1. Could you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I live in Tucson, Arizona with my long-suffering husband and two deranged cats. Our son is in his final year of liberal arts college with an eye on law school. History has always fascinated me, reading absorbed me from a very young age, and I love languages. I've studied Welsh and Spanish, though I don't speak either as well as I'd like.
2. Describe your book ‘A Dangerous Dance (Save The Last Dance 1)’ in 30 words or less.
A contemporary romance about two soul mates who meet and instantly realize their earlier bad choices make their love A Dangerous Dance.
3. What was the hardest part of writing your book?
Making sure I stay in one POV is always the most difficult thing for me. I see it as a movie in my head with the camera angles rotating to show each character's action and reaction--but you can't "head jump" on the page without confusing the reader. I have to keep each section focused on who is telling the story at what point.
4. What books have had the greatest influence on you?
Hmm, so many to choose from. The Hornblower series by C.S. Forester got me started, Aztec and The Journeyer by Gary Jennings are epic sagas that broke my heart and made me hope to spin tales that take the reader on a wild ride of emotion.
5. Briefly share with us what you do to market your book?
Everything I can find time to do. I use the Book Widgets on my blog and website, the Read My Book excerpt feature on my Facebook fan page. I am on Twitter
@JudeJohnsonAZ and Facebook (
facebook.com/JudeJohnsonAZ) and use Bookbuzzr to send out weekly log lines that are posted on both social sites. I really hate the hard sell so many people do, so I don't like to constantly harp about my book. I blog about writing, I guest blog when I can, and join in group chats at different reader sites. It isn't always about my books--I love those silly cat photo captions and George Takei--but I try to always share positive information.
6. How do you spend your time when you are not writing?
I still work full time as a chiropractic physician in private practice, and I'm in a group called Gecko Gals Ink--five local authors who banded together to offer writing seminars and workshops. We're actually organizing the first All-Zona Book Fest for November 17th in Tucson, so I'm too busy to do any housework. Oh darn.
7. What are you working on next?
I'm currently in the middle of the editing process of Book 2 in the Save the Last Dance Series called A Wicked Waltz, and just turned in the manuscript for Book 3, A Torrid Tango. My next manuscript projects will be totally different: a children's book about a dyslexic dragon, and a return to my favorite genre, historical fiction, with an adventure set during the American Revolution.