I had a birthday this week. That’s always a big, fun deal for me. Because I’m in the midst of raising children and my natural disposition is fairly quiet, practical and hard working (it’s those Dutch roots), I don’t make a lot of fuss over myself the rest of the year. But all bets are off on my birthday. It’s the one time of year I feel no shame in maneuvering the world around to fit me.

During the early years of marriage where I did not bother to make a few b’day requests, I was a bit disappointed. I mean, my husband tried. I’d get a gift, but probably not a card. And never a cake. With no cake, there’s no singing, no candles, no lights out brouhaha and clapping. Call me juvenile, but isn’t it fun to be fussed over once a year?? I occasionally baked my own cake. But as I grow older, I realized this is silly. It’s my big day, I can dang well have a cake that I didn’t have to put in the oven myself.

So this year, my husband phoned from Sam’s Club on my special day to see if he was forgetting anything. Great! So thoughtful! I immediately prompted him to remember that there is a birthday basic that’s a sweet and he really should pick that up. I assumed this was an obvious request since we’ve had a birthday cake debate for years in this house. Well, he acted like he knew exactly what I meant and said, “Of course! No problem!” He showed up at home with two pounds of chocolate. No cake.

I had to laugh. He tried, right? And who can argue with two pounds of chocolate? We ended up baking a cake together that night and he took on the process of making homemade frosting all by himself. He even scavenged through the cabinets for the sugar letters we used to use on the kids’ cakes and created b’day messages in a special code language since there weren’t enough vowels for all that he wanted to say. It was the best birthday cake ever. Lots of fuss. Lots of family time.

And as a special birthday bonus… I’ve been eating chocolates all week.

***Tell me this– a birthday’s not a birthday at your house until… what? Do you like to have dinner out? A special food? Flowers? What birthday traditions make your big day complete? I’ll give a copy of any book from my backlist to three random posters since it’s my birthday week and I want to share the joy!***

Who doesn’t love a miniseries? No romance fan I know. Writers enjoy the bigger world building a series affords. Readers love to connect with characters they’ve met in previous books, sneaking updates on the happily-ever-afters of heroes and heroines they already know and love.

Some writers we know take miniseries to a whole new level. I checked out one of Brenda Jackson’s Westmoreland books recently and couldn’t believe what an expansive world she’d built with this series for Silhouette Desire. (And in case you haven’t heard, you can look forward to Brenda Jackson in Blaze… check out Spontaneous in May 2010!) Big, sweeping miniseries are a wonderful benefit of category romance in general.

Blaze has been kind enough to offer its authors built-in miniseries opportunities for those of us who aren’t ready to plot out families as big as the Westmorelands. Take Uniformly Hot! For example. The joint miniseries lets lots of writers contribute to a bigger world. In this case, a military world filled with studly men. The writers got to pick a branch of service to write about and readers got a whole year of delectable military men. A great idea all the way around.

But my favorite new Blaze format for connected stories is Blaze Encounters. I don’t know about you, but when I read Leslie Kelly’s One Wild Wedding Night, I fell in love. And thanks to the format, it didn’t happen once. It happened five times… once for each yummy novella.

If you haven’t tried a Blaze Encounters, you are missing out, especially if you’re a novella fan. The Encounters offer multiple, themed stories all by one author. Tori Carrington came next with A Few Good Men. Heather MacAllister followed with Undressed.

Now, it’s my turn. I lobbied right away to write an Encounters when I heard about them. Ever since I finished writing Sliding Into Home, I’ve been waiting impatiently for it to arrive in bookstores so I could share it with readers. It allowed me to write connected stories in a succinct format and it provides world building for readers short on time. And no matter how much beach reading you manage to pack into your summer, I’m willing to bet there are other times—sitting in a carpool line, taking the train into work, a much-needed coffee break—where you’d really appreciate a quick read.

Frankly, I’ll be surprised if other lines don’t develop Encounters style books for their series. They’re fun, fast, and best of all, no waiting a whole month for the next installment. All you have to do is turn the page.

***Reminisce with me! Tell me a couple of your favorite miniseries—in Blaze or not—and I’ll giveaway a signed copy of the very exciting, super sexy, aforementioned SLIDING INTO HOME.***

What is sexy? You’d think a Blaze author would be able to answer this question. After all, our series bills our stories as red-hot reads, and all the authors aim to fulfill that promise. On the surface, we can all answer the “what is sexy” question, but what I find interesting about the question is that we would answer it in all different ways.

Whereas we all agree—basically—on what is scary or what is sad, there is a lot more wiggle room when we try to pin down what’s funny or what’s sexy. I think that’s why dark, serious artwork (film/books) more often receives critical acclaim. Critics from all walks can agree on what makes for a poignant premise. But our funny bone—like our sense of sexy—is more individual. I think that makes it tougher to write a film/play/book with a fun or sexy premise that receives glowing reviews. Just ask Shakespeare. His tragedies are the most critically lauded and frequently produced while his brilliant comedies require more work to successfully appeal to audiences. And even when they are well done, not everyone appreciates the nuanced humor that occasionally was very relevant to the era.

So writing sexy is a tough thing to do and have universal appeal. Sure, sexy can mean explicit sex. But not always. Consider the film version of The Age of Innocence. One of the hottest scenes involves the unbuttoning of a glove. It’s been sixteen years since I’ve seen the movie, and trust me, the glove stays with you. On the other hand, I also find something like The Thomas Crown Affair sexy, with more overt love scenes and a strong focus on physical desire. But sexy is in the eye of the beholder. My husband thought The Age of Innocence was a snooze and the New York Times Review called The Thomas Crown Affair “an allegedly steamy love story … proof that sex can be in the head.”

How, then, does a Blaze writer ensure a sexy story for a red-hot read? I’m asking you. What elements make a book (or a movie!) sexy in your opinion? Is it the characters? The situation? The play of repressed emotion as in the quiet sexiness of Age of Innocence? Or love scenes early and often?

***Visit with me on the boards today and I’ll give on random poster a copy of my new Blaze, the universally acknowledged sexy Sliding Into Home.***

Being a girly girl of sorts, I was a little caught off guard to end up as a mother of sons exclusively. Well not surprised, per se, since my husband comes from a family of seven boys and one girl. I kinda expected the Y chromosomes would be plentiful. But my education in sports and cars was sketchy, having spent my childhood orchestrating extremely well attended tea parties (my stuffed animal collection rivaled the best on the block) and testing out exotic nail polish colors on Barbie’s barely existent toes.

So I’m intrigued to watch these boys of mine grow up. Their world and their experiences are so much different than mine. Take sports for example. Their father is a bit sports-obsessed, but all the boys have great interest in any arena that requires athleticism and skill, so their dad isn’t exactly leading them anywhere they don’t want to go. From broom ball to stick ball, hockey to hoop, these kids have played every game imaginable, making up their own from rudimentary materials at hand when they lack the proper court and equipment. Trust me, not five minutes passes in my house in which one of them doesn’t challenge another in some sporty test of skill. Whether it’s seeing who can be first to the dinner table or who can stick the landing on a handcrafted backyard mogul, my boys are extremely competitive.

You might ask what this has to do with the making of a Blaze hero. Well, I’ve decided I must be somehow engaged in the process as I raise three strong, smack-talking competitors with relentless drive to be the best. I mean, I added in some manners wherever I could—they’d better hold those doors open me or face dire consequences—and I’ve nourished and encouraged their innate intelligence wherever possible. But all the rest of who they are seems to come from pre-scripted he-man DNA that has nothing to do with me. Other than the fact that my husband famously claims to have married me for my ability to palm a basketball (something I didn’t know I could do until he placed one in my hand), I don’t think I had much to do with the development of these soon-to-be men.

Still, I’ve got to smile. Between the muscles they’re dead set on building and the quick wits they’re forced to develop from the non-stop verbal sparring, I can’t help but see signs of heroes in the making.

***So I’ve got to ask the moms… do you feel like you’ve influenced your kids to a great extent? Or are you continually amazed at what uniquely different personalities you encounter in them?? Hop on the boards to tell me what you think and I’ll be glad to share a copy of SHE THINKS HER EX IS SEXY with a random poster. ***

There was a time when my husband made me feel a little self-conscious about my people watching. While I’m more of a quiet observer of life’s dramas, my husband tends to be a main character with a big, noisy role on the center stage. When he occasionally pulls me into the spotlight, I find it hard to shake off the observer role and just BE. Sometimes I can’t help but look around and wonder what other people think as he sweeps me off my feet while window shopping at the mall or pulls our family into an impromptu conga line, or bellows a hip-hop song with the melodic cadence of a fifties love tune in the middle of a crowded street. If he catches me peering around at other people during these times, my husband asks, “What do you care what other people think?” Read the rest of this entry »

It’s a lot of work being a Blaze Babe. I mean, all writers have to work hard at their craft and possess the persistence and determination of an NFL lineman to sell their books. But beyond that core commitment to writing, the Blaze authors face some unique challenges.

1) We can never say “Not tonight honey, I have a headache.”

There comes a time in every romance writer’s life when she doesn’t feel like writing a love scene. Maybe her kids are ill and writing a love scene is the last thing on her mind. Or maybe she just had a fight with her significant other and there’s a bit of anger projected onto her fictional hero. But when you’re a Blaze author, writing a fade-to-black love scene simply isn’t an option. You’ve got to be ready to sizzle at all times.

2) We’re the resident sex experts.

Now at first, this is kind of fun. When you become a Blaze author, your friends and family all try to hide their surprise that you write “those books”—the ones with the sexy-as-hell covers your mother doesn’t admit she’s ever read. But eventually, being the local sexpert will land you in embarrassing situations. Your newspaper boy winks at you even though he’s barely reached puberty. Your neighbor reveals an acrobatic event in her bedroom the night before and offers more details in case you’d like some ideas for your next book. Men older than your father will guffaw with lecherous glee to learn what you write and ask if you want any pointers. Umm… no.

3) We’re the bad girls.

While the men in a Blaze author’s life are busy suggesting they’d be happy to supply inspiration for future projects, there is another population of friends and family who can be less enthusiastic. Non-romance reading buds steer their impressionable children away from our bookcases full of splashy covers. Quasi-helpful siblings read our books while hiding them behind copies of National Geographic. A few utterly non-helpful friends hide our autographed labors of love all together, unwilling to admit they like racy romance.

Still, I wouldn’t trade being a Blaze author for the world. A Psychology Today study assures us that readers of romance make love with their partners 74% more often than non-romance readers. So I’d like to think I’ve had a hand in making the world a happier place through my stories. And maybe I’m deluding myself, but I hope even those friends who are hiding my book covers are kicking their love lives up a notch the night after a sexy Blaze read.

So razz me all you want. Any way you look at it… you’re welcome.

***
Whether you’re a reader or a writer of hot romance, I’ll bet there are people in your life who give you a hard time about liking “those books.” What’s your response?