The Return of Consuelo Vazquez

I wasn't going to announce this yet, but when I find a home for my new WIP (of course, I have to finish it first), it will be published under my other pseudonym, Consuelo Vazquez.

Originally, I'd planned to write only under Connie Keenan, which is the name you'll find as the author of my newest works, like THE COP & THE MERMAID, PARADISE ROAD, and the novela "Prince of the Forest," which you'll find in Midnight Showcase's STRANGE DESIRES digest. Consuelo Vazquez was the name I used when writing for Kensington's Encanto line, for which I wrote SALSA KISS, SEA SIREN, and other books before the line was closed.

The old saying of "Never say never" surely applies here. Encanto was fun while it lasted. But when it died, I was sort of adrift for a couple of years. I was trying to decide, "Well, what do I want to write?" Following my heart, I began focusing on what I enjoyed doing, which were paranormals and contemporary romance that ranged from sweet (PARADISE ROAD, the upcoming novel "One Hot Chocolate Night") to sensuous (THE COP & THE MERMAID) in heat levels. Small presses have been great to work with because they don't allow marketing departments to dictate to them; instead they rip the sky open and tell their writers, "Go for it. Push that envelope. Write from your heart or don't write at all."

I've heard people say lofty stuff like, "Writing is like a blank canvas; you take the brush and dab this color on, give it this little stroke, that, until, voila! you have a picture." Poetic, no?

Not necessarily accurate, though. My experience? It's more like, "Writing is like a blank canvas; you slash your heart open as deep as you can without actually dying, then you bleed all over that thing." Worry about making it pretty later. In other words, writing cannot be bloodless, depending solely on skill and tipsheets and "experts" teaching writers how to write, being done as if by rote. You want to follow a recipe, make muffins.

That said, I completely rewrote my new work-in-progress from scratch when I realized in which direction the story really needed to go. And I also realized something else it needed...and that was Consuelo Vazquez's name. Her heart. Her blood.

In the past, works written under my pen name were always higher on the heat level. That's going to hold true to this new WIP, too. I'll be writing sexier works under Consuelo Vazquez, but I will, of course, continue writing under Connie Keenan, too. Don't expect anything like what I wrote for Encanto. You could say I'm reinventing the pen name and her projects, many of which will be for sci-fi and magical, fun stuff.

So if you've never read my works under Consuelo Vazquez, be sure to drop by my website and check out her backlist. And whether you're a new reader of hers or you remember her from yesterday, hope you like what she's got in store--beginning with the upcoming DEEP BLUE.

It WILL be fun. ;D