Samhain Publishing

I’m so excited that Fortune’s Promise, my second novella part of the Fortune series, is now available! It’s been a long time coming.

Where did I get the idea for this book? Well…I became obsessed with Robin Thicke’s CD The Evolution of Robin Thicke. And while I don’t find him particularly handsome (sorry Robin!), I find his songs extremely sexy and one night while listening to the CD constantly I thought, “Wouldn’t it be great to have some gogeous sexy singer as a hero someday…” and well I was in the middle of working on the first novella, Fortune’s Deception.

Bam! Hero for the second novella solved.

Since the three women in this series have won the lottery, I needed to find men they could trust wouldn’t be after their money. For Brittney in the first novella, she fell for her accountant (well financial consultant – but yes I wrote an accountant hero! I think that’s hawt).

Now Maddie has found Tanner. And he’s already wealthy so he doesn’t need her money. And he in turn trusts her a bit, too. Though he has serious issues. Ah, a tortured hero…

And I named him Tanner Robinson on purpose. Robinson for Robin as in Thicke. Yeah I’m lame! Us writers need to get our kicks where we can. wink

There’s my process, at least for that novella. A little glimpse, if you will.

Visit my blog for a contest that I’m holding today only! Check it out: http://karenwritesromance.com/blog

Happy reading!

Karen Erickson

http://karenwritesromance.com

There’s no denying it, the economy is in the toilet. We’re making less money, necessary items are more expensive and the stock market and banks are rocky, rocky, rocky. Lots of bad news surround us. I can barely stand to watch the news, it’s so depressing.

In my household we’ve cut back on a lot of extra expenses in order to gain some money in the bank account. But there’s one thing I just can’t cut back on. Books.

I need them almost as much as I need my diet Coke (and trust me that is saying a LOT). I lurve reading, I lose myself in reading on a daily basis. Heck, without those books then I’m left facing reality all of the time and right now, who wants to do that?

I’d rather browse the aisles at a book store or browse the pages of a website and buy books. Hey, I’ll give up a cup of Starbucks for a good read (that is also saying a LOT). I think reading feeds me, mellows out my brain, fuels my fantasy life, leaves me with a warm and fuzzy feeling inside. Yes, all of the above.

I don’t plan on giving that up. Life is too short to get all caught up in the muck and negativity. I’m not saying I want to run away from reality but I don’t have a problem putting it on hold for a while. And reading a good book allows me to do that.

So what say you? What have you given up in order to keep reading? Or have you cut back on the book budget in order to make it right now? Discuss.

~ Karen

http://karenwritesromance.com

I’m excited that my story Spontaneous will be available in PRINT this Tuesday as part of the Midsummer Night’s Steam anthology (along with the equally fabulous authors Elle Kennedy, Samantha Lucas and Mary Wine).

Like Elle mentioned below, there is nothing better than holding a book with YOUR name on the cover and YOUR story on the pages. I did a little dance when my author copies showed up on my doorstep. Talk about thrilling!

Spontaneous is still a favorite of mine. There’s nothing better than a woman able to bring a strong man to their knees. And that’s what Sophie does to Ian. Here’s the blurb:

Sophie Kincaid doesn’t want to be attracted to her boss but she is. Sick and tired of being used by men, she’s sworn off of them. But her hot and now slightly drunk boss just became too hard to resist.

They can’t deny their attraction for each other but Sophie’s afraid she doesn’t measure up. And what does Ian want from her anyway? She’ll have a naked good time figuring it out…

You can always visit me at my blog In the Middle of Nowhere. I post almost daily about the silly stuff – and starting on Monday I’m going to have a week long blog party (with prizes and goodies!) celebrating the release of my first print book! Yeah! So come see me. I love visitors.

I have been on a new kick lately. Writing is a great creative outlet but I began wanting more. I wanted to get even more creative. I wanted to get crafty.

Now I’ve never been a very crafty person. I’ve gone through stages of it but the joy, the excitement would always wear off. Like the time I painted ceramic Christmas ornaments with my friends. We would work for hours on those things. I eventually got over it but I still have all of my ornaments.

Then there was the scrapbooking. Oh my I even signed up to be a representative for a well-known scrapbook company! What a failure I was, both at scrapbooking and the business. Why did I try and start this when I was about to have a baby? (As a matter of fact my first workshop was cancelled – due to the fact that I went into labor that morning. No joke.)

A couple of months ago I discovered all of these crafty blogs. These women are making gorgeous stuff. I’m especially fond of the mixed media crafts. Looking at all of it made me think, “I wanna do that!”

So I made my first project. I started out small and easy. I made a banner – two of them, one for my office inspiration board (which is empty right now but for the banner – I think I need more inspiration) and one for my daughter. They both turned out so cute!

I got the template from Pink Paper Peppermints — http://kindawonderful.typepad.com/pink_paper_peppermints/

She made a wonderful banner that hangs in her kitchen! So fun.

Anyone else into crafts? If you’re going to RT wait until you see the cute little tags I made as giveaways! Yes I’m going craft-crazy. But I’m having a lot of fun.

Karen

http://karenwritesromance.com

An excerpt for your enjoyment:

“Can I ask you a personal question?”

He glanced up, found Sophie watching him with an amused gleam in her blue-green eyes, her full lips pursed.

He shrugged. “Depends on how personal you want to get.” Shit, did that come out sounding sexual? Because he didn’t mean for it to sound sexual.

Okay, maybe he did mean it to just a little bit.

“It’s not too personal, don’t worry. I just wanted to know something.” She leaned across the bar, resting her arms on it. A daring look shone in her eyes. “Have you ever done anything spontaneous?”

Ian sat up straighter. What kind of question was that? Of course he’d never done anything spontaneous. He planned his life down to the letter. He’d worked hard his entire life to get what he had, and barely had time to even think about being spontaneous, let alone actually do anything spontaneous.

Yet another thing to add to the list of what made him feel really, really boring.

“I can be spontaneous.” He knew he sounded defensive, but he didn’t care. “I just never have time.”

She shook her head, a tiny smile curving her sexy lips. “That last sentence says it all. No one makes time to be spontaneous—you just are.” She shifted, her forearms still resting on the counter. He swore she did it on purpose, to give him a better view of her delectable cleavage. He couldn’t help himself, he tipped his head and looked down her shirt and actually saw the white lacy cups of her bra. Fuck.

Her breasts looked plump and full, and he imagined them filling his hands. Pink nipples hard and begging to be touched and sucked. He could almost hear her little gasps and sighs when he put his mouth on her…

“Haven’t you ever done something crazy? Without any thought? Like buy five-hundred-dollar sheets even though you’re broke, or go on an unplanned vacation without any luggage? Or maybe have a hot one-night stand with someone you’re attracted to but know you’ll never see again?” Sophie paused, her eyes meeting his. “Have you ever done anything like that, Ian?”

This was not the kind of conversation he should be having with an employee, even though she wasn’t under him directly. Still, it was completely inappropriate. And he was all about appropriate. “Have you done any of those things?”

She smirked. The sight of it made him want to kiss it right off her face. “Guess which ones. I’ve done two out of the three.”

He needed to walk out of the bar right now. Really. Things were happening that he hadn’t planned. First of all, there was the drinking. He was so unused to consuming alcohol he could feel the buzz coming on. Hell, it was already on. Second, the flirtatious conversation with a woman he’d secretly lusted for since she walked onto the hotel premises and applied for a job. Third, the fact that he was now a single man and contemplating making a play for his lusty sex object. All of this equaled…spontaneous actions. Well, hell.