Turn off the tube and turn on the fun tonight with the featured guest in our chat room, USA Today bestselling author Katherine Garbera. Starting at 9pm ET, the Florida native will be on hand to discuss her steamy Miami Nights series, talk about her publishing experience as the author of more than 50 novels and give away a few goodies in the process. Hope you'll join us!
WHAT: Chat with Katherine Garbera WHEN: TONIGHT, Thursday, March 24th @ 9pm ET WHERE: The Knight Agency Chat Room - http://client1.sigmachat.com/sc.php?id=115545 HOW TO CHAT: Enter any combination of username and password. Login. Your computer must be Java enabled to chat.
UPDATE: The winner is Diane! Congrats! Please email your physical addy to contests(AT)knightagency.net.
Client News: Next week on Thursday, March 24th we're hosting USA Today bestselling author Katherine Garbera in our chat room at 9pm ET. If you've been to our monthly chats before, you know that it's always both fun and eductional. Katherine is the author of more than 50 books, so she has plenty to share about her experience, as well as give us the skinny on her hot new Miami Nights series. There will be giveaways and trivia. Click here to bookmark our chat room. Also, we're giving away a copy of the first Miami Nights book, TAMING THE VIP PLAYBOY for Freebie Friday. So don't forget to leave a comment in this post to enter the drawing!
TKA News: TKA pres Deidre Knight has been tapped to be the featured speaker at the Pocono Lehigh Romance Writers Retreat at Sea, which sets sail on August 8th. The retreat is open to both members and non-members. This is the perfect opportunity to get away from the daily grind and concentrate on your writing goals. Fees are due by April 1st. Visit PLRW's cruise page for more info.
Report from Cyberspace:
The industry awaited news of new Borders closings this week, with some estimates warning the retailer would shutter up to 75 new locations, according to Publishers Marketplace (subscribers only site). However, the final annoucement listed only 28 additional closings in California, Conneticut, Hawaii, Massachussets, Indiana, Pennsylvania and Washington state. - Official Store Closure List
Mass market paperback sales are were down 30% in January, as reported by the Association of American Publishers. Admittedly, that sounds like pretty scary news until you realize that ebook sales increased by 115.8%, up from $32.4 million to $66.9 million, during the same time period. Sounds like growing pains to us as the industry calibrates itself to new ways of doing business - via GalleyCat and eBookNewser
And in news that is probably only exciting to me, and, oh, about a 5 million other people, it was announced that Katniss Everdeen from Suzanne Collins's infamous Hunger Games series was cast this week. Jennifer Lawrence, known for her Academy Award-nominated role in Winter's Bone, will take on the beloved badass heroine. I'm not that familiar with Lawrence, so I can't cast a vote in the heated actress debate, but I'm all for any move that gets this project closer to a movie screen near me - Eonline ________________________________________________________
Leave your name in the comment section to win a copy of TAMING THE VIP PLAYBOY by Katherine Garbera.
The 411: The sultry heat. The pulsing music. How could millionaire club owner Nate Stern have resisted taking Jen Miller into his arms? Though everyone in Miami considered him a playboy, Nate never flirted with his employees. Yet something about Jen had him changing his mind.
Sleeping with her VIP boss was risky, but the businessman’s charms had Jen throwing caution to the wind. Still, she’d been hurt before. Knowing Nate must play the role of Casanova for the press had her guarding her heart. But when Nate held her close, Jen couldn’t resist the flames...no matter what.
UPDATE: The winner of an autographed copy of SECRET, LIES...AND SEDUCTION is Kathleen. Congrats! Please send your physical address to contests(AT)kngihtagency.net.
The 411: A sexy summer anthology featuring two separate stories—twice the delectable scandal! CEO's Summer Seduction by Katherine Garbera Meet the billionaire boss: Sebastian Hughes has taken his secretary for granted one too many times. To keep her from walking out he must show her what she's really worth…fast! But she's seen all of his usual seduction ploys…and she'll only settle for the real thing.
Magnate's Mistress-for-a-Month by Yvonne Lindsay Watch out for the jaded businessman: Richard Wells has had it with romance…and marriage. Then he spies a woman on horseback and vows to bed her. But the object of his seduction is no privileged female. She's the hired help with a heart bound to make even this disillusioned bachelor crumble.
UPDATE: The winner of an autographed copy of MASTER OF FORTUNE by Katherine Garbera is Chelsea B. Congrats! Please send your physical addy to contests(AT)knightagency.net.
Leave your name in the comment section to win an autographed copy of MASTER OF FORTUNE by Katherine Garbera. The winner will be announced tomorrow afternoon.
The 411: Mr. March: Henry Devonshire, illegitimate…irresistible.
Determined To: Become master of his own fortune.
Derailed By: Attraction to his lovely new assistant.
Never had he had such a desire to win. If Henry Devonshire wished to inherit his dying father's empire, he had to make Everest Records a huge success. And the one person who could help him, Astrid Taylor, was also the only woman he wanted. Mixing business with pleasure was never wise, but this time, it could literally cost Henry a fortune.
UPDATE: The two winners of Katherine Garbera's SONS OF PRIVILEGE series are Veronica and Mona. Congrats! Please email your physical addresses to contests(at)knightagency(dot)net -- insert an @ sign and period where indicated. Also, Margay (A DROP OF RED by Chris Marie Green) and Lisa F. (WICKED HOT by Charlene Teglia) have not claimed their Take Home Tuesday prizes. If the addresses are not emailed by midnight, March 18, 2008, we will redraw names.
Thanks to everyone who participated. Check back next Tuesday for another fantastic book giveaway!
The novelist's task is not merely the accumulation but the illumination of details.—J. D. McClatchy
There are books that I have turned to time and again throughout the course of my life. Books that continue to illuminate for me some human characteristic that keeps me intrigued. It’s a thing that keeps me questioning and questing toward answers. For me it is rooted in family and individuality. I grew up in a family with two sisters. The three of us girls were very close in age (only three years between me--the oldest--and the youngest) and were often treated as a group entity. In some of my earliest memories I was referred to simply as a Smith Girl.
While I liked that feeling of belonging that having my sisters gave me I struggled to figure out who I was by myself. As a pre-teen I found the books of Madeleine L'Engle and immediately identified myself with Meg. I could feel the same stress she did about her responsibility to her family and her siblings. But also she was lost in the family. Just her birth-order place made her who she was.
Another book that I loved was FROM THE MIXED UP FILES OF MRS. BASIL E. FRANKWEILER by E.L. Koningsburg. I really loved this story because it talked of escape from the daily routine. Claudia takes her younger brother with her and they run away to the city. Something I always longed to do and then they discover the truth behind a donated piece of art.
This books illuminated for me that I wasn't the only one who was lost as a child. And because I'm such a book worm, I found the same sense of self in the books I read as a young woman. I drowned in romance novels which inspired me to be a strong, independent woman and to wait for a man who loves me. Those books made me believe that happily ever after isn't just for fairy tales but for women who want it. And I did.
Some of my favorite authors back then were Johanna Lindsey, Anne Stuart and Rebecca Flanders. But while romance helping me to figure out the details of what I wanted in a relationship the books of Margaret Atwood were helping me answer questions about myself. About my individuality, which is something I continuously struggle with. The book that did this for me was THE EDIBLE WOMAN.
That book is still one of my favorites for two reasons: the first and most obvious is that the heroine goes through a transformation in the book that I could identify with. She goes from being this woman who is bumping along on her expected path (the one that everyone expects of her and the one she herself has come to accept for herself) when she is changed. And that change comes in how she views herself. This book is fiction but I got a lot more from it than just a good read.
The second reason I love this book is that it made me aware of point of view. And that was one of the things I needed to figure out to become a writer. In THE EDIBLE WOMAN the story starts in first person. The heroine is thinking about herself in first person as we should. As we do in real life. Then as the heroine is coming to the change in herself the narrative switches to third person. The heroine no longer is a part of herself but viewing her life from the outside. Then once she is back to herself she switches again to first person.
I love that. I love the way that Margaret Atwood makes storytelling part of the story. How effortlessly she weaves that story and the heroine's journey together.
There are other books that have affected me as a woman and a writer but I could go on for days if I talked about them all.
What about you? Have you read a book that changed something inside you? Or made you feel not so alone?
I will give away two prizes today to randomly drawn participants of this blog. The prize is my Sons of Privilege series from Silhouette Desire.
Tunnel of Love Week Guest Blogger: Katherine Garbera
UPDATE: This contest is now closed. The two winners are Erika Lynn & Karin. Congrats!! Please send you physical addresses to contests(at)knightagency.net. Find what you love to do. Find your passion. Know what makes you want to get up in the morning, that's all you need.—Condoleeza Rice
From my earliest memories I've known two things: 1. I love to make up stories and entertain people and 2. I can't resist a happy ending.
The fact that I had this knowledge was a nice start to my career as a writer but if it hadn't been for the support and encouragement of my parents, I wouldn't have gotten to where I am today.
Doing what you love isn't something that's embraced here in the U.S.A. Most of us find work doing what pays the bills or supports the lifestyle we want. And we live our lives in a quasi state of happiness. I'm saying we but to be honest this isn't me.
I had a job as a secretary at Walt Disney World. It was a nice job with nice people but I had no passion for it. I was a hard worker and excelled at my tasks always earning praise from my superiors but there was no sense of satisfaction from the job I was doing.
I took a leap of faith and started writing. I'm often asked why do I write romance and this goes back to my number 2. I love happy endings. I love the thought that two people are going to fall in love and be happy. And without that I'm not interested in a story. I love to read but I need to know the characters who's lives I've gotten tangled up in are going to be happy. That they are going to get a life together to have kids and build a family.
When I started writing romance novels I realized exactly what Condoleeza Rice is talking about. I have never had to "make myself" go to the computer and write. I long to be at my computer writing. When I'm not, I'm cranky and a bit out of sorts. Writing is so much more than a job to me, it's a part of who I am and I'm so grateful I figured that out at an early age.
What about you? Do you do what you love?I have two prize packs today for two randomly drawn lucky blog participants. The pack includes SEX WITH A STRANGER and BODY HEAT from Brava along with some Valentine's Day chocolates!
