AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: Cate Ellink

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT
Cate Ellink

 

Describe yourself in one word:
Incomprehensible (that’s a really difficult question)

What is your background with regard to writing?
I’ve always written. Up until I went to uni, I did a lot of creative writing in various forms. Then I did a science degree, so most of my writing was channelled into scientific writing (journal papers, project reports, handouts for farmers, newspaper articles) but I still wrote erotic short stories just for my fun. They weren’t developed, just scrawled to get people out of my head.

When did you first begin writing with a view of embarking on a career as a published author?
In 2005 I got sick and wasn’t able to do much. I wrote then to ease my frustration. In 2006 a friend challenged me to write a book, so it started becoming serious there. In 2008, I joined RWA and things became deadly serious from then on.

Tell us a little more about Deep Diving:
Deep Diving is my second published novel and I thought I’d better test to see if I really could write sex and not get bored, or write the same thing all the time. If I wanted to be an erotic author I had to be able to write decent sex scenes, constantly, and I may as well find out now if I was a failure! So I decided it would be a story with a lot of sex.

I started thinking about it while watching the 2012 Rugby League Grand Final and began writing it the next weekend at the erotic authors’ retreat. In January, it was a short story at 25K, in a rough form and I sent it to a couple of my early readers. I ended up with two stories! Samantha and Cooper became a new Story. Tameka who had started in the story, now has her own tale. (My first drafts are always a total mess!) I finished Deep Diving the weekend of the 2013 Rugby League Grand Final, as a 63K story. It’s a sex romp. There’s a retired triathlete and a rugby league player, who are both on holidays. They’re fit, so they don’t get tired from all the activity J Although they’re both sports stars, and majorly active, not a football is thrown, not a tackle is made. So you don’t have to know anything at all about football – except that the men have muscles but Sam tells you that in some detail!

What at first appears to be a serendipitous meeting quickly turns into steamy chemistry between the central characters, Samantha and Cooper. Though both agree to a no-strings-attached sizzling holiday fling, something tells me it can’t simply stop there?
They’re a pretty steamy pair who simply can’t stop at all. And Sam’s kind of impulsive, so that adds to the sizzle. She has some wild ideas. And through their uninhibited sex, they learn to trust one another, which gives a new dimension to their relationship. Sex causes them a lot more than just sizzle. I had a huge amount of fun writing this story.

Both characters appear apprehensive toward relationships/love—Samantha refusing to be classed a ‘football groupie’ and Cooper’s past experiences mar his ability to progress with a relationship. It’s never smooth sailing when it comes to love, but Cate, why must you test your characters so rigorously?! 🙂
LOL! Actually, I think I’m not too mean at all with testing my characters. There are authors who have devastating black moments, but I’ve not mastered that art yet. I had a plan to test Sam and Coop sexually, but they exceeded all my plans! I was thinking of a week long holiday, but it ended up being an 11-day holiday because they just couldn’t fit in all the sex! And I didn’t plan it; they just kept landing into these situations where some new and wonderful act needed to be done.

What one character trait of Sam and Cooper’s makes them most endearing to readers?
I think they both have a good sense of fun. They’re also both elite athletes, so they’re driven and competitive but in a fun way (I hope).

One thing you’d like readers to know about the romance genre…
It’s diverse, and becoming more diverse as time goes on. I think you could find a romance novel to suit even the most fussy of readers.

If you weren’t writing, what would you be doing?
I’d probably be going crazy J Writing is the way I escape myself, get things caught inside my head outside. It was an absolute godsend while I was really sick (with Ross River Fever and Glandular Fever) because it gave me something to do, that I was capable of doing, even if I only thought up story ideas. I’d hate to think what my sanity would be like without writing.

Biggest accomplishment to date:
In my science career, my research, my scientific papers, and winning an award for best paper at a conference were huge accomplishments. In my writing, being published and continuing to write. In my life, finding a work-life balance, and doing what I love.

What’s next for you?
I’ve a story coming out later in the year as part of a bigger project. I’m really excited about that story and the project. I’m sure you’ll hear more about it soon. And then, more books. Tameka’s story (the one that was tangled with Deep Diving) has to be finished. Plus I have about 4 more half-finished things. So many ideas…so little time 🙂

 

Confessions of an Author:

Favourite snack whilst writing?
A cup of tea

Is there something we’d be shocked to know about you?
Probably 🙂

What do you find easiest to write? And, the hardest?
Easiest is the first draft. Hardest is turning that first draft into something others can read and make sense of.

Favourite travel experience?
I travelled on my own a bit and I loved that freedom, the unplanned-ness, the sense of complete adventure, and the adrenalin of new places alone.

Favourite fictional character:
Oh, gosh, I just don’t have one, sorry, there are about a billion!

Number one thing to do on your bucket list:
Hang gliding

Milk or dark chocolate? dark

Red, white, bubbly? red

Salty or sweet? salty

Beach or mountains? Both, please

Give or receive? Both, please J

 

 

About the Author:
Cate Ellink loves scuba diving, snorkelling, photography, holidays on Lord Howe Island, and rugby league. She’s not so fond of running or hiking up hills and knows nothing about fame.

Cate’s an Eels fan (but don’t hold that against her) who spent the 1980s collecting autographs of her favourite players. That’s as close as she came to rugby league stars.

Cate lives near the beach in NSW, Australia, with a long-suffering husband. She has one other book with Escape Publishing, The Virginity Mission, and has published a few short stories.

 

 

Find Cate online:
Website
Blog
Facebook
Twitter

Deep Diving
Cate Ellink

From Cate Ellink comes a sun-soaked, sandy, seaside erotic novel about a tropical paradise, two athletes used to getting physical, and a sex-filled, no-strings holiday fling. 

Samantha is celebrating her newly retired status from competitive triathlons with a diving holiday in her favourite place in the world: Australia’s Lord Howe Island. But all divers need a buddy, and Sam can’t dive solo. A chance meeting with rugby league superstar Cooper Sterling in the dive shop seems serendipitous. Sam can’t wait to have a partner who might be able to keep up with her.

It soon becomes evident that Cooper and Sam are compatible both in and out of the water, and things gets seriously sexy. But Sam is disinclined to be another football groupie, and Cooper has been burned before. So the rules are clear: a holiday fling, no strings attached, and they part as friends at the end.

But as the final days of their time together come to a close and a life apart becomes a reality, Sam and Cooper start to question their decision. Is this holiday fling really the finish line or can Sam and Cooper turn their friendly competition into more than sizzling sex?

Escape Publishing