Romance On The Air Local novelists Jan Greenberg and Karen Katz will be glued to the screen as their novel Something Borrowed, Something Blue has its television premiere. SUZANNE CHESSLER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS together that we decided to try fiction," explained Greenberg, a University of Illinois English ed- ucation graduate who found an agent after selling her own first novel to a publisher. Greenberg had decided to use a pseudonym to keep in line with other romance novelists and to protect her privacy. When she teamed with Katz, the two want- ed to go under one name because they thought it would be easier for readers to remember and find. The two also established a comfortable working plan that lets them build on each other's ideas. "We write together word by word, line by line, day by day," said Katz, a Wayne State Uni- versity journalism graduate who has edited floral, engineering and banking publications. "One day one of us is at the keyboard, and the next day the other one is." Although they start out with a plot idea, they often adjust the action as they go along. "It wouldn't be any fun if we knew everything that was going to happen," Greenberg said. 'We have to have surprises for our- selves." Katz brought a glamorous bridal perspective to their first novel. On assignment for a trade periodical, she spent a week at the White House covering the flo- ral preparations for Tricia Nixon's wedding. "We write very visually," Katz said. 'We see the scenes as we're writing them. We're not very ex- plicit about the romantic scenes since we're more interested in the relationships than the me- chanics." The duo's most recent book came out last November. Catch Me If You Can is about a kid- napped Miss America being sought by her sister and her best friend. Greenberg, who has penned more than a dozen books, has an independent novel corn- ing out this spring — Just This Once, a historical romance. Because Greenberg often works on more than one book during any given time frame, she arranges her schedule according to deadlines, still allotting some time each day for all of her cur- rent projects. "It's more fun work- ing with a partner," Greenberg said. 'There's not the same fear of getting stuck because we keep bouncing ideas off of each other, and that always leads to something Ken Howard and new." Connie Sellecca in Something This weekend, Borrowed the writers' hus- bands, teen-age Something Blue. , children, family and friends will help celebrate the film at a party hosted by the women, who have been lured by television. "We're working on another novel, but we're also starting to work on some screenplay ideas," Greenberg revealed. qt. PHOTO BY DANIEL LIPPI TT an Greenberg and Karen Katz, accustomed to sitting together in front of a com- puter screen to write suc- cessful books, are about to sit in front of a television screen to watch their first romantic nov- el in a film version. The pair, working with the pen name Jillian Karr, are ex- cited and curious about TV's Something Borrowed, Something Blue, which will be shown at 9 p.m. Tuesday, March 11, on CBS (Channel 62). Starring Connie Sellecca, Ken Howard, Twiggy Lawson and Ricky Paull Goldin, the made- for-TV movie was written by Karol Ann Hoeffner and Carol Starr Schneider after Greenberg and Katz sold the motion picture rights to their novel. While it's known that the nov- el about four brides with secrets has been changed to a script about three brides with secrets, the original writers can't wait to see if other alterations have been made. "We're thrilled that it's a movie and have no misgivings about any changes," said Green- berg, who began writing novels on her own before meeting Katz and continues with her inde- pendent projects using the name Jill Gregory. "It will be wonder- ful to see our characters on TV." The novelists also thought it was wonderful when Something Borrowed, Something Blue was excerpted in Cosmopolitan and translated for international dis- tribution. Greenberg and Katz met about 15 years ago, when they were taking their then-toddlers to preschool at Adat Shalom. Af- ter their children started asking religious questions, they decid- ed to put their writing back- grounds to work and come up with a book of answers. What Does Being Jewish Mean, in its sixth printing, was a collaboration with Rabbi E.B. Freedman, who had been known by Katz as someone who could relate to young people. "We had so much fun writing Jan Greenberg and Karen Katz: From the printed page to the small screen.