A SANDRA MARTON UPDATE!

I can't believe how long it is since I blogged! I've been sooo busy--I know we all are, but with a book due and the RWA conference coming up, the time's been flying past.

I've started writing the first book in my 2008 trilogy called The Sheikh Tycoons. This first story, The Sheikh's Defiant Bride, is, well, the only word is 'steamy.' Very. And the hero, Crown Prince Tariq of Dubaan, is the kind of guy I love to write. Tariq is gorgeous, of course, and sexy (also, of course!) but more than that, he's accustomed to people obeying his every command.

Then he meets the very proper, very independent Madison, and she's not about to take orders from any man, especially one who gets her hot and bothered.

These two people have drawn me deep into their story and I want to stay with them until the last possible minute before I leave for the Romance Writers of American HUGE annual conference in Dallas at the Hyatt Regency Hotel.

Here's what I'll be doing in Dallas.

1. I'll be among the hundreds of authors autographing books at the big Literacy Booksigning Wednesday evening, July 11 from 5:30 PM to 8 PM.

2. I'll be one of Harlequin's Special 40 Favorite Authors signing books Friday, July 13 from 10:00 AM to 11:30 PM in the Marsalis Ballroom, Section B(2).

3. I'll be giving a very special workshop, HOW TO SELL TO PRESENTS, with editors Tessa Shapcott and Kimberley Young on Saturday morning, 9:45 AM to 10:45 AM.

If you're at the conference, be sure and stop by to say hello!

Before I forget... here's the cover of my August release, The Italian Prince's Pregnant Bride, which will be on the shelf at your favorite bookstore, supermarket, Target, Wal-Mart, KMart, etc. in July!

Just Perfect for Reading - Annie West

As I write this winter has set in here in Australia. Finally our drought seems to have broken. We’ve had rain...rain...rain. In fact we’ve had floods and even a cyclone.

This morning I woke to the sound of rain pounding on the roof and that dim light you get when the sun seems too lazy to get up. My first thought was that it was a perfect day for reading. There’s something about being snug and warm in a house, preferably with a fire glowing, when the rain is pouring down, that just makes me want to pick up a book.

I have my favourite spots too. One of the best is in a large wing chair with a huge ottoman so I can put my feet up. It’s in a corner of the lounge with a view out to the eucalypt trees, and you can see the fire at the end of the room. Very cosy. There’s a lamp and a table at just the right spot for a warm drink or a glass of wine. There’s a CD player too if you want background music.

On the other hand, summer has its benefits. I’ve discovered the joys of reading in a hammock late on a hot afternoon, beside a pool. Bliss! A cold drink, a good book and I’m in heaven. I always dream of relaxing on holiday with a stack of books, but somehow it rarely happens.

Recently I found another idyllic reading spot – also outdoors. Visiting a friend I discovered her huge raised patio, looking out across the paddocks to where her llamas (yes, I said llamas) grazed. The sun was warm on the recycled timber deck, the magpies warbled and there was a seat in just the right spot for a bit of reading.

I can’t imagine a home without at least a couple of good reading nooks. I’ve always dreamed of building my own library to house the burgeoning collection. There would be full height bookshelves, comfy chairs and, of course a fire. There’d be space to stretch out and room for even more books than we currently possess. Hey, a girl can dream.

In the meantime I've just received some copies of my own July and August releases for the US. Two sheikh stories. I can't tell you how tempting it is to curl up in a corner and read one of those instead of trying the write the next one. But perhaps you know exactly what I mean.

Do you have favourite reading places or do you just open a book wherever you can? Do you like to be outdoors, in a library, or in your own place? Surrounded by other books or maybe in a cafe, with coffee and cake on tap? I’d love to hear.

Annie

http://www.annie-west.com

Sandy Blair says We Love it, But...

We’re downsizing. Our home is on the market so instead of writing I’ve been out straight with painters, decorators, appliance installers and all manner of beasts who make messes wherever they go.

Worse, being the seller in a “buyer’s” market is much akin to being an author. Rejection becomes part of your everyday life. While someone looks at your “baby,” you hope, you pray and then you get those 4 dreaded words, “We loved it, but…”

In the case of a book, the but might come in the form of “we just bought a similar plot,” or “there wasn’t enough emotional depth.” In the case of this house, the but(s) amounted to “it’s too formal,” “it’s too white”, and “it needs updated appliances.”

Our agent has been as kind as can be—as any agent or editor worth the name should be—when delivering the bad news, but it still hurts.

So, like any good author--or desperate home owner—I went into revision mode. I took what the buyers said to heart, made some changes on my own then called in a “young” decorator. One whose taste would hopefully shout from my lofty 24 ft ceilings, “Hey, I’m hip and trendy.”

Five serious digits later, we now have an all stainless steel kitchen with built in wine cooler, new light fixtures, textured walls, fresh paint in colors that would make any coffee shop proud (Toffee crunch, Cocoa Latte, Espresso bean), not to mention the furniture has been rearrange to such a degree that we don’t dare walk around without a light on for fear of killing ourselves. Yes, neither Scott not I recognize the place.

And so now we’re back to waiting some more. Hoping. Praying.

Bottom line: I’ve tweaked this place so much in the last few months that I’m sick of it. Can’t wait to be rid of it. Have you ever done that to a home…or manuscript?

Sandy
http://www.sandyblair.net/

Memorable Kisses - Susan Stephens

I dreamed a dream in times gone by...

One of my all time favourite songs from that amazing musical, Les Miserables.

Dreams. Odd things, aren't they?

As I confided over at the Pink Heart Society Spotlight the other day, I had this weird dream recently that I was kissing Roger Moore!

As one of my fellow Presents authors, India Grey so reasonably demanded- why not Sean Connery, or Pierce Brosnan?

You tell me!

But that brings me neatly round to the subject of kissing- don't you think we should have a contest for the best first kiss?

Mine was when I was nine years old and at a mixed camp during the school holidays.
Of course boys couldn't visit the girls' dorm, but Brian Bigland - 11 years old- (Hi, Brian! Goodness knows where you got to ) snuck into mine and gave me a very wet, and rather yucky kiss! Of course, the dorm' monitor was hot on his tail and poor Brian was punished severely for his boldness. But wet and yucky, I still remember my very first kiss to this day! And no, it wasn't repeated, and yes, the security between the girls and boys was tightened up right away!!! And no, of course my mother never found out ;-)

How about your first kiss?

Share your stories and I'll pick out a winner at random from those we love and award a prize!

Susan

http://www.susanstephens.net/

Middle Names - Susanna Carr

Have you noticed something similar about a lot of New York Times bestselling authors?

Susan Elizabeth Phillips, or SEP for short
Jayne Ann Krentz, or JAK for short
Vicki Lewis Thompson, or VLT for short

That's right. They have three names. Three initials. I don't know whether to include MaryJanice Davidson in that. Still part of her first name, yet everyone abbreviates it MJD. Makes me wonder if I should include mine. Would it get me on a bestsellers list?

My middle name is Marie, named after my paternal grandmother. In fact, eight of my cousins have the name Marie for that reason. Fortunately, all of those cousins are female.

My twin sister had a more unusual middle name. We were born while my father was going to law school, and so my sister's middle name is after the patron saint of lawyers. Can you guess what the name is? It’s Ives.

I feel that I am the twin who lucked out on the middle name. Who cares if the name is pronounced Eve? I won't even go into my older sister's middle name. I'm still sworn to secrecy on that one.

So what do you think of your middle name? Does it suit you?

Susanna

http://www.susannacarr.com/

Come and Join the Party

If you've visited the wonderful Spotlight that Lee has set up for me over on Leena's Goodie Room then you'll know that right now I'm celebrating something special. This month in the UK and in July in America and Australia, I have a book out that marks a real milestone in my career.

The Sicilian's Red-Hot Revenge is a special title for me because this bok marks my 50th title published by Harlequin Mills &Boon. Since my very first title, The Chalk Line was published in 1984, there have been all these other titles through the years - so many stories, so many heroes, so many heroines - and now I've published my 50th title.

So I'm celebrating. And when I celebrate I love to share with everyone else - with all the wonderful readers who have bought and enjoyed my books over the years - because without you there wouldn't have been a career and all those titles to celebrate.

So I'm hoping you'll join me at my Great Big Blog Party over on my blog. Every day there is a new guest blogger and every guest is giving away something special as a prize. Already joining the party has been Holly Jacobs, Abby Green, Trish Morey, Michelle Styles and many more. And they've given away signed books, banners and souvenirs of the countries they live in.

But don't worry that if you're a latecomer to the party then there will be nothing left - this party is going to run all through June and probably into July before all the guests have arrived and all the prizes been given out. Still to come will be Michelle Reid, Anne McAllister, Liz Fielding, Trish Wylie . . . and many more. And everyone will have their own giveaway that you can have a chance to win. All you have to do is answer the question, leave your reply in the comments section and you're in with a chance. Right now I have a static banner for your web site, a signed copy of Sold & Seduced by Michelle Styles (together with my own The Antonakos Marriage) and signed copies of my 'baby' books - His Miracle Baby and Their Secret Baby in a special post for UK Father's Day. So why not come along to my blog and join in the fun?

And this isn't all I'm giving away - check out that Spotlight and answer Lee's questions and you could be in the running to win a special gold heart necklace to mark the publication of this golden title.

Oh and I should remind you that The Sicilian's Red-Hot Revenge is part two of The Sicilian Brothers duo. This is Vito's story. Vito's brother, Guido had his own story in Sicilian Husband; Blackmailed Bride that came out in April and is still aound on Amazon or eHarlequin if you want to make sure you have the set.

Want another way to win? Well how about voting for your Top 5 Kate Walker titles? Everyone who vots has a chance of winning a signed copy of a book from my backlist together with a Kate Walker bookmark and pen. All you have to do is to list your Top 5 Favourite Kate Walker books and send them to me with Favourite Book (yes - the English spelling ;-) ) in the subject line.

If you need any help deciding which are your favourites, then check out that spotlight Less has worked so hard on - and take a look at the Backlist pages over on my web site to remind you of some you might have enjoyed. And if you'd like to know how the voting is going - then here's the current Top FIVE

1.A Sicilian Husband

2. The Sicilian's Wife

3. The Italian's Forced Bride

4. Desert Affair

5. The Spaniard's Inconvenient Wife

jointly with

5. The Antonakos Marriage.

Would you choose these ones? Or perhaps somethig totally different? I'd love to have your vote.

And I'd love to see you over at the Great Big Blog Party - and maybe send you a prize.

Good luck!

And thank you all for buying and enjoying my books over the years

Kate

Christine Rimmer says...Oh, Be-have!

Oh, Be-have!

I know I should. But…

Honestly. Truly. I am really, really trying to behave.

With my current work-in-progress, I mean. Hah. Had you going there for a minute, didn’t I?

Seriously, though. All professional writers know the drill. We’ve read the best books on the subject, books like Anne Lamott’s amazing, true and inspirational, Bird by Bird and Julia Cameron’s fabulous The Artist’s Way and just about anything by Natalie Goldberg

The drill is simply this: Show up. Get to the page every day, make page goals. Hit them—hmm. That sounds rather violent—well, and then, you know what? Writing, in its own way, is violent, on occasion. There’s a lot of digging that goes on, hitting the vein, watching the blood spurt and all that, going places within that sometimes aren’t pretty. Because there’s no getting around it. If you’re writing something you hope someone will put down their hard cash to read, you’ve got to deliver, baby. And all the clichés are absolutely true on this whole delivery thing. You may groan when someone tells you, “No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.” Groan all you freaking want. You better be crying when you write that reconciliation scene. You’d better be taking a page from Joan Wilder in Romancing the Stone, sobbing your heart out, buried in wet tissues, moaning, “God, that’s good…”

And am I carrying the whole “writing as a violent activity” a bit far? Okay, okay.

I’ll try again. Make page goals. Achieve them. Yes, much better…

And really, what was my original point?

Wait. I remember…

Funny, but behaving—in the writerly sense, as defined above—used to be easy for me. When I was starting out as a writer, I behaved as a matter of course. I didn’t have all day to write. It wasn’t my actual job or anything, so when I came to the page, it was glorious, naughty, exciting, stolen time.

And even for the first few years after I began to support myself with my writing, it was all just one big miracle to me: That I got paid for the writing, which meant I could write more, because I didn’t have to spend eight hours a day slaving away at some day job just to eat and make the rent.

But slowly, over the years, my sense of the naughtiness, the lovely, amazing stolenness of my work has…eroded? Degraded?

Whatever. Now, well, you know, it’s my job. And it’s become so tempting to find clever ways to make it naughty again.

This is the true scariness of the human mind. Well, at least my mind, which is a place only I go and everyone is happy about that. Just ask my family…

So. Clever ways to be naughty. Oh, like for instance, not showing up at the page for a few days. And then freaking out when I get there and realize no veins have been opened recently. I have to start at the beginning and build my story, my world, my characters’ reality. It’s very exciting, in a very emotionally violent way.

And, honestly, it is not a good idea. It is not the way to go.

So here I am on my current project, and I have, honestly and truly, been behaving. Not just trying. Actually behaving. I show up daily, I achieve my page goals.

And you know what? I feel…really good about that.

Though naughtiness does tempt me. And I’ve decided that’s good. I need to be naughty right there on the page. I need to always remember the miracle that is this job.

I guess I always secretly believed it would get easier. It just doesn’t.

All of which, Anne Lamott, Natalie Goldberg and Julia Cameron could have told me. And did.

How about you? What are your clever ways to be naughty and not show up for work? Come on. Whether you’re a writer or not, I know that you know ways you are naughty.

Mwahaha....

Oh, and to the left is the cover of my latest, THE MAN WHO HAD EVERYTHING,out from Silhouette Special Edition in July. I believe it's my 63rd book, or thereabouts. So even when I'm not behaving, I'm still getting books written now and then...

And whether you're behaving or not, here's to the best summer ever--and a whole lot of wonderful summer reading for everyone!

ChristineRimmer.com

All in the name of research

"Write what you know!" they say. Though that doesn't much help if your plan is to write an intergalactic space western set in 4012 starring Garruvian monkey people. But if you are a romance writer, setting books in the here and now, writing for an international publisher, that ain't a half bad thing. Especially when setting a book somewhere fabulous ;).

Though every book I've ever written has its heart in my home town of Melbourne, I've set portions of several in such fabulous places all over the world. So naturally that meant I had to see said places first hand right? Trips to

Italy, London, Paris, New York... Okay so that was one massive trip I took a couple of years back before hubby and I sunk every cent into buying our first home. *Gulp!* But being a writer, such trips paid off for me, literally with each of these places making a huge mark on a book I have since written.

My latest novel, Billionaire On Her Doorstep (Harlequin Romance) came about after a trip I took to Sorrento located at the very bottom tip of Victoria, Australia, about an hour from where I live. Hubby and I set off on a cheap holiday (remember new house mentioned earlier) and as soon as we drove into the beachside town, I knew a book was about to be born.

The local flavour of the place was so overwhelming it was location heaven!! My Maggie could live her hermit lifestyle in a crumbling mansion atop the imposing ragged cliffs. My city boy turned beachcomber Tom could fish for calamari off the pier at sunset and own himself one of the amazing secluded multi-coloured beach huts littering the shrubs along the coastline.

And without having been there I never would have known about the distinct beige and blue colours that seem to permeate the area, I wouldn't have known how the ragged old pier felt beneath my bare feet, the exact taste and texture of meals they served at the local pub, or how the main street shops give the town a cosy village feel. And there's nothing I like better as a reader than feeling as immersed in the place as I am in the characters and the story. I hope I was able to do some of the same.

That said, I'm pretty sure I've never met a billionaire in real life, but who ever said a good dollop of pure fantasy wasn't a good thing ;) ?

BILLIONAIRE ON HER DOORSTEP is a Harlequin Romance release hits bookshelves in North America this week! And Australia and New Zealand as a Sweet Romance in July.

For excerpts and more behind the scenes details of how this book came about check out Ally's website and blog.

Friendship - by Lee Hyat

I've been told I should blog so I'm going to give it a try. I thought I was being clever when I decided to give it a go because I'm going to run a contest but now that it comes down to it, I find myself feeling awfully unsure about what to say or how to say it.

I've spent a lot of time lately sifting through memories from the last few years and I'm totally amazed at how far I've come emotionally, mentally and in every other way that matters most. If you'd asked me a few years ago if I had lots of good friends, I'd have said, No. I have acquaintances, but no really good friends.

Things have changed - touch wood - and I'm so much richer today than I was back then in the friend department. I have friends. Really good friends. Friends who care and call and keep in touch and generally look out for me because I'm still so naive in many many ways. It's a warm fuzzy feeling when you can pick up the phone and always have someone to call who will put aside her busy schedule and take ten minutes (or more, considering most of my phone conversations are never short!) and listen to me pour my heart out.

I also realized that all my friends, in one way or another, are bad girls. They all push the envelope in some way or another. They shoot from the hip and dare to dream. They dare me to dream and support me every step of the way. They don't let me hide behind my armor of timidity or take the easy way out. I'd be so lost without them. Truly lost.

One such friend, who is really important to me, is the lovely Susanna Carr. She's bright and warm and funny and she's big on qualities like loyalty and support which rank very high in my book. She may not always agree with my point of view but she's always been there when I needed a friend. I love her sense of humor - it's helped me see the light at the end of the tunnel more times than even she herself is aware of. She's the quiet type but she's also very gutsy and full of the bad girl attitude that I so love.


I hope all of you are just as wealthy in the friendship department. It's so wonderful to make friendships that withstand the tests of time and really last. They can bring such a great feeling of satisfaction and contentment. The internet has several definitions for the true meaning of friendship but I think for each of us, it's totally unique and can't be pinned down to one standard meaning.


So, for my contest, I'd love to hear from you about what friendship means to you. What are some of the qualities you look for in a friend? Are your friends bad girls too? Are you a bad girl? :) Lots of choices here on what to comment on so please jump in. I'd love to hear from authors as well - authors are readers too so my contest is open to anyone and everyone who wants to join the conversation!


On June 8th, I'll pick five winners from the people who comment and each of you will receive, a copy of Susanna's BAD GIRL BRIDESMAIDS... (which, I'm sooo proud to say is dedicated to me!) So please, let's talk about friendship.

Trish Wylie - Preparing For Culture Shock

I'll admit I'm a bit of a home bird at heart. Now don't get me wrong, I've both worked on 'tour' and had fun traveling but it was rarely too far from home - a short flight or a boat trip away at most. Except for two trips I took abroad with friends - but *still * not that far away in the greater scheme of things...

This summer I'm taking the plunge and doing the Conferences. And to be honest, I'm both excited AND a little worried about that. Why to the latter you may wonder? Well - the first thing is going to be a bad case of Culture Shock I feel...

Let's look at home shall we? Teeny tiny green island with a mostly rural population - places we call cities most people would call towns - places we call towns most people would call villages and the villages... well... I'm not sure they're called anything outside of Ireland - neighbours maybe???

First stop on my trip? New York, New York. (I'd heard you had to do it twice like that?) The city that probably houses more people than the entire island I live on! Now as much as I love where I live I've never actually contemplated what it would be like having every single resident in the one place at the one time and we're still a little behind the game when it comes to building anything quite as high as some of those buildings look. And let's face it - if I get lost it's not like I can phone my family to come get me. Though it's good to know if anything happened to me that Gary Sinise would be there to solve the mystery (yes - I do watch CSI:NY) But then there's so many things I want to see and do. And that's very exciting!

Then it'll be off to Dallas for the conference. (we'll not even begin to talk about the temperature in Dallas that month, okay? Suffice to say if anyone steps in a puddle of water it'll be me - cos I'll have melted!) So like a good girl I went online to check out the hotel. Now as part of my eight month tour of Ireland a few years ago I stayed in every sort of hotel and B&B going - the excellent, the good, the bad - and well, one's that horror movies could be filmed in quite frankly... So I felt I was a little ahead of the game for this one - Ha!

Not so much. 'Cos the last hotel I stayed in was this lovely one in Dublin - isn't it cute? And the one I'll be staying in in Dallas? Well - I'm fairly sure it's never once been called *cute*. I mean, it's like, huuugggeee - practically a city on it's own! Will there be maps? How many hours should I allow for finding my way to where I'm supposed to be? And it has how many restaurants? I'm just thankful that with so many other conference-attendees I stand a good chance of meeting someone else who might be lost and then we can both go looking for Sawyer together...(yes I watch that one too...) And knowing my hatred of all things higher than is safe thanks to a little thing called gravity, I just betcha I end up way way way up in the sky where I'll never ever be able to ever look out the window. Oh - and one of my earliest film experiences - The Towering Inferno - nuff said...

Then there's the literacy signing. Now, despite the fact I first sold four odd years ago, I've never actually done a book signing before. It's something that just isn't done over here unless you're mega-famous or Bill Clinton while here on a golfing tour. So I was a little nervous about that before I even made the mistake of looking up pics online of what it was like... And dear heaven - HOW MANY PEOPLE GO TO THAT??? And in the ONE ROOM??? Are you KIDDING ME???

Where I live I'm not used to a crowd - in fact Christmas Shopping is my worst nightmare. But then I don't know what's the worst scenario - lots of people saying Hi or NO-ONE saying Hi... on reflection I'm going with the latter - cos at least no-one will be arguing over the last action-figure on the shelf on Christmas Eve kinda thing, right? And I also have the firm knowledge that Romance Writers and the Romance Writing Community is the friendliest bunch of people out there! That part I have absolutely no worries about...

But still - it's gonna be one heck of a dose of culture shock! Anyone want to come say Hi to me when I'm there to make me feel better??? Have any tips that might help me sleep at night???

The one consolation is I'll have one of my favourite books to sign while I'm there - and with one of my favourite titles! Bride Of The Emerald Isle is a little taste of home sprinkled liberally with the romantic magic of Valentia Island, off the coast of Co. Kerry, and it was a lovely lovely book to write... with a good dose of Matthew McFadyen's Pride & Prejudice film scene in the first chapter as inspiration... (and RT just gave it four and a half stars so I'm well chuffed!)

Keelin O’Donnell had always been a morning person. But today was testing her love of the a.m. to its limits…
She paused, looked back down the road, and sighed. The house had to be somewhere near by now, surely? Did people still die on the ‘moors’?
There was the sound of barking nearby.
“Great,” She scowled as she looked towards the source of the sound, “Now I’m going to be eaten by wild dogs. The Hound of the Baskerville’s lives.”
The barking sounded closer again. Not so much of a rabid dog sound as an excited yapping; which made her feel vaguely better, so her blue eyes searched what she could see of the surrounding countryside. With the last of the early morning mist clearing she could finally see more than the outline of the old stone walls on either side of her. Now there were fields, swirling with a hint of mist in pockets where the ground was still wet with morning dew.
She could hear the sea in the background, could smell it in the air. But even with the reassuring, steady rhythm of waves hitting rocks, she still felt like the last person left on earth. Until her peripheral vision caught sight of a shadow looming through a pocket of mist.
The dogs sounded closer too, one of them appearing at the shadows feet. And then a voice called one of them, followed by a whistle. So Keelin knew the figure was male. A man walking straight towards her- practically dreamlike- like some kind of early morning ghost.
The mist swirled again in pockets at his feet, the sun came out and caught in a glint off his dark hair. And Keelin stood transfixed as he got closer and looked straight at her.

He was sensational.

This 'n that - Helen Bianchin

Authors write, there are schedules, deadlines ... there's also family, and occasionally a break between finishing one novel and beginning the next.

I say occasionally, for mostly the lines are blurred, and there's a heap of stuff put to one side in the rundown to deadline. Ideally, there would be a secretary and a "wife" ... the secretary to take care of all the stuff, and a "wife" to cook, clean and "go-fer".


The reality is a one-woman band ... wife, mother, go-fer, author ... in any particular order according to importance and circumstance on the day. The family need to be fed, chores need to be done, kids fetched and carried on the home front, and on the business side there's taxes, research, and a heap of writing-related stuff aside from writing the book.

Every now and then everything aligns beautifully. Very recently I handed a book on deadline, and a best friend flew in for a visit.

As the best friend is also an author, she understood perfectly the euphoria of having just finished the book. We shopped, enjoyed leisurely coffees, lovely lunches with mutual friends. We relaxed, laughed, schmoozed. Guilt free!

Now she's flown home, I've dealt with various stuff, and I'm back in front of the computer compiling a character biography for the next book. Working on the theme, location, motive, goals. And once again the excitement is beginning to build as the new story begins to form and take shape. Tentatively. Will the characters behave ... or take off in a different direction from the one I've mapped out for them? It's too early to tell. The one certainty is there'll be a "happy-ever-after". The challenge is their emotional journey to that point.

The only teaser I can provide is the hero's name is Wolfe, the heroine is Lara, it's set in New York and Sydney ...

Meanwhile, my next title is The Tycoon's Virgin Wife is due for release in September 2007, followed by The Martinez Marriage Revenge in the first half of 2008.

Regards and best wishes to all,
Helen

Untangling my mind

Walking is my way of untangling the grey matter. Right now I have two WIPs both screaming for my attention; one is a historical western and the other is a contemp/paranormal. With all these characters elbowing for room in my head, I find it a little hard to focus. :)

Anyway. . .I've found the best way to sort them all out, and put them back where they belong, is to go walking. When we lived up north, going outside for a walk wasn't always an enjoyable thing to do (especially in January/February), but we're back in BC now, so I can walk to my heart's content. While I walk and sort, I need music, and who better to help me with that than Toby Keith? I find the louder I have my iPod cranked, the better I can think. Yes, I realize this is in direct opposition to what my parents said during all those hours of highschool homework, but that can't be helped. Sometimes Father doesn't know best. LOL

I'm curious to know what other methods people use to sort out the scramble when they're writing.

SEEDLINGS INTO SUNFLOWERS…- Christina Hollis

Where does the time go? It feels like only a few weeks ago that I brought my first little bundle of joy home from hospital. Wow - look at her now! I spent yesterday morning watching her perform as Teresa in The Memory of Water for a drama exam. And how can my son manage to ride his bike like that? He’s so small! Well, no, he isn’t actually – not any more. It won’t be long before I’m the shortest person in this entire family. Everyone teases me that things are going to change around here when it happens. I reply darkly that Napoleon never let a lack of height hold him back. So if they want feeding, they’d better keep on being present and correct at mealtimes! Time flies when it comes to work, too. The ghost of an idea flutters into my mind, and I can’t wait to get started on a story. That’s when the hard work begins, but it’s so rewarding. It hardly seems possible that my next book, Count Giovanni’s Virgin, will be on sale within a few weeks. I’m so pleased with the cover. It reflects everything I love about romance: a gorgeous guy, fresh out of the pool and drenched in sunlight. Now all I need is a cup of tea and a big slice of chocolate cake to make all my fantasies come true…

The Wrong Holly Jacobs

Rumor has it that a certain professor feels I'm the wrong Holly Jacobs.

Okay, you're scratching your head. Let me back up. For a classroom assignment, a professor told his class to write an obituary, then assigned them a person to write it about and assured them that they could find enough info on Google to do write their obit.

A girl named Kristi was assigned...Holly Jacobs. She googled the name and...there I was. 96 out of the first 100 entries were about me. And Kristi wrote my obit. I died on Lake Erie in March. Now, she didn't mention how I died on the lake, but I'm sure I was doing something exciting. March...on the lake. Hmm. I was probably ice fishing and caught a whale of a fish. Now, you probably think I'm going to say the fish pulled me in, but no. I was so excited about that fish that I did one of my goofy, Snoopy dances of joy...on ice. I slipped, hit my head and died. Sad, isn't it? I digress.

Anyway, Kristi wrote a lovely obit. Talked about my tragic death, the family I left behind (and would someone please tell my son, I forgive him for leaving so many clothes on the floor that I haven't seen his carpet in months), and the books I've written, and was about to write. It was nice to see my life summed up by someone else. She turned it in to the professor, and he gave it back without a grade. When Kristi asked about it, he told her, "You've got the wrong Holly Jacobs."

Now, I'll confess, I've always felt like the right Holly Jacobs. But maybe I was wrong. So I called someone who should know... my mom. She assured me that after being in labor for thirty-eight hours with me, she was positive I was the right Holly Jacobs. I asked my husband, he asked if I wasn't the right Holly, did he have to pay alimony? Then he asked, what's the other Holly look like? Oh, yeah, I married a funny man. Friends and children assured me of my rightness. And of course, my dog, Ethel Merman, thinks I'm the right one. But I wasn't right enough for Kristi's professor.

I feel guilty. As if the ten years of my writing life haven't been quite enough to make me the right Holly Jacobs. That maybe I should have worked harder, written more, done something else in order to be the right Holly Jacobs. But alas, I didn't, and poor Kristi has to pay the price for my slacking with a gradeless obituary. SIGH.

Poor Kristi, I was the wrong Holly Jacobs.

My poor mom, who was in labor for an absurd amount of time in order to bring...the wrong Holly into the world.

My poor husband...okay, so he's not going to be poor if he can get away without paying alimony and the other Holly's better looking.

My poor kids, maybe that other Holly would have been a better mother? Maybe she wouldn't have nagged my son about those dirty clothes on the floor?

Poor Ethel Merman, she still thinks I'm the right Holly, but she's a dog, and not overly bright, so what does she know?

And that poor professor, who, if he met me might find he liked me and even if I wasn't the right Holly Jacobs, I was certainly worth of an obituary.

Geesh. Talk about questioning your existence.

Holly--The wrong Holly Jacobs.

Susanna Carr asks: How Old Were You?

Whenever a reporter does an interview or feature on me, they always make a point of my age when I first started reading romances. I was ten years old, and it was a Harlequin.

Yes, that was young. Some say it was too young.

For me, it came at the right time in my life. I was already a permanent fixture at the local library and the selection of books was beginning to bore me. When I got my hands on the Harlequin, it opened a new world. I got to read about women who faced life-changing dilemmas. They took action, made mistakes, and persevered to get what they wanted.

Despite what the grown-ups in my life thought, I didn't read the romances because of the sex! Don't get me wrong: I didn't exactly skip over those parts, either. *G* But I loved reading about two people falling in love. That was the exciting stuff.

I'm glad I started reading romances early in life, but I wouldn't recommend it for everyone. How old were you when you started reading romances?

Sandra Marton's Covers for THE BILLIONAIRES' BRIDES

My new trilogy, THE BILLIONAIRES' BRIDES, will be published in the USA in August, September and October. Now that I have all three covers, I wanted to share them with you. Aren't they beautiful? And those guys... Mmm mmm mmm.!

Dream Big!

When I was a kid, I didn’t know how to dream. I couldn’t see ahead in life and didn’t dare think of a future. Some people I knew had dreams of a knight in shining armor dropping into their lives, while others dreamed of having lots of children in big families filled with love. Even more people I knew had dreams of becoming famous or being the first to do a thing or even of possessing great wealth. Not me. I can’t explain why, but I never wanted to see myself in the future.

Looking back now, it was a strange way to live, and it caused me plenty of problems along the path. I found the love of my life in a chance encounter. I stumbled into being a stockbroker, a job I had wanted for years but never thought I could have. I decided to write fiction on a whim and a promise to give it a try that I made to my dying mother-- after giving up that idea many years before.

I’m not sure what the problem was for most of my life, but maybe it stemmed from being afraid to dream. Afraid to wish for things that might not come true.

When I sat down to plot the story for the fifth book in my Night Guardian series, SHADOW WARRIOR, I decided it was time to write about a woman who is afraid to dream. Lexie Ayze has a much better reason to be afraid of her dreams than most; she’s a medium who sees ghosts in her dreams. But she is also a woman who has allowed life to push her along from one thing to another just like I did. She has always been afraid to wish for things that might not come true.

Lexie does have one important trait in her make-up; a strong desire to do the right thing for her child. At first, she just doesn’t know what’s right. When she finally gives up and allows dreams into her life, everything changes. Lexie learns to go after what she wants. She finds out that improbable goals take risk, hard work and persistence, but she is willing to try.

SHADOW WARRIOR is the intimate story of one woman coming to terms with who she is meant to be…then learning to fight for the man she loves.

Have you always known what you wanted? Or were you more like me? Afraid to wish? Do you have a dream or goal you still haven’t reached? Improbable goals are the best, but they’re also the scariest. What are some of yours?

OPENING LINES

How do you start a book?

Sometimes, if you’re lucky, the first words you write will set everything moving at a cracking pace and you never look back, or stop to think “Where did that come from?” until it's all done and suddenly the book is out there and being talked about.

It was like that with THE SECRET LIFE OF LADY GABRIELLA.

“Good book?”

A deep velvety voice penetrated the cold, swirling mists of the Yorkshire Moors, jerking Ellie back into the twenty-first century.

Those words never changed.

I wrote them and the book galloped away. Unfortunately, it was in totally the wrong direction. I was supposed to be writing a Harlequin Romance. This was rapidly turning into a Katie Fforde style chick-lit. Totally female focussed, with batty characters coming out of the woodwork, but the hero a shadowy figure waiting to appear when I could find somewhere to cram him in.

I’d written two and half chapters when I realised that it just wouldn’t do. And no matter what i did I couldn’t fix it. For the first time in years, I abandoned a book and wrote something else. (The Sheikh’s Guarded Heart, if you’re interested.) Then I was committed to The Valentine Bride. But Ellie (because she was a true heroine) just wouldn’t quit and I thought about what was wrong, and how I could fix it.

It all went wrong, I finally realised (dumb author moment) when I let her walk out of the house. The solution -- how simple it seems in retrospect -- was to keep her there. Have her move in . Which also took her out of the orbit of the batty neighbours who were taking over the book, solving two problems with a single solution.

Then, because I needed to build up to the initial meeting, invest it with more importance, I wrote a new beginning. It started out as a prologue, but just grew . But even then Ellie would keep walking away. So I nobbled her knee and gave the hero a conscience, which that fixed that problem.

Keeping the hero and heroine together is one of the most challenging parts of writing series romance. When it becomes almost impossible, you need to find yourself a crucible, something that keeps them locked together. In this case it was the house. Ellie’s inspiration; Ben’s fading, empty home and finally, I had a book.

Oh, and just in case you're interested, here’s the new beginning –

‘LADY March?’

Ellie’s tongue was glued to the roof of her mouth. This was such a mistake. She wasn’t a “lady”. She shouldn’t be here. She should own up right now...

‘I apologize for keeping you waiting,” Jennifer Cochrane, continued, but there was a crisis at the printers I had to deal with.

Unable to speak, she attempted an answering smile. Even in her borrowed clothes, hair swirled up in a sophisticated style and wearing more make-up than she’d normally wear in a month, she’d been expecting someone to point a finger at her, shout “impostor” the moment she’d stepped within the hushed portals of the offices of MILADY magazine.

She’d never meant to take it this far.

And if you want to know what happens after Ellie takes her head out of those nineteenth century clouds, check out the excerpt at my website

THE SECRET LIFE OF LADY GABRIELLA is on sale now in the US and UK and will be available in Australia and New Zealand in June.

The RNA award lunch

Last Friday was the glamour event of the British romance publishing -- the annual presentation of the Romantic Novel of the Year and the Romance Prize at the Savoy.

If you have ever seen the film Notting Hill, you will know how splendid the Savoy is. Among other things, it is the only place in Britain where they drive on wrong side of the road.

Mod X and Little Black Dress author, Julie Cohen and I arrived in a cab. Julie as befits her website was wearing a black top and orange skirt. I was in a teal blue Monsoon outfit.

The lunch begins with a champagne reception. As it is very much an industry function, editors and agents are there. Mills and Boon editor Joanne Carr lived up to reputation and wore a splendid pair of shoes. My daughter whispered to me that she looked just like a model. Anne Herries and Catherine George, two of the finalists were there -- both with huge smiles on their faces.

We were then summoned to lunch. On the tables, were programmes of the day's events. The cover was a cartoon by Bestie, highlighting the joys of reading romance on public transportation. The top table came in last.

The food was delicious -- goat cheese and onion tart for starters, chicken with vagatables (my daughter was not overly fond of the potatoes and almond combo), and a treacle tart with raspberries and vanilla ice cream for pudding. The vanilla ice cream was made with a vanilla pod and tasted fantastic.

Then came the awards -- Rosie Thomas won the Romantic Novel of the year for Iris & Ruby. And Nell Dixon won The Romance Prize for Marrying Max. Nell was flabbergasted, and I had to pull her up from her chair and gently shove her towards the podium. As I had insisted that Nell enter the book, I felt like a very proud fairy godmother.

Modern/Presents Author Sharon Kenderick managed colour coordinate her cast with her purple outfit. New presents author India Grey was there looking stunning in black. She is a warm and lovely person. Kate Walker also looked great in her white top and dark skirt combo. And the shoes these women wear were -- well stunning.

It was a wonderful event, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Michelle Styles

Sandra Marton Says, Rain, Rain Go Away...

Here in New England, nor'easters are a part of life. A nor'easter, for those lucky enough never to have experienced one, is a major storm that blows up the east coast of the United States with horrendous winds and lots of snow.

Except, this is April. The weatherman doesn't seem to have noticed because the temps here are miserably cold and if there's a sun up there behind those clouds, we haven't seen it in a while. And April is definitely not nor'easter time.

Nevertheless, a nor'easter blew in late Saturday night and spent the weekend and part of today with us. In deference to the fact that it's April, the storm brought rain rather than snow. And I do mean RAIN!!! There's a river a couple of miles from us that's usually shallow and placid. Today, it's running as if the hounds of hell were after it.

Along with the rain came wind. I could hear stuff hitting our house all last night. In fact, I figured looking outside this morning would be, for lack of a better word, interesting. We have lots and lots (and lots) of trees. Well, we lost a number of branches but, thank goodness, no trees. And the bulbs our son planted on the slope in front of our house last fall came through just fine. (The dozens of bulbs, tulips and daffs and gorgeous blue things with a name I can't recall, plus the hard work of planting them, were an anniversary gift from our son and daughter-in-law last June. It was, without question, one of the most loving, most thoughtful gifts we've ever received.)

Back to our nor'easter. It's Monday evening and the rain has tapered off. The wind has pretty much stopped. The sky is the color of tarnished pewter but I do know that it's Spring, thanks to the bulbs poking through the soil. And I just heard the pair of Barred Owls who live in our woods calling to each other as they set out on their nightly hunt. Those calls are a sure sign Spring is really here, no matter how gloomy it looks in our part of New England.