Author Guest Post with Kathleen Buckley: Hidden Treasures

Unexpectedly orphaned, Rosabel Stanbury and her younger sister are made wards of a distant, unknown cousin.

Welcome to one of the November 6th stops on the blog tour for Hidden Treasures by Kathleen Buckley with Goddess Fish Promotions. Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for spotlights, reviews, more author guest posts, and a giveaway! More on that at the end of this post.

Please note that this post contains affiliate links, which means there is no additional cost to you if you shop using my links, but I will earn a small percentage in commission. A program-specific disclaimer is at the bottom of this post.

Author Guest Post

When I began to try to write something other than school assignments, my mental image of an author was of a woman in a chic suit lunching with her editor or agent at the  Algonquin Hotel in New York. I think I must have been influenced by a novel I’d read, because at the time, I lived in Fairbanks, Alaska, and did my creative writing with a fountain pen.

I never gave any thought to what it was like to write as if it were my job. Fast-forward a decade or so. I was trying to write a book. A friend who was writing her first novel introduced me to a critique group where I met someone who had just sold his first book, and I later met a famous science fiction writer, one whose books I’d been reading for years. I concluded that chic suits were optional. I still had no real idea of an author’s life.

I didn’t find out until my first historical romance was accepted after I retired. Several rounds of edits later, followed eventually by the book’s release, I had an inkling. I’d started a blog, set up a page on Facebook,  and dipped my toes hesitantly into the promotional whirl.

Ten books later, with the eleventh in process, I can testify there’s nothing glamorous about authordom. Maybe somewhere there are literary parties but I don’t know of any and thank goodness, do not have to go to them.  I don’t like martinis or cocktails in general, and high heels make my feet hurt. There’s no need to see one’s editor in person, either. My wonderful editor and I communicate by email.

So what is the writing life like?  I’m working on my twelfth book. I get up at about four a.m. and write until eight or nine while drinking many cups of coffee. Not all of this time is spent actually writing. As I write historical novels, some of it is spent doing research online: what kind of lanterns were used, eighteenth century English law,  how far a rider can travel on horseback without stopping to let the horse rest, what a schooner looked like. Several days a week I go to exercise or t’ai chi chih  (a modified, short form of t’ai chi chuan) and try to do any errands afterwards. Three times a week I post on Instagram. I’m always looking for promotional opportunities and review sites, or requesting a review. There are webinars or courses on writing to take or at least consider, and blogs to read. Sometimes I post a blog on my original blog site, and several times a year I send a newsletter to my fans. I review books or recommend them on Bookbub. Sometimes I answer writing-related questions on Quora. I also have a little part time job doing legal billing and accounting for a former employer. It doesn’t (usually) take up more than three or four hours a week.

If I’ve just completed the first draft, I go over it, fixing anything that needs fixing: clunky writing, grammatical infelicities, typos, mistakes of timeline or  where the character’s eye color or name or backstory changes from one chapter to the next.

If I’ve had a book accepted recently, there’s paperwork to do: review the contract, sign and send it back, and update my publisher on how I plan to promote the new book. A few weeks later, I’ll be going through my editor’s suggested changes or corrections. She is almost always right. Then I’ll go on with my usual activities and writing the next book.

Then the next batch of edits comes and I work on those, followed perhaps by another round or two, followed by reviewing the galley proof. If the novel is to be an audiobook, those files have to be reviewed as well: about ten hours’ work.

On a really good day, I write for a while later in the day, too. And there are the ordinary activities of daily living, too: cooking, collecting the garbage and recycling, feeding the cats, scooping the cat boxes, giving my diabetic cat her insulin shots twice a day, doing the bare minimum of cleaning and laundry, paying bills, reading for pleasure. Sometimes I test a recipe from my period (the mid-eighteenth century), usually baked goods. They’re generally easier and more appealing than many of the meat dishes.

I try to keep up with my friends and relatives. Several times a year I attend the local Jane Austen group meeting. Once in a great while, I fritter away some time in a museum, or at a flea market or a craft sale (Albuquerque has wonderful crafts; art is in the air).

Sometimes I need a nap. And that’s what it’s like to be an author.   

About the Book

Hidden Treasures
by Kathleen Buckley

Published 16 September 2024
The Wild Rose Press, Inc.

Genre: Sweet Historical Romance
Page Count: 317
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!

Allan Everard, an earl’s illegitimate son, is dismissed from his employment at his father’s death but inherits a former coaching inn. Needing to make a new life in London, he begins by leasing the inn to a charity.

Unexpectedly orphaned, Rosabel Stanbury and her younger sister are made wards of a distant, unknown cousin. Fearing his secretive ways and his intentions for them, Rosabel and Oriana flee to London where they are taken in by a women’s charity.

Drawn into Rosabel’s problems, with his inn under surveillance by criminals, Allan has only a handful of unlikely allies, including an elderly general, a burglar, and an old lady who knows criminal slang. A traditional romance.

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Excerpt

A hoarse whisper of “It’s me, Higgs, sir.”

“What the devil are you doing up?” Without thought, Allan kept his voice low. Steel struck flint; no answer came until Higgs had blown on the tinder to coax it to smolder and lit a candle.

“Don’t be waking the house. I’ve been doin’ a char for Barlicorn. I’ll tell you tomorrow.” The valet tiptoed past him to where a trundle bed had been made up for him. Equal parts mystified and annoyed, Allan’s last thought before sinking into sleep again was that he hoped Higgs was not ripe for the gallows as he rather liked the rascal.

About the Author

Kathleen Buckley writes traditional historical romance (i.e. no explicit sex). There are fewer ballrooms and aristocratic courting rituals in her books and more problems than does-he-love-me/does-he-not. Sometimes there’s humor. Kathleen wanted to write from the time she learned to read and pursued this passion through a Master’s Degree in English, followed by the kind of jobs one might expect: light bookkeeping, security officer, paralegal. She did sell two stories to the late Robert Bloch, author of Psycho. And no, he wasn’t late at the time.

After moving to Albuquerque, New Mexico, she wrote her first historical romance, striving for Georgette Heyer’s style, followed by nine more.   

In Kathleen’s gentle romances, the characters tend to slide into love rather than fall in lust. Their stories are often set against the background of family relationships, crime, and legal issues, probably because of her work in a law firm.

When she’s not writing or reading, she enjoys cooking dishes from eighteenth century cookbooks. Those dishes and more appear in her stories. Udder and root vegetables, anyone?

Kathleen Buckley’s current work in progress is her first historical mystery, tentatively titled A Murder of Convenience.

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Giveaway Alert!

Kathleen Buckley will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner.

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