Meet E. Ayers Who Writes Down The Middle

Let's start the day with a cup of coffee, a jelly donut, and a visit with author E. Ayers, the Amazon best-selling author of western and contemporary romances.

Her books are never too sweet or too hot--she writes down the middle. E. is proud to be part of the Authors of Main Street, an elite group of award-winning and best-selling contemporary authors.

Find E. Ayers Online

Twitter: @ayersbooks

Blog: http://ayersbooks.wordpress.com

Amazon Author Page: http://amzn.com/e/B005AYJ0XE

Authors of Main Street Newsletter (Subscribe today): http://ow.ly/xel3e

E. Tackles The Dirty Dozen

1. In which genre do you write and why that particular genre?

Mostly I write contemporary romances. But I’ve ventured into historical western romance. I find I’m more comfortable writing contemporary and contemporary western romances.

2. What's your most recent book and what's it about?

I have 3 books, and they’ve all been released in less than 40 days.

I Thee Wed, part of the Weddings on Main Street Box Set and is the story of Julia, the adult daughter of Cody (hero in my second new release, With This Ring).

Julia is a product of broken marriages and doesn't see marriage in her future so she throws everything into her career with Main Street Bridal Salon, until Aaron, a crazy redhead with freckles, sweeps her off her feet. But a family secret is about to change everything.

With This Ring is a second chance at love story.

DeeDee Drayden has worked for some big design houses, but she's not rail thin, and she’s tired of designing clothing that makes no sense to the average woman. She moves to a small town to start her own bridal design business and meets Cody Montgomery. He’s sworn off women after 2 failed marriages have left him with 7 kids! But DeeDee intrigues him. She may be focused on building her business, but Cody is focused on her.

Campaign, the 7th River City novel is Brad and Ryn’s story.

One of Brad’s friends sets him up with Ryn. After months of emails and text messages, they decide to meet and take the relationship to the next level. Brad is the city manager, and he’s got his sights set on a political career. When he finally meets Ryn, he learns she is mute. He’s not sure she can be the political wife he needs. Ryn is determined to prove him wrong, but her attempts create havoc. He's trying to run a clean campaign, but his opponent will stop at nothing to discredit him.

3. As an author, what can readers expect when they read one of your books?

A whole lot of life! I write slice of life, the romantic slice, but I pick up the entire story instead of concentrating just on the romance. That actually makes me more mainstream than romance, except that happily-ever-after is still there. Most my stories, and especially my River City novels have a gritty side to them. People have personal baggage and careers -- things that can make a mess of a relationship. Fitting a relationship into their lives isn’t always easy.

To use Campaign as an example, Brad wanted a woman who could campaign with him. He’s thinking he can have her or he can have his dream of a political career, but he doesn’t think he can have both. Ryn is living in a vocal world and doesn’t see herself as “disabled.” Her mother barely knows sign language, and her dad never learned it. Life isn’t easy, and she's learned that people back away from someone with a disability.

4. How did you "become" an author? For instance, was there a moment when you said: "I think I'll write a book."

Let there be an essay question on a test, and I knew I aced that test! I seemed to always be writing something for some reason. I wrote for the newspaper and for the Cooperative Extension office in my area.I knew I could write.

When my children got to a certain age, they quit reading. I started to write to keep them entertained and reading. There was this huge gaping hole between children’s books and adult books. This puts the young but good reader in an odd place. They’ve read every chapter book they could get their hands on, and the next step is young romance. But wait, they are in 2nd or 3rd grade, and they don’t care about boys! They want a story with as much meat in it as any grown-up story without the romance element or something that would require more life experience for them. That’s the hole I wanted to fill.

Then a dear friend’s daughter grabbed me and said write romance. I said no way. I wasn’t going to write one of those stupid bodice-ripper stories! She said, fine then write them they way they should be written. So I did. (It was a serious three-hour conversation where she twisted my arm and convinced me to put aside my young reader books and write romance.)

5. What's the best thing about being an author?

Being recognized as an author.

6. What's the worst thing about being an author?

Being recognized as an author. (It means I can no longer run out of the house without makeup and my hair pulled into a ponytail to buy a couple of cans of dog food.)

7. Do you have editions of your books available other than ebook editions?

No. I’ve thought about doing paper for my one book, but I’ve never done it. And I’m considering having audio books available.

8. Do you listen to audio books? If so, what device do you use?

I don’t. I can read much faster. Yet a close friend always has a CD going of someone’s book. She’s listening while doing housework and listening while driving. My nephew listens to books that have been downloaded to his phone.

9. What device do you use to read ebooks?

My daughter gave me a Kindle for Christmas, and I was thrilled. But mostly I read at my desktop computer using a Kindle app. I’m very comfortable here.

10. If you could give one piece of advice to an aspiring author, what would it be?

Write the story, and be prepared to rewrite it a few hundred times as you learn to properly craft a story. Remember writing as a child on that large paper with the special lines? Learning to write a novel is the same thing. Practice, practice, practice, and when you get it, you get to move on to the big kid paper, and eventually to the keyboard. It doesn’t happen overnight.

11. If you could tell readers one thing, what would it be?

Take a chance on me and be prepared for a different sort of romance.

12. What is your big dream (or goal) as a writer?

To make enough money to actually support myself, I’d like to be able to enjoy life. I’d love to hit that point where I know when I put a book out it will head straight to the best sellers list. To have that wide fan base that wants to read what I’ve written.

Buy Links for I Thee Wed

Kindle Edition of I Thee Wed, part of the Weddings on Main Street Box Set

Link that works in all international Kindle Shops

Nook Edition of Weddings on Main Street

iTunes Edition of Weddings on Main Street

Kobo Edition of Weddings on Main Street

Buy Link for With This Ring

Kindle Edition of With This Ring

Buy Link for Campaign

Kindle Edition of Campaign

Takeaway Truth

Thanks, E., for visiting with SlingWords today. Good luck with all your new releases.