Author's Name: Patrice Michelle
Website: www.patricemichelle.net

Patrice Michelle writes heartfelt contemporary, paranormal and sensual romance. By the end of 2004 she will have eight books published with Ellora’s Cave and hopes to expand to other publishers in the future.

New Release:
BAD IN BOOTS II: Colt's Choice
Coming October 2004 from Ellora's Cave
olt has waited half his life to fully own the Lonestar ranch. Who’d have thought a beautiful woman would throw a wrench into his well laid plans.

Elise Hamilton…sultry green eyes, long dark hair and kissable lips, damn, he’d never been more attracted to a woman. The new part owner of his rodeo ranch might be one of the smartest, sexiest women he’d ever laid eyes on, but Colt knows she’s out of his league and 100% wrong for him. Even if he could ignore the fact she’s a city-slicker, he won’t allow himself to forget she was born with a silver spoon in her mouth. He’d learned from his father’s mistakes and had no intention of repeating history. But, like all temptations, the more he tells himself Elise Hamilton is ‘hands off’, the more he wants to put his hands on.

Elise has never really settled on any one thing in her life, be it a relationship or a career. Regardless of her nomadic ways, one constant has always held true-her love for horses and being outdoors. When she inherits half ownership to a rodeo ranch, she knows her path in life has finally been laid. Little did she expect to find her very own cowboy at the end of it.

Colt Tanner. . . tall, broad shouldered and lean hipped, there’s just something about the steely confidence the rough-around-the-edges cowboy exudes that takes Elise’s breath away. He may be her partner by circumstance, but Elise knows he’s the bon-a-fied real deal, aka, Mr. Right. But first she has to concentrate on proving to Colt she’s serious about helping him run the ranch. Man, if only all these thoughts about just how good they could be together would stop getting in the way.

Then again, maybe she can rope her cowboy and have him, too.

Patrice is an avid reader whose love of books soon extended to a career as a romance writer. But juggling a full-time job with writing hasn’t always been easy. At first, she wrote at night, sometimes until the wee hours. She’d get about four hours of sleep, get up, go to work, come home and start the process all over again. To Patrice the crazy hours were worth it because she’d finally found her calling. Now, she’s fortunate enough to be able to write three days a week.

On Friendship and Her "Big Break"

Patrice wrote for almost a year before she got her “big break”. During this time, she worked with a fabulous critique partner and participated in some awesome critique groups. She also learned what she could about the craft of writing by entering her books in RWA chapter contests.

At the same time, she discovered Lori Foster’s Brava writing contest. Even though she didn’t win, she met MaryJanice Davidson, with whom she instantly hit it off and became friends. MJ was a published author with Ellora’s Cave offered to read and critique the first chapter of Patrice’s sexy vampire novel. This novel, A Taste for Passion, eventually sold to Ellora’s Cave–Patrice’s very first sale!

On the Rewards of Writing

Patrice says she’s never felt like quitting! She loves writing too much to ever consider stopping. During slower writing times — such as when she moved house — she just kept writing and was finally able to get back up to her normal writing speed.

The biggest reward of writing are the readers. Hearing from readers and knowing that they enjoyed her stories is always a wonderful feeling for Patrice, no matter how many books she writes.

On Genre

Writing sensual contemporaries and paranormals wasn’t a concious decision on Patrice’s part. The sensual element evolved due to her love of description. Her philosophy is as follows: if she’s going to concentrate on describing the heroine and hero’s backgrounds, the internal conflicts they have to overcome, along with any external conflicts that may keep them apart, why then wouldn’t she give just as much attention to their love scene when they finally get together? That way, says Patrice, she gives the reader the full spectrum of emotions the heroine and hero experience throughout the story.

Current WIP

At the moment, Patrice is finishing up a cowboy novella, Hearts Afire, the third story in the Bad In Boots cowboy series. This novella will be part of the Hearts Are Wild cowboy anthology, which will also include authors Cheyenne McCray and Nelissa Donovan.

On Plotting

Patrice usually doesn’t write a synopsis for her stories but she does start out with kind of a three-line idea. The plot develops as she writes, along with the secondary characters that pop up as the story progesses.

On Ellora’s Cave

One reason she has enjoyed writing for Ellora’s Cave is the total freedom to write the story the way she wants to tell it. Ellora’s Cave wants a well written story with a happy ever after. Beyond that, says Patrice, pitch an unusual idea to them and you never know, they just may go for it!

Advice For New Writers

“Never give up! Believing in yourself as a writer is half the battle, but along the way, do the things you need to do to advance your career. Learn the craft, join writer’s groups, join critique groups, learn to take criticism of your writing by funneling the advice that makes sense and ignoring the rest. Most importantly, your voice is truly your own…always remember that.”

On FTHRW

“FTHRW has offered me valuable insight into the world of romance writing, a wonderful critique group, an awesome resource to ask questions as well as a fantastic support group. Thanks FTH for being the best RWA chapter!”