USA Today bestselling historical romance author Erica Monroe is here on the blog today! She writes dark, action-packed romances that take readers to the back alleys and dark street corners of Regency England. She’s here to share with us five things we probably don’t know about her…

1) Since romance authors always write about falling in love, when and how did you discover you were in love? I met my now-husband when we were both juniors in high school. We had similar social circles, but we had never really spent time together until he started to hang out with our … Read more »

Historical romance author Theresa Romain has joined us today to answer five questions about herself, and her stories, that you probably don’t know. Her newest novel, Secrets of a Scandalous Heiress, debuts on January 6th, and her holiday story, A Season for Desire, is out in stores now!

1) How do you pick the names of your Heroes/Heroines? I write Regency-set historical romance, so I need to make sure my characters have names that existed (or plausibly could have existed) in the early 1800s. One way I find names is through contemporary novels—that is, contemporary to the Regency! … Read more »

USA Today bestselling author Christi Caldwell is here today to tell us five things about herself we probably don’t know. Christi published her first Regency romance just a few years ago, and they have quickly gained in popularity. Her most recent release is For Love of the Duke, and just look at this cover!

1) Do you celebrate when you finish a book and what you do? I sleep! As a mom to a really, really energetic six-year old and twin 10-month-old babies, my days are spent between mommying and writing. I reward myself by curling up for … Read more »

Today I welcome Megan Mulry to the blog! Megan is a USA Today bestselling author of both contemporary and historical romance, her newest book Roulette just out a few weeks ago. She’s come to share with us five things you probably don’t know about her…

1) What’s the most daring thing you’ve ever done? The easy answer is probably skydiving, but I think publishing a book feels far more daring and heartstopping. If the chute hadn’t opened, it would have been kind of a one-off; you know what I mean? *splat* But publishing a book—nowadays with e-books especially—it is like … Read more »

People always say this is one of their favorites–with Felicity Langley being one of my most beloved heroines. Yet her story would not have been told without some help. So on this Throwback Thursday, let me introduce you to some of the books that helped me write Love Letters from a Duke:

The London Encyclopedia

, ed. by Ben Weinreb and Christopher Hibbert. This is one of my favorite books to have within reach while I am writing a book set in London.

Names through the Ages, by Teresa Norman. I love the way this book divides names … Read more »

USA Today bestselling author of smart, sassy Regency romances, Erin Knightley, is joining us on the blog today. She’s here to reveal five things we probably don’t know about her…

1) Did you have a nickname growing up? Believe it or not, my brother used to always call me Bushy-haired Cavewoman. Charming, no? LOL – it wasn’t until high school that I discovered hair product. Hilariously enough, when my sister was tracing our ancestry, we discovered that we are descendants of Captain John Stuart, whose Cherokee name was Bushyhead. Seriously!

2) How do you pick the names of your Heroes/Heroines?… Read more »

Katharine Ashe is the award winning author of adventurous, bestselling Regency romances from Avon! But her newest novella, in the anthology At the Billionaire’s Wedding, is a romp in contemporary romance. Here, she shares with us five things you probably didn’t know about her.

1) Did you have a nickname growing up? “Katie, Katie, the Paper Cup Lady”. One day in 1st grade I was innocently sitting cross-legged on my fuzzy blue Cookie Monster mat at snack time

, when my teacher asked me to pass out the paper cups for juice. Someone … Read more »

I don’t know how many people told me NOT to write Brazen Angel. An editor at a conference. More than one agent. Critic partners. Contest judges. Every single one of them said that any story set around the French Revolution wasn’t romantic, would never sell. One of my critique partners joked that it was the tale of springtime in Paris with Robespierre. Yeah, very funny.

I wrote it anyway. And look what happened. It won the Dell Diamond Debut–which came with a publishing contract. It was nominated for two RITAs, Best First Book and Best Long Historical. It won … Read more »

If you are like me, your writing time is both precious and never long enough. So here are some of my methods to make sure you are getting the most pages out of your limited time.

1) Stop reading email, Tweets, Facebook, Instagram, et al. Okay, maybe that’s a little drastic, but how about printing out this little rule and stick it on your computer screen: Writing first, all the rest second. To make is easier, turn off all your alerts and anything that might nudge you to go take a peek. Stay on target.

2) Do as much pre-writing … Read more »

If you are like me, you are always seeking out the books and teachers who inspire and motivate writers and non-writers alike.

To that end, I polled a bunch of friends, tweeps, and writers from all over and asked them: What writing books do you love? What has done the most for your creativity and career?

What I was looking for were books to fuel a year of creative growth, gaining and honing my skills and perhaps learning a few new tricks. Who doesn’t like new tricks?

So I present this recommended list of writing books. I have read some, … Read more »