Hi Laurel! Nice to meet you and nice to be the person to kick off your virtual book tour - wishing lots of sales and future publishing success. Let's get started with the interview...
When and why did you decide you wanted to be a published author?
I’ve always loved to write. English, English Lit and Creative Writing were my favourite courses in college. Unfortunately I was convinced that I wold never have the time or discipline to write professionally. So I let all of my characters and stories rattle around in my head for years until about two years ago when I finally took the plunge and started committing my stories to paper (and laptop). It’s been an incredibly freeing experience. My only regret is hat I didn’t do it sooner!
What is the best and worse thing you have learned from an editor/agent?
Oh this question is easy! The best thing I ever learned from an editor is the fact that everyone needs to be edited. and I mean everyone. There is always room for improvement so when it comes to writing so if you want to give readers your best effort, you have to check your ego at the door.
Favourite author/s?
I have so many. I’m a huge fan of paranormal and fantasy writing so I would have to say C.L. Wilson and Karen Marie Moning have the art of world building mastered. I’m also a huge fan of the old Harlequin romances of which Penny Jordan was one of my favorites. And to round out the list, when it comes to erotic romance I love Delaney Diamond and Jaci Burton, those two ladies are amazing at writing scorching scenes and building erotic tension on page.
What is your typical day?
Like most writers I have a day job that I’m pretty much dedicated to 9 to 56. So my days usually consist of me snoozing in bed and snuggling up with my hubby until the very last possible minute before I roll out of bed. I’m not a big fan of makeup, but I am more than slightly obsessed with accessories and shoes so I do a mini-fashion show in my closet everyday before I hit the road. The real fun begins whenever I manage to find a spare minute during the day to write down ideas or flesh out scenes in my journal. Inspiration comes at the strangest times. I’ve been known to pull over to the side of a road just to get an idea down on paper. Thankfully I’m a night owl, so by the time I get home and somehow manage to convince my husband that it’s his day to cook again, I’m ready to spend a few hours typing and writing. Lather rinse repeat and that’s a typical weekday for me. Don’t get me started on the weekends though. I live in South Florida so finding the balance between writing and participating in all that this region has to offer rounds out the rest of my week.
Who would you cast to play your hero & heroine in a movie?
Oh hands down for Veronica it would be Kerry Washington and Victor would would for sure be Oded Fehr. Kerry always manages to exude an air of confidence and sexiness all at once and I think she would be a perfect Veronica. Oded is just plain hot and I have to admit I pictured him from the start when I built Victor’s character.
Did you plan this book? Or write it as it came?
It was a little bit of both. The idea for this book came from a conversation I had with a friend about what we both considered sexy in romance novels. I’ve always been a big fan of the Plain Jane/Handsome Boss model but wanted to give it a bit of a twist. Hence Negotiating Skills was born.
What surprised you the most when you became published?
The shear amount of work involved! Finally bringing my characters to life was awesome, but the amount of work involved after completing a book can be somewhat daunting sometimes. There’s the process of editing, choosing cover art and deciding on the overall look and feel of the final format of the book. Not to mention marketing and publicity. It is a lot of work, but I wouldn’t give it up for the world. I absolutely love it!
Do you have a dedicated writing space? What does it look like?
I have a work space set up at home that I rarely use. I have this beautiful little room that doubles as an office space and library, but more often than not I find myself tapping away on my laptop while sitting on my couch with my feet in my hubby’s lap and my ear buds snugly in place.
What’s next for you?
I’m in the process of getting my first paranormal contemporary romance titled How To Kill Your Immortal published. I’ve also decided to make the Negotiating Skills the first in a series of books with an office romance theme. I’m calling it my Boardroom Acts series. The next book in the series is titled, High Stakes so stay tuned. Readers can check out my website for excerpts and I’ll be posting the release dates soon.
Where readers can find you – website, Facebook, Twitter etc
I love hearing from readers so feel free to stop by my website or to follow me via my blog, Twitter or Facebook.
Website: www.LaurelCremant.com
Twitter: @LaurelCremant
Negotiating Skills
by Laurel Cremant
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
Witnessing a
private act leads to some interesting negotiations... Software programmer
Veronica James is struggling to make her new business a success. Unfortunately,
after finally landing a major account, she’s at risk of losing it all when she
catches her new client Victor Rossi in a very compromising position. In an
effort to regain the upper hand, Rossi insists on some very sexy and
compromising concessions that have Veronica reconsidering her hard fast rule of
not mixing business with pleasure.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCERPT
Her body ached and she felt
frozen to the core. She hated being sick. The helplessness of it always made
her want to scream out in frustration. She burrowed further into the blankets
and tried to fight back tears.
Mother Nature was always the
great equalizer thought Veronica. No matter how capable and strong you thought
you were, Nature would bitch slap you with some virus, germ or otherwise
generally hellacious ailment that had even the strongest person whimpering for
their momma. Veronica had definitely reached that point.
She wished she hadn’t made Victor
leave. As obnoxious as he was it did suck to be sick and alone. Tears fell down
her cheeks unchecked and she just hoped that sleep would envelop her again.
“Hey, you’re awake.”
The sound Victor’s gruff voice
almost made her sob out in relief.
“You’re still here,” she
whispered.
“Of course, I am,” he said.
“I told you it was going to take
a lot to make me leave,” he said as he leaned over her and touched his hand to
her brow.
“You’re still really hot.”
“I don’t feel hot,” she said, “I
feel like someone dumped a pile of ice on top of me.”
“Well to sound completely cliché,
I know how to warm you up,” he said waggling his eyebrows at her and twisting
his mouth into a comical leer.
“You’re a pervert,” she said with
a small tired smile stretching her lips.
“You can’t blame a man for
trying,” he said returning her smile.
“Like I said, pervert.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and
Links:
Laurel is a romance author, who like most writers loves to read. Her
first love (pun intended) has always been romance. From the sappy YA romance
novel to the more risqué erotica novels, Laurel is a sucker for a good love
story.
Laurel writes paranormal and contemporary romance and is a self
proclaimed, out of the closet nerd. She admits that she can't seem to avoid
adding a bit of "nerdology" or "geek-dom" to all of her
books. Living in Miami, she also admits that she can't seem to avoid giving her
heroines gorgeous shoes, "In Miami, we worship everything strappy, open
toed and just plain hot!"
BUY LINKS
Amazon
All Romance
Barnes & Noble
Kobo
Lulu
Smashwords
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comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour
dates can be found here:
Comments??
Thank you for hosting today.
ReplyDeleteHi Rachel. Thanks so much for hosting me today. It's always fun to meet another fellow blogger and writer.
ReplyDeleteI like their chemistry--very intriguing excerpt!
ReplyDeletevitajex(at)aol(dot)com
Thanks. I'm a big fan of tension in romances so it does seem to find it's way into the stories I write as well.
DeleteI had to google Oded Fehr. I had no idea who he was. Yum.
ReplyDeletecatherinelee100 at gmail dot com
Lol! Yes, he was a character in the Mummy movies and I fell in lust at first start :)
DeleteThis sounds like a great story! I too had to google Oded Fehr (Yummy!). I will be putting this on my wishlist right now :)
ReplyDeleteJune
manning_J2004 at yahoo dot com
Hi June, Yes yummy is definitely the word to describe Mr.Fehr ;). I hope you enjoy the read!
ReplyDelete