Interview with Cindy K. Green

Jun 13, 2008

Hi Cindy,

It’s a delight to meet you and be able to interview you. When I visited your site I was struck by how clean and neat it was. Tastefully subdued I guess we could say. I notice you are a Jane Austen fan – by the quote at the top of your home page. “There is no charm equal to tenderness of heart!” A wonderful quote for a Romance Writer. I’m sure our readers would like to know a whole lot more about you. So let’s get right to it.

Please tell us a little bit about Cindy K Green. I see you started out in California but now are living in North Carolina – that is quite the trip. What made you move there? Do you have family in California?

I am a California girl. I lived my entire life there. Most of my family lives there, my friends are there. We moved because when I was a senior in high school my mother and my two brothers and two sisters moved to North Carolina while I remained in California. I’ve wanted to move near them for years and a job finally opened up for my husband in the same town where my family lived. We’ve been here three years now.

What do you do when you aren’t writing?

I love to read, obviously. My real guilty pleasure though is watching Period Dramas. In fact, my sister comes over every week for a dose of men in cravats.

I read in your biography that you are a history major – but you write contemporary romance. Do you use history in your other writings? 

I do love history, but I just hadn’t finished a historical manuscript. I have one accepted now, a short historical novella called Dilemma of the Heart coming late 2008 from The Wild Rose Press. The sequel will be a full length novel. History and literature do pop into most of my stories. For instance, in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Your Wedding, my heroine is a history professor. I had her talk to her class about her dissertation topic which was my master’s thesis topic. Things of this nature.

You also taught at the Junior High level and you home school your own two boys. Does teaching influence your writing, distract you from it or give you fodder for your muse? I seem to remember you write Young Adult books also. Could you tell us a little about them? Did they come about, perchance because you couldn’t find good books for that age group?

I did teach Jr. High, and I loved it as crazy as those kids could be. I homeschool now and it is definitely a distraction. But we are now into our fourth year, and I finally have things scheduled out to make everybody happy. Unfortunately, you can’t plan for every situation.

I love Young Adult books. I enjoyed reading them when I was young. I read tons when I was teaching that level and so it made sense to write one. In fact, the very first book I ever completed when I started to write professionally was a YA WWII novel. I still haven’t sold that one. My current YA WIP is called A Shot at Mr. Perfect. It’s written in first person from the perspective of my heroine, a basketball star. I played ball in high school so it is loosely based on my own experiences. Not the romantic side (LOL!) but everything else going on.

When did you realize you wanted to be a writer? What made you write your first book and what keeps you writing now?

I always loved writing. Starting from the age of 12, I began keeping a folder with all my scribblings. I still have it. Story ideas to last a lifetime. I was inspired first by the many L.M. Montgomery heroines who were aspiring writers. (Montgomery wrote the Anne of Green Gables series of books but also loads of other books and short stories.) It wasn’t until I was in my fourth year of teaching that I started writing fiction again. I took a long hiatus while in college and starting my career. I wrote a lot of non-fiction during that time and even won an award or two, but fiction is my love. I have so many stories inside of me that I just must get out.

Could you name some authors who have influenced your writing career? Who do you enjoy reading when you have some time to do that?

My favorites were my favs while in my preteen and teen years: L.M. Montgomery, Louisa May Alcott, and most of all Jane Austen. All of these women have inspired me but Jane challenges me even to this day. She understood people so well, creating characters to hate, laugh at and fall in love with. Quite a gift and what a wit. I read a couple of Jane’s novels every year—Persuasion and Pride and Prejudice being my favorites. I love the ‘good’ Jane Austen spin off novels too (some of them out there are horrible). I’m usually reading several books at once including at least one classic every month. I enjoy Nora Roberts, Catherine Coulter, Leigh Michaels, Janet Evanovich, Lori Wick, Tracie Petersen, Kristin Billerbeck, and even serious history from David McCullough, David Hackett Fischer or Joseph Ellis. (I could go on and on)

When you begin a new novel or short story do you start with character, plot, theme, or some combination of them? Where do you get your ideas?

It’s never the same anymore. In the past, I’d start with plot because a story idea would come to me and then I’d figure out what kind of characters to put into that situation. But now I’ve created characters first as well. I just depends on the story. For instance, one of my publishers, By Grace Publishing, asked me to write a book for their December release. The only parameter was that it should take place in the winter but not around a holiday. I am in the middle of writing, Romancing Miss Abbot. I decided it would be about an English middle school teacher who is given an opportunity to go to a fancy mountain resort during her winter break in February. That’s where I started. I knew this character would be based a great deal on me. It has been fun fleshing this character out as well as the hero she meets. It’s very much a romantic comedy with a splash of Inspirational. My ideas come from everywhere: a book, a movie or tv show, walking around watching people. The ideas are endless.

You have added Chick Lit to the list of genres you write in. Can you tell us a little about Meeting Mr. Right Online?

I’m very excited about this one. It’s my first stab into this genre and I found it very fun and freeing to write. You can just let your heroine go and she can be as ridiculous and full of exaggerations as you like since most of it is only shared with you, the reader.

Meeting Mr. Right Online is a short novella about Lucinda (Lucy) Kelley who works for a local cable television show. She’s 33 and all her friends are married. Her sister announces her engagement at the beginning of the story, and Lucy just feels lost in the mix. The one person she usually depends on is her online friend from London, Julian Crawford. And then one day his messages stop and she realizes she needs to get out and meet real people not spend all her energy on some online friend she doesn’t know or does she??  It’s filled with exaggerations, collisions with fichus trees, an evil nemesis aka: the skinny blonde who vies for her position at work, and a handsome stranger.

In less then two years you have amassed a total of eight contracts (at last count) for your stories – Wow, Congratulations! Of course your hard work and good writing are the primary reasons for that. But can you give us a little insight into how you managed that feat?

It has been a busy two years, this is true. I actually have ten contracts now. Of course, they are all different lengths: novels, novellas, short stories. I’m not really sure how it happened, to be honest. I do believe what really incites me is that I have a good friend and author who is my critique partner. We encourage each other and read the other’s manuscripts. It really keeps me focused and determined.

How many hours a day do you spend writing? Do you have schedule, a procedure for getting your writing done? Is it a daily thing for you?

I work on my writing in some capacity everyday whether doing actual writing, just thinking about a story or doing promotion. I do have a schedule because I need to take care of my family as well. I write on Mondays and Wednesdays with a little bit on the weekends. My husband makes sure to entertain my two boys on those nights for me.

 
I am usually in different phases with my stories at once. This past month, I was editing two stories, writing another and polishing up a fourth manuscript for submission. It’s definitely a job but it’s worth it.

 
I know many writers work on multiple projects at once. They say it keeps them from ever getting writer’s block. You have no less then three works in progress now. A Chance Worth Taking, A Shot at Mr. Perfect and Since Last We Met. Can you give us a brief overview of these books and do you work on them all at once?

These are three WIPs that I have in the works. Actually all three of these are on hold, but I can’t wait to get back to them. I have some other stories that must be finished first. My high fantasy romance, the 3^rd NovelTea story, and the sequel to my first historical. I don’t actually write on more than one at a time. I focus my attention on one and try to finish it before moving to the next. I might also be editing one or polishing another at the same time. But if a new story idea comes to me, I write that down, maybe a scene or a blurb. In the case with these three, I’ve written the blurbs, worked out plot & characters, and written the first chapter for all.

Here are the blurbs:

 
A Chance Worth Taking (Historical Western)

January, 1868

 
With a blizzard converging outside, Charity Worth finds herself at home alone with a wounded man on her doorstep. She has no choice but to take him in and nurse him back to health. When she learns of the hit on the Carson City bank and that the sheriff has been killed with one of the perpetrators injured, Charity has to decide if she should reveal the location of Mr. Chance Masters or if it is worth taking a chance on the man who has stolen her heart.

A Shot at Mr. Perfect (YA Romance)

High School Junior and varsity basketball captain, Charisse Kennedy, has no idea the turn her life is going to take over winter break. With her mother off on a cruise in Acapulco, she is forced to stay with her father who has a surprise announcement for her and an unwanted New Year’s Eve party for her to attend. To make things more complicated, the “Mr. Perfect” she met at the department store where she works is none other than Jesse Quinn, the transferring basketball star who seems oddly interested in her yet by all intents and purposes is dating her friend Abby. Will Charisse end up alone when the clock strikes midnight or does she have a shot at Mr. Perfect?

 
Since Last We Met (American Historical) This one is going to be an emotional read; it is the story of my heart.

The world peered out before her: dark, lonely, bleak.

Julia Lucas lived her life at the top of society in 1830’s Philadelphia. When her father dies and leaves her without a fortune, she is abandoned by those she would have called friend. Forced to make her way in the world, she takes up post as a country school teacher over two hundred miles away from all that she has ever known.

Byron Carey made an offer of marriage to Julia five years ago but was refused because her father found his fortune lacking. He arrives to take his position as pastor of the church of Penry Valley, Pennsylvania only to see the woman he has been trying to forget sitting in one of the pews. His heart is indifferent to her now or is it? When her fortune seems to change and she may return to her life in Philadelphia, can he let her go once again?

Your Book The Spirit of Christmas was nominated for a CAPA award from the Romance Studio. Can you tell us a little about that book – when you wrote it – was it your first release? What inspired it?  

The Spirit of Christmas was my very first ever published book. It was such a treat to have it accepted. I wrote it in six days when I found By Grace Publishing was accepting Christmas stories. Within days of submission I had a contract.

This is the story of Kathryn Graham and Nick Pringle, fellow magazine writers and best friends. Kathryn is a lot like Lois Lane. She has that go get ‘em personality and a prickly outside but on the inside she is soft and mushy. Nick is the typical mild mannered reporter who takes it upon himself to bring back Kathryn’s Christmas spirit by sending her gifts from a Secret Santa. It really is a lesson for Kathryn looking beyond herself and allowing herself to feel again.

I see you are published by several different publishers is that because of the genres each accepts, or do you believe in the old adage don’t put all your eggs in one basket?

It just kinda happened. I started with By Grace Publishing but I wanted to try out a bigger publisher and moved to The Wild Rose Press. I do enjoy working with both. There really is no rhyme or reason.

Where can our readers find out more about you and your work? Where can they buy your books? Do you have a website where our readers can read some excerpts, enter contests, how about a blog?

Visit my website at www.cindykgreen.com. You can read the blurbs, excerpts and find the buy links. You can also visit www.thewildrosepress.com and www.bygracepublishing.com. I also have a blog just for my Romantic suspense NovelTea series at http://novelteaseries.blogspot.com/. And I am part of an Inspirational and sweet group of authors of The Wild Rose Press called White Roses in Bloom. Visit our blog at: http://whiterosesinbloom.blogspot.com/

I’d love for you to join my Newsletter. I send it out each quarter. It includes: reviews, news, excerpts, and a free read short story in every issue. I also hold a contest in each issue. All you have to do is send me an email at newsletters@cindykgreen.com.

Thank you so very much for taking the time to answer our questions. I am delighted to learn more about you and your work. I wish you many sales and hope to see more contracts for you in the near future.

 Thanks for having me Billie.

Interviewed by: Billie A. Williams at Manic Readers