Tell us a little about yourself and your background?
I write steamy, heartfelt, small town contemporary romance. I like to call it happily ever afters with sexy times, a healthy dose of snark, and all the feels.
I’m also a podcaster, co-hosting The Misfits Guide to Write Indie Romance with Adrienne Bell.
For fun, I read all the panty-melting romances I can get my hands on and drink gallons of coffee. I also love tacos. And the beach.
Currently I live in North Georgia, but I hope to move to the beach in the next few years.
By day, I work in finance. One of the things I like about being an indie is that I’m able to use my business skills and created a small press that I do all of my book things through.
How did you come up with the idea for your “Madison Ridge” series?
Originally, it was going to be set in a small island resort town off the coast of GA. But then I had this idea that ended up being Trouble Me, which was what if a recovering alcoholic is forced to work in a winery? So I moved the setting to the small mountain town I live in that is touristy and has several wineries. It was great fun researching and easy since I’m about a ten minute drive to about a half dozen wineries and tasting rooms. As much as I love the beach I don’t live near it right now, so it made research a little more difficult.
What are your current projects?
Currently, I’m working on a story that will be part of Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward’s Cocky Hero World as well as a novella for the Madison Ridge series. I’m also getting the process started to have my second book in the Madison Ridge series turned into an audio book. So I’ve got my hands full!
Do you believe in writer’s block?
Not really for me. I think that your mind can make you believe you don’t have a word to say, making you feel “blocked”. But in my case, that’s usually a symptom of some other issue I’m having. It can be a story issue I can’t see yet or it can be an issue with the story that I don’t want to acknowledge for whatever reason. Once I get past that, I’m good to go. But getting past that is the hard part.
I see you wrote a non-fiction book, “30 Days to the End”. Do you actually write most of your books in 30 days?
No, I wish! But I have done several novel length stories in 30 days. The purpose of the book was to offer writers 30 days of inspiration. It can be a long and sometimes tedious road to write a novel in that time-frame. We all need a little cheerleader!
I see you are Indie published, what would you say are the main advantages and disadvantages of self-publishing against being published or the other way around?
Advantage: being in control of what you publish, when you publish, how you publish, being able to pivot and keep up with trends while they are happening. Better royalty rates.
Disadvantages: being responsible for what you publish, when you publish, how you publish, and having to cash flow it yourself.
What is your favorite positive saying?
To help remind me with time management and priority, I say
“I can make more money, but I can’t make more time.”
So when I’m short on time, I try to prioritize the things that I know will move the needle (such as writing) over items that need to be done (like admin items) but can be done when I have more time.
But my all-time favorite positive saying that I apply in all places of my life is
“One Day at a Time.”
You can apply it to anything and in reality, it’s really the only thing we have semblance of control of, the present time. If I think of the past, I get depressed and if I think of the future, I get anxious. So I try to stay in the one day at a time.
What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
Take the time to learn the craft and a process that works for you. You can save yourself a lot of time and frustration if you do that first.
Where can readers find you on the World Wide Web?
They can find me at elizapeake.com and on Facebook where I have a page and a reader group, as well as Instagram.
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