Author Bio:
Jill Blake loves chocolate, leisurely walks where she doesn’t break a sweat, and books with a guaranteed happy ending. A native of Philadelphia, Jill now lives in southern California with her husband and three children. By day (and sometimes night), she works as a physician in a busy medical practice.
All three books in her Doctors of Rittenhouse Square trilogy are now available for download on Amazon Kindle:
Pursued by the Playboy (Book 1) ~ Kate & Marc
Taking a Chance (Book 2) ~ Samantha & Alex
This Time for Keeps (Book 3) ~ Isabelle & Luca
What inspires you to write?
When I was kid, my mom would take us walking in the park. Whenever someone would stop to coo over my baby sister and ask how old we were, Mom inevitably answered: “The doctor is 7, and the lawyer is 1.”
Fast-forward a few decades, and what do you know? Doctor and lawyer, bingo!
I love practicing medicine. I especially enjoy the rewards of taking care of entire families over long periods of time.
But secretly, I always dreamed about writing. Over the years, I dabbled as time permitted: freelancing for various local newspapers, doing a summer stint as a teaching assistant at a creative writing program, penning a few partial manuscripts that promptly got relegated to the bottom of some desk drawer.
Thanks to my wonderful husband, who encouraged me to blow the dust off one of those early scribblings, I’m finally pursuing my dream. Not full-time, to be sure. I’m still a physician with a busy practice, and a mom with three kids. But after the charts are done and the kids are asleep, it’s just me and my laptop—and, boy, am I having fun!
Why romance, you ask? Because I love a guaranteed happy ending. I hope you do, too!
Tell us about your writing process.
I’m a planner. With a full-time job and three small kids, I wouldn’t survive if I didn’t plan ahead. This approach carries over to my writing, from carving out dedicated time for writing, to doing the “foundational work” of research and outlining. I prepare character sketches, chapter-by-chapter outlines, timelines (on an actual calendar!), and individual files for background information (aka research)–all before I even begin chapter 1.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
I start with character sketches, often written in the first person. In these preliminary monologues, I become the character. Later, as my characters interact with each other on paper, I read their dialogue out loud, to make sure it flows. This is often the time when my characters start saying things off-script. And sometimes, I’ve learned it’s best to just listen and go with the flow. Which doesn’t mean I simply chuck my original outline out the window, but I do adjust it now and then to keep my characters happy.
What advice would you give other writers?
Stop reading this and GO WRITE!
How did you decide how to publish your books?
I was lucky enough to enter publishing at a pivotal time, when the digital e-book revolution transformed indie publishing into a user-friendly, mainstream phenomenon. Joe Konrath clinched it for me with his blog, “A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing.”
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
Legacy publishing will need to adjust to the new realities of an e-book driven marketplace. I hope there will always be paper books. But I also hope that e-books will continue to provide both readers and writers with opportunities to explore new worlds without all the hurdles and restrictions imposed by traditional publishers (gatekeepers) in the past.
What do you use?
Professional Cover Designer, Beta Readers
What genres do you write?
Contemporary Romance, Medical Romance, Chick Lit
What formats are your books in?
eBook
Website(s)
Jill Blake Home Page Link
Link To Jill Blake Page On Amazon
Your Social Media Links
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6899971.Jill_Blake
https://www.facebook.com/jill.blake.3386
https://twitter.com/Jill_Blake_
