An Interview with Merry Farmer

bef76ef2-ed8b-4706-8302-bc78af2adb20How did you get started writing?

I’ve been writing for fun and to entertain myself since I was 10 years old and realized one day that I didn’t have to wait for my teacher to assign a creative writing project in order to write something. It was the most amazing discovery! And I’ve pretty much continued to consistently write since then.

What genre(s) do you write in and why?

I’ve always been drawn to historical romance, so I started out writing that. I always intended to write Victorian-era romance, but I haven’t actually been able to yet. I am most known for my historical westerns, which I fell into completely by accident. Basically, my first editor had a very small window of time that she could edit a book for me, and the book I had started out writing wasn’t finished, so I quickly sent her a historical western I had written for fun. Well, that book and that series took off, and the rest is history! I have also been trying to build a presence in contemporary romance within the last year too. It’s harder for me to write, but just as fun.

What inspired your latest book?

TrailofPassion_smallThe Wild Bride began as a fun challenge. Debra Holland invited me to write a story for her Kindle World. The parameters were that it had to take place in her town, but we could involve characters from our own series. I enjoyed figuring out who of my characters from my Hot on the Trail and The Brides of Paradise Ranch series would be old enough to be living and working in Morgan’s Crossing in 1888. As soon as I figured out Freddy Chance, who was a child in the last three Hot on the Trail books, and that the baby Lucy Faraday discovers she’s pregnant with at the end of Trail of Passion would be the perfect ages for Debra’s world, the story sort of wrote itself.

Tell us about your hero.  Give us one of his strengths and one of his weaknesses.

Freddy is the kind of guy that you want to be friends with, no matter what. He’s also an incredibly talented mechanic. In fact, his character was inspired by the husband of a fan I met last year. He is a car mechanic and bet me that no one would ever write a romance novel hero that was a mechanic. I accepted the challenge! Freddy’s big weakness is that his foot was crushed in an accident, and he’s working out how to live with an injury.

Tell us about your heroine.  Give us one of her strengths and one of her weaknesses.

Minnie is full of energy and life. She’s incredibly bright and adventurous. But she’s also headstrong and has a tendency to get herself into more trouble than she can handle due to stubbornness.

HisPerfectBride_smallWhat advice do you have for other authors wanting to self-publish?

Work hard! The industry has become a lot more competitive than it was just 5 years ago, but you can still make a career for yourself. But in order to do that, you have to be incredibly disciplined. I read in an article recently that if you look around and you’re not the hardest working author you know, you’re not going to be successful. I think there’s a lot of truth in that!

What do you have planned for the future?

I just started a new mail-order bride based series, The Brides of Paradise Ranch, set in the town of Haskell, Wyoming in the late 1870s. The town is populated by a lot of my characters from my Hot on the Trail series and their children. I’m enjoying writing in that world quite a lot. I’m also hoping to get that Victorian romance series that I’ve always wanted to write (or at least one of many series) before too long. And I’m working away at my contemporary Second Chances, celebrity romance series set in costal Maine too.

How far do you plan ahead?

Sooooo very far! *LOL* Seriously, I have enough books mapped out and outlined that I could keep myself busy for the next ten years without coming up with any new ideas. I have a much more comprehensive writing and publishing schedule with actual dates planned at least six months ahead. Things happen to disrupt the schedule, but not by a lot.

THE WILD BRIDE Amazon buy link:  http://amzn.com/B01BL0HKS2

BIO

best headshotMerry Farmer is a bestselling, award-winning novelist who lives in suburban Philadelphia with her two cats, Butterfly and Torpedo. She has been writing since she was ten years old and realized one day that she didn’t have to wait for the teacher to assign a creative writing project to write something. It was the best day of her life. She then went on to earn not one but two degrees in History so that she would always have something to write about. Her books have topped the Amazon and iBooks charts, and been named as finalists in the prestigious RONE and Rom Com Reader’s Crown awards.

 

Social Networking links:

Newsletter sign-up URL: http://eepurl.com/RQ-KX

Website: http://merryfarmer.net

Twitter: @merryfarmer20

Facebook: www.facebook.com/merryfarmerauthor

Amazon Page: http://www.amazon.com/Merry-Farmer/e/B006RATLFC/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1366067537&sr=8-2-ent

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5247224.Merry_Farmer

Other Works by Merry blog page: http://wp.me/P5ttjb-14F