Meet the Author:
I love Princess Bride, Young and the Restless, Days of our Lives – the drama is deliciously addictive. Big Bang Theory but will take Wolowitz over Cooper. Star Trek not Star Wars. Undercover Boss, Secret Millionaire – any story that shows the little guy making it. I follow the Buffalo Bills like a religion. I am spellbound by showjumping and equestrian eventing. I love curling up and reading all books – no genre is off-topic. I like ironing, I hate peas, love donkeys, I play a killer game of Scrabble. I will often be heading towards the fridge for another Diet Coke. I eat nothing with legs and believe wine goes with everything, oh and I’m an expert at finding new and inventive ways to avoid exercise.
I live in the sparkly beachside suburb of Redondo Beach in California with my infuriating shoe-dropping husband and my two boys who speak in mystifying grunts.
About the Book:
To save her family’s business, fledging CEO Daisy Cater must win the bid on a resort on St. Maarten. There’s a small catch, though. The seller insists all bidders visit the island and experience the singles retreat firsthand. This wouldn’t be so bad…if only rule-maker Daisy weren’t paired with her bitter rival, the hot and broody Alexander Gillard. Keeping her enemy close just became a whole lot harder
Alexander “Zan” Gillard didn't expect to be partnered with gorgeous Daisy at the idyllic singles retreat. A challenge that has them cuffed together ignites an explosive chemistry, and soon Zan wants more than four days with this bewitching woman who is nothing like he expected her to be.
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Interview
Did you use any of your own experience as inspiration?
I think a little bit of me slips into all my books. In Wife in Name Only, I’d been to a small outlining island in the Kingdom of Tonga. In Winning the Boss’s heart, I lived in a small town in New Zealand, so the community getting together for the show was real. In Bound to the Bounty Hunter, I thought how cool to be a female private detective in a male dominated industry and in Taming the CEO, I’ve been a personal assistant to a CEO, so a little of my experience slipped in there.
On average, how long does the writing process take?
Some days I’d rather clean the oven and make up excuses not to write. Wait! Look at that driveway, it needs cement poured now. I wonder if there are cute kittens on YouTube – there are just quietly, millions of them. Other days the words flow like honey. I have a book set in Scotland coming out that roared out of me. I loved it, same with Taming the CEO. I have deadlines and always try and come in early. I can feel my editor’s eye roll. I generally do a dirty draft then go back and back until I think I’m done.
When did you realize you wanted a career in writing?
I’ve always worked and wrote in the evenings. It was a dream, but one I didn’t think would come true. I landed an agent, and my first book Wife in Name Only was picked up by Entangled, and it was a lightbulb moment. Maybe I could do this. With the help of a patient husband and kids, I write every day.
If you weren't an author, what other career paths would you have taken?
I come from a family of scientists and engineers, and then there was me. 😊 If I could go back (isn’t hindsight awesome…not) I’d have loved to be a paramedic.
Out of the characters that you created, who is your favorite?
Noooooo. That’s like asking which child I prefer. All the characters I’ve written have touched me in some way.
What advice would you give to someone looking to be a writer?
Don’t give up and grow a thick skin. I can’t tell you the number of times I’d wanted to throw it all in and go and live in a cave. Rejection letters suck, (I could wallpaper a room with mine), getting one star reviews hurt, but keep going. Learn your craft, buy books, do tutorials and keep those fingers on the keyboard.
What kind of research (if any) was required for any of your books?
Hours and hours of research. What did we do before the internet? If my book is set in an actual town and I can’t physically get there, I buy Lonely Planet books, stalk travel blogs, learn how to swear in a foreign language.
How long after you finish a book do you start another one?
Depending on my schedule. I’ve got a lot to write. The Scottish Book (I am so in love with Delilah the goat I’m thinking of stashing one in my back yard. I am writing a hot Italian book now (swoon). Bound Two and I’d really like to write the brothers and sisters stories in Taming the CEO. In between being a half-decent wife, a terrible cook and working part-time, it’s going to be busy.
Thank you so much for having me here today. It has been such a pleasure and a blast.
Love,
Hayson
