Thursday, August 14, 2014

Lilah Suzanne's Pivot And Slip #mm #contemporary


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. 

Enjoy!

~Mia

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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.

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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
Interlude Press purchase link

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Contest Details!
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.

8 comments:

Goddess Fish Promotions said...

Thanks for hosting!

Rita Wray said...

I enjoyed the interview and learning more about you.

Unknown said...

Thank you so much! I really enjoyed the questions!

bn100 said...

Informative interview

Anonymous said...

Fun questionnaire!

vitajex(at)Aol(Dot)com

Sula said...

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

bohochick03 said...

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! :)

bohochick03 said...

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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