RAWSISTAZ One On One Interview

January 2007

A. C. ARTHUR

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH:

Artist C. Arthur was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland where she currently resides with her husband and three children. An active imagination and a love for reading encouraged her to begin writing in high school and she hasn’t stopped since.

Determined to bring a new edge to romance, she continues to develop intriguing plots, racy characters and fresh dialogue—thus keeping the readers on their toes!

THE INTERVIEW

RAWSISTAZ: Thanks once again for joining me this morning A.C. and Happy New Year! Please introduce yourself to our readers. Tell us your background and how you started to write.

A.C. Arthur: I'm A.C. Arthur, a romance and soon to be erotica author. I was a paralegal for 15 years before I finally got a publishing contract. Now, I write full time and do event planning. I've been writing since high school.

RAWSISTAZ: Wow...15 years? Does that mean you were trying to get one for 15 years or that you just wrote and wrote for 15 years before your work was actually published?

A.C. Arthur: No. I actually only tried getting a contract for about 5 years before I signed with Genesis Press. I continued to write, but it was just for fun. My daughter got really sick and I had to stay home with her, that's when I figured I would give publishing a serious try.

RAWSISTAZ: Oh, okay, I see. A blessing in disguise.

A.C. Arthur: Definitely.

RAWSISTAZ: Well, congrats on the publishing contract, I really like your books.

A.C. Arthur: Thanks.

RAWSISTAZ: Share with us your titles and what each book is about.

A.C. Arthur:
Object of His Desire was my first book in 2003. It was about an Italian/AA man who decided he wanted an ambitious, headstrong woman.  Office Policy, 2004, was about two attorneys battling their own attraction while fighting a sexual harassment suit.  Unconditional, 2005, is about a woman trying her hand at love when she is diagnosed with breast cancer.  Love Me Carefully is about a wedding planner who does not want to get married, but falls for a computer geek.  Love Me Like No Other, Dec '06, is my first Kimani romance, about a woman who makes a deal with a man she once slept with to save her sister.  Corporate Seduction, which has just been released (Jan '07) is the sequel to Office Policy, in which staff members of a law firm must find a cyber stalker.

RAWSISTAZ: Nice summary! So, how was it to transition from working full time to writing full time?

A.C. Arthur: It was heaven...at first. LOL. I figured I'd have all this time to write when I felt like it and rest of the time. But then deadlines started rolling in and I realized I needed to be a little more organized. So now I try to write in the morning and do household, event planning, etc. stuff in the afternoon. It works most of the time. LOL

RAWSISTAZ: I can definitely relate there. Tell us about the event planning. Is this freelance and what type of events do you do?

A.C. Arthur: It's semi-freelance. I was also lucky enough to land an open contract with Baltimore City to do their events. Outside of that I do weddings, retirement parties, birthday parties.

RAWSISTAZ: Sounds exciting.

A.C. Arthur: I just did a baby shower on Saturday and was contracted by the Progressive Baptist Convention to plan a trip for them yesterday. It's cool. I get to plan and spend other people's money. LOL. I like weddings best, though I did a Miss Senior America Pageant last year that was a blast!

RAWSISTAZ: LOL, now that sounds FUN. Tell us about your latest release and include the genre.

A.C. Arthur: Corporate Seduction is labeled as a romance but leans more towards erotica. It has that same drama-filled tone as Office Policy. I was inspired to write CS after watching You've Got Mail for the billionth time. It's one of my favorite chick-flicks with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. They have this cyber relationship that I thought was so romantic. That's where the email ideas came from. I added the cyber stalker because online communication is alot more dangerous these days, than when the movie first came out.

RAWSISTAZ: LOL, that's the truth! A bit scary too. I like the twist of adding a cyber stalker. Kudos. I'll have to check out that movie as I never watched it.

A.C. Arthur: Thanks. I love romantic suspense.

RAWSISTAZ: Now that you have several books on the market, looking back, what was your best and worst experience as an author?

A.C. Arthur: The best was at my first signing where someone came up to me and said that they'd already read my book and loved it! The worst was when a man asked me if I would be interested in acting out the love scenes in my book with him. There have been some in between moments, but those are the top rankers. LOL

RAWSISTAZ: Oh my! LOL. Who are some of your biggest supporters?

A.C. Arthur: My husband and my kids are huge fans. They try to sell my books to everybody they know. And when we're in the store they're telling everybody that I wrote the book. It's cool. My church family provide lots of encouragement too.

RAWSISTAZ: Awwwwww, that's sweet. Who are some of your favorite romance writers? And do you read any other genres?

A.C. Arthur: Brenda Jackson, Nora Roberts, Stephanie Laurens...ummm, Sherrilyn Kenyon. I read mainstream as well. I just read a book called Sins and Sacrifices which was really nice. I like V. Anthony Rivers too.

RAWSISTAZ: Me too...he's a client and one of my favorites. His upcoming book, Until Again is so good; I just love his voice. Agent Tee slipped in. Okay, so back to A.C. <grin>

A.C. Arthur: Yeah, that's it. Ok, I'll have to look out for Until Again. Yeah, great voice.

RAWSISTAZ: What do you do to improve your craft?

A.C. Arthur: I read alot of romance. I feel like it keeps my creative juices flowing. I also read resource books. I just got two great books on writing erotic romance for Christmas. Writing is a learning process so you can never have too much knowledge!

RAWSISTAZ: So true! Now, let's move on to our Just for Fun portion. This is our quick answer part where you answer with the first thing that comes to mind. No thinking

A.C. Arthur: I love it already. LOL

RAWSISTAZ: LOL. Okay, let's go...Favorite Food?
A.C. Arthur: cheese

RAWSISTAZ: Favorite Color and Scent
A.C. Arthur: blue and vanilla

RAWSISTAZ: What you dreamt about recently?
A.C. Arthur: falling in a pool full of snakes, weird huh?
RAWSISTAZ: Whew...scary? Maybe a horror story is gonna be next? LOL

RAWSISTAZ: Favorite Author
A.C. Arthur: Nora Roberts

RAWSISTAZ: Favorite Book (include author)
A.C. Arthur: Daring to Dream by Nora Roberts

RAWSISTAZ: Least favorite genre?
A.C. Arthur: horror. LOL
RAWSISTAZ: Ahahha...hmph.

RAWSISTAZ: Favorite TV Show
A.C. Arthur: Law and Order

RAWSISTAZ: What time do you write?
A.C. Arthur: 3amish

RAWSISTAZ: How many hours you sleep a night?
A.C. Arthur: about 5

RAWSISTAZ: Favorite Beverage?
A.C. Arthur: green tea

RAWSISTAZ: Last male author you read
A.C. Arthur: Harold Turley

RAWSISTAZ: Best book for writers
A.C. Arthur: Writing The Book Proposal by Donald Maas

RAWSISTAZ: High heels or sneakers?
A.C. Arthur: sneakers

RAWSISTAZ: One word to describe AC Arthur
A.C. Arthur: grateful

RAWSISTAZ: Favorite music?
A.C. Arthur: R&B

RAWSISTAZ: Favorite literary website (other than RAW). :)
A.C. Arthur: LOL, RWA -- www.rwanational.org

RAWSISTAZ: Well, that's it. Anything you want to talk about that I didn't ask?

A.C. Arthur: Nope, you did a wonderful job!

RAWSISTAZ: Thanks so much for your time and sharing with us, it's been fun. To our readers, please be sure to check out her two new releases and visit her website at http://www.acarthur.net.