Spotlight & Exclusive Giveaway: How-to Tips for Aspiring Writers and Love Lessons Learned in From Fake to Forever by Kat Cantrell

Welcome to the special three day Harlequin book tour on Thoughts!!!

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Title: From Fake to Forever

Author: Kat Cantrell

Published:  4/7/2015

Buy: Amazon ~*~ Barnes & Noble

Add to your Goodreads shelf

Bride: Meredith, soon-to-be co-owner, wedding dress business

Marital Status: Victim, Vegas wedding mix-up

Action Required: Divorce, ASAP

After one night of tequila and sex, their impromptu Vegas wedding shouldn't be valid. But Meredith Chandler-Harris just discovered she's still tied to irresistible businessman Jason Lynhurst. She needs out of their marriage, but to become his company's new CEO, he needs her as a bride. Let the newlywed games begin.

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How-To-Tips for Aspiring Writers: Advice on how to break into the series-writing business

If you love romance novels and have always dreamed of writing one, you’re in good company. You’d be hard-pressed to find a romance writer working today who didn’t start out as a reader first. Guess what? If you’re a reader, you’ve already completed the all-important first step toward the goal of becoming an author! Reading is critical to understanding a bunch of important things like voice, structure, plot and character. Now you should target your reading to the specific type of story you want to write. If you’d like to write for Harlequin Desire, read as many as you can get your hands on. Study them and learn from them. Each line has a particular “feel” to it and always includes certain elements. Harlequin posts writing guidelines on its website so you don’t have to guess, but it’s always better to see it in action, so to speak.

Then the next steps are:

1. Sit down and write.
2. No, really. Set a goal and write.
3. Not sure what goal to set? Start out with 500 words a day. Then write 500 tomorrow. And the next day. I work on my books every day. Yes. EVERY day, even Christmas.
4. Read some craft books. I like Goal, Motivation and Conflict by Debra Dixon. But there are many, many great ones. If you already know you have a particular weakness, like you have no idea what I meant above by “voice”, find a book on that.
5. If you don’t know your weaknesses, join a writer’s group. Romance Writers of America is one a lot of us belong to. Harlequin.com has a community forum with a particular area for writers. Talk to other writers. Find people to read your writing who can help you get better. I still have a friend read my stuff even though I’ve written fifteen books (Hi, Jen!).
6. Be prepared to work hard and be realistic. Most authors will tell you it takes two years and at least two manuscripts to sell to a publisher like Harlequin. It took me two years and five manuscripts. Your mileage may vary.
7. Go back to #1 and do that. You’d be surprised how many people get bogged down in craft books and writer’s forums and forget to actually, you know, write the book. You can’t sell a manuscript to any publisher if it doesn’t exist.

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Love Lessons Learned: Real life romance lessons learned from the book

Top Five Love Lessons FROM FAKE TO FOREVER Teaches Us:

1. True love is no less valid if it happens quickly.
2. Don’t let what other people think (or what you assume they might think) dictate whether or not you take a chance on love.
3. If you can’t forget someone after two years, chances are there’s a reason! Call him. Today.
4. You are not destined to repeat the same bad relationship patterns of your parents. Forge your own path and don’t let other people’s terrible example ruin your chance at love.
5. The best kind of love is when the other person inspires you to be better than you were. Bonus points if you inspire them as well.

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Giveaway

There's a paperback copy of From Fake to Forever up for grabs! 
 

Sound good? Good! Here's the official rules/guidelines for the giveaway:

1. You must be a follower.
2. You must be over 16 years old.
3. This is open to US residents ONLY.
4. This contest runs from April 28th to May 11th.
5. Winner will be selected at 12:01 a.m. on May 11th via Rafflecopter random selection.

a Rafflecopter giveaway