Interview with Rie McGaha, Author of Blood Line

Rie McGaha was born and raised in northern California along the shores of Humboldt County where her grandmother often took her to search for seashells and watch the humpback whales migration. Though her father was a bit of a gypsy and moved his family all over, Rie always enjoyed the trips back to Eureka, California where many of her 12 children and 23 grandchildren still live.

As a dreamer of dreams and being born with a a gypsy soul, Rie has lived all over the United States. Settling in SE Oklahoma with husband, Nathan, she enjoys a quiet life in the Kiamichi Wilderness where she takes in abused and neglected animals, nurses them back to health and tries to find them new homes. The ones that don't find new homes remain with Rie and she currently has 18 dogs and 1 cat.

Between her husband, children, grandchildren and all of the animals, Rie tries to find a few moments to write. She is currently working on Ancient Blood, the sequel to Blood Line, and Caleb and Arion the second and third installments of the My Soul To Keep Trilogy. She also writes reviews for Romance Writers United.

Thank you for this interview, Rie. Can you tell us briefly what your latest book, Blood Line, is all about?

Blood Line is a new take on an old story line…werewolves. I didn´t want my werewolves to be the drooling, mindless masses of fur they´ve been portrayed as over the centuries. I wanted them to be real people who found themselves in a really strange situation.

Can you tell us who or what was the inspiration behind your book?

All the credit goes to my husband, Nathan. He´s a truck driver and a huge sci-fi fan. One night on the road he had a dream that he was attacked by werewolves. Believe it or not, this isn´t the weirdest dream he´s ever had either! Of course, I laughed when he told me about the dream, but later on, as I thought about, the voices in my head decided it would make a great book, so they started talking and I started typing!

Is this your first published book and if so, can you tell us your experiences in finding a publisher for it?

No, Blood Line is my third published work. The first was Deadly Dreams, which was followed by a short story called Grounded. However, I am one of those people who had a nightmare experience with the first publisher I had for a book called Love Remembers. I am a writer and that´s all I really want to do. Promotions and all of the other stuff that goes with being an author couldn´t appeal to me less! The first publisher didn´t tell me a thing about publishing, promotions, what I could expect or how to go about doing anything. I no longer have a contract with them and the books they published are no longer available, although I do see them on Amazon. Regrettably! Noble Romance Publishing has been awesome, I just can´t say enough about the company or about the editor/owner Jill Noble. Of course, Jill is an author first, so she´s been there and done that, and she has been the best resource I´ve ever had.

How has Noble Romance Publishing been to work with?

I couldn´t ask for a better publishing house. No matter how busy Jill is, she has the time to talk to her authors, to explain the process of editing and why she makes the decisions she does. She´s really just the best.

Do you have an agent?

No, I don´t. It would be really nice to have one once I´m ready to go for broke the New York houses, but for now, I´m content where I am.

Can you tell us how long it took you to write your book and also how long it took from the time Noble Romance Publishing sent you the contract and the time it was released?

NRP is an e-book publisher and Jill is pretty quick with things like contracts and accepting manuscripts. Of course, it does depend on how many books are being edited, how many new releases are coming, etc. so it can take a few weeks to a few months before a manuscript is published

Do you have any words of inspiration from other writers who would like to be wearing your shoes?

Learn as much as you can about this business. Keep learning about your craft and polish, polish, polish your work before submitting. There are so many groups on line that are free to join where an author can interact with other authors who have already gone through the submission/rejection/acceptance/published phase. There are also online writing courses, critique groups, and many others that are willing to help new authors.

I understand that you are touring with Pump Up Your Book Promotion in May via a virtual book tour. Can you tell us all why you chose a virtual book tour to promote your book online?

Sadly, promotion is a major part of an author´s life if they want to sell books. I personally abhor promoting myself and Dorothy is such a doll. She is an expert on promotions, and she loves her work, so I thought, hey, this is the perfect win/win situation!

What´s next for you?

I am currently in edits for my next novel, Calen, first in the My Soul To Keep Trilogy and I´m finishing the sequel to Blood Line. This is Ganda´s story. She´s one of the major characters in Blood Line and everyone fell in love with her. She will be featured in Ancient Blood.

Thank you for this interview, Rie. Can you tell us how we can find out more about you and your new book?

Thank you for having me, it was my pleasure. Anyone who would like to find out more can visit my web site www.riemcgaha.com, watch my book trailers at www.youtube.com/NovelsByRieMcGaha, friend me on My Space, or go to my publisher´s site at < a href="http://www.nobleromance.com">www.nobleromance.com.