By Jaycie Cash

Well, I’ve done it. I finished the first draft of my second novel and it feels mighty good.
I can’t help but wonder, though, if I might have taken a wrong turn at the very beginning.

My second book, THE SPLIT-FAMILY ROBINSON, has absolutely nothing to do with my first, MRS. GOODFELLER. Oh, don’t get me wrong, they’re both humorous suspense. But everything else about them is different: different characters, different setting, different premise, plus different problems and focus.

MRS. GOODFELLER is the story of Elyse Smith, the Rodney Dangerfield of her small hometown, Scissortail, Oklahoma. The poor woman never gets any respect . . . until she discovers an old magazine article and realizes from the accompanying photos that her very sweet, though inept, insurance salesman husband, Tony, looks exactly like an ex-mafia hit man who has been in the witness protection program about the same length of time Tony has been living in Scissortail. Elyse’s plan to use that fact to finally gain some respect by convincing her fellow Scissortailians that Tony is an incredibly dangerous man works all too well and she ends up putting both their lives in danger.

THE SPLIT-FAMILY ROBINSON, on the other hand, is the story of a couple that—having just been granted a divorce from each other—are at complete and acrimonious odds. Yet, due to a series of mishaps, end up stranded on a deserted island together, along with their three headstrong kids and his new fiancée . . . HER ex-best friend.

Both are stories I wanted to tell and I enjoyed writing each more than I can say. In addition, I feel I pretty much left Elyse’s story on the page with MRS. GOODFELLER. That book just didn’t lend itself to a continuation.

But I’ve had so many people ask if my second novel is related to the first that it’s left me scratching my head.

What do you think? Although I don’t really see making a series out of either of my first two novels, would you advise me to come up with a third storyline that could serve as Book One for more to follow? Do you prefer to read books from a series or would you rather each novel you read stand entirely on its own?

This inquiring new author wants to know! So dish, baby. Lay it on me!

A FREE COPY OF MY DEBUT NOVEL, MRS. GOODFELLER WILL BE RANDOMLY AWARDED TO ONE PERSON WHO LEAVES A COMMENT BELOW BEFORE THE NEXT WRITERSPACE BLOG IS POSTED.

Jaycie Cash blogs on a regular basis for Writerspace.com. Her debut novel, MRS. GOODFELLER, is available through most major eBook outlets, including Amazon and Barnes and Noble. She’d love for you to like her Facebook Author page.

By Catherine Anderson

Well, as I write this it is Valentine’s Day, so my thoughts automatically turn to my own true love story and the greatest romances I’ve ever read. Thinking of those books—some of which I read years ago and still remember with a smile—I’d like to blog about a question: What makes a romance extremely special to you?

For me, the truly great story has to begin with two really well-drawn main characters, the hero and heroine, and then as their relationship unfolds, it must touch me deeply on several different levels. Over my years as a reader, I’ve developed my own little book test. Maybe it will sound a little crazy to you, but here goes. After a year passes, if I can still remember the first names of the hero and heroine, I know that particular book was so good the people in it seemed real to me.

How do you know if a romance you’ve just read has passed your particular test? Do you have any criteria by which you grade a book? Are there certain characteristics in a hero that you adore, and you feel disappointed if he doesn’t possess them? And what kind of heroine appeals most to you?

By Victoria Alexander

Well, Valentine's Day is bearing down upon us with the inevitability of an unstoppable freight train. I have to confess, my husband and I rarely do anything special for Valentine's Day. We're really not very sentimental. Oh sure we exchange cards—usually funny cards—but that's about it. Probably because we don't have to. He knows I love him and I know he loves me. He shows it in little ways every day and I hope I do too.

People are always asking me to define romance and I think that's it exactly. It's not the expected on days like Valentines' Day—although flowers are always nice!—but it's the little things every day. It's bringing me coffee in the morning. It's running an errand for him. Things like that that make up life and love.

Usually in my books, my hero and heroine are trying to get to happily ever after. In my newest book, MY WICKED LITTLE LIES, they're already there. The story is about a couple who have already been married for two years. Evelyn Hadley-Attwater has everything she has ever wanted including the love of her life. Her husband Adrian is happy with his life as well even if he might be feeling just a tad restless. You see, both Adrian and Evelyn led very adventurous lives before they married and there are secrets between them. Secrets that could destroy everything.

And Adrian, of course is a guy. Sure he's an 1886 guy but he's a guy nonetheless and when it comes to his wife, he has a few insecurities and a tendency to jump to irrational conclusions and come up with stupid ideas he thinks are brilliant. Because, well, he's a guy. I know guys— married one, gave birth to one. And I love guys because they're charming and irresistible and always think they're right and they're not at all perfect.

Evelyn is my favorite kind of heroine. I like my heroines to be pretty but more than that— I like them to be smart. Evelyn is smart enough to know that no matter what idiotic things her husband may do, he does them because he loves her. Which doesn't mean he shouldn't be taught a lesson. Or two.

This is the first full length novel I've written about characters who are already married. I like writing about marriage. About what happens after you get to happily ever after. Because happily ever after isn't the end. It's only the beginning. And the story continues.

In real life I have what my characters are always looking for. What Evelyn and Adrian have found as have I. A love that will last forever. And we're all living happily ever after.

Okay, maybe I am sentimental after all.

Happy Valentine's Day.

Do you believe in fate? Maybe you prefer to think of it as destiny. Or divine intervention. Whatever you want to call it, I’m a believer. Three years ago, I lived in Utah, a world away from New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. Though I love to travel and had visited several places I thought I might like to live “someday,” I really suspected that I’d stay in Utah forever.

Then my youngest daughter and her husband relocated to the Gulf Coast region and (rudely) took my only grandchild with them. I visited once and fell in love with the location. After my second visit, during which my second grandchild entered the world, I was also in love with the people and pretty sure I could be happy living a block or two from the Gulf of Mexico.

I set a goal to move by October of that year but, frankly, it wasn’t a very realistic goal and by September I’d all but given up on it. That’s when my editor and I discussed the idea of a mystery series set in the world of cake decorating. During a phone call in late September, we agreed that New Orleans would be a fabulous setting for the new mystery series. Since my daughter lived only a few hours from New Orleans, I thought doing the research would be … well … a piece of cake.

An hour after I hung up from talking with my editor, the doorbell rang and the mailman handed me a certified letter. It contained a notice that my landlord had sold the home we lived in and that the new owner had decided not to renew our lease. We had 30 days to pack up everything we owned and find a new place to live. I panicked for a few minutes, and then a very clear thought that seemed to come from somewhere, or someone, else went through my head. “If you have to pack up everything you own and put it on a truck, you might as well take it off the truck in Florida.”

My oldest daughter decided to make the move with me. We loaded up, drove across country, and unloaded all our earthly possessions on October 29th – defying all logic and fulfilling my goal of moving to the Gulf Coast region by October.

Whether it was fate, destiny, divine intervention, or just dumb luck, I found myself in the unique position of discovering this fascinating area of the world along with Rita Lucero, the protagonist of the new mystery series. Rita came to New Orleans from New Mexico and decided to stay when she was offered a partnership in Zydeco Cakes, which she now runs with Miss Frankie Renier, her almost-ex-mother-in-law.

Zydeco is located in a remodeled antebellum mansion near the Garden District and Rita lives in a fabulous house she inherited when her estranged husband was murdered. She also acquired a staff of quirky, eccentric, and emotional cake decorators, and a bank account that changed her world.

In CAKE ON A HOT TIN ROOF, she also gets custody of the ceramic baby her almost-ex found in last year’s Mardi Gras King Cake and with it, the obligation to host this year’s party for the Krewe of Musterion. The party takes Rita out of her comfort zone, and an unexpected visit from her aunt and uncle add to the stress. But things go from bad to worse when local celebrity Big Daddy Boudreaux is found floating face-down in the swimming pool.

CAKE ON A HOT TIN ROOF is the second book in the Piece of Cake mystery series. I hope you’ll have as much fun spending time with Rita, her family and her friends as I do!