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KAREN ROSE SMITH | A Bit About My Writing Process
February 25, 2010
Hi, everyone. I'm so glad to be here blogging with you. My 70th romance will be
released this year and I'm excited about that. Whenever I write a blog, I like to give a few details about myself. I live in
Pennsylvania but the Southwest is my favorite place on the planet. The scenery
fills me up creatively and spiritually the way nothing else can. Cooking is my
favorite hobby and I once won second place in a national Bisquick contest! I
find recipes can be as interesting to put together as plots. Early on-in my
teens-I wrote poetry and began a book manuscript. Music fed my creative bent
then and still does today. Favorite singers? Taylor Swift, Adam Lambert and Josh
Groban. What can I say? My tastes are eclectic. I'd love to discuss my Baby Experts series with you. The fourth book in
the series, THE TEXAS
BILLIONAIRE'S BABY, will be released at the end of February with Silhouette
Special Edition.
Before I go into detail about my new novel, I'd like to tell you a little about
an older one. I once wrote about a heroine with a port-wine stain on one side of
her face. She was a trauma make-up expert and had to grow out of her own
insecurities without make-up in the course of the book. One of my editors then
suggested I not write other books with "issues." For a while I listened to the
underlying message-don't deal with serious subjects in romances. But as each
book was published, I realized the only way to keep my plots challenging as well
as interesting for me was to add an aspect to each book that made it unique.
Throughout my career, I've mixed more serious books with lighter ones, sensual
ones with blatantly sexy ones. With all of them, I try to keep emotion the key
driving element.
In THE TEXAS BILLIONAIRE'S
BABY, my hero, Logan Barnes, is worried about his toddler son who isn't yet
walking. Daniel was a preemie and his mother died to save him. My heroine Gina
Rigoletti has returned to Sagebrush, Texas after years away to make peace with
her past...as well as with Logan. When she was eighteen she fell in love with
him but left him because of a threat from his father and for the dream of a
future for herself and her sister. A developmental baby expert now, Logan hires
Gina to help Daniel learn to walk. Old feelings come rushing back for both of
them.
Gina once left Logan and he can't forget that betrayal. On Gina's part... She
holds more than one secret that could destroy the new bond they forge while
working with Daniel. After Gina left Sagebrush for college-Logan never knew his
father threatened her-she was date-raped.
This romance is about healing the past but also healing a trauma that has never
seen the full light of the sun. Gina's love for Logan and his for her becomes
the sun Gina needs to let fourteen-year-old wounds heal.
THE TEXAS BILLIONAIRE'S
BABY is a book about babies and a single dad...about supportive women
friends who are heroines in The Baby Experts series. It's about an old
Victorian house in fictional Sagebrush outside of Lubbock that appears to have
started a rumor-any women who lives there will find true love. It's about
lasting love and new love and the healing power of mutual honesty.
I'm ready to discuss any aspects of my blog. I want to thank all my readers for
your support during my career. If you are a new reader, I hope you enjoy the
plunge into my booklist and find reading each book a pleasure and an emotional
experience.
Have a great day.
Karen Rose Smith
Comments
17 comments posted.
Re: KAREN ROSE SMITH | A Bit About My Writing Process
Sara--The snow has stopped for now. We're supposed to get high winds later. I think I'd rather have the snow! I do use settings all across the US. Earlier books were even set in my home area in PA. But I love the West and Southwest. The THE BABY EXPERTS is set in Texas. My next series will be set near Flagstaff, AZ.
KRS
(Karen Rose Smith 9:31am February 25, 2010)
Checked out your list of
published books and I can true-fully say WOW! I've read
most of them. Not only do your
write stories with babies(I
love them) but you have a lot
of mini series, which I adore.
I love revisiting an area and
getting caught up on earlier
characters lives.
(Lisa Richards 10:21am February 25, 2010)
Lisa--Writing a six book series was terrific. I like going back to the same town to familiar faces and businesses, too. In book six I just added a library to Sagebrush so I could have a Christmas tree lighting there! Thanks for stopping by. KRS
(Karen Rose Smith 10:36am February 25, 2010)
Hi Karen, I love your blog. I find it so much more realistic to have your characters experience some kind of insecurity and find their way to overcoming it. It is such a gentle reminder to all of your readers that despite what life throws at us, there are ways to get past our problems. Thanks for your books.
(Robin McKay 10:39am February 25, 2010)
Robin--I learn from my characters every time I write a book. They can say and do things I can't. So I practice with them. Honesty in relationships is sometimes hard...or maybe it's the communicating without hurting that's hard. My heroes and heroines are getting really good at it!
(Karen Rose Smith 12:18pm February 25, 2010)
I will sadly have to admit I have not read any of your books yet, but this sounds like a great series and I like to have a little more "issue" to the story than just boy meets girl etc ---- and who can't love stories with babies in them, these are being added to my "to read" list
(Kelly Holt 1:55pm February 25, 2010)
This has been an unusual winter. Rain has come so often in Houston that my yard has not dried up all winter. We have had snow twice and usually have none. The tropical plants in my yard are black and make the place look like the setting for a horror movie.
As to the emotional items you put in your books, they make the plot seem real. Things as you write about do happen and real people have to deal with them. Lives are not always a bed of roses.
(Gladys Paradowski 3:23pm February 25, 2010)
70th Romance - I am most impressed.
(Mary Preston 3:26pm February 25, 2010)
Kelly--I think my conflicts have always have stemmed from the backgrounds of my characters. That keeps them real and emotional.
Gladys--I do like happily-ever-afters and somehow my H & H resolve and heal their conflicts. But I hope they're "real" in doing that.
Mary--Thank you. It was never a goal. It just happened!
(Karen Rose Smith 5:09pm February 25, 2010)
Thank you for your post, Karen. Congrats on the 70th novel!
I wish more romance writers would incorporate real-life issues into their fiction. If done right, it doesn't detract from the romance. It makes it more convincing. It makes it more likely that the work will well and truly move the readers' emotions. And isn't that what a love story is supposed to do?
Keep up the good work!
(Mary Anne Landers 7:37pm February 25, 2010)
I like that your novels discuss the hard issues that people face, but it's even nicer that you combine them with love and romance. I am looking forward to your lates book!
(Rosemary Krejsa 8:20pm February 25, 2010)
Karen, Glad you are back to dealing
with real issues. It is important to
bring these things and how to deal
with them to light. Date rape is
something that is still not taken
seriously by many law enforcement
officials. That said, you deal with 3
issues in this book. It sounds like a
good read. I look forward to it.
(Patricia Barraclough 8:49pm February 25, 2010)
I like twists on themes and surprises like the ones in the movie Shutter Island, which after leaving a sneak preview last week, everybody was still discussing the ending. The conflict is what I'm most interested in along with problem solving and seeing where critical thoughts are happening.
(Alyson Widen 8:50pm February 25, 2010)
Mary Anne--I think I've figured out how to weave the softer side of romance with real life to give readers substance but also escape. That's the kind of book I like to read so that's what I want to write.
(Karen Rose Smith 10:22pm February 25, 2010)
Rosemary--I truly do think that love and romance make the world go round. I hope you enjoy my latest.
(Karen Rose Smith 10:24pm February 25, 2010)
Patricia--I've wanted to deal with date-rape for many years but knew I needed the right plot line and venue. There are many women's issues that are shoved aside but I think awareness is getting better. Will this type of book help? I hope so. I did this more to explain how healing happens, even when it takes lots of years. I tread lightly at first and then I knew I had to be honest with the heroine's feelings.
(Karen Rose Smith 10:27pm February 25, 2010)
Alyson--Each book should be a journey for both the hero and heroine. Some plots allow for more growth than others. Right now I'm wrestling with the sixth book in the Baby Experts series about an Iraq war veteran and a widow whose husband was killed in Afghanistan. This is a tough one and I think I'm doing more editing than I've ever done. But it has to be right. If you pick up one of my books, you will know the book ends happily. But the process of getting there is I hope what keeps you reading.
(Karen Rose Smith 10:31pm February 25, 2010)
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