STEPH: I'd like to welcome Author Rhonda Lee Carver to the blog today.
Rhonda, How long have you been writing?
RHONDA: Through the years I’ve played around with writing. I’d write something by hand and put it away. Two years ago I decided it was time to take the big plunge and dedicate myself full-time. I haven’t regretted it once.
STEPH: What genres do you write? Do you prefer a certain genre?
RHONDA: I am a romantic at heart. I write western, suspense, erotica and paranormal—all with a love story.
STEPH: What attracts you to writing romance?
RHONDA: When I was 13 I picked up my first romance novel, a Harlequin, and read it from cover to end in one sitting. I was hooked. I knew what my calling was; it just took me a few years to find the path.
STEPH: Where do you find the inspiration for your stories?
RHONDA: A movie, a song, a vacation…you name it. There’s something about my mind and one sentence can trigger a while storyline. If I meet someone and they’re wearing a certain style of clothing, have a specific job or an accent, I can conjure up a character with that one trait. But what really motivates me? Laying in bed and my thoughts travel and I think up scenarios and situations. There are times when I will toss and turn, fighting sleep, until I get up and write the idea into words. That’s when I am most creative.
STEPH: Do you have any marketing tips to share with other writers?
RHONDA: Eer…uhh…let me see. I’m probably the worse marketer you’ll ever come across. Seriously. But if I had to give any advice I would say research how other writers are marketing. Take what works and put your own twist on it. For instance—blogging is huge. In this market, though, everyone is blogging. You’ve got to be creative and make it original. And you must be committed.
STEPH: Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?
RHONDA: Join a critique group…not just any…but one that trades projects frequently, has a good balance of published and non-published writers and has a group of people who don’t mind being honest—even when it hurts.
STEPH: Do you own an ebook reader? If so, which one.
RHONDA: Yikes, I don’t know if I should admit this or not since I’m an eBook writer, but I don’t. It is on my list of “purchases.” When it comes time I will love to ask for advice on which to buy.
STEPH: Tell us a little about the place where you live in.
RHONDA: Ohio. Heard of it? We’re know as “The Heart of it All.” Or, Farmland Central. Miles and miles of hills, cows, barns, and…hmm…just plain country. I live close enough to the city so if I want a taste of glamour it’s only an hour away, but at heart, I’m a small-town girl.
STEPH: Are you a plotter or a panster?
RHONDA: Panster. Plotting?!?! What is that?
STEPH; How important is setting to a story?
RHONDA: If you do your job at setting a scene readers are going to want to jump on the first plane just to check it out. For me, although I love to travel, it’s just not practical. And if you’re writing about a real place, readers want it to be accurate. Although I have written about real locations, it’s only when I’ve had the pleasure of visiting that I’ll use it as a setting. Otherwise, I love being creative and create my own town—I take a little of what I know and mix it with a lot of imagination.
Second Chance Cowboy excerpt:Carly squeezed her hands into fists. “My poor husband. How difficult it is for him to manage his inflated ego and keep his zipper closed.”
“We’re divorced, remember?” His voice reeked of sarcasm.
She groaned in irritation. Her pulse pounded in her ears like the beating of a drum. Her claws were showing.
Chance didn’t blink an eye as he gazed at her across the room. “Honey, I can keep my pants zipped just fine. Problem is, you can’t keep your fingers off my zipper.”
Carly’s palm itched to slap him. “We live in a small town, Chance. How do you think it’s possible we haven’t run into each other more than three times in the last two years?”
She cocked her chin. “Let me fill you in. I’ve done everything in my power to keep from bumping into you. Do you realize how difficult it is to plan my schedule weeks in advance so I don’t have to see you? Is that a description of a woman who can’t keep her fingers off your zipper?”
“No, more like a woman who’s afraid she’ll forget what screwed up our marriage in the first place, realize she’s made a huge mistake and get her ass back home.”
“Humph, fat chance that’ll ever happen.” She fumbled with the sheet in irritation and gave her hair a toss over one shoulder.
Damn, he did have a point, although she’d never admit it to him.
“Yeah, right, Carly, because you can’t ever forgive and forget, can you? You think you’re the only one who has lost, don’t you?” His eyes became steely pools of green. His voice turned low and controlled. “I lost Devon, too. He was my son--our son. How long are you going to keep blaming me for his death?”
Carly swallowed the painful lump in her constricted throat. “I don’t blame you.”
“Could have fooled me.”
“We both know why I left.”
“We do?” His bitter laugh split the air with its razor-sharp intensity. “I know you want to hold on to the belief that I am the bad guy who drove you away, but isn’t it time you took half the responsibility for the failure of our marriage?” A trace of compassion softened his expression. He tugged on his shirt and finger-combed his hair.
“It wasn’t my fault you cheated.” Once she said it, she wanted to yank the words back. Too late, just like their relationship.
“You’re a broken record, sweetheart. It’s not worth denying the accusation any longer. Maybe eventually you’ll believe your words and feel justified in leaving. Devon died, Carly. He’s gone and we can’t change the truth. One of us needed to make the decision to let him go and I made it. I held out hope you’d eventually find a sliver of forgiveness in your cold heart. I guess I was wrong.”
The old wound broke open and her lungs emptied of oxygen. She wanted to lash out at him, tell him to go to hell, but the words didn’t come. Instead, she whispered, “I’m going to the bathroom. When I get back I want you gone.”
“Carly, you’ve become an expert at sucking all the joy out of your life and pushing away anyone who reaches out to you. You’re living in a self-made prison, founded on guilt and pain, and there is no key to unlock the cell door.”
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www.rhondaleecarver.com
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Facebook/Author Page
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000265604936#!/pages/Rhonda-Lee-Carver-Author/155568577811615
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Blog http://rhondaleecarver-author.blogspot.com/
I hope everyone will check out my new blog. Each week I do Sex-Recipe Monday, Tuesday Author Interviews, and Friday Author Blog Specials. In between I throw in my blogs.
Delaney’s Sunrise will be released June 20th, 2011 with www.lyricalpress.com
Blurb for Delaney’s
Dee met Jacob’s brother, Abe Delaney, and knew she’d made a mistake by agreeing to marry Jacob. Sometimes an attraction is too hard to deny, but Dee and Abe resist temptation. Jacob has a secret and when he tells Dee that he is having an affair with a man. He pleads with Dee to keep his secret. Jacob is killed in a car accident soon after. Dee wants to tell Abe the truth about Jacob, but she is bound by a promise even after Jacob’s death. Abe was overwhelmed in guilt that he’d loved his brother’s girl and withdraws within himself. Jacob’s will is read and Abe is floored. Jacob had left his half of the family farm to Dee. This was all the excuse he needed to sink further into his anger and bitterness toward Dee. Hurt, Dee leaves the farm, but now, years later, she returns. Can Dee and Abe work out their conflict regarding the farm? How will they handle the attraction that is still lingering between them, now stronger than ever? Jacob’s past lover views Dee as a threat and he will go to any means necessary to protect his reputable place in society—including murder.
My BIO:
Rhonda is a full-time romance author and a freelance editor. She enjoys writing contemporary, paranormal, suspense, and erotica. Her specialty is bad-ass heroes (charcoal hair, copper eyes, and heart of gold) and smart and sassy heroines. And her favorite subject is…men in military uniform. They make the perfect hero.
Reading her first romance novel at age thirteen, Rhonda was hooked. Her talent of bringing interesting characters to print and shaping happy endings are not only a passion of hers, but a dream career. She thinks the love between hero and heroine should be so steamy that it melts the ink off the pages.
If she’s not at her computer crafting a story, Rhonda enjoys reading romance, hanging out with her loved ones, or watching a movie that either pushes her to tears or has her rolling with laughter…and preferably both.
She lives in Ohio where she is a mother by day and a sensual writer by night. She has too many pets to name but has a place in her heart for each of them.
She believes everyone deserves romance in their life—one page at a time.
Enjoyed the interview!
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