Author S.J. Frost interview and give-away

Myblog guest today has written a couple of my favorite series ever and has beenvery inspirational to me in the rockstar genre, as well as being one of the keyfactors in my road to my first publication. S.J. Frost has written 5 books inthe Conquest series (❤), 2 in theInstincts series and a variety of other stories. She has a holiday releasecoming out on Christmas Day with MLR Press – Beautiful Harmony – that I'm really excited about but I'll let hertell you why. J
Welcome,S.J.! I'm very happy to have you here. Are you ready to be grilled? J

Hey, K-lee! Thank you so much for having me here! I'mtotally ready to chat and have a good time!
1.    How did you get started writing m/m romance? Did you always wantto be a writer? It's funny, because I actuallywrote a gay romance before realizing I'd written one. Very confusing, I know.But you see, when I wrote my first novel, Conquest, all I thought was that I'dwritten a romance novel about two people in love. It just so happened those twopeople were both gay men. It wasn't until after I started shopping around for apublisher and realized "traditional" romance publishers weren't very friendlyto gay content that I began to learn more about the m/m genre as a whole. Ifelt like I'd found where I was always meant to be as a writer.And yep, I've wanted to be awriter for as long as I can remember. Storytelling, even before I knew how towrite, was always part of my life. When I was little, I would make up storiesfor myself, and as I got older, I began putting them to paper, which made iteven more fun. Now there's nothing better than to be able to share my storieswith my readers.2.    What were your early influences either in this genre or any other?My early influences actuallycame from the fantasy genre, since originally, I thought I'd want to be afantasy author. And there's still a desire in me to break into that genre someday.But the fantasy genre has been more open to homosexuality in books thatprobably any other, and it was there that I read my first book ever with a gaycharacter, Mercedes Lackey's The Last Herald Mage Trilogy (Magic's Pawn,Magic's Promise, Magic's Price). I felt true sympathy and care for the maincharacter, Vanyel Ashkevron, and to this day, he has a special place in myheart.    3.    What is the hardest part about writing for you? The benefits?Finding the time to do it.That's really the hardest part for me. My life is packed pretty full, butbecause I love writing so much, I really try to set time aside to do it. Iprefer to run short on sleep than on words. When it comes to the actualwriting process, probably one of the hardest things for me is never knowingwhat I'm going to get by the time The End rolls around. I'm afly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of author. But it's exciting too, because I'mlearning the story as I go.The greatest benefit of beingan author is all the people I get to meet. Readers, other authors, people inthe industry. I appreciate everyone, especially my readers. Nothing makes myday like getting an email from someone saying they've enjoyed one of my books.It's more special than words can ever describe to know someone took time out oftheir day to read my work and share their thoughts with me. 4.    Tell us a little about your Christmas story."Beautiful Harmony" is a shortstory, about 10k words, that will feature a couple characters readers of myprevious work may recognize, Kyler Christenson and Robbie Russo from the novel,Black Heart Down. It takes place a few months after the end of that book andshows 
everyone where Ky and Robbie are in their relationship as they share theirfirst Christmas in their home. 
It's a steamy little story, but also sweet. Avery special gift is given, 
but I have to plead evil author privilege and notsay what that is ;-)
5.    Do you have any writing quirks? (ie computer has to be facing acertain way, cup  of coffee on the left, certain music playing, etc) I don't have any particularquirks for actually writing. I do prefer total silence, but I can work aroundit. I used to always eat peanut M&M's while writing, but I don't do thatanymore. But I guess I do have a quirk for after I finish a story. I'llobsessively read it over, re-work it and tweak it until my editor forces me toturn it in. Then I'll usually cling for another day or two before I can let itgo. Oh, and I'll continue to obsessively tweak it all the way up through thefinal galley. Yeah, it's mental. Fortunately, my editor is very patient withme.
   6.    Do you have any writing or reading squicks? Things you don't liketo read and can't see yourself ever writing?It really depends on the book.I'm a pretty easy reader and tend to give authors a lot of creative license. Thereare some things I don't like; abuse of children or animals, cheating andabusive relationships. But it also depends on what the author is trying to get across.Are they trying to do good and spread awareness? Are they treating thesesubjects with the weight and seriousness they deserve? Or are they justthrowing things in for shock value. It's all variable on how the author handlesthe issue. I can't really say if there's anything I would never write about. IfI did, chances are I'd get a story idea about it! 7.    Are there any types of characters (shifters, cowboys, construction workers, aliens, etc.) that you haven't written yet but       are just screaming foryou to get to their story?I have some samurai who havebeen very patiently waiting for my attention for a very, very long time. I'vewanted to write a historical gay romance with them ever since finishingConquest. My rock stars and vampires having been taking all my attention, butmy samurai continue to wait, knowing their time is coming. Hopefully 2012 willsee me being able to work with them.8.    What's next on your plate? What are you working on? Right now, I'm wrapping up thethird book in my Instincts series and I'm polishing another musician themednovel that will be loosely tied to the Conquest series. Those two are my mainfocuses for the first quarter of 2012. After that, I'm going to try to work onthe story for another character from the Conquest series, Brad Delfini.   9.    What's your favorite part of Christmas?I love doing holidaythings with my little guy. He's three years-old this year, so the season isstill full of magic for him. We've been reading Christmas books, watching allthe classic Christmas shows together, decorating, shopping, doing localactivities, and we'll be going to see Santa soon. I just love sharing this timeof year with him. 10.  Finally – a few quickchoices:a.    Coffee or tea – coffee, but only café mocha.b.    Dog or cat – Both!c.    Beach or mountains – Mountains.d.    Pecs or abs – Abs.e.    Smile or eyes – Eyes.f.     Cowboys or rockstars – Rock stars!g.    Who would win in a fight – vampires or werewolves? And why.Vampires! Um, but I have noidea why. Probably just because I've written vampires, but not werewolves, andmy vamps are pretty tough, so when I think vampires, I think of my guys and Ican't see them losing a fight. Guess I need to write some werewolves to reallymake an informed decision!
S.J. has graciouslyoffered up an IOU copy of her holiday story, Beautiful Harmony, to one lucky commenter on my blog. PLEASEREMEMBER TO INCLUDE YOUR NAME AND EMAIL ADDRESS IN YOUR COMMENT.
CONTEST WILL BE OPEN UNTILWEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21.
If you don't win, you can pick it up December 25 at MLR Press Beautiful Harmony and be sure to check out S.J.'s other books on her website S.J. Frost