Just in time for the release of BAREFOOT AT SUNSET, the first book in her latest trilogy, Barefoot
Bay Timeless, I have the lovely and talented Roxanne St. Claire with me today... keep reading for a chance to win a copy of her latest book BAREFOOT AT SUNSET...
Roxanne:
Thank you so much for inviting me to be here! I’m excited to be celebrating the release of
the first book in the Barefoot Bay Timeless trilogy, called BAREFOOT AT SUNSET.
The Barefoot Bay Series consists of many “mini series” – trilogies and quartets
– that each have a different theme and tone. So readers can jump in at any
time, kick off their shoes, and fall in love!
Q:
Tell us
something about yourself.
A:
Anything? Like my favorite color is pink and I have a weakness for The
Bachelor and red wine? (Usually at the same time.) Or do you mean my “life” stuff? I’m married
to an amazing man I met in an elevator (he asked me to marry him in the same
elevator), we have two kids who are “more or less” grown – an 18 year old
daughter in college and a 23 year old son in law school, and we live on the east
coast of Florida in a home we built 20 years ago. I’ve been writing novels for
about 15 years and have 47 books published and hope to write 100 in my
lifetime.
Q: I have
a nine pound Shih Tzu named Buddy. Tell us about your dogs.
A: Do we have
to say the weight??? I have a 12 pound Shih Tzu named Ginger who is a lovable
lunatic and a, um, well, rather grossly overweight (27 pounds!) Australian
Terrier (think Toto only chubby) named Pepper who is ornery, slow, bad
tempered, and irresistible. Ginger is 4
years old and Pepper is 12 going on 90.
Q. How
did you get into writing?
A: I loved to read and always, always had my fingers
on a keyboard, writing stories of my own. One day I just decided I had to try
and write a whole book and I did, found the Romance Writers of America, entered
writing contests, got an agent, and sold my first book to Simon & Schuster
in 2002.
Q. How do you develop your plots and characters?
A: Not very
nicely. All the magic happens at the
keyboard for me, which makes for a very rough, frustrating, ugly first draft.
Fortunately, I absolutely LOVE to revise, so that’s when I take a hot mess and
turn it into a book I’m proud to call mine.
Q: What inspired
you to write the Barefoot Bay Timeless series?
A: Facebook! I started a little feature on my page
called “Because it’s Friday” – it was just a post I did one day to show off a
“hot guy” and readers liked it so I started putting up “Because it’s Friday”
guys every week. One time, a reader made a comment about how the guy looked
more like her son than a potential lover and that REALLY resonated. In
response, the following week, I posted a picture of George Clooney and said
something like “because sometime sexy comes in silver.” WHOA! My page blew up.
I had thousands of likes, hundreds of comments, dozens of shares. So Because it’s Friday morphed into Silver
Fox Friday. And that feature was so popular with readers that it dawned on me
one day that my readers liked guys over forty!
I write the Barefoot Bay series in “mini series” of trilogies and
quartets and each “set” is a little different, so I thought it would be fun to
do one with all silver fox heroes. (Billionaires, Brides, Undercover agents…and
now Timeless.)
Q: In the
Barefoot Bay Timeless series, who is your favorite character and why?
A: Well, I’ve
only written the first two books, so I might have a different answer after I
finish the third, but I absolutely ADORE Mark Solomon, the 48 year old hero of
BAREFOOT AT SUNSET. He’s got a heart of gold and it has been broken by grief.
Watching him heal and love again was a blast. (And yes, he’s named “Mark” as an
homage to my FB fans because Mark Harmon is by far and away the #1 fan favorite
fox.)
A:
Gabe Rossi. That’s all I really need to
say. He’s the hero of BAREFOOT WITH A
BAD BOY and has appeared in all the Barefoot Bay Undercover books, plus the
Guardian Angelino books. He is a sexy, dirty-talking, quick-thinking, sexy,
capable, irresistible, DID I MENTION SEXY former spy.
Q:
Do you prefer coffee or tea?
A: Coffee, sweet and light.
Q:
What’s better than chocolate?
A: Jamie Fraser of OUTLANDER.
Q:
If you believed in this sort of thing and could channel an artist from the
beyond, who would it be and why?
A: Charles Dickens because he could tell a story
like nobody else. (Funny aside: the hero in BAREFOOT AT SUNSET doesn’t really
“believe” in that sort of thing, but he does believe that his late wife
occasionally sends him messages to guide him to make the right decisions. This
makes for one of the most beautiful and emotional moments in the story. Bring
Kleenex!)
Q:
What are your plans for the future? Where do you see yourself in five years?
A: That might be the hardest question I’ve ever been
asked. I don’t really “plan” for the future. I believe that’s in God’s hands,
to be perfectly honest. I don’t know where I’ll be in five years, but I hope
I’m happy, healthy, and surrounded by my friends and family. I hope I’m
writing, thriving, and laughing a lot, but one never knows, right?
Q:
Any advice for those aspiring novelists out there?
A: Read everything you can and then write what you
love to read. You aren’t really writing until you’re rewriting, so learn to
love revisions, take edits, and don’t get too attached to anything in your
story. Also, make friends – real ones – with other writers. It can be a very
lonely life.
Thanks for your time, Rocki. I wish you success with
Barefoot Bay Timeless and all your future work!
Roxanne: Thank you! It’s been a pleasure to be here!!
(a print copy for a US winner, a digital copy for an International winner)
Published since 2003, Roxanne
St. Claire is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more
than forty romance and suspense novels. She
has written several popular series, including Barefoot Bay, the Guardian
Angelinos, and the Bullet Catchers.
In addition to being an eight-time nominee and one-time
winner of the prestigious RITA™ Award for the best in romance writing, Roxanne’s
novels have won the National Reader’s Choice Award for best romantic suspense three
times, as well as the Maggie, the Daphne du Maurier Award, the HOLT Medallion,
Booksellers Best, Book Buyers Best, the Award of Excellence, and many
others.
She lives in Florida with her husband, and still
attempts to run the lives of her teenage daughter and 20-something son. She loves dogs, books, chocolate, and wine, but
not always in that order.
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