Well, I’ve only been back from conference for a few days, but I am still floating on air. I got to go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter with Brenda Chin and friends. (That’s fellow Blazer Kira Sinclair with me and Brenda.) I rode the Forbidden Journey, got my wand–Lupin’s–had butterbeer (YUM!) went to Devish and Bangs, the Hog’s Head, The Three Broomsticks, Honeydukes and Zonko’s. I posted letters for my kids in Hogsmeade and basically made a giant nerd of myself. Ask me do I care?

<If that wasn't enough, I got my 25 book pin at the Harlequin party AND I won the National Readers' Choice Award in the Short Contemporary category for LETTTERS FROM HOME. Color me THRILLED. I was in excellent company with lots of friends and fellow Blaze babes and have no recollection of what I said when I went forward because I hadn't prepared anything. I was happy just to final, but have to admit that winning was especially nice.

AND I have a book out this month–THE RENEGADE–which I will happily send to five lucky commenters at the end of the day. Winners, look for the announcement in the comment tail. I'll use my wand.

So, what’s happening in your world?

…for remembering to blog today.

Last month I was supposed to post on the eve of our beach trip and I completely forgot. I remembered it about fifty miles south of Montgomery and gasped so loud I woke up my dozing daughter in the passenger seat.

So, sorry about that ya’ll. I have to say that we had a wonderful time at the beach. We go down to the Orange Beach/Gulf Shores area almost every year and, even though there was a possibility that the oil might come ashore while we were there in early June, we’d decided to go anyway. We’ve had too many wonderful beach vacations to simply change plans when we knew that the worst was yet to come. (And it has been.) Though we never saw any oil where we were–out near Fort Morgan–it did come ashore in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach on our last day there. So, so sad. But there are wonderful people fully committed to the clean up and the area will definitely rally.

Right now we don’t have any other vacations planned, though I imagine a trip to the mountains–Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge–will be in order in the fall. My dad and brother camp and my sister and I “cabin.” Good times.

So what about ya’ll? Where are your go to vacation destination spots? Is there a particular area that just soothes your soul?

Because I am currently on the very end of a book and need all my brain cells to make the last push, I’m going to leave you with a list today of things that make me happy and would invite you to do the same.

1.) Purple wave petunias
2.) The sound of my fountain bubbling on the deck
3.) A warm towel from the dryer
4.) Any meal I don’t have to fix
5.) Freshly mown grass
6.) Birdsong
7.) A good review
8.) Watching Pawn Stars with my family
9.) Books
10.) A friend’s laugh
11.) An unexpected kindness from a stranger
12.) Babies
13.) My dogs
14.) Mrs. Meyers Lemon Verbena Counter Top spray
15.) Burt’s Bees Lemon Bath Oil
16.) Having my hair brushed
17.) Kettle Corn
18.) My Roku
19.) Getting new nail polish
20.) Watching the number on the scale go down

What about you? Will pick five winners for my June release, THE RANGER, which got a 4.5 Top Pick review from Romantic Times. (Jumpy claps!)

…it’s because they are. Oh, my. My, my, my.

People, I am obsessed.

I thought that Henry was good-looking in THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO. Adored him in TRISTAN AND ISOLDE and I CAPTURE THE CASTLE. But what really won me over was his role as the Duke of Suffolk in Showtime’s THE TUDORS. Let’s look at this photo first, shall we?

Well, it goes without saying that he’s gorgeous. We’ll talk about his face in the next photo, but in this one I want you to notice a couple of things. 1.) Chest hair!!! Real manly chest hair! Not enough to make him look like a gorilla, but enough to let a girl know that this guy doesn’t spend more on razors or wax than you do. That’s a plus in my book. I think some guys have taken the man-scaping a little too far. 2.) Leather pants. Not many men can pull this off, but on Henry? Humina, humina. I need a second. Okay. S’all good.

Now Exhibit B…

Mercy, just look at that face. Lovely, lovely bone structure. The fullish lips, the cleft in his chin, slightly hollow cheekbones. And that hair. Slightly curly, long enough to run your fingers through but not so long as you feel like it’s a competition. He’s effortlessly, AMAZINGLY sexy. And the best part of his appeal? He doesn’t seem to realize he has any. And that’s what makes him the total package in my book. (Or books, lol.)

Authors, do you ever get stuck on a particular guy who becomes the inspiration for your heroes? Readers, do you ever realize who the author is describing?

Inquiring minds…

Thirty-nine years ago today I made my debut into the world. Thankfully, my mother was so doped up on drugs she couldn’t name me Daisha Danine (to me this has always sounded like a Baskin Robbins flavor, which in retrospect might have been more appropriate) and my dad took the opportunity to name me Rhonda Raina. And Raina is Renee, not Rain-uh. I weight 5lbs 5oz and was 18 inches long. I was tiny. I also looked remarkably like my dad. Had I had black hair, Mom was going to name me Raven Jade. Is that a romance writer’s name or what? Pity I’m a blonde. To tell you the truth, I have never liked my name all that much, or any of the alternates I might have been. Could I name myself, I think I would choose something like Rhiannon or Elizabeth or Caroline.

Which brings me to my question(s.) Do you like your name? Are you named for someone? If you don’t like your name and could change it, what would you choose? When I start a book, I can’t do anything until I have the characters names. Names, to me, are so important. Once they’re named, then I can figure out what they look like and what it is they do. But the name *has* to come first.

I’ll be MIA today, since it’s my birthday. We’re going down to Tuscaloosa to watch the Alabama vs. Auburn basketball game–and they’re going to hand out the Iron Bowl trophy (ROLL TIDE!!!!)–and then we’re heading over to Dreamland BBQ for ribs. I can’t wait. I don’t watch the football games–unless there’s a lone player streaking down the field with the ball, then I have no idea what’s going on–but I played basketball when I was in school and actually understand that game. I cheer really loud and humiliate my children. Good times.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I know I’m going to enjoy mine.

Hello, my name is Rhonda Nelson and I am addicted to Netflix. *hangs head in shame*

I currently have no less than one hundred items in my queue and I log in and manage it daily. It’s a sickness. A compulsion. I have to know what’s arriving next, have to make sure that the discs for various series are in order. (I’ve already bungled Foyle’s War by getting the first 2 discs of Series 2 before I’d watched the 3rd and 4th discs of Series 1.) A huge lover of British comedies, I’ve been watching THE VICAR OF DIBLEY, ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS, ARE YOU BEING SERVED?, KEEPING UP APPEARANCES and WAITING FOR GOD for years. Through Netflix, I have discovered ALL THINGS GREAT AND SMALL, ONLY FOOLS AND HORSES, TO THE MANOR BORN, A FINE ROMANCE and many, many more. And the “play instantly on computer” feature? I wish I’d never found it. I watched the entire first series of THE DUCHESS OF DUKE STREET on it, as well as the entire collection of MONARCH OF THE GLEN. Do you know how many HOURS of television that is? I’m too ashamed to say, but it’s a lot. Too much. And yet I can’t help myself. There’s a whole world of television out there that I have yet to discover and thanks to Netflix, I’m doing my dead-level best to wade through it. When you factor in that I also watch LOST!, THE TUDORS, TRUE BLOOD and SURVIVOR, I’ve got more than my share of television to watch. Anything by Masterpiece Theatre instantly goes in the queue too. (Have adored the new Emma my local PBS station just aired. Next up is Northhanger Abbey. Yay!)

So what about you? Do you Netflix? What are your can’t miss programs?

Around the middle of September last year my husband and I bought a doll house for our niece from Hobby Lobby and decided to put it together for her for Christmas. We would paint it and wire it and stain the hardwood floors. It was going to be a magical bonding experience for the two of us, plus an heirloom piece for Isabella.

Only one of those was right.

What the &*^%@! was I thinking? In the first place, we’d never assembled a doll house from scratch, so planning to do it for a Christmas present in the middle of September when I am married to THE GREAT PROCRASTINATOR wasn’t very bright. When you add in the fact that we both like to be in charge, welll… You can see where this might be a problem. Also, I don’t know if any of the rest of you have ever tackled this sort of project, but good grief…hundreds of pieces. Literally. Nine pieces for each window. Gobs of fretwork that was hard to paint. Eight-hundred shingles that had to be individually stained and painstakingly adhered to the roof. Those of you familiar with roofing will understand what I mean when I say that the shingles around the gables had to be “cut in.” Hubby sliced his hand open with a box cutter doing that. Big fun. I don’t do blood. He even had to pull our kids’ teeth when they were loose. Oh, and did I mention that every single piece had to be primed before it could be painted? It did, and that was my job. But here are the results. Family members furnished the rooms for her, which made it even more special. And this one…

I got a little carried away when decorating. I shrunk down a picture of my niece and added it to the living room. Put a poster of Hannah Montana in the bedroom. Needless to say, she LOVED it. And that made it all worthwhile. And believe it or not, we’re going to do it again next year for our other niece.

What about you? Have you ever undertaken something like this? What were the results?

Well, it’s that time of year again. Food Fest ‘09. There’s dinner with the hubby’s family, dinner with my family, Christmas parties at the church, with my Sunday School class and with my local RWA chapter.

Food, food and more food.

And not just any kind of food. The irresistible kind, like little smokies wrapped in bacon and covered with brown sugar, and peanut butter fudge and Christmas cookies and cheese balls and cheese straws and cheese dip. Chocolate covered pretzels, peanut butter balls and Sister Schubert’s rolls. (The kind with the little sausages baked in and basted with poppyseed dressing and butter. Did you see my eyes just roll back in my head? Because they did.)

Earlier in the year I dropped thirty pounds, gained back twelve over the summer and have since taken off ten of the gain. I’m nine pounds away from my ultimate goal and faced with the most difficult time of the year. How to cope? How do I say no to homemade candies and Watergate salad? Mom is making Belgian Waffles for Christmas brunch. I don’t know how many calories are in the waffles, but I am relatively certain the gooey blueberry syrup I’m going to pour over them is chockful of them. I’m doomed. Doomed, doomed, doomed.

In order to combat a bit of the inevitable weight gain, I have devised a plan. It’s called the Don’t-Eat-Anything-All-Day-So-You-Can-Gorge-At-The-Party Diet. Brilliant, yes?

In all seriousness, I have resolved to eat low-cal when I can, and do small portions of the holiday food. If I try to tell myself that I won’t eat the good stuff, then I’m a.) lying to myself and b.) setting myself up for failure. “In moderation” is going to be my motto this holiday season.

That said, here’s a lovely cheese spread recipe for you all to enjoy in moderation as well. It’s easy, it comes together quickly and it’s a never-fail favorite. I always take the recipe with me because I get asked for it so much.

Raspberry Cheese Spread

Ingredients:
4oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup mayonnaise
2 cups shredded mozzarella
8oz shredded cheddar
3 green onions, finely chopped
1 cup chopped pecans
Seedless raspberry preserves
Crackers

To prepare: In a small mixing bowl beat in the cream cheese and mayonnaise until well-blended. Beat in cheeses and onions. Stir in pecans. Spread into a plastic-lined 9-inch round dish and refrigerate for one hour, or until set. Invert onto serving plate and spread the preserves on top. (Stir this up first so it’s smooth, otherwise it clumps.) Serve with crackers.

To celebrate the season, I’m giving away three copies of BETTER NAUGHTY THAN NICE. To enter, simply share your favorite holiday food. (And if it contains cream cheese and cool whip, then all the better. )

Earlier this month I got together with my plotting partners Jennifer LaBrecque and Vicki Lewis Thompson and the subject of heroes–and what kinds we liked specifically–came up. We each write a very different sort of hero. Jen’s are a bit sophisticated, Vicki’s drawn to the more nerdy sort (and she won’t take offense at that, lol) and I like the rogue. The smooth, funny guy who is unrepentantly male and completely confident in his skin. While we were talking I asked both of them a cool question and wanted to share it here with ya’ll. If a hero could walk right off the pages and right into your life, which guy would you choose? I was asking Jen and Vicki specifically about hero’s they’d written, but wanted to broaden it a bit here.

Though I am married to my hero, if I were to choose a guy I’d written it would have to be Brian Payne from THE SPECIALIST. I adored him. He was cool and smart, charming and sexy, and completely unnerved and in love with the heroine I paired him up with. From the moment he landed in my imagination, I was utterly smitten. As for a hero not of my making, Lord Dain from Loretta Chase’s LORD OF SCOUNDRELS would be my choice. Humina, humina. In many ways he was like my Payne. (And if you’ve never read LORD OF SCOUNDRELS, do. It’s still one of my favorite romances of all time.)

So what about you? Writers, if you could choose a hero from your own work, who would it be and why? Readers, if you could magically conjure a hero from fiction, I’ll ask you the same question. Who would you choose? Inquiring minds…

I’m snagging the title of this post from email I received from a friend a few days ago. We have a Weight Watchers email loop and she was letting all of us know that she was back on the wagon.

Me, too. Sigh…

I wish that I could be one of those people who could eat junk and it never catch up with me or, more importantly, land on my hips. (Or gut, or butt, or belly.) But I’m not. I managed to carve off thirty pounds from January to May–class reunion, need I say more?–but had gained back nine of it over the summer. Too many cook-outs and not enough work-outs. I’ve gotten five of that nine pound gain off, but went to the Smokey Mountains this past weekend and discovered praline fudge. Anyone ever had praline fudge? Because it IS WONDERFUL. Also, I’ll be going to the beach on Thursday, where I will no doubt eat a hot yeast roll from Lambert’s–home of the hot throwed roll–and lots of other things that aren’t exactly Weight Watcher friendly. I’ve doubled up my 5k run to 10k over the next three days and am mentally picturing being pelted in the back with fudge and rolls to keep myself moving when I want to quit. There are benefits to having an active imagination.

Knowing that the holidays are looming–more fudge, pecan pies, stuffing and cheese balls–I’m dreading them because I know myself well enough to know that I will eat more than I should. I love food, and the richer the better. Sweets and breads, they are my eternal downfall. And butter, oh how I miss butter…

Anyway, I think this is why I always write an imperfect heroine with a healthy appetite, because I can totally identify with her. She struggles, she fails, but she never stops trying. That’s admirable. So let’s talk about favorite heroines. Mine is Grace St. John from Linda Howard’s Son of the Morning. She was utterly amazing. So strong, so determined. Her transformation from the beginning of the book to the end is phenomenal. (And if you haven’t read Linda, then you are SO missing out. Son of the Morning is an older title, but it’s my favorite Linda book.)

So who is your favorite heroine and why? These are things I need to know.