Carly Carson blogs "Austria Has SOOOO Much to Offer … and not just studel" http://tinyurl.com/2aze6tb # Fresh Pick is THE HOUSE ON OYSTER CREEK by Heidi Jon Schmidt http://tinyurl.com/27ownr7 # Just a short ad: if you're in N. Texas, want to improve your blog, this is the weekend for you! http://tinyurl.com/23mwjxc OpenCa.mp # just a thought, gives me a little shiver every time I see another 100 followers. It's exciting, ah the little joys. Thanks all! # RT @sandishilhanek: RT @ReadersNRitas You can book your hotel rooms using the "RNR" code for rooms starting at $79 http://fb.me/BsRrQp8O # DFW Tea Readers Book Clubs was updated, menu additions for Beverly Barton. http://meetup.com/u/f4t # @DakotaCassidy Yup, we're going to Twisted Root. You're not sick are you? Because I saved myself for a Twisted Root burger! in reply to DakotaCassidy # @thehistorychic get better, because you've got book club tomorrow and you CAN NOT BE SICK (or miss the fun, we'll yak about ya) in reply to thehistorychic # After extraordinary wait & loss of my chili burger 2x enjoyed a green chili cheese burg — at Twisted Root Burger Co. http://gowal.la/r/23aYE # @thehistorychic well, not lost as much as some guy took…

The most difficult part of being a writer isn’t the writing. Sure, our muse will desert us on occasion or our characters sometimes rebel, but writing is what we love or we wouldn’t be doing it. No one can make you write a full-length novel if you don’t want to. You might put 90,000 words on paper, but until the characters and the story come to life, you aren’t really creating anything. Editing isn’t so bad. Once the manuscript is finished, you go back and find sentences that are wordy and cumbersome and must be cut, but it’s still something you as the writer have control over. I edit as I go along, but I still find those sentences that make me go, “Huh? What was I thinking?” Revisions are more difficult because someone else has said, “Could you make the heroine more likeable?” or “Could you make this scene longer or more detailed?” Those suggestions may seem unreasonable at first, but eventually you realize that they do improve the book’s appeal and readability. Title changes are something else I’ve come to expect. Thus far, only Fugitive and Hero have retained their original titles. I recently put the Kindle app…

June 2010 On Sale: June 1, 2010 Featuring: Charlotte Tradescome 368 pages ISBN: 0451229924 EAN: 9780451229922 Trade Size $15.00 Add to Wish List Women’s Fiction Buy at Amazon.com The House On Oyster Creek by Heidi Jon Schmidt Sensitive but practical, Charlotte Tradescome has come to accept the reticence of her older, work-obsessed husband Henry. Still, she hopes to create a life for their three- year-old daughter. So when Henry inherits a home on Cape Cod, she, Henry, and little Fiona move from their Manhattan apartment to this seaside community. Charlotte sells off part of Tradescome Point, inadvertently fueling the conflict between newcomers and locals. Many townspeople easily dismiss Charlotte as a “washashore.” A rare exception is Darryl Stead, an oyster farmer with modest dreams and an open heart, with whom Charlotte feels the connection she’s been missing. Ultimately he transforms the way she sees herself, the town, and the people she loves… Previous Picks

Fresh Pick is HOME AGAIN by Mariah Stewart http://tinyurl.com/27hcs2m # RT @ReadersNRitas: RNR2010 Author Guest | Laura Griffin http://fb.me/FQuywIp9 And she won the RITA(tm) for romantic suspense WOOT # Kat Martin talks "Trilogies: Readers love books that have a connection!" http://tinyurl.com/2fter5u She has a new one coming soon! # RT @FreshFiction Win a copy of THE RED QUEEN by Phillippa Gregory http://bit.ly/dxVmn0 # Great posts today on Kat Martin's post and lots of comments from the weekend's blogs by Cleo Coyle and Sandi… http://fb.me/xFcuSsJg # @thehistorychic just want to say, I am waiting with bated breath on THE RED QUEEN. The adverts got to me, but I LOVES PG in reply to thehistorychic # RT @TessaDare: Check out this tea. toffee pecan cranberry cake was the BEST cake I ever had. http://yfrog.com/3upi0tj <- we need in TEXAS! # @thehistorychic oh live you rationale for picking books to read! Loved the WHITE QUEEN so great hopes for RED QUEEN in reply to thehistorychic # @emoontx try printplace.com. They're able to deal w/ pixel probes and make beautiful. in reply to emoontx # Powered by Twitter Tools

I did not go to Austria to view naked men. That was just a side benefit. We started our vacation in Vienna. The city provides a wealth of inspiration for a writer, with everything from richly decorated historical buildings to fabulous art and even the Lipizzaner horses (amazing show and the riders…yum). We visited the Spittleberg district, where 18th century men could “enjoy life to the full outside their home” — nice euphemism for red light district, don’t you think? It’s now an upscale neighborhood and we had drinks one evening at an outdoor cafe on a charming car-free side street. Totally romantic. I went inside to use the ladies room (identified by the bra on the door). As I was washing my hands, I looked up where I expected the mirror over the sinks to be. What I saw, however, was two young men doing their business about two feet from my nose. In place of a wall above the sinks, there was a large glass fish tank (immaculately clean and empty) which occupied the space between the men’s and ladies’ bathrooms. One could scarcely avoid the “view”. I was shocked, but I filed it away mentally for a…

RT @ReelVixen: Busy busy morning on set. Blood isn't cooperating, now art is redressing the room & hopefully get back to #KNIFE ing in 10. # RT @ReelVixen: Working as location manager just ensures I'm not going to drop any pounds this week. At least craft services is vegan #KNIFE # Powered by Twitter Tools

The Chesapeake Diaries #2 August 2010 On Sale: July 27, 2010 Featuring: Dallas MacGregor; Grant Wyler 320 pages ISBN: 0345520351 EAN: 9780345520357 Mass Market Paperback $7.99 Add to Wish List Romance Chick-Lit, Romance Contemporary Buy at Amazon.com Home Again by Mariah Stewart Fame has a price. Pleasure has its limits. But love has endless possibilities. Dallas MacGregor is living the Hollywood dream. At thirtysomething, she’s an award-winning actress beloved by the public and bound for even bigger success. But when her soon-to-be-ex-husband, producer Emilio Baird, is caught in a sex scandal, Dallas’s charmed life turns tabloid nightmare. Determined to shield her young son, Cody, from the ugly uproar, Dallas seeks refuge in sleepy St. Dennis, Maryland—the Chesapeake Bay town where her happiest childhood days were spent. Reunited with her boisterous great-aunt, Dallas wants nothing more than to leave her Hollywood days behind. And when she crosses paths with local veterinarian Grant Wyler, her high school summer love, she finds he’s everything she remembers, and more—and that the spark is still there. But Dallas’s promising new life takes a troubling turn when the unimaginable happens and she finds herself living a mother’s worst nightmare—and Emilio storms into St. Dennis to save…

Until fairly recently, I didn’t write trilogies. Mostly because I had to think up three stories all at once. It’s far easier to come up with one idea, develop characters, and work out a single plot. Earlier in my career, I did a number of related books. GYPSY LORD, SWEET VENGEANCE, and THE DEVIL’S PRIZE were linked books with characters who were friends. CREOLE FIRES, SAVANNAH HEAT, and NATCHEZ FLAME were also linked, but I had yet to write what I now consider a real trilogy. Then my agent came to Montana for a visit. She helped me come up with a story concept that was broad enough to last through three novels, and The Necklace Trilogy was born: THE BRIDE’S NECKLACE, THE DEVIL’S NECKLACE, and THE HANDMAIDEN’S NECKLACE. Even in a three book series, I write novels that stand alone. I think that’s important, since readers often buy them out of sequence. The best thing about linked books is that readers get to stay in touch with the people they’ve met in previous novels and come to care about. I get lots of e-mails from readers who comment on this and eagerly await the rest of the books in…

Fresh Pick is MONTANA DESTINY by R.C. Ryan http://tinyurl.com/6f9npl last day for our cowboy week. what did you like? # @Rogercparker try http://tinyurl.com/29czc23 apparently Bit.ly isn't loved by Facebook or search by presenter Reyes and you should find in reply to Rogercparker # @Tawania_E ah, thanks for the #ff I'm just running late. Friday was so BUSY! sigh in reply to Tawania_E # @ClaireCookbooks @vic_michaels #FF sent your way TOO! Love you all! # good luck to @ReelVixen on her #BLADE night shoot! We'll miss you at @dfwtea today! So, we'll tell all your #RWA10 stories from our pov # Cleo Coyle has "Latte Cup Giveaway and My Recipe for Blueberry Firehall Pancakes! " http://tinyurl.com/2clttp4 cool stuff! # We need your vote! SXSW panel Book Blogs, Better Than NYT Books Reviews http://bit.ly/duTSy9 pls vote by 8/27 & RT # High Tea with @DFWTea group so much fun ahead with @sandishilhanek @Sandishilhanek — at Sophia's Tea Garden http://gowal.la/r/22Dhj # had a great time at tea, now have NEW list of authors & books to get. New friends, great books, what a way to spend a Saturday! # @MonicaBurns yup, once a month on 2nd Saturday. We talked about you today, were…

May 2010 On Sale: May 4, 2010 368 pages ISBN: 0451229215 EAN: 9780451229212 Paperback $15.00 Add to Wish List Women’s Fiction Buy at Amazon.com On Folly Beach by Karen White The latest Southern novel from the acclaimed bestselling and award- winning author of The Memory of Water. To most people, Folly Beach, South Carolina, is simply the last barrier island before the Atlantic. To some, it’s a sanctuary, which is why Janie Hamilton’s mother encourages her to buy the local book store, Folly’s Finds, hoping it will distract Janie from the loss of her husband in Afghanistan. Janie is at first resistant, but intrigued after finding love letters and an image of a beautiful bottle tree in a box of used books from Folly’s Finds, and decides to take the plunge. The store’s seller insists on one condition: Janie must allow Lulu, the late owner’s elderly sister, to continue selling her bottle trees from its back yard. Historically, bottle trees were brought by African slaves to the American South, and Janie had grown up with one in her backyard, and it has always been a symbol of refuge to her. Janie generally ignores Lulu as she sifts through the love…