I'm so pleased to be here today to blog with you.

I thought I’d start with a little about myself.  I was an only child so books opened all the worlds I wanted to visit, gave me friends to spend winter afternoons with, and invited me into a future that included literature – I was an English and French major in college – popular fiction, and a progressive way of looking at the world. I fell in love with words and poetry and expressing feelings in both. When I was bored, I made up stories in my mind – in class, in church, in the backyard.  When I listened to music, I created stories to go with the songs.  The emotions in music also drove my plotlines and today when I get stuck, they still can.

Because I was an only child, I loved family events.  From a traditional Italian family, I was able to participate in them often.  We lived next door to my grandfather.  On weekends, aunts and uncles came from New York and Philadelphia and Lancaster to sit on park benches around the front porch on a corner lot to tell stories, play games with the children, and cook up a storm. We were a small community within a community of caring neighbors. The books I write today reflect those small communities and the caring that accompanies them.

I wrote poetry in high school and college, began a novel, and after back surgery interrupted my life style started with short stories and ended with novels.  I wrote for six years and finished thirteen manuscripts before I sold two in one week to two different publishers!  I’ve been writing three to four books a year ever since and have been fortunate and blessed to have them published.  I began writing with Meteor/Kismet and Silhouette and have since published with Kensington and Harlequin.  A best kept secret is that I’ve also written romances and science fiction short stories under pseudonyms.

My new series – THE BABY EXPERTS – will include six books, all set in fictional Sagebrush outside of Lubbock, Texas.  My experts are all professional women – a pediatrician, a midwife, a neonatologist, a baby development practitioner, a pediatric ear, nose and throat doctor and a fertility specialist. The first book in the series for Silhouette Special Edition, LULLABY FOR TWO, is a reunion romance and debuted in March.  May’s book, THE MIDWIFE’S GLASS SLIPPER–the second in the series–will be followed by BABY BY SURPRISE in September.  All the women at some point live in an old Victorian house in Sagebrush.  After the first three books, rumors fly around town that any woman who lives in the house will find true love!

This year I was also asked to join a Special Edition continuity for Silhouette’s Diamond anniversary. I have written book 2, THE TEXAS BODYGUARD’S PROPOSAL, which will be released in August. This book is a little different from what I usually write and it was fun to create.  I’ve included excerpts and info about my releases on my website at www.karenrosesmith.com.

I just want to close this entry with a few other aspects of who I am and what I like to write.  Family and friends are all-important to me.  I love animals. After having cats all my life, we rescued a farm kitten who was sick and a few months later adopted her half-sister. Since my son lives across the country, they are my babies now. My husband is my college sweetheart and still the love of my life. The words that run across my computer in sleep-mode are Create…Challenge…Cherish.  That about sums up the way I look at life.

It’s a pleasure blogging with you today.

Karen Rose Smith

27 Responses to I'm so pleased to be here today to blog with you.

  1. LanseloT

    ИМХО, эта тема слишком сложная для новичка 🙂

  2. ночнoйпpизpaк

    Премного благодарен автору. Возможно, в будущем я и правда реализую аналогичную затею. 🙂

  3. Бaбyшкa

    Спасибо:) Классная тема, пишите чаше – у вас отлично получается 🙂

  4. mammakim

    aaah that is why I love your books so much! Family is important to me too, both my husband and I are from large families so it is crazy at get togethers and holidays but they are the best times. I can’t wait to see this series, it looks awesome

  5. Crystal B.

    Hi Karen. When I was growing up, books opened up new worlds for me too. The Baby Experts series sounds wonderful.

  6. Maureen

    I think it’s wonderful that you kept on working to get published through those years and that now you’re so successful.

  7. Phyllis

    BIG CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! WAY TO GO!!!! I will keep in touch…have a super summer yourself. Thanks

  8. Karen Rose Smith

    I just want to share with you that I learned my Silhouette Special Edition from 2008–THE DADDY DILEMMA–won the Colorado Romance Writers’ Award of Excellence in the Short Contemporary category. I am honored and thrilled.

    Phyllis–I usually post on my web site (www.karenrosesmith.com) as soon as the releases are scheduled. My son will be updating it when I get my next cover sometime this summer.

    It’s been great blogging with all of you today. I hope you have a terrrifically fun summer.

    Best,
    KRS

  9. Phyllis

    Well, I’m going to have to record the months of the releases and head to the store to buy them because you are so worth it. Write faster!!! Four more to impatiently wait to read. lol

  10. Karen Rose Smith

    Phyllis–I think you’ll need a box of Kleenex for the book I’m working on now. I hope you like it. It will be book four in the series…out sometime in 2010.

    KRS

  11. Karen Rose Smith

    I went out for a little bit to buy some flowers for the garden. If only the rain would stop!

    Little Lost Lamb–We spend our Christmas and Easter now with friends. Our son lives half way across the country, so we usually fly on Thanksgiving and eat with him at Cracker Barrel. That’s one of the reasons why I wrote about these six women who have bonded and become as close as sisters.

    Martha–I think the songs of the sixties sometimes lent themselves better to stories than songs now. But I find some now and then that work for me. I love American Idol right now and use some of my downloads to inspire me when I get stuck.

    Lexee–I’m glad you stopped by. I have to put animals and veterinarians in my books every so often because I like doing animals too. The September book, BABY BY SURPRISE, has a dog in it that I’d love to have for my own.

    Debby–I don’t know what I’d do without my two cats. They are constant companions.

    Sherry H–I think if I do more in the series, I might spread out to baby experts who aren’t health practioners. We’ll see.

    Annette–It was a tossup between that and my favorite southwest landscape.

    Catslady–I sorry to hear about the one you couldn’t save. I know when we rescued our first one, I sat up with her at night because she couldn’t breathe very well. So she and I are particularly close.

    KRS

  12. catslady

    Loved reading how you started writing. I also have rescues – 6 inside cats at the moment – had 7 but my 17 year old passed last year. I almost had new baby but he came to my door with pneumonia and the vet couldn’t help save him 🙁

  13. Annette

    Love your motto and I especially think its cool as a screen saver.

  14. Sherry H

    The Baby Experts series sounds great!

  15. Debby

    Great blog. I love my kitties. Both of mine are resuces.

  16. Lexee

    It was very cool to get to know you better. My pets are my babies too.

  17. MarthaE

    Hi Karen! Thanks for sharing. I sometimes hear songs that I think could inspire a wonderful story… guess I could send them over to you since I only read and don’t write! Your books sound really lovely! And so nice that you rescue kitties. Your computer words are great choices!

  18. Little Lamb Lost

    Your new series sounds good. And thanks for sharing a bit about yourself. I’m not from a big family but am not a single child. However, all our relatives lived far away. It was fun to be included in friends’ family gatherings and I remember wishing it was the norm rather than the rare treat.

  19. Phyllis

    Well, I’m happy for you, and for us. Your editor has insight into what will sell.

    Anytime you can make me cry, you’ve got a fantastic story.

  20. Karen Rose Smith

    Kathleen–I’m close to my cousins now. After growing up, we can look back at family escapades and quirks and remember, laugh and cry. I love putting children in books because they bring out the best in their parents!

    Phyllis–Hi, there. When I asked what my editor wanted to see for the next contract, she said more Baby Experts. So that’s where we went. The next three have great kids. I’m finishing the fourth book now and it’s more series than the others. But I hope I’m giving readers a variety.

    Pamela–I miss those Sunday dinners. My grandmother always had more food than two families could eat.

    Cathy–That motto reminds me what each day should be. My cat likes it, too. She chases the words.

    KRS

  21. Cathy M

    Hi Karen, it was nice to get a chance to meet a new author. Love your screen motto, Create…Challenge…Cherish.

  22. Pamela Keener

    The Baby Experts series sounds like a winner. I just read the blurb for Lullaby for Two and it definately goes on my TBR pile. Good luck w/the series.
    Your family get togethers reminds me of Sunday dinner with our Grammy. My dad had 2 brothers and one sister. I had two sisters and one brother. We also had 3 other cousins. Grammy had such a little house but we all fit in at the dinner table.
    Love & Hugs,
    Pam Keener in PA

  23. Phyllis

    Hi Karen Rose,
    Imagine my surprise to check in and see you are the guest today. Also, I’m really excited to know there will be SIX books in the Baby Experts Series, as I thought is was just a trilogy. WAY TO GO!!! I’ve got a lot of reading to look forward to, as I love these stories.

    Karen Rose Smith writes heartwarming stories.

  24. Kathleen

    I am also from a big Irish/Scotish family. I am one of 5 kids, 4boys and me. We don’t get together as often as we did when we were young. As some of our mothers, fathers and grandparents are not with us any longer, but the cousins all try in some compacity to get together. Big families can some times be a blessing and a curse. But I love them all, especially the kids. I am an honourary aunt to so many of them as well as to my own brothers children. I try to get to as many of their dance recitals, skating, horseback riding and school function that I can.

    So I just love your new series because it pertains to the love of children. I will be looking up all your books and putting them on my TBR list for sure.
    Thank you Karen for blogging today at RJR. And it is a pleasure to have you as a new to me author.
    Have a great day.

  25. Karen Rose Smith

    Marta–Thanks for stopping by. I still use books to escape!

    KRS

  26. Marta Mozzott

    Morning, It is a pleasure to get to know you better. I too used books to open many doorways and adventures as a child and I still do.
    Looking forward to checking out the new series….sounds interesting!
    MLM

  27. Karen Rose Smith

    Hi, all! I’m just posting to make sure I can. Have a great morning.
    KRS

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