NT: Hi Pamela! Thank you for being my guest today.
Pamela: Thanks for having me! I really appreciate it!
NT: When did you know you wanted to be a writer? How long did it take for you to make your first sale?
Pamela: I knew I wanted to be a writer at about age nine or 10 when I read MISTY OF CHINCOTEAGUE and the world vanished around me. I realized books were magic. The could make the world around you vanish and replace it with a time and place you’d never been. The story lingered with me long after I read it, and I felt that was a kind of magic, too. I knew I wanted to write stories that crept into people’s hearts and became a part of their lives whether they realized that or not. I told my parents that I wanted to write novels when I grew up, and I don’t think they took me seriously at all. They do now.
As for my first book, I had an atypically easy path to publication. I wrote my first book over seven years. I was newly divorced with two small kids and a full-time job, so sometimes I was able to write only for a few hours on a weekend. But after seven years, I finished it. I sent out five query letters, signed tentatively with an agent who wanted some revisions. I put off the revisions for most of a year, then sat down and did them in three weeks. My agent loved them, and nine months later I had a two-book contract.
NT: You have a new release this month, DEFIANT. Can you tell us about it?
Pamela: DEFIANT is the third book in the MacKinnon’s Rangers series, which is set on the Colonial frontier in upstate New York during the French & Indian War (Seven Years War to Brits). DEFIANT tells the story of the youngest MacKinnon brother, Connor, and Lady Sarah Woodville, the niece of the MacKinnon brothers’ most hated enemy, Lord William Wentworth. Lady Sarah has been sent away in disgrace by parents who don’t know what to do with her and seeks the help of her beloved uncle. Before she can reach him, however, the party she is traveling with is attacked by a war party of Shawnee out to avenge the death of a Shawnee mother. Lord William sends Connor and Captain Joseph, the Mahican war chief who is blood brother to the MacKinnons, to rescue her and bring her back alive, knowng that if anyone can do it, they can.
But when they reach the village, Connor realizes the only way he’s going to be able to save Sarah is to fight the warrior who abducted her — and then claim her himself.
This will not make Lord William happy.
Here’s the blurb from the back of the book:
Major Connor MacKinnon despises his commander, Lord William Wentworth, beyond all other men. Ordered to rescue Wentworth’s niece after the Shawnee take her captive, he expects Lady Sarah Woodville to be every bit as contemptible as her uncle. Instead, he finds a brave and beautiful lass in desperate peril. But the only way to free Sarah is for Connor to defeat the Shawnee warrior who kidnapped her—and claim her himself.
Torn by tragedy from her sheltered life in London, Lady Sarah is unprepared for the harshness of the frontier—or for the attraction she feels toward Connor. When they reach civilization, however, it is she who must protect him. For if her uncle knew all that Connor had done to save her, he would surely kill him.
But the flames of passion, once kindled, are difficult to deny. As desire transforms into love, Connor will have to defy an empire to keep Sarah at his side.
For the visually inclined, here’s a link to the live-action trailer my son and I made together. He put his film degree into it, while I mostly stood around watching the sexy male model and giggling. But, as I was the money, I got to stay on set. Here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYQA2WhPz58
NT: Do you have a writing routine? What is your average writing day like?
Pamela: As soon as I can get other baloney out of the way — breakfast, shower, important chores — I sit down with my computer and write all day and into the evening. In the summer, I grow a lot of veggies, and that means that I’m outside very early watering the garden before it gets hot, harvesting the veggies, and washing/slicing/preparing salads and so on for later in the day. It’s a huge amount of work, but I really prefer organic vegetables, and the only way to know for sure what goes into them is to grow them yourself.
I’m always eagerly awaiting the first hard frost so I can quit doing that and focus more on writing. I love building a nice fire, then sitting beside it with my laptop and lapdesk sipping coffee and writing. That’s my idea of heaven.
FREEZE, zucchini plants! FREEZE!
NT: Is there anyone you use as a sounding board when you’re stuck on a scene?
Pamela: My sister, Michelle, is my rock. I can’t tell you how many hours we’ve logged on Skype talking about my books. She lives in Stockholm, so she’s eight hours ahead of me. But we manage to connect every week. She was here when I was finishing DEFIANT, which for some reason was very hard for me. And my sweet baby sister sat there on my couch till 4 AM night after night as I was writing to help me stay focused. My younger son Benjamin has been a part of discussing scenes and such since he was in high school. He just graduated summa cum laude with a film degree and is an exceptional writer, so maybe it’s been a good exercise for him. I have friends, too, whose feedback is always helpful. Author Norah Wilson, Marie Force… It takes a village.
NT: What was the most interesting thing you had to research and what was the hardest thing to research?
Pamela: Research is something I love to do. My college degree and work in graduate school was in archaeology, and I spent 20 years working as an investigative reporter. Compared to trying to prove that Person X is a depraved criminal, there is no difficult research in fiction. It’s just a matter of being persistent. I have my own techniques, and they work wonderfully well. And since I love it — LOVE it! — it never feels like work.
For the MacKinnon’s Rangers series, I research the French & Indian War extensively focusing on Fort Edward, Robert Rogers and Rogers’ Rangers, a band of colonial frontiersmen who helpd the ill-prepared British face a new kind of warfare here in North America. Don’t get me started or I’ll still be going at midnight.
NT: When not busy writing, what do you like to do in your spare time? (If there is such a thing 😀 )
Pamela: Well, there’s that ominously enormous veggie garden. I also have a very large rose garden, and I love it! In early summer, you can stand anywhere in my yard and just float away on the scent of roses. Deadheading the whole thing probably takes about three or four hours. In theory, I like to hike. I just haven’t done much of it lately. I live right next to the mountains, so hitting the trails involves maybe 10 minutes of driving to the parking lot. I love spending time with my kids. They’re both grown — the older one was born when I was a freshman in college, the second when I was a senior — and I adore them.
NT: What are the latest additions to your TBR? What are you most eager to read?
Pamela: Oh, goodness! I’ve got TRUE SHOT by Joyce Lamb that I’m reading. I have several Norah Wilson titles on my Kindle (GUARDING SUSANNAH, SAVING GRACE) along with Marie Force’s Gansett Island series. I want to read Sylvia Day’s BARED TO YOU. I have a shelf of Monica McCarty I desperately want to read. I think my most recent acquisition is BRIDE OF THE HIGH COUNTRY by Kaki Warner, which I also desperately want to read. Where does this reading time come from? Not sure.
NT: Any advice to aspiring authors? What craft books helped you that you would recommend to aspiring writers?
Pamela: People might throw rotten tomatoes at the screen when I say this, but I didn’t read any craft books. I didn’t workshop my books. I wasn’t a member of RWA. I didn’t belong to any writers groups or critique groups. I just sat down and wrote what I saw in my head. Granted, I’d been a working journalist for a while. I had my college degree and some grad school under my belt. But writing/language has always been my gift. I accidentally wrote an extra paper in a graduate level archaeology course, and the professor offered to auction it off. “She writes like a pro,” he said. “Bid high.”
I did take a creative writing course in college and one class about writing autobiography, and the feedback I got in both classes was overwhelmingly positive — at least where the professors were concerned. The students in the creative writing class were the black-clad clove-smoking sort who didn’t know what to think of a chick who was already a mom. Everything I wrote was savaged during critiques. In the middle of my last critique, the professor interrupted the students in the midst of shredding me and said, “Isn’t this interesting that you all feel this way because I think Pamela has written the only publishable work we’ve seen this entire semester.” Eat that, clove-smoking haters! That was awesome!
Poet and essayist Reg Saner was my professor for the autobiography class shortly before he retired. My writing just exploded in his class. I couldn’t get the words on the page fast enough. I would sit my baby on the floor with tupperware and spoons and just pound out as much as I could while he was diverted. At the end of the semester, Prof. Saner invited me into his office for my final critique and grade. I sat down and he said, “I’m afraid I have to apologize.” Naturally, this concerned me. He said that all he could give me was an A when it was clear that I was writing on a different plane than the other students. “Students come to me all the time and say, ‘I want to be a writer.’ I look at what they’ve written and tell them to do something else because they just don’t have it. You’re one of two students I’ve had during my entire career to whom I can say, ‘Go for it. You can do anything you want to do.’”
I cannot tell you what his words meant to me. It was an affirmation that THIS was the path I needed to be on, not graduate school.
I saw him a few years ago, and he knew I was published and was very happy for me. He said, “If anyone gives you a hard time about writing romance, ask them what they’ve published lately. The difference between what I write and what you write is that people read what you write.” (His Reaching Keet Seel: Ruin’s Echo and the Anasazi is phenomenal, and I recommend it for anyone who enjoys reading nature essays.)
So my advice to aspiring writers… Read a lot. Follow your heart. If this is what you want to do, commit to it with the devotion of an Olympic athlete and make it your life. Don’t give up. When you do, you lose.
NT: What can your fans look forward to from you in the near future? What are you working on now?
Pamela: Right now, I’m working on STRIKING DISTANCE, the next book in the I-Team series. I hope to finish it soon. Theoretically, it will be out next spring. After that, I’ll be writing another historical, perhaps Joseph’s story in a follow-up to the MacKinnon’s Rangers series.
NT: If someone has not read any of your books, which would be the one you’d recommend they try first?
Pamela: For historical fans, I would say Surrender, the first book in the MacKinnon’s Ranger series. For romantic suspense fans, I would suggest Breaking Point or Unlawful Contact, Books 5 and 3, respectively, in the I-Team series. People who are adamant about reading things in order can start with Extreme Exposure.
NT: How can readers contact you?
Pamela: There are so many ways!
I have a contact form through my website, where readers can send me an email and also sign up for my newsletter. http://www.pamelaclare.com/guestbook.php
I’m @Pamela_Clare on Twitter.
I’m on Goodreads and have a Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pamela-Clare/167939496589645
NT: Thanks for being our guest today!
Pamela: You’re so welcome! Thanks so very much for having me!
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For a chance to win DEFIANT, just leave a comment below. Good luck!
OMG. Pamela Clare!! I’m your I-Team Series fan. I soooo love that series, so far my favorites are Julian and Gabe. ;D
Actually I already have Defiant. it’s a birthday gift from my friends but I haven’t read it yet and yaiyy it’s Nathan for the cover! ^^
Hi, Izz — Yes, it does have Nathan. 😉
I’m glad you love the I-Team series. I hope you enjoy DEFIANT, too.
This book sounds great.
Thanks, Michelle. It was a long time coming and a lot of research and painstaking writing. 🙂
Sounds great! I need to start this series
Thank you, Danielle. If you try them, I hope you enjoy them. 🙂
I love I-Team series by Pamela Clare, She is amazingly superb romantic suspense writer. Would love to read this book.
Thanks so much, MyLunar. I really appreciate that. Way to make my morning. 🙂
Thanks for the nice interview, I enjoyed reading it.
Thanks, Xaurianx. I thought she asked some great questions.
I love Pamela’s writing! I’m so glad she found a new publisher and could even publish the two first books in this series again like she always wanted them to be. Can’t wait to read Defiant!
Thank you for the giveaway.
Hi, Claudia — It’s been wonderful to have the whole series out. Thanks for stopping by. Good luck in the drawing!
What an inspiring professor that was! That’s a moment to remember when you have self-doubt, that’s for sure!
Rebe, I actually got a bit choked up thinking about his words. He’s an amazing guy, and to get that kind of affirmation was just priceless for me as a writer.
Great interview! Can’t wait to read Pamela’s stories!
Thank you, Yadira. I hope you enjoy them!
I have been attempting to write myself and I felt because I have been at one book for a year and a half I must not be serious about it. Thank you for sharing that it took you seven to get the first book out. Your words are inspiring. I am a true fan of your work.
Love, love, LOVE the I-Team Series! Anxiously waiting for the next installment in the spring – hope to start the MacKinnon’s Ranger series soon!
Sounds like a very good series that’s definiteky going on my TBR. Thank you for the very interesting interview. Love to hear more about authors.
I am a HUGE HUGE HUGE Pamela Clare fan! I’ve loved everything she’s ever written. 😀
Hi, Casey — Thanks so much! That’s so sweet of you. I’m happy to hear it. Thanks for posting! Good luck!
I am huge fan. I have been reading romance books for many many years and Pamela is one of my favorites. I just wish she could write faster:) Or maybe I should read slower:)
Pamela’s enthusiasm for writing really shines through in this interview and I’m happy that she’s finally been able to publish this novel.
Thank you, JenM! For a long time, I was so afraid the series was dead and that Connor, who in some ways was the most lively voice in my head, wouldn’t get his story. I’m so glad things turned out the way they did.
Great interview! Pamela Clare is on my to-read list!
ehaney578 at aol dot com
Thank you, Elizabeth! Good luck in the drawing!
I am just about to read the I-Team series for the first time, as our upcoming book club meeting will be a discussion on the series…SO EXCITED!! I have heard great things about it!!
I hope you and the other club members enjoy it, Karen. And thank you!
I love the Mackinnon Brothers!!! Really good interview. I also love the I-Team series! Pamela is such a good world builder!! I love escaping in her books!
Thank you, Jessica! That’s wonderful to know. 🙂
Great interview! I’m a Pamela Clare fan also and have read every book she’s written. I just want to say to those of you that haven’t read Pamela Clare, DO IT NOW! You won’t be disappointed. I have the book so don’t enter me in the giveaway.
Thanks so much, Tonya. That’s so sweet of you to say. 🙂
OMG, I want to be the “money” and get to stand around and giggle at a sexy male model’s photo shoot!
Your Rangers series has been in my TBR pile for a while now–guess I should get to reading it 🙂
Becky, I can tell you it was NOT a chore. It was a fantastic and fun (and rather sexy) day. I can’t wait to do it again. I just wonder: Can I shoot trailers if I don’t have a book? 😉
Thanks for giving the Ranger series a try. I hope you enjoy the stories!
Great interview! I’m a PC fan already and have read all of her books several times. I just want to say to those that haven’t read her books yet, DO IT NOW! You won’t be disappointed. I have the book already so don’t enter me in the giveaway. I’d rather give someone that hasn’t read Pamela’s books a chance to win it.
Thanks for the awesome giveaway. I would love to read this book. It sounds very good. Please enter me in contest.
Good luck in the contest, Victoria! And thanks for posting!
WONDERFUL interview! I have Surrender in my TBR pile– okay, it’s like the Leaning Tower of Pizza by now 😉 — and I can’t WAIT to read it!
Congratulations on your success! 🙂
Watch out for that leaning TBR, Chelsea! I hope you enjoy Iain and Annie’s story. It’s definitely a reader favorite. And thank you so much!
Book sounds good
Thank you, Lynn.
Love reading interviews… this is a book I am adding to my want list!
Thanks, Colleen! It was a fun interview from my point of view as the person answering questions.
I’ve not read any of your works yet but I plan to start into the I-Team
series. Thanks for the great interview!
Pat C.
I hope you enjoy them, Pat. Thanks for giving them a try!
Fantastic interview! I’m a huge Pamela Clare fan, ever since I first happened to pick up Unlawful Contact off a library shelf. Who does’t love the I-Team? Great book trailer! I just wish there was an endless list of Pamela Clare novels to choose from =)
I wish there were an endless list, too, Amanda, because that means I would have gotten a lot of writing done! Thanks for your kind words. I really appreciate it. 🙂
Thanks for an interesting post. I’d already heard great things about this book.
I’m so happy to hear that, Isureader. Thanks for sharing that.
What a great interview. So fun to learn more about you, Pamela!
Thank you, Jackie! I’m glad you enjoyed it.
I have this book on my TBR list – I love a series & this one takes place in a time period I’ve always been fascinated with.
I absolutely love this period of history and am truly amazed that more books aren’t set here. I think those of us who have American History in grade school must not be very inspired by our teachers. And a lot of schools are leaving this period off their curriculum now — a tragedy, I think.
A fabulous interview thank you. DEFIANT does look amazing.
Thank you, Mary. 🙂
I really want to read this. Thanks for the giveway!
You’re welcome, MathLady. And good luck!
Hi Pamela!
I actually grew up in Up-State New York on Union Street just blocks away from the blockade area of the city.
On February 8, 1690, during King William’s War, French forces and their Indian allies attacked Schenectady by surprise, leaving 62 dead. American history notes it as the Schenectady massacre.[3] In 1748, during King George’s War, the French and Indians attacked again.
The area that the attachs occured were just a few block from what today is called the Mohawk river which seperate the City of Schenectady from the village of Scotia, NY.
When I was growing up learning the history of our city was taught to us from the time we were young but you also learned more walking around the area were these battles took place. Our historical society was very active in keeping the history of the city alive.
I no longer live in New York but will always remember learning when I was still a child that at one time it was the “western” frontier of our country.
Ironically I am also related to John Rolfe and Pocahontes! When I went to college in Arizona I finally realized what a big impact our coming to the United States from countries all over the world has affected the natives of America who were forced from their lands.
I’d love to have the chance of winning a copy of Defiant and hope that everyone who reads it realizes what has been lost to the brave men and women who lived here before we entered their lands. Perhpas we will also learn to be more tolerant to all those who have joined us on our shores looking for the same thing we did when our ancestors came to this country.
Jeanne — Thank you for your in-depth reply about the history that surrounded your home. As a Colorado girl, I’ve always been amazed that people thought NY was the “northwest,” but that’s how it was in those days. This period has such an amazingly rich history — so many stories to tell, from the perspective of all the immigrants who’d left home for so many reasons, some by force; to the Native inhabitants who saw their way of life disappearing around them together with their lands; to those who were brought here involuntarily as convicts and slaves; to the events that shaped the political history. I’m glad your city was busy keeping its history alive. When we lose history, we lose the stories of human lives. That’s what history is. It really pains me when something is lost.
Good luck in the drawing! I hope you enjoy the story.
I knew Pamela when she was slightly older than a squirt. I am very happy that she found her passion in life. She is dedicated, and works very hard to keep life being productive. She loves her sons and is a very good mother. The series I love, love, love is the McKinnon Rangers, absolutely a page turner. I have also read the I -series and they are also page turners. But the one I want to read is the upcoming Joseph of the McKinnon series. Pamela I am privileged to know you.
Thank you so much for the very kind words, Rachel. I am so grateful. I’m glad you’ve enjoyed my stories. That means so much to me.
sounds like a great read – thank you for thinking of your fas!
Thank you! And you’re welcome! I try to make myself available to my readers and really connect with them. Their support means a lot to me.
I must check out this series. It has been a while since I read any books set in this time period/area of the country. I have read some really great book reviews for Ms. Clare’s books too. Thank you for the chance to win a copy of this book 🙂
June, if you get a chance to read the books, I hope you enjoy them. I will say the series has some extremely devoted fans, people who waited patiently (or impatiently) for four years to get this installment. Good luck in the drawing!
This is a great series and I’m excited that there is a new book in it.
Thank you, Maureen! Next will be Joseph’s book. A lot of readers have been asking me about it. It will be different, but the MacKinnon brothers will still be a part of the story.
I’m not sure what rock I have been under but I haven’t heard of this series before. It sounds fabulous!
I’m not sure what rock I’ve been under but I haven’t heard of this series before. It sounds fabulous!
Hi, Texas Book Lover. I’m so glad that you’ve now heard of it. Half the time it seems I live under a rock, so I understand.
this books sounds great. . and love the i team series.
Cecilia, I’m working on the next I-Team book right at this very moment, taking a break to comment here. It’s taken me a while to get it together in my head because it’s fairly complicated, but we’re off and running now. There’s the prologue posted somewhere on Facebook — in the Facebook I-Team group, I think. It’s a closed group, but I add anyone who requests to join. Maybe I’ll see you there.
HI Pamela, awesome interview! I also encourage all of you who haven’t read Pamela’s books to choose one of them she suggested and start reading! I’ve only been reading romances for a couple of years,and Breaking Point was one of the first I read when it came out. I have since read all of her books and they are all amazing! I promise you won’t be disappointed.Pamela, thanks for all the hard work and research to put into your books!
Thanks, Steph! I’m glad Zach’s abs, er… the intriguing story concept drew you in to reading BREAKING POINT. 😉
I have been waiting to read Defiant because I list of books to read is too long. Once I saw the trailer I said I have to read that book! I may end up having a digital and physical copy. XD
I haven’t read your books yet, but I keep hearing only good things about this novel.
Nice interview. Sounds like a good book.
Love Love Love Pamela Clare! Really enjoyed the interview and am sooo hoping I win 🙂
LOVE your books so far. Im a HUGE Vc Andrews fan and read all of her books so I was looking for something to read. I downloaded Sweet Release for free and fell in love with the Kenleigh/Blakewell Sage. Needless to say I have purchased several of your books after reading Sweet Release and will be purchasing more.