Cate Beauman fell into writing more than she dreamed of it. “Writing novels never made my bucket list,” she says. “One day I picked up a pad of paper and scribbled down the thoughts in my head. Next thing I knew, I had over 100,000 words. I’ve been obsessed ever since; now I can’t imagine doing anything else.”
A former New England resident, Cate now makes her home in North Carolina with her husband, two boys, and their St. Bernards, Bear and Jack.
Cate is currently working on Reagan’s Redemption, the eighth novel in her best-selling romantic suspense series, The Bodyguards Of L.A. County.
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Tell us how you originally got the idea for the Bodyguards of L.A. County series.
I never planned to write a series. The thought never occurred to me as I wrote Morgan’s Hunter, the first novel in the series—and really, my first work as a serious writer. I was simply telling the story of a bodyguard who was protecting his feisty principal in the backwoods of Montana. But then I introduced Ethan and Sarah to the plot. As the manuscript started to unfold I became very intrigued with the idea of giving Ethan and Sarah a story of their own. Not long after finishing Morgan’s Hunter, I wrote Falling for Sarah, which was supposed to complete a two-book series. Then Austin and Hailey were added to the storyline, and I realized I had a series on my hands. The rest, you could say, is history!
Tell us about your upcoming book, Reagan’s Redemption. Who will we meet in this novel? What kind of excitement can we expect?
Reagan’s Redemption is the story of Doctor Reagan Rosner and her bodyguard, Shane Harper. Reagan is at a crossroads in her life after a heartbreaking and unexpected tragedy. Unsure of what to do, she joins The Appalachia Project, a government-run program aimed at bringing aid to some of America’s poorest citizens.
Shane Harper is assigned to keep an eye on Reagan and the pharmaceuticals they have on hand in the odd and often hostile little town of Black Bear Gap.
As Reagan and Shane work together to help a reluctant community, they uncover secrets the town intends to keep hidden at all costs.
You are a master at balancing both romance and suspense in your novels. How do you make sure you give your readers a healthy dose of both, without crossing any lines?
That’s a tricky question. Honestly, I’m not exactly sure how I do it. I love romantic suspense. I’ve read the genre for years, so I think I try hard to give my readers what I would want. Romance always plays the central theme in my stories, but sprinkling in elements of danger really adds something special. Love and romance are hard enough, but when the characters’ lives are in peril and the odds stacked against them, it heightens the entire experience. I love weaving the two together.
What sort of lessons do you hope your readers take away from your novels?
I don’t typically write with messages for my readers. Basically, reality bites sometimes and I love to give my readers a place where they can go and get lost in someone else’s problems for a while. Mostly the stories I tell are for pure entertainment. I strive to make my characters flawed and relatable and their experiences exciting yet plausible.
You’re quite the prolific author. How do you keep coming up with fresh ideas on a similar theme?
I spend my time off watching lots and lots of crime television. When I find myself running low on ideas, I sit down with a pad of paper, turn on the television, and wait for a documentary or situation on a crime show to pique my interest. When I see something special my brain kicks into high gear and ideas just start flying. Sometimes I can see scenes for the new story I will tell in my head right then and there—one of the true gifts of an overactive imagination!
What is your editing process like?
Typically I write in a three-draft form. First draft is getting the ideas down in a loose story form. My second draft is when I get the story right by adding more of the emotive and physical descriptions, and the third is when I run my manuscript through a program called AutoCrit Editing Wizard. The program helps me find overused words, slow passages, so on and so forth so that when I send my work off to Liam at Invisible Ink Editing he’ll have as clean of a copy as I can give him.
What is your publishing process like?
I self-publish, so my publicist and I handle the workload ourselves. We do lots of blog tours and interviews. I also spend a lot of time with my Facebook fans on my author page getting them ready for the launch of each new story. I think that is one of my favorite parts of this whole journey—meeting and interacting with so many great people.
Do you have any advice for budding authors?
Never give up on your dreams. When I started out in this business I almost quit after the first editor I contacted told me I couldn’t write and I shouldn’t quit my day job. Luckily, I have a lot of really supportive people in my life who encouraged me to keep writing. I’m glad I did because telling stories is one of my biggest passions and has changed my life for the better. Write because you love it and the rest usually falls into place.
Last question—you are being pursued by thieves intent on stealing your latest manuscript. Which of the hunks from your book would you want to protect you?
Oh, wow. This is truly an impossible question to answer! All of the agents from Ethan Cooke Security are more than capable of keeping my manuscript and me safe, but they’re all so different and intriguing in their own ways. It’s kind of like asking which of your children do you love more. I love them both with the same power but their unique qualities are what make me adore them. How’s that for an answer?
