Interview with Amanda Brice:
Hi Amanda. Thank you for doing this interview. I would like to welcome you to the Romance at Heart Interview and Author Grilling session. *bg* We are interested to find out as much about you as we possibly can, so lets get started...
- Please tell us about yourself.
I live just outside Washington, DC with my wonderful husband. In my spare time, I love dancing and take a weekly ballet class. I also love to cook and travel and am an absolutely rabid college basketball fan. I’ll drop just about anything for a Duke game. Don’t even think about trying to reach me in March. It’s a hopeless cause.
- What does your husband think of your writing?
He’s proud of me. He thinks it’s an expression of my creativity and he wants to encourage that. I’m lucky that when I need to hole up and type, he knows not to bother me. He entertains himself with video games. It’s a good fit. But he really does encourage me. He even told me I should take a leave of absence from my job to finish my latest book, if I needed to.
- Do you ever ask him for advice?
Well, he did come up with my pen name! Usually when he reads my stuff, he says something like “I guess it’s good...but where are the nuclear weapons?” Or submarines, or dinosaurs, or something like that. He doesn’t really get the romance and chick lit genres. He’s more of a Tom Clancy guy.
- Please tell us about your latest book.
She’s Got Legs is a chick lit/romantic comedy modern Cinderella story. Daria is your basic ugly duckling turned into a swan, but the idea of attending her fifteen-year high school reunion doesn’t exactly make her terribly excited. Still, she goes, but sneaks into her sister’s closet to borrow something to wear. In her haste to get to the reunion she mistakenly takes the wrong shoes, a really hideous pair of puke green platforms with purple sequins. She thinks it’s a sign she shouldn’t be there, but then she meets a guy from her past.
I also have a short story in the upcoming Dreams & Desires anthology, from Freya’s Bower. I’m thrilled to be in a collection with such talented fellow authors, and even more proud that we are all forgoing profit to donate proceeds to a battered women’s shelter. The book will be released in February, in ebook, paperback, and hard cover. I wanted to be a part of this project because it’s such a worthy cause. There are incredible women at shelters, absolutely amazing and brave women who have summed up the courage to leave their abusers. They need our love and support.
- If you weren’t writing, what would you be doing?
It’s not an either/or situation for me. Actually, I *am* doing what I’d do if I didn’t write. I’m an intellectual property attorney in my day job. I write at night. If I didn’t write, I’d probably go back to my old position on Capitol Hill, but still as an IP counsel. I left that job to take a less stressful legal position so that I’d have more time and flexibility to write. But I really loved it, so I’ve been paying attention to any listings on the Hill again, now that there’s been a big change in power. You never know when I might get the politics bug again.
- When did you first think about writing?
The first book I wrote was about a family of orphans. It was brilliant, moving and emotional...in my own mind at least—I was about eight at the time. I never finished that one, come to think of it. Over the next ten years I started, but never finished, around twelve books, but my father insisted that I “do something practical.” So I eventually went to law school and became an attorney.
In the fall of 2004, I was pursuing an additional law degree, an advanced specialization degree in intellectual property, when I just sort of burned out. I was supposed to write around six papers that year and while I really enjoyed the subject matter, it was getting to be a bit much. I was researching the patentability of indigenous medicinal methods and basically looking for any excuse possible to procrastinate. I’d just finished Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez’s Dirty Girls’ Social Club (an absolutely brilliant book, by the way) and thought to myself, “you know, I want to write a chick lit.” I wrote the first 100 pages of my first manuscript as an escape from the academic assignment. I eventually had to ask for an extension on that patent law paper! When I graduated that year, I decided that fiction writing was not just a means of procrastination for me, but a passion.
- What prompted you to submit your first manuscript?
I don’t exactly remember. I think I was just kind of jealous of all my writing friends on Romance Divas who were getting contracts, so I started writing some short stories, because I could complete them way quicker than a full-length manuscript.
- What is your routine once you start a book?
It depends on how much time I have. I don’t have the luxury of writing full-time, so unfortunately I have to fit it around my work schedule. But I guess I can tell how into a book I am by how much spare time I steal away to work on it. I’m trying to make it my business to spend more of my free time writing, but it’s hard. Sometimes life just gets in the way, but I know that I need to develop more of a consistent schedule.
- How much of your personality and life experiences are in your writing?
A lot. Most of my adult heroines (I also write young adult) are either lawyers or law students. Hey, it’s what I know. In fact, Daria in She’s Got Legs is a Capitol Hill attorney, although I’m definitely way more confident and less neurotic than her. LOL! My past experiences even show up in my young adult writing. I’m working on a mystery series right now about dance students at a performing arts high school. Sure, I’ve never solved mysteries, but I was a fairly serious dancer when I was a teenager. And I always loved Nancy Drew. In fact, when I was ten, I wrote what could only be described as Nancy Drew fanfic.
- Are you in control of your characters or do they control you?
Hmm, that’s a good question. I’ll ask them and get back to you. LOL! But seriously, I’ve learned that I need to listen to my characters. They know their stories. When I forget to listen to them, the writing comes out stilted and awkward anyway. True, lots of my characters are an amalgamation of people I know (and many have some of my own characteristics), but first and foremost, it’s fiction, so I can’t pretend it’s an autobiography and write my own story (not that anyone would want to read that anyway!). It’s THEIR story, not mine or anyone else’s. The writing is best when I remember that.
- Do you feel humor is important in women’s fiction?
Absolutely. I love to laugh. It’s such an important and easy way to keep your mental health in check. When I think of my favorite movies, they tend to be the ones that make me both laugh and cry. Same goes for books.
- Do you have a favorite author?
I’d be here all day if I listed them all, but the following pop into mind immediately: Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez, Alesia Holliday, Jennifer Crusie, Sophie Kinsella, James Patterson, Perri O’Shaughnessy, Gemma Halliday, Scott Turow, Zinnia Hope, and many, many others. Too many to list, really.
- What are the elements of a great romance for you?
Two people who truly love each other so much that they’re willing to take risks. And since I love to laugh, generally the romance novels on my keeper shelf also make me laugh. To me, laughter is an integral part of any healthy relationship, so of course it belongs in romance!
- Are there any words of encouragement for unpublished writers?
Never give up as long as you’re doing something that you love. Keep writing, finish that ms, and SUBMIT, SUBMIT, SUBMIT! You can’t get published if you don’t ever complete anything, nor can you get published if you don’t submit.
- What can we expect from you in the future?
Well, like I said earlier, I’m working on a YA mystery series, which my agent is currently shopping around. Right now I’m also working on a Christmas-themed chick lit novella that’s part of an integrated whole that will be completed by two of my writing buddies. We’re each writing a novella, but our heroines are best friends, so the characters cross over into each other’s stories. I also have a kernel of an idea playing around in my brain for a sort of historical chick lit and a YA coming of age story that will remake one of literature’s classic works. We’ll see. I’ve got lots of ideas!
- How may readers contact you?
My email address is amandabrice@myway.com and my blog is www.amandabrice.blogspot.com. I’m also working on my website www.amandabrice.com and hope to have that live very soon. (Hopefully this will be the push I need! LOL)
Thank you very much for taking the time with us and answering our questions. I really appreciate this interruption to your busy schedule. Good Luck, and we will be looking forward to the next delightful creation from your talented imagination!
Yours in good reading,
Rose!
Author Links:
Amanda's Website Coming Soon Amanda's Blog
RaH Links:
Interview Review
Purchase Links:
Buy She's Got Legs
Buy Freya's Bower Books