First off, I’m very excited to have My Fake Fiancee on shelves this month in company with some of my fave authors. I thought the covers this month were scrumptious. Though why my heroine is wearing her bathing suit in the bathtub has me in a puzzle ;-)  Oh, well. In the scene she’s um, not!

So, sometimes as an author, you end up writing a book completely out of season, which is what’s happened to me. I’m writing a Hockey Encounters book right how. With the whole world in a heat wave I am writing about ice. And cold. And winter coats. Honestly, I sweat just thinking about it. This would probably be a fun exercise at a writing workshop, a kind of test of the imagination. Okay, it’s 90 degrees outside, write about a snow storm. Or, we’re in a snowstorm, quick, write about sitting on the beach on a hot summer’s day. I’ve actually found a hockey rink that’s operating, so that’s good. And sometimes I stick my head in the freezer for inspiration :-D  But mostly I’ve been sailing. I recently got invited to crew on a 35 foot sailboat. I am having so much fun. It’s always a fun bunch of people and we are racing. The first night I went out the crew was so slim I actually had to do a pretty important job. I was tailing, which means I had to pull and winch one rope that operated the jib and another that operated the spinaker. I was doing great. Until in the heat of the race somebody yelled at me to ease off the jib. No problem. I eased. And eased, and let more rope out until finally somebody yelled at me to STOP. Seemed I was letting down the wrong sail. Which is not usually a good way to win a race!! However, in spite of my newbie disaster, they keep asking me back. And yesterday we won our race. What a thrill that was. Then I came home sunburned and wrote a bout snow, and cold and hockey…

Meanwhile, another friend of mine invited me to play pool. Now, I have never ever played pool before. Not even once. So, picture me in a bar, getting a lesson on how to play pool (which naturally involved a nerve strengthening beverage) and then this couple comes up and challenges us to a game. Talk about pressure! I mostly tried not to do anything stupid like knock the white ball in a hole, and let my partner do the heavy lifting. It was great fun. Fortunately no one was serious. And then I came home and thought THAT’S how I can get my princessy figure skating heroine to go out with the jock hockey player. He’ll challenge her to a game of pool and she won’t be able to resist. That’s what I love about writing. The greatest scenes come in the most unlikely places. Now If I could just figure out a way to get a sailing scene in a hockey book…

Hope you’re all staying cool, except when you’re reading some red hot Blaze.

Happy Reading

Working on my Hockey book...

So, I’ve had some fun lately with men reading my books. Obviously some men have always read Blaze. Sometimes it’s a wife or girlfriend who hands her man a book and says, ‘read this. This is what women want and sometimes a guy’s just curious. But lately, I’ve had the odd experience of having quite a few men I know or only sort of know read my books. Here’s a random sampling of thoughts. First, from Rob who read Under the Influence. Rob’s a single lawyer and took my book on a boys’ skiing weekend. Apparently, they all had some fun times reading aloud from my book. A boys’ weekend? Wonder what scenes they were reading! But what he said to me was that it struck him that before my heroine slept with the hero she’d noticed how clean his bathroom was. He was quite enlightened by the fact that hygiene is a real turn on for women. Yes, I do my bit to spread the word that slobs aren’t really sexy to us. Next was Rick. Rick’s a 62 year old guy in my hiking group. He’s been married for a long time and I think the marriage has dwindled to convenience and he likes to think he’s a bit of a chick magnet. He read a NASCAR Valentine’s novella I wrote. In that story, the heroine ends up in Daytona during Valentine’s after being falsely lured there by a married man pretending to be single. When she finds out she dumps him, as any good heroine would, and then meets the hero. Rick can’t get past the fact that my heroine dumped the married guy. He thinks I’m way too hard on cheaters.  Go figure. Then my screenwriting buddy Doug read Too Hot to Handle. We ended up having a really interesting conversation about the ways women and men communicate. My favorite part of the Doug story is that he read the book on public transit. I love the picture of him, this tall, serious man holding a bright red Harlequin with a sexy cover. He told me he definitely got some female attention on the bus.

What about you? Do you know men who read romance? Do you think it would be good for them? I know a Harlequin hero is too much for most mortals to live up to, but I think men can learn a lot by reading what we value in a man. For me it’s honesty, integrity, sense of humor, oh yeah, and a clean bathroom.

I have to admit, reading Joanne Rock’s post from yesterday really made me think, (and, btw, Joanne you can write anything you want and I’ll read it) what IS style exactly? I love that line in When Harry Met Sally when Carrie Fisher says to Bruno Kirby after she insists he get rid of his wagon wheel coffee table, “Having good taste is like having a sense of humor, everyone thinks they have one, but not everyone does.” I’m going from memory, so I might have the wording slightly wrong, but that’s the gist of it. Of course, Bruno immediately tells her in no uncertain terms that he has a sense of humor. It’s a great moment in the film and I always laugh. As I was reading Joanne’s post about style, and from viewing a few painful episodes of What Not to Wear, most people think they have a fashion sense and sometimes it’s so bad their friends have to stage an intervention. When I think about my style, I think I have different styles for different days. Different times of the month. Different moods. Okay, different versions of me. Which is what I love about fashion. 

As I always point out when I teach writing classes, the way we dress announces to the world a great deal of what we want to say about ourselves and often a lot of what we don’t intend to broadcast. Clothing can say: I’m a rebel, I’m rich, I’m so trendy I always have the latest look, I’m so eco-friendly I only wear rumpled hemp, I’m a conformist, I’m on a team, in a club, a cult etc. Or the wearer can unknowingly announce themselves as a wanabe, like the kid in school who copies the cool kids but never quite gets it right. I know I’ve mentioned Glee here before, but one of the things I love about that show is the clothing. The cheerleaders ALWAYS wear their uniform, because they are the it girls of the school and that uniform is like a constant brag. Sue Sylvester, the coach, ALWAYS wears a track suit because being head coach is so obviously her whole world. Kurt, the gay gleek always dresses with glamour in mind, except on this last week’s show he tried on a new look — I won’t spoil the episode if you haven’t seen it, but it’s worth viewing just as a reminder of how much our clothing choices say about how we feel about ourselves.

I bet we all have truly embarrassing moment stories around fashion. I remember one day in Grade 6 a few girls all decided to wear skirts the next day. This was a school where the uniform was jeans, jeans, jeans. So, I turned up the next day in my skirt — and the others had all chickened out. I felt like my naked legs were two blazing beacons of nerdiness. Even writing about it now I remember how awful that day was.

How about you? Do you have a clothing story you want to share? Or a favorite character who is defined by their style?

I think it’s fun when reading novels or watching TV and movies to pay attention to clothing and realize how much we assume about a character based on their clothing.

Okay, I admit it, I’m a Glee addict. I am so excited about the second season beginning tonight. This show combines so many fun elements, the big musical numbers, the intertwining stories of high school ambition and heartache, the delicious villain Sue Sylvester, played by Jane Lynch, who I think is one of the funniest women on the planet, and my personal favorite, Matthew Morrison. And here’s why I think my Glee gushing is remotely relevant to a Blaze post: Matthew Morrison is hot. And part of his appeal, to me, is that there’s an adorable geekiness to this high school teacher who puts his own time and money into reviving the seriously uncool Glee club. The kind of men who make a woman’s heart pound range from the pure alpha, a warrior who will sweep a woman off her feet in spite of hersel

He looks this good and he can dance and sing? Be still my heart!

f, and the more metrosexual guys who wear earrings and make cooking look sexy. Morrison is the latter kind of hero. He’ll listen when a young girl has a problem, will take on a second job as a janitor to help pay for his very unlovable wife’s whims, and will stifle his attraction to the much more lovable school guidance counselor. But, best of all, he sings.
And he dances.
And I can’t get enough of it. It’s not that I don’t mind the odd viking, CEO, hockey star, cop or other alpha hero, because they can make my heart pound too, but the older I get, the more I appreciate a lower key guy. One who will cook, and take out the trash without complaining, and sing and dance.

How about you?

First a shout out to a couple of other Blaze babes who have books out this month. Bonnie Edwards’s first Blaze, Possessing Morgan is out now. I’ ve known Bonnie for a long time and was really excited to find that we’d have books on the shelf the same month. She’s a fabulous writer who really has a way with heroes. I can’t wait to read PM. And I just started Heather MacAllister’s His Little Black Book. I am loving it. I really like the Encounters books with several stories that intertwine. Heather’s all take place around a Hurricane. She had me cracking up when a hot shot exec plans a little intimate encounter at a beach house and accidentally text messages the invitation to his entire phone list. Now that’s a great set up. I’m having a hard time putting the book down.

Speaking of intimate encounters, I had the truly hideous experience last night where a good friend of mine (who might have had a glass of wine too many) pulled out Too Hot to Handle and proceeded to read aloud one of the love scenes. Oh, yeah, did I mention we were in mixed company?? I am not embarrassed about what I write. Sex scenes are a fun celebration of developing love and obviously an important aspect of a Blaze novels. But read out of context? Oh, puh-lease. What was interesting was that (after I’d quit blushing) the men in the room got us into an interesting discussion about heroes. Not so much the ‘where do you get your ideas’ question but they wanted to know where I get my heroes? And here’s what I said. A romance hero is not a real man. We know this. He’s fantasy. I write men the way I wish men could be. Always there for us, someone who knows what we want and need even when we aren’t aware of it. Oh, I’m melting already! He’s got a sense of humor, work he’s passionate about, he looks like Hugh Jackman, Clive Owen, Bradley Cooper (insert your fantasy guy  here), he’s strong and sensitive, flawed but ultimately redeemed by love. If circumstances require it, he may time travel or fight off wolves with his bare hands. In short, he’s not like anyone you or I are likely to meet. But the more I think of it, I suspect he’s also about unmet needs. Mine, probably, when I write him, but I think one of the things that draws me to romance — both reading and writing it — is knowing I’ll have certain needs met that aren’t met by real men.

And I’m okay with that.

How about you?

I have a confession to make. I get so SICK this time of year of bright red hearts and display upon display of cards and candies and stuffed animals and candles and bath oil… It goes on and on. And have you ever actually gone out to eat on Valentine’s Day? Restaurants are crowded, servers are run off their feet and instead of an intimate, romantic evening, I end up feeling stressed. Or worse, checking out the other couples and trying to gauge if they are really in love and if so, whereabouts on the scale of new-found passion to married-so-long-they-have-nothing-left-to-say to each other that these people fall. I’ve always thought that the most romantic gestures are the spontaneous ones. Of course, that said, I often end up writing Valentine themed stories. For instance, right now, I’m in a NASCAR Valentine collection with Vicki Lewis Thompson and Dorien Kelly called Racing Hearts. In it, my heroine’s planned Valentine’s Day goes horribly wrong. And last year, Under the Influence featured a workaholic heroine who stumbles into a restaurant not even realizing that it’s V Day. Luckily she meets the world’s most adorable bartender and well, the rest is all the good stuff that makes up a Blaze. One of the reviewers at All About Romance chose UTF as her favorite book of 2009. I was so thrilled by the honor that I will send a copy of Under the Influence to someone who leaves a comment. However you choose to spend this special weekend, whether with a lover, with friends, or curled up with your cat, make sure and do something nice for yourself. 

Happy Reading,

Nancy

Okay, I admit it, I have some wild and crazy friends. One of the things I both love and sometimes don’t love about this bunch is that they push me out of my comfort zone. Sometimes waaay out. Which is how I find myself today going clothes shopping to several stores I have never before been inside.

Gulp.

Here’s a hint, they sell a lot of black – leather, pvc, mesh and so on. One was called Dare to Wear.

I could let out my inner Barbarella...

This is because I am joining said crazy friends at a club on Saturday called Sin City. I would send you photos of me (snort) but no photos are allowed in this club. There is, I am told, an area downstairs called the dungeon. I would wear my normal twin set and pearls, but it seems there is a dress code. Show up in fetish gear or go home. Apparently, twin sets and pearls constitute a different kind of fetish. Hmm.

Of course, I am going in the name of research. And I hear the dancing there is really great. Naturally, I will report back. Hopefully not from the dungeon!

Update on the shopping trip: I actually did really well at H&M. Got a darling little black dress covered in metal studs, which is apparently all the rage. Who knew? And black chunky heels that I will never be able to walk in.  Long black gloves and a friend is lending me her red wig. Should be fun.

Anybody  have any experience of these kind of clubs?

What’s the craziest thing your friends have ever talked you into?

Tell all!

Your intrepid researcher,

Nancy aka Nancarella

First off, congrats to all the RT nominees for Best Blaze and to Leslie for lifetime achievement! That’s great news.

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about movies. I think it’s the time of year that you simply have to dust off your favorites and maybe try some new holiday movies out. For me, my must sees are: It’s a Wonderful Life, A Christmas Carol (the one with Alistair Sims. It’s old, but when Alistair as Scrooge laughs and giggles at the end it’s one of the best moments in movie history IMO), and Miracle on 34th Street. So, when they asked me to write a NASCAR Christmas novella, I wrote  a story that very much plays off Miracle on 34th Street. It’s in a collection called A Very NASCAR Holiday with Debra Webb and Gina Wilkins and we all had a lot of fun with the stories.

Recently, I’ve also added Love, Actually to my must see list. I find something new to love in that film every time I see it and I adore the way all the stories and lives intertwine and so many kinds of love are on display. Plus, it’s got an astonishing number of sexy men in it: Hugh Grant, Colin Firth…excuse me while I wipe the drool off my chin … Liam Neeson and Alan Rickman to name a few items I wouldn’t mind finding in my Christmas stocking. Then last night I watched a movie I haven’t seen before, Four Christmases with Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughan. A very modern dilemma is faced by a couple who always avoid the ordeal of dysfunctional family by going on holiday, but this year are forced to visit all four divorced parents on the big day. Not sure it will end up as an annual must-see. but the movie was good for a few chuckles and had a nice message.

What are your favorite holiday movies? And why?

Which brings me to my message to you. However you celebrate this time of year, I hope it’s filled with good things, like books and movies and friends and food and, of course, family. Happy Holidays to my fellow Blaze babes and all our readers. 

Love Nancy

After reading Heather’s fun post the other day about exotic travels, complete with sexy half naked guy –
I thought about how important it is for us writers to fill the well. I find traveling is one of the best ways for me, and obviously Heather would agree. I meet new people, get shaken out of my routines and am constantly challenged. Right now, I’m in Portugal. Evora, which is a lovely old walled city with an existing temple to Diana from Roman times. I was in a church today where you could look into the ossuary and see the monks’ bones and skulls stacked like firewood. I thought to myself, you dedicate your whole life to God and this is how you end up?

My November Blaze, Power Play is also the result of traveling. Much more directly, since the book came about when some other writers and I went on a writers’ retreat and had to be moved out of our lovely cabin into rooms a busy lodge doesn’t rent out because the cabin turned out to have bed bugs!! The management took all our clothes away to be cleaned and brought out a plastic Rubbermaid bin with lost and found written on it. Yep, my wardrobe for the next three days was out of the lost and found bin. My room had a big curtain and behind it about ten plastic buckets to catch the torrents of water from the leaking roof. You really can’t make this stuff up, so I didn’t. I used it for the basis of Power Play. In my story the heroine gets double booked into that very room with a sexy cop. In reality, I laid in bed listening to rain banging into plastic buckets and thought, what if… I think Jonah and Emily had a lot more fun.

Power Play is an RT Top Pick, so I’m happy about that, and itºs also part of a really fun New Orleans Sweepstakes through eHarlequin. You can win prizes up to $10,000, so check it out. I had a lovely photo to send you all, but sadly can’t figure out how to upload it. Must improve my Portuguese! You’ll have to imagine me, sitting with my laptop with a view of the Mediterranean in the background and, um, a bunch of sexy half naked guys all around me throwing out plot ideas. Honest!! Pictures can’t lie… In the meantime, happy reading.

Nancy

Perhaps that’s a rather pompous statement, but as we struggle through this recession and I know people who’ve lost their homes — lost their HOMES!! And lost jobs and seen a comfortable retirement go out the window, I’m reminded of why romance matters. When things are going well in my life, I can read lit fic with the best of them. Death? Madness? The hopelessness of existence? Bring it on. But when life’s road gets rocky and scary, I pull out my keepers. This summer, I reread every single Susan Elizabeth Phillips on my shelf (that would be every book she’s every published) most of my Georgette Heyers, all my Jane Austens and a huge shelf of fave category reads. (Thanks, fellow Blaze authors). Why, you might ask, did I plunge myself into unrealistic worlds where heroes are unlike any actual man on earth and the women are far pluckier than I am? Because I had the summer from Hell. A beloved aunt who is descending into Alzheimer’s. I’m the closest thing she has to a daughter, so I looked after her. She was sick, in hospital a lot, at the same time that people close to me were going through the Big Ones. Home loss, job loss, scary things. In my real life, I could be tough when I needed to be, could cope with hospital visits, hospital bureaucracy, an aunt who is very dear to me losing herself — oh, yeah, and a book deadline. But when I got home? I wasn’t going near any book that didn’t give me my Happy Place. And that would be romance. Sure, we can’t cure cancer, and we can’t prevent bad things from happening, but I know how many times I’ve received an email from someone thanking me for giving them a few hours break when they had a loved one who was sick or in hospital. This summer, I was one of those people. So thank you too all my fellow Blaze Babes for your wonderful books. You helped me get through a tough summer. I was reminded that our books matter.

Happy reading,

Nancy