WWR: Many writers claim their love of reading led them to write because they couldn't always find the stories they wanted to read. What started you writing?
Ann: I've always loved reading and writing, and when I practiced law, the part I most looked forward to was the writing-memos, briefs, opinion letters, you name it. Plus, I've always been fascinated with how people fall in love. I guess my brain is just wired that way. No matter what I'm reading (or watching), I always focus on the love aspect.
For example, I love the movie A FEW GOOD MEN, which is a terrific drama about the military justice system. But I consider it one of the greatest love stories never told, because I'm positive the Demi Moore and Tom Cruise characters are falling in love over the course of this case. Has anyone else besides me ever thought that?
Anyway, before I digress too much more ... Putting these two interests together, it seemed logical for me to write love stories.
WWR: Do you have certain themes you like to revisit in your books?
Ann: I'm not sure I have a theme, but if I do, it's something like: love conquers all or love is worth any price.
WWR: Trouble is your first published novel from Dafina Books (Kensington). Would you tell us about your first sale?
Ann: Well, after finishing TROUBLE, which was my second novel, I entered it in just about every contest known to womankind. I got lots of VERY low marks, and let's just say there were MANY dark moments crying in the bathroom. But I took the constructive criticism for what it was worth, rewrote until I was sick of the characters and all their angst, and gradually the book got better, my marks got better, and the rejections from agents also got nicer.
Then I queried my agent, and she said she loved the book except that it went off in the wrong direction and, oh, by the way, it was 150 pages too long. This was a shock. Of course I'd heard that single titles should be about 100,000 words, but I didn't think that rule applied to ME.
So I sucked it up, rewrote the @#$%^^!!* manuscript for what seemed like the billionth time, and she signed me. Around this same time, TROUBLE won third place in the Orange Rose contest. About six months later, Kensington bought the book.
WWR: If you will, tell us about Trouble's heroine Dara and hero Mike. What is it that draws these two together? Tease us!
Ann: Mike, a criminal defense lawyer, and Dara, a law student, see each other across a crowded room at a party, and they have one of those electric, WEST SIDE STORY moments. But pretty quickly Mike realizes that she's the woman his brother is interested in, so he backs off. But when Dara winds up doing an internship at his law firm, well ... let's just say there's only so much backing off a red-blooded alpha male can do. Passions smolder and erupt, infatuations turn into obsessions, brotherly love is tested ... Is that enough teasing for you?
WWR: Teasing? Certainly not! I love tease(r)s. :-) Many reviewers have called Trouble "hot". Did you set out to write a hot, sensual romance, or did it just happen?
Ann: Hmmm ... well, these characters are very passionate people, and they have lots of obstacles to overcome, and they have to wait a while to get together. So once they do come together, I think it's only natural-and true to the characters-that it be pretty sensual.
I do like romances with lots of smoldering subtext, where one of the lovers is forced—for whatever reason—to pretend that s/he doesn't care about the other. I think emotions tend to run pretty high in this kind of situation.
WWR: What is it about Trouble that makes it special to you as the author? What do you hope will make it special for readers?
Ann: I love these characters, and I hope readers do, too. Mike is a little arrogant, and a little dogmatic, but he's smart, funny, and REALLY sexy-and he has a heart of gold. Dara is a little young, a little naïve, and can be a poor judge of character, but she's sweet and passionate. They fall hard for each other, and I really wanted them to work things out and get it together.
I also really like the secondary characters—Sean, Mike's fun but misguided brother, Jamal, the smart-mouthed street kid who works for Mike, and Mrs. Baldwin, Mike and Sean's mother.
WWR: Your book Trouble has garnered some great quotes, from "fun and entertaining" to "an excellent read." Is it very exciting (or just a relief) to have people saying such good things about your first book?
Ann: It's exciting AND a relief! It's also very strange, because now everyone who reads the book can have an opinion about these characters that started out in my head.
WWR: I hear you've also sold two books to Harlequin's Kimani line. Would you tell us about these books?
Ann: These books are lighter and funnier, the heroines are older and more experienced, and they're both revenge tales. In the first, JUST ABOUT SEX, the heroine is a sex therapist with an online column. When she posts a letter in which the hero's disgruntled ex-girlfriend complains about the hero's alleged lack of, er ... sexual prowess, the hero sets out to get revenge in a very unusual way.
In the second book (working title: SWEETER THAN REVENGE), the heroine is a spoiled, divorced heiress. When her father decides it's time for her to grow up and get a job if she wants her fortune, he forces her to work in public relations with the hero. She and the hero were lovers years ago, and she broke his heart by marrying someone else. So of course the hero tries to make her life miserable in every possible way.
I'd also like to mention RISK, my second book for Dafina, which will come out in February. There, the hero and heroine are locked in a custody battle for their niece, whose parents are killed in a car accident. This is a very emotional, older woman-younger man romance.
All of my heroes are very alpha, and when they fall in love, the heroines don't stand a chance!
WWR: On a personal note, who introduced you to romance novels?
Ann: I'm not sure anyone "introduced" me. I do remember reading Danielle Steel's THE PROMISE, and Kathleen E. Woodiwiss' ASHES IN THE WIND very early on. Oh, and JANE-EMILY, a turn of the century story where the dead girl's jealous spirit inhabits a decorative glass ball in the garden, and she tries to interfere with the young lovers.
WWR: What's been the most memorable moment of your writing career?
Ann: Most memorable ... most memorable ... that's a hard one. Getting the call that TROUBLE had placed in the Orange Rose contest. Getting the call that Kensington had made an offer. Seeing the cover for the first time. Seeing the book on Amazon. Maybe the MOST memorable was when that e-mail popped up from my now agent, asking to see the full manuscript, because it said, "I am loving TROUBLE." This was the first time a publishing professional had shown such enthusiasm for my work.
WWR: We love to hear about the journey to publication. Would you tell us about your journey? How many years did you spend writing before you had your first sale?
Ann: I covered most of this above, I think. TROUBLE was my second completed manuscript, and when Kensington bought it, I'd been writing for four years.
If there's any advice I'd give writers, it's this: don't give up. Enter contests, and use the constructive criticism. If an editor or agent rejects your manuscript, but they suggest changes, MAKE THEM. It's not a true rejection if they want you to rewrite and resubmit. If I can trim 150 pages off my manuscript to get the darn thing sold, then so can you.
WWR: Do you have any interest in writing in a genre other than contemporary romance?
Ann: I periodically think I'd like to try romantic suspense, but that seems horribly complicated and scary to me right now. We'll see!
