The following is an exclusive Whispers of the Muse interview conducted by Deborah Riley-Magnus with Contemporary Romance author, Selena Robins.

Muse: First of all, Whispers of the Muse welcomes you to the site. Who are your favorite authors?
Ms. Robins:
Thank you for the invitation, my books and I are happy to share our thoughts with you and your readers.

I’m an eclectic reader and since I read so many different genres, it would be hard for me to name my favorites, from J.D. Salinger to Lisa Gardner, with a lot of new authors in between. I love books and I do have a few books on my to-be-read-once-per-year shelf, but they’re from different authors.

Muse: Why do you write Contemporary Romance?
Ms. Robins:
I love to write about characters that will have an optimistic ending and characters that I can draw from today’s world.

Muse: What is your writing regimen? How often do you work on a book? Do you set daily time or word goals? What keeps you meeting your deadlines?
Ms. Robins:
Regimen? Let’s see, I don’t have one of those as of yet, but one day I’ll get one. I don’t set word goals, because I hate not meeting my goals, but I do write in the mornings and late at night when time permits. I’ve written two novels and working on a novella and another novel. I will admit, I’m a lot slower than most writers I know, mainly because my internal editor keeps my mojo lagging at times. I write better under pressure, so I always meet a deadline.

Muse: Does the way you personally look at life reflect in your writing style?
Ms. Robins:
My writing style reflects my sense of humor, so much so, that people who know me personally will say they can hear my voice with some of the one-liners that a character may say. However, the plot, the actual characters all stand on their own and come from my imagination, I try very hard not to voice my stand on a particular aspect of life into the characters and plot, because then I think it can become complicated for the writer.

Muse: What are the creative jumping off points for you? Are you inspired by dreams? Music? Nature? The occasional black nightmare? What triggers your imagination?
Ms. Robins:        
Tough question, because I am inspired by so many things that surround me, places I’ve visited, people, objects, moments, songs. I’ve always had an active imagination and have been able to utilize it in my work, non-fiction writing and fiction writing. Where it comes from? God? Inherited from my parents, especially my mother who was extremely creative.

Muse: Tell us about What a Girl Wants. What was your inspiration?
Ms. Robins:
The trigger for this book was an article I read written by Carly Phillips. In it, she talks about writers needing to go into Writing Boot Camp. The words Book Camp caught my attention and I thought, why not Sex Boot Camp? From there, I thought about what kind of characters would fit into exploring this possibility.

Muse: What is your favorite scene from the book and why?
Ms. Robins:
I enjoyed writing all aspects of this book, the comedy, the mystery, the conflicts which I piled on to each character, and I even enjoyed writing the villains and the sub-plot. It’s hard to pick a favorite, but if forced to pick one, I do have one, however, I can’t tell you, because it would be giving away a major spoiler.

Muse: Have you written other books?
Ms. Robins:
My first book, a paranormal romantic comedy is called Sabrina’s Destiny. I’ve written a children’s book, Pippy’s Wish and a short story, Tempted by An Angel.

Muse: Tell us about your other books?
Ms. Robins:
Readers can go to my website and read excerpts of all my work. At the moment, Pippy’s Wish and Tempted by An Angel can be downloaded for free (PDF format).

Muse: How do you feel about the current publishing marketplace?
Ms. Robins: