It drops for thee! Grins.
So that's all to say that we are totally BORING up here in DC. (After all, there's a big party only a couple weeks away on inauguration, can't get a sitter for both nights, right?) It's been a long time since we dressed up and went out to party. I vaguely rememer it being a total blast.
the Sydney Harbour bridge.
Wiki says the Italians wear red underwear at New Years, but doesn't 
explain it. Anyone know why? (Not that I don't like red unmentionables, but I'm curious...) In Japan they clean. Okay, I don't want to spend New Years in Japan. :> Seriously it's the time to clear the temples and prepare to welcome the god of the New Year. (I still don't want to clean) In New Zealand, evidently the Black Caps cricket team play a New Years One Day game. Seems they've outlawed liquor in some places due to those rowdy Kiwis going beyond the reckless and into the vandalous.
- and get this...YELLOW undies for luck with money. (The guy to the left is the closest to yellow undies I could find, but he does look LUCKY...right?) I wonder if stripes gets you both? Oh and in Peru, there's the whole yellow-for-luck-undies, plus if you walk around the block with a suitcase, you'll get the trip of your dreams in the new year. In both countries, they eat a grape 
for every strike of the clock at midnight and make a wish for each grape. I like that one. I'm going to use it tonight! Grapes, I have.
And another time for confession....is one of your goals this year to finish the D*mn BOOK? Grins.
Queen's Speech (Denmark and the UK), countdown to some wonderful resolutions.
Or woman...
Yes, in the great tradition of launch parties in the lair, we're out to give you a really good time! You get to play with gladiators and cabana boys and inebriated romance novelists! You get to swing from chandeliers and drink champagne from Richard Armitage's slipper and have as many margaritas as you want!
What is your costume?
My favorite three answers win signed copies of the book that started all the mayhem TEMPT THE DEVIL!
My three things are:
So get dancing, people! Let's get this partay started! Cabana boys, open that tequila! And don't forget to be creative with your answers and you just might win a copy of TEMPT THE DEVIL! Good luck!
Okay, y'all were so great with the limericks, I decided to give away TWO packages of Tim Tams. So, the winners are:
One of our favorite guests is back in the Bandit Lair with us today, NYT Bestselling author, Lorraine Heath. Lorraine, pull up a barstool and let's talk about your newest release. (By the way there's Tim Tam's in the Lair today!)
Suz: There are at least three more members of Feagan's kids who have been featured in the first two books in this series. Any plans for them?Lorraine will be giving away a gift card to the one lucky winner's choice of Borders, Barnes & Noble or Amazon.com!!
Thank you to everyone who visited the Lair on Christmas Day. It was lovely to hear how you all spent your day, your travel plans, the feasts, the gifts both given and received, the quiet moments, the merriment, and of course, the Christmas stories you love best. 
Wow, we've been together for another whole year! This time last year, we'd had 4 books reach the book shelves. Now, we have sales by more than half of our Banditas with 14 books on the shelves and 5 more coming out by April of next year...and more to follow!
At the RWA National Conference in San Francisco this past July, for the first time ever, 19 of the Banditas made it to the conference at once. Believe me, the Banditas took the place by storm and created our own kind of special commotion. And even the Golden Rooster was out and about in SF!
Speaking of the GR, it was just after the first of the year that the wily bird made his first appearance in the Lair. He's been back and forth between the hemispheres and continents so much he should have enough frequent flyer miles for a trip to the space station. When he took over the blog one day we discovered he is a fowl spy who is bent on not only infiltrating the lair, but revealing many of the Banditas' secrets as well. I wonder what other antics he'll be up for in the coming year?
We've had many guest bloggers this year. NYT Bestselling authors, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Eloisa James and Lorraine Heath all drew lots of attention. We've had editors from Source Books and NAL. Michelle Buonfiglio from Lifetime.com visited, too. We were invaded by firemen, knights, dukes and ladies...we even got a masseuse named Swen!!
And the Bandits raided RomanceNovelTV for an entire fortnight, (er, two weeks for those not into British historical time periods). What great fun that was! Rumor has it another raid may be in the planning for next year. Stay tuned for details.
Another thing the Bandits have become involved with is raffle baskets. These are packed full of Bandit booty, including signed copies of the Bandit books. The proceeds from these have gone to various charities or readers/commentors. Here are some of the places you might have seen them: Dreamin In Dallas conference, Buns & Roses Tea for adult literacy, Brenda Novak's auction for Diabetes research, the Heart of Dixie Readers Luncheon, Washington Romance Writers, RWA National Conference for literacy, RT, Lori Foster's reader event, Lora Leigh's RAW, COFW's conference, the Jo Leigh Fundraiser, and of course, our Christmas one just given away by Kate!In fact, this year we not only talked about a special treat from Australia, Tim Tam's and had them at the Bandit bash, BUT the Pepperridge Farms company has sent us some Tim Tam's as a thank you for all the talk about them by us and our Bandit Buddies. In celebration of our fantastic year, the Bandits would like to give them to one of our commenters today!!
So my dad's birthday is the day after Christmas. I realize this isn't ideal timing, from a kid's perspective. The gift budget has just been blown & nobody has the appetite for another celebration. Plus all your friends are out of town visiting Grandma & Grandpa, & nobody could come to a party even if you were able to have one.
And his birthday has become the biggest celebration of the year in our family.
In years past, we've had nearly a hundred people cycle through this party. Everybody from long-long relatives to friends from three neighborhoods ago have turned up to have a slice of cake & toast my dad into another year.
Some 40 years or so ago, a group of British musicians "invaded" the American music scene. Exactly 40 years ago yesterday (I'm writing this on Christmas Day), Apollo 8 orbited the moon with guidance systems more primitive than the computer on my desk. And somehow, the news coverage this week has drawn them together for me.
The title of this post was inspired by a song one of those invading British musicians, an extremely cute young man named Peter but known as Herman, made famous. The refrain was There's a kind of hush/ All over the world tonight . . . and went on to talk about lovers in love. There's a hush in my neighborhood right now, the hush that comes on major holidays when everyone's inside, at gatherings that mark romantic and filial and friendly love.
Not all of these holidays are Christian, of course. The world's Christian population is somewhere between 20 and 33 percent, depending on which sources you consult. Which means the rest of the world follows creeds (or nonreligious ethical systems) other than ones based on Jesus's teachings. In the United States, Christianity (and thus, Christmas) is a dominant cultural force, but that's not so in other parts of the world, where Jews, Muslims, Hindus, or Buddhists dominate. In those parts of the world, I assume, shops are open, streets are bustling with whatever traffic is usual, and people are going about their daily business. Yet all of the major religions and ethical systems have at least a couple of things in common--a belief in kindness or charity to the rest of humanity and a desire for peace among peoples (I except the militant religious splinter groups from this statement and hope we can avoid discussing them. For me, at least, today is a day to think of peace on Earth).
Which brings me, at last, to Apollo 8 and its crew, Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and William Anders (who took the famous picture at left). They noted that there are no boundaries or divisions on the planet in that photo or in the view from space. Subsequent astronauts have said the same thing, that after a few days in space, they stopped thinking about their own parts of the world and saw it as a whole. The Earth is, of course, still fraught with war, genocide, famine, and plague. The hush in my neighborhood doesn't extend nearly far enough. I hope, though, that it will someday.
In the meantime, I'm grateful for my family and our friends and neighbors and our peaceful morning. I'm also grateful for all the Christmases past that I shared with family and friends who've moved away or passed away. A good friend of ours made our beautiful tree skirt, came over with her husband to help decorate the tree every year until they moved to Arizona, gave us ornaments and beautiful, cross-stitched art, and reveled in all things Christmas except the holiday itself. They're Jewish, you see, and she didn't feel right about putting up a tree of her own. 
One year, when I was about 7, I got the Barbie Dream House for Christmas. The adults in my life didn't realize it came with Massive Assembly Required (all the furniture--think tab A and slot B--which was then cardboard). I don't think, personally, that could possibly have been as bad as tiny decals for Gundams and Power Rangers, but I could be wrong. Anyway, the adults were so distracted by furniture assembly that they forgot to open the chimney flue. Until the smoke from burning wrapping paper poured into our living room to remind them. We had to evacuate the house until they got the situation straightened out, and then we froze with the windows open for a couple of hours. My grandfather lived with us, so our house was jammed with aunts and uncles and cousins on Christmas Day. And all us kids were in the yard together that morning, freezing. I cherish the memory of that day. All the adults are gone now, and the kids have kids of our own, and the cyle of life moves on.
I hope you've had wonderful memories of this day or other holidays your family celebrates. Will you share them? What's your favorite holiday, and what does it make you think about?
It's Christmas Day, at last. I can finally relax ... I think ...
Yesterday, when all the shopping was done, all the cards had been mailed and the last packages had been delivered, I looked around and realized I actually had an evening with nothing to do! I poured myself a glass of champagne--hey, I was celebrating!--then picked up one of my favorite old Christmas romances, curled up on the couch and read for a few hours. I haven’t done that in months!
Some of my favorite Christmas romances are short stories, like Linda Howard’s Bluebird Winter and Nora Roberts’ All I Want For Christmas. Last night I re-read Susan Mallery’s The Sheik and the Christmas Bride. Talk about a guilty pleasure, I love Susan’s sheik books! Two more favorites of mine are JD Robb’s Holiday in Death (I love that in between all the murder and mayhem, Eve is so flummoxed by the gift giving!) and Maureen Child’s Some Kind of Wonderful (she finds a real baby in the manger! It’s such a sweet, funny story, so classically Maureen Child).
* Dark and Dangerous and a bookmark from Jeanne
by KJ HoweAnd tomorrow, on Christmas Day, one lucky random commenter will win our fabulous Bandita Christmas Basket!! We hope you'll stop by and say hello!
meeting a writer for lunch later today who is in-town visiting in-laws. (She's from California and in for a wintery shock when she steps outside in our chill temps). Last weekend, it was another larger group of writers and before that - the red hats. (Have to love the Red Hat groups. Their sole purpose is to party *g*). Before that it was the Investment group and the Gourmet crowd. Obviously, the extra pounds swallowing my waist aren't all from Christmas cookies!
the lair for lunch (and drinks and Sven...) Thank you all for your friendship, not only over the holiday season, but for the whole year through. Friendship is the best gift of all.
1. Christmas music - Yes, many of the Christmas songs you know and love are the same. But, for many people over here, Christmas isn't officially Christmas until you've heard Noddy Holder (the lead singer of Slade) declare "Its Christmas!" in his gravelly voice. At the risk of showing my age - here are Slade(You'll have to watch right to the end to see the moment I mean). 
3. Christmas crackers - Christmas lunch isn't officially underway until you've pulled cracker. No, I'm not talking about getting lucky with an available hunk - not with all that family around, anyway! A Christmas cracker (see picture) is a fun tradition - when you pull it, it splits open with a bang. Inside is a paper hat (which must be worn), a 'gift' (kind of like the prize at the bottom of a box of Crackerjack) and a silly Christmas joke (the ones little kids find hysterically funny). 
4. The Queen's Speech - with Christmas lunch over, it's time for collapsing in front of the TV. Before the Christmas blockbuster or the Christmas specials, comes the Queen's Christmas Speech. This is broadcast by the BBC. It also goes out around the world via the radio on BBC's World Service. In years gone by, many families waited to open their presents until after the Queen's Speech. In our family, Christmas stockings could be opened first thing on Christmas morning, but the main presents had to wait. I suspect fewer and fewer families follow that tradition any more. Sadly, I also suspect that fewer and fewer people actually listen to the Queen's Speech.
My goodness you all have dirty minds! And at Christmas, too! :-)Twelve Days of Christmas to Date Winners!!!! Be sure to claim your prizes!! Contact Jeanne at jeanne@jeanneadams.com with your snail addy!
December 12 -- Leslie Gladnick
December 13 -- Virginia Horton
December 14 -- Keira Soleore
December 15 -- Crainlarich
December 16 -- Cherie2628
December 18 -- Gillian Layne
December 19 -- Treethyme
December 21 -- Laurie
jeanne@jeanneadams.com for your very special gift!
I was reading a great Harlequin Desire the other day (The CEO's Christmas Proposition, by Merline Lovelace) and it was filled with fabulous descriptions of Christmas in Salzburg. You could see the homemade wooden toys, taste the buttery breads, and hear the children's choirs singing in the background of a wintery wonderland. (Here's a picture of Salzburg in the winter -- incredible, isn't it?)
No, I don't mean movies about Christmas (although I have my favorites - It's A Wonderful Life is at the top of that list *g*) today's post is about movies released on Christmas Day. Yet more reasons to love the holidays are all the wonderful movies released betweeen Thanksgiving and the end of the year, but what about the movies opening on Dec. 25? This year's releases include:
Marley and Me - movie about a couple dealing with their troublesome dog starring Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson
The Talented Mr. Ripley
!
orgotten.
under a blue moon, meaning the second full moon in a month. It casts a special spell over a little town in Ohio and three couples who had no chance of falling in love do.
h my new husband at night in the snow. It felt...magical. There simply is no other word for it.
in them. What I didn't know until I got there, was that entire cities (the largest with an estimated population of 16,000) were carved underground! Some of the cities date back to prehistoric times, and some of them were inhabited up until the 1950s when the Turkish government decided they were historic treasures and great tourist attractions and moved everyone out.
This big rock that looks like a millstone was rolled into place at the entrance to each level. The hole in the center was for shooting arrows at the enemy, who pretty much had to approach in single file due to the narrow tunnels. Since the cities were interconnected, runners would let a neighboring city know they were under attack and a counter attack could be launched. The early Christians were able to live and thrive here for several centuries.
e awesome snow on Christmas some years. When I was a teenager, we went to church on Christmas Eve. It had just started to snow as we walked inside. By the time we came out and hour later, 3 inches of snow was on the ground. It continued to snow all night and by morning we had about a foot. Since I had no place to go it was fantastic.
Even in Maryland, we sometimes get snow. About five years ago, we had just finished opening packages and realized something strange was going on. We looked outside and saw the biggest snowflakes I had ever seen. They looked to be about four inches in diameter. It was the prettiest snow.
And the winner of Tuesday's post about The Cake Bandits . . . drumroll please!!!!
It's time for our busy little elf to draw out another name in our 12 Bandita Days of Christmas, so please give me a drum roll...the winner from among the comments to my small-town Christmas post on Monday is...
u feel you're being held hostage to the holidays? 
was outgoing, gregarious, and very alpha. 
learn to give instead of receive. And it wasn't easy! See the oldest five to the right. Do they look like they're in much of a giving mood? 
turn came. See the picture of the railroad station cake at the left? It was delivered anonymously to our doorstep one morning right before Christmas. The note said, "Merry Christmas from The Cake Bandits." We never learned who these generous people were. 
e tree and gave it away to a needy child in our neighborhood. 
e-income family at the time and Daddy was a school teacher. 
Though in recent years, there has only been one of those plastic, light-up Nativity scenes on the courthouse lawn, I can still remember when there was a live Nativity there. Community members dressed as Mary, Joseph and the wise men would brave the December cold and stand in that open shed for hours. I think there might have even been live animals.
Back in those early childhood days, I can still remember my dad bringing his mom to town (she didn't drive) to do her Christmas shopping. At that time, there was a Western Auto store still on the square. I can still remember all the shiny bikes in the front window. In a town that didn't have a Wal-Mart or anything similar beyond a Dollar General Store, the Western Auto was the best place to buy toys, and buy them she did because my sister and I were her only grandkids. The Western Auto is gone now, gone the way of the live Nativity. Santa's little elf picked Keira as Sunday's BB winner! YAY Keira and congratulations. And thank you everyone for hanging out with me all day and sharing your holiday crafty experiences. Now I'm super hungry for bonbons, really wishing I knew how to make scones and in deep envy of those Bandita Buddies who work at Michaels *sigh*.
Sorry I'm late with this. Mea culpa! I had visitors on the weekend and haven't got back to the Internet until now. Anyway, I have mega booty to announce.
Ahhh, its holiday crafty time! I remember in gradeschool, this was the fun time of year. Lessons were shorter so we had more time to create. I'm a big fan of creativity, so I was always excited. I remember making gifts for my parents, cards and other fun things. Did you ever do the paper bag Santa's? Cottom ball beard and a fingerpainted face. Ahhh, the memories!
and this time of year is my call to creativity. (Okay, I admit it, I hear the call all year round, but this is the time of year that I drag everyone off to listen to it with me). I nag my kids to come make decorations for the house with me. One of my favorites is a papercrafted Christmas Tree, with loops of paper and lots of pretty sparklies.
always buy CDs in bulk, so we took a half dozen and glued scrapbook paper to them, added glitter (do you see a theme here?) and ribbon to hang them from the tree. I loved it! My daughter made some for her 4H group, too, using wraping paper.
grandparents this year using the kids pictures. One year I decorated candles, using pretty paper and ribbon... but they caught on fire (go figure) so this is my next candle-type project -something in jars that is less likely to shock the recipient with a possible bonfire. 
till in their giftboxes. He claims he loved me enough to keep them and that should count for something. So a lot of times, if I'm not sure the person will really like the gift, I resort to turning my creative impulses into the kitchen. Almond toffee, fudge, cookies. Oh, yeah!
by Joanie T 
Our fabulous guest Deb Marlowe has chosen two lucky commenters to receive the prizes from her Sunday guest post. The winners are MARGAY and CAFFEY!! Congratulations, ladies, you will each receive a copy of Deb's fabulous An Improper Aristocrat. What a lovely early Christmas present!
by Anna Campbell
They’re walking past an airport terminal soap shop:
‘Hello,’ said Sienna. ‘Over here.’
This is the third story in my Bennett Family series. This one features pilot Pete Bennett, little Greek islands, a goddess divine, a first kiss as it ought to be remembered, anticipation, frustration, seduction, expectations, and an unstoppable tumble into love. We're not talking anguish and heartache here. This one’s purely for fun, and you can find an excerpt here.
You write for the Harlequin Modern Heat/Sexy Sensation/Presents Extra line. Can you tell us what differentiates this line? Any hints for aspiring writers targeting this line which seems very open to new authors?
Kelly has very kindly offered one lucky commenter a copy of her latest witty, wonderful romance, PLAYBOY BOSS, LIVE-IN MISTRESS. Her question to the Banditas and Buddies is:
I spent Thanksgiving week in Buffalo and blogged about the cold weather, then asked about the weather in your neck of the woods. The comments were fabulous and it was so hard to pick a winner! But the one person who made me want to pack my bags and move to her town is the person who wrote these lovely words . . .
Thanks to everyone who gave Marisa and I such an overwhelming response to our interview about TEMPT THE DEVIL!!! Wish I had ARCs for all of you, but sadly, there's only one. And the winner is...
It will come as no surprise to many of you that I've been traveling a lot lately. First it was New Zealand and the awe-inspiring mountains, cool alpine streams and the eccentric Lanarch Castle with its Alice in Wonderland gardens. Then a week or two at home to do edits for WICKED LITTLE GAME followed by another jaunt, this time to Japan, where the autumn foliage is spectacular, the Geishas gorgeous and the sake potent, whether taken hot or cold.
Oh, and I'm very sorry that I STILL haven't announced the winner of my last contest. And the winner is...MsHellion! You've won a signed copy of THE DANGEROUS DUKE. Congrats and if you send me your details at christineATchristine-wellsDOTcom I'll get that book to you pronto.
ANNA: As regulars to the blog know, my third book for Avon, TEMPT THE DEVIL, comes out at the end of December. I thought it might be interesting if Marisa of Romance Novel TV, who has read TTD, and I had a bit of a chat about my upcoming release!
For Olivia Raines, London’s most notorious courtesan, and the infamous Julian Southwood, Earl of Erith falling in love will be the greatest risk of all in this wicked and wild romance from ANNA CAMPBELL.
Your first two books were hero-centric, would you agree? But TEMPT THE DEVIL focuses on the heroine’s emotional journey. I’m so curious – what made you decide to focus on the heroine? How different was this one to write?
I said that you set up the stakes in the first scene. But as with all your books (which is one of the reasons I love them) you have layers and layers of subtext. When you begin a book are the characters fully developed or do you discover things about them along the way? If so, what did you discover about Olivia and Erith that may have surprised you?
Oh, Marisa, thank you for picking one of my two favorite scenes in the whole book! The other’s the ending where for some odd reason, everything all seemed to come together just right (well, at least that was how I felt about it!). The kiss is actually more emotionally significant than any of the hotter scenes leading up to that point.
Marisa, thank you! I’m definitely an auditory person so I hear my people first and once I’ve got the sound of them right, I can go through and put in the rest. The dialogue tends not to change terrifically much from the first draft. The stuff in between changes enormously! I write a really dirty draft that has the skeleton structure of the story and the dialogue and then go through and layer and layer and layer. Hey, did you in the U.S. get that Sara Lee ad where she’s making the Danish pastries layer upon layer upon layer? Anyway, that’s sort of what it’s like. Going over and over it to try to get to the emotional truth that’s hidden away in what I’ve got already.
A huge thank you to Marisa! OK, now for the GOOD stuff. I'm giving away an ARC of TEMPT THE DEVIL. It's the very last one! So I'd like to know what tempts you this Holiday season.
Here’s a picture of Thor on the night he came home to us. We took all the back seats out of the van to fit his six-foot-tall, wrought-iron cage in the back. He rode in a large cat crate on Steve’s lap all the way from Atlanta.
Because of life changes, Dee and her husband couldn’t give Thor the social interaction he needed in order to be healthy, so they began searching for a new home for him. Several people were in the running to adopt Thor, and to our good fortune, he came to us.
Thor had already survived adoption as a chick, a move from Los Angeles to New Orleans when he was almost a year old, then after only one month in that home, Katrina hit. Yes, Thor lived through Hurricane Katrina. Everything in Thor's home was lost except for the people and animals. So Thor and his family landed, refugees, in Atlanta.
Then, three weeks ago we appeared and took Thor from the only family he’d ever known.
It’s a good lesson in life I suppose. Some things we can control, others we can’t. If I let it, it could keep me holding on to the safety of the known, too afraid to leap into the void.
Thor talked a lot the first few days he was here, but he didn’t eat much. Grief does that.
Dee told us he likes bubble baths, so a few nights after his arrival, we tried for his first bath. But we put in too many bubbles and he couldn’t see the bottom of the tub. He freaked out and went under water. Then he was wrapped in a towel for his nail trim. He was wet and cold, shaking and afraid, biting at the nail clippers. Then when he went back into his “house”, he fell off of his perch and landed in the bottom of his birdcage, still wet, unbalanced, unable to fly. Thor is a proud bird. It was hard to see him so helpless and afraid, nothing like his former glory.
I felt just that way when I lost my family.
In an ironic twist, I feel a little of that angst that right now—though just a tiny bit. I’ve made a decision to leave my present job —one that’s good for me financially, but very bad for me creatively and personally—for another job—less money, but more flexibility. It’s hard to say whether it’ll be better for me creatively—for me and my writing—only time will tell. It’s a leap of faith, and I’m afraid. What if it doesn’t work? In a difficult economy, I’m walking away from security to (I hope) gain sanity.
Sometimes you let go and leap, and no net appears. Sometimes you hit the bottom of the cage. For me, that’s scary.
We helped Thor onto his perch that night, and he dried off and spent the rest of the evening fluffing his feathers until he was gorgeous again. He was sad still, we could tell, but after a couple of hours he got back most of his sass.
Three years ago I learned that sometimes family has nothing to do with blood. When you’re in the ditch, you find out who your friends are, and I learned that having nothing can set you absolutely free—free to find who and what you are, and what celebrations and love mean to you. We actually enjoy the holidays more now than we did before, but that didn’t happen overnight. It took a lot of letting go—scary, painful growth and change.
We made new Holiday traditions for ourselves —with people who love and support us.
Of course, I had someone to love me through my loss three years ago. My husband was there for me and supported me as I went through that. I hope we can be there for Thor in that way too.
Letting go and leaping is a little easier if there’s someone there with you, saying, “I believe you can fly.”
We’ve begun to let Thor out of his cage to fly around the house now. He flaps and glides and soars through the rooms, and to be such a huge bird, he is astonishingly agile and quick. He turns on a dime. When he’s ready to go back in his cage he takes a turn around the kitchen, glides over to the cage, tucks his wings in, sails through the door, air brakes, and lands softly on 
a perch.
But it’s when he takes off that he’s most impressive. He leaps, spreads his wings, and is carried on air as though the air is there just for him---to take him on a glorious ride. He flies the way I breathe—without even thinking--effortlessly.
I watch him and wonder if I’ll ever be able to do that—to trust the universe and leap in that way. Will this new job be a good choice? Will I be adept? Will this change at the turn of the year—the letting go of the old and the embracing of the new—be a positive one? Or will I hit the bottom of the cage and have to dry myself off again—maybe have help getting back up and onto the perch?
I’m writing a character right now who has hit bottom and is having to claw her way back to who she is. Which I guess proves that for a writer, no experience is ever wasted.
Thor is adapting. We hope he’ll come to love us as he did Dee and her husband. But that will take time. He’s become a symbol for me—of the things that are happening around me and how I’d like to be able to adjust and adapt—and trust and maybe, every now and then, fly.
I’m not much into resolutions, but this time of year is a good one for changes. New beginnings.
What about you?
Have you ever chosen to let go of the old or embraced the new in your life, to good result? Has it ever been forced upon you, as it was upon Thor and me?
Have you ever taken a leap and had the net not appear? How did you get yourself back up onto the perch?
Do you have a favorite character from a book--one who haunts your memory because he’s been taken so low you thought he’d never fly again? One who’s lost everything and still found her way to a happily ever after?
In your own life, how do you know when it’s time for a change, and how do you work up the courage to make it? Do you listen to your heart, your gut, the people you love, the voice of the Divine?
Do you use the turn of the year to make changes, let go of the old, take up the new?
Is there someone in your life who fluffs your feathers and says, “ Let go. Leap. I believe you can fly!”
I'm sorry it's taken me a while to get this prize post up - family crisis!
f women in your time and social class.
which fascinates and stymies analysts even today. She was a very private woman and poet whose prolific body of work didn’t come to light until after her death (see Amhearst, her home, at right).
to Thomas Lefroy, but no real evidence exists that there was more than a youthful attachment on his part, and both likely realized that their economic and social standings prevented anything further.
Thanks so much to Stacey Kayne for guesting with us! Stacey graciously shared goodies and here's what she said:
Back by popular demand (and my personal edict) is one of our favorite authors and Bandita Buddies, Deb Marlowe. This picture of me and Deb was taken at the 2007 RWA conference in Dallas where Deb won the Golden Heart. We may hear something about her GH-winning book today. Let's listen...
**My new release, An Improper Aristocrat. You knew I had to work it in here, didn’t you? *g* But seriously, this book is special to me. Here’s a blurb:
**The Big Bang Theory
**A Seasonal Favorite — Sitting in the Dark with a Lit-Up Christmas Tree
I'm SO excited to welcome my dear friend and a fabulous writer, the awesome Stacey Kayne to the Lair. I've know Stacey since the dawn of time... or way back when she, I and Beth started writing *g*. Stacey is one of the most intriguing writers I know and I'm so excited she agreed to come by and visit. And - check it out!! Two of Stacey's western releases for this year are up for Best Western of 2008 over at http://www.lovewesternromances.com/ . 
to see the end of my first two series. I had a lot of fun with the Morgan brothers and the Doulan family. I have always been a huge fan of those western family sagas, and as a writer I have this habit of falling in love with my secondary characters—everyone needs a book! This last book in my Wild Trilogy was extra special, since the hero Garret Daines first appeared on the page as a twelve year old boy in MUSTANG WILD. In MAVERICK WILD a few years have pack some muscle onto his wiry frame and his teenage heart is subjected to some serious bruising when he crushes on a woman who only has eyes for Chance Morgan. My critique partners would tell you I had a hard time accepting sweet, protective Garret as the rugged cowboy he needed to become…and though it took my brain a while let go, Garret is all grown up in MOUNTAIN WILD and has found a wild woman all his own. Those who’ve followed the series might recognize her *g*.
While initially writing Kyle Darby’s story in COURTED BY THE COWBOY, I had similar troubles. Kyle also made his first published appearance as a twelve-year-old boy at the end of BRIDE OF SHADOW CANYON. But while writing THE GUNSLINGER’S UNTAMED BRIDE, Kyle stomped onto the page with a force that shocked me, shattering any lingering boyish image. He wasn’t about to be upstaged by his gunfighter cousin and reminded me he had a book waiting to be finished. I was smitten all over again and couldn’t wait to pair him up with Miss Constance Pauley…who’s not as docile as her name might indicate!
launch a new western series for 2010! This new series will be revolve around the founding and expansion of a Montana boomtown shortly following the Civil War. The heroes of the first two books are talking to me…these two rugged wounded souls were childhood friends, fought on opposite sides in the war and still have some reckoning with each other while trying to find their place in a scarred world. That place will be established by the end of the first book in the series, and each book will introduce another couple to become a vital addition to their growing community. 
Thanks to everyone who gave Laura Lee Guhrke such a warm welcome on Thursday. I'm delighted to say LLG has chosen her winner for the signed copy of AND THEN HE KISSED HER.
by KJ Howe
They can easily misjudge situations and miss signals, and they don't know how to handle rejection. Most people don't become actual stalkers, but they may get obsessive and go overboard to try to impress their dates.
by Anna Campbell
Ooh, can't wait for that! Sparks are gonna fly! Sounds great. Getting away from the GBs for a moment, can you tell us about your writing journey?
So, Laura Lee, it sounds like we may coax you back down our way again to see all the things you missed this time round! Yay!
I'd like you all to meet a good friend and talented historical author, Susan Heino. Susan was the 2008 Golden Heart winner in Regency, and as you can tell from this interview, writes with a bit of humor (grin). As several in the lair have recently submitted entries to the 2009 Golden Heart contest, I thought it might be fun to relive the experience with Susan. That's us in the photo to the right - me in my funky hat and Susan with the big smile. So without further ado...Here's Susan! Donna,
Thanks so much for inviting me to be a guest at Romance Bandits. I can’t hold a candle to some of the witty repartee I’ve seen other guests and Banditas post, so I’m not even going to try. Donna, please assure everyone my books are a whole lot more interesting than I am. Pretty please? Lie if you have to!
Thanks.
Somehow, I don't think lying will be necessary. Before we start talking about writing, though. Why don't you tell us about yourself?
I’m 27, descended from English royalty, and have often been mistaken for Angelina Jolie. Except that I’m better looking and have adopted 47 children from 3rd world countries AND cured cancer. And my husband was never married to Jennifer Aniston. Okay, only that last one is true. Unless he’s been hiding something from me…
Really, I’m just the ordinary housewife who still likes to climb trees, thinks snakes are cool, and writes Historical Romance. I also have an unusual fondness for chickens, and the color green. My family thinks I’m weird. It seems to be working for me, though. This past summer I won a Golden Heart, snagged an agent, and signed a two-book contract with Berkley Publishing. Plus, I have two be
autiful, healthy children who only act like they’ve been adopted from a 3rd world country. Or Jupiter.
So, Donna, what else do you want to know about me?
I see the Golden Rooster has picked up interest. He's a bit of a Romeo - but I suppose that's to be expected when you hang out with romance writers.
Tell us about your background (I have some inside knowledge here) and how that affects your writing.
I have a theatre background, believe it or not. After bouncing through the Fine Arts, English, and Secondary Education departments in college I somehow landed in Theatre. It was a good fit, and about time, too, since Daddy declared I either must finally graduate or he would pull the plug on the ole’ money fountain. But during my last couple years of college I had a great mentor who encouraged me in playwriting and helped me find my wings. After college I landed a few low-paying theatre gigs—not to mention the various non-paying ones—but through it all I mostly supported myself with my brilliant typing and phone-answering skills. (Translation: I was the perky administrative assistant who made great coffee and spent way too much time chatting with the clients.) When wifedom and motherhood came along, I left the theatre and the administrative assisting but not the writing. I took my brilliant typing skills, my En
glish department grammar expertise, plus what I’d learned in the theatre about timing, character building, pacing, humor, and life in general and focused it all on romance. Who’d have thought such a checkered past could eventually get so mixed up together into one constructive lump?
What was it like to win the Golden Heart?
Winning the Golden Heart really and truly is just as wonderful as I’d always imagined. It started one sunny day in March when my Fairy Godmother called to tell me I was a finalist. (Okay, it wasn’t my Fairy Godmother. It was an RWA representative, but you get the idea.) Suddenly it was as if I had an invitation to a royal ball at the shining castle on top of the hill. I was floating on air—no way it could get any better than that. Soaring on fairy dust, I rode a magic pumpkin all the way out to San Francisco. Then I swirled around in my fancy new gown and danced out my dream in the glow of agent and editor attention. Then, just when the clock began to strike twelve and I expected the magic to go away, the Prince looked deep into my eyes, handed me the glass slipper and told me get up on stage and deliver that acceptance speech I was supposed to have written. Oops—I sort of missed that part. Still, I’ve never been one to shy away from the limelight, so I muddled through the moment and absolutely loved every minute of it. I can’t adequately describe how honored I am to be among the ranks of so many talented and gracious Golden Heart Finalists, the 2008 Pixie Chicks as well as those from years past.
Then, shortly after San Francixco you had a very important call. We LOVE to hear call stories here in the lair. Can you share yours?
During the course of the months leading up to the RWA conference in July my manuscript was requested by an agent. Two editors had already requested it from other contests I’d won (and neither had rejected it, yet!) but this was the first agent to show interest. I was very excited to meet with her at the conference in San Francisco, but amazingly two other agents crawled out of the woodwork to express an interest. Yikes! Was I going to have to make a decision? I hate making decisions. I asked everyone to wait until I had time to go home, catch up on sleep and think clearly. In the end, though, it wasn’t a difficult decision. On the pumpkin, er, plane ride home I thought it through. It just made sense to go with the agent who loved my work the most, the one who offered representation even before I won that pretty little necklace. So I called Cori Deyoe with 3-Seas Literary Agency the day after I returned from San Francisco and gladly accepted her offer of representation. She’s done great things for people I know and trust, so it was an easy choice. And she doesn’t think I’m weird for collecting animals, so that helped. Turns out, signing with her was not a mistake. It was not a moment too soon, either. The very next day I got a phone call from Berkley Publishing! An editor there had been looking at my manuscript for months but finally they were ready to make an offer. It was a strange sensation; I remember hearing those words, but they just didn’t quite register in my brain. You see, I was sick. I had a raging head cold and jet lag and that euphoric Golden Heart meltdown. I wasn’t even sure what day it was, let alone be able to process this whole concept of actually getting an offer from a real, live New York publisher! So my groggy twenty-second The Call went something like this:
Very Important New York Editor: Susan? Hello, this is Leis Pederson from Berkley Publishing in New York.
Me: (Wonders if she’s ever met this person before. Remembers to be nice and tries to sit up. Gives up.) Oh, hey there. How ya doing?
VINYE: Very well, thank you. I’ve read your manuscript and I really love it. A lot. It made me laugh.
Me: (Blows nose.) Gosh, that’s nice. (Is fairly certain she sees pretty pink sparkles floating around her living room.)
VINYE: In fact, we’d like to make an offer for it. Would you be willing to discuss this?
Me: (Sniffles. Coughs. Gags. Grins stupidly.) Yeah, sure. I’m okay to discuss that. (Wonders if room really is spinning or if that cold medicine said every 6 hours instead of every 4 hours. But the pink sparkles are nice…)
Leis proceeded to say lovely things about my book and to make a really nice offer that would have had any normal person jumping up and down like a game-show contestant. I, sad to say, sneezed. I was totally happy on the inside, though. Somehow I remembered that people with agents usually let them do the negotiating so at some point I referred Leis to Cori. I’m hoping I managed to sound somewhat professional and not like I was blowing her off, but I probably sounded like I was blowing her off. I wasn’t—it was the cold medicine! Honest! But Leis did contact Cori and Cori had already contacted a couple other editors who’d expressed interest when I met them in San Francisco. All in all, Cori had five editors who asked to have a shot at the manuscript. Yeah, five! In the end, Cori negotiated a better offer from Berkley and I signed with them. I now have a two-book deal, the first scheduled for release in 2009 and the second in 2010. And that’s really nothing to sneeze at!
Can you tell us about your storyline?
MISTAKEN BY MOONLIGHT will be coming out in late 2009 through Berkley Publishing. This manuscript was my Golden Heart winner and I’m happy to say it’s also my first sale. I can’t wait! Hopefully readers will fall in love with Dashford and Evaline just like I did. The story starts out simply enough with a typical Regency setting—a lonely young lady alone in a moonlit garden meets a wandering lord who’s eager to avoid matrimony. It becomes somewhat less typical pretty early on, though, when we realize said lonely young lady is drunk off her gourd. Said wandering lord gladly tries to seduce her only to have her pass out in a sotted stupor. But he’s really a nice guy. He can’t just leave her to sleep it off out in the garden, can he? Of co
urse not. He needs a quiet place to stash the senseless stranger. The only place he can think of, though, is his bed. When poor, senseless Evaline wakes up the next morning—with a killer hangover and no gentleman in sight—she thinks she’s done the unthinkable. She’s ruined for sure. Worse yet, she can’t even remember it! She’d like to remember it, though. She’ll just have to find this mysterious gentleman and try for another go ‘round, since the damage is already done. One good thing, however: at least he isn’t Lord Dashford, the dissolute scoundrel who wants to marry her for her money. Well, of course he is Dashford and of course he does want to marry her once he finds out she’s not just some random trollop, but he’s not nearly as desperate for her money as everyone thinks he is. That’s just a ruse because—well, it gets complicated. Eventually Dashford and Evaline do fall hopelessly in love, but their journey to happiness gets all mucked up along the way with meddling mothers, atrocious aunts, finagling former fiancés, sordid family secrets, multiple mistaken identities and—for good measure—a flood. But by heavens, the next time Evaline gets the chance to ruin herself she does end up remembering it!
This one sounds like so much fun, I can't wait to see it on the stands. So what follows?
I’m just finishing up DECEPTION AT DAWN, another Regency Historical with characters from MISTAKEN BY MOONLIGHT. I really can’t say too much about it because some of the plot elements cross over between the two and I’m not into spoilers, but I’ve been having a blast writing it. The hero is hot and the heroine is a bit, er, unconventional. These characters carry some heavy baggage into this story, but I promise you’ll still find plenty of humor. So far my agent assures me it’s a great follow-up to MOONLIGHT. Hopefully we’ll see this one hit the shelves sometime in 2010. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a third and fourth book in this series, too, but that’s not etched in stone yet. A girl can dream, can’t she?
That she can - and this seems like a perfect note to turn the conversation over to our readers. Susan realized one of her dreams through her Golden Heart win followed by a sale. But we all carry dreams in our heart and hope that some of them will be realized in 2009. Tell us about some of your dreams, realized or not...or if not, tell us about your last drunken sotted stupor experience (grin).
In honor of Susan's debut MISTAKEN BY MOONLIGHT, I'll send a copy of THE TROUBLE WITH MOONLIGHT to the commentor she chooses as a winner.
by Anna Campbell
On Wednesday, 3rd December, we're delighted to welcome Golden Heart winner and new Berkley Historical Romance author Susan Heino to the lair. She'll talk to Donna about her sale and her forthcoming book MISTAKEN BY MOONLIGHT.
On Friday, 12th December, one of my favorite people, Aussie Presents Extra author Kelly Hunter, pops in for a really fun interview. She'll be talking about PLAYBOY BOSS, LIVE-IN MISTRESS, her latest release, and also about life as President of Romance Writers of Australia.
So what are your plans for December? Family stuff? Quiet time (yeah, you wish!)? Work parties? Catching up with friends? It's always such a big social month - let's talk about parties!
Lingerie. Buy something and wear it under your sweatshirt. The crucial point: you're not doing this for your partner, but for yourself. 
It’s my hope that in reading how Simeon and Isidore fall in love, even in the midst of terrible problems with water closets (toilets), siblings, a rather horrific mother-in-law and a house renovation, will help you survive your December.
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