Jessica Inclan | If The Skin Fits, Wear It

What has amazed me about the past couple of years is how I have managed to finally gain some perspective on myself and my life. What's appalling about this observation is that I used to think I had this perspective. I thought that I knew what I was doing and why and how. I thought I had things under control; I imagined I was in charge. I thought I knew what in the heck I was doing.

Now, however, I realize that I have and had some behaviors and needs and feelings and thoughts, but I don't imagine anymore that I have control of it of all. I just sort of "see" myself and know a little more about what I do. I also know that in another 47 years (should I make it that long) I will be able to say the same thing about my current self that I just said about my younger self.

Poor thing, I will think. She thought she had it figured out.

Click to read the rest of Jessica's blog and to leave a comment.

Anita Bunkley | Writing Romance

Last month, as I began writing my fifth romance for Harlequin's Kimani Press, I was just as excited about starting this romantic journey as I had been the first time I brought a gutsy, intelligent, and of course --beautiful heroine to life as she fell in love with a hero who would make any woman's heart beat a little faster.

Writing genre romance has been a big change for me because nearly twenty years ago, I started my literary career writing sprawling historical novels. Soon after, I shifted to writing mainstream women's fiction, followed by a foray into non-fiction and several novellas in anthologies. Both the contemporary and historical novels demanded lots of research, which I loved to do, but they took the better part of a year to complete, with their intricate storylines and vivid secondary characters that made for intriguing, multi-plotted novels that often spanned several generations.

Click to read the rest of Anita's blog and to comment.

Karen Harper | A Novel Idea Takes Root

Every writer needs a 'hook for the book.' By this I don’t mean only a grabber beginning, but something unique about the theme or setting. So for my June novel, Deep Down, I decided to hang the intrigue of the story not only on the romance between the hero and heroine or the murder mystery they must solve together, but on the rare, endangered and precious herb ginseng.


That's right—an herb, a root. The tag line on the front of Deep Down, screams "Evil takes root!" The herb ginseng is one of the most valuable but increasingly rare herbs in the world and has been for centuries. The Chinese emperors used to guard their imperial ginseng under pain of death. George Washington knew and traded the herb as did Daniel Boone. Some the best 'sang' in the world, as the Appalachians call ginseng, grows in the forests of Kentucky. Today, this cure-all is in demand by Chinese cartels, power drink companies, herbal conglomerates and the US Government, which has put it on the Endangered Species list. Tests are starting to prove that it delays (perhaps can help to cure?) certain endocrine-driven cancers. What an herb! What a hook for a scary, deep woods romantic suspense novel.

Click to read the rest of Karen's blog and to leave a comment.

Debra Mullins | What Makes a Book a Keeper?

I recently asked this question on Twitter: “As a romance reader, what makes a book a keeper for you?”  Out of the replies that came my way, the two most common responses were one, a compelling hero/heroine and two, a story that generates an emotional reaction in the reader, whether that means laughter, crying, et cetera.

I think we all read romance novels to escape, at least temporarily, the conflicts of our normal lives.  Even the people with the happiest of marriages, the best of health, and the most wonderful of jobs have some kind of problems.  Everyone needs to play a little hooky once in a while, and romance novels are a great way to do that.

When you read a romance, you get caught up in someone else’s problems.  And even if you’re biting your nails on page 300 wondering if these two will ever get together, you know in the back of your mind that everything is going to turn out happily ever after, which leaves you with a feeling of satisfaction and hope at the end of the book.  (But you still nibble on those nails.)

A book that gets a reader so emotionally involved is what we call a keeper.  But how do you bring a reader so deep into your story that she reaches for the hanky when the dog gets hit by the car?  That she laughs when that guy whose pickup line the heroine flicked off the night before turns out to be her new boss?  That her heart melts when the hero shows up on the heroine’s doorstep with a diamond ring after she was certain he was gone from her life forever?

Character, that’s how.

Don’t get me wrong.  Plot is important.  We need a believable situation where the hero and heroine interact and fall in love.  That might be an unexpected baby, an arranged marriage, a mystery to solve or any other situation that puts both of them in trouble.  But you need great characters to pull it off.

Hooked? You gotta read the rest. Click here to continue...

Rachel Brady | Stupid Things I Do for Excellent Books

Great books sometimes make me do incredibly dumb things. I suspect I’m not alone here, so I’ll share my Good Book Offenses with you if you’ll share yours with me. It’s all about validating fellow book worms today. What stupid things have you done for the books you love? Here’s my list.

1. Stay up too late

My most frequent Good Book Offense. Usually when this happens, I’m already sleep deprived from reading the same book too late the night before. I settle into bed with it again, earnestly committed to turn off the lights at 10:00. At 10:02 I decide that 10:30 is still a very respectable bed time. But the chapter I’m in when 10:30 rolls around has my willpower in a stranglehold. The cycle repeats an embarrassing number of times. I roll into work the next morning, virtually comatose, after a wild night reading about fake people.

2. Lie to my children

Click to read the rest of Rachel's blog and to leave a comment.

Sandi Shilhanek | Reading the Classics

With the schools in my area having graduated this weekend it got me reminiscing about my own high school years. There’s not a lot I remember about them, but I do remember in Freshman English having to read The Red Pony by John Steinbeck. I don’t want to dish any author, but have to honestly say I hated it. I didn’t care if I ever read another book by Steinbeck as long as I lived!

Flash forward to Junior English, and having to again read Steinbeck. This time we were given “a choice” of the book Of Mice and Men or The Grapes of Wrath. What was never stated but understood was that the better students were to do The Grapes of Wrath and the students who were struggling a bit could do Of Mice and Men. Even though I had that love of reading I so wanted to Of Mice and Men just because it was so much thinner than The Grapes of Wrath, but I knew which I must read, and so I did. I will admit to really liking The Grapes of Wrath and deciding that maybe Steinbeck wasn’t as boring as all that. Whether or not it made me read more of him back then I don’t recall, and I don’t really see myself rushing out to stock up on him now.

However, high school and college required reading to force me into books I might never have read otherwise, and truly enjoyed such as Native Son by Richard Wright and Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury.

My own sons are not readers in any sense of the word. I’m not even sure my oldest really ever completed a reading assignment, but I know that my youngest read Pride and Prejudice this year and judging by his grades had to have enjoyed it. (Should I dare mention that I’ve never read it?) Will they take their reading experiences and remember it years down the road as I did? Very doubtful! What about you? Do you remember reading something in high school or college that you might not have read, but now think; Wow! I’m glad I read that. Would you read it now or recommend to someone who has never read it that it’s still required reading to be a well rounded reader?

Until next week happy page turning!