For our treat today I’d like to introduce you to a sweet new paranormal romance author. Dylan Newton and I had dinner together this winter and I’ve been looking forward to introducing she and her works to you for some time. She’s just had a new title released and I’m glad to bring you this conversation with her.

Dylan Newton was born and raised in a small town in Upstate New York where the local library was her favorite hang-out. Despite earning a degree in English Literature, Dylan spent more than a decade sidetracked by an executive position in corporate America before leaving to pursue her true passions: motherhood and writing. Dylan married her high-school sweetheart and they are busy living out their own happily ever after with their two incredible daughters in sunny Florida.

Hi, Dylan! Thanks for being here. Why don’t you tell my readers a little something about your work? What was the inspiration for Any Witch Way?
Dylan Newton: As I am a huge fan of the band, “Godsmack,” whose lead singer is purported to be Wiccan, curiosity compelled me to look into the Wiccan religion. I stumbled across a passage I fell in love with in the religion’s creed (called the Wiccan Rede):
“With a fool no season spend,
Lest ye be counted as his friend.
Merry meet and merry part,
bright the cheeks and warm the heart.”
That passage inspired the first scene where my Wiccan hero and young, troubled heroine first meet, and once I’d begun my research and found a sweet, but deliciously sexy-sounding ritual called the “Five Fold Kiss”…well, I knew I’d have to write this book!

Oh yes. I could see that inspiring many a love scene! 🙂

Do you have any advice for writers just starting out?
Dylan Newton: It’s not magic. You can do this! My first novel, DESPITE THE GHOSTS, was the product of the NaNoWriMo campaign (where you write 50K words in 30 days of November). After finishing the book (ended up at 83K words), I got writer and reader feedback which I used to revise and polish it until it shone. Then, I created a query letter, and sent it to many, many, MANY agents and editors until landing my contract. I can attest to the fact my formula works–because that is exactly how I got my first publishing contract!
It’s really four steps to becoming published:
1. Finish your book.
2. Using writer/reader/agent/editor feedback, revise it to within an inch of its life…or yours.
3. Submit to agents/editors.
4. Repeat steps 2-4 until you get a contract.
And while you’re repeating those steps, keep writing, keep reading, and hang out with other authors and writers. Nobody understands a writer’s plight better than another writer, and you need that support system to keep your dream alive.

If you weren’t a writer, what career might you have pursued instead?

Dylan Newton: This one’s easy, because my first career wasn’t writing—it was running a call center and leading project management teams in a Fortune 500 company! For over a decade, I worked in corporate America, where I’m convinced I contracted testosterone poisoning. Working with all men has its perks—they’re easy to get along with. As long as you can talk football, you’re part of the ‘in’ crowd with men—with women, it’s much more complicated. But I believe working within a practically all-male environment for so long pushed me to more estrogen-rich activities when I left—hence romance novels!

What can curious fans expect from you next?
Dylan: My spicy little paranormal romance ANY WITCH WAY, from The Wild Rose Press, is out in all e-formats now. It’s by far the hottest book I’ve ever written, and quite a bit darker than the others—I love it! Also, I have another novel coming out in 2014 (also with TWRP) called DESPITE THE FANGS featuring a female werewolf with a bad attitude who meets her match with a mysterious hottie who blackmails her into finding his missing son.

Oh dear. Sounds like trouble! Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers? Would you like to share anything more about your work?
Dylan: Here is the book trailer and synopsis for my paranormal romance novella, ANY WITCH WAY:

Any Witch Way by Dylan Newton

Graduate student Lily Andrews resigned herself to a life of perpetual virginity. With her recent twisted appetites and weird fugues hospitalizing every would-be boyfriend, it’s no wonder she uses her coursework as an excuse not to date.
Then, she meets a witch.

Joshua enters Lily’s life to complete penance for a deadly spell he cast centuries ago. Joshua must counter Lily’s demon-wrought fugues with his own Wiccan magick, or lose her forever.

As the pivotal Wiccan holiday, Samhain, approaches, time is running out. Together, they must battle an ancient dark force, fighting for their lives and their new-found love…ANY WITCH WAY they can.

Available at Amazon and The Wild Rose Press.

Here are all of my links—I adore hearing from fans, so please drop by!

Dylan’s Website:

http://www.dylannewton.com/

Dylan’s Blog:

http://www.dylannewtonwrites.blogspot.com/

Dylan’s Playground on Pinterest:

http://pinterest.com/dylannewton1/boards/

Dylan’s Author Facebook Page:

https://www.facebook.com/DylanNewtonAuthor

Goodreads Link (for Any Witch Way)—I’d love a review, if you could! :

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18130230-any-witch-way

Amazon.com Link (Any Witch Way)—I’d love a review, if you could! :

http://www.amazon.com/Any-Witch-Pagan-Holiday-ebook/dp/B00CGOLO7Q/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373035167&sr=1-2

Thank you for coming by today, Dylan! It was a pleasure chatting with you. Folks, if you’d like to check out Dylan’s works see the links above. I hope you enjoyed this installment of our little conversations!