1.  You have said that the BDSM community is important to you.  What is the one (or maybe two) thing(s) that you want the readers/public to know about the BDSM community that is not widely known?

 

First, I think a lot of people don’t know that the BDSM scene is about informed consent and building trust. Informed consent means that the people consenting understand what it is they’re consenting to — they understand the risks. This is why education is so important. I can’t give informed consent if I don’t understand what I’m doing or what is to be done to me or the type of relationship I’m entering. And informed consent is what makes it BDSM rather than abuse.

 

Second, being into BDSM isn’t anything to be ashamed of. It doesn’t mean you’re crazy. It doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with you at all. It just means you like what you like and, as long as trust and consent are a part of things, there’s nothing wrong with liking what you like. Once you accept that, then your responsibility becomes learning about all the things, and that’s the fun part!

 

2.  You have been an editor for a long time.  Do you have a favorite genre of romance that you like to read at home?

 

This question makes me laugh in that oh-man-I-don’t-want-to-admit-this sort of way, because here’s my big secret (which means I’m not going to have an answer for a later question!): I don’t read a lot of straight romance outside of work. My reading-for-pleasure time is really limited, so I try to strike a balance and get in some other types of stories. I love a good urban fantasy with a strong female protagonist (these often have strong romantic elements) and I love mysteries and thrillers too. I’m currently reading a collection of short stories called Tales from a Goth Librarian by Kimberly Richardson. After that, I’m going to jump into Laura Antoniou’s The Inheritor, which I’ve been meaning to read for months and months. It’s not really romance either, but BDSM fiction in Laura’s Marketplace world, of which I’ve been a huge fan for about twenty years.

 

3.  I like that you challenge yourself and participate in the writing conferences.  What would you tell an aspiring author to challenge themselves with to further their own career?

 

I tell aspiring authors two things especially: 1. Write even when your muse is in Tahiti, even if what you’re writing is complete and utter crap. You can fix anything that gets onto the paper. You can’t fix a blank page. So you have to write even when you don’t want to. Stephen King has a really cool quote that I keep on my daily note (I review this note every day to keep me on track with my goals): “Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.” So aspiring writers: get up and go to work.

 

2. Submit your work. Your story will never, ever be perfect, but you can spend years tweaking it to try to make it perfect. Recognize that at some point you have to get it out there. Submitting your ms is hard and rejections hurt. But it’s what you need to do to be a pro (if that’s your goal). 

 

4.  You have said before that you plan to write more books!  We are very happy to hear this.  If you could choose your own name for the fandom that will follow you ... (all well-known authors seem to have one) What would you choose?

 

I absolutely suck at stuff like this, so I turned to my Atlanta kink community for suggestions. I got a lot of really fun ones: Triniverse, Trins (like twins), Trin-umvirate (which totally made me LOL), Trinadors, and Trinkets (which I thought was very cute). But I think the winner, based on both the cleverness and apparently my personality was:

 

Trinions. Like minions but with 100% more Trin.

 

They’re already planning T-shirts and logos. With rope. It’s sort of crazy, so thanks for that! ;)

 

5.  We are so glad to see you joining us online and in the social media realms.  What could you share from your trips over the country to help us feel proud about the country we live in?

 

One thing I’ve found, everywhere I go, is that people can be incredibly welcoming and helpful. We see a lot of really bad stuff on the news, in social media, and on the Internet in general, where people often embrace the worst parts of themselves. We see the horrible things that people do and say to each other. Everywhere I’ve gone, people have been amazing. From pointing out the best places that locals go out to eat, to carting me all over creation, to giving me places to sit and talk to people. When I go to conventions and travel, I always come home with a renewed sense of hope for human being.  :)

 

6.  We are very excited to get to know you.  Is there just even one thing about yourself that no one knows?  Would you be willing to share with us a secret?

 

I think I already told you that! :) One thing that a number of my friends know, but probably not many readers know is that I’m a huge Duran Duran nerd. Seriously. I’ve been a fan for over three decades (God, that sounds ridiculous, even to me!). And yes, they’re still recording and touring. They’re in the studio now, as a matter of fact. During their Astronaut tour, I actually went to 11 different shows across the country. How’s that for a nerdy secret? :)

 

7.  I am absolutely thrilled you have written this story, not just about a strong woman - but a "heavier" women as well.  I think all women should have a chance at a great romance!  This book is also on the edge with the BDSM subject.  What made you decide to break through all these walls in the same book?

 

That’s sort of what life is, isn’t it? We all live these different facets of our lives, and the facets come together to make us who we are. Women (and men) who aren’t the societal standard of beauty, in whatever way, feel intimidated about coming out into kink communities because all we really see are porn-type images of kink, where all the women are gorgeous and all the men are hung. The reality is that the BDSM communities in most areas, just like every other community in the world, are made up of people. And people have their own personal looks, their own personal strengths, and their own personal demons. We’re all just people and we look like people.

 

Having grown up fat (and I’m still higher BMI than is “healthy”), I struggled with all sorts of body image crap — and I still do, in truth. One of the reasons that I wanted to showcase a larger heroine was to convey that bigger women can be self conscious about themselves and that it’s okay. But it doesn’t mean they can’t also still be proud of themselves and how they look. Because we’re all beautiful. We can sometimes be down on ourselves, but we don’t always have to be down on ourselves. We can also be completely okay with ourselves. Caly isn’t perfect — she hasn’t had particularly healthy relationships with men, obviously — but she can say, “Sure, sometimes I feel crappy about my weird flappy arm wings or my big thighs, but I’m still amazing!”And that’s really what I want for all of us who are self-conscious about the way we look (whether thin, fat, tall, short, purple, whatever). I want us all to find that place where it’s okay to sometimes feel down about ourselves (because everyone feels this way at certain points), but to also understand we don’t have to live there. We don’t have to stay there. We have the option to also feel great about ourselves. 

 

Thanks again for having me! This has been great fun! :)