GUEST BLOG: CAROLYN BROWN

It is very exciting to be invited back to here for a visit with y’all. Excitement is still in the air over the debut book in my brand new western romance series, Spikes and Spurs. Love Drunk Cowboy, the first book in what has grown into a seven book series, hit the ground running a couple of weeks ago. It’s like we’ve been on a galloping horse going from one place to the next telling folks all about it! And we’re so glad for the opportunity to make a stop here to talk about the series.

Love Drunk Cowboy is what happens when a corporate executive climbing the success ladder at a break neck speed in power suits and high heel shoes inherits a watermelon farm in the tiny dusty town of Terral, Oklahoma, located right on the Red River. All Austin Lanier wanted to do was settle her Granny’s affairs, sell the watermelon farm and get back to her big city lifestyle. Until she found the watermelon wine and Rye O’Donnell!

Rye O’Donnell didn’t believe in that love at first sight hocus-pocus until he laid eyes on Austin. He gets bit by a massive dose of love drunk so bad that he doesn’t know straight up from backwards but she’s a city girl. She’d never fall for a rough rancher in scuffed up boots and a dusty old cowboy hat.

Austin didn’t count on Rye O’Donnell being so damn sexy and she sure didn’t count of him living right across the road. But his boots have spurs and hers have stilettos: can two people from two totally different worlds make it work?

Looking at the finished product in black and white, with that gorgeous cover, it’s difficult to believe there are moments when I’m writing that there could be hard parts in the job. Once it’s all finished and in print, it looks so easy.

But, alas, every book has those teenage moments when an author thinks it will never get finished (much like raising a teenage daughter). There are those days when everything flowed from brain to computer screen like satin sheets and then there were those days that felt like I was kicking dust with my cowboy boots and watching it settle without getting a thing done. I thought we’d talk a little about both today: the easy part of writing and the hard part. Writing is as different for each author as parenting skills but for me the hardest parts of writing are:

MONDAY MORNING! I write approximately five thousand words a day, five days a week. If all goes well that means Saturday and Sunday I spend time in my flower garden or with my family. Oh and there is those things called grocery shopping, killing dust bunnies from under the bed, etc. But come Monday morning, I’m out of sync. My brain is slow. Coffee doesn’t revive me. Where are these characters that I loved so much last Friday when I left them out on a shaky limb with a tornado on the horizon? Yep, I’d have to say Monday morning is a difficult part in the process of writing.

MIDDLE SLUMP! My reader has forsaken her favorite television show; she’s gagged the dust bunnies in her house; she’s even made her husband eat take-out for supper while she reads Love Drunk Cowboy. If she gets to the middle and suddenly it begins to slump I have a terrible fear that she’ll throw the book at the wall. Oh, no! Can’t disappoint my readers…so I have to build up to a big moment right in the middle (remember that shaky limb with a big tornado approaching) that tells her that the story isn’t going to let her down and I’m going to keep her on her toes to the end.

DISCIPLINE! And last there’s the discipline to keep my fanny in the chair and my fingers on the keyboard. No matter how fantastic a book is in my head, my readers can never see the words unless I put them on paper. So that trip to the mall with my granddaughters has to be planned for Saturday, not Monday, even though my brain is slow on Monday morning!

But on the flip side there is the easy part of writing. My grandmother said that success is doing what you like. With that in mind I’m the most successful woman in the whole world because I love what I do from beginning idea even through the rewriting and rereading processes, I love it all.

I love it when an idea pops into my head like Austin in her high heeled shoes on the banks of the Red River and her intrigue when she finds Granny’s watermelon cellar. And the look on her face when she finds out Rye O’Donnell is not a seventy year old rancher in bibbed overalls, but a sexier-than-hell cowboy that takes her breath away.

Writing is easy when the whole book unfolds; somewhat like watching a Techni-color movie on the big screen. Right there it is, every scene in living color, every emotion written on the characters faces. I can smell the dust boiling up on the dirt road just like Austin can, can taste that first ripe watermelon like Rye does, can feel the sticky sweet juice between my fingers as Austin squeezes the best of the crop into juice for wine. Seeing it all so clearly makes the writing the story the easy part of an author’s job. It’s there, just waiting for the words to describe the scenes for my readers. And words, for a writer, are the easy part of writing. They are hanging in the air ready to be lassoed and put on the page.

If I put the hard parts and the easy parts of an author’s job on a balance scale, the easy part would outweigh the difficult parts, hands down, no contest!

I’ll be here all day. Talk to me! Ask questions. Make comments! Tell me what you think would be hardest and easiest parts to writing a cowboy romance.

LOVE DRUNK COWBOY BY CAROLYN BROWN – IN STORES MAY 2011

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High-powered career woman Austin Lanier suddenly finds herself saddled with an inherited watermelon farm deep in the countryside. She’s determined to sell the farm, until her new, drop-dead sexy neighbor Rye O’Donnell shows up…

He’s as Intoxicating as Can Be…

Rancher Rye O’Donnell thinks he’s going to get a good deal on his dream property—until he meets the fiery new owner. Rye is knocked sideways when he realizes that not only is Granny Lanier’s city-slicker granddaughter a savvy businesswoman, she’s also sexy as hell…

Suddenly Rye is a whole lost less interested in real estate and a whole lot more focused on getting Austin to set aside her stiletto heels…

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Carolyn Brown is an award-winning author who has published 36 bestselling romances for the library market. She now writes bestselling single title cowboy and country music mass market romances. Born in Texas and raised in southern Oklahoma, Carolyn and her husband now make their home in the town of Davis, Oklahoma. Carolyn’s next book, Red’s Hot Cowboy will be in stores in August 2011, followed by Darn Good Cowboy Christmas in October 2011. For more information, please visit www.carolynlbrown.com and www.sourcebookscasablanca.com.

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT ALONG WITH YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS TO BE INCLUDED IN A DRAWING FOR ONE OF TWO COPIES OF LOVE DRUNK CHRISTMAS. US and Canadian addresses only please.

Comments

  1. Good morning everyone! I’m looking forward to visiting with you today!

  2. Good morning!
    Living where you do, you must have a lot of inspiration to write your books. I look forward to reading your work, you are a new author to me.

    skpetal at hotmail dot com

  3. Good Morning Carolyn!

    I think the hardest part of writing a cowboy romance would probably be that there are a lot of cowboy romance books and you would want to make yours unique and stand out – so you have to make sure that your storyline doesn’t sound like someone elses…lol

    I think the easiest thing about writing a cowboy romance would be that the cowboy is a favorite among readers and that since they are still around and very active in the west that you have ample research material- and a good portion of them are very easy on the eyes:)

    Congrats on the release of Love Drunk Cowboy!

    junegirl63(at)gmail(dot)com

  4. Hi ladies! Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to stop by today.
    Jean: Let’s hope after you read Love Drunk Cowboy that I’m not a new author to you, anymore!
    Maria: You got it! My awesome editor at Sourcebooks keeps me on my toes about finding something unique that hasn’t been done a million times (I to tend to exaggerate). And you are so right…those cowboys are very easy on the eyes and ears. Nothing like a good old deep Texas drawl!

  5. I just wanted to say I love your writing! I just started reading your books last year and I’m snatching em all up! Thanks for a great post today!

  6. Johanna: Thank you! I’m so glad you are enjoying my books. Have you been to my website lately. I just added the covers for the next two…
    http://www.carolynlbrown.com

  7. I think the hardest thing about writing cowboy romances would be getting the terminology down and all that goes into their business. Unless you have an inside track I think it would be difficult to get it correct.
    I love reading this genre and am glad that there are so many books out there.

    lenikaye@yahoo.com

  8. Hi, I think the hardest part considering writing a cowboy romance would be to get the feel of it down/the energy of the hero, so to speak. The easiest might be statistical information that is easily looked up. -Laura
    L_Hogg at comcast dot net

  9. Leni,
    You are soo right! It does take some research. I’m working on a bronc rider book now and I’ve spent hours watching cowboys riding wild bucking broncs (yep, on youtube LOL. Thanks for reading my genre!

  10. Historical Writer: The energy of a hero or heroine must come through in the story or else they are flat, in which case the reader isn’t going to “see” the person. Without seeing them, they can’t feel the emotions they feel and without that, they’ll never finish the book or come back to read another. Thank you for your comment!

  11. Your books are new to me but I love western/ cowboys/ranch life books so yours fit perfect. I would love to win one of these books. Being retired and very limited on cash I enter contests in hopes to get lucky at times. I also love to read blogs and find out about new authors so glad to get to know more about you. I even offered to comment on books a few times so I could read a book. I just love to read and books are my best friends. Have a great day. susan Leech garysue@dejazzd.com

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