Romance Weekly Blog

I'm pleased and honored to join a group of romance writers from the U.S. and other countries. They blog weekly to bring readers and writers together and provide an inside look at the writing process. Look for our posts every Tuesday where participating authors answer the same three questions. You'll find out more about me as well as other authors who write romance. The hash tag is #lovewritechat so share away on Twitter! And...there's going to be a HUGE Kindle/gift card/book/ebook/swag give-away in July, so start following us.

This week's questions come from Amy Jarecki, historical and contemporary romance author. http://amyjarecki.blogspot.com

Q. When did you start writing and why?

I started dreaming about writing novels as a kid. I even remember how my first novel began but never wrote it. My initial foray into writing was feature writing in the eighth grade. I wrote articles for the school newspaper and was also the roving reporter (so I got to be nosy!) Once I saw my byline in the Pipkin Pirate newsletter, I was hooked. After that, I wrote a great deal of non-fiction while in my marketing jobs--television scripts, press releases, annual reports and healthcare articles. I was a single mom for years and worked full time and then some, so I didn't try fiction writing until five years ago. Now, it won't leave me alone. Since 2010, I've had three picture books published, been in four anthologies, three six-word memoir works and my debut novel, THURSDAYS AT COCONUTS, will be out in August 2014 by Soul Mate Publishing.

Q. What do you like best about writing?

I love many things about writing. Here are my top three:

#1 I love the fact that I create worlds and characters entirely from my mind. It amazes me when characters become almost human and I want to sit down and have a glass of wine with them or when I think they'll go left and they tell me they clearly want to go right (many plot points are changed by my characters who take over my writing!) The creative process amazes me. It's magical. 

#2 I also love the fact that writing is portable. That's what I tell my husband when he wants to go somewhere for any length of time and it's true. I can write on a legal pad, use a laptop or simply scribble notes on the back of a grocery list.

#3 I really, really LOVE the fact that I no longer have hateful 8 o'clock meetings. I absolutely deplored rushing to work and chairing 8 a.m. marketing meetings. To make matters worse, mine were on Mondays! Pure agony.

Q. If you could go on a writing retreat, where would you go and for how long?

Somewhere by the water. Water relaxes me and I tend to observe nature more and add those observations and senses to my settings. It could be on a deck at the lake or on a sandy beach. I think a week-long retreat would be amazing but one weekend would be a focused event. But, heck, as long as there are outlets and wine in the evening, I'd be happy writing in a dungeon (as long as I wasn't alone!) Imagine how inspiring that would be.

Please comment and then check out contemporary romance author Carrie Elks. http://carrieelks.com/blog