Over on my personal blog I’ve been celebrating reasons to Be Cheerful. One of these was the wonderful review that my most recent book – Kept For Her Baby received here on We Write Romance. I was truly thrilled and honoured to read it and know that the reviewer enjoyed it so much. Thank you Casey – that was very definitely one of my reasons to be cheerful this week.

And here’s another one – that’s also linked to the We Write Romance site. And this blog.

I’ve been chatting with Heather and she asked if I would like to consider having a regular guest blog here on We Write Romance. Well, I jumped at the chance. I’ve been connected with WWR for some time – and of course Heather is responsible for the fabulous design and upkeep of my web site – but I’ve only blogged a few times because life – and writing other books – tends to get in the way. And I think that’s a pity as I love WWR , it’s a great site – and my books have had some wonderful reviews here. I wanted more of a chance to chat with you the readers here on this site. So we’ve decided to remedy that.

And what’s going to happen is that I’m going to have a special ‘official’ day when I come over here and guest blog. Every month, on the 15^th of the month, there will be my special Kate’s Corner blog here. I’m hoping we can chat about anything an everything to do with romance books and romance writing. Heather suggested that I talk to you about writing and maybe give you some hints and tips – because you know that my 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance is out there and helping lots of people with their writing. Or maybe you’d like to discuss the Presents line which is the one I write for – I know some readers are confused by what makes the difference between a Presents and a Presents Extra for example. (Answer – there isn’t a difference. The Extras are just that – Extra Presents novels in the middle of the month and I should know. Kept For Her Baby is out as a Presents Extra right now. The slightly different books that appear are originally bought as Modern Heat not the Modern Romances here in the UK – but they come out in the main Presents line-up, not as Extras.)

Well, those are just a few suggestions – but now I’m here to tell you about Kate’s Corner which is going to start with the very first blog here on November 15^th. And I’d love to know what you’d like me to blog about.
So I’m looking for suggestions, questions and ideas. Please – if you have anything you want me to chat about, anything you’d like me to help you with on the writing front – or anything you’d like to know more about, please let me know and I’ll do my very best to cover it in one or other of my blogs. And hopefully you’ll find my posts interesting and keep coming back for more.

So let me know what you’d like me to write about – and come back here on November 15^th when I’ll be launching the first of (I hope) many posts to come with the very first, inaugural Kate’s Corner guest blog.

See you then!

Kate

From a roller coaster to a mountain road (with Klingons)

by Julie Cohen

Though you wouldn’t know it from the state of my desk, I’m a pretty methodical sort of person. When I first started writing to get published, I realised that writing a 100,000+ word book was way, way too scary. Those were far too many words. Sixty thousand, I figured I could handle. And so I began to train myself to write the kind of category romances I’ve always loved to read.

Girl from Mars

It’s hard to do. Short category romances require an incredibly tight focus on the romantic relationship, to the exclusion of lots of other things. At the same time, you have to provide enough setting, external plot and world-building to satisfy the reader’s sense of reality. Category romance writers have to create intense emotional conflict, fast. Every single word matters, and whenever possible, the heroine and hero have to be on the page together.

I love doing it. For me, writing category romance is a bit like building a roller coaster. You know where it’s going to begin, and you know where it’s going to end, and within those two extremes you have to construct something beautiful and exciting. The pace is fast, the space is limited, and the rules are strict—but within those rules, you have artistic freedom. I like rules. I like roller coasters.
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