Connie and Tina: Hello, Jane! Thanks for being here with us. We’re happy to have this opportunity to ask you the questions we’ve got waiting for you, but first, would you tell us a bit about yourself and what’s coming up soon from you?

Jane: Although I’ve lived in Bellevue, Washington just across the bridge from Seattle for ten years now, I’m originally a Central California girl, which means I know farms and ranches better than beaches and glitz. I went to UCLA, studied abroad for nearly three years and really enjoy being a writer and a mom now. Since my divorce two years ago I’ve grown even closer to my two boys, Jake who will be 11 in July and my younger son Ty who is 7. They’re wonderful kids—-bright, funny and quite challenging—and they definitely keep me grounded.

Tina: And what about what you’re working on? If it’s not a big secret, can you tell me about it?

Jane: I just wrapped up a Harlequin Presents and am starting on my next book for 5 Spot Warner titled, Like Everybody Else which should be a 2007 release. Like Everybody Else is set here in Bellevue and as my agent put it, is the story of a bohemian mom, who for the sake of her daughter, is struggling to fit in with all the fancy moms. The mom, Marta, has always prided herself on being individualistic but her ‘uniqueness’ is hurting her daughter’s ability to be accepted by the popular kids. To complicate things further, Marta, a dedicated single mom who has written off men, meets someone who makes her question her vows of eternal celibacy…

Connie: I think to an extent we can all relate to our mom’s embarrassing us at one point or another, or embarrassing our kids. It’ll be interesting, when it’s released, to watch Marta and see how she handles her struggles.

Let’s talk a minute about Sheikh's Disobedient Bride and the Harlequin Presents line. How did Sheik Tair and Tally present themselves to you when the plot for this book was churning and cooking?

Jane: Tair is first introduced in last summer’s The Sheikh’s Virgin. He’s a rebel leader, a true desert warrior, and he and Kalen Nuri have been friends for years. Tair has a tragic past and has quite a few rough edges and it seemed natural in writing his story that those edges would become a problem. And knowing that, Tally was just born. Sometimes I have to massage characters into shape, coax them into presenting themselves but Tally’s stubbornness and feistiness were all part of her character from the start. She loves being the intrepid traveler, the freelance photographer risking life and limb for her work and all I knew when I first started writing the book was that Tair had to be true to himself, and Tally did as well and I just put the two of them together on the same horse-or in the same goat skin tent—and let whatever would happen, happen.

Connie: Interesting, yet very accurate way to put it; massage, coax the characters.

And what was the most surprising thing you learned about each of them, Jane, as they developed?

Jane: That Tally was foolishly brave and Tair deeply tender-hearted!

Connie: Love those tender-hearted heroes!

Harlequin Presents has always taken the reader across continents to exotic places to meet exotic and high-powered emotional people. How do you find the balance with the Presents line to fit and pack in the intensity of the characters, their emotions and what drives them with the locale and plot in the word count you’re allotted?

Jane: I think of Presents as mini-mainstream romance novels. I want to pack in as much story, passion, conflict, drama as possible. Just because the word length is short, doesn’t mean it’s a little story. And some readers/reviewers have criticized me for not always making my characters more sympathetic, but I can’t write the same story over and over and don’t know how to create only perfect characters and so I must try new things. And trying to be fresh, or new, I push boundaries, and push my own limits of creativity. Sometimes it works brilliantly and other times I haven’t succeeded as well but this is the only way I know how to write and deliver what I believe is essential--an intense read. That’s why I write for Presents, and that’s why you can deliver so much in a Presents novel, because every author gets to put her own spin on the emotional intensity that makes up a Harlequin Presents.

Connie: You’ve set stories and characters in and around Cannes and Nice by doing extensive research. But now that you’ve visited there, do you think your stories will take on a different flavor and feeling? How will the visit change the dynamic of your writing in this setting for Presents in the future?

Jane: I used the Cote d’Azur in December’s Taken By The Highest Bidder and it helped tremendously by actually being there before I wrote the story because I could feel the breeze, and remember the way the sunlight glazed the white villas and warmed the emerald gardens. I could feel the mood of Provence and the innate elegance of the people—as well as the ego. I love researching stories but traveling to a place really makes the research 3-D.

Connie: It sure adds another dimension to the story, too. Now the other side of the Jane Porter author coin, your chick lit books. First is The Frog Prince, and in July it’s Flirting With Forty. Tell us about the decision to delve into this genre.

Jane: Writing Harlequin Presents can be very demanding emotionally as the stories are so intense, and sometimes quite hard or dark, and as my personal life became harder and darker I found it increasingly difficult to write stories with the arrogant alpha hero. I needed an outlet, a different way to express myself and my personal confusion and heartbreak as my marriage ended. It’s not that I wanted to write about divorce, per se, but rather about emotions that didn’t fit into a Presents. I wanted to write about the reality of falling in love and believing in happily ever after and then discovering happily ever after sometimes isn’t ever after after all. I also wanted to write women like the women I know—good women, kind women, not exactly smart ass Teflon coated women, but women who were raised to be nice girls and put others first. Thus Holly in Frog Prince and Jackie in Flirting with Forty. My character, Marta, in Like Everybody Else, is quite different so that’s an experience in and of itself.

Connie: I would say chick lit is in a way a departure from the Presents line, you said as much. But in a different way. I mean, to name a couple of things, you’re writing in the first person and the books are longer with more plot to explore. What have you found to be the greatest challenge between the two lines?

Jane: You’re right, it is very different, and once I’m immersed in one book I can’t imagine ever writing the other, so switching back and forth between the two takes time and patience as I get frustrated with myself as the words don’t flow for awhile and I spend lots of time pacing around my office. But once I’m in the groove, each book and style feels right because I end up living the character’s life and emotions almost the way an actor becomes the character he or she plays. And once I’m deep in character, I’m good, but getting to that deep character isn’t easy for me.

Connie: Once you’ve re-found that groove what have you found to be the most fun about writing chick lit?

Jane: I love, love, love being able to write about the things women really think about and talk about and worry about. I love showing our inner world and the complexity of being female… friend, mother, daughter, sister, lover. I love writing about those relationships, too—that of friends, mothers and daughters, couples on the verge of a meltdown. Writing about romance and falling in love is good, but that’s only the tip of the iceberg. I also want to write about what else is happening in our lives.

Tina: And there’s so much that happens, too.

A bit in general about writing, now, Jane. When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

Jane: I was a very early reader and writer and I wrote my first short story about a Christmas Elf when I was four or five. I wrote my picture first book in 2nd grade, my first novel in 4th. I wrote poems throughout elementary school, essays in jr high and high school, started my first romance novel at seventeen. I suppose I’ve been a writer forever. It’s more real to me than anything else.

Tina: Do you remember who was the first to read your first manuscript? How did it go? What did you learn from it?

Jane: I started submitting to Harlequin when I was a sophomore at UCLA. Of course nothing I wrote sold back then, and that story, "Struck Out in Love", about a baseball player and his girlfriend was inspired by me dating a professional ball player. I didn’t know sport heroes weren’t acceptable, nor South Africa as a setting, or politics as a theme and I wrote book after rejected book. It ended up taking me fifteen plus years to sell, and over thirteen rejected complete manuscripts. In the meantime, I earned my MA in Writing, became a teacher, and sold magazine articles but selling my first romance novel was so difficult. It consumed me for years.

Tina: But you never stopped trying. Something for aspiring authors to remember.

What was your reaction when you first saw your book on a store shelf? Do you get the same feeling each time there’s a new release?

Jane: My first sale, The Italian Groom, was out in March 2001 and I think I spent every day going into a drug store or book store to get a glimpse of the cover with my name on it. I couldn’t believe it, couldn’t believe it’d finally happened after nearly twenty years of trying. I started writing romances at eighteen and my first published title came out when I was mid to late 30’s. That’s a long time to work towards a dream but in so doing it taught me perseverance, courage, faith, hope, and strength. I’m a risk-taker today because I know that I can’t fail if I give something my all. Maybe a book won’t widely sell, and maybe it won’t find a place on a keeper shelf, but if I try my best, really try my best, than I’ve done everything I can do and I should celebrate the fact that I’ve put it all out there and been true to myself, as well as true to my readers. And do I get that amazed feeling now when I see my books? Yes, and no. I’m still amazed that I’m a published author, but because the writing isn’t always easy for me I feel less awe at seeing my books then pride that I’ve mastered something that is very difficult to do. You see, writing, publishing remains demanding. Going through the divorce it was punishing. Other times when the story doesn’t come together right, it’s downright grueling. I struggle at my keyboard with some books, really struggle to make the story big, intense, passionate and while I love the idea for each book, and I love it when I’ve finished it, getting some stories right on paper takes blood, sweat and tears. And that’s after writing twenty books for Harlequin!

Tina: You’ve had and seem to continue to have quite the journey with your books. With each book. As a reader, definitely not a writer, I salute your dedication.

Do you have a manuscript tucked in your closet or under your bed that you especially want to be published some day? What is it about?

Jane: With thirteen rejected books under my bed I long to pull them out, whip them into shape and sell them….but its not going to happen. The writing was just too rough, the plots too thin, conflict and character not sufficiently developed to work in a tight, intense page-turner. However, I do have one manuscript, All-Around Cowboy, which won the Golden Heart in 1998 for Best Long Contemporary Series, begging me to pull it out again and make something good out of it. That story features the eldest of three big Texan brothers, the McBrides, and their story lives in the back of my mind waiting to be told. And I will, possibly rewriting as a single title, but I’ve other contracts and commitments to take care of first. Oh, and there is that 900 page medieval under my bed, The Falconer’s Daughter. It only took me five years to write that one…

Connie: But that’s not that long to some of us aspiring authors!

Tina: I hope you get to tell us the All-Around Cowboy story someday.

Experience teaches us lessons all the time. As a published author, what have you learned that you will always remember?

Jane: Through writing strong, compelling heroines I’ve learned what makes a woman strong and compelling. I’ve learned to become strong in my own right, and little by little I’ve become the hero in my own story. I’ve learned to be the hero. I’m becoming the person I always wanted to be. Writing changed me and it’s made me bold and brave and more compassionate. And so being published has taught me other life lessons, too-- Never, ever give up. Do the very thing you’re afraid to do. Take risks. Listen to yourself, trust your gut, and write the stories you believe in, not the stories that seem to be selling. And lastly, like yourself and embrace life and be happy. Don’t let the paperback heroines have all the fun. We should be loved and happy in real life, too.

Tina: You’ve certainly learned some valuable lessons.

Ok, it seems we have another side of the author coin as we’re going to get to know you a bit better personally now. What is on your to-do list? Is there anything you haven’t done that you’d like to do?

Jane: I’d love to tackle screenplays one day. And I used to write historical fiction so it’d be fun to lay with medieval Scotland and Spain again. Actually, I just want to keep writing and dreaming and creating. I just want to keep on keeping on.

Connie: Jane, other than your flat iron or blow dryer, what’s the "best invention since sliced bread"?

Jane: Airplanes! I jet around quite a bit-—especially as my boyfriend lives in Hawaii--and I love exploring and discovering new places, and an airplane can get me anywhere I want to go…and fast.

Tina: No airplanes here. You’re stranded on a deserted island; would you choose books by your favorite author or TV? Movie star or a close friend? What couldn’t you live without besides your boys?

Jane: I’d take books, for sure. I’m not a t.v. watcher so lots of books and not a movie star, no, although I suppose Owen Wilson would be hugely entertaining. Who else would I take? Well, my boys, definitely, and you know, I’m pretty darn attached to my boyfriend now. He’s younger than I am and being a surfer, far more laid back, but he’s so kind and handsome and he makes me laugh and for the first time in years and years I believe in love and romance and happily ever after again.

Connie: With all that I don’t think you’d be in a hurry for anyone to discover you on the island.

What are some of the types of books you enjoy reading? Do you stick with one genre or a variety?

Jane: I read across the genres. I love non-fiction for research and to ‘feed the well’. I also love to read historical fiction and some paranormal. I like erotic romance, and contemporary women’s fiction, too, if the stories have emotional depth. Basically I read whatever I can get my hands on and I’m never happier than when curled up with a book.

Tina: And if you were told you could only keep 4 novels from your favorites, or books of any kind, never to have any more, what would they be?

Jane: Oh dear, this would be terrible because I never reread a novel. I can’t. I don’t give them away but I just don’t reread books, or watch movies a second time. But if I could only have 4 for the rest of my life…? 1. Christine Feehan’s Dark Prince 2. A Countess Below Stairs by Eva Ibbotson 3. Flowers In The Storm by Laura Kinsale 4. Mr. Impossible by Loretta Chase.

Connie: What is one thing/something pampering you like to do for yourself?

Jane: When I finish a book, or hit mid-point, I like to get a massage as a reward but I haven’t done that in almost a year. I also love to go get pedicures before I head to Hawaii because I love my toenails painted and colorful.

Connie: You’re brave to have someone touch your feet...You’re a damsel in distress. Who would you rather help rescue you?

Jane: Wolverine from X Men

Tina: He is quite...well...you know!

How would you describe yourself, Jane? How would your closest loved one(s) describe you?

Jane: I’d say I’m silly and brave and emotional and passionate and very loyal. My friends? I don’t know what they’d say…probably that I’m loving and loyal and sometimes very feisty and stubborn…

Connie and Tina: We’ll leave the readers hanging right there and give you our thanks for the time you took to visit with us. Before we let you go, though, is there anything we forgot to ask that you want the readers and fans to know?

Jane: No, just that I’d love for my readers to believe in their own worth and making life the life they want it to be. If life is just a dream, make it your dream. Dream your own dream. Be who you want to be!

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Author's Interviews