As I plan my next book I was just thinking about what kind of qualities make up a memorable hero. I was wondering if you’d help me out. ..

Care to tell me either what qualities a hero absolutely must have for you to fall in love with him….or…what qualities absolutely turn you off?

I’ll start with one that caused me to recently put down a book I’d been reading. The hero (now divorced) had cheated on his ex-wife. For me, that was all it took.

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks (in advance)

Okay, the stockings have been pilfered, the tree’s in a heap out by the trash, and all the pretty Christmas paper is in shreds on your living room floor. Christmas is over. It’s a little sad, isn’t it? All the build up, and then it’s over.

I don’t know about you, but I look forward to that special time of year with my family and friends all year. Christmas seems like such a romantic time of year. There are all the romantic holiday songs, the images of roaring fires and glistening snow, the stores stocked with extra hot chocolate and holiday cookies.

Okay, so I live in Houston, and it was in the 70s on Christmas. I can still enjoy all the holiday traditions. And I can still miss them.

So yesterday, after Ultimate Sportsfan and I pulled out of my parents’ driveway and started on the road for home, I got a little teary eyed. This is not Ultimate Sportsfan’s favorite thing. He wants to know why I’m crying and — more importantly, what can be done to make me stop.

But how do you explain that you’re crying because Christmas is over? How do you explain that you’re crying because you’re going to miss all the friends and family and love and specialness that the holidays bring? How do you cry because the romance of Christmas has now passed and you have to go back to your unromantic real life?

Logically, I know I’m going to see my family again (probably sooner than I want to). Logically I know that my friends and family are there for me all year round. And logically I know there will still be romance in my life (unless I’m forced to watch that 10-hour history of college football boxset my mom got Ultimate Sportsfan — thanks, Mom!)

But it’s not the same. There’s something special about Christmas…isn’t there? Is anyone else out there a little sad to see it go? Did anyone else wipe a tear away and sigh for next year?

I have never been the sort of person who makes serious resolutions with the coming of a new year. Mostly because I am well aware of what a weak individual I am and can just about guarantee that I’d wind up breaking every one of them within the first few weeks of January. (I told myself I’d start a diet and lose 20 pounds in 2005. I’m still waiting for that miracle.) But if I did bother to make any resolutions for 2006, at the top of my list would be finally seeing the bottom of my TBR pile. It seems like I’ve had a growing stack of books next to my bed for years, and with all of the books and bookstore gift cards I received for Christmas, it is starting to bear more than a passing resemblance to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I’ve had nightmares about it toppling over on me while I’m sleeping and smothering me.

One of the most difficult things for me to deal with since becoming a published author (Along with learning to actually meet deadlines and overcoming a rather awkward shyness) has been the sad fact that I just don’t have the time to read like I used to. When I think of all the wonderful books languishing at the bottom of this seemingly endless stack, it makes me long for the good old days when I could read five to six books in a week. Now, I’m lucky if I get through that amount in a month.

And last night, as I started to settle in for my standard hour of reading time before going to bed, I had trouble picking which book I wanted to start on. Waiting for me are Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Unleash the Night, Tina St. John’s Heart of the Dove, Shari Anton’s Midnight Magic, and Suzanne Macpherson’s Switched, Bothered, and Bewildered. Sigh. How is an avid reader supposed to choose? With that sort of indecisive hemming and hawing, I should still have a TBR pile taller than I am at this time next year.

Oh, well. If I’m lucky, 2006 will be the year that I finally manage to pick up the last book in the stack. (Just in time to start a new one, of course. Wink-wink!) And for those of you who make resolutions, the best of luck to you!

Happy New Year!

I am in charge of baking the pies at my family’s Christmas dinner and my mother assured me that she’d purchased all the ingredients necessary for pumpkin pie and pecan pie. So it’s Christmas day, mid-morning, and I’m all set to make my pies. I go to the fridge and the crusts she has have expired. Um…there’s nothing but Walgreens open on Christmas day and they don’t sell pie crusts. I can make them from scratch, but you need shortening for that and well, we didn’t have any of that either. So I opted for graham cracker crusts – not standard at our house for pies, but hey, I can improvise.

With the pumpkin pies done, I began on the pecan pie. Measure the Karo syrup, melt the butter, pour in the butter, look at the recipe again. OHMYGOSH! That was supposed to be 1 cup of sugar, NOT one cup of butter – I only needed 3 tablespoons of butter. Panic, scoop out as much butter as possible and figure hey, this is how great recipes are created. And it’s butter, how bad could that be? So I add the rest of the ingredients, then pour it into the chilled graham cracker crust, only this 9 inch pie plate is either mislabeled or something else because the pie overflows all over the table. So I salvage most of the pie and pour it back into the mixing bowl and try to recreate the crust in a larger pie plate. At this point, it’s just become hysterical and I’m convinced this is going to be the worst pecan pie in history, but I persevere cause that’s what I do.

So the pie is successfully in the reconstructed crust and I throw it in the over. It didn’t much look like pecan pie and it had a rather sticky consistency, but according to my family it was the best pecan pie they’d ever had – although being the smart alecks that they are, they referred to it as the butter pie. I can’t imagine that I can recreate this recipe, but perhaps I’ll give it a try someday.

But as I reflected on this amusing and frustrating experience, I saw the glaring parallel to my writing process. I read something recently where one famous author said that a writer learns to write a book by writing it. To which another author replied that unfortunately writing that book doesn’t prepare you to write the next book. So the fact that I’ve made a million pies didn’t necessarily mean that I could successfully bake another one. Consequently, just because I’ve written books before doesn’t mean that I know what I’m doing when I start on the next book. I generally make one blunder after another while I write my first draft, but at the end of my frustrating and (somewhat) amusing process I end up with a book that hopefully readers will connect with.

On a side note, I must share my good news. I found out that Courting Claudia is an RT Reviewer’s Choice Award Nominee for Best First Historical (along with fellow quill, Kimberly Logan – congrats, Kim!) I couldn’t be more excited about this nod.

I haven’t quite finished my second book for Avon and I’m thinking about starting the research on my next one. My next three books are all set in the time of William the Conqueror, but each one with a different perspective, each hero and heroine on a different side of the conflict.

The Bride Hunt will be released in a week (yay!) and it’s the story of two Normans, captured by Scots in northern England, and how they escape. The next, Saxon Lady, is a Harlequin Historical, and this one is the tale of a Saxon noblewoman who fights to keep her land from being taken by the Norman knight sent to conquer it. And her!

I’m still working on The Perfect Seduction, the tale of a young Norman woman who is rescued from Scottish raiders by a Saxon nobleman – her natural enemy. I’m hoping to finish it in the next day or so, then do a print-out and read it through and send it to my editor before my January 1 deadline. (Yikes! What am I doing, playing here!)

So, what’s next? I’m thinking about the Magna Carta and the life and times of King John of England. Think of Robin Hood and Sherwood Forest, the dreaded sheriffs, the crusades and Richard the Lion Hearted. I haven’t actually figured out who my characters will be – In my writing process, I can’t get too far into a new project before the current one is finished, but I always have a few ideas starting to gel so that I’m ready to go as soon as I put the final manuscript in the mail. Looks like in 2006, I’ll be starting the year off in the library!

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah or just all around great weekend! Anyone shopping today? Did you brave the early morning sale crowds? Find anything fun? Snowmen that hold candles? Holiday cards for next year? That great blouse that you’ve been wanting?

What about this past weekend? Any great stories? Particularly juicy foibles (fall into the eggnog) or great moments (see your relatives healthy and happy)? This is the week of rest and cheer before the rush back to work and the resolutions that define our next year (or next few days, however those resolutions go!).

I had a very nice weekend spent with family. The best thing about Christmas Day for me is the pure joy of sitting around with family and friends and not doing anything else. Just a day of rest and good cheer.

And now, I’m off to see what kinds of sales are out there. Back later in the day with a report.

Okay, I know it’s Christmas Eve Day….and in just an hour I need to head over and do the relative thing before going to church…but this is not a post about Christmas.

Instead, I have a burning question to ask–what are your thoughts on male point of view at the beginning of the book (say in the first five chapters)? Do you, as a reader, like to get into his head? Or does that destroy the mystery? Would you rather learn about him from how he interacts with the heroine?

All I want from you for Christmas is an answer to this question (preferably not just yes or no) Thanks in advance! And….btw….Merry Christmas!

I know you’re out there, you fellow sufferers. I know you’re out there because I know the statistics. One in every 40 people has the same birthday (not the same year, but the same day and month). It’s true. (I learned it in Dr. Lewis’s Intro to Psychology course at the University of Texas.)

So I know there is someone out there reading this blog who also has a birthday on December 25. You understand. For the rest of you, a few pointers.

1. No, Christmas/birthday presents are not okay. Don’t try it; it’s not cool.
2. Yes, those Christmas birthday cards are cute. Those are okay (accompanied by two presents — one for Christmas and one for my birthday).
3. It’s not that unusual. There’s no need to say, “Oh, my God! So you were born on Christmas? Like December 25? That’s so amazing!” This goes double for store clerks who hold up the line because they see my birthday on my driver’s license.
4. It might sound cool to have a Christmas birthday, but let’s think that through a moment.
A. No one remembers because Christmas pretty much overshadows everything starting the day after Thanksgiving.

B. You never have a birthday party because people are always with their families on Christmas.

C. You never have your own day because everyone gets to open presents at Christmas.

D. You only get presents once a year. If you don’t get it at Christmas, you’re buying it yourself or waiting another year.

5. The benefits are that you never have to work on your birthday. Almost everyone is off for Christmas. The other benefit? You are always around friends and family on your birthday, and that’s really the best thing, isn’t it?

Happy holidays, everyone, and happy birthday to those of you who have one to celebrate.

P.S. You might be interested to know that 2 other Jaunty Quills have b-days in December. Happy belated birthday to Shirley and Anne!

Well, it’s that time of year again, ladies and gents. The time that all procrastinators such as I look forward to with relish and eager anticipation. (And yes, you DO hear a touch of sarcasm in that statement, folks!) That’s right. It’s time for the annual last minute wrapping of the gifts. Time to eye the huge mound of presents you have purchased for every single person you know and wonder why you didn’t decide to just get them all gift cards.

Sigh. Yes, I know I sound like a Scrooge, but I do this to myself every year. Somehow, I always wind up waiting until the last minute and then I have to rush to get all my wrapping done on Christmas Eve. This year I have no excuses. I’m between books and have the extra time, but I have spent that extra time doing things like feeding my sad soap opera addiction. (See last Thursday’s blog for the details on that.) I swear, I meant to do things differently this Christmas. I promised myself that I would sit down last night and do it, but somehow I couldn’t quite bring myself to follow through. There were too many other things that I far preferred doing. Like ramming bamboo shoots under my fingernails, for instance…

It would be one thing if I halfway enjoyed this chore or was even any good at it. But sadly, I inherited NONE of my parents’ genes when it comes to wrapping. (IS there a wrapping gene?) My father is very artsy and makes a huge production out of wrapping his gifts every year. He gets very creative, coming up with new ways to fashion ribbons and bows that are astonishing. My mother isn’t as elaborate as my dad, but she is very neat and precise. All of her presents are wrapped just so, with perfectly folded corners and not a lump or bump to be seen. It’s mind-boggling for someone like me, who has problems just getting the paper off the roll.

There must be a secret to all of this, but if there is, I haven’t been able to discover it. If there were classes in Giftwrapping 101, I should probably be first in line to take them. For not only am I a procrastinator, but I stink at wrapping. It is a running joke at Christmas time that you can always tell which gifts under the tree are from me, even without looking at the tags. I wouldn’t know a perfectly folded corner if it bit me. There are bumps and lumps galore and so much tape that they look as if they have been mummified. Even my niece and nephews are starting to eye me with pity.

Oh, well. I suppose we can’t all be expert wrappers. I always tell everyone that they are only going to tear the paper off anyway. It’s what’s inside that counts. But now, I suppose it’s time for me to get back to coming up with ways to avoid…er, I mean I need to get back to wrapping.

A very Merry Christmas to you all!

So going with the trend of this week and talking about television shows, I must bring up, what in my opinion, is the worst show ever to grace American living rooms. Perhaps there is a small cult following for this show that lasted all of 4 months, but it is a general consensus (from the small minority of us that actually watched it) that this one should have been left on the editing floor.

Needless to say there were many of us who eagerly awaited the innovative new series before we knew what a horrible mess it would actually be. In retrospect, the show had its virtues, none of which though were the intensions of the creators. It was supposed to be a drama. Instead, it was a comedy of epic proportions.

I remember before it aired that first night, my mother and I were really looking forward to it. I flopped myself on the floor in front of the TV and at the first commercial, I turned to my mother and said, “this is just terrible.” I was 16 at the time – I shouldn’t have even known what good TV was (aside from Kate and Ally which was a great show!) So I know, now you’re all dying to know what show I’m speaking such wretched things about. Let’s see if some of you can guess.

Two hints. It’s a drama. AND a musical.

Anyone know? Well, for those of you who don’t. It’s Cop Rock and it debuted in 1990 and died shortly thereafter. It was a police drama ala Hill Street Blues, only done musical style. Were we just not ready for such originality? Or was that just such a terrible combination that humankind will never be ready? I can’t answer for everyone, but I certainly have my opinion.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with this jewel from our past, please take a moment to stop here http://www.trioplus.tv/cop_rock/index.html and if your computer is capable, watch some clips. I promise they’ll be worth the time spent.

It seems wrong to not share this with y’all and possibly deprive you of some moments of great humor. Enjoy.