K.C. Klein guest post and Texas Wide Open giveaway

Author K.C. Klein's book, Texas Wide Open is a contemporary Western romance and I have the pleasure of having the author visit today and offer some words of wisdom.  Don't forget to comment and leave your e-address if you would like to win a copy of this entertaining e-book.  Entries will be accepted until December 15, 2012. Thankfully, because it is an e-book, this prize can be won by international entrants. 





First of all, I wanted to say thank you to ELF for being a fan of my novels and for letting me come here and talk about my latest release.

A writer’s life is rarely exciting. All the action, drama, and passion of a story happens inside my head. I’m sure to an outsider it all looks pretty boring, but a few exciting things do happen. Since I am talking about my latest release, TEXAS WIDE OPEN, I thought I’d share how this book sold, or almost didn’t. 


Before I sold my first novel to Avon Impulse I had wanted to write a quick, shorter length novel aimed at one of the Harlequin lines. TEXAS WIDE OPEN had finaled in a conference contest and was on submission with one of the editors.  During that time I went to the RWA nationals and my critique partner, Erin Kellison, told me that Kensington was looking for a hot cowboy romance and that I should query them. She even went as far as mentioning my story to Kensington at which point they told her I needed to send in the proposal. 


Back at home, I got really excited. Kensington wanted to see my book! Of course, there was a chance that they were just being nice, but what did I have to lose? I got in touch with my agent, told her what had happened, and then sent her my proposal. A week later I got bad news.

My agent didn’t like my book and said she wouldn’t be sending it out.
Usually I have pretty thick skin, but after hearing this I was devastated. By this point I’d written two contemporary romances and neither of them seemed to be selling. I began to doubt myself. Doubt my writing. And worst of all, I began to doubt my dream and made one of the worst decisions a writer can make—I stopped writing.
 

I ignored my agent’s advice to revise and figuratively threw both manuscripts under the bed.
 

Fast forward four months and I got a call from my agent. She told me that Kensington had just called her and wanted to know where my “hot cowboy” romance was. Needless to say I was shocked. A publisher was calling my agent about ME? 


After a moment of joy, a rather awkward one followed. I had to explain to my agent that no, I didn’t have the manuscript ready. And no, I hadn’t even started to revise the story that I had doubts needed to be revised in the first place. 


Well, the rest is history. TEXAS WIDE OPEN was published, and I have a contract for the next book in the series. My point is this—there will be times when we doubt ourselves, there will even be times when publishing professionals doubt us, but in the end we have to listen to the inner voice, that gut-reaction, to tell us if our story is ready or not. No one else can make that decision for us. No one else knows our story like we do. 


I almost let my negative self-talk destroy my dream. I’m so glad I got another chance. 


Below is the back cover blurb and teaser of the book that almost didn’t make it. I’m also giving away one free e-book copy of TEXAS WIDE OPEN to a random commenter. If you don’t win, no worries, TEXAS WIDE OPEN is now on sale at Amazon and Sony books for only $2.99. I have no idea how long the sale will last so don’t wait.
 

I encourage stalking in all forms, but FB and Twitter are the most effective. I also have a blog, Romance With An Edge. Thank you again, ELF for letting me stop by and share! 

(note from ELF, KC Klein's website is at this link and there are links to her other forms of social media on the homepage)


Katie Harris loved growing up on a ranch. She had her horse, the beautiful Texas prairie, and Cole Logan, the cowboy next door. But there are a lot of secrets hidden under a Texas sky…
Katie always knew she’d marry Cole one day—until he broke her dreams and her heart. But now that Katie’s father is sick, she’s back home, older, wiser, and nowhere near the love-sick fool she once was.
Cole knows Katie doesn’t want anything to do with him. But after so many years, he can’t pretend she’s no more than a neighbor. Not when thinking about her cherry lip gloss and hell-for-leather passion is keeping him up all night. Holding his ground was hard enough when she was seventeen. Now that she’s her own woman, Cole’s heart doesn’t stand a chance…
 
“Passionate, gritty and fast paced…with a hot blooded, honorable hero to make every woman's knees go weak.”—Diane Whiteside
 

Just a tease…
 
Katie watched as Cole slowly turned, and at the sight of his bare chest, smooth and ripped with muscle, she locked her knees to keep upright. Instead of his inviting smile, there was a hardness she rarely saw that contrasted with the desire in his eyes.
Cole stood and stared. The silence between them crackled as if a whole conversation could be said without words.
Her breathing quickened as her nipples contracted into small, tight buds, sensitive to the brush of the cotton across them. She refused to hide her body’s reaction even as a flush of heat rushed to her cheeks. She’d been waiting all of her life for this moment. She was tired of hiding. She was ready. Unashamed, she gazed in his eyes and let the wealth of her feelings pour into her face.
Cole was no coward—he returned stare for stare—but she could see his jaw flex and knew he was pissed. She’d pushed him hard, but this was where the women separated themselves from the girls.
“I’m not a child any longer.” She took a step closer.
“And I told you, if you wear that shirt again, I’ll burn it,” he growled.
But Cole would have to do more than display a little anger to scare her. Before she lost courage, Katie crossed her arms and pulled.
She threw her shirt in his face, along with her challenge. “Go ahead and do it.”




Don't forget to leave a comment with your name and e-address if you would like to be in the drawing for this e-book!