Author Inteview: Michele Zurlo

Exquisite Quills Welcomes Michele Zurlo

EQ: Welcome to EQ! Tell us a little bit about yourself!

Michele: I'm Michele Zurlo, author of over 20 romance novels. I write contemporary and paranormal, BDSM and mainstream--whatever it takes to give my characters the happy endings they deserve.

I'm not half as interesting as my characters. My childhood dreams tended to stretch no further than the next book in my to-be-read pile, and I aspired to be a librarian so I could read all day. I ended up teaching middle school, so that fulfilled part of my dream. Some words of wisdom from an inspiring lady had me tapping out stories on my first laptop, so in the evenings, romantic tales flow from my fingertips.

I'm pretty impulsive when it comes to big decisions, especially when it's something I've never done before. Writing is just one in a long line of impulsive decisions that turned out to showcase my great instincts.

EQ: Tell us a little bit about your most recent release.

Michele: It’s a new mainstream romance series called Kiss Me. Kiss Me Goodnight follows Lacey Hallem as she navigates life and love. Here’s the blurb:

I’m Lacey Hallem, and I have a few secrets. These aren’t them: I wash my hands a lot and lie when I’m stressed. Also, I have horrible taste in men. That’s how I knew Dylan was trouble the first time I saw him…

Life can be challenging for Lacey, especially when things don’t come in sets of six, but she’s smart and funny and able to keep her demons at bay—most of the time. She might have sensed trouble when she set eyes on Dylan, a delectable musician in a vintage T-shirt, but that doesn’t stop her from thinking about him, or spending more and more time in his company.

Enter Thomas. Wealthy, handsome, and completely adoring of Lacey (flaws and all), he’s everything a man should be. So why can’t she convince her heart to fall in love?

Prepare to be swept up in Michele Zurlo’s emotional and compelling story of learning to trust yourself, facing the past, and finding strength you never knew you had.

EQ: Pick out one of the best lines in your novel. What do you love about it?

Michele: He oozed sexy badness, and whoever says they don't have a weakness for that has a serious case of the pants-on-fire syndrome.

I love that line because it’s so very Lacey. As a consummate liar, she’s good at calling them like she sees them. This line is from the first time she sees Dylan. He’s with his sister-in-law and nephew, but the kid looks enough like Dylan that Lacey assumes he’s with his wife and child. She’s fighting her attraction to him because she’s sworn off married men. This line also plants Dylan in the center of Lacey’s mind. From now on, nobody is going to measure up. It ignites her demons and forces her to face them head-on. She’s s strong-willed, opinionated woman who definitely comes into her own. I’m so proud of her.

EQ: Describe how you came up with the plot of your novel.

Michele: I had a concussion, and I stopped writing for a few months in the fall of 2012. When I started again, the character in my head was an OCD liar/handwasher who had only engaged in relationships with married men. As I explored the character, asking myself what would compel somebody to do that—and what would it take to make readers connect with her—I came up with her back story. It was horrific and tragic, yet she persevered. This is the story of how she comes to terms with pieces of her problem—admitting to herself that she is worthy of being loved. Of course, things don’t magically fall into place. Hers is a tough road, full of bumps and bruises, heartache and joy, but she travels it with a great sense of humor that sees her through some outrageous situations.

EQ: What is the biggest risk you’ve taken in your writing?

Michele: Writing mainstream romance is the biggest risk I’ve taken to date. So far in my career, I’ve had success with erotic romance, specifically BDSM-themed stories. Though this definitely  has heat, it’s not erotic. It’s not focused on their sexual relationship, but rather Lacey’s heart-wrenching emotional journey to a place where she realizes her self-worth. The revision process was rather interesting—it was the first time I’d ever been told by an editor to delete sex scenes instead of add them. I love Lacey (and Dylan,) and I hope you will too. Here’s a little excerpt to get you going:

After the show, I introduced my best friends Jane and Luma to Dylan’s band. Thank goodness neither of them looked at the men like they were a buffet.

Gavin looked at Dylan and clapped Levi on the back. “We should clear out.”

“No, you shouldn’t.” Heads swung and everybody looked at me. It was a little disorienting. I won’t be going on a stage anytime soon. I swallowed. “I mean, this was your first performance. There have to be a hundred women and more than a few men hanging out in there who enjoyed your show and wouldn’t mind meeting you. Mingling will help build your fan base.”

I needed to shut up before somebody asked me if I was a publicist. Knowing me, I would probably answer in the affirmative. I have a major in finance with a minor in business administration. Nothing there speaks to this situation.

“Sorry. Just throwing out ideas.”

Jane and Luma chuckled nervously. Jane moved closer, probably ready to drag me away if I kept going.

Levi nodded thoughtfully. “Good ideas, though. They make sense. Ladies and gentlemen, we’re heading back inside.”

Daisy linked her arms through Jane and Luma’s, and the three of them went first. Levi and Gavin followed.

Dylan held the door for me, which led to a hallway behind the stage. He grabbed my hand, holding me back when I would have followed everyone else through the door into the main room.

I cocked my head and gazed up at him.

“You liked the show?”

“Very much. I’d even see it again.” I still think they need some backing vocals. “I especially liked the last song. That’s where you took the name for your band?”

He nodded. “I wrote the song a few years ago.” His eyes clouded over the tiniest bit, a combination of nostalgia and melancholy.

I was about to ask him if he was okay when he tilted his head down. The right moment had finally come. He was going to kiss me. My lips tingled with anticipation. My senses came alive, attuned to every molecule of this moment.

He pulled me against him, holding me so I could feel the hard length of his thighs (yes, thighs, you perv) against mine. But that wasn’t enough. Taking one step forward, he moved my back against the wall. Throwing caution to the wind, I gave in to my urge to run my hands over his chest. I broke my gaze from his, putting off a moment I knew would blow away every kiss I’ve ever had.

You don’t think I’ve set my hopes too high, do you?

Buy Kiss Me Goodnight from Amazon or Barnes and Noble

For a complete list of titles and other fun stuff, go to www.michelezurloauthor.com or @MZurloAuthor.

The Genesis of a Book - Coming out of Hiding by E. Ayers #equills

I’m going to start by saying if you’re a teen, you don’t need to read this because maybe by the time you’re old enough to actually worry about such things, we’ll have a cure for it. Besides there’s nothing sexy or fun about any of it, so enjoy your youth.  

 

Most everything I write comes from a kernel rooted in real life. Coming Out of Hiding is not from a single kernel but more like a mosaic of events and people that swirled in my brain for ages. But it started with a handful of friends who begged for me to write a non-fiction book on erectile dysfunction. And as much as I was poked and prodded to do it, I lack the medical degrees behind my name, so who would take me seriously? To say I was a wife, who lived with it, was not enough. To say I was a member of a support group for men with prostate cancer who experienced erectile dysfunction, still was not enough. But for almost a decade, I was pretty much the only female member of that group. I’ve heard every story, and had my shoulder cried on more than you can imagine. I’ve poured over medical journals and talked to some of the top specialists in the United States.

Erectile Dysfunction, or ED for short, affects over 30,000,000 men in the USA alone. And most men experience at least one episode before they reach age forty. Most of the time it can easily be explained and just because it has happened doesn’t mean it’s going happen again. But men are mentally tied to this body function that for them is as natural as breathing. Women have nothing with which to compare. So if men fail to have an erection, they panic, they worry and they expect it to fail again and again. That sets them up for a pattern of failure.

Prostate cancer treatment is probably the number one reason for erectile dysfunction. Second and third to that is medications and diabetes. And way-y-y at the bottom of the pile is actual physical damage. There are also degrees of ED. Fortunately we now have several options for men who experience it, and for most men, the options do help.

Let’s look at a quick scenario that happens often and can send a man into panic. It’s par-tee time! Fire up the grill, have some friends over, a few hot dogs, and hamburgers, a pile of chips with plenty of dip, oh that delicious macaroni salad, grilled corn on the cob, a few beers, mom’s apple pie, a slice of birthday cake… guess what he just did? He loaded his system in carbohydrates. Carbs quickly turn to sugar, and he’s got more sugar in his blood stream than he’s had in months. He’s a little frisky from all that beer (or soda) and…“it” fails. His masculinity just got stabbed and it’s not pretty. This could be his first warning sign of something serious such as facing Type II diabetes in a few years if he doesn’t change his eating habits. Or it might mean nothing.

Then there’s stress. The job situation is precarious, the mortgage is late, Billy needs braces for that cross-bite, the battery is acting up on the car, and well, life just isn’t all peaches and cream. Plus the last few times you thought you had time to yourselves, the baby woke up. 

I could spend pages discussing this. Truthfully men don’t want to talk about it. And the real shocker is most male doctors don’t want to discuss it! So it’s all pushed under the carpet. The male ego is very primitive and at the base of that ego is a man’s ability to have an erection. It’s what makes him a man. To not have one, can destroy the way a man defines himself.

The second kernel came from a young man who had busy serving his country until he woke up in a hospital in Germany. He found out much later what had happened. It was an IED, and he was the lone survivor.

I didn’t set out to write a wounded warrior story or to even write a how-to manual for erectile dysfunction. But bits and pieces began to form in my brain like a colorful puzzle, and I realized I had to write this story. Coming Out of Hiding is a contemporary romance. It’s about two people who are far from perfect yet find friendship, trust, and true love all while facing lives that keep moving forward. It’s about finding lost confidence, being the good son, sharing values, caring enough to look beyond the physical to the person inside, but mostly it’s about loving and letting nothing stop the expression of that love. 

Tae Harris didn't fit the stereotypical image of a pretty girl. She also figured out that most men only wanted one thing from her. On her own since she graduated from high school, she'd worked hard for the little bit she had. Life had handed her lemons until she meets Max.

A fall from a ladder sends the reclusive Maxwell Hutton to Tae’s side, and thus began a camaraderie unlike anything either one had ever experienced. Friendship turns to love, but Max doesn't feel as if he can be a real man to her. The physical pain of loving her is too much, and he seeks treatment. She might have gotten her wish, but did he?

Coming Out of Hiding is available at Amazon

http://amzn.com/B00AB68SEI

And at other fine ebook stores.

 

Tickle Us Tuesday!

In comments, and in 300 words or less, give us a snippet from your novel that will bring a smile, incite a giggle, or make us laugh out loud. Don't forget your buy link and website/blog link. Have fun!

Share your participation with a ready-to-go tweet!

Come see my snippet on Exquisite Quills' Tickle Us Tuesday! http://exquisitequills.blogspot.com/ #AuthorRT #Romance #EQuills

Wash Line Monday! #equills

Wash Line Monday!

Our Monday meme shines a light on apparel. From Regency to Steampunk, and everything in between, we dress our characters to reflect the story we want to tell.

In comments, and in 300 words or less, give us a snippet from your novel that describes what your heroes, heroines, or bit players are wearing. Don't forget your buy link and website/blog link. Have fun!

 Share that you're participating with our
ready-to-go tweet!

Come see my snippet on Exquisite Quills' Wash Line Monday! http://exquisitequills.blogspot.com/ #AuthorRT #Romance #EQuills

Set the Scene in Six Sentences!

One of the finest aspects of fiction writing is the ability to set the scene.  Characters act and react, but they don't do so in a vacuum.  In their world, they meet, fall in love, solve problems, sometimes horrendous problems.  Maybe it's a small town, maybe the big city, the green, humid jungle, dust-dry desert, a mountainous region.  On the sea.  Under the sea.  In space! 

Setting the scene sets up the unexpected. It's also done by using character dialogue to paint a picture of loveliness, danger, evil, trepidation, excitement, awe...

Give us six sentences that set the scene.  Set the Scene in Six Sentences - Sunday is a new opportunity on the Exquisite Quills Blog to tout your talent.  How have you set the scene or the lead-up in your books?  How have you put the reader into the life of your characters?

Every Sunday, the blog will be open to six-sentence scene-setting.  Just post your six sentences, your website/blog link, and one buy link in the comment box.  We can't wait to read you! Pass the word!  Open to all!

 Share your participation with our
ready-to-go tweet!

Come see my snippet on Exquisite Quills' Set the Scene in Six! http://exquisitequills.blogspot.com/ #AuthorRT #Romance #EQuills