Today’s interview is with Sydney Jane Baily, author of the Sanborn-Malloy series of historical romances set in 1880s America. Let’s start the interview with a very personal question- What book do you consider your “guilty pleasure read”?
That’s a tough one. I don’t feel particularly guilty about any of the books I read. Sometimes I read so I can get through an hour on my exercise bike, and that might be anything from a classic like an Austen or Bronte book to a British chick lit to an erotic story. If it’s a good story that I can get lost in, I’m happy to read it. I have an M.A. in English literature, so I have read widely. Sometimes I read a book that exhausts me (but I enjoy it), or makes me think hard and work hard to get through it, and sometimes, I’ll read a bit of fluff or a humorous book just to relax and laugh or fall in love along with the characters. The only time I feel guilty is if I give up on a book and can’t finish it. It rarely happens. Why, Suzy, what’s your “guilty pleasure read”?
I tend to feel guilty about reading YA books as I’m probably getting a little too old. Next Question–What book was most influential in your decision to become a writer yourself?
In my formative years, I spent three months in England every summer with family. While there, I read my aunt’s and cousin’s romance novels. They were short paperbacks, anything from Barbara Cartland Regencies to contemporary. When I was 17, I wrote a contemporary romance, set in Connecticut, even though I lived in California and had never been to Connecticut (and there was no Internet, so you have to picture me with maps, Encyclopedia Britannica, and some travel books). It was terrible, but I was hooked on writing stories. As I matured, I’d say I was influenced by any of Johanna Lindsey’s stories, such as A Gentle Feuding, or by Nora Roberts, such as her Three Sisters Island Trilogy.
-If you could only read one sub-genre for the rest of your life, which genre would you choose and why?
I have to switch this conversation up completely and move it away from romance. I would choose the complete works of Will Shakespeare. That must be a sub-genre all to itself, right? He offers us every facet of the human condition and does so exquisitely. I could be fairly happy reading his plays and sonnets, and nothing else.
Let us turn the focus back to your writing- what is your favourite part of writing?
My favorite part is when I type “The End.” No, I’m kidding. I like the promise behind a new idea forming in my head, when the characters first start to “speak” to me or a full-blown scene almost miraculously plays itself out in my mind. However, I love it when I’m in the middle of writing and everything is just going along smoothly. My favorite part is when I feel it coming together, knowing that I’ll do justice to the characters and to their story, even if it’s not the story I initially thought it would be. I don’t mind editing and rewriting, but nothing is as good as when you are working on the first draft and know that it’s going to work.
-Has writing affected the way you read or the types of books you read?
No.
-Finally tell me about your latest/upcoming book.
I have a prequel to my 1880s Americana series coming out, called An Intriguing Proposition. This book takes place about six years before Book One in the series: An Improper Situation. It’s novella length, at 25,000 words, and introduces some of the characters that are in the three other standalone books. (I’m currently writing the fourth.) Mainly, the prequel tells the story of Elise, oldest sister in the upper-class Malloy family of Boston.
Summary: When Elise discovers a nasty surprise that could cost her family their home, she decides to solve the crisis herself. In doing so, she encounters the man to whom she has been attracted for years, banker Michael Bradley. He has one type of proposition for her. However, soon, she has another, less-appealing proposal to deal with, one that could ruin her life and any chance for happiness. Will she succumb to blackmail to save her family and allow herself to be trapped in a loveless marriage? Or with Michael’s help, will she escape to enjoy the passion they’ve discovered with one another?
An Intriguing Proposition is currently in production at EPW publishers, and we’re in the cover design stage, which is always exciting.
What is the funniest thing that has ever happened to you on a date?
My then fiancé and I were interviewing photographers for our upcoming wedding. While looking through the pictures of one promising photographer, he came across a wedding that featured a bald groom. Without taking his gaze from the page, my fiancé said, “Why would this pretty woman marry that bald guy?” I gasped out loud and dug my fingernails into his wrist. He looked up and realized that the photographer was completely bald, a fact that apparently had slipped his mind. We simply handed the photographer his sample book, apologized, and left his studio. I knew we couldn’t hire him. We would have had a wedding album full of terrible pictures as payback.
Oh no! Poor guy. If any readers want to connect to Sydney you can leave a comment below, or contact her via her website, or her facebook.