Rae: Thank you so much for hanging out with me today. First, if we were meeting at a coffee shop I’d be drinking an iced latte with Coconut milk and a drizzle of chocolate. What would you order?
Rebecca: I’m usually a white chocolate mocha girl, extra sweet with an extra shot of espresso. Hot in the winter, iced in the summer!
Rae: We met at RT in Atlanta when I was lucky enough to find a seat at your table for the Entangled Spoons event. You have mad card skills and made my first time playing fun and memorable.
Rebecca: LOL! Candy & Spoons is INSANE. It’s fast-paced and gets a little crazy. But hey, at least no one dumped a table this year, lol!
Rae: While I had not read any of your books prior to RT I was introduced to Wilder at a Facebook party where you had a link to read the first chapter. I knew at that moment I had to get my hands on not only the book but the entire series. Since then, I have happily read all three books in the Renegades series and hope that we might see a novella for Nitro. Any chance?
Rebecca: That’s amazing to hear! I’m so glad it hooked you. I’m so sorry to say, but the Renegades will end with Rebel. I have so many projects coming up in this next year that there’s really no way I could work that into my schedule.
Rae: Where did you come up with the concept? This summer I took
my family on our first cruise and can’t wait to sail again. I can only imagine how much fun it would be to travel for school, follow your passion, and find love at the same time. These stories combine adventure, love and serious heat. While I never studied abroad during college I wish I had applied for the Semester at Sea program and after reading your books, I’m sure many will be inspired too. My review of all three Renegade books can be read here.
Rebecca: Well, my best friend did Semester at Sea while she was in college, and I got all these crazy post cards from all over the globe. Then my husband and I spent 18 days cruising the Mediterranean for our 10 year anniversary and the idea just took hold and wouldn’t quit.
Rae: How much exposure to extreme sports did you have before sitting down to write Wilder? How did you research for each character? The introduction to Wilder was an adrenaline rush as a reader, would you ever do what he did? (I’m trying not to give a spoiler to readers 😉 )
Rebecca: NONE. Ohhhh my goodness, I did SO much research! I even took one of my sons and flew with him to Salt Lake City to watch the Nitro Circus World Games live to get a better idea of how it all worked. So much YouTube, so much reading, and that live event really tied it together for me!
Rae: For those not familiar with your books, can you tell us a bit about your backlist?
Rebecca: Sure! My Flight & Glory Series is military-based and follows a group of friends from college into flight school and eventually to war. My Legacy Series is made up of novellas (for now) and is about a team of hotshot firefighters rebuilding the their small town hotshot team ten years after their fathers were all killed in a wildfire.
Rae: You are a huge advocate for the foster community and post on social media bout your personal connection. What can you say to anyone reading this who has thought about becoming a foster family? We have family friends who have changed lives and some of those children have gone on to find their forever family. I admire what you do and the sacrifices that you and your family make to help those who are too young to advocate for themselves.
Rebecca: We absolutely advocate for the foster community. We fostered our youngest daughter for two years, and were blessed to be able to adopt her two years later. Our thoughts in being so public about our daughter, and her autism, was to open the discussion among those who follow me on my social media platforms, and really normalize foster parenting and adoption. We’re getting our own non-profit started to help kids in care and foster parents, and I can’t wait until it’s up and running!
Rae: Writing is challenging enough, how do you find the time to write with six children? You must be super organized 😉 Are you a digital planner or paper planner? I have a spiral planner for my Blog and a Bullet Journal for my family life and it’s still a challenge. Do you have one system or many to keep everything sorted?
Rebecca: Oh my gosh, I’m actually a hot mess, lol! I use a Day Designer to keep my day to day organized, along with my kids’ school schedules, soccer, cross country and hockey schedules, and of course anything going on with my husband. The military keeps him pretty busy! Because I also have ADD, I work really hard to keep everything in one central location, or I get WAY too distracted.
Rae: What can we expect to see in 2017?
Rebecca: Rebel and Nova will be my only 2017 releases, but I’m hoping to publish a passion project after Christmas, and then I have a couple super fun, but super secret projects coming up in 2018 that I’m waiting for the OK from my publisher to chat about!
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Rae: If readers want to find you, where will you be in the upcoming months?
Rebecca: Oh! Great question! I’m so busy lately, and I LOVE to meet my readers!
September 2017 – Indies Invade Philly
October 2017 – Love N Vegas
January 2018 – 1001 Dark Nights Cruise (Cozumel)
February 2018 – Holidays with the Belles (Texas)
March 2018 – Apollycon (Washington DC)
Rae: I am thrilled you were able to join me today and look forward to your next release.
Rebecca: No problem! Thank you for having me, and for taking the time to read and review my books! I truly appreciate it!
***** 8 Tantalizing Tidbits *****
1. What is a must read book and why? The Hate U Give – It is truly eye-opening and made me ask myself uncomfortable questions, especially since I’m raising a biracial daughter.
2. What is one place that I should see if I visit your hometown? Garden of the Gods. It’s a geological wonder and truly beautiful to behold.
3. Castles or Beaches? Beaches
4. What is one thing readers would be surprised to know about you? I went to college on a vocal scholarship, but I only sing in the car. 😉
5. If you had an all expenses paid trip anywhere in the world for research, where would you go?
Bora-Bora…and I’d find a reason, lol!
6. What is your guilty pleasure? Sleeping. Hands down.
7. What are you afraid of? Class A’s at my front door. That’s pretty much every military wife’s worst fear.
8. Tats or No Tats? If tats, how many and what did you choose for your first one? Tats. My first was a heart with wings and a halo on my hip. I was 17, lied about my age, and I have no regrets. It really symbolized how I felt that love was a gift sent by God, and worth every sacrifice.
Rebecca: Thank you for having me!!!!
Rae: Happy Writing!
Author info:
Rebecca Yarros is a hopeless romantic and a lover of all things coffee, chocolate, and Paleo.
She is the author of the Flight & Glory series, including Full Measures, the award-winning Eyes Turned Skyward, Beyond What is Given, and Hallowed Ground. She loves military heroes, and has been blissfully married to hers for fourteen years.
When she’s not writing, she’s tying hockey skates for her four sons, sneaking in some guitar time, or watching brat-pack movies with her two daughters. She lives in Colorado with the hottest Apache pilot ever, their rambunctious gaggle of kids, an English bulldog who is more
stubborn than sweet, and a bunny named General Fluffy Pants who torments the aforementioned bulldog. They recently adopted their youngest daughter from the foster system, and Rebecca is passionate about helping others do the same.
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