Hi, my name is Shirley, and I can’t stop watching HGTV.

For those of you without cable TV, the Home & Garden Television network is all about living spaces, inside and out. My initial viewing began with the most innocent of intentions — a year ago we were expecting a baby, I was nesting, and needed ideas on how to mend my clutterbug ways. Mission Organization gave me practical tips on how to clear the clutter, organize our belongings so it doesn’t happen again, and decorate nicely so I’ll be motivated to keep it all neat and tidy.

Then I graduated to shows focused solely on decorating. I nibbled on Divine Design with Candice Olson episodes but found her fantabulous how-high-can-you-go budget remodels (a bathroom with a toilet that cost more than three months’ income?!?) intriguing but too much to handle.

Then I sampled and got hooked on Design On A Dime which is more in our range. They bring in a team of three to re-do one room on a budget of $1,000. I don’t always like the style they choose (one recent living room got a chandelier made of faux deer antlers) but I am impressed with the creative methods employed to stay within the budget. They make things instead of always buying new, or shop the thrift stores and on-line classifieds (clearly Craig’s List but they don’t mention it by name).

Something they made I’d like my hubby to build for us is a coffee table that has a padded top upholstered in faux leather (soft edges and washable fabric, since baby will soon be walking and therefore falling and spilling). The top is in two pieces, hinged on the ends, so you can flip one side up to get to the storage area underneath (great for hiding toys) after sliding the stuff on top to the other side because realistically it’s never going to be completely cleared off, is it? Simple, but I would never have thought of it myself. A variation has a solid top and ottomans with storage compartments that tuck underneath or roll out for extra seating. They make it look so easy, it should be a cinch to build, right?

If a grand is too much, Decorating Cents does a room for under $500, also makes things or “re-purposes” existing items, and has a segment called Trash to Treasure where they make things like a sofa table out of old lumber and picket fence pieces that were headed for the dump, or transform clay flower pots into bookends.

If you have no money at all to spare, there’s Free Style where they come in and rearrange existing stuff, bringing in things from other rooms as needed, grouping things into artful displays, improving traffic flow and conversation areas and generally making you wonder “why didn’t I think of doing it that way?”

Of course there are numerous shows that don’t disclose their budget and are based on the decorator’s personality, like Myles of Style, Deserving Design, Color Correction, and so on as well as Curb Appeal and Designed To Sell. And don’t even get me started on all the shows on landscaping or crafting.

You’d think all this would be enough to overwhelm me with ideas, make me get up and put this new knowledge into practice since most of my decorating intentions are still just that, intentions, or at the very least turn off the TV and go to bed since everyone else is fast asleep, but no, I’ve been known sit through House Hunters, where people look at three properties and decide which comes closest to their ideal. It’s as bad as getting hooked on a game show. (Cash Cab addiction, anyone?) Will they choose house #1, #2, or #3?

I understand why I felt compelled to watch when they were hunting in a suburb near us (how often is Tigard featured on TV, anyway?) but then I sat through the next episode where an executive and his family were house hunting in the Caribbean with a mere $1,000,000 budget. Okay, I do know why I had to watch the Caribbean episode and regular readers of this blog know why, too, and it was interesting to learn that the furniture stays with the house there, but still…

I can’t even justify all this as research because I haven’t figured out how to put it to use in my writing. I generally don’t get too detailed about settings because when other writers do I tend to yell “get on with the story!”

Hi, my name is Shirley, and I need help.

Hello, Jaunties! Thanks a million for having me here.

It’s a pretty safe bet to say that men and women are the ultimate opposites. For instance, women excel at multitasking. We’re capable of compiling a datasheet, making a PB&J, phoning a friend to make plans for the weekend, and prying bubblegum out of a four-year-old’s hair…all at the same time. Men excel at focusing and making sense of spatial relationships. So if you need an IKEA bookcase assembled during a chaotic family reunion brunch, a man is your man. The typical male is unfazed by relatives arriving, children dropping water balloons, sweet-potato casseroles burning, and the very real possibility that Uncle Joe just parked his SUV in the neighbor’s prizewinning hydrangeas, sparking a block-wide feud. Until the job at hand is accomplished, everything else can wait.

I envy men their ability to focus. I also envy their confidence in their athletic prowess (even if their last slam dunk was in third grade), their fearlessness when hoisting little kids on their shoulders (it’s the only way to watch a parade), and their ability to pee standing up (face it, it’s convenient). Men are brave, protective, and willing to sit on the stadium bleacher with the caramel corn glued to it (so I don’t have to). They squash bugs. They work hard to be good providers, good boyfriends/husbands/friends, and good people. The world is a better place because men and women share it, and no one can convince me otherwise.

However, once you put men and women together, the results can be…hilarious! I mean, with two such divergent viewpoints, how can they not be? Maybe that’s why, in my books, I often pair up a hero and heroine who are *totally* different. After all, why not make the most of the possibilities? I love a good “opposites attract” story. It gets me every time.

So how about you? Do you believe opposites attract?

Okay, I know what you all are probably thinking. “Boy, didn’t we just get rid of this crazy broad a couple of months ago?” (Ahem. Not one word from you, Jaunty!) But my esteemed JQ sisters were kind enough to invite me back to talk about my latest release from Avon, SEDUCED BY SIN, which hit shelves on March 25th, and I was delighted at the opportunity to revisit my old stomping grounds and say hello to everyone. For those of you who are glad to see me, thank you so much for having me! For those of you who are not…well, putting up with me is better than one of Jaunty’s sharp quills in the eye.

In any case, I thought I would share a bit about SBS and fill you all in on some of the behind-the-scenes tid-bits on the writing of it. As always, I wrapped up this book with the usual conflicting mixture of happiness and sadness. But as this was the final book in my Daventry Sisters series, those emotions were even more profound than usual. Though I am looking forward to moving on to the next project, having to say goodbye to characters that have been such a big part of my life for the past three years was even more difficult than I had anticipated.

The youngest of the Daventry Sisters, Lady Aimee has long been haunted by the night she witnessed her mother’s murder. Only nine-years-old at the time, the trauma of the incident had caused her to erase most of the details from her memory. Suddenly, however, those memories have started to return as fragmented parts of her nightmares, and she is beginning to recall things that make her believe there may be more to what happened that long-ago evening than anyone might suspect. Enter Royce Grenville, Viscount Stonehurst. Scarred in more ways than one, Royce is the man Aimee has loved for years. Having once made the mistake of confessing her feelings to him, she had been ruthlessly cut out of his life without a backward glance, leaving her convinced that he cares nothing for her, and he is definitely the last person she wants to see now. Little does she know that his feelings for her go far deeper than he lets on. For his part, Royce has tried to keep the shy Aimee at a distance. But when her life is endangered by her returning memories, he is forced to step forward and act as her protector. Will they finally learn to put their tragic pasts behind them and move toward the future in each other’s arms?

Some tid-bits:

-Surprisingly enough, Aimee and Royce turned out to be the most stubborn characters I have ever created, and they caused me no end of headaches trying to get them to cooperate with my plans for the story. Even more so than Maura and Gabriel in THE DEVIL’S TEMPTATION, who took the prize before. Aimee and Royce both had their own ideas about how the tale should progress, and it took me a while to get them to interact the way I wanted them to!

-As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t usually picture a particular actor or famous person whenever I am creating a hero, but there are definite shades of Gerard Butler in Royce. Maybe its because of the whole scarred Phantom thing? LOL.

-Some of my favorite scenes to write involved eldest Daventry sister Jillian’s young twin sons, Thane and Roddy. I just adored them.

-When I originally sat down to plot out the overarcing mystery of the Daventry Sisters series, a different person was supposed to be the final culprit in the murder of Lady Albright. Can you guess who it was?

I hope that readers who pick up SEDUCED BY SIN will be satisfied, not only with Aimee and Royce’s love story, but with the solution to the mystery that has been at the center of the Daventry Sisters series!

Hi, everyone! Glad to be back this Tuesday morning before I head out for the Romantic Times Convention in Pittsburgh.

As entertained as I was reading everyone else’s “day in the life”, I thought I would keep with the theme and add my own entry of “A Day in The Life of Sophie Jordan (Sharie Kohler)”. Of course, as a full time writer/mom, my days vary. However, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, with my daughter at preschool, run fairly steady.

So here’s a “tame” M/W/F for me:

7:00am: Like clock work, I hear the baby through the monitor and I’m up …

7:00-7:30: I change the baby’s diaper, feed him his bottle, then breakfast (he’s eating food now) while DH showers. Finished with that, I deposit the baby in his ultra saucer.

7:30: I wake up the “newbie” five-year-old. Even though she had a full night’s sleep, this is a major feat. Five minutes of hugs, kisses, back rubs/scratching accompanied with an overly cheerful pep-talk about the day ahead of her. Then, finally, Mommy gets tough and threatens to dump a glass of water over her head. The threat does the trick and she’s up.

7:35: After much negotiating, breakfast is delivered to one groggy five-year-old. She’s so not a morning person – just like her Mommy.

7:40: I move into the bedroom (passing DH on the way) and dress for the gym. DH packs a lunch for the five-year-old, urging her to eat faster.

7:50: I check on everyone’s progress in the kitchen before moving into the five-year-old’s bedroom and selecting her day’s outfit.

7:55: Back in the kitchen, I join DH in urging the daughter to eat her food – stop playing with it! – drink your milk, get your hair out of your bowl, etc … This is usually when I grab a quick bite, too.

8:05: We move the daughter out of the kitchen and onto teeth, hair, clothes, shoes.

8:25-8:30: I pack up daughter’s lunch and bag and put baby in carrier. DH takes both and heads to preschool.

8:40: I leave for gym.

9:00: Run 1-2 miles on treadmill.

9:30: Do Lift class. Usually cp and Young Adult author Tera Lynn Childs joins me.

10:30: Class ends. Chat with TCL for a few minutes and leave gym.

10:45: Starbucks stop for me and DH.

11:00: Arrive home, take DH his coffee while he’s on a business call in the office. Check email, write (currently I’m working on copy edits for SURRENDER TO ME, a new book proposal, and an untitled historical due this July).

11:15-11:30: Baby wakes! Change diaper and give him bottle.

12:00: Eat lunch with baby and DH (if he’s not on a call).

12:30: Drag saucer into bathroom, put baby in it and take a shower.

1:00: Play with baby. Work on laundry. Write if I can grab a moment or two. Check email again.

2:00: Change diaper and load up baby in carrier to pick up daughter.

2:30: Unload baby into stroller and go inside school to pick up daughter at her classroom.

2:50: Time for quick errands (ie, gas, store or post office)

3:30: Arrive home. Change diaper, give baby a bottle and put down for nap.

4:00: Leave with daughter for her lesson (gymnastics, swimming … it’s always something). Usually I leave baby sleeping and signal the DH (if he’s on a call) that he needs to listen for the little guy.

5:30: Arrive home. Usually DH has dinner going.

6:00-6:30: Family eats dinner. I eat a bite, baby eats a bite, I eat a bite, baby eats a bite …

7:00: DH and I double team the kids. One bathes the five-year old and readies her for bed. The other gives the baby his bedtime bottle and changes him for bed.

7:30-8:00: Baby goes to bed.

8:00: Five-year gets book and tucked into bed.

8:15: Double-team on the dishes.

8:30: I may need to make baby food. If not, I work on laundry and watch a little television with the DH.

9:30: Write. And mother calls around now to ask why I haven’t called today.

12:00-1:00 AM: Put away the alphasmart or laptop.

Then I lie in bed, thinking about all I didn’t get done before I finally fall asleep.

And that’s a standard Monday – I’m lucky to have a DH not afraid to pull his load. This mother of two and full-time writer gig would get a bit hairy otherwise. It’s very cool for us both to work from home. Honestly, I love it. And believe it or not, we don’t get on each other’s nerves. Anymore than before, at least! LOL! Seriously, it has made us closer and strengthened our marriage. When I have to speak to a group, do a bookclub, go to a writers meeting, etc., we can always work it in with our flexible schedules. Of course, DH travels about one week out of every five or six. Er, not too fun to have him gone! I truly feel like a single mom that week. If something comes up I beg help from my mother-in-law or TLC.

Thanks for stopping by. Look for a website update soon and learn all about my August release, SURRENDER TO ME, whose final copy edits are going out the door today! YAY!

Hugs,
Sophie/Sharie

Sorry this is so late, but congratulations to Laura, the winner of Emily McKay’s contest from last week. Laura, just email Emily so she can find out where to mail your book.

I’ve really enjoyed reading about everyone’s day in the last few blogs, and I guess now it’s my turn. Since I have a day job, my schedule is a little bit different.

4:20 a.m. The alarm goes off. Feed the cats, empty the litter box, turn on the computer.

4:45 a.m. Finish reading last 2 or 3 pages written and start on the next page (or the end of the last page). Notice there’s no email checking in here. I’m not allowed to check email until after I’ve met my page goal. On weekdays, that’s 5 pages.

5:30 a.m. Start getting worried that I’m not going to be done with the 5 pages in time.

5:45 a.m. Ultimate Sportsfan’s alarm goes off. Type furiously. I know he’ll hit snooze.

5:50 Save the five pages, email them to myself, and check email.

6:00 a.m. Change into my running clothes. Try to convince USF to get up and run with me. Am successful about half of the time.

6:05 a.m. Run 2 miles.

6:40 a.m. Get in the shower.

7:20 a.m. Eat breakfast, make lunches, and head out the door.

7:40 a.m. Pull into the parking lot.

7:50 a.m. Sign in and head to class (I’m a teacher).

8:00 a.m. Drink coffee and try to wake up. Meet with parents or administrators. Lesson plans and grading.

9:30 a.m. Teach

11:55 a.m.-12:05 p.m. Check emails.

12:05-12:25 p.m. Gulp down lunch.

3:30 p.m. Head home unless I have tutorials.

3:45 p.m. Revise the chapter I have on my schedule. If I’m on chapter twenty, I’m probably revising somewhere back in chapter fourteen or fifteen.

5:00 p.m. Pick USF up from work (like Robyn, we only have one car). Go work out if we’re not too tired.

7:00 p.m. Eat dinner and read a book or back to the computer for more revising or to write a blog or answer emails.

10:30 p.m. Collapse in bed.

P.S. Sophie Jordan will be blogging with us tomorrow, instead of today, as scheduled.

If you’re interested in how romance novel covers are created, check out this feature from Better TV. Marianne Mancusi, an author with Dorchester, produced the piece.

I read an article in a magazine recently where Inside Edition host Deborah Norville talked about the power of gratitude. She has written a book, Thank You Power in which she talks about scientists discovering gratitude can cause decreased stress and increased energy.

She suggests making a habit of listing what you are grateful for…which can be trivial or monumental. Apparently students who kept a gratitude journal got sick less often, exercised more and were more optomistic than those who wrote about hassles and mundane events.

She believes there is always a blessing when something goes wrong. Her example… Missed the train? Now you have time to read the newspaper. “Gratitude makes you appreciate the small things so when the trials come, it’s easier to put them in perspective,” Norville says.

She also suggests you consider writing a thank you letter to someone who has been good to you. She likens writing a thank-you letter to throwing a pebble into a still pond and watching it ripple out.

Okay, I’m game. How about we each come up with 5 things we can be happy about right now…sound good?

Cindy’s list:
1. The trees are starting to bud
2. My hand is getting stronger every day
3. I have all day to write my new chapter
4. It’s my daughter’s birthday and we’re going to celebrate over breakfast
5. Our two dogs and one cat are all healthy and happy

Can’t wait to hear yours.

Robyn here…Before I turn the blog over to Emily I have to step in here to do a special introduction because I’m so excited that Emily is here today. You see not only is she my critique partner and closest friend, but she’s one of my favorite authors. If you like Jenny Cruisie, chances are you’ll like Emily McKay. She’s got great trademark humor and authentic emotion that will really tug at your heartstrings. So if you’ve never given her a try, then do yourself a favor and run out today to get you a copy of her latest Desire – and really how sexy is that cover?

Okay, now without further ado, I give you my partner in crime, Emily McKay.

A couple of weeks ago, I had a health scare. Not the kind of health scare I normally have (which usually consists of me googling obscure diseases and then calling friends and family to see if they think I’m exhibiting signs of … oh, say typhoid or sarcoidosis. No, this was an actual health scare. There were doctors involved and everything.

Don’t worry, it ended up being nothing.

But as I sat in the doctor’s office with my hubby and kids waiting to see if my number was in fact up, here are some of the thoughts that went through my mind: “If I’m dying, I want to do less laundry. I want to eat more Thin Mints and Cherry Garcia ice cream. And I’m definitely not finishing that mediocre book I’ve been reading. Hmm…I wonder what I should read instead. Maybe I’ll reread Laura Kinsale’s Flowers from the Storm. Or the last Harry Potter book. I’ll definitely catch up on Suz Brockmann’s Trouble Shooter series.”

It’s funny, now that I think about it. I didn’t give any thought to what I’d finish writing. I guess that’s because I was a reader long before I was a writer. I can imagine never writing again, but I sure can’t imagine never reading again.

So when I found out I wasn’t dying, what did I do when I got home? I folded laundry. But I did pick up a Susan Elizabeth Phillips book I’d been saving.

But what about you? What book is so good, you’d want it to be the last book you ever read?

For any who respond today, I’ll draw a lucky winner to win an autographed copy of my latest release, Baby on the Billionaire’s Doorstep.

P.S. I’m running a contest on my website. Be sure to stop by for a chance to win a one of two $50 gift cards from Amazon.com.

Following up Robyn’s post of yesterday, I started to think of all the things that interfere with getting a good day’s work/writing done. When you have a job like ours, it’s not task-oriented the way many other jobs are. For example, when I was a nurse, there were certain things that had to be completed daily, and they had to be done by a certain time. IVs have to be started now, not later. Assessments and evaluations must be made, treatments must be given. Vital signs taken. Etcetera. But a writer has to create something out of nothing but a mass of ideas floating around in her head, and any number of things can interfere with that process.
1. The internet
As much as I love it, it’s the bane of my existence. I can waste hours searching for just the right word, or exactly the kind of ship used in 1820, or what kind of underwear a gentleman would have worn in 1885 … You get my drift. What I really should do is vow never to look up these details until my day’s work is done. Then go to the internet and other resources to find the info I need. I can search for the XXXX I’ve stuck in the manuscript to mark the place, and fill it in when I’ve learned what I needed.
2. Email
I am a people-person. And writing is such a solitary job. I would love it if all the Jaunties could meet up every day in a “writing office” and work away separately, stopping to chat periodically. That’s kind of what email does, but studies show that it takes several minutes after each email session to get back on task, so it’s really counter-productive to check email more than a couple of times a day. [Sigh]
3. House Distractions
This encompasses everything in my house that I can use to distract myself from actually sitting my butt down and dealing with that ridiculously difficult scene that I have to write today, or I can’t go on. This is the kitchen (Is it lunch time yet? Should I start something elaborate for dinner?) the laundry room, the vacuum, the telephone. There is always something to organize, prepare, clean, or eat. This is why I go to Starbuck’s almost every day to write. There is nothing to do there but write and drink coffee (since I made a vow never to drink anything with calories or to eat there).
4. The other part of the job
Doing promotional activities. Everyone does different things – from interviews to mailings to contests on their websites. All this stuff takes time away from writing, but it must be done.
5. Home/Family issues
Most of us try to have a life, too. Writing can be an all-consuming effort, and for many of us, our family lives go down the tubes when we’re working our way up to a tight deadline. Or when the stresses of production get to us (like you’ve got a deadline, but you also received the copy edits for your next book and they must be completed in two weeks). It’s important to try to anticipate these things and stay a little bit ahead of the game.

So even if you’ve got a great schedule – on paper – there is always something that can jump into a writer’s world and spike her creative efforts. It’s one of a writer’s most difficult tasks to stay focused and on task.