I'd like to welcome Sheila Roberts, author of On Strike for Christmas
Thanks for dropping by. We learned a little about your book and about you yesterday. Today, you have agreed to answer some questions for us. Well, here we go.1) If you could start over with your writing career, what if anything would you change? I would have started writing contemporary stories right from the get go. I got my beginnings writing Regency Romances - not surprising since I love them, but they have a limited readership. Plus although I tried hard, I really was terrible at research and it seemed I was always getting some historical detail wrong. Very embarrassing. I really think I would have done better writing about my own time period right from the get go. But, writing is a learning process, and I don't know any writers who ever got it all right at the beginning.
2) What was the best piece of advice you received regarding the life of a writer? Never give up.
3) If you could meet anyone, living or dead, who would it be? Actually, that list is rather long. But, to name a few: Stephen King, Dr. Phil and his wife, Steve Martin, Dustin Hoffman, and Cliff Richard, the British singing star
4) If you could meet any fictional character, who would it be? Jane Austen's Elizabeth Darcy, Heathcliff from "Wuthering Heights" and Dickens's Mr. Fezziwigg
5) In the next century, what do you hope people will remember you for? That would be remarkable to be remembered in the next century. Down the road, I'd like to be remembered as a writer who inspired people to be their best.
6) How do you balance your personal and writing time? I write during the day, just like a job, but unless I'm under deadline, I don't write more than a couple hours at a stretch. Then I go do something else. Fitting in time to be with friends and get other work done is important.
7) How do you write? Do your characters come to you first or the plot or the world of the story? What usually comes to me first is a story idea - something following the words, "What if?"
8) What genre(s) do you write? Why do you write the stories that you write? I've been published under different names in Romance, but I've also written for gift books and written non-fiction. I love to write about things that are important to women. And I like to write humor. Everyone needs to laugh.
9) Out of all the characters that you've written, who is your favorite and why? Some of my favorite characters have never seen the light of day. They all made guest appearances in manuscripts that never sold. Right now my favorite character is in a book that will be coming out next summer. She's a ditz and I love her.
10) If you were writing a script for the big screen, who would you want to act in your movie? Hmmm. Maybe some of the angry housewife chicks.
11) What would you want readers to take away from your books? A smile.
12) Do you have any advice for beginning writers in regards to writing a book? Finish the book. Many writers spend more time talking about writing than they do actually writing. Being able to type "the end" on something you've created is hugely satisfying.
13) Where can readers buy a copy of your book? At their nearby Barnes and Noble or Borders. And, of course, there's always Amazon. It's a fun book and I hope readers will give it a try.
14) What other projects are you working on right now? I just turned in Bikini Season, my second book for St. Martin's Press. It's about diets, true love, cheating, and friendship. I should have an excerpt posted on my website (www.sheilasplace.com) in the new year.
