Squawk Radio

I’ve sometimes been accused of being an uneven writer, and I guess that’s unavoidable when someone has been blessed with as long a career as mine. I’ve been a published historical romance writer for literally twenty years, which means I’ve written through every phase of my life, as a single woman, a newlywed, a mother, through a flood, a miscarriage, illness, loss, personal growth, learning experiences . . .

In other words, I’ve had a normal life.

Looking back, I can see a couple of books in which I wasn’t on top of my game, and an earnest experiment or two that didn’t quite work . . . but for the most part, I think you can see the joy and excitement and passion I’ve brought to my work. I’ve always been grateful that I’ve been paid for doing what I love most, and as a result I’ve tried to make each book worth the hard-earned money that someone pays for it. I respect my readers’ intelligence, and I’ve never written down to them. I’ve tried to write with as much honesty as I can. Sometimes that includes a certain degree of sexual frankness. But no matter how explicit, the sex is always in the context of two monogamous adults who love each other and always end up married.

I’ve never been able to stay with one kind of character or tone or theme for very long, although I do have some favorites that I revisit every now and then. Some of my stories, like my Bow Street Runner novels, have more physical action, given their law enforcement settings. Others feature more cerebral and internal conflict, such as Suddenly You, which is set in the world of Victorian publishing. Some of my heroes are illiterate. Some are highly educated. One of my heroes is a younger man, and one is an older one. One is an adult virgin at the beginning of the book, and one is a slut. I’ve written aristocrats, criminals and common men. And God forgive me, some of them have cried. (I'm not listening, Eloisa, lalalalaa . . . .!)

As far as heroines are concerned, I’ve been able to get away with a little bit less, partly because of the constraints of the historical setting, and partly because readers generally like the nice ones the best. But I’ve still had fun creating as great a variety as possible, and there is a little bit of me in all of them.

So now, after spending half my life writing historicals, I want to try something new. My next book is going to be a contemporary novel, set in my home state of Texas, and right now I’m not even certain how to characterize the story. There will be romance, and sex, but it will be written on a broader canvas than I’ve tried in the past. I feel in some ways just like I did at the beginning of my career . . . excited, ready to explore new horizons, hoping to challenge myself and do something that might bring enjoyment to other people.

Here are a few more important reasons to try a contemporary novel :
1. Characters get to drive cars
2. Less research
3. No clinch cover with bare-chested mullet-haired hero
4. Author can use slang
5. No peerage titles
6. No corsets to remove for love scenes
7. Author has always wanted to say y'all in a book.

In answer to a few readers’ concerns, I did want to say that I have no intention of giving up historicals. I love the beautiful language, the settings, the elegance and sexiness and . . . well, everything about them. And I have three completely finished novels with Avon, which will be coming in out in the next year or two. While I’m working on my new book, I look forward to sharing my thoughts and discoveries with you and the Squawkers!

Love to all.