Author Interview - Ann Montclair

Please help me welcome my very special guest, Ann Montclair to Novel Natterings. Ann has been an incredibly busy, and I have to say, inspiring lady. And check out that house! Isn't it every writer's dream?? Just beautiful. Who wouldn't be inspired living there?

Ann's cabin in the woods - sigh....

Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

Thanks for asking. I’m a wife of 17 years, a mother to two beautiful children, ages twelve and twenty-one, and a college English professor on sabbatical until August 2012. I reside in a little cabin we built in the woods (a dream that took my husband and me fifteen years to accomplish) with a posse of dogs and cats.  I enjoy hiking and biking, listening and dancing to music, and cooking French, Italian, and Puerto Rican cuisine.  We also spend scads of time reading and writing.
No wonder I like you Ann - we'd get along famously! You'd do the cooking and I'd do the eating though - mmm Puerto Rican.... ;)

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

Foremost, I consider myself a reader. Born an only child, my books were my best companions. Reading books led me to writing.  I’ve been writing poetry and essays since childhood. Writing novels was a lifelong goal, and I began writing the first book I finished in December 2010.  I was at a place where it really mattered that I accomplish that goal, and I wrote a Tudor Era romance in about six months.  I wrote three more books in the next year—all contemporary, fun romances with high emotional stakes.

Do you remember what inspired you to write your first book?

I was at a place where I was ready to do something new, something stimulating, something for me. My son had been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes and had become terribly ill.  He’s well now, thank God, but I learned then how precious life is, how important it is to not delay achieving a goal. Writing also provided me a world I could control.  It offered escape from chaos.
What an awful wake-up call for you all Ann. I'm so glad your son is now well and you managed to get control over his illness. There is always a silver lining don't you think? But this time, its your readers who got that one! :)

I love call stories. Can you tell us about yours and your reaction?

I received an email from the editor at Soul Mate Publishing with an attached contract to sign. I screamed, danced, and then drank wine.
Great day!

What drew you to write romance?

Romance is all about love and happily ever after endings.  I wanted to provide an ideal fantasy based on my belief that life is not just what happens every day, but what we make happen.  All my characters are driven by moral, intellectual, and spiritual standards they’ve set for themselves.  My stories tend to reveal the flaws and vulnerabilities of those dispositions as well as the strengths.

What’s the most challenging part of the writing process for you?

Stopping.  I started writing novels little more than a year ago, and I tend to spend all day and most evenings generating text.  Then I dream about the stories all night. One might call it compulsive!  As far as the writing process goes, I adore pre-writing and drafting, but revision remains a challenge.  I’m never quite satisfied, but I’ve learned to stop and start the next most challenging aspect—seeking publication.  I think every writer knows publishing is a beast, requiring great research and patience, but what a thrilling reward to have a book sold! Then comes marketing.  The marketing part of actually selling the book, getting it into the hands of a reader once it’s released, is by far the most challenging piece of the publication process
Amen to that sister! ;)

Has anything coincidental happened in the real world while writing one of your books in terms of the characters, scenes or world you’ve created?

Great question.  Yes.  One Wet Summer, my next release, had been plotted, and in the middle of the story I had the heroine’s loved one die. As I was writing the book and came to generate the chapter where my heroine’s grandmother passes, both of my grandmothers died within two weeks of each other.  Deja vu, big time. The novel will be dedicated to those amazing women. They became my angels, pushing me through to the end.
I'm sure they helped pave the way in the writing of One Wet Summer and they will be two very proud angels watching over you.

What are you working on right now?

I am working on marketing my first contemporary romance, The Billionaire’s Bauble, which was published by Soul Mate Publishing December 2011. I’m completing final edits for my next contemporary romance, One Wet Summer, to be published by Musa in May 2012; additionally, I’m in the midst of edits for my third book, Good Things Come in Tall Packages, due out in August 2012, also with Musa Publishing.  Finally, I am revising my first Tudor romance, A Lady in Deed, and hope to have that to my editor by spring. 
I'm loving your titles Ann!

Latest news?

Up next, a romantic suspense tentatively titled Lies Sleeping and completing a second Tudor romance already one third drafted and shelved title The Lady is the Law.

Where can we find you and your books?

You can find The Billionaire’s Bauble at Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/The-Billionaires-Bauble-ebook/dp/B006QQWY42/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1326893210&sr=8-1

Barnes and Noble

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-billionaires-bauble-ann-montclair/1108117604?ean=2940013699595&itm=1&usri=the+billionaires+bauble)

 and Soul Mate Publishing

http://www.soulmatepublishing.com/the-billionaires-bauble/

You will be able to find my next two romance novels at Musa Publishing, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and many other smaller venues.  To keep up with when and where all the romance happens, please visit http://www.annmontclair.com.  Join my blog, friend me on Facebook, and follow me on Twitter.  All those links can be accessed at my web site. I hope to get to know some of you via my books and social media. Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to meet New Zealand readers.

Let me share my blurb and cover for my novel, The Billionaire’s Bauble: they say it best.

Determined to land an executive position at Grant Oil, Sloane Porter, an educated, independent woman with goals for the future, refuses to consider the option of returning to her home in New York and the life she'd left behind. But when she arrives in the CEO's office with a stellar resume in hand, can she ignore the fact that in a moment of weakness, she’d kissed this man in a Fairbanks bar two years earlier? Can she remain indifferent and land the job, or will the man who has haunted her dreams steal her heart and change her life forever?