Lisa and Jennifer welcome to Fallen Angel Reviews. I have a thousand and one questions I would love to ask both of you *g*, but I promise to keep the questions down to a minimum.

Jen: Hi, Jill! Thanks for inviting us to come chat with you. It's a nice break for us.

Lisa: Hey Jill! It's great to be here with you. Ask as many questions as you'd like.

What was your reaction when your first book got published by Ellora's Cave?

Jen: Well, when we got the contract offer from Ellora's Cave, it was a moment of shock, then pure excitement and celebration. The cool thing was is that we were actually together when we got the notice. Because we live an hour apart from each other, we only get together maybe once a month, so we never expected we'd be together when we got notice. We'd gotten together that day for one of our "girl nights out" and when we found out that Lover's Talisman had been accepted, Lisa celebrated by reading one of our hot sex scenes out loud to her hubby and his best friend. LOL!

Lisa: I don't think anything about writing and getting published really hit me until I saw the cover on the Ellora's Cave website. Acting On Impulse was our first title published and when it went up for sale on the website, everything just became so real. Jen and I were finally on the map, finally telling the world our stories. It was an incredible feeling that I sometimes still think is just a dream.

Where does the name Ashleigh Raine come from? Was it made up, or is it a significant name?

Jen: Actually, it was a name I'd chosen for a future child. I always thought if I had twin girls, I'd name them Anya Rose and Ashleigh Raine. Well, considering the likelihood of me having twin girls is slim to none, and my hubby likes the name Anya Rose for a girl if we ever have one, when Lisa and I started writing together I told her I had an idea for our pen name and she liked it.

Lisa: Jen, you forgot to mention that one of my favorite character names in high school was Raine. I used to write stories and whatnot and if there was a female in them, her name was always Raine. So when Jen proposed Ashleigh Raine as our penname, I thought it was perfect. Jen's Ashleigh and I'm Raine. Oddly enough, in book one of our award-winning Talisman Bay series, Lover's Talisman, our hero's name is Stephan Rashleigh. One of our readers pointed out the similarity between Rashleigh and Ashleigh and thought that's where our name came from, but it was purely coincidental. In fact, we hadn't even noticed up until that point although, we took it as a good omen that we'd unintentionally copied our name from one of our favorite heroes.

Jen: Actually, I have no memory of Raine as a character. Sorry! LOL! When I chose the name, it must have been from the depths of my subconscious. But obviously these things have stuck with me even when I don't think I've remembered them. I guess our teenage years will always haunt us.

Lisa: That's funny! I forgot that most of the stuff 'starring' Raine was stuff that didn't tie in with Talisman Bay! You must've picked up on it in your subconscious. And I'm really glad our teenage years haunt us. I wouldn't have it any other way.

How long does it take you to finish a book?

Jen: That really depends. The quickest we've written a book was our first quickie, Acting on Impulse. We wrote that story from initial idea to typing "the end" in five days. It flowed so easily. But then our second quickie we wrote, Angel in Moonlight, took us six weeks.

Lisa: We generally work on more than one story at a time. For instance, book two of our Talisman Bay series, Forsaken Talisman, ended up taking us just over a year to complete. But during its duration, we wrote Acting on Impulse, Magic In The Works, Angel In Moonlight, and started on Driven To Distraction. Because we truly write as a team, sometimes rather than tossing scenes of the same book back and forth, we'll toss one of one book with one of another. It's like taking a break, but still writing, moving forward on both stories at the same time.

Do you have a favorite hero and heroine?

Jen: That's such a hard question because I love all of them, but I think Stephan and Mariah from Lover's Talisman probably are my favorites. They are where it all started for me. I fell in love with Stephan when he was just a fantasy in my head when I was only 13 years old. I'm glad that our Talisman Bay series is so interconnected because I just know that I could never say goodbye to Stephan and Mariah.

Lisa: It's hard to pick favorites. I loved the magnetism between Mark and Elaine in Magic In The Works, our contribution to the Mesmerized anthology with Sahara Kelly and Jaci Burton, but I have to say that my all time favorite hero and heroine are Twyla and Freeze from Lover's Talisman. And they aren't even really the hero and heroine of the book! There was just something about those two, something that truly blew my mind when we actually got to write them. Twyla had been part of Jen's and my world since the beginning with Freeze coming along a little while later, but as though he'd been there the whole time. So writing them into Lover's Talisman became so incredible we found ourselves surprised.

Can you tell me a little bit about Forsaken Talisman?

Jen: Forsaken Talisman is the second book in our Talisman Bay series. This is Dusty's story, although as with all of our Talisman Bay books, you'll see all the characters and watch as their own stories begin to develop.

Lisa: Gosh, where do I start? We bring in new characters, we see old ones. There's really a lot going on in this book. It's got steam, emotion, action. I just really love the Talisman Bay series. It allows us to weave the whole series into a huge story of its own with each book also its own story. Dusty gets the girl this time. Hearts come together. Hearts break. Love, lust, there's a little bit of everything in it. I especially enjoyed exploring the depth of the characters. A lot is revealed about their inner-workings, their motivations, their wants, desires. This was actually the first story that made me cry while writing it because it was so powerful that it just really shook me to my very core.

Jen: I can't believe I forgot to mention the new characters! I love Slade and Hawke! Plus we introduce more facets of the Shadow Organization. This book was in some ways easier and some ways harder to write than Lover's Talisman. LT set up the base of the story, and with Forsaken Talisman, we got to delve so much deeper since the world had already been introduced.

What are you currently working on?

Jen: We almost always are working on two books at once. Right now we're just starting Eternal Talisman, book three in the Talisman Bay series. Our tag line for that story is "When a vampire and a Shadow Walker come together, death is not the only option."

Lisa: We're also finishing up Driven To Distraction, book two of our Love In Pictures series. Acting on Impulse was Connor and Sam's story. Driven To Distraction is about Sam's best friend Blaina, and a guy she literally meets on the side of the road. His name is Jay and he's a stuntman.

Jen: Lisa! You forgot to mention how hot Jay is! LOL! Driven to Distraction is another one of those stories where the characters didn't do exactly as we planned but the story is so much better for it. It's been a wild ride. Cars, stunts, explosions-and not just the sexual kind.

Lisa: Oh yeah, you bet he's hot! And actually, the first couple scenes of the book were inspired by a real incident in my life. Although, I like the turn of events that happens in the book a whole lot better than what happened in real life.

For a first time reader of your works, what book would you recommend they start with, and why?

Jen: Well, if you're a fan of contemporaries, I'd suggest reading our quickie Acting on Impulse. Samantha is a single mom and owner of a bakery. She doesn't have a lot of time to go out, so when her best friend Blaina gets them on the invitation list for a Hollywood party, Sam agrees to go. That night she meets Hollywood's hottest bachelor and her entire world changes. That was a really fun story to write-it's actually a long time fantasy of mine. Both Lisa and I have worked in the entertainment industry and that's where the idea of the Love in Pictures series came from.

Lisa: If you like magic and sexy men fighting demons both real and imaginary, read Lover's Talisman. It won the Road To Romance Reviewer's Choice award for August 2003 and 2nd place in the RIO Award of Excellence for best debut novel and is book one of the series that got us writing together in the first place. It's been brewing in our heads for well over a decade and is packed with love, lust and has its own kind of magic as well.

Jen: And I want to chime in that I definitely recommend reading Lover's Talisman before Forsaken Talisman. We really build off each book and although we try to put enough information in so readers can come into the series mid-way, a lot of the nuances and subtleties will be missed if you haven't read Lover's Talisman.

What would your advice be for someone is just starting to write?

Jen: Believe in yourself. Keep writing. Let your imagination go wild and create. But at the same time, study the genre you're writing in, read the books to see what's selling. If you have a local writing group, or perhaps an RWA chapter, I suggest joining one. I joined my local RWA chapter nine years ago and I have learned so much over the years. Not to mention just having the support of so many other people who love to write. That in itself is probably the best reason to surround yourself with other writers. When you're ready to submit, make sure you have the cleanest manuscript you can offer to the publisher of your choice. Remember, editors receive piles and piles of manuscripts to weed through so give them a good reason to want to read yours. Don't be discouraged if you receive negative feedback. Take what you can from the feedback and utilize it in your work. But the most important thing is to never give up.

Lisa: Just do it. Just write it. Whatever your 'it' happens to be, put it into words and don't second-guess them. The more you write, the easier it gets, the more you grow. Do ask people to read your work and give you feedback. Learn from that feedback. Don't assume it's wrong, don't assume it's right. But do let it affect your writing because it will let you know what people are interested in reading. As you write and grow, you'll learn how to take that feedback and write what you want to write in such a way that people want to read it. In my case, having Jen as a partner is like having a hands-on critique partner. We tell it like it is when we're brilliant and when we're absolutely horrible and then together we shape the project. As much as writing can be a solitary thing, outside influence can make it so much better. You just gotta believe in it and keep working toward the goal. You can't go wrong if you write it like you mean it.

Do you read other authors in your genre and if so do you have any favorites?

Jen: I read everything from sci-fi to mystery to fantasy, but I mostly do read erotic romance. Not only do I love to write it, but I love to read it. I love to read fantastic love stories with compelling plots and hot sex scenes. I love all of EC's authors, including Jaci Burton, Sherri L. King, Lora Leigh, Shiloh Walker, Lacey Alexander, Cheyenne McCray, Sahara Kelly, Christine Warren, Leonie Daniels, Joey Hill, Chris Tanglen…truthfully I could go on and on and on.

Lisa: I'm nowhere near the erotic romance aficionado that Jen is. I tend to read more non-fiction. Castles, ghosts, history, psychic awareness, even historical biographies. People and places really captivate me. That's why I write romance. It's my outlet for the passions of what I read.

Do you have a favorite time of day you like to write?

Jen: Whenever I can squeeze out time. The best time for me is in the six hours when my son is in preschool. But I don't always get to write during that time. So I just write whenever the opportunity presents itself. There've been a few times I've woken up in the middle of the night and quickly gotten up and sketched out a scene.

Lisa: Yes and no. I can write any time all the time, but I've found that my best work happens right smack in the middle of the day. Just before lunch or just after. Sometimes, I write all the way through lunch until my stomach is growling louder than characters in the book are hollering at me. If I could, I wouldn't stop writing for any reason.

As much as we (your fans) may wish it otherwise, we can't expect you to be tied to your keyboard 24/7. So my question is... what else, besides writing, do you love to do?

Jen: Other than writing and reading, my biggest vice is watching TV. It's one of the ways I relax I also love to cross-stitch, but I haven't done that in over a year…there just isn't enough time in the day! I also love to spend time with my husband and young son. I play lots of games of Cooties, Candyland and Memory. And the funny thing is that my son kicks my butt on these games. LOL!

Lisa: I make jewelry, I sew, restore antique dolls, design clothes, do yoga and work on my cars. Not necessarily in that order, though! I don't really have that much time so my hobbies sort of happen as breaks from writing and I rarely stay focused on any one of them long enough to complete a project. My hobbies happen like being interrupted while reading a book: if I can, I do a chapter at a time, otherwise, I'm lucky to get in a scene at a time. I'd almost always rather be writing.

Do you do outlines, and if so do you follow them to the letter?

Jen: Outline? What's that? LOL! Actually, for most of our books, we have a very basic outline of scenes. Not too detailed, but enough to follow the arc of the book. We've only done a detailed outline once, for Magic in the Works in the Mesmerized anthology. Because we were writing the story for an anthology, we had a limited word count we were working with so we wanted to make sure we could get in all the guts of the book without going over the word count. With all our stressing and worrying, we came in exactly where we needed to be. And we really stuck with that outline.

Lisa: Yeah, Jen, I think that's the only outline we've ever truly stuck to. Every other book started off with a rough sketch, just enough to get us going and to know where the book should end. Once we're in the thick of it, we allow deviation from the outline because it's usually better than following the outline. We further discover the real essence of the book as we write it and it just wouldn't be right not to explore it just because it wasn't on the outline. Serendipity is a beautiful thing as long as it can be somewhat controlled. We don't plan out the events of the books, just the ideas and emotions.

What do you consider to be the hardest part of writing?

Jen: Probably getting my ass into the chair and writing. I am easily distracted. But one of the worst parts of writing is when I know something is wrong with a scene, but I can't put my finger on the exact problem. That always drives me nuts. Those times I feel so lost, that I'm completely incapable of writing because I just can't move past the part I know is a problem. Luckily that doesn't happen too often, usually only one or two scenes in a book and we always figure it out and move on.

Lisa: Sometimes I get distracted, too. I'll be accessing an online thesaurus and get off topic and start researching Welsh castles or something like that. If I have the willpower, I close my browser or if that doesn't work, I move to my laptop for a change of scenery. If I still can't get focused, I bust out the pen and paper. That, I've found, works like a charm. I have several notebooks with first drafts and scene outlines and all sorts of notes just because that was the only way I could get myself focused enough to actually work on the book at hand without getting sidetracked too far.

How do you handle criticism?

Jen: Actually, I take everything, good and bad, with a grain of salt. I know I'm not a perfect writer and am always trying to improve myself. When I receive a negative criticism about my writing, I try to decide if it's something I can improve on, or if it's just a style of my writing that one particular person didn't like. I also know that I can't make everyone happy, but I do my best to try.

Lisa: I love criticism. I really do. When Jen sends me a scene back telling me it was one of the worst I've ever written, three thoughts go through my head. 'Did she just not understand what I was getting at therefore I need to rework and clarify?' and 'Did I just have the wrong take on how the scene should play out?' and 'Is it really as bad as she thinks it is?' From there, I take a good look at the scene, we talk about it and figure out what went wrong. When she sends me back a scene and says it's one of the best I've ever written, two thoughts go through my head. 'Yaaaaaaaaaaay!' and 'What about it made it so wonderful?' And from there, I take a good look at the scene, we talk about it and figure out what was just so incredible about it and then I think about how I can use that in every other scene I write. Criticism is a truly a wonderful thing because it lets you know where you stand. And it's the best help you can get while growing as a writer.

Jen: What I find funny is sometimes how clueless we are about our own writing. I remember one time I sent Lisa a scene and I thought it was one of the best scenes I'd ever written, and Lisa sent it back and although she didn't rip it apart, she had a couple dozen comments. And I realized that she was right on, I had missed so much about the scene that made it better. Then there are times where Lisa will send me a scene and tell me that she thinks it sucks, and I'll read it and love it. It's always interesting working with a partner, but I know absolutely 100% beyond a shadow of a doubt that our stuff is better for all the ripping apart we do to it. We get to the heart of what belongs in every scene because there are two of us who want to put the best thing out there. I learn something new everyday.

Do you have anything you would like to add?

Jen: Thank you to everyone who has made the last year since we received our first contract, such a fantastic one. Thanks to those in the publishing world who have welcomed us with open arms. Thanks to Ellora's Cave, and to our amazing editor, Bree, for giving Ashleigh Raine a chance. Thank you to all the reviewers who have taken the time to review our books. Thank you to all our readers, for giving a newbie author a chance. Thank you to everyone for helping to make our dreams come true.

Lisa: Looks like Jen just said it all! If you're interested in learning more about us or our titles, you can visit us on the web. We also have a yahoo chat group and you can sign up at Ashleigh Raine's Fake Reality

Jennifer and Lisa, thank you for allowing me this time. I had a lot of fun.

Lisa: You're welcome any time!

Jen: Thanks so much for asking us to do this. It was a lot of fun!

Interviewed by: Jill