Interview of Author Nancy Lee Badger

I'm thrilled to present an interview of romance author Nancy Lee Badger today.

Latest Book: DRAGON’S CURSE
Buy Link: http://www.whispershome.com

BIO:
Nancy Lee Badger lives with her husband in Raleigh, NC. She loves everything Scottish and still volunteers annually, with her family, at the New Hampshire Highland Games, http://www.nhscot.org. She is a member of Romance Writers of America, Heart of Carolina Romance Writers, Fantasy-Futuristic & Paranormal Romance Writers, and Celtic Heart Romance Writers. DRAGON’S CURSE released today at Whispers Publishing. Visit her website: http://www.nancyleebadger.com and her blog http://www.rescuingromance.nancyleebadger.com for excerpts and more information.

Q: Who is your favorite character in your book and why?
A: Though Draco is my tortured hero, I love Brianna. She has the power of premonitions and doesn’t want it! Her guardian forces her to keep her powers a secret as she toils as a servant for the members of a hunting party. She grows and evolves even as she is stalked by one brute and threatened by a dragon.

Q: Do all your heroes and all heroines look the same in your mind as you “head write”?
A: Absolutely not. Since I am writing about another culture, in another time, I need to give my readers a sense of the area and its people. Throw in the paranormal aspect, and I can go off the deep end. When I start plotting, I usually get a sense of my subject. I record hair and eye color right away, because it is easy to get confused…especially when I am writing and editing several books at once.

Q: Do you eat comfort food when writing? If so, what food inspires your imagination?
A: I am a pill-popping diabetic which limits what food I can eat. Chocolate as a comfort food comes in the sugar free form and I luckily learned to drink tea and coffee sans sugar long ago. I just ate a clump of sweet green grapes while typing this, so fruit is good to have around. I also make frappes with no sugar added ice cream. I try hard NOT to let food inspire me.

Q: What’s your strongest point as a writer?
A: My ability to learn. I have steadily worked at writing toward publication for three years. My first attempt was garbage. Oh, the plot and characters were wonderful, but the grammar, extensive backstory, flashbacks, etc. slowed it to a stop. I have since taken several on-line writing courses, attend workshops, make use of critique partners, and read, read, read!

Q: You’re on a remote island with a handsome man, a computer, and a “mysterious” source of electricity to power your computer. What do you do?
A: I would write steamy love letters to my husband, Richard and ignore the mysterious guy unless I could use him on my next book cover. Rich and I celebrated out 34th wedding anniversary on June 19th. He’s given me two wonderful sons. He works so I can stay home and write.

Q: What genre would you like to try writing in but haven’t yet done so? Why?
A: I would like to write women’s fiction, a story based on journals and civil war letters handed down in my husband’s family. The journals are a day to day account of a woman’s rural life in Vermont after her husband left her with a large brood to join the Union Army. His letters to her are preserved. He died in Libby Prison in Richmond, VA. She remarried a neighbor as this was how life went on. It is important to show the strength American women needed in order to survive in the 1860’s.

Tell us where to find you:
Website: http://www.nancyleebadger.com
Publisher’s page: http://www.whispershome.com
Blog: http://www.rescuingromance.nancyleebadger.com
Facebook page: Nancy Lee Badger

BLURB:

Sometimes a special gift and an unwanted curse cannot keep destined lovers apart.

Brianna Macleod has accompanied a shipload of her guardian’s friends to a remote island off the coast of Scotland. She eludes these Highland hunters to keep her innocence…and her gift of sight. Her attitude against falling for womanly desires changes when she nearly drowns. Saved by the talons of a terrifying winged beast, she awakens—naked—in a cave, beside an unusual man.

Cursed by a vengeful witch to transform into a dragon at inopportune times, Draco MacDonald hides on this deserted island to live alone: until he plucks a servant girl from certain death. Fueled by jealousy, and tempered by fear for her safety, he succumbs to an unfamiliar desire to mate. Her kisses propel him to dare to make her his own.

Set in 1592 Scotland on the Scottish island of Staffa, the cursed hero battles a ghostly witch, a hunter set on rape, and his own growing desire for a young woman with premonitions of his death.

EXCERPT:

The urge to hunt finally propelled him from his sanctuary as he pondered why the witch neglected to provide night vision. He flicked his tail at the indignity of hunting at dusk, but such was life. He kept his distance from the hunting party, which was safely ensconced in tents for the night. With his astute sense of smell, their fetid stench filled the air while his nostrils flared in search of Brianna’s fragrance.

“To see her once more would go far in giving me the comfort of a good night’s sleep.” His words came out as a growl. Under his scales, muscles quivered.

He dipped below the cliff face as he swooped and glided, flapping his thin, leathery wings now and then to keep his bulk above the sea. He had filled his belly with two seals, and then plucked a seabird, that had the misfortune to fly too slowly, from the sky. Both filled his mouth with a taste of the salty waves, so he searched out his favorite fountain. With a few flaps, he lunged at the small cascade tumbling from the top of the rock face. He soared below the cliff’s rock-strewn edge, gulping mouthful upon mouthful of fresh water. After filling his belly to cool his throat, he roared with delight.

After returning his kisses, Brianna banished him to the silence of his own imagination. Then, he recalled Jean’s laughter when he kissed her under a tree.

Had she compared him to another?

Possibly Lorn, I should imagine.

Had she played him for a fool? Did she purposely lead him astray to fill Lorn with jealousy?

When Draco kissed Brianna, her sweet body leaned into his chest. Her delicate fingertips caressed his hair and shoulders with honest need and unabashed passion.

His human body, hidden beneath scales and claws, throbbed with a yearning he never dared to feel again. His time with Jean never progressed beyond light kisses. He would spend the remainder of his years alone. Catching an updraft, he flew up and over the cliff and froze in midair when the object of his thoughts suddenly screamed.

Brianna actually screamed at him. Her voice filled the night air with her terror. The vibration made his wings falter, and he tumbled end over end toward the sea.

His last conscious thought was guilt at the trembling in her voice and the look of fear plastered on her pale face.

Anything else you’d like to add?
I also write contemporary romance and romantic suspense as Nancy Lennea. Find out more at http://www.nancylennea.com and at http://www.nancylennea-inlove.blogspot.com.