So, I have this friend. A brilliant friend. And she wrote this book. A brilliant book. It officially releases January 1st, but you’ll probably start finding it in stores any day now.

My friend’s name is Courtney Milan, and her debut historical romance is Proof by Seduction.

When Courtney and I met over three years ago, neither of us had ever written a full novel. We started working with another friend, Carey Baldwin, who had a full draft under her belt and a few more clues than we did, and together the three of us worked our butts off to figure out this romance-writing thing.

I still remember the day Courtney sent me the first draft of her first scene with Proof’s heroine, Jenny Keeble. Jenny just leapt off the page with intelligence and secrets and desires and delicious potential, and I did a little dance in my chair because I just knew Jenny would be the star of Courtney’s dazzling debut. And here she is!

Of course, by now, a lot of other people have figured out how brilliant Courtney and her book are, so don’t take my word for it! Here’s what the early reviews are saying:

“Historical romance fans will celebrate Milan’s powerhouse debut, which comes with a full complement of humor, characterization, plot and sheer gutsiness.”

—starred review, Publisher’s Weekly

“A dazzling debut by a multitalented author… Milan steams up the pages while drawing readers into an emotionally powerful relationship centering on the true meaning

The good news is, as of this morning, those three tasks I mentioned in my last post (page proofs, revisions, partial manuscript) are all completed! (So is Thanksgiving, for that matter!) The not-as-good news is, I still have a lot of writing to do on THREE NIGHTS, my house is a disaster, and I haven’t wrapped or shipped a single Christmas present yet. uh.

But…I also have great news to share! I was extremely honored to learn that Goddess of the Hunt has been nominated for the RT Reviewers’ Choice award for Best First Historical Romance. The awards ceremony will be held at the RT Booklovers convention next April, which I had luckily already planned to attend. Now I just have one more reason to look forward to it.

And then I learned just this morning that those lovely people at Random House have sold some foreign rights for my books. The entire trilogy will be translated into German, and rights to Goddess of the Hunt have been sold for a Japanese language edition! So exciting.

Whether you’re naughty or nice, I hope you all are having a great holiday season! Now I’m off to try to cross one more thing off my list…… Read More »

I’m still alive. To prove it, I even had a birthday since I blogged last! Woohoo!

Here’s what my “desk” looks like at the moment:

Galleys of One Dance with a Duke (due in early December)
Revisions of Twice Tempted by a Rogue (due…um…soon?)
Still writing Three Nights with a Scoundrel (partial manuscript due to my editor Dec.1st)

And Thanksgiving is when? Ack.

Please bear with me, I’m just drowning in work right now. BUT – I hope I will be forgiven a bit when I tell you those titles above now link to individual book pages! (In)complete with covers, blurbs, pre-order links, and – in the case of One Dance – a teeny teaser excerpt. These pages aren’t looking as spiffy as they eventually will, once I get my fab web designer in on the game, but they’re up!

Happy Holidays. I’m thankful for you all!… Read More »

Happy Thanksgiving to my U.S. readers! Wherever you live, I’m thankful you’ve dropped by.
Next year’s Stud Club trilogy is now available for pre-order! The sizzling new covers and story blurbs have been posted on individual book pages, all linked from the Bookshelf page. I’ve even posted a short teaser excerpt for One Dance with a Duke!… Read More »

A while back, I shamelessly asked for blogging ideas, and Sarah Tormey (I believe?) suggested I blog about how my writing process has changed since I began writing romance.

Gee, what an interesting question! Honestly, I am not sure. Let’s see. I’m currently writing my 6th romance novel (not counting the novella).

Things that have not changed: My pace of writing. Compared to many, I am a relatively slow writer. If I get 1500 words in a day, I’m thrilled. With deadlines every 5-6 months, this has meant I must be very disciplined and write almost every day. Of course, I inevitably fall behind–and I’m able to push myself to write 4 or 5,000 words in a day occasionally, when I need to. But that’s rare.

I still use the same method of plotting (or lack thereof). I tend to sketch out a fairly loose plot, basically strung around a series of “moments” I’m building toward (turning points, I suppose you might call them). But the connecting scenes between points A, B, C, etc. usually develop and evolve as I’m writing.

I like to think I’m a little better at identifying plot or characterization problems as they arise, and taking steps to correct them earlier rather later. Not perfectly prescient, of course, but to some degree I think I’ve internalized the voices of my trusted CPs and editor and can “hear” what they’d say before they say it. 🙂

Which leads me to another difference–I don’t exchange writing with critique … Read More »

If you don’t watch the Bravo TV show Top Chef, this post won’t have much interest for you, sorry! But TC is one of…three?…TV shows I actually make a point to watch, and something’s been bugging me ever since this week’s “Restaurant Wars” episode. (Warning: Spoilers ahead, if you DVR’d it and haven’t watched yet.)

“Restaurant Wars” happens every season once the “cheftestants” are down to eight. They divide into teams of four, and each team opens a restaurant for one night. It’s usually an episode filled with drama and strife between competitors and lots of frantic rushing around. This year’s Restaurant Wars was no exception. The two team leaders were both chefs with lots of obvious talent and experience, and they’re two of my favorites on the show. Michael V. has this sort of hotheaded, foul-mouthed renegade image going on. To me, he has seemed awesomely talented, but somewhat inconsistent. The other team captain, Jennifer, I’ve come to associate with precision, consistent quality, coolness under pressure. In an earlier episode, she lead the entire team of contestants and really impressed me with her toughness.

During Restaurant Wars, however, Jennifer imploded. Now, there could be lots of reasons for it. But I think she had the better team of the two, and they just fell apart at every level. Because each of them has mad skillz, they kind of decided to divide and conquer–each person working to his or her own strengths. Jennifer didn’t get in anyone’s face. She … Read More »

So, there was an article in the New York Times today that has generated some online discussion, much of which centers on whether it’s “stealing” for a Kindle user to allow a few friends to share her downloaded books. It’s not stealing, according to the terms of the Kindle user agreement. Customers are allowed to download a purchased book on up to five devices, much the same as a reader can pass a print book she’s purchased to her family and friends. Courtney Milan has a brilliant post today opining that such sharing is a reader’s right.

My own belief is that the sharing of books is not only a reader’s right, but an author’s benefit and a public good (that’s my librarian side showing). I’m not talking about piracy here, where a book is illegally downloaded thousands of times, but rather the sharing of purchased books amongst friends, family and neighbors. There’s a huge difference between the two.

I’ve had readers write to me to tell me they enjoyed my book(s), but then go on to apologize for the fact that they got the book from a library or a friend, rather than by purchasing it themselves. It just makes me sad that they feel they should apologize! Please, if any of you reading this feel that way – don’t. Feel free to write me and tell me your reactions about my books, however you obtained them. If your life is anything like mine, time is your most precious … Read More »

Lately, a fair number of people have asked me whether I plan to write stories for some of the peripheral characters in my debut trilogy. First, let me say that I love those questions! I love it that people want to read more about them.

Just in case anyone else out there is wondering the same thing, let me answer here on the blog. And I should probably add this to the FAQ, too.

Joss
Before A Lady of Persuasion came out, lots of people were asking whether I’d write a Joss book. I tried to reply with coy “we’ll see” comments. And even after reading A Lady of Persuasion, some of them are still asking for a Joss book! (If you haven’t yet read ALOP, the following is a spoiler. Highlight the empty space to read it.)

I loved writing Joss and really wanted to give him a happy ending. Because I only had three books on this contract, I didn’t know that I’d ever have a chance to write him a book of his own, so I wrote his romance with Hetta as a secondary romance, and I was really happy with how it turned out. But even so, a lot of readers seem to want more of them. I’m considering writing a novella. At the end of ALOP, they are on their way to marry…but they haven’t tied the knot yet! Who knows what could happen… *wink* However, I can’t even think about writing such a … Read More »

Hello, hope you all had a great weekend!

So, people have been asking about next year’s books, The Stud Club Trilogy. And I may as well start talking about them, since books one and two, One Dance with a Duke (5/25/10) and Twice Tempted by a Rogue (6/22/10), are now both available for pre-order! And because I’ve just recently received my lovely, sexy covers.

Oooh.

What’s different about this series, compared to the first trilogy? Well, they’re a smidge darker in tone, as you’ll see from the series’ inciting event, but they still have a fair amount of lightness and humor. The characters are all a little older and experienced than they were in my first set.

But I’m sure the burning question is, “What the heck is the Stud Club? Are you joking?”

Well, I will admit. Like so many elements in my stories (hello, Werestag?), it did start as a joke. After writing a series that was largely heroine-driven, I wanted to switch emphasis to the guys this time. And one logical way to do that was to create my own take on a “Regency bachelor club” series. And if I was going to do that, I thought, why not call it what it is? A Stud Club. 🙂

But the Stud Club actually does have a meaning, and to explain, I will quote from the proposal I submitted for the trilogy:

In Regency England, horseracing was known as “The Sport of Kings,” the collective passion of

Thank you to those of you who left me blogging suggestions yesterday!  How my writing process has evolved…great idea, will do.  Teasers for next trilogy…oh, most definitely! But today I will direct you toward Petit Fours and Hot Tamales, where I’m blogging with my two critique partners, Courtney Milan and Amy Baldwin.  We were invited to discuss our critique relationship, and how it has evolved over the past three years.  And of course, you’ll learn why the nickname for our group of three writers is “The Two Geniuses.”

Happy Wednesday, everyone!… Read More »