Adele is a writer and academic law librarian. She signed a three-book deal with Afterglow Books. A New Hampshire native, she’s lived in the Washington, DC area for over twenty years with her husband and a rotating cast of delightfully weird cats.
Harlequin: Tell us about yourself. Our readers want to know!
Adele Buck: Well, the thing people seem to find most interesting about me is that I was once an actress. As a result, I have a very dialogue-first approach to writing novels and really love it when I can make banter sing. I think that acting experience also helps me dig into my characters’ motivation.
H: Why did you want to become a romance writer?
AB: I love the genre. And honestly? It just seemed fun. (Cue every romance author ever laughing/crying into their beverage of choice). And romance authors and readers can be such wonderful people, just being part of the community has been a real source of happiness to me over the years.
H: What were the big steps in your journey to becoming a published author?
I’ve had kind of a hopscotch career! I had an agent for a few years, we sent a lot of things out on submission, and nothing ever quite sold (though I experienced more than a few near-misses!). She and I parted ways early in the pandemic and at that point I decided to self-publish. I kind of thought I would be self-published forever, and never expected to get The Call, but here we are!
H: What advice would you offer aspiring writers?
AB: Critique. It’s so important in leveling up your work and it’s great practice for working with an editor. Also, learning how to manage your emotions around critique is crucial. Paraphrasing something I said a few years back in a different (sorry, quite long) interview, getting critique is difficult. You’ve got to be both soft and hard at the same time. Soft to absorb the criticism, take it on board, examine it, see if it resonates with what you’re trying to accomplish with that project. And you’ve got to be hard in terms of not taking it personally.
Getting critique partners who are there to make your work better is important. And that sounds like it should always happen, but it doesn’t. Because there are some people out there who want to try to make themselves feel better by making you feel bad. And if they’re not there to help you make your work better, you can’t trust them. In order to have that softness, that acceptance of the message, you need to be vulnerable and you need to be able to trust. And if you can’t do that, that person is not a good fit for you and your work.
H: What did you do when you got the call from Harlequin?
AB: Well, I’d gotten a Twitter direct message from John asking if I had time for a call that day. In my experience, bad news in publishing comes in email, and good news comes in calls. So, I was already excited, but I thought maybe they were going to ask for more chapters (I had submitted a proposal/synopsis and three chapters) or maybe a revision to resubmit.
I had NO idea they were going to offer me a multi-book deal, so I think my soul kind of left my body in that moment! I do remember some mutual squeeing and then I left my office and went straight to a friend/colleague’s office to tell her the news. For some reason, the first person I told had to be in person! Then I called my husband, then my mother, then I was basically useless with glee for the rest of the day!
Now let’s hear from the editor, John Jacobson
I had the privilege of working with Adele while I was freelance editing and loved her realistic-but-sexy voice. Adele has a way of making our everyday lives feel breathlessly romantic, and I was so thrilled that we were able to work with her for our upcoming new sexy contemporary line.
