I've got a website

Had one for quite some time (since 1993). Thought I'd mention it, as someone this morning was asking if I had a website.

I do. Here is it:

The quick URL is:  http://tinyurl.com/heidikneale


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Her Grace isn't that hard to google.

Thursday Interview: Rebecca Laffar-Smith

Y'all welcome Western Australian author Rebecca Laffar-Smith to Romance Spinners. Her official biography reads:

"An author; a publisher; a mother. Rebecca loves bringing the joy of reading to children, exploring magical words of wonder and darkness, and fairy tales of happily ever after romance. As you can imagine, that leaves her torn between her three passions. She writes science fiction and fantasy under the name Rebecca Laffar-Smith, romance under the name Serenity Bly, children's books under the name Bec J. Smith, and publishes books for children with language and literacy difficulties at Aulexic."

Today we're having a bit of a chat about the genres we like and the importance of reading for everyone. If you have a reluctant reader with literacy difficulties, consider having a look at her P.I. Penguin series.

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HWK: You're known for writing SFF but I hear you've got a secret soft spot for Romance. What is it about this genre that you like?
RLS: I've always been a devourer of romance. I'm a big fan of Mills & Boon and in my twenties I imagined joining the ranks to pen some of their Sweet, or Sexy, or Temptation lines. I love to read romance, when I'm experiencing a physical and emotional low due to my Bipolar, because they're written in a way that isn't too demanding for the reader. They're light but powerfully emotional and that sense that love conquers all is uplifting. It brightens the mood and sometimes I need that, especially because my SFF writing is usually pretty dark and emotionally fraught.

Having said that, the first attempts I made into writing Romance in my twenties were absolutely terrible. I probably didn't have enough emotional maturity or experience with love and loss and even heartbreak to be able to write a convincing happily ever after. My characters didn't have much life and body. Thankfully, the writing I've done over the years has helped significantly but I'm still only just exploring the genre again as a writer.

And to be honest, a lot of what I like about it as a writer is the strength of the market and the emotionally rewarding writing experience. When I'm writing SFF I find I get into the grit of what I'm working on. It can be emotionally draining, and I find myself dragged into the darkness with my characters. Writing Romance does the opposite, it pulls me up out of that hole and makes life a lot more fun and shiny. Obviously there are stages of the writing where I'm dealing with conflict, but there's always a sense of destiny in the story where I know things will turn out for the best in the end. When I'm writing SFF I don't have the confidence of that certainty.

And that same confidence and certainty is true for being able to find readers. The romance market is huge and ravenous. As a romance reader myself I know I can power through about four romances in the time it takes me to read one SFF. So I can go to market with a romance and be relatively confident it will find readers where are SFF is often a lot more hit and miss. I have to hope that my kind of SFF appeals within a niche of the SFF market and because it takes longer to write and requires more emotional and physical investment in its production it can feel good to break that up with the occasional romance where I know I'll find readers who love the story. Romance readers are a lot less critical in reviews so long as you satisfy the key emotions.

HWK: I also love Pride & Prejudice. You explore Elizabeth & Darcy's first married Christmas in your novella "Christmas at Rosings". What is it about the Darcy/de Bourgh family dynamics that caught your imagination?
RLS: Lady Catherine is a monster. As an antagonist she was an obvious choice, especially because Darcy's loyalty is something to really play upon. Of course he loves his aunt and he has been raised to respect, even admire her. Elizabeth's standing in that dynamic is shaky at best. She doesn't have the breeding to give her any sort of status in Lady Catherine's eyes and it's easy to let Darcy's past respect for his aunt clash with his still emerging loyalty to his new wife. Their relationship, having had a rocky beginning, is easily shaken by the foibles of their past.

I think that's very true of relationships. The things that tear couples apart or make it hard for them to come together in the beginning, will continue to rock the foundations of that relationship. They'll continue to be tested by them, and it takes work to strengthen the foundation to withstand that kind of ongoing turmoil. I liked the idea of building that stronger foundation with Darcy and Elizabeth because I always felt like they didn't have enough strength to keep their relationship together after the final declarations in Pride and Prejudice. 

HWK: You've got works in several genres. What makes you want to explore different ones instead of focusing on a single genre or age group?
RLS: Well, the children's books surprised me. I honestly never imagined myself a children's book author and it was only the homeschooling I was doing with my son that lead me down that path. Now I can't imagine not working in children's fiction but I'm still always drawn back to SFF which is my first passion. And somehow, even in my SFF there is a degree of Romance. I think love is such a central theme in life that we find it in every genre.

These days, because I'm working so much with my publishing house I don't have as much time to write as I need and I try to keep my focus to just those three genres, Children's, SFF, and Romance. As I said before, the SFF tends to be heavy writing so it's time consuming and emotionally taxing. I tend to think of Romance writing as a palate cleanser. It's a way to declutter those dark thoughts and emotions so that I can come back to the other work with a clearer head.

Of course, having said that, I can tend to have a short attention span and just love to flit from project to project. I let the ideas lead me and sometimes those ideas take me outside of what I've already done. I love to challenge myself to keep growing and developing as a writer so I'll throw myself down the rabbit holes of wild ideas and see where they take me. Thankfully, for now at least, they've gravitated around just three genres, but I'm not ruling out someday exploring crime, and I definitely know I have some non-fiction waiting in the wings, although I'm fairly confident that I won't go near thriller or literary fiction.

HWK: You've been doing a fair bit of work with Aulexic, an imprint that brings interest-appropriate books to readers with literary acquisition difficulties. How did you identify the hook (simple language, advanced ideas) as a successful gateway into reading for this particular literacy group?
RLS: I tend to focus on what has worked in my own experience and in the experiences of those I've talked to directly. It's not particularly scientific, although I have done a lot of research into the science of learning disabilities and language acquisition, I find anecdotal evidence tends to hold greater weight in that we can see it's effect directly on the people that matter. Especially in situations where the science doesn't hold up to what I've seen in the real world.

In this case, our family has first hand experience. I'm dyslexic, my mother is dyslexic, and my son is both dyslexic and autistic. So we're very familiar with language and literacy challenges. Aulexic began as a homeschool project to make books that would entice my son to want to read. He had become disenchanted with books when he was attending school. He had been forced to read boring school readers that had no story or substance but were a jumble of words on the page so he had begun to assume that all reading was pointless. We had to find a way to convince him that reading can be powerful and fun.

I knew that, as a dyslexic myself, the only time I read is when I'm absolutely interested in the material or I'm gaining a particular benefit from the information or communication. And I know a lot of non-dyslexic adults who are like that too. If it's not gripping our attention, we'll put it down and walk away. Today, children have even more choice when it comes to reading or not and we need books and resources that give them a reason to want to read.

Then, of course, we take the ideas of compelling, interesting, and story-rich concepts even further by incorporating aspects of layout and formatting that improve readability for all readers, but have shown particular improvement for dyslexics. And I like to incorporate a degree of reality, logic, and science in our books so that they'll appeal to autistic children as well.

HWK: A friend is visiting you next week and bringing a guest who's a scientist. However, they have warned you that their guest can be a talker. What kind of scientist do you hope they're not?
RLS: Wow, that's actually a hard question because I tend to be fascinated by everything. I could tell you I'd love to talk with people in genetics, space flight & astronomy, and psychology. I don't know that there is any particular science I wouldn't find interesting but I might not be too keen to spend an evening with someone who talked incessantly about bugs. Entomology, while interesting, can send shivers down my spine because I'm not a fan of insects.

In fact, I think I've found one I would like to avoid, a Melittologist! They study bees and I'm deathly allergic to bees. Just thinking about them gives me anxiety attacks so spending a whole evening talking about them would put me off my food and make for a very unpleasant evening. Although, even having said that, the insatiable curiosity of my brain wants to learn more so while it would be physically taxing because of my emotional response to the subject matter I think I'd still find the evening mentally stimulating and interesting.

HWK: Preach it! If you could convince the world of *anything*, what would it be?
RLS: Possibility is infinite.

These three words have such broad reaching implications in every area of our existence. I believe that the potential for every individual is limited only by their dreams. You can achieve anything you decide to set out to achieve. It will take hard work and patience, but if you truly believe in what you set out to do and continue working toward that goal, eventually you'll accomplish it.

That then of course extends to things like space flight, time travel, extraterrestrial life, genetics, metaphysics, longevity of life and health, even love. I believe anything and everything is possible. Scientifically it may require adjusting some of our commonly held beliefs or changing the rules, but we've been proving that even that is possible, especially when you consider the vastness of our universe. We've only just scratched the surface on what we think we know and we're having to adjust that view all the time.

So yes, I'm preaching, "Possibility is infinite."

HWK: Thank yo so much for joining us on Romance Spinners.

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Interested in Rebecca Laffar-Smith's books? Get your copy now:  Romance | Science Fiction/Fantasy | Children's

Interview - Barbara Burke

Whaddya know? A Friday Interview on a Friday!

We'd like to welcome Barbara Burke, author of Not2Nite - A Candy Hearts Romance to Romance Spinners.  As this beautiful WWII novella was released this week, you can grab a copy if it right now:

Amazon | KoboBooks | B&N

When ARP warden Molly sees a light shining through the darkness of London on a cold winter's night in the middle of the blitz she's infuriated with the careless American who struck it. Doesn't he know there's a war on?

Guy's just trying to find his way through a maze of unlit streets. He's very sorry and Molly reluctantly forgives him. When he accompanies her on her nightly rounds the two learn about each other, themselves and whether it's really possible to fall in love in only one night - especially when there's no guarantee of tomorrow.

Normally the phrase "Not Tonight" is considered the antitheses of romantic. However, as this novella is set during The Blitz in London, the idea that one will not die tonight lends a thread of hope to this title. That totally worked for me.

So let's have a chat with Barbara Burke:

HWK: Nice to see another historical Candy Hearts story. What inspired you to set your story during the Blitz?

BB: It’s nice to be another historical Candy Hearts writer. Thank you for inviting me to be on your blog, Your Grace. I’m generally a Regency writer, but unless I wanted to incorporate time travel into my story I knew I would have to write something Victorian or later because Sweetheart Candies came out in the 1860s. I thought about a WWII story for purely practical reasons. It seems to be a hot period right now (my daughter finds it an incredibly romantic time, for example, and she’s right; who doesn’t love Casablanca?) and I thought that might help sales. Also, I’m a big fan of the music of that era – my husband and I like ballroom dancing and I adore the foxtrot – so that was a bit of a spur. When I started researching it I became absolutely fascinated. So much so, in fact, I’m now writing another one about an aviatrix who ferries planes for the RAF.

HWK: What lessons can the iGeneration, living in this world of technology and terrorism, learn from the Greatest Generation, who lived through WWII?

BB: I suppose it’s to work together. I did a lot of research for Not2Nite – which basically means I sat around reading a lot of memoirs when I should have been actually writing. One of the things that stood out for me was how people looked out for each other and put their own personal concerns aside. I’m sure there was lots of moaning, but the things that everyday Brits put up with because ‘there’s a war on’ was absolutely gob-smacking. And they carried on doing so. Rationing was still going on in the 1950s so they could pay off their war debt to the United States. I can’t imagine that happening today.

Having said that I have no problem with Millennials – I even have one of my own. I think they’re an absolutely wonderful generation – smart and connected and caring. I can’t wait to see how they do when they’re in charge.

HWK: Is there an element or theme you like to include in all your stories?
BB: Well, I’d like to have a cat in every story because my co-workers – and I use the word workers in its most forgiving sense because they’re even less productive than I am - and constant critics are cats, but that doesn’t always work out. Other than that I like snappy dialogue and I refuse to allow my heroine to randomly do something completely stupid just because the hero has entered the building. No humiliating falls or senseless spills. My heroes fall for competent women. Molly, my heroine in Not2Nite, actually gets knocked down by Guy, the hero, come to think of it, but she certainly doesn’t come across as incompetent because of it.

HWK: I agree that Georgette Heyer is one of the great writers of the 20th Century. What, in your eyes, makes her works great?

BB: Well, I was being a little tongue-in-cheek with that remark. Let’s say she’s one of my favourite writers of the 20th Century. I don’t think she’s got a single book I’ve only read once. I’m the kind of person who can read something over and over again and continue to derive pleasure from it and she comes through in spades for me. Her characters are drawn so deftly and her dialogue just sparkles. And, of course, she owns the Regency. She invented a genre! How many writers can make that claim?

HWK: A Nigerian Prince shows up on your porch with the $2.5 million you won in the Spanish Lottery. However, it comes with a condition. You cannot spend it on yourself, or anyone you know personally. What do you do with it?

BB: Hmm, $2.5 million doesn’t buy anything like as much as it used to so I’ll have to be careful with it. The town I live in, which is the provincial capital so there’s no excuse, no longer has a library downtown and I think that’s a huge problem. So I guess I’d use the money as seed to get things started to build a downtown library again. People on the street would have access to books and the Internet and a warm and comfortable place to sit and read. And just as a general principle there should always be a downtown library everywhere there’s a downtown. Now let’s get to the more interesting part of the question: tell me more about the Nigerian Prince.

HWK: Preach it! If you could convince the world of ANYTHING, what would it be?

BB: Good grammar isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity. (Thus speaks a woman who has been known to start a sentence with ‘and’.) If there’s one thing that sets my teeth on edge it’s people who misuse the language and then shrug it off with a casual ‘you know what I mean’ as if that’s any kind of excuse. I once saw a British television show in which the protagonist (who I will love forever) walked into an office and noticed a large sign on the wall which used the word ‘your’ when it should have been ‘you’re’. When he pointed it out and was met with indifference he sighed and said: “You’re the one who looks stupid”. That’s exactly how I feel. I try not to be too pedantic about it. And (see, there I go using ‘and’ at the beginning of a sentence) though it drives me crazy I’m trying to force myself to accept that words change and now it’s okay to say disinterested when one means uninterested and decimate when one means devastate. However, I will never accept people being referred to as ‘that’ instead of ‘who’. It’s The Man Who Would Be King not The Man That Would Be King. Who are we to argue with Kipling?

Having said that, I’m a typical Libra, which means I can see both sides of any issue. You wouldn’t believe how many hours of sleep I’ve lost debating the merits of the Oxford comma with myself.

HWK: I'm rather fond of the Oxford comma.

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Not2Nite is out now for lovers of WWII and Romance. Get it from your favourite ebook retailer or wherever all good ebooks are sold. 

Amazon | KoboBooks | B&N

Interview - Beverly Breton

Today Romance Spinners welcomes Beverly Breton, author of I'm Sure - A Candy Hearts Romance. Happy Book Birthday! Grab your copy today.

Amazon | KoboBooks | B&N

During the day, Megan surrounds herself with water lilies and goldfish in the ponds she creates. At night, memories of her lying ex-boyfriend are a reminder she can never again trust a man.

Jason embraces his career as paramedic firefighter, even though ugly experience declares his profession a greedy mistress. During quiet nights at the station, he wonders if this bachelor existence is all he’ll ever know.

Then Jason meets Megan and sparks fly, chased by flashes of anger when Jason, battling a raging apartment fire, stands up Megan on their first date. Is St. Valentine powerful enough to bring these two strong-willed people together?

Shall we have some interview fun?

HWK: You've played quite nicely with contrasts and opposites: water vs fire, noisy day vs quiet night. How do the metaphors of opposites work for you?
BB: Life is about balance, always. The constantly tipping scales in every aspect of our lives is what makes life so frightening, and marvelous!

HWK: What drew you to horticulture for this tale?
BB: I love to read stories that have an element of wonder, a thread of the magical, and I have always found nature to be wonderful and magical. Flowers and plants particularly draw me. I have been a florist since high school, and studied Horticulture, along with English Literature, in college. So making water, plants, flowers, animals, frogs, and koi important parts of I’m Sure was a natural. My first romance for The Wild Rose Press, Stars In Her Eyes, is all about water--Karen and Spence meet via a head-on collision in a wave pool. In Under A Halloween Moon, wind and fire lend a magical air to the story. May Day Magic hinges around the surprise delivery of May Day baskets of flowers. And Crazy Happy Hearts is completely tied to the ocean where Kenny and Susan grew up, and reunite decades later.

HWK: You're best known for your non-fiction. What lured you to romantic short stories?

BB: All the hours over all the decades I’ve read and stayed awake far into the night reading romance! There is absolutely nothing to compare with a good romance novel for me, so how could I not want to write romances myself? I fell hard for Thomas Hardy in college, but discovered since his stories are not all happy ever after, they aren’t true romances. The first true romance author I fell hard for was LaVyrle Spencer because her romantic pairings were not always the clichéd romance couple. Like Morning Glory that pairs an ex-convict with no money and no prospects with a poor tired widowed farm wife.

According to my horoscope, I was born on The Day of the Nonconformist! I have to believe it when I write because I find I don’t want to conform to an expected format or type of writing. I’m always drawn to trying something a little off the norm, for me, or the genre.

HWK: Why do you think reading fiction is important to our culture?

BB: I know why reading fiction is important to me. Fiction is a safer place for authors to share the thoughts and feelings that plague them, astound them, scare them, confound them. Issues and thoughts we would shudder at talking about we can offer up between the pages of a fictional novel. Then readers can open up to feelings and fears they don’t understand in this safer place. Between the pages of every book, there is an ongoing and forever dialogue between the authors and the readers, available anytime anywhere. I can’t imagine life without this ever-present opportunity.

HWK: Two days after computer viruses make the jump to human viruses, the World Health Organisation bans all personal computers. How do you adjust to your technology-free yet healthier lifestyle?

BB: Easily. As long as we still have phones and stationery and pens to keep in touch with each other, the only major difficulty I’d have is going back to writing on typewriters with their very limited capacity for editing. I would not be excited about returning to white-out….

HWK: Preach it! If you could convince the world of ANYTHING, what would it be?

BB: Not sure I’m ready to take that podium… What I think about lately is how uncomfortable, and bad, we tend to be with confrontation—defined as any time a person has to stand up to another person with a difference of opinion. Whether in business dealings, a personal relationship, a romantic relationship, a community group, many of us are not adept at undertaking “confrontation” as an opportunity for growth and harmony. I would convince people that kind and constructive ways to approach differences do exist! And dealing is always better than denying or burying because long-standing disagreements don’t go away, but fester until this buried anger causes ugly destruction and often irreversible damage. So I think I would want to convince people to treat each other with respect and consideration, every one everywhere, even when you disagree!

I think I did take that podium after all…

Thank you, Heidi, for asking.

HWK: Never be afraid to speak up for a better world.

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I'm Sure is out today. If you like a bit of humour interwoven in your romance, pick this one up:

Amazon | KoboBooks | B&N

You're Invited to a Book Launch

If you are in the Perth or Rockingham area, please come along.

Monday 22 Feb, 5:30pm
Rockingham Central Library (Dixon Road, Rockingham)
Bookings Essential
ph: (08) 9528 8683
email: RCLcontact@rockingham.wa.gov.au

I have candy hearts and a few e-copies of books to give away.

Interview - Peggy Jaeger

Today's Friday Interview is on a Sunday, just before the release of her fun Candy Hearts Romance story "3 Wishes".  Welcome to Romance Spinners, Peggy Jaeger.

"3 Wishes" is out tomorrow (8 Feb) from The Wild Rose Press. Grab a pre-order R I G H T  N O W! from your favourite ebook retailer:

The Wild Rose Press | Amazon | B&N | Kobo

Valentine’s Day is chocolatier Chloe San Valentino’s favorite day of the year. Not only is it the busiest day in her candy shop, Caramelle de Chloe, but it’s also her birthday. Chloe’s got a birthday wish list for the perfect man she pulls out every year: he’d fall in love with her in a heartbeat, he’d be someone who cares about people, and he’d have one blue eye and one green eye, just like her. So far, Chloe’s fantasy man hasn’t materialized, despite the matchmaking efforts of her big, close-knit Italian family. But this year for her big 3-0 birthday, she just might get her three wishes.

What's not to love about this book? It's got chocolate. It's got luurve. It's got the HEA we all crave.

I had a delightful chat with Romance author Peggy Jaeger (who's written a few other nice books) about "3 Wishes" and the value of Romance in our world today.

HWK: Many Romance heroines tend to be on their own or only have a small family. You feature a wonderfully big Italian family for your heroine Chloe. What fun aspects does family dynamics add to your story?

PJ: This is a fabulous question. I lovelovelove big families because I am an only child. I always dreamed of having brothers, sisters, and cousins galore to help navigate me through life, provide information on what to expect, advice on how to solve problems, and basically just to have a related peer to play and live with. The San Valentino family is huge! Chloe has 4 older brothers and a younger sister, all of whom she adores. And her parents are all part of large families a well. The fun thing about writing this big family was discovering all their individual personalities and quirks and then melding them together as a cohesive unit. Of course the hard part was keeping all of them separate and individual, and not sounding or acting like the other! But this is the way I imagine a big, loud, and loving family is in real life.

HWK: I hear you. I've got thirty-six cousins myself.  What drew Chloe to the candy trade?

PJ: The family story goes that when Chloe was six, her Nonna Constanza was making Christmas cookies for the clan and Chloe wanted to help. At the time, she’d been watching television and a commercial for Hershey’s Kiss candy came on. Chloe asked Nonna if they could add a candy kiss to the cookie, Nonna said “Si!” and from then on, Chloe was fascinated by all things candy and chocolate related. By the time she was ten she was making her own chocolate candies using molds and recipes in her mama’s kitchen and giving them as presents to her friends and family. In college, she took business courses to help her understand how to run her own business. When she graduated, her Uncle Sonny gave her a $25,000 no-interest loan to open her own shop and she was able to repay him that first year. She’s never looked back and feels very blessed to be doing what she loves.

HWK: Ah, passion. Gotta love it. The contemporary world needs Romance stories. What values do you see Romance bringing to the world?

PJ: Another fabulous question. Love is the one universal emotion I believe all humans desire. To give love, to be loved, to share love. And romance is just a way of expressing that love. When I see a couple who have been married for 50+ years in church holding hands, that is romantic to me. When I see a new father feeding a baby so his wife can take a nap, that is romantic to me. Romance isn’t just candy and flowers ( although Chloe would say yes to the candy part of that equation!) The world today is filled with a great many negative emotions, feelings, and events. A little romance goes a long way to helping ease a burden, a sad heart, or even dry a tear. That’s why I think it is so important that we read romance, and live romantically. Romance, despite what the cruel media says, is not dead, nor a fairy tale. It is a living, breathing, fluid emotion.

HWK: I so completely agree with you. It makes the world a better place. As an author, why did you choose Romance?

PJ: I believe every person deserves a happily ever after ending in their life. You don’t need a billionaire, a castle, or to be as beautiful as Helen of Troy to find your one true soul mate and be happy. Love is work. Hard work. But when you find that one person who fulfills all your fantasies and desires, you will get your HEA.

HWK: Are there any other genres you love?

PJ: I love Regency Romances but I don’t write them. I live in the here and now and that’s what I’m comfortable writing. If I wrote a regency, I would have to learn all the little intricate things about the era so that I don’t make a mistake with the writing.  I’m too busy to learn, but never too busy to read.

HWK: Bless your furry little soul; I love Regency as well. Yeah, different rules, different times, different dynamics can make things interesting. Speaking of different dynamics... Local laws in your city change. Now everyone must own a pet. A random stranger on the street doesn't know what she should get?  What pet do you recommend and why?

PJ: This is probably one of the hardest questions I’ve been asked recently! Seriously. I love cats and dogs, and have had both. There’s nothing as rewarding as a dog who loves you unconditionally. Cats, because of their independence, may not be as physically loving as a dog, but there is nothing sweeter to me when I am writing than to have my kitty slumbering on the table next to my laptop, her little paws stretched out to me, indicating she is with me. Tough question. Can’t you get both??

HWK: Of course you can. One final, very important question: Preach it!  If you could convince the world of ANYTHING, what would it be?

PJ: Just this: God puts dreams in our hearts and we have a responsibility to make them come true. I was 54 years old when I got my first romance novel published, At a time when many people are looking to start winding down in their careers, I made a 180 degree shift and turn from my lifelong job of nursing and retired in April 2015 to write full time. I’d always had the dream in my heart to write romance, but life intervened. Marriage, child, job, family obligations came fast and frequent and I never had the time to devote to my writing. When my hours were downsized from my job due to an organizational shift in my clinic, I decided to start doing what I’d only dreamed of. Within 6 months I won a contest and another 2 months I had a publisher for my first novel. Since then I have had 3 books in a 6 book series published, along with a novella (3 Wishes!) coming out in 2016.

Never, ever, ever give up on a dream. You are never too old to see it come true. ‘Nuff said.

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'Nuff said. Thank you for joining us at Romance Spinners.

"3 Wishes"- a Candy Hearts Romance by Peggy Jaeger, is out 8 Feb (tomorrow!!) from The Wild Rose Press. Also available where all good ebooks are sold.

If you haven't got your copy of "3 Wishes" yet, get one here:

The Wild Rose Press | Amazon | B&N | Kobo

Interview - Annette Miller

We still have two weeks of Candy Hearts Romances to go. Today's interview is Annette Miller, whose book www.CUPID shares the same book birthday as mine.  Love paranormal romance? Hate bureaucracy? Give this a read.

Buy Links, because it's available right now:

TWRP | Amazon |  B&N | Kobo

Allison McCall, supervisor in the Romance and Proposal Department of Cupid Corp., firmly believes rules are meant to be followed, yet her own love life is unfulfilling.

Preston Carlyle, Allison’s former boyfriend and one of more creative agents, believes rules should be broken occasionally to give true love a chance. Only he’s having a hard time convincing Allison and Cupid his techniques are working.

From the disastrous paperwork and the frequency of Allison’s visits to Cupid’s office on Preston’s behalf, she fears her position and his job are in jeopardy. But when she finds out he’s requested a transfer to the Holiday Security Agency, Allison decides to prove she cares for him…even if it means breaking a few rules.

Of course, with a blurb like that, we had to cross-examine Annette to find out what make www.CUPID and the author tick:

HWK:  Even love is ruled by bureaucracy. What gave you the idea of incorporating Cupid for the guidance of romance? 

AM: Everyone always seems to have this preconceived notion of Cupid as a cute cherub with a bow and arrow or a mischievious imp. I guess I pictured him as more of a corporate man, treating love like a business because of a broken heart in his past. 

HWK:  Preston's not doing a very good job. How did Preston get promoted to the Romance & Proposal Department from Flowers & Poetry? 

AM: He pulled a few strings because the girl he loved in college is the head of that department. So, a little bit of this, a smattering of that, and there you go. Moved to the place you want to be. 

HWK:  You seem to enjoy inserting the fantastical into your stories. What is it about Fantasy that sings to your soul? 

AM: The world these days truly lives up to the phrase "harsh reality". Fantasy, and romance, give readers a softer place to live. Those worlds are usually saved, not by the big names, or prominent people, but by regular folks who know doing the right thing is hard, but worth it. And I like to think there are magical creatures watching over us. 

HWK:  Would today's society benefit from a real life Cupid Corp? 

AM: I think so. Sometimes people need that little voice in their ear or a gentle nudge in the right direction. 

HWK:  Due to a Very Sticky Situation, you must turn to a life of crime. What new criminal career would you choose? 

AM: Robbery. When I built enough capital, I'd become a megalomaniacal overlord of the planet. I like to dream big. 

HWK:  Preach it! If you could convince the world of ANYTHING, what would it be? 

AM: Don't let people you can't do something because "it's crazy" or "there's no money in it". Follow your heart and trust your instincts. You have them for a reason. Get rid of anyone who doesn't encourage and support you. It's your life. Grab it and run!

HWK:  Sounds great!

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Happy Book Birthday for yesterday.  www.CUPID is available right now for your reading pleasure:

TWRP | Amazon |  B&N | Kobo

Interview - April Hollingworth

Today's Friday Interview is happening on a Sunday because tomorrow's the release date for sweet Candy Hearts Romance story "Be Mine"! Out from The Wild Rose Press on 11 Jan 2016.

Pre-order this book R I G H T  N O W!! If you don't, you might make puppies cry.

buy links: TWRP | Amazon | Kobo | B&N

Romance Spinners welcomes April Hollingworth to our august pages for some fun and merriment and some Sweet Romance.

Beth has always loved Mark. He was the boy of her dreams even though she was nothing more than his little sister's best friend. Now he's back from the military and looking at her differently. Though that could be the plate of lasagna she dropped in his lap.

A series of mishaps gives Mark opportunity to spend time with her. He is sure that he is the man for her but experience has taught Beth not all men can be trusted. Can he convince her that he wants her to be his for Valentine's Day and ever after?

Doesn't that make your heart flutter?

HWK: In "Be Mine", Beth and Mark have known each other since they were young. Why has it taken them this long to realise their love?

AH: Beth always knew she loved Mark, but as Beth is his younger sister’s best friend he never really noticed her when they were growing up. Then he went away to college and straight into the army, and he didn’t see her again until he finally arrived home.

HWK: I love Sweet Romance. What aspects of Sweet allow you to explore Romance in "Be Mine" without the need for sexytimes?

AH: I love sweet romances too. With Mark and Beth they had heat and the blossoming romance igniting them together, so I felt if I was to write a sexy scene for them it would be purely for the sake of it, so no hanky-panky for them. They do show their passion for one another in other ways, during self-defence classes and etc by a look, touch and even teasing words.

HWK: I agree. Sometimes the subtlest of glances can say so much. How does writing Romance satisfy your soul?

AH: I feel happier in myself, as if by writing it I’m keeping a part of romance alive. Sounds strange I know. The way I think of it is like reading a fairy-tale, what I write brings me to a place where happily ever after will happen, even if the road is difficult and dangerous, it’s a guarantee at the end that love will triumph. Also I just adore romance.

HWK: What psychological benefits do readers gain from reading Romance novels?

AH: : I think as a reader and a writer of romance, I think psychologically reading romance has a calming effect. When I read romance books of heroines standing up for themselves and yet taking a chance on love, I know that’s what I want for myself and others too. Reading of a powerful man who becomes gentle for his woman is wonderful. It’s almost as if romance books are teaching us that we don’t have to settle, that we should take control of our lives and follow our dreams, after all our soul-mates our out there, but if you settle, you may never meet them.

HWK: A law is passed and mint flavour is banned from all toothpaste. What flavour do you suggest they replace it with?

AH: No mint flavour toothpaste, hmmm that’s a hard one. Okay raspberry flavour toothpaste. I love raspberries.

HWK: Preach it! If you could convince the world of ANYTHING, what would it be?

AH: Love unconditionally and follow your heart wherever it takes you. After all, life is an adventure so enjoy it.

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"Be Mine" - A Candy Hearts Romance is out from The Wild Rose Press and you can preorder it wherever all good ebooks are sold. I recommend trying here:

TWRP | Amazon |  Kobo  | B&N

Interview - Lauralyn Aaron

Today's Friday Interview features NaNoWriMo winning author Lauralyn Aaron. 2015 was her first year attempting NaNoWriMo. Lauralyn is also the mother of emerging storywriter Felicity Aaron who inspired her to sit down and write her NaNovel.

Author bio: Lauralyn Aaron proves her insanity by homeschooling her five children, who fortunately seem to be turning out to be decent human beings despite their crazy mom. She studied Political Science at the University of Utah back in the dark ages (or at least the '90's), where she met her husband, Norman. Since then, she's been busy dealing with all the fun of motherhood from diapers to chauffeur duty to trying to convince her daughters that algebra will actually be useful to them someday. In her spare time (ha), she loves to read anything she can get her hands on, resorting to the shampoo bottle or cereal box if there's nothing else handy. Of course, smart phones have made that kind of reading fairly obsolete these days as there's always something better on Facebook than what's on the back of the cereal box.

Yes, she's all that and more. Lauralyn was kind enough to share her journey and thoughts with me for Romance Spinners. 

HWK: Congratulations, you won your first NaNoWriMo! What motivated you to give it a go?

LA: Well, I've had an idea (my only idea for a novel) in mind for a few years. My brainstorming process has been lengthy to say the least. What finally got me to do it was teaching a literature and writing class for homeschooled students. Since I was encouraging them to do NaNoWriMo, I needed to lead by example. We had several write-ins at my house, which made it all more fun for all of us.

HWK: What would you like to tell us about your novel? What inspired you to this story?

LA: Like I said, this idea has been floating around for a while now. One thing I suggested to the homeschooled student was to use a classic story or fairy tale and retell it from a different point of view. With that in mind, the trusty "brainstorming in the shower" scenario came into play.

One day I just started thinking about Sleeping Beauty and how everyone in the castle fell asleep with her, but not everyone in the castle had their whole family there. What about families that were split with some working at the castle while others lived elsewhere? So that's where it started. If I'm honest, I felt inspired to write this story because it was the first time I had a viable story idea, but I've always wanted to write a book.

HWK: I love that idea because it touches upon the human experience of those who were left behind. Can I convince you to let me read it some day?

You've always loved literature, especially classics like Anne of Green Gables. What draws you to these books?

LA: I learned to love reading from my mother, who has been known to read while washing dishes, while folding laundry, while walking--basically any repetitive task is an excuse to read.

As a reader, I'm very character driven. A book doesn't need to have a super exciting plot for me to love it as long as I love the characters. I will say that writing does matter to me, but if the characters are relatable and the writing is good, that's all I need.

Older books like Anne of Green Gables are great because the slower pace often allows for the reader to feel close to the characters. Anne, in fact, was my best friend in seventh grade. Socially, those middle school years were rough, and Anne went everywhere with me. I think I read the entire series five or six times in one year. On the flip side, a book like Divergent, which was an absolute page-turner, was not a favorite for me because I didn't like Tris much.

I still love classics. Jane Austen and Charles Dickens are amazing. When it comes to mysteries, Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, and Rex Stout are favorites. The only genre that I think is better in more modern reading is fantasy/sci fi. You may want to unfriend me on FB for saying this, but I've never been a big fan of Tolkien or Asimov.

HWK: Fear not for abandonment. I prefer a lighter style of fiction.

LA: Incidentally, I'm impressed that you remembered this about me after so many years...unless you refreshed your memory by Facebook stalking me, in which case, I'm not so impressed.

HWK: (I thought it was you stalking me…) Actually, my remembering that detail is a bit convoluted. I once wrote (and subsequently had published) a story where a couple met through an online group called “Kindred Hearts”. I got the name of the group from a similar one you once belonged to. Every time I glance through that anthology, I sometimes think of you.

How do you believe reading benefits the human race?

LA: Other than the obvious fact that we can pass on knowledge through reading, there are a couple of major benefits:

When we read, we learn that we're not alone in our experiences. Every time a character in a novel goes through an emotion or experience that we relate to, we feel that someone understands how we feel.

At the same time, reading helps us understand experiences and feelings that we haven't gone through. It gives us the chance to see the world through a different point of view. For me, part of being a more mature person is realizing that I can like someone even when we don't agree on things, even when they do things I honestly disapprove of. That is a gift that stories can give us because in real life, we rarely get to see things so thoroughly from the other person's point of view.

LA: 5. Preach it! If you could convince the world of ANYTHING, what would it be?

LA: Be nice.

That's it. I am so tired of how angry and judgmental and critical the world feels. If we would all just try to be a bit kinder instead of being so worried about scoring a witty comment or convincing someone of our political views, things would be better. We don't have to always agree in order to be respectful to each other, so...let's just be nice. (Says the political science major.)

HWK: Normally I post links, cover art and a blurb to an author's book. As you're not marketing at the moment, is there any other web site that you would like me to link to instead?

LA: One person who has been really inspirational to me in writing is my daughter, Felicity. She has loved writing stories since she was ten or eleven. She won her first 50,000 NaNo at the age of thirteen. Dealbreaker is a story she wrote a couple of years ago based on the prompt "In 1500 words or less, write a story in which love is dangerous." 

HWK: [reads...]  Ohmigosh! You guys have got to read this.

No, seriously. Stop right now and go read this story. It's only a thousand words or so. You will not regret reading this beautifully bittersweet tale.
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Many thanks to NaNoWriMo-winning author Lauralyn Aaron for being suckered into willing to be interviewed for Romance Spinners. Remember folks, it doesn't matter if you're published or not. If you're writing novels, you're an author.

And a quick mention for Friday Interviews starting in January and February: The Candy Hearts Romance series is coming out from The Wild Rose Press and I've got a handful of my fellow Candy Hearts authors lined up for your edification and entertainment.

Interview: Maggie Elizabeth Marshall

Today I welcome literary writer Maggie Elizabeth Marshall to Romance Spinners. I met Maggie in the My 500 Words writing group. Maggie writes literary short stories and non-fiction articles. We look forward to more inspiring works from her in the future.

HWK: I was interested in your use of patterns in your short story L-A-C-E-Y. What fascinated you so much about Mr Greyson's obsession with the number four?

MEM: Psychology is a relatively new fascination of mine. I love the mind and all it can do and am fascinated in how things go “wrong”. The idea of obsessions is particularly interesting – how the mind can latch onto something so useless. It’s funny, because I was actually diagnosed with OCD a year after I wrote L-A-C-E-Y. I’ve learned a lot about OCD since. While that piece is highly accurate to the OCD experience, my own experience differs very much. While Mr. Greyson ruminates on the number four and is highly concerned about germs, I ruminate on imperfect social situations and whether or not I’ve hurt people. Because of this, Mr. Greyson has become a particularly special character to me. And, as for his obsession with the number four, that was an accident, actually. I picked a random number and it ended up fitting perfectly with the theme of the story – the difference between love and obsession and whether or not they’re even separable. His compulsion – counting – is actually a way to relieve his stress caused by the obsessions. The thing about OCD is that the compulsions themselves become sources of stress when their calming effect wears off, usually almost immediately after the compulsion is acted upon. It’s as painful if not more painful than L-A-C-E-Y makes it out to be.

HWK: I see you have a love of the literary genre. What draws you to this genre?

MEM:I love the idea of writing about realistic situations. I, of course, dabbled in fantasy and historical fiction, but I never felt fully comfortable until I entered the literary genre. I think there is something so fantastic about creating an outrageous situation out of something that could be real. Granted, not all literary fiction is realistic fiction. So, perhaps it is better for me to explain it this way: I love when a story does more than entertain. I love when it makes you think. When it causes you to question things you thought were set in stone. When the language itself has beauty and is crafted just as well as the story. For me, writing in a way that focuses on every tiny aspect of the craft is more thrilling than writing just to entertain.

HWK: You've got quite a few non-fiction article credits to your name. Do you have a preference of fiction or non-fiction? What is your ultimate love?

MEM:My ultimate love is fiction. I have a few half-written fiction novels I hope to publish. I love writing short stories. I write articles for fun and really enjoy it, but it’s not what drives me. Most of my creative non-fiction is driven by my circumstances in life. In fact, almost all of the short, creative  nonfiction pieces I’ve had published were written during a very difficult time in my life. I can work at creating fiction, while nonfiction comes when it comes. And though I enjoy writing articles and running a blog, it is a job to me – something I must do to get by until I can publish my fiction and make that my job. But I’m lucky enough to enjoy the journey to get there!

HWK: What do you consider the greatest benefit of reading is to Humanity?

MEM:Wow, this is a heavy questions for me! I think reading provides so many things, but most of all it provides knowledge about humanity. As a fiction writer, I truly believe that fiction can portray truth in a way even nonfiction cannot. Fiction has a way of creating a story that highlights the truths of humanity, or even the existential questions of humanity. Fiction creates a story that forces readers to acknowledge these truths and questions and deal with them, when so often we are unable to see them in real life. Like L-A-C-E-Y – I hope readers question the connection between love and obsession, as well as see that Mr. Greyson may live a different truth than we do. These connections and viewpoints are almost invisible when we walk around in our own heads. We can’t read our neighbor’s mind, but we can read the mind of a character if the author allows it.

HWK: You have grown deathly allergic to dogs. What other animal do you choose to guard your property?

MEM:I think I would like a vicious peacock or a crazy flock of hummingbirds.

HWK: Preach it! If you could convince the world of any one thing, what would it be?

MEM:I would love to convince the world of the importance of kindness and awareness. We are so stuck in our own heads. We are all guilty of being selfish, of ignoring others, of thinking our issues are more important. I am guilty of this too! But kindness and awareness go such a long way. Realizing the people around us are not just props in our own play – they are real people with real minds who hurt and cry and suffer just as much, if not more than we do. If we all lived in constant awareness of others, not only would we help others, but we would be helped by others. I see it all too often: someone is hurting and their friends are more concerned about the burden the friend is upon them, rather than the pain that friend is dealing with. If we could reverse that, the world would be a much better place. The only way to relieve the burden off yourself is to also relieve the burden off the other.

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We wish Maggie Elizabeth well as she embarks on her adventures at graduate school in creative writing.

Visit her webpage, chock full of really good posts, at http://www.maggieelizabethwrites.com/

Wherein I talk about being a pro author

Finnish poet Aale Tynni knew what it takes.

I have a guest post  over at Maggie Elizabeth Writes on Being a Professional Author. It's not about the money, it's about the attitude.

Maggie's a fellow My 500 Words writer. I'll be featuring her later in my Friday Interview series.

Writing income is variable, and not necessarily the best marker for determining if someone is a professional author. In this industry, it's not the dollars-per-hour that determines your professional status, but how you approach the craft and the discipline. I know several professional authors who have yet to make a dime (note, I said yet). If they continue to persist, their time will come.

It's like this in the Fine Arts. You've got to put in your chops and prove yourself before you can see a financial return. Or as the musicians put it, "gotta pay your dues if you wanna sing the blues."

Feel free to comment on Maggie Elizabeth's blog if you agree or disagree with what I've stated.

______________________________
Her Grace's biggest secret to being a professional is daily persistence and high prioritisation.

Website Updated

I've updated my website. (Ignore the fact I don't have my domain name running yet.) Find it easily with http://tinyurl.com/heidikneale.

• Find info on my current releases and upcoming projects.
• Browse my backlist and bibliography.
• Get a glimpse into my secret music life.
• Learn fifty things about me that aren't true.
• Sign up for the Quarterly Newsletter.
• Find as many variations of Fluff as you can. (Can you find them all?)

_______________________________

Her Grace believes a job done imperfectly is still a job done.

A to Z Challenge: Interview - Corinne O'Flynn

Today I welcome fellow A to Z challenger and and Fantasy author Corinne O'Flynn to our Friday Interviews.  As part of the A to Z Blog Challenge, I encourage you to visit her on corinneoflynn.com  and say hello.

Her official bio says:

Corinne O'Flynn is a native New Yorker who now lives in Colorado and wouldn't trade life in the Rockies for anything. She loves writing flash and experimenting with short fiction. Her novel, THE EXPATRIATES (Oct. 2014) is a YA fantasy adventure with magic and creatures and lots of creepy stuff. HALF MOON GIRLS (April 2015) is a murder mystery/police procedural set on Kauai and was written as part of the launch of Toby Neal's Lei Crime Kindle World. She is a scone aficionado, has an entire section of her kitchen devoted to tea, and is always on the lookout for the elusive Peanut Chews candy.

When she isn’t writing, Corinne works as the executive director of a nonprofit. She is a member of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, and the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. You can find her online at her website, Facebook, or Twitter @CorinneOFlynn.

I had some fun chatting with Corinne about several nifty things:

CO'F: Thanks for having me on your blog. I've just released a new novella and I'm hosting a contest for anyone who reads and reviews on Amazon, they can enter to win $25 amazon gift cards or ebook copies of my YA novel. Contest details here: http://www.corinneoflynn.com/a-giveaway-to-celebrate-a-new-release/

Cool! We love contests. Y'all have one more week to enter. 

Corinne writes YA Fantasy. Her first book The Expatriates: Song of the Sending is out now. I quite enjoyed it.

HWK: In "The Expatriates: Song of the Sending", James has lived most of his life on Earth. His mother kept the reason for that a secret from him. Having read the book, I understand the wisdom of her decision. That's a hard choice to make. What was going through her head or her heart when she initially made that choice?

CO'F: When his family made the choice to hide Jim, it wasn't a unanimous decision. Without revealing spoilers, I will say that Jim's mom wasn't interested in the greater good or anything political as it would relate to doing this. In fact, she abhorred all of those things. Her choice was driven by the "mama bear" instinct to protect her child and give him the best shot at a decent life, everyone else be damned! If you read the story, you'll know that ends up.

HWK: The Sweetwater clan hid on earth in plain sight as a travelling circus. Was this part of their camouflage, or did the clan have a deeper connection to the performance arts?  Do you have any circus connections?

CO'F: Oh, how I wish I had circus connections, in the fantastical non-animal abuse, nostalgic way! Didn't we all want to run away and join the circus at some point in our childhoods? No, when I think of the circus, it's a romantic, magical place. In The Expatriates, the Sweetwater clan lives in a traveling carnival as a way to stay on Earth without arousing the suspicion of the locals. They aren't the first ones from Bellenor on Earth, and previous clans have been doing this for ages. Since many of them have special abilities, a nomadic life was the best protection. There are carnival clans that live on Bellenor, the world where they are from. It's a part of the culture for these people and, at this point, is a planned feature in future books.  

HWK: What do you love most about publishing in the 21st Century? 

CO'F: Aside from the fact that the barrier to publication no longer exists for anyone willing to do the work, I think the coolest thing about publishing today is the ability to try new things. For example, I was invited to write a novella to help launch Toby Neal's new Lei Crime Kindle World. Half Moon Girls launched last week! The whole concept of Kindle Worlds and the ability to license fan fiction in this way is possible in many ways because of how publishing has changed. I love that the short-story is making a comeback, and anthologies. Indie publishing has made a huge impact there as well. I am fan of publishing in all is flavors. But the changes are empowering, for sure.

HWK: What one writing tool do you wish you had?

CO'F: I wish I had a gigantic visual, wall-sized touchscreen for plotting and outlining. A dynamic flowing beauty like we see in sci-fi and futuristic movies. That would be the one writing tool I'd love to have. Like, right now, please. 

HWK: Your neighbors stage a protest march on your street. What are they protesting and would you join them?

CO'F: Hmmm. There are so many causes igniting passions these days. I could list a dozen. Instead I'll share one that I was talking about just yesterday. Something that's going on around here in Colorado that is troubling many people is the mass-murder of prairie dogs to make way for new development. While many see the prairie dog as vermin, the fact is prairie dogs are what is known as a keystone species--their existence contributes to local wildlife diversity and should they become extinct, that would result in the extinction of species dependent upon it for survival. I love their cousin... the squirrel. I *love* them. I have a pinterest board dedicated solely to the delightful squirrel. And based on that alone, I would absolutely join that march!  

My pinterest board: https://www.pinterest.com/corinneoflynn/squirrel/

HWK: Preach it! If you could convince the world of one thing--anything--what would it be?

CO'F: Oh man... that's a huge question! If I have to pick one thing, I'd like to empower people: It is possible for one person to make a difference in the world. And if you're passionate about something, do it! Don't listen to the people who would hold you back. No matter who they are!

HWK: Thanks for spending some time with us on Romance Spinners.

BUY LINKS:

The Expatriates:



Amazon.com • Barnes & Noble • iTunes • Smashwords • Goodreads • Kobo

Half Moon Girls: Kindle Worlds Novella
A kidnapping and murder mystery/police procedural set in Toby Neal's Lei Crime Series



Amazon • Goodreads

Links to info re: Toby's Kindle World - other writers can write in it if they want!
http://tobyneal.net/kindleworlds/

I'm on Facebook!

Because all the cool kids are on Tumblr.

Have you liked my Heidi Kneale, Author facebook page? It's got this really cool graphic:

It's worth liking for this quote alone.

Question of the Day:

When you want to escape reality, what's your Go-To book?

The comments await your escape plan.

_______________________________
Her Grace loves the escapist nature of fiction most of all.

Interview: Margaret McGaffey Fisk

Today I welcome fellow Fantasy and Romance author Margaret McGaffey Fisk to Romance Spinners. I've asked her some deep questions and she's come back with some thoughtful and rather interesting answers.

Margaret McGaffey Fisk living the wild life.

Her official bio says, 

Margaret McGaffey Fisk is a storyteller whose tales often cross genres and worlds to bring the events and characters to life. She currently writes romance, science fiction, and fantasy but will go wherever the story takes her.

A daughter of diplomats, her early years were filled with many cultures, both very much alive and long turned to dust, and people who both pondered the great thoughts and were grand pranksters. Whether from wild adventures into the desert to climb sand mountains, poking around little known archeological sites, or visiting bazaars and inner cities, she came out of that time with a love of culture and an all too sharp awareness of culture clash.

She currently lives in a Nevada desertscape with her husband, and a rotating collection of cats and sons. When not exercising her creative muscles, she has been known to tame the relatives of beasts in the wild–feral cats.

In a different time, you’d find her before a bonfire or with a mug of ale and a lute spinning tales for all who are in earshot. Now, though, you can read her explorations of loyalty, love, and cultural conflict wherever you might be.

Darn tooting she's got some stories to tell.

HWK: You and I share a love for Sweet Regency Romance. What do you love about this genre?

MMF: I was a bit of an Anglophile growing up, in part because I had many British teachers, but it's the contradiction of the Regency Era that draws me. On the one hand, you have strict, rigid rules of society and position (though not as strict as the Victorian Era), and you have a heavy drinker/partier as Regent, following on the heels of a king gone mad. The rules were broken left and right, but if you did it within the wink and nod, there were no consequences and even approval. Someone like Beau Brummel could rise from the rank and file to drive society, and could just as easily plummet back down. It's upheaval with a veneer of civility. Young women raised never to let a hint of scandal touch their names while lovers climb out of their mothers' windows in the night and their fathers are off watching lewd shows.

But that doesn't answer the sweet, and to be honest, I don't have a good answer for that beyond reading a ton of Georgette Heyer and having Pride and Prejudice as my one consistent reread. I enjoy visiting the period whether or not the novel is sweet or explicit in nature.

As to why I write it, the answer is a little different and yet much of the same. When I first started the Uncommon Lords and Ladies series, Beneath the Mask met the contemporary romance expectations, but there was so much to explore in their social situation that ultimately the sex brought nothing to the table. I cut the scene during edits and have never looked back.

HWK: In BENEATH THE MASK your heroine Lady Daphne chooses to pursue a career on the *gasp* stage! How terribly scandalous. Why did the theatre arts such as acting and dancing have such a bad reputation in Regency times? Today, they are considered rather respectable crafts. Why do you think this changed?

MMF: I believe the scandal had to do with performance and exposure, both physical as the costumes were often revealing (at least for the times) and social in putting yourself on display for any comer. The strictures on acting and dancing by the 19th century were most likely in part a reaction to earlier excesses, such as the queen performing partially nude in the 17th century, but could also be a simple consequence of the low salaries. Those who were attracted to the arts would come from the lower classes, and their best hope would be to find wealth and elevation by catching some nobleman's eye either to become an accessory or a lover. With randy noblemen on the hunt for light skirts, no father would consider it an appropriate occupation even for a spinster or widow, nor would a husband. Though wealthy widows might have had some aspects of freedom, the men controlled the women in most of English society.

The theatrical arts themselves, especially acting, were quite appreciated and often an anticipated part of a country visit. The guests would take parts and perform a play, but their audience would be the guests themselves and perhaps the household staff. Certainly no strangers would be invited off the street to observe.

A feminist (and well supported by the evidence of the times) view would say the wives and daughters of the wealthy were bargaining chips worth too much to expend on a stage open to the masses. A wife's reputation and contacts among the upper class and nobility could open doors, but even with mistresses from the lower classes accepted into some parts of society, a wealthy or noble woman could only reduce her reputation by associating with such outside of the constraints of society itself.

In terms of the modern impression of the arts, I'd have to say all the scorn of the 19th century is still alive and well for any who do not achieve the spotlight, as are more questionable venues for both dance and theater. Few children are encouraged to pursue a love of the theater or dance, and often pushed to see it as a hobby with a more stable career as the main even when they are. Unless gaining early fame and fortune, that is. At the same time, there is more opportunity in the arts, and more methods to find a viable audience now than there ever were. The main difference is that a man is not considered a wastrel and a woman of loose virtues now. Instead, the focus is on income.

HWK: In your Uncommon Lords & Ladies series, you feature heroes and heroines who balk social conventions. What is so appealing about this kind of rebellion?

MMF: Aren't we all rebels at heart whether or not we act on those desires? The status quo offers two approaches for interesting stories: someone outside who comes in or someone inside who moves out. That's a simplification, but it's what creates the larger than life drama that feeds both the romantic and adventurous hearts.

To be honest, though, I didn't set out to choose these characters. Daphne told me what she was up to and I was hooked. Rebellion opens the possibility of mystery, adventure, and the chance to let the characters stumble so they can learn more about themselves than a normal life offers. Sometimes, they're balking as much from the modern perception of the era than the actual, but it lets me talk about the conventions without conforming to them. Which is more interesting? Having Lady Scarborough tell Daphne dance is scandalous or having Daphne cross that social line to experience the trials and expectations faced by the dancers?

HWK: What modern societal convention do you think needs to be rebelled against?

MMF: There are half a dozen specific conventions I think have gone sideways, but the biggest weakness I see in modern society is the decline of personal responsibility. You might think that's not a convention per se, but it is something being supported by what society encourages and how it responds to those not taking responsibility.

It is, I believe, almost single-handedly responsible for the runaway nature of personal injury lawsuits that are crippling the United States and why medical malpractice insurance is so high doctors cannot afford their own practices. There is a place for both those legal actions, but when a person running down the sidewalk on an icy day can sue the shop owner for negligence over a patch of ice with no consideration to their deliberate failure to adopt a good speed (whether or not they win), everyone loses. It's the same on the medical side where doctors can be sued for less than optimum results in risky procedures instead of using the action to remove those who don't take the proper care. Then you have parents who are afraid to have their children's friends over because if they get hurt, as kids do, the other parents might sue.

If people would take responsibility for their own actions, then these legal remedies could be used to improve things rather than making everyone afraid of their shadow, while it becomes harder to separate action from consequence and therefore to cast blame where none belongs.

HWK: You're a hybrid author (published both traditional and indie). Why did you choose to go hybrid?

MMF: I have been making inroads on the traditional side in short form, and I appreciate every editor who gave my stories a chance. However, though I have had some encouraging responses, I never got past the barriers set up between readers and the stories they could enjoy with my long works. When the indie road opened, I ignored its call and continued submitting to the gatekeepers. I got frustrating responses about how even though the agents liked the book, they couldn't sell it among the "not for me" responses, but no one was willing to champion what I was sending out. Then one day I became fed up. I took a manuscript I had never sent out, but one which resonated with my creative spirit, put it through the wringer with edits and editors, and threw it out onto the court of public opinion.

Though none of my novels has broken out so far, as an indie, I can look to the long haul rather than those precious first three weeks. The response from readers has been good, so my stories clearly resonate. They just need time for the word to spread. That's something I would never have been given in traditional publishing because of how that model is set up, which is exactly why the agents passed on stories that resonated with them.

I'm not saying I would never consider a traditional contract should one be offered. What the indie path offers is what works for me at this point in my career and life. Should that change, or the right contract come along, I'd be happy to hybridize more than just my short fiction.

HWK: Eco-terrorists take over the government and pass a law banning all automobiles. What do you do next?

MMF: Cry? You have to understand, I am still driving my very first car some 25 years later. She's getting on in years (eligible for classic status here in Nevada), but she still gets better gas mileage than many new cars, is lovely to drive, and doesn't let me down.

Seriously, though, when I was in my late teens, I was working full time and didn't have a car. I went everywhere with bicycle, and mass transit when available, so I know it's possible in the right circumstances. Even eco-terrorists would quickly learn, however, banning automobiles without providing a viable alternative is unsupportable between the many rural areas without mass transit service and the trend, at least in the US, for suburban living. The economy would grind to a halt, resulting in people making worse decisions just to survive, so I don't think it would last all that long.

HWK: Preach it! If you could convince the world of ANYTHING, what would you want them to know?

Of all your questions, this is the easiest...and the most difficult at the same time. I would like to convince the world that negativity begets negativity. People wonder why everyone is getting more distrusting and isolated with each generation, but to me it's obvious. The media focuses on the negative while relegating the "feel good" stories to the inner pages if they warrant a mention at all. Do-gooders are scorned rather than held up for emulation while a slow news day searches out minor disasters in distant lands rather than looking at some of the good happening locally.

Know that old saying "you are what you eat?" Well, in my experience, it's the same with what you consume in other ways as well. Multiple studies have shown that even forced smiles produce the chemicals to improve your mood while I don't know anyone who can deny if you focus on the negative you start to see everything as negative. Why can't the same be true of positives?

I'm not saying everyone should go around rescuing people from burning buildings. I'm talking about the steps every single person can take on their own that don't require money or power. They require choice. Say hi to the commuter you pass on the street every morning or even just smile. If nothing else, their startled reaction will offer a chuckle to improve your mood.

I like the gratitude memes that have been going around. They encourage people to take stock of all the good that's in their lives no matter how dark might seem. Sometimes the good is a stray cat who lets you pet him or a sunshine day after three rainy ones (or vice versa). It does not take success, money, position, or any of those things people strive their whole lives for while trampling the flowers that would have offered joy for nothing. All happiness requires is you choose to see it in the little ways joy exists all around you.

You did say preach it, right?

HWK: Absolutely!

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Margaret's second book in the Uncommon Lords and Ladies series is A COUNTRY MASQUERADE.

A Country Masquerade is the second in Uncommon Lords and Ladies, which began with Beneath the Mask.

Lady Barbara Whitfeld’s dreams are shattered when she overhears a harsh condemnation from the one lord she’s set her heart on. If he thinks her frivolous then she’ll show Lord Aubrey St. Vincent just how frivolous she can be. Despite popularity with the ton, and the gossip an absence will provoke, Lady Barbara is banished to her uncle’s farm in the hopes she’ll learn maturity.

Lord Aubrey believes in true love, but finds none among the season’s debutantes who provokes even the slightest interest. No one, that is, until Lady Barbara gives him a cut direct in Hyde Park. After fruitless searching, he learns she quit London before he could discover how he offended her. Lord Aubrey heads to the country to escape the season only to find himself drawn to a young farm girl, none other than Lady Barbara in country guise.

Can Aubrey overcome his qualms about her unsuitability before Barbara’s plans to teach him a lesson destroy any chance they might have?

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