Welcome Sharon Kleve

Good morning Anna,
Thank you for having me on your blog today.

Welcome. Great to have you here. Tell us about yourself.
I was born and raised in Washington and currently live on the Olympic Peninsula with my husband.
(Not too far from me on Vancouver Island)
I am a writer of paranormal and contemporary romance. I love romance. I love reading romance, living romance, and especially writing about romance. I get no greater feeling than watching my characters come alive in each other's arms. Most of all, I love giving my characters the happily ever after they deserve—with a few bumps and bruises along the way.
One of my favorite things to do is picking up a new book and sinking into the story, immersing myself in the emotions between the characters. I hope to inspire my readers the same way my favorite authors have inspired me.
When not writing, I can usually be found either curled up in my recliner with my cat and a good book, or in the kitchen baking sourdough bread or bagels.

Have you had other careers before becoming a writer?
Oh, I had a cosmetology license at one time, worked at a fish cannery, sold cosmetics, I waitressed, who hasn't, right? 

Quite a variety. Are you a full time writer or do you have a “day job”?
The last 18 years I've worked as a government contractor. But I started about 2 1/2 years ago at night, weekends and any free moment I had.

How much time do you spend promoting your books? What method of promotion works best for you?
Well, it all depends on if I have a new book coming out. I spend a couple hours a day with a new book and then it trickles down to a couple days of week. I always answer fan email and check Facebook, Twitter and my blog daily though.

Do you have critique partners? How did your critique group form?
I wasn't part of a critique group until recently. When I was invited to join an established group of best-selling authors I was thrilled, nervous and worried I couldn't contribute the quality they deserved. Now I realize how important this kind of group is to an author. You need support, constructive criticism and great food and wine..ha ha!

Was your road to publication difficult or a walk in the park?
Unless you're super human it's never a walk in the park to get published. I was fortunate to meet my Publisher at my first Romance Writers of America meeting. Jennifer Conner at Books To Go Now gave me support and encouragement throughout the editing and re-writing of my first story. In December of 2011 Books To Go Now published my first story and have subsequently published five more stories, three anthologies and my first print book will be available very soon.

Do you have a view in your writing space? What does your space look like?
At home, I have a huge bay window that opens and looks out into out front yard. I have multiple bird feeders scattered everywhere so I get a variety of birds and critters visiting. Sometimes it's distracting but for the most part it relaxing.

Sounds wonderful. You live in a beautiful part of the world. Tell us about your hero. Give us one of his strengths and one of his weaknesses.
The Corny Myers Series, Steve Spears is tough, sexy cop who loves Corny. He has a weakness for the spin cycle on the washing machine.

I am intrigued! Tell us about your heroine. Give us one of her strengths and one of her weaknesses.
She loves animals and will do anything to keep them safe, which brings me to her weakness. She'll do anything to keep them safe.

Will you share some encouraging words for authors still struggling for that first contract?
They should contact Books To Go Now. Their Mission is to Support our Authors. Promote their Works. Help them to Achieve Success.
Their staff works one-on-one with authors to help them to create wonderful works of fiction. Upon publication they use a successful multi-platform strategy to promote and market their work. They have helped many authors become International and Domestic Best-Sellers.
Books to Go Now offers professional editing, cover design, multiple book format file creation, and most important--publicity. Here is their link. http://www.bookstogonow.com/

Sharon will give away a copy of The Corny Myers Series to one lucky commenter. Please be sure to leave your email address, substituting at for @ and dot com for .com.

Where can readers find you, Sharon?
http://www.sharonkleve.com/
http://authorsharonkleve.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/sharonrkleve
https://twitter.com/SharonKleve
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5399389.Sharon_Kleve
http://pinterest.com/srkleve/
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/sharon-kleve/56/ab/691/
http://www.authorsden.com/visit/author.asp?authorid=170105
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Sharon-Kleve/e/B006JAH14S

Thank you for guesting with me, Sharon.