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Tawna Fenske
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AC: Tawna Fenske of Making Waves (November 3 - November 5)
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Welcome Tawna, it's a pleasure to have you with us! I hope you enjoy your time with our members; and good luck to you all!
GUIDELINES FOR AUTHOR AND PARTICIPANTS: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/3...
Members, if you can please write the questions in bold; it would be easier for her to know that you have asked a questions and less chance that it will be missed. Thanks!
Hi Tawna, I have been reading your blog and your bio and I was so excited to read that you are a fellow Oregonian. Then after reading your blog I thought you were really clever and funny and I thought we could be friends. I thought someday maybe I would run into you, bring you a bottle of wine and we could bond. Then I saw that you live in Bend and decided that was too far. I live in Portland. So I lost interest and drank the wine myself. I do still read your blog, though. My questions: When you started writing your book did you know exactly how it would end or did you have to keep writing to find out what happens? Do your characters ever act in a way that surprises you?
Hi Tawna, Thank you so much for joining us here!!! I love your blog! I was wonder what are your top 5 favourite books? What inspired you to become a writer? and What is your least favourite genre to read?
Wow, I thought I was going to be all clever and savvy and early to the party by posting here the night before. Looks like a couple of you have already beat me to the punch!Hello, Kami and Kimberly!
Kami, I'm in Portland pretty often for RWA meetings, and since my parents still live in Salem, I'm on that side of the mountains rather frequently. All that to say, I will always accept gifts of wine! (Even half-consumed bottles). I don't want to give too much away for those who haven't read MAKING WAVES, but I did always know things would end with the diamonds located where they were. I did not, however, know many of the other details about Juli's uncle or what transpires in the restroom after they've rescued Cookie. That all came to me as I was writing. I'm definitely more of a panster than a plotter, so yes, my characters often surprise me. It's my favorite part!
Kimberly, I have a degree in English Lit, so I should probably spout off all sorts of high-minded book titles in answer to that question. Screw it, I'll stick with romantic comedy, since that's my favorite genre. In no particular order, I love Jennifer Crusie's WELCOME TO TEMPTATION, Kristan Higgins' JUST ONE OF THE GUYS, Victoria Dahl's TALK ME DOWN, Lani Diane Rich's WISH YOU WERE HERE, and Susan Elizabeth Phillips' NATURAL BORN CHARMER. As for what inspired me, I've been writing for my supper my entire adult life (first as a journalist, then in marketing). It wasn't until eight or nine years ago that I decided to take a stab at fiction, which was a total trip. "You mean I get to MAKE STUFF UP!?!?!" I hesitate to name my least favorite genre since there are always tons of exceptions, but I'm not a huge fan of fantasy/paranormal.
Hi Tawna. Indonesia here!..so excited read your blog..just hoping next your giveaway books can reach my country...:)
I love finding new authors to read. Goodreads is great for that. I look forward to reading your current book. I also look forward to adding any future books to my TBR list.
Hi Tawna and welcome. I'm curious, you're obviously a very outdoorsy type of person. How do you balance that with sitting down for long periods of time needed to write an entire book?
Hi Tawna... Congrats on both the release and the award nomination - very exciting end of 2011 for you! I haven't yet read Making Waves, but I'm ever up for supporting fellow Pac NW writers whenever time allows, so it's on my list! My question... In a publishing climate where book tours & in-house support are growing more scarce, what are you finding to be marketing gold mines? (or at least silver mines) Thanks so much!
Thanks for the great comments, guys! Dewi, I actually have a pic somewhere that a reader in Indonesia sent me with MAKING WAVES propped up next to a pile of local periodicals and reading material!Lynn, thanks so much! I have a three-book contract with Sourcebooks, so my next romantic comedy (BELIEVE IT OR NOT) hits shelves in March, followed by MAD CRUSH in September.
Iris, great question! You're right, I'm pretty outdoorsy, but I find it's actually a great way to get my creative juices flowing. I've been known to sit for hours on end fiddling with a scene that's just not coming together. The second I leash up my dog and hit the hiking trail, the ideas start flowing. There's something about the fresh air and change of scenery, I guess!
Erik, thanks for the congrats! Oh, how I wish I had a marketing goldmine (have you seen the price of gold these days?!?!) One thing I like about Sourcebooks as a mid-sized publisher is that they're large enough to have the power to land lots of books on the bestseller list, but small enough to be able to put a lot of PR support behind individual authors. For me personally, starting a blog and being active on Twitter was the smartest thing I did. I wouldn't say that's crucial for every author, but since I write romantic comedy, my humor translates well in those mediums. In the year between starting my blog and my book going up for sale, I was able to gather tons of followers who were eager to buy the book simply because they thought I was funny in my tweets or on my blog. I think of it sorta like giving out samples at the grocery store...it always makes people more likely to buy the product in the end :)
Tawna
Good morning Tawna ^-^How many book Ideas would you say swim in your head at a time?
Welcome Tawna!I am halfway through Making Waves and I love it! I have had many laugh-out-loud moments so far.
I just have to ask you-
Is the 'Jello Salad' Juli and her mom make in the beginning of the book for real? Is this something you created from your imagination or could this possibly be something you ate?
I don't want to go into any specifics about the plot for fear of giving any spoilers, but I will say that Juli is a wonderful character; smart, quick-witted and just a riot.
Teri, it's funny, I hear lots of authors talking about oodles of stories swimming in their heads, and I'm always a little envious. That's NOT how my brain works at all. My stories tend to evolve a little more haphazardly. MAKING WAVES was born after a sailing trip in Australia, but the depth of my thought was, "wow, men on boats are kinda hot." That's about as far as I went with it for a couple years (but hey, it kept me entertained). Then I started thinking about how it could make a good story, and I began pondering what might prompt someone to plot a dysfunctional, modern-day pirate heist. That's right about when the economy tanked, and seeing so many people lose their jobs got me thinking it wouldn't be so crazy for a bunch of laid off corporate executives to attempt to intercept their sleazy boss's illegal diamond shipment. Sooo...to make a short story long, my ideas evolve slowly and not usually in the form of an actual plot. That tends to come later!Fran, if my poor mother had a dollar for everyone who's asked her if the Jello salad was inspired by something she makes, she would be very, VERY wealthy! Alas, my mom is an exceptional cook, and the Jello salad is purely a figment of my imagination. I do get a lot of questions about the rest of the food items described in the book. I love cooking, and I'll admit I'm a bit of a food snob. Many of those recipes are variations of things I've made myself, but some are either made up completely, or borrowed from the menus of my favorite restaurants.
Tawna
Aw I see wich book would you say was the hardest to write and why?
Tawna, Thank you for taking the time to share with us today. When you started the process of writing Making Waves, and I see you have Believe It or Not due out in 2012, was the road to getting published anything like you expected. Did you enjoy the journey or was it a hair pulling experience LOL ?
On the lighter side, have you considered making an instructional video for peeling a banana with your toes?:)
Finley, I won't bogart your time here, are you going to be attending the Bookfair at the Jackson County Fairgrounds 11/05/11? I noticed on cursory review of the event that most of the authors will be from Oregon and I am hoping to attend.
Thanks for letting ramble my questions off LOL Sending smiles and good thoughts of joy for your continued journey. I will be checking out Making Waves it sounds like a great ride of a read :)
Teri, another excellent question. If you mean "hard" like "logistically difficult," I'd say MAKING WAVES was actually quite challenging in that I had to find a way to keep the story interesting and active and engaging when most of it is taking place in the confines of a relatively small boat. You know how I said earlier I don't tend to do much plotting beforehand? There was this point in writing MAKING WAVES where I was starting think, "I'm going to gouge my eyes out if I don't get these damn people off the boat." Bingo! That's exactly what I did, and the plot took a rather interesting turn at that point (trying not to give spoilers, mind you!)If you're talking "hard" in terms of emotional difficulty, that would be the third book in my contract. It's due out in September and I just got word the title will be MAD CRUSH. I started writing it shortly after I signed the three-book deal, and within a few months, my marriage of 13+ years began to unravel. I'm sure you can imagine it's a bit challenging to write romantic comedy when you're feeling neither romantic nor comedic. I pressed on, but it was slow going, and the book required a lot more revising than the ones written when I was in a more positive emotional place!Denise, my road to publication was a rather bumpy one. To get the full story, go here: http://tawnafenske.blogspot.com/2010/...
In a nutshell, I started off writing women’s action/adventure several years ago, sold a book to Harlequin/Silhouette’s Bombshell line, and wrote two follow-ups that hadn’t made it to contract when I got “the un-call” from my editor saying the line was being canceled a month before my scheduled debut. It was my 32nd birthday. And the day my cat died. Oh, and the same day my employer threatened to fire me if I kept disobeying the hosiery policy (I did, they didn’t). As all this stuff was hitting me, I thought, “it’s actually kinda funny.” Realizing I could find the humor in something like that got me started finding the humor in my writing, too. Even so, it took awhile after that point for me to find my "home." I went through one agent relationship that didn't work out, plus several near-misses with other books before we finally landed this three-book deal with Sourcebooks. A long road, to be sure, but it made it all the more satisfying when things DID eventually work out.
Re: the banana peeling, there's no video of it, but you can see pics here: http://tawnafenske.blogspot.com/2010/...
Oh, and as for the Bookfair, this is the first I've heard of it. Probably a little late to hook up with it this weekend, but I'll keep it in mind for next year. Thanks for the heads-up!
Tawna
I will hop over and check out these posts. Thank you so much for sharing :) I so agree with sometimes things are just so wrong they have to be funny, glad I found a kindred soul.
Hi Tawna!Do you ever find yourself hitting a block? If so, how do you find your way back to writing?
Thank you for your answer, Tawna... And FYI, I've seen some of your excellent work on Twitter - keep up the good tweets!
O.O... haha love the bannana pic made my nightHow many books would you say you own?
Hey Tawna,How long do you spend writing each day?
What is your favorite romantic movie? Do you have any New Year's Resolutions for 2012?
Teri, I'm laughing a bit at the "how many books would you say you own" question because the answer is "six big boxes fewer than I owned two weeks ago." I've been prepping my house for sale and just did a massive book purge in an effort to declutter a bit. I was a Lit major in college, and I ended up ditching a lot of classics I haven't touched for years, plus oodles of paperbacks I read once and didn't love. Despite that, I'd guess I still own at least 400 books. Maybe more. That doesn't count everything that's on my Kindle.Sakura, I get that question a lot about how much time I spend writing, and I'm a little mortified by the answer right now. I write a lot for my day job in marketing (press releases, ad copy, blog posts, etc.) and then I come home and write blog posts for my author career or an email to my agent or maybe a new scene for one of my contracted books cycling through the editing process. But as far as writing BRAND NEW SCENES for a BRAND NEW BOOK, the last time I did that was in January. Scary, right? This is the thing no one tells you when you sign a book contract (particularly a three-book contract). You have very little time for actual WRITING because you spend every waking hour doing promotional things or editing the books you're contracted for. I'm hopeful that will change for me here in the next few weeks. I've talked about it with my agent, and she doesn't seem terribly worried that I have nothing new in the pipeline just yet. I certainly have another book I'm ready to begin, but finding the time is challenging during this whirlwind debut year!
Kami, I suck when it comes to movies and TV because I don't have the attention span to watch much of either. I either fall asleep or get distracted and go do something else. That said, I watch "Love, Actually" at least once a year, and I adore it every time. As for New Year's resolutions, I haven't thought that far ahead yet. I usually try to make at least one that has some sort of environmental impact (i.e. using only reusable shopping bags, eliminating use of my clothes dryer to save energy, etc.) so I'll probably come up with something along those lines. Oh, and I should probably do something writing related, too, huh?
Tawna
I always enjoy when the H/h are a little older (like me!), not the usual 20-somethings. What made you decide to make Juli and Alex in their late 30's-early 40's? What are the ages of the characters in your next novel BELIEVE IT OR NOT?
Fran, I feel the same way about preferring older heroes and heroines!Part of my decision to make Alex and Juli a little older was the plotline about Alex losing his job at a point in life when he was getting closer to retirement. A layoff when you're a twenty-something isn't quite the same as a layoff when you're 42! I wanted Juli to be close in age to Alex, so that's how I settled on 37 (which, incidentally, is my age now, though I wrote the initial proposal for the book four years ago).
But aside from the job situation, I prefer heroes and heroines with a little more life experience. I'm trying to recall if I explicitly state an age for Drew and Violet in BELIEVE IT OR NOT, and I can't remember for sure. In my mind, they're both in their early-to-mid-thirties. Drew has been married and divorced, while Violet has been living halfway across the country establishing a successful career as an accountant.
Same deal with MAD CRUSH (the third book in my contract, due to hit shelves Sept. 2012). Both characters are in their early-to-mid-thirties. Reese has been married and divorced, while Clay has been down a rocky path of alcoholism, rehab, and recovery. Sounds a little serious for romantic comedy, but I swear it's funny :)
Tawna
O.o wow that's alot of books lolWhat is your favorite place to write/read?
Ok, so I see there's a lull in the questions, so I'm asking another one. lol After bing a journalist, what made you decide to write romance?
I totally agree with the characters having more life experience. I guess since that's where I'm at in my own life there's more I can relate to. I'm glad to hear your next two books have older characters too- looking forward to them :)
What is your guiltiest pleasure? What are your favorite traditions for the season/holiday plans? Do you base your characters on people that you actually know?
Teri, I'm pretty boring when it comes to writing locations. I have a beautiful home office I love very much, and I rarely move my laptop out of that space :)Iris, I've been a part of the same book club for almost 13 years now, and one of our traditions is "summer smut." We pick something risque and fluffy to read during one of the warmer months. One of the first summers we did this, we read a romance novel by a very famous author I won't name here. We all HATED IT. The characters were unrealistic, the plot was contrived, the writing was terrible...and I say this as a longtime fan of the romance genre. I distinctly remember slamming the book down on the table and saying, "if this crap can get published, so can I." And that's what made me decide to start writing fiction. As it turned out, it's a whole lot harder than I realized!!!
Kami, I probably shouldn't name most of my guilty pleasures on a family-friendly site (I am a romance author after all, LOL!) I will say that I love the McDonald's Egg McMuffin more than life itself. I'm a neurotically healthy eater 99% of the time, but there's something about the McMuffin I can never resist.
As for holiday traditions/plans, my family wakes up early the morning after Thanksgiving to go to the half-price sock sale at a local retailer (Fred Meyer) every year. Never mind that we don't usually NEED socks. It's tradition, and it's the thing that heralds in the start of the holiday season for us.
I do occasionally base characters on real people, but they usually end up being a mix of many different individuals. For instance, my heroine's ex-husband in MAD CRUSH is a funny blend of three different men I met while visiting Oregon wineries and researching the book. It's unlikely any of those guys would recognize themselves in the descriptions, but that's how the character came together in my mind.
Tawna
Which, of your three books, was your favorite scene to write and why? Which one of your three books is your favorite, or do you, like all parents tell their children, love them equally?
I just remembered they asked me to post an excerpt at some point during the chat, so I'd better do that :)This scene from MAKING WAVES is the first meeting between Alex and Juli. They're in a seaside bar on the island of St. John, where he's preparing to hijack his sleazy boss's cargo ship and she's hoping to toss her dead uncle's ashes at sea. Here's the excerpt:
“Is someone sitting here?”
Juli opened her eyes and looked up to see a broad-shouldered man who had apparently stepped right off the pages of the sailing brochure in her knapsack. Dark, wind-tousled hair with a little gray sprinkled at the temples. A web of tiny lines at the corner of eyes that seemed almost incandescent green in contrast to his tan. Biceps a girl could really sink her teeth into if a girl had a mind to do such a thing.
Juli blinked up at him, forgetting whatever it was he’d just asked her.
He smiled, seemingly unperturbed by her complete lack of social grace. “I was just wondering if I could join you. Is someone sitting here?”
“Just my Uncle Frank,” Juli said, grabbing her knapsack. “I’ll move him out of the way.”
She set the knapsack in the sand and looked back to see sailor boy with his hands on the back of the chair, clearly hesitating.
“It’s okay, I’m not crazy,” Juli offered. “I just have my uncle’s cremated remains in my backpack.”
“Of course. Why wouldn’t you?” He sat down. “I’m Alex.”
She extended her hand and felt a surge of pleasant heat as he grasped and shook it. Warm hands. When was the last time she’d had warm hands—or any hands, for that matter—on her body?
She shook off the thought and smiled at him. “Juli,” she said. “Pleasure to meet you.”
He looked around the bar and Juli tried not to fixate on how very green his eyes were. “This place is totally packed,” he said. “Figured it was smarter to sit down next to someone with reasonably good hygiene than to take a chance on sharing a table with a greasy sailor who hasn’t showered for a week.”
“Are you always such a flatterer?”
“I try,” Alex said with a slow smile.
Juli felt her stomach flip, and she looked down at her drink, trying to get her bearings. “So what brings you to St. John?”
Alex took a swig from a beer he’d brought to the table with him. Something dark that looked more like maple syrup than beer. “Just here with some business associates to take care of a little, uh—”
“Business?”
“Right.”
“I’m scattering my dead uncle’s ashes at sea.”
“I hear that’s what all the travel brochures suggest this year.”
She smiled and started to ask him another question when a man with greased-back hair and a red silk shirt trotted out on stage. His microphone squealed in protest, then popped loudly as the man waved his hands to the crowd.
“Hey, hey, hey! Welcome to the CoCo Bar, boys and girls. How many happily married couples do we have with us tonight?”
There were a few whoops and shrieks from the crowd, along with some steely looks from people clearly not pleased with the interruption. Undeterred, the emcee plunged onward.
“You know the drill, kids! It’s time for the CoCo Bar’s weekly Newlywed Game. A thousand dollars to our top couple tonight, so someone’s walking out of here with some nice pocket change. If you want to play, throw your hands in the air and our screener will come over and ask you just a few little questions.”
The crowd’s enthusiasm was underwhelming. One drunk guy sitting alone in the front row put his hand in the air. Someone in the corner belched. Most of the other guests went back to eating coconut shrimp and sipping drinks with umbrellas.
Juli looked at Alex. A thousand dollars? Even split two ways, that was a lot of cash. After the Feds had seized Uncle Frank’s assets, what he’d left her had barely covered her airfare down here.
“Want to play?” she asked, taking a sip of her drink.
He stared at her. “Hi, I’m Alex. We just met. I believe you’re confusing me with someone you’ve exchanged rings with.”
“Don’t be a spoilsport, it’s easy,” Juli said, raising her hand. “You’ve seen how these things are played. We just need a system beforehand so we have a shot at picking the right answers.”
“Are you nuts?”
“No, are you married or here with a girlfriend or something?”
Alex flinched. “No.”
Interesting, Juli thought, and wondered if there was a story there.
“Then there’s no problem here if you aren’t already attached,” she pointed out. “The first question is number one. That means if it’s a multiple-choice question, you go with the first one. If the answer has to be a random word, make it start with the first letter of the alphabet. If the answer has to be a number—”
“Right, I get it,” Alex said, reaching across the table to pull her hand down. “I just don’t think we should—”
“For the second question, we go with two. The answer is two or starts with a B or—”
“Hey there, you two,” chirped a perky blonde in a pink halter top with a clipboard in her hands. Juli admired the product of several thousand dollars’ worth of plastic surgery, blinking against the blinding whiteness of the woman’s teeth. She rested her manicured hand on Juli’s shoulder and kept right on chirping. “We’re having a tough time getting volunteers tonight, so if you’re reasonably sane, you’re up. How long have you been married?”
“We’re on our honeymoon,” Juli chirped right back, taking a sip of her drink. She stole a look at Alex,
whose expression suggested he was dubious about the sanity requirement.
“You know how this game works?” the blonde asked.
Juli beamed. “Absolutely.”
The woman turned her attention to Alex. “How about you, gorgeous? You ready to do this?”
For a brief moment, Juli wasn’t sure what he’d say. Hell, she couldn’t believe she was roping him into it, but now that the ball was rolling, she didn’t want to stop.
She gulped the rest of her drink and signaled the waiter for another, wondering if she’d be doing this without all the liquid courage.
She looked at Alex and felt her stomach do a somersault of lust. Probably.
He met her eyes, his expression unreadable. A thousand dollars, Juli mouthed, giving him her best smile.
He shook his head and took a swallow of beer. Then he tipped the bottle at her.
“Come on, honey. Let’s kick some ass.”
That is really cute. I so want to read this book now. I hope I win. If not I am going to put this book on my Christmas list. :) In case my question got skipped I am re-posting it: Which, of your three books, was your favorite scene to write and why? Which one of your three books is your favorite, or do you, like all parents tell their children, love them equally?
That's an awesome excerpt Tawna! The entire scene that follows with the game is so funny too :)
Kami, LOL, I think we simu-posted last night, so thanks for posting your questions again. Funny, I actually just did a blog post about the most fun I've had writing a scene. I won't claim this was my favorite scene, but I had a great time writing it:http://tawnafenske.blogspot.com/2011/...
As for favorite books, my answer is different almost every single week. There are moments when I feel confident MAKING WAVES is my best, and other moments I think it pales in comparison to BELIEVE IT OR NOT. Then I'll spend some time with MAD CRUSH and decide that's my best work. It totally depends on my mood (and on how much the book is annoying me at any given moment!)
Tawna
Fran, thanks! The scene with the game is the one I choose whenever I do readings at book-signing events or other public speaking engagements. It was actually based loosely on a REAL newlywed game I watched in a seaside bar in Jamaica. As far as I know, none of the couples used a "system," but the couple that won did it based on a final question that was a lot like how Juli and Alex's game ends. Their answer was similar, and the whole audience seemed a little dumbstruck at how celebratory they were, considering they'd just publicly admitted to having a lousy sex life :)Tawna
When you get into your writing zone, does it ever interfere with your holidays?
Lynn, I work very, VERY hard at keeping a good life/writing balance. The way I figure it, I'm not much good as a writer if I'm shortchanging myself on the fuel (i.e. life experiences, relaxation, downtime, etc.) that keeps me writing well. This is actually one of my big soapbox issues that I blogged about pretty recently in a post titled, "Make time for a paw in your butt crack..."http://tawnafenske.blogspot.com/2011/...
Tawna
Oh my goodness. Ha, ha. Cheese doodle. Wow.
Tawna, hopped over and read the post. Loved it - thank you!
Thanks so much to everyone who read, commented, lurked, or politely refrained from throwing decaying produce! I had a lot of fun.OK, I drew names at random and came up with Kami and Lynn as the winners of the two copies of MAKING WAVES. Congratulations! Shoot me a message at tawnafenske at yahoo dot com with your snail mail address and I'll forward that along to the publicist who'll be shipping the books.
Thanks again for having me here, guys! Happy reading!
Tawna
Congratulations Kami and Lynn!And thank you so much for joining us Tawna- it's been a lot of fun reading your answers and chatting with you. Congratulations on MAKING WAVES and looking forward to reading your future novels!
Thank you so much Tawna for taking the time to share with us and congratulations to Kami and Lynn!!! look forward to your sharing about this fun read :)
Thank you Tawna for answering our questions and chatting with everyone.
I won?!!! Yeah! I really wanted this one. Woohoo! So excited.
Romance Readers Reading Challenges
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Making Waves (other topics)Making Waves (other topics)
Meet Tawna: A third-generation Oregonian who can peel and eat a banana with her toes, Tawna Fenske has traveled a winding career path from journalist to English teacher in Venezuela to marketing geek. She loves biking, hiking, kayaking, sailing, snorkeling, reading, and spending time with her menagerie of ill-behaved (albeit, well-loved) pets. She’s the author of the popular daily blog “Don’t Pet Me, I’m Writing” and a member of Romance Writers of America. Her debut novel, MAKING WAVES, hit shelves August 2011 as the first in a trio of quirky romantic comedies from Sourcebooks, Inc. MAKING WAVES has been nominated for "Best Contemporary Romance" in the RT Book Reviews 2011 Reviewers' Choice Awards.
Making Waves-
Juli’s lost count of the number of jobs she’s held, but she definitely never applied to be a pirate. Or a stowaway on a pirate ship. But when fate lands her on boat captained by Alex—a man whose unscrupulous boss kicked him to the curb after 20 faithful years—Juli finds herself in the middle of a revenge-fueled Caribbean diamond heist with a crew more suited to the boardroom than the poop deck. Alex didn’t plan to be a pirate, either. He just wants to recover his dignity, pension, and something resembling a normal life. But normal flies out the window when Juli enters the picture—a twist Alex wishes he didn’t find so exhilarating. The two soon discover that while normal is nice, weird can be wonderful.
Website:http://www.tawnafenske.com
Blog: http://tawnafenske.blogspot.com
Twitter: @tawnafenske
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tawnafenske
Book:
Giveaway: Tawna will be giving away 2 paperback copies of Making Waves. This giveaway is open to U.S./Canada residents.