PP Blog: welcomes L B Joramo & The Immortal American. Intrigued?

The PP is sharing a tiara with L B Joramo, author of The Immortal American.Intrigued? We are. Let's get to know her.  How did you get from your day job to writing romance?  Well, technically I don’t write romance. But I have two pseudonyms that say otherwise. Sshh! Don’t tell. As for me, L. B. Joramo, I write historical fiction with strong elements of romance and paranormal activity.
I’ve been making books since I was six. I glued together some construction paper with my crayoned stories and that was my first book. I couldn’t stop there! So I’ve been writing ever since. When I went to college though I didn’t go for the obvious English or Literary degree. Instead, I got a degree in sociology. I love studying people, and sociology was the best way I could discover all their niches. I kept writing my stories through all of that. It was after I applied to graduate school that I was allowed to read my philosophy professor’s letter of recommendation. He wrote that, yes, I’d make a fine graduate student, but he hoped I would become a writer one day. Then it hit me how many of my professors and teachers over the years had tried to support my writing. I don’t know why it took me so long to see that. Up until then I knew I wanted to write, but to call myself a writer . . . I really didn’t know if I was that brave or not.  After I had my son, I knew I had to be. If not for myself, then for him. I had to show him that people really could pursue their dreams. I slaved over the craft of writing for years. I took classes, read books, got critique buddies, went to workshops—you name it, if I could afford it or had the time, I would do it. I don’t think I really slept for a few years there. I would work, be a mom, all the while trying to write really well. I had always entered contests, but after a couple years, I started to win them. I had always tried to query agents, and it was about that time that they started getting more interested in me. When a publisher wrote me an email saying he thought I had massive potential and that he’d like to publish me it was too surreal. It also happened to be the day or two days after my mother had died, so it was an odd time too. How I wanted to call her to finally tell her the news. I still do.
I haven’t quit gotten away from my day job yet, but my published life has just gotten underway. Wish me luck to fulfill the dream of making enough money with my writing to quit my day job!  
What are your three favorite books of all time?   To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Atonement by Ian McEwan, Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D.
 Morning, afternoon, or evening person? I force myself to be a morning person, but I am more evening, late evening at that.
Music--with or without? What kind? Depends on my mood. Sometimes I love the silence; sometimes I need the silence filled. If I’m writing I listen to classical or instrumental music.
First or third POV? I do both.
How's tricks? Do you juggle multiple projects? I do! While I write one book, I’m usually plotting another. Editing somewhere in there.
What's harder: beginning, middle, or the end? I think the beginning. I’m a plantser, so I usually do have the beginning and the end, but now I try to plot too, so I start to love my middle so much that I’m excited to get there. It’s that tricky beginning, where I want to hook my readers, that always intimidates me the most. I usually have two or sometimes many more versions of the beginning.
Revisions: Love 'em or hate 'em?  Now I LOVE them! When I first started writing, I really hated them, but now revisions and the edits make my books beautiful. I can’t be more excited to do revisions now.
How did you come up with that title?  Best advice anybody every gave you? I owe so much to D. Patrick Miller, the first publisher who thought I had potential. He knew I was holding back in my writing, in my plot. He was so right! He recommended going as big as I wanted, not fearing how much someone out there would hate it. Man, he knew me better than I wanted him to. I never told him I was a people pleaser. He just knew that my writing could get very pinched because I was trying so hard to make others like it.  I wrote only for me from there on out. Well, I do have critique buddies who help keep me from having supernovas on the first page of a book, but otherwise I now only write what makes me happy, and that saved my writing.
Fill in this blank: My ideal fictional hero would think me gorgeous no matter… how grumpy I get when I haven’t slept enough.
What's your favorite dessert? Pineapple upside down cake with loads of whipped cream and a cherry on top.
Do you write at home or someplace else? Home. Find Lani's book at:Amazon Find Lani at:Website  Thank you Laini for being with us today!!