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Bettie's Bio
Updated January 1, 2008
Bettie Sharpe is a Los Angeles native with a fondness for hot weather, classic cars, and air so thick it sticks in your teeth. When she's not busy attempting to metabolize smog into oxygen, Bettie enjoys romance novels, action movies, comic books, video games, and every other entertainment product her teachers said would rot her brain.
Bettie loves to write almost as much as she loves to read. Since childhood, Bettie has dreamed of seeing her name in shiny gold cursive on the cover of a luridly titled paperback book. Bettie and her husband share their house with two cats, numerous computers, and the possum in their palm tree.
Bettie recently made her first sale to Samhain Publishing. Her novella, Like a Thief in the Night will be released as part of the Strangers in the Night anthology in January, 2008.
More! More! More!
I like my entertainment
over the top. As far as I'm concerned, too much of a good thing is just right.
I'm a pop culture junkie. From soap operas to pulp novels to comics &
manga, if it is, was, or will be mass entertainment, I'm on it. Why? I have
an interest in stories that resonate with people. Not to go all Joseph Campbell
on you, but I do love my archetypes and classic genre themes.
Where
Do you Get Your Ideas From?
ADD, it works for me! I'm a daydreamer. Always have been, always will be.
In elementary school, my teachers were always writing notes home complaining
that I either talked too much, or spent too much time quietly daydreaming.
(Also, that I was reading novels behind the cover of my math book, but that's
another matter.) My
mind wanders and I think up random stuff with little to no provocation.
What's
Your Writing Style?
My take on Romance fiction stems from my love of genre stories. I don't stick
to one genre in my reading habits, and my Romance writing reflects that. I
don't hop genres, I use all of them. At the same time. You'll
find gangsters and hard boiled detectives, cowboys and school marms, aliens
and 24th Century gadgets, fairytale motifs, mythology (both made up and historic)
and monsters lurking in and around my love stories. And whenever possible,
a samurai sword fight or an explosion, because those are always cool.
For a sample of my writing, check out the Reads section.
Why
Romance?
Because it's the most diverse genre out there. Romance can incorporate elements
of mystery, suspense, fantasy, futuristic/scifi, horror and history. Absolutely
anything can happen between page one and the Happily Ever After, which makes
writing Romances every bit as fun as reading them!
No,
Really, Why?
Because I love a happy
ending almost as much as I love a good yarn. Because I'm a grouch who secretly
believes in true love. Because Barbara Cartland was my childhood hero.
Barbara
Cartland! What?
I've always wanted to be
a Romance author. As a child, I wanted to grow up to be Barbara Cartland or
Jackie Collins. And the idea of having a nom du plume made me feel
like a superhero.
Do
You Have Any Hobbies?
Besides writing? I read. I read a lot, in every genre. Favorite fiction authors
include, but are totally not limited to: Neal Stephenson, Loretta Chase, Nora
Roberts, Judith Ivory, Dashiell Hammett, Dorothy Parker, Robin McKinley, Lemony
Snicket, Kage Baker and...the list goes on and on. When it comes to nonfiction,
I'm a huge history geek and a political junkie. I devour nonfiction books
in those subjects.
Other than reading, I daydream, draw, occasionally paint, and sometimes do computer graphics. I have been known to: cook, knit, sew, chase the cats, become pahtetically addicted to TV shows like Heroes and Pushing Daisies. I play video games. I love classic Hollywood movies, modern Asian and Spanish cinema, and cheesy action and scifi movies. My favorite directors are Preston Sturges, Pedro Almodovar and John Woo.
My outdoor hobbies include sports (both organized and unorganized), skiing, water skiing, going to the beach, window shopping (What? It's outdoors.) and, occasionally horseback riding.
Do
You Ever Shut Up?
Yes, right now. Bye.