16 October, 2017

#Interview with Rachelle Ayala, #Author of Dog Days of Love

About the Author:
Rachelle Ayala is a USA Today bestselling author of contemporary romance and romantic suspense. Her foremost goal is to take readers on a shared emotional journey with her characters as they grow and become more true to themselves. Rachelle believes in the power of love to overcome obstacles and feels that everyone should find love as often as possible, especially if it's within the pages of a book.
Her book, Knowing Vera, won the 2015 Angie Ovation Award, and A Father for Christmas garnered a 2015 Readers’ Favorite Gold Award. In 2016, Christmas Stray won the Readers’ Favorite Gold Award, A Pet for Christmas got an Honorable Mention, and Playing for the Save earned a 2017 Readers’ Favorite Gold Award.
She is also a writing teacher and founder of the Romance In A Month writing community. She recently released many of her books in audiobook. See http://bit.ly/RachAyalaAud for more details.


Message:
Hello everyone. I am a writer who loves to combine romance with suspense and humor. My foremost goal is to take you, the reader, on a shared emotional journey with me as my characters grow and become more true to themselves. I believe stories are the means for us to connect and experience life in new ways. As a writer, I’m privileged to share my private dreams and visions with readers. I’m a romantic. I believe in the power of love to overcome obstacles and feel that everyone should find love as often as possible, even if it's within the pages of a book. Happy reading and loving!

Download a FREE surprise ebook by subscribing to her newsletter: http://smarturl.it/RachAyala and find her books at online retailers Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Apple iBookstore, Google Play, and Smashwords. Borrow her books at Scribd.


Interview with the Author:

Welcome Back. It has been quite a while since you were last here. What have you been up to?
Hi Debdatta, thank you so much for having me here again. I’ve been up to so much since we last chatted, it’s unbelievable. But I’m having a great time. Working on my 45th novel, Dog Days of Love. I’ve won three Readers’ Favorite Gold Awards in three years, got on the USA Today Bestseller’s List last October—so it’s been crazy busy and lots of fun. I missed seeing you in London last year, but I’m glad we get to keep in touch online.

How long on average does it take you to write a book?
Averages is only a number, and I’ll calculate it for you in a minute. The spread or range is more interesting. The shortest time was 48 hours when I wrote Christmas Stray over one weekend. It is the 2016 Readers Favorite Gold Winner in Christian Romance and caught the interest of a traditional publisher, although in the end, I didn’t choose to rewrite and triple its size. [Link: http://www.rachelleayala.com/2015/01/how-i-wrote-20000-word-novella-in-48.html]
My longest is my first book, Michal’s Window, which took me 14 months. Of course, everyone’s first novel is a learning experience, but I remember the thrill I got with living a double life—imagining and experiencing a fictional world set in ancient Israel while living in 21st century America.
Okay, here’s the average, as computed mathematically. I have 44 romances and 4 non-fiction books = 48 books, and I started writing December 2010, or 82 months ago. The answer is 1.71 months (or 51 days) per book.

What is your current project?
Book #7 in my Have a Hart Romance Series about a family of San Francisco firefighters and their partners. It’s a sweet romance series that started around holidays, but can also be seasonal. This one is Dog Days of Love, where a female doctor looking for Mr. Perfect finds herself falling for her happy-go-lucky dogwalker. It’s a light-hearted and happy end of summer romance where love is found when its least expected. [cover attached].


The first book of the series, Christmas Lovebirds, [link http://books2read.com/ChristmasLovebirds] is free everywhere.

What is the most difficult part of your artistic process?
Ah, I’d like to say the toils and struggles, the sleepless nights and the angst, and the endless rewriting and editing, but that would be a lie. I actually enjoy the artistic process, because it is a process of discovering the core story. I get to know each of my characters, their backgrounds, settings, and social and psychological issues, and then I let them run amok and act out their story. I love not knowing the ending, because writing is discovery and that’s what makes it interesting.
I also love socializing with readers and writers, but I don’t like marketing—which I define as running ads, throwing money at promotions, and blasting social media. I’d rather interact on a personal level, not to sell books, but to exchange ideas and share experiences.

Do you hide any secrets in your books that only a few people will find?
Ha, ha, I don’t know if I hide anything, but I don’t run a tight ship and remove every dangling conversation, clue, or story weed [hmmm, that’s a new concept]. You know, the gun that was introduced and never used, or the quirky neighbor who walks on and says a few outrageous things and is never heard again. That’s because those quirks or danglers can be mined for future stories. You never know when a tiny detail in one story explodes into a whole new story. My philosophy is never waste a villain, never waste a funny situation, never waste a hidden gem. Maybe that’s why my house is so cluttered. Whenever I throw something away, I find a need or use for it a few months later.
Have you found secrets in my books?

Who do you personally favour more and why? Rob Reed or Jay Pak Ahn?
Ha, ha, what a trick question. Of course, Jay Pak Ahn is the epitome of hotness, excitement, and fastballs. He’s also kind and dedicated to his work and loyal, but since you asked me personally, as in would I be able to handle the travel, road trips, ups and downs of a professional athletic career? In my fantasy life, definitely. But personally? I like to stay home and write. Walk around the same lake with the same friend and have all the comforts of an emergency room doctor living under the same roof. Prescriptions get written. Wounds get taken care of. I don’t have to wait in line at the ER for minor injuries. Rob Reed is quiet, but has a sense of humor, loyal, and very sweet. So personally, he’s a better fit for me. Did that answer disappoint you?

Does writing energize or exhaust you?
Both. I’m energized when I’m being creative and deep in the minds and scenes of my characters and stories. I can’t imagine anything better. But I can’t sustain it for long, because my brain travels ultra fast and my emotions get too intense, so I have to back out of it and unwind. This is especially true if the story includes psychopaths, abuse, or issues that harm my characters. That’s why I alternate stories between dark and angsty and light-hearted and humorous.

What are common traps for aspiring writers?
Worrying about what everyone else thinks. You worry about “rules” and you listen to everyone’s opinions and advice. But you need to find what works for you. That does take trying different things, trial and error, to eventually figure out your own process. There are gurus everywhere and they can only share what works for them. Try and see, then discard and modify. I eventually settled on the method I talk about in Romance In A Month and my Love Stories writing books.
So best advice: Try different things until you find your own process, then hone it and share it.

 Have you ever been on a literary pilgrimage? Do you plan to?
I’ve always fantasized about planning an Agatha Christie trip, but for me, these things are always in the future, which means I haven’t gotten around to it yet. Just yesterday, I realized that the present was the future to all my past, and I still haven’t done anything about it.

 Do you Google yourself?
I Google my pen name to see how many pirated books are out there, but I don’t do anything about it. I have not Googled my real name for a long time because I would cringe to see what the other ones with my same name are up to. Not that there are many of us. I can see why it would be lucky to have a very common name. Sure, you’ll have people who’d been in jail with your name, but you’re also more anonymous than those with an uncommon name.


Thanks so much for having me on your fabulous book blog. You’ve really built a wonderful meeting place for those of us who love books.


Read about my newest release at https://www.rachelleayala.net/what-s-new

Please find out more at my website: http://rachelleayala.net
You can get two free books if you join my newsletter. http://rachelleayala.net/newsletter
I write both sweet and steamy and in between, so check out my booklist for more details. http://rachelleayala.net/books

Rachelle’s Newest Release: Summer Love Puppy
  



4 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for the interview! It's an honor to be on your book blog and meet your followers. Best, Rachelle

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  2. I love reading about the writer's process. The bit about story weeds is charming, and i neber thought about it like that before.

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  3. Thanks, loved the insight. Danglers...story weeds...interesting ...

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