Romance writers are meeting this week in New York and since it's also the heart of the summer, this is the perfect time to talk about romance and romance writing. Today's guest in My Writing Corner is author Charlotte O'Shay who brings us her latest release -- just the thing for those leisurely days when all you want to do is read.
Author
Charlotte O’Shay was born in New York City into big family and then married
into another big family. Negotiating
skills honed at the dinner table led her to a career in the law. After four beautiful children joined the crowded family tree, Charlotte traded
her legal career to write about happily ever afters in the City of Dreams.
Charlotte says she loves to challenge her heroines and heroes with a crisis and watch them figure
out who they are while they fall in love.
Her latest book is Their No Strings Affair.
Honey packs everything she owns and heads to NYC to jumpstart her art career. Her cheating boyfriend is history, and she finally acknowledges the truth of her mother's mantra: Careers are forever and happily ever after isn't in their DNA.
All she needs is a job and a place to live. What
she doesn't need is a taciturn, sexy, ballbuster but she's woman enough to know
the difference between need and want. Isn't she?
Jake's childhood was marred by tragedy and his future hijacked to a promise born of guilt. His failure drove him to a career as a SEAL and a security expert. But it's not enough. Now he'll give up his freedom in reparation for the life he lost. Honey may be the last sweet stop on the road to a joyless future. If it's what they both want, where's the harm in a no-strings affair?
Jake's childhood was marred by tragedy and his future hijacked to a promise born of guilt. His failure drove him to a career as a SEAL and a security expert. But it's not enough. Now he'll give up his freedom in reparation for the life he lost. Honey may be the last sweet stop on the road to a joyless future. If it's what they both want, where's the harm in a no-strings affair?
Have you always wanted to write
fiction?
I’ve
always had tremendous respect for journalists and there was a brief moment in
college when I took a journalism class. But the made-up stories in my head were
always more fascinating to me. As a
lawyer I wrote non-fiction in the form of legal briefs and memoranda of law. That
writing was my favorite aspect of being a lawyer. Still, the desire, the need
to write fiction never left me.
What are the challenges of being a
writer?
If by
that you mean difficulty, I don’t look at it that way. I see opportunity! For
me, originally, the challenge of being a writer was finding time to write (with
the demands of a legal career and a family). Honestly, it was difficult to give
myself permission to write without feeling guilt about everything else I should be doing. Now that I can write
almost full-time, my goal is to improve my craft and get my work before more
readers (marketing). Those two goals will always be there and I’m okay with it.
I adore life as an author.
Tell us about your road to publication.
My road
to publication was both long and short. Once I actually submitted a full
manuscript to several publishers, I got a contract pretty quickly. Getting to
that point took a while mainly because it took me years before I actually
submitted my work. I’m happy I didn’t consider it necessary to look for an
agent. I’m thrilled to write romance for my small press publisher and perhaps
my next step will be self-publishing.
How do you come up with your
characters?
It’s a
visual process. Usually, I see a scene in my mind. It could be a scene from the
beginning of the story but sometimes it’s from later on but it’s a pivotal
exciting moment. The scene is a mental movie. While I watch my characters do whatever
they’re doing and it’s usually something fairly dramatic, I write it all down, copying
down the scene I’m watching. That gets me started.
Other
times it’s a bit of dialog I can’t get out of my head. The words are usually
some random piece of conversation I heard or overheard in my daily life or a
story someone tells me…where she’s saying you’ll never believe this happened.
It’s a jumping off point and my imagination takes over.
Tell us about your City of Dreams
series. What made you write it?
The City
of Dreams series sprang from the energy of New York City and its people. People
who live here in NYC are typically quite driven. I wanted to examine what
drives them, their goals and their secrets. Book 3, Their No-Strings Affair is an opposites attract, enemies to lovers
story and psstt, it’s on SALE right now. Honey and Jake are the classic couple
who are going in completely different directions in life but when fate brings
them together—more than once, they decide to give into their attraction.
We all crave
love no matter what we do, where we live or whatever our pasts may be. It was
fun to give my driven, slightly tormented characters their happily ever after.
What are you working on now?
I’m
working on three stories and they’re all set in the city as well. Tentative
titles: Revved Up, a workplace
romance, Fired up, a second chance
love story, & My Only One, a
friends to lovers with suspenseful elements.
Thank you, Charlotte, for introducing us to your works. They sound like great summer reading!
Here's more on how to get in touch with Charlotte and the buy links for No Strings Affair:
Social Media Links:
Buy Links
Thank you, Charlotte, for introducing us to your books. Any comments or questions for Charlotte?
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