Join me Today at The Chatelaines

Happy Friday! I'm blogging over at The Chatelaines today. I'm kicking off a theme of "What's next?" Be sure to pop by often to see what's up with Jennifer Ashley, Joy Nash, CL Wilson, Gerri Russell, Cindy Holby, Bonnie Vanak and me.

The Rhys Rumble

Gore Vidal said, “Each writer is born with a repertory company in his head. As you get older, you get more skillful at casting them.”

The first step for me in peopling my story with interesting characters is deciding on their names. Before THE CHATELAINES (the group blog I share with CL Wilson, Jennifer Ashley, Joy Nash, Gerri Russell, Bonnie Vanak and Cindy Holby) got up and running, the whole gang had some group email discussions about the relative hotness of certain male names. Face it, it’s hard to get excited about a hero named Murgatroyd or Icabod. One name we all agreed had a high hotness quotient was Rhys (pronounced Reece).

I was surprised to learn that several of us had already used, or intended to use, the name. In fact, Rhys is the name of Joy Nash's current hero in SILVER SILENCE. If you love retellings of the Arthurian legend, you have to try Joy's vivid re-imagining of Camelot.

Rhys is also the name of my hero’s father in PLEASURING THE PIRATE. Of course, my Rhys is already dead when the story starts, but that doesn’t diminish his influence over Gabriel. Rhys Drake was a hard man, a driven man, one who demanded much from himself and those around him. His indomitable spirit motivates his son Gabriel to leave a life of piracy and try to reclaim his place as a gentleman.

Would Rhys Drake have ultimately approved? Gabriel will never know. And it maybe wouldn’t matter in the end. Pirates have a tendency to take what they want, devil take the hindermost. Gabriel might not have a swaying deck beneath his feet, but he’s still a pirate at heart.

So that’s the story of my Rhys. Have you read a book with a Rhys in it lately?

What guy names rate high on your hot-o-meter?

PS. Still a few weeks before the drawing for the $100 gift card in my MERRY CHRISTMAS BALL contest! If you haven't done so, be sure to enter!

Friday Freebies!

As you know, I'm running a MERRY CHRISTMAS BALL CONTEST from now till Dec. 1st. (The prize is $100 B&N gift card and who couldn't use that just before Christmas?) Turns out, several of my writing buddies are running some great contests too! So I thought I'd share them with you.

Preparing for the holidays can leave you with little time for yourself. My friend Gerri Russell's contest will take care of that!


Just in time for the holidays... Win One, Give One As a Gift! One lucky winner will receive two Warrior’s Bride “Relax in the Bath” gift baskets. Each gift basket includes an autographed copy of Warrior’s Bride, a bath pillow, a bath sponge, and bubble bath, one for the winner and one to give to a friend. The contest runs until December 1st. Enter HERE!


This one is not exactly a contest, but it is a FREEBIE! My friend Bonnie Vanak has a free online read at eHarlequin starting Monday, Oct. 19! It's called Seducing the Vampire and it's about a half-vampire, half-werewolf who teams with his former love, a sexy vampress, to save a magick amulet from falling into the wrong hands. Each Monday for eight weeks will feature a new chapter.

What a great way to try out a new author! Be sure to check out Bonnie's latest release Immortal Wolf, which is out this month from Silhouette Nocturne. And say a little prayer for Bonnie herself. Her day job takes her into some rather dicey 3rd world countries. It's taking her to Haiti on Monday. I admire her so much for the way she helps others. You can read a bit more about that in her latest post at THE CHATELAINES.

You may remember Caroline Fyffe. She was here blogging about her debut release a few months ago and now she has a killer contest that gives you a chance to unleash your creativity. I know lots of my readers are also writers, so be sure to enter:


Caroline Fyffe's Under A Western Sky Contest
Don’t miss your chance to win a night’s stay at Slide Mountain Ranch in beautiful Tuolumne, CA. All you have to do is watch a 2 minute book trailer and write your version of the last line of the story. Here's your chance to write a happily-ever-after.....



If you haven't started the Tairen Soul series you have some serious catch up reading to do! From now until October 27, my friend C.L. Wilson is hosting a daily “countdown” blog on her website’s blog. Visitors who post a response to the Question of the Day are eligible to enter a weekly drawing for an autographed copy of QUEEN OF SONG AND SOULS (book 4 in the Tairen Soul quintet) and other great prizes. I love these books! So join the fun!

Hope you enjoy visiting my friends' websites and good luck in all the contests! This weekend my DH and I hope to attend an artshow. What are your plans?

PS. Today is my regular day to post at The Chatelaines. I'm talking about "saving the ta-ta's," starting with your own!

A Christmas Kiss!

The 12 Days of A CHRISTMAS BALL Blog Tour is at The Romance Studio today. And we're sharing exclusive excerpts from each of our novellas featuring a Christmas kiss!

Please pop over to join us and leave a comment. You just might win a freebie!

Also, Fridays are my regular posting days at The Chatelaines, a group blog I share with CL Wilson, Joy Nash, Jennifer Ashley, Gerri Russell, Bonnie Vanak and Cindy Holby. I'm afraid I'm on a bit of a rant today, but I'd enjoy hearing from you there, too!

Have a great weekend!

The Making of A CHRISTMAS BALL

This sprig of holly is just a reminder that A CHRISTMAS BALL is coming soon. And today I thought I'd share a little with you about how this anthology came to be.


A CHRISTMAS BALL is the brainchild of my brilliant editor, Leah Hultenschmidt at Dorchester. (Leah is on the far right, next to Charles Paz, RT's 2009 Mr. Romance and Erin Galloway, marketing expert extraordinaire!) She conceived a holiday anthology where all the stories were linked by virtue of time and place--a grand Christmas Ball. She invited USA Today Bestseller Jennifer Ashley, Alissa Johnson and I to contribute novellas and we set to work. Other than the setting and the date of our stories (December 19, 1822) we were given free rein.

Because we did, however, have a few common elements, we had to agree on those. First of all, who are the hosts of the ball? Leah entertained suggestions (I hoped they could be Lord Robert and Lady Evelyn, because those are my parent's names. Turns out in 1822, Evelyn was a man's name, so Leah opted for Lord Robert and Lady Julia Hartwell as our hosts.) Lord Hartwell is a force to be reckoned with in the House of Lords and his wife is the consumate hostess. Their annual Christmas Ball makes staying in London over the holidays bearable for the politically well-connected members of the ton who normally would celebrate the holiday at their country homes.

Just where is the Christmas Ball being held? Since all our characters would be sharing the same space, we had to agree on the layout. So we did what all good writers do. We borrowed a little from a real London mansion and then altered matters to suit us. This majestic Georgian is Spencer House, the ancestral seat of Princess Di's family. Located in the heart of St. James, Spencer House was built by the first Earl Spencer between 1756-1766. History buffs will want to pop over to the Spencer House website for a more in depth peek into this fascinating place.

Of course, for the purposes of our stories, Hartwell House needed a few changes from the Spencer model. For one thing, we turned the Great Room on the First Floor (which would be the 2nd floor in the American system of reckoning) into our Ballroom. None of the servants' portions of the house is shown in the floorplan detailed on the Spencer website, so I used my imagination. Since my heroine is a scullery maid and my hero a head groom, they passed through the kitchen a time or two. And I discovered a system of secret passageways behind the walls in Hartwell House that are not easily discerned on the Spencer blueprints. But Spencer House gave us a wonderful point of commonality for our stories and a strong sense of place to get us started.

You'll be hearing more about A CHRISTMAS BALL in the coming weeks. It's due to hit the bookshelves on September 29th! If you'd like a taste, please visit my website! And while you're there, be sure to enter my CHRISTMAS IN AUGUST contest! The drawing is just days away.

And speaking of winners, I have a couple to announce from Gerri Russell's visit here this week! Debra Parmley has won a copy of TO TEMPT A KNIGHT and Katie O'Sullivan is the winner of a Scottish Templars T-shirt! Please contact me through my website with your mailing info and I'll get it to Gerri. Amanda McIntyre already announced her winner the day she was here, but I'll repeat the anouncement here--Etriv (aka Delilah) please contact me or Amanda to receive your prize! For those of you who didn't win when Amanda visited here, you have another chance today at The Chatelaines!

No prizes to give away here, but I still love to hear from you. We were talking about setting today. How important is the setting (the place, decorations, food, etc.) for celebrating a holiday to you?

Back to School, Back to Writing

Meet my friend Gerri Russell. She's a two time Golden Heart winner and was first published when she won the American Title Contest a couple years ago. Since her debut in January 2007, she's had 3 more books published. She knows a thing or two about writing. Today she's sharing about how to get back into the writing groove after a summer hiatus. My words are in bold today, Gerri in regular type. Take it away, Gerri.

This summer has been filled with one distraction after another. All the distractions might be fun, but they reek havoc with a writing schedule.

Fall brings consistency of daily writing back into the regime. Are you as ready for a change of season as much as I am. Is it time to get back to writing consistently every single day?

But there may be one little problem…are you ready to get into the groove?

In order to be a marathon runner you must learn to train every day. To start with small goals for activity and slowly build to more. You have to get your muscles in shape and prepare for the ultimate test to your endurance. Is preparing for writing any different? Not really. So what's a writer to do when their muscles are a bit out of shape? When the skills and abilities of achieving page goals each day are a bit…let's be polite here…less than toned? It all goes back to the basics--those same principles marathon runners use.

• Retrain your discipline. This is a tough one. How to be disciplined enough to sit down in your writer's chair after a long break from that habit. Two things that have always worked for me are a quote and a kitchen timer. The quote: "Discipline is remembering what you want." by David Campbell The timer: gets set for 10 minutes the first day, 12 the second, 14 the third, and so on. When the timer is on, I write anything that comes to mind. It's a great way to get back in the habit of writing.

• Start with a plan. What do you want to accomplish? You need a map, a guideline of where you are going. Do you want to complete a whole book by a certain date? Do you want to finish one chapter each week? Write one, three, seven, twenty pages a day?

• Set small goals at first, then build gradually over time to increase your endurance. One you have a plan you can break things down into smaller and realistic goals. Setting goals helps you feel like you are making progress forward. I might start my first week off writing three pages a day, then after the first week bump the total up by 2-3 pages a day until I hit my normal daily average.

• Track your progress. I'm a visual person and I really have to keep a log or a graph to show me what my goal was and then how I'm performing. Placing that chart near my computer desk can really keep me focused and inspired when things are going so well.

• Eat a healthy diet and get enough rest. Yes, you actually write better when you each nutritious food and sleep eight hours a night.

• Celebrate the successes. When you hit your milestones, celebrate the moment. One of my favorite ways to celebrate is to go for a hike. I like to think about it as time off for good behavior. It's also a great way to regroup and feed that writer's well with new thoughts and ideas about what to write next.

What do you need to do to get yourself back in shape after a long summer's break?

Thanks so much for sharing those gems with us, Gerri. I'm thrilled to share that a couple commenters are going to make out like bandits today. Gerri is giving away a copy of her newest release, TO TEMPT A KNIGHT and one of her Brotherhood of Scottish Templar's T-shirts! So leave a comment!



To Tempt a Knight

Upon his return to Scotland from the Crusades, Templar knight Sir William Keith is charged with finding a vital holy relic and protecting the daughter of its former guardian--a task that will force him to choose between duty to his vows and desire for the beautiful, courageous woman finally able to soften his battle-hardened heart.

PS. Wanna join me in a treasure hunt? Be sure to click on the NightOwl Webhunt graphic in the right sidebar and have some end of the summer fun!

Hot Dish Friday!

In Northern Iowa, hot dish is what you have when you take all your left-overs, mix them in a caserole pan, pour a can of cream of mushroom soup over it and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. I'm sort of doing that with my blog today. Sorry.

Fridays are my usual day to post at The Chatelaines. If you haven't given this group blog a try I urge you to pop over. It features CL Wilson, Jennifer Ashley, Joy Nash, Gerri Russell, Bonnie Vanak, Cindy Holby and moi. Today I'm talking a little about my novella in A CHRISTMAS BALL. I've been so heads down working on STROKE OF GENIUS, this release has snuck up on me. As you can see, it's coming fast. (And as you can also see, you can click on the corner of this countdown widget and grab the code for it. If you decide post it on your blog, you will have my undying gratitude! Let me know you did and I'll build a link to your site!) You can pre-order your copy on Amazon!

Writing a novella was a different experience for me. 30K words seems so short when you're used to luxuriating in 90K. That meant things had to pop. It was a little like writing a romance haiku. Every syllable counts.

Now I'm writing at a 10 page a day pace. For A CHRISTMAS BALL, my recovery from cancer surgery slowed me to 2 pages a day. But this is a special story for me because while I was dealing with uncertainty and a good deal of pain, slipping into the world of A CHRISTMAS BALL was a respite. An affirmation that joy and beauty and love was stronger than what I was going through at the time.

And paradoxically enough, my editor says it's the funniest thing I've ever written.(No, it wasn't drugs! I was off pain meds by then.)

Last Monday, Tessa Dare came to visit and those of you who left a comment had a chance to win a copy of her book. I'm pleased to announce that Booklover1335 is her winner! Congratulations. Please contact me through my website with your mailing info and I'll see that Tessa gets it!

And while we're on the subject of contests, my CHRISTMAS IN AUGUST is still running. Please drop by and enter for your chance to win your choice of my backlist.

So that's all in the blog frig for now. The DH and I don't have plans to explore any more harbor islands this weekend (No need to make a "Spectacle" of ourselves again any time soon!) We're going (involuntary shudder) shopping. But we're shopping for him, so it's all good. (I know, I know, I need to overcome my shopping anxiety. I'm working on it!)

Have a lovely day and a weekend filled with everything that pleases you. (And if you care to share what things that might be, please feel free!)

Joy Nash's Countdown to Summer

To celebrate the May 26th release of her Jersey Shore romance A Little Light Magic, Joy’s hosting a month-long blog and Facebook party dedicated to everything wonderful about summer - summer fun, summer memories, summer vacations, summer food, summer entertainment, and - most importantly - the boys (and men!) of summer. Lots of chances to win goodies, including books by Joy and other authors such as Angie Fox, Emily Bryan, Gerri Russell and more.

Starting May 1 and continuing through Memorial Day! Details at http://joynash. blogspot. com/

Confessions of The Anti-Shopper

Fridays are my regular days to blog at The Chatelaines--a group blog I share with Jennifer Ashley, CL Wilson, Joy Nash, Bonnie Vanak, Gerri Russell and Cindy Holby. Usually, I try to have two different posts--one here and one there, but getting ready for RT next week is compressing my time. Please join me today at The Chatelaines. I reveal the depths of my anti-shopping bias and how a transcendant shopping experience can convert even a jaded non-shopper like me.

Hope to see you in Orlando!

"You like me! You really like me!"

It's always fun to win an award and even better when the kudos come from a friend. My cyber-pal, Teddyree has honored my blog with the Premio Dardos Award. I had no idea what that means or who Premio might be, so like the good researcher I am, I googled it. Premio Dardos means "prize darts" in Italian. (And here I was thinking it might make a good Italian hero's name!)

Teddy says, "This award acknowledges the values that every blogger shows in his or her effort to transmit cultural, ethical, literary, and personal values every day."

Despite the fact that this makes me sound a little Mother Theresa-ish, I gratefully accept this award. And now comes the fun part--passing it on! Here's where I get to share the award with other bloggers I enjoy.

1. Gerri Russell's Blog - My friend Gerri can always be counted upon to share some pics of guys in kilts (Hey! That's cultural!)

2. MamaWriters- This energetic group focus on writing romance while juggling the demands of family and career! (Talk about values!)

3. Minds Alive on the Shelves - While not a romance blog, this lively site did host me one day on my 50 day/50 blog VEXING THE VISCOUNT tour. The focus of this blog is more literary than commercial fiction, but the owner Lisa is so gracious, I need to include her here. (And besides isn't this blog's title the best definition of what a book really is?)

4. WritersAtPlay - This was most fun I ever had in a blog interview! Click over for a good giggle if you missed my interview with CL Wilson the first time around. The name of the blog says it all.

5. TalkAboutMyFavoriteAuthors - For sheer volume of romance reviews and info, this blog is up there with the big girls and it's run by one spunky English major/aspiring writer, Phoebe Jordan.

6. Penelope's Romance Reviews - Penny's reading tastes are broad and she gives thoughtful, well-written reviews. I've been fortunate to receive lots of raves for my work, but Penny's insights are fresh and intensely 'quotable'--a quality my editor really prizes in reviews!

Thanks again, Teddyree! This was fun! (Be sure to check out Teddy's THE ECLECTIC READER. She always has something interesting to say.)

Now it's your turn to share, gentle reader. What blogs do you especially enjoy?

Tingles of Magic at THE CHATELAINES

Have you ever been someplace that makes the hairs on your arms stand on end for no discernable reason? I'm blogging about the experience at THE CHATELAINES. You'll want to bookmark this fabulous blogsite. It features CL Wilson, Jennifer Ashley, Joy Nash, Gerri Russell, Bonnie Vanak, Cindy Holby and (blush) me!

I'm giving away a FREE copy of VEXING THE VISCOUNT to one lucky commenter, so be sure to leave a comment or question.

PS. I had a great time at the Romance and Chocolate Group Signing in Farmington, CT. (You can find signed copies of DISTRACTING THE DUCHESS and PLEASURING THE PIRATE at the Borders at 1600 Southeast Road!) Special thanks to Rachel, one of my blog "touristas", for making the trip and bringing her mother to the event! :)

The Chatelaines go LIVE!

Take a New York Times Bestseller, two USA Today Bestsellers, an American Title winner, and three award winning, multi-published authors, scramble them all together and what do you get? THE CHATELAINES! http://www.thechatelaines.blogspot.com/ ! It's the hottest new Historical authors group blog featuring CL Wilson, Jennifer Ashley, Joy Nash, Gerri Russell, Cindy Holby, Bonnie Vanak and . . . moi (blush!) Emily Bryan.

We'll be sharing about what's next for our writing, what's happening in our lives and any crazy thing that pops into our heads! Be sure to bookmark us so you'll never miss a moment!