Living & writing through chaos - Jane Porter

I am an optimist.   I believe all things are possible and I can do all things.  Its not arrogance but my good old German-Scottish heritage that gave me my work ethic.  If I work hard enough, push hard enough, I can do it.  Which has somehow given me this running mantra of, I can do anything.

It’s not true, of course, but when I plan my writing schedule out a year in advance as I do---yes, I can deliver a Harlequin Presents on Jan 15^th, and a women’s fiction novel for Berkley on April 15^th, and another Harlequin on June 15^th, and maybe somewhere in there I can squeeze in a novella for another Harlequin line somewhere in there, I am agreeing to these deadlines without:

a)   thinking about how stressful and horrible these close (impossible?) delivery dates will be

b)  considering there might be something else huge looming in my life like a gigantic move to Southern California from Seattle, that will also require us to buy a So Cal house, which will require us to sell Greater Seattle house, which will require us to constantly show house, which will then require an interim move into a hotel in Greater Seattle for a month once house sells and we have nowhere to go until school gets out in late June

c)  remembering that my children have sports and activities and just possibly, needs, like food, clean clothes, homework help, and hugs, too.

But I did agree to ridiculous writing deadlines, not wanting to disappoint my publishers, or my readers, who say they are waiting impatiently for my next book.  

I love that readers like my stories.  I love that they are eager for the next one.  And so I write amidst what some might describe as chaos, but I call “intriguing possibility”, and happily all my books did get written and the move got made, and we’ve now been living in San Clemente, California since July 1^st. 

We’re not even close to being settled in though.  Tons of stuff is still in storage, and tons more will remain in storage, since I have no idea where everything will go in this new (1927 year old) house.  Little from my Seattle house works here.   This new old house is a romantic house full of stucco and beams and interestingly shaped rooms.  My Seattle house was a big Shingle style house and furnished with big strong pieces which don’t fit, or suit, this sweet Spanish Colonial Revival house with it little balconies and rambling garden.  So we are making do with just a couple chairs upstairs in the main rooms until I can order couches for the living room and family room.  And I will one day order the needed furniture, but first must focus on revisions for The Good Daughter (out in February) and planning The Good Woman book tour for September, and getting ready for RWA in Anaheim next week, because I can’t wait to see my readers again.

If you can come see me at one of my events, I would love it.  I’m really excited about The Good Woman, the first book in my new Brennan Sisters trilogy, and can’t wait to hear what you think, because you, reader, are very special to me. 

Have a wonderful summer and I hope to see you soon!

Jane
www.janeporter.com

Jane's giving away a Barnes & Noble giftcard, two of her Harlequin books and more fun JP goodies to one commenter!!  

***Jane's winner is Nikki!  Congratulations! Please email totebag@authorsoundrelations.com with your name and mailing info!***

A Frozen Spoonful of Memories - Dianne Emley

At the first hint of impending summer, say around Memorial Day, I always vow to seize summer to the max, to wring every last drop of ripe peaches, lazy days, and balmy nights from it.  The simple pleasures of my childhood summers in a modest neighborhood on the outskirts of Los Angeles take on a golden glow, like a hot summer sun dipping behind the foothills, even though I know I was often bored during those long days.  Remember being bored?  It seems quaint now.  One memory that’s a fresh as yesterday is homemade peach ice cream—with peaches from our trees.

Mom made the custard and poured it into the metal canister and put the dasher inside.  The canister went into the old wooden ice cream bucket that Dad packed with crushed ice and rock salt.  He fixed the handle on top and started cranking by hand.  As the ice cream got thicker, Dad would strain against the handle as it became harder to turn.  At last, after seeming to take forever, he’d pronounce it done.  He’d pull out the dasher and we’d scoop the first spoonfuls of ice cream right off it.  It was sweet, creamy, and crystalline, shot through with frozen bits of peaches, and melted at once on your tongue.  This treat was as fleeting as summer and had to be enjoyed right then.  Leftovers from the freezer the next day were just not the same.

Every summer I vow to make homemade ice cream.  Somehow summer slips by and the long summer Sundays of my youth capped by homemade ice cream slip further into the past.

I was doing some delayed spring cleaning the other day and found, tucked into the back corner of a hard-to-reach cabinet, this ice cream maker.  It’s a relic, dated 1972.  Love the strawberry pink color.  It’s not my dad’s wooden bucket, but I think it’ll do the trick.  Today I’m making ice cream, folding in chopped fresh peaches from the farmer’s market.  I wonder if my ice cream will match my childhood memories.  Even if it doesn’t, I know it’s going to be pretty darn good and the beginning of a new summer tradition.

What about you?  Do you have any summertime traditions?  I’d love to hear them.  On July 25th I’ll randomly pick a winner from everyone who comments and send you a signed copy of Love Kills, the fourth in my Los Angeles Times bestselling Detective Nan Vining series.

# # #

Dianne Emley is a Los Angeles Times bestselling author and has received critical acclaim for her books which include the Detective Nan Vining thrillers: The First Cut, Cut to the Quick, The Deepest Cut, and Love Kills and the Iris Thorne mysteries: Cold Call, Slow Squeeze, Fast Friends, Foolproof and Pushover. Her books have been translated into six languages.  “Emley masterfully twists, turns, and shocks.” —Tess Gerritsen http://dianneemley.com

***Dianne's winner is Maureen!!  Congratulations!  Dianne will be in touch with you about your prize!***

My Perfect Man...

I was going to call this blog 'My First Love', but that could cover anything from a puppy to that Big Mistake I made as a teen (I'm sure you've been there too, when the guy you couldn't resist turned out to be a total disaster). That's why I changed the title of this blog to The Perfect Man. In my current release for Harlequin Mills and Boon, The Count's Prize, heroine Josie is still regretting her own Big Mistake. She's landed the ideal job in the perfect location, where she can bury herself in her work, well away from the kind of man who trampled all over her feelings.  Then she meets Dario, her host...

He was standing so close to her, Josie could feel his presence as well as catch the delicious drift of his aftershave. It gave her a tremulous feeling deep within her body.

What's happening to me? I've come here to work, she thought in alarm, glancing up at him.

Dario was gazing out across the view, lost in thought. At that moment, as though feeling her gaze fall on him, he turned his head and their eyes met. Another sensuous ripple thrilled straight through her. 

And, as if knowing what was going through her mind, Dario granted her a slow, sweet, irresistible smile.

Copyright, Harlequin Mills and Boon Ltd. 2012

There's big trouble ahead for Josie and Dario, but her initial feelings are based on what happened when I met my OH on a blind date. It had been arranged for me by my mother - and be honest, who wants to fall in love with someone who has your mum's approval? She hadn't liked my boyfriend of the moment, so when he rang up and she answered, she told him I was going out with someone else. In those days I was still doing what my parents told me, so I had no option but to go out that evening with the next door neighbours, and their unexpectedly back-on-the-market brother. I started the evening determined not to enjoy myself but one look at him and - wow, I was lost. He wasn't (and isn't!) just charming, he was clever and drop-dead gorgeous, too. Funnily enough, when my first Modern Romance (The Italian Billionaire's Virgin) was published by Mills and Boon, the hero pictured on the cover bore a striking resemblance to the blind date who became my husband. We'll be celebrating our thirtieth wedding anniversary in a few months time. Those years have been so happy, they've gone by in a flash. I'm so glad I went out on that blind date, when running away felt like the best option.

Is there a romantic story attached to your perfect man? There's a signed copy of The Count's Prize for a comment picked at random.

Christina Hollis writes Modern Romance for Harlequin Mills and Boon Ltd, when she isn't  working in the garden, busy with her bees or daydreaming about resuming her abandoned Classical Studies. You can catch up with her at http://www.christinahollis.com, http://www.christinahollis.blogspot.com on Facebook and on Twitter, where she tweets as @christinabooks.

Old friends sharing stories - Emmie Dark

As anyone who admits to doing any kind of writing knows, the first question people ask you is “where do you get your ideas”? My ideas are never neat, easy-to-explain, one-off creative moments. I hate when people ask that question, because I either need to sit them down with a bottle of wine and tell a tale, or mumble something vague like “Oh, here and there”.

So today I want to tell you the tale of where the idea for my new SuperRomance, In His Eyes, came from. It’s the story of Zoe and Hugh, who have to face up to their tangled past after many years apart – and, while doing so, bottle an entire vintage of shiraz and sort out a messy property dispute. There’s a lot of winemaking details in there and I didn’t just get them from my enjoyment of a nice glass of wine after work. J But I’m getting ahead of myself . . .

Kim, a very good friend of mine (since high school days in fact!), started up her own vineyard and winery as a “hobby” some time ago. I put “hobby” in inverted commas, because anyone who knows anything about viticulture and winemaking will know that saying it’s a hobby is akin to saying lion taming is like puppy training.

Anyhow, a couple of years back, Kim, plus Kerryn, the third girl who’d made up our high school gang back in those days, were on our way to our school reunion in the country town where I grew up. Kim and Kerryn had basically kidnapped me and dragged me along with them – I was not keen to attend (to put it mildly). In deference to my distaste for the whole thing, we’d agreed to turn it into a “girls weekend” and so we’d hired a beach house and stocked up on chardonnay and chocolate and 80s music.

So I went to the reunion function, and it was okay – not as bad as I thought it would be, but not a highlight of my social life, either. Mostly I spent the time thinking about what it was like to return to a small town after many years away – my family no longer live there, so I haven’t had many reasons to go back. It’s like running headlong into a long-ago version of yourself without all that fiddly messing about with time travel. People remember the “you” from back then, and that “you” might be a very different “you” to the person you are today. At least, that’s how it felt for me.

This is a real photo from my reunion.

Don’t they all end up looking kind of the same? 

I’m pleased (and relieved!) to say that don’t have quite the tumultuous history that my heroine, Zoe, has, but when she goes back to the fictional wine-growing region of Tangawarra, her experiences are a little similar to mine from that weekend. There were the people who I remembered but who didn’t remember me (and vice versa), the strange anxiety of trying to describe the past twenty years of your life in fifty words or less, and that awkward interaction with the boy you had a crush on way back when.

Afterwards, as Kim and Kerryn and I sat around, chatting and reminiscing, the germ of a story idea began to grow in my mind. And while Kim talked about the vineyard, the two themes began to coalesce. A reunion story, set on a vineyard. And so Hugh and Zoe’s story started to take hold.

I owe Kim a debt of gratitude for the number of times I called her after that weekend to ask one question or another about winemaking. But then I have also helped out on the vineyard with pruning and picking, so perhaps the debt goes both ways?

I loved writing Hugh and Zoe’s story and I have to admit I had myself reaching for the tissues more than once. I’m hoping that’s a good sign.

Did you attend your high school reunion? Was it fun, boring, anxiety-inducing or forgettable? Leave a comment and I’ll pick the best story to receive a signed copy of In His Eyes. 

Emmie on the web:

Website:  http://www.emmiedark.com  Blog:  http://emmiedark.blogspot.com.au/

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/EmmieDarkFanPage

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/EmmieDark

***Emmie's winner is Michele L!  Please email totebag@authorsoundrelations.com with your mailing info!!***

Michelle Styles: Why are Regency Business Women Neglected in Regency novels? plus giveaway

I love Regency set novels. I love reading them and writing them, but it bothered me that so few heroines are businesswomen.
It would be tempting to think that businesswomen did not exist in the Regency period but that would be wrong. Women did own businesses. Think of the dressmakers and hat makers, the dancing schools, the women who ran taverns as well as various other  professions. Women were brewers, ship owners, haberdashers, manufacturers. They are unfortunately often overlooked.
 The highest paid bankers in London in the 1820s were the Peeresses who were the senior partners of Childs and Coutts banks. Lady Jersey who inherited Childs from her grandfather and served as its senior partner from 1806 until her death in 1867 also was at the pinnacle of London society. She served as one of the Lady Patronesses of Almacks. Harriot Mellon Coutts was a former actress who married well, inherited the bank from her husband, remarried a duke half her age and successfully managed the bank until her death.
Jane Austen reputedly used the mother of a friend of hers as the model for Mrs Norris, Fanny Price's horrible aunt. Sara Rice had other plans for where her eldest son was going to have his position and paid no mind to Jane's request. Sara was a highly successful businesswoman and among other things ran the pigeon carrier service which first brought news of Waterloo. Was she as terrible as Austen painted? It is impossible to say.  But she was a Regency businesswoman.
Unlike Austen, Georgette Heyer does not feature businesswomen in her novels. This is more because Heyer didn't approve of them. Heyer had Edwardian sensibilities. She wrote about the sort of heroine who appealed to her.
One of the major problems for women prior to the Married Women's Act was that unless the marriage contract specifically declared otherwise, all her goods and wealth belonged to her husband. It had to be a specific exclusion and caused a number of women a great deal of misery when their marriage went sour.Some women like Eleanor Coade who ran the hugely successful Coade Stone never married in order that she never had to lose control of the business. Others like Lady Jersey were very careful to keep all the men in their lives out of the business.
What I find interesting is that certain women did do well during the Regency period but as the century progressed and business stopped being start ups, there were fewer and fewer top businesswomen, particularly in finance. The flowering of women in business seems to be more from 1750 -1850. In 1812 fourteen women held licenses to print money. By 1905, there were no women senior partners in British banks as far as I can determine. In many ways the Edwardian era when women were fighting hard for the vote was far more restrictive to women's prospects in business than the Regency. Heyer's lack of a businesswoman heroine is understandable if one looks at the era she was writing in, rather than the era she was writing about.
In an attempt to start redressing the imbalance, my latest heroine Eleanor Blackwell is the owner of one of the best sword-makers in Britian in 1811. In order to retain control of the family firm, she must marry according to her stepfather's will.


UPDATE: I have drawn the winner Cate S and will be popping a copy of His Unsuitable Viscountess in the post. Many thanks to all who entered.

Book at Beachtime...

It hasn't stopped raining for weeks in the UK, but I'm that somewhere in the world readers are able to stretch out on the beach under a shady umbrella, or in their gardens, with a book.

There are a load of brilliant Harlequin Romances out there this month, to pick up at your local supplier - the perfect weight not to make your wrist ache while reading - or download onto your kindle. There are titles by Cara Colter, Shirley Jump, Jennie Adams, Rebecca Winters and of course, my own The Last Woman He'd Ever Date was published on the 3rd July.

I've hardly had time to talk about this book, since I moved into my new house on the crucial day! However, we've unpacked enough for me to draw up a packing case, open my laptop and drop by to tell you that this is one of my Maybridge books. The story kicks off when "good girl" (well, almost good girl) Claire Thackeray, late and in a hurry, runs into "bad boy" (with an agenda) Hal North - literally - and they end up entangled in a ditch.

As cute meets go, it's painful and muddy and brings back a heap of memories to Claire (who had a crush), and Hal, (who did not).

It's about then, that Hal's agenda gets thrown out of the window - although he fights manfully - and Claire begins to question what she's doing with her life.

It's light-hearted, funny, with just enough emotion tossed into the mix to make the perfect light summer read. I hope you'll enjoy it.k

Claire Thackeray: Hardworking single mom and gossip columnist. Hoping for the inside scoop on sexy billionaire Hal North,
aka her teen crush!

Most wary of: Gorgeous men who set her heart racing. (Been there, got the T-shirt—and the baby!)
Hal North: Bad boy made good. Back in his hometown as new owner of the Cranbrook Park estate. Determined to put his troubled past behind him.
Most wary of: Journalists—especially pretty ones, like new neighbor and tenant Claire Thackeray.

A Warrior's Voice - Alexis Morgan

Like most writers, I have a lot of extra people living in my head. Even before I see what they look like, I can hear their voices murmuring in the back of my mind. Sometimes all I ever catch is the merest whisper of their thoughts, a few sentences, and then the character is gone. Maybe I wasn’t paying enough attention to them, but I like to think they realized I wasn’t the right person to tell their story and so they moved on.

Other times, though, that voice gets louder, the words clearer, and that’s when I really take notice. Who is that guy anyway? What is he trying to tell me? And for me, it usually is a guy because I almost always see the heroes in my stories before I do the heroines. Don’t get me wrong—the women are just as important to the story. After all, without them, it wouldn’t be a romance.

It’s just that I usually write what I think of as Band of Brothers stories where the books are centered around a group of warriors. These guys are strong, powerful, and pretty darned sexy, if I do say so. They all know how to fight; they know the battle that needs to be won; they know who they need to protect and the secrets they need to keep. It’s a hard life they live, knowing the cost of picking up their weapons, and yet they head back into battle anyway.

Which is where the heroine comes in. It’s her role to show the hero that there is more to life than fighting. True, he cannot ignore his duty, but that he also deserves more.  That he can have her in his life, too. But for this to work, she has to be as strong in her own right as he is. Not physically as strong perhaps, but emotionally strong and unafraid to fight for what she believes in.

My current release, My Lady Mage, is the first book in my new Warriors of the Mist series from Signet Eclipse. As usual, it was one of the Warriors who spoke to me first. Captain Gideon told me he was a warrior, one who had spent centuries fighting against evil and injustice. Furthermore, Gideon had served with his four friends even before they became the avatars for the Lord and Lady of the River. The five men had sworn to serve the gods in hopes of eventually redeeming their lost honor and being granted peace at last. For centuries, all they have known is fighting battle after battle, often for people who feared the five men as much as they did their real enemies.  In between battles, they sleep beneath the river, barely aware of the passage of time.

I could just see these five powerful men, each with his own strengths and painful past, bonded together by their deep friendship and common purpose. They never needed anyone else. They were strong enough on their own. Or so they thought. Then enters Lady Merewen, the latest supplicant calling upon the gods for their assistance in dealing with the dark evil that is endangering everyone she cares about, including the amazing horses who are in her care.

               

From the second the five warriors marched out of the river, they realize that this calling is different than any they have faced before. It isn’t because of the impending fight against evil, but because Lady Merewen sees them as men, not just five weapons to wield against her enemies. There’s an emotional connection that gives their lives and their mission a layer of meaning that has been missing in the past.

In the end, Gideon and Merewen realize it will take both of their strengths—his power as a warrior and her gift of compassion—to stand against the gathering darkness. And just as things have changed for Gideon, the other four warriors find their own lives changes—perhaps the scariest thing they’ve ever had to face.

I love both writing and reading romances about powerful warriors. Seeing such strong men find room in their lives for a little gentleness and a lot of love. If you like that kind of hero, too, what is it about them that draws you toward reading their story? We’ll be picking one person who leaves a comment to receive an autographed copy of My Lady Mage, so let me know what you think!

***Alexis' winner is Rebe!!  Please email totebag@authorsoundrelations.com with your full name and mailing address!***

Gorgeous Fashion Photos!

by Anna Campbell

I thought we'd have some fun with gorgeousness today.

Recently, a very good friend of mine sent me a surprise present from the Book Depository - the hardback edition of Vicky Tiel's IT'S ALL ABOUT THE DRESS: WHAT I LEARNED IN FORTY YEARS ABOUT MEN, WOMEN, SEX AND FASHION.

The book is gossipy and great fun and talks about lots of celebrities of the last fifty years, particularly Liz Taylor and Richard Burton. But what sparked the idea of doing this blog today was that Vicky's best friend at school was the daughter of the first supermodel Lisa Fonssagrives.

That name rang no bell with me at all but curiosity prompted me to check out Lisa on Google. Wow! Suddenly I knew who was the woman in all those iconic 1940s and 1950s fashion photos that absolutely radiate glamour.

Perhaps because I grew up watching old movies, I love the fashions of this era. Think Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly. Think pure elegance. Think women who look like they just set foot outside a Paris atelier.

I think Dior's 'New Look' is one of the most romantic styles that ever existed. Apparently it (and I suspect quite a few of the dresses in these photos) was awful to wear. To get the correct silhouette, corsetry was enlisted in a way that had been obsolete since the Edwardian era. But the result was pure magic.

Lisa was born in Sweden in 1911 and didn't start her modeling career until she was spotted in an elevator at the age of 25. Quite old for a supermodel to get started in terms of current practices. She moved to the United States when she was 28 and lived there until she died at the age of 80 in 1991. As well as a model, she was also a dancer and a sculptor.

Aren't these photographs the bee's knees? I had a wonderful time picking out the illustrations for this blog. There's a sculptural quality to the images, isn't there? It fits the very ascetic lines of Lisa's face and body. She looks like she could have been carved out of marble. I love how in the photo above, the sharp point at the back of that fantastic hat somehow echoes the sharp point of the model's nose. It's a very distinctive beauty. She once said she was a "good clothes hanger" and while she was clearly much more, you can see how that long, lean body is perfect for displaying these elegant garments.

She clearly set the fashion for the look of that era. My very first Barbie doll had pointed features and sloping cheekbones and those heavy-lidded eyes. For a little girl, this was a little bit scary and I was much happier when my next Barbie was much softer looking. But now when I look at these hauntingly lovely pictures of Lisa Fonssagrives, I see where the inspiration for that first Barbie came from.

I love looking at old clothes. I can remember even as a kid, I'd spend hours looking at paintings of women in renaissance and medieval dress. The beautiful intricacy, the sumptuous fabrics, the pure romance of those clothes drew me in, and I think helped steer me toward wanting to be a historical romance writer. For me, it wasn't romantic unless they were tripping along in long dresses! Those old dresses were so exotic to me. And I think looking at these images from 60 years ago, there's a similar exoticism here.

I have a theory that one of the reasons the Regency is so perennially popular is that people love the fashions of the era. There's something about those empire-line gowns that whispers romantic intrigue, isn't there? Mind you, the Regency also had very nice male fashions to it's appealing across both genders.

Perhaps in the end, Vicky Teil is right - it IS all about the dress!

So do you have a favorite era in fashion? Do you like Regency dresses? What's the most glamorous dress you ever owned?

For me, it was a Princess Diana wedding dress knock-off in cream taffeta that always made me feel, well, like a princess. Suspect it would cause hoots of derision now with its puffy sleeves and big circular skirt, but at the time, man, I thought I was the cream in the coffee whenever I wore it.

'Tis the season to shiver - Kandy Shepherd

How important is weather to you in a novel?

As I shiver through a cold, wet winter Down Under (yes, I know it’s meant to be eternal summer here but not where I live!) I realize I have never written a story set in anything but warm weather.

Whether my stories are set in spring, summer or fall, it’s always pleasant weather. Cool enough, perhaps, for a heroine to shrug on a hero’s chivalrously offered leather jacket on a spring evening, but most of my characters wear nothing warmer than a T-shirt. In The Castaway Bride, my hero and heroine don’t wear clothes much at all. If you were cast away on a blissfully perfect tropical island alone with a hot hunk, would you?

The perfect setting for romance!

A book set in a wonderful snowy location (trapped in a cozy, snowed-in mountain cabin with a hot hunk maybe) might be in my writing future, who knows? But not right now.

Toby is a picture of equine misery--despite his expensive new rug

They say to write about what you know, but there’s also writing about what you wish for. The scenarios I’ve chosen up ’til now force me to admit blue skies and a kindly sun feature strongly in my fantasies. Yes, the three stories I’m working on right now are all set in summer!

Miss Molly models her cosy coat

It isn’t only me who suffers in the cold weather, my animals too don’t seem to happy with the cold and wet winter we’re having.

There's nothing as contrary as a cat like Cindy who insists on sitting out in the rain

I have quite the menagerie of pets who are all complaining about the conditions.  Forget me getting a new coat for the winter—the horses and dog have priority.

I’m lucky, though, as I’m escaping to the Romance Writers of America convention in Anaheim in just a few weeks. Bring on that Californian weather!

Do have a season you enjoy more than the others? Do you notice the weather in a novel? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Leave a comment to win a free download of my e-book Something About Joe, or a voucher for a copy of The Castaway Bride from Amazon. Be sure to include your email address.

Something About Joe is available for just $0.99c at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords and other e-retailers. The Castaway Bride is exclusive to Amazon.

Kandy Shepherd writes fun, feel-good fiction.

www.kandyshepherd.com

Wendy Wax: Sometimes a Detour Can Lead to a Better Road

I’ve been a novelist for many years now – but that was not the path I started out on.  I began my career with a degree in journalism and worked for many years in radio, television and film both behind and in front of the camera. (My claim to fame during this time was hosting a live radio show called ‘Desperate & Dateless’ back when I was both!)

If you had asked me at 18 where I saw myself as an adult it would have been somewhere in the world of broadcasting. But life almost never takes us where we think it will. For me, there was no catastrophic event that made me change course.  Instead, as I started a family and moved with my husband, I realized that my love of reading and books and the passion I always had for writing might actually be a valid career choice and not just a pastime or an out of reach dream.

When we first meet Maddie, Nicole and Avery in TEN BEACH ROAD, they’re forced from their paths by a Bernie Madoff style Ponzi scheme that leaves them in financial ruin.  The three of them, who start out as strangers, are left with only co-ownership of a dilapidated beachfront mansion on Pass-a-Grille in St. Petersburg Beach, Florida.  With no other paths open, the three take what they think will be a detour in their lives to spend one sweat-soaked summer renovating the once fabulous Mediterranean Revival style home that’s all they have left. But as in my own life, sometimes the detour becomes the better road. 

In my first ever sequel, OCEAN BEACH, Maddie, Nicole and Avery are back and what started as a one-time thing, a minor detour, appears to be a truly viable path.  Now the women are asked to renovate another home, this time an Art Deco Streamline on Miami’s South Beach that belongs to an aging former Vaudeville star with a tragic past and a secret agenda. But when they arrive to get their first glimpse of the house they’ll be working on, they discover that the network has changed its focus. Their new program, Do Over, isn’t a renovation series but a reality TV show and the cameras are aimed at them. The bonds they formed with each other and the new careers they fell into have become not just something to cope with, but something to embrace, and nurture and grow. 

I think I was drawn to write about women who are forced down a new path for financial reasons because I’ve seen it happen to so many of my friends throughout this tough economic environment.  And because I’ve seen so many of them turn what could have been a disaster into a dream come true.  I truly believe that if you keep an open mind and allow yourself to see the detours and paths that are open to you, you will find the right road, even though it may not be the one you thought you were looking for. 

For the women of TEN BEACH ROAD and OCEAN BEACH, this is not just true in their working lives, but in their personal lives as well.  The men they thought they wanted might not be the right ones, and the ones they didn’t even notice might be.  The mother-daughter relationships they thought of one way have the ability to grow and change and the women they thought so different from themselves could turn out to their best friends in life.  Of course, the internal struggle for each of them is to learn to be open to all those possibilities.

For me, writing a sequel to TEN BEACH ROAD was a detour.  OCEAN BEACH was not originally planned – and in fact I had to put down another book I was working on to write it.  But like most of my little detours, it’s turned into a wonderful experience.  So who knows, maybe writing an ongoing series is my new path! 

How about you? Are you where you thought you’d be when you were first starting out?  Did some of life’s curveballs send you off on a detour that changed your life?  Or are you just now considering a new path that has opened up before you?  Share your thoughts for a chance to win an autographed copy of TEN BEACH ROAD and OCEAN BEACH!

Wendy

***Wendy's winner is Jencey Gortney!! Please email totebag@authorsoundrelations.com with your mailing information! Thanks!***

Mom Camp . . . sigh . . . : : Anne McAllister

One of the traditions in our family since my oldest grandson was about nine, was to have him come for a week in summer and go to the local university’s sports camp for kids. He got to wear himself out in sports for a week, and we got to have the pleasure of his company in the evenings and in the mornings and we all had a great time.

When his brother was old enough to come, we had the two of them – and a cousin.  Then the oldest boy got too old, but my first granddaughter was just the right age. So she came, too – all the way from Texas –and got to spend a week at camp, and a week with her cousin. And we got to enjoy both of them.

We also got a visit from our daughter which was a real treat.  Thus began “Mom Camp.”

While the kids were off doing their thing, my daughter and I – and the teenage daughter of one of my cousins – took matters into our own hands and created our own version of Having A Blast.

We baked wonderful stuff – from rhubarb delight to chocolate sinkholes to cranberry apricot scones.  We went shopping and out to lunch once or twice. We talked and laughed and laughed.

We ate at the local Japanese restaurant, where we relished the fact that no kids came along to think a hamburger would have been better.  We tie-dyed t-shirts one year. We made tote bags using vegetables to stamp designs another.  And all the while we talked and laughed and  laughed.

We looked at old photos and told family stories and made some memories of our own. We had such a good time that we had to share it.  Since that first year my friend Nancy the cat slayer (no, she doesn’t, but we have a photo of her looking like she might), several other friends and a couple of my neighbors have joined in.

The teenage cousin’s grandmother, my wonderful aunt, flew out from Arizona because she decided that she wanted to be part of it, too.

We’ve had years of tea parties and lime sinkholes (less intense but every bit as wonderful as the chocolate ones. We’ve made a habit of watching Mamma Mia one night (we really can’t stop laughing at that one).  We’ve watched episodes of Wonderfalls – especially the one with the talking cow creamer – because Jay, the heroine, sounds exactly like the teenage cousin.

We think the kids like sports camp. But we have a secret – we like Mom Camp even better.

We’ve done it for five years now.  It has pretty much been the high point of the summer. Last year we even took Mom Camp on the road. I had a conference to go to in Washington DC.  I had a hotel room going to waste – so my daughter, my granddaughter (fresh from sports camp and eager to be an honorary Mom for a week) and one of my daughters-in-law joined me there.  Mom Camp can survive – and even thrive in other venues.  I highly recommend it. The talking and the stories and the laughter go on and on and on.

But this year, it isn’t happening. Not the way it has. Granddaughter from Texas can’t come this year.  And her mom has a new job that means she will be working straight through July. Teenage cousin has a job this summer that she can’t leave either. Arizona aunt is stuck at home. 

It’s possible that Nancy and the neighbors and I will get up to no good, we might bake a bit, laugh a lot and do our own mini-Mom Camp, hoping that we can get the ‘real thing’ going again next year.  The sports camp is going on anyway. Two more grandsons are “of an age” this year. So I’ll have the three boys at least. 

Any maybe, while they are off playing football or lacrosse or shooting arrows or climbing rock walls, I’ll see if I can’t do a bit of Virtual Mom Camping. 

Can you say Facetime?  I knew there was a reason I was getting an iPad. And not just to meet the new grandchild who’s due to arrive this month. 

Yes, Virtual Mom Camp sounds like a plan.

After all, the only other alternative would be for me to write!

Have you ever had your own version of Mom Camp?  What were the highlights?  I’d love to hear about them.

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Anne’s most recent book was the Harlequin Presents Extra, Savas’s Wildcat.  Her next one, Breaking the Greek’s Rules, will be out around Christmas – or so she hears.

Still on Island Time

I'm late! So sorry about that. I'm blaming it on island time. I've spent a week in Fiji and time there is very flexible and relaxed and I didn't have to know the date or the time....just the directions to the hammock.

Spending a week out of the normal routine is so important in our busy lives. We shut out the real world- no news, no phone, no internet. It was fabulous, however re-entry to the world isn't without stress.

I was so relaxed my brain emptied. Passwords? Um, I forgot. Appointments? I forgot. As for what my characters were doing when I left them in my manuscript, well, I have totally forgotten. I'm having to re-read what I've written to get back into the story.

But time waits for no man once you've left Fiji. I have a big ten days coming up. My eldest son is turning 18...a big deal in Australia as that is the age one can legally drive, drink and vote. I am also packing for my trip to the USA. YAY!


 I'm so excited to be a RITA nominee with my contemporary romance, Boomerang Bride and to be  attending the Romance Writers of America's conference in Anaheim. I will be signing at the Literacy Book Signing on Wednesday July 25th at table 200.


If you're coming, 
please do call 
by. I will have Tim Tams (world's best chocolate biscuits) and some cute Australian give-aways (Bribe, Bribe) ;-)

I'll be signing Boomerang Bride and my recent Harlequin Medical Romance, Letting Go with Dr Rodriguez. If you love a sexy polo player than Marco is for you ;-)


While I was in Fji, I was fortunate to be able to visit the Nadi Library and talk with the staff and teachers from local schools. I did a book signing and they made me this most amazing Lei. How lucky was I?

Where have you been on vacation where you had a total relax?

Fiona Lowe is an award-winning, multi-published author with Harlequin and Carina Press. Whether her books are set in outback Australia or in the mid-west of the USA, they feature small towns with big hearts, and warm, likeable characters that make you fall in love. When she's not writing stories, she's a weekend wife, mother of two 'ginger' teenage boys, guardian of 80 rose bushes and often found collapsed on the couch with wine. A current RITA & RuBY nominee, you can find her at her website, facebook, Twitter and Goodreads.

Tracey O'Hara: Choose your own Ending

I have been a fan of action, adventure, horror and fantasy from a very young age, so it’s no surprise that my stories are filled with the same. My favourite fairy tales were Hansel and Gretel and Red Riding Hood. Hansel and Gretel fooled the nasty old cannibalistic witch and pushed her into the her own oven - gruesome. And Red Riding Hood saw through the wolf’s disguise and was saved by the handsome woodsman (or so I like to think) who cut that grandma chowing canine real good. It seemed so much better than Sleeping Beauty who spent all those years laying as she waited for Prince Charming. And what’s up with Rapunzel, just hanging out in a tower brushing her hair all day.

The other thing I did when I was growing up was to mentally rewrite the unsatisfactory ends of stories or movies. I never did this on purpose. I wasn’t even aware I was doing it for a long time. I just know that when I re-watched a movie or re-read a story I would think that’s not what happened last  time. I should have known then I was destined to become a writer.

So when I finally came to writing my own stories, I used all the rules that made sense to me and discard. Like reimaging a move, I could take the best part and add my own spin. Like my vampires - they are not undead, they can see themselves in the mirror and are not afraid of crosses and such. Yet they can’t go out in the daylight, they need blood to survive and are practically invulnerable.

The same goes for the witches in my latest book SIN’S DARK CARESS. I took the parts of witchcraft mythology and added my own lore. If they are a familial witch, they can use magic and have an animal familiar, but they can’t use magic without an animal familiar. I also have other kinds of witches that have different ways of using magic. Each has their own lore.

So have you ever wanted to make up your own endings or change the rules because they just don’t make sense to you? Leave a comment and I'll give away a copy of either of my books to two commenters! 

***Tracy's winners are Jo Mc and Kelly Ethan!  Please email totebag@authorsoundrelations.com with your mailing details!***

Amanda Bonilla - The New Mythology

A few months ago, my teen son came home from school and began to talk about what had happened in his English class. They were reading the Odyssey and the teen was recounting a discussion he’d had with his teacher. Of course, since I can’t remember conversations I had a couple of days ago, let alone a month, I don’t remember the details of the conversation or what character/creature my son and his teacher were discussing. But I do remember that the teacher asked a question about the story that he answered correctly. Huzzah! The teen said to me, “You know where I learned that, Mom?” Uh, your English class? Nope. “God of War.” Well, color me proud. I knew God of War wasn’t just about Kryos’s vendetta against the 

gods. It’s educational! I wonder if his English teacher would agree…

But this sparked an interesting question in my writer’s brain: Are fantasy writers changing the landscape of mythology as we know it? Let’s face it. The kid got lucky. There’s plenty of stuff in that video game that doesn’t mesh with traditional mythology. As writers, sometimes we take off in a different direction, blaze a new trail, and start fresh. And now we have reference sources like Wikipedia, where anyone can log on, create an entry (or edit an existing one), and post it for the entire world to see. It’s one of the first sites listed in most Google searches, and I have to admit, I use the site more often than not. And what about video games? Like I said, the teen thinks he’s getting legit info from these story lines. Sometimes he is…but what about the times when he isn’t?

Did you ever play the “rumor game” in high school? You know, the one at the start of the year assembly where the staff is trying to teach the kids a lesson about spreading gossip? The story starts out innocently enough, but by the time it works its way through several hundred kids, it’s a completely different story. The same concept can be applied to mythology. A story is handed down through generations. There are re-tellings, details get lost in translation, and a hundred or so years later, it ends up on a wiki site completely different than the original story.

When I started writing Shaedes of Gray, I knew that I’d have to break from tradition. The Shaedes of my imagination didn’t conform to anything I could find in my research. So I wrote a creation myth and gave them mortal enemies of Greek tragedy proportions in their Lyhtan cousins. I found the word in some on-line ancient words dictionary. Lyhtan—a verb—literally means, “to make light.” What better word to name my creatures that were so different from my shadow-loving Shaedes. And since I couldn’t find a creature in mythology that fit my vision of the Lyhtan, I made them up from scratch.

Of course this is nothing new. Fantasy writers have been doing this since…well, forever. And with the video game industry booming with historical titles like Assassin’s Creed and big-time fantasy like World of Warcraft, there’s a lot of room to make an impression. The Assassin’s Creed franchise is based on historical events. The developers worked extensively with historians and religious scholars to lend authenticity to their game. And I bet most of the people you ask have at least heard of WOW, a game so vast and intricate in its world-building that there are entire wiki’s dedicated to the game.

But when does a story reach beyond mere fiction and become myth? Will the exploits of Odysseus fade into obscurity and become lost amongst hundreds of other tales lost in history? Now, I’m not saying that fantasy writers are affecting an instant change on the mythological landscape. But who’s to say, a couple hundred years from now, a Humanities teacher in some futuristic society won’t be reading the works of George R.R. Martin to her class and drilling the mythos into their young, malleable brains? Will our increasingly digital culture look to video games like Assassin’s Creed for a quick history lesson? And in the muddled age of wiki-sources, how will our teachers fact-check a student’s research paper when that child could easily submit or manipulate an entry on a research site?

What do you guys think? Are writers changing the landscape of mythology as we know it? Or will history and myths continue on the straight and narrow path, never to deviate from its original version?