Facts About B.J. Daniels • Place of birth: Houston, Texas • Moved to Montana: Age five • Favorite food: Mexican, Tex-Mex and seafood • Favorite season: one that’s sunny and warm • Favorite sports: tennis, snowboarding, fishing • Favorite color: Yellow • Favorite authors: Dennis LeHane, Joseph Finder, Laura Lippman, Sue Grafton, oh heck, there’s too many to name • Favorite books on writing: Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maas, How to Write Killer Fiction by Carolyn Wheat, Stephen King’s book On Writing and Don’t Murder Your Mystery by Chris Roerden. • Favorite movie: American Dreamer, the one about the reader who wins the prize and goes to France to meet her favorite author. • Favorite dessert: anything with butter, sugar and cream cheese. • Favorite romantic date: a picnic out in the boat on turquoise water • Favorite childhood memory: growing up on Hebgen Lake near West Yellowstone, lying on the dock, watching the clouds float by and daydreaming • Favorite all around pastime: reading • Favorite jobs: newspaper features writer and writing books • Worse job: aluminum arrow cleaner. The Top Ten Questions 1. Did you always know you wanted to be a writer? Yes. Did I have the courage to tell anyone? No. I went to college to be an English teacher. (Needed something to fall back on, right?) But the week I observed a high school English class I sneak-read Rosemary’s Baby instead of paying attention. The teacher suggested I might not be interested in teaching. You think? 2. Where do you get your ideas? I was born with them. Seriously. I have made up stories in my head since I can remember. Everything I see, hear or read spurs more ideas. No wonder I wander around in a daze all the time. Also, it takes more than one idea for a book. Ideas are cheap and it takes a whole lot of them to make a book. A “good” idea would even be better. 3. How can you crank out so many books? Flinch. This question always gets a writer’s hackles up. My answer: You can write a lot of books if you take your work seriously and actually put your behind in a chair in front of the computer the same hours as other working folks. Why do people think that writers only work when the muse hits them? We’d all starve if that were the case. 4. How did you get started? I was scared. That’s why I didn’t take one creative writing class in college. Didn’t want some teacher to tell me I had no talent. I know, makes no sense. But hey, writing is scary. You put a lot of yourself into it. Readers get this peek at the “real” you. VERY scary. Not to mention the rejection aspect. But I knew if I was going to ever be a writer, I had to write. I hooked up with the only writing class in my little Montana town: newspaper writing. The local paper printed both of the stories I wrote, I asked for job, the editor might have had an alcohol problem… I like to think he saw talent and just gave me a break. At the newspaper, I learned to write tight and fast. I learned about deadlines. I finally had the courage to do what I wanted from day one: write fiction. I started small. Short stories. I wrote more than I sold, but I ended up selling 36, mostly to Woman’s World. Finally I wrote a book. I rewrote the book. I sold it to Harlequin Intrigue. Rewrote it again. I was happy when I found out that Odd Man Out received 4 ½ stars from RT magazine even when I thought that was 4 ½ stars out of 10. (I’d never seen RT magazine.) After four sales to Intrigue, I quit my day job and started taking writing books seriously. 5. Don’t you ever get stuck? Are you kidding? It is one of the joys of being a seat-of-the-pants writer. I haven’t the foggiest idea what I’m doing when I sit down to write. Oh, I might have the name of a character, a vague idea – usually a bad one. I just make it up as I go. Amazingly, it works for me. Actually, I’m shocked that when I get to the end of a book, it makes sense. Thank goodness my subconscious is sharper than I am. 6. What do you do when you get stuck? Write. Sometimes I take a couple of days off and behave badly, pout, whine and make a general pain-in-the-neck out of myself. But I’ve found the best way out of a hole is to write. Write the scenes you do see. Write on the next book. Write a friend. Somehow, the solution comes to you. And I’ve found that the solution after being stuck is often better than any “original” idea I’ve had. 7. You talk about your characters as if you don’t have any control over them. But, I mean, they’re your characters. It would seem so, huh. But they’re a lot like our kids. You give them life and before you know it, they have a mind of their own and don’t listen to you anymore. But with characters in books, they shouldn’t listen to you. If they’re “real” then they know more than you do. I’ve had characters do all kinds of things I didn’t want them to do. For instance in SECRET OF DEADMAN’S COULEE, the first book in the Whitehorse, Montana series, Sheriff Carter Jackson tells the love of his life Eve Bailey that he isn’t going to make love to her until they’re married. Hello? This is a romance. Mystery/romance but come on give me a break here. But once those words are out of his mouth – can’t have the sheriff going back on his word – there will be no lovemaking until after the wedding. Sorry folks. 8. What would you be if you weren’t a writer? Frustrated. But I’d probably open a junk shop. I love old stuff, not pristine antiques, but things that can be saved with a lot of elbow grease and imagination. The problem is I’d never want to part with anything cool I’d found so I’d go broke. 9. What do you wish you’d known before you got published? Nothing. Here’s my theory: Ignorance is bliss when it comes to publishing. I know other writers will tell you differently. But who wants to be told how few writers get published or what the average writer makes? Not me. I wanted to be a writer, so I wrote. When I finished the book, I sent it out. When you’re writing a book, you don’t need to worry about whether or not book sales are down or what’s hot right now. I know you’ve heard it way too many times, but that’s because it’s the truth: Just write that book you’ve always wanted to write. Write what you love. Write from the heart. The rest will follow.10. Do you get to meet the models on your covers? You wish.
				INTERVIEW WITH B.J. DANIELS
		Photo - Janie Osborne
	How long have you been writing? Since I was 8. But I only wrote beginnings back then. (Have you noticed how much easier only beginnings of stories are?) It wasn’t until I turned thirty that I quit my day job and began writing for the local newspaper, determined to follow my dream. How did you get started? I wrote feature stories for the newspaper (my thought being that writing was writing) – and decided I’d start by writing short stories in my spare time. I discovered Woman’s World magazine, which publishes two short stories a month. My stories were a little too full of adventure, but I ended up selling them 35 of my stories between 1987-1994. What did you do before you wrote? A little bit of everything from being an administrative secretary to a telephone operator and a hodcarrier. But all I ever wanted to do was write. How did you approach your first book? After writing short stories for a while, I decided I was ready to write a book. I heard about Harlequin’s Intrigue line. It sounded like something I would like: romance and mystery. I wrote a book set on Hebgen Lake where I grew up about a lost love coming home again because of a death (which of course was a murder). How long did it take you to write it? A year, at least. But that was just the beginning. An editor at Intrigue talked me into rewriting it. It sold! My revision letter was the length of a book and basically said: we like the pacing and the characters but if you want, you can change everything else! I rewrote, Odd Man Out,(believe me there were times I would have gladly quit) until I liked the story. It was nominated for RT BOOKclub’s Best First Book and Best Intrigue for 1995. That book was reprinted this May. WRITING: What are your writing habits? I get up every morning and write. I try to write ten pages a day, rain or shine. Sometimes life interferes with that plan. Okay, a lot of times life interferes. But I’ve found that if I get some pages done first thing in the morning, I have the rest of the day and no guilt. How do you approach starting a new book? With joy! I haven’t discovered the flaws in my plot yet. Seriously? I start by trying to get the sound of the book on paper. Each book has a little different sound to me depending on the characters and the plot. Once I get the sound, then I try to get what I think of as the foundation of the book down. That amounts to the first five or six chapters. If I like them, I continue. If I don’t, I go back and rewrite those first chapters until I do. To me, that foundation has to be solid or it won’t support the rest of the book. Do you have a special plotting method? I had never thought about what I do to come up with a plot. I usually start with an idea. For my book, Hotshot P.I. that idea was sleepwalking. I’d read about people who commit murder in their sleep. From there, I went to setting. Most of my books are set in Montana where I grew up and still live. One of my favorite places is Flathead Lake, so I put the book there on a fictional island. Setting is really important to me. It’s almost like a character. Then I think about my flesh and blood characters and what their story is. Usually I get a pretty good feel for them by starting writing. I like to learn about them slowly in the course of writing the book rather than try to figure them out first. Any special tricks you use to sustain suspense? I just try to scare myself. I like to write the book by establishing a handful of suspects who all could have been the killer/bad guy. Then I just keep writing until it becomes clear to me whodunit. I like to be surprised. Killing someone also helps if I’m stuck. Do you outline or are you a by-the-seat-of-the-pants type? I’m definitely the seat-of-the-pants type. But I usually have some idea where I’m headed although it is only in my head. If my characters are working, they take over the story and bail me out. I’ve found I have to live with them a while though. Have you ever written yourself into a corner? Are you kidding? Always. It’s one of the big drawbacks of being a seat-of-the-pants plotter/writer. The only way I have found to get out of the corner is to keep writing. Usually my characters help me out. What advice do you have for aspiring writers? Write. Sit down every day and work on a story. I’ve found most aspiring writers have trouble believing in themselves, taking the time rather than finding it, figuring out what they want to write and then doing it. But if you write a little every day with a story in mind, it will grow and so will you. Secondly, read, read, read. Especially the type of book you want to write. Learn from those who have already gone through the learning process. And most importantly, if you really want to be a writer then believe in yourself and make writing a priority. Leave the dishes in the sink, the bed unmade, the grocery shopping until tomorrow. Today, you’re going to write and nothing is going to stop you! You will make the time if you want it badly enough. GENERAL: Which of your books was the most challenging? Why? Don’t let anyone kid you, they are all challenging. I’ve always heard it gets easier. Getting used to sitting down and writing without too much preamble gets easier but writing a book is hard work. It takes a tremendous amount of time and thought and energy. My most challenging right now is the one I’m working on. Who is your favorite hero? Heroine? They are all like my children and hard to pick favorites. But I can really relate to Paige Grayson in my book KEEPING SECRETS part of a two in one with Jasmine Cresswell titled VEILS OF DECEIT. Paige has an alter ego, P.T. Alexander, who Paige lives through vicariously – until she must become P.T. to survive. Very fun. RT BOOKclub compared it with "Romancing the Stone." My most fun characters would have to be Timber Falls Sheriff Mitch Tanner and reporter/heroine Charity Jenkins. Both were born when I was writing short stories for Woman’s World. I brought them both back in my new series CASCADES CONCEALED set in Oregon on the rainshadow side of the Cascades. The first book in the series, MOUNTAIN SHERIFF, came out in December 2003 and was nominated for the 2003 Best Harlequin Intrigue by Romantic Times. The second book in the series, DAY OF RECKONING, was released in March 2004 and the third, WANTED WOMAN, was released in 2004. Now I have a new five-book series coming out — McCalls' Montana — that I'm really excited about. Who are your favorite authors? Hard question because I like so many. I love mysteries and thrillers and read any I can get my hands on. But I also read anything and everything including a lot of literary works. What are your future plans and goals? I plan to keep writing Harlequin Intrigues. I like the mix of mystery and romance. This year I have four books coming out and one reprint. So my goal is to just keep writing the best stories I can. Someday I want to try my hand at a thriller. But right now I’m very happy where I am in my career and my life. I’m happily married to a wonderful man and I recently took up tennis and am hooked. When I’m not writing, I snowboard, camp, boat, travel and play lots of tennis. I have one daughter, two stepdaughters and 2 grandaughters, along with a tomcat named Jeff and three Springer Spaniels: Zoey, Scout and Spot. I feel blessed every day that I am doing what I dreamed of doing when I was a kid. Fortunately, I had no idea how hard it was to become a writer let alone to continue being one, so that didn’t hold me back. But I don’t give up easily. As a writer friend of mine once said, writing isn’t what I do, it’s who I am. AWARDS I'm proud to announce that I was awarded the Romantic Times' 2002 Career Achievement Award for Series Romantic Suspense, as well as the 2002 Best Harlequin Intrigue for PREMEDITATED MARRIAGE (11/02). It was wonderful meeting some of my readers and I am thrilled to have been chosen for these awards by RT's reviewers. And for 2003, I was nominated for a Romantic Times' Career Achievement Award for Series Romance. MOUNTAIN SHERIFF was also nominated as the Best Harlequin Intrigue of 2003.