Guest Blogger Cynthia Woolf

It is my pleasure to host Cynthia Woolf as my guest blogger today. Cindy writes commercial fiction with both futuristic and historical settings. Whether set on the planet Centauri or outside Creede, Colorado, her books are fast paced, romantic and suspenseful. She will be giving away a copy of the ebook for Centauri Midnight to two lucky commenters.  So be sure and leave a comment.

About Cynthia Woolf

Cynthia Woolf was born in Denver, Colorado and raised in the mountains west of Golden.  She spent her early years running wild around the mountain side with her friends. Their closest neighbor was one quarter of a mile away, so her little brother was her playmate and her best friend.  That fierce friendship lasted until his death in 2006.

Cynthia was and is an avid reader.  Her mother was a librarian and brought new books home each week.  This is where young Cynthia first got the storytelling bug.  She wrote her first story at the age of ten.  A romance about a little boy she liked at the time.

She worked her way through college and went to work full time straight after graduation and there was little time to write.  Then in 1990 she and two friends started a round robin writing a story about pirates.  She found that she missed the writing and kept on with other stories.  In 1992 she joined Colorado Romance Writers and Romance Writers of America.  Unfortunately, the loss of her job demanded the she not renew her memberships and her writing stagnated for many years.

In 2000, she saw an ad in the paper for a writers conference being put on by CRW and decided she’d attend.  One of her favorite authors, Catherine Coulter, was the keynote speaker.  Cynthia was lucky enough to have a seat at Ms. Coulter’s table at the luncheon and after talking with her, decided she needed to get back to her writing.  She rejoined both CRW and RWA that day and hasn’t looked back.

Cynthia credits her wonderfully supportive husband Jim and the great friends she’s made at CRW for saving her sanity and allowing her to explore her creativity.

Interview with Cynthia Woolf

How did you get started writing?  I wrote my first story when I was about ten.  It was a romance about me and a little boy I liked.  I also wrote some very depressing poetry.  I decided that poetry was not for me and stuck to romance.

What genre(s) do you write in and why?  I have a historical western romance and a sci-fi romance out now.  The sci-fi is the first in a series.  I write in these genre’s because they are the ones whose stories reached out to me.  The western was the first book I wrote and was inspired by my parents love story.  It’s set on the same ranch that they met on in 1941.  My book is set in 1885, so it’s not their love story.  My dad was a cowboy and trapper but to the best of my knowledge was never a bounty hunter.

The sci-fi series was done because of dreams I had when I was a teenager.  I knew I was a princess from Alpha Centauri.  There was no way I could belong to the crazy family I had.  Of course, I adore that crazy family now.

What inspired your latest book?  Centauri Midnight is the third book in the Centauri Series.

I used to dream that I was a princess from Alpha Centauri, that was the basis for Centauri Dawn, book 1 in the series.

Book 2 is much darker.  Lara is the twin sister of Audra in book 1.  Lara has been a sex slave since she was a child.  Having escaped, she’s now an outlaw and working to free the rest of the slaves who are now her people.

Book 3 Centauri Midnight is about two people from Book 1.  Kitari Dolana and Garrick Marcus.  They are chasing the person responsible for the death of her brother and the capture and torture of Anton in the first book.  The person who gave Slavarien, the villain, the  information that allowed the ambush.

What is your favorite part of writing?  My favorite part is what I call the ‘puking’ phase.  Just getting it all down on paper for the first time.  You just let if flow out of you, not caring, for the moment, if it is good or bad.

What is your least favorite part of writing?  Editing is my least favorite.  I’m constantly questioning myself and my work.  Changing it, correcting it, putting it back to what it was and starting it all again.  It’s never good enough for me.

How has your experience with self-publishing been?  My experience has been wonderful.  I highly recommend it for everyone out there who doesn’t want to be constrained by the “big” traditional publisher.  For everyone who wants to write from their heart and not according to the industry rules and constraints, self publishing is the only way to go.

What advice do you have for other authors wanting to self-publish?  Go for it.  It’s a wild ride but totally worth it.

Tell us about your current series.  The Centauri series consists of my three space opera/sci-fi romance books, Centauri Dawn, Centauri Twilight and Centauri Midnight.  The next series for the sci-fi line is The Swords of Gregara.

How likely are people you meet to end up in your next book?  As a duplicate of the person, not likely at all.  However, characteristics of people I meet may go into a character or characters.  It could be a physical characteristic such as amazing light blue eyes rimmed with a black circle like my niece has or it could be a character trait like an mean streak.

What is most difficult for you to write?  Characters, conflict or emotions?  Why?  The hardest for me to write is conflict.  I avoid conflict in my real like as though it was the plague.  So I tend to try and do that with my characters as well.  Thank goodness for my critique group who are like an enforcer and make me put in the conflict the story needs.

What is your next project and when will it be released?  Now I’m working on the second sci-fi series called the Swords of Gregara and the second western, called Tame the Wild Wind.

Give us an elevator pitch for your work.  I’m really, really bad at this.  Luckily I have a good friend who does this for me.  For instance the pitch for Tame A Wild Heart is  “She’s a beautiful ranch owner at a time when women aren’t supposed to run ranches. He’s a bounty hunter set to capture her heart.”

Cynthia will be giving away a copy of the ebook for Centauri Midnight to two lucky commenters.  So be sure and leave a comment.