It’s true that I need to schedule regular outings for myself,
sometimes alone but more often with friends. As a writer, I’m most productive when I stick close to home, so whole days go by where I don’t leave the house. This is great for my work. Not so great for my social life. I’ve realized over the years that if I don’t schedule some time out, or better yet, some time with friends, I can lead a very isolated existence.

Having moved often, however, I’ve sometimes landed in areas
where I didn’t have a built in social network. I’ve moved often during my marriage and this is a common enough occurrence. We go somewhere for my husband’s job and he’s got a professional community awaiting him. I’ve got… a house to unpack.

If I waited for potential pals to find me, I might never have made some wonderful friendships over the years. I’ve found that I need to troll for friends as eagerly as new moms seek out play dates for their toddlers. I’ll start climbing the walls if I don’t find some girlfriends to laugh with, lunch with and share girl time. Living in a house with four males makes me feel like I’m on a different planet sometimes. My girlfriends remind me that they are on my side. They murmur sympathetically over the mountains of
laundry I face. They agree with me that staying up until two a.m. to watch the end of an extra innings game on the west coast is not the best use of time. They understand the importance of finding the right new perfume or having toenails painted before a big occasion. Simply put, we speak the same language.

Sometimes, I’ve probably appeared a little desperate in my quest for grown-up play dates. When I moved to Utah, I found it particularly tough to make new friends, mostly because I was a very new mom with a rambunctious toddler who didn’t play on the swings long enough for me to strike up conversation with anyone at the playground. He was too busy sprinting around the corner to set a new land speed record. So when a census worker came to the house and mentioned that a new family was moving into a nearby house and they had a son the same age as mine, I couldn’t push the census worker out the door
fast enough. I was already packing up my speedy offspring to sprint toward the house in question to assert my need for a friend.

Luckily, the family next door didn’t care that they hadn’t even unpacked their boxes yet. I’m sure they’ve never had such a warm welcome as my rattling, eager narrative when I showed up on their doorstep. I made a friend for life that day. My delivery isn’t always smoothed, but that experience taught me to put myself out there to find friendships. Sometimes I have had a girl crush on people who don’t respond with quite the same enthusiasm, and that’s okay. But more often than not, my outstretched hand is met with equal optimism. If you don’t display your willingness to meet new people and make new friendships, how will people know how much you need them?

***Have any fun “how we met” stories about your girlfriends? Are you best friends with a cousin or the girl you sat next to in Kindergarten? Share with me on the boards today and I’ll send one random poster a copy of my May Blaze, HER MAN ADVANTAGE.

 

By the time you read this, I will be floating around the Caribbean Sea, margarita in one hand and good book in the other. Yes, my friends, I am indulging in that vacation that I mentioned last month and plan
to absorb every ounce of sun possible.

From San Juan, we decided to take a cruise. It’s a nice port to travel from since it’s so far south. Being well into the warm weather means there is less time at sea and more time spent on a variety of fun islands. My
family likes to explore the island destinations in rental cars (sometimes sketchy ones… we rented something called a Space Wagon from a lot that looked more like a chicken yard a few years ago) so we can be independent from the excursion groups.  It’s cheaper and more fun, but then, we are independent souls.

My anticipated highlights from this week include- dance lessons that will prep me for a turn on Dancing
with the Stars (samba, here I come), high tea with three courses that includes both tea and champagne, fanning myself with a good romance while watching some kind of silly competition among the younger set on the deck of my ship, lots of steel drum music, a potent blue cocktail that packs a one-two
punch and a gorgeous view from an as-yet-unknown hike on one of the islands.  Mostly, I want to sleep late,
order room service and lay in the sun when I drag myself out of my room each day. I could be happy with no more than that. All the rest is a bonus.

Next week, I will choose three winners from this thread. I will have to wait until I return to civilization for connectivity to reply to your comments and choose the winners, but I promise it will be one of the first
things I do when I get home on Sunday. Chatting about the trip on the boards will be the perfect fun thing to do while I’m washing and drying three million loads of clothes!

So tell me… what’s been one of your favorite armchairvacations through romance? A trip to the Florida coast in a steamy Blaze? A trek through the South American mountains in an on-the-run romantic suspense?
My personal favorites have been trips on the high seas in pirate stories. I love standing at the helm with a surly captain, the sails snapping overhead! Can’t wait to hear from you and I’ve got advance copies of HER MAN ADVANTAGE for three random posters.

I have vacation on the brain. I’m leaving for San Juan soon and it seems like my gray matter has started the vacation without me. In my mind, I’m already there. Have you experienced this? You’re so excited to go
somewhere, you spend extra time planning the trip, checking out places to see and, best of all… shopping.

I love resort wear- all clothes made for sun and fun. It’s so much nicer to look for tank tops and shorts, breezy dresses and cute bathing suit cover-ups than wool sweaters and thermal underwear.  Plus, shopping for vacation clothes has all the benefits of normal shopping times two. Not only do you get the fun of a new outfit, you also get the added joy of knowing you can wear it someplace sunny
and fun.

The love of vacation shopping started for me long ago. I didn’t take many trips until my college years, but once I committed to a spring break trip to Virginia Beach, I had as much fun buying a cute floral bag and
yellow Keds as I did taking the trip. Honestly. The trip was average because the weather was cool and rainy. The prep for it was really fun.

These days, I’m much better at putting together a vacation. And I go places with my family, who make for fun travelling companions. So the vacation prep is just a small facet of the larger joy of being away from home and unplugging for a week. But I’ve learned to appreciate the ritual of getting ready for a vacation. My husband and I read travel guides or reviews of our destinations online for weeks ahead of time. We compare notes on what we want to see and think about how we’ll spend our days. He makes sure there is lots to do. I make sure there is a day or two where there is nothing to do.  Once when we took a spur of the moment vacation (flight prices dropped and all of the sudden we decided to book a trip a week before we left), we still engaged in the prep ritual by reading guidebooks for three hours on the plane ride to our destination. I have to confess that was really fun too, even if it was abbreviated. The spontaneity made up for not being able to look forward to a trip for weeks ahead of time.

Of course, the shopping joy remains. I’m grateful to afford a bit more than a new pair of Keds now, but even if I only had a few bucks to spend, I’d at least snag a new shade of lip gloss or nail polish. It’s just fun
to have something new in a bright, pretty shade. It’s a mental pick-me-up, the grown-up version of having a shiny new toy. Did I mention I’m getting excited to go??

** I’ve got a crisp twenty dollar bill for you to prep for your next vacation. What would you buy for the trip? Something practical like a map or travel guide? New flip-flops with a big pink flower between the toes?
Let’s dream about a getaway today! I’ve got a copy of my April Blaze, ONE MAN RUSH (available 3/20) for TWO random posters today. I’m giving away a bonus book because I’m two days late posting to the blog. A big thank you to Tawny Weber for letting me have her spot today!

 

It’s always interesting when someone who knows me outside of writing first reads one of my books.  If they are already romance readers, it’s usually not a big deal. Romance readers understand the genre and the conventions. They can easily get lost in the fictional world, even if it’s been created by a friend. But for those who don’t read romance, the experience of reading one of my books is a little more disconcerting for them, I think.

“I kept thinking about you as I read it,” said one friend, her eyes wide, her look one of total discomfort. “I could really hear your voice in it.”

Well yes.  And that’s a good thing. I want my voice to be highly recognizable and distinctive. It’s the subtext of this comment that causes problem for her as a reader and- to a certain extent- for me as a writer. She identified me with the heroine and- when those love scenes came around- couldn’t get past the sense that she’d glimpsed a little too much into my private life.

I totally empathize. I remember this sensation from the days when I’d first ventured into romance writing. I would make a writing friend – published or un-published, it didn’t matter- and then read her work. Afterward, I’d feel like I knew far too much about her! That sensation has long since disappeared. I write with plenty of separation between me and my characters, and I recognize that other authors do
as well. We are not writing biographies. We write the stories of characters from our head.

Perhaps that’s why there’s always a little overlap though. We tend to create characters that are accessible for us, characters who could be a best friend or – even- ourselves, had we taken another path in life. If we
chose to write about people too different from us, we might hit too many false notes. So we fearlessly mingle reality and fiction, giving one character our fear of snakes and another character our love of soap operas. We make one heroine a writer – that’s always so tempting!- and we write another with the same profession we held before we were writers. Bit by bit over the years, we piecemeal out our sense of self into lots of characters so that every one we create has something in common with us, if only in the most superficial of
ways.

This was proven to me recently as I reviewed my older titles in an effort to promote them on my website. I wanted to freshen up the blurbs and make sure I mentioned connected stories.  In doing so, I had cause to re-read some of those older books, and what do you know, my heroines have matured along with me. Not that I wrote an immature heroine to start with. But I did write a heroine who was typically a bit more carefree. Her conflicts were often work-related and she was less focused on her emotions- that emotional focus only came after meeting the hero. Those earlier heroines probably had better wardrobes. They went out more.

Nowadays, my heroines have more emotional conflicts straight out of the gate. They have a bit of baggage, but they strike me as a bit tougher because of it.  I like the heroines I’m writing today, but I have to admit I really enjoyed the look back and reading the heroines of a decade ago. It was like meeting up with old friends.

*** Pretend you’re writing a romance novel.  What quality would you give your fictional heroine?  Career? Tell me anything about a character that comes to mind and we’ll see if your characters share anything
in common with you! I’ve got a hot-off-the-press advance copy of ONE MAN RUSH for one random poster.

 

 

With age comes wisdom. At least, that’s the way I’ve always heard the old adage. I’ve been counting on getting smarter as I grow older and, ever the optimist, I’ve had visions of my gung-ho, full-throttle hubby gaining some small scrap of caution as we reach the age of maturity.

I’m here to tell you – ha! I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off all through the holiday season, trying to accomplish too much, not taking care of myself, and – surprise!- ending up with a lingering cold. I was so over-busy, in fact, that I was convinced I had a book due on December 15^th when it wasn’t due until January 15^th. I killed myself to finish a book that wasn’t due for a month. Who makes mistakes like that? A woman spread too thin, that’s who. I learned long ago not to take December deadlines, but if I can’t remember from month to month what my deadlines are, what good does it do to make the best laid plans?

Clearly, I’m not getting any smarter. I may be getting more air-headed.  So I look to my husband with hopeful eyes, wondering if he might be gaining the keen intellect and seasoned maturity that is supposed to come with getting older.  But last week, he went out to play basketball with his friends and came home with an injury that requires surgery… an injury that might have been prevented if he could “operate at anything less than warp speed.  Clearly he’s not faring any better than me in the “wise old sage” department.

Of course, it’s not all doom and gloom. Yes, I forget more surface details like the times of kids’ sports practices and the date a book is due. And yes, my typing has gotten sloppier whereas I used to consistently turn in crisp, clean copy all the time. Sometimes I think my brain just sees what I expect to see. But on the upside of aging, I think my writing is getting better.  I don’t take in extraneous information as well as I used to, but in my specialty area of interest, I soak up new ideas and sift through them on many levels, taking in anything that could be useful to storytelling.  My focused attention is killer when the topic pertains to what I do.

Small consolation for the other information that’s falling out of my head at an alarming rate? Maybe. But I’m glad there is a consolation.  And as for my husband’s sports injury… at least he’s still competing in a sport he loves.  He’s still entertaining the hell out of me as he over-exaggerates his limp all over the house, waving his arms around and knocking things down in his path just to make us laugh. We’ve decided that wisdom is overrated.

***So… what’s the status of your gray matter? Still learning and growing? Do you ever give much thought to maintaining mental acuity? Chat with me on the boards today and I’d be happy to give one random poster a copy of a signed Blaze of their choice!

 

I’m writing to you from the wreck of my living room, surveying the damage from my attempts at holiday decorating this year.  Maybe it’s because I haven’t spent a smallvfortune on cute red and green Rubbermaid containers to store my holiday décor, but lots of my decorations looked a bit on the shabby this year.  A cute snowglobe broke, sending glass and liquid onto Santa figures and Dickens’ village pieces, smearing colors and creating a general mess. Even the things that weren’t broken looked well-used to me this year – felt figures with google eyes missing, a ceramic elf that lost an arm and a hammer in a horrible accident at the North Pole.

Before I could decorate, I needed to weed through some of my treasures and part with a few that couldn’t be salvaged.  I was sorry to see them go, but a little relieved that I wouldn’t have to put out anything overly faded and worn this year.  That is, I was relieved until I realized I didn’t have much in the way of new decorations to take their place.

Welcome to my barren home for Christmas 2011! Now, I know that Christmas is an advertisers’ dream and that I’m targeted by companies large and small to buy extra stuff I don’t need at this time of year.  I try to be a good consumer and not load up on too much excess.  I can decorate with pine boughs from the great outdoors, after all. They look great and smell amazing, even though I sometimes have a nightmare cleaning up lost needles afterward. But who can decorate a whole house on pine boughs alone?  I’m not that crafty to make homemade decorations, nor am I creative enough to sort through my possessions and find *just* white and silver tidbits to put on the mantle in some Martha Stewart inspired themed extravaganza.

So I’m going to have to give in and shop. I was really looking forward to that until I peeked at a few catalogs and saw the prices on some cute things.  Geesh.  Can I really justify sixteen dollars on a wooden bird to sit on the mantle?  Eight-fifty for a linen dish towel embroidered with holly berries? Hmm.  Already I’m debating what more I can do with pine boughs.  And hey, remember our grandmothers used to string popcorn to hang on the tree?  I’m thinking that sounds like a wonderfully nostalgic approach.

While I’d like a welcome mat with a big snowman face on it, where do I put it the rest of the year?
Remember, I refuse to buy the color coordinated storage containers…   It looks like I’m going with the simple approach this year.

So I’ve got to ask, what’s your best economical decorating tip? Do you hang cookies on the tree? Put votives in used spaghetti jars for homemade lanterns? I’d love some ideas for simple things that even I could do
to make the house look cuter this year.  I’ll probably wait and buy those wooden birds for seventy-five percent off after Christmas so I can upgrade my décor next year.  But right now, I need something to tide us
over!

I’ve got my holiday themed Blaze, Under Wraps for one random poster.  Happy Holidays, all!

It’s a holiday for numerologists, I think.  Today’s numerology palindrome is fun to write and an easy to remember date for anniversaries, birthdays, or celebrations.  How could you forget your wedding anniversary if you were married on 111111?  Easy!

Eleven is considered a master number in numerology.  Also, a psychic number.  All I know is that “eleven” is more likely to inspire a sense of urgency in me as I tend to associate the number with the idea of the “Eleventh Hour” and I hate waiting until the last minute to get things done.  Harlequin Blaze readers don’t have a 1111 book to look for yet, but you may be interested to know that Blaze 111 was penned by Karen Anders and titled Yours to Seduce.

For fun, I looked up the number eleven in my collection of tarot decks to see what they did with the number.  My Arthurian deck (with my love of medieval historicals, are you surprised I’d hunt down a deck based on the Arthurian myths?) shows “Justice,” the eleventh card, as the Lady of the Lake.  She is depicted as a reminder that she is higher than that king’s justice, and that there is a spiritual balance beyond the earthly kind.

By comparison, a fun deck of “Inner Child Cards,” gorgeously painted by Christopher Guilfoil, shows the eleventh card as “King Midas.”  This ruler sorely needed to learn both balance and justice, as he accidentally turned all his world into gold after a hastily made wish.  Whoops.  After turning his daughter to 18K, he realized his mistake, changed his ways, and found a new balance in his life.  Cosmic justice was served.

So, today is a day for balance – just look at how stable that 111111 looks… a heck of a foundation.  Most of all, it’s a day to wish our veterans a sincere thank you for their service.  Our veterans come through for us at the eleventh hour and every other one on our clocks.  No matter the date, they have been there to keep us safe and to fight for ideals.  Like Midas, sometimes we need to see the world around us with new eyes to appreciate it.  Let’s be sure we see the veterans who walk among us and give them our best today.

***The eleventh month is a good time for finding balance through gratitude since the U.S. version of Thanksgiving is on the calendar after Veterans Day.  Tell me who or what you’re thankful for today – from a good cup of coffee to a well-loved granddad- and I’ll share the book of your choice with one random winner.  Me first- I’m thankful for all of you for hanging out with me on the Blaze blog!

I blogged earlier this month about where I found the ideas for RIDING THE STORM, my October Blaze.  I got thinking afterward that all my life experiences these days seem to end up in a book.

Not that my life is always a romance novel.  Thankfully, I’ve already battled my way to my happily-ever-after and I’m fortunate to live it with my husband and three sons.  But the world around me provides ideas constantly.  And if it doesn’t, I tend to kick start things with a vacation or a new adventure that will provide food for thought.

For example, I took a cruise just so that I could write a book set on a cruise ship. (A particularly Machiavellian bit of wifely manipulation, but my husband ended up having a great time.)  The Pleasure Trip was the result.  My yearly trips to the nation’s ballparks wound up in Double Play and Sliding Into Home.  An old trip to the Jersey shore (pre-dating the show by the same name) provided the inspiration for my Wrong Bed, Up All Night.  The months I lived in Miami’s North Beach area gave me tons of material for my Single in South Beach series, starting with Sex and the Single Girl. 

But I don’t always need to travel for inspiration.  Sometimes, I fall in love with a TV character or a great book, and that morphs into an idea.  The summer I read about Boldt Castle in the Thousand Islands area transplanted into Getting Lucky for a fun American Gothic setting.  The year I watched all the Sopranos shows came through in my Night Eyes books, especially Don’t Look Back, where a cop has to deal with a gangster in her past.  Oh, and remember the Gilmore Girls?  Their snappy dialogue really informed my mother/daughter characters in Wild and Willing.

A frequent interview question that I’ve gotten is “Where do you get your ideas?”  It would probably be easier to answer “Where don’t I?” as the list would be much shorter.  Ideas are all around me in the form of character voices, settings, conflicts and happily ever after moments.  I just have to be observant and take it all in. 

***See a book of mine that you’ve missed?  Tell me what stories are missing from your collection and I’ll send one random poster a copy of the book they need!

On the tenth anniversary of 9/11, I will be watching the coverage of events at Ground Zero and remembering that day. Thinking about our fallen heroes today reminds me how important it is to celebrate the heroes who are still with us, too. And as a romance author, I thought it would be more appropriate for me to talk about those heroes on our blog.

After all, romance is all about love triumphing in the end. The whole perspective of romance focuses on the positive, building loving relationships in the wake of conflict. Ten years after 9/11, that’s the storyline I see for that horrible day. The losses broke our hearts and staggered a nation. But out of the rubble, we found the strength to heal. To overcome obstacles and build something enduring out of the ashes. In the weeks leading up to the anniversary, my heart is touched by the personal stories of lifelong bonds formed in the days after the attacks.

So maybe we could talk about our heroes today. On the Blaze blog, our romance tribute to 9/11 can be looking forward with love, embracing the heroes we have today even as we honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

One of my heroes is my sister, the pediatric intensive care nurse who cares for seriously ill or injured children. My sister does a hard job that’s emotionally draining, but she’s so good at it and her patients – and their parents – are so fortunate to have her. Her job is demanding and it has a high burn-out rate, but year in and year out, she gives her heart and soul to her job. She makes me proud and her sacrifice – coming face to face with heartache and pain every day – humbles me.

For my tribute to 9/11 heroes, I’m telling her how much I appreciate her hard work.

I’d love to hear about a hero in your life. I’ve got a double giveaway today – a copy of my latest Blaze, MAKING A SPLASH, will go to TWO random posters today.

Today’s blog comes to you four days before my next Blaze is due.  It’s a trying time for me, but a creatively interesting one.  Since it’s virtually ALL I can think about right now, let me walk you through the joys and disasters of my life on deadline.

First up – I hope you’re not hungry.  Joining me on the journey means there is very little nutrition and entirely too much eating.  Red Hots containers litter the floor by my computer.  They’re my candy of choice as I recover from a Mary Jane additction.  Whoops.  That came out the wrong way.  Honestly, I mean the Mary Jane molasses and peanut butter candies.  I love them dearly, and I write well under the influence of molasses and peanut butter, but I like them a little too well.

Anyway, why can’t I eat real food on deadline, you ask?  I can’t possibly cook.  There’s no time to leave the computer, for one thing.  I’m writing all the time these days.  The ideas that I waited for weeks to arrive?  They’re all here now and must be captured in words.  I can only eat whatever I grab out of the pantry while in a preoccupied daze.  I also can’t cook because writing is all I think about!  Following a recipe would be a disaster.  I can’t hold any thought in my head for more than two seconds that doesn’t have something to do with my work-in-progress.

But writing is fun during deadline because, as I mentioned, all the ideas have finally arrived.  I’ve got lots of threads and characters in place.  I’ve knotted and tangled my plot.  All that’s left is to watch it all unravel into the black moment and see the characters reel from it until they start re-thinking their choices in the story.  I write a lot, but at least I have a huge well of ideas to pull from.

Creatively, my mind is at work on the story all the time.  While that’s a problem for cooking, it’s great for a book.  I’m thinking about scenes when I go to sleep, when I dream, and when I wake up.  I’m mentally revising before I even put the words on the paper.  That’s an exciting time for a writer.

I’m also exhausted.  I never would have dreamed that writing could be such draining work.  It’s not like I’m using a jackhammer or digging a ditch.  I’m not cleaning houses or washing windows.  But I’m turning my brain inside out and rattling it around, trying to pull the best ideas from the gray matter.  I’m also stuck in one position all day, and everything is cramped.  I’m so tired from thinking and writing that I walk, zombie-like, to my bed at night and fall right to sleep as I’m imagining the scene I’ll write the next day. 

In many ways, I can’t wait to turn this book in.  I’m working so hard to finally type The End, after all.  I’ll cheer when I hit the Send button and I can sleep for two days straight.  But at the same time, I’ll also hate to walk away from this deeply creative time.  Because the next time I sit down to work on a book, it will be to stare at a blank screen and pace.  Stare, pace, think.  Hope for an idea.  Worry once again that it will never arrive…

*** Today’s blog question is a piece of cake for you and of dire importance to me… what’s your favorite healthy snack?  Pretend you’re on deadline and you’ve eaten too much candy. AND, let’s also pretend you can’t cook!!  What would you stock the pantry with so you had something halfway decent to eat before you wandered back to your computer?  I’ll give a random poster an advance copy of my September Blaze, MAKING A SPLASH!