Release Month Celebration! Nine Rules Excitement!

Tomorrow makes it March!
Release month!

I am so excited, y'all...as you know, I've wanted to write romance novels for virtually my entire life, and this month...I get to be a bona fide romance novelist! I'm thrilled that in T-minus 30 days, my first romance novel, NINE RULES TO BREAK WHEN ROMANCING A RAKE, will be on bookshelves all across the country! SO. EXCITED.

Even more exciting is this: For the month of March, there are going to be all sorts of surprises, giveaways and excitements here at MacLeanSpace...free books, goodies, and, my very favorite thing...a series of guest posts by some of my favorite authors--each giving his or her NINE RULES to live by! I'm so very honored that so many good friends have agreed to celebrate with me!

If you'll do me a favor and bear with me, I also have to squee for a second or two...because the first reviews for NINE RULES have started coming in...and I really really have to share!

ROMANTIC TIMES gave it 4.5 stars and named it a TOP PICK for April...MacLean has penned a fast-paced, funny tale with a marvelous cast of characters who captivate and enchant. This book should come with a warning: Once you start, you won't want to put it down! (Yes...I'm calling that "my Times review." Forever.)

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY called it: An entertaining Regency debut, and said, The 19th-century clothes are luscious, the 21st-century sensibility is raunchy, and it’s all implausible, escapist fun. And, while I cringed a little at that raunchy the first time I read it, I'm now considering putting it on bumperstickers. :)

And...my favorite...A STARRED BOOKLIST REVIEW!!!--MacLean’s devilishly fun debut novel is an absolute delight: rich in supple wit, suffused with sensuality, and enlivened with a wonderfully engaging cast of characters.

SQUEE!!!

Ok...I swear, I won't post reviews often...so thanks for sticking with me on this one! I hope you'll come back over the course of the month and celebrate this amazing time with me!

And one more thing...I want to thank you all...for your patience, and your encouragement...and for being so willing to go on this crazy journey with me!

Much love...

Oh, Olympics, How Do I Love Thee?

I do not like to watch sports on TV. I'll go to a hockey game, or to the US Open--and when I was in high school I had a big fat crush on a soccer player so, yeah, I've been to my fair share of soccer games--but when it comes down to it, I'd rather do anything than watch sports.

But there is something about the Olympics. Every two years (although I still think of them as every-four-years kind of things)...a bunch of kids from around the world come together and they compete. And every year, I am glued to the tv. Because there is something about the Olympics. Something really remarkable.

I think it's hope. I think it's the fact that today, in this world that is filled with people (myself included) who are filled with boredom and ennui and a real sense that there is nothing that can really awe us, there are hundreds of athletes in Vancouver who are literally experiencing the most amazing days of their lives.

You can see it on their faces when they enter the opening ceremonies in the parade of nations. You can see it in their eyes when they stick their landings. In the way they clutch their partners when they finish their remarkable iceskating routines. In the way they collapse to the ground when they cross the finish lines after the Nordic combined (did you SEE that?!).

They are awestruck. And they are hopeful. And they know that TODAY is the greatest day they have ever had.

And that is some serious mojo.

Serious enough that I feel it through my tv.

Eric makes fun of me. He thinks I'm silly to care about curling. But I do care. Not because I know anything about curling or ever will. But because these guys care about it. And they've been working their whole lives to be the best in the world at it.

And that's something. Because I recognize that I'm not the best in the world at anything. So I give mad props to anyone who can lay claim to that superlative.

So, to the Olympians...all of them...go you. I'm watching.

Felicity Walker on Inside the Character's Studio

I'm very very happy to host Felicity Walker, the star of the truly hilariousRhonda Stapleton's Stupid Cupid, on Inside the Characters Studio!

Felicity Walker believes in true love. That’s why she applies for a gig at the matchmaking company Cupid’s Hollow. But when Felicity gets the job, she learns that she isn’t just a matchmaker…she’s a cupid! (There’s more than one of them, you know.)

Armed with a hot pink, tricked-out PDA infused with the latest in cupid magic (love arrows shot through email), Felicity works to meet her quota of successful matches. But when she bends the rules of cupidity by matching her best friend Maya with three different boys at once, disaster strikes. Felicity needs to come up with a plan to set it all right, pronto, before she gets fired…and before Maya ends up with her heart split in three.

Welcome, Felicity!

What is your favorite word?
Crap.

What is your least favorite word?
Ummmmm, this one's hard. I don't like the word "moist", actually.

What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
The feeling I get from making a great match.

What turns you off?
The feeling I get from making a wretched match. *sigh*

What is your favorite curse word?
Ass. I'll say it again...AAAAAAAAASSSSS. Man, it feels good. haha

What sound or noise do you love?
I love listening to my friend Maya play the trumpet. She's really good!

What sound or noise do you hate?
I hate the squeaky sound my shoes sometimes makes. Especially when it's just one shoe, so it's all lopsided.

What profession would you like to attempt?
I'd like to be a BETTER cupid than I am...I'm still attempting that one.

What profession would you not like to do?
Anything involving garbage or stinky stuff.

If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
Felicity, thanks for working so hard as a cupid. And for saving those nuns from that burning building. That was extra generous of you.

LOL. That last answer always cracks me up! Thanks for coming over to play, Felicity!

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Check out other interviews from Inside the Characters' Studio here.

The end. Or, finishing your book.

There are few things in life better than the pleasure of finishing a first draft. In fact, today I can't really think of something better.  This is, of course, because I finished the first draft of my third book--the sequel to Nine Rules to Break When Romancing A Rake--last night.

Just to put it into perspective, here are nine things that finishing your first draft is better than:

1. Finding a $20 bill in your coat when you weren't expecting it.
2. A kick in the pants.
3. A great new haircut.
4. Friday afternoons.
5. Clamcakes and chowder at the beach (and I'm a New Englander.  So that's no joke.).
6. Christmas morning.
7. An Ocean's 11, 12 and 13 marathon...in the theater.
8. Chocolate.

and, by a nose:

9. The tasting menu at Craft. (Tom Colicchio not included.  Obviously, I would have to reclassify if he were.)

For me this is particularly true because, honestly? I still get incredibly doubtful about whether or not my books will actually get finished when I'm writing.  Seriously.  I'll be 300 pages in and think...is this even a thing? But then I come out on the other side...and OMG.  It's a thing. And I actually like it. And I get giddy. And I do a little dance and have a glass of wine and watch West Wing for three hours.

So...yeah...that's nice.

And, of course, I know I am not even close to being done with this book.  Because now comes the part where I hand it over to my ridiculously-brilliant-editor-who-happens-to-see-things-in-my-manuscripts-that-I-would-never-have-seen-had-i-had-an-ice-age-to-find-them and I will say, "These are all the words I know. And this is the order in which I know to use them." And she will say, "Push yourself. I will help."

And I will. And she will. And revisions will happen (another blog post for another day).

And the book you read in the fall will be infinitely better than the book I have today.

And that, too, will feel great.

But it still won't feel as good as finishing the first draft.

xox