Today I was over at my daughter’s house and she was getting ready some items ready for a garage sale. There were some books from her childhood included, but not any of her favorites.

That’s when I got to thinking about books from my childhood. I don’t have that many, but Hobby Horse Hill is one that I kept. I didn’t keep it because I loved it all that much, but for a different reason.

When I was in grade school I was a good reader, so I often read books that were meant for older children. I remember reading Hobby Horse Hill in fourth grade. I could understand the words but the plot was too complex for me to fully follow. I kept it and re-read it at the end of fifth grade and could then understand it completely.

Since summertime brings back wonderful memories of walking to my local library and bringing home a whole armful of books, I was wondering if you could share a book or two that you remember from your childhood…and why do you think that book made such an impression?

What do match.com, speed dating and reality TV have in common with Regency England? On the surface, nothing. But one night while watching The Bachelor, a bizarre idea for a historical romance popped into my head: The Bachelor in Regency England (minus the hot tub and camera crew).

While writing HOW TO MARRY A DUKE, I didn’t stop to consider that if I sold the manuscript I’d have to propose follow-up books with premises that aligned with the first one. That’s because I assumed the manuscript would never sell. After all, it was only the second book that I’d written. So, after I signed with an agent, I found out I needed to come up with short sketches for additional books that had something in common with the first one. So I brainstormed with my agent, and one of those ideas forms the basis of my second book HOW TO SEDUCE A SCOUNDREL, which is out on June 28th. Here’s the back cover copy:

SCOUNDRELS, RAKES, AND ROGUES BEWARE . . .

Lady Julianne Gatewick is in a pickle. It started when her brother’s best friend—for whom she’s long nursed a secret tendre—agreed to act as her guardian for the Season, only to seduce her with a risqué waltz.

But when the music stopped and the expectant ton waited for the Earl of Hawkfield to claim her as his own, he made his disinterest clear. Rather than succumb to humiliation, Julianne does what any recently discarded, wickedly witty young miss would do. She secretly pens a lady’s guide to enticing unrepentant rakes . . . and it becomes the hottest scandal in London.

Every honorable rake knows that friends’ sisters are forbidden. But suddenly Julianne has a spark of mischief in her eyes that Hawk can’t resist. Try as he might to push her away, he spends his days listening for her laughter and his nights dreaming of her kisses. He’s always avoided innocents and their marriage-minded mothers, but has the man least likely to wed finally met his match?

ALL’S FAIR IN LOVE AND WAR

Yes, my heroine Julianne writes an anonymous advice pamphlet for single young ladies who are frustrated with all those determined bachelors. Hawk has no idea that she’s writing a scandalous publication called The Secrets of Seduction, a Regency-version of The Rules. But there’s a twist. When Julianne finds trouble, he comes up with his own set of rules for her to follow. Naturally, she ignores his No Flirting rule, but there’s no escaping her guardian. Meanwhile, Hawk is having trouble resisting her. Because he’s her guardian, she’s forbidden to him, but that just makes him want her all the more. Mayhem ensues, however, once Julianne’s scandalous pamphlet is circulated. She mustn’t inadvertently give away her identity as the author for fear of ruining her reputation. But can she continue to hide her true feelings for Hawk?

I had so much fun writing HOW TO SEDUCE A SCOUNDREL. Part of my preparation involved reading dating advice in The Rules and Cosmopolitan. I recall reading Glamour magazine when I was single, and of course, I discussed guys with my girlfriends. Did you ever read dating advice in books or magazines? Or did anyone ever give you dating advice? What’s the craziest How to Catch a Man advice you ever heard? Share with us in a comment for a chance to win an Advance Reader Copy (ARC) of HOW TO SEDUCE A SCOUNDREL plus a set of Romance Trading cards for both of my books (US and Canada only please).

Thanks so much to Shana Galen and the Sisters of the Jaunty Quills for inviting me to blog. May the Magic Romance Fairies be with all of you!

Visit Vicky at www.vickydreiling.com

(Vicky’s winner will be posted on Sunday!)

Hi all! First off, thanks so much to Kristan and the Jaunty Quills for inviting me here today, and to everyone who is stopping by to hear a little about STORM KISSED, the latest story of the Nightkeepers, who are the modern-day men and women who are racing to save us from the coming of the 2012 doomsday.

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Here’s the blurb:

Dark forces stand poised to crush mankind beneath a vicious rule of terror and blood sacrifice. Our only hope rests with a group living in secret among us: modern magic wielders called the Nightkeepers.

Dez is no angel. The former gang leader spent years in jail and alienated the love of his life, Reese Montana. Now he has a second chance to join forces with the Nightkeepers and master the Triad magic. Even better, Reese is back—taken on as the Nightkeepers’ sexy bounty hunter. But this time the stakes are even higher for Dez and Reese.

The sexual electricity between them is still alive, but when Dez goes rogue on a hunt for a powerful artifact, Reese can’t help wondering if he’s been playing her again all this time … What will become of the Nightkeepers with a potential traitor on the run?

To read the first chapter, go to: http://us.penguingroup.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780451233752,00.html?sym=EXC

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 “Okay,” you may be saying, “I get the doomsday part of the title, but what’s with the shotgun shells and teddy bear?

Well, the other day as I was picking up my bedroom (read: I couldn’t find the jeans I wanted to wear, and was thus forced to rearrange the random horizontal storage), I caught myself looking at my bedside table and laughing at what was carefully arranged on it. To whit: a Tiffany knock-off lamp, two sheathed hunting knives, three shotgun shells and a teddy bear.

I had to stop and wonder what that assortment said about me, and realized that it actually said a lot. My stories are kind of like that tabletop—lots of danger and action, along with cuddles and pretty shiny things. Granted, there’s also a fair bit of sexy stuff in my stories … but let’s just stipulate that I left a couple of tabletop items off the list

There’s also romance in that collection. My soon-to-be-husband and I are currently living in different states and only seeing each other on weekends … and every Sunday night before I drive him to the train station, he sets out these little still lives of mayhem as a way of saying, I wish I could be here to watch your back this week, but I know you can take care of yourself.

Now, mind you, I live in a perfectly nice neighborhood, but having those things close to hand reminds me that I’m loved by a sweet, smart and gentle man who has a huge heart, endless patience, and a protective streak a mile wide.

In STORM KISSED, Dez is a bad boy with a far shorter fuse, but he’s got that same protective streak and ability to love fiercely. I could see him leaving peanut butter cups on Reese’s bedside table to remind her of how much they once depended on each other, back before things got so complicated between them, and the candy would join a jar of expensive skin cream and a handgun, because Reese most definitely can take care of herself … except when it comes to a certain sexy Nightkeeper.

So, to celebrate the new release and my guest spot here on the Jaunty Quills, I’m giving away a signed copy of STORM KISSED to one randomly chosen poster. So tell me … what’s on your bedside table?? (Or, if you don’t want to share that, then simply say ‘hi’!)

Every writer has their process. It’s as unique to each of us as the tone of our books. And eventually if you sit back you begin to see the pattern in your own work, the steps you have to take to make the magic and transform that brilliant idea into a book people can read. Writing is a lot like putting together IKEA furniture. At first it seems like since you’re a relatively intelligent person who can read and walk upright that you’ll be able to do it and then after a while that little cartoon man begins to mock you and you end up in a heap on the floor with a splinter, a half-empty bottle of wine and mascara streaming down your face.

As a writer, I’m fascinated by other writer’s processes. Perhaps because I’m always looking for new tools to add to my bag of tricks, and partly because there’s that need to justify the way I do it, to make certain I’m not a complete hack. So if you’re ever around a group of writers, you’ll hear things like this, “What do you write? Oh, are you a plotter or a panster? Oh yes, don’t you just hate synopses…”

Not that anyone asked, but here are mine…

Idea – either I spontaneously get an idea or a manufacture one, either way, pretty exciting stuff.

Brainstorming – this is just the rudimentary brainstorming, not really specifics, just possibilities, again exciting. This has got to be one of my favorite parts. Perhaps because in the midst of brainstorming (which can truly be quite magical if the ideas are working) Emily and I get to gossip a lot. But we only ever talk about nasty people.

Character work – while this part can be challenging, it’s also fun, it consists of finding the right picture to use as my inspiration, so I get to spend quite a bit of time on-line looking at sexy actors. Ryan Reynolds, or Johnny Depp or Hugh Jackman, pick your poison, it’s research, I tell the Professor. It’s my job to find out what *other* women find attractive. I also work on archetypes, Myers-brigg, GMC, conflict and connection b/w hero & heroine, character arcs, etc.

Plotting – the story rises from the characters’ GMC, their relationship and their growth, again, this part can be challenging, but is also in the fun category. I use Scrivener, real index cards, post-it notes, Excel, sometimes all of that, sometimes only one, just whatever I need to get the book into focus.

Proposal – this is the three chapter/synopsis stage and this is where it becomes painful. While working on the synopsis, I’m never more aware of the fact that I’m just making stuff up (I realize that is the case ALL of the time, but it doesn’t always feel that way). The synopsis is certainly not easy, but I find this exercise so useful because it takes the jumbled mess in my head and it puts it into a semi-organized state. It also forces me to look at the external plot a bit more – I tend to build from the internal stuff and forget there has to be action going on. When I hit the chapters, sometimes the opening scene is clear in my head and flies onto the page, but frankly this is rare. Most of the time it takes me much longer to write these first 3 chapters than it does any other chapters in the book. They are daunting to me. I know the characters, or at least I know things about them and I know how I want them to come across, but I haven’t yet let them loose to walk and talk on their own. And with the series, it adds even more complexities of taking a secondary character who thus far has only had dialogue and digging into their internal thoughts. I often call my critique partner to whine about the fact that I’ve forgotten how to write a book, I’m a total hack and I’ll never get done. This stage is hard, and painful and really not all that fun, in fact it’s my very least favorite part and it’s my very slowest stage. It’s like swimming through molasses while a mound of fire ants chase after you.

Rough draft – the pain from the first three chapters usually lasts until chapter 5, possibly 6, and then I begin to hit my stride. I get into the fun part of the book, the middle. I know, some people call this the sagging middle, but for me, it never sags, it flies. Not to say it’s easy, hardly, but I tend to know more of what’s going on, I get to really get that relationship going and it’s just the best part of the book. And then I hit the ending, the last 2 chapters for me usually go at lightening speed during this draft, sometimes only ending up 10-15 pages worth of material. I rush it, I admit it. Because by now I’m just ready for it to be over with and I know the ending will probably have to change. I should mention that at some point during this rough draft (possibly more than once) I make a frantic call to Emily for emergency brainstorming (okay this isn’t the only time she gets a frantic call, it happens all the time) because I’ve realized that I’m missing something huge (almost always my big, black moment, which I swear I had at the time of synopsis writing, but it has since shrunk to a small, slightly grey moment). I should also note that I do not revise as I write, so the rough draft is full of notes, questions and blanks for me to catch during the next round. This used to be my favorite part, but not so much anymore, but it has its moments.

Read-through – this is what happens after I’m done with the rough draft and usually ends up with another phone call to the critique partner where I whine and complain that the book is total crap and I won’t be able to fix it. But during this read-through, I make notes to myself on everything, big (new scenes) and small (punctuation or word choice). Then I write a revision letter to myself. This part is not fun.

Revisions – these are my revisions, not those from my editor. This used to be my least favorite part, but I think that’s because I didn’t know what I was doing. Now I kind of like it, but I’m only just getting used to saying that, so don’t make me repeat it. I’m a layer-er – which means that I go through the manuscript 4-5 times at this stage. The first two being the biggest moves. I add new scenes, I delete stuff, I fix all the things that are inconsistent with character, because now I really know them, I layer in emotion and texture and make sure I’ve been clear about all the elements of each character’s GMC, I look up research questions that I left blank in the first draft, sometimes I rearrange stuff. It’s major surgery. My rough drafts are often 100+ too short, so the layering really is significant. So begrudgingly I say this is the fun part.

Critique – I have a few readers that get the whole thing at this point, the first time they’ve seen it and they give me feedback. I sometimes take it and sometimes ignore it, but it gives me reassurance having other eyes look at it before I turn it in. This part is just fine.

And then I’m done and can turn it in. At this point, I know it’s the best I can do, but I’m still nervous as hell that it’s awful. But I’m still feeling happy that it’s over with and I’m beginning to fall in love with my next idea which is sure to be easy and wonderful…

So why am I writing all of this? Well, I’m working on revisions right now and they’re going far too slowly for me. And I’m certain the book is terrible and I should scrap it and come up with a new idea. But I won’t do that because I know from my process that all of those emotions are normal for me at this stage. I also know enough to know that how I’m feeling about something is not the same thing as the reality of that something. Oh, there I went and got all philosophical on y’all.

In any case, if you’re a writer, tell me about your process so I can steal your cool methods. And if you’re a reader tell me something interesting about what you do, are you an organized person or do you fly by the seat of your pants and wait for the day to take you where it will?

Summer is here!  It has been deliciously nice to be able to sleep in on weekdays and to have a break from the hectic school-day routine.  My teenage daughter is a different person now that she’s getting enough sleep and has had time to do some things she likes to do–rather than projects she’s had to do for school.

As a family, we’ve been talking about plans for the summer.  The Brit and I are determined that our daughter should learn to drive; she, on the other hand, isn’t crazy about the idea.  In an earlier post, I mentioned that I was going to teach my daughter some cooking lessons; last Saturday, we made a roast chicken together, and it turned out great.  So, more mom and daughter cooking sessions to come.

We’ve also booked three nights at a bed and breakfast in mid-July, around the date of our wedding anniversary.  The B & B is less than a mile from the sugary white sands of the beach, and The Brit, our daughter, and I plan to spend every possible moment playing in the sun: building sandcastles, swimming, picnicking, and collecting shells.  I’m really looking forward to the family time away from the day-to-day routine.

I’ve also made some plans–goals, really –for myself.  I’m going to write at least five days a week on my work-in-progress, and I plan to write longhand in a spiral notebook as I used to years ago.  For some reason, the words come more easily to me than writing on a computer.  I guess that’s the old-fashioned girl in me.  

I’m also going to start building a web presence for my contemporary romance pseudonym Cate Lord, since my romantic comedy Lucky Girl will be released by Entangled Publishing in September.  And, I’m going to exercise four or five days per week.  If I’m going to hit the beach in July, I’m going to be wearing my bathing suit.  That means baring my pale, chubby legs.  Enough said. 

What are your plans and goals for the summer?

In UNTIL THERE WAS YOU, which comes out this fall, my heroine’s nemesis is the master of damning with faint praise. Maybe because I was writing a character with this particular gift, I started noticing certain comments that, upon first glance, seem harmless enough. Might even seem like a compliment. For example, “You’ve lost weight, haven’t you? You look great!” For some people, “You’ve lost weight” is a compliment. But it can also be a put-down. What if you thought you were perfect? Or what if you’d lost weight because of illness? I had one friend who said that exact thing— “Oh, my gosh, you lost so much weight! You look wonderful!” to which the reply was, “I have cancer.” My friend slunk away and has yet to recover from the absolute mortification.

Another one is “You look tired.” Now, coming from your sister or your mom or spouse, that might be a reasonable thing to say. But from an acquaintance or a professional colleague…what does one say? “Yes, I’m exhausted.” But what if you’re not tired? What if you thought you looked great? Huh? What then?

I think there’s something else afoot. Here are some possible translations for those not-quite compliments…

You look so…daring! Oh, my dear Lord, really? What are you, Lady Gaga? Is the meat dress next?

Not many people could wear that color. Don’t you have a mirror?

It’s so refreshing to see a woman who can eat. Maybe a therapist can help you with that food addiction.

I’d never have the guts to try that outfit. Because I’m sane.

You look exactly like (insert ancestor here). The clock is ticking, and honey, you look old. You’re aging. Pretty soon you won’t just look like our ancestor…you will BE our ancestor.

My mother has that exact same bathing suit. Just kill yourself now.

Then there’s the totally undeserved compliment. A friend of mine constantly praises my hair, skin, clothes, height (seriously). Recently, I’d gone out with a large group of friends. We ate a lot of wonderful food, drank some great wine, stayed up horribly late. The next morning, despite the pouring rain, my son decided that he really did want to go to the town parade, so I yanked on my fat jeans, pulled one of McIrish’s sweatshirts, grabbed a raincoat shaped like a Hefty bag and a Yankees hat to cover my bedhead. Out into the monsoon I went. A while later, there was my complimentary buddy. “You look great!” she called. “I love what you’re wearing! Have you lost weight?”

So have you been given a back-handed compliment? Got any snappy comebacks for some of the lines listed above?

Avon Books is offering my book, The Bride Hunt, in its digital version for $2.99. So if you’ve got an electronic reader, now is the time!

When they think of writers doing research, most readers think of those writing historical romance. But with each book I discover just how much research is required in writing contemporary romance.

Take for example the book I’m just finishing now, Jackson Hole Valentine, which will be out in February 2012.

The hero had an ACL reconstruction and had very limited mobility at the beginning of the book. I had to do all sorts of research on limitations, therapies etc. even if there’s only a few sentences about it in the entire book.

This book also has a six-year-old child who has lost both his parents in a car accident. Articles on childhood grief became my friend. This little boy also had dyslexia (as does the hero). I can tell you I know a whole lot more about dyslexia than I knew when I started this book.

The book is also set in Jackson Hole. Since I don’t live in Jackson Hole that necessitated a lot of research not only about the town, but the schools and what is going on in the area over different holidays. Thankfully the Internet has made researching any and all of these topics so much easier.

Because I got in the mail today, THREE more copies of Undercover Millionaire, I’m giving all three of them away this weekend. I’ll draw the winners from anyone who posts on Sunday around 9 pm. Check back around that time to see if you’re a winner.

You can comment on this post or just let me know about your plans for this summer. I just simply love hearing from you!

This has been in the news quite a bit lately, but I thought it was worth mentioning, and maybe discussing, here. In fact, I think it’s really important that we all think about what this means. If Google and Yahoo and all the big search engines are using mathmatical equations called algorhythms to predict and filter the kind of content we want to see when we search the net… Well, then it means we won’t be exposed to any information outside our sphere of beliefs.

As the speaker in the video says, he no longer receives links to political sites that seem to be in disagreement with the sites he tends to visit. If this is happening to all of us, it means we’re never exposed to ideas that fall outside our belief systems. If we normally click on politically conservative websites, then pretty soon, that’s the only kind of political website the search engines will come up with. If we click on sites that have to do with athiesm, will Google ever send us to sites that talk about God or religion? The search engines have created an insular little world for us as we surf the web. It was supposed to expand our horizons, not narrow them!

No wonder we’re such a polarized nation here in the USA. If we’re never exposed to ideas that challenge our thinking; if we never read anything that’s outside of what we already thought was true, then we’ll never come together, will we? We’ll just keep on reinforcing our own beliefs over and over so that there’s no room for anything else.

Some people say we would have “information overload” if Google and the others didn’t filter. My thought on that is – I’d rather have too much information than a paltry one-sided exposure to whatever issue I’m looking up.

What do you think? Are you surprised by this? Am I overreacting?

Some of you may have noticed I’ve been absent as of late. Maybe some of you have forgotten who I even am! Well, the reason is that I’m extremely busy. I’m writing under 3 different names now and everything seems to be due at once. I’m not complaining! I wished for this and I got it, so I will NOT complain. However, it does mean that I have little time for anything but writing and making the odd Facebook or Twitter post. Recently I finally had to accept that I need to give some things up. I’ve been forgetting important dates, neglecting my hubby and basically forgetting to have a life outside of work. So, it’s with great sadness that I announce that I’m leaving the Jaunties. I hope to come back on occasion and guest post, but for now I have to say good-bye. It’s been a tremendous amount of fun being part of this blog and the fabulous women (and porcupine!) who run it. Thanks for everything!

hugs!

Kathryn