Kerri Nelson discovered her love of writing when she penned her first poem in the second grade entitled “Black Cat: Dark As Night”.  At sixteen, she became a columnist for her local newspaper as the high school correspondent for the weekly “Panther Tales” column.  She won the Outstanding Young Journalist of the Year Award for her efforts.

After an education and career in the legal field, Kerri began to pen romantic suspense novels.  She is a true southern belle and comes complete with a dashing husband and three adorable children.  When she’s not writing, you’ll find her baking homemade goodies!

To learn more about Kerri and her books, visit her at www.kerrinelson.com

Q: It’s rare today to find an author who does nothing but write for a living. Do you have a ‘real’ job other than writing, and if so, what is it? What are some other jobs you’ve had in your life? Have they influenced/inspired your writing?

I have multiple jobs.  Besides full time writing, editing and promotion of my own dozen books—I’m raising three children (2 of which are under the age of 2)!  As if that is not enough, I also run my own promotion company named Book Boost Designs which specializes in custom designed book video advertisements for novels (trailers).  You can view more about this business here (http://www.kerrinelson.com/9.html)

I also operate a full time, active industry blog which sells promotion to authors of all genres and you can visit us here (http://www.thebookboost.blogspot.com)

I have a degree in Criminal Justice & Law Enforcement and worked in various areas of the law for 15+ years.  As a result, you will find many legal or law enforcement themes throughout most of my stories.  I’ve worked for both private and government law firms and organizations including an internship with the FBI and as civilian personnel with the U.S. Marine Corps.  So, many of my stories are influenced by my work experiences.

In addition to that, I develop and teach online workshops focusing on legal and law enforcement techniques as well as other topics.  You can contact me via my website (http://www.kerrinelson.com) for a current schedule of classes, if you’re interested.

Q: Tell us briefly about your book.

Cross Check My Heart is a sports themed romantic suspense.  I’ve always loved hockey and as the 2010 Winter Olympics loomed closer, I was suddenly motivated to get a hockey love story completed.

I actually came up with the title first (as I do on a majority of my books) and then the story just started flowing out of me.  Basically, it is about a woman on the run from her mysterious and violent past who escapes to Illinois and a job as a sports therapist for the U.S. Olympic Hockey Team.  Danny Cipriani is a long time pro hockey player who is trying desperately to make the final cut for the Olympic team despite an old injury that just might blow his chances.

When the two meet, passionate ignites and the action doesn’t stop until the very last page!  I hope you’ll check it out and love Danny and Jana as much as I do.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

I always have multiple projects ongoing at any given time.  Right now, I’m completing a spy novella, a Regency era novel, and editing a werewolf book (entitled Vegan Moon) that will be available from Eternal Press in September 2010.

I’m also in development on proposals for the sequel to my 2011 Dorchester release entitled Courting Demons. Plus about three other projects on top of that!

I’m never at a loss for ideas…only at a loss for time to get them all completed.

Q: What type of music, if any, do you listen to while you write? Do you need the noise or the silence?

I would love to have silence and/or some accompanying soundtrack music to go along with my writing time.  Instead, I have mania of the kid kind.  For instance, as I’m writing this interview answer, I have my 2 year and my 9 year old wrestling next to me and arguing over who gets to sit next to me.  Then I have my 4 month old fussing because he can’t be in on the action.

And this is actually a fairly quiet day for me!  LOL

Seriously, I have to write whenever I have a few minutes throughout the day.  Sometimes I only get a half hour a day to write and I have to yield as many words as I can during those times.  If possible, I’ll try to set a timer and go non-stop for those short increments of time.  Whatever I can get in is better than nothing.  The important thing is that you keep writing!

Q: How do you balance out the writer’s life and the rest of life? Do you get up early? Stay up late? Ignore friends and family for certain periods of time?

This question made me laugh, so I had to answer it.  I have no way to ignore friends or family for any length of time.  They are always around me and “in my face” all day long.  I often tell people that I really do work 24/7.  Or so it seems!

I’ve heard other authors say that they turn off their phones or refuse to check their e-mail during the day in order to stay focused on their writing goals.  There is no way I can do either of these.  My nine year old has juvenile diabetes and must be able to reach me at all times (whether she is at school or visiting friends) and since I run several businesses online and teach classes every month, staying offline all day is not an option for me either.

So, I just have to juggle all of the above the best I can!

That being said, when I was pregnant with my last child, my toddler went through a terrible few months of major insomnia.  She’d awaken almost every morning at 3 a.m.  I’d have to get up with her and it was a real challenge to try to get her back to sleep.  By the time I’d get her back down, I’d be way too awake to go back to bed.  So, I’d use these couple of hours (before everyone else arose) to write.  I wrote 12 novels and novellas in 2009 as a result of these early morning hours.

Now that the sleeping situation is much better around here, I don’t have to get up quite that early but I do still try to get up before everyone else and get in a few minutes of quality writing time.  Of course, I usually have at least one child with me at all times.  I can’t tell you how many pages I’ve typed one handed while holding my new baby!

No joke.  Whatever it takes to get the words down…you have to be just that motivated if you seriously want to write.

Q: What about now: who is your favorite author and what is your favorite genre to read?

I have so many favorite authors that there is no way I could ever list them all.  So, I’d just like to mention a few of my faves that I’ve read recently.

First up, I’m a big fan of Linda Wisdom who writes humorous, sexy witch romances in her Hex series.  I’m honored to say that she is also a friend of mine and graciously supplied the cover quote for my book Courting Demons.

Secondly, I’ve recently become very “into” Cheyenne McCray novels.  I’m particularly looking forward to her next book in the Night Tracker series entitled Vampires Not Invited.

Thirdly, I’m in love with Regency era England and Victorian era England as a second choice.  I’ve been a big fan of Lisa Valdez for a long time and book she wrote a while back entitled Passion.  She has finally come out with the sequel entitled Patience and I cannot wait to get my hands on it.

All that being said, I guess I’m a fan of some of the same things that I write.  Mostly paranormal, a good bit of romantic suspense, and a healthy dose of historical as well.

Q: Where you have lived and what you have experienced can influence your writing in many ways. Are there any specific locations or experiences that have popped up in your books?

Oh, absolutely.  I’m from the sunny southern United States and most of my stories are set around the south.  But I’ve also visited Ireland (one of my fave places on earth) and have set a couple of books there and I lived in Japan for a number of years and chose to set my novella Eve of the Dragon there.

Use this space to tell us more about who you. Anything you want your readers to know. Include information on where to find your books, any blogs you may have, or how a reader can learn more about you and writing.

I think I’ve managed to cover pretty much everything in the above interview.  I’d love to invite both readers and authors to check out my Book Boost Blog.  We always have contests, events, and guest authors popping by.  We also have great industry blogs and I both sell (and sometimes give away) promo at rock bottom prices for authors!

Now, I have to get back to one of my many works-in-progress that is literally screaming out for me to come and complete it.

Uh oh, I think the baby is awake and there’s at least one more diaper that needs changing before I can get started.

The life of a writer is not always the dream job that one may think.  But I fully believe that you read because YOU choose to, but you write because it chooses YOU.

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