The perfect job, a dream guy, and one chance to screw it up...
Title: Do Not Disturb
Author: Mary Billiter
Series: Resort Romances #1
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Hot Tree Publishing
Release Date: October 15th, 2106
When a luxury beachfront hotel in the OC conducts a mass hire, Katie Flanagan’s ninth in line.
Is it her dream job? Possibly.
Will it help her escape living with her parents for the rest of her life? Hopefully.
Add in two hot new hires: one who is her type in all the wrong ways and one who has her questioning what she really wants and needs. Either way, she has a choice to make.
When Katie discovers a secret document aimed at downsizing the staff, she finds her voice and pens a press release that places the hotel, and her, at the center of national coverage. When the corporate line is drawn in the sand, the question becomes – will she cross it?
Havoc, heat, and hotel madness… welcome to the back hallways at the Waterfront Point Resort.
HALF-PRICE SALE
1. Please tell us a little bit about yourself.
2. What inspired you to write your first book?
I’m going to tie two questions into one! So you’ll know a little bit about me and who inspired me to write my first book.
As the daughter of a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist my father greatly influenced my writing. His influence on my craft happened around the dinner table.
Every night he would come home in his suit, tie and black Fedora – this was an era when everyone dressed like Don Draper from “Mad Men” only my father looked more like Charlie Brown. Still even with his round head and little ball of hair on top, when he arrived home from the newspaper everyone in my family had the same reaction – excitement.
During suppertime he would tell us stories from his day – who he interviewed, where he went, and what he saw. My father was the voice for the common man and often his human interest stories were about their struggles.
He painted a picture with his words that captivated me. I wanted to meet these people and know first-hand their hardships because I felt like I knew them.
I earned my Bachelor of Arts in journalism and as a 29 year career journalist my foothold in the newspaper industry has been as a weekly columnist.
It wasn’t what I intended, but when an editor needed someone to fill the slot for the opinion page I found that I could use my voice for those who didn't have one – victims of the domestic violence, sexual abuse survivors and most recently through my own diagnosis, breast cancer survivors.
As a novelist, I have published works that unearth varying emotions for my readers due to the back story within the novel. My debut novel, “Not My Kid…” addressed the long-term effects of domestic violence on a family.
More often, my work centers around two characters like Katie Flanagan and Chris Bogart whose attraction to each other starts slowly and builds as humour, havoc and heat intertwine through their story.
In any romantic relationship it's that build-up that provides the greatest return. The friction between Katie and Chris heightens throughout the story for the maximum pay-off.
However whether I'm writing for the newspaper, a short story or a romance novel, the essence of good writing is painting a visual picture for the reader through setting, dialogue and character.
Ultimately, I imagine how I would tell a story around the dinner table. How can I keep my audience engaged? And if I can do it half as well as my father then I'm off to a good start.
3. How did you come up with the title of your book?
I absolutely love the title of this book, “Do Not Disturb” and I'll tell you why.
I’ve worked at two different five diamond resorts and one of the first things I learned was the importance of “Do Not Disturb.” Or in the hotel lingo a “DND”. If a guest has a DND on their hotel door or activated on their phone, no matter the peril – you do not disturb.
This applies to everyone employed in the hotel - from the line staff to the executives.
I always thought it would be a great title for a hotel romance. And in my resort romance, “Do Not Disturb” I utilized the DND for some covert behind the scenes business.
Intrigued?
Good! Because the title may also apply to readers because they will be so absorbed by the story that they, too, don't want to be disturbed!! Enjoy!!
4. Describe your main character in five words.
Smart Moxie (with a wardrobe to match)
Funny
Sexy (in a girl next-door kind of way)
And fiercely loyal
5. What was one of the most surprising things you learned in writing your new release?
When Katie makes a decision that could conclude at the cost of her job. Her response surprised me.
“If I lose my job,” I (she) shrugged, “I’ll land on my feet. I always do.”
At that moment, I knew the mettle this character was made from. She’s determined, resilient, and a voice championing for the underdog.
Katie has been as real to me as someone I would befriend but it was her inner strength I learned from writing her story.
I appreciate it when people in my life go beneath the surface to show me who they really are and Katie did that for me.
6. Have you ever done anything strange or weird in the name of research?
Have I ever! In my romantic suspense, “The XYZ Affair” I knew that the mystery would center on a cold case. But when you happen upon a collection of decades-old bones, what do you do?
I met with Casper, Wyoming’s coroner who became a wonderful contact. She arranged for me to drive with one of her assistants to Loveland Colorado where people, who had died of unknown causes in the central part of our state, autopsied.
I woke early and met with her assistant who drove the “meat wagon,” newspaper jargon for the coroner's truck loaded with a fresh cadaver. I wish I were joking.
The only part that creeped me out was the highway travel transporting a dead body. I kept wanting to turn and look at her over my shoulder and talk. I felt badly for her unknown loss of life and in nervous situations I talk too much. Thankfully I didn’t speak to the dead woman.
In Loveland, I stood through two autopsies, took notes, and never threw up – even after they cut into her to perform autopsy where they remove vital organs to weigh them.
My knees didn’t buckle and I ate lunch afterward. True story.
It was fascinating and my 8+ hours of research culminated in one paragraph in “The XYZ Affair” that rings true to the process. That’s why I do research so that anyone who picks up my book will know that the business end of murder, as was the case in “The XYZ Affair” is accurate.
The same holds true for “Do Not Disturb” – my past work experience, combined with spit-balling ideas with current hotel employees, allowed me to write a fun, fictional and realistic story set behind the scenes of a luxury resort.
7. How long does it take you to write a book?
Often times I seem to produce a book in six weeks because that was the time allotted between semesters in graduate school.
As a career journalist, I work well under tight deadlines.
Also, I'm a big fan of what I learned from volunteering in my son’s third grade class and that’s “sloppy copy.” Sloppy copy is putting the words on the page to get the story out. It could be called your “zero draft” or “first draft” – whatever you call it, it’s the freedom to be messy and fine-tune things later.
8. Can you share a little of your current work with us?
I am so excited about book two in my resort romance! It’s set on the Oregon Coast replete with a lighthouse, identical twins and the young single mom one of them falls for.
Lighthouse are beacons to keep ships out to trouble. But an overnight assignment to maintain the light at one of Oregon’s oldest lighthouses, places Kelsey McCann in unfamiliar water. When hotel heir Oliver Carlyle shows up at midnight to help Kelsey keep the light, the sparks that ignite beacons each of them to discover what the heart holds.
9. What is your work schedule like when you're writing?
Pretty much do not disturb! Seriously my kids and husband know that if the door to my bedroom is closed – mom is writing and unless there is a fire…Do Not Disturb!
10. Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?
Thank you. I would not be where I'm at and able to write the stories I have in my heart if it wasn’t for myriad readers who choose to download or buy my book to read. Thank you. I am genuinely honored and humbled to be able to write.
Random Questions
1.What’s in your fridge right now?
Homemade, from scratch, refried beans – that are in a word: amazing. A gallon of milk, a block of Oregon-made Tillamook cheese, apples, lettuce and Italian sausage that were grilled over an open flame for a delectable flavor. Yum. Let’s eat.
2.What song do you sing at the top of your voice every time you hear it?
“Beauty and the Beat” by Justin Bieber and Nicki Minaj.
Yeah, I'm owning it.
3. Other than writing, what special or unusual talent(s) do you have?
Nothing that I can write and have my children read.
4. Where did you last go on holiday?
Deadwood South Dakota baby during Sturgis…vroom vroom!
5. If feral aliens attacked your house and they were zapping your home with their Über super bombs, what five items would you save?
Okay, besides my children and husband, which alone equals five? That’s easy…my driver’s license. Not only because it’s one of the few flattering photos of me, but also I don’t want to have to go through the hell of replacing it at the DMV, (which may actually be run by feral aliens).
Mary Billiter is a weekly newspaper columnist and fiction author. She also has novels published under the pen name, “Pumpkin Spice.”
Mary resides in the Cowboy State with her unabashedly bald husband, their combined children, and runaway dog. She does her best writing (in her head) on her daily runs in wild, romantic, beautiful Wyoming.
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