Interview: Claire Baxter

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your writing career.

I’m an Australian romance writer. I started writing in 2003 when I left my job as a corporate communications manager to write a book – just to see if I could. I didn’t know I was going to write romance, but every one of my early stories contained a central love story, so I did some research and – aha! – discovered that I was a romance writer.

Fast forward 10 years (where did that time go?) and I’ve had several romance novels published, as well as numerous short stories which have been published in women’s magazines in Australia, the UK and South Africa. My current release is a romantic comedy from Random Romance (Random House Australia’s new digital imprint), and I have a fun category romance coming out from Entangled Bliss in September.

What advice would you give yourself if you could go back in time before you were published?

That’s an easy one. START WRITING SOONER!

I feel as if the first 20 years of my career were wasted time – just think how many books I could have written in that time. J

What was the hardest part of writing your book?

Hmm, I’m afraid it’s the same part of every book – the middle. It’s not the fault of the book, it’s my process. The first quarter flies out of my fingers, then I slow down and start to doubt myself. I worry that the current book is the first one I won’t be able to finish. I know this is the way I work, yet it takes me by surprise every time. How silly is that?

The only way through is to plod on until I reach the end of the third quarter, and then the final quarter is fairly easy to write.

What were the last three books you read?

Don’t Want to Miss a Thing – Jill Mansell

I’ll Be There For You – Louise Candlish

Tempting the Bride – Sherry Thomas

Do you read horoscopes?

Yes, I do! Every day. It’s my guilty pleasure before I start writing. I read several daily horoscopes, a few weekly ones and a couple of monthly forecasts.

My sign is Taurus, and the general astrological description of a Taurean is spot on for me. I keep promising myself that one day I’ll find out more about astrology. It interests me.

Fast Facts:

Coffee or tea? Coffee mid-afternoon, tea any time.

Morning or night? Morning for working, night for sleeping.

Rivers or oceans? Oceans.

White wine or red? White.

Champagne or liquor? Champagne.

Cupcakes or ice cream? I love them both, but if it’s a pink cupcake, then there’s no contest. I can’t resist a pink cupcake.

Laptop or desktop? Laptop.

Casual or couture? Casual.

Ponytail or headband? Ponytail.

Shower or bath? Shower.

Summer or winter? Spring and Autumn. Summer is too hot, and winter is too cold.

Motorcycle or bicycle? Bicycle.

Author Bio

Claire Baxter writes contemporary romantic fiction of all lengths. Her short stories have been published in commercial women’s magazines around the world, while her novels have been translated into 20 languages, and have been nominated for the Romance Writers of Australia's Romantic Book of the Year Award, the Booksellers’ Best Awards, the RT Book Reviews Reviewers’ Choice Awards, and the Cataromance Reviewers’ Choice Awards (winner, Best Harlequin Romance).

Before following her passion to write full-time, Claire was an award-winning corporate communications manager. Earlier, she worked as a translator and a PA.

Claire grew up in Warwickshire, England, but for more than 20 years has called Australia home. She considers herself lucky to live near one of Adelaide’s beautiful metropolitan beaches where she loves to walk and think up stories.

Book Blurb (Anybody But Him)

A deliciously funny rom com from Random Romance. What happens when you fall in love with the man you hate?

Nicola Doyle's dating record is a disaster, and it doesn't improve when she returns to Redgum Valley, after an absence of twelve years, to look after her increasingly eccentric parents. There, she's thrown into regular contact with Blair Morrissey – the very reason she couldn't wait to leave town in the first place.

The decade-old scars are still raw from that humiliating day in high school – when Blair went from the boy she loved to the boy she hated.

Except Blair doesn't seem to be a ‘bad boy' any more – in fact, he's charming, infuriatingly helpful and extremely attractive.

If only Nicola could forgive and forget . . .

Links

Email: claire@clairebaxter.com

Website: http://www.clairebaxter.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClaireBaxterAuthor

Twitter: @ClaireBaxterAu

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/374466.Claire_Baxter

So great having Claire on the blog! I love that she reads horoscopes. Do you? What's your sign? Because comments are awesome, one lucky commenter will win one of the ebooks featured on this blog's sidebar.

xoxo ~Marisa