"The phone buzzed in the empty kitchen, by the coffee maker dripping in no hurry."

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[Italics are me (the interviewer), and bold is Monica/MonicaPrelooker (the interviewee)]

I N T E R V I E W    T O O K    P L A C E:  J U L Y    2 0 1 8

What inspired you to write your story? xx

Blackbird? Too many lousy Criminal Minds episodes LOL. I was feeling curious about writing a crime procedural and a romance between two opposite persons. And I like criminal psychology -- not that I studied it or anything. 

Haha, maybe you should consider watching "How to Get Away With Murder". It shows it from a different perspective, the law side of it xx

What do you want readers to get out of your book? xx

I should give it a try!

Hum. Fun? A little getaway from reality? I want to give them a story they can enjoy and characters they can relate to, to take a little break from everyday reality. Not in for the big thing, life-changing message. Not my thing. But I do like keeping the line between right and wrong. The chars keep it up at all times.

Well there's nothing wrong with that, after all, all readers go to books to escape reality xx

Where were you and what were you doing when you found out you placed/ TPPA-Approved? (If you can remember) xx

Not sure, but my best guess was at home, revising and editing Blackbird. It's what I was working on back then.

Nice! xx

What does this mean to you? xx

It's great!! ♡ I was sort of shy about my writing and wattpad changed that. And TPP was the first contest I EVER dared to enter--and I'm old, so I've been writing for over 30 years. So finding out I was able to connect with young readers enough to get that second place was frigging great.

Well, I'm super glad you decided to give awards a go, especially mine! xx

What are you up to at the moment? What do we have to look forward to from you? Do you have anything written-wise for us to look forward to in the future? xx

Well, right now I'm taking a break from Blackbird--after four years straight writing/revising. Books 1through 5 are available on Amazon so vacation time before diving into books 6 & 7. Which means I'm back to Spanish-- my native language. Already done with a novel about fallen angels nowadays and right right now, rewriting from scratch my first story ever: a pirates story. A real one, not a Disney flick to advertise a ride. 😉 So full time with my French pirate girl and her mortal enemy Spanish boy. Loving it. ♡

Could you talk a bit about your pirate story? I'm intrigued, even though I can't read Spanish xx

Both fathers were Spanish. Something made them mortal enemies. One moves to the Caribbean and the other followa, becoming a pirate. They die killing each other. Thats how it starts off. Ten years later the pirate's daughter manages to break and bend every rule and joins her uncle's pirate crew. Bout behold, the other guy's son became a captain in the Spanish Armada to hunt pirates. And tada. There you go. The motto is that they were supposed to hate each other and have every reason to. YET.

I'd love to translate it into English, but there's no way I can deal alone with all the nautical and historical vocabulary.

That's completely understandable, and I'm sure Spanish readers will eat it up! xx

How does one publish their book as a paperback copy? xx

Amazon has a great print-on-demand system. And if you live in one of the 6 or 7 countries that have it-north America, Europe, Japan-- you can buy up to 999 copies at print + shipping cost. No royalty obviously, but it's about a 40% cheaper.

Wow, that sounds incredible! Wish I had that where I'm from xx

How do you overcome writing books that may not be in your first language? xx

Errr... I never thought about it in "overcome"... I learned loads of grammar and rules in the process that make no sense to a Spanish speaker like me, but are crucial to writing in English. I met this great, amazing lovely Texan girl, Chy Burch, at a writing web. She loved the story and worked with me for more than a year, chapter by chapter. She's patient, she knows tons about grammar and she's great at explaining it. So I had this unexpected golden angel helping me out. However I couldn't have written Blackbird in anything but English. You see, here in Argentina we speak a local form of Spanish that changes verbs and some pronouns from regular neutral proper Spanish. So writing it my own local language would trash the story. So come to write it in "another language"... anyway I never thought there was so much I didn't know about English! But I love learning and Chy was amazing, so I enjoyed the journey through and through 😁

Awww, that sounds like you had a great friend by your side. English can be cool just as it can confusing; your friend did a really good job, though! 😊

Would you be able to give me a short summary of the Blackbird series? xx

Ha! She rocks!

Okay... a summary? It's basically a romantic drama set as a procedural, with the criminal cases they work mostly as the scenery for the main characters to interact and get to know each other, hate each other, love each other. That makes it a multi-level plot that brings together the police work and the personal bonds among all the characters, adding friendship and family. And it also takes on one of my favorite themes: women excelling in a men's world.

It's written in short episodes split in super-short chapters to keep up with the fast pace of the narrative. The challenge when I started off writing it was as follows: create the story of two persons with opposite backgrounds and natures that are forced to learn to interact. And they manage to do it so well that they end up falling for each other. ♥

Not short as you asked, so feel free to edit it as much as you want! 😄

Yaasss, I love a good, strong female character. The storyline sounds super cute; I love reading a bit of side-line romance. No, that was perfect! xx

How long did it take you to finish the Blackbird series? xx

Two years for the 36 episodes.

About the side-line romance, it starts off like that: side-line romance on a procedural, and it ends like side-line procedural for romance 😂

Wow, that's some dedication! xx

Awww, that's so cute! xx

Nah, not so much dedication. It's a lot to write letter-by-letter! The hard work begins with the revising. I started it with Chy in 2015 and I'm still going -- currently on vacation, as I told you, visiting french pirate girls 😉But I still have the last two books to go through. So 2 years writing and already 3 and counting revising. That's the boring part that really demmands focus and dedication. 😉

And about the romance. It was the whole point of the story from the start, so I was really glad when I got to the part when it became the most important side of the plot. And yeah, it's cute because they're super cute, Gillian and Brock, in their own fashion.

One thing I enjoy about sharing it in Wattpad is that average readers here are young enough to be my children, and my main characters are my age (she's 45 and he's 50). So I have the chance to show young readers that some things never change: no matter how old you are, love makes your fingertips tingle and your heart race, and you blush and daydream and do and blurt silly things. If not, you're not truly in love! ♥

Awww, that is really cool! Yeah, I have to admit I don't read adult stuff for the romance mostly 'cos I feel it's more relatable with teen romance, but that's such a good point and makes me want to rethink some stuff xx 😄

Last question: which one is your favourite novella out of the seven in the Blackbird series, and why? xx

Blackbird is seven books grouping 36 novellas. I think my favorite book is #4, Three Libras. My favorite episode/novella... geee hard choice. #16, the bruise--it sure is in the top 5, so...

The only difference between teen and adult romance is context. When you're young, romance usually becomes central to your life and nothing is more important. As you grow up/old, other things come in play--family, work, etc. But if you ask me, that only gives more weight to feelings.

Woah, 36 novellas! That is a lot!!! I had no idea how much you've put into this series 'til now. You should be so proud of yourself for the amount of work you've put towards Blackbird xx :)

You make a good point, and now I'm feeling eager to read some good adult romance xx

Thanks so much for doing this! Did you have any shoutouts/last words before I wrap this up? xx

Only a huge THANK YOU to you for putting up the awards and give us all a chance to dare & share. ♡♡♡ You're doing a wonderful work!!

Thanks so much for this! ❤️

Nah, thank you, dear. You rock ♥

Awww, so do you! xx ❤️

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[INTERVIEW WAS PUBLISHED: JULY 2018]

- review yet to be released -