Interview with Isabel Jolie, Author of Walk the Dog

What can you tell us about your new release, Walk The Dog?

Walk the Dog is a standalone, single dad romance between a reluctant dog sitter and the dog’s veterinarian. Delilah, the resistant caretaker, is the blonde, fun friend from the first two books in the series. The book is a true standalone, and you don’t have to have read the first two, but she’ll be familiar to readers who did, and she’s the inspiration behind this book.

Walk the Dog is a reference to a yoga pose, a full-body stretch. Delilah and Mason both find themselves stretched by responsibilities to other family members in their lives. Dating each other comes easy for these two. The challenge is finding the time to prioritize a relationship in their already stretched lives.

What or who inspired you to become an author?

When I was younger, I wanted to be a writer but put the dream on a backburner. In undergrad, I did graduate with a journalism degree, but I chose to pursue advertising as it promised a more lucrative career path. Shelved the dream.

Then I read the author notes in the back of one of Jewel E. Ann’s books. She mentions she was an avid reader who decided to try and make some money from her addiction. Those are not her exact words. She says it better. But, she’s the person who got me thinking, why not try?

What’s on your top 5 list for the best books you’ve ever read?

In no particular order,

Outlander (the entire series), Wuthering Heights, Gone with the Wind, The Great Gatsby, The Scarlet Letter

Say you’re the host of a literary talk show. Who would be your first guest? What would you want to ask?

I’d invite the writing duo Christina Lauren on, because they seem like they’d be a lot of fun, plus, so much to ask them. One, I’d ask about their process as a writing team, if they still love Twilight fan-fiction, and how they come up with their next idea. I feel like I’ve noticed a shift to more mainstream stories, and I’d like to ask about the driving forces behind those decisions and if they’ve noticed any demographic changes in readership.

What’s your favorite thing about writing?

I love how I can sit down and lose track of time, and how at a certain point, I hear the characters. I love daydreaming (always have, teachers reamed me for it) so writing, to me, is socially acceptable daydreaming.

What is a typical day like for you?

Most mornings, I wake up, drink coffee, and work out. Pre-quarantine, that meant kickboxing, now I’m on the Hydrow row machine. I check email and advertising metrics, then I spend several hours writing the first draft of something while drinking coffee. In the afternoon, I’ll spend time editing, and take care of business items. Pre-quarantine, my afternoons were loaded with after school pick-up and sports activities, but now we’re all home and sports haven’t reactivated, so at the end of the workday, I’ll put on headphones and listen to a good audiobook while I walk my dog. A domestic goddess I am not, but we do prepare dinner and eat together as a family most evenings. My daughters are on the cusp of the dreaded teenage years, and sadly, they don’t always want to hang with us. But, when they do, we’ll play board games or watch a TV show together. Well, they watch while I read.

What scene in Walk The Dog was your favorite to write?

There’s a scene where Mason’s daughter convinces him to let her adopt a stray dog, and I think I smiled the entire time while writing that scene. Mainly I guess because I’ve definitely played that role, as a kid, of begging for the stray.

Do you have a motto, quote, or philosophy you live by?

Mark Twain’s quote, “Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor.”

If I’m ever second-guessing something, I always think of his words. I once opened a business (selling pottery online) and it failed spectacularly. But, I’m glad I did it. Writing may prove to be a marked financial failure and what I write may be mocked or disliked. But, twenty years from now, I’m confident I’ll be happy I tried.

Isabel Jolie is the author of the new book Walk The Dog.

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