About the author: Rich Amooi is a former Silicon Valley radio personality and wedding DJ who now writes romantic comedies full-time. He is happily married to a kiss monster and has a hairy golden retriever/lab mix that likes to eat carrots, tuna, and Manchego cheese imported from Spain.
He believes (Rich, not the dog) in public displays of affection, silliness, infinite possibilities, donuts, gratitude, laughter, and happily ever after.
**Contact Rich Amooi: Website Facebook Twitter
INTERVIEW
Describe your writing style in five words: Light, fun, silly, crazy, and romantic.
Tell us about your writing/editing/publishing process: After brainstorming by myself, I run ideas by my hot Spanish wife and a few friends. Then I do a loose outline of the story. My wife reads the first draft of the story when it’s done and gives me feedback. Then I revise it and send it to six beta readers. They give me feedback and I revise again. Then it’s off to the editor. I get it back from her and review her suggestions before doing the final revision. Last is formatting the book and uploading it to Amazon.
Salty or sweet? Sweet please! Here’s my order: Betty Crocker super-moist yellow cake with chocolate frosting. Maple donuts. Cinnamon rolls. Dark chocolate covered almonds. Sugar cookies. Caramel corn. And anything else you’ve got over there. Please FedEx that to me pronto.
When did you know you were a writer? After my wife read one of my short stories I wrote for a creative writing class at Stanford in 2013. She loved it and said I needed to expand it. That ended up being my debut novel, Five Minutes Late.
Hard/paperbacks or eBooks? I mostly read on my Kindle but I like the paper too.
Where do you get your ideas for your books? Sometimes they come from something as simple as a title I thought of. For example, I heard a woman call her husband “crotchety” in Starbucks. Then a thought popped in my head: Mr. Crotchety would be a great title for a book! So I wrote it and it’s my fourth romantic comedy! LOL.
If you could meet any other author, who would it be? I already have met her! Kristan Higgins. She’s the best.
What is a typical day like for you? Get up and prepare breakfast for my smoking hot wife. After she heads off to work I take the dog out for a 30-40 minute walk. Then I’m back at home to write for a few hours before lunch. Unless I’m really hungry. Then I write for an hour and start snacking. Sometimes I take a nap in the afternoon for an hour. Then more writing, social media, or marketing until about three in the afternoon. Next I prepare an afternoon coffee for my scorching hot angel when she gets home from work. The rest of the day depends on the stage of the book and what else we have going on. We like to watch romantic comedies in the evening.
Do you have any writing rituals? Not really. I like to get up once an hour to stretch and do a couple of laps around the house.
Every author must have: Discipline. It’s too easy to get distracted. I turn off my Internet when I write.
What do you want your readers to take away from your books? I want to put a smile on their face and give them a fun, romantic escape.
What are you working on right now? My next story is called An Éclair To Remember. It’s inspired by the Cary Grant-Deborah Kerr movie, An Affair To Remember. Most of the story takes place on a cruise ship and they meet after they both reach for the last éclair at the dessert station.
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Blurb: Shoe store owner Roger Hudson has a chip on his shoulder the size of Mount Rushmore. Hiring real estate agent Sally Bright, the most-annoyingly positive woman ever, probably isn’t the smartest move but she’s the best. Her constantly bubbly nature gets under Roger’s skin but there’s an even bigger problem. She’s also getting into his heart. And don’t even get him started on her dynamite legs.
Roger doesn’t fool Sally one bit. She knows his crotchety act is as fake as her best friend’s Gucci bag. She’s dealt with his type before but selling his home is proving to be harder than she thought. Especially since she’s developing feelings for her handsome client. But just when things seem to be going in the right direction, Sally’s secret could destroy everything she worked so hard for.
**Get your copy of “Mr. Crotchety” now!: Amazon US Amazon UK Amazon CA Amazon AU
Thanks so much for having me!