Books-n-Kisses is pleased to welcome Josee Renard to the blog today. We are looking forward to learning a little more about Josee and her book Kiss Lonely Goodbye.
Q1) Please tell us a little about yourself
Josee: I, like many if not all writers, split my life into many small pieces. I work (freelance and hopefully part-time – sadly, not as often part-time as I would wish), I teach, I spend time with my friends and my partner and our families. I write, as much and as often as I can (though seldom often enough). I do all of the other things that early on in a writing career you don’t realize are part of being a writer – promotion, attending conferences, giving workshops, going to meetings, etc. etc. etc. I am two people in my writing life – a writer and a business person. I am also two people in my writing – Kate Austin (who writes women’s fiction) and Josee Renard (who writes erotica).
I live in Vancouver a block from the beach, which I love. I travel as much as I can – almost always to big cities with great art galleries, which I also love. I’m getting better at avoiding the biggest pitfall of multi-tasking – which is not doing your best work because you’re thinking of the next thing you have to do – and enjoying the best part of it – which is focusing completely on what I’m doing at that moment, no matter how short a time I have to do it. I’m trying very hard to be in the moment rather than ruining it for myself by worrying about the next one.
Q2) Tell us a typical writing day for you
Josee: I wish, constantly and desperately, that I had a typical writing day. I don’t. I work part-time as a freelance paralegal (as little as 12 hours a week a few times a year to much more than full-time way more weeks than I want to), plus I teach paralegals. And working freelance means that I almost never know when, how long, where or when I’m going to be working from one week to another. I try – though rarely succeed – to write every day. I do try to write every evening that I’m home when my partner is working – he works in a restaurant so is generally at work five nights a week. One of these days I’m going to win the lottery and then I can set my schedule and stick to it.
Q3) Have you always wanted to be an author or what made you become an author?
Josee: I actually haven’t always wanted to be an author. What I am, have always been, is a reader. I read somewhere between 350-400 books a year and my idea of a perfect weekend is nothing to do, no one around, and hours and hours of reading time. Over a weekend like that I might read 4 or 5 books, sometimes more if they’re short. But when I went to university – late – I had an English professor who said to me at one point, you write essays like they’re fiction, maybe you should try writing a short story. I did and I was hooked. I wrote and published short fiction and poetry for many years before I decided to start writing novels and I’ve been writing mostly novels and novellas, as well as a few short stories (and the occasional poem) for almost 10 years. My first novel, Dragonflies and Dinosaurs, got published in 2005
Q4) Tell us a little about your book Kiss Lonely Goodbye
Josee: Kiss Lonely Goodbye is the third story in a 10 part serial (and yes, I feel like Dickens) called Part Time Lovers. Part Time Lovers is a website where people who are interested in sex can find a like-minded partner. Jules and Mercy, best friends since grade school, run the website and they link the 10 parts together with their relationships – with each other, with clients and with others.
Kiss Lonely Goodbye is about Annabelle and Sam, both lonely, both scared to death of a relationship. Annabelle’s sex life is in her own hands and toys but she’s lost the weekly bet with her sister, who hands her a printout from Part Time Lovers. Her penance for losing the bet is to find a man and have sex, after a very long dry spell. Sam was burned badly by his last relationship, so when someone tells him about Part Time Lovers, he’s immediately interested. Sex without strings. They both insist it’s only sex, but their emails become more and more intimate. When they finally meet, more than sparks fly. What if it’s love?
Q5) How did you come up with the idea for this story?
Josee: I had a title long before I had even a line for the story. I started with a Stevie Wonder song title for the website and all of the titles of the stories (except one) are Stevie Wonder songs. So I guess somewhere in the back of my head I had the idea of two lonely people getting together. But, actually, I think I have to blame this story on Glee, to which I am addicted. I never come up with ideas, I come up with a first line. And here it is: Sam’s week wasn’t going well. Everything that could go wrong had gone wrong, for as long as he could remember. And that’s kind of what Sam’s life on Glee was like for a long time. And then I had to find a woman who could make Sam’s life – at the very least his sex life – better. Annabelle just showed up and the story unfolded from there.
Q6) What is your current work in progress?
Josee: As always, I have two or three things in progress. I’m easily bored, so if I get stuck somewhere I move on to something else. The urgent things (because of deadlines) are the last two stories in the Part Time Lovers serial – If It’s Magic and What Christmas Means to Me – which will be out on November 30 and December 7 respectively. I’m about halfway through each of them. And then I have to write a very short Christmas story called Santa Bring My Baby Back to Me (are you getting the song title theme? I seem to be obsessed with song titles this year) which will be out in December.
Q7) Who are some of your favorite authors?
Josee: Because I read so much and across so many genres, my list of favorite authors is very long. Stephen King because he writes so beautifully. I just finished Duma Key and have Full Dark, No Stars on my massive TBR pile. Anything and everything by Suzanne Brockmann. Michael Ondaatje is one of the few writers I buy in hardcover. I love Susanna Kearsley, who writes great women’s fiction/romance that reminds me of one of my favorite childhood authors – Mary Stewart. Jayne Ann Krentz. Nora Roberts’ romantic suspense. Barbara Kingsolver and Alice Hoffman – I love the way they meld magic realism into their books. I like J.R. Ward very much – hers are the only vampire books I read. I love Emma Holly – her books are so very sexy. And then there’s Guy Vanderhaege and Margaret Atwood and Pat Conroy and… Are you sorry you asked? I could go on forever.
Q8) Have to ask because I am nosey. What is in your to be read pile that you are dying to read next?
Josee: It’s not actually in my TBR pile but I’m dying to read it when it comes out in the next couple of weeks. I’ve just discovered a brand new writer – Kylie Chan. She’s from Australia but lived in Hong Kong for many years. Her trilogy, Dark Heavens, is a terrific paranormal romance and I love it because it uses Chinese mythology and it’s mostly set in Hong Kong (with detours to Paris and London and Australia). Book 3 – and I’m dying to know what happens – is out in November and I’ve got it on my radar every time I walk into the bookstore.
Q9) Is there anything else you would to add?
Josee: Thanks so much for having me. It’s amazing how often I learn something I wasn’t conscious of – about myself or about my writing – when I sit down at a computer and answer these types of questions. What did I learn this time? That I am getting better at being in the moment and that makes me feel good about myself.
Books-n-Kisses: Josee, again huge thank you for stopping by the blog to day to chat about you and your books. I hope the readers enjoyed.
Where Josee can be found:
Giveaway Time:
Josee has given me an e-copy of her book Knock Me Off My Feet.
If you would like a chance to win please fill out the Rafflecopter form below. Giveaway will end Nov 7th. Winner announce Nov 9th.
