Please tell my readers a little bit about your book.
Blood Moon on the Rise is really a teaser. It’s the first story set in an eventual series set in Present day Detroit. The world is plagued with dangerous supernatural creatures that threaten humans. The Brotherhood of the Blood Moon is a secret organization with the sole purpose of protecting human kind. The Hunters with the aid of their assigned Trackers (those who possess the ability to wield magic) work together to eliminate threats. In Blood Moon on the Rise Tamara, a hunter, and Nicholas, her tracker, have been working together since they were fifteen years old. Now as adults, they face life-threatening dangers which is only made harder by the depth of their feelings for each other. Love between hunters and trackers is forbidden because it puts too much stress on the couple when they are in the heat of battle. But sometimes love is too hard to resist…and it is for Tamara and Nicholas.
When did you start writing toward publication?
I started writing towards publication in my second year of law school about four years ago. That was about the time I met a lady at a local library when I participated in a NANOWRIMO event. She and I became close friends and writing buddies and she was the one who suggested I learn to write romance and that was when I really started pursuing publication.
Do you have any rejection stories to share?
The strength of a writer is only half the time about the quality of the words on the pages. The other part is how the writer handles the trials and tribulations. I found out that numbers play a big part and sheer dumb luck. I’m not a lucky writer. Not at all. I had to learn to play the numbers game. I was rejected 87 times that’s my magic number during my 4 year hunt for an agent. This 4 year period spans from when I finished my first (and completely a mess) first manuscript, to the very first book I got contracted. There were 6 books written between the first every completed book and the first one that got contracted. I queried on 3 different manuscripts and it wasn’t until I figured out to try writing regencies, that I started getting agent interest. I then went on to have 3 agents at one time offer representation. It was very exciting. But as a writer, I’ve learned trouble is never far behind. Due to the hurricane in NY and other situations, the agent I picked retired from the business. I was then on to agent hunting again and found a lovely new agent through a fellow author friend of mine. That was perhaps more luck than I’ve ever been blessed with. She helped me negotiate the first contract I got and is now submitting a new book to editors (fingers crossed).
What
is your writing routine like?
I
know we as writers are supposed to have routines. I actually don’t, not
anything concrete. I’m a lawyer by day. So I tend to write in the spare moments
when I’m not working. I probably do about 4-5 hours a night of editing/revisions
or writing and if I’m lucky, on my lunch break. I essentially make the most of
five minutes here or there to get my notebook out and write. It’s quite funny
the places I’ve managed to write (on a train, waiting for dry cleaning, at a
restaurant waiting for breakfast- this is a weekly habit). I found the trick is
to never let the story get that far from your mind so that the second you have
time to put pen to paper, even if it’s just ten minutes, you can hammer out a
couple hundred words and feel like you’ve accomplished something. The key I
think for any writer is finding the discipline to make it work, no matter what
your schedule or how you of a period each day you sit down to do it as long as
you make the magic happen!
Are
you a member of any writing organizations and, if so, have they helped?
I’m
a member of my local OKRWA, Passionate Ink, The Beau Monde, FFP, and Celtic
Hearts (all RWA organizations). They have all be incredible in helping me
succeed in my goals. But I do have to give a special shout out to Passionate
Ink where I currently serve as the Vice President., we offer members monthly
pitch sessions via the internet with REAL EDITORS! You get to pitch 300 words
to the volunteer editor that month. I got my first contract through one of
these very pitch sessions so I owe Passionate Ink so much!
Please share three
fun facts about you that most people don’t know.
1) I’m currently
learning to speak conversational Russian.
2) I lived in China
for a month and got to be one of the first Americans since Bill Clinton in the
1990s when he visited, to take a tour of the Panda Preserve in Chengdu and I
sat down on a bench next to a baby panda and fed it fruit and got to pet it!
The fur was surprisingly springy, like an English sheep dog only a little more
bristly.
3) My mother named
me after Princess Diana (my middle name is Diana), and my love of England and
English set stories apparently stems from my namesake.
I’m
currently in revisions on my first Regency romance called Wicked Designs which is hopefully going to come out from Samhain
Publishing in January. It’s the first book in The League of Rogues Series where
a band of titled rogues get caught playing a game of cat and mouse with a
feisty little debutante who doesn’t want to be used as a pawn in their game of
revenge against her uncle who embezzled from one of the rogues (A duke named
Godric who happens to be the hero). I already have books 2 and 3 written and am
merely waiting to get them submitted and hopefully published soon!
Blood Moon on the Rise BOOK BLURB
Tamara wants
nothing more than to protect the world from deadly
paranormal creatures. Well, maybe she wants a little more than that. But the man she craves—Nicholas Rubin—is
strictly off limits.
For years,
Nicholas has been her loyal partner, helping to defeat murderous werewolves and
take down unruly vampires. Nicholas has
always given Tamara his protection, friendship, and support. The only thing he
hasn’t given her is his love. A relationship between Tamara and Nicholas is
forbidden by ancient law, and the consequences could be deadly.
But when a powerful
Sorceress threatens both their lives, Tamara has a choice to make: Give into
her feelings for Nicholas, and risk her life. Or take a chance on Nicholas, and
receive his love—at a price.
EXCERPT
“Tamara!”
A low, anxious shout drew her head up.
Relief
flooded her when she caught sight of the man emerging from the shadows by the
bar’s back door.
“Where
the hell were you, Nicholas? We said we’d meet at the bar at seven,” Tamara
snapped.
Her
partner, Nicholas Rubin, rushed over and knelt at her side. His face sported a
small cut across his high cheekbone, and his clothes were spotted with blood.
“Oh,
God, are you okay?” She reached for his cheek, and he flinched, jerking away at
her attempt to touch him.
“I
got waylaid. Apparently, our furry friend had some goons with him who tried to
stop me from following. They knew what we came here for. By the time I got
inside, you were already gone. You couldn’t have waited? Damnit Tamara…” His
eyes assessed her injuries, his brow furrowing as he concentrated on her. “Come
on, let’s get you home and patch you up.” Nicholas held out a hand. Tamara
winced when he pulled her to her feet.
“Huh,
some tracker you are,” she muttered.
She
fingered the crystal on the leather band around her wrist, the one he’d made
for her. Even though it had a purpose for her job, she wore it the way a woman
would a piece of jewelry from her boyfriend. Here was the man she wanted, the
chocolate haired, cinnamon-brown eyed god she craved. He was her closest
friend, her partner, and completely off-limits. The ache to touch him, to
reassure herself he was okay, was ever present.
Every
single minute she was with him, she covered her feelings for him with sarcasm
or offhanded remarks. Anything to keep distance between them. But not tonight.
She had to feel him, comfort him, even if he wasn’t hurt.
Nicholas’s
eyes twinkled mischievously as she reached up to stroke his face. He didn’t
pull away, and her heart jumped wildly in her chest. Her hand lingered against
his warm skin for a moment longer than it should have. A tiny thrill rushed
through her body when he didn’t step away to avoid her.
“You’re
the hunter. It’s my job to lead you to the beasts. You have to kill them,
remember?” He flashed a wise-ass grin and retrieved her purse and jacket from
the ground.
He
helped her slide it over her arms, his hands tightening on her shoulders ever
so slightly before he let go. The heat of his touch sent her pulse skittering.
She had to diffuse the sudden throbbing of desire for Nicholas. It was a battle
she fought every hour of every day. Each time she pushed away that hunger for
him, it made it harder to work with him. She couldn’t fight off werewolves when
she was busy thinking about jumping Nicholas’s bones.
“You
are so buying me a beer later,” Tamara snapped, her bravado masking her
trembling hands and the lancing pain in her leg.
“Sure.
Oh, you might want to fix your jeans…they’re uh…open.” Even in the moonlight,
the ruddy stain of a flush on his cheeks was unmistakable. For a brief instant,
Tamara thought she saw anger flicker in his eyes.
“Damn.”
She fixed her pants and looked determinedly away.
Did
he get jealous thinking of her being with other men, of her luring vamps and
weres using her body as the carrot on the stick? Or did he not think about her
at all? She thought of him every time; with every kiss, every touch, she
envisioned him doing those things to her. What would he think if he knew it was
him she fantasized about? About the tender yet heated way they’d come together,
and how they’d lie still and quiet, hearts beating in time as they slept
afterwards.
“Better
call it in,” she reminded him, teeth gritted, her head tilted toward the alley
and the dead werewolf.
MORE ABOUT THE
AUTHOR
Lauren Smith is an attorney by
day, author by night, who pens adventurous and edgy romance stories by the
light of her smart phone flashlight app. She’s a native Oklahoman who lives
with her three pets: a feisty chinchilla, sophisticated cat and dapper little
schnauzer. She's won multiple awards in several romance subgenres including
being an Amazon.com Breakthrough Novel Award Quarter-Finalist and a
Semi-Finalist for the Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Award. Her first regency
novel Wicked Designs will be released
early 2014.
Connect with Lauren Smith at:
Check
out my book trailer HERE
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