Interview with Jude Deveraux

Quick Start

SS: How would you describe your life in only 8 words?

JD: Starting over

SS: What is your motto or maxim?

JD: Be thankful for the small things.

What Readers want to know...

SS: With whom in history do you most identify?

JD: Queen Elizabeth I

SS: What are your most overused words or phrases?

JD: I have an editor who keeps me from repeating myself. She circles the words that I use more than once on a page. Sometimes it's a real challenge to use different words. Right now, I'm trying to figure out how to say the "roar" of the alligators without using that word in every sentence.

SS: What is your greatest achievement?

JD: That I've been able to sustain my career.

SS: What’s your greatest flaw?

JD: Right now it's my absolute hatred of aerobics. I will stand in one place and happily lift hundreds of pounds of weight, but put me on a treadmill and I am nearly insane in ten minutes.

SS: What’s your best quality?

JD: My memory. I can remember, verbatim, conversations from 20 years ago.

SS: What trait is most noticeable about you?

JD: That I'm short.

SS: Who is your favorite fictional hero?

JD: Mr. Darcy, of course.

SS: Who is your favorite fictional villain?

JD: I don't like bad guys.

SS: If you could meet any historical character, who would it be and what would you say to him or her?

JD: I would like to meet Queen Elizabeth I and I wouldn't say a word. I'd just listen and watch.

SS: What is your biggest pet peeve?

JD: People telling me something is for my own good when it's really to their advantage.

SS: What is your favorite occupation, when you’re not writing?

JD: I like to garden and cook. My favorite days are when I start cooking at 6 a.m. while watching old movies on TV.

SS: What’s your fantasy profession?

JD: I think writing is good. You get to stay home and you can work all day or skip a day. I love looking at a blank sheet of paper and thinking that I can fill it up with anything I want to write.

SS: What 3 personal qualities are most important to you?

JD: Honesty, honesty, and honesty.

SS: If you could eat only one thing for the rest of your days, what would it be?

JD: Berries. If it has "berry" attached to the name of it, I love it.

SS: What are your 5 favorite songs?

JD: I like Grace Slick's White Rabbit, the Carmina Burana, ZZ Top.

Questions About Books and Writing

SS: Who are your favorite authors?

JD: I mostly read research books, but I do like murder mysteries. I read Nancy Atherton, Mary Higgins Clark, and Dorothy Cannell. I like anything about Thomas Jefferson.

SS: Is there a book you love to reread?

JD: Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons.

SS: Do you have one sentence of advice for new writers?

JD: Don't let your ego take over and rule you.

SS: What comment do you hear most often from your readers?

JD: That they wish I'd write more historicals --- which I'm doing now.

General Questions

SS: What is your birthdate?

JD: 9/20

SS: What were your previous occupations?

JD: One of the jobs I had to put myself through college was in a greenhouse and that started my love of plants. After I graduated, I taught elementary school for a few years before I started writing.

SS: What was/is your favorite job?

JD: Writing.

SS: Where did you go to high school and/or college?

JD: Murray State University in Murray, KY, plus the University of New Mexico

SS: Name of your favorite composer or music artist?

JD: Verdi. I like Andrew Lloyd Weber a lot.

SS: What is your favorite movie?

JD: The 1939 version of The Women. I know most of the dialogue by heart.

SS: What is your favorite television show?

JD: I love TV and have 30 programs set on my DVR. I like Dexter, Mad Men, The Mentalist, Supernatural, House, all the BBC programs. I watch TV and movies more than I read because when I read, I start editing in my mind and it takes the fun away from the book.

Get more on Jude Deveraux at SimonandSchuster.com