Sourcebooks Casablanca Romance Authors

This was always my favorite song from Guys and Dolls. I'd wait and wait through the movie for Marlon Brando to stand in the sewer, a pair of dice in his hands, betting his life on a single roll, and call on Lady Luck to help him win the girl of his dreams. I have been an incredibly lucky person of late, for, you know, the last few decades. I can point to easy job promotions, I can point to a solo bicycle trip around the world, I can point to published novels, and I can point to my greatest luck, my wife and kid. No man ever won such a roll before. And every bit of that luck was made... By me! Sounds arrogant? Well, not really. It is a matter of attitude and action and which way I face. Do I look at all the fine people I worked with and all I learned or do I look at the hard work and pain I invested in some jobs only to be laid off due to the recession? Do I look at the adventure of the bike trip or the fact that I lost my business, my career, and my house finally arriving at the po...

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...

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...