Interview with Author Ashlynn Monroe:
Hi Ashlynn. 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 your latest book.
I have a wonderful erotic m/f/m novella titled Passion’s Escape available from Silver Publishing. This book is a great tale of girl power and the power of love born from desire. Passion is the name of the heroine and she knows that due to financial issues if she can’t get transportation off her outlawed home planet her father will sell her to stay afloat. Soon she has to make a choice, stick with her initial plan or align herself with the enemy. Trusting her instincts, she finds herself assisting the son of the man who has left her people virtual slaves in the galaxy. He and his trusted friend and bodyguard find themselves drawn to her and her confident beauty. She is unlike any woman they have experienced in the past, resourceful, prideful, and brave. When her father returns unexpectedly, changing the course of her life, she finds out that sometimes the slave can become the master.
I have another book released July 24th titled Lost Hearts.
When a sensual dream lover becomes reality for a sheltered princess her dream becomes a nightmare.
Laurel lives on a peaceful world and worships the Nature Mother. Having not found a true mate she is to matebond telepathically with her childhood friend Evanston and live her life ruling and caring for her people.
She might not be 'in love' with him, but she knows she loves him and as far as she's concerned it is the best she can hope for. Nothing will stop this. Not even the fact she must give up her mysterious dream lover of the last two years.
Until a foreigner kidnaps her from the ceremony and spirits her away to a frightening, unnatural world stating she is his 'destined mate'.
Can she accept this strange, warlike alpha male? And if she does . . . what will happen to her people?
- Why did you decide to write romance novels?
My father’s mother was a big fan of romance and I have always been a big fan of reading. Those two worlds collided the summer I turned twelve. My sister gave me a YA romance about a ski resort and I loved it. I read it until it looked well loved. We lived in a rural farming community (the boonies lol) and as there was no nearby library, I expressed my longing for a new romance to my grandmother. She arrived with a big garbage bag full of Harlequin and Silhouette romance novels. I devoured two such bags like that over the summer. My parents showed poor judgment in allowing my innocent mind to read some very grown up material has paid off these many years later. My love of romance was firmly planted that summer and by that next year I was writing my own romance stories. My first was a terrible space opera that I can best describe as a cross between the blue lagoon and star wars but my cousins loved it and told me to keep going.
- How much of your personality and life experiences are in your writing?
That is a very tough question. I have never been bitten by a vampire or flown on a spaceship but the humor is all me. I think that the many struggles of my own life have given my heroines a tendency to have strong personalities. I have a very romantic soul and a positive outlook, even in the darkest of times. I think my stories tend to reflect those aspects of who I am. Something drives writers, artist, and musicians to create. My daydreams drive me. I see a story in my head like a movie it plays out as I frantically transcribe the events. (I just hope each time for a blockbuster and not a “B” movie lol).
- Are you in control of your characters or do they control you?
I wish I could control my characters. I get an idea and once I have a character started, they take over the story and do their own thing. Sometimes it really irritates me, other times I love it. I’m often surprised by the endings. Someone told me once that writing is the only socially acceptable form of mental illness, when the characters take over I have to agree with that statement.
- Do you have a set schedule for writing or do you just go with the flow?
I wish I had a life that allowed for a set schedule but I have a full time day job in telecommunications and a long commute to a different city for work. My children are elementary school aged and I am married. Mom’s time always feels stretched to the max. It has help that I have recently decided to give up cleaning and cooking (just kidding) but for the most part, I sacrifice sleep to write. I have typed so much since this spring that the letters on my keyboard have started to come off, this has really irritated my husband who does the hunt and peck thing when he types. I have a notebook computer and I take it to work every day and write on my lunch breaks.
- What is your writing routine once you start a book?
I have a bunch of stuff started but when one of my works in progress hits me I get almost obsessive and write every moment I can on that specific work. I just type and type until I’m too exhausted and this goes on until I finish. My characters want out of my brain, they don’t let up until I’ve put them into the computer.
- Does your family bother you when you are writing - are there constant interruptions?
My kids are notorious for asking for permissions that they know I would never give them when I’m in the zone. They will lurk until I look really into what I’m typing and then they will ask. When I grunt randomly at them they assume that I’ve said yes and run off for mischief. Then my husband will ask, “Did you tell the boy he could jump off the roof wearing a cape?” Or “Did you let my darling little girl just go to the mall with that new friend whose parents we haven’t meet yet?” Oh, my kids know how to work the system!
- What does your husband/wife/partner think of your writing?
My hubby and I will be married twelve years this November. He obtained be all brand new and shiny just after we turned twenty. We were voted cutest couple in high school…probably ‘cuz we were so homely! I’ve always written, first in hundreds of notebooks and then at the computer when we bought our first used monstrosity. We’ve grown up together so we know each other well. He was happing being published has always been a dream of mine and he is very proud. Annoyed that when I’m in the zone he talks and I don’t listen, but proud. He’s never read anything that I’ve written. He hates to read.
- Are you a member of any author groups - RWA, critique groups, etc.?
I have recently joined EPIC. The group I am most proud to be a member of is the wicked muses. My wonderful friends from Wild Horse Press J. L. Oiler, Lila Munro, BethAnn Buehler, and yours truly have started a website together www.wickedmuses.webs.com/ to support each other as we begin our writing careers. We give each other advice and support and critique each other’s work. They are like sisters to me and I love them dearly!
- How many books have you written, and how many of those have been published?
I have writing too many books to count, but right now four are available for purchase and I have others contracted with six publishers at this time. I have release dates that will take me into the fall of 2011 and I have a bunch of stuff submitted to various publishers.
- Do you allow readers to contact you?
I love to hear from readers! I couldn’t be an author if there weren’t readers! I write for women (and men) like me busy romantics that want a quick but satisfying read. I love to see comments on my website and I am on twitter and facebook. I’d love for anyone who reads any of my work to give me their opinion or just say hi. I love to hear about what people like to read and what touches their hearts. I just like people and getting to know new friends. I’d never discourage a reader from getting to know me.
- What is the most rewarding thing about being a writer?
Knowing that someone has read your work, especially someone who is reading it out of interest and not because they love you. I’ve had friends and family read me for years, but when they saw wow, it’s great you know that they love you, but when someone who is interested in your genre reads your work and says wow it’s great you know they mean it. I love creating world and knowing that someone else has entered them with me. A wonderful joy and contentment fills me when I write. If I can pass any of the joy and escape to someone else then I know I’ve done my job well and my writing has been important.
- Are there any words of encouragement for unpublished writers?
Write don’t stop even if you're submissions receive rejections. I’ve three times the number of rejections as I have contracts. If you like, it and it touches you there is a very good chance that someone else will like it and it will touch them too. Submit your work and don’t stop until someone else likes it too. Publishers pay you. You don’t pay them. If someone asks for money move on to a different publisher. I have been lucky to have excellent publishers who employee talented editors and artist. I hope that you too will have that success!
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:
Ashlynn's Website Wicked Muses Facebook Website Email Blog, On Twitter: ashlynn_monroe, Ashlynn says, "I love new members at my websites and comments!"
RaH Links:
Review
Purchase Links:
Buy Ashlynn's Books at Amazon
Buy Passion’s Escape Books at Silver Publishing
Buy Lost Hearts at Silver Publishing
Buy Silver Publishing Books
Buy Ashlynn's Books at The Wild Horse Press
Buy Ashlynn's Books at Cobblestone Press