Monday Author Interview ~ Carolyn Rosewood!

I want to thank the wonderful Carolyn Rosewood for being on the couch this week. Kealie is down with a cold and I’m not much better, but I’m vertical, so I’m in charge of the interview this week. Don’t worry, I’ve had meds, I’ve got tissues, and I’m using hand sanitizer. I’ll sit at the far end of the couch, too.

Let’s get the interview started! J Where are you from?

I grew up on the near west side of Cleveland Ohio, and lived in the surrounding area until five years ago, when we moved to Murfreesboro Tennessee as part of my job relocation. Murfreesboro is about thirty five miles southeast of Nashville, and is home to approximately 120,000 people. It’s a nice community I enjoy living and working here.


How cool is that! I’m on the west side of Cleveland right now. When and why did you begin writing?


I began writing as soon as I could print! I was the geeky kid in middle and high school, carrying a notebook filled with stories. When I’d get bored in class I’d write. My English teachers loved me because I was one of the few who didn’t groan when they announced a writing assignment. Even though I didn’t major in English in college, and didn’t get serious about writing until approximately twelve years ago, I always wrote. The stories would start writing themselves in my head, from the most common objects or pictures. I’ve been reading romance since I was 19, and I wrote my first romance manuscript about twelve years ago. It was a mess, filled with every newbie mistake imaginable. I didn’t even have a computer! I wrote it on an electronic Smith Corona typewriter. I wasn’t an RWA member, and I had no idea how to query agents. Two years ago we had a devastating tornado in the town where I now live, and I realized first-hand how everything can change in an instant. I also realized if I was going to pursue my dream of being a published romance writer, I’d better get my butt in gear and get serious about it. I joined RWA and our local Nashville chapter, the Music City Romance Writers. I learned my craft, asked a million questions, and began to write for publication, not just for fun.


Always gotta learn that craft. What inspired you to write your first book?

When my daughter was two years old we bought Disney’s Beauty and the Beast on VHS. She was afraid of the beast, but the scene at the end where he turns into the prince captivated me. A manuscript that I’ve been tweaking ever since started writing itself in my head. Over the years it’s taken on new characters, lost a few, and the plot line has undergone too many changes to remember. After I finish the third book in my current Seduced By A Demon series for Evernight, I’m going to finish that manuscript for real and submit it.


That’s a great movie. How much of the book is realistic?

It’s fiction. None of it is real. J Seriously, all my characters have bits of pieces of real people I know in them, though not so much anyone would recognize themselves. My heroines each have a little bit of me in them. As for the plots, even my paranormals have some reality in them. I don’t write pure fantasy.

It can’t all be realistic. What books have most influenced your life most?

So many… To Kill A Mockingbird, 1984, Little Woman, A Wrinkle in Time, Main Street and The Great Gatsby, just to name a few.


Those are great books. I’ve read and own most of them. Now this is an important question, do you see writing as a career?

It has been even when I wasn’t making any money from it. Writing is my passion. It’s that thing I’d keep doing even if no one paid me to do it. It’s my dream to be able to write full time.

We’d love to write full time, too. Do you have any advice for other writers?

Never give up. Learn your craft, hone your skills, and learn to take constructive criticism. Find writers who are where you want to be and pick their brains. If you can’t speak with the directly, devour their books and pick them apart to see what worked for you and what didn’t – and more importantly – why or why not. Reading in your chosen genre is just as important as writing.

Never hurts to know a lot about the genre you want to write in, but absolutely you must write, write, write. Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?

I hope I’ve created characters you can fall in love with, and that you don’t want to leave at the end of the book.

Sigh. J What animal do you think makes the best pet and why?

I’m a cat person. You can leave them alone all day and they won’t do terrible things to your house, but will still be thrilled to see you when you get home. They’re naturally clean animals and as long as their litter box is kept clean they will use it. They can be loving and affectionate when the mood strikes them, and will stick close to you when they sense you’re sick or feeling bad.

I’m a cat person, too, to the tune of owning two of them now. Do you hate how you look in pictures? Why or why not?

Everyone does, don’t they? I don’t know anyone who loves the picture they take.

I love the pictures I take, not the ones I’m in. Do you have any strange handwriting habits, like capitalizing all your “r”s or dotting your “I”s with heart (or anything like that)?

I print some capital letters simply because I can’t remember how to write them in cursive. It was a long time ago when Iearned it.

I mix mine up, too. You can erase any horrible experience from your past. What will it be?

I have a few of them. But the one that stands out is a boy I dated in high school, and hurt very badly because I was naïve and didn’t know any better. I don’t necessarily want to erase that because it would change too many things, but I would love to be able to go back and apologize to him.


But at least you learned. What were you doing at midnight last night?

Sleeping! LOL! If I didn’t have a real job to get to every morning I’d be a night owl, but not anymore. When you rise at 5 AM on workdays it’s hard to stay awake past midnight.

Oh, if we aren’t sick as dogs, we’re usually up way past midnight, but that’s when we write best. What is your heritage?

My mother is Sicilian and my father is Hungarian.

Cool. Have you ever cried during a movie? If yes, which one and why?

I cry during lots of movies! The last one where I cried was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. How could you watch that and not cry?

I’ve never seen that movie. I think I got to the third HP movie and quit. Not enough time to watch them all for me. What is your favorite pizza?

Anything smothered in veggies, especially olives and peppers. YUM!

OH! Sounds good. Do you like thunderstorms?

I don’t mind them but where I live they’re usually violent and I do mind that. The power goes out which means my Internet goes out.

Yeah, no power can be a bummer. Can you taste the difference between Pepsi and Coke? If so, which do you prefer?

Absolutely! Pepsi has a sweeter taste and I prefer it over Coke.

I want to thank Carolyn for being on the couch today. I’m also going to apologize for not getting this up faster. Colds suck. But since you’re reading along and don’t give a hoot about my cold, you can find out more about Carolyn at: http://carolynrosewood.com

Want to know more about Hunted? Here you go:

For the past four hundred years, Jahi Wickes has made forged documents and credit cards for the female demons who seduce men into signing away their souls. While enjoying the parades at Mardi Gras, she's ambushed by two angels. One is her former guardian angel, and the other is the Nephilim who’s tracking him.

Dagon has been chasing Vassago for three years. His first big break comes in the form of a cute, sexy demon. When he learns the real reason Vassago is hunting her, Dagon has more trouble than he bargained for. Not only was Vassago sent to guard souls in Purgatory after screwing up his assignment with Jahi, but the person who paid him to destroy her is one of her fellow demons.

Buy it here: http://www.evernightpublishing.com/products/Hunted-by-Carolyn-Rosewood.html