My Journey So Far... By Stephanie Julian

I've been a writer all my professional life. I started writing in high school, took creative writing classes at a local arts institute after school, and knew from an early age that I'd go to college to get an English degree. Of course, I had no idea what I'd do with it.

Luckily, just before I graduated, my dad told me to apply for a job at the local newspaper. Journalism had never been a career I'd considered but I needed a real job because I knew I couldn't work at the movie theater all my life. I actually loved working at the theater because it fed my two-film a week habit for many years.

I started freelancing for the paper, mainly because I wasn't very good at traditional journalism. But I had a gift for writing features. It took almost a year but I was finally hired full-time and given my own municipal beat. Which I absolutely hated. I wanted to be back in features. More specifically, I wanted to be in the entertainment department.

It took a few years, but I got there. I got to do movie, theater and music reviews and any and all entertainment features. I've interviewed blues legend James Cotton, the original Steve from "Blues Clues" and, just after the release of her first album, Taylor Swift. I've interviewed book cover artist extraordinaire Chip Kidd several times and I reviewed Broadway stage star and "Glee" guest Jonathon Groff before he became a Broadway star.

When I had my first child, my husband and I decided I would quit full time and go freelance. Again. It was a struggle to work at home with a baby but it was also a blessing because after I had my second son, I decided I was going back to my first love. Writing romance.

My husband, a born and bred newspaper man, was working nights at this time and I can remember writing my first novel at night after putting my 2-year-old to bed while I rocked the 3-month-old in his carrier with my foot. I spent my days writing for money but my nights were spent dreaming.

It took a few years to sell my first and second book. Then it took another four years to sell the third in a completely different genre. Next week, MOONLIGHT TEMPTATION, the fourth book in the Lucani Lovers series, will release. It's my 12th release from Ellora's Cave in the past 36 months.

I've been lucky to be able to write exactly what I love to write, whether it's a theater review or story about Etruscan werewolves and witches.

It's been an exciting journey to get to this point and it's a journey I hope continues for a good long time.

Cover Love ... by Stephanie Julian

As a writer, the second hardest part of writing a book for me is opening the file with my as-yet-unseen cover. It's the biggest part of creating a book that I have no control over. And to me, that's scary. Writing is all about control. Your characters. Your world. Your words.

It literally took me several minutes to work up the courage to open the file for the first book in my Magical Seduction series, Seduced by Magic. What if the artist hadn't captured the image as I saw it in my head? What if I hated it? What if I the guy totally turned me off or the girl made me want to cringe?

Finally, I made myself click that file and I gasped...in wonder. Look at it and tell me that is not a beautiful cover. It's gorgeous. I was thrilled. And relieved. And I thought, how perfect.

Now, that cover in no way resembled what I had filled out on the cover art request form. I don't remember word for word what I wrote, but I do remember writing something about wings. And artist Les Byerly took that one word and crafted a cover that fits the book absolutely. It remains my favorite cover, simply because I adore those wings.

For Seduced by Magic, I had a distinct image in mind when I filled out the cover request. But when I wrote the request for Edge of Moonlight, the latest book in my Lucani Lovers series, I had no clue what I thought that cover should look like. It's a werewolf book. Maybe a wolf? A hot guy?

What did I get? A cool-looking chick (in fur!!) and an atmospheric shot with a tiny little guy in the background. But that cover, by cover-artist-goddess Syneca, so perfectly expresses the mood of the story, I think she must have crawled inside my head, dug around for a while and pulled this out of my subconscious. That woman is Kaine. How the hell did Syneca know that?

In the course of two years, I've gotten one or two covers that made me go, hmm, yeah, not exactly what I was hoping for. But those have been few and far between. And one has been my biggest-selling book. Go figure.

What A Goddess Wants, the first book in my Forgotten Goddesses series with Sourcebooks Casablanca, won't be out until July 2011 but my cover has already been produced. Before the book was even completed, which totally blew my mind.

I wondered how an artist could come up with a cover for a book that I didn't even have a handle on completely.

Once again, I hesitated before opening the file and again, I gasped in absolute delight. Gorgeous, isn't it? I think so. It's the perfect blend of heat and color and sophistication.

I don't think I'll ever get over that initial trepidation when I'm opening a cover file because the cover embodies so much of our hopes and dreams for a book. But I'm beginning to think cover artists are mind readers. Or, at the very least, wizards.

So tell me, what it is about a cover that grabs your attention?

Pulling on my Big Girl Panties

Hi, I’m Stephanie Julian and I’m happy to be at the Girlfriend’s Book Club.

Since this is my first blog here, I thought I’d introduce myself.

I’m a romance writer (of the erotic variety). I’ve been a writer all my professional life, first as a journalist then as a romance novelist. I sold my first romance (a sweet one to Avalon) in 2003, sold another in 2004 then completely switched my focus and began selling to Ellora’s Cave in 2008 and to Sourcebooks Casablanca earlier this year for their new erotic line.

When you’re a romance writer—and in particular, an erotic romance writer—you’ve got to be ready.

For the questions. Those questions. The snide and the sly. And the looks. The pursed lips and the rolled eyes. The leering smiles and the occasional cold shoulder.

You have to pull on your big girl panties, straighten your back and smile and say, “Yes, I write erotic romance.”

I didn’t start out planning to write erotic romance but I love the freedom of expression available to me in erotic romance.

I adore writing detailed love scenes and the ability to say what I want exactly how I want to say it. I love being able to explore, in depth, every aspect of a romantic relationship.

Now, critics might complain that there’s no plot in erotic romance.

So not true. Erotic romance simply examines a relationship with an emphasis on the sexual and emotional interplay of the couple. And isn’t that the core of any loving relationship?

Of course it is.