Author interview, KENDRA JAMES

Today I’m interviewing  Kendra James / Bev Irwin.Her book, WHEN HEARTS COLLIDE, is a Contemporary medical romance and was released December 7/2011.

***NOTE- Kendra is going to give away a FREE e-book copy of her book to one lucky commenter. You must leave your email address so I can get  a hold of you. ***** 

Please tell my readers a little bit about your book . 

Unjustly suspended from her nursing job, Molly Tanner is running away until she can clear her name. Driving along a lonely, twisting highway, she witnesses an accident. She stops to help the critically injured driver and his young daughter. A decision that changes her life forever.

Describe the genre of this particular title, and is the only genre you write in? 

WHEN HEARTS COLLIDE is a Contemporary, medical romance. I also like doing mystery and adventure, often adding a medical aspect. I write adult, youth and children’s books. I have a youth paranormal, GHOSTLY JUSTICE, and a women’s suspense, MISSING CLAYTON, coming out in 2012.

When did you start writing toward publication? 

When I was in grade two or three. I had a poem called Daffodils that was published somewhere. Over the years I had had poetry published in several anthologies or poem and short story collections.

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

Yes, I had several manuscripts and was sending them out and getting ‘good’ rejections, but that the agent didn’t love it enough to take it on.

Why have you become a published author?  

Hopefully to make money and be able to retire from my nursing job. I want the freedom to be able to travel.  I want to see the world and I can write wherever I go.

What is your writing routine like?

Mostly I get at the writing later in the day and the evening. On the days I work, I can’t get to the writing until later in the evening.

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

I’m with a small publisher now and most of the promo I have to do myself. I do blogs, am learning more about Facebook and Twitter.

Having achieved your goal to be a published author, what is the most rewarding thing? 

Seeing the gorgeous cover of my book up on the Soul Mate Publishing website and on Amazon, and B & N. I’m waiting to hold a copy of it in my hand. I am also excited about my upcoming book releases with Black Opal Books. It was overwhelming after all the years of writing and getting “I like it but don’t love it” and to have my book to get final stages with Mills and Boon before being rejected (the hero wasn’t heroic enough due to having a broken leg) to getting  my first contract in September with Soul Mate Publishing. Then to have that followed with two contracts from Black Opal Books. One in October for my paranormal youth novel, GHOSTLY JUSTICE, in October, and another in December for my woman’s suspense, MISSING CLAYTON. Both of these will be out in 2012 and I am dying to hold the print copy in my hand.

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

I belong to Savvy Authors. They are awesome and have very good writing courses, resources, support, and also have pitch opportunities. All three of my books were requested from pitches I made through Savvy Authors.

I often go to writing conferences like Book Passages, Bouchercon, Sleuthfest. They have great writing clinics with people like Donald Maass, Hallie Ephron, Dr Doug Lyle...

I also belong to a small critique group, Fine Lines.

Will you share some encouraging words for authors still struggling for that first contract? 

Keep at it! A friend of mine said it takes three things to get published. Luck, talent, and persistence and if you have any two, you will get published. See your book published and on the shelves, and don’t give up.

What’s next for you?

More books published. Hit the Bestseller list, LOL, books being sold in Walmart and Shopper’s Drug Mart.

BOOK BLURB

If you witnessed an accident on a lonely stretch of highway, would you stop or continue on your way? For nurse Molly Tanner the choice is clear. Risking her own life, she pulls the seriously injured driver and his young daughter from the car. When Pearce begs her to pose as his wife to keep Gracie from foster care, memories of her unhappy childhood rush back. But can Molly keep up the charade without her own secrets being discovered and her heart from being shattered?

Bio

Award-winning author Bev Ir win lives in London, Ontario, with three assorted cats and a collie-cross, named Tiff. Her three children have flown the coup. As a registered nurse, she likes to add a touch of medical to her romance and mystery novels. She also writes YA, children's, and poetry. She prefers spending time in her garden, writing, reading, spending time in her garden and time with her granddaughter, Jasmine to being in the kitchen. For her romance novels, she writes under the pen name of Kendra James. Her debut novel, WHEN HEARTS COLLIDE came out in December 2011. Her YA paranormal novel GHOSTLY JUSTICE, her her women's suspense, MISSING CLAYTON, will be released by Black Opal Books in 2012.

Excerpt

     leather-wrapped steering wheel of her Cavalier, her grandmother’s favorite saying echoing in her head.

     Well, wasn’t that the truth. Fight or flight. Those were her two options. But was fleeing the right decision?

     The sun had set an hour before, and the cloudy sky overhead

hung like a mantle of coal. Molly tried to banish the fatigue descending on her. She should have stopped at that last motel, even if it did look like it would qualify for a five-star roach award. She could add that to her list of regrettable decisions.

     The highway, arrow-straight when it left Hillsborough, now twisted and turned like a corkscrew. Pine trees bordered the roadway, encroaching like shadowy ghosts. Scenes from horror movies with lonely highways sent a shiver down her spine. Why hadn’t she left while it was still light? Molly tried to suppress a yawn. Wake up girl, you need to stay alert.

     She flipped the air flow to maximum. Maybe the cool air would keep her going for a few more miles. She glanced in the rear-view mirror—no one else on the road, nothing to distract her, nothing but blacktop and an inky saw-toothed line of trees. She turned the radio up and listened to the lonesome country tunes.

     It wasn’t working. She switched to a rock station. “I’m not ready to make nice, I’m not ready to back down.” That was better. Just the way she felt. Molly sang along. Opening the window, she let the pine-scented breeze slap her awake.

     A car approached, its bright headlights flickering like fireflies between the thick trunks of the evergreens. At last, a sign of life, the first she’d seen in the past half hour. The lights came closer, causing the pavement to take on the appearance of a striped swamp snake. The roar of a high-powered engine amplified as the distance between them shrank. Thankfully, the high beams switched to low.

      Molly jerked herself alert. What’s wrong with you? He’s on his side of the road, and he isn’t speeding. Why did she have a sudden sense of apprehension? Calm down. The road’s wide enough to share.

     There was a flash of movement. A white-tailed deer darted across the highway fifty feet in front of her. Instinctively, she white-knuckled the steering wheel. Her foot eased off the gas, and the car slowed.

     At least something was going right. Her hands loosened their grip, and she settled back into the seat. A screech of tires broke into her thoughts. Her back stiffened and her heart rate spiked. She clutched the steering wheel again, but her palms were sweating and she had trouble maintaining her grip. The oncoming car veered towards her, its headlights hitting her full in the face, momentarily blinding her. Molly froze. 

      Oh God,no. Her breath wedged in her throat. There was nothing she could do. Her heart skipped several beats as she battered the brakes. Too late. She was heading straight for the car. She hunched forward, bracing for the inevitable crash.

     Unable to breathe, Molly watched as the sports car lurched to the left and hurtled away from her. Hands trembling, Molly relaxed her foot and eased the car to the side of the road. One car out of control was enough. She watched in horror as the Jaguar’s wheels caught the ridge where pavement met gravel. It freewheeled sideways. There was a thunderous crash. A mushroom cloud of sand and gravel littered the darkness, obliterating the car.

     Where was her cell phone? She fumbled through her purse.When would she learn to keep it on? The phone had migrated to the bottom corner of her canvas bag. Her fingers grasped the oblong object, and she flipped it open. Molly pressed the ‘on’ button. Only three numbers, why was she having trouble finding them?

      Seconds crawled as she waited for the screen to illuminate. She twisted in the seat. Like a theatre curtain drawn in reverse mode, gravel and dust sifted back to the ground. In

horizontal slices, the car inched into view. The hood and driver’s side were crunched into the base of a large pine tree. Her thumbs finally managed the number.

     “911. What is your emergency?”

     “There’s been a car accident...on Highway 57...about 15 minutes north of Arva. There’s someone in the car...he swerved to miss a deer...the car slid into a tree. Get an ambulance!”

How can my readers buy your book? 

Web site   

                  Soul Mate Publishing, Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

                  

Readers can go to the publisher’s home page at  www.soulmatepublishing.com

You can find more information about  and my book, WHEN HEARTS COLLIDE by

visiting my website,  www.kendrajames.net

or

my blog at  http://smpauthors.wordpress.com/author/kendrajames4/

My next two books, MISSING CLAYTON, a women’s suspense, and

GHOSTLY JUSTICE, a youth paranormal, will be coming out in 2012 with www.blackopalbooks.com/