Do you ever feel as though your pets own your house, your life, your livelihood? Don’t get me wrong – I like animals. I just never knew how much care and attention they would take. Or how dramatically they would take over my household. As you can see in the picture to the left, Ranger (my 95 lb Labrador)  is on the huge radiator in my living room, and Nick, another big old Lab is on his bed right nearby.

When I was a kid, my parents didn’t allow us to have any pets. That was quite understandable. There were five children in my family, we lived in the city, and both of my parents worked. They didn’t really need more mouths to feed, or any more bodies to take care of. Plus, my mom’s father was a veternarian during the Depression – he was often paid with “the pick of the litter.” Which meant they always had a surplus of dogs around their house. My mother had no interest in repeating her mother’s experience.

When I first met my husband, he had a cat. I’d never known any cats before, and Pookie was a sweetie, not to mention a novelty to me. She was cute and friendly, and so when a pretty gray stray kitten approached me on the street one day and asked me to take him in, I had no objection to adopting him. The rest is history. Now, I have four lugs – two cats and two dogs – who have me trained to do their bidding. We need a walk. OK! What time?? Can we have some treats? Yes, siree!! I’ve got them right here! Anything else…?

I’m pretty sure that if we had been allowed to have pets, they would never have dared to snooze on the furniture. (That’s Ranger on the couch with Bob right beside him).  And what do I have to say about it? I do my talking later, with the vacuum. I’m sure the Dog Whisperer would have plenty to say about my disciplinary technique.

When we have company (the human kind) I always have to move somebody. Take Kokomo, for example – my 13 year old cat who loves to be in the midst of things, even if he is halfway comatose. If it were summer, he would be on our front porch, keeping track of the birds and squirrels that cross his territory, and making sure that Bob doesn’t come near. Bob would then have to go and sit on our next-door neighbor’s porch. Because Kokomo is in charge, and he doesn’t really like Bob that much. He tolerates the dogs, but the other cat? Not so much.

Bob likes to sit on my lap when I’m trying to use my laptop (which doesn’t work out very well, as you can imagine), and Nick is a hustler, always playing some angle or other. A walk, a snack, a good scratch behind the ears … he’s usually after something, and he drags Ranger along, just so that he doesn’t appear to be the only mercenary one. Ranger is a little bit shy, and he has a few weird habits, himself. For example, the toaster is a problem for him. It once set off the smoke alarm, and ever since then, when I take the toaster out of the cupboard, Ranger heads for the basement where he can hide. He does the same with the vacuum, but he doesn’t mind the lawn mower or the snow blower. Go figure.

I may be completely wrong, but I have a feeling that we treat our pets much more like family than people did years ago. Is that true? What do you think? While you’re considering that question, I’m going to go and feed the fish, who have been yelling at me for the past 20 minutes to feed them!

I’m not a fan of realistic fiction…I mean I’m a romance novelist and I like happy endings. So Dickens has never been a favorite of mine but I visited his house this summer while I was in London and to be honest became a little fascinated with him.

I’ve been reading up on him and just in time for A Christmas Carol which I saw this past weekend. I’m not usually a fan of this story because I don’t like to be scared and I don’t like how sad Scrooge is because of his lost love, but this new movie is fascinating and being a bit older and wiser this year I can appreciate Scrooge’s lost love and how that really affected his life.

I know a lot of people love Dickens so I’m sure I was in the minority not to really love him, but have you ever had an author that you just didn’t get or enjoy and then after a few years had a change of heart?

Kathy

There are some tried and true elements in a romance (shocking!). Not clichés, necessarily, but classics. A happily ever after, for example. The idea that The One makes Hero/Heroine a better person. Classic plot lines and traditions. When done well, we can’t get enough of it. But when not…ruh-roh.

Below are some trends I’ve noticed over the years, in books and movies. Now, before you think I’m being catty, let me first admit that I’ve used some of these myself, so it’s all in good fun.

Gracious! What a beautiful secret cabin you have here in the mountains, Hero Mine! What a fascinating and heretofore unrevealed character nugget this is! So many heroes were smart with real estate and just happen to have a very tastefully decorated getaway in the mountains/on the ocean/near a pristine and very remote lake. This is, of course where he smuggles heroine so he can cook for her/shag her silly.  I can deal with a cabin. But if it was indeed his Man Paradise, it would have two things and two things only: a LaZBoy recliner and a 60 inch high-def TV with the special NFL bundle. I promise (mostly) to put a 60 inch high-def TV in my hero’s, okay?

Oh, my heavens! You dance with predatory, masculine grace that has me oh-so-aroused, despite the fact that I quite hate you! Where did these guys learn how to dance like that, huh? I have yet to see Gerard Butler down at Ye Village Dance Hall in my town. And yet, there he is in The Ugly Truth, dancing in such a way that my eyeballs were on fire, and I just sat there thinking, “But when? But how? Was he raised on a pasa doblé ranch in Brazil?”  Furthermore, Katherine Heigl claims she is a terrible dancer, then begins gyrating and pulsating and throbbing…I had to dunk my head into my super-large silo of root beer just to cool off. Dancing like that doesn’t happen in real life. No, tragically more realistic was the tango scene in Along Came Polly. Ben Stiller gets points for realism, if not for smokin’ sex appeal. (Note Heigl’s hair…it’s curling. I told you.)

Why, Miss Carlisle! You have golden and/or chestnut highlights in your previously considered dull-as-dishwater brown hair! Why? Why can’t Miss Carlisle just have plain old brown hair and still be attractive to Sir Ruttingly? Why does she need highlights to make it pretty? For that matter, why do I? I’m a brunette…Why do I spend forty extra bucks six times a year to get highlights?  Clearly, it’s a conspiracy. This is another version of “Why, Miss Carlisle! Behind those glasses, your eyes are sapphires snapping with blue flame!” or…perhaps…the next thing on my list.

Frooooowww! Miss Carlisle! That red dress and those Jimmy Choos slut you right up! I quite and suddenly ravenous for you! Sure, sure, we all have dreams of prom/wedding/fabulous ball during which we’re scooped up by a Greek billionaire (Andreas, I’m still waiting!) There was Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality. Princess Mia in Princess Diaries. Cinderella in Cinderella. Just once, I’d like to see the heroine in a hideous dress that makes her look worse than the yoga pants and college sweatshirt did. (Note to self: do this in future book). Granted, my heroines have required special underwear…Dr. Rey, thank you!…but still. Let’s have him be stunned with her beauty without the dress, ’kay?

When I Faint — and I Shall —  I Shall Be Caught By Hero. I fainted once. I was gardening, I was on a roll, smiting weeds with my mighty sword, I forgot to eat breakfast, didn’t stop for lunch, stood up suddenly, next thing I knew was facedown in the dirt, a rake atop my eye (the gardening tool rake, not the Duke of Badboy, heir to his grandfather’s considerable fortune)  Recently, I saw Only You. The heroine faints. Robert Downey, Jr. catches her. Love that movie! Love Robert Downey Jr.! Love Italy! Love red dresses! Why oh why was I eating dirt with a rake on my eye instead of in RDJ’s arms, huh? Not fair! Not! Fair!

What are your favorite or least favorite clichés in romance writing or movies? Do spill. I’ll pick one responder and send her something fun…probably chocolates, because we all need chocolate. So come on! What clichés work, which don’t, and what’s the difference?

In my book out this month–Merry Christmas, Cowboy–Lauren is a city girl, an academician who has her life planned out. She never expected handsome cowboy, Seth Anderssen to step in and turn her life upside down.

It reminds me of an article I recently read in More magazine. The article was entitled “Cowboy, Take Me Away.” With a title like that I had to read it. The teaser was “she used to subsist on ahi tuna and Starbucks. Then she found love–and a new calling–in the arms of an Oklahoma rancher.”

Apparently Ree Drummond left LA to attend law school in Chicago. She stopped in her Oklahoma hometown, where she met her future husband. Seven dates later, she was married and living on a cattle ranch.

Interestingly, she has a new cookbook out “The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl:

She’s also got a Web site that gets 12 million hits a month.

The article ended with a quote “Women can find contentment in unlikely places.”

How about you? Has your life gone according to your plans? Or did it take some unexpected turns?

I’d love to hear your story.

Let’s get one thing out of the way: I’m an iTunes junkie. Seriously. I’ll haunt that store searching for new music like a ghost with a grudge. Recently in my quest for steampunk music I discovered Emilie Autumn who describes her music as ‘Victoriandustrial’. She plays the electic violin and harpsichord on many of her songs and sings about Victorian asylums. She’s had a pretty hard life from what I’ve heard, and speaks openly about her battle with bipolar disorder.

courtesy of Emilie Autumn online

She’s pretty, she has a wardrobe I’d kill for, sings like I want to,  and I would like for her to be my new best friend.

Now that I’ve downloaded practically everything iTunes has to offer, I’m contemplating going to see her live in December. Although, I have to wonder: Am I too old for this sort of thing? Granted EA is 30, but I’m closer to 40 and the show is at an all ages club. Might be too much for my nerves! Besides, it’s not as though I’d get to meet her and even if I did, you can’t have much of a conversation which a room full of other people trying to get to her as well. How in the world will we become BFFs in such a setting?

So, I guess I”ll have to sit this one out and stick to my iTunes. Recently I made a CD for my niece and was thrilled to discover that I had introduced her to entirely new to her bands! I am still cool! I am hip despite my undying love for John Taylor of Duran Duran and grey roots (which are now a delightful, and artificial, shade of red). Some bands I’ve discovered other than the delightful Emilie Autumn are: Rasputina, Hiersonic, Amanda Palmer and Hannah Fury, just to name a few. I’m listening to all of these as I work on my current ms.

So what bands have you discovered recently? Who do you look for on iTunes? What song have you listened to so many times people are threatening to harm you if you make them listen to it again?

Every November I start working on an Amazon wishlist for our family. (Yes, I’m the only one who works on it, but the whole family reaps the rewards … but that’s another post.) I always add some cookbooks for me, because, well, I love to cook and I love to read. Some are always duds, but this past year I had some real winners. Here’s the books I got last year for Christmas that I used over and over this year:

• Mom-a-licious: Fresh, Fast, Family Food for the Hot Mama in You! by Domenica Catelli – This one is full of quick healthy recipes. And it feels like it’s written by a real mom. A woman who has limited time, but still wants her kids to eat their vegetables. Moreover, she’s okay with them knowing that they’re eating them and not doesn’t try to sneak them into brownies.
• Moosewood Restaurant New Classics — It’s my third Moosewood cook book and probably my favorite. We got it first for my in-laws and then for ourselves. It’s just a great cookbook. True we’re not vegetarians, but the food’s still great and sometimes we sprinkle bacon on top. <g>
• CakeLove: How to Bake Cakes from Scratch by Warren Brown — (technically, this wasn’t Christmas, but mother’s day. Still, it played with the big boys and I had it five few months.) This one talks in detail about how to bake cakes. It really demystifies everything. The recipes are crazy detailed, but the results so yummy you’ll want to cry. It’s basically foolproof. (Except for the Lemon Ginger cake. There’s the typo in that recipe. It should be 12 oz. of flour, not 2. But that to is a topic for another post.)  Generally, this book is awesome. And now I always measure my flour by weighing it. It’s so much easier!

So what cookbooks do you love? It’s time to make this years wishlist and I’m eager to add in some new cookbooks. Do you have any favorites?

A month or so ago, Kristan, blogged about men that she finds attractive who aren’t necessarily attractive. I think we probably all have that list. And today I’d like to share mine.
First up we have Edward Norton, now perhaps some would argue that he’s not all that unattractive and I would agree, Ed is clearly not homely. But he’s also not your standard leading man. But there’s something so sexy about him. I will admit I never really noticed this about him until The Illusionist though I was certainly a fan. Who can forget his chilling performance in Primal Fear?

Kevin Bacon…probably my favorite actor and frankly one of the most under appreciated actors in Hollywood. He’s so talented. But he is not traditionally handsome. He has terrible hair and kind of a large head. But he’s gifted and has a huge range in his acting ability. But what sealed it for me is his goofy side. He’s in my favorite movie, She’s Having a Baby, and he’s so charming in it and he plays a writer!

I love me some Tim Roth. I find his intensity and talent mesmerizing. I first noticed him in Rob Roy where he played one of the worst villains ever to grace the screen and he was fantastic! Now he’s the lead in Fox’s drama, Lie to Me, and while the character is different, he’s equally fantastic. There’s nothing really physically handsome about him, but he has huge sex appeal. Woo!

Who doesn’t love Kevin Spacey? He’s tall and yeah, he’s got a receding hairline, but he’s so talented. He can sing and he can act the hell out of any role he takes on. He’s probably most famous for The Usual Suspects, and he’s wonderful in that, but I love him in Seven – yes, I know that probably means I’m not okay, but he’s so good. I’m beginning to notice I have a thing for men who play great villains – think I should be concerned?

Tall, lanky, geeky, but oh-so-funny. He’s a total hoot in so many movies and that scene at the end of Independence Day when he’s walking across the dessert in that flight jumpsuit and his legs look impossibly long and he’s got the cigar, man he just looks hot. I’ve had a crush on Jeff for years and hope he continues his most recent role on Law & Order: Criminal Intent so I can see him on a regular basis.

There can’t really be a list of sexy-but-not-so-hot guys without Hugh Laurie. He has such beautiful eyes and the man can do everything. Sing, write, act, he’s brilliant. He does intelligent, but crotchety so well.

So what have we learned about my male crushes? Well, I evidently have a thing for smart and talented men. And I have a tendency to like those who play evil, calculating guys. I suppose it could also be said I like accents since we’ve got two Brits on this list. So what do you think of my guys? Do you think personality and talent make up for a less than perfect face and physique?

Fall is my absolute favorite season. I love the smell of the air, the cooler temperatures, all the activities associated with fall – and pumpkin. I can’t get enough pumpkin! Pumpkin lattes, pumpkin cheesecake (in moderation, of course), toasted pumpkin seeds, and pumpkin bread. Here’s my favorite pumpkin bread recipe. What’s your favorite fall goodie?  Please share the recipe.

Pumpkin Bread

Unsalted butter at room temp for the pans

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

2 ½ tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

¼ tsp ground allspice

½ tsp cloves

¼ tsp salt

2 cups canned pumpkin puree

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup packed dark-brown sugar

4 large eggs

¼ cup vegetable oil

1 2/3 cup of buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350.  Coat two 8 ½ x 4 ½ inch loaf pans with butter; set aside.  In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and salt; set aside.

In the bowl of a electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the pumpkin and both sugars; mix on medium speed until well combined – 2 –3 minutes.  Add the eggs and oil; mix until incorporated, bout 2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl.  With mixer on low, add the flour mix in two batches alternating with the buttermilk and beginning and ending with the flour until just combined.

Divide the batter between the two pans; smooth the tops with a spatula.  Place pans on a baking sheet.  Bake rotating the sheet halfway through until a knife inserted in the top comes out clean – about 55 – 60 minutes.  Transfer pans to a wire rack to cool 10 minutes.  Remove loaves from pan and cool completely.  Bread can be kept at room temp, wrapped in plastic for up to 4 days.

It’s that time of year again! One that makes my heart race and one that makes me anxious. . .  No, not the holidays! It’s new book time!

My first book, A Love Through Time, was a November 1998 release and I remember watching the calendar move forward, waiting and watching for it in bookstores, on online booksellers and any other place it could show up. I remember the UPS delivery guy bringing my box of author copies and screaming as I opened it! Then I remember being in the local Waldenbooks store and seeing it on the shelf for the first time–I scared at least one customer by screaming as I found it earlier than I expected to see it. Lucky for me, she asked me to me sign it and she bought it, too.

Ahhhhh…memories of my first book!

Now, here it is November again, 11 years later, and I’m awaiting another book’s release. I have to confess that the anticipation and excitement is just as strong as it was in November 1998 — but different, too. Now, I am a ‘seasoned’ author (LOL!) with 20 more books since that first one, and I know there’s much more to worry about than that first time.

Has the sales department done their job? Has the book been ordered by the chains and major accounts? Will the sell-through be sufficient for my first single-title release? And most importantly – WILL READERS LIKE IT? All the facets of being published that I really didn’t think about in my newbie naivete are now so important.

BUT — it doesn’t diminish the excitement of seeing a new book with my name come out.

And now? Well, it’s only 15 short days until my new books officially hits the shelves and I can feel the anticipation growing. So far, early reviews are looking good:

RT says: Brisbin begins a new trilogy with a bang-it’s a dark, powerful story of vengeance and love, tinged with paranormal elements, that captivates and titillates. Her strong characterization adds depth and makes the pages fly and readers eager for more. They also named Connor as a December K.I.S.S.!!   Woohoo!!

Booklist (the American Librarians’ Association’s publication) says: “Brisbin begins a captivating new trilogy set in Medieval Scotland and adds a dash of the paranormal to her already boldly sensual and richly emotional brand of romance.”

AND!!! Affaire de Coeur magazine is giving A STORM OF PASSION a FIVE STAR REVIEW!!! They say: “Medieval Scotland, land of mystical beings and magical happenings, is the setting for the first in Ms. Brisbin’s latest trilogy. Her characters are well developed and project a deep level of emotions that will tear at the readers’ heartstrings. A wonderful read that will keep you turning the pages late into the night.” Woohooo!!

So, I am VERY excited about A STORM OF PASSION and will be celebrating by blogging, posting a new contest on my website, doing some signings and chats. I hope you’ll come along and enjoy the ride with me…. It’s almost as good as Christmas!

Terri

Please stop by Terri’s website and enter the new contest next week and visit her chats and blogs and signings if you can!  www.terribrisbin.com