Every story begins somewhere; every writer finds their inspiration in a different place. We might all begin in the same place — with the same phrase or picture or idea — but each story by each of a thousand writers will be unique and individual. Some writers are inspired by history, others by the future. Some writers are inspired by writers who have come before them, wanting to follow in the footsteps of their heroes.

Where to begin? Who? Why? What?

For me, it's all about that tiny flicker of a lighter in the darkness of an auditorium. It's always one tiny thing. I don't have a big idea. I never say I'm going to write a book about…anything. I never think, wow, what a great piece of history and I really want to tell that story. I never write an outline or figure out a plot or begin with a couple who need to get together.

When I look back at the dozens of stories, the hundreds of poems, the novels and novellas, I realize that every single one of them has started in a similar way.

What turns my mind to story is a phrase, a title, a single word, a quick glimpse out the car. It's a nugget, a quick flash of gold in a stream, a sentence heard in passing. It might be a piece of graffiti, a small part of a quote or a story. I've written a novel because of a phrase I read in The New Yorker; a series of stories based on a piece of graffiti on a city wall; another book because of the 30 second glimpse of an abandoned drive-in outside a bus window.

The year I spent $10,000 on a dead dog.

A friend used this phrase the other day and I've been carrying it around in my head ever since, knowing that it will stick with me until I begin the story. I have absolutely no idea what the story will be, don't know if it will be a short story or a novel. I don't know if that sentence will even end up in the story — often it doesn't. Or it starts the story and then gets cut as I get further into the writing of it.

Why does this happen? I think, though I really can't be certain, that the thing that grabs me by the throat is a feeling. I can't tell you what that feeling is, can't be as clear as sorrow or joy or fear, but it keeps me writing until I reach the end. And then the thing that got me there may or may not belong in the story I've written.

The series of ten linked stories I'm writing right now began with a brief mention on the radio of Stevie Wonder. I started singing Part Time Lovers — don't ask me why that song because my favorite is I Just Called to Say I Love You — and voila! Ten stories, 80,000 words, all from that single title.

Inspiration is as individual as a snowflake and what works for me probably won't work for you. For me, I just try to respect that process, try to pay attention to the singularity of the moment when that phrase or glimpse passes by. Because I don't ever want to miss one of them — they're miracles.

About Josée Renard:

Josée Renard writes women's fiction, magic realism, paranormal and erotica. She writes short fiction, poetry and novels. Josée blames her good friend Anna Leigh Keaton for getting her into writing erotica — she loves Anna Leigh's books and wanted to try one herself — now she can't stop. She blames her mother and her two grandmothers for her reading and writing obsession — all of them were avid readers, and they passed the books and the obsession on to her.

She also writes women's fiction as Kate Austin. You can check out her alter ego at www.kateaustin.ca.

Josée has generously agreed to give away one e-copy of Treat Myself. Comment to win. The winner will be drawn on September 12th. (open international)

I was going to announce the details on July 8th, but it just wasn't meant to be.  Sorry about that.

So here are the rules and information:

Why read Confessions of an Improper Bride?

Because Jennifer Haymore is an awesome writer.  And don't the blurb and excerpt intrigue you?

Excerpt (from Jennifer Haymore's website)

“There you are, Miss Donovan.”

It was Langley's voice. With a sigh, Serena dropped her hand and turned. There he was, standing not an arm's length away, with Jonathan Dane at his side.

Jonathan's wide, sensuous mouth hadn't changed in shape, but its turn seemed more cynical, more inclined to smirk rather than display the genuine, joyful smiles she remembered. His lips were parted, and she could see the hint of teeth behind them.

She remembered those lips. How often she'd kissed them, had run her tongue over those teeth.

“Good evening.” Serena's voice emerged smooth and deep and contained no tremor. It reminded her of her voice when she was with Jonathan before, when she was aroused and could only think she wanted more, she wanted him to take her to the pinnacle.

He had taken her to those heights, not only physically, but emotionally as well, and she had counted on it never to end. But then it had ended with an abruptness that had shattered her.

He gazed at her as if startled, a slight frown forming between his brows. “Serena?”

The cheerful roar of the ballroom faded to nothing behind the din of her shock. She glanced at Langley to see him blanch. Everyone standing nearby had turned to gape at them.

She stared up at Jonathan, unable to speak, to breathe.

He stared back at her, his eyes dilated in the shadows until they looked black. She remembered them, though. They were midnight blue, like the deepest ocean on a sunny day. They always appeared quite dark whenever there wasn't enough light to illuminate their true color. In broad daylight, his eyes were exotic, their dark cobalt sparks contrasting with the gold streaks in his hair and the broad slashes of his eyebrows. Such a handsome man.

Langley gave an awkward laugh and clapped Jonathan on the shoulder. “No, this is Meg, man. Meg Donovan, my betrothed.”

Jonathan shook his head, as if flinging away a fog that had descended over him. He blinked hard, and seeming to come to his senses, he bowed. “Of course,” he murmured. “Of course. Forgive me. Miss Donovan, it is a pleasure to see you again.”

The low timbre of his voice made something within Serena clench. She remembered that voice, had dreamed about it more times than she could count. That voice had whispered in her ear, caressed the most private parts of her body, told her wicked things she was certain she'd never hear again. The words he had uttered to her had made her first fall madly in love and later tremble in ecstasy.

It had nearly killed her when she learned all those words had been lies.

Was he still a liar?

Such characteristics were usually ingrained in a person by the time he reached adulthood. If a man was a liar at twenty-two, he probably was at twenty-eight as well.

Serena couldn't answer him. She simply stared. Langley gave her an apologetic look, as if asking for forgiveness that he hadn't warned her about the arrival of the man who had defiled her sister. Serena sucked in a steadying breath. Suddenly, she felt perilously close to bursting into tears.

Langley came to her rescue. “Were you going to take some air?”

She nodded dumbly.

He gave her a gentle smile. “May I accompany you?”

His kind words made her find her voice, and she waved her hand. “No, no, please. It looked like you two were headed toward the punch bowl.” She gave them a game smile. “I certainly wouldn't want to deprive two gentlemen of their punch.”

Langley returned her smile and inclined his head. “But I won't have you outside alone.” He clasped Jonathan's shoulder. “If you'll excuse—”

Just then, an arm slipped through hers. Lady Montgomery squeezed her wrist. “Oh, do come onto the terrace with me, Miss Donovan. I was just thinking about taking some air myself.”

Serena swallowed hard, then smiled at her savior. “Thank you. I'd love to join you outside.”

She gave a faltering, watery smile to Langley, silently thanking him for his thoughtfulness. The two men bowed, Langley looking understanding and Jonathan looking as bewildered as if he'd just been awakened from a year-long sleep. They turned toward the punch bowl, Langley holding on to Jonathan's shoulder, guiding him away and across the room.

Keeping her arm tightly entwined about Serena's, Lady Montgomery flung open the door and led her toward freedom and the outside.

Why are you giving away a copy?

Because I think more people should read Jennifer's awesome historical romance novels.  Also Jennifer is one of the sweetest people I know, and she was instrumental in helping me publish Carnal Secrets. Without her, the story would still be languishing on my hard drive.

Note:  I'm not getting paid to do this or receiving any other form of compensation.  I just like Jennifer.  :)

So how do I earn entries?

Super easy.

• Two entries if you subscribe to my newsletter.  (If you've already subscribed, you don't have to do anything to get two entries automatically.)
• Tweet why you want to read Jennifer Haymore novels and/or Confessions of an Improper Bride. One entry per tweet per day. Use #JenHaymore so I can track you!
• Tweet about this giveaway. (You get only one entry for this, not one entry per day for tweeting over and over again.)  Please use #JenHaymore so I can track you.

The giveaway ends on July 24th (midnight, US Eastern Time).  The winner will be announced on my blog on July 25th and will be contacted via Twitter (for Twitter entries) or email (for newsletter subscriber entries).  The winner has until midnight US Eastern Time July 31 to contact me with a mailing address.

The book will be shipped by BookDepository regardless of your location. (Just to be clear, you're getting an unautographed final book, not an ARC or early copy.) If I can, I'll gift an e-copy if you prefer an ebook and have a US Kindle account.

Good luck!

Today I have Angela James, the Executive Editor from Carina Press, to share her experience at Carina and what she's learned.

In celebration of our one year anniversary, I asked as many of our Harlequin team members and Carina Press freelance editors as possible to write a short blog post, talking about what the past year or so has been like for them, working on Carina Press. I deliberately didn't provide any direction other than that, because I wanted to see what people came up with, in the spirit of Carina's 1st anniversary. I was so pleased when I saw what they'd all come up with, and had to say (and some of these posts made me just a little teary)! I hope you enjoy the post, and look for your opportunity to win a Carina Press book at the bottom of this post. ~Angela James

I wasn't going to do a post on an author blog, because I wrote the anniversary post for the Carina Press blog. But when I went to write that post, I discovered there was a LOT to say and it made the post kind of long to include all of this. So thanks to Nadia, who kindly agreed to host me, I get the privilege of having two blog posts today!

So what did I learn this year? Ha! That I have a lot to learn. I swear, some days I feel like I know absolutely nothing about the industry, authors or how publishing works. I feel just as green as I did on the very first day I started editing almost a decade ago.

I learned that I hate packing for trips as much today as I did a year ago, and I've not gotten any better at packing “light”. People who can travel with one teeny, tiny, half-size carry-on are mutants. I'm convinced.

I've learned patience. I'm an impatient person by nature. If I have an idea, or a concept, or a thought flitting through my head, I want to jump on it and do it now. That's not quite as easy at a larger corporation like Harlequin. We're not quite so nimble as some of the smaller folks. Oh, we get things done and make things happen, just not quite as quickly as my impatient nature liked. So I've learned patience (well, having a six-year-old daughter has helped with that too)

I've learned that while I'm a good editor, and I miss editing, I'm also a pretty darn good administrator, boss, presenter and task-master. I knew I had what it takes to build an imprint, but I really feel like I've proven it to myself again.

And holy cow, I've been reminded how important a good team is. From the Carina Press acquisitions team, to the freelance editors, I'm surrounded by talented, hard-working, dedicated people. I have been so very fortunate in my co-workers and freelancers, and some of them have become very good friends who listen to my phone and email rants without complaining. Without the talent of this group, Carina Press would not exist today. I get a lot of the glory because I'm out in front, but I've worked to try and make sure you all see who's behind the scenes, actually making it happen. Thanks to all of them, and the wonderful, wonderful authors who've trusted us with their books, today we have Carina Press!

Speaking of the authors, I've learned that they can come together to be enthusiastic and supportive of each other, and their publisher, in a pretty awesome way. I wish each of you could see the brainstorming and goodwill that occurs on the Carina author loop. It's inspiring!

As I mention in the main Carina Press blog, I've discovered I love working for Harlequin. It's been a year and a half, and I feel so lucky to be working there every day. I'm fortunate to have not just one, but several wonderful bosses. Malle Vallik has been an incredible boss and mentor, and I look forward to the times we're together, when we can share a meal and a glass of wine, and talk not just about work, but about life. Loriana Sacilotto has been gracious and welcoming, making me feel as though Carina is just as important in its place in Harlequin editorial as any other imprint, and not just listening to my opinion on digital publishing, but also seeking it out. Last, Brent Lewis and Donna Hayes, who provided snippets for our Carina blog post today, have gone out of their way to let me know how much they value my skills.

But most of all, I've been reminded all over again how much I love digital publishing, and you know, learned to feel a little justified in all that preaching about the “digital dark side” that I've been doing for years.

Today's not just a celebration of all we've accomplished in the past year, but also a celebration of digital publishing in general, because without all of the readers, retailers, authors, and other industry people who've embraced digital publishing, I wouldn't be where I am today. So here's to all of you, thank you!

To celebrate Carina's one year anniversary of publishing books, we're giving away some prizes. Today, on each of the nineteen blogs our team members are featured on, we're giving away a download of a Carina Press book to one random winner (that's nineteen total winners!) All you need to do to be entered to win is comment on this post. You can enter to win on all nineteen posts. In addition, on the Carina Press blog, we're giving away a grand prize of a Kobo ereader and 12 Carina Press books of the winner's choice. Visit the Carina Press blog to enter to win, and to see links to all 19 of today's blog posts.

And a sincere thank you from all of us, to our readers and authors, for making Carina Press's first year a success!

Kiss of the Rose giveaway winners are:

• Lexus (from newsletter subscribers)
• @Leontine1976 (from Twitter entries)

Lexus — you should have an email from me in your inbox. @Leontine1976 should've received an @ reply from me.

Thanks, ladies!

P.S. I used random.org to select the winners.