Thank you to everyone here at Jaunty Quills for inviting me along to guest blog here today. And special thanks to Janette who organised this and has helped me get my post up on the blog in time for today. It’s great to be here. ~ Kate

 Long ago –  far too long ago!  - I was a Girl Scout – or  Girl Guide  as we call them here in the UK. And when I was a ‘Guide’  I remember that February 22^nd had a very special meaning. It was what was known as ‘Thinking Day’.  ‘Thinking Day’ was a special date on which all Guides were  supposed to think about  Scouts and Guides all over the world.  I used to wear my uniform to school and wonder if other girls in other countries and cultures were doing the same. It was a lovely feeling,  linking in with all those others even though I would never see them or meet them.

Flash forward all these years later and here it is February 22^nd again. And this time I’m linking up with people all over the world but in a very different way. Now I’m connecting with people in so many different countries, people of so many different ages,  so many different languages, so many different cultures – but this time I’m doing it through my books.

Every few weeks, the postman arrives at my house with bundles of books in so many different languages. These are the international translations of my books that are now sold all over the world.  I think the last time I checked there were over twenty  different ones on my shelves – French, Greek, Spanish, Italian, Polish  - even Japanese. (Especially Japanese. My books are really popular in  Japan it seems.)   And every time a new bundle arrives, I open the package and look at the foreign editions in amazement and delight. It’s an astonishing, wonderful thing to think that  the stories I write here in a small English town in Lincolnshire UK, reach out to all these other women in all these far-flung places.

But that’s the wonder of romance. These love stories are universal. They speak to readers of all ages, colours, cultures. They cross borders, break down barriers, unite women in their enjoyment of the story they tell.  And it’s specially wonderful to  me because  when I was growing up – and going to school wearing that rather unflattering uniform – I had a very special dream that one day I wanted to be a writer.   One day I hoped that I would see my name on a book that I had written and that was on sale in a published form. But back then so many people – teachers, parents,  sensible adults, told  me that my dream was just that – a fantasy that would never come true. I would do better to forget about it and concentrate on doing something ‘sensible’ with my life instead of wasting my energies longing for something that was never going to happen.

Hmmm . .  .How wrong can you be? Not only did I stick to my dreams, keep on trying to write, get a book published . . . and another . . . an another  . . .but this year is a very special one for me as I’m celebrating  something very important in my writing life. I’m celebrating my ‘silver anniversary’ as a published author. It’s 25 years since my very first book The Chalk Line was published in 1984 and after that I’ve  published over 55 more novels in the Harlequin Presents line, together with two ‘How To Write’ guides including the award winning 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance. And I have all these wonderful international editions on my bookshelves to prove it.

But best of all,  I have so many fabulous readers all over the world who buy my books, read them and, very often, write to tell me how much they love them. My novels go to countries I’ve never visited, into the hands of people I’ll never meet, in a way that I never ever dreamed of when  I was imagining that one day I might write a book.  And as well as celebrating  having lasted 25 years in this business, I’m also celebrating all those wonderful readers without whom I could never have done it. Because if they hadn’t bought my books then I wouldn’t still be here, still writing  - and chatting with you all on this blog.

But the other thing I’m really celebrating is never giving up on your dreams, whatever they are. I know that the people who gave my advice all those years ago thought they were doing it for the best, but I’m so so glad that I didn’t take that advice and abandon my hopes of becoming a writer. Because my 25 years as a published author has brought me so much more than I could ever have imagined back in those days when I was just ‘thinking’ about all those other Guides all around the world. It’s brought me friendship with other wonderful writers and the knowledge that with my books I’ve touched the lives of so many others and brought enjoyment and pleasure into them just for a little while.  And that’s really worth celebrating.

So I was wondering  - are you celebrating anything special this year? An anniversary, a ‘milestone’ birthday ( I have one of those coming up too – but I’m not going to admit to exactly which one!). Or are you perhaps celebrating success in exams, a new job, a new baby, a new home?  Or just the simple things in life  like having family round you – and maybe your pets?  I’d love to know.

My latest novel The Konstantos Marriage Demand will be out next month – it’s published in Presents EXTRA on March 16^th. And I’m thrilled to say that I’ve just discovered that this book has been given 4.5 stars by Romantic Times and has been chosen as one of their Top Picks for March 2010.  I have an advance copy to give away  to someone who leaves a  comment on this post.

(For those of you who don’t know – I don’t pick the winners of my prizes, my cat Sid  does. I put all the names of the entries on pieces of paper and then I put a cat treat on top of each one. The first one that Sid eats is the winner.  And the more entries there are, the more treats Sid gets to eat. So come on, make my cat very happy – post a comment!)

All my life, I’ve loved cooking. My mother taught me to bake when I was a little girl, and I grew up experimenting with recipes– sometimes with success, and other times with disastrous results. Part of my joy in cooking was because I felt like I was serving up a dish of love to my family and friends. Seeing their enjoyment of luscious chocolate, hearty fruit pies, and sweet frosting, gave me a sense of accomplishment. (We won’t talk about the burned cookies or the banana bread experiment when I forgot the baking soda).

I’d always wanted to write a romance novel where the heroine adored cooking, because love and food, for me, are intertwined. It was more challenging in the era I selected, because ladies of the nobility in the Victorian era did not cook for the household. They hired servants to prepare and serve the food. The only way my heroine could do her own cooking was to make her completely destitute. And thus, the Cinderella figure of Emily Barrow was born.

I used two resources to inspire Emily’s recipes. One, the Boston Cooking School Cook Book by Mrs. D.A. Lincoln, gave me insights as to the types of recipes that might have been present in Victorian London. Though the cook book was a reprint of the 1884 edition, I chose recipes that could have been used 30 years earlier. The second resource was Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management (http://www.mrsbeeton.com/), originally published in 1861. Both provided fun details about the household and cooking tips such as “a cook’s first duty should be to set her dough for the breakfast rolls, provided this has not been done on the previous night.” The cook must then “after having lighted her kitchen fire, carefully brushed the range, and cleaned the hearth, proceed to prepare for breakfast. She will thoroughly rinse the kettle, and, filling it with fresh water, will put it on the fire to boil. She will then go to the breakfast-room, or parlour, and there make all things ready for the breakfast of the family.”

I’ll confess that, although I love baking, more often than not my weekends begin with a toddler prying my eyelids open at 6:30 in the morning, demanding, “Mommy, food? Mommy, Cheerios?” The child is lucky if I pop open a can of store-bought cinnamon rolls. Getting up to knead homemade bread dough? Not happening. I tend to do more of my own cooking later in the afternoon or when I get a craving for something sweet. But if I had a scullery maid who wanted to get up at the crack of dawn and make the family breakfast? I would be all over that.

My Victorian series begins when Emily Barrow elopes with the Earl of Whitmore after he rescues her from intense poverty in the novella “An Accidental Seduction.” Their story continues in my February book The Accidental Countess where Emily learns that being a Countess isn’t as easy as it looks. To make matters worse, her husband was the victim of a violent accident and doesn’t remember anything about their marriage. Frustrated and worried about her future, Emily finds sanctuary in her cooking, which scandalizes the family butler.

But despite being an unsuitable Countess, Emily fights to win back the love of her husband. And along the way, I found some perfect recipes to go along with the story. They’re included at the beginning of several chapters, and my favorite recipe is one for Molasses Cookies. The recipe can be found on my website at http://www.michellewillingham.com/books/the-accidental-countess/recipes/molasses-cookies . Originally, I modified the recipe because I thought it had few enough ingredients that my heroine might be able to make them for the Earl. But in the end, it became one of my favorite family recipes! I now make it every year at Christmas, because the basic recipe has enough ginger that it strongly resembles a delicious gingerbread cookie.

Today I’d like to celebrate historic recipes by giving away a signed copy of The Accidental Countess and a free download of “An Accidental Seduction” to two lucky winners. Just tell me the name of one of your favorite family recipes. Is there a recipe that’s been passed down over the generations in your family? Tell us about it!

Michelle Willingham is the author of eight novels for Harlequin Historical and three novellas with Harlequin Historical Undone. When she’s not reading, avoiding exercise, or chasing after her three children, she enjoys baking any and all products made with sugar. Look for her next book in the Accidental Series, The Accidental Princess, coming in March 2010. For more information about her books, visit her website at: www.michellewillingham.com .

Before I break into my featured ramble, I want to thank Terri Brisbin and all of the ladies at Jaunty Quills   for inviting me to guest blog.  It’s always a treat to interact with readers and writers in a new-to-me venue. I must admit though, after my initial glee I experienced a blip of anxiety.  What should I blog about?

Just when I was starting to break into a sweat, I flashed on a time when Terri and I participated in a panel discussion at a local library. It was a long time ago, but I’ll never forget one specific question launched our way (although I confess I’m paraphrasing).

“Is there ever any part of you in your heroines?”

I was surprised when a couple of the authors answered, no. Their heroines were nothing like them—complete creations of their imagination and research. I wondered suddenly if I was guilty of some major writerly faux pas, because, well, there’s a little bit of me in all of my heroines.

Sometimes it’s something in my background—a past hobby or occupation, a relationship with a family member, an experience with a friend or beau. Sometimes it’s a talent or a skill . . . a belief or a fear. . . a desire or a dream. Having something in common with my heroine enables me to bond with her on an emotional level. I feel her. Even if she’s fiercely different from me in all ways but one. That one thing fuels my passion and pen.

In Out of Eden, my upcoming release from HQN, I have two things in common with my heroine, Kylie McGraw. We both grew up in a small town in Indiana. We both dreamed of ‘getting out’ and traveling to an exotic land. Those two things gave me an awful lot of material to work with. That said, in many ways, Kylie is nothing like me. Those portions aren’t the easiest to write, but they’re almost always the most fun. There’s a lot to be said for living vicariously through one’s heroine!

So here’s my question(s) to you.

1)    As a writer, do you incorporate any of ‘yourself’ into your heroines?
2)    As a reader, do you ever read a passage and wonder if the author is writing from personal experience?
3)    And lastly, for the fun of it…. Kylie’s dream is to tour China and Japan. Mine was to visit England and to see Paris at least once. (Mission accomplished!) What about you. What’s your dream destination?

Beth lives in New Jersey with her husband, two zany dogs, and one crazy cat. In addition to writing, she also works at her local library and travels to exciting lands whenever possible. To learn more about her chaotic life visit her website at www.bethciotta.com

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.

Hello all! I’m thrilled to be here today on the Jaunty Quills. Why am I so thrilled, so tickled, so pumped??? Because today is the official release day for my second book, HIGHLAND DRAGON, from Zebra books. Can I get a WHOOT?!

So I wanted to talk to you about fiction vs. truth…

As a reader, do you ever read a passage in a book and go huh? They didn’t eat corn on the cob in 1502. Does it immediately turn you away from the author? You swear you will never pick up another book by this author again because she didn’t do her research. Well, sometimes we authors have to bend that truth. We wrap it around something that is real to enhance the story. For example, in HIGHLAND DRAGON I have my heroine, Akira, being sold at auction in the Highlands. Of course, slaves were bought and sold. I researched it! But at this particular auction, the women being bought and sold were valued based on their virginity.

I’ve already had a reader email me in utter astonishment wanting to know if that scene in my book was real. I was flattered, but I also didn’t want her to think this type of outrageous horror actually happened.
So, my question for you today is: What bits have you stumbled upon hat left you gasping at the inaccuracy? Don’t give the author’s name just the bit.

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EXCERPT from HIGHLAND DRAGON

What if she’d already been sold? What if she’d never even been brought here?

Just as the questions entered his mind, the untamed hiss of the next captive pierced through the drone of bidders. Hair black as midnight framed her porcelain face—a face twisted into a ferocious expression of revulsion. Oaths spewed from her mouth in English, French, Gaelic, and another language Calin didn’t recognize. Two sentries in black hooded robes restrained her, and unlike the other women, her hands were bound tightly behind her.

“Christ, that’s Akira,” Kendrick announced in a loud whisper then started for the dais.

“Nay.” Calin placed a firm hand on Kendrick’s chest. “Dinnae draw attention to us or our interest in her.” Calin spoke calmly enough, but his insides were erupting. If the guards dared to strike her, he was fully prepared to start a war.

She lunged at the men confining her to the platform. The woman certainly didn’t lack for spit and fire. She was a fighter. Though relieved he’d found her safe, Calin worried over their initial meeting. Introducing himself to his bride under these circumstances might prove to be an awkward task.

When she drove a knee into the groin of one of her guards, Calin recoiled and instinctively cupped his bollocks. The injured sentry grabbed a mass of her hair, twisted her sideways, and forced her to her knees. Her eyes bled desperation just as she hollered out. The high-pitch note of pain bounced off the canvas walls.

Calin’s hands fisted into tight knots. Had he been permitted to keep a weapon, these men would be skewered over the end of his broadsword. He gestured to his clansmen dispersed amongst the crowd. With the silent order, the three men exited posthaste. “Remove your hood,” he commanded Kendrick. “If possible, I want her to see ye. Mayhap ’twill calm her spirits.”

“Did I happen to mention Akira has a bit of a temper?”

“A bit?” Calin eyed him warily, but he had no time for banter now. “We will retrieve Akira by any means necessary. When we leave, she will ride with me, and I will deal with her temper.”

Hi! Thanks for having me back here at Jaunty Quills.

This month marks the release of my third paranormal, TO CRAVE A BLOOD MOON – all very exciting as the early reviews have been great and the reader feedback very heartening. Like most writers, I always bite my nails over that stuff. I would say this is the darkest of the three in my paranormal series and probably the most adventuresome with exotic locales and a deepening of the paranormal world I created with the first book.

When I first began the series with MARKED BY MOONLIGHT, I had no plans for future connected stories. I simply wrote a “lycan” (werewolf) book with plans and hopes to sell it … beyond that, who knew? When my brilliant editor bought it and asked, “what’s next?”, I suddenly had to look at the first book and see where I could take a second book. The first idea I tossed at her, my editor claimed was too similar to the first book, and correctly so. After further conversation with her, I finally understood the importance of building and layering my paranormal world and the stakes with each subsequent book. With that in mind I added hybrid lycans (dovenatus) to my second paranormal, and increased the stakes with world-wide threats … not simply threats to my h/h.

When I sat down to brainstorm my third paranormal, it took awhile to come up with a book that differed but also built on the first two books, ie, weaving in with the mythos that I’ve created. This is the tricky part in creating a paranormal series. You want to build off each book while not contradicting anything previously established in earlier books. Also, I never want to invent something totally from left field either. For instance, I’m not going to include vampires in my paranormal world as late as book three of four. At that point, it would just feel contrived.

Consequently, TO CRAVE A BLOOD MOON took even more brainstorming than my first two books. Since I already did lycans and dovenatus … what could be next? What kind of hero or heroine could I create that differed from the others? The result was a dovenatu hero and heroine who happens to be human but an empath. The idea of an empath came to me after watching some of those paranormal reality shows on A&E. After a little research on empaths (fascinating!!) I arrived at Ruby and Sebastian’s story. Here’s the summary:

A BITE TOO FAR…

Imprisoned and tortured by a lycan pack, half-breed Sebastian Santiago is determined not to break. But now they’ve come up with a cruel plan — starve Sebastian until he is half-mad with hunger, then force him to succumb to his werewolf instincts by giving him human prey to feed on.

Snatched from the streets of Istanbul, American tourist Ruby Deveraux has already seen the horror of her companions torn apart. Now she is thrown into a dark cell with a shadowy shape she can barely see. But Ruby is no ordinary woman. All her life she has been able to sense the emotions of others, and she knows instinctively that while Sebastian does not want to be her enemy, he is in the grip of sensations so dark and primitive that he can barely control them. But amid his surging feelings she can detect passion — passion for her as a woman. This, she realizes, may be her only hope. In the unrelenting dark, trapped in a hideous prison, can Ruby and Sebastian somehow forge a fragile alliance and break free from their deadly captors to seize a love neither dreamed possible?

Of course, having met the challenge of creating a new twist in book three, I’m facing the same issues with book four of the series, MY SOUL TO KEEP. Solution? My heroine is a dovenatu this time … and the hero? Well … let’s just say, he’s a dovenatu with a definite twist.

Thankfully, through no deliberation of my own (it’s lovely when those type of convenient flukes happen!) I introduced the existence of witches in the first book. Ever since, I’ve made it a point to reference witches, knowing it may come in handy. I’ve been able to link witches to demons … can you see where I’m going? Now I’ve opened up several more doors in my paranormal world. Turns out the hero in my fourth book will be a demon-slayer dovenatu. Hmm, say that five times fast! Anyway, it fits with the direction of the first three books, and maybe even more importantly, it keeps me from getting bored! Always important for a writer.

Well, I guess I’ve blathered on enough. Now it’s your turn. I would love to hear your thoughts on series and world-building.

Thank you, Jaunties, for having me here today!

Best to all,

Sharie/Sophie

 
Hello everyone! Thank you so much to the ladies of Jaunty Quills for having me as a guest today! I’m celebrating the release of my 20th book, NEVER MARRY A STRANGER, a Victorian novel about a man who returns from the dead, only to discover a woman pretending to be his widow. Of course he has to figure out what’s going on—without too much scandal—so he pretends he has amnesia from his war wounds and can’t remember being married. But he’s more than willing to have her remind him!

Since I’m celebrating a new book, I thought I’d talk to you today about my writing rituals, the things I do every day. Some seem silly and obvious, but others help me get into the flow of the story, and put myself back into the scene so I can keep writing. First, my alarm wakes me up…

No, no, I’m not going to go THAT in depth. But I do manage to check my email just before I go downstairs. I write on a laptop not connected to the internet. I have to go all the way upstairs to another computer to read email, research online, etc. I would be too distracted if I could access that stuff easily. So after a check at the computer, and pouring myself a huge mug of ice water, which I refill several times a day, I head down to my office in the basement, hopefully by 8:30 or so. The first thing I do is log in. I write down the time I start and stop, and what I’ve accomplished for the day. It gives me a good feeling to page through and see that I’ve actually accomplished something on the book that’s giving me fits!

The way I get myself back into the story is to summarize the previous chapter. I tend to write about 15 pages a day, so I usually finish a chapter in there somewhere. I keep a chapter summary to one page in length, and write one small paragraph for each scene in that chapter, keeping track of important things that happened in that scene. At the bottom of the page, I even summarize the whole chapter into a couple lines. By the time I finish this, I’m right back in the story again. I use my chapter summaries when I get a revision letter from my editor. It helps me see an overview of the book, and track where I need to make changes. But sometimes, I just can’t remember where I put a certain plot point in the book, and rather than reread everything, I go to my summaries to find it with ease.

And then it’s time to write. As I said, I shoot for the daily page goal that will allow me to work five days a week, leaving me a few weeks to revise at the end before the manuscript is due. I leave my office about 1:00 to exercise my dogs, then eat my lunch while watching my soap (One Life to Live). I read emails again, and then I’m usually back at my desk by 3:30. If the day is going well, those 15 pages can be done by five, but sometimes it’s 7 or 8 before I’m done. And since life happens, if I can’t meet my goal for the day, I make it up on the weekend. And on days when I’m revising or plotting or reading copyedits or updating my website, I try to work 8 hours or so.

So that’s my writing process. Do you have your days mapped out like I do, or are you the kind of person who takes life as it comes? We’re all different, and that’s what makes the world interesting.

A few weeks ago, Young Adult author and Rita nominee Tera Lynn Childs blogged with us. We are excited to announce that Tera is no longer a Rita nominee, but a winner! The Rita is the most prestigious award in romance writing. Many of your favorite authors have one, and all of us want one. Here’s Tera’s story about the big night last Saturday.

Four nights ago I achieved every newly published romance author’s dream: I won the RITA award for Best First Book. It feels strange even saying that. The RITA has, for so long, been that “ultimate dream”– far beyond getting an agent, selling a book, and receiving a first fanmail–that it’s surreal to think it really happened. Since I haven’t quite processed these feelings yet, all I can do is share a bit of what went through my mind that night.

I had actually been nominated in two categories, and Young Adult came first in the ceremony. I’d been nominated with my two friends, Tina Ferraro and Rosemary Clement-Moore, and thought we all had a fairly equal chance. When presenter Melissa Marr read the winner’s name and title, Tina and I cheered as Rosemary went up to accept her award.

Then the ceremony went on and my mind began to drift. In my second category, Best First Book, I was up against a ground of varied and very talented new romance authors. With young adult being the sometimes overlooked baby sister of romance, I didn’t think I had much of a chance. I started thinking about my other books, my future RITA chances.

“Goddess Boot Camp isn’t very romance-y,” I thought, “but Forgive My Fins is almost entirely romance. Maybe I’ll have another chance in 2012.”

When they finally got around to Best First Book, I wasn’t nervous, not like I had been for the YA. I wasn’t going to win, so there wasn’t anything to be nervous about. Right? They flashed my slide up on the jumbo screen and I realized I’d been too nervous to really see it the first time.

Then presenter Terri Garey said, “And the RITA for Best First Book goes to…”

I remember looking down at the program, iPhone, and hastily penned (and now obviously unneccessary) acceptance speech clutched in my hands. Then I heard, “Oh.”

My mind went blank. I looked up, heard my mom scream, and blinked a lot. I stood and stared at Rosemary and Tina before finally making my way on shaking legs and very high heels to the aisle. I waited for my editor and took her hand. (A good thing, too, because I don’t think I would have made it up there without her–in more ways than one!)

Somehow, I managed to read my speech in front of two thousand people. (!!!) My parents insist that I didn’t sound like a dork or talk too fast, but I’m not convinced. I just hope I made sense. It’s a moment, a feeling, an experience I’ll never forget.

And I can’t wait to relive it next year when I will hopefully get the chance to present the RITA fir Best First Book to another writer who is about to have the moment of a lifetime.

by Carol Grace

Thanks Jaunty Quills for inviting me!

My favorite subjects in the world are travel, food and books. I manage to combine all three when I write contemporary romance for Harlequin/Mills&Boon. Which brings me to my July book from Harlequin – THE SICILIAN’S BRIDE. A few years ago I was on vacation in Sicily with my family. We rented a car and drove all over the island, visiting Baroque churches, Hellenic temples, Byzantine palaces, ancient olive groves and volcanoes like Itna, Stromboli and Vulcano. Of course we had to stop and eat – maccu, the creamy bean soup, arancine, the rice balls and vitellocalla marsala. (To mention just a few wonderful dishes the Sicilians are famous for).

By the time we left I was sure I had to write a book that took place in Sicily, where I could take Isabel, my American heroine to this magical island of Sicily to inherit an abandoned vineyard and expose her to the beauty and the lush scenery as well as the food. I wanted to give her a hero to match her determination and independence. He is local vintner Dario Montessori who wants the land Isabel inherited which was once his.

In an effort to persuade Isabel to sell him the land, Dario takes her on a tour of other available properties and plies her with delicious food and drink, and introduces her to his extended family, but stubborn Isabel wants the land she was given by her deceased uncle.

My big problem in writing these books for my editor at Mills&Boon in London is that they think I get carried away with the food and the scenery and neglect the plot. Thank heavens for editors who catch us when we stray.

I’d love to hear from readers who love to travel, either vicariously or actually. Where is your favorite destination, either a place you’ve been or have always wanted to go?

As for me, I’m dreaming of Vietnam, Cambodia and any tropical island. I will send a copy of THE SICILIAN’S BRIDE to one commenter.

by Barbara Freethy

Please welcome Barbara Freethy (the awesome woman herself, says Anne) to the blog!

Many people have asked me where my ideas come from, and although some books seem to come out of nowhere, other books I can trace to a small seed of an idea. Of course, many of those tiny seeds of ideas never actually bloom into anything, because once I start trying to figure out the story, I realize there is no way it will work. Sometimes I don’t have this realization until well into the book at which point I turn to my writing friends and ask them why they didn’t tell me this was a bad idea when I first spoke about it. This happened when I wrote SILENT RUN, which is about a woman who suffers amnesia after a terrible car accident and is running for her life, only she doesn’t know who her enemy is, because she can’t remember anything.

I hadn’t realized the challenges that would present themselves with a heroine who had amnesia. Often writers introduce character details and themes and problems in introspection, but my heroine didn’t know anything about herself, so she was no help at all. I had to find ways through her behavior, her instincts, and how people interacted with her in order to bring her character to life. It was quite a challenge. The initial seed for that book was actually the idea that a woman gets a car accident, and there’s a baby car seat in the back, but when she wakes up, she doesn’t know who she is or where her baby is. She has to save her child, but how does she start? From there the story took birth.

Another one of my ideas came from a title for an article in a travel magazine called, “Where Dragons Dance”. It was about the Chinese New Year Parade in San Francisco. From that initial thought came my book, GOLDEN LIES. I actually wanted to call it Where Dragons Dance, but the publisher voted me down. In that story, the hero takes his grandmother to the Antique Road Show with a wagon full of junk they found in her attic. They discover that the ugliest dragon statue they have ever seen is actually thousands of years old, from an ancient Chinese dynasty, and of course there’s a legend …

My latest book, SUDDENLY ONE SUMMER, which was released last week (shameless plug ) was originally thought of as Angel’s Bay, which became the name of the series. In this book, the back story came to me first while my husband and I were driving down the California coast. I thought it would be fun to create a fictional bay and town with an interesting history. My daughter had done a project on the California Gold Rush, and I remembered the stories of the people who fled San Francisco after the Gold Rush ended. The boats were too crowded and laden with gold … I wondered what would happen if one of those ships went down. And Angel’s Bay was born. From that tiny seed, I created a town, a legend about the shipwreck which included tales of treachery on the high seas, and a few other layers including a story quilt that the survivors of the wreck put together in honor of their lost loved ones. Community quilting continues to play out in the current stories.

SUDDENLY ONE SUMMER is a contemporary novel, so once I had the back story I had to create the current story. It opens when my heroine, who is on the run with a seven-year-old, commits an impulsive act of bravery, which thrusts her into the spotlight and under the nose of a very sexy, burned-out reporter, who thought he’d lost his unquenchable thirst for the truth until he met Jenna. But his desire to expose her secrets could prove fatal. In the book, the current story intertwines with the past as some of the characters discover an unknown connection to the town and its history. And what would Angel’s Bay be without a few angels?

I’m current working on book three in the series, and my latest idea sprang from a question, what would you do if you fell in love with the worst possible person? In Brianna’s case, that person is the cop who sent her husband to jail and robbed her son of his father. I’m not sure what’s going to happen next, but I can’t wait to find out!

Thanks to the Jaunty Quills for inviting me to guest blog. Anne Mallory has spent many hours at Starbucks listening to me brainstorm, and she’s given me more than a few ideas, too!

So to the writers out there, where did you get the best idea you ever had? And for the readers out there, have you ever had an idea that you think would make a great book? And if you comment, you might win a copy of my new book, SUDDENLY ONE SUMMER!