This hasn’t posted yet on The Indie Spotlight, but I thought you might enjoy reading the answers I just sent them to their questions.
Q. Tell us about your book series:
The Sex, Life, & Hannah book series is an exploration of the human heart; the things we desire and fear most, and Hannah is the telescope into our most intimate thoughts and emotions. What starts off as a basic girl loses boy and tries to find love again story, ends up winding us through the sordid details of the relationships that shape our lives. Will Hannah find The One? Will Jack ever stop philandering with both sexes and settle down? Will Ireland ever have a baby? Will Celeste ever give up her virginity? Sex, Life, & Hannah is a sexy shotgun blast of cocktails, cockteases, and revelations.
Q. How long did it take to write the book?
I had originally written one manuscript about Hannah’s adventures, which took about a year to write. Me and my editors ended up discarding quite a bit from that original manuscript, so it took about another half year to complete what became the first book in the Sex, Life, & Hannah series.
I took some of what was discarded in my original manuscript and wrote the second book, the Spring Season, in about another half year. The third book in the series, that I’m writing now, has been the most challenging, because I don’t have an old manuscript to pull from. The characters have taken on lives of their own, and I’ve had to shape stories around their pivotal moments rather than those that were originally mine.
Q. What inspired you to write the book?
The inspiration for the book series came from my adventures in and out of relationships, and the stories of my closest friends. I wanted to write something relatable; an honest dissection of what we were going through as women and men in our late twenties. And then Sex and the City came out as a TV series, and it proved to me that there was an audience for what I wanted to write and how I wanted to write.
Q. Talk about the writing process. Did you have a writing routine? Did you do any research, and if so, what did that involve?
I think the most important thing in the writing process is discipline. You have to set a time every day to write, whether you’re inspired or going through writer’s block. Without that discipline, you will never finish your book.
Also, what helps me write most is music. When I’m getting ready to write a scene I go through my music and pick the perfect song that captures the essence of what I’m trying to write, and then put it on repeat.
Research, even in fiction, is important, because you still need that flavor of believability, especially in my books where I often blend the real with the made up. Especially when I’m writing a scene that’s technical, like when Jack was telling Hannah about how men can have multiple orgasms, I had to do my research. I wouldn’t want to write something that’s physiologically impossible.
Q. What do you hope your readers come away with after reading your book?
Most of us, as we get into our late twenties, and especially if we’re not where we want to be or getting what we want out of life, start to feel like we’re the only one. Like everyone else is living their dream and we’re struggling. What I hope people get out of reading my books is that sometimes you just can’t get what you want, and what you think you want is not necessarily what you need anyway. Just like that Rolling Stones song…