by Cherry Adair
Every author that I have spoken to has their own writing process. Some spend weeks working on character building charts. Some use post it notes to plot their entire book. Other’s pull pictures from magazines and make a story board of sorts.
What is your writing process and how long would you say it takes you when a new idea is sparked from sketching out the details to getting to THE END?
I spend several weeks plotting (3M company LOVES me, I buy at least half the PostIt notes sold in the US! (ok not literally, but I do have every color they make. lol) I spent two to three weeks building my characters, plotting and doing the initial research. Then I’m ready to rock and roll. Being an author comes with its fare share of joys and disappointment whether you are just starting or you have been in this business for many years. All of us need advice no matter where we are at on this journey.
What is the most valuable piece of advice that you have received throughout your writing career that you would like to pass along to other authors out there?
Most valuable piece of advice given to me? Give yourself permission to write crap – as long as it’s on the page it can be cleaned up later! (I have this PostIt note stuck on my monitor!)
My advice to other writers? Sit your butt in the chair and write. Have a career plan (yes, even if you haven’t sold yet.) Stay focused on what you want. Don’t look at what other people have or where they are in their career, you’ll be doomed for disappointment. We each have our own journeys. Like fingerprints, no two writing careers are the same. And once published, don’t read your own reviews! If they’re great we believe them. If they suck you not only believe them, you remember that crappy review forever!
Out of all of your books, which one would you say is your favorite? And why?
THE MERCENARY because it was my first, and we always remember our first. But I think our books are like kids. (Sometimes messy, expensive to raise until we sell them (the book, not the children lol) and time-consuming! Lol) All different and loved in their own way. I can’t think of any job I’d love more than this. Every day is an adventure and a thrill a minute. Even the most mundane tasks associated with being an author are better than just about any job out there.
What type of hero do you find irresistible?
Tall, dark, and rich. (Hey! This is my hero and my heroes are never poor! Lol) He has to have an ethical compass, a sense of humor (even if sometimes it’s well hidden!) and know his way around a woman’s body as well as he knows his way around weapons.
When you aren’t writing steaming hot romances what do you do in your spare time?
Spare time? I don’t have much. My bar-none favorite place to be online is my Facebook page. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE playing with my readers there! We have a ridiculous amount of fun every day. It’s the carrot on the end of the stick, and my reward when I’ve reached my goaled page count during the day.
I’m also crazy about TV (we didn’t have it in South Africa when I was growing up) I’ll happily watch anything, any time. And most of all I love to read. But I don’t read nearly as much as I did before I was published, and I never read anything remotely similar to what I’m writing when I’m writing (which is all the time).
About Cherry Adair
Libraries, Love, and Happily Ever After
I grew up in a suburb of Cape Town (South Africa) with a wonderful library. The building was over a hundred years old, two stories, with a sweeping mahogany staircase leading up to the second floor. No one under 13 was allowed up those stairs. No exceptions.
In the Children’s Library I read my way through every book, short story, piece of loose paper, envelope, or shopping list used as bookmarks, I was ready to go upstairs. MORE than ready!
On my thirteenth birthday the best present from my mother was a brand new library card. I burst into tears, I was so happy. That year, my birthday fell on a Sunday. Talk about bad timing! Worse, the library was closed on Monday’s. I had ants in my pants, and a list as long as my arm of the books I would check out the second I walked through those double, mahogany doors on the second floor. But I had to wait 48 long, anticipatory, hours.
On Tuesday morning, my parents (yes, my father actually took the morning off work for this momentous occasion, and they allowed me to go to school late because, for goodness sake! I could not possibly have waited until 3:30!) and I waited in the car outside for the doors to open at nine. I had, of course, been wide awake and bushytailed since 5 A.M.
When the heavy, carved door opened, the three of us were standing there in the pouring rain. I didn’t care. I would have dashed through the first crack as the door was unlocked and pulled open. OMG! It opened so sloooowly!
My heart started pounding so hard, I gripped my Mom’s hand in case I fainted before I got upstairs. I have never in my life been that excited, and filled with quite that much anticipation as that day. (Not even on my Honeymoon – but that’s another story.)
With my parents on either side of me, I stood at the base of those sweeping, mahogany stairs, frozen in my tracks, savoring the moment. I’d waited so long for this I could hardly breathe. The treads were worn from over a hundred years of feet going up and down them. The swooping gracefully curved banister was satiny smooth (I knew, because I’d been stroking the bottom curve of it for years as I looked up longingly) from thousands of hands (and probably bottoms) sliding down it.
My father crooked his elbow in a sweetly gallant gesture which I’ve never forgotten. I slipped my hand around his arm, and together, the three of us ascended.
My memory has a choir of angels singing on the top landing, and white doves swooping overhead, but I’m pretty sure the Rondebosch Public Library would have frowned on singing and bird poop, so it probably didn’t happen that way.
When we reached the top of the stairs, taken in complete and reverent silence, my father reached over and pushed opened the double doors.
The smell hit me first. Paper. Leather. Dust. Books. Adventure. Romance. I had to just stand there and take it in. THEN I gave my Librarian The List.
Number One: Gone With The Wind. Ahhhhh Bliss. Loved and hated Scarlett, and started writing the moment I closed that book. I rewrote the end many, many times(It was only years, and maturity, later that I knew the ending was absolutely perfect.)
I’ve been a romance writer ever since. It’s the best job in the world and I can’t imagine doing anything else.
Always an adventurer in life as well as writing, New York Times best-selling author Cherry Adair moved halfway across the globe from Cape Town, South Africa to the United States in her early years to become an interior designer. She started what eventually became a thriving interior design business. “I loved being a designer because it was varied and creative, and I enjoyed working with the public.” A voracious reader when she was able to carve out the time, Cherry found her brain crowded with characters and stories of her own.
“Eventually,” she says, “the stories demanded to be told.” Now a resident of the Pacific Northwest she shares the award- winning adventures of her fictional T-FLAC counter terrorism operatives with her readers.When asked why she chooses to write romantic action adventure, she says, “Who says you can’t have adventure and a great love life? Of course if you’re talking about an adventurous love life, that’s another thing altogether. I write romantic suspense coupled with heart-pounding adventure because I like to entertain, and nothing keeps readers happier than a rollercoaster read, followed by a happy ending.”
Popular on the workshop circuit, Cherry gives lively classes on writing and the writing life. Pulling no punches when asked how to become a published writer, Cherry insists, “Sit your butt in the chair and write. There’s no magic to it. Writing is hard work. It isn’t for sissies or whiners.”
Cherry loves to spend time at home. A corner desk keeps her focused on writing, but the windows behind her, with a panoramic view of the front gardens, are always calling her to come outside and play. Her office has nine-foot ceilings, a fireplace
, a television and built-in bookcases that house approximately 3,500 books.
“What can I say? My keeper shelf has been breeding in the middle of the night, rather like drycleaners’ wire clothes hangers.”
Where can we find out more about you Cherry Adair?
On my website: www.cherryadair.com, Twitter and my beloved Facebook . I love hearing from readers – wherever you may find me.
Copyright
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Copyright © 2016 by Cherry Adair
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the author, Cherry Adair.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Adair Digital.
www.cherryadair.com
