Today I’m happy to introduce to you my newest Guest Blogger, Abby Gaines. You can read her bio here.

How short is too short?

The books I write tend to be looong—at least, long for series romances. Recently though, I’ve tried writing in two shorter formats. My first novella, The Natural, comes out this month in the Harlequin NASCAR anthology, A NASCAR Holiday 2. Writing a novella was a lot of fun—it was so straightforward, having room for only one story thread. And the Christmas theme meant I had to write an upbeat story, which just happens to be what I write anyway!

But the challenge with writing shorter is that it’s harder to pack in the emotion that we all want from a romance.

I thought that was hard to do in a novella, but just recently I wrote my first short story and, man, that was really difficult! It took me forever…. I consulted a writer I know who’s a short story ace, and she informed me the story had to have a twist at the end. Well, I can tell you, it’s pretty difficult to sit there and think up a twist to order. When you’re writing a full-length book, you have weeks or months to work out what your twists will be. In a short story, you have to do it now!

I got there in the end, and have just posted the story on my website for readers—it has a Thanksgiving theme, so I’m hoping it’s timely.

As a reader, I do enjoy short stories and novellas, but I think my heart will always belong to novels. What do you think?

Abby Gaines writes for Harlequin NASCAR and Harlequin Superromance. Visit her at www.abbygaines.com

Thanks, Abby!

I’m very excited! I have my first guest blogger. Let’s give a warm Romancechick welcome to Diana Cosby!

Diana Cosby

www.dianacosby.com

People often ask me why I write and why in the medieval era. Before I was a writer, I was an avid reader. I remember as a teenager reading two books a day, and becoming totally engrossed in each story. For me the stories offered an escape to where the good guys lost and life had happy endings. I also owe my drive to become an author to my gypsy ways. With my dad in the military during my youth, my life was one of constant moves; England, New York, Vermont, Rhode Island, and Alaska. Once I graduated high school, I joined the Navy as an oceanographer/meteorologist, continued to travel throughout my career and eventually retired. As I hung up my Chief’s uniform for the last time, I decided to give a shot at my dream, that of writing.

With twenty-nine moves behind me, having lived and traveled from the Far East to Europe, with my easy acceptance of culture and having recently moved back to the U.S. after living in Spain, I naturally gravitated to writing in the medieval timeframe. My first three novels were set in the Viking era. Then, I watched the movie Braveheart. Swept away by the Scots intensity, honor and determination to keep their freedom, I moved up from writing medieval romantic suspense in the 790’s to 1296.

I am a major organizer and yes, I have ‘to do’ and ‘daily’ lists that I work from. I also wasn’t surprised to discover that I am a major plotter. This means that before I write word one in a novel, I have figured out my characters, my story’s plot, and have written the synopsis. Synopses are tough, no doubt about it, but to me, I feel synopses are the author’s strongest weapon in their writing arsenal. It’s the only tool that has powerful multi-purposes: to ensure your story has solid motivation, as a writing tool, and then used when submitting to an agent or editor. Nothing else a writer has is this diverse or has this much impact.

One aspect of writing that caught me off guard was discovering that my stories are filled with suspense. I never planned to write action packed novels, but that’s what my muse delivers. I find myself becoming bored with my book if the story doesn’t keep me on the edge of my seat.

After writing for nine years, I was thrilled to receive “The Call” from Kensington Publishing Corporation to buy His Captive, a Scottish medieval romantic suspense. I have so many fabulous memories of this time in my life, the day my editors, Sulay Hernandez and Kate Duffy, called from Kensington Publishing Corporation to tell me they wanted to buy His Captive, my kid’s hugs, the flood of congratulatory e-mails and cards, but the best memory is that of my husband calling me from Baghdad where he was serving a tour in Iraq.

As I persevere in my writing career, I understand that crafting novels are a lot of hard work, but each book is built on a foundation of passion and belief of the story. As a writer it’s a unique path that I travel, but one that has taught me that with perseverance, dreams do come true.

Diana Cosby currently lives in Virginia, with her oldest son leaving for the Marine Corps in November of 2007, and her daughter planning to go off to college in the summer of 2008. After her husband, a U.S. Navy meteorologist/oceanographer, retires from the Navy in the summer of 2008, they will move to Texas with their youngest son, where they will build their final home.

His Captive will be released on November 7^th, 2007, with her second book, yet to be titled, late in 2008. To learn more about Diana or to sign-up for her newsletter, go to her website at www.dianacosby.com.