Jacquie D is in the House!

Drumroll please!!! Today we welcome a truly talented author. I had the pleasure of meeting Jacquie D'Alessandro at a workshop in Denver, and knew we had to have her for the Romance Bandits. I found she is an incredibly sweet and generous person as well as being a great writer. So, without further ado...here's Jacquie!

Hi Jacquie, and welcome to Romance Bandits! To start off, we'd love to hear all about the the new book/series you have coming out!

The series is called Mayhem in Mayfair and the first book, Sleepless at Midnight, goes on sale June 26th. The series centers around a group of four friends who have formed the Ladies Literary Society of London which forsakes the classics for more thrillingly forbidden reading material. In Sleepless at Midnight the ladies have read Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein—a very scandalous book at the time, not only because it was written by a woman, but because that woman had been involved in a scandalous affair with a married man. The book fires up the imagination of the heroine, Miss Sarah Moorehouse, so when she spies the Marquess of Langston mysteriously sneaking home in the wee hours clutching a shovel, she simply must investigate. Impelled by curiosity she steals into his bedchamber, only to be caught red-handed by the impossibly handsome and totally naked nobleman—an incident that sets them off on what I like to call A Big Adventure. The sequel, Confessions at Midnight, will be released in January ’08. In that story, the ladies read a book of erotica which sets Sarah’s sister off on her own Big Adventure. An excerpt and the first chapter of Sleepless at Midnight are posted on my website at www.JacquieD.com.

How did you start writing romance? What was the road to publication like for you--short and smooth or long and bumpy?

I started by consolidating my habit of jotting down notes on random pieces of paper (after I joined a writers’ group, I was so relieved to find out I wasn’t the only person who did that!). Romance and mysteries were (are still are) my favorite genres, so when I realized I wanted to write a book, there wasn’t any doubt in my mind what sort of story it would be. As for my road to publication, I wish I could say it was short and smooth, but it wasn’t. I have a folder of rejection letters and suffered the frustration of the loooooong waiting periods between submitting and finally hearing back from editors. I didn’t have an agent and had gotten thisclose to selling my historical, but the editor (who I’d queried, who then first asked for the partial, then the full, then revisions--a process that took 19 months) left the house and the editor who took her place wasn’t as enamored of the book as the original editor and passed. I was so disappointed and heartbroken and frustrated, I quit writing. Completely. After about 4 months, I picked myself up and decided I didn’t want to quit, but I also didn’t want to deal with that historical again right away. So I tried something completely different and wrote a short contemporary romantic comedy. As I had with the historical, I started entering it in contests and got good feedback. At the same time, I did some re-writing on my historical and tried a few more contests--and won the Novel Beginnings contest. Through that win, I got my agent (who was the finalist judge). She asked to see the full manuscript and loved it. I made some revisions based on her comments, and within a few weeks she’d sold it in a two book deal to Dell. About two weeks later she sold my contemporary romantic comedy to Zebra Bouquet which had just started. And I’ve been typing ever since!

You write both historical romance for Avon and hot category romance for Harlequin Blaze. What do you like about writing in each genre, and how do you balance the two parts of your career? Do you ever find yourself using Regency-speak in your Blaze books?

I like writing the Regency-era historicals because I just love that time period. The lords and ladies, the fancy balls and soirees, the country house parties, the political climate, the wars and spies, the strict rules of Society. The lack of women’s rights during that period fascinates me—the dearth of choices they had figures prominently in my stories. I also love the longer length of the books because it enables me to add a mystery element into each story. After writing a 400 page historical, I love to turn it all completely around and write a short contemporary. I find the prospect of diving right back into another 400 page historical daunting, so I think mixing it up between the two very different lengths and types of stories helps keep me fresh. So far I’ve managed not to give my Regency heroine a cell phone or dress my contemporary hero in breeches. Hopefully if I ever make that mistake my editor will catch it!

The romance formula is pretty clear--boy meets girl, boy and girl hit some bumps on the road to paradise, boy and girl live happily ever after. How do you keep your stories fresh and exciting?

Let me tell you, after 25 books, it’s a challenge. I always thought this would get easier, but for me it gets harder. I’ll write a sentence and think, “I KNOW I’ve written that sentence before!” So I try to come up things that are fresh for me—things that I haven’t read. Things that make me excited to discover. For instance, my last Blaze book was part of the Adrenaline Rush series and took place during a hike to Machu Picchu. I did a ton of research about the Inca trail, Peru, the hike, and I found it fascinating, which made the book fun to write. Creating the four female characters for the Ladies Literary Society of London also excited me—coming up with four very different, distinct women, and the situations that would drive them forward into love. I guess it comes down to brainstorming ideas—trying to put new twists on things, and creating characters I love, who readers will hopefully love as well.

Besides the happy endings, what do you think distinguishes romance novels and literary fiction? Do you have any interest in crossing the bookstore aisle from "romance" to "literature"?

I think the happy endings are the biggest factor, along with the message of hope those endings deliver. I have absolutely no desire or interest to write anything other than a book with a happy ending. It’s the sort of book I love to read and the only sort I would ever write. Even if I switched gears and wrote a mystery, it would have to have a romance in it, and it would have to end well. I don’t think a book has to be sad or depressing to be “important”. After all, what’s more important than love? I think people who pooh-pooh romances have never read one—or haven’t read one in a very long time. I really dislike reading any book that leaves me feeling sad or depressed. I read the newspaper for that. If a book won’t leave me with a smile on my face when I close the cover, then I don’t want to read it. Which is why I’ve always loved romance.

Have your books changed since you started writing? In what ways?

I think the biggest change is that they’ve gotten sexier. Probably because I’ve gotten more comfortable writing love scenes, and also because I continually try to challenge myself to come up with something I haven’t done before—not easy in a love scene after 25 books! I think my writing has also gotten tighter—at least I hope it has!

Anything else you want to share with our readers? The meaning of life? How to lose those last ten pounds? (I'm particularly interested in this last one...)

If I knew how to lose that last ten pounds ( I’d call it baby weight, but my “baby” is 17!!), I’d write a book about it and be an instant bestseller! (dibs on that idea!). As for anything to share, I can only say don’t give up. This is a difficult business—anything that involves a lot of solitude, rejection, and waiting isn’t easy. But nothing rewarding is ever easy. If it was easy to get a book published, everyone would have a book published—I mean, have you ever met a person who said, “I’ve never, not once, ever thought of writing a book”? I haven’t. But just because it’s hard, doesn’t mean it can’t be done. And even once you get published, it really all just boils down to two words: Keep Writing.

Thanks Jacquie! Now it wouldn't be a Romance Bandits day without a contest, sooooo....we'll be giving away signed copies of Jacquie's new book (when it is released!) to two lucky folks who either leave a comment or question for Jacquie. She will be popping in periodically to say hello and answer questions during the day. So start posting those questions!