Krystal Shannan Interviews - RT Wolfe - Black Creek Burning - Romantic Suspense

Please help me welcome R.T. Wolfe to the blog today!

Thank you for having me today on your lovely blog, Krystal!

You are quite welcome!

Tell us a little about yourself. 

My romantic suspense, Black Creek Burning, is the first in a series set in beautiful upstate New York. I enjoy creating diverse characters and twining them together in the midst of an intelligent mystery and a heart encompassing romance.

It’s not uncommon to find dark chocolate squares in my candy dish, my Golden Retriever at my feet and a few caterpillars spinning their cocoons in their terrariums on my counters. I love my family, gardening, eagle-watching and can occasionally be found viewing a flyover of migrating Whooping cranes.

Did you always want to be an author? 

Writing chose me. I’m not sure what made me type out those first few sentences years ago. They turned into a few pages, then a few hundred pages. The research, the editing, revisions, critiques…I love it all. Writing quickly became my crack cocaine and there’s no turning back now. 

What is your favorite part of being a writer/author?

My readers. I would write without them, but they are my favorite part. I love to give someone the opportunity to escape to another time and place; to feel warmth, emotion and closure. When someone contacts me to say they’re using toothpicks to hold their eyelids open at work because they were up late reading my book, that’s a good day. 

Tell us a little about your book. 

Black Creek Burning is a romantic suspense about Brianna Chapman, the only witness to the murder of her parents…an arson that was meant for her. After several years, Brianna learns to cope by burying herself in her beloved teaching job by day and landscaping business by night. What she doesn’t count on is nationally renowned woodworking artist, Nathan Reed. He and his two adorable young nephews move into the run-down historical farmhouse behind her. Nathan pushes his way through Brianna’s hard shell and is determined to both win her heart and solve the murder.

Brianna Chapman learns to handle just about anything. Witnessing the murder of her parents had that effect. Knowing the unsolved arson had been meant for her isn’t as easy to overcome. Instead, she stuffs her guilt soundly into her subconscious through diving into the teaching job she loves by day and the dirt of the landscaping business she owns by night. Her habit of remaining aloof to personal relationships is, well, working.

Will her guilt be as easy to keep buried if the killer comes back to finish the job?

In the midst of juggling a scorched yard, dead animals on her doorstep and her vandalized car, the one thing she didn’t count on was the staggering Nathan Reed. A nationally renowned woodworking artist, Nathan and his two priceless nephews move into the run-down historical house behind her and over Black Creek. They have a canny way of maneuvering around her aloof demeanor and into her heart. Will they still want to be part of her life when they discover she is haunted by past memories and hunted by present dangers?

Excerpt:

“I’m not above doing that. You should know that. I can take care of my own car.” Brie turned as she thought of just how she was going to do that, and reached up to pull out a single tea bag and mug. “And there is no you and me. It was just a kiss. Now, we have to move backward for Andy’s sake.” And mine, she thought.

He made his way to her in three long strides, picked her up by the shoulders and plopped her on the kitchen counter, smashing his mouth to hers. Framing the side of her face with one hand, Nathan laced his fingers in her pinned up hair with the other.

She couldn’t think and for the first time in her life let go. Slipping away from her blessed control, she blocked out the possible consequences and surrendered to the now. Her skin nearly ignited from the feel of his body as she pulled him in closer. She held onto his lanky back, his strong arms, feeling his rough hands on her face, in her hair. His mouth and his tongue emptied her mind. She clamped her eyes shut and wanted to stay right there. As he’d done at the midnight hour in her basement, he pulled away as quickly as he took her.

Nathan whispered close to her face, “Just a kiss my ass.”

Love it!

Do you plot and outline or do you just write?  

I try to be a plotter, honestly I do. But my characters have other ideas…and their ideas are generally better than my outline. So, I’ll say I am a plotter…who revises constantly. 

Can you tell us about the process of getting your first book published?

Crimson Romance ran a call for submissions. I responded and was offered a contract…which spurred other offers. It was the craziest week of my life, but Crimson was the one who asked first. So, I chose them.

What advice would you give new authors?  

I would tell new authors to finish their books. I know so many who have written for years without finishing a single project. I am closure gal. It makes me sad. 

What have you learned about the business?

It varies as much as any other, I suppose. The trick is writing a quality piece, finding an honest publisher and juggling marketing without letting it make you crazy. I’m getting there. lol

Do you have another book in the works?

Yes. Black Creek Burning is book one in the Black Creek Trilogy. Book two, To Fly in Shadows will debut in February with the third installment, Dark Vengeance, following in July. But don’t worry, there are no cliff hangers in my work…closure, remember? 

What do you like to do in your free time, besides read and write of course?

I drive all over the Midwest watching my sons’ swim meets. Three sons who all swim competitively? How did this happen? I love it. In my spare time, I am a school teacher, a Pilates instructor and a green belt in Tae Kwan Do. Gardening is my second drug and I spend time working with my golden retriever every chance I get. 

Busy lady!

Where do you dream of going on vacation?

Alaska. Can I just live there? I love the open and nature. Cold doesn’t bother me. 

Boxers or Briefs? 

Briefs. Yum. 

Cookies or cake?

Cookies!

Pizza or hamburger?

Burger

Beer, Wine, or mixed drink?

Bottle of Bud to go with the burger, please

(Hero/Heroine Character Questions)

What were your first impressions of each other?

I thought Nathan was a lazy father who moved his sons into a rundown, piece of crap farmhouse so that he could play in the enormous garage and brush his kids off onto their grandparents. Okay, maybe he was an attractive, swaggering, hot lazy father, but none the less…

Brie was someone to shake your head at, that’s for damned sure. Not pretty in the standards of society, but confident in an irresistibly sexy sort of way. I had my own life to work on. Hell, I sold my woodworking business just so I could move back to my hometown and create a better life for the nephews I inherited after the death of my brother. But when you have a brunette who spends more time outside in the dead of winter than most do in the summer time…you wonder.

What’s your favorite characteristic of each other?

Nathan is calm, and sly, and somehow maneuvers around the careful walls I’ve so meticulously built. He’s never scared off by the…things that keep happening to me and my home. He and those dang adorable nephews of his worked their way right into my heart. 

Brie goes out of her way to help an elderly neighbor, a boy who’s teased at school and holds an enormous party in honor of her deceased parents even though it pains her. There’s something about digging into those green eyes of hers and finding out what’s behind them. 

What are your plans for the near future?  

The near future is filled with publishing this trilogy. My readers are ruthless. They hound me, taunt me, threaten me and I love every minute of it! 

R.T. was born and raised in the Midwest, the youngest of six children. She married at a young age and decided early on she wanted a family herself. With three small boys in tow, she and her husband flipped two houses with R.T. in charge of the landscape design and install. Now, she is rooted in the final home they designed inside and out.

Now that her boys are nearly grown, R.T. spends much of her time on the road traveling from one sporting event to another serving as mom and cheerleader. When at home, she enjoys Pilates, working with her Golden Retriever and digging in the glorious dirt of her landscaping plots.

During one of many busy and restless nights, R.T.’s first novel began to pluck its way onto her laptop. It was a drug, an instant addiction that only grew with time. Moments borrowed and stolen at her laptop are, now, between all of the travel and work and many of those busy, restless nights. After several edits, revisions and versions later R.T.’s first novel, Black Creek Burning, will debut September 24th.

Be sure to visit R.T. @

My website is http://www.rtwolfe.com

I’m on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/RT_Wolfe

My Facebook Author Page is http://www.facebook.com/RTWolfe2012 

My Pinterest Page is dedicated, mostly, to my characters. So fun. http://www.pinterest.com/RTWolfe 

She's also got a fabulous giveaway going on during her tour!

Be sure to leave a comment with your email to enter to win a $40 Amazon or B&N gift card!

no email = no entry

Her other tour stops can be found here!