kate rothwell

My reader letter responses:  LETTER #1 Dear Reader, Thank you so much for taking the time to write. I'm very glad you liked my book and I would be extremely grateful if you'd post a review featuring the many paragraphs of praise you give it. Writers love it when readers hit Amazon with their reviews. It is like getting a birthday gift and christmas gift rolled into just a few precious paragraphs. It's better than chocolate cake, a bunch of flowers and a singing telegram performed by [name of famous singer here]. It feels as miraculous and marvelous as finding a open parking space in Manhattan. A letter like yours makes our day brighter. A review saying those same things makes our month brighter. Proclaiming your affection for my book in public is a declaration that echoes the happiest moments of my life, such as when my husband sank to his knee in the Kansas City Airport to ask for my hand in marriage, or the first time my kids called me Mom, or the time I...

It worked for kids's books, right? Why not romances. Today: the historical paranormal (choose one of the red things) Anna/Belle/Cassandra is a lady fallen on hard times hired to be a governess/librarian/nurse for a mysterious duke/count/marquess/baron . On a stormy, moonless night (no options there, sorry. You can pick snow, hail or rain though.) the carriage she is in breaks down/is held up/falls down a cliff. She pulls herself from the wreckage/intact carriage uninjured and decides to walk to the manor house/wait for help/ mount the only uninjured horse and rides for help, leaving the groom with the broken leg behind As she walks/waits/rides she feels a mysterious malevolent/protective presence. It's as if an unseen hand touches her hair/unseen breath touches her neck/unseen body just at her back makes her skin ripple You get the idea. Eventually the hero turns out to be a vampire/werewolf/ghost-demoted god/some new creation that's a mishmash of the above. If he's...

1. When it comes to promo, no more first-person notes from characters. No, I mean it, just stop. Let the damn book speak for itself or if you have to have a blurb, fine. No more letters, unless the whole book is in first person. And if you do interviews with your character, good, but keep them private unless we've already read the story. I want the STORY to tell me about the people in it. Dammit. Unless it's your blog, then sure, it's your right, I suppose . Maybe. 2. Why do I find everyone else's over-used word but never my own? Why? Why? Why? I use the trick of going backwards. I read aloud. And yet every time I look at something I've written, I find another repeated-way-too-often word. Solution: never look at my own stuff again. (I don't usually...I was hunting for a section to post in a contest) 3. When it comes to romanceland's male stomachs, we need something new. I mean, wash board stomachs . When was the last time you saw a washboard? Huh? And s...

I was going to do something like a suspense romance drinking game but then realized that lately most of my reading has been contest entries. LOTS of them. A list about my list: a. I probably do some of these things, too. So do a lot of published writers. Some of these will take me out of a story, others I barely notice. b. None of these is based on your manuscript. It's based on yours and about 7 others. I've seen all of these.. . . errors? habits? in multiple manuscripts. Otherwise, I'd be guilty of an indiscretion which would get me kicked off every contest loop, ever. hmmm c . Enter my other sort of contest -- the one where you might get money, not give it. The Romance Manuscript Contest Judge's Drinking Game 1. We get a description of the heroine as she looks in the mirror. 3 gulps 2. Someone sneers, smirks, laughs or scowls words, as in "Look at me," he smirked. 1 largish sip 3. The heroine, to display her independent or feisty nature, tosses her hair. ...

Lesson for today: The covers of the past can help remind us that there are worst things than posers. Sometimes there's just nothing . . .The title. I'm sorry I can't add anything better than that. Any closer, ya smirking lout, and you can kiss that chin-cleft goodbye Her champion what? Hey?

I TOLD you I knew the gay agenda. Here's photographic proof, stolen from pam's house blend