Shelley Munro Blog

Author Barrie Abalard is out on the Passionate Ink Cyber Tour this week with her release Hot to Trot. Here’s a teaser about her book:

Exes Patti North and Dylan Decker adore each other. Her problem? He cheated. His problem? Her temper. Fixing things will take more than spankings and hot sex, though that’s a good start.

HOT TO TROT, set in the often funny-weird worlds of Boston high-tech and equestrian hobbyists, tells the story of two exes who still adore each other—and still annoy each other—more than any other twosome on the planet.

Barrie says she has been writing and selling erotic romance for over twelve years under the pseudonyms Barrie Abalard, Miss Lee, and Belle. As of 2008, she’s sold over eighty short stories, eight short novels/novellas, and one long novel. Loose-Id , Amber Quill Press, and Discipline and Desire carry her work.

Barrie says, “When I lived in Boston, I was a jack-of-all-trades, mastering two: radio personality and technical writer/online help designer. I also did short stints as a taxi driver, clerical chartist for the Federal Reserve Bank, and temporary office worker for half a dozen companies. However, fiction writing is my first and longest-lived love. (If you can say that three times fast, you, too, might have a career in radio.)”

She reads widely, adoring a good story with quirky characters. Besides reading, she enjoys being around horses and cats, singing, creating new recipes, taking solitary road trips, and hanging with friends. She confesses to being hopelessly addicted to the wonderfully-over-the-top television shows Boston Legal, House, Men in Trees, Ugly Betty, Desperate Housewives, and 24, among others.

She is married with a grown child. She and her family live in one of the Middle Atlantic states, along with two persnickety, high-maintenance cats. She believes that a woman should have a past that’s juicy enough to enjoy retelling in her old age. Not that she’s going to tell it here, mind you, and not that she’s old…

I caught up with Barrie and asked her a few questions about her writing.

What do you like about writing erotic romance?

I love that my heroines can be fully sexual and unashamedly kinky while falling in love with the man they’ve been looking for all their lives. I love that my heroes can be alpha and still enjoy pleasing a woman in bed. And I love, most of all, that I can write stories that are romantic yet very much true to life.

What is your favorite part about writing a book? What do you dislike most?

My favorite part is always the first third of any book. My least-liked part is always the middle of the book—sometimes my girls run out of steam at this point, so the writing becomes a chore, and feels like pulling teeth. And the last third is sometimes sort of boring, because I know how it turns out and writing it all down is just too much like, well, work.

I have a very low boredom threshold—can you tell? But I am doing the work I am meant to do. I love every minute, even when it’s hard.

What do you wear while you’re writing?

Whatever I have on. Some days, I never get out of my oversized T-shirt (sweats in the winter), some days I’m fully dressed. But I much prefer casual dress in general—my daughter teases me that I have a denim fetish. I adore jeans and wear them almost every day.

I like to dress up, but only as a rare treat. Just thinking about pantyhose gives me hives, as do high heels—unless it’s for bedroom purposes…

One of the best things about working in high tech was the casual dress—jeans and T-shirts and athletic shoes for me, with a blazer-style jacket that I could put on if I were cold, or if I needed to look more pulled together (for a special meeting or something like that).

The second best thing about high tech? Flex time! I was never at my desk before nine-thirty to nine forty-five. (However, my commutes were long and crappy, so I usually left the house between eight-thirty and eight forty-five. And I never left the office before seven at night.)

Where did you get the idea for your latest book?

I’m still trying to figure that out. HOT TO TROT was the first story I wrote that was longer than a short story—the idea came to me back in 2001. Obviously some parts of the story were inspired by my life, but the story itself just kind of appeared in my head one day, poof. It’s been a long road to publish this novel!

I’m what writers call a “pantster” (meaning, I don’t plot beforehand, I just start writing), so Patti and Dylan came to me first, along with the title. Because I was taking riding lessons at the time (and love horses), I added the horse element. And I was working a contract at a company whose products resembled the ones Patti documents in the book.

Tell us about your hero and describe his personality.

Dylan Decker is complicated, arrogant (but in a good way), funny, iconoclastic, and sweet.

The odd thing about Dylan is that I had absolutely no one in mind when I first imagined him. Usually some small aspect of someone I know will inspire a character, but Dylan sprang fully-formed from the place my muses live. (Barbara Samuel calls them “the girls in the basement”, and that’s how I think of them, too.)

Dylan has a brilliant mind for software, is tall, dark and handsome, has a great sense of humor, and also has the amount of ego necessary to found a company and be one of its officers—in other words, a lot of ego. I spent many years in high tech as a technical writer, but I never met anyone quite like Dylan.

However, he has a sensitive side—he likes to wear silk undies, he adores horses, and he’s emotionally a very complicated man. That last personality aspect was borrowed from my husband. I rather like complicated men.

Barrie, thanks so much for visiting, and all the best with Hot to Trot. It sounds like a wonderful book. You can visit Barrie at her website, blog or MySpace to learn more about her books. If you have any questions for Barrie please post them in the comments section below.