Megan Johns Invites: Angela Kay Austin

A Warm Welcome to Angela

Bestselling author Angela Kay Austin has expressed herself through words for as long as she can remember. Poems became songs performed with her cousin at every family gathering. But, eventually, short stories filled her favorite pink diary. An infatuation with music and theater led to years playing various instruments and small extra roles in TV shows before giving way to a degree and career in radio and TV production. After completing another degree in marketing, Angela found herself combining her love for all things creative and worked for many many years in promotions and advertising. But once again, she found herself writing, which led to her first published work which stayed on her publisher’s bestseller list for ten weeks. Her second release hit the bestseller list at All Romance eBooks. She’s spoken on author panels, and served on boards for various author groups. When she’s not writing, you can find her reading her favorite authors, or researching her next story idea. Angela shares her downtime with her mixed-bred rescue terrier—Midnight, in the beautiful southern state of Tennessee.

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Here's the blurb for her latest release Derailed:

When you’re given away by the people who are supposed to love you forever, it makes it hard to believe love and family really exist.

JoAn Fentress thought the military would take care of her in the way her family never did, but that didn’t happen. Homeless on the streets of Memphis, TN, she walked through the only open door she could find, and it changed her life.

Jeremy Hooks needed only to smile, and the world gave him whatever he asked of it. Eventually, people stop partying, right…at least when they’re threatened. He has one more chance to prove himself before he loses everything.

Before treating us to an excerpt, Angela Reveals:

From where do you get inspiration and what inspired you to write Derailed?

For me, inspiration comes from life: news, the local mall, church, wherever there is something happening. All of it can give me the answer to the question—what if.
Sweet Victory was birthed from my own life and today’s economy. Everyone I know can tell me a story about someone they know who has lost their job in the past two years. But, what happens next? What if, they lost their job, and then had to return to their hometown? What if there, they had an estranged grandfather and an ex-love? What if there was a ton of history which they wanted to forget? But, what if the only person or people willing to help were the people they’d hurt or who’d hurt them?
This basically becomes a story structure for me.

How do you relate to the heroine?

I relate to Victoria James, my heroine in Sweet Victory because we both had to face what do we do after we lose everything? When you have your life planned to go in one direction, and you hit a wall...what happens next?
I love that Victoria never gave up. Even when she was scared, and had absolutely no clue about what to do next.

Who controls the story – you or your characters?

My characters. I’ve tried to force story ideas. Outlined everything. Character descriptions. But, the stories wouldn’t flow. They would get stuck in the middle, but when I let go of what my ideas were, and let the characters tell me their stories, the ideas are much clearer and stronger.

What do you enjoy about writing romance?

Contemporary Romance inspires me. I don’t necessarily need fairy tales. I need to know if I work hard, and don’t give up there is a reward. That you gain ground, not lose it. So often, fairy tales replace reality. Or, worse yet, reality overtakes dreams. There has to be a balance. Why can’t life offer wonderful surprises or rewards for those who give it everything they’ve got: life, love, work, family, etc.

What do you like best and least about writing?

Not knowing what’s going to happen next.

What is the best writing advice you have ever received?

The best writers think their writing is no good J

How do you like to spend your free time?

Living. Doing anything that will allow me to have one more thing to write about.

Do you have any unfulfilled ambitions you wish to accomplish? What would you most like to accomplish this year?

There are a million things I’d like to do. I’ve crossed several off of my list: acting, writing, playing a musical instrument, travelling, etc. What I’d like to do is to continue to add to each one of these “pots.” More of all of it. Is that too greedy.
This year, I’d like to attend a conference. I also want to achieve enough sales to be considered PRO by RWA.

Now A Taste of Angela:

Derailed

“Damn it!” JoAn Fentress sprinted through the traffic of downtown Memphis, Tennessee – not much compared to Nashville, but enough to stop her from reaching her car. “Wait! Wait!”

The young driver danced to the beat of whatever played through his headphones. He didn’t see her flailing her arms, and definitely didn’t hear her pleas. He continued to hook her car to the back of his truck.

A gust of wind, powered by the bus barreling down the road beside her, blew her skirt in soft waves around her legs. The faster she ran the more the ankle strap of her shoe slipped. With one misplaced step the shoe twisted, along with her ankle, and the heel snapped. She fell to the cold hard ground beneath her, tearing and muddying the papers she carried.

The pain of her ankle pissed her off because she didn’t have time for it. Tears filled her eyes, as she stretched her hand toward the tow truck dragging her car away. Damn! Damn! Damn!

The unwanted crowd of people hovering around assisted her to her feet as they questioned her. “Are you okay?” asked one short woman watching from nearby with bags of groceries.

She stared at the car wishing for something to happen. Something to stop that truck…to give her a chance to talk to the guy towing it. No food. No clothes. Nowhere to sleep. Anger forced the tears she held back to fall. What am I going to do now?

If only the people surrounding her would go away. “Yes, thanks.” She sniffed. Annoyed with herself, she picked up her torn papers and, with the help of a young man, tried to stand. “Crap.” The sting of the pain traveled through her left leg fast.

“Maybe we should call an ambulance,” he said with a question in his voice.

How would she pay for an ambulance or a doctor’s examination? “No, I should be fine.” Tears fell steadily and heavy, now, she wished she could disappear. If she just had a few minutes to close her eyes and make it all disappear until she could figure out what to do next.

“Could you help me to the church on the corner?” she asked. “I just need to sit for a little while, and I’ll be okay.”

He looked at her, at her tears, at her torn clothes as if he didn’t believe her. “Okay.”

Day turned to night as she sat on the back pew of the church with no idea what to do next.