Author Interview – Tracy Sweeney

Do you have a critique group/partner or beta readers, or do you self-edit? I self-edit constantly.  I’m always tweaking words and sentence structures. If I sat down with LIVING BACKWARDS now, I’d probably reword the whole thing.  I’m terrible that way.  But at some point, you need to stop and take a step back.

I have a few people who then read for errors and will poke holes in my plots and tell me if something makes absolutely no sense at all.  When it’s cleaned up, it goes to my beta readers.  It takes a village, folks.

Do you follow an outline when you’re writing? I’m definitely a plotter.  I usually start with a broad outline.  When it’s time to dive into a chapter, I’ll flesh it out a bit with points I want to touch upon.  That’s not to say that I don’t go off on a hundred tangents once I start writing but I have a very definitive idea of where I’m going and how I’m getting there.  At least on the page.  In life, I’m lost without a GPS.

What’s the hardest part of writing for you? Free time is at a premium for me.  And I don’t like forcing myself to write.  I’d totally fail at NaNoWriMo.  If I’m not in the right frame of mind or the words just aren’t coming, I can’t do it.  It just sounds forced.  I’m constantly struggling with when I want to write versus when I have the time to write.

Tell us about Luke. At first sight, Luke is your typical bad boy but he has good reason for the chip on his shoulder.  Life has dealt him some unfortunate blows.  So he’s guarded and he’s just biding him time until he can strike out on his own.  When he meets Jillian, everything changes.  I think he’s probably more shocked than anyone that they form their connection.

Present Day Luke is another story.  Different chip, different set of problems.  But man, he makes me weak in the knees.  The number one comment from my pre-readers was “Luuuukkeeeeeee”.  That made me happy.  Like my work here is done.

Tell us about Joan, Jillian’s pink sparkly flask. When Jillian turned twenty-one, her best friend gave her the flask as a gift.  It was pink and sparkly and nothing she ever would have owned in high school.  They named it Joan.  When Jillian had a little too much to drink, it was Joan’s voice in her head egging her on to do things that may not have been the best idea.  Dance on a table.  Do another shot.  Make out with the random guy in the corner.  Breaking out of her shell is an understatement.  Everyone should have a Joan.  (I’m a bad influence.)

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Genre – Chick Lit

Rating – PG13

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Website http://www.tracysweeney.net/