Getting Work And Romance To Play Nice Together
I’ve been reading a lot about the business of writing lately, so I thought I’d take a moment and chat with some authors who wrote about business as an integral part of their stories.
Meet Jamie Brazil who wrote Prince Charming, Inc., a really funny look a contemporary matchmaking! Welcome Jamie!
How do you perceive your main character’s employment?
Reprehensible and totally justified. Elyse rebuilds socially-damaged men (aren’t they all?) and marries them off for money. It’s one of my own fantasies. My husband has been a work-in-progress for thirteen years. If I’d had more luck with him, I’d quit writing and go into the marriage/matchmaking business.
What was behind making the main character’s work a pivotal part of the story?
For women today, more than ever, we are our work. Whether it’s being a homemaker or a CEO, what we do is part of us. But maybe you meant, “Why is she a dedicated career woman eschewing family and romantic commitments?” That would be part of her character arc… finding balance. I think we all want our work and our romantic relationships to play nice together (not that it always works out that way).
Does your work experience match your character’s?
Absolutely not. My characters have a much better work ethic than I do!
How do you think adding work experience adds to the story?
It’s integral to it. Like my characters, I want to be a well-rounded human being. I want to build a home and be there for my friends and family, but I also want the satisfaction of doing a job well. It’s a little like walking a tightrope some days. If there is a theme in my work that gets repeated (a lot), it’s of a woman who is out of balance (usually on the career side) and has to find her maternal side again. Please tell my husband not to read too much into that!!!
What challenges does adding work experience bring to romance writing?
It adds more research!!!
What new challenges/opportunities do you have planned for 2014?
I’d like to say I would finally complete the social rebuild of my husband, but I’ve given up on him and adopted a Bloodhound. If anyone knows anything about the breed, they’d say go back to working on my husband. Bloodhounds are notoriously stubborn and willful… but I like that in myself… and in the characters I write.
About Prince Charming, Inc.
From long haul drivers to plumbers, matchmaker Elyse Tobin refurbishes and retrains men, then sells them off as husbands to wealthy San Francisco socialites. Womanizing Lothario Nick Salvatore is a millionaire restaurateur with looks, charm, and wit. He’s the man Elyse models all her fixer-uppers after, the man who seduced her three years ago, and the one man in San Francisco she wants nothing to do with despite his ongoing efforts to woo her. But, when Elyse’s latest groom goes south, the IRS audits her, and her home is about to be foreclosed, she discovers the one man she can count on is the one she’s spent years avoiding.
A FREE read from Jamie!
The Career Conundrum Christmas: A Moo Cow Creamer Story
Caught between past and present, a fine art appraiser wants to honor her father’s decorative arts legacy while forging her own future. But will the career opportunity of a lifetime dry up like her overcooked holiday turkey if she accepts her boyfriend’s marriage proposal? And if she refuses, will she lose the chance to start a family of her own – the one thing she’s desperately wanted since her father died?
Follow Jamie’s publishing journey on her blog and her website!
kathybryson 
Thanks for stopping by, Joanne!
I’ve had your book on my TBR list since I first saw the cover Jamie! It sounds so fun! and this:
Elyse rebuilds socially-damaged men (aren’t they all?) and marries them off for money.
*died*
Loved the interviews!
xoxoxo
Thanks! It was a blast to write. And Rae Monet does such amazing covers!
Excellent interview, Jamie! Prince Charming, Inc. sounds delicious.