Sourcebooks Casablanca Romance Authors

RT seems to get better every year, and this year was off the charts. New Orleans has the BEST FOOD (Oysters Rockefeller anyone?) and then I got to work it off every morning at Sara Humphreys’ 7 am (yes, you read that right) fitness extravaganza. There was a core group of us working our core. Sara promises to do it again next year, don’t miss it—25 minutes of the T25 workout, easily adaptable. I bought the DVDs as soon as I got home because after only 3 days I felt thinner (is that a figment of a fevered imagination? Or are my jeans really more comfortable?). Huge shout-out to Julie Ann Walker, who hit the NYT and USA Today lists right smack in the middle of RT for the 6 th time, with her 6 th book in the Black Knights, Inc. series HELL FOR LEATHER. You’re a rock star, Julie Ann! So here’s what I love most about RT, RWA, and all the local conferences—it’s the place where we who love romance fiction can go public about our enthusiasm. Back at home, things ha...

This has been one hell of a year for me professionally. Unleashed , the first book in my Amoveo Legend series, was released in October and as if that wasn't enough,  my agent sold my Dead in the City series to Sourcebooks in another five book deal. It's been an absolute dream come true but truth be told...I didn't dare to dream that big. This year far surpassed the goals I set out for myself as a writer and I'm extremely grateful for everything that has come to pass. One of the coolest things I've gotten to do this year, is get to know some of my readers. It is an enormous thrill to meet/tweet with/chat with/FB with someone who read and enjoyed my work. It's a humbling, flattering and thrilling experience all rolled into one. After connecting with readers via FB, Twitter, blogs and even face-to-face at book signings, I decided I wanted to personally connect with as many folks as possible. You may be asking yourself...why?  It's not a purely ego dr...

I love sleep. Probably because like most working moms, I don't get enough of it. It's the ultimate alone time. Like many of you, I'm a mom, wife, writer and employee-at-insert-job-here. Between work, kids, husband, house, laundry, dogs, bird, writing, editing...there are only so many hours in the day to get it all done. Very often, sleep is the thing that gets cut short. Sleeping at night for a nice long eight hour stretch is fantastic. The only thing that trumps that is the Sunday afternoon nap. I never used to be able to nap. You know... before I had kids. HA! Not anymore. I used to make fun of my father for taking catnaps. Clearly, God has a sense of humor because these days I daydream of napping. Naps. Now they are the ultimate indulgence for me. Laying on the sofa, curled up under my coziest blanket and falling asleep to a great old movie. ( Dirty Dancing anyone?) Yes, that quiet nap time with no interruptions . You know the ones I mean. Questions like.... What time...

Happy February Everyone! I am so very excited about my post today. Book 1 in my Amoveo Series is being released by Sourcebooks on October 4th! Whoo Hooo! I know that the release date is seven months away but my illustrious editor Deb Werksman thought it would still be okay to share the first kiss scene. Before I share the scene with you, I should probably tell you what the heck this series is all about anyway. Right? The Amoveo people are an ancient race of shape-shifters who have lived secretly among humans for thousands of years. They are made up of ten different animal clans. Eagle, Lion, Panther, Tiger, Bear, Wolf, Falcon, Fox, Cheetah, Coyote. They are telepathic, dream walking, shape-shifters that are born with a pre-destined soul mate. If an Amoveo does not find their mate by the time they reach the age of 30 they begin to lose their abilities and eventually die. They can only have children with their life mates. They are physically beautiful, incredibly strong and once they are...

Life is full of beginnings. We set goals and put plans in motion to achieve those goals. However, sometimes those plans don't always to come to fruition. So what then? We make a new plan and begin again. When I was fresh out of college I began my initial career path as an actress. I pursued that for a while. I landed a little bit of work here and there (very little). I had my mind set on doing that for the rest of my life. That was it! I was an actress. Period. End of story. Ummmm. No. In my early twenties I married my college sweetheart. We began our married life with big plans! Definitely no kids for the first two years of our marriage. Well... about seven weeks into our marriage we discovered that we were five weeks pregnant. New plan. So we began again. Four boys, lots of bills and several years later, I began a career as a motivational public speaker. I had no idea that I could make my living talking. As a kid my nicknames were Motormouth and Chatty Cathy, so getting paid to ...

"When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on."--Thomas Jefferson At the beginning of 2010 I was at the end of my proverbial publishing rope. I had been searching for an agent to help me get my Amoveo Series picked up by a new publisher. I needed to find a home for my shifters. Bottom line... I needed help. Big time. I needed an agent to help me navigate the intricate world of publishing. I had discovered (the hard way) that I couldn't do it on my own. I had come so- close-so-many-times to getting signed, but ultimately nada . I'd climb that rope and just before I'd reach the top--BAM--they'd say, "No thanks." Time after time, I'd climb up only to slide back down the rope--but I never let go. That knot at the bottom was big enough to keep me hanging on. I'm certain it's a story that's familiar to many authors. I had heard from so many other writers that it was incredibly important to find the right agent-- not jus...

I must admit that when I realized there was a recipe theme...I freaked. I am NOT a good cook at all. In fact, when I bake cookies the first thing my children do is look at the bottom to see if they're burned. Nice. So instead of giving you a food recipe, I thought I'd give you my recipe for the perfect Thanksgiving weekend. Step 1-Traditions: For me personally, the holiday season is all about traditions. Growing up, our Thanksgivings were always warm, comfortable, family oriented and full of great food. The best thing about this holiday was that the day always started slowly. There was no rushing around trying to get to church on time like we usually did on Christmas. Nope, there was none of that stuff. We usually went to my grandmother's house but my mom was always cooking something yummy that morning to bring along. Us kids would hang around in our pj's and watch the Macy's parade on television. (Even though I've lived within 45 min. of NYC my entire life I...

Happy Halloween to all you ghouls and goblins! Halloween is a very popular holiday in our house. I must admit that I love it almost as much as my kids do. I still dress up. I went to the local costume shop--Spooky Town--to get our costumes this year. I ended up with a pirate costume and it took me a few tries to find one that covered my butt. Has anyone else noticed the trend in women's costumes? It's a slutty version of everything. Sheesh. At any rate, I ended up with a Pirate Wench...not the slutty wench. In the past, I've made most of the boys' costumes but now that they're older they only want the store bought ones. For the past several years, William has been a Ninja of some kind. (The picture above was last years' Ninja) This year....Ninja again. When I was a kid my Mom made all of our costumes--and they were really good! I always felt bad for the kids in my neighborhood that had the plastic masks. My Mom whipped up everything from Gypsies, to Jeannies (m...

It's October and the leaves are just beginning to turn various hues of gold and red. The cool, crisp air carries with it the glorious scent of the first fires of the season. Every catalog delivered to our door has pictures of pumpkins or goblins and the pages are filled with the hottest costumes of the season. (My boys started discussing costume possibilities in August--we're still working on it.) My favorite side effect of the Halloween season is the plethora of scary movies on television. I love to sit in the dark, curled up on the couch with a big bowl of popcorn (and my favorite guy) and get scared. Here are my Top 10 Favorite Spooktacular movies. 10. The Wizard of Oz: I know...you think I'm crazy. That Wicked Witch of the West and her creepy monkeys gave me nightmares for years and I've never fully recovered. It still creeps me out every time I watch it. Don't judge. 9. Aliens: This is the second in the Alien series and I think it's the scariest. It's...

Hey there everyone! My name is Sara Taney Humphreys and I am a brand new author with Sourcebooks Casablanca. I'm psyched to be posting here with all the Casablanca ladies. There are an abundance of great writers and I'm proud to be included. When I saw that this month's theme was "Abundance", it was easy to choose my topic. Quite simply, I have an abundance of boys. I have four boys. I am also married....so really...I have five boys. Ian is 15. I know that people complain about teenagers but so far this one is pretty tolerable. I get the occasional eye roll and yeah-sure-Mom-whatever-you-don't-know anything- look but generally he's a great kid. He's been an insulin dependent diabetic since he was 2 years old, so he's had to be pretty responsible from the time he was very small. Leo is 12. The kid is a walking, talking episode of The History Channel or Discovery Channel--take your pick. He possesses a wealth of knowledge but has no filter. Remembe...