Spotlight Author for August - Lizzie T. Leaf

8/1/2012

5 Comments

 

Award winning author Lizzie T. Leaf

Award winning author, Lizzie T. Leaf started life in Kansas, continued her growing in North Carolina, and currently shivers through the winters in Colorado.  She has numerous e-books in varying lengths and her first print book, Struck by Lightning, won dual 2007 Beacon awards, in addition to being a finalist in two other contests.

In addition, Making Christmas, a Christmas Historical novella set during the Civil War won Love Romances Café Best Historical for 2011.

Beyond Magic, the first book in the Magical Love series won the 2012 Award of Excellence Best Paranormal/Fantasy/Sy-Fi

Since discovering the fun of writing paranormal, she plays with creating vampires, faeries and other immortals. 

When not creating mischief for paranormal beings, she can be found exploring the other genres she wants to write.  She also serves as President for the Heart of Denver Romance Writers. Lizzie loves to read, spend time with her family and travel with her best friend husband during her free time, on which most of friends ask…“what free time?”


 Connect with Lizzie at her website, Facebook, Follow her on Twitter,
And keep up with her happenings on her blog.

Lizzie was gracious enough to answer a few questions for her readers:

WPMP: Do you listen to music while writing?
Lizzie: Most definitely.  The kind of music varies, depending on the book or the scene.  When I worked on Making Christmas, I listened to a lot of music from the Civil War era.  For really heart wrenching scenes, I like Phantom of the Opera.

WPMP: What is your favorite outfit?
Lizzie: I don’t really have one.  At home, I like comfortable…shorts in summer, jeans in winter.  At conferences I try to dress professionally with a touch of splash for fun.  I love hats and scarves, too.

WPMP: How long did it take to have your first book published?
Lizzie: Less than two years after I became serious about writing.  Or at least that’s the timeline for the contract.  The actual release date came a few months later…probably around the 2 year mark after deciding that writing is what I wanted to do with my new life.

WPMP: What authors inspire you?
Lizzie: I’m inspired by everyone who has the courage to put their words down and let others read them.  They become fair game for anyone who does to praise or slam and that takes personal strength.

WPMP: Where do you get the inspiration for your plots/characters?
Lizzie: Any and everywhere.  Some comes from past memories, others from someone waking down the street, or at the next table in a restaurant.  Plus, movies, news casts, talk shows and at times, just taking a look around at the environment you’re in at that moment.

WPMP: What is your favorite dessert?
Lizzie: Ice cream!!!!!  I can eat a carton at one setting.  Of course, I’ll be sick afterward, but I do love the stuff.  Especially chocolate with peanut butter swirled through it!....YUMMMY!!!!!

WPMP: Has it become easier to complete manuscripts the more you have written?
Lizzie: For me it varies.  There are some books that fight every word through the process.  Then others flow threw my fingers onto the keyboard like water, the characters sitting on my shoulder whispering the words and suggestions.  Love it when that happens!

WPMP: Do you have any trunk novels?
Lizzie: Oh, yeah.  Buried really deep in the back of the closet!

DEAD Awake available at Musa Publishing. It will also be available at Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook and All Romance eBooks.


Thanks so much to Lizzie for her great interview!
Leave her a comment to make her feel welcome!
5 Comments

Spotlight Author for October - Elizabeth Hoyt

10/14/2011

19 Comments

 
New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly bestselling author  Elizabeth Hoyt
Elizabeth Hoyt is the New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly bestselling author of historical romance, including reader favorite, The Raven Prince. Elizabeth was born in New Orleans but grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota. She was fortunate to be able to travel extensively as a child, visiting St. Andrews, Scotland; Germany; France; and Belgium. She spent a year in Oxford, England and was a summer exchange student to Kawasaki, Japan.

Elizabeth has a BA in anthropology from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and, as a result of having no clue what to do with her life thereafter, a career history as a barista, a (terrible) sales clerk, a Wisconsin Revenue Service data entry slave, and an archeological field work grunt. Fortunately, Elizabeth married relatively young and produced two children who kept her busy until her mid-thirties. At about this time, when her youngest was entering Kindergarten, Elizabeth’s mother hinted that perhaps Elizabeth should get a Real Job. Sadly, Elizabeth was so delusional she thought writing a romance novel might qualify as a Real Job.

But! Five years later, to everyone’s surprise, she actually sold that romance novel (The Raven Prince) and began a rather successful career as a Romance Novelist. This was most fortunate since Elizabeth is singularly unqualified to do anything else but Make Up Stories. Since then Elizabeth has written eleven books to critical acclaim: The Prince Trilogy (The Raven Prince, The Leopard Prince, and The Serpent Prince); the Legend of the Four Soldiers series (To Taste Temptation, To Seduce a Sinner, To Beguile a Beast, and To Desire a Devil); and the Maiden Lane series (Wicked Intentions, Notorious Pleasures, and the upcoming Scandalous Desires.) All of Elizabeth’s books are set in eighteenth century England and all feature a fairy tale story that serves as a foil to the main story. Elizabeth lives in central Illinois with a bevy of untrained canines and a garden in constant need of weeding.

You can find Elizabeth Hoyt on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ElizabethHoytBooks?ref=search&sid=1033016156.428653851 
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16202.Elizabeth_Hoyt
and Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/ElizabethHoyt

Elizabeth was kind enough to answer some questions for her readers:   

     WPMP: Has it become easier to complete manuscripts the more you have written?
How long does it take you to complete a manuscript?

EH: You’d think it would become easier to complete a book the more you write, but in my case at least, it’s the opposite. It takes me about four months to write a first draft, but then I spent a lot of time on revisions—up to four to six months. 

WPMP: How long did it take to get your first book published?

EH: It took me three years to write The Raven Prince, about six months to find an agent, and then about one and a half years before we found a publisher. 

WPMP: What is your favorite foreign location?

EH: I’d love to visit India. Does that count? ;-) 

WPMP: Do you write while on vacation/ abroad?

EH: If I have a book due, then yes. I tend not to go on vacation unless I’m between books. 

WPMP: Do you have any trunk novels?

EH: Yup! Two detective books. Maybe if this historical romance thing doesn’t work out… 

WPMP: What authors inspire you?

EH: Authors with elegant prose. Lately I’ve enjoyed Eileen Dreyer, Eloisa James, and Jim Butcher. 

WPMP: What made you choose to write books set in 18th Century England?

EH: I think subconsciously because that’s when all the great swashbuckler stories are set: Scaramouche, The Scarlet Pimpernel, etc. I liked the swords and the elegant dresses. Now I’m writing in the early part of the Georgian period with my Maiden Lane books and it’s a very exciting time period for London: lots of immigration and turmoil. 
;-) 

WPMP: What is your favorite fairytale?

EH: Hm, that’s a hard choice. One of my favorites is The Seven Swans. 

WPMP: What would we find inside your purse?

EH: Everything! I am prepared: tissues, bandaids, earbuds, gum, mints, hand cream, chapstick, lipstick, folding brush, two small notebooks, pens, my iphone, my ipad, and a Bluetooth keyboard. Oh, and my wallet. ;-) 

WPMP: Do you have a favorite family recipe?  
EH: We eat quiche a lot:  
Store-bought pastry
3 eggs
3 cups whole milk
1 cup shredded cheese of your choice
½ cup chopped onion spinach, red peppers, broccoli, or asparagus up to ½ cup cooked.  

Sautee veg in 2T butter. Put pastry in pie plate. Place sautéed veg in pastry. Add cheese. Combine eggs, milk, 2T flour, salt and pepper to taste in bowl, then pour in pastry up to edge of shell. Sprinkle lightly with nutmeg. Bake at 425 degrees until top is puffed and just beginning to lightly brown. Cool before cutting.

Our thanks to Elizabeth for sharing her time and her talent! 
Enter our giveaway for your chance to win a copy of her latest book in the Maiden Lane series, Scandalous Desires.
19 Comments