ALL THINGS ROMANTIC SUSPENSE

SPOTLIGHT AUTHOR:    MARIE-NICOLE RYAN

Before we get started talking about your books, tell us a little about yourself.  Where are you from?  What is your occupation outside of writing? 

I grew up in Western Kentucky but moved to Tennessee when I was a young bride. I spent most of my adult life working as a registered nurse, but always wanted to write.  I’ve always had a creative side. I obtained an Associate Degree in Interior Design, even though I never worked in the feel. Just couldn’t quite give up the steady day job.

My occupation, if you want to call it that, is that of chauffeur to my elderly mother who can’t see well enough to drive. Last fall, I moved back to Western Kentucky to be near her. It has been a great experience getting reacquainted with my friends from high school and nursing school. You really can go home again.

 Would you describe yourself as an introvert or an extrovert?

Definitely an introvert with occasional bursts of being an extrovert…like when I meet readers who love my work.

Do you have any pets?  If so, what kind and tell us their names.

I have a darling four-and-a-half-year-old Shetland Sheepdog by the name of Cassie. She’s a rescue and she’s been my constant companion for nearly two years.

Where is the most unique place you have traveled?

Since I absolutely refuse to fly, I’m constrained to the New World. The most unusual place might be Granby, Quebec, where I attended a car race driven by blind people. Sighted celebrities acted as “shotgun.” This fundraising event is called DeFiVision.

 Aside from your successes in the writing industry, what in your life has given you the greatest sense of accomplishment?

Graduating from interior design school. I loved nearly every minute of the class work, the art work, the space planning, drafting—everything but the final course presentations where you have to get up in front of the class and teacher and speak eloquently about your design solution. I’m truly an introvert who hates speaking before any group.

How many books have you written and how many of those are published? 

Published Novels:

Love Me If You Can

Seducing the Sheriff

Holding Her Own

One Too Many

Love on the Run

Too Good to be True

The Man for the Job

See You in My Dreams

Works in Progress:

A Promise Unkept, 92 percent complete

Because of You, 80 percent complete

Pleasuring the Pinkerton, barely started

 Do you have one particular genre that all your books fall under (i.e. suspense, romance, etc.)  or do you write in many different genres?

The majority of my books are romantic suspense, but I have one erotic historical western, a paranormal romantic suspense and one mystery/suspense to be credit. I have a holiday short story, Mistletoe and Mario, that’s a contemporary romance with no suspense/mystery element. The erotic historical western, Seducing the Sheriff, is the first of a series I’ve yet to settle down and write. There will be at least two more in the Loving Lawmen series.

 Prior to becoming a published author, how many rejections did you receive?  How did you handle the rejections?

With submissions to agents and editors combined, I would say at least twenty to thirty. In the early phases I very unrealistically thought someone would snap me up immediately. Although…I’d been warned rejection was part of the deal. I responded by submitting to someone else. I’m stubborn, impatient, but this business has taught me a bit of patience. I’m still stubborn though. I try to take each rejection and see if there’s anything I can learn from it to improve. Initially my rejections were form rejections with no input, but gradually I started to receive more feedback.

And even though I’ve been published, I still face the possibility of rejection each time I send a submission to my editor. My favorite editor has rejected two of my submissions, so rejection remains a fact of life.  I try not to let it get me down, but at some point it does. But I don’t give up.

Where can we read more about you and your work?

Web site:  http://marienicoleryan.com

http://facebook.com/marienicoleryan.author  

http://store.samhainpublishing.com/marienicole-ryan-pa-259.html

Here is a blurb form Maria Nicole Ryan’s novel: Love Me If You Can

Nashville sizzles in the summer. No wonder Tess and Scott combust.

Nashville Homicide Detective Tess O’Malley has a lot to prove. She comes from a long line of police officers, including her father and older brothers. First she and her partner are taken off a high profile case and sidelined with a cold case instead. After reviewing the files, she’s certain her cold case is connected to the current one, and she sets out to prove it. Too bad it means locking horns with a handsome PI who could win her heart and derail her career.

 Scott Holt is all business when it comes to running his family’s PI firm. When the lovely Detective O’Malley comes to question him about his possible involvement in her cold case, he has everything but business on his mind. Like locking lips with the fiery redhead.

It has been a pleasure getting to know you and your work better. 

Best wishes with your latest release!