A Slice of Orange

Sheri is a Waldenbook’s #1 bestselling author. She has won numerous awards, including reader and reviewer’s choice honors. She writes a variety of novels for Silhouette Books, and also writes erotic romances for Berkley as Cherie Feather.

Sheri has a new novel out in June, Art of Desire.
Museum director Mandy Cooper has always been obsessed with nineteenth-century artist Catherine Burke—and the artist’s erotically charged relationship with Atacar, her enthralling American Indian lover. But Mandy’s link to the legendary couple runs deeper than she knows. She’s having a heated affair herself—with Jared Cabrillo, Atacar’s perilously handsome great-great nephew. And the consuming passion Atacar once used to seduce Catherine is now being engaged by Jared. He knows precisely what it takes to move a woman…

He’s in possession of Catherine’s wildly explicit journal. He knows every intimate detail of what she wanted and needed. But he also knows how desperately Catherine had loved Atacar and how dangerously he’d loved her. The journal is timeless and tragic, and the secrets contained within its pages can bring Mandy and Jared together, or just as surely destroy them both—desire by shocking desire.

Sounds like you are really interested in Native American culture, even though you are not of Indian heritage – how did you get interested?

My former husband is from the Muscogee Creek Nation and our grown children are also tribally enrolled members. As writers, we are told to write what we know, and I have come to know the Native community through family and friends. I have great love and respect for the Native peoples.

You write under two names, I’m assuming because one is erotica – was that your choice or at the request of your publisher?

Yes, I write under two names and the choice was mine. Sheri WhiteFeather is primarily for my Harlequin works, and Cherie Feather is for my erotica books. I was concerned that using the same name for both genres would confuse readers. Still, I wanted readers to know that Sheri was Cheri, so I chose a Cherie Feather because it flowed nicely from Sheri WhiteFeather and I thought readers would remember it.

Can you tell me the Reader’s Digest version of your author story? How you made your first sale, etc.

In 1996, I joined RWA and began to pursue writing. In 1998, my agent submitted one of my manuscripts (I had written two full manuscripts by then and was lucky enough to land a seasoned agent) to Silhouette Desire. This story was about a woman who was offering to be a surrogate mother for a single man who wanted a child. Silhouette loved the concept, but they requested a revision before they were willing to make a purchase. I revised the manuscript according to the editor’s notes, and my agent resubmitted it. From there, I made my first sale!

WARRIOR’S BABY became my first published book. After that, I kept selling stories to Harlequin/Silhouette and continue to write for them today. My first single title sale, THE ART OF DESIRE, happened ten years later. It was purchased by Berkley for their Heat imprint. I’m thrilled to be writing for Berkley. My books have always been on the risqué side and now they’re full-blown wild. But they’re tenderly tragic and desperately romantic, too. Although my sex scenes sizzle, love is still the key ingredient.

What’s next for you? Do you have another book in mind?

I always have a book in mind because I’m always under contract. But that’s a good thing. Very good!

My next Sheri WhiteFeather book is Silhouette Romantic Suspense. Killer Passion comes out in July 2008. I’ll be talking about it next month in the New Release Spotlight in the Orange Blossom.

As for my next Cherie Feather release, it’s called Submission, and will hit the shelves in Feb. 2009. Submission is a spin-off from The Art of Desire and features a wildly sexy fetish artist (the hero), a museum historian (the heroine) and two lovelorn ghosts (the historical characters and subplot).

Currently I’m writing two books for Silhouette Romantic Suspense that will be part of a miniseries with Warrior Society heroes. The Warrior Society in my books is a group of former military men who excel at close-quarter combat and fight for Native causes. Sometimes they get involved in paranormal activity, like searching for cursed objects and battling evil witches. These books will be written as Sheri WhiteFeather.

For my next erotica as Cherie Feather, I have a ménage story in mind. I haven’t written the proposal yet, but I’ve got lots of ideas bouncing around in my head. Much like The Art of Desire and Submission, it will be a contemporary story with a historical twist. I hope to keep that theme going.

What do you do for inspiration?

When I’m stumped for ideas or am having trouble with a story, I take a citrus-scented bath and work through my dilemma with a glass of wine or a cup of herbal tea. Sometimes I re-read books by my favorite authors and sometimes I read outside the romance genre to get a feel for other types of fiction. For fun, I like to shop in vintage stores and buy old clothes.

Do you have any advice for unpublished writers?

Work hard, believe in yourself and never give up. But bear in mind that writing can be an extremely grueling career with long hours and an ever-changing income. Trends come and go and very few authors remain on top, if they’re lucky enough to get there to begin with. But if you love writing, absolutely love it, the predicted pitfalls are worth it.