A "Flirty" interview with author Lisa Scott!

Welcome back!!! Post #4 in the Chick-Lit/Romance Author Interviews series is here and I am so excited to be hosting Lisa Scott on my blog today! I credit Lisa with introducing me to the short story and making me realize how fun it is to get an entire tale in one reading!!! I can personally vouch for how fantastic her Flirts! Collection is.

Welcome, Lisa!

ME:  Thanks so much for being here with us today! As is probably already apparent (*grin*), I really enjoyed your Flirts! And Beach Flirts! collections. What are you working on now?

LISA: Fairy Tale Flirts! 5 Romantic Short Stories due out in January 2012.  This is my latest collection of sweet, funny romantic shorts.  This time, I'm taking a modern slant on several popular fairy tales, sans the magic.  I'm finishing story #1 right now, in which Scarlet fears her grandmother is the victim of a smooth talking gigolo.  Is her grandmother a senior cougar, or is Jack just a wolf on the prowl?  In "Goldie", our modern Goldilocks is a reluctant squatter who picks the right apartment to crash in.   I'm having a lot of fun with these.

ME: Sounds awesome! I can’t wait to read them. So, how closely do your characters resemble you? (Any particular quirk?)

LISA: One of my beta readers pointed out that lots of my characters have cats, versus dogs.  I am a cat lover, I'll admit.  But I also find it hard to write around a dog.  I feel like readers would be mad if the character wasn't spending enough time with the dog because she was out with her new guy!  (And what if she's out all day with the guy?  Who's letting the dog out?)  But I try to include a dog when I can. I also give people dimples often.  Everyone in my family has them.

ME: I don’t have dimples (wouldn't kick them out of bed though), but I definitely can’t live without cats! Do you ever wish you lived a character’s life (not just in your imagination)? 

LISA: Not really.  I think most characters in good fiction are usually facing problems I'd rather not deal with!  (Even though they do get the guy at the end.) But if I could write my own dream story, it would involve a personal chef, a house cleaner, smaller hips, and a lot more travel!

ME: We’re having a cosmic connect moment here - I second all of those! Speaking of really important things… Sunglasses (a particular fetish of mine): designer or drugstore cheapies? How many pairs are enough? 

LISA: Oh, you're going to be disappointed in me.  Really disappointed. I slip clip-on frames onto my prescription glasses.  I do have one pair of cheapies kicking around.  :)

ME: I suppose I’ll let it pass as long as your glasses are sexy ;-).  Would you ever want to work on a combined project with your favorite author? If so, who? 

LISA: Oooh.  I love Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series.  But I don't think she'd want me writing with her.  I'd probably insert a scene with me and Jamie and that would ruin everything.

ME: Ha! I’m the same with Janet Evanovich… Ranger and I would definitely be getting it on. Oops, that might have been too much information, but I’ve found that readers really enjoy connecting with authors… what is one thing you want your fans to know about you that they may not already be aware of?

LISA: So many of my stories are inspired by things I've seen and heard in real life.  I have a friend who didn't want to date anymore, because she was tired of being the one who always ended things.  That inspired "Never Been Dumped" in Flirts!  I saw a good looking guy working on a roof one night and that got my wheels spinning.  "Wrong Place, Right Guy" in Flirts! was born.  I love writing short stories because I'm constantly coming up with ideas everywhere I go!  I plan on releasing a new Flirts! collection every other month.  I don't think I'll run out of ideas any time soon.

ME: I certainly hope you don’t! This has been fun, Lisa. Thanks so much for joining us today!

Want to know even more about Lisa and her books? Visit her Amazon Author’s page. And be sure to check out Flirts! on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. I know we're all looking forward to the upcoming Fairy Tale Flirts!.

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Reading!

~Heidi