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Hello! We have a new author Q&A for you this week! Check out our conversation with the lovely Trixie More, author of the newly released "Tough Sell."
Thanks so much for stopping in, Trixie!
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1) Why did you decide to start writing?
I’ve always made up stories and wrote them down. Mostly, I kept them to myself, or shared them with a writing group. When I read “Write, Publish, Repeat” by Platt & Truant, the self-publishing bug bit me… HARD. I never had to decide to write, I always wrote, but after that book, I decided to publish, which is a whole different thing.
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2) Do you think authors can succeed in multiple genres or should they stick with a single genre?
I chose to believe that people can succeed at anything they put their mind to. I mean, why would I choose to believe we can’t? That just leaves us eating ice cream and watching re-runs. Even if it’s a lie, I prefer to believe we can do anything. So, yes, I think authors can succeed in multiple genres.
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3) What do you feel is the biggest reward to you with writing?
The most rewarding thing I can imagine is to know that I’ve written something so well that my readers get lured into the story, that their barking dogs, the sound of the TV, their daily cares and pains just slide away and they are inside my story, living it with me. Man, that’s worth working for months on… to create something like that.
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4) Who are some of your favorite authors & why?
For romance, Elizabeth Hoyt, hands down. She has this genius for making the physical romance between her characters be the bridge that connects them when their words and worlds can’t. She has an amazing sense of how two people, when they are alone and out of public view, can complete each other in the most amazing ways. She also has this deeply respectful treatment of characters that at first glance are deeply flawed. I dream of building out stories like that for my readers.
Deborah Blandon for her ability to twist a plot until it screeches. Tessa Dare for her love of quirky girls and her humor. Lisa Kleypas – Devil in Winter was inspired. It took guts to make her villain from one book, the hero in the next book. Christina Lauren – Beautiful Secret/ Delphine Dryden.. Lyla Sinclair …such straight out over-the-top kinky hotness… So many more…
For Horror, Stephen King for his use of immediacy and ability to draw us into the story. Dean Koontz for knowing how to make us turn the page… just one more time. Aimee Bender – flat out, the best magical realist since Garcia Marquez. And John Hart. I hate long passages of description. This man works in description so that you can really see everything and he does it so sneaky fast. I want to be him when I grow up… but with a lot more kissing in my stories.
Somebody stop me. I have a hundred more.
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5) What are the biggest hurdles to overcome as an author?
Allowing yourself to write. Sometimes writing feels like you’re fiddling while Rome is burning. You have laundry, dogs, shopping, cleaning, a day job. When you write, that stuff’s not getting done. You gotta be OK with that.
Getting through the sloggy parts, when your characters don’t want to do stuff, when you have to write a scene that doesn’t feel like it’s flowing, when the words feel sticky instead of quick and slick. Trusting that it won’t always be like that and keeping going is hard and can drive you face first into a bag of crackers.
And for Romance authors? All those romance writers out there, they have some serious back bone. It is not easy to tell your family that the book you’re so proud of is explicit. If you publish erotica or romance, you really have to bring your big girl pants with you. Happily, romance readers get it. Sex is wonderful, romance without sex is dry to me.
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6) Is there any advice that you can offer for new writers?
Finish that first draft. All the way to end. Stop polishing one half of a spoon. You have to polish the whole thing – so finish it. You learn more by finishing than anything else in the world. Your job is not to hit the NY times list, your job is to write a freakin’ wicked good tale and then present it respectfully – with a nice cover, pretty formatting, correct grammar. And then do it again.
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7) Tell us a few random personal things about yourself personal & professional!
⦁ I love to read hot books. True dat. 😊
⦁ I have 2 Doberman Pinschers, one of them is a therapy dog and she works at a behavioral counseling center at our local hospital. I’m crazy proud of that.
⦁ I used to own a deli. I LOVED doing that.
⦁ Now I lead a team of computer programmers and I love that too.
⦁ The third book in this series is going to be a shocker and I’m so excited to write it that I can hardly wait to finish book two.
⦁ Now that I’ve tried to advertise on Amazon, I know why all those book covers have just men on them. There are a lot of rules about what’s too sexy.
⦁ I lost 45 pounds last year. What the what???
⦁ Last year I hiked across Scotland – that’s where I discovered Glengoyne scotch … a bottle of which rolls around Ed’s apartment in Tough Sell.
⦁ Ed’s apartment is actually the apartment that my brother rented in Manhattan.
⦁ I wear Hot Chocolate high heels. Seriously, you have got to check them out on Amazon.
⦁ I’m cooking up an outrageous contest for people on my mailing list when Tough Going comes out. The prize is going to be amazing. I can’t wait!!
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