The Future of Romance

Here's the follow-up to the last post - the video of Maya's BF, Tony, reading his as-of-yet untitled work. He's taking title suggestions, so feel free to post them! Happy viewing(s)!

Sometimes It's Blog-Worthy!

I had basically given up blogging. This should be obvious given that my last post was in, oh, August. But every so often, there are people, books, events and ideas that need shout-outs, and Lady Jane's Salon - a romance reading series conceived by the wonderful and brilliant Maya Rodale, Hope Tarr, Leanna Renee Hieber and Ron Hogan - is one of them.

This monthly event is so much fun it even got me to venture out in the snow!

Last night, NYT best-seller and fellow NAL author,Lauren Willig, gave an hysterically funny reading from her latest book, The Temptation of the Night Jasmine. My editor is dangling this book like a carrot as a reward for a completed draft of book 2. After the excerpts last night, I went back to the apartment and wrote until I met my daily quota. (It's all about the sticker charts, people!) Sadly, I think Lauren has realized I am slightly obsessed with her and want to be her when I grow up... but then I heart anyone who has a "keeper shelf" that travels with them. Hmmm... a future blog topic. Using a blog to procrastinate... another potential blog topic!


Maya's adorable BF - he actually talks about wooing her - swoon! - gave a reading of his romance spoof that had everyone in the room in tears. I've asked Maya to post the video on the Lady Jane website, so hopefully you too will soon be able to see it in all its glory! Sadly, due to the yucky snow, Jenna Petersen could not make it, but Leanna gave a fabulous reading from her latest, Lessons From a Courtesan.

I got to see so many wonderful familiar romancy faces - Andrea Pickens, who read last month at the launch, Elizabeth Kerri Mahon, whose Scandalous Women blog is not to be missed, and SmartBitch Sarah (need I say more?) just to name a few - and had the pleasure of talking with romance fans and writers just starting out in the genre. Tres exciting!

Oh, and the best part - it's all for a good cause! Check out the awesome charity Maya co-founded: Share the Love.

Oh, and I had to re-read Tuck Everlasting for my Children's Lit class (yeah, I'm not sure if I've blogged since I've been back in school, but I'm getting my graduate degree in Library and Information Science...) - seriously one of the most depressing books ever! No wonder I blocked out the memory of reading it the first time around! The language is beautiful, the extended metaphors are exquisite, but I want to kill myself now. Thanks, Natalie Babbit.

I was telling Lauren (is everyone enjoying how I'm now referring to her as if we're BFFs?!) last night about a wonderful new - and happy! - children's book that reminds me of the best novels of my youth - the Edward Eagers, Noel Streatfeilds, etc.: Jeanne Birdsall's The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and Very Interesting Boy. Seriously great book!

Children's librarianship, here I come!

Who Doesn't Love Free Stuff?

Hi everyone!
I'm buried up to my neck in revisions, but I just wanted to take a moment to tell you that some of my favorite romances of all time are being offered free through Avon's Love Gives Back program. So, if you've got a minute, check out these great reads:







Also, a belated congratulations (and huge squees!) to Bon-Bons Manda Collins and Maggie Robinson, who just signed with fabulous agents! I can't wait for the world to read your books!

More to follow once revisions are done...

Sara

Start Spreading the News...

Break out the champagne and bon-bons!

I am beyond thrilled and delighted to tell the world (or at least those people who read my blog) that my fellow Avon FanLit winner, the talented and brilliant Courtney Milan will have her debut novel, Proof by Seduction, published by HQN in Fall '09, and her second book, featuring a very lovable character from the first book, will be out in early 2010!

You are in for a serious treat around this time next year, when the debut books of both Courtney and her critique partner, the equally talented and brilliant Tessa Dare, will be on bookshelves everywhere.

Here's the Publisher's Marketplace blurb with the details of Courtney's sale:

Golden Heart Nominee for Breath of Honor Courtney Milan's debut historical romance PROOF BY SEDUCTION, about a rigidly logical marquis who uses the scientific method to save his heir from the clutches of a fraudulent fortune teller, only to fall for her and discover that the one hypothesis not susceptible to proof is love, and a second book to Ann Leslie Tuttle at HQN, in a good deal, at auction by Kristin Nelson at Nelson Literary Agency (World).

Congratulations again, Courtney! I could not be happier for you, and this couldn't have happened to a nicer, more deserving person! SQUEE!

A Cat of a Different Color

I haven't posted about research in a while and, as I'm slowly finding all the links that were deleted when my last computer died, I thought I'd blog about what I think is one of the coolest and most underutilized resources on the web: the digital collections of the New York Public Library.

The Digital Gallery of CatNYP, as NYPL's online catalog is cleverly called, offers a wealth of visual imagery for writers of all time periods, though the collection "Empire and Regency: Decoration in the Age of Napoleon" may be of special interest to Regency authors. Truly, there is a wealth of information to be explored - ever wonder what a Regency fireman looked like? - and it's a fabulous place to browse around for inspiration.

Anyone have any other fabulous links to share? My list of bookmarks is sadly short!

An Emotional Rollercoaster

First, a huge thank you to everyone who stopped by and/or posted about the news on your own blog! I am always so touched by the support and encouragement in the romance community which, if one put any stock in stereotypes, should be the cattiest industry of all given that it's almost entirely female and extremely competitive. It's good to know that we all recognize that love truly does triumph over all!

Gillyflower as a kitten

I have to apologize for being somewhat absent from my own party, but the day after I posted my last blog my world came crashing down around me. Those of you who know me or who have followed my blog know that the light in my life was my Siamese cat, my furry little muse, Gillyflower. That light went out on Thursday morning when my mother and I found Gilly drowned in the pool. She always liked to drink out of the pool, but in the eleven wonderful years that she blessed our lives there was never a sign that she was unsafe around the water. I will never know exactly what happened - a difficult realization to say the least - but I can only hope that her passing was brief and painless and her tumble into the water an unfortunate result.

Gilly letting me adorn and adore her

A week later I am still ricocheting between grief and denial. I still think I see her when I walk by her favorite chair, still expect to hear her plaintive meows for more food when I enter the door. She was with me through the formative high school years, I visited her at least once a month when I was in college and moving away from home (and her) to New York nearly broke my heart. When I was away, either in college or NYC, I talked to Gilly on the phone practically every day. Well, she meowed and my mother would hold the phone near her, but I like to think she knew it was me on the other end. Our house is far too silent without her funny little self. Gilly had more personality than any of us knew what to do with - Siamese often do - but life without her is rather bleak and empty.

Gilly on her favorite chair

As W. H. Auden writes in "Funeral Blues," most famous for its appearance in Four Weddings and a Funeral:

[S]he was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever, I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun.
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

Anyone who has a beloved companion - whether two-legged or four - please cherish him or her just a little bit extra after you read this. Life is uncertain - one of the happiest days of your life can quickly be followed by one of the worst - and you will never regret the additional time spent, the extra hugs and kisses bestowed or that quick photo you took the opportunity to snap. As for Gilly, my angel, I hope that, wherever you are, you are being endlessly brushed, petted and fed to your heart's content. I love you, sweet baby, and I miss you every day, in every way, more than words could ever say.

Pink Ribbons - Even Better than Golden Tickets!

Break out the bubbly!

I am beyond thrilled to announce that PROMISE ME ALWAYS, along with two more Weston family books, will be released in 2010 by NAL (Signet Eclipse). I have a fantastic editor in Kerry Donovan whom I first met last October at the New Jersey RWA conference. Yes, editor/agent appointments are worthwhile!

Huge thanks to my family and friends, my critique partners and fellow writers and, of course, to my wonderful agent, Kim Witherspoon of InkWell Literary Management, who found the perfect home for me and the multitude of voices in my head! There are so many people who made this happen through their support, their encouragement and yes, their nagging! You know who you are and how much I adore and cherish you!

Revisions wait for no man, woman or romance author, though, and they are calling my name! I will hopefully post more soon, but I fear I'm about to become a worse blogger than before. I promise to keep everyone updated though, and if you're reading this, thank you too!

xoxo,
Sara