R.D. DeLisle Interview Published on: 02, Feb 2023

I grew up in Michigan, an only child with a single mother. I enjoyed sports until late junior high and high school when I got involved in band and choir. My love for music got me focused on writing song lyrics as a hobby. I then enjoyed writing essays in my first year of college.

Phoenix is ideal year round, and in a perfect location to visit snow to the north, the ocean to the west, Mexico to the south, and mountains and beautiful landscapes to the east, all within comfortable driving distance. It’s also a growing city with plenty of cultural opportunities.

Initially I was introduced to writing in college. I didn’t pursue anything for years, focusing more on my education and work, but different opportunities allowed me to brush up the writing skills on occasion, so I tried to stay sharp with my grammar review.

After receiving my degree, there was a freeze on tech jobs, and many companies were downsizing, including the customer I was working for. I had to make a change in jobs to other types of customer service, which became call center work, first for a major hotel brand for seven years, then a financial services company for more than twelve years, and back to the hotel brand for the past couple of years. The inclination to take up writing again as a hobby didn’t start until 2016.

I’m not sure. The characters just took up residence in my head, beginning with Maeve, and then Valeska, two very different people, but with common friends through the years. The story just grew from those two characters and the people in their orbits.

Specifically in Finding Colette, which is actually my first two-book (Miranda and the sequel, Colette) series that I revised, re-edited, and combined into one novel, the characters are ages forty-seven and up, with only two characters being under fifty-nine. This is a book about middle-aged, vital characters finding their way in their lives and starting over late in life. They’re charming.

Relatability. The characters should possess qualities that most readers can relate to in some way, whether it’s angst, humor, heartache, indecisiveness, etc.

My current books are lesbian fiction, so the majority of the characters are lesbians, but they are relatable in every other way in that they are all dealing with every day issues that most people could relate to. But I think the nuances between the characters would be most appreciated by women and lesbians in general.

Marketing. Finding readers. Getting those first few reviews posted that might ignite interest from more readers.

Alone on my recliner with my laptop.

Just do it. Make a good outline, get the story written, then really focus on editing and making it readable with as few issues as possible, i.e.: punctuation, grammar, etc.

I love movies and music. I just indulge in whatever my brain needs to wallow in at any given moment.

Literacy is so vital in so many ways. Even if writing is not someone’s thing, reading and learning can be so crucial to someone’s understanding of the world around them.

Being an author hasn’t really changed my life at all. I would love for more people to meet my characters and learn to love them as much as I do. I just tend to think more about characters and stories that might have futures on book pages. I don’t chase after them. They come to me.

I joined several years ago, the free site, around the time of my first novel being released. I bought into the pro membership recently, after releasing my books in 2022 as independent releases. I really love the options I have for marketing my books and finding other resources that are helpful, including book cover contests, etc. Anything that will get them more exposure. Reviews would be awesome!