Author Interview: Lily Lewis

About the author:
Lily Lewis is a goose in a sea of chickens. She wears many labels but does not identify completely with any of them. Traveler, adventurer, trailblazer. Mother, wife, grammie. Writer, teacher, professor. Activist, non-conformist, rebel. Artist, dancer, dreamer. Survivor, dysfunctional, fighter. And that's only the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
She has lived in Texas most of her life, but yearns for the sea. California calls her. New England awaits. Currently, she resides in Austin with her life partner and two cats.

What inspires you to write romantic fiction?
I do not write romantic fiction, but fiction with some elements of romance in it. More of a Joan Didion, Sylvia Plath kind of twist to things. Dark, crazy, irresistible. I write about my inability to control who I love or why I love them.

Tell us about how you write.
I write from the blood, from the passion, from a place of madness. It is therapy and confession and catharsis and happens at the most surprising times.

Do you listen to or talk to to your characters?
I am a very poor listener.

What advice would you give other romance writers?
But teeth into it and tell your truth. No formulaic happily ever after garbage. Real life. There is romance in real life.

How did you decide how to publish your books?
I thought I was going to die by the time I was 60 as a prophecy once revealed to me, so I rushed to meet that deadline. Silly me, I am still here.

What do you think about the future of book publishing?
Everything is in flux. Life as we know it will evolve or devolve over time. Technology is a ravenous beast.

Which romance sub-genere(s) fit your stories best?
Literary fiction, memoir

My books are available in the following formats:
Print