It’s two days until the Romantic Times Convention in Orlando Florida. I’m packing and trying not to forget anything.

I’m also a teeny bit nervous. After all, this will be my first conference as a Brava author and I’m introducing The Education of Madeline to the world. Since it’s my fourth RT, I should be an old hand at it. Yet each one is different.

When I think back about the conventions, that was where I met a great deal of my friends in the romance world. Our own Sylvia Day, Diane Whiteside, and of course Kate Duffy. But many others as well – some from far away places like South Africa (hey Rita!) and Australia (hey Alex!).

I used to be painfully shy, no really I did, and being published has pushed me out of that shyness almost completely. I still am not as outgoing as other authors, but I pride myself on just how outgoing I am. It’s amazing to me just how much becoming a published author has changed me and yet I’m still the same.

For example, I still have to clean toilets, do laundry and go grocery shopping. I have no personal assistant and still balance my own bank account. Yet, I’m a better person, I think. Actually the more I contemplate this notion, the more I am sure that I have become the person I was meant to be, the one who’d been hiding beneath the layers of shyness all these years.

Look out Orlando, I’m gearing up for a fun, exhausting, and exhilarating good time! If you’re attending RT, I’ll see you there!

This past Saturday marked my first official signing for The Education of Madeline. It was wonderful to see the copies stacked up waiting for me to sign.

I was at the Barnes & Noble in the MacArthur Center mall in Norfolk, Virginia. The staff was friendly and there was a ton of traffic in and out of the store. The highlight for me was when Kristie stopped by – she’s a reader who had been waiting for me to arrive.

*total warm and fuzzy feelings*

She had brought her friend Sondra’s copy of Madeline with her for me to sign (yay!) and then bought a copy for herself and another friend, Jennifer. I was thrilled to sign all of them and gave Kristie goodies for herself and friends.

It was so wonderful to have someone come to see me – you made my day, Kristie!!

The weekend was cold and rainy (still raining after 5 days of rain), but so worth the drive. After a romantic evening with DH, I came back yesterday and discovered, Madeline has been Kindle-ized!

Now all I need is a Kindle.

So for all you readers who’ve contacted me about the Kindle version, here she be!

*deep breath*

Eight days and counting until my first Brava release. Am I nervous? Hm, a little. *blush*

I’ve been published with small print for more than four years with ten novels published, one category, five novellas, and bunch of short stories. Yet February 24th marks my first big New York published book.

So, um, yep, I’m a bit nervous.

The Education of Madeline is special in many ways and the first time I’ve worked with the amazing Kate Duffy. Did y’all read her post about the Kindle? I thoroughly enjoyed it and dang, it made me want a Kindle even more especially since version 2 is available.

And Madeline’s book led me to the Brava authors. Now here’s a group I’m proud and excited to be part of. I feel like a newbie all over again amongst these amazing authors. They’re supportive, helpful on top of being awesome writers.

So, um, yep, I’m more than a bit nervous. :~}

If y’all have a hankering for an emotional, sexy story with a down-on-his-luck man and an independent woman, I hope you’ll pick up The Education of Madeline next Tuesday.

Wish me luck!

Yesterday I had to run a few errands and left home around noon. As I was pulling out of the driveway I saw a box on the porch.

You know, I’m like a kid at Christmas when the UPS or FedEx delivery person arrives at my house. A box delivery can only mean good things!

However I was on a tight timeline, and assisting my 12 YO with his 7th grade science project so I didn’t stop to see what it was. The entire time I was out, I was thinking about that box… and what treasures awaited me. Of course for all I knew, it was something for my husband.

However, as I discovered an hour and a half later, it was not for him. It was for me. *big stupid grin*

When I saw the return address was Kensington, I yelped and dragged the box inside. My kids looked at me, wondering what had caused me to go loopy this time (it’s not an uncommon occurrence).

After grabbing a pair of scissors, I got the box open and lo and behold, it was a box of my very first Brava book, The Education of Madeline.

It was an emotional moment, I’m not afraid to tell y’all. I took one out, saw the note from Megan (thanks Kate and Megan!!!), and held the book close.

It felt so wonderful to hold it in my hands – I felt it up (yep, sure did), pressed it to my face, and smelled it. LOL. I wonder what you must think of me now.

Anyhoo, I have a wonderful box of books and each time I look at it, I grin even wider. Isn’t it a lovely day? (While it snows for the first time in 4 years outside…)

As a writer and a reader, heck even as a human being, closure to me is more than important. It’s essential to survival.

Let me qualify that by saying, not physical survival as in to live, but definitely survival of our hearts, minds and souls.

Recently two people close to me, a friend and my sister, had to put their cats to sleep. A heart-wrenching, emotional decision that left them both sad. Each of these animals had cancer and treatments were attempted, yet they didn’t respond well. I cried with them and for them, but in the end, they said goodbye to their beloved kitties and had closure.

It reminded me of when I was an eight-year-old girl and suddenly my dog was gone. Now let me tell you, this dog was part of the family before me – she was already 12 when I was 8. Apparently she had kidney failure and my parents decided to take her to vet to be put to sleep.

Without telling me.

I was devastated, cried for days, angry and hurt. How could they do that? I know as parents we try to make the best decisions for our children, but this was 100% not right.

I expect closure. I need, crave, require closure. The same is true of the books I read and write. There needs to be a bow tied up nicely at the end. Don’t leave me with “life sucks, get over it” and move on. No, no, no.

Cannot stand it. I again get angry and frustrated and refuse to read that person’s books again. It’s true of many of the books I’ve read at my book club – some of them are absolutely devastating and there are those that do not give me that closure.

I just finished my third Brava book, the third and final in a series. I spent time really making that bow into a beautiful shiny ribbon at the end. There was closure – an HEA that made me cry (yes, I make myself cry *dork*) and smile.

That, ladies and gents, is closure. How about y’all? Anybody else who just cannot stand to leave anything hanging? Or am I the only anal closure freak out there?

I’m excited to be able to share my very first Brava cover for The Education of Madeline. And so without further, ado, here is the most fabulous cover evah…

Just look at those eyes! Aren’t they deep and amazing? I could stare into them for quite some time without realizing what I was doing.

Whatcha think?

The Education of Madeline

Plum Creek, Colorado 1872

The Right Man Comes Along

Madeline Brewster practically owns Plum City, Colorado. But at thirty-two, she knows she has missed any chance for happiness. Until she finds a tall, strong, handsome Irishman on the wrong end of the hangman’s noose. Suddenly this unconventional woman comes up with an outrageous idea . . .

Teague O’Neal has rugged cheekbones, tousled black curls, and eyes as blue as the sky, even if he is caked in Colorado mud. The men insist they caught him horse-thieving, and there’s something desperate about him that says he’d do anything for a buck.

Maybe it was pure chance, or maybe it was something more that brought Madeline and Teague together. But one thing’s clear, between a woman who has just about everything she could ever want, and a man who’s lost that and more, they might find something in between worth living for . . .

Hard to believe Monday arrived so fast. I am one of those people who believes Mondays should be renamed. I mean really, doesn’t the word “Monday” just make you cringe?

Well, perhaps it’s because I have a full-time job in addition to my writing career – when Monday rolls around it means back to the “real world” and leave the writing behind until that evening. I was going like gangbusters this weekend on Micah’s story (my July ’09 Brava release) and got 6K written.

But alas, I am here in the real world in my Clark Kent suit. *sigh*

Anybody else have a Monday dislike phobia or is it just me? LOL – maybe I shouldn’t ask that question!

People often ask me how I balance my writing with my life and I tell them very carefully. It’s a fine path to traverse and I often find myself torn between deadlines and my family. Of course, family always comes first (you’re not reading this, are you Kate?) and that sometimes puts me behind.

Then of course, I have to lock myself in the writing cave to meet the deadline I had to ignore in the first place. I know the writers out there are nodding their heads.

Coping strategies are always welcome – tips, tricks and perhaps a magic spell or two as well. If you’ve got them, bring ‘em on y’all. I need to find a better balance before I fall off and hurt myself.

I’m in the middle of writing The Redemption of Micah, my second Brava book and the one that follows The Education of Madeline. I wrote Madeline’s book a few years ago, so Micah’s story is like taking a trip to visit old friends.

And it’s a very comfortable journey.

To start the process I re-read Madeline’s story and found myself engrossed again in Plum Creek Colorado, circa 1872. Madeline’s character had a lot of me in her, and I fell in love with her and Teague all over again. And then there was Micah.

Ah, gentlemanly tortured Micah with a drinking problem, a tremendous scar on his face and a broken heart. I’m not sure what it is about men with emotionally shatterd souls, but they appeal to me more than a confident handsome rogue. Micah is a man who cannot find his way out of the dark without a very bright light to guard him. He’s been lost for so long, he has stopped trying.

It’s amazing to me that I can relate to this man, this character I invented from my head and he becomes real to me. I feel his pain, his longing, his absolute need for redemption. Does that make me a little wonky? More than likely.

I get very caught up in my characters, probably more than I should. I’ll confess now that I’ve cried when writing a scene (not to mention other more interesting emotions). I wonder how many other writers get down deep in their character’s stories.

Then again, it’s like visiting old friends, laughing, crying, getting wiggly, and finding joy together. I’m off to get busy with Micah again, I’ll be back in a bit.

This is my first post as an official Brava author – I’m dipping my toe in the pool, y’all. I’ve got an amazing group of ladies around me, not only helping me, but giving me information, turning me when I’ve gone the wrong direction and making me feel like a new sister. *warm and fuzzy feelings*

I thought about what my first blog post should be about and decided it would be a good idea to introduce myself to everyone and tell you who I am. So, here I am, waving howdy.

My name is Beth Williamson and I’ve been writing since third grade. I’m sure y’all have heard that before, but it’s true. My third grade teacher, Mrs. Freudenberg (who I adored) told my parents I wrote “lovely poetry” and that was the beginning of my love affair with writing.

I could create entire stories in my head, act them out and generally make people think I was odd. I got very good at it. LOL.

All though my schooling I knew I wanted to be a writer, I just didn’t know what kind of writer. Then as a preteen I discovered my mother’s Harlequins. Oh joy, oh rapture! You remember that feeling, right? I read those books over and over and fell head over heels in love with romance novels.

I took a detour in college when I trained to be a screenwriter/playright at NYU and romance novels took a backseat to my grand plans. Of course, the grand plans turned out to be a big bust and after college, I worked as a newspaper reporter.

Talk about a low-paying job! I was happy to be laid off after a year, even if I did get to see my name in print a lot. Romance novels came back into my life and I became a regular at the library, especially after the birth of my first son in 1992.

That’s when the lightbulb went off in my head… Hey, I love to read them, love to write, why not write romance novels? Ta-da! It really was an epiphany for me.

I wrote my first romance novel, a western of course, which took place on a wagon train to Oregon. It was full of cliches and clinches, with cartoonish villains and a sweet heroine. Gads, it stunk like bad cheese.

The second novel took me longer, eight years actually, to get right. In the meantime, I had my second son in 1996, moved to North Carolina and became a technical writer by trade. Turns out I am very good at it and get paid handsomely to do it.

In 2004, that second manuscript, The Bounty, was finally published in ebook. I was a published romance novelist! *tosses confetti*

The rest, as they say, is history. I’ve since published about 18 novels/novellas in ebook and print as well as some short stories in anthologies. And now, I’m stepping into the “big” New York publishing world as a Brava author with the amazing kate Duffy as my editor.

I’m 40 years old, have two teenage sons, a husband, a mortgage, a hybrid car and a burning desire to quit my day job and work full-time as a romance novelist. This truly is the beginning of the rest of my life.

Happy to be here y’all, hope to be here for a while.