Interview with Author Diana Rubino

My guest today is Diana Rubino.  Hello, Diana!  Welcome back to Writing in the Modern Age!  It’s great to see you again.

Can you tell us a little bit about your latest book? When did it come out? Where can we get it?   

 

The End of Camelot is book #3 of my New York Saga. The Wild Rose Press is releasing the three books in reverse order. It was released in March. 

Vikki Ward's husband, a TV reporter, is murdered trying to prevent the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Vikki uses her detective skills to trace the conspiracy, from New York to New Orleans to Dallas, and at the same time, tricks her husband’s murderer into a confession. A romance with her bodyguard makes her life complete.

You can buy it for Kindle or paperback: 

Kindle:
http://amzn.to/1BpfPzd
Paperback:
http://amzn.to/1IQBAOh
The Wild Rose Press Paperback:
http://bit.ly/1Ez7Yax
The Wild Rose Press E-book
http://bit.ly/1OkLbDM

Is there anything that prompted your latest book?  Something that inspired you?

 

This is going to date me, but I was six years old when President Kennedy was assassinated. Everyone who was alive that day knew exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news. I was in my first grade classroom. The teacher got a call on the classroom phone and told us ‘the president was shot.’ A collective gasp went around the room. It was ten years before I saw the footage of Ruby shooting Oswald, on a documentary.

My grandmother was a huge JFK assassination buff. She listened to all the radio talk shows and recorded them. She got me embroiled right along with her. I never lost my fascination with all the conspiracy theories. I always wanted to write a novel centering on this event, and it fit in perfectly as the third book in this series.

 

Great!  

So, when did you know you wanted to write? Or has it always been a pastime of yours?

 

I had a notebook in grammar school that I filled with short stories. I also liked to draw comic books with people I knew as characters. Of everything I tried, it seemed writing was what I did best. Coupled with my passion for history, I decided to follow my dream.

 

Do you have any favorite authors?

 

Yes, several: Barbara Erskine is a British author who writes very creepy paranormals set on the coast of Essex. I'll read anything with her name on it.

Margaret George wrote one of my favorites of all time: The Autobiography of Henry VIII, a spectacular journey back to the Tudor court.

I also have been reading Lawrence Block's murder mysteries for many years.

 

So, do you write in a specific place? Time of day?

 

I write at my computer in my office in front of my window which faces west, so I get beautiful sunsets. Not a morning person; I write in the afternoon. I don't stop till I've written at least 2500 words a day.

 

Wow! Yeah, I'm not a morning person either. LOL.

 

Are there any words you'd like to impart to fellow writers? Any advice?

 

I’d like to tell any aspiring authors who are frustrated that it’s taken them three, four, five or more years to get that first contract. I wrote for 18 years before getting ‘the call’ so never give up! Keep believing, and keep the faith! And of course, keep writing, because you’ll only get better.  

 

Those are some very wise words, Diana. 

Thank you so much for stopping by to visit us today here at Writing in the Modern Age.  It was such a pleasure having you.  :) 
 

Readers, here is the blurb for The End of Camelot.

 

November 22, 1963: The assassination of a president devastates America. But a phone call brings even more tragic news to Vikki Ward—her TV reporter husband was found dead in his Dallas hotel room that morning. 

Finding his notes, Vikki realizes her husband was embroiled in the plot to kill JFK—but his mission was to prevent it. When the Dallas police rule his death accidental, Vikki vows to find out who was behind the murders of JFK and her husband. With the help of her father and godfather, she sets out to uncover the truth. 

Aldobrandi Po, the bodyguard hired to protect Vikki, falls in love with her almost as soon as he sets eyes on her. But he's engaged to be married, and she’s still mourning her husband. Can they ever hope to find happiness in the wake of all this tragedy? 

Here is an excerpt from the book.

It was New Year’s Eve, they were alone, and he was harmless. So far. So she took the necessary two paces over to him and placed the honey ball between his custom-made choppers.

He closed his eyes, and she watched him savoring the sweetness. She didn’t dare say another word as she ran her index finger over a glob of cream on the cannoli plate, raised it to her lips and licked. “Mmmm,” she voiced, wishing she hadn’t.

Their eyes met and locked. Faster than lightning, they came together like magnets. Their lips met, sweet and sticky and hot. She didn’t want him to stop, but her inner voice screamed how wrong it was—It’s forbidden!—echoing the nuns in Saint Gustina’s. She shooed it away like an annoying fly. Leave me alone, I’m not a kid anymore. Her arms circled his neck, and his hands slid down to the curve of her back. Dare she move in closer, pelvis to pelvis, an unthinkable act three seconds ago? Her body was betraying her, betraying Jack, taking on a will of its own as she crushed herself to him. The kiss intensified. She tasted cannoli, and her fogged mind told her he’d been sampling them all day. She breathed in his cologne, so foreign it repelled her, so new it aroused her even further. Her tiara slipped off her head. She caught it just as he pulled away.

He held her at arm’s length as in a tango. “Oh, cara mia,” he growled—and if he said another word in Italian, she knew she’d explode. A passion long dormant stirred inside her.

Author Bio

  Diana Rubino’s passion for history and travel has taken her to every locale of her stories, set in Medieval and Renaissance England, Egypt, the Mediterranean, colonial Virginia, New England, and New York. Her urban fantasy romance, FAKIN’ IT, won a Top Pick award from Romantic Times. She is a member of Romance Writers of America, the Richard III Society and the Aaron Burr Association. She lives on Cape Cod with her husband Chris. In her spare time, Diana bicycles, golfs, plays her piano and devours books of any genre.  

 

Author Links:  

Website:  http://www.dianarubino.com/
Blog:  http://dianarubinoautor.blogspot.com/
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/dianarubino

https://www.facebook.com/DianaRubinoAuthor 

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/DianaLRubino
Amazon Author Central:  http://www.amazon.com/Diana-Rubino/e/B005C4ZSHO/

Goodreads:  https://plus.google.com/u/0/100382402048172055582/posts
Google+:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/845147.Diana_Rubino

 

Diana's Books:  

 

Coming Soon:

 

 

Available Now: 

 

 

 

  

  

 

 

18 Years to Publish by Diana Rubino

18 Years to Publish by Diana Rubino 

 

Hello, all published and aspiring authors. I’m Diana Rubino, author of 18 historical and paranormal novels. My publishers are The Wild Rose Press and Solstice Publishing.

My story will inspire you to push on, if nothing else will. It’s unique, because I'm probably the longest aspiring author to be published—18 years. I wrote my first novel in 1982, after a dose of reality in the brokerage business. In those days, executive-level women were virtually nonexistent in the finance industry. My first novel was largely autobiographical, as most first novels are. Although my third and fourth novels came close to getting published with Harlequin, they didn't quite make it.

Because I’m a huge history buff, I decided to write a historical, which became The Jewels of Warwick, set around Henry VIII and a fictional mistress. Jewels took two years to research and write, with no internet. This was 1990. It came very close to publication with several romance houses, but missed the mark for containing too little romance. When I finished Jewels, I scoured the history books for another legendary figure to write about. While I browsed the Cambridge Library stacks, a book snagged my eye. Lying, not standing, on the wrong shelf was Crown of Roses by Valerie Anand. It drew me like a magnet. Richard III is a central character in the story, and the author thanks ‘the Richard III Society’ for helping her. “Who’s this Richard III Society?” I wondered.

Already hooked on Richard, his tragic death at 32 and his reputation as a usurper and a murderer of his little nephews, I joined this Richard III Society (again, through snail mail, no internet). As everyone else who has a story about how they ‘met’ Richard, he fascinated me. I’d found the subject of my next novel! And it tied in perfectly as a prequel to The Jewels of Warwick. Titled Thy Name is Love, it made the same rounds of publishers, remaining homeless after several rewrites and seven years.

But the miracle of the internet came to all of us. My first online experience was CompuServe’s Romance Forum in 1993. This led to meeting many authors who shared leads and their own writing journeys. In 1999, Lisa Hamilton, an author I'd met on the CompuServe Romance Forum, sent me a list of E-publishers, since E-publishing was new and quickly catching on. One of those publishers was Domhan Books, a British publisher who also did print.

When I heard back from them, I figured it was just another rejection, but it was an offer to publish my historicals, since Siobhan McNally, the owner of Domhan Books, was a huge Richard sympathizer. They also published print books, so I lived the moment I’d dreamed about—seeing my first book in print. This was 18 years after that first novel went out into the world.

What surprised me most about the publishing business is that it's very hard to be recognized. You really have to work on promotion as well as writing. I've read many differing opinions on this, but I do believe you should promote as much as time allows, without taking away writing time. I have a website, a mailing list, and attend as many signings and conferences as possible.

But you have to be realistic; it's not easy to shoot up to #1; I'd had delusions of being on talk shows and seeing my name on the NYT bestseller lists after my first novel.

I never felt I had enough information to convey at a workshop, but I can tell aspiring authors to make sure the opening is enough to grab you, make sure the characters are compelling – make sure they're interesting enough and the reader cares enough about them to keep reading – make sure the novel is structured well so that it doesn't have a sagging middle or any pacing problems, make sure the stakes are high enough – they're in life or death situations and it seems they can't possibly get out of them – make sure the secondary characters aren't mere cardboard, and humor always helps.

I don’t have any one favorite author, but there are authors whose books I’ll buy if their name is on them. That includes Doug Preston & Lincoln Child (they write great thrillers together), Barbara Erskine (very eerie paranormals set in Essex, England), and Bertrice Small, who we recently lost. She never disappointed me.

I’ve never had a deadline from a publisher, but I once sent an agent the first three chapters of my vampire romance. He said he’d like to see the entire manuscript so I wrote 5,000 words a day till it was finished. He later rejected it. Oh, well. But at least I know I’m capable of turning out 5,000 words a day. My usual output is 2,500 words a day.

In my ‘other’ life, I own an engineering business with my husband, based in Cambridge.

I’d like to tell any aspiring authors who are frustrated that it’s taken them three, four, five or more years to get that first contract, remember… I wrote for 18 years before getting ‘the call’ so never give up!

Keep believing, and keep the faith! And of course, keep writing, because you’ll only get better. And NEVER give up on your dream!

That's great advice, Diana! Thank you so much for stopping by Writing in the Modern Age today!  :)

Guest Blogger Bio

Setting goals is a key to success. Sacrifice helps, too. In 1999 I signed with my first publisher Domhan Books of the UK. I spent several summers in England writing, researching, and revising my four-book Yorkist saga. A dedicated history buff and Anglophile, I’m a member of the Richard III Society, a fascinating group of learned historians, some of whom claim to have met Richard.

My husband Chris and I own CostPro Inc., a construction cost consulting company in New England. I'm indulging another longtime interest, archaeology, for which I’m working on a Master’s Degree. We also love to travel. The Mediterranean cruise "Cradles of Civilization" aboard the Rotterdam included a visit to the Pyramids of Egypt. I was  fortunate to visit Poland, my grandmother's native land, and Chopin's birthplace as well as the resting place of his heart, Warsaw.

I have a Real Estate license and since 1994 I've owned rental condos in Myrtle Beach and New England.

My stories are romances set against a backdrop of political upheaval, court intrigue, poverty, general drama of the surroundings, and sometimes a splash of the paranormal. What I’m trying to convey is that love can prevail no matter what the conflicts and obstacles, earthly or not.

I recently began writing biographical novels with no fictional characters.

I enjoy living in the most beautiful spot on Earth, my beloved Cape Cod.

Author Links:  

Website:  http://www.dianarubino.com/
Blog:  http://dianarubinoautor.blogspot.com/
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/dianarubino

https://www.facebook.com/DianaRubinoAuthor 

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/DianaLRubino
Amazon Author Central:  http://www.amazon.com/Diana-Rubino/e/B005C4ZSHO/

Goodreads:  https://plus.google.com/u/0/100382402048172055582/posts
Google+:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/845147.Diana_Rubino

 

Diana's Books:  

 

Coming Soon:

 

 

Available Now: