Kiki Howell

An interview by Sheila
 

Author Kiki Howell is our first interview for November 2008!  Sheila had some great questions for this author, and Kiki had some wonderful answers.

Published Books

Kiki Howell's Sites:

http://kikihowell.author.googlepages.com/
http://www.kikihowell.blogspot.com/
 

Posted November 2, 2008

SheilaMonique:  Hi Kiki, welcome to Wild on Books. Why don’t you tell us about your newest release CELTIC LOVE KNOTS.  

Kiki Howell:  Thank you! CELTIC LOVE KNOTS, VOLUME 10 is published by Whiskey Creek Press Torrid. In this volume, I have two stories, “Sexual Magic” and “Tailltean Marriage”.   In “Sexual Magic,” a cast circle of sexual magic, an ancestral Book of Shadows, and a sexual magic spell cast in desperation hundreds of years ago leave Caitlyn angry that her destiny may have been tampered with. Now, she needs to know if she is meant to be with Brent, a man who often doesn’t understand her ways but to whom she is undeniably pulled. “Tailltean Marriage” is about Allena and Devyn. The two made a pact ten years ago at their first Lughnasadh to go through a Tailltean Marriage, a trial marriage, if they were both still unattached on Lughnasadh the year they turned twenty-eight. The problem is that even though Allena and Devyn have been best friends sharing everything for years, once their hand fasting ceremony is over they fear that sex will change their friendship.  
 

SheilaMonique:  What made you want to start writing?  

Kiki Howell:  My love of reading. Ever since I can remember, the experiences I got to have through reading books has enthralled me. It didn’t take long for my own imagination to kick in.   I wrote stories as a child and throughout college. Then life gave me about a decade where I didn’t write. I was, of course, still always reading. A few years ago, I just knew I had to write again. It was as if all of the stories were just stuck inside me waiting to come out. The funny thing was, about the same time, I read my first book by Ellora’s Cave, a local publisher to me. Therefore, my magical stories took a turn for the erotic!
 

SheilaMonique:  Is there any one person who has fed your desire to write?  

Kiki Howell: I would have to say no. My desire to write was built by every author I ever read. Although now, my husband, who encouraged me to submit my first story a few years ago, is the one who supports and encourages my work the most. When I signed my first contract with Whiskey Creek Press Torrid, he told me to take the opportunity and make my dream my full-time job.  
 

SheilaMonique:  When you aren’t writing what can your readers find you doing?  

Kiki Howell:  Spending time with my husband and our two sons. It’s funny, growing up I couldn’t of been more of a girl if I tried, and now I spend most of my free time at sporting events! Otherwise, I am rushing through housework to get back to the current book I am reading. I also like watching movies and knitting when I can find the time.
 

SheilaMonique:  If I were to grant you one wish, no thinking about it, what would you wish for and why?  

Kiki Howell:  I would have to say the happiness and safety of my family. Is that two?  I am learning to be more positive and optimistic everyday while trying to minimize the parental worrying. This wish would grant me the absolute peace of just knowing.  
 

SheilaMonique:  Can you tell us about your up and coming release, THE HEALING SPELL?  

Kiki Howell:  Yes! I am very excited about this story published by Excessica. I read about sexual magic spells and let my imagination take it from there. In THE HEALING SPELL, Samantha, a confident witch, is eager to help David, a creatively frustrated ad executive she happens upon. She proposes a daring venture in which she will lead him through the steps of a sexual magic spell with the intent to heal him. Instantly mesmerized by her beauty and knowledge, he soon learns that pleasure is magick as they create an energy circle by bathing, massaging and arousing one another in various positions. Yet, once the spell has been completed, he finds he cannot just take his talisman and walk away from her, and the witch finds her carefully protected heart on the line.
 

SheilaMonique:  Do you do anything special when you are ready to write?  

Kiki Howell:  I do a lot of research once I get a story or character in my head. I love to go to the library and Borders gathering books on the information I am looking for. I am sure I over-research, but I find learning and assembling characters and plots to be a very fun part of the writing process.
 

SheilaMonique:  Is there anything that you have done that amazing you still to this day? 

Kiki Howell:  I am extremely lucky in that I can say there are a few things. I guess it is all in how you look at it, but experiencing the realization of a dream is indescribable. I will probably always have those moments where I am stunned that a man as amazing as my husband fell in love with me, that I am a mom of two wonderful boys, and that I have had editors like stories I wrote enough to publish them!
 

SheilaMonique:  Do you edit as you write, or finish the first draft and then begin editing? 

Kiki Howell:  I finish a draft, and then edit a few times. The first time I go through a draft I edit for description, I guess you would say. I want to make sure the words I chose got across what I wanted them to. The second time I go through the draft, I am looking for grammar errors. Although, I must admit, as a former English teacher, I find this very difficult to do with my own work. I always do a final read to see if anything jumps out at me as wrong. 
 

SheilaMonique:  Can you tell us about any works in progress?  

Kiki Howell:  I am currently working on a historical/regency paranormal. It takes place in 1816 England and Ireland. It is not your typical regency romance in that it is also about witches, shape shifters, family secrets, kidnapping, and magical battles. It is unlike anything I have written thus far. I feel like I have been time traveling since my boys went back to school. 
 

SheilaMonique:  What is your favorite part of a book to write?  

Kiki Howell: Description. I like to play with words until I feel I have made the reader see or feel just what I wanted them too.  
 

SheilaMonique:  What is your work schedule like when you're writing? 

Kiki Howell:  Once my kids are off to school, I start writing. I work until they come home barely stopping to even eat. After homework and dinner and whatever else is scheduled, I take my laptop into the living room when everyone settles down in front of the TV or in bed to do all the other stuff writers do to keep in touch with readers and other authors.
 

SheilaMonique:  Who are some of your favorite authors? 

Kiki Howell:  This is actually a very hard question for me. I am kind of a, browse the shelf until you find something that grabs your attention, person. I always have a non-fiction book and a fiction book going at the same time. I recently enjoyed a non-fiction book by James Arthur Ray and an older fictional story by Laura Kinsale.
 

SheilaMonique:  Do you listen to music while you write? Who is it?  

Kiki Howell:  Yes, but only instrumental. I like the Hemi Sync CD’s. Today I listened to Baroque Garden for Concentration.

SheilaMonique:  What do you like most about being an author? What do you like least? 

Kiki Howell:  I like calling playing with words all day a job. I do not like writing the synopsis for the submission package. I am a wordy person, so I find briefly describing my story to be a challenge.

SheilaMonique:  Can you tell us about your success story with becoming an author?  

Kiki Howell:  Actually my success story has been published on a website, http://www.energymanifesting.com/blog/category/success-stories/.  I read the book, “The Secret,” just before sending off my first stories.  Working with the Law of Attraction, I now have everything I wrote since reading it, with the exception of one short story and my work in progress, published!
 

SheilaMonique:  When you received the good news, that your story had been accepted, who did you tell first?  

Kiki Howell:  It was my son’s birthday. I was getting dinner together when my husband, who was going through emails, asked me what the book contract was. Not knowing what he was talking about, we read the email together. Oddly enough, my husband was sitting in the same room with me when I opened the email with my second contract.
 

SheilaMonique:  Which room in your home is your favorite? Why?  

Kiki Howell:  Our living room is where we join together most often as a family.  

SheilaMonique:  Which chore do you detest doing? Which one do you not mind doing?  

Kiki Howell:  I do not like to clean anything, although I can’t stand a dirty house either! I love to bake when I find the time, but I dread the grocery store.
 

SheilaMonique:  Thank you Kiki for stopping to visit with us today, where on the web can your fans find you? Is there anything else that you would like to add?   

Kiki Howell:  It has been my pleasure. My website is http://kikihowell.author.googlepages.com. You can find me on MySpace at http://www.myspace.com/kikihowell. I blog at http://kikihowell.blogspot.com. I have a free read, “Caught Under The October Moon,” up at http://www.longandshortreviews.com/WC/ArchiveStory/080904-CaughtUnderThe-KH.htm.    Look for my upcoming anthology, MYSTIC STONES, January 2009 and my Torrid Twisted Tale, THE WITCH’S BEAST, April 2009 at Whiskey Creek Press.

Published books