Katheryn Lane's Blog, page 7

The Sheikh’s Beloved - I can't wait for this new sheikh romance!

I am very excited about publishing my latest sheikh romance,
The Sheikh’s Beloved! The manuscript is currently with an editor (the amazing
Faith Williams at The Atwater Group), but as soon as it’s back and I’ve made
the necessary changes (I hope there aren’t too many), I plan to publish the
story.


At the moment I’m a bit addicted to writing about dark, sexy
strangers from the Middle East coming up against strong-willed English woman.
As in any good romance, they battle out their differences until they finally
manage to get their happily-ever-after ending. However, being a sheikh romance,
they also have to overcome huge cultural problems!







The initial idea for this particular sheikh romance, The Sheikh's Beloved, was
based on the massive volcanic eruption that happened in Iceland in 2010, which
resulted in flights being cancelled across Europe, including all
flights into London. On the news at the time there were several stories about
passengers who were stuck in transit in the Middle East and this led to me
thinking about what would happen if one of the travellers was an attractive
single woman and what would she do if she was offered hospitality by a rich,
handsome sheikh?


The heroine in this romance has strawberry blonde
hair and would look a bit like the model above, while the sheikh, Sheikh
Najid, is kind of cute and sexy, a bit like Karl Urban in this
photo.








For more pictures relating to the story of The Sheikh’s
Beloved, please visit my Pinterest board at http://pinterest.com/katherynlane/the-sheikh-s-beloved

Watch this space for publication details!  

Double YA Fantasy Giveaway! Win the 1st 2 books in the Harmony Run Series by Sarah Elle Emm

I am so pleased to welcome back author, Sarah
Elle Emm, who is celebrating the release of her latest YA fantasy novel, Opalescent,
by giving away paperback copies of both Opalescent and Prismatic,
the first two books in the Harmony Run Series, to two lucky readers.
First, Sarah can I say how much I loved Prismatic (click here to see my
review) and I can’t wait to read Opalescent. What inspired the series?



When I tell people about the Harmony Run Series, there are typically
a few reactions.  Words like controversial, unique, and brave, get
tossed around.  Some people seem awkward
or uncomfortable and look at me oddly.  Some
people want to know why, and, more specifically, what inspired this series.  Thank you, Katheryn Lane, for having me here today,
so I might shed some light on the inspiration. 
As I told a fellow writer last week, this is a story that has been
brewing in me from the time I was a little girl. 



There are multiple underlying themes in the
series, for example, we all have unique talents we should use for doing the
right thing, but the fundamental point is we are all humans, regardless of our differences,
who should love one another.  It seems
like a pretty simple concept.  I learned
it at an early age in the Sunday school class Mom taught.  Love
one another.  When I learned about
the Golden Rule of treating others as you wanted to be treated and how we were
all God’s children, I felt pretty happy. 
Yet, this wasn’t the only inspiration for the series.



Now, some might jump to the immediate
conclusion…  Obviously, Sarah wrote this series because she married an African
American man, and they have children together, right?  Well, not exactly.  I admit, when my children were born and people
started trying to label them and figure out how my poor children were going to
be accepted by either culture, what kind of baby doll to buy for them, and
which Disney princess they would identify with, I was a little surprised.  I read about identity issues concerning multiracial
people around the world and how they never really fit in.  This discussion brought on by the birth of my
first child made me feel kind of down.  I
started thinking about my own youth.  Being
a huge reader, I always identified with characters in the book I was reading, no
matter what they looked like.  But
thinking back as a parent, I couldn’t recall any books I had read where there
was a ‘multiracial’ person staring in the book. 
So yes, part of the inspiration was because of my own multiracial
family, nieces, cousins, and friends.  Maybe
I wanted all of my prismatic loved ones to see a piece of fiction where
multiracial teenagers took center stage.  But the real inspiration behind the series
goes beyond my current family portrait. 



I refuse to see the world in colorful
divisions.  I’d rather see it in colorful
harmony.  Call me naïve, optimistic, call
me a dreamer, but I have always wanted to keep the peace.  The truth is, I am not brave, and I may be
overly optimistic.  I smile.  A lot.  Now, on the outside you may see my happy
façade, but inside I am always pondering. 
It has been like this since I can remember.  I recall a peer remarking to me when I was
twelve, “Sarah, you are always so optimistic!” 
It was partially true.  I was
optimistic, but I really just wanted people to get along with each other.  I was extremely sensitive to how people
treated one another.



If someone made a racist remark or made fun
of someone because of their appearance, I felt sad and frustrated.  I’ve been fortunate to have traveled quite
frequently, and I have repeatedly observed prejudice and racism in many places
and different cultures.  My biggest
annoyance, here in America,
happens all of the time by people from all colors of the rainbow making
ignorant remarks…  “She’s black, but
she’s nice.”  Or, “She’s white, but she’s
alright.”  Or, “He’s black, but he’s
cool.”  Or, “She’s Chinese or something,
or Mexican I think, but she’s nice.” 



Throughout my youth, I devoured an array of
books from fiction to nonfiction, and certain subjects fascinated me.  I read about Native Americans losing their
land, slavery in the United States, Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad,
slavery around the world, segregation in the United States, apartheid in South
Africa, the Holocaust, and I must have read a dozen stories based on true
accounts of Jews surviving in hiding during World War II and also stories of
Germans trying to escape East Germany after WWII.



Hearing about my ancestry intrigued me as a
kid.  My Grandpa Standring told me about
my Grandma’s family immigrating to America
from Germany.  He also told me about our ancestry tracing
back to William the Conqueror on his side. 
I learned a lot about history from my late Grandpa Lloyd, a veteran of
World War II, and a squadron leader and survivor of the Battle of the Bulge.  Needless to say, he never recovered, and the
man carried extreme survivor’s guilt with him. 
If he had a few too many drinks, he would cry as he recalled his war
memories.  On the flip side, Grandpa
Lloyd was an entertainer.  He told
stories, was a photographer, a writer, wrote a weekly publication on his
conservative political views, and he loved when anyone would stop by to see him.  He would sit on one side of his kitchen bar
counter on a red, swivel bar stool, and his guest would sit on the matching bar
stool across from him.  When you were
sitting in that stool, you were mostly there to listen.  Grandpa had a lot to say… 



He talked to me about history and my
ancestors.  “You’re a descendant of Welsh
kings,” he’d say.  He told me about my
ancestors from Germany
on my grandma’s side, my ancestor who was in the Confederate Army in the Civil
War, another who was part of the Union Army. 
He told me about how the Klan, (the really bad one in America,)
rolled through the small town my ancestors settled and made everyone pay the
membership fees, including my Great-great grandparents who owned a grocery
store.  He liked to tell the story of my
Great-great aunt who got tongues wagging in town when she rented a room to an
African American woman who couldn’t find a place to stay in the days of
segregation.  He loved when a newcomer
would look at the pictures hanging on his refrigerator, which was covered in
random photos of friends and family, and he would ask the newcomer to guess who
was related to him.  We have a culturally
diverse family, and people rarely pieced his family portrait together.  Grandpa got such a kick out of that. 



Between my Battle
of the Bulge veteran grandpa and my great-greats who had immigrated from Germany, I was very interested in all things
World War II, and I wanted to learn more about Germany in modern times. When I had
the opportunity to take up German class and go to Germany that very same year, (thank
you Mom and Dad,) you can bet I was on that plane, along with my mom as a
chaperon.  It was the day before my
thirteenth birthday when I visited the concentration camp Dachau. 
I had read about the living conditions the prisoners endured, the
torture, mothers having to kill their own children, and I had seen the
photographs of starving prisoners.  But
standing inside of the camp, their stories crept from the pages of my books and
the prison ground I was walking on and burrowed their way into my heart. 



I understood the historical facts of how
Hitler came to power and killed so many people, but I couldn’t wrap my mind
around the why.  Why did he do it?  Hadn’t he learned about the Golden Rule?  Later, I visited Checkpoint Charlie and was
fascinated with the contraptions devised to try to escape the east in the post-war
era.  I went back to Dachau two more times over the years, and
both times, was left shaken.  It was
truly the first visit to Dachau
that made the creative wheels start turning to help shape my series.



I don’t think the tragedies of the past
should be forgotten or taken lightly.  I
also don’t think a German girl or boy in modern day Germany
should have to carry the guilt for what someone in their ancestry may have been
involved in, and people in the United
States can’t walk around feeling responsible
for what their ancestors let happen.  We
are responsible for our own individual actions, but we can honor the victims of
oppression and try to keep their stories alive as a reminder of the tragedies
that are possible when people sit by idly.  Tragedies of our present, like concentration
camps in North Korea
and human trafficking, are ones we should talk about and do our best to stand
up against.   



Around the world, we are guilty of clinging
to our differences and placing ourselves in perfectly homogeneous groups of
identical looking people.  There are
divisions between us everywhere.  I have
often tried to get all of my friends together, no matter what city I’m in or
which country I am visiting.  Sometimes,
I have felt defeated when my group gathering didn’t necessarily work out.  I guess I always figured if I was the common
bond, holding us together, then all of my friends would like each other and be friends
too.  I recognize the optimistic, twelve
year old in me, wanting us to get along.



I am definitely not as optimistic as I was
when I was twelve, but I have a story to tell, (and this is just one of
them.)  Still, I hope the Harmony Run Series might get a few
people thinking about how we treat people we encounter when we are out in the
world, away from the safe haven of our immediate family.  How can we break the cycle of intolerance if
people continue to teach hate to their kids? 
I hope my daughters, nieces, nephews, cousins, friends and family all
understand that all I have ever wanted to do with this series is spread the
message we are all humans.  We, as
individuals, can break the cycle and do our best to help educate others about
the importance of unity and loving one another, starting within our very own
homes.   



Shortly before he died, I sat at the swivel
bar stool on the other side of Grandpa’s and looked at his refrigerator of
photographs.  We talked about our family
portrait.  Grandpa said racism and
prejudice might not ever end unless the whole world, the entire human race, became multiracial.  He may have been right.  I don’t have the answer, and my series isn’t
the cure for the problem.  Perhaps in the
meantime, we can join together in trying to be kind to one another, to live by
that seemingly simple rule, to try to smile at one another, and hey, maybe even
try to be a little optimistic…More or less, that is what inspired the Harmony Run Series…So, here’s to
harmony.



Excerpt from Opalescent:








Jabari smiled and sighed as he
pulled me against him. “I love you because you’re a warrior, Rain.”



“I love you because you’re hot,
Jabari.”



He couldn’t help but laugh as he
leaned down towards my lips. “Well,



I was going to say I loved you because of your long,
curly locks that feel like silk in my hands,” he teased.



I felt the heat flush my cheeks and
laughed. “Well, that sounds nice, too.”



Our lips brushed and I heard myself
sigh. “Time to go,” I whispered.



“See you tonight?”



“If you can keep up with me. I can
run like a cheetah, didn’t you know?”



“Believe me, I know. It’s because of
those silky locks and that kiss of yours that I try so desperately to keep up
with you.” He took my hands in his and brought one to his mouth, kissing it
quickly.



“I must be the luckiest girl in
UZTA.”



“Well, you’re certainly the most
amazing and beautiful, and—”



“Okay, stop. You’re going to make me
want to kiss you again, and I need to get going. Daktari is waiting for me up
there.”



Jabari laughed and smoothed his
fingers along my neck. “Like that old song says, my parents used to dance to it
when we had an E-music dock . . . A kiss
to build a dream on . . .” and he brushed his lips to mine one
last time.



A moment later I whispered back,
“That’s the kind of dream I could get used to. I love you because.”



Jabari smiled as I backed away,
placing his hands over his heart. “I love you because.”



I glanced over my shoulder as I
climbed the stairs, noticing his smile fade and worry cloud his handsome face.
I forced myself to keep moving. If I turned back I might succumb to the tears
and tell him that I, too, was worried, and it was more than that. I was
terrified, but saying it aloud wouldn’t change a thing. Somehow, if only for
Daktari and my friends, I needed to be strong.

 

Excerpt courtesy of Winter Goose
Publishing



You can win a copy of both Opalescent
and Prismatic, the first two books in the Harmony Run Series, by using
the Rafflecopter below (open internationally).
a Rafflecopter giveaway

A whole new online addiction: Pinterest!

I’ve recently developed a whole new online addiction:
Pinterest!



I first joined several months ago and created a couple
of groups of pictures (boards) based on my first two romance novels, The Royal Sheikh and Her Latin Lover. I also created a miscellaneous group of
pictures that I just generally liked the look of. Having done that, I promptly
forgot all about the web site!



Then, a few weeks ago a friend of mine mentioned Pinterest,
which reminded me to go back and take another look at the site. Like before, I
created a board of pictures based around my latest romance, The Desert Sheikh.
However, I’m also in the process of writing another sheikh romance, The Sheikh’s
Beloved, and when I went to create a board about it, I got a lot more creative.
Instead of just pinning pictures, this time I've tried to write something in the
comment section about how the picture relates to the novel, or I’ve added a quote
from the book. When I publish The Sheikh’s Beloved, I’m planning to put a link to
the board at the end of the book, so that readers can see some of the images behind
the story, including my idea of what the hero and heroine would look like. Also,
I’m now going back and editing some of my earlier pins for my other books to
try and make them more relevant.



Ultimately, I think a great way to use Pinterest
would be to create a type of storyboard for a book (like people do for movies),
which would highlight key aspects of the story. Personally, I think I'm only
just beginning to realise some of this website’s potential for authors!
However, I mustn’t spend so much time on Pinterest that I don’t actually do any
writing. After all, my latest book, The Sheikh’s Beloved, isn’t going to write
itself!



How do you use Pinterest? I’d love to hear how other
people make the most of this site.



If you’d like to look at the pictures on my boards,
here’s my Pinterest link: http://pinterest.com/KatherynLane  

Tears and Romance with Author Tammy Robinson

Today it's wonderful to welcome author, Tammy Robinson. Tammy, I bleive your first book is called Charlie and Pearl. It's had lots of great reviews, could you tell us what it's about?


Charlie and Pearl is a love story at heart, but in a non-traditional, non sugar-coated way and with the opposite of your Happy-ever-after ending. It’s garnering a reputation as a bit of a tear jerker.



It’s my first published book, but the second book I’ve written.

What inspired you to write it?



The characters came to me first, and I started writing their story even though at that stage I had no idea how the book would end, or the twist that would suddenly appear half way through. It was wonderful how it all came together, easiest piece of writing I’ve ever done, just wrote itself. I couldn’t wait to get home from work at the end of every day to sit down and write.

What are you working on at the moment?



A new book, as yet untitled. It’s interesting as the main characters voice keeps changing. Before I started writing it I mulled over the idea, characters and plot in my head for awhile. This story was first going to be told from the mother's POV, but now it’s switched to her daughter's but even that isn’t set in stone. I keep getting new ideas, usually late at night or while I’m in the shower and don’t have pen and paper nearby! I also have another book idea I’ve started jotting down. Depends on which story really starts taking off as to which one will be finished first.

What are you currently reading?



The Taste of Apple Seeds by Katharina Hagena. Slow to start but I’m hoping it gets better.

When you're not reading or writing, what do you like to do in your spare time?



What is this thing you speak of, ‘Spare Time’?! With a 15 week old baby daughter, spare time just doesn’t exist! Before I had her I read as much as I could (daily). I also like to paint and I used to drink copious amounts of wine, something I’m no longer able to do due to breastfeeding.



Last year I also started a blog ‘The Year of Wonderful Weekends’ based on a book I’d bought. A friend of ours died aged 32 of cancer, and another friend got cancer at the same time aged 36, (she’s since passed away aged 38, leaving behind a husband and eight year old daughter L )The blog was all about reclaiming life’s simple pleasures, and enjoying every moment. You can check out the things I got up at the link below

Where can readers find out more about you?



Blog link: http://charlieandpearl.wordpress.com/
Facebook Author page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tammy-Robinson-Author/214658285251830


Twitter: @TammyRobinson76


One last thing, can we have a sneak peak at Charlie and Pearl?




 

While I waited for him to finish work I walked down to the main wharf on the estuary. Kids were fishing with hand lines, buckets beside them filled with darting little silver fish.




I remembered doing this with my cousins growing up. Summer afternoons, our bare feet dangling off the side, each with a custard square in a white paper bag, a treat from the local bakery paid for by Gran, who would sit on a nearby bench and watch us all carefully. None of us wanted to be the first to cave and eat theirs early, because eating yours first meant you then had to watch jealously while the others lingered over theirs on purpose later on.“Hmm yum” they would tease, licking the gooey custard off the inside of the paper. So we would try and time it to eat them all together.




We’d run proudly up to Gran every time we caught a fish, usually a sprat but if we were lucky a yellow eyed mullet or small John Dory. She would clap her hands gleefully and declare it the biggest fish she’d ever seen and then we’d go home and she’d carefully fillet it, no matter how small, then coat it in flour and fry it in butter and we would sit outside on the grass and eat it with our fingers and it would still taste of the sea. I don’t think to this day I’ve ever tasted anything as delicious.

 

Thank you Tammy!



Charlie and the Pearl is available from all Amazon sites, including Amazon.com

Double, Triple Sheikh Romance Novel Giveaway!

What could be better this Valentine's Day than a free romance novel, except perhaps several free romances! This year I'm celebrating the release of my bestselling sheikh romance series by giving away a free ebook copy of the complete set, The Desert Sheikh (3 books in 1!) In addition, I'm also offering a free ebook copy of my first sheikh romance, The Royal Sheikh.







What are people saying about The Desert Sheikh?



The Desert Sheikh was filled with sweet romance and two people working to bridge
the cultural gaps that kept them apart. A strong woman finds a strong man, and
they come together to create a successful marriage of two cultures. Love is the
best bridge between people. Highly recommended.

5 stars



I loved the way the author broke the novel into three different sections. These
sections are about the same couple but during different phases of their romance.
Each section has a different obstacle they have to face. I like how they are
woven together and I have to admit I fell a little in love with the sheikh
myself. Where do I find this guy?

5 stars





What about The Royal Sheikh?



The Royal Sheikh is a page turner that I read in one evening. I love romance and
this book will warm your heart. Clare is an architect in training and meets
Rafiq one evening while out with her friend, Louise. Rafiq and Clare meet in the
most unromantic way, although he quickly becomes entranced by her. They are both
intrigued by each other and secretly hope to see each other again.

5 stars


The book is a must read for the romantic at heart. I loved the turns and twists
in the plot. When things were going right I felt like cheering, and when things
were going badly I felt like crying. That is certainly the tell-tell signs of a
great book. If you believe in romance then you will want to read this book.

5 stars



How to enter?



Easy, just use the Rafflecopter below. Once you're entered, you can then go to some of the other great websites in the Romance Is In The Air Blog Hop to enter more giveaways!





a Rafflecopter giveaway

Could you find love on eBay? Meet Estelle Wilkinson

I love hearing from other romance authors and today I
feel privileged to be the very first blog to host debut author, Estelle
Wilkinson!  



Thank you, Katheryn, for inviting me to post on your blog
and the opportunity to tell your readers about my debut book: It Started With A
Click: A Memoir of an eBay Romance.



A little about the book:



It’s not unusual to meet someone on the internet these days
but what if you were to meet them through eBay?



Well, that’s exactly what happened to Catherine (as I'm
known in the book) at the end of 2003. England had just won the Rugby World Cup
and released tickets to a match that December*. Being a rugby fan, Catherine
went on to eBay to try and get two tickets. She succeeded and won an auction
put on by Damien. This is where the story begins...


With a common interest as a spark, things started to move
forward very quickly. It Started With A Click is purely the collection of
emails and messages sent between the two as they came to know each other very
well.

 



*To the non-sporty people out there; don't be put off by the
fact that it all started due to rugby being a common interest. We do not spend
the whole time chatting about sport. In fact, there is very little chat about
it as we decide we're more interested in each other than football or rugby!



A little about me:



Writing under the pseudonym Estelle Wilkinson, I decided to
publish these messages as so many people have repeatedly told me that I should!
I must admit, I've always been intrigued to know whether they would make a good
book. So, nine years on, I decided that I'll never know unless I try. So here I
am trying. I have tried to change very little from the original messages that
were sent so that people can experience it exactly as it happened to me. I hope
people enjoy the journey just half as much as I did! It's a humorous and original
romance with a touch of adult content...



More information:



Due to be published in ebook format on Tuesday 5th February
2013.



You can find me in the following places:



Twitter: @EstelleW_Author



Blog: http://estellewilkinson.wordpress.com/



Or Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Estelle-Wilkinson/285868811532832?ref=hl

The Desert Sheikh. Now a #1 Amazon Bestseller!

What an amazing week it's been! Just over a week ago I released The Desert Sheikh, a sheikh romance in three parts, and already it's reached a top spot on Amazon and has been labelled a #1 Best Seller! As well as hitting number 1 in Hot New Releases in Eastern Drama, it has reached number 5 in Amazon's list for Short Story Romances.



The individual parts of the story, Kidnapped By The Sheikh, Married To The Sheikh and The Sheikh's Son are also doing well. They are in the top 4 in Hot New Releases in Eastern Drama and they are in the top 10 in Best Sellers in the same category.



I would like to thank everybody who has downloaded a copy of one of my sheikh books. It looks like a sheikh romance is just what's needed to escape the cold on a long, dark winter's night.

Hot New Release! The Desert Sheikh

This week I am super excited to see my latest romance novel, The Desert Sheikh, on the virtual bookshops where it is already selling fast!





What's it about?



The first book, Kidnapped By The Sheikh, is about a woman, Dr Sarah Greenwich, who is kidnapped on the way to the airport by a Bedouin warlord, Sheikh Akbar Al-Zafir in the mistaken belief that she is the British Ambassador's wife. Eventually, the sheikh discovers that he has been tricked, but by then it is too late, he has already fallen in love with his captive. . .



However, in Book 2, Married To The Sheikh, Sarah quickly discovers that life in the desert is not as idyllic as it could be. Although the sheikh is a passionate, sensual lover, he is not the perfect husband. Also, there are other women who want to get into the Sheikh Akbar's bed. Eventually, Sarah is forced to make a terrible choice. . .



In Book 3, The Sheikh's Son, Sarah and Akbar struggle to reconcile their completely different lifestyles and cultures: she's a doctor living in London, while he's a Bedouin ruler from the Arabian peninsula. However, the presence of Ali, their only child and the sheikh's heir, forces them into trying to find a solution. . .



Although each story stands on its own and can be bought separately as novellas, they are also published together as a complete book, The Desert Sheikh, so people can read them in order (and save money!!)



What inspired it?



The basic idea for the book came from my readers, who asked me when I was going to publish another sheikh romance. However, instead of writing about a rich, well-travelled sheikh, like I did in my first book, The Royal Sheikh, this time I thought I would base the story around a more traditional sheikh, one that lived out in the desert in a Bedouin camp. The initial idea for Book 1, Kidnapped By The Sheikh, is based on a story I heard many, may years about a British family that was kidnapped on the way to the airport by armed tribesmen in a Middle Eastern country where kidnappings are still common. Luckily, they were eventually released unharmed, but the story got me thinking about what would happen if it was single woman who was kidnapped instead of a family, and what if she fell in love with the leader. . .



Of course, it is also the classic sheikh romance plot: the sheikh abducts the Western woman, and after much resistance, they realise that they are in love. However, in my book, like many good modern romances, the seduction isn't forced on the woman and she shows that she is more than capable of standing up for herself!



Then, once I finished Book 1, I began to think about what life would be like married to a Bedouin sheikh and what would happen if the couple had a child, which led to the other two books, Married To The Sheikh and The Sheikh's Son.



Why do people love sheikh romances?



There is something mysterious and exotic about falling in love with a dark, handsome sheikh in the middle of the desert. Ever since the classic novel, The Sheik, was published in 1919, romance lovers have been captivated by sheikh stories. However, unlike the early sheikh romances, the heroines are now more than a match for their foreign heroes!

My Journey As A Writer. Meet Patrick Carr

Today it is
great to welcome Patrick Carr as part of his Cast of Stones blog tour and he has
kindly agreed to share with me the story of his journey as a writer. Over to
you Patrick!



My freshman
year at Georgia Tech I ran across a box set of “The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant” in the campus bookstore. This was 1979 so the bookstore was still a
spacious place that stocked a lot of books, magazines, and albums. The
fantasy/science fiction section was sizable owing to the location and
clientele. I opened my prize and for days I read during every spare moment I
possessed, sometimes staying up until 2.



That boxed
set introduced me to the world of fantasy. From there I read pretty much everything
I could find; some good, some not so good. In my junior year, I decided to try
my hand at writing my own fantasy yarn. I managed to squeeze out a few chapters
before I got completely lost and gave up. The whole effort was thoroughly
forgettable, but it did have one scene that my dorm mates all enjoyed.



After I
graduated, I started work as an engineer, got married, had kids, lived life,
etc. All of which to say my ambition to become a writer of high and low fantasy
slumbered. But then my kids reached the age where I could read them my favorite
stories. We must have read a whole library of books. Every night for 30 minutes
to an hour, they would gather in the den as I endeavored to make a unique voice
for each character and romped through scene after scene.



Then it hit
me. Why not write a story in which my children (I have four sons) were the main
characters. I approached the task with equal parts determination and
trepidation. I had attempted to write stories in the intervening time before,
but always with the same result: three or four chapters in, I would get stuck
and give up. This time I vowed to finish a novel. So for six weeks I crafted an
outline, character sketches, and scenes. Then I started the book and stuck to
the outline.



A few
months later, I had a book. My kids loved it so I tried it out on my Sunday
school class who enjoyed it. That’s when the idea hit me that I might be able
to get it published. The list of personal and professional mistakes I made in
that pursuit would fill volumes. Yet while I was pursuing publication, I wrote
two more books with that set of characters, each one noticeably better than the
one before. But none of them really good enough to publish, though I didn’t
recognize that at the time.



Then a
friend at church suggested that I join a writer’s group to flesh out my resume.
Evidently publishers look at that sort of thing. I found and joined MTCW in
Nashville, headed by an incredible author and teacher, Kaye Dacus. The other
writers in the group kept referring to a contest called “Genesis”. By happy
circumstance, I discovered I still had time to enter. I promptly put the first
fifteen pages of my best two books, confident that I would place in the top
five.



Wow. It’s
difficult to put into words the impact my contest scores had, but “sledgehammer
to the gut” comes pretty close. I grieved (and ranted) for a while, but then I
decided to use my membership in MTCW as something more than a line on a resume.
Then next year, my scores improved. My best marks were reserved for a new story
I’d been working on, a fantasy called “A Cast of Stones.”



Encouraged
and determined, I kept writing and polishing and, with a lot of encouragement
from Kaye and other members of the group, I decided to take the leap and go to
the ACFW conference in Indianapolis. That was in 2010. One of my two
appointments was with Dave Long, the acquisitions editor at Bethany House. For
almost twenty minutes I chattered like a squirrel, a side-effect of the
prodigious amounts of caffeine I’d consumed.



Dave looked
at his watch and said, “Well, our time’s up. I have another appointment.”



Then he
said “Send me your first three chapters.” A year later, I had a contract.

Romance and Russia! Meet Jennifer Comeaux

Today it’s great to have Jennifer Comeaux here
as part of her Edge of the Past blog tour. First, Jennifer what is your latest book
about?



Edge of the Past is about a couple who thinks they’ve finally
gotten past all the tough obstacles in their way, but now they’re bombarded
with a new set of challenges that are tougher than any they’ve ever faced.



I believe some of the story takes place in Russia. Why did you decide to set it there?



One of the main characters in the story, Sergei, is from Moscow, and I wanted to explore his complicated past there. I thought it would be great to have Sergei and Emily travel to Russia and come face-to-face with the ghosts of Sergei’s past.



It is listed as being Book 2, can we expect more books in the series? 



Yes! I’m currently working on the third and final book in the series. It will continue Emily and Sergei’s journey and also tell Emily’s best friend Aubrey’s story as they all prepare for the 2006 Olympics.



What inspired you to write the first book in the series, Life on The Edge? 



I’m a huge figure skating fan, and I had the idea for a romance between a skater and a coach in my head for many years. I told a friend about it, and she insisted I start writing it so she could read it. I hadn’t written fiction since I was a kid, so I was pretty rusty at first!



If your books were made into a film, who would you cast in the lead roles? 



For Emily I would cast Kimberly Matula, who plays Hope on the soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful. She fits the physical description perfectly, and her character on the soap has similar values to Emily, so I could definitely picture her in the role. For Sergei I’d cast Josh Dallas, who plays Prince
Charming on Once Upon a Time. He has
all of Sergei’s physical attributes and is totally swoon-worthy!



What are you currently reading? 



I’m currently reading The Edge of Never by J.A. Redmerski Andam loving it! 



What do you like to do in your free time when you're not reading and writing?



I love traveling, especially to figure skating competitions. Closer to home, I attend most of my alma mater Tulane’s football and baseball games, and I have a TV addiction to Once Upon a Time, Chicago Fire, Pretty Little
Liars, The New Normal, and Big Bang Theory.



 
Do you have any final comments? 




I love to chat with readers, so don’t hesitate to contact me at any of the links below!



 
Where can readers find out more about you?




Blog: http://jennifercomeaux.blogspot.com



Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/LadyWave4



Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jennifercomeauxauthor


Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5368434.Jennifer_Comeaux