Interview with romantic suspense novelist Trish McCallan

Romantic suspense author Trish McCallan is on the blog today talking about Forged in Fire, dreams, and Black Dagger Brotherhood.

Bio:
Trish McCallan has been writing for as long as she can remember.

In grade school, she wrote children’s stories, illustrated them with crayons and bound the sheets together with pencil-punched holes and red yarn. She used to sell these masterpieces at her lemonade stand for a nickel a book. Surprisingly, people actually bought them. Like, all of them. Every night she’d write a new batch for her basket.

As she got older, her interest shifted to boys and horses. The focus of her literary masterpieces followed this shift. Her first full length novel was written in seventh grade and featured a girl, a horse, and a boy. At the end of the book the teenage heroine rode off into the sunset . . . with the horse.

These days, Trish sticks to romantic suspense with hot alpha heroes and roller-coaster plots. Since she is a fan of all things bizarre, paranormal elements always find a way into her fiction. Her current release, Forged in Fire, was the result of a Black Dagger Brotherhood reading binge, a cold, a bottle of NyQuil and a vivid dream.

Welcome, Trish. Please tell us about Forged in Fire.
Beth Brown doesn’t believe in premonitions until she dreams a sexy stranger is gunned down during the brutal hijacking of a commercial airliner. When events in her dream start coming true, she heads to the flight’s departure gate. To her shock, she recognizes the man she’d watched die the night before.

Lieutenant Commander Zane Winters comes from a bloodline of elite warriors with psychic abilities. When Zane and two of his platoon buddies arrive at Sea-Tac Airport, he has a vision of his teammates’ corpses. Then she arrives—a leggy blonde who sets off a different kind of alarm.

As Beth teams up with Zane, they discover the hijacking is the first step in a secret cartel’s deadly global agenda and that key personnel within the FBI are compromised. To survive the forces mobilizing against them, Beth will need to open herself to a psychic connection with the sexy SEAL who claims to be her soul mate.

Nominated For 2011’s Best Paranormal Romance by The Romance Review!

“Forged In Fire is a smoking hot adventure with an irresistible alpha hero. Danger, action, suspense, and a steamy romance make a story that’s impossible to put down!” –Patti O’Shea, National Bestselling Author of Through a Crimson Veil

What inspired you to write this book?
I actually dreamed the opening to Forged in Fire. In fact, I dreamed the opening sequence
over and over through the course of a week. Eventually, I sat down and typed out that opening scene; hoping the act of getting the scene down on the computer would excise the images from my brain. I thought my focus on the dream would fade once I’d actually written it out and that I’d be able to turn my attention back to the book I was revising back then. Except, once I started working on the dream sequence, the characters sprang to life and I quickly became obsessed with the story.

What exciting story are you working on next?
I am currently working on the second book in the Forged series. This book is another high octane romantic thriller, with a working title of Forged in Ice. This book begins where Forged in Fire left off and continues the rollercoaster ride started in Forged in Fire. The hero in the second book is Lieutenant Marcus Simcosky, one of the secondary heroes in Forged in Fire.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I’ve been writing since I was a kid, so I have always considered myself a writer.

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
On December 15th of 2011, I quit my day job to write full time. My work day starts at 6:00 am. I generally record the previous day’s sales, answer email, and drink coffee while I wait for the sky to lighten enough to go for a walk. Once it is light enough outside, I go for a nice long walk- usually takes around 45 minutes. When I get home I shower, eat breakfast, and do some light housekeeping. At 9:00 am I head to the office to begin the day’s work. I break for lunch at 1 pm- then write from 2:00 until 6:00 pm. If there is any promo to do, I take care of it after 6:00 pm. If there is no promo, I take care of any writing related bookkeeping, and go through email again. I’m usually done by 8:00 pm at which point I make dinner, do some more housekeeping and end the night watching television.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
That I am a weird combination of pantzer and plotter. My first two drafts are done with no outline and no idea of where the story is going. I just sit down and write. But on the third draft I assess the story and I outline the next draft in detail, chapter by chapter, then scene by scene. This approach seems to allow me to retain the creativity and the rollercoaster plots, while maintaining the tension, plot arc and character building.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I’ve always had an affinity for animals, so I wanted to be a vet or a marine biologist specializing in whales.

If people would like to connect, here's how:
Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Amazon Kindle

Thanks for visiting, Trish!