Guest Blogger Emily Rodmell

Today, the Playground welcomes Love Inspired editor Emily Rodmell. I met her on Twitter and found out she's my editor's cube-neighbor. She's here to share some info for both readers and writers, so let's give her a warm, Playground welcome. - SP

Good morning, everyone. I’m Emily Rodmell, and I work as the associate editor for three Harlequin lines: Love Inspired, Love Inspired Suspense and Love Inspired Historical. I would like to thank Andrea for inviting me here today to share with you a little bit about these books and a great opportunity we have for historical romance writers.

All three of the LI lines are what you would call “inspirational” romance. That means that they are targeted toward women of faith. You’ll find a great romance with compelling characters in all the Love Inspired lines, but what you won’t find are things like sex, cursing or drinking. Our stories are what you would call “clean”, and the characters are people of faith. But that doesn’t mean boring by any stretch of the imagination. Our suspense books contain edge-of-your-seat suspense, real danger, murder and mayhem. Our characters in any line can be flawed. Perfection is not a requirement. And we work really hard to ensure each book has a compelling plot and intriguing romantic conflict. I’ve found in my years working for the Love Inspired lines that many regular romance readers tend to think that they wouldn’t enjoy an inspirational novel, but I’ve also found that when challenged to read a great one, nearly everyone finds themselves surprised by how much they like the stories. We’re proud of the books we put out, and if a cover or plot line ever interests you, I encourage you to give one a try. You might find yourself surprised at how much you enjoy the book.

I’d also like to take a moment to talk to the writers among you about writing for Love Inspired Historical. While each of the three lines are always open to great stories, well told, Love Inspired Historical is particularly looking for exciting new voices these days. LIH recently expanded from 2 books a month to 4 books a month, and that means we need double the amount of writers than we did last year. So if you have a love for historical romance and a great story, we’re interested in seeing it. LIH is looking for historical romance manuscripts of 70-75,000 words. They can be set in any setting or time period up to World War II. I especially like to see unique settings that aren’t the norm, but we also buy a lot of Western romance. Our readers can’t get enough of them. We don’t require books to be “preachy”. In fact, we’d prefer that they aren’t. Our books simply are books that women of faith can relate to. Ones that offer a romantic fantasy that upholds the values that Christian women live by. We’re actively looking for new writers, so send your stories my way at : 233 Broadway, Ste. 1001 New York, NY 10279

Thanks again for having me. I’d be happy to answer any questions that you have, and I hope that you’ll all give inspirational a shot one day both as readers and writers. Our writing guidelines can be found here: http://www.harlequin.com/articlepage.html?articleId=1186&chapter=0 And our books can be found here (including free samples): http://www.tryloveinspired.com/loveinspired/

Thanks for joining us today, Emily! For anyone out there thinking about reading or writing a inspirational romance, here's your chance to ask all the questions you may have.