I have the pleasure of interviewing Lex Valentine today for Fallen Angel Reviews. Lex, thank you for taking the time to answer my questions.

Thanks so much for having me!

First off, Lex, you write erotic romance, how did that come about?

I gravitated to reading those types of novels a long time ago. I’ve always loved the genre when done right. I write what I like to read so it seems natural for me.

What is a normal day in the Valentine home?

On a work day, I’m up at 6 am checking my email and sending a little promo o
n occasion. I’m off to work by 7:30 and at the office about 10 minutes later. When I get home I get out of the work clothes and talk to my DH and my kid and give all my babies a pet. After dinner, I check email and talk on IM to my publisher, friends, other authors. Depending on the night of the week, I could be working on a trailer, a book cover, website graphics, playing a horse racing sim game, or reading. I write mostly on the weekends because after work there’s just not a lot of time to devote to it and I’m usually too tired to give it my best.

You have an impressive number of works in progress. Do you work on one novel at a time once you have your novels plotted?

It depends. The last two things I subbed were two M/M novellas and I was working on them simultaneously. Virtually, everything on my WIPs page has something written. It might not be much at this point but there’s some piece of the story that’s already down. For the most part, I do work on one at a time especially if it’s on a deadline or a very intense story.

What is the best advice anyone has ever given you?

With regard to writing – Write what you feel. With regard to the publishing industry – Know who you are subbing to, check into their reputability, read the contracts and make sure you understand them thoroughly or have an attorney explain it to you. Don’t get taken!

What is your favourite novel to date that you have written?

This changes daily I think! LOL I vacillate between The Pixie Prince which is a very amusing and fun story to Mating which is some of the best, tightest writing I’ve ever done, and my bestselling Fire Season, which has the bestest scene of dragons in shifted form.

What do you do to relax?

Sleep. LOL Honestly. Everything else winds me up in some way, shape, or form.

Can you switch of your characters when you are finished writing for the day?

I never switch them off. They are all in my head all the time. But I get some of my best ideas because they are always in there.

If you could travel back in time, in what era would we find you?

Oh, the Regency era definitely. I adore that age.

How long does it take you to write a novel?

It varies but Fire Season took me about 6 weeks to knock out 55K words. I anticipate Ride the Lightning coming in a bit longer at 60K and about the same amount of time to write.

If you hadn’t decided to become an author, what would you be doing?

Talking on Twitter more. Blogging more at my personal blog Sunlight Sucks. Writing more at the serial story The Bar. The same stuff I was doing before I decided to get pubbed.

How do you handle the editing process?

So far, I’ve had great editors. Mary Wilson at Pink Petal Books, Zetta Brown at Freya’s Bower. Kristen Gillenwater at Wild Child Publishing. Barbara Louise at Cobblestone Press, Kris Jacen at MLR Press. I tend to be very quick with edits. I do a first run through and deal with all the punctuation and other errors. Then I go through more slowly and deal with the comments and places they want something clearer or rewritten. Usually, I’m done in a few days.

Your next release is Ride the Lightning. Can you tell our readers a little about this novel and the others in the series?

Ride the Lighting is the 4th book in the series. It will be out the first week of December. The whole series is about matings and how three friends meddle to make the matings occur. Shifting Winds is the story of black dragon Declan Antaeus and vampire Elysia Granville. Hot Water, which is EPIC nominated, is the story of Declan’s sister Eden and Elysia’s brother Colin. The third book is Fire Season, a Rainbow Awards finalist and ARe bestseller. Fire Season is M/M, the story of Holden Antaeus and a green dragon Garret Renquist. Ride the Lightning is another M/F story but has BDSM elements and gives us the story of Antaeus cousin Emily Carrington and Vahid Delrey.

The books are set in the corporate world of the death care industry and while each book can stand alone, they are really much better together. The entire series will be ten books with three more set for 2010 and three for 2011.

Lex, it has been a pleasure finding out more about your writing and you. Thank you for your time. Where can our readers find you and more information about your books?

My official author website is at http://www.lexvalentine.com. My personal blog is at http://www.sunlightsucks.com. And the Tales website is at http://www.talesofthedarkworld.com. Thanks so much for letting me natter away about my work!

Interviewed by: Sandie