Karyn Gerrard is the winner of my drawing. Karyn – send me an email (margomaguire@yahoo.com) with your address and I’ll get your book out to you this week!

Call me boring but I can’t remember going to an actual dress-up Halloween party in recent years. I’d say I’d like to be invited to one, but I wouldn’t have any idea what to wear.

In fact, the last time I remember dressing up was when I was about thirteen (and a little )too old for trick-or-treating)…but a friend asked me to go and I went and came away with a whole pillow case full of candy.

When our daughter was in grade school we hosted a Halloween party for her and her friends every year. At that time we lived in town but had a huge backyard (almost an acre of land) that backed up to a field. Our house was a walk-out with a huge picture window on the lower level. After carving pumpkins (each girl always got her own pumpkin to carve and even got to take the pumpkin knife home with her) we played a bunch of games. Then my husband would slip out and put on a scary mask. Then, with a flashlight tucked under his chin, he’d peer in through that picture window where the girls sat watching a movie.

The girls would all shriek and run, only to seconds later want to go outside to get the monster. Who said little girls aren’t courageous? lol

I’d be interested in hearing your Halloween memories. Each person who comments between now and 9 pm Sunday will be entered into a drawing to win a free book.

Check back after 9 pm on Sunday to see if you’ve won…

Can’t wait to hear your stories!

My husband gave me a kindle for my birthday earlier this month. To date, I have read two books on it. The first one was so engrossing, I hardly noticed I was using a kindle. The second one… well, I’m not so sure I like it.

Maybe I just have to get used to all the features. One of my friends said she likes to go back and re-read certain parts of books – well, you can do that on a kindle. It’s a “search” feature that allows you to look up a certain word or phrase. I used it in the second book I read, because a character made an appearance late in the book that I didn’t remember. I did a search for his name and found the first few times he was mentioned, which refreshed my memory of that character.

But it certainly was not like turning back the pages.

Another friend said she likes to know exactly where she is in the book. The kindle gives you a bar at the bottom of the page that fills as you turn the pages – just like when you download a program to your computer. So you know when you’re 10%, 50% or 90% finished.

I understand there is a “try it first” feature, which I really need to make use of. Because I downloaded a book I read several years ago. The book blurb didn’t seem familiar, but after I read the first few pages, I realized it was all very familiar. If I had picked up the book in a bookstore, I probably would have noticed this.

The kindle is in black and white – which means that when you scroll through books to buy, you can’t really get a true sense of the cover. You can read the blurb, but it’s a very different experience than picking up a book from a shelf, or even using amazon.com.

Another drawback – I thought the purchase process was highly prejudiced. When I went to mystery/thrillers, I found the first 20 pages full of the bestsellers in the genre. It would have taken forever to scroll through all those pages to find a new author I could fall in love with. There is probably a different search criteria that I can enter (although I haven’t found it yet) and it’ll probably only give me options like price: high to low, or the reverse. You can definitely enter a book title or author’s name, too – but sometimes I just want to browse the bookstore and see what’s on the shelves. You know what I mean?

What I’d really like is an option to eliminate certain authors from the search. Wouldn’t it be great if you didn’t have to go through 90 pages of Nora Roberts books before it started showing other authors? (Not that I don’t love Nora – I do! But there ARE other authors out there, and I’d like to find them!)

So – what do you think? Are electronic readers here to stay? Will actual books ever go away? Tell me about your experiences with books and/or electronic readers and I’ll pick one commenter to receive a copy of my book, The Rogue Prince.

Charlie Brown’s nemesis Lucy offered this practical Halloween advice: “ A person should always choose a costume that is in direct contrast to her own personality.”  

 Since I’ve been everything from ½ of the scandalous lip syncing duo Milli Vanilli to a witch and a hippie and a scarecrow (among other things), I can’t say my costumes have been diametrically opposed to my personal character. But I can attest to having a lot of fun.

 When our daughter was very young, Halloween was a family affair. One year we went as the cast of the Wizard of Oz. Another year, we were the Addams Family. Then our daughter started trick-or-treating with friends and she was “embarrassed” to be part of an ensemble cast.  So, she dressed up and the adults – and there was usually a tribe of us following the kids door-to-door – did our best to fade inconspicuously into the dusky background.  

Some of her costumes that remain my favorites were simple, but adorable: a fairy, a cat, a southern belle – these disprove Lucy’s theory because there are all cute and my girl is definitely not the opposite of cute.   I think what it proves is that Halloween is all about fun and imagination.

What’s your costume this year? What are some of your favorite costumes from Halloweens past?

Sometimes I feel like I’m stuck in the 80′s, which is sad because I so wasn’t cool in the 80′s. It seems those were the romances and the movies that I identify with and that continue to live in my imagination.
Maybe that was just the time when I finally had enough allowance money and freedom to go to the movie theatre, and I also started paying attention to television. Maybe it was when I started caring about romance and getting emotionally invested in the characters I was watching.
Believe it or not, Butterfly Swords was heavily inspired by the 80s.
Really?

Well, first the 80s was the Golden Age of Hong Kong TVB, when the best historical adventure dramas were made. The Five Tigers came from that period and include some of my favorite Asian actors to this day, like Tony Leung.

But a major influence on the love story in Butterfly Swords came from one of my favorite 80s movies: Dirty Dancing.
Without giving up spoilers for Butterfly Swords, here’s a little bit about Dirty Dancing:

Baby is young and idealistic. She comes from a wealthy family that shelters her. At times she seems unassuming and quiet, but there’s a core of strength in her. She’s very clear in her ideals of how people should be treated.
Johnny is a bad boy. He’s older, more experienced with life and with women. He’s got some moves that make Baby swoon, but other than a couple of steamy dances, he doesn’t touch her and keeps his distance.

Johnny is the alpha male and respected among his people, the other dancers at the camp. They look up to him to solve their problems. Yet he defers when dealing with Baby or with her father. He’s “out of her league” to paraphrase the soundtrack.

Baby’s got Daddy issues. She wants her father’s respect, but realizes her relationship with Johnny is pushing her beyond the bounds of her family. She’s starting to form her own judgments and opinions about people – but it’s all based on the very strong and stable core of love and respect that she comes from.

No need to draw any comparisons between the foreplay of both dancing and sword fighting:

When I started getting close to the love scene in Butterfly Swords, I had a dilemma: Would it be a moment of passion thing? Would they be thrown together in rebellion?

My heroine Ai Li was sexually innocent, yet held power over Ryam because of how he chose to treat her. Ryam held power over her being more worldly and experienced, but he also felt a sense of responsibility because of it. I didn’t know how to negotiate the first love scene with the interesting dynamic between them. How to keep them both true to their characters but still…*ahem*…get it on?

I took a little guidance from Dirty Dancing and Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze.  If you’ve happened to read the book and see the movie, can you see any parallels?

I’m going to listen to “She’s Like the Wind” now in memory of Patrick Swayze. I heart you Patrick. You will not be forgotten.

Have you ever received unexpected inspiration from movies or other books?  Two visitors who post a comment to answer Jeannie’s question will receive a copy of Jeannie’s book and one of Terri’s (who is thrilled to have Jeannie as her guest!).

Jeannie Lin writes historical romantic adventures set in Tang Dynasty China. Her short story, The Taming of Mei Lin from Harlequin Historical Undone is available September 1. Her Golden Heart award-winning novel, Butterfly Swords, was released October 1 from Harlequin Historical and received 4-stars from Romantic Times Reviews—“The action never stops, the love story is strong and the historical backdrop is fascinating.”
Join the launch celebration at http://www.butterfly-swords.com for giveaways and special features. Visit Jeannie online at: http://www.jeannielin.com

(Images from www.moviescreenshots.blogspot.com.“LEGAL: the contents of this weblog ONLY may be used elsewhere if the source www.moviescreenshots.blogspot.com is clearly mentioned.”)

What is it about those sheikhs?

I think the first romance novel I ever read – a Harlequin Presents title that I can’t quite remember because I was about twelve at the time – featured a sheikh hero.  The desert setting – with the hot sun, shifting sands, and a life lived on the edge of survival – was so intriguing to me.  I was a Southern girl, raised in a lush land with grass, trees, mountains, lakes, and streams.  The red desert was totally foreign and exotic.

And the man who ruled that land was swoon-worthy to my young mind.

It’s not that I don’t understand the realities of that life now that I’m an adult.  But writing for Harlequin Presents/Mills & Boon Modern allows me to explore the fantasyland of my childhood.  For me, writing about the desert and the sheikh is the ultimate fantasy.

King Zafir bin Rashid al-Khalifa, the hero of “Kept for the Sheikh’s Pleasure,” (Chosen by the Sheikh, Harlequin Presents 2-in-1, November 2010) is my first sheikh.  He’s as gorgeous and ruthless as you would expect a sheikh to be.  But he’s also deeply emotional, and he’s been hurt before.  When his ex-lover crashes into his life after ten years, he finds that he can’t quite let her go.  Not without tasting her one more time.

Dr. Geneva Gray is an archaeologist who once loved a prince of the desert, but who walked away when she realized they could never be together in the way she wanted.  Now, she’s been captured and given to Zafir as a gift—and the feelings she once pushed away are demanding to be dealt with before she can leave him a second time. 

Naturally, nothing is as simple as either of them hope it will be. 

I loved writing about Zafir and Genie.  They are both strong and determined characters.  But I really, really loved writing the descriptions of Zafir in his dishdasha and keffiyeh.  I know, I know – that’s not a character trait, or anything by which the reader can better understand him.  It’s clothing. 

But oh, picturing him in his native robes made me swoon just like that young girl reading her first sheikh so many years ago.  In fact, I got carried away.  I had a little too much information about his life in the first version I sent to my editor.  She very sensibly told me to cut all the details about tents, food, carpets, and Arab culture, and get to the emotional heart of the story.  She was right, of course.

I hope you’ll pick up a copy of Chosen by the Sheikh!  It’s available in stores now.  And of course I hope you enjoy reading about Zafir and Genie’s love affair, and how they resolve their issues and get their happy ever after.

Today, I want to give away a signed copy to one commenter!  Tell me what your fantasy romance novel setting is.  I want to hear about those castles, planets, mansions, deserts, and islands that you love!  Let’s talk about our addiction to romance.

Lynn Raye Harris is a USA Today bestselling author who read her first Harlequin romance when her grandmother carted home a box of books from a yard sale. She didn’t know she wanted to be a writer then, but she definitely knew she wanted to marry a sheikh or a prince and live the glamorous life she read about in the pages. Instead, she married a military man and moved around the world. She’s been inside the Kremlin, hiked up a Korean mountain, floated on a gondola in Venice, and stood inside volcanoes at opposite ends of the world.

These days Lynn lives in Alabama with her handsome husband and two crazy cats. Since her debut novel came out in August 2008, Lynn’s books have appeared on the USA Today, Borders, and Nielsen Bookscan bestseller lists.  You can visit her at www.LynnRayeHarris.com to learn more about her books, read her sporadically updated blog, or just drop her a note.

Hello to you from beautiful Iselin NJ….

Six of the Jaunty Quills–Kathy Garbera, Terri Brisbin, Emilie McKay, Kate Smith, Robyn DeHart and moi are attending the New Jersey RWA Chapter’s annual conference. We all got together for dinner on Thursday night (before the conference started) and, thanks to Robyn and Terri’s food problems, we all were able to enjoy free dessert! We did miss all the other Jaunties and wish they–and you–were here with us.

It’s been a great conference so far. Terri has been working at keeping the editor and agent appts running smoothing while the rest of us have been imparting our knowledge, er giving workshops.

The best thing about coming to a conference like this is not only the fabulous educational opportunities but seeing other writer friends…and making new ones.

In a couple of the sessions they mentioned something about most writers being introverts. They said that introverts are drained by a lot of contract while extroverts are fueled by the contact.

I think I’m an extrovert. I love meeting new people and talking and mingling. Kathy Garbera told me she thinks she’s an introvert (even though she does a really good job of mingling)

I’d be interested in knowing if you think YOU are an introvert or an extrovert? And how did you come to that conclusion?

I don’t know about you, but I’m an excellent multi-tasker. I’ve always been good at multi-tasking, but since I had a baby (now a toddler!), I’ve really had to hone my skills.

I can check email, cook dinner, talk on the phone, and hold the baby’s hand while she wobbles across the room. And I never just watch TV. I’m always uploading pictures, checking email, reading a book, or eating dinner at the same time.

Last month was a big multi-tasking month. There were a few days I was working on the blog for the virtual The Making of a Gentleman tour, the copyedits for The Making of a Rogue, and information for the marketing people for my latest sale, a book titled Lord and Lady Smythe for now. There were a few times I was writing something about one books and realized I was supposed to be talking about a different book. These are the hazards of multi-tasking, I suppose.

Even as I write this, I’m trying to eat lunch, I’ve answered three phone calls, and I have two guys here patching cracks in my ceiling from the house subsiding. Oh, and they just found an AC leak. So now I’m calling the AC guy…

I know some authors who prefer to work only on one book at a time. I’ve had that luxury, but I find I enjoy splitting my time between books. It keeps each story fresh for me. But it can also get confusing. What color hair did the heroine in this book have? What color eyes does the hero have? I’ve learned to keep good notes.

What about you? Are you a multi-tasker? Do you prefer to concentrate on one thing at a time or do you enjoy working on several projects at once?

I haven’t been around much. I wish I could say it was because I was running around Europe having a grand ole time, but it’s not. It’s because I’m on deadline with a book due Nov 1. It’s the second in my YA Steampunk series and it’s giving me a hard time. Plus, I’ve been sick as a dog, which has slowed me down. So, now have to accept that the book won’t be as polished as I like when I turn it in — unless I’m late.

Here’s the thing. I don’t like to be late, even if it means the book will be better. The hubby and I are often late to gatherings because we have to drive almost half an hour to get to most of our friends’ homes. It drives me nuts every time.

Thankfully, writers have the revision process to help ease this feeling of  ‘Oh no, I just turned in a crap book’. I don’t really think the book is garbage, it’s just not going to have the atmosphere I want it to have. I tend to vomit the book onto the page, laying the ground work and plot down fairly thickly and precisely. The stuff that I come back to do once that foundation is laid is mostly setting, ambiance, and making sure I don’t have six characters with spastic eyebrows, gazing at each too often.

Still, even though I know the plot will be strong when I pass this book in (and plot is one of the most important aspects), I wish the rest of of it could be as firm. Meanwhile, my darling hubby is concerned about me pushing myself too hard since I’m still under the weather (I’m one of those people who gets sick in stages, so it can take me a couple of weeks to get over a simple cold). But, the book has to be written. I gave my word that it would be done on time, and I really, really, really hate going back on my word.

So, as I crawl back under my rock and attempt to meet my page count — while battling a head cold — I ask that you all forgive my low profile. I promise I’ll be more attentive after Nov 1.  I will also go one step further and ask you to indulge me. Do you hate to be late? Or maybe there’s something else that drives you nuts? Maybe you have a code to which you hold yourself but not necessarily others?

I love to cook and to bake.  I’m sure I inherited this from my mother, who is an excellent cook, because I remember pushing my chair up to the kitchen counter when I was a girl to watch her at work.  When I got older, I stood beside her at that counter, chopping beans I’d been tasked to pick from the garden or tearing up lettuce for salad.  Good memories, those ones.

I’ve found that specific foods hold a lot of memories for me, especially of people close to me.  Cinnamon buns remind me of my Grandma Wright, my mom’s mother, a petite woman with curly gray hair, bright blue eyes, and a cheeky laugh.  When I was young, and we’d go to visit her in her apartment, she’d often have warm cinnamon buns ready when we arrived: fat, soft, delicious treats she’d made from scratch that morning.  Yum!  Whenever I catch the scent of cinnamon, I am instantly reminded of her.

I make cinnamon buns myself every once in a while, using my bread machine.  I think of Grandma as I spoon the cinnamon-sugar-butter mix onto the flattened dough and roll it up to cut it into rounds.  I think of all the fun times my sister and I had when Grandma babysat us.  She taught us how to play card games, including ones where we gambled for nickels and dimes.  With mischief in her eyes, she told us dirty jokes that my mom would be horrified to hear—but we were good at keeping to ourselves.  She showed us how to make lovely Christmas ornaments out of egg cartons, sequins, glitter, walnut shells, buttons, and other common items around the house.  She even sewed clothes for my Barbie dolls—clothes she’d tailored to fit just right.  And did I mention her skill at hand-making quilts and rugs?  She was very talented craftsperson and in so many ways, I miss her.

Apple pie, too, holds special memories for me.  I’ve never tasted an apple pie as good as my mother’s, and I think of her and my heart gives a warm tug when I stroll by the baked goods section in the grocery store.  Making good pie pastry is an art–and yes, I say that with the voice of experience and several failed pies to my name.

My mom, a perfectionist in most things she does, has perfected pastry-making to deliver pies with flaky, tender crusts that don’t shatter into gazillions of tiny bits.  Her filling is tart and apple-y and not at all mushy.  Sometimes she uses apples picked from the trees in the garden of my parents’ acreage; other times, she uses Granny Smith apples.  Her pies are truly exceptional and the ultimate comfort food, especially when downed with a dollop of whipped cream or vanilla icecream.

Only recently have I dared to try and bake apple pie myself.  I haven’t managed to successfully make my mom’s pastry (I’m definitely a pastry novice), so I used a recipe from one of my Barefoot Contessa cookbooks (I love Ina Garten’s recipes and her cooking show on Food Network).  I also used the wonderful, deep pie dish my mom bought for me last year, when she and my dad visited.  That’s a photo of my pie there on the right.  It turned out pretty well, I think.

Okay, let’s be 100% honest–I was thrilled.  So thrilled, I had to send the photo to my mom.  “Good going!” she said, sounding impressed, which meant a lot to me.  My husband and daughter loved the pie so much, I felt like a pie-making goddess.  For a few days, at least!

***

Sadly, there are no cinnamon buns or apple pies in my Knight’s Series novels.  However, I’m told my books are chock full of romance, adventure, and passion.  For those of you who love a taste of the medieval era, my latest title, A Knight’s Persuasion, is still available in bookstores and online.  Please visit my website for an excerpt.

Are there any particular foods that remind you of someone in your family, or maybe your friends?