Name:  Claudia Mair Burney, goes by “Mair” (rhymes with “fire”)

Name: Crystal Hubbard

Date of Birth (month/date): October 24

Occupation: Mother and author

City of Residence: St. Louis, Missouri

1.    How long have you been writing? 

My first completed work was a play called “Disco Cleopatra.” I wrote and illustrated it when I was ten, in the summer between fifth and sixth grade. I made Cleopatra a 17-year-old junior in high school who had a crush on Marc Antony, who was a senior and the best crazy-legs skater at Ron’s Roller World. My interest in writing really took off in grade six under the influence of my teacher, Gloria Griffero. She introduced me to interior and dramatic monologue, letter and diary narration, subjective narration, playwriting, and poetry—she pushed literature; and I became addicted to words and the way authors strung them together to paint pictures directly in your imagination.

By the time I was in grade seven, I was writing horrible, V.C. Andrews-style soap operas about things of which I had no firsthand knowledge… international espionage … cloning … mind control … the 1968 Olympics… There was no limit to what I’d get my characters involved in to keep the story moving forward.  At recess, I would charge students 15 cents a page to keep reading, and since I wrote longhand on notebook paper, the kids would form a line and pass each page to the next person as they finished it. By the time the school year ended, the book was 800 pages long and had no ending. I just stopped writing it.

2.    What convinced you to get started on your first book?  Were there any major challenges that almost prevented you from going ahead with it?

My grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 71. It metastasized to her brain when she was 79, and she died as a result of an inoperable Grade 4 tumor when she was 80. My first contemporary romance, SUDDENLY YOU, was my way of managing my grief over my grandmother’s death. I was very pleased with reader response to that book because so many people understood it in ways I hadn’t anticipated.  SUDDENLY YOU  is a love story in many ways, and that seems to have touched a chord in readers. The only challenge I faced was effectively blurring the line between fact and fiction in certain places.

3.    What are some of your favorite authors, genres, and/or books?

The best romance I’ve ever read is THE DOT AND THE LINE  by Norton Juster. My favorite genre is probably humor, David Sedaris is simply divine. I made the mistake of drinking a milkshake while I was reading ME TALK PRETTY ONE DAY, and I laughed so hard that I ended up spraying chocolate milkshake all over the book—through my nose!  Ew, I know.

The short list of my favorite authors would include Harper Lee, Mark Twain, Allen Kurzweil, Dan Brown, Erma Bombeck, David Sedaris, Shakespeare, J. California Cooper, Norton Juster, Homer, Beverly Jenkins, Francis Ray, Rochelle Alers, Brenda Jackson, Donna Hill… That really is my short list. My long list would stretch from Missouri to Massachusetts.

4.    I read on your website that you enjoy cake decorating.  I must say, I was very impressed with your work.  (I’m lucky if I can get my cakes out of the pan in one piece.  And you really don’t want to see what I do with the icing, but I digress J.)  Do you have any other hobbies, or special causes, that occupy your time when you are not writing?

I believe that you get what you give. The more you give, the more you get. Writing has given me the chance to give so much. It’s easy enough to donate money, but my books have given me opportunities to offer something even more valuable: my time. When I’m invited to speak or read at schools, book clubs and literacy fairs, I’m honored and eager to share my experience.

My friend Jen Safrey, a former president of the New England chapter of Romance Writers of America, is a little thing—about five foot nothing, 96 pounds—she looks like a high school freshman. But she was my Hercules. She encouraged me to submit my work to a publisher instead of finishing manuscripts and sticking them in my closet. She talked me off the ledge when the rejections came and she celebrated with me when the acceptance came.  I pay Jen’s kindness to me forward by helping other aspiring authors whenever and however I can. I don’t pass work on to my editors, nor do I read uncontracted work. I do enjoy helping with cover letters and synopses. I don’t suppose helping aspiring authors is considered a special cause in the traditional sense, but it’s a cause that remains dear to me. Everyone has a story. If someone goes through the agony and bliss and effort of recording it for the rest of us, I’m happy to assist that person in getting their work published.

My favorite official special causes would be autism, breast cancer, and underserved children. My hobbies are varied. I love sports, both to play and watch. I also like riding my bike and skateboard, reading, cooking, sewing, drawing, boxing, hula hoping and messing with my car. And playing practical jokes on my mother.

All about BLAME IT ON PARADISE and your other works:

5.    Tell us a little about BLAME IT ON PARADISE and what inspired you to write this story.

Opposites attract is the theme of BLAME IT ON PARADISE. A Boston lawyer and an unusual island woman who are as different as two people can be in appearance, background and temperament, find common ground in paradise and really fall hard for each other. I was inspired to write this story by a woman I saw at BWI airport. She looked like no other woman I’d ever seen. She had dark brown skin, like bittersweet chocolate. Her hair was black and seemed to have blue highlights when the light shone on it the right way. Her eyes were grey, and so light that they flashed silver at times. Her lips were full, her nose was narrow and rather thin, and she had high cheekbones. She looked as if her face had been puzzled together by taking attractive features from every ethnic group. I asked her where she was from, and she said the South Pacific. As we chatted, I noticed how people—men in particular of course—went temporarily stupid as they looked at her. A tall blond man in a business suit had been hurrying through the airport. He caught sight of this unusually beautiful woman, and he walked smack into the check-in desk. After I stopped laughing, the seed for BLAME IT ON PARADISE  took root in my imagination. The blond man’s fair handsomeness contrasted so nicely with the exotic woman’s dark beauty. Every other contrast blossomed from there, and BLAME IT ON PARADISE was hatched.

6.    Do you have any favorite characters or scenes that you wouldn’t mind sharing or providing a little more insight on?

My hero Jack is a Southie boy, meaning he was born and raised in South Boston, which a very storied and very Irish part of the city.  One of my favorite scenes is when Jack brings Lina to his parents’ house, and she meets his father, an Irish immigrant. Lina’s experience meeting Jack’s parents for the first time closely mirrors my experience of meeting my first husband’s Irish mother and Italian father for the first time.

7.    Did you face any major challenges writing this particular story?  If so, what were they?

The challenges I faced weren’t organic to the story. The challenge was finding the quiet in which to write the book. My own children range in age from 11 to 15 months, and my 13-year-old niece and 10-year-old nephew come to my house every day after school; I have an older autistic sister that I take care of once a week; and my mother lives directly across the cul-de-sac from me and calls me twelve times a day – “Did you see that woman in the yellow on the show I’m watching? She looks like Big Bird!” Never mind that she’s watching a show she recorded to her DVR three weeks ago, and I’m not watching TV anyway because I’m busy sweeping up the sweet corn/Goldfish/Cheerios the baby decided to toss over the side of her high chair.  My quiet writing time is from 10 pm to 1 am every day. If I didn’t stick to that schedule, I’d never get any books written.

8.    Now, I have to take this opportunity to tell you how much I enjoyed CRUSH, your March 2007 release.  Will you be doing a sequel?

The response to Crush has ranged widely from those who love it to those       who hate it.  I’ve gotten a lot of requests to write a book where Bernard Reilly finally meets the love of his life.  If I did ever write a follow-up to CRUSH, it would definitely feature Miranda’s parents and their effort to rebuild their relationship. I need a little more maturity—actually, a lot more maturity—before I can tackle something like that.

9.    Your titles have been warmly received here at RIC, how have you been enjoying your success as an author?

It’s been a mixed blessing. I often feel that I’m not doing enough to benefit mankind. Honestly. Writing stories? Its work, but not the sort that changes people’s lives for the better. The problem is that writing is the one thing I’ve always loved and that has always made me feel good. I could always do something else, but I think I’d suffer from a certain emptiness that only gets filled when I’m writing stories. I’ve found a happy medium by donating the payments I receive writing educational text to school programs and charitable institutions. If I can’t do the jobs that benefit mankind, I can do as much as I can to help fund those jobs.

10. What’s next for you?  Do you have any upcoming releases or projects you are working on?

With both hands I steal from real life and real people to flesh out my stories. My next Love Spectrum title, MR. FIX-IT (September 2008), was very difficult for me to write for personal reasons. I had a very hard time developing my hero until I met a man named Mike Taylor who, quite simply, was my hero. The very real and wonderful Mike Taylor is the source of the heart, body, and breath of Carter Radcliffe, the hero of MR. FIX-IT.  Carter’s looks and background are borrowed from Lucas Black, one of the most talented and underrated actors working today, and one of the best things to ever come out of Alabama.

My next release is another Love Spectrum title called TEMPTING FAITH, which is the story of an enigmatic actor named Zander Baron and an “infotainment” reporter named Faith Wheeler. While the world wonders who Zander really is and where he came from, Faith knows his secret, and revealing it would propel her to career heights she’s only ever dreamed of. Zander believes that winning her heart will win her silence, but Zander and Faith have history, so he won’t find her as easy a conquest as he thinks. I believe TEMPTING FAITH is on deck for March 2009.

11. Do have any reader events on the horizon?  Will you be in attendance at the Romance Slam Jam this year?

I would very much like to attend the Romance Slam Jam this year, but my participation is contingent upon finding someone to keep my children for me while I’m away. I’ll definitely be attending Book Expo America in Los Angeles this year. Talk about paradise…all those books, all those authors…BEA is heavenly.

12.  How can your readers stay in touch with you?

Readers can e-mail me at crystalhubbardbooks@yahoo.com, or write to me at P.O. Box 6796, St. Louis, MO 63144.

Or they can call me at 314-9…heh, heh, heh…just kidding! I hardly ever answer my phone because it’s usually my mother calling to tell me that a family of raccoons is trying to break through her skylight. Or a baby alligator swam up through her toilet. Or a hobgoblin was tapping at her bedroom window…

13.  What advice or encouragement do you have for aspiring authors?

All the same advice I was given and that I still get. One of the first things I was told at my first romance conference was that each no is one step closer to a yes.

In August 2007, when I participated in the inaugural Soul Expressions Author tour, I learned something from every single author I was with, but the great Beverly Jenkins gave me the best advice of all: Calm down. I was sick at the prospect of meeting her. I’m the monster she created. She and Francis Ray, Donna Hill, Rochelle Alers and Brenda Jackson forged the path I’m on now. They didn’t just clear the path, they paved it and provided good lighting, so that my way to getting published was so much easier. Every time I submit a manuscript, I succumb to that rookie nervousness and anxiety, wondering and worrying what the editor will say about it.  “Calm down.” I wish I was talented enough to adequately describe the effect those words, spoken by the author who has set the best personal and professional example for me, had on me. God and Beverly Jenkins are the only two forces in Creation that have achieved the impossible—I calmed down.   I write my books, I send them out, for better or worse, and I get the yes or the no. No matter which, the same thing always happens afterward: I start working on another book.

All aspiring authors should know that each no is one step closer to a yes, that calm and patience are key to the pursuit of their dream. To that, I’d like to add these words of encouragement. If I can get published, anyone can.  A good story written well and finding the right editor at the right publishing house at the right time is all it takes. It sounds difficult, and it is. But it can be done, as evidenced by Exhibit A: Crystal Hubbard.

Reviewer Questions- A few questions from the reviewer of BLAME IT ON PARADISE

1.    Have you always been interested in the Aboriginal culture?

When I was a kid, there was an Australian tennis player named Evonne Goolagong.  My sisters and I watched her win the 1974 Australian Open on television, and we thought she was amazing. The name Goolagong stuck in my head. I’d never heard such a name. This was before the Internet put the world at my fingertips, so I went to the library to learn more about . A whole new world opened up for me, filled with a culture I’d never imagined. At that age, living in St. Louis, there were only black people and white people. When I learned that my favorite tennis player was an Aborigine, I was hooked. That started a life-long fascination with other cultures, particularly those most dissimilar from my own. My admiration for Evonne Goolagong led to my study of Aboriginal culture and history.

2.    What made you choose to make Darwin a mythical island? (I've been to a couple of islands that reminded me of Darwin.)

Hoodia, one of the most hyped weight-loss aids available these days, comes from a cactus that grows only in South Africa. That’s what gave me the idea for the “miracle” weight-loss aid in the book.  I wanted to create a fictional product, so I gave it a fictional home.  Darwin is also an amalgam of existing South Pacific islands, most predominantly the Chatham Islands off the coast of New Zealand.  I’ve also always wanted my own island. Seriously. There are websites where you can scout out islands to buy. Some of the islands can be had for as little as $250,000. I don’t have a quarter of a million dollars to spend on an island, so I did the next best thing—I created my own. I hope my readers enjoy visiting it as much as I enjoyed making it up.