Congratulations on your new book, His Leading Man. In this book, we meet Drew and Steve. How do you select the names of your characters?

Procrastinating on BabyNames.com! For minor characters, I often use the names of people I know in real life. But main characters, I spend time on—Steve, as he’s a writer, I wanted something alliterative for, and it had to be something with an easy nickname, but fairly common/down-to-earth sounding because of *spoiler*. Drew had to have a name that said MOVIE STAR in marquee, so I went French with the last name, Beaumont, which of course has beau in it which means beautiful. I always think single-syllable first names sound the best with two-syllable surnames, and I wanted a little contrast with the fanciness, so simple Drew worked perfectly—and it also means manly which is sort of a poke at typical representations of manliness, because Drew might be built but he’s not exactly rugged.

What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters from the opposite sex?

You know, I don’t actually find this difficult, maybe because so much of the media we consume is from a male character’s perspective. Maybe I give them a little more self-doubt than the average man has?

What kind of research went into writing His Leading Man?

It’s a pretty straightforward story—I had to look up some geography of LA and Las Vegas, but the plot doesn’t hinge on complex details of how movie filming and producing happen, so I really only had to research the basics. The book centers on the characters. I got off easy this time!

Have you collaborated with another author? If Yes Who? If No is there an author you would love to collaborate with? If so who and why?

I have collaborated with many authors! My first books were written with Bethany Brown, and later I dragged Morgan James into my nonsense, and most recently I’ve worked with Claudia Mayrant and CJ Burke. We all bring different things to the table and I love that we can riff on each other and bolster each other and support each other’s strengths, but mostly I love how much fun we have doing it.

In all of your books, what was your hardest scene to write? If given the opportunity to do it all over again, would you change anything in your books?

Writing the scene in Winging It where Dante finds out Gabe is gay was like pulling teeth. Morgan James and I both get secondhand embarrassment, so having one character walk in on another in a compromising situation—yikes.

As for changing things—yeah, for sure I would! I’ve been published for about ten years now, and I’ve learned things between then and now! A couple books could be significantly shorter, or had plots that didn’t quite line up like I’d like, or research oversights.

How do you balance making demands on the reader with taking care of the reader?

I’m a romance writer, and that means readers are going to get a happy ending. Otherwise it wouldn’t be a romance. But it’s like cooking—you can’t just have a sweet or just have a salty thing. Food tastes better with balance. You need a little bitterness to appreciate the sweet. But you have to make the payoff worth it!

Do you read your book reviews? How do you deal with bad or good ones?

I’d love to say no, but I totally do. The good ones are easy; if they’re on Twitter or whatever I RT them with the equivalent of a flail emoji. The bad ones I sulk about a little to my friends on WhatsApp and then move on. People aren’t obligated to like my books, and I’m not perfect either. But I don’t have time to dwell.

What one thing would you give up to become a better writer?

Oh gosh, I don’t know, I’m a hedonist. I’ve already given up housework; does that count?

Do you have any interesting quirks or writing rituals?

I write almost exclusively on my laptop rather than my desktop, and almost exclusively on my couch with Netflix or hockey on in the background. While drinking wine or tea. I don’t know that I’d call it a ritual, though!

Any last thoughts for readers?

Ummm… dim the lights and pass the popcorn?