Friday Friends: Susan Macatee

I'm very excited to have my friend and fellow American historical author here today, Susan Macatee.  I've been a fan of Susan's work for many years, now it's your turn to get to know this super talented and lovely lady.

Hi Susan!  Welcome!  Tell us a bit about yourself and why you write the genre you do.
I've always loved books and dreamed of being an author someday. But I came to my chosen genre in a roundabout way. As a teen and young adult, I devoured science fiction. So, that's what I first tried writing. It wasn't until years later, as a young mother, that I discovered romance. Times travels, followed by historicals, were my favorite escapes. Then my husband pulled me into Civil War reenacting. I love the romance of the period, as well as the grit, and just had to place my romances in this time period. As a result, my first romance novel was a Civil War time travel.

How long have you been writing?
I could honestly say since childhood. I remember writing picture books to distribute to friends. I had kind of a start in my early college years, when I tried submitting short stories to magazines and wrote for a 'Star Trek' fanzine. But it was after my youngest son started school that I joined Romance Writers of America and began to write both short stories and book length romance and submit my work to publishers. So, we're talking about 23 years.

Describe your typical writing day
My writing day doesn't start until afternoon, although I do a couple of email checks, plus a little book promo in the mornings. Once I settle down to write, I either have a word quota, if I'm writing a first draft, or a page or hourly quota, in the case of revisions, edits or plotting. I start with whatever project I'm currently working on, but if I have extra time before I have to start dinner, I might make notes on my next project before I stop for the day.

What was your “Aha!” moment—when you knew you had to write?
I took a creative writing class my junior year in high school. For my fiction assignment, I wrote a 12 page horror story and got an A++. My teacher would have read it to the class, if not for the length. From that point on, I knew writing in some form was something I was meant to do.

If you weren’t a writer, what would you be?
In college, I took a few elective psychology courses and did really well in them. I think I would've majored in psych if I wasn't fixated on writing.

What is your best cure for writer’s block?
The absolute best cure is to read a good book by another writer. Always gets me in the mood to get back to work on my own project.

Tell us a little bit about your new release, Thoroughly Modern Amanda

Thoroughly Modern Amanda is a sequel to my 2009 Civil War time travel romance, Erin's Rebel. This new story is set in 1880 and the heroine, Amanda Montgomery, was a child in Erin's Rebel, the daughter of the widowed hero. The hero, Jack Lawton, is a modern day construction worker who wants to refurbish an old Victorian home, but the owner dies and her heir wants to sell the land and have the house demolished.


Believing anything is possible, magazine reporter Amanda Montgomery dreams about being a modern woman in a nineteenth century world, much like her exceptional step-mother.  But society expects well-off young ladies to focus on finding a suitable husband and raising a family.  And then Jack appears—with no past and unconventional ideas. Does he hold the key to another century as well as her heart, or is she destined to stay in her own time?

Construction worker Jack Lawton wants to preserve an old home that's scheduled for demolition.  But when he sneaks inside for a final look, a loose beam falls on his head, and upon waking, he finds himself in the arms of a beautiful woman.  His only problem—he's no longer in the twenty-first century.  Can he find his way back home? Does he really want to?

Jack blinked, focusing his gaze. Blinding pain in the back of his head nearly caused him to pass out again. The last thing he recalled was a beam blindsiding him.

“Sir?” a female voice cooed. “What’s happened? Did the beam hit you?”

He tried to focus on a face hovering above him. “Yeah, the beam hit me. It must have knocked me out.” He lifted his arm, intending to probe his aching head.

“Don’t move,” the woman said. “I have a rag covering the gash. You need a doctor, I think.”

He gazed at the woman. With her red-gold hair piled on her head and her old-fashioned looking gown, she didn’t seem real. Like something out of a crazy dream. If her face wasn’t so smooth and youthful, he’d believe he was back at Mrs. Grayson’s house, but the old woman was dead and she’d never dressed like this.

“Where am I?” he groaned. A flash of pain shot through his skull.
The woman’s blue eyes widened. “You don’t know where you are? The beam must have taken your memory.” She glanced around. “This house is under construction. You’re obviously one of the workmen hired to build it.”

“Under construction?” A new wave of pain pierced his skull. “No. This house is going to be torn down.”

“Shh.” She placed a finger over his lips. “You must have had a memory lapse.”

Her soft touch and scent enveloped him. Something seemed familiar about her, but he wasn’t sure what. He tried to rise, but she pushed him back.

“Don’t try to get up. I’ll go for help.”

“No.” He rubbed his head. “I think I can sit up with your assistance. Pushing onto his elbows, he gazed around the room. His heart dropped as he realized this wasn’t the dilapidated house he’d been exploring. The scent of fresh cut wood and unfinished walls chilled him.

“You say this house is under construction?” He made an effort to sit up straight.

She moved to brace his back. “You mustn’t move so quickly. You could aggravate your injury.”

“This doesn’t make any sense.” He reached for the towel she’d placed against the back of his head. The rag slid down his back.

She retrieved it, then gently probed his head.

He winced at the pain.

Her gaze met his. “It doesn’t look so bad now. The bleeding’s stopped, but you will need someone to look after you. I’ll contact your family.”

“There’s no need. I can drive. Just help me to my car. It’s parked outside.”

“Car?” She bit her lip, drawing his attention to her full, ripe mouth. “You mean carriage? I saw no carriage outside.”

“No, I mean a car. It’s a dark green four door.”

“I saw no carriage as you describe.” She wrung her hands glancing toward the open doorway. “I’ll go find help.”

His hand shot out to stop her. He didn’t want her to go, even to get help. If he was able to stand…

“Help me up,” he said.

She frowned, but grasped his hand. Pushing up on his legs with her assistance at his side, he stood. But his equilibrium seemed off. She braced her weight against his.

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay here? I’ll find a neighbor to help you to go…” She hesitated. “Where do you want to go?”

“Home, but I need my car to get there.” His hand dropped to his pocket to search for his wallet, but a strap and two buttons on his waistband diverted his attention. He wore a pair of suspenders, a loose fitting shirt with four buttons reaching from his mid-chest area to his collar, and baggy wool pants. These weren’t the clothes he’d been wearing when he’d explored the house.

What the hell?

His alarmed gaze drifted down to the woman who still supported his weight. The clothes he wore matched the period of her gown. And the condition of the house, compared to the dilapidated building he'd been in, set his brain awhirl.

“Where in hell am I?” he gasped.

The woman’s eyes widened as she gazed open mouthed at him.


Anything else in the works you can share with us?
Yes, I’m currently working on a novella based on a minor character from my 2009 Civil War romance, Confederate Rose. In ‘The Physician’s Irish Lady’ the hero is a small town doctor, who served as a Union army surgeon during the Civil War. The heroine is an Irish immigrant on the run from a man she met in New York City, who tried to sell her to a brothel.

Leave a comment on this post for the chance to win a PDF copy of Thoroughly Modern Amanda and a $10.00 gift card for The Wild Rose Press.

Buy link: http://www.thewildrosepress.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=195&products_id=5074

Susan, thanks so much for visiting with us today!

The Next Big Thing: This Moment in Time

This is just the thing to nudge me out of my blogging malaise, I’ve been tagged by my fellow Scandalous Victorian  Susan Macatee to participate in the Next Big Thing blog hop.  Thanks Susan!

In turn, I’ve tagged two author friends (I could only find two that haven’t already done it LOL) who will blog next Wednesday, December 5. 

Nikki Andrews

Arial Burnz

Here are the blog hop questions:

What is the working title of your book?

This Moment in Time

Where did the idea come from for the book?

Years of reading about and researching the Civil War –and a teeny little fascination with spies.

What genre does your book fall under?

American historical romance

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

I always have an image in my mind of my characters, but it’s rarely based on the looks of one specific person.  So I’d say if a movie was being made I’d want to cast an unknown.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Should he change history to save the woman he loves, or be with her for This Moment in Time.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? It is published by The Wild Rose Press and came out at the end of last month.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
Well the germination of the idea sat around in the back of my mind for a long time.  Then one night driving past an old abandoned Greek Revival style house the main idea for the story came to me.  I played the “what if” game at a critique session with my CPs and most of the story came alive right there and then.  It didn’t’ take long to write, but I did struggle for a while with where and how to end it, I’m used to writing longer stories and it just didn’t come naturally to me to write short.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

There are several Civil War era books in the TWRP catalog and some are Time Travel sotires as well. 

Erin’s Rebel by Susan Macatee

Victory’s Gate and Season of Love by Leanne Tyler

Thorns of Eden by Diana Ballew

Who or What inspired you to write this book?

The Civil War has been a fascination of mine as far back as I can remember.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

We are in the midst of celebrating the 150^th anniversary of the Civil War years. Interest in the era has been rekindled in a lot of readers who may have forgotten what a fascinating and heart wrenching time in history this era was.

Excerpt:

This is a favorite, where the reader first meets my feisty lady spy heroine:

Spring, 1862

Shenandoah Valley, Virginia

“I want to know how Stonewall Jackson knew where my men were going to be.”

Josette Beaumont resisted the urge to flinch. She’d not show a hint of weakness, even as General Stillwater’s foul breath bathed her face.

He grabbed her chin between his thumb and finger, squeezing. “You’ve been locked in this house for a month, yet somehow you still managed to get information to the rebs. I want to know how.”

She jerked away from his touch, but he didn’t release her. “Has it not occurred to you, General, that perhaps the Union army isn’t as clever as you think? You were the ones who intended to win this war in a matter of days, as I recall. Yet the North hasn’t won a single battle.”

He shoved her against the wall with a thud that rattled her teeth. “Time spent in a Federal prison would do you good.”

She held her tongue. Until he could prove she was a spy, he couldn’t truly send her to prison. At least she hoped not. Right now he had no proof of anything.

“Fortunately for you, my dear, I’m a man who appreciates beauty.”

A cold knot of fear coiled in her midsection. She stepped away from the wall, all too aware of the bed in the center of the room and the lusty gleam in his eyes.

He closed the distance between them in one long stride. “We could work out an arrangement that benefits us both.”

“I’d die before becoming mistress to the likes of you.”

“The time may come when you change your mind. Until then, if I were you, I’d be very cautious about what you choose to share with your sources. You never know when the information you have access to is false. You could unintentionally send those filthy rebels you care so much about directly into harm’s path.”

A lump rose in her throat. “If I were a spy, as you claim, then that might concern me. But since I am nothing but a poor widow—”

“A poor widow?”

“You know perfectly well my husband’s passing left me with nothing. What little I had was taken by you and your men.”

“There is one thing I haven’t taken from you, Mrs. Beaumont.” His cold gaze raked her from head to toe, leaving her as chilled as if he’d stripped her naked. “I prefer to wait until you offer it freely—”

“Then you’ve a long wait ahead.”

“My patience is wearing thin,” he said, storming toward the door. “One of these nights I may decide I’ve been patient enough.”

The door slammed. She waited a half breath until she heard the key turn in the lock and the General’s boots retreating down the hallway.

She quickly pulled the pins from her hair, allowing the waist length strands to fall free, combing her fingers through the tangles until the silk-wrapped sachet fell to the floor. She scooped it up and hurriedly pulled the contents from inside to review the notes she would slip to her contact later tonight.

Best Present Ever!

Our blog hop continues today so please don't forget to stop by my friends' blogs and leave a comment for a chance to win a prize.

Caroline Clemmons

Susan Macatee

Isabel Roman

Today I'm giving away a free download of my historical western Wild Texas Wind to one lucky commenter.

So what is your best present ever? Not necessarily one you've received, after all we know it's better to give so you can answer it either way--what's your best present ever, given or received?

This one is an easy one for me.  Nine years and a handful of days ago I received the best birthday present ever.  My son!

What's even more amazing is he was a complete surprise.  Oh I knew I was pregnant, LOL, there was no doubt about that.  But practically from the first weeks of my pregnancy he was larger than average and I was told to expect him to come early.  His due date was November 19; my birthday is November 22nd.  I never once dreamed he'd decide to wait and share it with me.

About a week before Halloween after a routine exam the doctor told me to go home and make sure my bags were packed and everything was ready.  the baby was in positron and would probably come soon.

So I went home.  Packed my bags.  And waited.  Halloween came and went, and still no baby.  The first week of November stretched into the next and so on.

Throughout all this, I had terrible Braxton Hicks, or false labor pains, so when November 21 dawned and I was nauseous and twingy, I assumed it was Braxton Hicks again.  Now two days past my due date and horrendously uncomfortable, I was beside myself wondering when this baby would ever come.  Sleep was next to impossible no matter how exhausted I was (I was caring for a busy 2 1/2 year old after all).  I remember at one point looking Heavenward and saying a quick prayer for it to be soon. (Actually it was more like a desperate "Would you come on and get this baby born, I can't take it anymore!!!!")

An hour later we were on the way to the hospital with me in active labor--talk about answered prayers LOL. A little after 11 pm I was settled into the hospital bed when the nurse asked how old I was.  I glanced at the clock and said "well, give it another hour or so and that will change."  Then and only then did it occur to me that I was going to have a baby on my  birthday. That should have been a clue to me that this is one kid with a mind of his own--believe me, that hasn't changed, LOL.

Nine years later, he's still the best gift ever.  Best of all he doesn't mind sharing a birthday with his mom.  I have made certain from the beginning that he has his own cake (no cheating and putting both our names on one cake!) so he feels it's "his" day and not just "our" day.  And since I have some experience with this birth date, I enjoy showing him the ropes (rule number one: do not turn on the news that morning or you'll hear how many years ago in Dallas it was since JFK was killed. Not a great way to start your day) and have promised him even when Thanksgiving falls on his birthday, he'll still get his favorite birthday cake (yes, my mom tried the "stick the candle in the pumpkin pie" trick one year hoping I wouldn't notice that they'd forgotten to bake me a birthday cake; it didn't work LOL).

If there's a downside, it's that there is always a lot of cake in my house by the time Thanksgiving rolls around so I have a fridge full of leftover goodies tempting me.

And of course, you have to feel for my husband.  Not only can he never again claim to have "forgotten" my birthday ...but no matter what gift he picks out, he'll never top the one he gave me in 2002.

So now you've heard about my best gift ever.  What's yours?

Black Friday? Not me, No Way!

I'm blog hopping today with some of my friends from the Scandalous Victorians.  Please be sure to stop by their blogs and leave a comment for a chance to win one of their great prizes.  I'll be giving away a prize myself--Friday's prize is a free download of my contemporary Christmas story Small Town Christmas; Saturday I'll be giving away a copy of my western historical Wild Texas Wind.

So did you get up early this morning and head out in the dark, bitter cold to stand in line and wait for a deal?  Or did you enjoy your day off (if you were lucky enough to have one) and snuggle in your nice warm bed for as long as you could get away with?

I fall into the latter category.  I can't imagine what it would take to drag me out of bed in the middle of the night to go fight crowds and wait in line for an item that may not even be available by the time I get to the advertised department.  I spent a number of years working in retail in my early twenties and while the Black Friday craziness wasn't nearly as bad as it is now, I still recall what it was like working that day.  Pushing and shoving and lots of cranky people.  It made it hard to feel the spirit of the season, at least for me.

I think part of the reason I don't want to participate --especially with stores that are open on Thanksgiving Day--is I hate to contribute to people not being able to spend the holidays with their families. Since I wouldn't want to be one of those employees who has to leave the holiday table to head to bed so they can get up for work in the middle of the night, I don't feel right supporting stores that open on Thanksgiving--even if they don't open until midnight.  Silly I suppose since my own little protest surely won't make a difference.

So how about you?  How do you spend your Black Friday? Shopping til you drop? Or sleeping in?

Please be sure to stop by my friends' blogs and leave a comment for a chance to win prizes!

Caroline Clemmons

Susan Macatee

Isabel Roman

Forced out of my summer doldrums....

Darn that Darah Lace.  Not only does she tag me, forcing me out of my sleepy summer doldrums (read laziness!) , but now I actually have to come up with something to blog about.

Darah tagged me with the Versatile Blogger Award.  I have to list eight things you probably didn't want to know about me, and one of them has to be a lie.  If readers guess which is the lie, they win a prize.  (Okay, that part I like, LOL, I'm good with prizes.)

So here goes.  I'll list eight random things and the winner who guesses the "oopsie" gets a free e-copy of any of my releases.  Small Town Christmas, The Model Man or Wild Texas Wind.  Your choice.

1.  I sleep with six pillows.  Plus a husband.

2. If I were to become single again (widowed, divorced) I wouldn't remarry.  I'd just have more dogs.  Cause.... you can train dogs.

3.  I once made radio legend Casey Kasem cry.

4. My sister is also an author.

5. I once turned down a really great job because it was on the 18th floor.  And I'm afraid of heights.

6. Speaking of fears, I suffer from lepidophobia, or fear of butterflies.  I'm also not good with birds, moths --pretty much anything that flutters.

7. As a teenager, I won awards for bowling and could have gone on to compete professionally if I'd wanted to.

8. I haven't written a dang thing since summer began.

Okay, I nominate the following authors for the versatile blogger award:

Susan Macatee
Isabel Roman

Leave your comments and guesses as to the truth versus the lie.  I'll be back tomorrow to post the winner and reveal the truth!

Friday Friends: Meet Susan Macatee

I think it's rather fitting that my first guest blogger for my new Friday Friends series is Susan Macatee. I've known Susan for about five years now and her journey from unpublished to multi-published author, whose first full length release is out today from The Wild Rose Press is particularly inspiring.

Tell us a bit about yourself and why you write the genre you do.

I’m Susan Macatee and I live with my husband and three grown sons in Philadelphia. Along with my husband, I’m also a Civil War reenactor.

I write romance, primarily in the historical and historical/paranormal genres, set in the Civil War era. My love and knowledge of the Civil War period in American history compelled me to set my stories in that time period.

How long have you been writing?

Basically, I’ve been dabbling since grade school, but I started writing toward publication when my youngest son, now in college, started kindergarten. So, about 14 years.

Where do you get your ideas?

Facts about the Civil War and historical biographies inspired a lot of my stories, but I also get ideas from reading other novels, movies and television shows.

Describe your writing day

I do my best writing during the early afternoon hours, so after spending my mornings working out, running errands, taking care of household tasks, and checking email—after my half-hour lunch break—I settle down to my computer to work on my primary writing project. After an hour and a half, I take a short break, then usually switch to another project. I always have more than one writing project in the works.

What was your “Aha!” moment—when you knew you had to be a writer?

I’d always entertained the thought of writing, but it wasn’t until—after spending about nine years as a stay-at-home mom for my three boys—my youngest was starting school, that I decided I needed something of my own to do. I signed up for a writing course and never looked back.

If you weren’t a writer, what would you be?

I loved to draw as a kid and always thought I’d go into a field like design or illustration. And in college, I really liked the psychology and sociology courses I was required to take as part of my English major. I took a few courses beyond the basics as electives and considered majoring in one or the other for a time. So, I could have ended up as a designer, illustrator, therapist or counselor, if I wasn’t a writer.

Tell me your best cure for writer’s block?

Actually, I don’t get writer’s block, because I always work on multiple projects. If I get stuck or feel my enthusiasm ebbing on one project, I just jump to another and before long, I’m itching to get back to the first one newly inspired.

Tell us a little bit about Erin’s Rebel.

Erin’s Rebel is my first full-length romance. The story is a time travel, where my heroine, a modern-day reporter, travels to the year 1863. There she meets the hero, a Confederate army captain and the romance begins.

Blurb: Philadelphia newspaper reporter, Erin Branigan, is engaged to marry an up-and-coming lawyer, but dreams of a man from the past change those plans and start her on a journey beyond time. After a car accident, Erin wakes to find herself living in the 1860s in a Confederate army camp.

Captain Will Montgomery, the man of her dreams, is now a flesh and blood Rebel soldier who sets her soul aflame. But the Irish beauty holds a secret he needs to unravel before he can place his trust in her.

Can she correct a mistake made long ago that caused his death and denied her the love she was meant to have? Or is she doomed to live out her life with nothing but regret?

Excerpt:
The sound of her name on his lips made her skin tingle. She tore the paper off the package. At the sight of the brooch, her breath caught.

"Do you like it?" he asked anxiously. "I had it made just for you."

Eyeing him, she had a hard time finding her voice. This was Erin O'Connell's brooch, the very one that had sent her back in time. It shone in her hands, new and unworn from time and wear.

What did this mean? She must be following Erin O'Connell's footsteps. As far as she knew her being here hadn't changed anything. Will was still destined to die this year.

"I didn't mean to upset you, Erin. If you don’t want the brooch--"

"No." She clasped the pin against her chest as the meaning of his gift sank in. "It just means so much to me."

His look of concern softened into a lopsided grin. "I'm happy you feel that way."

"Thank you, Will." She slipped the brooch into the pocket of her wrapper, then stood on her toes, lifting her arms to circle his neck. She kissed his cheek, inhaling his musky scent.

His mouth was on hers, hot and urgent. The softness of his moustache and chin beard tickled her lips. She opened to him, her tongue slipping inside to taste him thoroughly. He groaned, pressing the length of his body against her.

Anything else in the works you can share with us?

Besides Erin’s Rebel, I’ve got four releases coming out with The Wild Rose Press this year. The first is a short story, Angel of My Dreams, part of the Civil War romance anthology, Northern Roses and Southern Belles; another full-length Civil War romance, Confederate Rose; a stand-alone short vampire story, Sweet Redemption, that will be released as a e-book and a short Christmas story, The Christmas Ball, that will be part of a TWRP Christmas anthology, An American Rose Christmas.

Besides those, I’m working on two new full-length projects. One is a post-Civil War romance that’s a sequel to an earlier novel now out-of-print, the other is my first ever science fiction romance.

For more about me and my books, visit my website: www.susanmacatee.com

Thanks for stopping by, Susan! And congratulations on the release today!

Six Things That Make Me Happy

I've been tagged by Paty Jager! Yikes! I think I've blogged more this week than I have in the past month, LOL.

Okay, here are the rules:

Link to the person who tagged you; write down six things that make you happy; post the rules; tag six others and let them know you’ve done it; tell the person who tagged you when your entry is up.

Six Things That Make Me Happy:

1. WRITING!! (which could account for my crankiness lately, LOL)
2. Hugging my kids
3. Walking my dog
4. Snuggling with my sweetie (I'm mad at him this morning, so that's why he's #4 and not #1 *G*)
5. A hot cup of tea and a good book to read
6. Time spent alone

That's it! Pretty unimpressive, huh? Now I have to figure out who to tag back. I choose:

1. Susan Macatee
2. Isabel Roman
3. Maryann Webber
4. Ashley Ladd
5. Sarita Leone
6. Kat Henry Doran

Hope it's warm and pleasant wherever you are!