Frankly Speaking

by Anna Campbell

When I was recently in New York (now, how's that for a way to start a blog?), I was lucky enough to get a ticket for the musical COME FLY AWAY. My first Broadway show (well, on Broadway!).

This combines Twyla Tharp's classical given a modern twist choreography with the beloved songs of Frank Sinatra. Basically we're talking a ballet. Frankly (yeah, I know, pardon the pun!), I was in heaven!

They had a big band on stage and a female singer who would occasionally duet with Frank but mostly it was just Frank. His voice floated above the beautiful, original arrangements in all its rich baritone richness. I'm not quite sure how they did it technically but it was very effective. The only thing better would to have been have Frank himself - but that would, sadly, have involved a seance. John Edward? Are you in the house? There's an opportunity here for you!

The musical was about love in all its various permutations from hot and sweaty and passionate to sweet and innocent. Appropriate when some of the greatest love songs ever written formed the score. The dancers were mainly from classical companies and were spectacularly good.

But the best bit was still the music!

As you'll probably have gathered by now, I love Frank's voice. I love his way with a lyric. Just check out how beautifully he delivers the story behind "I Get a Kick out of You" in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmLXch5277I

There's been a lot of imitators but I don't think anyone comes close to the combination of worldly sophistication and weary romanticism he conveys.

One of the things I loved about COME FLY AWAY is that they concentrated on the later, swinging Sinatra (not often you can use 'swinging' without irony, is it?), the Chairman of the Board days. The 1940s Sinatra who the bobbysoxers lined up to see was just a bit too vulnerable for my tastes. While the voice was effortlessly brilliant and he delivered those lyrics like Shakespeare, the unrestrained emotion of his early performances doesn't strike my heart the way his more restrained later work does.

By the late 50s and 60s, he's a guy who's been around the block a few times and he knows if he wears his heart on his sleeve, someone's going to rip it to shreds, then throw the bloody remnants into the mud and stamp all over them.

But he's still got a heart and much as he tries to pretend he can roll with the punches, love and life hit him hard. Sigh! Adore those songs.

One of the most romantic songs I know is "Fly Me to the Moon". Listen how he delivers this beautiful lyric with a jauntiness that somehow underlines the deep emotion the man is expressing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9h0MNMfKuQ

By the way, check out that groovy Orrefors-glass style backdrop on that video! Wow, baby!

Another breathtakingly romantic song is "Strangers in the Night". Listen to the crackle of emotion in his voice as he sings this. He's getting old in this recording - finding videos for this piece ended up being quite hard - but you get that emotional punch in spades, don't you? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tU8iJXPU9vA

Have you heard the joke?

SOCRATES: To be is to do.
ARISTOTLE: To do is to be.
SINATRA: Doo be doo be doo.

One of my favorite songs is one you don't hear so often but it's on a beautiful compilation CD I own called MY WAY: THE BEST OF FRANK SINATRA. It's "A Very Good Year". I couldn't get a video of Frank singing this but here's a compilation of evocative photos from his life that go beautifully with these lovely lyrics:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwv-DxOPhSc

I think the first time I heard this I was a very little girl and it was in a tire ad (might even have been for Goodyear!). It's always made me want to cry - that yearning reedy oboe in the introduction cuts right to the quick.

Sinatra always used amazing arrangers (Nelson Riddle is the one everybody mentions). The way the orchestra or the big band weaves around his voice or answers back or comments on the action creates sonic magic. This arrangement for "A Very Good Year" is one of my favorites - it's quite subtle but so beautiful. For example, listen to the way the pizzicato strings echo champagne bubbles when he likens his memories to vintage wine. Or in that last verse again, how the grim march of time is subtly alluded to in the slow throb of the woodwinds. Magnificent!

"A Very Good Year" is very beautiful but rather melancholy. So I thought I'd finish this rave about Mr. Sinatra with the very upbeat "New York, New York"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WV02nP9PLnQ&feature=fvsr

This song has special significance for me because before I was published, I used to press repeat on my stereo and lie in the bath and sing it over and over. Always cheered me up! Not sure the neighbors felt the same! They probably wished me in New York, New York!

So to me, Frank is A number 1, top of the list, king of the hill!

Any other Sinatra fans out there? What are your favorite Sinatra songs? Do you prefer another singer of the golden age? I know Dean Martin and Tony Bennett and Perry Como and a host of others have their admirers. Let's go old school for the day!

Getting Inspired

by Christie Kelley

One question every writer gets asked is: Where do you get your inspiration for stories? I get ideas from everywhere…a story in the news, a movie that didn’t take a plot where I thought it should, or a walk in the park. It’s easy to find something that will inspire me to write a story but it takes more than just a quick thought to make it into a plot. That’s the hard part. So, I thought I’d share my favorite way to mull over a plot.

I spent yesterday painting the outdoor bar on our deck. Sorry I couldn’t post a picture but the camera battery needs to charge. I’m a little sore and still a little tired but I feel great. I got so much done! And I don’t mean just painting.

I know so many people who hate painting and part of me understands that. I truly hate the prep work involved in painting, the cleaning of the area, the taping, and putting down cloths. But once I finished the prep work, I spent four hours by myself, thinking about nothing. It’s amazing how productive my mind is when I’m doing something tedious.

After only a few minutes of painting, I had finally figured out the plot for the second book in a series I will be proposing to my editor soon. The whole book suddenly made sense. And the bar was getting painted too!

My husband’s theory on this is it’s the paint fumes. He might be right.

It’s interesting how the mind works (at least my mind). I can be sitting in front of my PC with a blank page in front of me and nothing comes to mind. But when I get my body working on something where I don’t have to think, suddenly the plots start come to me.

Of course, now I have a problem. My house is painted and I can’t think of a thing in it that needs paint. But I still have another book to plot!

Help me come up with mindless things that I can do to help me plot!

And for the writers, how do you plot for your synopses? For the readers, what do you do when you need inspiration for something?

The Why of Stories

Today, we welcome Claudia Dain back to the lair. Using her wonderful Courtesan Chronicles as a framework, Claudia will chat with us about writer inspiration and advice. Welcome, Claudia!

So many people want to know where a writer gets her ideas and most writers I know have no idea how to answer that. Ideas just come. They come in a rush; they come in a trickle; they come in the dead of night; they come while stirring the cheese into the macaroni. They just come.

A better question is why tell that story? Why create that character? That’s a question I know how to answer.

As an author contemplating the idea for a new book, there is something that I want to say, some point I want to make in the strongest way I can. What I need is a character that can make that point for me, logically and organically within the framework of the story.

Thus was Sophia, the central character in The Courtesan Chronicles, born. I needed a character who was worldly-wise, who knew everyone worth knowing and knew where all the bodies were buried. A courtesan.

She had to be able to move in the right circles, to be both feared and admired. A courtesan who married an earl.


She had to be free of the rigid social standards of the Regency. She had to be able to think like a British aristocrat yet think beyond their views, their prejudices, their training. She had to be a rebel, but an acceptable rebel. A child of an Iroquois father who spent her first ten years in the forests of America.

Sophia’s backstory is complex, but creating complicated characters is my meat and drink. Her backstory is also shrouded in mystery. Bit by bit, book by book, Sophia is revealed. It’s like working a jigsaw puzzle. Piece by piece, the reader learns more about her. I’m having a lot of fun with that, teasing you with tidbits, luring you deeper into the fascinating woman Sophia is.

You have to be careful when reading about her. Sophia is not going to lay herself out for you to examine. She doesn’t actually lie, but if you have a misconception, she’s not going to jump in and correct it. She has conversations in the books where she allows someone to think the wrong thing. She’ll make a quick quip, a throwaway line, yet it’s a gigantic window into who she really is. You have to put it all together yourself. Discard some things as inaccurate and realize other things, things she’d rather you didn’t know, are true.

I know. It’s not usual romance novel fare since most of the time any secrets about a character or the plot are revealed within the pages of that book, and many times before the halfway mark. I can’t help it. Now that I’ve created her, she can only be who she is. Look at her backstory! Would an Iroquois/courtesan/countess let you dig through her life with a shovel? Of course not. She knows she’s a mystery to you, and she delights in that.

The one thing that is no secret is what she’s telling you about yourself. She was created to do this very thing. I created her to say these words, and she says them often in each and every book.

You have the right to ask for what you want. You have the right to get what you want. You deserve to be loved. You are incredibly valuable; never forget that.

That’s the idea behind The Courtesan Chronicles. That was the idea I had to voice. That is the purpose in each of the books in the series. Too many women, too often, behave as if asking for what you want is a cheat.

If I have to remind him it’s our anniversary then it won’t count when he remembers it.

If I have to tell him I want a gift for my birthday then it doesn’t count when I get it.

If I have to ask him to open the door for me or take out the trash or change the oil in my car then it doesn’t count. He doesn’t love me because he didn’t think of it all by himself.



Huh? When did asking for what you want, and then getting it, become a losing scenario? To take the passive role is to take the victim role. You wait silently, hoping, and you don’t get. Who’s to blame? You or him?

You.

You have the right to ask for what you want. You have the right to get it. You deserve to be loved. ASK to be loved. Demand to be loved, cherished, valued. This is what Sophia does daily, even hourly, and she gets everything she wants, on her own terms. She does it with a smile, and leaves you smiling.


From The Courtesan’s Secret:

“…I should not enjoy causing Lord Dutton any…unpleasantness.”

Sophia’s left eyebrow rose fractionally. “Surely Lord Dutton can tolerate some unpleasantness in his life. He is a man, after all, and men are rather good at tolerating unpleasant things. The same should never be said of women. We may occasionally be required to endure unpleasantness, but we should, at all costs, avoid becoming adept at it”

Louisa could only gape. She had never in her life been exposed to such a philosophy.

As philosophies went, this was by a wide margin the most sensible and appealing one she had ever heard. She planned to adopt it immediately.

Sophia is speaking. Are you listening?

What is the best advice you ever received? Did you follow it?

Claudia's giving a signed copy of The Courtesan's Secret to one commenter today.

Inspiration Under the Golden Arches

posted by Aunty Cindy

Very often, readers and new writers ask those of us who have circled the block a few times and have the completed manuscripts to show for it: Where do you get your ideas?

My usual answer is EVERYWHERE! However, since that might not be terribly helpful to those who seriously do want to know, here's an example of how story ideas can indeed be found EVERYWHERE.

A few days ago while I was out running errands, I stopped in at the lovely Golden Arches for a quick lunch. As I prepared to dunk my first McNugget into my chosen sauce, the lady at the table across from me came over and asked, "Are you going to be here long?"

"As long as it takes me to finish my lunch," I replied. (Obviously I exceed the size limit for the plastic tubes and paraphernalia in the "play yard.")

"Can you please keep an eye on my granddaughter while I use the restroom?" the lady asked, indicating a little girl of about four, who was busily munching a french fry.

I said I would and consumed my own fries and McNuggets while the child swung her legs and kept eating for the entire five minutes her grandmother was gone. However, once I finished and left the place, I was struck by how many possible story ideas presented themselves in my little scenario.

1. The grandmother doesn't return.
2. The grandmother returns only to find me and her granddaughter are (as in the succinct title of the DVD I recently watched) Gone Baby Gone.
3. The grandmother returns and accuses me of abusing the child.
4. While the grandmother is gone, the child shows me her bruises and asks me to protect her from grandma.

I think you get my drift, and I didn't even mention the hunky EMT drinking coffee at a nearby table, nor the homeless man hitting up people for change in the parking lot.

Now you know what I mean when I say ideas are EVERYWHERE, even at your local fast food joint! Who knows, maybe even Dennis Lehane (who wrote the original novel Gone Baby Gone) got ideas under the Golden Arches! Okay, maybe not.

Have you ever found inspiration in an unusual way or place? What about a fast food experience you'd like to share? And be sure to check in on Sunday when we have a Peep Hunt in the Lair (Easter eggs can be so icky if you don't find them all!)

INSPIRATION

by Suzanne Welsh

One of the things people ask writers the most is, "where do you come up with these ideas?" I heard someone say once, "Oh, I just go to the Big Book Of Ideas and flip through the pages until I find one I like." Smart alec answer, so of course I loved it! But the truth is inspiration can come in many forms and in many ways. Here are some of mine.

Richard Sharpe. I loved this mini series on BBC America two summers ago! OMG...Sean Bean in period clothing. I love his intensity, his honor that stands out among the hardships of being at war in a foreign country and oh heck, he's just easy on the eyes.

At the time I was also submitting scenes to the Avon FanLit contest. The period was Regency, not my specialty, but I felt I had a handle on the Penninsular War hero after watching this series. So, of course, I started a Regency period book with a hero loosely based on Sean Bean as Richard Sharpe. Still working on it, and it seems to be a bit darker than the regular Regency books

Another source of inspiration is women in American History. This is one of my favorite characters, Clara Barton. I first read Clara's biography when I was in elementary school. My mom was studying to be a nurse, so I found duel interest in Miss Barton's life story. She took supplies to the battlefield of Antietem and found the surgeons wrapping men's wounds in corn husks. (ewww, the infection meter in my head just went off again!). Imagine their immense relief when this woman of courage showed up with bandages, medical supplies, blankets and lanterns! (Women are always thinking ahead.)

Clara inspired the budding nurse in me, but she wasn't the only woman in American history who inspired me. Rebecca Boone followed her husband by foot through the Cumberland Gap in the Appalchia mountains into a place called Kan-tuck-ee--a land of wilderness and unknown enemies. She helped him carve out a home and lead more settlers west. She and other pioneer women of courage inspired me to learn more and write stories about their time periods.

And then there's my hometown, Columbus, Ohio. Beautiful isn't it? I've set all my contemporary stories here or near here. I love the people here. Hard working people, who sometimes have extordinary things happen that change their lives. And the country side is so beautiful it makes me want to share it with people who've never been there. I also get to use the subtleness of an ordinary city as the background to some suspenseful elements, so the juxtaposition is great!

So what inspires you to write, create or to succeed in life?

That Inner Truth

by Tawny Weber

I attended an RWA chapter meeting recently that featured three published authors, sharing their journey. Not so much their journey TO publication, although that was included, but their journey AFTER publication. The three are all awesome writers, I've been lucky enough to have books by them all. But they, their writing, and their journeys couldn't be more different.


And yet... the core message each of them shared was the same. Its all about being true to ourselves and our writing. What a fabulous message (and yes, one we've all heard before, but it hit home so hard for me that I'm sharing anyway *g*). I'm using writing as the general comparison here, but I really believe this message can apply to anything you do.

I remember how important it was, when I was starting out, to learn to weed through the masses of information to find what worked for me. Oh sure, some stuff is general. Grammar isn't fluid, and manuscript formatting is... well, formatting. But the important things like voice, style, the message I bring to my work... I had to find those and, once I did, make sure I was true to them.

Of course, as the ladies at the meeting pointed out, there are always people who want to refocus us. Before we're published, it could be contest judges (nobody is buying THAT or I hate this kind of story, you'd do better if you learned to write XYZ, etc) or critique partners (similar feedback as contest judges, but we actually TRUST the CPs) or even editors and agents we're submitting to. After we sell, it doesn't change much. Except now we've got reviewers and readers with suggestions, and the stakes and fears get a little higher. There is, as one Christine blogged about the other day, the question of writing the same thing or changing it up. There is the pressure of writing to the market or writing, as Kirsten said in her comment to Christine, writing the story that's inside you.

How do you sift through it all and come out feeling like you made the right choices? Thats what I learned in this talk -simply be true to yourself and your writing. Always (here's where that general non-writing specific stuff comes in *g*) know, when you're done with the book, job, task, that you did your best. That you're proud of it and know, if a fifty foot flashing billboard proclaimed this was YOU and your work, you'd be proud. That way, no matter what happens as a result (for instance, it took me six manuscripts before I sold...but I'd gladly share any one of the earlier ones with pride) would you know you did your best.

And if you're lucky, along the way you find people who get you. Who want to support you being yourself and keeping your writing true. Like, hmm, say the Romance Bandits? I'm sure none of us thought we had much in common when we all got those calls in March of 2006. And yet, here we are... Twenty diverse, empowered and strong writers, all heading in different directions, but going down the same path. Together.

So... nothing new here, I realize, but it was my first big OOOoooooohhhh moment of the year and I wanted to share it!

How about you? If someone took out that huge bilboard to highlight one of your recent accomplishments, which one would make you beam with pride?

Communing with Nature

by Trish Milburn

As writers, we spend a lot of time indoors in front of our computers. Not only are we spending time writing and doing online research, but there are e-mails to answer, blogs to read, funny YouTube videos to watch. Even when we're doing something we enjoy, sometimes it begins to build stress within us and we need an outlet, something that doesn't require a computer or sitting on out butts. Something basic and simple.

For me, that wonderful release is spending time outdoors -- and more than just doing yard work. I love to go to state or national parks, out away from the city, away from the noise, away from my ever-expanding to-do list. I like to just sit and breathe in the scent of the forest after a rain, listen to the water falling over rocks in a stream, watch the birds float up high on the thermals, drink in the beauty of a clear, blue sky on a crisp, sunny autumn day. Just thinking about it makes me smile.

I've been very busy lately, and that's not likely to change anytime soon. But a couple of weeks ago before it began to get cold, I took most of the day off to spend with my husband. We drove about 90 miles from our house to one of my favorite state parks.

We walked hand-in-hand in the woods, sat and watched waterfalls, and strolled along a sandy beach. After we left the park, we drove through some rural areas dotted with big fields of cows and rolling, wooded hills filled with trees that are beginning to show some fall color. It was all relaxing and just what I needed before facing a lot of deadlines and responsibilities in the next couple of months.

I think we often forget to take time to do simple things like take walks in the woods. Whether we're writers or attorneys or stay-at-home moms, we've nearly forgotten how to just be. Even while trying to enjoy a day of freedom, our brains are constantly trying to interrupt to tell us about all those things back home that we have to do. This mindset causes a lot of stress that's unnecessary and unhealthy.

Does spending time outdoors help you relax? If so, where is your favorite place to commune with nature?
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Hey, if you can't commune with nature today, why not commune with your Internet connection and scoot on over to the Romantic Times site to vote for OUT OF SIGHT, my entry in the American Title contest? The second round of voting is under way, and I really want to "stay on the island." :) Thanks!

Rita Winner Dianna Love Snell is in da Lair!

by Cassondra Murray

Get inspired by a fearless, fast-track writer, and enter to win one of three awesome prizes!

It was just about this time of year, two years ago, when Dianna Love Snell emailed me to ask if I’d sent in my Golden Heart entry.

“Well,” I typed, “I entered last year and finished in the bottom quarter. I wasn’t going to enter again.” I hit send. It took about two seconds for this email to pop into my inbox.

“You never stop putting your pages in front of them. Never.”

I griped my way to FedEx and sent my entry. I finaled. And the world shifted a little. I’ve believed in my writing a LOT more since then, and it’s because one lady took the time to push me when I needed it. It’s my honor and great pleasure to welcome that lady to the Bandit lair for the first time. Dianna, thanks for joining us.

Thanks for asking me to blog on this great site! I’m really a newbie at blogging – this is my first guest appearance, so thank YOU. I hear about the Romance Bandits all over the place. Yes, as Cassondra said, I get pushy when it comes to seeing any of you miss a chance to get your pages in front of an editor. Everything you do is a step forward no matter how large or small, so you have to keep taking those steps.

Dianna, you didn’t come into the world with pen (or keyboard) in hand. It was a paintbrush wasn’t it? You’ve built a phenomenal career creating specialty art projects. Will you tell us about your journey to writing award-winning Romantic Suspense?

I often joke that I fell out of the womb an artist. I won an art competition in third grade. I’ve had a love affair with pen and paper my whole life. I enjoyed writing in school, but it wasn’t my goal as a teen. My passion – to sketch and paint photo-realistic portraits - led to the businesses I built starting at age seventeen when I was faced with living alone and supporting myself. Small signs were okay, but I gravitated to painting walls 100’ long and murals.

People in outdoor advertising needed someone who could paint lifelike faces 15’ tall on billboards, and would climb two-hundred feet in the air to do it. Over the years, I created several companies and sold all of them except the one I now have, where I create large marketing projects that are three dimensional or Electronic.

After years of hanging hundreds of feet in the air alone, I started to amuse myself by creating stories. I’d gotten to the point I could paint and do something else mentally at the same time. Once I shifted gears in business to producing
projects that required neon bending, sign fabricating, steel workers, electricians, engineers and cranes, I had huge chunks of time when I wasn’t physically doing the work myself.

It’s not possible for a Type-A to be dormant. My husband says I’m like a shark, always moving.

I’d built and installed three 25’ tall fiberglass Coca-Cola bottles for Fenway Park (Congrats to the Red Sox winning the World Series this year!) in the late 90s. In 2001, during flights back and forth from Atlanta to Boston for another Fenway Park project, I started writing down ideas I planned to give to a “real” writer.

I caught the bug and couldn’t stop – the result of that beginning was WORTH EVERY RISK (Silhouette 2005). It didn’t take long before I had every bit as much passion for writing as I’d always had for art and could not get enough when it came to learning the craft.

Of course, that publishing success didn’t happen overnight. Dianna writes kick-butt heroines, but for me, she is the model of the tough yet tender lady we’d all like to emulate. Note the gorgeous Harley in the photo below.

Side note—she and her hottie husband, Karl, do bike trips across the US for fun. On separate motorcycles, thank you very much. That bike is her baby and you better not mess with it...... .uh….. .ahem…oh yes, I did have a point….

Dianna, I’ve noticed something consistent about the way you do almost everything. You decide what you want, and then you go and get it no matter the odds. Your drive is almost a tactile thing, like a ramrod that, once you’ve headed in a given direction, seems to clear the way for you. Were you born with that inner drive?

I’d have to say I was born with a drive I can’t tamp down. I do believe you can increase your drive or decrease it – based on your positive or negative mindset, the people you allow (and I do mean allow) in your inner circle and the value you place on your time. I place far more value on time than I do on anything else in this world with the exception of my husband and family. I follow my passion.

That hasn’t always come easy has it? I’ve learned bits and pieces of your story over the years. Will you share some of your background here?

I started my first job in the ‘70s in a steno pool at a large corporation and knew I’d never be happy working at a desk. People thought I had lost my mind when I handed in my notice because that was an era when you stayed at a job, especially at a big company.

People I had covered work for, celebrated their weddings and child births, had gotten to be "friends" with turned their backs on me and would not speak. It was amazingly hostile. They said I'd never amount to anything because I was leaving a job after a year.

I worked two restaurant jobs (one at night during the week and one all weekend) because they fed me a meal, the money was good and I liked the work. Customers came in and offered me office work. When I said no, they'd say, "Don't you want a job with some prestige?" I told them I couldn’t eat or pay rent with prestige. The only place that would rent an apartment to a single woman (they thought you were a prostitute if you were living alone at my age) was over a bar. I had to nail the window shut at night because it opened to the walkway.

Looking back, I realize my "live on my terms" attitude threatened many of them who maybe wanted to leave, but were terrified of the possibility that they might never work for a company that big again, with all those benefits.


My mother died at 42, two weeks after I graduated from high school and on the first vacation we'd ever taken. The way I saw it, there were no guarantees about how long we get to do what we want here.

And that’s your point, isn’t it? You followed your heart against the odds, and your business and career grew from there? I’ve heard you speak of this before—that if you’re not passionate about it, you just don’t do it.

I will always go back to passion when searching for the drive to accomplish a task or reach a goal. Here’s the secret - “If you truly want to do something, you will find a way.” I have never known where life would lead me, but figured if I followed my passion I would at least be happy during the journey. It hasn’t always been an easy journey, but it has always been a satisfying one. I find it much easier to get up in the morning and face a long day working at something I love than something I tolerate.

You’ve hit upon one of the reasons I wanted you to be our guest. You once said to me, “Don’t play their games…you take what you can use and you walk away and let the rest slide off.” Whether that’s a judge’s irrational comments, an editor or agent’s rejection, the loss of a coveted contract, promotion, or anything else in life, can you tell us how you use that to keep your head and heart on your own true path?

I do believe we drive our lives either in a productive way, a destructive way, a boring way, a strong way...not just in a good or bad way.

I needed money to buy paper when I was in middle school because we had a large family and a notebook was for school work only. Things like a blank sheet of white paper were frivolous. I drew charcoal portraits for supply money to feed my art habit.

People stood over my shoulder when I drew, which will make or break you when it comes to putting your work out in the world for criticism. 99% of the walls and murals I painted were done in front of the client and the world. So by the time I started writing, I had been through much worse as a teen than being told someone didn’t like my character or there wasn’t enough conflict.

When I started my business in Tampa it was frowned upon for a female to work out in a “labor” type environment. Men did not want women in the sign business – it was the ‘70s after all. Once you’ve walked into twenty-five businesses a day for weeks on end to be told, “We don’t want a girl painting our sign,” you have to decide to fade away or buck up and prove them wrong. I decided that if I proved I could paint as good – or better – than their male painters, they could not afford to turn me away.

I focused on becoming the best in my field. I was the only female doing that work in the ‘80s, and eventually I was the lead contractor in some of largest outdoor companies in the country.

You think life got simpler then? Nope. Five different times other painters sabotaged my work so I’d have to repaint the art, and some stole my equipment.

Eventually, the small minded people always fall away because they focus on the wrong things.

So you see, my philosophy is still the same – follow my passion, work at my craft to be the best that I can, act professionally and be good to others. That’s why in writing I try to help anyone I can.

Creative endeavors are not just hard work, but to create is to make a withdrawal from your muse bank. It’s easy to overdraw and think you are going to be bankrupt once in a while. That’s when you may need a helping hand from a friend.

Your passion for writing is paying off. I was thrilled to be up front, in the audience as a GH finalist when, in 2006, you won a Rita for Best Long Contemporary for your first book, Worth Every Risk, a Silhouette Intimate Moments. Did that change you or your writing?

To win in my category – Long Contemporary - was really a shock.
I can not tell you how much the cheers that night meant to me. Even typing now it touches my heart to think about how many people wished me well.

I want that for every one of you.

As for what winning did for my writing - my agent started banking the award as soon as she got home—using it for leverage on submitted projects. We sold a novella not long after that. I don’t think an editor will buy a book because of an award, but I have had quite a few editors and agents come up to speak to me since winning, so the RITA – like the Golden Heart - definitely brings your name and face to the attention of the industry.

The first Worth Every Risk book out of my box of early copies and RITA, as Karl calls her, sit on our mantel and reminds me every day that anything is within my grasp if I’m willing to reach for it.

You have exciting things on the horizon—A novella, MIDNIGHT KISS GOODBYE, is scheduled for release in October 2008 as part of a St. Martin’s Press anthology DEAD AFTER DARK. This would suggest your writing has taken a paranormal turn, but you’ve included paranormal elements from early on, right?

I’m really flattered to be included in this anthology. Lead author is NYT best seller Sherrilyn Kenyon (who just hit #1 on the NYT list!) plus two more NYT best sellers – J. R. Ward and Susan Squires – then me.

I’ve had this strange paranormal series for a while, but didn’t let my agent take it out during the onslaught of Vampire and Werewolf submissions and releases because I don’t write those and no one wanted anything else. There are plenty of great authors already producing top Vamp and Were stories.

I’ve always had a keen interest in the paranormal, but the stories that came to me were a bit different. In fact, two editors have been interested in them, but when they pitched the stories at editorial meetings they were told marketing didn’t know how to market them. (Sidebar – Sherrilyn tells me she heard much the same thing about her now famous Dark-Hunter series, building an inch thick file of rejections on this series during the year before the first Dark-Hunter book sold.) The big thing about creating in a different subgenre is that I haven’t changed the core of my writing – I still write romantic suspense.

As authors, we will always be faced with morphing what we create to follow the change reflected in society and what readers want, but in my opinion this doesn’t mean to write whatever the latest hot streak is. I had one editor suggest if I changed my paranormal into a vampire story she’d take it. Hard offer to pass on, right? Not really. If it’s not what I write, then it will show in my story no matter how hard I try. Yes, I might get a “contract,” but if the story is not what I do best then will I build a reader base? Will I enjoy continuing the series?

A contract does not guarantee that you’ll continue with a house. Readers buying your book is the best guarantee. I’ve seen several new authors jump to change their stories to something they really don’t write only to have poor sell throughs, which ended in going out of contract. The next publishing house always wants to see your numbers. So there’s a lot more at stake than just getting a contract if you plan to build a career. Give serious thought to every opportunity.

I want readers to feel what I feel when I’m writing. If done appropriately and for the right reasons, passing on a project is not going to end your relationship with an editor. I’m still in dialogue with this editor on other things. The novella I sold is a taste of my paranormal series and I give kudos to Monique Patterson at St. Martin’s Press, for publishing something a bit strange. She’s an incredibly sharp editor. I’m excited about all four of the stories in the anthology and feel privileged to be included in such talented company.

Another release, waiting in the wings, is creating quite a buzz. You and Sherrilyn are co-writing the next B.A.D. Agency book for Pocket (June 2008). Will you tell us how you and Sherrilyn came to work together on this book?

Sherri asked me to tour with her the first time in 2006. I agreed because she had become a good friend who needed help so that she could give her best to her fans at each stop.

Touring 101 – with us - is hitting a city in mid afternoon, rushing to the hotel (“if” there is time to do that first) to change clothes, then racing to make the signing. Eating and sleeping are not optional and not generally part of the schedule most days. Somehow, we both manage to walk in on time. That’s when it’s all worthwhile.

Sherri draws over 150 fans at signings and many will have been sitting there for hours waiting. Some will have driven 6 hours or flown in. They bring friends and family. Sherri talks and does a Q&A until they are ready to sign then she takes her time with each one, chatting as she signs their stacks of books.

What amazes me is that Sherri knows so many by their names. We’ve turned these signings into fan events and the time spent from entering until we collapse in the car is exhilarating. I’ve learned a great deal by touring with someone like Sherri. I’ve also become better known by booksellers and readers due to Sherri’s generous nature – she always takes the time to introduce me as an author. Along the way, we became better friends ( touring like this will make or break a friendship, and don’t even think about doing it with a spouse).

It was on this last trip that we started discussing her next book for the B.A.D. Agency series. When she told me the blurb for the story, I naturally started suggesting things that could happen, then the two of us were brainstorming like mad.

Sherri’s reaction was “wow, that is so cool, why don’t we write this together?” What was my answer? Well, let’s just say my momma drowned all her stupid kids.

This collaboration is a contemporary romantic action/suspense. Can you give us a taste of Phantom In The Night?

On loan to the New Orleans police department, Terri Mitchell is working undercover for the Bureau of American Defense. The B.A.D. Agency suspects a drug kingpin of funding terrorism. When bizarre rumors begin to surface of a ghost interrogating members of that ring, she becomes suspicious. She doesn't believe in the paranormal, but an eerie encounter with someone in a dark house leaves her shaken. Could he be a phantom?

Most of all, the encounter leaves her beguiled and intrigued. She has to get to the bottom of an investigation that takes a deadly turn at every corner. Is this phantom really a spirit conjured up from the depth of the bayou, or a man set on a course of vengeance? The search for that answer puts her life in jeopardy when faced with exposing the worlds and plans of powerful people behind an unconscionable attack against innocent citizens.

To succeed, Terri will have to also reveal her phantom's secrets that will destroy him…and any future with a man who has captured her heart and soul with his dark passion.

The deadline looms for that June release, right along with holiday madness, and I know you’ve been holed up in the writing cave. I’m so pleased you were able to join us in spite of all that. Is there anything else you’d like to say to writers or readers about how you’ve tackled the ups and downs of the writing life so successfully?

Yes, speaking of deadlines…. All of you have a deadline of some sort right now. If it isn’t at home or in your day job, then it’s your own personal writing deadline.

Right now, many of you face finishing your Golden Heart submission in time to ship. I wish for all of you to have understanding and supportive families, but I bet there are some who catch grief while trying to finish their book so they can get into this prestigious contest. It’s hard to explain why you aren’t cooking a meal, visiting a friend, watching television with your significant other, making a ball game or why you are just plain grouchy from burnout when there isn’t a book deal on the line.

That’s why I am always confused by authors writing on contract who go on and on bemoaning a deadline.

Well, duh. Wasn’t that the point in going after a book contract? I’ve been around some very prolific authors who are on perpetual deadline and never utter a word about it. It’s their job, what they agreed to do.

Yes, I am in my writing cave this week typing furiously...and thrilled to have a deadline looming. Selling books and having a deadline is the good news that should be celebrated. It’s much more difficult for an unpublished author to forgo things they’d really like to do to finish a book and do revisions with no guarantee of a contract. I definitely know what that is like and empathize with those of you still waiting.

Get those manuscripts out there so that you can have a contract and deadline. When you do, remember to celebrate reaching your dream.

Everyone has a different journey on the way to reaching goals. Is there a time you’ve gone against the grain, stood up against the odds? Or would you LIKE to do that?

What home, family or writing deadline are you facing at the moment? And how do you handle the pressure when deadlines loom and stress levels mount?

And inquiring minds want to know….Is there chocolate involved?

All who comment will be entered to win one of the following three great giveaways:

1) An autographed copy of Worth Every Risk! (no longer available except through those in the know—ahem….that would be YOU, Bandita friends (grin) )

2) A five-page manuscript critique—in time for the Golden Heart if you’re entering!

3)A certificate for an autographed copy of Phantom In The Night—signed by Sherrilyn Kenyon and Dianna Love Snell, to be delivered as soon as the book is out!

An Inspirational Challenge

by Donna MacMeans

Several years ago, when RWA's annual conference was held in New Orleans, I heard a workshop on creativity presented by Felicia Mason. She maintained that as writers, we experience life in a whole different manner than non-writers. We see possibilities, when others see scenery. We hear sounds and instantly create metaphors to describe the sound while others dismiss it as white noise. In that workshop, Felicia challenged the group to think of the one thing they were meant to see in New Orleans. That one thing that we saw through our writer's eye that we could use in a story.

Growing up, I was the oldest girl with two older brothers. That has translated into a constant drive to "prove" that I'm as good as them. I face any challenge with a determination to win - which explains why four of my stories resulted from someone issuing me a challenge.

So I took Felicia's challenge and mentally reviewed all that I had seen in New Orleans and discovered the one thing that spoke to me, but didn't seem to resonate with anyone else - the Charm Gates at the Court of Two Sisters restaurant. I eventually developed a time travel built around the Charm Gates. One of these days it may even see publication.

So now I'm challenging you. What have you experienced recently that singled you out and spoke to your writer's soul? Was there anything in Dallas at the recent convention? I know I stayed on the twentieth floor and thought about those small open areas by the elevators that dropped down to the restaurant area, nineteen floors below. I mean you could drop a body easily down one of those chutes. It's a shame I don't write contemporary (smile). What about a vacation? Was there something that inspired you? Could you create a story around it? Let me know, and I'll send the person with the best inspirational experience an autographed copy of Elizabeth Bevarly's book, The Ring on Her Finger.

Donna

Where do ideas come from?

by Donna MacMeans

Inevitably, at some point in a conversation with a wide-eyed reader, the question will arise "Where do you get your ideas?"

And I struggle for an answer because the process never seems to be the same. I just have to trust that the inspiration for a new story will be there when I need it. (I PRAY that the inspiration will be there when I need it).

Stephen King suggests that story are ideas are buried in the ground just waiting for the author to unearth them. Jennifer Crusie credits the "girls in the basement" for sending up ideas when you need them - you just have to listen. A workshop last week in Dallas told authors to look to music and movie titles for inspiration. So I'm wondering - where do you find inspiration for a novel?

The Education for Mrs. Brimley was inspired a few years ago by Lori Foster's contest. She encouraged entrants to submit a sexy scene in either a contemporary or historical setting. The weekly winner's entry would go to an editor. Several novellas were purchased through that contest. My idea for a strip tease was ripe with sexual tension, but the scenario was hardly unique in a contemporary venue. So I decided to place it in a Victorian setting as those ladies wore enough clothes to make a striptease a weeklong event. Now I needed motivation for my characters, both hero and heroine. As I thought about it, an idea started to form that begged to be written. I never entered Lori's contest because the desire to work on my Victorian striptease took over.

My next book, The Trouble with Moonlight, was inspired by the recent preponderance of TV shows and heroines with supernatural powers. That, coupled with the story of the headless horseman, led to my fun story of an invisible (Victorian) heroine.

My current work in process was inspired in part by the historical homes in Newport, Rhode Island. Discovering the charm gates in New Orleans brought about a partially written time-travel that still sits on my computer. A talk show featuring a cardiologist specializing in heart transplants inspired an earlier romantic suspense.

TV shows, vacation spots, movies, and contests...it sure would be nice if the process was consistent so I'd know where to turn when a story idea is needed. Especially as deadlines loom.

Share the source of your inspiration, or the process you use to discover your story and I'll reward the best suggestion with a bandit mask and a Jane Austen action figure.