Hello all!

I hope you are all having an awesome summer. It has whizzed by at light speed, and in the next few weeks the kids will go back to school. I will miss the touching moments (NOT!), finally having the peace and solitude that frankly, I think I deserve. That, and I do my best writing when the children are not around. Sometimes my son will barge into my office and stare at computer and ask me a question. It used to be (before he was a good reader and a naturally curious person) that this did not bother me. But now, my screen may be littered with graphic words and unclothed body parts and having an eleven year old looking over my shoulder, well, it bugs me.

I’ve gotten to where I will write love scenes late at night when I know that everyone is in bed, and the world becomes my character’s world, rather than my characters inhabiting my world. It’s a lot easier that way. I suppose that those who write romantic suspense are used to untimely interruptions, but since that is not me, I frown upon them.

I know there are mothers in the world who cry when their children go back to school, but my tears are tears of joy, not sorrow. I tell myself it’s because I want them to be educated. To grow up and be learned citizens of the earth. But ha! It’s all about me and my introverted self.

So, anybody else about to do the back to school dance/depression? Which is you?

I just turned in my latest book this week and I’m fresh off to the next Blaze and it’s such a blast. I love beginnings, that time when a book is all fresh and new, all the characters have the potential to grow into these fabulous complex entities with hopes and dreams and oodles and oodles of sexytimes.

I have no problems dreaming up great characters that fascinate me. Sometimes it’s a line of dialog, sometimes it’s a hopeless dream. Sometime it’s a character trait from someone I know and love, and sometimes it’s the je ne sais quoi-tude that makes them fab.

Now the subplots, OY!! That’s where I always have to mull and think and ponder and think and mull some more. However, serendipitously, I am blogging here, amongst all the awesomely wonderful Blaze readers (and some authors, too), and I’m thinking HIVE-MIND CALL! I’ve always wanted to experiment with this, but the timing was always off – until now.

So, once again, I’m calling out for help. I have two $25 Amazon gift certificates as rewards to random plotters. Here’s what I know so far (all completely subject to change and editor’s approval).

Heroine is sheriff of tiny town, TX and has loved hero a long time, but he skedaddled as soon as he could, leaving her heartbroken. Hero comes back to his hometown (which he hated), to make peace with some pieces of his dysfunctional past, but at one time he had a thing for heroine, who is a fixture there (probably taking care of her own family in some way).

I’d love to have small town antics, there’s tremendous opps for quirky crime (No SERIAL KILLERS, please!). Town wants to break them up so that she’ll stay and not be tempted to leave for greener pastures (literally). I’m thinking there’s a ten year reunion, because they would both be 28 years old, and so it makes a lot of sense that it’d be going on.

Timeframe is Texas in the summer, so it’ll be hot and humid, with lots of front-porch
sitting and watermelon eating and skinny dipping, possibly all at the same time. (My mind really does zoom off in ten million directions at this phase).

I have no idea how this story will end up (I usually hone the story as I go along), so I don’t know what the final product will be, but I’d love to have some ideas to spur me upward and onward!

Any help, any idea, is appreciated. Sometimes even silly stuff causes the brain to go AHA! All right, hive-world, feel free to spurt out whatever you choose!

I do love spring. This year, the pollen has been very sneezy, but everything looks so pretty that it’s hard to complain. We have a birm full of periennials, and when they start popping up, I always forget what we have there. The peonies nearly got weed-whacked, because I didn’t remember them, and I think there must have been some serious peony-lovin’ going on, because I think they have multiplied this year.

We planted two apple trees several years ago, and this year, I THINK we will have apples. Not a lot, but I only need one to take a picture of it, and save it for posterity. One of my favorite spring flowers is the daffodil. It’s always one of the first to poke its head above ground, and unlike some flowers, it never looks ragged or scrawny. There’s something wonderful about spring, and I find that it’s easier to write in the spring because to me, romance is about new lift and new seasons.

So, question for all, what’s your favorite spring flower (or tree)? I’ve got an April release (JUST FOOLING AROUND) AND a May release (LONG SUMMER NIGHTS), that I’ll give away to one lucky commenter!

Happy April!

Yesterday I was reading about a new study that proved that happy people were 22% less likely to develop heart disease than people who were on the emotional middle ground. The grumpier the people were, the more likely they were to develop heart disease. Although the researchers weren’t ready to implicitly state that happiness protects the heart, they did list a whole plethora of health benefits that seem to favor happy people.

You know, speaking as a non-health professional with only a dabbling of high school biology, I am shocked… shocked! that medical professionals are only now recognizing that DUH! people should strive to be happy. And you know what makes me happy? Happy endings.

I am a total doofus for a book that gets me all warm and smiley inside. It colors my entire day and I’ll be walking through the mall or the grocery store and I’ll think back to the book I was last reading (or sometimes writing!) and start to smile. Before you know it, someone will see me smile and smile back, and it’s all because of that book and that one scene or gooey ending or set of characters. Sometimes we forget the little tiny moments of the day that ignite a chain of responses that go far beyond 240 pages in 12 point font.

So, I’m done with trying to justify my reading choices. Somebody else take the vein-ripping suicide tropes; this is American Hearth Month , so I’m reading for my heart health. I’m going to watch American Idol and not feel guilty. I’m going to daydream out the window and worry about the laundry later. I’m going to tell a stupid joke to my kids so that they will roll their eyes. And I’m going to stick with my happy endings.

So these are the things that I do to stay happy. What about you all? What makes you happy? Anybody else read romances to be happy? Heheheh… Now you can get all sanctimonious and judgmental and say, “I read them because they’re heart-smart.”

For the past few years, it seems like that when the holidays roll around, I’ve been up to my eyeballs in either life or book, and haven’t had an actual VACATION. I used to spend the Christmas break reading. I’d pick a long, meaty book that I would never be able to finish during the year, and that would be my present to myself. For the past few years, I haven’t been able to read much at all. But this year….

ahhhh…..

Yes, that joyous scream you heard on Wednesday was the sound of Kathleen sending in a book. There is no moment on the planet that is as sigh-inducing as knowing for another few days at least you are FREE. Well, actually, there are a few moments that are as sigh-inducing as that, (I do write for Blaze after all ) but seriously, it’s pretty awesome.

So, today, I went out shopping. There was no watch-watching because I had no place to be and no guilt about taking time out to be among the huddled masses (it was nine degrees this AM; the masses were def huddled). I scoured for various holiday bows, but the shelves were pretty much empty. Rite-Aid had their Valentine’s Day candy on display. (VD-CREEP). At the craft store, the shelves that held the little decorative sprigs looked like an antelope carcass on the savannah, cleaned to the BONE. I did score a food processor at Macy’s, and some awesome cheese (not at Macy’s, in case you were confused). But in the end, I came home with bags of bows and Drunken Goat (it’s a cheese, not an actual intoxicated animal), and a high-powered chopper that makes the Bass-O-Matic looked like chopper liver.

So, we’re off to a party tonight, and I have a few books lined up for the holiday reading fest, but all in all, it’s good to be a very restive, relaxing, holiday. AT LAST.

So, here’s the question, if you could design your favorite holiday break, what would you do? Shop, read, spa, TV, movies? Let me know, and I’ll have some hot chocolate, mug, and books to one lucky commenter.

Lately things have been crazy in my house. I’ve been writing like a fiend, the kids have been doing projects and concerts and needing things like, (eye rolling), warm clothes. The hubby has been a rock, exactly when I need him to be, but I can still lash out with the best of them.

But last night, I slept. I fully believe that sleep is the most underrated homeopathic medicine ever discovered. I love crawling under a warm blanket (electric). I love pulling the down comforter over me, and slowly feeling my toes lose their chill. I love the way the pillow automagically cradles my head in the perfect position and I never get a neck ache.

It is bliss.

Then, as if sleep alone isn’t magical enough, we get to dream. Sometimes my dreams are awful, sometimes they are very Salvador Dali, with melting faces, and cactuses stuck in the middle of our living room, and sometimes, and this is when it’s magic, they are the perfect solution to my story problem du jour.

I love it when that happens. I’ll wake up and think, “EUREKA!” because there, niggling at the base of my mind is the perfect reason, scene, backstory, reaction, or whatever it was I was seeking.

The reason this post is late. I um, overslept.

Does everybody love sleep? Do you remember your dreams, and do you get solutions from out of the stuff of dreams?

I confess. Today, I have bloggers block. I have now sat for thirty interminable minutes, staring at a blank screen, wondering what the heck I’m supposed to write about .

It’s very rainy, cold and gloomy here, and all I can think about is eating — mostly things that aren’t good for me, which is my traditional winter ritual. However, it’s only the middle of October, and I depress myself if I think that we’re hitting winter in October.

So, I digress — back to the block. I considered writing about my new cover (YAY!), but I didn’t see anything controversial in it, and I actually like the cover, although I think I always get the tilt-a-wheel covers, which sort of cracks me up, cause I’m thinking the art department sees “Kathleen O’Reilly” and immediately rotates the print thirty degrees (as you can see, we writers can find pretty much anything to complain about).

And then I considered writing about Halloween, but we haven’t put our decorations up yet, and I need to take my kids costume-shopping, which I’m procrastinating about. Sadly, I don’t want to face the fact that Halloween is creeping up ever so quickly, and before you know it, I’ll be hitting every craft store in the tri-state region looking for some obscure color of paint because we waited too long and I don’t dare send my kids out in a store-bought costume (the community’s equivalent of store-bought cookies at a bake sale). So, you’ll understand why I don’t want to talk about Halloween.

I could talk about books that I’ve read recently, but I HAVEN’T READ ANYTHING RECENTLY and frankly I’m a little grumpy about that.

I actually have watched a lot of television. The Bourne movies, which I enjoyed a lot, and we’ve been watching a lot of Law & Order, and Law & Order: SVU, but not as much as I’d like to, because we don’t have TIVO, which is first on my Christmas list. Last year, we actually got a TIVO player, but then switched over from cable to FIOS and we realized that we’d need the more expensive HD TIVO receiver, so we sent back my Christmas present and I did without, and when I think about it, I still get a little pissy, so you can see why I don’t exactly want to write about my TV watching habits, either.

I considered writing about balloon boy, but that starts me on a rant about the need for news organizations to actually, you know — investigate — before they put something on the air instead of relying on TWITTER for sourcing, but if I write about balloon boy, then aren’t I contributing to the very thing that I detest? Conundrum squared.

So, here I am, throwing myself on the mercy of the Blaze Authors Blog readers. Any good book, TV or movie recs? And also, best Halloween costume you’ve seen?

I had considered writing a cucumber story, because I’ve been growing cucumbers in my garden, and this is the first time I’ve ever grown cucumbers, and it’s rather fascinating to see how they develop from flower end to prickles to mammoth vegetable which you don’t want to stare at too long, because people will think your green thumb might be a little too friendly with your vegetables. However, as I pondered those cucumbers, I could imagine God creating this oddity of a food, and the angel tells him, you know, if you make that walk and talk, I think you’re on to something. And God sort of chuckles to himself, and lo and behold, there is man.
But then Julie starts talking about zucchini and I realize I’ll need to find another idea — preferably something other than phallic vegetables.

As my husband always says, a dirty mind is a terrible thing to waste.

Anyway, so on to serious things, like, you know, romance novels.

I love when people ask about favorite quotes from a romance novel. Sometimes they’re funny, sometimes they’re gooey, sometimes they make you sigh. There are a lot of great quotes in the world, stirring or clever, but when you recall a line from a book, the whole experience of the book unfolds from that one tiny passage. It’s more than a few words, and slapdash punctuation. It’s the hero and the heroine who were there with you. It captures all the emotions that led up to that one moment. The tears, the pain, the joy… and the love.

What’s yours? Favorite line(s), and author and title if it’s handy.

Since I asked you all this one, I’ll start it off with two. One is a favorite quote from my books, and one is my favorite romance novel quote ever:

“I know,” he said, almost proudly. “That’s what Christmas is all about. When you dig through all the tackiness, and ugliness, and vile shoppers, it’s just about a day that you spend making the people you love happy. If I could reduce myself to buying something like this, it would make you happy.”
– Spencer James, Breakfast at Bethany’s.

“He stood, helpless in the driving rain, unable to rule his needy mouth, his restless hands, while within, his heart beat out the mortifying truth.
Ho bisogno di te.
I need you.”
– Dain, Lord of Scoundrels

The first comment you get on any discussion of the romance genre is the idea of fantasy. Romantic fantasy, sexual fantasy, idealistic fantasy, etc…. But fantasy is such a broad, clichéd word, and I’m not sure that it gets to the heart of why romance.

I’ve been thinking a lot about thisbecause of something I had recently mentioned about reading for the emotional bond with the characters vs. reading for the fantasy. Ideally, I want both in the romance, the bond with the characters vs. the idea of an escape from the world, but I am more likely to bond with ordinary characters, rather than the large-than-life heroes and heroines that populate our pages. I think it’s why I tend to gravitate toward writing ordinary characters, because these are the people that I bond with most. Now, on most days, I read for the emotional bond, but sometimes, on those days when life is just killer, I do love to read something fluffy and non-bonding to get “swept away.” But am I truly reading to get “swept away” or am I doing what likari called “mental hygiene?”

Redrobinreader, mcvane, likari, and I were tweeting about the idea of the fantasy that drives romance, what readers are truly seeking when they read romance, changes over time and economic situations. I started thinking about the heroes in romance and their changes. In the 80s, we had the uber tycoons, the brooding dudes, the rugged adventurers who were very domineering. Johanna Lindsey, Linda Howard, Julie Garwood, and Judith McNaught all blossomed here. In the 90s, we had Pat Gaffney, Lara Kinsale, and Mary Jo Putney. Very tortured, very flaws, lots of angst. In the 00s, we swung back to alphas, romantic suspense, paranormal reigned and we left some of the angst behind. Harlequin Presents, JR Ward, Julia Quinn.
But there’s a lot of splintering in that discussion. The era of the category, the rise of the paranormal, the days of the tear-jerker historical, etc, so maybe a change in the romance genre is not due to *people changes* or society changes, but simply a gravitation toward something new and different.

It’s very tempting to cookie-cutter romance readers and books and society, but I think it’s important to respect how diverse we truly are — in personal taste, in emotional need, in societal background, etc. As we were going back and forth on twitter (try and have interesting philosophical discussion on romance in 140 characters or less), I began to realize that we tend to cookie-cutter the reasoning behind romance as well as the drivers in our life-environment that keep us reading romance.

So, let’s talk about the whys, and recognize that it’s a fluid, dynamic thing. In your 20s, you might read romance for one thing on one day, and the next, it might be different. So what are some of the reasons we read romance?

Escape? I’ve always disliked that word, because it implies that I *need* to escape. Idealized world? Maybe. Idealized people (hero, heroine)? Eh. The thrill of heart-pounding excitement? Sexual or otherwise? Sometimes, yes. A loss of control? A desire to hand over the reins for a few hours to someone else?

Redrobinreader pointed out that romance is all about problem-solving to eventuate optimistic, satisfying conclusion, which I thought was really interesting. Reading and learning at the same time? A sort of relationship psychology? Or is it the inverse that’s true. Are romance readers better geared to handle relationships because they’re exposed to a wide variety of relationships and how those conflicts were resolved?

I tried to analyze my own drivers for reading romance, and I wasn’t sure that I could define it. I think a lot of it is my optimistic view on the world, and romance novels reinforce my viewpoint. I believe that love solves many problems and I think romantic love is one of the few things that can truly impact a person and can cause real change.

I apologize for rambling, but here’s the deal. I have a few questions in my survey, and I’m going to give away a bagful of books (some mine, some others) to one lucky commenter, because I’d love to get a lot of input on this one.

So, here are the questions:

1. Does your reading choice vary over time/mood/age? That is, has your reading habits changed and how?
2. Do you gravitate toward one specific sub-genre, or do you read in all romance sub-genres, or all fiction genres as well? Has this changed for you, and do you think it’s because of getting tired of something, or something seems more interesting, or is because your life-circumstances had altered?
3. Has your reading changed in the past year? What were you reading prior to this year and what are you reading now?
4. Do your likes and dislikes of heroes and heroines change, or do you think it’s remain constant? Alphas, yay, nay?
5. Any other comment you want to add on this very unorganized discussion.

I’m in the midst of getting a book ready for press, and I thought readers might be interested in a behind-the-scenes look at the other steps an author goes through — the steps beyond merely writing the book. (Although in full disclosure, writing the book is the hardest part).

About a month before the book is due, an author has to turn in an Art Fact Sheet (AFS), which is what the art department uses to make the cover. In addition, it’s what is used to sell the book to foreign markets. The author has to include a synopsis of the story, describe the hero and heroine, and describe a few key scenes.

One of my favorite parts of the AFS is character page. There’s a character theme listbox, and you have to decide what is the *one* word that describes my hero or heroine. Some of the choices are: Abducted, Academic, Aloof, Astute, Former Bad Boy, and my favorite, Murderer. I love browsing through the tags, because it’s actually a great way to get your brain working on the next story and you can see the hundreds of different character types that will show up in a Harlequin novel. Nationality/Ethnicity choice is another one that I chuckle over, and I can see some other author saying, “Well, he doesn’t fit into any of the boxes. He’s half New Zealander, half European.” And yes, now that’s one of the choices. There’s British/Cuban or another good one, Fictional Nationality – Very Italian. If that doesn’t work, there’s Welsh/Italian. I always want to seek out those books and read them, because Welsh/Italian sounds fascinating.
Under occupation, there’s the usual listing of romance hero and heroine occupations, but we also have “vampire”. That always cracks me up.
“What do you do?” “I’m a vampire.” “Oh. I wanted to study that in college, but my parents talked me out of it. How do you like it?” “Sometimes good. Sometimes not so good. Buffy did very well for the profession. We’re seeing more and more graduates studying the vampire field.” Okay, you get the point now. I’ll shut up.
After the AFS is put to bed, an author gets revisions to work on. Sometimes they’re tooth-pulling painful, and sometimes they’re easy. I’ve learned that if I do my really painful stuff up front before the book is turned into my editor, then revisions go much better. There’s always hard work in writing. As an author, you have to decide just where you want your pain. Up front or at the end.

At some point, your editor will ask for the Dear Reader letter and the dedication or acknowledgments. Those are pretty straight-forward. And the last part of the process if the AA’s. This is an author’s last chance to change the words. For the AA’s, I always sit down like I’m about to read a book (except I use a red pen to write all over it) and work through the story from beginning to end.

According to Amazon, my August Blaze is now shipping, and the cover on that one makes me smile. The heroine in the book is described thusly: “Her hair was dark, nearly black, and she had soft brown eyes, and a nose that was too big to be called pert.” The heroine on the cover has long, curly red hair, and okay, her nose is right, and the clothes were spot on. Now, don’t get me wrong. Since the hero has dark hair, as well, I’m thinking the art department got it right.

So what are your favorite sort of covers? Drop a comment, and to one lucky commenter, I’m giving away a copy of Hot Under Pressure, plus an extra surprise book that I brought back from RWA National.