Pump Up Your Book Chats with Robin Leigh Miller

Robin Leigh Miller knows a little something about finding romance in odd places. A retired dirt track driver, she found love and adventure on the track. After three months of dating a fellow driver, he proposed and seven months later, they married. Now she gets her adrenaline rush from creating spunky, determined kick ass women that don’t let anything get in their way. Mix in her passion for the paranormal, action and adventure and you have some unique thrilling stories. Enter a world where anything can happen and hold on tight. It’s a bumpy ride but worth the trip as you watch her characters plow through what life throws at them and come out the other side more powerful and of course in love. You can find Robin at www.robinleighmiller.com www.authorsden.com/robinleighmiller www.facebook.com/robin.l.miller1?ref=profile www.robinleighmiller.blogspot.com

Thank you for this interview, Robin.  Do you remember writing stories as a child or did the writing bug come later?  Do you remember your first published piece?

It’s a pleasure to be here and I’m excited about this interview. I never wrote stories as a child. The actual writing came within the last four years, but the stories were always there in my head. I’ve always been fascinated by paranormal so even as a child my stories were a bit bizarre. Sci-Fi captivated me as well. I remember thinking how cool it would be to live on different worlds, meet fantastic races of beings and walk under beautifully colored moons. Then there was the action and adventure. I love action and adventure. I grew up on a farm so trekking through the woods, riding motorcycles, driving tractors. Yeah I could spin some entertaining stories around the things I grew up doing.

I’m an avid reader, I love reading. One day I thought I’d try writing down one of my stories. When I finished I began researching how to send it out and get it to people who might like to read it. I got lucky and Jasmine Jade Ent accepted it. Black Smoke is the first story I ever wrote and my first published piece and my first printed book.

What do you consider as the most frustrating side of becoming a published author and what has been the most rewarding?

That’s easy, promotion. I’ve found promoting myself is a challenge I wasn’t prepared for. Talk about being a fish out of water. Thank goodness for Pump Up Your Book. It’s nice to know I have somewhere to turn to help me out. I know there are writers out there who spend hours a day just working at promotion. Not that I wouldn’t love to do that, but with a busy life I either write or promote. Besides, turning to someone that has experience makes me feel better about the process because lets face it, promotion can be intimidating. The most rewarding part of writing for me is when someone writes you and tells you how much they loved your work. That’s what it’s all about after all, entertaining people. I received an email from a woman that won a copy of one of my books. She said before she got a chance to open it her teenage son grabbed it and began reading and wouldn’t put it down. She was floored, he never reads. Now that’s cool.

Are you married or single and how do you combine the writing life with home life?  Do you have support?

I’ve been married to a wonderful man for twenty‑one years. He’s my best friend and probably my biggest supporter. He has this strange notion that I can do anything I want to do if I put my mind to it. Of course, he found me on a race track racing against him so he had pretty good idea what he was getting when he married me, stubborn, strong willed and not afraid to try anything. As for combining writing and home life, that isn’t as hard as you’d think. I try to carve out a few hours everyday to write, if that means sitting up late, very late at night, that’s what I do. As long as I’ve accomplished everything that needs done during the day, I figure I’m entitled to a few hours for myself. My family is great about it and they celebrate my accomplishments with me. I am a very, very lucky woman.

What do you like to do for fun when you’re not writing?  Where do you like to vacation?  Can you tell us briefly about this?

Fun, hmm, let’s see. We’re an auto racing family so in the spring, summer and fall we spend weekends at race tracks. My oldest son has stepped into his mother and father’s shoes puttin’ the pedal to the metal and letten’ er all hang out. I love dirt track racing. We all work on the car, my husband, two son’s and daughter, like I said it’s a family thing. When I was racing my mom and dad were by my side through the wins and the occasional bad crash, fire and general mishaps and those were some of the best times of my life. Sharing racing as a family is awesome. Other than racing finding time to do much else is difficult. My three children have active lives that I taxi them too. Not only do we race but we have a business focused around racing so we are very busy working. Vacations are hard to come by sometimes. We did manage to take a week vacation to Disney World a year and half ago. That was the first time we took more than a three day break and it was magnificent. I will forever remember that trip and the fun we had. My husband and I do try to take mini one or two night trips somewhere twice a year, you know, just to remind us why we fell in love.

Black Smoke by Robin Leigh Miller (click on cover to purchase)

If you could be anywhere in the world for one hour right now, where would that place be and why?

Clearwater Beach, Florida reliving simpler times when I was a child. I was born in the area and my mother and father were raised in the area. Summer trips back were wonderful. I loved walking on the beach, searching for shells and breathing in the salt air. I remember chasing fiddler crabs around, catching them and sitting in awe as they thought they could frighten me with their tiny claw. Those were good times.

Who is your biggest fan?

My family of course, my mother, father, husband, mother-in-law, sisters-in-law and nieces. After they got over the shock of realizing I was capable of doing something creative they devoured every book I wrote.

Where’s your favorite place to write at home?

I know most people have a desk they work at but my favorite spot is my bed or my overstuffed recliner. I like being comfortable. My bedroom is my solitude. I can shut the door and be left alone for a while when the muse is on a roll. I’m lucky I guess, I can write almost anywhere and when the story is coming together, I don’t care where I am as long as I have my laptop.

What’s your favorite library and why?

Our local library is small, but nice and cozy. I don’t frequent it very often. If there’s a book I want I go to the bookstore and buy it. Supporting fellow authors is important to me. I figure, if I want them writing more fantastic stories, I better make sure they’re getting paid for their work.

What’s your favorite bookstore and why?

The closest book store to me is Borders at our mall. It’s big and has a nice little coffee shop in it that my mother and I make sure we patronize on a regular basis. The employee’s are great and very helpful. I’m kind of a pain there. The day a book is supposed to hit the shelves, I’m there looking for it. I’ve had them digging through their shipments to find a book for me, but they never complain, at least not to me. There is something calming about walking into a bookstore for me, being surrounded by my favorite objects just makes my day.

Do you have any pets?

I’m a dog lover. We have a four year old German Shepherd named Tae’ (Tayha). She’s great! She thinks my kids are her kids and is fiercely protective of them and our home. I must admit she can be embarrassing at times. She’s a big dog and most people are timid around her but when we take her to the vet, she cries like a baby and tries to crawl up in my husband’s lap. It’s funny. We also have tender hearts for SPCA dogs and have adopted from the organization. I truly believe you can’t find a more loyal or loving pet than from the SPCA.

What are you reading right now?

At this moment I’m reading Christine Feehan The Scarletti Curse.  I believe I’ve read every single one of her books. Next up is Lora Leigh Nauti Deceptions, I’ve read all of her books as well, including her ebooks. I read purely for pleasure so when I find a series that captivates me, I devour it. When I sit down with a book I want to be transported into another world or someone else’s life temporarily.

Tell us a secret no one else knows.

Okay, but don’t spread it around. I talk to myself, a lot. I don’t mean just muttering to myself but actually talking my story out loud, speaking my characters lines, putting myself into them and trying out reactions to see which will fit better in the story. I strive to make my characters as real as possible and for me that means becoming the character. I’m sure if someone walked in while I was working through a scene they’d think I’d lost my mind. That’s okay though. Life is too short to take everything seriously. I guess my biggest secret was let out when Black Smoke published and friends and family read it. They apparently had a very different preconceived notion of who I was but, when they read the book they all commented on how they looked at me differently now. Some think it’s cool. Others are a little scared of me now.

What’s the first thing you notice when you meet someone?

This might sound a little strange, but the first thing I do is look in their eyes. I can get a pretty good impression from their eyes. Are they shy, outgoing, fun? Is this someone I can speak with openly or someone you have a guarded conversation with and just lay back, let them guide the conversation? I don’t like to make people uncomfortable. I do love meeting new people and have found if you’re willing to listen you can learn some pretty fascinating things about them. I do love hearing people’s life stories. You know the old saying “don’t judge a book by its cover” fits so well to people as well.

Have you ever won anything?

In the publishing world? No, not yet but then I don’t write to win anything. I write because it’s my passion. In my racing career, yes. I won a few races and I was awarded the track sportsman ship award, not sure why. I guess because I used to wander around the pits and talk to all the drivers and their crews. I made sure I had a pretty good relationship with the promoters as well.

What’s on your to do list today?

Just a typical day. Make sure the kids get off to school with everything they need, paper work at our business, check on my mother, oh, call the phone company because the phone at our business isn’t working. Gotta make sure I get that taken care of. Then there’s the menu for tonight’s dinner, pick up my daughter from her after school activity, cook, make sure everyone showers for school tomorrow, homework and then I can sit down and get serious about some writing.

I understand that you are touring with Pump Up Your Book Promotion in April via a virtual book tour.  Can you tell us all why you chose a virtual book tour to promote your book online?

I believe it’s the best way to get information out to people. You’d be hard pressed to find someone that doesn’t use the internet these days. Within a short period of time you have access to any and all information you’re looking for. It’s the first place I go to find out about what one of my favorite author’s has cooking and when I can go grab their book at the store. And, when I’m ready to try a new author I just punch in the genre I want and bingo, my next big decision is which one will I read first? Virtual is the way to go these days.

Thank you for this interview, Robin. Good luck on your virtual book tour!

Thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview. I appreciate the opportunity you’re giving me to get my name out. And thank you for supporting new authors.

You can visit Robin’s official tour page here!

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