In which I’m mistaken for one of my all-time favorite authors …

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I was flattered at the Poisoned Pen this week.

Kristan Higgins is one of my favorite romantic comedy writers, so when I heard she’d be at The Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale on a tour for her latest book, On Second Thought, I requested a day off from work so I could go down and see her.

The Woman in Cabin Ten | #bookclubI live in Prescott now, but I used to live 90-plus minutes farther north, in Flagstaff. Consequently, I never quite remember how long it’ll take me to get down to the Valley. I arrived quite early for Kristan’s 2 p.m. talk, so I settled into a comfy chair at the bookstore and dove into my book club’s next read (The Woman in Cabin 10). It’s a page-turner, for sure.

Of course, there were other people around, and I couldn’t completely lose myself in the book. Instead, I struck up a conversation with one woman who brought her dog and granddaughter to the store, not knowing there was an author coming, and decided to stay for Kristan’s presentation. Another woman pulled a copy of Gone with the Wind off the shelf, which was right by my head, and said something that started a conversation about the book vs. the movie.

As we chatted about the characters on film in no way matching up with the visions in our heads, she suddenly burst out: “I know why you look familiar. You’re Kristan Higgins!”

“No, but I’m here to see her,” I replied with a friendly/nervous laugh. I’d never been mistaken for one of my favorite authors before, and I didn’t know quite what to say.

The poor woman was embarrassed and tried to explain. “With your short hair and those glasses, you look just like her.”

By then, Kristan had walked in and was standing at the counter, near the front of the shop. I pointed in her direction and said, “That’s Kristan. But I’m flattered. Thank you.”

“Well, I’d better get out of here before she finds out what I’ve done,” the still-embarrassed woman said.

Despite my protests that I didn’t think anyone would mind and she ought to stay for Kristan’s talk, the woman left. And I was left with a warm, fuzzy feeling that someone—for a brief moment—thought I was famous.

Frankly, I don’t see much of a resemblance.

Here I am with Kristan Higgins at The Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale, Arizona, Feb. 8, 2017.
Here I am with Kristan Higgins at The Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale, Arizona, Feb. 8, 2017.

Well, maybe the hair and the glasses are similar … and we both laugh a lot.

Plus, we’re both a rare breed — extrovert authors. As she said during her talk, “unlike a lot of authors, I actually love meeting people.” (It was something to that effect, anyway. I wasn’t taking notes for an exact quote.)

She’s right. So many writers are introverts who’d rather be alone with their laptops, but I thrive when I’m in crowds. Even if I’m just sitting quietly, observing, I get energy from being among people. I think that’s why I do so much of my best writing at Starbucks — I can be social and recharge my batteries in the presence of fellow coffee lovers.

I’ve been mistaken for worse!

Now, if only I had a guy like Kristan’s McIrish …

Getting to know me …

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Hi there!

It’s been a while since I blogged—and it’s been even longer since I’ve done one of those fill-in-the-blank surveys. You know the ones … They’re often passed around on Facebook or from blogger to blogger (especially in the healthy living/lifestyle blogosphere).

I’ve done them before, usually over on my practically defunct weight-loss blog. But in the spirit of holiday fun, I thought I’d do some (over)sharing.

First spotted this survey over on PB Fingers‘ blog:

I would ride on the back of a motorcycle once. I had a chance once, in high school, when I was too chicken to take advantage of it. Given another chance, I’d take that ride.ride-with-me

The weirdest thing I ever ate was escargot. French Club dinner. The menu also included French Onion Soup and Boeuf Bourginone. Need I say more?

The movie of my life would star Melissa McCarthy. I love her!

My go-to food indulgence is anything I don’t have to cook. There are so many other things I’d rather be doing than spending time in the kitchen, so anything that keeps me away from the sink and stove is a bonus. Too often, that means a fast-food drive-thru. But there’s another option: FITzee Foods. (More on this later in the week. The company recently sent me a bunch of meals to test. In a word: yum!)

The last live concert I saw was it’s hard to remember. The last big-name concert I attended was probably Motley Crue and Aerosmith several years ago (sometime in the ’00s)… but last month, I took my Little Sis to a jazz concert at Yavapai College. We saw the two Roughriders jazz bands (Yes, the school mascot is Ole Ruff, one of Roosevelt’s Rough Riders, which apparently originated right here in Yavapai County.)

My favorite jeans are Gloria Vanderbilt Amanda. They fit great and look pretty good on my oversized bod. Just picked up a new pair this weekend, courtesy of half-off at Kohl’s.

My can’t-live-without beauty product is lip balm. Lots of lip balm in every flavor imaginable. I don’t wear a lot of makeup. Never have, and at my advanced age I probably never will.

And I found this fun list on Sloane Howell‘s Facebook Page: 44 Odd things about me….

1. Do you like blue cheese? Yes. (Something I no doubt inherited from my Dad.)
2. Have you ever smoked? Once, on accident. We were onstage during rehearsal for the musical “Hair” and I accidentally inhaled the fake joint we were passing around. Almost choked to death.
3. Do you own a gun? A glue gun
4. What is your favorite ice cream flavor? Baseball nut
5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? Not really. I dislike going to the doctor because I don’t feel the need to pay someone $50 to tell me I need to lose weight. As if I can’t look in the mirror every morning and tell myself that.
6. What do you think of hot dogs? Perfect for eating at a ballgame
7. Favorite Christmas movie? A Christmas Story
8. What do you prefer to drink? Diet Dr Pepper
9. Do you do push-ups? Not if I can help it
10. What’s your favorite piece of jewelry? An amber garnet pendant I inherited from mom
11. Favorite hobby? It’s a toss-up between reading, crocheting and quilting
12. Do you have A.D.D.? Not that I know of
13. What’s the one thing you hate? Mean people
14. Middle name? Marie
15. Name three thoughts at this moment: My feet are cold. Time to start wearing socks. It’s gray outside and I hope it doesn’t snow too much.
16. Name 3 beverages you drink: Diet Dr Pepper. Pretty much anything from Starbucks. Cherry or Vanilla Coke Zero
17. Current worry right now? Think I ate something that didn’t agree with me
18. Current hate right now? The weather
19. Favorite place to be? At a ballgame or movie theater
screen-shot-2016-11-27-at-5-07-11-pm20. How do you bring in the new years? Watching the Twilight Zone Marathon on SyFy
21. Where would you like to go? Back to England
22. Name 3 people who will complete this: Whoever wants to.
23. Do you own slippers? Yes. They’re in my desk drawer at work.
24. What color shirt are you wearing right now? Gray
25. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? Yes
26. Can you whistle? Not too loudly
27. Favorite Color? Purple
28. Would you be a pirate? Probably not
29. What songs do you sing in the shower? Whatever’s running through my head at the moment. Yesterday it was Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer.
30. Favorite girls name? Alexandria
31. Favorite boys name? Damien
32. What’s in your pocket right now? Three receipts I need to enter into my check register.
33. Last thing that made you laugh? My pastor
34. Best toy as a child? Legos and Matchbox cars
35. Worst injury? Twisted my knee during rehearsals for “Hair.” It’s never been the same.
36. Where would you love to live? Ideally, someplace cool in the summer and with no snow come wintertime
37. How many TV’s do you have in your house? One, but I haven’t plugged it in since May 2, 2015
38. Who is your loud aunt? Don’t have one anymore
39. How many dogs do you have? One
40. Does someone trust you? Probably
41. What book are you reading? Fahrenheit by Alex Rosa
42. What’s your favorite candy bar? Zagnut
43. What’s your favorite sports team? The Cubs
44. What is your favorite movie? If I have to pick just one … Legends of the Fall. You can’t go wrong ogling Brad Pitt and Aidan Quinn.Legends of the Fall | Family photo screenshot from IMDB

Now it’s your turn! 

What book are you reading? What was your favorite childhood toy? What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?

Answer one—or all—of those questions (or pick your favorite off the list). I want to get to know you, too!

Seven things you don’t know about me

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QuotableThe “Seven Things You Don’t Know About Me” post has been going around Facebook lately — and I thought it’d make a great post for the ol’ neglected blog. (I’m trying to blog more regularly … really I am.)

Here they are, in no particular order.

1. After reading Gone With the Wind in seventh grade, I spent several years wanting to live in a restored plantation house in Georgia. It would have a music room and large library, the walls all lined with books. And I’d have three cats: a black one named Rhett, a white one named Ashley and a tiger-striped one named Scarlett.

Screen Shot 2015-02-28 at 10.14.14 PM2. My first car was an ’83 (or maybe ’85) Mazda GLC sedan. It was really my mom’s car, but I drove it until my senior year of college, when it died on my way home from Evansville. We were just down the road from the Mazda dealer in Terre Haute, and I had to pay $60-plus to have the darn thing towed two blocks. I replaced it with my friend Angel’s Chevy Cavalier because she was moving to Florida and refused to have a car with no air conditioning in Florida. I didn’t mind the lack of air conditioning — but the absence of a rear window defroster was a real pain. My Mazda — named “Third” because it was the third name he went through — was the color of the one at the right, but I don’t remember it being quite that shape.

3. I started playing flute in the fifth grade, and later also played piccolo. I loved marching band and playing in the pep band for basketball games — but hated concert band. I started marching with the high school band in sixth grade. The director let me play my flute. Then we got a new director who relegated me to the color guard — so I’m handy with a flag and streamers. Not so much the rifle. I could never get the balance right.

Screen Shot 2015-02-28 at 10.02.12 PM4. Speaking of “get the balance right,” I’m a big Depeche Mode fan. My iTunes has 66 DM songs from 10 albums. DM lyrics often creep into my everyday conversation, and I used to quote “New Dress” in college poli sci papers. (What can I say? It illustrates how a vote can change the world.) “Wrong” is the theme song of one of my most favorite heroes ever, Mike James. (Sadly, he has yet to see published status. Someday.) One quirk: I prefer the darker Depeche Mode — the happy, peppy stuff off “Speak and Spell” doesn’t do it for me.

5. I do not like horror movies (big surprise there, right?), but I can watch Lifetime “woman in peril” movies for hours on end. I also love “Criminal Minds,” and any of the the true crime shows on ID.

6. I once did a phone interview with Pauly Shore. Yes, this is my one and only brush with Hollywood greatness. He was sick and kept asking for soup.

7. I have a collection of board games, including several versions of Monopoly. My “Loganopoly” is set in Logansport, Ind., the town where I spent my first five years after college graduation. “Star Wars” Monopoly pays out Imperial Credits instead of dollar bills, and the top properties are on Coruscant (if I remember correctly). It came out with the 1990s re-release of Episodes 4-6, when I couldn’t get enough of everything “Star Wars.” I devoured the “Jedi Twins” books, in which Luke ran the Jedi Academy and was educawhich told the story of Luke’s niece and nephew, and the Han Solo trilogy. I watched and re-watched Kevin Smith movies just for the “Star Wars” references. “Dogma” was the reason I first fell in love with Alan Rickman — loved him as the Metatron. (His portrayal of Snape further cemented my crush on him.) Why couldn’t I have had a phone interview with him?

Bonus: I have a black thumb. My parents had a garden where they grew their own corn, beans and tomatoes — but I can’t even keep a windowsill herb garden alive. It’s sad, because cherry tomatoes fresh off the vine, warmed by the summer sun, are the best tomatoes ever.

Gripped by NaNo fever

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Can I make a confession? I came to the NaNoWriMo party somewhat late. For the uninitiated, NaNo is the (some say crazy) push to write a 50,000-word novel in 30 days, from Nov. 1-30.

I joined the push for the first time in 2009, with the intent of writing about 40K to finish BLIND DATE BRIDE.

NaNoWriMo Participant 2014By the end of November, I’d only managed about 25K. I did, however, develop enough of a habit that I finished the first draft of BRIDE by the end of the year. Considering I’d started it back in 1999 or 2000, that was a major victory.

I decided to try NaNo again in 2010. That year, I started a brand-new novel—but I’d done some (okay, a lot of) pre-planning. I ended up writing 53K in 27 days. Yep. With a map of my story, I finished three days early.

In 2011, I joined the good fight with a vague idea for BREAKING ALL THE RULES (which will be a TMP release next spring). There were some rough patches and I thought about giving up. In the end, I spent eight hours in a chair at Starbucks Nov. 30, barely breaking 50K before it was time to go to work and put in another eight-plus hours.

In 2012, I had two wins under my belt, giving me the false impression that NaNo would be a piece of cake. I planned to get a good start on a single title story—50K of about 90K total.

Uh…yeah. Didn’t happen. My excuse: I’d just finished the draft of HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS, and couldn’t muster up enough oomph to write at breakneck speed for 3o more days.

In 2013, I didn’t even bother to sign up. I spent the six or so weeks prior to Nov. 1 writing the first draft of SLIDING INTO HOME, and knew from past experience that I’d be too drained to keep up the pace.

This year, I’m giving it another go, with the same single-title story I couldn’t get going in 2012. It’s a romantic comedy, of course. That’s what I write, after all. This time, though, there are paranormal elements.

Okay, the book’s only paranormal element is its ghost. The ghost is not a love interest, though. He merely meddles in the heroine’s life, having decided his mission is to help her get the happy ending that eluded him and his lady love so many generations ago.

I got the spark of an idea from Concrete Blonde’s song, “Ghost of a Texas Ladies’ Man.” I was walking through my neighborhood (back when I did that more regularly than I do now) and it came up on my iPhone.

“Wouldn’t it be fun to write a story about the ghost of a Texas ladies’ man?” I asked no one in particular.

And a story started to take shape in my mind. I thought I’d have no trouble writing it, because I pounded out a 3,000-word backstory for the ghost in an evening. The heroine was easy, too. Unfortunately, I could not come up with a good hero.

That problem has been resolved (I hope), and I’m excited to kick off NaNo on Saturday. Who’s with me?

If you’re joining in the fun, you might be interested in this blog post from Nathan Bransford. It promises “everything you need” for NaNoWriMo.

Now offering copy editing and proofreading services

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Still (f)unemployed and writing up a storm. I’m finally nearing the end of my novella—the same ending that’s eluded me all week. It’s about to be mine, I tell you.

In an attempt to avoid settling for a full-time day job that I hate every minute of, I’m hanging out my freelance copy editing shingle. With 20-plus years of experience in journalism, 15 of them as a copy editor/page designer, I’m certainly qualified.

I’ve even lined up my first editing gig, set for later this month.

However, my schedule is still open. Please email me at arlene.hittle.author (at) gmail (dot) com for more info or to reserve your spot.

AH-mazing Copy EditingThat’s the face of an editor you can trust!

Let the blog tour begin

by with No Comment aboutGreg & Jenn

BlogTourLogoTo celebrate the release of my third book, SLIDING INTO HOME, I’m embarking on my first blog tour.

I’ve enlisted the wonderful Alex Rosa of Wanderlust Book Tours to run it and keep me organized—no small feat, let me tell you. Somehow the gal who used to turn in papers two weeks early in college now bumps up against every deadline she meets. (You can read my lament on that subject here.)

She created this gorgeous banner (currently my Facebook Author Page header).

SlidingIntoHomeFB

The tour starts tomorrow; the schedule is below.

May 5th: 

Reviews By Molly

Fiction Dreams

May 6th

Toot’s Book Review

May 7th

Wild Wordy Woman

The Page Princess

May 8th

An Aussie Girls WILD Book Addiction

May 9th

Rage, Sex, & Teddy Bears

May 10th

Stone Angel Reviews

May 11th

Cupcake’s Book Cupboard

May 12th

Bits of Books By Monica

Life Books, and More

May 13th

Aria Kane

May 14th

Steamy Book Mamma

May 15th

WanderLust Book Tours

May 16th

What’s Beyond Forks?

Stop by for chances to win free ebooks or a fabulous gift basket that includes an autographed print copy of DIVA IN THE DUGOUT (All Is Fair in Love & Baseball 1), as well as $5 gift cards to Dunkin’ Donuts and Amazon, baseball-themed trinkets, an iPhone 5 case with my logo and some Cracker Jacks. (Gotta have snacks while reading, right?)

Sliding Gift Basket | Arlene HittleI picked up the basket at Safeway before Easter, thinking it’d be perfect for the giveaway. Only when I snapped this photo for Alex did I notice the typo, front and center.

What the heck is a “perfert game”?

Further proof, if any was needed, that everyone needs a proofreader. 😀

The cellphone is insidious

by with No Comment aboutDave & MelindaGreg & JennMeg & Matt

Cellphone is one word now—at least according to the Associated Press. And since AP style is drilled into my head at the day job, one word it shall stay, even if it drives me up the wall.

The AP also recently changed style on under way. After two decades of swearing “under way” was two words in all uses except nautical ones—as in underway flotilla, whatever that is—it’s cropping up in stories as “underway”—and … you guessed it … making me crazy.

Enough about AP style—or lack thereof. I wanted to talk about cellphones for a moment. Coconino County, where I live, recently passed a ban on most cellphone use while driving. (Hands-free devices are an exception.)

What’s that you say? A great idea?

There was a time I’d have agreed with you. I remember when I got my first cellphone, circa Y2K. I swore I would NEVER talk and drive. I’d pull off the road to answer and/or make a call.

For a while, that’s what I did. But as time passed, the phone’s newness wore off and I developed new habits.

I found myself answering the ringing phone on the road. Then I started actually making calls from a moving vehicle. A few months ago, I caught myself checking the screen when I heard it beep with a text message. (I didn’t answer it, just quickly read the preview on my lock screen—but even that made the Boyfriend yell. Like he never uses his phone while driving …)

Even worse, when I’m sitting at a stoplight, out comes the phone so I can scroll through tweets or Facebook posts … or take a quick peek at how well my latest release is doing on Amazon.

Hey now—I never said they were good habits.

They are, however, habits I’ll have to curb—and fast. The county’s ban takes effect in a few short weeks. Maybe I’ll start keeping my purse in the back seat instead of the passenger seat. I’m just afraid that when it starts ringing, it’ll drive me nuts.

Email with DIVA and BEAUTYSpeaking of Amazon, I woke up this morning (well before my alarm) to an email advertising not one but two of my books. Beauty is No. 1 on the list; Diva is No. 4.

I love it when Amazon advertises my own books to me. Hopefully it’s an indication they’re being pushed on other folks, too.

That’s what I’m assuming, anyway, despite the well-known dangers about what happens when you assume.

SLIDING INTO HOME is getting its fair share of attention, too. Earlier this week, it received not one but two reviews on Amazon. One was a four-star, one was a five-star.

The highlights:

While reading this book I felt happy, I laughed out loud. One of my favorite quotes is “ So help me, if you apologize for kissing me, I will stab you with the scissors that came with my new desk set.” “ I wouldn’t dream of it.” …
This is my first book by Arlene Hittle and it definitely will not be my last. It’s a very fast paced story, I couldn’t put it down. I read this book in less than one day! Arlene is a very talented author!!

— from a 5-star review by Bre

I really liked this book. It was funny and romantic and sexy. Greg struggles with all these emotions about his relationship with his father. He feels like he is always in his father’s shadow and can’t find a way to get out from underneath it. Jenn is sweet and really like Greg. She wants to find a way to help him. They have great chemistry. The book was very well written and the characters were engaging. I will defiantly be reading the other books in this series.

— from a 4-star review by badkat17us

Now when I pull up SLIDING’s Amazon page, DIVA and BEAUTY pop up as “also-buys.” Not too shabby, I’d say.

Screen Shot 2014-04-25 at 11.14.58 AM

Your turn: Do you have any bad cellphone habits? How do you break yourself of them? 

 

 

 

Hippity hop

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There are so many blog hops in cyberspace that the Easter bunny would collapse, exhausted, if he tried to hit them all.

Heck, I’m exhausting myself, and I’ve only done a couple. The latest one I signed on for has questions mighty similar to the last one, although I didn’t realize it when I volunteered. For the sake of not putting y’all to sleep, I’ll try to answer them differently this time.

This time, fellow Arizonan Connie Cockrell asked me to join in the fun. I met Connie through the online Power Writing Hour group, and she’s been an unfailing source of support ever since.

What am I working on?

Perhaps a better question is “What am I NOT working on?” These days, I feel as if I never slow down. I’m in the middle of promo for my March Turquoise Morning Press release, BEAUTY AND THE BALLPLAYER (coming this week—eep), and I’m gearing up for a blog tour for my April TMP release, SLIDING INTO HOME.

I also recently received feedback from my editor on BLIND DATE BRIDE, the first of my “Reality (TV) Bites” stories. I plan to release it independently in June.

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

Ack. Not sure this question can be answered differently. If so, my frazzled brain is unable to make the leap. Instead, let me refer you to this blog hop post.

Why do I write what I do?

Like Huey Lewis, I believe in the power of love. (A few months ago, I waxed poetic about the power of love and laughter while trying to get feedback on new business card designs.) I enjoy knowing that, no matter how much crap they have to go through to get to it, there’s a happy ending for each of my characters.

Finally, how does my writing process work?

I think I’ve said it before, but I’m a definite pantser. Because I work evenings, I tend to write in the early afternoon, before work. I hit Starbucks by noon or 1 p.m. at the latest, but sometimes as early as 11 a.m. if I wake up sooner. I write better at the Bux than I do at my house (fewer distractions in the form of slobbery dogs and demanding cats).

Next up on the list:

Laurie A. Green is a three-time RWA® Golden Heart® finalist and science fiction romance enthusiast who founded the SFR Brigade community of writers, which now totals over 300 members. Her extended family includes her husband, David, four dogs, three cats and several horses, all who reside on a ranch in beautiful New Mexico. When she’s not writing, networking, or searching out the perfect cup of Starbucks, she’s usually busy exercising her left brain as a military budget director. She blogs at http://www.spacefreighters.blogspot.com.

Debra Jess is Connecticut Yankee transplanted to Central Florida, Debra Jess writes science fiction romance, urban fantasy, and superheroes. She began writing in 2006, combining her love of fairy tales and Star Wars to craft original stories of ordinary people in extraordinary adventures and fantastical creatures in out-of-this world escapades. She blogs at http://debrajess.com.

Kimberly Kincaid writes contemporary romance novels that split the difference between sexy and sweet, taking the traditional idea of boy-meets-girl and infusing it with a sassy magic all her own. She believes in fiery yet flawed characters destined for a crash-course in falling in love– usually the hard way– and injects her trademark humor as well as poignant touches into her writing to create her stories. She doesn’t have a blog, so she’ll be guest posting right here next week. Her website is http://www.kimberlykincaid.com.

Blog hop: My writing process

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My name is Arlene Hittle, and I like to laugh. I hope my books make other people laugh, too.

The never-ending bundle of energy that is Jamie Raintree recruited me to take part in a blog hop about my writing process. I met Jamie in 2009, when I undertook the NaNoWriMo challenge for the first time. We hit it off, and she’s been reading my stories and encouraging me ever since.

Online sprints with Jamie helped me finish my still-unpublished 2010 NaNo manuscript three days early and 3,000 words over the 50K limit. And in 2011, her cheering pushed me to pull a marathon eight-hour shift at Starbucks before work on Nov. 30 to squeak to a NaNo win. (That MS is also still unpublished.)

Let’s start hopping!

1) What am I working on?

Actually, this post catches me between projects. I just turned in edits on SLIDING INTO HOME, my April 2014 Turquoise Morning Press Release. I haven’t yet begun to write a fourth book in my Love & Baseball series, nor have I decided whether to tackle Mel’s brother’s story. (Mel was the heroine in DIVA IN THE DUGOUT.)

I’ve been trying, without much success, to write the last 10K or so to finish the first draft of TROUBLE IN PARADISE, which I want to release this winter, to follow up BLIND DATE BRIDE, which I’m planning to release myself in June.

Mainly, I’ve been gearing up to promote the two books TMP is releasing this spring: BEAUTY AND THE BALLPLAYER in March and then SLIDING INTO HOME in April.

2) How does my work differ from others of its genre?

Excellent question. All funny contemporaries depend on the author’s imagination, sense of humor and voice. The situations I put my heroes and heroines in are different from the circumstances a character in, say, a Kristan Higgins or Tracy Brogan novel would get themselves into. Give all three of us the same waitress heroine and cop hero, and we’d all come up with very different stories.

So I’d say it’s my unique perspective that makes my stories different.

3) Why do I write what I do?

Another good question. In its purest sense, the answer is that I have stories to tell, and I want to share them with the world. Characters pop into my head and won’t leave me alone until I tell their stories.

Inspiration comes from the darnedest places. For BLIND DATE BRIDE, I was driving somewhere and a radio news report sparked my interest. I wrote a one-act play, which I submitted to my then-local theater company in Logansport, Indiana. That play later became the basis for the opening scene in my novel.

Matt, the hero of BEAUTY AND THE BALLPLAYER, used his buddy Dave’s story as a justification for something he did that upset Meg. That reason became DIVA IN THE DUGOUT’s storyline. (I wrote BEAUTY first, and when it finaled in the Golden Heart in 2011, I decided I ought to have other stories to go with it. DIVA sold first, and because the action in it happened before Meg & Matt’s story anyway, that worked out fine.)

4) How does my writing process work?

I am a pantster all the way. I don’t outline and usually only have a vague idea of each character’s growth arc from Point A to Point B. I should probably do a bit more advance planning, actually. When I pre-planned my NaNo novel in 2010, I finished three days early with 3,000 extra words. A bit of extra work before I start might make the words flow that much faster.

Then again, maybe not. Since my day job at the Arizona Daily Sun involves copy editing, I do a lot of self-editing as I go along. It used to frustrate me to no end in NaNo word sprints when other folks were throwing down 1,000 words or more and I only had 400. Then again, my 400 tended to need a lot less editing than their 1K, so that’s a plus.

I do most of my writing at Starbucks. I got more done before they started offering free WiFi for everybody.

NaNo taught me I CAN buckle down and write a complete 50K story in 30 days—but I don’t like to keep up that breakneck pace every day. I’m more of a 1K-a-day girl—unless I’m suffering from writer’s block, as I am now. For some reason, Beth and Cody don’t want me to finish their story. Time to sit them down for a heart-to-heart chat so I can figure out where it went wrong and how I can get them back on track.

Jamie RaintreeJamie Raintree writes Romantic Women’s Fiction about women searching for truth in life and love. She has completed her first novel and is seeking publication. In the meantime, she posts original fiction online, as well as motivational messages for all the other dreamers out there. She lives in Northern Colorado with her husband and two young daughters. Her website: JamieRaintree.com

Susan HaughtSusan Haught calls the mountains of Arizona home and has lived in Payson most of her adult life. With the majestic Mogollon Rim in the background, Susie never tires of the small-town atmosphere. When she isn’t creating quaint towns with captivating characters or wrestling a busy day job, you’ll find her tackling an overgrown garden, engrossed in a movie or curled up with a good book—her dogs and a stash of Australian black licorice close at hand. Find her: SusanHaught.com.

DianaRoseJ.PGDiana Rose is a Russian native who lives in New York. Her stories transport readers to the fantasy filled worlds where she brings royalty and magical beings to life, with colorful romantic scenes and characters that her imagination creates. She fuels her creativity while reading romantic novels. When Diana is not writing, she enjoys spending her time with her family and friends. Find Diana at The Writer’s DreamWorld.