Inside the Mind - Lorelei Libretto

I've always wanted to be a writer. Living in the world of my own imagination was the way I went through life. But, in 2020 I was in a car accident that shattered my ankle. I spent a year in bed and relearning to walk. Now that I was limited in mobility, it was like my imagination took over. I no longer had to feel guilty for wanting to sit and write, because I could not do anything else.

Most of my books are contemporary series. They stem around one family and deal with shifters. However I've recently started a new project where I rewrite fairy tales and old legends inside my world with the same rules of magic my world has that act as the distant past for my modern books. I love them. Gifts of the Fae is set in the Napoleonic Era and is a retelling of an old Czech fairy tale, "The Twelve Months." It is about a shy sheep shifter who falls in love with a fae lord in hiding. There is magic and adventure in a realistic historical setting. As usual, my books are more steamy than spicy, and are plot based fantasy rather than just romance. Gifts of the Fae is a voyage that spans the ocean from Europe to America proving that love conquers all, and a little fae deviousness can go a long way.

I want my people to be relatable, but I definitely do character creation a little differently. I know each of my people's families and genealogy, as well as their motivations etc. I also figure out their enneatype and their D&D alignment.

I'm still a mother and grandmother before everything. Sometimes I wake up before kids. Those are good writing days. Writing happens best in the early mornings. Otherwise, I write on my computer beside my children while they are doing school on their computers. I also try to write again in the evenings when they are off.

Getting to read the stories that are in my head. And when someone else falls in love with the people I've imagined, it is like you have a connection across the distance.

Marketing. I am terrible at it. If I am speaking to a person, I can tell pretty quickly if they are interested or not. I can talk up my own works. But online? uh... No idea what to do.

I'm pretty old school. I just sit and write in libreoffice. I save constantly and sometimes my cats make unscheduled additions or deletions that I have to fix.

Write. Just write. Remember the story of the pottery teacher. He told one half the class that he would grade them on their best pot. The other half of the class was graded on number of pots. Every single student on the number of pots side scored higher than the ones who just spent forever trying to perfect one pot.

Good question. I post on facebook. I talk to people. I wish I could figure out how to do better. I have a lot of books and people who have read them love them, but getting new people? I'm not so great at that.

I am always writing. I am currently working on a book named "The Fae King's Twins." It is a retelling of "Sleeping Beauty" but based on the earliest Italian tales, not Grimm's "Briar Rose." It is quite a bit darker, and deals with abandonment, betrayal, somnophilia, and more. In my world, the fae cannot love, but seek it, so they want mortals to fall in love with them. But sometimes fae politics can play into things, and when King Oberon, long since separated from Queen Mab, has a mortal fall in love with him, Queen Mab is not happy and seeks the mortal's destruction. After that is done, I'll be doing the next book in Iron Oaks Haven. I'm mostly alternating at the moment.

I have several series (Volk Semya Haven, Blood Moon Haven, Iron Oaks haven, Silver Shadows Haven, Volk Semya Prequels) that all deal with the same family of lone wolves, the Volks. They are werewolves, tightly knit, and a loving family. They enfold everyone into their midst, but sometimes there are challenges in packs. Each book is stand alone in the sense that they have their own couples and happily ever after, but series do have story arcs that build throughout the books, and a big bad villain to fall at the end of the series. Those are best read in order. Volk Semya Haven is the first series, and begins when a girl who has just aged out of foster care finds a mate from the Volk family without knowing it. Series Complete. 6 books. Blood Moon is the next series and starts when a shy werewolf, Rayna Volk, attracts the attention of a red dragon, the dragon prince's right hand. Series complete. 12 books. Iron Oaks takes place at the same time as Blood Moon, but back with the core of the Volk Family, who is trying to build a haven for everyone. The series starts when Jonathan Volk (with the help of his sister Rayna from the Blood Moon series) rescues a woman from her abusive alpha. Series incomplete. 6 books so far, 24 projected. Silver Shadows Haven, Volk Semya Prequels etc are short stories and novellas, mostly prequels. They can be read at any time.