We have one of my favorite authors Cat Johnson here today! I am so excited, Cat writes hot cowboy and military romances. WELCOME!
Beverly and Tamara: Thanks so much for joining us today. So first why don’t you tell us a little about yourself.
Cat: I’m lucky enough to be a full time writer without an evil day job, but with my background in marketing, I probably spend as much time or more every day promoting as writing.
Tamara: What do you HAVE to have when you are writing?
Cat: Coffee to start my work day is a must have!
Tamara: I knew we were kindred spirits!
Beverly: When did you start to write?
Cat: Well, I won my first writing contest in first grade, got my first NY contract to write for a YA series two weeks out of college, but my first romance contract was in 2006 with a small press. So you can take your pick of those three dates as to when my official professional romance writing career started.
Tamara: What do you think are the qualities that make up a “hero”?
Cat: I think a hero can have any number of faults, because men are not perfect and it’s their imperfections that make them who they are, but the one thing a hero must be is willing to kill or die for the woman he loves.
Beverly: Can you describe your favorite character? And which of your books is he/she in? How do you come up with your characters?
Cat: My favorite characters change over the years and it’s no surprise that right now, it’s the hero I just finished writing, yesterday in fact! Jace Mills, a bull riding cowboy from my Oklahoma Nights series out through Kensington Brava, was a real surprise to me. He was just the sidekick to the hero of Book 1 (One Night with a Cowboy, out now), and he was basically a jerk and kind of an idiot in Book 2 (Two Times as Hot, on preorder for September release), but in Book 3 (Three Weeks with a Bull Rider, coming in 2014), Jace really steps up. He’s sensitive but all Alpha-male, tortured but willing to expose himself to the heroine, protective, and funny, and sexy as hell. This book got so hot I’m a bit concerned it might be too much for my editor. I guess we’ll see!
Tamara: Ooh, I can’t wait. I loved One Night With a Cowboy. What are the hardest scenes for you to write? Suspense? Sex? Dialogue? And why?
Cat: Honestly, the scenes I hate the most are the mundane, everyday things. I have a bad habit of skipping chunks of time in my books, and that’s because I don’t want to write the characters doing things that don’t move the plot forward. Such as the eating three meals a day, get ready for the day, talk about nonsense kind of stuff. Sex is easy. Dialogue is really easy. Action (such as battle scenes in my military books or bull rides in my cowboy books) is easy for me. But if a scene doesn’t move the plot forward or work to show the reader who the characters are, I don’t want to write it and I can’t imagine readers want to read it.
Beverly: What writer, if any, influenced how you write?
Cat: I think since I was reading Carly Phillips and Suzanne Brockmann when I first attempted writing romance, they had an influence on my voice and the genre I chose, that being contemporary romance.
Tamara: Who would you choose as your “book boyfriend”? From what book? Author?
Cat: I love Roarke from the Eve Dallas “In Death” series from Nora Roberts writing as JD Robb. Even though I haven’t taken the time to keep up with the series recently, he will always have a place in my heart.
Beverly: What is the kinkiest thing you’ve ever done? Or would like to? What? We are all about the love!
Cat: Oh, man, to lie or to tell the truth… Okay, I may or may not have had sex in the water, during the day, on a public beach, with people on the shore… LOL
Tamara: What are your favorite types of heroines? Do you like the damsel in distress who needs saving or the kick-ass variety? Why?
Cat: I don’t want a too stupid to live heroine, or one who is totally helpless and clueless, but I do like a heroine who is thrown out of her element. The fish out of water who, as capable as she might be in parts of her life, has to turn to the hero to survive a new or strange situation she’s been put in.
Beverly: Oh! I like that! What was your worst date ever?
Cat: It’s been a long time since I’ve been out on a date. I’m not sure I can remember back that far. Oh, wait, I do remember a night after a frat party at college when I finally got the attention of a guy I had a crush on, and the moment we got alone, he puked all over the place. No smooching after that!
Tamara: Yuck! If you were stranded on a desert island, what three things would you want to have with you? (you have food, water, shelter, all the necessities, so nothing mundane)
Cat: A hot guy, my iPad, and a WiFi or 3G connection. I think with him for “companionship” and my technology (for reading, watching movies/TV, and checking FB/Twitter) I could live very happily for quite a while. Could probably get a pretty hot book story out of it too!
Beverly: What is your “guilty pleasure”?
Cat: Sadly, it’s train wreck television. It seems the worse the show, the more I like it. My most embarrassing shows I watch are Secret Life of the American Teenager, Millionaire Matchmaker, and Mob Wives.
Tamara: I am addicted to Storage Wars, lol! What dream or goal have you yet to realize?
Cat: Maybe I’m not aiming high enough but I want one of my books made into a Hallmark Channel original movie. B-star and all! But more than that, I want that NY Times Best Selling Author line next to my name, hopefully before I die!
Iamara: That would be awesome. Cheesy Hallmark movies are the best, I’d definitely watch it.
Beverly: What was you most embarrassing moment?
Cat: Probably when some funny yet kind of derogatory comment I made about somebody I know, got somehow written down by somebody else and then seen by the person it had been said about. Lesson learned—never let anything go in writing and watch what your friends are doing!!
Tamara: If you were a color what would you be and why?
Cat: Highway sign orange! So nobody could miss me.
Beverly: LOL! Who has influenced how you perceive love? Why?
Cat: Definitely that has to be the man in my life. Being with a guy who loves with his whole heart and soul is an eye-opener.
Tamara and Beverly: Okay. We are SSLY so we have to ask. Who loves you?
Cat: Besides the man in my life? LOL I’m lucky to have family who love me unconditionally, with my bitchy moods and all. I have some very close friends who try my patience at times but love me for who I am, and again, I know I’m no joy either. And I have to mention my kitties, who love me even when I wake up at 3am to write and trip over them on my way to the coffee pot.
Now for some quick fun questions:
Boxers or briefs? Boxer-briefs, actually. The tidy whities are too blah. Boxers are too floppy. I like a nice tight pair of ass hugging boxer-briefs in a good color.
Coffee or Tea? Coffee in the morning, tea in the afternoon.
Tall, dark and handsome or Blond and buff? Not really into the blonde Ken surfer dude look, so tall, dark and handsome.
Hairy chest or smooth? Smooth, for sure. I like to bite and who wants hair in your mouth?!
Chocolate or Vanilla? Vanilla, but with big hunks of something chocolaty and fun mixed in.
Kinky or Sweet? Depends on the mood, but if I had to choose one, kinky is more fun.
Fast or slow? There’s something about a slow-talking, long-loving, Southern boy…
Public or private? Public is fine for the occasional thrill, but private is what I want for the main course.
Top or bottom? Bottom. Guess I’m too lazy to do all the work!
BIO: Cat Johnson is known for her creative marketing and research practices. Consequently, she has sponsored bull riding rodeo cowboys, owns an entire collection of cowboy boots and camouflage shoes for book signings, and a fair number of her consultants wear combat or cowboy boots for a living. In her real life, she’s been a marketing manager, professional harpist, bartender, tour guide, radio show host, Junior League president, wife and avid animal lover. She writes both full length and shorter contemporary romance in genres including military, cowboy, and ménage. For more visit www.CatJohnson.net, follow Cat on Twitter at Cat_Johnson, or Like her Facebook page at www.facebook.com/CatJohnsonAuthor.
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