Ella Jade: Meet the Author... Gem Sivad

What motivates Gem Sivad the author? Why do you write?

I don’t know. I might be crazy. Writing is difficult work, has deferred gratification and is frequently criticized in scathing reviews. It doesn’t sound like a venture anyone sane would embark on. I guess I do it because I love to tell stories, to develop characters, and to plot situations over which I have total control. J

When did you know you were a writer? Was it always your destiny or did you stumble upon your craft by accident?

I’m still stumbling around in my craft and everything seems accidental. J I wrote Intimate Strangers, my first book, more or less to prove to myself I could finish a story. When it was completed, I had a 92k word manuscript and the next thing seemed to be to see if I could get it published.

I submitted to one publisher (Liquid Silver Books) and their acquisitions editor, Tracey West, contracted it. I’d already written another historical western and the process continued, picking up momentum from first sale to now.

Intimate Strangers won the 2010 EPIC Award in two categories, Best Western and Best Erotic Western. That was a tremendous boost in promoting my name, although I still work hard to introduce fans to Gem Sivad historical romance.

How did you get into EBook publishing?

Again, it was simply stumbling around. I had a manuscript. I’m an impatient person. I wanted feedback to see if what I had was actually a book or just the pitiful scribbling of a demented mind. I got online and researched, finding a list of ebook publishers to choose from.

I entered the author market at a time when EReader devices had just begun to challenge traditional print. Again, accidental timing and changes in the publishing industry worked in my favor.

How many hours a day do you devote to writing? Do you have a set routine or do you write when the mood strikes?

I have an office at home I enter every morning at 6:00 am. While hubs gets ready for work, I take care of online tasks, drink coffee and get my thoughts ready. When he leaves for the day, I immerse myself in another time and place, leaving the internet and its many temptations and distractions. I come out of my office at 3:00 in the afternoon. With rare exception, I write for five hours.

Do you have any words of inspiration to aspiring authors? What advice would you offer a writer trying to publish?

Just do it. There are so many publishing opportunities today anyone who can finish a book can publish it. If you want to be a good writer, I’d suggest finding a good editor you trust to read your work, give you feedback, and proof read it. But, the biggest problem I think most wannabe writers have in common is the ability to FINISH THE PROJECT. Every author knows there comes a point in the story when you have doubts, think your characters are boring (or crazy) and the story is total crap. Abandoning the work is not an option.

Tell us about your current release.

I’m excited about the seven book historical western, Eclipse Heat series I’ve contracted with Ellora’s Cave in their Lawless Line. Five Card Stud, part of the series, is a Finalist in the 2012 EPIC Awards. Perfect Strangers, another title in the series just released and is available at most third party distros.

The series features stories taking place in a 19^th century Texas frontier town named Eclipse. The people who live in or around the town are the characters in my books.

Perfect Strangers Blurb: Lucy and Ambrose Quince share fiery passion in and out of bed; they love hard but fight often, both having opinions and tempers. But Lucy mysteriously disappears in 1874, leaving the Double-Q ranch and all she loves behind. Three years later, scarred in mind and body, Lucy is drawn back to Eclipse and the life she’s forgotten—including a snarling, lustful husband.

Although she claims she can’t remember him, Ambrose hasn’t forgotten a damned thing. Lucy left him and he owes her nothing. Trouble is—his heart remembers too, and Lucy’s the only woman who’ll ever own it.

Buy Link: Ellora’s Cave / ARE / B&N / Amazon

Do you have any upcoming projects in the works?

Yes, I have a stand-alone erotic western romance, Pinch of Naughty, scheduled to release from Ellora’s Cave in January, and am currently working on Whispering Grace, another Eclipse Heat title due out in 2012.

Where can readers connect with you?