Awesome Romance Author: Brenda Moguez

Introducing Zara’s Awesome Romance Author: Brenda Moguez

Looking for a great romance author to read? This week I interview Brenda Moguez, a fellow Wild Rose Press romance author. Here is what Brenda says about herself and her writing:

About me, my day job, and what I do when I am not hanging out with my words.

I recently posted in my diary (aka Blog) some tips on overcoming shyness. While I am not truly shy, I do struggle to share the details of my life and especially asking for help. I was raised by a strict Latina matriarch, who instilled independence and silent pride. Both are excellent attributes and helpful navigating the obstacles in life, but they’ve been a hindrance in my embracing social media. I think to myself, who wants to know I was involved in an international scandal and survived the NatWest Tower bombing, or about the night I  faced down a half dozen or so M16s?  Who hasn’t?

I do have a day job, which means writing happens every day whenever I find minutes –wherever I happen to be sitting.  When I was living in London, thousands of miles from my family home in Southern California, I embraced Par Avion stationary. The paper-thin tablets and envelopes went with me everywhere. I got in the habit of writing letters on the train, in a bistro, in a train station or waiting for a bus. Anywhere. It was excellent training for a working writer.

When I am not writing diary entries or penning stories, I read and listen to books, watch movies, and some television. I am prone to daydreaming between my passions and my other jobs, wife and mother.

How did you choose the genre you write in?

I didn’t choose the genre. The first novel happened to be romantic. I’ve come to feel that the story reveals itself to me and later after it unravels itself, I write it. I don’t think of myself as a formulaic romance writer, mostly because I don’t believe love is predictable. I don’t intend to limit myself to a genre, nor do I believe a writer has to check a box. An artist is only constrained by her/his imagination and any innate fear of trying something outside of their respective comfort zones.

Where do you get your ideas?

The story fairy delivers a fresh flock of ideas every Friday. I comb through the box and pick out the ones of interest. Ok, kidding. Don’t you wish the answer to the most asked question was that simple? My first book came to me from the song, You Were Always on My Mind, but the next two I wrote had nothing to do with music. Some authors go looking for stories, others stumble upon an idea and work it through until they have a strong story worth writing. Me, I am a little of both but mostly my ideas for short stories, blog posts, and the three novels I’ve written so far have come to me haphazardly. I tend to start with a character and the first line. Once those two come together, I set about timelining the story.

Do you ever experience writer’s block?

No, I do not, but I can slip into a funk and lose focus. Neither has anything to do with writer’s block. So far, I have not been empty of thoughts nor challenged to write, but if I am feeling blue or distracted by the enormity of life, my fingers will hover over the keyboard. Even today, when I lifted the cover on my Mac it took considerable effort to focus. The first line was the hardest to get down but once I managed the eight-word sentence the words clattered to the head of the line screaming, “my turn, my turn, pick me, come on, pick me first.”

Do you work with an outline, or just write?

I will start with a visual timeline, which is as close to a formal outline as it gets for me. A couple years back I heard about the application, Aeon Timeline, and have been hooked ever since. I dump my thoughts out into what I believe is the logical order for the story, but the flow will undergo several changes. I allow myself the freedom to drift, amend, and adjust as I am writing. An outline is just a guideline and if it needs to be altered, I will make changes. I will also just write when an idea is too vivid to wait for a formal process.

What project are you working on now?

I just finished writing my third novel.  Logline : Timid twenty something falls for urban Prince, hesitantly says I do, is whisked from L.A. to London and finds herself caught up in scandal.

 Will you have a new book coming out soon?

Yes, towards the end of of 2016. But my most current book is Nothing Is Lost in Loving. Here is more about it

Nothing Is Lost In Loving

 The story: When Stella Delray unexpectedly loses her job a week before Christmas, which is also the anniversary of her husband’s death, she is forced to stop talking to his ashes, come to terms with her loss, and get her life back on track for her young son’s sake as well as her own. She never expected that posting an ad on Craigslist would send her into the arms of not one but two men, one of whom is her former boss. Now she’s working as an admin for a retired Broadway star, bookkeeping for an erotic video production company, and writing love letters for the mysterious “Oaklander.” Adding to the craziness of her new life, her monster-in-law resurfaces and the father-in-law she never met shows up on her doorstep. With the guidance of her best friend, Bono, Stella will learn to redefine the rules she’s always lived by.

 

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