Melissa Schroeder

INTERVIEWED: September 2007


Please tell us about yourself :)

A: Hmm, well, I am an Air Force brat who was born in an Army Hospital. I grew up with a really strange and fun family, and spent a huge chunk of my childhood in Europe. I love to read and use writing as a means to feed my addiction (where do you think I spend most my royalty checks?). I am married to an AF major, have two kids, and yes, I am living in an area where they have bugs that could eat your young.

When and how did you become a writer?

A: I’ve always been an avid reader. From early on, it was my escape. I read To Kill a Mockingbird in Jr High School and the first thoughts of writing trickled into my feeble mind. It wasn’t until college that I truly tried to write. I tried my damnedest to write serious, though provoking short stories. They didn’t totally suck, but they weren’t great. I sort of jumped around from genre to genre until I picked up a Linda Howard book and found romance. I read about 300 books in a year to get to know the genre and started to write seriously for publication. That was about 2001 and I got my first contract offer in 2004.

What is your favorite thing about being an author? Is there anything you absolutely detest?

A: I love that I can wear pajamas to work. You don’t have to deal with the office junk, getting dressed up, being NICE to people. That and my readers, I love them.

My least favorite thing is the isolation. While I tend to need time away from people, there is something very solitary about writing. Unless you are with your own “kind,” people don’t understand what you go through as a writer.

Genres - what are your favorites to read and write? Are there any you fancy trying your hand at in the future?

A: Oh, hard one on the reading. I have to say I LOVE to read historicals but my favorite to write is either futuristic or paranormal. Mainly because I can make up the rules and no one can say that I can’t do something. I actually have three books simmering in the background in genres I have never published in. A futuristic vampire ménage (set in a post-apocalyptic world where paranormal creatures rule), a shape shifting wolf book, and the immortals I have been working on in The Cursed Clan. I have done paranormal but all of those are a little different for me.

Who are your publishers? Are they distinct from each other in any way?

A: Gee, let me see. In the past I have written for Liquid Silver Books, Loose Id and Vintage Romance.

I have releases coming from Whiskey Creek Press Torrid, Samhain Publishing, and Ellora’s Cave.

Every one of them is different because of what they focus on for publication and a lot of it is their business goals. Some of them are happy with where they are, but some of them are looking into expansion and moving beyond their current level.

This year you have had a few re-releases. Was it difficult to get them re-published? Can you tell us what you had to do to get them ready for their second publication?

A: Actually, it wasn’t that hard. I thought it would be, but many of them are part of a series and when new books are promised that helps. My Harmless Series springs to mind. A Little Harmless Sex was an international best seller in eBooks, but I wanted it longer and in print. They all had to be re-edited and I rewrote many of them extensively. A Little Harmless Sex had been 22K and was released at around 51K. With Grace Under Pressure we cut a lot out and changed the ending a bit. And A Little Harmless Pleasure is probably going to be around 60-70K when it was originally released around 42K. I am working to extend Seducing the Saint from about 30K to 50K right now.

Have you ever collaborated with another author on a story? Would you consider doing so in the future?

A: Kally Jo Surbeck and I have talked about this. Part of our problem is making our schedules work out. We are actually collaborating on separate stories in our upcoming Purgatory series. One long novella will start the story and then the second one will finish it.

What do you love and hate about writing?

A: Let’s go with the negative first, lol. Right now I am trying to catch up from my vacation to Brooks Army Medical Center. No one does my job for me while I am gone, there is a lot of catch up and there are times the damn characters just won’t cooperate. I love to create stories. I still get goose bumps when I am out somewhere and people refer to me as an author because seriously it hard to imagine that I am actually published. And I really love my readers. Romance readers are the most dedicated bunch of people I have yet to come across (and that is after a lifetime in the military).

Do you have any words of wisdom for aspiring authors?

A: Never give up. Seriously, don’t. Read everything you can get your hands on (that I stole from my creative writing instructor in college, Jim Hoggard). It might take you 20 rejections or more before you sell, but if you give up, you will never be published. I didn’t write one book and get published, I wrote several, and was rejected A LOT. And try to do something toward your craft every day if your schedule permits. It might mean giving up something. I had to give up TV because I had kids at home and had to write at night. But, I promise, it is worth it in the end.

Where do you interact with readers on the net?

A: I have a chat group and a non chat news only group. I also have a blog and a myspace page.

Do your family and friends know that you are a published author? What has been their response?

A: Most know. I write under my own name because I am too self-centered and wanted everyone to know that I am a writer. I am proud of what I do. I think my husband got a little annoyed at his last job. Some of the civilian ladies who worked in the building would introduce him to people and remark that his wife was a romance writer. He is proud of me, but I am sure it got old that I was attached to the intro every time, lol. My parents have been very supportive and brag about the fact their daughter is a writer. My oldest daughter is in middle school and is embarrassed that I write romance but I think it is more the age than anything else.

What is the reader response to your books?

A: People either love me or hate me, at least that’s the feeling I get. I have a pretty distinctive voice, so I don’t find many people who say they kind of like me.

Where can we find out more about you, your books and anything else you've got going on?

A: My website is www.MelissaSchroeder.net :)

Thanks so much for having me!