Spotlight Author with Robin Owens

School starts for my kids this week, which means getting life back on track. Having a bed time, dinner time and shower time. No more free schedule. We are back to the grind so to speak. This week I am working on getting more authors scheduled for the opening spots on my blog, getting our office finally unpacked and in working order after our move, and yes... getting back to writing. Can you believe it? I have taken way too much time off. And I am afraid my writing will show it! I'm a little scared to see what the results will be. No worries. I will keep all of you posted on my misadventures of writing! ;-)

This week I have author Robin Owens with us. I hope you enjoy the interview.

Robin, please tell us about your latest release HEART JOURNEY.

HEART JOURNEY is an older woman/younger man book... also a city mouse/country mouse story. The blurb is:

Helena D'Elecampane, a renowned cartographer, is happy exploring uninhabited Celta. But she is intrigued when she finds out she has a HeartMate. Yearning for a partner in her travels, she is drawn to meet him.

Raz Cherry is an ambitious actor, dedicated to his career in the city. Uninterested in any other long-term commitments, he ignores an oracle that fortells that he will meet his HeartMate--a woman who would complicate his life.

Though their passion ignites, their lifestyles and goals clash. Only when mysterious thefts escalate to threaten their families can they reach an understanding and overcome the obstacles on their journey to love... discovering the secrets of the past that will lead to a brilliant future, together.

My "HEART" series is fantasy romance, and deals with "fated" mates (and I try to make the conflicts Between them fresh). The books are set on the planet Celta where people have magical powers... Celta was originally colonized by Earth people about 400 years previously.

What are you working on now?

LOL, I have a variety of projects- I am working on the next book in the series, Heart Search. The hero is a man who made a disastrous marriage to a woman who lied to him and stole his family heirlooms (not his fated mate, his HeartMate). The heorine doesn't trust men at all... so it is fun shoving them at each other... so is the mind sex...

What makes your writing unique?

I think that would be the telepathic animal companions - cats with attitude (redundant), dogs (a puppy and a noble hound), the occasional fox... I use the Familiar animals for comic relief as mentors and friends.

Some writers say that they have a story that has to be told others say that the characters come to them and demand that their story be told... how does it work for you?

I'll be writing a story and a character will walk on stage. Depending on his/her nature I'll decide whether to kill'em or marry'em off.


If you had to pick one character in your books, who would be your favorite? And why?


Wow tough question. I wrote a 5 book series for Luna (the "Summoning" series), which was about average American women who are summoned to another dimension to fight hideous evil... they find love and decide to stay, or not. Alexa Fitzwalter, heroin of book 1 (Guardian of Honor) was a riot to write. She was over-the-top and I had to watch her with an eagle eye in the rest of the books so she didn't steal the scenes. My father was rather an over-the top guy, and I think of Alexa as his true daughter.

Where does your inspiration come from?


Actually, physical objects provide the basis of a few of my books. HeartMate (my first) was inspired by a bloodstone pendulum I got. Then I thought of bloodstone fortune-telling runes... and a tough guy who might use them and actually BELIEVE them (thus a different planet;)... and I got T'Ash the hero of HeartMate who threw the ruins and saw "Today you will meet your HeartMate."


How many books do you have under your writing belt?


18

15 published 3 unpublished.


When did you know you wanted to pursue a writing career?

Ah, I told myself stories before I fell asleep for a long time. I started seriously writing after a relationship crashed.

How long was your road to becoming published?

Ouch, eight or nine years, fourth manuscript. You know, the old 10,000 hours to master the technique, the 1,000,000 words.

Where do you see yourself in five years?

Well, I'd LOVE to be on the New York Times Bestseller list and I'm doing my best to make that happen. I have a collection of stories on Celta (well, one is the discovery of the planet, so in space) coming out next year. Also I have a series starting in January - an urban paranormal fantasy series with a romantic subplot. The first book is titled Enchanted No More.

Thank you Robin, for finding your way over to Micole Writes Romance, it has been great having you here. For more information on Robin Owens and her books you can find her at http://www.robinowens.com
Her excerpts page is "READS".


Thanks for having me here, and I really enjoyed the questions. Merry meet and merry part and merry meet again!

See you next week everyone!

Hugs

Micole