Why Are Some Books Harder Than Others?--Jenna Black

People often ask me questions about my writing process. I always have trouble answering those questions, because for me, the process seems to be different for every book. With some books (for example, WATCHERS IN THE NIGHT), I start out with a full plot synopsis. I don’t think I’ve ever made it to the end without making major changes, but at least I had the illusion of a road map before I started. For others, like THE DEVIL INSIDE, I have next to no plan when I start, and the plot slowly unfolds as I go along. Then there are the others, which seem to fight me all the way from start to finish, no matter what approach I take.


My upcoming Guardians of the Night release, HUNGERS OF THE HEART, is one of the latter kind. (Actually, the book before it, SHADOWS ON THE SOUL, was the same, but it’s not as freshly in my mind at the moment.) Something about that book made it very, very hard for me to write. And I sure wish I could identify what that mysterious “something” was. (I’m not sure I could eliminate it even if I did identify it, but that’s a whole different issue.)

I have not gotten tired of the Guardians of the Night world. Nor have I gotten tired of the characters. In fact, Drake, the hero of HUNGERS OF THE HEART, has been one of my (and my readers’) favorites from the beginning. I had no trouble getting myself enthused about the book, and I got excited when I thought about all the possibilities. And yet, whenever I sat down to write, I’d invariably get stuck. I had to fight to keep myself in the chair. Suddenly, it seemed terribly important that I get that laundry done, or got out to the gym, or played a game of Civilization on the computer. I was in serious writing-avoidance mode.

I don’t know what it is about that particular book that made it so hard, but let me tell you, I breathed a huge sigh of relief when I finally made it to The End. I hope that it came out all right despite the fact that it was such a struggle. I’m too close to it now to tell. Of course, as I said, I had a lot of trouble with SHADOWS ON THE SOUL, too, and it ended up earning my first Top Pick from Romantic Times, as well as a Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award nomination. (So did THE DEVIL INSIDE, which for whatever mysterious reason came easily.)

What this tells me is that the ease with which I write the book has little or nothing to do with the quality of the end product. Which is in some ways a good thing. I was able to remind myself of that fact repeatedly while I was struggling with HUNGERS, and it did give me some level of comfort. Still, I must admit, I like the easy ones better! (Especially when I have a tight deadline!)

Character Chemistry - Anya Bast

Hi all -- Many thanks to Lee for the invitation to blog today. My name is Anya Bast and I write for several different publishers, including Berkley, Ellora's Cave and Harlequin.

The second book in my Elemental Witches series released in March.

Witch Blood tells the story of Isabelle Novak and Thomas Monahan as they hunt a rampaging demon that has been killing of witches...Isabelle's sister included. Thomas was a secondary character in the first book of this series.

When I’m writing a series like the Elemental Witches, I don’t always know which secondary characters might intrigue me enough to get their own story. But as soon as Thomas Monahan appeared on the page while I was writing the first book in this series, Witch Fire, I knew I wanted to get to know him better. In fact, I was so intrigued by his character that I knew almost immediately the next book in the series would be his.

Thomas was so buttoned up, so uptight, such a workaholic. Like the element he commands, he’s very stable and steady–good qualities, though Thomas takes them to an extreme. In Witch Fire, his character was in dire need of a night absolute reckless abandon, something to get him to loosen his tie a little. What he really needed was a woman who wasn’t afraid of him, someone to ruffle his hair and turn his world on end. In Witch Blood, I needed the right heroine to make that happen.

Enter Isabelle Novak. Emotional, chaotic, impulsive and unpredictable, Isabelle is ruled by her heart rather than her head. And like the element she commands, she is changeable, flowing and, if you’re not careful, can slip right through your fingers. She is everything that Thomas is not and everything he needs–even if he doesn’t know it. On the other hand, Thomas provides a stability that Isabelle can benefit from. Her life has had little constancy and she’s suffered for it.

On the surface, Thomas and Isabelle seem like the worst possible match, yet they fill up each other’s empty places and they are explosive together. From the first time they meet there is a chemistry between them they can’t deny. They both know they’re taking huge risks by falling in love and both of them, Isabelle especially, fight it. But the attraction they share and the qualities they possess–qualities the other needs–keep drawing them together.

And a demon keeps drawing them apart.

In Witch Blood, Thomas, Isabelle and the Coven will face a threat even more dire than the Duskoff warlocks, a threat that wants to ensure that Thomas and Isabelle never get that happily-ever-after they’re working toward (despite themselves).

Both Thomas and Isabelle will have to reach way down deep inside themselves for strength not only of the physical, but of the emotional, to meet the violent challenge that a loose demon on Earth offers…and to save themselves.

Come along with Thomas and Isabelle and delve further into the world of the elemental witches. I dare you to go head to head with an Atrika demon.

~ Anya Bast

Heart's Desire - Christina Hollis

A while ago, I read Jack Canfield’s ‘The Success Principles’ and it made a real impression on me. It’s a motivational book, and it led to me getting my first Modern Romance accepted by Harlequin Mills and Boon so I’m living proof that the Success Principles system works (if you use the system)!

One of the exercises was to list all the things you’d like to achieve before you die. I thought meeting and falling in love with my husband was the ultimate prize – he’s the answer to all my dreams - but I duly wrote out my own ‘bucket list’ and it was fun. It concentrated my mind to the point where I’ve actually managed to tick off a few more ambitions along the way, including the one that was originally at the very top of my list. That was to get The Italian Billionaire’s Virgin published, which happened for me last year. More recently, I’ve been tackling the entries ‘keep chickens’ and ‘start beekeeping’. The poultry was a bit of a cop-out – we’d hung on to all the equipment from the last time we had a flock, and the children have been hankering for some pets. They’re thrilled with our new hens, and have even taken on some responsibility for looking after them. In a few weeks time they’ll get the thrill of collecting eggs warm from the nest as a reward.

Spring is such a lovely time of year, and a good time to try one of my other ambitions - beekeeping. This is much more of a challenge. I’m absolutely terrified of getting stung, but apparently honeybees are in real danger of dying out here in the UK. It’s important to get as many people as possible caring for them, as health problems in wild colonies mean they never last long. So as I want to help stop their decline, I have to fight my phobia. Luckily, the course I’ve been taking has been mainly classroom based. The only time we students have been let near to the bees they’ve been calm and didn’t sting anybody!

To celebrate spring and all these new beginnings, I’m holding a competition on my website, http://www.christinahollis.com/. It runs until the end of May and for the chance of winning some signed books (including my next release, Her Ruthless Italian Boss) and other goodies, all you need to do is email me at christinahollis@hotmail.co.uk with a list of five things you’d love to achieve. To get you started, here’s a selection from my current list:

To hold a traditional Christmas party, including all my extended family;
To become an established author,
To meet a reindeer;
To plough with horses and
To get de-stressed (ha!)

Put ‘competition’ in the email’s subject line, and I’ll be selecting a winner after the closing date of 31st May. Good luck!

Christina

http://www.christinahollis.com/

12 Points on the 12th - the new edition!

In a slight change from the actual 12 Points blog , today I’m so pleased to be able to talk about the brand-new, second edition of the 12 Point Guide published this week. I'm really thrilled to be able to say that this second edition is being published and I've been working hard to make it even bigger and better than the first one.

Why did I want to write a second edition?

Well, first there's the obvious reason - the fact that the first edition sold out.

That meant that no one can get a copy any more, unless they found one second-hand. Even Amazon doesn't have any used copies available.Well - they do - if you want

a A copy sent from Lebanon. I think that's Lebanon NY

b. A used copy for £60-82 - £60-82!!!!

c. A 'like new' copy for £67 - 40

I think not!

And no way am I claiming that my book is worth 6 - nearly 7 times what it originally cost.

Then there was the fact that some of the information in the original edition needed updating - for example, there were the names of some lines - Mills and Boon 'Tender Romance' was back to being just Mills & Boon Romance. And Silhouette Romance had merged with that line to be Harlequin Romance.Then there was the Modern Extra line which is now selling as Modern Heat. . . Nothing stays exactly the same in romance publishing for very long.And that includes the focus of the different lines, there are changes in the guidelines and the things that editors are looking for in submissions.So obviously it was time to plan a second edition.

But I also decided that if I was going to bring out a second edition, it was going to be an improved and expanded new edition as well as a revised one. I know a lot about writing romance but there are some things that only the authors who write for specific lines really know about.And so I decided that the best way to make the book even more helpful would be to include advice from the horses' mouths so to speak. Only I didn't call it that - I called this new section From The Authors' Desks. I sent out questionnaires to lots of my wonderful friends who write romance for many different lines - and 21 of them answered.

But I'm thrilled to be able to say that the new edition is not only revised and updated, it also has this 40+ pages extra with advice and tips from 21 currently published authors. Authors like Michelle Reid, Anne McAllister, Sandra Marton in Presents, Liz Fielding, Natasha Oakley, in Romance, Trish Wylie and Julie Cohen in Modern Heat (Trish in Romance too!) - and Kate Hardy in Mod Heat and Medicals - along with Gill Sanderson and Margaret McDonagh. And in Historicals there's Nicola Cornick and Michelle Styles. . . and that's only as a taster.

There's also Holly Jacobs from Harlequin Everlasting - er - Superromance (see there's another of those lines that came and went) and Yvonne Lindsay from Desire. Hopefully, whatever line you're aiming for you'll find something to help you there.

And it won't cost you £ 67-00 - I promise!

No, this new expanded edition will be exactly the same price as the first edition - that's £10.99 in UK money.

From the actual publication date- I will be holding a special launch party on my blog with many of the authors who contributed to the From the Authors' Desks section joining me in the celebrations - and many of them are offering prizes too. So don't miss out on that.

And I'll be answering questions in the Writers' Q&A as well. So I hope I'll see you here.

Oh -and as I've been asked for these details - here's what you need if you want to order the 12 PGTWR 2

The details you'll need are:

12-Point Guide to Writing Romance
(Studymates Writers Guides)

By Kate Walker

2nd Rev Ed edition

Pub April 8th

RRP: £10.99

Publisher: Studymates Ltd

ISBN: 978-1842851319

In America you should be able to order it from Barnes & Noble, Borders, Chapters/Indigo - just tell them to order it through Transatlantic Publishers

If you're in America and you'd like a neat way to remember these details, then Lee has some lovely bookmarks with all the info you'll need. If you'd like one of these and a free Kate Walker pen - then send an SASE (USA postage naturally) to:

Lee Hyat

Kate Walker Goodies

4411, 76th Ave. West # 2

University Place,
WA 98466

If the envelopes are addressed as above, then Lee will know what you're interested in.

But if you want a chance to be one of the very first people to own a signed copy of this brand new edition, then I have one that I'm offering as a prize here on this blog.I don't know if you've ever visited my web site then you'll know that the way I pick the winners for my contests is that I don't pick them - my cat Sid does! I put all the names on pieces of paper with a cat treat on the top of each one, and the first one that Sid picks is the winner.

So Sid will be picking a winner for me for this prize - and I'll throw in a signed copy of one of my Presents books and a special Kate Walker book bag as well.

All you have to do is to post in the comment s section - tell me about your writing, what lines you're aiming for - or why you'd like to win the 12 Point Guide - I'd love to hear from you.

And so would Sid - the more answers we get, the more cat treats he has to eat his way through!

And if you get a chance I hope you'll come along to the launch party over on my blog - there will be more prizes to win over there too. Hope to see you there.

Even More of a Good Thing - Annie West

What’s even better than a good book to read? A collection of good books!

Like when you discover an author or a series you enjoy, then you have the pleasure of reading the other stories in the series. Or when the present you receive isn’t a book but a collection of books. The promise of more to come is so appealing.

If I’ve enjoyed a story it’s wonderful to discover linked books where a theme, location, quest or characters carry on into other titles. Similarly I love anthologies – collections of stories by a favourite author, or by various writers. There’s something so luscious and satisfying about knowing you can dip straight into the next story when you’ve vanished the first one!

I started young. One of my first books was a fairy tale anthology. Large, hard bound in red, with wonderful evocative illustrations. I still have that book. As a child it seemed almost magical – as if there was a never ending supply of exotic, exciting tales between the covers. Even when I’d read them all I kept going back, poring over favorites and finding new details to enjoy.

Later I discovered other anthologies. Dr Dolittle, whose fantastic adventures kept me spellbound, and compilations of adventure stories. I read my way through series too, such as Trixie Belden and Nancy Drew. Every so often I discovered new authors in anthologies and I had a ball. There was the glorious anticipation that one book wouldn’t have to be enough. More were waiting. I worked my way through Tolkien, Austen, Wodehouse and EF Benson (love Mapp and Lucia).

Then I discovered romance...

Harlequin Mills and Boon books presented a never-ending series to be explored. Then there was Georgette Heyer, with a whole new world of regency-set romantic comedies to read. Mary Stewart too, whose stories of romantic adventure and suspense enthralled me as a teenager. My favourite was a huge anthology of 3 stories. I read it everywhere, even walking between classes. The first story I loved, and then there were two more waiting for me between the covers! Joy. I barely looked up for days.

These days I read anthologies of romances, or a series of them. Lots of reading pleasure to look forward to!

Now, to my delight, one of my stories in appearing in an anthology. My 'Billionaire's Bought Mistress' is released in the UK this month in a special centenary edition called 'Mills and Boon Presents...'. The collection of 3 full length novels aims to showcase some of Harlequin's new authors. As well as my story there are romances by Annie Burrows (regency historical) and Margaret McDonagh (medical). I hope readers enjoy this collection as much as I enjoy delving into anthologies.

Do you have favourite book collections/series/anthologies? I’m offering a book from my backlist to someone who contributes a comment.

Happy reading, everyone!

Annie

Look out for ‘Mills and Boon Presents...’ (in the UK or on the web at Amazon UK or Mills and Boon) AND Annie’s latest Harlequin Presents Extra ‘The Greek Tycoon’s Unexpected Wife’ is also available now from eHarlequin or in US stores in late May.

To celebrate the launch of the anthology, Annie, Annie and Margaret are running a contest in which one lucky reader can win three personally signed books. Details on the contest page of Annie’s website.

If You Build It, They Will Come :: Anne McAllister

In my days as a movie star . . .

What? You mean you didn't know I was in Field of Dreams?

Well, I was. That was me walking down the street away from the camera when Kevin Costner and James Earl Jones were crossing the street to go to the newspaper office and talk to Burt Lancaster.

Admittedly, you had to look quick or you'd miss me (my mother missed me, though the librarian at the public library stopped me one day and said, "I saw you in Field of Dreams last night!" which might tell you the relative amount of time I spent in the library as opposed to visiting my mother in California, but I digress. . . )

As I was saying, when I was in Field of Dreams there were two taglines for the film which we all knew. One was Is this heaven? No, it's Iowa -- which goes without saying, of course.

The other was If you build it, they will come.

That was what the voice in Ray Kinsella's head was telling him about why he ought to build a baseball diamond out in the middle of his cornfield.

To say it didn't exactly make sense was, um, putting it mildly. Not even Ray himself exactly understood what compelled him to hear the voice, much less do what it said.

But he did -- over considerable opposition and quite a lot of heads shaking in disbelief -- and, guess what!

They came.

The ball players came. Shoeless Joe Jackson came. Ray's long dead father with whom he'd never really connected came. All because Ray listened to that voice and more than listened, put his body where his ears were and built that field.

He didn't just think about doing it. He showed up.

There are a lot of people who want to write books or be baseball players or engineers or astronauts or architects or dancers or deep sea divers. They have dreams, hopes, aspirations.

I'd be willing to bet that virtually everyone hears something, feels some drive, some desire, some need to accomplish something, to use their talents, to give something that only they can give to the world.

They hear something inside their head that says, "Do it."

But the question is, Do they?

Or do they just simply think it would be a good idea if only they had the time or the opportunity or the education or the strength? Do they get started and then stop, shrug, decide it's not such a good idea after all? It's raining or it's icy or it's too hot or their pencil lead broke or they sprained their thumb.

Steven Pressfield, in his book The War of Art, says he believes that "most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us."

Ray Kinsella began to lived that 'unlived' life when he showed up and built his baseball diamond, when he tapped into something he didn't quite understand but learned to trust and believe in.

Choreographer Twyla Tharp lives that life every morning when she gets up every morning at 5:30, puts on her workout clothes, leg warmers sweatshirts and hat, then goes outside her Manhattan home, hails a taxi and tells the driver to take her to the gym where she works out for two hours. There she spends two hours stretching and weight training. But that isn't the ritual that has given her the life she wants to live. The ritual, she says in her book, The Creative Habit, is the cab.

She takes the step, makes the commitment. She shows up.

Every time I start a new book, I have to think myself into the characters, into the story, into the scenes. It's new and interesting and different for every book. It's also intimidating and I can always think of LOTS of other things I should be doing.

Not, you notice, that I would 'rather' be doing, but that I 'need' to do -- feed the dogs, clean the oven, fold the clothes, shovel the snow, call my mother, peel the carrots, write a book review.

But if I give in to those things I 'need' to do, I'm dead.

The book is dead. It will be hard enough to write just because books are. Characters don't always cooperate. Plots meander (well, mine do). It will be impossible if I don't show up. Books never write themselves!

So every day I have to show up. I have to sit down and boot up the computer and call up the file and stare at what they were doing yesterday. I have to stare and stare and think. And I have to put words on the paper. Any words to begin with. First drafts are just that -- first, not last.

It's the way every book gets written at my house -- and so far there have been 60 of them.

It's the way one of my sons plays baseball. He goes to the gym. Every day. Every day. It's the way another one studies land use issues. He's got his nose in property records, tax records, records I didn't even know existed. Every day. Every single day. It's the way my mother-in-law created well over a thousand pieces of art in her life. It wasn't just that she was 'an artist.' She painted. She drew. She sketched. She collaged. She etched. Art was -- every day -- what she did.

Anne LaMott famously quoted her father telling her brother how to write his 5th grade report on avians. "Just take it bird by bird, buddy," he said.

It's the best advice I've ever read.

Show up. Do your job. Build it. They will come.

It works.

Now, excuse me for dashing off, but I have to get back to the book!

What's the best advice you've ever been given?

Share it here and you'll be entered the drawing for a copy of my most recent Harlequin Presents, One-Night Love Child. I'll announce the winner at the end of the comments tomorrow and on my blog as well.

Celebrations!

By Anna Campbell

I've had a very exciting month and to cap it all off, I found out at the end of March that both of my books finaled in the RITA Award Best Regency Historical Romance category. The RITAs are like the romance Oscars and they're awarded every year by Romance Writers of America at a huge and very glamorous ceremony that marks the end of RWA's annual conference, which this year is in San Francisco.

Of course I'm going to be there and of course I haven't got a dress yet! When I was an unpublished author, I used to dream about one day maybe having a book in the running for a RITA - which was saying something as I had to cross the barrier to publication first and that seemed completely impossible at times! Now both CLAIMING THE COURTESAN and UNTOUCHED have been nominated. Pinch me! I don't believe it's real!

Congratulations and good luck to my fellow finalists and also to the unpublished writers who finaled in the Golden Heart, the world's most prestigious contest for unpublished romance manuscripts. You can find a complete list of RITA finalists here and a complete list of Golden Heart finalists here. I'm so looking forward to cheering for all these great writers in July!

This week, I got to celebrate the news with some local writer friends at the lovely Stamford Plaza Hotel right on the river in Brisbane. Here are a couple of photos. Photo one, me! Photo two clockwise from left: Allison Rushby, June Monks, Anna Campbell, Tina Clark, Amy Andrews, Rowena Cory Daniells, Sandy Curtis, Denise Rossetti.

Apologies to all those people who tried to enter my Great Spring Cleaning Contest after my blog here last month. There was a hiccup (all my fault!) and details weren't yet up when I posted my piece on luck. The details are well and truly there now, so I hope you'll come over, answer a simple question and enter. It's a great prize this month - four signed books, Annie West's FOR THE SHEIKH'S PLEASURE, Marion Lennox's RESCUE AT CRADLE LAKE, Christine Wells's SCANDAL'S DAUGHTER and Stacey Kayne's BRIDE OF SHADOW CANYON. Good luck!

Have you had any wonderful news to celebrate lately? Let us know so we can celebrate with you!

Researching Erotic Romance

Hah! I know what you’re thinking. That the research I do for my Jasmine Haynes erotic romances isn’t something I should be talking about on a wholesome blog. Well, you might find it hard to believe, but I do actually have to research things that can be talked about. After all, I’m writing a story, it has a plot, and honest, my characters do other things besides...erotic stuff. I’m researching Games People Play right now, which is the third book in my “Fortune Hunter” trilogy. My heroine Josie is a project manager for mining equipment manufacturer. Now what on earth do I know about mining equipment (and please don’t ask WHY I chose this as her profession because really I have no clue)? Anyway, she's the project leader on the installation of a new system at a sand quarry. I chose that because there's a sand quarry within a stone’s throw of my house. I thought I could find everything I needed to know on the Internet looking at their website. Not so! I found a lot, but even after hours of Googling, scouring site after site, I couldn’t find the terminology and equipment designations that I needed. So I e-mailed the quarry and asked if they ever conducted public tours. I got a really nice reply from their business manager saying they were doing an open house in July and he’d gladly send me an invitation. Wonderful! But the book is due in July. I’d have to do a lot of rewriting. So I asked if he had a website he could recommend that might provide the appropriate terminology. Long and short of it, he set me up with my own personal tour and will provide all the literature I could ever possibly want. And that was my real point of this whole blog, that people are so helpful. They go above and beyond to help writers out. You ask a question and they bend over backwards to get you what you need. Every time it happens, I’m amazed again. And ever so thankful.

My tour is today at 9:00 a.m. So after I get back, I’ll pop back in and tell you how it went! I’m sure you’re dying to know all about how a sand quarry works!

Jasmine Haynes, The Fortune Hunter, available now.
http://www.skullybuzz.com
Don’t miss my monthly website contest going on now!

Stuck in the 80's - Susanna Carr

I recently got a Zune and downloaded all of my music onto it. That’s when I found out that I do not have eclectic taste in music. It's almost all 80s music!

Sure, I have a few songs from this decade and the last. I also have a few 70s classic like the Eagles, Abba and the BeeGees. I'm almost embarrassed to admit to those last two, but if you ever need to do a dreaded task, put on Dancing Queen or Staying Alive and they get you motivated. Trust me.

I don't know why all my music is in the 80s. I'd like to think it's because the music was better, but after listening to some of the really lame lyrics of Wham!, I'm going to say it's because they are the songs of my youth.

Is anyone else stuck in a decade? Have a favorite song or band that everyone else thinks is weird?

Susanna

http://www.susannacarr.com/

AN ITALIAN AFFAIR - Margaret McDonagh

As part of the celebrations to mark Mills & Boon's centenary, I was lucky enough to be asked to take part in two projects. First is the Brides of Penhally Bay series which is running one book a month throughout 2008 in Medical Romance and includes titles by some favourite authors. My books are numbers 8 and 12 in the series and I'll blog more about them here nearer their release dates in July and November.

I was also invited to contribute a Medical to a new anthology. Called Mills & Boon Presents ... the anthology features titles by Annie West [Modern] and Annie Burrows [Historical], as well as my novel, An Italian Affair. And it is out now!

I had a wonderful time researching elements for An Italian Affair. Part of the story is set in my fictional world of Strathlochan, in the rugged beauty of rural Scotland, but most takes place on Elba, off the coast of Tuscany. The island has a fascinating and varied history, and it was

easy to become sidetracked as I involved myself in learning about the culture and environment of this special place. Elba itself is central to the plot and features in the affections of both my hero and heroine who each have their own unique connections to the island – and reasons for being there at that particular moment in time. And it is here, quite unexpectedly, that they meet.

Gina McNaught, a staff nurse from Scotland, has gone to Elba for emotional family reasons. For her, Elba is a fairytale place that has been part of her dreams for as long as she can remember. On this, her first visit, the last thing she expects is to meet the gorgeous, enigmatic Italian man who awakens her passion and could change her life. When she discovers the truth about him, will he break her heart?

Dr Sebastiano Adriani also has long-held family connections to Elba. At a turning point in his life, he has gone to the island after a traumatic event, seeking solitude and sanctuary in which to come

to terms and to make decisions about his future. Untrusting and suspicious, Seb is not sure what to make of Gina when he finds her trespassing, but she very quickly bewitches him and steals his heart. As desire burns between them, Seb finds that the longer he waits to tell Gina the truth, the harder it becomes.

Can Elba work its magic and bring these two special people together forever?

You'll have to read An Italian Affair to find out!

As I said, Elba is important to both my characters and their families for different reasons. We often find that places come to have a hold on us or for which we come to feel a deep affection and connection. It can be memories from childhood, a particular holiday location, the place you met that special person in your life – somewhere far away, or somewhere much more local where you go to be alone and think, or somewhere that makes you feel close to nature. There are several places I can think of which have particular resonance in my life ... childhood holidays in Scotland, visits to the wonderful West of Ireland, a particular woodland fragrant with bluebells and the silence broken only by the sound of birdsong and the rustling of the breeze in the trees. What places are special to you?

The Mills & Boon Presents ... anthology is out now and can be found under Special Releases at www.millsandboon.co.uk until the end of May or via www.amazon.co.uk I hope you will enjoy all three stories.

Annie West and Annie Burrows are running a joint contest on behalf of all three of us throughout April.

To take part and win copies of our books please visit their websites at www.annie-west.com and www.annie-burrows.co.uk

Love,

Margaret

www.margaretmcdonagh.com

PS – I wanted to recommend a book called IN STITCHES by Dr Nick Edwards. It is funny and moving and thought-provoking. Anyone in the UK who is concerned about patient care and keeping the NHS available for all can go to the website www.keepournhspublic.co.uk and sign up to the campaign. Many thanks.

Tycoon's One-Night Revenge - Bronwyn Jameson

After reading Tycoon's One-Night Revenge, my April release from Silhouette Desire, a reader commented on the amnesia storyline. She asked if Donovan, the hero, actually suffered from amnesia since he was only missing a week's memories. In her mind, amnesia in a romance signifies a complete loss of memory. The character can't remember their name, their home, their job, their loved ones, their anything. My hero's partial loss was unexpected and it threw her.

Interesting. I hadn't considered this might be a potential problem when I decided to write this story. In fact, I thought it was a neat switch from the usual. Donovan would remember enough of his backstory to make things interesting...but he wouldn't remember the week when he met Susannah, they slept together, and a crucial business deal fell apart.

The inspiration to use this storyline came from real life. A friend's son was involved in a relatively minor accident, suffered a concussion, and couldn't remember anything he'd done that day. His memory of that block of time never returned, the doctor said because of the (relatively minor) brain injury suffered in the accident. That got me thinking. What if he'd been driving to or from something significant when this happened? His wedding. A date with his divorce lawyer. Home from his new lover's bed.

And could I use artistic licence to stretch this memory loss beyond a few hours to, say, a few days?

I really liked the idea but it took a number of years to employ it in a book. I have this mental block, you see, about amnesia storylines. I worry about details such as: if he's forgotten everything, then surely he can't remember how to read and write and balance his checkbook and order a meal and drive his car and run his business. If he's suffered a serious head injury, then what about brain damage and changed personality and ongoing medical issues? Not that I don't enjoy reading a cracking good amnesia story; just the plotting of writing of one creates these questions in my pragmatic, over-analytical mind.

BUT the missing memory scenario really suited this storyline, which also involves a bride who runs away on her wedding day leaving a string of unanswered questions. Why does she run? Is there a man involved? And if so, who is he and what power does he hold over her? The mystery man who doesn't remember his one night in her bed fit perfectly, as did using a partial memory loss rather than complete amnesia.

Let's talk about amnesia storylines--do you like them, hate them, don't care either way?--and your expectation as a reader. When you see the word "amnesia" in a blurb, do you expect the full forget-my-name blankness? And lastly, do you have a favourite book with an amnesia hook?

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Romance Is In The Air--Michelle Monkou

Fairy tales with their happy endings did a number on me. I believed in the prince coming to claim his fair one to live happily ever after. Several decades later, I've matured and added a few cynical perspectives about life in general. But I am still a romantic at heart feeling that there is always someone for everyone out there.

Over the Easter break, The Sound of Music was on. When I saw this movie, I was attending Stella Maris, a Catholic school run by Austrian nuns, in Guyana. After the movie, my first career choice, was to be a nun. I spent many hours with a towel draped over my head where I would run into the living room and then spin around and sing -- The hills are alive.... My devotion to the role of Maria was enhanced by my entire family's love of this movie. Even now, my brother (in his late 40s) will call me when the movie is on. Yes, I have the movie, but still can't miss the annual showing on TV.

After my stint of becoming a nun, my next wish was to have a wedding dress with a long train like Maria's and a long church aisle to walk toward my handsome husband-to-be. Flash forward to April 1990, and handsome husband-to-be was in place. I then visited churches and remember shaking my head when I saw the aisle, thinking - nope, not long enough. Then I saw my dress in a magazine and knew that there was no way my mother would buy it. I went to a bridal store outlet in Delaware. The sales person started showing me various dresses. Finally, I pulled out the page with my dream dress and she said, we have that. I thought she meant that she had one like that. No. She had that dress by that designer.

Think 80's style with big poofy arms that narrowed for the lower part of the forearm. Lots and lots of pearls and beadings. Tiny waist and then a huge skirt and yes, a long train. I put on the dress and came out and stood in that mirror thinking - yes, this is it. And when I turned to survey the back, yep, there was my train.

My husband simply shakes his head at me. Yes, there is no hope. I am a romantic through and through. My kids saw the movie once and refuse to see it ever again. High School musical has now replaced Sound of Music. Oh well.

And now with my April release - No One But You - and that beautiful cover of a bride, the memories come flooding back and I sigh with contentment. Maybe for our wedding anniversary, I'll pop in the wedding tape and tie my children and husband down to review every minute of it - LOL!!

Fool Me Once

by Michelle Rowen

Happy April 1st! This is the day when people like to play practical jokes on each other since it’s April Fools’ Day. At least until noon, when the fun and games are over and then the “joke’s on you” if you try anything...well...foolish. If you try anything after noon, apparently it will bring bad luck to the prankster. That’ll learn ‘em.

Just for the record...I'm not a big fan of practical jokes. However, I decided to do a little research into how April Fool’s Day got its origins.

This explanation is from Snopes.com:

April Fools Day began in the 1500s when the Gregorian calendar took over from the Julian. Those who forgot the change and attempted to celebrate New Year’s (previously celebrated on the 1st of April) on the wrong date were teased as “April fools.”

Wow, that’s boring. Don’t tell Ashton Kutcher.

Some other theories have to do with it being around the beginning of spring when nature “fools” mankind with fickle weather. Here in the Toronto area there’s still a whack of snow on the ground so there’s definitely truth to this one, I think.

A famous April Fools’ Day joke was from the BBC in the 1950’s. This news piece about the Italian “Spagetti Harvest” had a lot of people fooled (believe it or not).



April 1st of this year is also my official release date of Lady & the Vamp and I definitely wouldn’t joke about that. ;-) I have the first three chapters available on my website if anyone is interested in checking it out, and I’m having a virtual book launch party on my blog today. Please stop by and have some virtual food and drinks!

My Romance of the Year

By Jennie Lucas


My husband and I went to Cancun for Valentine’s Day. It was an amazing, romantic trip. We flew first class and stayed at the Ritz-Carlton (we never would have splurged like that on ourselves, but the trip was a gift—long story).

The turquoise water and white-sugar beaches were like nothing I’d ever seen before. We ate deliciously expensive meals and drank margaritas like they were going out of style. We saw Chichen Itza. It was so romantic and impossibly sexy. This whole trip was an exotic dream. And yet….

The whole time I was there, all I wanted to do was read this book.

This book. It was gripping. Breathtaking. I couldn’t put it down.

Not at the pool. Not at the beach. Not at the poolside bar.

Baking on the beach in my bikini, I shivered in the Scottish mists and moors and seductive bedrooms of Regency London. I hated the hero. I wept for the heroine. Their fighting and lovemaking and kidnapping, their sheer hatred and desire for revenge, kept me breathless. This book broke my heart. In the best way.

Claiming the Courtesan, Anna Campbell's debut novel, is the best book I have read in a year.

But be warned.

The heroine is a courtesan. For real. She has actually slept with men for money. Not the immediate quality that makes you think, “Wow, she’s just like me and my friends!”

And her hero is dark. Look, I write for Harlequin Presents, so I love alpha heroes. Revenge, kidnappings and seduction are my favorite things in the world. But this book is crazy. Her hero does something that’s absolutely unforgivable. But somehow, Campbell’s brilliant writing makes me forgive him. She makes me love him and hope that somehow he can win the heroine against the odds.

A few days ago, Claiming the Courtesan was named a finalist for Romance Writers of America’s RITA award (competing with, among other very good books, Campbell’s second book, Untouched). It’s an honor that’s well deserved.

Thank you, Anna Campbell, for the most thrilling and romantic vacation I've had in a long, long time.

In Jennie's third book for Harlequin Presents/ M&B Modern, Caretti's Forced Bride, an impoverished princess hides a devastating secret from an Italian tycoon who's determined to possess her in every way. It's a current release in the U.K. and will be out in the U.S. this August.

To learn more about Jennie or her books, or read about how she lost 70 post-baby pounds last year without dieting, please visit www.jennielucas.com.

Author Trivia - Lee Hyat

Are you ready for some author fun again? I'm excited about the author I've chosen for this month's Trivia. The cover of her book certainly caught my attention but the title and then the back blurb clinched the deal. I had to add it to my tbr and learn more about the woman who wrote the book!

Now, without further ado, here's our Author Trivia for this month. :)

This author:

* used to be a teacher

*grew up in Oklahoma

*has a fascination for Greece and Spain, among other great countries

*love dark chocolate and garage sales

*is learning to surf

*has authored screenplays, books for children and cozy mysteries

*would survive only on microwave meals and Starbucks if her husband didn't cook for her!

*is excited about her debut release in April 08

*knows sign language

*now lives on the East Coast...

Can you guess who she is? Can you name the title of her book?

I will pick 4 winners at the end of this month and each will receive a copy of this debut novel.
Please don't post your answers here.

Instead, email them to totebag@authorsoundrelations.com and be sure to put 'Author Trivia' in the subject heading. Also please include your full name and mailing address to help expedite the prize to you in case you win. :)

Good luck!

Lee

ANSWER: Nancy Haddock, LA VIDA VAMPIRE

Happy Birthday, Mom! - Beth Helms

I am writing this on March 25, which is my mother’s birthday. She would have been 74 years old. It’s hard for me to imagine her at that age, because she was perennially youthful—she rode horses and drove a truck and had scorching political views on a variety of subjects. She would not have been a kindly and sweet seventy-two year old. She would never have knitted anything. I think of my mother on this date every year because my mother loved birthdays. Her own in particular. So every March 25 I choke down a piece of cake and blow out a candle in her honor. And then I apologize. Fervently.


My first novel, Dervishes, published earlier this month, features a fairly typical and estranged relationship between a mother and an adolescent daughter—and it in no small part reflects some of the many years I spent torturing my own mother. She, no doubt, spent those same years trying not to bludgeon me to death, (or perhaps puzzling out how to get away with it). I thoroughly deserved it.

While I’m apologizing, I often remember something my mother used to say to me through gritted teeth, with her fists clenched, white-knuckled, at her sides:

“I hope,” she would say, “I just hope… I can only hope…no PRAY, I PRAY….that when you grow up you have a daughter just like you.”

And so, life being what it is (by which I mean ironic) my mother has had the last laugh—and it’s a howler. Because for some mysterious, but undeniably poetic, reason, there are now, living in my house three teenage stepchildren. All girls. All, as I mentioned, teenagers.

(By the way, it was years before I realized that this sentence of my mother’s was not an original sentiment. That cave women grunted this out to cave-girls when they returned with the first fire’s ash smeared smuttily on their eyelids, wanting to take the wheel out past nine and dragging in idiotic cave-boys with their loin-cloths hanging around down their knees.)

At the time I was writing Dervishes, these little people were still girls: adorable, adoring—they liked bunny rabbits and lightening bugs and bedtime stories. They liked ME.

In other words, they hadn’t yet hit puberty. But sometime around the time Dervishes was finished and I emerged from my office feeling as though I’d just given birth to an elephant, and was facing the prospect of ‘what next’?, a switch was flipped. Actually two had flipped while I was buried in my office and then, bingo, the last one went. Seemingly overnight. Suddenly, I was living with three stomping, eye-rolling, jaded young women with cell phones welded to their ears, their fingers calloused from texting, each one of them hard done by and substantially less than enamored of the adults they are forced, unfairly, to coexist with.

And so, while I’ll never know how my mother pulled this off, I really do have to congratulate her…and I know that somewhere, she is having one hell of a laugh. Happy Birthday, Mom.

Now I’m going back inside my office…I’ll be out when they all hit eighteen.

Beth

My Recording Studio Smells Like Socks - Deborah Smith

Real voice actors don't have these problems. I spray a little citrus air freshener on the dog bed in one corner, shut the closet door firmly to keep out the cats, then step in front of the professional microphone perched grandly atop its slender stand next to the dirty clothes hamper. I'm dressed in my professional "acting" clothes: sweat pants and a t-shirt with a fading yin-yang symbol.

I am one with the audio universe inside my master bedroom closet.

I plug the microphone into my laptop computer, which sits atop a stack of suitcases sandwiched between the rack crammed with my husband's everyday shirts and the shelves where we store fashion artifacts such as the straw hat I wore to the Olympics in Atlanta and a pair of Santa Claus Christmas slippers.

I double-click on the icon of the freebie audio program Hank (aka my husband) found on the Internet. I open a file, then slip some headphones over my ponytail. The headphones tell me exactly what the microphone hears -- every sniffle, snort, word, breath and grunt I make, plus every outside noise that creeps into the closet.

I hear crows cawing outside in the yard, and then the wind chimes on the front porch. I wait.

When a window of reasonable silence opens up, I click "Record" on the laptop.

"Testing, testing," I drawl into the mike, watching the meter rise and fall on the audio program's volume gauge. I adjust the microphone, test my voice some more, then give myself a thumbs up. I open a well-worn copy of ALICE AT HEART, a fantasy novel I wrote a few years ago. I find my place, take a deep breath, blow it out, and start reading.

Another production day has begun at Hillbilly Studios.

Over the years, five of my novels have been produced by major audiobook companies. But now that I write primarily for my own small press, BelleBooks, the only way to get an audiobook made is to do it myself.

My BelleBooks' partners are excited about the prospect of producing audio versions of all our titles, so we started the Hillbilly Studios experiment a few months ago to see what we can accomplish. Since I'm the only voice actor we can justify hiring for the test program (I work for free) and Hank's the only sound engineer we can afford (because he works for free, too,) the process has included a big learning curve and lots of pitfalls.

Like learning to breathe. "How do I tell the audio program to erase all my nose sounds and extra breaths?" I asked a musician-friend who knows all that techie stuff.

"There are no magic buttons for that," he replied. "You just have to practice breath control."

Rats. I hyperventilated at the thought of all the chapters I'd already recorded the wrong way, that is, actually breathing while I talked. Who knew breathing could be such a pain?

And then there were the more esoteric issues. Like the fact that I'm not a professional actor, although I did minor in drama at the University of Georgia.

Every character voice I create sounds an awful lot like the same southern woman from Atlanta. My character archive can be listed like this: Southern Scottish, Southern Yankee, Southern British, Southern Hindu, etc.

But the upside is, hey, this isn't brain surgery. The audio program is simple to use, the recording process is basic, and the end result is a surprisingly high quality sound. The biggest downfall is time: It's tedious to record an entire novel -- my average studio process for a complete book takes about fifteen hours -- and then Hank spends an equal amount of time editing, tweaking the sound levels, etc.

There are some small additional costs if we want to add stock music for our introduction and scene breaks, but royalty-free music is easy to find on the Internet and I can buy everything I need for well under fifty dollars.

Marketing the finished product will be as simple as uploading it to a site like Audible.com, which partners with Amazon to sell audio downloads.

BelleBooks hopes to launch several audio projects this year, but a lot depends on how fast the work goes at Hillbilly Studios. I've run into several other technical obstacles. All of them have fur and whiskers.

"What's that noise in the mike?" I asked Hank as we sat in the closet with our headphones in place. "There it is again."

Meeeeerroooow. Meeerrooow.

Cats. Outside the closet door. Wanting inside. Nothing intrigues a cat more than a closed door. They were insistent.

"Let one in. What could it hurt?" Hank said. "He'll lay down and go to sleep. It'll be fine."

So we let in my favorite, Smudge, a tuxedo cat who weighs close to twenty pounds. He flopped in the floor at our feet. We started recording again.

"Stop. What's that noise?" I said.

Purring. Smudge has a twenty-pound purr, and the mike picked up every bit of it.

Oh, well. It adds ambience, we decided. When you listen to a BelleBooks' audio, tune your ears to the secret, encrypted underscore and imagine a lovely Southern day in the mountains above Atlanta. Crows caw, windchimes chime, and obese tuxedo cats purr at your feet.

I defy the big fancy audiobook companies to be that entertaining.

Here's a sample of my very first audio work from BelleBooks' Mossy Creek Hometown Series. Just double-click the url.

http://www.deborahsmith.org/deb/audiobooks/Mossy%20Creek%20-%20Amos%20partial.mp3

Deborah Smith is the New York Times best selling author of A PLACE TO CALL HOME, SWEET HUSH, THE CROSSROADS CAFE, A GENTLE RAIN and others. A Gentle Rain is a RITA finalist in addition to being named Best Small Press Romance by Romantic Times. Visit BelleBooks at http://www.bellebooks.com/

Early to Rise, as Long as I Can Open My Eyes! by Jenny Gardiner

This morning I was up at 4:45. A.M. I'm normally an early riser anyhow, because I like to get to the gym before the birds are up. But not that early. Not many things will force me out of bed at such an ungodly hour. Having to catch a flight to somewhere exotic? Most definitely. Of course a sick child in the middle of the night does the trick as well, like it or not.

But today, I got to arise well before dawn so that I could appear on a morning TV show. And I couldn't have been happier. Even if I couldn't exactly open my eyes for the first hour.

You see, I have discovered I love being on TV shows. Not because I want to see my sorry mug broadcast all over the place, but because I have so much fun talking about my book (SLEEPING WITH WARD CLEAVER).

Now, I did actually work in TV news when I was in college. My blonde ambition was to be an anchorwoman. At a really big station in a huge market in a great city. Where I could sit behind a desk and talk a lot. Laughable? No doubt. But this was the 80's. Helmet hair, happy talk and all. Shortly after graduation I abandoned my grand dream because I didn't want to have to spend years living in small towns working my way up to those larger markets and bigger cities (plus I'd have had to work nights and weekends and the pay was so far below poverty level I would have had to live in a box beneath a bridge span which would have really meant not getting enough sleep). Besides, when I worked in TV news back then, I was dreadfully nervous whenever I was on-camera. I fumbled and hemmed and hawed and felt like an idiot. I was fine when working from a script, recording a report I'd written and edited, but the on-camera stuff? Eek! Trust me, no one will ever see my audition tape in which I interview a 6-foot tall man in a furry rabbit costume delivering bunny-grams. And not because the rabbit-man was so ghastly, but because I was.

I used to always joke that I'd be a terrific salesperson, as long as I believed in what I was selling. I'd fail miserably at selling ball-bearings, weapons of mass destruction, or any boxed set of Lawrence Welk shows, for instance. I just couldn't drum up the enthusiasm for them. But if was something I loved, then I could sell it to just about anyone. I used to sell these adorable Folkmanis handpuppets I'd discovered at a giftware trade show I'd attended with my husband. When my kids were little, I was the neighborhood puppet pusher, showing up in the parking lot at pre-school, selling those crazy puppets to my friends from the trunk of my car. I could've just worn a trench coat and opened it up to the discerning client to view my wares, for as seamy a sales gig as I had. My goal wasn't to make money---rather I just wanted to get lots of discounted puppets for my kids, so I was willing to sell them to my friends at cost in order to meet the minimum order requirement. I did the same thing with this really funky jewelry made in strange third-world islands in the South Pacific I'd discovered a few years earlier. For a while I was the go-to gal for wild Ooga Booga earrings in my neighborhood and amongst family and friends. But you can only wear so much of that stuff before growing weary of it.

These days my sale is way easier, since I'm selling my humorous women's fiction novel SLEEPING WITH WARD CLEAVER instead of bizarre jewelry or weapons of mass destruction. First of all because it's way cheaper than a Folkmanis puppet. And far more stylish than the tacky earrings from Bali. Plus, I really believe that women out there will "get" this book and have a fun time reading it. The circumstances of my protagonist, Claire, are universal, and letters I get from readers every day affirm this. So many women are happy to find this character whose life so closely resembles their own. So the selling is simple. And sometimes you just can't get me to shut up about it. Because, you see, the other thing about me is I am a serial chatterbox. Back in elementary school, I was constantly getting into trouble for flapping my jaw. The teachers would move desks around to keep me from talking. I got red check marks on my report card for gabbing when I should've been doing long division or splitting infinitives or something equally boring. I must've been a social animal before my time. If only there was a career path that involved chatting, I'd have been at the top of that professional heap by now.

But now I realize I've finally figured out how to combine my past loves/bad habits all together in one. First off, I'm writing for a living. How lucky is that? And while as a writer one has to sell their product a lot, hey, lucky me that I'm selling something I love and really believe in. And I get to do it while chit-chatting--something I still tend to do an awful lot anyway (my family is always having to drag me away from a conversation in order to get somewhere on time). To top it off, I'm back on television, albeit many pounds later, alas. I guess I should be happy it's not on nights and weekends.

So if you happen to run into me and I'm blabbering on about my book, understand that I just can't help it. My teachers couldn't shut me up all those many years ago, I can't always find a cozy little TV morning show on which to freely gab. Sometimes I just have to get it all out of my system. Even if I have to get up in the middle of the night to do it.

Jenny
http://www.jennygardiner.net/

Christine Rimmer, Late to the Party...

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

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

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

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

What shall we talk about?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

--Christine