Straight from the Mouth of Love's Justice author Joan Avery

Joan Avery was an award-winning writer/producer at a major national advertising agency for over fifteen years before she retired to raise a family and write. Joan has been blessed with a daughter, two sons and two stepsons. She and her husband now have five grandchildren. Although she has lived in the Detroit area her entire life she has traveled extensively for both work and leisure. She and her husband, an attorney, have visited many fascinating parts of the world. Joan feels her travels enrich her writing. THE WORTH BROTHERS TRILOGY takes place in three of her favorite places.
Her latest book is the historical romance, Love's Justice For More Information

• Visit Joan’s website.
• Connect with Joan on Facebook.

Thanks for letting us interrogate interview you!  Can you give us a go-for-the-gut answer as to why you wanted to be an author?

I desperately needed a creative outlet after leaving my job as a producer of TV and radio commercials to stay home with my children.

Tell us (we won’t tell promise!) is it all it’s cracked up to be?  I mean what are the perks and what are the demands?

Since I’m not a New York Times best seller (yet) there are few perks.  The biggest perk is knowing something that you crafted to give others pleasure is out there for the public to consume.

Which route did you take – traditional or self-published – and can you give us the nitty gritty low down on what’s that like?

My first sale was many years ago to Harperpaperbacks and was a thrilling experience.  The cover, the feel of the paperback in my hands was exhilarating.  Needless to say, publishing has undergone (and continues to undergo) major changes.  Today, I’m pleased to be publishing in an e-pub format.  I think it allows more readers to enjoy books at a reasonable price.  This being said, I would hope there will always be a place for traditionally published books.

Tell us for real what your family feels about you spending so much time getting your book

written, polished, edited, formatted, published, what have you? 

I have always put my family first.  It is a choice I made years ago.  Now, with my family grown I still try to write in a way that least inconveniences my husband.  Whether this has impacted my career it’s hard to say but looking back, I wouldn’t change a thing.

Do your pets actually get their food on time or do they have to wait until you type just one more word?

Our poor dog was always patient and understanding.  I miss her still.

In writing your book, how did you deal with the phone ringing, your family needing dinner or your boss calling you saying you’re late?

Luckily, I was rarely writing under a deadline and was able to keep everything up and running.

What was the craziest or insane thing that happened to you in the book publishing process?

Getting an email from a New York editor praising my main-stream book throughout the email saying how well paced it was, how she read it in one sitting and how much she enjoyed it, only to have her add at the end that she was sorry but she didn’t buy “this kind of book.”

How about the social networks?  Which ones do you believe help and which ones do you wish you could avoid?

I’m not terribly tech savvy so I’ll have to pass on this.  I do know authors who are very successful in harnessing various social networks to improve their sales.

What is one thing you’d like to jump on the rooftop and scream about?

Editors second guessing what a reader will or won’t read and trends that seem to dictate every book written must include werewolves, demons, time travel or whatever.

Okay, too much sugar for you today!  Here’s a nice cup of Chamomile tea and come on over and sit under the cabana and watch the waves roll in.  Now…can you tell us what you love about being a published author and how all those things above doesn’t matter because it’s all part of the whole scheme of things and you wouldn’t have it any other way?

Well, it’s certainly not for public adulation.  (Trust me there’s very little of that for the average writer.)  I know it sounds insincere but I really get a deep-seated satisfaction sharing my stories with others.  I know few writers who write only for themselves.  We write because we want to give the pleasure of a good story to others.  This is an intoxicating reason to write.  As writers, I think we’re all addicted to sharing the pleasure of a good story.