Okay, this is a true tale; I swear it on my goldfish Sammy’s life. Hey, he’s a nice goldfish!
So, I was driving somewhere?? and Elvis’ sexy sound came on the radio singing “She Not You”. I found myself enjoying singing along. Funny how I remembered those words from the 1960’s? In fact I remembered them so well that over the next week they wouldn’t get out of my head. "And it’s breaking my heart, cause she’s not you!" Near drove me crazy. Then I had this epiphany. Wouldn’t the song make a great story??! Just for fun, I sat down and wrote the first chapter and the book began. It turned into one of my favorite novels –could be because I made it my 2014 Christmas story and I love that season or maybe because I saw Elvis every time I wrote about Jesse, the hero. Let me tell you - having that dreamy man in my head for two months was certainly no hardship. I had planned to write a single book until I realized he had so many wonderful love songs that could made into stories and so I called “She’s Not You” book #1 of the Elvis Series and set up a contest on Fresh Fiction for readers to choose the next title. The winner was chosen and her favorite song was Love Me Tender. I’m plotting this new book as I write this interview. Check out my blog: http//:mimibarbour.blogspot.com for the follow up on where this series will go next.

My latest book is called Together Always and 36,000 words of that story have sat in a file on my desktop for over two years. You see, when I first started writing the Vicarage Bench Series, I was signed with Wild Rose Press and had contracted that series with them. In fact, the first five novels I wrote were their books. Then, I decided to go Indie with my next series, Angels with Attitudes, and the first book, My Cheeky Angel, sold a great deal better than what I had experienced with the publisher. So, not needing a kick in the petudie to wake up and smell the roses, I stopped writing Together Always because I knew they had first dibs while I was still under contract. I decided to wait until the end of my commitments before finishing the book. Now, as of November 2013, I have all my rights returned and am no longer obligated to them. So, while on holidays just recently, I decided to take a look at this story and I was shocked at how many words I’d actually written. After I began to read the work over, I was hooked. Laughing and weeping, I found myself so wrapped up in the plot, that I now can’t wait until I finish it and can offer it to my readers.

Finally having an outlet for my imagination and being able to share those stories with fans who love my work.

Everything!

As I mentioned above, I’m revising Together Again. I’ve also just gotten the outcome of a contest I held on Fresh Fiction to find out what my next Elvis book will be and it turns out that the title will be “Love Me Tender”. I’m already plotting the story in my head and will start it very soon.
Then there’s a branch of my work that fills me with absolute excitement. It’s another new series I recently began called Uncover FBI. I wrote the first book called Special Agent Francesca in five weeks because I couldn’t stay away. (to be released April 5th) I love romantic suspense because I can play at being the bad girl every woman dreams of being. You know – the kick-ass chick who doesn’t take any shit from anyone, the woman who wears a chip on her shoulder carved in so deep she fights like a man, cusses like a soldier and hides the soft sweetness that’s only ever gotten her into trouble. I first realized I had this ability for suspense when I wrote the Vegas Series. Those six books amused the heckoutta me – fast-paced, lots of fighting and spicy romance to break up the continuous conflicts. And…the characters… gritty and yet a hell-of-a-lotta fun, they’ve became like real people to me. Gotta keep getting that hit – need to write more suspense!