Author Spotlight: Joanne Machin

• Multi-passionate contemporary own voices romance author

Readers! Let’s give a good hearty welcome to Joanne Machin.

Joanne Machin is a contemporary romance own voices romance author, a feminist, freelance copy editor, and career and life coach–just to name a few!

She lives in Seattle, WA, with her Welsh terrier puppy and her husband, where she drinks A LOT of coffee, indulges in an occasional brunch, and thinks a lot about what she’s doing with her life. 

Joanne, thanks for agreeing to be here today. Most interviews start off with bios and such, and while I’ll get to that as always, let’s start with the important stuff!

If you could have any pet (real/fantasy/no-allergies/no worries about feeding it) what would it be?

An air bison, like the ones from Avatar: The Last Airbender! 

Oooh! So cute, so loyal, so clever. And? A mode of transportation. Excellent choice.

What do you write and how did you get started?

Right now, I primarily write contemporary romance, but I actually got started writing on RPG boards on Neopets–yes, really!–over fifteen years ago.

I dabbled A LOT in fantasy, but I quickly latched onto romance. I just love love stories so much. I’ve been co-writing with my best friend Sarah since I was twenty-years old or so. We’ve been churning out stories since we first met (on Neopets), and our first published story is in an anthology that’s been on sale since last August. I’m really proud of us! My current WIP is a contemporary #ownvoices friends-to-lover romance. 

Oooh. I’m more of a paranormal or fantasy romance fan, but I sometimes branch out to contemporary world stuff.

And please, don’t remind me about Neopets. I’ve got an abandoned little purple dragon named “Morrigaine”, I believe (the other spellings were already taken) who’s been dying of thirst and hunger for over a decade. It would be nice if we could have put them in orphanages when we abandoned the game…

What do you like to read?

I love reading contemporary romance of all varieties and with all kinds of tropes. I’m loving this trend of contemporary romances tackling tough themes that are on the verge of women’s fiction. I also love sci-fi and fantasy, and I have a special place in our heart for the YA/NA genre.

It’s awesome when you can read a story and see a character dealing with — and overcoming some of the real life challenges that many of us face. And we all know I’M a huge sci-fi/fantasy buff.

Name one commonly accepted piece of writing advice that doesn’t work for you.

Write everyday

So true. Life happens, and if you force the words in when you’ve got too much else going on, you can grow to resent it. And? You’re probably not putting out your best words.

I push through during NaNoWriMo, but 30 days a year is very different than every day of your life. I know I let a lot slide during November to make it happen, and I can’t always live like that.

Name one commonly accepted piece of writing advice that they can pry out of your cold, dead hands.

Treat your author career like a business.

I know this is kind of writing-adjacent, but I hope it’s still okay; treat your career as an author like a business; it’s definitely a “long game”.

It’s so true. If you only have one book in you, you still want to be sure to find the right audience that will love your story. But most of us? Most of us have so many stories we want to share.

Shameless Self-Promotion time!

A group of authors and I just published an anthology of short stories in titled “Valentine’s Day Gone Wrong,” and it includes romances ranging from contemporary to paranormal (and couple of them includes furry friends! That was a definitely shifter joke… Pun intended.). It’s all about thwarted Valentine’s Days–all with HEAs, of course!

My story was written with my best friend Sarah Estep: Pancakes and Puppy Love

After a brutal break-up while overseas, Robby returns home without a girlfriend to find a woman staying in his apartment. He tries to kick her out, but instead, they strike a deal.

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