Terrific Tuesday with Jacqueline Paige:)

Welcome! Please introduce yourself and tell us about your latest release.

I’m Jacqueline Paige, a paranormal writer. Here is the blurb from my most recent release is Twice Cursed.

Maddy is the oldest witchling to ever attend the Hidden Cove Academy, having been cursed as a teen; she’s forced to have a solitary life outside of her own magical community. With her magic so dangerously unpredictable, she rarely takes the chance on mixing with the general public.

From one harmless trip to a museum she finds herself spellbound yet again by an invisible boundary, caused by a three hundred year old curse, dictating that Maddy must stay close to the stunningly sexy Colin.

Being stuck with a tall, dark, incredibly lick-able stranger can’t be all that bad, right? Until they discover if they get too close the spirits bound with the curse will take over their bodies ... at the same time if they’re too far from one another the curse will kill them both.

Will the curse's secrets be unraveled in time or does certain death await them both?

Have you ever had an idea for a story which scared you after you began writing it?

I can’t say that I have. My own stories surprise me more than they scare me. I never see certain plots twists coming.

Have you incorporated actual events from your own life into your books?

I think all writers take little bits of their own lives and slip them into the books.

The pieces that I find appearing on the pages the most (aside from sarcasm) would be the herbal and holistic aspects many of my characters seem to ‘know’ about. For years I practiced as a certified herbalist before I came back to writing.

Certainly with my Magic Seasons series a lot of the herbal tidbits leaked into it, along with a lot pagan knowledge. I had in fact spent two years going to various pagan festivals prior to writing this series.

With my story Salvation the main female character has a rough go of it with just about anything going wrong that can, from car problems to house maintenance — those most definitely stem from my reality!

How much research do you do? Do you research first and then write, or do you write first, then research as needed?

In most cases I don’t need to do a lot of research but if I’m going to mention something in any sort of detail, I like to make sure I get most of the facts straight. I’ve researched anything from a recycling plant to the history of islands. If I know the entire plot (a rare event) before starting a story I will take the time to make sure I sound like I know what my characters are saying, but more often than not I end up going back through the first proof and finding the areas that need just a little bit more truth added to them.

Is there any message you want readers to take from reading your work?

That’s hard to answer.

My books are mostly fictional but I have noticed I tend to lean into illustrating the ‘differences’ in people and how they are or are not accepted. This was not intentional yet I seem to be telling people to get over their prejudices.

Are you a plotter or a pantser? And have you ever had a story take on a life of its own?

I have tried it both ways and pantser seems to be my preferred way. Any time I attempt to sit down and plot out an entire story my own characters change it — without warning. Examples of this would be: in the first book of the Magic Seasons, I intended a paranormal romance. I did not plan or plot a murder it just appeared on the page without my permission. In Twice Cursed I plotted out the struggles of cursed witch — and ended up with a cursed witch being cursed a second time and tied to a stranger. I think my examples answer whether my stories take on a life of their own.

How long did it take for you to be published?

I had been writing for years off and on, but mostly for myself rather than publishing purposes. I didn’t actually submit any manuscript until I wrote Beltane Magic and friend and family talked me into submitting it — two months later I had a contract and was still in denial that something I wrote was going to be published.

If you could go back and tell yourself anything when you first began your writing career, what would you say?

Learn how to promote yourself. This has been my struggle for the last two years. I can promote anything and anyone it seems except myself and my own work. I still don’t have all the answers when it comes to promoting, but I am getting better at it.

Laptop or pen and ink? What are your ‘must-haves’ when writing?

Both! I have my laptop, my netbook (that lives in my purse when I’m not using it) and so many notebooks I’ve had to label them.

I use the notebooks to jot down ideas as they come to me and in desperate moments when a plot stalls or won’t head in the direction I want/need it to I go sit somewhere quiet and for some reason unknown to me as soon as I put the pen to paper the words start flowing again.

I use the netbook when I need a change of scenery (or to escape the household noise of many children). Sometimes just moving to a different location with help me work out a scene that won’t translate from my head to word form.

My laptop (complete with second monitor) I use mainly when I’m proofing and editing.

To think years before I sent that first manuscript in I did it all by hand and type-writer!! I love technology J

Who are your favorite authors? Who would you say influenced you the most?

I have a long list of favorite authors and most likely somewhere they’ve all influenced the direction I’m trying to go in but most importantly they’ve all shown me that there is nowhere you can’t go in your writing.

Nora Roberts /JD Robb (I’ve been reading Nora books for as long as I can remember)

Christine Feehan (I can’t even wrap my mind around where she’s taken stories and plots)

Laurell K Hamilton (who wins my own personal award of “you never know what will happen next”)

Charlaine Harris (I loved her series before True Blood and I thank her for giving us Eric on True Blood!!!)

And a few others are:

Sherrilyn Kenyon / Kinley MacGregor

Cheyenne McCray

And most recently added to my ever growing list is J.A. Saare

What would your readers be surprised to learn about you?

This one usually shocks a lot of people … I do not have “tv” in my house (or at least cable or any channels per say) and haven’t had in close to nine years. I’ve had people say something about a character did ‘this’ in one of my books reminded them of someone on a tv show — and they’re shocked I have no idea what they’re talking about. I watch very few shows or series and either buy them online instead of having a hundred channels no one watches or wait for the entire season to be released on dvd.

For Fun:

Are there any Easter scenes in your books?

No. I think I’ve covered everything from Valentine’s Day to Winter Solstice, but somehow I missed Easter. I might have to rectify that in the future.

What is your favorite Easter memory?

I’m just getting old or I’m having a sugar craving, but all of my childhood memories are blurred together and all I can think of is those little candy eggs and chocolate right now.

Do you garden, or do you have a black thumb like me?

I don’t have a garden where I’m living right now but before we moved here I had about 5 acres of gardens plus flower beds and over 100 house plants. So I’m going to say my thumb is a little greener than yours. J

Thank you for being here today! Please tell us where we can find your books.

Thanks so much for having me!!

All of my books and information on where to find them can be located at my website

http://jacqpaige.webs.com/

and my blog

http://jacqpaige.blogspot.com/

Twice Cursed

Will the curse's secrets be unraveled in time?

Maddy is the oldest witchling to ever attend the Hidden Cove Academy, having been cursed as a teen; she’s forced to have a solitary life outside of her own magical community. With her magic so dangerously unpredictable, she rarely takes the chance on mixing with the general public.

From one harmless trip to a museum she finds herself spellbound yet again by an invisible boundary, caused by a three hundred year old curse, dictating that Maddy must stay close to the stunningly sexy Colin.

Being stuck with a tall, dark, incredibly lick-able stranger can’t be all that bad, right? Until they discover if they get too close the spirits bound with the curse will take over their bodies ... at the same time if they’re too far from one another the curse will kill them both.

Will the curse's secrets be unraveled in time or does certain death await them both?

Excerpt:

She heard him walking towards her. When she moved one arm he was standing over her, glaring down at her. “Sorry, I was right,” she said softly. Whiskers appeared beside her and without one nasty or haughty thought stretched out beside her so her head was across Maddy’s hip. Running a hand over her friend’s furry head, she looked back up at him. His facial expressions were changing so rapidly, she didn’t even want to ponder a guess at what was flying through his mind. “Might as well sit. I have some figuring out to do.”

Colin sat down a few feet from her and studied her. “So, if you’re a...I can’t believe I’m going to say this, witch or whatever, then undo this.”

Maddy frowned. “I’m more of a witchling, than a full fledged witch.” Did she really have to pour out her whole miserable existence to a man she didn’t know? “There’s been a few, um, hiccups in my abilities...”

He leaned closer and looked at her. “Did you do this to us?” She shook her head and he realized that from the upset expression on her face, she didn’t want this anymore than he did. “Define hiccups.”

Maddy bit her lip. “Well... I sometimes don’t always get the uh, desired outcome to my castings.” His eyebrows shot up.

“Desired outcome? You’re telling me you can’t then?”

Maddy leaned up on her elbows. “I didn’t say that. I know I can or would at least like to.”

Colin ran a hand through his hair. He had gone from looking mildly confused to very stressed. “Okay, so what do you mean by desired outcome?” He had no idea what he was asking, then again before today magic and witches were some-thing from cartoons and movies.