Behind The Scenes with Lila Munro

Welcome Lila!  Thank you for stopping by today to share with us a little bit of your behind the scenes.  I've always been interested to hear about how you got into writing and the early beginnings of Rebel Ink Press.  I can't wait to hear all about it!

Hi everyone! I’m Lila Munro, procurer of realmantica, and I’d like to thank Melissa for hosting me today. Are you wondering what realmantica is yet? Well, hang on…we’ll get to that part, as it’s part of the journey Melissa asked me to write about today. My journey to writing and how I came to be a part of Rebel…

Circa 1972—Lila is three years old and sits in her little wooden rocker “reading” The Little Red Hen. Ha! For the younger in the crowd, there was no Hooked on Phonics back then, so reading at three would have been considered a simply unfathomable trick. And a trick is exactly what it was. :) Poor old granny had raked my mother’s last nerve therefore I was the dog and pony set up to put her in her place. It seemed Mom was sick of hearing about what a genius one of my much older cousins was and since I had this children’s book memorized verbatim, I was in on the “take that” revenge. As you can see, I loved books before I could spell. And that’s where my yearning to write began…

Circa 1980—Lila goes to sixth grade and takes creative writing. I still owe Mr. Trokey a signed copy of my first published work for he was the prophet that predicted my success was impending. I’m sorry Mr. Trokey, I didn’t know it’d come in the form of naughty romance. And, being a bit prophetic myself, I’ve not sent it not wishing to be the cause of your…distress.

Circa 1986—Lila pens her first novel. A YA tale of angst, which was even then pretty dramatic. It ended up in a dumpster somewhere.

Circa 1989—Lila’s English professor humiliates her in front of the entire assemblage of sophomore candidates for the coveted advanced education degree having something to do with public relations or communications or some such thing. I changed majors like underwear back then. However, I will never forget the shame of having my “story” for English two hundred something or other read in front of everyone and disassembled in quick fashion, Prof determining it was nothing more than romantic smut of the highest order and I must be in love with the subject from which the inspiration came from. The worst part…I was…and the subject had no idea…

Circa 1990—Lila gives birth—to a human child not a manuscript. Explanation enough for the writing to go on the back burner for an extended period of time.

Circa 2009—Lila finds her nest empty and without a source of employment.

What’s a girl to do? For me the question of empty-nest syndrome was short lived at best. I adored my kids, but was proud of them for being out on their own and happy they were starting their own lives. I was a bit sad to see them go, but I still don’t get the falling down, needing therapy, my life is over attitude with which some mothers approach this phase in
life. I could do things I’d never been able to and the kids were getting their shot at the wide world. What’s the big deal? I did need something to occupy my time, however. It was the first time in twenty years I’d not worked outside the home and we’d just moved to a new duty station, the market helped squash my hunt for employment and I found myself with a spotless house and nothing left to do.

Good grief, how long had it been since I’d read a good book? Ummmm…as long as I’d had kids? Well, it hadn’t been quite that long, but my reading time had been seriously impeded since motherhood and wifing had taken up the majority of my time.

As a treat to myself, I made a trip to the local book store. My husband didn’t catch on fire, but the look on his face was priceless when he saw the bag I came home with and the receipt. J Have I mentioned he makes a good living and I’m the most spoiled princess wife on the planet? Vera Bradley hears my name and shudders.

I started to read, and found myself disappointed with overall content yet fascinated at how far we’d come insofar as hot, sweaty sex. Yeehaw! Then I remembered, the memory was fuzzy at first then coming clearer…I wrote this stuff long ago and far away. In another life.
One filled with hours of free time and professors that were less than enamored of my love story telling skills. Plug your ears here, folks. **** them!

“Huuuuusband! I want a home office.”

“Yes, love.”

“I’m going to write.”

“I think that’s a fine idea.”

I so love my husband. 

Six months later or so, The Executive Officer’s Wife was complete. ***cue the crickets*** Now what? I’d been out of the game so long, I wasn’t even familiar with electronic publishing and had no idea how to contact a publisher of that or traditional means. Well. Google seemed a decent place to start. It was on one of my searches that I stumbled across a small press and decided maybe it was the one. Believe it or not, it was the one and only press I submitted to and I was accepted storming out of the gate, first shot. Scary? Yes. Was it that good or that bad? Neither as it turned out, but I knew after a few weeks it wasn’t all I could have made it and discovered after my second house had a whack at Bound by Trust I had a lot to learn. I was embarrassed by The Executive Officers Wife and wanted it back posthaste, but it was too late for that. It was out there and nothing to be done.

It was through that first press I met my best friend. We became tied at the hip sight unseen and before my husband made his last deployment, he decided I needed to meet my soul sister face to face.
So, he made arrangements to take me to see her. It was while visiting her, she introduced me to some very important people who had a vision that I sort of dug. You know, I firmly believe in fate and destiny…I won’t tell the entire story of everyone’s part in that, but trust me when I say, we’ve been touched by the hand of something greater than ourselves in this. I digress…onward…

Four people that would change my life and direction. Those four people were Elizabeth, Rebel owner, her husband, a silent partner, Carl J Franklin, graphics guru, and the original, and only at the time, editor, Sherri. It was much later the other editors would come on board to
include a longtime friend of mine who was looking to slow down since her husband’s retirement.

Over pancakes and eggs one morning, I was asked if I would mind terribly joining their team in the undertaking of getting a new press up and running where the writer would come first. Well, that was a novel idea. One I sort of liked. It was my marketing skills they sought. I guess my best friend had played me up to them and they were somewhat impressed. It was
a few weeks later Elizabeth contacted me and told me my marketing talents were now needed as the first few Rebel titles would be rolling out fall of 2010, which included a couple of my titles which had been accepted.

Now, here’s where the realmantica notion comes into play. After the release of A Slower Lower Life, which is in fact one of my softer, more sensual works (see I’m not all whips and restraints), I was feeling a tad low. It seemed there wasn’t a market for that type thing and I’d not discovered my darker side yet. It seemed everyone had a“tag” of some sort, a claim to fame that caught a reader’s attention immediately. I wasn’t sure what mine was. It was in a long, late night talk with Elizabeth, she with her glass of dark red, me with my tumbler of Crown, she informed me I did in fact have something that few others possessed, my tag…She informed me the market was ripe for the realism my characters portray and the term realmantica was born.

I guess she was right for the reviews tell me so…Nearly every professional review I receive says something to the effect the reviewer was so taken in by my realistic players they felt they knew them by the end and could swear they were reading about a friend. A fine compliment indeed.

I hope Dante, Blake, and Julie don’t disappoint as Assumed Master has found its way to the
shelf…


Lila Munro currently resides on the coast of North Carolina with her husband and their two four-legged kids. She’s a military wife with an empty nest and takes much of her inspiration for her heroes from the marines she’s lived around for the past fifteen years. Coining the term realmantica, she strives to produce quality romance in a realistic setting. Her genre of choice is contemporary romance that spans everything from the sensual to BDSM and
ménage. When she’s not writing, she enjoys reading everything she can get her hands on, trips to the museum and aquarium, taking field research trips, and soaking up the sun on the nearby beaches. Her works include The Executive Officer’s Wife, Bound By Trust, Destiny’s Fire, Salvation, Three for Keeps, the Force Recon series, the Slower Lower series, and the Identity series. 

She’s a member in good standing of RWA and Passionate Ink. Currently she’s working on sequels to several series to be released throughout 2012. And has a brand new line
scheduled for winter 2012-13. Ms. Munro loves to hear from her readers and can be contacted via her website http://realmanticmoments.blogspot.com; Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/Lila_Munro; Pinterest at https://pinterest.com/lilamunro/ Goodreads at http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4200524.Lila_Munro. You can also
contact her via email at [email protected] 
 
~~~
We may be born to the lifestyle,

Julie Stevens and Dante Larson always knew their tastes were a bit more eccentric than those of the average person, but acknowledgement of their chosen paths came at different times. While their lives have run parallel for the last twenty years, destiny always came knocking at the wrong time. Julie was a closeted edge player and before Dante could pull her free of her fears, Mason came along and dragged her kicking and screaming from her self-inflicted
darkness, leaving Dante wanting. Although Dante’s been in love with Julie since the day he first laid eyes on her, he's happily married to Blake. But the tides are turning.

But Lady Fate dictates how it should be lived…

Still mourning the death of the only Master she’s ever known, Julie finds herself forced to live with the one man she’s been terrified of for years, Dante. While she has to admit something between them feels right, just as many things feel very, very wrong, starting with the fact he’s married to her gay best friend. Before she even has time to sort out her current predicament, another man catches Julie's attention. But after losing her mother, her sister,
and her husband, can Julie come to grips with the fact that Keegan McKettrick jumps out of perfectly good helicopters for a living, rescue diving for the Coast Guard? And where exactly does that leave Dante, who knows for sure he needs a woman to complete his unconventional marriage? Quite frankly, he's tired of waiting.


http://www.allromanceebooks.com/storeSearch.html?searchBy=author&qString=Lila+Munro&searchBy=author&qString=Lila+Munro

http://www.amazon.com/Lila-Munro/e/B0055KK140/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_2

Thank you for stopping by today!  I loved the story of how Rebel Ink Press began and can't wait to get my hands on your upcoming releases!

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