Wednesday, April 4, 2012

CAROLYN BROWN—DUMPING THE SMUG



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 realnot 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 toa 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.