Today I’m pleased to have been given the opportunity to interview Romantic Women’s Fiction author, Dianne Venetta. She was kind enough to take the time out of her hectic release day schedule for Lust on the Rocks to allow me to pick her brain about writing and gardening. Welcome to Coffee Time Romance, Dianne. 
What was it like when your first book released? Tell us about it.
Very exciting and very busy. You spend so much time writing a book it’s a great feeling to finally have it available where you can connect with readers! Reviews are so personal and vary depending on the individual, it gives an author wonderful insight on how her stories touch the lives of others.
What kind of books do you enjoy?
I love romance, women’s fiction and mysteries. Definitely a Nancy Drew fan as a youngster! But I can’t do scary/horror or I’ll have nightmares. Must be my over-active imagination!
I love Nancy Drew & I hear you on a lot of the horror genre. I read the Shining and was scared for weeks. We’ll move onto something happier. What gave you the idea for LUST ON THE ROCKS? What sparked the muse?
Women have been in the workforce for years now struggling to gain equality in both position and pay, but there still seems to be some inherent differences between them – other than the obvious! J As an independent career woman myself, I struggled with bias against females in the workplace and felt I had to maintain hard and fast boundaries between my male customers that men did not have to maintain with their female customers. It didn’t seem right, but will it ever change?
My questions are number one: have we reached the status of equal but different in the workplace? Number two: will separate rules always apply regarding what’s acceptable behaviour for a man versus a woman? Number three: sexually speaking, can a woman truly model her lifestyle along the lines of her male counterparts? Does she want to?
Can you share an excerpt?
Yes – excerpts are on my website
Do you write in silence, or do you have a playlist of songs? If you listen to music what kind of music inspired you to write LUST ON THE ROCKS?
Silent and with music but the inspiration for this novel is definitely Flamenco. Love Spanish music and originally from Miami myself, felt it the only music for my heroine!
What is your favourite type of hero, barring your own? 😉
Strong, friendly, sensitive and compassionate. And tall. Muscular, too. I like big men. 🙂
How do you relax? What hobbies do you take part in?
When I’m not writing you can usually find me in the garden. I have a 4000 sq. ft. organic garden in my backyard and the kids and I also volunteer with a garden at their school. Great therapy — unless it’s in the heat of the summer (I live in Florida) whereby none of us want to be outdoors!
You seem to really be passionate about gardening, what’s JENNIFER’S GARDEN about?:
While this novel is set in the garden, the story is about a woman with preconceived notions. Dr. Jennifer Hamilton is ambitious, compassionate, but a tad uptight and feels an extraordinary amount of pressure to do right by her community, her parents and choosing a husband falls into this category. What she discovers throughout the novel is that the true treasure of a man can only be found within the man himself – not his job title, not his social status and NOT her expectations.
Any gardening advice for the non-green thumbs, like me?
Start with a few of your favourites (be sure they can survive in your climate) and start small. Gardening is a lot easier than most people think because when you get right down to it, these plants grow all by themselves in nature! Why not with a little TLC from we humans?
The secret to successful gardening is to visit your garden everyday. This way you’ll stay on top of problems and be sure to reap your harvest at the first possible moment! It’s MY favourite time in the garden.
Thanks for those tips. I swear I was known as the plant Grim Reaper for the longest time. Speaking of advice what’s the most important advice you can give to a newbie author?
Remember that you’re writing because you love to write and know that the minute you offer your work up for the world to see, opinions will come flying at you with amazing speed and not all of them nice.
And because you cannot please all of the people all of the time, be sure that you’re pleasing yourself by writing the story of your heart, your passion. This is what sustains me.
Sounds like great advice. Thanks for allowing me to interview you, Dianne. If you want to find out more about Diane Venetta and her work you can visit her website for more information.
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