Anne Stuart's Blog, page 10

So here we are at Day 7, and we've got the final book of the Maggie Bennett series, free at Amazon and as close to free as allowed in Australia,NZ and the UK. Or so Sharon tells me - if there's a problem let me know. This is an Amazon exclusive so it can't be discounted or free at B&N, but we'll work on the ones that aren't part of the Amazon deal. Find it athttp://tinyurl.com/p2wch8s

By now your heartbreak over Mac's (or was it Mack?) death should be assuaged and you should be fascinated by...

First, I need to announce the winners of the audio version of On Thin Ice. They are: Leigh, Nancy and Willaful. Please email me. You have your choice -- audio download from Audible, a physical copy of the audio version if I can possibly find them in my messy office (wish I could figure out how to put pictures into this blog -- you'd understand) or if you don't like audio you can have the Kindle version. Just email me with your particulars.

Which brings me to another point. I belatedly realized...

That's the second book in the Maggie Bennett series, available free from Amazon today, and in it I broke the cardinal rule of romance writing. I didn't want to, but I was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Let me explain. I'd agreed to write a three-part women's adventure series, and the stories were going to be about three sisters. I had it all worked out, everything was cool, and I wrote the first one, ESCAPE OUT OF DARKNESS, and was happy. Except then my editor told me the publisher had...

You know, it's not about the money, right? Because if it was, no one would write. There's never any guarantee that you'll sell a book, and even if it's sold it doesn't mean they'll actually publish it (I had that happen once -- it ended up that I got to sell it a second time). If it gets published it doesn't mean it'll show up in very many stores, and if it shows up in stores it doesn't mean anyone will buy it.

So you'd better write what you want, preferably for who you want. I made that mist...

Oooops, I'm going way out of chronological order. Maybe I'll do history starting April 1st and just do stories now. In fact, I can do anything I want (chortle).

ON THIN ICE is the first book I'd written in over 35 years that I'd written for no publisher. I wrote it because I couldn't stand not writing another ICE book, because I'd left Finn MacGowan stranded in the mountains of a fictional version of Colombia, because I had the perfect heroine for him. But my publisher didn't want any more ICE...

Oooops, I'm going way out of chronological order. Maybe I'll do history starting April 1st and just do stories now. In fact, I can do anything I want (chortle).

ON THIN ICE is the first book I'd written in over 35 years that I'd written for no publisher. I wrote it because I couldn't stand not writing another ICE book, because I'd left Finn MacGowan stranded in the mountains of a fictional version of Colombia, because I had the perfect heroine for him. But my publisher didn't want any more ICE...

Way back when I started I had these little hardcover notebooks where I'd scratch out story ideas. I have no idea where they are now (we're talking mid-seventies, and my house eats everything) but one of my earliest ideas was to write about a selkie. I'm Scots-Danish (how's that for a combination?) so seal people always appealed to me. You know, I never considered it but I'm willing to bet there are seal people in Denmark as well, given what a rocky, ocean-bound climate they have.

I wrote this...

Long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away … no, that's wrong. 40 years ago, in April, 1974, a cheeky new romance writer was first published. Yes, it's been that long. I started out writing when I was very, very young (hell, I'm still very, very young) but i figure reaching such a milestone is remarkable and needs to be celebrated. So Jenny Crusie and I sat down over pancakes at Kathy's Diner and decided I should do 40 days of celebration for 40 years. I forgot how much work that was going to b...

It's -6 degrees here, with a nice strong wind (that's Farenheit, not Celsius) and it got down to -18 last night. We really need a more moderate climate. Right now I'm cuddled up under a quilt with the fire blazing, hoping the bright sunlight will help. I should be working -- I always feel restless if I don't work, but I'm waiting to hear on a couple of proposals. I think I'll play around with something new and completely different, just for fun, because otherwise I'll go crazy. There in the...

Nan is a good friend of mine, someone I've helped navigate the rough waters of publishing in this Brave New World. She's been hopping up and down with excitement as her first two books are being e-published, and she's been working with Storywonk and Lani Diane Rich so you know these books are beautifully edited. (One problem with trying new writers on the internet is that you never know what kind of production values are in place. Brilliant books can be unreadable if there isn't an editor to...