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Archive for the ‘Books’ Category
Sunday, June 20th, 2010
I recently went through a bunch of boxes of old papers and what not (and you have no idea how pleasant it is to do something like that for someone who has been focused solely on her deadline, and slightly OCD to boot) and discovered an old New Year’s Resolution list.
I couldn’t tell you the year of it, but by my handwriting, I’m going to say late high school/college. Among other mundane items that would never be completed (lose 15 lbs! Write a movie!) is, in the boldest possible hand, the simplest of instructions: Be Brave.
Now, I can’t remember why I wrote this. I don’t remember myself as an overly-reticent teenager. May be New Years caught me at a somewhat melancholy time, when I had not shown enough gumption with a boy or in a class. But for some reason, I felt the need to remind myself to step outside my comfort zone. To take a leap.
Bravery has to be taken into account when writing. Now one wants to read about a comfortable person in their comfortable life. The thing that scares you is also the most compelling, and the most difficult to explore. The great themes — love, death, passion, pain – are not, repeat, not experienced by the wallflowers. And as a writer, I have a tendency to keep things light. I like the fluffy. It feels comfortable.
Light and fluffy makes a nice cupcake, but not drama.
I try to keep that in mind now, as I gear up to start my next story. It may only be a germ of an idea right now, but soon enough I won’t be conversing with myself in hypotheticals. Therefore, I cannot be missish now. I have to take a leap. I have to be brave.
Posted in Future books, Writer's life | No Comments »
Wednesday, June 16th, 2010
I have a chalkboard on my wall that lists things I have to do. There are some things on this list that are finished right away, like ‘laundry’ or ‘buy OJ’, and there are some things that take a little longer, like ‘finish writing novel.’ That one, I just checked off. But there are some things that will never get checked off the list. For me, it’s ‘Fix Clock’. (Long story short: When I was moving in to my apartment, I have a clock that broke, that I should get fixed and haven’t. The End.) I could write something poetic about time having stopped, but it didn’t, because it’s been almost a year since this occurred.
Which means it’s been almost a year since I moved to Los Angeles.
I look at my life a year ago versus now, and from the outside, it has changed pretty drastically with pacific coastal living. I’ve changed jobs (again!), and started driving regularly – and swearing at other drivers, as is natural. I have a whole new pack of friends, I haven’t had to wear a winter coat since early 2009, and have actually gone hiking voluntarily. These are things New York Me would not be doing.
But here’s the thing: New York Me and LA Me aren’t that different. LA Me still loves to write books. LA Me still has eggs and turkey bacon for breakfast. (LA Me also still has to go back into her apt one last time to make sure she turned off the stove…) LA Me still wants to have brunch on Sunday with her New York girls. LA Me still wears laceless chucks as her go-to shoe. And New York me would, dollars to donuts, not have that clock fixed yet, either.
Which is kind of comforting.
Turned in the book this week, so I’m giving myself a short break from writing. Extremely short, because I have a couple of ideas I want to explore, that need to be jotted down…
As always, Happy Reading!
Posted in Future books, Los Angeles, New York, Writer's life | No Comments »
Sunday, June 6th, 2010
I have been MIA for the last couple weeks, because I’ve been pushing hard trying to get through this draft of the next book, and I’m happy to say that as of this past week, I wrote The End on the page! To be realistic – this isn’t ‘the end’ per se, I still have a little time before deadline, and will be doing a massive read through, but it still feels so damn good to have gotten a (hopefully) coherent story on the page.
But since I’ve been out of it so long, I feel the need to recap things that have happened in the intervening time. So, here’s what’s been going on in the world, in no particular order of seriousness or global impact.
1. The Gulf is an Oil Slick.
As I look at pictures of baby ducks covered in oil, I have never been happier that I drive a hybrid. Now, can we please plug this leak? Please?
2. So You Think You Can Dance is back on!
I love you Adam Shankman! I even saw Step Up 2: The Streets! In the theater!
3. The Summer of You is now available on Kindle.
I don’t know when this happened. I was likely drunk at the time. Previously, my publishing house (Berkley Sensation, which is a division of Penguin) has been in a dispute with Amazon regard ebook price points. This happens so far above my level that I have very little knowledge of what occurred, but I can certainly see both sides of the argument. However, it did delay the release of new books from my house to Kindle. But now that’s all taken care of! Yay!
4. Summer Movies!
Ok, I have not actually been to the movies in a couple weeks, but I did see Iron Man 2 and Robin Hood (ok and meh, in that order). I’m really looking forward to Inception, and Toy Story 3, and maybe Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. (I’m just wondering what Michael Cera’s schtick will turn into in a decade.)
5. I’m gonna be in Turkey!
Not physically. But I have sold foreign rights to Compromised, Revealed, and The Summer of You in Turkey! This marks the third language I’ll be in, after English (duh) and Russian.
I’m sure a million other things occurred (I know Lost ended, but I don’t watch it, so I didn’t care) but this is all I’ve got off the top of my head. This week – I will not be writing for once! I will be instead, revising! And, oh, maybe I’ll read a book or two… how exciting…
It’s the little things, really.
Happy Reading!
Posted in Books, Compromised, Revealed, TV & Movies, The Summer of You, Writer's life | No Comments »
Sunday, May 16th, 2010
Hi everyone. My deadline is looming, and as such I missed posting last week, and will likely miss posting again until the book is done. If you would like to read a treatise on the pressure a deadline puts on writers, my friend Megan Crane explains it a lot better than I do. (She’s on deadline too. One day, both of us will see sunlight again. And maybe a movie.)
OK, I’ve got writing to do, so be good while I’m away, and happy reading!
Posted in Future books, Writer's life | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, April 27th, 2010
(full disclosure — this is a repost from a blog I did over at RomCon Inc. but I liked it so much I decided to place it here as well.)
I have to confess something. Something that no historical author wants their readers to know. Now, for the most part, we want our stories to be as historically accurate as possible. We meticulously research dates, geography, architecture, fashion, social ideology… It helps sell the reality of our characters, helps establish understandable stakes, and makes the world they live in come alive.
But sometimes, we have to make stuff up.
My new release, The Summer of You, is set in 1816. My hero and heroine, Byrne Worth and Lady Jane Cummings, have met before. They are acquaintances from my previous book Revealed. Now, they are spending the summer as next-door neighbors on a lake in the north of England. Jane is visiting her family’s estate, and is shocked to discover that Byrne is her new reclusive next-door neighbor.
And just as shocked to first lay eyes on him as he is swimming naked in the lake.
Over the next few weeks, they spend their days getting to know each other. Lakeside living… long, hot days spent boating… swimming…
Sounds fabulous, right? Falling in love is the perfect way to beat the stifling heat of July and August, the breezes off the lake the only relief to be found. Only one problem:
1816 was the coldest summer on record at the time.
Possibly due to a volcanic eruption in Indonesia, 1816 was known as the ‘year without summer.’ This was a major problem for me, since I had established characters on an established timeline. I couldn’t simply up and move them a year forward or back. And since they were on a lake, they needed to swim, to sweat, to flirt and get sexy by (and in) the water! What I needed was a heat wave!
…So I made one up. I took some admitted liberties with the weather. Oh, all right. I decided to blatantly ignore what I knew about the climate in 1816. But sometimes, for the good of the characters and the story you are trying to tell, you have to manipulate history. After all, I told myself, who’s gonna know? I mean, aside from the historians and keen-eyed readers, and anyone with an internet connection who wants to know more about the Regency period.
Oh god. I’m screwed.
But that’s okay. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.
Sometimes you have to invent a heat wave.
Happy reading everyone!
Posted in Books, Revealed, The Summer of You | 2 Comments »
Sunday, April 18th, 2010
My apologies for this post being a week overdue — wordpress was playing fun fun games with me, but hopefully we’re friends again.
It has been a truly insane few weeks, what with the release of The Summer of You, all the online promotion for it and traveling across country to Lady Jane’s Salon. You can read my rundown of the evening over on Lady Jane’s site, but suffice to say, I had a fantastic time, made new friends, and managed to not flash anyone in my short dress!
To add to the heady excitement of that evening, The Summer of You, has been receiving such marvelous feedback and reviews, and I got to visit with all my New York friends, that I am on a virtual cloud nine.
Now, if only I didn’t have this looming deadline, and this next book was already done…
During the insanity of the week, I received an email from a reader that I felt deserved an answer, so I give you my first ever Mail Bag blog post!
Dear Kate –
I just finished The Summer of You and loved it! I ordered it online, but the copy I received has an orange cover. [The site] has a blue cover for the book. Are there two different covers?
Thanks, Angie
Ah, thankfully there is an easy answer to your question, Angie. (And yay! I’m so glad you liked the book!) No, there is only one cover of the book. What happened was, the original cover of The Summer of You featured a red-headed woman next to a lake during a summer day – the blue cover you saw online.
BUT – there was some concern, that since my previous book, Revealed, has a predominantly blue cover, at a glance it might be too easily confused The Summer of You. So the cover art was adjusted to make it look like sunset – the orangey/pinkish cover on the book you received.
The problem is, the original cover had gotten leaked online a mere few days before the adjustments were finalized. And so, some places online simply didn’t correct the artwork. Which, considering they got my name and the title of the book correct, and the story on the pages was the one I wrote, it’s not the biggest deal in the world. After all, you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover… right?
So, I hope that answers your question, Angie. That’s all for this week. I may be stopping by a couple of friends’ sites in the next few weeks, but more than anything else, I’ve got LOADS of writing to do. Must catch up!
As always, happy reading!
Posted in New York, The Summer of You | No Comments »
Monday, March 29th, 2010
I had a very cute, very demure post all planned out for this week before The Summer of You hits the shelves. It was, I kid you not, about the weather. But all of that went out the window, when on Thursday morning, I was awakened by a phone call telling me that Revealed was a RITA® Finalist in the Regency Historical Romance category! The Romance Writers of America’s RITA awards are the highest honor in romance writing, so the squeal I let out was wholly justified – really, neighbors, it was. I knew the announcements were coming sometime at the end of March, but I wasn’t really paying attention (read: I didn’t think I had a shot in hell) so getting the wake-up call was a complete surprise. I still don’t think I have a chance in hell – I think either Tessa Dare or the estimable Julia Quinn are going to beat the living crap out of me, (Literally. In the alley behind the hotel in Nashville) but it truly is such an honor to be a finalist.
And this happy news is on top of all the excitement for the countdown to the release of The Summer of You! I am getting on a plane this week for the reading at Lady Jane’s Salon, which will be on April 5th, followed by a bunch of blog appearances at only the very best places. (Details can be found on the Recent News section of my website.)
I feel like I’ve been talking about The Summer of You for so long, and preparing for its release that to have the day within my sights is… weird. I’m desperate to have Jane and Byrne out in the world, but some small part of me wants to keep them to myself. But the day, April 6th, is coming, and there is no turning back the tide. Besides, you can’t fully appreciate the 99% of happy without that 1% of sad.
Very, very busy week this week – hopefully I can hit my word counts!
Posted in Books, New York, RWA, Revealed, The Summer of You | 1 Comment »
Sunday, March 21st, 2010
The countdown clock on my desk is getting closer and closer to zero hour; closer and closer to April 6th, the official release day of The Summer of You!
And as such, I wanted to give everyone a heads up as to where I will be (both physically and on the web) in the coming weeks – because aside from learning new and interesting things about The Summer of You, at certain events there will be giveaways.
Giveaways of what, you may ask? Why, of these:
(These landed on my doorstep yesterday. So pretty…)
So without further ado, here’s where I’ll be when:
(note: * denotes giveaway dates! Yay!)
April 5th kicks off release week with my one and only public appearance at Lady Jane’s Salon in New York City. I’ll be reading with Miranda Neville, Sarah MacLean and N.K. Jemisin. 7pm, Madame X. All are welcome! Admission is $5 or a gently used romance novel.
April 6th — Release Day! I’ll be Mandi’s guest at Smexybooks. *
April 8th – I’ll be talking about my Inspirations and Influences at The Book Smugglers. *
April 11th – 17th — All this week I’ll be stopping by the Romantic Reads Board at Barnes and Noble – come by and chat!
April 12th – I’ll be Katiebabs guest at Babbling About Books. *
April 15th – Historical Guest Blogger at Rom Con Inc. *
April 19th – Interview over at The Raving Readers. *
April 26th – Article at the Seattle Examiner.
Phew! I’m tired just listing all this info. I’m putting this all up on my Recent News, and will do my damnedest to keep it current. (Up until recently I’m pretty sure I had stuff from 2008 still there.)
Other than that, more writing for me this week. Got to get as much out as I can now, because as you can see, I’m about to get very busy.
Happy Reading!
Posted in The Summer of You | 2 Comments »
Monday, March 15th, 2010
There is an equation every writer has to work out for themselves. That equation is how long can I glue my ass to this chair and type before my butt goes numb? It has constants – number of words to be typed, the number of hours in the day. It has differentials, such as how much lumbar support you have, how cushiony your seat, or how often you cross and uncross your legs.
And I have been attempting to perfect this equation all week.
Luckily, I recently found a coffee shop in Los Angeles with vaguely comfy chairs and good lattes, that makes my fingers fly faster (but also has the residual effect of creating typos with more frequency). Unluckily, everyone else knows about this coffee shop.
Like, I said, there are equations to be balanced when writing.
More writing this week, but the countdown to The Summer of You, so there are going to be very cool things coming up in the near future.
Until next week, happy reading!
Posted in The Summer of You, Writer's life | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010
I’m in a crappy place today. Not in real life – in real life I’m in southern California, its 70 degrees on the first day of March, it can’t get much nicer. No, I’m in a crappy place in terms of my book. I’m at that place that every writer knows and dreads, the place where you start to question everything, and nothing is as good as it was when it was bright and shiny but still solely in your brain. Where you just want to pull everything apart, or shake your characters and scream “what do you want from me???”
Of course, this isn’t practical. Or (in the case of character-shaking) feasible. Instead, you have to write through it, and eventually, you remember why you liked these characters and their story in the first place, and the pendulum swings the other way. I know my process. All will be well.
In other news, Revealed is out in mass market TOMORROW. (Or today, depending on your time zone.) Get excited people! This means that there is only one month until the official release of The Summer of You!
Posted in Books, Los Angeles, Revealed, The Summer of You, Writer's life | 2 Comments »
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