This is probably a question that is both difficult to answer and the most completely subjective one that will ever cross your path. Because a book I consider a great read and an awesome romance novel, my best friend might yawn and say “ho-hum.” That makes this time of year, when romance writers all over the world are judging their peers to determine which books will make the RITAs, Romance Writers of America’s highest honor, rather edgy. The RITA is the Academy Award, the Edgar, the Emmy for the best of the bunch, or rather bunches, since there are several … Read more »
Archive for the 'Writing' Category
It’s. That. Time. Again. Excuse my enthusiasm, but it is time for the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. Forget all the other dog shows that populate the television, this is the Academy Awards for Dogs. This is the big show.
As promised, I would like to introduce you to my friend, Samantha James. She was kind enough to let me bug her with questions about her writing and her new book, Bride of a Wicked Scotsman, and then I even roped her into blogging on Thursday as well. That’s what kind of friend she is! So without further ado, here is Samantha James:
EB: What do you think the lure of the plaid is? How come Scotsmen make such great heroes?
SJ: The accent. Hands down, it’s the accent. When I think of Scotsmen, several things pop into … Read more »
Last week I spoke on a panel at a meeting of the Pacific Northwest Writer’s Association, and was astounded at the number of people who showed up. Lots of folks interested in being writers and looking for those tips and hints that pushed each of us toward publication. Of course, I forgot my camera, so I can’t prove that there was a crowd, so you’ll just have to take my word.
What was great about the panel is that we were a divergent crowd. Authors of suspense, urban fantasy, mystery, YA and romance wouldn’t seem
a likely mix, but it … Read more »
Going along with all my goal talk and organizing speeches, you are probably starting to wonder if I’ve been snatched by aliens and replaced by a goal striving, neaten up freak. Believe me, I’ll be better by February. But in the meantime, and since I have to speak tonight, I wanted to share something I read on Tuesday in an email and have been thinking about ever since. It all sort of rolled into listening to President Obama’s inauguration speech and his call to all of us to do more and a conversation I overhead.
(See it is me. The … Read more »
So I suppose we have to talk about them. Yes, them. Goals. Everyone gets all goal-this and goal-that the first few weeks of January, sort of like a mini-flu season where you get in this fevered rush for improvement. Of course, being humans we all dive in with this big resolve and enormous vigor, and then by about the middle of the month (which happens to be about now) those wonderful ideals that we so carved out in a frenzy of champagne and good intentions suddenly get in the way of old, comfortable habits.
Now I am a huge proponent … Read more »
If you are my editor or husband, do us all a favor and skip ahead. The next paragraph probably isn’t meant to be read by you.
After lolly-gagging around a good part of December, (I told you you’d want skip ahead) I had to get back to work last week and dive
back into my book with a renewed vigor. It wasn’t entirely my fault that I didn’t get very many pages produced during the Christmas Season. I was struck with this sort of bake cookies, concoct fudge, knit presents sort of frenzy and Regency England held no thrall over … Read more »
The second question people always ask you after you tell them you are an author (the first being: do you have any books that you’ve sold) is always: where do you get your ideas. Most of the time, I haven’t the vaguest clue where the ideas come from, they sort of sneak up on me. Right now I am starting work on a new, three book series that will spin off from the Bachelor Chronicles. I got the idea for the series while I was screwing around, avoiding writing, putting together a family tree for Thatcher, the … Read more »
So Laura (or LLG as she is to be known) is up to her eyeballs in a deadline, but I wanted to do an interview with her since she has a great new book out, Secret Desires of a Gentleman. So instead of bugging her and risking a scud attack from Boise, I decided to just mine our emails that we send back and forth for dirt on the esteemed and talented Ms. LLG. And besides, I thought you might want to know what authors really talk about when no one else is reading . . . Here it … Read more »
As a mom of boys, I deplore the lack of good fiction written for boys. My son loves to read, but the bulk of fiction out there is aimed square at girls and like most boys he has his own ideas about what makes a good book. So when I found out my good friend, Michael Spradlin was writing a book about a young Templar knight, I was thrilled. So I asked Michael to drop by and tell all of you about his new book/series, The Youngest Templar.
1) Michael, how exciting to see The Youngest Templar, the … Read more »
