Welcome new author PJ Schnyder, this is her very first author interview so be easy on her

WLP: Welcome PJ, thanks for stopping by! Can you tell us a little about your book?

PS:  First, though, I wanted to thank you for interviewing me. I’ve really enjoyed your blog and following you on Twitter.

Heart’s Sentinel is my debut novel and the first in a series titled Terra’s Guardians, set in a post-apocalyptic world where humans are rebuilding cities of technology and shape shifters are restoring the wilds of nature. There’s a third group, mysterious hunters, preying on humans and shape shifters alike. Here’s the blurb for Heart’s Sentinel, to be released by Decadent Publishing in early August:

“Mackenzie never wanted to be a shape shifter. She ran to the jaguars of  River Gap pride to end the nightmare of being stalked and to come to terms with the brutal attack that Changed her. Adam, a River Gap Sentinel, is assigned as her guard and mentor. Even though she ignites flames of primal desire in him, he holds himself back,well aware of his strength and how new she is to the shape shifter world. To survive the stalker, though, they both need to first battle their pasts and learn what it means to truly be the sentinels of each other’s hearts.”

WLP: Can you also tell me about Decadent Publishing, how long it took you to write & the release date?

PS: Heart’s Sentinel will be released on August 6th by Decadent Publishing ( http://www.decadentpublishing.com/), a new e-book to print publisher opening August 1, 2010. The initial draft took me about 3 months to write. I work a “day job” full time and travel for business a lot, so writing was an hour here and there or time stuck at an airport. I first sent the revised manuscript out for query in August of last year and received some constructive feedback, stepped away from the manuscript for a bit then came back with a clear head. I also took the time to join a very good online writing group, got some great beta readers *waves Hi* and learned to identify more issues in my writing. Armed with that, I hit Heart’s Sentinel again for a fresh round of revisions. When I submitted to Decadent Publishing, Lisa Omstead was incredibly positive in her response and made an offer!

WLP: What do you think was the hardest part of the process?

PS: The synopsis! LOL. After all the plotting and drafting, revising and then revising again (maybe again) – it was really tough to look at the polished manuscript and realize I needed to distill it down to a couple of pages. And not just the plot! I needed the synopsis to be engaging and reflect the voice of my manuscript too. It’s an odd feeling to be sort of done, but not really – because you’ve got the synopsis and query letter to write to complete your submission package.  And then there’s the blurb… O.o

WLP: When you sold, what was the first thing you bought yourself?

PS: Actually I was researching netbooks, but I didn’t buy one until I sold my second story to Decadent Publishing. Red’s Wolf, a novella in the same series as Heart’s Sentinel, will release August 30th. I now have a shiny Asus EeePC netbook to take with me on travel so that I can write at the bar or on the plane in coach even when the person in front of me has their seat back.

WLP: What is your favorite part about being an Author?

PS: I love creating experiences for my characters, for me and for my readers to savor and enjoy. I love to build worlds and put my characters into situations that run the full range of emotion. I’m not always nice to my characters. In fact, a lot of times I’m pretty mean, but then I make it up to them… especially in the love scenes. I have a whole lot of fun writing sex.

WLP: Looking at your covers, I notice someone very familar… Charles Paz (Mr. Romance 2009). How did you go about getting Charles on your covers?

PS: As part of my documentation, I was sent a Book Cover Questionnaire. I provided information on the title, genre, setting and descriptions of the hero and heroine as well as any other key information or suggestions for the cover. That questionnaire was provided to the designer. In that questionnaire, I was able to add a note requesting Charles since Decadent had signed him as a model and a photographer for their covers.

Thank you PJ for stopping by and congrats! You can find PJ on her website! PJ has offered up one lucky person the chance to win a copy of Hearts Sentinel in E-Book format. Just tell us what you would buy if you signed your first book contratc! Open worldwide, Contest ends on Friday July 23rd.

**Decadent Publishing is giving away a free Kindle as part of the debut celebration.  The winner will be drawn from their customer base on September 1st, so readers should head on over and check out the titles of Decadent Publishing when they open August 1st. Heart’s Sentinel (Aug 6th) and Red’s Wolf (Aug 30th) will be waiting for them and so will short stories by my very good friends, Seleste deLaney and Robert Roman.**