Laura Hogg Stopped By

Hello, there. It's week two of my Wings month, and today's special guest is author Laura Hogg. I got to know Laura a year or so ago when I reviewed The Twelfth Kiss for her. I enjoyed the book so I'm glad she could be here. If you're interested in either submitting a manuscript to Wings or checking out their books you can do so at http://www.wings-press.com.

Remember that if you leave a comment for any one of the authors your name will be entered in a drawing for a copy of my Wings release The Welcome Inn.

Okay, let's get to that interview. Laura, thanks for stopping by.

Laura: It was my pleasure.

1.For the benefit of anyone not familiar with your work, can you tell us how you became a writer? Is it something you always wanted to do? When I was a little girl, I played piano and wrote poetry. Growing up, I wrote stories and songs, being in a rock band. In college, I wrote stories. Then one day, in my thirties, I got the courage to submit my first story to a publisher.

Music and writing, for me, were always intertwined. It was my goal as a youth to someday get a book published. It was a scary thing, submitting.

2.I know what you mean about scary. I still get scared when I submit something. Tell us about your writing. What genres do you write in, etc.
I mostly write historicals, romance, and paranormals, and some modern-day. I love history and research stuff all over the map of time. My next story to come out will be a Western, Emma the Outlaw. Let’s see, with Wings ePress, I have a story called The 12th Kiss. It’s an adventurous story set in 1820 London.

With other publishers, I have a variety of work out. One of my novels, Romeo vs. Juliet, is a time-travel. The hero is an Elizabethan man, and the heroine is a modern-day women. When my hero does something bad, his wife chases him through many eras in history, and they have quite a time of it. My novel, For the Love of a Queen, is a post-apocalyptic novel set in the near future.

My novella, Double Vision, is a paranormal where the hero and heroine fall in love on the astral plane.

My short stories are various, from Medieval to the 1920s, and my work ranges from sweet to very steamy.

3.Do your family and friends know you’re a writer? If so, what was their reaction? They know. My mom was very supportive. I lost her recently and dedicated my one and only Inspirational Romance to her.

My dad, a sister, husband, and daughter are also supportive. My daughter is also a writer, but her style is very different than mine.

4.If you could travel back in time which era would you pick? (I bet I know the answer to this one. I’ve read the book.) Hard choice. Aw, thanks, Elaine. That is very sweet. Thanks for reading my book. The Regency was a fascinating time, that’s for sure, but as a female, gosh, this choice is difficult…I’d have to say maybe the 1920s because women gained a lot more freedom. I'm currently researching this exciting era. I’d tell my friends to save money and not invest in the stock market, if I could go back there. ;) But if I could just drop in for a day or two and observe, I’d really like to hear Jesus speak in person.

5.How long did it take you to write The Twelfth Kiss? Here’s the strange thing. It usually takes me a lot longer to write a book, but…well, let me backtrack for a sec, at that time in my life, I was yet unpublished. I was going through something very stressful and prayed for help. I, as a Catholic, also asked the Angel Raphael to add his prayers to mine. One day shortly after, I woke up and felt inspired, and this story came out in a mad rush. I was so inspired, in fact, that I named a main character Raphael.

Then I put the story up with a large critique group for many months. (The revisions took longer than the writing of the first draft). The Regency era was new to me at the time, and I was still researching that time in history and fixing things in the novel as I learned new details. Most people in the group were great and offered me wonderful advice on how to tighten up the novel. It was a lot of work, but fun! However, there was one Regency expert who tore the book up to shreds and was harsh in her criticism. It discouraged me so bad that I almost gave up writing. After days of sadness, I lifted my chin, so to speak, and forged ahead.

I polished the novel with the advice of many people to help and submitted it, my first, to a publisher. It got rejected. Months later, that publisher went out of business. The second publisher, Wings ePress, accepted it! Wings, what a coincidence.

I got the email at night—my first book contract! And called up my mom. She was so happy for me.

6.That's an inspirational story, Laura. Thank you so much for sharing. What’s your writing day like? Well, currently, I'm the breadwinner, because my husband was laid off. I work at a little school during the day helping out kids and adults with reading disabilities. It’s a great job with the best bosses. Then I come home at night and plop down at the computer and write/research for hours at a time.

7.Are you working on anything right now? If so, can you share a little with us. I'm working on many things right now. I have several under contract at this time and have yet to get assigned editors for those. Those stories differ greatly: one is a Victorian novella, others vary from modern-day stories about a female rock musician (hmm, wonder where I got that idea from, lol) to paranormal (A lady has to go to hell and steal the keys from the gatekeeper to hell, gets down there and discovers it’s her ex-lover) to many other types of stories, including a screenplay.

8.If you could meet any author in the world, who would it be? Someone who would be open to reading my work! (Why does the little guy get ignored so often? When I buy books, I often go for an unknown author first). I have a multitude of library cards and use them. Good thing I take the bus home from work and can get in more reading time.

9.Give us your links so we can find you on the web. Be sure to tell us where we can find your books.
This is the addy for my paranormal blog:
http://traveltheages.blogspot.com/
If anyone who writes paranormal would like a guest spot there, please let me know. Authors should help each other out when possible. We’re all in this together, right? I believe there’s room up at the top for all of us.

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/l_hogg

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/editpicture.php#/profile.php?id=626483435&ref=profile

My husband is currently putting together another web site for me, so I don’t have one right now.

The 12th Kiss (set in 1820): http://www.facebook.com/editpicture.php#/profile.php?id=626483435&ref=profile

Double Vision (paranormal):
http://www.aspenmountainpress.com/paranormal/romance/double-vision/prod_74.html

Romeo vs. Juliet (time-travel), For the Love of a Queen (post-apocalyptic), Copacetic and Baby Vamp (Vintage 1920s—nothing to do with vampires, lol):
http://www.thewildrosepress.com/laura-hogg-m-166.html?zenid=0822b8b1803fd9539238850b75325206

Isanne’s Revelation (Medieval time-travel, Inspirational Romance)
http://www.whiterosepublishing.com/cartage.html?main_page=index&cPath=154

Emma the Outlaw (Western):
http://eirelander.webs.com/emmatheoutlaw.htm

And others under contract but not out yet.

10.Would you share an excerpt from The Twelfth Kiss?
At one-thirty a.m. a lord dressed in breeches laced over a pair of fine shoes, a quality shirt, a lush white cravat with a diamond pin sparkling within its folds and a velvet trimmed coat pushed open the door, dripping wet; long, drenched strands of blond hair sticking to his neck, and falling to his shoulders; and he gripped a pistol at his side. He was accompanied by an angry-looking stout man even bigger in muscle size than he was, nicely dressed as well, but obviously not a lord, more like an American. The lord strode across the room with his friend and sat at the bar, great perturbation marring his features. He ordered a drink and slammed it down. He gestured rapidly for another. The innkeeper poured him one.

“What troubles you this night, my lord?”

“My wife has been kidnapped. My brother-in-law and I are searching around here. I have others looking elsewhere. Have you seen anything unusual this way tonight?”

Chuckling caused him to turn around.

“Is something funny?”


Laura, thank you so much for the interview. I'll look forward to reading more of your work.