Interview: Publisher's Weekly

April 2010

NYT Best Seller Dianna Love and the BAD Boys Visit Barbara Vey at Publishers Weekly.

I’m so excited to guest blog with Barbara Vey, but this didn’t happen by accident. Barbara and I are some of the many people in publishing who support Brenda Novak’s Diabetes Auction by donating things. Barbara offered a guest blog. I donated a page of ten items in conjunction with Sherrilyn Kenyon and Mary Buckham for the auction. During the 2009 auction, I bid on Barbara’s guest blog day…and WON! J

Barbara invited the Boys of the BAD agency to come along and blog with me. They came up with these five questions for me.

• Describe your favorite day off. This one is tough because I’m torn between riding my motorcycle through back roads or saltwater fishing pretty much anywhere I can drop a line. But my favorite day off would be anything I did with my husband from riding bikes to fishing to walking through an art festival to attending an art or music event.

• Do any of your previous hobbies or current interests play into your writing? Yes. The most recent Bureau of American Defense (BAD) Agency book coming out next week (April 20th) will have motorcycles and a fair amount of outdoor time, plus the main setting is in Chicago where I have friends. Plenty of BAD Boys there. Sherrilyn and I incorporate things we have an interest in or have been thinking on for a while (like the opening setting in Hawaii – we keep trying to figure out how to get there to see fans!) in every story.

• Some authors have a special project they focus on and support on their website – do you? Absolutely. I’ve had an idea for a long time of offering something special for the neighborhood book clubs across the country so a year and a half ago I started a program on my website where any book group could sign up to win books offered by authors of many different genres. When a book group’s name is drawn and matched to a participating author, the book group will receive up to 8 copies of that author’s books personalized to the members. We’ve given away over 500 books already. The response has been extraordinary. My goal of introducing authors to readers is succeeding beyond what even I imagined.

• Were you always a writer and do you think only certain people can write? No and No. I started out life as a realistic portrait artist (you can see some of my art here) and used the ability to make a living for years. I started writing my first book in 2001 with no background for it, but I have always had a strong passion for learning. Don’t let anyone tell you that you don’t have the ability to accomplish something – how can THEY know? We have some of the most amazing art, writing and music in this world plus medical and technological advancements because of the people who focused only on what they wanted to do rather than what they were told they couldn’t do. I encourage everyone to do whatever makes their hearts sing.

• What would you like to do if you could snap your fingers and have the ability? Another tough question. I’m torn between wanting to sing and being a fighter pilot. If I had to absolutely choose, I’d go with fighter pilot then hope that I would eventually have my own airplane so I could fly to meet readers who live outside the big cities where we’re sent to sign. Hey, I figure if I’m going to dream about being a pilot I might as well dream up an airplane, too.

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