The following interview first appeared in the October issue of the Love Bytes newsletter, an official publication of the RWA Online Chapter.
Interview with Lucy Kubash
Karen Jones
Tell us about your new book.
My new book is Will o’ the Wisp, a
contemporary romance with a touch of mystery and suspense. It was released by
The Wild Rose Press on August 7, 2019. Here’s the book blurb.
In spite of a broken heart, Allison
Delaney carved out a life for herself and her young daughter on her
grandparents' farm. Her child and the horses she rescues are all that matter.
Then a sudden threat to their safety puts her back in touch with Shane McBride,
the man she never thought to see again. Returning to the small town of Silver
Creek brings back a lot of memories for Shane, ones he treasures haunted by the
ones that made him leave, but this time he is determined to stay and make
things right. Trusting Shane may be her only choice, but now Allison fears not
only the threat against her farm but the risk of losing her heart again.
What inspired the story?
Will o’ the Wisp first began as a
short story many years ago and was inspired by events that occurred in
Michigan. I was writing for a magazine at that time, and when they didn’t
accept this one, I put it away in my file cabinet. This was pre-computer days,
if you can believe it! I always knew I’d return to the story someday. When I
finally did, I decided the characters needed a full-length book to tell their
story.
What inspired the title?
Because of the sense of an eerie
danger that threatens my heroine Allison and the return of a love that slipped
away from her, I wanted a title that evoked a sense of something that you’re
not quite sure is really there, that might easily disappear. Or as Allison says
in the story, “Something so fragile, so elusive you’re afraid if you look away,
it will be gone.”
What travel did your research involve?
While the story itself is set in
Michigan, where I’ve always lived, the hero Shane McBride has returned from
living in Wyoming for years. We’ve traveled through that state quite a bit, so
I was able to use some of what I’ve learned about it in this story and compared
Shane’s feelings about leaving Wyoming to coming back to Michigan after so
long.
What was the most difficult aspect of
writing Will o’ the Wisp?
The hardest part was learning to
let go and let it happen. By that I mean, letting the characters do their thing
instead of my trying to force what I thought should happen. When I fought them
on it, the story stalled. When I finally allowed them to take the story in the
direction they wanted it to go, I couldn’t write it fast enough. Might sound
weird, but it’s true. Shane and Allison really took on a life of their own.
What was the easiest aspect of
writing Will o’ the Wisp?
Writing about the animals that are all
secondary characters in the story. I’ve always been an animal lover, and the
ones in this story all have their own personalities. I loved naming them and
learning their stories, which then became important to the plot, especially the
horses that Allison rescues.
When did you start writing and
why?
I remember making up stories in my
head when I was just a kid. In junior high, a few of my friends and I wrote
what is now called fan fiction. We wrote stories about our favorite characters on
TV. I started writing a historical romance about that time, which remains
unfinished, and always enjoyed the writing assignments in school (when everyone
else hated them, lol!). I started writing contemporary romance when my children
were small and sold my first short story to Woman’s World magazine thirty-six
years ago. Those stories are now included in five anthologies available at
Amazon. Why did I start writing? I love reading and writing just seemed to be
an extension of that, plus I always felt writing lets me live other lives, even
if just vicariously. When did you start reading romance and what did you read?
I’ve always loved stories with a romance or love interest. I like happy
endings. As a teen, because I couldn’t find much romance in my local library, I
read biographies of presidents and their wives. Then I started reading Phyllis
Whitney’s romantic suspense and Victoria Holt’s gothic romance. For
contemporary, I enjoy Kathleen Eagle, Karen White (love her ghost stories), and
Luanne Rice. My friend Rosanne Bittner writes fabulous western historical
romance, so I try to keep up with them. While I do like an HEA, I also like
mystery and crime and am reading Margaret Coel’s Wind River mysteries, Sharyn
McCrumb’s Appalachian books, and the Craig Johnson Longmire books.
What was your funniest moment as
an author?
My friend Rosanne and I were doing
a book signing at a local bookstore. I only had one book out at that time, so
not like I had stacks of different ones on the table. A lady came up and asked
if one of us was Jayne Ann Krentz. She thought she saw in the paper where JAK
was doing a book signing that day. We both laughed. Not in small town Michigan!
I’m still not sure how she managed to get Jayne Ann Krentz out of Lucy Naylor
Kubash, but it gave us a good chuckle that day.
How and where is your book
available and what are you working on now?
Will o’ the Wisp is available in
both print and e-book. You can find it at Amazon, B&N, Kobo and many other
fine retailers. You can also ask your local library to order it. As an
anecdote, I have to add that when I finished revising and editing this book,
for maybe the one hundredth time, before sending it out, I decided to submit it
on the day of the Great Solar Eclipse of August 21, 2017, because I thought that
might bring good luck. It did! The Wild Rose Press accepted it shortly after
and now here we are with it releasing in the same month. Currently, I’m
finishing up revisions on a sequel to my first book, Chance’s Return. This one
is titled, Tetons by Morning and is set near one of my most favorite places,
The Grand Tetons of Wyoming. I would also like to finish that historical I once
started.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LucyKubash
