Susan's Back and feelin' like a star!

Hey everyone, did you miss me? What’s that? You say you didn’t even know I was gone? That whizzing sound you hear is my ego flying around the room backward until there’s nothing left but its little eyes bugging out.

It got inflated in the first place on the Kmart Sizzling Summer Reads Author Tour. Believe me, around the Andersen household I don’t often hear the words, “Whatever you want. I’m here to take care of you.” But Levy, the wholesaler who gets the books we luv to read into the Walmarts, Kmarts and Targets, etc, hosted a 14 author bus tour and, boy, did they take care of us! Their team, powered by Pam Nelson, is one well-oiled machine. (That's Crystal, DeVar and Justine in the back row, Janet, Pam, Kathleen and Emily on the futon)

Okay, sure, we had to get up before 4 a.m. --before 4 A.M.!!-- two days in a row and pretty much lived out of a suitcase. It was so worth it. We talked at libraries and sold at Kmarts, and the media coverage garnered for this tour was phenomenal. The first early call was for an appearance on an ABC Chicago morning show. It lasted all of about 7 minutes, but it was cleverly done and not at all condescending, and that is A Very Good Thing. We also had a reporter and the Assistant Advertising Director from Publishers Weekly traveling with us for part of the trip, so we may see some future coverage from that. Then there was the two page spread in the Chicago Sun-Times and the Detroit Free Press, plus a TV crew at one (or was it two?) of the signings and that's not even mentioning the food and omigawd, I think my head is starting to swell up again.

Um, ‘scuse me a second, will you—I've gotta take this call, it's the Soul Mate. He probably wants to know if there's anything I need. “Hey there. Queen Susie speaking. . .What?”

Oh. (whizzzz) “No, I haven't seen your blue shirt. Queens don't concern themselves with. . . What? Dinner? You want me to cook? But no one expected me to do that last week—they simply took me out to great restaurants." Sigh.

Still, more important than the food (and believe me, there is little I find more imperative than my meals) was the opportunity to get to know my sister travlers on the Love Bus: Mary Balogh (the real queen), Allison Brennan, Pamela Britton, Jacquie D’Alessandro, Gemma Halliday, Susan Kearney, Marjorie Liu, Brenda Novak, Karen Rose, Gena Showalter and Wendy Corsi Staub, as well as reunite with two lovely ladies I already knew, Candice Hern and Sabrina Jeffries. It was a fun, cooperative, gracious group, and the sheer talent that permeated that bus was amazing. I was privileged to be in on a brainstorming session that resulted in a proposed anthology with three of the authors on the tour and another they invited via email during one of our stops. All these gifted ladies’ agents are very excited about the project unofficially known as Susan Andersen Presents.

Yes, Virginia. It really is all about me. (g)

So how ‘bout you? Have you got a story to share of an event or a special treatment that made you feel like a princess? I’d love to hear.

Suzanne breaks into a chorus of that Leslie Gore hit: It's My Party!

It's my party because it's my birthday!

Well, okay, yesterday, August 29th, was officially my birthday. But I believe we should celebrate our birthdays whenever we choose, wherever we choose, AND we should get to choose how old we are. I've always followed a sage piece of advice someone once gave me: "The key to aging well is to pick one and stick with it."

I'm at that crucial point at the end of a book and still have a few climatic chapters to edit this week, so I've decided to take a rain check for my birthday. At some later date, maybe in September or October, I will declare it my birthday "week." (Trust me, I will milk this for all its worth.)

This means for a whole week --- sometimes longer --- I get to choose what movies we go to and what restaurants we eat at.

It means hanging out at the Lancome counter for an entire morning and buying makeup I don't need.

It definitely means spending a leisurely afternoon with Michael Angelo, my hairstylist, while he does all those lovely things to my golden locks that make me feel like a million bucks.

It means curling up on the sofa with a great cup of tea and reading the first chapter of every book on my mile-high TBR pile.

It means ordering two servings of escargot at my favorite restaurant and calling it my birthday lunch. (I may even have a glass of wine with it . . . in the middle of the day!)

It means chatting on the phone with all of my friends for as long as we want . . . guilt-free since I have one of those unlimited long distance plans.

It means taking a moment or two or three to stop and appreciate all the good things life has to offer. (We get so caught up in the rush and in the sad, the tragic, the endless crises.)

And it means knocking another year off my age, of course.

So, inquiring minds want to know: How do you feel about birthdays? How do you celebrate your birthday? Have you ever taken a rain check? What is the best birthday you've ever celebrated?

Happy Birthday to all of us!
Suzanne

Happy Birthday Suzanne

Oodles of love from Stella!!!!!

JAYNE INTERVIEWS SUSAN ELIZABETH PHILLIPS

JAYNE: Big News, friends and neighbors, we've got SUSAN ELIZABETH PHILLIPS, one of my all time favorite authors with us today. I love her books so much that when one comes out I am willing to overlook the fact that she wins all sorts of awards for her writing and I don't. I can even ignore the fact that she wore white pants at the annual fiasco known as the Susan & Jayne show at the Romance Writers of America Convention this year and if you know anything about wearing white pants you will realize how dicey that fashion statement can be. On the other hand, I suppose it beats the year she wore the swimsuit top. But that's another story....

Okay, right, the interview. Susan's big hardback bestseller, MATCH ME IF YOU CAN is finally out in paperback this week (Tuesday, Aug. 29th is the official on-sale date). Booklist called it "Deliciously fun romance" and "Dazzling". Publishers Weekly went with "Captivating" and "Delightful". If you haven't figured it out already, this is a great read. Tell us a little about the book, Susan:

SEP: Glad to. In MATCH ME, Annabelle Granger, a young woman with a checkered employment history, inherits her grandmother’s matchmaking business and takes on the client from hell, a super sports agent who expects her to find him the perfect wife. Unfortunately, his idea of perfect isn’t the same as hers. It’s a little like Bridget Jones meets Jerry McGuire.

JAYNE : In MATCH ME, you've returned to the world of the Chicago Stars. Why are you so fascinated by all those sweaty football players?

SEP: Because none of them would look at me twice when I was in high school, and this is my revenge. How pathetic is that? This time around, however, the hero of MATCH ME isn’t a football player, but a sports agent, and he’s only sweaty when he’s--uh… Never mind.

JAYNE: Moving right along, what is it about that world of professional sports that draws you as a writer?

SEP: I stumbled into it accidentally with IT HAD TO BE YOU, which was a fish-out-of-water story. (A woman who knows nothing about sports inherits a professional football team.) After that, the whole thing got away from me. It still cracks me up that I’ve become romance’s go-to girl for professional sports. I truly was the last kid chosen in gym class.

JAYNE: Nobody could ever accuse you of writing the same heroine over and over again. Annabelle Granger, the heroine of MATCH ME IF YOU CAN, couldn't be more different from Sugar Beth Carey, for example, in AIN'T SHE SWEET?"

SEP: True. Sugar Beth was the prototypical spoiled little rich girl, bless her heart. Annabelle, on the other hand, is the lone holdout in a family of overachievers. She’s the funny, smart, good-hearted woman all of us would love to have as our best friend.

JAYNE: You've been writing for about 25 years. Do you ever get tired of romance and think about writing something else?

SEP: Nope. I could write the happily-ever-after love story until I was a hundred and not get tired of it. I am increasingly interested, however, in expanding beyond the core hero-heroine love story to write about female friendships and family relationships, especially if I can put a comic slant to them as I do with Annabelle’s book club. (And Annabelle’s overbearing big brothers. Yikes.)

JAYNE: I've heard you've gotten some interesting reader email about a certain love scene on a balcony in MATCH ME.

SEP: And none of it negative. Imagine that.

JAYNE: Some of the characters in your other Chicago Stars books reappear in MATCH ME IF YOU CAN. Kevin Tucker from THIS HEART OF MINE, for example. How hard is it for you to reconnect with these early characters?

SEP: Not hard at all. I take a year and a half to write a book, so by the time I’m done, the characters are part of me forever. I had a fabulous time checking in on Kevin and Molly, especially because I wanted to see how their little girl, Victoria Phoebe, was coming along. That kid is a pip.

JAYNE: Are you planning any more Stars books?

SEP: THIS HEART OF MINE was supposed to be the last. I truly believed I’d reached the point where I couldn’t bring anything fresh to the characters. Then MATCH ME IF YOU CAN came along, and I started thinking about sports’ agents, and the next thing I knew, I was dealing with Heath Champion, otherwise known as The Python.

JAYNE: Oh, hey, there's a real visual. Guess that's why you win all those awards, huh?

SEP: As if that weren’t challenging enough, a young, egotistical quarterback named Dean Robillard sauntered into MATCH ME --diamond studs flashing in his ears--and I was once again hooked. Dean’s story, NATURAL BORN CHARMER, will come out in hardback on February 6, 2007. There’s a Sneak Peek at Chapter One in the back of the paperback edition of MATCH ME.

JAYNE: Anything else you want to tell us?

SEP: I guess I should let MATCH ME IF YOU CAN do my talking. I’d also like to invite your readers to visit me at www.susanelizabethphillips.com Thanks so much, Jayne, for letting me join you here. You have a fabulous blog.

JAYNE: Thanks, Susan. Great to have you with us. Nice white pants, by the way. Is that a bathing suit top you're wearing with them?

Folks, sartorial quirks aside, MATCH ME IF YOU CAN is a great way to finish off the summer. I highly recommend that you hit a bookstore this week to grab a copy or click on one of the links below.

Murphy's Law by Lori Foster

EL: Elizabeth here with great news. LORI FOSTER'S new book MURPHY'S LAW IS OUT! As a bonus, you get a cover that is clever rather than cheesy. (gasp!)

LORI: Thanks so much. With that wonderful quote from you right below my name, I more than like it - I LOVE it!

EL: That's good, because I love your books! And now that I've got you cornered (bwhaha), I've got to ask about your books. All of them, including the ones that are related, basically can stand alone. Murphy’s Law, which follows Jude’s Law, is different. Questions that weren’t answered in Jude’s Law then are answered in Murphy's Law —like why May and Ashley are so close. Did readers ask you about that?

LORI: Actually, in Jude’s Law, I deliberately left several unanswered questions so that I could address them in Murphy’s Law. I’d just seen Kill Bill I and Kill Bill II when I came up with the ideas for those two related stories, and I loved the concept of parts of the story being complete, while other parts carried over to the next story.

In Jude’s Law, I wrapped up the romance for May and Jude. Let’s face it, I couldn’t leave the romance dangling in a romance novel! Readers would kill me.

EL: I’d have helped them!

LORI: Wait, wait! Don't hang me yet. I revealed the identity of the bad guy, too. But I left him on the loose so that Ashley and Quinton (the hero and heroine of Murphy’s Law) could deal with him. I thought that would be fun. (coughing a little here.)
Some readers loved how I did that, but a few others made sure I knew that they didn’t.

I hope after reading Murphy’s Law, they’ll decide it was worth the wait.

EL: Lori, as long as you keep writing, the readers will forgive you. Tim, May's brother, was easy to hate in Jude’s Law. Do you think readers will like him more in Murphy's Law?

LORI: I hope so. He has a lot of growing-up to do, but he’s not irredeemable, and he tried to prove that in Murphy’s Law.
Readers keep asking me if he’ll get his own story. The answer is no. LOL. I want readers to see Tim grow, but I don’t think I have the talent to make him into a true Foster-type hero!

EL: That’s the problem with creating a good villain. Or good side characters in general. Readers want to know more. So…will there be a love interest for Denny?

LORI: I’ve thought about it. I found Denny so appealing that I could really see him in a lead role. But if it happens, it won’t be for a while. I’m already busy at work on a whole different group of characters. They’re still involved with the fighting group of the SBC, but they’re totally unrelated to Law books.

EL: I love your heroes—they’re always yummy Alphas! You’re not going to change that, are you?

LORI: No ma’am.

EL: (looks around “for ma’am”)
Yikers, you mean me! Huh. I won’t kill you, but I might damage you lightly. But not so much you write Betas.

LORI: My bad! Sorry. It'll never happen again...(Quickly moving on now) I do love those Alpha guys. I’m not sure I could write them any other way. But I hope my Alphas aren’t obnoxious. As I’ve said before (and blogged about here) Alphas are misunderstood. They’re not abusive jerks. They’re take-charge guys who need to defend and protect everyone they consider smaller, weaker, older or younger than themselves. They’re heroes in the truest sense of the word. I just adore them!

EL: Have you ever written an Alpha you thought might be over the top?

LORI: Plenty of times. Joe Winston comes immediately to mind, and Jude Jamison from Jude’s Law. In Murphy’s Law, I saw Quinton as a little smoother than those two. Money can do that to a man, I suppose. But Quinton was still the “out to protect his small part of the world” kind of man. And as Denny quickly discovered, Quinton could be as protective (with the means to back up that instinct) as any other Alpha.
Because I let the heroes do their own thing, I’m unable to tone them down much. Luckily, heroines who can handle them show up hand-in-hand with the heroes.

EL: Speaking of your heroines... since Ashley and Quinton were both introduced in Jude’s Law, who spoke to you first?

LORI: Ashley definitely dropped in first, but once she did, Quinton Murphy appeared hot on her heels. That’s how it usually happens for me. I seldom plan my secondary characters – they just sort of pop up out of nowhere.

EL: Ashley and Quinton put shoes on the concept of “opposites.” Was it hard to make their attraction believable?

LORI: They surprised me at times. Ashley made it harder than Quinton did. Because he hadn’t suffered her background, he didn’t have the same insecurities she had. Sometimes it takes good friends – like the secondary characters Denny, Tim, May and Jude – to help someone see clearly. On occasion, Ashley needed a little help. But that’s just part of the fun.

EL: And believe me, readers, Murphy’s Law is FUN. I love everything that Lori writes; Murphy’s Law has a special place on my To Be RE-read Pile! (Oops, this is supposed to be an interview, not a rave.) Ahem. In Murphy's Law – and in fact, in almost all your books – you show the importance of family. But it’s not always a traditional family.

LORI: Family is what you make of it. Divorce, remarriage, and adoption are commonplace. Sometimes friends are closer and more important than filial family. Writing non-traditional family isn’t a conscious decision on my part, but somehow it often plays a role in my stories. My main characters always put children first, because my heart tells me that’s how it should be. And my characters very much come from my heart.

EL: So... anymore “SBC Fighter” books?

LORI: Yes! The next single title will be Causing Havoc, out in February 07, and then Simon Says in August 07. Those books are from Berkley and other than the SBC fighting background, they’re unrelated to anything I’ve previously done. But I’m really excited about them.

EL: Any other releases?

LORI: October 06 has two anthologies – A Very Merry Christmas in trade, and a reissue of The Night Before Christmas in mass market, both from Kensington.

November is Santa Baby from St. Martins, featuring a new novella from Jennifer Crusie and reissued holiday novellas from Carly Phillips and me.

February 07 there’ll be reissues of The Buckhorn Brothers from Harlequin, with their original titles of Sawyer, Morgan, Gabe, & Jordan.

And... (drumroll please) I recently agreed to a two-book contract for a horror series I’m starting. It’ll be written under the name L.L. Foster, but that’s all I really know so far.

EL: WOW! Sister, you rock!
(drops interview and rushes off to mark her calendar)

ELIZABETH COLLECTS

All my life I’ve been a collector. First cereal toys, then rocks, then more rocks, then shells, more shells, bits and bobs of other things, then the little beauties you see below.

Trust me—the photography sucks, but the items are beautiful.


What, you ask, are THOSE? Glass barbells for see-through midgets?

Nope.

They’re Victorian knife rests.

Really.

You see, it used to be unspeakably rude to put your knife on your plate. (gasps all around) But it you can’t prop a dirty knife on your plate, what happens to that fancy linen/lace tablecloth?

Yeah. Grease Central.

Can’t have that. (more gasps and a woman feeling faint in the parlor)

So someone invented a pretty crystal bauble shaped to hold a soiled knife away from milady’s fancy tablecloth. Little baubles=little knives. Big baubles=carving knives.

Man is a very clever monkey.

When my parents died, I found myself the happy owner of a single knife rest which had belonged to my great-grandmother. I’d always loved it, loved the way it bent light into colors, loved the way it felt, loved the way it looked.

Then I was in an antique store and saw another knife rest.

And another.


And a whole lot more through the years.


Now I own several hundred knife rests, no two exactly alike, and am always delighted to find more to add to my collection.


What about you? Do you have something you collect, or used to collect? Do you organize and name every piece or do you just enjoy looking at the whole?

Other collectors want to know (so we don't feel odd).

STELLA SAYS, CONFESSION TIME! WHEN DID YOU FIRST KNOW YOU WERE AN EVIL CHILD?

I can hear all of you now: "Evil. Moi. Surely you jest. I have always been a sweet, generous, rule-following little saint."

Well, I haven't.

The first time I got an inkling of the depths of my depravity? One day when I was 5 I hung around the kindergarten classroom when everyone went out to recess and hid a bagged lunch--not my bagged lunch. That other little girl, "the owner," was such a priss and she always had a lemon flake biscuit (former Brit here), and Branston pickle on her cheese sandwich, and fancy little pieces of vegetable cut sooooo neatly by her doting Mummy who put them in a twee plastic bag with a thin ribbon tied in a bow at the top. I ask you--ribbon?

And she bragged.

And she waggled her head in the way the "aren't I wonderful kids" did. And when she finished eating all that food, she pulled out a paper-wrapped sweetie, unwrapped the crackly covering and popped the luscious morsel into her mouth--while I watched. She wouldn't have had half the fun if I hadn't sat there drooling.

Bread, butter and jam. Bread, butter and jam. And an apple. That's what I got every day. It never failed and never varied and when your front teeth are loose, apples are scary. And I had bread, butter and jam for tea, too--big whoopee.

But little miss perfect didn't have a thing on me when it came to looking like an innocent angel. My spun silk hair was white a very slightly wavy, my eyes big and blue, and MY mummy always tied a big bow around my head. I had a soft mouth and it trembled nicely on command so when miss perfect pointed her stubby little finger at me and said, "She took it," I just wobbled my bottom lip, filled my eyes with tears and hid my face in my hands.

"Here it is, Miss Harris." This was little-boy-helpful who was already a mini-man, taking charge. He searched all the desks and what should he find but a lunch, a bit smashed, in a spare desk.

Poor Stella, blamed like that. How could anyone so sweet be accused of such a dastardly deed.

Then there was my sixth year when I didn't know school had finished a day earlier than my mother realized. Off I went, looking forward to the day because I liked school, but there was no-one in any of the classrooms. In the playground the janitor said, "They be all over in t'Church. Best 'urry."

I hurried and arrived inside St. Paul's just as an absolutely full church of children and adults were forming up to leave. Figuring they were going back to the school, I joined the nearest group.

By the time we arrived at the railway station I had worked out (I wasn't such a dumb kid) that this mass of children were mostly unknown to me, that they were getting on a train (in fact I was very quick) and that I shouldn't be with them.

But they were going to Salisbury, to an OUTING, where there would be games, food, prizes, running around like mad and so much fun.

I was a little bit scared when I got on the train, but I just fitted in so off I went.

Some hours later, while I was enjoying a sack race, I saw a policeman walking toward me with a big smile on his face. That smile didn't suck me in, and neither did the strawberry ice-cream cone he held out to me (some people keep on being sneaky)because I knew that at not quite six years old, I was being arrested for the first time.

That day my mother went into labor with my brother but wouldn't go to the hospital until I was found. Things were so sticky by the time I got home that Mummy had to be taken to the hospital by ambulance--which turned out to be a good thing because she wasn't up to doing what she would have (rightly) done to me.

And now to the reason for this late confession. I believe I did some outlandish things as a child because my mind wasn't ever kept fully occupied. And since I was imaginative, creative, and looking for ways to get some attention, even if it brought doom in the end, I concocted "noisy" diversions. I also think that eventually the schemes I rehearsed in my head became first my drawings and paintings, then my stories.

I must always have been a writer struggling to get out! That's my story and you can't make me change it.

What do you remember as your first "criminal" act--if you every committed one, of course? And did your childhood behavior (good and bad) signal what you have become?

Yours cheerfully,

Stella

TEXAS BAD BOYS

Texas Bad Boys!

Oh yeah.
Gotta love em. I know I did!

This book is such a kick (just like my friend Dianne Castell) that I decided to interview her on it.

Dianne and I have known each other since before we were published.
We talk almost daily on the phone. In fact, other than my family, Dianne is one of the very few people whose calls I'll take.



Just to give you an idea of who Dianne really is, here's a few photos.
Yep, Dianne is always loads of fun!



And here's a cool photo of James Denton
reading one of Dianne's fabulous books! Dianne gets around, let me tell you!

In comparison to Dianne, I'm a complete dud, so maybe that's why we get along so well.
But it's also because I LOVE Dianne's voice and storytelling style. She's witty, fun, fast-paced and she writes characters I adore.
As much as I value her as a friend, I respect her talent more.

So without further ado... time for the interview, Dianne!


Dianne: Hi Foster!! Thanks for making Karen, Rosemary and me part of your Running With Quills blog. What a totally terrific blog. Terrific authors and so much fun.

Lori: Ahem. Enough brown-nosing, Dianne. Let's talk about this fun, sexy antho! The three novellas related. Can you explain that to readers?

Dianne: Yes, all three stories are conneted!. There are three half-sisters who have the same father...a no-good philanderer. They didn’t know they were sisters and they come to Silver Gulch when their grandfather dies. There’s the action and adventure of solving a mystery together, and the emotions of finding siblings and the humor of falling in love at the same time with hunky men they had no intention of ever falling for.

Lori: Other than my glowing recommendations, any advance reviews yet?

Dianne: Texas Bad Boys made the cover of the September Romantic Times. They gave us a four-star review and labeled the book Hot. I’m glad they liked it.

Lori: Definitely hot! I know these are Texas cowboys, but was that a deliberate choice? If so, how come?

Dianne: Rod, Lance and John are all totally real Texas cowboys who think they know just what they want in a woman till Juliet, Nina and Lillie come to town and nothing is the same for Silver Gulch or the guys again.
We set it in Texas as bad boys and cowboys just seemed like a fun fit with all that macho testosterone attitude in the air.
Also, Karen Kelley lives in Texas and could tell us like it is for weather and terrain and customs.

Lori: How did the three of you come up with the idea of having a connected story with the mystery opening in the first novella and not winding up until the last?

Dianne: We wanted something different. There are anthologies out there with the same theme, but we wanted to take it a step beyond and have the stories all tied together.
Warning…only do this with writers you reeeeeeeally get along with.
There are a lot of details to work out and the plot to settle on and getting characters that work together...
I'm happy to report that Karen and Rosemary and I are still vast friends and intend to write another connected anthology as soon as Kate Duffy lets us.

Lori: It's complicated - I know, because we did the same thing in Star Quality, with Lucy Monroe. In fact, I think it was your idea then, too. Shew. Loads of extra work! (Note: Dianne obviously likes extra work!)
So Dianne, why don't you tell readers how you went about writing each other's characters.

Dianne: I read the other stories and it worked well…except for Rosemary’s Juliet who is a Brit! Terrific, now I have to write a Brit accent or whatever and Rosemary is in England while I’m doing this story and she won’t be back till I have to have it in.

Lori: We probably talked on the phone about this, didn't we?

Dianne: It always helps to vent! Anyway, as you know, I winged it. Rosemary said there was one part where she thought “no Brit talks like that.” We should run a contest to pick out that part out.

Lori: Rosemary is a hoot. Love her and her accent.
Now back to the antho... how'd you figure out the map of Silver Gulch, where all the stores are, where everyone lives?

Dianne: I made a basic map and we all added stores and buildings and locations we needed. We wanted to do this to give the readers a sense of where they were in the town, where folks lived and played and socialized and where the mystery took place and got solved.
I thought the art dept at Kensington would do the art work. Wrong! I get a note from them saying…Where is that map??
So I worked it up to make it cute. Now I’m really into the map thing.
I always use them for myself when I write my story but now I’m hooked on having a map included in the book.

Lori: Whose Idea was it to get this anthology together?

Dianne: I went to Rosemary who is a good friend. We’ve known each other since before we were published.

Lori: You know, we're all starting to sound really old, aren't we? All this "pre-publication" stuff. But we sure did make some great friendships!

Dianne: Foster, I couldn't survive this biz without those friendships!

Lori: Same here.

Dianne: Anyway, I asked Rosemary… “Hey, girl, wanna do some writing together?” I knew we’d be able to work together because Rosemary is easy to get along with. Also…since she’s from the UK I love to hear her talk with her neat accent…or do we have the accent?? I can never figure that one out.
Then we asked Karen Kelley because we met up with her at RT in St. Louis at the Kensington dinner and she was a total hoot. Karen’s a Texas country girl and she sat next to Kate Duffy at the Kensington dinner. When Karen told us she named her pet pig after her mother Kate nearly fell off her chair. New York gal meets Texas gal. What a fun dinner! Wish you all could have been there. Side-splitting stuff!

Lori: So does Karen have an accent, too? Nevermind. I know she does. Forget I asked! Instead, tell us what makes your characters so deliciously baaaaad?

Dianne: John Snow is a player in his “old” life. In fact, he was sent to Silver Gulch because the mayor’s twin daughters got into a china-throwing fight over who was going to marry John and, of course, he had no intention of marrying either and had to skip town…actually he was thrown out.
Also, John is a Texas Ranger…takes no grief from anyone and once he sets out to find grandpa’s killer there’s no stopping him…even if he thinks Lillie…the heroine…may have done the deed.

Lori: As y'all have figured out by now, we're all friends, so I couldn't stop with interviewing Dianne. I also tossed a few questions toward Karen and Rosemary, too!

Ladies, you ever been to Texas? Wanna go?

Karen: I’m already there! I love Texas. From the bayous and tall pine tree forests of East Texas, to the rolling hills and cedar trees of Central Texas, to the Southern part where you can walk on a sandy beach in Galveston, to the prairies of Northern Texas. What’s not to love? And we even have bull-riding, boot-stompin’, good-lookin’ cowboys who are only too happy to let the right woman mess with Texas.

Rosemary: Yes, actually :-) Twice to Dallas and once to Houston and for course the time I’ve spent in Silver Gulch.

Lori: Do you want to do this type of anthology again? Any other connected anthologies in the works?

Karen: I’d love to do another anthology. This one wasn’t as easy to do because of the connecting stories but I think it made a richer book.

Rosemary: I would LOVE to. We have another one we’ve just contracted for and an idea we’re jiggling about. A lot depends on reader reaction and of course, selling the idea.

Lori: Did you always want to be a writer?

Karen: No. I was definitely a reader first. I’d sneak mom’s True Stories into my bedroom and devour them. Then after I married, I discovered romances and I was hooked. Writing came a few years later.

Rosemary: No. Never seriously thought about it until I hit upon it as an idea to make some tuition money. (I had three sons in college and really really needed extra tuition money.) By the time I realized it wasn’t that easy I was hooked and kept on writing. They were all in grad school by the time I sold.

Lori: Thank you, Dianne, Karen and Rosemary, not only for the interview, but for the fabulous anthology. I'm sure it's going to be a big hit!

You can find these fun, talented, and totally likeable ladies at:

www.authorkarenkelley.com
www.rosemarylaurey.com
www.diannecastell.com

Happy reading everyone!

Suzanne confesses: My Brain is Going Off to Tuscany Without Me

NOTE: Since my brain is going off on holiday without me (I'm completing the manuscript of my latest opus this month before facing the myriad challenges in front of me, i.e. cleaning out the lint between the keys of my computer keyboard with a Q-tip) I beg your indulgence about reprinting an abbreviated version of a recent speech I gave in place of my regular blog.

SUZANNE’S TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR THE ROMANCE WRITER (or for any writer really. In fact, many of the commandments also apply to other professions/jobs.)

Commandment #1: Know Thyself

How do you feel about love? Sex? Men? Money? Marriage? Children? Truth? Honor? Justice? Love at first sight? Crocodiles?

Commandment #2: Know Thy Voice

Your voice sets you apart from anyone and everyone else. You will reveal yourself in ways even you could never imagine or will ever realize.

Commandment #3: Know Thy Purpose

Why are you writing? What drives you? What motivates you? How much are you willing to do — and sometimes sacrifice — to succeed?

Commandment #4: Know Thy Own Reading Preferences

What we love to read is often what we end up writing. Sometimes we write what we’d like to read but can’t find in the marketplace.

Commandment #5: Know Thy Market

Pay attention. Educate yourself. Join Romance Writers of America (RWA). If you want to write series romance read series romance and a lot of it. Read professional journals, i.e. Publishers Weekly. Go to book stores and browse for effective titles and covers, NOT to copy but to study. Ask yourself why they work or don’t work.

Commandment #6: Know Thy Writing Strengths

Capitalize on them. If you’re funny, then be funny. If you’re melodramatic, then be melodramatic in your writing.

Commandment #7: Know Thy Writing Weaknesses

Always work to improve. Always be reading and writing, studying and critiquing and seeking to improve your skills in storytelling, plotting, writing dialogue, etc.

Commandment #8: Respect Thy Reader

Never write or talk down to your readership. Assume that they are right beside you all the way. Treat them and yourself with the same respect.

Commandment #9: Respect Thy Chosen Profession

Writing romance is a most honorable profession. Be proud to read and write romance. If you can’t do it with grace and pride and respect, then you should chose some other path to follow. NEVER criticize other romance writers or the romance writing profession in public. Discretion is always in style. (Besides, if you want to criticize in public, you may as well be a critic.)

Commandment #10: To Thine Own Self Be True

You are who you are. Be the same person whether you’re an aspiring writer or the published author of a hundred novels, a beginner or a best-seller.

So, inquiring minds want to know: What do you do after finishing a particularly challenging project or meeting a deadline? Is your brain mush like mine? Do you take time off? Plan a special celebration? Pop the cork on a magnum of champagne?

If your brain went off somewhere without you, where would it go?

Cheers!
Suzanne

JAYNE INTERVIEWS CHRISTINA DODD

Jayne here, and have I got a hot-off-the-beach interview for you! Yesiree, one of my favorite writers, Christina Dodd, has a new book out and, while I was absolutely devastated that I was not asked to give an advance quote, I have chosen to let it go and not take it as a personal affront. I am a bigger person than that. Okay, so it meant I didn't get a free advance reading copy and had to actually go out and buy my own. It was definitely worth it! Welcome, Christina!

Christina: Thank you for having me, Jayne! It's always great to have the chance to visit with you and Suzanne and Susan and Lori and ... who are the other two? The one who hands out Running With Quills cards and the one who makes rude comments about my plucked breasts? No matter. It's great to be here!

Jayne: Okay, let's get right to the good stuff. Inquiring minds want to know where did you get the idea for TROUBLE IN HIGH HEELS?

Christina: Wal-mart.

Jayne: Oh, yeah, right. Wal-mart. Give me a break.

Christina: Sure! Didn't you know? "Ideas for sale." They're on the aisle right between the dog food and the service desk.

Jayne: Huh. Never thought of trying there. I've been shopping at Nordstroms. Excuse me. I'll be back in a minute.

(Christina waits while Jayne toodles down to check it out.)

Jayne: Okay, I'm back. Wow. There was a sale. Ahem, tell us more about your shopping experience.

Christina: Actually, TROUBLE had a rough beginning. I was starting a romantic suspense series, the Fortune Hunters. I had gotten approval for a book set in New Orleans and had written about a hundred pages, and in fact was going to fly for research on the day Katrina hit the city. I knew I had to wait to write that story, but I had a deadline I needed to meet and I had no back-up plot.

So I went to Wal-mart and browsed the book section, looking for a deep, intellectual, meaningful read that would elevate the tenor of my mind. Of course, I headed right for the Harlequin Presents which are my favorite books of all time.

Jayne: Classic romance.

Christina: They're short, really basic books featuring a rich, domineering hero and a poor, dumb heroine whose deadbeat brother steals from said hero, then blackmails the heroine into becoming his mistress for a week and of course they have great sex, then she has a secret baby, then they have to get married, then they struggle against their love for each other before finally giving in and having great sex forever.

Jayne: What's not to love about 'em?

Christina: I know. Harlequin Presents are romance boiled down to its most basic form. Love them. Anyway - I picked up a book titled something like THE VIRGIN'S ONE NIGHT STAND WITH A TYCOON, and read the back. Her fiancé dumped her and her tycoon boss thoughtfully offered to help her out with a one night stand. What a guy. I flipped through the first few pages. The heroine was whiny and guilty which I hated. She should have been in a magnificent towering rage. Next I hit the romantic suspense, picked up STAB ME THROUGH MY TENDER HEART (fake title, I have no idea what it really was) and read the back. This woman slept with the wrong guy. He hid his cocaine (or some nefarious thing) in her house, and now someone was trying to kill her and she had to depend on the help of a noble policeman/private detective/FBI agent to get her out of this mess.

Jayne: But of course, you being you, that perfectly sensible plot wasn't good enough, was it? Why not?

Christina: I liked the bad guy!

Jayne: Figures. So, you got to thinking...

Christina: What if her fiancé dumped her, she picked out a guy to sleep with and it was a bad guy - and she couldn't get rid of him? She would have just stepped in a huge pile of doo! As soon as I thought that one phrase - She would have just stepped in a huge pile of doo! - I knew I had a plot. Because that's what I look for in a plot - a big pile of doo for the characters to step in. So TROUBLE IN HIGH HEELS involves at least two ideas mushed together (there's some PINK PANTHER and LEGALLY BLONDE in there, too.)

Jayne: That's all? You knew the whole plot from that?

Christina: Okay, no. Plotting the actual moment-to-moment action is difficult for me. But I didn't have time to fool around, so I took what I knew about the story and wrote as much of the synopsis as quickly as I could. When I got stuck, I called author friends and begged them to help me brainstorm, I woke up at night and sweated as I tried to figure out how to stage a jewel robbery, I plotted with my husband, I sent the synopsis to my editor and brainstormed with her. And I started writing even though I didn't know exactly where I was going. Despite all that uncertainty and panic, the book went together like a dream and I think it's one of the best things I've ever written. To me it's a rare and wonderful treat, a gift book blessed by the gods of creativity. It turned out so well my publisher is guaranteeing it's a good read - as in, if you don't like it you can return it for a full refund.

Jayne: Trust me, no one's going to do that. What's up next?

Christina: TONGUE IN CHIC, the second book in the Fortune Hunter series, comes out in February, and there's an excerpt for that in the back of TROUBLE IN HIGH HEELS. I just got the cover, and it's glorious! Plus next summer I'll publish the first two books in my new paranormal series.

Jayne: Hot dang, Christina Dodd does paranormal! Can't wait! Thank you so much for being with us today.

Christina: Thank you for allowing me to guest with you, Jayne, and with all the nice people here at Running With Quills! And you, too, Elizabeth! And Stella, look - I'm handing out Squawk Radio postcards! And I've got the commercial for TROUBLE IN HIGH HEELS up on my website in my members section! Check it out at http://www.christinadodd.com .

Now I am taking my plucked breasts and skedaddling back to work. But I'll be back!

Jayne: Even though I was not asked for a quote for the book (an oversight, I'm sure) I am going to give it one anyway: "People, run, do not walk to the nearest store and buy TROUBLE IN HIGH HEELS (or click on one of the links below). You will love it!"

How Many Names Does One Woman Need?

My name was supposed to be Diana Lynn. It was the top contender in the girl column when my folks were selecting names for their first baby. The only trouble was, after having three boys they’d pretty much given up on the idea of a girl by the time they had me.

Which is how I came to be Susan Marie. It was the name M’ma’s hospital roommate had chosen for her daughter and, flabbergasted to have given birth to a kid with two X chromosomes, my mother thought it would work nicely for hers as well. (And if you don’t think I haven’t given her a rash about that over the years . . . !) My father preferred Suzanna and I have no idea if they flipped a coin or if Mom was simply the one to fill out the birth certificate, but he lost that argument. So what’s a guy to do?

Well, in Daddy’s case he occasionally called me Suzanna anyway. He also called me Susimocashiwacki. (Don’t ask) And just to confuse things Mom sometimes called me SuSuMaria. (and still does to this day)

The name I’ve mostly been known by, and the one that feels more mine than any other, is Susie, which of course, came with it’s own variations. (SusieQ, Susie Cream Cheese) But when I was twelve or so, I decided it was simply too, too babyish for almost-teenager me and insisted on being called Su. Yep, that’s the correct spelling. I dropped the E because it struck me as being so much more sophisticated without it. The only trouble is, I never truly felt like a Sue, E deleted or not. It didn’t help that my oldest brother married a woman of the same name when I was fifteen and we promptly became “big” Sue and “little” Sue.

When I was around nineteen/twenty years old I finally heeded the call of my comfort level and reverted to Susie. Except for a few people who first knew me during the Su Dynasty (and my mother and middle brother, who often still call me that because I made such a production of it back in the day that it became indelibly etched in their minds) Sue’s a name that’s pretty much gone the way of the buffalo hunter for me.

Professionally, of course, I’m Susan, and as I grow older that's how I tend to introduce myself as well, since--face it-- it's a more mature name for an, ahem, maturing woman. But you can always tell the people who know me best.

They’re the ones who call me Susie because, childish or not, that’s who I am.

So, how about you? How many names have you been called in your lifetime? And is there one that fits more comfortably than all the rest?

ELIZABETH PONDERS EVIL

Somebody once asked me where I get my ideas for bad guys, as some of them are way “out there.” Inquiring minds wanted to know: Is it life or imagination that inspires my villians?

Actually, it’s both.

Life with a dash of imagination.

For example, if I read news stories about drug lords shooting it out in Mexico, Columbians kidnapping folks for ransom, various crime families exchanging relatives as surety for a “business transaction”(shades of the Middle Ages!), and whitebread bankers going down for laundering billions in dirty money…well, do you blame me if I get plot ideas?

Or headlines about self-made “patriarchs” taking “wives” right and left, booting sons out in teenage years, and keeping daughters, repeat as necessary until built-in erector set fails…

Or diamonds used as barters for illegal arms…

Or emeralds used to launder drug money…

Or gems traded for arms in Afghanistan…

Or exchange students going missing anywhere in the world…

Or modern pirates working off of Sudan…

Or stolen oil traded for arms in Africa…

Or women and children sold/stolen for the international sex trade…

Or Former Soviet Union KGB/elite soldiers selling everything for cash…

Or money laundries on the Isle of Mann…

Or corruption among UN folks shoving stuff under the rug…

Or failed states and feral cities…

I could go on and on and ON, but you’re getting the idea. When it comes to villainous ideas, the world is chockfull and overflowing like a plugged toilet.

Do I like “living” with those sorts of things while I write a book?

No, but I really enjoy watching evil lose.

Seen through the veil of fiction, evil is easier to exorcise. In my books the good guys win. That’s why I write. I want to remind everyone to celebrate what’s good, kick evil butt, and enjoy life no matter how imperfect it might be.

So how do you like your fiction? Totally removed from conventional reality? Totally connected to conventional reality? In between?

And how do you like your villains—through and through evil, evil with odd splashes of good, or so mixed it’s hard to tell what’s evil and what’s good?

NEVER ON SUNDAY

First, I'm so mad I could spit! I just finished writing this blog, knocked the mouse on the ground and the wretched computer said, "Goodbye!"

Yuck!

Argh!

I've got to start over and we all know there's no way I can recreate the brilliance I just lost. Ooh, I'm so upset, I'm not even sure I can do this at all.

Give me a moment to recover.

Breath in, breath out, in, out.

No, I do not feel better.

What happened to those sunny Sundays when we lay in the sweet grass and read a book beneath a tree?

Did you ever gather around the piano on a Sunday (now look at that--not at all as sprightly as it sounded the first time I wrote it) and sing while the family pianist trotted out a song? Folks made mistakes and we giggled. I had the best time because I was the youngest and got to stand where I held the side of the piano--close to the keys--and wound back and forth on one foot. You wonder why this was such a plum? That way I could see people sounding bad as well as hear them.

We couldn't go to the pictures (movies to most of you) on Sunday because they weren't open. In my mind I still see the billboard beside the baker's shop where I stood, peering at showtimes and always wishing that, just once, there would be a showing on Sunday. But, never on Sunday, and if they had planned such a heinous activity, we wouldn't have been allowed to go.

One of my Sunday activities was to stand in our long, long garden with my elbows hooked over the clothesline (nothing drying there on Sunday) gazing at the sky and wondering if there was anywhere in all that blue where there was more to do on Sunday. The corner shop was open for a couple of hours in the morning, to sell newspapers. But woe to the one who ran her last pair of hose on the way to visit Great Auntie Mary because there would be no way to buy such frivolous items on Sunday.

There was a sneaky newsagent who, if asked, could produce the best, the most succulent, most memorable popsicles ever made. The walk to that shop was 2 miles each way but my sister and I went whenever we could wheedle the money out of someone.

I've whined enough, now to the really good part: We were a reading family. On Sunday evenings we sat together and read our books. Winter and summer alike, hot or cold alike (no air conditioning or central heating) we took our appointed chairs around the fireplace. As a foot-flopper I invariable heard "stop that," snapped out by my mother as my right foot went up and down, up and down. She never cured me. My father was a foot-flopper, too, but I doubt if anyone ever said, "stop that," to him.

How about drinking tea and eating buttered toast, book in hand (one hand) by the fire while winter winds and rain snarled outside? Ever done that? It's not too late to give it a try and I wish I could today. Today I have dead-headed the plants, wrestled a globby something out of my dog, Millie's, fur and cleaned her teeth (not fun), written a chapter, written a blog (twice), watched the news three times (three times too many--it didn't get any better), cleaned the kitchen . . . It's okay, I'm done for now.

What do you remember from childhood Sundays? And what is best about your Sundays today?

Cheers, Stella

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR JULY WINNER!

Our July contest winner is Rebecca from Dunmore, Pennsylvania. She has won a signed book from each of the Quills: Susan Andersen, Stella Cameron, Lori Foster, Jayne Ann Krentz, Elizabeth Lowell and Suzanne Simmons.

We hope you enjoy the books, Rebecca!

JUST FOR KICKS with Susan Andersen

Yummy cover, yummier back copy, and a totally delish story.

JUST FOR KICKS is sure to be as wonderful as the rest of Susan's books.

So here I am, grabbing the skinny from Susan, finding out what it's about, what inspired her, and what's up next.

Read on happy people!


Lori: Congrats on your new book hitting the shelves! Please tell me it’s finally going to be Jared and P.J.’s story.

Susan: Um, no. Sorry.

Lori: Susan! Tell me it isn’t so! I’ve been waiting forever and ever and... well, you know. A long time!

Susan: I know, and so patiently, too. Just kidding. But you’re gonna like this one as well, I promise.

Lori: Like there's any doubt. :::Snort::: I love all your books!

Susan: Well, this one is Carly and Wolfgang’s story. Remember her? Treena’s pet-loving friend and upstairs neighbor from SKINTIGHT?

Lori: Yeah, yeah! Another dancer. Okay, cool. So where did the idea of showgirls come from, anyway? Did you want to be a dancer or something?

Susan: My very first published book (SHADOW DANCE) was about a showgirl/ dancer in Reno. Amanda Charles was in her mid-twenties, semi-virginal and the best dancer in the troupe—pretty much the usual de rigueur stuff for a heroine during the early-to-mid Eighties. I got to thinking it would be a kick to do her polar opposite and that was how Treena from Skintight came to be. That heroine was thirty-five and barely hanging onto her job.

As for harboring an urge for a little showgirl action myself? Oh, mama. The desire to be a dancer, which was very strong when I was a little girl, was pretty much knocked out of me by a cigarette smoking, fog-horn voiced, leopard-skin wearing, dyed hair virago who taught my first (and last) dance class when I was about seven. That woman scared the crap out of me and single-handedly destroyed my coulda-been-fabulous-career in dance before it ever began.

Lori: Yeah, but things work out for a reason. That experience probably led to you becoming a writer. And getting back to JUST FOR KICKS: I recall that Carly’s new neighbor, the big blonde guy, didn’t exactly win her heart at the end of SKINTIGHT with his view on pets.

Susan: No, Wolfgang’s got a few issues.

Lori: Not the least of which has got to be his name. How did you come up with that?

Susan: Wolf is an Army brat, the son of an American father and German mother. I wanted a name that reflected both cultures. He was moved from pillar to post as a kid and hated always being on the outside looking in. So now he’s a man with a plan. And at the top of his agenda is a “normal” (which to him means structured) family life. Dream job? Check. Nice little Kindergarten schoolteacher wife to validate his every opinion? Check. Well, okay, he doesn’t actually have either those things yet. He’s still working security and surveillance at the Avventurato Casino and Resort Hotel. But once he gets all his ducks in a row, he knows he’ll have a shot at being happy.

Lori: And I’m sure his every wish will be granted over the course of this book, right?

Susan: Are you snickering? I’m pretty sure I can hear you snickering. You are so my kinda woman. I love creating men with agendas that I can then mess up. Lori, the man is way too starched. Too organized, too rigid. That’s why I gave him Carly. She’s warm-hearted, messy and emotional. But you can’t lay the entire burden for making over a hero on the heroine. She’s a busy woman, that just wouldn’t be right. So I also dumped his teenaged nephew Niklaus on his doorstep.

Lori: How’s he dealing with that?

Susan: Actually, he’s trying real hard. It doesn’t always go well, but you have to give the guy an A for effort. And between dealing with Niklaus, his growing attraction to Carly and looking for the stalker she seems to have picked up somewhere along the line, he’s a busy boy. But I love romance—you know that in the end Wolf’ll get his act together and wind up with what he needs rather than what he thinks he wants.

Lori: So it ends happily ever after. What’s in the works for your next book? Will that one be about Jared and P.J.??? Please! Pretty PLEASE!!??

Susan: Yes. It’s called COMING UNDONE and it will be out next summer. I think you’re gonna like it.

Lori: Damn straight! I'm going to LOVE it.

So, um Susan. :::whistling:::: Any chance your interviewer might wrangle an advance copy? :::BIG SMILE!::::

Hey, you can't blame a fan for trying!

Suzanne confesses to accepting "Hush Money" from RWA attendees!

SUBTITLE: Or all the news that's fit to print OR that hasn't been hushed up by "sword-wielding Quills," OR "squawking chickens," OR other less clearly defined creatures at the RWA conference in Atlanta.

Yes, the "mystery moderator" at the Jayne and Susan Show was moi! Apparently I failed to read the first line of the instructions taped to the podium that said "Give your name." Ah, well, in the Grand Scheme of Things
. . . At least I finally got Jayne to the correct conference room after a small detour in the wrong direction. (I should have warned you, Jayne, I have no sense of direction and failed map reading to boot!)

The first words from the writer sitting next to me at the Literacy Fund-raiser Wednesday evening --- a lovely and talented woman named Eve Silver --- were: "I laughed out loud at the blogs when the Quills surreptitiously took over at www.squawkradio.com and then the Squawkers retaliated by invading Quilldom." I told Eve that Kitty Kuttlestone was loose somewhere at the conference with a camera hidden in her. . . well, I'm not quite sure where Kitty hid the darned thing, but forewarned;forearmed.

The Squawkers gave a lovely cocktail party (well, except for those oddly dead-looking chickens poised here and there throughout their suite) and plied us Innocent Quills with something delicious and peachy-pink in color that was served in crystal champagne flutes. Hm... I wonder where Kitty was at that point with her hidden camera. (Hush money can go in both directions.)

Anyway, it was wonderful seeing fellow Quills Jayne and Stella, and finally meeting Susan Andersen in person! It was truly one of the highlights of the conference for me. (So was tea at the Ritz Carlton! And learning a lovely photo trick from Debbie Macomber! And chatting with so many wonderful writers and friends, far too many to name.)

I just wish I knew where that sneaky Kitty and her camera were hiding out the whole week. Jayne's right, of course. (She always is.) Don't believe everything you see, folks!

Cheers!
Suzanne