Interview with E. Jamie

Jen: Readers, help me welcome E. Jaime to the blog this weekend. Will you please share a short bio with us?
E. Jamie: Sure! I was born and raised in Toronto, Canada and live there still. I’m of Portuguese heritage and hope to have a house there someday. It’s a gorgeous country! I’m the oldest of three and spent my first 4 years as an only child which led to a lot of creative entertaining of myself. That’s where my first ‘writing’ seeds were sown, I think. I took drama in high school and college but writing just suited my introvert self more!

Jen: Tell us about Till Death Do Us Part and where it's available.
E. Jamie: Till Death Do Us Part is a contemporary sensual romance available from Amira Press. I’ll share the wee blurb: Sara loved Connor, but he was from the wrong side of the tracks. They eloped and her father had him murdered or so she thought. Pregnant and desperate to escape an arranged marriage Sara married Connor's best friend, Aaron. When Connor returns very much alive, Sara is forced to choose between her first love and the new love she's found.

You can find it on the Amira website: http://www.amirapress.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=10&products_id=222

It’s also available in print and in Kindle at Amazon! If you go to the Amira Press website you’ll see the Amazon link for it as well on the Till Death Do Us Part page.

Of course, Fictionwise too: http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b93340/Till-Death-Do-Us-Part/E-Jamie/?si=0 and pretty much wherever else books are sold online.

Jen: At what age did you discover writing and when were you first published? Tell us your call story.
E. Jamie: I think I started writing around the age of 11. I’ve always been an avid reader and once I figured out how to put the imaginings in my head down on paper like my favorite authors did, it felt like I was a part of their cool club! I couldn’t imagine a cooler job than to be able to put stories down on paper for other’s to read.

My first submission was my historical erotic short To Love A Knight to Amira Press and the funny thing about that was that I didn’t know it had been accepted at first! I sent it and a couple of weeks later got an e-mail with the words ‘Submission Acceptance’ in the subject line. I thought it was just one of those automatic generated confirmation e-mails companies send out so I didn’t expect anything when I clicked on it. Then I did and read that they wanted to publish it and I think I went ultrasonic! I called everyone I knew and didn’t come off my cloud for days.

Jen: How does your family feel about your career?
E. Jamie: They’re proud but my mom can’t see to get her head around the concept of fiction and her daughter writing about characters who have sex!

Jen: Describe your writing in three words.
E. Jamie: Sensual, entertaining, emotional

Jen: Do you have a writing routine?
E. Jamie: I’m a late afternoon writer. I used to have a day job so I had trained myself to write when I came home around 4. Then I started freelancing and yet, I still find I’m at my most productive in the late afternoon. Maybe it’s because I am so NOT a morning person so it takes me a while for the sleepy fog to lift! Mornings are usually devoted to e-mail, checking up on blogs etc. I also need music or some kind of background noise to write. I can’t write in silence. I also write in little bits and take frequent breaks. I can’t seem to sit for an hour and just focus on that page for an hour. I’ll write for one page, then surf around a bit until I’ve got at least 5 pages a day written.

Jen: How do you pick the character’s names?
E. Jamie: If I have a picture in my head or from a magazine or website of what they look like I can toss a few names off the top of my head and see if they fit. Sometimes, if I figure out where a character is from I can look up names from that place. For example, with Connor, my hero in Till Death Do Us Part, I knew I wanted him to be Irish American so that helped me pick both his first and last name.

Jen: Do you feel as if the characters live with you as you write? Do they haunt your dreams?
E. Jamie: Very much so. In my novella Redemption, also available with Amira Press, I felt both Ben Cready + the heroine Katie Beaumont walking around in my head like friends I knew.

Something that is a little bizarre is that I have this as yet unwritten story where the male character first. He was always there in the back of my mind. I had no idea what his name was, who he was or what his story was. He was just like this constant elusive character that I couldn’t get a grasp on, but he wanted me to tell his story. Every time I’d try to work out who he was and what he wanted, I hit a wall. Finally, I had a dream one night and there it was, completely unfolded, his name and the story he wanted me to tell. I wrote the idea down and have it saved for later.

Jen: What five authors or people, from the past or present, have been important to you as an author? What question or comment have you always wanted to say to them?
E. Jamie: I think my biggest influences in my writing career have been Lavryle Spencer (she was probably the first romance author I read), Jackie Collins (read her YEARS before I should have), Paullina Simons (she has such a talent for packing so much power and emotion in the smallest sentence possible. I call her the female Hemingway) Diana Gabaldon (two words: Jamie Fraser) and Karen Marie Moning (love her Highlander books!) I would probably ask each of them how have they balanced writing the stories of their hearts against current market trends because I think that’s the biggest dilemma we writers face.

Jen: If Till Death Do Us Part was made into a movie, which actors would you choose to play the hero and heroine?
E. Jamie: I would get Jamie Bamber (from Battlestar Galactica fame) to play Connor Nolan because he actually is Irish/American. For Sara I would choose Allison Miller (Kings) because she plays deceptively innocent with and inner strength very well.

Jen: Do you do anything special to celebrate a sale, new contract, or release?
E. Jamie: My younger sister took me out to lunch which was lovely!

Jen: Most people only dream of becoming a published writer. Now that you’ve accomplished that goal, is there anything else you dream of doing?
E. Jamie: Ah well, getting on the NYT bestseller list would be nice but long term I would like to be successful enough just by writing fiction that I can spend the rest of my days in my pj’s!

Jen: What's next for you?
E. Jamie: Right now I have three submissions out with Harlequin, Avon and Kensington. You’ll hear me screaming from Toronto if any of those get picked up.

Jen: Where can you be found on the web?
E. Jamie: You can find me through my website at www.ejamie.net
Via Facebook (damn Farmville!) at www.facebook.com/nancy777ca
Myspace at www.myspace.com/workinmypjs
and everyone’s favorite new addiction, Twitter at www.twitter.com/nancy777ca

Jen: Is there anything you’d like to ask our readers?
E. Jamie: I’d like to know if they cast their favorite books and who they choose to play the roles!

Jen: Readers, E. Jamie is giving away a .pdf copy of Till Death Do Us Part to a random commenter. To enter, leave a question for E. Jaimie or answer hers. Don't forget to leave an email address in your comment to complete your entry. E. Jamie will pick our winner on Monday, August 31.