This week I’m hosting Regina Scott with The Irresistible Earl, Cynthia Hickey with Fudge-Laced Felonies, and Marybeth Whalen with She Makes It Look Easy. If you want to enter the drawings, please leave a comment on one of the post during the week with your email address. I will not enter you without an email address (my way to contact you if you win). If you don’t want to leave an email address, another way you can enter is to email me at margaretdaley@gmail.com. The drawings end Sunday (June 26th) evening.
Interview with Regina Scott:
1. What made you start writing?
I’ve always loved stories. When I realized, about third grade, that someone wrote all these wonderful books I was reading, I knew I wanted to be a writer too.
2. How long have you been writing? When did you sell your first book?
I’ve been writing ever since I was a child. You would not have wanted to read the early manuscripts. I sold my first book in late 1996, and it was published in early 1998.
3. How do you handle rejections?
Not well. I generally mope around a few hours or a day or two at most, then another idea pops into my head and I’m off and writing again.
4. Why do you write?
It’s who I am. I can’t imagine not writing, even if I wasn’t publishing.
5. What would you be doing with your free time if you weren’t writing?
Probably something else creative. I used to sew my own clothes, and scrapbooking looks like so much fun!
6. What are you working on right now?
I recently sold a three-book miniseries to Love Inspired Historical, and my editor is very excited about the stories. That’s the good news. The bad news is that I will be writing three books in about 15 months. But I’ve wanted to write about these three dashing Regency rogues for a long time, and I’m so glad God gave me the opportunity! The miniseries is about three cousins who discover their late uncle had a daughter he kept secreted away in the North of England. If they want their inheritances, they have to successfully introduce her to London society. I call it three men and a baby, Regency style.
7. Do you put yourself into your books/characters?
Not really. I can see traits in this character or that and say, “Oh, I do that too!” but I don’t plan that. It just happens.
8. Tell us about the book you have out right now.
The lead character of my June release, The Irresistible Earl, never dreamed of being a hero, until she saved the life of a young lady floundering in the waves at Scarborough, England. Suddenly even the dashing Lord Allyndale, the girl’s older brother, wants to know who she is. But much as his attentions thrill her, Meredee Price cannot let him get close. Her family fled the London Season because the Earl of Allyndale had inexplicably threatened her charming stepbrother Algernon Whittaker with a duel. His lordship doesn’t realize her connection to the young man, but if he discovers Algernon in Scarborough, all is lost! What follows is a daring dance between an irresistible gentleman and a woman determined to resist.
9. Do you have any advice for other writers?
I heard another writer say this recently, and I put it up on my bulletin board over my desk to remember: “To be able to spin a story out of nothing but our imaginations is a gift not to be wasted.” Don’t give up. If you have a story to tell, tell it. You may have to learn how to tell it and tell it well, but don’t ever let anyone stop you from telling it.
10. How important is faith in your books?
I’ve always had elements of faith in my books, but until recently I wrote for secular publishers, and I had to be very careful how much faith to show. Now that I’m writing for a Christian line, I no longer have to write about faith in stealth mode.
11. What themes do you like to write about?
I never knew I had themes until a few years ago. Now, looking back, I can see that I tend to gravitate toward stories about finding your way — who are you; what place do you hold in your family, in the world; how can you give back to the world? I noticed I tend to watch those kinds of movies too, as long as they have some humor in them. My books are fairly light.
12. What is your favorite book you’ve written and why?
That’s like asking a mother which of her children she loves best! I’m almost always in love with the book I’m working on at the moment. But if I had to choose one of the twenty stories published so far, I’d probably pick the novella “The June Bride Conspiracy” in His Blushing Bride. That book wrote itself — it was a joy from day one, and I think that shows on the page. Everything from the plot to the characters to the words came together seamlessly. And I adore my hero, the Regency equivalent of James Bond. I always pictured him looking like a young Sean Connery. The story received a top pick from RT Book Reviews.
13. What is your writing schedule like?
I try to write first thing in the morning. I tend to be a morning person, and I want to give my best energy to my writing. Depending on what else is going on that day, I will write from two to four hours before lunch. If things are going well, I might write Monday through Saturday. If I have family or other obligations, I write less. I wish I could spend more time writing, but right now I still have another profession that takes up much of my afternoons and sometimes my mornings too.
