Jaunty P. Quills: Hello! It’s me, Jaunty P. Quills, Porcupine Extraordinaire. Did you miss me? Never mind. Of course, you did! I missed you too. In fact, I cut my vacation short when I heard Robyn DeHart has a new book out and (pine cone roll, please)…it’s about me! Finally, my favorite Quill, Robyn (hear that, Kristan Not-My-Favorite Higgins?), has seen fit to immortalize me. I must say, this is long overdue.

Robyn: Jaunty, I hate to disappoint you, but you aren’t featured in my book.

Jaunty P. Quills: I don’t understand! I read on your website the book features an exciting adventure whereby two legend hunters search for a legendary beast. Darling, look no further. I am that legendary beast (wink, wink).

Robyn: Oh, I see what you’re thinking. But no, you’re not that legendary beast.

Jaunty P. Quills: If the book isn’t about moi, which I find very hard to believe—it’s okay to flatter me, Robyn—what is it about?

Robyn: I’m so glad you asked since that is why we’re doing this interview, to talk about my book. *clears throat* So Treasure Me is set in the Highlands of Scotland along the shores of Loch Ness and is the third in my Legend Hunters series. It’s about Graeme Langford, an English duke who feels more connected to his Scottish roots. He’s on a quest to find the legendary Stone of Destiny. Vanessa Pembrooke is a runaway bride fleeing England from her cheating fiancé and runs to Scotland to finally conduct some hands-on research as a paleontologist. When their paths cross we get lots of chemistry, a few actual explosions and a potentially deadly search for a lost treasure.

Jaunty P. Quills: So let me get this straight. The book isn’t about me?

Robyn: Jaunty! Have you even been to Scotland?

Jaunty P. Quills: I’m actually a little afraid of the Loch Ness monster. Once my Uncle Jolly visited the area near Loch Ness and was never seen again. I don’t mean to brag, but porcupines are rather tasty.

Robyn: I’m not exactly sure how to respond to that, Jaunty. If it makes you feel any better I’ve never had any porcupine, alligator, yes, but never once porcupine.

Jaunty P. Quills: Obviously this interview isn’t going as planned. And we all know who’s responsible for that…someone—ahem, Robyn Not-My-Favorite DeHart—didn’t send me an advance copy of the book.

Robyn: I was trying to save you from nightmares, Jaunty. After you read Seduce Me, you were so afraid of the Raven, you couldn’t sleep.

Jaunty P. Quills: I don’t know what you’re talking about. (whispering) He’s not in this one, is he?

Robyn: Well, yes, he is. He was such a great villain and already introduced into the Legend Hunter world so it seemed fitting to have him come after Graeme and Vanessa. And I should probably warn you, he’s deadlier than ever in this book.

Jaunty P. Quills: Robyn, you’re scaring me! Rather, you would be if I wasn’t so strong and heroic. I would make a great hero (right, Margo My-New-Favorite Maguire?).

Robyn: Okay, how about this, Jaunty. I’ll share a little sneak peek of the book to see if you like it. And for the rest of you, one lucky commenter today will win the entire Legend Hunters trilogy.

A hand clasped her wrist.
“Looking for something?”
In one quick movement she found herself flipped over the bed and upon her back, a large and heavy and very seductive husband atop her.
“I merely thought to—“
“To steal my treasure,” he said, his voice dark and full of sinful promise.
She shivered in response.
Desire coursed through her, making her focus on his every breath. Graeme’s arm tightened around her, pulling her into his body so that her bottom nestled snugly against his legs.
Hot breath slid across her neck and down her shoulder as he leaned closer. His well-muscled chest pressed to her back. Even without the benefit of seeing it in the movement, she knew what that chest looked like. Knew every sinewy line that traced the hard muscles of his abdomen.
He kissed her neck. One hot, moist kill that proved to be her complete undoing. She knew in that moment that she would not leave this bed tonight.

Robyn: Thank you, Jaunty, for an interesting interview. I can’t celebrate a release without giving away a book, so one lucky person will win autographed copies of the entire Legend Hunters series, that’s SEDUCE ME, DESIRE ME and TREASURE ME. Comment to win!

One of the questions writers are asked the most is where we get our ideas. Now I suppose there are as many answers to that question as there are writers. Even for me, I can’t say that there’s one certain place or exercise or thing that always generates an idea. And for every book we write and publisher there are probably three other ideas that sit unwritten/half-written or just unsold on our computers.

Ideas come from everywhere, every direction. When I’m in a particularly creative place then ideas come hard and fast, one after another and I have to jot down tidbits just to remember them. Sometimes those little tidbits grow into a fully fleshed idea that then becomes a book. But sometimes those little morsels just languish on the computer never to be expanded into anything useable.

Lately, I’ve been working on some ideas. Several of them. I currently have a proposal with my agent for a new trilogy. But as she’s reading that, I’m developing yet another series idea. I’m toying with switching time periods and I’m working on putting together a workable series idea for this new era. In doing so I’ve come up with one idea that’s now on it’s 4th incarnation. I’m not quite sure, but I think I’ve struck gold with the latest version. I’m excited. I can’t stop thinking about it. The idea is growing, characters are talking, scenes are taking shape in my mind – this is usually how I can tell that I’ve got something good.

Still I don’t know. Maybe these ideas will grow into books and they’ll be the next Robyn DeHart books you read. Or maybe they’ll simply sit, undeveloped in my mind and on my laptop indefinitely.

For you writers out there, how do you know when an idea is worth developing into a book? And for you readers, what’s your favorite Robyn DeHart book? If you’re not one of my readers, what’s your favorite Quill book? One commenter will win a signed copy of Treasure Me.

Okay so I’m not really going to talk about going Christmas caroling though I will say that we had two different groups of carolers show up at our house this year. I didn’t realize people still did that and it was just so charming. So putting the caroling aside what I want to talk about is Christmas music. I love the songs of the season, the fun ones, the spiritual ones, the crazy ones – all of them. We have a fairly large collection of holiday CD’s at my house and I get them our right after Halloween so I get to listen to them all through November and December. I never get tired of the traditional songs no matter how many renditions I hear of White Christmas and O Holy Night.

I think this love comes from my childhood. I remember when my mom would get our her Christmas records – that’s right kids, those big round things you played with a needle. She had the Frosty the Snowman one and two others and they were delightful. A few years ago my brother took those old records and recorded them onto CD’s for my sister and I so that now we can still enjoy those songs from our childhoods. They sound scratchy and old fashioned and wonderful.

When I decorate my tree, wrap presents and do my holiday baking I’ve got my Christmas music going and I sing and do my thing and it just makes me so darn happy. Our collection is varied though admittedly I have a considerable amount of country singers holiday albums because it’s my favorite genre of music. So I get my twang on with my George Strait and Reba McEntire, but then I like the earthy guitar sounds from Deanna Carter’s album. It’s hard not to still love the Ally McBeal CD with Vonda Shepard and Robert Downy Jr. – makes me nostalgic for the show though.

I usually buy a new CD each each to add to the collection and a few years ago I stumbled upon one from a group I was sort of familiar with, but it looked interested so I picked it up. It’s by Mercy Me – they’re the band who sang that really popular song I Can Only Imagine from a few years ago. Well, we’ve had this Christmas CD now for several years and it still reigns as my all-time favorite. Each song has a different feel to it, almost as if they’re playing homage to some classic bands and styles. It’s just fantastic and it’s always the first one I play.

There are plenty of others that I love, but far too many to list. So how about you? Do y’all enjoy holiday music? What are your favorites? Comment and you might win a collection of my books autographed just for you.

Remember that episode of Friends where they discussed the five that would be on your list? You know the list of never-gonna-happen-in-a-million-years lust fantasy? Well Saturday night I was out with some writer friends and our conversation turned in this direction. One writer asked me who was on my 5 and I realized I’d never actually given it much thought. Well, it took me a few moments, but not so lone that my subconscious hadn’t been working on this very issue for a while. So without further ado, I present to you (in no particular order) my 5…

Matthew McConaughey – maybe it’s the Texan in me, but I can’t resist him. He’s got that lazy sexy drawl and frankly it makes me all gooey inside just to hear him talk. It was A Time To Kill that brought him on my radar and I think it was part character part actor that entranced me so. The glasses didn’t hurt either since I have a thing for men in specs.

Joseph Fiennes – with him it’s really all in the eyes. There is such intensity, such depth, such yummy goodness hidden in the color of his irises that just looking at him makes me melt. I’m fairly certain that if I were ever actually in the room with him and I caught his glance, I might swoon. Which makes it all the well that this is a fantasy list.

Ryan Reynolds – I’ve actually had a crush on Ryan for a long time since he was in a kid soap opera called Fifteen that I’m reluctant to admit I watched when I was in High School. He was a bit of a chubby kid back then, but had the same sharp wit. Well, clearly the chub is all gone and now we have what I think is a gift to all of us ladies. I mean look at him. That’s just ridiculous. I mean really!

Jonny Lee Miller – Like Mr. Fiennes, Jonny here has some intense and sexy eyes. Though I don’t think that’s the entirety of it for me, but I’m not sure what else it is. Of course the accent helps and the fact that he’s actually a bit unassuming so his sexiness can take you by surprise. I know I’ve admitted on here before that Hackers is one of my guilty pleasure movies and one of the main reasons is because we get to look at Jonny through the whole thing.

Johnny Depp – Frankly I think no list of 5 is complete without Captain Jack, but I do know there are plenty of women who disagree. But this is my list and on Saturday I nearly forgot him while thinking of my 5th and final choice. Once I remembered though, everything felt complete. He’s got it all, the voice, the sexy eyes, the smolder. He even makes things I wouldn’t normally think of as attractive work, like the thumb ring and eyeliner. He’s got a quiet vulnerability about him, yet a hint of danger which….whoa, just gets me all in a dither.

And here’s my runner-up, Josh Holloway. Yummy!

So how about you? Who is on your list of 5?

Have you ever been told you look like someone famous? You see these things in magazines all the time, people who resemble famous people. It’s always something of interest to me for some reason or another. When I was younger people told me that I looked like DJ on Full House, of course I’m a smidgen older than Candance Cameron so I maintain if there was any resemblance at all, she looked like me.

I’ve never found any famous person that I think The Professor looks like, though I do think his eyes are very similar to Gary Sinese so I find myself fond of him as an actor because there’s just that something about him. I think my editor looks very much like the late Brittany Murphey.

Then there are famous people that look like other famous people. Or at least sort of resemble them. So here are my random observations about that which I’m sure many of you have made as well. And sorry in advance that all of the pictures are in a column, I couldn’t get the formatting to work so they’d be side by side.

I’ve always thought Gordon Brown looked like Mr. Bean and Dan Rather’s love child – my apologies to the prime minister.

Mr. Bean

Dan Rather

Gordon Brown

They look alike, don’t they? There’s just that something that’s sort of familiar, only he’s not Brad Pitt.

Hot Brad Pitt

not so hot Brad Pitt AKA Benicio del Toro

Well, I suppose everyone has noticed the connection between these three guys. Personally I think Robert Downy Jr. is by far the most attractive, but I think that could have as much to do with his level of talent than anything physical.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan

Javier Bardem

Robert Downey Jr.

So how about you? Has anyone ever told you that you looked like someone famous? I have three copies of Desire Me I’m ready to put in the mail to some lucky participants.

The writing process is different and varied between writers and among different books. Some of us are planners, meaning we outline or use index cards or plot boards or any variety of plotting tools to find the road map for our story before we writer. Some are what we call pantsters (as in writing by the seat of your pants,) meaning we just start writing and figure out stuff blindly as the story unfolds before us. And still other are a mixture of both. You can also have the same MO for four books and then suddenly what has always worked doesn’t. It’s perplexing, but most of us writers have multiple tools in our repertoire so that we’re prepared for these issues. But no matter how we tackle our actual writing, most of us (dare I say all of us) brainstorm. We might not go about it in the same ways, but the what if tickles all of us.

For me this is often my favorite part, or at least one of my favorite parts. This is before I’ve written anything. Everything in the story still exists solely in my mind (meaning I haven’t yet had time to mess it up!) And the possibilities are endless. There are a ton of brainstorming methods and I use a variety on any one book. I do preliminary character work and digging around with my characters usually brings some plot issues to light. I love to play with office supplies – post-it notes, markers, index cards, fancy pens – and these can come in handy when putting together a story. But my absolute favorite way to brainstorm is with other writers.

I’ve done big brainstorming weekends where a group of us pack up and head somewhere (usually the beach) and we do nothing but brainstorm and write and talk writing and eat chocolate for a couple of days. And it’s just heaven. There is nothing more invigorating than to spend time with my writer buds and discuss story possibilities. It’s a charge to work on their books too, really gets the juices flowing. Besides you never feel more brilliant, as a writer, than when you’re working on a friend’s book – that’s when all your great ideas come out. At least that’s the truth for me, it’s like when I’m working on someone else’s book I have more insight, more creativity. I think this has something to do with perspective, but that’s a whole ‘nother blog. But the potential in that initial kernel of an idea is heady and addictive (probably why I have 8, yes 8 new ideas I’m playing with right now). There’s so much to play with. What if I changed the time period? What if he wasn’t the villain, what if he was the hero? What if the heroine had this job? What if the hero was obsessed with this? Or that? The possibilities, as they say, are endless.

But we can’t escape our day-to-day lives every time we need to work on a new book. So we have brainstorming days where we get together and do what we do on our retreats, but in a shrink-wrapped kind of way. We talk faster, we take turns, we do chunks of the book rather than the whole thing or work on one single problematic issue.

Then there’s the emergency phone call or email. Just a quick shout-out for help when you’re stuck on a scene or a plot point or a research detail. Writer buds are the absolute best and I couldn’t write without mine.

So how about you? Are you close to your work friends? Do you have your go-to people whenever you have a problem that needs working out?

When I first read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, it was way back when the second book had only been in stores a few months and most of the world hadn’t yet been bitten by the HP bug. It took a few chapters, but when we got to Diagon Alley I knew I’d stumbled upon something special. I remember feeling like I witnessed history in the making, feeling assured that once the books caught on, we’d have another Narnia Chronicles on our hands. The most vivid emotion though was that this book was the first time I’d read something as an adult that made me feel like books used to when I was a kid. I realize that is a terrible sentence, but hopefully you know what I mean. In short, I was mesmerized.

I quickly devoured the book, then the second, then waited impatiently for the third (which totally blew me away) and about this time word started spreading and the world was about to catch HP fever. It was the first time I remember ever dreaming about characters from a book and it happened more than once. The characters, the world was so real to me that when I was intrenched in one of the books I was completely surrounded. I remember catching myself before telling a friend that the next time I went to England I wanted to make a special trip to Hogwarts.

This last month, that silly fantasy of mine came true. Or as true as it can within our Muggle world. While in Orlando for the RWA conference, me and Emily and my mom made a side trip to Universal Studios to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. We got up super early, we hired a car to take us to the park and we walked the long way to the entrance of the park. But we’d been smart and we’d pre-purchased our tickets so we were able to just walk right in. We made a beeline to the HP area (mostly we followed the crowd because that’s where everyone else was going too!)

And then we rounded a corner and there it was, across the way, but Hogwarts rose up from a hill just like I’d seen in my mind so many times. I’ll admit it, I got a little misty and giddy and started snapping pictures. We kept our trek through the park, passing by some really cool looking other areas, but we were on a mission.

Suddenly we were there, right up to Hogwarts door. There’s a ride in the castle, but I had read enough stuff on-line before hand to know that my motion sickness would probably cause trouble, so mom and I headed into the tour line where we were able to just walk through the castle while Emily went on to the ride. (she’ll have to tell you about it when she returns from her family vacation) Inside the castle we saw the hall of portraits where some of the pictures moved and talked. Then we saw Dumbledore’s office and the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, and the entryway to the Gryffindor common room with the Fat Lady’s picture. It really was totally magical and my only complaint was that I wanted it to be longer. I wanted to see the Great Hall with the floating candles and I wanted to see the actual common room and the floating staircases.

But never fear once we were out of the castle (dumped conveniently into Filch’s Emporium, a gift shop where I purchased my own copy of the Maurader’s Map) we walked strait into Hogsmeade. Now technically this was a mixture of Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade, but it was just fantastic. We bought wands and we had butterbeer (so tasty!) and we saw the Hogwart’s Express (another misty moment for me!) and we bought chocolate frogs in Honeydukes and went into the Owl Post. And I have to take a moment to personally thank all of the English families that were there that day, their lovely British accents really added to the experience for me. Then in the bathroom (which they called “public conveniences”) you could hear Moaning Myrtle whine and cry.

All in all, it was, well for lack of a better word, magical. I loved every minute despite the fact that it was like 1000 degrees outside. I can’t wait to go back again someday with The Professor.

So how about you, what fictionalized world would you like to see come to life? If you could step into any book you’ve ever read, which one would it be? One lucky commenter will win a collection of books I brought back from the conference.