I’ve started doing yoga again with the Fraulein. If you don’t remember the pain of my previous bout of yoga with her, you can read about it here.

Previously, I went in the evening classes at this very trendy place in an overpriced neighborhood. Now, I’m going to the day class, which is still wonderful (and painful) but meets in a slightly dodgy strip mall in South Austin wedged between a vintage clothing store and a holistic medicine shop. It’s very yoga and very Austin.

The place used to be a storefront of some kind. Now, the bathrooms are unisex, but one was once obviously a women’s room and the other was obviously once the men’s room. In the room that was once the woman’s room there’s a sign on the wall. It starts with an apology for the age and vagaries of the plumbing. It goes on to list the things that can and can not be flushed due to the plumbing. It mentions the ways to best respect the Feng Shui of the room. It suggests things you might do to be respectful of future users of the bathroom.

In the bathroom that was previously a men’s room, there’s a sign that simply reads: Flush thoroughly.

I could elaborate and talk about how this illustrates the innate differences between men and women. But I think I’m just going to leave it there.

I forgot to announce the winner from my January 14th Blog. It’s Deb H. Deb email me at Emily at EmilyMcKay.com with your snail mail and let me know which book from my backlist you’d like.

When I first met Kitty Biedermann, I was working on Baby Benefits, my third book for Desire. Baby Benefits was the story of Derek Messina, president of Messina Diamonds, as he gradually realizes he’s in love with his long time assistant, Raina. I wanted Derek’s journey to true love to be a tough one. Enter a classic romance novel device: the evil fiancee.

As Baby Benefits opens, Derek has finally convinced Kitty Biedermann to be his bride. She’s the heiress to a chain of jewelry stores and New York City born and bred. She’s beautiful, rich and used to having her way. I pictured her as a cross between Lauren Bacall and the snooty fiancee in The Parent Trap. She hates Texas, dislikes children and every time she gets upset, she rushes off to the spa. Such naughty fun to write!

Well, two books later, I got to thinking about Kitty and wondering what happened to her. (Btw, this is how I pictured her … but a brunette. Don’t you love that smug expression?) I’d always known she didn’t love Derek, but what if she’d really needed him to marry her? What is Biedermann Jewelry wasn’t doing well and she desperately needed an alliance with Messina Diamonds? And what could possibly have motivated all her nasty behavior?
Kitty’s book is out now, so rush to stores and grab it while you can. I had lots of fun writing Kitty’s story and I sure hope you love reading it.

Tell me about your favorite sequel and I’ll send you a copy of Baby Benefits (so you can see Kitty in action) or another one of my backstory if you’ve already read Baby Benefits.

I thought it would be fun to talk about the Bad Boy hero. We love ‘em, right? But how bad is too bad?

The hero of my January Superromance,The Father For Her Son, just spent seven years in prison. And yes, he was guilty. He didn’t kill anyone, but he did rob a liquor store. I hope I show that he really has learned from his mistakes, but still, writing a hero like this was a risk.

What do you, as readers, think? Is there anything in a hero’s past that would be a deal breaker for you? Does it take you longer to trust a hero with a dark past?

Do you think this kind of thing makes for a stronger conflict? After all, the heroine has to overcome her misgivings and mistrust of the hero in order for a romance to happen. Certainly our heroine, Marlee, has to struggle with this. Does she want her young son exposed to this fact about the hero, Troy,’s life?

What are some of your favorite Bad Boy heroes? And what do you think of a hero who’s served time in prison?

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THE FATHER FOR HER SON, Harlequin Superromance, January 2010
Life hasn’t been easy for single mom Marlee Britton, but she’s proud of her ability to look after herself and her son. Then old flame Troy Denton shows up after seven years, wanting to be a father to his son. and to rekindle his relationship with Marlee. While Troy struggles to prove himself trustworthy, Marlee wonders how she can ever give her heart to the man who broke it so long ago.
“MELTING POINT” in BABY IT’S COLD OUTSIDE, with Jennifer Greene and Merline Lovelace, Harlequin Anthology, January 2010
Kristjan Gunnarson is Iceland’s first ever Olympic medalist. Coloradoan Stacy Bristol thinks he’ll be the perfect model for her new advertising campaign, but she isn’t prepared for the impact handsome Kristjan has on her. As she supervises filming around Iceland, Stacy fights her attraction to Kristjan. Can a down-to-business American and a footloose Icelander find love in the land of ice and fire?

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Cindi Myers became one of the most popular people in eighth grade when she and her best friend wrote and illustrated their own historical romance novel. The manuscript was eventually confiscated by her English teacher, who told her she should spend her time learning to properly conjugate a sentence. Since then, Cindi has gone on to write more than three dozen novels, both historical and contemporary. She also teaches writing and is a popular speaker and workshop presenter. She produces a weekly market newsletter or you can visit her website.

The Geek and I always travel for Christmas. Since we have family all over Texas, each holiday season, we load the kids up on the Texas bus system (ie. Southwest Airlines) and head first for Dallas and then for Lubbock before drag our exhausted selves back to our home in the hill country.

It makes for a long week, but it’s filled with family and fun and I wouldn’t have it any other way. We always fly, because … well, Texas is big. Five or hours in traffic up to Dallas wouldn’t be bad, but tack on the five more hours to Lubbock and the nine hours home to Austin and that’s just too much time in the car for us.

This year we planned to fly up to Dallas early on the morning of Christmas eve. Planned being the key word there. Our plane was trapped by bad weather in Lubbock and our flight was delayed. And then delayed indefinitely. And then cancelled. More flights were cancelled. Airports were closed down. We were some of the lucky ones. After eight hours in the airport, we finally boarded a plane and made it up to Dallas and the comfort of my sister’s amazing cookies.

Being trapped at an airport on Christmas eve is an odd experience. All those hours of waiting, the emotional highs and lows. The stress of rushing through security only to wait and wait and wait.

You’d think they kids would have had a tough time. After all, it was Christmas Eve! They’d been looking forward to playing with cousins and opening presents. But–and I say this with no small amount of maternal pride–my kids did great. They were such troopers. Not a single complaint. No temper tantrums. Nothing.

In fact, all the kids at the airport were great. Strangers played together, sharing toys and Cheezits. Big kids played hide and seek with the younger ones. My girl actually had so much fun playing with one family, she insisted we give them our number so we can make a play date.

I was so proud of how all the kids just took it in stride and didn’t freak out.  Knowing they weren’t stressed out allowed me to keep my cool. And it reminded me that any day you have good company to share can be a holiday.

Some of the other adults didn’t fair to well. I don’t blame them. Some people spent all day there right with us only to find out that their final destination airport had been closed and they’d just as soon go home. I talked to one father worried that his kid’s presents had been sent on an earlier flight. The poor guy was thinking about stopping by Toys R Us just so his kids could have something to open on Christmas morning.

For the most part, the adults behaved too, though there were a few tears and a little yelling (none from me, I promise!) The thing is, I don’t remember ever being stranded at an airport before. Certainly not for such a long time or on such an important day. The whole experience was surreal. Boring, yet packed with heightened emotions.

I can’t help but remember some of my favorite songs and moves are about this very subject. The song, Flyer, by Nanci Griffith. (Which, if you’ve never heard, you should go listen to right now!) The movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles and … well, I’m sure there’s another one somewhere that I’m too tired to think of right now.

Have you ever been stuck at an airport? Or worse, missed a holiday due to back travel conditions?

Hi! I just wanted to let everyone know that starting tomorrow, my novella, Her Boss’s Private Affair, is going to be available as the weekly on-line read. The first chapter will be up in the morning, so be sure to check it out!

I’m very excited. This is my first on-line read and I had such fun writing it. Check back tomorrow and I’ll post the link here.

This morning I got caught with my pants down and didn’t get the JQ blog up in time. Normally, I have my blogs done early because they’re on my calendar. I suppose it’s the time of year. I’ve spent the past three days driving all over town, shopping, snatching toys out of the hands of other desperate mothers and dashing for the check out line. (Okay, it hasn’t been quite that bad.)

The point is, I’ve barely been near my computer, let alone checking my calendar. So it was this morning before I realized I needed to blog.

Why, you may wonder, in this age of digital wonder was I driving all over town instead of ordering on line like a civilized person? Last year, I got burned ordering on line. A gift I ordered on December 2nd didn’t arrive until mid-February. It was something for my mother and I’d talked my sister and my dad into going in on it. So on December 23rd, I was driving around town (okay, to the jewelry store three miles from my house) desperately looking for a replacement gift. It worked out. She loved the replacement.

But this year, I wasn’t willing to risk it. I decided I’d rather have the stress of facing the crowds than the stress of waiting all month for packages to arrive. But of course, there was one crucial item I couldn’t find locally, so it’ll be arriving in the next three to five business days. I hope.

What about you? Are you an on-line shopper or a local shopper? Which is more stressful or more fun? Do you have any shopping horror stories? That wasn’t you I swiped the toddler safari truck from, was it?

Yesterday, Robyn shared her news about her RT nod (her third if I’m not mistaken), so I figure I should share my news too.

This year, RT nominated me for a Career Achievement award for Series Romance!

I’m so excited I can hardly stand it. And completely surprised too! The other women nominated in my category are Jessica Hart, Leslie Kelly, Tanya Michaels, and Karen Whiddon. I’m not familiar with Jessica Hart’s work, but I adore all the other writers. It’s such a great group of ladies be included in. I just couldn’t be more excited!

Okay, now back to our regularly scheduled programing … please read Nancy’s wonderful post below about how to sloooow down for the holidays.

I know, it’s not even December yet.  I should be blogging about what to do with turkey leftovers or crazy family stories. But for me, the Christmas season starts at midnight Thanksgiving night. Yesterday evening I started decorating the house (don’t have the tree yet) and the kids and I are decoratiing our gingerbread house this afternoon. In short, I’m ready to dive headfirst into the season I love best.

All of which means, I’m ready to read some Christmas stories. My all time favorite Christmas Romance is Mary Balogh’s Under the Mistletoe. It’s a collection of five novellas. One is new for this anthology, the other four are recycled from previous collections. When the book first came out in 2006, I was relatively new to the Mary Balogh party, so I hadn’t read any of the previously published novellas. All of the novellas are delightful and fun. And like all Mary Balogh, emotionally complex, even though in this case the stories are short.

As soon as I finish the book I’m working on, I plan to take a little break and get some reading done. I may tackle some of the Twilight books or I might dig back into the Under the Mistletoe and reread those. Or do you have something wonderful and Christmasy to recommend?

By the way, my new website is up and active. So go check it out … and don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter! EmilyMcKay.com.

Every November I start working on an Amazon wishlist for our family. (Yes, I’m the only one who works on it, but the whole family reaps the rewards … but that’s another post.) I always add some cookbooks for me, because, well, I love to cook and I love to read. Some are always duds, but this past year I had some real winners. Here’s the books I got last year for Christmas that I used over and over this year:

• Mom-a-licious: Fresh, Fast, Family Food for the Hot Mama in You! by Domenica Catelli – This one is full of quick healthy recipes. And it feels like it’s written by a real mom. A woman who has limited time, but still wants her kids to eat their vegetables. Moreover, she’s okay with them knowing that they’re eating them and not doesn’t try to sneak them into brownies.
• Moosewood Restaurant New Classics — It’s my third Moosewood cook book and probably my favorite. We got it first for my in-laws and then for ourselves. It’s just a great cookbook. True we’re not vegetarians, but the food’s still great and sometimes we sprinkle bacon on top. <g>
• CakeLove: How to Bake Cakes from Scratch by Warren Brown — (technically, this wasn’t Christmas, but mother’s day. Still, it played with the big boys and I had it five few months.) This one talks in detail about how to bake cakes. It really demystifies everything. The recipes are crazy detailed, but the results so yummy you’ll want to cry. It’s basically foolproof. (Except for the Lemon Ginger cake. There’s the typo in that recipe. It should be 12 oz. of flour, not 2. But that to is a topic for another post.)  Generally, this book is awesome. And now I always measure my flour by weighing it. It’s so much easier!

So what cookbooks do you love? It’s time to make this years wishlist and I’m eager to add in some new cookbooks. Do you have any favorites?