January 22, 2025 • 26 mins
Florence A. Bliss is an author from Las Vegas, NV who has a keen eye for writing love stories full of drama, heartache, humor, and enough seduction to light the pages on fire. With an MFA in creative writing from UNLV, Florence loves to write across genres but has found her home in romance. She lives with her fancy Italian husband and two children. Together they love to travel, explore the ghost towns around Las Vegas, roadtrip up and down the Pacific coast, and of course drink coffee out of tiny cups (milk for the kids). Florence is an avid people watcher and strives to understand why people do what they do, and she never tires of imagining the stories of what couples have had to overcome in order to come together.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello everyone, and welcome to the writer's class. And I
actually got a rite four podcasts, and I remembered which
one that this show was going on, and once we
end up putting it other on, the anti thought, ladies,
like what up we go? And then you got people
gonna be like, this is not the writers. But that's
probably half the reason people stopped listening in the middle.
But then it's past that, it'd be like it's normally
(00:23):
like in that like fifteen minute mark, they'll be like, yeah,
I give up. Oh but they're already pasted the introduction,
So I guess that's not that problem. I'll figure that
one out later. Anyway, I won't know them, and I
remember to introduce myself. I got to meet you know,
I gotta do the dance, little dance, little dance here, Okay,
stretch it out, stretch it out. Okay, that's a good
(00:45):
that's hot, that's good enough, right, even for our narcissist.
That dance was a little long, just a little because
it was bad. I could see myself on camera and
I know how bad it was. And I kept going
and I wanted the end, I thought, ladies, and you
know what they and I thought ladies wrote a bunch
of books about and I thought, yep, just let that resonate.
(01:06):
We were so original with her name, right, Yeah. And
I thought divorce was bad, and I thought being grown
up was easy if only I were me and Memoir
and Verse, Foreign Coffee, Widdow's Web, and Widow's Debt. That
is six books, six audio books one day. I'm hoping
to get to seven, eight, nine and ten. That would
be great because we have twenty some books. So if
(01:27):
you were counting, you recognize that six and twenty some
books don't add up and equal each other, then you're right.
So you can find out about the rest of the
books at www. Dot And I thought ladies dot com,
which is funny. I say that because I know we
have like our knewest book up there, like please buy
this book, and then we have like the other ones
about this big, so I should say six books plus
(01:51):
buy our newance book, and there's big on the other ones.
But you're not here to hear about me, which is
a shame, because I they wanted you to come here
about me because I'm a narcissist, But uh, you here
to hear about our wonderful guess. So I'm gonna have
to say, wonderful guys. Would you like to introduce yourself?
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Hello, Hi, everybody. My name is Florence abe List. I
am a debut author, historical romance author. Got my first
book called Taken by His Sword coming out soon and
actually June eleven, and I'm very excited to be here today.
(02:32):
So thank you will known for giving me that intro.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
I'm sorry it's Taken by His Sword? Is she pierced?
I mean, obviously you're gonna have to have that question.
I have.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
That's what I haven't thought about. But it would make
a good epilogue maybe.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
And everyone's gonna think that book has to do with earrings, Yeah,
I guess, so, huh yeah, all right, let me get
to real questions historical romance. My question I'll always ask
how much of research.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
I did a lot of research. But here's the thing.
There are certain questions that you can't find out there.
So you can read about world history, you can read
about the area of that time, but there's other things
that you can't really find the information on, which is
nice because then I can just make it up if
I want to. So if somebody else can't quickly google something,
(03:39):
then I can just say whatever I want. So in
terms of like the history of it, it's pretty historically accurate.
I did have, you know, people read through it. I
have one friend who you know, she's a she's studied
history and world history for a long time, and she
read through it. She they went and say this, and
they don't have this kind of sword here, And I
was like, oh, okay, so I would fix that stuff.
(04:01):
But other things, like I would come up with questions
like there's a ball scene, there's a ball a fancy party,
like did they have food at balls? I don't know,
were there people walking around with trades? Because I've you know,
what to imagine that. But trying to find answers to
things like that was kind of difficult. So I was like, well,
I guess I just get to make it up now.
(04:22):
So that's good. But in terms of like the history
and the place and the time, I did make it
fairly historically accurate. So that was a lot of time.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Oh what drew you did? Historical fiction? I mean, there's
so many types of fiction.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
I well, it's with the romance aspect. I think it
was the first romance book I ever read. My friends
and I when we were twenty, we were shy and
we wanted to read. We wanted to read or romance novels,
and I think we went and I bought one for
her and she bought one for me, and we switched
it be were embarrassed. And that was just the first
(05:02):
one I read was a historical romance, and then I
liked it. And then in terms of the romance, there's
extra layers of why they can't be together then there
would be in contemporary, because in contemporary I think it's
a harder job because you're like, well, just get together,
what's the problem. But there's more rules and societal pressure
(05:24):
and stuff in the historical sense, which I think makes
it fun in terms of creating tension between the characters.
So that's why I kind of went that direction.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
So I'm going to throw myself into this interview. Obviously,
I mean, how long did you expect a narcissist to
be quiet? Oh my god. I remember when I was
first reading novels. Obviously everyone normally comes in on romance,
and I did. I came in on a romance novel,
which right to the plancy section. Yeah, I remember reading it, going, oh,
(05:56):
this would be great to write, and then I was
like research and I went, no, this isn't me. That's
a lot Like how do they know this happened? And
I was like, they'd have to research it? No, no, not.
So was it harder than you thought it would be?
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Well, I really some of it was. Some of it
was I started with I had an idea basically for
the story and the dynamic between the hero and the heroine,
and you know, he had betrayed her and she's a
sword fighter and a mercenary and they end up having
to work together. So I have that kind of dynamic there.
(06:34):
I think we see so much of it on TV.
We see so many period dramas and stuff, so we
kind of already have an image in our head of
how this time period works. But actually, when I would
get stuck on things and think, okay, well there needs
to be a bad guy. You know, I need this
to happen in the plot, I need them to get here,
I would just start reading about the time period and
kind of so it was actually kind of helpful. It
(06:56):
was more helpful than I expected, because when I needed
new plot points, I was like, oh, I didn't realize
this kind of thing existed at the time, so I
could use that.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
So it was really odd rules. What was that the
oddest rule that you've now, like of society.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
The oddest rule of society? Hmm, I don't know specifically,
I have to I'd have to think about it. I think,
you know, this doesn't go for the This is actually
for book number two that I'm researching right now, finding
that that wife stealing was still happening for a lot
(07:41):
longer than we maybe anticipated. I mean, I guess you
could say it for in different places it's happened for
a long time, but in Europe and stuff like that,
it was still going on kind of beyond where I
would have expected it to stop. So those were some
surprising details that I came across.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
You know, like when you were reading in school and
you read some fiction and they're like they just came
and raided, or when you started reading history and they
were like they came and raided, And then you recognize
they were still stealing people's like women. You're like, what, yeah,
why what was the purpose of that? You do know,
we're like a headache as well. I mean, we give
you kids and we're so annoying. I think about that.
(08:27):
I'm sorry. What they should have invented was credit cards
back then, they left them where they were.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
They wouldn't have needed it, right, it would have been.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Like steal and you'd be like, no, no, no, don't forget
her dad to go with all the shopping, don't forget
the cur coat. Everything has to go with. I'm like,
never mind, she can stay.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Yeah, it's too complicated. Now, it's fine.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
It's a lot of work and I'll.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Just try to woo somebody's dead.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
I'm sorry. History always surprises you. Yeah, yeah, like I
swore I knew this, and then you're like, oh crap.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
I didn't know anything about this.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Yeah, okay, I'm sorry. I got I completely ran off
on the wife stealing tection like that used to get
me for the longest time. Yea, so give me. I
guess I was about to bring it up tomorrowing day,
but no one wants to talk about that.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Yeah, that's a that's beyond my fiction writing expertise. That better,
smarter people need to deal with that. I need.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Back to the fun and fluffy world of romances and fiction.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Yes, nobody, No wives got stolen in my book, though,
I just that was there was my stealing of wives
in this novel and taken by his sword.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Now no, I mean, honestly, I could there be as
a sword person of sore, as a woman and a mercenary.
No one's dealing anything besides you know, maybe a few
wondering of something money, other people's money.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Well there's a there's a few plundering scenes in there, so.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Yeah, we have plundering. Was it hard? Was it hard
to create that that? I guess you said with the
rules it makes it a little easier why people can't
be together, But was it hard to create that that
right level of stress in between that you know, will
they won't think?
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Yeah, that's a really hard thing to do in any
kind of fictional piece. I mean, as a as a
fiction writer, you're constantly saying, is there enough tension in
this scene? Is it? Is it going to pull the
reader along? Is it something that somebody's going to want
to turn the page for so? And then adding that
extra element of like a sexual tension, that's challenging. But
(10:54):
that was the writing. Their chemistry was the easy part
for me, you know, that was that was the fun part.
And filling in all the rest of it and all
the story kind of grew out of that, so I
did a lot of over writing because I ended up
trying to figure out how I was going to like
I said, get them from one place to the next
and do this, and I knew this had to happen,
(11:14):
so throughout it that was a little you know, that
ended up taking more time than I expected, but keeping
the story tension going and the couple dynamic tension going,
you know, it's it's just a lot to think about.
You know, you've got a lot of a lot of
plates up in the air as you're as you're writing,
(11:37):
but the dynamic, the tension between them was fun. I
think I did that pretty well.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Oh the only reason I asked is because I know
it's hard for me to do.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
It can be I mean, writing writing romance, writing love scenes.
It's it's difficult to go. You don't want to be
too graphic, but you depending on where your your spice
level is at and what you know market our audience,
you're trying to hit. You don't want to just be
like and then it faded to black, and then everybody
woke up with a smile on their face the next day.
(12:09):
So you got to really hit where you're comfortable because
you know, you end up using words that you wouldn't
use normally in ways and you're like, oh, hope that
one goes over well. So you got to really find
where you're comfortable as a writer.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
So that's amazing. That that is amazing to hear. Like,
I've always wondered how what goes into those loves and
I don't mind reading them, but I'm always like, how
did you write that? Could you? You think it's easy,
then you start writing and then you're like, oh, I'm
gonna need it.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
It's tough. I think specifically for the romance beloved scenes,
I always have some other thing going on between them.
It's supposed to just be ractioning up their relationship in
one way or another, so there is, you know, the
physical aspect of what's happening emotionally one of the characters
wherever they maybe, So that's that helps you know, kind
(13:06):
of balance it. But I wrote these dirty scenes and
then my mom read it, and she's still as okay
as me as her child, So I think that they're acceptable.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
You were brave. You were like, my mom read it.
That's okay, my mom read it.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
I couldn't keep her from it, and not because it's dirty.
But she's like, no, my daughter wrote something.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
I don't write it, so be nice. That must be
so nice. On my end, when my mother was alive,
she'd be like, my daughter wrote something. That's nice. I
think it's because I wrote so much. And then she
finally read what I wrote and she was like, oh
my god, it's not romance. Ma. I got published when
I was ten years old, and you've read nothing else
(13:50):
since then.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
See, I'm sure she was very proud.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
She was, oh proud. I assume she always read it.
And then she was like, it's but dangative and a romance.
So what was your publishing journey?
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Like? It was hard? It was really really challenging. I
came from a literary fiction background, so I had been
writing before, never had anything, I mean, a couple mediocre
short stories here and there, but I never really went
into the journey of writing a book and getting it published.
And I had a friend actually say he knew somebody
(14:27):
that had gone to one of the writing conferences that
he met, and he said, she just writes romance for money.
And I thought I could write romance for money, but
then I ended up falling in love with the genre
and my story and everything. But I wrote this. I
started querying this probably five or six years ago and
could not get any bites on it. Finding an agent hard.
(14:51):
It's tough. It's tough work. And if anybody's watching that's
looking for an agent, just it's it's really painful process.
So I never got an agent. But I went to
the Romance Writers of America conference and they had us.
They had pitching to different publishers there, and I participated
in that, and I got hooked up with City l
(15:13):
so they you know, let me pitch to them. They
requested my first fifty pages, and then luckily enough, I
got hooked up with Jessica Shier, who's my editor, and
she kind of championed me to them, and that was it.
So that happened in September of this year, and then
since then it's just been up and down and zooming along,
(15:35):
you know, with edits and going back and forth. And
that's so it's been very exciting compared to, you know,
sending a query letter out and then nine months later
getting a rejection. You're like, thanks, guys, felt nice that
you remembered me.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
So hey, it's nice because a lot of times are
like that and ghosted and then but the absolutely you
meet literary agents and you understand why because I mean,
that workload is insane.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
I yes, absolutely, I do really appreciate the people that
get back to me eventually. But it's funny. It's funny
because it's like I'm still getting rejections sometimes now from
a heargo. I'm like, wow, you really are persistent working
through that pile, you know, get into the get into
the queries. But I'm like, thank you, you know, but
(16:28):
it is kind of it's kind of comical. How how long.
It's just a slow process.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
So yeah, it's a it's a very long work day. Yes,
too long work dad. And I know one or two
agents they were like, I was just starting out, so
I had to get you know, another job because it's
I was like, oh, oh, I'm so sorry. Okay, it's
a real long workday.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Yeah, I can imagine. Gosh, jeez. I like to be
alone at my little computer just clicking a way when
I have time.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
So so I heard literary fiction and always wanted to
jump in on literary fiction. So what made you go
literary fiction? Was it an imag did.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
You say I had an MFA. Yeah. Well, I started
out as a biochemistry major. I wanted to work in
the CDC and research diseases and all through coronavirus. My
family had to listen to me going I could be
there right now, I could be researching this thing right now.
But I just one day I got so I was
having all kinds of viral fantasies, but I just got
(17:39):
sick of looking in microscopes one day. So I was like,
how can I finish my undergrad and a reasonable amount
of time? And so I finished it in education because
my mom was a teacher. So I was like, I'll
just wrap it up, finish up in education. And my
last semester, I was like, what am I going to
do now? And I took a creative writing class and
(18:01):
I had a little bit of spunk. I was pretty
good at it. So then I applied and got into
the got into an MFA program after that, so I
did MFA and it's I did my MFA at U
and l V in Las Vegas and it was I mean,
it was great.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
It was huh you based in Vegas?
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Yeah, Las Vegas.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
Yeah, Henderson Writers Group.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
I'm not in that. I'm on the other side. But
are you familiar with them?
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Oh that's exciting.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
Yeah, yeah, like our own. During COVID is when I
actually joined the one that I lived near. I'm in Maryland,
so I joined Writers Association, but until then I was
a member of the Hnderson's Writers. Oh wow, because I
kept flying out to Vegas to do stuff because I
knew them and the writers, so I was like, why
(18:52):
would I bother They're freaking like, no, I'll get to
Maryland when I get to.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
What worked out?
Speaker 1 (18:58):
It was perfect In COVID, I had to join, you know, Yeah, yeah,
that was weird, but yeah, OK, so you and lv MSA. Sorry.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
I did my MFA there and it was funny because
it was I was very new to writing at that point,
you know, because I just kind of got into it
at the end of my my bachelor's and genre writing
is very looked down upon by the MFAs, you know,
because it's all about literary fiction. But I never could
really find my voice in that because first, when I
(19:29):
was in my twenties, I was young. I didn't have
a lot of life experience, and I didn't really know
what to write about. So I was writing stories that
didn't always seem authentic to me. So then when I
started writing the romance and historical, which I realized I
could just make up whatever the heck I want, and
that's when it kind of clicked. So I do have
that background. But in terms of the battle with MFAs
(19:53):
over genre versus literary, I'm like, I want to enjoy it,
like I want to enjoy it. I want I enjoyed it.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
That is the best answer, you know. Honestly, every time
I hear someone say literally that is literally all I
want to know is like, where do we stand on
this battle of genre versus?
Speaker 2 (20:12):
It was always like the guys, the guys that were like, no,
you have to do this, and none of them, you know,
none of them were any better than anybody else. And
you know, they're all I don't know. They're probably all
writing their space stories right now, secretly in a dark
room writing their Lord of the Rings stuff, and I'm
(20:34):
writing romance.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
And it worked out well, it works so great. They
both sell well well Romance yes, yeah, so well, I
mean they has literary is a dying art, but is it.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
I mean, it's great, so many wonderful things that people
write and stuff, but it just I couldn't access it.
It just wasn't working for me. So I think this
is I think I found my home here in romance.
That originally it was my hope to kind of break
into the industry this way and be able to, you know,
(21:08):
go more literary as I as I extended. But I'm
really I'm really happy with where I am. And it's
a great writer community of romance writers and stuff and
other women and some men too, so it's you know,
I'm very happy with it. We'll see how the book does.
We'll see how the book does, guys, and then we'll
(21:28):
see how I am.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
When those royalty checks come in, I will know how
happy I am there.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Yeah, right, I have no idea. I have zero expectations
at this point. I'm just so thrilled that Citil was like, sure,
we'll publish your book, and somebody, I'm sure that it's
going to sell one hundred copies, ninety nine of which
or to my mom, because she's gonna she's gonna shut
it down. She'll buy all the copies and then we'll
see if anybody likes it. From there.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
Oh goodness. And it's been an absolute blast talking to you.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
You too, Oh, you're a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Who do you have coming up next? Because we already
know there's a book too, But what else do you
think you're going to do with your literary career?
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Well, this one, Taken by a Sword is the first one.
The second one is actually right here. I've been editing
all day, so you see, got my notes and stuff
on there, So I'll be working on that. I would
love to say that that one's going to come out.
It is meant to be a series of a three books.
(22:35):
I've got lots of other ones in me. I do
have some literary books in me too. Maybe I'm have
enough life experience to make those works. So we'll see.
But like I said, I love romance, and as long
as they keep letting me do it, I'll I'll keep
writing them.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
So I should mention that I am a literary writer.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
And you are. Yeah, you don't.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
You don't necessarily have to have your own life experience.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
You know.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
The fun part about stories is you can hear them. Yeah,
that's true stories. And some stories are so amazing they
have to be written down and there you go. That
is the beginning of a literary tale. Yeah, and I'm
gonna go a little deeper into my narcissism. So one
(23:23):
day we uh, when we were a little late on
turning in something, we go to a bar at one
of the bars, and we met this guy. And it's
been nine years later and we still We hung out
with him this weekend at an author's retreat. He is
seven books into his writing career.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
And he's like, the only reason he started writing is
because he met us at a bar.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Oh, my gosh, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Yeah, that's the only reason we became friends. We were
sitting at a bar because we were late on writing.
We were almost late. We had three more days to
turn in a manuscript and we needed to write something.
And there we go, so we can't went to that
our favorite bar, and we wrote it was great stories, amaz,
So we just listened to them and went up to
(24:13):
our room and wrote them all down and finished the book.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
And you got stories from him. And then he ended
up right and starting his own writing career. Wow. That's
really amazing.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
Yeah, he said he wanted to write, and so you know,
we had it on our podcast. We encouraged him and
he now has a number one bestseller in Ya and Amazon.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Wow. I can't dream. Maybe you're the You're the You're
the Bellweather, You're the ticket. Now I've made contacts, so
it's going to happen for me too.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
And in sets one person, I think we have enough
luck for one. I'm sorry, dang it.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
Well nine years. Let's do another interview and we'll see
exactly exactly.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Oh my god, So can you tell people where they
can find out more information about you, about your book
and what's coming up next?
Speaker 2 (25:08):
Yeah, I have. I have a website that I put together,
which is hard to do for a writer because I
don't know how to do that stuff. But I figured
it out. I watched tutorials and I did all that.
So FLORENCEA. Bliss dot com is my website and it's
got all my information on there. Also, I'm on Goodreads.
I'd love friends on Goodreads. I'm on Instagram and Florence
(25:30):
dot a Douc Liss on Instagram. And then of course
the book is on Amazon, so it's Taken by his Sword.
It comes out June eleventh, so pretty exciting.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
Thank you, so very very value for taking the time
out of your day. Okay, so since she's wrapped up,
I'm gonna go ahead and wrap it up for us.
Over here, I'm Willnana and there's occasionally a Jade on
either side of me. One time every once every blue moon.
Now she pops up is like, Hi, I'm da d
and we are the and I thought ladies. You can
(26:03):
find out everything that your ladies are doing at www
dot and I thought ladies dot com. And while you're there,
go down to the middle of the page and you
can see the three charities that we probably support. We
asked that as you give them your support, that does
not necessarily mean money, although I'm sure they'd appreciate that. Oh.
It could mean time, or sometimes it could just mean
resources or knowledge, and we thank you in advance for that.
(26:24):
Remember that wisdom is all around you if you're open
to finding it and accepting it. The peace in love
you guys, from Willnona and the Missing Jade. Oh yeah,
thanks for listening.
Hello everyone, and welcome to the writer's class. And I
actually got a rite four podcasts, and I remembered which
one that this show was going on, and once we
end up putting it other on, the anti thought, ladies,
like what up we go? And then you got people
gonna be like, this is not the writers. But that's
probably half the reason people stopped listening in the middle.
But then it's past that, it'd be like it's normally
(00:23):
like in that like fifteen minute mark, they'll be like, yeah,
I give up. Oh but they're already pasted the introduction,
So I guess that's not that problem. I'll figure that
one out later. Anyway, I won't know them, and I
remember to introduce myself. I got to meet you know,
I gotta do the dance, little dance, little dance here, Okay,
stretch it out, stretch it out. Okay, that's a good
(00:45):
that's hot, that's good enough, right, even for our narcissist.
That dance was a little long, just a little because
it was bad. I could see myself on camera and
I know how bad it was. And I kept going
and I wanted the end, I thought, ladies, and you
know what they and I thought ladies wrote a bunch
of books about and I thought, yep, just let that resonate.
(01:06):
We were so original with her name, right, Yeah. And
I thought divorce was bad, and I thought being grown
up was easy if only I were me and Memoir
and Verse, Foreign Coffee, Widdow's Web, and Widow's Debt. That
is six books, six audio books one day. I'm hoping
to get to seven, eight, nine and ten. That would
be great because we have twenty some books. So if
(01:27):
you were counting, you recognize that six and twenty some
books don't add up and equal each other, then you're right.
So you can find out about the rest of the
books at www. Dot And I thought ladies dot com,
which is funny. I say that because I know we
have like our knewest book up there, like please buy
this book, and then we have like the other ones
about this big, so I should say six books plus
(01:51):
buy our newance book, and there's big on the other ones.
But you're not here to hear about me, which is
a shame, because I they wanted you to come here
about me because I'm a narcissist, But uh, you here
to hear about our wonderful guess. So I'm gonna have
to say, wonderful guys. Would you like to introduce yourself?
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Hello, Hi, everybody. My name is Florence abe List. I
am a debut author, historical romance author. Got my first
book called Taken by His Sword coming out soon and
actually June eleven, and I'm very excited to be here today.
(02:32):
So thank you will known for giving me that intro.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
I'm sorry it's Taken by His Sword? Is she pierced?
I mean, obviously you're gonna have to have that question.
I have.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
That's what I haven't thought about. But it would make
a good epilogue maybe.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
And everyone's gonna think that book has to do with earrings, Yeah,
I guess, so, huh yeah, all right, let me get
to real questions historical romance. My question I'll always ask
how much of research.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
I did a lot of research. But here's the thing.
There are certain questions that you can't find out there.
So you can read about world history, you can read
about the area of that time, but there's other things
that you can't really find the information on, which is
nice because then I can just make it up if
I want to. So if somebody else can't quickly google something,
(03:39):
then I can just say whatever I want. So in
terms of like the history of it, it's pretty historically accurate.
I did have, you know, people read through it. I
have one friend who you know, she's a she's studied
history and world history for a long time, and she
read through it. She they went and say this, and
they don't have this kind of sword here, And I
was like, oh, okay, so I would fix that stuff.
(04:01):
But other things, like I would come up with questions
like there's a ball scene, there's a ball a fancy party,
like did they have food at balls? I don't know,
were there people walking around with trades? Because I've you know,
what to imagine that. But trying to find answers to
things like that was kind of difficult. So I was like, well,
I guess I just get to make it up now.
(04:22):
So that's good. But in terms of like the history
and the place and the time, I did make it
fairly historically accurate. So that was a lot of time.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Oh what drew you did? Historical fiction? I mean, there's
so many types of fiction.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
I well, it's with the romance aspect. I think it
was the first romance book I ever read. My friends
and I when we were twenty, we were shy and
we wanted to read. We wanted to read or romance novels,
and I think we went and I bought one for
her and she bought one for me, and we switched
it be were embarrassed. And that was just the first
(05:02):
one I read was a historical romance, and then I
liked it. And then in terms of the romance, there's
extra layers of why they can't be together then there
would be in contemporary, because in contemporary I think it's
a harder job because you're like, well, just get together,
what's the problem. But there's more rules and societal pressure
(05:24):
and stuff in the historical sense, which I think makes
it fun in terms of creating tension between the characters.
So that's why I kind of went that direction.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
So I'm going to throw myself into this interview. Obviously,
I mean, how long did you expect a narcissist to
be quiet? Oh my god. I remember when I was
first reading novels. Obviously everyone normally comes in on romance,
and I did. I came in on a romance novel,
which right to the plancy section. Yeah, I remember reading it, going, oh,
(05:56):
this would be great to write, and then I was
like research and I went, no, this isn't me. That's
a lot Like how do they know this happened? And
I was like, they'd have to research it? No, no, not.
So was it harder than you thought it would be?
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Well, I really some of it was. Some of it
was I started with I had an idea basically for
the story and the dynamic between the hero and the heroine,
and you know, he had betrayed her and she's a
sword fighter and a mercenary and they end up having
to work together. So I have that kind of dynamic there.
(06:34):
I think we see so much of it on TV.
We see so many period dramas and stuff, so we
kind of already have an image in our head of
how this time period works. But actually, when I would
get stuck on things and think, okay, well there needs
to be a bad guy. You know, I need this
to happen in the plot, I need them to get here,
I would just start reading about the time period and
kind of so it was actually kind of helpful. It
(06:56):
was more helpful than I expected, because when I needed
new plot points, I was like, oh, I didn't realize
this kind of thing existed at the time, so I
could use that.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
So it was really odd rules. What was that the
oddest rule that you've now, like of society.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
The oddest rule of society? Hmm, I don't know specifically,
I have to I'd have to think about it. I think,
you know, this doesn't go for the This is actually
for book number two that I'm researching right now, finding
that that wife stealing was still happening for a lot
(07:41):
longer than we maybe anticipated. I mean, I guess you
could say it for in different places it's happened for
a long time, but in Europe and stuff like that,
it was still going on kind of beyond where I
would have expected it to stop. So those were some
surprising details that I came across.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
You know, like when you were reading in school and
you read some fiction and they're like they just came
and raided, or when you started reading history and they
were like they came and raided, And then you recognize
they were still stealing people's like women. You're like, what, yeah,
why what was the purpose of that? You do know,
we're like a headache as well. I mean, we give
you kids and we're so annoying. I think about that.
(08:27):
I'm sorry. What they should have invented was credit cards
back then, they left them where they were.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
They wouldn't have needed it, right, it would have been.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Like steal and you'd be like, no, no, no, don't forget
her dad to go with all the shopping, don't forget
the cur coat. Everything has to go with. I'm like,
never mind, she can stay.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Yeah, it's too complicated. Now, it's fine.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
It's a lot of work and I'll.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Just try to woo somebody's dead.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
I'm sorry. History always surprises you. Yeah, yeah, like I
swore I knew this, and then you're like, oh crap.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
I didn't know anything about this.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Yeah, okay, I'm sorry. I got I completely ran off
on the wife stealing tection like that used to get
me for the longest time. Yea, so give me. I
guess I was about to bring it up tomorrowing day,
but no one wants to talk about that.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Yeah, that's a that's beyond my fiction writing expertise. That better,
smarter people need to deal with that. I need.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Back to the fun and fluffy world of romances and fiction.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Yes, nobody, No wives got stolen in my book, though,
I just that was there was my stealing of wives
in this novel and taken by his sword.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Now no, I mean, honestly, I could there be as
a sword person of sore, as a woman and a mercenary.
No one's dealing anything besides you know, maybe a few
wondering of something money, other people's money.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Well there's a there's a few plundering scenes in there, so.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Yeah, we have plundering. Was it hard? Was it hard
to create that that? I guess you said with the
rules it makes it a little easier why people can't
be together, But was it hard to create that that
right level of stress in between that you know, will
they won't think?
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Yeah, that's a really hard thing to do in any
kind of fictional piece. I mean, as a as a
fiction writer, you're constantly saying, is there enough tension in
this scene? Is it? Is it going to pull the
reader along? Is it something that somebody's going to want
to turn the page for so? And then adding that
extra element of like a sexual tension, that's challenging. But
(10:54):
that was the writing. Their chemistry was the easy part
for me, you know, that was that was the fun part.
And filling in all the rest of it and all
the story kind of grew out of that, so I
did a lot of over writing because I ended up
trying to figure out how I was going to like
I said, get them from one place to the next
and do this, and I knew this had to happen,
(11:14):
so throughout it that was a little you know, that
ended up taking more time than I expected, but keeping
the story tension going and the couple dynamic tension going,
you know, it's it's just a lot to think about.
You know, you've got a lot of a lot of
plates up in the air as you're as you're writing,
(11:37):
but the dynamic, the tension between them was fun. I
think I did that pretty well.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Oh the only reason I asked is because I know
it's hard for me to do.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
It can be I mean, writing writing romance, writing love scenes.
It's it's difficult to go. You don't want to be
too graphic, but you depending on where your your spice
level is at and what you know market our audience,
you're trying to hit. You don't want to just be
like and then it faded to black, and then everybody
woke up with a smile on their face the next day.
(12:09):
So you got to really hit where you're comfortable because
you know, you end up using words that you wouldn't
use normally in ways and you're like, oh, hope that
one goes over well. So you got to really find
where you're comfortable as a writer.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
So that's amazing. That that is amazing to hear. Like,
I've always wondered how what goes into those loves and
I don't mind reading them, but I'm always like, how
did you write that? Could you? You think it's easy,
then you start writing and then you're like, oh, I'm
gonna need it.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
It's tough. I think specifically for the romance beloved scenes,
I always have some other thing going on between them.
It's supposed to just be ractioning up their relationship in
one way or another, so there is, you know, the
physical aspect of what's happening emotionally one of the characters
wherever they maybe, So that's that helps you know, kind
(13:06):
of balance it. But I wrote these dirty scenes and
then my mom read it, and she's still as okay
as me as her child, So I think that they're acceptable.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
You were brave. You were like, my mom read it.
That's okay, my mom read it.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
I couldn't keep her from it, and not because it's dirty.
But she's like, no, my daughter wrote something.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
I don't write it, so be nice. That must be
so nice. On my end, when my mother was alive,
she'd be like, my daughter wrote something. That's nice. I
think it's because I wrote so much. And then she
finally read what I wrote and she was like, oh
my god, it's not romance. Ma. I got published when
I was ten years old, and you've read nothing else
(13:50):
since then.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
See, I'm sure she was very proud.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
She was, oh proud. I assume she always read it.
And then she was like, it's but dangative and a romance.
So what was your publishing journey?
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Like? It was hard? It was really really challenging. I
came from a literary fiction background, so I had been
writing before, never had anything, I mean, a couple mediocre
short stories here and there, but I never really went
into the journey of writing a book and getting it published.
And I had a friend actually say he knew somebody
(14:27):
that had gone to one of the writing conferences that
he met, and he said, she just writes romance for money.
And I thought I could write romance for money, but
then I ended up falling in love with the genre
and my story and everything. But I wrote this. I
started querying this probably five or six years ago and
could not get any bites on it. Finding an agent hard.
(14:51):
It's tough. It's tough work. And if anybody's watching that's
looking for an agent, just it's it's really painful process.
So I never got an agent. But I went to
the Romance Writers of America conference and they had us.
They had pitching to different publishers there, and I participated
in that, and I got hooked up with City l
(15:13):
so they you know, let me pitch to them. They
requested my first fifty pages, and then luckily enough, I
got hooked up with Jessica Shier, who's my editor, and
she kind of championed me to them, and that was it.
So that happened in September of this year, and then
since then it's just been up and down and zooming along,
(15:35):
you know, with edits and going back and forth. And
that's so it's been very exciting compared to, you know,
sending a query letter out and then nine months later
getting a rejection. You're like, thanks, guys, felt nice that
you remembered me.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
So hey, it's nice because a lot of times are
like that and ghosted and then but the absolutely you
meet literary agents and you understand why because I mean,
that workload is insane.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
I yes, absolutely, I do really appreciate the people that
get back to me eventually. But it's funny. It's funny
because it's like I'm still getting rejections sometimes now from
a heargo. I'm like, wow, you really are persistent working
through that pile, you know, get into the get into
the queries. But I'm like, thank you, you know, but
(16:28):
it is kind of it's kind of comical. How how long.
It's just a slow process.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
So yeah, it's a it's a very long work day. Yes,
too long work dad. And I know one or two
agents they were like, I was just starting out, so
I had to get you know, another job because it's
I was like, oh, oh, I'm so sorry. Okay, it's
a real long workday.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Yeah, I can imagine. Gosh, jeez. I like to be
alone at my little computer just clicking a way when
I have time.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
So so I heard literary fiction and always wanted to
jump in on literary fiction. So what made you go
literary fiction? Was it an imag did.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
You say I had an MFA. Yeah. Well, I started
out as a biochemistry major. I wanted to work in
the CDC and research diseases and all through coronavirus. My
family had to listen to me going I could be
there right now, I could be researching this thing right now.
But I just one day I got so I was
having all kinds of viral fantasies, but I just got
(17:39):
sick of looking in microscopes one day. So I was like,
how can I finish my undergrad and a reasonable amount
of time? And so I finished it in education because
my mom was a teacher. So I was like, I'll
just wrap it up, finish up in education. And my
last semester, I was like, what am I going to
do now? And I took a creative writing class and
(18:01):
I had a little bit of spunk. I was pretty
good at it. So then I applied and got into
the got into an MFA program after that, so I
did MFA and it's I did my MFA at U
and l V in Las Vegas and it was I mean,
it was great.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
It was huh you based in Vegas?
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Yeah, Las Vegas.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
Yeah, Henderson Writers Group.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
I'm not in that. I'm on the other side. But
are you familiar with them?
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Oh that's exciting.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
Yeah, yeah, like our own. During COVID is when I
actually joined the one that I lived near. I'm in Maryland,
so I joined Writers Association, but until then I was
a member of the Hnderson's Writers. Oh wow, because I
kept flying out to Vegas to do stuff because I
knew them and the writers, so I was like, why
(18:52):
would I bother They're freaking like, no, I'll get to
Maryland when I get to.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
What worked out?
Speaker 1 (18:58):
It was perfect In COVID, I had to join, you know, Yeah, yeah,
that was weird, but yeah, OK, so you and lv MSA. Sorry.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
I did my MFA there and it was funny because
it was I was very new to writing at that point,
you know, because I just kind of got into it
at the end of my my bachelor's and genre writing
is very looked down upon by the MFAs, you know,
because it's all about literary fiction. But I never could
really find my voice in that because first, when I
(19:29):
was in my twenties, I was young. I didn't have
a lot of life experience, and I didn't really know
what to write about. So I was writing stories that
didn't always seem authentic to me. So then when I
started writing the romance and historical, which I realized I
could just make up whatever the heck I want, and
that's when it kind of clicked. So I do have
that background. But in terms of the battle with MFAs
(19:53):
over genre versus literary, I'm like, I want to enjoy it,
like I want to enjoy it. I want I enjoyed it.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
That is the best answer, you know. Honestly, every time
I hear someone say literally that is literally all I
want to know is like, where do we stand on
this battle of genre versus?
Speaker 2 (20:12):
It was always like the guys, the guys that were like, no,
you have to do this, and none of them, you know,
none of them were any better than anybody else. And
you know, they're all I don't know. They're probably all
writing their space stories right now, secretly in a dark
room writing their Lord of the Rings stuff, and I'm
(20:34):
writing romance.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
And it worked out well, it works so great. They
both sell well well Romance yes, yeah, so well, I
mean they has literary is a dying art, but is it.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
I mean, it's great, so many wonderful things that people
write and stuff, but it just I couldn't access it.
It just wasn't working for me. So I think this
is I think I found my home here in romance.
That originally it was my hope to kind of break
into the industry this way and be able to, you know,
(21:08):
go more literary as I as I extended. But I'm
really I'm really happy with where I am. And it's
a great writer community of romance writers and stuff and
other women and some men too, so it's you know,
I'm very happy with it. We'll see how the book does.
We'll see how the book does, guys, and then we'll
(21:28):
see how I am.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
When those royalty checks come in, I will know how
happy I am there.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Yeah, right, I have no idea. I have zero expectations
at this point. I'm just so thrilled that Citil was like, sure,
we'll publish your book, and somebody, I'm sure that it's
going to sell one hundred copies, ninety nine of which
or to my mom, because she's gonna she's gonna shut
it down. She'll buy all the copies and then we'll
see if anybody likes it. From there.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
Oh goodness. And it's been an absolute blast talking to you.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
You too, Oh, you're a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Who do you have coming up next? Because we already
know there's a book too, But what else do you
think you're going to do with your literary career?
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Well, this one, Taken by a Sword is the first one.
The second one is actually right here. I've been editing
all day, so you see, got my notes and stuff
on there, So I'll be working on that. I would
love to say that that one's going to come out.
It is meant to be a series of a three books.
(22:35):
I've got lots of other ones in me. I do
have some literary books in me too. Maybe I'm have
enough life experience to make those works. So we'll see.
But like I said, I love romance, and as long
as they keep letting me do it, I'll I'll keep
writing them.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
So I should mention that I am a literary writer.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
And you are. Yeah, you don't.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
You don't necessarily have to have your own life experience.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
You know.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
The fun part about stories is you can hear them. Yeah,
that's true stories. And some stories are so amazing they
have to be written down and there you go. That
is the beginning of a literary tale. Yeah, and I'm
gonna go a little deeper into my narcissism. So one
(23:23):
day we uh, when we were a little late on
turning in something, we go to a bar at one
of the bars, and we met this guy. And it's
been nine years later and we still We hung out
with him this weekend at an author's retreat. He is
seven books into his writing career.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
And he's like, the only reason he started writing is
because he met us at a bar.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Oh, my gosh, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Yeah, that's the only reason we became friends. We were
sitting at a bar because we were late on writing.
We were almost late. We had three more days to
turn in a manuscript and we needed to write something.
And there we go, so we can't went to that
our favorite bar, and we wrote it was great stories, amaz,
So we just listened to them and went up to
(24:13):
our room and wrote them all down and finished the book.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
And you got stories from him. And then he ended
up right and starting his own writing career. Wow. That's
really amazing.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
Yeah, he said he wanted to write, and so you know,
we had it on our podcast. We encouraged him and
he now has a number one bestseller in Ya and Amazon.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Wow. I can't dream. Maybe you're the You're the You're
the Bellweather, You're the ticket. Now I've made contacts, so
it's going to happen for me too.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
And in sets one person, I think we have enough
luck for one. I'm sorry, dang it.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
Well nine years. Let's do another interview and we'll see
exactly exactly.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Oh my god, So can you tell people where they
can find out more information about you, about your book
and what's coming up next?
Speaker 2 (25:08):
Yeah, I have. I have a website that I put together,
which is hard to do for a writer because I
don't know how to do that stuff. But I figured
it out. I watched tutorials and I did all that.
So FLORENCEA. Bliss dot com is my website and it's
got all my information on there. Also, I'm on Goodreads.
I'd love friends on Goodreads. I'm on Instagram and Florence
(25:30):
dot a Douc Liss on Instagram. And then of course
the book is on Amazon, so it's Taken by his Sword.
It comes out June eleventh, so pretty exciting.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
Thank you, so very very value for taking the time
out of your day. Okay, so since she's wrapped up,
I'm gonna go ahead and wrap it up for us.
Over here, I'm Willnana and there's occasionally a Jade on
either side of me. One time every once every blue moon.
Now she pops up is like, Hi, I'm da d
and we are the and I thought ladies. You can
(26:03):
find out everything that your ladies are doing at www
dot and I thought ladies dot com. And while you're there,
go down to the middle of the page and you
can see the three charities that we probably support. We
asked that as you give them your support, that does
not necessarily mean money, although I'm sure they'd appreciate that. Oh.
It could mean time, or sometimes it could just mean
resources or knowledge, and we thank you in advance for that.
(26:24):
Remember that wisdom is all around you if you're open
to finding it and accepting it. The peace in love
you guys, from Willnona and the Missing Jade. Oh yeah,
thanks for listening.
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