How did you get started writing? The week my son came home from a tour of duty in Iraq, the stress lifted and my pencil began writing. I wrote longhand then raced home from work each night to type it into my computer (I was a 9-1-1 dispatcher with free time between calls)

What genre(s) do you write in and why? I am guilty of writing what screams in my head to come out. My first two books, published the same day by two different publishers, were a contemporary romance set in New York, and a paranormal set on an island in ancient Scotland. I have written romantic suspense, a military short story, too. I have an idea for a regency historical set in London and Scotland, but that will have to wait.

What inspired your latest book? For my husband’s birthday in March 2011, I took him on a three-day trip to South Carolina. Our first stop was to the Fort Sumter National Monument in the middle of Charleston Harbor. I started thinking it would be a great setting for a paranormal historical story. SOUTHERN FRIED DRAGON was born.

How much time do you spend promoting your books?  It feels like all I do is promote, but how else will I get out the word? Especially with e-books. There are over one million e-books available at Amazon, and I want my book, my cover, my name to catch someone’s attention and make them click ‘buy’. I have released three books since August, which gives me a lot to talk about. Between guest articles, interviews, Twitter, Facebook, and the like, I spend half my time on promotion.

How has your experience with self-publishing been? Scary, exciting, awesome, and scary. Oh…did I repeat myself? Again, promotion is the key. I had a professional cover made, which cost $$, but important. I asked others who are successful self-publishing for tips and received several. Authors are helpful to other authors. I also try to ‘pay it forward’.

What is your favorite dessert/food? I try hard to stay away from desserts, but it is a battle. I did hear one of those TV Doctors recommend dark chocolate with chili (the chili is supposed to jumpstart a sluggish metabolism). Who knew it would taste good? I keep a bar in a baggie in a desk drawer and reward myself.

How likely are people you meet to end up in your next book? I have a shirt that says ‘Love me or you’ll end up in my next novel’. I might have been thinking about a couple of my fellow firefighters when I wrote LOVE TO THE RESCUE since I filled it with accidents, rescues, and forest fires. In my historical story, SOUTHERN FRIED DRAGON, I set the story during the months preceding the first cannon shots that started the Civil war, and mentioned a couple of generals by name, but the main characters are ‘make believe’.

Tell us about your hero.  Give us one of his strengths and one of his weaknesses. Lt. Shaw Stenhouse is a military man. Even when his life is in danger, and my heroine demands to fly him to safety, he refuses to leave his men.

Tell us about your heroine.  Give us one of her strengths and one of her weaknesses. Dru Little had the courage to leave her homeland, Scotland, and to forsake her dragon nature to search out a new land, and find love.  She also knows she should not take chances of being seen flying around Charleston Harbor, but she loves throwing seashells at the men building Fort Sumter. She is rather young, can you tell?

Do you have any words of inspiration for aspiring authors? Do not try to do this alone. Use critique partners, join a writing group (either one that meets in person or on-line), attend writing conferences, or take on-line workshops. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel. We published authors don’t bite.

Do you or have you belonged to a writing organization?  Which one?  Have they helped you with your writing?  How? I joined Romance Writers of America when I had a book ready to submit to a publisher. Trust me…join them BEFORE you have that first book written. I was doing it all wrong, and that book did not sell. RWA has 145 chapters. Even if you live in the Alaskan Tundra or the swamps of Louisiana, you can join a group and keep in contact via the internet. Beside my local chapter that meets monthly, I am a member of Fantasy-Futuristic & Paranormal Romance Writers, and the Celtic Heart Romance Writers. Those two are on-line chapters of RWA. With their support, I have sold five manuscripts to two publishers, and self-published two books.

BOOK BLURB

Amid cannon fire, and the threat of Civil War, love and trust will find a way.

Dru Little flew away from her home in a cave beneath a Scottish Island to end her lonely existence and find companionship across the sea. Her journey in late 1860 has led her to the modern American city of Charleston, South Carolina. Hiding her true self, she takes over the life of a serving girl and enjoys the hard life working in a tavern near the wharves. She has no idea that her life will turn upside down in a dark alley the moment a handsome soldier saves her life.

Lieutenant Shaw Stenhouse has his own worries. Southern secessionists are talking up a storm in Charleston. His fellow Federal soldiers are suddenly at risk from the community they are here to protect. The possibility of civil war takes a backseat when he saves a comely lass from drunken sailors. A good deed and a stolen kiss put a smile on his face until the threat of war becomes a reality. Their instant attraction proves disastrous when Dru spots her former lover, the Black Dragon, working for General Beauregard and the southern troops. As the clandestine group plans their attack on Fort Sumter, and Shaw’s soldiers, she takes to the sky.

Dru fights against the threat of detection, while she fears losing Shaw’s love. What will he do when he finds out that she is a powerful Scottish dragon Hell-bent on carrying him to safety? When Shaw discovers her hiding inside the heavily guarded fortress, thoughts of espionage—and worse—catapult the two lovers into danger from many sides.

When her former lover threatens Shaw, Dru must decide which is more important: protecting another of her kind, now nearly extinct, or protecting the human male, the man she has come to love.

Excerpt Link  http://bit.ly/yCGoqX

Title:  SOUTHERN FRIED DRAGON

Author:  Nancy Lee Badger

Genre: Paranormal Historical

Length: 30,000 Word Novella

Amazon ASIN: B0074CX7SE

Buy Link: http://amzn.to/zgv30B

 

More About Nancy

After growing up in Huntington, New York, and raising two handsome sons in New Hampshire, Nancy moved to North Carolina where she writes full-time. Nancy is a member of RWA, Heart of Carolina Romance Writers, Fantasy-Futuristic &Paranormal Romance Writers, and the Celtic Heart Romance Writers. Nancy also writes romantic suspense as Nancy Lennea and is a proud Army Mom.

 

Website: http://www.nancyleebadger.com

Blog: http://www.RescuingRomance.nancyleebadger.com

Twitter:  @NLBadger

Facebook: http://on.fb.me/v12gxG

GIVEAWAY

Nancy’s earlier release, DRAGON IN THE MIST, was honored as a 2012 Readers Choice Award recipient when it won 1^st Place in the Silken Sands Self-Published STARS Literary Contest. One lucky person who leaves a comment will win a DRAGON IN THE MIST ebook!