Author Spotlight:
JL Wilson
New Book Releases:
- Candy, Corpses, & Classified Ads, a mystery/romance from The Wild Rose Press, available for digital download on February 29, 2008 and in print on August 29, 2008!
- If Not For You, a romantic suspense from Cerridwen Press, available for digital download since December 27, 2007.
- Your Saving Grace, a romantic suspense from Cerridwen Press, available for digital download since June 2007 and to be released in print this spring.
Recent/Upcoming Book Signings:
- Book Fair at the 25th Romantic Times BOOKLOVERS Convention in Pittsburgh. The RT Convention runs from April 16 - 20, 2008, and the print Book Fair takes place on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. JL will be signing both at the Saturday Book Fair as well as at the Wednesday EBook Fair during the convention.
Questions We Asked JL...
What is your favorite place to write? I do a lot of writing in my home office, and in my day job office. I don’t really have a favorite place to write because I tend to write all the time, jotting down snippets of dialog, setting, scenes, as I go. I always carry along my WIP notebook, which is a small book that has everything I need for my current project.
Are you a typewriter, Mac, or PC person? Several PCs: 2 laptops, 2 handhelds, my Palm, and a work laptop. I write on all of them at one point or another during the week.
How many full-length novel manuscripts did you complete before selling? Two or three, I really can’t remember. I’m selling the ones I wrote ‘back then’ now. Nothing is going to waste, that’s for sure. If I can’t sell them as is, I’m re-doing them slightly. I’ve learned a bunch since I started selling my work and I find it’s a lot easier now to go back and fix what is wrong.
Can you give us a quote from one of your best (or worst) rejection letters? I haven’t kept any rejection letters, so I can’t say. I have to admit, I got mostly ‘good’ rejections in that they were personalized and they said things like ‘you have a strong writing style but your work just isn’t quite what we’re looking for right now. Please submit something else for consideration.’ I know I got a BUNCH of rejection letters, probably 50 or 60, before I got that ‘sold’ letter. It’s discouraging, that’s for sure!
What would you say is the most valuable writers' training course you've taken? An online synopsis class with Mary Buckham. She’s an awesome teacher and I learned a ton about writing a good blurb, tag, and synopsis from her.
What is your reason for writing? I couldn’t find books I liked, so I decided to write them for myself. As my bio says, most of the romance books I picked up featured heroines who were too young. I want to read about people in their 40s and 50s, who have issues around getting older, finding ‘new love,’ and dealing with self-image issues when going back into the dating world. So I decided to write books about those people.
What would the hero of your latest book say if he met you on the street? The hero of my current WIP would say, “Hey — why the hell are we in Minnesota in the wintertime? Couldn’t you set this book in the Bahamas or something? It’s COLD out here!”
What would he DO? Ah, that would be telling. You need to read the book to find out. I can tell you, though, Nathan is 43 and he’s ‘dating’ Margaret, the heroine, who is 50. He’s trying to convince her to marry him. Margaret’s sort of an upper-crust woman and he’s definitely blue collar.
She doesn’t see that as a problem, although Nathan is acutely aware of it. So he does things to convince her he’s cool, like buy her unusual jewelry (customized dog tags — who knew?) and interesting wine (who needs a cork?). He’s even willing to go to Possum Bottom, Minnesota in February to help her settle her uncle’s estate. And the fact that he’s an FBI agent comes in handy when the lawyer for the estate turns up murdered.
Yep, Nathan will do just about anything to convince Margaret he’s the guy for her. Little does he know that she already knows it — she’s just waiting for him to realize it, too. In between solving a murder, figuring out how to handle the inheritance, and surviving the damn blizzard, they’ll get it all straightened out.
What advice would you give to other aspiring writers? If you want to be a writer, you have to sit down and do the work. It isn’t easy. You have to want it, and you have to be willing to do what it takes to get it done. If you do, you’ll find it’s fun, it’s rewarding, and it’s one of the best accomplishments you can imagine. Stick your butt in the chair and do it. You won’t regret it.
Also find yourself a critique group, either online or in person, who will give you honest criticism of your work. I recommend finding an online group — you get truly honest feedback from total strangers. I used Charlotte Dillon’s RWC group for about a year before I found some other like-minded people and we formed our own online critique group. We didn’t meet each other in person until about a year after we’d formed the group. It’s been a great resource for me. I now have a “First Reader” who reads everything I write and gives me good feedback on my work, my plots, and my characters.
Above all: stick with it. Getting published and staying published isn’t easy. But it’s doable (and fun) if you’re willing to learn, work, and try.
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Still have questions?
If you want to know more about JL, visit her website at
www.jayellwilson.com.
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