Category: Books & Authors

Diana Cosby Blogging Tomorrow!

Who: Kenginston Historical Romance author Diana Cosby.

When: Blogging at Muse Interrupted (ie. here), Monday, November 10th! (ie. tomorrow).

Topic: Rejections—The Lessons Within.

What Else?: Diana will give away a copy of HIS WOMAN, her December ’08 Kensington release, to one lucky commenter. HIS WOMAN, a Scottish medieval romantic suspense set in the Braveheart era, is the second book of Diana’s MacGruder brothers series, and the youngest brother, Duncan’s, story. HIS WOMAN just received a 4-Star review from Romantic Times that says Ms. Cosby “…deftly combines historical accuracy, well-rounded characters and continuous action in this sweeping romance…”

Back Cover Copy for HIS WOMAN:

Lady Isabel Adair is the last woman Sir Duncan MacGruder wants to see again, much less be obliged to save. Three years ago, Isabel broke their engagement to become the Earl of Frasyer’s mistress, shattering Duncan’s heart and hopes in one painful blow. But Duncan’s promise to Isabel’s dying brother compels him to rescue her from those determined to bring down Scottish rebel Sir William Wallace.

Betraying the man she loved was the only way for Isabel to save her father, but every moment she spends with Duncan reminds her just how much she sacrificed. No one could blame him for despising her, yet Duncan’s misgivings cannot withstand a desire that has grown wilder with time. Now, on a perilous journey through Scotland, two wary lovers must confront both the enemies who will stop at nothing to hunt them down, and the secret legacy that threatens their passion and their lives…

About Diana:

A retired Navy Chief, Diana began writing novels after a career as a Meteorologist/ Oceanographer. With 29 moves behind her and having lived throughout the world, she enjoys characters who reflect the amazing cultures and people she’s met over the years.

Diana has many passions in her life, but one that resonates is that of giving. She firmly believe that each of us can make a positive difference in another person’s life. With each book she sells, she tithes ten percent of her royalties to a charity of her choice. The first charity she chose was The National Trust for Scotland, which acts as guardian of Scotland’s magnificent heritage of architectural, scenic and historic treasures. Without the National Trust for Scotland, many of Scotland’s historical wonders would be lost.

Wanna Sweat?

First, CONGRATULATIONS to my buddy and two-time Golden Heart finalist, Avery Beck, who just sold her first book to Samhain Publishing! Way to go, Avery. I’m so proud of you!

I’m sure Avery didn’t accomplish her wonderful achievement without losing a bit of sweat (note the clever segue to my previously scheduled blog post?)…

Not cut out for NaNoWriMo? Want to suffer for 70 days instead of one wimpy month? Check out The Seventy Days of Sweat Writing Challenge. Round 4 starts November 10th. Ends January 26th. In the ’09.

No, I’m not sweating with Sven. But I do like the concept of Seventy Days of Sweat better than NaNoWriMo. For NaNo, you’re supposed to just write, write, write. Write whatever dreck comes into your head. Yes, you’re allowed to plan out your novel beforehand, but the idea is to pound 50,000 words of whatever comes out of your fingers and then fix it later.

I’ve participated in NaNoWriMo, and I guess it’s great for first-draft writers. But those of us who edit, revise and polish as we go along? How are we supposed to plan out our NaNo manuscript beforehand and then just write, write, write when we need to plan AS we’re writing?

That’s my excuse, anyway. (Hmmm, what’s Avery’s?)

For Seventy Days of Sweat, the word length goal is between 60,000 – 100,000. MUCH more manageable, IMNSHO. Were I participating, I would be much more likely to succeed. So why not participate? Because. That should be enough explanation for you, my lovelies!

I might participate in the next round of 70 Days. For now, I know what I’m up against in various facets of my life over the next couple of months, and I also know I have less than 60,000 words to write on the WIP, so I’d be participating under false pretenses. I really know that once I’m finished the WIP, I’ll need a break. I call it December. Or at least 2 weeks at Christmas. And I plan to enjoy it.

Not to mention that my birthday falls during the current challenge. What sort of fool wants to sweat on her birthday?

If you want to sweat, you can sign up here. Then drop into my blog every once in a while and brag. I want to hear your achievements!

And, once again, CONGRATULATIONS Avery Beck!!!

Mary J. Forbes Blogging Tomorrow!

Tomorrow I welcome my first ever guest blogger. I’m please to announce that Silhouette Special Edition author Mary J. Forbes is blogging on Escapism in Romance—and will give away Books 1 and 2 of her “Home to Firewood Island” trilogy to one lucky commenter. Both HER SECRET CHILD (Book 1, May 2008) and AND BABY MAKES FOUR (Book 2, November 2008) have received  4.5 Star Ratings from Romantic Times.

Back cover copy for AND BABY MAKES FOUR:

She never imagined that an unexpected pregnancy—or handsome new passenger—would push her carefully mapped-out plans wildly off course! But charter pilot Lee Tait had to focus on her business—and she couldn’t bear the thought of getting hurt again. She and her baby would be just fine on their own.

As soon as widowed single dad Rogan Matteo met vivacious Lee, he felt the pieces of his shattered heart begin to mend. Now all he had to do was convince the beautiful pilot that some risks in life were worth taking…

About Mary:

Mary J. Forbes writes poignant and emotional stories for Silhouette Books. She has been on the Waldenbooks Best Sellers list, won the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award, the Holt Medallion and Laurel Wreath Award, as well as finaled in the Aspen Gold and Golden Quill.  Mary was also interviewed in last September’s issue of the Romantic Times about the NFL hero of her book, THEIR SECRET CHILD (May 08), the first of her “Home To Firewood Island” min-iseries.  The 2nd installment of the series, AND BABY MAKES FOUR, is available in stores and online.

—

Hope to “see” you there!

Check out the Guest Bloggers box in my sidebar (under the Blogroll links and just above the Calendar) for  the current schedule of upcoming guest bloggers.

If you’re an author who would like to guest blog on Muse Interrupted, please contact me for available dates and information.

Guest Bloggers Coming!

A heads-up that I’m hosting my first two guest bloggers in November: Silhouette Special Edition author Mary J. Forbes is visiting Wednesday, November 5th, and Kensington historical author Diana Cosby will make herself at home on Monday, November 10th. Both ladies are blogging on a subject of their choosing and will reply to comments in the comment trail. Commenters have a chance to free books! Mary is offering a two-book prize of her Home to Firewood Island mini-series (Books 1 & 2—Book 2 is Mary’s November ’08 release), and Diana is giving away a copy of her December ’08 historical, His Woman.

How do you win? I’ll post the blogs at 6 a.m. Pacific Standard Time on their scheduled day. If you leave a comment for the guest blogger between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m. that day, your name will be entered in the draw for that week’s books. Each name/email address qualifies for one entry in the draw, and please remember that you have to include a valid email address or I won’t receive notification that you’ve commented and you won’t be entered in the draw. I’ll draw a winner from a hat (no playing favorites, moi) after 11 p.m. and contact the winner by email the following day. You’ll supply me with your mailing address, which I shall forward by email to the author of the week, and she’ll mail you your free book(s). I’ll also post your first name and the initial of your last name (if more than one commenter shares the same first name) to my blog the following day, so those visitors who haven’t won can drop by and check out the gloomy news for themselves. So if you don’t want me to post at least your first name to the blog, it’s easy—just don’t enter.

Mark your calendars! And alert your friends. We want these ladies to feel welcome so they’ll drop by again.

Oh, and if you’re an author who would like to guest blog on Muse Interrupted, please email me at cindy AT cindyprocter-king DOT com (don’t include spaces, replace AT and DOT with appropriate symbol, spell Procter with an E, and don’t forget the hyphen, blah, blah, blah), and we’ll talk.

Pubbed Contest Deadlines

A mini-rant. Gee, coming on the heels of my bye-bye to Bebo post last week, I almost feel grouchy!

Okay, last year, I entered Penny’s first novella in the RITA. That was the only contest Penny entered. Penny did not final, but that’s not the source of my gripe.

This year, Penny has entered her second novella in the RITA. Now, because Penny’s novellas don’t actually release until the end of December, the January 2nd receipt date for the five copies of the book reaching RWA in Texas is impossible to meet. I can pre-order Penny’s novella anthologies on Canadian Amazon all I want, but I won’t receive them until mid-January. Argh. (P.S. for those who’d like the link to pre-ordering Penny’s second novella on American Amazon, here it is).

For the RITA, I’m willing to pester Penny’s publisher for five copies of the anthology and, like last year, perhaps even hassle her to mail them to RWA for me. I mean, it’s the RITAs—the Oscars of romance writing. Even though there’s a slim chance of an erotic novella finaling, entering is a chance Penny can’t pass up.

So, I receive the October Romance Writers’ Report (RWA’s monthly magazine, for those not in the know), and I’m thinking this year maybe I should enter Penny’s new novella in more than one contest. However, every contest listed in the October RWR has an entry receipt date of no later than January 15, 2009. Usually earlier. That’s fine and dandy if you receive copies of your books from your publisher no later than December 15th (especially when the author lives in Canada, as I do), but when you don’t get copies until mid-January for a book released the end of December, where on earth is the author supposed to find the time to enter these contests?

Hopefully the November RWR will list published contests with more reasonable entry receipt dates—like February 1st. Because I would love the chance to enter a couple of contests other than the RITA and see how Penny’s work stacks up (assuming the contests have novella categories—many don’t). However, I still feel like my freedom of choice of which contests to enter is sorely lacking. Not to mention ironic. My book is copyrighted and published in 2008, but because the release date is the end of December and I don’t physically have copies in my grubby little hands until mid-January, I can’t enter contests with an early January deadline. Yet I can’t enter Penny’s 2008-published novella in next year’s contests, either. Because then I’d need a 2009 copyright/publish date. I dunno, I think that’s wonky.

New Review at Writers are Readers

Ever dropped by Writers are Readers? If not, now is as good a time as any, because I have a new review posted! No, not for one of my books. For a book I’ve read, A WOLF AT THE TABLE: A Memoir of My Father, by Augusten Burroughs.

I won’t post the review here, because the whole point of Writers are Readers is to get you to go over there to read the reviews, ooh and ahh over the fact that the cover for BORROWING ALEX is up on my reviewer page—and an excerpt from the middle of BORROWING ALEX is also posted. It’s from one of my favorite scenes in the book. Thank you to Katherine Stone for finding and posting the excerpt when I was too lazy to find it myself.

But enough about me. I loved A WOLF AT THE TABLE. And I love, love, love the cover:

Maybe I’m warped, but the red fork reminds me of Little Red Riding Hood (I’m sure the word Wolf in the title has something to do with that). In my mind, the bent tines invoke the image of a wolf (like its hair standing on end right before it attacks you) (or its claws…hm, almost like the claws you’d, well, I’d imagine the witch from Hansel and Gretel possessing), while also symbolizing the mutant soul that was the author’s experience of his father.

What does it say about me that I love such a disturbing cover?

What does the fork symbolize to you?

Well, it’s Federal election day in the Great White North (that’s when we vote for Members of Parliament for our individual ridings and the party with the greatest number of seats across the board, their leader becomes or remains our Prime Minister). Usually, Canada’s fate is sealed before my province’s votes are counted. It’s a Time Zone issue. And an all-the-population-lives-in-Central-Canada issue. But I must do my part! I must go vote regardless.