Hi Frankie! Welcome to Fallen Angel Reviews! Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to visit with us. I know that I appreciate this opportunity to visit with you.
First of all, can you tell us a little about yourself.

Hmm, well, right now I’m a bit brain dead. Does that help? LMAO!!
I’m a single mom of two wonderful girls. I’m getting married to an absolutely wonderful man. However, work and family life keeps pushing the date back. Eventually, oh honey is going to just show up and do a shot-gun wedding.

Right now, I’m working as an electrical designer by day – and night – and am an author/editor/reviewer by night or weekend. My passion has always been in helping others attain their dreams, so for the past three years – wow, it’s only been that long? *breaking out fingers and toes* Yeah. I guess. – I’ve been helping others with their manuscripts in the Novel Workshop on writing.com. We were just voted third best workshop on the web in the Preditors and Editors Poll. I’m very proud of them!!!
I currently live at home with my mom, dad, sister, two daughters, a dog, a cat, and a rascally rabbit.

Do you remember at what moment or who inspired you to become an author?

I’ve always been a writer. My mom can attest to that. “You went through an entire ream of paper in a week?!” Yeah, she could tell ya. LOL!!

However, I didn’t actually believe that I could be an author until I read one of my favorite author’s first novels and it . . . well, it didn’t suck, but it wasn’t as good. I then decided that if she could put out a book that wasn’t all that and then some, then I could. LOL!!

How long have you been writing?

Um . . . Hmm. Let me call Mom really quick. We’re close, you know. *ring, ring* Oh. Well, she says that I’ve been “writing” since before I understood what a word really was. I guess I would just sit there and write lines and lines of scribble. Unfortunately, my handwriting hasn’t improved much.

When you found out about your first sale, what was your reaction?

I believe it went like this:
“I—“ I paused and held my head, panting for breath before screaming. “Oh my God!!” I then hopped out of my chair, which was no small feat as the chair was really tall, and started jumping around. “Ah, I can’t believe this! I just got a—“ I then stopped myself as everything came crashing in—the work that needed to be done, the promotions that I needed to plan, the other books that now had a door to be published through—and I then turned purple in the face as I forgot to breathe.

Do you write on a schedule or as inspiration hits?

Is this with the 80+ hour work-week and kids and a mother, or after I’m married and writing full-time? LOL!!

Currently, I write in scraps of time on scraps of paper that is spread out everywhere. I carry pens in my hair—it’s a fashion statement now and all the fad—and pads of paper and notebooks, toilet paper and scraps surround me wherever I go.

After I’m married, things will settle down and I’ll be able to write on a schedule as is my preference. Right now, I just feel like a scatter-brained ditz!

Cowboy Christmas has recently been released through Silk’s Vault Publishing. Based on the blurb and reviews it has received, it appears to be a wonderful contemporary romance. Can you tell us what inspired this story and what it means to you?

It was inspired about eight years ago when I passed by that very valley one moon-lit night. I didn’t end up in the ditch that night, but I did have to pull over and just watch the scene before me. The cabin was nestled in snow and the moonlight simply made everything shimmer. Time stopped for one blessedly, long moment and as I drove the remaining way back to the house at the bottom of the pass, the story of Abby and Cade unfolded. It’s been sitting in the dusty confines of the back closet of my brain ever since.

The Sandman was recently released as well, and that’s a very funny story that tends to embarrass people. They think that erotica or romantic stories with sex should not have kids in it. However, I like to point out that parents have sex under the same roof as their kids all the time; otherwise, we’d all only have one child.

Almost every night, the girls go to bed, I tuck them in and then we all settle down for a Sandman Story. One night when my oldest daughter was about 5 and my youngest was 2, as I finished the story, my oldest daughter popped up in bed, that hopeless-romantic look in her big, chocolate eyes, and she informed me that Luk needed to find someone and fall in love. And then she added that I needed someone like Luk to find me too.

The Sandman is a true story in a very metaphorical sense. Meg, to a very large degree, is me struggling to wrestle the practical, gotta-work side of me with the dreamer. And as I was sitting there, telling my girls to dream and never let them die, I asked myself where we would be without dreams. Between that and my oldest, romantic daughter, The Sandman would never have been born.

I also see a new release through Ocean’s Mist Press called Night Fall. This story is about a vampire in the midst of an intense, suspenseful, and emotional plot. What was it like to write this story? Do you plan to have a sequel to this book?

I do plan on having a sequel to the book. It’s actually a joy to write. I love fantasy/sci-fi, both reading and writing. There’s a lot more liberty to the imagination. This was actually the first erotic novel that I wrote and I wrote most of it in the coffee shop. One time as I was writing the infamous coffee-shop scene that has most fans writing me about, I was typing the word “nipple” when a fellow patron walked by and asked me how I was doing. He read that, turned absolutely red in the face and mumbled something about how I must be busy before leaving me completely alone. I laughed sooooooooo hard after that. The poor boy.
I love writing darker pieces. I love to show people that even through the darker stages of our journeys, people and their quirkiness will persevere. We may not look the same on the other side, but we’ll survive. LOL!

Are any of your characters based on real life people? Or are they completely made up?

Almost every single character is based on someone. However, if I told all of those secrets, I’d some very mad people. LOL!! I take one or two of their traits and I escalate them a bit out of proportion. I like to go out and “people watch” so that all of my characters are well-rounded. They don’t always do what the reader expects them to. Sometimes, they act out of character because they’re real people and sometime real people really do that. How many times have people given you that look that says, “Who are you, and where did the real you go?”
*looking around* I don’t get that look that often!

Do you tend to spend a lot of time on research for your stories?

Can I just say, Oh My God, yes!!! I’ll have anywhere from 4-10 books in my head at a time for years at a time. In that time, I’m constantly researching as I can. I have some very interesting books in mind, but in order for them to be good, they need to seem real. In order for them to feel real, I can’t exactly talk about things I don’t know. Try explaining the beauty of the mountains in the brisk autumn if all you’ve seen are pictures. I try very hard to “live” what I write. Okay, I draw the line at the demon part. I have a few demon stories in the back of my head and I hope that I never meet a demon. I’ve met a couple of people who could easily play the parts and I’ll use them, but I hope that I never meet a real demon. LOL!

Per your website, I noticed you are a single mother. How do you manage to write multiple stories with a family and the responsibilities that come along with motherhood?

Oh, lots of scratch paper, pens in the hair, laptop always available. Lots of sleepless nights. I don’t recommend that one though. It tends to make a person cranky and then your characters become cranky too. *big eyeroll* I think I could sleep for a WEEK!
Other than that, use “wasted” time wisely. Time spent doing laundry, washing and cleaning, mindless doing redlines that requires no brain, driving on the highways that turned into parking lots can be used to get your mind wrapped around your story. Use that time to get yourself organized so that when you do find that spare five minutes, you can start writing immediately without having to gather yourself before you can write a single word.

Is there a genre you have not tried to write yet, but would like to try your hand at writing?

Paranormal fiction! Be looking for my name in the paranormal fiction/horror genre in the next couple of years. I’ll be there!

Most authors are also avid readers. Do you have any favorite authors that you buy without even knowing what the book is about? What would we find in your bookshelf?

I have so many authors on my bookshelves. I love to try out new writers and see what the new voices have to say. I have to go home to look at those. I’m on my lunch break right now. LOL!! Give me a couple of hours.

Now that it is a new year, have you made resolutions that you have already broken? Do you have any special plans for Valentine’s Day?

Sometime this year, I’m going to stop smoking. And I’m going to send off to a traditional publisher sometime this year. Those are the only two NY’s Resolutions I’ve made this year. Valentine’s Day? Well, being as my fiancé is in another state, I think I’ll probably be working. Doesn’t that day fall somewhere in the week? Yeah. I’m pretty sure it does. LMAO!!
I’ll probably see if I can get my girls to dress up all fancy and maybe take them to dinner somewhere nice where they have really good hot dogs for the little one and awesome spaghetti. They’re pretty easy to please. Pretty dresses. Hot Wheels and My Little Ponies. Hot dogs and spaghetti. I’ve go the easy road.

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

You don’t want to interview me when I’ve been drinking tequila? Oh, wait. You probably didn’t want to know that!! Thank you soooo much for your time!

Thank you so much for stopping by Frankie. For anyone that has not been fortunate enough to read a story by Frankie Belleville, check out her website or the website from the two publisher’s she has stories with currently or upcoming to see what you are definitely missing. It has been a pleasure talking with you.

Interviewed by: Jessica