Gerry Bartlett's Blog

The Perils of Publishing

Have you noticed all the articles I have on my website for authors? Some of them deal with craft, some tell how I struggle with the writer’s life. Then there are the whines. Yes, I’ve been cranking out books since the nineties and it takes a toll. If you are an aspiring author or even if you have some books out there, you might want to take a look at some of the topics I’ve hit on through the years.
I wrote the articles for my local chapter of Romance Writers of America. I admit freely that I...

Hurricane Season and Me

The middle of September is prime time for a hurricane to hit the Texas Gulf coast. Yes, that’s where I live. My house has flooded four times because of various hurricanes. Fortunately, I’ve never lost a roof, though a neighbor’s tree did take out part of my fence and, horrors!, my Internet connection. I have come out better than most. At least at home.
Hurricane Ike was the worst as far as my antique business was concerned. Because I’d been doing so well, I had inventory in three shops in Gal...

Slipping Into Summer

I recently spent a weekend on the Texas coast with a group of gal pals who are all writers. Everyone had “beach hair” and we shopped, ate and talked writing. Lots of fun. Did we actually put words on the page? Well, one of us did. Not me. I’d just finished a book and felt drained. Not that I don’t owe my readers another vampire book. I’m well into it. But sometimes you need a brain break.

There’s something about the coming summer season that cries out for time spent reading and wasting time....

Hooked by Suspense

[image error]My next book is available for preorder now. Texas Lightning is the first romantic suspense I’ve written in a long time. It’s funny because I sold my first book decades ago and it was a romantic suspense based in Houston, Texas. It was the story of an undercover cop and a banker. The cop was called Wild Man and ran with a motorcycle gang as he tried to bring down a drug dealer. My banker was an uptight woman who got caught up in his world and I had fun showing her that she enjoyed a wild side...

Writing the Prequel to the Real Vampires Series

I just finished writing REAL VAMPIRES: WHEN GLORY MET JERRY. I’ve had this story in my mind for a long time. I started the REAL VAMPIRES series in 2005. The first book, REAL VAMPIRES HAVE CURVES, came out in 2007. Since then I’ve written twelve full length novels, a novella and a spinoff about shape-shifter, Rafael Valdez. I’ve been lucky that I have loyal readers who encourage me to keep going.

As I did keep writing about my curvy vampire, I kept thinking about how she got that way–a vampir...

Why I Love Texas and Write About It

I was born and raised in Houston, Texas. I still live just a few miles down the freeway from that big city. It’s nothing for me to drive in for a meal, the beauty shop or to hunt for treasures for my antique business. Did you think all Texans wore boots and cowboy hats? No, many of us, millions in fact, are city dwellers. I had a grandpa who owned a little ranch and once rode on the back of a horse with my uncle, but it wasn’t an experience I wanted to repeat. I know, many of you are horrifie...

What’s Romantic?

I write romance novels. There’s nothing like that spark when woman meets man and the chase is on. Sometimes the couple has to dodge bullets or interfering exes. But I always believe in giving my people a happily ever after.

Now I did have a great romance in my life. Met my late husband on a blind date and that was it. Love at first sight? Sort of. At the very least it was immediate chemistry . The love bug bit us soon after. We had over thirty years together. Luckily, besides chemistry we enj...

Welcome

     I can’t believe we’ve started another year. I’m just finishing book 3 in the Texas Heat series when book 2 isn’t even out yet. That’s the way the publishing business works, you know. So look for TEXAS FIRE, available for preorder now, to come out May 2. TEXAS PRIDE is an October release. If you haven’t read TEXAS HEAT yet, why not?

     I’m having fun writing about my native Texas. This series about big oil in the Lone Star State gave me a chance to use a lifetime of knowledge about everyt...

Clearing the Clutter, One Book at a Time

After the Purge

Oh, no, I didn’t just call books clutter, did I? But if you could see my office and bedroom you’d agree. I have way too many books. Some I’ve read, some have bookmarks or tiny slips of paper in them about a fourth of the way through and some are in the dreaded “to be read” pile. There are stacks, bookcases overflowing and even baskets full. And I’m not counting extra copies of my own books that I need to give away. I’m an addict. I console myself that at least it’s not heroin....

Body Issues

If there’s one thing I’d like to do in 2016, it’s get over this whole thing about being uncomfortable in my own skin. At my age, and I’m not telling, it’s obvious my shape and size aren’t about to change significantly. I have areas that I hate–stomach, thighs. I could go on but depression is setting in. I’m sure you have your own list even if you weigh 98 pounds dripping wet. It’s a female thing mostly. Why do we do this to ourselves?
Good question. The result of this personal hate thing is t...