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Welcome to our New Faces column, where we introduce debut romance authors and find out about their books. This time we're visiting with Elaine Levine, whose first book is Rachel and the Hired Gun from Kensington Books. Elaine, welcome to TRR! Tell us about yourself. I grew up in the Northern Virginia area. My father was a curator of invertebrate zoology at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. My mother was a scientific illustrator who drew the creatures he discovered for his scientific journals. They were quite a pair. Life in our home was never boring! Are you coming to romance writing from another job? I started writing when I was in college. I wanted to do everything all at the same time...get married, have children, get a degree, work fulltime and start a romance writing career. I doubt I did any of it very well. At the time, I had a dream of having a fulfilling career that I could do from home while I raised our kids. Unfortunately, I had to put writing aside to contribute more significantly to our household income. I learned a programming language and built a career as a custom software developer in the Lotus Notes technology. I've been blessed with challenging work and wonderful customers. What led you to write romance? I started reading romances when I was 13. I've been hooked ever since! Tell us about your road to publication. My road was long and barren. It took me 25 years to see my first book on the shelves at a bookstore. But I don't think that's the norm. Certainly it wouldn't take an intelligent person that long. I had a lot of maturing that I needed to do. I couldn't write sympathetic characters when I wasn't a very sympathetic person myself. Plus I'm stubborn--I didn't take classes because I didn't want to learn how to write like the professor wrote...I wanted to learn how I write. I really lengthened my learning curve. In 2006, my son came back from Iraq and settled down with his sweetheart. My daughter joined the Coast Guard and left home for wonderful adventures. And my husband and I were suddenly empty nesters. I realized the dream of writing romances was still alive. I cleaned up my western, then titled, SAGER'S PASSION, and entered it into the 2007 RWA Golden Heart competition. To my utter surprise, it not only finaled, but won! I pitched it to Kate Duffy at the 2007 RWA National Conference. In November of that year, she called me and said, "This is not The Call! Don't get all excited, Elaine!" It was funny. She loved the story, but wanted some changes. She edited 2 chapters and sent them back to me with the incentive that if I made the plot change she suggested and carried her edits throughout the rest of the book, she'd take another look at it. I did, and in February of 2008, she bought it! What kind of research was involved for your first book? My debut book, RACHEL AND THE HIRED GUN, was actually the third book I'd written. The first was an American Revolutionary War story. The second was an American Civil War story. It seemed, just as I finished each book, the market was no longer looking for that type of historical. At the time I started RACHEL AND THE HIRED GUN, western historicals were hot. But I quickly realized how little I knew about life in the west. I was bound and determined that my third book would be the one I saw published--I intended to do whatever needed to be done to see it happen. And that meant moving my family from Northern Virginia to Cheyenne, Wyoming. We immersed ourselves in the western lifestyle. Everyone in the family was involved. It was lot of fun and a terrific learning experience for all of us! Tell us about your debut book.
Here's the story blurb: Time doesn't always heal all wounds. Sometimes it takes a little vengeance. Who are your influences as a writer? I have lots of authors whose work I adore--far too many to name here, but a small number of them are Kristin Hannah, Joan Johnston, Richard Bach, Jack London, Anna Campbell, Elizabeth Hoyt, Kenneth Roberts, Edgar Allen Poe, Brenda Joyce, Angela Knight, Louis L'Amour... What does your family think of having a published romance author in their midst? I have such wonderful support from my family. Even after 25 years of working toward my dream, they never quit believing in me. Tell us about plans for future books. My debut novel was the first in a two-book deal with Kensington. The second book, tentatively titled, AUDREY AND THE VIRGINIAN, is on my editor's desk. I'm hard at work on the third in the series, tentatively titled, LEAH AND THE AVENGER. I have plans for many more stories in my Men of Defiance series! How can readers get in touch with you? I love hearing from readers! I can be emailed at elevine@elainelevine.com. I'm also on MySpace at www.MySpace.com/ElaineLevine. My website (www.elainelevine.com) has lots of fun things on it, including videos, excerpts and book goodies!
Elanie, thanks for joining us, and best of luck with your future releases! Readers, we have a review of Rachel and the Hired Gun here at TRR.
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February 8, 2009 |
