Author Spotlight: Lindsey Gray

by Sarah Reads - 2:30 AM

I met Lindsey Gray a few months back while posting a cover reveal for Fireworks. She was such a sweet author. She jumped right on board when I asked if there was anyone interested in helping with this event.

Fun Facts About Lindsey:

I love to cook and twist traditional recipes into something new and delicious.

I have an irrational hatred for several things. Among them are ceramic roosters and all things related to Kevin Bacon.

I’m a huge movie buff and can often work movie quotes into conversations. My husband finds this hilarious.

Want to know Lindsey better? Here are a list of questions I always love to ask authors. Let's see what Lindsey has to say.

1) Do you listen to music while you write? If so, is it different with each book?

I make a playlist to listen to while writing each book. For my Christmas novellas, Not the Same Season and Holiday Cure for the Cursed, I listened to all Christmas music while writing in the spring and summer months. For Fireworks, I listened to a lot of pop music. My current project has sent me into the depths of alternative. This playlist has music from Red Hot Chili Peppers, Incubus, and The Black Keys. Music is a great way to get me into the story. The words seem to flow better when I have my ear buds in listening to some great tunes.

2) What is your favorite book right now?

Wow, that’s like asking who is my favorite child. I can tell you that I am a romance junkie. I’ve read eight books by Kristan Higgins to get my contemporary fix and ten by Julia Quinn to get my historical fix. I’ve read 84 books so far this year and have several more on my list to read before 2014 is through.

3) What was your inspiration that started your writing career?

I started writing when I was about twelve. I would fill pages upon pages of notebooks with stories. At one point, I typed over a hundred pages of a story that no one else has ever read. When I realized several years later that I had all these story ideas and only I was reading them, I decided it was time to do something about it. It took over two years before I found the right publisher for me.

4) How did you become interested in writing this genre?

I grew up watching soap operas with my mom. I thought some of the stories were so ridiculous and maybe I could write a better story. That started when I was about ten, writing ten page stories. Every single one had a happily ever after. I always thought it was strange for people to read books about serious subjects or horrible circumstances. If I’m going to spend my time and money reading a book, I want to feel good when I get to the last page. That being said, that is the way I try to write.

5) What is one question you have always wanted to be asked during an interview but never have been?

I love the fun, off the wall questions. Like, who is your favorite comic book super hero? My five-year-old son and I can get in heated debates about this. There are just too many to choose from. His favorites are in the DC comic universe, while I have a love for the Marvel guys. I can go back and forth on who has the best qualities, but I think my love lies firmly at the feet of Thor.

6) Is it hard for you to decide what the titles of your books will be?

Yes! I like to have a title early on so I can make sure it fits in with the story. I was tearing my hair out while writing Holiday Cure for the Cursed. I had it saved as Christmas 2013 until a few days before I submitted it to a publisher. It was so frustrating, but once it came to me, I knew it was perfect.

7) Tell me about your books.

My local newspaper has held a finish the story contest every Christmas season for as long as I can remember. I sent an entry in one year before I was ever published. I didn’t win, but I found I loved writing about this time of year.

Not the Same Season is a little story set in the same small town as my novel, Lies Inside. The main characters from Lies Inside make a brief appearance, but the story is all about Hannah and Mitch. It is a story about healing after loss and finding love. Both Hannah and Mitch are recently divorced and embarking on a new chapter in their lives. They stumble into each other at a time when they need each other the most.

Holiday Cure for the Cursed is something different entirely. It’s a little role reversal along with some holiday magic set in New York City. Daniel is a good-natured guy with a big heart. CiCi is a billionaire heiress who just wants to write and illustrate books for children and find someone who loves her for her, not her money. When these two meet as strangers in a coffee shop love blossoms and stereotypes fall away.

8) How much research did the books take?

A big potion of Not the Same Season takes place on a Christmas tree farm. I had a lot of fun researching different places and visiting some, then coming up with my own version of the perfect Christmas tree farm. It turned out to be a winter wonderland with Santa, gingerbread houses, and the best trees around. There was also a lot of food research done for this one. Mitch is a chef by trade, but owns a restaurant also. I found a restaurant in New York City that I modeled Mitch’s fictional restaurant on. I came up with a few of my menu items based on the theme of that restaurant’s menu.

Holiday Cure for the Cursed research was much different. The one thing I thought I needed in my mind was the layout of CiCi’s home. I spent hours looking at real estate in New York City. Some of the price tags blew me away, but for CiCi, maintaining a home like I describe in the story would be no problem. I also spent an inordinate amount of time researching coffee shops and bookstores. The coffee shop the two meet in is fictional, but the bookstore, The Strand Book Store, is very real. CiCi wrote her one Christmas story and has a book signing and reading there. I loved the thought of CiCi surrounded by children and families in a traditional store. The Strand has been in business since 1927 and boasts it’s eighteen miles of books. I thought that was the best place for the scene I had in mind for CiCi and Daniel.

9) Is it hard for you to decide on a cover?

Yes. Sometimes it is so agonizing. I spent hours going through photos to find the perfect look for both of these stories. I changed the description of CiCi’s appearance because I loved the picture I found so much; I wanted it to be on the cover. CiCi originally had blonde hair and green eyes. The picture I wanted to use had a woman with brown hair and blue eyes. The eyes would be an easy change, but not the hair. CiCi went from a flowing golden mane to a head full of luscious chocolate locks.

10) What is your next writing adventure?

While I hope to write a new Christmas story for 2015, right now I’m working on the first book of a three book series. It’s entitled Nerdy Girl Nation and will be the first in the Nerdy Girl series. Each book will take on a different theme while the leading nerdy girl finds romance in an unusual way. For the first book, nerdy girl Emma isn’t so nerdy on the outside anymore. At 30, she is a reluctant reality star forced into the limelight by being the right hand woman for a venture capitalist. When she two unexpected tragedies happen in the same day, she finds life back in the Boston area is where she needs to be. Unfortunately, back home was where she was bullied and even physically assaulted all through school. She has to face some ghosts from the past and find love while learning the ropes of her new job. Two other novels are in the works that will take place in the same universe, but with different main characters.

Lindsey Gray dreamed of several different careers as a child. On the short list were doctor, chef, and actress. None held her attention as much as putting pen to paper and creating her own world through words. Since 2010, she has published three novels and one short story with The Writer's Coffee Shop Publishing House. In 2013, she went on her first self-publishing adventure to produce her novella, Fireworks, and joined the ranks of Renaissance Romance Publishing with her novella, Holiday Cure for the Cursed. In 2014, she took on an even bigger task, hosting her own weekly Internet radio show on TMVCafe.com. She talks about books, music, movies, TV, food, and anything else she can think of every Tuesday at 7pm EST on Gray Matters.

A mid-west native, Lindsey enjoys spending time with her husband and two children, rooting for the Green Bay Packers, reading whatever she can get her hands on, and making life interesting at every turn.