Interview with Kelley St. John

With the beginning of each New Year come resolutions that we all hope to keep. Whether it is a lifestyle change or maybe just adhering to healthier eating choices, it's refreshing to be able to get a chance to start over. It seems like many adults are doing just that, but instead of limiting it to exercise, they're opening themselves up to a wider playing field, their careers. How many people do you know have made a significant change in their employment? The numbers are staggering.

I'd have to admit, I fall into that category. I graduated from college with a double major in French and Secondary Education with the intention of retiring from the classroom after my required twenty-five years of service. Never would I have imagined that I would find myself in the publishing business interviewing authors and writing book reviews. If I could do it all over again, would I change anything? Absolutely not! I loved my teaching career, all six years of it and I know I made the right choice in leaving it behind to stay home and raise our sons.

This month's Jen's Jewels' author has a similar story although much more interesting than mine! I first heard of Kelley St. John through Romance Writers of America, an organization we both belong to and one in which she serves as secretary. When I asked her if she would be willing to be interviewed, she enthusiastically agreed. Although we have never met face-to-face, I feel as if I really know her. We email each other with tidbits of news and have kept in touch even after the interview was completed. As part of her interview, she has agreed to give away books to my lucky readers. So, don't forget to answer the trivia question at the end of the column.

Now, go grab a cup of hot chocolate and get to know my friend, Kelley St. John.

JEN: Please tell us briefly about your educational and professional background.

KELLEY: At the time I graduated college, NASA was actively recruiting college graduates with degree concentrations in Computer Science and English, my two fields of study. My position involved writing technical manuals utilized to obtain elevation data of the earth's terrain. I worked with cartographers, engineers and programmers on a daily basis and truly enjoyed the enormous learning curve involved with the position, as well as the endless amount of information supplied by those knowledgeable individuals. Writers love information; that position was a goldmine for plotting ideas.

JEN: How did you go from being a senior writer at NASA to becoming a romance writer? Since writing seems to be in your genes, what (or who!) finally gave you that push to go for it?

KELLEY: The NASA offer after college gave me an opportunity that I couldn't pass up, both financially and professionally; however, I always had that dream to publish my own work. I've loved the romance genre since I was a teen reading Rosamond du Jardin and falling in love with her characters and with romance in general.

Two people are actually responsible for giving me that push: my sexy Cajun hubby and the amazing author Raven Hart. My husband knew Raven Hart and happened to mention to her that his wife wrote romance too, but that I hadn't shown my work to anyone. She asked him if I would let her read my material. I nervously sent her a full manuscript, and she wrote me one of the most wonderful emails defining everything she loved about the book. She then told me to get my behind in Romance Writers of America and get my work to an agent pronto. I followed her advice, joined RWA (I'm actually on the RWA Board now), got an agent and have just sold my seventh book. It's been an amazing ride, and I'm still shocked that the dream is actually reality.

JEN: I've read that you are able to plot an entire novel in the time it takes you to drive from Atlanta to Orlando. Please tell us about your writing process. Outline? Plot first? Characters?

KELLEY: Generally, I begin with a basic premise, such as the alibi agency in Good Girls Don't, or the curvy woman who needs to embrace her curves in Real Women Don't Wear Size 2. Then I think of possible scenarios, characters and settings for that premise. After that, I go for a drive. Seriously. Almost all of my plotting occurs on the interstate. Driving relaxes my mind and allows the characters to speak freely.

After driving, I type the basic plot for my story, then immediately start writing. My characters become more defined as the book progresses, so my second pass through the entire manuscript allows me to add those details that surfaced as I learned more about each primary and secondary character. By the third pass, I know them so well that dialogue tags aren't usually needed; their voices are crystal clear and ready to be heard (and submitted to my editor).

The easiest part of writing is generating the basic premise. I've never had a shortage of ideas for books. The most difficult part of the writing process is waiting for publication. You become very attached to your "baby" and are anxious to share it with the world.

JEN: Please tell us about your first novel, Good Girls Don't. From conception to completion, how long did it take for you to write and then get it published? Has it won any awards?

KELLEY: Good Girls Don't sold to Warner in January 2005 and then hit the shelves in December of the same year. So from the sale date to publication, eleven months. Thanks for asking about awards. Good Girls Don't won the Beacon Award and the National Readers' Choice Award! Yea!!!

JEN: When writing a novel, what is the most difficult part for you to write and why?

KELLEY: The ending, because I really hate saying goodbye to characters. I get very attached to each and every one of them. As a matter of fact, I get so attached, that some of my characters reappear in other books. For example, in my next Warner release, To Catch A Cheat, Amy and Landon from Good Girls Don't are my heroine's neighbors. And if you know anything about Amy and Landon, then you can only imagine what interesting neighbors they can be :-)

JEN: When it comes to your writing, whose opinion do you value the most and why?

KELLEY: My agent, Caren Johnson, has an extraordinary sense of what works and what doesn't. She knows the industry; she knows my editors; and she knows my writing. All three are important qualities to give me the best possible advice for my submissions.

JEN: What has surprised you the most about the publishing business?

KELLEY: The time you have to wait from submitting your novel until seeing it on the shelf. I've been blessed that all of my books have come out very quickly; however, when I've finished something that's so near and dear to my heart, I'm extremely eager to share it with the world and see how it's received by readers. And I love to hear from readers. I can't tell you how many emails I've received from curvy women who have fallen in love with Clarise and have related to her and her story. That means the world to me!

JEN: Currently, you serve as secretary of Romance Writers of America. How did you become active in this organization and what do you like best about it?

KELLEY: As I mentioned above, Raven Hart pointed me to RWA, and I'll forever be indebted to her for that wise advice. The best part of RWA is that the organization is focused on promoting romance and supports all writers who are published in that remarkable genre, as well as those who are on the road to publication. I love the fact that published authors are so willing to share their knowledge with pre-published authors. Part of the reason I decided to serve on the Board of RWA is to give back to the organization that has given me so much.

JEN: The title of your latest release, Real Women Don't Wear Size 2, is quite catchy. How did you come up with it?

KELLEY: Well, I'm sure you've probably heard before that authors rarely title their books. Or rather, we title them, but most of the time, those titles change. I have an article about this on my website called The Unbridled Title. For example, with Good Girls Don't, I submitted over eighty titles, and then Warner came back with Good Girls Don't. That wasn't a title that I submitted, but I loved it. Hey, after having eighty rejected, they could have called it just about anything, and I'd have taken it. But for Real Women Don't Wear Size 2, my original title was Unmasked Fantasy, since Clarise finally has her fantasies fulfilled. Then, for a short while, the title was Confidently Curvy. And then Real Women Don't Wear Size 2. There are way too many people involved with selecting a title for me to list them all here, but I know that the publishing houses select titles that they believe are best for each particular book, and Real Women Don't Wear Size 2 has been dubbed a title that gets attention. If it gets readers to pick up the book and inquire about Clarise's story, then it's doing the job.

JEN: At the beginning of the novel, you refer to Gasparilla Pirate Festival. What can you tell us about the event, as well as its significance in your life and to the story?

KELLEY: I was fortunate to have a book signing in Tampa in January, when the city was gearing up for the annual Gasparilla Pirate Festival. The history of the festival dates back to 1821, when the legendary pirate Jose Gasparilla stormed the city. The best way to describe it is like Mardi Gras with pirates. You can check it all out at gasparillapiratefest.com. And of course, you can attend Gasparilla to get the full effect, like Clarise does in Real Women Don't Wear Size 2.

JEN: The two lead characters have MANY steamy love scenes. How do you manage to keep it so real without going over the top?

KELLEY: Aw, gee, thanks! Actually, I can thank my sexy Cajun for an endless supply of research (he's going to absolutely love it when he reads this). Okay, seriously, I wrote for years while holding back on my characters' emotions. Then I turned in a manuscript to the phenomenal Brenda Chin, and she told me the truth: "I can tell your characters want to go farther, and you aren't letting them. Let them go where they want to go." After that, I decided that if my characters want to go for something interesting, I let them. The result has been sex scenes that, to me, are very in tune with each character. They know what they like, and I simply let them have what they want. By the way, I recently sold a trilogy to Brenda Chin for Blaze and am excited to be working with her, as well as still working with the fabulous editors at Warner/Hachette.

JEN: Grandma Gertie plays a significant part in the story. Is she modeled after your grandma?

KELLEY: Oh, man, I love Granny Gert. She's modeled after one of my grandmothers, a woman whose primary goals in life were to meet Jeff Gordon, Vince Gill and Bear Bryant. She attended Talladega once, for her seventy-fourth birthday, and saw Jeff Gordon. She also went to a Vince Gill concert, and accomplished that goal. But her pride and joy was a photo of her standing with her arm around Bear Bryant and grinning like she'd won the lottery. I could describe her, quite simply, as a "Mass of Sass."

JEN: Is Clarise modeled after anyone in particular? What message, if any, are you sending to your readers through this character?

KELLEY: Clarise isn't modeled after a specific woman; however, she is modeled after a particular type of woman. She's the girl who was everybody's best friend in school, the one who all the boys liked, but none of them dated. Clarise is beautiful, but she has her own interpretation of beauty, and that interpretation has left her out of her self-defined box. In this book, Clarise learns that she is truly desirable, and that, in fact, all women are, regardless of size.

JEN: What do you like best about the two lead characters, Clarise and Ethan?

KELLEY: I love the fact that they were so in tune to each other before their sexual relationship ever began. They were the closest friends first, for three years, which made their passion for each other even stronger. They truly knew each other, so they already had the intimacy of friendship to build upon when forming the intimacy of romance.

JEN: If the book were to be made into a movie, who would you like to see play Clarise and Ethan?

KELLEY: I see Clarise as Kate Winslet or Minnie Driver, and Ethan as Jude Law or Matthew McConaughey.

JEN: Any chance for a sequel with Babette and Jeff as the main characters?

KELLEY: I've written the proposal for Babette and Jeff's story and truly hope to take them further in their relationship. There's way too much fire between them to leave it unexplored.

JEN: Are you writing another novel? If so, what can you tell us about it? When do you anticipate it being published?

KELLEY: I just turned in the manuscript for To Catch A Cheat, a novel about a woman who has had more than her share of cheaters and decides to make them all pay by documenting their crimes (serial cheating) for the world to see on the net. Problem is, she goes back too far, all the way to the guy who cheated on her at the Sadie Hawkins dance in junior high, and he's none too thrilled about being ousted as a cheater, particularly when he hasn't seen the girl since he was thirteen. Naturally, he's determined to get her back, and they end up in a world wide web war. It's a hilarious book with two very strong, very sexy characters. I believe To Catch A Cheat should be released in the second half of 2007 or early 2008.

I also recently turned in a paranormal trilogy for Blaze. Those three books will come out in May, July and September of 2007 and star three Louisiana cousins who help ghosts that are having problems crossing over. Everything's hotter in Louisiana, you know (says the woman who married a Cajun). I'm very excited about that series too! Titles for those books are Kiss and Dwell, Ghosts and Roses, and Shiver and Spice.

JEN: Looking back, if you could change one thing about your writing career, what would it be and why?

KELLEY: I would have started writing fiction right after college, instead of waiting twenty years. But then again, I gained a lot of experience at NASA and totally plan to use that experience in my writing, so I suppose all things happen for a reason, right?

JEN: Do you have a web site? If so, what can you tell us about it?

KELLEY: My web site is kelleystjohn.com and always offers a contest giveaway that usually consists of a trip to a location of my current release. I've given away a weekend to Tybee Island, Georgia and two trips to Indian Rocks Beach, Florida, near Tampa. I also have over 150 stories of "The Call" from many of your favorite authors. These short stories provide the details about when each author received the call that his/her manuscript sold, what they did to celebrate, how they got their foot in the door, etc. Please visit the site, check out the call stories and register to win an exciting vacation!

JEN: Any book signings or upcoming appearances?

KELLEY: I have several book signings scheduled for the upcoming year. So far, I know I'm scheduled to sign in Tampa, Birmingham, Atlanta, Dallas and New York, but I'm sure I'll add more cities as time progresses. Check out the "Events" section of my site to see the list.

Thank you, Kelley, for such an awesome interview. Your books are so entertaining and I look forward to reading your next release. Best of luck with your writing career!

Okay, it's that time!! Readers to answer the following trivia question correctly and enter at Jen's Jewels Contest will win a copy of Real Women Don't Wear Size 2! Good luck!

What is the title of the first book in her paranormal trilogy set to be released in May 2007?

I'd like to wish all of my readers a Happy New Year! Next month, I will be interviewing an old friend of mine, Laura Pedersen. You won't want to miss it!

Until next month......Jen