What Color Crayon Are You?

You Are a Blue Crayon

Your world is colored in calm, understated, deep colors. You are a loyal person, and the truest friend anyone could hope to find. On the inside, you tend to be emotional and even a bit moody. However, you know that people depend on you. So you put on a strong front. Your color wheel opposite is orange. Orange people may be opinionated, but you feel they lack the depth to truly understand what they're saying.

What color crayon are you?

It's Too Hot to Blog

Is that a good excuse? It's hot and it's been storming, too, which means its muggy on top of hot. I hate August.

On top of that, my power window on the driver's side door of my car decided to die on the first rainy day in about a month. In the down position. What is up with that?

Egads!

I skipped blogging yesterday. I'm a failure!

Okay, not really. And I made it twenty days into August without screwing it up, so I guess that's not too bad. I'll try to post twice today to make up for it.

Jayne Ann Krentz is just a lovely, lovely person. Because I helped out with the movie trailer for her August book, she picked up a copy of Forbidden Temptation and read it. She liked it a lot and wrote to let me know. And she sweet enough to give me a nice quote to put on my website.

So go buy her book! It's under her Jayne Castle pen name---Silver Master. Looks to be great!

Tagged!

Mary at The Bandwagon tagged me, which is great, because now I don't have to think up a blog on my own for today.

Here's the rules:

1. You have to post these rules before you give the facts.

2. Players, you must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of their middle name. If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had.

3. When you are tagged you need to write your own blog post containing your own middle name game facts.

4. At the end of your blog post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

First, I have to say this is SO unfair, because I have a longish middle name and I'm not sure I know enough bloggers to tag for all the letters of my name. Anyway, here goes:

Animals
Naps
Nieces
Entertainment
Love
Laughter
Evenhanded

I tag: Tripp, Tracy, Emily, Jennifer, Stacy, Tawny and Jill.

Snake Bit

I'm feeling kind of snake bit with my edits. First, my editor leaves out 50 pages from her line edits, which forces me to wait for the copy edits to finish up. Then my copier at home is acting all wiggy, so I thought, I'll take paper to work and copy there. Minimal ink usage. My boss won't care. But the copier here is going bad and won't feed sheets without jamming, and I don't have the time to stand at the copier for however long it takes to feed the sheets one at a time.

So I thought, well, I can scan and print to my printer. Slower, but I can work it in between work I'm doing. But the scanner will scan maybe a page or two at a time before it stops and I have to shut it down and let it rest until it's stopped freaking out. Still doable, though, right?

Wrong. My printer, which we just had fixed because of paper feeding issues, stopped feeding paper. So I think, okay, well it'll be slower, but I can scan two or three at a time and print to the color printer. Except that the scanner apparently sees the color printer interface and swoons, because it lies down and dies every time I try.

So I think I'll give my home copier a try again. Cross your fingers for me.

UPDATE:

Got the home copier to work, and the edits are packaged up for UPS to go out tomorrow, two-day. It should get to my editor on schedule. Yay!

Whew! And Hee!

The "whew!" is because I think my edits are done! Just have to print out the pages that required extensive revising and make copies of all of it, and then it's off to my editor by Fed Ex.

The "hee!" is for the fun little flash movie I made this weekend, in between edits, for Jayne Castle's next book in the Ghost Hunters series, SILVER MASTER. Take a peek.

Tick Tock

Copyedits just got here. I have to have them back to my editor by next Thursday. See ya!

Redemption Story

I'm a sucker for a redemption story. I like to read them and I like to write them. I like to hear about them in real life.

And it doesn't always have to be about life or death. Sometimes, as in this Charles Krauthammer column, it's just about finding a way to get back to something you love, even if it's not exactly what you hoped for or expected.

What Do You Blog About When You Don't Know What to Blog?

You blog about not knowing what to blog, I guess.

I know it's counterintuitive, but I'm not a journal-keeper. I know a lot of writers are. And I tried. I really did, especially as a young teenager in love for the first time. Only problem is, I'd forget to, y'know, actually write in my diary. So I'd remember the diary every two weeks or so, and I'd industriously try to piece together all the enormously important things Phillip and I had done together (which, believe me, wasn't anything to write about even at 15) and put them down on paper. But because I was a tad anal retentive, even then, I couldn't bear the concept of a day without an entry. So in between the one or two significant events that might happen in a week, there were five or six days when all I wrote was the date and "Nothing Happened." In fact, I got to where I just abbreviated it. There'd be page after page of "NH" in my poor diary. Then, Phillip graduated, we never really got together, and the diary got dumped in a box somewhere and finally disappeared altogether.

I tried journaling later, in my late twenties. That didn't even get as far as the poor diary.

So, I guess this blog is sort of all the journal I have in me. Of course, I'm not going to write the kind of stuff on a public venue that I might have written in a private journal. But who am I kidding? I never wrote it in a private journal, either.

What I Look for in a Hero

A touch of tenderness.

A touch of heroism.

A touch of danger.

What do you look for in a hero?

Crazy Day at Work

And I'm pooped, so I'm out of snappy, interesting ideas for the blog tonight. But since I promised myself I'd blog something every day, how about a link or two?

As always, check out my peeps at Romance Magicians.

The Writing Playground has a cool interview with Carly Phillips.

Mary at The Bandwagon is lamenting the fast-approaching end of her summer vacation, and she also finished a manuscript, so congratulate her.

And now, I'm going to bed!

Dreamscapes

The last two nights, I had two different odd, vivid dreams.

In the first dream, I was at a high school. I have no idea why I was there--in the dream, I wasn't a student or teacher. And I don't really know anyone in high school I could be visiting. Anyway, while I was there, two teenage boys pulled out guns and started threatening people. They never shot anyone, but they were forcefully confiscating cell phones. I realized that someone had to find a way to call for help, so I managed to slip out of the big communal room where everyone was--I think it was some sort of school wide assembly, and everyone was there in one room.

Anyway, I managed to slip out, but I was unfamiliar with the school, and it was like a maze. And I realized one of the boys had spotted me and was following. I started zigzagging, trying to lose him, trying to find my way out, but no matter where I went, he always stayed a few steps behind.

I made it out to the parking lot but couldn't find my car, where my cell phone was. He finally caught up with me. Then I woke.

I don't even want to know what psychological issue brought out that dream.

My second dream came last night. I found a black and white female cat with three kittens---a black and white kitten, a silver tabby and a calico. She was very skinny, which was making the kittens skinny, and we couldn't figure out why she wouldn't eat what we were trying to feed her. My mother and I decided to try to feed her wet food through a syringe. But when we opened her mouth, we found another syringe already inside, wedged in her teeth. It was why she wasn't eating. We just reached in and pulled it out. Then I woke up.

Sometimes I wish I did dream analysis. And sometimes, I think it's probably better that I don't explore my psyche too closely.

Don't Forget the Intrigue Blog

Intrigue Authors have set up our blog on the Intrigue Authors page, so be sure to check it out for all thats going on with Intrigue and your favorite authors.

What Did We Do Without the Internet?

Watching TV earlier tonight, I saw a trailer for the new Mr. Bean movie, which reminded me of my favorite Mr. Bean skit. I was trying to tell my mother about it, and I could see she wasn't quite getting what I was talking about.

And then I realized it was probably on YouTube. So I did a search, and voila!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnXsJAsCpkg

I love the Internet.

Editorial Funk

Got my edits on Forbidden Touch. Much cutting commenced on the part of my editor, and now I have to figure out how to patch the leftover pieces together without losing important stuff.

Plus, my editor inadvertantly left 50 pages out of the edits, which I won't get until the copy edits come in. And will have to be turned around in less than a week, no doubt.

Oh, joy.

Old Fogy

I joined the Internet revolution in 1995. That's quite a few years of being online, being involved in online communities, learning the ropes. I have a website I designed myself. All by myself. Well, okay, I used FrontPage, but I actually taught myself how to use simple HTML before I discovered Front Page. I have my own blog, obviously. I know how to upload and download from FTP sites. I'm probably a little more computer savvy than the average person my age.

So why can't I figure out how to use My Space?

Today's Heat Report

Brought to you by Ban Solid.

Currently 98 degrees F outside, with a projected high of 104 and a heat index of 110. Still slaving away on the third floor of the old house converted to a business. I do have the A/C, ceiling fan and box fan going full blast, and today I thought to bring a washcloth for the occasional impromptu spongebath of all exposed body parts (and perhaps a few hidden beneath clothing as well).

It's starting to feel stuffy warm in here. Time to re-wet the washcloth.

Kuzdu in Your Tank

This is an interesting theory: Kudzu as biofuel.

Kudzu, for those of you who aren't familiar with the pesky plant, is an invasive Japanese vine that has taken over large swaths of the south. It literally swallows things whole, including trees, telephone poles, etc. in areas where it's allowed to grow unthwarted.

If it really was viable as a biofuel, and we could control it and expand our options for fuel consumption at the same time, it could be an interesting project.

And who knows--get rid of some of the kudzu smothering the landscape these days and you just might find Jimmy Hoffa under there somewhere.

And here's a interesting example of why it's such a pesky plant: http://www.nap.edu/staff/mjensen/aaup2006/kudzu-car.jpg

Reporting in from Sauna Central

Yes, the temperatures for Thursday and Friday are 104 degrees.

Arggggh!

Update: 12:52 pm

It's still hot outside. Only now, it's also hot inside. The A/C is running full tilt, the ceiling fan overhead is on high, and I'm daintily dabbing myself with a damp paper towel. But I'm wilting fast. Come on 5 o'clock!

Update 2: 3:15 pm

It's now 101 degrees outside. My boss, God bless her (and I mean that literally), went downstairs and found some box fans in the basement of the office. It's the only reason I'm still conscious.

Hot Enough Fer Ya?

100 degrees outside. I'm toiling away in the top floor of a 1940s era three-story house. Central air, ceiling fan on high, and it's still flippin' hot in my office. In conditions like these, I'm supposed to give a dang about signs, banners and program ads?

I don't think so.

Tuesday This and That

Wrote three pages on my cowboy book yesterday. Whoo! Hey, it's a start.

Mary tackles the age-old plotters vs. pantsers question over on Romance Magicians.

Great advice from Stef Feagan.

More later, I hope!

Consider This a Public Service

If you own a Sony RDR-GX330 DVD recorder, and plan to attach it to your cable box and your TV for recording and viewing pleasure, please do not follow the directions in the manual. Also, do not follow the directions shown on the Sony support site, either. Because neither actually, y'know, works.

Here's what you need:

2 coaxial cables
1 audio/visual cable (the one with the yellow, red and white prongs)

Hook the coaxial cable from the wall into the cable box. Then, take one of your two loose coaxial cables and run it from the "out" area of the cable box to the "in" area of the DVD recorder. Take the second coaxial cable and run it from the "out" part of the DVD recorder to the only coaxial cable port on the TV.

Second, take your audio visual cable and hook it from the "out" area of the DVD recorder (do not hook it to the "in" area, even though the way that it's set up would make that seem the more likely place to put the cords). Hook the other ends in the "in" part of the Television's audio/visual ports. Match the colors, of course.

Your DVD recorder should now work.

You'll thank me for this if you ever buy one.

Oughta Be in Pictures

I'm not sure why more romance novels don't get made into films, especially for women-focused networks like Lifetime and WE. There have been a few movies I've seen and enjoyed that were based on romance novels, such as Another Woman (based on a Margot Dalton Superromance) and Straight From the Heart (based on a Harper Monogram romance by Pamela Wallace). And others I've seen that played out exactly like a category romance might--The Hired Heart, for instance, could easily have been a Harlequin American or maybe even a Superromance.

What I'm wondering is why television and movies haven't realized that Intrigues are tailor-made for the movies? A nice mix of action/mystery and romance, bigger than life heroes, heroines and situations, lots of suspense, romantic tension and great pacing--sounds like just what the viewing audience is asking for more of to me.

In Honor of Langley, Byers and Frohike...

This little gem from DefCon 2007.

Frohike totally would have hit on her as he was chasing her out.

What You May Not Know About Me...

Or "I was desperate for a blog topic."

With the help of YouTube, here's a little about me you may not know.

I like fishing. My favorite fish to catch are bream (bluegill and other sunfish) and crappie.

My favorite sport is baseball. My favorite team is the Atlanta Braves.

I love Alabama football, and this was one of the most exciting moments in memory for me. As was this.

I attended Samford University. I wasn't, alas, in the way cool A Capella Choir. Nor did I run for student office.

I was in the marching band in high school. I played flute and baritone. I was not, however, in the band in the video. Our band had about 39 members, including the dance team and the color guard.

I know, I know, more than you wanted to know.

How Bad Can You Go?

Mary at The Bandwagon has a post about bad boys. This is actually a topic I've been thinking about a bit, thanks to my current interest in Days of Our Lives, which features two current bad guys with layers. And when I say bad, I'm not just talking about some guy on a motorcycle who gets the occasional slap on the wrist from The Man. One of the bad boys in question has raped a woman, shot a man, tormented another man and generally screwed with the minds of the entire town. The other bad boy is running a smuggling ring that may or may not include white slavery and is currently verbally and physically abusive to his young, naive girlfriend, whom he's working diligently to alienate from her family. Both of them are intriguing creatures, one more than the other, and there's much message board debate about whether one or the both of them are redeemable.

Soaps notoriously reform their bad guys (rapists Todd from One Life to Live and Jack from Days of Our Lives, former drug runner and paid thug Steve from Days of Our Lives) and they often manage to make it work because they have months and years to build and establish the path to redemption.

But what about novels? Mary asks the question, on her blog, about what books people have read in which a real bad guy was believably redeemed. My question is even harder, I think. Within the confines of a category-length book, have you ever read a true bad guy who gets redeemed by the end of the book?

I have my doubts. First, category books are short, and it's hard to build a believable redemption story within 260 manuscript pages. Also, category readers are pretty picky. They like their heroes heroic from the get go, from what I hear.

There's a story idea I'm playing featuring a hero who was once a con man. He's semi-reformed already before the story starts, but he's not a true hero at the beginning because he still tends to avoid putting himself in a position to have to help other people until someone calls in an old debt he has yet to pay. I'm a little worried about how to try to sell my editor on it. I mean, I know that my hero will find within himself what it takes to finish his road to redemption, but I'm not sure it's going to be immediately evident to my editor or the reader. There'll be signs, but they'll be weak signs, at first, until he finds his inner hero when he's put in the position to protect the heroine and himself from unexpected danger.

What do you think? Will the picky readers who read category books have the patience to let me tell my bad boy's story and help him find his inner hero?

Linda Howard Award of Excellence Contest

The 2008 Linda Howard Award of Excellence

PERMISSION TO FORWARD GRANTED AND APPRECIATED

Seven reasons to enter the Linda Howard Award of Excellence Contest for unpublished writers.

7. One of the few contests that only charge $25 for a 25 page printed entry. That’s 50 cents a page for at least two critiques.

6. A discretionary judge is used if the two experienced PRO or published judges’ scores are so far apart you can run a 1956 Chevy between them.

5. You don’t have to send in a synopsis, unless you’re a finalist. Well worth writing that *&#% synopsis then.

4. NEW for 2008 - You can send your entry via snail mail or electronically to the contest coordinators.

3. NEW for 2008 - The finalists will receive their critiques/scores back to revise and return to coordinators before sending to final round editors.

2. Your precious partials will be sent to GREAT editors for final rankings. Hopefully they will request your fulls. Last year, we had SIX fulls requested.

1. My goodness! It’s Linda Howard, folks! She’s awesome and the contest named in her honor is awesome! How wonderful would it be to have an engraved bookmark that reads"2008 Winner of the Linda Howard of Excellence" to show all your friends?

Southern Magic, the Birmingham Chapter of Romance Writers of America®, is pleased to announce its 3rd Annual Linda Howard Award of Excellence contest for unpublished writers.

Enter: Up to first twenty-five pages
Fee: $20-$25 (a $2 fee will apply to electronic entries paid by PayPal)
Deadline: Postmarked on or before October 27, 2007

Eligibility: RWA Published (see rules) & Unpublished Authors

Judges: Published, PRO, all trained or experienced in judging

Top Prize: Engraved Bookmark and winners will be announced in the RWR.

Categories/final judges:
Series Short/Long Contemporary: Susan Litman, Editor, Silhouette
Single Title: Selina McLemore, Editor, Grand Central Publishers (formerly Warner)
Suspense: Lauren McKenna, Senior Editor, Pocket
Historical: Alicia Condon, VP, Editorial Director, Dorchester
Unique Genres: Selena James, Executive Editor, Kensington

For entry form, score sheet, and rules, visit our website at http://www.southernmagic.org/, or send email to carlaswafford@charter.net

Harlequin Profits Up

Always glad to read stuff like this.

A lot of friends—and my mother and brother—ask me why I'm not pushing harder to write for single title. My answer is, when I get a single title idea, I'll write it. But meanwhile, I can make more money writing for category. Especially for Intrigue, which is a strong-selling line for Harlequin.

Eventually, I might make more per book for a single title, but at this point in my career? Category is more bang for the buck.

Does that sound cynical and mercenery? Oh well...

The Blog Days of Summer Begin!

Well, it's August first, and I promised myself I'd try to blog every day this month, just to see if I could do it. I can't promise scintillating ponderings on the meaning of life or anything, but maybe I can rustle up some cool links or something.

So we'll start with this. That's my book as it's being marketed in Australia by Mills & Boon. It's a two-in-one thing, coupled with my friend Deb Webb's book Colby vs. Colby, which I'm glad about, because Deb's a good seller.

And finally, congratulations to my friend and Southern Magic chaptermate Christy Reece for selling her first three books in a three-book deal to Ballantine!

Taramul Interzis

My first book, FORBIDDEN TERRITORY, is now out in Romania. In Romanian.

And I love the cover!

Trish Sold!

Go congratulate her!

Like Wading Through Cold Molasses

That's what writing feels like right now. It's so much better when I'm in the zone. I've got to proposals to work up, and I really want them both ready before the end of August. Earlier if possible.

But I do not want to send out three chapters and a synopsis while I'm feeling doubts about whether I can finish them on deadline. Argggh. I'm having such a crisis of faith.

But I'll slog through. I always do.

Meanwhile, to make myself feel better, how about a pretty picture? I'm a sucker for guys who are unconventionally attractive. One of my current favorites is Blake Berris, who's young enough to be my son, but we just won't think about that.

Casting Call

It's that time again. Time to cast the hero of my new project. The working title is TARGET: JANE DOE and the hero is a Wyoming sheriff looking for a woman he believes was involved in his brother's murder. But when he finds her, she claims to have no memory of her life before she showed up in the little town of Trinity, Idaho, half-frozen and disoriented. When someone tries to kill them both, the hero, Mitch, is forced to face the fact that his prime suspect may actually be the innocent target of a ruthless killer.

I'm not yet set on Mitch's looks, although I do tend to prefer dark-haired men to blonds. He's in his mid-thirties, lean and a bit taciturn. Very smart, very capable, a real stand-up cowboy of a guy--but bitter when it come to women, thanks to a broken marriage.

So, any suggestions?

The Blog Days of Summer

Yes, I know this is my fourth post in two days. Am I running a fever? Some of you are probably thinking about calling Mulder and Scully to check and see if I've been abducted by aliens and replaced by a pod!Paula.

But I really am trying to be a more conscientious blogger, just to get myself into better work habits. And yes, I do consider the blog to be work-related, since it's about my writing and my books. And okay, also about my weird dreams, my pets and my TV viewing habits, but mostly about my books.

So as a test, I'm going to try to post at least once a day every day in August. I'm calling it the Blog Days of Summer, and I hope you'll try to stop by once in a while to see what I'm talking about and maybe join in the conversation. I can't promise it'll always be about books and writing (in fact, I can promise you it won't), but I'm going to try to keep it entertaining.

Jane and the Slushpile

An experiment in England yields predictable results.

This Guardian story makes a big deal out of editors sending out form rejection letters to a writer who queried with lightly revised versions of some of Jane Austen's novels. But this article fails to understand how rejection letters work. They assume, without much evidence to back up the assumption, that the failure of editors to address the fairly obvious plagiarism proves that the editors not only didn't recognize Jane Austen's writing but found it unpublishable.

I'm sure there may have been one or two who didn't recognize the stories, but I wouldn't be surprised if most did and dealt with the plagiarism the way most busy editors deal with any project they know they can't pursue, for whatever reason--they sent out a form rejection letter. And I'm not sure that Jane's stories could get sold as written now because the language conventions of the early 1800s are not the language conventions of the present. At the very least, she would be heavily edited.

So, in the end, the results of the experiment prove very little of what it sought to prove about modern publishing.

Self-Promotion and the Introvert

I don't think I'm very good at self-promotion, which is bad. Because writing for Harlequin as I do, I'm pretty much stuck with promoting myself, because there's not a whole lot that Harlequin does to promote its lesser authors. We're thrown out among the sharks to sink or swim. (In Harlequin's defense, I think that's true of most new authors at most publishing houses).

I read a quote from someone who went to the RWA conference and sat in on an Agent panel. The gist of the quote was that authors should spend 3 to 10 hours a week self-promoting online. My question is--if I spend that much time self-promoting, when am I going to write? I work full time, for pete's sake, outside of my writing career. Yikes.

My self-promotion consists of this blog and my website, putting my books in the sig line of my email, occasional (far too occasional) posts on eHarlequin (also with my books in my sig line) and just basic word of mouth. The last two books, I bought bookmarks, but the problem with that is, by the time I get the cover art, I have only a month or so to get the bookmarks done and start distributing them before the book is out. And with category books, it's only in the store about a month, if that, before it's removed from the shelves to make room for more books.

I'm not at all comfortable with public speaking. I never have been, and I don't anticipate becoming so after all these years, so I don't think I can go the "give a presentation at a writer's conference" or "try to get on a local TV morning show" route. Just can't go there.

So what do I do? Keeping in mind that I'm a total INTJ (Myers-Briggs) introvert who has a terrible time asking for anything for myself or bragging on myself, what positive steps can I take to get my name and my book titles out there where people know about me? Steps that won't cost me an arm and a leg, mind you, because I'm nowhere near wealthy from my book profits at this point. ;) Anybody have any cool ideas?

Amazon.com and Reviews

First, even though the book is no longer at most book stores, you can still purchase Forbidden Temptation through online sellers like Amazon.com.

And speaking of Amazon.com, if you've read Forbidden Temptation or Forbidden Territory and liked them, please take time to write up something in the reviews section! I'd love to hear what you thought of the books.

Rain, Rain, Don't Go Away

We've been in a nasty drought for a couple of months, but last week we finally got some decent rain, and this week looks like it's going to be rainy as well, and I couldn't be happier.

I'm a big fan of rain anyway, even without a drought. Give me gray skies and drizzle and I'm a pretty happy camper. I'm not sure why I'm that way; I just know that I have been since childhood. Maybe it's the inherent unpredictability of stormy weather that meets an inner yearning for excitement. Or maybe my love of mystery and intrigue just demands a hint of gloom and mist. I don't know.

I just know my mood brightens when I look out the window and see that it's raining.

Happy Independence Day

No barbecuing for me today. Tonight is spaghetti night of all things. I guess we're celebrating the immigrant influence on the American melting pot or something. But I'm happy to be living in the United States, taking part in this radical experiment in Democracy 231 years after its inception.

So have a Happy Fourth of July!

UPDATE:

Well, the spaghetti-maker came down with a migraine, and nobody else wanted to cook. So dinner was potato salad, chicken salad, pimiento cheese and a croissant. I guess that means we celebrated the Mrs. Stratton's Salads influence on the American melting pot, huh?

Be safe and enjoy the fireworks tonight!

Because Basically, I Got Nothin'...

I know I said I'd blog more, and I'm going to try, but it would help if I had a cool and interesting life to tell you about. And I don't. Plus, my book revisions have wrestled me to the floor and currently have me in a headlock.

So, just 'cause I promised to blog more, here's a short film that I saw on Youtube earlier today and thought was really well done. If absurd and demented.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFRhs3-pP8w

Friday Chit Chat

Happy Friday. I haven't posted in about a week, so it's time to catch up. Plus, I'm on vacation until after the 4th, so I have a little time to blather on. I don't have a particular topic, just a few things I've been meaning to mention, and now is as good a time as any.

First, the gratuitous, self-serving plug. FORBIDDEN TEMPTATION is still on the book shelves, but I don't know for how much longer. You may or may not know that category (i.e. Harlequin/Silhouette) books don't usually stay in book stores, grocery stores or your local Wal-Mart or Target for more than two or three weeks before they're cycled out and the new books are cycled in. So if you're thinking about buying someone's category romance (like FORBIDDEN TEMPTATION--buy early, buy often), you really do need to get to the bookstore quickly, because they don't stock a whole lot per store, and they don't stay in the stores that long. Fortunately, places like Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble.com and the on-line versions of Wal-Mart and Target do have the books in stock online much longer. So it's not too late, even if your local store has sold out of FORBIDDEN TEMPTATION.

/Gratuitous, self-serving plug

Yesterday was my birthday. We're not big birthday people in my family. You're lucky if someone remembers it and says Happy Birthday. (I'm looking at YOU, brother dearest). But we do generally do the birthday cake thing around here, and I got to choose what I wanted. Now, if it were my sister's choice, or her kids, I'd have gotten a big rectangular flat cake with lots of frosting balloons, flowers and writing. But I'm just not into all that stuff, so I requested a simple Red Velvet cake. Yum. They bought it at the local Food World and it was delicious.

Hopping topics like a mad woman, last week, my editor asked me to do a cowboy hero for an "all heroes" promotion Intrigue plans to do next year. My first instinct was sheer panic. I'm that person you run into on writers' message boards who bemoans the glut of "Cowboy, Baby and Bride" books out there in category as it is. Plus, I was born in the city, I grew up in the city, and though I live outside the city at the moment, I'm in a suburban town, not the country, and my exposure to cows and horses is pretty much limited to occasional visits to my extended family in rural Alabama. I've never met a real cowboy, though I once attended a local rodeo. Yeah, I'm really the person to write a cowboy book.

But I actually do like cowboys. I used to watch Bonanza. I liked Tom Selleck in Louis L'Amour movies he did a while back. I read Zane Grey books as a child. I'm prepared, right?

Of course, I hedged my bets a bit when I started plotting . The bulk of the story is set in cities and towns along the road from Philadelphia to the Wyoming Rockies, not on a working cattle ranch. And my hero, while raised on a Wyoming ranch, left it to seek his way in the world. But I do think I understand the appeal of wide opens spaces and the sort of gritty, pioneer spirit that makes a cowboy who and what he is. The ideas of honor and responsibility and the siren call of the land appeal to me as well. So in spirit, I think I can write a cowboy and make him the kind of guy readers will love. With lots and lots of research.

I hope you'll also love the heroine who transforms his life and gives him a greater sense of what the word "home" really means.

I guess I'll let that be it from me for now. Since I'm on vacation, I'll try to blog a little more regularly this week.

Sweet TonyOnAHorse, That was a Show!

Yesterday's Days of Our Lives episode was the best the show has been in about two decades. The dueling Brady and Dimera families each had family dinners to discuss the feud situation between the families. Old friends showed up (Anna! Back in Salem!) and internecine rivalries erupted into near violence and one of the most hysterically funny faux displays of brotherly reconciliation I've ever seen.

Good soap, people. Good Soap.

Chat Reminder

I'll be chatting tomorrow night, Sunday the 17th, on Writerspace. 8 pm central time (9 eastern, 6 Pacific). I hope you'll join me so I'm not sitting there twiddling my thumbs all alone with the moderator!

Launch Party!

FORBIDDEN TEMPTATION should be out in book stores tomorrow, so its Launch Party time again! Tomorrow night from 7 pm to 9 pm Central Time (That's 8 - 10 Eastern, 6 - 8 Mountain and 5 to 7 Pacific), I'll be giving away books and Amazon.com gift certificates and answering your questions about my upcoming book. Anything you want to know, from how I got the idea to what the story went through before it sold, what's coming on the horizon, etc., ask it in the comments section of this blog post and I'll be here Tuesday night to answer them all. And try to make it on Tuesday night to be part of the prize giveaways!

Kira gets The Call!

My Southern Magic and Heart of Dixie chaptermate Kira Bazzel got THE CALL. Her book Curing Dr. Desire has sold to Brenda Chin at Harlequin Blaze!

Go visit The Writing Playground; I'm sure they'll be updating with all the scoop soon!

Five Stars!

CataRomance gave FORBIDDEN TEMPTATION a 5 star rating! Check out the review.

Remembering a Friend

Her name was Marcey Jo Swearingen, and she was thirty-seven years old. She was friendly, supportive, wickedly funny and genuinely welcoming. She was from Enterprise, Alabama, and was attending college. She loved Steve and Kayla on Days of Our Lives, and wanted to meet Stephen Nichols one day.

She died on Saturday, May 12th, of complications from the 'flu.

I never met her in person. I have no idea what she looked like. I only know what I know of her from her posts on a message board I frequent and from the occasional chats we participated in together. But when I heard she was gone, the shock, dismay and--yes--heartache I experienced were real.

It's amazing how you can find community and family anywhere you go. As a Christian, I've often felt that sense of community and family among strangers in strange places when I learned we shared that common religious experience. I've found it when I've been out west or up north and ran into a fellow southerner. Part of what made me notice Marcey from among the hundreds of fellow posters, besides her wit and her sweetness, was that she was an Alabama girl like me.

I'll miss Marcey's funny posts and her wry asides. I'll miss her passion and her sweetness. But I'm also grateful that in the sorrow of her passing, I've found a moment to reflect on the very human need for connections and community. It's a good reminder for people, like us writers, who often toil in solitude, that we are not really all alone in the world.

Laura Shin blogging at Pink Ladies

Harlequin Superromance editor Laura Shin is blogging at the Pink Ladies blog. It's always a treat when someone who has the power to buy your book takes the time to give you some advice, and this is particularly good advice if you're in the middle of revising a book. Go read.

Look What's Up at eHarlequin

http://www.eharlequin.com/storeitem.html?iid=14811

I just turned in a proposal for a fourth book yesterday--Code Name: WILLOW. It's not connected to the Forbidden series. And it's not really connected to the series idea I'm working on now. But it's an already completed manuscript, which is a plus.

It's won a couple of contests and placed second in the 2005 Daphne du Maurier contest, so I'm hoping my editor likes it.

Top Pick!

FORBIDDEN TEMPTATION got 4.5 stars and a Top Pick from Romantic Times Book Reviews!

Aaaaaahhhhh!

BTW, the website shows only 4 stars, but as you can see in the review itself, the actual score is 4.5:

Psychic Rose Browning finds herself swept up in an investigation into a serial killer with a predilection for young blondes. Scorned by the police when she tries to explain the "death veils" she sees covering the faces of future victims, Rose hooks up with former FBI profiler Daniel Hartman to catch the maniac before he kills again. Daniel, however, has a personal interest in the case: He believes the killer may be the same man who murdered his fiancee nine years earlier. Paula Graves offers up a top-notch psychological roller coaster in Forbidden Temptation (4.5).

I'm so excited!

UPDATED:

The RT website has now corrected the error and given me my cute little 1/2.

BTW, I'm not ignoring your comments; for some reason, my computer doesn't want to let me post to the comments section. I'm working on that.

This, that and the other...

Quick blog entry today, just so y'all won't think I've fallen off the face of the earth.

May 1st, my new book, FORBIDDEN TEMPTATION, will be available for purchase from eHarlequin.com. It'll be available in stores around June 12th--remember, series books like Intrigues don't stay on the shelves long, so buy it while it's still available. On June 12th, be sure to check here at the blog for my book launch blog party!

On Saturday, May 5, 2007, Heart of Dixie Romance Writers will be holding their annual Reader's Luncheon. There's still time to register if you hurry.

I've picked my story for my next book project, working title EXTREME PREJUDICE. The hero is an American raised in England (thus he speaks with a British accent). A former Regional Security Officer with the State Department, he's now working for a private global security firm which has sent him to work undercover as security for hire for a former State Dept. bigwig who may have terrorist ties. When he arrives at a formal dinner/ball to make contact with his target, he's shocked to find the suspect dancing with the one woman from his past he's never really gotten over. Can he set aside his feelings to accomplish his mission? Or will honor and duty fall victim to the affairs of the heart?

Well, that's it for now. I'll try to post a little more frequently now that my book deadline and tax season have passed.

So, What to Do With the Freedom?

Book Three is done. DONE. Gone to the editor and already received. Whew.

Now what?

I have a completed manuscript that I'll probably pitch next to my editor, and then it's time to buckle down and work on a proposal for another three-book series. (Actually, I'm hoping it'll turn into a multi-book series, but let's start with the first three and see how it goes).

Let me just preface what I'm about to say by saying one thing---I think my new series idea is going to be based around a security agency filled by former government agent types--CIA, DEA, FBI, Secret Service, Diplomatic Security Service, former military, etc. They have all left their government work to work for this security agency, whose mission is to do the jobs that the government can't--or won't--do.

So, with that in mind, because I'm completely open for ideas within the parameters of that set-up, what are some of the "hooks" you like most? Secret baby? Marriage of convenience? Bad boy/good girl? Bodyguard hero? Lay 'em on me.

Ladies and Gentlemen, We Have Cover

Ain't he purty?

Once again, I'm pretty sure my hero was never in the rain wearing a t-shirt. But I'm so gonna write in a wet t-shirt scene in book three.

Just a reminder or two

FORBIDDEN TEMPTATION is available for pre-order at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble online and Books a Million online.

FORBIDDEN TERRITORY is also still available from Amazon and B & N. I think BAM is sold out.

I'm hoping to get a .jpg of my cover sometime in the next week or two. As soon as I do, I'll show it to you. :)

Meanwhile, I'm in the last stretch on FORBIDDEN TOUCH. It's coming in long (when have I ever come in short???), but I think I can trim it to a manageable size by the deadline.

Romance Magicians blog

Test your visual perception skills.

You'll thank me later.

Casting Call

So, as y'all probably remember from a previous blog post, I have already "cast" Josh Holloway as the Maddox Heller, the hero of FORBIDDEN TOUCH.

And really, is there any other person to play the role of ruthless CIA agent Alexander Quinn than my beloved Kiefer?

But I'm not sure who to cast as Iris Browning.

Here's what I know about her: She's 29-30 years old, shoulder-length dark brown hair, coffee-colored eyes, a little too slender (it's a plot point, though she's not anorexic or anything like that), and pretty without being a beauty queen type. I considered someone like Summer Glau:

But she's doesn't have quite the look I'm envisioning. But she's the general type.

Anyone have any suggestions? Art Fact Sheet time is fast approaching.

Sold Again!

Got great news from my editor this afternoon. Book three, tentatively titled FORBIDDEN TOUCH, has sold to Harlequin Intrigue. It's probably going to come out in early 2008. This is the book that has been sitting unfinished on my counter to the right for a while. But I'm close to finishing it, and I have until March 31st to deliver the complete manuscript to my editor. I think that's very doable.

It's the one with my bad boy hero I love so much--I'm glad everybody's going to get the chance to meet Maddox, too!

So, I've Been Remiss...

...in reminding everyone that JACK IS BACK!



We just finished up hour five of 24, and boy, is America in the middle of a big mess! A suitcase nuke has gone off in Valencia, CA, and there are four more undetonated nukes somewhere in America, under the control of a terrorist mastermind named Fayed. But the only guy Fayed knew who could make the detonator work got blown up by the nuke, so now he's calling every Terrorists R Us in the world, looking for a new detonator guy. It might be a little easier to find one if he didn't have to admit that the last one got incinerated in a mushroom cloud, though.

To catch up on all the 24 action, I recommend Blogs for Bauer or Dave Barry's blog, where he liveblogs 24 every Monday night.

Hey, Look What's Up on Amazon

Forbidden Temptation has its own page on Amazon.com. Which means you can preorder it.

You do want to preorder it, don't you?

Of course you do.

Conference Time!

Where can you go to learn how to write romance southern-style?

Where can you go to meet 5 editors and 3 agents?

Where can you go to listen to Beverly Barton, Gayle Wilson, and Linda Howard speak?

At Romance in the Magic City in Birmingham, Alabama!

The writers' conference will be hosted by Southern Magic on March 30, 31, and April 1, 2007.Cost: $180 to $210 (pay by snail mail or PayPal)
(early registration rate deadline coming up)

Keynote speakers: Beverly Barton, Gayle Wilson, and Linda Howard.

Agent/editor appointments available for:

Tracy Farrell, HQN
Leslie Wainger, Silhouette Books
Melanie Murray, Warner (Hachette Books)
John Scognamiglio, Kensington Books
Hilary Rubin, St. Martin's Press
Kimberly Whalen, Trident Media
Christina Hogrebe, Jane Rotrosen Agency
Vivian Beck, Vivian Beck Agency.

Workshops presented by: Sherrilyn Kenyon, Dianna Love Snell, Rhonda Pollero, Tina Gerow, Genie Davis, Linda Winstead Jones, and many more.

First 40 attendees to send in the full amount will receive a 2006 Romance Writers of America/Avon conference bag and a chance to win a critique of a partial from Kimberly Whalen with the Trident Media Group. You will receive the bag at registration and the drawing for the critique will be held Friday night.

Special hotel rate provided atWynfrey Hotel 1000 Riverchase Galleria Birmingham,.Alabama 35244 205- 987-1600 .. .. 800- 996-3739 .. 800-.WYNFREY www.wynfrey.com

Hotel attached to Galleria with 200 stores and 11 restaurants

For more information, check out http://www.southernmagic.org/conference.html

Wow. Just....Wow.

Mary at The Bandwagon blogged her top ten books she read in 2006.

FORBIDDEN TERRITORY is number six.

Wow. I'm honored and thrilled that she liked it enough to include it in her list. Amazing!

Good News and Bad News

The good news is, my line edits for FORBIDDEN TEMPTATION came in the mail today.

The bad news is, my line edits for FORBIDDEN TEMPTATION came in the mail today.

I'm glad they're here, and my mom (who opened the package for me while I'm stuck here at my day job) said it doesn't look like a whole lot of edits, so yay!

But I guess I know how I'll be spending my long holiday weekend...

Christmas is Supposed to be Cold, Right?

It's the middle of December and we're having mild, sunny, 75 degree days here in Alabama. I mean, I've managed to resign myself to never seeing a white Christmas, but if it keeps up like this too much more, I'll be looking for the daffodils to start blooming soon.

Maybe that's why I'm really having trouble getting into the holiday spirit this year. Well, that and the fact that in my day job, I'm working on a catalog for February and March of 2007, and in my writing life, I'm working on a book set on a Caribbean island in June. And every time I tune in to the "all Christmas music" station in town, it's either a bloody commercial or it's "Jingle Bell Rock."

::sigh::

How are you trying to get into/stay in the holiday spirit this year? And is it working?

Gratuitous Fangirl Moment

So, I haven't exactly made my obsession with the return of Steve and Kayla to Days of Our Lives a secret. It's been a rocky road for our reunited soulmates, as Steve has only spotty memories of their life together and the feelings didn't come back with the handful of memories. Now, as she's recuperating from an attack that nearly killed her, he's pretending he remembers her and loves her, and she can see right through him. Things are about to come to a head.

If I had been writing the story, I'd have handled a lot of things differently. A lot of die-hard fans have almost given up.

But things are about to change...

So, if you're remotely interested, and if you don't mind knowing a taste of what's coming, here's a bit of what you'll see next Friday on Days of Our Lives:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWF9jMgFGFo

Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming...

I Am in Awe

Mary at The Bandwagon has been doing the Nano this month, and I've been watching her progress through her blog posts. Well, the woman has FINISHED her first draft. In 25 days. And from her description of it, sounds like she's got the first draft of a pretty terrific story!

Go give her your congratulations!

Heard it in a Love Song

I once wrote an entire novel around an idea generated by two lines from the Richard Marx song "Hazard":

I swear I left her by the river
I swear I left her safe and sound

There's also a fairly recent Trisha Yearwood song, "Georgia Rain," that just screams Silhouette Special Edition--it's about a woman who returns to her hometown years after she left to find everything different except her love for the boy she left behind. The mood is evocative and full of longing; I think it'd make a great story, but I don't write those kinds of stories.

What about you? Do songs inspire your story ideas?

A Puppy for Maggie = a Kitten for Me?

So, my mom has decided to get our three-year-old mutt Maggie her own puppy. A few weeks ago, we had to have Maggie's beloved older dog companion, Dixie, euthanized. She had advanced cancer and had reached the point where her quality of life was poor. Maggie has been depressed since, so when one of my nieces came home from school with the news that a friend's dog had had puppies, my mother got the idea of getting Maggie her own puppy to have as a companion.

Now, we need another dog like I need an extra ten pounds, but I've figured out the upside to this. Ever since I had to have my beloved Simi cat put to sleep, I've been keeping an eye out for a half-Siamese kitten, even though my mom was adamant about not having any more cats. But now that Mom's gone all googly-eyed over the idea of a new puppy, I'm SO gonna leverage that into a kitten when I find one that suits me.

June instead of August '07

Just received word from my editor that they're moving FORBIDDEN TEMPTATION up to a June 2007 release. Yay! It's only a couple of months, but that makes it a year rather than 14 months between books. Plus, I hope it means they're making room for book three on the schedule by the end of the year. (Okay, that's probably wishful thinking, but wishful thinking can be fun).

And since my birthday is in June, it's like another great birthday present two years in a row.

Southern Magic Romance Reader's Luncheon Recap

Yesterday was my local RWA chapter's Romance Reader's Luncheon. It was held at the Wynfrey Hotel in Birmingham, and we had a great time. The delightful Teresa Medeiros was our luncheon speaker, and when she finished her speech, which reminded us romance writers why we write romance, everybody was reaching for the Kleenex.

It amazes me how many romance readers are willing to travel long distances to get to have lunch with their favorite writers. Of course, Teresa was a big draw, as was our own Gayle Wilson, who is moving into single title suspense in a big way. The mind-bogglingly prolific Debra Webb was also there, reminding me just how successful a person can be when they're talented and persistent. And I was so happy to see fellow Intrigue author Kathleen Long, who came a very long way to be with us. She sat next to me at the booksigning and I so enjoyed catching up with her.

I also had a chance to exchange old memories with a fellow Banks High School graduate, DeAnn, who now writes under the pen name Giselle Carmichael . DeAnn reminded me that I had a reputation as a verious "serious" person in high school, which made me laugh, because I remember being more goofy and geeky than "serious." I guess it was the combination of shyness and good grades that made people who didn't know me well think I was serious.

I think a lot of people thought I spent all my spare time studying. I didn't. I did most of my homework during breaks and down-time at school, so when I came home, I either read or watched TV--usually my daily Gilligan's Island rerun fix. I only studied briefly the night before a test and that was it. I just had great info retention back in the day. Wish I could have some of that back now that I'm older!

I got some great books in the goody bag all the attendees received, too! Usually I get the goody bag that has all chick-lit and vampire stuff--not my preferred genres--but this time I got a couple of great-looking suspense titles, including one of Brenda Novak's newest single titles. I look forward to diving into those.

I think everyone had a really good time, and I look forward to May of 2007, when my other chapter, Heart of Dixie, holds their Reader's Luncheon in Huntsville. Karen Robards is the featured speaker.

Oh, and between now and then, there's also a little thing in Birmingham called the Romance in the Magic City conference, March 30 - April 1, 2007. It's going to be great--we already have some terrific editors and agents lined up, and lots of exciting workshops. Keynote speakers are Linda Howard, Gayle Wilson and Beverly Barton. For more information, you can download the conference brochure in .pdf format here. It will also be held at the Wynfrey Hotel.

Finally, I got my first royalty statement yesterday, and I'm happy to report that not only did I pay back my advance, but I actually made some cash in royalties. Whee! Thank you everyone who bought one of my books. And remember, if you haven't bought one, they're still available online at Amazon.com. They make great holiday gifts for the romance reader on your list! Buy now! Buy often!

:)

What's That I Smell?

So I get to my office this morning, toodlydoo, blah blah same old same old, unlock the door and start to punch in the alarm code when it hits me. A strong, intense odor.

Baby powder.

I don't know what the cleaning crew did overnight, but now the entire downstairs smells like a baby powder factory exploded all over it. And maybe other people like the smell of baby powder, but I don't. In fact, right now it's giving me a headache and making my eyes burn.

I'm really sensitive to smells, probably because of my asthma. Strong smells can even trigger asthma attacks, although so far, the baby powder odor isn't doing that. But if I don't get desensitized to this smell soon, it's going to be a miserable day. :(

Where Have You Been???

I've been a complete blogging slug, haven't I? I think it's because this blog is mostly dedicated to my writing, and in recent weeks, I've been doing a lot of waiting around, waiting to hear from my editor, waiting for inspiration to strike, etc.

On the upside, I have a brand, spankin' new laptop computer to play with. It has the bells and whistles my old machine was lacking, plus it doesn't have the broken fan that keeps me from being able to use the thing for more than a half hour at a time before it overheats and shuts down.

I went with Hewlett-Packard again, because I've been pretty happy with their products. I went for lots of memory, lots of hard drive and a DVD burner as my primary criteria for what I wanted. So far, it's great. Now I have to put the dinkier laptop in the shop to get the fan fixed. When it's fixed, that becomes my mom's computer. She's been wanting one for a while, and the old laptop will give her everything she's looking for in a machine.

So, that's my life these days. Aren't you glad you asked? :)

Porn for Housewives?

A comptroller's race in Texas has just gotten weird.

This is all the buzz in romance writer circles, but it's an interesting commentary on our schizoid society as well. I'm sure there's a Monica Lewinsky joke in there somewhere, but I'm just too disheartened to try to find it.

Hit and Run Blogging

Don't have much time, so I'm just going to pop in to let you know about an interesting blog I just added to my links. Interesting, that is, if you're a geek like me who thinks literary and mise-en-scene analysis of a soap opera is entertaining. Deep Soap is a new blog from my friend JDPerry, dedicated to having "some analytical fun with Steve and Kayla's return to Salem in Days of Our Lives" as her blog subtitle claims.

Tons of nerdy fun!

So, the New TV Season is Upon Us

I'm trying really hard not to get as sucked into prime time TV this year as I have been in past years. Despite all sorts of rave reviews from friends and professional reviewers alike, I have not allowed myself to watch Heroes, Grey's Anatomy, Prison Break or The Nine. I have not been sucked back into Bones this season, nor have I watched much of CSI (pick a city) or Without a Trace.

So this season, my shows of choice are House, Lost, Battlestar Galactica, and when it comes on again in January, 24. And my new and rather embarrassing addiction to Days of Our Lives, which has actually improved a lot under the new headwriter Hogan Sheffer and looks to improve even more in coming days.

I'm still waiting for final word from my editor on title approval and a firm publication date for book two. I'm hoping to hear something within a couple of months on book three as well.

And I've managed to shake that cold without too much trouble, which is good news, since a bad cold is always a nasty experience for me, thanks to my asthma.

So, what have I missed while I was out of commission fighting off the bug?

Ugh Redux

The stomach ailment is better, but now I've got a cold. I hate colds--they wreak havoc on my asthma. But so far, it's mostly just a nuisance.

My writing plan for this week was wrecked, but I'm going to try to make up some of the pages tonight and tomorrow. No final news about my book title or the publication date, but tentatively, it's going to be FORBIDDEN TEMPTATION, available August '07.

Anybody watch last night's premiere of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA? Wild. And that little blond kid? Cutest. Kid. Ever.

Oh, and Tahmoh Penikett? Hawt.

Ugh

Stomach virusy thing happening. Things are not happy in Paulaville. Will update once I'm feeling better.

Hello, October

October might be my favorite month. Living in the deep south, fall starts later here than in other places, and October is usually the month when it really feels like summer is over. Back when I was in high school, I was in the marching band, and October was when I was finally glad for the heavy uniforms. In September, the coats and long pants were nothing but sheer misery, but with October came crisp, clear nights when that extra bit of fabric and padding came in handy.

October is the smell of wood smoke and the colors of turning leaves. October is Saturday afternoon football and waning daylight. It's the time when little kids start plotting and planning their Halloween costumes and dreaming of bags full of Smarties, M & Ms and bubble gum. It's the month of my mother's birthday and the month when I fell in love for the first time almost thirty years ago. (Awwww).

And October was when I promised myself that I'd get back to my writing. And I did. Three pages today, just as I'd projected. Yay me!

Where Did the Summer Go?

It's already fall. Can you believe it? I love fall--probably my favorite season, especially here in the South where summer is too darned hot, winter is boring, and spring makes me sneeze my head off. But I just wasn't really ready for fall to arrive quite this soon!

I haven't watched any Alabama football to speak of. Of course, from what I hear, I haven't missed much. I've even missed an episode of the new season of HOUSE because I forgot it was on. Over the summer, I stopped watching much television at all, and I've been sluggish to get back in the habit. I guess that's probably a good thing, overall, but I do love HOUSE and don't want to miss any episodes.

Beginning this Sunday, I have to start writing again. Oh, joy. Actually, I am looking forward to getting back to a daily writing regimen. I enjoyed the time off but I don't want to lose the muse. That said, I have a feeling the final three chapters of DEADLY ILLUSION are going to be a bugger to write.

So--has fall sneaked up on anyone else besides me?

The Lost Art of Subtext

I may have mentioned once or twice my renewed obsession with that famous Days of Our Lives supercouple, Steve and Kayla, thanks to the actors' return to daytime in those roles. I've viewed a lot of the old clips now, and one striking difference I've noted between soaps in the 1980s and soaps today is the glaring lack of subtlety in storytelling. All of the dialogue is on the nose. There are no interesting pauses to let the actors, you know--act. Things that should be implied are said aloud.

Ugh.

I'm seeing that trend, at times, on prime time television as well. Does it have to do with the shortened attentions span of the viewing audience? I have to wonder, as I think some of the more challenging televisions shows, such as LOST or HOUSE, still do the subtext very, very well---and these are critically acclaimed shows that pull in decent to good ratings. They also have rabidly loyal fan bases. I don't think that's a coincidence.

I've been thinking about this a lot and trying to apply it to my own writing. Dialogue should be as revelatory for what it doesn't say as for what it says. Am I taking advantage of the nuances, the subtext beneath my characters' lines? Do I use dialogue too directly when I should be using it to surround the idea instead of hammer it into the ground? Do my characters have a lot going on beneath the surface of what they're saying to each other--0r not saying to each other?

Sometimes I think when contest judges and editors talk about "stilted dialogue"--they're really talking about the lack of subtext. Characters saying too much, too directly, and not letting the context and the characters pull their part of the load.

So what about it? Is subtext overrated? Am I a dinosaur wishing for the return of the good old days that were never that good and will never come around again?

Out of the Habit

It's really easy to get out of the writing habit. Usually having to stop and work on a synopsis/proposal is one of the worst habit-breakers for me. I have to stop thinking about what's happening inch by inch in my story and look at the bigger picture. Plus there's the whole struggling with the sucknopsis thing. :::shudder:::

Right now, I'm giving myself to the end of September to be lazy. It was when my deadline was, anyway, and since I beat the deadline, I'm allowing myself a little luxury. I'm going to read my friend Gayle Wilson's new Mira book, THE INQUISITOR, and I'm going to make cheesy Steve and Kayla music videos now that I've discovered how to use Windows Movie Maker. But October first, I'm buckling down and finishing the last three chapters of DEADLY ILLUSION and then I'm going to start putting together a three-book proposal for my series idea.

Really. I swear.

The Manuscript's in the Mail

DANGEROUS PURSUIT (aka FORBIDDEN SOMETHING) is in the mail to my editor. The proposal for DEADLY ILLUSION (aka FORBIDDEN SOMETHING ELSE) is also on the way.

Now I have to buckle down and finish the last three chapters of DEADLY ILLUSION, based on the synopsis I hammered out for my editor. Well, at least the plot is now outlined for me. :)

Shout Out to Michelle

Michelle Willingham just sold to M & B Historicals! Michelle has been working long and hard for this, and she so deserves this good news!

Tell her congratulations!

I Hate Synopses

Just in case you're an unpublished writer who thinks that selling a book automatically makes everything you do easier, let me quickly set you straight.

Writing a synopsis still sucks. In fact, it probably sucks even more than it did before. Because now I'm supposed to present a coherent, detailed narrative of a book that isn't even finished yet, and make it sound like something my editor will actually want to buy.

However, griping aside, I did finish the first, very rough draft of my synopsis for DEADLY ILLUSION, aka "The Forbidden to be Named Later." The partial (first three chapters, for the uninitiated) has been ready for a long time. I swear, it's taken me longer to write the synopsis than it did to write those first 46 pages.

At least I'm still on course to send out the proposal ahead of my Sept. 29th deadline, so that's a plus.

Obligatory Blog Post

I don't really have much to blog on today, but I feel like such a slacker for not having blogged for a while. I'm still waiting to hear from my editor about my publication date for book two and whatever title they've come up with that includes the word FORBIDDEN. I'm drawing a blank on titles, myself. I don't like any of the ones I've come up with.

On the upside, it leaves DANGEROUS PURSUIT free for another book, should I need it. :)

So, anybody out there have anything exciting going on you'd like to share with us?

Desperately Seeking a Blog Topic

I'm so out of ideas right now it's pathetic. And I have to blog on Romance Magicians before the week is over--eek!

So I'll cheat and point you to a blog that makes me laugh: Manolo's Shoe Blog.

Anybody had any good news lately? I'm still waiting for a pub date on book two, still slogging away at the synopsis for book three, and I can't come up with a good FORBIDDEN title to save my life.

Steve Irwin, RIP

Sad news out of Australia. Wildlife expert and conservationist Steve Irwin has died, stung through the heart by a stingray. He was 44 and leaves a wife and two children, ages 3 and 8.

I'll miss his unparalleled enthusiasm for the animals he fought so hard to protect and preserve.

Adios August

Can you believe it's almost September? This summer has flown for me. As I get older, the days seem so much shorter--has anyone else noticed that?

I've finished the edits my editor gave me for the book formerly known as DANGEROUS PURSUIT. They were very simple changes and I made them in about an hour. I hope to send the full out this weekend, probably before my book signing.

I also made a little headway on my synopsis for the book formerly known as DEADLY ILLUSION. I hope to have the proposal ready to send by the middle of the month, and then I can set about finishing the last few chapters so the full will be ready if and when my editor requests it.

After that, I'm going to settle down and concentrate on my new series idea that I've discussed before.

Don't forget, if you're in the Birmingham area this Saturday, I'll be signing FORBIDDEN TERRITORY at Brooke's Book Stop in McCalla. Check out my website for the address and more detailed information. Gayle Wilson, Kelley St. John and Jennifer Echols will be signing their books as well. Come see us!

No Longer a One Book Wonder

Just heard from my editor. Book two is a go! It's Rose's story, and the working title, DANGEROUS PURSUIT, is apparently out. They're going to try to tie the three books together with a "Forbidden" in each title. No idea yet what DP's new title will be.

I should have the proposal for book 3 ready at the same the time I turn in the slight revisions she has for book 2, so maybe I'll have more good news before the end of the year!

Shout Out to the Band Geeks

I read my friend Jennifer Echols' new book, MAJOR CRUSH, yesterday evening. I'm not normally a fan of YA stories, but since it was my friend's book, I sat down to give it a read. Funny, sweet, delightful book! As a former band geek myself (flute and baritone horn), I had no trouble getting into the whole marching-band-as-society metaphor. (Though in my marching band, EVERYBODY was a geek, there were no cool girls or guys, and we didn't compete much in competitions because we reeked so badly).

The setting was very familiar (small town Alabama, with which I'm well-acquainted) but to be honest, the southernness wasn't as prominent as the small-townness, if that makes sense. It could have as easily been set in Iowa or Kansas or anywhere in flyover country.

The characters were interesting, really well-drawn and familiar in that all-important "I know someone just like that!" way of really good books. And the teen-age romance managed to be sweet and sizzling at the same time, without crossing into "ick" territory.

Kudos, Jennifer! Can't wait to read the next one!

Promo Opportunity

This November 4, 2006, Southern Magic will present Teresa Medeiros at our Romance Readers' Luncheon at the Wynfrey Hotel in Birmingham, AL.

Your books, book marks, and other goodies will be appreciated.

For more information, visit www.southernmagic.org.

If you're going to be in the Birmingham area in early November and you're a big fan of romances, this is a great opportunity to meet and talk with a number of successful and prolific writers, including Linda Howard, Gayle Wilson, Beverly Barton, Linda Winstead Jones, and more. I'll be there as well, hopefully with good news about book two in my "sisters" series.

And if you're a writer looking for ways to promote yourself and your books, the Romance Readers' Luncheon gives you an eager, captive audience for your promotional materials.

Am I a Blogging Slug?

Why, yes. Yes, I am.

Mostly because I'm trying to work up a proposal for DEADLY ILLUSION to send to my editor, and I'm waiting to hear from said editor the fate of DANGEROUS PURSUIT, which has climbed a step up the ladder at Harlequin but hasn't reached "sold" status yet.

That and the fact that I'm a lazy heifer when it gets hot and humid like it's been.

I do have a book signing coming up--my first! It's at Brooke's Book Stop in McCalla, Alabama. I'll be signing with my writing hero, Gayle Wilson, the effervescent Kelley St. John, and the always witty and delightful Jennifer Echols. It's 2 pm on September 2nd, if you're in the Birmingham area and want to drop by, say hi, and buy lots and lots of books.

I'll also be part of a genre program at the September Southern Magic monthly meeting. I'll post more details when I get them.

Save a Writer, Buy a New Book!

That's the title of an excellent and timely essay by author Susan Gable. With Bombshell folding, it's more vital than ever that readers remember to support the writers they love by buying books new rather than used if it's at all possible.

Here's Susan's essay on the subject, with her permission:

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Save a Writer, Buy a New Book!
By Susan Gable

The recent demise of yet another Harlequin line, this time the kick-butt heroine line Bombshell, got me to thinking, which, as anyone who knows me will tell you is always a dangerous thing. I heard from a number of readers who were surprised by the closing, because they had friends who just "loved that line!"

I've also heard things like this: "I can't believe they closed that line. I loved that line. I read those books every month at my library."

Before I go any farther with this discussion, I have to offer up a disclaimer. I love libraries. Especially as a child with a voracious appetite for story, I borrowed armloads of books from my local library. I love bargains, too. I shop like men hunt or play sports. It's a victory when I score a bargain. (New black cocktail dress, originally $79, marked down to only $16. SCORE!) Used books are great bargains. Swapping books, another great bargain. The new websites on-line, where you can "rent" a book, in a system similar to NetFlix, are also an interesting bargain. Good grief, even the airports these days have a program where you can buy a book, read it, then sell it back to them. What a bargain!

But did you realize that those bargains could be putting your favorite line or your favorite author out of business?

It's a difficult, touchy subject for authors to discuss. We don't want to appear anti-used books ('cause we're not — not entirely, anyway), or make readers think we're money-grubbers, always harping on them to buy our books. We all know (believe me, we KNOW — most writers don't make anywhere close to as much money as people think we do) how tight money can be sometimes, especially with the rising costs of gas and heating fuel, and food, and taxes, and…well, you know. Everything.

We’ve been known ourselves to sometimes borrow and trade books, or buy used. Or go to the library.

But publishing these days is a strictly-by-the-numbers business, which means if the numbers don't live up to the publisher's expectations, a writer can kiss her slot/line/future contracts good-bye.

"Where's SoAndSo's latest book? How come she hasn't published another story in that series that I love so much?" If you find yourself asking that question, it could be that your favorite, SoAndSo, got cut loose because the numbers of that last book in the series didn't do as well as the one before that. How did you get your hands on that last book? Did you buy it new, contributing to the continuation of the series, or did you bargain read it? Bargain reads don’t count towards our numbers.

Writers, especially those of us at the "lower echelons" of the publishing world, need ur readers more than ever. Without you, there would be no point in what we do. (Well, okay, there's a certain satisfaction in telling yourself a story, but it's the audience that makes it truly special. It's a shared dream.) But now, because of the numbers, we need your support even more.

Our careers, our lines, even our publishers, live and die by the numbers.

So please, where and when you can, save a writer. Buy a new book. We'll all thank you for it. And that way, you'll have more choices of books in the future.

*****
Susan Gable thanks her fans for buying her books. Her latest book, The Pregnancy Test, sold well, thanks to them. It was also awarded the National Readers' Choice Award for Best Long Contemporary. Visit her at www.susangable.com for excerpts, contests, and more.

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Remember, too, that category-length books are only on the shelves for two or three weeks, tops, so be sure to buy books from your favorite category books early! You can still buy books online after that early sales, period, however. For instance, FORBIDDEN TERRITORY is still available on most online outlets, including amazon.com and e-Harlequin.com.

If you love a particular line or a particular author, remember that sales can decide whether or not the line continues or the author sells her next book.

Suzanne Brockmann in USA Today

Good for Suzanne for getting behind a worthwhile effort.

Good publicity for romance writers, too, although I realize that's a side effect, not a goal.

The Demise of Bombshell

After January 2007, Silhouette Bombshells will no longer be published.

I'm not a Bombshell author, but I know several, and I can't imagine how hard this news must be hitting them. It's emotionally wrenching as well as a financial set-back for many of them. I'm hoping that several pending authors will be able to transfer their stories to other lines, or maybe sell them as longer, single title books or series.

I also hope that this change opens doors in the suspense lines (IM and Intrigue) allowing for stronger, more action-oriented heroines and plotlines.

I've not been a Bombshell reader because, to be honest, I wanted more dependable romance in my books, and that wasn't the line's focus. But I'm sorry that readers who liked the sorts of books Bombshell authors delivered so ably won't have those books to read in the future, and I'm sorry for the authors who found their voices in that line and now have to figure out where to go next.

So, be kind to your local Bombshell author--he or she needs a little extra TLC these days.

2006 Cataromance Reviewer's Choice Nomination!

FORBIDDEN TERRITORY has been nominated for a 2006 Cataromance Reviewer's Choice award!

Naturally, I'm thrilled, and so pleased to be included with a list of such fantastic category romance writers as those who were also nominated. Special congrats to my Southern Magic chaptermate and friend, Deb Webb, whose book Past Sins made the list. Deb is an inspiration to me as a writer and an endless source of good advice and support.

Congratulations, also, to:

My fellow 2004 Golden Heart finalists Julie Cohen, Terry McLaughlin, Stef Feagan, Gail Barrett and Beth Cornelison.

My e-Harlequin subcare buddies Jenna Bayley-Burke and Michelle Styles.

Fellow Intrigue authors Dana Marton and Rebecca York.

You Know You're Getting Old When...

Yesterday, my 10-year-old niece showed me pictures from her baptism this past Sunday. Apparently our church sets up someone at one side of the baptistry to take pictures of the actual baptism. (We baptize by immersion in our church).

When she showed me the photos, I said, "Wow, that's cool. When I was baptized, nobody took any pictures."

Her little brow wrinkled. "Well, they probably didn't have cameras back then."

Thanks, Melissa. Thanks a lot.

Hot Enough Fer Ya?

Man, it's hot here. In fact, I'm going to blame my blog laziness on the heat and humidity.

I did post on the Romance Magicians blog today, on the topic of anti-heroes as romantic heroes. My current WIP features an anti-hero hero, and we've already discussed my fondness for Sawyer on LOST and Steve Johnson on DAYS OF OUR LIVES, two anti-heroes if there ever were anti-heroes. But turning an anti-hero into a viable romantic hero takes a little finesse. I share some of my thoughts on the topic on today's blog. Check it out.

Still no word from my editor on DANGEROUS PURSUIT. And I'm currently at an impasse on DEADLY ILLUSION, as I failed to actually plot out the final climax and resolution of the story beforehand, and I still have no clue what happens. Hopefully I'll break through when it cools down here a bit and I can think straight.

(Yeah, I'm blaming writer's block on the heat, too. Handy thing, a heat wave).

Go, Cynthia! Go, Cynthia!

Wow, two e-Harlequin Sub Care buddies sell within a week! How exciting is that?

Cynthia Reese sold her book THE RED THREAD to Harlequin Superromance. Not sure yet if she'll keep the title, but who cares? She sold!

Go tell Cynthia congratulations!

Freakin' Insane

Talk about your politics of personal destruction...

Candidate's romance novel an issue again

Would this be happening if her name was Stan Combs and her book had been published as a thriller by Random House instead of a Kismet Romance?

I don't think so.

Not crazy about some of the comments from her publicity people, either, though:

"It was written as kind of a lark, not serious literature," Bashur said. "It was described to me as paint-by-numbers formula writing, a genre."

Gee, thanks for the rousing defense of Ms. Comb's literary efforts.

Go, Donna! Go Donna!

Donna Alward has sold to Harlequin Romance! Go tell her congratulations!