Nancy Lee Badger Interviews Author Cecilia Dominic

Cecilia Dominic dropped by to talk about her life, and her latest book. Eros Element is a steampunk and will be released on August 25.

Cecilia- Thank you so much for having me, Nancy! I’m excited to be back on your blog. Since I’ve been here before, I’ll answer different questions. For those who want to know more about when I started writing toward publication and broke in, my first interview with Nancy is HERE

Nancy- Please tell my readers a little bit about your book.  

Cecilia- Eros Element is the story of a young woman, Iris McTavish, who wants to be an archaeologist and who gets her chance in an unexpected way. Her famous archaeologist father has died in France, but very few people outside her household know. She is biding her time telling people because she’ll likely have to marry once the news gets out, and she’s not interested in marriage, especially not to the odious nobleman who’s pursuing her. When her father is invited to go along as an archaeologist on a mysterious mission, she takes his place. She doesn’t anticipate her secret being found out or that she’ll fall for quirky professor Edward Bailey on their travels.

My high-concept line is that it’s The DaVinci Code meets Big Bang Theory. As I mentioned, Edward is quirky because he lives his life according to the scientific principles of order and predictability in order to minimize anxiety after having had his heart broken. Going on a quest to find the mysterious Eros Element is not part of that formula, but he has to in order to save his research funding. Iris doesn’t fit, either, and it was fun to write how they come together.

Nancy- Describe the genre of this particular title, and is it the only genre you write in? 

Cecilia- Eros Element is steampunk, which is a subgenre of science fiction and is traditionally set in Victorian times and carries steam and often clockwork technology beyond where it faded in favor of gas and electricity. The genre also tackles social issues, but not in an in-your-face kind of way.

I also write urban fantasy and new adult contemporary. My Lycanthropy Files series, which combines medical thriller and urban fantasy, is now fully out electronically, and the third will be coming out in paper in November. In the series, I explore what would happen if lycanthropy – werewolfism, for those who are not familiar with the term – was a genetic disorder, but the cure isn’t fully medical.

My new adult contemporary novel A Perfect Man – as you can tell from the title, it’s definitely fiction – was released in May. It’s about students in a writing program who learn that real life is, indeed, stranger than fiction, especially when it comes to romance.

Nancy- Do you have any rejection stories to share?

Cecilia- Oh, wow, I have so many. I’m not agented and would like to be, so I continue to send out manuscripts. Alas, there’s no magic that happens when you sell that means every one of your books will then magically be appealing to all industry professionals. Darnit.

I have a spreadsheet that I’ve kept of book submissions to agents and publishers since I seriously started querying in 2008. I just looked, and my last entry was on line 142. I’m actually a submission slacker because I’ll send out a bunch of queries, get rejections, and then pout for 6-12 months. Sometimes I’ll put reasons for rejections in the spreadsheet, and I found an entry from one of my first rejections that is a good reminder for why you ALWAYS check the agency website no matter what Writer’s Market says. The reason for that early rejection – agent dead. Whoops.

Nancy- What is your writing routine like?

Cecilia- I wish I could say I rise at 5:00 every morning alert and ready to sit at the keyboard and pound out a couple thousand of words before breakfast. What typically happens is more like:

6:45 alarm goes off, snoozed

6:54 alarm goes off, snoozed

7:00 sunrise alarm goes off, I have to get out of bed to stop the effing thing from beeping

7:01 look at sleeping husband, ponder going back to bed

7:02 stumble into kitchen for coffee

7:03 let cats out of their respective sleeping rooms, feed mine

7:04 look for coffee

7:05 damnit, where did I put the coffee?

7:10 finally find coffee

7:11-7:30ish do morning pages (free-writing) to wake up brain

7:30ish pull out laptop, open Scrivener

7:35 put brain-damaged gray cat on couch

7:40 pet cat because she’s pawing at me

7:45 throw ball for other cat to fetch

7:50 put brain-damaged cat back on couch after she jumped off, then forgot what she jumped off to do, throw ball again for other cat

7:50-8:15 repeat cat petting and ball throwing while trying to drink coffee and write

As you can see, there’s not much of a routine. I also write in the evenings sometimes and on weekends, whenever I can. It’s hard to write at the office because there’s always something else demanding my attention, so I like coffee shops if I’m not writing at home.

Nancy- What sort of promo do you do? Do you have help?

Cecilia- Remember how I told you I was going to figure out marketing in July? Ummm, not so much. While I do have some support from Samhain, as with most authors, it’s pretty much up to me. I have a Facebook author page, and I enjoy Twitter, mostly for the interaction. I’m currently working on figuring out what parts of promotion I enjoy. I’ve found that I like making graphics like I’ve been for my Lycanthropy Files sales. For example, here’s the one I’m using this week while my third book is on sale for 99 cents:

I’ve always loved to draw and paint, so I suspect making the graphics allows me to use that neglected visually creative side.

What I really love is to speak to writing groups. I apply my psychological expertise on things like procrastination and sleep to writing and the writing life, and so far I’ve gotten positive feedback. I’ll be in Birmingham speaking on procrastination tomorrow (August 22) to the Southern Magic chapter of RWA.

Nancy- Having achieved your goal to be a published author, what is the most rewarding thing?

Cecilia- I’m not supposed to say the money, am I?

Just kidding – I like getting some financial reward for doing something I love, and it helps me support my writing habit and do fun things like go to conferences. I’m still only about breaking even, but that’s okay. The best part is interacting with readers who really love my books and series, and they come up with great ideas about my worlds and characters that I haven’t thought of. It’s so fun that these imaginary people in my head are as real to other people as they are to me.

Nancy- Will you share some encouraging words for authors still struggling for that first contract? 

Cecilia- First, make sure the agent you’re pitching hasn’t passed away.

Second, don’t wait six to twelve months between batches of queries.

Third, whatever happens, always grow in your craft. Can’t get that first book accepted? Write another one. Each book is a learning experience.

Fourth, embrace feedback, even the negative kind, but try to surround yourself with people who are constructive, not destructive.

Nancy- Please Share three fun facts about you that most people don’t know. 

1) I’m an introvert. People see my day job (psychologist) and the fact I love talking to people and assume I’m an extravert. Nope.

2) My red hair comes from my Belgian side. No Irish blood here (but I’d be okay with it if there was).

3) I can sleep anytime anywhere.

Nancy- What’s next for you?

Cecilia- I am still working on the Aether Psychics series. The second one, Light Fantastique, will be out on December 15^th. I’m currently working on a series prequel I can self-publish, and then I’m going to jump into the third book, title pending… Okay, I haven’t a freaking clue what it’s going to be called. I’ve had so much fun researching these books! I love history. Currently I’m listening to a Great Course on the Civil War, and I just checked out a book on Freud from the library. Both will be really important for the third Aether Psychics book.

BOOK BLURB  

If love is the ivy, secrets are the poison.

After enduring heartbreak at the hands of a dishonest woman, Edward Bailey lives according to scientific principles of structure and predictability. Just the thought of stepping outside his strict routine raises his anxiety.

Adding to his discomfort is Iris McTavish, who appears at his school’s faculty meeting in place of her world-famous archeologist father. Worse, the two of them are to pose as Grand Tourists while they search for an element that will help harness the power of aether.

Iris jumps at the opportunity to prove her worth as a scholar—and avoid an unwanted marriage proposal—while hiding the truth of her father’s whereabouts. If her secret gets out, the house of McTavish will fall into ruin.

Quite unexpectedly, Edward and Iris discover a growing attraction as their journey takes them to Paris and Rome, where betrayal, blackmail and outright theft threaten to destroy what could be a revolutionary discovery—and break their hearts.

Warning: Allergen alert! This book was produced in a facility that handles copious amounts of wine, tea and baked goods. May contain one or more of the following: a spirited heroine, a quirky hero, clever banter, interesting facts both made-up and historical, and lots of secrets. It is, however, gluten free.

Excerpt- For a brief excerpt, check out THIS LINK

Nancy- How can my readers buy your book?

It is already available for preorder from all online retailers in paper and electronic formats.

Readers can go to the publisher’s HOME PAGE

Buy Links….

Amazon    Barnes and Noble

Google Books    Kobo

MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cecilia Dominic wrote her first story when she was two years old and has always had a much more interesting life inside her head than outside of it. She became a clinical psychologist because she's fascinated by people and their stories, but she couldn't stop writing fiction. The first draft of her dissertation, while not fiction, was still criticized by her major professor for being written in too entertaining a style. She made it through graduate school and got her PhD, started her own practice, and by day, she helps people cure their insomnia without using medication. By night, she blogs about wine and writes fiction she hopes will keep her readers turning the pages all night. Yes, she recognizes the conflict of interest between her two careers, so she writes and blogs under a pen name.  She lives in Atlanta, Georgia with one husband and two cats, which, she's been told, is a good number of each. She also enjoys putting her psychological expertise to good use helping other authors through her Characters on the Couch blog post series.

You can find more information 

about *Cecilia Dominic* here:

Web Page    Wine Blog     Facebook

Twitter     Goodreads    Pinterest

Instagram    Amazon Author Page

I’d also like to invite your readers to join me for a Facebook party on release day, which will feature guest authors and prizes. The link for that is: HERE

Nancy Lee Badger Interviews Cecilia Dominic

Today I’m interviewing CECILIA DOMINIC. Her book, The Mountain's Shadow is an urban fantasy and was released on October 1st.

To start us off, please Share three fun facts about you that most people don’t know.

1)  I've always wanted to be an actress. I actually dream about being in movies or television shows, where of course I know my lines unless I don't and I'm in the middle of the set naked, but that's an answer to a different question. My only acting experience came in grade school and high school, but I loved being able to deliver entertainment with immediate feedback. It's in my blood – my maternal grandparents acted, as did my maternal godmother. She and her ex-husband ran a community theater in Belgium for many years. My grandfather wrote for television.

2) I'm actually not the calm, collected person I project. My patients often tell me, "oh, wow, I bet you're never stressed," usually after I teach them some sort of relaxation technique. One of the best parts of my day job as a psychologist is regular relaxation exercise practice because I need it. I probably handle my stress okay unless I'm really tired or sick or hungry or any of the other reasons we humans become more susceptible to experiencing negative emotions, but I wouldn't say I have less than anyone else. Having my own practice and now a writing career won't allow a stress-free existence, but it's totally worth it.

3) Sometimes I think about running for public office. Yes, this one shocks me, too. I suspect I'd have difficulty playing politics and refraining from telling the other politicians how stupid they're being.

Please tell my readers a little bit about your book.  
The Mountain's Shadow is set primarily in a fictional town in the Ozark Mountains and features Joanie Fisher, a public health researcher who is chasing down the origin of the new hot behavioral disorder in children so the company she works for can develop a cure. Unfortunately, her lab burns down, and she gets fired from her job. She inherits her grandfather's estate in the Ozarks, but there are suspicious circumstances surrounding the estate including the town's children disappearing at the full moon. There are werewolves, a little romance, and lots of yummy food descriptions.

Describe the genre of this particular title, and is the only genre you write in?  
This is an urban fantasy, which traditionally features an urban setting with magical elements. The Mountain's Shadow pushes the genre a little because it's primarily a rural setting – so maybe it should be called suburban fantasy – and my werewolves have a scientific explanation behind them. Besides the usual werewolf tropes, I also bring in some old Scandinavian legends to give them some different abilities. This book was the first one I wrote. I primarily write urban fantasy, but I've written in other genres as well (see below).

When did you start writing toward publication?  
I'd never seriously considered it until I was in graduate school, where we were pushed to write academic articles and chapters. If you've ever read an academic article, you know that objective, scientific language often translates to "dry and boring," and trust me, it can be as painful to write as it is to read. Chapters are a little better. I came across Writer's Digest magazine one day and was shocked to find that people could actually get paid for short stories. It was like the heavens opened up and a chorus of angels appeared singing, "you can get paid for your writing." Okay, maybe it wasn't that extreme, but it was shift in my thinking. I'd bought books before and knew authors got paid, but it had just not occurred to me that I could do it, too.

My first short story submission went to The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, which I had also found on that fateful trip to the bookstore. My then boyfriend, now husband, and I went out for fondue to celebrate what would surely be my first sale. Of course it got rejected, but I am nothing if not persistent. My first short story acceptance was when my fantasy mystery The Coral Temple won the 2011 Mystery Times Ten contest, sponsored by small publisher Buddhapuss Ink. I won a Kindle.

Did you have several manuscripts finished before you sold? If so, did you send them out yourself?

The Mountain's Shadow was my first book. When it was accepted, I was starting to pitch my YA historical paranormal The Golden Fox, which was my fourth completed manuscript. I was also writing a romantic suspense, which doesn’t have a good title yet. My second book was another urban fantasy, a subsequently very edited NaNoWriMo book from 2006. My third book is a meta-romance called A Perfect Man, which features a class of MFA students who are finding out that real life is, indeed, stranger than fiction. I pretty much wrote what interested me at the time and figured I would follow the path of whatever sold first. I'm glad it was an urban fantasy since I really like that genre.

I did all my submissions myself, which is probably why it took so long to get published. I would send out five to ten submissions to agents and small publishers, get a batch of rejections, and sulk for six to twelve months. To be fair, I had other things going on like starting a career, buying a house, getting licensed as a psychologist, and then starting a private practice.

Why have you become a published author?

As I mentioned earlier, I like to entertain and get feedback that people have enjoyed my work. I've also always been drawn to writing as a full-time career because I believe in doing what you love. I don't think I'll ever retire from it.

Having achieved your goal to be a published author, what is the most rewarding thing? Apparently my book makes people think and pay attention. Several reviewers have commented on how it's not possible to multitask while you read it because of the twists and turns. This shocked and amused me. I've always been the kind of reader who shuts everything out while immersed in a book, even to the point of annoying those around me (sorry, Mom!). If I can help people be more mindful in this chaotic, distracting world while entertaining them, it makes me happy both as an author and a psychologist.

What’s next for you?

I'm continuing to write the Lycanthropy Files series, and I recently submitted a proposal for the third one to my editor. The sequel to The Mountain's Shadow is called Long Shadows and will be out on March 25. Meanwhile, I'll keep writing and doing my Characters on the Couch series on my blog, and I'll definitely be drinking more wine and blogging about it on the Random Oenophile. I also have that first book in the other urban fantasy series almost ready for submission. Day job-wise, I hope to find another psychologist to join my practice. Behavioral sleep medicine is a growing field, and it would be great to have someone to share the clinical work.

BOOK BLURB

Some mistakes can literally come back to bite you.

The Lycanthropy Files, Book 1

First it was ADD. Then pediatric bipolar. Now the hot behavioral disorder in children is CLS, or Chronic Lycanthropy Syndrome. Public health researcher Joanie Fisher was closing in on the cause in hopes of finding a treatment until a lab fire and an affair with her boss left her without a job.

When her grandfather leaves her his multimillion-dollar estate in the Ozarks, though, she figures her luck is turning around. Except her inheritance comes with complications: town children who disappear during full moons, an irresistible butler, and a pack of werewolves who can’t seem to decide whether to frighten her or flirt with her.

Joanie’s research is the key to unraveling the mysteries of Wolfsbane Manor.  However, resuming her work means facing painful truths about her childhood, which could result in the loss of love, friendship, and the only true family she has left.

Warning: Some sexy scenes, although nothing explicit, and adult language. Also alcohol consumption and food descriptions that may wreck your diet.

READ A FREE EXCERPT HERE

MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cecilia Dominic wrote her first story when she was two years old and has always had a much more interesting life inside her head than outside of it. She became a clinical psychologist because she's fascinated by people and their stories, but she couldn't stop writing fiction. The first draft of her dissertation, while not fiction, was still criticized by her major professor for being written in too entertaining a style. She made it through graduate school and got her PhD, started her own practice, and by day, she helps people cure their insomnia without using medication. By night, she blogs about wine and writes fiction she hopes will keep her readers turning the pages all night. Yes, she recognizes the conflict of interest between her two careers, so she writes and blogs under a pen name.  She lives in Atlanta, Georgia with one husband and two cats, which, she's been told, is a good number of each.

How can my readers buy your book?  

Readers can go to the publisher’s HOME PAGE

Amazon   Barnes and Noble

Find out more about Cecilia Dominic and her book

The Mountain's Shadow by visiting:

WEBSITE    Twitter    Facebook   

Goodreads    Wine Blog