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Interview with Desiree Holt

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Welcome, today we are talking with Desiree Holt! I would like to thank you for taking time out of your busy writing schedule to answer a few questions.

First, I think it’s important for readers to get a little insight on an author that they don’t necessarily get from your professional bio. You’d be surprised at what readers connect to, and sometimes the simplest ‘I can relate to that’ grabs their interest where nothing else can.

With regard to your extensive professional career, what did you enjoy doing the most?

I think probably the ten years I was in the music business. I was both an agent and manager for rock and country rock acts as well as some Top 40 bands. Did public relations for a lot of them. I traveled a lot. Got to hang out with a lot of my favorite recording stars. In Aftershock the first chapter is taken directly from a real event.

What made you decide on becoming a writer?

I think I decided when I was ten. I was always a reader, devouring books, but I loved making up stories. My family of course thought a lot of them were absurd but they never stifled my creativity. I did magazine work and newspaper work over the years but fiction was my real love. I just had to wait until I had the rest of my life out of the way before I could sit down and unload all the stories in my brain.

What are your favorite animal, food, movie, TV show, actor, singer, and author?

  • Favorite animal is cat. I have three
  • Favorite food is a tossup between pizza and Chinese
  • Favorite movie is The Hunt For Red October. I know, not a romance, right?
  • Favorite TV show: wow, that’s a toughie. Used to be Walker Texas Ranger but now that’s in a tie with Blue Bloods.
  • Favorite actor is Jim Caveziel
  • Favorite singer is far and away Neil Diamond
  • Favorite author: wow, too numerous to mention. I can name ten off the top of my head that I buy every thing they write, everybody from Marie Force to Brad Thor.

What are your pet peeves?

People who think they know everything and don’t. People, who write reviews of books, criticize something and factually they are wrong. People who make noise in movie theatres. Screaming kids in restaurants.

Who’s your hero?

Marcus Luttrell of Lone Survivor

Share one thing on your bucket list.

A trip to Alaska, and I’m going the end of summer! Yay!

What would readers find surprising about you?

I went ziplining at the age of 75. And I’d love to have my own motorcycle!

If you could go to heaven, who would you visit?

My late husband. He was and still is my hero.

Any bad habits?

Too many to count! Cheat on diets, interrupt people when they are talking (just ask my kids!), eat weird food combos, am opinionated, and….oh, I think that’s enough.

What’s the funniest thing that ever happened to you?

Embarrassing, too. I wore a skirt I made in home ec in high school to a basketball game, caught a thread on the bleachers and the skirt came apart. Red face!

If you could change one thing about you, what would it be and why?

Hmmm. Too many things to choose from!

Please give readers a little insight on what your typical writing schedule looks like.

  • I’m up at 6:30 with my cats (they make sure I know they want breakfast)
  • Then it’s two hours doing social media and promo’
  • An hour on the treadmill followed by a shower
  • By ten o’clock I am at the computer and I write until between 5:00 and 6:00, with a break for lunch. I am a disciplined writer and I enjoy what I’m doing.

Now that our readers know a little bit more about Desiree Holt, let’s get down to the business of your successful writing career. On that note, how many books have you published to date?

175 are now available with an additional 9 finished and scheduled for release. And 7 more in process.

I understand that you have a new football series in the works, Game On.  Please tell us a little bit about Forward Pass, the debut book in the series.

I absolutely love football. It’s my drug of choice. I used to like it okay but then I bought a book called How To Watch a Football Game and Holy Hannah! I actually know what’s going on now! It’s worse than chocolate. I have wanted to write a football romance ever since I wrote my first story. In fact, I have a women’s fiction story sitting on my computer that is the very first book I wrote. One of these days I’ll pull it out and polish it up.

Anyway, I finally decided it was time to do the deed. Game On, the series, is about a Texas high school football team (and you know that is a religion in Texas, right?) but it’s fifteen years later. What are they doing? Some of them went into the NFL and a few are still playing. Some were injured and are into new career paths. Others left football completely. Forward Pass is the story of Joe Reilly (who in my mind looks like Brian Griese, former NFL quarterback and now ESPN sportscaster). When a knee injury forced him to retire he found a whole new career in sportscasting (like Brian!)And back into his life comes Shey Beckham, the kid sister of his best friend. Only now Shey is a woman, one who has had a crush on Joe for years. So this story is both about Joe finding himself out of football and Joe and Shey tiptoeing around their new relationship. And of course there are plenty of traps along the way. I tell people this is the series where football and romance collide.

How many books do you plan for this series?

Three are contracted right now with a fourth on the drawing board. I guess it will go on as long as people keep buying the books!

What was your hardest challenge writing this book?

Getting the first chapter right and setting the stage for Joe and Shey. Right after that was the challenge of bringing the flavor of football into the book without boring people.

What kind of research did you do to prepare for this book?

Well, there is my wonderful handbook, How To Watch a Football Game. Then I read Brian Griese’s book Undefeated and I Never Played the Gamer by the late Howard Cosell. I also read a wonderful book by Grantland Rice, the dean of sportswriters. The book is called The Tumult and the Shouting, and really, isn’t that what football is about?

What in your opinion makes good chemistry between your leading characters?

It has to be a combination of physical attraction and an emotional connection. With Joe and Shey it’s been there since the time he discovered she wasn’t a kid any more while for Shey it’s always been there. They pick their way carefully through the ups and downs of it, with the combined physical and emotional tug getting stronger and stringer.

What can readers expect from Desiree Holt in the future? Can you give us a little preview of what’s to come?

Wow. Well, okay. First of all my story Daring to Chance It in Carly Phillips’ Dare to Love Kindle World. Two more Game On books, two more Naked Cowboys out this year, at least one more Rawhide, stories for three box sets I’m in. All of my series are doing well so as long as people keep buying them I’ll keep writing them. I also will be doing more with my co-authors in The Sons of Dusty Walker and with the Red Hot and Boom! Authors.

So I heard through the grapevine that you’re going to take a cruise to Alaska to do some research, can you share anything about it?

Oh, yes. I am very excited about it. It’s a new romantic action adventure series set in Alaska called Northern Star. The first four books are already on the drawing board and I am writing the bible as we speak. IN August I am taking a cruise to Alaska with my family to do research. Basically it revolves initially around two friends who are former military, presently working for a third friend’s security firm in Houston. But they hate the big city and when they get a call from another friend in Ketchikan, Alaska about a problem he’s having they drop everything and head north. They end up staying there and opening their own agency, Northern Star. They buy a dilapidated trailer to live in and use as an office. The trailer comes with an Alaskan Malamute who won’t leave the trailer. He’s named Dog and…Well, you’ll have to read the books to find out the rest!!

Tell us a little about your first Kindle World story that’s coming out in June. How did that come about? I have been a huge Carly Phillips fan for years. In 2014 I was on a panel with her at Authors After Dark and meeting her was great. When she invited me to write a story for her Kindle World I was thrilled. She’s not only a great writer she is a fantastic person, warm and wonderful and this is an exciting opportunity. I’m loving every minute of it.

Any other news you can share with readers?

This year I celebrate my 79th birthday and I don’t feel a day over fifty. I plan to keep writing and doing all these things for a very long time.

Any advice for aspiring authors?

Don’t give up. This takes determination and sticktoitness. Learn as much as you can. Find a great critique group. Look for online panels where you can learn the basics of writing a good story, such as how to work in your backstory. I remember when I was totally brand new and I was fortunate enough to be in a critique group with the fabulous Delilah Devlin. I got one submission back from her with the following: Honey, I love your story but it really doesn’t start until page 32. I’ve never forgotten that. It’s one of the many rules of writing that make a book entertaining to readers. And of course, never give up. I had 137 rejections before I got my first contract.

Final words?

A big hug and shoutout to all my readers who support me and read my books. I love you all. Thanks to Coffee Time Romance because when I was greener than grass Karenne virtually took my hands and told me how to promote my books and where and what to do. And a note to new writers: you have wonderful opportunities today that even as recently as 2006 when I sold my first book were not available. Use them, make the most of them, and above all, remember to treat kindly all the people who help you along the way. You can’t make it without them.

Thank you Coffee Time Romance, for this opportunity.

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