Guest Author: Jade Lee/Kathy Lyons

I met today’s guest in New Orleans at an RT Convention in 2014, refreshed my skills with her wisdom at a writing boot camp and laughed until it hurt when we had dinner together as she looked after the international guests. The entire convention was great, but I have to say that meeting this author was one of the memories I'm going to cherish from that event.

For three weeks, until an injury forced her to give up that dream, she was a pro racquetball player in the USA. If that doesn’t give you enough clues...she is a USA Today bestselling author who writes paranormal, contemporary and historical romances under two different author names.

Welcome Jade Lee (Author of Sexy Historical Romance)/Kathy Lyons (Author of Sexy Paranormal Romance) to the quick author quizzing!

Will you please tell us about your latest novel and whether it held any particular challenges for you?

Taming Her Mate was the last in my Grizzlies Gone Wild series. I needed to finally punish the one responsible for all the problems in Detroit for the last two books. (The series is built as two trilogies). I also did a werewolf heroine with a bear shifter hero and really enjoyed setting in some prejudices of wolf vs. bear, pack mentality vs.  global perspective, and most especially love vs. family loyalty. 

Taming Her Mate is perhaps my favorite of the series, though every one of the six books (plus novella) has popped for me in one way or another. I really hope readers give it a try!

It was a big task and I struggled to write a gripping love story while setting in all the other layers. I ended up doing several rewrites, adding layers every time until I thought every scene hung together and worked with the rest of the book. In fact, there were moments of God-given inspiration that really helped launch the story to places I couldn’t have done on my own.  (Thank you, God!)

It's always great to read an author's favourites. I'm certain readers will "give it a try"!  

I remember you telling me that you, like many writers, go through periods of absolute doubt about the story you’re working on. How do you push through that doubt?     

                                                             

Nora Roberts has said often, “I can fix a bad page, I can’t fix a blank one.” I hold that in my brain often. Plus, I have an agent who tells me, “Just keep going.” Eventually I push through far enough that I see what I’m doing wrong and can go back and fix it. I hate writing pages that I know suck, but I have to write the crap before I can get to the gold. And it may take long, long sessions of rewriting and polishing before I find it, but eventually it’s there. I also try to go beat up on someone in racquetball to get out my frustrations. That always helps! <grin>

I can relate to what you're saying - sometimes you just have to push on. I'd also bet that Nora Robert's famous saying is the most quoted line by romance authors! I'm sure we all think of it when we're writing our stories.

I am the very proud owner of a Jade Lee yellow “Squidge” which sits on my writing desk and holds my mobile phone. In fact, when I first met you at NOLA, one of my friends asked whether I’d managed to get myself a “Squidge”. How was the “Squidge” born?

I get a monthly sample package from 4imprint.com. One month included the squidge. Every morning, I walked into my office, and there it sat smiling at me. I adored it and eventually made a huge order with my imprint on it. The name "Squidge" came from Elizabeth Hoyt. Have no idea how she came up with it, but she just started calling it Squidge and the name stuck.

All your covers, (whether they are your Kathy Lyons Paranormal/Contemporary titles; or your Jade Lee Historicals) are fabulous. Just looking through all the book covers on your web page is a fairly mouth-watering exercise!

Do you have a favourite or a couple of favourites?

That’s like picking a favorite child! But if you want my particular favorites: The Stonemen Vol 2. 

Just look at that hot guy kneeling. I love it! 

And for my historicals, I’ve always loved Devil’s Bargain. It’s just so sensuous and perfect for the book.

I have to agree - particularly with your choice of The Stone Men. He'd certainly be on the Christmas Wish list of many romance readers!

It is hard to choose from all the wonderful covers, but I'm going to add in a couple of my favourites here, too from Jade Lee!! I have to say that I've also loved these stories - Wedded in Scandal; This Wicked Seduction and Winning a Bride.

    

What’s next for you as an author?

The Were-Geeks are Coming! I was asked by Dreamspinner to write a werewolf series, but I am really tired of the usual alpha male serious stuff. The news has me so depressed lately, that I needed something fun. I wanted to do fun werewolves like the cast of the Big Bang Theory gets accidentally turned into werewolves and they have to save the world. Doesn’t that sound fun? So…starting in April 2020, the first book launches. I’m starting small with the group saving Wisconsin. And then because of a time travel oops, they have to save Wisconsin again in book 2. So can you guess what the titles are?

Were-Geeks Save Wisconsin by Kathy Lyons (April 14, 2020)
Were-Geeks Save Wisconsin Again by Kathy Lyons (Fall 2020)

This series is so much fun that I am laughing through every page. Unless I’m crying because, honestly, it’s hard to be funny every day. But that’s the beauty of re-writes. I can go back and fix what isn’t so delightful until the final product shines.

Those titles will give us a lot of reading to look forward to!

Thank you so much for taking the time out of your demanding schedule to be on the blog!

Thank you for having me. It’s been fun!

Check out the webpages to learn more about Jade/Kathy: www.JadeLeeAuthor.com

www.KathyLyons.com

      

Or follow on Twitter: @KathyLyonsAuth  and @JadeLeeBooks

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About the Blogger:

Alyssa J. Montgomery is an Australian contemporary romance author who is published by Escape Publishing (Harlequin Enterprises, Australia). She also 

writes medieval romance as Alyssa James,