Welcome, Lauren! Thank you for joining us this month. I've been a huge fan ever since Triad grabbed my attention.

Would you mind telling our readers a little about yourself?

Sure! I've been writing and making up stories for as long as I can remember but several years ago I was on bedrest with my daughter's pregnancy and I decided to give writing a serious go. I'd had this idea kicking around in my head from a trip I took to New Orleans and I wrote Triad.

I'd struck up a friendship with Anya Bast and she encouraged me to send it out and I did and Ellora's Cave bought it and the rest is history, LOL.

I write mainly paranormals but I also write contemporaries when the mood strikes me.

I'm a mom to three very wild children and a wife of nearly 20 years to a very patient man and we all live in a very messy house in the Northwest.

What inspired you to write the Witches Knot series that has become known as a great blend of romance and comedy?

Oh thanks! You make me blush. I was in New Orleans seeing my other great love, Pearl Jam and as I was walking through the city I just fell in love. New Orleans is a really special place. There's music and magic in the air. I just started thinking about witches then and then putting the story together about a family of powerful women came together from there.

I didn't even plan for it to be a series at first. The idea for a Touch of Fae came to me afterwards, when I was waiting to pick my son up from school (always carry that pad around!). I knew that I wanted to write Em's story but originally had planned to put her with one of Aidan's brothers. This is what happens when you write by the seat of your pants, LOL.

Anyway, the humor part just comes to me. I'm a snarky girl it flows into my books usually because I can't help it.

Do you base any of your characters on people you know?

I do. Sometimes that's a good thing for them (as in my husband's characteristics find their way into many of my heroes - most notably Alex in Triad and Lex in Enforcer) but other times, well, don't make me mad!

Some people are just rich in character and I'm always filing that stuff away. When you know a writer, be prepared to see yourself in her books.

I know you have a blog (web journal) that you contribute to regularly. Do you think that there is line that shouldn't be crossed when it comes to sharing information, thoughts with your readers? How much information is too much?

I'm a really blunt person so the whole "public persona" thing was hard from the perspective that I have to be careful about what I say.

I do speak about things which are important to me, especially gender issues. I try to do so in a way that isn't going to alienate people, but at base, I write strong women characters because I am one and I love that. I love that romance can be something important instead of constantly dismissed as fluff (although we all need fluff from time to time)

I talk a lot about my every day life at my blog. I don't share everything because I try to keep parts of my life private. My husband is intensely private and I try to respect that. So I won't talk about his annoying habits, LOL.

I do rant. I rant about things that I feel need to be said. I try to keep an open mind if people want to argue with me but in general, I try to avoid politics, religion and the RWA.

I also rarely write about my craft. Because who am I to be giving writing advice? If people ask, I'll talk about stuff and I don't mind sharing my day to day writing life. I'll even share my trials because it's not all easy and I think it's important to know that everyone gets rejected.

Oh and I don't talk negatively about other authors or publishers because that's bad form and career suicide.

Do you read book reviews? What do you look for when you read them?

I do read reviews actually. I look for more than a book recap. I can read the blurb for that. I want to know what the reviewer felt worked and why and also what didn't work and why.

As an author, I want to know what works for readers and a good review, even if it's less than stellar, can be really useful.

What I don't like are reviews which ding the book for being exactly what they're supposed to be. I've gotten dinged for having a lot of sex in my books among other things. Hello! Erotic romance = sex.

When did the writing bug bite you? Have you always wanted to write?

I have always wanted to write but I never really thought I could make a go of it. So I went to law school instead, LOL. But as I said, I was on bedrest and had a lot of free time so I wrote and I realized how much I loved it along with how much harder it was than I'd thought.

And boy, once a book gets bought, it rides you even harder. Then the book comes out and you get reader feedback and people who aren't your mother actually buy your books and want more! It's an amazing thing to create these worlds that people want more of. I'm so fortunate I get to live this dream.

You belong to a few writers' groups. Please tell us a bit about them.

Let's see there are three - The Maverick Authors which is really a way for me to hang out with my buddies and partners in crime Anya Bast and Megan Hart. We decided to form the group after we all met in person last summer and got on so well. We all break some rules along the way and approach writing with a strong sense of self, so it's been a fun venture. (www.maverickauthors.com)

The Erotic Romance Authors are all EC authors and we began as a newsletter and sort of grew from there. It's an amazing group of writers and I learn so much from them all every day. (www.eroticromanceauthors.com)

And Night Whispers Authors is a group of authors mainly from Ellora's Cave and Loose Id. All write erotic romance and they're also a great group of women all at different stages/places in their career so there's so much great stuff going on all the time with us. (www.nightwhispersauthors.com)

Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?

Yeah, don't give up. Just keep working. Make time for your writing because it's important. Rejection sucks but it happens to everyone. Reach other to other authors to network and make friends. Author communities are a lifesaver. I've had so much wonderful experience from the other authors I've met.

Romance authors, especially in e-publishing, are so helpful and they really reach out. Don't waste that support.

Crit groups. Get into one. Thicken your skin because if you can't hear criticism of your work, you're not going to make it. Throw out what you don't like but really listen.

2005 was such a great year for you. What can readers look forward to from you this year?

It was! It makes me giddy thinking about it. Let's see, I had a novella, Sleight of Hand, come out at the end of February from Whispers. It'll be going in a print anthology either at the end of this year or the beginning of 2007.

From Ellora's Cave: I have the first in my werewolf series, Cascadia Wolves: Enforcer, coming out on April 19 and a quickie, Sudden Desire will come out in June as a part of the Fun in the Sun series. Vengeance Due, the third book in the Witches Knot series comes out later this year as well and my editor has the second Cascadia Wolves book in her inbox now that I'm hoping will be contracted. I also got news that my novella, Sword and Crown, a fantasy novella themed on the Queen of Swords Tarot card will be part of a tarot series next year.

I'm about half way into a Fae book with Jayce from A Touch of Fae and I'll most likely revisit the Charvez universe, only this time a book about the Vampire Hunters I introduce in Vengeance Due.

And a contemporary erotic romance about small town Georgia and the first of four home grown hotties - Taking Chase, will be releasing from Samhain on June 27 and I'm hard at work on the next one in the series.

On top of that, I'm now signed with an agent and working on selling some stuff to New York.

How can fans contact you?

I LOVE to hear from readers! You can write me at laurendane@laurendane.com or check in at my blog laurendane.blogspot.com or at my website www.laurendane.com.

Lauren, I would like to thank you for taking the time to talk to us. I am sure I speak for your other fans when I say bring on more of those Charvez witches.

Thank you sooo much for this opportunity. I loved your questions!