Having New York Times bestseller, Carolyn Brown, visiting today is like having a friend over for coffee and a chat. I love the world Carolyn creates for each of her stories. Her storytelling is a joy to read because she makes her people so real—not perfect because that would be boring. You meet her character types when you stop in the local cafe for lunch, the cashier at the grocery store, the teller at the bank, the hunk who loads your hay. All real and chocked full of life's attitudes.
Her topic is one I think all writers and readers can relate to—a lesson in becoming smug. C'mon, admit it, we've all had our smug moments, haven't we?
Good morning, Sia! I’ve got a cup of coffee and I
want to thank you so much for inviting me back to your blog site to promote One
Hot Cowboy Wedding which hit the shelves just this week. It’s the fourth in
the Spikes and Spurs series which hit the ground running last June with a New
York Times and USA Today bestseller, Love Drunk Cowboy. It’s Ace and
Jasmine’s story and there are three more to follow it so keep the country music
playing and your boots shined.
Those next three plus my debut women’s fiction
book are what I want to discuss with the readers today because they’ve taught
me an important lesson about getting too comfortable and sure of myself.
Smug!
That’s the only word for the way I was feeling
right after the first of the year! I was Superwoman. I had finished all but one
deadline ahead of time. My new woman’s fiction had even been rewritten and I’d
spent a few minutes with my fabulous editor and the Sourcebooks staff coming up
with ideas for a knock-your-socks-off title.
Yep, smug! Bright shiny, diamond studded smug!
And then the phone call came…
My editor had read my cowboy holiday book and it
didn’t have enough Christmas in it. Could I get the third book in the new three
book deal ready right quick and could it please have snow and Christmas trees
and lots of holiday cheer in it? We’d slip it into the first slot where the
former Christmas book was and push the other two up to slots two and three.
Yes, ma’am. No problem.
Smug had tarnished a little.
And…
Oh, my! There was an AND! The original Christmas
book would now need some major rewriting because it needed what little
Christmas stuff was in it played down and turned into a straight rodeo romance.
And there was a chapter that had too much back story so could we please do
something with that?
Yes, ma’am. No problem.
Smug lost a few diamonds.
And…
The woman’s fiction book still has too much
romance so it will have to have some tweaking and we’re pushing the publication
date up to January, 2013.
Yes, ma’am. No problem. But dear hearts, even
though it’s been my dream to write women’s fiction in like, forever, it’s not
easy to change horses in the middle of the stream. I’ve written more than sixty
romance books and it’s wired into my brain to give everyone an HEA. But still
it was yes, ma’am, no problem. I could do this if I wanted to fulfill my in
like forever dream.
Smug was getting really dull.
And…
The book that used to be in the second slot that
had been moved to the third slot would have to have some reworking because of
the time sequence. Secondary characters would change and believe me, the
readers would KNOW if things weren’t right.
Yes, ma’am. I can do that.
Smug was thrown into the scrap metal heap.
I have tunnel vision so I focused on the first
job at hand, then the second and the third. Now it’s down to one project and
I’m so glad for my publisher’s and editor’s insight because what has come out of
that phone call is not one but four books that are stronger and hopefully more
enticing to my readers.
Smug has been erased (by a black permanent
marker) from my dictionary. And my readers can look forward to Mistletoe
Cowboy, Creed Riley’s story in October; Just a Cowboy, Gemma’s story
in December; the woman’s fiction in January and sometime in the spring Dewar’s
story (title hasn’t been decided).
I’ll be around all day to answer questions and I
do believe there are a couple of books to be given away so if you want your
name in the hat for them, please comment. Spikes and Spurs now has seven books
in the series…
- what makes you continue to come back and read books about rough
old sexy cowboys and sassy women?
- What would you like to see in the future?
More Spikes and Spurs, or are you ready for a new series?
ONE HOT COWBOY WEDDING IN STORES APRIL 2012
A marriage made in Vegas...
Hunky cowboy Ace Riley wasn't planning on settling down, but his
family had other plans for him...The only way to save his hide, and his playboy
lifestyle, is to discreetly marry his best friend, Jasmine King.
Can't possibly last…
Feisty city–girl Jasmine as just helping out her friend—that is,
until their first kiss stirs up a whole mess of trouble, and suddenly
discretion is thrown to the wind. EXCERPT
One hot cowboy, one riled up woman...
And they'll be married for a year, like it or not!
Carolyn Brown is a New York Times and
USA Today bestselling author with more than forty books published, and credits
her eclectic family for her humor and writing ideas. She writes bestselling
single title cowboy and country music mass market romances. Born in Texas and
raised in southern Oklahoma, Carolyn and her husband now make their home in the
town of Davis, Oklahoma, where she continues to write more cowboy romances! For
more information, please visit www.CarolynLBrown.com.
