What Was I Thinking by Donna Simonetta

Posted: February 6, 2020/By: achristay@aol.com

Please welcome Donna Simonetta author of What Was I Thinking

Donna Simonetta will be awarding a $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

What Was I Thinking

byDonna Simonetta

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GENRE: Contemporary Romance

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INTERVIEW:

What or who inspired you to start writing?

My mom is a big reader, so my love of books and reading started early. I don’t even remember a time when I couldn’t read. When I was a little girl, I’d go to the library and look on the shelves to see where my books would go if I was an author. Real life got in the way of those dreams for a long time, but a health scare about twelve years ago brought me back to it. I thought about what I’d always wanted to do, and writing a book was it. So, I gave writing a try, and haven’t looked back!

2. How did you come up with ideas for your books?

I never know what’s going to spark an idea for me. It can be an intriguing snippet of a conversation overheard, a visit to a city where I want to set a story, or in the case of a series, the storyline for the next book can come through the actions of the characters in the previous novels. That’s certainly how it worked for me in my Rivers Bend trilogy. Recently, my husband said something to me in passing, that got me thinking about if we would have met one another if we’d made different choices in our youth and followed different paths in life, and a story idea popped into my head and I started writing immediately!

3. What would you want your readers to know about you that might not be in your bio?

I really hate winter. Which seems relevant right now, as I’m answering this question in January. Ha! Once the holidays are over, I have no use for the cold weather. I LOVE the beach, and hope to someday live in a warmer climate on the water. My happy place is St. Pete Beach in Florida, on the Gulf of Mexico. The soft, powdery sand, dolphins and manatees frolicking in the aqua water, the warm sun, a good book and tropical drink in hand…aahhhh…I could stay there forever.

If you could be one of the characters from any of your books, who would it be and why?

I really love my own husband and life, so I wouldn’t want to be one of my characters forever, but I wouldn’t mind getting to live in San Diego, like Kelly does in my book Angels Fly. Maybe I could take a getaway vacation as Kelly. She has a fabulous condo overlooking the bay, great friends who I would love to hang out with, and a successful writing career. Not to mention a hot artist as her love interest. It definitely wouldn’t suck to be Kelly for a long weekend. ; )

5. When did you first decide to submit your work? Please tell us what or who encouraged you to take this big step?

When I finished writing my first book, my husband and friends who had read it really loved it, which encouraged me to gather my courage and try to sell it to literary agents. I did my research and learned what went into querying literary agents. I sent it out to my five top picks for representation. I grinned, swiped my hands together, and said. ‘Let the bidding war over my book begin!” Spoiler alert…there was no bidding war. I received my first rejection within half an hour. Thirty minutes. It was eye-opening. But I dusted my ego off, and sent the manuscript out to another agent. And then another. Every rejection I got, I picked another agent and sent it to them. Sadly, that book never was published. My first published book was Angels Fly, and it was actually the third book I’d written. And I submitted it directly to the publisher, the Wild Rose Press, rather than working through an agent, and have been very happy working with them.

6. Do you outline your books or just start writing?

I do a little of both. When I started writing, I’d read an interview with Jim Butcher, who writes one of my favorite series the Dresden Files. He said he draws an actual arc to plot out his stories. At one end of the arc, he writes the start of the story, and at the opposite end, he writes the ending. At the top of the arc he writes the climax of the story. I have to admit, I took that idea and use it myself when I start to write a new book. Jim Butcher goes on to plot out each point in between the three initial ones––I do NOT do that. Once I know the points I’m working toward (high point and ending), I start writing and let the muse take over for what happens in between those points.

7. Have you started your next project? If so, can you share a little bit about your book?

What Was I Thinkingwraps up my Rivers Bend trilogy, which has occupied my writing time for the last few years. It feels a little funny to leave it behind, but I am working on a book I’m really excited about—a ghost story romance, set in Richmond, VA. The main character lives in a haunted house, but fortunately has two ghost-hunting brothers living next door. And the brother of the main character in this book is a prime target for his own happy-ever-after in another story that I have an idea for too. I also have an idea for a spinoff of my Rivers Bend books, that would be set here in Baltimore, where I live. It features Roni and Chase, who were secondary characters in Love is Lovelierand What Was I Thinking. I also would like to get back to the story I mentioned earlier, about different choices maybe still leading to the same person and place.

8. What is your favorite reality show?

I have to confess to having a serious weakness for reality television. In particular, any or all of the paranormal investigation shows. Give me a good Kindred Spiritsmarathon and I’m set for the day. And for pure voyeuristic fun…I love me some Below Deck––either version, although I do have a soft spot for the Captain Lee series. His Captain Lee-isms always make me laugh. My husband was home recuperating from surgery last summer, and I got him hooked on Below Decktoo. Now…my husband is a super-intelligent PhD, so dragging him down into the cultural mud with me was a proud moment. Haha!

9. Anything else you might want to add?

Thank you so much for letting me visit today, Christine! I really appreciate the chance to talk about writing with your readers, and maybe introduce them to my books.

BLURB:

A wild Vegas fling isn’t the traditional Thanksgiving celebration, and Lily and Jason have been like oil and water since they met. Blaming their steamy hook-up on too many shots at the bar, they head home.
Back in the real world, Jason wonders if he’s ready to give up his crown as the Playboy King of Rivers Bend to be with just one woman. And Lily has enough on her plate right now without adding Jason Braden to the mix, even if their attraction is crazy-strong.
But life is good at throwing curveballs, and a lot can happen between Thanksgiving and Valentine’s Day. Maybe even enough to lead these two polar opposites home to each other in Rivers Bend.

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EXCERPT:

Heather leaned forward to peer across the aisle at her. “You look like crap, Lily.”

“Thank you very much.” Lily said. “Now, would you lower your voice, please? There is no need to yell.”

“I was just thinking I never noticed how loud Heather was before.” Jason nodded. Then he stopped abruptly, and rubbed his temples. “Okay. Nodding is a bad idea. No more sudden head movements.”

“What did you two do last night after dinner? It must’ve been off the hook, because I’ve never seen either of you look this lousy before.” Heather asked.

“We went to the nightclub in the hotel.” Lily said.

Jason leaned back against the headrest and closed his eyes. “Seriously, Heather, could you whisper or something?”

Mick chuckled, as he flipped through the in-flight magazine. “I hope you two survive the flight home.”

Heather laughed, and Jason groaned. She then said in a stage whisper, “And what happened at the nightclub, to leave you both looking like you’ve both been dragged behind a horse for twenty miles?”

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Donna Simonetta writes the kind of books she loves to read––contemporary romances to help you escape the real world for a little while. Writing is Donna’s third career. She toiled in the business world, and when she decided being an Account Executive wasn’t for her went back to school to get her MLS degree. Next, she worked in a school library for many years. But, Donna dreamed of being an author since she was a little girl, and began to squeeze writing into her day. After the publication of her second book, she decided to leave the library and become a full-time author.

Donna lives in Maryland with her husband, who is her real-life romance hero. They enjoy traveling to visit far-flung family and friends, and spending time on the beach with an umbrella drink and a good book.

Author Links:

https://www.facebook.com/donnasimonettaauthor

https://twitter.com/donna_simonetta

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15422407.Donna_Simonetta

https://www.amazon.com/Donna-Simonetta/e/B06X415TWW/

https://www.bookbub.com/authors/donna-simonetta

https://www.instagram.com/donnasimonetta4/

Buy Links:

Amazon:

https://amzn.to/2QOzQlI

Apple:

https://apple.co/2QJd4vy