Fact & Fiction 3

Okay, here is the final installment in Fact and Fiction. It’s been fun sharing what’s been based in reality. The fun thing about writing is that yes, I really do write all of those 65,000 plus words you are reading, so a lot of thought and care goes into every one.

My next two books are both out simultaneously in December 2007. Hart’s Victory is a Harlequin Special Release—Stories set in the world of NASCAR. My daughter and I decided to go to Nashville for the first ever Sound and Speed in 2006. It wasn’t organized very well, and we, being silly novices, didn’t realize that Dale Earnhardt Jr. fans are rabid and they started lining up at 6 AM for the 9 AM autograph bracelets you needed to get in. While I adore Dale Jr., I won’t stand three hours in subzero temperatures to get his autograph. (We met Jeff Green.) Still, we made the best of the event, toured the Country Music Hall of Fame where an employee took a shine on my daughter and gave her a personal tour, and trotted back over for the last Q & A of the day, which featured Jo Dee Messina, Dale Jr., Montgomery Gentry, Keith Anderson and some others. My daughter got to ask a question of Dale Jr. While the question she asked is not exactly the same one that Charlie, my heroine’s son, asks in the book, she did, however, manage to stump Dale, and all of the sudden the wheels started clicking and on the drive home from Nashville, the entire story came together in my head. I wrote a proposal in two weeks, and sent it to my agent and it became my 15th sale.

The Christmas Date is a Harlequin American and it was actually inspired by a high school student I met at a scholastic journalism convention once. Nick Koenig graduated from Parkway Central High School in St. Louis and went to the University of Texas—Austin. He was determined to be a professional photojournalist at all cost. I wrote the book long ago, but when it finally sold just last year I rewrote the whole thing. While I’ve never seen Nick again, or even remember what he looks like, I’ve heard through a mutual friend he did all he set out to do, including climbing Mount Everest. Ten years later he’s no longer working as a globetrotting photographer (I guess after Everest, what’s left?), but ever since hearing his determination his senior year, he’d always had me wondering, what type of woman would that type of guy settle with? So you’ll find out when you meet Tyler Nichols in The Christmas Date, out next December. PS—I needed a southern city with a law school with night classes. Orlando fit the bill and I’d been to its airport. I have to admit, this is one of those books of the heart, and has a few funny moments in it, too.

Last, I’m scheduled to have a Harlequin American out in April 2008. Titled The Marriage Recipe, Rachel is a professional chef who graduated from the CIA. I have made the coconut cake she makes in the book, including scraping the coconut out of the shell myself. As for the plane Colin co-owns, that’s the very one I went flying in last February. For this book, I went back to Morrisville, Indiana, which I’ve since learned from a reader is a real town. However, the Morrisville I made up is just east of Batesville, the place where all the hospital beds and caskets are made, and where my cousin lives. So everything in Morrisville is very made up, but I was excited to go back there fictionally since I love the town so much.

Okay, that’s the end. I hope you’ve enjoyed some of these little tidbits.
And PS—don’t forget that today is your last day to comment to be entered in the contest. You don’t necessarily have to answer me this post. You can feel free to answer such things as, how have you liked the blog this month? What else would you like to see? Etc.

Also, because my next post isn’t until the 12th, Happy 4th of July.

Michele