Reading and Writing a Series

I'm working on my 22nd novel, which will be the 6th book in the Brody's Crossing series for Harlequin American Romance. I love writing this series but I have gotten some feedback from several readers that concerns me.

These readers wait for all the books in a series to come out, then they read them. Since I don't know how many books I might write for this series, I can't tell them when they should start reading. I don't want to upset my readers but I don't have an answer for them.

Does anyone else have this dilemma as either a reader or a writer? If so, can you suggest how to respond to these loyal series readers?

Series are a funny thing, especially when you didn't expect to write one. My very first book for Harlequin American was what I thought was a stand-alone book, but the editor at the time really liked that town (Ranger Springs) and asked me to write more set there. I never had a true "Ranger Springs" series but they were a continuous story of the heroes and heroines, secondary characters and big events of the fictional town.

I've found when I write books set in Brody's Crossing that I'm always thinking about how to add friends, co-workers, relatives and newcomers who might have their own book. I don't have a big master plan for the town, but I did give it vacant buildings to grow into and some businesses that were missing or could be expanded. Now I'm adding a new ranch that I haven't mentioned before, but I think that's okay because I never said the Rocking C was the only ranch in Brody's Crossing! (The image to the right is an USGS aerial photo near the area where my fictional town is located.)

One of the main things I learned about ten books ago was to give characters some siblings or cousins that I could introduce as possible heroes and heroines. Sometimes I can't because it doesn't work out with the backstory or conflict, but I do try. Right now I have three more potential main characters for future books. I don't know if I'll get to write them, but I'm setting up the characters so they might deserve their own book one day.

I'm trying to soak up more small town life by observing people and listening to their stories. Tonight I stopped by the Mineola Country Club and heard some very lively tales told by some older gentlemen at the bar. I'm not sure how accurate they were, but they sounded real good as background material. Whoever mentioned pelting someone's car with golf balls, please be assured I'm going to use that in a book real soon!

I'll continue to develop Brody''s Crossing and add new characters who might someday fall in love, and I would love your ideas on what to tell avid series readers who email me about when the series will be over. Thanks, and have a wonderful and safe Memorial Day. When you get back from your long weekend, please remember to check out the recipes I'll post on June 4th. Happy reading!

Media Blitz Contest Coming June 2010!

Dear Readers:

June kicks off the debut of Harlequin American Romance's first-ever six-book continuity The Codys: First Family of Rodeo. In honor of this exciting occasion we're running 6 one-day-a-month Social Media Blitz Contests at www.harauthors.blogspot.com

Contest Scoop
Beginning next month in June, an author in the continuity will post a blog at www.harauthors.blogspot.com and discuss her contribution to the The Codys: First Family of Rodeo series. After reading the author's blog, post the link www.harauthors.blogspot.com, the title of the book and the author's name to your Facebook, MySpace and or Twitter pages as well as your favorite blogs. The more places you link to and mention the author and her book, the more chances you have to win.

You can earn additional chances to win if you refer a friend and they in turn post a link to their favorite social media websites and blogs. Be sure to return to www.harauthors.blogspot.com and tell us where you're spreading the word by posting the information in the comment section of the blog--that way we can keep a tally of your activity. Remember, it's One Day Only Each Month June-November 2010!

Authors will be giving away prizes to several lucky winners. Your name will be entered into a drawing for each social media site you promote The Codys: First Family of Rodeo and for each friend you contact who in turn spreads the word through their favorite networks. You have twenty-four hours to link to us and win! The author will post the winners in the comment section of her blog the next day--be sure to return to see if you're one of the lucky winners.

On June 5th Senior Editor for American Romance, Kathleen Scheibling will introduce The Codys: First Family of Rodeo to readers and the following day on June 6th Rebecca Winters kicks off the Social Media Blitz Contest with the first book in the series-- Walker: The Rodeo Legend!

With the help of our faithful readers we're hoping that on June 6th the web is buzzing with chatter about The Codys: First Family of Rodeo!

Marin
www.marinthomas.com

Counting down...and looking ahead

This time of year gets me very excited, as I work for a school district. We’re now in single digits in the countdown for the last day of school. That’s probably enough on that subject, right? You don’t need to read another word to understand why I’m nearly bouncing off the walls, just like the kids.

I’m also in the countdown to turn in my latest manuscript for Harlequin American Romance, a book that--fingers crossed!--will be out sometime next year.

And I’m looking forward to summer.

For months, I’ve been making plans, writing to-do lists, and toying with an idea or two for stories I’d like to start writing next. The way things worked out this year, we don’t have any major trips lined up this summer, which will give me plenty of time to get everything done that I want to accomplish....

Well...it sounds good, anyway, doesn’t it?

Since I’m going to be a stay-at-home writer this summer, I’d love to hear what plans you have for vacation, whether you’re keeping close to home, too, or seeking adventures far and wide.

Talking about your trip in advance will prolong the pleasure and make you even more excited about it--just as counting down to the last day of school is doing for me!


All my best to you,

Barbara

~~~~~~

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

Brenda Novak Silent Auction

Just a quick note for today's blog: I want to remind our readers that this month (May) author Brenda Novak is holding her annual silent auction to raise money for diabetes research. I'm sure most of you know at least one person who struggles with this disease. Brenda has done an incredible job raising awareness of the disease within the writing community.

"Last year, we raised nearly $280,000. I'm hoping to break that record this year. If we can come anywhere close, our grand total will reach over $1 million dollars--so this is a special year in many respects."-- Brenda Novak

Check out her auction at http://brendanovak.auctionanything.com/

Plug the name of your favorite author into the search box and see what items they're donating.

I'm offering a Cowboy Gift Bag--(above photo) two autographed books, a cowboy candle, spur paperweight, cowboy picture frame and a collection of Texas recipes (Item # 1717867).

If you're an aspiring writer be sure to review the list of publishers and their items up for bid--there's something for everyone.

If you're able, please support this worthy cause and help Brenda reach the million-dollar mark!

Marin

Dexter: Honorable Cowboy (July 2010)

Book #2 in The Cody's: First Family of Rodeo

http://www.marinthomas.com/

Time for Yourself

Today I'm headed to California for a much needed vacation. Yes, I'm packing my laptop and yes, I will work on my revisions. But still, it's a vacation from my real life. A girl's week. Visiting two different, but very special friends. One in Palm Springs and the other in Bakersfield. In Palm Springs, we plan to eat out, sit by the pool, and catch up on each other's lives since I was last there almost two years ago. I can't wait. Even her dogs are excited. LOL

Then I leave and meet my second friend for a couple days on the beach. Crank the sunroof open. Drive the Pacific Coast Highway. Sit for as long as we want and just listen to the sounds of the ocean, smell the salty air, absorb the breathtaking coastline. The beach helps me wind down and reprioritize more than any other thing I've found.

Julia Cameron wrote a book called The Artist's Way that many years ago, helped me reconnect with myself. Helped me learn to make time to replenish the well, even when life is spinning around me. To get in touch with my creative side. Trust me, it's long overdue.

I'm curious what helps others relax. What does it for you when you're stressed to the max? What do you do for yourself? I know CC Coburn talked about a spa day. Any other thoughts?

I Hate Revisions!

Phew! I feel better now that I’ve got that off my chest.
Feeling rather grumpy at the moment, hiding deep within my revision cave. Revisions on Book #3, Colorado Cowboy - about the oldest of the O’Malley brothers, Luke, the rancher - are due next Monday and the closer that day draws, the grumpier I get.
The grumpiness is entirely my own fault. I’m a procrastinator who will find any excuse not to sit at my computer and work through the detailed revision notes my lovely editor, Paula Eykelhof, has taken a great deal of time and pains over.
The procrastination stems from the fact that I’m over this story and want to move on to the next. Suddenly, the study needs tidying, the garden is overgrown and needs urgent attention, the house could probably do with being repainted (and while I’m at it, I might just completely renovate the bathroom as well). I haven’t seen friends for lunch in ages (so let’s go out to lunch every day for two weeks to avoid sitting at that keyboard). And don’t get me on the distraction of Solitaire’s Spider 4 Decks. Trying to maintain a perfect 100% score while attempting to complete this beastly game in under nineteen minutes, is the biggest timewaster ever!
It’s pathetic but true, I will do anything to avoid doing Revisions!
As the deadline draws ever nearer, I become more and more frustrated with myself and my inability to apply myself to this most important part of the publication process, instead of allowing myself to be distracted by minutiae .
It’s a classic Catch 22, I want to be done with this book, but in order to do that, I have to refine it, tidy it, fine-tune it to my editor’s satisfaction. But I’m a Sagittarian, easily bored, looking constantly for new adventures (ie. delving into the lives of my last two O’Malley brothers, Jack, the ex-priest and Adam the Fireman).
I resent the revision process with a vengeance bordering on downright loathing because it’s keeping me from exploring these two hunks and the women who tame them.
Plus, there’s that Jane Austen time travel story that’s demanding I write it, my Masters research paper to be completed, and several single title romantic comedies that I’m dying to finish writing. But, alas! Duty calls. And her name is, Discipline!
I love writing, love the creative process, love being lost within the story and bringing it to life. I could easily write a book in 2 weeks, so absorbed am I in getting it from brain to fingertips to keyboard. And when that’s done, I’m ready to move on to the next story.
In an ideal world, I’d be so mega rich that I could employ an anally retentive person to take care of what I consider to be all the boring bits about writing, while I was left to lie around on my pink sofa, swathed in a pink feather boa, clasping my dear little pink poodle to my pink bosom… (sound of stylus scraping across record).
Sorry, getting carried away with someone else’s fantasy there, but I think you get my point. The problem with this idealized vision is that the changes to the story my editor requires would be someone else’s changes and I, sequestered in my Writing Tower, would neither notice nor care that the story was no longer mine.
Which rather defeats the purpose of creating the story in the first place.
So, with another fantasy dashed by cold reality, I shall gird my loins, put nose to grindstone, grit my teeth, shoulder my responsibilities and finish those detested revisions!
Writing used to be so much more fun before I was published.

How do you feel about revisions and would you like to be my slave er… Revisionista!
(just kidding, sort of…)

I’m giving away a copy of Book #2 in The O’Malley men series, The Sheriff and the Baby, to anyone who comes up with a feasible plan to keep me chained to my keyboard until these revisions are finished.

Til next time, when I hope I’m in a better mood.
CC

He's Just Like... by Megan

Do you enjoy reading a book where the narrator describes a character by comparing him (or her) to someone famous? Or does that take you out of the story?

I'm participating in an online class in character development. (Okay, I'm on deadline and taking care of my mom on my days off the paying job, so I'm really just lurking.) The lesson for the past days was to name your main characters then find pictures of what they look like.

Now, I'm not a visual person. I don't do crafts, I can't see the hidden potential in a rock that will reveal a statue--to me, it's just a rock, a lump of clay, a bunch of paints and canvas. When it comes to writing, everything is in my head. This class with historical writer and good friend, Kimberly Killion, is a great exercise to expand my abilities with description, at which I su...suffer.

Problem is, when I look at early pictures of Brad Pitt, all I can think of is him now and the tabloid headlines. When someone recalls Rock Hudson being a heartthrob in the 50s and 60s, I just feel sad because he was gay and had to hide it and was probably a very unhappy person. And the list goes on. About the only handsome actor whose personal life or personality doesn't interfere is the late Paul Newman, who I understand to have been an excellent person.

This isn't what Kim is telling us to do, by the way, as she writes medievals and there were no TV or movie heros. I've just read this often, seen it being used as shorthand.

So...does name-dropping for comparison throw you? Does it take you out of the story to hear the hero looked like Mel Gibson or George Clooney? Or does it give you an instant visual, which is the intention?

Just curious, as I'll be starting a new story next month, and it'll be time to describe my people again.

Megan

Megan Kelly
www.megankellybooks.com

Two More Blast from the Past Recipes

Do recipes make you hungry? Sometimes they make me want to cook and other times, just eat. But I don't think I've ever been as hungry as these two Mockingbird babies. The nice, tall man installing our new gutters at the lake house in Mineola, TX discovered them in the arbor (in the photo I posted before, covered in coral and yellow trumpet flowers.) Aren't they the cutest little things? Kara Lennox also has a baby Mockingbird just outside her window.

Okay, but enough about baby birds. They don't need recipes and they'll eat just about anything wiggly presented to them by their parents. We tend to be a little more discriminating. Here are two more recipes I mentioned in the next Brody's Crossing book, tentatively titled Texan in Her Heart, which will be out in 2011.

Sausage Pinwheels

As told to Victoria Chancellor at a party in the 1980s

1 package crescent dinner rolls (makes 8 crescent rolls) Use regular or reduced fat, or generic.

1 package pork sausage (about 10 or 12 ounces) I use Jimmy Dean Reduced Fat Pork Sausage.

Preheat oven to temperature indicated on the crescent rolls. On a cutting board or clean flat surface, unroll the crescent roll dough trianges. Put two triangles together to form a rectangle. Push and work the seam so that it doesn't separate. You will eventually create four rectangles.

Separate pork sausage into four equal parts. Carefully pat and thin the sausage onto the dough rectangle. Leave a little room at the edges so the pinwheel can be rolled and joined together. Roll the rectangle so you have a long column that will create your pinwheels. Cover in waxed paper or plastic wrap and place in the freezer for about 10 to 15 minutes.

Remove from freezer. Using a sharp knife, cut the column into about 1/4 inch slices and place them on a sprayed cookie sheet. (I cover my cookie sheet with aluminum foil and spray that for easy clean up.) Place in preheated oven and bake for 10 -15 minutes, or per the directions on the package. The pinwheels should be crisp and browned but not overcooked and burnt. You just want to make sure the sausage has cooked all the way through. Serve warm or at room temperature. You will not have any leftovers!

Note: You can use other things to make pinwheels, such as ham slices, bacon, etc. It just needs to roll nicely. If using bacon, make sure your knife is really sharp and you've kept the pinwheel dough in the freezer until it's firm. Cheese does NOT work well in these.

Fudge Oatmeal Refrigerator Cookies

From Southern Living Best Recipes

2 cups sugar (Note: You can use less sugar, but they need some to be fudge-like.)

1/2 cup evaporated milk (NOT condensed milk)

2 T. cocoa

1 stick butter

1/2 t. vanilla

2 1/2 cups quick cooking oats

Combine first four ingredients in a saucepan. Heat and cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly, until heated and bubbly but not boiling. Remove from heat. Add vanilla and stir. Add oatmeal and mix thoroughly. Drop by teaspoonsful onto waxed paper on cookie sheets or other flat surfaces. Refrigerate. Ready to eat as soon as they don't burn your tongue! They will taste more like fudge if they are refrigerated until cool. Will keep in a container for days in the refrigerator.

I hope you enjoy the "Blast from the Past" recipes. I also hope they all stay in the finished version of the book! Happy reading, baking, and eating.

April Contest Winner

Congratulations to Gillian Layne--the winner of our April drawing!
Gillian, please contact Lisa Ruff and Lisa Childs to claim your prizes.

And don't forget--each month one or more Harlequin American authors gives away a book to a lucky winner. To be eligible to win all you have to do is post a comment on our blog. Your name will be entered into our monthly drawing and the winner is posted on the 2nd of the following month.

Happy Reading!
Marin

Beady Eyes Are Watching

Oh, the illusion of privacy. When my husband and I bought our house twenty years ago, it felt remarkably secluded, considering that it’s located in the middle of a housing development.

There’s a steep, roughly two-story-high slope behind the house, leveled into tiers that allow for gardening. At the top, large bushes screen the house behind and above us. Around the sides, rampaging pepper trees blocked the view of our other neighbors.

Our homeowners’ association maintains all the slopes in the development. Some are in public view, but even private ones like ours have to be carefully tended to avoid over watering that could cause slope collapse, bringing houses from the street behind us tumbling down. Yes, that happens in Southern California. And you thought we only had to worry about earthquakes and brush fires!

Recently, the sprinkler system on the slopes needed replacing. Also, much of the vegetation had become overgrown. So, after consulting with the homeowners, the development’s gardeners went to work.

Down came the pepper trees, along with most of the bushes. Suddenly, we could see our neighbors’ decks and balconies, and they could see us.

Removing so much shrubbery revealed that there are other eyes upon us as well.

The other day, around noon, my husband and I were out working in our vegetable garden when we spotted movement in a neighbor’s Asian fruit tree. The branches shook, and down came a raccoon. Giving us a disdainful glance, it waddled under the mesh fence dividing the properties, ran along the top of our slope, and climbed into another neighbor’s yard, where a tempting fig tree awaited.

Soon afterward, a squirrel came out near the first fruit tree, probably picking up what the raccoon had shaken down. Suddenly a lot of things made sense: the leaves eaten off my eggplants (squirrels love those). The gallon milk jug, pierced by a needle and filled with water, that I’d left overnight to deep-soak a tomato plant and found in the morning empty, crumpled and twisted (I’m guessing the raccoon discovered that it could squeeze the jug to shoot the water out faster, giving it a nice drink).

I grabbed the pepper shaker and gave my garden a liberal sprinkling to discourage the squirrels, and I’ve temporarily given up on the whole milk-jug watering scheme, although I may employ it during very hot days this summer. But once the tomatoes come in, I have no doubt beady eyes will be watching and waiting.

As for our human neighbors, the new plants around the property will grow tall after a while. Then I look forward to regaining the illusion of privacy.

Cue the Mist

Long before I started reading romance novels, I was a sucker for a romantic scene.

One of my favorites? When Richard Gere's character takes Julia Robert's character on a surprise date in Pretty Woman. He doesn't tell her where they're going, only that it's something that requires nice attire. She puts on a gorgeous gown, he shows up in a tux...and jets (literally) her off to San Francisco to see her very first opera.

Sigh.

But as neat as that scene was, I love the subtle scenes, too--where a look conveys everything you need to know about the depth of love between two characters.

So tell me, what's a movie scene that got you all starry-eyed? And what's one gesture that would make your heart pound or your eyes mist in real life?

~Laura

Every Woman Is A Heroine!

A woman asks little of love: only that she be able to feel like a heroine- Mignon McLaughlin
A dear friend of mine sent me this quote and I knew instantly this was a quote that described me and the reasons why I write. Romance, love and of course happy endings.
Now on to harder stuff; Blogging! To me this is a terrifying new concept. I know many of you savvy women blog like it’s second nature. To me it’s a whole a new world. As an author I have spent the last six years writing books so intensely that I have fallen behind the times. My mother has spoken to me about blogging, and as all children do, we just don’t listen. Shame on me. I have to admit I’m a little embarrassed.
Once you learn about blogging, you find out who blogs. Then who blogs well. For instance I have this amazing friend Kate who does my hair. If you look at my pictures, she is the magician behind the scenes, truly the only reason my hair looks good. Kate has two young children. She runs a beauty salon and also blogs. If you want a great laugh, I highly recommend following it!
http://apps.facebook.com/blognetworks/blog/domestic_goddess_and_co._smug_marrieds_and_2_little_chicks?ref=mf
My question now is, how do all of you have time? I’m absolutely amazed at the sheer genius so many women exude on their blogs. I just recently watched the movie, Julie and Julia. If you haven’t seen it, you’re missing an uplifting, moving and empowering show. It spoke to me as a writer in so many ways. First of all it gave me the courage to blog. The character of Julie who wants to be a writer and get published was utterly relatable. I have been there and let me tell you, it’s hard and it hurts. Julie portrayed how cathartic it is to write through a blog even if just one person hears your voice and that person happens to be you.
Then there’s Julia Childs! At Harlequin we need to write real life characters, not stereotypes or caricatures. Who would ever believe that a human being would be as fabulous as Julia Childs. Seriously, who says, “I love eating.” And she means it and isn’t ashamed of it at all.
On top of that, she makes fabulous comments like, “I love getting out of bed at six in the morning to go to school.” What a gift for her to love life that intensely. Of course the crux of the movie that utterly thrilled me as an author was when they offered to buy her book. Even better, she’s got paid! To do what we love is the greatest gift of all.
I know I am one of those lucky souls who gets to do my passion, but of course it’s not always easy. Bumps and jumps come along the way. Last week I had the privilege of being contacted by a local TV news anchor. He asked to interview my mother and me for his blog. As he spoke to me, he thought the story was big enough to go on the news that night. So mom and I scrambled to get our hair done, I bought a new suit, put my make-up on, all to find out there had been a murder in the city and our story got cut.
It made me think of Julie and the beouf bourguinonne she prepared for the Christian Science monitor and how they didn’t come because it was raining. She continued to persevere and so did I. Fortunately the TV anchor still thought our story was interesting and put us on his blog. Here is the link to our story.
http://oursouthvalley.com/?s=south+jordan+author
So to all you who read this, thank you for being interested in what I have to say. It’s a whole different kettle of fish to write fiction and definitely a lot easier. My hope is that all of you who read this blog will know your dreams can come true. Life throws curves, road blocks and walls, but if you persevere, anything can happen. Especially love!

Ciao,
Dominique Burton

Cooking from Memory

Victoria Chancellor's post a few days ago made me think of this funny little recipe book I have from 1973: Community Church Women Present—A COLLECTION OF FAVORITE RECIPES. It was put together as a fund raiser for the local church and cost all of a dollar-fifty. At the time, I’m sure it was a pretty penny to pay for these homey recipes. Now, this chance to travel back in time, food-wise, is invaluable.

The cookbook—bound at the top with a two-hole clip and covered with vinyl wallpaper—begins with a story written by Rafe Gibbs in 1953. I’ve never heard of the author. The piece has no title. I have no idea why it’s included since it doesn’t have a thing to do with cooking or food. It’s a summary of the life of one Dick Ferrell, one time blacksmith and up-and-coming prize-fighter. He left the fight circuit in 1914 to become a preacher, ministering to the lumberjacks in Northern Idaho for forty years. Someone must have liked it enough to type it up and insert it in the front of the book. I could probably find out why, but I’ve always been content to let the mystery lie. Don’t you think some things are better left that way, rather than be sullied by some prosaic explanation?

A variety of recipes follow this charming yarn. Some are my favorites: Chocolate Peppermint Creams, Three-Bean Salad, Dilly Casserole Bread. Others, I seldom use or have never even tried: Tater-Tot Casserole, Cucumber-Cream Salad, Celery Casserole Delight. There are at least five versions of meat loaf (including my mother’s which is baked with barbeque sauce and still my ‘gold standard’). Some of these dishes I remember from community potluck dinners or a meal at a school-friend’s home. I suspect a lot of them are still being made, passed down the generations, like mom’s meatloaf. The comfort food of our childhood.

Back at Christmas-time, when I was searching for the sugar cookie recipe that I always use, this recipe in particular caught my eye:

A Happy Home Recipe

4 cups love

2 cups loyalty

3 cups forgiveness

1 cup friendship

5 spoons hope

2 spoons tenderness

4 quarts faith

1 barrel laughter

Take love and loyalty, mix it together with faith. Blend in tenderness and forgiveness. Add friendship and hope, sprinkle abundantly with laughter. Bake it with sunshine. Serve daily with generous helpings

No one gets credit for this recipe, not like the others by Cheryl Gerdts or Grace Rule or Diane Lowry or other church ladies. Sandwiched between Amber Skillet Dinner and Golden Shrimp Puff, it is just another recipe. A good one, though. Worth whipping up and serving around on a regular basis. Comfort food of another kind, but just as nourishing.

Oh, and those sugar cookies? Here’s that recipe:

Best Ever Sugar Cookies by Finetta Smith

1 cup powdered sugar

1 cup white sugar

1 cup butter

1 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs, beaten

1 tsp vanilla

4 ½ cups flour

1 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp baking soda

Cream together butter and sugars. Beat in eggs, oil and vanilla. Sift flour together with baking soda and cream of tartar; stir into mixture until well blended. Refrigerate for one hour, then roll dough into balls and dip in cinnamon sugar. Flatten with a glass. Bake at 350 until lightly golden-brown. [Or you can use a cookie press. I load the press up, make a pan of cookies, then put the still-partially-filled press in a zip-lock and stick it back in the refrigerator until I want another fresh batch of cookies.]

Try them and let me know how they taste.

The Thrill of Discovery and Survival

I love the feeling of discovering a new author, a new series, a new TV show or new band. It's a little like falling in love -- the initial excitement, the all-consuming need to be with them all the time.

I'd say most, if not all, of us here have been excited about reading since we could make out words. There is nothing quite like discovering a new author, book or series that keeps us up reading way past when we should be calling it a night and getting some sleep. I've felt that way about the Harry Potter books, the Twilight books, Diana Gabaldon's Outlander books, Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games series, J.R. Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood. Now I can add Susan Beth Pfeffer's The Last Survivors series. I hadn't heard of this young adult series until I recently saw the third book, This World We Live In, at the bookstore on the recent releases shelf. The premise is that a giant asteroid hits the moon and knocks it closer to Earth, causing catastrophic climate change and lots of death. The first story, Life As We Knew It, is set in rural Pennsylvania and follows how a teenage girl's family copes with the aftermath of the collision. The second, The Dead and Gone, takes place during the same period, but it illustrates how a teenage boy and his siblings survive in New York City. I'm almost finished with the second book, so I'll be starting This World We Live In, in which the two families somehow cross paths.

I don't know why, but I've always been fascinated by survival stories -- Robinson Crusoe, Julie of the Wolves, The Swiss Family Robinson, The Hunger Games, Defiance (the WWII movie with Daniel Craig), The Day After Tomorrow. I'm interested in how people will survive if they're stripped down to their very base nature -- the need for food and water. Watching the news after big events like hurricanes and earthquakes gives us a glimpse that it doesn't take long for man to get back to that basic instinct for survival. All the niceties of civilized society go out the window when you're hungry and thirsty. But in spite of that, it's inspiring to see the triumph of the human spirit -- those stories of people surviving in earthquake rubble for more than a week, against all odds. The ones who are mauled by a bear or cougar and manage to drag themselves miles to a road. Man will do a lot to survive.

Do you like survival stories. If so, what are some of your favorites?

A Week Of Firsts

Ever have one of those days? One of those weeks?

Usually, when someone asks that question, there’s a negative connotation. But I’ve had a series of those days that folded themselves into one of those weeks…in the best of all possible ways. Starting with the release of my debut book for Harlequin American Romance last Tuesday. Walking into a book store and seeing The Officer’s Girl on the shelf was so exciting I grabbed the first sales clerk I saw and said, “This, this is my book!”

Poor woman. She obviously didn’t understand. It took another couple of tries before she realized I meant I’d written the book. Once she did, the joy spread until the next thing I knew, a voice came over the speaker announcing “an author” was in the building, and if anyone wanted to, they could come on over to the Romance section. And it was super when the clerk asked me to sign the copies of The Officer's Girl they had in stock.

I also participated in my first official book signing this week. And boy, what a book signing it was! Every new author should have nearly 300 eager fans show up and a staff to hand out tickets so attendees wouldn’t have to stand on line for hours. You probably already guessed not all those people were there to see me. And, much as I’d love to insist they were, you’d be right. The book signing kicked off the annual Washington Romance Writers’ Retreat. Held at Turn The Page Book Store Cafe in Boonsboro, MD, the other signers included the amazing Nora Roberts, Charlaine Harris, and Roxanne St. Claire.

For me, it was still a blast. Chatting with the attendees and being part of this event was such a fabulous experience, I’m eager to do it again. And, since I just completed my second Harlequin American Romance, maybe I'll be able to next year when Catch of a Lifetime is released.

Here's a photo of some of the crowd at Turn The Page.

Waiting for Babies

On Thursday on my blog, The Writer Side of Life, I posted a link to a great site created by Doug and Sheila Carrick, residents of Hornby Island off Canada’s west coast, and I thought I’d also share it here. Several years ago they set up a web cam above the nest of a pair of bald eagles on their property. This year the eagles have produced two eggs, and they are expected to hatch this weekend! Thanks to the Carricks, we get a bird’s eye view of the birth of these little eaglets.

Click here to visit the Hornby Island Eagle Cam and witness the birth of two baby bald eagles.

For more information about Doug and Sheila and the eagles, visit their website, The Eagles of Hornby Island.

To get an idea of what to expect, here's a photo of Hope, the first of last year's two babies. Aw!

Happy bird watching!

Until next time,
Lee

Firefighter Daddy (July 2010)

Kathleen Comes to Arizona

Last weekend I had a wonderful time at my local Romance Writers of America conference. My chapter always does a great job with the conference, but this year was a little more fun and exciting for me as my Harlequin American editor Kathleen Scheibling attended. It's always enjoyable for us authors to get to spend some quality time with our editors as well as a little social interacting :)

I picked her up at the airport on Friday (yes, I scrambled on Thursday to get the car washed). I was so paranoid about forgetting where I parked my car in the HUGE parking garage, I actually typed the info into my cell phone (two years ago when I picked up two editors at the airport, I DID forget where I parked and we wandered for 45 minutes ).

Saturday we sat together at lunch. That afternoon, we had our Harlequin panel workshop and it went well, I think. I did purchase a cd of the workshop as a souvenir!!

That's Kathleen on the far right, me next to her, Linda Style on my other side and Carrie Weaver on the far left. Both Linda and Carrie are Super Romance authors and members of my RWA chapter. That evening, we took Kathleen to the Westin Kierland Resort for dinner. I'd never been there before but I will definitely go back again one day. The place was gorgeous and the food amazingly good.

I ended the "editor intensive" weekend by having breakfast with Kathleen Sunday morning. And, yes, I did pitch a new series idea :)

This wasn't the first time I've met my editor, but it was certainly one of the best times I had with her. My only regret was that she didn't have an extra day to see the sights as she'd never been to Arizona before.

Cathy Mc

Blast From the Past Food in Brody's Crossing

Three weeks ago I finished the next book in my Brody's Crossing series, tentatively titled Texan in Her Heart. It's the story of a lost sister, Amanda Allen Crawford, who travels home to Texas and the Rocking C, and ends up finding more than she'd ever imagined. Not only does she fall in love (of course!) but she discovers a sense of community in the town where her mother lived for twenty years, her brothers were born and her father is buried. If you've read the other Brody's Crossing books, you'll recognize Troy Crawford from Temporarily Texan and Cal Crawford from An Honorable Texan as Amanda's big (and clueless) brothers. As always, my small town atmosphere is enhanced by my new community of Mineola, TX, where springtime is absolutely IN BLOOM! Here's the arbor leading to our front door.

And, since I missed posting the recipes for this month on the 4th due to wireless Internet issues, I'd like to also mention that she discovers Brody's Crossing is a place to eat. Big time. I didn't realize until after I'd finished the book that someone (usually the hero, Leo Casale) was always feeding her. You'd think she was a stray kitten! He takes her to Dewey's Steakhouse and Saloon and fixes her an authentic Italian dinner (thank you, Virginia Kantra, for the Bolognese sauce suggestion) at his condo. She dines with "the lunch ladies" at the cafe. They have a "blast from the past" going-away party for her at the Rocking C.

I thought I'd share some of the recipes the lunch ladies fix for the party. These might be familiar to you if you are "of a certain age."

• Velveeta Cheese/Rotel Tomato dip (in a Crock Pot, of course!)


• Macaroni Salad


• Meatballs with Chili Barbecue Sauce


• Sausage Pinwheels


• Peach Jello Salad


• Refrigerator Oatmeal Fudge Cookies
  

You probably have some of these recipes in your cookbooks, on recipe cards or bookmarked
online. If not, I'm going to share the ones I really love. Some of these are standards you
can easily look up. Some are so simple you don't really need a recipe!

Virginia Chancellor's Macaroni Salad

• 1 pkg elbow macaroni, cooked until soft (do not overcook!
• 1 large green pepper or more, to taste, cored and diced into small pieces
• 1 pkg Velveeta Cheese, cubed into 1/2 inch squares
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Miracle Whip
  
• Combine the first four ingredients in a large bowl. Add enough Miracle Whip to moisten
  everything but not so much that it becomes soggy. Refrigerate for several hours before
  serving so the flavors will blend. The Velveeta may get a little soft, but that's okay. The
  perfect macaroni salad for a hot Texas afternoon. Sometimes I even eat it for breakfast the next day!

Victoria Chancellor's Easy Meatballs

• 1 lb lean ground beef (I use 90% to 93% lean)
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 3 slices of bread, shredded or processed into crumbs, or saltine cracker crumbs
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Onion and garlic, minced fine, optional
• For Swedish meatballs, add 1/2 teaspoon of ground nutmeg and omit garlic
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and use non-stick spray.
  Mix all ingredients. Roll into small meatballs, about an inch or a little more in diameter, and
  place on cookie sheet. Bake for 20 -25 minutes until brown. For the best looking meatballs,
  turn halfway through cooking, but if you forget, that's okay. No frying! (Note: To increase
  recipe, just use the same proportions of 1 egg per 1 lb ground beef, and add enough crumbs to
  make them stick together.)

Chili-Barbecue Sauce for Meatballs

• 1 jar Heinz Chili Sauce and 1 jar sweet (not vinegary) barbecue sauce. I like K.C. Masterpiece.
  
  
• Mix together, heat, and add meatballs. Great in a Crock Pot. Will keep for days (refrigerated) if you have any left after the party!

Peach Jello Salad

My mother and then my mother-in-law loved this Jello salad straight from the 1960s or 1970s. If served as a salad, put it on a lettuce leaf for a nice presentation.

• 2 small packages Peach flavored Jello
• 1 large (8 ounce) package cream cheese
• 2 small jars apricot baby food or about 4 ounces of frozen peaches, blended
• 1 large can crushed pineapple (Do not use FRESH pineapple!)
• 1 large container Cool Whip
• 
  You will need a 9 x 13 casserole dish or two 8 x 8 dishes. Drain pineapple and save juice,
  then add water to equal 2 cups. Bring water and Jello to a boil. Beat in cream cheese. Cool.
  Add fruit (baby food or peaches, pineapple) and allow to congeal slightly in refrigerator. Stir in Cool Whip. Refrigerate until firm. Serves a lot of people as either a salad or a dessert.

I'll share the Oatmeal Fudge Refrigerator Cookie and sausage pinwheel recipes later. Writing
about all this food has made me hungry! Happy reading ... and cooking.

Clueless

I'm at a total loss this morning about what to blog about. Several things have gone through my mind, but nothing seems to stick or last much longer than one or two sentences. It must be spring fever. Or maybe it's just my brain taking a nap after meeting a string of deadlines. So instead of trying to make sense of much of any one thing, I'm going to list some of those things that have danced through my mind.

Did you know that April begins on the same day each year as July, and in Leap year it's the same as January?

The HAR covers have been fantastic! As fantastic as the stories inside!

Signs in my office:

• Nobody is born published
• PASSION: A powerful force that cannot be stopped
• SOMEDAY MY COWBOY WILL COME (given to me a week ago by one of the members in our local writers' group)

I spent a wonderful morning plotting with three friends and wish we could get together more often, if only for the company.

It seems as if April Fool's Day was only a couple of days ago, yet the month is already more than half gone.

Thank goodness Tax Day is done for another year!

If I could do this a week from today, I could blog about the local Renaissance Fair, which I love attending.

People who can't think of blog topics shouldn't be blogging. :)

Have a wonderful rest of the weekend!

Spring Cleaning Philosophy

Yep, it's that time of year again. You've heard all the "definitions" of spring cleaning:heavy duty, top-to-bottom cleaning--carpets, windows inside and out, blinds, draperies, sorting through closets, basements, attics and garages--all this in addition to the traditional chores of dusting, scrubbing toilets, showers and kitchens. Most of us understand and appreciate that the meaning of this yearly event is associated with "spring" due to warmer weather and the idea that spring signals renewal and rebirth.

The older I become the less interested I am in rebirth and renewal--at least when it comes to my home. One afternoon while I was searching the Internet for cleaning "shortcuts" I came across the following spring-cleaning philosophies.

Spring Cleaning Philosophy #1

from YOU Magazine www.allaboutnews.com

Spring is here and it's time to give your home a deep cleaning. There are two roads you can go down. The first one is paved with loathing and complaints. Needless to say, it is not a very fun road to travel. Chores seem to take longer to complete, and by the end of the day, your back hurts worse than ever.

The second road is one that involves taking a slightly different look at the task at hand. Spring is a very symbolic time of year. From the beginning, it's always been associated with starting anew. If you think of spring cleaning in somewhat the same way, your attitude in terms of doing it may actually change for the better.

Think of how good it will feel to not only have a very clean home, but also one that's organized and clutter-free. At the same time, think about how much easier it's going to be to perform any subsequent cleaning throughout the remainder of the year. It may actually result in a renewed love of the space in which you live. Believe it or not, a good spring cleaning can be as cathartic

and invigorating as a move into a new home.

Spring Cleaning Philosophy # 2

www.frontiernet.net

I don't do windows because--I love birds and don't want one to run into a clean window and get hurt.

I don't wax floors because--I am terrified a guest will slip and get hurt then I'll feel terrible (plus they might sue me).

I don't mind the dust bunnies because--They are very good company, I have named most of them, and they agree with everything I say.

I don't disturb cobwebs because--I want every creature to have a home of their own.

I don't spring clean because--I love all the seasons and don't want the others to get jealous.

I don't put things away because--My husband will never be able to find them again.

I don't do gourmet meals because--When I entertain I don't want my guests to stress out over what to make when they invite me over for dinner.

I don't iron because--I choose to believe them when they say "permanent press."

I don't stress much on anything because--"A Type" personalities die young and I want to stick around and become a wrinkled up crusty ol' woman!"

Remember--A clean house is a sign of a broken computer.

Okay, I admit that spring-cleaning philosophy #2 sounds really appealing! So...what kind of spring-cleaning philosophy do you subscribe to?

Marin

Dexter:Honorable Cowboy

Book #2 The Codys: First Family of Rodeo

www.marinthomas.com