Love is worth the risk
I’ve had an amazing few days! What have I won? Notably Dangerous Secrets won the 2016 RONE Award for Best Post-Medieval Historical Romance. InD’Tale Magazine presented the award at their InD’Scribe conference which leads me to other things I’ve won: new friends, new ideas, new appreciation for my craft, and some insights about my self. One […]
Who reads my books, really? I’d like some demographic data. What is the best way to reach people who might like them? Sometimes I feel like I’m announcing in an echo chamber, or just talking with the same small group of people. What was it actually like to be a woman in 1835? I can […]
Sigh. You may have noticed I like to plan my life. I think I’m good at it, but I’m deluded. I try to plan, I really do, but there are reasons planning hasn’t worked this summer: Weather. Specifically, heat is disruptive. My glorious office with windows down three sides becomes a stifling greenhouse when the […]
Writer’s block. Why won’t my characters tell me what comes next? Weeds. If they can’t stay away they should at least hide behind the bushes because I don’t have time to kill them. Dieting. It. Does. Not. Work Junk phone calls when I’m waiting for an important one. (The rest of the time I ignore […]
Highlighting Historical Romance: Michele Stegman joins us today. ________________________________________________________________________ It is a pleasure to be on your site, today, Caroline! Thank you for inviting me. In Fortune’s Foe, which scene was the hardest for you to write? The basic problem in this book is that the heroine, Mariette Fortune, wants to save her twin brother […]
Starting a new story feels like priming a pump that just doesn’t want to flow. I pour in a little ‘water’ in the form of characters and some vague idea of the inciting incident or opening disturbance and then pump and pump, but the words drip out one by one and I’m left waiting for […]
Good Monday morning. The sun is shining and we’re approaching 70 every day this week in the wilds of eastern PA. It’s a good day for a road trip and I’m off on one in an hour. I’m driving north to meet one of my fellow Bluestocking Belles, Nicole Zoltack, and I’m very excited. The […]
I know, I know. That’s an odd one for a motivator. A friend just said temps below freezing and snow make for a good day to finish her edits. I say grey skies, threatening snow, and sub zero wind chills make the world an unpleasant place. I can a)get depressed or b) slip into my […]
Turning on music is one of the triggers I use to say, “time to write, Caroline!” A friend of mine once told me she uses movie scores for inspiration. Those work sometimes. It depends on the book. For Dangerous Secrets I used a lot of traditional Italian music and a bit of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. […]
I’m looking out at the expanse of snow in my yard, receding around the edges but still covered, and contemplating. Since I allowed a wonderful character who really belongs in the next book to high-jack my current story, my plan for the last quarter of the story lies in shreds. I’m trying to open my […]