People often ask what my writing day is like.  Since I’m a workaholic, most of my writing days are long and mentally tiring.  I thought it might be fun to tell you what my perfect day would be. Aside from a trip to Paris, Rome, or some other exotic location, I had a perfect day last week.  I did some book promo for the first book in my Texas Trilogy, BEYOND REASON, which is out May 30th, then went to work on the book that comes out in February next year, BEYOND DANGER. It was one of those days where everything came together.  Since great writing days don’t happen that often, authors value them highly.  Because it was the first truly glorious day in Montana after a long winter, I decided to quit a little early.  I was drained after writing an intensely romantic love scene, but happy with what I’d produced. As a treat, my husband and I decided to go on a camera safari.  Loading snacks into the pickup, we headed into the Montana mountains.  In one afternoon we saw a herd of elk, two dozen deer, a group of sand hill cranes, an osprey, and a variety…

Every summer my husband and I try to have some kind of adventure.  Not the hearty kind we used to undertake–like riding horseback into the high Sierras or tent camping for a week in Montana.  But whatever we choose, summer is great time for a getaway. This year, we’re driving from our home in Montana to the Western Writers of America conference in Kansas City, Missouri.  We’ll take the back roads, meander two-lane highways that wind through six different states. Along the way we hope to visit old writer friends, Kathleen and Michael Gear–authors of the PEOPLE series that takes place 10,000 years ago.  They live on a buffalo ranch in Wyoming. From there, we’ll head for the Dakotas, spend a little time in Rapid City, a great old West town.  Lots of historic buildings and fun art galleries. Staying off the beaten path, you can find all sorts of intriguing bits of history.  Sioux City sits right on the Missouri, plenty of steamboat lore, and you can learn about Louis and Clark in Omaha.  If you’ve never done a cross country road trip, it’s really a worthwhile adventure. Speaking of highway adventures, BEYOND REASON travels the roadways of Texas. …

Fresh Pick for Monday, June 9th, 2014 is AGAINST THE WILD by Kat Martin #SuspenseMonday The Brodies Zebra June 2014 On Sale: May 27, 2014 400 pages ISBN: 1420133829 EAN: 9781420133820 Kindle: B00GYLVSJQ Mass Market Paperback / e-Book Add to Wish List Romance Suspense Buy A Copy Amazon.com Kindle BN.com Powell’s Books Indiebound Against the Wild by Kat Martin Alaska – Where the men are as bold and untamed as America’s last wilderness It’s been three years since Lane Bishop tragically lost her fiancé, and she’s finally ready to risk her heart on someone else. The hot look in Dylan Brodie’s eyes says he’s going to be that man. But when Lane flies to the remote 1930’s fishing lodge to help him renovate, she discovers a little girl who won’t speak, eerie legends and strange sounds in the night. And when she investigates the history of the lodge, she uncovers a legacy of injustice and murder. As danger stalks his daughter and the woman he is coming to love, Dylan must risk everything to uncover the shocking truth. Sparks Ignite the Wilds of Alaska in Kat Martin’s Newest Series Excerpt The low moaning of the wind awakened him. The old…

Years ago, after my husband and I drove to Alaska, I wrote the Romantic Suspense, MIDNIGHT SUN.  A second journey generated the ideas for my three new Against novels, the Brodie Brothers of Alaska, beginning with AGAINST THE WILD. I love road trips, just heading out with no particular destination in mind, rolling along, encountering whatever life has to offer.  It’s a panorama of new vistas, different smells, different tastes, different lifestyles.  It’s dealing with flat tires and engine trouble, but also meeting people from every walk of life. In the tiny town of Tok, we met a group of Vietnam vets on a Holland America bus tour.  At dusk each day, they held a flag-lowering ceremony, and because my husband had mentioned that the body of a friend, a serviceman killed in Vietnam, had just been recovered, he was asked to do the honors that night of lowering the American flag. It was a special evening, the kind of experience that can make a road trip unforgettable. Being that both of us love history, we wound up in Dawson City, the Yukon, way off the grid, the original destination for Klondike gold miners at the end of the nineteen…

Twenty five years ago when I first started writing, my goal was to become a successful author.  I wanted to be able to quit my real estate job and write full time.  Fortunately, with my husband still working, I was able to make that happen fairly quickly. Still, when I finally I sold my first book after months of trying and numerous rejections, I earned the whopping sum of four thousand dollars–not much money for a year and a half of working ten hours a day!  But I never lost faith.  I thought, “I can do this.  I know I can.” I think one of the toughest things about being an author is continuing to believe in yourself.  Insecurities swamp you.  Is this book any good?  Is this book as good as the last one?  Will my readers like it?  Will the publisher renew my contract? After twenty five years, those questions remain.  It’s only sheer force of will that keeps a writer pounding the keyboard, sheer determination that keeps an author from quitting. So when I hit the New York Times printed list (as opposed to the extended list, which I had been on a number of times), it…

Bride Trilogy #3 May 2010 On Sale: April 28, 2010 Featuring: Violet Griffin; Rule Dewar 368 pages ISBN: 0778327744 EAN: 9780778327745 Paperback $7.99 Add to Wish List Romance Historical Buy at Amazon.com A Fresh Fiction 2010 Favorite Read Rule’s Bride by Kat Martin Unrepentant rake Rule Dewar is living the good life when a most surprising event occurs— he falls in love with his wife. After their strategic “marriage of commerce” three years ago, Rule quite forgot about Violet Griffin, the teenage heiress to a Boston manufacturing fortune. He simply spoke his vows, took over her father’s business and returned to England to resume his usual pursuits: high-priced wine, high-stakes gambling and high-born women. Yet when Violet, now a sophisticated woman, unexpectedly appears at Rule’s London townhouse, husbandly duties no longer seem so odious—he can’t wait to take his stunning bride to their marriage bed. Violet, however, is not so easily led: she has her own ideas and is seeking an annulment to marry another. But as Rule attempts to win her over, someone else is determined to frame him for murder and keep him out of the way for good… Excerpt The hour was late when Rule arrived home…

Some stories just won’t get out of your head until you write them down. That’s what happened to me with THE CHRISTMAS CLOCK. Earlier in my career, I had written a spicy civil war Christmas romance set around Sherman’s occupation of Savannah on Christmas Eve. It was great fun to write. This was different, much more difficult, a story concept that began with an old woman stricken with Alzheimer’s and her grandson, soon to be orphaned unless she can find him a home. I felt compelled to write this book. My husband’s mother, beloved to us both, died of this terrible disease. Which is where the first inkling for THE CHRISTMAS CLOCK began. It was an interesting concept, but every time I tried to write the book, it seemed to sputter and die. Something was missing and it didn’t take long to realize that something was romance, the once-in-a-lifetime, forever kind of love that can bring a story together. And so Syl Winters and Joe Dixon came to life, two lost souls whose once-unshakable love had been destroyed. With Syl and Joe, I had finally found the key to telling Lottie and little Teddy’s tale. Still, being a different sort…

The cover of a novel is the single most important ingredient in the success or failure of a book. This is not something authors want to hear and it is not always true. If the book is special enough and it gets loads of word-of-mouth, even a bad cover can’t stop the book from being a success. If the author’s name is well enough known–and I am speaking here of New York Times bestsellers with very large print runs–a bad cover can’t stop it from being a success. However most of us fall in the category where a cover can make the difference between success and failure. Over the years, I’ve had good covers and bad. One of the prettiest covers I ever had was on a book called MIDNIGHT RIDER. The problem was the cover was completely white. The lovely embossed bird on the front didn’t show up until the reader picked up the book. Not many did! The title was the second half of the problem. It was chosen by the publisher and no amount of talking could convince them to change it. The combination of bad cover and bad title was lethal. On the other hand, I…

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…

I’ve always wanted to write a bride series. Something romantic with orchids and white lace. For years, I toyed with an idea for a sort of Cinderella story about a duke who accidentally falls in love with the wrong woman. Not his betrothed, the woman he has promised to marry, but his fiancée’s poor relations, a cousin hardly suited to become the wife of a duke. ROYAL’S BRIDE was the result. From conception, it was a book that involved three brothers, which gave me two more hunky Dewar men in need of the perfect bride. In REESE’S BRIDE, the middle brother, Reese, is the kind of dark, brooding hero I love to write. He is home from the war, retired from the cavalry and forced to live the sedentary life of a country gentleman, the last thing he wants to do. Worse yet, Reese’s next door neighbor is the woman he once loved, a woman who betrayed him by marrying another man. Elizabeth is now a widow, a forbidden temptation even more powerful than before. Reese definitely has his problems, but so does his younger brother, Rule. In RULE’S BRIDE, the handsomest, most rakish Dewar brother is shocked to find…