Present Time Already?! by Natalie Anderson

Christmas Bauble byJannoon028, freedigitalimages.net

I don't know about your part of the world, but where I am the Christmas stuff is already everywhere in the stores. The advent calendars have been in the supermarkets for a while (that chocolate is going to be OLD come December, right?). Now I'm a Christmas fan - I love the decorations and the festive atmosphere and every year I tell myself I'm going to get organised. But every year it happens the same--frantic trips to an insanely chaotic mall on Christmas Eve for those last minute, mad purchases.
But still, I'm going to TRY again this year to make it that bit smoother. I've already got a Christmas card list going (aiming to send them by the end of November) and I'm planning the kid's things - but really, it's slow going.
In New Zealand it is Spring and that means it's A&P season (Agricultural and Pastoral fairs) - we're talking sheep and cow judging and horse events, Highland Dancing, Ghost Train rides and Ferris Wheels. Not to mention Candy Floss (I think you guys might call that 'cotton candy'). It's a lot of fun. I've been to two shows in the last week - one a traditional A&P show and one a 'Christmas Country Fete' - it was pretty posh and the purpose of the fete is to enable you to 'do all your Christmas shopping in one day' - it's on a school day so there are no kids hanging about and there isn't a Ferris Wheel. It was a gorgeous Fete - fabulous produce and artisan products. I found myself a lovely skirt and some delicious Turkish Delight--but I didn't buy any Christmas presents for anyone else! I think I'm going to have to try a little harder really!!!

So what about you - have you started writing Christmas cards already? Are you one of those incredibly organised people who got all the Christmas presents in the mid-year sales!? If you have any great tips on getting ready for the fun season - please do share them!

And don't forget to pick up a present for yourself from Amazon right now - my novella BARGAIN IN BRONZE (the first of the FLIRTING TO WIN trilogy) is available for free there right now!

Happy Christmas planning!!!

Best wishes,
Natalie

Winning the Gold - with Natalie Anderson

FLIRTING TO WIN is my novella anthology that released last week with Entangled publishing. This trilogy was such fun to write.  It’s all about the game of love—how we can meet the ‘one’ when and where we least expect it (or perhaps even want it!).

There are three stories in the collection—Bargain in Bronze, Seduction in Silver and Gamble in Gold.

As you can see, the trilogy titles are a play on prize medals—bronze, silver and gold. I once read somewhere that a study had been done and researchers discovered that bronze medallists were actually happier with their medals than silver medallists—that the silver medallists had that ‘if only I’d pushed that bit harder I could have gotten gold’ feeling, whereas the bronze medallists were more ‘I’m so glad I came third and actually got a medal, because I could have gotten fourth!’

Really, winning a medal of any colour is an amazing achievement. And the heroines in my three stories are most definitely winners! Because Jack, Eduardo and Luke—the three heroes, are all very fit, fine and fun!

Here’s the blurb to Seduction in Silver…

A limited engagement...

For two weeks Nina Breslin had passed an enticing stranger when catching the Baker Street Tube to go to work. So utterly sexy, and enticingly foreign, she figures he's eons out of her league--until the day he makes an outrageous proposal.

Dr. Eduardo Ruiz needs a break from the heart-breaking reality of his job. So when he finally introduces himself to the vivacious woman he's been admiring, he quickly realizes they could help each other with their sticky situations...and have great fun in the process.

They agree to an outrageous plan. For one night only, she'll masquerade as his girlfriend to appease his overzealous family members, and he'll accompany her to meet with her ex-fiancé's friends, pretending to be her attentive lover. Can they play by their own rules, or will they succumb to the pull of seduction?

 Bargain in Bronze is available separately for only 99c, or you can scoop up all three novellas in the one FLIRTING TO WIN anthology for 2.99 at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

I’d love to give away a copy of the full anthology to one commenter today—just let me know, have you ever won any kind of medal? If so, for what? And yes, medals awarded in kindergarten definitely count!

(Entries are open to anyone in the world, the prize is an ebook via Amazon and will be drawn on Friday August 31. Please check back to this post to see if you won!)

EDITED TO ADD: The giveaway is now closed. Thanks so much for all your comments - the winner drawn is yadkny - please email me, natalie(at)natalie-anderson(dot) com so I can send you your prize!

With very best wishes!

~Natalie

One of those wonderful, rare books... by Natalie Anderson

One of my stories is getting another outing this month and I'm so thrilled that it is this particular one.

For me writing a novel is usually a long rollercoaster ride. Sometimes it feels like the words won't ever come, some days it flows. And then, very occasionally, there's a book that just pours out.

Lorenzo and Sophy's story was the fourth (and final) book in my contract for that year - so the story idea had been percolating in the back of my mind for several months. But then I had a deadline crunch - a BIG crunch. I had half the story down, but needed to get the rest written asap. Fortunately, my husband swung into action and took a couple of days off work to mind the kids and give me an extra long weekend to try to get it down.

I spent all four of those days locked in our bedroom at the far end of the house - sitting up in bed with my laptop, drinking far too many caffeine laced energy drinks and generally going feral. Hubby and the kids would throw food in every now and then, sometimes come in for a hug but for the most part knew to stay far, far away. But by some miracle, I just wrote and wrote and wrote - finishing the story in that long weekend. And loving it. It was all just there - and all I had to do was write it down.

To make things even more miraculous, that's the only book I've had go through without any revisions/edits whatsoever :)

In the UK, Australia and New Zealand Lorenzo and Sophy's story was sold as UNBUTTONED BY HER MAVERICK BOSS while in North America it was sold as REBEL WITH A CAUSE. And in July it is available again in Australia and New Zealand as part of the Bestselling Authors Collection - that also features stories by Trish Morey, Day LeClaire, Brenda Jackson and Ann Voss Peterson. So if you missed out first time, you can get the whole collection! You can get it from Amazon too (I'm not sure if UK and North American readers can buy it online - but fingers crossed!).

I hope you enjoy reading this one as much as I loved writing it.

Best wishes,
Natalie

Food for Love by Natalie Anderson

There's an old adage that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach... whether it's true or not I don't know, but I can say that for me, food is one of life's great pleasures - yes, we women are allowed to enjoy our food every bit as much as men, right?! ;)

And being the chief cook and bottle washer in a family of six, having someone else cook a delicious dinner for me is such a treat - it's more than a meal, it's a gift.

Roxie, the heroine in my May US release FIRST TIME LUCKY?, has been the chief cook and bottle washer for years. For her food has been medicinal more than pleasurable as she tried to help her Grandfather through his illness. And she didn't just cook the food - she grew it. It became a lifestyle and a part of her identity. But now she's about to embark on a new phase in her life - she has a six point checklist and and airplane ticket... But first, there's something she wants from her new neighbour. Only he, Gabe, wants a few things himself... and one night he pushes to make Roxie see that he's more than just another item for her 'to do'.

Roxie eats veggie, so she knows that for Gabe to have made her a meal from scratch has taken real time and effort. It's the kind of effort that thrills her, but also scares her...

“Wow,’ she said, taking in the laden plates on the outdoor dining table. “Not sure the Bolly is good enough for this.”                       

“Don’t get too effusive, it’s only burger and chips.”            

“Not your average burger and chips.” They were home-made bean patties, ripped-from-the-plant salad and freshly dug new potatoes cooked then crisped up something yummy. Her mouth watered, her appetite suddenly screaming. “You cooked all this?”  

“I’m a single man, living alone,” he drawled. “You didn’t think I could cook?”             

“But it’s...”             

“Veggie, I know. Not bad for a beef farm boy, huh?” He popped the cork and poured the champagne into two glasses – frowning when that was enough to empty the bottle.             

She picked up her fork and took a bite of the patty poking out from the toasted roll. Oh, wow. “You really made this from scratch?”             

“Your amazement is insulting.”             

She chuckled, a trickle of warmth flowing back into her chilled body. “I’ve never met anyone who makes veggie burgers like these. From scratch. Not even me.”             

He pulled his phone from his pocket and swiped the screen a few times. “Okay, I got the recipe online. Here.”             

She angled her head to read the page he’d pulled up. “The Heganator?” She didn’t just giggle, she squealed. “Hegan?”             

“Yeah, cool recipes for the hot vegan male,” he turned the phone back to study it oh, so intently. Then he peered over the top of the phone, eyes twinkling. “I think it’s really written by a woman. Apparently hegans like burgers and barbecues.”             

“You’re hot but you’re not a hegan,” she said, almost all her old flirt tone back.             

“But I can cook like one on occasion.”             

“It is amazing. I mean that in a good way,” she looked at him and her teasing smile died. “Thank you.”             

Her heart was beating too hard. She couldn’t remember when someone else had cooked dinner for her. When someone had gone to so much trouble and thought. Someone who bothered to understand what she preferred to eat and not eat. Certainly not her lame ex-boyfriend. The joke died from his eyes too – leaving them warm and gentle and so deep...             

She dropped her knife so she had the excuse to break away from that acute, wordless communication. Surely she was reading the wrong messages. It wasn’t caring she was supposed to see in him, it was supposed to be all carnal. But for a weird second there everything had gone upside down and inside out.

If you had a handsome hero on hand to prepare a lavish feast just for you, what would you have him make?!

The Unconventional Wedding - by Natalie Anderson

Wedding Accessories image by Rosen Georgiev,
http://www.freedigitalimages.net

I had the great privilege of going to a wedding in the weekend. I love going to weddings - such happy, fun, exciting occasions! It is such an honour to be there and celebrate with the happy couple :)

I'm always fascinated and delighted to see how people stamp their individuality on their weddings. Some might have a very original wedding dress - the most unusual, and frankly gorgeous, wedding frock I've seen was a purple one - a big full skirt in a luscious purple with flowers hand-painted around the bottom of it. It was stunning!

Others, like the wedding in the weekend, have a bridesman instead of a bridesmaid (and a groomsmaid instead of a groomsman); they might have music that reflects their taste, or the bride might make her entrance in the side-car of a motorcyle...

Then there's the venues - from church to garden to sports stadium to tropical-island-beach. I know couples who've gone to Vegas and given that I live in New Zealand, this wasn't a 'spur-of-the-moment' decision! Others have gotten hitched on the top of a mountain having been helicoptered in.

Wedding Cake image by Rosen Georgiev.
http://www.freedigitalimages.net

When I got married I was a traditionalist - it was the old stone church, big white dress and Rolls Royce to ride in for me. I loved it. But I confess I had a few moments of a 'beach elopement' fantasy going!

Now, as a romance writer, I ADORE getting to dream up the weddings for my heroes and heroines. Not that many of my books end up with a marriage - often its an engagement, or a declaration of commitment, but that doesn't stop me from envisioning what their wedding might be like. So much fun! In one book where I did describe the wedding, I had it as a surprise - the hero carts the heroine off for a weekend and it turns out he's organised the whole wedding (and it's actually a fairly traditional one) - and she's thrilled because she's always done all the 'organising' for everyone else, and she's very happy in this case she didn't have to! She could just enjoy it.

But I do love to gawp at weddings - if I'm out on the weekend and spot a ribboned car, then I'm rubbernecking to try to catch a glimpse of the bride! And I love it when you see something unique, or a twist on convention that reflects something about the happy couple...

So, to be in the draw to win a copy of FIRST TIME LUCKY? comment below and let me know some of the most unique or unconventional things you've seen at weddings!


EDITED TO ADD: the draw is now closed and the winner is Chrisbails! Thanks so much for sharing wedding stories with me everyone! :)

I'll draw a random winner from the commenters on Wednesday 21 March and edit the post to let you know!

USA TODAY bestseller Natalie Anderson writes fun, frisky, feels-good contemporary romance for Harlequin Mills & Boon and Entangled. With twenty books published, she’s also been a Romantic Times Award nominee & a finalist for the R*BY (Romantic Book of the Year). She lives in Christchurch, New Zealand with her husband, four children and what feels like a million ducks.

Find out more at her website - and be sure to sign up to her newsletter while there, as she has subscirber only treats on offer! She's also on Twitter and Facebook.

MELT with me - by Natalie Anderson

Antarctica has always fascinated me. I live in Christchurch - where both New Zealand and the US have Antarctic programs based and I often see the big planes being loaded up to go down to the ice. There are frequently stories in the local paper about flights resuming after winter, interesting visitors to the bases and so on.  

Then, a couple of years ago, I read an article that made me sit up and laugh. It reported the number of condoms being shipped down to one of the bases - to last them the year. 16,500 condoms?! For a base that had a winter population of about 130 people?! Not bad!!!

A Hagglund (All Terrain Vehicle) used in an
Antarctic Experience tour
 in Christchurch, New Zealand

And that was a couple of years ago, so I'm guessing the number has gone up since ;)

(And okay, the visitor numbers drastically increase in the summer season). 

Then there were whispers of a girl-on-girl jelly wrestling event (apparently the organiser got sent back North after that) and with events like the mid-winter ice plunge, and the naked run around the South Pole and the 300 club and the fact that they advise you to bring some fancy and/or formal dress with you?! Well, you begin to get the impression that it's not all microscopes and penguin monitoring! 

And it's that aspect of life on the ice that really got me thinking about a story. It's such an artificial environment - the residents (a combination of scientists and support crew) all live in small bases perched on the edge of the ice. There are no kids, or pets, or particularly old people. There's either eternal sunshine or nothing but night... so what do those people do for a few laughs or to keep the mood light when they're working so hard and for such long hours? 

The kind of person who's compelled to go exploring or helping out in such hostile environment is a fascination too. Why do they go? What is it that calls to them? I love to think it's an unbelievable sense of adventure and desire to do something worthwhile...

It was this mix of thought that helped form the idea for my new novella, MELT. I wanted to write a romantic story that celebrated that fascinating environment, with a worthy hero and heroine who were all iced up themselves and needed to find each other...

MELT is released today(!!!) and you can grab a copy now via Entangled, Amazon, and you can get more info from my website.

When two frozen hearts collide…

Emma Reed closed her heart to love years ago after a lifetime spent getting kicked around foster homes and bad relationships. Now she's on a mission to prove she deserves her recent award to paint a mural for a research base in Antarctica. Nothing and no one is going to get in her way.

After months working in recovery zones around the world, Hunter Wilson planned to escape everything this holiday season by rebuilding a lab at the Kiwi Research Base. Alone. No to family, no to fun. It’s isolation not intimacy he’s aching for. But when he sees the determined artist, that ache becomes an urge – after all, shouldn’t someone show her what two people can do with twenty-four hours of brilliant sunlight?

In the coldest place on earth, even the most frozen hearts can melt.


Wishing you all the very best for a safe and happy festive season!!!


~Natalie

The Kindness of Strangers - Natalie Anderson

As many of you will know, the romance community is mourning the loss of our wonderful, talented Sandra Hyatt. Sandra died suddenly after taking ill during the Romance Writers of New Zealand annual conference. Over at the LoveCats blog today, several of us have posted tributes to Sandra - if you would like to read them, or share your thoughts, that would be lovely.

I had been at the conference and had the privilege of spending a wonderful hour late on Friday night with Sandra and some of her closest friends. I still can't believe she took ill so quickly from then.

On Sunday I was at the airport, my boarding call being announced when I got the call from another friend to say that Sandra had passed on. Almost the last to board the plane, with no tissues in hand to mop the streams, the other passengers averting their eyes, I was a mess.

And I felt sorry for the young woman I was seated next to - I think most of us are uncomfortable with raw emotion in public places. Inside you feel pained for the person, but there's often not a lot you can do. You don't know what to say.

But this young woman was amazing. She didn't bury her head in a magazine, she didn't look away, instead she looked at me, with open body language and a calm expression. I apologised and made a brief explanation. And she waited.

So I ended up talking. She asked easy, gentle, interested questions. We talked that entire flight - I told her about Sandra. We shared earthquake stories. She told me about her life, her partner, her work. I got to a point where I could breathe again. I mopped up - frequently. I even laughed. She got me through a really rough hour. And I am so grateful to her. She was so very kind.

Somewhere in Christchurch there's a lovely young woman named Bianca. To her, I say thank you.

And my sincerest condolences to Sandra's family and those closest to her. She was a wonderful woman who is greatly missed.

Shhhh, don't tell anyone but I bought another cookbook...

If you ever wanted to know,
the 'Edmonds Cook Book'
is one of New Zealand's
iconic recipe collections.

My mother-in-law buys books on interior design. You know the ones - they show you how simple and effective it is to put together a collection of wooden spoons in an old glass jam jar, or a pile of interesting shells in a pretty white bowl... she has lots of those books. All about creating a calm, inviting, relaxing space. And she can do that 'collection of interesting things' really nicely. I can't. I just have piles of junk, books and papers everywhere and anywhere.

I like looking at her design books - but honestly, both my husband and I have a 'maximalist' approach to design rather than chic minimalism.

So in terms of lifestyle books, my weakness is cookbooks. I had to discover my inner kitchen diva quite early when I became vegetarian in my teens and wanted to cook my own meals. My first was success was pasta. A wonderful dancer from big-city Sydney told me to "put it in a pot and boil it, darling" - it was a revelation! And from such embarrassingly simple beginnings, a passion was born.

Not to mention a collection. Baking books, breakfast, dessert books, soup books, tomato books, vegetarian books... When I was traveling in my twenties, my souvenir of choice was a  recipe book of national cuisine for each country we visited - no matter if it wasn't vegetarian. it was finding one in English that was the trouble! But oh SO worth it! Traveling, for me anyway, is so much about the food! And having my collection now takes me back to those places and the fun we had there...

Of course, four kids later and there's not so much overseas travel happening at the moment. So for a while my collection hasn't grown. But a diet tweak a few months ago revived my needs and I'm back in the game!

My ideal cook book would be hard cover, with a colour picture for each recipe, easy to read font and with cute but insightful commentary for each recipe... because sometimes there's nothing more relaxing for me than to sit in bed late at night when I'm tired, just flicking through yummy recipes and feeling like I'm having an informal lesson with some funky, super-talented chef...

... My husband doesn't get it. He just cannot see how 'reading recipe books' can be fun... but cookbooks are like children's picture books for me - pretty to look at, with lots of useful, entertaining stuff as well.

So what about you?! What would be your relaxing picture book of choice - would it be interior design, gardening, cookery or what?!?

Natalie Anderson adores a happy ending, which is why she always reads the back of a book first - just to be sure. Along with happy endings, she loves peppermint filled dark chocolate, pineapple juice and extremely long showers. She lives in Christchurch, New Zealand with her gorgeous husband and four fabulous children.
If, like her, you love a happy ending, be sure to come and say hi on www.facebook/authornataliea and on Twitter @authornataliea, or her website/blog:www.natalie-anderson.com.

Incurring the Wrath of the Mummy!!! - with Natalie Anderson

So as I mentioned last month, we’ve moved back to the city that literally rocks - Christchurch. We’ve left what books we did bring in boxes, no point in putting them out on bookcases when a decent aftershock will only make them fall out! Thanks so much for your book culling comments too – the winner from that is Scarlet Wilson! Scarlet, please email me at natalie(at)natalie-anderson(dot)com and I can get the book into the post for you!

So we’re settling in, the move has brought some little challenges but it’s really pretty ok. My biggest effort has gone into settling the children – especially the elder two into school. Here in New Zealand the norm is to take a cut lunch from home. My daughter takes a ‘no-wrap’ container with mini containers inside. The son uses a stainless steel tiffin that is the cutest contraption ever (he loves how it all stacks together and has a cool closing device).

He likes sandwiches. She hates them. I do what I can to accommodate preferences. But I noticed that in the first week or so of the new school, neither of them were eating much.

Cue the mummy-alarm-bells!!!


Not eating lunch must been some kind of anxiety, or lack of time, or some kind of problem... The dreaded New School Nerves?


What’s a mother to do?


Well I went to the shop and bought a number of treaty things, anything to tempt them. Worked pretty well for the daughter, but the boy was still coming home with untouched sandwiches.


And then I thought hard about that child. One of his current interests is ancient Egypt and mummification. He likes the whole promise of the apocalypse if you open the hidden burial chambers and all that fun, ghoulish stuff. So, relating that back to the uneaten lunch? I decided to threaten him. I wrapped the sandwiches in the white paper and scrawled across the top in permanent marker:

Eat these or face the curse of the Mummy!


Pretty simple. I drew a bat in the corner (I have no idea if there are bats in Egyptian chambers, but I figured it gave it a suitably spooky look). And guess what?

The sandwiches got eaten.

Now any nice parenting blog will tell you that kids like messages in their lunchboxes – you can even buy premade lunchbox messages which is pretty cute. But to my mind, store bought kind of takes the fun out of it!  Surely no child wants the same message. My kids are different – with different senses of humour, different needs – the eldest is the more anxious one, the worrier, nervous about who she’s going to hang with for that never-ending lunch hour. So she gets the sweet messages, the ones where I write something to boost her mood – just that I love her, or am proud of her. The boy is more laid back, has a wacky sense of humour and a fantasy-rich mind. So he gets the curses.

I did make one mistake though – when I labelled the pack as ‘Baboon Snot Sandwiches: Eat Them or Else’.

He didn’t eat them. Because they sounded ‘gross’.

And here was me thinking that was the point! Clearly I was wrong. However the one where if he 'didn’t eat it his toes would fall off’ - that got eaten. So we seem to be working out the right kind of threats and curses. I’ve had to stretch out from plagues of locusts and armies of undead... And of course, now coming up with a Mummy Curse every day is becoming a bit of a challenge – usually I write fun and flirty books for grown-ups, not middle grade ghosty stories!!! 


But as it happens, I do have one book about to come out where I had the chance to write some truly wicked messages... Dating and Other Dangers is all about a guy who gets named and shamed by several anonymous wenches on a dating reputation website, he hunts down the web-mistress, takes one look at her and challenges her to three dates with him to prove it was all libel...

So the book is based around those three dates and their respective blog wars about it – and yes, there are some mean messages and curses hurled on those blogs!

This book was such a fun one to write – I think the most fun for me ever.... I guess I have a love of the evil curses as much as my son!

So I’ve a challenge for you now – in the comments, leave a Mummy Curse that I can put in the boy’s lunch box and I’ll put you in the draw to win a copy of DATING AND OTHER DANGERS!

(Winner will be drawn 24 June and I’ll edit this post so you know!)

Edited to add: The winner is Pat Cochran! Pat, please email me at natalie(at)natalie-anderson(dot)com and I'll get your copy into the post for you. Thanks so much everyone!


Natalie Anderson adores a happy ending, which is why she always reads the back of a book first. Just to be sure. Along with happy endings, she loves peppermint filled dark chocolate, pineapple juice and extremely long showers. Not to mention  spending hours teasing her imaginary friends with dating dilemmas. She tends to torment them before eventually relenting and offering – you guessed it, a happy ending. She lives in Christchurch, New Zealand with her gorgeous husband and four fabulous children.
If, like her, you love a happy ending, be sure to come and say hi on www.facebook/authornataliea and on Twitter @authornataliea, or her website/blog: www.natalie-anderson.com.

Culling the book collection - with Natalie Anderson

In two weeks we're moving house for the third time in less than three years. It's not so bad this time, we have professional packers coming in to box everything up and truck it for us. So all I have to do before they walk in the door is declutter.

Some stuff is easy to get rid of - the toys the kids have outgrown, the clothes I've outgrown (LOL), the things that are broken and chipped, the old school uniforms...

But some things are SO much harder!

I'm sure this won't surprise you, but we're a book family. We have a TON of books. We all have at least one big bookcase each in our bedrooms (there are six of us) plus extras in the lounge and dining room. Added to that I have books in crates out in the garage. The copies of my own books are kept in boxes under my bed and in crates in my wardrobe and cupboards above. There are books everywhere.

Even worse, half our library is in storage! That first move we put bookcases and a ton of books into a lock-up. So we have those to come back to as well. Even though I haven't even seen those books for two and a half years, I know I can't bear to part with any of them. We tried that before putting them away in the first place! And we're going back to our home-town so those books will be coming out....

I've tried to thin the children's books now my youngest (the twins) are coming up five and ready for school... but of course, all those lovely little picture books with a single line on each page are perfect for emergent readers... so I didn't donate many at all.

So, clearly I need some help. How do you decide which books you simply HAVE to keep? How do you manage a spiraling collection?

In order to help me cull my collection even just a little, I'd love to give away a copy of my R*BY finalist book, HOT BOSS, BOARDROOM MISTRESS to someone who can give me their best 'moving house' advice!

With very best wishes,
Natalie

Got Your Game Face On? - by Natalie Anderson

pic by Salvatore Vuono
 http://www.freedigitalphotos.net

It's the school holidays again here in New Zealand and Autumn has kicked in with a vengeance. In fact, it feels colder than winter at the moment! As an attempt to keep the kids entertained, I've hauled out the board games. I've been playing Snakes & Ladders with the four year old twins (they have a tendency to ignore the snakes altogether) and I've been playing some Candyland too - also Bingo and Monopoly with the older two.

But my favourite board game is perhaps the most famous board game of all - Chess - the game of kings. I love the challenge of it - the strategy, the thinking ahead... By the way, I'm absolutely hopeless at it, but that's beside the point! I pit my wits against my six year old and he wins every time (ok, I might maybe let him) ... but I like that you can have a game go on for ages and (because as I've already confessed, I'm pretty useless) have no idea how I'm going to get him...

I think chess has a mixed image in public perception - there's that whole genius geek angle (so not us) but I once read a newspaper brief about a love triangle at an international chess tournament - two young men came to fisticuffs at a nightclub after the day's play over one of the female players... that story made me smile and frankly is perfect fodder for the romance writer - I love that those 'geeks' were getting on down at a nightclub and letting emotions overrule any Spock-like tendencies they might stereotypically be supposed to have!!!

And chess frequently features in the flicks - the ultimate hero, Humphrey Bogart,  plays chess in Casablanca. It's in sci-fi movies (2001 A Space Odessey); kid's flicks (Aladdin; The Addams Family; Harry Potter), comedies (Ace Ventura Pet Detective - which also has a great example of a continuity error involving the chess board!), and of course, there are all those movies about chess and players themselves (like Searching for Bobby Fischer). But the best chess scenes to my way of thinking (that would be the romance writer way) in flicks are those sensual ones - the most famous one in the original Thomas Crown Affair featuring Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway... but then Austin Powers spoofs this when he plays Russian model 'Ivana Humpalot'...

But I digress, because here we are, the kids and I curled up in front of the fire, surrounded by boxes and boards... filling in the hours while the wind and rain rattle the windows. I must admit it's very pleasant until one of the elder ones starts screeching because one of the four year olds has ignored the snake she just landed on again... and that's when I being to wonder about expanding our collection...


So here's my question for you today - do you have some hands-down favourite family board games that everybody loves to play? Share with me now and I'll random pick one commenter to win signed copies of my releases this month - in the US it is WALK ON THE WILD SIDE while in the UK THE END OF FAKING IT and may I say that in both books, there are some games played!!!!

EDITED TO ADD: the random prize has been drawn!!! Kristina Knight - can you please email me your snail mail address - to natalie (at) natalie-anderson (dot) com and I can get the books in the post to you! Thanks so much to everyone for stopping by to swap fave games today :)

And to keep up to date with my news, more giveaways (and random chess result reporting) be sure to connect with me on my Facebook page :)

Re-energising by Natalie Anderson

Image by Winnond. www.freedigitalimages.com

I’m in that wonderful phase of having just turned in a story to my editor and am brainstorming up the next while waiting on her thoughts. It’s a time to refill the well, to look around and think about doing some house work (just think mind), to organise some trips for the kids and myself to take some time out to relax.

We’re taking all four children to the ballet next week, it’s the first for the four year olds, so that will be ‘fun’. We did have an orchestra concert scheduled to attend in Christchurch, but I think that is likely to be cancelled because of the earthquake. But we’ll find something else – I love taking the littlies to concerts and shows, watching their rapt expressions seems to magnify the magic for me too.

Today is a glorious day so we’re going to head either to the park or the beach and go for a walk. I’m going to breathe deep and live in the moment.

And in terms of reading (one of my favourite ways to grow inspiration) – well, it couldn’t be a better time to be choosing some books to get stuck into what with the RITA finalists just announced! I can’t wait to curl up in my chair with all those fabulous books. Huge congratulations to those finalists – and a special shout-out to Kelly Hunter – my fellow Riva author has her third RITA final – this must be her year!

So what do you do to re-energise when you’ve had a spell of full on work? What’s the best way to reinvigorate – I’d love to hear what works best for you!

Natalie Anderson: Just a quick post...

I'm sorry - I meant to write something up earlier but the day hasn't gone as planned.

I drove to my hometown of Christchurch (New Zealand) this morning to take my youngest to a specialist appointment at the hospital. The trip went quicker than I expected (it's a 2 hour drive) and so we got there early. Happily we were seen early and everything went really well so we got to leave early.

I stopped at my favourite health food store to get some lunch - so pleased that it had reopened again after significant damage from the earthquake that had hit in September last year. Then my twins and I jumped in the car and headed for home. Halfway there, my phone started going crazy. There'd been another earthquake - this time devastating.

The hospital was temporarily evacuated. That health food store no longer exists. It's just rubble. I sit and wonder about the lovely woman who served me - and hope she is okay. Hope they're all okay. But many aren't. As I write this, the death toll in the city stands at 65 and is expected to rise. They fear hundreds are trapped. And I can't believe how lucky I was - that we'd left earlier than planned, that all my family members and closest friends are accounted for. And my heart just breaks for those waiting for news. I can't imagine the fear. And my heart aches for our beautiful city.

I'm sorry this isn't a very joyous post.  But tonight? Hold your loved ones close. I will be.

Oops I'm late!!! - Natalie Anderson

Huge apologies for running in from the wings - late in the afternoon! It's Christmas you see, and I'm on holiday and forgotten what day it is (well, time is now divided according to how long it is until the Jolly Red Bloke turns up).

How are your plans coming along? Here in New Zealand its a scorcher of a summer and the last couple of days have brought very hot, gale force winds. We're camping at the moment and a couple of tent poles have snapped in the 'breeze'. The wind where we are is a Foehn wind - and it can make us all go a little crazy. Factor in huge Christmas traffic on the roads and manic last minute shoppers in the malls and we end up giving thanks for swimming pools and delight in running through sprinklers on the lawn. A very different scene to those of you in the Northern Hemisphere with snow, snow, snow and no airports open. I do hope you're all able to get where you need to for Christmas.

Anyway, more relatives are about to arrive here and I'm on bed-making duty, but I wanted to leave you with a wonderfully romantic two-minute present for Christmas. Here's the closing scene from that wonderful movie, Cinema Paradiso, where the film-maker sees all the kisses that his old projectionist boss edited from all the movies that were shown in his home town. It's wonderful.

Wishing you all a safe and Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!

Only a week left to Nano - eeeek! By Natalie Anderson

I can't believe it's the 23rd of November already - ummm, like HOW??? I've no idea how the month has just fled ahead of me like this... and of course, there's that Nanowrimo challenge... anyone else thinking 'oops' about that?

Actually my nano challenge is more a personal one rather than the official 50k in 30 days - I've a deadline in December and thought I'd join in on the passion and sense of community in the Nano world and get my draft done. I do love the sense of spirit and togetherness - it's a crazy fun challenge and awesome achievement.

I started off okay - but then four days into it my editor and I discussed where the story was going... and really, it wasn't going any place good. Day five = new story. Much more fun story. So much more fun to write (which is the point for me!) and I was off...

But of course, as is often the way, there were then a few family challenges and I just haven't gotten the word count on the paper as high as I should (but the story is still a LOT of fun - yay!). Anyway, the likelihood of my getting to 50k by the 30th is pretty remote. But that's okay - I'll have almost finished and I'll certainly finish (and polish) ahead of my deadline. And then it'll be Christmas! Hmmm - not sure when I'll get organised for that one, but 'she'll be right' as we say in Kiwiland...

But to my way of thinking, there's no 'failure' in nano - not if you're writing more, or writing more often, than what you were when the month started. If you're now in the habit of writing daily (and you weren't before) then in some ways that's a better result than actually finishing your book. The key is just to keep going beyond the end of the month.

So, are many of you out there participating in the Nanowrimo challenge? If so, how are you getting on??? Remember - no panicking allowed - only grit ;) There are still seven whole days - and if you really wanted to 'win' the challenge proper and you've got a blank page, then you 'only' have to write 7143 words a day - easy peasy!

Or not. Either way, I do hope you're having a blast writing your book - if you're passionate about it, then your readers will get that vibe from the page. And in romance, we want passion!

Natalie's latest book, CAUGHT ON CAMERA WITH THE CEO is out in the US in DEcember. To win a signed copy of it together with the second story in the duo - REBEL WITH A CAUSE - and some choccie and charms in time for the party season, then head to her Facebook Page by November 30.

Tick, tick, tick goes the clock... - Natalie Anderson

October is a fantastic month in our house - of the six of us, four have our birthdays. We're halfway through - two down, two to go (including mine). I'm in the midst of organising my eldest daughter's first sleepover party - it's going to be such fun!

Added to that bunch of excitement, it is four years ago this week that I got the 'Call' from my editor saying she wanted to buy my book. I can't believe it's four years already - and somehow I've written 16 books. I look back on this time and to be honest it's all a bit of a blur. But the one thing I do know is that these anniversaries and birthdays just seem to be coming faster and faster. Uh oh - time really does speed up the older you get doesn't it?!

Knowing that makes me want to seize what time I do have and make the most of it. As my little twins are now 'big' preschoolers I want it to slow a little ... and I am so grateful to my husband for taking a zillion one-minute-movies with our camera so I can be reminded of so many little things that are so easy to forget. And I simply must write down all the funny little things they say (like the 'I Spy' game we played the other day and one of my just-turned-four year olds said "I spy with my little eye something beginning with two letters: three and four...").

Much of my time is spent looking forwards - I'm always planning or organising, every so often it's good to stop, turn around and look back and say 'well hey, wasn't that fun?' (And occasionally, 'phew, I'm glad that bit is over'). I don't think we take those reflective moments often enough, especially when life is mad, frantic busy and you're running just to keep up. So birthdays and anniversaries are great things to make us stop and celebrate :)

Of course, I'm such an addictive planner, here I am planning to pause!

Is time speeding up for you too? Got any tricks to start to slow it down? Do you like to use birthdays or other special occasions to have those 'hooray and yay' remembrance moments?

Fabulous Extended Family Holidays! - by Natalie Anderson

It's the last week of the term here in New Zealand. I'm so looking forward to these holidays - we're sneaking on an extra week this time and using that one to steal across the ditch to Australia's Gold Coast. It's a big family holiday - hubby and me and our four kids, my sister her hubby and their three, and my mum. Twelve of us altogether. We're going to one of those family-friendly resorts and have a van for the lot of us to cruise round in. It's going to be fab.u.lous.

We're planning to go to a few attractions (the Scooby Doo ride at Movie World is pretty much at the top of the list) and the kids are desperate to see a crocodile and a koala. Less keen on snakes. Other than that we'll be playing by the pool (and hopefully sneaking in some reading).

But sight-seeing aside, the thing I'm looking forward to most is spending some time - an extended family all together, generating some awesome memories for ourselves and the kids. Already the little cousins are working out who's going to sit next to whom on the plane, they're emailing each other every day (we live in different towns) and talking about what mischief they're going to get up to on the holiday. I love watching the anticipation build - it's so much a part of the fun along with planning what to pack, what to do and when and how and all that. We're all 'counting down the sleeps' now and I'll be getting the scrapbooks for the kids so they can stick in all their ticket butts, draw pictures, write words and scribble and stuff.

Today is World Alzheimers Day - something that has touched our family. It makes me all the more determined to live in the moment, to treasure the time we have together - and make amazing memories that we hope to hold onto for as long as we can.

Of course, while away, in this gorgeous Australian beach resort, I might find a few moments to do what a romance writer loves most - spying on people - and come back with a ton of fresh, fabulous ideas.

Anyway, while I'm away in October there'll be a new release on the shelves in the US - Tis The Season includes my novella The Millionaire's Mistletoe Mistress - set in an Edinburgh department store. You can find out more about it at my website. I'm also on Facebook and Twitter. Happy holidays!

A new season celebration! - by Natalie Anderson

So it’s the last day of August already! And what a month it’s been I can tell you – so full of super exciting stuff!
Firstly, it was the Romance Writers of New Zealand conference a couple of weeks ago. I’m still on a high. We had the most A-M-A-Z-I-N-G international speakers – Christopher Vogler, Stephanie Laurens and Jane Porter.
The three dove-tailed so beautifully – combining to highlight and give real validation on what we do as romance writers and reminding us why we love our genre so much. It was very inspirational – if ever you get a chance to hear any of those guys speak, LEAP at it – regardless of whether you’re a writer or a reader. It was so great to be in a room full of other writers where we were all excited and passionate and challenged to push through to the next level in our work. It was only my third conference but definitely the best for me so far – those speakers really were fabulous.
But the best thing to happen in August was just at the very end. I have the most fabulous writing buddy – we’re not actually ‘critique partners’, more each other’s support crew. We met almost five years ago and really hit if off from the start because we were both very committed to writing. She writes sweet and I write saucy. I was very fortunate to sell to Mills & Boon less than a year after we met. Meanwhile she kept on writing and writing and honing her craft. Through our respective ups and downs we’ve been each other’s head cheerleader.
We email or phone each other every day and report to each other on our progress – word count tallies and stuff. We’ve commiserated with each other on rejections and revisions and celebrated requests and reviews and crack the whip over each other when necessary.
I feel so incredibly lucky to have a someone who totally knows and understands the process and who is there simply to be a friend, ally and colleague and I love to be the same for her.

We rarely swap actual stories although we do brainstorm plot and sound out ideas. If we do send each other an actual file, it’s a ‘quick read and say its fabulous’ kind of support. But last year she sent through a first chapter that made me draw breath. She’d really nailed it. She won a contest with that, got a request, some revisions , more contest finals and wins. But last week, just a few days after conference where she’d been up and down from the stage getting all these rosettes, she got THE CALL.
I can’t tell you how thrilled I am. Soraya has worked so hard and is such a talented writer with a huge future ahead of her with Harlequin Mills & Boon Romance. If you want to join in her party, there’s a thread over at eharlequin.com.
And be sure to keep an eye out for her first release which I *think* will be out at the end of 2011 – but I’ll be back to remind you well before then and I’m sure she’ll be here too!
Meanwhile, I hope those of you in the northern hemisphere are looking forward to the beauty of Autumn. I can tell you we’re certainly looking forward to Spring down here in New Zealand! Already we’re seeing signs with lambs in the paddocks and daffodils along the fence line and the light is lasting longer with each day – it’s bliss.

So, to celebrate a wonderful month, I’m giving away a copy of one of my backlist books – PLEASURED IN THE PLAYBOY’S PENTHOUSE – which is one I dedicated to Soraya when she did another ‘quick support read’ for me. To be in to win, just comment below and let us know what you love most about either Autumn or Spring!!!

EDITED TO ADD: Thank you for your comments!!! Spring & Autumn are glorious seasons I think. Meanwhile PRACTIMOM you've won the book so please email me your postal address to I can send it out to you - natalie(at)natalie-anderson(dot)com

Anyone got any discipline to share?? Anyone? Anyone??!! - Natalie Anderson

Here in New Zealand we've just had two weeks school holiday. It was the mid-year break (our system runs from Febuary to December with our big summer break from Christmas through January). I have to admit I usually face the end of term time with a little trepidation - my husband doesn't get time off during most of the holidays and I have all four of our kids at home all day (ages 3-7)and it doesn't take long for them to get somewhat restless. And of course my writing routine just disappears altogether - I'm too shattered by the end of each arbitration/cooking/chaos filled day to manage anything at night. So come the end of holiday time, I'm usually hanging out for school to start again for the eldest two and for the younger two (twins) to have a few sessions at preschool.
But these holidays? These holidays were different.

Maybe it is because the children are getting that bit older - its so much easier to load everyone up and go off on a day-adventure when you don't have to take a zillion nappies or strollers and changes of clothes etc. They can all express their needs beautifully now and I'm no longer watching those once teenie premmie twins anxiously to ensure they're getting enough to eat... those terribly fragile first few years are past (as wonderful as they were, there was that huge effort and exhaustion).

Now it's just a huge amount of fun! Our pile of preschoolers has turned into a gorgeous gang of children equipped with endless curiosity, energy and that wonderful ability to giggle lots and lots and lots. Infectiously.

And I even managed to do some writing! Especially in the first week - I wrote late at night then took the children out in the morning through 'til lunchtime and then I confess had a one-eye open snooze on the sofa while they either read or watched a DVD. In the second week the children swam every day (indoor, its winter here) and we went on beach walks collecting shells and crabs in the chilly afternoon wind. Very refreshing!!! We watched an entire season of Merlin (the BBC family drama) in the evenings all bundled up together...



Frankly, I didn't want the holidays to end we were so relaxed and having such a nice time! Of course now I'm having a time settling back into the weekly routine. I have a wonderfully shiny new idea to get working on (just have to, you know, START), there are a million places to cart the kids every afternoon (you know, more swimming, music, brownies...) and there's the New Zealand Romance Writer's Conference in only a month or so (big YAY). But honestly? I'm already totally looking forward to 10 weeks time when it'll be the next round of holidays and we can get back into our lazy swim/play/laze routine... even better hubbie will be off for at least part of the next ones so we can all be together...

For now though, I must find that elusive thing called discipline... have you seen any recently? It's really gone into hiding round here... and I'm still acting like I'm on holiday and reading on the sofa instead of hitting the keyboard or pavement or even bothering to look at that mile long to do list... and of course as term time starts to tick, so does my deadline...

So please, help me out. How do you pick it up and pull yourself back on track after a lovely break? Tips? Motivational techniques?? All suggestions gratefully received :)


Natalie has a few books out at the moment - To Love, Honor & Disobey is available now from EHarlequin and will be on the shelves in the US in August.


Unbuttoned by her Maverick Boss is on the shelves now in the UK and still available from Mills & Boon.




While Caught on Camera with the CEO is available now from Mills & Boon Australia and will be on the shelves in August.

For more information on all of Natalie's books go to her website!

Double the Fun! - Natalie Anderson

Late last year I was given the lovely opportunity to write a couple of linked books. While I've written books in the past featuring characters who'd appeared as minor characters in other books, this was my first 'scheduled duet' - where the books would come out in consecutive months and have their own little tag line to connect them.
My editor suggested I have the link between the two heroes - apparently readers are fond of this - but other than that, I could do whatever. I was very excited because seriously, one of the best things about this job (if not the best) is creating a to-die-for hero - so getting to do two at once? Bliss!!!

Deciding on how the guys were connected was the first big issue. Were they family? Brothers, half brothers, secret brothers, cousins, foster brothers... or were they best friends, business partners, enemies... did they play on the same sporting team? At what stage in their lives did they meet? Honestly, I had so much fun toying with different combinations and working out how these two knew each other and giving them a backstory that would showcase their different qualities.

Because of course, the real trick is to make them equally attractive (like Brad and George up in that piccie!). Usually in a story you have a hero and a sidekick. In this scenario you have two heroes - one of them just has to be a bit patient. And he's not allowed to take over the first ones' story! That was definitely something I had to watch. But eventually I got there with Alex and Lorenzo and I have to admit they're two of my favourite heroes to date. Alex is the heir to a big banking business - and has some pressure to bear there, while Lorenzo has come from a past with a few brushes with the law and he still gets bitten by the graffiti bug - but he owns the fences now!

I'd love to give away a copy of the HOT UNDER THE COLLAR: NAUGHTY NIGHTS WITH THE BOSS duet to a reader! To be in to win, just comment below telling us about some of the other connected books you've read - do you like the ones where it is the heroes or heroines who are connected, and do you like ones about family dynasties or friends in business perhaps?

***edited to add: I've done the draw guys, and pleased to say Alison has won the books!!! Please email me Alison so I can get them in the post to you - my email is in the comments :)

Both Caught on Camera with the CEO and Unbuttoned by her Maverick Boss are available from Mills & Boon UK now and on the shelves there in June/July. Visit Natalie's website for more information on her other books!