HelenKay Dimon was kind enough to answer some very last minute questions for us and let us know what’s going on in her world. Her new novel, Your Mouth Drives Me Crazy, is an official July Release but in normal Brava world that means it can be found in some stories now.

Gwen’s review can be found here. It really is a great novel, tons of fun and a can’t miss for those of you wanting a contemporary read. Or a really amusing shower scene.

Q: Your Mouth Drives Me Crazy is your first full length novel. Coming after four novella’s was it difficult change gears? Or did you enjoy the challenge?

A: In the interest of honest disclosure I must admit I did not focus on Your Mouth Drives Me Crazy being a single title when I started writing. Scary, I know, but I jumped right in. My usual seat-of-the-pants approach caused a great deal of angst, hair-pulling, whining and revising. The good news is that I realized very early in the process how I needed to double back and concentrate on the book being more than just an extra-long novella. That epiphany required me to go deeper, think more in terms of character development and focus on both internal and external conflicts for Kane and Annie – two characters I adore.

And…I loved the process. I have always enjoyed the challenge of writing novellas that amount to more than a-day-in-the-life tales. Single titles take all those challenges and triple them. Since writing Your Mouth Drives Me Crazy I’ve written two more single titles and am in the middle of a third right now. Going back and forth writing novellas and single titles works best for me. Helps to keep my writing fresher. I’m thrilled to be able to do both.

Q: When will we see you in an anthology again?

A: Last week I would not have been able to answer that. This week I can. My editor just filled me in on my 2008 Brava publishing schedule. My next anthology release (a single author, so all three novellas are by me) comes out July 2008. The book does not have a title yet, but it is written and turned in. It will be a follow-up to my novella HARDHATS AND SILK STOCKINGS in the 2006 anthology release WHEN GOOD THINGS HAPPEN TO BAD BOYS. HARDHATS introduced two sexy alpha males, Cole and Adam, but did not give them a story. Now I have. Those two, along with a new guy, Ray, get into trouble while working on a house rehab. Ray’s story is my first younger man/older woman plot. I hope everyone will check it out.

Q: What genre are you aiming to write in? Do you see yourself as a contemporary romance author or are you going for more romantic suspense? Or is that something you find out when you get to “The End”?

A: I write contemporary romance. In fact, some days when I’m book shopping, I feel as if I’m one of the few writing contemporary romance. There’s just not that much of it out there these days. Since I love contemporary romance and since I think variety is good for the genre, I’m hoping more people give contemporary romance a try and add it in (or back in) to their book buying choices.

Your Mouth Drives Me Crazy definitely is contemporary romance. My upcoming books, starting with this one, tend to have a bit of a mystery in them. That is on purpose and something I added because the reader in me enjoys the extra whodunit aspect. However, I don’t consider my Bravas to be romantic suspense in the traditional way we think of romantic suspense. In my work, the plots remain tightly focused on the romance. The books are about the romance, not the mystery.

Now, I would like to try romantic suspense, or what I think of as sexy mysteries, in the future. I have an idea and some notes for two related, but completely stand alone, books. My plan is to sketch those out when I finish with the Brava single title I’m currently working on. So, stay tuned for an update on how that experiment turned out.

Q: Do you ever think you would write a historical romance because we need them. How about a western? You know… if you are taking requests *g*.

A: I’m happy to take requests but I’m betting you would not like my attempts at writing historical romance. You need to have a certain voice and knowledge base to write historical romance and write it well. I lack both of those things. That just is not where my strength lies, so I’ll have to leave that to the experts. I would love to write a western but, again, fear the results. But, if someone else is taking requests, let me go ahead and put in a vote for more westerns.

Q: How do you feel about trends? What do you think is the next big thing. Would you ever write to a ‘trend’ or do you think you could if you even wanted to?

A: Really, I can only write what I write. I try to ignore trends. Maybe I’m slow at figuring these things out, but it seems to me once a trend catches on in the bookstores it’s so yesterday to the folks buying the books in New York. The authors who operate this way run the risk of sounding as if they are trying to write to what they think readers want rather than what the author should write.

My prediction for the next trend: contemporary romance. [How’s that for putting in a plug for my own subgenre?] These things cycle. There’s a great deal of paranormal and fantasy stuff out there right now. Much of it is very good, but I’m thinking readers might soon start looking for something a bit more this worldy. Or, that’s my hope…

Q: If you could vote any ‘trend’ off the island and have it never be written again, what would it be?

A: Are you trying to get me in trouble with other authors or something? I take the Fifth.

Q: When do we get to see your first Mass Market novel?

A: That is a fabulous question! Kensington has started releasing some of the previous Bravas in Mass Market. There’s a great deal of confusion over which books get chosen and why. Frankly, I leave that sort of thing to the professionals at Kensington. My thought for that sexy mystery twosome I mentioned earlier would be a Mass Market release. We’ll see how that works out.

Q: What are you working on now? And what is next (in case the next is already finished *g*). We are book!whores, we need to plan ahead.

A: My next two books are done and turned in. In addition to the July 2008 anthology release I mentioned above, my second single title will come out in March 2008. It’s called RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW. Basically, it’s about two people who lie for a living. Taking them from lying to loving was a challenge, but I loved writing the book.

I’ll have a third release in 2008. It will be another single title and will come out November 2008. Not much to report on that one except that I return to Kauai. Some of the characters from Your Mouth Drives Me Crazy make an appearance. Everyone can check out my website for updates.

Thanks so much for inviting me here, Sybil!

HelenKay will be around most of the day to answer your questions. So got a comment? Do you wanna know more? Or if you just wanna be entered to win a copy of Your Mouth Drives Me Crazy and some few Hawaii goodies… this is the place to do it! There will be two winners, post until June 26 2007 @ 2am to be entered.