Bess hooked on historical time travel

 Hi Bess, thank you for joining me today. Please get comfortable and tell us something about your writing adventure.

What books have most influenced your life most?

All the books on writing have inspired me. I’ve read and purchased so many. Some that come to mind. Stephen King’s “On Writing.” Ralph Keyes’s “The Courage to Write” and “The Writer’s Book of Hope,” Mary Pipher’s “Writing to Change the World.”

And Jude Devereaux’s “A Knight in Shining Armor.” I loved the time travel romance in that book.

Do you see writing as a career?

Yes, I do now, as of January 2013. For the first six years of my writing career, I did not, and in fact could not think of it as a career as I made very little money with a small press, but I recently dived into independent publishing (once a bad word), and I am making a small, but attractive profit from it, such that I finally feel like I’m being paid for writing and not just paying someone to let me write.

I hope I’ll write forever!

How many books have you written? Which is your favourite?

I’ve written twelve books since I began writing in 2006. Time travel romances are my favorite.

In which genre do you prefer to write and why?

I love writing time travel romances. Like all folks who read time travel romances, I enjoy the juxtaposition of one person dropped into another era. The most common is to have the lead character enter a historical era, but I’ve had my heroes come forward in time in ACROSS THE WINDS OF TIME and TOGETHER FOREVER IN TIME. While I do love bringing them forward in time, I “sense” readers prefer to enjoy the historical aspect of most time travel romances from their comments. I don’t write futuristic, so I can’t say if that’s a popular time for time travels.

Have you ever travelled to a place and come away with a story unexpectedly?

Always! Most of my books are set in locations where I’ve travelled...most, but not all. I’ve travelled extensively, and in my contemporaries, romantic suspenses and to some extent my time travel romances, I’ve been to all the locations...albeit in modern day. J Readers of my books know that I treat my locations and settings as a character.

Have you ever cried during a movie? If yes, which one and why?

All the time. I’m a crier. I also cry during some commercials, even if they’re not particularly meant to be sentimental. Gee, which movie did I last cry at would be an easier question? I actually shed some tears at the recent movie “Olympus Has Fallen.” In this case, there were scenes of the Pentagon (where I once worked) and the White House and the National Monument being attacked by planes, and that was just very, very difficult for me to take for obvious reasons.

I cry during a lot of Nicholas Sparks’ movies. In fact, my daughter hates to go to them because she says they’re always unhappy endings. That’s not accurate, but there you go!

I can’t think of any specific romantic movies I’ve cried at because I think I’ve cried at all of them, but I will say that the music is absolutely key to my emotion. The characters could be doing almost anything, but if the music is beautiful, then I’m sobbing. Anna and the King makes me cry. The music is spectacular on that one.

BLURB:

Stephen Sadler reluctantly attends the Seattle wedding of Robert Chamberlain to Ellie Standish, the woman who had captured his interest. There he says goodbye to the woman he thought he had fallen for. Only a few weeks later while traveling on a train, Stephen is confronted by the vision of a strange wild-haired woman in a pair of snug-fitting trousers called “jeans” who claims she doesn’t know where she is or how she came to be on his train—until she sees the date on the newspaper, that is.

Dani Douglas cannot travel through time! Her mother in Montana is ill, and she has to get back to her. But the crystal clear blue eyes of handsome Stephen Sadler hold her captive in 1901, and she doesn’t know how to leave him...perhaps forever.

Stephen realizes that Dani and Ellie have much in common, but where Ellie simply captured his interest, Dani has captured his imagination and his heart. Unlike Ellie though, Dani cannot stay, her mother is ill. Stephen doesn’t know how he can let her leave him...perhaps forever. As the train hurtles back and forth across the rails, Stephen and Dani struggle to find a way to be together forever across time.

EXCERPT from TOGETHER FOREVER ACROSS TIME

   “I thought I might have to rescue you,” Stephen said dryly when Dani emerged from the restroom. “Your hair, while quite beautiful, is very wild, isn’t it? I see you have made efforts to bring it under control.”

   Dani leaned against the wall for balance while the train rocked. She put a hand to her hair.

   “Does it look dumb?” she asked. “If I’m really in 1901, most women are wearing their hair up, aren’t they? Lucinda is.”

   Stephen nodded with a sigh. “That they are. I take it you are able to wear your hair down in your time.”

   Dani chuckled. “My time. That sounds so funny when you say it. But yes, we can wear it any which way we want. Even purple if we want.”

   Stephen surveyed her for a moment and looked toward the front of the compartment.

   “Shall we brave this again? I can walk in front of you.”

   “You know, Stephen, I’m not the one who is ashamed of my jeans. I’m quite comfortable in them, and I don’t mind if Lucinda sees them one little bit.”

   “Yes, I can see that,” Stephen said with a quirked eyebrow. “However, the scandal would be long lasting. I may not have met Mrs. Davies until today, but I am not unaware of who she is. I could not place the name when they first introduced themselves as I was understandably distracted.” His eyes dropped to her legs again before returning to her face. “But I remembered too late. She is a socialite, well known in Seattle, and her reach is far. I do not wish to immerse myself in such notoriety, nor do I wish you to become the fodder for gossip.”

Dani, her head swimming along with the movement of the train, grasped his jacket lapels and shook them.

   “Then why, for Pete’s sake, did you say I was your wife? How are you going to get out of that? Divorce? Murder?” She giggled foolishly. “You could have said I was your cousin or something.”

   “Miss Douglas, please try to control your chortling. It would not be acceptable for you to travel alone with me as my cousin. No one would believe that charade.”

   The train shifted again, and Dani, her hands still on his lapels, jerked for balance, bringing his face close to hers. Their eyes locked, and Stephen covered her hands with his own.

   “No one, Miss Douglas, would believe you are anything to me other than a woman who has captured my imagination...much as you have my coat.”

Buy link:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BLS8U7U/ref=rdr_kindle_ext_tmb