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Are you wondering if the idea behind a Roadtrip Romance came from well ... a roadtrip, you're right. And not, at the same time. Want me to explain?
Once upon a time, a long time ago (at least it feels that way with every passing year), I took a trip with two college friends over Spring Break. Good start? It only has a little bit to do with the book I wrote. Anyway, that trip wasn't planned the best. We traveled from TN to FL and then back up to AR for a few days before back to TN and school. But what do college freshmen know about planning trips? We had fun anyway, and were young enough that the hours in the car didn't bother us. We rocked out to music, flirted with the cute guys in the car next to ours, and laughed together. If you've followed me long, you know I mostly read romances. Historical or contemporary, I don't care. I read them.
However, every now and then I break out of my "rut" and grab something else, including speculative. And my friend Erin R Howard has a new dystopian novel out that's amazing. It's called Beyond the Gates, and is set in two of the last colonies in a dystopian future, as well as the woods around them. I honestly wasn't sure what to expect from this, but after reading a page or two, I was hooked and wanted more. September 27th, three other authors and I have a novella collection releasing. And we're pretty excited about it.
If you somehow missed all our posts on social media and our newsletters last week, here's the cover and more information about each of our stories--four seasons, four small towns, four festivals, and four romances. Sounds good, right? Keep reading! Since first being published in 2017, my writing life has picked up speed. I went from writing maybe one story a year to writing several ... and doing a ton of editing and marketing, too. Apparently, this wears a computer out. Who knew?
Needless to say, the computer I purchased back in 2017 was moving much slower than I needed. It froze, it restarted, and it made funny noises when I tried to join zoom meetings. Besides that, several parts had broken off, making it a bit unstable (no need to comment on how the laptop was like the laptop owner). So many of the authors I interview on my blog are people I have never met but know a bit through social media or their newsletters and books. The author I am thrilled to introduce you to today is actually someone who became my friend first and then an author. Elena Hill has her first story coming out later this month, a romantic suspense included in a novella collection, all set on Sharktooth Island. I think you're going to enjoy getting to know Elena and reading these stories. Be sure to scroll at the way to the bottom for more information.
Elena, congrats on your first published work. What led you to decide to write your first story for publication? I’ve always been a fan of story. My mother is an author and now publisher. I’ve always pushed her saying ‘it’s not hard. You just gotta put it on the page’. So she essentially told me to give it a try and she’d publish it. I was wrong. The writing process takes much more effort than just throwing words on a page lol. But I enjoyed it and feel it better helps me understand Mom’s plight with words. I know this is a collection with three other authors, all set on the same island, but 50-75 years apart. How hard was it to make sure your story fit with the other three? I lucked out and got to be the black sheep. Each time we had planning sessions (zoom calls) nothing was required from me to “fit into the story”. All I had to do was leave a plane carcass in the shoals. ;) One of your characters is a pilot. Have you ever had any experience behind the cockpit of a plane? What made you decide to give your heroine that job? I personally have never flown a plane but I spent several months living in the bush of Alaska. Common travel from villages to the “city” was a small 4-seater plane. It was not uncommon for a passenger to sit upfront with the pilot. When we decided we wanted to do this collection, we agreed we needed a pirate book, a gilded age, a plane crash and a modern day. I volunteered to crash a plane. |
This is a place for me to tell you about what I'm writing, talk about the process or where some of my ideas came from, or even have other authors come in and talk about their books.
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