Interview with Kathye Quick, Author of Historical Romance Cynthia and Constantine

Kathye Quick has been writing since the sisters in Catholic School gave her a #2 pencil and some paper with ruled lines.

From stories about her family for Writing Week in fifth grade, to becoming editor-in-Chief of her high school newspaper, The Blueprint, to 1999 when she realized her dream of being published, Kathye´s love of the written word span numerous genres.

She writes contemporary and career romances for Avalon Books, romantic comedy and historicals for Wings Press, urban fantasy for Cerridwen Press, and most recently medieval historical romances for Wild Rose Press.

Kathye is one of the founders of Liberty States Fiction Writers, a group launched in January 2009 to help writers of all fiction genres in their journey to publication. She had been a member of New Jersey Romance Writers and Romance Writers of America since 1988 and considered it an honor to have been NJRW President in 1992 and 2001.

Kathye´s fifth hardcover romance for Avalon books, Tis the Season, a holiday romance complete with Santa Claus, a sleigh ride and a New England snowfall earned a 2006 HOLT Medallion nomination.

Her debut historical romance, Daughters of the Moon, from Wings e-Press has been heralded as a flawless glimpse into the world of the ancient Greeks.

Writing as P. K. Eden with writing partner, Patt Mihailoff, Firebrand, an urban fantasy based on the fall of the Garden of Eden, has won two Reviews Choice Awards and many five-star ratings.

In August 2009, Avalon Books will publish her three-book contemporary romance series entitled Grandmother's Rings. The books, Amethyst (August 2009), Sapphire (December 2009) and Citrine (early 2010) follow the Archer family siblings in their quest to find their soul mates using rings given to them by their grandmother. Kathye used the birthstones from her family for her inspiration for this series.

While writing romances has been her dream for many years, the book of Kathye´s heart, is a non-fiction work entitled, Hi Mom, How Are Things in Heaven, a book that developed after the death of her mother and deals with coping with grief though humor. She is currently still working on the concept for this book.

In her "other" life, Kathye works for Somerset County government and is married with three sons.

Thank you for this interview, Kathye. Can you tell us who or what was the inspiration behind your latest book, Cynthia and Constantine?

Believe it or not, the concept for Cynthia and Constantine sprung up during a season of American Idol. I work for county government and once a month 7 of us get together to have lunch. We call it the Lusty Ladies Lunch Group. We keep in touch via email.

During this particular season, Bo Bice and Constantine Maroulis were competing. Two of the Lusties choose these guys as their favorites. While we didn´t agree on who should win that season, we did all agree that they had ´romance book cover´ hair; the kind of hair Knights in Shinning Armor had in days of yore.

Well one thing lead to another and we began to serialize a story about them. We named our hero Constantine and his lady was Cynthia, one of the Lusties. We gave Sir Constantine a brother, Sir Braeden and his lady is named Jane, another Lustie.

The story just evolved on a weekly basis with email scenes going back and forth until I had 100 pages.

We thought that was the end of the adventure until I decided to flesh out Constantine and Cynthia´s story and turn it into a 55,000-word book. I was fortunate enough to have the Wild Rose Press express interest in the novel and then publish it.

And yes, you´ll either love this or hate this, but the antagonist of the story is named after one of the American Idol Judges. I´m sure you can guess which.

Is this your first published book and if so, can you tell us your experiences in finding a publisher for it?

No, this is my ninth book. I have been blessed.

My first book was a contemporary romance I wrote called DUTY OR DESIRE. I actually still like the name. It was about a Police Officer and the women he left many years ago. Can you tell he ultimately had to choose between duty or desire?

Needless to say it was awful. I had it on disk, but I lost it when I lost my house to the flooding of Hurricane Floyd back in 1999. Maybe that was someone´s way of telling my just how bad it was!

How has The Wild Rose Press been to work with?

It´s been like a wonderful dream. The editor is wonderful, the cover artist is wonderful, the owner is wonderful. I have absolutely no complaints. It´s a small company so you get more personalized attention. I like that right now.

Do you have an agent?

I don´t have an agent to date, but I want to get one for the urban fantasy line I write as P. K. Eden with my writing partner Patt Mihailoff. Urban fantasies are hot right now and the series Patt and I are planning is not anything like is on the shelves right now. We believe this departure from the vampires, shape shifters, werewolves and such will require the expertise of an agent to find the right publishing house for it. While our series is fantasy, our concept is well outside the box. We were writing about gods and goddesses ten years ago when no one wanted that type of story. If we had gotten an agent who believed in us then, who knows the success we may have had by now.

Can you tell us how long it took you to write your book and also how long it took from the time The Wild Rose Press sent the contract and the time it was released?

I wrote CYNTHIA AND CONSTANTINE in a little under a year. I work full-time so I write a bit slower than most. I´m trying to get better at time management, though,

I believe the digital version was out in just under a year´s time and the POD print copy a month later.

Do you have any words of inspiration from other writers who would like to be wearing your shoes?

Never give up your dream. It´s what keeps us writing. Your never know when that next submission will turn into ´the call."

I understand that you will be on a virtual book tour in May promoting your book. Can you tell us all why you chose a virtual book tour to promote your book online?

CYNTHIA AND CONSTANTINE is both a digital book and a Print on Demand Book, so it fits perfectly into a virtual book tour setting. The Internet and eBooks are exploding into a new era of publishing and a virtual book tour takes advantage of the technology available.

Bloggers and eBook Readers are fiercely loyal to the boundless regions of the internet and all it has to offer. You can be in your pj´s at night or after work and reach thousands of people with similar interest who, before the wireless era, would not know about you or the story you were so anxious to tell.

There are print purists and ebook purists, and in between there are people like me who like both. I think a virtual book tour will reach that middle ground.

What´s next for you?

There will be a sequel to CYNTHIA AND CONSTANTINE CALLED JANE AND BRAEDEN because in the course of fleshing out the story so it would be long enough for a book, Jane´s character became an integral part of the book and now we need to hear her story also.

Thank you for this interview, Kathye. Can you tell us how we can find out more about you and your new book?

If you have time, I would love you to stop by my websites:

www.kathyequick.com

www.pkeden.com

Feel free to poke around and let me know if you see something you like!

The book is also available at the Wild Rose Press website – www.thewildrosepress.com and Amazon.com

This was fun. Thanks for having me.