How did you get started writing?

I was fifty-eight and thinking I needed to do something different. Although, I’m a huge reader and have been all my life, I never even considered writing fiction. For years, my husband and I planned to retire on a sailboat, and I’d just read a very good book about another couple’s adventure. So I thought I’d keep a journal about our five year plan to buying and moving onto the boat. Well . . . it turns out that I can’t write about anything that I’ve done or am doing. But that seemed to open up something in my brain, and a few weeks later I read an interview by an author I read. She recommended writing what you read instead of what you know. At that point, the door was flung wide open. Less than a week later, I had a video playing in my head of a furious Regency lady. A month later, I had a 100,000 word completed manuscript, and more characters clamoring for their stories to be told.
What genre(s) do you write in and why?

I only write Regencies. I love the period, and I feel as if I have good feel for the customs, mores, and what went on. With my current series, The Worthingtons, and when I bring back the first series, The Marriage Game, I’ll eventually end up in the Victorian era. I’ve been asked by several other authors when I’m going to write a contemporary series, but I really don’t think I could. I haven’t lived in the States since the early 1990’s, and now I live on a boat. So, no TV, no radio, few newspapers, no magazines (except about sailing). My son is in his mid-thirties and my granddaughter is six. I truly don’t know anything about what life is like in the modern age.
Tell us about your current series.

I’m having a great time with this series. It has eleven children ranging in age from five to eighteen, two Great Danes, kittens are added to the mix in the second book, and various friends. I even have characters from my first series showing up in this one. It begins with Lady Grace Carpenter and Mattheus, Earl of Worthington. Believe it or not, married women were not allowed to have custody even their own children. After her mother’s death, Grace fought for guardianship of her seven brothers and sisters, but that means she’ll probably never marry. Enter Matt Worthington who is looking for a wife and thinks Grace will fit his needs perfectly. But can he take on her brood along with his four sisters? The books are funny and sexy, which is what I write.

Do you have a view in your writing space?

I have the most magnificent view possible.

What does your space look like?

As I mentioned above, I live on a sailboat and my view is constantly changing. There is always water, of course. But the islands and other land masses change.

Do you prefer to read in the same genres you write in or do you avoid reading that genre? Why?

I read the same genre I write in. I have always been a reader, and I’ve been reading Regencies and other historical romance since the early 1970s. Actually, I started reading Jane Austen in sixth grade, so that would have been in 1960’s. I love the books, and I’m always interested in finding new authors. It’s also a great way for me to see what is selling (that’s my excuse, and I’m sticking with it). I used to read much more widely (military suspense, spy books, older science fiction) before I started writing, but the only romance I’ve read is historical.

What do you have planned for the future?

Well, at two big books a year, this series is going to go on for a long time. There are currently about fifteen books planned. I’ll also be releasing companion novellas. In addition to that, I am writing a novella series based on the children of the dastardly Duke of Somerset who was introduced in Miss Featherton’s Christmas Prince, the last book (for a while) in my first series, The Marriage Game. I’m releasing those books in box-sets. The first one, A Promise of Love, released in the Passionate Promises set in February. The next installment will release in July. Just to switch things up, I’ll be going back to The Marriage Game periodically. After all, there are some younger brothers and sisters that are growing up as well as the children.

Will you share some encouraging words for authors still struggling for that first contract?

If being traditionally published is important to you, I was to me, don’t give up, and for goodness sakes, don’t just query only a handful of agents at a time. The best advice I was given starting out was write three books. Unless you’re writing the great American novel, agents and publishers really like a series. They are also like all other readers; they don’t like everything, just as you don’t like everything. Aside from polishing your books until they shine, query as many of them as you can. Before you do, make sure that they represent your genre. If you can afford it, hire an editor. That said, I spent way too much money on one that wasn’t very good. But at the time I didn’t belong to a writer’s group that could give me good referrals. Even if you decide to self-publish, you need at the minimum, a content editor, copy-editor, and a proof reader. Remember, it’s your name out there.

 

Blurb Three Weeks To Wed

In the first book of her dazzling new series, bestselling author Ella Quinn introduces the soon-to-be Earl and Countess of Worthington—lovers who have more in common than they yet know. The future promises to be far from boring…

Lady Grace Carpenter is ready to seize the day—or rather, the night—with the most compelling man she’s ever known. Marriage would mean losing guardianship of her beloved siblings, and surely no sane gentleman will take on seven children not his own. But if she can have one anonymous tryst with Mattheus, Earl of Worthington, Grace will be content to live out the rest of her life as a spinster.

Matt had almost given up hope of finding a wife who could engage his mind as well as his body. And now this sensual, intelligent woman is offering herself to him. What could be more perfect? Except that after one wanton night, the mysterious Grace refuses to have anything to do with him. Amid the distractions of the Season he must convince her, one delicious encounter at a time, that no obstacle—or family—is too much for a man who’s discovered his heart’s desire…

“Oh, the tangled webs we weave…especially when our hearts are involved. Three Weeks to Wed is a delightfully heartwarming escape into the sparkling world of the Regency.  Ella Quinn weaves magic.” —Cathy Maxwell, New York Times bestselling author

Purchase Links

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Three-Weeks-Worthingtons-Ella-Quinn/dp/142013955X/

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/three-weeks-to-wed-ella-quinn/1122252683?ean=9781420139556

Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/three-weeks-to-wed

Apple http://apple.co/1OpLwDi

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Ella_Quinn_Three_Weeks_To_Wed?id=XhAZCgAAQBAJ

Books-A-Million: http://www.booksamillion.com/p/Three-Weeks-Wed/Ella-Quinn/9781420139556?id=6580542618446

Kensington Books: http://www.kensingtonbooks.com/book.aspx/32225

 

Author Bio

Bestselling author Ella Quinn’s studies and other jobs have always been on the serious side. Reading historical romances, especially Regencies, were her escape. Eventually her love of historical novels led her to start writing them. She has just finished her first series, The Marriage Game, and her new series will start in April 2016.

She is married to her wonderful husband of over thirty years. They have a son and granddaughter, one cat and a dog. After living in the South Pacific, Central America, North Africa, England and Europe, she and her husband decided to make their dreams come true and are now living on a sailboat cruising the Caribbean and North America.

She loves having readers connect with her.

Website: www.ellaquinnauthor.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/EllaQuinnAuthor

Twitter www.twitter.com/ellaquinnauthor

Blog http://ellaquinnauthor.wordpresscom

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