My Writing Corner : The Perfect Time for A Summer Romance

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?

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: