Interview

Hi Cindy and welcome. I am so glad you could join us here at RomanceJunkies . To start, will you please tell us a little bit about your current projects?  

 

Hi Brooke, delighted to be here!  

 

I’m currently working on the third book in my western contemporary series, LOVE AT THE CRAZY H for The Wild Rose Press, and a series of Quickies (short erotic romances) for Ellora’s Cave featuring a group of gargoyles for 2008’s Birthstones line. So far they have accepted the first one, STONE AND EARTH, which will feature January’s birthstone, garnet.   Now I have the other ones to write!

 

Since your writing time is pretty limited, how long does it normally take you to complete a project?   Are you thinking and planning the next one as you write the current one?

 

I DO have more writing time since I more or less retired from my job at the nature center, but my writing is still chaotic. I usually have more than one WIP going, and several more in my head. Projects have taken me anywhere from two days for my first Quickie to two years, in some cases. Now a couple of months for a full length or a week for a short is more common.

 

What is your favorite part of the writing process? What about your least favorite part?

 

My favorite part is making stuff up.   I’m not kidding. It’s a kick to just invent entire lives, towns, species , whatever. My least favorite part is probably self-promotion. I find it very hard to toot my own horn.

 

Who gave you the best piece of writing advice; the tidbit you still use today?  

 

Anyone who ever said “Butt in chair, hands on keyboard.” And there’s a great Douglas Adams quote about inspiration that I’ve always followed.   “Drink lots of coffee (I substitute Diet Coke) and buy a desk that can withstand having your head banged on it.”

 

Wow you've had a lot different careers!   What do you do in the environmental education field?

 

Actually I’ve recently bowed out for the most part due to a screwed up knee. Leading hikes and such was beginning to be a problem. But I still do occasional live animal programs, including bird of prey demonstrations for a local nature center.

 

Which office did you hold as an elected politician?   Of the jobs you've had, which one would you do again?   Which one would you never go back to cuz "it's been   there , done that"?  

 

I was township clerk in a rural community for four lo-o- ong years. My husband was in graduate school and this was a part-time job that came with health insurance.   Do again? Teaching science at a junior college. Never again? Politics and receptionist.

 

Okay, how did you acquire a lizard as a pet?   What are the other animal-members of the family?   Which one loves you best?

 

Okay, the lizard has a long story. I was working at the nature center one summer afternoon. All the rehab staff was at a conference except for the college interns when a man brought in an iguana he’d found wandering loose in a Michigan trailer park. The poor thing was a mess—missing toes, bite scars on his back, half starved, but the man was terrified of it. The interns tried to explain that our permits allowed us only to take in native species, but the man adamantly refused to put the three-foot lizard back in his car. Hearing the scuffle, I went in to see if I could help, and settled the matter by offering to take the poor chewed-up thing home.   Chewie has been a member of the family for two years now.  

 

At the moment the only other critters in the house are a 90 pound chicken-hearted dog and a couple of goldfish. That’s fairly low for us. Our chinchilla, who had come from a zoo I used to work at, died after sixteen years last summer, the leopard gecko (part of my grad school research) was ten.   The hermit crabs and hamster are best not spoken of at all. For some reason if we go to a store and BUY pets, they tend not to survive in our house. Ones that follow me home from work do fine.   It’s all very strange.

 

How did you and your husband meet?   Was it love at first sight?   What made you know he was "the one"?

 

I threw a snowball at him in the basement of a college dorm. He picked me up, carried me outside and dumped me in a snow bank.   (There were a number of mutual friends involved.) The next summer he was back in town and we both ended up on crutches the same week, so we hung out while all our friends were at work. We were engaged six weeks later and have now been married 22 years. So love at second sight, maybe?

 

Which is more romantic and why:   a night on the town or a backyard picnic?

 

I have teenagers. Picnics are chaotic, not romantic. And my backyard is not very private. A night out? Now that’s a rare and wonderful thing.

 

How do you describe Cindy Spencer Pape?   How does Cindy Spencer Pape's husband describe her?  

 

Acccck ! This is the kind of question that scares me!   Let’s see. I’m five foot nothing and mostly round. I have longish dark brown hair and brown eyes. I’m a smart -mouthed snot most of the time, and would far rather write than keep house. I am usually coated in layers of dog hair, and that’s only if I haven’t been working at the nature center. Then it’s anybody’s guess!

 

Turning this over to the tall person now for his answer: (Yes, he’s over a foot taller than me. It makes life—interesting.)   Okay here’s his response—unedited at his insistence: “ Short, furry, sexy, smarter than me, seriously whacked and fun to sleep with. Cross a seal with an elf, and then make it smarter than you.”   I may dispute the furry, and I don’t know about the smarter than anybody else, but I love that he thinks so. Did I mention that he’s also nuts? I find that helps life flow much more smoothly, both of us being insane.

 

MORE FUN…

 

Summer has arrived! What was the first thing you noticed about its arrival?   Is it your favorite season, or is there one you like better?

 

I love the sunshine until it gets too hot, then I hide inside. Unless I can be by the water, or better yet, in it. Then I’m happy pretty much anytime. Which may explain the seal reference in my husband’s description.

 

Which is better:   diet or regular soda?   Hamburgers or hotdogs?   Wine or beer?  

 

Diet soda—been drinking it since there was something called Tab and the sugary stuff tastes nasty to me. Hamburgers and hotdogs both have their moments. Beer is vile. (Right up there with coffee—yuck!) Red wine is almost equally disgusting, though white is okay. Hard cider is yummy! Very, very yummy!

 

Name the one household chore that should be abolished.   Which one do you not mind doing at all?

 

Well, I don’t cook, but I enjoy baking once in a while. All cleaning should be done by cute houseboys in skimpy shorts. Somehow I don’t see that happening any time soon though. Sigh!

 

What is your favorite late-night snack?  

 

Popcorn. ( see below)

 

And lastly, no interview of a writer would be complete without this question:   what is your favorite comfort food?

 

I know the conventional answer is chocolate, and don’t get me wrong, chocolate is great, but for me it’s salty, butter-drenched popcorn. Gain pounds just thinking about it!

 

Cindy, thank you for spending time with us.   Best of luck with your writing.

 

By Brooke Wills

Romance Junkies Publishing Editor

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