Please welcome author Connie Flynn to the blog today.
Thanks, Wenona, for the warm welcome and the invitation
to submit an interview. I’m always flattered when people want to know about me.
Please share a little about yourself, your genres,
any other pen names you use.
I have written eleven published novels in several genres.
My first book was a ranch story with a murder mystery, a sexy hero and lots of
horses. I sold it to Harlequin, who required that I take a pseudonym (Casey
Roberts) then told me ranch stories were too old fashioned and they wanted
something else. So I wrote an issue story revolving around dyslexia, then a
story about cutthroat corporate takesovers, next a rough and tumble big truck driver adventure,
followed by a couple of romantic comedies. All over the place, you may notice.
But when I was invited to submit a paranormal romance I found my niche. I wrote
four novels that ended up being romantic fantasy and sometimes science fiction.
KNOW WHEN TO RUN is not paranormal, supernatural or
fantasy. It’s straight romantic suspense and I wrote it as Connie Flynn even
though I’d decided to write mysteries under the K.C. Flynn (so readers could
tell the genres apart).
Tell us a little about your latest or upcoming
release.
So far, K.C. Flynn has only done a couple short stories.
They star Derek Shriver, an ex Green Beret turned accountant and amusement park
owner, who gets mixed up in unlikely adventure. Derek is getting his own book—FIRST
WE KILL ALL THE ZOMBIES—which is scheduled for release in early summer.
Are you a mom?
I
have two grown children who, between them, have given me five grandchildren.
They’re of an age where they have significant others and I’m suspecting some
great-grandkids aren’t too far off.
Writing is a calling for me and the most important thing
in my life . . . except for my family. They are my blessing and raising my son
and daughter was the most important and most rewarding thing I’ve ever done.
If yes do you find it hard to juggle writing and
parenting?
I didn’t start writing until my kids were pretty much
grown so parenting wasn’t the issue. However, IMHO, husbands are more dangerous
to a writing career than triplets. Somehow they can’t grasp the concept that if
they interrupt your writing, you not only have lost that time, you’ve lost your
whole train of thought. Or is it just me?
(No Connie, it's not just you. I know husbands are sometimes harder to deal with than children - I threaten to kick mine out often, I'm going to have to build him a pole barn just to get him out of the house so I can write in peace, that way he has his own space to work on his hobbies and he can be as loud as he wants and it won't disturb my writing. :-)
Is there a theme or message in your work that you
would like readers to connect to?
I never start out thinking I have a theme — I decry
themes, I think they’re stuffy, I think they tempt writers to preach. BUT . . .
every time I finish a book and am doing final edits after being away from it
for a while, I notice that the books seem to be working out some issue in my
personal life. Not tit for tat. I never use people I know in my books (well,
once I did but my editor said the character was a stereotype) and I don’t write
about real events from my life. But every book has subtext—subtler content that
moves the inner story—and my subtext tends to deal with the possibility of
redemption and of finding the good in everyone. Pretty idealistic for a
self-proclaimed realist (that being me). But that’s as far as my use of theme
goes because I still believe themes tempt writers to preach and to take
themselves too seriously.
Which romance book or series (or other genre, if you
don’t write romance) do you wish you had written?
Technically the Sookie Stackhouse books are paranormal
mysteries but even before they became the cable TV show “True Blood,” they
contained a high level of romance of the star-crossed lovers type. I love
Sookie and Bill and Eric and Pam, all from the book because I’ve never seen the
TV show, and I wish I had written them (and not just because I would now be
rich and famous :-).
Is there a genre(s) that you’d like to write that
you haven’t tackled yet?
Goodness, I still have so far to go to master the genres
I already write so I’m not thinking about tackling new ones. But it’s an
interesting question.
Of all the characters you’ve ever written, who is
your favorite and why?
Lily de le Vega, the werewolf queen in SHADOW OF THE WOLF
plays into my subtext of redemption because she had much to make up for, I find
myself equally a fan of Ky Taylor from my new release KNOW WHEN TO RUN. She not
only has much to make up for, she has to remember it before she can even start.
She’s strong, like Lily, but much more vulnerable because in many ways she has
the empty mind of a child. As my story unfolded beneath my fingertips, I found
myself continually fascinated by Ky’s complicated personality. She was
challenging to write because as they story starts she has absolutely no
backstory.
If this book is part of a series…what is the next
book? Any details you can share?
I’m considering a sequel featuring the daughter of one of
the secondary characters, a mobster who . . . whoops I’m on the verge of
creating a spoiler so we’ll have to wait for that later.
What is next for you? Do you have any scheduled
upcoming releases or works in progress?
My next release will be FIRST WE HAVE TO KILL ALL THE
ZOMBIES, but I also have a couple of completed novels in the deep freeze right
now --another romantic suspense and a semi-classic epic fantasy. My present dilemma
is to decide which project to work on. I
invite interested readers to leave suggestions in the comment section or stop at
Imagination Gone Wild, my personal blog, or my Connie Flynn Author page on
Facebook. I’ve found that my readers are awesomely inspiring. After all, they are
why I write.
Thank you Connie, it was a pleasure to have you here today.
Know When to Run
Connie Flynn
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Publisher: CKF Enterprises
ASIN: B00H0R8AFS
Number of pages: 280
Word Count: 61,000
Cover Artist: Carol Webb
Book Description:
She woke up one morning on a Mississippi riverboat casino with a huge headache and no clue to who she was.
With the help of new friends she rebuilt her life. Now, nearly two years later, a tall dark man with killer good looks comes after her. A bounty hunter, who claims she killed her father then ran out on her bail. She says he's got the wrong woman. He says she's guilty as sin. One of them is right . . .
Suddenly so many people are after her, she can't tell the good guys from the bad guys. But one thing she can do is KNOW WHEN TO RUN.
About the Author:
Award-winning, bestselling author Connie Flynn writes both long and short fiction and is published in multiple genres, including paranormal romance, romantic comedy, mystery and suspense and contemporary fantasy/sci-fi. She lives in Arizona on a lush green park where she walks her dog and escapes from the hot desert sun. Her latest release is the twists-and-turns romantic suspense, KNOW WHEN TO RUN.
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Kai is a veteran online marketer. She started in internet marketing, writing content for others, along with copywritten sales pages, then moved on to the indie writer's community when KDP hit. She's been self-publishing since 2004 (mostly poetry), and has spent the last three years or so in the community, helping others with social media, writing tutorials and articles all over.
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