Nina: I�d love to regale you with all the fascinating things I�m doing, but the shameful truth is that I have no life. I sit and stare at my computer screen all day waiting for wonderful words to magically appear. My screen just stares back. But I�m not complaining, because writing romances is my passion. Before turning to writing, I spent some time raising and showing Arabian horses. I can�t remember a time when I didn�t love horses. I also went through a singer-wannabe stage of my life. A friend and I lived in Ireland for several years. We supported ourselves by playing guitars and singing folk songs for pub patrons. We weren�t very good, but we were young and wore short skirts, so everyone put up with us. And of course, I taught elementary school for many years. I loved the teaching, but hated the paperwork. Now, it�s all about my writing, and I can�t imagine doing anything else.

What about fun, you ask? Fun is going out to dinner with friends or curling up with a good book. Not very exciting, but after the frenetic pace of my earlier life it�s absolutely great. I don�t have a pet, but if I did it would be a cat. I have a tall wooden cat sitting beside my chair that I call Smug Cat. He was an impulse buy and makes an interesting virtual pet. Now that I�m down to one job, maybe I�ll take a deep breath and commit to a real live kitty. I don�t have any close relatives nearby, but I do have incredible friends. I�ve been part of the same critique group for fourteen years, and they�ve supported me every inch of the way in my writing career.

Beaty: I've heard from other authors that I've interviewed (in fact it's a recurring theme) that they were story tellers way back in their youth. Did you get started in the same way (i.e., acting out stories, imaginary friends)?

Nina: When I was young, I never had an imaginary friend, but I was always making up stories in my mind. Most of them involved cowboys and black stallions. Hmm. Was that symbolic, or what?

Beaty: When did you decide writing is what you had to do? And why did you pick romance over all the other genres out there?

Nina: I only regret that I didn�t start writing when I was younger. The desire to write didn�t hit me until I was, ahem, more mature. And no, I�m not going to tell you how mature. I chose to write romances because those were the books I loved to read. I can�t think of many things more satisfying than a great love story. I�m also obsessed with happy endings. As an English Lit major in college, I read enough tragic endings to last me for the rest of my life. To this day, I don�t enjoy reading a book or watching a movie that makes me cry at the end. It�s so bad that when Disney reissued "Bambi," I wouldn�t go to see it because I remembered how the death of Bambi�s mother made me cry when I was a child. That�s just me, of course.

Beaty: Was it hard to get the first story published or were you in the right place at the right time?

Nina: I guarantee that I wasn�t an overnight success. I wrote for over ten years before getting published. And in the end, it was a case of being in the right place at the right time. Dorchester was planning to launch its "Wink and A Kiss" line when AN ORIGINAL SIN crossed Alicia Condon�s desk. Bless her, she liked the humor and quirky plot. And that was the beginning of my published career.

Beaty: In AN ORIGINAL SIN you did something very unusual. You took two people from two different places in time and dumped them into a third. (For the RBLers - she brought the hero 300 years forward in time and the heroine 300 years back in time.) I loved the antics this storyline brought into play. Many were laugh out loud for me. What caused you to move them both around? And giving women a world where there are NO MEN would be sacrilegious to RBLs. *grin* We DO love our eye candy!

Nina: In AN ORIGINAL SIN, I wanted to create a lot of conflict along with tons of sexual tension. Usually, time travels have only one fish-out-of-water character. I decided that there would be a lot more external conflict and humor if both my hero and my heroine had to cope with all that weirdness. And if both of them were from another time, they would naturally cling to the only familiar thing in their strange world, each other. As for the sexual tension, if I had never seen a real man in my life and I found myself in bed with the real deal, no way would I be able to keep my hands off of him.

Beaty: What's your daily writing routine? Do you write from an outline or do your characters decide what's going to happen next? I'm still looking for the author who writes from sticky notes. *grin*

Nina: People write in the way that works for them. I tried using outlines, but they sucked the excitement and spontaneity right out of me. Now when I get an idea, I think about the characters and make a few notes about them. I keep a separate spiral notebook for each book and write all my thoughts in that notebook. Since I�m not an organized writer, my notes are a nightmare to understand. I used to use sticky notes, but then I�d lose all my notes and end up saying ugly things to my computer. I have to write about three chapters of a new book before I start to "know" my characters. Throughout the writing process, I�m always revising what came before, because my characters are evolving and becoming more rounded. My one constant is that whatever happens in my plot must be true to what those characters would do in a certain situation. I guess what I�m trying to say is that my stories are character driven even if said characters are a little wacky.

Beaty: I've learned from talking to authors that the characters are alive in their head. Do characters from other stories ever bother you while you're working on a book? Do they "pop in" and help/hinder the current story? How do your characters act? Do they listen to you?

Nina: I tend to focus only on the work in progress when I�m writing, so characters from other books don�t intrude. I guess I�m too controlling to think of my characters as separate from myself and therefore able to run off and do their own thing. I become each of my characters when I�m in his or her head. Okay, not literally. For example, Sparkle Stardust is a character from my next book. She�s a cosmic troublemaker whose expertise lies in creating sexual chaos. She�s an outrageous character, and so I allow her to say pretty much what she wants. I don�t rein her in. Does she listen to me? Not always. But once I�m out of her head, I can look objectively at what she said.

Beaty: What's one of your favorite fan stories?

Nina: Writing can be very isolating, and I�m always touched and pleased when people tell me that they enjoyed my books. My favorite letter was from a woman who had entered the hospital for tests. She said that she was terrified because the tests could have serious consequences. At two in the morning, a nurse came in and, after chatting for a few minutes, gave her a copy of AN ORIGINAL SIN. The woman said that within twenty-four hours she had everyone coming into her room, including a few doctors, asking for updates on Fortune, Leith, and Ganymede. She thanked me for helping her through a difficult time in her life. Wow, talk about getting all teary-eyed. I treasure that letter.

Beaty: I HAVE to ask you this question. *grin* I try to never ask where a storyline idea comes from, but I just have to know how you came up with a six-foot nude chocolate man. Even the idea makes me grin! *grin* The sexual tension in SWEET SIN was fabulous!

Nina: Umm, wouldn�t everyone think of a naked chocolate man? I mean, we have chocolate and a book with a sensual premise. Naked chocolate man was the first thing that popped into my mind. Of course, there are those who accuse me of having a twisted mind. Go figure. Seriously, I don�t remember exactly where the idea came from, but I usually play a what-if game with my plots. What if this happens? What if that happens? I rarely choose the first few what-ifs, and each what-if gets more bizarre. I try to pick the most startling what-if that people will believe.

Beaty: I love the cat personalities you put into the stories. I've noticed that many of your stories contain one and that they are key characters. Why cats?

Nina: I purposely put a cat into all of my single titles. I like to think of each cat as my signature on that book. Why cats? I love cats and find that their personalities always add humor to the plot. On a deeper level - yes, I do have a deeper level - the cats in my books probably compensate for the lack of one in my real life.

Beaty: What's coming next? Your recent spy spoof was hilarious. Will we be seeing more time-travels, spies, or something new?

Nina: I�m excited about my February release from Dorchester, MASTER OF ECSTASY. My heroine is from a future where stress is rampant. She�s employed by a company called Ecstasy Inc. that�s committed to making people happy again. The company does not permit sexual solutions. On a working vacation back to 1785 Scotland, our heroine meets our hero, a five-hundred-year-old vampire who thinks that sexual solutions are the only ones worth trying. But when our hero whispers, "To waste a neck such as yours would be a terrible thing," she decides his pillow talk leaves a lot to be desired. Dangerous? You bet. To die for? Definitely. Soul mate? Just wait and see.

Beaty: I usually end my interviews by asking one of the characters a question personally. Would it be possible for me to ask Ganymede a couple questions? "I enjoyed your 'disasters.' Have you checked in on Fortune and Leith lately? How are they doing? And when can we look forward to the next disaster?"

Ganymede: "Disasters? Who told you that my masterful plans were disasters? I brought Fortune and Leith together using my consummate skill and natural talent. They now have their own castle along with a few "wee bairns" to fill it. I�ve almost forgiven them for not naming one of their kids after me, but I guess Ganymede would be a funny name for a girl. I do have a few issues I�m trying to work through. The Big Boss has said my bad old days are done. I have to be good now. How boring is that? But I�m trying. I own the Cosmic Time Travel Agency, and I�ve just put together a great tour. I�ve taken three men and three women back to a romantic castle in 1785 Scotland. I figure they can hook up with each other for a sensual two weeks of fun in the Highlands. Great idea, right? Problem. There�s a vampire already living ... Oops, guess living is the wrong word. There�s a vampire already in residence. Mr. Dark-Evil-and-Deadly says the castle belongs to him. Like I care? And did I tell you about my new assistant? Guess not. Anyway, I have ultimate evil living in my castle, a viper-tongued assistant giving me flak, and a bunch of horny guests expecting sexual nirvana. I swear, five minutes of being good takes more energy than five thousand years of being bad. I have a weak stomach, and I�ll probably go through gallons of the pink stuff before this is done."