Monday, February 21, 2011

I'm jealous of myself

Hi! Happy Monday! Are you happy? Because I'm happy.

So now that we've settled everyone is happy I can't wait to share with you some super fun news that even your dogs will be jealous of.

The fabulous Carly Phillips stopped by Unedited for a visit. She's by far one of my favorite authors and when she said yes to answering some of my questions I squealed with joy. So sit back and relax because Carly is taking over!


1. How did you come up with your pen name?

I wanted something familiar and my husband's name is Phil - that explains Phillips - and the Carly came from the idea of using the hard "K" sound - so if someone said Carly it'd be close to Karen (at least in my mind, LOL). So Carly Phillips was born!

2. Now that your daughters are growing up how do they feel about your writing? Do their friends know your awesomeness?!

LOL. My awesomeness? Well thank you! But no. I'm just mom. Mom who writes love scenes. Mom who embarrasses them when one of their friends tells one of their teachers and they want to read a Carly Phillips book. :) It's funny. They're definitely proud in their own way ;)

3. How do you like to write stories (beginning to end, post-it's, while drinking too many latte's or wine)?

Beginning to end, revising as I go. Beginning is the hardest part for me - takes me as long to write first hundred pages as last three hundred. Lots and lots of revisions, especially in the beginning, a critique partner (author Janelle Denison) who reads and rereads and rereads until I'm satisfied or close to it! I always say my process is ugly but it works for me!

4. How did you fall into Romance?

Head first. For years I couldn't understand why books I was reading had frustrating or unhappy endings and then one day I started to read paperbacks - I looked up authors that I read in hard cover (Catherine Coulter and LaVyrle Spencer) in paperback, discovered they started writing for Harlequin or another romance line ... and soon I found out there was an entire section of the bookstore devoted to happy endings and I was hooked! When I decided I wanted to try to write one, I bought how to books and read allI the romance books and authors I could! Not really a hardship!

5. Do you prefer reading from a Kindle (or other device) or the hardcover?

Kindle! And that answer shocks me because I never would have believed I was an eReader person! To give up a book ... wow. But I LOVE my Kindle!


6. What genre do you like to read the most?

Contemporary, definitely. Then for awhile contemps became too hard to find consistently so I started reading a select few paranormal authors and was shocked to discover I loved them! (Nalini Singh, Larissa Ione). I used to read historicals but not so much anymore. They don't hold my interest as much these days. Not sure why!

Have you ever read any of your novels once they've been printed?

No. I get one last read right before it goes to final print - after that whatever mistakes I'd find I couldn't change anyway, so I don't see any point in torturing myself!

Fun & Random Questions

1. Milk or dark chocolate - milk
2. Roses or chocolates - both
3. Describe your perfect date - a nice dinner alone, quiet with my husband. I'm not a very overly dramatic romantic type person!
4. Dating horror story - first date with my husband - I'd been to Florida and I burned my face badly, which cracked all over and I was sure I wasn't making a beautiful impression. It was very awkward and uncomfortable for me, LOL. Unbelievably he came back for more!
5. Favorite author - now that's a hard question when so many authors are my friends! ;)
6. Favorite character you wrote - I love so many - Definitely Coop and Lexie overall in Kiss Me If You Can; Definitely Emma in the Simply series ... hard to choose!

So stop by Carly's neck of the woods and check out some of her books, you WILL NOT be disappointed!

50 comments:

Talei said...

Lovely interview ladies, and I'll definitely stop by Carly's. Happy writing this week Jen! ;-)

Renae said...

Great interview! Have fun writing this week Jen!

Emily White said...

Ooh! Great interview! I'm a kindle girl, too, and I never thought I would be!

Diane said...

Fun interview. Her poor face, but obviously he figured if that's her worse, then she could only get better. :O)

Amy Saia said...

Another great interview. I love that she can't name a favorite author because she knows too many! Truly sweet.

S.A. Larsenッ said...

Jen, this was wonderful. Carly sounds so sweet and talented. Thanks for sharing.

Lindsay N. Currie said...

Yay Jen, what a great way to kick off the week! Thanks for doing this Carly - it was awesome:)

Unknown said...

Yay! Great interview & Carly or should i say Karen seems like a lot of fun!!

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Always wondered how people came up with pen names.

Len Lambert said...

Great interview. I still don't know if I will use a pen name. :(

Unknown said...

Great interview. Congratulations Jen and Carly...um...Karen. I love the ten fun questions.

VICTORIA SAAVEDRA said...

This was a fun interview, thanks!

Meredith said...

I have to read these books now! I always love happy endings. Great interview!

Creepy Query Girl said...

what a fun interview! Thanks so much for sharing Karen and great questions Jen!

LTM said...

yay! this is fun, thanks, Jen! I would love my daughters to be proud of my writing in their own way~ :D <3

Tracey Neithercott said...

Awesome interview, Jen. I always wondered how authors with pen names dealt with the confusion of being called another name!

Melissa said...

Awesome interview as always Jen! I love it! I need to check out some of her books....

Lenny Lee said...

hi miss jen and miss carly! that was a cool interview. i alway love hearing stuff bout authors so i could know them better.
...hugs from lenny
ps my sisters name is carly

Jillian said...

I love your interviews... and you attitude! Thanks for starting my week with a smile!

Jaydee Morgan said...

Great interview :)

Talli Roland said...

Fantastic interview! I love hearing how authors come up with their pen names! :) Happy Monday, lovely Jen!

Southpaw said...

Great interview. I totally see your point in not reading your own book once it was in print. Finding a error at that point WOULD be torture!

Shannon O'Donnell said...

Great interview! I love my Kindle, too, and like you, I didn't expect to be an ereader. :-)

Nicole Zoltack said...

Great interview! I love my Nook. eReaders FTW!

Lindsay said...

Great interview. I'm not into the whole eReader thing yet. I can't decide which to get. lol.

I love reading how other writer's choose pen names :)

Jai Joshi said...

Great interview, Jen!

Carly, that's such a charming story of your first date with your husband, that you had a burned face but he wasn't turned off at all. Lovely.

Jai

Anonymous said...

Interesting interview!

Janet Johnson said...

I love hearing how people come up with their pseudonyms. Very cool. And fun interview!

Kristin Rae said...

She sounds fun :)

Sondrae Bennett said...

Great interview! I love the first date with your husband story :)

Jennifer Shirk said...

Love Carly's books!

Jemi Fraser said...

Great interview - I'm heading over to Carly's now... :)

Colene Murphy said...

Amazing interview! She sounds like such a cool person. I'm always amazed at who you have stopping in here! Awesome job ladies!

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

I always enjoy these interviews, Jen. I like the way Carly came up with the pen name :)

Christina Lee said...

Hi there! I love your reasons for falling into romance. Happy endings for the win!

Kindros said...

Great interview. :)

Ann said...

Great interview Jen and Karen/Carly. I love happy endings. You always end with a smile on your face.

Taryn Kincaid said...

Great interview, Jen & Carly!

Aside from her own books, of course, Carly turned me on to Roxanne St. Claire (the BulletCatchers) and Larissa Ione (Demonica) and I think we compete with each other trying to gobble up everything Nalini Singh, although she whisked through the entire Psy-Changeling series in the time it took to read, oh,two.
It's always fun hearing her stories!

Taryn Kincaid said...

(I am sorry if that came out garbled or ridiculous...I am having the worst problems with Blogger today!)

But I wanted to show my appreciation for Carly.

Kimberly Franklin said...

Opps, I read this earlier and just now I'm getting to comment. It seems I scrolled down too far a minute ago. This was a fun interview! LOL.

Unknown said...

Thanks for the FUN interview! :D

Suz said...

Oh dear, I think I'm your oldest commenter....well, anyway...thanks for your visit to me, first of all, secondly A very nice interview
I don't know why I haven't ever read a romance novel...maybe because I hate paperbacks and kindel...I need a hardcover book
(I told you I am the oldest) I don't know how to tweet or peep
(see)
BUT I do love Hallmark movies because I love happy endings...so maybe I need to really need to look up this author and begin..
phew...that was the long way around
-suz

Steena Holmes said...

Great post!
Love your blog ... happy to find a new place to hang out! Just tell me you love chocolate and we'll be the bestest of friends!

The Words Crafter said...

This was a fun interview! I'm actually getting a tiny bit back into romance, gah!!! Something I haven't read for 20 years!!! She sounds like someone I might like to read, so I'm bookmarking this page. Thanks!

jen said...

Wow, great interview!!! Going to pick up her newest one (on my kindle, of course)

swinging by from the blogfest, and following to make sure I don't miss any of the good stuff.
The Survival Mama

Cassandra Frear said...

I didn't realize that Julie and Julia was why you started to blog. Cool!

Gail said...

Great interview...you have much to be happy about.

Romantic Dinner said...

Very nice post good looking in your photo's . mind blowing your thought and question . best answer shared in the post . i loved your all question and lovely your this post . interesting this post and thanks for nice sharing

Jennifer Hillier said...

Terrific interview! I love reading about a writer's process.

Donea Lee said...

Fun interview. I need to pick up some more romances, I think. :)