Beverly and Tamara: Welcome to SSLY, Merry. Thanks so much for joining us today. So first why don’t you tell us a little about yourself? Sure thing! Hello, my name is Merry Farmer, and everything I write turns into a love story, whether I try or not. That’s actually pretty ironic considering I am the poster child for complete ineptitude in the romance department. No, seriously! My life has been a series of unrequited crushes with a few hilariously awful relationships in between. And yet, I manage to write some pretty delicious love stories!
Tamara: What do you HAVE to have when you are writing? I want to say something cool, like music or silk stockings or a funny hat. The truth is, the thing I really need is a schedule. I write at the same time every morning: for about an hour first thing after I get up. I write at other times of the day too, but honestly, those are my most productive hours.
Beverly: When did you start to write, who influenced you? I started writing in third grade, at age 10, when I realized one day that I didn’t need to wait for my teacher to assign a creative writing project to write something. And yes, I started writing love stories from day one. So I guess I was influenced by Mike, the boy in my class who I had a huge crush on.
Tamara: What do you think are the qualities that make up a “hero”? For me, a hero has to be a profoundly decent human being underneath it all. I tend to love beta-heroes much more than alpha-heroes, probably because life isn’t handed over as easily to a beta-hero. I love a man who doesn’t fit the traditional masculine ideal (because frankly, that ideal isn’t ideal at all!).
Beverly: Can you describe your favorite character? And which of your books is he/she in? How do you come up with your characters? I think my favorite character would have to be Michael West in my novel Our Little Secrets (although he appears in all the Montana Romance novels). He is just so my kind of man! A little older, a little wiser, romantic, and just a little flawed. I’m not sure how I come up with my characters, to tell you the truth. They’re sort of all there when I get ready to write. I do a lot of daydreaming though, so that might help convince them to come out and play.
Tamara: What are the hardest scenes for you to write? Suspense? Sex? Dialogue? And why? Well, I love writing dialog and I LOVE writing sex. I think the hardest scenes for me to write are those connecting scenes that get you from point A to point B. They’re SO necessary for a story, and yet it’s so easy to make them boring and plodding. They are the ones that I end up revising the most.
Beverly: What is your favorite scene in your favorite book? Wow, there are just so many! One that really hit me recently is the scene from toward the end of Ender’s Game when Ender finally figures out what’s really going on. I only just saw it coming a few pages before Ender did. I cried. BUCKETS!
Tamara: Who would you choose as your “book boyfriend/girlfriend”? From what book? Author? I’m gonna blush a little and say Colonel Brandon from Sense and Sensibility. And hopefully he looks like Alan Rickman! Man, that guy was so underappreciated but so wonderful! The lengths he went to for love were just… *sigh*
Beverly: What is the kinkiest thing you’ve ever done? Or would like to? What? We are all about the love! *LOL* Here’s the thing. I am far and away the least kinky person I know! I am tempted to say two men at once, but at the end of the day there’s no way I could actually go through with it. I will tell you this, though (and I hope none of my family is reading), I lost my virginity to a Pakistani millionaire in a 17th century hotel in England during a midnight assignation. If that doesn’t qualify me to be a romance writer, I don’t know what does!
Beverly: LOL! We have a winner!
Tamara: What are your favorite types of heroines? Do you like the damsel in distress who needs saving or the kick-ass variety? Why? I think I like something in between. I am not really a fan of the damsel in distress, but I love a heroine who can kick ass with her mind. If a lady can think her way out of the trouble that she got herself into (and I do love it when she gets herself into trouble), then she’s pretty awesome in my book!
Beverly: What was your worst date ever? Oh dear lord! I went out ONCE with this massage therapist who spent the entire dinner trying to convince me how good he was with his hands (wink, wink, nudge, nudge), then told me he had just broken up with the most perfect girl ever and that he would never love again and was just looking for some fun, THEN excused himself to the bathroom for a suspiciously long time.
Tamara: 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) That would have to be my laptop, an endless supply of cookies, and…wait, I don’t know if I can say that here. It involves batteries.
Beverly: What is your “guilty pleasure”? Cookies. I SO shouldn’t eat them, but they are Nature’s perfect food, as far as I’m concerned.
Tamara: What dream or goals have you yet to realize? Honestly, I would love to be able to make enough off of my writing to quit my day job and just write. Well, and teach too. I’m very, very close to that dream! I would also like to find my wonderful beta-hero and live happily ever after.
Beverly: What was your most embarrassing moment or the craziest thing you’ve done? C’mon dish! I had two summers’ worth of crazy things during the time I spent as an actor at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire. 16 weekends of being a medieval peasant by day and hanging out with a bunch of crazy actors at night. I don’t even remember half the stuff we got up to!
Tamara: If you were a color what would you be and why? I want to say red, because that’s cool and sexy and awesome, but the truth is that I’m probably some shade of bubblegum pink. Aspiring to red but just too sweet for it.
Beverly: How do you know you’re in love? When being with the person makes you feel good about yourself and at peace with the world.
Tamara and Beverly: Okay. We are SSLY so we have to ask. Who loves you? Sadly, no one. Not like that. Not at the moment. Unless they’re not telling me. Wait! I think my cats love me. Sometimes.
Now for some quick fun questions:
Boxers or briefs? Briefs
Coffee or Tea? Coffee
Tall, dark and handsome or Blond and buff? Tall, dark and handsome
Hairy chest or smooth? Smoother (with a tad of hair, but not a sweater)
Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocolate
Kinky or Sweet? I want to say kinky, but….
Fast or slow? Slow
Public or private? Private
Top or bottom? If we’re talking about what I think we’re talking about, bottom!
Thanks, guys! That was a lot of fun!
We enjoyed having you Merry! Now tell us a little bit about what you’ve recently published.
In Your Arms is the third full-length novel in Merry Farmer’s sweeping, engaging, and extremely historically accurate Montana Romance series. Never one to shy away from difficult or controversial topics while still imbuing her tales with more than a dash of romance and steam, Merry depicts a tale of love, trust, and stubborness against the backdrop of the turn-of-the-century American frontier.
“[In Your Arms is] a book that intelligently tackles racial tensions of post-Civil War era…a highly engaging romance between two fiery-spirited individuals…I highly recommend this book to all fans of historical romance.” –Mary Chen, Amazon reviewer
Get In Your Arms on Amazon, Amazon UK, Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, and iBooks.
Add In Your Arms to your Goodreads to-read shelf!
About In Your Arms
Lily Singer has never belonged. Taken from her tribe as a child and raised in a white man’s school, she no longer has a place in either world. Teaching has become her life. When that life is threatened by rumors and prejudice after a string of robberies, she must turn for help to the one man who spells disaster for her carefully ordered existence. Will he save her or steal her heart?
Christian Avery, Justice of the Peace, is used to having things his way. Cold Springs is his responsibility, and when its citizens blame the local Indian population for the mysterious robberies, it’s up to him to restore order and maintain calm. The one person who refuses to follow his lead is the beautiful, native-born Lily. Her defiance turns his life upside down.
But when town gossip shifts from robberies to romance after a foolish indiscretion, Lily’s job and reputation are on the line. She must choose between the only life she has ever known and the only place she has ever felt at home, in Christian’s arms.
About Merry Farmer
Merry Farmer lives in suburban Philadelphia with her two cats, Butterfly and Torpedo. She has been writing since she was ten years old and realized one day that she didn’t have to wait for the teacher to assign a creative writing project to write something. It was the best day of her life. She then went on to earn not one but two degrees in History so that she would always having something to write about. Today she walks along the cutting edge of Indie Publishing, writing Historical Romance and Women’s Sci-Fi. She is also passionate about blogging, knitting, and cricket and is working towards becoming an internationally certified cricket scorer.
Find Merry Farmer on her website, Facebook, Twitter, and Amazon Author Page.
Get the book!
In Your Arms is available on Amazon, Amazon UK, Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, and iBooks.
Don’t forget to add In Your Arms to your to-read shelf on Goodreads.
Connect with Merry Farmer on her website, Facebook, Twitter, and Amazon Author Page.
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