Countess of Mar is the winner of The Rogue Pirate’s Bride. Thanks to everyone for your beauty recommendations!

I used to love shopping for make-up and beauty items—cleansers, lotions—all the girl things. Then I had my daughter and I didn’t have time to think about me. Now that she’s getting a little older, I find I have time again, and I’ve found some new-to-me beauty items I have to share.

The first is Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips. Have you seen these? Authors Emily McKay and Tracy Wolff turned me on to these at the RT Convention in Chicago. They both had the cutest nails, and when we all exclaimed over them, they told us they were stickers! I had to try them, and I haven’t been disappointed. In fact, they’ve lasted longer than the box claimed they would.

The second find was also due to the RT Convention. The lovely team at Sourcebooks, my publisher, gave each of its authors a swag bag filled with products from Lush. I haven’t been able to try all of them yet, and some of the ones I tried, I didn’t love, but there’s one product, I know I must have more of, and that’s Lush Happy Hippy Shower Gel.

This stuff smells wonderful. It has a clean, grapefruit citrus scent, which is perfect for those early morning, need help waking up showers.

Last, I have to brag about a product I love. I’ve recommended it before. It’s The Naked Bee Hand Salve. This stuff works wonders on dry hands and feet. I cannot live without it.

Okay, your turn. Share your favorite beauty find with us. Since it’s my husband’s birthday (Happy Birthday, Ultimate Sportsfan!), I’ll give one random reader who comments a copy of my latest, The Rogue Pirate’s Bride.

Shana Galen’s recent release Lord and Lady Spy is featured through the month of May at Discover a New Love, a romance ebook club.  You can get the ebook free!

Ultimate Sportsfan is reading this right now and thinking, whoa! She’s blogging about that? He always likes to give tours of our house and point to the bedroom and say, “That’s where the magic happens.” But this blog is about where the book-making magic happens.

For me that’s in Naperville, Illinois at the headquarters of Sourcebooks Publishers. I was lucky enough to get to tour the publishing house in April when I went to Chicago for the Romantic Times Convention. Dominique Raccah, who is the CEO of Sourcebooks, got us party limos and drove all the Sourcebooks’ authors to Naperville.

Here’s a picture of Barbara Vey, editor at Publisher’s Weekly and romance guru, trying out the stripper pole en route.

I was surprised at how unassuming the Sourcebooks’ building looked on the outside, but on the inside it was warm and welcoming.

Here’s the sign that greeted us when we walked in the door.

 We got a lovely tour and met all the important people.  Here’s my editor, Deb Werksman.

Here’s my publicist, Danielle Jackson (she’s the one that sends all those prize books out when I go on blog tour).

And here are just a few of the books on display in the offices. There were thousands more scattered throughout the building, and I really wanted to do some “shopping.”

Finally, here is the famous cow, with quotes from poets and writers from the Chicago-area. The rumor is that Dominique outbid Oprah for the cow.

Here I am with the cow.

And here is the author-part of the Sourcebooks’ family.

Going on a tour like this is every aspiring author’s dream, so this was truly a dream come true for me.

I’ve been working on an article about revision.  It’s for writers and focuses on how to deal with editorial revisions. Editorial revisions are the notes and suggestions an editor makes to an author after the author has turned in the book but before she gets paid the rest of the advance money for the book.

I decided to write the article because even though I like revising, I have a huge, huge fear of receiving editorial revisions. I used to get them in the mail. I would see that manila envelope, and my heart would start pounding. I would have to brace myself to open it, and I’d usually have to wait until I had mentally prepared myself. Now I get a revision phone call. Starting about three weeks after I turn in a book, I jump every time the phone rings. Is it my editor? Is she calling with revisions? No, no no!

I don’t know why I worry about the revisions so much. They’re never that bad–well, okay, sometimes they have been bad. More than once I have had to cut upwards of 150 pages from a book. More than once I have had to rework a timeline that didn’t work (i.e. chronologically, the story could not have happened as I wrote it). But those were all with books I wrote early in my career. I’m waiting for revisions on my 13th book, and if this book is like the last few, the revisions will be pretty minimal.

So why do I have such a visceral, fear-filled reaction when I know my editor is calling with revisions? All the authors I interviewed for my article–veterans and newbies alike–seemed to have these really positive views about revisions. The editor wants the book to be great. The revision suggestions often give the writer a great idea for the story.

This has happened for me too, but you know what else has happened? An editor has suggested I make X, Y, or Z change, and I didn’t know how to do it. I didn’t think I could do it. And if I can’t do it, then what does that say about me as a writer? Will everyone finally figure out that I’m a complete fraud without minimal writing ability at best?

At the core of my anxiety is fear of failure–fear that I cannot produce. I’m no genius. I don’t even consider myself very creative. It’s hard for me to step outside my comfort zone. An editor’s job is to challenge a writer to push the envelope, to write something better than the last book, to grow in the craft of writing. But what if I’ve reached the end of my potential? What if I can’t grow any farther?

But, as I said, I enjoy revisions.  Why? Because once I get past the fear and dive in, I realize I can do it. I realize the book is going to be way better with the changes than it was without. I realize there is nothing to fear.

Is there anything in your life like this–something you fear or that intimidates you? For Baby Galen, it’s the Dora the Explorer 4-D show at the zoo. It’s a 12-minute 3-D film with added effects (like a mist of water or wiggling seats). She really, really wants to watch that show, and every 4 or 5 months, I believe her enough to buy the tickets. But once we get in the theater, she gets scared and we have to leave. But I know if she just stayed for the show, she’d find out it’s really fun.

The winner of Tracey’s book, A Lady’s Revenge, is Kim. Congrats and check your email.

The winner of Kate Noble’s IF I FALL is Molly!   Check your inbox, and congrats.

The Jaunty Quills are excited to present historical romance author Kate Noble today. She’s the author of Compromised, Revealed, The Summer of You, and Follow My Lead. Her latest is If I Fall, and it is new on bookstore shelves or ereaders this month. Aren’t these covers gorgeous? I would buy the books for the covers themselves!

Fortunately, I’ve read a couple of Ms. Noble’s books, so I can attest that the covers are worthy of the interior content. If you enjoy passionate, romantic, witty romances, you’ll want to keep reading.

Shana: Tell us about If I Fall.

Kate Noble:  Hey Shana!  Thank you so much for having me visit the Jaunty Quills!

If I Fall is the story of Sarah Forrester, last seen having her heart and engagement cruelly broken at the end of Follow My Lead.   To survive socially – not to mention protect her fragile heart – she (with the help of Lady Phillippa Worth from Revealed) reinvents herself as the Golden Lady – the brightest light of the ton, with the most cutting wit and the sharpest laugh.   And it works, until her childhood friend Lieutenant Jackson Fletcher shows up, and can see just how hurt she’s been behind the façade.

But no matter what he does, Jack cannot seem to crack through the cold and beautiful Golden Lady to the happy, passionate girl he knew in their youth.  So, in a last ditch, desperate attempt to get through to her, he dresses up as the Blue Raven – the anonymous English spy that was Sarah’s idol as a child.

Too bad the real Blue Raven doesn’t find Jack’s costume amusing.  But he does need his help solving a murder.

If I Fall is a tale of romance, adventure, mistaken secret identities, faked paintings, Burmese aristocrats, murder, mayhem, climbing across rooftops, and a trail of black feathers.  Just your standard falling in love story. *grin*

Shana: Is it true you sold the first novel you’d written, and after only a year of deciding to become a writer? We are all seething with jealousy—and admiration.

Kate Noble:   Hahahaha…. Not so much, no.  While I did sell the first book that I finished – Compromised – it was a little longer from writing to publication.  The book itself took a little over a year to write, and then I had to teach myself the art of querying agents and writing synopses of varying lengths and submitting and submitting again.  About 20 queries in, I finally got an agent, who pretty quickly (within 6 months) managed to sell the book.  I’m going to estimate 4 years between writing the first sentence and seeing Compromised on the shelves.

 Shana: Okay. I like you a little more now.

Your books are set a little post-Regency (1820s). Why did you choose to write in this period, and what drew you to historical romance?

Kate Noble:  Historical romance is what I’ve always read and loved.  I consider the Regency endlessly fascinating, they way society was structured mirrors the way celebrity is structured now, and how London is such a bustling epicenter of the world.  I also adore the rules of the era – the way a glance across a room communicated volumes, and a simple brush of a hand against another could be scandalous.

My current books are in the 1820s, simply because the Blue Raven series began in 1816 with Revealed, just after the war ended, and time has passed in the intervening books.

 Shana: You’ve been compared to Julia Quinn, and I must admit that the tone and style of your work has much of Ms. Quinn’s wittiness and poignancy. How do you balance the two aspects – wit and poignancy — in your work?

Kate Noble:  That is such an incredible compliment, to be compared to Julia Quinn.  But I don’t consider wit and poignancy mutually exclusive.  In fact they can compliment each other.  Think of Elizabeth Bennett (to give us an example we are all familiar with).  A very intelligent, witty character, who could be brought down by the harder aspects of her life, but her wit buoyed her.  But that didn’t mean she couldn’t feel the true depth of circumstances, and when things are dire, we are with her 100%.

Shana: Do you have a day job? How do you balance writing and working?

Kate Noble:  I balance writing and working by the skin of my teeth!  The best way – for me – to get writing done while working is to prioritize my writing time.  Getting up 45 minutes earlier than I might otherwise and taking an hour or two after dinner to get work done adds up.

Shana: What do you like to do in your free time?

Kate Noble: Did you not read the paragraph above?  What free time??  Seriously though, I enjoy an unhealthy amount of reality TV and riding my bike on the beach in my very rare free time.

Shana: You live in Los Angeles, right? Do you ever see any movie stars? What’s your most exciting movie star sighting?

 Kate Noble:  My most exiting movie star sighting actually happened when I lived in New York.  I was working at a TV show and had to go to a city government office to pick up some filming permits.  While I was sitting and, naturally, reading a romance novel while I waited, who walks into the permit office but TOM. FREAKIN’. CRUISE.  As a producer on one of his movies he had to talk to the city officials himself to get permission to film a big NY scene, apparently.

Nothing has or likely ever will compare to when he met my shocked stare and smiled.  And then promptly went into his meeting.

Shana: I image the above picture was exactly what Kate saw when Tom looked at her.

Finally, tell us what you have coming next.

Kate Noble:  What’s coming next is already here!  I’m incredibly excited about my special e-novella, The Dress of the Season.  It’s sort of a side story to If I Fall, but you don’t have to read one to enjoy the other.  It’s about Harris Dane, Viscount Osterley, who orders a very fine and scandalously cut Madame LeTrois dress to be made for a certain lady he wishes to woo.  But somehow, the dress gets sent to his ward, Miss Felicity Grove, along with an affectionate note, setting into motion a tale of scandalous misunderstandings and finding love in the last place you might look.

(Author’s note:  I was having so much fun with Lady Phillippa Worth (of Revealed) making trouble in If I Fall, that it only made sense that she had a small hand in the mix-ups of The Dress of the Season, too!)

And after that, I cannot wait for you to meet Bridget Forrester in If I Fall, Sarah’s younger sister.  She is brash, passionate, and an incredible musician – something that she is desperate to prove to the world in her own novel, coming in early 2013.  Look for a sneak peek of Bridget’s story in the back of If I Fall!

Shana: Thanks, Kate! Another beautiful cover, too! Check out Kate’s website for excerpts and lots of fun extras.

Readers, now it’s your turn. If you could meet any celebrity or romance hero, who would it be?  One reader who comments will be randomly chosen to win a copy of If I Fall (U.S. and Canadian residents only).

I really can’t believe I’ve been married six years. It doesn’t seem very long ago at all that I walked down the aisle to the handsome man waiting for me at the front of the church. I still remember my dad whispering, “Breathe! Breathe!” I’m still not sure if he was talking to me or himself.

But six years down the road, I begin to think about having a do-over. I don’t mean the marriage. I’d marry Ultimate Sportsfan all over again. But wouldn’t it be fun to do the whole wedding again?

Here are some things I’d do differently.

I’d have these gorgeous cupcakes at my bridal shower.

And I’d have these flowers for a bouquet.

And I’d wear this dress.

Or perhaps this one.

I’d get married here.

Or here.

And I’d honeymoon here.

What about you? Is there anything you’d like to do over? What changes would you make?

I’m sure you’ve noticed a lot of my recent blogs have been about being a mom and the daily trials and triumphs of parenting Baby Galen. And all of you are so good about commenting and reassuring me that no, I’m not a bad mom, and yes, everything Baby Galen does is completely normal.

What you may not know is that offline the Jaunty Quills have been immensely helpful to me as well. When I struggled with any aspect of raising a newborn or an infant or, now, a toddler, I knew I could email the Jaunties, and they’d give me support and advice.

There are also a few blogs I like to visit so I can connect with other moms. Ask Moxie is one and Big Mama is another. But there was still something in the blogosphere missing, in my opinion. I wanted a blog I could really relate to. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized I should create the blog I wanted to read.

My first response was, oh no! Not another blog. There are so many blogs, and I already blog regularly here and with the Sourcebooks Casablanca authors. But I thought I wouldn’t mind adding more blog dates to my schedule if the blog was fun. Not that this blog isn’t fun, but it’s not always easy to think of blog topics. Motherhood pretty much provides a new topic daily.

So I emailed my mom friends, Robyn DeHart, Emily McKay, Elise Rome, Maisey Yates, and Roni Loren, and suggested we start a blog. I thought they would tell me I was crazy, but they all said they thought it would be great fun. And that’s how Peanut Butter on the Keyboard was born.

I wanted to invite you to stop by and check us out. It doesn’t matter if you’re a mom or a dad, a grandma, an aunt, or just see kids sometimes at the mall, you are welcome! Robyn, Emily, Elise, Maisey, Roni, and I all have relatively young kids, but we will soon be adding another mom who has older kids and a unique perspective. We’re busy and won’t post everyday. We figure you’re busy too and don’t have time to check in every day anyway! But we will post often and our posts will be informative, funny, and sometimes poignant.

If you’re a mom and a writer, we’d love to have you guest blog. Elise is starting to schedule guest bloggers for April. So stop by and say hi!

Today, if you have a moment, let me know some of your favorite blogs, whether they’re about reading, writing, sewing , or whatnot.