Author Interview: Elaine Hopper

Please help me welcome Elaine Hopper, sweet romance writer and long time friend, to Happily Ever After.

Her contemporary romance (sweet, no sex) "Always A Bridesmaid" just released at The Wild Rose Press. I enjoyed her book very much.

Be sure to leave to leave a lot of comments for her and make her feel welcome.

Ashley: Were you always a bridesmaid?

Elaine: No. I was only a bridesmaid once, in my friend Daria's wedding. I was already married when I stood up with her.

Ashley: Why do you call your book that?

Elaine: Breanna, the heroine, has been called home by her older sister to be her bridesmaid. This is at least the third wedding she's been a bridesmaid for. And this is the most painful. Not only does it remind her that her beloved mother is gone and won't be at her sister's wedding, it also puts her into close proximity with the only man who ever broke her heart.

Ashley: Have you ever had your heart broken?

Elaine: At least a couple times. Once for sure. But that was a LONG time ago. My husband and I celebrated our 30th anniversary in January 2010.

Ashley: Tell us about your family.

Elaine: I'm an only child but now I have five children and two grandchildren. We have five cats and two dogs. Four of our five children still live at home. My aunt died last week so I hope to go home for her service next week and celebrate her life with the rest of my mother's family. She was my mother's older sister.

Ashley: My condolences. I'm so sorry. I hope you get to see your family. Where's home?

Elaine: For the past twenty years, Florida. Originally, Cincinnati. I've now lived in Florida longer than Cincinnati where I grew up. I really didn't want to be here, but I love it now. Strangely, my life in Cincinnati seems like another lifetime. I still love to visit. My dad's backyard is pure Heaven on Earth.

Ashley: Do you write full time?

Elaine: I wish. For the foreseeable future, I'll be working for my day job. Actually, I love it - the mission, my co-workers, my job. I'm truly blessed. I'm a customer service manager at a charity that helps the poor of the destitute third world. I often work overtime which means I come home too tired to write many nights. For now, I write a lot on weekends and some evenings.

Ashley: Do you write at home with such a full house?

Elaine: It's not easy. The cats think they own my computer and keep trying to type my stories. They also think my computer is there to rub their heads against. Who knows? Maybe I should give them a chance.

Also my kids get pretty loud and I don't have an office of my own. Thus I take my laptop and my MP3 player to Borders or Barnes & Nobles a lot and write there.

Ashley: I want to ask some fun things. What type of animal would you be if you could chose? (Cats are off limits.)

Elaine: Not fair! Okay. I'd be a flying horse, a pegasus. I'd soar through the heavens and live in the clouds.

Ashley: Is your favorite color still purple? You wear pink and black a lot, so is it those?

Elaine: It used to be purple. Keeping to black pants and skirts makes it easier to mix and match although I like pink much to my daughters' horror.

My favorite color isn't just one color. I like a mix of colors best. You know, when one color blends into another, especially blue/purple/pink mixes. Or opals. I love the way they twinkle with different colors.

Ashley: What is your worst nightmare?

Elaine: All kinds of carnivorous dinosaurs including but not limited to alligators and crocodiles. Honestly, a couple times I awoke after T-Rex's were chasing me, picking off other people around me. (shudder) I wonder if it has something to do with all my husband's ceramic dragons in our room. Sometimes when I wake up in the middle of the night their eyes glow eerily. It's really spooky.

Ashley: If you couldn't be a writer or a customer service manager, what type of work would you like to do?

Elaine: I always longed to be a journalist. For a brief time I wanted to be an astronaut. I like playing with web design and graphics. That might be fun.

I've held many jobs: I was an airman in the US Air Force. I was a computer maintenance technician, a cost-pricing analyst, waittress, hostess, and even ran a ceramics greenware shop. I've been in customer service for sixteen years and I've been published since 1999.

Ashley: If you could have a do over, what would it be?

Elaine: There are a few things I wish I'd done differently, and yet, I wouldn't be the person I was now if I'd followed a different path. I think I should stop making wishes. When I was 16 I wished I could live in Florida. Voila! Here I am. I made another wish a long time ago, and now it's coming true. I'm not ready to reveal what it was though. What I will say, is be careful for what you wish.

Ashley: You tweeted that you saw the new movie Star Trek at least six times at the theater. Why?

Elaine: I love the big screen and I love Star Trek, especially the new movie. It's awesome. It was showing for 99 cents at the dollar theater so the kids and I had fun. Back in 1977 my boyfriend then saw Star Wars 17 times paying full price. I wasn't quite as obsessive as he was. :) My kids have a good memory now. Me, too.

Ashley: Where can we find you in the near future?

Elaine: I'll be at Lori Foster's readers and writers event in Cincinnati this June.

I'm the guest blogger all week this week at Novel Spot. Please visit and leave comments so I don't get lonely.

Next week I'm the spotlighted author at LASR.

Ashley: Thank you for joining me. I know you've been extra busy promoting your new book, Always A Bridesmaid so I'll let you go.

Elaine: Thanks for hosting me, Ash. Please drop by my house anytime.

Elaine can be found at:

http://www.elainehopper.info/
http://www.elaineannhopper.blogspot.com/
http://www.twitter.com/elaine_hopper

Hell has finally frozen over. After nine long years, Breanna Parker has come home to be her sister's maid of honor. Just her luck that the first person she runs into is her ex-fiance, Troy Youngwolf—the man who eloped with her ex-best friend and broke her heart. Now a widowed father and sheriff of their Florida home town, sexy bad boy Troy wants another chance and won't take no for an answer. However, every time Breanna looks at Troy or his little girl, her heart breaks anew. She can hardly wait for her sister to get hitched so she can escape back to her urban family in Ft. Lauderdale. The risk is too high that Troy may discover her most closely held secret, one with the potential to destroy them both…perhaps this time forever.


Rosebud

(Pages 144) Sweet



Excerpt:

“So this is how the worldly Breanna behaves in her off-duty hours?” Troy righted Breanna, his hands lingering on her arms.

She stepped back, quelling the desire to rub away his prints. She chafed that Sierra was getting a big head start and she was left alone with Troy. “What are you doing in my house? Daddy’s not home.”

“Is that how you greet your boss? Or your old flame?”

Fire smoldered in Troy’s eyes as mischief danced in his voice. Knowing Sierra was way ahead, she sighed. “What do you want? More memos copied? Someone to pour you a coffee?” she said with saccharine sweetness, vowing to return to college and upgrade her career.

“I stop by periodically to make sure everything’s okay. This is my last stop of the day.” He didn’t move to leave. “Everything okay here?”

Was he daring her to make him leave? She scowled. “Only if you call having a crazed sister okay. Or having my boss intrude on my personal space.”

He didn’t blink, just advanced a step. “Is being around me really that bad? You didn’t used to think so.”

Before she realized his intentions, Troy backed her against the wall and crushed close. He captured her lips in a searing kiss that left her weak-kneed and breathless. Soft hands cupped her face, stilling her head. His hips pinned her to the wall so she couldn’t do more than squirm against his solid frame.

How long they kissed in the hall, she didn’t know. She was powerless to break the kiss—as if she’d been starved for it for years. Shirt balled in her hands, she molded her body to his.

He drew back a short distance. “You can kiss me like that and still say you hate

Always A Bridesmaid is available at TWRP.
 
 

Guest author interview with Linda Kage

Please welcome my guest author today, Linda Kage, of The Wild Rose Press. Linda's been one of my blog visitor's lately and also a fellow author of my alter ego. So please give a big hand to Linda and leave lots of comments and questions to make her feel welcome. 1) First, please tell us about being an expectant mom and your preparations for your new little one. Also please tell us how it is to write, promote, and be an expectant mom simultaneously. 
 

--Oh, I could go on and on with this answer! The first different thing I noticed about being pregnant was that protective instinct that kicks in, like, immediately. I always secretly smirked at expectant mothers who freaked out about things like refusing to use bug repellent in fear of hurting the baby and stuff like that. But once you realize something the size of a grape is growing inside you and its survival is solely dependent on YOU and no one else, you really do freak out and start scowling at people smoking too close to you. I keep a log of how times the baby kicks, just so I know it's still alive in there. I'm constantly worried about doing something to inadvertently scar my child for life. 

And preparations? I haven't done too much of that yet. The husband and I have started working on a Dr. Seuss nursery, but we're mostly waiting until baby showers are over to buy too much stuff. We've got a babysitter set up, so I can keep working after giving birth. And I take my vitamins every morning to make sure he or she is healthy. I also read literature on baby care, hoping to prepare as best I can.

Expecting a child shifts priorities, but it hasn't stopped me from writing or promoting my stories. My husband has this idea in his head that I'll stop writing for a while after the baby's born, but I think he's wrong. Storytelling is who I am. I don't think I can just stop being who I am. But I'm sure my time will be a lot more stretched in a couple months here.
 

2) Have you always been a writer? If not, how has writing changed your life?
 

--It feels like I was born this way, so it hasn't changed my life yet. I'm pretty boring that way. For as long as I can remember, I've been doodling stories and forcing my older sister to read them. I finished writing my first book when I was sixteen. To say the least, it was awful. But you gotta start somewhere, right.
 

3) Please share with other writers at least two of your best promoting tips. 

--I have to say the Internet has been my number one promotion help. One little email to friends and family and, boom, everyone knows you just sold your first story. Set up a website and, holy cow, you actually get visitors. Join MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Blogspot, and you start meeting hundreds upon hundreds of strangers who love books as much as you do. Throw in a giveaway contest and a short free read story and you start feeling like you're getting your name out there. But my first book hasn't been released yet, so I'll have to let you know after February just how well my marketing strategy has gone!

4) Please share with other writers at least two of your best writing tips. 

--Don't give up. If you give up, then you definitely won't succeed. And I think my number two tip kind of continues off number one. Keep writing. The more you write, the better you improve. Sure, take classes, join groups, study other people's work, collect beta readers... but you have to keep writing while you do all that, otherwise none of it will help... and all that really can help. 

5) Please share with your readers why it is so important you share your stories with them.

--Because they're fun and entertaining? A good escape from reality? I don't know. That's why I read books, so I guess that's why I write them too. I would like to give other readers what my favorite authors always give me.
 

6) Besides being a writer, what other dreams do you have that are not fulfilled yet? 

--My biggest dreams have been fulfilled, I guess, just not to the extent that I always imagined. I blame reality. I have my own home and a family, yes, but the new house takes so much money to upkeep and we're always working to improve it (guess I should've dreamed up a maid to keep it clean for me, huh?!). My husband is wonderful, but we both can get moody, and he's never as excited as I am about attending book readings. And it's a dream come true to finally get a baby, but you know the tiny thing is only going to poop and cry once it gets here. That'll be a major reality check. 

I always wanted to be a published author, but I imagined instant fame, floods of money... never having to clean my own house again. But, that reality thing makes it not quite so wonderful. You have to work to get noticed. And money? Well, I haven't seen a penny yet, but I'm not expecting too much when it starts coming. I also thought it'd be easier to sell more books after selling book number one. But that ain't so. You still have to work just as hard to keep getting them out there.
 

7) What fictional character would you most like to be if you could and why? 

--Hmm. I'm not sure. How about Scarlett O'Hara. Sure, she's conceited, self-centered, and needs to open her eyes where Rhett's concerned. But to go through all those hardships the way she did and always manage to not just survive, but to THRIVE? That's pretty cool. I wish I could be as bold and nervy as her. She's the kind of person that can get things done... and done how SHE wants them. Sometimes I detest being as timid as I am.
 

8) What is your favorite genre to read? To write? Why?

--Romance, no doubt about it. That's what I like to write too. Doesn't matter if it's paranormal romance, Romantic Suspense, Contemporary, YA, Historical, Western... it must have a happy ending. I can't handle books without happy, satisfying ends. Those tend to get thrown against a wall.
 

9) What time period would you most like to live? If now, what would be your second choice? Why? 

I gotta say I'd like to visit one of Julie Garwood's highland historicals. That's a place and time period I'm the least familiar with, so it'd be interesting to experience it. And come on, Castles, riding horseback, hunky kilted men... need I say more?

10) What most surprised you about writing or the romance writing community? Why? 

--The support. No matter where you go, someone is always there to give you a hand. You'd think since we're all in competition to get our books out there, we'd be more hateful, but I've had a majority of good experiences. I've heard other genre writing communities aren't as banded together nor as jovial. Guess they need to learn how to write happy endings, huh?!

11) Do you interact much with other writers and readers? Why or why not? If yes, how? 

--When I started blogging and then joined social networks like MySpace, Facebook, and so on, I met SOOOO many other writers out there, it's not even funny. So, yeah, I'd say I interact with other book lovers daily.
 

12) Where do you most like to hang out on the web? Why? 

--My blog. Yikes, that sounds selfish, but I have links to other people's blogs there, which lead to their websites and other links that spread out into hundreds of thousands of other interesting places.
 

13) If you have a pet peeve(s) about books or writing or the writing community, what would it (they) be? Why? 

--Negativity is my pet peeve. When people grow snarky about certain types of writing, or ways to write, or ways to publish, I just kind of roll my eyes. What works for one group of people may not work for another, but that doesn't mean you should disrespect the differences. Thank goodness the romance writing world is mostly about positivity. I like that.
 

14) What is your greatest strength as a writer? Your greatest weakness? 

--According to other people, I'm best with dialogue, which is really weird because in real life, I suck with conversation in social settings. So, I pretty much don't talk. I'd say everything else is my weakness. You constantly learn with writing, and I still have MUCH to learn. I need to work on description, feelings, word choice, grammar, plot construction, endings... get the point yet?
 

15) What is your best childhood memory? 

--When I was twelve or thirteen, I rode with my eighteen-year-old sister and two of her friends down to Oklahoma to visit our oldest sister. During what was supposed to be a four-hour trip (please cue Gilligan's Island music), we came upon road work and needed to take a detour. Well... thinking Oklahoma roads were like our good ol' mile-section squares back in Kansas, we turned off on a country road, hoping to drive around the mile section and continue on our planned course. But these roads did not have mile sections. They branched off only to meet up with more crazy, winding back country trails. We got so lost. Once we had to drive through a low-water bridge with water over the road and then pause for the grazing cattle to cross. I should've been scared out of my mind, wondering if we'd ever find our way again. But it was a blast.
 

16) What animal (fictional or real) is most like you? Why? 

--It's depressing to admit, but I'm probably most like an opossum. I'm just not a confrontational person... or very glamorous. Sigh.

17) What do you and your husband like to do for a date? Is it the same things your heroes and heroines like to do? 

--We're considerably more boring than my H/Hs. Since I like my stuff and he prefers his guy stuff, there's not a lot we agree on doing. Eating out, the occasional movie, hanging with friends, going 4-wheeler riding, or just curling up in front of he TV is about the extent of our activities. There is this bed and breakfast we like to go to, but I think the only reason I can get him there is because it has a hot tub connected to our room.
 

18) Please tell us about your current book(s) including a blurb, excerpt, cover, release date, and link where we can purchase them. 

--Right now, I only have one book coming out. But it's my pride and joy. It's a young adult romance, which is odd because everything else I've written is contemporary adult romance with steamy scenes. The Wild Rose Press will release "THE STILLBURROW CRUSH" on February 26, 2010 (which happens to be nine days after my baby is due--What a month, huh?). 

--BLURB

Sixteen year old, Carrie Paxton, isn't the most popular girl in her small town. But that's never concerned her before. Her life revolves around her writing and she loves her job as the student editor of the school paper. But when she gets assigned to interview the football team's beloved quarterback, she takes one look into Luke Carter's blue eyes and is a goner. Suddenly, she doesn't like her lowly rank so much. Then her dreamy, popular crush surprises her when he starts to act as if he likes her in return. But there's no way Luke Carter could possibly ever like a nobody like Carrie Paxton. Is there? 



--EXCERPT

“They really ought to tear that place down. Just look at that sagging roof.” Luke gave a soft laugh behind me. “That would involve change.” “What do you mean?” “Haven’t you ever noticed this town’s stuck in a time capsule? It’s like we’ve never heard of the term progress. I mean, there’s hardly any cell phone towers around and forget about high speed internet.” “High speed what?” I asked, glancing back to give him a puzzled look. He opened his mouth to explain, when it dawned on him I was joking. “You always have to be a smart aleck, don’t you?” We shared a smile. I looked into his face and relished these minutes where I could ogle him selfishly. I knew I should give him the information he wanted from me now, but I could only stare. It took me a moment to notice his expression, though. His gaze had been roaming my face but had paused on my left ear. When he snorted out a surprised laugh, I frowned. He pointed a finger toward my hair. “Uh, I think the wind messed it up some.” I patted my head, my face flaming. “Here,” Luke said, and flipped down his visor,lighting up the mirror underneath. I looked up and groaned. Not only had the wind caught a hold of my hair and ripped it half out of its ponytail, it had also knotted and twisted it into a healthy-sized rat’s nest. I tried to ignore the fact that Luke was sitting next to me—and already knew exactly what the disaster looked like—and ripped the holder out of my hair. I combed through the mess with my fingers but there were knots everywhere. When I caught him staring again, I glared. “What?” I demanded. But he continued to gawk. I patted at my hair and wondered what he could possibly be thinking about the mess. “I’ve never seen it all down before,” he said. Startled, I glanced back in the mirror. I’d seen it down millions of times. I just didn’t leave the house with it loose. There was too much of it to let it run wild. I tried to see it how Luke must see it. It was curly—so curly it bobbed. Tight little curls framed my face like a border full of personality. From the corner of my eye, I saw Luke lift his hand toward one spiraling lock. But when I turned to him, he lowered his fingers and shifted his attention out the window. I stared at his profile for a second, breathing hard. “It’s pretty,” he said, more to the windshield than to me. I wanted him to lift his hand again. I wanted him to touch my hair. “I think yours is prettier.” He laughed. “Guys do not have pretty hair.” “Well, yours is.” I reached over and touched his hair. I thought maybe if I touched his, he might get the guts to touch mine. But at contact, I gasped. “It’s so soft.” I ran my fingers through the part that always curled around a cowlick when it got wet. I scooted over, leaning across the console between us. “Carrie.” His voice sounded strained so I looked down. I hadn’t realized I’d moved so close. But when I gazed into his face, we were only a breath apart. I was positioned a little above him so I could reach his hair. He lifted his face up to stare at me. His eyes were a blazing blue. That’s when he touched my hair. He drew his fingers through the curls to cup my head. Then he tilted his chin to the side and pulled me down. I was shocked when our mouths connected. He was kissing me. Oh my God, Luke Carter was kissing me. 




19) Do you have any appearances coming up soon where we can meet you online or in person? If so, where? Also, where can we find you on the web?


--Right now, this is my grand appearance! Yay. But other than that, you can always find me spouting my virtual mouth off on my blog, "The Linda Kage Blog Page : Hand Over the Chocolate, and no one gets hurt" -- http://lindakage.blogspot.com/
 
Then there's also:

My webpage - http://lindakage.com/
 
MySpace - http://www.myspace.com/lindakage

Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/people/Linda-Kage/1415237991

Twitter - http://twitter.com/lindakage

Book Blogs - http://bookblogs.ning.com/profile/Lindakage

The Wild Rose Press - http://thewildrosepress.com/publishe/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1910&Itemid=88
Come visit me at any of those places, I love meeting new people!

20) Who is your publisher(s).


The Wild Rose Press - http://www.thewildrosepress.com/
 
They're incredibly nice and very patient with newbies like me.
 
21) Is there anything else you'd like to share with your readers and/or fellow writers?
--Thank you so much for listening to me jabber on--kudos to you if you made it all the way down to question number 21! It's nice meeting you all.
Thanks for joining us, Linda. I had so much fun with you and your book sounds fab.

How do you choose a publisher?

How do you choose a publisher? Or do you let the publisher choose you? I suppose to an extent most new authors go by a combination of the two choices. My first choice of who to be published with would have been Harlequin/Silhouette. I grew up devouring them. Grocery bags full that I dragged home from the used book stores and all the new releases I could find as well. But in real life, I racked up lots of rejections from H/S although I'm still trying and have a submission in. Although I've not yet been picked up by my first choice, I haven't blindly submitted to just any publisher, either. I met my first publisher, New Concepts Publishing, at my local RWA group in 1998. I was impressed by the publisher. So I submitted. Later, I watched Ellora's Cave and saw their success and liked the quality of their books. I liked what I heard about their business practices. I liked the professional look of their site. When I received an email from Total-E-Bound, I liked the tone of the publisher. I also feel the site is professional and I've never been disappointed. I've also heard a lot of great things about The Wild Rose Press, my newest publisher. But I still receive emails from friends and loops with calls for submissions. Even though I'm pretty booked up and have my goals, I still look at these. I looked at one recently. Unfortunately, I wasn't impressed with the site. It didn't look professional. The cover art was not that great. I'd only heard of one or two of the authors and then I barely knew their names. Usually, I like to lurk and hear what people are saying about a publisher before I submit and especially before I sign on the dotted line. A couple times I took a leap of faith. Once didn't work out so well and once worked out very well. Normally, I like security so take my time deciding. I wish this publisher luck. Maybe one day I'll change my mind and submit. But for now, my time is valuable. So is my trust. I'm already exhausted trying to run the wheel in my hamster cage and keep up with my writing. On the other hand, I've seen other publishers that look interesting. again, however, there is only so much time and I'm pretty happy - except for my inability to write even faster. I keep promising myself that when I retire from my day job (oh in 15 or 20 years or more) I'll write a full novel a month - at least every other month. We'll see. That's my goal anyway. But if I was looking for another publisher, I look at the publisher's reputation, the professional look of their web site, and the cover art. I'll also check out several of their books. What do you look at? Or have you thought about it? I'm sure veteran authors think long and hard about this. You'll also want to see what Amarinda Jones, Anika Hamilton, Anny Cook, Barbara Huffert, Brynn Paulin, Bronwyn Green, Dakota Rebel, Kelly Kirch, Molly Daniels, Sandra Cox, Regina Carlysle, and Cindy Spencer Pape are up to, so make sure to visit them also. :)