Interview with Author Robyn DeHart and Giveaway

Today I would like to welcome back to RFTC, author Robyn DeHart. Robyn is celebrating the recent release of her newest book A Little Bit Wicked and has stopped by to answer a few questions. Please give Robyn a warm welcome.

I’m one of those writers who always knew that she wanted to be a writer. It took me a while, however, to figure out precisely what I wanted to write. Reading Kathleen Woodiwiss’ ”A Rose in Winter” sealed the deal for me and I’ve been reading and writing romance ever since. I should have known I was destined for this when my Barbies insisted on hosting elaborate masquerade parties, complete with stolen kisses in the moonlight.

I’m the youngest of three children, so of course I’m the favorite. I was raised in central Texas, in the beautiful Hill Country, right smack-dab between Austin and San Antonio. My parents were high school sweethearts and married a week after my mother graduated – they both needed their parents’ permission to marry since they were so young. So I blame them and their amazing marriage for the fact that I’m a hopeless romantic.

Somewhere along the line, I graduated from college with a degree in Sociology, only after completing an internship with none other than award-winning best-selling author, Pamela Morsi. It was one of the coolest experiences of my life and I learned more about the writing business than I could have hoped.

After college I worked a myriad of jobs: Computer Software Trainer, Recruiter, Administrative Assistant. But no matter what my day job, I come home to my real job and click, click, click away on my computer and get lost in my imaginary world where justice always prevails and the girl always gets her guy! It’s the coolest job in the world.

I’m married to the most amazingly supportive man. He’s so proud of my career, and loves to tell people, “My wife is a romance novelist.” We live in the Austin area, where my husband is a university professor. He’s ridiculously smart, but remains goofy enough to make me laugh every day. We’re the parents of two beautiful and precocious little girls who keep me quite busy during the day. We also have two very spoiled cats who are of no help at all when it comes to my writing, although they sometimes nap in the same room where I sit diligently working.

Places to find Robyn:

| Site | The Sisterhood of the Jaunty Quills | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads |

First off, can you tell us a bit about you?
I’m married to a great man who makes me laugh everyday. We have two beautiful daughters (4 & 2) who definitely keep me on my toes and absorb much of my would-be writing time. I’m a Texan. I love cats! Oh, my husband and I met on an on-line dating site. Um….I think peanut M&M’s are awesome, but have always believed that they should sell plain & peanut in the same bag. Yeah, that’s about it.

Did you always want to be a writer?
Yes and no. Like all kids I had a laundry list of things I wanted to be when I grew up, but writer was always on the list. It wasn’t until I read my first romance novel that I knew precisely WHAT I wanted to write and that made all the difference in the world. I was in high school at that time and so all through college, it was there in my mind – it’s why I minored in History.

What kind of writer are you? Panster or Plotter?
Definitely a plotter, though I tend to think of myself as an inside-out plotter. I spend a lot of time working out the emotional development of the characters and the stages of the romance. Then I figure out how the external plot works with all of that.

Where do your ideas come from?
Target. HA! Everywhere, really. A line in a song, a scenario from a news story, a bit of history, something a friend says. Ideas are everywhere, you just have to pay attention to gather them. I have an idea file on my computer and I keep one on my phone for when I’m out and about and something hits me.

A la Twitter style, can you describe your book (or series) in 140 characters or less.
Older woman meets sexy younger man who pursues her relentlessly. Sparks fly, conflict ensues, love grows, steamy sex in a hammock. The end.

What are some of your favorite kinds of stories to read?
I love gritty police procedurals of the romantic suspense variety – like JD Robb and Allison Brennan. I also love historicals, they were my first love, it’s why I write them. I have my go-to authors that I always read and I do like to try new authors, but I don’t read them while I’m writing rough drafts.

Do you have a favorite book and if so what is it?
Oh, that’s really hard. In my mind I love Kathleen Woodiwiss’s A Rose in Winter because it was my first romance and why I decided to write historicals. I’ve never re-read it because I fear it won’t hold up after all these years, but in my mind it’s beautiful and perfect and everything a romance should be. I really, really love Pamela Morsi’s Sealed With a Kiss and Stephanie Bond’s Our Husband and the Harry Potter series and the Hunger Games series and I could go on forever…

What are the scenes that are the hardest for you to write?
When I write my bigger historicals I tend to write action-oriented scenes and choreographing those is always challenging. I love writing murder scenes and love scenes (not sure what that says about me) and I also love those dialogue driven hero and heroine banter fests. Oh and I also find challenging scenes that have more than say 3 people in them, keeping up with the characters can be difficult.

If you could have dinner with any three authors, who would you choose and why?
That’s a hard one. I have dinner once a month with a group of published authors that live near me and it’s a great time. So I won’t pick any of them. Let’s see… I’m going to go with Suzanne Enoch because I love her heroes and I bet she’s really hysterical, and Jim Butcher because I love the Dresden books and he has a wicked sense of humor, and then I’d have to go with Jane Austen (you didn’t say they had to be living) because she was a master at creating sexual tension with no touching and I bet she had a lovely speaking voice.

Last question, are you working on anything right now?
I’m working on a lot of things right now. I just finished up revisions on The Secrets of Mia Danvers which is the first book in my Jack the Ripper series that releases next summer. I’m plotting book 3 in my Forbidden Love series and it should be out sometime in the summer as well. And I’m about to jump into revisions on A Little Bit Sinful, book 2 in the Forbidden Love series. It’s all about Clarissa (Marcus’s younger sister) and that sexy Justin Rodale, the bastard son of a duke who owns a gaming hell.

I’d like to know, what’s your favorite subgenre of romance?

Marcus Kincaid has returned to England after a ten-year absence. His older brother died during that time, making Marcus the Earl of Ashford. Not only that, his younger sister is embroiled in a potential scandal that could ruin her chance at marriage. His aunt has already called in reinforcements—The Paragon.

Vivian March is known simply as The Paragon. She moves through every circle within Society, smoothing out scandals and stopping gossip in its tracks. Everyone in London knows that if she aligns herself with you, Society will forgive you your sins. What they don’t know is that she uses their secrets to cover her own jaded past.

But with every kiss and every touch that Marcus thrusts upon her, Vivian comes to believe life is infinitely more fun when you can be just a little bit wicked…

Purchase: | Amazon | Barnes & Noble |

1 lucky winner will win a eBook copy of A Little Bit Wicked

To Enter:

• Leave a comment answering Robyn's question: I’d like to know, what’s your favorite subgenre of romance?
• Fill out the Rafflecopter form below.

Good Luck =)

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