Guest Blog & Giveaway with Lydia Dare

I'm excited to welcome Lydia Dare to the blog today. Debut author of A Certain Wolfish Charm.

Welcome ladies!

In October of 2009, Jodie and I were at a workshop offered by our local RWA chapter and started talking about what was hot in romance. Jodie was stalled on her work-in-progress and I hadn’t written any pages worth keeping in quite some time. Regencies have always been my favorite genre to read, and I had a plot idea for a werewolf Regency novel. Jodie can spout more Regency rules and regulations than an encyclopedia, so I set out to pick her brain.


Jodie: No, you can’t write that in a Regency.

Tammy: Why not?

Jodie: Because she couldn’t inherit.

Tammy: Well, darn, I want to write this story.

Jodie: (shrugs) Then write it, but you have to stay true to the time period.

Tammy: How do I do that? I don’t know all the Regency rules. (A light bulb goes off.) We should write it together.

Jodie: Will they have sex when he’s furry?

Tammy: Don’t know. Maybe. (My turn to shrug.)

Jodie: Ok. Let’s write it.

And at that very same conference, Jodie and I mapped out our overall plot and got a good idea of what the story was going to be about. We also decided what our characters looked like and what their names were. Then we went home and Jodie wrote the first five pages. Then she sent them to me and two months later, we had a book. We had set up some pretty charismatic characters (by our standards) in the first book, so it was pretty natural to jump right into book two because their stories had to be written, too. We just couldn’t leave them there hanging.

We started to query publishers, trying to find someone who wanted to publish our work, and we found a home with Sourcebooks. We had heard Dominique speak at the Sourcebooks Spotlight at the RWA National Conference the year before and she was so enthusiastic that she makes you believe anything can happen. And Deb Werksman’s dedication to her authors is unsurpassed. So, pitching to Sourcebooks was natural for us, and we’re just thankful they fell in love with our wolves as quickly as we did.

Being a debut author has been a fun and exciting experience. Having a partner to share it with has been an added benefit. We have two sets of eyes working on edits. And while one of us writes, the other one can take care of the other tasks like proofreading. Then we swap. When we got our starred review from Publishers Weekly for A Certain Wolfish Charm, we were able to celebrate together. When we do our workshop for our local RWA chapter on “team writing” we’ll do it together.

Of course, there are some funny outtakes that are a natural result of writing as a team, like the time we cast a young waiter as a wolf pup in an upcoming book. That kid thought we were nuts when we asked to take his picture. And there have been some pretty odd conversations we’ve had about plots when we’re at restaurants, most of which have gained us an odd look from nosy people who listen in. Like when we finally decided the hero and heroine wouldn’t have sex when he was furry after all. :-)

A CERTAIN WOLFISH CHARM
by LYDIA DARE—IN STORES APRIL 2010!

He gets crankier and crankier as the moon gets full…

The rules of society can be beastly—especially when you’re a werewolf and it’s that irritating time of the month. Simon Westfield, the Duke of Blackmoor, is rich, powerful, and sinfully handsome, and has spent his entire life creating scandal and mayhem. It doesn’t help his wolfish temper at all that Miss Lily Rutledge seems not the least bit afraid of him, and in fact, may be as untamable as he is…

A woman whose charm is stronger that the moon…

When Lily’s beloved nephew’s behavior becomes inexplicably wild, she turns to Simon, the boy’s cousin and guardian, for help. But Simon’s idea of assistance is far different than hers, and Lily finds herself ensconced in his house and engaged to the rogue.

They both may have bitten off more than they can chew when each begins to discover the other’s darkest secrets…

About the Author
Lydia Dare is the writing team of Tammy Falkner and Jodie Pearson. Both Tammy and Jodie are active members of the Heart of Carolina Romance Writers and live near Raleigh, North Carolina. They are working together on their next paranormal historical trilogy as Lydia Dare, which will be released by Sourcebooks Casablanca in Spring 2011! For more information, please visit http://www.lydiadare.com/.

Giveaway:
Thanks to Sourcebooks I have 2 copies of A Certain Wolfish Charm to giveaway. Open to U.S. & Canada. Winners will be announced on April 19th. Good Luck!