Freebie Day #6 - Guest Author Trish Milburn/Tricia Mills!

Scroll down to see today's Freebie Giveaway!


Welcome Guest Author Trish Milburn (AKA Tricia Mills) to the blog!


Trish writes both contemporary romances (as Trish Milburn) and Young Adult fiction (as Tricia Mills). Eight time Golden Heart finalist (and two time winner!), Trish/Tricia lives in Tennessee where she loves to take road trips to the beach when it’s cold or to places like Yellowstone National Park when it’s hot. She also enjoys hiking, is a total National Park junkie, is quite proud of her ability to spoil her two beautiful nieces and two adorable nephews, and is absolutely convinced Buffy and Angel will find their own happily ever after someday.

Tricia's latest YA release is HEARTBREAK RIVER:

Alexandra Landon once loved running the Grayton River through the Colorado canyons near her home and couldn’t imagine doing anything else with her life but continuing the family’s river rafting business. But that was before her father died in a rafting accident and she developed a full-fledged fear of drowning. It’s been nearly a year since her father’s death, and the arrival of another summer means Alex has to face the river, the question of whether she can ever recapture her love of rafting, and the return of co-worker and former boyfriend Sean Kenley. One way or the other, this summer is going to change Alex’s life forever.

“Mills builds suspense in both the romance and the moving drama of family secrets and loss. The fast talk and Alex’s first-person narrative are right on, especially in the scenes of quarrels. Best of all is the setting, which is powerfully described in scenes of Alex struggling to overcome her phobia and return to the wild rushing river she loves.”
– Hazel Rochman, Booklist

“Tricia Mills has crafted a complex and vivid story of love, grief, and the slow process of healing set in the beautiful, wild and dangerous country of rural Colorado. Mills’ characters are authentic, varied, and fallible in their own unique ways, but each of them contributes a realistic and personable undercurrent to the novel. … Mills balances the moments of grief and the moments of happiness, efficiently reminding readers of the heartaches and joys of life, and the importance of never giving up on living, making for a stellar, quick, and emotional first novel.”
– The Compulsive Reader blog

Welcome, Trish/Tricia!

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1) What kind of books do you love to read and how do those stories impact your own writing?
I love lots of different kinds of stories, but almost everything I read has at least some romance in it. Contemporary romance, historical romance, mysteries, YA – whatever it is, I like to have some romance going on in the story along with the other story threads. Purely as a reader, I LOVE paranormal and am really enjoying its current popularity and the variety of wonderful stories out there. I like paranormal romance, paranormal YA and urban fantasy. I’ve written a few paranormal projects that my agent is shopping, so fingers crossed! Even though my contracted books are not paranormal, I think what you learn about world building in paranormal is applicable to all fiction and helping it become three-dimensional and real.

2) What are you working on presently? What about upcoming releases?
I’m working on revisions to my third Harlequin American, The Family Man, which is set to release in March 2010. It’s a sequel to my first book, A Firefighter in the Family, and is Adam’s story – the best friend of Firefighter’s hero, Zac. I’m also writing another American as part of a rodeo-based continuity, which I believe will be released in the latter half of 2010. The Family Man is my next scheduled release, and it’ll be followed by my second young adult novel from Razorbill, Winter Longing, next summer.

3) What’s the best compliment you ever got on your writing or book(s)?
My May 2009 Harlequin American, Her Very Own Family, is set in Northeast Tennessee, and the heroine’s estranged mother is a minister. I got an e-mail from a female minister who grew up in Northeast Tennessee, and she loved my book and how I portrayed the area and what were some delicate topics. That made me feel good. I also did a book signing in my small hometown, and my cousin told me she couldn’t put the book down. She’d aimed to just read for an hour one night and ended up reading until 1 in the morning.

4) What’s your writing schedule like?
It varies from day to day, depending on deadlines and other responsibilities, and it’s about to change as I force myself to schedule exercise in twice a day. Writing is such a sedentary occupation that we all live with the danger of allowing ourselves to fall into unhealthy lifestyles. But since my career is just beginning and I want it to last a good, long time, I better get into shape so I don’t develop health problems, which run in my family. So, my plan after I get home from RWA National is to begin the day with a hour of exercise – either walking or aerobics, then eat breakfast while checking e-mail and posting blogs. Then I’ll write/edit until lunch and take a short break to eat lunch and watch something on my TiVo. Then back to writing/editing until 3 or 4 in the afternoon, then another hour of exercise like working in the yard. Then do business tasks until dinner, spend dinner some time afterward with the hubby, then either more business, writing or TV. I usually end the day by reading a little after I go to bed.

5) If you could be one character from any book you’re read or written who would it be and why?
Wow, that’s hard. Joanne Baldwin from Rachel Caine’s Weather Warden series is really cool. I love kick-ass heroines, and she can control weather! Also, I don’t think I’d complain if I was a heroine in a J.R. Ward Black Dagger Brotherhood book. Those dudes are HOT!

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Trish/Tricia has donated a copy of HEARTBREAK RIVER to one lucky commenter! To be entered into the drawing, simply answer this question:

When do you like to read? During the middle of the day? In a nice hot bubble bath? Every night before bed?