Today I’d like to welcome Larissa Lyons to Fallen Angel Reviews. Thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions for us today Larissa.

Howdy! Thanks for taking the time to interview me!

How many books have you published to date?

Two and counting! With many more on the way. :-)

How important is research in your writing?

Extremely! I stop writing mid-sentence whenever I run across anything that needs researched. Those darn left-brain perfectionistic tendencies really get in the way of my creative muse. My bookshelves used to be full of romances waiting to be read. Now I have research and reference books piled high and spilling over every available surface in the house! Last year, I discovered a fantastic series of books aimed at players of Dungeons & Dragons. I cannot tell you how many times I have referenced them, even though I know nothing about D&D!

Almost every author at some point or another suffers from writer's block. Have you ever had that problem? How do you deal with it?

I know that I have gotten stuck in the middle of a certain story, and simply not known the right direction to take my characters. My critique partner, Alyssa Brooks, taught me a great way to handle this: I always have two stories that I'm working on. That way, if I'm not sure what to write or how to proceed on one story, I can usually work on the other for a few days, or even a couple of weeks, until I figure out what to do next with the first story. This technique has saved me many a headache since I started writing seriously!

Your book Tales of the Pride: Awakening was a 2006 Amber Heat Wave contest winner. Could you tell us more about the book and when it will be out?

I'm so excited about winning this contest and becoming a part of Amber Quill! I think they are a great publishing house and that my stories will fit wonderfully on their cyber-shelves! :)
My winning story, Tales of the Pride: Awakening, will be released in June. I've always loved science fiction television (three cheers for Babylon 5 and Farscape!) and this was my first attempt at writing futuristic. I included my love of cats and created a planet of shape-shifting felids that have to evacuate their world. I had so much fun writing this story! Sexy aliens that shift into giant felines and enjoy sex and chocolate...no wonder I didn't want to leave this star system! LOL. The blurb and more information will be posted on my web site soon.

What is your favorite part of being a writer? The least favorite?

Paws down (a little shape-shifting humor there...), my favorite part of writing is when I have paper and pen in hand and the story simply flows. I love writing longhand. I also enjoy researching each character's name. Because many of the stories I have written are historical, I have researched names during specific time periods, attempting to stay as accurate to the character's real lives as possible (plus, of course, inserting lots of hot sex, whatever time frame they might be living in!).
My least favorite part of writing? Has to be the utter dependence on computers. I'm not able to spend much time sitting at my computer and it really makes it hard for me to get everything swirling around in my head out, but I've learned that as long as I am enjoying the process of writing and what I produce is the best quality it can be, that's more important than the amount of writing I do. I also wish I could wave a magic wand and have all of my e-mails appropriately answered at once! (Who doesn't? LOL.)

Was there any one person or event in your life that finally inspired you to sit down and write your first book?

There was definitely an event! In the summer of 2000, I spontaneously started experiencing panic attacks. They went incorrectly diagnosed for quite a while, and during that time, I felt like I’d lost my mind. I started writing a traditional romance featuring a heroine suffering from panic attacks, as a way to cope. That first contemporary story took me four years to complete. It's not erotic, but eventually I hope to polish it up and find a home for it--especially since I've already started the sequel!

Your new release Love's Lucky Charm is part of the Irish Intimacies & Ironies Digest from Midnight Showcase. Could you tell us more?

Love's Lucky Charm is a fun historical story set in Ireland. When a woman catches a leprechaun, instead of claiming his gold, she requests a lucky charm, hoping that she'll have confidence and can charm the man she's been sweet on for years. Instead, the sneaky leprechaun gives her a lusty charm, guaranteed to set her body afire with desire the moment she sets eyes on the man she wants. What ensues is a fun combination of her hero trying gallantly to resist her efforts at seduction, but succumbing anyway, while he tries to figure out why she's acting this way!

How many hours a day do you spend writing?

I never get to write as much as I'd like, but I'm always sneaking it in. Long stints on the computer are hard on my back and arms, so I try to get in twenty-minute writing sessions whenever I can. That's one reason I do a lot of my writing by hand, so when I do get computer time, I can dictate straight from my notes! I usually average three or four days a week on my writing computer, and get in about two hours each day, if I'm really lucky and my body is cooperating.

What does your workspace look like?

Can I say a tornado? >^..^<

What do you do to relax?

Watch quality reality programming on television, haha. :) My favorites are Beauty and the Geek, America's Next Top Model, Survivor, and, the amazing Amazing Race! I try to throw in daily stretching, yoga and meditation, but don't always succeed. And I love to crochet, again, in those twenty-minute snippets. My latest project is making fun hats with the colorful, crazy yarn that's now available.

What can your fans look forward to in the next twelve months from you?

Several new releases, hopefully including a couple installments of my futuristic cat shape-shifting saga, Tales of the Pride, and a Regency-set erotic romance or two, plus either a contemporary story, or possibly a futuristic vampire erotic romance I've been working on. If I could just pry my hand out of the bag of chocolate-covered peanuts, maybe I could get more writing done. :-)

Is there anything else you would like to share with us?

Every month, readers can treat themselves to the fun and sexy, FREE ezine, Wicked Escapes, that I release with my critique partner. The current issue can always be found at www.wickedescapesezine.com, and each issue features a short erotic story, flash erotic fiction from a guest author, our latest news and contest information.

Thanks for being here today Larissa!

Thank you, Tammy, and also everyone at FAR. It's been a pleasure. >^..^< Larissa

Readers be sure to visit Larissa’s website at www.larissalyons.com.

Interviewed by: Tammy