For Emma Strachan, raising zombies is all in a day’s work. A girl has to pay the bills somehow! But when what should be a simple raising goes horribly wrong, Emma is forced to ask for help from the one man she swore never to see again.
Garret is used to being a loner, as a necromancer he works best that way and frankly, with the dangers he faces every day, it’s easier not to have to look out for anyone else. When Emma shows up on his doorstep desperate for help, he vows to ignore the raging attraction between them – after all a pretty, fun-loving witch has no place in his world.
Can Emma and Garret put aside old resentments in order to try and defeat a zombie unlike anything they have seen before? When the dust settles, can they count on any future between them?
I love hanging out with my fellow authors. It’s always so much fun and we often share each other’s ups and downs. Today, I’m thrilled to be sharing a big UP from my friend Shelli Rosewarne who is re-releasing her amazing book Love Reawakened today! I sat her down for a chat…
Hi Shelli and welcome to the blog. Congratulations on your release and I’m so glad that you were able to chat today. Can you remember if there was a moment when you decided you wanted to be a writer?
I’d always loved writing as a kid but it wasn’t exactly promoted as a ‘valid career choice’ and when I started high school it got dropped by the wayside. Many years later I took some creative writing classes and once I got over the initial fear of ‘letting it all out’ I found I loved it. Something just clicked in my brain and I realised, this is what I want to do.
That is something that I think many writers have in common, a passion for writing, for storytelling. It’s unfortunate that not everyone gets to experience it as wonderfully as you have. So, having discovered that this was your passion, what was it that inspired you to write your first book?
The first book I ever actually completed came from a publisher callout post. I’d only recently started writing again and had never subbed anything, but the callout just sparked an idea in my head and before I knew it the story was flowing out. The sense of achievement when I actually got to write ‘the end’ on something was amazing.
I think people underestimate how hard it is to write a complete book and just how euphoric that feeling of completion can be *grin*. Having finished the book, how did it feel to send it off to the publisher and what was the the most terrifying thing about submitting it?
It was both exciting and terrifying. I remember feeling physically sick pressing the send button on it. Getting that acceptance back though was the most amazing feeling in the world, I’d checked my messages at work and was literally dancing around my office like a crazy person – thank God no one else came in at the time lol!
The happy dance would’ve been a little hard to explain lol. I wonder though, was it easy to tell your friends and family that you were writing romance? What was their reaction?
I wouldn’t say it was difficult, they’ve always been really supportive. I used to find it quite awkward telling new people I’d met that I wrote romance, I suppose it made me feel a little self-conscious. There was an image I had in my head of the quintessential ‘romance writer’ and it wasn’t really me. You do get some quite interesting reactions though, plus some slightly cringeworthy ones 🙂 One conversation I seem to get a lot goes along these lines… Them: So what do you write? Me: Paranormal romance mainly. Them: What vampires and stuff? So, like Twilight? Me: Well, not vampires so much, and a bit more adult than Twilight. Them: So, like 50 Shades then? Me: No… just no.
It’s rather funny how people get caught up on only 1 or 2 different examples of what is actually the most incredibly diverse genre in writing! I’ve had similar conversations *chuckle*. Would you say it gets any easier with more releases?
I don’t know if it gets easier as such. You know what to expect a little more, but putting your work out there in public always has that element of scariness about it. I think as a writer your work is so personal, it’s sharing a piece of yourself with the world, and there’s always that fear that people are going to hate it.
That’s a great point! It’s a very “naked” occupation because we pour so much of ourselves onto the page. Every bad review feels like getting stabbed and it can be demoralising, but the trick is to remember that you write for you first and that everyone has their own opinions. Try not to take it too much to heart. Now tell us, what is your least favourite part of the whole process of writing, editing, publishing and promoting a book? Why is that and how do you deal with it?
I’m not a big fan of promotion, I must admit, though that’s more to do with the fact that I just don’t feel I’m very good at it. I’m not good at pushing myself and my work. It’s something that I’m trying to work on, but I think it can be a fine line sometimes – you’re excited about your books but you don’t want to sound pushy or annoy people with constant ‘buy my stuff’ posts. I know I don’t like things that feel like sales pitches so I would hate to feel readers felt that way about my posts.
That’s a good point. However, authors do need to be part of building their author brand. Fortunately (as I’ve blogged about before) there are ways to build your author brand without resorting to a barrage of “buy me” posts. It’s a juggling act for sure. Is there advice that you would give an aspiring writer?
If you want to be a writer then the main thing is to actually write. Most people you meet will tell you how they’ve always thought about writing a book. It could be the most amazing book ever, but no one will ever know unless they sit down and make it happen. There’s always a million reasons to put it off, life gets in the way — you have a day job, a family, kids to run round after, a partner to spend time with, your favourite TV show to catch up on. It can be hard to find time to squeeze out those words, but if you seriously want to be a writer then you have to try and find that time somewhere — get up a little earlier, write in your lunch break, skip the TV one night a week, whatever it takes. It’s hard sometimes but it’s worth it 🙂
That is great advice!! After all, plenty of working parents write great books… it’s all about making the time to get it done! Here’s a great question! What has been the strangest place that inspiration has struck and how did you deal with it?
I get inspiration anywhere and everywhere, the worse bit tends to be the mad scrabble for pen and paper to try and get it down before it vanishes into the ether! I like noticing things, the certain way a place looks, the lighting, an overheard conversation on the bus, it all has the potential to just spark something off – and that’s the fun part.
I’ve even recorded notes on my phone when inspiration strikes and I haven’t got a pen handy… but the worst for me is in the shower! I find myself repeating the idea over and over until I can write it down lol. Tell me, what is the strangest thing you have ever done while researching your story or characters?
Hmm, I don’t know if I’ve done anything that strange. My google search history would probably be a source of concern, but hey, it’s all for research purposes… honest.
Hee hee. I hear you on that one! If there’s ever a murder in my neighbourhood, I hope they don’t check my browser history!! Now for a fun question, if you were going to prepare a meal for the man of your dreams, what would it be?
Can we go out? 😉 I’m not a particularly good cook and I don’t know if I’d quite want to scare off the guy of my dreams with my non-existant culinary skills.
Now Shelli, we’ll have to work on that! Remind me to send you some simple recipes that will “wow” him 🙂 So it’s safe to say that if you won’t be a chef any time soon, but if you weren’t a writer, what other artistic outlet do you think you’d have?
I did photography for a good few years and I still love taking photos as a hobby. I also enjoy drawing, and used to paint a bit, though I sadly don’t have much time for it these days. I need more hours in the day sometimes!
There never seem to be enough hours right?? Last one, and this could be my favourite… If you could have one super power, what would it be and why?
Teleportation! I would love to just be able to blink to where I wanted to be. Never have to be stuck in traffic, never be late (oops, not that I usually am *looks shifty*), cheap holidays, easy to visit family and friends. It would be awesome.
I LOVE the idea of being able to teleport! Let’s hope they’re working on that somewhere xx
A huge thanks to Shelli for hanging out today!
Until next time,
BM xx
I was very excited when McKayla approached me to tour with her latest release. All three of her Imprinted titles in one book? Yes please!! If you haven’t read them before… now is the time to start!
The Book Mistress 