Hi, my name is Kelly Conrad, and I've always loved to write. I excelled in English class at school, and always thought I wanted to be a writer. It's very difficult to tell you just when I began writing. In looking back, I would have to say my writing career began as early as elementary school when I sat in Study Hall and thought up names for romance novels. Can you see it? A list of hot, sultry titles that my teacher snatched away from me and turned red as she read them? I was a bit undisciplined to say the least, and spent a lot of time in the principal's office.

Later I began writing stories for my friends to read. The first story was about a teacher who had an affair with a student. Oh, my! Even then my imagination was in overdrive! After that my life took off in several directions until the day I decided I wanted to get back to my first love, writing. Since I'm from Texas, the most natural thing in the world for me is to write a western ménage with lots of heat. Depending on the story line I might add a touch of suspense to give it an extra kick.

I lived my life as a big-haired blond. I have blue eyes, and I like that tear-jerkin' western music, and I even sing some. I love square dancing, and I speak with a Texas twang (me and Dolly Parton). Although I'm new with Siren Publishing I hope to entertain you with some great books in the future.

By the way, I think Dolly comes from Tennessee. I'm telling you that so you won't get us mixed up. Yeah, right!
 

Q: What do you like most about writing?

A: I guess what I like most about writing is creating great characters that can live up to, and overcome, the precarious situations I put them in. I don't like weak men. I like the hero to be strong and take control, but it tickles me when a strong heroine comes along that is every bit his equal and refuses to take any guff from him. This promotes sexual tension between the two which can lead to some very hot love scenes.


Q: and hate most about writing?

A: What I don't like is that blank page in the beginning. I try to begin my story, and each chapter, with a hook, and end each chapter with a cliffhanger. Of course, no matter what happens there will always be a happy ending, but I try to give my readers a rip-roaring ride before they get there.


Q: Is it difficult to choose a name for your character?

A: It's a challenge I like to be faced with. You have to consider the setting your character is in, as well as where he comes from, and his background. For a Southern setting you not only have to pick a Southern name, you also have to consider accents. I've been told by some well-meaning Northerners that the South is almost like a different country. Also, I like to give my villains names that sound dark and dangerous. For instance, can't you just see a gunslinger named Bart wearing a black hat?


Q: Do you have to get in the mood before you write a love scene?

A: Actually, since I'm working and in the middle of conflict, action, and dirty rotten villains, I'm never in the mood when I begin writing a love scene. I simply begin writing and as I describe the scene, I can't help but imagine myself there in the bed with my characters. That's when I get in the mood. The test of a good love scene is if you feel it while you're writing it. If you are moved by your words, then your reader will be moved as well. If you have to do something to get yourself in the mood, what can I say? Erase it and start over. But this time let the words do it, notsomething else.


Q: Which comes first, the story, the characters, or the setting?

A: The story always. I have a folder in my computer that has many, many story ideas, but I haven't had the time to develop them yet. An idea can grow out of one scene, and one scene can become a book, and one book can become, what else? A bestseller. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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