Mini-Interview and Giveaway: Joely Sue Burkhart

This morning I posted my review of YOURS TO TAKE. A book I loved to pieces. I love this entire series but this latest installments totally blew me away. So much that I contacted Joely Sue to ask a few questions that were on my mind. It’s by no means a full interview since I am the world’s worst interviewer ever but I hope you all enjoy knowing a bit more about the book and Joely Sue. I am happy to have her on my blog so please give her a warm welcome.

I’ll randomly pick a commenter to receive a copy of YOURS TO TAKE some time next week. I’m also doing Twitter giveaways of all three books in the Connagher Family series today so keep an eye on my Twitter account and brush up on your knowledge of fashion trivia!

And now I give the stage to Joely Sue Burkhart!

PWOR: You mentioned to me that you worry about how Vicki, Jesse and Elias will be accepted. Why?
JSB: Each time a new book comes out, I’m a nervous wreck. All that waiting until the first reviews come in, stressing about whether this book will meet the readers’ expectations. With YOURS TO TAKE, I was even more stressed than usual because the book was very emotional for me to write. The conflicts between the three characters were so real to me that I was exhausted — like Vicki and Elias had been wrestling ME instead of each other. I joked with my sister that Vicki just about killed me before I got her story told the way she wanted!

PWOR: How did you come up with this story for Vicki. What was the inspiration for Vicki’s story.
JSB: I knew all along that she was going to be involved in a menage – I just didn’t know who the men were or why she needed them both. It’s the same way I knew Miss Belle was wacky and Conn was an English professor (DEAR SIR, I’M YOURS) and that Victor was a sadist (HURT ME SO GOOD). I just knew. I’d been working on a Dallas cop character for a different book that never went anywhere…until I realized he was in the wrong book. Elias came over and the fireworks started between him and Vicki, but I still didn’t have the real heart of the story until Jesse finally came in off the streets.

PWOR: I love how every story in this series is different and unique to the characters. How do you do that?
JSB: The characters are just so real and unique when they come on stage that I don’t have any choice but to make their stories unique too. When I started this series, I really only knew Conn, and that he had a brother and a sister. It wasn’t until I was mostly done with his story that I figured out that Victor was a sadist. I still didn’t know anything about Vicki. Through writing Victor’s story and figuring out what made him tick, I finally got to meet Vicki (at theend of HURT ME SO GOOD). She was a tough nut to crack, though, and it took me several months of working with her before she finally opened up and helped me write her story.

PWOR: What does a writing day look like for you?
JSB: On an ideal day, I get up at 5 AM and write for an hour before I have to get the family up. I have an Evil Day Job as a computer programmer, so I don’t have any time during the day, unless I neglect my workout to write over lunch. Sometimes I can sneak in some words around the kids, dinner, and homework, but I really can’t guarantee
how the evening hours will go. I do a lot more administrative type tasks at night where I don’t need to be breathing a story quite so much. Although I’ve been known to put my headset on, listen to the book’s playlist, and keep on going. When the words are going, I have to go too, even if it’s past my bedtime.

If I didn’t work, I’d be a total night owl. I love to stay up late until all hours of the night writing, but it doesn’t happen very often!

If you have any comments or questions for Joely Sue, don’t hesitate to comment, it can land you a copy of YOURS TO TAKE!