Join us in Atlanta, GA and meet Vallory Vance, Author of "Calendar Girl"!

Now if you have ever visited Atlanta, GA, you'll know its a fun, sexy city. Hence the name Hot Atlanta! Tonya and I are here to chat with Author Vallory Vance who just released Calendar Girl.

We're at a restaurant on Peachtree St. and the view is spectacular! Atlanta has a lot of hot spots to explore, so after the interview have some fun. In the mean time, join us as Vallory tells us about her new release and why she loves to write. And she's featuring a contest for four lucky commenters! See details below.

Naughty Reader’s: Tell us a bit about yourself  that our readers might not know.

Vallory: I’ve been married for seventeen years and I’m a mom to three great kids. In my spare time, I’m a family historian and have traced one branch of my family back to a fourteen year old girl named Hager brought to the Mississippi Territory by the Spanish in 1790.

Naughty Reader’s: What made you want to become a writer?

Vallory: I’ve always written. I can remember taking an encyclopedia down from our bookshelf when I was about four and copying the words. I was so excited to show my mom what I had written. As a teenager, I wrote short stories and poems. In college, I wrote plays. Now I am back to the short story and working my way up to full-length novels.

Naughty Reader’s: Please share a bit about your new release Calendar Girl without giving away any spoilers.

Vallory:  Calendar Girl is a short story about Nia Thompson, a girl from a small town living her dream as a content writer for a magazine in Atlanta. Even though she is inwardly battling insecurities about her level of sophistication, she catches the eye of one of the magazine’s handsome editors. Connor McIntyre, the hero, has no such insecurities and breezes through beautiful girlfriends on a monthly basis. Nia has to decide if she is “grown enough” for her month with Connor.

Amazon

Naughty Reader’s: Do you write under a pen name?

Vallory:  For erotic romances, I write as Vallory Vance. I loved the sound of the name.

Naughty Reader’s: What types of hero or heroine do you like best?

Vallory: I like a hero who is strong and confident and absolutely enthralled with the heroine. I like a heroine who is smart and complicated. Maybe she’s been hurt in the past and has developed a sort of tunnel vision that makes her unaware that her world is about to be changed.

Naughty Reader’s: Tell us about a typical day in your life as a writer.

Vallory: On Saturdays, writing is my job. I wake up at 8:00 am and start working on each piece. I set a goal for each work in progress that should be reached and assign a reasonable amount of time to accomplish the goal during my nine hour workday. It’s not as inspired as I thought it would be, but it gets the job done.

During the week, I revise one piece per evening for two hours.

On Sundays, I usually write a blog post and read.

Naughty Reader’s: Do your books have a common theme or are they all different?

Vallory: As a writer of interracial romance, the heroine is a Black woman and the hero is a White man. The characters come from different walks of life and how they get to the point where their story begins for the reader is unique.

Naughty Reader’s: Do you have to be alone to write?

Vallory: I have to be alone – just me, my laptop and music. I have playlists arranged specifically for writing. Each week on Twitter, I tweet which artist is featured on the evening’s playlist.

Naughty Reader’s: Is it easier to write about the characters if you find pictures of them before you write or do you write then find character pictures?

Vallory: I tend to write first and then find the pictures of them. I am more of an aural learner than a visual one. So for me, I tend to hear snippets of conversations, an accent or a distinct phrasing of words and that becomes the basis of a character.

Naughty Reader’s: How do you pick locations for your stories?

Vallory: The character and the storyline come first and then I get an idea of a city or town that would fit with the needs of the story. I am prone to choosing areas that I have visited. I am waiting for a character that lives in Paris to come to fruition so that I’ll a case for traveling for work.

Naughty Reader's: Why interracial romance?

Vallory: A college friend and I were talking about our favorite romances and she asked had I ever noticed that there are no romances that feature couples like us? We are both Black women married to White men. After some searching, I found such novels and was thrilled. When I started writing again, I decided that I too would write about relationships like the one that my husband and I have enjoyed for the last seventeen years.

Readers can find on the web:

Twitter Handle - @ValloryVance

Facebook Page: Vallory Vance

Blog – ValloryV at www.valloryv.wordpress.com

I'll give away 4 - $5.00 Amazon electronic gift certificates and a copy of my latest work, Calendar Girl (published by Amira Press), to 4 random viewers who post comments on my blog post entitled The Color of Inspiration`(I will post on May 6, 2012) between the dates of May 6 - 11, 2012. Winners will be announced on May 12, 2012. 

Naughty Reader's: Wow, pretty nice giveaway! Vallory, thank you again for visiting with us.

BIO:

Teicha Mailhes is a color inside the lines human resources professional living in the Dallas / Fort Worth metroplex by day. After her family consisting of a husband of almost twenty years, three kids and two dogs have filled her evenings with laughter, she sits down to her laptop to write tales of the first moments of falling in love when nothing else seems to matter.

As a fortieth birthday present to herself, she decided to share her stories. Vallory Vance is the pen name she uses to write contemporary romances that range from sweet to spicy. Her work can be found on Smashwords and at Amira Press.

Excerpt: 

He spotted her in front of the stage, dancing with another of the staff writers. She swiveled her hips around in time with the music until he could see the tight muscles in her back. The man moved in closer to her and slid his hand down her hip. Nia stepped back beyond his reach, laughing. Connor commiserated with the look of disappointment on the young man’s face. Nia never seemed to notice what she did to him either.

Taking the last swig from his beer, he excused himself from Jason and made his way toward her. Getting to the opposite side of the large room took longer than he expected, but he caught up with her and Viv near the exit.

“You were leaving?” He directed his question to Viv.

“Yeah, baby. Just waiting on Simone. Where’ve you been?” She craned her neck up and kissed his cheek, then wiped her lipstick off with her thumb.

“With Jason.” He leaned over and kissed Nia’s cheek. “You look great.”

“Thanks.” She beamed back at him, still swaying with the music.

“Did y’all take the car?” he asked, tearing his eyes away from Nia.

“Why?” Viv pursed her lips and put a hand on her hip, eyeing him closely.

“I can take Nia home. We don’t live that far from each other. I’m sure your ride home will be more comfortable.”

“Now ain’t you sweet, Connor.”

He ignored Viv’s thinly veiled sarcasm and looked at Nia.

“Sure, if you don’t mind.” She curved her lips into a slight smile.

“Let’s go.”

He reached for Nia, but Viv’s hand caught his arm and jerked him awkwardly backward and several inches downward. She whispered in his ear, “Now you behave.”

“She’s a grown-up, Viv.”

“She ain’t Connor grown. Hell, I may not be that grown.”

“I’ll behave like a gentleman.” He crossed to Nia, taking her hand in his. He would behave like a gentleman in the morning.

Check out Vallory's other books: In The Moment 

 and After Party