Please welcome author DD Syms as we celebrate Breathless Press’ Fourth Anniversary. Be sure to enter the rafflecopter below to be in with a chance of winning:
Grand Prize: 1 Kindle Fire
Second Prize: $25.00 Gift Card for Breathless Press
Third Prize: $10.00 Gift Card for Breathless Press
Fourth Prize: 10 x $5.00 Gift Cards for Breathless Press (individual gift cards, 1 per person)
Breathless Press is an e-book publisher specializing in Romance and Erotic(a) stories.
Our mission statement is simple: To provide the opportunity for readers to connect with romance authors through the purchasing of quality e-books at a low price.
Starting in the summer of 2009, Breathless Press came into existence. Since then, we have been producing top end romance and erotic stories for valued readers to enjoy.
Interview
What is your name and where do you live now?
Donald “DD” Symms and I live in just north of Los Angeles.
First off, how has your week been?
Terrific. I balance family demands with a large household and a writing career so I’ve finally got a structure together that works.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how long you’ve been writing?
Writing in three different areas has always been important to me. Information, entertainment, and lifting up others has been a lifelong passion. My first venture into writing was as a child and scribbling together a family newspaper. I’ve written plays and studied short story writing in college. My professional career in marketing and non-profit management included writing brochures and real life human interest stories. I’m finally honing my fiction.
Did you always want to be a writer? If not what did you want to be?
Writing, broadcasting, and acting have been lifelong desires and I’ve done each. During my mid-career stretch I got into more management and admired those who could manage a business or organization. My interests though have always circled back to writing.
What is the name of your latest book, and if you had to summarise it what would you say?
Boarding is the title. Imagine boarding a plane without knowing the final destination. Life is like that and Jessie Carter the heroine experiences the unknown feeling when she gets asked to create a dress in one day for a famous model.
Please tell us about your current release.
Boarding opens with Jessie Carter in a meeting with a man who can either propel her fashion design career forward or send her packing home in continued obscurity. We watch her relationship with her boyfriend twist and turn and how the decisions they make bring them together and threaten to pull them apart. She discovers that true friends are life’s greatest pleasure.
Where did you come up with the idea to write your book?
I originally wrote about Jessie in my initial short story Layover – about a steamy night spent in a motel near Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. Airports are dramatic places and I began thinking, “what was Jessie doing before she reached Chicago?” I mentioned in Layover she had been in New York for a fashion shoot and I began pondering “why was she in New York?” I originally thought the story would be a novella around 25,000 words but I wanted to dig deeply into the character and I wound up with a story over 55,000 words.
Did you have any say in the title / cover of your book?
I chose the title and I conveyed the details of the story to Victoria Miller the graphic artist who did a wonderful interpretation of the characters, flying, and the New York City skyline.
Do you have plans for a new book?
Yes. I’m digging into Arrival and will delve more into issues surrounding the fashion industry such as fair trade, jealousy over a company’s success, and the romantic and erotic twists and turns in relationships. I’m about 40% of the way into Arrival and I’m picking up steam.
Do you have to do much research?
Both Boarding and Arrival required me to spend a fair amount of time researching fashion trends, designers, and the industry. I spoke with a fashion designer who had worked for Tommy Hilfiger and she told me about 12 hour and 14 hour days – that surprised me. I’ve done more research for Arrival and will contact a few more fashion designers for their input.
DD Symms has four books published with Breathless Press. Travel is woven through the lives of the characters, representing the changes we all experience.
He lives in southern California and hikes in the mountains with his wife, wishes his dog would stop sleeping on his side of the bed, and would like to take more walks along the beaches north of Malibu.
DD Symms has seen the gritty as well as pleasant sides of life in Los Angeles and gets to frequently return to the woods back East. He hates being stuck in traffic and loves the cultures the many varied restaurants represent in So Cal.
Writing has been part of his professional and personal life since his college days. He’s done some acting and sees a natural relationship between portraying characters, creating them—and living with a household of them.
He doesn’t believe in finding inspiration and then beginning to write; he is adamant that one begins writing and then discovers inspiration and a place where the story will develop and thrive no matter what the personal circumstances.
Purchase DD’s books from Breathless Press, Amazon and ARe.
Jessie brushed back a curl of her red hair, wet from the rain that
soaked her after the taxi mistakenly dropped her off one block
away from Twenty-Third Street and Park Avenue. A droplet from
the tip of a curl landed on her neck and trickled down her shoulder
blade like an ant with tiny feet tickling her flesh.
She leaned back against the chair and wiggled, but the droplet
had already zigzagged to the waistband of her panties and to
the valley of her ass. Wiping it away at this point would have been
awkward and impolite, so she concentrated on him studying her
sketches, fighting to keep her eyes open and ignoring the pounding
sensation in her temples. At least he could offer her a bottle of
water.
He lifted his shoulders, glanced out the window, and ran a
finger along his chin. She brightened and waited. He lowered his
head. Good Lord, don’t tell me this is round two.
The weariness from the British Airways flight that she boarded
after her design competition in London had her tight in its grip.
The craft had dipped and rolled through a storm over the Atlantic
like a gravity-defying roller coaster at Six Flags and she had deplaned
at JFK Airport only four hours earlier with legs weak like
boiled spaghetti.
All she wanted was for him to say yes or no—to accept or
reject her fashion concepts. Jessie fantasized about gripping his
collar and running her nose against his tan face and chiseled jaw.
She would whisper how much she admired his wide shoulders
and sturdy neck and if he would say something, then he could do
anything to her he damn well pleased.
That way she could retreat back to the hotel to take a nap, a
warm bath, and enjoy the remainder of her Tuesday afternoon.
Ugh. Using sex just to get something was repulsive and only
added to the stress. She crossed one denim-clad leg over the other
to keep from sliding along the vinyl upholstery and into a heap
on the floor.
The thought of actually meeting someone connected to Veve
Rousoulette had been a long-anticipated dream that played out
while Jessie planned to escape her one-bedroom apartment in the
Los Angeles enclave of Van Nuys. She’d fly confidently to New
York, rent a luxury sedan, and then waltz in to an elegant room
and shake the model’s hand while her people eagerly reviewed a
portfolio of innovative sketches.
Reality wasn’t as neat or simple.
Jessie Carter is visiting New York City when she gets the chance of a lifetime: to design a dress in one day for the model she reveres, Veve Rouselette.
Jessie’s entrepreneur boyfriend, Raymond, fears losing her to a pursuit of fruitless dreams and wants her to settle for a position in his high tech firm.
She finds herself attracted to the bisexual lover and assistant to the model’s manager, Callan Delongpre, who encourages her talents. With sensual tastes and raw sexuality he shows Jessie a world she only fantasized about.
In a race against the clock, Jessie must conquer her boyfriend’s challenges and a gossip columnist’s mission to destroy Veve’s reputation.
Thank you for hosting today.
Samantha, thank you for having me. You have a wonderful site and the covers all look enticing.
Samantha, thank you for having me. You have a wonderful site and the covers all look enticing.
Thank you foor this awesome Giveaway
Thanks for the giveaway! I loved the excerpt!
Love meeting all the authors on the tour!
vitajex(at)aol(Dot)com
What a fascinating excerpt. Really sounds like an awesome story.
What a fascinating excerpt. Really sounds like an awesome story.
Thanks for sharing the great excerpt and the giveaway. Sounds like a great book. evamillien at gmail dot com
A man in a woman-dominated field…What's that like?
catherinelee100 at gmail dot com
Thanks for coming by and answering my questions!
Hi all and thank you for stopping by. I'm honored to be here on this site and Breathless Press is a publisher committed to quality story-telling.
Catherine, what's in a like being a man in a woman-dominated field?
Mmmm, wonderful! Seriously, though, the universal elements are strong enough that even as a man I can relate to Jessie's dreams — even if she is shopping in a thrift store to show how she can create sexy women's underwear from scrap material.
The research was a lot of fun!
I'm currently working on Arrival, the next installment in Jessie's career and personal life.
Great interview & blurb!! Thanks so much for the great giveaway.
Gayle
gayle2b74@gmail.com
Writing, broadcasting and acting. It sounds like you're incredibly creative. Thanks for the lovely interview. Totally enjoyed it. And for the giveaway.
joannewadsworth007@gmail.com
Writing, broadcasting and acting. It sounds like you're incredibly creative. Thanks for the lovely interview. Totally enjoyed it. And for the giveaway.
joannewadsworth007@gmail.com
Definitely creative and Arrival was a fun story to develop, Joanne.
Glad to have you comment, too, Gayle and best luck to both of you for the Kindle Fire.
Definitely creative and Arrival was a fun story to develop, Joanne.
Glad to have you comment, too, Gayle and best luck to both of you for the Kindle Fire.
I love learning about male authors in this genre
I love learning about male authors in this genre
actor? anything we might recognize? Thanks for the giveaway!
Hi Rachel, I'm late in getting back to you. Nope. Not been in anything you might recognize but one film last year may get entered in some festivals.
Hi Rachel, I'm late in getting back to you. Nope. Not been in anything you might recognize but one film last year may get entered in some festivals.