Congratulations to Michele L and Patricia, you’ve both won a copy of Her Best Friend. Send me your snail mail addys, and I will get some books in the mail to you ASAP. Thanks everyone else for popping in to chat – and for reassuring me that I’m not the only freak of nature out there!!! Until next month….

Original post:
My friend forwarded me an article recently that really got my back up. Basically, the author of this article contended that women like to be wooed by men – taken out for a night of fine dining and a “sophisticated” theatre show, then home for some “casual flirting” on the doorstep before parting company. Men, on the other hand, would prefer a big burger, a war movie with lots of stuff blowing up, then a dash to the closest motel for “wild monkey sex”.

Now, maybe I’m a freak of nature, but I have always hated the stereotype that women are precious, unattainable vessels that must be wooed and feted and gifted and schmoozed into a) going out with men and then b) allowing them access to their bodies. You know what I mean, the whole box-of-chocolates and bunch-of-roses on arrival cliche – as though we need to be offered collateral up front before we would even consider going out and getting to know someone or (God forbid) having sex with them.

This is so far from my experience of the dating world that it always makes me feel like I live on a separate planet when I see these scenarios in movies and books and TV shows. Maybe dating is different down here in Australia (for starters, we don’t really call it “dating”. It’s usually “seeing someone” or “going out”), but when I was single and I went out with a guy it was on the basis that I wanted to get to know them as a person. Could something happen here? Could he be The One? Or, at least, could he have the potential to be The One? It wasn’t about him proving himself to me or investing dollars to impress me – we were two people exploring the possibilities.

And, you know, sometimes those possibilities included sex. Because women – just like men – have Needs. The very fact that the Blaze line exists is testament to the fact that women have Needs. Just like men, we enjoy sex. I know, it’s a revolutionary concept. Imagine having sex with someone simply because you found them attractive and likable and wanted to have sex rather than because you felt obliged or because he’d jumped through all the flaming hoops in the correct order (the flowers, the chocolates, the big meal, the fancy show…). Imagine!

While I’m ranting, I also object to the fact that the things us women supposedly prefer are so…uptight and not-fun. I mean, fine dining and sophisticated theatre over a burger and a shoot ‘em up movie? Who would you prefer to hang out with? Don’t get me wrong, I like a nice meal out as much as the next lady, but if someone held a gun to my head and made me choose between negotiating haute cuisine and pantyhose and snooty waiters and scary wine lists or a big, juicy burger on the beach with my favorite guy, I know what I’d be opting for. As for opera versus Con Air or any other action movie…again, pass the popcorn.

I had a good rant about all this with my man after reading the article, but then it occurred to me that maybe I really am a freak of nature. Maybe this is the way the rest of the world operates…? Maybe I’m the only burger-loving, action-movie-enjoying woman out there who would prefer to pay her own way rather than be showered with gifts and attention…? I’d really love to hear from readers on this one – what do you expect from a man? What’s your idea of a great first date (a real world one, not a fantasy one)? Do you want to be wooed and made to feel precious before you even think about offering up the keys to the kingdom? Am I hugely out of touch…?

I’m giving away two copies of my latest SuperRomance to posters this month. Her Best Friend is available now at eHarlequin, and will be on the shelves in April. It’s about Amy and Quinn, two people who grew up next door to each other and have known each other all their lives, and what happens when Quinn returns home with his divorce papers in hand. Post away and I’ll choose two winners over the next few days. Looking forward to your answers!

Okay, we have two winners for my February post. They are : Ellen Too and Jane, posts 7 and 13. Ladies, please contact me via the Contact page on my website (www.sarahmayberry.com) and I will grab your snail mail addresses and get the books to you ASAP.

Thanks for chatting, everyone, and see you next month!

Original Post:
I’m going to write about a subject close to my heart this month – personal space. The reason it’s close to my heart is because I’ve just moved countries (New Zealand to Australia) and am currently ensconced in my mother’s spare bedroom. Me and my man (my six foot plus man) are sharing a tiny double bed in this room, and our five suitcases worth of shoes, clothes and books are shoved into the wardrobe, under the bed, beside the bed, around the bed… You get the drift.

Compacting your life down to a small 3 metre by 2.5 metre room is not easy, believe me. And it’s made me realise how much I take for granted the joy of having my own home – my own kitchen, my own bathroom, my own boudoir, and most of all my own writing space.

Now, I have never considered myself a particularly demanding person when it comes to what I need to write – having worked for years as a journalist and a script writer I don’t need special music playing or to wait on my muse to come calling to get down to work. For years, it’s pretty much been about putting my bum on the seat and my fingers on the keyboard. In fact, I’ve kind of prided myself on my ability to just zone out and get down to it. But living in my mum’s house, staying in her spare room, I’ve been finding it…difficult to settle down to write. Apparently I need my own space to let my imagination off the leash – who knew?

Fortunately we’re about to move into a rental property while we continue our search to find a new home of our own. But’s all of this has got me thinking about what I want my new writing space and I can’t wait to make a little nest for myself.

I’d love to give away two copies of my latest Blaze Her Secret Fling this month, and I’d love to hear your own stories about your favourite space or place for reading, writing, thinking, or just daydreaming. Share with us, and I’ll draw two winners in the next few days.

Over to you!

Merry Christmas to everyone! Speak again in the New Year!

In my very first Blaze, Can’t Get Enough, I wrote about two characters who thought they hated each other, but who wound up falling in love. They worked in the same office and had tons of pre-conceived ideas about each other. And then they got trapped in an elevator for several hours on a hot and steamy day…

My latest Blaze, Her Secret Fling (Jan 2010, available now at eharlequin.com) revisits the idea of two people who think they can’t stand each other but who are forced to reconsider when circumstances force them together. Poppy is a new recruit to a big Melbourne newspaper, a former Olympic-medal winning swimmer who has been forced into retirement by a shoulder injury. She’s been brought in by the paper to write a “celebrity” column in the sports section, and she’s excited about the job since she wants to move on now that swimming is no longer an option for her – and because she gets to work with Jake Stevens, one of her all time favorite writers.

Jake wrote a book a few years ago that marked him as a novelist to watch in Australian literature – and since then he’s written nothing except his weekly pieces for the Melbourne Herald. There are reasons for this – there are always reasons, right? – and there are reasons for why he isn’t exactly thrilled to learn Poppy will be joining the sports writing team. Which is why he’s pretty mean to her on her first day at work, and why Poppy’s hero worship quickly sours into dislike and leads to her christening her new colleague “Jake the Snake”.

Then they both get stranded thanks to an airline strike and the only way they can get home is to drive – and Poppy happens to score the last rental car in the whole city. Guess who’s going to have to do some serious sucking up if he wants to get home any time soon?

I had a lot of fun writing the banter between Poppy and Jake. Poppy’s really open and honest but she’s not afraid to stick up for herself, while Jake has definitely got a smart ass, dark side. There’s also a scene up early that I giggled all the way through writing – I call it “man versus machine”. I’ll be interested to hear what readers think of it….

So, my question for you today is this: when have your first impressions ever been horribly wrong? I have a couple of examples to throw on the table – when I first met one of my best friends, I did not like her at all. For some reason, she drove me nuts. And then I got to know her and fell in friend-love with her. The other example is my man. When I first met him at a mutual friend’s party, I thought he was funny and smart but for some reason his good looks just didn’t register with me. I don’t know why. Perhaps I simply wasn’t on the prowl for a hot guy at the time (I know what you’re thinking – did I have a pulse? Possibly not!). It wasn’t until I caught up with him again that I kind of blinked and went “Holy Cow, Batman, you’re HOT!!!” So. Over to you. I’ll be giving away two – 2!!! – copies of Her Secret Fling to posters today. Looking forward to sharing your stories.

….Laurie G (comment 17) and Colleen (comment 6). Ladies, drop me an email on sarah@sarahmayberry.com and let me know which book you’d like to receive, either my November Superromance, Home For The Holidays, or one of my backlist – there are excerpts from all of them on my website (www.sarahmayberry.com).

Best wishes to everyone, and thanks for chattting! Great fun, as always. And I’ve got a few ideas percolating away in the back of my brain now…

Original Post:
One of the things I spend a lot of time thinking about when I start planning a new book is what my hero and heroine will do for a living. Sometimes, of course, their careers will be part of the seed of the story – like in Below The Belt, my June 08 Blaze, where both the hero and heroine were boxers. Other times it’s about finding a profession that feels right for the characters and story that is forming in the Freudian-soup of my mind.

One of the things that I have noticed about my heroines, in particular, is that I like giving them unusual jobs. Jamie in Below the Belt was a professional boxer, Zoe in She’s Got It Bad was a tattooist and artist, all of my Daytime Divas worked behind the scenes on a soap opera. In my current Superromance release, Home For The Holidays, the heroine, Hannah, is a mechanic – yet another not-so-common profession for women.

I’m not sure why I’m attracted to these unusual professions for my heroines. There’s definitely a tomboyish bent in there – the boxer, the mechanic. I can kind of trace that back to the fact that I was a huge fan of Trixie Belden and George from The Famous Five when I grew up – partly, I think, because my mother kept my curly hair cut short and both these girls were always depicted as having short haircuts on the covers of the books!

There’s also the fantasy element that’s always inherent in the careers chosen for the heroes and heroines in romance novels. We all like a walk a mile in someone else’s shoes for a while when we’re reading, so why not make them glamorous and exciting shoes rather than orthopedic sandals?

I really enjoy researching my heroes’ and heroine’s careers. I watched on-line videos on tattooing and read articles and talked to friends who had tattoos and spoke to a tattooist when I was writing She’s Got It Bad. I took some boxing classes before I wrote Below The Belt, as well as attending several kick boxing events. I also love getting into the headspace of the kind of person I think might be attracted to the kind of work I’m writing about. It often helps me find their attitude and idiosyncrasies.

So, what are your favorite professions to read about? Are there any that you feel are overdone to the point of cliche? Any you’d like to see more of? Or are there any careers that you absolutely never want to see depicted within the covers of a romance novel? Do you have different expectations for Blaze heroine’s careers than for heroines in other books?

I’m going to a offer up a giveaway to two posters this month – the winners get their choice of either my current November release Superromance Home For the Holidays, or a book from my backlist (excepting Can’t Get Enough, which I am sadly all out of!) So, hit me with your best heroine and hero career suggestions and ruminations!

And the winners of my November Superromance are:

Patsy L Roberts
Jane
Nicole S

Ladies, please email me on sarah@sarahmayberry.com and I will get the books to you ASAP.
Congratulations and thanks for sharing!

Original post:
I don’t want to bring anyone down, but I’m going to get stuck into a tough topic today. One of my good friends lost her mother to complications from type 2 diabetes last week. Her mum had had it for a long time but basically pretended that she didn’t have it, if that makes sense. She was overweight, didn’t get her eyes checked, didn’t exercise, hated going to the doctors, worked, worked, worked all the time. The end result was a slow but inevitable death.

In the four long years of her decline she suffered every imaginable complication of diabetes – she lost both her legs below the knee, was blind in both eyes, lost kidney function, had heart trouble, the list goes on. And on. My friend and her father nursed her 24/7, right up until the end. And the tragic, tragic thing is that if she had taken the time to put herself and her health at the top of her To Do list, three lives could have been very, very different.

Sitting at her funeral last week made me take a good hard look at myself and my own health. The reality is, I have a sedentary job – I’m a writer, I’m strapped to the computer most of the day. Like a lot of writers, I while away the time between typing vowels and consonants by wandering toward the fridge. And although I have a gym membership, I don’t get there as often as I should. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I know I could be taking better care of myself. This body I’m in will hopefully serve me well for many years to come – but it’s foolish to take it for granted or rely on modern medicine to come up with spare parts and cures for ills that I may create through my own negligence or indulgence.

The tough part about being healthy, I think, is making it a priority in your life. Making it important. So much other stuff gets in the way – the sheer day-to-day slog of life – that it’s easy to let exercise and healthy eating slide. So, my undertaking to myself and my loved ones this week is that from now on I will remember that good health is not a given, and that like all things of value, it needs a bit of time and attention in order to bloom.

I’d love to hear your own stories of inspiration or strategies for dealing with this issue. All ideas very welcome! And to celebrate the upcoming November release of my second Superromance (yes, not a Blaze, I know, but still a lovely Harlequin novel!!!) I’m going to give away 3 copies of Home For The Holidays to randomly selected posters. So, hit me with your advice, I’m ready and willing!

Life is hectic. Most people I know would agree with that statement. We’re all working harder and longer and there’s a lot of uncertainty around thanks to a bunch of bankers who got a little carried away with their bonuses. And, let’s face it, life can just be plain old hard sometimes. Some days are diamonds, some days can only be categorised with a four letter word. One of my favorite time-outs to deal with the accumulated stress of the day/week is to flop on the couch or the bed with a great, absorbing, thrilling book (romance, naturally!). But my second favorite chill out is a new discovery for me – meditation.

I have never been a joiner – my parents weren’t religious, and I’ve never been big into team sports or clubs – so the idea of going someplace and sitting in a room full of people and meditating for 40 minutes took me a while to get my head around. But my partner dragged me along to the Saturday morning class at our local Buddhist centre, insisting it would be good for a wound up writer on deadline, and I’m so glad he did!

I should point out at this stage that I know next to nothing about Buddhism itself, but I like the vibe at this Centre. It’s unpretentious and the room we meet in is very simple – just a wooden floor, windows, white walls and a big statue of the Buddha against one wall. Everyone arrives quietly, ready to accept a bit of peace into their lives for an hour or so, taking their shoes off out in the foyer. Then we all file into the room and find a spot to camp for the next hour. There are blankets to keep us warm, piles of cushions and mats for people to sit on if they choose, little fold out stools to help support people who choose to kneel, and chairs for those who do better sitting upright. (I go the chair option and place a cushion under my feet because I am short and otherwise my legs dangle off the edge of the seat like a muppet’s.)

We practice Mindfulness of the Breath Meditation and Loving Kindness Meditation on alternate weeks. The first is basically about observing the air going in and out of your lungs and counting the breaths. The second has five stages – first you send thoughts of loving kindness to yourself, then someone you love, then someone you have neutral feelings about, then someone you dislike, and finally out to the whole world. As you can imagine, there are challenging aspects to both of these meditations – your mind wanders, and sending loving kindness toward someone you dislike can be a real challenge.

Sometimes I leave the class feeling beautifully calm and at peace with the world. Sometimes I’m frustrated because my mind ran all over the place and was hard to corral (the Buddhists call this “monkey mind”, which I think is very apt!). Sometimes I have wonderful feelings of warmth and light wash over me. Whatever happens, I always get something out of it. I like the sense of community it gives me. I like the way it slows me down. It’s one of the few times in my week when I don’t have some kind of imperative niggling away in the back of my mind – write this, file that, contact this person, organise the other thing. It’s just…time out.

I know meditation isn’t for everyone – some people can’t bear the thought of sitting still for that long! – but if you’ve ever been even slightly curious, check to see if there’s a centre near you that offers meditation classes – I’m so glad I’ve found this little slice of peace in my life.

And my question to you this month is this: what do you do in your life to de-stress and take a deep breath and recharge your batteries? I’d love to hear your ideas – there’s always room for another strategy in my box of tricks!

My man and I were changing channels the other night and we came across the final few minutes of Flashdance. I instantly pleaded for a halt to the channel flicking. I mean, Flashdance, come on! As we watched Alex learn her mentor was dead and make the decision whether to audition for ballet school or not, I could feel myself getting all wound up in anticipation of the big dance finale. And, can I say, even after all these years it did not disappoint.

Great song, great choreography. It really is one of those iconic cinema moments – the bored, restless, snobby judges waiting to find her wanting, the light pouring in the windows, the mistake Alex makes at the beginning. Her courage in asking if she can start again. Then that great shift that comes as the music changes tempo and Alex starts to really rock out. Sigh. Big sigh. Impossible to not feel your heart lift!

For those of you unfamiliar with this cinematic gold, here’s the scene for your viewing pleasure:Flashdance finale

Confession time: when I was a teenager, I used to push all the furniture in the “good” living room to the sides to clear the decks, then I’d put on my black leotard and leg warmers and put my Flashdance soundtrack into the cassette player (yes, I’m that old). I would do my version of the Maniac song, then I’d do my interpretation of the finale.

Since I only had a couple of years of classical ballet training when I was about 5 or 6, I’m going to be kind and say my dancing was all “self-taught”. Lots of enthusiasm, very little technique. If the neighbors ever saw me, I am sure they must have thought I was either possessed by the devil and doing my damnedest to shake him off or suffering from some unfortunate medical condition. Fortunately, I never broke anything – furniture or bones. But man did I have a good time!

Anyway, that Flashdance scene got me thinking about all the feel-good moments I’ve enjoyed in movies and TV shows over the years. I’d love to hear what your feel-good moments are. Care to share? What’s your inspirational movie/TV moment? Do you have a favorite scene that always makes your heart lift? Or even a song that when you hear it you can’t help but shake it a little and maybe punch the air a time or two? (Second embarrassing confession, just to kick things off: I still get wound up over Eye of the Tiger from Rocky III.)

Come on, be brave – share the joy, even if it’s cheesy joy!

G’day. My first blog for Blaze. Woot! I’ve been thinking about what I want to write about first up, and I decided to talk about the pleasure I get from reading. I figure this is probably something we can all relate to! I have always been a big reader. When I was in primary school (the Australian version of elementary) I was very popular with the librarians for my prodigious appetite for books, and at home I could always be found tearing through a book or two. I read anything I could get my hands on in those days, but I particularly loved The Hobbit and Trixie Belden adventure books.

In high school, I discovered boys, Sweet Dreams romances and Sweet Valley High, as well as both of my grandmother’s Harlequin Mills and Boon collections. Bliss! But I was still into fantasy fiction and the whole crime thing, and I still dabble in both these genres to this day, although romance is definitely my main food group.

When I read, I am totally absorbed. It drives my man NUTS. He can ask me questions and I simply won’t hear him – I’m lost in another world, living and breathing as the characters in whatever book I’m reading live and breathe. And when I finish a book or have to tear myself away from the narrative to do things like, you know, work, or cook, or sleep, I feel like Neo in The Matrix when he has that big plug dragged out of the back of his head: confused, disoriented,and a little pissed off, to be honest. If I’m reading in bed and it’s late and I am unable to put a book down, I will read for as long as it takes my man to start tossing and turning (hint, hint, turn out the light!), then I will creep into the lounge and huddle under a throw rug until I have consumed every last word.

A good book can, quite simply, make me forget everything else. And a good romance…well, when I get that ache in my chest because I can feel the hero and heroine’s pain and I want them to get it together, I am as happy as a pig in mud. Happier, even.

I used to feel bad about my book habit, but ever since reading Stephen King’s On Writing, where he encourages writers to read to “refill the well” and keep their own ideas flowing, I have given myself a free pass. And it’s great, let me tell you. Now, every time I loll on the couch with a book from one of my favorite authors, I tell myself that I am refilling the word well so that I can keep pouring my own words and ideas onto the page.

I use books to celebrate, comfort, relax, stimulate, educate and entertain myself. What about you? What happens for you when you read? Are you an all-nighter? An e-reader? Is reading a luxury or a necessity? Do share!