Interview Rebecca Martinez

by

Robin Matheson

Rebecca, congratulations on your new release, LOVE ON DECK, which puts a baseball manager hero and a broadcaster heroine up to bat.

1. You’re a former broadcast journalist just like your heroine Amber, but how did you research Sam’s profession?

I have always been an avid baseball fan and paid great attention to how the game is played, strategy, statistics, all those things and what players and managers have to say about the game. In addition, I acted as a field producer during Spring Training for two years which allowed me to get onto the field to interview players and managers and witness everything first hand. Since I was staying at the same hotel as the players, I was also able to observe what happened off the field as well.

2. What made you decide to start writing romance?

I've always loved to read romance and even as early as the age of ten, when I started writing stories, I found myself injecting some romantic elements into whatever I was writing. I still find that no matter what I try writing, romance comes into the story.

3. You have two more books coming out in 2005 and 2006. Where do you get your story ideas?

My ideas come from everywhere--news stories, events, even the people around me. I'm always finding things that make me think, "okay, what if?" and then I'm off and running on a story. My book Home Fires Burning, which will be published by Wings in November 2005 was based on a story my mother used to tell about seeing my father for the first time and making the statement she was going to marry him. She was only 11 at the time and he was 19, so she made a literal pest of herself, following him around. I took that idea, inserted a secret baby and a forced separation and came up with Home Fires Burning.

4. Your books are set in various locations around the country. Have you traveled to the places you write about?

I love to travel and visit new places. I've also lived in various cities in the Western US, and most of my stories are set in places I've visited or lived. I currently live in Denver where Love On Deck begins, and I've spent time in Vail, Colorado Springs and visit Spring Training in Phoenix almost every year. It makes the story more real for me when I can use a setting I know, and it gives me a good excuse to visit new places to research new settings!

5. Tell us about your writing schedule.

My writing schedule fluctuates, but I try to spend at least a few hours every day working on a writing related project, whether it be writing a new story, editing or polishing an old one. When I find myself sitting and waiting someplace, I often have a notebook with me to write down an idea or part of a scene.

6. You’ve been published under another name. Can you introduce us to your alter ego Rebecca Grace and tell us what she writes?

Rebecca Grace is a pen name I use when working with a partner. Several years ago we developed a series of short stories based on romance on the Internet, which we called "Bytes of Love." Several of those stories ended up being developed into novellas and my Wings release Desert Blossom, which is coming out in Feb. 06 was based on one of those internet love stories.

7. List your top three favorite books.

I'm not certain I can give three books I love above any others. While I enjoy romance, most of my fiction reading is mystery and suspense. I love authors like Sue Grafton with her Alphabet series or John Sandford and his Prey series.

8. What do you do to relax and rejuvenate?

When I relax, it usually means sitting down and watching a good suspenseful movie or a fun romantic comedy. I love the old screwball romances from the late 30's, early 40s. But I also have to say there is nothing quite as relaxing as sitting in the sun at a ball game on a summer day and eating peanuts and hot dogs.

9. What one piece of advice would you give unpublished authors?

I would say, never give up and never stop writing. Trying to get published is a terrifying journey and it's filled with lots of rejection. Twenty years ago I tried to get published and after receiving a few rejections, I quit trying. I kept writing, but I think my writing didn't progress nearly as far as it could have when I was only writing for myself. You need to work at your craft and trying to get published pushes you to make that commitment to improve your work. The worst thing is when I look back at those rejection letters now, I see they weren't totally rejections. I might have been turned down for those projects, but I was asked to send future work. I never did, seeing only the part that said no. So, my advice is, keeping on trying.

10. What projects are you working on now?

I am one of those writers who can't work on one project at a time. I always have two or three things going at once and jump back and forth between each as a new idea moves me. At the moment, I am working on a mystery--part of a series--and a new romantic suspense, as well as a gothic. I enjoy the old gothics of Phyllis Whitney, and I've decided to try my hand at one. So, far that is half finished.