Deb at a Glance

• Born and raised in Brookings, South Dakota. Youngest of five (much youngest). A Baby Boomer who married her high school sweetheart (our lockers were side-by-side). Mother of two, grandmother of three darling princesses, dog mother of 2.5 mutts.

• Graduate of South Dakota State University with a Master’s degree in Geography and History.

• Job history: taxi driver, flax seed counter, cartographer, rural mail carrier, substitute teacher, secretary/community liaison for Merced College’s Child Development Center, bookkeeper, journalist, author.

• First sale story: June, 1999, to Harlequin Superromance. Total number of books under contract to date=25. Read my Harlequin Moment here.

• Honors and awards: Romantic Times BOOKreviews, 2006 Series Storyteller of the Year. Nominated for Desert Quill in 2008.

 

Debra...The Rest of the Story

Believe it or not, I get tired writing about myself. I’m convinced I’ve said everything worth saying several times over. Then, I’m asked to give an interview for The Good, The Bad and The Unread blog, and, suddenly, the old information takes on new shape. So, with thanks to Wendy—AKA SuperLibrarian—here’s a slightly fresher look at little ol’ me:

1) When you were growing up, your parents owned and operated their own taxi cab company.  Most writers have colorful work histories, but this is by far one of the more intriguing ones I’ve come across!  What was it like working in the family business, and did it shape you as a writer?

My parents bought the taxi company when I was five. I started answering the phone shortly after. Since I didn’t know how to write at that point, I had to take a call and quickly repeat it on the radio so someone in the cabs could log it.

For example:

Taxi phone rings.

Caller: “Send a cab to 314-Lincoln Lane S. Right away. I’m late for church.” (Now, I would probably say, “You should have planned better. This is so not my problem.”

          5-yr-old Deb: “3…1…4…Lincoln…Lane…south. Okay.”

5-yr-old Deb hangs up the phone, picks up the bulky, gray metal walkie-talkie thing that requires you to press the button on the side to talk and relays the number. I’m told I was rather demanding about making sure someone heard me and intended to pick up the fare.

Numbers. Memory challenges. Early map work. Communication skills. This job was like preschool with a purpose. But the kicker came when my father told me he’d “put me on the payroll” once I learned to write.

          5-yr-old Deb: Writing equals money?

          Can you say subliminal forces at work?

In hindsight, I think the taxi business MADE me a writer. And once I learned to drive, every fare offered a chance to stockpile yet another interesting character.

2) Your first novel, That Cowboy’s Kids, was published in 2000 and in 8 years you’ve amassed an impressive backlist.  What is your work schedule like?

I’d always planned to write books, but I was convinced I needed the right amount of open time and most definitely the right space to do my ambition justice. Kids have a tendency to interrupt a lot, so I told myself I’d wait until my two were older before I started writing that novel. Then other things came up, like a full time job that really drained my creativity—newspapers frown on you making things up. But eventually I ran out of excuses. I didn’t have the perfect space—my first office didn’t have heat or AC so in the winter I worked with gloves and a space heater and in the summer I got up really early to avoid dripping sweat on my pages. And time was still a premium because my kids were teens and I’d started my own bookkeeping business.

But here’s what I learned: it’s never going to be the perfect time and it’s definitely not about space; it’s about putting words on paper.

Debbie Macomber typed her first manuscript at the kitchen table with kids scurrying around her.  I wish I’d been as brave.

I now have two lovely offices – a right brain and a left brain office. Okay, my right brain office is more of an alcove, but it’s where you’ll find me when I’m on deadline. Every day –a minimum of one new scene or ten new pages--until the book is done.  I sit in my recumbent chair, click on my laptop and start typing. In between deadlines, I’m in the other office doing all the stuff that comes with being a published author in this day and age: blogs, interviews, art pages, PR, website updates, MySpace, etc.

And, honestly, some days I give myself permission to play with my three granddaughters. Kids tend to interrupt and I appreciate that a lot more now, but they’re definitely worth the time.

3) While you’ve tip-toed into some other Harlequin lines, you’ve pretty much stuck with SuperRomance.  What do you love about the line, and why did you want to write for it?

Before I sold my first book, I was all over the place—writing-wise. Mystery, romance, suspense, comedy. I read it all and loved it all. I wanted to write it all.

But after two or three rejections, I realized the only way to sell was to give editors what they were looking for. So, I went to the book store and picked up a dozen or so new books. I read them all, looking for a publisher or line that would be right for the story I had in mind. Superromance was a clear winner.

I had no understanding of the romance genre at the time. I didn’t know the difference between a series, a line and a category. But I liked the stories the Superromance authors were telling. They were bigger and more complex. The authors really got into their characters’ points of view. Some were sexy, some weren’t. This was important to me because the story I was writing involved two damaged children and I needed my hero and heroine to put the kids first, even while they were in the process of falling in love. That story became THAT COWBOY’S KIDS. I queried, sent in three chapters, revised upon rejection, resubmitted and sold.

And, although I’ve had a single title, BETTING ON GRACE, with Signature and 3 connected books with Harlequin American, my first love has remained Superromance. The editors have always been open to pushing the proverbial envelope. (In WONDERS NEVER CEASE my heroine spent time in the body of the hero’s aging police dog, and in LOVE, BY GEORGE one of the main characters is a Great Dane.) The book I’m working on now has a shared dream sequence that is slightly paranormal. I’ve always been told: “Whatever works works.” For a writer, that’s like the golden ticket to the chocolate factory.

4) I know your writing keeps you busy, but a librarian has got to ask – what do you like to read?  Any favorite authors?

I always forget to put someone on my list and regret it later. You know what it’s like when you walk into the bookstore and promptly forget which book you went there to buy? That’s how I am with lists. But here are a few names that jump to mind: Susan Crosby, Jean Brashear, Brenda Novak, Kathy Shay, Eileen Rendahl, Alisa Kwitney, Elizabeth Berg, Laurell K. Hamilton, Judith Arnold, Randy Wayne White, Barbara Kingsolver, Michael Pollen, Isabelle Allende, Pat Potter, John Irving, Michael Critchton…to name a few.

Here are a couple of books that I’ve enjoyed recently and haven’t had a chance to check out others by the author: A GENTLE RAIN by Deborah Smith, WATER FOR ELEPHANTS by Sara Gruen and THE RED TENT by Anita Diamant .

I belong to a readers group and we have a diverse cross-section of reading likes and dislikes. I think this is an excellent way to expand your reading horizons. My September release, HIS BROTHER’S SECRET, is dedicated to the members of my book club.

5) The first book in your Sentinel Pass series, Baby By Contract, debuts this month and it looks like this five book series is going to keep you busy through 2009!  Tell us a little bit about the series.

            Think: The Bachelor meets Northern Exposure.

Sentinel Pass is an imaginary town in the Black Hills of South Dakota. SOUTH Dakota. That’s SOUTH of North Dakota. (I don’t know why anyone would mix these two up—have you ever seen North Dakota?, but it happens all the time.) Hint: the HBO series “Deadwood” was set here, Mount Rushmore is here, Dances With Wolves was filmed here, it’s just next door to Devil’s Tower…

Anyway, Sentinel Pass is a tiny town that really isn’t ready for its close-up. Then, its favorite daughter makes a teeny tiny mistake—she uses the Internet to offer part ownership in her family’s gold mine in return for viable sperm…”some restrictions apply.” And the delicious hunk who convinces her he’s the right guy to fulfill this contract is Cooper Lindstrom, a Hollywood bad boy with some serious baggage that includes his late mother’s bookie who is out for blood—Coop’s.

I can’t tell you how much fun I had with this book. I’ve been waiting all my life to open a romance novel with the words: “Pay up or die.”

The subsequent books belong to Libby’s “Wine, Women and Words” book club members: Jenna, Kat and Char. And squeezed in there somewhere will be Libby’s brother, Mac’s, story.

I love the Hills and I hope my stories and my characters do justice to the wonderful Black Hills mystique. If you haven’t been there, maybe reading my “Spotlight on Sentinel Pass’ series will encourage you to go. But you can always check out the photos from my research trip on my website.

My thanks to Wendy—AKA SuperLibrarian—for inviting me to join this illustrious group! Happy reading!

Debra

The above interview was first published 05/16/08 at GoodBadandUnread.com