I have a new book out this month called Reunited…With Child and as you may have guessed from the title it involved a child. But the story is really about keeping secrets. Sometimes I have inadvertently not mentioned something, like say a new pair of shoes that really aren’t in the budget and then as time goes on I’m desperate to wear them but realize I can’t unless I snuck them out of the house, which is crazy. Then I’m trapped in the downward spiral of trying to figure out how to casually bring up the shoes to my husband, which never works. So I have to just confess I bought them weeks ago. And he laughs and usually tells me he already guessed by how much time I’ve spent talking about the shoes.

In the book Becca doesn’t tell Cam about the child at first because he rejected her love and told her all he wanted was a mistress…but also because he rejected her. And she doesn’t want to share anything with that man. Its only when they meet again that she comes to realize her emotions may have fogged her judgement and its time to make amends.

Have you ever done that? Just sort of not mentioned something intentionally or not and had it snowball into something out of control?
Happy Reading!
Katherine

PS–are any of you watching Dancing with the Stars? I’m amazed at how good Hines is and Chelsea (the Disney Channel girl). I’m still pulling for Ralph and Kirstie to make it through!

I’ve always been a tea drinker, but the past few years I’ve made a habit of having  a cup of hot tea mid day.   I was an admitted tea snob.  I would drink black tea,  oolang, or chai.   And I stuck with Bigelow brand.  

But last year it became impossible to find oolang tea in any brand in my store, let alone Bigelow that I was used to buying.  So I went online, took a chance on a brand I wasn’t familiar with, and bought it bulk.  And you know what?  I like this brand better than my old one and was very happy.

Until the majority of people I worked with started trying all the new flavored teas.  So this winter, instead of being stick-in-the-mud me, I decided to branch out and try some of the new flavors, particularly the fruit enhanced green teas.  OMG, it was love at first sip! 

My absolute favorite is acai and blueberry green tea.  Second fav is pomegranate.  I’ve gotten so hooked on these that I planned to take some with me to L.A.  when I was there for the RT Convention.  But I totally  forgot my tea (along with my beige slacks and my black sweater) and had to rely on what they stocked in the hotel for the most part. 

Good time to try new flavors, right?  Well, I found an herbal tea that I really loved  – wild sweet orange.  But I wasn’t alone loving this tea.  Every place I went, it was either nearly sold out or history. 

Soon as I got home, I hit the store to replenish groceries and pick up my new fav tea.  But they didn’t have it, so I bought a different brand of orange infused green tea.  It’s good, but not the same.  That okay too because this one is good in its own way.  

So I’m addicted to trying new teas now, which will last until I hit a really icky one.  Then I’ll focus on the tried and true again.

Are you the adventurous sort when it comes to food and beverages?  Have you fallen in love with something while on vacation?  Were you able to find it when you returned home?  If so, was it as good as you remembered?

I can always tell what a person likes to read or what they secretly yearn to write based on what they tell me “I” should write.

You should write a children’s book = I’ve thought about writing one of those myself

or

Have you ever thought about writing a suspense novel? = I really like to read those kinds of novels.

Okay, I HAVE thought of writing a children’s book some day. But suspense, or shudder, horror? Not on your life.

I’ll tell you a little secret about myself. I don’t watch movies or read books without a happy ending. And even if a suspense-filled plot has a happy ending, if it’s too suspensy, I’ll turn off the DVD player before I even get close to the end.

For some reason, scary scenes linger in my head long after I shut the cover of the book or return the DVD to Redbox. I dream about those scenes and even during daylight hours the especially intense ones linger in my head…for days or weeks.

I don’t know why that is, but it’s been that way as long as I remember. I’m curious. How do you handle these types of movies/books?

Author Kylie Brant is my guest today, here to tell us a little bit about her new release, Deadly Dreams.

Gift or Curse?

Psychic phenomena has long fascinated me.  Sure, most of those claiming special abilities are charlatans, but I firmly believe there is a small percentage of people who truly have extrasensory capabilities.  Maybe that’s why four of my thirty plus books have featured a psychic character.  It leads to such intriguing possibilities.

There are actually several types of ESP.  Clairvoyance is the ability to “see” events or objects elsewhere.  If I could choose one, this would be my pick.  What could be more convenient than being able to select the correct lottery numbers?  The ability to read someone’s thoughts is called telepathy.  I’m not sure how convenient that would be.  Do I really want to know what my husband is thinking?  It might, however, have come in handy when my teenagers were getting ready to go out with their friends for the evening! 

With mediumship people are able to channel dead spirits.  Since I’m something of a wimp, I think that one would freak me out a bit.  Precognition is the knowledge of future events.  Hate anticipation?  This would be your ticket.  If we could embue our husbands with this ability, they wouldn’t have to watch sports on TV because they’d already know the outcome.  Think of the household chores that could get done!

Psychomety is the ability to read information about a person or place by having access to a certain object, which would come in handy in missing persons’ cases.  Retrocognition is the ability to see into the distant past.  Since I love history, I’m intrigued by this ability.  Imagine going to one of the centuries old castles or cathedrals in Europe and being transported back to history.  Or touching a gown worn a hundred years ago and having a vision of the woman who wore it.

 Unfortunately, from all accounts psychic abilities rarely are that convenient.  Most accounts say that the ‘visions’ are fragmented, and not easily interpreted.  They can’t be summoned and rarely do people claim their abilities work when it comes to their personal lives.

And sometimes the visions are downright horrifying.  Imagine going to sleep, for example, and dreaming of murder.

That’s the ‘gift’—or curse—that Risa Chandler has in DEADLY DREAMS.  Since a child she’s dreamed of murders that are currently happening or take place in the near future.  The visions could be put to use in her job first as a cop, and now as a forensic consultant for The Mindhunters. 

But her psychic ability isn’t flawless, and her last case ended in a child’s death.  She’s been unable to work since.  She can’t bear to touch her gun.  Her life in criminology, she fears, is behind her.

Until the dreams begin again.  Hungry flames devouring agonized victims with a bystander silhouetted against the darkened sky.  And when homicide detective Nate McGuire shows up at her door and asks her to take a look at a crime scene—where a victim was burned alive—Risa is compelled to agree.  Until the villain turns his focus on her, planning to make her his ultimate, fiery sacrifice….

What about you?  Could you handle being psychic?  If so, which ability would you like to possess?  I’m giving away an autographed copy of DEADLY DREAMS to one lucky commenter!

Be sure to visit Kylie’s Website for more information on her books, and to sign up for her newsletter. Thanks for blogging with us today, Kylie!

WARNING: Royal buzz-kill ahead

I love weddings. The April 29^th nuptials of Prince William and Catherine Middleton are no exception. It’s a real-life fairytale playing out in living color right before our eyes. It’s the age-old tale of commoner-girl meets a boy who happens to be a prince. Friendship grows into romance; romance blossoms into happily ever after.  Sounds like the stuff of romance novels, doesn’t it?

As does the fact that Kate Middleton is the first non-aristocrat to marry into the British royal family in 350 years. Some reports have even gone so far as to say she may actually “save” the royal family. Whatever that means…

I’d venture a guess that most romance readers and writers – myself included – are captivated by the wildly romantic notion of a commoner becoming a princess. And why not?  The girl gets her prince; she could become queen; to-die-for jewelry is part of the uniform; and she gets the perfect wedding – the kind most of us only dream of. In fact, there’s been much ado about the details of this storybook day: her dress, the flowers, the cake, the wedding route, carriage or Rolls Royce… or both, the guest list – from which our own President Obama has apparently been omitted. However, from what I’ve read, this wasn’t a royal snub. It was simply because security to protect him and the first lady is too expensive. To make it up to him, President and Mrs. O and their two daughters are invited to visit the Queen in late May and spend three days as her guests at Buckingham Palace. Not a bad conciliation prize, huh?

Yeah – Slam on breaks here. State visit or not, reading about security issues was the pin that popped my royal bubble. After that, I happened across legions of articles that offered a reality-check (or buzz-kill, if you will) about what the life of a modern princess actually entails.

In addition to throngs of ever-present security teams (so much for secretly slipping out to the Twisty-Treat to satisfy that ice cream craving), there’s a lot of pressure on Kate and William to get right what Charles and Diana did so disastrously wrong. Kate and William are off to a good start since they seem to be genuinely in love. However, the demands were evident when William placed Diana’s famous sapphire engagement ring on his bride-to-be’s finger. I don’t know… wouldn’t that feel like an awfully heavy weight to lug around? Seems like it would be a constant reminder of the tragedy that befell Diana.  Perhaps ghosts are part of the royal package?

Like Diana, Kate and William will sacrifice their right to privacy. They will pledge allegiance to the royal “family brand” first. Their life as a couple, and ultimately a family, will take a backseat. Kate, who was not raised in the public eye, must be “on” 24/7, presenting her most perfect self around the clock. Forget venturing out with sunglasses and a pony tail. It’s full makeup and coiffure from this day forward – and don’t forget the hat. Heaven forbid she chew gum in public or find herself overcome with an uncontrollable urge to laugh at an inappropriate moment, or let slip a dainty “hiccup” (because princesses do not suffer gas bubbles – that would be vulgar and much too common. The media would never forgive her).

Kate has quit her job with her parents’ party supply company to devote heart and soul to her new career as princess (and I must laud her platform on bully-prevention – she says she was bullied while in school and wants to put an end to others suffering the same humiliation). Speaking of bullies, perhaps she can use the awareness she will generate to influence her in-laws: one news article claimed Kate will likely never again enjoy Christmas lunch with her parents because in-laws are not invited to share holiday festivities at the palace. Hmm… if that’s true, and her anti-bullying stance doesn’t work, perhaps Wills and Kate, being the new “modern royals,” could affect change. Surely Queen Elizabeth could squeeze in two place settings for Mum and Dad Middleton.

Pondering this, my thoughts shift to what it would be like to never again have Christmas dinner with my daughter. Since I’m married, I can’t help but wonder what if my daughter met and fell in love with a prince? Sure, it’s far-fetched, but it could happen. Kate has paved the way, and Harry is still eligible. Would I wish this life on my daughter? It sure seems the Middletons might have mixed feelings. On one hand, since Kate will likely one day become the Queen of England, their little girl will become an important thread in the tapestry of British history. That’s huge. She’ll take her place next to Victoria and Elizabeth and… Anne Boleyn. We all know what happened to poor Anne Boleyn, whose only crimes were ambition and falling head-over-heels for her beloved Henry. Okay, time for another royal reality-check … Obviously Anne Boleyn’s crimes were debatable, and, at best, she wasn’t exactly the innocent bystander.

No disrespect to Catherine Middleton, because she seems the picture of poise and perfectly cut out for the job, but I wouldn’t want the life for which she is signing on. Nor would I wish it on my daughter – not for the crown jewels of England.  I prefer to live out my princess dreams on the pages of my novels.

Will I watch the royal nuptials? You bet I will. I’ll put on my blinders and block out the realities of what it really means to trade one’s commoner card for life on the throne. I’ll sigh over Kate’s beauty and the love that will be surely be apparent in William’s eyes. I hope he cries when he sees her. I love it when the groom is so overcome with love it moves him to tears. See, I’m already getting swept away…

How about you? Would you want to be a princess? Will you watch the royal wedding? Do you like stories about aristocrats falling in love with commoners? I’ll give away a copy of my book, “Accidental Princess,” to one person who posts about anything royal. Or if you already have that book, just let me know and I’ll send you something else.

Last week I left Baby Galen and Ultimate Sportsfan for 36 hours to travel to Los Angeles for the Romantic Times Convention. I hadn’t planned on going. We just moved two weeks ago, and I was frazzled enough without trying to pack and prepare for a business trip.

But I had to go. You see, my hero Armand from THE MAKING OF A GENTLEMAN won the Historical K.I.S.S. (Knight in Shining Silver) Hero Award. I rarely win anything, much less an award, so I knew I had to be there to receive this one.

I’m so glad I went. The conference was really fun, L.A. was cold but awesome, and I got to hobnob with fellow Quills Jan Kenny and Kathryn Smith.

Have you ever won anything? Previously, I was pretty proud of the blueberry pie eating contest I won when I was 8.

Please welcome Cheryl Ann Smith, whose new book, The School for Brides has just been released by Berkley Sensation.

Hi everyone! I’m so happy to be here! When Margo asked if I wanted to blog, of course I said yes. Then I had to come up with something to talk about. So I thought for my first Sisterhood of the Jaunty Quills blog, I’d talk about the challenges of writing historical novels. And there are many! But I’ll stick to language so this blog doesn’t go on forever!

Writing historical novels isn’t always easy. Especially books set in other countries. For example, if an author wrote an eighteenth-century Scottish-set novel, with historically accurate language, most American readers would stumble over the words. The heroine could tell the hero that he has a warty nose and a flabby backside, and we’d probably assume that she’d just paid him a high compliment. We wouldn’t know any better. In our minds that knight-hero must be a real hunk!

And the British have their own way of speaking English. The differences in dialect between, say Regency England and the old American West, are vast. Would a cowboy know that “bacon-brained” meant stupid or that “taradiddle” is a lie? Would a duke understand that “balled-up” was confused and “Adam’s Ale” was water? They’d probably stare at each other, very balled-up over what the other is trying to say. Too bad those helpful tourist language guides weren’t available two hundred years ago!

Because of this, we writers sometimes alter our foreign-set books slightly to make easier reading. But you obviously can’t update too much or lose the authentic feel of the time period. While writing about heaving bosoms is no longer considered vogue in historical romances, back in the 1800’s, probably both Regency men and cowboys wouldn’t have complained if we used that funny term.        

Another challenge is not to mix modern words or terms into your novel. OMG, LOL, BRB. Clearly none of those abbreviations were used in Regency England. Thank goodness! But what about “bird in the hand” or “arm and a leg” or “bored to tears”? How far back do those clichés go? Can you imagine a young heroine saying through her giggles, “OMG, you are such a funny duke! So unlike that Mister Fiddlefaddle, who just bores me to tears!”

Of course, that’s an extreme example. In my “Brides” series, my courtesans rarely use OMG, and never LOL. My heroine certainly did not laugh out loud when meeting the arrogant duke. But had she been privy to current teen-speak, she might have said “WTF Your Grace, you’re such a jerk!” if the term had been available in 1818 England. Of course it wasn’t, so she had to use other harsh words when he barged into her courtesan school to reclaim his runaway mistress.

Thankfully, by the end of the book she grew to love him, as I hope my readers do. Love has always been universal, in all languages. And Nicholas really is awesome; or whatever the Regency term was for “awesome”.

Perhaps I should get out my pocket language guide for Regency England and look up “awesome”. You never know what I might find!

Now for the question: What old clichés or terms (like heaving bosoms) are you happy are no longer present in historical novels?

Cheryl is going to choose one lucky commenter to receive a signed copy of The School for Brides. So, come on – tell us what clichés you’re glad have disappeared.

valor – the qualities of a hero or heroine; exceptional or heroic courage when facing danger; to be strong.

Jiyeon Lee/CNN

This is the story of a quiet hero, and you know how we romance authors love the quiet hero. He doesn’t seek out the spotlight, he just does what needs to be done and then gets back to work. This particular quiet hero isn’t tall or particularly good-looking. No ripped abs or Stetson. He’s in his sixties, actually. His face is deeply creased from years of working in the sun, on the sea. He’s a fisherman, and his name is Susumu Sugawara. He lives on the island of Oshima, just off mainland Japan, and while CNN did cover this story, it seems to have slipped between the cracks.

As you might know, I always wonder what I’d do in the face of great peril. Could I cut off my arm the way Aron Ralston did? Could I run into a burning building and pull someone to safety? I don’t know that I’ll ever find out if I have that element of superhero in me. But on March 11, Susumu Sugawara did.

The earthquake struck, the alarms went off. The earthquake was bad…but what was coming was worse. As a man who made his living on the sea, Susumu knew what was about to happen. As everyone in his village ran for higher ground, he made a lightning decision. From the interview on CNN, it sounds like he didn’t even consider another option. The tsunami would easily destroy his boat here at the dock. Living on an island about to be crushed by thousands of tons of water, his people would need a boat. They’d need to get to the mainland. They’d need food and supplies.

It took ten minutes from earthquake to tsunami. Ten minutes to literally run for your life. Forget the computer, the dog, the photo albums—just grab the kids, run like hell, and pray. Except for one man, who started the engine of his boat—the Sunflower—and went straight out to sea, straight toward the mountain of water.

Susumu had been in rough weather before, had seen giant waves five meters high. This was four times that, he guessed. That’s a sixty-foot wave. He said to his boat, “You’ve been with me for 42 years now. If we live or die, at least we’ll be together.” Then he pushed the throttle to full and climbed the mountain, and when he got to the top, the wave broke on his little boat. Then came the next wave. And the next. And the next.

And then there was calm. Not knowing if his family was alive, Susumu headed slowly back to his island, navigating through a sea of debris—houses, cars, ruined ships…bodies. Then, the devastation of his beloved island.

Since the tsunami, Susumu has worked tirelessly transporting people to the mainland, delivering food and water. For weeks, the Sunflower was the only boat Oshima had. Without him, the island would’ve been completely cut off. For his services, he has asked for nothing.

To write this story, I Googled Susumu’s name. He has 262,000 hits. On a whim, I Googled my own name. I have 8.48 million. That doesn’t seem right to me. He deserves more attention, Larry King, Japan’s equivalent of the Congressional Medal of Honor. A man with the presence of mind to charge toward the teeming monster, knowing death is probable, if not certain—that’s what Aragorn does. That’s Luke Skywalker stuff. Valor. Sacrifice. Courage. The stuff of legend.

Susumu is not booked on Oprah, to the  best of my knowledge. He hasn’t sold his life story to Hollywood. He’s been too busy, you see. There’s work to be done.

If you’d like to contribute to the relief effort in Japan, here’s one link:

https://american.redcross.org/site/Donation2?idb=0&5052.donation=form1&df_id=5052

Recently I’ve been getting into the television show–Who Do You Think You Are?–and it’s gotten me in the mood to shake my family tree. I never knew my biological father but I do have some information so the possibility exists to trace my roots on that side. My mother’s family is pretty much a mystery. Although she came from a big family, they either never talked much about past generations, or I never listened.

My husband is very much interested in his family history, but wants me to do the research! I haven’t had time in the past but now that I’ll soon be no longer working full time, I might do a little research. I tried to do it for him a few years ago and got all the way back to the 1600′s. He wanted me to confirm that he was a direct descendant of a signer of the Declaration of Independence, but my research seemed to indicate otherwise.

How about you? Do you share this curiosity about where you come from? Would you ever consider doing geneological research? Or have you already done it?

I’m a mom. Have been for nearly six years now. If you’re not a mother, let me share with you one of the great secrets of motherhood: you spend a lot of time feeling like a failure. It happens nearly every day. By mistake, you send them to school with no lunch. Or you yell at them for making a mess while you’re busy getting dinner. Or you send them to school in tank top twenty minutes before the cold front sweeps though. In any given day, there are plenty of opportunities to muck things up or just generally fall short of your own ideal.

Luckily, every day also has the potential for great parenting moments, as well. It seems many of my perfect parenting moments happen during reading time. Somehow, it’s the one time every day that never gets muddled by anger, by dash expectations, or by miscommunication. It is, in short, perfect. Me–at my best–sharing something I love with my kids–the people I love best. We all lay down in bed together, often with my hubby sitting at the foot of the bed, his laptop open, but still listening, and I read aloud. Occasionally even the cat joins us. Often it’s picture books, sometimes longer novels. And now that my daughter is older, we usually start with her reading a book to me.

The first chapter book I read to her was a favorite from my own childhood: The Great Christmas Kidnapping Caper, about three mice who live in Macy’s over the Christmas holiday. That was followed quickly by Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIHM, another favorite of mine. And then, oddly enough, The Mouse and the Motorcycle. Worried that our reading was becoming very rodent themed, we branched out to the Little House books and eventually the first couple of Harry Potter books. Between novels, we inevitably read more picture books, returning to our favorites as well as exploring new ones.

My sister shares a love of picture books and she’s gifted us with some of her favorites. Whenever a friend has a baby, books are my favorite shower gift. I find the best picture books are always the ones someone has recommended.

What books have you loved, either as a parent or a child?