Hi guys! I have Emjay Haze here to talk to us today. Emjay has a new release from Dreamspinner Press out today, and I’m super excited to tell you about it. Home Is Where You Are is an m/m contemporary romance that is part of the States of Love Series. As always, I’ll provide detail about Emjay’s book and buy links below, but first, let’s get to know her! So Emjay, I’m going to start you off easy, lol.

Do you need to know your characters’ names before you start writing?

Sometimes when an idea for a story pops into my head (I’m usually driving at the time), I’ll have an idea of the main character’s name, but usually they just come to me as I’m writing.  I don’t sit and try to figure out names beforehand, I just let them flow.  Sometimes I’ll go back and change a name as I get to know the character better, but usually my first instinct is right.

That’s almost the exact opposite of the way I do it; though, I admit Alex and Lars from Trinkets just popped into my head, but I have a love affair with names and their meanings and will spend hours looking for the ones that speak to me. If I have the name wrong, I cannot get the character down. Let’s see if we differ in other ways, shall we? I avoid reading reviews like the plague. I absolutely love getting them because I know the value they have, but I accept them as a benefit to the reader and try to stay clear. How about you? Are you a masochist? Ha, ha. Or, in other words, do you read reviews of your book?

Unfortunately, yes, I am. It’s like a train wreck, you can’t not look.  I know the critique is of the work, and not me, but it’s still difficult to read a bad review. You really have to focus on the positive ones and learn from the others. Sometimes people can just be mean, and you have to overlook that, but also you can read what they say and hopefully take something from it. Good reviews are awesome to read, though.