Heh. Okay that's a terrible title, and a terrible joke, but I'm keeping it for lack creativity today.

So, Seduction's Stakes is out, All I Want For Christmas... Is Big Blue Eyes is on its way, I have a book signing at Hastings on December 12, 2009 in Warrensburg, MO, and I have been super busy.

Super busy with a paranormal endeavor that grabbed a hold of me and refused to let go. It is about ready to meet the terrible fates of The Critique Group, but we'll see if they are struck with kindness or if they feel the need to slaughter.

Actually, I think it will be only mildly bloody, not a full out blood bath.

At any rate, I've been writing outside of my contemporary little world and enjoy it. Which leads me to something I wanted to touch on.

In a recent Washington Post article, Laura Lippman said (paraphrasing) that to write in more than one genre successfully, writers have to be strong in each.

And I believe that is true. While she wasn't speaking cross-genre in romance, I think that applies equally. To write historical romance, you must be strong in your knowledge of the era, your ability to put words together and give it a historical feel. To write contemporary you need to have some grasp of slang, of modern places. Paranormal you have to understand the ... well... the paranormal. If you don't, the endeavor will come off flat. Key elements that are not solely related to plot, characterization, and GMC, will be missing -- in short, the color of your writing will stay in shades of black and grey.

Ms. Lippman also made a reference to feeling unbalanced if she spends too much time writing in one genre or the other. I can 110% agree with her in that. When I spend too much time in contemporary I have to go into a historical for a while. There's a different "voice" I use with historical and it forces me to think about my words, to abandon the comfortable phrases I know as a 30-some-odd-year old adult and my audience understands. It forces me to think about different ways to express myself. Make my writing richer.

I don't believe I'll ever be able to focus completely on one genre or the other. Detriment to my career? No, I don't think so. Not when both genres have different strengths.

Anyway -- enough for today! Back to editing the paranormal that's possessed me.

~Claire
www.claireashgrove.com
www.toristclaire.com