The things we do for ... ink

How do I get roped into these things? Or, more accurately, how do I rope myself into these things?

There I was, riding around in the backseat of a car, blabbering away about my books and my former career as an Associated Press TV columnist, hoping my lipstick wasn’t crooked and my voice didn’t squeak like a desk chair.

When I say a car, I mean a car. Not a limousine, not a Ferrari, and not a tricked-out van. No offense to the car’s owner, Los Angeles filmmaker Terry Kate. She’d actually cleaned out a lot of stuff, I’m sure, if her car-keeping habits are anything like mine. The proof: I had room for my feet.

What’s this about? Well, Terry – whom I keep wanting to call Kate, but that’s her last name – came up with the idea of videotaping romance authors while driving around the areas where their books are set. She calls the series Romance in the Backseat, and the first videos should be posted by mid-March at www.romanceinthebackseat.blogspot.com. I’ll post a link and a photo of Terry and me on my Web site, www.jacquelinediamond.com.

We drove around Brea, California, which is where the Orange County Chapter of Romance Writers of America meets. Terry had contacted OCCRWA to find authors, and of course, I volunteered. I’ll do anything within reason for publicity. That’s what happens when you have a budget near zero.

The reason for picking Brea, besides proximity, is that that’s where I’ve set my current Harmony Circle miniseries, part of the Harlequin American Romance line. Some of you may have read The Family Next Door, Baby in Waiting or Million-Dollar Nanny. The last of the series, Doctor Daddy, will be published in September 2009.

Terry suggested I open with an anecdote from my career at AP, so I talked about interviewing Star Trek: The Next Generation actor Patrick Stewart and the show’s phenomenal makeup artist, Michael Westmore, who designed entire alien species. I also read an excerpt from Million-Dollar Nanny. Then Terry asked me the appropriately million-dollar question : “What’s the wildest thing you ever did in the backseat of a car?”

“You mean, aside from this interview?” I asked.

She said yes. On the spot, I blathered something about my husband and a drive-in movie. Honestly, I made the whole thing up. Well, okay, maybe not. I don’t exactly think fast under pressure.

It’s probably fortunate that I’m in no danger of landing on TV with Oprah or Jay Leno or even a local LA-area newscast. Still, I’d be happy to give it a try if their people come calling.

Like I said, I’ll do almost anything for publicity, maybe even wear one of those fantastic alien get-ups Michael Westmore designs. Which might be what I have to do after my husband hears what I said on that video.