Interview and Giveaway: Carolyn Brown

Please join me in welcoming Carolyn Brown to Debbie's Book Bag today. Carolyn is here promoting her newest book, Billion Dollar Cowboy. Please see giveaway details at the end of the post.

DEB: Carolyn, tell us a little bit about yourself.
CB: It’s more fun to talk about my characters but here goes. After years and years of submitting manuscripts, fourteen years ago the call came and the editor said she wanted to buy both of the books I had submitted to her. That line died after I had four books published with them and I went to the library market and wrote forty four titles for that company. Then in 2009 I submitted a cowboy book to Sourcebooks after one of my friends sang their praises at a RWA conference. Billion Dollar Cowboy is my fifteenth book and fourteenth cowboy book for them. (I also write women’s fiction. My debut in that field, The Blue Ribbon Jalapeno Society Jubilee came out in March.) On a personal level, Husband and I have been married 47 years in August (Note: I was a very young bride). We have three grown children and enough grandchildren to keep the house filled with laughter and fun on holidays.

DEB: You're here today promoting your book, Billion Dollar Cowboy. What was your inspiration for this book?
CB: What if is my inspiration for most of my books.  In this case Husband and I were traveling and I noticed this big sign that said mega-millions were up for grabs in the lottery. My over active imagination kicked into overdrive…what if a poor old cowboy won that lottery. What if it didn’t change him? What if he did not want a trophy wife to hang on his arm? What if he went from millionaire to billionaire? 

DEB: Is it part of a series? Or a single title?
CB: Billion Dollar Cowboy is the debut book in a four book series, Cowboys & Brides. It will be followed by The Cowboys Christmas Baby (Oct.); The Cowboy’s Mail Order Bride (Feb. 1014) and How to Marry a Cowboy (May 2014)

DEB: You are well known for writing books about cowboys. Where did your fascination with the cowboy character start?
CB: Probably with westerns on television and at the movie theater. There was just something about John Wayne in McClintock that fascinated me. Or Sam Elliott and Tom Selleck in The Sacketts. Or Timothy Olyphant in Justified, which is my newest favorite cowboy ever. Or Dennis Quaid in Vegas or Robert Taylor in Longmire. Or…or…or…I just love cowboys. Their down to earth values, their swagger, their tight fittin’ jeans, their scuffed up boots, the way they tip their hats to the ladies…the whole package fascinates me. 

DEB: Which comes first for you, a great character or a good plot line?
CB: Usually the characters show up first. In this series Colton and his three friends, Lucas, Greg and Mason showed up, hats in hands, asking me to write their stories. I wasn’t really interested even though they were almighty sexy but then Colton told me a little about his life story and that got my attention real quick.

DEB: What was your reaction when your first book was published?
CB: Billion Dollar Cowboy is my sixty-third published book and I was just as excited about it as I was the first one. The excitement of seeing a book go from an idea to words on paper to an actual book that readers can read is totally awesome.

DEB: What do you read when you get a chance to read for pleasure? Do you have a favorite author?
CB: I’m a very eclectic reader! Of course I love romance but I also like mysteries. Favorite author…oh, my, how much room do we have for this interview: LaVryle Spencer, Carl Hiaason, Randy Wayne White, Nora Roberts, Joanne Kennedy, Grace Burrowes, Sue Grafton and the list could go on and on.

DEB: Tell us something about yourself that readers may not know.
CB: I was a seamstress for many years. I designed and made my daughters’ prom dresses, wedding dresses and most of their clothing as well as my own. Also made my son’s and my husband’s three piece suits and sports jackets. When I married Husband, he got three meals a day, a clean house and tailor made clothing. Nowadays his clothes come straight off the rack; dust bunnies tell him bed time stories while I proofread; and he eats take-out while I finish one more chapter.

DEB: What advice do you have for new writers?
CB: In a word: WRITE! Talking about writing is fun. Thinking about writing is fun. But it’s only when you sit your fanny in the chair and write that you are taking that first step. Without a written book, there is nothing to submit. Without submitting, you can’t sell. So write what you know, what you love, what excites you. If you already have passed the first step and have a manuscript ready to submit…my advice is PERSERVERE. You will have rejections. It’s part of life. You will do rewrites. It’s part of the business. I give myself fifteen minutes to whine when I get a rejection. Then it’s back to work.

DEB: What are you working on right now?
CB: I’m working on the final book in the Cowboys & Brides series, How to Marry a Cowboy. 

GIVEAWAY DETAILS:

The publisher is sponsoring a giveaway for one copy of Billion Dollar Cowboy by Carolyn Brown.

~You must be a GFC follower or Email subscriber to participate.
~Us and Canadian addresses only.
~The deadline to enter this giveaway is Midnight EST, June 24th.

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