Resolutions, Alter Egos, and Tigger, Oh my! . . . A mmM/MMonday Interview with Aurelia A Burrow

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Wt - I'm Wt Prater, and I'm here today with author Aurelia B Rowl aka Allie A Burrow, who is doing this interview for Just Write and SO Gay. Thank you so much for allowing us to feature you today, Aurelia.

AR -  Hellooo, lovely to be here! And Happy New Year to you, just in case I forget later.

Wt - Same to you, my darling. Have you already starting planning some New Year resolutions?

AR - I have indeed - I try to come up with some every year. At least one 'personal', one 'professional', and one 'other', usually a reading challenge. Expect a post on my blog with a look back to last year's and then my new ones for 2013 very soon.

Wt - Awesome. I look forward to reading your blog more. Now, you and I are relatively new friends. We met through the Breathless Press FB group, which is publishing my third short story, Exercising His Options. How did you get involved with that group/ press?

AR - I happened to see a submission call-out from another publisher, asking for Christmas/Holiday stories. It sparked an idea in my head and I had to sideline the project I was working on to give it a go. As it turned out, my story grew too long for the original call-out I'd seen, but I noticed that Breathless Press were also looking for Holiday-themed stories. I already knew one fellow writer that had signed with them, so decided to give it a go. It was actually quite scary, as it was the first story I'd written 'the end' on, and my first ever full submission. Thankfully, a contract arrived in my in-box within a week so I didn't have long to wait.

Wt - And tell me about that story.

AR - Christmas is Cancelled is a contemporary romance set in the UK during the Christmas holiday and is based around a chance reunion with Tilly and her older brother’s best friend, Dean, at a time when her carefully constructed world has collapsed around her. It is also a tale of unrequited love, or at least that’s what Tilly thinks.

Wt - And that came out December 21st, right?

AR - Yes, that's right. It just about scraped in before Christmas, with the holiday stories being the theme for the entire month.

Wt - And is Breathless Press the only house you're with right now?

AR -   Yes, I'm a very new writer and only have two complete manuscripts under my belt so far. The second has also been contracted by Breathless Press to be featured in their Serviced anthology, but it will go out under the name of my raunchier alter-ego, Allie A Burrow. (Another anagram!)

Wt - That leads me to my next question: For authors who plan to write YA and write saucier stuff too, why do you recommend creating pseudonyms?

AR - I've always intended to write contemporary romance and young adult as Aurelia - to be honest, I never even dreamed I'd write anything else, but decided to push myself out of my comfort zone when I wrote the piece for the anthology. When it got accepted, I knew it couldn't go out as Aurelia as it is just too explicit.

Whilst Christmas is Cancelled is quite steamy, it is still the story of a monogamous loving relationship between two people. Whereas Allie can write anything - assuming I can get it past my internal censor - so the two have very different styles and identities. When a 16/17 year old searches my back list (when I actually have one) I don't want them to be confronted with the 'naughtier' books that I would feel inappropriate, if it were my child stumbling across them.

Wt - Ok, that makes sense. So tell us a bit about your naughtier books. LOL.

AR - Funnily enough, the one I've written so far is still a monogamous loving relationship between two people, complete with happy ending - the difference is the language. It is far more explicit and graphic, using words that I can't even bring myself to say. It was fun though, and I now have another story in the pipeline which should challenge me even more, as there are...um...more characters involved.

Wt - So . . .give us a run down of your current Works In Progress.

AR - Oh gosh, there are too many to mention individually, but they are all up on my website. The main ones I'm focusing on for the start of 2013 include the project that got sidelined earlier this year called Their Last Goodbye, and also book one of a series I am working. The series is called Peer Pressure, and book one is called Bye Bye, Black Sheep. I then have four further books for the series planned already: Pussy Kat, Pussy Kat (Where Have You Been?), Sing a Rainbow Too, Rock-a-Buy Baby, and The House That Jack Built.

I have also been asked for the follow-up story to Christmas is Cancelled, featuring the secondary character, which I do have a rough outline in my mind for, so I certainly have enough to keep me busy for a while. Roll on September when I can write full-time.

Wt – And you have two websites, http://www.allieaburrow.com and http://www.aureliabrowl.com/ right?

AR - Yes, that's right, and two separate blogs to go with them: http://blogspot.aureliabrowl.com and 

http://blog.allieaburrow.com Of course, Allie has all the 'over 18' settings, whereas Aurelia doesn't. LOL. Another reason to keep the 'naughty' stuff under a different pen name. It's not much good writing YA stories then have a blog/website, the young adult isn't old enough to access.

Wt- Alright, last question: Are there any questions you wished I'd ask, or one you never want to be asked again?

AR - I'd say I've had it pretty easy - thank you! - but was half-expecting to be pounced on for Sing a Rainbow Too, my first foray into a M/M contemporary love story.

Wt - Well, since you mentioned it, lol, tell us about it. (Pounce, Pounce. . . sorta like Tigger!)

AR - Ah, the wonderful thing about Tiggers, the Tigger's a wonderful thing...

The Peer Pressure series is all about Lords and Ladies but with a modern contemporary twist, set in the present time. As I delved into my characters, I discovered that one of my secondary characters was not the person he portrayed himself to be. It is only when he gets his own story in Sing A Rainbow Too, that we know for certain he is gay, but he is in complete denial. He has already met his soul mate but refuses to believe it, in fact, he's getting married to his soul mate's sister instead.

I want the story to be about his coming to terms - and accepting - himself, detailing the emotional journey he must go through before he can commit to any relationship. I would even go so far as to say, I'd love this to become a book that a troubled gay teen or new adult could pick up and help them come to terms with themselves as well. But I know that's asking a lot.

Wt - I am so excited about this series!  And will this series be YA or Adult oriented?

AR - The series will be marketed as adult, as it contains sex - much like Christmas is Cancelled - but it is not explicit, nor graphic. I want to treat this book the same as I would treat any other book, so there will be a 'consummation' scene at some point, but written in a way that is integral to the story and the characters, rather than gratuitous. I also have the advantage of total control, as I am intending to self-publish, so I can be very mindful of the potential audience.

Wt – Again, so excited. . . So I want to say thank you so much for being here. I look forward to great things from you.

AR - Thank you, it's been fun.

Aurelia B Rowl is a contemporary romance author, aspiring young adult writer, blogger and social network addict. She also masquerades as Allie A Burrow, her raunchier alter-ego, set to hit the virtual bookshelves in March. When she hasn’t got one of her ‘writer’ hats on, she is mum to her son and daughter, aged 5 and 3 (although turning 6 and 4 next week), wife to her very understanding husband, and ‘boss’ to their 8 year-old rescue dog. She studiously ignores the housework for as long as possible, choosing to play with the kids, or spend the time either creating her own stories or losing herself in somebody else’s. Check out her websites and blogs! And also search for her on virtually every social network, cuz she's there.