Interview: Paranormal Women's Fiction Author: Lori Handeland + giveaway

What are your top 10 favorite books/authors?
Lord of Scoundrels-Loretta Chase
One for the Money-Janet Evanovich
Heaven, Texas-Susan Elizabeth Philips
Guilty Pleasures-Laurel K Hamilton
Deal Breaker-Harlan Coben
To Kill a Mockingbird-Harper Lee
Jane Eyre-Charlotte Bronte
The Best Man-Kristan Higgins
The Shadow of the Lynx-Victoria Holt
The Promise of Jenny Jones-Maggie Osborne

How long have you been writing?
40 years.

Do the characters all come to you at the same time or do some of them come to you as you write?
The main characters are usually there when I start but not completely. Others just walk on in. Surprise!

What kind of research do you do before you begin writing a book?
I do a lot of reading and Googling on settings and occupations. Then I start writing and do more specific research as I go.

Do you see writing as a career?
Yes. It has been my only career.

What do you think about the current publishing market?
Different from how it was when I started, that’s for sure.

Do you read yourself and if so what is your favorite genre?
I read quite a bit and the only thing I don’t read much of (except for research) is non-fiction.

Do you prefer to write in silence or with noise? Why?
Complete silence otherwise I get distracted.

Do you write one book at a time or do you have several going at a time?
One book at a time.

If you could have been the author of any book ever written, which book would you choose?
Harry Potter!

Pen or type writer or computer?
I brainstorm with pen and yellow legal pads. I write on the computer, though I did start my first book on a typewriter.

A day in the life of the author?
I’m up very early so I can hit my elliptical, then I walk the dog and make coffee. Next it’s dealing with my social media and any emails I put aside from the day before.

I try to start writing by 9 am. Once upon a time I would write from the minute my sons got on the bus until they came home, but these days I’m lucky to get in 3 hours before I need to deal with promotion details for any sales I have running or books I am releasing.

Then there’s life . . .
As the only child of an elderly mother, there is a lot to handle. And I must admit that my 3 grandchildren are dazzling and I am frequently dazzled beyond the point of anything else.

Do you have any advice to offer for new authors?
Keep writing. The only way to fail is to quit.

Describe your writing style.
Fast paced plot and true to life characters dealing with astounding situations.

What makes a good story?
Great characterization, structure and pacing.

What are you currently reading?
Elin Hilderbrand’s THE FIVE-STAR WEEKEND.

What is your writing process? For instance do you do an outline first? Do you do the chapters first?
I’m a pantser all the way. I’ve tried to outline and find I get bored with the story, which means I don’t continue with it.

Sometimes I will write the first chapter or two, then sketch an overview of the turning points and the ending, though all that is subject to change along the way.

What are common traps for aspiring writers?
Editing the beginning over and over, which means never reaching “the end.” Push through. The number of people who start a book, then don’t finish a book is epic. Anything can be fixed but a blank page.

If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?
Start self-publishing the instant you hear about it.

What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters from other genders?
There is always the temptation to create men the way you want men to be. And, to an extent, this is what writing romance is about. However they need to be realistic too. It’s a balancing act.

How long on average does it take you to write a book?
I used to be able to write a 90,000+ word book in 3-4 months. Now it would take me 9-12 months. It is what it is.

Do you believe in writer’s block?
I do, I do, I do believe in writer’s block. The only way I’ve found to cure it, and sometimes only for a little while, is to push through the book I’m working on, don’t look back. Eyes on the prize of “the end.”

Then edit, edit, edit.

Werewolf Queen wasn't on her middle aged bingo card...

In the Midnight Hour (A Midnight Madness Nightcreature Novel Book 3)
by Lori Handeland
Genre: Paranormal Women's Fiction
Just when I thought it was safe to go home…

I’ve been running too long. I’d gotten sloppy. Sloppy gets you captured. But it turns out, the very one I thought I had to hide from, saved me.

I just want to live peacefully. But happy family, er, pack reunions don’t seem to be in my future. When my secret is used against me, I’m forced to run again. This time, help comes from the most unexpected source, the greatest werewolf hunter of all time, Edward Mandenauer.

To get what we both want—the end of the sadistic, yet sexy, werewolf Zane—Edward and I join forces. But Zane isn’t working alone. Nor is he who or what he says he is. He’s much, much more…

All I want is the life I believed I’d lost, but at this rate, I’ll end up captured, imprisoned, enslaved . . . or dead.

From the voice of New York Times bestselling author Lori Handeland, the final installment in the Midnight Madness trilogy takes you deep into her Nightcreature world, complete with the humor, depth of characterization and fast-paced plot lines the author is known for while showcasing her incredible range.

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Excerpt
When the phone rings in the middle of the night, everything changes.

Mother always said: Nothing good happens after midnight. I’d found in my forty-one years on this earth, in that at least, Mom had been right.

I sat up so fast I jiggled the mattress. I froze, my gaze shifting to, then away from the empty side of the bed. I still hadn’t gotten used to Patrick not being there. Would I ever?

The shrill slice of sound continued to cut through the oh so silent night. I only had one ringtone left on my allowed calls after that indelible hour of midnight, and this was it. My heart rate increased from WTF? to OMG!

“Jenna?”

“Sorry, Mrs. Sullivan. It’s Cammy.”

I searched my memory for the identity of Cammy, feeling slow, stupid despite the far too rapid rate of my heart.

Spring, same time two years ago, my OB had diagnosed the reason for my newly sluggish brain and sudden ability to fry eggs atop my head as premature menopause.

Look at it this way, you won’t have to worry about getting pregnant for very much longer.

Not that I had for decades. However, having my body betray me like that—basically saying I was old, when I never really got to be young—had stung. It still did.

Cammy’s tentative voice brought me back to the right now. “I’m Jenna’s roommate.”

My skin prickled with heat and a fine sheen of sweat started up at my hairline. “What’s wrong?”

“Jenna hasn’t been here since Tuesday.”

Here being the University of Wisconsin. I’d been so proud when Jenna had decided to go to UW like me. Or like the me I could have been, would have been if not for her.

“Tuesday,” I repeated. “But it’s . . .”

Come on, brain, don’t fail me now!

Thursday! I thought at the same time Cammy said, “Thursday.”

For an instant, I was near ecstatic to have concluded something at the same speed as a millennial. Then I did the math, never my strong suit even before all the brain-fart BS. “That’s two days, and you’re just calling me now?”

“Sometimes she pulls an all-nighter. Stays at the library or goes to a study group. But she lets me know. I didn’t really worry until I called her phone, and it was . . .”

My skin did that prickle again. Jenna’s phone was in Cammy’s hand, obviously, since she was talking to me on it. That I hadn’t asked why earlier put another notch in my losin’ it belt.

“Her phone was in her backpack,” Cammy continued. “In her room, along with her laptop and her books.”

Cammy paused, waiting for me to fill in the blanks. Jenna probably wouldn’t be studying without her backpack, and the notes and books and computer within. But even if she’d grabbed a few things and left the rest, she never would have left her cell phone. I didn’t think it had been out of her sight—more accurately, out of her hand—since I’d handed it to her when she was ten.

“In Lunar Lake, anywhere can be reached from anywhere in a handful of minutes,” Patrick had argued. “Even if she falls off her bike and breaks her leg, someone’s gonna be at her side quicker than she can make a call. She’s safer than safe, like every other kid in town. What are you worried about?”

When I lifted my eyebrows, he’d blinked, said, “Oh,” and that had been the last Patrick had said about that. He knew why I was the way I was better than anyone. It was one of the reasons I’d married him.

I’d devoted my life to raising Jenna. She was everything. The only thing. When she’d gone to college, I’d been proud but also terrified. This exact scenario—a midnight phone call, a missing child—played through my mind far too often. Sadly, what I should do about it had never played through as well.

“Hello?” Cammy’s worried voice broke into my thoughts. She probably thought I’d fainted. Or stroked out. I was tempted.

But all Jenna had was me now, and all I had was her. If that meant facing my greatest fear again, I’d face it. What choice did I have?

She was my baby.

Blame It On Midnight (A Midnight Madness Nightcreature Novel Book 2)
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Nothing Good Happens After Midnight (A Midnight Madness Nightcreature Novel Book 1)
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**FREEBIE ALERT!**
Get the first Nightcreature novel, Blue Moon for FREE!!
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About the Author
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Lori Handeland is a five-time nominee and two-time winner of the prestigious RITA™ Award from Romance Writers of America, as well as the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of over sixty novels spanning the genres of paranormal romance, urban fantasy, contemporary romance, historical romance, historical fantasy and women’s fiction. Her novel Just Once received a coveted, starred review from Library Journal and was optioned as a feature film by Catalyst Global Media.

Lori set her sight on being an author at the age of ten. She remembers sitting at a typewriter before she knew how to type, pecking out a story about a family who went into space. As an only child her summers were spent with that typewriter, television, and, above all, books. As a young adult, she got sidetracked by the need to make a living. She worked as a waitress and later enrolled in college to become a teacher.

Lori lives in Southern Wisconsin with her husband of over thirty-five years. In between writing and reading, she enjoys long walks with their rescue mutt, Arnold, and visits from her two grown sons, awesome daughter-in-law and perfectly adorable grandchildren.

Giveaway
Stuffed Wolf Plush,
$20 Amazon giftcard
- 1 winner each!
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