Page 48 - Reader's HouseMagazine - Issue 62

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Valerie Pepper brings hope, laughter, and love into her readers’ lives through relatable characters, unforgettable stories, and heartfelt optimism.
Do you write full time or do you also work another job?
My goal is to make a living solely off my writing, but until then, I have a full-time job that
I genuinely love, as the Chief
of Staff at a large law firm in the United States. I get to tackle challenges and be creative every day with people I enjoy working with. But the second I’m able to make the jump, I’m jumping!
As an indie author, many if not all tasks of publishing a book falls to you. How does your typical day look?
passion—lies. It was ins- ta-love at first sight.
What inspired you to write “The Widow’s Guide to Second Chances,” and how does your personal belief in happily ever afters influence your storytelling?
I’d started writing a different book, a contemporary romance. It was a slog, and I was having a terrible time of it. Then a friend of mine brought me up to speed on a shared acquaintance of ours. The woman had been widowed in her mid-twenties, traveled the United States in the aftermath, and ultimately came home and started dating a paramedic who’d crushed on her for years without her knowing. And she broke her jaw right after she reconnected with him! (A broken jaw is a key part of the book.) Her story was so incredible and hopeful that I called her up and asked if
I could use it as the base for a book. She said yes, and I was off to the races. The book is en- tirely made up, but her and her now-husband loved reading it.
As to my belief in happily ever afters, I sincerely believe that we all want them. Across humanity, no matter our differences, we all crave acceptance and love from those we cherish. We all want the ability to curl up with our loved ones, no matter our battle scars. As a romance author, I actively seek out that yearning and desire, and tap into it for writing.
Can you share more about your experience winning the Contemporary Romance Writer’s 2021 Stiletto Award and how it has impacted your writing career?
It was a delightful surprise when it hap- pened, and it gave the boost of confidence that I really needed to keep going. I’ve been writing for thirty years and have faced an absolute mountain of rejection. Persistence— or stubbornness, however you want to classify it!—has always been critical, but getting that outside validation cemented for me that I was finally in the right place, writing exactly what I was supposed to be writing.
On weekdays, I wake up at 4:45 and write until 6:15, before beginning my regular day. I’ll check my author social media briefly dur- ing my workday, and after dinner, I turn more
to the “business side” of author- ing. The weekends are when a lot of writing gets done, along with more business-y work.
“Financial Peace Doesn’t Come From
More Money—It Comes From Trans- forming The Way We Relate To Money.”
48 II Reader’s House
“I’m a firm believer in the romance genre
being one that can actively heal people from past traumas.”
Readers love learning about an author’s actual process
of writing their books. What does your process look like?
and with more confidence with each passing book. These days I write a fairly robust plot first, around 10,000 – 12,000 words, then pull out my FreeWrite and “fast draft” the book, by which I mean I write as quickly as possible, without editing or even looking back at what I’ve written, and I stick to the plot I’ve laid out. Once I’ve got my “messy first draft,” I go back and edit, tightening up the plot, fleshing out the characters, and so on. After that, it’s off to my editor. When she sends it back, I go through one last time, and then it’s done!
With so many genres in the romance category these days, what made you choose to write romantic comedies?
Our world can be so complicated and dark, and social media can often make it worse. My goal with romantic comedies is to provide the reader with a few hours of escape. To show them that people can endure whatever it is that I’m putting them through and still come out on the other side. I’m a firm believer in the romance genre being one that can actively heal people from past traumas, and I’m over- joyed to contribute to someone’s emotional well-being. And honestly, I love love! I’ve written historical fiction, middle grade fiction, contemporary romance, and literary fiction, but romantic comedy is where my heart—and
The process has changed over time, but I definitely write faster
T