Ronda Thompson: I don't know if anyone else would call it positive, other than it has made me appreciate the written word more than perhaps the normal person. It has made my style somewhat different. I often put my sentences together wrong. I put the back part of the sentence on the front and the front part on the back. I catch it most of the time, but the times I don't, well, I guess my editors all just believe it is part of my style. And I suppose it is. 

Crescent Blues: You mentioned your children earlier. Did having a family put your writing ambitions on hold for a while?

Ronda Thompson: Oddly enough, I didn't start writing until after my children were born. My daughter was six and my son was a year old when I started to write. I got a late start at motherhood, and figured if I did intend to write, I'd just better get on with it. It is difficult to write when your children are small, but not impossible. 

As I said, there wasn't a delay. I learned to write while my children were fighting, crying or asking me to come wipe them. Particularly difficult to write a sexy scene when your small child is yelling at you from the toilet, but I didn't know the difference. I still don't. 

Crescent Blues: Do you think having kids makes it easier for you to write about them?

Ronda Thompson: Yes, I do. Before I had children of my own, I didn't know beans about them. To me, they were small and sticky. They were still small and sticky after I became a mother, but they were so much more. It's the little things they do, the things you can put in a novel, that make them real characters. And motherhood is the best research. 

Crescent Blues: Do your kids read your books?

Ronda Thompson: No. My children do not read my books. I may let them when they are both over thirty.  

Crescent Blues: Your first published work, Isn't It Romantic?, is a contemporary romance, and now you are writing historicals. Do you find it difficult to switch from contemporary to historical? 

Ronda Thompson: I don't find it difficult to switch from contemporary to historical. I love both, but historical has always been my first love. Ironically, contemporary was I what first published in. 

Crescent Blues: Many writers swear by their critique groups, while others see them as a waste of time and possibly even a detriment to career advancement. How do you feel about them? 

Ronda Thompson: I don't currently have a critique group so to speak. Jennifer Archer, a very talented new author, and I exchange manuscripts from time to time. We brainstorm over the phone a lot, but I don't have a group or a regular meeting time. I used to, but I'm a binge writer and sometimes I'm really moving and don't want to slow down. Then again, sometimes I'm not producing and don't want to show up empty-handed. 

Crescent Blues: Another plague that seems to strike writers at one time or another is writer's block. Have you ever suffered from writer's block? Do you have a cure? 

Ronda Thompson: I have and do often suffer from writer's block. I don't know the cure or I wouldn't still be suffering right now. A friend of mine suggested I move the furniture in my office around. Face my desk in a different direction. I'm going to try it. Another fix seems to be reading someone I really love. That inspires me to get moving again. 

Crescent Blues: Speaking of getting moving again, you seem to be doing all right in that area. You have a three-book contract with Leisure Books, Prickly Pear being the first one of the three. Will the other two be historicals also?

Ronda Thompson: Prickly Pear was the first of the three, and I have already turned in the second, entitled, In Trouble's Arms, another historical which should be out around May of 2000.  

Crescent Blues: What are you working on now?  

My current work in progress is also a historical, but a different avenue for me. This one is a long historical set in the Regency era. The working title is The Marquis' Wife, but of course that is subject to change. I plan to do some contemporaries for Leisure in the future, as they have new lines opening in that area, and my editor is not opposed to me writing both. 

Crescent Blues: Can readers expect to see more books set in England and elsewhere?

Ronda Thompson: I certainly hope so. I've never been the kind who likes to be fenced in. I hope my career can be one of my own choosing.  

Many writers end up being locked into a certain type of book, or a certain setting. To me personally, this would greatly stifle my creativity. A writer would get a great idea, then have to sit around figuring out how it will "fit" into what their publishing house expects from him or her. I suppose that in itself may be enough of a challenge for some, but for me, I need wide open spaces with plenty of room to roam around freely.  

I have written one novel set in New Mexico, three set in Texas, one set in both America and England. One set on a remote island paradise, one set in Virginia, one set in the future, one set way way in the past... so you see, I'm a hard person to pin down. 

Crescent Blues: You've said it wasn't difficult to switch from one romance genre to another, but did you face any challenges in making the switch?

Ronda Thompson: It was a challenge to make a leap from westerns and contemporaries to a Regency. For one thing, the research has been more difficult. The language is different. I did have one advantage, and that is my love for romances set in England and the Regency period. I've read a ton of them, and I hope I've absorbed the knowledge and understand fully the tone of these particular types of books. I guess I'll see when I turn the novel into my editor. 

The greatest challenge was making a decision to try something different, and the best part about making the switch was the challenge of trying something different. I think it is important for writers to constantly challenge themselves. It's what makes the business interesting. And hopefully, it's what makes the reading interesting, too. 

Crescent Blues: All authors seem to have their own special way of approaching their writing. How do you write? From an outline? From inspiration? 

Ronda Thompson: I write from inspiration. I hardly ever have an outline, except in my mind. I get an idea, think about what would be a strong conflict for the characters and just start writing. 

Crescent Blues: What kind of writing rituals (if any) do you practice?

Ronda Thompson: I don't know that I have "rituals," but I am a binge writer. I go for days without writing a word then sit down and kick out fifty pages in two days. I've always written this way, so I think its' safe to assume my bad habits are not going to change.

Crescent Blues: How do your writing habits change when you're working under a deadline versus when you're writing at your own pace?

Ronda Thompson: When I'm working a deadline, I have to be more disciplined. I seem to enjoy the writing more when I am not on deadline. Deadlines force the author to produce, and force produces forced writing. I don't feel the pressure when I am not on deadline, and it helps the writing flow more naturally. Of course, we have to have deadlines or everyone would just goof around I guess. The ideal situation would be to learn to enjoy deadlines. I haven't learned to do that yet. 

Crescent Blues: Readers and reviewers agree that Isn't it Romantic? is hilarious. Does the comedy just flows naturally or do you have to work harder at it than you do in a more emotional work like Cougar's Woman?

Ronda Thompson: I can't say that comedy writing is easier or that writing a very emotional book is harder. I just happen to have two very different facets to my own personality. One side is very funny, the other, sort of dark and disturbed. I call on whichever side I need for the kind of book I have chosen. But, I can't seem to keep one side from intruding upon the other. Most of the comedies I have written have a deeper, darker thread running through them, and most darker, emotionally charged romances I have written have moments of comedy interwoven throughout the book. I guess that is my own perspective of life at work. You may laugh one day and cry the next, but it's the balance of the two that keeps a person sane. 

Crescent Blues: What do you do to get yourself into a "funny" mood?

Ronda Thompson: I watch funny movies. I think of funny things that have happened to me or to people I know. I watch my kids and the puppies. 

Crescent Blues: While we've been talking, I've been hearing a lot of barking in the background. How many dogs do you have? 

Ronda Thompson: I have two French Brittanies and, at the moment, two French Brittany puppies. One of them is sold and will be delivered shortly, the other one, well, I think he's going to stay. In July our mother dog blessed us with eight puppies, and it really was a blessing, I guess. We made quite a bit of money off the sales. Makes me think I should go into dog breeding rather than writing. 

Crescent Blues: Do you have any other hobbies besides the Brittanies? 

Ronda Thompson: I used to have hobbies, but now I don't. Between raising my children, taking care of the house and writing full-time, I don't have time for hobbies. If I did have one, it would probably be horseback riding. I used to love to ride, and my father still has horses. He also lives five minutes away from me, so I should take it up again. 

Crescent Blues: Do you have anything more you'd like to add?

Ronda Thompson: Only that if anyone out there, the general romance reading population in particular, is reading any of my novels, drop me an email and let me know what you think. I'm at RThom89365@aol.com. I have long since gotten past the pleasure of writing for myself. I want to write for you, so let me know if I'm getting the job done. If I am not, I want to know why, or what you believe would strengthen my writing. I would love to know if you prefer my contemporaries over my historicals, comedy to the darker novels. Did you like Prickly Pear better than Cougar's Woman? Why? I want to hear from you. Writing is a very lonely profession. Only the hope that I have given someone pleasure with my novels, the way I have received pleasure from other authors, makes the effort worthwhile. 

Patricia White 

Patricia White is the Sapphire Award-winning author of A Wizard Scorned. Her current book, the western Edwina Parkhurst, Spinster, is available from Hard Shell Word Factory. 

Click here to read the Crescent Blues review of Prickly Pear. 

Click here to read the Crescent Blues review of Isn't It Romantic?