WATCH OUT: Diana DeRicci

SC: I want to welcome you all to another edition of Watch Out. This week I’m pleased to bring you author Diana DeRicci.
Welcome to Watch Out, Diana, it is so great to have you here.

DD : Hi Savannah! Thank you so much for having me. I’m bouncing off the walls to be here and hope you don’t mind, but I brought a couple friends along. Wave boys! Jack Torres, the most delectable cop from Beneath the Shield, and Xavier De Los Santos, of Xavier’s Way. They’re here for support because, honestly, I suck at talking before a crowd.
Jack: *nods*
Xavier: Nice to be here.

SC: For the readers out there who might not know about you or your work, can you please tell them a little about yourself.

DD: Well, the basic bio is I’m married, one son, one dog, and a lot of voices in my head. I write from all things sweet (under the real me of Diana Castilleja) to bring-the-ice water, scorching hot. About the only thing I don’t write is BDSM, but I don’t say never anymore. The last time I did that, my muse took it as a personal challenge to tip my apple cart. The rest is history, more or less.
Stop laughing at me Jack.
Jack: Hey, Delany didn’t have a problem with it.
Me: *grumbles* Yeah, yeah. You’re still smirking.

SC: Being an author and having a family, do you find it hard to balance finding time to write and do the family thing?

DD: Not, really. I tend to do a lot while the boy is in school. Summer is when I have a harder time of working around schedules, and a bored child. Being in my “office” is kind of my own space too. The family more or less has their own places to veg. My largest guilt is I’m just as often playing Cityville as writing or working.

SC: Can you tell us a little about your current release?

DD: My most recent release was DOING LOVE RIGHT. This is the sequel to THE CHARLIE FACTOR. DLR picks up literally the morning after Charlie ends—waking up with a stranger in his bed! A delectable stranger, but a stranger, just the same. RJ had his heartbroken in Charlie’s story and I knew I couldn’t leave him that way. I’m too pro-Happily Ever After to do that to a guy.

SC: Which do you prefer eBooks or paperback?

DD: *The guys share a look and try to hide their laughter*
Hey!
Xavier: *shrugs* I’ve seen your collection.
Oh shut up. Anyway… They have a point. My ebooks have far outnumbered my print for the last few years. I keep a written record of what I read (mainly to track exactly what I’m reading and genres)
*glares at Xavier* It’s called being organized, not anal.
Xavier: Saying nothing. *holds up his hands*
I’ve really stopped buying print, unless it’s a collection/ series book, or an author I know I want to read in print. I might read one print book to every one hundred ebooks, but the difference is the length of most ebooks. I can read four to five ebooks for every print book by length. It’s the difference of the market.

SC: What influences the topics, and genre’s that you pick to write a story in?

DD: Oh my… Honestly, it’s the characters first, then it goes from there. I have books that are specific, but when I get a random character moving in, it’s their story and they tell me what to give them. This is how Delany’s Catch happened. I had Jake’s character all figured out, and then my wench muse says, “Oh, by the way, Jake’s gay.” It snowballed from there.
Another book that was like that was THE LIBRARIAN’S SECRET. Victoria came to me for several nights and literally sat on me to write her story. The crazy thing was, I could NOT write it in third person. I tried. We wrestled. No, not in Jello. Sheesh. But she won. It’s the only book I’ve ever written in first person.

SC: What is the biggest misconception you think people have about erotic authors?

DD: That it’s porn. This misconception just flat-out pisses me off. Or that Romance in the barest form is porn. Porn is sex for stimulation and sexual gratification. Reading, on any level is mental and emotional gratification. Oh, and that we’re all depraved sex-mongers. That one just makes me crack up. I’m not a sex pimp, I’m a happily-ever-after pimp. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to share some happy in this world. We kinda sorta need it. 🙂

SC: Your favourite part about being an author?

DD: I love meeting people. Talking about books, characters, or just life. Being an author has given me that outlet. Being a stay-at-home-mom, my life circles around the boy, so this gives me oodles of friends, cyber and otherwise, that I otherwise wouldn’t have in my life. There’s no way I would have met this many people face-to-face if it weren’t for being an author, so I owe that to my career, and I totally owe my career to the readers.

SC: How important do you think a book cover is?

DD: I’m probably in the middle ground here. I prefer thematic covers rather than character-exact covers. It’s hard to find the perfect model, or background for a single cover, and in some instances, images get used over and over. I’ve been super lucky too. I think all but one cover has been on the mark or “close enough” in all my writing. And no, I’m not telling which one it was.

SC: Where do you see yourself and your career in the next five years?

DD: Hopefully still doing what I love, creating characters, envisioning their worlds, and making readers happy at the same time.

SC: Is there anything you’re currently working on that you can give us a taste of?

DD: Right at the moment, I’m working on a full length story about a small town mechanic and a new-to-town Sheriff. A murder brings them together and sparks fly… Jack was the inspiration for this story, and I hope it wins them over too.

SC: What is the best advice you ever got with regards to writing?

DD: Don’t quit. May was my five-year anniversary of being published. When I look back at it, it’s the longest I’ve remained in one “position” my entire life. Motherhood doesn’t count. I was also in Title and Mortgage, Real Estate, but it was a combination of jobs in the industry, so for me to stick to this for so long… Yeah, I either love it, or I’m nuts.

SC: Where can readers find out more about you and your work?

DD: Thank you so much, Savannah for letting me visit today. Here’s a few links to track me down. Now if you’ll excuse us, me and the guys are going to lunch. I know Jordan is dying to know what kind of trouble I’m getting Xavier into.
Xavier: Well, the last time you did, *he gives me a pointed stare* You gave me Jordan and nothing’s been the same.
Yeah, but you’re in love. And that’s where I always put THE END. 🙂
Diana DeRicci www.dianadericci.com
Diana Castilleja www.dianacastilleja.com
Facebook www.facebook.com/dianacastilleja

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