Featured Author: Sherryl Woods

Sherryl Woods, author of more than 100 romance and mystery novels, is this week's Featured Author. She is a graduate of Ohio State University School of Journalism, and spent more than ten years as a journalist, most of them as a television critic for newspapers in Ohio and Florida.

Her first book, Restoring Love, was published in 1982 by Dell Candlelight Ecstasy under the pseudonym of Suzanne Sherrill. Her second book, Sand Castles, under the pseudonym of Alexandra Kirk, was published later that same year by Bantam. She began using her own name when she moved to The Second Chance at Love line at Berkley Publishing. In 1986, she began writing full-time and also began her long career at Silhouette Books

She has more than 75 romances for Silhouette Desire and Special Edition, she has written thirteen mysteries — nine in the Amanda Roberts series and four in the Molly DeWitt series.

Purchase Honeysuckle Summer (Sweet Magnolias) here

Purchase Home in Carolina (Sweet Magnolias) here

Purchase Sweet Tea at Sunrise (Sweet Magnolias) here
Interview with Author Sherryl Woods
 
Current Releases:
Honeysuckle Summer
Sweet Tea At Sunrise
Home in Carolina

Upcoming Releases:
A Chesapeake Shores Christmas

Author Website: http://www.sherrylwoods.com/

RBS—Tell us a little about yourself.
         
Sherryl— I'm a former journalist who spent a very long time covering the television industry for various newspapers. I split my time between Florida and Virginia, always by the water. . .the Atlantic Ocean is visible from my balcony in Florida and the Potomac River is across the street from my front porch in Virginia. . .and the view's almost exactly the same as it was when I spent my summers in the same house as a kid.

RBS—How old were you when you first decided to sit down and write your first book?
      
Sherryl— Old!! Writing was never in my plans. I loved my job as a journalist. . .until the day I didn't and decided to try some other things. I'd always been a voracious reader, the romance market was taking off and, voila, I jumped in. I'm still astonished that this is what I do, even after over a hundred books.

RBS—What was your first novel ever published, be it e-book or print?
          
Sherryl— My first published novel was Restoring Love, written under my pseudonym of Suzanne Sherrill. It was released in 1982 from Dell Candlelight Ecstasy. It was actually the second novel I'd written. The first one I wrote, Sand Castles, was published under my Alexandra Kirk pseudonym just a couple of months later in 1982 by Bantam's Circle of Love.            

RBS—It can be difficult to get a book published. Who or what was the greatest encouragement you had during the non-published times?
       
Sherryl— I was extremely fortunate. Both my first and second books were bought and published very soon after I wrote them at a time when the romance genre was really taking off. I had no agent and there was no real networking. Later, when my editor at Dell left and Bantam changed its publishing strategy, I found my fabulous agent, Denise Marcil, who's been a rock through all of the publishing ups and downs. I've worked with her for over 25 years. I think she's believed in me for a lot longer than I believed in myself.

RBS—What is your favorite genre to write? Why?

Sherryl— I love writing romance and women's fiction, because not only am I a firm believer in happily-ever-after, but I like writing stories that are relevant to women's lives. I like showing women that no matter what obstacles they might face, they can survive.

RBS—Tell us about your current release?

Sherryl— My current trilogy of books is a  continuation of the Sweet Magnolias series which focuses on the deep and lasting friendship shared by a group of women in the fictional town of Serenity, SC. In Home in Carolina (April), Sweet Tea at Sunrise (May), and Honeysuckle Summer (June), a younger generation of these friends deal with three tough issues -- betrayal, emotional abuse and physical abuse to reclaim the life and love the deserve.

RBS—Who or what were your influences when you begin to write your newest release?

Sherryl— Home in Carolina was influenced by reader demand for a story for Ty Townsend and Annie Sullivan, who were only teens and best friends in A Slice of Heaven. Readers wanted their story, but I kept saying they were too young. Now they've not only lived a bit, but in Ty's case, perhaps, he's lived a little too much! He's come home with a toddler son, proof of his betrayal of Annie. It's a story of reconciliation and forgiveness.

RBS—What is a typical writing day look like for you?

Sherryl— I'm usually on the computer by 7 or 8 a.m. and write until I finish my page quota for the day. My minimum is ten pages, but the deeper I get into the story, that can come closer to fifteen pages. I'm usually finished by lunchtime. I spend the afternoon answering fan mail, reading proofs and dealing with any PR commitments.

RBS—Do you have a favorite hero from one of your books? What is it about him that makes him stand out?
      
Sherryl— I really don't. In every book I want the hero to be like a real man, flaws and all. I like to see him grow over the course of the book and, of course, to treat the heroine in unexpected ways that demonstrate just how deeply he loves her, even if he hasn't admitted the truth to her . . . or himself.

RBS—Do you have a favorite heroine from one of your books? What is it about her that makes her stand out?
      
Sherryl—Again, I really don't. I like women who are stronger than they realize they are,
who can face adversity and not only survive, but triumph. Often they have a lot of doubts about themselves, but thanks to a hero and their own journey of self-discovery, they finally realize just what they're really capable of accomplishing.

RBS—Who is your favorite author? Did they give you any kind of inspiration in your own writing?
        
Sherryl—There are so many wonderful authors I love and I'm always looking for new ones who write the kind of books I love to read. . .and to write. I love the characters in Carla Neggers' suspense novels, the depth of Susan Wiggs' stories, Robyn Carr's Virgin River series for its sense of community, Maeve Binchy's Irish setting, as well as a southern writer who's new to me -- Patti Callahan Henry.

My other passion is mystery and I have a long list of mystery writers who keep me entertained, including the recently discovered Louise Penny, whose Canada-based series I just devoured. Great characters in those, which is my number one criteria for any good book.

RBS—What's coming up on your book schedule in the next year?
            
Sherryl— The remainer of 2010 and early 2011 are jam-packed for me. I'll be continuing my Chesapeake Shores series with A Chesapeake Shores Christmas, in stores at the end of September. Also this fall there will be reissues of all four of my Rose Cottage Sisters books in two volumes. And in spring 2011, there will be three more Chesapeake Shores
books in April, May and June.

Author Spotlight: Jennie Marsland

RBS: Tell us a little about yourself.
Jennie: Thanks so much for having me here today, Roni! A little about myself…well, I’m a teacher, an amateur painter and musician, and for over thirty years, a writer. I fell in love with words at a very early age and the affair has been lifelong. I live in Nova Scotia, Canada, with my real-life hero and the most outrageously spoiled cat and dog on earth.
 


RBS: How old were you when you first decided to sit down and write your first book?
Jennie: Forty-five. I’d always written songs, poetry and short stories, but never attempted anything longer until the inspiration for McShannon’s Chance struck me while I was on a camping trip. I couldn’t find anything to write on but paper towel, so I grabbed a couple of sheets and started scribbling. I still have that paper towel tucked away. Six months later, I had the first draft of a novel on my hands.
 
What was your first novel ever published, be it e-book or print?

McShannon’s Chance is now available as an e-book and will soon be out in print. I can’t wait to hold a copy in my hands.
 
It can be difficult to get a book published. Who or what was the greatest encouragement you had during the non-published times?
I have a good friend, an artist, who was the first person to read Chance. She kept encouraging me through two publishing efforts with companies that closed. Her name is on the dedication page along with my real-life hero’s. My family has been incredibly supportive as well. I’m very lucky.
 


RBS: What is your favorite genre to write? Why?
Jennie: I like writing and reading historicals, especially Westerns. I developed a soft spot for them early on, reading my father’s Zane Grey and Louis L’Amour collections. I like rugged heroes who’ve worked hard for what they have, who’ll defend their loved ones to the death, and who have a deep romantic streak underneath their toughness. I’m experimenting with other genres as well, but glimpses of the past have always sparked my imagination.
 
Tell us about your current release?

McShannon’s Chance is set in the Colorado Territory in 1871. Trey McShannon is a Georgia boy who followed his conscience and fought for the Union in the Civil War, and so had to make tracks for the West afterwards. After five years of homesteading, hard work and loneliness are wearing him down, but his wartime experiences have left him cut off from his feelings. He sends for a mail-order bride, thinking he’ll get a wife who’ll be content with what he can offer and won’t demand his whole heart.

What he gets is Beth Underhill, a young woman from a privileged background who has no business answering Trey’s letter. Beth is disillusioned with the marriage market and distrustful of love in general, having been hurt by a man she thought cared for her. She isn’t prepared for the roughness of the frontier or Trey’s life, but she isn’t afraid of a challenge, including the challenge of helping Trey finally heal. They both have to learn to trust before they can have the life they both want together.


RBS: Who or what were your influences when you begin to write your newest release?
Jennie: I think writers are affected by everything they hear or read. As a child, I loved to hear my parents and grandparents tell stories about life in rural Nova Scotia early in the last century and during the Great Depression. The moose that moved into the barn with the horses one winter in my great-grandfather’s lumber camp. The day my father and his brothers accidentally rolled over their sister in an old wagon. My grandmother, still a teenager, teaching in a one-room country school. Those stories started me thinking as a writer, and they gave me a lot of respect for the resourcefulness, resilience and plain old backbone of our forebears. I think that’s why I enjoy writing historicals so much. 
 


RBS: What is a typical writing day look like for you?
Jennie: Right now, I’m afraid there’s no such thing as a typical writing day for me. I’m substitute teaching and working as a private tutor, so every day’s schedule is different, but I try to get in at least two hours of writing a day. I usually write on my living room sofa – I love my laptop! – with the critters nearby, trying to distract me.
 


RBS: Do you have a favorite hero from one of your books? What is it about him that makes him stand out?
Jennie: McShannon’s Chance is my first novel, but regardless of how many others I write, I think Trey McShannon will always be special to me. I like his combination of strength and vulnerability, and his solid values. What Trey wants from life is “a faith, a farm and a family,” as John Denver said so well, and he’s willing to work for it. There’s a streak of poetry in Trey as well, though he wouldn’t admit it under torture. I have a weakness for the strong, silent type.

RBS: 
Do you have a favorite heroine from one of your books? What is it about her that makes her stand out?
Jennie: I really enjoyed writing the character of Trey’s wife, Beth. She’s an unusual woman for her time, an artist who values her work and isn’t willing to sacrifice it for a husband, even one she loves deeply. She’s unconventional and passionate, and she isn’t afraid to take risks.

RBS: Who is your favorite author? Did they give you any kind of inspiration in your own writing?

Jennie: It’s so hard to choose. The Western authors I love, Jane Austen, the Brontes, Dickens, a list of modern romance authors whose work I enjoy…they have all influenced me, but if I had to pick one author it would be Lucy Maud Montgomery. I learned from her very young that everyone has a story and that everyday life is full of small-scale drama. Her journey to publication, as written in her journals, helped teach me perseverance. It also doesn’t hurt that she was a fellow Maritimer - and one of the first female authors to sue her publisher and win!

RBS: What's coming up on your book schedule in the next year?
Jennie: I’m currently working on McShannon’s Heart, a prequel to Chance, which features Trey’s twin sister Rochelle. When her mother dies just before the outbreak of the Civil War, Chelle emigrates with her father to his old home in Yorkshire, leaving a lover behind her. She soon finds herself attracted to Martin Rainnie, a young widower with a baby daughter. I’m hoping to have the book finished by Christmas, so if all goes well it should be out fairly early in 2010. After that, I’ll be working on a ghost story set at the time of the Halifax Explosion in 1917. Then, Trey’s nemesis Nathan Munroe has a story to be told. Those projects should keep me out of trouble for a while.

Roni, thanks again for the opportunity to be here today. All the best to you and your readers!

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Check out our Featured Author: Ruth D. Kerse

This week's Featured Author is multiple award-winning author Ruth D. Kerse. Ruth's newest "Xylon Warriors IV: Ecstasy Bound" is now out and getting rave reviews. Learn all about the versatile author who publishes through Ellora's Cave and Changeling Press. Click here to read the interview.