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November 15, 2012

PP for the day! Paty Jager & Secrets of a Mayan Moon

We're lending a tiara to Paty Jager today!
Read thru to the end because she has a fantastic giveaway!


Paty, how did you get from your day job to writing romance?  I had a critique partner who saw a new small press publisher was starting up and she urged me to send Marshal in Petticoats to them. They contracted that book and nine more.

What are your three favorite books of all time? Oh,man! Nora Roberts’ MacGregor Christmas- it opened the door to romance books to me. LaVyrle Spencer’s Hummingbird- It made me want to write historical western romance. Sue Grafton’s A is for Alibi- This book made me want to write mysteries.

Morning, afternoon, or evening person?
 Morning I’d say, though my husband would beg to differ. I have a hard time getting out of bed before the sun is shining. I’m pretty good in the afternoon, but by evening I want to curl up with a book or watch a good tv show and not tax my brain.


Music--with or without? What kind? I like to listen to music when I’m working on a book. I’m like Pavlov’s dogs. If I listen to the same music each time I work on a specific book, pretty soon my mind goes straight to those characters and the story the minute I hear the music. I try to use music without lyrics or lyrics in other languages so it doesn’t influence my fingers to type the wrong words(Like what is being said in the song). For my Native American books I listen to Native American books. For Secrets of a Mayan Moon, I listened to Mayan music. For the second book of this series set in Mexico City, I’m listening to Mexican music.

First or third POV? I write romance books in third person. It’s easier to switch between the hero and heroine’s point of view.

How's tricks? Do you juggle multiple projects? If by projects you mean books, no I don’t juggle multiple projects. But, I do juggle. Any more you can’t just write, you have to do promotion, and if you’re self publishing, you have to contend with all the duties your publisher would normally deal with. So I have become a very good juggler while balancing on a unicycle on a high wire. That’s what being self published feels like!

What's harder: beginning, middle, or the end? The beginning is fun! The adrenaline is running fast and furious when I start a book. I’ve been researching and getting to know the characters and I can finally run with their story. The middle is when I start worrying that there isn’t enough story or too much for the length I’m aiming for. The end, once I get over the middle hump, goes fast and furious as everything that was set up in the beginning and middle comes together and chaos rains on the characters.  So what’s hardest? All three!

Revisions: Love 'em or hate 'em? I hate revisions even though they always make the book stronger.

How did you come up with that title?  The title for Secrets of a Mayan Moon, came about from the make believe Mayan ritual I concocted for a human sacrifice so I could put my heroine in danger.

Best advice anybody every gave you? When you get back critiques, editor comments, or contest comments and you don’t agree with them, set it aside for a day or two. Then come back and see if there just might be some helpful advice.

Fill in this blank: My ideal fictional hero would think me gorgeous no matter how much my arm wings flap. ;p

What's your favorite dessert? Cheesecake with any topping or no topping at all.

Do you write at home or someplace else? I usually write at home but I can write anywhere. I think it comes from finding writing time while raising four kids.

What's your favorite type of hero/heroine and why? I like a hero with humor and a sense of justice.  I don’t like overt alpha heroes. They turn me off. My favorite heroine is feisty and knows what she wants in life and uses her mind and personality to get it.

Excerpt from Secrets of a Mayan Moon:
It was stupid to believe he wanted to kiss her. Tino was handsome, virile, and so unlike any of the men she’d met during her college days or professionally. Exactly the type who toy with women like me. His chivalry and her attraction to him made her feel attractive, something she rarely experienced. But the way he brushed her off after he’d initiated the kiss... He’d only proved he could kiss her and not that he wanted her. She mentally slapped herself at her stupidity and virginal cravings.
The walk hadn’t settled her anger. Reliving the event only escalated her rage.
How could one be a genius yet stupid about life lessons?
She pulled out what she now considered her knife and hacked at the plants along the way. With each swing she lopped off something of Tino’s. Blue penetrating eyes. Devastating smile. A hand, so good at soothing her. The other hand. Her smile grew, and her frustration turned to the healthy exhaustion of an extensive taekwondo class.
Isabella wiped a sleeve across her sweaty brow and heaved a sigh of contentment. The vigorous exercise worked wonders on her disposition.
A fierce roar vibrated through the trees.

 
Secrets of a Mayan Moon is available at Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords.
Giveaway
I love to give and you could be the winner! I’m giving away a $5 egift card to a commenter at each blog stop and will give a bag full of goodies to the person who follows me to the most blogs and a gift to the host who gets the most commenters. You can find the blog tour hosts at my blog: http://www.patyjager.blogspot.com or my website: http://www.patyjager.net

Thank you for having me here today!


15 comments:

Sylvia said...

Hi Paty,
Great to have you here. Your book sounds interesting...a sacrifice? Wow. I see your name everywhere and I know we're on a lot of the same loops. I wish you a lot of success with your book.

Kathy Ivan said...

Hi Paty and welcome to the Plotting Princesses.

Your book sounds great, really intriguing excerpt.

And the comment about the waving arm flaps . . . I SO get that. LOL

Wishing you many sales.

Paty Jager said...

Hi Sylvia, I've been told I "get around" a lot. LOL My goal is if enough people see my name enough times maybe they'll pick up a book, and if they enjoy it, pick up another one. Thank you for having me here!

Hi Kathy, Thank you! LOL, Yeah, I don't have full scale arm flaps yet, but after visiting mom's cousin who has always been fairly thin and seeing the ones she was sporting I have feeling they are in my future.

Paty Jager said...

Me again, I forgot to click the follow-up e-mails. Glad to be here!

Liese said...

You know, I've come across a number of books with Mayan characters and/or settings lately. Must be the "end of the world" that's coming soon.

Pamela Stone said...

Hi Paty and welcome to Plotting Princesses. Great to have you here. You really summed me up. I'm a morning person who has trouble getting out of bed. I so get that.

Pamela Stone

Paty Jager said...

Liese, It wasn't until after I was writing this book and someone pointed out I could promote it with the "world ending" hype that's going on but my book has nothing to do with the world ending, only a "what if" to the decline of the Maya.

Hi Pamela, Thank you for having me here today!

I want to remind people to leave their e-mail int eh comment so I can contact you if you are the egift winner.

Genene Valleau, writing as Genie Gabriel said...

Hi, Paty! Love that you compare writing with specific music to Pavlov's dogs. But you know me and dogs. LOL! Glad to see your tour is still going strong!

Anonymous said...

Interesting interview, Paty. I giggled at the Pavlov’s dogs example. Because I prefer complete silence when writing, I've never considered that a particular piece of music could associate with a book. But I can see how psychologically it would work. Always love learning new things about you.

Paty Jager said...

Genene, I knew the dogs part would tweak your attention. LOL Thank you for stopping in!

Hi Maggie! I don't consider myself an audio learner, but listening to music does set a tone and feel for me when I'm writing. I'm glad you are see more layers to this onion. ;0)

Liz Lipperman said...

Welcome, Paty. Your book sounds wonderful, and I love the arms wingspan thing. Like Kathy, I so get that!!

Paty Jager said...

Hi Liz, Thank you for having me here today. LOL the wing span.

pc said...

Great interview...thanks for sharing a little about yourself and your book! Sounds like a must read!
ivegotmail8889(at)yahoo(dot)com

Paty Jager said...

Thank you for stopping in and commenting, PC.

Paty Jager said...

Sylvia is the winner of the egift certificate. Sylvia please email me at patyjag(at)gmail(dot)com
Thank you for having me at Plotting Princesses!