COCKTAILS AND COCK TALES WITH ANNE HOLLY!

Today we have erotica Author Anne Holly with us. We will be sippin’ on some Bailey’s and coffee while she tells us about her two new holiday releases, UN-SCROOGED and GOOD FOR THE GOOSE

Bailey’s and Coffee
2 oz Bailey’s Irish Cream
5 oz black coffee

Deanna: I start out all my interviews the same, Anne: Where are you and what are you wearing?

Anne: I am in Ontario, Canada, and quite chilly, so I am pretty much bundled up. Since I spend most of my time trying to squeeze my writing and other work in between bouts of toddler minding, my usual uniform consists of something schlumpy and relatively clean. Sexy, no?

Deanna: Schlumpy, that’s a good one. We usually call that dressing like a frumpkin. Ya know? A frumpy bumpkin? LOL, which is exactly my own personal look this morning. Good thing we’re not Skyping! So what’s your poison? Vodka? Hot Coco?

Anne: Coffee. Always with the coffee. Once a year, I add some Bailey’s to that or to some cocoa, but that’s about as wild as I get.

Deanna: You wild one. Well, the interview is called “Cocktails and Cock Tales” so bring on the Bailey’s! (((pours a healthy dollop into each coffee cup))) Now that we’re comfy, tell me about your new books?


Anne: My two brand new releases in the past week and a half or so are both Christmas stories. My new Decadent Publishing release is a romantic comedy set in England, which is sort of an homage to A Christmas Carol, called UN-SCROOGED, where an eccentric writer must come of out his protective bubble if he wants to grab onto his last chance – an optimistic and cheerful Canadian grad student who has moved into his building for the year. Their story culminates in an awkward family Christmas where he has to deal with what made him as bitter as he is.

Deanna: Sounds fun! And your second book?

Anne: I also have a new erotic romance for the holidays out with Wicked Nights’ erotic line, After Dark, GOOD FOR THE GOOSE, which focuses on a recently divorced professor who has a hot fling with a young Latin lover only to find that it might not be just a fling after all.


Both of the heroes in these two books are my favourite male characters that I have written so far – adorable, and hot, hot, hot. Just right for cold nights. ;)

Deanna: I’m sensing some similarities in these stories, can you tell us about that?

Anne: I was a grad student for many years, and now teach a university, so I love the weird, eccentric personalities one sees as a career academic – and as a writer, as well! That is why most of my works involve academics or writers, etc – it’s what I know. I am also fond of thinking of ways and reasons people resist love and romance, and figuring out how they can overcome that cynicism that life makes in them. And, well, the winter holidays are a great time for that – people are more vulnerable, I think.

Deanna: What was the hardest part of writing these stories for you?

Anne: Editing was no picnic, I can tell you that! My natural fiction style is quite chaotic, so forcing it into industry standards can be painful. I’m learning, though. Also, with erotica and sex scenes in general, I sometimes have a hard time writing things I wouldn’t say in mixed company. Full-body blushes are not unheard of when I write those parts.

Deanna: ROFL!!!! Yeah, one time I was writing a hot m/m sex scene and my mom called. A tornado was on its way and she wanted to come over and sit in my basement. Needless to say I had to leave my poor heroes hanging.
Way to solider on through those full bodied blushes. I’m sure your readers appreciate it. What’s the easiest thing about writing for you?

Anne: The characters! Also, my favourite part. When I sit down to write a story or book, the characters are already alive in my head. They make everything else so much more worth it.

Deanna: I totally feel the same. What is your dream story, your opus, if you will? The one you dream about writing but haven’t don’t it?

Anne: I have some more literary stuff I’d like to do some day when I have the time and introspection to do them – stuff about my family history. I will also be working on one soon, which is sort of in pre-production, to use a filmmaking term – a romance set in Nova Scotia’s ship building past, a time I find very exciting. I have also had a screenplay bubbling away on the back burner for a long time.

Deanna: Those all sound great, I hope you get to write all of them…and more importantly SELL all of them!
When did you first discover you were a writer? Were you like sitting on the toilet and just said, “Ya know, I think I’m gonna write a book.” Or was it more profound? J

Anne: I’ve had multiple epiphanies in my life. When I was a kid, I was all about pronouncing, “I am going to be a writer when I grow up!” I was good, too – for a kid. Then, after I finished my undergrad degree, I actually wrote a romance (mostly as something to do, but also because I was seeking direction), which got rejected on my one and only inquiry, so it got shoved in a shoebox when I started grad school. I wrote that one after I read LaVyrle Spencer’s retirement novel, where she included a letter encouraging people to write – that was like a light going on for me, and I remembered how much I wanted to write when I was a kid. But, that rejection made me think, “Well, I tried,” and I moved on.

Then, when I finished my PhD I thought – “You know, this summer, I am going to see what I can do with this.” So, I hauled out the old manuscript, and polished out the school girl stuff and made it a bit stronger, and I sent it off – and it got accepted! (I was stunned, frankly.) So, then I started in on my new direction of writing a lot and publishing as much as I could, so I could learn as much as possible and start building my name.

That novel, STRINGS ATTACHED, which was first written about eight years ago and then revamped, is being released in May 2011! I am still in awe of that. Take that, editor who rejected it way back when!

Deanna: Lol, success feels great, doesn’t it? What helps you when you are stumped on a scene in a manuscript? I usually have a cocktail or three. But that’s just me.

Anne: I watch movies. When I work on a story, I typically have a “muse,” or an actor who reminds me of the character’s qualities. When I get stumped, I take an evening off and watch one of that actor’s movies, which can get the creative juices flowing again. (Get your mind out of the gutter, there.)

Deanna: No, you can’t make me! See? I got out him just to prove a point!

Anne: Lol, You're bad!

Deanna: Thank-you! Now what else helps you kick writer's block?

Anne: Sometimes, it is music, though – for instance, when I did my paranormal erotic, I listened to a lot of Type O Negative, because Peter Steele (rest his soul) made for an excellent muse, and the music had the right feel, both dark and sexy… Then I had to do two Christmas stories immediately afterwards, which made for a jarring switch. I really had a hard time changing moods there.

Deanna: Tell us about a scene that you have written then afterwards, when you read it, you shocked yourself? You know I want a dirty answer (((hint hint)))

Anne: Well, in GOOD FOR THE GOOSE there is some very light bondage and the hero seems to like being teasingly whipped – that surprised me a great deal to see myself write that.

Deanna: HA! I knew I got out the whip boy for good reason!

Anne: Lol. In my current work in progress, I have an extended scene as my hero is in search of condoms, which I found rather amusing and that surprised me – I am usually squeamish about putting my heroes in really embarrassing situations, even though the poor guys do end up humiliated a lot of the time.
Sometimes, I have to say, though it might sound like conceit, I some times sit back and say to myself, “Man, did I write that? That’s good!” I am still shocked when I see myself write like an actual writer, if that makes any sense.

Deanna: Well you ARE a writer, so of course it makes sense!

Thank you for stopping by today, Anne. It was a lot of fun but now I'm all out of Baileys....(she says she only has a little, yeah right!)

If you had fun reading today's installment of COCKTAILS AND COCK TALES, please post a comment so Anne can stuff one lucky winners stocking with their choice of UN-SCROOGED or GOOD FOR THE GOOSE!

Here's where you can find Anne Holly on the web:
Website, Blog , Facebook, and YouTube
GOOD FOR THE GOOSE links:
Wicked Nights
Amazon:
UN-SCROOGED Links:
Decadent Publishing
Amazon