Guest Blogger, Louisa Edwards

Please join me in giving a warm welcome to author Louisa Edwards as the special guest blogger here today at Thoughts in Progress as she makes a stop on her virtual blog tour.

Louisa’s latest release is JUST ONE TASTE, the third installment in her Recipe for Love trilogy. She stops by today to talk about “a day in the life of a culinary romance author” and to also offer a special giveaway gift to one lucky visitor commenting on her post - a copy of her book + culinary swag.

It’s not an alarm clock that wakes me up; nothing so calm and peaceful. Instead, my eyes pop open to the heartrending moans and whimpers of my starving, abused, neglected Border Terriers, Hunter and Oscar, who need to be fed nownownow, well, okay, after we go outside.

Some mornings I can get back to sleep, but most days, when I’m in the thick of a writing project and I make the mistake of thinking about it while I’m pouring dog food, that’s it for sleep. Once the characters are awake in my head, they’re hard to shut up. The best days are ones where I can take my mug of coffee into my office, shut the door, and open up the laptop for a quick look at the book-in-progress. I love the read through what I wrote the day before—there’s always something surprising, either a line I don’t remember, and laugh at, or something to polish and tighten, as I think about the day of writing ahead.

Lots of days, however, see me doing chores in the morning. I’m lucky enough to claim writing as my full-time job and career, but life still manages to intrude. So mornings are often for household tasks like laundry and dishes, but on the days when I at least got to open the document first? I find that I spend all that time at the sink thinking about the book and the characters, and sometimes having productive ideas. So it’s not wasted time; plus, clean dishes and clothes make my family happy.

The afternoon, though, is all about writing. I like to put in a good four hours after lunch, on average, and I try to write between 1,000 and 3,000 new words in that time. It varies a lot, because sadly, not every read-through of the previous day’s work yields giggles and progress—sometimes, it reveals a problem that has to be solved before I can move forward. They say all writing is rewriting, and even though there are times when I’d love to know who “they” are so I could go smack them right in the mouth, I’m always glad when I take the time to get a scene exactly right before writing the next one.

Then dinner, which for me is always a relaxing break, especially when I cook. Cooking is research for me, since my books are culinary romances with chef heroes and recipes in the back, but it’s also a stress reliever, something I do for fun. I love to experiment in the kitchen; I’m as adventurous there as my characters are on the page!

I’ve also always loved to read before bed—these days it’s either the latest from one of my favorite romance authors, like Suzanne Brockmann, Julie James, Roxanne St. Claire, or Eloisa James, or it’s a chef memoir or some other culinary nonfiction. Both research, in their own ways!

Then I go to sleep to dream about my characters until my dogs wake me up, and I do it all over again.

Louisa, thanks so much for guest blogging here today. ‘A day in the life’ is interesting. For me, my day begins with a little furry paw from Little One (the cat in my photo). She taps me with her paw lightly and if I don’t get up as quickly as she thinks I should, she pats a little harder. LOL We do love our pets don’t we?

For more information on Louisa and her Recipe for Love trilogy, visit her website at www.LouisaEdwards.com .To read an excerpt of JUST ONE TASTE click here.