Kiru Taye Writes: Visit the WILD WEST with @CRMoss #Interview @EvernightPub #Contest

Happy Monday, folks! This week I'm interviewing the lovely author CR Moss on my blog about her latest book Wild West Promise. Stop by and say hello or ask a question.

I'm giving away one copy of her book. As usual, leave a comment for your chance to WIN. I'll pick the winner next Monday.

Now on to the interview...

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Q1) Welcome to my blog, CR. Can you tell us a little about yourself

My bio is as follows: An eccentric and eclectic writer, C.R. Moss pens stories for the mainstream and erotic romance markets, giving readers Worlds of Possibilities. So what does she write? She writes stories from the light and sweet to the dark and deadly with varying degrees of sexual heat. Writing as C.R. Moss gives her and her muses the freedom to explore worlds of possibilities when it comes to love. And where does the tag line on her website “Love & Lust in the Wild West” fit in? Well, for one, she lives in NV. Two, her stories take place, either in part or in full, in and around the Las Vegas area. In fact, even her website sports “a look of home.” The background picture was taken in an area just a few miles west of Las Vegas and happens to be the inspiration for the setting of the Double D Ranch Tales saga. Find C.R. Moss and her social media links at http://crmoss.com/links/

Q2) Lovely to meet you. Have you always wanted to be an author?

Yes. Writing is something I’ve wanted to do since I was a kid. It’s like breathing and eating. It’s intrinsic, a must do or I’ll go crazy type thing.

Q3) I love that. Since you've always wanted to write, who are some of your favorite writers? Who do you feel has influenced your writing?

The early works of Stephen King, like The Shining, Pet Sematary, Carrie and Christine, turned me on to writing and started me on writing horror and then in the early 90’s I read Jude Deveraux’s A Knight in Shining Armor which started me on romance writing. I was also into Anne Rice, Clive Barker and VC Andrews. Another author who influenced me was my mentor on my first romance novel, Terri Valentine.

Q4) Stephen King is very popular with my guest authors. Let's talk about your daily routine. Can you tell us what a typical writing day for you is like.

First thing I normally do is check my emails, then I’ll check Facebook. Next I’ll get to my writing projects. When I’m working on a story, I’ll reread and do editing on the parts I haven’t edited yet to catch myself up. I’ll make the font a color other than black to keep track of what I’ve already gone through. Then I’ll write the new material. If I’m starting a new project, I do an information dump and outline as much of the story that’s in my head first thing. Then I work off the outline, fleshing out all the ideas and stuff as per above. But then, when I'm really focused on a project, I tend to just plough through it and focus only on getting it done...staying up late writing, getting up early and getting back to the story, eating when I think I can get away from my ‘desk’ without ruining the flow... I say ‘desk’ because sometimes if it’s nice outside, I’ll grab my notebook and pen and either sit on my patio, or go to the pool, and write. The house and social life suffers, but I’m a slave to my art. :)

Q5) LOL. Nice to know I'm not the only one who suffers for her art. :) Let’s talk about your new book. Can you tell us a little about it?

Wild West Promise ~ book 3 in the Double D Ranch Tales series ~ a contemporary, western, erotic romance story with a hint of the supernatural set in Nevada and written for Evernight Publishing’s Romance on the Go line ~ Available Now!

~ Blurb ~

In life and the afterlife, on the Double D Ranch, one belief holds true—the power of desire changes lives.
* A rugged wrangler. A feisty Irish woman. A day full of promise. Times are wild on the Double D, and one ranch hand is in for the ride of a lifetime.
* Little does Maggie O’Hurley know her life is about to change. She visits the ranch to attend a friend’s bachelorette party and meets a wrangler named Kent. Her immediate attraction to him revs up her libido, and she plans to do what’s needed to snag the sexy cowboy…including making a decision she never thought she’d deal with again.
* As a workaholic, Kent Samuels hasn’t been with a woman in ages. When a bewitching redhead steps into his path, his world tilts, and she’s all he can think of. He doesn’t know if he’s able to give her forever, but he will give her what time he has. Once he does, he knows he can’t let her go.
* Past experiences war with ideas for the future, but can the pair make promises they can keep?
For an excerpt and direct buy links to popular eTailers visit: http://crmoss.com/books/double-d-ranch-tales/wild-west-promise/

Q6) Sexy Cowboys. Yay! How did you come up with the idea for this story?

The inspiration for the Double D Ranch Tales series stemmed from a trip I went on where I stayed on a working ranch. There were ranchers/cowboys, horses, trail rides, campfires, cattle and food cooked outside. My muse started asking, "What if?" When I returned home with a handful of ideas, I went to RM and said, "Guess what we're going to write about." From there we wrote Wild West Weekend, followed by Wild West Hauntings and now we have the short story Wild West Promise available for readers while we continue to work on the next novel length Double D tale. Wild West Promise is Kent’s story. He’s one of the ranch hands on the Double D who’s played small parts in the first two books. When RM came up with the idea for WWP and told me about it, I agreed we should go for it. She whipped up the first draft, we tweaked it and now it’s out! :) There’s also a bit of a paranormal subplot in it that we’re hoping to expand into a longer story down the line.

Q7) Looks like a great series. So what is up next for you?

RM and I are working on some more Wild West books. We’re even doing a special event at a conference in Las Vegas in October (details can be found here: http://doubledranchtales.blogspot.com/p/hmk.html) Solo-wise I’m working on some more stories for Evernight Publishing’s Naughty Fairy Tales line.

Q8) What is the best piece of advice you would give to a budding writer?

Learn the craft, from grammar to story building and everything in between. Adhere to the rules for a while. Once you do that, then you’ll understand how and when to break the rules and really let your creativity thrive. After learning the craft, start promoting yourself before the first story is picked up/published. And if you’re going the e-book route through e-book publishers, get two or three places under your belt right away. If you’re doing the independent route (or e-publisher even), perhaps finishing two or three books first before you send book one out to the world would be a good idea. This way you don’t have to rush in starting to build a back list and can space out the publications of the ones you already have done while you work on more. But on top of knowing about writing mechanics, learning about marketing and promotion and getting that going is just as important.