Interview with Lori Wilde
Interviewer: Lettetia Elsasser
CR: Tell us about your current and upcoming projects.
My latest release is MY SECRET LIFE from Harlequin Blaze 09/07. It’s the first book in the Martini Dares with friends Carrie Alexander, Jamie Denton and Isabel Sharpe. It’s about the Blue Blood Brahmin Winfield sisters who learn their family closet is chock full of skeletons. And an invitation from a mysteries club called Martinis & Bikinis, issues them to take sexy dares and that’s when all the trouble really begins.
In January, book #2 of my Wedding Veil Wishes series from Grand Central Publishing comes out. Here’s the blurb.
Legend claims this antique Irish wedding veil can grant your heart’s deepest desire. But be careful what you wish for…
Wedding videographer Tish Gallagher is at the end of her rope. Her video business is about to go bust. She’s just spent her last buck on non-returnable (but oh so fabulous) shoes. And her most sustainable relationship is with a pint of Haagen-Dazs. So she makes a wish on the lucky wedding veil to get out of debt…and sees the man she never stopped loving, her ex-husband, secret service agent Shane Tremont. Sure, their chemistry was off-the-charts sizzling hot, but their clashes were legendary and no amount of longing will change that.
So when her dream job of recording the first daughter’s wedding appears out of the blue, Tish knows it’s her only shot to get out of the red. Just one teensy glitch: Shane is the groom. From the moment they see each other, she knows nothing’s changed—the same old black magic is still between them, just as irresistible and potent as ever. But he’s promised to another and Tish has been burned before. Will she always be… ONCE SMITTEN TWICE SHY.
Then in the summer of 2008, I have a brand new three book series from Harlequin Blaze called Perfect Anatomy. Here’s a preview.
Desperate Housewives meets Grey’s Anatomy in this swanky Austin, Texas boutique treatment facility for the crème-de-la-crème.
Confidential Rejuvenations
Providing first class, hush-hush health care to celebrities, VIPS and luminaries.
The Philosophy
“You do it, we keep it strictly confidential.”
THE FACILITY
All is not as it seems at this lavish, spa-style hospital located on the bucolic shores of the Colorado River in Austin, TX. While the grounds are tranquil, inside it’s a hotbed of lust, cover-ups, secrets and lies.
The Treatments & Specialties
Plastic Surgery
Anti-aging
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders
Substance Abuse
Sexual Dysfunction
THE STAFF
Meet the staff of Confidential Rejuvenations—three best friends keeping the titillating secrets of their exclusive clientele while desperately hiding a few skeletons of their own.
Elle Kingston R. N.—caring nurturer scorned
Dr. Vanessa Rodriquez—tough-talking home girl
Julie DeMarco R.N.—good girl aching to turn bad
Smart, sassy, accomplished, these women can skillfully navigate both the human body and the glitzy world of their high-profile patients. Save your life? You betcha. Discrete? No doubt. Sexy? As hell. Play hard after a tough day on the job? Where do you think they get their secrets?
And when they fall in love, they pull out all the stops.
The release dates are 6/08, 08/08 & 10/08.
CR: You are quite a busy woman these days, with My Secret Life out now for the Harlequin Blaze line, another book, Once Smitten Twice Shy out in January from Warner and a workbook and writing course for writers out as well. Where do you find the time to keep writing such fun and fresh stories?
I’m very disciplined, plus my husband is retired and he pretty well takes care of me. I write a minimum of ten pages a day, seven days a week, except for when I’m traveling. I get up first thing in the morning, get my pages written in three to four hours and then I have the rest of the day to work the business side of writing. I do most of my teaching at night. I don’t have a lot of free time and I haven’t been on a real vacation in seven years. I do have a few secrets for dealing with stress that helps me keep on track. Basically I try really hard to eat well and exercise and I make time every day for meditation.
CR: What made you want to start a writing course for authors?
I’ve always wanted to teach writing, but I wanted to make sure I had mastered the craft well enough before I dove in. Both my parents are teachers so I guess I come by it naturally. Frankly, I love teaching and it’s the easy thing I’ve ever done. Not that teaching is easy, but for me, it’s easier than either my first career as a nurse, or writing. I’m very analytical and I love the craft of writing. I’m not a believer in tiptoe around the magic or you’ll ruin it. I think if you learn craft you can control the magic. Not everyone agrees with me, but those people usually don’t teach. <grin>
CR: Is your office neat as a pin or messy? Organized or not?
LOL! Okay, it’s not as messy as the picture I saw of Jenny Crusie’s office on the Internet, but it’s only clean about four times a year when it gets to the point I can’t stand the clutter anymore. Actually, I have two offices. My office in the house where I do all my business oriented work is messy. I do my creative writing in our travel trailer away from the phone and Internet and it’s mostly clutter free except for a few research books stacked around.
CR: How does the story come together for you? From beginning to end, or in little vignettes?
I’m a linear writer by nature. I prefer it that way. But I have so many writing commitments I can’t afford to get stuck. So if I hit a wall I’ll hop ahead and write a scene I’m not stuck on. Generally this happens in the middle of the book. I don’t like the vignette method, but it gets me unstuck.
CR: What is a “day in the life of Lori” like?
After 22 years of swing shift nursing, I’m still a night owl and I have insomnia. I get up around nine or ten in the morning, it all depends on how well I slept. I write until noon or if things aren’t going well, one or two in the afternoon on most days. About the last two weeks of a deadline I’m working twelve to fifteen hours a day and all bets are off. I sleep in three or four hours spurts, wake up, write, sleep. It’s sort of like descending into a foggy fugue state and I often don’t know what day it is. Then when the book is done, I crash for hours. On good days, I knock off work at one to two, do email and business related stuff. Then do my meditations, take a walk, have dinner, then teach online. We TiVo television shows or Netflix movies. I’m addicted to story in any form, whether it be books or TV or movies. After I’m done teaching for the night, we’ll stay up until two or three in the morning watching TV. I don’t have much time to read for pleasure anymore, so I listen to books on tape while I walk.
CR: Your romantic comedies are engaging and fun, is humor a large part of your life? A requirement, to some extent, in your books?
I really don’t consider myself a funny person. My dad is a humorist and I guess I subconsciously picked up a lot from him. As a nurse, you tend to acquire a dark sense of humor. I can write without the humor, but it’s hard to put a lid on it. I really do think you either have a knack for humor or you don’t. I don’t think it’s something you can really teach, mainly because I don’t know how I do it.
CR: Is happily ever after a vital part of every book?
In romance it is. But if I ever got out of romance, Katy-bar-the-door. I have a lot of dark stories inside me. I don’t know if I’ll ever write them or not. I like the security of happily ever after, but part of me knows that Ernest Hemingway was right when he said. “When two people love each other there can be no happy ending.”
CR: I hear you are an R.N., a very rewarding job to be sure. What made you choose nursing?
I can’t claim an altruistic calling. I graduated from high school the month I turned 17. My father called me in said, “Look, we’ve got four other kids and not much money. Here’s what’s going to happen. We’re going to put you through LVN school and then you’re going to put yourself through RN school. You can always get a job as a nurse and make good money, plus if you’re serious about this writing thing, nursing will give you flexibility that not many careers can offer.” He was right. Years later, he told me if he’d known I was really serious about writing he would have given me different advice.
CR: What is your favorite way to unwind? A favorite bath or spa product?
Meditation. Backrubs. I was spending so much at the masseuse, my husband bought a massage table and now he gives me regular backrubs to keep me in tiptop writing shape.
CR: Do you have a favorite, can’t live without comfort food?
Does Diet Dr. Pepper count as food? I suppose my all time favorite comfort food are chocolate chip cookies, but I don’t indulge often. I also love Cheetos but I never buy them because I will eat the entire bag in one sitting.
CR: What is in your CD player right now?
Meditation tape.
CR: What books are on your nightstand?
Rachel Gibson’s Tangled Up in You. Susan Elizabeth Phillips’ Natural Born Charmer. A book on screenwriting. And a book on literary erotica (hey I gotta get inspiration for these Blazes somewhere.)
CR: If you could spend a day with anyone in history, who would it be and what would you like to say to them?
Mark Twain. I’ve read him and adored him since I was nine years old. I’d like to tell him what a great literary talent he was and I’d just like to sit and listen to him tell stories.
CR: Any hobbies you would like to share with readers?
Nope, no hobbies. No time. Other than watching movies. Does that count?
CR: What else would you like to share with us?
Just to say thank you to all the readers out there. Without you I wouldn’t have a job. Thank you for reading and joining me as we co-create stories together.
