Author Interview with

Jamie Blair and Dawn Rae Miller

And

Secrets Lies Dirty Little Alibis Chapter 1 Teaser

@dawnramiller

While we can't tell you who killed Jackson (But we bet you'll be surprised!), we can answer your other questions. You can read the first two books, Kiss Kill Love Him Still and Murder Madness Such Sweet Sadness, on Wattpad now. The last book, Secrets Lies Dirty Little Alibis, releases later this year - first on all major retailers then on Wattpad, but we're giving you a teaser today!

The Interview:

1. How do you create/decide on a cover?

Jamie – Dawn and I get a general idea and a color scheme, but our cover designer is amazing and she is constantly surprising us and coming up with covers a million times better than what I know I had in mind.

Dawn – When Jamie and I brainstorm, we pick a few covers we like and begin adapting it for our books. For KKLHS, we knew we wanted something bright and eye-catching. Our designer, Leticia from R.B.A Designs (http://www.designs.romanticbookaffairs.com), does an amazing job.

2. How do you handle rejection as an author?

Jamie – It's never easy, even after years and years. You come to expect the rejection, because honestly, there is more of it, but it's like digging through those haystacks to find that one shiny needle. Eventually it happens, so you keep going!

Dawn – When I first started writing, it felt soul-crushing. Now, I expect it. That doesn't make it easier, but it does give me perspective. Like Jamie said, you have to be rejected a lot to find that one yes, whether it's from agents or editors or the editorial board. If you give up, you won't ever hear that magic word, 'yes.'

3. Where do you get your ideas?

Jamie – Everywhere! A lot of times the original idea morphs as I write and gains layers and depth as the character's motives become more clear and focused.

Dawn – I write a lot from real life experiences, but that's not to say I write real life. My best ideas are ones I know something about, so if I'm writing about romantic relationships, I draw on my experiences. If I'm writing about parents, I think back to how it was with my parents and also how I am with my sons.

4. Pants v. Plotting – what do you do and why?

Jamie –I use plot points. I know what needs to happen and when those things need to happen. Other than that, I might have a few "filler" scenes in mind that help to develop character or backstory that I jot down. When writing a mystery it's essential to keep a clear picture of the suspects and their motives to make sure they're all touched upon, but I don't outline. I leave enough space to let my writing be fluid and come naturally between the plot points.

Dawn – I write very similarly to Jamie, which is why we probably work so well together. After I have a solid first draft with plot points, I tend to do a loose outline as an added step. This helps me see the big picture and whether I've dropped any threads or haven't answered questions. I will also write my cover blurb at this point so that I know I can easily sum up my book. If I can do that, I feel good to move on to revising.

5. How do you handle reviews and comments, especially bad ones?

Jamie – I rarely read reviews anymore. It's hard not to, but you're going to get great ones and terrible ones. A writer will never please everyone, so it's best to expect the good and the bad and write for readers with whom your writing connects.

Dawn – I don't read reviews. There's no point because you can't change your book once it's out there. As for Wattpad comments, I do read those because of the nature of the platform. Our readers want to connect with us, and it's fun to see their theories and what makes them happy or frustrated. As for the bad comments, I don't say anything. Not my place.

6. How do you come up with character names and titles for your books?

Jamie – Lately I've been keeping a list of names that I would love to use for characters someday—names from work, or TV or other books. Other times characters just pop into my head with names. And sometimes it takes forever to find a name that works for the character and days of searching through baby names websites. Titles are tricksters. I've had a title come to mind before I knew what the book was about. Other times it takes an army to come up with the right title and then the publisher changes it to something else. You just never know what you'll end up with.

Dawn – I love naming things. Most of the time, once I get a feel for a character, their name pops into my brain. Something just clicks, and I'm like, "Yup, you're definitely a Livie." As for titles, I need a lot of brainstorming with these. This is when I fall back on my writing group and beg them for help. Most of the time, the titles I love, they hate – which is why having a writing group is so important. Sometimes, you need a little objectivity.

7. What kind of marketing do you do?

Jamie – Mainly just blog tours for launch day. I've found word of mouth is the fastest way a book will find traction, and no amount of Facebook ads can do more than friends telling friends to read a book. Book bloggers and readers who review are an author's best friend.

Dawn – I leave most of the marketing for the KKLHS series up to Jamie. She's got it down. I tend to handle more of the outreach type things like Wattpad.

8. Who is your favorite author? Do you have a favorite book?

Jamie – Dawn Rae Miller J

Dawn – Jamie is a liar! But seriously, Jamie writes such diverse books – everything from YA to adult. She's incredibly talented.

9. What's your writing playlist?

Jamie – I don't have one! I've never been able to listen to music and write at the same time. I end up typing the song lyrics.

Dawn – Every book gets its own list, and sometimes, the list changes throughout the book. For KKLHS, my list was:

· Cool for the Summer – Demi Lovato

· This Summer's Gonna Hurt – Maroon 5

· Good for You – Selena Gomez

· Bad Girls – M.I.A.

· Little Bit – Lykke Li

· The Wire – HAIM

· I Love My Life – Elektrik People

· After the Disco – Broken Bells

· Turn Down for What – DJ Snake & Lil John

· Paris is Burning – Ladyhawke

· Beatbox – The Sounds

· Midnight City – M83

· I Love It – Icona Pop

· Magnets – Disclosure (featuring Lorde)

10. What successful writing strategies do you use?

Jamie – I wish there was something surefire for me, but something that works one time might not work the next. I think the best strategy is to be flexible and go with the flow. Don't make your writing or your novel bend to your will. Give it life and room to breathe.

Dawn – In the same vein, knowing when to walk away. Sometimes, no matter how badly you want to finish your book, you need to step away to get clarity. If you force it, your readers will know – same with if you half-ass it to finish. As for day-to-day strategies, I try to write 1,000 words a day. That may be on a novel, a blog post, or just journaling, but I tend to hit it most days. I feel it's important for me to write daily, or I get out of practice.

11. How do you write together? How do you like it?

Jamie - Ditto to what Dawn said, plus I think our writing styles are very complimentary. We are both action and dialogue heavy and write a fast-paced novel.

Dawn – Jamie writes a chapter and sends it to me. I re-read what I wrote previously along with her new stuff and go from there, making sure I'm working toward the plot points. I love writing with Jamie. Writing can be very solitary and having someone to plot and brainstorm with is great. I feel like we push each other, which I love.

12. Which character do you write and how did you decide?

Jamie - I don't remember how we came up with how we split them up either. I have Reggie and Haddie and they couldn't be more different or more fun to write!

Dawn – I write Livie and Val. I don't remember how we decided who would write whom. Do you, Jamie? Maybe we Rock Paper Scissored for them?

Thanks for your questions!

~ Jamie and Dawn

And now, a little teaser for you from Secrets Lies Dirty Little Alibis:

Chapter One

REGGIE

Cops, jail, and courtrooms: three things I avoid like the plague. So, what the hell am I doing sitting here at Livie's trial?

This is why I avoid having friends. Obligation. I don't want it. I don't need it. I need to ditch these chicks.

On my right, Val and her boyfriend, Paul, are whispering, repeating every single word out of each of the attorneys' mouths, like news commentators. To my left, Haddie crinkles a candy wrapper inside her purse, trying to hide it since there's a no food or drink rule in the courtroom.

I'm still wondering why I went along with this. How did I let them talk me into being here?

Then there's Chloe Bennett, a.k.a., The Fifth. She's a psychotic bitch who stalked us for months and demanded we let her into our little foursome of Jackson Landis's conquests. Since we still don't know who murdered him, and she claims to have info we want, she sits at the very top of my Crazy Women I Don't Want To Be Friends With But Have To Be list.

I should've never screwed Jackson Landis. I can't believe I ever lov—had feelings for him. I can't even let myself think about it. It makes me sick knowing he, apparently, had sex with anything that would hold still long enough. If he weren't already dead, I'd kill him myself. Which makes me wonder if Chloe was sleeping with him too. She claims they were tight, but just how tight, she hasn't said. If she found out he was banging all of us at the same time that knowledge plus the fact that she's totally insane could mean she's the one who murdered him.

Like she's inside my head listening to my thoughts, she turns around from the second row, glances back and me and gives me her strange, haunting smile. She's so freaking creepy. She's the dead girl who comes back to life in a horror movie and hangs out in the corner of your bedroom watching you sleep.

I shiver and Val looks up over at me. "What?" she mouths.

I nod toward Creepy Chloe.

Val groans. "Pretend she doesn't exist, that's what I do."

"She's not that bad, you guys," Haddie says, butting in as usual.

"Your breath smells like chocolate," I say jabbing her with my elbow. She has no concept of personal space.

"Want one?" she asks, offering me the peanut M&M sitting in the palm of her hand.

"No thanks."

She shrugs and pops it in her mouth. "This is nothing like Law and Order. I'm bored."

"This is incredibly boring." So far, we've heard the charges against Livie. Grand theft and solicitation of prostitution. There are mostly men on the jury, which plays to Livie's strengths. The girl can flirt her way out of anything. It's like a super power. It's unreal. But the judge is a woman, so if Livie's found guilty, she could be totally screwed. Unless the judge likes women, which would be totally Livie's luck, too.

I've never met anyone like Livie. She walks through life on clouds and rainbows, like a princess in a fairy tale with a Kate Spade scarf around her neck that she "liberated" from Lord and Taylor last week.

Livie's a klepto. That'll never change. If she goes to jail, she'll pocket anything that isn't nailed down. But consequences are for the rest of us. I have no doubt she'll come out of this trial unscathed.

"Officer McMichaels," the district attorney says, calling him to the stand.

He's sworn in as the DA approaches. She reminds me of my friend Marcus's grandma. She doesn't look like a DA at all.

A pang of guilt hits my chest. I hate it when Marcus pops into my head. About a month ago, he was murdered in my trailer home. Another unsolved murder. I know it was the same person who killed Jackson. I just don't know why, or how they're connected. It has to be drugs. Marcus sold them and Jackson took them. It's the only common ground I can come up with.

"Please tell us about Miss Barnes' arrest," the DA says.

McMichaels opens a file folder and starts reading the arrest record. I don't need to hear it. I was there. She was arrested in the parking lot of the funeral home after Jackson's service, while sitting in a red BMW she drove off the lot of a dealership after bribing the salesman with a blowjob she never delivered. The whole ordeal was a shit show. I hit the parking lot, saw the cops and bolted.

That was the first day we started to figure out that the four of us knew each other's dirty little secrets. I was the campus drug dealer, Haddie was writing term papers in exchange for sex, Livie: klepto, and Val likes the ladies as well as her boyfriend, Paul—especially Livie. Jackson not only slept with all of us, he gave us ammunition to use against each other.

Jackson Landis loved using sex and scandals for power and control, and eventually, it caught up with him.

"I did not!" Livie shouts, bolting to her feet.

Damn. I missed what McMichaels said that has her flipping out.

"Oh God," Val says, dropping her head in her hands.

"Ms. Barnes, you will sit down now and be quiet or I will hold you in contempt," the judge says.

Livie's attorney yanks on Livie's arm to get her to sit back down, and the bailiff edges closer to her.

Haddie pops another M&M into her mouth. "She'll get off," she whispers. "Madame Zola said so."

Madame Zola is Haddie's astrologer, a woman who insists I have a gift like hers and offered to mentor me. It's all a bunch of crap. My gift is that sometimes I'm so good at lying, that the lie comes true. That's called coincidence, but try explaining that to Haddie.

Livie's attorney says he has no questions for McMichaels and calls Livie to the stand. There's a collective inhale from everyone in the room followed by complete silence. What the hell will she say? I want to squeeze my eyes shut and plug my ears with my fingers, but then I would probably miss the most entertaining thing I've ever seen in my life. It's the proverbial train wreck that you can't look away from.

With her hand raised, she's sworn in, but she's preoccupied by a chip in her nail polish. "I just had these done," she says, holding her hand out to the judge. "Can you believe this?"

The judge is speechless. Her expression is blank, like she can't process what's happening in her courtroom.

"Livie," her lawyer says, sprinting to the stand to get this back on track. "Tell us how you ended up with the car."

She turns to the jury and bats her eyelashes. "It was all a joke. It's so ridiculous that I'm even here today. See, my boyfriend at the time—he's dead now. Someone murdered him, and Officer McMichaels still hasn't found out who did it. She blinks glassy eyes filling with tears. Another Livie specialty. Crying on command. "Sorry," she says, fanning herself. "It's still so hard to accept that he's gone."

"I know this is difficult, Livie," her attorney says, "but please, go on."

"Okay," she says, nodding, her blond tresses bobbing. "Jackson—that was his name, Jackson Landis—so, Jackson and I were browsing at the car dealership, pretending we were older and married, graduated from college with good jobs. We could never afford to buy one of the cars on the lot, but it was fun thinking of a day when we might be able to."

Livie drops her chin and lets her bottom lip slide out into a small pout. Because I know her and her manipulative tactics, I see right through her. The jury doesn't. They tilt their heads and lean forward, encouraging and sympathizing with this darling young woman who lost her beloved boyfriend.

Men are such suckers.

"I don't know what Jackson said to the salesman," Livie nods toward the defendant, "but somehow he got the wrong impression. All I know is that I had the car for an extended test-drive."

She places her fingers on her blushing cheeks. "I knew I could never afford the car, so it was wrong to even take it for a test drive. I just wanted to keep pretending for a little longer. It was such a nice dream of Jackson and I and our future...now he's gone and it'll never come true."

The water works start. Livie has this dainty way of sobbing, like she's the most feminine woman on the planet. I've seen her really cry, and rage, and it's ugly. She's pulling out all her Oscar worthy material on the stand.

"I didn't steal the car. Jackson made an arrangement with the salesman to make me happy. That's what he did. He always found ways to make me happy."

The bailiff strides to the stand and hands Livie a box of tissues.

She has them all bamboozled.

In typical Livie fashion, she's going to get off untouched. If only we were all so fortunate.

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