I am so psyched to welcome Lilith Saintcrow to my site, if I was a puppy I’d be rolling around with my feet wiggling in the air! Shoot, maybe I’ll do that later anyway! Lilith is the author of the Dante Valentine series, this first book of which I am giving away to one lucky poster in honor of her visit. Details on the contest at the end of the interview.

Lilith is also the author of The Watcher Series, Steelflower, The Society Series, Comics, Poetry, and has penned a couple of books as Anna Beguine. And the first book of her Jill Kismet series, Night Shift, will release June 24, 2008. I’m infinitely grateful this busy lady has taken time to visit, so please share the warmth I’ve come to appreciate from you with the one–the only–Lilith Saintcrow!

1. Pick a character, any character of yours. Now. If he/she could pinch the head off of any other character, would he/she then:

a. Put it in a jar to jeer at for the next millenium?

b. Have it stuffed and mounted, to be used as a conversation piece/warning to other potential pinchees?

c. Make it into a football to punt around as a stress reliever and perhaps as practice for that upcoming NFL tryout?

d. Other (please explain!)

Ah, let’s see. Choices, choices. Right now it’s probably Jill Kismet, who would pinch the head off Perry the hellbreed and do “c” with it. Perry’s one of the few characters I’ve created who actually scares me. He’s creepy and always one step ahead of the “good” guys, and he’s just unpredictable enough that I don’t like him in my head. Jill and I would both be happy if he came down with a serious case of the dead.

2. Now that we’ve totally crushed the first question ice, would you mind telling us a little about why you like writing in the field of urban fantasy?

To be honest I never knew I was writing urban fantasy until my agent told me so. I was just writing this thing I liked–ordinary fantasy didn’t have enough guns OR fast cars, and I’m a big fan of morally and ethically ambiguous heroes and characters. (It’s the noir I read/watched at a very tender age. Scarred me for life.) In just “straight” fantasy you don’t get a lot of ambiguity–there’s the Good Guys and the Evil, and that’s about it.

What fascinates me about this explosion of “urban fantasy” is that it is exploring morally gray areas. It’s often difficult to tell who the hero/ine is, or just who the good guys are. The conversations in the urban fantasy genre are about things like the existence of evil, when it’s acceptable to use violence, what separates the law enforcement from the lawbreakers–deep and utterly fascinating questions. Important questions.

3. You seem to work on multiple projects at once. How do you divide your day so that you feel you’re making progress on all of them?

It sort of happens without conscious effort. I usually work on two or three books at a time. I’ll work on one while it’s “hot” and the words flow easily, while I have the next scene in my head. Then, when that peters out, something else heats up. I find that as long as I’m in the chair with the fingers on the keyboard, the Muse largely takes care of the rest. My job is to inculcate that discipline; to be there to catch the words.

I also have to be really, really careful with allotting myself enough time to get various projects done. Because I do tend to work so fast, sometimes my editors would like stuff done even more quickly. It’s been a real struggle for me to ask for the time I need, both to get a project done and to recover from that massive mental and emotional effort. I need to schedule “downtime” for myself, time to work on stuff that I don’t necessarily sell or have the pressure to produce on a deadline. Otherwise I can run so fast and hard I get a sort of emotional vapor-lock.

I usually get up in the morning, blog and answer emails if I can, get the kids fed, and then settle down for a few hours of work before lunch. After lunch it’s homeschooling time, since I school the two younger kids myself. Then there’s a space between that and teatime for working, usually revising if I’ve got a project in that stage. Dinner is hectic, but then things usually calm down and I do most of my work in the evenings, from about six or seven to midnight, two or three AM if it’s really going well or if I’m under deadline. Then I get up the next morning and do it all over again. And in between, of course, there’s all the stuff of childrearing to do–answering questions, settling disputes, providing attention. I’ve learned to write with chaos swirling around me, and I’ve learned to never leave the laptop at the end of a chapter. I always put something down, even if it’s just a disposable sentence or two.

4. What’s the most memorable thing that’s ever happened (or been said) to you at a book signing?

When people tell me they cry at the death of a character, or were angry at another character–just the intensity of the emotional reaction. That’s always memorable. It’s wonderful to think that you’ve succeeded so well in creating these fictional people, so real people have a reaction to them.

5. What’s your favorite thing to do on a free day from work?

Erm, I really don’t have free days. *grin* Rare is the day that I don’t put in a couple hours’ worth of writing. It’s just such a habit by now that if an extraordinary day happens when I don’t write–like when my teenage foster son had his wisdom teeth out, or when I’m at the very-rare convention–I always feel very strange and headache-y, like a pressure has built up in my skull that needs to be relieved. I’m much more likely to have a day off from childcare if my husband takes the kids to visit grandparents than I am to have a day off from writing.

But on days when I don’t write for six to eight hours, I really like taking long walks or going to bookstores, either the one I volunteer at or others. Bookstores and libraries are my safe places. (Growing up, the library was my refuge for a number of reasons.) I like watching shlocky kung fu movies, too. But really, nothing beats writing. It’s like, “Woo-hoo! This is my job and I love it!” when I have to write, and when I get some free time it’s like, “Woo-hoo! I get to write something just for me! AWESOME!”

Thanks a million, Lilith. You rock!!

If you’re interested in a winning a copy of Lilith’s terrific book, Working for the Devil, please comment by midnight PDT, Thursday May 29th. Good luck!