Fascinating Interview With

Julie Tetel Andresen

Author & World Traveler!

When did you decide to become a writer and why?

From my earliest childhood I’ve always told stories to myself upon going to sleep. It was only in my mid-20s that I realized I could write them down.

What genre or genres do you write?

I write romance, meaning that the center of all my stories are about the development of a love relationship between a man and a woman.

I thought I would always write historical romance, but then I discovered I really wanted to try all the subgenres, so now I’ve written medievals, Georgians, Regencies, Westerns, murder mystery/romance, BDSM, Motorcycle Club, Mixed Martial Arts, and paranormal both reincarnation romance and shapeshifter.

How many books do you have published?  Can you tell us about your current book?

My twenty-fifth romance, Love After All, was published this month on Amazon.  It's the story of two 50-something New Yorkers who are at the top of their professional game but rusty on dating chops.  It was fun to write characters with a lot of life experience.

www.amazon.com/dp/B01FR6TRCI

NYU professor Laurel Jennings has spent her career climbing the ladder in the academic world. Dedication has yielded a deanship and a home in New York City's Greenwich Village, but her smile hides her long-suppressed pain of rejection.

Gino Milano is one of New York's most successful restaurateurs. Family-oriented, generous, kind, and hospitable, the death of his beloved wife of thirty-five years has left Gino wandering from fling to fling, without the intention of finding that kind of relationship again. 

On the eve of college reunion season, this reserved divorcee and passionate widower cross paths in the lobby of their building. Faced with the prospect of being the only one of her friends to attend their thirty-fifth college reunion alone, Laurel impulsively asks the first man she sees. Gino, intrigued by her candor, agrees to help -- but dismisses any possibility of romantic interest.

In need of help of his own, Gino offers Laurel a deal: he will accompany her to her reunion at Duke if she helps him fend off the advances of women at his own weekend of fundraising events. Initial doubts give way to playful moments and personal revelations as matters come to a head on a beautiful April weekend at Duke University. Can both of them find love after all they have been through?

Do you have a website or blog?  What kind of features do you post?

     

My website is: http://julietetelandresen.com/

For the past few years I’ve written a twice-weekly blog that focuses on romance, language, and travel. I am currently in the midst of my third around-the-world tour, and the current blog is the first of two I’ve done on Azerbaijan:

http://julietetelandresen.com/blog/azerbaijan-i-a-lovely-architectural-surprise/

Before going to Azerbaijan, I was in Malaysia and Japan. After Azerbaijan it’s Uzbekistan and Romania.

If you sign up for my blog, you get a free download of The Alpha’s Edge, a werewolf short story.

Who are your favorite authors and why?

My favorite authors – no names included! – are those who write good dialogue. It’s almost more difficult to write good dialogue than it is to write a good sex scene.

Do you have any hobbies or interests that you enjoy?

These days my greatest hobby is traveling. It’s exhilarating to encounter so many people and places – to see how different we are all and, then, how similar we all are.

In 2012 I went to Vietnam to learn Vietnamese. I spent four hours a day, five days a week for six months in the classroom – and loved every minute. In the afternoons I would do my homework and wander around Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). On the weekends I traveled around the country.

About a month or so after leaving Vietnam I woke up one day and had the idea for what turned into my Forest Breeze series set in Vietnam. The first story, Tied Up, is BDSM-inspired.

Where is your favorite place to travel?  Where would you like to go?

I would say my favorite place to travel is Romania, because I bought an apartment here in 2006 and spend every summer here now. But it doesn’t feel like traveling to be in Romania, where I am right now, because it feels more like home.

I spent 6 weeks in Mongolia in 2014, and although I didn’t love Ulan Bator, I did like Central Asia, which inspired my choice of Uzbekistan this time around. I’m not quite through with Central Asia yet, I suppose, because I now have a yen for Kazakhstan. I want to go to Astana, the capital, and see the shopping mall designed like a yurt.

I might need to explore South America a little more. The only country I know there – and love! – is Brazil.

Describe yourself in three words.

    

Me in three words: honest, engaged, happy.

Do you have a family?

My husband passed away a few years ago and my two sons are all grown up. I took my own experience as a widow to write the character of Gino, a widower, in Love After All (May, 2016).

Any advice for aspiring authors?

Advice for aspiring authors: write!

If you are a writer, you have a story to tell that you can’t not tell. So, you’re killing yourself if you’re gazing at a television screen, driving around, or doing anything other than writing your story – especially because I know that while you’re doing these things, you actually have the story you’re dying to tell roaming around in the back of your head…and it’s frustrating you.

So, end your frustration and write. Of course, a new frustration will arise, namely the difficulty of actually writing. But this new frustration is better than the old one of not writing.

Your job isn’t to determine whether the story is good enough. Your job is to get it down. (Editors come in handy at this point. I would never dream of working without one.)

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It was a pleasure featuring you on Indie Lindy, Julie.  Thanks so much for appearing...and best of luck with your new romance novel, Love After All!