One Tough Marine launch winners!

Congratulations to Genia, Carla, Laryssa and Lisa G, the winners of the four $10 bookstore eGift Cards! Please email me at paulagraves (at) charter.net (close spaces and use the @ symbol) and tell me what online bookstore you'd like your eGiftcard from.

Thanks for commenting!

Blogging on Intrigue Authors today

It's another Q & A, this time with Luke Cooper, the sexy ex-Marine hero of my August book, One Tough Marine.

Like last time, I'll be giving away a $10 eGift Card to a commenter at random--you can choose your favorite online book store and I'll buy you a gift card!

Want a little hint of what you'll find at the Intrigue Blog? Well, how about this cryptic answer:

A: I knew what they'd choose. They'd take their chances. And any one of them could end up dead.

What was the question? Click the link above and find out!

Blogging on Pink Heart Society today

It's all about the U.S. Marines.

Please drop by and give me a little comment love!

Book Launch: One Tough Marine! UPDATED

Welcome to the book launch of One Tough Marine, my August 2010 release from Harlequin Intrigue, which just made the Borders Series Romance Bestseller List! It's my first time to ever make the list, so I'm beyond thrilled.

By the way, due to my very bad scheduling, I'm also featured in a Q & A on Mysteries and Margaritas today, so if you want to drop by and hear my answers to Kari's great questions, you know how to click the link.

Now back to the book launch!

One Tough Marine is my seventh book from Harlequin Intrigue, but it's the first one to ever deal with subject matter I once swore I'd never touch as an author.

That's right, I'm talking about secret babies.

I've never really understood the appeal of secret baby stories. I know a lot of readers must love them, because a lot of books are built around that popular hook. But I always have trouble with the motivations involved.

Why would the heroine keep something so important from the child's father? I mean, I could see why she would if the father was an abusive creep or a crime lord or something. More power to her for lying her head off. But she's invariably lying to the guy who's going to be the hero of our book. How are we supposed to root for a woman who'd keep that kind of secret from the hero?

So you can imagine my surprise when I was plotting One Tough Marine and realized that the heroine's young son belonged to the hero. See, when I first started conceiving of the story, I thought the baby was the son of the heroine's late husband, and the hero would be protecting her and the little boy because he was the late husband's best friend.

But almost as soon as I got into the meat of the story, I realized the little boy had to be the hero's son. It raised all the stakes exponentially, complicated both the internal and external conflicts, and just all around made for a better story.

But once I committed to the secret baby story, I had to work really, really hard to motivate my heroine—and hero—in ways that allowed both characters to remain honorable and rootable. To generate sympathy for the heroine, I had to give her a very good reason to keep the secret. And then, for the hero, I had to provide a sympathetic reason to have deliberately made the heroine believe he would be an unreliable or indifferent father. Whew! That was a tough assignment.

I'll be interested in seeing if people think I've accomplished the task—not just people who love secret baby stories but also people who don't.

I'll be drawing four--that's right, four--winners from the comments to receive copies of your choice of any 2 back list books I still have available (including my January and February Intrigues, the first two books in the Cooper Justice saga)--or a $10 eGift card or certificate from the online bookstore of your choice.

So get to talking! Are you a fan of a secret baby story? If so, what makes them appealing to you? And if you're a secret baby story skeptic, like I was (and mostly still am), what would a writer have to do to convince you to go along with her secret baby story?

UPDATED

I realized a $5 gift card wouldn't cover shipping for even one book, so I've upped the total to $10. And you get two back list books if you go that route. So even bigger prizes! Tell your friends. Tweet about it. Drop a line on Facebook. Let's get this party started!

Blogging on Intrigue Authors

I forgot to tell y'all that this morning.

Anyway, I blogged a Q & A with Abby Chandler, the heroine of my August book One Tough Marine. (Click the link to the side if you haven't ordered your copy yet!)

Click the link above and ask Abby your questions! I'll be drawing the name of a commenter to win a $10 gift certificate to the online bookstore of your choice (as long as they offer eGiftcards or certificates).

Blogging on Writerspace Blogs today

I'm blogging today on U.S. Marines and why I think they make great romantic heroes.

I'm giving away a prize to a random commenter, so join the conversation! Click on the link above and leave your comments. We're talking about what kind of romance heroes rev our engines. So to speak. :)

My Blog Schedule for August - Updated 8/5/10

I promised a few days ago that I'd be posting my blog schedule for the month of August. Here it is:

8/6/10 - Writerspace Blog
Update: My topic is U.S. Marines. Mmmm.

8/10/10 - One Tough Marine in stores

8/10/10 - Launch Party on Spinsters & Lunatics
Be sure to show up for this one. I'll be giving away prizes, answering all your questions about the upcoming books (well, except spoilery ones) and discussing what's in store for the final (sob!) three Cooper Justice books if you're interested in hearing about those.

8/11/10 - Petit Fours and Hot Tamales

8/15/10 - Romance Magicians Blog

8/16/10 - Pink Heart Society Blog

8/18/10 - Intrigue Authors Blog

8/20/10 - Tawny Weber's Blog
Just turned this one in, so I know what it's about. It's called Quick Six, and it's a set of either/or questions. Sort of like "Paper or plastic?" only more fun. And at the end, I ask YOU to answer an either/or question. Commenters automatically qualify to win a couple of my backlist books, so if you're missing any, this could be a good time to comment, as I'll let you pick your choice of my backlist.

8/26/10 - Intrigue Authors Blog

Bachelor Sheriff now available on eHarlequin

See?

And while we're on the topic of my books, I'm planning to do a book launch for One Tough Marine on Tuesday, August 10th. I'll be giving away prizes and answering all your questions—well, most of your questions, so mark your calendars and make plans to be here on Tuesday the 10th to celebrate the official publication date of my 7th Harlequin Intrigue.

And in a few days, I'll also be posting my blog schedule for August. I have several guest blog posts coming up, and I'd love a little comment love from my buddies here on Spinsters and Lunatics. So keep an eye out for that as well.

Spam Watch: 07/26/10

Every week when I come back to work on Monday, the spam filter of my office email is usually chock full of spammy goodness. Occasionally, the subject headers make me giggle. So I thought I'd share them with you.

I'm skipping all the overt Viagra spam, because, well...Viagra. Now, on to the rest...


"Life is too short to waste it thoughtlessly."

You're right. ::delete::

"was a loud bang and a dreadful shriek, and then all was still"

Oh, low blow. That's catnip to a suspense writer...must be strong... ::delete::

"hello."

Goodbye. ::delete::

"57% off. Famous Watches."

Famous? What did those watches do to become famous? Is it tabloid famous or real famous? Eh, I have a $20 watch I love. When it wears out, I'll get another $20 watch exactly like it. ::delete::

"lprs n8r"

C U L8tr. ::delete::

"Give your partner a one-way ticket to ecstasy-land."

One way? ONE WAY? That'd be unwieldy... ::delete:::

"what?"

::delete::

"66% off High-end Watches"

Better deal than the famous ones, I guess. But is famous better than high-end? Eh, $20 watch I love. ::delete::

"Earn more for a superior life. adamite agronomics albuminolysis"

Step slowly back from the dictionary and nobody gets hurt... ::delete::

"Your Amazon.com Order"

Came about a week ago. Thanks. ::delete::

So, there's Spam Watch for today. Did anybody get any interesting spam over the weekend?

Online Class: Pitch, Pile or Public

If you're an aspiring author, you might find this online course given by three friends and chapter mates of mine helpful:

PITCH, PILE, OR PUBLIC: THREE PATHS TO PUBLICATION

Dates: September 13-27*, 2010

Instructors: Kira Sinclair, Kimberly Lang, & Lynn Raye Harris

Cost: $20

Sponsored by: Heart of Dixie, RWA

Register at: http://www.heartofdixie.org/

Summary:

There is no one path to publication; no one way to get an editor or agent’s attention. In this workshop, three authors draw on their own experiences to prepare you for success on the three most common paths to an editor or agent’s desk.

The Pitch: Kira Sinclair’s pitch led to a request, then a sale. Kira will go over the basics of how to craft a short, informative pitch designed to showcase your book’s best bits and leave the agent or editor requesting more. Kira now writes for Harlequin Blaze.

The Pile: Kimberly Lang is a slush pile success story. Since your query letter is the first thing an editor or agent reads, it needs to be the very best it can be. We’ll build on what we learned from Kira’s pitch lessons to build a query letter that encourages the editor or agent to read on. Kimberly is a USA Today bestselling author for Harlequin Presents/Mills & Boon Modern Heat.

The Public: Lynn Raye Harris got an editor’s – and the public’s – attention in a big way when she won the Harlequin-sponsored Instant Seduction contest. Lynn will share her tips on how to make your first chapters pack the punch needed to get judges, editors, agents (and eventually readers!) wanting to see what happens next. Lynn is a USA Today bestselling author for Harlequin Presents/Mills & Boon Modern.

Class format includes lectures and Q&A. Some students may have the opportunity to have their pitches and/or query letters critiqued by the instructors for the benefit of the participants.

For more information contact online@heartofdixie.org

*Please note the change in dates from the earlier post. I was given the wrong dates before.

I want to believe, but...

I'm blogging today on the Intrigue Author's blog, going all spooky, talking about the paranormal. Are you more Scully or Mulder? Let's hash it out, The X-Files style.

What I Did for Summer Vacation

Just took a much-needed week off of work, partly for my birthday on the 28th, partly to take advantage of a freebie day off for the 4th of July. It was largely a lazy vacation, which I loved. I've been on vacations where every single moment was filled to the brim with things to do and places to go. That can be fun, especially when you're younger, but as I get older, I find that I prefer a nice, lazy vacation where I do exactly what I want when I want.

Nevertheless, I did have a few things I needed to accomplish before I went back to work. (Lots of new pages on the book-in-progress come to mind). But I made sure to give myself plenty of down time, too.

So here's what I did on my vacation, in no particular order:

WRITING:

• Wrote 72 pages on book 2 of the current 3-book contract
  
• Rewrote synopsis for same book to take into consideration changes made in the actual manuscript.
  
• Made corrections to first three chapters based on critique partner's edits to get it ready to go to my editor by 7/15.
  
• Wrote two blog posts (including this one)
  
• Scheduled two future guest blog posts and a guest post for an online writer's conference.
  
• Edited and updated my website.
  
• Attended my local writing chapter's special program featuring Carina Press editor Angela James (and won a historical novel as a doorprize, which I quickly traded for a contemporary because I generally prefer them to historicals).
  
• Rewrote synopsis for book 1 of current 3-book contract to match actual events of the story, which diverged* significantly from original selling synopsis (I didn't include it with the manuscript I sent in on the due date).
  
• Wrote Cast of Characters and dedication for book 1 as well.
  

READING:

• Caught up on some of my favorite blogs.
  
• Read some articles in this month's Romance Writers Report.
  
• Read about half of Under Orders by Dick Francis (read it before, but it's as good the second time).
  

CATS

• Have become convinced that Mina, the half-Siamese kitten is actually a male. Renamed him Miko. Will ask the vet to be sure on the next visit. Cat may develop identity problem before it's all over.
  
• Much snuggling. Much, much snuggling.
  
• Did I mention the snuggling?
  
• Cleaned litter box several times. Cats grateful.

FAMILY/HOME LIFE

• Had barbecue take out for birthday. Yum.
  
• Watched multiple Psych and Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes on DVD with younger niece.
  
• Hung with Mom. Napped a lot. Both excellent occupations.
  
• Fielded two calls and a couple of emails from work. Not bad for such a long span of time away from the office.
  
• Watched School of Rock—subversive and hilarious movie.
  
• Watched lots of court shows with mom. Am horrified.
  
• Watched series finale ep of Angel on early morning TNT. Wept when Wesley died needlessly and cursed Joss Whedon and Tim Minear.
  
• Watched second episode of Memphis Beat on TNT. Not as poignant as first episode but funnier overall. But also missed Justified (as it aired in same time slot on FX during regular season).
  
• Watched season (mid-season?) finale of In Plain Sight. Hated the ending.
  
• Watched predictable Lifetime movie. Is the husband ever NOT the bad guy? Wished fervently that Harlequin and Lifetime would pair up to produce Intrigues as movies.
  
• Wore sloppy clothes all week. Loved it.

So, that's it. Was that a great vacation or what? I kinda hate to go back to work tomorrow.

(*Thanks to the lovely Rebecca York for catching my mental lapse in using converged when I clearly meant diverged. Vacation brain!)

One Tough Marine now available on eHarlequin

I can't believe I didn't post this yesterday. My only excuse is that I'm on vacation from my day job, writing 8 pages a day on my current WIP and keep getting roped into watching marathons of Psych and Buffy the Vampire Slayer on DVD by my eleven-year-old niece.

Anyway, if you're inclined to buy early (and often!), here's the link to my August book on eHarlequin, now available for actual, get it in the mail in a few days purchase.

"...a roller-coaster story of action, romance and personal growth."

That's what RT Book Reviews has to say about my August book, One Tough Marine. They also gave it 4 ½ Stars!

Which reminds me, mark your calendars for July 1st. That's when you can get your own copy of One Tough Marine from eHarlequin.com.

(Or you can pre-order the book right now from amazon.com—just click on the link to the right).

Want to know a little more about the book? Here's the back cover blurb:

Threatened by masked men making an impossible demand of her, Abby Chandler runs to Luke Cooper for help. She knows it’s been three years since he vanished after their blazing one-night stand…and that she might be forced to reveal the secret that he’s her little boy’s father.

Abby has no idea that the former Marine has also been keeping a painful secret—that his disappearance was the only way to keep her alive. Luke knows Abby came to him for protection, but earning her trust isn’t going to be easy. Nor will keeping his hands off her. But admitting their once-forbidden attraction still exists could be risky.

And deadly.

Come on. You know you want to read it...

Oh, look, more pretty!

The cover for Bachelor Sheriff is up on Amazon.com. You can click the link to the right (and order, of course) or just feast your eyes here (and still click the link and order). I'm not picky. As long as you order. :)

I'm a little confused by the torn knee in his jeans. Um, he's a sheriff's investigator, not a punk... But I did think he looks like a former football player, which Aaron is, and he's quite yummy.

Book Contest WINNER!

And the official books read total for the long weekend?

:::drum roll:::

Three! Congratulations Pamela Keener for guessing right first!

I know it's not a big total, but my niece Ashlee decided to make this weekend a big Paula/Ashlee bonding weekend. We watched the whole first season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on DVD, so that ate into a lot of my reading time.

I finished the book I mentioned in the update, plus Once a Cowboy by Linda Warren (Harlequin Romance) and The Baby's Guardian by Delores Fossen (Harlequin Intrigue).

Pamela, I'll email you to discuss the prize options. Thanks, everyone else, for playing along. I'll be having a lot more contests in coming months, as I have two books coming out in August and September. :)

Once, about ten or fifteen years ago, I visited Washington D.C. with some friends. We were all X-Files fans and we decided to converge on Mulder and Scully's town to see the XF landmarks—the F.B.I. building, the Watergate parking garage, the Washington Memorial reflecting pool, etc.

We also went to the Vietnam War Memorial.

Until that point, the trip had been all fun and games. But there's no way to visit the memorial and not be overwhelmed by the sense of the sacred. Name after name etched in the shiny wall, a testament to heroism and sacrifice. You can see yourself in the reflection, so you become part of the whole memorial, a living testament to what these men died for.

I didn't lose anyone in the Vietnam War personally. But while I was there, I overhead a conversation between a small group of people standing nearby. One of them was a young man, my age or maybe a little younger. They were there to see a particular name on the wall—the name of the young man's father, who had died when the young man was just a baby. He'd never known his father, but he could visit him, in a way, by coming there to the memorial. I remember, he reached out and touched his father's name, caressed it, really.

While Veteran's Day in America is a day we celebrate our living war heroes, Memorial Day is the day we commemorate our fallen heroes. On this Memorial Day, God rest the souls of the brave men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for the safety and welfare of this great nation. We honor you and thank you.

Yay, turned in a book! Now let's have a contest!

The April 2011 book is winging its way to NYC, so I have two whole days, plus a long weekend, to read! Whoo hoo! So in honor of my rare chance to read, I'm going to throw together a little contest: how many books can I read by the end of day Monday?

Here are the parameters: I work full time today and tomorrow (and I didn't bring a book with me today to read on my lunch hour, darn it), but I'm off Saturday, Sunday and Monday. I have 7 pages a day to write each day, Saturday through Monday, but 7 pages don't take me a full day to write. And most of the books I'll read this weekend are probably going to be Intrigues, so we're talking short-ish books.

Got the details? Start guessing!

The first person to post the correct (eventual) number in the comments wins your choice of an autographed copy of any of my back list books I still have (I think I have at least one copy of all of them except my first book, although some of the copies may be large print), or a $5 gift certificate to any online retailer (bookseller or otherwise) who sells gift certificates online. (Because I'm lazy that way) :)

I'll check back in on Monday night to let you know the number and who won. And if you have any book recommendations, Intrigues or otherwise, share them with the peeps!

UPDATE:

One book finished. A while back, I downloaded several of the free e-books Harlequin offered to celebrate their 60th anniversary (the books are still available for download in .pdf format here). I read one of them, Married by Mistake by Abby Gaines. Sweet, funny, charming book. A marriage of convenience book done in an innovative and mostly believable way. If you like your romances sweetly spicy with plenty of charm, this is a good one.

Now to pick the next book to read...

Blogging on Intrigue Authors today

It occurs to me that I tell a story there that I haven't told here, so drop by the Intrigue Author page for a rather dramatic, danger-filled kitten update. (No worries, it has a happy ending).

Also, while I've got y'all here, let me put in another plug for online bookstore reviews. Any little buzz helps for an author, and amazon.com reviews or barnesandnoble.com reviews (or Borders or Books-a-Million or...you get the picture) help create that buzz.

So if you've read any of my books and loved them, please take a minute to write a quick review on one of the online book store sites. If you didn't love them, no sweat. (Although, feel free not to post those! :) )

Good News Wednesday

Since I accidentally blogged Wednesday's Post on Monday, how about a little good news for Wednesday?

I sold the last three Cooper Justice books to Harlequin Intrigue!

They'll be out in April, May and June 2011, back to back—my first back to back trilogy. At least the wait between books won't be as long as my Forbidden trilogy. That makes a total of 12 books for me, all Intrigues. Whew—I'm getting tired just thinking about it!

Anyway, here are the basics for the final three Cooper Justice books (Note—all titles are working titles and unlikely to stick around):

Book One: Married to Danger

Hero: Jake Cooper
Heroine: Mariah Cooper, his wife

Short Synopsis: Seven years ago, Mariah cooper was Marisol Mendez, a former juvenile delinquent and petty grifter just one failed con game away from a prison sentence—until a man named Victor Logan took her under his wing and gave her hope for a new life. But every chance to change the future comes with a price. Mariah's price is coming face to face with Victor Logan in the middle of a storm-ravaged community, four years after she'd helped put him in jail for a hit-and-run killing. All the lies she's told her husband Jake come crashing down around her when Victor seeks his vengeance. Now Jake and Mariah are running for their lives, relentlessly pursued by a killer who Mariah fears was responsible for the murder of a Cooper family member years earlier. Husband and wife are forced to depend utterly on each other at a time when the truth about Mariah has driven them farther apart than ever before.

Book Two: Fully Engaged

Hero: Gabe Cooper
Heroine: Alicia Solano

Short Synopsis: For the last twelve years of his life, Gabe Cooper has asked himself the same question every day: what if I'd gotten there in time? He'd missed the chance to stop his sister-in-law Brenda's brutal murder by thirty inexcusable minutes, time he'd spent drinking beer and playing pool with his buddies instead of keeping his promise to pick up Brenda from work. Though police now believe the man responsible is dead, Gabe can't forgive himself and move on. So when his niece Cissy calls him with news about a new spate of co-ed murders that matches the M.O. of her own mother's murder, Gabe can't say no to her invitation to visit. But when he meets Cissy's friend, Alicia Solano, and learns that it's Alicia who's convinced Cissy that the dead murderer had an accomplice who's very much alive, is Gabe willing to shatter the whole family's sense of closure about Brenda's murder based on a grad student's wild speculation, no matter how persuasive--and attractive--she is?

Book Three: Courting the Devil

Hero: J. D. Cooper
Heroine: Natalie Becker

Short Synopsis: It's not just the law of averages that convinces Natalie Becker her sister Carrie died at the hands of her playboy husband, Hamilton Gray. Newlywed Carrie had recently confided to Natalie that she thought Hamilton might be having an affair--he kept strange hours and didn't seem that interested in sex now that they were married. But proving murder, in a town where the Grays are even wealthier and more privileged a family than her own, may be the hardest thing Natalie's ever tried to do. And the last complication she needs is a tall, stubborn ex-Navy mechanic named J.D. Cooper who has his own crazy idea about who killed her sister: the same person who murdered J. D.'s wife twelve years ago.

_____________________________________


As you can tell, all three stories are tightly connected, with the unsolved murder of Brenda Cooper playing a part in all three. The villains, too, have a twisted, complex connection to each other that I hope will play out in a fascinating way.

So, be looking for Cooper Justice: Cold Case, coming to Harlequin Intrigue in April 2011!