Sourcebooks Casablanca Romance Authors

By Cheryl Brooks This will be my last post on the Casablanca Authors blog for a while, perhaps forever. My Sourcebooks editor passed on my current work in progress, although she says she still wants to publish me again. All I need to do is write another Cat Star book. I'll probably do that eventually, and although fans of the series might be pleased, people change. Authors change. Unfortunately, many readers don't want their favorite authors to take a new direction. For that reason (and others), authors keep churning out the same type of books. Eventually, writing becomes a chore, and they end up spitting out the same story with different characters. Maybe not even different characters. Maybe only the names have been changed. I never wanted to be pegged as someone who did that. To that end, I wrote a paranormal romantic suspense trilogy that is unlike anything I've ever written before. My Sourcebooks editor said it was difficult to pitch because the plot was too comp...

By Cheryl Brooks I feel like I cheated this year, buying nearly every Christmas gift online. No hustle and bustle of shopping with the crowd for me, only the click of a button followed by the arrival of the UPS truck. This past Saturday, I wrapped all the presents and put them under the tree. You can do that when your kids are grown up, which is a lot easier than trying to hide everything until after they go to bed on Christmas Eve, although not nearly as exciting. There's a lot to be said for having plenty of time to get everything done. Little or no stress. No last-minute panic. No dragging out the wrapping paper only to discover that you're out of tape. I look back on some of the things I've done in the past and don't know how I ever managed to pull it off. We used to leave early on Christmas Eve morning and spend the entire day visiting family and friends, then make the two-hour drive back home, arriving sometime around midnight. I'd feed the horses and help...

We always have great expectations about the RWA National Conference. It hasn't even officially started yet, and yet thousands of published and aspiring authors have already descended on the Big Apple. Just getting here was an adventure. Planes were backed up at the gates at LaGuardia, which is probably nothing new, but traffic getting from the airport to the NY Marriott Marquis was horrendous. We were hungry and exhausted by the time we made it to the hotel, but the excitement was already in the air as more RWA members arrived. After dinner at Junior's Restaurant, we wandered around Times Square before heading back to collapse in our hotel rooms.  Tuesday is the day for most of us to play tourist. With the help of a bit of prior online research, we managed to get tickets to see the Statue of Liberty and made it from Times Square to Battery Park via the NY subway system, which is an adventure in itself. That's me with two of my Indiana RWA pals, Nikki Hayes and Aly G...

Stay out of the bunkhouse. By Cheryl Brooks If you know me at all, you probably know me from my Cat Star Chronicles series. When I wrote the first book, Slave , I never envisioned a ten-book series. Then I sold it to Sourcebooks and was asked to write a total of six books. Later, they asked for three more. The tenth book, Rebel , was one I had to write, so I did, and they bought it. I loved writing about the cats. My imagination had a fairly free rein, and I rarely had to resort to research. If I needed a new species or a new planet, or even a new word, I simply invented them. My science was reasonably accurate, and since there isn’t anyone with first-hand knowledge of the future on this or any other planet, no one could really argue the validity of what I’d written. Then last year, my editor asked me to send her something new, so I sent her the manuscript for Cowboy Heaven . She liked it enough to ask me for a two book series with a related novella, which would all b...

I finished the first draft of Cowboy Bliss a few days ago, effectively bringing to an end the blue funk I've been in since late July. I had put the book on hold throughout June while I wrote guest blogs for the release of Rebel on July 1st, and then embarked upon the blog tour and the madness of the RWA national conference in July. I had so looked forward to Rebel's release and the chance to visit San Antonio. Unfortunately, the letdown in the wake of those events was mind-numbing, mainly because the final chapters of Cowboy Bliss had me stumped. Writer's block is an insidious, beastly disease that affects all aspects of your life because the problems a book poses are never far from your thoughts whether you're out mowing the lawn or shopping for groceries. That preoccupation puts a damper on your spirits, dragging you down into a pervasive fit of the dismals that only the book can cure, which is peculiar because the book is also the cause. My dilemma in t...

I had a fabulous time at the RWA National Conference in San Antonio, and though it was super hot there (99 or 100 every day), it's still a very beautiful city. I wish I'd taken more pictures! The Riverwalk... Visiting the Alamo  Signing Rebel and Wildcat at the Readers For Life Literacy signing.  Hanging out with my buddies Sara Humphreys and Carolyn Brown. Riding home from the Sourcebooks dinner in Cinderella's pumpkin with Terry Spear and Mia Marlowe.  Tying for second place in the Prism Awards Futuristic category with Wildcat!  But now it's time to share the goodies with those of you who weren't there.  Since I have two tote bags, there will be two winners, so post a comment or use the Rafflecopter for your chance to win! Contest limited to USA residents.  Winners to be announced on Saturday, August 16th. Please include your email address in your comment so I can contact the winners. ...

Rebel's Launch Day is here at last!  There were times when I didn't think it was ever going to happen. Although my last Sourcebooks contract had an option for two more books, I wasn't sure they wanted another addition to the Cat Star Chronicles series.  Onca, however, had other ideas. He wanted his own book, and he made it clear he was going to haunt my dreams until he got it! So I wrote two chapters and a brief synopsis and sent it off. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised when Sourcebooks wanted to publish the book. Since then, there have been edits and discussions about the cover and title, but the finished product is finally ready to go. And so, without further adieu, I give you Rebel , a book I sincerely believe to be the best I've ever written. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it, and I also hope you will fall madly in love with Onca, the last star of the Zetithian Palace brothel, located in the city of Damenk, on the plane...

I didn't make it to RT this year, but I did attend Lori Foster's Reader and Author Get Together in Cincinnati earlier this month. If you've never been, I highly recommend you put it on your calendar for next June. Space is limited, so you have to be ready to sign up as soon as registration opens, but it's worth it for the chance to mingle with authors and readers alike in a relaxed, comfortable, fun atmosphere. This was my fourth year, and I had a fabulous time seeing old friends and meeting new ones. The event raised over $17,000 to benefit One Way Farm this year, which means a lot of dedicated readers were buying an amazing number of raffle tickets. This was my first time putting together a gift basket, and I had a hard time figuring out a way to cram in all of my books plus a few other goodies. I spent ages in Michael's craft store picking out ribbons and bags and a nifty little butterfly pin that I was afraid might get lost, but I thought the finished result w...

By Cheryl Brooks Since my last post here on Casablanca, I've done a bit of traveling. And no, I didn't make it to New Orleans for RT this year. However, I will be attending Lori Foster's RAGT in Cincinnati June 5-8. Registration is full, but the signing on Saturday from 3 to 5pm is open to the public, so if you're in the Cincinnati area, be sure to drop by! I'll be signing print copies of my Unlikely Lovers series as well as books 1-9 of the Cat Star Chronicles . I'm also putting together a raffle basket that includes all of those books, plus an ARC of Rebel, so if you're registered, be sure to drop a raffle ticket in the bag! I will also be participating in a panel discussion on erotic romance on Friday at 12:30 in the Blogger Lounge. After that, it's July and RWA nationals in San Antonio! I've never been to Texas, so I'm really looking forward to it. Maybe not as wild as RT in New Orleans, but I'm sure we'll have a fabulous time! ...