Sentimental Clutter

So with the annual Romance Writers of America coming up this week, I've had to dig through closets to find things for the conference, stuff that in some cases I haven't used since LAST summer's conference (like my special name badge holder with the three RITA finalist pins that mean so much to me or the bright garment bag that's so easy to spot on airline carousels among navy and black luggage). Anyway, whenever I'm forced to brave the walk-in closet of my office or start pulling things out from under the bed, I always bang up against these two truths:

1. I can never find anything

in large part because

2. I keep EVERYTHING!

I hold onto the strangest things. There's a piece of driftwood my husband and I found walking on the beach when we were engaged. There's a tag cut off the first dress he brought me (a cute red and white polka dot number that went in the Goodwill pile YEARS ago and would not fit on this post-baby body, but I still have the price tag from a chain store that I don't even think exists these days). There's an old copy of Gone with the Wind that's literally rubber-banded together because the binding broke, it's missing pages and what's left has yellowed (then again, it was my first copy of GWTW, given to me by a favorite English teacher who encouraged me to write.) I have approximately nine zillion business cards that I've accumulated at all manner of events but don't actually use for any practical purpose. I have drawings from kids who were once in my Pre-K class, back when I dreamed of one day having children of my own but were told my doctors that it was unlikely. (So dh and I filed for adoption, immediately got pregnant and now have TWO children, one of whom just finished Pre-K this year).

When I open that closet door and see the piles and shelves and overstuffed bags, I always think that it's time to get stern with myself and throw at least half of it away. Do I really NEED the champagne cork from the day J proposed? (Sunday, Dec 1, 12 and a half years ago). I have this conversation with myself about three times a year, and wade into the mess, resolute.

And the same thing always happens. Two hours later, I find myself sitting on old newspapers, my eyes misting up at my mother's wedding picture and the plaster cast I made of my daughter's foot when she was a few months old. I didn't get much packing done, but I thumbed through cover flats of my first three books and relived the thrill of my first sale. I stopped to appreciate all that I've accomplished in the last decade and thought about the people who mean the most to me. (Note to self: It's been way too long since you talked to your aunt in Tennessee or your best friend from high school.) I called my children into the closet to laugh at early pieces of artwork and to show my ballerina daughter pictures of me in a recital twentysomething years ago. (We were doing Cinderella. I was a lady in waiting, and my younger sister was a mouse in the same production.) And, oh yeah, I found my conference badge with its three lovely silver RITA pins.

Even if it wasn't a productive afternoon in the strictest sense, it was time well spent. Eventually, I shut the door on my memories and told myself that maybe NEXT time I'll clean some of it out...but I doubt it.

So what about you guys? Pack-rats, neatnicks, or a healthy, happy medium somewhere in between?

A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss

A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss

They say a rolling stone gathers no moss – no kidding! The way I’m tooling along there isn’t a rock, a stone or a pebble that could catch me. Busy is my middle name. I think I mentioned in a previous blog that we have our house on the market. I must be the master of bad timing. No nibbles, very few lookers and yet I feel like I have to keep it company clean every day. That must be hope springing eternal.

So along with everything else that’s going on we decided to upgrade our countertops. The company promised it would take a day for the tear out and installation. But you know what they say about promises and assumptions. Guess what – the old countertops were ripped out and the new ones didn’t fit. And when the installers blithely said we’ll see you Tuesday (that was Thursday) I replied with “Bad Answer. Try again.” Add a glacial glare and a killer frown to the equation and they returned on Friday. However, we’ve been without a kitchen sink for four days.

Plus (and this one’s really big) I had to do some major revisions on my February book (HAR The Man She Married) and I only had two weeks to get it back to my editor. Add in I’m trying to get ready for the RWA conference and an open house the week after I get home, and you have a major case of stress. So thanks for letting me vent. Everything’s going to be A-okay. There’s that hope thing again.

Now here’s a favor I’d like to ask. The reason we’re moving is to be closer to our kids and grandkids. We’re focused on Virginia and if anyone has any first hand knowledge (good, bad or indifferent) of Winchester, Fredericksburg or Williamsburg please let me know.

Thanks and have a great week.
Ann DeFee

HAR The Man She Married, February 2009
HAR Top Gun Dad, TBA

Rolling through the Heartland

When this post goes live in the early hours of Saturday morning, I'll be rolling through the desert in either Utah or Nevada on my way to San Francisco for the Romance Writers of America National Conference. I'm not a flyer, so I like to travel by Amtrak. I get to kick back, do some work, watch the scenery go by, and dream up stories about the places and people outside the train's windows. Because while the middle of the nation may be "fly-over" country, the train takes me through the areas filled with Harlequin American readers and the settings for many wonderful small-town stories. Places like Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, and Nevada.

There's nothing quite like writing a story set in Colorado while sitting on a train winding along the Colorado River in the rugged western part of the state. Or watching the sun come up over the desert, a landscape so very different from where I live in the South, and brainstorming ideas for a story set there. What characters would live there? Why? What would their romantic conflict be?

I've done the same thing on car trips. How many of you have gone on vacation and come back with at least one story idea?

It's interesting to think about creating a story in a setting that perhaps doesn't get as much exposure as, say, Texas. :) I mean, I'm sure there are wonderful hero types in Nebraska. Maybe he runs a wagon train for tourists who want to experience life along the Oregon Trail. Or what about a firefighter in Iowa? He not only fights fires, but he has to rescue people caught in blizzards. Imagine if you were the heroine caught in that blizzard and hunky rescue guy showed up to dig you out of the snow. Oh yeah, the ideas are popping. I have a feeling I'll be jotting down snippets in my notebook as my train rolls across the Great Plains, the Front Range, the Rockies, the desert Southwest, and the Sierra Nevada.

So, readers, tell me about some places you'd like to see stories set that you haven't seen. And writers, what story ideas have you had that were generated by trips not taken for that purpose?

Forever Blowing Bubbles

Blowing bubbles is one of those timeless things. Kids loved it when I was a kid, kids love it today—and apparently lots of grownups love it, too.

There are no longer any young children at my house, but every summer I still buy several colorful plastic bottles of bubble solution—the kind that come with the little plastic wands inside—and set them around outside on patio tables.

I always smile when bubbles float past the kitchen window and the only person lounging in the backyard is my husband. Guests will often take a minute or two to blow some bubbles, which usually prompts someone to say, “Hey, remember when we were kids and we used to...?”

When I bought this year’s supply of bubble solution, the store was also selling a device called a Bubblator. It promised to make lots of big bubbles, but it required some assembly and some batteries. The Bubblator didn’t seem as active as the old dip-and-blow method, so I put it back on the rack and came home with the usual bottles and wands instead.

But as I sat down to write this blog, curiosity got the better of me. I did a Google search for “bubblator” and discovered what I’m missing.



I might just go back to the store and buy a Bubblator after all, because we all know bubbles aren’t just for kids, right?

Until next time,
Lee
The Writer Side of Life

ETA: Ellen posted a comment about homemade bubble solutions. Neither of us could remember all of the ingredients, but this link tells all! If you try any of these recipes, we'd love to hear about them!

I probably blogged about this sometime before but for those who don't know, my daughter and I recently went on a cruise to Alaska. We had a wonderful time (oh, my gosh, who couldn't?) and saw things you can only imagine (and we ate A LOT of food, too).

One of the highlights for me was bingo - just kidding, I didn't win a thing. Actually, if I were pressed to say, the two coolest things were the glacier we visited and the canoe ride and rain forest hike we took on Prince Rupert Island.

Because of too much ice, our ship was diverted from the original glacier we were scheduled to visit. What at first seemed like a disappoint-ment turned into a history making day. Our captain obtained permission to take us to another glacier, one reserved for cruise ships one-tenth our size. He handled our giant ship like it was a VW Bug and got us to within 600 feet of the glacier, the closest a cruise ship our size has ever been. Yes, I took a million pictures.

Prince Rupert was absolutely the greenest and vastest place I have ever seen - remember, I live in the Phoenix area and am a desert rat. About 18 of us boarded a canoe and paddled across the bay to an isolated arm of the island. Besides the amazing lushness of the forest, the wildlife was incredible. I saw (and took a million pictures of) about a dozen eagles, most immature with brown heads but a few "bald". Our Native American guides caught fresh Dungeness crab right off the shore and boiled it for our lunch. I also learned how to survive in the Prince Rupert rain forest by eating local plants, should I ever be lost there (grin).

Here's on picture of my daughter and I getting off the ship at Juno. She's the young, very pretty girl if you couldn't tell. If anyone is going to be at the RWA National convention next week, stop to chat if you want to hear more about our incredible trip.

Warmest wishes,

Cathy McDavid

Waiting and Waiting

On Friday night, my son returned home from Europe. This two week trip was the culmination of eleven months of anxious preparation. We signed him up last August, and ever since, we’ve been paying for the trip and counting down days. Oh, he was so excited when he left. I was excited for him - and I couldn’t wait to get emails from him along the way, sharing all kinds of stories about his trip.

That didn’t happen.

See, we thought there were going to be all kinds of Internet cafes everywhere he went. If there were, he didn’t find them.(or didn't look very hard!) No, for two weeks, all we got were two texts from friends’ phones and one short paragraph from Austria.

One was a request for more money.

So, I worried. I wondered what he was doing. I missed him. And then well, I started getting irritated. I mean, honestly, couldn’t he have tried just a little bit harder to contact us?

All those grumpy feelings gave way to sympathy last Friday night. He had the worst flight schedule. He flew from Prague to Frankfort to Washington, DC to Chicago to Cincinnati, arriving bright and shiny at midnight. (yawn!) Even that crazy schedule didn’t go as planned.

But we did get a phone call out of it.

He called at 4:30 am from Frankfort. “There’s a bomb scare, so they closed the terminal,” said in only the way a 17 year old can alternately ask for sympathy and inform us to not make a fuss. After that phone call, we started hearing from him a lot. He got out of Germany. Almost didn’t make it through customs in Washington. Oh…his plane was delayed in Chicago. Actually, it was really delayed.

Actually it was two hours late.

So, that’s how I ended up being at the Cincinnati airport at two in the morning last Friday night-er Saturday morning. Finally, at 2:15 a crowd of kids came out of the terminal-each looking more exhausted than the next. There, in the middle, was my son. Six inches taller than me. Looking tired but happy. "Hi Dad," he said, but I got the first hug.

I reached up, kissed his cheek, hugged him tight, and finally breathed a big sigh of relief.

My prodigal son had come back home.

st, and ever since, we've been paying for the trip and preparing. Oh, he was so excited when he left. I was excited for him-and I coldn't wait to get emails from him along the way, sharing all kinds of stories about his trip.

I'm buying stock in Raid

People often ask me where I get my ideas. I guess I'm the type of person that drama seems to find. Wednesday I left for Commerce, Texas. I flew into Dallas and first I visited with a former student who is doing an internship with American Airlines. I got an insider tour of the pilot and flight attendant training areas, including getting to step inside a flight simulator and see the pool where attendants learn water evacuations. I was thrilled. All this stuff is great background and may be useful in a book someday.

From there I took Chris and his boss to lunch, and then Chris drove me to Commerce, where things went downhill. The Association for Texas Photography Instructors (ATPI) has been using the University Inn successfully for lodging for years, but since last summer the place has undergone a few changes, and not necessarily for the better. New management took over approximately two weeks ago and they have quite a few challenges. The mattresses outside and the trash by the dumpsters should have been a clue that something was amiss. But no, we conference attendees naively believed it would be fine like in previous years. I even reassured Chris, who left shaking his head.

Chris had it right. I wasn’t the only room where the beds were made (but with unclean sheets), the showers came with used soap and shampoos (although new stuff was on the counters) and the roaches came out at night (or in the case of one ATPI attendee, out of her folded towels the next morning). One instructor had a single room, but he didn’t sleep alone as two roaches woke him up when they crawled on his arm to check him out. Even though I’d gotten a new room and new pillows after complaining about the state of my room (and the roach on my door frame), I didn’t sleep well as I had the light on all night.

Needless to say over ten of us checked out the next day, but not without the manager first refusing to refund our unused stay (we were supposed to be there for three nights) until the ATPI director stepped in. The conference itself is held on the Texas A & M Commerce campus and they were wonderful hosts. As for the conference content and instructors, I have never attended a conference where I learned so much and had such a great time doing so. I highly recommend this conference, which will probably be moving hotels next year.

The Holiday Inn itself was nirvana compared to the other hotel; my room spacious and wonderful. The experience became the subject of my convergence journalism project and I even made a video about how great the place was. I remained paranoid, though, and never did unpack my suitcase. I kept it zipped unless I needed something. That was probably a good thing, since Saturday morning, one of those large tree roaches decided to visit and began crawling on the wall opposite my bed. Figuring my room fee covered bug disposal, I called the front desk. Housekeeping came and I’ve never seen anyone pounce so fast--those critters can really move but she was quicker. However, the irony rankled. Could it not have picked someone else’s room, especially after I’d made such a great video on how this hotel was bug free? I guess I wasn’t quite a liar, since in my video I’d stated that at the Holiday Inn at least the bugs die. Of course, housekeeping had to help. I'm sure she thought me quite the sissy, but I hate bug guts and had enough of them Wednesday.

Over breakfast, the Texans began educating me on the different types of roaches (and which ones are good and bad) and stressed you can’t ever totally get rid of them. While I love all these people dearly, I was never quite so happy to see Missouri and my own bed. I’m still quite creeped out, and planning on packing Raid for next Friday night’s hotel stay in Kirksville when I go pick up my daughter. I got the idea from one of the conference attendees who bought a can of Raid at Walmart and sprayed the perimeter of the room and around her entire bed. After a night from hell in the first hotel, she wasn’t taking chances.

So how does this relate to writing? After hearing bug stories since Wednesday (and everyone had them in abundance to share), I’m thinking that a hot sexy exterminator would make an excellent hero. I mean, the Orkin man of the TV commercials doesn’t quite do it for me, but I could give this guy six-pack abs and have him save the day (or maybe the heroine’s century-old house). I’m not sure. I can see the other hotel from hell factoring in somehow as well. While I never quite thought bugs would be characters in a book, after this past week, I’m starting to visualize the possibilities. Maybe that would help exorcise the twitches I’m still having. Or at least justify the paranoia.

Michele

Patience, dear

It’s raspberry season! I love raspberries, especially sprinkled over oatmeal or mixed with yogurt in the morning. To get them, all I do is walk out the back door, turn the corner, and head for the garden. Voila!

I am impatient to cram them into my mouth, and occasionally the berries I pick aren’t as ripe as they could be We all know that unripe berries are sour. Puckery sour. ☹ Thanks to more than a few unpleasantly sour experiences, I have learned to curb my impatience (negative reinforcement, I think the psychologists call it), and wait an extra day or two if the berries aren’t quite red enough. This strategy almost always pays off. ☺

Believe it or not, you can apply this same strategy to novel writing.

A novel (or any piece of writing) needs time to grow, ripen, and mature. Just like berries. Rush to finish and the end results are not the best. It’s ironic that a person as impatient as I am chose a career in novel writing. A craft that requires infinite patience and reworking. I’m embarrassed to admit that once or twice early on, I hurried through writing a book and sent it off before it was quite ready. Thankfully, the editors caught me. I know better now, knowing that through patience and persistence I do my best work.

Until next time and wishing you the patience to do your best work, whatever it is,

Ann Roth
www.annroth.net

Getting Things Done...or Not

I can so relate to what Barbara went through yesterday. It must be the alignment of the planets or today's full moon. Technology has hit me hard, too. Hey, I'll blame anything!

Time can be so hard to find. I understand that to get things done, one must make the time to do them, but when time isn't available, what's next? Skipping sleep? I've tried that, and it just isn't what it's cracked up to be. I just don't do well on two hours of sleep, and no one wants to be around me when that's all I've had. Even me.

I'm not and never have been a person who can live on a rigid schedule. I'm too flighty. Too...Gemini? (There's that planet thing again.) I try, I really do. I get up at the same time every morning, usually have lunch ready about the same time every day for my grandkids, am always happy to see their moms pick them up at night, and then after that... I move from one project to another, sometimes on a whim. Even during the day, I bounce from one project to the next, dodging little interruptions whenever possible.

It keeps life interesting, but it makes life more hectic. I admire those who know what they'll be doing when and follow their schedules with zeal and appreciation of having a handle on their lives. If I could do that, I might find myself reading a book from my ever-growing TBR pile. And I do so love to read! I might find myself watching a movie I've been longing to see--a movie I bought six months or more ago and never found the time to sit down, veg out, and enjoy.

But projects and ideas come at me like arrows, zinging me from all directions. It seems my mind is never still, always thinking of this thing or that, jumping from one idea to another. At this stage in life, I'd say it's getting too late to change. I've tried. And then I slip back into my old and comfortable (sometimes) ways of doing what comes naturally. I guess I've made it this far, so maybe it won't hurt if I just keep on keeping on. Things that really need to be done do get done. It's those extras that I wish I could squeeze in to fit. Right now, that means I'm going to go read another chapter, maybe finishing the book before the weekend, when I'm sure I'll find something (many things?) to keep me more than busy.

I hope your weekend is a great one! I'll do everything I can to make mine the same. :)

It's a conspiracy

Honestly and truly, I have no idea why technology plots against me. Nine times out of ten, when I'm doing anything connected to computers, I have issues.

This time, it was loading a new program onto my computer. Piece of cake, you think? Any techno-dummy can handle it, right? All you have to do is stick in the CD and follow the prompts.

NOT!

I put in the CD.... Things moved along for a while.... Then a new file began loading...and loading...and loading.... And never stopped.

Called Tech Support. Got cut off. They called me back. Got cut off again.

Can you feel the frustration building? LOL

On my own again, tried rebooting the computer. Attempted re-clicking the CD. Went through the cycle of start, stop, start again, stop again--and at last, success!

Finally finished installing the program.

The program that should have taken...oh, approximately thirty minutes to load. And actually took four hours-plus.

So, I ask you:

Do things like this happen to you, too, or is it *really* a conspiracy? ;-))


All my best to you,

Barbara

~~~~~~

Barbara White Daille
http://www.barbarawhitedaille.com

Family Cook-Off

My mother was a fabulous cook and I swear she made the best gravy in the world. I wasn't much of a meat eater--still am not, but I ate a ton of mashed potatoes drowned in gravy when my mother cooked a pot roast. It wasn't until I married and she gave me a collection of her own recipes that I realized how inept I was in the kitchen. There are so many little tricks of the trade when it comes to cooking--like browning the roast in butter and onions until it's burnt on all sides before you put it into the oven to bake--how was I to know that was my mother's secret for making great gravy?

This week my younger sister is here visiting from San Antonio and my father from Wisconsin. Both are excellent cooks. I don't have many memories of my father cooking when I was younger, but once he retired he took an interest in creating his own recipes. So this week at my house we launched a cook-off. Me, my sister and father all love tuna fish casserole. My husband almost gets sick on the smell of it baking in the oven and neither of my kids will touch it. So when my father and sister are around, we three treat ourselves to a little comfort food.

Our cook-off challenge was creating a Tuna Fish Casserole recipe to-die for. Well, as you can imagine, most of mine found its way into the garbage disposal. My sister' was pretty tasty, but my father's recipe won hands down. We even made an extra batch to freeze. So for those of you who also love an old fashioned tuna fish casserole you'll have to try my dad's recipe. And be warned…it doesn't taste as good if you substitute low fat ingredients--this tastes best using full-fat everything!

Tuna Casserole

2 cans Albacore tuna
1 Package egg noodles
1 Med White Onion fried in butter with seasoning salt, lemon pepper
1-Lemon juice (4-5 Tablespoons)
1 small can Durkee French onions
1-Large package Sharp cheddar cheese
1-small sour cream
1-can 15 oz Lesueur Early peas (Silver can)
16 oz Whipping cream
1 Can cream of mushroom soup

Cook noodles and rinse, then mix all ingredients. Top with crushed Durkee French Onions and a few squirts of lemon juice, then bake at 350 for 45-60 minutes

Happy Cooking!

Marin
A Coal Miner's Wife *Hearts of Appalachia*August 2008
The Cowboy and the Angel Nov 2008
http://www.marinthomas.com/

My catless garden

This is my first summer in many years of gardening without a cat.

Wait, you may ask. What does a cat have to do with a garden?

Let’s back up. In December, Blue, the stray cat we’d adopted eight years ago, died of cancer. Losing a pet, as most of you know, is wrenching, and I felt his absence in many ways.

No furry gray face outside the French doors in the morning. No nonverbal questions meowed when I arrived home after an outing. No soft, purring body on my lap in front of the TV (unless you count my husband, but he doesn’t exactly purr).

Then there’s the garden.

Our standing joke, each spring when my husband fired up the rotary tiller, was that our cat thanked us for remodeling his bathroom. While Blue made himself scarce during the noisy part, he always reappeared to poke his nose into my activities when I began planting.

Many times, I had to lift and move his curious, attention-seeking self out of the way. Whenever I stood up for a few minutes, I invariably returned to find him curled on my kneeling pad. And, after planting, I learned to arrange old wire tomatoes cages across the freshly turned earth to prevent him from digging up what I’d so lovingly buried.

Once the tomatoes and zucchini sprouted, Blue went on patrol. He might not be big enough to tackle a possum or a raccoon, but we never had to worry about invading rodents.

This summer, for the first time in memory, there’s a squirrel hanging around our yard. I have nothing against squirrels per se, but in the last few days I’ve started finding a tomato here and there, laid out on the patio with a bite missing.

Call me stingy, but I’m not keen on sharing my produce with animals. It’s a daily scramble to pick every tomato that’s even faintly pink so it won’t attract unwanted attention.

As for stray cats to pick up the slack, they seem in short supply these days. While I realize most people would consider that a good thing, I could use a little help around here.

Still, I balk at importing a cat. These days, the received wisdom holds that cats belong indoors, and I don’t want an indoor cat. So I bide my time until one shows up who’s already proved he knows how to survive in the great outdoors.

Who knows? He might turn up any day now.

July Old-Timer Interview

Good morning! All of us Harlequin American authors are trying something new, which we hope will be fun for YOU--our readers--who are the most important part of our line!! (This pic is of Daughter and I.)



Twice a month, we'll be posting author interviews. One from a Newbie to the line, and another from an Old-Timer, which this month, happens to be me! Marin Thomas thought of these fun questions, so here we go:


1. When you looked in the mirror this morning, what was the first thing you thought?


How embarrassing!! But truthfully, I thought good Lord, I need a haircut and a diet--STAT!!!LOL!!!

2. Do you re-read your books once they're in print?


Never!! Who has time??


3. Did you ever eat paste or Elmer's glue when you were a kid?


Nope, but I did eat the plastic banana off of a stuffed monkey!! I display him proudly in my entry hall!! Also, I have a vague recollection of eating a few dog biscuits!!


4. What do you want to know about the future?


Will we ever fly to work? Do Bigfoot and UFOs exist? Atlantis? (Can you tell I'm a frustrated paranormal writer wannabe?) Most importantly, I want magic fat pills and exercise pills and anti-cellulite pills and oh yeah, world peace!!!


5. Can you taste the difference between Pepsi and Coke?


Absolutely! Pepsi is sweeter. I prefer it, but for some warped reason think Coke is somehow cooler. Go figure.


6. If you were stranded on a deserted island, what kind of hero would you want with you? A cowboy, a Viking warrior, a CEO, a forensics investigator, a chef, or an accountant? Why?


This is HARD!! (Get your minds out of the gutter!! I'm not talking about all of those hard chests and abs!! LOL!! I'm seriously torn on this one. First inclination is the CEO, because he'd have the big bucks for folks to be out looking for him. But cowboys are resourceful guys. Real big on practical, common sense knowledge that would be important for island living. Oh--and when it gets too hot, I could borrow his hat!!


7. You can erase any horrible experience from your past. What will it be.


Some biggees, would be deaths. My husband's father died way too young, so I'd for sure erase that. I miss Grandma and Grandpa, so they're coming back, too. There are a few real estate moves I'd have skipped, and a few mean people I'd have preferred to never have met.


8. What's the strangest thing you've ever eaten?


LOL!! Please refer to question 3!! I think I ate chocolate-covered ants once. I can't even remember where. On a trip to the East Coast--maybe Maine--we ate smoked eel. It was actually pretty good.


9. How long have you been published?


In book form, since my twins were five. They turn sixteen this week--ARRGGHH--so I guess that makes eleven years. I sold quite a few magazine articles and stories before that.


10. Describe your writing space.


I used to write in a great office, but Son #3 is addicted to World of Warcraft, and the only computer in the house powerful enough to run it is the one in my office. Meaning, I'm usually on a comfy chair in the living room, using my laptop. I write better on my laptop, so I don't mind. My office is a gorgeous jungle green color, with white trim and piles of junk waiting to be organized!!


11. What advice would you give a writer just starting out?


Initially, figure out what line you want to write for and target it. Meet the editors, read the books, etc. I think early on, I had too much of an "I'll write what anyone wants to buy" attitude. While Harlequin American was the first line I ever submitted to, upon my first rejection, I gave up and tried elsewhere. Finally, it clicked that just because one book/idea didn't work, that didn't mean I couldn't try another and another and another!!


12. What comes first--the plot or the characters?


Characters. Because of them, my plots are constantly changing.


13. How many books have you written? Which is your favorite?


My new contract brings me up to 31 books!! My favorite would have to be Saving Joe, which actually is one of my all-time worst sellers.


14. What are you reading now?


This is so sad, but the only thing I've read all summer are art books, art lesson plans, art websites, classroom management tips, etc. I know, yawn, yawn. I'm alternately thrilled and scared to death about my new job!!


15. Are you working on anything at present you'd like to share?


I'm in the home stretch of a book due August 5th!! ARGH!!! My working title is Baby Brigade, which I just heard is changing, and I'm not at all happy about it!! LOL!! It's about a Marine who has a one night stand appear with twins she says are his. He hires a nanny and mayhem and lust ensue!! Just kidding, it's actually turning out to be a much heavier, richer story than I'd first intended. The heroine lost her baby to SIDs, and her ex-husband blamed her for the infant's death. Ema's in a rough emotional place, but Jace,being a Marine, is coming to her rescue!!!


There you have it. Everything you didn't want to know about me!! LOL!! Seriously, let us know what you like/don't like about our interview questions. We're a work in progress around here!!

Have a happy Monday!! ;-)

Being Superwoman

If you are reading this on Saturday AM, I am in Houston, Texas, presenting to the West Houston Romance Writers of America. I'm doing a workshop on finding your inner superwoman, which includes a lot of introspection, prioritizing and goal setting. It's an up/back trip, and then I'll be flying to Dallas on Wednesday for a multi-media workshop.

I realized something this year. I had a lot of my priorities out of balance. For the past two years, writing has taken top billing over everything. I wrote six books in 18 months. I am only writing 2 this year, and I have 80 pages left to do (it's due August 1). I'm a bit of a last-minuter.

There's a lot on my plate right now. I'm joining a new church. I've given up my boyfriend of 7 years--I simply couldn't get him scheduled in and it wasn't really going anywhere anyway. We're still friends. My daughter is away at a gifted camp for kids--and she may skip the entire eighth grade and go straight into high school. I took over the school newspaper, adding to my teaching duties. I also added a weekly meeting with a personal trainer to my schedule.

I also teach full time. I go back to work July 29 and my first day with kids is Aug. 11. So I go non-stop, and this is the focus of my talk. What are your priorities, what are your goals, and how often do your goals get sideswiped by your priorities, and what you can do about it.

So I invite you to be a part of my workshop. Here are two of the eight activities the group is going to do:
Make a list of the top five things in your life with number one the most important and number five the lesser of the five. If you can, make a list of six through ten.
What is important to you? This is your mission. This is what you are about.

Next make a list of your personal strengths. Start the sentences with I am good at… I can…. People look up to me because… The key here is to realize how truly awesome you are. As my personal trainer says, you don't focus on what you can't do, but your strengths.

Michele

It takes a village

Every year during July, two events consume all of my attention. The first is the Tour de France. Since my husband and I are both cyclists (well, me not so much lately!) we’ve been obsessed with this grueling bike race for the last six or seven years. What I love about the Tour is that, to win, it’s not enough to be fast. You have to have skills in all aspects of road racing—time trailing, sprinting and climbing mountains. You have to be tough and resilient. That means three weeks of hours in the saddle, no matter the weather. You have to stay healthy. One bad day is enough to ruin your time. You have to be attentive riding inches from other riders and hurtling down mountains at 50 m.p.h., so you don’t crash.

But even heroic individual effort isn’t enough. You have to have a team, and you all have to be willing to work together, help each other get over the mountains or lead out a sprinter or travel back to the team car to get water bottles.

I guess the Tour is a lot like writing! Great writing alone isn’t enough to build a career. You have to have many skills—plotting, characters, a compelling voice, and being in tune with the market. You have to be consistent (which means writing every day even when you don’t feel like it). You have to be able to market your work.

And there’s the teamwork. I wouldn’t have sold any books without the help of my critique group, my agent, the RWA, the various editors I’ve worked with, my family, the people who print the books, distribute them, sell them, buy them. No one does it alone!

Oh, the second July event that consumes me? The RWA conference, which is sort of like our Grand Tour. It’s always fun to see who wins our “yellow jersey,” the Rita and Golden Heart awards.

PLEASE NOTE: I’m hosting a contest this month with fellow American author Victoria Chancellor. To enter, visit my website (www.karalennox.com) and click on the contest button. We’re giving away some nice prizes.

ALSO PLEASE NOTE: I haven’t received an email from the blog prize winner of last month. My e-mail server has been randomly sending emails to the trash without my ever seeing them, so please try again! Karalennox [at] yahoo.com

Summer Vacation

When I was a child, summer vacation consisted of piling into the car for a long, hot drive to Mississippi or North Carolina to visit relatives. I always looked forward to those trips, not only because I'd get to see my grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins, but because I'd get to see new scenery and places along the way.

This summer, with high gas prices and the increased hassles of flying, we're sticking closer to home. (Except for a trip to San Francisco at the end of the month for the Romance Writers of American conference -- we're getting there by train.)

If I can't physically travel somewhere, the next best thing for me is to read a book that will transport me to that place. My question for you today is -- if you could go anywhere on vacation this summer -- where would it be?

Since this is Harlequin American, let's keep the locales in America. Bonus points if you can match your destination with an American book. I'll go first:

Alaska. -- I've always wanted to visit our largest state.

Montana -- I love the west and can't wait to visit Big Sky Country. American has had a lot of great stories set in Montana. I loved Charlotte Maclay's Montana-set books.

Vermont -- The northeast is gorgeous, especially in the fall. I have fond memories of Anne Stuart's American romances set in Crescent Cove, Vermont. Right now, I'm really looking forward to new American author Liz Daly's trilogy set in Vermont, out (we hope) next year.

Boston -- a great, historic city -- Penny McCusker's Emmy and the Boss is a fun story set in Boston.

Washington State -- another beautiful place in a country filled with beautiful places. Ann Roth's The Pilot's Woman is a terrific way to visit this fascinating locale.

North Carolina -- I haven't been back to visit since I was 14. I'd love to go again. Lynette Kent's Smoky Mountain Reunion, out this month, is at the top of my TBR list for my vicarious visit back to my mom's home state.

Now it's your turn? Where do you want to visit -- and what books will take you there?

Interview

I get to be the first author interviewed! (Get some caffeine.)

Q: How did you make your first sale?

A: I sent a partial (3 chapters and a synopsis of the rest of the book) to the Senior Editor, Kathleen Scheibling, in response to a "call for new Harlequin American authors" piece in Romantic Times magazine. She requested the complete, then bought it! I got lucky with the timing. The line had been "revamped" and finally my voice fit.

Q: If you had to pick one word to describe your writing, what would it be?

A: I'm a writer--I can't possibly pick ONE word! LOL I have many words for the writing process, depending on how it's going, :) but I'd hope the end result is "heart-warming." If I could have another word, I'd add "fun" because families and life are both.

Q: Tell us a little about your family and where you're from.

A: I have a wonderfully supportive husband and two great kids. We live near St. Louis, MO, and love to travel. Growing up the youngest of five children gave me lots of inspiration for escapism! :) My brother gave me his GI Joe action figure when he grew out of playing with it. Joe promptly starred in all my play stories with Barbie. When I first saw Ken, I thought, "No way." That Barbie knew a good provider for her little girls when she saw him!

Q: Tell us about your book.

A: I'm really lucky to have had two books out this year. The Fake Fiancee comes out tomorrow. :) I'm thrilled to have this book accepted for publication because the mom in the story gives her all for her kids. It's nice every once in a while to remember the sacrifices moms make, which we sometimes don't even know about. Of course, the heroine's sacrifice leads her to the man she'll come to love, but even moms deserve a treat! Joe Riley needs to tread carefully with his matchmaking mom until he's reassured of her recovery from a heart attack. Caterer Lisa Meyer agrees to pretend to be his fiancée in order to earn money for a special program for her son. Joe discovers parenting is nothing like heading up a company. It's way more work! So it'll stay strictly business for Joe and Lisa--unless love can find a way.

Marrying the Boss came out last April, but it's still available online. Mark Collins is driven to prove his worth to the powerful Chicago family that adopted him so long ago. But in order to earn his place, he has to win control of the family company in a contest with his late grandfather’s illegitimate daughter. Leanne Fairbanks, a savvy competitor with her own axe to grind, yearns to show the family what they missed by ignoring her all her life. This Apprentice-like showdown is soon overshadowed by the competitors’ interest in another prize—each other.

Q: What is your writing routine?

A: Ouch. I was hoping to skip this question. ;) I'm a deadline junkie (aka a procrastinator) so I barricade myself in my office when my deadline nears. I'd like to plot; it would make my life easier. But I've tried, and I get bored with a story if I know what happens, then I don't finish it. I start with a character or an incident, then plunge blindly ahead until I type THE END. Sometimes I have a vague idea or two for scenes, and I use them as guideposts. A couple of times, I've had the last line of the book figured out, which is very exciting. In Marrying the Boss, I typed that line, but the story didn't feel complete and wound up with an epilogue, which was more satisfying an ending. Here's the last line I've envisioned for my current work: "He grinned." I hope I'm not giving too much away. ;)

Q: What was the hardest part of writing your book?

A: Finishing Marrying the Boss was a whirlwind! Kathleen had requested the complete, and I just felt this was my last chance. Great motivation. But I started The Fake Fiancee sometime in the last century :0 and even though I only had three chapters to finish, I had a hard time getting to THE END. While stalled on this ms, I hit a "block" where I couldn't complete anything else. The "people" in my head left. One day about six years into this period, they just "came back." Marrying the Boss was the first ms I'd finished in years! So when it came time to propose a second one, I sent The Fake Fiancee, thinking if my editor bought it, I'd have to finish it. And I did.

Q: How long have you been writing? and What did you want to be when you grew up?

A: At seventeen, I knew I wanted to write category romance, but it wasn't until after the birth of my second child that I made the time. My first contest/conference/editor pitch/rejection was 14 years ago. That was the year I found our local RWA chapter.

Q: What got you interested in writing?

A: Reading books that didn't satisfy me. Long, long ago, when I was a young girl, the heroes were all alpha jerks. Honestly. A "hero" would treat the heroine like a doormat then declare his love at the end, as though she should have known all along. I got so frustrated, those books hit the wall. I thought, "I can write a better story." And while I can't claim mine are better, the endings are much more satisfying.

Q: Why did you target the American Romance Line?

A: My stories involve families and normal, everyday people. Marrying the Boss is the only story I've written without kids in it--and the mothers took over the scenes instead. American is the line that most closely fits my voice--heart, home, and family. I love to read them, and now I'm having a wonderful time writing them.

Thanks for interviewing me. I hope it wasn't too boring. I'll be doing some booksigning this month; please check out my website for the list. megankellybooks.com

Megan Kelly

Impressionists

From time to time we writers need to stop working and take time to fill our creative wells. A favorite way for me to do this is to spend an afternoon at a museum. Studying the art and artifacts, learning about artists and their mediums is always inspiring and replenishes my creative well in ways I can’t explain.

I’m amazed at the similarities between painting and writing. Each artist paints their own vision in their own unique way. (In writing, we call that uniqueness the writer’s voice.) Time and again, painters from times past broke with convention to create their visions. Despite criticism and sometimes ostracism their works withstood time and are as breathtaking and evocative as they were several hundred years ago. These courageous artists paved the way for other artists to break with tradition, unleashing all kinds of new schools and techniques. There are many examples of writers also breaking with tradition.

Whether I spend an hour or four in a museum, I return to my own work alive and refreshed. Not immediately following, as all that amazing mental stimulation leaves me brain dead. But after a good night’s sleep, my creative juices overflow.

Happily for me, here is Seattle our newly refurbished Seattle Art Museum is hosting an impressive art exhibit of Impressionist painters. And I do mean impressive. The colors, the various styles, the techniques. The artists themselves. Amazing stuff. My husband and I have been once and plan to go back several times.

For now, my well is lovely and full.
Readers and writers alike- how do you refill your creative wells?


Until next time and wishing you a well filled with creativity and joy,
Ann Roth
www.annroth.net

The Red, White, and Blue Game

First of all, I'd like to thank all our readers for their responses to my Father's Day blog (posted on June 17). I'm glad my memory of my dad helped trigger so many pictures from your past, too.

~~~

Here we are at another special day, the Fourth of July, a holiday that I'm sure is setting off many memories of its own--remembrances of cookouts with hotdogs and hamburgers; parades and fireworks; and flags flying high and snapping in the breeze, proudly flaunting their stars and stripes in red, white, and blue.

What comes to mind when you see those three colors?

You think for a minute about your choices; meanwhile, I'll tell you mine.


Red ~ fresh, juicy, ripe strawberries--especially since I'm being more careful about eating well and have discovered how much I love them.

White ~ diamonds! How could I leave them off the list--you know they're a girl's best friend! (grin)

Blue ~ a newborn baby's eyes, so innocent and clear.


Those are three favorite items that come to me when I think about red, white, and blue.

Now, how about you?


All my best to you,

Barbara

~~~~~~

Barbara White Daille

http://www.barbarawhitedaille.com

Happy Almost-Fourth of July!

Independence Day has a lot of good memories for me. Growing up in Houston, my father would host a big party every Fourth. Lots of his work and other friends would come to our ranch for the day. We’d have barbecue brisket, watermelon, potato salad, and all the usual fixings. My absolute favorite Fourth of July treat was pecan pie. There was something about tasting that first bite of pie at the end of a hot day that was just about perfect.

I think my dad’s last party was in 1998, so those parties are long gone. Since I love having things to look forward to, I usually have a little trip planned. Last year we went to West Virginia and went white water rafting. For a few years before that, we drove to Chicago and stayed downtown. When we lived out west, we used to drive to Lake Powell or Las Vegas.

But this year, we’re staying home. My son, who’s about to be a senior in high school (how did that happen?!) is going on a school trip to Europe on Saturday. So I’ll be packing him up and making fried chicken and apple pie (his Fourth of July favorites!).

Although I've tried my best, not all our Fourths have been fabulous. The worst was about six years ago. We were in Chicago with my sister-in-law and her family. A restaurant served my daughter their ‘special’ chocolate ice cream. Their ‘secret’ ingredient was peanut butter-which she is very allergic to! After two bites, her tongue started swelling up, and I was hailing a cab to the hospital. I watched the fireworks over Lake Michigan from a window next to my daughter’s bed in our hotel room.

One of our best holidays was two years ago. We met another family in Colorado and watched fireworks from the banks of Grand Lake outside Winter Park. It was a little chilly out, which felt great after a hot day hiking in the mountains. We sipped hot chocolate, piled on the blankets, and oohed and aahed over a batch of fireworks that looked so close we were sure we could reach out and touch them, if we really tried.

So,what makes the fourth special for y’all? Staying home, going to your parents’ place? Taking a vacation? Brisket, fried chicken, hot dogs?

No matter how you celebrate things, I hope everyone has a wonderful day, and happy Fourth of July!

Shelley

June winner!

This month's winner is Ivette!!!!!! Congratulations!!! To get your free, autographed books, please contact Kara Lennox and Victoria Chancellor through their websites.

Tell all your friends to visit us. To win, simply comment and your name is entered in our drawing.

Exciting Change

We are thrilled to announce that starting next month we will go indepth with two author interviews per month.

We will start in July with Megan Kelly, whose second book debuts. July will also feature the wonderful Laura Marie Altom. Look for Ann Roth and Lisa Childs in August.

Have a wonderful end of June (summer is going way too fast).

Michele

Author Road Trip

Romance authors know how to do a road trip better than anybody. Two of my critique partners and I recently proved that. Last Thursday we all desperately needed to get out of town. So we set a destination for historic Waxahachie, intent on doing a bit of antiquing and sharing lunch, perhaps at a tea room.

My partners in crime were Victoria Chancellor (fellow American author who also blogs here) and Silhouette author Rebecca Russell. And here are the reasons we are day trippers extraordinaire:

1. The schedule. We plan to leave at ten, but if we meet up at ten-thirty and spend twenty minutes trying to find some place to leave my car where it won't get stripped down to the chassis, that's okay. No one in this group worried about the time. The only thing we cared about was that we were getting the heck outta Dodge.

2. The car. We didn't just have an SUV, we had an Escalade. (I don't want to think about what the gas cost!) The Escalade had On-Star, which is GREAT for when you get lost. Which brings me to:

3. The route. We had all been to Waxahachie before. It's only about 35 miles south of Dallas. We didn't need no stinkin' map. We all knew to exit at the billboard. However, due to construction, the billboard was gone and we overshot our exit by, oh, another thirty miles. (Yes, we were talking.) In fact, we ended up in Hillsboro, another historic town with a cool courthouse. Did we care? Heck no.

4. The food. We found ourselves a funky diner on the town square (not exactly a tea room). We did not count carbs or fat grams. We used real sugar in our tea. (Strangely, they didn't offer "sweet tea," usually a staple in small southern towns.)

5. The shopping. We spent the next hour or so combing through an un-air-conditioned antique mall, ferreting out things we remembered from childhood and even bringing a few home with us.

6. The food again. Shopping burns a lot of calories, so we found ourselves a Starbucks on the highway and indulged in mochachinos.

7. The shopping again. If we'd gone straight home, we'd have hit I-35 in rush hour. No one does that on purpose. So we doubled back and hit Waxahachie after all. We took the requisite pictures in front of the courthouse (that's Victoria, left, and me. Rebecca took the picture.) We found an awesome scrapbooking store--all of us are crazy about paper. Must be a writing thing. Then more antiques.

Finally, exhausted, we headed home with our flea-market treasures and more bits of small-town trivia to add to our research arsenals. Don't be surprised if you see bits and pieces of this trip showing up in our future books!

Rooting for Cinderella

Over the years, the romance genre has expanded to include a wide variety of stories. And with that expansion has come new types of heroines. Now, in addition to being nurses or teachers or waitresses, heroines can be corporate CEOs, attorneys, military pilots, you name it. I've loved romances with a great many different types of heroines, but I still find myself drawn to the Cinderella character type. I don't mean only Cinderella herself, but also all those wonderful heroines who start out as life's underdog, the poor girl whom no one loves but who in the end finds happiness with the hero everyone would have thought beyond her reach.

I don't believe a woman should define herself by the man in her life, but who among us didn't dream when we were young of a prince falling in love with us and sweeping us off our feet? Cinderella has inspired countless book heroines, and movies like The Prince and Me, Maid in Manhattan, and Pretty Woman star a girl who is either normal or one of the forgotten who gets the guy way above her station in life. It's a powerful fantasy that even shows up in classic novels like Jane Eyre.

I have Jane Eyre on the brain because I watched the Masterpiece Theatre production starring Ruth Wilson and Toby Stevens today. I'd read Jane Eyre way back in high school, so it'd been a long time since I'd been immersed in the story. But when Jane was abandoned by her family, left alone in the world and unloved, it broke my heart. Watching her fall in love with Mr. Rochester, a man she knew she couldn't have, was equally hard to see. Not to mention the revelation of mad Bertha's existence and thus the crushing of Jane's hope. But because Jane has gone through so much in her life, it's so much more thrilling when she inherits money, earning her independence, and then finally finds enduring love with Edward Rochester.

What about you? Do you like the Cinderella type story? If so, which ones do you like most?

Reconnecting with Childhood Favorites

I’ve always been an avid reader. When I was a child, I’d trek to the library every Saturday and come home with an armload of books. Our next door neighbor was the children’s librarian, so I would always stop by to say hello and find out what she was recommending that week. Many of the books I read in those days are still among my all-time favorites.

I read the Anne of Green Gables books when I was ten, and since then I’ve reread them more times than I can count. I also have the two made-for-TV mini series on VHS. Every couple of years I have an "Anne" day and I’ll watch all eight hours. Just me, a big bowl of popcorn, and my box of Kleenex.

Little Women was another favorite, and I also love the movie version with Susan Sarandon and Winona Rider. As a child, I think I related to both Anne and Jo because they a little on the tomboyish side and their imagination was always getting them into scrapes. Although I never died my hair green!

I adored Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books. I even read them to my children, and my daughter named one of her dolls Charlotte, just like Laura's.

The Swiss Family Robinson was completely captivating, especially the ingenious things they did to make a home on that island. Part of me has always wanted to live in a treehouse!

One of my neighbor’s recommendations was Loretta Mason Potts—which, in spite of the title, is the story about a little boy who finds out he has an older sister. Loretta, his sister, had been living with another family. After she returns home, she discovers a passageway in her closet that connects her to a secret world. This book was written in 1958 by Mary Chase, who is most famous for her Pulitzer-prize-winning play, Harvey, about a man and his six-foot-tall invisible rabbit.

Over the years I searched secondhand bookstores and then online for a copy of this book, but with no luck. My problem was that I didn’t have the title quite right. I remembered it as Laura Mason Potts. A couple of years ago I googled "Laura Mason Potts," and to my surprise, it turned up in a review on Amazon. The review had been written by another person who had remembered the wrong title.

The book was reissued in 1989, so I immediately ordered a copy. After searching for so many years, there was always the dangers that the book wouldn’t live up to my expectations, but I’m happy to say it did. The day the package arrived, I tore it open, put everything aside, and read the book cover to cover. I'd forgotten that the book is illustrated, but once I had it in my hands, even the black-and-white illustrations were familiar to me.

Maybe that sense of familiarity is what’s so important about these books. Knowing that no matter what else is going on in our adult lives, a favorite story can transport us to our childhood, and to simpler times.

I'd love to hear about everyone's favorite childhood books.

Happy reading!

Lee
www.leemckenzie.com
thewritersideoflife.blogspot.com

HOME ALONE

Usually, I am all about my family. My kids and husband are the center of my world, and usually everything I do revolves around their schedules. But, well…this past week I was home alone.
That’s right. I was home by myself for six days straight. My husband and two kids traveled to western Pennsylvania as part of a mission trip with our church. I valiantly volunteered to stay behind and hold down the fort.
In other words, I did all kinds of things I don’t do when they’re here. I was in charge of the remote. I watched movies no one else likes. I read books in the living room at four o’clock. I even did my favorite activity...going to sleep early- just because there was no one around to tell me that I really shouldn’t be tired and it was too early to go to sleep.

Yes, it was completely empowering.

The highlight of my time alone was the slumber party I had. To be honest, when I asked my four critique partners if they’d like to come spend the night, I thought they might think it was a little weird. After all, we’re grown women-we’re all supposed to be too old for sleepover parties…right? But before we knew it, emails were flying, deciding on what to bring for our potluck dinner, and how much work to bring.

FYI, the food was great. We didn’t get much work done.

But, oh, how we relaxed! We sat outside on my back porch and had iced tea and laughed about things we’d done over the years. We got caught up on all things- kids and husbands, regular jobs and hobbies. We switched to wine and looked at cooking catalogs. We talked about dreams and goals and things we wished we would have done and things we still hope to do.
Being with these friends is like nothing I’ve had since high school. There are no hidden agendas, only the ease that comes from sharing good writing, bad ideas, diets, medical procedures, you name it-for almost a decade.
At eleven the next morning, I was sad to have the house back to myself again.

I was ready for my family to come back. I felt recharged and rejuvenated and had reminded myself that there’s more to me than just someone who writes. I’d remembered why I love my kids-not just because I’m their mom, but because of their fun personalities and good natures.

Everyone came back safe and sound. Within minutes of entering the house, piles of laundry filled the basement. The phone started ringing, my husband started going through the pile of mail and turned on his computer. Two TVs clicked on, music blared, dogs barked-and that familiar call of "Mom" floated through the house.
Life had begun again.

So, that was my week. I got to have some time alone to really enjoy being me.
And time to remember why I’m so glad it’s not just me anymore.
Has anyone else had an opportunity for some alone time? Or felt the roar that only summer can bring-when the kids are home all day?

Critiques: Love 'em, Hate 'em

Good morning, everyone. I'm up exceptionally early for me (not a morning person!) because I'm going to my "other" RWA chapter near Fort Worth, Texas. Just like our new member Pam Stone, I'm a member of Dallas Area Romance Authors (DARA) and North Texas Romance Authors (NTRWA) which meets much farther away from my house.

NTRWA has an annual event called the Roundtable Meeting, in which participants submit ten pages of their manuscript to be critiqued one-on-one by a published author. It's a great program because it allows everyone to have some very valuable face time to explain their opinions and expertise. This year I had a sweet contemporary romance and a western historical to read.

The process of critiquing and being critiqued made me wonder how many of you who are aspiring authors have put your work out there for other writers (published or not) to review? It can be traumatic! At the same time, if you have helpful critique partners, it can also be the difference between selling and not selling.

Let me give you an example. Way back when I first started writing, which I don't even want to think about because then I feel older than my grandchildren make me feel, a group of us who met at a local conference formed a critique group. We all wrote different types of fiction. I was concentrating on historical romance, my friend Becky wrote short contemporary romance, and others wrote literary fiction, mainstream and suspense. Needless to say, we weren't always that helpful to all members of the group! While I enjoyed getting together, I'm not sure their remarks made my historical romance any stronger.

Then, I did what lots of industry-wise people tell us not to do; I paid an agent for a critique. I only paid $35 and only on the recommendation of someone who read my work in a contest, but still . . . I probably wouldn't recommend that anyone else do the same now that I know more about publishing. Despite this warning, I must confess that was the best $35 I ever spent. The agent told me that I was writing plot-driven rather than character-driven fiction, and went on to explain the difference. I was imposing my will on my characters, making them do what I wanted them to do, rather than setting up characters who could move the story along with motivated goals and conflict. Wow! This was a revelation to me. I fixed the problem and sold the book about a month later on proposal.

Last week, my current critique partners pointed out that perhaps I needed more conflict in the proposal I was working on for my last Brody's Crossing book. I had such a strong story for the heroine that I'd kind of forgotten to focus on the conflict between the hero and heroine. Oops!

So, my question for anyone, published or unpublished, is what was the best advice you ever received in a critique?

Have a great day. I'm going to critique, get a free lunch, spend time with my home-away-from-home chapter, and perhaps stop by some stores on the way back to Richardson, TX to see if my books are on the shelf.

Welcome New Harlequin American Authors

I'd like to use my post today to welcome three new people to the Harlequin American family. The first is Pam Stone, who recently sold her first book to the American line. Congrats Pam!



Pam is a member of Dallas Area Romance Writers and describes her book as follows:



Last Resort: Marriage is the first book I've sold. It's a fun, marriage of convenience story set in Marathon Key, Florida. It did very well on the contest circuit. The hero is a down on his luck scuba guide whose boat is dead in the water. The heroine is the manager of one of her grandfather's resorts. These two are opposite in every way, which made for a fun story to write.



Also please welcome Liz Lounsbury and Barbara Daly, a writing duo who have, who will now write books for Harlequin American as Daly Thompson. Liz wrote for Duets and Temptation as Liz Jarrett. She and Barbara Daly critiqued together and decided to join forces. The trilogy they just sold is set in Vermont.

Congrats Liz & Barbara!

You'll be hearing more about these authors soon! And thanks to everyone for posting their comments about the blog. We've got some great ideas and we appreciate your input.Happy Friday, everyone.

Reader suggestions and... a little behind... (and I don’t mean fanny)

I’m reading the reader suggestions with interest and am so glad people are speaking up about what they want. Anyone who hasn’t, feel free to do so. We’re listening!!

Now, on to the behind part...
‘Tis the season to television reruns. Bleh! My husband and I finally watched season one of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. (We’re probably the only Americans who haven’t seen it.) Now I know what jumpstarted interest in all things paranormal.

The series is fresh and intelligently written with just the right mix of scariness and humor. And the chemistry between Buffy and Angel... Well, it is to die for. Pun intended. ☺

A good television series teaches us writers a lot. (So does a good movie.) Done right, the writing is tight and free of lame plot holes. Conflict arises from both situation and character. Characters develop, make mistakes, and grow. We care about them and want to keep tuning in to see what happens to them.

If we’re invested enough, we even weather a bad episode or two. But if the series takes a downturn and the characters behave stupidly for no reason, if the plot suddenly develops big holes, we stop tuning in.

These same things apply to writing a good book. ‘Nuff said.

What TV series do you think are well-written?

Until next time,
Ann Roth
www.annroth.net

Summer Fun?

I'm starting my morning with a deficit--of sleep--and I don't expect it to get better over the next five days. More about that later, but the cause last night was weather related. Because of the frequent thunderstorms we've been having here in landlocked KS, I purchased a storm alert radio, just in case a tornado decides to surprise us with a midnight visit. Early this morning (3 a.m.), the alert started sounding as a large thunderstorm moved over several counties, mine being one of them. Some six hours later, the sky is now a brilliant blue, something we haven't seen much of lately, and I'm hoping our trip to the zoo today will be free of clouds and raindrops. I'd much rather deal with a little sunburn than have to dodge hail...or twisters.

It's been a rough summer weather-wise across the nation. I've heard this is proving to be one of the hottest Junes for several years in some areas of the South. The destruction and devastation in Iowa from the flooding continues to bring me to tears when I see the latest reports, and my prayers go out to those who are having to deal with it as it spreads into other states. While reading the morning news the other day, I found this in our local newspaper:

Preliminary statistics from the National Weather Service show that 172 tornadoes have been reported in Kansas this year -- the most in the nation.
Iowa is next at 134, and Missouri is third at 127.
As of Friday, 1,577 tornadoes had been reported in the U.S. this year. Last year saw 1,093.

Whatever the weather is doing where you live, keep your eye on the sky. As Sgt. Phil Esterhaus used to say on the old TV show, "Hill Street Blues", "Let's be careful out there."

So why will I be more sleep deprived over the next five days? My two oldest daughters and their hubbies left this morning for a canoe trip near Tahlequah, Oklahoma. In the meantime, we (my youngest and I) are hosting a series of sleep-overs for my four grandkids. In other words, we have the pleasure of their company 24/7 until Sunday when moms and dads return. We should be accustomed to this. The kidlets (ages 6, 5, 4 and 10 months) are here during the day five days a week. I expect it to be an interesting week, and hope the 4-year-old grandson doesn't decide to play Indiana Jones again. Last week, while taking on that role, he climbed on top of my car in the driveway and jumped for a tree limb hanging over it. The smaller-than-pencil-size limb wasn't strong enough to hold him, and he landed on the driveway, resulting in a very large bump on his elbow. It could have been worse and is one of several reasons why we keep an extra lock on the door inside to curb his adventurous tendencies. His mom was printing out and signing medical treatment consent forms when she dropped off her three kidlets this morning. I expect it to be an exciting and interesting visit, with short nights and long days, and I hope they all like the penguins better than the lions at the zoo today. :)

My Hero, My Dad

First, I have to say thanks to Jacqueline Diamond for taking her blog day to talk about the Harlequin American blog. We'd love to have input about what you--our readers--would like to see here!

And now...

Romances are all about the heroes and heroines of our books. With Father's Day just behind us, I thought I'd share a memory of my very first hero.

At all of six years old, I'd taken on the first-time responsibility of caring for a pet. Three pets, actually--three little goldfish that swam in a small plastic fishbowl. I watched over these little guys, fed them and, when necessary, filled their bowl with fresh water. To do this, I had to carry the bowl to the laundry room where we had a big iron sink almost as tall as I was. With a long-handled net, I'd transfer the goldfish to a smaller bowl until their bigger home was ready.

One day--you've probably guessed it!--one of the fish got away. He flipped and flopped out of the net and fell into the sink, then promptly slid down the drain. I promptly screamed "Daddy!" as loudly as my lungs would allow.

He came on the run, imagining who knows what deadly accident had happened to me. The fish was long gone, I was in hysterics, but none of that bothered my dad. He quickly figured out the situation and went to work.

On the floor beside the tub was a square metal plate with drainage holes. He lifted the plate and told me to turn on the faucet. I couldn't imagine why he wanted me to do that, but I did it, anyway. Seconds later, water came rushing from the pipe--and the goldfish splish-splashed right into Dad's hands!

I was so amazed at this magical feat, at first I didn't notice that the fish was no longer breathing. I also didn't follow very closely what Dad did next. To this day, all I know is, it involved hot water, cold water, and salt, not necessarily in that order.

A few moments later, the goldfish's fins began to move, then his tail began to twitch and, finally, he shook his entire body like a puppy dog. He swam around and around the goldfish bowl as if he'd never left it.

That's the day I first knew my dad was a hero.


How about you? Have any stories about your hero dad? I'd love to hear them!


All my best to you,

Barbara

~~~~~~

Barbara White Daille
http://www.barbarawhitedaille.com

Reader Suggestions

Special thanks to Jacqueline Diamond who kicked off the discussion for this week--what would our readers like to see us authors do with our blog.

It sounds like readers might enjoy seeing a few days a month used for special topics like "Author Interviews", "Craft Discussions" or "Guest Bloggers". Would anyone like to see "links" on this blog that would take them to a list of "favorite recipes" by our authors? Or a list of "cleaning tips"? Or "kiddie crafts" to keep the kids busy on rainy days?

What sorts of discussion topics interest you most? Do you enjoy hearing about authors' travels? Do you like it when authors discuss their individual books/heroine/heroes and what made writing them special or unique?

I hope you'll continue the discussion as we want to make this blog enjoyable for our readers.

Lastly I just want to say (in case we have nurses out there who read this blog) that I have a real appreciation for this special group of women. Two weeks ago my teenage son had major jaw surgery (both upper and lower--everything went amazingly well) and I was so impressed by the nurses who took care of him. Not only were they compassionate but they worked in teams--each nurse double checking the other's work so that nothing slipped by them or escaped their notice. Their compassion and patience in answering all my questions (which I'm sure I asked the same question several times over) was amazing. And each time they left the room they'd always ask not only if my son needed anything but if Mom needed anything, too.

I've always believed nurses like teachers are a special group of people who deserve our gratitude and respect, but I admit that my son's nurses have earned a soft spot in my heart for the care they gave him. And by the way, the four nurses all read romance novels and I jumped at the opportunity to give them copies of my books. I also discovered they had a "bookcase" of romance novels in the cafeteria nurses shared with one another and I was thrilled to donate a couple of bags of "American" books to them.

Hope the summer has gotten off to a great start for all of you--and please keep the discussion going on our blog this week--What can we do to make this blog the very best!

Marin

A Coal Miner's Wife Aug 2008

The Cowboy and the Angel Nov 2008

http://www.marinthomas.com/

Readers: Please Help!

In the year and a half since we Harlequin American authors launched this Internet journal as a way of reaching out to you, we’ve been delighted to share our musings and experiences. However, like people (and the characters we love to read and write about), blogs tend to have life cycles.

With so many blogs exploding across the Internet, we’re wondering whether it’s time for a change. So this week, we’re asking you, our readers, for vital input. Is there anything specific that you’d like to see us write about or try in this space?

Would you like to see more guest bloggers? Occasionally, we can arrange for an editor or agent. We could also invite other authors. What would interest you?

Also, would you prefer that the blog focus more on writing-related topics? These could include craft, such as how to write a synopsis; business, such as what to look for in an agent; or the writer’s life, including how we stave off interruptions. Topic suggestions welcome!

How about interviews once or twice a month (or more often) with Harlequin American authors? You could send in questions for us to answer. I’m sure most of us would be happy to devote entire blogs to reader questions.

We don’t want to compete with the on-line novellas published at eharlequin.com. But perhaps you have a unique proposal for something of this nature that we could write as a group.

Do you like the monthly book giveaways? Does this encourage you to read the blog? Are there any variations (within reason) that you’d like to see?

Please post your responses and we’ll start the dialogue. We’ll do our best to continue the discussion this week so those who don’t read us every day will have a chance to chime in.

I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!!

Do you ever feel like you can't keep up? Like you're stuck on that proverbial hamster wheel with no hope of getting off?? Well, two weeks into summer, when I'm supposed to finally be catching my breath, I'm more behind in my goals than ever! Ugh!! (This pic is of a bulletin board I made for another teacher last fall. The leaves took FOREVER!! )

My new classroom is amazing, but crammed with at least thirty years worth of dust and stuff and junk. In between daily professional development classes and cleaning, I haven't even made a dent in getting the room ready for our August 11th start date. And that's just room prep. I still have to come up with 180+ days of insightful art lesson plans that follow the state standards. Was it really only as month ago that I thought my new job was a dream come true? LOL!!

My laptop broke, and I thought I'd save a few bucks by taking it to a *small guy* for repair. BIG mistake!! Every time I type about fifteen letters, then hit the space bar, the cursor jumps up a few lines. Anyone have a clue what the problem might be? I've tried reinstalling Microsoft Works, but it still doesn't work. I've checked under the keys for Cheetos, but that didn't work, either. Guess now, on top of what I already shelled out, I'll call the expensive repair shop I usually go to!! Grrr!!!

With the twins on the verge of driving, Hubby and I are spending the day car shopping. The plan is that the kids get our old cars, and we get new. Well . . . new to us, anyway! LOL!! I heard a car dealer ad while cleaning my classroom that bragged about low mileage Civics for $5995. Sounds a tad too good to be true, but we'll take a looksee.

In the mean time, I have a book deadline barreling down on me, and nothing to write it on. Yes, I could use the main computer back like I did in the olden days, but like every other creature in this house, I'm spoiled rotten, and have gotten to the point that I can only write new material on my laptop. I know, whine, whine.

On the brighter side, yesterday, I snuck a couple of hours off to play with the kids and we went to see Ironman. I expected to nap through it, but REALLY enjoyed it--although there certainly could've been more romance!! LOL!!!

Have a happy Saturday!!!

Dressing my Characters

Okay, first things first. Who is a “one sock, then the shoe” person versus “both socks first, then both shoes” type of a person when getting dressed? I’ve found that for me it depends. I’m not consistent at all, but usually it’s both socks first. However, it’s little details like this (which I’ve never yet used in a book) that make dressing my characters so interesting.

I’ve discovered something as I’ve been writing this current book for Harlequin American. For some reason, the fact that I am my hero and heroine’s personal stylist has never been more important to me. On paper, I am a wardrobe wizard (even though I probably fail in real life). My current hero Chase McDaniel is a business CEO. Thus, I get to put him in suits. The first time the heroine meets him, he changes her flat tire. He shrugs out of his coat, rolls up his sleeves and gets to work.

I love to put my heroes in suits. Suits simply say class in a way that a flannel shirts and holey jeans can’t. Sure, I’ll dress Chase down too, when the circumstances warrant, and make him Ralph Lauren casual (he’s a Minnesota lakeshore kind of guy). But I like the glamour of a business suit and the aura it creates.

For me, part of the escapist experience of enjoying romance is being whisked into a world outside my own (I only need a suit for job interviews, and I haven’t had one of those in years).

I just watched Humphrey Bogart in The Big Sleep. The thing that really struck me was how important his hat was to his character. Whatever happened to hats? Now it’s all ball caps. Remember when women wore dresses all the time in classic movies? And how Audrey Hepburn and Lauren Bacall could carry them off so well? Since I’ve been inspired, my heroine Miranda won’t be in business suits with slacks, but rather skirts and dresses. All very chic, even though she shops on a budget. She has an image to project, even though she’s not rich.

Now that it’s summer (my last official day was yesterday) I live in shorts and t-shirts. Grubville here I come. I don’t dress up at all, minus church.

Hence my need for my hero to take my everyday heroine somewhere special so I can dress her up beyond basic and live vicariously. The next scene I write is Chase taking Miranda out for lunch. It’s raining, and her umbrella died on the way to work. I can picture Chase getting soaked trying to keep her dry.

Next up will be a business event. To dress Miranda, I’ll get out the clothing catalogs, turn to all those dog-eared marked pages and pick the dress I really want and wish I had somewhere to wear. Then I dress her and create her outfit visually for the reader. I’ll find her the right shoes, earrings, and such. It’s my little escape.

Don’t get me wrong. My pocketbook is happy about my lack of haute couture and its accompanying dry cleaning bill. But in my books, when the scene fits, I love to jazz it up and splurge.

Michele Dunaway
Out of Line, Harlequin NASCAR 6/08
Tailspin, Harlequin NASCAR 9/08
Twins for the Teacher, Harlequin American 3/09

I Saw My Book on the Shelves!

Okay, so I shouldn't get that excited. This is the 57th time. But it never gets old, seeing a book with my name on it at a bookstore or grocery store.

I still remember the first time it happened. Of course I knew down to the second the exact moment my first book (ROSES HAVE THORNS) would be released, and it was several days into the future. So I was not looking for ROSES when I entered Rainy Day Books. I was just looking for something to read, perusing the romances, and suddenly there it was on the shelf!

I think I must have screamed, because the bookstore lady ran over and asked me what was wrong, whereupon I probably threw some kind of hysterical fit about seeing the book I wrote on the shelves for the first time.

I remember the clerk smiling indulgently. She’d probably witnessed similar displays in the past, as Rainy Day Books was a favorite hang-out for everyone in our RWA chapter, and many of us were selling our first books way back then.

There are lots of firsts associated with selling your first book. Getting THE CALL, of course, ranks right up there. Seeing your first cover, meeting your editor in person for the first time, receiving your first check, reading your first review. But nothing makes it more real than seeing the book in a bookstore, and knowing that thousands of people around the country also see it and are maybe buying it and reading it. 'Cause ultimately, for me anyway, writing is a way to connect. I enjoy the act of writing (most days, anyway!) but connecting with readers is what it's all about.

Must Love Dogs

This is a picture of me with one of my dogs, Snoopy. (He's a beagle mix and he already had that name when we adopted him.) As you might guess from the photos, I love dogs -- not just my dog, but all dogs.

If I see a book with a picture of a dog on the cover, I have to pick it up. More often than not, I'll buy the book. (If I think the dog dies in the book, I won't buy it. Fortunately, that's not usually a problem with romance.)

Oddly enough, I haven't written many books of my own with dogs in them. And I think only one ever had a dog on the cover. Hmmmm -- wonder why that is?

My current release, A Soldier Comes Home, from Harlequin Superromance, features a soldier holding a young child. Soldier + Cute Kid -- too iconic images I hope will draw readers to the book.

Of course, we authors have very little control over what goes on the covers of our books. The publisher asks for input, but they don't always use it. When I get a great cover, I feel very fortunate.

This has me wondering -- what images make you stop and pick up a book? I've heard that babies and pregnant women really draw readers. I know some women can't pass up a cover with a hunky cowboy or cop.

So -- what does it for you? Babies? Brides? Cowboys? Hunks? Soldiers? Dogs? Horses? I really want to know.

CELEBRATING 20TH BOOK RELEASE

Yesterday I had a book signing for my 20th book release, Always A Mother, Harlequin Super Everlasting. The signing went very well and my friends and I decided to really celebrate afterward. We went to see Sex And The City, without husbands. We asked but they refused to go. Go figure.

Since I write a lot, I don’t get to the movies as often as I would like. I’m still in shock. I never watched the show when it was on TV, but I did catch it on reruns late at night when I’d unwind from a day of writing. Oh my God kept running through my head, followed by can they do that on TV? Can they say that on TV? Yes they can and yes they did. And they did much more in the movie.

Color me naive, prudish or just out of touch. I felt the nudity and some sex scenes were over the top. But the young college girls loved it, giggled and shouted to prove it. Times have certainly changed. I think it’s the same in the books we read, too. I love home and hearth and that’s why I write it. But the young girls in that movie theatre would probably find my books very boring. Today everything is about more. Nothing is left to the imagination.

So what do you like in the books you read? More or less?

Let me tell you we had a great time at the movies, laughed with the young girls, and went out to eat afterward and toasted book number #20, which is all about home and family—very minimal nudity and profanity.

Here’s to another twenty. OhmyGod! I don’t think I’ll make it.

Linda (who’s very tired today)
Always A Mother – Harlequin Super Everlasting June 2008
Texas Heir – Harlequin American Sep 2008