Sourcebooks Casablanca Romance Authors

Okay, there are only 10... but it sounded good as a title. Here are the answers: 1. leprechaun on the left from Genie Knows Best blonde mermaid in the middle = Angel from Catch of a Lifetime crystal and brass lantern lower right from Genie Knows Best 2. golfer merman. No named characters are golfers in the stories, but I have to think there's a course in Atlantis, so this could be from any of the Mer books. 3. 2 mermen in this picture. One with a cocktail in the upper left and another one on the bottom center in a red tshirt with weights. Again, could be from any of the Mer series. 4. in the center in the back is a mermaid in a shell. You have to look very closely to see it. There is also a genie bottle on a gold cord to the right of her, but the genie bottle decided to turn when I took the picture, so you can't really tell what it is. On the right upper corner is a purple and blue hummingbird butt. sigh. I know. But it's from I Dream of Genies. 5. Okay, trick q...

I have several silk trees in my house. I think they make the place look nice, especially with little white lights in them (which make great night lights), and, as opposed to real trees, these actually look good all the time for me. (I do NOT have a green thumb, unfortunately.) And the lights makes it feel like Christmas all year. I even have one in my office and, as you can see from the picture, it's a favorite hangout for my animals. Vixen insisted on being in this picture. Yes, she takes after me. :) What's nice about the tree in my office is that I have ornaments on it all year--that I've received from readers and friends to celebrate my stories. I've posted 5photos below. Let's see how many you all can find. A copy of Genie Knows Best to the person who gets the most! Bonus points for knowing which story they represent. Happy Holidays from under the sea and sands! 1. (3 in this picture) 2. (1 in here) 3. (2 in this picture) 4. (2 in this one) 5. (3 in this one...

by Judi Fennell I'm writing this on Saturday afternoon to post on Sunday because I'm in the Northeast and it's definitely NOT hot here as we wait for Irene. It's been raining since about 1 (5 hours ago) and I'm keeping an ear focused on the basement where our battery back-up sump pump will squeal when it's services are called upon. I'm hoping that doesn't happen. As long as we don't lose power, we should be fine. So, what IS hot here in the Northeast? Let's say, first of all, generators. They're hot. How hot? Well, when I went to Home Depot on Tuesday to get a generator, I got the second-to-last "affordable" one in stock. The guy who helped me said they'd had a run on them. I know this is the first time I've ever bought a generator for a storm. What else is hot? Flashlights, apparently. Here's my local Walmart on Friday: Water, too, is apparently, one of the hottest items around. My sister took this pictur...

My "Call" story starts long before the book was even finished. Deb and I met at the 2007 National Conference when she had been a Golden Heart judge and LOVED Robin Kaye’s finalling (winning) manuscript, Romeo, Romeo . She offered Robin a contract AT National. Robin and I, not knowing a whole heck of a lot about Sourcebooks, went to their Spotlight and were blown away by Dominique and Deb’s enthusiasm and publishing history. Robin was thrilled to accept the contract and I was thrilled for her! What does Robin’s sale have to do with mine? Well, Deb hung out with us a lot during National. I got to know her; she got to know me. I had already submitted a time travel to her so that was sitting in her queue. She got to it a few weeks after National, sadly, rejecting it. But that was okay. Flash forward to October 2007 at the New Jersey Conference . Deb was there. We chatted. She sat at my table for lunch and I proceeded to drag pitches from everyone at our table b/c I kne...

Motherhood. What a topic. I am a mother, so I could wax poetic (but I don't write poetry, so why should I?) I could write about my mom, but then we'd get all teary-eyed and who wants that? I could write about my GRANDmom, but she's dealing with oncologists and that'd bring up MORE tears, so, again, why should I? I think I'll take the safe route and let the mothers in my book have her say. Everyone, I give you Kai, mother of Rod, Reel, Mariana, Angel and Pearl Tritone, followed by Ceto, the mother of all sea monsters. Hello everyone and thank you so much to Judi for having me here today. It's been a real adventure these last few months, what with Reel finding love with a Human, Rod taking over my husband's position, and Angel... ah, Angel. That woman does have a mind of her own. As those of you who are mothers can attest, raising kids isn't the easiest job in the world, but I like to think of it as the most rewarding. When your son can share his darkest f...

Yes, you've guessed it. I'm talking about what you say when someone sneezes. Okay, can I get a collective eye roll, please? I can hear you all now: "Only Judi would blog about sneezes." Actually, I'm not talking sneezes; I'm talking SNEEZERS. With an R. As in "one who." Why in the world am I talking about Sneezers? And why am I capitalizing it? At this month's chapter meeting, our speaker mentioned Sneezers - people who will "sneeze" about your stories. You want Sneezers. And you want them Sneezing big, honking Sneezes. Think about what happens when someone sneezes (with the lowercase s ). Polite society requires the use of a handkerchief or tissue so the sneeze is contained. And, yes, please use them. But when it comes to book Sneezes, I say, "Fie on those handkerchiefs!" You don't want anyone containing their Sneeze. Case in point: one of our chaptermates had a real estate agent put something about her, a local author, ...

I'm in the middle of my blog tour for Wild Blue Under and this time I had a better idea of what to expect since it's my second book. So when I was writing the blogs, I tried to tie the story or my inspiration or my characters into something that would resonate with people, other than just telling them about the story. Know what my biggest hits have been so far? The posts about the inspiration for the series, which is, basically, the television shows I grew up watching. I even did a "guess that leading man" thing on Wickedly Romantic yesterday. So I won't reiterate it here, but it got me to thinking: television had a big influence on my writing, but so did the movies. JAWS is a given because there's that whole terrified-of-the-ocean thing I gave Erica in In Over Her Head , and Failure to Launch because Matthew McConaughey's character (and fabulous gorgeous-ness) lent itself to Reel, and I loved It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World which contributed to th...

Since Robin has her Domestic God, and I’m writing this while eating the dinner my husband cooked and served me in my office, I figured that he’s such a good guy, he needs his own title. And since I dedicate all my books to my own personal hero, Domestic Hero is perfect for him. My husband would be the first person to be embarrassed to have not only this title, but also a blog post dedicated to him. He’s more than content to give me the spotlight. I think that’s why this writing for publication thing has worked out so well over the years. See, he’s the one who found Romance Writers of America for me. I’d written my first story, but had no idea what to do with it from there. I had no idea about imprints, or who published what, or how to get an agent. No clue about POV, and inciting incident, or what a black moment was. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I had some innate sense of building up to a crisis, but as for what it was called… pfft . I had no idea you couldn’t head-hop (in the same paragra...

Hey, Chumley Masticar here. Miss me? I’ve been on an extended publicity tour, if you must know. The Caribbean, West Indies, a spin around the Cape… all in the effort to spread the word about my story, In Over Her Head . Oh, yeah, I get that it’s got a guy and a girl and they fall in love and whatever, but you know? None of it would have been possible without me. I give you these examples: Who suggested Reel save Erica’s life? That would be me. And who told him how? Also me. Who did Reel send on the reconnaissance mission? He didn’t go. Oh, no. He sent ME. Who did he direct to keep Puff Daddy busy so he could clue Erica in to all they’d be facing when facing The Council? Again, me. Who had his back when ol’ Nigel got a hook in his craw about Reel turning Erica? Right again. That would be moi. And the list goes on. So I have my public. Adoring fins all over the globe have tread in line for tides for my autograph, women tossing their shell phone numbers at me, fish fry flipping like they...

We all go through it. You submit your manuscript/proposal and then you wait. And wait. And you hope. And you hope some more. Then you wait. And wait. And... well, you get it. Heck, you've lived it. Funny, even after you sell, even after your first/second/whatever book comes out, it doesn't change. You're always waiting. And hoping. Those two ladies, Wait and Hope, are the ugly stepsisters of publishing. They have a cousin, Faith, who keeps us writing, but I think we spend more time with the sisters. Or maybe more angst. I mean, if we have Faith in our writing, that's a good thing. She's comforting. She's always around in a you-can-do-this kind of way. Of course, her little brother Doubt shows up every so often to yank her hair, but then he gets banished to the corner for a time-out (for a long time, hopefully [Damn! There she is again!]) and Faith brings you chocolate. Right now I'm in the waiting stage. The ARCs of Wild Blue Under have gone out. I met a...

So I was at National last week, and attending the Leadership Retreat on Wednesday (I'm my chapter's president) and I get a text message from Child A. (Mind you, this meeting I'm in has all sorts of info regarding new IRS rules governing non-profit organizations and we have to bring our chapters in line with National's stance to fulfill these rules, so I'm taking copious notes. Let me also say that the children were in the care of their grandmother because my husband had a last-minute meeting out of town that he had to attend, which had NOT been in the original plan when I decided to go to National.) The texts went something like this: Child A : "Mom, can I get a hamster?" Me : "Fine, but you have to pay for it." Child A : "Okay. Can Child B get a ferrett?" Me : "NO ferrett!" Child A: "Why not?" Me : "Because they're too expensive and we have dogs." Child B now takes the phone from Child A and starts t...

There's a lot you have to know to become a published author: craft, storytelling, submitting, etc., but the learning doesn't stop there. In the (almost) one year since accepting the offer, this is what I've learned: 1. Time management is one of the must-have skills of a published author. Writing to deadline, a contractual deadline, is so different from writing for a self-imposed one. And it can lead to #2: 2. Doubts crop up. At first, I thought it was just me. I mean, before I sold, I was always confident in my stories. I giggled when writing them. Then I sold on proposal and started wondering, "what if" - and not in a good way. What if the story wasn't as funny? What if my editor didn't like it? What if I couldn't do it again? Which leads to #3: 3. Support groups are a MUST! I belong to the PAN and PASIC loops and have to say, thank God for those loops. Amid a lot of the stuff that doesn't pertain to me, are the few nuggets of gold that I need:...

It's here! It's here! In Over Her Head's official release date! As you saw from my last post, it had already hit the shelves, but June 1 is the official date - kind of like my book's birthday! So I thought I'd celebrate it with all my favorite birthday celebratory items. (Seeing any theme here???) and of course, we all know what comes in wrapped packages... PRESENTS! This has just been the best experience and I'm looking forward to the rest of the series. Thanks to everyone for sharing this with me and being as excited as I am! (as I'm sure you can tell from the picture taken by LibraryJournal at BEA). (Some images/graphics from Bing.com ) Here's a little something to whet your whistle for the story: “So, you’re a merman? Are there others like you?” “Technically, I’m a Mer and I’m a man, but not a merman like you think. Thanks to these,” he fluttered his legs (and a few other dangly parts went along for the ride), “I’m one of a kind. The rest of the ...

In Over Her Head's official release date is June 1, but IOHH sightings are popping up all over the place. Actually, all over the country: Philly, Atlanta, Washington state, California, Massachusetts - and those are the ones I've heard from. I hightailed it out to my local stores and stood there and didn't make a fool of myself, although I did sell at least one copy. Signed it, too. That was fun. I also found out In Over Her Head is up for Best Book of the Month for June on http://answers.polldaddy.com/poll/1613859/ . Voting runs 'til May 29. And then there was this review I recently received from http://www.passionforthepage.blogspot.com/ : If you’re looking for a great beach read have I got a book for you! In Over Her Head by Judi Fennell is a witty, funny, fabulous story about Erica Peck, a marina owner that is scared of the sea, and Reel Tritone, a Mer man who, obviously, lives in the sea. What follows is a rip-roaring adventure complete with stolen diamonds, dea...

If you had the chance to read my Wickedly Romantic post on Monday, you know that I had a wonderfully delightful surprise on Mother's Day when I opened an email from a bookseller: Dear Judi, I've just finished an ARC of In Over Her Head and had to write to let you know how much I enjoyed the book. It was hilarious and total fun throughout. I'm been telling my cutomers and fellow booksellers how much I loved the book What a great sense of humor you have!!!!!!!! All I have to tell them is that it's a Little mermaid type story but instead of a little mermaid you have a big hunk of Mer man. Please note that I didn't refer to Reel as a merman. Wouldn't want to get him ticked of with me.........LOL. I can see why Sue Grimshaw encouraged you. This is a great story. I'll be sending Sue an email letting her know how mcuh I enjoyed you story and to be sure she sends me enough copies. There's nothing worse than wanting to recommend a book and not having it in stock!...

I'm posting from the Romantic Times Convention in Orlando, Florida, and having a blast! The parties are great, the giveaways fantastic and meeting the readers and booksellers is so much fun. It really is amazing what can happen from chatting with people. Last year when I came to RT (I've been coming since 2007 when I was a finalist in the American Title III contest), I hadn't sold a book and had just learned something from one of the Gather final judges about a change that she thought would help me sell In Over Her Head. A friend invited me to a publisher party (with his editor's okay) and I was chatting with booksellers, taking a poll about this change the judge mentioned. So on Wednesday night, here, that same bookseller found me, said she'd been looking for me and that she'd wanted to talk to me about my book because she's seen "stuff" about it everywhere (gotta love hearing that, especially since she's in Australia). We connected, I chatted...