Rogues Angels Present: The Mason Dixon Line by Linda Morris

Please welcome Linda Morris author of The Mason Dixon Line.

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The Mason Dixon Line

by Linda Morris

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1. What or who inspired you to start writing?

Thanks so much for having me here today! I've wanted to be a writer for as long as I could remember. I've always been a reader and made up stories in my head since I was a kid. My sisters were quite a bit older than I was and moved out when I was still very young, so I grew up like an only child in some ways. My neighborhood didn't have many other kids either, so books were my friends and playmates a lot of the time

2. What elements are necessary components for this genre.

A happy-every-after ending, of course! Characters you can relate to are another must. Notice I didn't say that the characters have to be likable every second of the day. We all mess up and make mistakes in real life, and I think a good character has to do that too. New Adult is probably more open to this than regular romance. The characters are young and still trying to figure themselves out, so I think readers are more forgiving when they screw up.

3. How did you come up with your idea for your novel?

This is a sequel to my Amazon bestseller Melting the Millionaire's Heart, and the heroine of this book, Carolyn Hart, is a teacher's aide in that book. The character of Mason Dixon is based on a combination of my husband, my son, and Dav Pilkey, author of the Captain Underpants books. (Yes, you read that right.) Mason is a creative, smart guy who grew up with special needs when that wasn't well-understood, and has a big chip on his shoulder regarding schools and teachers as a result. Obviously, when he finds himself falling for a teacher's aide in a special-needs school, there's a lot of conflict.

4. What expertise did you bring to your writing?

For this book, I bring the expertise of having a child and husband with ADHD who allow me to write a realistic character with those issues. Mason has a combination of smarts, creativity, and attitude that are very familiar to me! 

5. As far as your writing goes, what are your future plans?

I have a Mexico-set vacation fling romance called Nice Work if You Can Get It coming out from Swoon Romance later in 2014. I'm also working on a series of contemporary romance set on a small-town minor-league baseball team.

6. Can you give us a sneak peek into this book?

Sure. Carolyn Hart is a beautiful girl who grew up wealthy but is having a lot of trouble transitioning to the real world. She's changed her major a million times, dropped out of school, and has stumbled into a job as a teacher's aide at a special-needs school. She loves the job, even though it's low-paying, but she has so many debts due to her love of pretty things that she can't imagine sticking with it. Then she's thrown together to work on a fundraising project with Mason. He isn't rich, he doesn't like her at first, and he's nothing like the man she's ever pictured herself with, but he might turn out to be exactly what she needs.

7. Do you belong to a critique group? If so how does this help or hinder your writing?

I do have several critique partners who read everything I write. A good CP is worth her (or his, because one of my CPs is a guy) weight in gold. When you send a book to several CPs, you realize that this stuff is subjective and not everyone is going to agree. But a good CP can explain why something is not working and often make you see their point of view. They can be invaluable in pointing out problems you never would have been able to spot yourself.

8. When did you first decide to submit your work? Please tell us what or who encouraged you to take this big step?

I wrote throughout my twenties and submitted a few short stories to literary magazines, but never anything serious. I also had a lot of manuscripts that tipped over and died after about 70 pages. I started my first romance in 2007-2008 and sold it a couple of years later. That was Forget-Me-Not. My husband has been the biggest cheerleader and supporter of my work. I probably wouldn't be published without his support.

9. What is the best and worst advice you ever received? (regarding writing or publishing)

The worst advice hands-down was from my father, who told me, "Don't spend a lot of time on this. That way, you won't be too disappointed if it doesn't work out." If you're going to give writing a shot, you have to spend a lot of time on it! It's like saying "I know you want to play in the NBA someday, but don't waste a lot of time on basketball practice." You can't master anything without effort and practice. The best advice I ever got, and I got this from interviews with many well-known writers, including Nora Roberts and Stephen King, is, "Finish the book!" You can't go back and fix it if you don't finish the book and have something to fix in the first place.

10. Do you outline your books or just start writing?

Somewhere in the middle. I make up GMC charts as Debra Dixon outlines in her great book, "Goal Motivation Conflict: The Building Blocks of Good Fiction." These keep me on track and keep me from wandering all over the place. I also create a list of major plot points I need to hit, which gets more detailed as I write. But I can't really write to a tight outline because then it starts feeling dead and scripted to me.

11. Who is your favorite character in the book. Can you tell us why?

Mason! I love him more than any character I've ever created, and my beta readers have responded to him so positively too! He's very real, very flawed, but ultimately loving and so caring toward Carolyn, who needs him so much.

Carolyn Hart has excelled at one thing her whole life: looking good. She's always had the beauty, the style, and the attitude to turn heads. But making her own way in the world turns out to be a lot tougher than getting electing homecoming queen. She has no idea what she wants to do with her life, her credit card balance is becoming self-aware, and her love life is DOA. And now her boss at Horizons, a school for kids with special needs, has given her an unwelcome assignment: to work with a cartoonist to create a kids' book as a fundraiser for the school.

Former troubled kid Mason Dixon would do anything for the aunt who took him in after his parents gave up on him. But when he offers to illustrate a kids' book as a fundraiser for her pet cause, he winds up taking on way more than he bargained for. The gorgeous teacher's aide he's assigned to work with challenges him at every turn and makes him wonder if there's any line he won't cross for her.

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"Got a pen?" Mason asked her.

She rifled through her purse. "Yeah, here. Why?"

"Thought I'd do some drawing. Waiting is boring."

"We've been waiting like thirty seconds."

"And I've been bored for thirty seconds. I'd rather draw."

She watched him stroke his pen across his napkin and frown when the pen's nib tore the paper. "This napkin sucks. Got any paper?"

She dug through her purse again until she found a long receipt. "Sure." She handed it over.

He eyed it. "You blew two hundred and fifty-six bucks at Victoria's Secret?"

"Hey, I gave it to you so you could draw, not criticize. No judging!" Flushing, she grabbed for the receipt but he held it out of her reach, grinning. He was cute when he smiled. Damn him.

"Who said I was judging? That purchase actually sounds worthwhile." His lips curved and she had the oddest sensation he was imagining what she might have bought. "What was it? Two hundred and fifty bucks ought to buy a lot of lingerie."

She scowled. "You'll never see it, so don't worry about it."

"Oh, I don't plan on seeing it. But I can dream, can't I?"

"Is that the Mason Dixon version of flirtation?" She crooked one eyebrow. He didn't plan on seeing it? That was a first. No guy had ever come right out and admitted he had no shot at seeing her scantily clad.

Most men were optimistic that way, even if it was totally unfounded.

He looked down at the receipt and began to doodle, his cheeks reddening. "I wouldn't say I was flirting with you."

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Linda Morris is a writer of contemporary romance. She writes stories with heart and heat, along with a joke or two thrown in. Her book Melting the Millionaire's Heart was an Amazon Top 100 Series Romance bestseller.

When she's not writing, working, or mommying, she's doing yoga, reading, working in her flower garden, or baking delicious things she probably shouldn't eat. She believes that there are two kinds of people: pie people and cake people, and she is definitely one of the former. Her years of Cubs fandom prove she has a soft spot for a lost cause. A beat-up old copy of Kathleen Woodiwiss's Ashes in the Wind was her gateway drug into the world of romance novels, and she's never looked back.

Linda loves to hear from readers. You can tweet at her (@LMorrisWriter), visit her on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Linda-Morris/130241710320644, or swing by her website at www.lindamorrisbooks.com

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