Interview

Hi Bess and welcome. I am so glad you could join us here at

RomanceJunkies. To start, will you please tell us a little bit about

your current projects?

 

Hi Brooke and Romance Junkies.  Thanks you for having me.  I love interviews! 

 

Well, I have a current release out now with The Wild Rose Press in both e-book and print called LOVE OF MY HEART. It’s classified as a light paranormal, but I consider it more of a contemporary (which is how it started) with elements of the past affecting the present.  Not an uncommon theme, I think.  LOVE OF MY HEART is the story of a mental health therapist, Aggie, who falls in love with her client, Bill, a no-no in the world of psychotherapy.  While she struggles with her unrequited love, she finds evidence of another forbidden love in the house she just bought...an old Victorian in Tacoma, Washington.  In an old closet, Aggie discovers a letter dated 1885 from a William begging a Louise to come back to him.  A picture accompanies the letter, and this William looks just like her Bill.  As Aggie searches for the truth about William and Louise, she also uncovers a secret about her beloved but enigmatic client, Bill. 

 

The book is available from www.thewildrosepress.com and www.amazon.com .

 

I also have an upcoming release in February 2008 from the Wild Rose Press for a straight contemporary called A SIGH OF LOVE. It’s the story of a woman, Abbie, who has a long-distance telephone affair with a man in Alaska, George.  On the eve of her departure to visit him (at his request), he backs out, leaving her with nonrefundable tickets.  What’s a lonely gal to do?  She goes anyway, only to meet a handsome half Native Alaskan man on the plane.  What looked like a disastrous trip promises to turn out well until Abbie discovers that her exotic Native Alaskan has a past he cannot leave behind.  Then George shows up.

 

The third book I have contracted with The Wild Rose Press is again another “light paranormal” called CARIBBEAN DREAMS OF LOVE. That will be released sometime in 2008.  Daisy and her daughter, Lily, take a cruise to the Caribbean.  Daisy never suspects that she will fall under the spell of a mysterious musician.  Amidst nightly dinner tales of ghosts and pirates of the Caribbean, Daisy falls in love with a man she can never have.

 

I have another submission in to The Wild Rose Press called ACROSS THE ROOM Wish me luck!  And I’m just finishing up another “light paranormal” set again in the Caribbean.  

 

With a deadline looming, are you normally ahead of schedule, on

schedule, or convincing yourself that you work "better under

major-stress"?

 

Luckily, I don’t really have deadlines.  The Wild Rose Press is really good about not pushing their authors like that.  However, I do set personal deadlines for myself to finish books or edits, and I probably work “better under pressure.”

 

Every writer dreams of getter "the call" or "the email".  What form did yours come in?  Who got to hear the good news first?

 

My “e-mail” came in April 2007, nine months after I began writing fiction, and four months after I sent the manuscript in to The Wild Rose Press.  Three days later, I got the second “email” for the second work I’d sent in only a week before.  Needless to say, I was over the roof.  The world of ebooks isn’t exactly like getting a call from a New York agent or publishing house, but still well worthwhile...and it moves a lot faster.  My significant other got to hear the news first and then my adult daughter.    

 

What do you like most about being an author?  What do you like least?

 

I love making up stories and entertaining, and I hope readers get just as much enjoyment as I do from the books.  I’d say promoting the work is my least favorite occupation only because it takes so much time away from writing.  But if I didn’t promote, I wouldn’t get to do interviews, and as I said “I love interviews.” 

 

A fellow writing friend has had it!  She is sure she'll never be published.  She is throwing in the towel.  What do words of wisdom do you have so that she'll change her mind?

 

We all go through that.  In fact, published authors go through the same thing when their work doesn’t sell after one did.  I’m not sure I’d want to influence my writing friend to change her mind.  Sometimes, writers do need to step away for a bit.  Oftentimes, they find they miss the writing life so much, they come back...stronger and better.  But I’d certainly support my friend in all his or her decisions. 

 

Wow!  You've done so much traveling!  Thus far, which was your favorite place?  Which one was totally different than you expected it to be?

 

I have done a lot of traveling.  My favorite place would be where I grew up on the coast of Venezuela from age 2 through 12.  I thought it was home...so most of my childhood memories come from that dry, windy coastline where I collected seashells and buried little treasures in the caves along the sandy cliffs above the water. 

 

Turkey, where I lived for three years, was far different than I expected.  It was a fascinatingly warm and vibrant culture with lively people, great food, wonderful shopping, spectacular scenery and exotic Greek/Roman ruins and antiquities.  I’d recommend a visit for anyone.

 

What is the one thing that you'd love to do, but will probably never have the nerve?  What is the one thing you've already done that still amazes you to this day?

 

Hmmm...  I tend not to want to do things I don’t have the nerve for as if being frightened of them takes the enjoyment out of it.  Writing a book is the one thing I’ve done that still amazes me to this day.  Many of us talk about it but not everyone tries it.  Oh, and having a child.  I can’t believe I managed to get that done!

 

Humans tend to be creatures of habit.  Which habits do you have that you like, and which ones would you like to change or get rid of?

 

I am a creature of habit.  I like the fact that I do follow routines.  They keep me grounded and making forward progress in anything I try to do.  I write by schedule which allows me to produce four to five manuscripts a year.  I exercise at the same time most days.  I eat around the same times.  As I said, these habits keep me on a level surface and somewhere near being sane.  J 

 

I’d like to give up my habit...or addiction to hot chocolates.  I took them up when I quit drinking coffee.  Less caffeine but a lot more calories.  I’d like to give up the habit of eating cheese too.  In my writing, I tend to want to write internal monologue and use too many passive words.  I have to fight constantly to write in an active voice.

 

Describe the "perfect" hero?  What about the "perfect" hero for you?

 

A beta male.  I love beta males.  The perfect hero would be attractive (very subjective), kind, generous, funny, sincere, employed, intuitive, a good cook, a nurturer, “in touch with his feminine side,” and capable of showing emotion.  That’s the perfect hero for me as well. 

 

What is this romance writer's idea of the "ideal romantic evening"?

 

Ahhh...  A walk at sunset on a beach (which I get to do every day here on the Gulf Coast of Alabama), a wonderful dinner with lots and lots of variety for this vegetarian, a great love story at the theater (with popcorn), and then...I’d be too stuffed for the rest of it, but this is fiction, so...a wonderful massage followed by a sensual encounter with the man I love most in the world.

 

How do you describe Bess McBride?  How do Bess McBride's family and friends describe her?

 

I consider myself shy.  Reserved.  A bit reclusive.  A one-man woman, one-daughter mom with a small, small circle of people who love me.  (Remnants of my shy girlhood I suspect.) 

 

My friends and family would describe me as above but I think they wouldn’t know why.  They would say I am:

Talkative.  Funny!  Moody...sigh.  Lover of animals and the innocent.  Vegetarian.  Fair.  Principled.  Honest.  Fun to be around...sometimes.  Those are all the plusses.  I’ve heard the negatives, but I’ll save those.  J

 

MORE FUN...

 

The holiday season is here!  Ready or not!  What is your favorite part of this hectic, joyous time of year?

 

Seeing my daughter and son-in-law and now new granddaughter, and playing fun board games with them and laughing most of the night.  But I will not be seeing them this year because I am on the East Coast and they are on the West Coast. 

 

What does this romance writer wear at night?

 

Jammies...well, a big oversized cotton nightgown to my knees.  I used to sleep in the nude for years, but I guess I got older and colder!

 

When going shopping, do you consider it an event, or are you in and out as quick as can be?  Is there one department that always draws you instantly?

 

I like shopping.  I’m a shopaholic but my finances do not allow me to indulge all that often.  I don’t really have a favorite department store.  Anything that carries clothes in my awkward size (as depicted in any full length mirror).  I’m too big here, too flat there, too small there, too skinny there, too round there.  What size is that?

And lastly, no interview of a writer would be complete without this question:  what is your favorite comfort food?

 

The habit I need to change the most.  Starbucks hot chocolate.  It’s my favorite drink when I’m sad or in tears or depressed.  Perks me right up.  Probably something about the chocolate boosting serotonin levels.  But what it’s doing to my weight!!!!!

 

Thank you, Bess, for spending time with us—it has been a lot of fun!   Continued success with your writing!

By Brooke Wills

Romance Junkies Publishing Editor

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