Welcome to Debra Parmley, who’s saving me a lot of time and imagination by interviewing herself. Thanks a lot, Debra!
How does it feel when you write?
It feels different each time I come to the blank page. In this way, it reminds me of yoga, or dance, for our bodies and spirits can be different depending on the day. For me, the best days are when I can step into the joy of writing, caught up in the flow of it. These are the days when I can forget to eat, or to drink the water that is sitting right next to me. Other days I am happy to be writing, but not as swept away into story. Editing days are task oriented and give the satisfaction which comes from completing a task.
What’s your current writing space like? What’s your dream writing space like?
My writing space has changed over the years. This desk, that one, this room, that one. I now write on my laptop only and my writing space is wherever I decide it is. I have written at the desk, the kitchen table, the couch, in bed, at the library, the airport, the hotel room, in the car. I have even written on a legal pad while camping in an old fort at a medieval re-enactment. I’m looking forward to taking my first train to Chicago in April for the RT convention and suspect ‘on a train’ will soon join the list of places where I have written.
How did you get started as a writer?
I believe I was born a writer, from the singsong rhymes I would make up as a child, to the poetry and diaries of my teen years. In college I had a few poems published in literary journals and began writing short stories. I turned to novel length fiction not long after my first short story was published. What was your journey to publication like? Oh my. Well it has been quite the roller coaster ride. The first novel I ever wrote came about as a challenge issued to me at the Ozark Creative Writers conference in Eureka Springs, AR. Dusty Richards, a western novelist challenged those of us who had never written a novel to write one and have it to him by the next conference and the winner would receive a complete read from his agent. At the time I had written only poems and short stories. So I entered, but by the time the next conference had come around he was no longer with that agent. Instead he sat with me and went over the first few chapters giving me tips. I then came home and started rewriting it. Then I attended my first RT convention and entered it in the Bobbi Smith beginning writers competition. My story was a finalist and Bobbi told me the story really begins in chapter three. I went home and rewrote it. The following year when I went to the RT convention I had entered it in the American Title II competition where it was a finalist. Eleven of us were competing for one publishing contract with Dorchester Publishing and RT magazine would feature us in each issue as readers voted for the winner. Suddenly I had to have a website and get the PR going to get votes. All this and I didn’t even have a book out yet. It was an exciting time. Quite the wild ride. I was bumped in the second round, but soon after got an agent. About a year after that he sold A Desperate Journey to Samhain. I used to call the novel my training wheel novel because I learned so much about writing with that one. The learning curve was tremendous. My newest book, Dangerous Ties, was the first novella I ever wrote, so there was a learning curve there as well, but nothing like that first book was.
What’s your favorite genre, and why?
Romance is my favorite genre, because a romance will always end with a happy every after. If a love story does not, it is not romance.
Tell us about your new book.
Dangerous Ties is a western historical romance. Lillian’s fiancé convinces the townsfolk to exchange their gold for his worthless bank notes. When he disappears, every eye turns to Lillian. Even her cousin Carl insists she knows where the gold is. Carl is deeply indebted to Kingston, owner of the saloon and small town criminal. When Nick discovers Lillian she’s strung up over a mineshaft and the rope is breaking.
My stories always come to me with an opening scene. I see the heroine in a situation and wonder what happened to her, how did she get there and where does she go from there? For Dangerous Ties, I saw the heroine strung up over a mineshaft and the rope was breaking. Everything else grew from that initial scene.
In the beginning of the book, Lillian sees herself as a victim, but by the end she realizes she is a survivor. Someone once asked me why I write about victims. (In my first book the heroine was married to an abusive man.) I don’t see myself writing about victims. I write about survivors.
Dangerous Ties is the first novella I ever wrote. This story has had an interesting ride because I was trying to please my former editor, while learning the shorter form, instead of listening to what the story wanted to be. I think the greatest lesson I learned there was, never try to pull your story in a direction it does not want to go. Thankfully they are somewhat like mules and will dig in their heels until the writer comes to their senses.
Tell us about your journey in becoming published with Desert Breeze.
I believe a guardian angel was whispering in my ear at the RT Booklovers convention in LA last spring, because I walked into the fairy masquerade themed dinner ball looking for a table with room for one more person and felt drawn to the table where Gail Delany and Jenifer were seated. I’d never met them before and had no idea I would be sitting next to my future editor In chief and art/ marketing director! We had a very lovely dinner and talked about Desert Breeze and about my novella, Dangerous Ties, which Gail invited me to submit. I did and here I am not even a year later with my second book now available through Desert Breeze Publishing and a third, Aboard the Wishing Star, coming out in Oct.
To learn more about Debra, visit her Web site: http://www.debraparmley.com
Buy links:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Ties-ebook/dp/B0078WTKN6
Nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/dangerous-ties-by-debra-parmley
http://stores.desertbreezepublishing.com/-strse-299/Dangerous-Ties/Detail.bok
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