I was recently promoted to Associate Editor, Heartwarming! I’m excited to try something new, but I’m definitely going to miss the authors I’ve been working with for more than five years.
Blaze authors are truly the most hilarious and fun-loving group you can imagine, and as I’m sure you know, they’re also very talented writers.

I remember reading my first Blaze as a proofreader—there were many points where I felt my face flame and I couldn’t help wondering if anyone could see my computer screen. Of course, the other proofreaders had probably encountered plenty of sex scenes by then….

Since those early days, my vocabulary has expanded dramatically, I’ve acquired a perpetually dirty mind, and reading about sex is all in a day’s work. But I’m still captured by the compelling stories and characters.

Blaze characters are modern, fun and interesting. The heroines are real enough that they could be your best friends. And the heroes…well, they’re drool-worthy for sure!

Luckily, I won’t have to go cold turkey with the sexy reads—I get to keep working with Kira Sinclair and Debbi Rawlins. Yay! And I’ll definitely be crashing Blaze parties at future RWA conferences. With Blaze authors, you can count on laughing and dancing all night—I wouldn’t miss that for anything!

Farewell, Blaze Babes. It’s been fabulous! XO

That’s right, peeps, I’m escaping the frozen north to visit the STAR (SpacecoasT Writers of Romance) chapter of the Romance Writers of America.  My trip is cunningly planned for the end of February—in my opinion, the most

I’d much rather be here…

unpleasant time of the year in Toronto.

I’m looking forward to spending time with my lovely American Romance author, Leigh Duncan. And I can’t wait to see some Blaze authors, as well. I’m told Julie Leto will be there and possibly Cami Dalton. Is anyone else here planning to attend the STAR Super Saturday meeting on February 25?

I’m supposed to speak for 45 minutes or so. I’ve never given a speech of that length before and don’t want to put the audience to sleep, but I’m a bit uncertain what I should talk about.

…than here.

If you were in the audience and had to listen to me talk for 45 minutes, what would you want to hear? Most information is available online these days, so I don’t want to be redundant. Please comment and give me your suggestions—I need all the help I can get!

Since Harlequin’s head office is in Canada, we don’t get to see our authors very often—most days are filled with meetings, editing, reading and maybe a conversation or two at the coffee urn. So when an author comes to visit, it’s a special occasion. And when Blaze authors drop by, you know it’s going to be a good time!

Jen, Rhonda, Brenda, Birgit and myself

For us, author visits offer a chance to meet the people we work with, to make stronger connections. For the authors, it’s an opportunity to see how things work, to understand the process their books go through and to meet the people behind the scenes. Since an author’s work is often solitary, it’s nice for them to see that they’re actually part of a team.

A few weeks ago, we had a visit from Jennifer LaBrecque and Rhonda Nelson. It was such a treat to see both of them, and we got to go out for lunch, which is always a good thing. Jen even let me share some of her birthday cake. Yum!

Jen with her birthday cake

Rhonda and Jen spent a fair bit of time in our Digital department, talking with Community

Manager Jayne Hoogenberg. And Rhonda even got to watch a video she’d made at the RWA National Conference.

Last week we had a visit from Lori Wilde. Because it was Lori’s first trip to the office, she met with Associate Creative Director Tony Horvath—the vision behind our amazing Blaze covers. Tony took Lori through the process, showing her how our covers go from concept to finished product.

She also had a meeting with Harlequin Publisher and CEO Donna Hayes. Donna takes a personal interest in our authors and always makes them feel welcome. Lori was impressed that Donna had even visited her website prior to the meeting and knew what Lori was working on.

We had a great time with all three authors. Thanks for coming, ladies. Can’t wait to see you again!

Happy summer, Blaze Babes!

Have you wondered how a well-written story with a likeable hero and heroine and an interesting hook can end up being dead boring? Perhaps you’ve written a first draft and then stared at it wondering what went wrong.

The editors at Harlequin are currently reading GMC: Goal, Motivation & Conflict by Debra Dixon, who does a fantastic job of explaining the necessary elements of a good story and how to ensure that they exist in your work. (If you’re still staring at that lifeless first draft, fear not. Resuscitation may be possible.)
You guessed it; the three elements Dixon feels are essential are goal, motivation and conflict. Each of your main characters must have a clear goal and strong motivation for achieving that goal. Generally, the conflict comes when one character’s goal gets in the way of another’s. Seems pretty simple, right? But having any old goal, motivation and conflict won’t make your story compelling.

If your characters have insignificant, poorly motivated goals, or can obtain them without substantial conflict, you probably don’t have much of a story.

Romance fiction tends to work best if the hero and heroine are in conflict. Some character combos lend themselves to strong conflict particularly well—a thief and a police officer, for instance. The thief’s goal is to steal something and the police officer’s goal is to stop him. If they want to be together, one or both of them will have to give up or revise their goal. Seeing the couple overcome this conflict provides an emotional payoff for the reader.

Dixon says some writers establish GMC before they start writing, while others weave in these elements or beef them up at the revision stage. (See, all is not lost.) How do you establish goal, motivation and conflict in your writing? What tips can you share?

Something exciting happened at Harlequin last week…well at least for me. I got to move to my very own office. No more Tales from the Cubicle!

I’ve been waiting for this day for some time, and now that I have my own space, I’m determined to put my stamp on it. I have grand decorating schemes, most of which will never come to fruition due to a lack of money and time.

In my never-ending mission to get more done in less time (something I’m sure you’re all familiar with), I’ve been reading David Allen’s book Getting Things Done. He says “You must have a focused work space—at home, at work, and if possible even in transit.” I think he may be overdoing it a bit with the “in transit” bit—when am I supposed to do my Sudoku? But he doesn’t mention anything about decorating.

I think having a comfortable and welcoming workspace make Mondays a little more bearable and perhaps I’ll even be kinder to you all. Do you have any suggestions for adding personal touches? I really want an area rug to cover some of the lovely pink carpet, and softer lighting is non-negotiable. Plus, I’ll definitely be looking for artwork in bright, cheerful colors. And I need plants that will survive with little natural light and thrive on neglect.

What does your workspace look like? Do you have a home office, a laptop that you take to a particular coffee shop? A special space where you can hide away from the world and immerse yourself in the lives of your characters? What do you need to be at your most creative?

Happy New Years, Blaze Babes! I hope you had a wonderful holiday. I know you’ve probably all packed up your Christmas trees and moved on, but I still had Christmas brain when I was trying to come up with a topic for this post early in January. I hope you’ll forgive the timing.

I was going to tell you what happens in the Toronto office at Christmas, but the more I wrote, the more I realized that, while holiday lunches and decorating the office may be fun, reading about them is less than exciting.

So I decided to tell you my story instead. After all, who doesn’t want to read about me? :P
I’ve lived far from home for the past 10 years. My whole family is in BC (seriously, I don’t have a single relative in Ontario). While I miss them, I’ve been away so long I’m used to our long-distance relationship. Thank goodness for cheap calling cards!

I usually go out west for Christmas. But it’s expensive to fly to BC, and when I get there people are stressed out because of the holiday and the weather is cold and rainy. I realized that it might be better to visit in the summer.

Consequently, I decided to stay in Toronto this year. And apart from coming down with the flu that’s currently plaguing our city, it was great. I had lots of time to relax, it was nice to avoid the travel madness, and I’m sure my family appreciates me keeping the flu to myself.

Plus, I got to spend time with my amazing friends and coworkers, who have become like a big extended family to me.

One day, I walked into my cubicle and saw that Santa had visited—my editors and friends left little gifts all over my desk and chair. That was a happy day . And leading up to Christmas I received a few gifts in the mail from authors. I don’t expect such things, but they always make me feel special.

Everyone was concerned that I had nowhere to go for Christmas dinner. Brenda very kindly invited me to her house, and brought me a plate of leftovers when I chose to stay in Toronto. (I couldn’t resist a dinner invitation from the new guy in my life—you have to love a man who cooks!)

I was worried that it would be a lonely Christmas. But although I did miss my family, I had a wonderful holiday and got rested up for 2011. It’s sure to be an exciting year!

So thank you to the friends, coworkers and authors who always make me feel as if I’m surrounded by family even though I’m far from home. I hope there are special people in your life, too.

I was an RWA virgin, but not for long… For weeks, Harlequin editors and authors had been psyching me up for my RWA Annual Conference debut. Most people go to a couple of small conferences first, but not me. Go big or go home, I say.

RWA 2010 didn’t let me down. My days were filled with author pitch appointments where I tried to calm nervous writers, coffee meetings, and larger events. The Harlequin party was fabulous as promised and I had a great time dancing with the authors—if anyone has video or photos of that night, you’ll probably notice my head sticking above the crowd as I jump up and down in my heels. I don’t recommend this….

By the time Saturday evening arrived, we were all primed for the Golden Heart and RITA Award ceremony. I was stunned by the scale of the event. The room looked as if it was about the size of a football field, and was packed with authors and industry professionals.

The Golden Heart is the RWA’s most important contest for unpublished authors. Winning one of these awards and getting to go up on stage in front of all the editors and authors must be at once thrilling and terrifying. But it’s a fantastic moment for writers who’ve been typing their fingers numb for years without recognition or reward.

When the Golden Hearts had all been presented, it was time for the main event—the RITA Awards ceremony. The RITA is the most prestigious RWA award for published writers, and the RITAs mean as much to romance writers as the Oscars do to actors. I almost thought I was at the Oscars, listening to the crowd’s excitement as each nominee was listed and the winner announced. Music played as the winning author made her way to the podium to accept her beautiful golden RITA statue—and my neighbor and I tried to identify the show tunes.

Each nervous and emotional author gave a speech thanking her editor, agent and family, and then the editor said a few words about the author. The sincerity and joy with which each recipient accepted her trophy warmed my heart, and I found myself cheering especially hard whenever a Harlequin author was nominated or won.

Highlights included Kristin Higgins’s acceptance speech, where she said she’d been worried about showing too much skin until she saw Heather Graham and realized she wasn’t showing enough. Apparently Kristin ended up in the hotel fountain later that evening, but I’m pretty sure Heather didn’t push her in.

Debbie Macomber’s speech when she accepted the Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award was very touching, especially when she talked openly about her problems with dyslexia and how she was able to overcome that challenge. I’m certain every person there felt inspired by Debbie’s determination and warmth.

After the ceremony finished, I retreated to my room to contemplate the end of my first RWA Annual Conference. It was more fun than I’d ever imagined, and so fantastic to meet the authors and agents I’ve worked with over the past four years. I dropped into bed exhausted, knowing I’d curse myself when I had to get up early to pack. But I was too tired to care….

I can’t wait to do it all over again next year in New York City. See you there!

This post was first published in the October-January edition of Simply Books.

As I’m sure most of you know, the RWA Annual Conference is coming up at the end of the month. This is a time of much excitement for romance writers and editors alike, and this year will be my first RWA conference!

For the past few weeks, I’ve been trying to plan my time at RWA. My appointments are scheduled and I know when the main events are. It was strange and wonderful to have someone book a hotel and flight for me. Usually I’m the one booking things for others.

Thursday night is packed! I’ll be going to the American Romance authors’ dinner, the National Readers’ Choice Awards, the PASIC reception and the eHarlequin pajama party. Friday morning I do my first appointments ever—nervous, who me? Friday afternoon I will of course be attending the Spotlight on Harlequin—I hope to see you all there. Friday night is the Harlequin party, which I’m told is a total blast. I can’t wait to party with the Blaze babes! Saturday I’ll be going to our Blaze authors’ lunch, PAN, and the RITA Awards ceremony. Plus, I’ll get to spend time with three of my authors: new American Romance author Leigh Duncan, fabulous Blaze author Kira Sinclair, and brand new Blaze author Meg Maguire. Trust me, you’re going to love her first book!

Do you have any advice for me on my first RWA conference? What are your favorite events? What workshops look good to you?

I’m very much looking forward to seeing those of you I’ve been emailing and talking to on the phone over the past four years. I hope you’re all as excited as I am about Florida.

Can’t wait to see you there!
Laura

Hi all,

It’s great to be back on the Blaze authors’ blog!

In addition to my usual work, I’m currently reading a book on screenwriting called Save the Cat! by Blake Snyder. Every year the editors at Harlequin read and discuss books that help us develop our skills and broaden our understanding of story structure and creation. I love those “ah” moments when I’m reading one of these books and I suddenly realize why something in one of my current projects isn’t working. Don’t worry, I also have those moments when I understand why something IS working.

One of the first things Snyder says is that the hero has to be likeable. Of course this applies to both the hero and the heroine in a romance novel. And how do you make a hero likeable when he does some pretty nasty things (not that our Blaze heroes would do nasty things)? According to Snyder, we need to put in a “save the cat” scene where “the hero does something—like saving a cat—that defines who he is and makes us, the audience, like him.”

I couldn’t help applying this to a TV show that I enjoy despite myself—The Vampire Diaries. One of the most interesting characters is the hero’s brother, Damon. Stephen, the hero, and Damon are both very hot, Blaze-worthy hunks, but Stephen has given up drinking human blood and is a “good” vampire who only wants to protect people. Damon is his “evil” counterpart. Damon is a total bad boy, but somehow the writers have made us care about him as well as lust after him. And they’ve done this by throwing in some “save the cat” moments. For instance, in the last episode I saw, Damon fought a houseful of vampires to save his brother.

I think it’s the belief that this character may be redeemable that keeps us interested. But is that what we really want? If he is redeemed and becomes like his brother, Stephen, will we lose interest? What do you think?

I also wondered if you could give me a bit of insight. I’ve been asked to say a few words when I go with Brenda for a discussion and Q&A at the Toronto RWA chapter. If you were in the audience, what would you want me to talk about? What would you find most interesting and helpful?

Thanks in advance!
Laura

Hi, all!

Brenda suggested I tell you about what I do here at Harlequin, so here goes…

Officially, I’m the editorial assistant for Harlequin Blaze and Harlequin American Romance. Unofficially, they call me The Gatekeeper. Anything you send to Blaze or American Romance editors has to go through me.

I suspect I’m best known among Blaze authors as the person who nags them to fill out their art fact sheets. I also do a lot of administrative tasks: filing, photocopying, couriering, etc. And I deal with most of the slush that comes to the Blaze line. I get some promising submissions and some pretty crazy stuff, too—please do not send pictures of yourself, hand-drawn illustrations, or manuscripts written on lined paper and held together with twine. Seriously, just say no.

The part of my job that I enjoy the most is the actual editing. I now have three of my own authors, including fabulous new Blaze author Elle Kennedy, whose first book Body Check came out in March. I often take on projects, such as line edits, for other editors, as well. You, too, could be the lucky recipient of one of my very thorough line edits—don’t get too excited, now.

I love working on Blaze books. The authors are a lot of fun, and the stories are super sexy!

We have a fantastic lineup for you in July….

If you’re looking for a great beach read, we’ve got an anthology that’s all about the beach. In Endless Summer, author Julie Kenner makes her return to Blaze. She’s in good company with Karen Anders and Jill Monroe.

Samantha Hunter introduces us to the next generation of American heroes—The Texas Rangers—with Hard to Resist.

We’re also incredibly honored and excited to have New York Times bestselling author Betina Krahn join the team with her first Blaze book Make Me Yours, a hot historical romance.

Cara Summers brings us Twin Seduction, the follow-up to last month’s Twin Temptation.

Rhonda Nelson’s The Soldier is another Uniformly Hot! title, linked to last month’s Letters from Home. Army Ranger Adam McPherson shows us that even though he lost part of his leg to a roadside bomb, he’s still one-hundred percent man.

And Kate Hoffmann offers The Mighty Quinns: Teague, the second in her Quinns Down Under series.

So have fun at the beach and remember to take along these sizzling hot reads. And, make sure you add the comment that Blaze Heroes are Hunks to get your name in the draw for copies of our June Blaze books.

Thanks for having me and good luck!