Interview with Debra Parmley author of Dangerous Ties

Debra has traveled extensively and worked as an independent travel consultant for several years. She has visited thirteen countries. She has also worked in banking, newspaper advertising, as city recycling co-coordinator, as an office manager, and as a belly dance instructor.


What’s your favorite place you’ve visited? Do you have a “must see” destination on your bucket list?

Oh my. Well I have set foot in thirteen countries so it is very hard to choose. I would have to say the islands of French Polynesia. Tahiti, Moorea and Bora Bora are all lovely. As for my bucket list, (laughing) I learned after working as a travel consultant and traveling all over, the list of 30 places I want to see before I die never gets any shorter. Cross one off and another jumps right in.

Can you tell us something behind-the-scenes about Dangerous Ties that the readers would love to hear?

In the Wild West banks often created their own bank notes and in some cases they weren't worth the paper they were printed on. Without the gold to hold their worth, what happened to the townsfolk in Dangerous Ties could easily have happened. There was no one to step in and save them if a banker decided to take off with their money.

Fascinating. How does it feel when you write?

It feels different each time I come to the blank page. In this way, it reminds me of yoga, or dance, for our bodies and spirits can be different depending on the day. For me, the best days are when I can step into the joy of writing, caught up in the flow of it. These are the days when I can forget to eat, or to drink the water that is sitting right next to me. Other days I am happy to be writing, but not as swept away into story. Editing days are task oriented and give the satisfaction, which comes from completing a task.

Debra, it sounds like writing is about joy for you.

Yes, the joy of creation and the joy of connecting with readers. It is one of my greatest pleasures to hear from my readers.

Debra’s first novel, A Desperate Journey, a western historical romance, was a finalist in the Bobbi Smith Creative Writing Challenge. Not long afterward it was a finalist in the American Title II contest. For those not familiar with the contest, she describes it as similar to the American Idol contest, but for authors. Readers voted online and the prize was a publishing contract. A Desperate Journey was published a year later by Samhain Publishing. Debra's second book, Dangerous Ties, will be published by Desert Breeze Publishing.

How is it that you decided writing romances, are what you do best?

Romance is my favorite genre, because a romance will always end with a happy every after. There were many genres I tried as I was starting out as a writer, partly experimenting to see what I could write and partly because I read widely across genres. I wrote my way into the genre and the stories I wrote decided for me. My first short story was published in a local horror anthology called More Monsters From Memphis. I wrote a vampire story and the editor told me it had a strong romantic element. Then, at a writer's convention several of us were challenged by Dusty Richards, who is a western author, to write our first novel and make it a western. He offered a contest and the prize was a full reading by his agent. I jumped at the challenge, wrote A Desperate Journey, which wanted to be a romance. When I let the story be what it wants to be, it always has some element of romance it in.

Tell us something about Dangerous Ties.


Dangerous Ties is the first novella I ever wrote. This story has had an interesting ride because I was trying to please my former editor, while learning the shorter form, instead of listening to what the story wanted to be. I think the greatest lesson I learned there was, never try to pull your story in a direction it does not want to go. Thankfully they are somewhat like mules and will dig in their heels until the writer comes to their senses.

What heat rating would you give Dangerous Ties? Sweet

Where can we find you? http://www.debraparmley.com/

One last question and fast becoming my favorite to ask a fellow author is: What’s your current writing space like?

My writing space has changed over the years. I now write on my laptop only and my writing space is wherever I decide it is. I have written at the desk, the kitchen table, the couch, in bed, at the library, the airport, the hotel room, in the car. I have even written on a legal pad while camping in an old fort at a medieval re-enactment. I'm looking forward to taking my first train to Chicago in April for the RT convention and suspect 'on a train' will soon join the list of places where I have written.