Still in the womb... that's the way I describe all of the novels still waiting to be published.   Let's face it; being a novelist is like being a mother. You create, you give birth... and out comes one of your children.  That's exactly how I equate a novel.  You give birth to it! Let's talk about all of these novels not yet published.  I have different levels of gestation  - novels that are in the pipeline and in various states of completion (26), novels that I worked on at some point but kind of lost the muse for  so they sit in a limbo file (11), and then the outlines only that I've simply outlined from start to finish as an idea but haven't even started them yet (147).  That's a whole lot of novels, folks. This doesn't even include all of the novels I wrote long-hand on spiral notebooks in the days before computers.  These will never be published. They were practice runs.But there are 16 of them.  It's kind of fun to go back and read them sometimes to see how far I've come. Some of those novels in the pipeline are more precious to me than others - meaning…

'You only fail if you stop writing' ~ Ray Bradbury Ray Bradbury... my hero, my inspiration. Why, you ask? Because, seriously - I don't even write in his genre.  But I don't have to... that's the beauty of admiring and respecting others. We all admire and respect world leaders or entertainers or sports figures because they have a great talent - just because they have a talent doesn't mean we have to.  Maybe that's why we admire them so much - because they do things we can't or don't. Why do I admire Ray Bradbury so much? Because the man had a magnificent imagination that knew no boundaries. For example, he dreamt of life on Mars, and what that would entail, and how those beings lived and existed.  His characters were carried on silken sheets by a thousand firebirds holding the sheets in their mouths, traveling against the night sky.  They sailed the red sands of Mars in crystal ships with gossamer sails. He was a pioneer in Science Fiction when the world was only just starting to recognize such a thing.  He was a writer extraordinaire and a man of deep thought. You only fail if you stop writing.  That's the best advice for…

Check out my website at www.kathrynleveque.com for newly updated Release dates and my daily blog. I’m no longer posting on Goodreads, but re-directing you elsewhere.Happy reading! posted by Kathryn Le Veque on January, 30

Yes, we're still on Emerson. So much of what he wrote about is thoughtful, provocative, and full of truth. Case in point: 'Love of beauty is taste. The creation of beauty is art.' This doesn't just apply to the physical arts - i.e., a painting or a sculpture.  That's 'obvious' beauty.  Putting words on paper to 'create' beauty is totally different.  I believe it's more interpretive than physical art because there are no use of colors, or shapes, or things that prompt a reaction.  As a writer, my medium is the English language. It's much harder to create beauty with that. And, oh, we can create so much ugliness with it, too. We can hurt with it more than physical art can hurt (unless you pick up a bronze sculpture and brain someone over the head with it).  Writers can hurt the soul with the ugliness of their art.  That cuts the deepest. When I create my 'art', it's a two-fold process -  you want to string words together that gives the reader a sense of what the characters are seeing - where they live, the people around them, the landscape, the temperature, the dog farting by the fire. You get the point. My…

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a  trail. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson Love Emerson. There's something so serene in his writing.  I love this particular quote because it's something I've tried to live by. Granted, I'm not a famous person, or a rich person, but I do what I can. I spent years as a booster president for our local high school, raising money for the arts. I've always tried to be true to myself more than true to 'conventionality' or expectations. Maybe that makes me stubborn, or stupid, or a maverick, but I can look myself in the mirror every morning and be happy with what I see.  When it comes to my novels, I've tried to make my own trail with those as well. How? Well, I don't write conventionally. Case and point: Fads.  Fads come and go - things that are hot now won't be hot in a year or two.  Right now, erotica is all the rage. So are novellas. My trail is lined with sexy Medieval and Contemporary novels that don't follow the fad.  First of all, they're long and they're big. Epic. Secondly, take the sex out of…

A reminder that my blog and all Kathryn Le Veque updates are now on my website at www.kathrynleveque.com and no longer on Goodreads. Join me! posted by Kathryn Le Veque on January, 30

In novels, how much realism is too much? Do people read to escape, to learn something, or to feel something? I've learned over the years that it's all three. Some people read to escape and don't care about historical accuracy. More than that, however, my readers do, in fact, read to escape AND to learn something. As an author, I'd better have my historical facts straight and I have to be very careful on how much liberty I take in 're-writing' history. In fact, I really don't.  History is established and I don't change anything.  My readers are very well-read and smart; they'll call me out on it! A few things, however, that I will take liberties with - fictional castles. Fictional families. Fictional battles. That's really about it. Everything else is real and I do my best to heavily research whatever I'm writing about so I know how much liberty to take - or not to take. Now, here's another question - the reality of Medieval life was bleak. There were deaths in childbirth, disease, gross bodily mishaps, brutal warlords, etc. In "The Dark Lord", Jax de Velt put men on spikes as both threat and promise. He was trying to…

Sure, I write 'traditional' Medieval Romance, but I'm one to think 'out of the box'. I do things a little differently sometimes, and it can go either way - it can be a success or it can backfire. Case and point: my novel For Love and Honor. When I started this novel, obviously, I didn't think it was going to be so polarizing. A high-born woman falls for a low-born soldier. They go through a lot of trial and tribulation but we know, in the end, that these two can never be together.  It's something that just wasn't meant to last.  We've all had first loves, the one that you will always remember and the one who taught you the meaning of what it was TO love. But those relationships don't normally last. They're not meant to.  That's what For Love and Honor was; the heroine came to realize her love for Brogan wasn't meant to last. Loving him had caused her to do all sorts of things she wouldn't have normally done- lie, cheat, steal - so she made the choice between love or honor. I think she chose correctly but some readers didn't. I totally get their opinion and…

Please find me on my new blogsite from now on – https://kathrynbouseleveque.com/There, you’ll find daily updates on what I’m doing and what I’m writing. Plus, I have an app available soon for Iphone so you can receive all of my latest updates and …

Every morning, I try to post something. Lately it seems that all I post are plugs for my novels, so today I'm going to post something different. Miracle! :) I've been thinking back over the past several years and how I came to this point in my life. I started writing as a hobby back when I was 13 and just really never got over it. When I was pregnant with my kids back in '89 and '92, I was unable to move around much. I had to stay down. So I wrote a lot long-hand on spiral notebooks just to pass the time. No computers back then! No laptops.  In fact, our cell phone was one of those bricks. Anyway, I wrote a lot of stories back then. I wrote an entire series about a female Navy S.E.A.L. officer. Medical personnel, non-com status, but she went along on the missions anyway.  She was hot.  There were three in the series, one involving an underwater habitat that the Russians wanted. Oh, those were the days. Good times. Then, in the late '90s, I really started writing heavily of Medieval novels.  They all started coming out, one after the other.  I wrote on…

‘I dreamed you, I wished for your existence. I see in you that part of me which is you. I surrender my sincerity, because if I love you it means we share the same fantasies, we share the same madness.’ ~Anais NinAs a writer, I find this exceptio…

So excited that The Wolfe is doing so well. Thanks to all who have helped make it such a success. You deserve all the credit! #lovemyreaders posted by Kathryn Le Veque on February, 06