Sourcebooks Casablanca Romance Authors

by Amanda Forester It is a basic premise that to create a novel, one needs something to write.   To have something to write, one needs inspiration.   To have inspiration one needs... Yeah, that part gets me too.   I'm in the process of writing my next novel and some days I sit in front of the computer and my fingers fly, the ideas are unstoppable, and I can hardly keep up with my own brilliance.   And then there's the other 363 days of the year. I often struggle to find inspiration for my writing.   Generally I just stare at the blinking cursor until something comes to me or it's time to go to bed.   This approach may not be particularly helpful for you, or frankly for me, so here are some other ways to find inspiration: Listen to music. Get inspired by beauty. Find a picture of your hero. Chocolate. Get some exercise. Take a break. More chocolate. I recently saw an interview with Japanese inve...

On a recent visit to Boise I decided to see a few of my favorite people and escape my three teenagers. Naturally I went to Humpin' Hannah's—after all, there aren't many places my kids can't follow me. Thank God my kids are still under age and Karma cards. Well, here's what happened...  I swung the door open to my favorite bar in Boise, Idaho, Humpin’ Hanna’s. My eyes went right to Karma Kincaid, manning—or is it womanning the bar. Karma looked toward me and her face broke into a grin. “Hey, Robin! When did you get back in town?” She slid under the pass-through and gave me a big hug. “Yesterday. It’s great to be back. I’m supposed to meet Jessie and Fisher here.” Karma’s eyebrows rose. “What for?” I tossed my bag on polished mahogany and claimed a stool while she scooted back behind the bar. “I’m here to interview them. My book, Call Me Wild, came out August 7th and I thought it might be fun to get their take on having their entire ro...

by Deb Werksman Editorial Manager,  Sourcebooks Casablanca It’s one of those months when I don’t want to read my own writing—I want to read YOURS! Voila—time for a pitch session! These are the IRON-CLAD rules! 1)        ONLY single-title romance 85,000 to 100,000 words or commercial women’s fiction 2)        Erotic romance, paranormal, historical, romantic suspense, contemporary romance 3)        Here’s the format: a.         Title b.        Subgenre c.         50 word pitch d.        1-2 sentences on each of the next 2 books in the series e.        Author sales history (title, publisher, # of copies sold to readers, or that you’re a debut) I can’t wait! This is my absolute favorite part of my job! ...

For some reason I've received a lot of questions this week asking do I use people from my day job in my books? Do I kill off former bosses? My staff kept asking if some day they'd get to be heroes or perhaps victims? And would they recognize themselves? No. No. No. And another no just to be sure. Then they ask again. So I reply that my books start with a character's voice and often with a season. The voice probably comes from years of running the high school theater and then later working several years in live theater and six more in the opera (where I was a computer tech, but I heard a lot of magnificent voices). I'm also a movie buff which doesn't hurt. Voice tells you me so much about a character. Beyond accent, there is region, and beyond region there is pacing. My characters tend to think quickly and speak abruptly... Of course, I'm currently writing military romantic suspense so that makes some sense. But also season. Book two of my Night Stalkers,...

I think I've noticed something. Because I've been reading more and more over the years, I think I'm getting sexier. LOL I mean...smarter! My vocabulary has grown. What used to feel like "formal" dialog, now sounds natural to my inner author's ear. Maybe too it has something to do with having a smart critique partner who writes historicals. She adds an explanation with every new word I learn, and it sticks. Other parts of my writing have changed too. When I first began publishing in 2004, I was writing romantic suspense. That's because everyone in my critique group was writing suspense. Eventually I found my own voice in romantic comedy but carried the rules of suspense with me. Also back then, erotic romance was selling like candy to epubs. I wanted to get published, so I heated up the sexual component. *Funny aside...my husband gave me a year to get published. I told him what he could do with his year, then I went after the go...

One day is was storms the next 29 deg C (84F) and sunny. Such is Perth weather. My blueberry and lemon trees are flowering, and the strawberry patch is fruiting. Spring has arrived! my mini potted lemon With the change in season I’ve realised it’s also time for me to clean up my writing area. For three years the wall and notice board have been covered in notes about goblins, but this year the fairies have invaded. When I look at the wall there are notes about future heroes, about Annwyn and a heroine that is proving very tight lipped. Now that the page proofs are done on the last Shadowlands book there is no need for me to hang onto the notes (or at least keep them stuck to the wall). There’s things like ‘Brac died before Fane’ (crucial not to forget that one!). ‘Goblin with a scar on his face’. And my personal favourite ‘Meryn’s nightmares come true’. Alongside them I now have fairy related things like ‘Verden=Johnny Depp in Chocolat’ and ‘when did Jacqui eat the fairy...

I did a little survey and asked people to tell me the first word or short phrase that came to their mind when I said COWBOY! Some of them said things I expected. Other’s came up with whole new thoughts. So I said cowboy, they said...   Sexy;  Attitude with sex appeal Future Husband Boots Wranglers; butts, drives me nuts   Horses Quiet Strength Stetson Ranch     Cowboy Up!   Sam Elliott Belt Buckles Cowgirls Chivalry  Carolyn Brown...she writes about them!; Stories (Love those two answers) Other answers included HOT!; strong hands, soft heart; hunk; Tombstone; football (I do believe that came from a guy and he was talking about Dallas Cowboys); rugged; hubba; ride 'em; sexonastick-one word!; western; cowgirl; hard headed, hard to get to know; naked; hot and bothered; independent; charming; and Todd Morgan (who happens to be my son-in-law). My favorite so ...

I live in the wilds of northern New Jersey. We’ve lived here for 30 years, and although we thought about moving once or twice, the neighborhood kept us here. Lindy’s Lake is a small community where everyone knows everyone else’s business—at least we did while our kids were still in school—once they go off to college things change…but the one thing that we love the most aside from our Lakestyle cottage is the wildlife, flora, and fauna that are a part of the community. In the years we’ve lived here we made the house our home by planting gardens, laying a bluestone patio, and building an arbor outside and painting and refurbishing the inside. In all the time we've lived here, we've only had bears visit the outside of the chainlink fence that surrounds the back half of our property...that is until the other night. We were babysitting our darling grandbaby overnight since his mommy and daddy both had closing shifts at work. I had our grandson in my arms when I heard the...

Like many of  you, I am a mom with kids who are starting a new school year. Our four sons are growing up faster than I care to admit and this year is a big year for all of us. My oldest boy is a senior in high school and has started the daunting college admissions process. Our second boy is a freshman in high school and he's tackling that scary freshman year with a brave smile--even though I know the kid is freaking out on the inside. Our twins have started sixth grade which means--middle school. I don't know about you guys, but I think middle school is the absolute worst. At that age they're all emotionally handicapped and full of burgeoning hormones--a recipe for drama. Oy. Needless to say, the boys all have a big year ahead. A transitional year. As fate would have it, it's a transitional year for me as well. I resigned from my full-time job over the summer.  I now have the luxury of being able to work from home, which allows me to have much more time for my child...

by Danielle Jackson, Senior Publicist, Sourcebooks Over the last few months, I’ve been invited to speak at various writers conferences—RT Booklovers Convention, Chicago-North’s Spring Fling, RWA National Conference, Evanston Writers Workshop—about publicity and marketing of books in today’s ever-changing publishing climate. It’s always hard for me to prepare for these things, because everyone involved is at a different stage in their publishing journey! But I have noticed some similar questions/ideas come up at almost every event, and I thought I’d share them here today. 1. I have to do all kinds of social media to be successful. I don’t believe this… with so many different ways to connect (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Blogs, Websites, Four Square, Apps, Reddit, Google+… among others), social media can become very overwhelming. My advice to authors is to find one or two that you like and can handle, and stick with those. Can you reach more people if you do more? Perhaps,...