RACHEL BRIMBLE -- Author

My lovely guest today is from a small English town near Bath, England. Rachel is an online friend I've made through The Wild Rose Press, and I find her warm, personable and witty--and very talented. She's a wife, mommy and multi-published author.

Think about it, my guest on Monday was from Australia and my guest today is from England. Ahhh, the wonders of the Internet. We're so used to being globally connected that we don't stop often enough to ponder how awesome this whole Internet thing is. We just expect it to be there for us.

Rachel was kind enough to answer some questions for me.

Do you enter writing contests? If so, has this been a positive experience for you?

Yes, always until recently. Now I have an agent, I don’t need to take advantage of RWA contests in order to get my work in front of that all important editor. I cannot recommend the RWA contests enough as a massive learning tool. The feedback from three readers alone is enough to help you identify problems or the improvements that need to be made. If you final, you have jumped the slush pile and know an editor will read your work.

Research the contests and if your dream editor is judging your category, go for it!

Do you ever dream of writing in a different genre?

No – I love romance and always will. I write across the sub-genres though. So far I am published in mainstream contemporary, Victorian historical, comedy and suspense. I haven’t tried paranormal yet and doubt very much I will because I just haven’t fallen in love with the sub-genre, despite trying a number of times!

How do you research your storylines or locations?

With all my stories so far, I have visited the places they are set – whether that be where I live, which is a small market town in South West England, or the famous Georgian city of Bath just half an hour drive away or in Bristol, a Maritime city where I grew up. For the book I am working on at the moment, even though I have given it a fictional name, it is based on the town of Torquay where I went as a child, teenager and young adult.

For my historical stories, I try not to become to bogged down in historical detail because I’d hate to lose a reader for inaccuracy. I tend to use little bits and pieces of history that I know are absolutely true and have the characters refer to them to add a sense of period, but not base my stories around the events themselves. Does that make sense? LOL! :)

How do you see your career in five years?

I would love to think I will be earning a living from my writing – my husband is a huge advocate of my work and supports me financially so I can pursue my dream. I would love to earn enough to know I could support me and my children should anything happen. It would just give me a huge sense of independence and peace knowing I am self-sufficient through doing what I love.

What are you currently working on?

I am currently working on book two of what I hope will be a romantic suspense trilogy set in a fictional UK seaside town called ‘Templeton Cove’. My agent is ‘shopping’ the first book as we speak so hopefully I’ll have some good news to share soon! J

Tell us about your current release…or soon to be release.

As I’ve been blogging about my latest release for a while now, I thought I’d talk up one of my older books instead! I am in fuil ‘romantic suspense’ mode at the moment so here’s the blurb for my last romantic suspense, “Reluctant Witness.”

Professional singer Julia Kershaw is leaving town and moving on with her life. She desperately needs an escape from her mother’s grief over the loss of Julia’s brother – shot and killed by an overzealous cop – and an ex-boyfriend who refuses to accept it’s over.

But when she becomes the sole witness to the murder of a man she has known all her life, how can she leave without helping to find his killer? But how can she work with a cop after everything the police have put her family through?
When Detective Inspector Daniel Conway is removed from the city chaos he thrives on, and sent to a sleepy seaside town, the last thing he expects is a murder case.  With an impeccable record that he intends to keep that way, for  both personal and professional reasons, he refuses to allow his very beautiful, sexy – and secretive to walk away from the case. Or him.

http://www.thewildrosepress.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=89_78&products_id=1011

Bio:

Rachel lives with her husband and two young daughters in a small town near Bath in the UK.  She started writing short stories about eight years ago but once her children were at school, she embarked on her first novel. It was published in 2007. Since then, she’s had several books published with The Wild Rose Press, Eternal Press and Lyrical Press.  She recently acquired a US agent with her second Victorian historical. A member of the Romantic Novelists Association and Romance Writers of America, Rachel hopes to have a further two novels, one mainstream contemporary and one romantic suspense contracted in 2012 as well as two novellas.

When she isn’t writing, you’ll find Rachel with her head in a book or walking the beautiful English countryside with her family.  Her dream place to live is Bourton-on-the-Water in South West England. And in the evening? Well, a well-deserved glass of wine is never, ever refused…

Find out more about Rachel and her books here:

http://www.rachelbrimble.com/

http://rachelbrimble.blogspot.com/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rachel-Brimble/181873201887441

Twitter: @rachelbrimble