Please welcome Kathy Strobos author of Partner Pursuit
Kathy Strobos will be awarding a $30 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
Partner Pursuit
by Kathy Strobos
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GENRE: women's fiction with romance/romcom/chicklit
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INTERVIEW:
1. What or who inspired you to start writing?
I love to read, and I think that inspired me to start writing. My dad was also a writer (and a doctor), so he spent a lot of time writing. I started writing when I was a kid and wrote through high school, but then I stopped in college. I picked it up again when I was working as a lawyer, and I missed the big-screen romantic comedies.
2. What elements are necessary components for this genre?
- A happy ever after or a happy for now
- A character journey – the character has to change and grow
- A love interest
- A conflict between the love interest and the protagonist
- Obstacles and an antagonist to maintain the tension
3.How did you come up with your idea for your novel?
I found it hard to find a work/life balance when I was a lawyer, so I wanted to explore that in a novel. And of course, when I was single in NYC, I was looking for The One.
4. What expertise did you bring to your writing?
I was a lawyer like Audrey for many years. I also was single for many years in New York City and had quite a few bad dates. The Speedo date was inspired by a real date, only I made it much worse for the book. Here’s an excerpt from the Speedo date:
A guy was bicycling towards her on a green ten speed—in a full-body black speedo outfit.
He stopped in front of her. “Hi, I’m Dan. Are you Audrey?”
“Yes.” Wasn’t he sweating in that Lycra suit? Not much was left to the imagination.
“Are you ready to go? Your bike doesn’t look like it goes very fast,” he said.
“No, but it’s dependable.”
“Perhaps we should meet up? I want to get in a good workout. I like to be efficient with these things. Want to meet up by the boathouse and we can get a drink there?”
Flustered and surprised, she said, “Um, I guess so.”
“Okay, see you there.”
Dan quickly bicycled out of sight. She texted Eve: Date in full-body black Speedo!?
Eve:Does he look good? How are you biking and texting me? While on date?
Audrey snorted. She started to text a reply and then decided it would be easier to explain by calling Eve.
“Not that good. He’s bicycled off so he gets his workout. We’re meeting at the boathouse,” she said as she wheeled her bike down to the bike path with one hand on the handlebars.
“Are you serious? What kind of a date is that? Why didn’t he just work out beforehand?”
“He likes to be efficient.”
“Efficient? I’m not even going to go into how nuts that sounds. Well, at least you’re getting drinks at the boathouse—that should give you time to talk, if you still have any interest. Oh, man, gotta go. Stop by later and give me all the gory details.”
And I definitely was on the lookout for someone like Jake 😊
5. As far as your writing goes, what are your future plans?
I’m hoping to publish my next book Is This For Real?in January. Here is the blurb for that one:
An opposites attract, friends-to-lovers, slow burn, fake dating romantic comedy
Love is all fun and games until somebody gets hurt. Usually me. I admit it, I’m a relationship-recluse. Ironic, given that I write romantic comedies. So, I’m on a sabbatical from dating.
Which is why fake dating my best friend Rory is foolproof. Rory suggested it because he needed a date for work functions. And I can use our experiences as fodder for my romcom novel. Plus, my sister doesn’t know it’s not real and she is thrilled that I’m not walling myself off emotionally. Her words, not mine. But I do wish she would stop saying that she always suspected there was something more between me and Rory. She should realize that we’ve been friends forever, so I’m immune to his appeal.
We would never work. Rory is such a romantic; he still believes in that perfect love similar to his parents’ marriage. My parents fought bitterly. So, we are better off as friends. I can’t risk losing our friendship, even if this might be my chance—before his ex-girlfriend wins him back.
Those flickers of attraction? Easily extinguished by cold water reality—like a two-mile hike in drenching rain over sand with wheelie luggage.
But our relationship is not sticking to the plot—or is it?
I’m working on my third novel right now, which is called Caper Crush.That’s about an artist whose painting is stolen right before it’s about to be exhibited in what she hoped would be a break-through exhibit. And then my fourth one will probably have another lawyer protagonist.
6. Can you give us a sneak peek into this book?
Here’s a scene between Audrey and Jake when Jake and Audrey meet again at his party -after she bumped into him on the street]:
“We meet again,” Jake said. “So, you’re my neighbor—a woman who knows her fairy tales as well as Shakespeare.”
“Doesn’t everyone know their fairytales?”
“Valid point. Brainwashed at an early age to believe in happy endings.”
“You don’t?” she asked, surprised. He gave off a happy-go-lucky vibe.
“I do. But why is it called a happy ending rather than a happy beginning?”
“Sounds accurately titled to me, given that I end up as a slaughtered fish,” she said, wryly. It was kind of an accurate description of dating in New York for women.
“No shooting needed. That’s my whole point. I just have to stand here and a woman will approach.”
She wished she had that self-confidence, but . . . She smiled innocently. “You are the host. I’m going to presume they’re asking you where the bathroom is.”
He laughed and nearly choked on the sip of beer he’d just swallowed. “Nobody has ever asked me that.” He looked at her as if intrigued.
Well, at least he was a good sport when challenged.
He reached out to gently pull her out of the way of someone vigorously gesturing. “Anyone here look like he could be your Prince Charming? Or you’re dating him already?”
“I’m not sure I’ve met him yet.” He looked like her Prince Charming, but there’s no way she’d tell him that. He was already very much aware that he was a catch.
“Aren’t you supposed to ‘just know’?” His eyebrow arched up again.
“Apparently, but I’ve never believed that.” She tilted her head. Kevin had ticked all the boxes, but he had definitely not been the one.
He smiled and sipped his beer, his gaze meeting hers as his lips touched the rim of the bottle. Her pulse quickened. He asked, “So, you may have met him?”
“This feels like a cross-examination. Are you a lawyer?”
“God, no. Can’t stand lawyers.”
“Lovely.” Just her luck to have an attractive, competent, self-confident neighbor—who hated lawyers.
“Don’t tell me you like lawyers?” he asked in a tone of mock disbelief.
“I am a lawyer.”
7. Do you belong to a critique group? If so how does this help or hinder your writing?
I have critique partners, and I belong to a critique group as well. They are so amazingly helpful. I highly recommend having critique partners and/or belonging to a critique group. I found them from taking creative writing classes. I find it really helpful to have someone else read my work because I’m too close to it, and so I often can’t see the problems that need fixing.
8. When did you first decide to submit your work? Please tell us what or who encouraged you to take this big step?
I joined the Romantic Novelists Association’s New Writer’s Scheme, which I highly recommend. In the RNA New Writer’s Scheme, you can submit your unpublished manuscript for a published author to review and write a report. My New Writer’s Scheme report was really helpful, with lots of constructive feedback. Her report concluded: “In this rollercoaster narrative, the plot is deftly handled, and the conclusion is fun. Partner Pursuit has plenty of the feel-good factor that makes this romantic comedy such an enjoyable and satisfactory read.” And that feedback gave me the courage to query it and to submit pieces of it in workshops so I could improve it.
9. Do you outline your books or just start writing?
I’m a pantser, so I usually just start writing. But I did take this Gotham screenwriting class this past year, and our teacher taught us this 8 sequence outline structure, so I am trying that. But I still find that I need to just start writing. Also, I love when I have my first very rough draft finished and then I read it over. I see things that are working and what’s now working, and ideas spark for how to layer in more.
10. How do you maintain your creativity?
I maintain my creativity by reading, playing with my kids or with dollhouse miniatures, and hanging out with friends. I believe in the expression that creativity fuels creativity.
11. Anything else you might want to add?
I just want to thank you for having me on this blog and to send out a big thank you to my readers. I’m so touched by your response to Partner Pursuit.
BLURB:
When a workaholic lawyer meets a fun-loving music marketing executive for opposites attract, friends-to-lovers adventures, which partnership will she choose?
Workaholic lawyer Audrey Willems is not going to take any chances with her bid to become a partner at her New York law firm—especially with only six months until the decision.
Until she bumps into Jake—her new neighbor.
Jake is a fun-loving music marketing executive who might just be The One.
He’s funny, caring, supportive—and able to kill water bugs in the bathroom.
But Jake will never date a woman married to her job. His father was a workaholic lawyer who never had time for family.
And she’s just got the case of a lifetime—the one she needs to win to make partner. Working 24/7 at the office may not even be enough hours to pull off a victory.
If only she had not met him now.
Audrey is determined to prove that she can juggle
work and romance—even if managing court cases, candlelit dinners, and bike rides around Manhattan is a lot harder than it looks. She keeps canceling dates for yet another case crisis.
But when making partner is like a game of musical chairs and the last seat is a business-class alone, which partnership will she choose?
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EXCERPT:
Jacket on the back of the chair. Check.
Desk light on. Check.
Now, Ms. Willems, your mission, should you choose to accept it: Get out of the office on the sly. Audrey snorted silently at her own badly-played movie line. She stuffed the Save the Children t-shirt she’d gotten from a Central Park Zoo benefit in her Tory Burch brown leather satchel, added as many legal pads as could fit, and plumped the bag to look like it held at least four case files. She casually leaned the bag against the side of her desk, in view of her open office door.
The excited chatter of the exiting assistants filled the hallway. She typed up the Popflicks engagement letter and then entered Popflicks as a new client into the law firm database. Yes. Her pulse quickened.
The office was now quiet. She put an uncapped red pen in the middle of a legal pad on her desk. It looked like she’d be right back. The scene called for something more. If only she had a permanently steaming cup of tea. She poured a bottle of water into a glass.
She should depart boldly, but leaving early was frowned upon by the partnership powers-that-be. They might even think she needed another assignment. She definitely did not. She had just landed Popflicks. She had stayed until 11 p.m. every night this week. Okay, so I’m not always very good at saying no. But now was not the time to say no to a partner—not when she’d been working so hard for seven years, her life on hold. Now that she was in the homestretch, she could practically see “Audrey Willemson, Partner,” embossed on her law firm’s business card.
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Kathy Strobos is a writer living in New York City with her husband and two children, amid a growing collection of books, toys and dollhouses. She grew up in New York City and graduated from Stuyvesant High School and Harvard-Radcliffe University magna cum laude. She previously worked as a lawyer. She left law to pursue her dream of writing fiction full-time and getting in shape. She is still working on getting in shape.
Facebook: @kathystrobosrewrites
Instagram: kathystroboswriter
Twitter: @kathystrobos
Amazon buy link: https://www.amazon.com/Partner-Pursuit-feel-good-fiction-Friendship-ebook/dp/B09GD8V4RS/
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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE:
Kathy Strobos will be awarding a $30 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting and for such great interview questions!
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the Angels blog. I hope you have a great tour. Allana Angel
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