Kalen Hughes’s Followers (20)

Kalen Hughes

Website

http://kalenhughes.com/index.html

Genre

Romance

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Nom de plume
Advice from many of my published friends, as well as witnessing a few stalker-ish incidents, led me to go with a pen name. So, my middle name and the last name I grew up with (my wonderful step-father's) have been combined to form my fabulous new identity.

Overeducated & Under-employable
My parents are both book crazy, and my godmother is a writer. With a start like that, scribbling down stories just came naturally. I have a BA in philosophy, with minors in history and creative writing (Hollins College) and an MFA in creative writing (San Francisco State University). Combine all that with $3.25 and you can buy a spicy chai at my favorite coffee shop.

Walking the Walk
I grew up immersed in the lively reenactor community on the W Nom de plume
Advice from many of my published friends, as well as witnessing a few stalker-ish incidents, led me to go with a pen name. So, my middle name and the last name I grew up with (my wonderful step-father's) have been combined to form my fabulous new identity.

Overeducated & Under-employable
My parents are both book crazy, and my godmother is a writer. With a start like that, scribbling down stories just came naturally. I have a BA in philosophy, with minors in history and creative writing (Hollins College) and an MFA in creative writing (San Francisco State University). Combine all that with $3.25 and you can buy a spicy chai at my favorite coffee shop.

Walking the Walk
I grew up immersed in the lively reenactor community on the West Coast. Since the age of three I’ve been involved in various living history events from the Middle Ages to the Roaring 20s. I’ve made and worn clothing from the 12th century on up (including the period specific underwear!). Top of page

Why Romance?
I wrote my first romance novel in response to a challenge from a close friend. We'd recently read the same romance novel and were annoyed by the lack of historical accuracy in it, so we decided to see if we could do better. I finished that first novel in about six months and was hooked. I can't promise that my book is error-free, but I can swear that I did my absolute best to make it so.

The Call
I was lucky enough to final in the Romance Writers of America's Golden Heart contest the first time I entered and everything has just unfolded from there as if it were meant to be. I met my now editor while standing in the pit waiting for the awards ceremony to start. She liked my dress and we got to chatting. That brief chat led to a request for a submission, which led to a sale.

Contests
The manuscript that was to become Lord Sin got 2s and 3s in the Golden Heart. Yes, you heard me right: 2s and 3s (and one 8). Obviously it did not get into the hands of the “right” judges. Lord Sin has gone on to win a Romantic Times K.I.S.S. Award for the hero and to be nominated for a Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice Award.

My other finished manuscript (which has gone on to become Lord Scandal, my June 2008 release) finaled in the Golden Heart the same year Lord Sin crashed and burned. Previously, that same manuscript got a 37 and a 57 (out of 100) in its only other contest outing and garnered a judge’s comment that I’ll treasure forever: I loathe everything about your hero. This is the same hero about whom the Coffee Time Romance reviewer just said: I could not keep from wishing I was the person Gabriel wanted.

Clearly you can’t please all of the people all of the time, so it’s best in my opinion to be true to yourself, your vision, and your voice. So, don’t give up, and don’t let ‘em get you down. Success is—after all—the greatest revenge.
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Combine Editions
Kalen Hughes’s books

Average rating: 3.45 · 262 ratings · 44 reviews · 3 distinct works • Similar authors

	Lord Sin (Rakes of London #1) 3.43 avg rating — 136 ratings — published 2007 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Lord Scandal (Rakes of London #2) 3.44 avg rating — 117 ratings — published 2008 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Something Wicked (Rakes of London #2.5) 3.67 avg rating — 9 ratings — published 2008	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars