Author Interview: Robyn Kaye, author of Wild Thing

Please join me in welcoming Robin Kaye, author of Wild Thing.

Robin Kaye was born in Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge next door to her Sicilian grandparents.

To learn more about Robin, please stop by her website to get the full story and other interesting fun stuff!



Facebook | Myspace | Twitter | Website | Buy the Book

Thanks so much for inviting me to Book Obsessed! I’m thrilled to be here.

Describe Wild Thing in three words.

Wild, hot, fun.

What’s the most positive/memorable comment a reader has said about your books?

My most memorable comment was from one of the nurses at my Doctor’s office. When I was writing Romeo, Romeo, I needed a pulmonologist. Being really bad with names, I used my doctor’s first name, Mike, thinking he’d be a throwaway character. My mistake. As soon as Dr. Mike had a conversation with my hero, Nick, I fell in love, and my second book, Too Hot to Handle featured Dr. Mike Flynn as my hot, hunky hero. Granted, the fictional Mike and the real one have different last names, body types, personalities, and ethnicity—there is nothing the same about them other than their occupation.

So there I was, sick as a dog, sitting on the exam table at my doctor’s office when the nurse walked in and hit me with the rubber-covered cord of her stethoscope, repeatedly. Let me tell you, that hurts and the darn stethoscope beating left marks! She told me she read Too Hot To Handle and pictured the real Dr. Mike throughout the entire book—even the love scenes—talk about huge ick factor. I adore my doctor, but I’d never confuse him with Dr. Mike Flynn, my hot, Irish hero. I can’t believe his nurse did. They look nothing alike—after all, the real Dr. Mike is Italian, has silver hair, and although his wife might think so, physically, he’s so not my idea1 romance hero.

Generally my reader’s comments are less violent (thank God). They usually tell me my characters are like people they know or would like to know and be friends with. The other thing I hear often is that they feel as if they’re right there in each scene, experiencing the action along with the characters. They say it’s as if they can feel, see, touch, and taste everything. Since that’s what I’m trying for, comments like that make all the work worthwhile. I frequently write about food, and because I get so many emails requesting the recipes, I’ve included most of them on my website: http://RobinKayeWrites.com.

If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest book?

I don’t think so. I read the galleys not too long ago and really enjoyed it. I love/hate when I forget I wrote the book and the next thing I know three chapters have gone by and I realize I was supposed to be checking galleys and not losing myself in the story. Then I have to go back and re-read to make sure I didn’t miss anything.

What is your work schedule like when you’re writing?

Well, the plan is to do business work, blogging, facebooking, tweeting, contracts and such on Mondays and Fridays. Those are also the days I’m expected home to see my family, cook, and be present for dinner. Tuesday through Thursday I’m free to do nothing but write. I write better in what my husband calls sprints—blocks of time when I focus on nothing but my book. During my sprints I’ve been known to write from nine in the morning until three the next morning. I head to Starbucks before my three teenagers get home from school and stay there until closing, only returning home about the time everyone has gone to bed. I sit back down, give my dog some love, and then work until I drop. The next morning I get up and do it all over again. On Saturday or Sunday I have critique group, which leaves me one day off.

It sounds great, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, with a family of five one must be flexible. My youngest has had strep throat for the last two and a half weeks. I’ve had two meetings at the school, four doctor appointments, and two dentist appointments. In the mean time I’m beginning a blog tour and I’m supposed to write 10,000 words a week. Needless to say, very little work got done, but the infectious one lived to tell about it, so it’s all good—well, except for my blog tour and word count. Now I’m working on my day off and have a strong feeling I’ll be blogging during my writing time. I’ll survive and will surely be sprinting for two weeks straight before the due date of my work-in-progress.

How do you come up with titles?

I’m terrible at titling my books. Romeo, Romeo pretty much titled itself, which worked for me. For the rest of my books, I turn to my critique partners and agent and pick the one suggestion that makes me gag the least. I dislike flowery, syrupy, or purple titles. Too Hot to Handle was at one time titled Déjà Vu, but the publisher changed it. The publisher also picked out titles for all the rest of the books, some of which have been changed mid-stream. I’m happy to have them do that and work with it unless I really hate the title—one suggestion was Afternoon Delight and I asked them to please not do that to my readers. It was bad enough I had to walk around all day with that song stuck in my head. I refused to do that to my readers. *grin* See, I really do love my readers.

What is a day in the life of Robin Kaye like?

Varied and exciting—well, if you consider me falling on my arse exciting. Just picture me sitting at my desk, on my exercise ball (I use it for a chair) with my leg crossed while holding a big dictionary on my lap because my desktop is too cluttered to actually set said dictionary down and have any place to write with pen and paper. I then forget I have my leg crossed, which invariably leads to my bouncing, losing my balance, and almost breaking my neck.

Barring that, I’m usually up by seven, I pour my coffee and go through the emails that seemingly multiply like bunnies over night. Then I do my best to visit my group blogs and comment without getting sucked into the Internet black hole. When I need a break, I take my dog out and then give myself a pep talk about getting a lot of work done as I walk from my back yard to my office.

Depending upon what day it is, I either try to think up something new and interesting to blog about or something fun to add to my book. I’m a coffee-aholic and only get up from my desk to refill my cup or use the restroom. By the time I raise my head again it’s about 1:00 and I try to scrounge up something to eat. Invariably I realize I’m still walking around in my pajamas so I also jump in the shower and make sure I’m dressed before the kids come home from school. I wouldn’t want them to think their mom is a slug.

If it’s a writing day, I pack up my MacBook Air and go to Starbucks to work until closing. After the baristas tell me to leave, I go home, tell the husband and kids to go to bed, and then write some more. For some reason, I can work all day, but I get most of my writing done between ten at night and two in the morning. I crash between two and three and get up and do it all over again the next day.

I try to schedule most of my appointments for Mondays and Fridays and work in between running around. I try to stop working when the kids get home from school, check the homework situation, prepare dinner, and make sure we sit down as a family at least four days a week—more if my writing is going well and I can get home and take a dinner break.

In between, I deal with three teenagers and all the angst that comes along with them, I field phone calls, pick up kids from school, run them to friends houses, and get them to do their chores. Told you it was varied and exciting! *covers up a yawn*

You are on a lot of readers automatic buy list. Which authors are on your list?

Jenny Cruise, SEP, Susan Donovan, Donna Kauffman, Nora Roberts, Marliss Melton, Maureen Child, Lori Wild, Christie Craig/CC Hunter, Gemma Halliday, Diane Kelly, Kyra Davis, Angie Fox, Amanda Brice, Marilyn Brant, Hope Ramsay, Roxanne St. Clair, Victoria Alexander, Marie Force, Amy Atwell, Leslie Langtry, Jana DeLeon, Kathleen Bacus and Rachel Gibson… I know there are more but that’s just off the top of my head. Most of the people on my list are friends I see at conferences and I hate going to a conference knowing I’ll see someone and not be able to say “I just read your new release and I loved it!” It’s a good thing all my friends are excellent writers…

Is there any additional info you would like to share with your readers about what’s next for you and your books?

Right now I’m really excited about starting a new series for NAL – The Bad Boys of Red Hook. It’s a three book series about foster brothers that takes place in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn. I also have two more books coming out in the Domestic Gods Gone Wild series for Sourcebooks, Casablanca—Fisher Kincaid’s book, Call Me Wild, will be released in August or September. After I finish the first book of the Bad Boys of Red Hook series, I’ll start Something Wild, Trapper Kincaid’s book. I’m excited to be writing about Brooklyn again, and being able to jump back to Idaho and finish off the Domestic Gods Gone Wild series is a nice change of pace. It’s great to write about two of my three favorite places on the planet. Now all I have to do is figure out a way to write a series that takes place in Florence, Italy. Sigh…

Whitewater-rafting guide Hunter Kincaid lands his dream job–guiding sportswear models through Idaho's rugged wilderness for a photo shoot. When he meets Toni Russo, the goth New York manager of Action Models, there are enough sparks to set the forest ablaze.

When Hunter finds Toni's book on how to marry the man of your choice, he studies it as a joke. Before long Hunter realizes he's never cared enough for a woman to bother working this hard to get her. But the last man in the world this city girl wants is a Survivor Man wannabe...