Kid Characters

by Joanne Rock

My cartoonized profile
pic from a reader friend!

My first writing love will always be romance, so kid characters are never my central focus. But I dearly love it when I have a child in a story because they are so much fun to write. From teens to babies, the differences in personality, gestures and actions are so vastly different from one year to the next. Think about it… between the time you are thirty and forty, does all that much change about you? Maybe you tweak your hair cut or color. But in a child, the difference of ten years is a whole world. So to write any age authentically means research.

My first stop is often my family photo albums. Because what better case studies do I have than the kids that I raised? I had a front seat to watch them grow through all stages. To marvel at their new mastery of skills day by day, seeing how they changed from adorably dependent little baby bundles to the amazing young men they are today.

Bachelor dad falls for nanny
to his nephew

For my January release, THE RANCHER’S BARGAIN, the story set up was given to me because it is part of the Texas Cattleman’s Club series. That means the Harlequin editors dream up the rough concepts and outline character basics, then I write a fifty thousand word story based on a couple of outlined pages. It’s a fun challenge. And for this particular story, I was given a toddler named Teddy.

In one important way, he was very different from any of my boys in that he’d lost his birth parents at a young age. When we meet him, he’s been given to his bachelor uncle to raise—a good-hearted with man with no knowledge of parenting. Is it any wonder my toddler character acts out in unpredictable ways after so much injustice in his young life?

But in so many other ways, Teddy was a boy I absolutely recognized. While my heart hurt for all Teddy had lost, he also has the gift of toddlerhood that allows him to find joy in the moment no matter what happened the day before. Tears to giddy laugher and back again comes with the age. So when my baby-loving nanny steps onto the scene, she can find this boy’s smile in no time.

One of my three favorite toddlers-- my middle
son being sweetly adorable. Yes, that's a
sock in his mouth.

I love the irreverent goofiness of this age. The way a toddler will go full throttle at whatever they try—running down a hill, climbing a bookcase (you know they try it), throwing their sippy cups across a crowded restaurant. It’s amazing what a toddler can do. Who would guess their arm had enough range to ping the man seated at the next table? Toddlers can be exasperating, yes. But so amazing and fun. And you won’t find a more loving age than this one, when sticky hugs and kisses are given with abandon, declarations of love made on a regular basis once the find their words. It’s enough to make a mother’s heart—or a nanny’s, or a bachelor’s—swell with joy.

**Do you have any toddlers in your life? Enjoy a certain age of childhood in particular? Share with me in the comments and I’ll give a random poster a copy of an earlier Texas Cattleman’s Club book, Expecting a Scandal. In the meantime, I hope you’ll keep an eye out for THE RANCHER’S BARGAIN in stores!

Winter Schwinter! Christmas is.....coming?

      Possibly it's the record-breaking spring-like weather here in southern NJ? Possibly it's the arrival of my second grandbaby - another Brisbin princess named Sydney Grace? Possibly it's the cold that is trouncing me right now? Or some of each of those? Whatever the cause, I have lost the Christmas spirit!


That's alarming to me since Christmas, especially with the family gathered at my house, is my favorite holiday and day of the year.  I look forward to the family getting together to decorate our tree -- each year there are new personalized ornaments to add to the collection. The boys (and their wives/fiancee) take turns putting theirs up on the tree, each vying for the best position to be seen. And, each year, we add a new Disney ornament,
too.

On Christmas morning, they would all come over to open presents and have brunch...well, a late breakfast really of scrambled eggs, sausage gravy over biscuits and hashbrown casserole. Mmmmmm...Sometimes they'd hang around and we'd order Chinese take-out for dinner or even go to a movie.

But this year promises to be very different and I guess I'm not happy. Now with babes of their own, two sons have other arrangements for the morning. We're not going to be able to all be together due to work schedules and extended family plans. Some will be here Christmas Eve, some in the morning, some...whenever.  So all of that might be influencing my feelings and lack of anticipation, I think.

Then, in spite of my best efforts and massive quantities of Airborne, I now have the cold of the year. I thought it was my allergies (hey, those spring-like temps all month have grass and flowers growing already!), but last night it took me down hard. I've gone through 2 boxes of tissues so far and there will be more.....

Of course, I refuse to blame it on my newest princess, Sydney. I've enjoyed every single second of the time I've been able to spend with her since her arrival just before Thanksgiving. She is, of course, the cutest little baby in creation (along with her beautiful cousin Alexis - shown <<

So, with four days left and the arrival of winter today, I'm still searching for my Christmas spirit. But I hope you have yours and that your Christmas will be filled with health, happiness, family and friends!

Merry Christmas to all and a very Happy and Healthy 2016!! 

 

Terri is looking forward to 2016, once she gets over this mood, with new books and some exciting news to share after the holidays. Visit her website for more info! 

This and That and Another Thing, Too!

Did you ever feel as though you've fallen off the face of the earth? LOL - it's been a crazy time in the Brisbin house and world since December. I realized that I never posted a blog in January or February!



In my defense, January was a lost month -- I barely had time to welcome and enjoy the new grandbaby and, boom!, I was deep into a deadline-binge-o-writing, finally finishing the book that will come out in October. As I've said before, pulling overnighters is really only for the young and it takes this old person a loooong time to recover from that! And gosh, I really appreciate the efforts of my hairstylist in helping to cover all the gray hairs that seem to pop out from all that stress! The good news is that I simply LOVE the story I created -- Raging Sea is a fast-paced, magical, mystical romance set in Orkney and I can't wait until you all can read it.... Take a look at this stunning cover >>>>

February? Gosh, I can't even remember February at all! I think I spent it working on revisions and trying to catch up with everything I had put aside until after my deadline.... I think....? OH, and I read romances -- I judge the RWA RITA contest so I had a bunch of romances to read and judge in February.  This is THE prestigious romance novel contest and the finalists are announced next week - I can't wait to see if any of the books I read make it into that final round or possibly win!

Oh, February! Now I remember!

Since I had two romances scheduled for release THIS month, I spent lots of time getting ready for those releases, re-energizing my newsletter (why, yes, I do have one!), setting up signings and events and writing....blogs. And running contests. And preparing blogs. And chat visits.

THAT'S where February went!


   Now it's March. . . heck, it's already halfway through March and Spring begins tomorrow at 6:45pm EDT. In my area, a snowstorm is sweeping it in to greet it! And, I'm about to start heavy writing on the next book. And about to get out of town to some dental board assignments (a Spring tradition) and to some romance reader events (another Spring tradition).

And somewhere in the continuing craziness, I'll find time to spend with my little grandbaby girl -- she's growing and changing with every day and is developing a lovely laugh. You know the kind -- it begins in a baby's toes, ripples through their body and comes out of their mouth...And it changes her whole body and makes everyone smile...!

So -- what have you been up to lately? Doing anything fun? Reading anything good you can suggest? Celebrating Spring in any particular way? Or are you lamenting winter's departure?  Share a tidbit or suggestion with me please!!



Terri IS busy writing and chatting and signing and running around like a madwomen through March! Visit her website for more info on all that or to sign up for her newsletter (which keeps you up-to-date with everything Terri Brisbin!). Happy Spring, everyone!
 

MEN and BABIES by Bronwyn Jameson

My current work in progress is an unplanned pregnancy book (tentatively scheduled for March 09) and this week I've been thinking about my hero, an alpha of the cool, controlled, emotionally aloof variety, and how this baby will bring him undone. I haven't written a new baby scene for years and years -- I am thinking that A Tempting Engagement (2003) may have been my last. And that wasn't the hero and heroine of that book's baby, but the couple from the previous book. Is there no more heart-squeezing scene than that of a big, tough alpha turned to goo by a tiny bundle of babydom? Don't you love that image: the contracts of size and strength, the parallel of vulnerability? Who is holding who in the palm of their hand?

I've been thinking about that and thinking about my own dad, a stoic, capable gentleman who didn't make many mistakes...except in the aftermath of new fatherhood. In those days it was the father who filed the birth details and my dad, well, he got it wrong. Several times. My elder brother and sister, both names spelled incorrectly. My youngest sister, names written down in the wrong order so her middle name became her first.

And then there's me.

By the time I reached age 17 there'd been a deal of ribbing over my father and the not-quite-right names. I thought I'd gotten off scot free. Even though my name is the most difficult of the five, Dad spelled it correctly. Then I applied for my birth certificate and discovered I'd been registered with the wrong birth date. A simple mistake, we laughed a lot, but it's been causing me grief ever since. By that time I'd already used my real birth date for some documentation (e.g. my bank and school) while everything official such as my driving licence and passport required the date on my birth certificate.

Every so often I get caught out answering the questions to verify my identity. "Birth date," says the impersonal voice on the end of the phone. And I automatically give my real birth date, then comes the stumbling explanation, the dubious silence, and another six or ten questions because they didn't quite believe me.

My father, being male, never owned any of these mistakes. "The clerk must have written it down wrong," he would say. I blame the enormity of the new baby experience--an alpha with all control taken out of his hands--and how that combination turns the most capable, careful man to quivering ineptitude. I love it; how about you? Do you love a good alpha + baby storyline? Have you read one lately you can recommend, because after writing this post I find I am quite in the mood.