The HEA Cafe

Hello everyone…

Below you’ll find the general schedule of events for the HEA Cafe for the month of January.  The following authors have books scheduled for release during January, 2007:  Joanna K Moore, Sylvia Day, Ann Cory, Emma Sinclair, Jackie Kessler, Lyn Cote, Nikki Poppen, Kate Pearce, Sloan St. James, Marly Mathews, and the writing team of C.T. Adams and Cathy Clamp.

Jan 1-Jan 7

Authors with new releases for the month of January will discuss thier books. Feel free to comment on the Author’s post if you have questions or comments.

Jan 8-Jan 14

For full time authors: Do you spend 8 hours a day writing? What are you doing in that 8 hours, typing on a keyboard, researching, marketing, emailing, etc? If your truly writing for 8 hours, what is your word count, page count, chapter count?

How long does it take you to typically write a book? A couple of months, a year? If your taking say six months to write one book how long did it take you to write your first draft?

Jan 15-Jan 21

“How did you make your first sale?”

Questions like: How many books the author completed before selling … how long it took that “winning” manuscript to go from submission to sale … whether there was an agent involved … and what, if anything, made the final difference in going from unpubbed to pubbed.

Jan 22-Jan 31

Remember those spreads in Glamour about a dozen years ago where a celebrity would dump her purse out and let the world see what she carried around all day? Loved those– can we do a virtual purse-dumping? Or “writing bag?” When you truck off to Starbuck’s for a latte and window on life, what are you carrying around with you? Even a “what’s on your desk?” Or what’s in your top drawer?
Have a wonderful and joyous New Year!!

~Blog Diva

With the New Year less than two weeks away, I thought now might be a good time to start gathering topic suggestions for the month of January.

If you have a topic you’d like to see discussed in the HEA Cafe, please comment on this post.  I’ll be posting the following months topics, and when they’ll be discussed, the week prior to the start of that month, to give our authors advance knowledge.  This will give them an opportunity to set time aside to address those topics which speak to them or their knowledge/experience base.

And that’s probably as clear as mud. LOL

So, who has a question they’ve just been dying to ask?

~Blog Diva

So, I’m curious - what makes the holiday season special for each of you?

One thing I love is the Christmas tree and all its sparkly lights. The ornaments, which have been collected over the years, remind me of people and places. The lights are magical, like fairy lights. I can sit by the tree and daydream for hours, watching the tinsel spin and the lights sparkle, remembering old times and imagining new ones. This is private musing time, unlike the (equally wonderful) busy times with family and friends. I think it’s the introspection at a hectic time of year that makes it special.
What about you?

Claire

The HEA Cafe is now open for business.  I’d like to think this is a place where romance writers of every sub-genre can gather together and share their knowledge, and where readers (and writers, too!) can ask their questions of our published authors.

I’ll be choosing our January Weekly topics from the questions you’ve submitted in the comments section.  So, if you have a question you’d love to ask a published author, here’s your chance.

So, once again, welcome to the HEA Cafe, where Happy Ever After is always on the menu.

 Blog Diva~Lynnette

Two of my novels, Captain Sinister’s Lady and Pirate’s Price, are finalists in the 2007 Eppie competition. The Eppies are awarded by EPIC, the organization for electronic authors and publishers, and will be given out at their conference, Epicon, in March in Virginia Beach.

There are three books in the finals for Historical Romance, so my chances of coming home with the trophy are looking pretty good. Now I need to get cracking on my WIP so I don’t lose the momentum!