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Rachel Lee is one of the most popular romance writers currently in print. Writing under two names, Rachel Lee and Sue
Civil-Brown, readers are fascinated with her heartwarming characters and touching storylines. I am thrilled to introduce readers,
both newcomers and established fans, to Ms. Lee.
Before I get to the interview, Ms. Lee wanted to include a note about the recent tragedy that all of us have
been facing. September 11th, 2001 our lives were changed, and Ms. Lee has included her own thoughts and feelings.
Tracy Farnsworth
Rachel Lee- I would like to say a few words about the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon. In this time of horror, my heart and prayers go out to everyone who was touched by this atrocity, to all the families
and friends who have lost loved ones, to all the people of the world and this country who have lost their sense of security. I
read that many of us aren’t sleeping well, and are crying a lot, and I am certainly among those.
In this time, I pray that we, as a world, now come together to find a way to guarantee peace to all of
mankind. Certainly every person in this world deserves the right to live without fear of such acts. Perhaps now we can at last
realize that we are all brothers and sisters, and that this planet contains only one family: the family of humanity.
I salute the firefighters and police who ran into the burning buildings to save lives and lost their own. They
represent the best that we can be. I salute the passengers aboard the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania, for giving their lives
to save others. I salute the men and women in our armed forces, among them my stepson and my nephew, for being willing to stand
for us now. And I hope and pray that no one ever has to grieve again the way so many have had to grieve since September 11.
TF- You have had an outstanding career with multitudes of books to your name. Who were some of your favorite
authors growing up?
RL- Now this is a tough question. That’s a long way for me to look back! But I seem to remember that as I was
growing up, after I graduated (if any of us ever does!) from Dr. Seuss and the Madeleine stories, I gravitated to the big names of
the fifties and sixties: Lederer, Uris, Michener, et. al. I also went through a period in high school where I devoured Asimov as
well as Simak and other SF writers. I must have read DUNE a half dozen times. Later I discovered Tolkien, and am still in awe of
his mastery of the English language. For me, reading Tolkien is like reading a symphony.
TF- With such a prolific career, how do you keep the ideas fresh? Do you have any hobbies or rituals that
help to break up the stress from having to meet deadlines?
RL- Keeping ideas fresh is a constant challenge for me now. When I first started, I had so many ideas I couldn’t
possibly have written them all. These days’ coming up with something new is becoming quite a challenge. I have found that
reading non-fiction gives my brain a rest, and stirs ideas. Reading the newspaper also does, as it seems to give me ideas for
characters. And sometimes painting little plaster houses for my Christmas village can completely cut my brain loose from cares,
and allow creativity to emerge.
As for ways to break up deadline stress…well, there really isn’t any, you know. J Deadlines are deadlines,
and my home is my office, so I rarely really escape from work. But I’m very active in my church, which brings me in contact with
wonderful people, I volunteer in the prison ministry and in other capacities. In this way I refresh my spirit…and writing often
seems to drain me spiritually, as I have to live through my characters’ problems with them. However, volunteering in its own way
adds stress, because I sometimes find I have more demands on my time than I can meet. Occasionally I have to hide away completely
just to get my writing done.
TF- You started writing at an early age. You helped write a play in third grade. What was the play
about?
RL- I laugh about this now. I was on a committee designated to script a play about our social studies lessons.
Unfortunately, I was the only one on the committee who was actually willing to write anything, a great life lesson, I suppose: If
you want it done, do it yourself. Anyway, we wrote a quiz show format, with questions and a panel to answer them, and did some
songs from other countries.
TF- (When and if you have time to read.) What is on your TBR pile right now?
RL- Oh, my goodness. I have a huge TBR pile. It teetered off my bedside table and is now tottering on
some empty bookshelves in the sitting area. I have everything from speculative non-fiction to suspense awaiting my attention.
There’s John Sandford’s latest, some new authors I’m trying for the first time, the entire Nuala McGrail series, Carol O’Connell’s
most recent, some books about Judaism by David Wolpe, and St. Faustina’s diary. Talk about eclectic.
TF- What advice would you have for would-be writers?
RL- Apply your fanny to the chair, as Nora Roberts so succinctly said. Read what you want to write, and read it
in huge quantities so you internalize your genre. Then write. Don’t stop to rewrite, just get your ideas down as they strike
you, and keep the momentum going. When you have finished a draft will be soon enough to come back and rewrite. "Paralysis of
analysis" keeps a great many good writers from ever finishing a work.
Always remember that no one but you ever has to see your first draft. J You can fix it all you want later.
TF- With the October release of UNDER SUSPICION, you tap into the world of archaeology again. Do you frequent
museums when time allows? If so, what are some of your favorite exhibits?
RL- I majored for a while in archaeology as an undergrad, and the subject has always fascinated me. Life drew me
along other paths, but I’ve never lost the interest. I recently visited an exhibit "Mysteries of the Incas" and loved
it. Right before that, I saw a fascinating exhibit on Alexander the Great. Some of my favorite haunts, when I can get there, are
the Smithsonian, and the Museum of Natural History in New York. Mainly, though, because of time and travel limitations, I rely on
books. Cremo and Thompson’s FORBIDDEN ARCHAEOLOGY has lately had me whooping with delight; it brings up a great many things that
troubled me as an archeology major.
TF- Your characters are always very vivid and easy for fans to relate to. Do you base their quirks on people you
know or have met, or do their qualities come solely from your own ideas?
RL- Ahhhh. J This could be a dangerous question. No, I don’t base my characters on real people. Never have,
never will. But like anyone else, I draw on my life experience. I draw on things that have happened to me, emotional experiences I’ve
had or shared with others. No one can ever be in anyone’s mind or heart except one’s own, you know.
THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE, considered one of the great war novels of all time, was based on Crane’s experience
playing football. The writer’s art is to take personal experiences and extrapolate them to other situations. A writer must
develop an empathy, based on her own experience, that broadens the individual experience to the human experience.
One of my favorite quotes (I wish I could remember who said it) is: "Writing a novel is the psychological
equivalent of walking stark naked down a city street at high noon."
TF- One of topics at TRRC in September was favorite settings in romance. What is your ideal romantic setting?
RL- My bedroom. Seriously. It is our escape, our haven. We have a sitting area, replete with books (our whole
house is lined with bookshelves!), TV, DVDs, a small fridge for water and snacks, a love seat… well, you get the picture.
J There we can hide from anything.
But if I had to pick a setting away from home, it would be on a sailboat in the Caribbean, with no schedule to
keep. Or St. Augustine, where we recently spent one of the most enjoyable vacations we’ve ever had.
TF- Here is one question to which I know a number of people are dying to hear the answer. Your website has been
down for a while now. When can fans expect it to be available again?
RL- My URL was heisted. No other way to put it. I never received a renewal notice, and some company in Jordan
snapped it up as soon as the registration lapsed. However, I’ve recently registered two new URLs, which will point to the same
site, and have a web designer working on updating and repairing the mess my last designer left me with. I can’t say for sure
when exactly it will be up and running, but in a couple of months readers should be able to find it at either www.rachel-lee.com,
or www.suecivil-brown.com.
TF- What can your fans look forward to in the near future?
RL- In February I have another Whisper Creek book coming from MIRA, titled JULY THUNDER, the story of Sam
Canfield, the deputy, and a schoolteacher who band together to fight a forest fire and heal their wounds from the past. I’m also
working on a new Conard County story to be part of an anthology from Silhouette next August. For those readers who have asked for
a story about Joey Yates, this is it. He returns to town as a Marine, who has come home to bury a friend. There will also be
another suspense from Warner, but title and date as yet are unknown. And, of course, not to be forgotten, I’m finishing up
another comedy for Avon set in Paradise Beach. This time the town becomes entangled in a mob war.
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WARNER RELEASES:
BEFORE I SLEEP (7/99)
AFTER I DREAM (3/00)
WHEN I WAKE (11/00)
UNDER SUSPICION (10/01)
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Other titles are available, check your local bookseller or Amazon.com for titles and more information.
(Click here for a review of Under Suspicion)
(Click here for a review of Next Stop Paradise)
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