Jeanmarie Hamilton’s historical release release, SEDUCTION, from Highland Press has garnered great reviews. In addition, her novella, ARE YOU COMING TO THE DANCE?, is out this month in the anthology NORTHERN ROSES AND SOUTHERN BELLES from The Wild Rose Press. Please help me welcome long distance Yellow Rose member Jeanmarie to our Yellow Rose RWA blog.

CC: Jeanmarie, thank you for sharing your time with us. We want to learn more about you and your writing process. How long have you been writing?

JH: I’ve always wanted to write stories and have been writing since my first year in elementary school. My first story was so important to me that I remember sitting at the dining room table across from the side board. All by myself, I wrote my first story of about half a page on wide-lined paper.      

CC: Your current releases are historical. Do you only write in that genre?

JH: Historical is my first love for writing.  I’ve also discovered I like to write contemporary, shapeshifter– whether historical or contemporary, and fantasy.    

CC: What is your favorite setting?

JH: I’d have to say that my favorite setting is the Old West, with Regency and Victorian England a close second.

CC: You mention on your website that you’re a Texas native and have a lot of ancestors from Texas. Do you ever use family lore in your writing?

JH: Yes! I’ve found so much inspiration from my Texas family stories. Since I’m writing fiction, I’m careful not to write about the actual people. My characters develop in my own imagination, usually in a scene sparked by a family story. The writing muse takes it from there. 

CC: What are some occupations you’ve had, and do you ever use those in your writing?

JH: I’ve worked at several jobs. In college I worked part time at a department store and an insurance agency as a clerk. Later I worked as a real estate agent. Before I concentrated on writing, I worked in my parents’ garden center business as a silk flower arranger and greenhouse manager. We sold lots of orchid plants and our greenhouse was filled with  their gorgeous blooms. One of my contemporary romances is centered around an old family garden center left to a granddaughter.       

CC: Do you plot your books or are you a seat-of-the-pants writer?

JH: I have to plot my stories before I write.  I like to write with a completed synopsis handy for reference.  Sometimes my synopsis becomes so detailed I refer to it as a short first draft. I like to break the synopsis down to chapters.  If I need to make adjustments or changes that’s easy enough to do as I write.
  
CC: When you’re not writing, what are your favorite past times?

JH: I enjoy reading my favorite authors when I have time.  I also like to study sites and information about pre-historic people, those who lived in the Southwest before the pueblo period, paleontology and dinosaurs, geology and the fossil records, landscape and equine oil painting, garden landscaping, and interior decorating.  I also love watching romantic movies new and old, and listening to music of all kinds, Rascal Flatts being my current favorite.

CC:  Of what groups are you a member?

JH: I’m a member of many writing groups including RWA, Hearts Through History, From the Heart, Future Fantasy and Paranormal, Passionate Ink, Scandalous Victorians, and Yellow Rose RWA.  I may have left out one or two. 

CC: Tell us about writing SEDUCTION and a little of the plot.

JH: I wrote the idea for Seduction in my story idea notebook back in 1997.  I worked on it off and on for several years, entered it in a few contests, in one of which it placed second.  Put it away while I wrote a couple more novel length stories, and then edited it again and entered it in the American Title II contest in 2005.  When it was picked as a finalist, I was thrilled. After the contest, I decided to find a publisher for it, and it was published this past March. It’s loosely sort of a pygmalion story. I based the heroine’s backstory on events in Texas following the Civil War, when raiders robbed  people for horses and whatever valuables they could carry away. My Texas family was robbed by some raiders who also killed other innocent people. In SEDUCTION, the heroine has been supporting herself by singing in saloons and then opera houses in various towns, since losing her family to murderous raiders in Texas.  Here’s a blurb for Seduction:

Belinda Rose is two people. On stage, she’s a confident vocalist who entertains her audiences. Alone, she longs for a secure home and her own opera house where she can entertain or book others to perform. She carries with her the painful memories of her past, but won’t be denied her future. Can her love for a handsome businessman derail her plans?

Cole MacPherson has become a wealthy entrepreneur in spite of his loveless childhood. Believing he doesn’t know how to love, he seeks power instead. What a shock when a beautiful singer knocks him for a loop. Could he learn to love? Does he dare?          

CC: How did you come to participate in an anthology?

JH: Some of the members of Scandalous Victorians, an online group of historical writers, talked about writing novellas for a Civil War anthology for The Wild Rose Press.  The stories could be based before, during, or after the war. I had wanted to write about the local militia units formed in Texas during the Civil War. Members of the local militias protected their towns, and that took the place of joining the Confederate army for some young men and their fathers in Texas. I joined the anthology with my novella, “Are You Going to the Dance?”

CC: Do you prefer writing full length novels or novellas?

JH: I like both.  I wrote several full length novels before learning how to write the shorter novellas.  Each one has its good points. 

CC:  What type books do you read most and who are some of your favorite writers?

JH: I read mostly western historical and regency or Victorian romance with some contemporary thrown in. Some of my favorite authors are Diana Cosby, Marin Thomas, Jane Leopold Quinn, Caroline Clemmons, Denise Eagan, Lorraine Heath, Mary J. Forbes, Kate St. James, Karen Whiddon, Sherrilyn Kenyon, and Stacey Kayne… the list goes on.  

CC: Is there anything else you want readers to know about you? 

JH: I also write erotic romance under the pseudonym, Jenette DuPris, and have a shapeshifter erotic romance novella, PURE HEAVEN, out now at Red Rose Publishing. It’s part of the “Legends of Loving, Texas,” series.

My western historical, SEDUCTION, is available in print at Amazon.com and Barnes and Nobles.com.   

ARE YOU GOING TO THE DANCE? appears in the anthology, NORTHERN ROSES AND SOUTHERN BELLES. It’s available for pre-ordering now in both print and download at The Wild Rose Press.  I’m involved with the other authors of this anthology, including Caroline Clemmons, in a blog tour the first week of August. I’ll be posting with them on Petticoats and Pistols on August 2, where I’ll be giving away a $10 certificate to use at The Wild Rose Press. Those who leave a comment are invited to enter a drawing for an autographed print copy of NORTHERN ROSES AND SOUTHERN BELLES. The drawing will be at the end of the blog tour. Hope to see you all there!         

CC: Please help me thank Jeanmarie for sharing her evening with us. Check out Jeanmarie’s gorgeous website designed by Rae Monet at www.jeanmariehamilton.com