An Interview with Deborra Zello

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Alright Boys & Girls Lets have some fun!!!

T: Good Morning Deborra thanks for joining me this morning. I hope the coffee is strong enough?

Good morning, Teresa. Thank you for asking me to come. The coffee is amazing, light no sugar, just as I like it.

T: I promise for this set of questions I’m going to keep things fun and light (well light for me) so let’s get started.

I’m ready.

T: Your favorite quote “Frankly my dear I don’t give a damn,” what drew you to it? And to Rhett?

Gone With the Wind was the first book I chose to read, once I was past the book report of required reading stage in school. My parents had instilled in us a love of American history from as long as I can remember. We spent many of our summer vacations visiting historical battlegrounds and sites. The Civil war era is my favorite time period in our past.

Rhett and Scarlett’s love affair is an exercise in “two wrongs don’t make a right.” Scarlett is so wounded by the war and poverty, that even with Rhett’s unconditional love and money, she’s unable to feel safe and comfortable. Rhett loves her so much, he is willing to overlook all of her transgressions, just to keep her. That final quote is Rhett’s admission that he’s reached his end.

In my life, I find myself quoting Rhett when I’ve reached my end. To me, those eight words sum up the ultimate finality.

T: How has getting published changed your relationships? What stress does it add to your day to day life?

Being published hasn’t really changed my relationships with my family and friends. They know I write and many have read my books. I don’t stress writing at all. The editing process, creating a cover and blurb, and the marketing end of publishing, is the stressful part. You have only one chance to get it right, before its released.

T: For the most part your profile pictures are always lips why did you go this route?

My first book is titled, The Kiss Me Chronicles, four stories about love. For my first book signing for that book, I bought a rubber stamp of lips and a bright pink ink pad. I stamped each book before signing them. The lips are my intimacy with my readers.

In the movie Pretty Woman, Julia Roberts character has an exchange with her friend, in which the friend, cautions her not to kiss the clients on the lips, it’s too personal. It struck me just how true that is. I hug and kiss friends and family all the time but, on the lips is reserved for the deepest of relationships. I would not kiss, on the lips, someone I didn’t love. My lips as my chosen profile tells you, my readers and Facebook friends, just how important you are to me.

T: If you could go anywhere and write where would you go? Who’d go with you?

As I am easily distracted, I want to write exactly where I do, in my home office. If I were at a beach, or a mountain, or anywhere other than my completely utilitarian space, I’d never get anything done. If I had someone with me, the same thing would apply. When I’m with someone, they have my complete attention.

T: What about your illness gave you time and inspiration to write?

My cancer diagnosis didn’t give me any more time to write but it did give me the voices/ideas/inspiration to write. I hear much of the story from the characters in my dreams. It doesn’t happen every night and it isn’t necessarily the characters from one story talking at the same time. Right now I have five completely different stories I’m working on at the same time.

T: Where all have you travelled? Where would you go back to?

I’ve visited every state with the two exceptions of Kansas and Oklahoma. I’ve traveled through Canada from the west coast to the east. I have cruised to much of the Caribbean and Mexico. I want to go to Europe and backpack through it.

I go to Gettysburg again and again. It’s my favorite place to go. Disneyworld is another favorite. Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon should be on everyone’s bucket list.

T: You write about historical places what draws you to those places?

The Middle of My Bridge is a Contemporary romance story with a Revolutionary War reference in it. That reference is actually the true account of one of my families’ ancestors. General Rochambeau marched through Connecticut with his army, to meet up with General Washington in New York. General Rochambeau slept in my fifteenth great-grandfathers house with his army camping on the grounds, on his way to New York. Josiah Bronson was his name and the house still stands where this took place.

The melding of our past to our present, allows me the opportunity to never forget the sacrifices that all of those that went before us made, for our benefit. Dr. Able Bronson, Josiah’s grandson, founded a hospital that injected volunteers with small pox. His groundbreaking research, allowed the implementation of a vaccine to be developed. Able is my thirteenth great-grandfather.

T: Have you visited all the places you’ve written about?

Yes, I have with the exception of Italy. I did extensive research on that before writing Romancing Broadway.

T: What author(s) have influenced your writing?

I wrote and published my first four books, before reading Sylvain Reynard’s Gabriel series. Reading his trilogy changed my writing completely. His masterpiece of writing excellence, taught me more than I can even say. I recommend that everyone read his books.

T: If you could meet any author past or present who would you choose?

The Bronte sisters, Sylvain Reynard, Nathanial Hawthorne, Mark Twain, and so many others.

T: What comes next?

My first erotic book will be out in April. I’m finishing the sequel as I write this. I have seven finished manuscripts and six others in various stages of completion. One of which is a young adult story. In this very competitive book world, you have to appeal to as many genre of readers as you can.

T: Well Deborra that’s all I have for you today. Until next time thanks again for joining me, now get back to work and write your next book.

Thank you so very much for your time and your questions were awesome. This was completely my pleasure.