PlottingPrincesses

The PP welcomes a special gal-Jeffe Kennedy!

Come say Howdy and

get to know more about her.

How did you get from your day job to writing romance?  Well, I’m still working my day job, so I haven’t quite transitioned yet. Right now I put in fairly long days (~12 hours) with time on both. I work from home, so that helps. The day job still pays much better, though the writing is starting to catch up. I’m hoping the writing will win the race someday!

What are your three favorite books of all time? This is always hard for me to answer, because I love so many. Ones I often recommend are Truth and Beauty by Ann Patchett, Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood and Possession by A.S. Byatt. All really excellent, wonderful, insightful books.

Morning, afternoon, or evening person? I used to be a night owl, but I retrained myself because, if I wanted to write every day, I needed to write in the mornings. My schedule didn’t really allow for a consistent time at any other point in the day. Now I wake up fairly early – 6am- and make sure I get plenty of sleep every night and I feel like I’m pretty much awake and productive all day.

Music--with or without? What kind? It totally depends. Mostly I like pure and total silence. If I’m feeling like I need to get in the mood, I’ll listen to a movie soundtrack or a playlist. I just finished a novella that takes place in New Orleans and I made myself a playlist that mimicked the soundtrack from The Big Easy (which for some reason wasn’t available on iTunes).

First or third POV? I write both and love both, for different reasons.

How's tricks? Do you juggle multiple projects? Hmm. Yesterday, I worked on revisions on a new fantasy romance novel. Today I’m working on developmental edits for the New Orleans contemporary romance/erotic novella (book 3 in the Facets of Passion series). I have an appointment tonight to brainstorm a short story with my CPs for an anthology. That will take place in the world of yet another novel that my agent is shopping – and talking to people about this morning. I also talked to my agent yesterday on an offer on yet another project, so I think that’s a yes to juggling!

That said, when I’m drafting, I like to work on that and only that whenever possible. I write start to finish and need the focus. If I have to set it aside for something else, I will, but I don’t like it.

What's harder: beginning, middle, or the end? Lately it’s the end for me. It seems to keep moving farther away as I write. And then I get feedback that it’s rushed. Pretty much on everything. One day I’ll master the art of the ending!

Revisions: Love 'em or hate 'em? I don’t love them, but I don’t mind them. Drafting is my favorite part.

How did you come up with that title? ROGUE’S PAWN (book 1 in Covenant of Thorns) was originally called OBSIDIAN. I called it that for many years while I was shopping it. Right before Carina bought that book, they published SAPPHIRE, which is book 1 in Facets of Passion. They, very nicely, pointed out that I couldn’t have “one-word, jewel titles” in two different series. Alas! So my CPs and I brainstormed a list of new titles and there we are!

Best advice anybody ever gave you? Write every day, at the same time every day.

Fill in this blank: My ideal fictional hero would think me gorgeous no matter who I’m standing next to.

What's your favorite dessert? Brownies.

Do you write at home or someplace else? Home! I don’t really like to write in other places. Except maybe airplanes.

And here's an excerpt from Rogue's Pawn. I'm happy to give away a copy!
 
My eyes cleared enough for me to see him. Ebony-blue climbed over half his face. The winding pattern of angular spirals and toothy spikes swirled out of his black hair on the left side of his face, placing sharp fingers along his cheekbone, jaw and brow. For a moment, the tattoo-like pattern dominated
everything about him. Ferocious and alien.

Once I adjusted, I could see past the lines. His face echoed Tinker Bell's golden coloring. He could be her fraternal twin, with those same arched cheekbones. But where she was golden dawn, he was darkest night. Midnight-blue eyes, that deep blue just before all light was gone from the sky, when the stars have emerged, but you could see the black shadows of trees against the night. He shared Tinker Bell's rose-petal mouth, but with
a curious edge to it. I suppose a man's mouth shouldn't remind one of a flower, and there was nothing feminine about this man.

Where she wore the pink sugar roses of debutantes and bridal showers, his lips made me think othe blooms of late summer, the sharp-ruffled dianthus, edges darkening to blood in the heat. His bone structure was broader than hers but still seemed
somehow differently proportioned, his arms hanging a bit too long from shoulders not quite balanced to his height. Inky hair pulled back from his face fell in a tail down his back. One strand had escaped to fall over his shoulder and I could see a blue shimmer in its silk sheen.

He arched his left eyebrow, blueness in the elegant arch, repeating the deep shades of the fanged lines around it. "Shall we?" he repeated.

I stared at him. What was the question?

Find Jeffe at: http://twitter.com/jeffekennedy