Interview With Author Rae Lee Benton
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have written 5 novels and 1 short story. As much as I love to write, I love to read even more. When I’m not writing, I’m reading. Sometimes a brand new book. Sometimes a book I’ve read a dozen times before.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest is a short story titled Tempted in the Vineyard. It’s about a wedding taking place in a wine vineyard. It was inspired from the many tales of bridezilla hijinks I have heard.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I can’t think of anything unusual. I do a lot of pre-writing; outlines, treatments, etc. But the most unusual thing I can think of is sometimes my characters get a mind of their own. I can plan for them to do one thing, only for them to tell me that they would actually do something else. Which can be aggravating when that thing is contrary to the plot.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I love the dry wit of Jane Austen. And believe it or not, Agatha Christie. She wrote some of the most intricate and complicated plots that managed to come together neatly in the end.
What are you working on now?
A Christmas novel called The Santa Seduction. Hijinks ensue at an office Christmas party.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I have a website: https://raeleebenton.weebly.com/
And also a mailing list: https://mailinglist2.eo.page/raeleebenton
I have also put ads on bookbub, but that worked better for one book than the others.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Ideas tend to swirl around my head for years. But they take on a new life when I write them down. Stop waiting for perfection and just write. The more you write, the better you’ll get.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work. – Stephen King
What are you reading now?
Sanditon and Other Tales by Jane Austen. It includes her novella Lady Susan and her incomplete novels, Sanditon and The Watsons.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I haven’t thought much farther than the next story. Eventually, I guess, I will start a series. But I have to come up with a good idea for one first.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Persuasion by Jane Austen
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
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