This week in The Loft: Author Pia Manning!

Joining me today in The Loft is fellow Wisconsinite Pia Manning. While I'm settled in the SE corner of the state, Pia resides in the north, where snow can be found well into June. Pia writes erotic romance and penned the Caveman Creek and Star Brides. A supporter of animal rescue, Pia enjoys hanging out with her fur babies – four cats and a big yellow dog. She has also raised and released close to a hundred butterflies over the last couple of years. Married to the love of her life, Pia and her husband have raised four children, all out in the world following dreams of their own.

S:  Good morning, Pia. Thanks for visiting me in The Loft.  

What’s love got to do with writing romance?

P:  I believe romance is a journey that leads to love--sometimes. Romance is that sweet time with flowers, candlelight dinners, and whispered promises when lovers get to know each other and decide if they have a future. The road isn’t always an easy one though, and is often filled with angst, doubt, and heartache. Relationships fail to go the distance for all kinds of reasons, but when romance deepens and trust develops, love blooms.

S:  I like that--romance is a journey. Do you write in other genres?

P:  I confess! I write horror--no erotic or romantic content--with a gothic edge. I love the creepy atmospherics and settings, especially lonely graveyards with crumbling tombstones, lights that flicker when they feel like it, and pets that stare at the ceiling and growl. I’ve even participated in an official ghost hunt. Some of my stories are on my website at https://www.piamanning.com/just-for-fun.html.

S:  Do you believe in love at first sight? Has it ever happened to you?

P:  Yes! Yes! And Yes! I absolutely believe in love at first sight. I noticed the future love of my life around here and there. We said, "Hi" and "How’s it going?" but we didn’t really talk or meet up. One miserably cold and soggy November, I was walking home when the gray skies opened. He pulled up in a barely street-legal orange VW with the fenders wired on and asked if I wanted a ride home. I climbed in, grateful to be out of the sleet. Then I looked down and saw the road through the hole in the floor. That Bug got me home though, and we married about six weeks later. Many years later, children, and a whole bunch of life later, we are still together and very much in love.

S:  Stories like this make great movies!

Have you ever shelved or thrown out a manuscript?

P:  The very first book I wrote is still a work-in-progress. It has cycled through various critique groups and I’ve ripped it apart many times, fixing this or adding that. In that respect, it isn’t finished. It sits, in its place of honor, on a shelf beneath the coffee table. I refuse to stuff the book into the file cabinet. If that happens, I fear it will be lost forever, and I’ll never work on it again.

S:  I hope that one day, inspiration will strike and you finally finish it.

Complete this sentence, “When one of my books is released, I...”

P:  When one of my books is released, I breathe a sigh of relief and go out to dinner with my sweetie. Then it’s catch-up time. You know, all those little projects that have been hanging out on the back burner for weeks. Right now, I need a glue-it day. What, you may ask, happens on glue-it day? I fix things. For example, the suction cup shower curtain rod fell and broke off the arm of the black bear toilet bowl brush holder. I need to glue it back on--preferably before I lose the bear’s arm. And you thought authors lead glamorous lives.

S:  What do you want inscribed on your tombstone? How do you want to be remembered?

P:  How does, “Tried hard, loved more,” sound? I’m not always successful, but I do my absolute best when I commit--be that to a project, or the people in my life who I love.

S.  What inspired "Advantage: Home Team?"

P:   "Advantage: Home Team" is book three in the Caveman Creek series and is set way up here where I live. As much as possible, I’ve tried to include the north of HWY 8 way of life, cuisine, customs, and places--my characters feel very real and true. Piper Thomas, the heroine of "Advantage: Home Team," played basketball for a major university before hanging up her tennis shoes to become a teacher and coach. Most women in athletics never become professional athletes, but instead move on to other careers while taking with them all they’ve learned about teamwork, commitment, and effort. This book is, in some ways, my salute to women and girls in athletics. While I believe that the atmosphere for serious female athletes has improved, we have a way to go before these girls and women receive the respect they’ve earned.

Here's the blurb--

New junior high teacher and girls’ basketball coach, Piper Thomas, is brimming with enthusiasm and can’t wait for school to start. She wants to connect with her students and help them achieve their goals. One student, Maddie, struggles with her mother’s death and her father’s emotional collapse. Piper desperately wants to help Maddie. The last thing she needs is a romantic entanglement.

Pinecone Creek Deputy and dominant, Jaxon Cooper aches to find his forever woman--one that he and his best friend, dominant Deputy Rick Sanders, can share. The second he sees Piper, Coop’s heart knows she’s the woman for them. Rick isn’t so sure. Rick is all about control, and Piper is a free spirit who doesn’t need anyone’s rules--well, except when it comes to sex. Piper’s last relationship fizzled because she wanted to explore, and her traditional-minded lover couldn’t handle her needs. Can Rick and Coop give Piper what she craves?

S:  Now that sounds steamy!  Where can readers buy your book?

P:  It's available at https://www.bookstrand.com/book/advantage-home-team-mfm

S:  Pia, thanks for stopping by for a chat. If you'd like to learn more about Pia and her books, please visit--

Website:  https://www.piamanning.com

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/pia.manning.71

Twitter:   https://twitter.com/piamanning3

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/pia.manning/