The HEA Cafe

Hi, I’m Kate Pearce and I’m late.  I could list a million reasons why I’m late but I’m sure I have better things to tell you about. I write erotic romance for Ellora’s Cave, Virgin ‘Cheek’ and Kensington Aphrodisia, so at the moment my writing schedule meanders between Regency rakes. interglalactic vikings and cowboys.
People often ask me how I keep everyone straight but it’s not that difficult. All the characters have such distinct personalities that I rarely mix them up. I have been known to transpose the odd name now and again, but generally they all stay in their own books. Sometimes I wish I was one of those organized writers who keep spreadsheets and character profiles as I have an annoying habit of getting half way through a book and forgetting a minor character’s name…then I have to go back and re-read which wastes time.  When I’m rich and famous I’m planning on employing an assistant whose job it is to take care of all these annoying details for me! (or perhaps bribing one of my teenage sons)
One of the interesting things about being a published author is that the journey for my characters doesn’t end under my bed or in the filing cabinet, sometimes it ends in a printed book. I’ve also found that books are like boomerangs. You constantly send them out… and they keep coming back.

Firstly, your pristine manuscript pages arrive covered in red ink, often smelling of smoke and potentially concealing a few coffee rings or cookie crumbs within their crumpled folds. These are called ‘copy edits’ and often make an author cry. And don’t think you can lose these pages…for a print publisher they are the only marked up copy of changes…if you lose them, someone will have to go through the whole lot again and I suspect you, the author, would not be very popular.

Then you get another pile of paper which looks like a book before someone has cut the pages out and stuck them together with a cover. This stage is called the ‘galleys’. And although the publisher ’says’ you can make changes, its kind of implied that if you do too many, you might not be very popular. I also think they say this because usually at this point you, the author, have read the flipping manuscript about 80 times and, if you are anything like me, you hate loathe and despise it, wonder how on earth you ever wrote such drivel and contemplate changing your name and moving to Australia. But that might just be me…

Eventually there are also things called ARC’s , advanced reading copies, but I believe you have to be very fancy like Claire Delacroix to always get these. (Sometimes I get them, sometimes not). One thing I can tell you is that a lot of authors get very annoyed when ARC’s get sold on eBay before the book even comes out. Personally, I’m still at the stage where I go and check out everyone  on eBay who offers my book for sale because I’m still impressed that anyone bought it in the first place, but I’m sure that will change.

Finally a box appears on your doorstep and there, in all its glory, is your book. For me it’s always an amazing moment. the fact that something I made up in my head now has a physical form. It’s at this point that I always lick the cover…gross but true. Somehow tasting the book makes it real. And as for the ugly rumor that I also lick my proposals, this isn’t true-those I kiss before I put them in the envelope-no licking involved, I promise.

And the boomerang effect continues with the whole review cycle. In some ways the book has a whole life of its own after you write ‘the end’. And then, of course, while all this is going on, you still have to be writing another book and then another so that you end up juggling a whole series of processes. Isn’t writing fun?

I was hoping to have the cover of ‘Simply Sexual’ to show you this month but I haven’t received it yet, instead here is “Roping the Wind” which I love, especially as the people on the front actually look a lot like my characters!

It’s a good job I like editing so the boomerang effect doesn’t bother me too much!

Which part of the writing process do you love/hate the most?

See you next month!

Kate

“Roping the Wind” Virgin ‘Cheek’ UK Dec/US/Feb 08

“Simply Sexual” Kensington Aphrodisia Feb 08