Rowena Cherry is the author of humorous, snarky futuristic romances not set in the future. In this blog, Rowena talks with us about her daily habits, artistic influences, and decisions regarding reader expectation. Also read her perspective on copyright infringement and how she handles the illegal file-sharing of her books.Visit www.rowenacherry.com for more information about her and her work.

What is an average day like for you?

I’ll give you a composite. I might get up some time between three and five in the morning. If I’m feeling virtuous, I’ll have lemon in hot water, and I’ll head for the computer. I’ll write, or field emails until six-thirtyish, when it’s time to get breakfast. After breakfast and the school run, I’ll stay at the computer until around 2pm, when I might do a little housework or shopping or bill-paying, before heading out to do the school run.

The first Tuesday of each month is a bit different. I do an internet radio show from ten am to noon.

Sundays are my blogging days.

Where do you find the inspiration for your books? And, do other writers – past or present – influence your work? If so, who?

I credit three or four deceased writers with influencing me. One is Georgette Heyer. I started reading her Regency and Georgian Romances when I was thirteen, and I formed my ideas of what a romantic hero should look like, and what qualities he ought to have. So far, I’ve managed to ring the changes in my books’ heroes, but sometimes it’s a struggle.

Of all the “Moderns” George Orwell was my favorite, and his writings and lifestyle influenced my ethics as a writer, by which I mean that I do the best research I can for anything that can be researched, and I don’t intentionally misinform my reader… for instance by messing with geography or history…. Or with real historical figures.

Thirdly, I’ll mention Shakespeare (even though he very probably did twist British history to please his royal patron) especially for his use of humour and the way his secondary characters performed a similar function to a Greek chorus.

My inspiration comes from everywhere… except my contemporaries’ books. My reading and viewing tastes are eclectic, everything from Mythbusters to Fight Quest to Survivorman to The Most Extreme Lovers (or whatever) on Animal Planet, to the financial channels. Also, I have had quite an interesting life, and have traveled in exciting company, and if I’m really short of inspiration, I’ll drink artichoke tea and eat strong cheese just before I go to bed!

I assume that readers can buy either physical copies of your books or e-books. Why did you choose both distribution options?

Actually, readers don’t have the choice of buying either print copies or e-books of mine with the exception of Forced Mate, because I split the rights and “sit on” one half or the other. At first, I was unusual more by accident than choice, then, I found that I liked it, so now I always split my rights.

I believe that e-books are the future, and that sooner or later more than half of all book sales will be of e-books, particularly now the economy is in such worrying shape, and so many of my favorite bricks and mortar book stores branches are consolidating, and those that remain open seem to be turning over their inventory more frequently than ever.

While I have heard from readers who would like to see more of my books in e-format and am sorry to disappoint them for the time being, the current piracy issue is a major deterrent for me.

I should very much like to give readers more options, moreover, my books are complex and densely written, so I am sure that they’d work very well in a larger or adjustable font format.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 at 2:18 pm by copyright and is filed under creators, culture, economy, piracy, q&a. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.