Who can resist the southern charm, quick wit and wry humor of western romance writer Carolyn Brown? Not us! Barbara Vey catches up with Carolyn in New York during the RWA Convention and they chat about Carolyn’s books and husband.
Carolyn shares some of her most memorable, and funny, moments including when he husband brought her a real live cowboy because he thought he’d make a good cover model.
Carolyn is engaging, entertaining and talented. Check out Barbara Vey’s interview with and prepare to be charmed!
Here is more about the author (From Carolyn’s website) –
Hi! I’m twenty five years old and movie star gorgeous. The camera added thirty plus years and a few wrinkles. Can’t trust those cameras or mirrors either. Along with bathroom scales they are notorious liars! Honestly, I am the mother of three fantastic grown children who’ve made me laugh and given me more story ideas than I could ever write. My husband, Charles, is my strongest supporter and my best friend. He’s even willing to eat fast food and help with the laundry while I finish one more chapter! Life is good and I am blessed!
Reading has been a passion since I was five years old and figured out those were words on book pages. As soon as my chubby little fingers found they could put words on a Big Chief tablet with a fat pencil, I was on my way. Writing joined reading in my list of passions. I will read anything from the back of the Cheerio’s box to Faulkner and love every bit of it. In addition to reading I enjoy cooking, my family and the ocean. I love the Florida beaches. Listening to the ocean waves puts my writing brain into high gear.
I love writing romance because it’s about emotions and relationships. Human nature hasn’t changed a bit since Eve coveted the fruit in the Garden of Eden. Settings change. Plots change. Names change. Times change. But love is love and men and women have been falling in and out of it forever. Romance is about emotions: love, hate, anger, laughter … all of it. If I can make you laugh until your sides ache or grab a tissue then I’ve touched your emotions and accomplished what every writer sets out to do.
I got serious about writing when my third child was born and had her days and nights mixed up. I had to stay up all night anyway and it was very quiet so I invested in a spiral back notebook and sharpened a few pencils. The story that emerged has never sold but it’s brought in enough rejection slips to put the Redwood Forest on the endangered list. In 1997 Kensington bought two books for their Precious Gems line. Two years and six books later the line died with only four of those books seeing publication. But by then Avalon had bought a book and another, and another. Ten years later the list has grown to forty four.
In 2008 Sourcebooks bought my Lucky trilogy. Evidently folks liked my sassy heroines and sexy cowboys because Sourcebooks followed that series with my Honky Tonk Series and then the Spikes & Spurs, which started out as a trilogy, grew into four books and now has reached seven. AND…I do love that word…it means there’s more to come and this was a really big AND in my writing world. Sourcebooks will publish my very first woman’s fiction, Sinful Delights, in the fall of 2012. I’ve wanted to get into this market for years and I’m so excited for the chance Sourcebooks is giving me to do so.
Folks ask me where I get my ideas. Three kids, fifteen grandchildren, three great grandchildren. Note: I was a very young grandmother! Life is a zoo around here when they all come home. In one Sunday afternoon there’s enough ideas to keep me writing for years and years. Seriously, ideas pop up at the craziest times. When one sinks its roots into my mind, I have no choice but to write the story. And while I’m writing the characters peek over my shoulder and make sure I’m telling it right and not exaggerating too much. Pesky little devils, they are!
I have a wonderful agent, Erin Niumata of Folio Management Agency, who continues to work magic and sell my work. I’m very lucky to have her and my fabulous editors, Deb Werksman of Sourcebooks and Lia Brown of Avalon, who continues to believe in me.
Happy reading!
Carolyn Brown
