Awe-Thors Blog Tour - Interview with Regan Taylor

Today my guest is Regan Taylor, a very prolific fellow Awe-Struck Publishing author. I'm always impressed with the interesting links on writing and the writing business that Regan passes along on our author loop. She is a very savvy writer! Without further ado, here's Regan!


Hi Jana!
Thank you for having me visit with you and your readers today on our blog tour.  I’m sitting here with one of my favorite triple venti lattes and a slice of cheese cake. About the cheese cake, one of my closest friends recently passed and her favorite food was cheese cake so this is for Debi. And if I might, what Debi left me with was it’s not being able to say goodbye that matters but having had the gift of saying hello because without that hello, that person wouldn’t be in your life.

Jana:  Thank you for that reminder about the importance of friendship, Regan. It's a lesson we all need to remember. About your writing - Where do you get ideas for your stories?

Regan:  Pretty much from my life. Events or things that just happen through the day. For instance, The Glass Cage was based on an experience that happened to several friends of mine as well as myself. Her World (tentative title) is based on an incident that happened at work which was pretty innocent – one of my attorneys had a meeting with some mucky muck and my imagination took off.

Jana:  Where did the idea for your latest Awestruck release come from?

Regan:  That would be The Photograph, book 1 of my Treasures Antique series. In the romance community, as a reader, we talk about wanting to meet a guy just like the heroes in our books. What would happen if one of those heroes was suddenly standing there in your life? What would you do? What would you want to happen? What if he was from another time – and had to go back. Would you brave time and space to be with that one true love?

Jana:  I love the cover for The Photograph, by the way. It's gorgeous!  How do you research? Internet, interviews, books, etc.? Do you like to research?

Regan:  It depends on the book. For my romantic suspenses I rely on my own experience working in law enforcement and then go to friends who are still officers for the most up-to-date information. For my western series (The Bride Series with Awe-struck) I’m pretty old fashioned -- I spent a lot of time in the library researching the movement west in the 1850s-60s.  I also watched some of the early westerns, like Stagecoach with John Wayne. By the way, he was quite the hottie when he was younger!  I live in a city of 54,000 people (give or take) but we are still very much a small town and our librarians are part of that atmosphere so when I’m looking for information they have been outstanding in their assistance.

Jana:  What is the most unusual thing you have ever done in the name of research?

Regan:  I wouldn’t say it was unusual per se but it was a lot of fun. For With All Dispatch, book 2 of my Treasures series which is due out in spring 2012, I spent a day taking the route my hero and heroine take as they are getting to know each other. I went to the Cheese Factory which was founded in the early 1850s and is still a fully operating cheese factor in western Novato. From there I went out through the Platform Bridge to Pt. Reyes and spent a few hours at the Pt. Reyes Lighthouse. I treated myself to dinner at the Pelican Inn – an authentic English pub and restaurant out in Muir Beach. Along the way I stopped at different places and wrote what my characters were doing and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Jana:  What authors or friends have influenced you as a writer?

Regan:  Oh gee, so many – Karin Tabke, Tawny Weber, and Allison Brennan just to name a few.

Jana:  What’s next for you? Tell me about your next or newest release?

Regan:  I have three in the works. Well actually With All Dispatch is due out in Spring 2012 and it  picks up at the end of book 1 with Molly dealing with the fall out of her roommate Carrie’s relationship with Black Eagle. She meets a guy named Gareth (it is a romance <G>) and learns something very interesting about his past, something that changes her whole world view. Book 3 of that series moves into a darker area for me with a serial killer. I’ve written a few scenes of it and talk about creepy!
And I have my first draft of Traveling Bride, book 3 of my Bride series, completed.  This one is a time travel. I can’t seem to stay away from them.

Jana:  How can readers connect with you online?

Regan:  Easiest is Regansreads @ gmail.com or my website, Regantaylor.com

Jana:  What is the biggest compliment you’ve ever received about your writing from a reader, editor, reviewer, etc.

Regan:This was about Devil’s Details where a reader said she wanted Luke to be real and to come into her life.

Jana:  What (and who) do you like to read for fun and relaxation?

Regan:  Deanna Raybourn and Tasha Alexander.

Thanks for visiting with me today! It was great getting to know you and your books a little better.