hut.

WIFE BY WEDNESDAY

Blake Harrison:
Rich, titled, and charming… And in need of a wife by Wednesday so he turns to Sam Elliot who isn’t the business man he expected. Instead, Blake is faced with Samantha Elliot, engaging and spunky with a voice men call 900 numbers to hear.

Samantha Elliot:
Owner of Alliance, her matchmaking firm, and not on the marital menu... That is until Blake offers her ten million dollars for a one-year contract. All she needs to do is keep her attraction to her husband to herself and avoid his bed. But Blake’s toe-curling kisses and charm prove too difficult to combat. Now she needs to protect her heart so she can walk away when their mercenary life together is over.


Big note: Wife by Wednesday is currently selling on Amazon.com for just $0.99, so if you haven't already, get yourself one! It is also available on Amazon.co.uk.

You can find out more about Catherine and her books on her website, at her blog, and check out this video blog she recently posted on YouTube on Becoming a Bestseller.

Ten Mysteries of Writing

1. Why is it so difficult to get down to when it's supposed to be fun?

2. Why, when I hate housework and adore writing, do the washing machine and the hoover exert a strong magnetic force capable of pulling me from the keyboard?

3. Why does it take so long? I have a fairly decent typing seed, but some days it can take me 5 hours just to write 500 words.

4. Why is the first draft always rubbish of the highest order? Even if I know what I want to say, it always translates as gobbledygook that needs to be beaten into submission.

5. Why is it that, in the face of relentless rejection I still keep hurling work out there? I sometimes worry I'm like one of these x-factor wannabes and just can't see how average I actually am.

6. Why can some people managed 10K words in one day, yet I can't manage that in a week? (The answer to this is probably somehow related to number 3.)

7. Why is it that, even though it's the most fascinating and interesting occupation in the world, other people's eyes glaze over when I try to talk about it?

8. Why is it that, when I reveal I sometimes get work published, everyone immediately suggests I write their story? I have my own ideas, thank you very much. If you want to see your story in print, write it yourself.

9. Why do some people think making money from writing is the easy option? I still freely admit I could happily swing for the ex friend who, when I told her I'd sold a short story, said she was thinking of getting a little job, but wasn't qualified for anything, so was going to write a story, too.

10. And, if it's so difficult, what is the compulsion that makes me want to keep writing?

When words become enemies...

Imagine you opened your mouth to speak, or began to type and the exact opposite of what you intended came out without you even noticing, or a random word that made no sense, or that familiar words simply vanished into thin air.

Then maybe you'll get an inkling of how it feels when a writer falls out with words in a permanent way. Those of you who know me know I am a quieter Minx because I have a brain injury. I want to blog more, to read your blogs and chat on Twitter, to catch up on your news on Facebook...but words just don't play nice anymore! Three years on from the accident I'm more likely to laugh at my mistakes than get frustrated - I recently told someone to flash a shop assistant (I meant to say 'flutter your lashes'), asked a friend to fetch a screwdriver from the car (I meant coat) and the lovely Sally Minx is nicknamed Salty Minx after I misnamed her in a Skype chat.

So it's become less of a deal - those around me know to question when I say something odd. The gap between my brain thinking and my body carrying out it's intention doesn't usually matter too much.

Until I come to write that is.

Words that were my friends when I was growing up, my nose buried in one book or another, now misbehave, float away out of reach or reassemble themselves jumbled up on the page. Reading can feel like running through treacle and a short email take ages to write, and check, and check again...
But recently I've discovered that the creative process, by which I mean that urge, the drive that takes over and apparently gives our characters lives of their own, is on a different wavelength to the conscious cognitive cogs grinding slowly away.
On holiday last week a creative well, an explosion of character actions and reactions, dialogue and narrative all came tumbling out, seemingly bypassing conscious thought. I had to write by hand so some of what I wrote is illegible or jumbled but the story on the whole is there.

I've experienced 'the well' before my injury and I'm sure a lot of you know what I'm talking about, that tumbling of words so fast you can hardly keep up with yourself? What makes me happy is the discovery that my creative instinct is intact. After being forced to read so many depressing medical reports (including one which stated that I would "never write a novel now") I think fear of the difficulty and bewilderment about words no longer feeling under my control has held me back.

Writing on holiday helped me remember how much I love it, how it satisfies me in a way nothing else can and that I have to write regardless of who may or may not have given up on me.
I will find a way to make it work, to call a truce...

And most importantly I know my fellow Minxes will help me catch the weird stuff before it gets to the desk of an editor!

Author Spotlight - Kylie Griffin

Today we welcome into the spotlight Australian author Kylie Griffin. You can find out more about Kylie and her books (yes plural, as Vengeance Born, which she's chatting about with us today, is just the first of three) at her website: www.kyliegriffin.com

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Thank you so much for inviting me to your blog – I’ve been looking forward to the visit!

• What is your writing process?

I’m a panster when I begin a book. I don’t sit down and plan or write synopsis before putting fingers to the keyboard. I usually know the opening scene and where I want the book to finish but everything else in between is very fuzzy.
That doesn’t mean to say I haven’t thought about the characters and played a few games of “what if…” to get an idea of what sort of story might develop, I just don’t have a clear idea of how the story arcs are going to work until I get into it.
Once I start writing and I get past about 25K I know where it’s headed. I’m a scener after that. I can see scenes, have no idea where they’re going to slot in but as I “get to them” I know when or where they fit (if that makes sense). And that’s how I get through the first draft.

• Everyone who writes knows it's not easy - what methods do you use to keep at it on days when it would be so much easier to go shoe shopping?

I put up my “DO NOT DISTURB” sign that says “Turn around, walk away quietly and no one will get hurt" put on the answering machine, unplug the internet, light up some incense and implement BISFOK – bum in seat, fingers on keyboard – until I lose the urge to be distracted or do something other than writing.
It boils down to sheer bloody mindedness and habit.

• Keeping fit: Do you have an exercise regime to counterbalance all those hours sitting at a computer?

I join a local walking group twice a week and I attend a TaiChi class once a week. I also potter in the garden – flower/vegie gardens and mowing lawns. Most of my exercise has to have a purpose – can’t see the attraction of a gym.

• Do you believe in writer's block?

I think there are times authors find it difficult to write but if you persevere, even if it’s to write rubbish, then you can get back into the swing of it. Rubbish can ALWAYS be edited, a blank page not at all.

• Have you ever used an incident from real life in a book? If so, did it get you into trouble?

I’ve modelled some characters on people from real life, particularly the child characters.
For example, one of the characters in VENGEANCE BORN is Rissa, a young child, one of the first humans Annika (the heroine) meets.

Being a teacher in a primary school I’ve had many examples to draw on!  Although rather than model a character on one child, I’ve combined personality traits from several students.I’ve a friend who recognised a name very similar to her child in the book – the character was partly based on him but she wasn’t upset – she quite liked the idea he was in the book.

• In what way is being a published writer different to how you thought it would be?

There are manic times and lulls in the publishing process. I’d been warned about them and while everyone says you now have deadlines, the process of training yourself to write regularly, consistently, rather than on a timetable that suits you, that’s been the hardest part of the transition.
It doesn’t matter what’s happening in your “other” life – work, family etc. – where before you could put off writing if you wanted to, now you can’t afford to let too many days slip by without writing.

• Promotion is no longer a dirty word. In what ways do you strive to reach more readers?

Ahh, the temptation and bane of every writer.
I believe that the best promotion is writing a good book. That’s the only thing you can control as far as generating promotion. The spins off from that is word of mouth. Write a good book and readers will spruke about it to their friends and so on.
I’ve started a blog (www.kyliegriffinromance.blogspot.com) where I have a mix of guest authors visiting, posts on the craft of writing or the publishing process, but I enjoy doing that, so it’s not really a chore.
I love going to writers’ conferences and hope to extend that to readers’ conferences once my books come out. The common link of writing/reading good books is something I enjoy discussing – nothing beats talking about writing or recommending a good read to another person who loves books as much as you.
I’m also addicted to Facebook. While I’m on GoodReads, Twitter and Shelfari, I don’t frequent these sites as much.
I try to limit the time I spend on social networking – writing the book has to take top priority.

• What is your top promo tip for other authors?

Keep writing good books – it’s as simple as that.

• What did you learn while writing this book?

That’s a good question. I guess my answer focuses more on the process of working with my editor. While I’ve had writing friends and critique partners make suggestions on where to improve the story, if you don’t agree with them, you don’t have to take them on board.
But working with my editor, I viewed her feedback in a different light (and I think that’s because I’m more accountable to her, LOL!). She helped me realise you can always improve and strengthen your story.
It didn’t mean I said yes to every suggestion or change she made, but we did talk and brainstorm ideas and when something gelled I understood that the new idea was often stronger than the original and so, then I made the change or rewrote the scene knowing the book would be all the better for it.

• What was the most fun part of writing this book?

Definitely the romance between Annika and Kalan. It was fun trying to work out how they were going to overcome prejudice, mistrust and each others preconceptions about their respective races.
A favorite scene of mine is one of the first times Kalan threatens to kill Annika. Their fragile alliance is threatened by her being Na’Chi (half human, half demon).
As a Light Blade warrior, Kalan has seen the Na’Reish raid human territory for blood-slaves. Annika doesn’t trust him but has no choice but to share information about herself with him.

The revelation that she drinks blood, just like his Na’Reish enemies, endangers the thin thread of trust they’ve established during their escape from her father’s fortress. It seems an insurmountable hurdle but it was a hoot devising a way for them to overcome that problem and strengthen their confidence in one another.

• And just for fun: what would your hero’s honeymoon destination of choice be?

Kalan’s partial to a long soak in hot water. There’s a scene in the book where you get to see him indulging, so I guess a destination with natural hot springs or a spa. 

VENGEANCE BORN
There is no mercy in the demon realm. No escape. In this place of desperation and conflict, anyone who is not pure bred is virtually powerless. Until an unlikely champion is born…

Annika, half-blood daughter of the Na’Reish King, longs for more than her tormented life among her father’s people. Conceived in hatred and bred as a tool of retribution, she’s gifted with a special talent that can heal as well as destroy.

With the Na’Reish vastly outnumbering them, Kalan, a Light Blade warrior, knows the future of humankind depends on him alone. Incursions into human territory and raids for blood-slaves by the Na’Reish Horde have increased. As Chosen-leader, he faces the task of stopping the demons—and convincing the Council of aging Light Blade warriors that change is necessary for survival.

When Annika learns Kalan is a prisoner in her father’s dungeon, her dream of escape seems within reach. She agrees to free him in exchange for his protection once they reach human territory. Now, marked for death for helping him, Annika must learn to trust Kalan as they face not only the perilous journey to the border but enemies within the Council—and discover a shocking truth that could throw the human race into civil war…


Vengeance Born is published by Berkely Sensation, and is available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, BookDepo, and Penguin Australia.

Help!! Domestic failure!!

I've always wanted to be organised ... to be one of those women who arrive everywhere on time looking well put together with washed, tamed hair and wrinkle free clothing. But, alas, that has never been me. I'm always the one running up with hair like a wild woman and wonky make up because I remembered to put some on in the car and the stupid rear view mirror is not the best!

What does this have to do with writing? Absolutely everything. Because if I could be a more organised housekeeper I would have more writing time :-) Yes I have 6 kids but I am a big believer that if a person is organised and has their life in order then everyone can squeeze extra hours out of the day to write in. So that is where you, lovely and wonderful (and hopefully well organised!!) blog readers come in. I want to know your time saving devices, the tools you use regularly to organise your household. Recipes welcome!!

And yes, for those who wondered, I am so badly horribly organised that I forgot it was my turn to blog today. So please take pity on a domestic failure and leave me lots of wonderful tips :-)