Ms. Williamson, thanks so much for taking the time to answer our questions. We really appreciate it!


I'd like to start by asking you to tell us a little bit about yourself. What would you like your readers to know about you?

I'd like them to know that I am as much a reader as I am a writer. I need to read a little bit every day, if not a lot. I read different genres of books including romance, mystery, and I'm a huge Stephen King fan. Anything he writes is automatically in my library.

I am a regular person - mom, wife, and all the other countless hats I wear in one day. Very normal life, perhaps giving me the impetus I need to jump into fiction. Now that sounds bad - like my life is so boring I need to write! Not really! Life is good, so good that I have the time to write, and the passion to write, and most of all, I love to write. I write in my head in the car on the way to and from work. I write on the sofa while my husband watches tv. I think I even write in my sleep. :)

I read that you've worked as a newspaper reporter, a poet, a novelist, and a technical writer. Obviously you enjoy writing, how have your different jobs influenced your writing?

I think because I've worked in so many different areas, it gives me the flexibility to know what to write when I need to write it. That sounds so cryptic! Okay, for example, one day recently I worked during the day as a technical writer (medical software), then came home and worked on my WIP (The Reward - book 3 in the Malloy family series), then did some marketing writing for my promotional stuff. It was a hoot to work on three completely different types of writing in a 12-hour period! But if I hadn't had that experience, I probably wouldn't be able to shift gears so readily.

It's also given me a lot of grist for the mill - so to speak - in characters. People wonder if my characters are based on real people. Well, some of them closer than others, but each one has a piece of someone that has touched my life.

You said that you've been writing romances since you were 25, what made you chose romance as your genre of choice?

I have always been a complete sucker for the "happily ever after" aspect of a romance novel. Honestly, I have a bunch of romance novels that I read over and over because they are such good stories! There are some incredibly talented writers out there that write romance novels (I'm not just talking about the big guns either). Reading is an escape, where you can enter a world of fantasy and become a different person in a different place. Romance brings out the best in all of us, makes us feel good about life, the world, and ourselves. It's my favorite type of book.

What is it about cowboys that make them your kind of man...to write about?

Hmmmm... cowboys. Yeah. I definitely have an obsession with cowboys. I think I must have lived in the Old West in a previous life. There is nothing sexier to me than a cowboy. I am attracted to bad boys, alpha males (who isn't?), and for me, a cowboy personifies both. Tough, strong, and hard. Yowza, it definitely is an ideal for me.

One time in Nevada, I was in a restaurant (with my husband!) when two cowboys walked in right off the range. Holy crow. They even had spurs on! Jingle, jingle, jingle. Woof! I was absolutely captivated by them - dusty clothes, worn jeans, and boots - all of it.

I also live in an area with a lot of horse farms (they gallop through my backyard on occasion). So I see these men, in great shape, up on those horses, wearing those cowboy hats. Talk about inspiration! I love it!

Do you have a certain ritual you do when you write? Is there a type of music you listen to?

Yes, and this is something that shocks most people... I write my books longhand. Did I hear everyone gasp? Yup, I do. Why you may ask? Good question. I've traced it back to when I first started writing, in an age when a PC were just two initials that meant nothing. When I was in college, majoring in dramatic writing (me, dramatic? can you imagine?), I had a typewriter. When I had to write a script, play, or paper it was typed. Some of these were over 100 pages. Can you picture retyping 100 pages because you forgot a paragraph on page 3? Not! I wrote out all my first drafts longhand, then typed them. Now when I type my books into my laptop from my handwritten pages, that is my first edit of the story. I think I have enough handwritten pages from all my work to build a small sod house. :)

So, now I've confessed. I am a fine point, black pen junkie! They know me by name at Office Depot.

I listen to a lot of country music. Tim McGaw can be quite inspirational , however I don't generally listen while I'm in the "zone" writing. It's distracting. I really make that pen fly and if something interrupts me, I lose my groove.

Computer or paper?

Paper first, computer second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth... lots of editing cycles. :)

Could you please tell us a bit about your books, The Prize and The Bounty?

So far, all of my books are a series about a family, the Malloys. The first is The Bounty. The heroine is Nicky Malloy, a young woman who has been on the run from the law for three years because of a horrible secret. The hero is Tyler Calhoun, the fierce, cold bounty hunter that was sent to track her down. And track her down, he does, although not without difficulty. Nicky is pretty good at hiding - she's been disguised as a man for 3 years! Both hardheaded, stubborn, and opinionated, they are like two halves of the same coin. I think The Bounty is about being able to face your past and your mistakes, and putting them to rest. Nicky and Tyler have both been running so long, neither one knows how to stop. Together, they find a soul mate, a kindred spirit, to help them stop running.

The Prize is book 2 in the Malloy family series and is due to be released soon from LSB. This one is one powerful, moving story. The heroine is Rebecca Connor, the best friend that Nicky met during her darkest hours, and Jack Malloy, Nicky's brother. Both Rebecca and Jack have had difficult lives, awful, soul-wrenching heartaches that have convinced them that life is not for the living. The masks that they wear hide so much (did you think Jack was the family clown? And Rebecca a hard, all-together kind of lady?). The Prize is about facing your fears, accepting what you cannot change, and learning to live again. It made me cry, laugh, and wiggle in my chair (some hot scenes in there!).

What other books do you have in the works right now?

The Reward is book 3 of the Malloy family series is in the works currently. The hero is Hermano from The Bounty (he also makes a guest appearance in The Prize), the bandito that became Nicky's close friend and is a brother in her heart. Everybody loves a tall, dark, mysterious bandito. Hermano is no exception - he is a man that lives in the shadows. We learn the secret of who he really is when he goes home to Texas, where he hasn't been in 17 years. He finds Leigh Wynne, his childhood friend, no longer a girl, but a woman grown facing the difficult challenge of holding on to her cattle ranch. His own past is slamming into him, as well as the desire for a woman he knows he shouldn't have. Some seriously sizzling tension between Hermano and Leigh, and some ultra nasty villians. It's going to be a nailbiter!

The Treasure is book 4 of the Malloy family series. Its hero is Ray Malloy, Nicky's oldest brother. He's waiting patiently for me to get back to him. Because you see, Hermano pushed him out the way - I think he was whispering Spanish love phrases in my ear while I slept. Ray is a single dad with a five year old daughter that resembles a dirty little boy. He is struggling to hang on to his ranch, be a father, and not lose his mind. So he hires a New York governess to come to Wyoming for Melody. Oh, boy, can you see the fireworks? Yup, Roberta McNab brings them with her and sets them off right in Ray's puritanical, straight-laced face. There's going to be some fun on the Double R ranch!

Is there anything else you'd like to add?

I hope that when someone reads one of my books, they are transported into the story and become part of it. I try to create characters and scenes that you can see as well as read, feel as well as visualize. It's important to me that readers live in a story, not just read it. Sounds corny, I know, but that's when I enjoy a book the best - I become part of it.

Thank you again for taking the time to answer these questions. For those of you interested in finding out more about Ms. Williamson's books, please check out her website at http://www.bethwilliamson.com/index.html. To purchase her books, please visit http://www.liquidsilverbooks.com/authors/beth.htm.


Interviewed by: Serena