I am delighted to have my chapter mate and Maryland Romance Writers’ newsletter editor, Janet Mullany with me today to talk about her latest release, TELL ME MORE. Author of 9 books, Janet has published historical and erotic romances with a lot of humor thrown into all of her writing (try sitting next to her in a meeting and not cracking up!) In addition to sharing her experience and latest tidbits, Janet has generously provided a signed copy of the book for one reader. All you have to do is comment or ask a question at the end of the interview to be entered to win. A winner will be selected randomly on August 9, 2011 and notified by email. This contest is valid only in the U.S.

Janet, what made you want to be an author?

Time on my hands and I’d always read a lot and done lots of writing for my day jobs, so I decided to have a go at writing fiction. I’ve always had a propensity for creating stories in my head, which I thought was some sort of disability and certainly not anything I’d share readily with strangers.

What do you like best about being a writer? What do you like the least?

To answer both at once: the writing and the writing! I like being able to make money with a marketable skill and I enjoy the community and company of writers. I don’t like the superficial silliness of the romance community and the expectations that I’m supposed to be interested in images of hot men or believe in the paranormal or, groan, as an erotic writer, have done all my characters do. I haven’t ridden in a curricle around Hyde Park either but I can write about it.

When did you decide to write fiction, specifically historical romance and erotic romance?

I read almost all of Georgette Heyer’s books when I was about 17 and consequently ruined my academic prospects. I read Ernest Hemingway at the same time—talk about strange bedfellows. I’ve since reread Heyer and now can’t stand her style and I think Hemingway is best left in my rapturous teenage past. Also I love Austen. So from natural laziness I chose to write Regency set books, and I figured out quite early on that I was not writing sex scenes according to romance conventions (this was about ten years ago). Quite honestly I found sex in romance novels fascinating. I’d never experienced anything like that and often I really didn’t want to. I still write sex scenes my own way—a recent review of my last historical, MR BISHOP AND THE ACTRESS said it was “the sexiest book I’ve read that doesn’t feature a sex scene… Sex scenes are certainly hinted at but the reader doesn’t witness the action, and yet, the romance is still super steamy!” http://unabridged-expression.blogspot.com/2011/06/mr-bishop-and-actress-by-janet-mullany.html I’ve never thought that explicit language or situations equal an erotic read, although sometimes they can help things along. It’s much more than that.

Are you a plotter or a pantser, i.e., do you outline your books ahead of time or are you an “organic” writer?

I’m a bit of both. I have to sell on proposal but I don’t think I’ve ever written a synopsis that’s more than three pages long. I tend to have sentences that start “Later…” or “After many exciting adventures…” It fleshes out as I write but I always feel at the beginning of a book that anything that comes into my head, the appearance of a minor character or particular object, has to be left in because it may acquire significance later. My books tend to start off rather messily but other than that my first drafts are very clean.

Have you ever felt like you were being dictated to while your wrote a book–as if the words came of their own accord? If yes, which book did that happen with?

Happily I got into a fabulous writing zone at the end of TELL ME MORE where I just kept going and going like the Energizer Bunny. It’s one of the longest mss. I’ve written but my editor asked me to take out one chapter, which you can read at http://spice.janetmullany.com/excerpt. I have to admit that hasn’t happened in a while and it was great.

Currently there seems to be a good deal of bashing of romance and romance writers in the media. How do you respond to people who disdain the genre?

Get a life?! I object to much of the recent silliness because it implies women can’t tell fantasy from reality and that’s insulting beyond belief. On the other hand, the odds are stacked against us while publishers insist on the silliest of covers; ereaders save many of us on public transport embarrassment. Also I find many arguments for romance are at the expense of another genre, specifically literary fiction—we’re the ones with the happy endings! We sell more! I find it alarming too how few romance writers are concerned with thoughtful, artful use of language because—another iffy argument–it’s the story that counts and that’s why romance sells. I’d like to suggest that the language does count; how you tell the story is just as important as the story itself.

If you had one take away piece of advice for aspiring romance authors, what would it be?

Read outside the genre.

Tell me more about TELL ME MORE. This is a book about the erotic power of storytelling and about the relationship between fantasy and reality and what happens when they overlap. And it’s funny. It’s the sort of erotic romance I wanted to read, where people were having sexual adventures for excitement and pleasure, not to heal wounds in their pasts or become better human beings. I don’t do that sort of book. RT gave the book 4 stars and describes it as “a deliciously naughty novel with an intense, steamy narrative … This novel is a hot, spicy adventure you shouldn’t miss!”

Jo Hutchinson is obsessed with a man she’s never seen—only heard. Her late-night calls to the mysterious “Mr. D.” grow increasingly intimate, until they finally become full-blown phone sex. Still, Jo doesn’t dare meet him. Instead, she embarks on a series of sizzling sexual escapades with other guys, sharing every sweaty moment with Mr. D. afterward, a passion-by-proxy arrangement they both get off on. But even as she’s charting brave new naughty worlds, Jo knows that it’s all really for Mr. D. Every pleasure she experiences—eagerly, athletically, vocally—is to please him.

Immersed in fantasy, reality just slips away—even the chance at that elusive combination of love and lust. Her new tenant, Patrick, an Irish hunk in geek’s clothing, is totally into her. And in her lucid moments, Jo knows she feels the same. Can she tear herself away from her kinky dreamworld long enough to appreciate what’s right in front of her? Or has Mr. D. ruined her for real life?

How about an excerpt from TELL ME MORE?

This scene features Jo, Patrick, and Jo’s best friend Kimberly who Patrick is dating.

“Come sit down, darlin’,” she cooed to both of us and we sat on the bed. I realized then that Kimberly had had a fair amount of wine at dinner.

Patrick smiled brightly. “Two lovely women in my bed. Have I died and gone to heaven?”

“On your bed,” I said. “It’s a major difference.”

“A man can dream.” He raised his bottle of water in a salute.

Kimberly giggled. “Have you ever had a threesome?”

“Not yet,” Patrick said. “But ask me again in about fifteen minutes.”

“Jo?”

I shook my head.

Kimberly eased a cowboy boot off and put her stockinged foot on Patrick’s thigh. “I’ve never even kissed a girl,” she said. “Not since junior high.”

“Tell me more,” Patrick said.

“If I were to kiss a girl now, it’d be Jo. She’s so cute.” She looked at me, blinking. “You have dirt on your face from your games in the snow. Honey…” She beckoned to me.

I leaned forward, wondering what she wanted, and she kissed me in a clumsy, drunken sort of way.

“Steady, cowgirl,” I said, pushing her away.

She collapsed onto Patrick’s lap. “You kiss her now.”

“Maybe he doesn’t want to.” I really hoped Kimberly wouldn’t remember this in the morning.

Patrick took my chin in his hand and give me a firm, brotherly kiss on the cheek. He grinned. “Time to take your kit off, girls.”

“I’m on my period,” I said, matching his facetiousness.

He rolled his eyes. “We can put a towel down.”

“Oh, don’t be gross,” Kimberly said. A second later she let out a snore.

Patrick and I looked at each other. She was fast asleep on the bed, her skirt riding up, revealing the top of one stocking.

He straightened her skirt and removed her other boot.

I took the throw from the foot of the bed and folded it over her.  She’d be furious when she woke in the morning and found she’d neglected her usual rigorous cleansing and toning routine.

I unfastened her earrings and laid them on the small bedside table. “Don’t let her drive home if she wakes up.”

“She’s out for the night.” He stood looking down at Kimberly, an odd expression on his face, tenderness and regret mixed.

“You okay?”

“What? Oh, yeah. Just disappointed that I won’t be hearing more about junior high.”

“Me too.” I hesitated. “You have dirt on your face, too.”

“Do I?” He scrubbed at his face.

I stepped forward and rubbed his cheek with my thumb.

“Not tonight, Josephine,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to say that. Is it Josephine?”

“Yeah. I hated it for years.”

“Jo suits you better.”

There was a pause. I still had my hand on his face and I stepped back, feeling like a fool. “Goodnight, then.”

I grabbed the bottle and glasses and fled back to my side of the house, unnerved by that moment of contact and the intensity of his gaze. My thumb still held the warmth of his cheekbone.

What the hell was I doing?

Janet thank you so much for being with us here today. I know my readers will enjoy your work and your interview.

Thanks for having me visit, Sharon!