Beth Williamson, our guest author today, answers “why is there sex in there” and other questions from readers…

Part of being an author is being asked questions, whether in a blog interview, by a reader, or a friend. I’ve been asked all sorts of interesting questions. Here are the five top preguntas from readers.

Where do you get your ideas?

This has been asked many times. The honest answer is, I get my ideas from everywhere. Things flit by my hummingbird attention span and bam! there’s an idea for a new book. Sometimes chatting with Sasha White (my CP) will spark a new idea and voila! thar she blows (not literally, keep your minds outta the gutter).

My imagination needs to be fed. Therefore, the more I read, the more I write. I absolutely have to balance them or my books suck and I kick my own ass for being behind on writing, not to mention the enormous TBR pile. Writers are inspired by life in general, what they see, read, and hear. I like to read the “Strange News” and get ideas – for example, someone tried to sell Belgium on ebay. Stuff like that, you can’t make up and it can cause an inferno in an already overactive imagination.

Will there be more Malloy books?

No, there are no plans for more Malloy books. I’ve been asked about Ethan’s story (he was married before The Bounty, book 1), as well as the Malloy children. Yes, they were a bunch o’ bunnies and made lots of chitlins, but alas, there aren’t any stories in the works.

How much money do you make?

This one has come from a number of people, mostly family or friends, although I’ve had other writers ask me, for example, if my royalties paid for conferences and promo items. The truth is, my royalties fluctuate month to month and while I would love to have Nora’s checks, for now they do pay for my conferences and promo items, and someday, hopefully my mortgage.

Why is the sex so graphic?

Nothing frustrates me more, other than a heroine that’s TSTL or bad grammar, than getting right up to the point of consummation then slamming the bedroom door. Gah! Don’t do that. Relationships between two consenting adults involves sex, plain and simple (and sometimes with bonus extras included). Even in historicals, people did have sex, seriously, do you think your great-grandaddy and great-grandma didn’t do the horizontal mambo? All kidding aside, the sex in my books is graphic in language and imagery – I want my reader to react and feel right along with the characters. I’m helping out relationships around the world that way.

Why westerns?

Another one of my favorite questions. My all-time favorite hero has always been a cowboy, whether in movies, television or books. It’s one of those unexplainable obsessions (my sister is obsessed with sweaty men in wife-beater shirts like Nicolas Cage in Con Air). Put a man on a horse, in a pair of jeans, boots and a Stetson and, hot damn, I am like a moth to a flame. *flap, flap, flap* Can’t seem to stop myself, not that I want to. So when it came time to write romances, there wasn’t much of a contest as to what kind I’d write.

Although as a side note, I also adore Medievals, especially in Scotland, and one day might write a brawny Scottish hero or dark, troubled knight story.

Thanks, Beth!