Author Hot Seat - Lori King

The author hot seat specials are designed to help readers get to know some of today's popular and up and coming authors a little better. The questions are broken into four sections - About your writing, about you, fun stuff and finally. Some of the questions are easy, other may need a little more thought and some may cause our author friends to hesitate before answering. Still, they all answer.

 

Today we have Lori King in our author hot seat.  Let's see how Lori goes once we trun up the heat on the questions :)  Welcome to the Authors Hot Seat, Lori. Make yourself comfortable and we'll get started by asking some easy questions.

 

About your writing:

How did you get started as a writer?

I think I started writing as soon as I was big enough to hold a pencil, and realized I could create words with it. The first time I had something published I was fourteen and a poem I wrote was published in an anthology book put out by Poetry.com.

Why do you write?

Because I don’t know how not to. Even during the ten years I was having babies, and not focusing on my writing; I was still doing it. I was still jotting down poems and story ideas when I had time. It’s always been my way of expressing emotion and clearing my head.

Have you ever had a day you wanted to quit and never write again?

I recently had an encounter with a very mean individual, who related my writing to giving children porn, and the hurt she caused me personally made me wonder if I should walk away. I came to the conclusion that her remarks were made from jealousy, and that I had to learn to let criticism roll off of my back. Outside of that one day, I can’t remember any other time.

Do you feel lucky to be doing what you are doing?

Absolutely! Thousands of people dream every day of having a book published, and I’ve published two and have multiple others in the works. How could I not feel blessed? Tell me how you got to where you are today?

A supportive family, and determination. I set a goal for myself and wouldn’t give up until I had reached it.

How do your family/spouses react to your work as an author? Do they know what you write? 

My family knows what I write, and thankfully has always supported me. Even the ones who aren’t interested in reading erotic romance, have purchased books, and pimped my books for me to their friends who are. I’m very lucky.

About you:

What are you passionate about in life?

I’m passionate about grabbing life with both hands and pursuing your dreams even if they seem out of reach. As a mom with a fulltime job, I heard from many voices, that I would never be able to successfully write and publish books, but I proved them wrong. I’m still pushing myself to make new goals, and have bigger dreams. Life is too short not to.

If you had to give a thank-you speech at the Oscars, who would you thank and what would you say?

First: my husband, he has been my rock as well as a springboard for me. Second: my children, who constantly remind me to view things in a different way, and welcome the small joys in life. Third: the family members who have consistently voiced their support for my choices. Last: I would thank the publishers at Siren-Bookstrand for giving me a chance when I was an unknown in the industry. They saw something in me, and took a chance, and I can’t thank them enough.

What are the three most important life lessons you’ve learned that might make life easier for others? 

#1: Jump with both feet. If you just dip your toe in, the water will seem too cold, and you won’t want to risk it.#2 I am the me that I want to be, but there will always be ways to improve myself.

#3 Don’t let other peoples negativity deter me from the path I should be on.

If you could trade places with any other person for a week, famous or not famous, living or dead, real or fictional. Whom would it be and why?

Jenn Leblanc, owner of www.studiosmexy.com she gets to take pics of some of the hottest men, to be used as book covers. I would LOVE to live in her world for a week.

What's the worst thing you did as a kid?

I was a good kid, but a TERRIBLE teenager. I was a partier that drank too much, had sex too much, snuck out, hated my parents, and anyone with authority over me. So there is no way I can pinpoint one thing I did that was the worst.

What do you do to have fun?

Besides reading erotic romance? I love to take to go camping with my kids and hubs. We all fish, swim, roast hot dogs and marshmallows…one of my favorite activities. Outside of those great weekends, I like to do DIY projects to my husband’s utter dismay. I’m always finding something crazy to try on Pinterest (I’m a pinning addict-look my boards up under Lori King).

Share a funny incident in your life.  

Unfortunately, I’m pretty much a walking comedy act. I’ve always wondered if I live in a world like The Truman Show, where I’m actually in the middle of a daily sitcom. J I’ll pick something from those terrible high-school angst days. When I was a sophomore in high-school I was big into theater, and the group of kids I ran with decided late one night that we should all go down to the local cemetery to share a case of beer, and stir up some trouble. (That’s just what we did in a small town for fun.) The only problem was that we didn’t take into consideration that the cemetery is closed after dark, and someone spotted us and called the police. When we saw the cop car pulling up the gravel drive, we all scattered. Me, being the brainiac that I am dropped to the ground behind a large headstone frozen and praying that I wouldn’t get caught. Well, the officer saw me, of course, and came over to question me. Instead of answering his questions I decided to use my theater talents, and began to wail and cry loudly. I was kicking my feet and pounding my fists on the ground, yelling at the top of my lungs, “Why did you have to leave me! I love you, I can’t live without you!” After a couple seconds of this act, the officer yelled trying to get my attention, and then proceeded to ask me my name, etc. I told him that my father just died and I was missing him, so I came to the cemetery to pay my respects. The only problem was, that I hadn’t bothered to look at the headstone I was crying too. The name on the headstone was Judith McConnell, and she died in 1984. Needless to say the cops escorted me hope, and ticketed me for trespassing. Guess my acting skills needed work. LOL

 Fun Stuff:

If Hollywood made a movie about your life, who would you like to see play the lead role as you?

Tina Fey. I’m a HUGE fan of her comedy, and my life could only be a comedy, so she would be my pick.

If you were a type of food, what type of food would you be?

I would probably be a candy bar of some sort. I like making people feel better, and I have an enormous sweet tooth.

What is your favorite color- food- song- movie?

Color: Purple, Food: McDonalds cheeseburgers (yeah I know I’m still a 4yr old at heart), Song: Time in a Bottle by Jim Croce, Movie:

What's the funniest pick up line ever used on you?  

“I like your shirt…it will look great on my bedroom floor.” I kid you not, and before you ask NO it didn’t work.

What's the one thing you can't live without?

Diet Dr. Pepper. Without it every morning I literally get the shakes. I’m completely addicted to the caffeine.

And finally:

You are driving along in your car on a wild, stormy night, it's raining heavily, when suddenly you pass by a bus stop, and you see three people waiting for a bus:
                       -An old lady who looks as if she is about to die.
                       -An old friend who once saved your life.
                       -The perfect partner you have been dreaming about.
You can only fit one person in your car, who would you choose to offer a ride to?

OMG, what a hell of a choice. Honestly, I think I would get out of the car, letting my old friend and the old lady take it, while I stayed back to make wild kinky with the partner of my dreams in the rain! LOL

Thanks so much for visiting and sitting on our author hot seat today Lori, it's been a pleasure havign you here. If you'd like to know more about Lori and her work, please visit the following links.

Buy Link: http://bookstrand.com/lori-king

Website: http://lorikingbooks.wordpress.com

Facebook: http://facebook.com/lori.king.author

Lori has also kindly provided us an excerpt from her books Reflections of the Wolf. I hope you enjoy it.
 

Excerpt from Reflections of the Wolf:

“She’s okay, Liam. She’s just exhausted and overwhelmed. Give her some breathing room.” Tina could hear another man’s voice talking to Liam, but she couldn’t seem to make her eyes open to see who it was.

“Why did she pass out then?” Liam’s voice was annoyed, and she thought she heard him growl a bit. Damn that was sexy.

“Who knows why women faint? What were you guys talking about?” A third masculine voice spoke.

“Shit.” Liam muttered. “I told her she was my mate. I didn’t mean to scare her.”

Tina could just imagine the look on Liam’s face right now. She understood that Caroline believed in this whole mating thing, and that was fine for her life, but Tina wasn’t interested in a serious relationship. She had lived through her share of heartache when it came to men, and the pain just wasn’t worth it anymore.

She took a deep breath and forced her eyes open a crack. Instantly Liam and two other men were leaning over her. What the hell did they feed these men? They were enormous and gorgeous!

“Oh my God, I’ve died and gone to single women’s heaven,” she said, moaning and then blushing when the two new men laughed, and Liam frowned. “Who are you guys?”

“Hey, Sweet Tina, nice and easy now. How are you feeling?” Liam’s eyes held compassion, concern, and a glimmer of apprehension. A gentle tug of desire shot through her body at his soft endearment. He helped her sit up, scooting to sit behind her to brace her back against his chest. She was now between his outstretched thighs with her head tucked just under his chin and his arms around her protectively.

“Like a werewolf beat the shit out of me,” she grumbled, and all three men laughed. She felt Liam relax against her a little bit. He rested his hands on her flat tummy, and his thumbs rubbed tiny circle patterns through the T-shirt she wore. She could feel sparks shoot across her skin, and she grimaced in her mind. Her body sure wanted a relationship with him.

“Good. I was afraid you were just going to say fine or something silly like that.” His amusement rippled through her, making her smile.

“Hi, Tina. I’m Rafe Whetstone. This is my brother Ryley.” He indicated the beautiful godlike creature standing next to him. “We were quite impressed with your show of bravery in there, but you better take it easy for a bit. If your back gets worse, Liam will get you to the doctor. You hit that wall really hard when he threw you. And now with you passing out on us like that, it makes me wonder about your head. Is it hurting?” Rafe looked like a Viking warrior with golden-blond hair that was a little shaggy and electric-blue eyes that seemed to assess her in one lazy sweep. She shivered at the look of interest heating his gaze and instinctively pressed backward into Liam. His arms tightened around her possessively.

“Yes, but I took a baseball bat to the back of it a few hours ago, so it’s to be expected. I think my head hurts more now because it’s trying to process all of this…umm…this werewolf love story my best friend is apparently living.” She rubbed her temples trying to ease the ache. Liam’s strong hand moved to the base of her neck and started massaging the tension away. She groaned softly, and Ryley laughed loudly.

“Yeah, well, if Liam has his way, you will be living your own shortly. We have to go talk with Dev and Damon. Take care of your girl, Liam. I wouldn’t want to have to sweep her away from you and make her fall in love with me.” Ryley winked at Tina, and Liam growled a threat.

“Oh, pumpkin, that’s sweet, but I’m just not sure there is a man alive that’s qualified for that job,” she said, smiling sweetly at Ryley as he and the others laughed.

“Oh brother, you’re going to have your hands full with this little spitfire. Good luck!” Ryley teased Liam, and Tina’s eyes narrowed at him.

“He won’t have to worry about me shortly,” she grumbled, but the pressure increased from Liam’s hands, and a low moan escaped her throat. All three men ignored her implied threat, and it grated her nerves.

Ryley really was very sexy. He matched his brother in golden looks, but he kept his hair much longer. It brushed the tops of his shoulders, and his eyes were just a touch lighter than Rafe’s with flecks of green in them. It seemed all of the firemen of Battalion One were flirts with bodies built on Olympus. She would have to see about spending more time with Caroline if this was the company she was keeping.

She watched the two Viking warriors walked away and had to swallow hard at the sight of their tight butts. Wow, maybe I hit my head harder than I thought. She chided herself for drooling over those two men when the one that really scared her was holding her in his arms. Worrying now about what Ryley had said, she fidgeted in Liam’s grip. Liam couldn’t really believe that she was his mate, could he? Goose bumps prickled over her skin when Liam’s kissed the nape of her neck where he had been gently massaging.

“Are they family, too?” she asked Liam curiously.

Liam tensed before replying. “Yes, they are my adopted brothers. You can trust them. Well, you can trust them with your life, but Ryley won’t ever stop trying to get into your pants.”

She laughed out loud and felt a surge of feminine confidence. “I’m sure I will enjoy his attempts.”

Liam growled behind her, and she stilled in his arms. That was definitely a possessive growl if she had ever heard one. Turning to look back over her shoulder with narrowed eyes, she took in his jealous frown and huffed with irritation. After a few moments of glaring at each other in silence, he sighed and relaxed, and she couldn’t help but smile at her victory. She wouldn’t tolerate being told who to spend time with, no matter who it was.