Guest Blogger JENNIFER ASHLEY!!!

Every now and then, I'm hoping to have authors drop by to give my readers a little taste of what else is out there in the romance writing world.

I am ecstatic to have Nationally Bestselling author Jennifer Ashley as my very first guest blogger. Jennifer is the author of numerous historical romances, including most recently The Mad Bad Duke. She also writes mysteries under Allyson James and erotic romance under the name Ashley Gardner.

Jennifer's next release is the launch book in Love Spell's highly anticipated IMMORTALS series. Check out Jennifer's website for links to all her books and the fabulous Immortals MySpace page and book trailer.

I asked Jennifer to give a little insight into her writing life. Here's what she had to say:

Who or what inspired your writing?

I wanted to be a writer since I was eight years old. I realized that novels were just make-believe written down, so I started writing down the stories in my head and making my mother read them. Fortunately she was very supportive. When I was twelve, she bought me the "Writer's Handbook" which used to be published annually by The Writer magazine. That's when I realized people did this for a living, for real.

Even so I wrote to entertain myself all through grade school, high school, college, and when I first married. I always thought “someday” I’d be a published author, but I kept putting it off. Finally I decided to get off my butt and do it for real. I’m so happy I did! I’m now a full-time writer and love every minute of it.

What is your writing process?

I’m a seat of the pants writer. I have many ideas for scenes, characters, and plots in my head a while before I start writing. I don’t do outlines or notes or anything because I’ll just lose the notes and forget to read the outline. Once I have about fifty to 100 pages written, then I can stop and do a synopsis (which the publishers always need so they can start marketing the book).

I have significant events occur in four places—the initial catalyst event (usually in chapter 1), something that changes the plot at page 100, something at page 200, and something at page 300 that invokes the climax. That’s about as rigid as I get for structure. And I mean *around* page 100 etc. If the event naturally falls on page 150 or page 85, I let it.

What are you currently reading?

Couple of things. Charlaine Harris’s Dead as a Doornail and an erotic Regency by Sharon Page I’m working on a quote for.

Give us a sneak peak of your next novel.

The next book coming out is Immortals: The Calling. It’s the first of a the continuity series written by me, Joy Nash, and Robin Popp. Four witches must find the Immortals, bad boy warriors who have not been seen in the world for seven hundred years, in order to stop their brother, also Immortal, who has gone insane and teamed up with a demon to destroy the world. The Calling sets up the series and is the romance between Adrian, the oldest Immortal, and a witch called Amber. Dragons, werewolves, vampires, and demons abound! We have a neat book trailer at www.myspace.com/immortalsseries

Jennifer, thank you so much for sharing this glimpse of your writing life! I'm looking forward to The Calling!

posted by Farrah Rochon @ 1:50 PM Comments: 3