Hey everyone! An apt title for an author that juggles a gazillion different roles, lol. For a confirmed Blog-Hogger, I’m getting serious withdrawal symptoms following a long blog absence, but I’m making up for it by joining The Cupid Diaries: Moments in Time Blog Carnival put together by CRR. I’m also being interviewed today by Sarah Simas at The Love Struck Novice so I’d love for you to visit me there as well (link)

So just what is The Cupid Diaries: Moments in Time? It’s our fabulous CRR anthology, with contributions from some of our authors spanning a variety of romance genres – something for every taste. I’ve contributed two stories, both very different, and in looking back to the writing of them I realised just how significant Moments in Time really are. Especially the little ones…

So often we tend to want to measure our lives with large signposts – those life-changing events that stand out bold and dramatic in our personal landscapes. Truth is, if we really think about it, they are few and far between. It’s the small, ordinary events that join together to measure our life’s journey.

I have many of those, personal treasures that I’ve signposted along the way and which mark the moment of a special memory. I’m a busy girl most of the time, and it’s easy to let the frenetic pace take over. Sadly, this leaves little more than a long unmarked stretch of road. We may accomplish much, achieve our goals, even be enormously successful (and rich, and famous, and…) but if we haven’t pinpointed those little highlights along the way – a special gift, a thoughtful friend, a day with a loved-one – they simply get lost in the blur of traveling at speed. To remember them we need to mark them. To mark them, we need to take time to find them.

Writing my two stories for The Cupid Diaries: Moments in Time was just such a landmark. I almost didn’t. Was too busy, had too much to do, needed to focus on other “priorities”… I’m glad I did. It was a moment of self-indulgence, in which I got to dig deep, focus on what I love doing, and get to know a couple more characters…

The Uninvited tells of two people driven apart by misunderstanding and brought together unexpectedly. Sometimes, when least expected, love
will invite itself in and make itself at home.

Beyond the Blue is a longer story of abiding love, the kind that hangs on even when it seems that hope is gone…

I loved writing them. I enjoyed going back and reading them. They came from the heart, told of things I didn’t know were there, and left a mark on the winding road of my life.

CRR will be drawing 10 winners from those commenting on the different blogs over the weekend. For details of who is where, visit the CRR Blog at: http://www.classicromancerevival.com/blog/?p=1782

Have fun!
Jude

I just want to say I’m excited to go on a mini-blog tour in support of the Be Mused Anthology coming out with Desert Breeze Publishing on 1 April 2010. It’s has five light-hearted short stories about muses, their writers, and love. My story in the anthology is “Matchmaking A-muse-ment.” Two muses fall in love, but in order to be together, they conspire to have their writers fall in love. My thanks to Jude for having me today and putting together this tour through Classic Romance Revival.

The mythos of the muse – they have their own lives, they go to bars to relax, they go on vacation, and they attend muse conferences. Inspire a writer? That’s their job. They exist on a different plane. They can’t talk face-to-face with us. They can’t be seen. We hear their whispers as inspiration; intuition.

When Gail (Gail Delaney, Editor-in-Chief at Desert Breeze) told me about the anthology I thought it would be a lot of fun to write a story, but all the writers had been set. I was bummed.

A couple days later Gail asked me if I wanted to write “Matchmaking A-muse-ment.” I jumped at the chance. Silly me, though – I was so eager to write the story, I totally forgot about the mythos of the muse. It went right over my head.

Isolde and Tristan, the muses in my story are pixie muses with wings who talk to their writers. Big no-no’s. When I showed the story to Gail she said, “Hey Steph, it’s a great story, but…”

I died of embarrassment. My cheeks turned red. I lost a lung in the pixie marshes. Gail said, “Don’t worry, we’ll throw a little pixie dust on it.” I smiled. So while Isolde and Tristan don’t quite fit in with the mythos of the muse, a little pixie dust cures everything. Enclosed is a picture of Scarlett Johansen, my inspiration for “Isolde” and Chace Crawford, my inspiration for “Tristan.”

Here’s an excerpt from “Matchmaking A-muse-ment.”

Isolde jumped on top of the monitor, her wings beating fast. “Alexi slides off the cliff. John offers his hand. Alexi spits on him and lets go, falling to his death.”
“Perfect!” cried Jane. Isolde grinned with pride. Jane’s fingers typed so fast, Isolde thought she was watching a NASCAR race. Jane dramatically paused and then typed the last two words slowly. “The End.”
Isolde jumped off the monitor and did a happy dance on the maps. “You did it!”
“I’m going to send it off to Gus and wait for his edits.”
Isolde stopped dancing, pointed a finger at her human and winked. “While you edit, I’m taking a vacation.”
“A vacation? You can’t leave now!”
“Why not? There’s a difference between editing and writing.”
“But–”
“No buts. I’ve spent eleven months on this project. I need a vacation.”

******
If you post on the blog today, I’ll be picking two names out of a hat to win an autographed postcard with the “Be Mused” cover on it, signed by me.

I’ll also be offering a grand prize gift bag of “Be Mused” products including a coffee mug, mouse pad, magnet, and autographed postcard to my blog tour winner. In order to qualify for the prize, you have to post on all the blogs in the tour. The prize winner will be announced on 10 April. (I go on vacation from 4-9 April)

“Be Mused” will be available in ebook format at the Desert Breeze Website, All Romance books, and on Amazon for the Kindle 1 APRIL 2010.

Desert Breeze: http://stores.desertbreezepublishing.com/-strse-73/Be-Mused–dsh–%3Ci%3EAn/Detail.bok

Hey everyone! I’m back at last, this time for the Classic Romance Revival Blog Carnival – a hugely fun activity for authors and readers alike, with prizes, top blogs and other surprises. Please add your comments to this post… I’ll be drawing three winners over the next two weeks (the duration of the carnival), one for each of my books. Also, commenting on all the blogs in the carnival puts you in line for the grand prize – a hamper of ARC’s from participating authors.

Winners for the grand prize will be drawn from visitors commenting on the most blogs. To qualify for the grand prize, you need to register for the contest. Please visit the Classic Romance Revival blog to find details of all the blogs and to register:

http://www.classicromancerevival.com/blog/?p=1671

You don’t want to miss out!



So what does “From Life to Romance” have to do with anything…?

I have it on the best authority, from innumerable sources – friends and otherwise – that if I wrote my life it would be a best seller. Having had the (dubious) privilege of experiencing more than my fair share of crises, calamities and catastrophes (most on a notably significant scale, lol) there’s no question that life, for me, beats fiction hands down.

Having a sense of humour helps, along with a somewhat perverse determination to find the funny side in the worst situations. It helps, trust me. Being able to have a good laugh, especially at yourself, somehow manages to make things more do-able… The other thing that helps is writing. Taking life experiences and transforming the icky ones by making them part of a well-crafted book, or preserving the wonderful ones that way, definitely makes me the winner. Most of my books have these little moments in time – things that happened that inspired a story, a situation, a scene. It also somehow grounds the book in real life, something that can be lost in the pursuit of fiction and which every good book needs. An anchor.

The thing with moments is they become memories, the good and the bad. Little milestones that measure life’s journey and built a road-map of where we’ve been and how we got there. I believe that, while we can’t alter what life throws at us, we can change what these experiences do to us, and what we do with them. It’s a philosophy that has kept me sane. I try to learn from the bad, then let them go and move on. But the good ones… I hang onto those, my little “happy pennies”, stored and jealously guarded in life’s piggy bank. On grey days I take them out, examine them, rub them a little so I can recapture the memory. They feed the soul and buoy the spirit, and the most wonderful thing? They actually earn interest, just from sitting in that little piggy bank… it’s called Hope, and it grows at a rate that is nothing short of astonishing.

My relationship with my late husband, Gary, is a case in point. For those who don’t know, he passed away just over thirteen years ago from bone cancer, and the last few years were fraught with all kinds of trauma, stress and heartache. They also provided some of the most precious “happy pennies” I have in my stash.

Gary was an unusual man. He seemed to simply fill the space he was in and then overflow. The whole world loved him, possibly because he had nothing to prove and was entirely happy with who he was. He was a real “man’s man” – fishing, hunting, 4×4’s, motorbikes… But was also the most romantic man I have ever met. How many men do you know who will take time out on a fishing trip to pick veld flowers for their wives?

That was my man, and I shall miss him forever. And on this Valentine’s Day, I thought I’d share my most romantic moment…

So there we are – the Annual Hopewell Trout Angling Competition (yes, we used to go fishing together). It’s incredibly beautiful country, rugged terrain sketched in bold landscapes right on South Africa’s mountainous border with Lesotho.

It’s also an incredibly beautiful morning. The mist shrouds the dam, enveloping us in our own private world illuminated by the faint promise of the rising sun. Although there are a hundred or so fishermen out there, only the low, muffled murmur of voices and the odd faint thud of something bumping against a boat penetrate the wrapping silence. (Rule number 1: Never frighten the fish!)

I’m totally in awe of the dawn unfolding, feel the essence of it, as if the breath of it captures a timeless magic and this is a moment where wonderful things are about to happen…..

Being an incurable romantic, I go ahead and say pretty much that – whisper it really, more to myself than anything, because it’s just so breathtaking.

Gary gets The Look – the one that always manages to turn my heart to squidge – and out come’s Granny Flo’s ring…..

I promptly burst into tears (yes, I know, and I’m not one of those that cries beautifully either!) and then fling myself into his arms, nearly toppling the old tub that masquerades as a boat, and almost sending both of us and the bottle of champagne hidden in his jacket under the seat overboard….

It has to be the sweetest proposal I’ve ever had. Not that I’ve had that many, mind you, but if I had, it would still be the sweetest. And the most romantic.

And the rest, as they say, is history…..

That’s all folks! Happy reading, and don’t forget to register for the contest.

Take care,
Jude

Judah Raine
http://www.judahraine.com
Still Running, and A Thick Black Line…
And the award-winning The Look

Hey everyone! I know, it’s been a while – sadly, in the somewhat frenetic kaleidoscope that masquerades as My Life (fraught as it has been with losing work, finding work, moving offices, home and zoo, as well as major health issues) I’m afraid this old “bloghogger” had to step down a little and focus on the “have to do’s” rather than the “love to do’s”…

Anyway, this is hopefully the start of a long and prolific bloghogger indulgence, and I’m kicking off with a wonderful topic – MUSIC. Not just any music, and not just any musician either. To be precise: BLUES (yep, that stuff that makes my toes curl and brings out the best in me…) Best of all: My old friend Papasean Johnson has just released his new CD! Yayy!!

For those who follow this little blog, you’ll recall about a year ago I posted on his first CD, The Colours of Blues. Click here if you’d like to read that post again. At the time, I promised I’d do a follow up when his second album (he was working on it at the time) was released, so here we are – we being me and my special guest today, Papasean Johnson himself.

Judah: Welcome here! It’s good to have you back and I can’t wait to hear about your new CD. I love the cover by the way – makes me want to explore…

Papasean: Its great to be talking with you Jude, thanks for inviting me.

Jude: So tell us – when exactly was your newest “baby” released?

Papasean: Well the CD was released November 17th 2009 and was Recorded at NAL Sound in North Vancouver.. we booked the studio for a few days.

Jude: Sounds like a lot of fun! Now for the title (you’re in “romance author territory” here, so “movin’ on” is a theme that we’re definitely all familiar with!) – it’s an interesting and eloquent choice. Want to fill us in on the “why” and “how” of it – without letting out any secrets, that is…

Papasean: I chose the title Movin’ On because I’m basically doing just that. Taking the next step forward from the first album and writing 11 new songs based on my life now. This CD is a lot more up tempo and fun and reflects my life at the moment. I really enjoyed writing these songs and recording them with two new, great players , on Bass Louise Prevost and Drums Walter Ray. They brought some great ideas to the CD.

Jude: Okay, I’m going to pick a few titles from the CD – maybe you could share a little background, or the inspiration for each… First, seeing as we’re in “romance land”, how about “Still Love that Girl”?

Papasean: The Song “Still Love that Girl” is inspired from my long time partner in life, Erin. After all these years I still love her more than ever and as it says in the song “her favourite car is a chevy impala two door”.

Jude: It’s those little snippets that add layers to music, just as they do to writing, the personal details that add life… Next on my list is “Young and Restless”.

Papasean: “Young and Restless” is about young love and that it didn’t matter what you were doing as long as you were together.

Jude: Ah, young love! You’ve summed it up rather nicely there. Okay, “Ain’t No Friend of Mine”?

Papasean: “Ain’t No Friend of Mine” is almost self explanatory from the title, getting burnt by a friend more than once isn’t a nice thing. I’m sure we all had that happen to us before….

Jude: And how – definitely a “real life” thing we can all identify with! Finally, one that really intrigues me… “Me and Two”

Papasean: “Me and Two” is about a friend of mine who is going through a bad divorce and he has two children involved, hence the the chorus “taking care of me and two”. When I told Rick, my friend, that he inspired the song He was pretty stoked.

Jude: What emerges here is that you still have the “real life” touch that I believe makes your lyrics and your music. It also adds dimension to the CD – or maybe I should say “diversity”, with multiple themes and experiences that capture life… But I’ve heard a rumor, that there’s a couple of exciting things on the cards for Papasean…

First, he is in the process of shooting a video for the first single “Listen To Me Girl” with Norman Fournier of Rogue Agent and it should be released by the end of January. Then, Papasean Johnson’s next show is in Vancouver at the Cottage Bistro on January 7th, start time is 9. All ages are welcome so go early and enjoy some great cuisine. If you’re a blues fanatic (sadly I’m in SA, so it’s not an option…) it’s the place to go. If you’re not yet a fanatic, it’s also the place to go – check it out, love it and become a fanatic….

A huge thanks to Papasean for joining us today! You can check out his music, bio, anything else you need at his great website: http://papaseanjohnson.com/home.html

To buy his music (and read some great writeup) visit: http://www.cdbaby.com/artist/papaseanjohnson

And now for a little taste of what you can expect…

Hope you enjoy it – have fun everyone!
Jude

Judah Raine
Still Running, The Look and A Thick Black Line

http://www.judahraine.com

I’m doing a follow-up post today on romance author LK Hunsaker, featuring her wonderful new book Off the Moon. If you’re looking for romance with depth and multi-layered characters, writing that delivers “romance with an artsy twist” and an intriguing exploration of relationships and human interaction, look no further…

I recently had the privilege (as part of Classic Promotions) of assisting LK with the promotion of Off The Moon by setting up a blog tour. It afforded me the opportunity to explore her work, her inspiration and her writing ability “up front” through the different blog posts, and I enjoyed every minute of it. So much so that I’m thrilled to be able to share an excerpt with you, and to encourage you to explore this wonderful book – and the other books – from a remarkable author.

Here’s a taste of what you can expect from Off the Moon

“Do you want to shower before bed? It might help you unwind.”

She shook her head against him.

“Katie…” Ryan stopped, with no idea what he planned to say.

After a few minutes of quiet while she stood and held him, she met his eyes. “I’m sorry I scared you. I … seeing him … I’ve tried to forget…”

“That’s understandable. And I should have told you what we were doing. But I didn’t want your hopes up if…”

“You didn’t want to find him.”

Choking on his guilt, Ryan wished to hell he had never admitted that. “I uh … I only meant … I know, I’m a selfish ass. I always have been. But I can’t….” With a deep breath, he figured he might as well say it all and quit trying to pretend he was more than he was. “I don’t want him to take you away from me. I don’t want anyone to take you away from me. I … I have never felt as alive as I have since I met you and … I feel more for you than I wanted, than I should, and I’m trying very hard not to. I know I’m not … you need something better than this. I can’t….”

Her hands slid around from his lower back to his stomach, up, nearly to his chest. Her eyes were on his. “It’s okay.”

Okay. Ryan wanted to ask her exactly what was okay. That he felt the way he did or that he could kiss her the way he wanted to kiss her? Which did she mean? Why was so much of what she said in code?

When he didn’t answer or react, Katie pulled away.

He caught her hand. She didn’t look at him when he moved back in front of her, when he raised the other hand to her hair, again brushed it out of his way. And she didn’t stop him when he found her lips.

It was a soft kiss, wary, questioning, all on his part. Until she returned her hands to his waist, sliding them around to his back, pulling herself in closer. And he let go of shoulds, of Daws’s voice in his mind telling him to be careful, she was too young, it was too dangerous for his career, of Will referring to him as a big brother, of his mom accepting her as family, as a daughter, of his own misgivings. His hand wrapped around the back of her head, holding her into him, kissing her more deeply, watching for signs she wanted him to stop. He didn’t get any. No hesitation, no drawing back, no pushing away. She allowed him as close as he wanted to get.

Realizing he was starting to want way too much, he broke off the kiss and moved his lips to the side of her head, to just above her ear, to her ear lobe that she’d kept hidden from him for so long. Her head tilted back, fingers digging deeper into his skin, her breath becoming more rapid, raising her chest against his at regular, quick intervals. Her eyes were closed, trusting him. Wanting him.

Ryan studied her face while he moved his fingers against it, touched her closed eyelids, her cheek, her lips. And he realized how blind he’d been. She wanted him. Possibly more than any girl he’d ever known, Katie wanted him honestly.

To buy the book, pop across to Elucidate Publishing

Or read the hot off the press Classic Romance Revival Review here

Hey everyone! Well, after four days in the cyber wilderness due to a hard drive crash (no, not me, FRED – the laptop, though it’s almost the same thing…) I’m back and raring to go. My thanks to Jaimi who responded to my Bloghogger Challenge, and posted the first topic…

“It’s apparent the romance genre isn’t going anywhere (take a look at the market). So why doesn’t the entire industry (writers, publishers, etc) get the respect and recognition they deserve as a whole? We all know of at least one friend that will scarf down some romance like the last supper, but will stuff the books into hidden hampers or drawers when company drops by…”

Interestingly enough, it was something that I found going round in my own head while I amused myself during the enforced downtime (you have to do something fun while cleaning out the garage!), so I was intrigued to find it waiting for me. I’m not going to re-invent the wheel by hauling out statistics, but the latest trend is that romance is alive and well and demand is way “up there”, even with the downturn in the economy.

Okay, so assuming that (based on sales figures) the statistics “don’t lie”, there’s an awful lot of people out there who read romance, but how many actually admit to doing so? Even on the loops, readers prefer to “lurk” in the background, and e-books have rapidly gained in popularity (perhaps because they can be purchases anonymously?)

Just to set the parameters here – this is not part of the debate between traditional (sweet or similar) or erotic romance. This is a deeper look into the reasons why romance as a genre seems to be relegated to some dark and shadowy corner and never confessed to in public. I can’t comment on what happens elsewhere, but here in South Africa there seems to be a feeling that romance contradicts the modern, liberated woman, that it is simply an escapist thing for women who are “unenlightened” and that it in some way denigrates today’s woman.

That’s a generalization, sure, but it’s still very real. Mention that you write / read romance and the initial reaction is something along the lines of “that’s all you can manage”, which somehow implies a lack of intelligence, or worse…

Actually, if it wasn’t quite so insulting it would be laughable. I read romance because I enjoy it. I write romance because I enjoy it. And I think that my books are as good (and sometimes better) than some of the other “stuff” out there being peddled as “good reads”. I don’t see why I should have to defend my preference or my intelligence based on that particular choice. I’m an English major student, cut my teeth on the classics, and still have the great poets and authors on my keepers’ shelf. Better than that, I did my degree part time, and cracked distinctions… the defense rests!

So what am I? A frustrated, cheerless, oppressed woman – oh, and let’s not forget mindless, lol – who needs to “lose” herself in the pages of a bodice-ripper because life has no other “jollies” to offer, and ends up worse off because said penny-horrible only reinforces her inferior status because we all know they’re demeaning to woman….
Oy vey! I feel a soapbox moment coming on… Seriously though, maybe it’s time for all of us incurable romantics to climb out of the hamper and make ourselves heard. Fact is, we’re in good company (it’s a recorded, measurable truth that the romance publishing industry is one of the strongest out there) and that’s no small achievement. I for one think we ought to enjoy it.

Oddly enough, no-one seems to have any problem with candlelit dinners and shared bubble baths, or with celebrating engagements, weddings, anniversaries, Valentine’s Day… and believe me, I’ve seen any number of versions of South African dyed-in-the-wool beefcake and brawn not bat an eyelid at wandering through a shopping mall clutching that bunch of roses, or balloons, or the teddy-bear with the slushy neck-tag. Go figure.

As my last post said, part of the Bloghogger Challenge is to pass the topic on to someone else, so I’m now challenging all of you – readers and authors alike. Let the Romance Readers of the World unite! Or something like that, anyway! If you have a blog, pick up the topic and blog on it, add your voice. If you don’t, add links on Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Whatever… Send it on to your friends and family… Tell us why you read romance, and what you enjoy about it. Add your comments wherever you can. Share the posts with everyone you know. Then add your name to the “I Read Romance” page here and share that with everyone you know. Let’s see how many names we can collect…

Most of all, let’s have ourselves some fun here!

See you on the Web,
Jude

Hi there. First and foremost thank you to Judah for allowing me the opportunity to come and play at her blog. My name is Brigit Aine and you can find my world at Brigit’s World Blog (http://www.brigitsworld.blogspot.com) or at Brigit’s World (http://www.brigitsworld.bravehost.com ). My first novella comes out with Absolute XPress next month, May 15th. It is a fun little read called “Red’s Wolf” and is the first of a trilogy.

“Red’s Wolf” takes a well known fairy tale “Little Red Riding Hood” and turns it into something fun and steamy. When I was thinking about a topic for this blog a very good friend of mine said talk about what made you turn a fairy tale into an adult tale. As I thought about it I realized that it was just something I felt I had to do. Vampires, werewolves and the fun paranormal stuff is toned down in fairytales, or at least the children’s versions that are told today. In “Little Red Riding Hood” the wolf talks, takes Grandma’s place and interacts with Red. That is great, but in my mind I was always wondering, “What if he is something more?” What if the big bad wolf was the sheriff of the town and there was more to Red then just a girl, what if she had something special about her too. Thus, the birth of my Torrent Series. Although it doesn’t really surprise me because I am always doing that… playing the “what if” game with things. What if that ring out in the backyard isn’t really a ring of mushrooms, but tiny houses for the creatures who live there? What if the car doesn’t really have leaves on it, but rather bits of an old oakman who is trying to talk to us to help keep him alive. As you can see the “what if” game very often leads to some story in my mind.

I recently had an interview with a 5th grade class over the phone. They had some wonderful questions but it included some of the same ones. “Where do you get your ideas from?”, “What inspires you?”, “Do you use things from your real life?” When I had to answer these questions I realized that I wasn’t even totally sure myself. I had to stop and think about it. I realized that everything I see and do gives me inspiration. Whether it is wanting to hang the guy who is taking pictures when he isn’t supposed to be, or borrowing from my own background, there is nothing that isn’t free game for writing about. Well, not necessarily writing about, but giving start to something that turns bigger and stranger than it ever really was. Since I tend to write paranormal I am lucky that almost nothing is truly recognizable by the time I get done with it. Not to mention, as you all know, the stories will take their own twists and turns. That is what happened with “Red’s Wolf” and the series it has sparked. The story took its own turn and created something so much more than the original re-write of a fairy tale that it started out as.

So what about you? What inspires you the most? I know in my last blog I talked about music and the responses around music tended to be that music inspired (that is not my take on it though ). So maybe it is music? Maybe a particular picture? What do you need to create a story and make it come to life? Or if you are a reader, what do you suppose should inspire a writer? What types of things do you like to see when your author says they are writing something? I can’t wait to read your responses, maybe there is something out there I don’t know about that will add even more inspiration to my stories. Thanks for stopping by and I look forward to your comments.

… then you will like “A slave of my own desire” by Eve Summers.

He is tall, dark in the expensive-chocolate sort of way and sinfully handsome. He knows what you want and he’s not afraid to give it to you. He won’t ask permission, he won’t need a map, and afterwards he won’t say: “Did you like that?”

- “A Slave of My Own Desire” is for all women who don’t want to be asked.
- “A Slave of My Own Desire” is for all women who just want to lie back and enjoy.
- “A Slave of My Own Desire” is for all women.

Yvonne Eve Walus writing as Eve Summers
He will force you to do EVERYTHING you’ve ever wanted to do….
BUY LINK: http://redrosepublishing.com/bookstore/product_info.php?products_id=245
“A Slave of My Own Desire” (Red Rose Publishing)

Title: Valentine\’s Day with Eve Summers
Link out: Click here
Description: Books, romance, sex
Date: 2009-02-14

Today I’m chatting with Lindsay Townsend – the second in our series of interviews with the authors from Happily Ever After Authors. Lindsay has a passion (and real a gift) for bringing history to life – and, of course, to love….

Judah: Hi Lindsay – thanks for taking the time to be here.

Lindsay: Thanks, Jude, for having me along today at your wonderful blog!

Judah: Most of your writing has an historical context, with huge canvas and huge characters. How do you choose your settings?

Lindsay: Setting is always a key element for me. I tend to fix ‘where’ a story is going to take place early on, so I can research it. I don’t
have a glitzy city background, or lots of specialist knowledge in a
particular sexy field, so I knew that to tempt editors I’d need to
place my stories in special settings. Also I find it exciting to
research places abroad or in the past – another kind of ‘abroad’ to
me.

Judah: Time to throw in one of those “inevitable-if-you’re-an-author” questions… Who are your favourite authors?

Lindsay: Romance writers, especially the super authors of HEA! Seriously, I love romance and adore a genre that celebrates life and love. I also love to discover romance authors who are ‘new’ to me.

Judah: What’s the most exciting part of being published?

Lindsay: For me it was when I was sent my first cover and knew that soon I would be holding a book that I had written in my hands. I took that bookcover and wrapped it round a book in my study to put it on my shelves!

Judah: As a writer I can identify with that – it’s a really exciting moment! What is the worst part of being published?

Lindsay: The worst part of me are deadlines. I always worry I may ‘miss’ them.

Judah: To close with… Do you have any tips for aspiring writers on becoming published.

Lindsay: Write and polish the best work you can. Join a writing group that will give you useful and constructive feedback if you can. Be clear in your own mind what kind of story your work is – not always as you’re writing it, but when you are ready to send it out. Keep going. New markets such as Triond – www.triond.com – and new publishers are appearing all the time. I think this is a very exciting time to be writing.

Judah: That’s it for today, I’m afraid. We could chat forever, I think. Thanks again. You can find Lindsay on her blog at http://lindsaysbookchat.blogspot.com or visit her author page here

That’s a wrap, folks!
Stay well,
Jude