Author Interview: J M Gregoire

Lucas was a typical playboy - lots of alcohol and a different girl every night.
One woman brought his emotional walls and the beliefs he used to build them crumbling to the ground.
Now, an unexpected visitor is going to change both their worlds forever.
Burning is the short story lead-in to the upcoming Demon Legacy series by J.M. Gregoire.

Author Website: http://jmgregoirebooks.com/

Author Goodreads Page: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6525667.J_M_Gregoire

QUESTION 1. If you could work with any other author, who would it be and why?

Hmmm, if you’re talking Big Six authors, that’s a tough question. If we are talking indie authors, Lola Rayne hands down! She’s an amazing author. She also happens to be a friend of mine that I met through writing so it may sound a bit loaded but I swear, her writing is incredible.

QUESTION 2. What would be a typical working day for you? When and where do you write?

I’m up at 6:00am to get my husband’s breakfast cooked and his lunch packed. Once he’s out the door, I get my son ready to go to the nanny’s house. Get myself ready. Open the computer and either work on my book, something to do with my book or something to do with my book blog. On the road by 8:00am at the latest. Drop boy at nanny’s and head to work for 9:00am. Work consists of listening to audio books while I work on various projects and sneaking in some writing here and there. Head out at 5:30pm, pick up boy and head home. Make dinner, get boy to bed and then… The dot dot dot is because what I do from there depends on my husband’s schedule. If he’s at football practice (he plays defense for a semi-pro league), I write. I write a lot. But if he’s home, we spend time together and I wait until he’s sleeping to write some more.

QUESTION 3. What is the hardest part of the writing for you?

Editing. I really hate the editing process with a fiery passion born in the depths of hell. I can write up a storm. I can spew out pages at an ungodly rate. When it comes time to clean them up, I lose all ambition.

QUESTION 4. When and why did you first start writing?

Until I got married, I kept journals. I started at a young age and I wrote in them constantly. It was no uncommon to find me with a journal in my hand in the cafeteria at school. Sometimes I wrote what I felt, other times I wrote what I imagined. When I got married, I chucked the journals and I regret it to this day. They were riddled with what would make great seed stories for tones of novels. As a kid, and even as a young adult, I never thought that I would see the day that I published anything so I tossed them thinking it wasn’t a real big loss. Lesson learned.

QUESTION 5. How did you come up with the idea for your book?

I wrote about the types of things I love to read. I love the dark tales of old religious fiction. Demons and possessions and such. If there is a demon possession movie out there, I have seen it. It fascinates me. It gives me goose bumps. When I started writing my novel, I wanted the readers to get that same feeling I love so much. The ideas for the plot line had been cooking at a slow burn in the back of my brain for years. It was just time to get them out on paper.

QUESTION 6. Are you a big reader? If so, what are you reading now?

I am. I love love love to read. Currently, I am reading iFeel by Marissa Carmel, Ghost Town by Jason Hawes, Boyfriend From Hell by Jamie Quaid, Chosen by Sable Grace, and The Lady Risks All by Stephanie Lauren. I am also listening to the audio books for the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews. I’m almost finished with Magic Bleeds (#4) and can’t wait to get to #5!!!

QUESTION 7. Do you have any advice for other aspiring writers?

Well, I am just starting to publish works so I don’t know how much weight my advice holds but here goes… If you are self-publishing, find yourself a small group of people – a few people to read and give general feedback and a few people to actually edit – and stick with them. I made the mistake of asking far too many people for editing and ended up with a “too many cooks in the kitchen” type situation. When you get to the phase of “personal preference” changes I was talking about earlier, the changes people are suggesting will totally contradict each other and it gets very frustrating. Also, always keep in mind that IT IS YOUR WORK. Editing is good if it is sound editing but you will know when someone is trying to rewrite your book their way. It’s not constructive. Everyone has different writing styles. Don’t let someone else’s style take over your book.