WU: Can you give us an example of a typical day in the life of Lucy Monroe?
LM: I've just realized recently how driven I am. Since selling in September 2002, I have routinely put in 12 hour days, six days a week. I'm slowing down now, before I burn out...but I'd say that at least one day a week I work from 9:30 a.m. until after midnight. My typical day starts with taking my children to school (an hour round trip). I stop at "Curves for Women" to work out on the way home, get home...read my email, answer it. This warms up my brain for the writing ahead, but is also one of the areas I'm cutting back on. I start writing by editing the previous days work. Once that is done, I move into new writing. If my husband comes home for lunch, I stop to eat with him. If not, I may or may not get up to eat...depends on how urgent other bodily needs get before the alarm goes off at 2:45 to remind me to pick up the kids. I go. We talk in the car, but when I get home, I have at least two more hours of writing to do. I write with interruptions and lots of noise around me at this point. This is my choice. I don't want my children to feel displaced by my work, but I need to get the writing in, so I multi-task. :) I try to knock off by 6 p.m. now and my husband and I prepare dinner together. You'll notice the lack of housework in all this. That's because I do a minimum, having paid help with laundry, dusting, etc. You cannot do it all and I believe in doing what you enjoy if at all possible. I'd rather drive an older car than do my own laundry. :)

WU: Readers today demand accuracy in the books they read. How much research about life styles, setting, dialect, etc. goes into one of your stories?
LM: A lot! I put 1/3 again as much time into research for a contemporary novel as the time I will spend writing it. For historicals, the ratio is more like one-to-one.

WU: Tell us about any upcoming releases and works in progress.
LM: My first book, The Greek Tycoon's Ultimatum, is an October release from Harlequin Presents. I've received some fantastic reviews on it and I'm really excited to have romance readers actually read it. Leiandros, my Greek tycoon, and Savannah, the American woman who captures his heart and his respect are so real to me. I hope readers come away with the same sense. It's a passionate book, both emotionally and sensually. I think the story reflects both classic Presents and modern attitudes of romance readers.

WU: How do you come up with the ideas for your books? Do you have a brainstorming session with someone or do they just kind of "pop" into your head?
LM: I've made up stories in my head since I was a toddler. I don't remember a time when I didn't. The whole story creation process is so instinctive, I'm not sure how it works...just that these stories start living out in my head and I'll go nuts if I don't get them on paper. The Greek Tycoon's Ultimatum started out as a dream I didn't like. I "re-wrote" it and ended up with Leiandros and Savannah's lives playing out in my mind. I don't usually brainstorm my own stories. In fact, I don't like to talk about them much at all. I do love brainstorming with others on their stories and have a fantastic critique partner who will let me bounce ideas off of her when I need to. She also reads the completed manuscript and critiques it for me.

WU: A lot of aspiring writers suffer the agony of rejection after rejection. How hard or easy was it for you to "break in" to the published ranks?
LM: HARD. I wrote 12 manuscripts over 4.5 years. I entered lots of contests and submitted my work constantly, filling up files of rejections from editors and agents before I sold my 13th book to Kim Young at HM&B. But since then, I've written and sold four more books and have a fifth contracted with a due date of November 1. Talk about happy endings...I mean beginnings. :)

WU: Do you ever suffer from "writer's block" and, if so, what helps you to get back on track?
LM: It sounds crazy, but the answer to writer's block for me was to write. It was SO hard at first, I felt like I was writing with a hammer and chisel on stone...but it got better and I can't complain about the outcome. You see, I got my first and so far, only case of writer's block when I had an agent that was taking a LONG time to read my work. Writing for the shelf killed my creative drive. It wasn't until I decided to write a book I could submit without her input and one that I absolutely loved even if I had little hope of getting it published, that I could break through that barrier of not writing. That book was The Greek Tycoon's Ultimatum.

WU: Any words of wisdom for those that would like to follow in your footsteps?
LM: Yes. Keep on keeping on. There is no guarantee of success, even if you are a brilliant writer, but you can personally guarantee failure by giving up.

WU: Where can readers contact you?
LM: My email address is lucymonroe@lucymonroe.com. I always answer email within 3 to 5 days, so if you don't get an answer, your email is lost in cyberspace and you should send it again.

Visit http://www.LucyMonroe.com for information on Lucy's upcoming releases, contests, and more.