MyIvoryTower-Karin

Happy New Year

2012-01-09T19:43:00.000-08:00

As usual I'm a bit late with my New Year's greeting, but I hope you all have a productive and healthy 2012.

I plan to blog more, yeah, I know. I say that every year. But I try. I've got contest entries to judge right now, and they are due on Feb. 1st. I've got a romantic suspense manuscript to edit and send to my agent, I hope she likes it. And one thing on my list is to actually talk to my agent more. We found out last year that neither her emails to me nor my emails to her were getting through. Thanks to the magic of Facebook, we've finally reconnected and I discovered just how much she's been working for me in the submissions department. In the children's area, I'm hoping that Apprenticeshop Books will be starting on the Colorado book soon in the America's Extraordinary Women series 25 Women You Should Know. It's been great fun writing children's non fiction. I'm also hoping to send Muriel a brief proposal for a non fiction book aimed at tweens that she'll like. And I'm still waiting on edits for my tween book on the Ludlow massacre.

Okay, my office needs its semi-anual cleaning. I've been very lax in that department but I know when it's time to start a new project I'll be happy to have a neat, better organized space in which to work.

I'd love to network more with my friends from Pikes Peak Romance Writers. I haven't been a member or gone to a meeting in ages, so I need that. Oh, and I'll be attending the Pikes Peak Writers Conference for the first time in ages. I hope they'll ask me to present, I've sent in a couple of proposals. But even if they don't I'll be sending in my registration soon. They've got a host of marvelous authors coming in for the event and editors and agents as well. It will be an exhausting, exhilarating weekend. Guess I'd better see if that's a weekend I don't work. Otherwise I'd better request vacation time soon.

If I get my act in order I hope to get my romance backlist published on Kindle. Amazon.com has made it easy to do, but I want to see if I can get permission to use the cover art already created for it. Otherwise I'll have to persuade someone to create it for me.

I read a lot in 2011, but it seems like a good deal of it was re-reading old favorites. I hope to have the stats on that in my next post.

There's loads more going on, both personal and professional, that I have good intentions for 2012. Fingers crossed that I get some of it done.

What's on your list of things to do in 2012?

Hearts aglow

2011-12-19T09:47:00.000-08:00

The phrase, "All aglow in the work," is attributed to Virgil, a poet who wrote during the days of ancient Rome. The sentiment reflects the heart of an artist, whether a writer, painter, dancer, and so on. I love the fact that this has not changed in several millenium. The joyful heat, fire, of creativity is such a human thing.

When the fire of creativity takes me by the throat, my fingers fly over the computer keys with joyous energy and the story seems to bypass my brain and come straight from the heart. I lose track of time and become so completely immersed in the story that I hear neither phone nor doorbell. When I have that glazed look in my eyes, my family has learned not to even try to communicate.

The creative fire is bliss.

So find your bliss, as the saying goes. Find the creative outlet that will set you aglow, set your heart on fire.

Legacy versus Digital publishing

2011-12-08T10:27:00.000-08:00

This blog http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2011/12/eisler-konrath-vs-hachette.html is required reading for anyone hoping to be published or who is already published and wonders what's going on with traditional publishing models versus the rapid growth of digital publishing. Though the authors are discussing one traditional, or legacy, publisher in particular, their arguments strike the right note throughout. Thoughtful and provocative and very timely.

Rime

2011-12-03T17:24:00.000-08:00

The following poem appeared in Beyond Doggerel, vol. 3 no. 1, Fall 1998. It seemed particularly apt considering yesterday's weather. The picture is our little blue spruce, cleverly named Blue, in our front yard.

Rime

by Karin D. Huxman

God exhales.

Icy breath settles,

surrounds

houses, trucks, lonely

trees. Tansforming

fisted sheath softly

captures, then

hardens the

embrace until

morning sun turns

all it touches

into diamonds, dancing

and dripping

onto the waiting

Earth below.

Soon to be reborn

as God's breath.

My Artist's Date

2011-12-02T17:32:00.000-08:00

I'm working my way through Julia Cameron's Walking in This World, a follow-up to her popular The Artist's Way. Both books are about celebrating your inner artist through inspiration, motivation, and getting to the work.

Daily Morning Pages are a cornerstone of this philosophy. The idea is to write three pages first thing in the morning, in long hand, in order to clean your mind of the clutter and distractions that often feed into a creative person's procrastination problems. I've tried using a laptop but that method doesn't have the mind, hand, words connection - it's not quite the organic experience that's important to the Morning Pages. But after three days I've discovered that I need a fatter more comfortable pen for my cranky arthritic thumb and fingers to grasp.

Hence the Artist's Date, another cornerstone of Julia Cameron's method. It's a way to fill the creative well in a small way and once a week to do something nice for yourself, by yourself. So, in search of a fatter pen or at least one of those squishy fat things you can wrap around the pen to make gripping it more comfortable, I took myself to Target.

Okay, I had some other things to pick up and granted, 4 pm on a Friday is not the most relaxing time to visit a SuperStore. But that's exactly what I did. I got my other choices out of the way and wove a path over to the office supplies aisle. It was a good thing I didn't go to Office Depot or Office Max, I love those stores like some women like jewelry stores. I found plenty of choices in writing implements in just one aisle. No squishy things to surround the tube of my pen, but pencils galore. Mechanical pencils, both fancy and throw-away, pencils that needed sharpening along with an array of sharpeners, all sorts, sizes and colors of erasers, and finally - ink pens.

No fountain pens but just about every other size, color, and type. From clickable felt tips to ball points to gels. If I'd been at an art store I would have been able to try out anything and everything. But I could see that the lines at the check out lanes were lengthening. Then I saw it. An eight pack of gel pens. Not just any gel pens, but eight different colors of sparkly gel pens with built in squishy things already installed on each pen. Happiness at just a little over fifty cents per pen.

Will these sparkly pens make the works flow more freely across the page? The colors are happier than plain blue or black. Maybe my works will be more positive, get their own sparkle back.

Haw about you? What kind of Artist's Date appeals to you? I'm off to sparkle but I look forward to reading your ideas.

Taking action

2011-12-01T12:04:00.000-08:00

I love this quote from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: "Whatever you think you can do, or believe you can do, begin it, because action has magic, grace and power in it." It reminds me that the power of believing in yourself, while crucial, the act of starting something you believe in has more power.

As a writer, I believe in the power of words but have discovered that in many ways I'm all talk and no action. Yeah, talking the talk is great, but you have to come to the writing desk and put the words down to follow through.

I'm back at a beginning in my writing life, not quite a full circle but it feels like one. I'm a multi-published author of adult romance and children's work, but after a hiatus am finding it difficult to wait on editors to say they love my work. This is my romance work I'm talking about. My previous romances were all published by a small press, and I was content with that for a while. I learned a lot about revision and the process of seeing a work procede from contracted to available for sale. Now I have an awesome agent who has been sending my work out for nine months or so. She's working very hard for me, but some of the comments coming back are so vague as to be unhelpful. However, I know that in this business all it takes is for my manuscript, my story, to resonate with just one editor for it to take off. This is the new beginning I'm waiting for.

Also, I've started writing every day again. I got out of the habit a couple of years ago when I broke my ankle. The experience kind of shook me and made me re-examine my self image, all of the images I had of myself, not just why I write. I've finished first drafts of a couple of books since then and allowed them to languish. Now I'm doing morning pages once more, at the very least I'll have three pages of hand written trash at the end of the day, and I'm re-reading and revising previously finished work to decide if it is worth pursuing.

Baby steps for me, someone who used to sit at the computer day in and day out and write until I was written out. Maybe I was. So I'm taking action from my own words and putting pen in hand and butt in chair. And reading about writing and writing about writing, apparently.

I'm so grateful to Muriel Dubois at Apprentice Shop Books for giving me the chance to write children's non fiction over the past couple of years. That work has sustained me and pushed me in a completely different direction. And it kept my writerly skills honed. So, moving forward...who's with me?

Mountain of Authors

2011-04-01T14:38:00.000-07:00

I'll be at the 2011 Mountain of Authors event at the East Library in Colorado Springs from noon to 6 p.m. on Saturday, April 2. Hope to see some of you there. This is a great, free, event for writers sponsored by the Pikes Peak Library District. This year we have a panel on fantasy and a publishing panel. Jerry Jensen is the keynote speaker. All of the authors participating are local authors. They will be more than willing to chat with you about all things writing. Books will be available for signing and for sale.

Read an Ebook week

2011-03-09T11:25:00.000-08:00

March 6-12 is Read an Ebook Week. So if you want to support this particular author :) you can find my paranormal romance, With an Open Mind, on Amazon.com to download to your Kindle. Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/With-An-Open-Mind-ebook/dp/B003XYEUY2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=books&qid=1299695569&sr=8-2 Or you can buy either of my children's picture books in PDF format. I write children's as K.D. Huxman. You can find both Grizzelda Gorilla (award winner!) and Dragon Talk at http://www.dragonflypubs.com/dfp/kittycatbooks.html . My daughter, Kristin, has illustrated a book called Albert's Perfect Pet, also at http://www.dragonflypubs.com/dfp/kittycatbooks.html in case you are interested.

I don't usually promote myself, though my agent and publishers would like me to. It doesn't seem to be in my DNA. But I will this week. Do you have an ebook reader or an iPad? There's a Kindle app for iPad I believe. I'd love to know what you think of your device.

My (sort of) writing group

2010-12-21T17:31:00.000-08:00

I host a writing group at the library where I work on the third Tuesday of each month. It's been a struggle to get folks to come. Sure they say they will when they pick up my flyer and talk to me about how they want to be a writer and wouldn't it be great to have the time to write. However, I'm sitting here in the meeting room...waiting. I've got two, sometimes three, writers who are "regulars". Okay, I knew it would be a stretch this month. December is busy after all, but me, I'd jump at a chance to take sometime for just me. It's a gift at times to just grant myself time to write. But one gal is out of town, she came by and told me last week, the same time she gleefully said she'd finished her very first novel in a month during November's NaNoWriMo. I was so pleased for her. The other regular hasn't missed yet, she truly seems inspired every month.

My boss is waiting to see if this use of my time is going to be worth while. Well, it is to me and at least two other people, just, apparently, not tonight. I'm giving it another 5 minutes, then I'll have to do some real, gulp, work for an hour.

Please, aren't there any writers out there?! I've got some great prompts. Hey...I've even got chocolate. :)

No NaNoWriMo this year

2010-12-02T13:52:00.000-08:00

Well, I gave it a good start. But 10,554 words in I was sick for three days and, to tell the truth, that really short circuited my motivation. Plus I'm still working on my non fiction book and decided that had to be my writing priority.

My NaNo book was a story I'd started writing at Improv. My trashy vamp does not sparkle, she truly enjoys the hunt and her unlife. She's got a sense of humor, too. So I've got a non-sparkly vamp, a vamp going a little crazy, a murder on Cape Cod, and a little romance, too. And yes, I do intend to finish this book. Just not as quickly as I'd hoped.

To everyone who "won" at NaNoWriMo this year, I offer my hearty congratualtions. Look out for me next year!

November is...

2010-11-01T11:27:00.000-07:00

National Novel Writing Month, NaNo for those of us in the know. I was really proud of myself for finishing the challenge of writing a 50,000 word novel last year. It pushed me to get up at o-dark-thirty for 30 days so I'd have uninterupted time to write. Coffee was my friend. I saw some spectacular sunrises from my office window. My Facebook friends came to dread my early morning posts. And this morning I started this year's novel.

Of course I'm still in the midst of writing my teen non-fiction on the Colorado Coalfield war. But since I NaNo before breakfast and do the non-fiction the rest of the day, there's not much of a conflict. Except for the sleep portion of my life.

So what happened to last year's novel, you ask? It is still sitting unedited and unrevised. Somewhere on my priority list is to get to that book and clean it up and rewrite it. It's my biggest failing as a writer, not enjoying the revision process as much as the initial creative process. But I will get to it, I loved writing that story.

But November is for first drafts. After all, you can't edit what you haven't written. So all you NaNo's out there, get it down. Write it out. Let it loose! And happy writing. :)

Can you...

2010-07-12T13:10:00.000-07:00

use the word bounce in a way that does not suggest a ball? Someone...amaze me!

Prompt - a day late...

2010-07-06T05:33:00.000-07:00

I should have known that I'd be a day late after a holiday weekend. Today's word/prompt is just plain silly. See what you can do with higgetty-piggetty. Good luck!

Weekly prompts

2010-06-28T08:39:00.000-07:00

Anyone interested in a weekly writing prompt? I'll post every Monday. Feel free to post your responses here. If I have enough interest, I'll start a page just for prompts.

Today's prompt: Wings

My NaNo Month

2009-11-30T06:59:00.000-08:00

I finished my NaNoWriMo novel yesterday, it came in well over the 50k minimum. It has a beginning, a middle, and an end. But don't ask me what it's about. All I'll be able to tell you is that it is a meandering tale of love and murder set in Colorado. You'd think after writing the thing I'd have a better handle on the story, would be able to be a little more concise, or at least coherent, about it. However it really and truly is the roughest draft I've ever written. It is a skeleton of a story waiting to be fleshed out in every way. However, it is written. Yeah me!

Those of you who know me or follow my blog also know that I've been pretty well blocked for a couple of years. It got to the point where I wasn't sure I was going to be able to finish a novel length work. After all, I had three nicely formed ideas on paper for novels but just couldn't seem to settle down and work on one. And to tell the truth, I've always avoided these contests, motivational things. Why? Because I didn't think a real writer should need this kind of external motivation to sit down and do what she wanted to do. So you have to understand that my frustration level, even panic level, must have been pretty high to actually take on NaNo.

But it has been a blessing. Every morning since the first of November I've gotten up an hour earlier than I had to or wanted to. I've enjoyed the sunrise and written words upon words on a story that had been kind of fermenting, waiting for me to give it life. So the life I gave it is a bit unformed and creaky, but hey, that's what revising is for.

I learned a few things over the past thirty days.

- I can finish a novel again. Sure I'm multi-published but haven't released anything recently, see that blocked comment above.

- Getting up early to write only works if you have the right motivation. NaNoWriNo worked for me.

- Writing with the sunrise can be a very meditative experience.

- I can compile all my little Facebook one liners on the sunrise and see if I can find a poem in them.

- Coffee tastes better at 5:30 am.

- Morning is my most productive writing time, but not writing in the a.m. is no reason not to write later in the day. I found I could do that too.

- Excuses not to write are for wimps. Okay, that's a little harsh but I'm feeling pumped. These words will no doubt come back to bite me in the butt.

- Next year if I do NaNo, I'll do some character and plot prep work.

- Now that I'm writing again, I can justify some new tech toys. Must make my list.

- On the other hand, all you really need is a pen and paper.

- Getting back into the habit of writing every day is a blessing. Knowing I was going to write this blog today is helping a little with the let down feeling I always get after finishing a first draft.

So where do I go from here? Revising this work, naturally. But I'm going to let it sit for a while, gel if you will. I have several biographical profiles to work on, thanks Mur, and tomorrow is the first day of December. Jay actually brought the boxes of Christmas decorations home from the storage shed yesterday. Since last year I was still recuperating from that darned broken ankle, I'm looking forward to doing more decorating, baking, shopping, and just plain celebrating than I was able to last year. Oh, and this house could definitely use some dusting. Really.

I'll be writing, too. It's my passion. If I don't do it daily I feel less whole. It's a good thing to know about yourself.

The link to NaNoWriMo is www.nanowrimo.org for those of you interested. They also do a script writing month, called Script Frenzy, in the spring.

Contemplating Murder and Scrubbing Toilets

2009-11-16T08:20:00.001-08:00

So I've been doing NaNoWriMo this month, just sitting down every single day and pounding out words for this novel I had in mind. It's been great, liberating, that I've been given this permission to just write and not edit. And the midpoint, time wise, passed yesterday, though I reached my midpoint, word count wise, a day early. Mid point through a novel. Something about that realization made me pause. Even worse, it made my fingers pause on the keyboard.

Oh no!

It made me think about my characters and plot and whether or not I'm writing anything good at all. And of course this happens at a critical juncture. My heroine is about to stumble onto another murdered co-worker. She's sitting in this beautiful summer glade, her horse munching grass, the dog gambolling (I've always wanted to use that word in a sentence) in the nearby creek, and a murderer in the forest. All of a sudden all I can think about is I have to clean a toilet before my daughter-in-law and her mother stop by later today.

Really.

The scene is crystal clear in my head and for the life of me I could not get my fingers to translate it into words. I stared at the screen, I sipped at my coffee, I tapped my fingers. This was not what I signed up for. Total stoppage of wordage. Shoot.

I reminded myself of what I've often told other writers, to whit (I've always wanted to use that phrase), be kind to yourself, take a step back, breath. But could I take my own advice? I can be pretty arrogant where my writing is concerned, when I'm not sure that it's all a bunch of crap. This is the schizophrenia of a writer.

The cat launched herself from the floor to the back of my chair to the printer. I took it as a sign. I saved my work, only three piddly pages, and hied myself (another delightfully underused phrase) off to the shower. I dressed and ate breakfast. I DID NOT scrub the toilet.

Sometimes food helps. I sat back down at the computer and forced myself to put the scene on paper. There is absolutely nothing pretty about it except that it's there and it got my daily word count where it needs to be.

I'm hoping that this little roadblock is the last one I face as I hit the downhill track on NaNoWriMo. But I do have a life away from my computer. It keeps me busy with family and work and doctor appointments, and Thanksgiving is less than two weeks away and Christmas less than a month after that! I could really procrastinate myself into scrubbing, cleaning, and not murder at all.

The thing is, even when I'm not writing it, the story is with me. At odd minutes of the day I'll get an idea for a scene, or a witty piece of dialogue. I'm waiting for my muse to tell me who the murderer is because I'm going to have to rewrite this puppy at some point and lay in some clues and red herrings, but that's for next month. This month I'm getting the bones down and hoping to stay on track.

Now, where is that scrub brush? And let's not even think about the kitchen!

Whining no more!

2009-11-02T12:11:00.000-08:00

Whining can be a habit, don't you think? You get into a down kind of mind set and really talk yourself into believing that all is not right with the world. It's a pretty pathetic way to live, if you ask me.

I've been whining about being blocked for over a year now. It's been pretty comfortable to whine rather than to write, even though stories and ideas have been so stuffed in my head it's amazing no one has seen them run out of my ears in big globs. Ew! That wasn't a pretty picture. And neither was the whining pleasant on the ears.

So I've done something I really had no interest in doing before. I've joined NaNoWrMo, otherwise known as National Novel Writing Month. This is a self challenge to write a complete first draft of a novel of not less than 50,000 words during the month of November. No editing, not much pondering, just writing. Oh, and no whining. You can read all of the information on this at http://www.nanowrmo.org/. It is international in scope but also small town because you can align yourself with a home "region" of writers that live near you. They even host local "write ins" around the region where in the writers get together and simply...write. Refreshing. I'm sure a lot of coffee drinking and chit chat goes on, too. I'll be attending my first write in on Thursday so I'm not really sure of the protocol.

So what new, dare I say novel, idea for a story am I working on? Hmm... I always hate to talk to much about an idea before I have it fleshed out, and this one is barely skeletal. Let's just say remote hamlet...librarian...psychic...black lab... and murder most foul! Yep, can you tell I'm having fun with this already? I haven't felt this excited about writing a story in a while. It has become fun again. I guess I just needed the right motivation. And to decide to stop whining! I'll keep you posted.

PS - For those of you wondering about my ankle situation. If you recall, I broke it rather violently last fall and spent a year recuperating and getting stronger. Last month I went under the knife again and had seven of the nine screws removed, two are in for the long haul, and the metal plate came out, too. I'm 4 weeks post op and can walk the dog around the block with my trusty cane - as long as there is no ice!

Guest Blogger - Karen Steele

2009-09-02T09:27:00.000-07:00

This particular blog is probably only relevant to Romance Writers of America members who are trying to make up their minds about who to vote for in the election. Karen Steele is a member of Romance Writers for Change who wanted to offer some of her views, I wanted to offer her space. Here she is:

Why am I running for a seat on the RWA Board of Directors?
By Karen Steele

When I first started talking to some friends about whether I should run for office as an RWA director, they began showering me with comments and suggestions.The things they brought up were as varied as they were entertaining. Well they entertained me, but then that's why they're my friends. The conversations went something like this.

"You'll have less time to write. You'd need to get up before the kids do to get anything done." "Then I'll just have to write smarter. Getting up early or staying up late isn’t anything new - I think I can handle the absence of sunlight with my coffee."

"You're going to have to bury yourself in bylaws, policy, and committee work. Why do you want to do that?"
"I've spent the last 3 years as a chapter officer loving almost every minute of bylaws, policy, and committee work." I do love the blank stare that often generates.

"Are you positive you want to run for the RWA board? I'm pretty sure they don't even have a cover model competition at their conference."
"Yes I'm sure, and no, they don't." (This friend, who has never been to an RWA national conference, went on to say she thinks it would really liven up the Golden Heart / Rita ceremony if we could just throw in some cover models. I suggested she write a letter to the event organizers and maybe try to get to a conference herself sometime in the future.)

"You won't be able to serve on your chapter board anymore."
I paused on this one. I do love my chapters, and working with the chapter board is something I've enjoyed. "I'll still be in the chapters though. And you don't have to serve on a board to be an active part of a chapter.""Ah-ha. So if you don't have to be on the board to be an active member, why are you running for the board?"

I was starting to think maybe my friends didn't know me very well by now. So I called my best writer friend, the one who's known me since before I even joined RWA."I'm thinking about running for the board of RWA" I told her."Good. I think you'll do a great job. Now tell me why."

It's a good thing only one person brought up the cover model thing, or this post might have gone down an entirely different thematic road. But that "why" question was becoming my running-for-office theme. With each person I talked to, I became even more convinced that running for a seat on the board was the right thing for me to be doing now.

So, why? For starters, I love RWA. I know I’d still be writing if I had never joined, but I wouldn’t be writing as well. I might still be published, but I don’t think my work would be as polished and professional. If you want to become a comedian, I’m pretty sure you don’t sit in your bedroom telling jokes to no one besides yourself for five years. You head out to the comedy clubs, and learn from the pros. Then you get on stage, and see if anyone laughs.
No one laughs when I get on stage, or if they do it’s probably not for the right reasons. So I stick to writing.

When I joined my first RWA chapters I looked at the authors around me. I saw people like me, just getting started. And there were members who had just sold a first book, who were celebrating their twentieth sale, some that were bleeding over a rejection and others celebrating finding an agent. But no matter where they were in their career, they were all focused on becoming the best writer they could be. And they were all there with their advice, support, cheers, and tissues when they were needed.

The chapters I belong to range in size from several dozen to several hundred members. Each chapter has its own sense of spirit, but they all share one common, unifying theme. We support each other and know that as each member grows and succeeds, our chapter grows and flourishes with her (or him). And the chapter board members each work as hard as any volunteer can to make sure their chapters and members keep moving forward together towards success.

Over the past few years it seems this sense of unification has not flourished on a national level. We've seen publisher controversy, eligible vs. recognized disarray, contest confusion, even a complete kerfuffle over something that's meant to be as positive as an awards ceremony.
Except for that last one (I'm still trying to figure out how that one happened myself) some of the most strident disputes have been over issues that build walls between members. Writers have been divided, pushing the membership into labeled groups instead of joining them into a unified organization.

Now I'm not looking to lead a round of Kumbaya around a council campfire. If you’d ever heard me sing – and you probably haven’t, because I don’t sing - you’d know that would probably lead to me drinking alone at the bar when everything was said and done. But I am interested in finding ways to bring the spirit of the membership back to where it started. When those 37 original members formed RWA nearly 30 years ago, I don’t think they felt a need to divide the membership based on where each member was in their career. They just wanted to become successful writers, and to support their fellow writers while they reached for their own success.
It takes a completely different level of leadership to educate and advocate for 10,000 writers than it does for 37. With the growth of membership came a lot of good things. But if it came with the loss of unity, I think we need to ask ourselves if all the growth has come in positive directions.

I don’t have an agenda, or a pet cause. I’m pro-writer, no matter if you are writing with your toes or with a keyboard, published on printed paper or digitally. I truly believe that just as there is no single "right" way to write, there is no single "right" way to publish. I wish to work with the board on educating members to the new choices and challenges that open to them every year, and promoting membership development as RWA continues to grow into an organization that serves and advocates for every one of its members.

And that is why I am running for a seat on the Romance Writers of America Board of Directors.
I encourage you to email me at kasteeleauthor@bellsouth.net if you have any questions.
You can see more information on me at my website, http://kasteele.com, and complete information on all the candidates at www.rwanational.org

Biography :Karen Steele is currently running for a seat on the RWA Board of Directors as Region 3 Director. She lives with her husband and two children in Florida. Under the name Ember Case, she writes for Samhain Publishing.

Karen joined RWA in 2006. She has served the Passionate Ink chapter as Treasurer, Website Administrator, Contest Coordinator, and on numerous committees. She is also a member of ESPAN, the newly formed YARWA, and the First Coast Romance Writers. An active member of Romance Writers of America, she has previously served as contest judge and conference volunteer.

Karen is also a graphic artist, and has been a small business owner for over 15 years. To learn more about her writing, visit www.embercase.com or www.kasteele.com

Annual "books I've read" post

2009-08-17T19:24:00.000-07:00

A year ago I started keeping track of all the books I read in a year. So from August to July I keep track of the titles and authors that I read. If you scroll down a bit you'll find last year's post. The total for this year was 105, the exact same as last year. This surprised me. I really thought I'd read more over the past 12 months because I was laid up with my famous broken and dislocated ankle for what seemed like forever.

Anyway, here's this year's breakdown, in a quasi scientific manner:

- 16 of the 105 were non fiction. Since I'm generally a fiction reader, this seems like a large number until you understand that I was doing research for a non fiction children's book this year as well as facilitating a book group at the library where I work (I try to alternate fiction and NF).

- Last year's most read author was Nora Roberts. This year Nora tied with Jim Butcher with 9 each. Laurie R. King was very close with 8 titles read. I discovered Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden series last year (one of the perks of my profession) and had to catch up with the hero and cast of characters. Ditto with Laurie R. King, she writes the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series, which I adore.

- Though I often "graze" on poetry, I only read one collection all the way through. It was Billy Collins collection called Ballistics. I highly recommend anything Billy Collins writes. His poetry is very accessible, often lyrical, and always enjoyable and thought provoking.

- The most unusual book I read this year was Daily Log of a WW II B24 Pilot. It was my uncle Bob's log of his life during the waning years of WW II, lovingly transcribed and published by my Aunt Ruth. It really gave me a feel for the time, the physical and mental tests these young men were put through, and their deep love of country and family. Very appropriate when you live in a military town and are constantly reminded of the sacrifices made today.

- Other favorites that I read included Robert Crais, Laurell K. Hamilton, Eloisa James, and of course many many more.

How about you? Can you recommend any good reads to this book junkie?

Editing

2009-05-27T10:33:00.000-07:00

I'm editing my pirate story today, the story that my agent and I decided I should rename though I will always think of it as my pirate story.

In this case, editing means cutting. Not just a few words here and there but pages of text. My purpose: to reshape the story to get rid of anything that doesn't move the romance forward. That means that my suspense element, which has unfortunately garnered the tag of "too coincidental" by all editors who commented on it, has got to go. I'm hoping for a tighter story that really focuses on my hero and heroine without too many distractions.

I enjoyed writing the suspense element into the story, but I guess I lost track of the romance when I did so. Romantic suspence is a sub genre that I love reading and had hoped to write. But I guess this won't be my break out novel. I can live with that.

Time Raiders Series coming!

2009-05-21T12:22:00.000-07:00

A new sf romance series is coming in August 2009, Time Raiders. Go to www.timeraidersseries.com to read about it. The series, published by Harlequin's Nocturne line, came about from a discussion on the RomVets list (all of us are either still active duty or military veterans who also write romance) as a way to promote the authors on the list and military women. Lindsay McKenna's The Seeker is the first offering, followed by Cindy Dees book The Slayer, then books by P.C. Cast and Merline Lovelace. It's an exciting collaboration from world class authors and a publisher who knows how to promote romance. We're hoping the first four books will do so well that the publisher will want more, and give more authors a chance to work on the series.

April is National Poetry Month

2009-04-15T09:35:00.000-07:00

Have you read a poem today? The Poet Laureate of the Pikes Peak Region has instituted a program called Poetry While You Wait to celebrate National Poetry Month. To view the poems online, go to: http://www.pikespeakpoetlaureate.org/poetry_while_you_wait.html . The vision behind the program is to give people waiting in doctor's offices, bus stops, car repair places, and etc. a choice of poetry as reading material as an alternative to the over thumbed through and months out of date magazines that are usually the only offerings. And to make poetry a part of every day life.

As one of the poets chosen to participate in this project I've had the pleasure of meeting Aaron Anstett, current Pikes Peak Poet Laureate, as well as many other poets writing in the Pikes Peak region. We've gotten together to practise reading our poems aloud and supported each other during the video taping of our read-alouds for the Pikes Peak Library District's t.v. channel and audio sessions with KRCC, our local NPR station. In addition we've had opportunities to perform our poetry live to several different audiences.

I've written and published poetry for years but never took the step of performing them in public. This has been an eye opening experience for me. I hope this program continues for many years.

So, April is National Poetry Month...have you read a poem today? Enjoy!

It's National Poetry Month...

2009-04-09T08:54:00.001-07:00

...have you read a poem today? If not, go to http://www.pikespeakpoetlaureate.org/poetry_while_you_wait.html to read some awesome poems written by Pikes Peak area poets.

New directions

2009-03-16T14:18:00.001-07:00

It's almost spring and it seems like a good time to try something new. I have been given an opportunity to work on children's non fiction, quite a change for me. But my MFA is in writing for children and I really needed to feel like I'm producing, so when the chance came, I took it.

Not just non fiction, though, biography. A little intimidating but I'm enjoying the research, the putting words on the page, the editing down my original to read well on a 4/5 grade reading level. It's a challenge that came my way almost by accident (thanks Joyce and Muriel) and made me realize the power of networking.

I've also taken a chance with poetry this spring. The Poet Laureate of the Pikes Peak region sent out a call for poems about Colorado, and the Front Range in particular, for a booklet/series that will be made available for free in public places. Places like bus stops, doctors offices, you name it. I loved the idea of making poetry accessible so I sent in four poems. One of them was chosen so now I'll get to read my words on the radio and have them printed for all to see. Very exciting.

So I guess I'm celebrating the season by taking some chances and trying something new. How about you?

Revision isn't for Wimps!

2009-02-11T14:17:00.000-08:00

I had a depressing rejection a few weeks ago and my agent and I decided to set aside that project and move on to something else. Not being a drama queen, though I was tempted to weep wail and gnash my teeth, I had a couple of quiet days then put the whole manuscript, all my research for it, even everything I'd done for the follow on books, in a box and set it aside.

I really tried to move on to something else. We went on a trip. You know, life goes on. But that doggone story just wouldn't let me forget it. So I thought about all the comments I'd had on it. Mostly they ran towards, "Love your characters. The plot was contrived." Ouch! I don't see how, really. But when more than one professional editor says that, it's time to re-examine the prose.

So that's what I'm going to do. I decided it's time to put on my big girl panties, stop whining about it, and revise the sucker.

The story was originally a straight from the heart romance. I got sidetracked when I tried to make it into a romantic suspense. So my goal is to basically gut everything that doesn't advance the romance and see what I've got left. It might be crap. It might be worth working on. All I know is that I won't know until I do it.

Sigh.

Winter blahs!

2009-01-22T11:11:00.000-08:00

You'd think that being laid up with a broken ankle would have been good incentive to get writing. Alas, it was more of a distraction than motivation. Yes, I had lots of on-my-caboose time in which to write, just couldn't get my mojo going. And today I heard from my agent with yet another rejection of my pirate romance. Sigh... After discussion with her, I've decided to set that story aside and focus on something else for a while. My skin just isn't quite as thick as it used to be and this rejection really stung. But I'm a big girl and will just have to figure out how to soldier on.

One way I'm going to try to combat my emotional downturn is by returning to my writing group, Pikes Peak Romance Writers. I didn't attend many meetings in 2008 for various reasons, but I'm going to make a real effort to reconnect with these other writers. Maybe some of their enthusiasm will rub off on me.

Happy New Year!

Publisher blog and ankle update

2008-10-27T08:58:00.000-07:00

My publisher, New Concepts Publishing, has a new blog. You can find them at: http://www.newconceptspublishing.com/wordpress/ . They have contests, reader opinion polls, and excerpts of books. Most of the books are in the very steamy/erotic category, just FYI,

For those of you wondering how my poor ankle is doing, I'm healing right on schedule. After three weeks in splints and another 3 in a hard cast, I finally got a walking cast about 10 days ago and am experimenting with putting some weight on the injured side. Still using two crutches but definitely making progress. I went back to work last week. Some of you know that I work in a branch of our public library system. The job involves lots of customer service, checking books in and out, and all variety of jobs that require lots of standing, carrying, and pushing heavy carts. The doctor said I could go back to work but with restrictions that included only standing ten minutes out of every hour and since I have my hands full of crutches, no carrying. So my boss got creative and found a branch that can accommodate a shorter work day and a sit down behind the scenes job. The first day was exhausting but by the end of the week I was feeling fine. Good thing, too, I was out of sick leave and was two weeks away from using up all my vacation leave! I'll go back to the doctor right before Thanksgiving. Hopefully at that time he'll determine that I'm healed enough to use just one crutch or a cane so I can go back to my regular branch and hours. I never realized before what a process healing from a broken bone can be!

My Left Foot...

2008-09-25T12:00:00.000-07:00

Actually the injury is to my left ankle. On Sep. 6 I dislocated and fractured it in three places while camping in the Wet Mountains of Colorado. We were in a place that an ambulance would have difficulty getting to and a helicopter couldn't land. So my husband hauled me out of there in the truck and we headed to the nearest town to find help. The fact that it was after 9 on a Saturday night made it more of a challenge. But we did find the EMTs, they were wonderful. And I now have some new experiences to add to my repertoire, like riding down a mountain pass at night in an ambulance, the wonders of morphine, having my almost new jeans cut off my body, seeing my foot at an angle to the rest of my leg that God never intended it to be, and surgery. The EMTs were fabulous, very caring and professional women. The folks at the ER and on the Joint Center floor were exceptionally caring and helpful. The orthopedic surgeon on call and the surgery team had me in the operating room within a few hours of my injury. It took 9 screws, 1 steel plate, and 17 stitches to put me back together. I can't say enough about how well I was cared for when I was scared and in pain. My husband was a rock through it all.

Since I've been home I have not been allowed to put weight on my foot and have a walker that I came home from the hospital with to get me around. I go up and down the stairs on my bottom. :) Yesterday, after more than two weeks, the stitches came out, the splint came off, and a cast was put on (Air Force Blue) and I came home with more orders to stay off the foot until I go back in mid October at which time I'm hoping for a walking cast and permission to go back to work at least part time with restrictions. Jay is taking very good care of me. He fixes me breakfast and helps me downstairs before going to work in the mornings, comes home at noon to fix me lunch, and after a long day at work takes care of me and house things all evening. I'm sure he's getting a bit tired of the constancy of it, but he hasn't complained a bit.

I should be using this enforced solitude to write, but since today is my first day completely off the mind fuzzing pain killers I'm happy to be revising a novel I finished earlier in the year.
So I give thanks for a healthy right leg, my husband and family, EMTs, medical professionals, ambulances, and morphine.

Life is good!

My reading year...

2008-08-07T13:20:00.000-07:00

I've always been a voracious reader. I gobble books up. My husband calls it an addiction, I call it a passion. Hey, it keeps me off the streets. Unlike many writers I didn't have a passion to write from elementary school on. My passion was to read until that fateful summer when I couldn't find anything new or interesting to me at the library. This was way back when we were young and didn't have extra pennies for buying books, paying the mortgage and feeding kids took precedence. That was the summer I decided to start writing my own stories, thus offering me the added addiction of writing. But that's another story.

Last year I discovered that I'd been picking up books that I thought were new when in fact I'd read them years before. So I decided to keep track of the books, by title and author, that I read. I started last August so I have a year's worth of stats to wade through. Here are some of the preliminary results.

Total books read: 105 1/2
Fiction: 93
Non fiction: 12 1/2
Most read author: Nora Roberts (16) with Jayne Anne Krentz as herself and in her disguises as Jayne Castle and Amanda Quick coming in second at 13
Most unusual book: Plato's Atlantis Dialogues
Favorite non fiction: William Shatner's autobiography Up Till Now
The 1/2 book: a biography of Rudyard Kipling that I started after watching a PBS show based on a small time in his life. Couldn't finish it, alas!
Most books read in a month: 13 in June
Least books read in a month: 3 in September, I don't know why the number was so low

Enough statistics. Let me add that I enjoyed reading some new authors. One was Shana Abe who came to visit my writers group, Pikes Peak Romance Writers. She wrote a fantasy romance trilogy about shape shifters. You say, sure everyone's done that. No, silly friend. She didn't write about werewolves or anything as ordinary as that. She wrote a historical romance series in which her characters can shift into dragons. Very cool, and very well done. Another new to me author I picked up was Jim Butcher. His Dresden Files books are so very well written. They are about the wizard, Harry Dresden, and the alternate reality Chicago in which he lives and works and battles vampires, werewolves, fairies, and other dark creatures.

I renewed my acquaintance with some writers whom I haven't read in a while, Julie Garwood, Jude Deveraux, and Sue Grafton to name a few. And I picked up a few of my favorite writers back list books to read.

My non fiction choices ranged from Plato to biographies/autobiographies to books on writing and creativity. I love William Shatner's Up Till Now. He writes with wit and humor starting with his child hood in Canada, through his years as a struggling actor, the TV shows and movies that made him a household name, through his first few seasons as Denny Crane Denny Crane on the TV show Boston Legal. I don't know how many times I caught myself laughing out loud as he reminisced and poked fun at himself.

Have you ever kept a list of books you've read? All you need is a cheap little notebook (they're on sale now, it's back to school time!) or set up a file on your computer. It's pretty enlightening to see how tastes change over time. So many books, so little time! What are you reading now?

Summertime...

2008-07-24T09:14:00.000-07:00

I love this time of year. The sun is up early encouraging me to do the same. The sky stays light late into the evening beckoning me to sit outside and enjoy the cooler air and ponder the universe. The heat in the middle of the day says "siesta time" and I listen too often. In short, it can be darned hard for me to sit in front of the computer and work. In a way it was easier when my kids were smaller and I had to plan my time better. But these days my time is pretty much my own when I'm not at my paying job. Instead of writing I find myself doing a lot of reading these days, and walking the dog, and gardening, and hanging out laundry. In short, almost everything but sitting in the chair and pounding out pages. Instead of daily pages I get weekly pages done. I tell myself it's okay, I'm "filling the well," but often end the day feeling like I wasted it as far as writing went. Living in a gorgeous place is part of the difficulty, of course. People come here to vacation, to marvel over what greets me every morning. I tell ya, Pikes Peak is a major distraction. I look out the window and it draws the eye and I want to go outside and be a part of the world instead of sitting inside writing about it.

I'm not complaining, I know I'll get back to a regular writing schedule again. It is a matter of will power. Not only that, the story will not be denied for long. I'll wake up one morning and be beckoned to the computer instead of outside. My story will take me by the hand and insist that I write it. I love it when that happens. Until then I'll putter and walk and read. I'll fill my creative well with sensory images that will make my muse swoon and my story gasp with delight when I finally come back from my summer writing doldrums. For now, I think I'll find a glass of iced tea and a spot in the shade of the aspen outside along with a book.

What about you? How do you cope with summer and all that tempts you away from what you should be doing?

On fear ...

2008-06-19T14:43:00.000-07:00

When I first started out as a writer, with the intent to finish and publish books, I felt exhilaration, excitement, a small measure of anxiety, but I scoffed at others who talked about fear. With the first book I ever sold, VIRTUAL HEART, going out of print and not having sold a new romance in over a year, fear is finally catching up with me.

It’s the fear that the three book series I’m working on will never sell. The middle grade children’s novel I’ve been submitting will never be enjoyed by the intended audience. Fear that the spark of exhilaration and joy when I sit down to write may be gone for good, not just gone for a little while.

I think writing should be joyous, it should be exciting. Writers should approach the page with equal amounts trepidation and delight. But too many times fear holds us hostage. So how am I handling this fear? Well, I’m still writing every day. I’m still committed to finishing the book that I started. I’m looking forward to finally writing that vampire mystery that’s been brewing in the back of my head for a couple of years. And I search for joy and try to find ways to push away the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that says I’m a “has been” even though I’ve never even been a best seller.

Being a creative person, I live with both ego and the fear that I’m just not good enough every day. I’m working to dilute that fear by writing from the heart. Writing stories I want to tell whether or not anyone wants to read them. The process, I tell myself, is the important part of the journey. Who am I kidding? I want my work to sell bunches so I can send my husband on the hunt of his life and we can finally go on that cruise to Tahiti. I’m afraid that my chance has passed me by but I’m stubborn and not a little rebellious. So I keep writing. The story has to come out one way or another, it’s what I do.

What do you do to conquer the fear that crops up in your creative life? Ignore it? Confront it? Whine about it? Please share with us. Oh, and go to the New Concepts Publishing site and take a chance on buying VIRTUAL HEART at a huge sale price. Last chance, you know.

New graduate...

2008-05-14T20:31:00.000-07:00

My daughter, Kristin, graduated from the University of Northern Colorado last Saturday with a BA in Art. It was a cold and blustery day in Greeley, CO where they held the ceremony in the outside stadium. The College of Visual and Performing Arts was the sixth and final college to process into the stadium. The wind started blowing at gale force strength as the governor's wife began her remarks. I think about 10 people were holding down the poles that held the tent over the digniataries and guests. It was COLD. Graduating student's hats were flying before they even started handing out diplomas. I don't think I saw any snow, but the wind was blowing too hard to see very well. They managed to hand out individual diplomas, actually the diploma covers since the real diplomas won't be ready until June, to each student in the first, and largest college (the College of Education), then the president of the college told everyone who had yet to come forward to stand. She then proceded to do a mass blessing with all the rights and priviledges pertaining thereto, and sent everyone home before we all blew south to Denver! Wowie kazowie! What a day!

Then it took us at least an hour to find our graduate since she'd given her cell phone to her younger sister. At least I was able to find a warm spot for my parents to wait for the car. They travelled all the way from Massachusetts to witness this event. We had a party to celebrate later that night after we'd all had a chance to warm up and recuperate. The graduate is in the red shirt. I'm next to her in black. My husband, Jay, is on the far left, then our Katie. Son Steve, his wife Michelle, and our grandson Garin round out the shot.

Busy times and writing time

2008-05-08T20:04:00.000-07:00

Like many of you I have a family that sometimes nudges at my writing time. Not with day to day regularity anymore since my three children are grown and mostly :) out of the house. Any time I don't take to write on a regular basis I blame strictly on myself and my procrastination gene. However I sometimes have house guests, always family from far away, come to visit and find myself aching for time alone to write or ponder. Right now my parents are visiting from back East and my youngest daughter, too. They are here to help celebrate my middle child's graduation from college. She's the one who did the awesome dragon and ivory tower picture for me. So it's definitely something to celebrate. And living in Colorado I don't get to see my family very often, so it's a treat for me. But then there's the writing time or lack there of. Here are some ways that I cope:

1. Read for pleasure. Somehow it's not quite as to rude to dip my nose in a good book while everyone else is watching TV than it is for me to excuse myself and lock myself in my office. Yes, I know that watching TV is not really "entertaining" company, but it is a way to relax after a busy day out and about in more than mile high oxygen deprevation. Besides, it's always good to feed your muse and catch up on what everyone else is writing out there.
2. Read a book on writing. This feels like a better compromise to me. It's feeding your writing education and reading too. Right now I'm reading Chapter after Chapter by Heather Sellers.
3. Discuss books with your guests. My mom and I often read completely different fiction so it's interesting to find out what she enjoys reading and why. And I can tell her why I like the romance fiction that I read so much. This goes the same for my dad. Both of my parents, really my whole family, have an interest in how my writing career is progressing. This gives us a way to talk about that without it being all about me. :)
4. Even if it's just writing a page in a journal or posting something online, like blogging :), find a way to write a little something every day. It keeps your brain and fingers in sync and you feel like you actually accomplished something.
5. Finally, enjoy your company. Remember that writing comes from life. Live it, embrace it, then allow it to enrich your writing. I try to remember details, feelings, the way the light fell, the way my grandson's hand looks juxtaposed against my mother's, or how he has my dad's eyes. The richness of our lives informs our work and helps to take it to the next level, helps the readers to connect with out words, and fills the creative well.

What do you do when company comes? How do you satisfy both your muse and your need to be with your guests?

Bilateral Ulnar nerve and etc.

2008-05-02T19:43:00.000-07:00

Yes, those of you who took last week's procrastination post too seriously, I really did have a good reason for not posting yesterday. I've been diagnosed with a repetive stress injury. Hey, I work at a public library. Library work is not for sissies!! I was going to sign out of National Poetry Month with a bang but the whimper came out stronger after a morning with the physical therapists. Oh, and I had my grandson in the afternoon. He trumps posting every time. He's an eight month old sweetie pie who is happy unless he's hungry and I'm not reading the signs quite right. If his parents give me permission, I'll post a pic. So, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

New Links and Procrastination

2008-04-24T15:11:00.000-07:00

I've spent the past couple of weeks adding links from fellow romance authors to the space at the right. I hope you have a chance to visit the pages of some of these awesome authors. You'll also find links to New Concepts Publishing who publish my romance novels, my children's book site, and the home page of my children's book publisher Kittycat Books.

I've been in procrastination mode this past week. Guess I'm dawdling over revising a manuscript. Here's what's going on. I've started writing the first draft of the last book in a three book series. I got to a point where I realized I'd forgotten little details from the two earlier books. So I went back and read the first story, which is a completed manuscript that my agent is shopping around, and started taking notes. You know, hair color, eye color, names, places, and stuff like that. The second book in the series is finished in draft form but instead of taking the time to edit/revise when the first draft was done, I just started in on the third book. Big mistake. I started having trouble with who did what and when, the timing of everything was off. So now I'm reading the second manuscript and doing some revision work at the same time and taking notes, of course. It's kind of tedious work. Okay, necessary because rarely does an author get it completely right on a first draft. And I always learn a lot about my own writing when I revise and edit a manuscript. But I really am itching to get back to the third story. So I'm finding ways to keep from doing the revision.

With that in mind, here's my list for today.

5 ways to procrastinate when you should be writing:

1. Write a blog post. :)
2. Online catalogs are great, I spent way too much time today "shopping" for things I don't need and will never buy.
3. Check my email over and over and over again.
4. Staring out the window. I could say that I'm brainstorming or my right brain is working something out, but mostly I'm just staring out the window.
5. Making a list of all the things I should be accomplishing and are not.

How do you procrastinate? Do you convince yourself it's all part of the creative process or allow a little guilt to seep through. Please write something. Reading it will give me something to do when I should be writing!

April is National Poetry Month ...

2008-04-16T15:02:00.000-07:00

Have you read a poem today?

In honor of National Poetry Month I'm inviting anyone who wishes to post a poem in the comments section of this blog. Go ahead, be brave and post one of your own. I'm going to, to start it off. The only thing is, if you post a poem written by someone else please make sure you have persmission to use it or it is already a public domain poem. I'd rather not deal with any copyright issues. And please feel free to comment on poems posted, but be polite. Poets are sensitive souls. Most of all, have fun.

Poetry is meant to illuminate a moment in time, space, or the human spirit. Some are light, some heavier in tone. All have the ability to create an emotional response in the reader, at least that's what poets hope for.

The Pikes Peak region, where I call home, has just inaugurated its very first Poet Laureate, a poet by the name of Aaron Anstett. For information about this program and about this poet, please go to http://www.pikespeakpoetlaureate.org/. There are tabs at the top of the page that will help you navigate around. If you are a teacher, you might want to check out the "For Educators" tab. This is such a new program that the site might seem a bit lite (was that a rhyme?) but I know they'll be adding more to it soon and often.

Okay, now for my poem. I wrote this one shortly after the tragedy of September 11, 2001. Many poets felt the need to put their feelings into words as a way to somehow work their way through the horror of the experience. The Gazette, our local newspaper, printed this one. It's probably one of my longer and more emotional published poems.

911
(c) 2001 by Karin Huxman

You can't believe.
It can't be right -
A hoax.
Airplanes do not fly
Into buildings.
Instead of apologizing
Networks rerun footage.
Disbelief morphs into
Creeping horror.
Each rerun,
Each fireball,
Each view of bodies falling,
Concrete shattering,
Steel girders raining down
Like giant toy sculptures
Gone awry -
Becomes a human moment
Juxtaposed against inhuman
Comprehension.
America's throat closes around
The dust clogged air that is
Lower Manhattan.
Lungs labor,
Hearts ache, but still beat
Against the next ... Replay.

If you are a school teacher or have children and want to encourage them to write poetry, please visit my children's book website, http://kdhuxman.wordpress.com. I'd love to see some children's poetry posted.

It's National Poetry Month. Who else wants to play?

Time Travel Theme Day

2008-04-03T09:27:00.000-07:00

The authors at my publisher, New Concepts Publishing, are hosting a Time Travel Theme day this Sunday, April 6, 2008, from noon to 9 pm Eastern Daylight Time. This will be the place to be if you love time travel romance novels. NCP authors, including yours truly, will be hopping in and out all day providing free excertps, conversation, answering questions, you name it. This is a Yahoo group, so a Yahoo! ID is required. To sign up, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/new_concepts_pub/join and I hope to "see" you there.

5 Reasons to Participate in an NCP Author Theme Day:

1. You get to read free excerpts from romance novels in a subgenre you love.

2. You might discover a great new author.

3. Many authors give out prizes, you could be the lucky one!

4. Many of these excerpts are from books that haven't been released yet, you're getting a sneak peak!

5. Make new friends of authors and other readers who enjoy the same kinds of books you do.

New Concepts Publishing (http://www.newconceptspublishing.com/) is a small press that publishes romance and erotic romance in electronic and paperback formats. They've been innovative in bringing the hottest new fiction to fans. I hope you'll check them out.

Contest nominees

2008-03-27T20:17:00.000-07:00

Several of my RomVets friends have recently finaled in the RITA awards, for excellence in Romance Fiction given by RWA, recently. I thought we'd list "why read an award nominee?" Here are a few reasons:

1. It's been nominated for this cool award, read it!

2. This book has been peer reviewed, no one is harsher than a peer. Read it!

3. This author has written an awesome book that a panel of judges has given high marks to. Read it!

4. Romance authors rock. These are the cream of the crop. Read these books!

5. As a military veteran who also writes romances novels, I know that these authors write about heroic women who understand sacrifice and who find heroes who appreciates her. Read these books!

Yes, for those of you who don't know, I was in the Air Force for a few years. I served as a communications officer until I opted for the higher calling of motherhood. :) I wouldn't trade those years of service to my country for anything. Go ahead and Google RomVets. You'll find a neat web page with information on authors who have also served our country with honor and also write awesome romance novels.

Deviant Art

2008-03-16T21:16:00.001-07:00

Thanks to everyone who left comments. Romance novels touch us in ways both universal and personal and it's always a neat revelation to me.

Several people commented on my ivory tower graphic. It was created by my very talented daughter, Kristin. She's a senior in college studying art. I asked her to create a graphic for me to use on my website and I think she did a super job. You can view more of her work online at http://mystictriana.deviantart.com . If you leave a comment, just tell her that Mom sent you. :) She'll be making her living as an artist, when she graduates in May, so if you'd like a cool graphic for your website just let me know and we'll find a way to pass your contact information to her in a private way.

It's been snowing all day here in beautiful Colorado and looks to keep it up over night. I know it will be spring soon, I just know it!

2008-03-13T10:34:00.000-07:00

It must be mid March. I saw the first robins of the year while walking the dog around the block, two all puffed up against the cold. Don't know why they're here yet, it snowed last night. Then I saw some gorgeous yellow crocuses peeping through in a neighbor's garden. Made me rush home to see if I had anything similar coming up in mine. Alas, nothing yet.

I've been told that Thursday is "list" day on blogs. That's as yet unsubstantiated but I thought a list would be a good thing to start today. Feel free to add to it in the comments section.

Okay, 5 Reasons to Read Romance Novels:
1. Romance writers create the best characters. People inhabit the pages of these novels who have hopes and dreams and flaws, they are real and you are on their side.
2. You know that though the hero and heroine are arguing on page twenty, that they'll have made up and fallen in love by the end. It's how they get from here to there that keeps you turning the pages.
3. Well written stories written in exotic locales can sweep you away from whatever doldrums you're currently stuck in.
4. You can get fantasy, sf, urban legends, werewolves, vampires, cowboys, you name it in a romance novel.
5. Romance novels are hopeful, they celebrate the power of love and don't let you down.

There are 5 just off the top of my head. Why do you read romance novels?

2008-03-12T14:38:00.000-07:00

3/12/08 This is a writing post but not about my romance novels. I also write for children as K.D. Huxman and received my first award for a published book over the weekend. Grizzelda Gorilla won an EPPIE award for best Children's/YA ebook. Yep, ebooks get nice awards, too and I was just tickled to bring this one home with me. You can find my children's books at http://www.kittycatbooks.com/ .

I'll be blogging about romance writing and writing in general starting tomorrow. Just wanted to get this news posted.