Here follows my totally sweet interview with Leona Bushman. I had a lot of fun doing it and look forward to doing more.
Hi, Leona!
Thanks for letting me interview you, Facebook-Twitter-Breathless Press-
anthology buddy!
You're
welcome! We've had fun, haven't we? Get us going and twitter breaks down! Or
steams up, depending on the fun we're having ;-)
So, what are
you currently working on? Any looming deadlines? Monkeys on your back? By the
way, what do your monkeys eat?
OH good
lord. I have SEVEN contracted items. Although one is on proposal. I'm past due
on that one. Have to do a rewrite. *frowns* That one's a fantasy. I'll get it
done. Watch me. That's the biggest monkey on my back and it eats brains…wait,
maybe it's a zombie!! Oh, monkey just told me it's not my brains it's eating.
That's been long gone. It's apparently chomping on my muse now and then, but
calling it love bites.
The others,
well, they passed while this taunted me in my inbox. I have The Captain's
Christmas I just finished pre edits for, I'm going to try to get into a service
anthology. But that deadline is looming and I've barely started what I think
will be a regency. I approved my new cover for the Naughty Nursery Rhyme I have
coming in November. That's always a blast. They make some pretty hot covers at
Breathless Press.
And, I had
another edit deadline for my short in the Crimson anthology and that one's
about vampires :D Speaking of bites. There are others (sequel to The Ulfric's
Mate for example) that I'm working on in between all this craziness.
For those
folks out there new to your work, tell us a little about The Ulfric’s Mate and
the inspiration behind the story.
The Ulfric's
Mate is a shapeshifter suspense romance. I live on the Yakama Nation Indian
Reservation, I'm married to a descendant of the confederate tribes, so it was
natural for me to want to set my book here. But there was this guy, Nolan, and
this woman, Alex, and they WOULD NOT SHUT UP. Here I was trying to write this
awesome devil's son with a soul story, and they kept chatting away in my head.
Finally, just to shut them up, I wrote a short story sent it off to two
publishers that took short paranormals. One said, I like this, but what about
this, and this, and that? Make it longer and resubmit. I told the devil's son
he'd have to wait his turn and rewrote and resubmitted. She—my editor— said yes. *Cue screaming and loud
music* It made my holidays!
We’ll be
appearing in the Breathless Press Crimson anthology next year. What’s the title
of your story and what is it about?
*Lets out a
happy dance squeal and tries not to wake up the house* I love that we're in
another one together. How fun is that!!
Daryn's
Slayer is the title and it's, as I stated, a vampire short. It's set in
Victorian times even though I wanted it set earlier. Stinking Muse. Kept making
me change it. *Glares at muse in remembered frustration* However, my story has
a twist. *forgives Muse as remembers the brilliance of this twist* If this
short is well loved, then I'll make a full novel and build this world even
more. The biggest difference in my book is that vampires can walk in daylight—if they have werewolf blood to feed
from. It creates a symbiotic relationship with them that can cause many
problems even as it solves others. Without Werewolf blood, they burn in the
sun.
Our heroine,
Ernestine Primrose, is the granddaughter of a werewolf. A nasty coven of
vampires kills her grandmother and she becomes a slayer. She knows what she
wants and goes after it, whether it's killing a vampire or kissing one.
She is
returning from a vampire kill when she meets Daryn whom she thinks is hotter
than any vampire has the right to be!
Daryn Lancaster
III is a black sheep among his fellow vampires, just trying to stay out of the
evil coven's leader clutches. Together they make sparks fly. *Note: My editor
will likely make a much better blurb. I'm no good at that LOL I want to tell
you all the awesomeness that I've fallen in love with about my characters. I've
had to pull back here. Especially with Daryn. I could go on forever about his
hotness. Whew.*
And it's now
occurred to me that my hostess now has a sneak peak at my story for the Crimson
anthology and I have yet to know hers. *crosses arms* Don't think I didn't
catch that little extra deviousness here.
What’s your
writing lair look like? Is it naughty or nefarious like a dungeon or bright and
cheery like nothing bad ever happens there?
HAHAHAHAHAHA
LAIR? I have three kids still at home,
11, 8, and 3, the last has Down Syndrome and is VERY high functioning
physically. My writing space has things I've put up out of his reach, some of
my painting things, lots of art and writing books, and paper. Loads of paper.
And movies for me to listen to while I work. And, when the older two use my
space, I then end up with all sorts of extra things…
What’s your
daily goal? A certain word count you like to achieve?
That's
tricky. Before I had so many different things in different stages (from idea,
to rough draft, to polishing, to submitting, to editing, to marketing) I had a
goal of 7k. I can make it too. Now, I'm aiming between 3-5k. Couple weeks ago,
I wrote 21k in less than 72 hours. When I know where I'm going, nothing can
stop me. Except a hungry three year old.
That would
stop anyone. You just can't ignore a hungry child.
And your hours.
Daytime author, nighttime or any time I can type a word in edgewise? Btw, I
don't think typing edgewise is possible.
Edgewise is
what I do best :D Daytime has become more for edits and organizing my time,
with as much edgewise writing as I can get in. The nighttime, *strokes the
night, pets the darkness* why it's the time your dreams and muses have a chance
to run and play if you'll only let them out. *kisses muse and pinches cheek*
*you're a good muse*
Now you also
paint. Tell us about that. When did you start? What do you paint? Materials of
choice?
I love to
paint. It all started when I needed two more credits to be a full time college
student, 9+ years ago. I took an experimental 2 credit oil pastel class. I.
Was. Hooked. I have five children, two are now grown, and have had to work, so
I've taken classes here and there. (it's been three years now. Boo!) But I took
an art class every quarter I was in college. In the middle of all this, I found
out I had cancer. Painting got me through. That class got me through. I
sometimes go months without painting because of life around me. But then it
overwhelms me, and I HAVE TO PAINT.
I like to
paint photos I've taken. But in reality, I paint whatever I want to paint
unless I've been commissioned for something. I've done abstract, knife work,
realism, and in between. But my paintings that seem to impact people the most
are of a style I call, "Expressionist impressionist".
Mostly, I
use oil paints for painting, Ultrech and DaVinci being my brands of choice.
Which probably means little to most people LOL But DaVinci has a great texture
for knife work. I use little to no mediums, just straight paint when using a
pallet knife for painting so texture/consistency is important in my paints.
But for
drawing/sketching, I use oil pastels, soft pastels, and charcoal the most. Oil
pastels will always hold a special place in my
heart for introducing me to my artistic self.
What is your
biggest inspiration? The thing(s), people or ideas that get you really fired up
and keep you fired up?
Inspiration?
That's tough. Wanting to improve my children's quality of life is what keeps me
working even when the odds are against me. That, and that I need to write in
the same way I need to paint. If I'm going to write anyway, might as well make
life better while doing it. Right?
My kids
inspire me all the time to do better. The ideas that get me fired up are
injustices and cruelty. I'll get madder than a wet hen being chased by a wet
cat. Oh, you mean, happy fire?
Feedback.
Positive, constructive feedback. Whether it's someone telling me which of my
paintings are their favorites, my CP telling me what she loved or didn't love
so much about something I've sent her, or a reader telling me they downloaded
my book and finished it already because they couldn't put it down—it's happened more than once!—I love having people take the time to
look at my work and care enough to tell me what they think. It's an amazing
feeling. Wanting to have my kids proud of me—er, they don't read these books. They
just know momma has them out and *gasp* people are buying them—and to show them you can go after a
dream, keeps me going even when I get the rejection letters, or my sales don't
hit fifty shades of neutral color stardom. :P
I'm curious,
what gets you all fired up? *grins* You have that purty red hair. I'm sure
something gets you fired up…
By the way,
did you know that Alex has red hair, even as a wolf. She's very pretty in wolf
form. I like red. Always wished my hair was red. And, sorry Nolan, but she sort
of took over the story when we went to the longer version. But no worries, they
all make a comeback in the sequels. I'm writing two of the sequels
simultaneously. Talk about a glutton for punishment!
See. I TOLD you it'd be a hoot.
Wanna some free books? How's about a copy of Leona Bushman's The Ulfric's Mate and Ravaged featuring stories by Leona, myself and a bunch of other awesome authors? Both books are published by Breathless Press. It's easy peasy. Just leave a comment! Told you it was easy. :)
Here's some cover yum to tempt you.
