Guest Author: Rebecca Zanetti

My guest today is a New York Times and USA Today Best-selling author who has a huge international fan base. Although she has written some contemporary and YA paranormal romances, I know her best for her romantic suspense (Stories in the series: Deep Op; Maverick Montana; Blood Brother and Sin Brothers; The Scorpius Syndrome) and dark paranormal romances (Dark Protector Series and Realm Enforcer Series). Hers is one of the fastest debut manuscript acceptances I’ve heard of with her story FATED being accepted within five days of submission!!

Like most authors, she has worn other professional hats prior to commencing full-time writing in 2013. She attained a BA in Journalism with special interest in political science and went on to work as an intern for former President Ronald Reagan and then as an art curator and aide for a US Senator. She went back to law school at University of Idaho and earned a Juris Doctorate, was admitted to the bar in 1999 and went on to teach law.

I’ve only met her briefly at RT Booklovers Conventions and the inaugural Booklovers Con in New Orleans because I’ve been one of many fans in long line-ups, but I’ve really enjoyed those fan girl moments!! Now, ahead of saying hi to her again in person at the Booklovers Con in Nashville next March, it’s my very great pleasure to have Rebecca Zanetti on the blog.

First up, I’d love to hear about your latest release and whether it posed any particular challenges as you wrote it.

Let's see. My recent release was FALLEN, which is the second book in the Deep Ops series. It was tons of fun writing about Raider and Brigid as well as the rest of the zany cast in the unit. I think the most challenging part was the research into computer hacking, since Brigid is a hacker. It took awhile for me to figure out about hacking and how to make her skills authentic, but I love learning new things.

Authors frequently say how their search lists as they research their stories would make for interesting reading. I wonder if your hacking research raised any flags anywhere! LOL!

You’ve travelled to Russia and Ireland and you have a few more international trips coming up with your appearance at the RARE Booksigning in Edinburgh (June 25-27, 2020) and Barbara Vey’s Reader Cruise in February 2021. I also see on your webpage that you’ve travelled to Cairns in Australia. What brought you to Australia, Rebecca, and do you have any favourite impressions/plans to return to our shores in the near future?

It's kind of a funny story. I'd had a breakup with a boyfriend, and my karate instructor (who later became my boyfriend) and I decided to head to Australia and do a little sightseeing. I LOVED it there, and I'd definitely love to return. In fact, I think RARE is looking at Australia in the future, and I replied on the form that I'd love to be included and will make the trip a priority.

I hope we’ll see you here!

You offer workshops to writer's and reader’s groups and I know that you can tailor-make a workshop to suit the needs of the group, but you also have a wide variety of topics listed as examples. I have to say that if I was to organise you to host a workshop I’d find it difficult to choose a topic from all the very interesting ones you’ve given. I’m sure you deliver each one passionately but if you were asked to present at a national writer’s conference which workshop topic might you choose?

Lately it seems like I've been giving the master class on Arcs quite a lot. The first hour is about character arcs, the second hour about novel arcs, and the final hour about series arcs. It ties together well. I'd much rather give a class like this on craft instead of on marketing. No matter how well you market, your craft has to be solid for a reader to buy your next book.

Given that you’ve done so well with writing series, I’d love to be an attendee at your class!

It’s been almost ten years since you began writing when a blizzard in North Idaho kept you indoors. Since that time you’ve written well over fifty wonderful stories, left your profession in law and received too many amazing awards and accolades to list here. You’ve thrilled and satisfied your readers and your stories have made a positive impact so that there are many of us who can’t wait for the next Rebecca Zanetti book to be published. I’m wondering, though, what do you consider to be the most amazing ways your writing career has impacted upon your life?

That's a fun question! It's wonderful to make a living and spend time doing what you love, and I love to write. I enjoy the blank page and making things up and figuring people/characters out. It's never boring, and then I get to go and meet readers who like the characters, and I can't even explain how wonderful that is for me.

I can relate to it. I often sit at the computer expecting a story to go one way and then I find it goes in a completely different direction! It keeps it fresh and exciting for sure.

Can you tell us a little about your current work-in-progress and when we might expect to have it in our hands?

I feel like I've been pretty busy lately between writing and traveling.

I'm working on marketing for HERO'S HAVEN, the next Dark Protector book, and it releases in January. Copy edits for BROKEN, the next Deep Ops book, should be landing in my inbox any day. It releases next May. I just finished up KNIGHT AWAKENING, the next Scorpius Syndrome book, and it'll release this coming February. Now it's on to GUARDIAN'S GRACE, the fall release for the Dark Protectors. Also, I have a new series I'm working on, and it's a fun one, but that's all I can say right now.

You have been busy!! Looks like the start of 2020 will have much to offer fans! Yay!

Thanks again for joining me on the blog today, Rebecca.

Thanks so much for having me over! I really appreciate it. :)

If you’d like to learn more about Rebecca and her fabulous stories, please visit her website at https://rebeccazanetti.com . If you subscribe you’ll also be able to enter special contests and read some excerpts from her stories.

Thanks for visiting the blog today. I hope you have a great week ahead with lots of time for reading! I’ll be back next week and hope you’ll join me then.

Best wishes,

Alyssa

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