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Our Interview with Julie Kistler (January 2004):

Q. What do you write? What publisher(s) do you write or have you written for?

Julie Kistler: I write contemporary romantic comedy. I didn't know that's what it would be when I started out, but they've all turned out that way, and it's cool it now has a name and its own little niche. I have written most of my books for Harlequin, with a lot of Americans in the 80's and 90's, one Love and Laughter, a few Duets and now Temptations. I feel as if I've really found my home at Temptation. They're perfect for me!

Q: Tell us a bit about your upcoming/current release(s).

JK: I will actually have a bunch of things out in 2004, which is very exciting. I start with a Temptation trilogy about Chicago cops (who are also brothers) called The True Blue Calhouns -- they all set out in different directions to find a woman they think may be involved with their father, either as a blackmailer or a love interest, but find themselves hip-deep in romance instead. There's Jake, the responsible, steady one, who meets Zoe Kidd, a flaky tarot card reader, in Hot Prospect, which comes out in January. Then in February, we get Sean, quieter and more intense as well as more of a rebel, who tries to save a pregnant media darling on the lam, Abra Holloway, in Cut to the Chase. And then little bro Cooper, who is more of a goodtime guy, and he swaps handcuffs with a no-nonsense FBI agent named Violet O'Leary in Packing Heat, out in March.

After that, I have a novella coming out in Harlequin's Always a Bridesmaid anthology with Jane Sullivan and Isabel Sharpe. My story is called "Fair Game", and it's about a free spirit named Andie, stuck in a straight-laced family, who finds herself falling for her sister's date to their brother's wedding. It's a cute story.

And after that (drum roll please!) I am really looking forward to It's In His Kiss, scheduled for August, also from Temptation. This one is something completely different! Authors Heather MacAllister, Colleen Collins and I set up this project about an old bordello in Colorado that's been turned into a honeymoon hotel. It seems the ghosts of hookers past float around the rafters, making sure all the honeymooners have a really good time! This project has been a riot. Colleen's Sweet Talkin' Guy and Heather's Can't Buy Me Love are first in this series, which is called The Spirits Are Willing, and they'll be out in June and July, and then mine in August.

Q: What year did you get "The Call"?

JK: Way back in 1985. It was August 20, 1985. I had felt pretty sure I was going to sell that book, a Golden Heart finalist called The Van Renn Legacy, and I quit my job on August 9th, two days before my 29th birthday. Then I got the call from my agent that Debra Matteucci at Harlequin American wanted to buy it, less than two weeks after I quit my job. It worked out great!

Q: How many years had you written before you got "The Call"?

JK: Just two years. I was a piker. But don't be too cranky with me -- I had my dry spells later. I think everyone does, either before or after they sell.

Q: Describe your first sale experience.

JK: Hmm... As I said, that book was a GH finalist and I had heard from Debra that she liked the first three chapters, so I felt pretty good about my chances. I quit my job and sort of leapt off the cliff because I knew it would take me too long to write more books if they did want to buy that one and I was still working in my job as a lawyer. I was home in my PJ's when the call came because I had a terrible cold. And my adorable husband decided to take my picture to preserve "the call" for posterity. But with the cold and the PJ's, I looked awful! Oh well.

Looking back, I can't believe they took a chance on a treasure hunt book, where the hero and heroine were solving an anagram to find the treasure. Not too complicated and strange! LOL

Q: Is there anything you wish you had known/done before you made that first sale or subsequent sales?

JK: I wish I hadn't had an agent. We didn't stay together very long, and I really felt like that blunted the impact of that first sale call, since I got it from my agent instead of the editor. Otherwise, there wasn't much you could do contract-wise, so no, nothing really I wish I'd known.

Q: What is the best piece of craft advice you can give an aspiring author?

JK: Find your own voice and stick with it. When I started, people in my RWA chapter told me that I used too many big words and my books were too smart for romance readers. I didn't believe them. Here I am, thirty books later, still writing what I want to write!

Q: What is the best piece of industry advice can you give an aspiring author?

JK: First, do your research and send to the right people and the right places. It's your job to know who does what and where and sites like The Passionate Pen make it easy for you. Look like you know what you're doing by targeting the right market. And second -- and I really think this is the biggest difference I know between published and unpublished people -- LISTEN. If an editor tells you to change something, don't argue about it. Decide how you can do what s/he wants and still keep the book YOU want. I think the ability to really listen and do revisions well, while still remaining true to yourself, will put you six steps ahead on the road to selling.

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