Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to this week’s featured author! I had the great pleasure – and it was fun - to interview romance author Tirza Schaefer!
Tirza Schaefer is a whirlwind of creativity and passion who shares her house with her children, her cat, a lot of books, crystals and oracle cards. She recently googled the definition of boredom – a concept alien to her, as there are always exciting thoughts spinning those wheels in her mind. Her favourite office is her patio where she sits for hours, (weather permitting) and types, thinks, meditates or entertains family and friends to her heart’s content. And when she has the time, she takes off to visit the UK, and her favourite place there is Middle Earth with a garden that has the Narnia lamp post in it. True story!
To kick off my interview with author Tirza Schaefer, I asked her what initially sparked her interest in writing. Here is what Tirza said!
“I always loved telling stories, even as a child before I had learned to read and write. And once I could read, I read books myself. I devoured them. By the time I was able to write at a comfortable speed, I started to write down the stories I had imagined in my head. However, it was only much later, in 2015, at the age of 43, that I started to publish my own books.”
Author Tirza Schaefer has a fantastic collection of romance books that are quite spicy! So, I wondered what is was that pulled athor Tirza Schaefer into the amazing world of romance and RH romance!
Here is what author Tirza Schaefer had to say! And I absolutely loved her answer to this question!
“I came across a contemporary romance book that had an RH theme, as opposed to erotica. There was an actual storyline with a committed relationship to it and a happily ever after. I was hooked. I thought, at long last women can get their own and don’t have to wait for men to recharge their batteries anymore between intervals of passion. Moreover, being adored by not one but several sexy-as-fuck men is just the best ever! Bloody brilliant! But the more I read, the more I came to the conclusion that there were hardly any books that catered to the mature women age bracket that I belong to as well. Virgin tropes and baby daddy dramas are all things my generation has left far behind. So I thought I can complain, or make it better and write it myself. It was a no-brainer, of course, so I said to myself, “Let’s do this!”
Author Tirza Schaefer has a sexy, spicy, brilliant new novel out: “Her Badass Bikers”! Next in our interview I asked where that story idea came from! Tirza said,
“I read a lot of biker romance novels; they are one of my favourite tropes. So that aspect was probably foreseeable as I’d already written another biker romance in 2016 called “Born to Be Wild.” Having watched Sons of Anarchy ever since and having previously explored the RH theme in greater detail in my full-length novel “Tank” (my personal favourite besides “Her Badass Bikers”) and two novellas titled “A Little Slice of Heaven” and “A Beary Little Christmas,” I wanted to explore this theme some more and thought I would write a novella of maybe 30K words.
However, that didn’t quite pan out as I’d planned. “Her Badass Bikers” took me on a journey of personal development and literary twists and turns. Every time I thought I was nearing the end the characters hijacked the plot and did something completely different than what they had been supposed to be doing. I had planned that Ava would meet Jax again after fifteen years of not seeing each other, and they would fall in love with his best friend Liam joining in. The next to tag along should have been Mace. Snubbs was supposed to be a drama queen but finally relent for a happily ever after.
Only then, everything happened differently. New characters appeared and behaved in a way that made the whole story go into an entirely new direction, one it wasn’t supposed to. There are two kids in this book, one nerdy little boy with his soulful mother and a teenage girl that wasn’t even a formed thought when I started the book but then became a pivotal character.
I deleted and rewrote entire chapters. I had writer's block and writer’s diarrhea where I just couldn’t stop writing. Sometimes, it didn’t even make sense or veered off in a direction I didn’t like. While writing, I knew I was going to delete these passages again but I still had to put them down on paper first.
During the times when I couldn’t write at all or when I worked on other manuscripts, things happened in my private life that would propel a shift in perception and instigate personal growth, And it was only once I had gone through these that I was able to continue writing. The entire process lasted for a good half-year and the final first draft encompassed 105K words.
As I edited and rewrote the word count grew and when my editor finally got it and edited some more, the word count increased further. The editing process was another journey in itself because I had burnt the candle at both ends, working intensely on social media and finally decided to take the Christmas holidays off completely, my first holiday with entire days off in the last year – and that includes weekends! I literally worked every day and it took a toll on me. I desperately needed a break, as did my editor, I suspected.
So we started with batteries recharged in the new year and I dare say we both love what came out of it. So far, my readers seem to think so, too.”
Great answer! I love hearing about the writing journeys of my fellow authors! Next for our interview I asked author Tirza Schaefer if her books held any truth to them or were inspired by real events. I know authors love to throw some real life action into their books! 😉 Here is what author Tirza Schaefer had to say!
“I usually let certain characteristics from myself or people I know flow into my stories but it’s rather a potpourri I create than a single event or person I use as a template for a story. Some personal experiences have had a bearing on this story, mostly in an emotional capacity rather than a situational one, but that must remain private. However, I hope you’ll still enjoy guessing what it was when you read the book yourself. As to the characters, Ava is the female MC. She is 42 and used to babysit Jax when he was between ten and twelve. The two haven’t seen each other in fifteen years. Now that Jax is a grown man and badass biker, he still has a soft spot for Ava, who he couldn’t forget. He’s been to prison and the only person who has ever been kind to him in his childhood was the person whose memory kept him going through the dark times. When his best friend Liam meets Ava there are sparks between the two as well and Liam steps back because of the bro code and waits for Jax and Ava to have an honest talk. And so the story continues. I don’t want to put in any spoilers here but a lot happens that I didn’t foresee until it unfolded before my inner eye and when you read it there will be quite a few surprises you didn’t see coming, either. My favourite supporting characters in this book are Darryl, a nerdy black boy of twelve who Ava looks after on occasion as well and his mother Gloria, a widow who is obsessed with religion to fill the void in her life. At first, she isn’t taken seriously but as the story progresses views start to change as well and it is Gloria who plays a crucial part in a very hairy situation. There is some mild violence, or better, it is portrayed mildly. The steamy scenes are very hot, yet they don’t lack emotional insight and weight, either, something I find often falls short in other novels, even when the context is a loving, committed relationship. You can have it hot and steamy and still maintain that emotional connection. Snubbs and Mace are very particular characters, too. Mace is the clever one who made a fortune designing apps and selling them but he stays true to his roots. His father is the president of the Makani MC and their relationship is strained, to say the least. Because of this he finds it difficult to open up to Ava. Snubbs is your friendly neighbourhood psychopath. He has had a traumatic childhood and his personality has some psychotic traits. He insists that he is not a nice guy and doesn’t do cuddles and overnight stays. How that works out with Ava around, I shall leave for you to discover…”
Before concluding my interview with author Tirza Schaefer I asked if she could tell everyone a bit about herself and her home life!
“I am an exophone author, meaning I do not write in my mother tongue, as I am German and write in English. I’ve spent most of the 90s living in the UK after I graduated from school in 1991 with the highest possible qualifications. I began to study for a BA in Comparative Religious Studies and Indonesian Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies, part of the London University and right around the corner from the British Museum where I spent many a lunchtime in the Hinduism room, as entry was free for students and that room was comparatively quiet during those hours. At the time I needed a place to withdraw because the shared house I lived in at the time was a bit of an emotional trigger for me. However, I didn’t like the courses so much and after the first year, changed to the University of North London, now part of the London Metropolitan University, from where I graduated with an HND in Leisure and Tourism Management first and after that, a BA in Tourism Studies with Marketing.
I am also rather nerdy and love language and linguistics as a hobby. Although I only speak and write English and German fluently, I also have graduated with Latin proficiency. I had two years of French, a year of Russian and Bahasa Indonesia and six months of Spanish in my school and university years. Most of this is more than rusty and has dwindled to a few catchphrases. I’ve always been challenged with learning vocabulary but grammar always came easily to me. I can spell French and Spanish much better than I understand, let alone speak it. I also researched the linguistic traits of Bulgarian when writing “Balcony Above the Sea.” After graduating I became pregnant with my son and decided to move back home to have my family close by. He is 22 now and has two younger sisters, one 19, the other 14. The older two are already out of the house and I live with my youngest daughter and our slightly neurotic and very talkative Arabian Mau cat just outside of Cologne in Germany in a very green suburban area. We have a big patio with a couch which also doubles as my summer office. I love to sit outside, weather permitting, and work there, overlooking the garden and sipping coffee.
What you probably wouldn’t guess if you only know me as a romance author, is that I am also a spiritual writer and healer. My website contains a free Divine Library where you can find pages with articles on goddesses, gods, power animals, crystals and tarot. I am also an Usui Reiki Master and founder of Goddess Reiki. I offer card readings on the side, healing sessions and I am a Goddess coach for women. Look up my services page for details, also on the literary services I provide.”
And last but not least, I asked author Tirza Schaefer to let us all know if she has anything new coming out soon to watch for! The famous question every author loves so much! LOL
What are you working on?!
“Good question. I am always working on something, and usually more than one manuscript and then suddenly something else comes up like “A Vampire for Christmas” that I wrote in a single weekend in November and that got published before the Bikers in time for Christmas. I have a couple series that need working on, especially the Seals in Spain trilogy, of which only Book 1, “Tank,” is out, and The Milf Diaries series which comes in five parts and in Book 3, the characters from the Seals in Spain series will have a guest appearance. Thus far, I have published Books 1 and 2, "Izzy" and "Ria", but the other books are already started and in the works. I love writing romance about and for mature women because I don’t identify well with barely legal college students. Having said that, I am taking part in a charity project for the Breast Cancer Foundation. The anthology will be published in July and has a contemporary friends-to-lovers trope. My story, “Fromance,” is about a college student, Charlene, and her two best friends, Tank and Waltz, both of whom she is secretly in love with. But it’s complicated…Make sure to get that one when it is released. It will only be available for three months and it supports the Breast Cancer Foundation charity. The title is “It’s Always Been You” and there are several brilliant authors who have donated their creative talent for this worthy cause. I’m sure you’ll love it. It’ll be my 34th book. I have 32 published now, as one was an anthology that was unpublished after six months. However, the story was published on its own as an extended version, “A Little Slice of Heaven.”
I had a great time with our interview, author Tirza Schaefer! Thank you so much for your time, and I wish you all the best!
Author Tirza Schaefer was also on The Witty Writers Show with author Beth Worsdell, author Autumn Bardot, and author Josephine Wrightson, for some spicy romance book talk! What a fun, fantastic show! You can watch here! https://fb.watch/brAQ9V63va/
Visit author Tirza on her website and social media for more info on her spicy reads below!
Website, Blog & Newsletter
Author Page
Linktree
Next Sunday I will be featuring author Vallean Jackson!
