Osiyo~

Welcome to Tuesday Round Up one and all! Grab a beverage of choice, something sweet and sinful. No-no, not the men. What’s the matter with you? You know the hands-on rules… The guest gets first pick! 😉 Take a comfy seat for another, or a first, spin in the Round Pen.

I’m thrilled to welcome my wonderfully talented guest today, Jessi Gage, who is sharing her book, Reckless with us!

Please show ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Jessi some real Ranch love!

Thank you for having me today, Calisa! It’s always fun stopping by the Ranch.

Before I get to the nosy 5-3-4 part of this interview, tell us a bit about you.

I’ll go ahead and take first pick of the men. Since the theme of today’s post will be blue-collar construction workers, are there any men in the coral sporting hard hats? Come on, boys, raise your hands…

LOL, in my dreams, right?

Actually, since I’m married to a construction man…there are always a couple hanging around for flavor choice. 😉

I’m a Seattle gal, transplanted from the northeast by way of Florida. How my husband and I arrived up here in the northwest is a long story, but it has mostly to do with higher education and a mutual love of Kurt Kobain.

Would you believe I’d never heard of Kurt until he died? Sad, I know.

So about your writing?

I’ve been writing about 6 years. After publishing with a small press, I’m now venturing into the world of self publishing and loving every minute.

I can’t wait to share my new release, Reckless, with you all today. It’s my second indie title and kicks off a series about blue-collar heroes who are rough around the edges but tender where it counts.

Okay, I’ll begin with five questions, then follow with three more, and end with four final ones.

My writing area at the moment is a corner in my living room, now upgraded from the couch to my new-to-me green recliner. What does your writing space look like?

I’m a couch girl too. You can almost always find me on the middle cushion or our red corduroy IKEA Ektorp with my laptop either on my lap with a nifty fan-desk or on the couch beside me. I’m usually in jammies or leggings with a hoodie. And I always, ALWAYS have strawberry Chap Stick in my pocket.

I keep my laptop on an air desk, too, and I usually have a tube of vanilla lip balm somewhere within reach. 🙂 We couch girls have to stick together.

For a lot of writers it’s a life-altering event coming up with titles and character names. Others it comes as naturally as breathing. Which is it for you?

My critique partners call me the title whisperer, LOL. I love thinking of title names, series names, and character names.

I do too, but some are questionable. Lol What advice would you offer aspiring and new writers?

Keep writing!

I’ve seen some authors get so caught up in revising an agent-rejected book over and over again, trying to make it something an agent will fall in love with. This means they’re not writing new stuff, not learning, not improving.

The best way to improve as an author is to write. Write a lot. Brainstorm, draft, polish, repeat.

Get lots of stories under your belt. Then, when you get that coveted acceptance, you’ve got a backlist you can polish up and publish while you’re writing new stuff.

Good advice, Jessi. The constant shift of the industry makes me often scratch my head and ask ‘what next?’ So, what do you think it takes to be a successful author at the moment?

Persistence. You’ve got to love writing. You’ve got to eat, drink, breathe writing, and not just writing, but all the peripheral stuff that goes into transforming a completed story into a published work.

You’ve got to have a marketable author brand as well. My brand is time-travel romance and blue-collar contemporaries. Both are sub genres that are doing well right now. In that, I’m lucky. I happened across a readership eager for what comes naturally for me to write. Fairy tales are also popular right now, as are sports romances. Vampires have fallen out of favor a bit.

One of my favorite chapters in the Bible is Ecclesiastes 3, which begins “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.” (I like that one, too. Cat Stevens wrote a song around this verse that I love.) If what you write isn’t popular right now, don’t worry, it will be. Because you’re going to make it popular. Develop your niche, cultivate a starter audience, and carve out a corner of the market for yourself. Who knows? Maybe your dream sharing spynx or transgender motorcycle club member will be the next sparkly vampire.

Who would you like to meet in the publishing industry- dead or alive- and why?

My favorite author at the moment is Evangeline Anderson. I love her ability to develop a series and keep the conflict wire-tight through an entire book. She has an amazing sci-fi series called Brides of the Kindred that I am totally hooked on. I would love to just hang out with her, throw back some cocktails, and talk writing and sexy alien men.

It’s time for 3 in 1! I’ll ask the questions and you answer them in one word. 😆

Favorite animal? Horse

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter? Fall

Favorite food? Pizza

Well done! 🙂

Okay, final four. Ready? What are you working on now?

2014 will be a year packed with self-publishing activities. I have five releases planned for the year, including two re-released backlist titles (Reckless is one of these). There will be lots of logistics and marketing in my future, which to a geek like me sounds like a TON of FUN!

On the writing front, I’m setting a modest goal of completing a novella in my Highland Wishes series (Constance and Wilhelm’s story’ they’re a couple that makes an appearance in Wishing for a Highlander) and writing another full-length Highland Wishes novel.

What are you sharing today?

Reckless gets a new cover and a re-release! Here’s the blurb:

Sometimes it takes a miracle to find forgiveness.

Divorced construction worker Derek has anger management issues. Acting rashly on the freeway, he causes an accident. His truck escapes unscathed, but he can’t say the same for his conscience. Visions of the wreck haunt his dreams, but they’re always followed by the sweet caresses and soothing words of a beautiful woman who calls to everything male in him.

Cami assumes she is dead. With no memory of her past, all she knows is endless fog and the occasional visit to a darkened bedroom where she comforts a man battling nightmares. When she wakes in a hospital bed and regains her memory, she assumes the ruggedly-handsome Derek was no more than a figment of her concussed mind.

As Cami recovers, she learns that Derek is not only real but also the driver charged with causing her accident. She should be furious with him, but their inexplicable nights together showed her a tender side beneath his rough exterior. Will she let one reckless mistake drive them apart, or will forgiveness have the right of way?

Where can we find you and your books?

Website | Blog | Facebook Fan Page | Twitter | Goodreads

Get Reckless Amazon and more listed on Jessi’s website.

Where can followers find you next?

Ooh, I get followers? How cool! I promise there will be no Kool-Aid. But I will bring cupcakes…

Follow me on Twitter and FB, and you’ll get all my appearance news. And sign up for my newsletter for notice of my new releases.

I love cupcakes and heroes with a bad-boy streak. I would like to give a free ecopy of Reckless to a commenter who tells me their favorite snack or dessert and romance hero. Double points (counts as 2 entries) if you can name a snack or dessert that can also describe a romance hero.

Thank you so much for playing along Jessi! Wishing you much luck with your book and writing. I hope you’ll come visit again one day.

Thank you so much for hosting me today, Calisa! I had a blast answering your questions, and I can’t wait to read comments and give away an ebook!

Dodadagohvi~