Posted on by Molly Sloan

Chat with Denise Wells, Author of Pour Judgement

This week I have been very anxious. Tuesday night I thought we might have to evacuate our home. You may already know that Oregon is on fire with over 850,000 acres burned so far. Mr. Sloan and I live near the Santiam Canyon where the “Beechie Creek Fire” was blazing our way. As winds shifted Thursday and Friday, it seems we may be in the clear now, but our fire is trying to merge with two other fires along Western Oregon.  Aside from having packed all our necessities and stacking them in the living room, I needed to mentally escape for a little while in a good book.

I started reading Dirty Roxie by Denise Wells. It’s laugh out loud funny! Just the thing to lighten my mood. I reached out to Denise to compliment her on a great book and see if she’d be interested in an interview. She is a Pacific Northwest girl too, and when she found out I was in Salem, OR, immediately invited me and Mr. Sloan to evacuate to her home. I was beyond touched by her generosity. 

I’ve included her latest book, Pour Judgement, and few others (including Dirty Roxie) below. I encourage you to check them out along with her interview.  

Wherever you are, I hope you are safe and with your family. I’m not an old testament girl. I’m closer to the “wine and cheese” God myself, but I do believe the passage that says we are born for such a time as this. With everything that has happened this year, I gotta believe we must be made of hearty stock.  

MS:  Hey Denise, thank you so much for joining me.  Let’s dive right in! As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up?

DW: I wanted to be Barbra Streisand. Or an elephant trainer.
 
MS: When did you write your first book and how old were you?
DW: I wrote my first short story at age six, but my first full-size book at twenty-seven.
 
MS:  What was an early experience where you learned that language had power?
DW: I wish I had a really cool and inspirational story for this. But I don’t. If I’m honest it’s the first time I used the word “fuck” around my dad. I was ten years old, not wanting to sweep the floor was involved, and I will never forget the conflict on his face between wanting to be pissed and wanting to high-five.
 
MS:  What is your work schedule like when you’re writing, the number of hours?
DW: Right now I’m working two full-time “day” jobs and writing (long story), so I’ve had to scale back on my daily word count which has been really disappointing. But I try to set aside an hour before bed to make sure I get my word count in, If I’m under a deadline, that changes, and I usually don’t write during a release week.
 
MS:  How do you select the names of your characters?
DW: I have a spreadsheet filled with names I’ve come across either in real life or in fiction that I like. When I start to develop a character in my head and get a sense for who he or she is, I’ll then go to the spreadsheet to see which name fits them the best. Very rarely will I change a character’s name after that. I did once with a character, and I still refer to her as the original name sometimes in conversation and readers have no idea who I’m referring to.
 
MS: What one thing would you give up to become a better writer?
DW: It’s easier to answer with the things I would never give up! Part of me wants to say kiwi, because I don’t like it and never eat it anyway, but that feels like cheating. Does it have to hurt? Whatever I give up? Should I say my pinkie fingernail?
 
MS: How long on average does it take you to write a book?
DW:  NaNoWriMo has really kind of changed my life in that way. My first book took me two years to write. My second book took over a year. But then my first year doing NaNo, I wrote a book in less than two months. And that really screwed things up for me for a while. For me, I think my writing suffers if I rush it too much. And then my editor hates me and it becomes a big mess. I’ve settled into a better groove of late and can say from concept to release it takes
me about 5 months, but I work on multiple projects at a time.

MS: Hey, Thank you so much, Denise!  I am so glad we got a chance to connect.  Can you give me all the places where people can find you? 
DW: Yes, I think I have included everything. Thank you so much, Molly. I love to connect with readers and have had a great time with you!  

Denise's newest release - Pour Judgement

I’ve been preparing for this day for years. The biggest wine competition of my career. And I plan to win.

My wine? Sublime.
My presentation? On point.
My outfit? Hand-picked by my fabulous BFF with fantastic fashion sense.

Nothing has been left to chance—I’m ready to crush my competition. No pun intended.

The thing is, that judge over there? I’m pretty sure he’s the stranger whose bed I crawled out of this morning.

*Bonus* Main character, Morgan Anderson, has included her guide on Winemaking/Winetasting at the end of the book.

Check these other reads by Denise!