Author spotlight with Kelly Jacobs

Hi Kelly and welcome!
What has been your biggest influence on becoming a writer?
I think being a self-professed 90s kid was the big deal. In the 90s, we had this thing called the animation renaissance. We got the best cartoons the world had ever seen, and with most of the artist and writers among us, it instilled a belief that it was our duty to equal that beauty and imaginative quality of those works.

How did you feel when you got your first publishing contract?
Because of the current recession (let’s not kid ourselves, it’s an economic depression with a smiley face sticker), my heart jumped for joy! Like so many people my age who got robbed of all of the promises for the future we had been raised with, this was a glimmer of light in a dark cave.

How do you categorize yourself: pantser or plotter?
Texan. Maybe pantser. I start with a decade, and a singular character I like the idea of, and apply the story around that character.

What makes a book great in your eyes?
The ability to learn and feel from it. All the schmaltzy schlock that news anchors and celebrities in the world pile into pages just to sell a cheesy book is what’s killing the writer’s job. Those books have no feeling, or depth.

What is the biggest piece of your advice you can give a beginning writer?
Research all options, even strange and non-traditional ones, investigate new genres, and never give up. Did we surrender at the Alamo, no! The Mexican empire won, but only by default. (all the Texians died)

Do you have any guilty pleasures?
I don’t do anything I’d feel guilty about, like stealing. If it’s something like fudge or real Virginia ham, why would I feel guilty? My hips, my body, my rules. My ham, don’t touch.

What influences your writing? And why?
A desire to teach, and help others by any means necessary.

Name one thing readers don’t know about you.
I don’t care for coconut. It’s not the flavor, but the texture.

What are you working on now?
Whatever the editor and boss say to. (I bow before Tina and Jay) Seriously, a new and soon to be finished gay (m/m), regency era romance, set during the Texas revolution.

Who is your favorite all-time author?
Herman Melville, or R.L. Stine. What? I’m a 90s kid, I can like Stine if I want.

Are love scenes easy/difficult to write?
Only ones that are forced from the author, ones that I don’t care about.

If you could be anywhere right now, where would you be?
Over the grave of Jimmy Hoffa, or the grave of Genghis Khan. Just so we’d know where to dig.

How do you deal with the dreaded writer’s block?
Bourbon, and staring at a picture of the Kiowa war chief Sitting Bear, and Walt Disney. I hate Disney so much. Happy now?

Do you have another career besides writing? What is it?
Embalming.

What’s your biggest reward in being a writer?
If you have ever learned something from my books, that’s my reward.

If you had the opportunity to say one thing to your readers, what would that be?
Don’t touch my ham, kidding—do what is right, even if it is hard, even if you do it alone. Do what is right.

Author spotlight with Kelly Jacob’s, Tom

Hi! I’m Tom, and I’m in a book. I think this is where the rest of the group stands up and groans hi Tom. No? Okay. I was born in Texas, not south Oklahoma, and I joined the Marines a few years ago. When I lost my leg I was put in a German hospital, where I met the cutest guy. His name is Jake, and he’s just... wow.

Do you have special abilities?
Well, I’m gay and I don’t know any show tunes, I don’t have anything with glitter on it, oh, and I can field strip an AR15 in 20 seconds. Does that count?

Tell me about your most current adventure.
Let’s see, Kelly had this early Texas, Alamo thing she’s working on. It sounds kind of neat, but I heard she’s going to have buffalo in it. I clean up goat mess on a regular basis, but a buffalo? She is way too patient.

If you could offer your author advice, what would it be?
Stop being so serious. Really, Kelly, when I said Adam Lambert was making me hot, I saw you turn the AC down. God, she is so literal, I told her it was chilly outside, and she got a bowl and some crackers.

Are you happy with the way people perceive you?
I had a reader come up to me and ask me about saving money, like I’m some kind of econo-guru. She was really sweet, but Kelly put a little too much detail in the book. Aside from that, all of the readers have been super-supportive.

Does your author ever try to take over the story? And how do you deal with it?
Kelly is well meaning, but every now and then I just wanna smack her. Kidding, only kidding. She could kick my butt.

Is expressing love difficult for you? Why?
It’s not difficult in a private sense, but with Janie around, and the way a lot of people see me and Jake, it can get frustrating.

What is the most interesting thing that has happened to you?
Aside from getting my leg blown off, and the court battle? Maybe this time when me and Jake were hiking in the woods, and, well... take a guest.

Is there a message you want to get across in this interview?
Not really, but as for Kelly, can you say preachy? I was at her place last week, and she gave me a guide to canning with jars. We get it, girl. God, she’s so cheap.

If you could time travel, where would you go?
The fifties or the forties. I love the cars, the food, the decor, and that old rock and roll. Like with Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Little Richard, and Chuck Berry. Not so much with the politics of the time, but I’d try to fix what I could.

What has been your all time favorite question from another character?
I really wasn’t asked a lot, but being fiction based, we non-existent characters get to meet so many other characters. Did you know Daffy really hated Bugs, learned to smoke cigars from Groucho, and was Jewish? Pretty cool, huh?

What was the best sexual experience you’ve had?
Defiantly my first time with Jake, it’s all in the book.

Is there a question you wish I had asked but didn’t?
I wish I would have asked Tina if they had chorizo, cabrito or regular food in Canada. We went to visit her, and there were ketchup flavored chips, no jalapenos, and gravy on the French fires. It was surreal.

What are your opinions on Jake?
He’s my world, without him, I’d be alone, and depressed, and without barbeque. God, that man can smoke meat.

What are the pros and cons to being a gay?
The pro is that we can wear anything we want, and help out straight guys with meeting girls. The con is, well, we’re in Texas.

How does one become a cool uncle?
The real trick is to just do some things that parents won’t do but keep it within reason. A sip of beer or wine is okay, a jug is not. Let them curse at your place when the parents are out, let them hold your cigar in front of their friends while you go get a beer, and teach them something cool, like guitar playing, or how to play poker. One of Jake’s cousin’s sons came over, and Jake taught him how to pick up a girl. I was surprised he knew how.

Describe your best kill. Why was it the best?
[n/a] After the military, I was done with that. Let’s not talk about it.

What makes being with a virgin the best sexual experience?
Jake was just so innocent and sweet the first time. Have you ever held a scarred kitten, it was like that, but with bodily fluids.