Hello fellow readers!  I recently had the opportunity to chat with Lisa Renee Jones about her successful writing career.  Thank you Lisa for taking the time to answer some of my questions.

Lisa, I understand special congratulations are in order because you just sold the film rights to Fantasy World!  Could you tell us about that?  How the process worked, how the whole idea came up?  Okay...so, be honest here, did you do the happy dance when it was all done?

The whole Fantasy World deal happened so fast! One day my agent calls me and says I want these 3 books pronto on pdf. So I send them to her and the film company calls her at like ten that night and are loving one of the books. Two days later, Saturday, I am sitting in Starbucks and my agent calls me with an offer on a different book. They like it best of all and feel like its perfect for the first of a series of movies they are doing for a new launch of Pay Per View direct to video movies. Apparently, it's a big roll out to fight the economic sluggishness and people staying home rather than going to the movies. I was like okay, so it's optioned...Should I cheer? I asked my agent. She said sometimes an option is not a big deal but in this case they have already met with their buyer and feel this is IT. This is what they need. She told me to cheer. LOL so I cheered.

Then I go the contracts and fast! They wanted it signed and they gave me the option to write the script. So I think okay this is good, a few months from now maybe it will happen. The next thing I know, a week later, the film lady wants me to write the script and wants it in 2 to 4 weeks! EEK! I was freaking! I was new to this. I end up talking to her. Very intimidating since she is the former VP of SONY! I was so dang nervous. She on the other hand was nicer than most people I have met in this business! So dang nice! I worked on the script, showed her a few pages, took her direction and then went for it. At halfway, she blessed it and I was so happy. Now it's done and we are supposed to know the beginning of the month if it's a green light or not....so now I am nail biting. Is it going all the way? One of the final decision makers is on location until late next week.

Could you tell me how this story will be presented in a film version? By whom?  When? What channel?

I jumped ahead of you. Sorry! It's a new thing. A monthly movie club kind of thing a Pay Per View affiliate is going to offer... for one fee, you get these movies for the month kind of thing..When? LOL! I hope to know soon! The film company is one of David Heavener's who has worked with all kinds of big names and is well respected so I am honored that he would look at my work.

What did you consider the most difficult part of being a writer during the process of selling your film rights?  What kinds of things did you have to change to accommodate the film media?

Script writing is NOTHING like writing a book. Everything you tell the reader, you have to show in the actors actions and words. I had to add scenes to show things I did in people's heads or in narrative, and I had to find a flavor for the script that would give a tone to the movie. It was hard. And scripts cannot be a lot of pages because it's expensive to shoot! You have to massive cut cut cut, and make it still be the same story. And whatever you do, you cannot act as director and as a writer it's your baby and you WANT to tell them what to do. Also 3rd person becomes first person so I kept slipping back into writing books and had to go back and edit. When I started on a book again after a month of a script I had days of writers block. I thought I couldn't write a book again. It was hard. But if this goes well my agent says they like two other things I gave them so I pray this goes well. I took a big risk leaving the corporate world for my writing and it would be nice to tell my kids Mom has no intentions of starving them lol!

Fantasy World is a wonderful book with a great love story.  I loved the full characters you were able to develop in such a short story.  Was it hard to fully develop these characters with their flaws and fears in a short story? Could you tell me how or what inspired you to create Ryan and Jill and Fantasy World?  

This story has more of me in it than any other. It was the first ever I wrote so I pulled on a lot of me. I grew up with a poor, single mom so I developed the story around a character that had the same. I wanted, from when I was very little, to work my way out of the poverty we lived in. I would work hard and make it. So Jill's personality comes a lot from that. But when I was younger I wanted, secretly at least, to have a prince charming. But then writing this I thought, if prince charming came along, could I really just let him take over... No! Of course not. What if it didn't work out? Where would all my work be! And where would the woman I was go to?

The script, I tried to bring out all of these things, but casting, and production mean everything. How the actors bring out the story. My son is an actor, in fact, his first staring role goes direct to Blockbusters later this year, so I have been around this a lot. The actors matter. This story is a Cinderella story and I think they liked that it could be sexy but not over the top. It is wholesome and spicy.

It is hard to find a writer that can balance the dominating nature with a tender side and not have it sound contrite.  How were you able to find the balance and make it work for Ryan?  Did you have a roll model?  Or did his character just develop?  

He was everything I would want my prince charming to be so that made it easy. He was a bit of Richard Gere in Pretty Woman to me. Sexy, confident, sensitive, rich lol! I think because he was the first male character I ever wrote I had one image in my head that was easy to wrap up into a ball and make well rounded. I didn't have other characters floating around. Just him.

Wow!  To top it all off, you have your first hardcover release coming in November, Hidden Instincts!  Would you give us a sneak peak at this new book?  

I would love to! I am so excited about this book. I won first place in the Romantic Times Aspiring Writers contest TWO YEARS ago with this book and finally its going to print!

Hidden Instincts by Lisa Renee Jones

Synopsis of Title/Flap Copy

Lindsey Paxton is a brilliant attorney who fights for the innocent accused of horrific crimes. Driven by her instincts, she knows who is innocent, and she always wins her cases. Until she wins the wrong one, and her most recent client rapes and kills a woman only weeks after his release. Blaming herself, she left the legal world and her hometown behind, and joined the FBI, trying to forget the past.

Years later, her father has cancer, and Lindsey is drawn back home to run the family law firm. In doing so, she inherits a case so similar to the career ending case of her past, she begins reliving her guilt. A man accused of murder, victims that look like her, and a plea of innocence . . . it all seems to be happening again.

She goes to the only place that offers hope, the estranged partner. In Mark Reeves she finds a unique man, one who makes her rethink her position on life and love. And the only one willing to help her discover the truth behind killings that span time and distance . . . and are coming closer to Lindsey than she knows.

Back Cover Excerpt

Mark yanked open a small door to reveal a tiny, well-kept pantry, barely big enough for one person. He reached for Lindsey, pulling her with him as he stepped into the closet and pulled the door shut. They were standing face to face, their thighs pressed together. Mark leaned against the wall, shifting Lindsey with him, and Lord help her, she felt it in every inch of her body.

He looked down at her, and despite the dimness of the light, she could see the desire he felt, just as she had seen it in her kitchen. She’d talked herself out of acting then, a flare of second thoughts making her bolt. Afraid he would be as controlling as the men in her past. Afraid she was lost to him if she gave in to her attraction.

But there was no way to hide from this moment.

Flattening his hands on her back, pulling even closer, he molded them together. And she didn’t fight him, silently giving her approval of his actions. Her heart was racing, pounding so loudly in her chest, she wondered if he could hear, or at this proximity, feel it.

Her hand settled on his chest, fingers spread. They stared at one another, a mutual understanding, a need, shared in those moments. Both knew what the other wanted.

“Hey there kitty, how are you?” A woman’s voice made Lindsey stiffen as she listened, never taking her eyes from Mark’s. The voice was loud. Close. “I brought you your favorite food. You miss Roger, I bet, huh?”

Mark slowly moved his hands up her back, sliding them around her waist, and then up her sides, barely skimming her breasts. Lindsey almost gasped from the sudden, intimate touch. Mark smiled down at her with a challenge in his eyes. Surely, he knew he’d already won. She was ready to surrender.

It was pure madness, but standing in a closet, about to be caught for breaking and entering, his every little move impacted her with such intensity, it took Lindsey’s breath away.

His eyes were full of suggestion, and Lindsey felt her body responding with a resounding YES. The only thing keeping Lindsey from completely losing control and attacking Mark was the voice on the other side of the door.

Praise for Hidden Instincts:

“Lindsey Paxton and Mark Reeves find love among the dangerous investigation of a serial killer in Lisa Renee Jones’ Hidden Instincts. This story is a magnificently woven tale of romantic suspense. It had me hooked from the start and led up to a surprise ending that shocked me. Lisa Renee Jones writes romantic suspense with flair and imagination and brings about a marvelously compelling story. I give this story 5 stars.”

—The Romance Review Spot

“Hidden Instincts is a story of passion and murder, a story that pounds at your heart and pulls you in. Lisa Renee Jones has given us an interesting read that is hard to put down, grabs you and rivets you to your chair. This is one for the keeper shelf, one of Lisa Renee Jones’ best yet.”

—Romance at Heart

“Hidden Instincts kept me reading, perched on seats edge, until the book’s conclusion. Ms. Jones wove together a compelling story full of mystery, and wonderfully real characters—some whom I would never want to meet on a dark street. The sexual tension between Mark and Lindsey is explosive, with love scenes that leave you panting for more. A different type of story from what Ms. Jones normally writes, she proves that she can capture your attention, and feed your imagination, no matter what the genre. What a fantastic addition to my collection!”

—Romance Junkies

How long did it take for your first book to be published?  How long did it take for your first hardcover to be published?

LOL I jumped again. I won the RT contest just a few months after I started writing but it took a year to sell the book and another year to go into print. I started epublishing a few months into writing and now have several more print books in the works but can't say what might happen where..jinx and all!

How was the process different from having an e-book published to having a Hardcover published?

LONGER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Forever!!!!!!!!!!! Editing was similar, and so was most everything else, just slower by 100 times!  

Now that you are an author in print, do you plan on having all of your future books printed now?  Do you plan on having your e-books put into print also?  

I don't have a lot of e releases right now because I have a lot of full length material being considered at major publishers. It is hard not to get those quick releases and I am having withdrawal but I am trying to think long term on my career. I do plan to do some more work with Liquid Silver who has been very good to me and I am excited to be at Ellora's now. My first release with them is in March and I have several other things in the works there. They are awesome and I hope to do a lot with them.

Lisa, what are you working on now?  Can you give us die hard fans a little hint about your future writing schedule?

I am finishing up a single title erotic romantic suspense that a particular publisher asked me to expand from a short. Really hoping to have good news on it soon. Then I just finished a bombshell chicklit which Avon asked for a complete on so I am so fingers crossed and praying...Next up is expanding an ebook for my agent and two projects for Ellora's. The follow up to Protector, Healer, and a book called Shadow Princess.

I hate to say it but none of this is fast releases. I hope to throw in the follow up to Going too fast very very soon though at Liquid Silver!  The story is in my head wanting to get out!  

Thank you Lisa!  I appreciate the opportunity to interview you for Coffee Time Romance.  It has been a real treat to chat with you.  Do you have anything else that you would like to say to our readers?

Just thank you thank you thank you for reading my books! I love you!