I am so excited to have Tamara Devers on the blog today. Tamera is a romance author, and she’s here to tell us all about her books and her writing journey. So let’s get started!
About Tamara’s Life
Can you share a bit about your background?
I was raised in a tiny town outside of Shreveport, LA. I lived in the country, like country, country. Our road didn’t get paved until I was in middle school. Before that it was just dirt. We had dogs, cats, chickens, a cow grazing in our front yard and once we had a hog I named Big Brother and hung out with every day after school. Until he ended up on my plate one morning…and that’s the last time I named any of our farm animals.
After college, I moved to Los Angeles, young and full verve. I worked in TV/Film production where I dabbled in writing everything from comedy sketches to screenplays and co-produced an indie film called He’s On My Mind with a good friend. After twelve years, the bloom was off the rose and I moved to Dallas, TX, which has been my home since 2011.
What in your childhood contributed to you becoming a writer?
I speak a little bit about this in my bio. In 7th grade Louisiana History class, me and my BFF, Angela got in trouble for talking. Our teacher told us if we talked one more time, she’d call our parents. That day I decided to be an agent of chaos. When our teacher turned back to the chalkboard, I looked over at Angela and snorted like a pig. We both cracked up and our teacher was done with us.
As punishment, my mother basically took away everything that I loved. Val did not play. I couldn’t watch TV and she wouldn’t let me read any books that weren’t school-related. And I was a huge book worm. If you wanted to shut me up, give me a book and I was quiet for hours.
So, with nothing to take up my time, I sat down one evening at the kitchen table and wrote two super weird short stories. One was about a girl who didn’t have a date to prom, so she dressed up her dog and took him. And the other was about a girl who wanted to know what she tasted like, so she ate herself. She started with her fingers and ended with her eyeballs, which apparently tasted like grapes. Thinking back on it, I realize how disturbing that sounds. I probably should have been on a watch list. Lol.
What would you say is your biggest failure in life?
My biggest failure in life is the amount of time it took for me to finally take my writing seriously and finish my first novel.
What are you working on at the moment?
I’m working on the 2nd book in The Mean Streak series.
What epitaph would you like at the end of your life?
She made me laugh.
When you are creating a story, do you avoid reading books in the same vein so as not to be influenced by others, or do you seek out all possible variations for maximum inspiration?
I read all genres, including romance when I’m writing. Multiple times I’ve been stuck on a scene and end up finding the solution in a book I’m reading.
What is your writing Kryptonite? What’s most likely to stop the flow of your words?
I am a huge procrastinator. Once I sit down and start writing, I’m all good. Getting started is the problem. And even though I know this about myself, it doesn’t stop me from doing everything in my power to keep from getting in front of that keyboard. Like, I need to clean my apartment or run an errand or finally cut my fingernails. It’s ridiculous.
About Tamara’s Writing Process
Do you ever incorporate something that happened to you in real life into your novels?
I plead the fifth.
Which scene did you find the most challenging to write and why?
Emotional scenes are hard for me. Generally, I’m a bottle your emotions and don’t talk about them kind of person, so writing a scene where my characters are emotionally vulnerable takes some serious effort on my part.
Do you believe you write the kind of book you’d want to read?
Writing the kind of book you want to read is the piece of advice I’ve heard the most and I adhere to it wholeheartedly.
About Tamara’s Reading
What are you currently reading? When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole.
What was the first book you fell in love with? The first book I distinctly remember enjoying was The Girl with the Silver Eyes by Willo Davis Roberts. I loved the paranormal aspect of it and would daydream about it all the time.
About Tamara’s Latest Book
What is your most recent book? My debut novel is called You Make Me Sick and if you like the enemies to lovers trope, women behaving badly and sexy shenanigans, this book is your jam.
Who is the protagonist in your most recent work? Describe him/her in ten words or less. Cherry’s a firecracker — small, short fuse, you could lose a finger.What advice would you give aspiring writers? Don’t do what I did and compare your first draft to published novels. I was trying to make my manuscript perfect on the first go and would get discouraged and quit. Once I realized that the first draft is just about getting the story down, it was a whole new world.
Quick Questions
Describe your books in 3 words: Snarky. Sassy. Sexy.
Favorite thing about your genre? The happily ever after.
Another genre that you would love to write: Horror. Tananarive Due is my horror author girl crush
When writing, are you a night owl or morning person? Night owl.
Tamara Devers Bio
Back when pagers were all the rage and schools still had typing classes, Tamara Devers started her career sitting at her kitchen table and writing two of the weirdest stories ever to be penned by a twelve-year-old girl. Since then, her stories have gotten…slightly better. Tamara’s wicked sense of humor and love for romance made writing romantic comedies a no-brainer. When she’s not busy creating funny, feisty romantic sheroes, she enjoys being the wacky, foul-mouthed auntie, eating pizza and taking naps.
Ways to Connect with Tamara
Amazon, Website, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter
Excerpt from You Make Me Sick
“Jack still won’t have sex with me!”
My best friend’s loud declaration about her college crush almost made me throw up the lime-green Jell-O shot I’d just slurped down. I glanced over at Nic, decked out in her cap and gown, her sweet doll-face set in a dramatic pout as she gazed longingly over at Jack (aka Jackass) Bradley a few yards away, laughing it up with their fellow graduates. It was like watching a princess swoon over her Prince Charming. Of course, he looked the part. Tall and dark-eyed with smooth coppery skin draped over a panty-dropper face.
As if sensing Nic’s loving gaze, Jack looked up, flashing her a grin as bright as the fairground lights blinking overhead. His gaze shifted to me and his eyes went dead like a shark, his teeth vanishing behind full lips.
“Consider yourself lucky,” I grumbled and looked away.
I reached into Nic’s bag of popcorn and shoved some into my mouth as I contemplated why I was at a rinky-dink fair, eating greasy food, downing Jell-O shots and feeling like a scrub in a yellow tank-top and cut-off jean shorts while everyone else were in their graduation finery.
Because I was a good friend, that’s why. This was Nic’s day. She was my girl, and these were the people she’d spent the last four years in college with. The least I could do was hang out and let her enjoy herself, even if just being in Jack’s presence was giving me a monstrous stomachache. I wasn’t going to ruin Nic’s graduation night, so I swallowed my feelings with a handful of cotton candy and another Jell-O shot I pulled out of my backpack. When I made them, added enough vodka to keep me perfectly tipsy all night.
“He said he doesn’t want to ruin our friendship,” Nic huffed. “Cherry, can you believe that?”
I rolled my eyes at Nic’s loose definition of the word friendship. From what I could tell, her and Jack’s relationship consisted of her throwing herself at him, him rejecting her then putting her in the friend zone where she secretly crushed on him while pretending they were BFFs. Nic lived in her own version of reality, so if that’s the lie she needed to tell herself to keep from getting her feelings hurt, then I’d live in that world with her.
From the moment I met Jack, I pegged him as the typical, cocky jock. His loud, goofy swim team buddies who all seemed to be majoring in Dumbass 101 didn’t help his cause. What I quickly discovered was underneath that cocky demeanor and ridiculous number of Polo shirt/slack combos was a smart, funny guy who really cared about Nic. He refused her clumsy (sometimes drunken) sexual advances when any other guy would have been in her panties without a second thought. I appreciated that about him, and we vibed for a while.
Then things between us got…complicated. Now, we couldn’t be in the same room with each other without going for throats.
“How could our making love ruin the friendship?” Nic asked, bringing me back to the present. “It could only make it better.”
I groaned as I watched the usual hearts shoot out of her eyes. “The fact you used the term ‘making love’ is extremely disturbing.”
“Well, that’s what it would be.”
I burped. “You’re such a virgin.” I shoved my Jell-O shot at her. “If you want to suck on something, suck on this.”
Nic reached for it as Jack walked up, graduation cap cocked to the side, his open gown flared out behind him like a damn superhero cape.