Sourcebooks Casablanca Romance Authors

by Amanda Forester Hello all you nice people in blogger land.   Today is my day to blog, but it is also the day before I have a manuscript due.   A manuscript that is not ready yet.   And that terrifying reality gives me hives and makes me doubt myself. What on earth makes me think I can write a book? (Never mind those other books I somehow published).  Seriously, I don't have time.   I really don't.   After going to work and then coming home and taking care of the kids, and the pets, and the house, and the husband, and writing that PTA newsletter I have no idea why I signed up for, and doing the fundraising for my kids sports team, and a hundred other things that demand my time like angry Canadian geese (the most scary image I could think of at the moment relating to a horrible childhood experience involving a loaf of bread and a hungry goose - shudder) why, why am I doing this to myself? Let me think... Oh right - I actually love this. ...

Being a writer has to be the best job in the world. For years I’ve spent hours lost within the different worlds within books and now I get to create them! Here’s a little list of the reasons why I love writing romance so much:   ·       I get to make stuff up for a living. ·       Is that Richard Armitage on my computer, honey? Please, I’m just researching my latest novel. Yes, it’s true. I can officially look for pictures of my latest hero inspiration and claim it’s part of the job. I’m a very visual writer and I have very kind writerly friends who send me excellent research materials. ·       Tea is the official drink for authors. Which means I can drink copious amounts of it. ·       Writing steampunk romance is fun . I get to imagine all sorts of impossible dilemmas to put my hero and heroine into and then craft ways to get back out again. Want ...

When I was six years old, I was DETERMINED to be a magician. I had an old silk bathrobe of my grandmother's. It had a tied-on belt. I used that as my cape, and I'd swoosh around the house in my sea-foam-green disguise as I performed "magic tricks" for my family. These tricks were almost always making stuff disappear. Usually marshmallows. When I was about ten, my mom told me I should become a massage therapist. I'm pretty sure she just told me that so I'd practice on her. She's sort of sneaky, my mom. When I was a teenager, I didn't really want to do anything but theatre. Oh, and fall in love and get married. I was sure I'd probably have to have another job besides acting, but I didn't really think of cultivating a career. My biggest dream was finding a phenomenal guy to sweep me off my feet.  And now, here I am, about to debut my first mainstream romance novel in just under six weeks. Now I can't imagine wanting to be anything ...

Last week's winner was:Martha Lawson Between roof and plumbing problems, both leaks!!! And the blog tour, and edits on A SEAL Wolf Christmas, and Jaguar Fever and finishing up Silence of the Wolf, and dealing with a headache the size of Texas,  here is an excerpt from A Howl for a Highlander so I don't have to think too hard: He didn’t say anything more, and Shelley was too stunned to speak. Wendy broke in, dying to know all about him. “That’s him? A Scottish hunk? Who sounds like he’s already way too intrigued with you? Don’t tell me you’re wearing that string bikini of yours,” she said. Knowing Wendy, she’d want to forget her manufacturing crisis and fly to the island to check him out. She’d let him stay at the villa for free, too. Probably pay for all his meals, excursions, everything. She could certainly afford it. Forget Shelley taking in needy strays. She figured Wendy would be the one offering a free room stateside for him. Until she learned he was a wolf. Wolv...

This is my first ever post on the lovely Casablanca Blog. For the last few weeks I’ve been agonizing over what to write about. Should I do an “about me” post… or one about my book? I tried, but it came out just…blah. But then I was invited by the AWESOME Shana Galen  to do a post on the “Sisterhood of The Jaunty Quills” blog. I told the tale of how my guilty pleasure (romance novels) became my livelihood. You can read it here.   It was a really fun post and inspired this one. Over the years I’ve realized that my story of keeping my love of romance novels secret is not an uncommon one. In fact, it seems that most of us started out that way. I can’t remember exactly how I came upon my first romance novel. Likely it was at the library in the 10 cent book bin. I do remember that I was thirteen and I’m pretty sure it was a medieval romance. Either way, I was HOOKED. I’d ride my bike to the library almost every day to get more. At home, I’d keep them under m...

Happy Friday everyone!  If you're somewhere in the northern part of the US or Canada, I hope you're surviving the deep freeze.  It's really cold out there so I've spent most of my time inside doing what I love to do best, reading and writing. I finished a few projects early in the month and my reward for finishing was a week or so of just reading.  I'd been hearing a lot of chatter from a few blogger friends about THE BRONZE HORSEMAN by Paullina Simons and it was a book that's been on my kindle for over a year. So, I took the plunge.  Wow.  WOW. The book is the first of a trilogy and revolves around a young Soviet girl and the Red Army soldier she falls in love with. Needless to say as their story unfolds they are given a second chance at love and second chances is one of my favorite romance tropes ever. I love when characters with a past get the chance to reunite and reconnect and to finally find the love that we are readers, root for.  What is...

Finished! So far, that's the first achievement of the New Year. The edits for A Song at Twilight --a loose sequel to Waltz with a Stranger --are done, and, pending editorial approval, the book will be released in October 2013. I have a love-hate relationship with sequels. As a reader, my love of sequels knows no bounds--when an author creates a fascinating cast of characters playing out their dramas in a well-developed setting, I am always eager to see more. And when I'm well and truly hooked, I'll read every successive book until a) the author is finished with the series, or b) the series changes/deteriorates to the point where it no longer possesses the elements that drew me to it in the first place. For a writer, I think the sequel/series situation is trickier. Even when you love your characters and look forward to chronicling their adventures, an ongoing concern becomes how to keep a series fresh. How do you avoid boring the reader and yourself wit...

THE TOP FIVE THINGS I LEARNED AT A COVER SHOOT Okay, so I have a confession to make.  I went to a Sourcebooks cover shoot a couple of weeks ago, and I drooled... just a little.  All right, so you got me.  It was a lot.  But I was in the same room with the man who posed for this... THRILL RIDE hits shelves April 2nd. ... so how could I NOT suffer from a lack of salivary control?  That wasn't a rhetorical question.  I'm really asking in the off chance I get to go to another cover shoot.  I'll wait while you think...  Yeah, you couldn't come up with any way to combat the ol' stare-and-slobber routine either, could you?  *sigh*  I guess I'll just have to remember to bring a very large hankie if and when I find myself surrounded by romance cover model beefcakes again.  And just in case you think there's a lot of photoshopping going into those pictures, I'm here to tell you that, unfortunately for us mere mortals, there'...

Greetings! The clan and I recently returned from a fabulous Christmas vacation to Riviera Maya, Mexico. We traveled with my dad and my sister and her family for a grand total of eight! Yep, a good old-fashioned Griswald family Christmas. I was never away from the States for the holidays before and the trip was definitely an experience. But I have to admit, it was kind of odd not to have the dreary gray skies or snow. Instead, we were blessed with 85 degree weather, white sandy beaches and palm trees. This was pretty much my view every day under the cabana with an umbrella drink in hand. This fair-skinned beauty only comes with two shades--white or red. I do not tan. I burn. The bird didn't seem to mind my company though. The staff tried to make everyone feel at home and the resort was decorated with all-things Christmas. This vacation was my daughter (twelve years old) and my son's (seven years old) first trip to Mexic...