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!

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!

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!

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!

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.

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!

Do you remember that time of life and that feeling where the decisions you made would have a huge and lasting impact? I remember thinking it was way too much pressure. And ultimately, I was somewhat ill-equipped at 17 to make those calls. But life seems to have a way of bringing you around to the right path sooner or later. Sometimes I don’t get The Message until the universe has sent me repeated, noisy signs, but I do think we get where we were meant to be when we follow our hopes and dreams.

So I think tomorrow, as we visit the next college on the list, I’m going to tell my son that there’s no real wrong path (okay, beyond a life of crime). Sometimes the paths are crooked and winding, taking you to strange new places you didn’t think you’d go. And other times, they are surprisingly circular, bringing you back to where you started. I kind of think there’s an arc to our lives that’s in place, and though we veer around it, we’re called back to that main arc over and over again. Resistance is futile!

I like to think that’s a lesson my Blaze characters are all dealing with in some way or another. They often can’t see their lives intersecting with someone else’s. They’ve usually got a clear-cut path and destination in mind, and a significant other would only complicate and distract them from the main goal. Little do they know their story arc. The path to true love is even more convoluted than the journey to a good college and a rewarding career.

What Blaze characters need to remember – along with my son – is that the destination isn’t always as important as the journey. Enjoy the path you’re on. Explore a few options. Feel free to wander. But don’t ignore the big, wide open road in front of you.

***My son is anxious to check out life in a big city! If you had it to do over and could choose a college to attend in a fun, exciting part of the country, where would you go? Has Denver or Philly always called to you? From Dallas to D.C., pretend cost isn’t an issue… where would you like to head? I’m going to send one random poster an advance copy of my September Blaze, MAKING A SPLASH. I might have to wait until Thursday to pick a winner since I’m out of town, but I promise I won’t forget!

Nancy Drew

I can calculate my life in terms of books.  Give me a year, and I’ll tell you what I was reading.  1978? Nancy Drew.  At least the first sixty.  1986?  Wuthering Heights and every Austen and Bronte book I could find.  Then?  On to the highly risqué Lady Chatterley’s Lover.  1991 was the Romantic poets and all the Arthurian literature, spurred by a second reading of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.  But 1993 was the era of romance ushered in by Johanna Lindsey and Elizabeth Lowell.  I was reading dense critical theory too, but it’s the Lowell and the Lindsey that’s most memorable for me.

Anyhow, I can track my reading through the years because it’s an important part of my life- the pastime that’s so much more than a pastime.  When I think of Nancy Drew, I still picture myself in my bedroom, reading with the book way to close to my nose.  I hear the lawn mower outside and smell the cut grass too, because half that summer passed by while I solved intriguing mysteries with Bess, George and my favorite titian-haired heroine.

In fact, summer reading in general is always really memorable for me.  Perhaps it’s because I associate summer with long lazy days where I have more say in how my time is spent.  And most of the time, when I have to pick, I pick a good book.  Also, I think summer reads are memorable because they’re often consumed in big gulps instead of divvied up into chapter-bites over the course of a few nights.  Devouring stories whole is always more fun for me.  I never leave the characters’ world.  Instead, I am along for the ride on page one and by page 500 and The End, it’s almost disconcerting to return to my real life.

I read Harry Potter like this, saving the last few books of the series until a time I could read uninterrupted for days.  They were my treat for one stolen week of the summer where I read day and night.  While Nancy Drew is forever associated with the lawn mower and fresh cut grass, Harry Potter makes me think of my porch swing , my personal Portkey to Hogwarts. 

As of now, I haven’t made any firm plans for what I want to read this summer.   The season remains open, just waiting for the right books between baseball games and picnics. 

***Do you have a memorable summer read?  The summer you read Black Beauty or first discovered a beloved author?  And how about a favorite reading spot?  Did you have a special spot you retreated with your books as a kid?  A spot you hide away with books today?  Chat with me on the boards about your books of summer and I’ll give one random poster a $10. eGift  Card to the bookseller of their choice.

As a writer, I have a blast writing miniseries stories. When I generate my own series , I like revisiting a world I’ve built and the people I’ve created. Back when I wrote the Single in South Beach series, I was so sad to leave my Miami girlfriends! I felt like the secret heroine among that group of South Beach divas. I could attend their club bashes in my pajama pants from the safety of my living room, and I savored each stolen margarita sip vicariously.

When I write stories in the Blaze-originated series like Encounters or the Wrong Bed, I’m most excited to have a fun framework to write in. I know that I’ve either got to write short connected pieces, or a story that pits the hero and heroine in a very awkward meet. And that gives me a lot to work with before I even sit down to brainstorm. It’s like having a little bit of my workday done for me.

With the series I’m writing now, I’m getting to blend those two ideas. I’ve got an author generated series going in that I’ve created a fictional family of hot, wealthy brothers who are the sons of a resort mogul. They share a world that’s unique to them, growing up on Cape Cod in a hyper competitive environment that – perhaps- bears a small resemblance to the sports-minded ambiance that my three sons have lived and breathed since birth. So in that sense, I’ve come up with a lot of characters and a rich sense of place to return to over the course of five books. Awesome!

But even better, the stories are threading through some tried and true miniseries that I hope will draw you all in to read them. And I didn’t plot that in any kind of marketing genius, believe me. The connections just arose naturally out of the storylines. The first two books are Wrong Bed stories, and they’ll be out in September and October of this year. The next two books will be connected, but not under a formal Blaze miniseries banner, and they’ll come out next spring. The fifth book will take me to the Uniformly Hot! miniseries when I write one of stories of a brother who went into the Navy. That book will be out in September 2012.

So there’s a lot to love on my end. It’s fun to get to know these guys and watch the different brotherly dynamics between them. But most of all, I’ll be eager to start sharing them with you this coming summer.

In the meantime, I’ve been thinking a lot about my favorite Blaze miniseries and am working on a list of all the miniseries we’ve seen in our line. Care to help me flesh it out? Can you tell me some of your favorites or the most memorable ones you’ve read over the years? I blogged about connected stories a couple of years ago, but we talked about miniseries all over the lap, not just Blaze. As we gear up to celebrate Blaze’s tenth birthday this summer, I think it will be a fun way to toast a long tradition of sexy series!

Thanks in advance, and I’ve got a backlist Blaze of your choice for one random poster…

I take a cottage garden approach to writing - a little of everything

That was never me. Don’t get me wrong, I could fake it sometimes. I got great grades. Pursued the degree I set out to earn and dove straight into the career field I envisioned for myself. But all along, I wondered, what if I’d chosen a different path?

That’s still me to this day. Not that I second guess writing. That was a career I found later in life and I’ve never thought for a second that writing books was a bad idea. I love this job and I’m so grateful to have the chance to do something I enjoy. But I still can’t choose a favorite genre, favorite sub genre or favorite anything else associated with writing. And sometimes, as I look back at the wide and varied assortment of stories I’ve written over the years – dark, angsty cop stories, frothy fun sexy stories, time travel, medieval, suspense, a few heartwarming tales – I wonder if I’ve shot myself in the foot being one of those people who likes to take the wide-angle lens view of life.

I mean, would it have made more sense to choose one thing and learned to do it really well? Some authors have such a great vision for their voice and their careers, and they deliver just what their readers want each time out of the gate. For me, that’s kind of like choosing the chocolate cake every time at the desert counter. I’m more of a “I’ll have one of everything” desert eater. Or, at very least, I need to try something new each time until I’ve savored each and every offering.

So I keep writing a little something different each time and hope my readers will forgive me for the story leap frog. This month, I’m really excited to revisit the Uniformly Hot! Miniseries, something that was new for me back when I wrote Always Ready. It was so much fun I thought I’d delve back into the military world for Highly Charged. And, I’ve already got the follow up in mind for 2012, so I’ll be sure to return to that miniseries next year. But, being me, I can’t wait to share with you a couple of fun and sexy Wrong Bed stories first. Maybe a hot medieval. Definitely a sports hero or two.

Perhaps it’s a failing of mine. But I prefer to look at my varied story offerings as the cottage garden approach to writing. There are less boundaries and more overlap, colors of every kind. To the untrained eye, maybe it’s a hodgepodge. But the marigolds protect the tomatoes from the deer and the first round of spring blooms help ready the soil for the summer flowers, so that it all works together. One thing strengthens the other. My fun Wrong Beds are more deeply emotional in the end for having written those angsty cops. My military guys have greater depth because I’ve allowed creative time to percolate in between their stories.

It all works together. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

***Were you one of those people born knowing exactly where you wanted to go? Have you meandered a bit on the way or circled around a few times before you felt sure of your direction? Or heck, tell me if you order your favorite desert every time or if you feel the need to try new things! There’s no right answer on my boards because I think variety is the spice of life. Just chat with me today and one random poster will win my new Uniformly Hot!, Highly Charged.