Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Hi. My name is Opal Carew and New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. I write erotic romance, mostly contemporary, but I have also written futuristic and fantasy romance, and a few erotic stories without the romantic relationship. I have published 20 books. 10 novellas, and 7 short stories. That doesn’t include some things I did many years ago that I haven’t kept track of. lol
So why do I like writing erotic romance? I like being able to push beyond traditional boundaries. I like dealing with a woman who is growing and evolving – questioning her sexual boundaries and pushing past them. I have been writing stories that involve multiple characters and it’s fascinating to work with the interactions between them. What fun to write a heroine choosing between two equally appealing heroes? My current project involves a group of several people who interact sexually and I find the scenario an enjoyable challenge.
I try to keep my characters real. I like to have a heroine with whom the reader can empathize. These aren’t women who just jump into bed with anyone. They find themselves in an unusual situation – something exciting and erotic – but a situation where they have to push themselves beyond their comfort level. As a result, they grow as a person. So often fear holds us back – of what others will think of us, of what we will think about ourselves – and we don’t follow our hearts. These women push past that fear.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is His To Possess and I wrote it because I wanted to write about a woman who has a one night stand with a dominant billionaire while in another city searching for a job, then winds up working for him. I love those kinds of stories and wanted to do my own take on it.
Before the story opens, she had a torrid affair with a tattooed, bad boy rock musician and fell in love with him, but he walked out on her. Of course, he turns up hoping to win back her love.
Once I’d written this story, I had to go back and write the story of her with her bad boy biker, so that is how Taken By Storm, the prequel, was born.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Haha. So many! I write any time of the day or night, which no real schedule. I am often writing at 4 a.m. or even 7 a.m., but I assure you, it’s not because I got up early! In extreme cases, I’ve been known to still be writing into early afternoon before I call it a day.
I go through different phases in what I like to do. For instance, I like to meditate for a short time before I start to write, because it clears my mind and allows me to tap into my inner muse, and for a while I used Qigong as part of my meditation. (Qigong is a practice of aligning breath, movement, and awareness.) Sometimes I use a focus like a candle and put on Reiki music.
But most of the time, I just sit down and write. I always have a glass of water by my side, in a covered cup with a straw, because otherwise my cats come and stick their noses in it! Or their paws.
Also, I know authors who use productivity programs to keep them writing faster and without getting distracted, but they sounded too rigid to me, so I came up with my own technique. Sometimes, if I really want to get myself moving, I’ll put on a timer for about ten minutes and write as fast as I can without stopping. When the timer goes off, I stop, give myself a moment to breath, then figure out where to go from there, then set the timer again!
What are you working on now?
I’ve just started a new book which is about a biker gang who kidnaps a woman. This story follows the same hot, sexy tattooed bad-ass biker introduced in the novella I wrote for the Riding Desire boxed set, called Hot Ride.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’ve found that the best way to promote myself and my books is to collaborate with other authors in boxed sets or other projects (like a continuity series I’m in called Invitation to Eden) where we cross promote each other and grow all our audiences.
Many readers wonder how authors can sell a multi-book boxed set at such a low price. Clearly, we couldn’t do it all the time, because we wouldn’t be able to make a living selling our stories for such a low price, but it is worth doing for a limited time on a few projects in order to have new readers try our work. Of course, we hope that they will fall in love with our stories and want more!
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