The Thin Person Inside

July 29, 2015

I’m pleased to welcome author Rochelle Weber to my blog. To get to know Rochelle and her work, I’ve put together a little question and answer segment. So, let’s get started.

Rochelle,

Q: Tell us about yourself, your family, where you live…

A: I live in Round Lake Beach, Illinois—a far north suburb of Chicago, close enough to Wisconsin to smell their dairy airs. I have two daughters, both of whom are engaged. I have four grandkids, three step-grandkids and one step-great-grandchild. Two cats allow me to live in their apartment and wait on them leg and paw.

Q: What is the best thing about being a writer?

A: I get to daydream and interact with other people who don’t think that’s a bad thing. Many of the authors I admire are now friends of mine and some of them are making the best seller lists. How cool is that?

Q: Has your life changed since you became a writer?

A: Not a whole lot. I became disabled and now I have something to do during the day. Before when I was out of work for any length of time, I knew it was time to go back to work when truck driving school started to look good. Since I’ve been disabled, I’ve published one book three times (don’t ask!), and found a good home for the sequel. I’m now working on a third book that’s not related to the other two. I also publish the Marketing for Romance Writers Newsletter and I’ve been on staff for the upcoming World Science Fiction Convention. I know people who’ve received Hugo Awards and our newsletter has won a Predators & Editors Award. I’m almost as busy as I was when I was still working my day job, but I get to wear PJs and slippers while I work.

Q: Who are your favorite authors?

A: The list gets longer and more eclectic every day. Robert A. Heinlein, J.K. Rowling, Cyrus Keith (at MuseItUp Publishing, Inc.), Elle Druskin, Heather Haven, Ginger Simpson, Marva Dasef, Roseanne Dowell, (all fellow Musers and I’m sure I’m missing some); M.S. Spencer at Secret Cravings; M. S. Kaye, Colleen Story, and Estee Kesler at Jupiter Gardens Press.

Q: Who are your favorite characters among the books you’ve written?

A: So far, I guess I’d have to say Annie in Rock Bound. Katie and Kristen are both aspects of me and Annie is stronger than me, I think. She survives losing her husband, her child, her mother, her freedom, and she helps make a home for herself and her fellow prisoners on the Moon. She’s a pretty gutsy lady.

Q: What makes a good book?

A: You have to have good characters. If the characters don’t engage the reader, then nothing else matters. The plot can have all the twists and turns in the world, but if you don’t care about the people, you probably won’t keep reading. The plot comes next. You can have great characters, but they have to do something. They need some sort of conflict—some sort of obstacle to overcome. I was at a sci-fi convention once and someone asked a best-selling author how she overcame the mid-book doldrums. She said, “I ask myself ‘what’s the worst thing that can happen to these people?’ and I write it.”

Q: Where do you hope to be five years from now?

A: I hope I’ll have ideas for more books and not still be working on the same one I’m working on now. I also hope I’ll have gotten better at actually selling what I write. I’d like to be making a living as a writer. Hear that Goddess?

Thank you Rochelle for sharing. Rochelle’s newest novel, The Thin Person Inside, was just released. Here’s more.

Blurb:

Kristen Jensen, a Navy veteran, tips the scale at a crippling three hundred pounds. In desperation she asks her VA therapist if she can go into addictions treatment with the guys where she meets Sean. With black hair, blue eyes, and a perfect body she figures the reason he’s speaking to her is that she’s the only other person in the room.

The Haystack told their lead singer, Sean Wesley, to get clean or get out. But none of the big-name clinics worked. Sean’s a Desert Storm vet, so they send him to a VA in the middle of nowhere. When he meets Kristen the first day, he thinks it’s tragic such a pretty girl’s trapped in a huge body. And her honesty, intelligence, and bravery are even more impressing. Sean’s drawn to Kristen, but she’s had decades to build layers of defense.

Bio:

Rochelle Weber is a Navy veteran with a BA in Writing from Columbia College in Chicago. Her novels Rock Bound and Rock Crazy are available in both e-book and print. Her third book, The Thin Person Inside, is available at MuseItUp Publishing, Inc. Ms. Weber edits for Jupiter Gardens Press, The Author’s Secret, and publishes the Marketing for Romance Writers Newsletter, winner of the 2013 Predators & Editors Readers’ Poll for Best Writers’ Resource. She also started Roses & Thorns Reviews and currently has two partners.

Ms. Weber battles bi-polar disorder, quipping, “You haven’t lived until you’ve been the only woman on the locked ward at the VA.” Her song, “It’s Not My Fault,” won a gold medal in the National Veterans Creative Arts Competition. She has lost over a hundred pounds and kept it off for over three years.