Nancy Pirri -- today's Friday Friend author and editor

Nancy Schumacher aka Nancy Pirri, and Natasha Perry, started writing fourteen years ago while raising four children. Nancy is a member of Romance Writers of America and local Minnesota chapter, Midwest Fiction Writers. She is also one of the founders of the second Minnesota RWA chapter, Northern Lights Writers(NLW).
Nancy is also one of twelve authors (writing as Dame Sapphire) in the author-promo organization, Jewels of the Quill, http://www.jewelsofthequill.com/.
Her latest release is an erotic historical, RUINED HEARTS, writing under the pseudonym, Natasha Perry. Visit Nancy at www.nancypirri.com or at http://www.natashaperry.com/.

Welcome, Nancy. Thank you for being here today!

1. How and why did you start writing? Your website said you started writing 11 years ago as a mom with 4 children. How did you find/ make the time?

My mother is a huge romance reader fan and she rubbed off on me, starting of course with The Flame and the Flower. I wrote whenever I could find time – early morning before kids woke up, when kids were napping and after putting them all to bed. For several years, I kept up that pace. Most of my leisure time was behind the computer. I can’t even tell you what shows were on television during those years a I never watched any.

2. You have placed in contests since 1999. What have you learned /earned from entering contests? Do you think they are a good venue for an aspiring author?

When I first started entering contests, about two years after I started writing, it was to gain feedback. I had joined RWA so I would get the monthly report magazine, page through the chapter contest offerings and enter one or two every few months. I didn’t belong to any critique group and while I was a member of Midwest Fiction Writers, I rarely had the time to attend meetings. So I counted on contest judges for feedback. Over a period of time I must have grown as a writer because I began placing and winning some of those contests. Contests are good place for aspiring authors, especially if you don’t have other writers to read and crit your work. But don’t become an addict about entering them as the cost can add up. There will come a time when you feel ready and confident about your work to leave contests behind. Also, don’t take a contest judge’s criticism to heart. This is a good phase of your writing career to develop a thick skin.

3. You write historicals, erotica, contemporaries, and have been published in 10+ anthologies. Are you living proof that a first-time author does not need to stick to one genre to create her ‘brand?’

Absolutely. I write historicals and contemporaries under Nancy Pirri and erotica under Natasha Perry. I think changing genres is good experience for an author and it helps an author actually develop and find their voice. Because I’m a member of the writer’s promo organization, Jewels of the Quill, we write in several genres. What’s interesting is if I write a contemporary for a jewels anthology, my fans who love historical will tell me I have to write an historical next time, and vice-versa. Hard to please all the readers all the time.


4. My first WIP was a western historical. I love the classic themes and settings of westerns. Is there a market, in your view, for western romance? Are they worth writing?

Yes! American westerns, in my opinion, never go out of style. If you, as an author, enjoy doing the research and bringing to life your cowboys and their women, by all means, do so! Your enjoyment and accomplishment will shine through and be apparent in your story-in your voice, and readers will love that.


5. Your novella, “Winning Sylvia’s Heart” was published in the latest Jewels of the Quill anthology, “Magical Kisses.” It is a fantastic read, and was a finalist in the 2010 Epic’s. Congratulations! (Were you at the award ceremony?) I was impressed by your character development, plot and backstory, setting… all the elements of a novel in fewer words. How did you develop the technique to write them? Do you write, then pare away to a word count?

Thank you, Ana, for your very kind words on my story. Winning Sylvia’s Heart is one of several stories in the anthology, Magical Kisses, and it did end up winning the EPPIE in its category. This is a second EPPIE win for me, and I am very lucky to be associated with the Jewels of the Quill authors. We are our own little critique group who happen to write anthologies together for Whiskey Creek Press. I had written 3 full length novels before I ever tried to write a short story for the jewels and it was hard! I am wordy, as you can tell from my interview replies here. I write the entire first draft the same way I write a novel. Then I check it against the required story or novella word count and pare away. It’s easy to do because you can actually see the unneeded words, sentences and paragraphs as you go through it line by line.

6. Tell us about your e-pub Midnight Showcases. You said you love editing authors, especially new ones. (This is so refreshing to hear!) What do you look for in a new author? What are you looking for in submissions? What do you need/want from your authors in promotion? Are you accepting?

You cannot imagine how much I’ve learned about my own writing when editing another author! As I’m editing I’ll come across things that make me pause and think, ‘Darn, I do that too, and that’s a no-no!’ There are so many new authors with gem stories that shine, really shine. I’m not on the acceptance end of publishing so I don’t get to pick and choose but being an editor is highly fulfilling.

There is no better feeling than helping a new author see what works and what doesn’t. For example, point of view is something some authors just cannot pick up, initially, though, over time they will. If a story is good and holds my interest for much of it I can overlook things such as incorrect use of tenses and other technique errors, knowing those can be edited.

At Midnight Showcase, soon to be MS Fiction (we’re changing our name), we have a submissions page that lists what we are looking for. In particular, right now, we’re looking for paranormal stories for our Weres in the City – three anthologies that will be released over the next several months. ‘Weres’ can be any type of ‘shape-shifter’, and the stories must take place in a city, not a small town or rural area. Our house is always accepting stories for our themed digests and single-title novellas and novels. Our house has been steadily growing over the past two years and we now have close to 200 published works available to purchase at MSFiction’s website, Fictionwise, All Romance Ebooks and online at Amazon, Lulu, and Barnes and Noble.

Promotion is one of the most difficult things for an author to do, but he or she must in order to make sales. Many authors believe all they have to do is write the book, get it published, then sit back and watch the $ roll in. Uh, it doesn’t work that way. While we at our house send our authors’ books out for review at several places, we depend on the authors to have a visible face and to promo as well. Having a website is mandatory, and or a blog. Putting out a bit of money to have a cover ad at review sites, and other places that accept romance ads. Participating in interviews such as this one. Attending writer conferences and introducing yourself to other writers. There are a lot of free things authors can do and I tell them that when they lament they don’t have the money to spend on promo. The web age has been a godsend for authors, and there are several free and inexpensive opportunities available.