Interview of Author Dyann Love Barr

Today it's my pleasure to present an interview of romance author Dyann Love Barr.
Latest Book: A Perfect Bride for Christmas, Book One of the Three Kings series.
Buy Link: http://www.thewildrosepress.com
http://www.amazon.com


BIO:
With the maiden name of Love, how could I not write romance? After several attempts, I completed my first book. It’s still on my computer, hidden away with all the other false starts. Then, a couple of years ago, I decided to put up or shut up. I joined a critique group that worked my fanny off. My critique partners include Shannon K. Butcher and Claire Ashgrove. These women have helped me learn the craft of writing and made me stretch my creativity.

My husband and I live in western Missouri with our cat Spook who thinks he actually owns the house. We're just the servants who came with the property. My granddaughter Andromeda flits through my life with pink, glittery shoes, magic wands, and she’s a savior of all caterpillars. I'm a former chef, and my hobbies include sewing, belly dancing, acting, and playing video games with a vengeance.

I am a member of Romance Writers of America, received my Pro Pin in 2005, and belong to the Heartland Romance Authors. I quarter-finaled in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award 2009, for my book WAGES OF CYN. My first book, A PERFECT BRIDE FOR CHRISTMAS, Book One of the Three Kings series comes out in November of 2010.

Q: What’s the first thing you did when you received word you’d sold a book?
A: I didn’t know what to feel. At first I wondered if it was real and tried not to get too excited just in case the other shoe dropped. Then it was ‘squeeeee’. After the happy dance wore off I realized this was real and the business end of writing began in earnest.

Q: What part of the book is the easiest for you to write? Why?
A: The ideas are always the easiest. I’ll see something on television, read an article in a magazine or on the internet and my mind is off and running with the possibilities of ‘what if’. I like to put my characters in crazy situations, perilous or humorous, it doesn’t matter. It’s all fodder in my mental cannon.

Q: What part of the book is the hardest for you? Why?
A: Outlining the plot. I’m a ‘pantster’ from way back and it wasn’t until I got into a good critique group that I finally understood the reasons for plotting the book in advance. As a pantster I’d be stuck in the middle of the book and it would sit for a long time until everything started to make sense. Talk about slowing my writing down to a crawl. It often got to the point where I’d let the story slide altogether and go on to another project that fired my imagination. I had, and still do have, several really good stories that are on the backburner. Once I understood the concept behind plotting my books in advance, I was off and running. Now I can finish a book in two to three months instead of two to three years.

Q: Who is your favorite character in your book and why?
A: In ‘A Perfect Bride for Christmas’ I wanted the book to focus on the heroine, Zoe Bennett. She is a woman with a bad self-image—in her case, it’s her weight. Many women suffer with this problem, whether it’s weight, height, breast size, or whatever it is that makes them doubt themselves. I know several women who have made drastic changes in their appearance and found it didn’t make them one bit happier. Zoe’s made a transformation in her looks and yet the old demons haunt her. Her journey is to find what gives her inner peace.

Q: Do all your heroes and all heroines look the same in your mind as you “head write”?
A: Oh, no. I have each character’s description, traits, tags, quirks, deep dark secrets, etc. written down on a chart before I ever start to type. This keeps me true to the book.


Q: What hobby do you enjoy when not writing?
A: I belly dance. It doesn’t matter if I’m overweight and a bit clumsy on my feet, I love it. It empowers me, makes me feel good about myself and it touches the woman in me that I sometimes neglect. I found out that I’m shimmylicious. Sewing, acting, directing, and doll making are other things I enjoy. Also, being a grandmother to Andromeda Leigh rocks.


Tell us where to find you: website(s), publisher’s page(s), blog(s), Facebook page(s), etc. List them all!
Website: http://www.dyannbarr.com
Twitter: writergal2007
Facebook: Dyann Barr

BLURB:
Zoe loved Alex from the moment he walked through the law firm’s doors. He can charm the panties off any woman, but he’s never tried it with her. The chance to grab for the golden ring is within her reach until everything blows up in her face. Now, five years later she returns to Kansas City with triplets in tow and a brand new look. Catering Alex’ next wedding should prove interesting.

Alex King wants to follow the family tradition and marry his perfect bride on Christmas Eve. There’s one little hitch—Bianca dumps him at the altar. He wakes up in Vegas with a hangover, a ring on his finger, and in bed with his best friend, Zoe Hillman. She’s overweight and plain, nothing at all like his image of the perfect wife. So begins the shortest Vegas marriage in history.

EXCERPT:
Scrooge had it right. Bah, humbug!
Christmas sucked long and hard.

Lights twinkled on the tree, reflecting off the windows of the darkened office. The smell of holiday spices wafted from the potpourri dish on Zoe Hillman’s desk, filling the room with false cheer. It was Christmas Eve, and not even the large, make that huge, bonus check lifted her spirits.

“Bah, humbug.” She sniffed, wiped her tears for the umpteenth time before she checked her resignation letter to Cox, Zuckerman, Howe & Stanford. No matter that her heart was shattered, her life over, it wouldn’t do for her last act as Alex King’s personal assistant to be sloppy and unprofessional.

She reached into the candy dish on her desk,absentmindedly unwrapped one of the truffles, and popped it in her mouth. The chocolate melted in a creamy, dark lushness designed to put a Band-Aid on her broken heart, but tonight her drug of choice didn’t work. Candy wrappers littered the floor, along with half a box of used tissues. The clock on her computer read 7 p.m. Alex would be married and on his way to Las Vegas by now. Bianca Freemont would be his bride. Zoe’s brain whipped up an Xrated vision of the wedding night, and she grabbed another tissue to wipe her red nose and puffy eyes.

Her breath hitched, and she hit the SEND key before she could change her mind.

God, she was so stupid.