Today I have with me Debbie De Louise a fellow writer at Limitless Publishing. Debbie has authored a self-published romantic suspense novel, “Cloudy Rainbow” (Booklocker 2008) that received an honorable mention in the Writer’s Digest self-published awards. Her second romantic suspense novel, “A Stone’s Throw” was released by Limitless Publishing, LLC in November 2015. She is hoping to publish the sequel (possible 2nd in the series) in Spring 2016.
Hi Debbie, welcome to my blog.
D- Glad to be here, Natalina.
When I write, I am afraid I am not much of a planner. I normally start with an idea and a couple characters and I just let it develop as I write. What about you? Are you a plotter or a pantster?
D – I used to be 90 percent pantster and 10 percent plotter. Now I’m about 80 percent pantster and 20 percent plotter, but I would like to change that to 50/50 or at least 60/40 eventually because planning is important as long as you can keep it flexible.
What genre do you write? What made you want to write in that genre and for that age group?
D – I write adult fiction. The exact genre is hard to pinpoint. My books are a blend of mystery and romance with minimum gore and no explicit sex. Reviewers consider them cozy mysteries.
I find it hard to place my writing into a single genre, as well. When did you decide you would like to be a writer? Have you always liked to write?
D – I’ve loved writing since I first learned how. Authors were my heroes, and I still admire them.
There are a lot of books and authors that I admire and I sometimes wish I could have been the one writing a particular work. For example, I would have loved to have written the Book Thief by Markus Zusak. What book do you wish you would have written? Why?
D – That’s an interesting question, and I don’t really have an answer except to say that I’d like to write the best book I can, not necessarily a bestseller although that would be nice, but the best book that’s inside of me and waiting to come out.
My current project is in a very different genre than my first. Have you written or plan to write in other genres?
D – My first book that was self-published was a paranormal romance. I always like to put a little mystery and romance in my books. I’ve written one soft science fiction story, but I wouldn’t want to write in that genre or in horror (although I like reading both occasionally). I had hoped to write a children’s book with my daughter a few years ago, but neither of us found the time to do that and now she’s approaching her teens and busy with her school work and social life.
Is there a certain type of scene that’s harder for you to write than others? Love? Action? Racy?
D – I really can’t write really explicit sex scenes. I just feel they detract from a good book. I know some people enjoy them, but I like to write emotionally appealing scenes and develop characters. I’d rather be inside a character’s head than with them in bed if you know what I mean.
What’s in your reading list right now?
D = Lol. Do you really want to know? My TBR is huge, but here are some of my upcoming reads. I just finished J.P. Ratto’s wonderful mystery, Everything to Lose, and am currently reading Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter. The top layer of my TBR pile of print books includes Dial QR for Murder by A.E.H. Veenman; The Locker by Adrian Magson; Mr. Splitfoot by Samantha Hunt; and Copper Lilies by Bradon Nave. My Kindle TBR pile of ebooks includes His Confession by Sophia Valentine; Love or Money by Elizabeth Roderick; Sweet on You by Marianne Rice; Maggie’s Marriage by Gloria Herrmann; and Without You by Lisa Detwiler. I also have some books in my Amazon cart including your book, We Will Always Have the Closet; Till Death Us Do Part by Cristina Slough; Changing Teams by Jennifer Allis Provost; Russian Tattoos Obsession by Kat Shehata; and The Dangerous Gift by Jane Hunt.
Your list is about as long as mine. LOL. Now, I know your books are going to be extremely successful and one of these days a big Hollywood producer is going to want to make a movie out of it. Who will play your main characters?
D – This is a great question, but it’s hard to answer because I don’t watch many movies or even TV. I spend most of my time on the computer or reading. However, I can see Julia Roberts as Alicia and Matthew McConaughey as John.
Good choice. I work full time as a teacher and it’s really hard to find time to write. You work as a librarian. How do you find time to write and do you have a special place where you write?
D – I write from 5 am to 6 am every morning before my daughter gets up for school. I also try to write another hour at night if I’m not too tired and can fit it in after work. On the weekends, I sometimes write less because I’m off schedule and have to do household stuff.
Do you have any advice to give new writers? When you first started writing for publication what were your expectations and were they met?
D – I can only repeat what all writers say because it’s true. You can’t give up. You have to be persistent. It’s not an easy field to break into and even when you do, it’s extremely hard to become noticed. It takes time. You have to build a fan base. You have to keep writing. You have to learn so many things. You need to network with other authors. You have to learn to sell yourself as well as your books. It’s fun, but it’s exhausting. You have to love it and not worry about making money immediately. But when people write good reviews of your work or compliment you on your books, it’s all worth it.
As far as my expectations, I think publishing lived up to them pretty much because I knew it would be difficult, but I also knew it would be exciting and rewarding to see my words in print and know that people all over the world can be reading them at any given minute.
Thank you Debbie for your time. It was very nice talking to you. I hope I get to chat with you again soon.
Check out Debbie’s book “A Stone’s Throw” at Amazon http://amzn.to/1MjaJgN
Or visit her blog https://debbiedelouise.wordpress.com/
Author Natalina Reis 