Special Guest Author & A Giveaway: Jennifer Haymore

Hi friends! Today we have one of my most favorite people visiting with us! Fabulous author Jennifer Haymore! She’s super sweet and totally awesome. She’s also our inaugural Crazy Fan Letter Author! Whee! Obviously she’s a great sport, and she chose an Author Interview for her GA&AG spot. 😀

What five dead authors would you invite to a dinner party if you could?
Stephen King (I’d like to hear his comments about the food), Anne Rice (to talk about vampires in literature) , JR Tolkien (to discuss the LOR and Hobbit trilogy), JD Salinger (love it if he actually said something), and Diana Gabaldon (to discuss historical Scotland. And Jamie Frasier).

If you could be a super hero, what would your nemesis be named? And what would your super hero power be?
My power would be astral projection…or life. I could infuse life into anything. My enemy, of course, would be death. LOL

Tell us two truths and a lie about yourself.
(1) I was secretly engaged to my husband when I was seventeen.

(2) I’m terrified of spiders.

(3) I enjoy watching my favorite movies over and over again.

What’s your favorite tv show? Now your favorite guilty pleasure secret shame show. I’m talking Real Housewives, The Kardashians, Bridalplasty, Jersey Shore, etc. *shudders*
Downton Abbey is my favorite right now (although they killed off a main character last week so I’m none too pleased at the moment!).

Secret shame show would either be Storage Wars or American Idol!

If you have to listen to a song 24/7 for four days, which one would you choose?
Kill me first.

What’s the best book you read as a school assignment?
I loved a lot of the books everyone else hated in school. 😛 My favorite…hmmm…probably Jane Eyre.

Are you an early bird or night owl? What made you so?
A night owl, thanks to genes and coffee!

What kind of toothbrush and toothpaste is on your bathroom counter right now?
Oral B electric toothbrush and some fancy kind of whitening Crest.

What is your writing process?
I write mostly when I have big chunks of time in which to do so. It usually ends up being from when my husband gets home at night to the wee hours of the morning.

I used to be a pantser (wrote all my stories by the seat of my pants) but now that I write under contract, I always write a pretty detailed synopsis first. After my editor discusses the story with me, and we work out the kinks, I begin. After I start a book, lately, I’ve been writing hard, every day, until it’s done. I find that I feel closer to the characters and situations when I don’t take days or weeks off from the story.

What’s the most embarrassing thing to ever happen to you at school? And what about at a conference?
At school:  Having my college boyfriend’s dorm-mate come home early one Saturday night…

At conference: Walking into a room of a group of people I’d met before, and after recognizing and greeting all of them, realizing none of them knew who I was!

Do you collect anything? If yes, what?
Most anything related to my children (their favorite toys, school projects, etc.).  They grow up too fast, and when the last one leaves for college, I’m sure I can spend years scrapbooking and organizing.

As a child which character/book(s) would you most want to be [or be in] a Laura Ingalls Wilder book, Madeline L’Engle, Lloyd Alexander, L.M. Montgomery, or Gail Carson Levine? Or if none of those, which book?
Close call, but I think Laura Ingalls Wilder. I have always loved historical places and situations and ever since I was a kid, I have always dreamed about/envisioned living in a different time.

What would you put in your ideal candy bar?
A bunch of magically delicious and healthy ingredients that contained no carbs or fat.

Walk in pantry, walk in closet, or extra garage space?
Extra garage space. We have more junk than can fit in a pantry or closet. 😛

What is your secret plan for world domination?
Work harder than everyone else (so fair I’m a total fail at this hard-work ethic, so it looks like I’m not headed for world domination!).

Bio:  Jennifer holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from UC Berkeley and a master’s degree in Education from UCLA. Before she became a full-time writer she held various jobs from bookselling to teaching inner-city children to playing bit roles in soap operas.

You can find Jennifer in Southern California trying to talk her husband into yet another trip to England, helping her three children with homework while brainstorming a new five-minute dinner menu, or crouched in a corner of the local bookstore writing her next novel.

One lucky commenter will win a copy of Pleasures of a Tempted Lady, and the winner of the crazy fan letter contest for this month will win a $20 gift card to Barnes & Noble. 😀 Isn’t Jennifer lovely and generous?! (I’ll be adding more information to the “Crazy Fan Letter” contest today, so keep an eye out. Thanks!)

19 thoughts on “Special Guest Author & A Giveaway: Jennifer Haymore

  1. Cathy P

    Hi, Lime and Jennifer! Jennifer, I am a huge fan of yours and love your books. I do have one question. Was your college boyfriend your husband, or had you gone your separate ways for a while?

    Reply
  2. weendizzle

    What a great interview! I’m not very good at the hard work ethic either but I’m still get up every day and try. =)

    It’s also hard to choose between the walk in closet, walk in pantry and more garage space since I want them all.

    Reply
  3. nancybristow

    Hello Limecello or LIme…I loved reading the interview with Jennifer Haymore and I read “About” so I’d know to whom I was speaking;)

    Sigh. Jennifer Haymore is another new-to-me author but certainly writes in one of my favored genres. As much as I’ve read and for as many years, it still astounds me at the number of authors I haven’t tried as yet. What I think about is what a jungle it is out here for authors but from the number of books displayed by Jennifer Haymore, it seems as though she’s well established.

    I hope to have the chance to check out her books more closely. Right off the bat, I like to know a couple of things about a new-to-me author: (1) what’s the heat level? (and if you’re wondering, my tolerance is quite high;) and (2) stand alone or series and if series, the starting book?

    P.S. I wasn’t pleased that Sybil was killed off, either! Totally sucked.

    Reply
    1. Jennifer Haymore

      Hi Nancy! Good to see another Downton Abbey fan! First Sybil and then Matthew, eh? Sigh!

      To answer your questions:
      (1) Heat level varies but I’d call my books very spicy in general. There is definitely open-door sex in all of them.
      (2) New series, The House of Trent, starts with THE DUCHESS HUNT coming on June 25! My past series were the James Series, starting with A HINT OF WICKED, and The Donovan Sisters, starting with CONFESSIONS OF AN IMPROPER BRIDE.

      Reply
  4. JoAnne

    Love, love, love (did I mention I love) the covers you showed in your newsletter. Haven’t read this author before but I will definitely be adding her to my TBR pile.
    Nice interview. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  5. Linda Thum

    Yums to your ideal candy bar. Can I get some too please?! Food & books are my 2 fav topics =)

    Thanks Lime for having Jennifer over today!

    Reply
  6. Barbara E.

    Hi Jennifer, I enjoyed the interview, it was fun learning more about you. I loved the answer to the question: If you have to listen to a song 24/7 for four days, which one would you choose? I’d probably kill myself rather than listen to the same song for four days straight too. 😀

    Reply
  7. Mary Preston

    You should patent that candy bar, just make it chocolate. I always enjoy my Downton Abbey fix.

    When you have your dinner party, who do I have to kill for an invite?

    Reply
  8. QuenKne

    I love your answers! You have a very funny outlook on life, have you ever thought of writing a romantic comedy?? Thanks for a great interview

    Reply
  9. June M.

    Great interview. I love your candy bar idea…..can you make it sugar/calorie free but taste like the richest, sweetest candy in the world? After all, books & chocolate go so well together 🙂

    Reply
  10. flchen1

    Ah, Jennifer! Fabulous interview, you two! And I’m totally with you on the extra garage space–sadly we’re only able to fit one car into our two-car garage right now, and boy, a shed out back or something might help with that 🙂 Thanks for brightening our days with your stories!

    Reply
  11. Pingback: Special GA&AG Author [Monthly] Contest | A Little Bit Tart, A Little Bit Sweet

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