A Day in the Life of… Cathy Maxwell

Welcome to Stitch Read Cook's weekly feature!!

A Day in the Life of.....

This is where us bloggers & fans get a glimpse inside the days of our favorite authors!

--------------------

Bestselling novelist Cathy Maxwell, a storyteller since childhood, embraces her writing romance as a way to express her belief that "loving well is the greatest adventure of all," and to explore her fascination with the Regency period.

Born in Olathe, Kansas, Cathy's family roots go back to the Mayflower and the Revolutionary War. She has long called Virginia home, noting she is "a Virginian by choice, but a Kansan by nature." She worked in television news and spent six years in the Navy. She attended Air Force intelligence school, worked in the Pentagon and did a tour with Naval Intelligence.

Cathy began her writing career in 1991. Now, twenty years later, she is the author of sixteen national bestsellers and her novels appear regularly on The New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists. Her books include In the Highlander's Bed, Bedding the Heiress, In the Bed of a Duke, The Price of Indiscretion, Temptation of a Proper Governess, and The Seduction of an English Lady. She is a member of Romance Writers of America, Washington Romance Writers, Virginia Romance Writers, and Novelists Inc., and she is a frequent speaker at writers' conferences, libraries and special events.

She lives in rural Powhatan County with her rescued dogs Rico and Maya and with her son during college breaks, and is just a few miles from her horses, Duncan and Dinero.

A Day in the Life of a Traveling Romance Writer

By Cathy Maxwell

Is a book tour glamorous? Judge for yourself. I’ve been traveling promoting THE DEVIL’S HEART in Texas, Virginia, and KY. Here is the final day of the tour --

3:30 a.m. Alarm goes off. Hit snooze.

3:35 a.m. Alarm goes off. Hit snooze.

3:37 a.m. Dog jumps on my back. I get up—and realize everything I have to do this morning. Why was I lazing in bed?

3: 37 – 4:30 Run around in circles being mildly productive. Finish packing overnight bag, feed dog, leave instructions for neighbor boy about pets, try to put on makeup to look as if I wouldn’t rather be back in bed.

4: 30 a.m. Car picks me up to take me to the airport. (This is one of the perks over a publisher sponsored book tour or doing one myself.)

5:30 – 6 Check through the airport, go through security, reach my gate. Coffee? I need coffee. Find coffee. Find a chair. Wait for Lorraine Heath and Elizabeth Boyle, my two buddies on this book tour, to show. Ah, I see them—in the line for coffee. The flight is uneventful except Lorraine has the verbose seatmate who complains about people putting their seats back and then promptly places his seat back almost into my lap. Elizabeth’s seatmate seems to have some serious bug. We are all cringing in our seats trying to avoid his germs.

9:00 a.m. Toni Blake, who will be participating in the Joseph-Beth Booksellers signing this evening, meets us at the airport and delivers us to the hotel. Rooms not ready. Was I planning on snatching a few hours of work? No room means off to breakfast which turned into a laugh fest. The image of back stabbing romance writers is as far off the mark as you can get. We genuinely like each other. My fellow writers are creative and fun. Rooms are not ready until noon and we don’t notice.

Noon In room, ready to work. Uh-oh, several emails from publisher with questions needing my attention—sales figures, plans for future events, this and that stuff. Plus, I need to tweet about the book signing etc. (I must do FB!) Then there is a blog I owe someone on what I do with my day and this pesky thing called a book I need to write , but after an hour and a half of internet stuff and two paragraphs of actual writing, I take a nap. The last thing I need is to appear at a signing looking haggard. (“Oh, poor Cathy, she’s gone to seed . . . “ Worse is, “She looks so old!”)

4:15 p.m. Toni Blake picks us up and gives us the silver dollar tour of Cincinnati and I have my assumptions about US geography adjusted in a big way. Who knew the Cincinnati Airport was in Kentucky? Not I. Of course, after a week of in and out of bookstores and airports, I’ve lost all track of where I was or am—which is always a bit sketchy anyway.

We had a fun dinner at the Mt. Adams Bar & Grill and hit Joseph-Beth Booksellers. Many of Toni’s friends, including one from elementary school, came to see us. Elizabeth Boyle had a true fan show up, a lovely young woman who was in awe of her favorite writer. Lorraine and I basically rode Toni and Elizabeth’s coat tails. Oh, yeah, we’ll do that. You betcha.

Then, after the signing, we shop. I don’t get out much. When I visit family and friends or do a book signing, that’s my time I replenish supplies.

I hit Katy Budget Books for Christmas gifts. Yes, I start this early. I purchased a signed BUDDIST BOOT CAMP by Timber Hawkeye (great name) and two other books, one on weapons and the other about an Indian detective, from Fountain Bookstore. I was looking for steampunk at Jo-Beth. Oh, yes, and I purchased a Vera Bradley laptop case at 40% off. Score! (By the way, later learned I left the Hawkeye book in airplane seat pocket by mistake. It is now out into the world. How is zen is that?)

9:30 p.m. Back to the hotel. Hugs all around. I won’t see Toni, Lorraine, or Elizabeth again until mid-July. No, we don’t stay up all night in the bar. We are WORKING writers and lucky to have the work to do. I catch up on the internet and hit the sack. From here on out, I’m working toward a deadline. Nose to the keyboard.

Life will become boring . . . but is still oh, so good.

New York Times bestselling author Cathy Maxwell continues her popular historical romance series, the Chattan Curse, with The Devil’s Heart.

Lady Margret Chattan, one of the most desirable women in all of England, has no interest whatsoever in marriage. When her brother’s lives are put in danger, she travels to the Scottish Highlands, intent on saving them. There she meets Heath Macnachtan, who is trying to find out who murdered his own brother. Together, they team up to investigate the powerful curse that is behind the deaths, but instead find themselves falling in love.

Exceptionally entertaining and charming, The Devil’s Heart mixes a well-crafted love story with complex characters and pulse-pounding adventure.

GIVEAWAY

One lucky commenter is going to win a copy of THE DEVIL’S HEART

Winner’s choice of format!

Open Internationally!

To enter, leave a meaningful comment for Cathy.
Don’t forget your email address – example:  emailaddress (at) gmail (dot) com

Giveaway ends on May 28th, 2013