I received some fabulous news earlier this week! Polish Publisher, Proszynski Media, has purchased the Polish language rights to my historical Women’s Fiction novel, WITH VIOLETS (written as Elizabeth Robards – that’s my historical nom de plume).

In the early stages of my career, I thought once you sold the book – you’d sold the book. End of story (pardon the pun). Not so. Each language and format (hardcover, mass-media paperback, trade paperback, film, e-book, audio, etc) is considered an individual “right” and potential sale – depending on which rights you sell and the contracted agreement the writer and agent draws up with the publisher. So far WITH VIOLETS has been translated from English into Korean and Italian. Now it’s making its way into the Polish market.

Hearing the news, also reminded me that I haven’t told you the story of how I came to write WITH VIOLETS, which is a story based on historical facts, with the missing pieces “painted in.”

Here is the story behind the story:

When my husband and I set off for Paris in May 1999, little did I know the trip would change my life. I’d lived in France and longed to return to Paris; it was my husband’s first trip to this magnificent country. Our main focus (besides food) was art. From the Louvre to the Musée d’Orsay, to the Musée National de l’Orangerie, we immersed ourselves in the works of the great masters.

I was particularly interested in the French Impressionists. I’d always loved their work and was anticipating a daytrip to Giverny, Claude Monet’s home and famous gardens. Before we boarded a train at the Gare Saint-Lazare, to make our way to Giverny, we stopped at Paris’s Musée Marmottan to gaze upon Monet’s infamous ‘Impression, Sunrise’ (Impression: Soleil Levant), the image that launched the French Impressionist movement.

On the second floor of the Musée Marmottan, I “met” Berthe Morisot for the first time. Not literally, of course, since she died in 1895. Still, her essence permeated her luminous paintings on display on the second floor of that old mansion. Even though I’d been a fan of the Impressionists, I wasn’t familiar with her work. I was immediately captivated by her style and drawn to a photograph of Berthe and her family. Something about the photo haunted me and urged me to research her life. In doing so, I discovered the tale of a deeply complex, richly talented woman who bucked nineteenth century convention to become one of the world’s greatest artists. It also became exceedingly clear she was likely very much in love with the great painter Édouard Manet, the brother of the man who would become her husband.

Very little is documented about the depth of Édouard and Berthe’s affinity for each other. Biographers recognize their intense friendship and acknowledge hints of romantic fancy in her correspondence. Also telling are reports of Berthe’s extreme jealousy of Manet’s wife, Suzanne, and his pupil, Eva Gonzalés. Most revealing, though, are the portraits Édouard painted of Berthe between 1872 -74. In the span of his career, Manet did not paint anyone as often, nor as passionately as he portrayed her.

It’s well documented that the Manet brothers doted on Berthe. Some biographers have implied a bit of sibling rivalry ensued over her attention. Alas, Édouard was a married man. Eugène was not. For all intents and purposes, Eugène won when Berthe became his bride on December 22, 1874.

Upon the announcement of her engagement to his brother, Édouard painted Berthe one last time. The portrait prominently showed off her engagement/wedding ring. Once she married Eugène, Édouard never painted her again. According to documentation, Berthe took her marriage vows seriously, had a daughter with Eugène and settled into a close platonic relationship with Édouard, but it’s unclear to whom Berthe’s heart really belonged.

In WITH VIOLETS, I have attempted to portray the documented facts of Berthe Morisot and Édouard Manet’s lives as accurately as possible. However, the book is most definitely a work of fiction. I drew on her correspondence and attempted to “paint in” the missing peaces of Berthe and Édouard’s relationship, exploring what might have happened between them during the years prior to Berthe’s marriage to Eugène. It is with great awe and respect for Berthe and Édouard and their nonconforming, artistic spirits that I have asked the question “what if” and sketched a love story about what might have been….

Congratulations to Gillian who has won an autographed advanced reading copy of Seduce Me. Thanks to everyone who participated and shared their idea of a great hero. Gillian, be sure to email me your mailing address so I can pop it in the mail to you, along with a couple of promo goodies.

Now scroll on down to read Shirley’s funny post.

I considered writing something deep and meaningful for today, like maybe discussing my husband’s birthday tomorrow and how morose he is about turning *cough cough* years old, or perhaps share some of the joys and sordid details as we begin potty training our toddler.

But, no. Anne got me hooked on checking out LOL Cats on my lunch break, which turned into a gateway for getting hooked on LOL Celebrities. Blame these on Anne. Shall we begin?

(Please note: my selection of which pics to share today was not at all influenced by Robyn’s post yesterday. Nosirree, not at all. Ahem.)

Below might be tough to read on some monitors. “Charisma: When you never shower, you’re always drunk, and you prance like a fairy — and women still think you’re sexy.” If I knew how to make these, I’d redo this one.

Okay, I did have to throw in a LOL Cat.

I have mixed feelings about the movie Chocolat. Juliette Binoche’s Vianne annoys me in that she doesn’t show much character growth — she runs away again at the end — but I love Dame Judi’s character. Oh yeah, and there’s this gypsy named Roux…. When you see Johnny playing Minor Swing, that really is his playing you hear, not some other musician.

I debated adding this one, since we generally try to keep things rated PG or above ’round these parts, but since the pic was published in People or some such mag, I decided to share. He’s relaxing on his yacht while filming Pirates II and III. (Note the skull-and-crossbones motif on his bandanna. You did see the bandanna, didn’t you?)

A British reporter once asked JD on camera “Boxers or briefs?” He ducked his head, grinned, and declined to answer. I think we now know the answer is … neither.

Have a good day!

So as a romance author I spend a great deal of time thinking about what it is about a man that makes him sexy. It’s really part of the job description because it’s our duty to write heroes that our readers can fall in love with. So all this time I spend staring at pictures of gorgeous men, it’s all research, I promise.

But in thinking about this lately (since I’m working on a hero-centric series) I’ve wondered about a few things. Like why is it easier for us as readers to love a heroine who is plain or even not beautiful rather than deal with a hero is height challenged or follicle challenged. I happen to find some bald men quite attractive, but you rarely find that in books. Is it because that’s part of the fantasy? That as romance readers we like to put ourselves in the place of the heroine so having a plain jane works well since most of us consider ourselves in that category and nothing is sexier than being that plain jane and having the sexiest man cross the room to find you. Kind of makes your breath catch when you think about it, doesn’t it? I think that appeals to most women.

So let’s talk about this, what is it that makes a hero sexy? What makes you, as a reader, fall in love with some heroes but others you can put on the shelf. I know that for me as a reader I can still enjoy a book if I don’t love the heroine, IF the hero is scrumptious. But if that hero isn’t to die for, a great heroine will not save the book.

I present for you some things to consider… a sexy hero has great eyes. This is just as true for me in real life as it is in fiction and it shows in my books. I’m big on eyes. There is just something about a man with intense eyes. Dark eyebrows, long eyelashes, brown/blue/green or whatever color, that doesn’t matter as much as how he looks at you. Or rather the heroine. We like men that see past the heroine’s defenses, see past how she perceives herself or how others perceive her to the beautiful, passionate woman she is underneath. A man who can do that can penetrate our heroine’s walls and find his way into her heart as well as her bed. Joseph Fiennes is an actor who has those eyes. I can scarcily watch him in movies without being totally distracted by the sheer power in his eyes. Wooo!

A hero has to have a great smile. Now whether it be sly or fully dimpled doesn’t matter, but we like a man with a sense of humor. Growly, surly, brooding alpha males are great, but everyone finds something funny and it’s nice to see that. Especially if it’s the heroine that tickles his funny bone. Even if it only evokes a slight chuckle it grounds those characters and makes them more reachable to us, the everyman, because we laugh at ourselves (and eachother) all the time. Josh Holloway has one of those sexy, come-hither grins that just kind of melts the bones right out of your knees.

Let’s not forget that our heroes, more than likely, need a nice physique. That doesn’t mean they all have to be super athletic body builders, but even a London fop has nicely toned arms and a well defined stomach. More than like most of our significant others don’t look like this, but chances are most of us don’t have long flowing, gloriously curly hair with eyes that look great without mascara. It’s part of the fantasy and it’s okay to way our heroes strong enough to carry us over a puddle, among other things. Ryan Reynolds, I mean seriously, check out those abs! Scarlett Johansson gets to wake up to this every morning. does anyone else think that’s grossly unfair?

Okay this one might be a little personal, but I love a man in glasses. Matthew McConaughey in A Time to Kill, hello, so sexy in that with his wire-rimmed glasses! And while I dig the spectacles thing, I think it has less to do with the actual glasses and more to do with the fact that even though it’s a stereotype, glasses do tend to make people look smarter. I love smart men (hello, married a college professor, not one of mine though, in case anyone is wondering…) as smart often means witty which goes back to the sense of humor thing. But cleverness and intelligence are sexy. Who doesn’t want a man who can solve the puzzle and figure out who the bad guy is or build them a raft so they can escape the dessert island. Smarts are sexy as are glasses and just in case you were prepared to argue otherwise, I’ve provided proof a la Johnny Depp.

So what about you? What do you find sexy in a hero? What is the one thing that gets you everytime in a book and makes you swoon with delight? I’ll pick a random comment today to receive a prize packet from me including an autographed advanced reading copy of Seduce Me.

A big Jaunty welcome back to Bella Andre! *shines up quills* She just couldn’t stay away. Too sizzling, this porcupine is!

Bella, your new series says it is “The seals of the firefighting world.” Sizzle! Can you expand on that?

Of course I can, Jaunty! In a nutshell (which I’m sure you can crack with a single sharp point of your quills!), the firefighters I’m writing about are the elite of the elite, the men who run into fires that everyone else runs from. They’re all about adrenaline. All about the brotherhood. And utterly addicted to risk.

Synopsis?

WILD HEAT is about Logan Cain,a hotshot who’s the best of the best. Maya Jackson is the sultry beauty he never saw coming, targeting him as her number-one suspect in a string of deadly wildfires. But when Maya’s life is threatened, Logan vows to protect the woman sworn to bring him down. And as desire ignites, nothing-not the killer fire or the killer hot on their trail-can douse the flames….

I’m hot! Sizzling hot! How do I get a shot at being a hotshot?

Um, I suppose you could try out for the crew…unless that persnickety “human only” rule kicks in…Plus, there’s the small matter of you looking like you just came off the BBQ.

Sounds like it would singe my quills. I checked out your website and I see you have feng shui tips. Can you help me find Ms. Porcuright? *bats eyes* I keep having quills jabbed into my prickly heart.

Declutter your den! And don’t sleep where you…well, nevermind, you’ve probably already got that one.
Thanks for the invite to stop by! If anyone has any more questions/comments/naughty thoughts about hot firefighters, I’d be happy to discuss!

Whew.  Well, I’m off to take a cold shower. Visit Bella’s website for more information on hot Hotshots, her latest books, and for great Feng Shui tips too!

Maybe it’s because Spring seems to have finally arrived (trees and flowers are blooming and best of all, I can finally put my winter coat away..yipee!!) that my thoughts are turning to summer vacation. Because of the downturn in the economy, many of us will be looking for fun places close to home.

If someone asked you for a recommendation of a fabulous site close to where you live, what would you recommend?

Me? If you lived in the heartland, I’d tell you to check out the South Dakota Badlands. I haven’t been there recently but I still remember the awe I felt gazing out over the inspiring landscape. The crazy thing was, when I had stopped there it was only because we were on our way to Mount Rushmore (another great place to visit, btw)

I’m interested in hearing your recommendations. Someone the other night told me I MUST see the Grand Canyon (yep, that’s right I’ve never been there)…and I know there are so many wonderful places that I’ve never seen. C’mon, tell me, what would you recommend? It doesn’t even HAVE to be near where you live. Just a great place that shouldn’t be missed.

The responses to my post were so fabulous I decided to have two winners. Plus, you know, I’m just excited about the prize and want to share the love. Since I only have one Wrap-n-mat to give away, the first one to email me will get it. Both will get the bags, the light bulb and the book. 

The winners are:

Jane and Anna

email me at emilybmckay@gmail.com with your snail mail address

Here’s something enjoyable to listen to as you read on. Go ahead and click on the arrow – then scroll down.

Plenty of songs are written about love. I bet 95 % of all Beatles songs are love-related. Country-western songs are – more often than not – about love, whether it be lost, stolen, or found. And if you want to get classical about it – think of how many operas are about love? (I don’t exactly know, but I’m guessing Shana will be able to fill in this blank).

Knights in Medieval times “wrote” romantic poetry for their lady loves and it wasn’t considered sissy or trite, and plenty of other classical literature revolves around love. Shakespeare, Austen, Bronte and Browning all wrote about love. So did Thomas Hardy, D.H. Lawrence and others – not that their works are classified as “romance” but at least Love wasn’t a dirty word to these authors. They saw that a great deal of human action is motivated by love.

I’m fortunate that my husband thinks Jane Austen is one of the greatest English writers of all time, so I have no problem getting him to see movies like Pride and Prejudice or While You Were Sleeping. He even likes How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and Family Man. But my sons and other young men of their generation? No way. Their reading material and movies have to be dark, driven, and macho. There are certain actors that represent what my sons enjoy about film, guys like Viggo Mortensen, Christian Bale, and Daniel Day Lewis. And while I think these actors are all very talented, their movies don’t really do it for me. American Psycho? Puleeze.

There are reports that romance novels are still selling well, even in these tough economic times. Short Article. Romance buyers know that even though there might be murder and mayhem, or some other deep conflict within the pages of their books, they will eventually be treated to a satisfying ending. The one thing that really matters is that the hero and heroine will triumph over their difficulties and can face the future together.

No, I don’t think Romance should be the only kind of books people read. I enjoy lots of different literature and I think we should all try to broaden our horizons. But I really wish people would stop turning up their noses and the mention of love and romance. Silly love songs, indeed.

A few years ago a co-worker went to night school to get her degree in English. (For those who need inspiration, she was over 50 at the time.) Terri and I had some great discussions about language being alive and how English evolves and adapts.

For instance, a few centuries ago “ain’t” was considered acceptable and Evelyn was a masculine name, not feminine (so was Shirley, btw). The T in “often” was pronounced until the 17th century, when educated speakers made it silent. But people started pronouncing often the way it is spelled so much that now the T sound is considered acceptable again. (Don’t get me started on names being spelled phonetically, like Antwan instead of Antoine. Grr.) “Ain’t,” however, is still non-standard.

Words evolve from being two separate words, to hyphenated, to one word. Determining which stage a word or phrase is at has caused many a hair-pulling session with critique partners, copyeditors and contest judges. Does my duke reside in a town house or townhouse? Does he sleep in a bed chamber, bed-chamber, or bedchamber?

Raising a toddler, I hear language evolving on a daily basis. Years ago I saw an actress on a talk show describing how she was teaching her infant son the American Sign Language sign for milk and a few other words, and how it made life easier for all parties. How cool, I thought. If ever I have a kid, I’m going to teach him sign language, too. I’ve always thought babies are like blank computer hard drives in that they’re born with full intelligence in place, and simply lack data. Their comprehension of speech is much greater than most people think, and they can make hand signs long before they can coordinate tongue and lips to form words.

When Daniel was six months old, I began using the signs for Eat, More, and Milk every time I used the words. My mom and husband gave up after a few months but I kept at it. Our preemie was behind in hitting physical milestones like sitting up but I was certain the intelligence was there. And I was frustrated trying to decipher his “feed me” cry from change me/hold me/I’m teething/I’m tired/I have gas/I’m-bored-and-want-to-yank-your-chain cries. His spoken vocabulary was limited to Mama and Dada – sweet but not very helpful in most situations.

I learned that hearing kids who sign as babies and toddlers tend to have a larger vocabulary and higher IQ when they start school, and have an easier time learning overall. There’s something significant about engaging more parts of the brain as they hear, speak, *and* move their hands to communicate. My dad and brother are both dyslexic and struggled in school. I want to stack the odds in Daniel’s favor as much as possible.

After eleven months my efforts paid off. On December 17, shortly after waking up from a nap, he put his fingers to his mouth in the sign for Eat. About ten seconds later he made the sign for More. Within a month he used five signs, in three months he had a dozen, and in just the last month he’s doubled that. (Eat and More are still his favorites and most frequently used.) At his 18-month checkup our pediatrician said Daniel was ahead of the curve in vocabulary. I tried not to be obnoxiously proud.

Between spoken and signed, he now has over 50 words. Signs often help clarify what he wants because he sometimes mixes up the sounds and/or leaves off the last sound. He’s learning to say Sock but often starts it with a K sound. (Yeah, try keeping a straight face on *that* one.) A favorite bedtime snack is cheese, which he can ask for clearly. But one night he started throwing the cubes on the floor in frustration. Turns out what he really wanted was peaches. So now we confirm what he’s asking for by speaking *and* signing the word.

As his vocabulary expands we’ve encountered a new problem, that of explaining words that sound alike but have different meanings. For example, a lion says roar but when we speak the name of the yellow flowers growing in the lawn that make Daddy say bad words, Daniel says “Roar!” (Several of his words are animal sounds – maybe we sing Old MacDonald too much.) A Dr. Seuss alphabet book shows a lollipop, but we can’t read that page aloud without Daniel asking for a drink of pop. And poop is the result of going potty, is smelly and needs to be cleaned up. But this nice-smelling liquid for washing your hair is called shampoo? And where do we begin with Winnie the Pooh…

On the bright side, we’re still years away from trying to explain the drive-on-a-parkway, park-on-a-driveway nonsensical side of English.

Some of you know this about me already, but I’m a total nut about the environment. As part of my status as an official total nut, I’d like to invite you all to help me celebrate Earth Day today.

The way I see it, here’s the problem with the whole environmental movement/climate change … okay, one of the problems, a really tiny one at that. So here’s the teeny-tiny problem: it just seems overwhelming. Even those of us who want to do something positive for the planet can  panic at the prospect of deforestation in the amazon and heavy metal run-off in the pacific. Those are problems that need big solutions. And they’re things completely beyond my control. And unless you’re reading this post on your iPhone while changed to a strangler fig somewhere in Brazil, it’s probably beyond your control too.

But here’s the good news. You and I personally may not be able to fix the big problems, but if we all work together, we can sure make a dent on some of the smaller ones. Did you know that if each of us replaces just one normal light bulb with a compact fluorescent bulb, in a year we’d save enough energy to light 3 million homes? Did you if we all bought just one pack of toilet paper made with recycled paper we could save 1.3 billion galleons of water? 

So here’s my earth day list of other simple things you can do to make a difference:

Bring reusable tots to the store instead of using plastic bags –The right reusable tot is actually easier to use than those plastic bags! They don’t rip. They hold more. You can buy ones that are insulated and keep your ice cream cold all the way home, even if you live in the boondocks, like I do. Best of all, you don’t have to store those plastics bags to recycle!

Check the air on your tires — If your tires are properly inflated, you get better gas mileage and your tires last longer. Save gas. Save money. Save the environment. Everybody wins. 

Recycle your old batteries — Yes, using rechargeable batteries is even better, but everybody’s got at least a few of the old ones floating around in those flash lights we never use or that walkman from 1994. So why not designate a corner of the junk drawer just for old batteries. Then, once or twice a year you can drop the old ones by Radio Shack to be recycled (it’s free!). ‘Cause we don’t need those nasty chemicals filtering into water table via the landfill. 

So those are my three tips for easy things you can do for the environment. Do you have any tips to share? Everyone who comments will be entered into a drawing for my super-cool Earth Day prize that includes: one compact flourescent light bulb, a Wrap-n-Mat reusable sandwich mat, and a set of reusable shopping bags from the Flylady (pictured above). And since this is a reader blog, I’ll throw in one of the books from my backlist–your choice!