Please welcome Alicia to my home away from home.
Although I haven’t written lesbian romance, like Alicia does,
but I applaud it and support it wholeheartedly.
I’ve mentioned it in an article or two but perhaps not here
on my blog. I have a transgender/lesbian daughter. My oldest child is
transgender female and married to her wife. They have a very beautiful, loving
relationship and many transgender and lesbian friends.
Thus I welcome Alicia with open arms. I hope you will too. Be
sure to read her excerpt below the interview and to check out her book ‘Her
Name’.
Interview with Alicia Joseph
1) Why do you write
(erotic) romance? I write lesbian romance because I’m a lesbian and I love
romance, however, that’s not all I am. I do intend on expanding my writing to
different genres, but right now these are the stories I want to tell. I enjoy
writing about the love shared between two women because it’s not always easy. I
have a few romance novels started and I’d like for them to see the light of day
before I move on to something different.
3) Are you aware of any themes that run through your stories? If so, what are they? My book, Her Name, explores the idea of fate versus how much of our own destiny we control. The whole notion of something being “meant to be” is a theme that has carried into a few of my books. It’s a subject I’ve always been intrigued with.
4) What would you like readers to take away from your stories? I’d love for my stories to stay with someone long after they’ve put the book down. To write something that resonates with a reader I think is the ultimate goal of every writer.
5) What inspires your stories? Everything and anything. A few years ago I picked up my little nephew from school. I was waiting in my car and watched as one of the mothers walked toward the school doors. She was greeted by a teacher. They hugged and talked, and appeared to know each other well. So I thought, “What if a married mother fell in love with her child’s female teacher?” That one moment inspired me to write a story based on about fifteen random seconds of my life. Inspiration can come from anywhere. You just have to be open to it.
8) What is your writing schedule? I don’t have a writing schedule. As long as I write something that day, I don’t care when it is. With Her Name, I did most of my writing between eleven and three am. I don’t know why, but most of my ideas came to me during that time.
9) Do you have any other passions besides writing? If yes, what are they? Why? I have a passion for animals. I volunteer at a dog shelter and I absolutely love it. No matter how neglected some of these dogs have been, they are so eager to love. I’m also involved in a group that protests pet stores that sell puppy mill puppies, which is the majority of pet stores. This is definitely a cause I’m willing to put a lot of my time behind because with so many wonderful adoptable puppies and dogs at shelters, we don’t need the cruel and inhumane breeding practice of puppy mills to exist.
11) What is your favorite comfort food? Pizza
12) What relaxes you? Cuddling with my nephew while watching baseball.
15) What is your favorite way to promote? I use social media to promote my book through Twitter and Facebook, but I’m not obnoxious about it. I keep it polite and respectful because I never want to appear as though I am shoving my book down someone’s throat. But I am proud of this book, so, of course I want to share with as many people as I can.
3) Are you aware of any themes that run through your stories? If so, what are they? My book, Her Name, explores the idea of fate versus how much of our own destiny we control. The whole notion of something being “meant to be” is a theme that has carried into a few of my books. It’s a subject I’ve always been intrigued with.
4) What would you like readers to take away from your stories? I’d love for my stories to stay with someone long after they’ve put the book down. To write something that resonates with a reader I think is the ultimate goal of every writer.
5) What inspires your stories? Everything and anything. A few years ago I picked up my little nephew from school. I was waiting in my car and watched as one of the mothers walked toward the school doors. She was greeted by a teacher. They hugged and talked, and appeared to know each other well. So I thought, “What if a married mother fell in love with her child’s female teacher?” That one moment inspired me to write a story based on about fifteen random seconds of my life. Inspiration can come from anywhere. You just have to be open to it.
8) What is your writing schedule? I don’t have a writing schedule. As long as I write something that day, I don’t care when it is. With Her Name, I did most of my writing between eleven and three am. I don’t know why, but most of my ideas came to me during that time.
9) Do you have any other passions besides writing? If yes, what are they? Why? I have a passion for animals. I volunteer at a dog shelter and I absolutely love it. No matter how neglected some of these dogs have been, they are so eager to love. I’m also involved in a group that protests pet stores that sell puppy mill puppies, which is the majority of pet stores. This is definitely a cause I’m willing to put a lot of my time behind because with so many wonderful adoptable puppies and dogs at shelters, we don’t need the cruel and inhumane breeding practice of puppy mills to exist.
11) What is your favorite comfort food? Pizza
12) What relaxes you? Cuddling with my nephew while watching baseball.
15) What is your favorite way to promote? I use social media to promote my book through Twitter and Facebook, but I’m not obnoxious about it. I keep it polite and respectful because I never want to appear as though I am shoving my book down someone’s throat. But I am proud of this book, so, of course I want to share with as many people as I can.
I also have a blog that, admittedly, I need to do a better
job at keeping up with, but my favorite way to promote is to get out there and
meet people. Because my book is a
lesbian romance, if I’m going to a gay and lesbian event, I’ll bring bookmarks
to pass out. My publishing company,
Musa, supplied me with some awesome-looking bookmarks. I love that when I’ve
handed them out at past events, by the end of the night, I never see any lying
around because they’re just too nice to chuck to the ground. Having a person keep something with your name
on it is so important in promoting yourself.
16) Where is your favorite place to write? Why? Really, I can write anywhere, but I do most of my writing at home. If I’m stuck on something, sometimes a change of scenery does some good. There’s a wonderful park near my house with a small lake. I bring a blanket, my dog, and we sit together. It’s so serene and peaceful that by the time I leave, my mind is less cluttered and my writing, clearer.
17) What is your favorite fairy tale? Why? Cinderella. My grandma had a Cinderella book at her house that I’d read all the time, but even at a very young age I knew what I was because I’d imagine myself as Prince Charming.
20) If you didn’t write, what would you do instead? I’d hope it’d be something creative. I love music and so wish I had the talent to do something musically. But if I wasn’t writing, I think I’d be involved in social causes that really help people because like writing, that’s something I have a passion for.
21) If you could have one wish, what would it be? Wow, with risk of sounding altruistic, it really blows my mind that in 2014 there are people in this world who don’t have access to clean water and spend their days hungry. That is insane to me, so my wish would be that no people would experience thirst or hunger, or suffer from diseases caused by lack of sanitation.
22) If you could describe yourself in only one word, what would it be? Complex.
24) Are you a cat or dog person? Do you have any pets and if so, please tell us about them. I am a dog person. I have a Pit-bull mix named Phil and he is my baby. I rescued him at Chicago Animal Care and Control. He has become the topic of many of my blogs. He was found as a stray roaming the city streets of Chicago and I often think about what that had to be like for him. It’s hard for me to imagine because I know he had to be scared and I hate to think of that. But he inspires me so much because when I’m struggling with my life, I look at him, and I know that he never gave up. He made it through cold nights alone until someone found him and brought him to the facility, giving him a chance to find a home. Now, as I look at home snuggled on my bed, I know even the worst situations can have a happy ending.
25) What is the one thing you most want to do that you haven’t yet? I haven’t traveled as much as I want to, so hopefully that’s something I’ll be able to do someday.
27) Please tell us about your most recent release and where we can purchase it. Her Name is about a woman, Madison Andrews, who believes the woman she dreams about is the real love of her life. She dreams of actual moments taken from her real life that were recreated in her dreams to include this woman. The dreams are so vivid that Madison believes they shared a life together and that this woman is her destiny. She searches for this woman, but will it be too late when she finally finds her? Or will fate take control and force the paths of these two women to interconnect in time for them to spend the rest of their lives together?
16) Where is your favorite place to write? Why? Really, I can write anywhere, but I do most of my writing at home. If I’m stuck on something, sometimes a change of scenery does some good. There’s a wonderful park near my house with a small lake. I bring a blanket, my dog, and we sit together. It’s so serene and peaceful that by the time I leave, my mind is less cluttered and my writing, clearer.
17) What is your favorite fairy tale? Why? Cinderella. My grandma had a Cinderella book at her house that I’d read all the time, but even at a very young age I knew what I was because I’d imagine myself as Prince Charming.
20) If you didn’t write, what would you do instead? I’d hope it’d be something creative. I love music and so wish I had the talent to do something musically. But if I wasn’t writing, I think I’d be involved in social causes that really help people because like writing, that’s something I have a passion for.
21) If you could have one wish, what would it be? Wow, with risk of sounding altruistic, it really blows my mind that in 2014 there are people in this world who don’t have access to clean water and spend their days hungry. That is insane to me, so my wish would be that no people would experience thirst or hunger, or suffer from diseases caused by lack of sanitation.
22) If you could describe yourself in only one word, what would it be? Complex.
24) Are you a cat or dog person? Do you have any pets and if so, please tell us about them. I am a dog person. I have a Pit-bull mix named Phil and he is my baby. I rescued him at Chicago Animal Care and Control. He has become the topic of many of my blogs. He was found as a stray roaming the city streets of Chicago and I often think about what that had to be like for him. It’s hard for me to imagine because I know he had to be scared and I hate to think of that. But he inspires me so much because when I’m struggling with my life, I look at him, and I know that he never gave up. He made it through cold nights alone until someone found him and brought him to the facility, giving him a chance to find a home. Now, as I look at home snuggled on my bed, I know even the worst situations can have a happy ending.
25) What is the one thing you most want to do that you haven’t yet? I haven’t traveled as much as I want to, so hopefully that’s something I’ll be able to do someday.
27) Please tell us about your most recent release and where we can purchase it. Her Name is about a woman, Madison Andrews, who believes the woman she dreams about is the real love of her life. She dreams of actual moments taken from her real life that were recreated in her dreams to include this woman. The dreams are so vivid that Madison believes they shared a life together and that this woman is her destiny. She searches for this woman, but will it be too late when she finally finds her? Or will fate take control and force the paths of these two women to interconnect in time for them to spend the rest of their lives together?
Her Name is a sweet lesbian love story.
You can purchase my book at musapublishing.com
You
can also find it on Amazon.com, BN.com and Smashwords.com
28) Please give us your urls and your publisher’s url. www.aliciajoseph.com www.musapublishing.com
Thank you, Ms. Ladd, for participating in my blog tour and
allowing me to talk about my book. Thank you to everyone who took the time to
read this. I hope you enjoy my book.
Blurb:
Madison Andrews has spent her entire
life--unsuccessfully--searching for love. She begins having vivid dreams of the
same woman every night, and soon, Madison believes this woman is the love she
has been searching for. Madison's dreams become more intense and she realizes
the dreams she's having recreate moments taken from actual events from her
life--and this woman is there for all of it. Madison searches for her, but how
can she find a woman she knows everything about... and yet nothing? She doesn't
even know her name.
Excerpt:
Now, I laid down my fork and leaned into my seat. I knew she
didn’t want to talk about this anymore, but I did. “This all sounds crazy
to you, and maybe in the beginning, it was something to joke about, but
now, I’m not sure. These pictures were taken directly out of my life, and
this woman was in every one of them. You can’t tell me I just dreamed it
from memory, because my memory isn’t that good! The photos were identical
all the way from the clothes we wore, to the smile on our faces. Hell,
even the background was the same! She was the only thing that was
different. How could that be?”
I stared at her, waiting for a response as she took it all in.
“Like I said on the phone, I just don’t know what you want me to
say. I’m not sure what you’re asking me. Is it weird? Yeah, totally, but
I’m no dream expert, and neither are you. Like I said before, maybe it’s
your subconscious taking over. I’m sure there’s a logical explanation, and
it probably has some fancy scientific name.”
“She’s my wife,” I said flatly. “I saw a picture of us from our
wedding, and we looked like we belonged together. We know each other. I
mean, really know each other. I wish you could see us together, because
you’ve never seen me this way with anyone before.”
“And what way is that?”
“In love,” I answered.
“In love,” Shelly repeated and then pushed herself away from the
table. “Well, Maddy, me seeing you with her is something that will never
happen. Do you wanna know why that will never happen?”
“I know why you think that will never happen, but that’s where
you’re wrong.” I stared at her and said, “I’m just gonna come out and say
it. I think she’s real.”
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2 comments:
Great interview, and I know Her Name is a great read too because I've read it myself. I would recommend it to anyone who likes this genre.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my interview and comment, Carol. And I'm so glad you like my book!
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