Sourcebooks Casablanca Romance Authors

OK, seriously this is the most awesome day! Yes, I am celebrating the launch of my latest novel - and that alone is super - but to be with my Casablanca Sisters again is FANTASTIC!! Some of you are new and may not remember me. Sharon Lathan here and even though I bid the blog adieu a year ago now to focus on my new group blog Austen Authors , once a Casa Babe always a Casa Babe! I joined this amazing fellowship of Sourcebooks published romance novelists way back in the autumn of 2008. I wasn’t one of the original group but close to it. Terry, Linda, Marie Force, Loucinda McGary, Mary Margaret, Amelia, Cheryl, and Robin welcomed me with virtual open arms. Judi joined the merry band at the same time as me, remember Judi? It was my first experience with a group blog and as part of a fellowship of authors. I could go on and on recounting the fun we had and sharing how difficult it was for me to say good-bye. All of that can be read by searching through the archives.  Today I am not h...

One day in July 2008 I walked into the lobby of the Marriott in San Francisco and encountered something terrifying. Hitting me like a shockwave was the cacophony of hundreds of voices coming from the hundreds of women gathered in one place to celebrate the romance novel. It was the Romance Writers of America National Conference and this non-RWA member was in town to meet her publicist and editor for the first time. My debut novel was scheduled for release some eight months in the future and up to that moment I had never spoken with another author let alone actually met one. I was absolutely terrified. By the end of the next day I not only had met my editor and publicist, the amazing Deb Werksman and Danielle Jackson respectively, but also my publisher Dominique Raccah - that being a breathtaking surprise I never anticipated. Adding to the surprises in store for me was the wonder of community among romance novelists (I joined the RWA immediately upon returning home), the feeling of be...

Wait! TWO?! You betcha baby!! I am hitting the jackpot this month! Both In the Arms of Mr. Darcy and A Darcy Christmas are released in October. Yippee!! First let’s say Hoo-rah for the fourth volume in my Darcy Saga series ~ Isn’t it pretty? I may be a tad prejudiced but I think it is gorgeous! I have loved all of my covers but this one is truly perfect. The dancing scene may not be purely Regency as far as attire but I love it, especially since there are two balls of significance within the story. And this particular Mr. Darcy portrait is my favorite. Don’t you love how handsome and regal he is? Note how he is overlooking the scene with In the Arms of Mr. Darcy scrolled below his commanding face. *sigh I am busy ripping up the internet-waves on my big virtual tour. This is actually my third release celebration! I have almost lost count. Luckily I have it written down on my Calendar of Events page and on my Blog . Numerous copies of my latest novel are up for grabs, some sig...

Just a few years ago I would not have been able to define what a blog was. The ones that I had heard of were personal blogs that friends had and it made no sense to me whatsoever. I mean, who cares about my kids or wants to read my opinion on the TV show I watched last night? And why in the world would I waste my time writing about my job or the book I read? That was all a “blog” meant to me. I know there are still many of those types of blogs out there and I do scratch my head over it a little. But I also know the power of the internet better than I did several years ago and I realize how essential blogs are as a way to communicate with people far and wide. Now I am very thankful that people start blogs as a way to chat about books since more and more readers are making choices based on what a favorite, trusted blog had to say about it. I am overwhelmingly grateful that blog owners open their sites to authors, allowing this unknown person to come on and spout off about their books. ...

Since my blog is falling right on the edges of “change” and “abundance” – our themes for August and September respectively, I thought I would bridge the gap. Besides, lately my life has been particularly abundant with change! Have ya’ll noticed I have been absent lately? Well, I do hope so! What a crush to the ego to not be missed!  I feel truly awful about my distance, though, since visiting here with my friends and our followers has been an important part of my life for over 2 years now. This is where those concepts we call “change” and “abundance” come in to play. For me these past 2+weeks have been all about our chosen themes and even though it was of my instigation and even though I am thrilled about what has been going on, I have had moments of questioning my sanity! “What is she babbling about?” you ask. Well, like many of our momentous developments in life, this one started with a simple conversation. My good friend and fellow Sourcebooks published Austen-fiction writer...

My mom was the Queen of Change. Seriously. I can’t tell you how many times we moved to a new, “better” house or apartment. And I mean that literally – I can’t tell you because there is no way I could remember them all! I swear the woman was a gypsy in another life. It didn’t stop there, however. She was never content with how the house was decorated or arranged. Every place we moved to had to be repainted, wallpapered, and new furniture purchased. If we stayed there for very long it would be redone at some point, I can assure you! And “long” to my mom was 5 months tops. When I was very young and we spent many years in our family home it became a sort of game. Would today be the day we came home from school to discover a new paint job or new curtains or the living room furniture switched to the den? My dad hated it. Probably one of the main reasons they divorced! I sort of liked it. My mom was a fabulous artist who made a living painting signs for the small town we lived in. It is a f...

Terry Spear shares My mission at Nationals was to find a wolf. Mice all over the place, Mickey, Minnie, Goofy looking dogs, and dogs named after planets. Wolves??? The closest I got was The Three Little Pigs in a store in one of the International Worlds in Epcot. Not that wolf. That's where they tell about a big, bad wolf. So the search was on. But in the meantime, (I had flown to Orlando from Pensacola the weekend before where I had watched my son get married, and danced with him to a groom/mother dance--all very touching and I fought tears but didn't succeed when the bride, Malinie's sister cried during a speech, her brother did, and then my daughter did...that was it...and of course, Malinie's mother was crying beside me, so I didn't stand a chance. But it had a happily ever after ending and they went to Hawaii--and found all four of my wolf tales in B&N!!!!)...I was at the Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Disney, and Epcot with my daughter before the conference rea...

"They are all of one mind, their hearts are set upon song, and their spirit is free from care. He (she) is happy whom the Muses love. For though man (woman) has sorrow and 
grief in his soul, when the Muses sing, at once he forgets his dark thoughts 
and remembers not his troubles. Such is the holy gift of the Muses." Hesiod Once upon a time it was a universal belief that creativity in the areas of art, poetry, philosophy, music, dancing, writing, science, and history was inspired by the goddesses known as the Muses. Greek mythology originally referred to three goddesses born to Zeus and Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory, but very early on the number was increased to nine. Legends vary, as legends always do, but the existence of the Muses was part of oral history for centuries before the Greeks indelibly immortalized them in poetry and written myths. According to the prevailing legends, the muses were brought to life to make the world disremember the evil, relieve t...

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Every American school child is required to memorize these lines penned by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence. I remember agonizing over them, practicing endlessly so that I could stand before the class and say them aloud. We had to get every syllable correct or we would fail our government class and then – gasp – not graduate! Oh the pressure! Shaking in a cold-sweat terror of nervousness I remember, but I don’t remember the nitty-gritty analysis of what these words actually mean. Do you? I am sure we did study the history but over time we develop our own concepts of “liberty” and “life” and that tricky one: “the pursuit of happiness.” As I thought about what brings me happiness for this month’s blog theme, it was easy to make a list. Yet I found myself wonderin...

No, I have not been afflicted with brain-melt due to the San Joaquin Valley heat and projected my mind forward 6 months in a desperate attempt to cool down! I know it is summertime and that is our theme. But for me, since I do live a good portion of my time in a world 200 years in the past, I began thinking about what summertime meant for the English elite of the Regency Era. And that boils down to one common phrase: The Season . The English custom of the elite in society passing months in London rather than their country homes began somewhere in the 17th century and continued to dominate the culture until well after WWI. Roughly coinciding with the sitting of Parliament, the official Season launched in earnest after Easter and ran until August when Parliament adjourned. The purpose was originally a time for the aristocracy and landed gentry to gather in Town to discuss politics and workings of State, but quickly evolved into a period of socialization and entertainment. Events such as ...

Aruba, Jamaica, ooh I wanna take you to
 Bermuda, Bahama, come on pretty mama
 Key Largo Montego, baby why don't we go 
Ooh I wanna take you down to Kokomo,
 we'll get there fast and then we'll take it slow
 That's where we wanna go, way down in Kokomo. I imagine it would be a unanimous vote if asked which band throughout all time and every type of music wrote the best/most summertime songs: The Beach Boys. I heard "Kokomo" on the radio recently and immediately thought of summer and music. A dozen songs instantly popped into my head, some by The Beach Boys, but lots of others. Yet when I did a Google search for “summertime songs” I was amazed at the lists! I have narrowed down some of my favorites, ones that either specifically extol fun in the sun or are just so bouncy that they feel like summertime! Enjoy the videos I scrounged up and then share some of your favorite songs of summer. Does it make you want to watch Grease again for the hundredth time? It doe...

We are counting down our month of celebrating motherhood and exploring the new beginnings in our lives. Next up are the fabulous launch parties for Lydia Dare (Again girls? You must be exhausted!), Shana Galen, and Ashlyn Chase. After that we will spend the entire glorious month of June delving into SUMMERTIME!! I know I am ready for summer and all the fun to be had. But for now I am forced to write about new beginnings. LOL! Ok, only joking as it is a wonderful topic and the blogs have been enlightening, encouraging, and entertaining. Yet I have to say that I have been scratching my head over what to talk about. Writing wise I am finishing up my fifth novel – tentative title The Trouble with Mr. Darcy due for release in April 2011 in case you were curious about that, hehehe…. Actually, it is done, although I haven’t typed The End as yet because I have to go over the whole thing at least one more time before I will feel it is truly DONE, ya know? My next project is already half way...