Author Spotlight: Catherine Bybee, Paranormal Romance

Hello everyone. Please welcome Catherine Bybee, my good friend, paranormal romance author and promo guru.

Whoo hoo, I’m playing at Dayana's! What fun! This is so awesome considering last year at this time I was pining for that coveted ‘Got Wolf?’ T-Shirt that Callie was giving away last year on your blog! I’ve come a long way, baby.

LOL Yes, you have! Great having you here, Catherine. And if I remember correctly you did win that T-shirt.

Thanks for having me, Dayana.

You're very welcome. We did have fun last year, didn't we?


Where did you get the inspiration for your current book?

Soul Mate available at the Red Rose Publishing, was inspired by a weekend in Sequoia last summer. Once the family nestled into the RV for the night, I sat outside watching the full moon poke through the hills and thought it would be a great place for my next werewolf story. And oh, Dayana… I found a whole new excerpt just for your blog. Wanna see it?

Oh sure, I'd love to see it:)

Okay, here ya go.

Excerpt:


“Damn it, Pierce. Where the hell are you?”

“How do you know my name?”

She sounded angry and close.

“I looked you up.”

“Why?”

Her voice shifted directions.

Nick swirled in a circle. “I told you I knew you from somewhere.”

“We've never met, Murdock.”

“I know, but the department has photos of you.”

Behind him a twig snapped. He spun around in alarm.
Ice blue eyes spit cold fire from beneath long pale lashes. Kari was literally a foot away, and he hadn’t heard her.

“Why?”

“Your parents.”

A flash of pain sparked and went away almost as quickly.

“The FBI was interested in their murders?” She took a step backwards.

“The case is studied due to the weapon of choice used by their killers.”

Kari’s eyes cast to the ground. “Wolves,” the word came out on a sigh.

“The file said dogs.”

“I was there; they were wolves. The police have a hard time listening to details.”

Nick watched as she straightened her shoulders and stared him in the eye.

“Any more questions, Agent Murdock?”

“Yeah, one.”

Kari cocked her head to the side and said, “Shoot.”

“How did you know the missing girl came to us?” Nick didn’t blink, didn’t breathe while he waited for her response. He watched for subtle changes in her stance and eye contact that would give away her feelings. A slightly twitching left eye gave him what he needed.

Ooooh, that certainly got my curiosity stirred up. And I have to tell you that cover is HOT! I have Soul Mate on my laptop queued for reading. Unfortunately I've not had a moment to myself since I bought it on release day! I am definitely closing myself off this week and delving into this book, Catherine, which brings me to my next question, why do you write?.

Because I have to or the voices in my head would drive me crazy! LOL… Which is in part true. I have so many ideas and stories floating in my head that if I didn’t start putting them on paper, I’d have gone a little nutty.

Really... *grin*
How do you come up with your title and main characters’ names?

Names are hard for me. I try to pick names that are easy to identify with. What I mean by that is if you have a hero named Malcom or Francis, it might be difficult to read the book without laughing. I also work with whatever time period I’m writing about or nationality.

Interesting theory and you're right, Malcom or Francis for a hero just doesn't work for me either. I have a hard time picking character names myself and agree about the story backdrop. You're not going to call a character Pedro if your story is based in Romania, LOL

Where the title to my stories aren’t difficult at all. So far, all my contracted books have titles that truly ‘fit’ the story.

Hmmm...
Titles are a challenge for me. I never like the titles and am always alert for a better fitting one as I work through the story.

When do you write (daytime, nighttime, on your lunch hour, before the kids get up, after everyone is asleep? In large chunks of time or stolen snippets?

I write whenever I can grasp an hour or two without an interruption. Three years ago this month, I injured myself at work and found myself at home in front of the computer all the time. Not having the ability to do my day job because of my injury has afforded me time to write whenever my family isn’t in need of me. I guess you could say I made lemonade out of a bowl of lemons.

Oh, I am sorry about the injury but a lot of good has come of it. I guess there really is a silver lining in every black cloud, huh.

What is your least favorite thing to do as an author? Allow me to clarify: query, write a synopsis, write a blurb, market, you get the picture.

Query’s are easy for me, as are the blurbs and marketing…

Umm... you state the obvious here, Missy. Stop bragging, LOL I, of all people, know how wonderful you are at marketing:)

I don’t know a writer who likes writing a synopsis, and I’m in that boat. Funny, I can write a 400 page 100K book but a 5 page synopsis has me breaking out in hives. But the thing that makes me crazy as a writer is waiting. Waiting to hear from a publisher, waiting for edits, waiting for release day, waiting for reviews.

Oh I can relate to that. I have to agree but I do try to move on to other projects to keep my mind off the incessant waiting.

How many books have you written?

Hmm, lets see? There are two full-length books in my hard drive that may never see the light of day because of the edits needed to make them marketable. Two full length time travel’s – Binding Vows and Silent Vows. Redeeming Vows is 1/3 finished.
Soul Mate is one of three werewolf stories. I have three erotic’s written, Kilt Worthy, Kilt-a-licious and Batteries Not Included. One ghost story and my newest WIP is a full-length paranormal I’m not quite ready to yak about:) So what is that, 11?

Wow! not too shabby, Catherine. BTW I read Kilt Worthy and absolutely loved it.

Do you have an upcoming release?

Well, notice I didn’t talk about my other two werewolf stories above? While my first two werewolf stories didn’t win in the Got Wolf? Contest, they did both receive contracts. Before the Moon Rises is waiting final galley, and I should be able to announce a release date soon. When I completed BTMR, another story was kickin’ around in my head for the brother of my hero in BTMR. So Richard’s story, Only for You is twice the page length and that will be coming on the heels of Before the Moon Rises.

But the big news for me this year is my full-length time travel, Binding Vows, the first in my trilogy will be available in paperback and e-book December 4th 2009 from The Wild Rose Press. This is the book of my heart. The first book I attempted to publish. I can’t wait to hear what the romantic world thinks of Duncan and Tara!

Thanks again for having me here today, Dayana.

Oh, Catherine! Thank you for being here. It has been great gabbing with you. I hope to have you back again soon:)