Sourcebooks Casablanca Romance Authors

posted by Loucinda McGary aka Aunty Cindy First of all: HAPPY NEW YEAR'S EVE!!! It's that time of year again, and just WHERE did the past year go?!?! In fact we're almost into a brand new DECADE! ACK!!! Anyway, it's the time of year when most of us look back at the months gone by and reflect on what we did and didn't do. Then, reorganize and set ourselves some new goals for the coming year. In the past, I've found it far too easy to concentrate on the negative aspects of the previous year. Things I didn't accomplish, opportunities I missed, goals that were beyond my control to achieve... So this year, I've made a vow to focus on the POSITIVE things that happened in 2009. As for my goals, I'm going to concentrate on things I can actually accomplish. Right at the top of that list will be: Stop worrying about things over which I have no control! Accomplishing that one will be a challenge, but I know with the help of the CasaBabes and our readers and...

I can't believe it's nearly 2010. Just another day and a wake up. Where in the world did 2009 go? A lot of sadness in my life this year, but a lot of good things too, like contracting four more wolf tales, and finishing up three of the eight this year. Any day now Wolf Fever will be done, and I have two more contracted books to write, which I'm chomping on the bit to get to also! Every book is a new adventure, some with earlier characters, some with new ones, new places, new dilemmas--and it's kind of like the new year. New goals, new problems, but new good things to look forward to also in each of the books. Like Nationals! I haven't gone in a number of years and look forward to doing so and seeing so many of you. And the Ritas! I'm so hoping someone will final. And I'm looking forward to guest blogging for Legend of the White Wolf and S educed by the Wolf after that. My son even got me a stuffed wolf, and my daughter gave me a montage of my hunky wolf bo...

by Deb Werksman Or, what the heck should I blog about 3 days before New Year's? I started with the idea of New Year's Resolutions, but I only have one: get to the bookstore more often. Since bookstores are among my favorite places on earth, this isn't even a sacrifice. Then I thought, perhaps I should make some predictions. But I have really very little idea what's going to happen in 2010 and since no one else does either, suffice it to say we're in the midst of a cultural revolution and NOBODY knows what's going to happen next! Scary? yes. Exciting? you betch a! Here's what I wish for in 2010 *All our retailers to make it through the year--books are such an important, vital, essential, meaningful part of our culture that any further contraction in books being available to readers would be bad for our whole society *All my authors to grow as authors--each book better than the last, each pitch more compelling, each hook more and more exciting! *All deadlines...

"You are so taking me to the party!" Horace hopped up and down on the polished wood surface of Stasi's dresser as she rummaged through her closet. "No." Her word was muffled but that didn't stop the power she exuded. The six-inch grayish stone gargoyle snarled as he absently chewed on a razor sharp claw. "It's New Year's Eve." "And your point is?" Stasi pulled out a cobalt silk strapless dress with a flirty hem that revealed more than it covered. She hung the dress on a nearby hook and returned to the closet to find shoes. "I don't want to be alone."The 700-year plus witch ignored his mock-sorrowful tone. "You won't be alone. Bogie isn't going either." She looked over her shoulder and smiled at her beloved and magickal Yorkie/Chihuahua that tended to float along the floor instead of walking and disappeared if he thought he was in trouble. At the moment, the dog was sleeping peacefully in the middle ...

by Sharon Lathan Indeed, this is the most wonderful time of the year! I adore Christmas. It is my absolute favorite holiday for a host of reasons. The entire period from Thanksgiving through New Years is always a treasured time for me and I relish every crazed moment of it. This year the excitement of the season is increased by the upcoming release of my third novel – My Dearest Mr. Darcy . Of course that also adds to the workload, and both my well-laid plans and delight were dimmed slightly by the killer mutant flu from Hades that knocked me flat for 2 solid weeks. Nevertheless I managed to get most everything done before Christmas and I stayed in the holiday spirit! Our highlight and big family gift was a trip to Disneyland! I wrote about this on my Dec.16 blog , extolling our enthusiasm to see the Magic Kingdom all decked out for the holidays, and talking about our planned adventures. Every last moment was as magical and special as we anticipated. Dinner at the Blue Bayou was phenom...

BIG THANX to everyone who commented and shared a bit of their holiday with us here on the Casa blog! The random number generator selected the following winners: Ana -- a copy of The Treasures of Venice from Aunty Cindy Jane -- a copy of Breakfast in Bed from Robin Helen -- a copy of Love At First Flight from Marie Margay -- a much sought-after copy of Cheryl's Fugitive Diva Donna -- the last minute addition and eargerly awaited copy of My Dearest Mr. Darcy by Sharon Ladies, please send your snail mail addresses to our group email accound: casablancaauthors AT gmail DOT com and your gifts will be arriving very soon after the New Year! Once again, all us CasaBabes want to thank all our wonderful readers and blog supporters! May 2010 be another fantastic year for all of us!

My husband and I usually have a lot of fun together. When my mother-in-law joins us, we have a giggle-fest. Christmas is no different, but this one seemed especially funny since hubby received some new technology that went array at just the right (wrong) moment. We live near a town with a world-famous boarding/prep school. Smart, rich kids from all over the world attend. (Mel Gibson's kids went to school there.) We have a holiday tradition of brunch at the local Inn, right across the street from the campus. This year was no different...well, sort of. We had had a lovely holiday feast of lobster bisque, fresh shrimp and crab, swordfish with a butter and herb garnish, boneless ribs, Caesar salad, goose with a cherry reduction sauce, potatoes Lyonaisse, glazed turnips, curried cauliflower, and mimosas. Well, that's what I had. There was more I couldn't fit on my plate or in my stomach! They put on an all you can eat buffet and after we had all we could eat plus two or three ...

All of us CasaBabes wish all of our readers a joyous holiday season! May your day be filled with peace, love and happiness. Oh yes, and LOTS of holiday goodies!

posted by Loucinda McGary aka Aunty Cindy It's Christmas Eve! The holiday season is in full swing and another year is drawing to a close. WOW! It has been quite a year for all us CasaBabes! We've celebrated lots of wonderful new releases, shared good news and challenges, and revealed some things about our personal and writing lives. Mostly we've had lots of fun here on the blog with all our fantastic readers! We really do appreciate everyone who stops by to read our blog (whether you comment or not). And we want to wish all of you a HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON and GREAT NEW YEAR! My family has had a lot of ups and downs this year, but I wanted to share with everyone here at the Casa blog a particularly wonderful gift my niece and her husband received this past June. My niece and her hubby have been married eleven years and after ten years of trying unsuccessfully to have a baby on their own, at the beginning of 2009 they decided to try the adoption route. Knowing how difficult it ...

I think all of my preparations are done, in fact, most of my presents are already underneath the tree. All I have left to do is to fill the stockings. . . and about fifteen other things, like decide what to have for Christmas dinner! The Christmas Eve menu (our traditional potato soup) is all set to go--I even posted the recipe on my blog yesterday--but Christmas dinner has to be something easy because I have to work that night. I'm thinking something with biscuits or crescent rolls because that way Sam will have something he likes, but the entree remains a mystery. This will be my last post here on Casablanca Authors before Fugitive's launch party on January 4th. I still haven't received my author's copies of the book, but I did get the new bookmarks Danielle had made in honor of my first ever booksignings in my local bookstores. The first will be January 2nd at the Bloomington, IN Borders from 1-3 pm and the second will be January 16th at the Bloomington Barnes & ...

by Libby Malin www.LibbysBooks.com It's "st" time--best, worst, funniest, sweetest Christmas gifts, experiences--I want to hear them, so 'fess up! Most annoying experience this year--finding out that my square Christmas cards would require extra postage--after I'd already put them in the mail. Grrr. . . and I really liked those cards, too. I got some back from the helpful-ahem-post office, telling me I needed to smack on more stamps. But I don't know about the rest. Best Christmas gifts-- well, that's a toughie. I'd have to say that getting a Chanel perfume I adore every year is a big upper. A lovely Italian shawl last year was wonderful--I wore it around the house during the bleak and cold midwinter. Almost worst gift -- when I suspected my husband had bought me an exercise bike (do I even need to go into how that would have made me feel?), when in reality he'd purchased a more comfortable desk chair for me. Now, that was a thoughtful gift, consi...

And the reviews are rolling in. Here are a few of the reviews and quotes that have come my way: "A fun and spicy story. Robin Kaye is a fresh new voice in romance fiction." ~Susan Donovan, New York Times bestselling author of A in't Too Proud to Beg "With snappy dialogue, complex characters, and an intricate web of relationships, Kaye has created an extended family that's both honest and enjoyable." ~Whitney Kate Sullivan, Romantic Times Magazine - 4-Star Review "Robin Kaye's books are vacations for the soul. Indulge yourself." ~Maureen Child, USA Today bestselling author of Conquering King's Heart Breakfast in Bed is a fun and sexy romp from beginning to end. The characters are ones you would love to call friend. Author Robin Kaye has a knack for reaching right into the reader's heart and giving them a story to match their deepest desires. Becca and Rich are perfect for each other. The chemistry leaps off the page whenever they a...

And Santa brought me my gift. Snow. I love snow. Love, love, love it. I love how it covers all the landscapes imperfections, blanketing everything in a soft white cover. The air is so crisp, the sounds muted, and it epitomizes the feeling of the season. Honestly, it's all I wanted for Christmas. And, yes, Christmas is still 5 days away, but I'm hopeful it'll stick. The weather is supposed to stay cold, so no melting. I don't need snow to fall on Christmas - actually I'd prefer if it didn't since we go to my mom's house Christmas afternoon, but I like having it on the ground. And so do my dogs. They keep begging to be let out. So, we indulge. Vixen is the red one, Raven the black. I gave Vixen to the kids for Christmas six years ago, and Raven came to us the following February for my birthday. We love our girls. Poor Pagan wants to go out, but with all the feral cats right next to the house, it's really not an option. But she loves looking out the window,...

Since this is my last post before the holidays, I wanted to extend my warmest wishes for a Merry Christmas, and my hope that Santa is good to you. :} I have resolved this year to take some time during the hustle and bustle to gather calm around myself, to sit back and watch my loved ones that surround me, to memorize their faces and this one moment in time, to preserve it as a precious memory, because life is about change and nothing will ever be the same again as it is at this one moment. It's not something I ever thought to do before, at least, not purposefully. But I've realized that it's so very easy to take for granted those that surround you; the friends and family whose love and caring make life worth living. Christmas can sometimes be peaceful or just plain bonkers. The little ones can get cranky from lack of sleep and all the excitement, the older ones just as cranky from last minute shopping, baking, and just plain trying to factor in Christmas when there's al...

Sorry the post is late. I didn't get word until I was on my lunch break! So in an impromptu blog--best kind, right?--here's Santa teddy bear, my own creation, although I still need to make a shapeshifter wolf Santa! Speaking of shapeshifter wolf Santas, we had one at story time yesterday at the library. Yep. One minute he was Santa, and the next, his red suit was resting on a chair in the staff lounge and no Santa. He had shapeshifted, you see, and taken off for the hills. :) Here's my tree, finally got a picture taken. Hmmm, it looks like I took it at an angle. Or the tree and house are leaning over. :) Oh, well, drink some of the good egg nog and it'll tilt back right side up! {I swear I wasn't drinking anything when I took this picture!} This weekend I HAVE to finish Christmas shopping and try to finish up Wolf Fever . And then? It's time to just try and relax, well clean, and then relax for Christmas. Well, after I finish working the rest of the week! Rememb...

The title is thanks to our awesome publicist, Danielle. Thank you Danielle!!! Thirty years ago today I managed a personnel office where I placed executives in the accounting field. I also had written two romance novels that I hoped to find a home for. I’d begun reading romances and tended to say, “I could write one of these!” After all, I had wanted to be a writer since the day I could pick up a crayon. They say write what you know, but I’m not entirely sure I did that since I chose a ballerina heroine and we won’t even talk about my time in ballet class. And I even based the heroine’s looks on my best friend, who was also my first beta reader. What I thought would take a short time to write actually took close to nine months and after I finished that book, I wrote another. Now it was time to find out if my efforts could find a home. Silhouette Books was brand spanking new, not even on the shelves yet, and looking for authors. What a great place for my books! A month after they were s...

That’s right, folks. In just three days the Lathan family will be entering through the gates into the Magic Kingdom for four fun-filled days! We are so excited! More so than ever before and here is why: I grew up in the general southern California area, so have been going to Disneyland since I was a toddler. I remember when there were individual tickets for each attraction. Anyone else remember the days of divvying up the lettered tickets to make sure you got to ride the best attractions? I remember when there wasn’t a California Adventures, when Space Mountain was built, when the Isle of Monsanto was the coolest experience, when Critter Country did not exist, and…. OK, I am old and you get the idea. My point is that over the, ahem, decades, I have tromped the streets of the Happiest Place On Earth more times than I can recollect. BUT, I have NEVER visited during the Christmas holiday season! Gasp! I know! It truly is a tragedy that needed to be remedied. So, with this idea in mind, w...

People are thinking about what they want Santa to bring them this year. I just received a gift I've been eagerly anticipating! My cover art! There's nothing like glimpsing your name on a book cover to make it all real. The process of producing a book is such a long one that every milestone is thrilling. I love this cover. It's exactly the style I asked for, and it's as if the artist could see inside my head. But if we do a good job of describing our characters and our fictional world, getting inside our heads shouldn't be that difficult. Please see my brand new website to see my cover. http://www.ashlynchase.net I made it myself, so it's basic! And I'd love to hear what you think of the cover! Ash

Today I changed my Google blogger profile picture from Outcast to Fugitive. This is something I've been meaning to do for a while now, but you know how it is around Christmastime; you just can't remember to do everything you would wish. Something always gets forgotten, and hopefully it's not your sweetie's present, which brings me to the subject of today's blog: What do you want for Christmas? I ask a lot of people this question, mainly because I can't think of anything, and when I do, it's either one of the tried and true gifts that I've given many times before, or it's something no one wants. I've considered not getting into the family gift exchange, primarily because I usually wind up with the gift that I contributed. I mean, I thought the Demotivator's Calendar was funny, but the family just didn't get it. I thought a gallon of Quervo Gold was a great gift--took me an entire year to drink all of it--and how many gifts can keep on givi...

by Libby Malin www.LibbysBooks.com Sad news for those who love storytelling-- the soap opera As the World Turns, on the air for more than half a century, will go dark next September, one more soap opera fading into history. (Guiding Light ended its 72 year run on the airwaves in September of this year.) ATWT's head writer, Jean Passanante, helped me a great deal as I wrote my 2010 release, My Own Personal Soap Opera . A writing acquaintance put me in touch with Ms. Pa ssanante, and she patiently and thoroughly answered my questions about how stories are put together on daytime dramas and who actually writes the scripts. My story, like most fiction, uses reality as a springboard, not a cage, so I deviate from the real-life world of soap writing, stretching the truth to suit my own tale. Ironically, My Own Personal Soap Opera is a story about a failing New York-based daytime drama and the machinations the head writer goes through to keep it on the air. I know a bunch of folks still...

By Robin Kaye Crazy Holidays is more like it. My third book, Breakfast in Bed will be out by New Year’s Day, and my blog tour is heating up--check my website calendar for all the stops and giveaways on my Virtual Blog Tour. My next book, As Good as He Gets is due in a few days and isn’t quite finished yet. Twinkle Toes, my ballerina daughter, is dancing in George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker for the next two weeks, so her normal dance schedule has made the jump from crazy to certifiable. My son is down with pneumonia and has had to go back and forth to the doctors three times this week alone. My mother-in-law is visiting next week to see Twinkle Toes’ performance. My husband is working to finish the drywall in the living room (one of the four rooms currently under construction) so we can put up our tree. And I have yet to buy one Christmas/Hanukkah present. I’ve either become very Zen about the holiday stress, or I’ve completely gone off the deep end and just haven’t noticed. In eith...

You know, not only is my husband a Domestic Hero, but he's a good writing-spot-finder, too. He found a coffee shop for me to write in when I need to get out of the house/office/mommy role. Now, I know this doesn't sound like a momentous discovery, but you have to understand about where I live. It's suburban Philly, but it's one of the moral rural areas, just what we wanted. In our old house I felt as if I couldn't breathe, with all the traffic. Remember, I went to Penn State. Back in the day, State College was the biggest town in that area, with the Nittany Mall considered huge. (Since I grew up going to the King of Prussia Mall, Nittany was NOT impressive, but for the area, it was big.) Anyhow, I digress. So, I went to Penn State, home of the student-friendly squirrels who knew there were other kinds of nuts on that campus that could keep a squirrel fed through the winter. It was rural. Then we moved back to suburban Philly, and the suburban sprawl started. A big s...

By Danielle Have you ever had one of those days where the world is spinning—you have too much to do and if it all doesn’t get done you’re going to go insane… and to top it all of, you’ve got the worst sinus infection in history? I’m having that kind of a WEEK let a lone a day (hence my recent absence from the comments). So here’s my favorite blog post, which also happens to be the first one I ever posted, back on May 9, 2008. I’ve edited it down a bit, but it’s the funny story about how I came to be publicist I am today. Enjoy! It’s a little intimidating being the only non-author regular contributor—you all have such great stories about your inspiration and what made you start writing! But I do have a funny story about how my journey at Sourcebooks began. On the day I received the call to come in for my interview with Sourcebooks Publicity, I had quite the adventure… That morning, I had an interview for another job. I got ready, making sure I looked cute and professional. I decided to ...