For romance writers, love is always in the air. Warm weather is an excuse to see the sights with the apple of your eye, while cold and snow are perfect reasons to stay home and snuggle.
But no matter how much you love what the season outside brings, flowers, beaches, leaves and fireplaces will have no affect on your relationship if you don't happen to love the one you're with.
In other words, enjoying external accessories begins with loving internal necessities. So it is with writing itself. My interview with Detroit author and writing colleague Natalie Dunbar brought out an important point: If you're striving to be a published writer, you better love what you do.
1) Thanks for being here, Natalie. Can you tell us how long you've been writing and what made you start?
I’ve been writing since I was a little girl, telling myself stories to go to sleep. I loved to read, but wasn’t always able to get enough books to satisfy me, so I had to use my imagination. This extended to plays and serials acted out with my sisters and brother.
2) How would you describe your stories overall?
2) How would you describe your stories overall?
3) Do you have a favorite character?
All my characters are favorites, but if I were single and dating, I’d go out with Arturo Bodega, Ramon Richards, and Reed Crawford in a heartbeat.
4) What is the most important lesson you've learned as an author that you want to share with aspiring writers?
The most important lesson I’ve learned as a writer is that If you’re going to be a writer, you’d better be writing for the love of writing…. This is not the glamorous business it appears to be. Unless you’re a big name author or it’s in your contract, you can’t pick your cover, most authors don’t make boatloads of money for their works, it’s a lot of very solitary work. In addition, these days you can’t just write the book and move on, you have to promote and market it, too, since publishing companies put the advertising dollars where they expect the biggest returns.
5) What’s next for you?
I have a novella in the werewolf romance anthology “Vegas Bites Back,” which is coming out at the end of December/ early January from Parker publishing. My novella is titled “The Golden Wolf” and it continues with the characters I created in my “Vegas Bites” novella.6) Anything else you’d like us to know?
7) How can readers contact you?
I invite readers to check out my website at http://www.nataliedunbar.com/. Readers can contact me at Natalie@nataliedunbar.com, or at P.O. Box 626, Royal Oak, MI 48068.
Thanks, again, for talking to us, Natalie. Good luck with Vegas Bites Back.
Live. Love. Dream!
Stefanie
