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.

#  #  #

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?

Kristen Callihan: Love at First Sight

Do you believe in love at first sight? How about lust at first sight?

In the romance world lust/love at first sight  -or instalove- happens often. And yet there are those who don’t believe this happens in real life.

Try telling this to my husband. Our story goes something like this: We met when I was seventeen and he was twenty-one. I was good friends with his sister, but for some reason, my future husband and I hadn’t yet met. However, his sister had a picture of me. When he saw it, he declared that I was the girl for him and that we were going to be together. Unsurprisingly, this annoyed his sister who retorted that he didn’t even know me; he could very well hate me when we met. My husband was undeterred; he knew what he knew.

A week later, we finally met. For my part, I had no idea why this guy was grinning at me like he knew something I did not. Apparently he did. :)

In FIRELIGHT, my first book of the Darkest London series, the hero instantly recognizes that the heroine is the woman for him. He just has to convince her of it –well that and convince her that he isn’t the murderer everyone believes him to be.

If only everything was so simple… (g)

In MOONGLOW, book two of the Darkest London series, my characters, Ian and Daisy, do not have an instant accord. Ian views Daisy as a pain in the arse –though he does admit that her arse is quite tempting. And Daisy views Ian as a pest, albeit an attractive pest.

“He was so sure she would melt. And for some reason, that spark of confidence in his eyes made her want to take him down a peg. She ought to flirt. Flirting was a well-loved cloak that fit her perfectly. Only now, the very idea of flirting made her ill. Still, she would do it, if it laid a trap for him.

“Hmm. A penny compliment. I’m all astir.”

Sharp canines flashed in the firelight. “Immune, are you?”

“Only when flattery is given by rote.”

“Then I shall have to try harder.”

“Or give up.”

Northrup dimpled, his teeth clicking as his smile grew wolfish. “I never give up.”

He said it lightly, yet a flash of something dangerous, almost feral, lit his eyes, and Daisy wondered at the notion of truly being the object of this man’s obsession. A chill chased over her skin. Rather like being hunted, she thought.

She shrugged, lest he see her disquiet. “There is a fine line between persistence and being a pest, my lord.”

He chuckled, the wild light in his eyes shifting to genuine amusement. “Now why do I suspect you’ve crossed that line more than a few times, my dear?”

Watching these take each other’s measure while slowly falling in love was great fun for me as a writer. I hope their journey will be equally fun for readers as well.

So what about you? Do you believe in lust/love at first sight? Has it happened to you? Or do you prefer to read stories in which love is hard earned? Leave a comment, and be entered to win a signed copy of both FIRELIGHT and MOONGLOW.

Kristen

***Kristen's winner is DonnaS!  Please email totebag@authorsoundrelations.com with your mailing information! Thanks!!***

E.S. Moore: Opposites Attract?

Violence and blood. Guns and motorcycles. Vampires and werewolves. Foul language and a woman’s point of view?

These are all things present in my Kat Redding series, which wouldn’t be such a big deal if it wasn’t for the fact that I know so little about any of them, it’s almost laughable that I actually wrote a book with all of them. Outside of what I’ve looked up, I know nothing about guns and motorcycles. I don’t like them, don’t use them, and probably never will. I don’t read a whole lot of books with vampires or werewolves in them. In fact, I prefer the horror versions of the monsters to friendlier kind. I’m probably the least violent person a lot of people know and I never curse. And in case you weren’t sure, I’m not a woman, yet I wrote the series from the point of view of a woman who is about as far from like me as you can get.

So what gives?

Sometimes a book or an idea calls to you and you can’t help but be drawn in. For whatever reason, despite how I live my normal, everyday life, I am drawn to the macabre. I love horror novels and movies—when I can find a good one, that is. And while I might like to read fast paced violence, I’m not a big fan of movies that are nothing but explosions (I’m looking at you Michael Bay.)

But why would I be drawn to such a thing? Wouldn’t it be better for me to read (or write) books about people more like me? Kat and I have almost nothing in common, and that goes for pretty much every character in the book outside of Ethan. I could have written the book so that it is full of failed one-liners and people sitting around at their computers all day, which would have been closer to how I actually live.

Personally, I think I like these sorts of books because I want an escape. I want to see the characters go through a hell I hope never to experience and come out even stronger than they were going in. I think there is an evil part of every writer who wants to torture characters just to see if they can come out of it with their head on straight. It’s something we would never do to a real person, but to those imaginary people that look to us to guide them, it’s game on.

I’ll admit that I’m not all sunshine and ponies all the time. No one can be and it is a fruitless exercise to try. Still, I’m going to try to be the best person I can as often as I can, while feeding my darker side through the books I read and write. It’s probably what keeps me sane. I guess, in some ways, opposites do attract.

So what draws you to certain books and characters? Is it because you see something familiar in them? Is it because you see in these characters something you long to be? Or perhaps you just want to see what it is like on the other side? Once you are finished with the book or movie or whatever it is, you can safely tuck it away and go on about your way, happy with living vicariously through someone else’s make-believe life.  Leave a comment to share your thoughts and one reader will win a copy of Tainted Night, Tainted Blood! 

E.S. Moore is the author of the Kat Redding series, beginning with To Walk the Night. Tainted Night, Tainted Blood, the second book in the series, hits shelves July 3, 2012, and will be followed up with Blessed by a Demon’s Mark in 2013. 


***Erin's name was drawn as the winner of E.S. Moore's Tainted Night, Tainted Blood!  Please email totebag@authorsoundrelations.com with your full name and mailing info!***

Tracy Kelleher: Travel and Family

I really like to remain at home in summer.  I truly do.  I look forward to my garden and barbeques in my backyard.  I love the feeling of heat warming my muscles and the chance to wear sundresses and sandals and have an excuse to get a pedicure.

But at the same time, summer always signals travel time for me.  When the kids were little, we’d take a family trip every summer, to national parks in the U.S. or European locales.  And since my husband is Australian and our kids are dual citizens, we always tried to slip in a trip to Australia when time and money allowed.

Well, now my children are grown up, but we still are a traveling family.  My husband and I are headed off to Portugal for a quick trip before we take our annual foray to Australia.  And because there are only two tickets to pay for, the trip Down Under is more affordable.  Besides, we get to leave the heat of North American summer for the cool weather of the Southern Hemisphere.  It doesn’t get that cold—more like autumn in the Northeast.  And there’s something cozy about sweater-and-jacket weather.

The heroine of my July Superromance, THE COMPANY YOU KEEP, is also a traveler.  For Mimi Lodge, going to the world's hotspots is just part of her job as a war correspondent.  But it’s also a symptom of her search for meaning.  Little does she know that true insights and happiness will come at a place she never considered particularly welcoming, just proving it’s the company you’re with that defines the essence of home.

I always love to hear from my readers.  Have a great summer and happy traveling!

Tracy Kelleher

www.tracykelleher.com

What I'm Doing On My 'Holidays' by Kate Walker

We used to get the essay topic every time – did you? On the first week back after the school holidays, usually around the end of August,  we used to have to write on the topic of ‘What I did on my holidays.’    It was supposed to be an easy subject, something we would all be Able to find something to say about.  Except that I didn’t.

As one of five daughters in a single parent family,  I  very rarely had anything to say about ‘what I did on my holidays’. There wasn’t the money to go anywhere.  We didn’t even have a car so outings were rare. I can’t say I minded  that much – I was perfectly happy  with a trip to the local library to select something I wanted to read,  and then a chance to sit and enjoy my books – in the garden if there was sunshine or curled up in a chair if it was raining.  But it did means that there wasn’t much I could write about when I got back to school:

Monday – I went to the library and  then  when I came home I read my books

Tuesday  - I went to the library and then  when I came home  I read my  books.

Wednesday . . .

It’s funny, looking back, because now that I’m a published writer, I often think of those long, lazy summer days – and all those books – and wish I could have them back again.  Specially now it’s the 1^st of July and the ‘holiday’ period has begun for me.

Most of the year I’m working-  and working means writing – and that means staying at home, at my desk, and creating new stories. But July –August is the time that I get out and about and travel  and meet people.   For a start, July is the Conference season. The  Romantic Novelists’ Association has their conference from  July 13th to 16^th. I’m going to be there, and I’m running a workshop on putting the emotion into  your romance novel.   Romance Writers of America have theirs July 25^th – 28^th. In the past, I’ve managed to do both, but this year I’d find that impossible. Because the other thing I  always have to do in July is to travel to  South  Wales – to Caerleon  near Newport  where I spend a week at the wonderful Writers’ Holiday there.   But Caerleon takes place  2^nd – 27^th July. So after the RNA Conference I’m home with just enough time to  do the laundry, dry it (well – I can hope. The way the weather has been this ‘summer’ it’s more likely to get drenched all over again while out on the line.) And then I’ll set off again. Most times I teach a course – this year it’s  A Complete Introduction to Writing Romance -  but that’s only for half the week (five one hour sessions). The rest of my time I can go to other  given by so many fascinating writers my DH is giving on this year) , talk about writing,  or even attend one of the other courses.   

Then it’s home -  do the laundry again!  My husband has a book signing for Yorkshire Day  and then we’ll snatch a breath before travelling to the seaside. But this still isn’t a holiday, I’m doing another workshop in Bridlington at the beginning of August. But at least I’ll get a moment or two to see the sea – I  love to watch the waves and feel deprived if I don’t get to see them.

Phew! After that, I think I manage to stay at home for a couple of weeks -  and by then it will be time to get back to my desk again.  It’s no wonder  I feel nostalgic for those ‘and when I came home, I read my books’  days.  I’d love to grab a week or two to do nothing but read.

Still, this hectic time  in July is always a lot of fun – and I get to meet up with so many friends, make new ones, and to talk about writing  (and the fantastic food at Caerleon helps a bit too!)

So that’s what’s going to be happening to me between now and the next time I post  on the first Sunday in August. What about you?  Do you have any interesting plans for your holidays? Are you going anywhere exciting  - or do you just plan to stay at home and read? (Guess which one I envy you for most!)

As I know that  people love to have new books to take with them on holiday (or to read at home) I’m offering a giveaway of one of my books – my most recent title The Devil and Miss Jones which is still for sale in paperback or ebooks. Or something from my back list if you've already read this one.   Just tell me what you’re up to this summer, and I’ll get Charlie the Maine Coon to pick the name of  a winner – when he comes in from the garden. It’s actually stopped raining today so he’s outside enjoying the sunshine.

And I’ll be back in August , when I’ll be glad to stay still for a while!

You can keep up with all my news on my web site  or the most up to date details are on my blog 

And the winner is Michele!
Michele please email kate AT kate-walker.com  with your postal address and I'll get your prize in the mail to you.  I'd email you direct but I can't find an address for you

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Best wishes,
Natalie

A Year in the Life of an Author: June

June is a blur. Deadline month. So much so, that I didn't realize it was the 29th and my blogging day until this morning and I happened to glance down at my calendar.

Crikey! Where did the month go?

At SeaTac during a four hour delay. (Reading!)

I'll tell you: into my first real book tour for Along Came A Duke, (Tulsa, Chicago and Dallas) and then getting home and planting myself in front of my computer to get caught up. It was sort of the pinnacle of a writer's life and the hell that is deadline.

Deadline means all you do is work. Truly. Ask my family. I came out of my office the other day and had to reintroduce myself amidst cries of "stranger danger." Well, it's not that bad, but it is close. Let's just say having a book coming out and a book due in the same month is like having the earthquake and then the tsunami. My life hasn't' fallen down, but it feels like it is being washed out to sea. You are tugged in every direction and none of it is given your full attention. 

Good Morning Tulsa!

The highlight of the month truly was the book tour, which was so much fun--and made more so by the inclusion of Rachel Gibson, Julia Quinn and Pamela Palmer.  Lots of laughter and jokes, dinners out and odd cab rides.

Rachel and I were on Good Morning Tulsa, which was my first TV appearance as an author. I suppose the JP Patches show when I was six does not count.

The events were all packed--full of lots of fun people, some coming to our events in Chicago twice!

And please, if you come to a group author event, don't ask the sex question. If it is the end of the tour two things may happen:

The first time I saw one of my books in the airport

1) The authors will have placed a wager on what time the question will come up and you'll make one author happy and the rest annoyed with you.

or

2) You'll just annoy the authors to no end. And you'll get our now stock answer: The Nature Channel.

There are so many great questions to ask. That is not one of them.

Now back to finishing my book. I am in the part where I am so buried in revising and plugging up scenes, I go to bed every night with a headache from juggling so many layers.

Next month, I'll talk about the post-book assessment I always do to decide what worked and what didn't on the book. And all the parts that come after you turn in a book: edits, copy edits and page proofs. See you in July!

Michelle Willingham: Tormented Heroes in Romance

I love to challenge myself with every book I write. Whether it's delving into research for medieval Scotland or writing stories about broken heroes or heroines—I relish the thrill of creating a story that hasn't been done before. But while writing Tempted by the Highland Warrior, I seriously wondered if I'd lost my mind.

A silent hero? A man who has lost his ability to speak? How in the world was I going to pull this one off? At the time it sounded like a fun idea. My wounded hero was traumatized by his torture as a prisoner-of-war during the first War of Independence between Scotland and England. Although his brothers rescued him, he was bordering on madness. The only thing that grounded him and held him steady was his love for Marguerite, the woman who found him.

As I wrote the book, it transformed from a Robin Hood story between a scarred archer and the daughter of a duke . . . into a Romeo and Juliet story. My challenge was to convey the thoughts and emotions of Callum MacKinloch, though he couldn't speak a single word. There were days when I wanted to knock my head against the wall for coming up with this idea—and days when Callum came alive for me, a man imprisoned within his own skin, unable to speak to the woman he loved.

I've always adored tormented heroes, and this one challenged me beyond all others. Some of my favorite wounded men in romance include the Duke of Jervaulx (Flowers from the Storm by Laura Kinsale), Sebastian Ballister (Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase), Zsadist (Lover Awakened by JR Ward), and John Matthew (first introduced in Lover Eternal by JR Ward and then with his own book in Lover Mine). There's something about a strong hero with a dark past that appeals to me, both as a reader and an author.

What about you? Who are some of your favorite tormented heroes? Tell me the book title, and you'll be entered in my drawing to win a signed copy of book one in the MacKinloch series, Claimed by the Highland Warrior (Nominated for a 2012 Bookseller's Best Award).

You can read an excerpt of Tempted by the Highland Warrior at my website. I also love chatting with readers on Facebook or on Twitter

***Michelle's winner is fichen1!  Please email totebag@authorsoundrelations.com with your mailing info.  Thanks!***