October Interview with Author Phyllis Bourne Williams

Hi All,

Please join me for my October interview with Phyllis Bourne Williams. She is the author of A Moment on the Lips and a two time RWA Golden Heart Finalist. Check out what she has to say about her work and publishing!

GB: Hi, Phyllis! First let me say that I loved your novel A Moment on the Lips. And I'm so glad you could spare a moment to do an interview on my blog. My first question is how long have you been writing and when did you make the decision to pursue it as a career?

PBW: Thanks, Gwyneth!

I've been writing a long time. I majored in journalism in college, where I sometimes sat in class with the latest Romantic Times tucked in between the pages of my textbooks. From there I went on to work as a newspaper reporter. I covered crime for The (Fort Wayne, Indiana) News-Sentinel and later at The South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

Meanwhile, I always dreamed of writing romance. While I was good at starting books, it took me years to figure out how to finish. So I have a file cabinet full of incomplete manuscripts.

GB: Did you read a lot of romance novels before you started to write them? If so, do you think that helped you once you started writing them? If not, do you think that gives you a fresh approach to the genre?

PBW: Oh, yes! I've been a romance novel junkie since my teens. My first one came attached to a bottle of dishwashing liquid in a giveaway promotion in 1970-something. While I never got the hang of washing dishes, I got hooked on romance.

I don't go anywhere without a romance novel. There is always a book in my purse or an audio book playing in the car. My iPod is loaded with more book downloads than music.

I think that loving and respecting the genre helps me with writing. My approach is to write the story I want to read, but haven't found yet.

GB: You were a finalist for the Romance Writers of America Golden Hearts award for unpublished writers with the novel A Moment on the Lips. What was that like? What did it feel like getting the call that you were a finalist? Was it almost as good as when you got the call from your editor saying she wanted to publish the novel?

PBW: While the final for A Moment on the Lips was nice, my first Golden Heart final back in 2001 was the sweetest. It was for my first completed manuscript, The Blue-Blood and the Blue-Collar Bride. I was out-of-town the day the calls went out, so I didn’t find out I made the cut until 10:30 at night. I remember feeling so, so happy!

With A Moment on the Lips, the Golden Heart call came a month after I received the editor call. Both calls stunned me. I left the messages on my answering machine for months and replayed them over and over again. Still, I don’t think I believed any of it until I saw my book on the shelf at Walmart.

GB: You were the launch book for Dorchester's African American program. How did that feel? Was there any pressure of being the first book?

PBW: I didn't know my book would be the first one for a long time. By the time I found out it was too late to be anxious about it.

For me, the pressure was to make sure the book was as good as I could possibly make it. Paperbacks are pricey. I want readers to feel like they got their money's worth.

GB: One of the things I love about A Moment on the Lips is that it is funny as all get out. Does writing romantic comedy come naturally to you? Is that a tone that we can expect more of from you? (Please say yes because I love to laugh!)

PBW: Really? Now I’m laughing. I never thought of it as a funny, but I did want it to be a light, fun read. I believe the stories I’m working on now both have that feel.

GB: The other factor that I really adored about the novel is that it featured an over-forty heroine. I've noticed that a lot of readers are really calling for heroines in this age-bracket instead of the typical twenty-something heroine. What made you decide to create a heroine in this age bracket? Do you think this is something you will continue to do in other books?

PBW: As a reader, I was also hungry for romances with over-forty heroines. I'm fascinated by the things women are doing for their "second acts" and I'll continue to write stories with forty-plus heroines.

GB: You have two love stories going on in A Moment on the Lips. And, I love getting my two for the price of one romance. So thank you for that! Besides the romance of your lead characters, Grant Price and Melody Mason, we also get the romance of married couple Kevin and Joyce. I loved their story because it shows that marriage is work and takes compromise. Most of the time in romance novels we only get the whirlwind to happily-ever-after and no real glimpse of couples working through the things that often come up relationships. Did you add Kevin and Joyce's story to the novel for a reason? What did you hope to show by including their tale?

PBW: I wanted to show a couple falling in love and a couple making love work.

Marriage is hard. I wanted the secondary story to give readers a taste of the problems that can shake the foundation of what both partners thought was a solid marriage. And have the characters survive it with renewed love, admiration and respect for each other.

GB: On that note, you have your characters dealing with some really intense life-changing decisions. Why did you decide to take on topics such as deciding to change career and lifestyle for better health and quality of life? Many folks think that by a certain age, things are what they are and you just keep going along the road until you die. But you used your characters to show that there is life after forty and you can change your life if you want to. What was the thinking that went on behind that?

PBW: A Moment on the Lips is a romance, but at heart it's a mid-life crisis friendship book. What happens after you achieved the goals you've set for yourself as a young woman only to find years later you’ve outgrown them?

As they turn forty, best friends Melody and Joyce are second-guessing the paths they've chosen in life. I wanted to show two women with the courage to turn their comfortable lives upside down to pursue new dreams.

The health issue was important to me. Seems like every time you turn on the news, blacks are leading the pack in some bad health statistic. We can get new jobs, new cars and new houses, but we only get one body. It has to last. I tried to use Melody's experience to bring home the point that we have to learn to slow down, pay attention to our bodies and take good care of them.

GB: What are you reading right now? Any good reads you want to offer?

PBW: I just came off a Karen White-Owens weekend, where I read Love Changes Everything and Someone to Love back to back. Both were fantastic reads!

GB: What are you working on right now? Can you give us a sneak peek, please?

PBW: I'm working on a story about a divorced housewife who sets out to get the life she pursued before she was sidetracked by twenty-five years of marriage and full-time motherhood. In her quest, she finds the one thing she doesn't want – love.

GB: Is there any advice you'd like to offer to aspiring writers?

PBW: Finish the book!

GB: How can readers reach you if they wanted to?

PBW: Readers can visit me at www.phyllisbournewilliams.com or send me an e-mail at phyllisbournewilliams@juno.com.