Author Dale Ibitz Shares Their Story
Dale Ibitz was born in Oxford, Connecticut, grew up in the state of Washington, and then re-located back to Connecticut as an adult where she studied English at Central Connecticut State University. She never left, choosing Connecticut as her permanent home.
Dale’s a fan of hiking and the outdoors, and she never, ever starts the day without chocolate and coffee (preferably together). If you were to visit Dale’s house, you’d meet her husband, 2 kids, their dog Lea (most people simply refer to her as The Beast), their cat Luna (affectionately known as Loony Luna), a couple of loud-beaked parakeets.
About the Author
Dale Ibitz was born in Oxford, Connecticut, grew up in the state of Washington, and then re-located back to Connecticut as an adult where she studied English at Central Connecticut State University. She never left, choosing Connecticut as her permanent home.
Dale’s a fan of hiking and the outdoors, and she never, ever starts the day without chocolate and coffee (preferably together). If you were to visit Dale’s house, you’d meet her husband, 2 kids, their dog Lea (most people simply refer to her as The Beast), their cat Luna (affectionately known as Loony Luna), a couple of loud-beaked parakeets.
What inspires you to write romance books?
Love. Pure and simple. people read romance because they want that hunky, strong and silent guy to save them from whatever is bugging them that day. Everyone wants a love that transports them to another world. Everyone wants a love that transcends time.
And if you can’t get it, next best thing is to read about it!
Tell us about how you write:
I work full time so my writing process is not well organized. I’m not one of those people who have a set routine, or write XX amount of words a day. Sometimes, quite frankly, I got other crap to do! Cooking, cleaning, chauffeuring (kids), shopping, and then the ever present J.O.B., so I keep a notebook handy because you never know when an idea or thought is going to strike.
Honestly, I do my best plotting between 3 and 5 a.m.; for some reason I’m always awake and my mind goes to the character or book of the day, and when I get up, it’s all there in my head for writing down.
I call myself a hybrid; I’m a bit of a pantser who follows a loose outline. When the book starts out, I’m totally a pantser. But as the plot thickens, I use a white board to start outlining and moving scenes around to make more of an outline so the plot flows better.
Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
I don’t talk to them. That would make me insane. 🙂
I do listen to them, however. They’re constantly in my head, having dialogues with each other. I’m more of a pervert, spying on them through the window to my brain rather than actually interacting with them. I write down what I see them do and what I hear them say.
But they don’t talk to me directly, because, well, they *are* in my head and that would make me insane.
What advice would you give other writers?
Keep writing, be persistent, don’t give up. And read a lot. I have discovered that the more I write and read, the more I learn. I try to pay close attention to author’s who have a style I would kill for; some authors have an absolute drool-worthy gift for writing chemistry. Seriously, read and learn. And write, write, write, because practice does make perfect.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
For my young adult romantic fantasy series, I self published. What a learning experience…and some of the lessons learned were learned the hard way (like, definitely pay to have a good cover done, and hire an editor).
My latest book, Kiss Me Dead, is through a small publisher. It’s different. You have a lot less control, and you still have to market yourself. That never seems to stop no matter what route you take to publishing.
You have to decide what’s best for yourself. Try different things and both approaches. Some people have left publishers to self-publish in order to regain control of their books. Unless you have a following, that could be hard to do.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
Even with the easy access to indie-publishing, I think the large traditional publishers will always be there to some extent. The market is saturated, so I think the lure of self-publishing will fade for many because it’s so dang hard to get noticed. My bets are with the smaller indie publishers as they start to make their marks on the industry. They publish of a lot of *wonderful* books that the larger publishers would never pull out of the slush pile.
What genres do you write:: Romantic Urban Fantasy, Young Adult Romantic Fantasy
What formats are your books in: Both eBook and Print
Website(s)
Author Home Page Link
Link To Author Page On Amazon
Your Social Media Links
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4855357.Dale_Ibitz
http://www.facebook.com/DaleIbitzAuthor?ref=hl
http://twitter.com/DaleIbitz
