Since I’m often setting goals like “go to the gym seven hundred times a week,” the idea of reading a hundred books of FICTION in a year sounds like a dream.  I bet you read that much most of the [...]]]> Ambling around the internet this morning, I found this challenge from Book Chick City:

It seems a luxurious delight  worthy challenge for our insanely readerly selves. I signed up. Maybe you’ll want to join me. Click the icon.

Also, speaking of reading: The OtherLand Chronicles, the serial urban fantasy/YA/? I started for NaNoWriMo,  is still in progress.  Just started Chapter Nine this morning.  Posting M-W-F through December.  Having so much fun it’s just sinful.  ;)

To start at the beginning, go here: http://theotherlandchronicles.com/2011/10/starthere/

As I write this, it is the last morning of summer. My yearling kittens are crouched in the garden, watching a squirrel on the fence make his way through the face of a sunflower, methodically plucking out striped seeds with his tiny hands, cracking their shells, devouring the [...]]]> Posted at Writer Unboxed this morning

As I write this, it is the last morning of summer. My yearling kittens are crouched in the garden, watching a squirrel on the fence make his way through the face of a sunflower, methodically plucking out striped seeds with his tiny hands, cracking their shells, devouring the kernels. There are piles of hulls, here and there, through the garden, where I have tied the flower heads to the fence or a branch or a gate. Light angles at a long angle, illuminating the withering squash, the tired corn. As I drink my tea, I’m a little melancholy, knowing that this season is turning. It is such a particular summer.

They all are.

One of the things that has come up in formatting my old books for publication in e-format is the recognition that they are fruits of the years in which they were born. This might seem a simple, clean observation—well, of course they are, you might say. In 1993, the peaches were good and there was a lot of rain, and there were certain political events that influenced my views and ideas. Music always shapes and influences my work, so the popular tunes of the time will add spice and flavor.

When I began the work of going through these books, written from about 1990 through 2000 or so, I never planned to rewrite them in any meaningful way. I have so much work flowing through me currently that that spending time on finished, whole work seemed a bad use of time. It is important to me to update glaring tech issues that date the material in negative ways—changing Walkmans to Ipods, for example, and updating language to reflect the moment.

But even reading to do that much is almost impossible, I find, because they hold too much of me, of my life. It is as if the fruit of those months or years of writing has been bottled and turned to wine that now carries the most powerful notes of that period in a way that I almost cannot bear. READ MORE>>>>>>

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A full length contemporary romance.

Weary and battered after a stint in prison for killing her abusive husband, Tanya has been dreaming of the day [...]]]> Three of my most beloved novels from my contemporary romance days are now available in ebook format.

The Last Chance Ranch 

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A full length contemporary romance.

Weary and battered after a stint in prison for killing her abusive husband, Tanya has been dreaming of the day she could renew her relationship with the son she lost.  Now cooking at a ranch for troubled boys, she takes the first, tentative steps toward her son…and to his adopted father, Ramon, a man so real and true he might be able to teach Tanya how to trust…and live…again.

Story behind the story:

There was a string of domestic violence cases in Colorado one year. One woman left behind notes to her young sons, and as a mother of young sons at the time, I couldn’t bear it.  Another woman was gunned down at Taco Bell right across the street from the domestic violence shelter.  Finally, one Easter morning, my street was closed at both ends while an army of police tried to track down the man trying to kill his wife across the street. She had escaped with her daughter out the back door, but my youngest was outside playing when it all happened. I’d finally had enough and decided to write about a woman and child who made it out.

This book won The Janet Dailey Award, a $10,000 cash prize awarded to a romance that best explores a social issue.  It was also a RITA finalist, and remains a big reader favorite.

Jezebel’s Blues

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Jezebel’s Blues is a full length contemporary romantic novel.

When the Jezebel River overflows her banks and tries to swallow the small town of Gideon in East Texas, Celia Moon is alone and frightened in the farmhouse she inherited from her grandmother. When a mesmerizing and troubled drifter washed up on her porch, she has no choice but to take him in. As the river rises, the pair retreat to the attic to ride out the storm—and discover a compelling attraction.

The daughter of two artists who were besotted with each other, Celia has always felt the odd woman out. She yearns to find a place she can call her own, a family of her own, a life that has some stability and meaning.  Her grandmother’s farmhouse in Gideon has always represented that.

Eric fled his grim childhood in Gideon to find a life as an acclaimed blues guitarist, but that life has been taken from him, too, and he’s back in Gideon with a chip on his shoulder that hides the vast, hunger he, too, feels to find his place, his home, his life.  Waiting out the storm with sunny, optimistic Celia, he wonders if maybe there’s a place in Gideon for him after all, in the arms of a woman who might know more than she thinks about acceptance.

A novel as rich and deep as a river, Jezebel’s Blues is both a haunting love story and a tale of finding your way to accepting yourself.

Story behind the story

This is one of my personal favorites. It was my first RITA finalist, and the conference that year was in St. Louis, which was flooding that summer.  Mainly, I just loved it, and it helped me explore ideas that would lead to In the Midnight Rain, and to another tale set loosely in the same town during WWII (more as I am able to say).

Breaking the Rules

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Mattie O’Neal was on the run.  She’d stolen a car, cut off her hair, changed her name and was slinging hash in a small Arizona town.  She thought she was safe – until Zeke Shephard walked through the door. His rugged, muscled body set every woman’s heart aflutter – but his probing questions made Mattie weak for another reason.

Still, when the bad guys caught up with her, it was Zeke who rescued Mattie and took her to his own retreat.  Zeke who comforted her . . . protected her . . . and loved her.  Although Zeke insisted he was just a guy for the moment, could Mattie persuade him to make that moment last a lifetime?

Story behind the story:
I have a weakness for road books.  What happens when you disappear and start over–what can you find out about yourself, the world, and a great love? Zeke is a bad-boy with a broken heart, and Mattie is a woman who can heal and transform, both herself and her world.

Add another to the list…this is so exciting for me!  I loved writing these books and it’s really wonderful to discover that I still love them.  LUCIEN’S FALL was a bit of a breakout book, my third historical romance.

It was becoming clear to me that medievals did not [...]]]> Cover art by Sharon Schlicht

Add another to the list…this is so exciting for me!  I loved writing these books and it’s really wonderful to discover that I still love them.  LUCIEN’S FALL was a bit of a breakout book, my third historical romance.

It was becoming clear to me that medievals did not sell as well as other eras, but I couldn’t see myself writing Regency, which is mannerly in the extreme and had too many VERY picky fans who would know if I got even a fork out of place.  While I’m quite serious about research (and in fact it is one of the best parts of the job), that didn’t appeal.  So, one day on the old GEnie RomEx network, I was moaning about this problem…what era could I try that would be right for me? The delightful Jo Beverley, always such a genius in these things, said, “Why not Georgian? It would suit.”

It turned out to be a very good fit. The book earned an entirely new group of readers. I ended up doing three books set in the era, and did enormous amounts of research to set up several more.  The first 2 books of the St. Ives series, The Black Angel and Night of Fire (which also have new covers…see right) are already up at Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords (for those of you who are buying the books outside the US and UK, especially).

Now I can add Lucien’s Fall to the list.  It is the tale of a tortured rake with absolutely no moral boundaries who is tortured by a tragic secret.  He meets Madeline at a house party in the country and is determined to make her a notch in his belt, but she’s been raised to understand the tricks of rakes, and besides, she has an ancestral estate to save.  You can read an excellent discussion of the book at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, one of the best discussions of any of my books ever, IMO.

Buy Lucien’s Fall at: Kindle, Nook, or Smashwords.  Only 99 cents for a limited time.

*****Also, my friends, it’s very helpful if readers post reviews or even just ratings at Amazon and B&N. All books, of course, but especially ebooks. You can do it anonymously and it helps other browsers to find the books they’re interested in, so please feel free to tag, rate, or review any/all of the ebooks. I will be eternally grateful. I DO NOT CARE IF THE REVIEWS ARE GOOD OR BAD.  If I could think of a contest to encourage this, I definitely would.  (And if any of you think of a way for me to do it, let me know).  ********

This is what can be fun about the shift in the way books come to market. A Bed of Spices was my first historical. It’s a dark, wildly romantic Romeo and Juliet tale, and I loved it madly. It was, however, set in an unusual location, and it did not sell all that [...]]]>

This is what can be fun about the shift in the way books come to market. A Bed of Spices was my first historical. It’s a dark, wildly romantic Romeo and Juliet tale, and I loved it madly. It was, however, set in an unusual location, and it did not sell all that well. Over time, readers discovered it and bought the used edition to a point that I saw copies for sale for really enormous amounts of money.

Today it’s in the top 20 historical romances at Kindle. What makes that thrilling is that a book I adored and worked so very hard on can now find a new readership in a different market than the one in which it appeared.

It is the nature of the Kindle rankings that things move very fast, so likely it will not stay there long. You never know, though, do you? If you’re so inclined, post a review. Let’s see what happens.

In HOW TO BAKE A PERFECT LIFE, there is a young girl who falls madly in love with dahlias.   Somehow, I am in love with dahlias, too, and this one is growing in my front yard. It makes me want to go [...]]]>

In HOW TO BAKE A PERFECT LIFE, there is a young girl who falls madly in love with dahlias.   Somehow, I am in love with dahlias, too, and this one is growing in my front yard. It makes me want to go exploring.

The Writer’s Toolbox: Walking

One of the number one requirements of a commercial fiction career is that you must reliably produce [...]]]> No one here will be surprised at this post that I wrote for  Writer Unboxed.   I knew some of you would enjoy reading it, but keep forgetting to post a link here.

The Writer’s Toolbox: Walking

One of the number one requirements of a commercial fiction career is that you must reliably produce good material, year in and year out. Reliable and good are not always an easy combination. To do it, a writer has to take care of her body, her mind, and her spirit.

Over the years, I’ve found many ways to do that, but the mainstay is walking. I walk every morning, and take long walks on weekends and evenings; I walk around the cities I visit when I travel. I’ve done a marathon and a half over two days (Avon walk) and twice now have walked over a hundred miles in the course of a week. Walking is my passion (which you might have guessed from the title of my blog, A Writer Afoot).

There is a long history of writers and walkers—Wordsworth is said to have walked 175,000 miles in his lifetime and Thoreau was given to 20 mile rambles through the forests and over the hills. Walking is done at human speed. It gives us time to see, to think, to ponder and wonder. It gently releases endorphins and keeps the joints fluid. Brenda Ueland wrote:

If you would continue to be alone for a long time, amblingly swinging your legs for many miles and living in the present, then you will be rewarded: thoughts, good ideas, plots for novels, longings, decisions, revelations will come to you

In other words: walking fills the well.

I spent the winter and spring writing a book that tested me, made me reach harder and higher than I ever have, and by the end of May, when I finished the last of the revisions and finally polished it to the place I wanted it to be, I was bone-dry. The girls in the basement crashed, refusing to give me one more word. Continue Reading »

A BED OF SPICES is a wildly romantic tale of forbidden love set in the turbulent middle ages. Solomon and Rica meet by chance at the herbalist’s cottage and fall deeply in love despite the divisions of religion, class, and expectations — but how can they possibly find a happy ending with so [...]]]>

A BED OF SPICES is a wildly romantic tale of forbidden love set in the turbulent middle ages. Solomon and Rica meet by chance at the herbalist’s cottage and fall deeply in love despite the divisions of religion, class, and expectations — but how can they possibly find a happy ending with so many things stacked against them? Dark, beautiful and ultimately uplifting, this is a romance you won’t easily forget.

Only $3.99!

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THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY

This was my first historical novel.  It came about when I discovered two things: that St Valentines day was celebrated in the middle ages, and also, that European Jews were persecuted during the plague.  Which might make you think this is much too grim for your reading pleasure, and I’ll admit it is a dark book, but it is also a romance.  It is focused on the love story between these two young, passionate, and conflicted human beings feel for each other, and what that might cost them.

Because of the unusual setting and storyline (which was quite quite different at the time), the book did not sell a huge number of copies, but as time goes by, it continues to attract devotion from some readers. This combination has led to a shortage of copies in circulation, and new editions are quite pricey.  One of my favorite comments over on GoodReads said that she tended to be cheap, but paid $15 for her copy and found it worth every penny.  Thank you, my dear.

One of my favorite reviews is here:  http://www.likesbooks.com/cgi-bin/bookReview.pl?BookReviewId=1389. , where it was awarded Desert Island Keeper status by Vivien Fritsche.

Here is the original cover, which I never liked and ended up on somebody else’s historical romance at some later date. How do you like the one my cousinSharon and I came up with (above)?  Does it appeal to you?

If you’d like to look for it in a print edition, you can try some of these sellers:

Amazon new and used copies of A Bed of Spices.  Recommend you skip the $2000 edition.

Barnes and Noble approved sellers of new and used copies of A Bed of Spices.