Today we have author Lilah Suzanne in the hot seat, discussing her latest release--a mm contemporary romance--Pivot and Slip. Lilah will be awarding a $25 Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour, and a free download of an Interlude Press eBook title or an author/book swag pack (US ONLY) will be awarded to one randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter at each stop during the tour.
~Mia
~*~
Interview questions… .
Quick round:
Coffee, tea
or…what’s your vice?
Coffee
Favorite Movie: Ghostbusters
Favorite Color: Blue
Favorite
book/author:
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
How do you feel
about bacon?
I am pro bacon
The REAL
questions…
Tell us a little
about yourself.
I
was born and raised in the South and I’ve lived here my whole life, save for a
short stint in Seattle. (I miss Seattle, don’t miss the weather!) I’ve been
writing since I was very young and I come from a creative family; lots of
musicians and performers and writers.
What’s under
your bed?
Just
bed slats! Gotta love Ikea simplicity. There may also be spiders, but I choose
to not think about that.
What comes
first, plot or characters?
Characters,
for sure. I may have an idea for a story, but the plot really falls into place
around the characters; who they are, where they come from, what their journey
is.
Pantser,
plotter, or hybrid? Tell us about your writing process.
Somewhat
of a hybrid. I have a plan, I write out a basic synopsis of each chapter, and I
need to know where I’m going, but other than that I let the story fill in as I
go. I tend to trust my instincts, rather than a strict outline.
Oddest thing on
your desk?
Bongos.
What’s your most
interesting writing quirk?
I
need things to be quiet, though not totally silent. If I get stuck I like to
fold laundry or clean something, it always seems to unblock my brain. But then
of course it’s left half-finished when I’m suddenly struck with inspiration!
What’s your
favorite thing about the genre you write in?
I
will never get tired of writing about people in love.
What is the
hardest thing about being an author?
Balance,
I think. It’s hard to have set working hours and I find myself tuned out of
real life quite a bit. I try to be present in other things and with other
people, but I always feel like there’s something else I could be working on.
Dealing with rejection and criticism isn’t very fun either.
What’s the
easiest thing about being an author?
I
can work in my pajamas, that’s pretty great! And you can’t beat the commute.
The best part is really just getting to create something that brings me so much
joy.
What do you wish
someone had asked you for an interview question? Here’s your chance to get the
soap box out!
I
guess what I’d do differently if I was writing it now, which is: Make it
longer! It felt like a whole story and I do think it stands up as such, but I
find myself wondering more about Felix’s back story and that there’s a lot to
explore with him. I’m planning on releasing some snippets from his point of
view on my website, so maybe I’ll still get a chance.
Tell us about
your latest release!
“Pivot
and Slip” is the story of Felix, a boxer who lost everything in a fight gone
wrong and Jack, a former Olympic-bound swimmer turned yoga instructor who is a
little lost in his own way. Felix signs up for Jack’s Yoga for Seniors by
mistake one day, and there is an instant connection between the two of them. At
its core “Pivot and Slip” is a story about dreams and failures, and how Jack
and Felix pick up the pieces of their lives and maybe find a new dream in each
other.
BLURB for Pivot and Slip:
Former Olympic hopeful Jack Douglas traded competitive swimming
for professional yoga and never looked back. When handsome pro boxer Felix
Montero mistakenly registers for his Yoga for Seniors class, Jack takes an
active interest both in Felix’s struggles to manage stress and in his heart,
and discovers along the way that he may have healing of his own to do.
Faced with the ghosts of his athletic aspirations, can Jack return
to his old dream or carve out a new path, and will their budding romance
survive the test of Felix’s next bout in the ring?
Available at Interlude Press
Excerpt from Pivot and Slip...
“I’m a boxer,” Felix said. Then his
face twisted. “Or I was, anyway.”
Something flashed across Felix’s
eyes, then, and Jack could see his jaw clamp tightly again, working and
clenching. His breath came in shallow puffs through his flaring nostrils and he
seemed visibly to be trying to calm himself.
Instinctively, Jack grasped Felix’s
free hand and stretched it across the distance between them to set it gently
against his own abdomen. Jack could feel soft tremors shaking through Felix’s
fingers, the vibrations pulsing through Jack’s T-shirt. Felix’s eyes widened as
Jack took a deep breath, filling his diaphragm and then his lungs, and let it
out steadily.
“Breathe,” he instructed, and
inhaled again, nodding when Felix started to follow along. They breathed
together, a slow circuit in and out and in, and Jack could see how Felix seemed
to be calming bit by bit with every exhalation, his shoulders and neck
loosening, his hand going lax and stretching wide across Jack’s stomach from
the bottom curve of his ribcage down to his belly button.
Jack focused on sending him a calming
energy, passing it out from his body into Felix’s, until Felix’s eyes blinked
closed and his mouth parted and Jack found himself completely thrown off by the
thickness of Felix’s eyelashes and the plump curve of his mouth.
Jack’s breath hitched on an inhalation
and Felix startled and opened his eyes, the ice pack falling to the ground with
a soft thump. And when his hand flexed over Jack’s stomach and he dropped his
gaze to Jack’s lips and back up, his eyes heavy-lidded and dark, the energy
hummed and crackled between them.
~*~
AUTHOR
Bio and Links:
Lilah
Suzanne has been writing actively since the sixth grade, when a literary
magazine published her essay about an uncle who lost his life to AIDS. A
freelance writer, she has also authored a children’s book and has a devoted
following in the fan fiction community.
Connect with Lilah on the Web...
Lilah
Suzanne on the web: lilahsuzanne.com
Twitter:
@lilahsuzanne
Pinterest:
pinterest.com/lilahsuzanne
Interlude Press purchase link
~*~
Contest Details!
8 comments:
Thanks for hosting!
I enjoyed the interview and learning more about you.
Thank you so much! I really enjoyed the questions!
Informative interview
Fun questionnaire!
vitajex(at)Aol(Dot)com
I enjoyed reading the interview, especially the comment about writing longer stories - yes very good and then posting background short stories about Felix or maybe other things about them on your website, even better :)
Thank you for a great giveaway
Is it wrong if I say that the thing I like most was the book's cover? No? It's not wrong? Sweet! Because that cover is just... WOW! Thank you for the giveaway! :)
Oh man... that cover. Every time I look at it I just fall more and more in love with it! That is the best part of this post... that damn cover :)
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