Today I am speaking with Cheri Valmont.

Hi Cheri! And welcome to Fallen Angel Reviews! It is great to have you with us today. Thank you for taking time out of your hectic schedule to answer questions for us. The readers would love to hear something about Cheri Valmont.

Thanks, Linda. I’m happy to take the time to answer questions for you and the readers.

Cheri, I love the lighted candles on your site. Why don’t you begin by telling us a little bit about Cajun Fire?

Well, I should probably start by talking a little about Sweet Summer Rain, which is the first in my Cajun erotica series that was released March of this year from Whiskey Creek Press Torrid.

Jonas Horville is a hard working farm hand that makes the mistake of falling in love with his best friend, Nikki Dugas, who just happens to be his boss’ daughter. They come from different sides of the tracks. Nikki is the pampered only child of a wealthy businessman and Jonas is an only son who, along with his single mother, is fighting and scrimping for every one of life’s basic needs. Jonas wants a life with Nikki and has plans to find a way to make her his wife.

When his mother falls gravely ill, Jonas is issued an ultimatum that leads to an unforgivable betrayal.
Jonas and Nikki must overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles to fight for the love they thought lost forever.

Cajun Fire is the second in the series. This is the story of Jonas’ adopted daughter, Lizabeth. She discovers a secret that changes her life, and not for the better. While she is searching for herself, a stranger comes to town. He’s the sweet-talking, hard loving, Harley-riding Jubal, whose true identity and mission could destroy Lizabeth’s family along with her heart.

She falls hard and fast for the raven-haired man with the icy eyes, but things go downhill fast when Lizabeth disappears and Jubal’s ailing father takes a turn for the worse.

Jubal is prepared to fight whoever he has to in order to find Lizabeth. And Lizabeth must fight the demons and secrets from her past before she loses the man of her dreams forever.

When you are deciding your genre, do your characters decide for you?

Usually they do. A majority of my stories come to me in dreams, like a movie. Sometimes my character’s names are in ‘my movie’ sometimes not. Every now and then I start a story that I thought was going to be an erotica, but these particular characters ‘tell’ me they want to take things slower, so they are going to be part of stories that are very spicy, but not quite erotic. Sometimes a name and idea comes to me, which might be the deciding factor. I couldn’t see Ranulf and Thera being part of a contemporary, nor could I see Jubal and Lizabeth being part of a futuristic.

What prompted you to seek Internet publishing?

I’m a member of Maryland Romance Writers. We heard about some of the up and coming e-publishers from several members who had submitted to them. I think it was the quick turn around time that attracted me the most. You hear stories about the big publishing houses taking months, sometimes years to get back on a proposal. At my age time is precious, so when I heard my critique partner was going to submit to Whiskey Creek Press, I decided to try my luck, and we were both successful.

Do you have any disappointing moments in being an author?

Not really. I do have to spend a good bit of time on self-promotion. Sometimes I long to just get to my laptop and write something, but promotion is a necessary part of the business, so I have to take it all in stride.

Do you have problems promoting yourself? What are some of the avenues you've used and do they work?

I’m basically a shy person, so self-promotion is something alien to me. I don’t want to be too pushy, but I know I have to get my name out there.

For help with promotions I’ve joined two author groups. One is Sexy Authors with Attitude and the other is the Flowers and Hearts Promotional Author’s Group. In Sexy Authors we have our own website, blog, yahoo group. The six of us run great contests where a lucky reader can win a free download of one of our books. Our yahoo group is a great place where readers and other authors and ourselves come together to talk about what everyone is reading and what the authors are working on. We just started up in April ’06 and already have over 70 members.

Through the Flowers and Hearts Group, I’m the editor of the monthly newsletter, so that helps get our F & H members news out to our readers. In our newsletter the readers can find out about news such as who has received any awards for their writing, who has a new interview out, reviews, new releases, a special feature where they can find out about things that are important to the publishing industry or the author themselves, what’s on the calendar, such as any special appearances, and contests. The group has people in charge of getting press releases out for us. We are a group of over 40 authors, so in greater numbers there are more people to share the work of promoting. We have our own websites that readers can go to that link to all the authors of the group and we also have our own yahoo group for readers who wish to get all the news first hand on what the author’s have out or coming out.

I’ve done some chats on my own and joined another author for one. I preferred the one that I joined the other author. Since I’m just starting in this business, it will take some time to get few things out so I’ll have more the share during a chat.

As far as promotional items, I’ve made bookmarks, business cards, brochures, and postcards to help get my name and my book’s name out there.

If you had the opportunity to speak to a "budding" author, what advice would you give them, and what pitfalls would you share?

Be persistent. And continue honing your craft. Learn as much as you can about the craft of writing and write the best story you can write. Although I know this is a hard one, don’t take rejection of your manuscript as rejection of you. I have been extremely lucky to have only received one rejection before being published, but some authors (great authors) have received enough to wallpaper their office. If the story is good you’ll eventually find a home for it. It might not be this year or the next or in ten, but I feel if you wrote your story from the heart, some editor somewhere will give it a chance. That’s just my personal opinion, of course. The moral to all that is persistence.

There is a lot of talk about the value of obtaining "reviews" of your work. How do you feel about having your own books reviewed and what value, if any, do you get from them?

Being shy, if I had thought too long I would have hesitated to send my book out for reviews, but the reason I did it was because I wanted the opinion of others on the story. I knew my first readers and critique partners liked it, but it was important that I find out if others did also. And I’d heard good reviews help get the buzz out on a book, even before it’s published. My website has the direct links to my reviews on Sweet Summer Rain, so when visitors started going to my website before SSR came out, they were already visiting the reviews for the book before the publication date.

Do you have anything else you would like to share with your readers?

Probably the only thing is that I hope they enjoy Sweet Summer Rain and fall in love with the family, because Cajun Fire is coming out in December 2006, and I’m presently working on the third book, about Lucas Horville.

If you could change one thing about the way you write, what would it be?

I need a more organized routine. Usually I wake and if the muse has hit me that particular morning I start writing directly and don’t want to stop. But I need to make time for research, editing, promoting, and, of course, the dreaded ‘housework’.

What about the one habit you have that you know you’ll never change?

My urge to write nonstop when the urge hits me.

What is your favorite part of writing? What about your least favorite part?

My favorite part is the writing itself. As I let the story role through my head like a movie, my characters take me on a journey, and everything else fades away. I’m a panster, so sometimes even I am surprised where my characters lead me. Sometimes they say things I never imagined they would say.

My very least favorite thing is if I have to edit to cut down the word count. I just finished cutting 1500 words from a short story I was writing and it was excruciating. But the line I am targeting will only accept a max of 8,000 words, so hence the cutting, but I always keep a copy of the original version for myself.

Do you miss your characters when you are finished with their tale? Any that you wish you could write about again?

Yes, which is why I love to write series. You put so much time and effort into the creation of these characters that they almost become like real people in your mind. I might start a story out to be a stand alone, but inevitably their family members and friends start ‘whispering’ in my ear about how good a story involving them would be, complete with the ideas.

Readers will see a good bit of the Horville family, since I’m working on the third right now. It will give them a chance to see what happens after their books end and that there is still happily-ever-after after four kids and a minivan. Sex Machine is my first futuristic short that has just been accepted by Whiskey Creek Press/Torrid for their Torrid Teaser line. I’ve just submitted the second and finished writing the third.

Every writer dreams about receiving “the call”. What were you doing when yours came in? Did you do anything special to celebrate?

My ‘call’ actually came in an e-mail. I was checking my e-mail when I saw one from the Executive Editor of Whiskey Creek Press’ Torrid division with Sweet Summer Rain as the title in the subject line. My heart started pounding, expecting the worse, the dreaded ‘rejection’, but then I noticed there was an attachment, and even in my terrified mind I realized, “If they are rejecting me, they wouldn’t be sending me an attachment, would they?” And then my heart shot into my throat, when I clicked on the e-mail and it began:

It is my great pleasure to offer you a contract. . .

WOOHOO! I was ecstatic! And raced upstairs, barging into the bathroom to inform my stunned and naked *grin* husband that Sweet Summer Rain had just been accepted.

And yes, after my husband finished his bath and dressed, he took me out to eat and celebrate.

It was an awesome experience that I will always remember.

Do you belong to any groups? Have any unfinished projects sitting around?

Besides those I mentioned above, I belong to the Passionate Ink, which is an on-line chapter of RWA’s writers of sensual and erotic romance, Erotica Readers and Writers Association, Hearts through History, which is another on-line chapter of RWA for those who write historicals, all the way from ancient to around the World Wars. I, also, belong to the PRO organization, which is a group of RWA members seriously pursuing publication or have been published with a non-RWA recognized publisher. The Dark Romance group is another I belong to, which is a group for readers and writers who enjoy the darker side of romance, vamps, weres, shape shifters, etc.

Unfinished projects? You bet. I have two mainstream Regency Set historicals that are just waiting for me to get back to them and finish. I’m working on the third in the Cajun erotica series and another contemporary erotica, but this one set in Maryland. One Victorian erotica, one medieval, one paranormal, and list goes on and on. I’m one busy lady. As you can see, I can’t be pinned down to one genre. If they’re romance, I love them.

Do you have a website other than www.cherivalmont.com that you would like to share with your readers?

You can find me through www.sexyauthorswithattitude.com, www.marylandromancewriters.org, and www.flowersandhearts.com.

Thank you so much for sharing time with us today, Cheri. Anyone interested in reading more about Cheri Valmont and her amazing books, please visit her website to read more about her fantastic works. It has been a pleasure Cheri, and I wish you the best with your writing.

Thank you, Linda, and Fallen Angels for letting me share my journey.

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