Christine Rimmer, Late to the Party...

Yep. I'm late getting here today. Once a month, every fourth Tuesday, I blog here on Tote Bags.

I know that. I plan on it. I do. I have calendars, after all. I keep schedules. I keep track of where I'm supposed to be and when.

Too bad, in this case, I put my reminder to post here on my four-month dry-erase planner and then, er, well, somehow...I erased it. How could that have happened? No clue. And yet, most annoyingly, it did.

But anyway, I'm here now. A little frazzled, because, being way too anal for my own good, I hate to be late anywhere....

What shall we talk about?

Heroes are always fun. I think I've mentioned before here that I like to "cast" my heroes and heroines. Must be my theater background. Before I settled down to write romance, I was a mostly unemployed actress. To the left? His name's Raoul Bova--in real life, I mean. He's the visual inspiration for my current hero, who happens to have amnesia.

No kidding. In the opening of this book, my hero has no idea who he is or where he came from or how he happened to be wandering in a blizzard in the Sierras with his body battered, a wound on his forehead--and wearing a lightweight jacket, a cashmere sweater, expensive dress shoes and summer-weight slacks. Luckily, before he passes out and almost dies, he will stumble upon one Tessa Jones, throwing dishes at a cedar tree and cussing out some guy named Bill.

The book is called The Stranger and Tessa Jones and will be coming out next January. I'm really having fun with it. This is my first amnesia story. I am, you might say, an amnesia virgin--creatively speaking, I mean.

I'm loving it as my hero gets to be someone totally different than the man he is in his "real" life. He gets to discover love as a kinder, gentler sort of guy.

Yes, the alpha male within will surface. And it's the nature of the amnesia story that the truth of the character will out in the end. But in the meantime, what a journey he and this woman named Tessa will share.

I do enjoy writing--and reading--the classic plots. Marriage of convenience, secret baby, single dad, mistaken identity, baby-on-the-doorstep. And amnesia. Love'em all.

How about you? Have a favorite classic plot? Love the classic stories? Hate them?

Whatever your preferences, here's to a happy month of great reading. I'll be back in four Tuesdays. Ready to party. On time!

--Christine