I love to go for long walks, but I prefer doing so in a park or quiet spot or even the woods instead of a busy street. Walking frees my mind and lets me recharge my senses because as odd as it sounds, I sometimes get too busy to hear the birds chirping. Or notice how fabulous the sunset is. Or fail to stop and admire the beauty in a wild violet.

It’s no secret that while I love my electronic goodies, I’m a nature girl at heart. 

When the weather is nice, I love to be outdoors. A relaxing afternoon is curling up on a chaise with a good book and a glass of ice tea nearby.

Or sometimes just sit in the swing in the evening and do nothing but listen to the birds. Or watch the squirrels perform their antics from tree to tree.

Sometimes doing much of nothing is more enjoyable than anything a person can buy.  Like watching the waves roll in on a hot summer day.

I just received coverflats for my October Brava release and it’s stunning – absolutely stunning >>

BUT, even more beautiful is the backcover blurb – the short description on the back cover that’s designed to entice readers into opening or buying that book. In this case, the blurb is fabulous and hits all the emotional and sexy elements of the story I’ve written. I sighed when I read it and decided that, being completely and utterly unbiased, I would buy this book if I read this blurb in the store or online! And that’s exactly the reaction that publishers are looking for when that blurb is written.

Okay — here it is — as an example about hitting all the elements –

On the beautiful, remote Scottish coast, two lovers are drawn together by a dark legacy and a wild dangerous desire. . . .

Rumors of a truthsayer have brought Katla Sveinsdottir to Orkney, searching for a way to clear her brother’s name. What she finds is far from what she expected. Gavin is a recluse, driven close to madness by the voices that crowd his mind. Katla strikes a bold bargain—offering to share Gavin’s bed in exchange for his help. But as she watches this proud, magnificent man struggle to keep his humanity, she knows that more than her brother’s fate is at stake.

Gavin’s mysterious abilities have grown more powerful over time, as have their terrible consequences. Katla is the only person whose thoughts are hidden from him, though he longs to know if she shares his passion. At last he has found the woman who can calm the demons within him—yet the truth he has sworn to reveal may tear her from him forever. . .

More so than the beautiful cover (which doesn’t exactly scream 1098 Viking Scotland to me….), this gives enough info to indicate setting, type of romance (historical with paranormal elements), sensuality level (oh-yeah-baby!), and the conflict between the characters. Of course, it conveniently leaves out how it all works out.

Oh yes, we know that a romance is going to end with a satisfactory H-E-A ending so, really, that info isn’t necessary. There’s enough, just enough, to cast a lure for a susceptible reader and reel her in!

So, tell me, just between us….do you read the blurb? Do you make your final decision about buying a book based on that? Or on the cover? Or on something else? What makes you buy the book? Post a comment letting me know how you are influenced and I’ll send out one of those gorgeous coverflats to you…and one post-er will win a copy of my current HH anthology – PLEASURABLY UNDONE – or my May Brava anthology – UNDONE – their choice!

Yes, Terri has noticed the pattern in her upcoming titles in 2010 — most have either ‘pleasure’, ‘undone’ or ‘pleasure’ AND ‘undone’ in them! Since authors have no control over their titles or the timing of her books (at least THIS author has no control over them!), she’s just letting those words speak for themselves…and her stories! Stop over at www.terribrisbin.com for info about all those books!

I’ve always been extremely blessed to have a great family. And as a romance writer and a woman I know how strongly our relationships with our father’s influence all of the male relationships we have as adults. My dad turned 70 this week and we had a surprise party for him.

My dad is a tough guy–a former Marine, a salt-of-the-earth kind of guy who grew up tough. And I’ve always said that I thought the universe (God) gave him three daughters to soften him up a little. This weekend we were all home at the same time something that hasn’t happened in almost two years, my dad was beside himself with joy and happiness to see all his girls in the same place at the same time.

He has always been very solid and the kind of man you can count on to do the right thing in a tough situation. I think he’s influenced the kind of hero I write in my books because my guys always have something they are working to overcome. And they always have a deep respect and eventually love for the women in their lives.

What about you? Did you dad influence your life and your choices? Do you see your entire family all the time?

For those of you who don’t know…though I write contemporary romance, historical romance has a special place in my heart. Especially Regency romances set in England.

Because my time is so limited, if a book doesn’t hook me in the first couple of pages, I don’t bother. That’s why I was thrilled to find a series of Regency novels that I loved.

This past week I read all four of Mary Balogh’s books dealing with the Huxtable family: First Comes Marriage, Then Comes Seduction, At Last Comes Love and finally Seducing an Angel. I read them all in a week.

One day I was even late to work because I simply “had” to finish the book.

Is there a book–or a series–that currently have you hooked?

I hope so because now that I’ve finished reading this series, I’m looking for another good book.

Deb!  Congratulations!  You are the winner of an autographed copy of A Knight’s Persuasion.

Thanks so much to everyone who commented yesterday.  Check back on Friday, April 23 when I will be blogging again here at Jaunty Quills and will be giving away another signed copy of A Knight’s Persuasion.

Right now, for the second year in a row, the family and I are in Atlanta. The Geek has to come for work, for the First Robotics competition. The kids I just come for the sightseeing and the room service. (That’s my one requirement if the Geek wants us to travel with him. I’ll haul the kids anywhere for unlimited room service.)

So here’s my brief list of things to love about Atlanta:

• The Georgia Aquarium — I know this isn’t a fair comparison, but it’s *so* much nicer than Sea World. Sea World is about two hours from my house. Yeah, it’s cool, but it’s packed and to see things, you have to walk for miles past ice cream stands, plushie animals and commemorative water bottles. The Georgia Aquarium is laid out so you can easily see it all and they have an amazing variety wildlife. True, you won’t get splashed by Shamu, but they do have program where you can snorkel or scuba dive with whale sharks. Haven’t done it yet, but it’s definitely on my list of must-dos.
• A fantastic Children’s Museum — It’s just around the corner from the Aquarium and a few blocks away from the hotel. The kids have a blast and I do too. There’s something very therapeutic about playing with Moon Sand.
• Pandas at the Zoo — Zoos are always great fun kids. And let’s face it, who doesn’t have a weakness for Pandas? Last year, when I showed my daughter pictures, she asked if we could get one as a pet if we got rid of our dogs.

Now here’s my short list of things I don’t love about Atlanta:

• Everything has Peachtree in the name. Malls, Marta stops, buildings. And there are about fifteen streets named Peachtree. As a tourist, it makes navigating very confusing. You look something up on-line and think, “Hey, that’s on Peachtree too. That must be right across the street from the hotel. Nope, it’s on the other side of town.” Seriously, even our cab driver was confused about where our hotel was.

But other than the Peachtree thing, this is a fantastic city. What’s your favorite city to visit?

Spring is one of my favorite seasons in Florida.  While I could definitely do without the crazy levels of pollen, I really enjoy the bright blue skies and warm breezes scented by orange blossoms.  We have a large orange tree—a variety called a Pineapple Orange—in our yard that we planted many years ago when it was a spindly little tree.  Last year, it produced about 400 sweet, juicy oranges.  We drank gallons of fresh-squeezed juice through the holidays.  Yum!  This spring, the tree was covered with fragrant, spiky white blossoms.  The scent was truly incredible:  sweet, but with a slight sharpness that kept it from being cloying.

To me, our orange tree is very much a symbol of my writing career.  In the years since being planted, it has grown and thrived.  Over the same time period, I advanced from an aspiring author trying to find a home for my medieval historical romance A Knight’s Vengeance to a published novelist.  I’m looking forward to the release of my sixth paperback, A Knight’s Persuasion, Book 4 of my Knight’s Series, in May.

In my opinion, the fruit represents my books.  No, I haven’t written anywhere near 400 novels.  I doubt I’ll write close to this number during my lifetime, although I can try!  For the sake of this blog, though, let’s consider the fruit as my published books.  The oranges—books—are the product of many months of work (in terms of the fruit, lots of rain, sunshine, and the occasional dose of fertilizer).  A few oranges still hang on the tree when the first blossoms pop open—just as my previous novels are always part of my current writing career; they might be connected to my work-in-progress, be mentioned in a review or blog post, or I might be talking about them in a presentation to a writers’ group.

The blossoms symbolize new ideas for books.  These delicious, fragrant, tantalizing wisps of inspiration try and lure me from the somewhat strict writing routine that I set myself in order to meet my deadlines.  Sometimes I will investigate the sweet scent of a brand new story, only to have it fall apart, under closer exploration, like a handful of petals.  Other times, the idea strengthens, forms the perfect, round sphere of a complete and workable plot, and ripens into an outline and then chapters.  That’s when the idea really bears fruit.

This spring, I reached what I consider to be a turning point in my career.  That encouraged me to work harder on the personal writing goal I set for myself this year: to sell into another publishing house.  I’m excited about the challenges ahead and about working on new projects.  I’m stretching up my hands, deliberately picking those delicate blooms of ideas, and savoring the potential of each one. 

Maybe one of them will help me to reach my goal. 

That would be sweet.

***

This spring brings the release of the fourth book in my award-winning Knight’s Series!  A Knight’s Persuasion will be released on May 1, just a few weeks from now.  The book is a stand-alone title, so even if you haven’t read the first three series novels, that’s okay.

While A Knight’s Persuasion is only available for preorder right now, I have copies!  I’ll be glad to give away an autographed copy to one  person who leaves a comment on this blog.  Tell me what personal goal you’ve set for yourself this year or this spring and why, and you would win!

Read an excerpt from A Knight’s Persuasion
Visit Catherine’s website

I would be willing to bet that most of you readers would be darn-right surprised to know that most of us writers are completely crazy. I’m not being funny, I’m totally serious. Now by the time you talk to us, about a book that you love, then we’ve had enough distance for book dementia to set in and we’re delighted that you loved the book. We’re so nuts that we even smile and say things like, “oh yes, that was such a fun book to write.” or “I just really loved those characters.” Oh, we’re not lying, in that moment we totally believe what we’re saying to you, we remember that book so fondly.

But here’s the truth of the matter. Today I offer you a no-holds-barred look at a writer’s process. The real process, not the rose-colored glasses version.

Idea – this idea is perfect! It’s new and shiny and brilliant. My editor is going to think I’m a genius and they might as well send over that six-figure check because this time we’re gonna make it big.

Rough Draft – phase 1 okay, this book isn’t writing itself the way the new shiny idea promised, but things are rocking along and someday this is going to grow up to be a masterpiece.

phase 2 crap! This book is terrible. Why did I ever think this was a great idea? I’m an idiot. Ad these characters are boring and flat and all they do is stand around and talk. Blah, blah, blah, boring, boring, boring.

phase 3 if only I could finish this damn thing I could move on to revisions, that’s the fun part, that’s when it starts to come alive and feel like a book, just finish because I can fix anything.

Revisions – OMG! This book needs sooooo much work. It’s terrible. Truly the worst book I’ve ever written. Why can’t this book be fun and exciting like the last book (see this is when that book dementia kicks in). Those characters were so much better, charming and sexy, not at all like these current ones who are flat and boring and have no discernible conflict or goals. And the plot. How am I supposed to fix this thing with notes like ADD MYSTERY STUFF HERE? how is that supposed to be helpful? Why did I ever think I could fix this? Oh and did I mention that I need like 30,000 more words?

Turn book in – (this can have multiple stages depending on how long it takes your editor to get back to you) Oh, I hope they love it. I think it’s good. Right? I mean I worked really hard and I think I might have pulled it off. But I don’t have any perspective, it’s probably terrible. And if could never be as good as my last book.

First review – YES! I knew this book rocked. It was brilliant, wasn’t it? Oh, yes, I loved that part too, it was actually kind of fun to work on.

First reader comment – Oh, wasn’t it so much fun? I just loved that book. Yep, I think he’s my favorite hero too.

And the truly scary thing, we can hit any number of those stages in one day, depending on where we are on what project we’re working on. Currently I’m doing my own revisions on TREASURE ME which is due next month, so see the revisions section above to see the joy I’m experiencing. But first reviews are beginning to trickle in for DESIRE ME and the dementia is settling in.

So what say you, readers? Do you enjoy reading about a writer’s process or do you just prefer to think it’s all magic and muse? I know for me I love to hear about a the way a writer works, but then I’m a writer so maybe that’s just part of the gig. Is there anything you do, hobby or job, that you have a love/hate relationship with? How do you keep yourself going?

I have a confession–one that might surprise you. I love clothes. Its not a passing fancy or one that suddenly came on last year. Its been with me forever. I can get changed sometimes three or four times a day. Not because my clothing is uncomfortable or anything like that just simply that my mood changed and I wanted to wear something else.

I also like to play a little game. I read fashion magazines and find expensive outfits and then search and piece them together myself for less money. Recently I fell in love with an outfit from Anthropologie.

Now it would be easy to just go out and buy the entire outfit at Anthropologie, which I have done before but this outfit is pretty basic and I need a project so I set about finding the pieces at bargain prices.

The jacket had to come from Anthropologie, that is the signature piece and I had a coupon for my birthday so I went and picked that up. The tee was a easy and I picked up two at Old Navy as well as the jeans. The handbag I found at Fossil a previous seasons pattern for a bargain price and the shoes at DSW.

And it was a lot of fun. I spent about a week piecing together my new outfit and then moved on to the next one. I already had a jacket like this one and my new jeans so this outfit was easier to build. I can’t wait to try these outfits out. They are going to be the cornerstones of my travel clothes for this year.

My heroine in SCANDALIZING THE CEO is the editor-in-chief at a British fashion magazine and she comes to fashion not like me but in her 20s. Ainsley is the type of girl who had to find a fashion image for herself because after losing weight she didn’t know who she was any more. She didn’t like seeing a stranger in the mirror and since she felt a bit like she was pretending to be someone else she decided to embrace parts of herself she’d always hidden.

Being curvy and endowed with an hour glass figure there were a few styles that would flatter her and since Ainsley hadn’t spent her entire life thinking about clothing she picked an image that would be easy for her to manage. She picked Bettie Page an iconic 50s pinup girl.

Ainsley’s choice gave her the chance to be in control of the men who swarmed around her after she lost weight. She found that dressing in a blatantly sexy way made most men a little hesitant to come up to her. And the clothing she wears acts as a barrier.

Have you ever used fashion as a barrier or a mask to pretend to be someone you aren’t? Or maybe to fit into a certain group…I could go on all day about being in the PTA at the elementary group and how I dressed for those events!

Kathy

I’m working on a new book called “Accidental Heiress” (Silhouette Special Edition, November 2010).  Since it’s book number four in the “Accidental” series, I have a pretty good mental picture of the setting – the fictional principality of St. Michel. Even so, I decided to try something different with this book: I made a story collage (that’s it above). One of my favorite authors, Barbara Samuel, does this – maybe that’s why her books are so fabulous – and I finally decided to try my hand at it. 

Before I started the book, I took my time, clipping and saving photos that fit the dreamy mood of the book. It’s a Sleeping Beauty theme, and there’s an old manor house, overgrown with flowers and vines. The hero looks strikingly like Hugh Jackman, and the heroine is modeled after a British socialite who used to date Prince Harry.

There was something very freeing about the cutting and positioning and pasting of all the photos. I must admit that once it was done, I was quite pleased with how the collage captured the overall feel of the story.

Now, it hangs on the bookshelf across from my desk and I gaze at it as I write. Even though I had to endure endless ribbing from my family and friends about how I should put away the arts and crafts and just write the darn book, I’m glad I invested the time. It’s brought the story and characters to life. I’ll probably do it again for the next book.

Have you ever done something that on the surface seemed as if it was a time-waster, but turned out to be time well spent? Tell me about it and I’ll enter you in a drawing where one person will win the collage after I finish writing “Accidental Heiress.” Every time I blog, I’ll enter the names of everyone who posts into the drawing.   So, let’s get started with you telling me about time-wasters that turned out to be good investments of time – or even if you want to simply post and say, “Hi” that’ll count, too. So, who’s first?