Laura Drewry: Wish Lists

It’s my birthday next week and when my Oldest Darling asked me what I would like, I told him the truth: I would like Chinese food for dinner. But not just that. I'd like someone else to order it, someone else to either pick it up or answer the door when it arrives, someone else to set the table and I'd really like someone else to clean up afterwards.  

If you’re a parent, I bet you can relate, can’t you? We don’t need gifts, we don’t need big bouquets of flowers and we don’t need expensive dinners out. All we need is for someone else to take care of the cooking and cleaning for one day. :)

When I was a kid, though, my wish list was a little longer - and a whole lot stranger. We didn’t have many “extras” growing up, but Mom and Dad worked hard to make sure my three sisters and I never went without, and you can bet your boots that when one our birthdays came around, our folks knocked themselves out to give us the one thing we really wanted. I don’t honestly remember most of those things I “just had to have” back then, but I do remember a few because they were so weird.

One year it was my own jug of Hawaiian Punch because the girl down the street always had it in her fridge and I though she was one of the most exotic creatures in the world, so clearly that had to mean that I, too, would become exotic if I drank this entire jug full of high fructose corn syrup and sodium hexametaphosphate. Shockingly, I think the only thing I became was sick to my stomach, but that's a whole different story. Another year I just had to have my own bottle of maraschino cherries. I know, it makes me shudder to think of it now, too, but I'd been introduced to the wonder of the Shirley Temple, and what was a Shirley Temple without a cherry? And yes, if you're wondering, I ate every one of them.

Despite how it might seem up to this point, not everything was about food. :) One of my all-time favourite gifts was my Holly Hobby doll because it added to my belief that I must be related to the Ingalls family in my Little House books; I mean, I did, after all, share the same first name with the girl in the books and that had to mean something, right? 

I still have her, too, stored safely away in my trunk with Mrs. Beasley. 

I'd love to hear about some of your weird or wonderful birthdays. Do you have specific traditions, do have you have the same cake every year, or do you pretty much ignore the day all together? :) This year I'm extending my birthday fun an extra day because my new book, CATCH AND RELEASE (Book 3 in my Fishing for Trouble series) comes out on the 28th and I'm throwing an online party to celebrate, so I hope you'll join me. I have an amazing line up of guest authors who'll be there and I have it on good authority that there'll be prizes and giveaways, so come on over and be part of the fun!

   OFF THE HOOK                                         LURED IN                                           CATCH & 
                                                                                                                                       RELEASE
          (Book 1)                                                   (Book 2)                                               (Book 3)

Presents

One of the questions I’m most often asked  about the American editions of my books  is –

In  Harlequin Presents (Or Harlequin Presents Extra)  does that ‘Presents’ mean  presents as in a gift – a birthday  present – or Ta dah! Harlequin  Presents – as in ‘ we present to you . .

Well, the answer is that the real way to pronounce it is as in that second version – the ‘we present to you . . .’ but today  I’ve been thinking about the word  in its other sort of meaning – the presents that come gift-wrapped and we give to people for their special days.   There is a reason for this -  May is a month when several people I love have their birthday . My dear friend and wonderful writer Michelle Reid just had her special day and  in a couple of weeks my eldest sister has her birthday,  Oh, and tomorrow is my own birthday. No, you can’t ask which one – I was a child when I started writing -  honest!

So of course I have been dealing with the gift sort of presents for  a few weeks now. (My sister lives in Tasmania so I had to buy/wrap and send her gift a while back.) I like choosing presents for people I care about – I like thinking of what they enjoy, what interests them, what sort of things they might like to treat themselves too but perhaps couldn’t afford or  might think was a bit too extravagant to indulge in.  But I’m  pretty hopeless about  thinking about gifts for myself.

I just had a  conversation with my husband and my son and a couple of friends – could I . . .l well, no really, I couldn’t come up with any suggestions of what I’d like for a birthday present.  I’m lucky, you see – I  have the perfume  I want, the  bath and body luxuries that I was given for Christmas and  I haven’t been able to use up because of the renovations we had in the house for the last three months  – it’s hard to use up bath essences or oils when you don’t have a bathroom that’s working for some time, let alone a bath!  And  jewellery?   Well, really I don’t want a lot of jewellery – I mean how much can you wear at one time?  And I recently treated  myself to the one really special piece that I wanted  because my latest novel – The Devil and  Miss Jones – is my 60^th published title.  So I bought myself this necklace to celebrate.

But after a rather difficult year just behind me – with family ill health, bereavement   . .. and then all those renovations – messy, dirty, noisy, but worth it in the end – I  come to this birthday knowing deep down that really I have all I need or want.  My husband is now  well after a health scare, my son and his partner are happy and settled, my family  - there are more sisters than the one in Tasmania -  are all fine.  Even the  cats, two crazy Maine Coons are happy and healthy and revelling in the fact that  Spring is back and they can roam in the garden and climb the trees.

And  thinking about this reminds me why I write romance. It brings me back the that opening and the ‘Harlequin Presents ‘.   Because the truth is that if we have someone to  love and care for us then we have everything we need. That’s why I write romance and, I think, why people love to read it. We love to think that there will be someone special, a real true hero (or heroine) for each of us. Someone who really is a lover in all senses of the word. And that’s why I write the lovely life and love-affirming books I do. To show how important  love is in the world and in our lives.

So in a way the Harlequin Presents   books are those very special gifts too.

My DH has just gone into the living room with some wrapping paper and a bag containing . . . well, I don’t know what, but I have strict instructions not to go in there for a while! So  it looks like he found something that needs wrapping for  tomorrow.  As I said, I really am very lucky.

And because I’d like to share my special day and the celebrations with the wonderful readers who have helped me enjoy this special career  - because without my readers  buying my books I  wouldn’t be able to keep writing – I’m offering a giveaway with this post to someone who comments.

I’d love to know which of my backlist of books you’d really like to read.  If I was sending  you a Present  from Harlequin Presents (or Presents Extra) then which one would it be?  Have a look at my web site  if you need inspiration but just let me know which title you’re missing from your collection – or that you really fancy reading – and I’ll  get Charlie the Maine Coon to pick a winner who’ll receive a book from the backlist I have in stock. (I don’t have any of the really older books -  the ones that date back to 1986 when my writing career really began but I’ll offer you a choice of the ones I do have!)

Thank you all for sharing in my celebration.

The Devil and Miss Jones is out in  Presents Extra - and still available iN Mills & Boon Modern too. In Australia it's the lead book in the special Motehr's Day Pack so that means it's helping with anoyther sort of celebration too. 

 You can keep up with all my news on my web site, and the latest happenings are over on my personal blog.

It took some time to find Charlie and get him to pick the winners, but now that the rain has started he's back inside!  And he was hungry so he has picked more than one winner!
The winners are -
Lory Lee
Squiressj
and
JenB
Suqiressj  and Jen - I have copies of the books you have chosen (Lept for Her Baby and The Return of The Stranger)   and Lory Lee- I don't have any copies of One Night in Madrid because that is a 3 book  anthology - but I will send you a copyu of the book Spanish Billionaire,Inocent Wife which is my book in that collection
Please all winners send  me your postal addresses to kate AT kate-walker.com
And thank you all again for the birthday wishes!

Birthday month

This month sees a couple of birthday celebrations in our family. My husband's has come and gone a week ago. We don't tend to go overboard for birthdays and most of the time it's a simple family celebration. That's exactly what it was for my husband - a few pressies, his choice of menu items for dinner (he chose hot chicken curry and naan bread) and definitely cake - yet another try for me to get his Grandmother's Pineapple Cake right. Since no recipe exists, I did the trial and error thing for years. And then I gave up. But a trip to Debbie Macomber's site and her recipes gave me an idea and so the urge to try again came up.

The other birthday this month is a milestone - my eldest becomes a teenager next week. And as such a special celebration is warranted, right? I will confess to hating sleepovers because usually they do not involve sleep. I'm fond of sleep. And her birthday is on Sunday - 13 on the 13th. So I suggested inviting a few girls and taking them for manicures before coming back here for pizza and cake.

At first she was on board with that, until she realized that one of the girls she is inviting really isn't the manicure type, and she wants to do something everyone will enjoy. So her suggestion is a movie afternoon followed by pizza and cake. And she's kind of funny. She's like...order in some pizza, but will you make hot wings and caesar salad and pasta salad to go with it? We may just not order in but have a "make your own" kind of thing - which could be way more fun.

And then there's cake. I'm going to attempt to make a chocolate buttercream layer cake. This could be interesting because I am converting my favourite white cake recipe to chocolate, and then trying a new buttercream recipe. I also have some yummy ideas for the top too.

All in all though I LOVE that she's low maintenance, and more concerned with hanging out and having a good time than making a big expensive splash. Yay for low-key kids! And yay for birthdays!

Donna

http://www.donnaalward.com/
@DonnaAlward

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?

Birthday celebrations

It was natural to blog about birthdays today as - you guessed it - it's my birthday today. It's also the date my latest US release: SCANDAL: HIS MAJESTY'S LOVE-CHILD is officially available in stores. It seems like serendipity. What a fantastic way to celebrate my birthday! I couldn't have timed it better.

Now, being past my twenties, I suppose I should be less enthusiastic about turning another year older. Believe me, I'm not that thrilled about the aging process. It seems harder than ever to shift that little bit of extra weight which just a little while ago seemed not a problem and now seems semi-permanent.

On the other hand, I've decided that birthdays can't be avoided. I might as well make the most of them. Not necessarily by demanding parties and presents but by treating myself, or planning with my family some sort of treat to celebrate the occasion. As my husband's birthday is the same month as mine, we've sometimes doubled up by having a weekend away with the family in the Hunter Valley vineyards. We don't do too much wine tasting but spend the time unwinding and getting to chat, as well as sampling some terrific food and going for country drives.

I have plans too, one year, to visit Paris on my birthday. I'm not sure I'll ever make it there to celebrate the date, especially as it means high season airfares from Australia, but that doesn't lessen the enjoyment of the dream. One day...just me and my husband...Sigh. It sounds fantastic.

In the past we've had memorable birthday celebrations, often when we had little cash to spare, but managed to organise a romantic celebration anyway. Picnics have featured from time to time. A surprise birthday dinner was another special treat (though at that time we didn't have a dishwasher, so there was a bit of dirty work to be done afterwards). A long leisurely brunch prepared by the family on the barbeque on a sunny day is another great memory, as was having my children bring in a tray of brekkie in bed.

Some of my other favourite birthday memories relate to other people's birthdays. My husband's grandma smiling at the head of the table on her 90th birthday. Making cakes for my children, with their help, in the shape of a rabbits or steam trains or castles. My daughter's 5th birthday visiting Longleat historic house and safari park in the UK. She was one very excited little girl!

I have a feeling this year's birthday will be memorable, especially as I have a soft spot for sheikh stories, and Tahir, my latest hero, is one of the most memorable heroes I've written. I can't wait to see what readers think of him.

Do you have a favourite birthday memory? Or maybe something you've always wanted to do either to mark your birthday or that of someone special?

To celebrate this special occasion, I'll give away a copy of SCANDAL: HIS MAJESTY'S LOVE-CHILD to one person who comments. Just check later to see who the winner is.

To find out more about this new story, pop by my web site. Or, if you want to buy it, (what a grand idea!) you can go to Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

Happy reading! Annie

Birthdays and Celebrations by Kate Walker

It’s my birthday this week. On Friday to be precise. It’s quite a momentous birthday, really. One of those milestones that make you stop and think and wonder just how did I get here? It’s a strange feeling, because life just comes along day by day, and it’s only when you stop and look back that you realise there’s been a l-o-n-g journey from A to . . .well, I hope it’s not quite Z! More like M or perhaps Q?

Anyway, because I have a birthday coming up, people keep asking me what I’d like as a gift – and I’m not very good at answering that. I’m really lucky in that there isn’t really anything I want and there certainly isn’t very much that I need. There are always books I’d love to read of course – but I have a pile of those – and I always say I’d need a voucher for some time to read them in if I’m to make even a dent in my TBR mountain. I love jewellery – but how many pairs of earrings can one person wear at one time? It’s the same with perfume. One of the things about sitting at a desk in my home writing romances is that I don’t really wear much makeup, perfume or posh clothes to work these days. So there’s plenty still in my dressing table drawers. Most days I don’t even wear shoes so there’s something else that’s not on my gift list.

But of course I want to celebrate. I believe we should grab at the good things that life sends us and mark them and enjoy them while we have them. There’s too much darkness and pain and sorrow as it is - the papers are full of it. So we should mark the special days as they come along even if we don’t quite feel like it.

I’m actually much better at other people’s birthdays. I love planning for them, thinking about them, hunting down just the right gift – the perfect card. A very special friend of mine and a wonderful romance author, Michelle Reid, who also writes for Presents, has her birthday tomorrow (people think that we’re sisters, our birthdays are that close) and I’ve loved finding something I know she’ll enjoy, wrapping, it, writing the card, posting it. I suspect that this preference I have for other people’s celebrations has something to do with the reasons why I’m a writer. I love getting inside people’s heads and thinking what will be just right for them. What will make them specially happy. Some people complain that they find choosing gifts difficult – not me. Perhaps that’s why I create my own people and make up their stories – because then I can create the special gifts that mean so much between the two characters.

But gifts don’t have to be things. What I’m most looking forward to for this birthday is time. Time spent with friends – I’m having lunch with a long term friend on Thursday, then a family meal and get-together on Friday. Next week there’s a dinner with some writing friends and then I’m heading for Michelle Reid’s lovely cottage in the Lake District to share our birthday celebrations together. If along with that I can just have an acceptance for my latest book, and a lot of inspiration for the new one then I’ll be happy.

Actually, I have all the ideas I need for the next novel so that’s a bonus. It’s part of a special project that means I know exactly what I’m doing for this one – that’s a real birthday gift in itself. So, family time, friends, get-togethers, new projects to anticipate. . . . fingers crossed on that acceptance. If my editor could just let me know that the revisions on the last story worked, then it will make my week. Who needs gifts?But then again, a small parcel or two to open would be the icing on the cake . .

. . . Cake! I forgot about birthday cake!

Anyway, as people who know me know already, when I’m celebrating, I love to share so this week over on my blog I’ll be giving away some books to celebrate my birthday – starting right here and now. So why don’t you post a comment? Let me know how you’ll be celebrating your birthday this year – or is there a really special gift that you’d just love to receive? Come and tell me about it and I can’t promise I’ll be able to deliver on that – but I will give away a signed copy of one of my backlist books when I can get Sid the Cat to pick a winner from everyone who posts.



Kate’s latest USA title is The Konstantos Marriage Demand, still available in Presents Extra. In the UK, her By Request 3 in 1 volume Claimed by The Sicilian contains reprints of three of her best-selling titles – The Sicilian’s Wife, Sicilian Husband, Blackmailed Wife, and he Sicilian’s Red-Hot Revenge.

You can find all the details on Kate’s website and the most up to date stuff is on her blog.

And the winner(s) are (I knew I shouldn't let Sid choose when he's hungry!)LOIS and HOSTAnd there are two special extra prizes as birthday gifts for my fellow May birthday readers - RACHIE G and PATTI

Check out the Comments section to see how to claim your prize

You Say It's Your Birthday?!.......

.....it's my birthday, too, yeah!

Alas, it is my birthday today and I'm tempted to use some of that new-fangled math to come up with a number I like more than the real number (doesn't that new math still allow for imaginary numbers?). But, after facing some serious glitches in the matrix of life a couple of years ago, I guess I'm just fine starting my 53rd year on planet Earth.

Even though I'm acknowledging my body's age, I have to say that I don't think I'm really that old yet. At least not in mind and spirit. I still have things to do, places I want to see, people I want to meet, books I want to read...and write...., music to hear and people I want to be like when I grow up!! I think I've always been one of those people who never acts or thinks like their age. Now sometimes, that's not a nice thing to say, but I take it as a compliment because I think, as that "Kick the Can" episode of TWILIGHT ZONE taught us, that you are only as old as you let yourself be.

And, my habit at this time of year, not necessarily New Year, but on my birthday eve, is to think ahead at where I want to be or what I want to have memories of on my next birthday. Since I did this on January 29th, 2008 --

-- I've written two novels, one novella, and a short story,

-- I've signed with a new publisher to write 3 more books,

-- I hired a new agent,

-- I spent 3 weeks traveling all over the UK and got to climb the scaffolding to the top of Rosslyn Chapel, see the Highlands in the middle of a snowstorm, listened to harpists from all over the world, met a world-renowned scientist who spoke on how storytelling is one of two biggest differences between human and ape brains!, visited a library built in the 1700s, and rode buses all over London and Edinburgh, talking to the locals and meeting so many nice people!

-- took my hubby and son (and his friend) from San Francisco to southern California to Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon to Phoenix, meeting friends and romance readers and writers all along the way

-- celebrated countless family and friend birthdays and anniversaries and other happy occasions

-- had a wonderful quiet holiday season at home with family.

Are you tired yet? I am! LOL! So, 2009 has a lot to live up to if I compare it to 2008, but I've discovered that each year is special and offers wonderful occasions and events and milestones to remember. So what can 2009 bring to me to make it stand out.

Well, I think I am on the brink of a wonderful year ahead. How do I know? According to my horoscope over at Astrology Zone.com 2009 is MY YEAR! Okay, I have to share this fantabulous year with other Aquarians, but I'm willing because apparently there's lot of fabulous to share. I take horoscopes with a grain of salt, of course, but the last time Jupiter was in my sign (12 years ago in 1997) I finished my second manuscript, was on Lifetime TV with Debbie Macomber and Harlequin editor Paula Eyckelhof promoting it , I signed with my first agent, and sold my first book! So, I'm thinking this whole 'Jupiter in Aquarius' thing could be good again for me?

What do I hope for? Where do I want to be on birthday eve 2010?

The answer is the same each year -- to be surrounded by family and friends, to be in good health, to be writing books that my readers enjoy, to be seeing the places I want to see, doing the things I enjoy, meeting the people I like and new ones, too, and just being here.

The rest of it is all icing on the cake of life -- to be enjoyed, to make memories, but not essential to my savoring the plain, simple parts.

So yes! It's my birthday, too, yeah! How do you celebrate your birthday? Do you look behind or look ahead? What's the best thing, personally or professionally, that happened to you in 2008? Leave a comment and share it with me and I'll send something out to 2 randomly-selected posters, not limited to Aquarians so as to spread the good cheer around!

Terri

Terri's next release will be her Harlequin Historical UNDONE!, available online in June 2009, followed by the first book in her new "Knights of Brittany" trilogy, THE CONQUEROR'S LADY, for Harlequin Historicals, available in bookstores and online in July 2009. Then, watch for her first Kensington BRAVA historical romance, A STORM OF PASSION, available in December 2009. Visit her website at:

www.terribrisbin.com for more info on books, Terri, contests and everything!

Celebrating Kate!

One of the great joys of writing is the long hours holed up alone in the garret -- no, wait, that's not it.

One of the real great joys of writing is the people you meet when you are NOT holed up in the garret with the imaginary people who are helping you make your living.

They are fine, of course. And handsome, frequently. But generally not restful and easy to be with. They take managing (or don't take it, which is often worse).

No, the real joy is the real flesh-and-blood friends you make -- other writers often -- who make your world a richer, brighter, more colorful (or as some would say, colourful) place.

There have been quite a few such wonderful writers in my life -- and one of them is having a birthday today.

So, please join me in wishing a very happy birthday -- and many more -- to the warm, wonderful, witty (and ever so occasionally wild) Kate Walker.

Kate, as most of you know, has written a lot of books, given countless hours of reading pleasure to millions of people in languages she doesn't even speak --much less write in -- all over the world. She's also a terrific teacher of writing, as many wannabes and gonnabes know.

Actually there are now quite a few plain old "be"s whose books are on the shelves who owe much of their publishing success to Kate's wisdom, so they're pretty fond of her, too.

Those who are interested in learning from a pro should take a look at her new Kate Walker's 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance. You won't be sorry.

What can I say about Kate?

She's the person I would most like to trail around Grasmere with in a pouring rain while she's suffering and ill because she absolutely never complains. She's the one who will take dictation from a cat and send long missives (he's pretty wordy) to all his friends and fans without once thinking she has better things to do.

She will trudge through the back streets of beautiful downtown Millom looking for dead relatives' old houses (who aren't even her dead relatives) and act like she's having a perfectly good time.

She will track down and send any book or dvd or document that you think you might want/need/fancy no matter how obscure because that's the kind of friend she is.

She even -- and if this isn't real friendship, I don't know what is -- shared Hugh-in-a-towel with me for our Australia and New Zealand Romance Writers Convention jaunt. She actually let me bring him home afterwards (well, she said she had another, but that doesn't detract from the generosity of the act).

What more can you ask?

So here's to Kate -- a wonderful writer, a fabulous friend, a mother of cats, a champion of hedgehogs!

Happy birthday, dear Kate!