The Bride's Bodyguard is hot and things are really hopping in the South for Award Winning Author and Rita Nominee, Beth Cornelison. Read what went between the pages of her newest release.

BYS: What went Between the Sheets of this book? Either what was happening in your life when you wrote it, or what was happening with the book as you wrote it.

BC: The Bride's Bodyguard is the second book in the Bancroft Bride's miniseries from Silhouette Romantic Suspense. I started writing this book immediately after finishing The Christmas Stranger. This would have been Spring of 2009, which means my son was finishing his freshman year of high school and all the concerts, programs, special homework projects (like collecting bugs and plant samples for Science class) and award assemblies that go along with the end of a school year. In other words, I had plenty of distractions from writing! After school got out for summer, I had a few weeks with my son under foot, adding to my distraction, before he left for the Duke TIP program for three weeks. Then we had four days in the car taking him out to Durham, followed a few weeks later with another four days of driving to pick him up. Yet squeezed in between these family commitments, I was working fast and furiously to get my book turned in by my deadline. This is the first book my new editor, Keryen Gerlach, worked with me on, and I love the result! Hope everyone will enjoy it!

BYS: Where did you find the idea to write this novel?

BC: I was given the challenge of writing a trilogy about brides by my senior editor at a meeting we had at a conference several years ago. I loved the idea and, being up to the challenge, I worked from a couple sketchy ideas I had and plotted from there.

BYS: How long did it take to develop your characters for this book?

BC: The groundwork for many of the characters in The Bride's Bodyguard was laid in The Christmas Stranger, the first book in my Bancroft Brides mini-series. Readers have already met briefly the other two Bancrofts sisters and father, for example, and heard a bit about the heroine's fiancé. So my heroine's personality was already a bit established. I'd planned the characters out some in advance. That said, I learn a lot about my characters as I write. The always surprise me as I write with some twist. Characters are always developing and deepening as I work.

BYS: Why this story at this time?

BC: Book one of the Bancroft Brides series, The Christmas Stranger, was an October 2009 release (and an RWA Rita finalist!). I would have loved for The Bride's Bodyguard to have come out earlier this year to follow up on Book One sooner, but the SRS schedule was full. This is the first official mini-series for Silhouette that I've done, though several of my earlier Silhouette Romantic Suspenses have ties to each other. The third Bancroft Brides book is scheduled for February.

BYS: Take us through a typical writing day and your creative process.

BC: I sit down to my computer in the morning as soon as my son is out the door to school. In the summer it is more a matter of when I drag myself out of bed. I'm fresher and more creative in the morning and so I'll write until lunch time. In the afternoon, if I'm on a tight deadline I may hit the computer again, but typically I start chores and errands and use that time to mull over my characters and where I want to take the story the next day. I write whatever scene is calling to me the loudest. I frequently write scenes out of order. It may seem jumbled, but it works for me!

BYS: What are your thoughts on First Person verses Third Person? Which is your preference?

BC: I prefer reading books and writing my books in third person. Why? Hm... maybe because I like getting more than one POV in a book and most first person books tend to have just the lead characters thoughts and reactions. Although I have read some good books lately with a mix of first and third person. Linda Castillo even mixes the verb tense from character to character. Distracting at first but now I think it is a cool device!

BYS: What is your re-writing and editing process? Do you let anyone read your work in progress before it goes to your editor?

BC: I generally rewrite as I write, so that by the time I finish the last chapter, the book is basically done. I'll often have at least one outside reader give it a look for things I missed. Then it is off to get my editors input...

BYS: Were you an avid reader as a child? What did you like to read?

BC: Surprisingly not. I was too busy making up my own stories and acting them out with my little sister. I did some reading as a teenager (Flowers in the Attic series) but didn't become an avid reader until I started writing books after college. I read a couple romances and was hooked!

BYS: Do you have time to read now? What authors do you read?

BC: I don't have nearly as much time to read as I'd like. When I do find time I read other authors in the Silhouette Romantic Suspense line, Lisa Gardner, Susan Wiggs, Allison Brennan, and Karen Robards. I'm part of a book club and with them I've been introduced to Jeffery Deaver, Lisa Unger, Lisa Scottoline, and Harlan Coben among others. There is no shortage of books I want to read if I had time!

BYS: What advice do you have for aspiring writers? And how did you keep your spirits up until the first book was published?

BC: My advice would be to never give up. As frustrating as the rejections can be, you never know when you'll hit THE right book with the right editor and make that first sale. Also, read widely, study the market and learn all you can about writing the best book possible! Sounds kinda patronizing and cliché, I know, but it is the truth. The thing that will help you sell is having a fabulous book the editors can't resist!

I didn't always keep my spirits up. I have many days I felt truly discouraged. But making the finals of contests and my own stubborn determination to publish would bring me back to the keyboard. They say real writers can't NOT write. That's me...

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