Featured Author
Today's Featured Book and Author: Let's talk to Kimberley Reeves, author of Broken, Blind
Faith, Vittorio's
Mistress, Dream
Lover, and her newest release Gambling On Love.
Kimberley, thanks for taking some time to answer some questions for us.
1) What
were your favorite books growing up? I loved classics like Jane Eyre and Little
Women, but I also liked the darker authors like Edgar Allen Poe and Oscar Wilde
(The Picture of Dorian Gray). My absolute favorite was the Judy Bolton female
detective series by Margaret Sutton, which was written between 1932 and 1967. A
strange preference in the age of Nancy Drew, but I loved them so much that I
have slowly acquired 30 of the 38 in the series and hope to have the full
collection one day.
2) Now
that you have, let’s say—some life experience, what would you tell your younger
self? Follow your heart. I have
wanted to be a writer since I was twelve, but listening to friends and family
claim it is not a ‘real’ job, that competition is too tough, you’re wasting your
time – made me doubt myself and squashed the dream. About five years ago, I told a friend how
much I wanted to write but had a fear of failure. He shook his head. “You’ve
already failed if you never even tried, and now you have a wounded heart
because of it.” I realized he was right, and the only way to heal myself was to
follow my dream. One of my first novels is entitled, Wounded Hearts.
3) Describe
your typical day. I’m up at 6am to pack
my husband’s lunch and then try to get an hour of writing in before work. My
day as a Sales Consultant involves working with parts managers for agricultural
equipment, which can be quite a challenge. Most evenings I’ve got my computer
out, either working on a new novel or editing a completed novel. Of course, now
that I’ve found a fabulous copy editor to perfect my manuscripts, it frees up
time to do what I love most: write.
4) Who
is your favorite character in your books? It’s a tie between Dante from
Vittorio’s Mistress (#3 in the Vittorio series), and Gage from The Little Red
Skirt (#3 in the Travis series). I adore the alpha male, and these two were
particularly arrogant and fought falling in love. There’s something incredibly
attractive about a big, strong He-Man who suddenly finds himself pathetically
vulnerable when his heart over-rules his head.
5) What
do you do when writer’s block shows up, settles in, and makes itself
comfortable? After the panic attack, you mean?? Actually, it hasn’t been a
major issue because I never map out a novel. I begin with the names of my
characters and an opening line, and let the story go where it wants to. If I do
hit a brick wall, I take a few days to play it out in my mind like a movie and
try to envision how my characters would react. Sometimes it helps to curl up
with a good romance by my favorite authors, Linda Howard or Iris Johansen, and
lose myself for awhile.
6) Do
you find yourself pulling details from “real life” or does your imagination
rule the roost? For the most part imagination rules, although my husband is
part Italian so I do tend to lean towards dark-haired Italian heroes. Of
course, if he asks, all my
devastatingly handsome heartbreakers are patterned after him!
7) What
was the first manuscript you wrote (even if it never saw the light of day)? Untouchable Memory. Handwritten in
several notebooks, the 170,000 word novel took almost a year to write. A few
weeks after the talk with my friend about having a wounded heart, I had a dream
that I was in the hospital and had just come out of a coma. A man was in the
room with me and said he was my husband, although I had no memory of him, and
that he had to get me out of there because my life was in danger. In the dream,
he was actually the one hired to kill me, but fell in love with me and couldn’t
do it. I thought it was a great premise for a novel, so I finally took the
plunge and started writing. I haven’t stopped since.
8) Have
you ever pursued traditional publishing? Or did you go straight for indie
publishing? I have entered and won a few Editor Pitches as well as writer’s contests,
but haven’t seriously pursued traditional publishing. The dreaded synopsis is a
huge deterrent, not to mention the endless weeks of waiting for a reply. I did have one novel published through a
house, but felt the retail price they set was too high and eventually bought my
rights back. Publishing on Amazon has been a rewarding experience and I am
happy with my decision to give indie publishing a try.
9) What
Works In Progress are brewing? Any
target dates for publication? I have completed 45 novels so there is always an
ongoing editing project. Currently, I am working on the fourth novel in the
Vittorio series, Vittorio’s Lover,
which should be ready for release in late October. In my steamiest Vittorio
novel to date, Raffaele decides to intervene when he discovers Jenesa Harding’s
plan to crash his brother Luca’s engagement party and expose a short-lived
affair. How was he to know she would mistake him for Luca, or how much he would
enjoy playing the role of his playboy brother?
I am also deviating from romance to
co-write a thriller with three other authors called Thrill Crimes. It has been a great change of pace and a challenge
to play the role of Gina Marinelli, a female detective hot on the trail of two
serial killers. I couldn’t quite resist the temptation to give Gina a hunky
partner!
I love hearing from my fans and
always reply. I am deeply appreciative of the people who take the time to let
me know they enjoyed my novels and who continue to be supportive.
Oh, Dorian Gray is one of my favorites! Glad you listened to your friend and followed your dreams, you're an amazing and quite the prolific author. Much more continued success to you, Kimberely. You know I love your novels, especially Dream Lover & Broken. Always nice to learn more about an author, great interview! :)
ReplyDeleteAmber - thanks for checking out the interview. Dream Lover was the first book of Kimberley's that I read, so I like that one, too!
DeleteGreat Interview. As Amber said above, SO glad you listened to your friend and 'went for it'. The whole family scenario had me smiling (sadly) because it sounded EXACTLY like my own situation. The 'not a real job', too much competion... It's stories like yours, seeing you succeed now, that keep ME going. Thanks for sharing, Kim.
ReplyDeleteSue - thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a friend like Kimberley did and keep following your dreams!
DeletePersonally, I found this interview lacking. At no point does a hunky Italian, looming over the petite virgin, brushing hair out of her face, leaning forward - slowly - touching his lips to hers. Passion coursing through him. His hand slowly moving down her back as electricity passes between them, the fire of the kiss...
ReplyDelete*ahem*
Sorry about that. I had imagined myself in a Kimberley Reeves novel and got... um... sidetracked. A great interview with one of the industry's hottest (literally) authors.