Day #7 Birthday Bash with Gabi Stevens

Welcome to Day #7 of JoJos Birthday Bash! Today we get the privilege of chatting and getting to know the wonderful Gabi Stevens Author of The Wish List. So help me give a warm Welcome to Gabi!!

Gabi Stevens

~How do you think romance has changed in the last 30 years? We’ve gone from heroine who are submissive to the hero, to strong capable woman who save themselves and, oh yeah, get the guy. The boundaries have expanded to include vampires, space, spies, assassins, sports figures, comedy, suspense, medical, you dream it you can find it.

~What type of romance do you prefer to read? I love paranormal and historicals. But that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy a good contemporary or category too. But my comfort reads are historical and paranormal.

~What are your favorite types of Heroes & / or heroines? Give me the alpha male who turns to mush for the right woman and the heroine who is intelligent and almost a bitch (Hey, I said “almost”).

~Fav color: Anything but blue.

~Fav Scent: Lavender

~Fav Flavor: Too hard--it depends on my mood and activity--but I like vanilla ice cream, white cake, sushi, clam linguini, garlic, and butter. (How’s that for eclectic?)

~Fav shampoo: something fragrant and bubbly

~Fav movies: Notting Hill; The Shawshank Redemption; Seven Brides for Seven Brothers; Singing in the Rain; To Catch a Thief; how much more room do we have?

~Favorite TV shows: Glee, The Office, 30 Rock

~What are some of your favorite Hero / Heroine names? I like names that are unusual but not unpronounceable. For example, the heroine of the third book in the Time of Transition series is Stormy. I also like names that can have nicknames. The heroine of the second book is Regina, but everyone calls her Reggie. Except her mother. And old-fashioned names, like the names of the three aunts: Lily, Rose and Hyacinth. For my heroes I like strong sounding names, like Tennyson.

~Do you read any reviews on your books? I do. I don’t know why I do, but I do. I open each one cringing and hope for the best. And when they aren’t good, I always try to learn from them. But in a way the whole action is futile because the book that has been reviewed and I can’t change anything.

~Do you read your own books after they make it to final print? Never! I find errors, and it kills me that I can’t fix them.

~What do you like to Read? Everything. Although I usually get angry with “literary” books because they seem to revel in gratuitous torture, tragedy, or trauma. Your Favorite Genre? Really? Romance.

~ How did you get into writing? I have always told myself stories, but I didn’t know I could write them down. Then when my twins were old enough, I realized I had to do something to keep my sanity. Writing became it. Although I’m not sure listening to the voices in my head telling me stories is exactly sane.

~Did you always want to be a writer? No. I was going to be an actress. Besides, I had an English teacher tell me once that I would never be a writer, and at the time, I believed my teachers.

~How old were you when you began to write? Uh-uh. Not telling. Too many people can do math.

~Is writing your full time job? Soon. But for now, I teach during the day.

~What’s a typical writing day for you like? No such thing; not with a day job, three kids and husband. And as if I wasn’t disorganized enough, we just got a puppy.

~Do you set a daily writing goal? During the summer when the day job is on hiatus, I do, but I set weekly or monthly goals while I have the day job.

~When and where do you like to write? I have converted a bedroom to an office. I love being in there. I feel so official. And if I ruled the world, I would work late into the night and sleep in every morning.

~Are there any processes you use when writing? Do you keep journals, sticky notes, chicken scratch on the back of receipts? I really don’t. I just start writing and see where it takes me.

~Do you prefer to write on a computer, typewriter, or paper and pen? All of them. No that’s a lie. Not the typewriter. I’ve never owned a typewriter (which was a pain in high school and college when I had papers due). I like the computer, but pen and paper can make it seem like I’ve done more. All the scratches and squiggles, arrows and cross outs, you know.

~What is the hardest / easiest part of writing for you? Getting ideas is the easiest. Actually putting those ideas on paper for the first draft is the hardest. I like revising.

~Whats the best thing about being an author? Just knowing that someone wants to read my words.

~How long did you write before you became a published author? Really badly for about six years. Then I learned what I was doing wrong and received my first contract eight years after I started.

~Who’s your favorite hero/heroine? Always the couple from my WIP (work in progress). The are the ones speaking the loudest in my head and the ones I live with.

~What are you reading at the moment? Right now I’m reading Jim Butcher’s Storm Front. But I read fast, so check back next week. I keep a running account on my blog.

~Do you have any advice for aspiring writers? Read, write and then repeat. Oh, and learn grammar. If you know grammar, that’s one fewer reason an editor has to reject you.

~Is there anything else you would like to share with your followers today? Just that I hope you laugh. I believe a day without laughter is a waste. And I hope my writing can bring at least a smile to my readers’ faces.

~How many books / series have you written? Twelve complete novels, several more proposals, and three series. The Time of Transtition is the latest of the three series. Two of the three books are finished and I’m well into the third book.

~Can you tell us about some of them? Most of my previous books are historical. My favorite subgenres are historical and paranormal.

~Do you have a new release, or a new release coming out soon? Can you tell us about it? Not soon, but book two of the Time of Transition comes out in April 2011, and I have an essay on Glee coming out in the fall.

~Do you set the mood to write? Listen to music, have a favorite chair, pen coffee mug, etc? I like to put my headphones on and turn on the iPod. I don’t really care what’s playing because I tune it out and focus, but I like the music. But it looks funny, because I have these big old noise-cancelling headphones attached to my itty bitty iPod.

~What are 3 things that are “must haves” for you when you sit down to write? Gum (weird, I know), a drink, and pens to take notes with.

~Do you have a webiste or blog that your readers can keep up with you and your books? www.GabiStevens.com is my web site, and www.GabiStevens.blogspot.com I hope you all come to visit me.

~How do you come up with character names? This might sound odd, but often they introduce themselves to me name already attached. Otherwise I use baby name books.

~Can you tell you tell us a little bit about The Wish List? The Wish List tells the story of Kristin Montgomery, a CPA in San Diego. When she discovers her three aunts are fairy godmothers and she's next in line for the job, her uncomplicated life disappears like magic. No, not like magic; it is magic. Kristin not only has to deal with burgeoning magical powers, but also a reluctant arbiter, a selfish sprite, and a suave French sorcerer. When one of them turns out to be the bad guy, Kristin must learn to trust her heart and her instincts to keep herself and the ones she loves out of danger.

~How did you come up with the idea for this series? From a dream, from watching tv, while reading another book? I actually thought of a title first (How to be a Fairy Godmother in Ten Easy Steps) and decided I had to write that story. As the story progressed I realized I wasn’t writing that particular book, so the title changed.

~Did you have to do any type of research before writing this book? I actually write books first, and then do the research. This was my guilty secret until I read Stephen King’s On Writing and found out that he does research the same way. But yes, I did do research. My in-laws live in San Diego, and I drove around to get the right feel for the city. I also did research on cell phones.

~Who’s your favorite character and why? Would it be wrong to pick one of my secondary characters? I love Zack in the book. I mean, I love Tennyson, but Zack jumped into my head fully formed. And the aunts. They were such fun

~Are any of your characters based on people in your life? Kristin has much of me in her, like the fear of failure. But otherwise all my characters are fictional.

~Did the overall book turn out like your original idea of the story? Not even close. I believe this is one of the banes of being a writer. You have an image in your head and what appears on the paper never matches. Part of the job of being a writer is knowing when to let go of the manuscript.

~Can you tell us a little bit about the characters? Kristin is a woman who likes order in and control of her life. So when she discovers there’s magic in the world, she has neither and must learn to cope with a new set of rules. Tennyson is an academic who has made a major discovery--Merlin’s long lost book of rules. He wants to study the book, but the Council has given him the task of arbiter for the new godmother.

~Can you tell us a little bit about when and where the story takes place? The story is set in contemporary San Diego, but there’s a hidden society of magical beings, the Arcani, who live among the non-magical humans, the Groundlings.

~Do you have any idea how many book are going to be in this series? Three books make up this story arc, but I hope to set more books in this world.

Quickies

Pizza or burger
--Burger

Dress or jeans
--jeans

Highlander or vampire
--Highlander

Fire or water
--water

Up or down
--up

Black &white or color
--color

Half full or half empty
--half full

Day or night
--night

Star trek or star wars
--Star Wars, except when I’m in the mood for Star Trek

Sword or gun
--sword

Eyes or mouth
--eyes

Strawberry or cherry
--strawberry

Old or new
--old

High or low
--high

Shower or bath
--bath

Paperback or hardback
--paperback

Desktop or laptop
--laptop

Coke or pepsi
--Coke

Winter or summer
--summer

Dog or cat
--dog

Movie theatre or movies at home
--movies at home

Check Out Gabi Here:
 
Website:
http://www.gabistevens.com
 
Blog:
www.GabiStevens.blogspot.com
 
Tuesday Talking Teaser HERE
 
My Review HERE
 
 

Thank you so much for being here with us today Gabi,

and helping Celebrate my 30th Birthday!!

But don't go away! Gabi will be stopping in from time to time today to chat with all you wonderful commentors, and Gabi is also giving away a copy of The Wish List

to one lucky commentor! YAY!!!!

Only Rules:

Must leave a comment, and please include

an e-mail address so the winner can be contacted)

*Open US only / Ends June 18th*