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.

Shana: Hi, Jaunty Readers. I know what you’re thinking. Why do you keep allowing Jaunty to interview you when he constantly interrupts and always focuses the interview on himself? It’s simple, really. He threatens me.

Jaunty P. Quills, Porcupine Extraordinaire: Shana! That is not true. I never threatened you.

Shana: Jaunty, you said you’d post covers of The Rogue Pirate’s Bride you Photoshopped with your face over my hero’s all over the internet, including my Facebook page.

Jaunty P. Quills, Porcupine Extraordinaire: That wasn’t a threat. I thought you wanted me to put my face on their cover as a way of apologizing for not writing a book with me in it yet.

Shana: Jaunty, really? Are we back to that again? Can’t we just talk about my new book?

Jaunty P. Quills, Porcupine Extraordinaire: It’s always about you and your books, isn’t it, Shana? What about me?

Shana: Have you written a book?

Jaunty P. Quills, Porcupine Extraordinaire: Um… So, Shana, tell us about your new book, The Rogue Porcupine’s Bride.

Shana: It’s The Rogue Pirate’s Bride, Jaunty, and do you know, I think you and Bastien, my hero, would get along. He’s a pirate, but he insists on calling himself a privateer. Neither of you live in reality.

Jaunty P. Quills, Porcupine Extraordinaire: I live in reality!

Shana: Jaunty, your Facebook page says you’re a romance cover model. Please.

Jaunty P. Quills, Porcupine Extraordinaire: It could happen, but I wouldn’t want to pose for your book cover. The female model is holding a sword.

Shana: That’s because Raeven is every bit as tough as Bastien. In fact, in chapter one, she challenges him to a swordfight.

Jaunty P. Quills, Porcupine Extraordinaire: Does she win?

Shana: Jaunty, I thought you said you read the book.

Jaunty P. Quills, Porcupine Extraordinaire: I might have just skipped to the good parts. And, might I add, there are some very steamy good parts.

Shana: Did you read any of the sea battle scenes? I had to do a lot of research for those.

Jaunty P. Quills, Porcupine Extraordinaire: Do you want me to have nightmares? I’m a lover, not a fighter. There is one thing I’m confused about. Is this book the third in your Sons of the Revolution series? I thought it was titled The Making of a Rogue.

Shana: Yes, it is the third in that series. The first two are The Making of a Duchess and The Making of a Gentleman. But Bastien’s book can be read independently. And it was originally titled The Making of a Rogue. It was even titled Once a Rogue and, very briefly, The Dread Pirate’s Bride. But now it’s The Rogue Pirate’s Bride. Nothing else changed. Only the title and cover.

Jaunty P. Quills, Porcupine Extraordinaire: I suppose now you want me to end by telling everyone more about where to find you.

Shana: I’ll do it, Jaunty. Check out my website for an excerpt from The Rogue Pirate’s Bride  which officially comes out tomorrow, and my blog tour schedule. I’ll be blogging everywhere and giving away books at each stop. In fact, I’ll give away two copies of The Rogue Pirate’s Bride here! Just comment below.

Jaunty P. Quills, Porcupine Extraordinaire: Yes, please comment. Tell Shana why she should include a porcupine in her books or give her a romantic title with the word porcupine in it.

Congrats to Deb and Betty Hamilton. You’ve been randomly chosen to win the signed copies of The Making of a Gentleman. Email me at shana@shanagalen.com with your address, or look for my email in your inbox. Thanks to everyone for your wonderful comments!

The winners of the 5 excerpt books are

Kay
Jahaira
Vivian Davis
Quilt Lady
and
Sharon A

Email me at shana@shanagalen.com with your address. I’ll send you an excerpt book and some LORD AND LADY SPY swag. Congrats!

Melanie Adkins in the winner of the 4 historical romances mentioned in my blog yesterday. Melanie, email me at shana@shanagalen.com with your address.

The randomly chosen winner is Sandra G Roberts! Sandra, email me your address and I’ll send you the signed copies of CAPTURING THE COMMANDO by Colleen Thompson and SOCIETY’S MOST DISREPUTABLE GENTLEMAN by Julia Justiss.

shana@shanagalen.com

Wendy P is the randomly chosen winner of Vicky’s ARC and romance trading cards. Congrats, Wendy! Send me your address, and I’ll forward it to Vicky.

Email me at shana@shanagalen.com

Some of you may have noticed I’ve been absent as of late. Maybe some of you have forgotten who I even am! Well, the reason is that I’m extremely busy. I’m writing under 3 different names now and everything seems to be due at once. I’m not complaining! I wished for this and I got it, so I will NOT complain. However, it does mean that I have little time for anything but writing and making the odd Facebook or Twitter post. Recently I finally had to accept that I need to give some things up. I’ve been forgetting important dates, neglecting my hubby and basically forgetting to have a life outside of work. So, it’s with great sadness that I announce that I’m leaving the Jaunties. I hope to come back on occasion and guest post, but for now I have to say good-bye. It’s been a tremendous amount of fun being part of this blog and the fabulous women (and porcupine!) who run it. Thanks for everything!

hugs!

Kathryn

Last week I left Baby Galen and Ultimate Sportsfan for 36 hours to travel to Los Angeles for the Romantic Times Convention. I hadn’t planned on going. We just moved two weeks ago, and I was frazzled enough without trying to pack and prepare for a business trip.

But I had to go. You see, my hero Armand from THE MAKING OF A GENTLEMAN won the Historical K.I.S.S. (Knight in Shining Silver) Hero Award. I rarely win anything, much less an award, so I knew I had to be there to receive this one.

I’m so glad I went. The conference was really fun, L.A. was cold but awesome, and I got to hobnob with fellow Quills Jan Kenny and Kathryn Smith.

Have you ever won anything? Previously, I was pretty proud of the blueberry pie eating contest I won when I was 8.

When I began writing, I never thought about my author brand. I’m not a jar of peanut butter. I’m a person, right? Well, it turns out your author brand is kind of important because it’s reflected in your titles and covers and, obviously, your stories. My stories are different from everyone else’s stories, and I don’t mean that I write historicals and Kristan and Cindy write contemporaries. I mean, my historicals are different from Margo’s and Robyn’s too.

So what is my brand? What makes my stories unique?

I write books set around the Regency period of England. It’s referred to as the Regency because the Prince was declared regent and took control of his father’s powers when George III went quite mad. Actually, the Regency didn’t officially begin until 1810, and my stories are usually set in the early 1800s, but they’re still considered more Regency (lighter and faster) in tone than Georgian (a bit darker, heavier).

I write books that have a lot of adventure. My heroes and heroines are often threatened, shot at, forced to abscond through windows, and quick to jump on a schooner for Calais. They sneak into prisons, break into buildings, steal carriages, and all around get into quite a lot of trouble. My stories are fast-paced and exciting.

My heroes and heroines fall in love. First and foremost, I write romances. I write about a man and a woman who meet (or meet again) and fall madly in love. The road to true love is never easy, but they manage to find their way—while dodging a few bullets or cannonballs, as the case may be.

And this is why I’m so excited that I’m being re-branded. The cover for my next release, Lord and Lady Spy, reflects this re-branding. I’m going to have bolder titles and covers that really illustrate the kinds of stories I write.

The downside is that those of you looking for The Making of a Rogue are going to have to wait a little longer. It’s getting a whole new look (though the story will not change). It will be released February 2012, and the title may change. Click here to read early praise for the book.

In the meantime, I hope you’re excited that Lord and Lady Spy is now a September release! Here’s a little sneak-peek.

Meet Lord and Lady Smythe, England’s preeminent spies. Their identities are guarded even from each other. After years of secrets and lies, their marriage is little more than a crumbling façade. But even love isn’t as important as The Mission—to defeat Napoleon Bonaparte.

All’s fair in love and war.