Interview (and Giveaway!) with the Charming Ladies who comprise Lydia Dare

I would like to welcome "Lydia Dare" to Books and Needlepoint today.  Her latest book, A Certain Wolfish Charm, came out April 6.

Thank you so much for having us! You heard right. I said “us”. Two of us make up the writing team Lydia Dare. We’ll try to make it clear which of us is speaking.

1. That is a surprise!  Hopefully I can interview you again in the future and talk about the difficulties/advantages of collaboration!  If someone would have told you 10 years ago that you would be a published author - what would you have said?

Lydia/Jodie: I would have thought they were crazy! Ten years ago I had already given up my writing to raise my son. My creativity just disappeared one day. It wasn’t until just a few years ago, that I picked up a pen once more.


Lydia/Tammy: I probably would have said something like “You really think I could?” I actually had a coworker around this time read something of mine and say “You are in the wrong profession!” And that comment has stuck with me from that moment forward. (I probably should tell her she was right at some point.)

2. Jodie - I know what you mean about having your creativity disappear when you have kids - I didn't needlepoint for YEARS after my first child was born!  Do you have a job outside of being an author?

Lydia/Jodie: I work a day job as a meeting planner and travel manager for an IT consulting firm.


Lydia/Tammy: I have been self-employed for about six years. I love working for myself and really consider myself to be incredibly fortunate to be able to earn an income, set my own schedule, and work from home. Jodie and I both have the hardest jobs on earth as well as working full time – we’re both moms. There’s no job more rewarding or more challenging.

3. Tammy - You are very lucky to be self-employed and able to work from home!  I would love to find something where I could work from home!  Where is your favorite place to write - and do you need anything special while writing?

Lydia/Jodie: My favorite place to write is in a local coffee shop. Unfortunately, I don’t get there as often as I’d like, and I end up writing at home more often than not.


Lydia/Tammy: I need quiet. That’s my only requirement. No TV. No radio. No kids. Aside from that, I could write in a wind tunnel, I think. Unless it’s a noisy one.

4. Jodie - I like the coffee shop idea.  I have thought about going there to blog occasionally, but have not done it yet! What would you tell a beginning writer?

Lydia/Jodie: My best advice for a beginning romance writer is to join your local RWA chapter if there is one in your area. I know that I wouldn’t be sitting where I am today without the Raleigh Chapter – Heart of Carolina Romance Writers.


Lydia/Tammy: The best advice I could give is to find other like-minded people who have similar goals, but try to find a group with writers at all stages of their career. Our local RWA chapter is full of brilliant minds we picked throughout the writing process, the selling process, and now we’re on to marketing. I can’t count the number of times I’ve sat down with one of the members and said “Hey, can I ask you a question?” And I don’t think anyone has ever turned me down. While writing is somewhat a solitary pursuit, you’ll get much farther if you find people with similar goals. Some day, it could be you who’s mentoring a new writer.

5. Do you have plans to write any other genre?

Lydia/Jodie: I’m pretty stuck in the Regency era. Tammy likes to joke that I live in the 19th Century and in a lot of ways she’s right. So if I wasn’t writing paranormal Regencies, I’d be writing Regency Historical romance.

Lydia/Tammy: I don’t know if I could not write romance. But if I did, I’d like to try teen fantasy. I like to build worlds and change the rules a bit, stepping outside the norm.

6. Well, I am sure my readers will agree with me, that we love you both writing paranormal romance!  I love the covers of your books! Did you get to have any input on them or the titles?

Lydia/Jodie: Thanks! We’re really happy with the covers too. We have had some input on covers and titles.

Lydia/Tammy: The folks at Sourcebooks have a fabulous team that asks for our input and then builds on it. They turned out great!

7. What were your favorite books growing up?

Lydia/Jodie: I think like most regency lovers – I have to say Pride and Prejudice, but I was also a huge fan of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes.

Lydia/Tammy: When I was really young, I read every book at the school library. There wasn’t one piece of fiction in elementary school that I hadn’t turned the pages on. When I was a little older… Oh, my mother’s romance novels! The ones with the really scrumptious covers, I snuck those away long enough to devour them and then returned them. I think she always knew, though.

8. Do you have any books on your nightstand right now?

Lydia/Jodie: I have research books on my nightstand. The one I thumb through often is Ian Gordon Lindsay’s Georgian Edinburgh.


Lydia/Tammy: My books are my night stand. I have a pile of them beside the bed and they’re stacked up about 10-tall. There’s usually a cup of water that sits precariously on the top.

9. Tammy - I like the idea of using books as a night stand!  Get rid of the furniture and get more books! Is there anything else that you would like our readers to know?

Lydia/Jodie and Tammy: We had the BEST time writing this series, and hope readers have as much fun reading the books as we did writing them.


10. Thank you Lydia and congrats on your new series!

Lydia/Jodie and Tammy: Thank you, again, for having us!

A CERTAIN WOLFISH CHARM

by LYDIA DARE—IN STORES APRIL 2010!

He gets crankier and crankier as the moon gets full…
The rules of society can be beastly—especially when you’re a werewolf and it’s that irritating time of the month. Simon Westfield, the Duke of Blackmoor, is rich, powerful, and sinfully handsome, and has spent his entire life creating scandal and mayhem. It doesn’t help his wolfish temper at all that Miss Lily Rutledge seems not the least bit afraid of him, and in fact, may be as untamable as he is…


A woman whose charm is stronger that the moon…
When Lily’s beloved nephew’s behavior becomes inexplicably wild, she turns to Simon, the boy’s cousin and guardian, for help. But Simon’s idea of assistance is far different than hers, and Lily finds herself ensconced in his house and engaged to the rogue.

They both may have bitten off more than they can chew when each begins to discover the other’s darkest secrets…

About the Author

Lydia Dare is the writing team of Tammy Falkner and Jodie Pearson. Both Tammy and Jodie are active members of the Heart of Carolina Romance Writers and live near Raleigh, North Carolina. They are working together on their next paranormal historical trilogy as Lydia Dare, which will be released by Sourcebooks Casablanca in Spring 2010! For more information, please visit http://www.lydiadare.com/.

You can also find them on Facebook and Twitter.


A Certain Wolfish Charm - available Now!
Tall, Dark and Wolfish - available May 2
The Wolf Next Door - available June 6
The Taming of the Wolf - available Nov 2

Now for the Giveaway!

Thanks to Danielle and Sourcebooks I have 2 copies of A Certain Wolfish Charm to share with 2 lucky readers!  This giveaway is for U.S./Canada only and will end May 3.

Let's show these authors some love - for your first entry, please either friend them on Facebook or follow them on Twitter! 

For an additional entry, sign up to be a Google Friend Connect follower - or let me know if you already are!