Author of the Week - Cat Johnson

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This week Cat Johnson visits the blog. I met Cat in person at Authors After Dark in 2012 and I fangirled all over her. This woman not only writes awesome military romantic suspense, but she also writes sexy bull riders, and in the land of Frontier Days, this is a great thing. Cat is a self-styled promo-whore, but she loves talking with readers and other authors even more. Today I asked her one question about what in her real life inspires the heroes she writes.

BBTF: You write both bull riders and military men. Has anything in real life inspired you to write these heroes?

Cat: Definitely! In the course of my writing I find I get to 'talk', either online or in real life, with a lot of real life heroes in the professions I'm researching and writing. Whether it's a soldier deployed to Afghanistan, or a bull rider who invited me behind the chutes for an event, this one-on-one time with these men is enough to make them and their stories very real to me. That inspires me to use all of my writing ability and any information and details I can to make them feel real to my readers, as well.

Can I say I'm envious, Cat? You can find out more about Cat Johnson's books on her website. Be sure to buy a book and tell a friend. Happy reading! 

Author of the Week - Mardi Maxwell

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This week Mardi Maxwell visits the blog. I met Mardi online when she and connected about writing and promotional issues facing authors. She's a Siren author as well and writes cowboys and BDSM romance books. Today I asked her one question about what most inspires her writing.

BBTF: Writing is often a solitary exercise. What gets you most inspired to write?

Mardi: My books are standalone novels but my heroes are brothers so what gets me writing the next book in the series is the setup I do for it in the previous book. Knowing I’ve put in little tidbits of information here and there and now I have to explain their meaning gets me excited. Even when I’m writing one book my mind is on the next one in the series. I keep files of information on every character (their descriptions, habits, traits, etc), whether they were present during a scene or told about it later, what part they played, what they said, etc. I make notes next to the information concerning what their future part will be and how they will move the story forward in their book. Sometimes, well, okay most of the time my characters take over and tell their own story and they surprise even me. It’s amazing how the human brain works and how the research I’ve done will pop up out of the blue and connect the dots in ways that surprise even me. I love it when that happens and it’s those times that I find writing the most rewarding. I hope it’s those times that make you go “wow” and laugh or cry or feel happy you picked up one of my books.

You can find out more about Mardi Maxwell's books on her website. Be sure to buy a book and tell a friend. Happy reading! 

Author of the Week - Donna Michaels

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This week Donna Michaels visits the blog. I met Donna in person after the RNConvention in Las Vegas in 2013. We discussed writing conferences and book promotion while recovering from the latest conference. They take a lot out of attendees, mostly from information overload. Donna writes contemporary romance featuring heroes who are both cowboys and military personnel. Today I asked her one question about what attracted her most about their qualities.

BBTF: Many of your heroes are both cowboy and military. What attracts you most about heroes with those qualities?

Donna: There are several things that attract me to military and cowboy heroes. They live by a code of honor, which is usually strict and unreasonable, and I love to have the heroine make the hero break his own rules :). My heroes also sacrifice for family/friends and country, and I truly love a tortured hero who lives hard and loves harder.

Those are definitely good qualities, Donna. And happy release day! You can find out more about Donna Michaels's books on her website. Be sure to buy a book and tell a friend. Happy reading!

Author of the Week: J.T. Schultz

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This week JT Schultz visits the blog. I met JT in person at the Golden Nugget Casino in 2013 and we talked about Hollywood, movie rights, and romance conferences. Since then, I've visited with her online and she recently moved to Las Vegas to be closer to other authors and the growing book scene. JT writes cowboy and contemporary romances. Today I asked her one question about how being in the movie business has influenced her writing.

BBTF: You have a connection to the movie studios. How has that influenced your writing and promotion?

JT: I don't have connections to the studios as per-say, currently, I am wrapping up a deal, where a movie slate of movies is getting financed. As far as the influence on my writing and promotion, interestingly enough the movies involved in the slate are based on a couple of my books that will be out in the coming months.

I can definitely say, writing is a business, and for success it needs to be treated like a job (even though I love it) it requires effort and dedication. Another influence on my writing is I can't see me doing a book on Hollywood anytime soon. I know a lot of people in the industry...the last thing I would need is for them to think the book was about them or someone they know.

I'd say that's a wise choice, JT. :) You can find out more about JT Schultz's books on her website. Be sure to buy a book and tell a friend. Happy reading! 

Author of the Week: Moira Keith

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This week Moira Keith visits the blog. I met Moira at my kids' school while she read something on a Kindle. When I asked her what she was reading (hoping to find a new fan), she said she was reading her own work, looking for formatting errors and typos. It was such a delight to find another romance author in town. Today I asked her one question about art and writing.

BBTF: In your bio it says you enjoy drawing. How has art influenced your writing?

Moira: I find myself giving my heroines a hobby that allows me to incorporate art. For example in Blood and Moonlight, me heroine, Kiara, draws it helps her focus her mind while she puzzles out problems, but she also paints, and owns an arts and antiquities business. In Anything but Safe, my heroine, Cheyenne, loved photography and painting until she let the ugliness she'd suffered in her life bleed out onto the canvas. I like being able to take something that I love and apply it to my characters in some way. It helps me feel more connected to them on some level.

You can find out more about Moira Keith's sexy and artsy characters on her website. Be sure to buy a book and tell a friend. Happy reading!

Siobhan 

Author of the Week: Gem Sivad

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This week Gem Sivad visits. I met Gem online after she teased me with her Six Sentence Sunday snippets of one of her western books, River's Edge. Her writing style sucks you in and paints an amazing panorama of the historical western world without taking you out of your chair. Today I asked her one question about historical romance and why attracted her.

BBTF: Western Romance has been known as a field of "bodice rippers". What attracted you to writing in the genre and what makes yours different from the usual corral-stroll?

Gem: Uhh…I don’t know how I measure up next to other western romance authors. :) My “cowboy” titles are American Historical novels, set in the time period between 1860 and 1897. Research for this era is pretty interesting since I spend a lot of time reading about rigid social rules and interesting sexual mores.

For example, during the second half of the nineteenth century, although war, banking scandals, depression, and fraud precipitated social migration from the eastern half of the country to the western, nothing caused more social upheaval than the invention of the rubber condom.

The readily available, mass produced sheath, allowed families the freedom to control the number of children they’d have. Condoms prevented disease, pregnancy, and by extension, fewer women dying in childbirth.What’s not to like about that? Evidently, plenty.

To quell these insidious ideas, the United States government passed The Comstock Act in 1873, labeling contraceptive devices and educational health-related materials to be pornographic.  Of course, condoms didn’t fall out of use. Instead, French Letters, as they were named, were avidly traded and sold illegally. Okay, okay, I’ll stop with the history lesson. ;)

My stories are steamy, often erotic, adventures where my heroines live in the moment, survive by their wits, and do (occasionally) engage in some corral strolling. I can confirm that more than a few bodices (and pantalettes) have been removed, but not ripped because cloth material in the 19^th century was too expensive to be destroyed. ;)

I’ve listed my western romance titles with each central conflict identified.

Marriage–Perfect Strangers

Divorce—Pinch of Naughty

Career Dilemma—Trouble in Disguise

Interracial Love—Wolf’s Tender

Surviving Domestic Abuse—Breed True

Second Chances—Five Card Stud

Courtship—River’s Edge

Inheritance Issues—Outrageous Pride

The Independent Woman—Cerise Amour

Comparing the above conflicts with present day social concerns, the truth of French novelist, Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr’s epigram is clear—"Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose —the more things change, the more they stay the same.”

Thanks for letting me share a little whimsy with you today! My newest title, Cerise Amour will be available April 10^th. Until then, I hope you’ll visit my website and check out the rest of my books. Or stop by my blog on Sundays to say hello and sample a snippet from my current work.

Much thanks to the creative geniuses of Buy a Book Tell a Friend for inviting me today. And I’d also like to say to readers who might be stopping by, ‘Nice meeting you and thank you for all your support.’

Thanks so much for stopping buy. Be sure to buy a book and tell a friend. Happy reading!