Inkwell Guest: Kate Willoughby

Today, I’m welcoming fellow Ellora’s Cave author, Kate Willoughby. Kate is here to talk about her latest release, JUST WINGING IT, which is part of her Be-Wished series. Don’t you just love this cover? I think it’s gorgeous! She’s holding a contest in which one lucky winner will get all four of the Be-Wished books. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment and she will enter your name in the drawing. The winner will be announced on Decmeber 16.

Welcome to the blog, Kate! Thanks so much for being here. When did you know you wanted to be a writer? And how did you get your start?

One of my high school English teachers wrote on a paper that I should explore being a writer because a story I wrote for class caught his eye. I certainly loved reading. I did it every chance I got. I began to dream of having a book with my name on it on the shelf at a real bookstore. My best friend and I wrote a novel together and I’m smiling now as I think about how melodramatic it was. I tried my hand at other stories and even considered majoring in English in college until a particularly brutal and condescending class in creative writing demolished my confidence. Over ten years passed before my dream resurfaced. My sister-in-law introduced me to Romance Writers of America and the rest is history.

How awful that someone nearly destroyed your dreams. I’m glad to see you didn’t give up! What is the one writer’s tool you can’t live without?

I can’t live without my computer. I’m old enough to have written term papers on an electronic typewriter. Let me tell you, revising on paper sucks. It involves a very messy manuscript, scissors, and lots of tape. Hence, I LOVE my computer. If it were human, I might marry it. I certainly spend enough time with the thing.

Hey I remember typewriter days. 🙂 I’m very happy to have a computer, too. How many words/pages do you do in a day/week/month? And how do you keep yourself motivated to do them?

No comment. My muse is a capricious and stubborn bitch who won’t even answer the door when I knock sometimes. (Don’t tell her I said that.) Still, she’s a smart cookie and does come up with some pretty great stuff on occasion. (You can tell her I said that.)

LOL! Muses can be so fickle. 😉 Whose work has influenced you the most?

It’s hard to say. I like to think my voice is my own, but looking at my own books and the authors I admire and love to read, I hope to have been influenced by (in no particular order) Julia Quinn, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Rachel Gibson, Elizabeth Hoyt, Eloisa James, Maggie Osborne, Jude Deveraux, and Nora.

This month is the release of your novel, JUST WINGING IT. Where did you get the idea for that?

Just Winging It is the last of my Be-Wished series. The first three books in the series were about three friends getting wishes granted by a wish fairy. The wish fairy was such a fun character that I decided she needed her own book.

What do you like best about Davina and why do you think readers will relate to her?

Davina is like a playful, well-meaning puppy. She didn’t mean to knock over the Christmas tree. All she wanted to do was put a present under it.

For you.

That’s her in a nutshell. :o) I hope readers will root for her to find the fairy of her dreams. Even ne’er do wells deserve love.

What do you like best about Laszlo? What is his best quality?

I love how unpretentious Laszlo is. He appreciates fine clothes, but is just fine with wearing jeans from Walmart. He doesn’t care if you think less of him for loving breakfast at McDonald’s.

What other things are you working on?

I’m working on a story set in the Asian inspired world of the Shinwa, a race of humans that can only reproduce with two men and one woman. I have two virile heroes who made a name for themselves slaughtering the slave traders that terrorize Shinwa villages. The Imperial Triad is so grateful that they give them one of their daughters in marriage. But the men are kind of rough around the edges–uncouth, unmannerly…all the un-stuff that the princess finds objectionable.

Sounds like a great story! What’s your favorite genre to read? What’s your favorite genre to write?

I love reading romance of all sorts. I also enjoy historical fiction, thrillers, science fiction and fantasy. I like writing contemporary romance a lot. I wish I could write historical romance, but I’m terrified of the research. LOL

Where can we find you online?

You can find me at http://www.kate-willoughby.blogspot.com.

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