Happy 60th Anniversary!

I never get tired of expressing that sentiment even though 2009 is winding down. It’s been a good year and we’ve had lots of fun celebrating with readers and authors. I really appreciate how many of you have been involved from writing special reader letters, giving away books or hosting a link to harlequincelebrates.com.

Thousands upon thousands of visitors have come to the site and I’m pleased to report that the Blaze book was extremely popular. That translates to many new readers looking for the Blaze series each month either on the bookshelf or online. It’s truly been a great sampling effort!

I’m just back from our Sales Conference in Montreal where we had a chance to sit down with the reps who make sure our books get out there month after month. No easy job in a year of recession and uncertainty but their hard work along with the 60th Anniversary momentum gave consumers lots of great books to enjoy.

Our Harlequin Teen program is also in-market and we had a sneak preview of all the wonderful upcoming titles. The Non-Fiction program was also presented and once again I’m excited how Harlequin has moved into a whole other world of books.

Blaze of course is always close to my heart and a big part of my world. Back in 2001 it was “my baby,” but I had to give her up a few years later. I know she’s in good hands with Brenda—and all of you. I can still claim to be a Blaze babe now and then. (But boy not sure I can write about vegetables the way you all do!)

I love my job these days as I get to hang out with not only the Blaze babes but all the great authors from American, Supers and Intrigue. Only the latter occasionally make me nervous as they know a lot of ways to kill people and don’t mind discussing it over lunch!

I’m looking forward to 2010, which for all of us in publishing, is well underway. We’ll be building on the excitement created by the 60th but also looking for new ways to reach readers. And as always we’re looking for the best books we can find to publish.

Have a good week and looking forward to chatting if you have time.

Hi Everybody,

Just so you know, this is my first blog. Not just here on the BlazeAuthors website, but anywhere. I know you’re gasping in shock. While I think the internet is a fine thing, with many nice bells and whistles, we don’t share an intimate relationship. I don’t even have a web page, which I understand is something close to sacrilege. No, wait. That’s a lie. I just remembered that I have an old web page that seriously needs to disappear. Something else for my To Do list. Anyway, I have some books I’m pretty excited about, and a little anecdote that made my day, so here I am!

First, the book news. Right now, TEXAS HEAT, my 3 in 1 Encounters, is in your stores! On your Internets! Perhaps even on your eReaders! (See, I’m not completely out of the loop)! It was an amazing adventure writing those three stories. They all take place on a big old ranch in West Texas during a giant 4th of July Celebration. The fireworks are not just in the sky, if you know what I mean. ::eye waggle:: The cool thing about the Encounters is that you can sneak in a quick love story almost any time. In the car, waiting to pick up the kids. In line. When you should be vacuuming. From what I’m hearing (no, not on twitter, I don’t tweet), the Encounters books are hitting the spot for readers on line and off. I sure love them!

Not only was it fun to write TEXAS HEAT, but I also left poor Kate in quite a pickle. So what’s a romance writer to do with a woman who needs some good lovin’? Write TEXAS BLAZE. Kate’s story is coming out this December, and I hate to give anything away, but she and Mitch? More fireworks. Seriously. Also cattle rustling. Surveillance. Bad guys. One really, REALLY good guy. And Texas. I don’t know about you, but I can’t get enough of those cowboys.

Which led me to a different kind of love story. Oh, it starts out in the same West Texas town, but sexy, delicious Jake doesn’t stay there for long. Well, it’s actually not a question of where he is, but WHEN. That’s right, LONE STAR LOVER is a Western Time-Travel! I can’t even tell you how much fun I had writing this book. Poor Jake is so confused. And lovely Rebecca doesn’t know what to make of him. Things heat up pretty quickly between them, though and whether it’s 2010 or 1877, Blaze heroes know just what to do when faced with a warm, willing woman. Look for LONE STAR LOVER in March, 2010!

And now for the anecdote. This just happened. Yesterday. For real.

You know how I mentioned I didn’t have an operational web site? Yeah. So I got an actual letter with paper and postage forwarded to me by Harlequin. A lovely lady said extremely nice things about my books (blush) and how she had every single one of them…except one. She’d lent it out, and it’s out of print, and did I, perhaps, have one she could buy? Altogether a sweet letter in every way. But then I got to the kicker that just made my day. The lovely lady? She’s 91+ years old! Needless to say, I’m sending her the book. I just hope when I’m 91+, I’m still reading Blazes and getting my romance on. Because that, my friends, is the way to live life to the fullest.

While I’m here (limited time offer, trust me) you guys have any questions? Have you been reading the Encounters books? How about the historical Blazes? What about the Time-Travel Blazes? I’d love to hear what you think! I promise, I’ll answer!

Love, Debbi

BLAZING the Trail with New Technology

I did my first ever podcast last week. Thrilling? Breathtaking? Terrifying? It turned out to be just like talking to my editor on the phone. Because I was talking to her on the phone. That’s how these things are done, apparently. She asked questions, I rambled on about my Blaze historical Make Me Yours, and, voilà, I podcasted!

Don’t even ask me what I said.

A writer friend asked me the same day if I had trouble in my first contemporary Blaze with using modern day technology in the story. What – as a historical writer, I’d be like a fish out of water with 21st century technology? Hello. I LIVE in the 21st century. Just because my imagination often “dallies” (forsooth!) in the old days doesn’t mean that’s the only place it is comfortable. I have plenty of current-day daydreams. I mean, I see every Jason Statham, Clive Owen, and Gerard Butler movie that comes along. (“The Ugly Truth” with Gerard and Kathryn Heigl. July 24th. Mark your calendars.)

Anyway, my first impulse was to say I didn’t use modern technology in it. Then I realized: I ended the danged story with a text message! Whoa. I’m a contemporary girl after all. Which started me thinking.
Technology changes, but human nature doesn’t. Well, not much. Which means we use today’s technology to help satisfy the same basic needs we’ve always had: feeding ourselves (online pizza ordering!), clothing and housing ourselves (online clothes ordering & apartment hunting!), communicating (e-mail, Facebook, texting, photo messaging, Skyp-ing, calling, & voice-mailing) and meeting our needs for (ahem) Community and Companionship (Chemistry.com, e-Harmony, Match.com. . . chats dedicated to bringing together like minded people. . . as well as “dating” and “escort” services and more hardcore connections.).

This started me wondering who made the first sexy telephone call. Who had the nerve to pick up a new-fangled telephone (one that was probably a party line) to pose a sexy come-on? Phones have been around since the 1880’s, you know. Yeah, that long. And people being people, I bet somebody in a bustle was getting her padding warmed via telephone waaaaay before 1899 became 1900. Who arranged the first assignation or affair via phone? Who made the first phone sex call? Some horny college boy to an obliging finishing school miss across town? Some philandering rich guy telling his light-o-love the coast was clear? When and where was the first “What are you wearing?” uttered?

Sigh. Lost in the mists of time, I’m afraid. But it just goes to show you that the good old days weren’t quite as up-tight and “Victorian” as we might think. When you think about it, phone calls are a very intimate kind of talk—the receiver pressed against you, the voice whispering in your ear.
(Note to self: include sexy telephone call in next historical!)

Much has been said about e-mails and texting and how intimate and personal they feel. People fall in love texting and IM-ing, meet and get married after a courtship of just e-mails. Know anybody who has met their “match” on the internet? Ever gone on to a dating site to check out the offerings? Hmmm?
Sooooo, when will that next historical be out? Next July. Working title Sin and Sensibility. (Yeah, that’ll change.) But my first contemporary Blaze will be out in February—a novella in the Valentine “Manhunting” anthology, with Joanne Rock and Lori Borrill.

So what do you think? Does technology help or hurt romance? What’s more your romantic techno-medium: telephone or an e-mail?

Let’s ratchet it up a notch. . . how does phone sex compare with the real thing? Do you think the intimacy and ease of using cell phone cameras makes for better romance or worse?

And do you remember hearing about “sex-ting” for the first time? Were you scandalized by the thought of teenagers sending each other provocative or nude pictures of themselves? Did you ever play slumber party “phone games” yourself? Do you remember flirting and experimenting with the phone the way kids do today with cell phones?

Talk to me—inquiring minds want to know!

When the Blaze Babes asked me to do a blog, I was very excited. After all, I started writing Harlequin Temptation and I was part of the first series of the Blaze launch, Sexy City Nights (Body Heat). But really, what can I bring to the table … I mean Blog? I haven’t written Blazes in years. But I do know a lot of the Blaze authors and my editor is the Senior Editor of the line, so yeah I still feel connected to Blaze. So what can I talk about?

LUCK. I see you all scratching your heads. How does luck have anything to do with a Blaze? Luck brought the most important friends into my life – my plotting group The Plotmonkeys (www.plotmonkeys.com) are three Temptation/Blaze authors, Julie Leto, Janelle Denison and Leslie Kelly. If not for the luck of selling to Temptation at the same time as them, I would not have the solid friendships and plotting support I have today.

LUCK is what made Brenda Chin, the editor who bought my first Temptation (first ever sale) pick my story out of the slush pile. That would be Brazen, FYI.

And LUCK is what my current series is all about. The LUCKY series is about three male cousins who suffer from a family curse – if any Corwin male falls in love he is destined to lose his love and his fortune. It’s held true down all the generations to date. But this generation of sexy Corwin men are destined to meet up with some pretty spectacular women. How will they handle the family curse? First up is LUCKY CHARM and in stores now is LUCKY STREAK. The last story, LUCKY BREAK is in stores in October.

But LUCK only goes so far. It’s been said (don’t ask me by whom) that LUCK is preparation meeting opportunity. In my opinion, it explains at least in part why Brenda didn’t buy the first book I sent her despite 18 months of hard work and revisions. To this day I believe if I’d sold that story, I’d never have sold another Temptation. I wouldn’t have understood what the line was really looking for. Working towards creating a true Temptation in Brazen taught me that. And really, if I hadn’t been working hard on promoting THE BACHELOR, the whole Kelly Ripa Bookclub pick wouldn’t have happened. I was looking for opportunity and was ready when luck struck.

I know we’re all living in tough economic times. We are cutting back and struggling in ways we’ve never had to before. But tough times doesn’t mean we should give up. It means we have to think differently and work that much harder, so that when opportunity comes around, we are prepared. That’s when luck strikes and good things happen!

All this talk about LUCK made me want to do things for my readers. So visit my website/contest page at http://www.carlyphillips.com/contestnov.php for three special contests: 1) the chance to win $1,000 by writing about your luckiest day; 2) the chance to win a $25 Amazon gift card; and 3) part two of my LUCKY YOU contest. GOOD LUCK!

So while we’re on the subject, what do you think of LUCK?

“Of all the gin joints in all the towns, she walks into mine.”
Rick Blaine, Casablanca

When my friend Jo Leigh invited me to blog here at the Blaze Authors Blog, my first response was blog? Who? Me? I’ve never done it, though I follow a few blogs all the time. But honestly, being invited to share on the Blaze blog could not be more thrilling. I am new at Blaze, and so happy to be part of this family. My first Blaze, out in April 2009, is a time travel called “Once a Gambler.” Now, let’s face it, given the parameters of that genre, it wasn’t a write-what-you-know situation. But it was a lot of fun dabbling in that paranormal world of time travel and imagining ‘what-if..

The whole thing got me to thinking though, about destiny. You know…if a hero and heroine can find their destinies together in another time, what about us civilians? I read today that Jen and Ben’s (do we really need a last name?)new baby, Seraphina, was actually named by their little girl, Violet, who was quite certain of the name from the first time she learned of the baby. She said– pointing to Jen’s belly bump– “Oh, yes, that’s Sara.” Like she was an old friend. She was quite insistent, even though they didn’t know yet the sex of the baby yet, that it was a girl. It made me wonder, was Sara someone Violet (the 3 year old) actually knew from, well… before? By the way, Seraphina is one of those classic names that mean ‘Angel.’

*Twilight Zone theme music here*

Ooh, that kinda stuff gives me goose bumps to think about. Do we travel in soul circles? Intersecting over and over? Could all these different ideas we have about dimensions and time travel actually be possible? Or is it just wishful thinking and everything is simply random?.

When I think about how randomly I met my husband (years ago!) and how if we both hadn’t been in that same place that night (Okay, it was a bar, all right? But being a cocktail waitress was only one of the three jobs I was juggling as I tried to make it as an actress in Hollywood) we might never have met. We absolutely never would have intersected in this huge city. Our ‘circles’ were far apart. We would never have had two great kids, our lives together…etc…. He certainly wouldn’t have been the one who’s given me faith in the whole ‘happily-ever-after’ scenario.

But what if it wasn’t random at all? What if his walking into that particular ‘gin-joint’ was meant to be? And in hindsight, it’s kinda hard to look back at your life and think of it as random when everything since that moment has been so deliberate.

Do you ever think about the near misses in your life? Like what might not have happened if you hadn’t walked down that particular street, or been delayed by that piece of chocolate you’d tucked away on the top shelf of the pantry, or got stuck waiting in a line? Is your story rife with incidents you just can’t explain any other way? Do you like reading stories about destiny or do you think they’re just hooey? I’d love to hear what you think.

Carrie

Teaching An Old Dog New Tricks:

A few years back (I won’t say how long…Blaze babes are always young and gorgeous at heart ;)) I was invited back to my alma mater to give the commencement speech to the graduating class at my high-school. It’s a tradition of theirs to invite a 20-year alum to come back and inspire (I hope) the current crop of seniors. It was truly an honor for me to speak before an auditorium packed with graduates, parents, faculty, city officials and former teachers. I thought long and hard about what I wanted to say. As a writer, I figured the words would come to me. But I wanted the message to be just right—something meaningful, something that might give those eighteen year-olds something to think about and impact their life. Ultimately, I looked at my own life to see what my philosophy was about successful living, and I came up with a 2-part challenge that I continue to live by every day. Now, a few years further along the road of life, I’m discovering that that advice applies to my writing life as well.

Here it is:
1. Learn something new every day.
2. Make a difference—every day.

Now, learning something new can mean anything from taking a class to earn another college degree to attending a writer’s conference or workshop to having my dad show me how to replace a faulty toilet to watching how the birds and rabbits and Maxie (our dog) interact in my back yard. You get the idea—in big or small ways, expand your horizons, stimulate the brain, grow yourself as a person.

Making a difference can be huge—joining a recycling program or mentoring a child, rescuing a pet from the pound—or small—smiling a thank you to the harried kid behind the counter at McDonald’s or holding the door for an elderly person. Again, it’s all about doing something for someone else. Makes you feel good inside. Makes your world or someone else feel better, too. This one’s about looking outward, paying it forward. You’re going to leave an imprint on this world—make it a good one.

So, how does this philosophy apply to writing books? I didn’t realize exactly how much it did until I got into the process of writing my current Blaze release, OUT OF CONTROL. A couple of years back, I was talking to my Blaze editor, Brenda Chin, about future books I’d like to write for the line. Before my military Blazes became a hit, I was thinking in terms of a steamy romantic suspense story—and I’d thrown out the idea of a FAST AND FURIOUS kind of Blaze story—I pictured Vin Diesel (sorry, Paul Walker!) as the undercover cop, with an ace lady mechanic at his side and in his bed, working to solve a murder in the world of street racing. That idea didn’t fly at the time—Brenda wanted more Marines But when the “From 0-60” miniseries idea came about, she remembered that story idea and asked me if I’d like to write one of the stories for the Blaze Series Spotlight. Heck, yeah! But one key ingredient was going to be different—the focus wasn’t going to be on big city cops—I had to move my story to the world of drag racing!

Did Julie know anything about drag racing? No. Did she know how to change the oil, much less soup up the engine of her car? No. Did she know the length of the track? How fast the cars go? What to call the trailer a car is hauled in? Again, no. So… I applied philosophy #1. I learned a lot about drag racing. I starting watching Horsepower TV (I still don’t get everything they’re showing me, but it gave me some believable lingo and characters to make my story more real). My good buddies who worked on the series with me–Alison Kent, Jennifer Labrecque and Lori Borrill–generously shared their knowledge. And a new member of my local writing group, The Prairieland Romance Writers www.prwne.com who goes to the races with her hubby, had some firsthand experience, and offered to answer any questions that might come up as I wrote the book. Drag racing wasn’t anywhere in my life experience, but I made it part of my experience. I learned. And because I learned, I could then write about it. Convincingly, I hope!

The second part of my philosophy? I’m sharing my knowledge about the writing business, about the craft of writing and more with that same fledgling writer in my group. She reads my books, asks questions. I answer them. I don’t claim to know everything, but I can certainly share my experiences and what works for me. Seems like a pretty good exchange to me, a nice way to thank her for her help. Good karma all round.
The dual learning/sharing philosophy was obvious with this book for me. But I’m certain it won’t be the last time that give and take process helps me create an authentic, engaging story with believable characters that readers will fall in love with.

So, how about you? What’s something interesting or funny or cool you’ve learned recently? What are you doing to make a difference, even in a small way, in the world?

And, if you’d like the chance to win a copy of my Blaze, OUT OF CONTROL, go to my chapter website at www.prwne.com. I’m the featured member of the month there, and we’re giving away a signed copy of my book! You can read a short excerpt of the story there, too.

Happy, sexy reading!

Julie Miller
www.juliemiller.org