Talking Romance and Animal Rescues with @lisaricardclaro #romance #animalrescue #newrelease

Welcome one and all, today our guest is the marvelous Lisa Ricard Claro.

She is an award-winning author and Pushcart prize nominee, with articles and stories spanning multiple media. She resides in Georgia, but dreams of living at the beach. Lisa’s novel, Love Built to Last, is the first book in the Fireflies series. Watch for book 2, Love to Believe, in the fall of 2015, and book 3, Love to Win, in early 2016, all from Black Opal Books.

Without further ado, I turn the campfire over to Lisa!

Romance & Rescues

First, a big thanks to Jami for inviting me to guest post here on her blog. I’m excited to be here!

As a guest, I like to keep my post within the scope of interest of my blog host, and at first blush, I thought that might be tough to do here since I write contemporary romance, not fantasy/paranormal. But, then I realized that Jami and I have something major in common besides our love of the written word: our dogs!

As a reader of Jami’s blog, you’re aware of the recent additions to her abode. But take a look at a pic of Jami’s fur monsters (top) compared to mine (bottom). Mine are like the older version of hers:

(Holy moly, Lisa, they are twins…FUR DOPPLEGANGERS unite!)

Yep, my furry kids are going gray, rather like their mistress, though, thanks to L’Oreal 6G you’ll never know it until you catch me in my skunk stripe phase prior to coloring the roots. I try to ensure this doesn’t happen, but some things are just a fact of life—like our true colors revealing themselves in spite of our effort to cover them up.

My true colors, gray roots aside, include a heart for animal rescue. But after being told by an editor that no publisher would allow me to include a rescued pet in every story, I dumped virtual hair dye over the notion and set my passion for rescues aside. You can guess how that turned out, right? Those rescue-roots grew out and I’d cover them up again. Except you know what? Embracing them turned out to be a better bet. Here’s why:

Unlike gray hair, our passions originate in our heart, not our head. And in our heart is where our true colors reside.

I tasked myself with allowing my passion for animal rescue to take its natural course within my novels despite what I had been told. The result was a three book publishing contract, with rescued pets in every book. No, my novels aren’t about animal rescue. They are contemporary romance novels where a rescued pet might play a major role in the plot, as does the three-legged mutt, Pirate, in the first book in the Fireflies series, Love Built to Last, (just released June 20^th), or a minor role, like the 90-pound Lab, Belle, in book 2, Love to Believe, (to be released fall 2015), or even a bit part, as with the noisy cat, Pavarotti, in book three, Love to Win (watch for it in early 2016).

I can’t speak for other authors, but for myself, there is nothing more satisfying than knowing that through my work I’m letting my true colors shine through. I love sharing my passion for both Romance and Rescues. And honestly, as a reader, isn’t that what you want from a book? To feel the passion in the pages? Even when it is subtly rendered. (I’m subtle with the Rescue component, not so subtle with the Romance.)

True passion for Romance and Rescues. You’ll find both in my books.

And a skunk stripe on my head every 4-5 weeks. But let’s not talk about that.

(With my white streak in red, we could almost pull off of a punk band!)

Please leave a comment and tell me about your passion. What fires burn in your heart? What true colors do you have that will always shine through?

Thanks for hanging with me –

Lisa

Want to contact Lisa? You’ll find her hanging at any of the following:

Website: www.LisaRicardClaro.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/lisaricardclaroauthor

Twitter: www.twitter.com/lisaricardclaro

Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/lisaricardclaro

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Lisa-Ricard-Claro/e/B00MUYB8IW