Author Marguerite Labbe interview and new title give-away

My guest today is a fabulous writer who I"almost" met at Gay Rom Lit but fully intend on meeting at least once in thenext year. Marguerite Labbe has published 4 solo books and 14 stories withco-author Fae Sutherland. Marguerite's next solo book, All Bets are Off, comes out on December 9 at Dreamspinner Press.
Welcome, Marguerite. I swear I'm going tocollect those twitter hugs we exchange in person some day. J
I still can't believe we kept missing each other all thosedays and end up at the airport at the same time and still not see eachother.  Next year for sure, we'll sit atthe bar and ogle all the handsome men together. Thank you so much for having me on your blog.  *Squishes*
1.     Howdid you get started writing m/m romance? Did you always want to be a writer?Actually, when I was really young, Iwanted to be a painter like my Granny, but I have zero art skills so I startedwriting poetry and stories in elementary school instead.  When I was in college my mom started harassingme about trying to get published.  I didnot have the confidence in either myself or my writing at the time to evenattempt and eventually the pressure from my own lack of confidence got so badthat it completely blocked me and I stopped writing altogether.  Several years later I discovered fan fictionand I started writing again just for me, just for fun and I fell in love withm/m fiction. 
2.     Whatwere your early influences either in this genre or any other?That'sso hard for me because I read a lot for fun, all genres, all kinds of authorsand I'm very bad about analyzing what I like/don't like about their writingstyles, so I'm not sure how to see which styles would apply to me.  I will say that role-playing made a bigdifference with character development. My favorite authors growing up were C.S. Lewis, David Eddings, AnneMcCaffrey and Louisa May Alcott and I have a lot of must by m/m authors.  The Goodreads M/M group's Hot Summer Dayschallenge also opened me up to many more new authors that I hadn't triedbefore.  My pocketbook hates me, but mye-reader is happy.  I loved your storyK-lee and I can't wait to read more about Glitter Fox.
3.     Whatis the hardest part about writing for you? Comingup with titles and blurbs and all those little things that make presentationpart of the package.  There are days whenthe words come easily and days when it's a fight for every one.  I would prefer a lot more easy ones, but I'verecently compared writing a book to childbirth. I had a hard time with All BetsAre Off.  It took me years of falsestarts before it finally started flowing and then it took twice as long towrite because it was out of my comfort zone. But when I looked I the final copy I was so proud and happy that I stuckwith it and I kind of forgot about all the times I bitched about pulling outthe words for it.  When it's all said anddone and your "baby" is here, an author forgets about the blood, sweat andtears.  Probably why we keep trying foranother instead of giving up the whole gig.
4.     Doesany one of your books hold a special place in your heart more so than theothers?Firstit was Bee Among the Clover becausethat was the first story Fae and I finished and I loved it.  Then it was My Heart is Within You, because that's the first solo novel lengthstory that I ever finished on my own and I like the spin I put on it.  But the truth is they're all special in theirown way to me.
5.     Tellus a little about your new release, All Bets Are Off. Is it a stand-alone orpart of a series? Where did the inspiration for it come from?Igot the idea for All Bets oneChristmas several years ago as we were shopping with a "what if" moment.  Most of my stories start that way.  What if these two men had a one night standonly to discover the next day as the school semester starts that one is theprofessor and the other the student.  Ihave to let stories percolate for awhile in my brain before they start towholly form.  Eli in particular tookextra long to cook because he is nothing at all like how I originallyenvisioned my professor.  He's contrary,hard-headed and entirely too rebellious and independent and I tried fightinghim for too long before I realized that he was right and I couldn't make him amore submissive character.
Eliwants only two things out of life, to be left at peace at work and to find theright man to share his life with that will stick around.  Ash is just looking to finish his last yearof school so he can finally move on and settle down.  The last thing either of them expected was tohave all of their expectations derailed by the heat between them that neithercan deny.  Over baseball, bets andclassroom debates Eli and Ash learn the real meaning of life and love.
Itwas meant to be a stand alone because I never wanted to try writing acontemporary romance again.  However, oneof the members of my crit group is poking at me to write an interracialcontemporary romance and Eli in All Betshas a cousin Gareth who insists he is one of the characters in this newstory.  So we'll see. 

6.     Doyou have any writing quirks? (ie computer has to be facing a certain way, cupof coffee on the left, certain music playing, etc)IfI get stuck writing on the computer I'll switch to pen and paper and thatusually unblocks me.  I do make playlistsof songs for each story, though I don't always listen to music while Iwrite.  All Bets' playlist included "You Do Your Thing" by MontgomeryGentry and "Strangers In The Night" by Frank Sinatra.
7.     Doyou have any writing or reading squicks? Things you don't like to read andcan't see yourself ever writing?M/M/Mdoesn't squick me out but I can't see myself writing it either. Pronounconfusion is hard enough in m/m without adding a third party, plus it's veryhard to get a really good balanced dynamic between all three characters.  However, I know better than to even tryingsaying "never" because my muse always makes me pay for such a statement.

8.     AsI mentioned, you write solo as well as in collaboration with Fae. How did thatcome about? Do you have a preference now? Wemet each other online years ago and we wrote a few things together for fun andthen lost touch.  Little did we know thatshe was literally living 15 minutes away from me at the time.  A few years later we met up again online andstarted writing and after a few months we realized from a meme that we hadalready met before.  We had a good laughover that.  Our dynamic works welltogether.  I love the stories that Faeand I come up with when we work together and I especially love thecharacters.  Writing solo gives me theopportunity to do stories like my vampire trilogy and ghost story that I'mworking on that are not quite romance. They're darker and different and I like that, too.




9.     Whatcan we expect next from you? Are you already working on something else?Ifinished the rough draft of a gay horror/thriller during Nano.  That story started with one of those what ifmoments as well as I was driving down to South Carolina with my husband twoyears ago.  What if a man is murdered onthe side of the road and he comes back as a ghost to help his long time partnerfind the killer.  I really wanted towrite the story, but resisted for a year because I couldn't think of onepublisher that would take it.  Neitherthe story, nor the characters would leave me alone though, so during the midstof my vacation last year I sat down and wrote the first couple ofchapters.  I love Andrei and Dean's storyand I'm very glad that I wrote it.  Afterthat I'm either going to work on my pulp noir story, or one of several fantasystories that won't leave me alone.
10. Finally –a few quick choices:a.     Coffeeor tea – Twocups of coffee in the morning, after 11 am, I love tea of all kinds as long asit's decaffeinated.b.     Dogor cat – Ilove both.  Currently we have two cats,Isis and Osiris.  Once we get a house ofour own I'd like to add a dog to the mix.  c.      Beachor mountains – Again both, I was born a mountain girl and if I had to pick one, then I'dgo with mountains, but I love my yearly vacations at the Outer Banks.d.     Pecsor abs – Abs.(Whoohoo, you see I didn't pick both there?) Pecs can be overdone, abs are just nice to ogle and stroke.e.    Smile or eyes – That one's hard, I like a nicegenuine smile, but I'm a serious sucker for eyes.  I'd have to say that the eyes are the firstthing I notice and fall for.f.      Cowboysor rockstars – Neither, Fae says that I'm sapiosexual, which means that I'm attracted tosuper smart men.  I have to say thatnerds and geeks really get me going.g.     Whowould win in a fight – vampires or werewolves? And why.  Vampires, they fight dirty and are moreruthless.  Werewolves have a code, but aif it was a pack of werewolves again a group of vamps I'd go with thepack.  They know how to fight together.
Marguerite has generouslyoffered up a copy of her new release, AllBets Are Off for one lucky commenter on this post. I'll do the draw tomorrow.  PLEASE REMEMBER TO INCLUDE YOUR NAME ANDEMAIL ADDRESS IN YOUR COMMENT. J
But if you don't win, you can pick it up at DreamspinnerPress http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=2660

Also be sure to drop by Marguerite and Fae's website to seeall their wonderful collaborations and solo works. http://chasethedream.net/