SCOTTISH SEDUCTION BLOG TOUR & GIVEAWAY: SEDUCTION OF A HIGHLAND WARRIOR with Sue-Ellen Welfonder

RCJR is thrilled to have USA Today’s bestselling author Sue-Ellen Welfonder her today chatting about her recent installment in her Highland Warrior series, SEDUCTION OF A HIGHLAND WARRIOR.  Let’s dive right in.

Romance Crush Junkies 10 Questions

It’s a pleasure to be here to celebrate Seduction of a Highland Warrior.  Thank you so much for inviting me.

RCJ:  What is the secret to staying in love with your characters and story to see it through to the end?

SEW:  Two answers.  First, there isn’t a ‘secret.’  Not regarding the creative work of writing and not re the business side of being a published author.  We all have our own path.  The next writer’s method might be entirely opposite, yet if it works for her, it’s how she needs to write and/or handle the business.

For me, the answer is writing what I’m passionate about.  I’ve loved Scotland and its medieval past all my life, so I never grow tired of this genre.  When you love what you do, passion flows into the work.  You enjoy the hours at the keyboard.  Hopefully, readers will feel that enthusiasm in the stories.

RCJ:  What is the Glen of Many Legends?

SEW:  The Glen of Many Legends is fictitious.  But it’s based on a real area of the Western Highlands.  A splendidly remote place of great beauty that I love dearly and that has all the features noted in the Highland Warriors trilogy: stretches of dark hills, lofty peaks, empty moors, and a magnificent coastline.  I chose the name because I wanted to weave a lot of legend and lore into the books.

RCJ:  Would you explain more of what the “zone” is you speak of in your acknowledgments at the end of SEDUCTION OF A HIGHLAND WARRIOR?

SEW:  Here’s the snippet:

“It’s also no secret that I believe in Highland magic.  I experience it whenever I visit Scotland.  And even when I can’t be there, I look for tartan whimsy in my day-to-day world.  I find it, too.  Most often when I am writing and slip into the ‘zone,’ the story springing to life, each touch of my fingers to the keys blurring time and distance so that I am again in the breathtaking Scottish land-and-seascapes that fire my imagination and go on to become settings in my books.”

The ‘zone’ is simply when I become so immersed in writing that my office fades away and I’m no longer at the keyboard, but in the story with the characters.  This is the magic of writing.

RCJ:  Do you remember where you were when the idea for the Highland Warriors trilogy struck?

SEW:  No.  I always have ideas whirling around in my mind.  My best ideas come when I’m walking the beach or cycling.  So that’s likely what I was doing.

RCJ:  What is one characteristic that you give all your heroines?

SEW:  They’re always strong.  They have grit and backbone and follow my personal credo: ‘chin up and keep going.’

RCJ:  What is a “must” that every hero you write must have?

SEW:  Once he meets the heroine, she has to matter above all things.  He’ll tear down mountains to keep her safe and he’ll face down the devil, sacrifice anything to win her heart.

RCJ:  What would you claim makes a glorious villain?

SEW:  Something about him must be engaging.  One of my favorite villains was Kenneth in Devil In A Kilt, my debut title.  He was handsome, charming, and deadly.  A villain that is ‘only’ evil is boring.  Something else must be in the mix, something compelling, or they’re only a stick figure.

RCJ:  What is the writing life and day of Sue-Ellen Welfonder?

SEW:  I’m a night owl, so my days begin late.  Mornings, I drink rivers of coffee and slowly coming to life as I do household chores, walk my dog, and then cycle for at least an hour.  I live on a Gulf Coast island and get out to enjoy nature several times a day.  While I cycle or walk the beach, I go over the story so when I return to my desk, I’m ready to work.  I write 1,000 words at a stretch, with 3,000 words a day as my goal.  Evenings I walk the beach again, or cycle.  I read for pleasure after supper and tackle the real work done after midnight.  My best writing happens in the small hours, with me finally going to bed about 3 a.m.  I love the stillness of the night.

RCJ:  What would readers be surprised to find out about you?

SEW:  That German is my everyday language, spoken in my home.  I’m not German, but I married one and lived there most of my adult life.  I speak, read, and write German fluently.  It isn’t my mother tongue, (English is), but I’ve been speaking German for so many years, it’s the language I’m most comfortable with.  I only use English when writing, in emails to American friends or outside my home when I meet with US friends, etc.

RCJ:  What is it about Scotland that you find so magical?

SEW:  Like many people who love Scotland, I’m of Scottish descent and was raised to love and appreciate my ancestral heritage.  My love of Scotland has always been there.  I feel it as an irresistible pull, ever-present and tugging on my heart, always calling me ‘home.’  Even without such a family background, I’d be captivated by the beauty of the land.  Who can resist all the mist-draped hills and heather, the glens and moors, sparkling lochs, and castles?  Scotland enchants in so many ways, tantalizing history buffs with centuries of tragedy and triumph, and such a colorful blend of legend and lore.  Every stone, each breathe of wind, blade of grass or hint of peat smoke in the cold, damp air tells a story.  It’s all steeped in a past full of courage, heartbreak, and incredibly proud and strong people.  I really do believe in Highland magic.  I’ve felt it on my trips there and, when I can’t be there, it lives on in my heart, always.

Thank you so much for inviting me here today. 

Highland Blessings!

Sue-Ellen Welfonder

www.welfonder.com

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780446561792

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Publication date: 1/29/2013

Series: Highland Warriors Series

Format: Mass Market Paperback

Pages: 432

Overview

At the King's request, chieftain Alasdair MacDonald has sworn to preserve the peace in the Glen of Many Legends. Though he's handsome and fearless, his warrior's heart belongs only to his beloved land-until the fair sister of his oldest enemy shatters his defenses, branding his skin with a single touch, and sealing his fate with one stolen kiss . . .

Lady Marjory Mackintosh will do anything to unite the warring clans, even seduce Alasdair MacDonald. She has loved the rugged Highlander since she first saw him and now, as temptation leads to surrender, Marjory dares to possess him, body and soul. But a dangerous new menace enters the Glen, and he will stop at nothing to strip Alasdair of his honor-and the only woman who can claim his heart.

 Sue-Ellen Welfonder is a Scotophile whose burning wish to make frequent trips to the land of her dreams led her to a twenty-year career with the airlines.

Now a full-time writer, she's quick to admit that she much prefers wielding a pen to pushing tea and coffee. She makes annual visits to Scotland, insisting they are a necessity, as each trip gives her inspiration for new books.

Proud of her own Hebridean ancestry, she belongs to two clan societies: the MacFie Clan Society and the Clan MacAlpine Society. In addition to Scotland, her greatest passions are medieval history, the paranormal, and dogs. She never watches television, loves haggis, and writes at a 450-year-old desk that once stood in a Bavarian castle.

Sue-Ellen is married and currently resides with her husband and Jack Russell terrier in Florida.

You can learn more at:

www.welfonder.com

Facebook, www.facebook.com/pages/Sue-Ellen-Welfonder

Twitter, @se_welfonder.

I hope you had a blast getting to know today’s featured author.  USA Today's Bestselling author Sue-Ellen Welfonder in her majestic Highland Warrior Series, SEDUCTION OF A HIGHLAND WARRIOR.  If you are looking for intrigues and high stakes among the dark Scottish highlands that look no further than Sue-Ellen Welfonder's magnetically engaging world world.

In celebration of SEDUCTION OF A HIGHLAND WARRIOR’s release and Sue-Ellen Welfonder’s appearance today RCJR eZine.  Along with Ms. Welfonder we will be giving one (1) lucky reader a copy of THE SEDUCTION OF A HIGHLAND WARRIOR.

Here’s how to enter.

*Leave a comment for Sue-Ellen Welfoner.

*Become a follower of RCJR eZine Blog

*Like us on Facebook

*Spread the word on Facebook and Twitter #ScottishSeductionBlogTour

*Follow us on Twitter @ RCJReviewsEZine

Please leave your email in your comment.

Contest runs until February 21, 2013

Winner will be contacted directly on February 22, 2013

Happy Reading! =)