Today I’m conducting a session with…Samantha Chase! GIVEAWAY! *Leave a comment for Samantha and share this post to be eligible to win a signed copy of A Sky Full of Stars! Feel free to use the handy dandy click-to-tweet links! Me: Tell me about an experience that had a profound impact on your life. Samantha: I had open heart surgery when I was four years old. I still remember everything about it – the hospital stay and even being in the operating room! I didn’t have any real complications from it and know that I am very fortunate, but it’s an experience that has stayed with me. My mother and I talk about it a lot. My younger son was sick for the first six months of his life and there were times that I was just overwhelmed. My mom was such an amazing source of encouragement because she was able to share with me how she felt when it was me who was sick and I was able to see that it’s normal to be overwhelmed and scared and at your wits end! Me: What personality trait of yours helps you most as an author? Samantha: I’m ambitious – particularly when I’m passionate about what I’m doing. Writing romance has always been a dream for me and once I saw that I could do it and that readers enjoyed my writing, it made me want to keep going. I refuse to stay in one place with it – I mean, I’m always going to write contemporary romance, but I mean at a career level. I’m happy where I am but I want to try and reach that next level. I’m not afraid of the hard work or the deadlines. I want to keep getting better as a writer and I know that it takes a lot of hard work to make that happen. Me: What personality trait of yours hinders you most as an author? Samantha: Oh my goodness, I am COMPLETELY impatient. Seriously, I have no patience for most things – I don’t understand why some things take so long to get done when I know it can be done faster! I make everyone crazy – my agent, my editor, my publicist – all of them! I think because when you do indie publishing, you’re in complete control of timelines and getting things done. And having to rely on someone else to do things and dealing with their timelines is something that I STILL have trouble with. Me: What was your high point as a writer? Samantha: I think the high point for me was a couple of years ago – 2013 – and I was getting ready to release book three in my Montgomery Brothers series. It would be my eight book. I had readers contacting me from all over the world about this release and there was just an energy to them and an excitement that they had for this book that made me feel like I really must be doing something right! I don’t think I’ve ever had a release that invigorated me quite like that one ever since and I’ve got almost 50 books under my belt! Me: What was your low point as a writer—a time when you questioned your path? Samantha: It was when I went the traditional route. I thought that was going to be the turning point in my career – the thing that was going to take me to the next level. The first book I was releasing was a much-anticipated book (according to reader demand) and I was certain that between the demand for it and the fact that it would be my first book in paperback and in book stores that it would be a slam dunk. It wasn’t. It was beyond disappointing. The price point was wrong, the covers were different from what I had been doing and all around it was just…it was bad. I was devastated. I’ll be honest, I don’t think I’m over it. I still look at that book and all of the decisions that were made and question why things weren’t handled differently. I can’t go back and change it and I have to force myself to keep looking forward. But what should have been a definite career high, definitely wasn’t. Me: Name a writing pet peeve of yours. Something that hits you like fingernails-on-a-chalkboard every time you see it. Why does it bug you? Samantha: Great question! My number one pet peeve is giving characters weird names. OMG…this seriously will make me put a book down and stop reading it completely. I’m not saying that every character has to have a completely traditional name, but when it is something so bizarre or if it’s something trendy (and not in a good way) it just makes me crazy – and not nicknames. I’m talking character’s given names. Like a redhead named Cherry. Or a heroine named Heidi who wears her blonde hair in braids like the one from the book by Johanna Spyri. Or having all of the heroine’s in a series named after flowers…I could go on and on and on. But that is something I don’t like to read and I’ll never write! Me: If you could have dinner with any famous author who would it be? Why? Samantha: In the last three years, I have met some of my all-time favorite authors. But the one I think I would most like to have dinner with (and I haven’t met her yet, so if she’s reading this…I’m available any time!) is Bella Andre. For starters, I’m a fan. I love the Sullivan series and I think she tells an amazing story. But more than that, I think she has done an amazing job on branding and marketing and I would just love to sit down with her and pick her brain! She seems like the kind of person you really could just hang out with and she’d be down to earth and […]