It’s my pleasure to have Laura Sheehan here today as my guest, to tell us a little more about her own backstory and her debut novel DANCING WITH DANGER. Let the Q&A begin!

1. Please tell us a little about yourself:

My name is Laura Sheehan, and I was born and raised in Las Vegas, NV.  I now live in Los Angeles with my husband, a thoroughly spoiled cat, and a handful of fish that keep my thoroughly spoiled cat entertained.  When not working at my office day job, I can usually be found in a dance studio, on a softball field, writing at my computer, snuggling with my amazing husband, or eating milk chocolate. Sometimes I can be found doing more than one of these at a time, although when doing so I have to be careful not to get chocolate on the computer keyboard (or on the amazing husband… although now that I think about it, that might not be such a bad thing).

My debut novel, DANCING WITH DANGER, is a contemporary romantic suspense set in Los Angeles.  Lily Brookstone, the daughter of a workaholic United States Senator, defies her father’s wishes by moving to Los Angeles in pursuit of a dancing career. But the tough town hasn’t been easy on her, and after two years she finds herself disowned by her father, dropped by her agent, recovering from a dance injury, and working three jobs to make ends meet. Oh, and she’s somehow picked up a stalker.  Yeah, Los Angeles has not been kind. Then she meets Marc, an LAPD officer with an uncanny knack for reading people. Can she overcome her untrusting nature and allow him to protect both her life and her heart?

Available now on Amazon and Barnes & Noble!

2. What prompted you to start writing?

Like most authors, I was always (and still am) and avid reader.  I love stories (whether on the page or on the screen), and occasionally I get in the mood to read or hear or watch a story that doesn’t exist yet.  When that happened a few years ago, I decided to sit down at the computer and tell the story that was floating around in my head.  The process was sometimes hellish, other times heavenly, but most definitely worth it in the end.  There’s nothing quite like that moment when a story starts telling itself, when you, as the author, begin to feel more like a channel for the story, rather than the inventor.  I *love* it when my characters do something I didn’t expect them to do, or when the plot veers in a direction I wasn’t anticipating.

 3. What’s your writing process? Where do you write?

I’ve tried writing longhand (paper and pencil) and it drives me nuts!  I type extremely fast, but even when typing I can’t always keep up with my thoughts, so slowing down enough to hand-write a story is torturous. I usually prefer to sit at my PC, with either music or silence (no TV!), and hopefully get lost in the storytelling process.  Good writing sessions are the ones that fly by, when hours can whiz by without me noticing (until my butt cheeks fall asleep).

 4. Do you do a lot of research for your books?

Yes, but probably not as much as I ought to.  Lily, the heroine of DANCING WITH DANGER, is a professional dancer, which was much easier to write about than Marc’s profession as an L.A.P.D. officer.  For Marc, I did some online research, consulted with my husband on firearms questions (he used to be a machine-gunner in the Marine Corps), and also spoke with a fellow romantic suspense author, Kathy Bennett, who is a retired L.A.P.D. officer.  (Check out her books: A DOZEN DEADLY ROSES, and A DEADLY BLESSING!)

 5. Have you ever used an incident from real life in one of your books?

Hell yeah.  I often get inspiration for characters from people I know in real life (although the book characters don’t usually end up being much like the original real-life inspirations). Many of Marc’s more charming lines came right from the mouth of my husband.

 6. Quickfire:

Tea or coffee:  Hot chocolate.

Boxers or Briefs:  Boxer briefs!

Sweet or spicy: Sweet, definitely sweet. Preferably milk-chocolatey sweet.

Morning person or evening person: HA! Unless 2:00am counts as “morning,” I’m most definitely a night person!

Favorite food: I love Italian food, milk chocolate and pretzels, chips & salsa, and Amy’s pesto pizza.

7. What are you working on next?

I’m currently writing a fantasy romance, which is taking a lot more time to prepare than I anticipated!  The nice thing about DANCING WITH DANGER is that it is set in Los Angeles, in current times, and the heroine is a dancer, all three thing which I am quite familiar with!  But this fantasy story is set in a completely different world, a world where some people have paranormal abilities, where gunpowder hasn’t been invented yet, and the normal “rules” don’t apply.  Creating believable characters and intriguing story lines is hard enough, but creating an entire world (from the general geography down to weather patterns) for those characters to live in and for their story to play out sometimes feels like herculean task!

8. What one question do you want to ask your Readers today?

Oooh, this is a tough one.  Only one question? Well, I guess since I’m focusing on promotion nowadays, I’d love to hear what readers look for when deciding on their next book. Do you look at covers? Categories? Plot summaries? Reviews? What about a book makes you click that buy button? OK, that looks like multiple questions, but it’s really just one, I swear!

9. Where can your Readers find you online?

My website/blog can be found at www.ReadLaura.com. I’m also active on Facebook (LauraSheehan), Twitter (TimesNewLaura), and Google Plus (LauraSheehan).

Buy Links for book:

You can purchase an e-book of DANCING WITH DANGER on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and at the Red Sage website.