An Interview with Lynn Crain (@oddlynn3)

I’m delighted to have Lynn Crain on my site today, where she talks about museums in Vienna, Hugh Jackman and Chris Hemsworth. Take it away, Lynn!

Tell us about yourself. Both your writing self and your non-writing self. What are your interests and hobbies? Do you have a day job, etc?

I have to chuckle at this as it seems to be a question on every author interview. I see myself as a very normal person who just happens to be a writer. I know that some people think being a writer is glamorous and all but in reality I may have a day where inspiration hits me and I never get out of my pajamas. I can tell you I’m older than you think and have been married to the same guy for nearly 30 years. We have two full grown sons, a wonderful daughter-in-law and fantastic twin grandsons. And did I mention…we’ve run away from home to live in Vienna, Austria. My main hobby right now is to visit every museum in Vienna and trust me there are more than I thought. We’ve made it a Sunday habit that I really enjoy. I love to hike, catch up on TV when I’m in the States and of course, read.

I am also blessed with such a wonderful guy that when he gave me an offer to write full time about eight years ago, I took it. So my days are filled with writing all the fabulous things I want.

Give us the background on your latest release.

My latest release was The Harvester and it has a very unique background story. A group of us writers decided to have a girl’s night out by going to Thunder from Downunder. It’s basically a male revue show and from that the Girl’s Night Out series was born. There will be a couple of other books from some other authors but I have the first two slots.

And when they wanted me to decide on just one man to base my hero on, I was in a quandary. See, I loved a couple of them…and so did my heroine.

How did you get started with writing? And what was your route to publication like?

To be honest, now, I can’t remember a time I didn’t write. I started in earnest when I was twelve because I wanted to be the next Margaret Mitchell. I just knew I had a novel in me to rival Gone With The Wind. And I would say that my path to publication was pretty typical. I had a lot of rejections, won or finalled in a few romance writing contests and had almost given up. Then my Dad told me my Mom, who had Alzheimer’s at the time, would kick my butt if she ever thought I’d given up my writing to help care for her. That incident jump started me to push even harder. A friend encouraged me to submit to a specific publisher and finally, I agreed and in 2005, my first book was traditionally epublished. Since then I have published by a variety of publishers and have done a few books via the indie route as well. To date, I have twenty books published with anticipated five to eight more being published this year.

This past year, I also got an agent and she’ll be shopping a really hot series to some publishers in NYC. So, I guess you could say, I have arrived.

What are you currently working on?

I normally work on about three to four stories at a time. Currently, I’m working on a new adult series, completing book 2 in the Girls’ Night Out series as well as working on a couple of short stories for various places.

Do you have a particular Muse for your writing? Do any of your characters bear startling resemblances to sexy celebrities or people you admire?

I don’t really have a Muse for writing but I absolutely have to listen to music while I write. And I listen to everything from show tunes to hard rock in varying degrees of loudness.

Where do you see yourself in five years? Both writing-wise and non-writing-wise?

Hmmm. This is a hard one. I know we only have two more years here in Vienna and then it’s kinda hard to know where exactly we’ll be. Home will always be in Nevada and I will still be writing the stories I love. I see myself have a few NYC books under my belt by then and hopefully another twenty stories out there for everyone to read.

And now for some silly questions…

Muscled or skinny? Lean but muscled.

Tall or short? Tall.

Boxers or briefs? Boxers.

Moustache or beard? Moustache.

Long hair or shaven head? Long hair.

Tattoos or piercings? Tattoos.

Intelligent or funny? Both.

Blond, brunette or red head? Geez…this one is hard…I’ve gone out with all of these guys but married a blone.

Hottest celebrity (tell us why, if you like)?

Actually I have two…First, Hugh Jackman. I do like the way he looks obviously but he seems so normal otherwise when you see him with his kids and especially when he talks about his wife.  Second, Chris Hemsworth. This guy shares a lot of attributes with my husband and reminds me of a younger him. He’s just yummy.

Top same-sex crush (or opposite sex if you already like same-sex!)

If I had to pick a girl, it would be Mila Kunis. Again, she seems like a real person and there was one interview that sealed it for me concerning Justin Timberlake and their Friends with Benefits tour. She was awesome.

Most disliked celebrity (tell us why, if you like)

There are very few I dislike but the ones I do are arrogant jerks and some of the ones that come to mind are Alec Baldwin and Mickey O’Rourke. Now I don’t mind not liking something, just don’t be a jerk to people about it. I haven’t watched them in anything for years. Except Iron Man when Mickey was in it and it made me think he might have changed a little.

Favourite food

This is hard. I like food and I have a favourite desert as well as other dishes. I love anything like green olives or dill pickles. Here they have the Naschmarkt and you can get samples of all sort of green olives, stuffed and more. Right now, I’m loving something called an Esterhazey Tort…just scrumptious!

Favourite book (tell us why, if you like)

I love a lot of books and this is a really hard one. All time favourite would be Gone With The Wind and currently, I’m really digging my friend Gini Koch’s Alien series.

Favourite place in the world (tell us why, if you like)

I love Scotland best of all and the closest thing in the States to me would be Montana.

Anything else you’d like to add?

I think that you’ve covered everything most excellently…thanks for having me!

Now give us the blurb, an extract and buy links for your latest release.

Blurb:

Princess Sky Xera Nerezsh came to earth to avoid the normal succession to the throne. Being the oldest daughter, she will be required to murder her mother in order to secure her path to power. Sky loves her mother and refuses this way, choosing instead to disappear in the vast reaches of space. When her past collides with her present, she has to think quick on her feet, claim two men and a whole planet just to avoid the inevitable: a meeting with her mother. Along the way, she discovers true love and a burning need to be there for them always. Now if the other Harvesters can just keep to themselves, they’ll have no problems. But who said true love was ever easy.

Excerpt:

Boldness took hold of Sky and she wanted to touch them more, to fondle their packages just as if she had been a real Harvester again. Part of the job was to insure everything was in proper order. Sliding her hand down Jax’s front, she moved her hand under his kilt and a moan of pleasure rewarded her. She moved closer and felt the weight of his penis in her hand. It would be more than adequate in size once fully excited.

The man turned over and arched his cock toward her just a little. Sky moved her thumb across the tip and felt the organ jump a little. Wait a minute…she had barely enough time to get the words out in her mind when she found herself flat on her back as violet eyes moved over her.

“I want to know just what the hell game you’re playing.”

She stared at him a moment and stayed completely still. “No game.”

“Lady, you should have a better explanation than that one.”

She felt another set of hands on her body and she creamed herself in anticipation as they continued up her body.

“Jax…let’s just do her right now…screw the explanation.”

Buy Links:
Smashwords
Amazon US
Amazon UK
All Romance eBooks
Barnes & Noble

Now give us your author bio and website/social media links.

Lynn Crain has penned over 25 novels in  romance in the genres of science fiction, fantasy and contemporary romance, erotic to tame in nature. She always knew that writing was her calling even if it took years at other professions to prove it. She has belonged to EPIC and RWA for more years that she cares to think about. Currently, she lives in Europe while her husband of nearly 30 years pursues his dream of working internationally. Her state-side home is in Nevada where family and friends wait patiently for their return. You can find her hanging out at A Writer In Vienna Blog (www.awriterinvienna.blogspot.com) and various other places on the net (www.theloglineblog.blogspot.com; www.twitter.com/oddlynn3 ; www.lynncrain.blogspot.com ;  www.facebook.com/oddlynn3 ) as well as her website www.lynncrain.com. Still, the thing she loves most of all is hearing from her readers at lynncrain@cox.net.

Thanks again for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed this interview and wish you the best of luck with your latest release. Many sales!