05/18/12
Welcome Guest Blogger Stacey Joy Netzel.
I’m so pleased to have Stacey Joy Netzel with us today. She has a new book out, MORE THAN A KISS, a contemporary romance inspired by a Netflix commercial.
Stacey says she fell in love with books at a young age, so for her the graduation to writing them was natural. An avid reader and fan of movies with a happily ever after, she lives in her native Wisconsin with her husband and three children, a couple horses and some barn cats. She works part-time as a travel agent, and in her limited free time enjoys gardening, canning, and visiting her parents in Northeastern Wisconsin (Up North) at their cabin on the lake.
Stacey, thank you so much for stopping by. Today, I thought I would ask some fun questions to give the readers a chance to know you. How’s that sound?
Thanks for having me, Elizabeth! I’m happy to answer some questions. Read the rest of this entry »
04/27/12
A New York Times bestseller many times over, Eloisa James writes historical romance for Harper Collins. A reviewer from USA Today wrote of Eloisa’s very first book that she “found herself devouring the book like a dieter with a Hershey bar”; later People Magazine raved that “romance writing does not get much better than this.” Eloisa wrote her first novel after graduating from Harvard, but alas, it was rejected by every possible publisher. After she got an 
M.Phil. from Oxford, a Ph.D. from Yale, and a job as a Shakespeare professor, she tried again, with much greater success. Currently she teaches Shakespeare in the English Department at Fordham University in New York City. She’s also the mother of two children and, in a particularly delicious irony for a romance writer, is married to a genuine Italian knight.
We’re very pleased to have Eloisa visiting today to discuss her delightful memoir, Paris in Love. Here’s a short blurb about the book:
In 2009, New York Times bestselling author Eloisa James took a leap that many people dream about: she sold her house, took a sabbatical from her job as a Shakespeare professor, and moved her family to Paris. Paris in Love: A Memoir chronicles her joyful year in one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
With no classes to teach, no committee meetings to attend, no lawn to mow or cars to park, Eloisa revels in the ordinary pleasures of life—discovering corner museums that tourists overlook, 
chronicling Frenchwomen’s sartorial triumphs, walking from one end of Paris to another. She copes with her Italian husband’s notions of quality time; her two hilarious children, ages eleven and fifteen, as they navigate schools—not to mention puberty—in a foreign language; and her mother-in-law Marina’s raised eyebrow in the kitchen (even as Marina overfeeds Milo, the family dog).
Paris in Love invites the reader into the life of a most enchanting family, framed by la ville de l’amour.
Welcome to Blame It on the Muse, Eloisa! We really appreciate you taking the time to be with us today, particularly, since you’re in the middle of a book tour. So without further ado,
What was it about Paris that you loved the most? Was it the food, the shopping, the people, or something more intangible? Read the rest of this entry »
03/14/12
by Livia Quinn
Phenomenon - a fact or situation that is observed to exist or happen, esp. one whose cause or explanation is in question; a remarkable person, thing, or event.
Whether it’s a phenomenon in your own backyard or a worldwide event, the odd, unexplainable, and seriously absurd continue to amaze and entertain us. Spiderman, Ax Men, Swamp Men – one thing these phenonmenon have in common is exaggeration. Filmed just south of here, Swamp Men was a fascination for friends in Maryland at Christmas, and a joke to our local fishermen last weekend.
03/9/12
Lynda Bailey talks Inspiration
Lynda Bailey
Please welcome Lynda Bailey to Blame It On The Muse. She’s always loved stories. Especially love stories. Growing up in the Midwest, she’d make up stories, usually to her favorite TV shows.
As she got older, the stories didn’t relent. In fact, they only got stronger, the characters more insistent. She had no choice but to put it all on paper. It’s an obsession. One that she loves. When not sitting at her computer, she spends her time working as a fitness instructor. Please visit her at www.lyndabailey.net.
How do you come up with all those stories you write?
03/1/12
Nostalgic Romance—Why Have You Never Heard of It?
by Hope Ramsay
I am tickled pink to be hosting a guest blog today, from the one-and-only Laurie Kellogg. Laurie is one of the most wonderful people I know, and equally important, she is a gifted author, and one of my dear Ruby Sisters — a member of the Golden Heart class of 2009.
Today, she is celebrating the publication of her first book, The Memory of You, which is so wonderful ya’ll should go right out and buy a copy of it right now. It will make you cry and laugh and it has a wonderful ending.
So without further ado, I’m turning this blog over to my good friend Laurie Kellogg.
* * * * *
02/15/12
Hand Me the Rose-Colored Glasses
Rose-colored glasses: noun.
A cheerful or optimistic view of things, usually without valid basis.
02/14/12
by Hope Ramsay
The lucky winner of our Valentine’s Day gift basket — filled with romance novels by Muser Authors along with other goodies like chocolate, is . . .
Larisa Labrant — a regular commenter on our blog.
Congratulations!
01/27/12
An anniversary interview with Leah Braemel
by Livia Quinn
It’s a week for anniversaries. On January 25, 2009, I interviewed Leah Braemel, my 
first critique partner, on the almost eve of her first published book, Private Property, which released on January 27th with Samhain Publishing. We met through a Margie Lawson online workshop on Deep Editing and became fast, long-distance friends. She lives in Ontario while I’m in bayou country – Louisiana. Back then she was working on a paranormal shapeshifter story, and I was working on a romantic suspense with paranormal elements. My how things change!
01/11/12
by Hope Ramsay
It’s wacky Wednesday here on Blame it on the Muse, which means I have to be funny. But my funny bone has taken a vacation to the coast — or maybe the Mediterranean. It’s clear that my muse has absconded with my funny bone to unknown places.
I’ve spent the last few days combing the Internet and Twitter and Facebook looking for something funny or pithy or silly. I’ve come up with . . . Read the rest of this entry »
12/30/11
A Friday Visit with Joanna Chambers
Today the Musers are happy to welcome Joanna Chambers for a visit in our guest chair to talk about her latest book, The Lady’s Secret just out from Carina Press. Joanna is a fellow Carina author, and I’m delighted she could take time to sit down with us.
A little bit about her before we begin:
Joanna always wanted to write. She spent over 20 years staring at blank sheets of paper and despairing of ever writing a single word. In between staring at blank sheets of paper, she studied law, met her husband and had two children. Whilst nursing her first child, she rediscovered her love of romance and found her muse. Joanna lives in Scotland with her family and finds time to write by eschewing sleep and popular culture.
So, with no further ado, pull up a chair, have some leftover Christmas fudge and a cup of your beverage of choice, and we’ll let Joanna take it away! Read the rest of this entry »
