Piper’s Interview with Lexxie Couper

I am so pleased and excited to welcome Lexxie Couper as our special guest here at GP!

Thank you so much Lexxie for taking time out of your busy life to visit us at GP and answering some questions. I was recently turned on to Lexxie’s books and I am so glad I have found her wonderful sexy books.

Piper: First I have to ask, please tell me that somewhere in the world there are two real guys that were your inspiration for Joe and Rob from Triple Dare and Dare Me?

Lexxie: LOL There is. I married one of them and the other is married to one of my best friends 😉 (Of course, I’ve toned down the sexiness of the one inspired by my husband because, well, that’s just toooo much sexiness for one book to handle *grin*)

Piper: One of the many funny things I loved in Triple Dare and Dare Me was Rob with his Fuck a duck saying. Is that something you say all the time or someone else you’re giving a little tribute to?

Lexxie: I say “fuck a duck” often (although never around my children) and one of my brothers says “Holy snapping duckshit, Batman” every time he’s stunned/shocked/surprised. Quite a few times Rob said “Holy snapping duckshit” but my editor and beta readers were totally confused by it. Apparently it’s only an Aussie thing =) What truly cracks me up about the level of profanity in my house is neither my mother or father swear at all.

Piper: I know some authors say they do not read reviews, but do you read reviews of your books?

Lexxie: I do. Mainly because I’m utterly insecure and constantly need reassurance that I actually really am capable of putting the words together good like and stuff 😉 Of course, the bad reviews (of which I’ve had a few) can also make me laugh as well as cry. My favourite bad review was one titled “Stupidest Book Ever”. I actually thought about putting that quote on a T-shirt =)

Piper: Have you ever let reviews influence your writing?

Lexxie: Hmmm, I’m going to say no. Not on a conscious level at least. Reading (like all other forms of the creative arts) is so subjective that for every review saying “I hated the heroine’s stupid best friend” there’s likely to be one saying “I loved the best friend and hope she gets her own book soon!”. Having said that, if I were to receive a string of reviews all mentioning one thing in common I’d be a doofus not to let it influence me in some way or another =)

Piper: I know you have a family so what is a typical day for you?

Lexxie: ROTFLMAO Oh man, what is this word “typical” you use?  I have three different types of day: Lexxie days, where both Peanut and the Demon Princess are at school and preschool and I write my sizeable butt off until 3pm when my Mummy hat goes back on; Mummy days, when the Demon Princess is home with me and I juggle being a mum, a household manager, a playmate, a taxi-service, a gourmet cook and a wife; and Weekend days, during which my husband is home and we try to cram in a week’s worth of fun family time in a forty-eight hour period. Every night save Friday I start writing/Lexxie work at 9pm and stop somewhere around 1am. Friday night is Movie night for my husband and I. That night, not a single laptop or iDevice of any kind is allowed to be near us and we curl up together on the sofa and watch a movie on the TV. I love Friday nights. =)

Piper: What is one of the biggest obstacles you have to (or have had to) overcome in regards to writing?

Lexxie: Biggest obstacle I’ve had to over come was my own doubt in myself. You know that scene in Back to the Future where George McFly says he couldn’t ask Elaine out because he couldn’t handle “that kind of rejection”? That was me. When I was 7 I told my teacher I was going to be a writer when I grew up. However, somewhere along the path from being a girl with dreams to an adult with responsibilities, the notion of being a writer became something “beyond”. The thing I always wanted to be but doubted I could be. I had stories screaming to be written in my head, two finished manuscipts in the bottom drawer of my desk, but not one sent to anyone. No one had read them but me. I was convinced I was fooling myself that I could string a sentence together in any way worth reading by other people. I knew—knew—if I even thought about sending a manuscript to a publishing house I’d get a mailbox full of pre-emptive rejection letters telling me not to even bother. And then one day my husband said to me “Boxhead (his nickname for me), stop being a bloody chicken.” The next day I sent off Suspcious Ways to a very famous romance publishing house. Two months later I got a very nice rejection letter that said my writing was wonderful but the book wasn’t for them. LOL. The only word that actually registered with me was “wonderful”. It was enough to make me think, hmmm, maybe I can do this after all? And I promptly started writing my next book. =)  (BTW, after many many re-writes Suspicious Ways is releasing this year at Samhain Publishing. Yay!)

Piper: Was it hard to write on such an emotional topic as cancer?

Lexxie: Oh man, was it hard. Really hard. How does one go about writing an erotic romance that’s also meant to be funny and flippant as well as touching and moving, when the hero has just recovered from brain cancer? Seriously. More than once I wished I’d killed Rob off at the end of Triple Dare like I planned. Two people helped me finish the book. Rhian Cahill stopped me deleting the whole thing more than once, and Vicky, one of my best friends from high school made me write all the words that were too hard to think about. Vicky didn’t know she was doing that, mind you, but Vicky (who is still one of my closest friends today) was diagnosed with the same cancer Rob had seven years ago and her courage and strength and determination kept “talking” to me every time I hit a wall. Without Rhian and Vicky Dare Me wouldn’t exist and I love them both even more that it does.

Piper: Dare Me comes out 1/31 which I LOVED, because I can never get enough of Rob and Joe. I loved the strong bond between them, and I could not get enough of the back and forth banter between them. What else to have in the works you can share with our readers?

Lexxie: Oh, thank you. There truly was something magic about those two. I still remember the night I said to my husband, “give me two typical Aussie blokes’ names” and Joseph and Rob were what he threw at me. Coming up late February I have How To Love Your Dragon, Book Two of Fire Mates, my dragon-shifter series available from Ellora’s Cave. In April I have Love’s Rhythm, the very romantic story of Nick Blackthorne, the world’s biggest rock star, and his journey back to his small home town and the only woman he ever loved, a woman whose heart he destroyed fifteen years ago. Then there’s Twister, the second Party Games book in July, followed by Sunset Heat (which is a Bandicoot Cove: The Wedding book) and Suspicous Ways (my first ever non-erotic romance) in September, then Dark Embrace, the first sequel to Death, The Vamp and his Brother in November. All of them feature some very sexy, very cheeky, very very naughty Aussie heroes. Oh, and in amongst all that theres two more dragon-shifter books to be written, five more Deadly Daemon books and four more Stimulated books, not to mention the series I’m co-writing with the utterly awesome and amazing Mari Carr about two Australian cowboys (who we call “stockmen” Down Under) and the women who finally rope them 😉

Piper: You have done some collaborations with other authors. What do you find you like best about working with other authors?

Lexxie: Everything. LOL Writing can be such an insular profession, but when you get the chance to brainstorm and run amuck with someone who shares your love of story telling and romance and fun…oh wow, it just becomes a dream job. And I’ve discovered the passion and excitement of writing is sooo contagious, so even when I’ve had moment of self-doubt, the author (or authors) I’m working with just wrap me up in their enthusiasm for our project and the words are soon pouring out of me again. Oh, and I love the unexpectedness of the plot’s progression as well. It’s like watching a movie you sorta-kinda know but maybe you fell asleep in places so you’re not sure what’s going to happen next to get to the bit you do know about. I love that feeling. =)

Piper: What is something that your readers might be surprised to find out about you?

Lexxie: I’m stupidly shy. So when I get put front and centre I babble like an absolute idiot to hide the fact I’m stupidly shy (something I think that’s become quite obvious in this interview *grin*). Oh, and I dated the inspiration for the movie, Strictly Ballroom for three years =)

Piper: What is your Guilty Pleasure when you’re not writing?

Lexxie: Handbags. Seriously, I own too many to contemplate. I am forever in search for the perfect handbag (which I know doesn’t exist) and will drag my daughters from one bag shop to another most afternoons. I don’t need any more handbags but I can’t help myself. There’s something about the potential of a new handbag. Well, that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it 😉

Thank you again Lexxie for stopping by GP and chatting with us. Please feel free to stop by GP and chat with us anytime!

Piper’s Triple Dare Review

Piper’s Dare Me Review Suck and Blow is Book 1 in the Fun, super sexy Party Games series

DiDi’s Suck and Blow Review

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