My interview with Author Nancy Lennea

Today I am interviewing Nancy Lennea. Her book, DESTINY’S MOUNTAIN, is a romantic suspense and was released on September 30th.

Please tell my readers a little bit about your book.

DESTINY’S MOUNTAIN is a romantic suspense, with a hint of gothic mystery, that uses scenery as a backdrop for both sexual attraction and intrigue. I placed my heroine, Destiny Blake, in a beautiful college town that happens to lie beside a lovely river and breathtakingly beautiful mountains. In fact, her cabin is on the side of the big mountain—Destiny’s mountain. When Jacob Oliver comes along, things go from bad to worse…to erotic. I weave in a couple of guys—stalkers, I’d call them—amidst a young woman’s search for love and an older man’s cynical views.

Did you have several manuscripts finished before you sold? If so, did you send them out yourself?

I finished five manuscripts over three years before I got ‘the call’. Actually, it was an e-mail from Wendi Felter, the owner of Red Rose Publishing. That was for my 3rd manuscript, SECRET LOVE MATCH which was released June 25th of this year. DESTINY’S MOUNTAIN was my first ever manuscript. Yep, and it was rejected left and right. I sent it out to agents on my own. When those rejections came in, I sent it to Harlequin, who requested the full. Nope. They decided it wasn’t for them. I put it away, and kept writing. I took it out and looked it over years later with a fresh eye. I immediately cut out the first seventy-seven pages, used all I had learned at workshops and on-line courses, and polished it into an action-packed love-story filled with stalking, murder, incorrect assumptions, sexual tension, mountain rescue, ghostly voices, and love. THEN I sent it to Red Rose Publishing.

What is your writing routine like?

I am fortunate in that I retired from my job as a 9-1-1 Emergency Medical Dispatcher for the state of New Hampshire when my husband and I moved to North Carolina. My writing day is figured around my marvelous hubby. Sometimes he leaves for work at 9 a.m, and sometimes not until 2 p.m. so I vary what I do. Sometimes I go to bed early, sometimes late. It all depends. Sometimes I go pick up my sister’s dog because I babysit. Normally, I check e-mails first and respond to anything timely or important. I check my calendar to make sure I am aware of any interviews or blogposts coming up. If my plate is clear, I plug a flashdrive into either the desktop or laptop computer (depending on what room I wish to write in that day) and write. Must have backup! Very important.

What sort of promo do you do? Do you have help?

An e-book sale is so much different from a print sale to a large, New York publisher. My publishers send the book out to review sites. They make the books available on other bookseller sites such as Amazon and Fictionwise. They post my book, blurb, and an excerpt on their own website. Me? I do the rest. I have two websites and two blogs because I write in different genres under two different names. When I wanted a book trailer for SECRET LOVE MATCH, I went to the very talented Kerri Nelson at www.thebookboost.blogspot.com. When I wanted bookmarks, I was lucky to find Florina Craven at http://www.thinkflowdesign.com/. She and I choose a suitable size and she used my covers to make lovely bookmarks. Check out her website and see them for yourself. She is making me a book trailer for DESTINY’S MOUNTAIN. I also contacted different blog owners—blogs I read and who post interesting subjects—and scheduled an interview with them or wrote an article for them. I am on Facebook and various romance-related Yahoo groups and I keep busy by spreading the news.

Are you a member of any writing organizations and have they helped?

The first thing I did once we signed a contract to sell our New Hampshire home was to join Romance Writers of America and the local chapter in my new home town. The Heart of Carolina Romance writers are a wonderful mix of new writers, newly published writers, and ‘old hats’. Everyone helps you whenever you have a question and our monthly meetings are full of valuable craft and industry insight. Check out the calendar at http://www.heartofcarolina.org/.
The point I’m making is that no one should do this alone. Writing is a very solitary profession. Can’t make meetings or there isn’t a chapter close by? There are dozens of on-line chapters as well. Just do it!

What’s next for you?

I just sold a short story to Whispers Publishing called UNWRAPPING CHRIS. It is a contemporary romance and takes place mostly on an army base then at a Christmas wedding. It will be released this holiday season. I also just sold what I would loosely call the sequel to DESTINY’S MOUNTAIN. I found that my secondary characters were so engaging that they needed a story of their own. Since they are both paramedic-firefighters, I used my history as a volunteer EMT and firefighter in my local community as inspiration. LOVE TO THE RESCUE is also a romantic suspense and Red Rose Publishing will release it in 2011.

BOOK BLURB

In a quirky college town surrounded by the mountains of New Hampshire, new art history professor Jacob Oliver hikes a trail on a crisp September morning. He contemplates his life. Divorced, and forced out of his job with the Boston Police due to a horrific accident, he spots a naked woman beneath a majestic waterfall. Escaping, he falls and re-injures his knee.
Destiny Blake heard a noise. Someone is on her mountain. She finds a handsome man sitting in the mud. Love blooms and lust consumes them after she helps him to the safety of her cabin. Soon assumptions tear them apart, leaving her vulnerable to the unwanted attentions of other men.
When Jacob decides he cannot live without her, he must save her from a madman who chases her up her mountain through the cold, snowy darkness of a November night. Ghostly voices push Jacob onward, while another spirit’s voice urges Destiny to fight back. Pain, hypothermia, and death threaten as the sun rises. Can Destiny and Jacob make it off Destiny’s Mountain…alive?


EXCERPT

She turned to leave. She had to leave. An injured man deserved privacy, not a drooling voyeur.
A large hand landed on her arm and stopped her cold. His tendons trembled under his skin as he curled his long fingers around her bicep. She glanced down at his hand, amazed at the light dusting of golden-brown hairs that trailed across his wrist, then up a muscular forearm.
“Wait,” he pleaded. His words sounded forced, as if his lungs struggled for air.
Destiny returned her attention to his eyes. She couldn’t read him. Did this signify lust or more? A brief memory featuring Marcus Benton and Pete Thayer crossed her mind, hindering her from acting on her first impulse.
“Do you need help showering?” An innocent question. So, why had a smile broken out across his full, luscious lips? With a jolt, she realized what she’d said and how it sounded.
“I wouldn’t want you to fall, of course,” she explained.
Deep brown eyes stared right through her. Was the man laughing because she’d said something inappropriate? Or was his smile an invitation?
“It seems a sin to waste all this hot water when there’s plenty of room for two.”
Was the man daft? Her shower was small. Really small. His voice sounded steady. He certainly didn’t look steady. She, herself, suddenly wavered. If he fell inside her shower, she’d be in a pickle.
“I promise I won’t look or touch unless you want me to.” He held her widening gaze half a minute more, then opened the shower door and hopped inside.
Panic bubbled up inside Destiny. Standing stock still, she watched as the water cascaded over his head and down to his toes. Her eyes must have spelled out her sudden shock at his words, because he closed the shower door with a definite click…and broke the spell.


AUTHOR BIO

Nancy grew up on New York’s Long Island then attended college in the beautiful mountains of New Hampshire. She worked during college in their dining hall while earning a degree in art education. After meeting her husband there, they raised her family in a small, nearby town. She volunteered as an EMT/firefighter on their small fire department then worked for the State of New Hampshire as a 9-1-1 Emergency Medical Dispatcher. Retired from public service, Nancy now writes full time, lives in North Carolina, and is a member of Romance Writers of America, Heart of Carolina Romance Writers, Fantasy-Futuristic & Paranormal Romance Writers, Celtic Heart Romance Writers, and Sisters-in-Crime. She also writes paranormal romance, such as her recent release, DRAGON’S CURSE, as Nancy Lee Badger, at http://www.nancyleebadger.com/.


How can my readers buy your book?

DESTINY’S MOUNTAIN is available for download from Red Rose Publishing.
The buy link is: http://bit.ly/a4NOHE.
Visit my website at: http://www.nancylennea.com/.
Visit my blog at: http://www.nancylennea-inlove.blogspot.com/.