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July 24, 2008

What Makes you “Antsy”?

Written by Margo Maguire in Jaunty Post

I have a confession to make. I can’t watch a movie more than once. I can’t read the same book more than once every few … er, several … years. I can’t sit still for speeches. What happens when I do all these things? My legs start to twitch and I get this really weird sensation running up and down my spine. Sort of like …

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I used to think I had Restless Legs Syndrome. Now I realize I get it only when I’m watching a movie that we just watched a week (or three) ago. Or I’m reading the same passage from a book in which I’ve lost my place. Or how about waiting rooms? If I don’t have a book, a magazine, anything to read, my skin starts to crawl! I don’t know what comes over me, or why. But I just can’t sit through it.

But yet I can do other repetitive, boring jobs without being bothered by them. I can clear the table and fill the dishwasher (just as I’ve done 90 million times before). Or walk the same 2.5 mile route every morning. Or go grocery shopping at the same store every week.

What gives? Why can I do some repetitive things, but not others? Am I the only one, or do you have certain things along these lines that make you want to pull your hair out?

5:29 am | Permalink | Comments 

July 18, 2008

We Have a Winner!

Written by Margo Maguire in Jaunty Post

Jane - you won my drawing on Wednesday, but I can’t reach you by your email addy. Please email me (margo@margomaguire.com) and we can arrange for you to receive your prize!

Everyone else … Scroll down and check out Anne’s blog on Murder!!

3:11 pm | Permalink | 1 Comment 

July 16, 2008

Starting a New Project

Written by Margo Maguire in Jaunty Post

As soon as I turned in my most recent book for Avon, I started brainstorming my next story. I knew I wanted one of the characters from Wild (Avon, January 2009) as the hero of my next book. He is Hugh Christie, Earl of Newbury, and I don’t reveal a whole lot about his character in Wild. Which is great for me, because it gives me all kinds of leaway to write about him. What we do know is that he’s about 30 and a widower who doesn’t like to talk about his late wife. In Wild, he mentions an interest in making the heroine his mistress, so we know he’s a “player.” Beyond that, I can do anything with him.

I ran several ideas by my editor, but the one that stuck has these elements:
-> Hugh Christie feels guilty about his late wife.
->He also runs a smuggling operation from one of his properties, a castle on Scotland’s eastern coast.
->The castle has a ghost.
-> The heroine is Brianna Gilroy, whose guardian wants her to wed a duke’s creepy son.
-> Brianna will inherit a fortune from her spinster aunt when she turns 21 in two months.
-> She just wants to live as her aunt did - with no men to harass her.
-> She will go into hiding until her birthday.

These elements give me tons to work with, and hopefully I’ll devise an exciting, emotional, sensuous story!

While I was researching smuggling in Scotland in 1829, I came across this youtube video. It’s exactly what I needed in order to “place” my story. Newbury’s castle will be something like this.

This is going to take place in winter, and I’m planning to have Hugh and Brianna get snowed in together. And then there will be fireworks. :wink:

Now, all I’ve got to do is get to work! I had knee arthroscopy last week and I’m feeling cooped up and … crippled! although the knee is definitely improving every day. I think I overdid it yesterday and so I paid (with pain) overnight and today. I’ve stayed off it as much as possible today and iced it several times. I’m hoping tomorrow will be better. :smile:

If not, I’ve decided to make it better for someone. Send me a comment here about anything in this post and I’ll enter your name into a drawing for a copy of my last book, Temptation of the Warrior. Good luck!

5:00 am | Permalink | 13 Comments 

July 11, 2008

A Touching Moment

Written by Margo Maguire in Jaunty Post

My mom was in the Red Cross during WWII, and was stationed in Europe. She had tours in Italy and England, and did a stint in Germany right at the end of the war. (I have a youtube video for you to listen to while you read the rest. Just turn up the sound and enjoy the vintage recording …)

My mom’s name was Justine McCarthy, and she was a very upbeat young lady. She loved adventure - which was why she joined the Red Cross right after college in the first place. I’m sure she had a patriotic streak, too - and wanted to do something for the troops stationed at the front, although you will never meet a more anti-war, peace-loving person than my mom.

She died nearly three years ago, but it was only last week that my siblings and I were able to face having to bury her ashes beside my dad’s. There’s a small country church in the middle of nowhere that has one of those old cemeteries you drive by and think “oh, how quaint.” It was a cemetery just like this one where my brothers, my sister and I met on the 4th of July. We stood together in the bright, sunny afternoon with mom’s ashes in a box inside a small tote bag, and a small, deep hole dug right behind hers and my dad’s headstone. My sister asked if any of us wanted to say anything, but we all declined. Then, this is what my sister said:

“When Mom was stationed overseas, and she and all her service friends would go into a club, the band would usually ask her for a request. Mom always asked them to play Deep Purple.”

My sister stopped for a moment, and started to play this song on her CD player while my brothers lowered Mom’s ashes into the tiny grave.

My sister continued: “It got to the point that when Mom arrived in any club, the band would just start playing Deep Purple the minute they saw her.”

My brothers started shoveling, and the music went on, a tune from a bygone era, in a cemetery more than 100 years old. This was how we said our final good-bye to Mom.

5:00 am | Permalink | 6 Comments 

June 30, 2008

Dogs … Marley and Others

Written by Margo Maguire in Jaunty Post

Last weekend I read the book, Marley and Me, by John Grogan. I have to say it was one of the best books I’ve ever read! I’d always put off reading this book, because I have my own personal Marley. Two of them, in fact. A black Lab named Nick, and a yellow Lab named Ranger (pictured below). They’re both exuberant, high-energy dogs that have a lot of the same characteristics as Marley.

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But Marley was not the main character of the book. No, it was about John Grogan and his wife and their life together … the ups and downs, the difficulties and joys that came their way, with a continuing thread of Marley’s antics that ran through the entire book. By page three, I felt as though I knew this couple, and by the last chapter, I felt like one of the family, and as though Marley were MY dog!

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I can’t tell you the last time a book touched me the way Marley and Me did. It made me laugh out loud, and choked me up - and I’m not a sentimental person! Our pets weather every storm, and witness every happy occasion in our lives. They’re with us when we bring home our babies, and when those babies start kindergarten. They’re with us when we lose family members and friends, and give comfort during those sad times.

Tell me … is there a book that touched you as dramatically as this one touched me?

5:00 am | Permalink | 6 Comments 

June 24, 2008

Do You Have a Hobby?

Written by Margo Maguire in Jaunty Post

I don’t and wish I did. I love to read in my spare time, but is that really a hobby? When I think of hobbies, things like quilting and knitting come to mind … and painting watercolors, making pottery, that kind of thing. I exercise every day, but I don’t think of it as a hobby. I put a meal on the table every night, but I don’t think of that kind of cooking as a hobby, either, although I could probably get into cooking as a pastime.

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I have a friend who makes jewelry, another who collects artwork, and yet a third who’s into gardening in a big way. Her yard always looks fabulous.

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But I’m not that interested. I want a relatively maintenance-free yard, one that’s pretty and inviting — a place where I can sit down and read. :-) I was never much of a collector, although I collected coins for awhile (I still have those coins somewhere, too!) but I’m not really that into that any more. Not that it was ever a really big interest for me.

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In fact, I’d rather not collect anything else. I’ve got so much stuff around here … things I’ve collected for my three kids over the years. It occurs to me that I should probably buy three big storage boxes and put all their school and sports memorabilia in them and let them take it away, just like my mom did with all of my treasures. Isn’t it amazing how much you can accumulate over the years?

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I guess I could feel like an uninteresting slug, but here are my excuses.

:arrow: I’ve been busy raising three kids, and even though I’ve got two just out of college, my third has one year to go. My two sons are home for the summer, which means grocery shopping, cooking, regularly-scheduled clutter-reduction efforts.

:arrow: I did a lot of volunteering in my community, and I’m burned out. Need some time off before jumping in again.

:arrow: I work full time.

:arrow: I’m taking care of an elderly aunt who has no immediate family of her own.

:arrow: I AM an uninteresting slug!

I want to know what your hobbies are? What are the things you like to do in your spare time?

5:00 am | Permalink | 13 Comments 

June 13, 2008

Margo blogs on Friday the 13th

Written by Margo Maguire in Jaunty Post

If you’re irrationally afraid of Friday the 13th, you’re a paraskevidekatriaphobic. So … how about it. Are there any paraskevidekatriaphobics here? And why are you bothered by Friday the 13th?

Consider: Hotels rarely have a room 13. Some buildings omit the 13th floor and go right on to the 14th. There are those who believe you should not sit 13 at the table for a meal. And how about this: there are 13 letters in each of the following names … Jack the Ripper, Jeffrey Dahmer, Theodore Bundy and Albert de Salvo. Quite a coincidence.

Christian tradition has a few beefs with the day Friday as well as the number 13 - the number of attendees of the Last Supper. And supposedly, the Knights Templar were routed and their holdings raided on Friday the 13th. The story goes that Eve handed Adam the apple on a Friday, the great flood began on a Friday, and the Babylonians lost their ability to communicate with each other on a Friday. I don’t know how people know this, but hey. Superstition isn’t really rational, is it?

So - bearing in mind that there is only one Friday 13th in 2008 - what superstitions will you observe today?

5:18 am | Permalink | 6 Comments 

June 4, 2008

What’s New …

Written by Margo Maguire in Jaunty Post

Well, I just finished revising the manuscript I sent to my editor in April (for WILD, my January book). The revisions turned out to be a major piece of work … There was one character my editor didn’t like. He was the heroine’s former suitor, who jilted her a couple of years before. He turns up again, and the heroine (Grace Hawthorne) is open to reviving their relationship. My editor thought that didn’t work well and actually made Grace appear lame, even though it’s the hero who really takes up all of Grace’s attention.

And you know … my editor was right. Sometimes you can’t really see a particular detail as you’re writing, but a fresh set of eyes does. And that’s why I love my editor. (Even though it meant a major re-write). In the new version, Grace gives the old suitor the heave-ho, which makes her look a lot more feisty and independent than she did before. This action sets the stage for all her following assertive acts. ;)

I’ve mentioned WILD before. It’s the book about the earl’s son (Anthony Maddox) who was lost in Africa twenty years before, and returns to England against his will. For all those years, he believed his father abandoned him, so he has trust issues. As a result, he doesn’t really want anything to do with society or claiming his title. He just wants to go back to Africa where he has no responsibilities beyond taking care of himself.

Grace is his grandmother’s companion. And since Anthony is a “wild man” who has been away from society for so long, the grandmother doesn’t want him exposed to society until he’s ready. She ignores his obvious desire to leave England (he is injured and can’t leave right away), and gives Grace the task of “civilizing” him. Grace is not happy about it. She has had a number of disappointments in her life, and has learned to protect herself behind a cloak of complete propriety and impersonality. Anthony throws a wrench into this, especially when they are forced into intimate quarters with one another for the tutoring.

This was one of the most enjoyable books I’ve ever written. And I’ve seen the cover … it is probably the sexiest one I’ve ever seen, too! I’ll share it with you as soon as I get the OK from my editor. In the meantime, enjoy the beginning of summer - for those of you in the northern hemisphere. And for everyone Down Under, I’m jealous … I love the fall!

4:50 am | Permalink | 7 Comments 

May 23, 2008

Writing and Other Musings

Written by Margo Maguire in Jaunty Post

Some of you might know that I was a nurse before I became a writer. Although – as some in the medical profession would say – once a nurse, always a nurse. But I don’t practice professionally any more, even though I keep my license current by taking continuing education courses every year.

 

What you might not know is that I worked in Intensive Care Units for most of my career – in a couple of big-city trauma units. Needless to say, I saw a lot of crazy stuff, from accidents, to suicide attempts, to murder attempts. Some of my patients were criminal suspects under police guard. Some were pediatric patients whose troubles were more complex than the pediatric ICU could handle (we had a fabulous Intensivist in our unit). Many were patients with chronic illnesses that became acute – situations they shouldn’t die from, like complications from kidney failure. Or certain kinds of heart disease.

 

I worked during all my pregnancies and went back to it after my kids were born. It would have seemed odd to take a hiatus from my professional life (yeah, crazy, I know!). When my youngest started school, I was working the afternoon shift two nights a week, getting home somewhere between midnight and 1:00 am. I found it impossible to come in from a stress-filled night and go right to sleep, so I started writing to unwind. I’d always been a reader, so it seemed a natural progression to try writing.

 

I didn’t bother with essays or short stories, or even poetry. I went directly to writing a full-length novel. Two of them, in fact. The better of the two (in my opinion) was called The Rescue, a Medieval tale of a brawny knight in hauberks and chausses (oh yeah!) and a feisty heroine.

When my tome was finished, my kids were old enough that I thought I could return to work full time. In my absolute naïveté, I told my husband I was either going to increase my hours at the hospital, or become a full-time author. (Pure dumb confidence, I guess - to think that all it required was my decision to do it!)

 

It was February 10th when I put The Rescue into the mail. I sent it to the editors at Harlequin Historicals, and went about my usual daily routine, working, taking care of kids, managing the household. On February 20th, I received a phone call from New York. It was a Harlequin editor, offering to buy The Rescue. At the time, I didn’t know how rare it was to sell so quickly. I didn’t have contact with any other authors, didn’t know a thing about the business. I accepted the offer and started revising the book as requested (I had to cut 60 pages), and The Rescue was released a year later with its new name - The Bride of Windermere.

 

I’ve learned a lot about the book business since then, and I think I’ve improved my writing skills. In the past, my nursing abilities helped to supply a lot of happy endings in the ICU, and now I get to provide a different kind of happy ending for a lot of contented readers.

 

P.S. Turns out we did see Indiana Jones last night and … I’m not going to spoil it for anyone. But I will say that it’s everything an Indiana Jones movie ought to be!

 

5:06 am | Permalink | 3 Comments 

May 18, 2008

Winners

Written by Margo Maguire in Jaunty Post

In my blog the other day, I promised a book giveaway, and I’ve done the drawing. There are two winners: Amy Addison and Sarah.

Contact me - margo@margomaguire.com and I’ll collect your information. Congratulations, ladies!

5:25 am | Permalink | 3 Comments 
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