Category: Guest Bloggers

Jan Scarbrough Blogging Tomorrow

Resplendence Publishing author Jan Scarbrough visits the blog tomorrow to talk about researching her December 2008 release, KENTUCKY COWBOY, the first in her new Bluegrass Reunion series. Jan will give away an ebook of KENTUCKY COWBOY to a winner chosen at random from the Comment trail, so if you’ve yet to try an ebook, now’s your chance!

Blurb for KENTUCKY COWBOY:

A contender for the world title, professional bull rider Judd Romeo defies death for a living. Now he must deal with the death of his mother by settling her estate. Returning home to Kentucky, he runs smack dab into the arms of his high school sweetheart, a woman he has never forgotten. Veterinarian Mandy Sullivan learned early on that risk-takers are trouble. Having custody of her sister’s child, she is working hard to be both mother and father to the abandoned girl, and doesn’t count on trouble showing up next door.

Mandy discovers she can’t avoid the famous cowboy she’s never quite put out of her mind. When Mandy’s sister comes back threatening to take away the little girl she loves as her own, will Mandy realize Judd is not the same man he was back then?

About Jan:scarbrough_pic

A professional technical writer by day, Jan Scarbrough spends her nights writing romance. She is a member of Novelists, Inc., the Romance Writers of America, and the Kentucky Romance Writers, where she manages their award-winning web site. Jan has written for Kensington and ImaJinn Books, and currently has contracts with The Wild Rose Press and Resplendence Publishing. She is the mother of two grown children and is a very “young” grandmother. She lives in Louisville, Kentucky, and rides American Saddlebred horses for fun and recreation.

To learn more about Jan and her books, please visit her website.

Guest Blogger March Madness

When I first began hosting guest bloggers, I thought it might be a cool idea to host up to one guest per week. And I always have a good time with my guests, but four guests per month is a lot of work. I realized this when I hosted three guests in February. If three guests is a lot of work, then four is even more so, right?

Right.

Because I not only have to coordinate, format and schedule the blogs, I also feel duty-bound to promote the heck out of them and to stick around the office the date of the blog in the event the guest needs me (like when my spam filter went gonzo a couple of guests back).

So Guest Blogger Madness continues, and it’s March, so I’m dubbing the month Guest Blogger March Madness. I have four guest bloggers in March. Two have already visited. The next two are visiting on the next two Mondays (the 16th and 23rd). After that, well, I’m taking most of April off. Only one guest scheduled to appear that month. Then three in May. June and thereafter, I plan to narrow the schedule to no more than two guest bloggers per month. That’s a schedule I feel I can maintain without feeling too restricted by, well, a schedule.

However, next year, depending how I’m feeling, I might go all out for March. If I’m going to host Guest Blogger March Madness, why stop at four guests for the month? Why not host two per week? Eight for the month? I’ll truly be mad by the end of it.

Good idea, bad, indifferent?

How do you feel about guest bloggers? I enjoy interacting with the new commenters who visit during my guest blog dates, and I enjoy getting to know the guests in the weeks preceding their dates. But there are sooooooo many opportunities to guest blog out there… Do you feel inundated with opportunities to visit guest blogs and possibly win free books? Would you rather I keep to my vow to restrict myself to no more than two guests per month come June? Or do you like the guest bloggers, even if you don’t always comment or have a chance to visit?

Now’s your chance to help mold my actions for the remainder of the year and next March.

Welcome Guest Blogger MJ Fredrick

I LOVE ROMANCEfredrick_pic

I love romance. I love it in everything.  I just, in fact, had a dream where Anthony DiNozzo from NCIS, was falling for his partner (NOT Ziva). The tension was terrific (yes, I know, my dream). This is a guy who doesn’t go looking for love, and watching him fall was so much fun.

I love the build of the romance, I love the tension, I love the balance a writer has to find—don’t pay it off too soon, don’t pay it off too late. (In the book I’m listening to, I’m afraid it’s dragged on too long. It’s an older historical, though, so it makes sense in the context of the time, but still….)

All the shows I watch, except Supernatural, have romance in them. In fact, to get me to watch a show, just mention the romance subplot and I’m there.

fredrick_hotshot_coverI’m judging a contest, and got the single title category. The first two entries I read didn’t introduce the hero. They were great stories, well written, but no hero. The third entry not only introduced both the hero and the heroine, it gave them a past. I was so hooked.

Whether I’m reading or writing it, the story flows best when the hero and heroine are on the same page, interacting in whatever manner. The first romance I read as an adult separated the hero and heroine for pages and YEARS. And then there was DRAGONFLY IN AMBER, remember that? How long were Clair and Jamie apart? 20 years? My heart broke for the time they lost.

I made some of the same mistakes in earlier versions of HOT SHOT. I sent Gabe out on heroic deeds and left my heroine back in camp, anxious to write about it secondhand. Oh, no, no, no. That did not work. I revised so that Peyton, my heroine, witnessed Gabe’s actions firsthand. This helped her understand him better, helped her understand the very heroism she’s writing about. Separating them from the rest of the crew was an even better chance for their romance, for their sexual attraction, to blossom. The more time they spend on the page, the more I believed in their love. I knew they would get their happily-ever-after because they worked for it on almost every page.

What brings you back to romance novels? The happily-ever-after? The journey? Do you have to have romance in the books you read and the shows you watch?

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Leave a comment to enter to win a print copy of HOT SHOT. Entries accepted until midnight PST.

To read MJ’s bio and the back cover copy of HOT SHOT, please see yesterday’s post.

To learn more about MJ and her books, please visit her website.

MJ Fredrick Guest Blogging Tomorrow

Tomorrow, please welcome contemporary romance author MJ Fredrick to the blog. MJ’s blogging about why she loves romance and is giving away a copy of HOT SHOT, which recently released in print from Samhain Publishing.

Back cover copy for HOT SHOT:

Peyton Michaels expected her assignment to be simple—write an article about everyday heroes. Heroes like Hot Shot firefighter Gabe Cooper. She never expected to find herself running up a mountain, a wildfire nipping at her heels, her life in his hands.

And she never expected to be drawn to Gabe. After the loss of her husband in the line of duty, the last thing she wants is to fall in love with yet another man who routinely puts his life at risk.

Gabe has had enough of women who want to make him into someone he’s not. Women like his ex, who couldn’t handle the heat of his job. Like Peyton, who sees him as a hero when he’s just a man doing a job. Except time after time, the pesky reporter proves her mettle. And gets deeper under his skin.

But there’s an arsonist at work, and danger is closing in with the speed of a raging brush fire. Peyton and Gabe have to dig deep for what it takes to be a real hero—to find the courage to reach out and grab a forever kind of love. Before it’s too late.

About MJ:fredrick_pic

MJ has been writing forever. In elementary school, she wrote plays and pseudo-Trixie Belden mysteries. After fifth grade, she wrote her first romance, a Grease rip-off. She continued writing serialized stories throughout high school, then went to college and got married. After her son was in kindergarten, she started writing again and joined RWA. Four years later, she got serious and buckled down. Two years after that, she finalled in RWA’s Golden Heart in 2003, and the ball started rolling. Even that wasn’t the magic touch, and MJ finalled three more times before selling in 2007. After completing 20 manuscripts, her first two books were out within two weeks of each other, and both have firefighter heroes! WHERE THERE’S SMOKE is in print from The Wild Rose Press, and HOT SHOT, a romantic suspense, from Samhain Publishing has just been released in print. MJ also has a Wayback Texas story from The Wild Rose Press in ebook and an essay in IN THE HUNT, Unauthorized Essays on Supernatural, available March 2009. Her next book, BENEATH THE SURFACE, her 2007 Golden Heart finalist, will be coming from Samhain summer 2009. 

Visit MJ at mjfredrick.com and marywritesromance.blogspot.com.

Welcome Guest Blogger Christie Kelley

WRITING HELLkelley_pic

First, I would like to thank Cindy for having me here today. When she invited me here my first thought was great, I can do March 3rd. After all that is my release date for EVERY TIME WE KISS and two days after my deadline for book 3—no problem. But anyone who has ever written under deadline knows there is always a problem. 

I made my deadline. Just barely. I did not write “The End” on book 3 until last Wednesday. But I made it. So where am I going with this? Writing under kelley_kiss_coverdeadline is never easy but it must be done. With the economic uncertainty, the last thing an author needs is an editor looking for a book that hasn’t been turned in yet.

When I started EVERY TIME WE KISS, I was working out of my office that was really an old family room in a 1960s split-level. Then we started the remodel. This was no simple update the kitchen and baths, this was raise the roof, put an addition on the back and take every wall down to the studs. Suddenly, I had contractors knocking on my door at 7 a.m. Dust was out of control and the noise incredible. Did I mention this was my first time writing under deadline?

Before I knew it, my husband and I, and our two boys had moved into our former living room (12×14) with plastic covering the doorways. We had 1 king size mattress, 1 queen size mattress, 1 twin mattress, a small work table for my husband who works from home, an entertainment center with the TV and two portable heaters. It was cozy. (Okay, it really wasn’t). house_beforeI suddenly found myself with no place to write. I couldn’t stay in that room with my husband on the phone and the noise from the contractors. So I started going to the coffee shop every day to write.

I had always liked my privacy when writing, no noise and no one disturbing me. Thank God for the internet classical radio stations so I could plug my headphones in and write…and write. Several times, I really doubted that I could pull this off. But I persevered. As a former software project manager and developer, I had learned that deadlines must be taken seriously. So I gave myself realistic goals for the week. Some weeks house_afterI made my goals and other weeks I did not. The week my husband was away in a sunny warm locale while Maryland had an awful cold front, not a lot of writing was done. It might have been that the gloves I had to wear in the house didn’t work well on the keyboard. But I didn’t give up. Writing is never easy, whether you are writing for fun (do people really do that?) or writing to get published, or writing to stay published.

I’d love to hear your horror stories of writing under deadline. And if you’re unpublished, have you ever given yourself a deadline? If so, did you make it?

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Great Before and After shots, huh?

Please leave a comment to enter for a chance to win a copy of EVERY NIGHT WE KISS. Entries accepted until midnight PST.

To read Christie’s bio or check out the back cover copy for EVERY NIGHT WE KISS, please see yesterday’s post.

To learn more about Christie and her books, you know the drill—please visit her website.

Christie Kelley Blogging Tomorrow!

Kensington historical romance author Christie Kelley visits the blog tomorrow. Christie and her family recently underwent a major house remodeling, so naturally she’s writing about Writing in Hell. I’ve been in Christie’s position before, although as an unpub, so I kinda know what she’s talking about. I can’t imagine writing to a deadline while undergoing a major remodel, however. Yikes.

Yes, we’ll share the Before and After photos of her house. As if that’s not enough incentive to drop by, Christie’s also giving away a copy of her March release, EVERY TIME WE KISS.

Here’s the back cover copy:

It’s been five years since Lady Jennette Selby’s fiancé died. Each courting season since has been filled with suitors eager to win her affection. But Jennette’s guilt has prompted her to swear off marriage. For her secrets are as dark as she is beautiful, and the accidental death of her fiancé was tainted by a forbidden attraction…

Matthew Harris, the new earl of Blackburn, has been scorned by the ton for unintentionally killing Lady Jennette’s fiancé. Forced to sell his estates and abandon his tenants if he does not marry a wealthy, respectable woman, Matthew turns to Lady Jennette to help him find a suitable wife. But sharing such close quarters only re-ignites an all-consuming desire neither can resist-even as every shadow of the past threatens to tear them apart.

About Christie:kelley_pic

A former software developer, Christie Kelley is the author of two historical romances for Kensington. EVERY NIGHT I’M YOURS was a February 2008 release and EVERY TIME WE KISS is a March 2009 release. She is a former Golden Heart finalist and won the 2008 Golden Leaf Contest for Best Historical. Christie lives in Maryland with her husband and two sons.

To learn more about Christie and her books, please visit her website.