Welcome fellow Wild Rose Press author, Mia Downing!

 Welcome to my site, Mia - I think this is your visit with me so it's great to have you here. I'm really looking forward to learning more about you and your books. Shall we get started??

Thank you for having me, Rachel! I’m so excited to be here.

1)   When and why did you decide you wanted to be a published author?

I wanted to be published in fourth grade when I wrote the sequel to Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH because I didn’t like how it ended. I don’t know what happened to that, but it was the beginning. I started writing romance in college during a creative writing class. It wasn’t anything nearly as hot as what I write now, which is good, because my college professor didn’t need to die of a heart attack.

2)   What is the best and worse thing you have learned from an editor/agent?

One rejection I got from an editor was a phone call from Harlequin in NYC. I learned, in that phone call, that she didn’t want what I had, but thought I had enough talent to write for Intrigue, because she asked me to write something for her. Unfortunately, I didn’t have what it took at that time in my writing career. I had toddlers and I honestly didn’t have the skill. It would take more books to learn what I needed. It was a very bittersweet moment.

3)   What is your typical day?

In the winter, get up at 5:30, pack lunches, then either write on the laptop or go back to bed, then get the next wave of victims off to school. The day doesn’t involve housework if I can help it. Usually I give in and herd the dust elephants because it’d be hard to write if they condemn your house. It’s also hard to write if you’re hungry or your family is hungry, so I do shop for food and then cook it. I have a real job I have to go to now and then, so I trudge off and then come back and write very naughty words until the kids come home. Unfortunately, they both can read, and I don’t want to give them a sexual education. I’m already a bad enough mother.

 4)   Did you plan this book? Or write it as it came?

I write as the story comes. It usually starts with a snippet I see in my head. In Exceeding Boundaries, I saw her planning to seduce her boss under forgotten mistletoe. Then I start wondering why, who, what. I wrote the beginning and the ending because I saw it clearly, and then pieced the middle together. All of my books seem to work that way.

Spy Games: Trained for Seduction was never supposed to be a book. It was something I thought up in my head to keep me entertained because my husband was snoring, I couldn’t sleep and I was too lazy/cold to move to the couch. So I had all of the elements in place, the story planned through, but Chase wasn’t the hero, and it just wasn’t working out for poor Jake. And one night, I thought, why couldn’t he be? And then it got very sexy, and that, was that. It took me a month to write 62,000 words, then added another 30,000 in two weeks after completing the second book (Spy Games: Lethal Limits.)

 5)   What surprised you the most when you became a published?

I’m surprised that people actually like what I write, and someone would be silly enough to buy it (which means I’m implying my super sweet and sexy editor Diana Carlile is an idiot, when she’s incredibly talented and savvy, but I do question her purchasing power when she sends me a contract.)

I’m surprised that I don’t have a heart attack when I get a review.

I’m surprised my friends and family haven’t heaved me over the castle wall. Yet. I feel the revolt coming, though.

 6)   Do you have a dedicated writing space? What does it look like?

I use the family computer but my screen name is locked up tighter than a chastity belt to keep away prying eyes. The computer covered in dust. I sit next to the blaring TV (with just as much dust) and wear headphones blaring louder with whatever music the characters need. I have a rubber band gun ready to take aim at those looking to ambush me. So don’t try it. I’m a deadly shot, and it’s got six rounds loaded. Ask the kids.

7)    What’s next for you?

I’ve finished the last two books of the Spy Games series and the second is in edits. I’ve just submitted a male/male story to my editor, my first in the genre and I’m very excited about it. The heroes learn they’re now business partners, owning a tropical island resort together. One hero wants to sell, the other needs to convince him that paradise is his calling.

I love to hear from my readers! I can be found at miadowning007@hotmail.com, 

http://www.miadowning.blogspot.co.uk/

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5754711.Mia_Downing

I cannot believe you wrote this book so quickly! How did you manage that? Your fingers must've been on fire, lol!! It's great to have you here, Mia - wishing you loads of future success and sales :)

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