Author Interview: Susan Rose

Susan Rose is a writer who lives in the Washington, DC area. Her first novel, Confessions of a Frog Kisser, was very loosely based on her dating adventures. In her other life, she and her sisters own a small graphic design agency, Two Sisters Creative. Susan is the copywriter, specializing in marketing materials. She also co-owns Rejuvenations Massage Therapy with her husband. Although there is nothing creative about massage, it’s an awfully fun business to own. Susan is currently working on her chick lit mystery series starring Public Relations mogul Ellie Holsinger. Here is my interview with Susan:

What are the titles of your books and where can we buy them?
Confessions of a Frog Kisser. It’s currently out of print, but should be available on cafepress soon.

Where do you get your ideas?
From my life. You just can’t make this stuff up! All kidding aside, my work with the design agency puts me in contact with so many people. I’m constantly learning something I can use. For example, the idea for the crime in my work in progress came from one of my clients…they’re food security experts and while we were running through their training sessions, I got the idea for the book.

What is a typical writing day like for you?
My routine is to write for a while in the morning, then leave it and go about my day. I may or may not pick it up in the evening. I find since I write for a living that sometimes my brain just wants a rest!

Why did you choose your current genre?
I’ve always loved mystery novels—Linda Barnes, Sue Grafton, and Marcia Mueller are three of my favorites. I wanted to create a character that would last throughout several books.

What are you currently working on?
Bad Heir Day is my first foray into the mystery world. It’s a lot of fun…and a lot of research!

Do you have any appearances planned?
Not currently

What advice would you like to give to other writers or anyone interested in becoming a writer?
Just sit down and start writing. Don’t worry about the end…if you think about writing a whole novel, you may well get paralyzed with fear. I find that if I just think about it in small pieces, it will all come together. I also use a timer…I set it for 20 minutes. After that, I can stop if I want. Often I’ll keep going, but I don’t have to. I finished Frog Kisser by spending 20 minutes a day on it.

Hope you've enjoyed this interview with Susan Rose. I'll be interviewing more authors in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!


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