Savvy Saturday: A Chat with Joanne Renaud

Hello all and welcome back to Savvy Saturday! This week we have special guest Joanne Renaud talking about her book, Doors. Hi Joanne!

Hi CBG. It’s so good to be here! 

So Joanne, tell us a little bit more about your book.

It’s a character-driven romance—inspired by the movie Sliding Doors and Ursula Le Guin’s alternate-timeline SF classic Lathe of Heaven—where the the heroine Jackie Karam learns about where the paths never taken might lead, and what life for her might be like in a universe frighteningly similar to her own. All she has to do is find a lost book—one that might open up a portal to another world. Would she find greater confidence and success and love…or might she lose her own sanity? 

Where and when did you come up with the idea for Doors?

My friend Kathy approached me with an anthology with the theme of “lost books” and asked me if I was interested in writing a short story for it. I said sure, and started writing the  story—it grew and grew until it became a proper (short) novel. 

What was the most difficult part of writing?

I wrote it with no outline—the most difficult part was the editing, definitely!

Are you going to be writing another book any time soon?

The next story set in the Doors and A Question of Time universe is called Out of Time, and it’s a time travel story where the heroine goes back to 1966. I’m also working on a romance set during the French Revolution, and a Science Fiction romance as well. So much to do, so little time! 

If you wanted readers to know one thing about yourself, what would it be?

I love poofy and historically accurate costumes. I also love punk rock. 

Thank you so much for being here Joanne, we really appreciate your time.

Thanks! It’s great to be here!

Joanne Renaud, who earned a BFA in illustration from Art Center College of Design, has been writing, drawing and painting as long as she can remember. She went to college in a variety of places, including Northern Ireland and Southern California, and enjoys history, comics, children's books, and cheesy fantasy movies from the '80s. She currently works as both an author and a freelance illustrator. Her latest novel Doors was released in February 2016 from Champagne Books, and her illustration clients include Simon & Schuster, Random House, Houghton Mifflin, Macmillan-McGraw Hill, Harcourt Inc., Red Chair Press, and Scholastic. 

Doors is now available through Amazon, Champagne Books, All Romance Ebooks, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble. You can read an excerpt here. You can also check it out on Goodreads.