Sam is an interesting person and a very creative, grows flowers and orchids as well as quilts. I had the chance to ask Sam some questions to satisfy my curiosity and share a bit more about who she is with you.
Sam, thank you for stopping by Over Coffee. It's always a pleasure to have you visit. You write wonderful love stories with some memorable characters.
Aw, thanks Sia – and thanks for having me by for coffee – we need it here in Syracuse right now, because we are being hammered with SO MUCH snow. If I am not here in the morning to respond, it’s because I am outside shoveling…
Tell me a bit about you?
And so, about me – I am a lifelong (God help me) Central New Yorker, and I love it here, except in winter. I am happily married to a wonderful man I met on the internet about 17 years ago, and he’s my real life hero, in fact, my first Blaze was inspired by how we met.
What a nice thing to hear you say about your husband! I know you’ve done quite a bit of work in non-fiction/technical and you’ve worked as an editor?
I have a Masters in English, and so I was teaching for 12 years before I started writing, and I have also done stints as a features editor and copy editor for a tech trade magazine. I have a degree in Geography as well, a subject I love and which infuses all of my writing, though I never have worked in the field.
I’ve definitely noticed the correlation between your knowledge of geography and character development. So here you are a success in your professional life and you decide to write fiction and sold the story inspired by how you met your husband?
I sold my first book almost by accident – I wrote Virtually Perfect with the encouragement of my good friend and fellow teacher (we worked in the same college dept) Cara Summers, and it sold. And that changed history for me – I decided to write full time, and now, well, here I am. :-)
Can you tell us a bit about your personal love story? How did you meet and what was it that made him unforgettable in your eyes and heart?
Well, we met at a place online called LambdaMOO, a scientific project in early social spaces on the internet (1993 – before there was any kind of dating sites, etc – we just met, and at the time, it was relatively unusual). I was actually seeing someone else at the time, but that was a fling. He was getting out of a bad relationship. We lived a few states away, and he was quitting his job. I had a 10 year old (who is now 26 and built like a linebacker--a great kid with a good heart).
But anyone looking at us would have thought it had all the markers of being a disaster. ;) Then I remember getting his picture in the mail and just being knocked over. I just knew. I still carry that photo in my wallet.
We met after three months of talking online; two months after that he moved in with me, and three years later we got married. I’m very, very fortunate that our careers, while different, have dovetailed in that he is an editor/writer for tech trade, and I am a writer, and he also teaches (as do I, part time). So we have a lot in common, and these days, we both work at home. So we spend a lot of time together, and we love it (which mystifies a lot of people), but it works for us.
I can understand that. My husband and I worked together for 13 years. :-)
What was the last thing your husband did for you that made you go awww?
So many little things. We’re not really into big gestures, but he’s very caring and affectionate, and little things when I don’t expect them, if he notices I have an achy shoulder and offers to rub it without me asking, or … well, a million little things like that. In the way of pretty amazing stuff, he always makes my birthday dinner, and this past year he made a complete home made Spaghetti dinner, sauce, meatballs, cake, all of it – home made. It was awesome. I am slowly luring him into taking over the cooking. :-) (Shhh… don’t tell).
When you’re not writing or working, what are things you like to do? I know you love growing flowers…?
I do love flowers and quilting, too. If you check my blog, you can see a project I am trying to finish now, but we’ll see. It’s coming along, but I am sewing in whatever bits of time I have. Christmas Project. I’ll post some new pictures of it today…
It's beautiful! I just don't have the patience to do that sort of work.
I also love my dogs and animals, and a lot of outdoor activities. Lately, my new passion is Yoga – I’m not great at it, but I love it! It’s making a huge difference for me physically and mentally.
What classes are you teaching this semester?
Two courses in technical writing. It’s been a wild time, as I am new to this community college, and it’s been about 8 years since I have taught. It took me a while to get back into it, but I was also finishing a book and working freelance, so you can say this fall has been a teeny bit crazy. :-)
LOL! You think? I would say more than a bit crazy.
What was the biggest adjustment you had to make in writing?
Not being able to get out and go to work, to visit with co-workers, etc. I can talk with people online, but I do miss things like office Christmas parties, etc that kind of thing. I meet friends out for lunch, etc and teaching this term has been nice, because I met new people, other teachers, and got out of the house, which was great – I do get out of the house otherwise, LOL -- but you know what I mean.
Writing can be isolating, and you have to stay active, see people, get out, do stuff, to stay sane, IMO. That’s how I started quilting, too – one winter I had to get out of the house, have something else to do, see people, etc even though I didn’t own a sewing machine and I didn’t know anything (seriously, I knew NOTHING). But I got hooked. :-)
You write almost exclusively for Blaze? What is it about this line you enjoy?
I have published only with Blaze, though I have also been working on various single title attempts for a while. I keep working at it, and hope to one day expand my horizons a little (which I have also done with my Kindle books, a bit).
Mainly, I love the freedom I have at Blaze – we have a wide range of possible stories we can write – you can write something light and humorous, heavy and dramatic, or somewhere in between. I need that variety.
I also like the sexiness of it – to me, that’s real, in a world where sex often comes before love, and men and women are in charge of their own sexuality, careers, lives, etc but still hope for that special connection with someone. I like that we can have all kinds of heroes and heroines – we are not locked in to having one kind of character (not just alphas, etc), which is good for me, since I tend to like to write more nice guy, Gamma types, though they are not girly-men by any stretch. So, you know, I like a lot about Blaze, and I’m very lucky to be a Blaze author. I don’t imagine stopping anytime soon. :-)
In your latest book, your romance is centered on two people who have known each other since they were kids and are reconnecting. What is it about Reece you like—what made him fun to write?
One of my original title ideas was The Tease, because that’s how I saw Reece – he is the guy who teased this girl he liked mercilessly, but would defend her against anyone else who did – and now he’s teasing her in a whole new way. I like that they reconnect as adults and that spark has been there for so long, and it just bursts to life again. But he is a guy who has a good heart – he loves deeply, and cares for others. He can carry a conversation and still be a guy. He’s struggling a bit, and coming to terms with some difficult things, and I liked helping him along that learning curve. He sees himself in one way, but in the book, he gets to become more multi-faceted. He’s very sexy, and open to everything, and anything, that Abby desires. Yeah, I really like Reece. :-)
One thing I’ve always admired about your characters (especially the women)—they aren’t weak or whiny. They’re usually hard working professionals. What’s something you admire about Abby?
First and foremost, that she isn’t just going to give up what’s most important to her: her family business. She’ll fight for it and do whatever is necessary to make it work – but her strength is also her weakness – she forgets that she can’t do it all on her own, or that there might be more important things she needs to acknowledge. She takes her responsibilities almost too seriously. But work is very important, and so is family – those are at the core of her value system. She can’t stand to let anyone down, but she has to learn to put herself first a bit, too. (I love the talking to her parents give her in the book – just goes to show, you are never too old for mom and dad to set you straight! LOL).
Also, she is completely honest. She says what she thinks, she doesn’t play games (sex games aside – she loves those), and she’s forthright. I like people like that. No subterfuge. It doesn’t mean she’s always right, but that’s okay, too.
After looking at the cover, I have to tell you, I wouldn’t mind having a Reece with a naughty list under my tree, lol!
Yeah, he would look good in a red ribbon! ;)
Lolol! Yeah, he would, but truthfully he'd look good without...um, a ribbon or anything. Ahem. So, what’s coming up next for you?
My next release is a June 2011 Blaze, MINE UNTIL MORNING, and this is a very interesting book for me in a number of ways.
- First, it’s part of a 24 Hours:Blackout Series with Tawny Weber and Heather McAllister, so that’s exciting in and of itself.
- Second, it’s my first book with a blind hero. Completely blind. And he’s a bodyguard who owns a bodyguard agency with his brothers – and he lost his sight protecting the heroine. So. . .my blind hero and his heroine, in a blackout for 24 hours. There’s a story. :-)
- Third, this book is the jumping off point for three more I will be writing, a Berringer Bodyguards series for Blaze about the three heroes --Jonas’s brothers-- who work in the bodyguard business with him. We meet two of the brothers in MINE UNTIL MORNING, as well.
Wow, that’s a full plate. And I am trying to get some new Kindle books out, too, so we’ll see what happens!
Any special holiday plans you’d like to share with us?
We had a really amazing Thanksgiving, with all the family here, etc and it was wonderful but really busy and crazy (in the good way), so I am looking forward to a somewhat quiet Christmas. Some family visits, meals, friends, and lots of sleep, reading, and staring at Christmas tree lights and my honey. :-)
Happy Holidays to everyone!
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Back of the Book
From the time they were kids and neighbors, Reece Winston tugged Abby Harper's pigtails and tormented her. But when Abby—now the sole owner of her parents' vineyard—sees Reece Winston again after years apart, she's unexpectedly struck by the need to play a much more adult kind of game….
Then a freak accident forces her to stay with Reece, and Abby decides that what she really wants for Christmas is Reece—perhaps wrapped with a red bow. But as Abby and Reece explore their naughty lists, they begin to realize that nothing is quite as easy as it seems! EXCERPT
As of 2010, she’ll have put her name on sixteen novels of her own, with more in progress. Sam was a RITA “Suspense/Adventure” nominee in 2008 for her Blaze Extreme Untouched, a sexy paranormal romance, and she’s an avid reader of romance and mystery/suspense, prefers television to movies, and loves spending time with her husband, pets and in her gardens.
You can chat with her on eHarlequin.com, Twitter, and Facebook.
