Get into Bed with Lisa Dale (Author Interview)

Keira: Tell us about your newest release, Slow Dancing on Price's Pier!

Lisa Dale: I’m so excited about this book! Slow Dancing on Price's Pier was named a TOP PICK for Barnes & Noble, and the romance of the month for BookPage magazine. Can’t ask for better than that!

Slow Dancing on Price's Pier is a “second chance” love story. The hero and the heroine were in love with each other in high school, but then something went wrong. Very wrong. In high school, it looked like they were meant to be together forever. But when the book opens, we learn that the heroine is in the middle of a complicated divorce (she didn’t marry the hero). I don’t want to give away everything!

I really wanted readers to get a lot of bang for their buck in this story. So there are two love stories—the story of when the hero and heroine fall in love as teens, and then –running parallel—the story of when they fall in love again as adults. It’s a two-for-one!

Keira: What is your favorite time of day or place to write?

Lisa: Actually, I write in bed! I have a very lovely desk with a nice printer and lighting that I use for work that’s related to writing but is not actually writing. But then, when it’s time to write, I go away from all that work stuff and just go write. Curtains drawn. Door shut. No distractions. I like to be alone with my characters, to really listen to them!

Keira: What advice do you have for new writers?

Lisa: There are really just three things that I think are important. First, reading. Without reading, it’s like a writer is asking to be put on the Olympic hockey team having only seen one or two hockey games. Crazy, right? Second, find good mentors. I was lucky to get into a good MFA program and meet incredible teachers who boosted my technique and my confidence. I have good mentors within the industry as well—people I turn to when I don’t have the answer. Third—and this seems counterintuitive to points one and two—nobody can teach you how to write but you. The writing life is a life of self-inquiry. No one can do more for you than what you can do for yourself.

Keira: Any vacation plans this summer?

Lisa: Yes! I’m getting married on July 2, and my fiancé and I are going to San Francisco. It’s a funny story. I saw a program about a farm-to-table restaurant that I was dying to go to in Napa. I mean—I’ve never wanted to go to a restaurant in my life as much as I wanted to go to this one. It felt…(don’t laugh) cosmic. (Okay you can laugh a little). Anyway, I thought, what are the chances that I’ll be able to get out to California to go to a restaurant? Who does that? Then—totally unrelated and out of the blue, two days after I discover the restaurant—Matt said, “I can get free tickets to California. Wanna go?” Mind-blowing how the world works sometimes!

Keira: What’s down the pipeline for you?

Lisa: For now, I’m just working hard to get the word about Slow Dancing on Price's Pier out there. My new book, A Promise of Safekeeping, comes out in January. I’m excited to share it. It’s a story that’s both romantic and important. The heroine is a lawyer who inadvertently sent an innocent man to prison for ten years. The hero is an antiques dealer in Richmond, Virginia, who has a crippling secret that keeps him from getting into any kind of serious relationship with women. It should be a good one!

Keira: Where can readers keep in touch with you?

Lisa: I love hearing from readers—whether they’re my fan or just fellow book worms who like to talk books! Come chill with me on my Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lisa-Dale/158780257466338) or join the conversation on my blog, where I regularly give away prizes to readers (http://lisadalebooks.com/blog/).

Thanks so much for having me!

Buy: Slow Dancing on Price's Pier