The HEA Cafe

Author Archive

I don’t know who said it first, but I remember the author’s quote, “I don’t enjoy writing.  I enjoy having written.”

I feel exactly the same way.  I just finished another manuscript, Castaway Dreams. I’m thrilled I finished writing my sixth novel, and it motivates me to begin the next one.  However, I’m taking time to refresh my research first.  My books have been set in Florida and the Caribbean, but this next one (Working Title: “The Hot Pirate’s Secret Baby”) will have most of its action in England in the early 19th C.  I’ve got some great research books on hand, but some of them I read five to ten years ago and they deserve a second look.

I also have a couple of new purchases for research that I’m enjoying.  One is Amanda Vickery’s Behind Closed Doors–At Home in Georgian England and Georgette Heyer’s Regency World by Jennifer Kloester.

This latter book has me worried.  It’s so enjoyable that I’m fighting the urge to re-read my Heyer collection.  I know that if I start spending hours with the Divine Georgette and Hero and Arabella and Sophy and Mary and all her other wonderful heroines (not to mention the heroes!) that I’ll never get to spend time with my Hot Pirate.

So it’s back to work for now, and if I find myself weakening I’ll remember how much I “enjoy having written” and that a new novel is lurking in my brain awaiting its day in the sun.

I wasn’t sure what I’d blog about this month, until I opened up my emails on Monday. There I found an announcement that I’d won the Historical category of the FCRW (First Coast Romance Writers) Beacon Award for my Regency era “road novel”, The Bride and the Buccaneer.

I must say, I’ve had worse Mondays.[g]

I had to spend a lot of time researching Bride but it was all worth it in the end.  Even more so now with this lovely award.  It helps keep me focused on the need to get my next manuscript done, and I’m already plotting the one after that.  And frankly, the recognition from a Florida RWA chapter also feels very special.

If you’d like to read an excerpt and reviews of The Bride and the Buccaneer, you can visit my website.

I believe many readers think romance authors channel themselves into their heroines. Me, I like to channel myself into my villains. When I’m reading my finished books, I truly believe there’s little of me in my heroines (though my heroes are always somewhat like my husband).

Right now I’m writing about Daphne Farnham in the early 19th C. To get the right feel for Daphne I’m trying to channel Judy Holliday in Born Yesterday, Reese Witherspoon in Legally Blonde, Alicia Silverstone in Clueless and every ditsy, screwball heiress from the classic comedies of the 30s and 40s.

I’ll know more if this is working for me when I run the manuscript past my beta readers, but I have to say that writing about women pirates (Pirate’s Price) and tough con-artists (The Bride and the Buccaneer) was a snap compared to Daffy Daphne, and I’ve never been a con artist or a pirate!

Writing about an airhead whose life revolves around fashion and parties is difficult because I occasionally find her saying something cutting and sarcastic, and I have to stop and say, “No, that’s not Daphne, that’s Darlene.” Daphne is sweet and likes to draw rainbows in the borders of her correspondence. Darlene, not so much. Daphne thinks the key to happiness in life is having the proper accessories. OK, Darlene likes the proper accessories too, but she doesn’t obsess over it!

When I’m writing scenes in Daphne’s POV it’s a challenge, but I have to admit, it can also be fun trying to think to myself, “What Would Daphne Do?” I want to push myself to do things differently, to make each of my novels stand out. If I can pull it off with Daffy Daphne and Dr. Murray in Castaway Dreams, then I’ll feel like I’ve succeeded.

And to celebrate, I’ll make a big bowl of popcorn and watch Bringing up Baby.

It was my birthday this week, and I celebrated by doing something different. I signed up for a zipline safari at a Florida site that specializes in eco-tourism. I’d never done anything like this before, but my thought was, what’s the point of surviving another year if you don’t live it to its fullest? In addition, now that I’m middle aged, I’m in a better position than ever to try something new. My kids are grown (the oldest asked if he was still listed on my life insurance, the younger said, “You rock, Mom!”), and while my husband was nervous about me flying through the air on a cable he didn’t try to talk me out of it. After 34 years of marriage, he knows better.

It was a little scary, though not as frightening as when I went spelunking in Florida caves while researching The Bride and the Buccaneer. Never knew I was prone to claustrophobia until that day. But I did it anyway, because I wasn’t about to wimp out after having come that far.

It’s like that with writing a novel as well. When I first started writing Pirate’s Price, I didn’t tell anyone I was writing a novel. I wasn’t sure at that time if I could finish it, or sell it, or if anybody would want to read it. But I managed to accomplish all three of those things and win an Eppie Award for it as well.

Even now, in the midst of writing my next novel, I reach a point where I wonder, “Can I finish this? Can I sell it? Will anyone want to read it?” But I grit my teeth and tell myself, “You’ve been small craft sailing and spelunking for research, you’ve gone ziplining through the backwoods of Florida, you’ve hiked around old Cracker homesteads full of insects, snakes and possums–you did all of that and got four books published and won awards…you can finish another damn novel!”

And I do. It’s as exhilarating as ziplining, and as scary, but just like ziplining there’s a strong sense of accomplishment and satisfaction at the end. Now I’m ready to do the nighttime zipline safari!

I was tempted to subtitle this “How dare you say my baby is ugly!” but held back. Reviews are the joy and bane of a published writer’s existence. Each morning I check my Google Alerts to see if someone’s said something new about The Bride and the Buccaneer, but I always click on the link with a certain amount of trepidation and a lump in my throat. Did the reviewer like my story? Did she find the characters entertaining? Am I going to want to bang my head on the keyboard?

I can say, with no false modesty, that my fears are generally unwarranted. I don’t always get an A+, but so far the reviewers seem to agree that they find my stories entertaining, my characters engaging, my dialogue snappy. Some even say they enjoy getting a little does of Florida history fed to them, which thrills my history wonk soul. You can read for yourself what the reviewers are saying at my website.

Are all reviewers created equal? No. I find a comment from a reader saying “I couldn’t go to sleep last night because I had to stay up to finish your wonderful book!” every bit as grand as the most detailed analysis of my craft. I will say though that for me as a writer some reviewers are worth paying particular attention to because they understand writing. Their comments will be on point, and can be helpful.

On the other hand, there are some popular reviewing sites where you wonder if the author of the review was having a bad day, or ever read historicals, or was actually reading the book you wrote. When I get one of those reviews, I let it bother me for about five minutes. Then I remember the reader who said, “I read your books when I was undergoing chemo, and it took me away from everything for a few hours. Thank you.”

And then it’s all right again, and I’m reassured my baby is every bit as pretty as I think it is.