Women of Color in Romance with Rebekah Weatherspoon @WOCInRomance @rebekahwsm

Hey, everyone! Some of you may recognize Rebekah Weatherspoon's name from when I interviewed her last year.  Since then, she's published a few more awesome books (seriously, go read the FIT trilogy--hot!) and has been hard at work on a social media presence designed to help promote women of color in romance writing.

I'll stop chatting now and let her tell you a bit about it!

First off, congrats on finishing the FIT Trilogy and on the well-deserved awards it’s won. Sated was a fantastic book, and a fitting end. I loved the little bonus scene with Grant at the end, too. Woo!  *fans self*

How did you come to start WOC in Romance--the FB page, Twitter, tumblr, etc.?

I was seeing a lot of pushes and promo for diverse YA books, but I wasn’t seeing any place that was specifically set up for Authors of Color. I wanted to create that space.

Do you run the sites by yourself, or do you have help? If you’re looking for help running them, where should people contact you?

It’s 100% me. At this point I just need book recommendations and books to promo so if you know of WOC who’s books I should know about TELL ME!

Do the WOC in Romance sites promote other authors/works? Can people promote their own diverse romance books? How does the process work in case a reader wants to promote a book by a WOC in Romance?

Again the focus of WOC in Romance is to highlight romance novels by Women of Color. Anyone can suggest a book to me via email, twitter, facebook, or tumblr. The only criteria are that the author be a Woman of Color. The site is trans inclusive and open to non-binary and gender fluid folks as well.

What’s one piece of advice you’d give to authors of color? Or WOC authors of romantic fiction specifically?  

Keep writing, keep writing, keep writing.

What does “diverse romance” mean to you? Does it just include authors of color and/or stories including people of color, or are LGBTQ authors and stories included in the definition? (Just curious! I’d love to hear your take on this.)

I actually can’t stand the world diverse because it centers everything on certain groups that aren’t even the global majority, but since we live in the Western world, I believe it encompasses all that are marginalized due to their races, gender, sexual orientation, sex, and physical capabilities.

That's a great point!

Why do you believe diverse romance stories are so important? 

Because people die over these differences and it’s our responsibilities as members of the media to portray a wide variety of characters to readers.

You just returned from RWA 2015—how was the experience?

I had a great time. It was like finally going into the office after working from home for 2 years. Except your office is a bar and you love all of your coworkers.

I can certainly agree with you!

Where can we find WOC in Romance on the interwebs?

Twitter: https://twitter.com/WOCInRomance

Tumblr: http://wocinromance.tumblr.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WOCInRomance

Email : wocinromance@gmail.com

Readers: you heard Rebekah! If you know of WOC who's books need to be promoted, let her know by contacting her at one of the links above. 

xoxo Sarah

Interview Time with Rebekah Weatherspoon!

I was lucky enough to catch my friend and fellow author, Rebekah Weatherspoon, a few weeks ago when she'd been teasing the amazingly hot cover for her new novel, Fit, on Facebook.  It's even posted below, so you'll get to drool, just like I did.  The book is finally out (yay!) and I couldn't wait to get an interview with her so you all can see how awesome she is.

I've been a fan of Rebekah's writing for a loooong time; she writes sexy stories in a few genres, but always with diverse characters--different shapes and sizes, colors, backgrounds, and sexual orientations are represented.

Take it away!

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Oh, please don't make me! Ask any author their least favorite part of the writing process. Synopsis, Blurbs, Author Bios, in that order. :)

Ha, good point. I can sympathize. What are your favorite and least favorite parts about being a writer? 

My least favorite part: see above ;). My favorite part is putting all the wild things that roll around in my imagination down on paper. I'm never short on ideas and I love that I get to share those ideas with readers.

What's one piece of advice you'd give to other writers?

Read and write, over and over and over again. Read everything, it'll help your writing and then you actually have to write. I know a lot of aspiring writers talking about writing and wanting to write, but a book is made of actual words put down on paper. You have to write.

Good point. I think a lot of people forget that--even seasoned authors, sometimes.  When you write, do you prefer silence or to have music on? Any particular kind?

Honestly, it doesn't matter. I've written on my phone while standing in line at the bank. I can zone out pretty easily so even if I put on some easy listening, I'm not really listening to it.

In line at the bank? That's some extreme writing! I'd love to know if someone was reading over your shoulder, haha.  And how'd you get the idea for FIT?

I saw a call for submissions to a particular publisher. I initially wrote FIT for the call, but when it was rejected I rewrote a big chunk of it and decided to self-publish it. While I was working on those revisions, I came up with two more stories for Grant's friends and decided to extend it into a trilogy.

Sooo...how's book #2 coming along, then?

It's coming ;)

What are you working on now?

Right now I'm working on revisions for a lesbian novella that will be out in October and revisions for Tamed (#2 in the Fit Trilogy), which will be out in September.

You're busy! What were your favorite and most troublesome scenes to write in FIT?

I can't really talk about my favorite scene because it's sort of toward the end and it's kind of a big Grant spoiler. I didn't really have any trouble with any particular scene. Fit was pretty smooth sailing for me even with the revisions.

Where can we find you on the interwebs?

Twitter: https://twitter.com/rebekahwsm

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rebekah-WeatherspoonAuthor/184372138243421

Tumblr: http://rebekahweatherspoon.tumblr.com/

My Website: http://www.rebekahweatherspoon.com/

Where can we find your books?

My Website: http://www.rebekahweatherspoon.com/books/

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4567695.Rebekah_Weatherspoon

Thank you so much for stopping by!

Okay, lovely readers...have you read any of Rebekah's books?  What did you think?

xoxo Sarah