I just returned from the Authors After Dark weekend (see picture of the costume party above) where I met fans and other authors and finally got to put faces to names I've been running into online for years now. Now that I'm back, I'm catching up on sleep and work.

Things are happening. Some long awaited, others a complete surprise.
First, I was just brought on to be a regular blogger for a really fun site. This site has nothing to do with romance authors or readers, which is what makes it so exciting. I get to expose a whole new group of readers to the insanity that comes with the romance industry. The main site actually focuses on foods that are Aphrodisiacs, which makes it a nice tie in to romance actually. Here's the link to my blog Confessions of a Romance Writer


From there you can get to the other blogs and the main site. Check it out, it's a lot of fun. I stumbled upon it while researching natural aphrodisiacs for my upcoming release (which is my next bit of news). "Gillian's Island", a fun, sexy, short story, will release from Sapphire Blue Publishing in November. It's about a group of castaways, my twist on the old TV show Gilligan's Island.

On the cowboy front, Rough Stock rereleased through Samhain and became an instant best seller, hitting #2 on the MBAM list, which is really good for a re-release. Unridden is the next to be moved from the soon to be defunct Linden Bay Romance imprint over to Samhain. That will happen officially on November 10th. THEN, this is the best part, we are in edits on the sequel to Unridden, the long awaited story for Mustang Jackson. Yes, Bucked has been contracted and as soon as I have a release date, I'll let you know.


On the military front, I have rewritten and expanded the first story in my first military trilogy. "Trey", story 1 from Trilogy No. 103: Red Hot & Blue has been contracted and will be released from Samhain. Sean, the soldier muse, is currently very busy getting ready for his 6th deployment. This will be his second to Afghanistan. I anticipate this with mixed feelings. Though I worry about him daily while he is there, I also know the excitement radiating off him while he's deployed in palpable. I truly believe adrenaline is a drug and certain men are most happy when it is surging through them at full force. Sean is one of those. The other strange part is, I have much more contact with him when he's deployed than when he's not. I expect lots more stories of everyday life on his Forward Operating Base in the border province and tales of missions, all of which will of course inspire me to want to write another military book I am sure. I haven't had a new one released since A Prince Among Men, which was about his last deployment. I guess I am due.

On the Greek God front, I am 2/3 of the way done with the story for Pantheon Volume 3. I need to finish and submit that this week. It is a twisted (very twisted) retelling of the Eros (aka Cupid) and Psyche tale. We'll see what both the editors and you all think about my interpretation. It should be interesting. LOL! In the meantime, both Pantheon Volume 1 (which Suzanne is holding below at the picture of the Authors After Dark signing) and also Volume 2 are both available in print.


And in the middle of it all I am reading and reading some more to get through the many submissions from the more than generous authors who have sent in stories for the All Romance eBooks' call for their 28 Days of Heart Charity Campaign to benefit the American Heart Association. There are so many, I will most likely pull my own submission and let one of the others have my spot.

That's it for now!

Cat

The newly expanded Rough Stock is (for today anyway) the #3 Best Seller site wide on My Bookstore and More!!

Hope you enjoy this book video.
Cat

Rough Stock

EBOOK AT MBAM http://www.mybookstoreandmore.com/shop/product.da/rough-stock

Due to a glitch with the hotel, we were able to reopen registration until September 20th. Have you been thinking about coming to the Authors After Dark Paranormal weekend but thought you had missed the registration deadline? Now is your chance. So many fantastic authors have signed up to come, give away goodies and sign on Saturday, that you won't want to miss out on this .

Registration is $175 and includes 4 meals, 2 parties (a candy shoppe PJ party and a Masquerade ball), a cocktail hour, a slew of reader focused events, Author-led mini events and tons of free books and goodies! And we are doing a charity raffle to benefit the ACN and a local no kill shelter, Pets Alive! We have over 25 gift baskets too!

Your room is $99 a night, double occupancy, and can be booked through the info on the AAD website on the Registration page.

Who is going to be there? Check out this list!
Jacquelyn Frank, Sunny, Joey W. Hill,Stella and Audra Price, Bianca D'Arc, Rosemary Laurey, Jennifer Armintrout, Madeline Oh, Georgia Evans, Mechele Armstrong, Samantha Sommersby, Cat Johnson, Cathy Clamp, Eliza Gayle, Diana Castilleja, Leigh Ellwood, Tilly Greene, Selena Illyria, Stephanie Julian, Judi Fennell, Kayleigh Jamison, Donna Grant, Robin T. Popp, Linda Mooney, Mima, Teresa Noelle Roberts, and JoLynne Valerie

The authors are fantastic, the goodies are fantastic, the books are beyond a doubt amazing. We got the authors, the books, and the events. All we need is YOU!

To register, join us at http://www.authorsafterdark.net/register.html We are looking forward to having you with us this year.

Hope to see you there!
Cat

I believe people will write things on the internet they would never ever even think of saying to your face. I know written words hurt just as much if not more than spoken words.

I believe you should never criticize anyone until you've been in their shoes. I know you will word things differently once you know personally what that criticism feels like.

I believe people will either love you or hate you for who you are. I know you can't do anything to change their opinion.

I believe you can not possibly please everyone. I know I still try to anyway.

I know at times I hate being a writer as much as I love it. I believe that will never change.

This shouldn't be a surprise to any of you. No, not much of a resemblance between her and I, but apparently I thought I was Jane Austen for a brief period.



I wrote a novella using what I thought was a very up to date and catchy premise. Think Gossip Girl meets Dukes of Hazard with a few of the Golden Girls thrown in for color. A spoiled rich girl acts out for attention and gets into trouble, prompting her grandmother to ship her off to an old friend's cattle ranch in Colorado where she has an epiphany, makes a dramatic transformation, and meets two really hot cowboys. Yes, the heroine is unlikeable in the beginning. She is flawed. It's not her fault. It's how she was raised and the environment she was brought up in. But she sees the error of her ways and changes with the help of the family who takes her in.

Flawed heroines are not a new thing. Think Jane Austen's "EMMA". Emma is not so nice. She's cruel to the spinster, she's manipulative in her dealings with her friend and men, she jealous, yet she learns a lesson in the end.  But I've read Emma three times. I cry when she is heartbroken. I rejoice when she gets the man.

Think of the Alicia Silverstone movie, "Clueless", which was a modern day remake of Emma. The heroine, Cher, is not so nice. She's spoiled, shallow and a bit stupid. Yet I love that movie and I root for her to win the guy everytime I watch it. And she does in the end after she transforms into a better, yet still silly, person.

There's a phrase in publishing. Mary Sue. It refers to when authors write perfect heroines. They are smart, gorgeous, perfect in every way and everyone loves them. And they are totally unrealistic and editors hate them. Yet write a flawed heroine and she is "manipulative' (rejection from publisher #1), 'whiny' (rejection from publisher #2) and 'unlikeable' (rejection from publisher #3).

Actually, publisher #1 rejected the story twice so this poor character has been rewritten twice and still rejected a total of 4 times. So now what?? The good news is I am becoming quite immune to rejection. The bad news is, I'm not sure what to do with the story or this character. I don't want to rewrite her and make her nice and sweet and likeable.

Any suggestions? Do I have faith in readers that they'll accept my heroine as is, ride along with her on her journey to redemption and rejoice in the end at her happy ending. Or do I succumb to the pressure.

I await your responses.

Cat

So yesterday was full of ups and downs. I awoke to a rejection for a manuscript that I just can't seem to get right. Happy birthday to me. No one likes rejection and us sensitive artistic types really hate it. Right then, I hated this biz, but just a few hours later I was sitting at Laguardia Airport reading the first draft of my friend's script on my iPod Touch and feeling very cosmopolitan doing so. Me, the jet setter, reading scripts! My friend lives in LA and had a meeting with a production company who is looking for scripts for LifetimeTV-type movies. He immediately thought of me and wants me to send him ideas and read over his script. How cool is that? Then, in a total turn around I was thinking, "I love this biz!" Though the rejection still sucks. I'm not that fickle to forget the pain that easily. Perhaps the universe was throwing me a bone. May we always have a pick me up after a knock down. 

Anyway, this is just a small glimpse into the crazy life of a conflicted writer. Thanks for listening.

Cat

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Save the date! October 23-25, 2009 - The Authors After Dark Paranormal Weekend is filling up fast! Sign up by August 1^st to get the lowest membership rate of $160 for the weekend. (After August 1^st, the membership goes to $175.)....

The event is being held at the Suffern, NY Holiday Inn, located conveniently about 1 hour from New York City and most of the area’s major airports. Guest include:....

Jacquelyn Frank....

Sunny....

Joey W. Hill....

Stella and Audra Price....

Bianca D'Arc....

Rosemary Laurey....

Jennifer Armintrout....

Madeline Oh....

Georgia Evans....

Mechele Armstrong....

Samantha Sommersby....

Cat Johnson....

Cathy Clamp....

Eliza Gayle....

Diana Castilleja....

Leigh Ellwood....

Tilly Greene....

Selena Illyria....

Adra Steia....

Stephanie Julian....

Judi Fennell....

Kayleigh Jamison....

Donna Grant....

Robin T. Popp....

Linda Mooney....

Mima

....

....

Area attractions include the phenomenal shopping at Woodbury Common (http://www.premiumoutlets.com/outlets/outlet.asp?id=7) and the Forest of Fear (http://www.theforestoffear.com/home.php), held on the site of the New York State Renaissance Faire at Sterling Forest.

The convention is limited to 200 attendees so your “face time” with your favorite authors is maximized. We’re having loads of panel discussions, parties and a fantabulous dealer’s room. We’ll also be holding a massive charity raffle to benefit the CAN and Pets Alive – a local no kill animal shelter.....

Sign up now for the best rates! The conference registration is only $160 until August 1^st ($175 after August 1^st) and the hotel is $99 per night, double occupancy. Lots to do in the area will make this a weekend you will never forget!

I always learn so much from the authors I interview on the radio show that it amazes me. One thing I am still trying to internalize, something other writers have already achieved, is accepting other people's opinions of what I do. I've said it before and I'm sure I'll say it again, I love my job as a romance writer as much as I hate it. I love the creativity, the positive feedback, the freedom and the people I meet. I hate the negative feedback, the arbitrary nature of the biz and the judgment I often receive because what I write is not "important". Hell, I know that I'm not penning great literature, but what I am writing is something that might just help the reader escape for a little while. If I make that reader laugh, or smile, or forget the laundry, or economy, or heartbreak of the real world then who cares if I haven't written the next Oprah bookclub pick? I liken it to this... how many times can you watch Schindler's List before you need a break from the drama with a little Mel Brooks? There is room in this world for both.

I always feel like this when I'm exposed to 'real' writers. Those people who write poetry, or non-fiction, or real-life/memoir-inspired fiction. There is one thing I know soul deep and that is this-whether I am considered a 'real' writer by others or not, there is no questioning that I am a 'working' writer. The greatest compliment I ever received was given by the head of Fremantle Media after a pitch session where I was on the phone from NY, and my writing partner was in the office with him in California. I'd hung up and he said to my friend, "She's very commercial." When Chris told me what had been said, I asked, "Is that good?" He said, "That's very good."

Yes, I am commercial. I write what sells, but I also write what I enjoy. That small distinction is what keeps me from feeling like a career whore. I've found hot sells. The hotter the better. Threesomes sell even better than M/F romance. So that's what I've written lately and you know what? They've all been best sellers. To have looked at the Amazon.com Best Selling Romance/Western list and seen my paperback sitting at #6, surrounded by the likes of Linda Lael Miller and Diana Palmer told me I'd made the right choice.

I know I am a 'working' writer because I make money doing what I do. No, it's not a huge advance from a big name NY pub, but it is damn good money considering I spend most days sitting at my keyboard in the comfort of my own home. No commute, no gasoline bills, no work clothes to buy.

I know I am a 'working' writer because the 'book of my heart' is not sitting under my bed waiting around for the perfect book deal. Instead, my 13 full length novels, and many other assorted short stories are on shelves and in eReaders being enjoyed by readers.

I know I am a 'working' writer because I have edits, deadlines and schedules. I lose sleep, I don't have time to cook or clean and I go days without changing out of my PJs because of those edits, deadlines and schedules.

So why do I still feel lesser? Does this stem from the RWA controversary about what makes an author 'published'? No, not really, at least not this time. My first menage, Rough Stock, earned me more than $600 in 30 days, so I am sure that more than 7 months after release, most of that time sitting on the Amazon paperback category best seller list, as well as the fact it hit the ARe Top Ten and sat for a long time at #1 at LBR, I've well earned over the required $1000 on a single title to be qualified to join RWA's PAN (Published Author Network). It's not RWA. It's other things in my life but the feelings are no less strong or real than my disagreement with RWA's policies.

Interviewing other authors helps. Speaking with writers like best seller Joan Johnston for the radio show. A woman who left the legal field to write romance novels. A woman who used to hide the Harlequin book she was reading in her briefcase so no one knew she was reading it. She stayed up until 5 am to meet a deadline and finish a book so she could travel to BookExpoAmerica to promote her work. She is a working writer, just like me.

So no, I don't pen poetic prose. I am commercial. I am published. I am a working writer. If you don't like it, then you better get the hell out of my way.