Featured Interview With Laura Hamby
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I grew up in Northern Nevada, married in my mid-20’s, and have lived in Northern California, Nevada, Maryland, SoCal, and now back to the Sierra Foothills, on the CA side.
I write. It’s a sanity saving thing. Living in a sea of testosterone with 1 hubby, 3 sons (1 of whom is mildly autistic), and 1 brother-in-law, the only other females who live with us are the dogs and cat. Is it any wonder I write romance and eat chocolate?
In and around writing, I enjoy adventures with my family, train laundry (Sooner or later it will learn to do itself. Right?), clean my house, feed my family, provide bus service (I sure hope this minivan doesn’t make my butt look fat.), chat with my friends, do crafts, read voraciously, and on the occasions when my loving spouse has abandoned the remote, I watch TV. Sleep is optional. That’s why caffeine was invented.
We recently moved from Big City to Rural Town in the Sierra foothills. Trees, fresh air, blue sky. Oh my. We have enough room for chicken (there was a coop here when we moved in – we’ve filled it with 20+ chickens, including Big Blue, our Blue Cochin rooster. He thinks he’s badass.), we have ducks, 4 turkeys (3 are males!), and a pig named Annie Oinkly. Oh, and 2 desert tortoises we’re fostering, a bunny and fish (which actually belong to my middle son). Life’s good.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I have always loved reading. My mother used to have to force me to go outdoors. I’d go with a book or a notebook. I’ve written off and on, more on, since I was 12. I can’t imagine *not* writing. I have a journal from 6th grade that should be buried deep within the ground, a book I wrote during geometry class in 10th grade. Remember the mini-series “V” in the 1980s? Yeah. I wrote a teenaged version of that, egged on by the people who sat around me and who would read it almost as soon as I finished whatever I could write in class. It too should be buried deep within the earth, possibly in a radioactive box. I started writing historicals, and have published both historicals and contempory romances.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Valerie Parv, Wendy Roberts, Nora Roberts, JD Robb, Janet Evanovich, Nell Dixon, Meg Allison…I have an inspiring group of writer friends, and my best friend, Sheylynn Jones, inspires me.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
Bonus Hubby is a novel that I’ve had in my head for years, decades even. I know the characters very well, so well they feel like family. One day, it seemed like a good idea to finally sit down and commit the story to paper (as it were!). Since I’ve been talking with Jill Fitzgerald, the heroine of Bonus Hubby, for literally YEARS, the story wrote itself, fairly quickly – 2 or 3 weeks, plus time set aside to perk in my brain before I edited and did revisions for publication based on my beta readers and Sheylynn’s input. Sheylynn tells me often how much she loves Bonus Hubby. It’s a sweet, lovely story of a middle-aged couple’s second chance at love – a chance neither of them expected or looked for.
Connect with the Author on their Websites and Social media profiles