I am delighted to be speaking with Maureen Fisher today. Thanks for chatting with us today Maureen and welcome to FAR!

To start, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

The skirl of bagpipes still brings a wee tear to my eye. An only child torn from my beloved Scotland by well-meaning parents at age seven, I sailed to Canada where I immersed myself in the imaginary world of books for ten years, surfacing only to eat and attend school. Unfurling my wings at the University of Toronto, I studied Fine Art between social engagements. Shortly after graduation, my first marriage precipitated a move to Ottawa where I succeeded in convincing the federal government to hire a Fine Arts specialist as a computer programmer. After a rocky start in the world of bits and bytes, I discovered bridge, downhill skiing, and women’s canoe trips.

Three years later, I graduated again, this time to full-time homemaker and mom, raising two wonderful sons, orchestrating countless dinner parties, playing bridge, and reading romance novels. Eight years later, I plunged back into the business world to start a thriving management consulting business in partnership with my second husband. This marriage survived because my husband and I pledged never to work on the same project again. Ever.

After a century in the consulting world, I grew weary of wearing snappy power suits, squeezing into panty hose, and fighting rush hour traffic. I still didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up, but was pretty sure it wasn’t a consultant. An avid fan of romantic suspense, I announced to my long-suffering husband, “I’m going to leave management consulting and write a book.” A man of few words, he merely quirked one eyebrow in a manly display of interest, or perhaps it was encouragement. Or scepticism. Or heartburn.

Always an over-achiever, I quit my day job to attend a five-day seminar entitled How to Write a Novel. After all, how hard could it be to write a book? Thousands of authors did it every year, some of them more than once. I read a couple of how-to books, joined the Ottawa chapter of Romance Writers of America, rolled up my sleeves, and plunked myself down in front of the computer. As I stared at the blank screen, I held onto that thought — I will write a novel. Fifteen rejections, six tons of chocolate, and ninety-five re-writes later, Lachesis Publishing acquired my paranormal romantic suspense and first book, The Jaguar Legacy.

Between trips, my husband and I live in Ottawa where I volunteer for an addiction family program, play bridge, and slave several hours a day over my computer to improve my writing skills.

Could you tell readers a little bit about your current release, The Jaguar Legacy?

Although The Jaguar Legacy is billed as a paranormal romantic suspense, I believe that ‘mystical romantic suspense’ would be a more accurate description. One critiquer called it a ‘time travel’ because during my heroine’s vivid flashbacks to a previous lifetime, she re-experiences her past life as an Olmec High Priestess in real time. My sister-in-law tells me The Jaguar Legacy is more of an adventure than suspense, akin to Romancing the Stone or even Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, only with more romance. I like to tell people The Jaguar Legacy is strong enough for a man … but WRITTEN for a woman. A story of romance and humor, peril and suspense, betrayal and trust, healing and absolution, the book appeals to both genders.

Here’s the blurb: Ancient Danger Stalks the Jungle on Velvet Paws… What if she had lived before? What if she had created a legacy of betrayal that spanned several millennia? What if passion could heal her soul and love could release her from bondage?

Despite baffling panic attacks that devastated her career, journalist Charley Underhill barges in on a Mexican archaeological dig, bent on sniffing out a juicy exposé that will restore her reputation and earn enough money for her mother’s life-saving treatment. Haunted by past betrayals, Dr. Alistair Kincaid isn’t about to let a smart-mouthed reporter leak word of his latest discovery, an ancient Olmec city, to the press. As the battle of wills and wits ensues, strands from a past lifetime intertwine with the present, drawing the couple into a vortex of chilling evil. Torn between redeeming her soul and betraying the man she loves, Charley faces impossible choices.

How has being published changed your life, if at all?

Oh, if only I could brag about a sudden whirlwind of celebrity, adulation, and autographs, a windfall of royalties, a movie contract, a summer home in Monte Carlo. Truth be told, fame and fortune have not gone to my head, mainly because hardly anyone has ever heard of me, and my royalties have not come close to covering my expenses. In fact, little has changed. True, most people I meet are slightly more interested in my profession than during my previous life as a management consultant. New acquaintances no longer sidle towards the door, shifty-eyed and evasive, for fear I will regale them with sprightly anecdotes involving business process re-engineering, data modelling, or integrated systems. Instead, they drag me into a quiet corner to describe the book that is throbbing and bubbling inside them, waiting for the perfect moment to be born. Who knew this planet contained so many budding authors?

A friend once warned me that when an author sells a book, the hard work has only just begun. At the time, I thought she was referring to the editing process -- until I sold my book. My edit was relatively painless, so I’m guessing my friend was referring to the dreaded ‘P’ word -- PROMOTION. Like many authors, I’m an introvert. The thought of networking a crowd of strangers causes me to break out in a cold sweat and develop a series of nervous tics that scare potential readers. Some days, I would rather gouge my eyes out with a blunt stick than collar total strangers in a bookstore and convince them to part with their hard-earned money for the pleasure of reading my book.

Nevertheless, marketing and promotion are vital, and sometimes even fun, components for establishing a presence in a competitive marketplace. In my opinion, the best part of promotion is standing in front of a group of new writers and delivering my workshop entitled ‘Beginners’ Mistakes: Some Things Books Tell You About, and Some Things They Don’t (Based on my Own Blunders)’. Turns out, surprise, surprise, that I love dispensing wisdom and sage advice. Did I mention I used to be a management consultant?

Another change I have noticed is my attitude towards writing. Before being published, I thought that writing the second book would be easier than the first. I’m not alone in this misconception. Apparently, everyone thinks the second book should be easier than the first. A piece of cake. Child’s play. A two-bit hooker. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Giving birth to the second book is infinitely more painful than the first.

Here’s the thing. With my first book, ignorance was bliss. Unaware of the hordes of rules surrounding writing romance, I blasted merrily ahead, never second guessing myself and allowing my creativity to follow any path it chose. Goals? Motivation? Conflict? Never gave them more than a passing thought. Character archetypes? Never heard of them. Cause and effect? If I got ‘em right first time around, it was sheer luck. Avoiding backstory in the first four chapters? My first four chapters were nothing BUT backstory (I dropped the offending chapters in subsequent drafts). This time around, I am trying to get everything more or less correct in the first version, maybe the second, but definitely before the twentieth.

Seriously though, whether or not I ever write a best-seller, I’m having the time of my life. I never dreamed life could offer so much fulfillment.

What would we find on your bookshelf?

I have three entire shelves devoted to the craft of writing -- two English dictionaries, one French dictionary, a Spanish dictionary, two Thesauruses (or would those be Thesauri?), several research books on the current project (mainly dogs and dog shows for my second book), dozens of how-to books such as Goal, Motivation and Conflict, The Comic Toolbox, Heroes and Heroines, etc. Two more shelves hold books on personal and spiritual growth -- Creative Visualization, Conversations with God, Heart of the Soul, The Road Less Travelled and Beyond, etc. All my other shelves contain novels -- romance, mystery, suspense, and horror stories -- the entire Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovitch (I just finished the twelfth in the series), lots of Jayne Ann Krentz and Nora Roberts books, Susan Elizabeth Phillips (I especially enjoyed Match Me if You Can), The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon, Jennifer Crusie, Lisa Jackson, Susan Isaacs, Stephen King, Jilly Cooper’s latest, and many more.

Have you ever had an embarrassing moment at a book signing?

I haven’t done enough signings to embarrass myself yet. So far, I have always been on my best behaviour.

I can see from your website that you’re currently working on a comic romantic suspense titled Fur Ball Fever. Can you tell us a little about it?

Best in Show meets The Bird Cage, starring Stephanie Plum.

A comic romantic suspense, Fur Ball Fever represents the first salvo in the Condo Capers Mystery Series. Whirlwind action alternates between the seamiest side of Atlantic City and an upscale Jersey Shore condominium complex called Saltwater Village, proud sponsor of a hoity-toity pet charity extravaganza called The Fur Ball.

Sporting a dwindling bank account, an overwhelming debt load, and her family’s censure for a lifetime of impetuous mistakes, renegade Grace Donnelly faces catastrophe. Her family poodle, last year’s Fur Ball winner, disappears, the apparent victim of a dastardly dog-napping. How can she launch her new career as private investigator if word of her incompetence spreads? Unless she nails the perp, Grace faces not only the loss of her furry companion, but also the humiliation of failure and bankruptcy when yet another career bites the dust.

Grace’s suspicions focus on several candidates: a neighbor’s trophy wife, a slick televangelist, and her former flame, Nick Jackson, finest PI east of the Rockies. Her persistent investigation nearly blows his cover in his quest to nail the phony preacher whose corruption killed Nick’s twin.

Unable to save his brother’s life during Desert Storm, Nick finds himself re-living his worst fears when confronted with Grace’s rash antics. To salvage his case, his sanity, and Grace’s skin, Nick sees no choice but to join forces with the sassy crusader who rubs him the wrong way -- and so many of the right ways. Locked in an uneasy alliance, their joint investigation leads the reluctant couple into unexpected romance against a wacky backdrop of animal politics, drag queens, a dominatrix or two, the swinging scene, and a fascinating underworld of fetishism and bondage. The two cases converge in a zany roller-coaster ride of murder and mayhem, culminating in a Fur Ball extravaganza the locals will never forget.

How did you celebrate selling your first book?

My husband and I sat on our deck drinking a couple of bottles of wine and eating pizza (Hawaiian for me, double pepperoni for him). Over the next few weeks, several friends wined and dined me. A couple of months later, we threw a celebration party. I figure I gained fifty pounds celebrating the sale.

What’s one thing you would like your readers to know about you?

Wow. That is a tough question, but I’ll take a stab at it.

I love romance. Call it total escapism. In a world of growing uncertainty, constantly bombarded with news about disasters, tragedies, wars, murders, deaths, and corruption, I crave an antidote. A world of wonder, a world of falling in love, of unlimited possibilities, of overcoming impossible odds, and of living happily ever after is more to my liking. What better way to escape than to curl up in front of a fire with a cup of tea and a good romance?

Romance novels are addictive. Here’s the thing. I’m a psychologist wannabe, a voyeur of the human psyche, an emotional junkie. I suck up internal conflicts like a Hoover sucks up dust -- emotions, feelings, and emotional baggage that characters drag around, providing their motives and affecting their actions. A good romance novel is a psychological jigsaw puzzle that never fails to feed my craving for an emotional fix.

I love everything about romance novels. I love the loyalty. I love the treachery. I love the courage. I love the frailty. I love the hope. I love the despair. I love the honesty. I love the deception. I love the humour. I love the tears. I love the well-rounded characters, particularly quirky characters that are so flawed, yet appealing, they feel like old friends. I love the clever, smart-mouthed heroines who say and do all the things I would love to. I love the hunky, tortured heroes who overcome their personal demons in the name of love.

And if anyone asks me whether I think men should read romance fiction, my answer will be an unqualified, “Yes.” How can any man in his right mind resist learning more about feminine secrets -- what we love, what we hate, what turns us on, what turns us off, in short, what makes us tick? In my opinion, romance fiction provides unlimited opportunities for men to plumb the depths (so to speak) of the mysterious world of Venus. Who knows? In the process, they might even reach new insight on Martians.

I leave this question with a visual. Picture a man sprawled in a chair at the airport, waiting for his flight, briefcase and laptop propped at his feet--a manly man, a man who is truly comfortable in his own skin, a man who has tossed aside his business report documenting recent financial trends and who is dabbing his eyes, happily engrossed in the latest Nora Roberts bestseller.

After all, only real men dare to read romance fiction.

The Jaguar Legacy is a paranormal romantic suspense and Fur Ball Fever is a comic romantic suspense, are there any other genres you think you’d like to try?

The jury is still out on this question. However, one thing I am sure of: I will never write literary fiction -- way too dark for my taste. I prefer romance, mystery, and the occasional horror story. People tell me my voice lends itself to humour (though others claim this is debatable). Since Fur Ball Fever is the first-born in The Condo Capers mystery series, hopefully many more siblings will follow. I also have a couple of great ideas for more paranormal romantic suspense novels. Some day, I might even write a how-to book on writing after I figure out how to do it properly.

So many ideas, so little time.

Is it hard for you to balance your life as a writer? How do you manage it?

I have no idea how other authors manage to tend to young children, work outside the home, prepare gourmet dinners, and still crank out wonderful books between feedings and diaper changes. I salute these authors. I take my hat off to them. I’m jealous of their dedication. And consider myself blessed that I do not have a ‘day job’, other than my writing, to worry about.

My two sons are adults and long gone from the family nest, allowing me to focus most of my creative energy on writing. My husband respects my writing and is very good about giving me my space. He now understands (after I pointed it out to him) that any interruption breaks my train of thought, jolts me out of the story. He now informs me I need to be more business-oriented with respect to my writing and not let myself be sidetracked by distractions and social engagements.

I am a morning person, not a night owl. I have never understood how anyone can stay awake after midnight, never mind produce a creative masterpiece. My creative juices tend to flow early in the day. On a typical day, I crawl out of bed at 7:00 a.m., suck down a coffee or two over the morning paper, and stagger into my office to pound the keyboard for several hours before showering. When 11:30 rolls around, I crawl into the shower and clean up. If I’m on a roll, I will write some more during the afternoon or early evening. Generally, my brain stops functioning after 10:00 p.m. unless a major deadline looms.

I try not to schedule any activities before noon, but this self-imposed schedule conflicts with my new bike riding regime. And coffee with friends. And doctors’ appointments. And household chores. Truth be told, if I am in the throes of writer’s block, which is most of the time during the first draft, morning writing conflicts with almost everything.

What is the hardest part of bringing out a book? Surviving the editor? Shaking hands? The last chapter?

People tell me I’m weird. I love the re-write and editing process -- the fussing with words, the re-arranging of sentences, the polishing of prose. For me, the toughest part of writing is creating the first draft -- deciding where to start a chapter, where to situate the action, giving the characters something to do so there are no talking heads. Creating something where nothing exists. Even worse, I have proclaimed that I am writing a humorous novel (eeeeeck), and am finding it more difficult than I had anticipated. And as if that isn’t hard enough, but I have compound the problem by letting my critique partners read the first draft.

I know, I know. The first draft (a.k.a. ‘The Vomit Version’) should be merely a tool to set down the plot and serve as a framework for the subsequent re-write -- an incomplete manuscript full of flaws and intended for the author’s eyes only. Trouble is, I want early feedback and I crave applause. I particularly want my critique partners to find the first draft hilarious, so I write as if targeting an invisible editor, knowing full well I will trash most of my prose in subsequent drafts.

See, I’m beginning to doubt that humour bubbles out, fresh, original, and comical, upon writing the first draft. Or possibly even the second. I suspect, and I could be wrong here, that humour is carefully crafted and layered in later, along with other factors such as time and setting, clothing, the five senses, emotion, etc. etc.

Now that I have (hopefully) convinced myself that my initial lack of humour is normal, I will stop trying so hard to be entertaining in my first pathetic draft. I will simply try to write my story and stop playing to a phantom editor. Everything else, including humour, witty dialogue, and gripping suspense will follow. Later.

And I will not share the first draft of Fur Ball Fever with anyone.

Who would you like to pen a book with, living or dead?

Since I’m trying to write humour, I would love to co-author a book with Janet Evanovitch, Jennifer Cruisie, or Dave Barry.

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

All joking aside, writing is an intense experience for me. Granted, most of the pressure I experience is self-imposed (did I mention that I’m a perfectionist?), but it is important to relax and unwind. Fortunately, relaxing and unwinding are two things I do best.

Laughter is the best healer, and I have surrounded myself with friends who love to laugh while we play bridge every week. Understand, though, that bridge is only the excuse that compels us to take time out of our increasingly busy lives to meet on a regular basis. The real reason for our time together is the laughter, sharing, warmth, compassion, and support.

My husband and I both love to travel. We manage to take at least one major trip a year, and several smaller ones. This August, we have booked a one-week ‘Bike and Barge’ trip to the Netherlands, followed by three weeks in the Loire Valley.

I also believe that spiritual practices recharge my batteries. Every year, I am privileged to assist at a personal growth and spiritual workshop called The Trust Program. In addition, I visit an energy healer (she refers to herself as a soul healer) every couple of months to get a spiritual ‘tune-up’. Finally, I spend a week every year at a wonderful place called Red Pine Camp (a tad too rustic for my husband, so I go alone). For me, the people, the energy, and the laughter make Red Pine a spiritual experience.

Finally, I find that helping others helps me feel good about myself. I assist with the Family Program at the local addiction assistance center. Paradoxically, while helping the families of addicts and alcoholics, I receive way more benefits than I provide.

Thank you for taking time to speak with me today Maureen. Readers be sure to check out Maureen’s website http://www.booksbymaureen.com/

Interviewed by: Tammy