Creative Corner Interview with Elizabeth Marx

Elizabeth Marx pens deeply emotional romances that take her readers on a roller coaster ride between desire and despair. Often described as hilarious, heartbreaking, and heartwarming, she’s not afraid to add a sprinkle of magical realism just when you think you know what’s going to happen. Because let’s face it; happily ever afters have to be earned.

Elizabeth resides in Chicago with her husband, girls, and two cats who’ve spelled everyone into believing they’re really dogs. After traveling extensively, she still says there’s no town like Chi-Town. She loves hearing from readers. Contact her at Elizabeth Marx Books or her Facebook fan page.

CLARA GRACE WALKER: Welcome, Elizabeth. Thanks for joining me here. What should readers know about you?

ELIZABETH MARKS: Thanks for having me, Clara, I’m so excited to join you. Readers should know that I’m a writer who loves creating stories that are full of twists and turns, that quite often turn into emotional roller coasters.

CLARA: What are the three words that best describe you?

ELIZABETH: Intense, hard working and steady.

CLARA: Tell us about your work.

ELIZABETH: I write contemporary romance for the most part, but I’ve dabbled in paranormal, time travel, and historical. I want to write compelling stories with unusual characters and lively settings. My hometown, Chicago, features in a lot of my work and I also like writing about far off places. Nothing is more fun than traveling to another city to scope out places that will appear in my work.

CLARA: Which piece of work are you most proud of?

ELIZABETH: This is kind of like asking which of your children is your favorite and a good mother always says she doesn’t have one. I like all my books, but BINDING ARBITRATION holds a special place in my heart, I guess because it pulled some deep things out of me and it seems to resonate with readers. It’s a story about love, loss, forgiveness and redemption.

CLARA: What other creative endeavors do you enjoy?

ELIZABETH: I have a degree in interior design, so I’m into seasonal decorating. You haven’t seen a Christmas tree until you’ve seen one of mine. Yes, I have more than one. I can sew and so I often do costume design, either for my daughters or their school productions. I quilt and crochet. I’m into cooking and entertaining; basically I’m a Martha Stewart type.

CLARA: Are you a publicity-lover, or publicity shy?

ELIZABETH: Publicity shy. I’m not one of those people who believe in other people’s hype, so I don’t hype myself up either. I’ve met a good number of famous people in my life and I treat them just like I treat everyone else, and I hope people treat me like an everyday person too. Although, I do get a little giddy when I know a reader wants to meet me.

CLARA: I love music, and I’m always interested in the musical tastes of my friends. Tell me your three favorite songs.

ELIZABETH: I love music too, but I’m kind of situational about what I like. Right now, my favorite songs are songs that go with my upcoming release JUST CLOSE ENOUGH. Just Close Enough is about a man looking for revenge and a snake charmer looking for a way out of a promise she can’t keep.

Mumford & Sons' "Snake Eyes", Hunter Hayes' Wanted, and Lara Fabian's "I Will Love Again."

CLARA: What song best describes your life?

ELIZABETH: Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive." It’s my go to dance song, old school. I’d love to hear your psychological evaluation of what these songs say about me (laughs).

(Author's Note: [Laughs] No med school degrees on my wall!)

CLARA: You are offered, free for one year, the use of either a customized, fully staffed jet, say a Bombardier Learjet 40XR, or a fully-staffed luxury yacht, perhaps a 150-foot vessel built by Palmer Johnson. Which do you choose?

ELIZABETH: The jet, I love the ocean and water but the vastness of the ocean freaks me out so I wouldn’t make it a year on a boat. Now flying the friendly skies, where should we go first?

CLARA: Fabulous! Where are we going?

ELIZABETH: See great minds think alike. (Author's Note: Indeed!) First stop Cairo, I’m dying to see the pyramids at Giza. Oh, we need a boat for the Nile cruise though. We’ll hire a felucca to take us down the river. Then we’re headed to Istanbul so we can be in the East & West at the same time. Then Italy, one of my favorite places in the whole world. I’ve been there twice.

CLARA: Who are we bringing with us?

ELIZABETH: We have a jet, but I’m thinking we should make this a writer’s trip. Maybe some of my favorite authors: Anne Rice, Diana Gabaldon, and Sara Donati! Can you imagine the things Anne Rice could tell us about over the Atlantic.

CLARA: I love to shop! And guess what? An eccentric billionaire has offered us his charge card for a day of shopping; with one caveat…we can only go to one store. Where are we going?

ELIZABETH: How can I choose? I would normally say Nordstrom or Niemen Marcus, but since we have a plane, I’m taking you to Verona, Italy. We’ll have to pick a shop when we get there, but it has the most wonderful shopping selection I’ve ever seen and I’ve shopped everywhere from San Francisco to Boston.

CLARA: What do we buy there?

ELIZABETH: Shoes, boots, purses, leather coats, and jewelry.

CLARA: Which of the following soap operas most resembles your life: All My Children, Grey’s Anatomy, Dynasty, or The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills?

ELIZABETH: Grey’s Anatomy, only because it’s the least soap opera like of the bunch. I try to avoid drama in real life, since I enjoy it so much in my writing life.

CLARA: Which celebrity would you most like to star with in a romantic movie?

ELIZABETH: Lately, Sullivan Stapleton, I have a thing for guys with gruff voices and blue- green eyes, plus it doesn’t hurt that he has a sexy accent.

CLARA: The setting for this movie is a private island. Where is it located?

ELIZABETH: Bora Bora. I want to stay in one of those hut rooms that hangs right over the ocean.

CLARA: What do we find there?

ELIZABETH: A beautiful tropical landscape, but half the honeymooners at the resort are already dead and the other half has come down with some terrible bug.

CLARA: Now comes the danger…This lover’s paradise has an unforeseen danger. What is it?

ELIZABETH: Someone has infected the local monkey population with a virus, a very nasty virus, think ebola on steroids. This super bug is now endangering the life of the people on the island and the world beyond.

CLARA: Naturally, this danger imperils the love of your life. How do you save him/her?

ELIZABETH: My best friend happens to work at the CDC.

CLARA: If you could trade places with someone for one day, whom would you choose?

ELIZABETH: Michelle Obama because I’d like to get a behind the scenes tour of the White House and have dinner with the President.

CLARA: If you could have your portrait painted by anyone, living or dead, which artist would you choose?

ELIZABETH: I think I’d have to go with Klimt. His style is so exotic; I’d love to be immortalized with such detail and gold leaf. I recently saw one of his unfinished masterpieces in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

CLARA: Finish this sentence: In my next life ....

ELIZABETH: I’m coming back as: a vampire!

CLARA: You’ve written both paranormal and contemporary romance. Which do you find easier to write and why?

ELIZABETH: Contemporary romance is probably a tad easier because you have less world building, but every book you write has its challenges.

CLARA: You’ve been given a magic wand that will bring one of your characters, from one of your books, to life, Who will it be?

ELIZABETH: Sebastian Pearce, from Ascent of Blood. Why? Because he’s a smoking hot, thousand year old vampire, and as I said above, I’d like to come back as a vampire.

CLARA: What will happen once this character incarnates?

ELIZABETH: He’d probably drain me because I took him away from Everleigh. He’d been searching for her for a very long time and he’s a lot less civilized without her.

CLARA: Will this character stick around, or eventually return to the book?

ELIZABETH: Sebastian would be very persuasive to ensure that he got back to Everleigh, but think blood bath if his patience runs out.

CLARA: I’ve visited Chicago a number of times, but so far I’ve only done tourist-type things. If we were to meet up on my next visit there, what would you show me that I probably haven’t seen before?

ELIZABETH: I’d take you to Italian Village. It’s a restaurant in the Loop that my family is has been going to for over fifty years. Then I’d take you to the Chicago Cultural Center so you could see the building that was the original Chicago Public Library. It has the largest Tiffany dome in the world and unbelievable mosaics. You’d love it.

CLARA: There’s going to be an author’s baseball game for charity. Who do you have on your team?

ELIZABETH: Uh, duh. Aidan Palowski, closing pitcher for the Cubs and hero of Binding Arbitration!

CLARA: Who is on the opposing team?

ELIZABETH: Doesn’t matter, Aidan never loses. But seriously, we’d have to invite Chris Bryant, current third baseman for the Cubs and our hometown hero, and recently named rookie of the year by The Sporting News!

CLARA: Which charity are you playing for?
ELIZABETH: Leukemia plays a major roll in Binding Arbitration, so we’d play for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.

CLARA: Where can my readers get more information on you?

ELIZABETH: Please stop by my website to learn more about me and my books:

CLARA: How can readers follow you and buy your books?

ELIZABETH: I love new followers please find me at Facebook and Twitter. Readers can purchase my work at Amazon, Barnes &Noble, Smashwords, and iTunes. Thanks for having me Clara. I really enjoyed doing this interview! Always remember, “Forgiveness is a four letter word: LOVE!”

CLARA: Thank you so much for joining me, Elizabeth! Best Wishes on all your future endeavors!