The HEA Cafe

Historicals are my passion. If there’s any one thing that I love the best about romance, it’s a great historical. Some of my favorites include A Kingdom of Dreams by Judith McNaught, Lord Scandalous by Loretta Chase, Whitney My Love by McNaught and the list goes on. One of the things I love the most about historicals is their magical quality. As I’m flying across the country this week, I’ll be revising my latest historical romance in preparation for submission to houses. The resurgence in publisher interest in historical romance is really wonderful for me as I love bringing stories like Mirage and Dangerous to readers.

For me, historicals are magical, I mean I know they’re fantasies, but that’s what I love about them. They transport me to another place and time where chivalry and honor are romantic, despite the realities of the time period. And I’m sorry, but tight buckskins covering hard thighs, a white shirt opened to reveal just a hint of a well-muscled chest—well, for me there’s nothing more seductive!

With the RWA convention in San Francisco this week, there will be a number of big name historical authors who will be present. If you’re familiar with Michelle Buonfiglio’s Romance by the Book blog, you know that she’s a huge romance fiction advocate. This Friday at the convention, she’s doing a radio show with several of Avon Books top name historical authors like Sophie Jordan, Lorraine Heath and Elizabeth Boyle and others.

Michelle’s Radio Show is set for Friday, August 1, 3:30 pm PDT If you’re on the East Cost, you can catch the show after work because we’re three hours AHEAD of folks in San Francisco (6:30 pm EDT). Click here link directly to the radio show where they’ve got this COOL reminder feature that you can set so you get an email prompt! Means you won’t forget. How sweet is that?

So dial in and ask some questions about historicals!! Besides, think about how cool it will be to be on Internet radio!

One of my favorite things about writing The Accidental Demon Slayer series is coming up with names and personalities for the geriatric biker witches that inhabit a good portion of the pages. These are hard riding, quirky gals who know how to have a good time. And in honor of them (and because it amused me), I bring you the What’s Your Biker Witch Name? quiz. Are you a Mantrap Marcie Lusty Drawers? Is your husband otherwise known as Wino Wally No Brakes? Now’s your chance to find out.

This week, I finished writing another book.  Hurrah!

I’m always surprised by how few people understand exactly how difficult it is to write a novel.  It takes planning, plotting, thinking.  The characters and fictional world consume my thoughts for months, even before I sit down at the computer to write it.  The actual writing is frustrating, grueling, sometimes exhilarating, but mostly it’s just plain hard work.  And I mean hard!  Anyone who thinks a writer just sits down at the computer and lets the words pour unedited on the page is delusional.  And even after I’ve finished a manuscript, it still occupies my mind for weeks.  I wonder how I could have made it better.  I begin second-guessing the plot points.  I anguish over how my editor will react.

What’s odd is that no matter how many times I start a new project, it doesn’t get any easier.  That defies logic.  A task should get easier with repetition, shouldn’t it?  But perversely, each subsequent book becomes harder to write, probably because I keep raising my expectations and can more easily spot the flaws in my work.

Despite all that, it’s still enormously satisfying to finish a book.  Sure, the work isn’t as brilliant or perfect as I’d hoped it would be.  Maybe it won’t win awards or hit the best seller lists.  But I brought my vision of a story into existence, and that deserves celebration.

So how do you celebrate when you’ve finished a book?  Do you have a routine you follow, any special treat you reward yourself with?  Please share!

How I love my holidays. Travelling is one of my big passions. The weeks before are spent planning what to pack, where I want to visit while I’m there and how I’m going to walk and swim and generally come back feeling fitter than when I left.

While I adore my day job, I have absolutely no problem switching off while I’m away from it. Apart from thinking about what to bring back for my buddies, I don’t give work a thought. I just step off into wonderland for a couple of weeks. It’s a different matter with writing though. I can’t switch off and if anything those couple of weeks away really get all my juices flowing. There’s inspiration for settings, plots, not to mention heroes

So, having just arrived back from a couple of weeks in the South of France, I am inspired! I’ve got sneaky photos of inspirational men, lovely villas set amidst pine trees and lavender groves, glamorous yachts and glitzy restaurants. My writing pad is jam-packed with plot ideas, some of which are scribbled on napkins or restaurant menus as hubby and I indulge our “what-if” games.

My head is buzzing with ideas …

Ah, indeed, there’s no rest for the writer ….

Tricia
http://www.tricia-jones.com

I started this discussion over at the AlienRomances blog and had some terrific answers. So I thought I’d give you all a chance to respond, too, amending it a bit as this isn’t strictly an SFF/SFR site:

Writing a book isn’t easy. But combining more than one plot line–which romance novels do more and more these days–can be killer. You have your romance arc and your suspense arc. Or you have your romance arc and your SFF arc. Or you have your romance arc and your inspirational/religious arc. Or…

So why do we do it? What drives reasonably-minded authors to spend the time penning novels that are sometime a precarious balancing act? The old adage is that writers write because they can’t NOT write. But certainly, we could (and some of us do) write other genres.

So here’s my challenge to published authors:Your name:
Your website:

Your name:Your website:Post your answer in ONE sentence:

I write [fill in your genre] because [fill in one short reason why–your best reason, your strongest reason].

Then answer this:

If readers could read only one book of mine, I think it should be: [title] because [one short reason why.]

I’ll start.

Name: Linnea Sinclair
website: http://www.linneasinclair.com/

I write science fiction romance because I love the vast possiblities, conflicts and love stories that can be explored in cultures and worlds that may not be like our own.

If readers could read only one book of mine, I think it should be FINDERS KEEPERS because it’s an accurate melding of SF and romance in a light, fast-paced and fun way.

(Wow, that last one was tough and I invented the dang question!)

So authors–post your answers! And readers, feel free to comment and tell the authors if you feel they’re on-point.

~Linnea
SHADES OF DARK, the sequel to Gabriel’s Ghost, coming July 2008 from RITA award-winning author, Linnea Sinclair, and Bantam Books: http://www.linneasinclair.com/

“Four and 1/2 Stars! Chaz and Sully are back, and their lives haven’t gotten any easier! Picking up after Gabriel’s Ghost, the singularly impressive Sinclair thrusts her dynamic lovers into a maelstrom of trouble. The first-person, high-octane action is exhilarating. When it comes to futuristic romance, it doesn’t get better than Sinclair! ” –Romantic Times BOOKreviews magazine