Wouldn’t you have loved to be a guest at the wedding in the video below and surprised by the groomsmen’s dance? I wish I could happen upon one of those great “flash mobs” when I go to the mall or airport (although it probably wouldn’t go over so well at a US airport, would it?)

I enjoy surprises, but only to an extent. I am not a fan of surprise parties – at least, not for me. My husband set one up for one of my birthdays years ago, and it was the worst night of my life. First of all, it was at our house. So while we were out having dinner with friends, the party had already started. Apparently, we were running late, so my husband pretended to be ill and had to go home ASAP. Which meant that I worried about him all the way home. And when we got to our house and I went to put the key in the lock, I realized the door was unlocked – clearly a red flag. There were intruders in the house! 

But the big guy was sort of pushing me to get inside, and I had no choice but to go in and move aside so that he didn’t [ahem] throw up on my back. Then 50 people jumped out and yelled surprise. It took a couple of hours for me to settle down and realize that 1. my husband was not really sick, and 2. it was a party!

Nothing like it has never happened again. Thank heavens!

The surprises I love are the unexpected twists and turns in a good romance novel. Yes, I know what’s going to happen in the end. The hero and heroine are going to get together. They are going to live happily ever after. Of course! But I want surprises, difficulties I didn’t – couldn’t – anticipate. I want to feel compelled to turn those pages to find out what will happen next. I want to learn new things about the hero and heroine’s personalities as they get to know each other – the hidden strengths and vulnerabilities that make them absolutely perfect for each other.

In Brazen, my hero and heroine have a circuitous route to follow before they realize they’re in love, because Brazen is part adventure and all romance. I hope I kept my readers guessing what was going to happen next and eventually delivered a satisfactory ending.

What is it about a romance novel that really grabs you? Or, on the flip side – what makes you put it down and think twice about picking it up again?

I’m one of those people who want the window seat on a plane so I can get that bird’s eye view of the land, cities, and bodies of water we’re flying over.  But I haven’t done that much flying at night, or when I did, I had an aisle seat.

So on my last flight to Alabama for a combination writers’ mini retreat and Heart of Dixie Christmas party, I made sure I booked window seats going and coming.  And am I ever glad I did.

While in Alabama, I took a lovely walking tour with friend Lynn Raye Harris and her family through the historic district of Decatur.  The interiors of the old homes ranged from exquisitely decorated to a bit of a cluster of decorations, but the majority of the exteriors were done extremely well using live pine boughs, holly and fruit.

But I’ve also grown up watching the lavish display put on by elite retailers.   Anyone who’s been to The Plaza in Kansas City, MO during the holidays knows what I mean.   Their annual lighting ceremony at Thanksgiving kicks off the Holiday shopping.

I had an ungodly five-thirty am flight and it was dark when we took off and cloudy most of the flight, so I feared I wouldn’t get to see anything.  But the lights that were still on that time of morning glowed through the clouds, creating colored puffs of cotton.

Thanks to clear skies on the return flight, I got to see the neighborhoods and parks decorated as well in far better detail.  It brought back memories of my folks driving through neighborhoods in town to see the pretty displays.  While I missed sharing this moment from above with anyone, it was without a doubt the best way to view Christmas lights and displays.

So though I often grouse about the lines in stores and the commercialism of the holiday, flying above the glow of towns and cities is a bit enchanting.

Do you have any special displays you put up  each year or places or events you visit?  What’s the most beautiful display you’ve seen?  How about the worst?

Sandi,

Just contact me through my website www.cindykirk.com and give me your snail mail information.  I’ll get it to Victoria and she’ll put The Perfect Mistress in the mail to you!

The Quills are happy to welcome NYT Best Selling Author Victoria Alexander.  How’s your Christmas preparations going, Victoria? 

I love this time of year, even if I do tend to go just a tiny bit insane. Okay, my family would say I go more than a tiny bit. Right now, I’m trying to get ready for Christmas, for two parties at my house and for my kids to both be home. Add to that trying to promote my latest book—His Mistress by Christmas—my upcoming book—My Wicked Little Lies (out January 31^st) and write a new Christmas book for next year. Who wouldn’t be insane?

   But I have had a revelation. In the book I’m currently working on (right now called What Happens at Christmas) my heroine is trying to provide the perfect Dickensian Christmas for a prince she is trying to impress. Nothing, of course, is going well. And it dawned on me that striving for perfection at Christmas is exactly what I do and exactly what drives me nuts.

 I keep trying to have the magical, perfect Christmases I remember from my childhood. Where the decorations were perfect and the tree was perfect and the holiday treats were perfect and everyone received the perfect gift and everything was, well, perfect. I want my kids to have those same sort of memories. But my memories must be clouded by the passage of time. My childhood Christmases couldn’t possibly have been perfect. Real life is not perfect.

 And, you know, when I try to remember specifics about those years, I can only really remember one. I grew up in the Air Force and one year, my dad was away.  A few days before Christmas, my mom said she had a special present for me and I should go look by the tree. So I went into the living room and there was my dad. I remember how he hugged me and how his uniform was all cold from being outside and how he smelled of frosty air and love.  And that was the best Christmas present I ever got. It was perfect.

            So, it doesn’t really matter if everything is perfect. If the tree falls down. If dinner is three hours late. If you have a small fire . . .

            I am taking deep breaths and in spite of my annual chaos, I am trying to adopt a new attitude. Because I have finally realized, the magic of Christmas has nothing to do with perfect. As long as you are with the people you love, whether in person or just in spirit, Christmas will always be perfect.

 What is the most perfect gift you ever received at Christmas?

 Everyone who comments will be entered into a drawing to win a copy of  His Pefect Mistress.  The winner will be announced Sunday night at 9 pm so check back then!

This is my first Christmas in a foreign country and its interesting to see the traditions that are the same as mine and the ones that are different. One thing that is different for me is the food, but I think that is down to my Italian-American roots. We always have lasagna on Christmas with braciole, meatballs and spicy Italian sausage. While over here most people have turkey or some kind of four bird roast. I’m intrigued by this roulade of meat that I think has turkey, goose, duck and chicken(?) in it. It reminds of the year my good friend Eve’s husband made the Tur-duck-en (turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a chicken) but those were all bone in and I think he deep-fat fried it.

I’m also really missing Pillsbury break-and-bake cookies and I can’t find a single can of rolls over here to make some of my favorite easy-to-bake dishes. But I’m excited to try their Christmas pudding which I think is some kind of fruit cake that you pour brandy over and then when its served you light the brandy for a flambe affect. It sounds fun and I already know I’m going to give it a try. Its the one thing my fourteen year old is looking forward to helping me with since he thinks setting a cake on fire sounds like fun!

What are you most looking forward to in your Christmas meal? Have you ever spent a holiday away from home and if so what did you like most about it and miss most?

Putting up the Christmas tree is a job that usually falls to me.  I don’t mind, really.  I pop in a CD of Christmas music, turn up the volume, and get busy building the tree—a fake one, unfortunately, because of my family’s allergies.  Once the branches are in place (not always easy, with a rambunctious cat “helping”), I string on the lights (again, more rambunctious kitty antics) and hang on the ornaments (minus a few, by the end, thanks to… you guessed it… my mischief-maker kitty).

I always get a bit teary-eyed when I decorate the tree.  Among the ornaments are the chunky, tissue-paper ones my daughter made in pre-kindergarten, and the painted wood and sparkly jewel snowflakes we made together at the kitchen table when she was about five or six (I swear some of that glue is still on the kitchen table).  There’s an ornament of an orange cat, bought after my best buddy orange cat died of kidney failure a few Christmases ago.  I also have a cork and wool rocking horse, made by my sister years ago when we were kids and spent hours making decorations with our grandma.

There are also decorations that commemorate events or trips—including lovely glass ornaments I bought in England on a vacation some years ago, and a seahorse my Canadian parents bought for me during their visit last month, when we went to the Ringling Museum in Sarasota.

It’s always fun to see those ornaments and remember why they came into our collection.  Do you have special ornaments on your tree?  I’d love to hear what decorations are special to you.

   “Is it time yet? Is it, is it time yet?”

Those words from last year’s holiday hit “Toy Jackpot” sum up the excitement of the next 10 days, don’t they?  I remember the way my kids would whisper those words throughout the days leading up to that wonderful moment on Christmas morning when they would charge down the steps to see what Santa had left them under the tree.

And then those minutes of wrapping paper hysteria and screams of joy, empty boxes and packages flying all over were followed by hours of trying out all the new games, toys, Legos, racing cars, or whichever was the toy-of-the-year present. The anticipation of the days and weeks before melted away in such a short time.

So, here we are, in that time of build-up and preparation when our hopes are high and our wish-lists are still growing. There’s still a chance that the one thing we want the most will show up on that magical morning under the tree. Or that the one person we most want to see at this special time of year will return home or visit.

What am I looking forward to? Well, I’m still trying to pull off a few Christmas surprises. I’m very good at “Christmas lying” – which is the only time I condone lying — and have managed to surprise my family with various presents that were in short-supply or hard-to-arrange. My habit began years ago during the Cabbage Patch kids phenomenon and continued until the last few years and I’ve arranged a secret Christmas cruise and found a Wii when no one had them. (That Wii involved LOTS of Christmas lies, but my son forgave me for those when he opened his present!)

My most enjoyable moment on Christmas is just having my kids home, opening presents and eating a BIG breakfast that includes a couple of their favorite foods and hot tea. Sounds simple but it usually is the simple things that bring joy.

And how about you? What are you looking forward to on Christmas? Any favorite family traditions or gatherings? Or something new? Do you use an Advent calendar? Do you have a favorite meal? Post and let me what builds your level of anticipation!

  Terri is taking part in the Harlequin Historical Authors’ Holiday calendar and will be featured author on Thursday, December 15th — but anyone reading this can enter a bit earlier than everyone else using this link!  And Terri is thrilled that the first two books in her MacKendimen Clan trilogy are now available in digital formats – A LOVE THROUGH TIME and ONCE FORBIDDEN can be found on the major online booksellers.

I write cowboy stories, so you know hats are important. In my debut, A Man of His Word, the hero, Dan Armstrong, has a serious problem with his hat—it gets shot clean off his head by page 2. It was bad enough that someone took an unprovoked shot at him—but that was his favorite hat, and where Dan comes from (that would be Texas), a man doesn’t go without a hat. He feels under attack and underdressed.

Dan does pick up a new hat, and he does get to the bottom of who killed his first one. Of course it was our heroine, Rosebud Donnelly, who a) wasn’t trying to hit him and b) thought Dan was someone else. One of the long-standing tensions between them is whether or not Rosebud will admit to pulling the trigger. Eventually, she offers to buy Dan a new hat. Ever the gentleman, he refuses.

As you can see, hats are important to cowboys. And I write about cowboys. You know what this means, don’t you?

Yes. I needed a hat. More specifically, I needed a cowboy hat.

There’s a slight problem with that, though. I live east of the Mississippi River, the traditional dividing line between the West and the East. As in, my little town in Illinois is not the cow capital of anything. As in, no one else here wears a hat. At least not inside city limits, anyway. I live in a neighborhood full of Victorian homes. Nary a horse in sight.

But I write cowboys. I needed a hat.

Now, I’m not proud of this next part. I was angling for a hat (and the boots to match) for Christmas, so I was telling my mom about my authorial-based wardrobe needs. My father was in his recliner. He piped up with, “I have a hat you can have.”

So I go into his closet and pull out the cowboy hat he bought on the family vacation to Las Vegas (which, it should be noted, is in The West) twenty years ago. The sad part? It fit.

Yes. My head is the same size as my father’s. I feel shame at this.

So, the hat:

Yes. That’s definitely my father’s hat. On my head.

Several people (gently) pointed out to me that perhaps this particular hat was not designed with the feminine sensibility in mind. (In other words, my sisters forbade me to ever leave the house with that hat on my head.)

Thus began the second quest for a hat. This time, I got lucky. I was in Branson, MO (well west of the Mississippi, it should be noted!) and a small store downtown was chock-full cowhide—and hats.

I put this hat on my head, and voila! I looked like a western romance author!

 So in my neighborhood, I’m notable not for being the author, but for walking my dog in a cowboy hat. (Don’t tell my sisters—it doesn’t go with the tennis shoes at all, but I don’t care.) Like my hero, Dan, I feel a little underdressed without it.

What accessory do you feel underdressed without? I’m giving away a signed copy of A Man of His Word to one commenter below. All comments will be entered to win the Locket of Love Jewelry Grand Prize!

This post is brought to you as part of the A Man of His Word Blog Tour. U.S. residents only. For a complete tour schedule and rules, visit www.sarahmanderson.com. Comments on this blog will be entered to win a signed copy of A Man of His Word. All blog comments are added to the Jewelry Grand Prize list. Jewelry Grand Prize announced on January 1st, 2012 to one randomly drawn name on the list. Next tour stop is Limecello on December 15th.

A Man of His Word Blurb: Attorney Rosebud Donnelly has a case to win. And she never lets anyone see her sweat. But her first meeting with Dan Armstrong doesn’t go according to script. No one warned her that the COO of the company she’s fighting would be so…manly. From his storm-colored eyes to his well-worn boots, Dan is an honest-to-goodness cowboy. But is he honest? Her yearning for the Texas tycoon goes against reason, against family loyalty, against everything she thought she believed in. And yet, in Dan’s strong arms, Rosebud feels she might be ready to risk everything for one more kiss….

A Man of His Word is available! Visit your favorite bookseller, at Amazon, or for the Nook.

Now, I know all my sister Quills are writing about the holidays the recipes, the shopping, the excitement, the decorations. I’m not. No, it’s not because I’m Grinchy (okay, I’m Grinchy until December 15, at which point I morph into Mrs. Claus).  It’s because I figured they did such a great job talking about Christmas, I’d talk about something that’s near and dear to my heart.

Men.

That’s right, baby! I love men. It helps in my profession. Recently, Dearest Son came upon my photo gallery of James Franco (forty-five photos in all) and said, “Excuse me! Don’t you think Daddy is going to feel bad about this?”

“Nah,” I said. “Daddy’s very proud of me! This is just part of my job.”

It’s true. Falling in love with other men is part of romance writing. Am I right, sister Quills? I need to fall in love with a hero about twice a year, and he has to be different from the other heroes. I can’t use James Franco as the inspiration for every guy I write (alas).

And so, I trawl the internet for faces to love. I am very hard to please. I don’t like pretty boys, which rules out Jake Gyllenhall, Edward the Vampire and everyone under the age of 30. I don’t like male perfection. Being that I am forty-something myself, I tend to be drawn to older men, but my heroes are generally in their 30s. I like a face that’s been lived in for a while, or a face with a defining feature that just rocks my world. I’m sorry, but there it is.

A few of the faces that have, ah, inspired me. Consider this my Christmas gift to you.

Robert Downey, Jr. I believe if you are female, you have at least a small soft spot for RDJ. He’s bad, he’s reformed, he’s got those eyes…sigh!

Daniel Craig. Battered Bond, Bruised Bond, Bloody, Brooding Bond! Oh, yes, yes! (Sorry). Then you clean him up and put him in a pair of glasses, and you have Brainy Bond. I’ll stop now.

Clive Owen. Hello. No words can convey my love of Clive Owen. Ladies, you owe it to yourselves to put Greenfingers in your Netflix queue asap and watch it when you’re alone. You can thank me later.

Gerard-I-Love-You Butler. He’s not handsome. He’s incredibly hot instead. We’ll take it.

Dylan Meow McDermott. Purr. I love this guy! He’s not perfect! That’s okay! I watch American Horror Story every week for my, um, inspiration. Am I terrified? Sure. Is it worth it? Yes.

Liam Neeson. First time I saw him in a movie 20 some odd years ago, I was in love. My agent and he live in the same neighborhood. I have put her on stalking patrol.

Denzel. I have seen every movie you’ve ever been in, Denzel. Surely that entitles me to dinner or something, doesn’t it?

I’m looking for a new face to fall for. What constitutes male beauty for you? Who are some of the faces that, while perhaps not perfect, make you a little weak in the knees? Give me some help, people! I’m ready to fall in love again.

Congrats to RebeLovesBooks! You won the copy of A Summons from the Duke. I’ll forward your email to Samantha so she can get the digital copy of the book to you. Thanks to everyone who stopped by.