Interview With Diane Burton, Author of One Red Shoe

I’m delighted to welcome Diane Burton here today for an interview and a look at her romantic suspense, One Red Shoe.

Happy New Year, Diane, so glad to have you visit here again today. Tell us a little about One Red Shoe:

Today is the worldwide release of One Red Shoe. You know the caveat: be careful what you wish for, you might get it? That’s what happens in One Red Shoe when my heroine goes to NYC for a writers’ conference. She wants an adventure and, boy, does she ever get one. After browsing in a bookstore, she runs into an honest-to-god assassin then discovers his target, a wounded spy in—of all places—the ladies’ restroom.

Blurb:

Wannabe writer rescues wounded spy while risking her heart.

Daria Mason’s life is too predictable. Nothing ever happens in her small Iowa town where everybody knows everybody else. But when she travels to New York City looking for a little excitement, she never expects to bring home a wounded spy.

From the moment agent Sam Jozwiak steals intel vital to US security from a Russian Mafia kingpin, Murphy’s Law takes over. No matter how he covers his tracks, the kingpin’s assassins find him. What’s worse than getting shot in the butt? Accepting help from an Iowa tourist.

Sam and Daria flee cross country with the assassins right behind them. Sharing danger and excitement—and a few kisses—with Sam soon has Daria convinced he’s the man for her. He thinks she’ll be better off once he’s out of her life for good. With their lives on the line, can she convince him they belong together?

What inspired this story?

One Red Shoe, my first published romantic suspense, began as a writing exercise at my local writers’ (Mid-Michigan RWA) meeting. We were given a scenario—someone running toward you in a train station. The first sentence just hit me (my Muse works that way.): The man running toward her wore one red shoe. My heroine was in the subway and the red was blood. After many revisions, the story of a tourist discovering a wounded spy in the subway morphed into a road trip book.

What are you working on now? Do you have any releases scheduled for this year?

I’m finishing the second book in my Outer Rim series, which is about strong women on the Frontier of Space. The Chameleon, will be released this spring. Last month, I wrote a short story, “Christmas in Space”, for The Roses of Prose blog and I had so much fun with it I decided to expand it into a novella. It will be released in time for next Christmas.

Where do you start when writing? Research, plotting, character, or…?

As I mentioned above with One Red Shoe, a first sentence usually sparks a story even though it may not always end up being the first sentence. What that first sentence does, though, is start me on a journey with the heroine and the hero. As I write, I get to know them better and their story evolves. Eventually, I have to plot, otherwise I go off on tangents and forget to focus. Research is done on-the-fly. As I need to know something pertinent to the story, I check it out.

What is the best thing about being an author?

Being able to go on an adventure with my characters. I know I’ll never get into space, but my characters can. I’d never rescue a wounded man and drive him cross country by myself. But my heroine—known to rescue dogs, cats, any wounded animal—can.

What is your favorite scene from this story and why?

There are so many it’s hard to choose. One of the villains is a big, clumsy oaf. The scenes where Daria thwarts him either by knocking him on his butt into thorny bushes or into a lake are probably my favorites.

How do you balance writing and everyday life?

What? There’s supposed to be a balance??? Thank goodness for a supportive husband and grown children. Having a clean house has never been a priority, except when guests are coming. The only things that tear me away from writing are a visit from my grandkiddies or Hubs wanting to go for a ride or to the movies. Sometimes, I even cook dinner.

Where is your favorite place in the world?

My new home. To be closer our grandkids, we built a house near Lake Michigan (oh, yeah, LOTS of snow). Also favorite is Phoenix (in the winter only!) to visit our son. Although I’ve always wanted to see the world, Dorothy had it right when she said, “There’s no place like home.”

These are few of my favorite things:

1. My grandkiddies’ giggles

2. My husband’s sense of humor

3. Lake Michigan sunsets

I love road trip movies like It Happened One Night, Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, and Knight and Day. What is your favorite road trip movie?

I’m giving away a $20 eGift Card from Amazon or Barnes & Noble to a lucky commenter. For extra chances to win, use the Rafflecopter below:
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Babette, thanks so much for having me here today.

Excerpt:

Jimmy bent down to look at the right front tire. “I don’t like the looks of this.”

“The tire is fine,” Daria said.

The others ignored her and all bent down to look. While they debated whether she should get a new tire, Rover dashed up. The reddish-brown mutt of indeterminate heritage nearly knocked her over with his usual enthusiastic greeting. She gave him a quick hug and ruffled his fur.

“Billy, don’t feed Rover any table scraps. Only two cups of kibble a day. Andy, you’re going to put food in the barn for Archy and Mehitabel, right?” She didn’t wait for his response. “And, Tommy, you’ll take care of—”

Jimmy straightened. “For crissake, Daria, it’s a goddamn zoo around here.”

At least he wasn’t trying to delay her with talk about new tires. She reached up and patted his cheek. “Don’t swear.”

“I mean it, Daria Jean,” Jimmy said. “Don’t you dare bring home some wounded stray. I don’t care if it’s bleeding. No more.” He ran his hand through his hair. “You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into. You’ve never even been east of Chicago.”

She smiled. “I know.”

“I hoped you’d get this foolishness out of your system.” He blew out a breath and thrust a small item at her. “Since you’re determined to go, this is a top-of-the-line cell phone. It has GPS tracking so if you have car trouble and call for help, they’ll know exactly where you are.”

Daria ignored the first part of his rant. She’d heard it before but was surprised at his thoughtfulness with the phone. She gave him a hug then the others. Standing back, she looked at the four of them. Tears threatened. She blinked rapidly. For goodness sake, it wasn’t like she was leaving forever. A week away from home, that’s all. She got into her car, eager to get started.

“Call every night,” Jimmy ordered. He just had to spoil the moment. “So we know you’re okay.” The others nodded. They meant well, she reminded herself.

She put the key in the ignition. Oh, God. This was it. She was going after her dream. A mixture of fear and excitement shot through her. She hadn’t felt like this since… since leaving for summer camp when she was ten. How pathetic was that. When she got back, things were going to change. First, she was going on a real adventure.

New York City, here I come.

ONE RED SHOE is available at:

The Wild Rose Press

Amazon.com

And wherever ebooks are sold.

Bio:

Diane Burton combines her love of mystery, adventure, science fiction, and romance into writing romantic fiction. Besides the science fiction romance Switched series, she is the author of The Pilot, the first book in a series about strong women on the frontier of space. One Red Shoe is her first romantic suspense. She is also a contributor to the anthology How I Met My Husband. Diane and her husband live in Michigan. They have two children and two grandchildren.

For more info and excerpts from her books, visit Diane’s website: http://www.dianeburton.com

Connect with Diane Burton online:

Blog:  http://dianeburton.blogspot.com/

Twitter:  http://twitter.com/dmburton72

Facebook:  http://facebook.com/dianeburtonauthor

Goodreads: Diane Burton Author

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/dmburton72/