Cover Me!

by Christine Wells

Hi all, I'm swinging by to fill in for our Bandita Kirsten who isn't well today.

My friend Denise Rossetti came over the other day, bubbling with excitement about her upcoming cover conference at Berkley for her Four-Sided Pentacle series. Incidentally, here is the cover for her Avon Red short story collection, A Red Hot New Year--isn't it HAWT?!

It got me thinking--hmm, won't be long until my cover for The Dangerous Duke comes up for discussion. Better avoid my WIP, er, I mean, do my duty, and find some images to suggest for my cover.

Now, it's a commonly held belief that authors get no say in their covers. That's true. Once the cover is done, you have to have the clout of someone like Stephanie Laurens to get it changed.

But when my editor asked for suggestions, I had a Word file of pictures I'd copied from the internet to show her and the art department my ideas, what Sebastian and Gemma looked like, the settings I'd used for each of their homes and some of the scenes in the book. I'd also spent hours going through covers until I found ones that captured the mood of Scandal's Daughter.

"Show, don't tell" is a good policy in this case. As writers, we deal in words, but it makes sense that an art department thinks in terms of images. It's so much better to show them the kind of cover or the kind of mood you're looking for, rather than tell them. They might come up with an entirely different vision from the one you intended just from a verbal description.

So here's what happened for my Scandal's Daughter cover. These are the first images I came up with:

I had in mind a romantic but not overly sexy clinch, perhaps the couple waltzing.

However, my editor saw Gemma on a horse, riding about the estate. So I found images of period riding habits as well as images of women riding side-saddle in habits very similar to those worn in the Regency.

I also found covers I liked that showed a heroine and a house. Look at the Almost Innocent cover and then look at mine. Do you think the art department paid attention to my suggestions?

They also got my heroine's hair colour right, which I think is SO important! I was delighted with the result!

I love my cover--it's so pretty! Can't wait to see what they do for The Dangerous Duke!

So, dear readers, what do you like to see on a cover? Any turn-offs? Have you ever bought a book purely because of its cover?

Wandering Thoughts

by Beth Andrews

I'm supposed to be thinking about my Work-In-Progress, my next proposal for Harlequin Superromance. Unfortunately, my thoughts keep wandering away from my tortured hero. And where are my thoughts wandering to?

Halloween Costumes.

I love Halloween, not so much for the scare factor but for the FUN factor. I love the decorations, the treats and especially dressing up. When I was little, most kids' costumes were plastic. Remember those? They were some sort of plastic cape-like thing complete with plastic mask. I believe I was even Barbie one year *g*

When my first child was born, I swore there would be no plastic costumes for him! His birthday is close to Halloween so when he turned one, we had a costume-themed party. I dressed him in the jester costume I'd spent hours behind my sewing machine making him.

He screamed. He cried. He HATED that costume.

But I was not to be deterred and the next year I made him the most adorable dinosaur costume. Again with the tears. When he was three I made him a scarecrow outfit. You can guess what happened. When he was four we went to the store and he bought a Power Rangers outfit complete with mask (I don't think it was plastic). That kid wore that outfit just about everyday for the next six months. Lesson learned. Costumes don't have to take enormous amounts of time or energy for kids to love them.

When my son was five and my daughter one and a half, I bought them matching blue sweat pants and sweatshirts, cut out a Superman S, sewed it on the shirt, made them each a red cape and voila! Superman and Supergirl! When my daughters were three and one, I raided my mother-in-law's dress up box, dressed the older daughter in frilly pantaloons, topped it with a ruffled dress, slapped a bonnet on her head and had her carry a wooden crook. My younger daughter had fuzzy, white, one-piece pajamas. I stuck a tail on her, my friend made her ears out of a headband and felt and we had Mary and her Little Lamb :-)

So while I might feel the pull of the sewing machine, I'll resist and encourage my kids (the ones still young enough to trick or treat) to use their imaginations when deciding on their costumes. After all, we all know how a little imagination goes a long way ;-)

What was your favorite or most memorable costume? Did it take you hours or days to put together? Do you still dress-up? Attend costume parties?

On Losing

by Susan Seyfarth

The best romances are so messy, aren't they? Falling in love for real means tossing aside your cool, embracing your inner geek and splatting your heart right there on the pavement at the feet of your beloved. It means showing the entire world (figuratively speaking, of course) what you look like naked. Writing a romance is no different. Readers want to see that kind of emotional committment on every page, and that means the writer has to feel it. Has to mean it. It's exhilarating, exhausting, wonderful work, and we love to see it rewarded. So we Banditas bust out the bucket boots and rum (or was it bucket boots of rum? It all gets so hazy...) every time one of our fellow writers gets The Call.

You know, The Call? The one where the faithful and patient agent who's been hawking your work all over NYC (or the insightful and prescient editor who's been looking at your manuscript for a year or two) picks up the phone, dials your number and says, "Hey, want to sell a book today?"

At least that's how I've been told it goes. :-) I'm still waiting for a Call Story of my own, but that's not what I want to talk about today. Today I want to talk about not getting the call. Not winning the contest. Not being the best or the brightest or the fastest. I want to talk about -- let's just say it -- losing.

Yeah, losing. We don't talk about it much because, wow, does it hurt to splat your heart across the pavement -- or the page -- and have somebody reject it. But losing has a lot to recommend it. Seriously. Stick with me here, I'll explain.

I earned my way into the Bandit Lair the usual way: I finaled in RWA's 2006 Golden Heart contest for excellence in romantic fiction. And that's a Big Deal, right? I mean, it's only the biggest contest in our field. It's supposed to get the finalists attention from People Who Matter, shoot us straight to the top of the slush pile. This was vindication for three years of scrounging out a little time to write while the baby slept and the laundry piled up. I was finally On My Way. Right?

Well. Not so much. First of all, I didn't win. I didn't sell the book that finaled, either. But no matter. Onward and upward, right? If I wrote one book that could final, surely my next book would sell. So I kept carving out that writing time, kept scribbling away. I wrote what I felt certain was The One. I labored over those all-important first three chapters, polished them to a blinding glare and sent them off to the 2007 Golden Heart contest with supreme confidence. This time I would win. I was a former finalist. I knew what it took, right?

Well. Not so much. This time, I didn't even final. I didn't even score in the top 25%. I'd splashed my heart all over the page (again) only to have the reading public go "meh." Ouch. But this is where it gets good. This is where losing starts to mean something. Because then I had a decision to make. Should I keep going? Was it worth it? I'd been breaking my heart with this writing business for four years. What if I'm never going to be good enough? What if I'm never going to have anything to say that people want to hear, or the skill to say it in a compelling way? Was it time to quit?

I don't know what I should have done, but I'll tell you what I did. I sat down and wrote another book. And every single day I sat down at the keyboard was an act of courage. It was a conscious decision to strip naked in front of an unconcerned audience, splat down my heart and try again. Fail again, if that was what it took. Losing forced me to screw up my courage and commit. It forced me to admit that I'm not good enough yet and dedicate myself to closing the gap. It both humbled me and lifted me up, if that makes sense. Have I learned to love rejection? Well, no. But I'm still writing, and I'm counting that as a win.

So what about you? Tell us your losing story! What was the best lesson losing, being dumped or being fired ever taught you? Where's that silver lining?

Love Letters

By Kirsten Scott

A few days ago, I went hunting through a box of old letters, hoping to unearth my passport. I was heartbroken to find that somehow, water had gotten into the box and destroyed about two decades worth of memories.

But magically, a few pages had survived, among them the letters I received from my first real love. Here's a little poem I found on yellowed paper--

Your hands
are like birds
they pick me up
and fly me
nearer to
a perfect heaven

He was a poet and a writer. We dated seriously in the year after I graduated from college. He adored me completely. Unfortunately, I didn't adore him in quite the same way, though I tried.


Love letters hold a special place in our lives. We devote books to them, Shakespeare crafted plays around them (and their tendency to fall into the wrong hands!) and they serve to make our memories even sweeter. It's what we read for, what we live for--all that emotion packed into one tiny little space.

My favorite love letters are poems and stories. I also know a woman who has a collection of sketches an old boyfriend did of her. They are her love letters--living tributes to the emotion he felt. Love letters can be graffiti or literature, true art or just true love. It's all in the emotion they express.

So, are there any love letters hiding in your closet? Are they standard pen and ink, or perhaps a photograph? Who are they from? Do you re-read them, or do they live in your memory like old friends, just waiting to show up when you need them?

Paranormal Alive and Well?

by Christie Kelley

I'll admit it...I love the paranormal.

Ghosts, vampires, werewolves even time travel. The fantasy of something else being out there with us intrigues me. It might be the result of growing up in a hundred year old house that always had creepy sounds. Or things walking away from where you put them only to turn up in the same spot two days later. Of course, it could also be the fact that I grew up with eight sneaky brothers and sisters.

In addition to my historicals, I also have a paranormal romance I’m working on. Writing it was so much fun and so very different from the historicals. But now that I’ve written it, I keep hearing that is going to take a down swing any day now.

Really?

It seems to me you can’t turn on the TV these days without some paranormal show being on. Here are just some of my favorites this season:

Heroes
Journeyman (though I’m starting to lose interest)
Reaper
Ghost Hunters (love those ghost hunting plumbers)
Supernatural
Ghost Whisperer

Those are only the shows I watch. There is a whole bunch of new shows that I haven’t even tried yet.

So now it’s your turn. Tell me, what are your favorite paranormal shows (if you watch them), or your favorite paranormal authors. Or better yet, if you want to share anything that has happened to you in the paranormal range, let me know!

ps.. I'll be without power most of the day here due to the construction on my house so I may not be able to respond to comments until after 6pm edt.

Everything Going Your Way?

by Caren Crane

I hear that Mercury is retrograde these days and that, supposedly, messes with communication, computers...writing. I'm not sure I believe wholeheartedly in astrology, but I can relate to things not going as planned.

This morning, I carefully ground beans and brewed the breakfast of mothers around the world: coffee. I adore coffee. I never drank coffee until I was almost 30. Coincidentally (?) I began drinking coffee when my youngest was three months old (still breast feeding), my father was in ICU (not expected to live) and the two of us were in LA (Lower Alabama) with my four siblings and their significant others, awaiting our father's untimely demise. Coffee, the beverage I disdained for 29-1/2 years, suddenly became my Best Friend Forever. I look forward to coffee every morning and get surly when it isn't just right.

Today, it wasn't just right. My organic half and half, which was perfectly fine yesterday, picked today to clabber in my coffee. ACK! It is impossible to make coffee with off-kilter half and half into the coffee of your dreams. I tried. I shook, stirred, added milk. It is drinkable, but not what I really wanted.

I feel like that about my writing lots of days. The idea I wanted to convey is on the page, but it's not quite what I wanted to say. Almost. In the neighborhood. Pretty darn close. Not what I really wanted. I will keep trying and polishing and editing. Someday (please, Lord, soon!), it will be what I wanted. Or at least really close.

The coffee, however, is a lost cause. I will be forced to go to the grocery and buy more half and half today. I will also write some new pages. Most importantly, I am going back to the NC State Fair this afternoon to use up those remaining ride tickets and have another apple dumpling. Maybe I will look back on today and decide things did go my way, after all. Apple dumplings make any coffee better. *g*

So, what about you? Is everything going your way these days or have you had some disappointments or setbacks? In your perfect, daydream life, what would be going better? Let us know! Meanwhile, I'll be dreaming of unclabbered half and half...

And the winner is...

The winner of Anna DeStefano's Because of a Boy is...Buffie! E-mail me at trishmilburn AT yahoo DOT com with your mailing address, and I'll send it right out. Congratulations, Buffie!

I learned it all in a book...

by Tawny Weber

One of the things I love about reading is that I can go anywhere - or anytime. What a quick trip back in time, grab a book. Want to visit the romantic waterways of Venice? Grab a book. Other planets, the future, a wild nightclub? Yup -a book. I've 'visited' dozens of countries from the comfort of my reading chair and (I'm almost ashamed to admit this) learned more about history than I did in school, just by reading romances.

It all comes down to setting, doesn’t it? Setting is such a powerful part of the story, sometimes a major player, sometimes a soft, watercolor background that barely registers on the reader's awareness. Some are edgy - in Double Dare I opened with a nightclub, flashing lights, a meat-market setting and it set the tone for the rest of the story. Others are subtle - in Does She Dare? the story is set in a quaint, cobblestone paved small town, and again, it sets a tone. You'd think they'd be vastly different stories, yet both are hot, sexy and have very strong heroines... but both settings reflect the heroine's self-image.


For me, setting is always tied to and reflects my characters. Other authors use setting differently. They might use it to challenge the characters, or even let it be a character itself. In my case, a winter setting limits outdoor lovescenes, for some people winter presents a life or death scenario for the hero and heroine to fight to survive. Don’t’ you love how setting and time carry and frame our stories?




Even better, for me, is when I read a book and learn something new. Whether its societal customs of a Regency or police procedures in a romantic suspense, for me a great read is one that delicately weaves in the factual information, lets me learn without realizing I’m learning (this is probably why I learned so much more by reading romances than in school LOL – there is a lot to be said for the ancient bards and teaching by means of storytelling!!).

What are some of the most fascinating things YOU've learned in reading? What setting or time do you find yourself coming back to over and over again? Is there a reason that time/setting fascinates you?

And The Winner...

...of Dashing Through the Mall, a Harlequin anthology with stories by Holly Jacobs, Sherryl Woods and Darlene Gardner is... Keira! Congratulations, Keira! Please send your snail mail address to holly at holly@hollysbooks.com to claim your prize :-)

Thanks to everyone who posted!

Hi, my name is Trish, and I am a series glommer

I have loved books for as long as I can remember. In fact, the first book I remember reading was a Little Golden Book called The Runaway Pancake. I remember the absolute glee each time I'd get a shipment from the Weekly Reader Book Club when I was in elementary school. And the book fair at school was better than a candy store filled with chocolate (and that's saying a lot considering the size of my sweet tooth). I'm guessing everyone here has this passion for books. But are you a ginormous fan of series like me? Not series as in the numbered category lines put out by Harlequin and Silhouette, but a series as in a number of books with the same continuing characters. Once I find a book I like and realize it's part of a series, I glom them -- as in I read all of the released books in the series then wait none too patiently for the next in the series. I have to know what happens to my favorite characters, people the author has made seem so real I wouldn't be surprised to meet them on the street.

Series I love:

The Black Dagger Brotherhood by J.R. Ward
The Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer
The Blood Books by Tanya Huff
The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
The Kate Shugak mystery series by Dana Stabenow
The Anna Pigeon mystery series by Nevada Barr
The Gemma Doyle trilogy by Libba Bray
The Gardella Vampire Chronicles by Colleen Gleason
The Weather Warden series by Rachel Caine
The Mediator series by Meg Cabot
The Midnighters series by Scott Westerfeld
The Stephenie Plum series by Janet Evanovich
The House of Night series by P.C. and Kristin Cast
The His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman
The Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder

With the exception of the two mystery series and the Evanovich books, these books are all paranormal. I wonder if that is because a great many of the series on the shelves now are paranormal or that's just how my current reading tastes are running. And of these 13 series, five are series for young adults. It's my impression that teens will really latch on to a series they like and be dedicated to those books and the author until the series' end. Witness the massive midnight turnout for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final installment in Rowling's series, and the large crowds Stephenie Meyer is drawing at her signings. And at least for now, the paranormal is still very popular among teen readers.

So, are you a series fan? If so, of what series are you a dedicated follower? What fabulous series have I not mentioned? There are at least two on my to-be-read list -- Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark Hunter series and Jim Butcher's Dresden Files. Leave a comment and you could win the first in a new series by Harlequin Superromance author Anna DeStefano. Because of a Boy is the first in her new Atlanta Heroes series.






And if you're so inclined (and I REALLY hope you are), head on over to the Romantic Times Web site tomorrow to vote in the American Title IV contest. My finaling entry, Out of Sight, is the first of what I hope will be an exciting paranormal series about a gal who can make herself invisible and who gives a whole new meaning to "undercover" work. Your vote for Out of Sight helps it come one step closer to being published, which is the grand prize for the winner of the contest. Thanks in advance!

Writing with the Stars

by Joan Kayse

Oh, yes. I'm a huge fan of "Dancing with the Stars." The ladies at the hospital know that on Monday night they better arrive on time to switch shifts at 6:45 because I have to be home by 8 pm. to watch my favs glide and jive and even dive around the dance floor. I watch and analyze, cheer and moan and keep my phone busy with voting.

I'm in awe of the professional dancers who have such talent, such raw energy, fit bodies and gorgeous costumes. (sigh) To have the body and/or the costumes or the ability. I envy their ability to move gracefully around the floor to beautiful music.

There is a ballroom dancer inside of me!

I also admire the celebrities who having even less dance experience than me (which is none) bust their collective bums to learn how to do the moves of the passo doble, the waltz, the jive AND wear the costumes!

Which brings me back to the Banditas :-)

I'm writing with the stars. The newly formed, rising to the top, streaking across the publishing sky stars. To date we have nine Banditas who have become published: Jeanne, Beth, Donna, Anna, Christie, Aunty Cindy, Tawny, Trish and Christine. Plus, another soon to be announced star. We also boast Banditas with the courage and tenacity to enter huge contests like Gather.com and ATT. Could somebody pass my sunglasses? The brilliance is blinding.

We've alluded to the special bond we Banditas have in the course of previous posts, spoken about our special connection and we've discussed it on our private loop. Egos are checked at the door. Respect is a given. We "get" each other. In all of our collective experience we marvel at this connection. No doubt about it, the Banditas are special.

It's reflected in our easy comradarie, our ecstatic joy with each new accomplishment be it a contest final or a two book deal. There is immediate understanding and support of each other when life's woes or a rejection hits. Frustrations about the publishing process? Promotion? Call your sister Banditas. We have bucket boots and rapiers at the ready and will swoop in with chocolate, champagne or cabana boys.

Yes, I'm writing with the stars and they are all a 10!

Have you ever been involved with a group that had this type of special bond?

OR....if you could learn one ballroom dance what would it be?

The Bandits Welcome Holly Jacobs

interviewed by Beth Andrews

It is my pleasure to introduce multi published author Holly Jacobs to the Romance Bandits! Holly's latest book, The House On Briar Hill, a Harlequin Everlasting Release, is in stores now.

Welcome to the Bandit Lair, Holly! To get us started, can you tell us about your road to publication?

~I think my road to writing started when I was young. I was a reader. I literally can’t remember a time I wasn’t reading a book. For years, I read a book a day. I had a voracious appetite and there just wasn’t any such thing as enough. That love of reading fed directly into my love of writing. I’d always scribbled things. I wrote for various groups I was associated with. But the idea of actually writing a book didn’t hit until my youngest was in diapers and I asked myself just what I was going to do when I grew up. A quiet voice whispered, write. It took me a while to admit it out loud. Dreams are like that. They can be scary. But I finally bit the bullet, told my dh I wanted to try writing. He’s been my staunchest supporter ever since.

I was lucky to have short stories and some essays published early on. The books followed shortly thereafter. I’ve got over a million copies of my books in print world-wide. I’ll confess, that statistic gives me goosebumps!

The House On Briar Hill Road is a bit of a departure for you. Can you tell us a bit about the story?

~My first book for Harlequin was a Duet titled, I WAXED MY LEGS FOR THIS? That might give you an idea about the type of stories I’m known for. Straight up comedy, and light humor. That makes this book–a story that deals with illness, with death, with a family’s struggle to put itself back together after breaking from a loss–such a huge departure. Normally readers write to tell me a story made them laugh. Rarely do they tell me a story made them cry. That’s what I’ve heard most so far about this one. Comedy is very individual. Look at stand-up comedians. You either get them and think they’re hilarious, or you don’t. Certain humors don’t appeal to me. I’ll confess, I’ve never really gotten Monty Python. LOL But the pain of loss...it’s universal. Every reader has lost someone , or realizes that some day they’ll lose someone. They understand what these characters are going through and can relate. That universal subject matter is different for me too. I mean, not everyone has battled waxing their legs but people get the pain the characters are going through in this book.

You've said The House On Briar Hill Road was the hardest book you ever wrote, but also the most rewarding. What inspired you to tell this particular story?

~In the fall of 2003, my dh and I had gone on a second honeymoon. My mother-in-law, Dort, came to stay with the kids. We got home and the next morning my sister-in-law called to tell me that while we were gone, Dort had found out her breast cancer was back, and spreading. She’d insisted no one tell us and ruin our trip. She died February of 2004.

Calling her my mother-in-law seems such a limited definition of what Dort was to me...to the whole family. She was a best friend, a mentor, a champion. She was the heart of our family. Losing her...well, it still hurts, though the pain has softened enough to let us remember all the good times. And there were so many good times.

So, writing about a family going through that kind of pain, that kind of loss, really hit home. The book is fiction. My family didn’t react the same way the Conways do in the story. But I could relate to their reactions because I totally got that kind of loss. It’s an up-close and personal story for me.

You’re well known for your romantic comedies. We all know writing comedy is hard work. Any tips you can share?

~Writing comedy and light humor is still my true calling. I love it. It’s also one of the hardest things to explain...what’s funny is so individual. I guess my favorite tip on writing comedy comes from Robert Heinlein (a sci fi writer). He had a scene in Stranger in a Strange Land where the main character was trying to learn to be human. He’d mastered everything but laughing. He didn’t get humor. Then one day, at the zoo, he sees a tiny monkey with a banana. A bigger one hits it and steals the banana. The biggest one his the middle-sized one and takes the banana. The character starts to laugh uncontrollably. He tells his friends in the book that he finally understand humor. Watching the monkeys, he realized that people laugh because the only other alternative is crying. Maybe that’s why I was able to bridge to a far-more dramatic, emotional book, because crying is just a step away from laughter.

What’s next for you?

~I’m working on a trilogy for Harlequin American Romance write now. It’s my PTA Mom trilogy, a subject I’m very familiar with! The three books are set around three holidays, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Valentine’s Day. They’ll be out next year–10/08, 12/08 and 2/09. I love writing books that blend humor and emotion...and I think these do that really well. I’m having a blast with them.

Any fun tidbits about yourself you’d like to share?

~Fun tidbits. Hmm. Well, I’m a neat freak. There I said it. I like things neat. Of course, I have four kids, a dog, a hamster and a husband, so there are days that neat goes out the window and chaos reigns!

Oh, and I’m a huge fan of autumn. I love getting back into the kitchen and baking. I love the fall colors and smells. And I love pulling out my sweaters. You see, I have a theory, as a woman ages, the more clothes she has on, the better she looks. I love adding layers to my wardrobe. And by winter, when I’m dressed in a parka, hat, gloves and scarf, I feel like a beauty queen. Of course, summer always comes around again to shatter that illusion...sigh.

In addition to giving a book away here, I do have a contest going on right now. Because The House on Briar Hill Road deals with breast cancer, part of my royalties will be going to the Susan G. Komen organization. And to honor all those woman who have fought, and are fighting this horrible disease, I’m giving away a pink beaded breast cancer awareness bracelet this month. Your readers can visit my website to find out how to enter.

Lastly, I have a free short story at eHarlequin.com that ties into the book. It’s a missing chapter of the story. There’s a new chapter every week, until the end of October, when they’re all up. You can visit it at https://www.eharlequin.com/article.html?articleId=1299. I hope you’ll drop in and read it. I started my career writing short stories, and I always enjoy returning to my roots. Trying to put an Everlasting Love sort of story into under 10,000 words was a challenge, but I so enjoyed it!

Thanks so much for being here, Holly! To learn more about Holly visit her website at www.hollyjacobs.com.

Okay, dear Readers, here's your turn to spill all. Holly's admitted to being a neat freak. What about you? Are you a neat freak or...well...perhaps a bit more laid back in your cleaning routine? Do you make your bed as soon as you get up? Match your clean socks or just toss them into the drawer? One lucky reader who comments will win a copy of Dashing Through The Mall, a Harlequin anthology with stories by Holly, Sherryl Woods and Darlene Gardner!

Redeeming the Dark Hero

by Christine Wells

Dark, tortured heroes--don't we love them? Heathcliff, Rochester, Jervaulx, Anna Campbell's Kylemore, any of Anne Stuart's bad, beautiful boys. The worse our hero is, the more we love it when a good woman brings him to his knees.

I've learned a lot from screenwriting experts lately. There was that lightbulb moment from Debra Williamson, who swung by the lair recently and talked about irony, among other things. And today, while listening to a lecture about character arc from Michael Hauge, all my vague ideas about redeeming the dark hero clicked into place.

Have you ever heard someone disparage a redemption story because 'people just don't change'? That attitude was one I struggled with when writing Scandal's Daughter. I had an irresponsible rake as a hero and I had to redeem him by the end. But I, also, believe that people don't change.

It got me thinking, if I believe people can't change, why, then, do redemption stories work for me? How do we, as writers, make them believable?

Michael Hauge talks about a character's identity, the mask he or she shows the world, as opposed to his essence, who he really is, or who he could be if he lived up to his potential. It's that essence which the heroine sees and it's that essence the author sets about exhuming, step by step, throughout the book. When he is redeemed at the end, the hero has not changed fundamentally. He has become the man he was always meant to be.

So, who is your favourite tortured hero? What made you like him, despite his bad boy attitude?

Famous Five Winner!

Man, you guys made it really tough to pick a winner from yesterday's fun and games. In the end, I went with Michele (Decadence). Michele, email me your snail mail details to anna@annacampbell.info and I'll shoot you off the prize pack! Congratulations! And thanks again for a fun day, everyone!

The Famous Five by Anna Campbell

OK, inspired by the Rudolph question from Cassondra's great blog about childhood movie and music memories, I want to play a game. It's one of those silly five unusual facts things. Hey, shoot me! I love lists! And the less useful, the better! And if you want to tell me why you choose your answers, I'd love to know.


My questions are:

What's your favorite romance novel?

What song are you embarrassed to admit you love?

What's your favorite film?

What's the world's most useful invention?

Which five people throughout history (including today) would you ask for dinner?










Here are my answers:

Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase

Tainted Love by Soft Cell

Lawrence of Arabia

The electric light

Jane Austen, Hugh Lawrie, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Dorothy Dunnett, P.G. Wodehouse

OK, your turn!

About time I gave away some Bandita booty! My favorite comment collects the Anna Campbell pack. Sadly I don't yet have a spare copy of UNTOUCHED, my December release, to give you. But I do have some AC goodies, including the gorgeous desk calendar, sticky notes, a notepad, magnets and a coverflat for UNTOUCHED. And just to sweeten the deal, I'll throw in some Caramello Koalas which are absolutely irresistible.

And don't forget I'm offering an advance review copy of UNTOUCHED as my website contest this month. Just click here and answer a simple question.

And the WINNAH is....

By random drawing, for the Romance Bandits mousepad....

Drum roll please....

H maree davis!

Hmaree, if you'll email me at cassondra_m AT mindspring DOT com (no spaces of course) I'll get your information and send you your mouse pad!

And for those who are wondering about the answer to the trivia question...

In the claymation movie, "Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer," the lead reindeer of Santa's sleigh team before Rudolph got the job was....Donner (actually Donder, as Caren/Posh T has so noted). And yes, Donner was Rudolph's dad.

Thanks so much to everyone who made my blog day yesterday wonderful!

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious !

, by Cassondra Murray
I have no idea whether I spelled it right. But I can sing it all the way through, and I once surprised an older gentleman in a Mexican restaurant by doing just that. He thought I was too young and wouldn’t know the song. Ha! So wrong. SO wrong.

This blog is Susan’s fault. I’ve been bopping around the house all evening, grilling steak and singing the Supercali song, along with Chim-Chiminey as sung by Dick Van Dyke.

Susan, otherwise known in the Bandita lair as Smoov T (don’t ask why—we aren’t telling how we got our nicknames) just got back from Disney World, where she had the honor of meeting the one, only and venerable Mary Poppins.

Smoov T was too ashamed to have her picture taken with Ms. Poppins, and instead got her daughter to pose, but all the same, Smoov admits to squealing under her breath the entire time.

I love old movies. Especially the wonderfully happy endings for which Walt Disney is so famous. I don’t get time to watch many, but unlike most modern films, I can watch those old flicks over and over. I think it’s the music. That music is magic.

Disney isn't the only film company that put out what I call "keepers." I know all the words to every song from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

And does anybody besides me remember A Bicycle Built For Two or The Surrey with the Fringe On Top? I can sing all the way through If I Only Had A Brain from The Wizard of Oz.

If you think about it, the whole thing is a bit silly. Here we go, trotting along with the drama of the plot, and someone stops and breaks into song. It’s completely ridiculous. And unforgettable. Like the incredible reads on my keeper shelf, these old films live and breathe and never become outdated.

Even the best kids’ shows from my childhood were musicals. I can sing the songs from every one. Frosty the Snowman and How The Grinch Stole Christmas. Am I the only one who loves Horton Hears A Who? It’s my favorite Dr. Seuss book, and my fav animation from his works. Remember the song the bad boy apes had as their theme? We’re the Wickersham Brothers…..

Oh, and does anyone else remember sitting rapt in front of the tube each winter for Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer? It seems silly now, but little Cassondra was terrified when Rudolph set out alone on that lonely iceberg to cross that desolate arctic lake. And I confess that watching it twice per year for 30-some years has actually paid off for me!

Three years ago at my husband’s office Christmas party we sat around at the tables, forced to play dumb office party games. This was a Christmas movie trivia game, and I’d been ignoring it completely. I was focused on the chocolate cheesecake. But for whatever reason, on the last question, I tuned in. There must have been 60 of us in the room. The rules required that the participant stand up, place a set of felt antlers on his/her head, then wait to be called on.
The question was…..drum roll please…… “In the movie Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer, who was the lead reindeer on Santa’s sleigh team before Rudolph got the job?” I shot to my feet.

“Give me that!” I snapped at the girl across the table—the one who held the felt antlers in her oh-so-Rudolph-ignorant hands. She tossed them to me. I shoved them on my head, and, hands on hips, waited to be called upon. The office manager pointed to me.

Do you know the answer? (No fair looking it up now!)

I did, and won a nice portable DVD player for my dedication to that little claymation reindeer and the songs the Snowman sang.

Are there songs or music from movies that sweep you away to another place or time? Do you have favorites from childhood?

Is there a “must see” old flick that you’d be shocked to find that your children or friends’ children haven’t seen? Are there moments that just the mention of a name—Hepburn, Davis, Garland, Harlow or others, sends you diving into the emotion of an unforgettable on-screen moment?

I admit to writing three scenes in my GH finaling manuscript, The Ritual, to Michael Bolton’s Time, Love and Tenderness, and his version of When A Man Loves A Woman.

Are there favorite books on your keeper shelf that you read to an imagined “score?” What would that soundtrack be? Classical? Hard rock? Slow Jazz?

Make a guess at my Rudolph trivia question above (no cheating!), and I'll share the red-nosed wealth with a drawing for a Romance Bandits mousepad! Any reasonable guess gets you entered for the drawing.

We Don't Need No Steeenkin' Revisions...

...Or do we?

by Aunty Cindy

As I anxiously await my very first revision letter from My Editor (yes, I still get a thrill from typing those words), I've been listening to books on tape. My current selection is Lawrence Block's quintessential handbook for fiction writers, Telling Lies for Fun and Profit. I have read this book before and if you haven't, I highly recommend it. But half the fun is listening to the author read his own work, because it's almost like sitting down and having a conversation with him, or attending an extended workshop by him without the annoying person in front of you asking endless questions.

The other day, something Mr. Block said about revisions really resonated with me. Though he was being a bit facetious, he made an argument against doing revisions, or more accurately, to write as if you weren't going to revise.

Revisions, he argued, take away the freshness and spontaneity from writing. He likened a piece of writing to a jazz riff. Do it once, go with the flow of the moment, then let it go.

Polishing away the freshness seems to be an occupational hazard with many romance writers. I've heard more than one editor and agent say they've read partials polished to the point that the author's voice is gone. And I think we've all heard the stories of contest entries that were polished to perfection, but the rest of the manuscript (IF it was ever written) was slap-dashed together.

His other big argument against revisions is that sloppy first drafts encourage poor writing techniques. If you know you're switching POV too many times, dumping in back story, or writing pages of talking heads, then DO NOT DO IT! Train yourself to do it correctly in the first draft.

Here again, moderation is the key. I am probably more painstaking than most in crafting my first drafts, but sometimes just getting down words... ANY WORDS are the best I can do. Worrying so much about getting it right is pointless if you get nothing. (Can you tell I'm trying to refrain from quoting Nora about not being able to fix a blank page?)

So while it would be nice to have my first draft also be my final draft, I'm not kidding myself about revisions. They will always be there, as inevitable as that other famous quote about death and taxes. I only hope that they won't be too extensive.

Here's your chance to share some writing advice. If you're a writer, what unusual piece of writing advice has helped (or maybe hindered) you? And if you are a reader, what one piece of advice would you like to pass along to all us writers?

And the Winner is....

Anne! You've won a copy of The Courtesan's Daughter by Claudia Dain. Congratulations! Please contact Claudia through the Contact link at www.ClaudiaDain.com to claim your prize. Enjoy the book, Anne!

The "Keepers"

by Nancy Northcott

One of the difficult parts of being a book person is having to purge the shelves. There just isn't room to keep every book I ever buy. So about every four or five months, I go through and weed out books I haven't read in a very long time or books I've owned for a very long time but haven't read. I've learned to be fairly ruthless over the years, but there are some books that survive purge after purge even though I may not have read them recently. These are my "keepers."

At the top of the list is Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird. If an author were only ever going to write one book and this was it, I think that would make one content. The book resonates with me because Scout's viewpoint is so engaging and because so many people in Maycomb care about doing the right thing. Gone With the Wind has survived years of purges. My copy belonged to my grandmother, so sentiment may play a role in its longevity, but I think Scarlett would have her own place if I'd bought the book new. She makes me impatient and appalled at times, but the woman has backbone. Even though I don't fully accept Mitchell's rendering of southern society, I admire the detail with which she did it. I haven't read either of these books in years, but I'm pretty sure that I'll eventually want to.

Then there are the series. The Harry Potter books will probably be family heirlooms. The Inglis Fletcher novels about the Carolinas will stay as long as I live. I fell in love with them years ago and never fell out. Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles swept me into Renaissance Scotland and carried me along to France, Russia, and the Mediterranean before coming full circle to end in Scotland. I almost didn't finish reading the first book. I didn't like anyone but the blind woman. Trusting the friend who gave the book to me, though, I persevered, only to have Dunnett turn everything inside out in the last hundred pages or so. I blitzed straight through the rest of the series in a week, reading late at night, on my lunch break, and during dinner (I was single then). I bought them in hardback when my mother and I went to England, the only trip the two of us took together, and lugged them back in my suitcase. So they stay. Someday I'll want to be swept across the Renaissance world again.

I loved Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover novels and Robert Jordan's massive, unfinished Wheel of Time saga (I selfishly hope he has a successor who'll get Rand to the mountain) and Gordon R. Dickson's Childe cycle and Dorothy L. Sayers' marvelous Lord Peter Wimsey and everything Georgette Heyer ever wrote. Their stories have fascinating worlds and noble, but not perfect, characters and intriguing plots. Hmm. All those authors are gone, as are Fletcher and Dunnett and Mitchell. Yet their books stay on my shelf through purge after purge. What was it Shakespeare said--something about the "evil men do liv[ing]after them" while "the good is oft interred with their bones?" Not for writers, it seems.

So what are your keepers? How do you choose them?

A Love for All Time

by Kirsten

After an incredible week of guest bloggers, I'm struck by how different all of these books we call "romance" can be. We've got paranormal, historical, contemporary...you name it. But they share one thing, right? The happily ever after. Or as we call it in the business, the HEA.

But what does it REALLY take to live HEA? My husband's grandfather passed away this winter. He was 98. His widow is 87. They were married 73 years. (Yeah, they got married when she was 14. But he promised not to have sex with her until she was 16. And they moved from Old Mexico--today Arizona--up to Colorado in a covered wagon. So they were pretty amazing folks.)

Let's take a moment to digest that. 73 years. A lot happens in 73 years. People change, develop, grow. But somehow those two not only grew old together, they grew more in love all the time.

Sometimes, you read a romance and say to yourself--these people will never make it. No way. You might as well sign the pre-nup because the divorce is just around the corner. Sometimes, you know in your heart they would live to celebrate their 73 wedding anniversary. But how do you know the difference?

They say opposites attract, and some long-lasting marriages fit into this boat. I'm an introvert, my husband's an extrovert. It not only works, but it makes us both better people. But you put some opposites together and they wear each other down, rub that sore spot until they're ready to explode. What's the difference?

So tell me, can you predict a HEA? Are there heros and heroines you know will make it--or those you know are destined for divorce court? What makes love last?

Claudia Dain On Courtesans, Careers and Gauchos

Interview by Caren Crane

Many Banditas can point to a published author friend and say, "This author taught me everything I know about the business." I am happy to say that for me, that author is Claudia Dain. Claudia began her career writing historicals in a variety of time periods for Dorchester. After a brief hiatus, she is back with her first book for Berkley, a Regency-set historical titled The Courtesan's Daughter. Welcome, Claudia!

Caren: Claudia, you are known for your dark, emotional stories and rich historical detail. Can we expect more of the same from The Courtesan's Daughter?

Claudia: Thanks for the warm Banditas welcome, Caren. I'm thrilled to be here.

I'm almost afraid to answer this first question! Is The Courtesan's Daughter dark? No, it's not dark; I would call it a bawdy romp. I was ready for something different and decided not to fight the urge. I'm glad I gave into it since this book was a joyride from start to finish.

Is it rich in historical detail? That's a tougher one to answer. I think what people were responding to in my dark historicals was that the characters felt true to their time; the heroine didn't think like a 21st century woman and never behaved like one. It wasn't that I devoted 10 pages to describing the interior of a building, it was that the characters acted appropriately within their setting. That's my impression, anyway, and I can say without qualification that the characters in The Courtesan's Daughter behave very much the way they should, given who they are. But I still haven't spent 10 pages describing a house!

Caren: Wow, this sounds like a real departure from your old style of writing. I understand the Courtesan books will be a new series for you and you have already written the second. Are you having fun writing books with a lighter tone?

Claudia: I'm having more fun than I've ever had before and I think it shines through in the writing. This is just a fun, sexy romp in the vein of Oscar Wilde (which is what my editor compares it to and which tickles me to death). The Courtesan's Daughter begins what I hope will be a very long running series. I have multiple books planned and while each book stands alone, they are stronger when taken as a whole.

At the risk of boring non-writers, the romantic couple of each book stands alone, their story arc complete to that book, but the courtesan's story is the foundation for all the action and her arc will take multiple books to complete. That foundation, which is fairly dark, is what holds the books together. I guess it proves that I didn't leave 'dark' and 'emotional' behind completely!

The concept for the series began with what I'm calling the 'anchor character', and that's Sophia, the courtesan of the title. It took more than a year for her to come together in my mind, to be fleshed out, and it's her complex backstory that is the foundation of the fascinating, unique woman she is. It will be the slow revelation of her backstory that answers every question about her motivation.

As is typical for me, setting defines character to a great degree and this is especially true of Sophia. My husband is wildly in love with Sophia. To be honest, so am I. She is the most interesting, layered, compelling character I've ever created. It is a pure joy to spend time with her every day.


Caren: Your Dorchester books invariably contained dark, tormented, delicious heroes. (Does anyone else remember Richard the world's sexiest monk from The Marriage Bed? *swoon*) Are your Berkley books similarly endowed?

Claudia: Oh, another tough one. You wouldn't think talking about my heroes would be a tough assignment, would you? The heroes in the Courtesan Series aren't dark, at least not taken as a whole. Generally speaking, each one is a wonderful, sexy man who displays a real appreciation of the heroine as she is. True love, in my definition, means seeing the object of your affection as she truly is and loving her without reserve. Of course, each hero is different and completely individual, but the focus of the Courtesan series is really on the individual heroines. There will be lots of diversity in both heroes and heroines, but the weight of the story will fall on the heroine. This is a woman's story.

Caren: Claudia, to shift gears a bit, you are known by many for your astute business sense. Your "Publishing As a Blood Sport" talk is an RWA conference favorite for many people. Can you tell us, in a nutshell, what are things writers should be aware (and wary) of? For agented writers, what is the author's role in her/his career and what is the agent's role?

Claudia: Finally, an easy question! In a nutshell, too many writers are too emotional about the business of publishing. Bad business decisions, like the hiring or firing of an agent, are made from an emotional foundation. Picking an agent because you enjoyed talking with her in the bar at a conference is not good business. Staying with an agent primarily because you've developed an emotional bond with her is not good business. Vowing never to write for an editor because once she rejected you is not good business.

In a different vein, I also believe that an author's strongest asset is her voice and that, once identified, it should be protected at all costs. In my opinion, having a strong voice is clearly an asset once you're published and have a growing fan base, but it can make it harder to get published in the first place.

As for agents, I am of the opinion that an agent is an essential ingredient in doing business. I've always felt this way, even before I was published, so this is nothing new and I'm unlikely to change my opinion now. But, having said that, your career as an author will always mean more to you than it does to anyone else. Your agent has a career she is trying to build and protect. The same is true of your editor. Knowing that each of you is pursuing your own best career track is what makes making business decisions easy.

Too often it seems to me that authors want to hand their careers over to their agent. It's tempting! Who wouldn't want to pass that burden off onto someone else, someone competent? But it is your career. You have to protect it. If writing is your business, then you have to treat it like your business. Your agent's business is being an agent to many authors, not only you. Your business is to succeed as a writer and it has to be your sole priority. Of course, this 'business plan' includes writing a great novel, but that's only part of it.

I think the hardest part of being a published author is realizing that you now have to be a small business owner as well. It's exhausting work!

Caren: Those of us who were in the audience of the RITA and Golden Heart awards ceremony at the Romance Writers of America national conference this year heard you, specifically, mentioned by award recipients on the stage. Twice. Both recipients thanked you for advice on fashion and shoes. It seems that, as well as having a reputation for great business sense, you are also known for great fashion sense. Have you always been a connoisseur of fashion?

Claudia: I'm blushing! I don't know about my great fashion sense since I did own a pair of gauchos at one point, but I have always loved fashion and have been both willing to go along with the current trends and known what works for me and what doesn't. It's like walking a balance beam! I was the first girl in my high school to stop wearing mini skirts and bell bottoms (which tells you more than I want you to know about my age), and I was teased by the boys for my "hem falling down" and for my stovepipe pants. I had the last laugh, didn't I? Or did they?

Now I have a fun question: Speaking of being a fashion victim, I've confessed to gauchos, which are back in style. What have you worn that turned you into a fashion victim? I know Caren has knickers in her past... (Caren: Hey, I resemble that remark. But they were olive green, thin-wale corduroy and it was 1979 - so hip!)

Sophia, my courtesan, has never suffered a fashion disaster in her life, which is only one reason why she's the perfect heroine. I'm giving away a copy of The Courtesan's Daughter, maybe to the winner of The Worst Fashion Mistake of My Gorgeous Life? I had a friend once who wore Band-Aids over her *&^# underneath a sheer black dress. They showed. It was not pretty.

Thank you, Banditas! I'm looking forward to hearing about all those fashion faux pas! Don't leave me alone in my gauchos, I'm begging you!

Caren: (whispers) Just for fun, check out the Lego stop-action review for The Courtesan's Daughter at Dear Author!

And the Winner Is...

Doglady! You've won a copy of Scandal's Daughter by Christine Wells. Congratulations! Please contact Christine through the contact page on her website to claim your prize.