What, When, Where, Why and How with Elle Parker

Welcome to Elle Parker -- another brave participant in my craziness!

What's your favorite color crayon?

I was always fascinated with the metallic ones. The gold, silver and...bronze? Or copper? I can't remember. I just know I loved them. I would color as dark and hard as I could to make the page really look like gold. Then someone taught me how to polish the drawing with a tissue, and I fell in love with that, because I could make it all smooth and shiny.

When does middle life start?

Right now, baby! Bring it on! I turned forty this year and life is better than it ever has been. I don't know what specific age it starts, but to me, it's a state of mind. It's that point in life when you start to realize that you don't really give a rat's ass what other people think, and you're free to do your own thing. Then you start to gain a new level of freedom in life – kids are growing up and don't require such hands on care; if you're lucky, you make more money than you used to, and you have more time, wisdom and creativity with which to spend it. That's when middle life starts.

Where do you do your best writing?

I've had some fabulous brainstorms in a variety of places, and I do pretty good work at my own desk at home. But some of my best work ever, I did sitting a pseudo-desk my dad built in the loft of our cabin. It's a fold down board, hanging from two chains, tucked under the eves, with a crappy folding chair to sit at. I have to crawl into position because I'm too tall to stand up straight in the loft, but I love that desk and have had some very powerful and exciting moments writing there. Especially during deer season/Thanksgiving week. I don't hunt, I just take the opportunity to hang out at deer camp and behave like a heathen. And write. You can see a picture of it in the Fun Stuff section of my website.

Why did the suicide king feel there was nothing left to live for?

He hadn't hit middle life yet. He was still in that dark period when the kids want to have sleepovers all the time, and the baby has just started walking, so he's into everything, and it seems like you'll never have another quite moment of sanity, ever. Well...or taxes.

How many animals are in your house?

There are three plus. We have a HUGE yellow lab named Lucky, who takes up about half the house. We have a wonderful orange cat named Hagar. He's completely unflappable and will put up with anything. We also have a teenage son who makes the most mess, destroys the most furniture, and costs the most to feed. And finally, we live in the country, so at any given time we have an indeterminate number of mice living somewhere in our home. They like to stash dog food all over the house so we never forget they are there even if we can't see them. Although...sometimes we do.


Elle Parker likes her heroes snarky and human, and she writes with a realism that incorporates humor and everyday detail into steamy and exciting stories. Although she writes a few forms of erotica, her first love and primary focus is M/M Erotic Romance. She works hard to create characters you can't help but fall in love with.

Most of the time, Elle can be found in her home in the north woods of Wisconsin, working on her latest novel, or spending time with her husband and teenaged kids. When not writing, she likes reading, brewing beer and swimming with the loons. Unless it's winter. In that case she grabs a book and drinks the beer.

Elle loves to hear from her readers, and you can email her at elle.parker@ymail.com.

You can also follow her work at these sites:
Website: http://www.elleparker.com/
Blogspot: http://elleparkerbooks.blogspot.com/
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/elleparkerbooks