This is the time of year when everyone gives out awards for the best of the last year. I watched the Golden Globes on Sunday and its just the start of “party season” in my house as we have a little celebration for every awards show and the SuperBowl!

But thinking on this made me realize how much I love listening to speeches. Maybe its the glimpse behind the facade that many actors, directors and producers where. I don’t know what it is.

I love Mo’Nique’s speech–to be honest I’m not sure I spelled her name right. But wasn’t her speech just wonderful?! I loved how she said that when she held her husband’s hand when they were 14 she told him they’d both be stars and he said you first.

That kind of love and selflessness is hard to find in the world today and it moved me. I mean he really has gotten behind her and let her take the driver’s seat. And so many people can’t do that. To me that’s true love. He loves her so much that her happiness and success is more important than his own because he knows that if she’s happy he will be.

What do you think? Is selflessness the key to true love? I’m talking man-woman love here not mother-child.

Happy Reading!
Kathy

I’ve always been a coupon clipper, doing my best to keep our grocery bills at a reasonable level. But lately I’ve wanted to do more. We’re building a house (yes, still!) and our mortgage is going up and well, I want to do what I can to save some money. Plus living on a budget makes good plain sense. So I contacted my sister-in-law because I knew she’d really gotten into what I call extreme couponing sometime last year. She was a font of information and now I’m on my way.

She shared some blogs out there that do their part to explain this couponing philosophy. For the last few weeks I’ve been studying. Reading up on said philosophy and making my plan. The good thing was I was already doing some of the things they recommend, like making a menu plan and then building your grocery list off of that. But I’ve learned so much.

And then today I tried it out. I didn’t set a goal (like they told me I should, but I’m still feeling lost on that part right now), but I did put the plan into action. I pulled out my grocery store’s current sale flyer and I built my menu plan from what was on sale – as it happens stew meat was on sale, so we’ll be having crock pot beef stew this week, and pork chops were on sale, so that’s right pork chops goes on the menu. Then I found other items on sale that I also had coupons for, those items went on my shopping list too. Then I filled in the list with non-sale/non-coupon items. Guess what? I saved $43 today off my grocery total. Can you imagine? I think the most I’d ever saved before with coupons was like $10. Now I know other women who have been doing this longer save a lot more than that, but for my first shot, I was pretty proud of myself.

Talk about a high. I feel so empowered and frankly like a bit of a domestic goddess. I can’t wait to start applying the extreme couponing to our toiletries at Walgreens and CVS. Oh yes, there’s a plan for that stuff too and it’s even better than the groceries.

So how about you? Do you coupon? Do you put together menus or do you just go to the grocery store and buy what looks good?

One of the wonderful things about being a writer is having a vivid imagination.  I definitely have one of those—the reason why I can’t watch gory horror movies.  I know the blood and ick are fake, but part of me just can’t shake the eerie realism of the scenes and the fact that the scenario could (remotely) possibly happen to someone I know.

My imagination nudged to the fore when I was a child and loved to read.  Words on the page transformed into detailed pictures in my mind.  When sea-faring characters in a book I was reading were threatened by a deadly storm, I saw huge waves lashing over the plank floor, smelled the briny air, felt the wet roughness of the ropes in my characters’ hands as they tried to control the sails.  When I was reading, I was there!

This sense of being transported into the heart of a story happens when I write.  When my creative muse is brimming with ideas, I slip into a place in my mind where I see the hero and heroine as though they are real people, as well as their surroundings.  The scene unfolds for me like part of a movie.  Sometimes I can barely type fast enough, because the snappy banter and actions are flowing so smoothly.  Moments like this are a gift, because the finished work often requires very little rewriting.

More times than not, though, my muse isn’t quite as cooperative.  Sometimes it resists because I’m tired or I have other commitments that day that are sapping my concentration.  Sometimes, I’m not sure on a gut level whether the scene is “right” and my muse picks up on that uncertainty.  I’ve learned a few things, though, to help keep my finicky muse on track:

1)  Don’t write when you are hungry.
I’ve tried to do this on several occasions, and it doesn’t work.  If it’s near, say, lunch time, your muse will want to do anything but settle down to write.  While you swear under your breath and try to pull words out of your mind that seems as dense as ice cream, you will have to listen to your stomach rumble over and over.  Moreover, every one of your characters will be thinking about what they ate earlier that day, the yummy dishes they smell cooking, or when the next meal will be served.  It’s far better to leave your computer, eat lunch, and come back later for a fresh start.

2)  Jump Start a Lazy Muse.
If you return to your computer after a hearty lunch and your muse still isn’t cooperating, pull out a few good reference books and thumb through the pages. Since my historical romances are set in the Middle Ages, I have an assortment of tomes on topics ranging from armor and medieval life to cooking.  I’ve also visited a number of castles and taken photos, which I review now and again.  One of my vivid memories, of a dungeon where chained prisoners had scrawled messages into the stone wall, inspired the tower dungeon in my upcoming May release A Knight’s Persuasion.

3)  Set a daily word count and write every day.
We’ve all heard this at writing conferences, and it is excellent advice.  Writing consistently is the best way to train your muse.  When you sit at the computer, your muse thinks, “Okay, it’s time to get to work.”  Also, by rereading the last scene you wrote, you can tap into the excitement of where you left off in your story, making it easier to plunge back into it.

4)  Try Writing to Music.  Or Not. 
Some authors claim they write better while listening to background music that relates somehow to their book’s subject matter.  There are wonderful CD’s of medieval music available, and I admit, I am tempted sometimes to try writing with music playing.  But I have found that I do my best work when my husband and daughter are out, the kitties are snoozing, and the house is super quiet.

5)  Reward your muse.
Had a great writing day?  Celebrate with well-deserved time away from your computer doing something fun: a walk in the sunshine; an hour browsing the bookstore; a visit to the local art museum.  Even a muse needs a break now and again.

Do you have a finicky muse?  What are some of the things you do to nurture your creativity?

When I went to have my hair cut and high-lighted this time I found myself tempted to tell my stylist to do something wild and crazy. Perhaps color it red…cut it in a different way…just do whatever she wanted.

In the end, I didn’t. Because the only time I told a hairdresser to do something different, I ended up with dark, dark brown hair (when my hair was normally dark blonde). My boyfriend called me Elvira and people just stared when they saw me. Is it any wonder I’m not more adventurous?

How about you? Do you have a “hair” adventure that you’d like to share?

And do you think I should do it…tell my stylist to just do something very different? Or shall I continue to play it safe?

There’s nothing quite so magical as the day an author gets “The Call” telling her she’s sold her first book. I never tire of hearing stories of dreams come true – or telling my own story. Since tomorrow marks the seven-year anniversary of the day the wheel started turning, carrying me toward my first sale, I thought I’d share my own story of how I got “The Call.” 

On January 16, 2003 my agent, called and said a publisher was very interested in seeing the completed manuscript of my Chick Lit REINVENTING OLIVIA, of which I’d written only three chapters.  “How soon do you think you can finish it?” she asked. 

I said something stupid like, “Consider it done.  Give me three weeks to polish it.”  

“So I’ll tell him he can expect the complete on February 2?” 

“Sure,” I said. “Sounds great!”  

Come February 2, I’d reached my projected end-of-the-book page count, but I still had more story to tell. Surely, he didn’t mean this February 2…? I thought as I kept plugging away.  

I know this is a terrible thing to admit, but since the publishing industry moves at an absurdly slow pace, I thought — February 2, February 22, same difference.  Besides, February 2 was a Sunday.  Surely the editor wouldn’t notice if I turned it in a few days/ weeks later. 

WRONG! Bad writer!  No chocolate! 

On February 3, the editor called my agent asking about the book. It seemed he had a slot to fill and needed to see it ASAP.   

Oh. He really meant February 2. Oops.  My mistake.  

See Nancy type.  See Nancy type very fast in long marathon sessions. See Nancy scratch her head and wonder how she could have so much story left to tell when the book should’ve ended fifty pages ago.   

As if that weren’t bad enough, two days later (Thursday, February 6) my little cat who was the queen our backyard decided to go on a royal adventure.  Normally, this would’ve been fine, but she was an animal who never missed a meal.  In her three-year reign of the land, she never strayed farther than earshot.  When she didn’t show up for breakfast, I was concerned, but I forced myself to focus on the writing. 

The next day, she was still missing. I was frantic.  At the time, we lived on a busy downtown street and . . . Well, you can imagine the horrible visions running through my head.  But a quick road check, proved “all clear,” and I kept writing.       

Then around two o’clock that afternoon, I took a break and noticed a huge raccoon sitting on a lawn statue in our back yard.  Florida raccoons prowl at night.  They rarely come out during the day unless they’re sick or very hungry. . . this one was particularly cheeky (not to mention about three times the size of our little cat who probably weighed about seven pounds after a big meal). I opened the back door to shoo the beast away, but the thing just sat there and stared at me, then sauntered over to the cat food bowl for a snack.  

The raccoon was still hanging around when my husband got home from work. I watched out the window as he picked up a broom to chase it away. Just then the phone rang. I glanced at the caller ID – a natural reflex of a writer with projects out in the field. The screen flashed a long-distance number where the publisher who was interested in my book was located.  Despite the fact that my husband was picking a fight with a potentially rabid raccoon, I HAD to answer. 

Of course, it was the editor.  Perfect timing. 

Among other things, he asked me if I was polishing the book one word at a time and if I ever planned on sending it to him. Just then, the raccoon charged at my husband.  The fate of my publishing career was on the line (literally), and I was watching a rabid raccoon chase my husband through the backyard.  I kid you not. 

I don’t remember exactly what I said to the editor  something about having the manuscript to him the following Monday, which I did – I finally wising up and realizing if an editor cared enough to call and goad me along he was probably seriously interested in the book (Hello?!?).  

Long story short, my husband and cat (who eventually showed up) made it through the battle unscathed; the raccoon disappeared; and I got THE CALL for REINVENTING OLIVIA a week later.  I guess you could say we all lived happily ever after. 

Later, when I told my editor the story of what happened that day he called, he laughed and said, “The next time you even think about missing a deadline, picture me as that mad raccoon.”  

Since then, I’ve gone on the sell thirteen more books, including “They Family They Chose,” a Silhouette Special Edition, which will be available next month.      

 What’s your favorite true-life funny story?

When I first met Kitty Biedermann, I was working on Baby Benefits, my third book for Desire. Baby Benefits was the story of Derek Messina, president of Messina Diamonds, as he gradually realizes he’s in love with his long time assistant, Raina. I wanted Derek’s journey to true love to be a tough one. Enter a classic romance novel device: the evil fiancee.

As Baby Benefits opens, Derek has finally convinced Kitty Biedermann to be his bride. She’s the heiress to a chain of jewelry stores and New York City born and bred. She’s beautiful, rich and used to having her way. I pictured her as a cross between Lauren Bacall and the snooty fiancee in The Parent Trap. She hates Texas, dislikes children and every time she gets upset, she rushes off to the spa. Such naughty fun to write!

Well, two books later, I got to thinking about Kitty and wondering what happened to her. (Btw, this is how I pictured her … but a brunette. Don’t you love that smug expression?) I’d always known she didn’t love Derek, but what if she’d really needed him to marry her? What is Biedermann Jewelry wasn’t doing well and she desperately needed an alliance with Messina Diamonds? And what could possibly have motivated all her nasty behavior?
Kitty’s book is out now, so rush to stores and grab it while you can. I had lots of fun writing Kitty’s story and I sure hope you love reading it.

Tell me about your favorite sequel and I’ll send you a copy of Baby Benefits (so you can see Kitty in action) or another one of my backstory if you’ve already read Baby Benefits.

So do you play this game? Or maybe some other game like it on the internet? I do and I love it. Its so funny to me that I’m not setting a time to be back on my farm. And to be honest that’s a little bit frightening. The farm is not real but I like harvesting my crops and going to my neighbors farms and seeing what they are doing. In a way its the same as writing a book.

On the farm I started with just a few coins and a small patch of land. On the page at a start of a book I’m starting with a premise and a couple of characters I think are intriguing.

On the farm, I plant and harvest and replant and reharvest making my farm bigger and earning more coins each day. On the page, I write and then I rewrite, I add characters and find the depths of the conflicts for my hero and heroine which is way more rewarding than coins.

Though my book will end with the story there is always something new on Farmville. And I like that going back to a familiar world in the same way that I really like writing a series so I can keep going back to the same characters and checking in on them.

What about you? Do you like a game on the internet and do you think it relates to anything in your life?

Happy Reading!
Katherine

As an author, I find it’s always hard to leave a book behind…we authors love our characters, and it can be really tough to end things. I feel like I’m going through a break-up or something. I remember the characters’ happy times, their difficult times, the fruition of my hero and heroine doing that which they thought could not be done, and voila! Happily Ever After is achieved! Oh, sigh!

But then I have to leave them, these people I created. They did it, they overcame those obstacles and grew and changed for the better, and the book ended. And I’m supposed to move on. But it’s hard. I feel like a lovesick teenager, like Bella in New Moon, just boohooing in her chair unable to let go. I can hear the smarter part of me saying, “Kristan. It’s over. Enough already.” The other part says, “I know, but it was so…and they just…and I can’t…”

The characters stick with me! They haunt me, if you will. I wonder how they’re doing. I know this makes me sound like a crazy person, but they feel so real to me! How does Malone pop the question, for example? I mean, I know he loves Maggie — I made him, so I know everything — but since I never wrote that scene, I wonder. Does Grace’s sister ever find real love? Does Callahan ever reconcile with his brother? Can I really just leave the Black Widows behind forever? They were so much fun!

I read something about Margaret Mitchell, author of my favorite book of all time, Gone with the Wind. People often asked her what happened to Scarlett and Rhett after the end of the book, and her reply was something like, “That book ended for me on the last page.”

I don’t believe that. I mean, sure, she was Margaret Mitchell, so she’s in a different class, but I find I can’t just let my characters be. I think about them…how they’ll do after I leave them, what their life will look like. Quite a few readers ask if I’ll write sequels to my books…so far, I don’t have one planned. Doesn’t mean I don’t picture my people in some alternate world, doing stuff without me behind the controls, as it were.

I think that’s the sign of any great story…when you just can’t let the characters go. Will Bridget Jones and Mark Darcy have kids?  Does the entire Soprano family get mown down, or do they just have a nice meal together? Will Marge ever wise up and divorce Homer?

Eventually, of course, I resign myself to the fact that Lucy and Ethan or Ian and Callie or Maggie and Malone are not officially real, and I will live to love again. It’s bittersweet, and I’m always grateful to the characters who kept me company in such a vivid way.

Who are some characters whose lives you just can’t stop imagining? If you’re an author, have you ever written scenes for characters, even though you know you’re not going to write a sequel? Or, maybe a more interesting question, who’s a real person from your life you just couldn’t let go? Who was Edward to your Bella?

Julia Latham, WICKED,SINFUL NIGHTS, January 2010

Hello! Thanks so much to the ladies of the Jaunty Quills for inviting me to blog. I’m Julia Latham (and also Gayle Callen, but not this release month!), and I bet you think I’m here to talk about my newest book, WICKED, SINFUL NIGHTS. Okay, okay, I know you’re dying to know that it’s a swashbuckling medieval, about a woman accused of murder, and the man sent to prove her guilt. And trust me, it’s a great story, with a beautiful, windswept cover. It’s so great, I’m going to give away a copy to one of the people who comments on my blog. So answer the question posed below!

I’m really here to talk about skiing. Yes, skiing. Or rediscovering a long-ago pastime. Way back in the dark ages (and you wonder why I write medievals?) I used to ski. I learned from my father when I was a freshman in high school and borrowed my mother’s skis. I was always a figure skater, and found that if you can snowplow when skating, you can snowplow when skiing. (FYI: snowplowing is a basic move to stop or slow down, where you bend your knees and point your toes together.) I even went on a co-ed ski trip to Vermont in high school, and trust me, this was a big deal, considering I attended an all-girl high school.

Skiing also helped me get the attention of my future husband, Jim. We were fraternity brothers–it was an engineering fraternity, co-ed. As you can see, I did not follow that career path… Anyway, I wanted Jim to know I was available. I called him up and asked if he and any of the brothers were going skiing that weekend, as I had just broken up with my boyfriend and wanted to have some fun. Subtle, huh? They weren’t going skiing, but he eventually asked me to a basketball game, and the rest is history.

Two years ago, we decided to ski again, after twenty-some years away from it. Our kids gave us helmets for Christmas, in an obvious hint that we need protection. But to my utter surprise, skiing came back like I’d never left the sport. I still love flying down the hill, looking at the beautiful snow-covered scenery, and enjoying quiet talks with my husband as we ride the chairlift up through crisp air. Next we’re going to Aspen, where our son lives, to try our creaky skills on the really BIG mountains. Our kids encouraged that trip, too. What, do they think we don’t get out enough?

So what have you rediscovered in your life after many years away?

I know some great people who don’t particularly care for animals.

Okay, now that we have that out of the way, I have to say that I could never date or marry someone who wasn’t a big animal lover. My husband and I both love animals. We currently have four–two dogs and two cats. We didn’t go out looking for any of them. They came looking for us.

The shih tzu had been our daughter’s dog. But he got into a fight with her other dog and his eye popped out. That eye is now back in place, but blind. The vet said he couldn’t go home because he was at higher risk for it to happen again.

The blue heeler was a stray that someone dumped in the country and found his way to our home.

Our female cat had been placed in a dumpster on a hot summer day when she was only four weeks old. A friend rescued her and asked if we’d take her. (When you live in the country, everyone wants to give you their animals)

Our most recent addition, a male kitty who escaped from a neighbor’s farm. He came to us with ear mites, worms, and a serious eye infection.

No, we didn’t want four animals…one or two would have been okay…but these are not animals that would have been easily adoptible….and we couldn’t turn them away.

I am so grateful that my husband and I are on the same page concerning their care. Money isn’t an object if they need something.

I’m curious, could you date a man who didn’t like animals?