Guest Post by the Amazing, Fabulous Heidi Betts!

January 27, 2009 at 9:46 am (Authors, Events, Virtual Gems)

 

 

Hello, everyone!  And thank you so much, Pam, for inviting me to blog today.  I hope one day I get to return the favor. 😀

 

So I’m here to talk about my sexy, funny single title contemporary debut & the first book in the “Chicks with Sticks” knitting trilogy, TANGLED UP IN LOVE, which will be in stores on February 3rd.

 

And- Fate, because I truly believe that without it, this series would not exist.

 

 

Have you ever read the adorable children’s book FORTUNATELY by Remy Charlip?  It’s wonderful, & if you haven’t, you definitely, definitely should.  The path that led me to write TANGLED UP IN LOVE was so littered with Fortunately/Unfortunately situations that the book jumps immediately to mind every time I think of it.  I can’t tell you the number of times my agent began phone conversations with “Well, I have some good news & some bad news.”  Oh, how I came to loathe those words!  And when all was said & done, he got a copy of FORTUNATELY to add to his personal bookshelf, as well as stern orders never to use that phrase with me again. 😛

 

You see, I’ve always wanted to write romantic comedy, but the timing never seemed to work out for me.  (Unfortunately.)  Then I came up with this idea.  A brilliant idea, if I do say so myself.  An idea I loved, & just knew was going to be a big hit.  I showed it to my agent.  He thought it was rather impressive, as well, & sent it immediately over to St. Martin’s Press, where an editor loved it.  (Fortunately!)  Unfortunately, they had another author already writing for them who was doing something similar (&^%#!), so she couldn’t make an offer.  Fortunately, she loved my writing & wanted to see something else.

 

It took me all of about two seconds to tell my agent that, yes, I would definitely be willing to work up a few more ideas…well, okay, ideas I had; it was proposals that would take a bit of time to flesh out.  He suggested I call the editor & talk to her about what she might be looking for.  Smart man.  Because, you see, it was during that conversation that she happened to mention how much she enjoys knitting, how popular knitting has becoming thanks to books like Kate Jacobs’s FRIDAY NIGHT KNITTING CLUB, & how much she’d love to find a hot & sexy knitting romance unlike anything that had been done already.  (Hey, I write hot!  I write sexy!)  And then she uttered the eight words that changed my life:  “I don’t suppose you know anything about knitting.”

 

I do!  I do know something about knitting!  As a matter of fact, when I first came home from college & announced to my parents that I wanted to write romance novels instead of becoming a teacher the way they’d expected, my mother taught me to knit so that I could sell dishcloths & bath mitts to local craft stores.  (It wasn’t much, but it satisfied my parents’ demand that I work while also allowing me time to stay home & write.)  Imagine my amusement when I realized that my knowledge of what I’d always considered simply a hobby might now open a wonderful new door in my writing career!

 

This was on a Friday, & I spent the entire weekend wracking my brain for hot, sexy knitting ideas.  By Monday morning, I had a one-page proposal ready that I thought did a pretty good job of fitting the bill.  It didn’t take long to hear back, & the news was all good this time.  (Fortunately!)  She—& everyone else at St. Martin’s—loved it.  In fact, they wanted me to turn that single idea into a trilogy.  The only instructions they gave me were to make it as sexy & funny as I possibly could.

 

So, you see, it was definitely Fate that led me down the knitting romance trail…& reminded me that sometimes what we want to happen isn’t necessarily as great as what’s meant to happen.  And I’m so very grateful that things worked out the way they did, because now I get to write three books about three amazingly fun couples I never would have met otherwise.

 

I finally get to spread my wings & write the hot, sexy, funny contemporary romance I’ve always wanted to write.

 

And now that I’ve had my chance to share, tell me what you think…  Do you believe in Fate—or as my agent would call it bashert (which is Yiddish for “it is as it should be”)?  Or are you more of a mind that life is just a series of random events dotted with coincidence, & no one is up there leading us to anything?

 

I can’t wait to hear your responses.  Thank you so much for spending the day with me, & for letting me voice my enthusiasm over TANGLED UP IN LOVE.  I’d love to invite everyone to visit my website—where you can read an excerpt for TANGLED to tide you over until the book hits shelves on February 3rd! J—my WIPs and Chains blog (a.k.a. The Dungeon), & my Must Love Yarn blog  to read more about TANGLED…or to simply chat & have fun!

 

Also, if Pam doesn’t mind, I’d love to give away three autographed books from my backlist to three commentors to today’s post.  (You have to scroll down the page a bit to see the full list of choices, & this does include the HOTTER THAN HELL anthology, even though it’s still positioned a bit higher than the others. :))

 

 

Love & stitches,

Heidi Betts

www.HeidiBetts.com

www.HeidiBetts.com/WIPSandChains

www.HeidiBetts.com/MustLoveYarn

 

 

And a great big THANK YOU to Heidi for coming to visit today and for heramazing offer of giving away three of her fabulous books! I hope you all love her as much as I do and have next Tuesday, February 3rd marked on your calendar for the release of TANGLED UP IN LOVE. (Don’t worry, I may mention it here a time or two again…)