Author Carolyn Brown Answers Questions, Gives Away 2 Books

It’s always a pleasure to welcome bestselling author Carolyn Brown back to Thoughts in Progress for a fun-filling time.

Carolyn’s current release is DARN GOOD COWBOY CHRISTMAS and one I enjoyed very much. Here’s a brief synopsis of it: 

He’s One Hot Cowboy
Raylen O’Donnell is one smokin’ hot cowboy. He could have any woman he wants, but he’s never been able to forget a certain dark-haired girl who disappeared from his life. So when she suddenly returns to the ranch nexct door, Raylen’s not fixing to let her get away again… 

And She’s Out for a Sizzlin’ Christmas
Raised in a traveling carnival, Lizelle Hanson thought all she wanted was a house that didn’t have wheels and a sexy cowboy for her very own. But settling down’s going to take some getting used to, and cathing Raylen, the hotter-than-hell cowboy next door, might just take a little holiday magic…  

Thanks to Carolyn and Danielle at Sourcebooks, I have 2 copies of DARN GOOD COWBOY CHRISTMAS to giveaway to 2 lucky visitors who comment on this post between now and 8 p.m. (EST) on Tuesday, Nov. 29. The giveaway is open to residents of the U.S. and Canada. Be sure to include your e-mail address in your comment if it’s not included in your profile.

Now Carolyn has graciously stopped by to answer some questions. Carolyn, 

Hello, everyone at Thoughts in Progress. Thank you for inviting me back again. It’s always a pleasure to stop by here on my tours. DARN GOOD COWBOY CHRISTMAS, the third book in the Spikes & Spurs series is now on the bookshelves in all the major book stores plus Wal-Mart. 

It’s Raylen O’Donnell and Liz Hanson’s story and was so much fun to write that I hated to see it end. I hope you all have the same experience when you read it: that you hate to see it end. But there are more to come in the Spikes & Spurs series. ONE HOT COWBOY WEDDING will be out in April and MISTLETOE COWBOY in October, 2012. Then there are at least two more in the works after that, so settle back, keep your boots on and get ready for the cowboys. And now someone said they had some questions?

Mason - Have you always wanted to write or was there an event that lead you to writing?

Carolyn - I can’t remember when I didn’t want to write and I have enough rejection slips to prove that it took a while before I broke into the market in 1997. From there it progressed from contemporary to historical, from single title to series, and then to my present day cowboys and next up…drum roll, please! In the fall of 2012 my first woman’s fiction, THAT TEXAS STATE OF MIND, will be published. Sinful Delights had been the working title. It was so much fun that I can’t wait to write another one.

Mason - What is an average writing day like for you? Do you write longhand and on the computer, have a favorite place to write, a favorite time to write?

Carolyn - I like to get up and get busy in the morning. A day for me is usually somewhere around 5000 words, writing on the computer. I’m blessed in that writing is a full time job and I don’t have to go to work, deal with the public and then come home at the end of a harried day and try to write. I have a very supportive husband who doesn’t mind take out food if I’m in the middle of a chapter or a rewrite and who doesn’t even mind if the dust bunnies under the bed tell him bedtime stories. I do keep notes and outline in longhand in a spiral notebook. Guess some of the old dinosaur habits are hard to get away from!

Mason - Do you just jump right into a story or do you plan and outline?

Carolyn - I’ve tried that planning thing but it doesn’t work for me. It’s like I’m putting my characters in a box and demanding they perform like puppets. Sorry, but my characters are independent, full of spit and vinegar and do what they damn well please most of the time. I do good just to keep up with their story and tell it the way they want me to.

Mason - What is the worst advice you’ve ever received concerning writing?

Carolyn - Why don’t you quit and get a real job? They haven’t found the person’s body who said that and my three author friends who brought their shovels and helped me take care of the issue have signed in blood that they will never ever tell where it is.

Mason - If you couldn’t write, what other career would you have?

Carolyn - I can’t imagine doing anything other than writing but there was a time when I wanted to be a home economics teacher or maybe a race car driver. I used to sew a lot. I made my daughters’ prom dresses, their wedding dresses and all their school clothes and my son’s and husband’s three piece suits. And I’ve always liked to drive fast. But writing is so much fun that I wouldn’t give it up for another career…not even if I was elected the first woman President of the US of A! Even that kind of power couldn’t drag me away from my sexy cowboys and feisty heroines.

Mason - You have been shipwrecked on an island. You have 2 books, 1 food item (plenty of it) and your favorite person. Name the books, what food would you want and fill in the blank.

Carolyn - Well, thank goodness I’ve got my two favorite books, lots of food and my favorite person on this glorious, beautiful island with white sandy beaches and pretty palm trees. So I’d want plenty of fresh baked, still warm yeast bread and my husband because he’s the only one who’d discuss and cuss about the two books and be willing to read and reread them until we are rescued. And the books: that’s the hard part. Choosing among all the many, many books I already love and have read until the pages are dirty from chocolate ice cream drips and coffee stains; or the ones I haven’t read but are on my list? Decisions are so hard. I think I’d go with the new ones so that would be Joanne Kennedy’s newest cowboy, TALL, DARK AND COWBOY, which came out this month and Grace Burrowes regency romance, THE VIRTUOSO. And if I have to stay until I’m sick of bread, could I please take along the new Sue Grafton also coming out this fall?

Oh Carolyn, it’s always a delight having you here. I, for one, am glad you didn’t listen to that person who told you to quit writing. So glad you took care of them (we won't tell).

Now let me tell you a bit about Carolyn. She is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author with more than 40 books published, and credits her eclectic family for her humor and writing ideas. She 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, where she is working on her next book, ONE HOT COWBOY WEDDING, which will be in stores in April 2012. 

For more information on Carolyn and her wonderful books, be sure to visit her website at http://carolynlbrown.com/. 

What’s the worst advice you’ve been given concerning your work? Want to share your picks on the shipwrecked question? Thanks so much for stopping by today. 

Remember to leave a comment for a chance to win one of the 2 copies of DARN GOOD COWBOY CHRISTMAS.