This week is super special, not just because I have started interviewing authors, but because I have a bonus author this week! I am flattered, honored and a more than a bit in awe of my guest today. Molly O’Keefe is a member of the Toronto Romance Writers, and one of the kindest women I’ve had the pleasure to meet.
Molly’s Christmas Novella – The Christmas Eve Promise - won the RWA Rita award for best novella!
Thank you for joining me today, Molly.
What or who inspired you to first start writing?
I was always a reader but I don’t think it was something I thought I could do until I read the L.M. Montgomery Emily books – about a girl who wanted to be a writer. I have to credit my parents for never doubting my plan – which, frankly, was always to write for Harlequin. In terms of romance the author I found early on that really really made me want to write for Harlequin – was Elizabeth Lowell – all those early Temptations. So hot. So conflicted. So un-PC. But they are still on my keeper shelf.
If you could go back in time and lay claim to any book written, which one would you want and why?
Oh, man, that’s too hard – let me say this though – if I could go back and be Laura Ingalls Wilder – for all those Little House on the Prairie books – oh, that would be fun. I loved those books and can’t wait to introduce them to my kids.
When you are writing and hit a stumbling block, what do you do to try and get over the hurdle?
I need to be smarter about this problem and step away from the stumbling block the second I realize I’ve hit it. Instead – I bang my head against it for a couple of hours and then, usually my daughter wakes up from her nap and I take her for a walk – three steps into the walk the lightening bolt strikes and the problem is fixed. I waste so much time with the head banging. I also have an incredible critique group and their combined heads are better than my one.
What was the strangest thing that ever inspired a scene/book? What was the end result?
All right this might be too much information but, here goes. In my first Flipside – Pencil Him In – the hero and heroine are having sex and she has all these water glasses stacked up on her headboard and they keep banging into the wall – distracting both of them until the hero has enough and smashes them to the floor and they go on to have great sex. In real life they were candles and the sex went downhill because I kept worrying about fire. There you have it. A sneak peek into my life.
Is there a type of story you would like to write, but are terrified you wouldn’t do a proper job? What is it and why?
The book of my heart is a Western. Not kidding. I’ve got the plot – I actually have the first two chapters written and part of me thinks – just do it. But then the other part reminds me that westerns are more than a tough sell and that watching westerns doesn’t really qualify as research – but one of these days – watch out!!
If you could sit down with one author from any time in history, who would it be? What questions would you want to ask them?
Laura Ingalls Wilder and L.M. Montgomery – I would ask them if they were scared of what they were trying to do – if people supported them – how their publishing careers actually came about. I’d ask Laura about Alonzo.
If someone gave you a minion tomorrow, what would be the first task you’d ask them to complete?
Oh, please, someone give me a minion. I’d take a hunchback that drools. First there is laundry – and second I really really want someone else to do all the Facebook stuff I feel bad about never doing.
E-books vs print books? E-readers vs. paper? Can’t we all just get along? What’s your preference?
I don’t have an e-reader, but I would like to take one for a test drive. I actually think that once publishers figure out how to sell ebook versions, everybody’s sales are going to get better. There will still be a lot of people who won’t use one, books aren’t going anywhere. But this is no longer a small piece of the pie. I worry about authors sucked into situations with e-publishers that are not legitimate, and then when things start to go south, wonder why they can’t get what authors with more established e-publishers, or with print publishers have.
What project are you working on next?
Well The Notorious O’Neill’s are out now – a superromance series about a family of n’er do well’s in Louisana. There’s a lot of sweat and sugar pies and sexy sex. Readers seem to be enjoying it as much as I enjoyed writing it. But writing-wise, I’m a little over half way with a single title contemporary romance that I’m writing for Dell. I’m managing to keep my head above water and I’m having a lot of fun with the freedom – so, we’ll see how that one goes!!
How can readers find out more about you?
Stop by my website – www.molly-okeefe.com
Molly had generously offered two donate two books for two lucky people! A copy of Temptation of Savannah O’Neill and a copy of Tyler O’Neill’s Redemption are up for grabs. I will select two names at random from the comments below.
Once Thanks again, Molly, for coming out to chat with us today.
I’ve also started a new exercise routine and (you poor people) will now get to hear all about my pain.
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