Twenty and Counting...

by Jeanne Adams

Yes, I confess.

YES, I DO want my children to go back to school. If that makes me a terrible Mama, for wanting to bring all this camp trekking and weird schedules to a close, then I'm a terrible Mama.

I want to get back on schedule.

Is that so wrong??

A few years ago, one of the office supply stores, Staples, did a television ad where the children look glum and the father is joyously loading school supplies into the cart while "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" plays in the background. Check it out here, on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPIIMbG9R4w

Grins. I love this. I feel this way. I'm so baaaaaaad.

Now to be fair, my eldest son is actually happy about getting back to school and to his "buds" - he doesn't get to see all of them in the summer, and certainly not every day. Everyone's been off to sleepaway camp, or visiting relatives, or traveling hither and yon. He wants to see everyone.

You can see where his priorities lie, which doesn't bode well for scholarship but sure means he'll be well socialized. Sigh. He's still got three more weeks of camp, so he's happy about that, and his daily does of his crew is forthcoming as well. The cherry on top is a new Miami Heat Backpack.

*eye roll from mom*

Best of both worlds for him though. Besides, he seems to love the whole school supply thing as much as I do. Shiny notebooks, cool backpacks, new lunchboxes...

My youngest is both excited and apprehensive. He'll be a kindergartner in the fall.

Woot! Big boy school with his brother. The only year they'll be in school together.

He's excited about the backpack and all the supplies too, but being my "shark-boy" who loves to swim, he's VERY bummed that the pool will close right after school starts. (nope, that isn't our pool. I wish it were! We belong to a neighborhood pool)

All that said, I want school to start so I can have a regular schedule. One week this summer, I drove every day to two different camps in two different parts of our county. Two boys + varied interests = two camps. By the time I got done with drop-off, got coffee and got home, it was nearly eleven. I had to pick one up at 2:30 and the other at 4:30.
While I know this can be worse for others, with more children, compare the times I listed. Do the math....and,Yep, you guessed it.

Do you think I got any writing done?

Sigh. I DID manage to eke out some pages but not at my usual steady pace.

Then Came National.

The pre-work for National was garnering babysitters, making sure there were lists for camp, including what days were swim days, what days were field trip days and what days were "normal" days.

Yikes! My poor husband doesn't usually have to deal with all this in addition to his demanding work. Between camp, power outages, huge storms, baseball tournaments that ran late due to the heat (1 a.m. late), and what to pack for lunches, he nearly pulled out what hair he has.

He appreciates me so much, now that I'm back. Grins. I think the dogs even did a happy dance when I came home since they got regular meals and there wasn't laundry piled up where they like to sleep. Grins.

(Please don't think I'm ragging on him, he did a great job under tedious circumstances, so I have to give him his props!)

Anyway, I don't remember there being this much focus on camp or summer activities when I was a kid. Did you have this? All the different sports camps? Maybe it's just that I grew up in a more rural area...I don't know.

So here as the summer closes, tell me this:

Did you go to camp?

What was your favorite camp of all time? Least favorite?

What was your favorite summer activity?

Did you go to your County or State fair?

What was your favorite thing to do at the fair?

If you have kids, are you ready for them to go back to school, or are you dreading the end of summer?

Did you have a favorite lunch box? Tell, tell....

"Beach Reads"

by Caren Crane

By now, we have all seen the obligatory book reviews touting some book or other as the definitive "beach read" of the summer. The term "beach read" summons up lovely mental pictures of me lounging on a beach or by a pool, slathered in SPF 50 sunblock, wearing a huge hat and indulging in a thick, juicy slab o' fiction. "Beach read". I like this initial impression, but...

Is this term meant to be complimentary? Book reviewers, unless they are affiliated with genre websites or groups, tend to prefer non-fiction or "literary" fiction. So when a reviewer purports to have enjoyed a slab of fiction couched in the term "beach read", it is usually some genre distasteful to reviewers: romance, women's fiction, chick lit or, Heaven forfend, romantic suspense.

After years of reading these reviews, I recognize the sneer underlying many of them. Many of these reviews have been about books I enjoyed tremendously. I readily admit that I enjoy genre fiction year-round, so the relegation of my favorite fiction to a narrow category such as "beach read" offends me just a bit. I can only conclude that:

1. I can and always will enjoy a "beach read" even when I am not anywhere near a body of water.

2. Since I do #1, I obviously lack some sort of switch that turns on in late spring and firmly off at Labor Day.

3. Having no qualms about being seen reading such books in public with nary a camouflaging floral cover, I am obviously not getting an invitation to the Literati Club anytime soon!

Am I taking this "beach read" term too seriously? It could be that I am. By the time this posts, I will be firmly on vacation with my family. I will not be at the beach, unless the teenagers talk us into a day trip to Virginia Beach - that could happen! I will, however, be indulging in some "beach reads", including the first of Nora Roberts' series about the four friends who run a wedding business. Genre fiction is the stuff great vacations are made of - even in Colonial Williamsburg!

What "beach reads" are you indulging in right now? Have you actually been to the beach this year or do you plan to go? If you do, are you taking your e-reader? If, like me, there is no beach looming on the horizon, where will you feed your genre-fiction palate?

Have fun without me, be good, and bring on the "beach reads"!

Getting to know Susan Gee Heino

Hosted by Kirsten Scott

Susan, thanks so much for joining us in the Lair!

Thanks for having me, Kirsten! I just love my visits to the lair. My pet rooster, Sunset, gets a bit jealous, though, when he realizes I’ve been sneaking around on him.

So, the truth is, Susan, I fell in love with you when we met in Orlando, and haven't been able to get my mind off you since. I thought I would orchestrate this "guest blog" as an opportunity to get to know you a little better. :-)

Aw, you're so sweet, Kirsten! I'm pretty sure I'm crushing on you, too. (Wait a minute, what kind of blog is this?!) But seriously, it was great to meet you in Orlando. Yay for tall girls! Let's hang out again sometime, okay? We can get the kids together and let them go out to play with the psycho racoons.

Oh, the racoons! Yes, definitely. But back to the blog. First question: your house is on fire (the pets, kids and hubby are all safe). Before you flee, you can grab one armful of things from the house. What do you take?

I’d grab my computer, my phone, the family scrapbooks, and this pair of really great white capris that I know I’ll never, ever be able to replace. I mean seriously, do you know how hard it is to find white pants that actually look good?

Yes, I do. In fact, that's why I don't own any white pants. Maybe now that I know your secret, I'll steal yours. Next, please tell us about an enormously stupid and/or embarrassing thing you did in high school.

Oh, you do love to torture, don’t you? Okay, I don’t know if this is PG 13 or not, but it’s by far the most embarrassing moment from my otherwise very dull high school career. Here we go:

My senior year I had room for one additional elective class. I chose French. Thought it would make me seem very smart and continental. So, there I was my first day of first year French, surrounded by wee little, snotty-nosed freshmen. I felt so superior. Plus, I’d already had several years of Spanish, so I kind of had a clue how this romance language thing worked. I was Madame Neeley’s star pupil. I sat right up in front and raised my hand for every question—of course I got them all right.

Until the day—the fateful day. We shall call it the Day of Creative Egg Use.

The teacher wrote a new word on the board and asked the class to try and guess it based on the context of a sentence she was using. I had not been paying close attention, since I already knew everything, of course. Everyone in the class was guessing, and everyone was getting it wrong. The teacher’s hints were getting more and more obvious: “It’s about this big around. It’s smooth. It is rounded at the ends.” And so on. The word, dear readers, was oeuf.

Now, if you understand a smattering of French, you may realize this word translates to “egg”. All the teacher’s hints as to shape, smoothness, diameter, etc. fit this perfectly. In hindsight, I realized they also may have been construed to relate to some, er, other item. At the time though, I did not put it all together.

I did not know the word meant egg. I thought it looked rather like “oaf”. And, being the star pupil, I hated to admit I did not know this word. So, in my usual fashion, I determined the best thing to do would be to make a joke of it. But instead of saying, “Does this word mean oaf?” I thought I would use a cooler, more hip word to express that same thing. I would use a word I’d heard kids calling each other on the bus. A silly sounding word. A word that I thought meant something akin to oaf, idiot, or even bimbo.

I blurted out, “Does the word mean dildo?”

Apparently dildo meant something more than I thought it did. The teacher nearly had an aneurism. The freshmen peed their pants. I couldn’t pull off the “Sure, I meant to say that” expression I plastered on my face. They all knew I was a moron. All I could do was wait for the bell, then go home and look the word up in a dictionary. Ouch. Then I had an aneurism and peed my pants. And tried to convince my parents to transfer me to another school.

They wouldn’t, and somehow I got up the courage to go back to French class, but it was several days before the teacher could look at me without turning bright red and bursting into mortifying laughter. I did manage to pull straight A’s, though, which was hardly consolation for my shredded teenage pride.

Wow, (Hushed voice.) That's truly horrible. Someday, I'll tell you about my walrus costume from the high school musical and we can share our PTSD experiences.

Next question: If you could live anywhere in the world, and in any type of house, what would you choose?

Hmm, that’s such a fun question! I would need to have a flying house so I could live several different places. I love England and have dear friends there, plus I completely adore Florida and any place with palm trees, and of course I’d want to be near family in Ohio and Kentucky, and I’ve always thought it might be cool to have my very own island somewhere... golly, there’s so many amazing places in the world! But the house itself would probably be a big, rambling, totally impractical Victorian with all sorts of add-ons and modernizations that would make architectural purists cringe with horror. And I’d need lots of room for all the critters, of course. Oh yeah, and a little nook for the husband and kids, too

Now tell us, Susan, why should we rush out and buy your latest release, Damsel in Disguise?

Oh, because it’s the best book ever, of course! (Yes, I’m laughing. You may, too.) I think Damsel In Disguise is a great choice for anyone who loves the light, humorous traditional Regency with all sorts of mistaken identity, clever lies, and quirky plot twists. It’s also pretty steamy, with a hero who, frankly, makes me kind of drool. Julia St. Clement is a resourceful actress who finds a creative way to survive just about anything, while her hero, Rastmoor, is a very determined guy who is willing to take some very big risks in order to get what he wants. There is plenty of adventure and laughter as they make their way back to forgiveness and true love.

Finally, I want to play a little game -- you may have played it before. Give us two truths and one lie about yourself, but don't tell which is which. That's our job to figure out, now that we know you so well.

Oh dear, I’m a terrible liar. Let’s see, what shall I say here? 1) I’m married to a minister and the little old ladies at church rush out to buy my books and giggle when they see me; 2) I once had a pet skunk that was de-scented and I taught it to use the toilet and even flush; 3) my sisters and I used to sing together for a local television talk show where we also performed comedy sketches.

Perfect! I can definitely see you performing a comedy sketch with your sisters, but then the skunk thing sounds more than possible...but it's always the one you don't expect in this game so...

Thank you so much, Banditas, and while Kirsten's thinking, I’d love to give a signed copy of DAMSEL IN DISGUISE to the first person who guesses which statement is a lie. (Okay, close friends and family, you’re exempt! Heck, you’ve probably gone out and bought three or four copies of my book already, right? Right?) Love’s funny sometimes, people!

A Kiss at Midnight

by Anna Sugden

I'm delighted to welcome back a huge Lair favourite, Eloisa James!

I'm sure many of you, like me, have been following her fabulous snippets about life in Paris, as she and her family spent the past year living over there. Wonderfully evocative, each piece was like being there and experiencing it along with her (without having to actually go there - joke - sort of *g*).

You'll be pleased to know that while in Paris, Eloisa was also hard at work to bring us another book. She's here today to talk about her newly released Kiss at Midnight and fairy tales.

So, without further ado, I'll hand you over to Eloisa:

Thanks, Anna. It's always fun to visit the Banditas!

I grew up on a steady diet of fairy tales. My parents read them aloud to us, and then sprinkled Arthur Lang’s Blue, Green, Brown Fairy Books around the house. But much more importantly, fairy tales truly interested my father, Robert Bly. Years later, when I was in graduate school, he wrote a long analysis of one such story, called Iron John. When I was a child, he was just breaking in the fairy tale analysis, as it were. I have a distinct memory of being challenged to give a psychological explanation of the tale of Jack and the Beanstalk.

My current novel, A Kiss at Midnight, seems a natural development from my childhood; it’s my own version of Cinderella. After all, having parents who prompted me to analyze fairy stories means that I found myself wondering what on earth that prince was thinking to choose his wife at a ball? Would I accept a man who could recognize me only by the size of foot? (Answer: Absolutely not!) And just how evil was that evil stepmother?

I had a wonderful time writing A Kiss at Midnight. My heroine Kate is a feisty, funny version of Cinderella: not a victimized scullery girl, but a young woman placed in an awful situation, and making the best of it. My fairy godmother, though she doesn’t wave a wand, is just the kind of godmother we all wish we had. And the Prince…well, Gabriel turned out to have many reasons for that ball, and falling in love with Kate was not one of them. I tried to take my father’s lessons to heart: rather than creating a saccharine sweet version of the original story, I thought about the choices my characters faced. I think I succeeded; Publishers’ Weekly called A Kiss at Midnight “a candy floss comic romp around a core of heartache.”

So what’s the one element of Cinderella that you think absolutely HAS to be in a rewriting to make it worth reading? Another way of asking the same question: what’s your favorite element of the Disney movie or any other version? And—channeling my father here—why is that one element so important? The great thing about literary analysis is that there are no wrong answers, so go for it!

Eloisa has very generously offered FIVE prizes of a signed copy of Pleasure for Pleasure to five lucky commenters!!

Swept Away

posted by Nancy


Today Avon debut author Katharine Ashe makes her first visit to the Lair. Katharine lives in the wonderfully warm Southeast with her husband, son, two dogs, and a garden she likes to call romantic rather than unkempt. A professor of European history, she has made her home in California, Italy, France, and the northern US. RT Book Reviews awarded her debut historical romance, SWEPT AWAY BY A KISS, a “TOP PICK!” review, calling it “a page-turner and a keeper.” Welcome, Katharine, and congratulations on your great review!

What inspired you to write this book?

Inspiration always begins for me with a perfectly matched hero and heroine. When I first came up with the idea for SWEPT AWAY BY A KISS, I was in graduate school. Voraciously devouring my favorite Regency romances to avoid writing my dissertation (g!), I invented a character on the edge of polite society: a young heiress traveling home to England after spending two years exiled in Boston by her father for scandalous behavior. At the time I also happened to be reading a friend’s dissertation on the French Caribbean as well as a giant tome on the history of the Jesuits. I took a bit of each and threw in a dangerous mission, and a dashing hero to match my spirited heroine was born!

Who are the hero and heroine, and how do they meet?

Upon the high seas, black-sheep nobleman Lord Steven Ashford plays a perilous game. By disguising himself as a French priest he hopes to ruin a powerful villain ensconced at the highest level of the British aristocracy. When pirates seize his ship, it brings him one step closer to his nemesis. But he doesn’t count on the fiery beauty imprisoned with him.

In desperate attempts to win the attention of her aloof father, during her first season in society Lady Valerie Monroe made a habit of luring inappropriate men into dalliances. On the way home after her long sojourn abroad, longing for acceptance amongst society and to finally be loved for who she really is, she vows to leave behind such childish wiles. Then fate throws her into the hands of pirates who imprison her with a breathtakingly handsome and mysterious Man of the Cloth. Valerie knows it must be divine punishment for her past sins.

What’s their biggest relationship issue?

Always a huntress before, Valerie has never been prey. Frightened--and confused by her desire for her fellow prisoner despite her commitment to changing--she determines to escape their pirate captors. Regretting what she must do, she revives her wicked ways in an attempt to beguile the priest into helping her at any cost. But she fears that this time she will be the one seduced... into losing her heart.

Steven’s noble mission binds him to a solitary life as no prison cell ever could. His work is dangerous, his destiny determined by much more than his desires. He cannot reveal himself to the tempting beauty any more than he can risk her safety with his intrigues. But her spirit is strong, her eyes and words beckon, and his resistance is crumbling fast.

What’s their biggest other problem?

When the pirate captain threatens Valerie’s life, she and Steven must work together to defeat him. But back in England Steven’s true enemy has discovered all. At a snow-bedecked Christmas gathering upon a country estate, Steven--now in the guise of an exquisitely elegant gentleman of fashion--struggles to keep Valerie safe from danger. But now Valerie knows his true identity and she wants him with everything in her. To help him defeat his foe, she must put aside the girl she once was and become the one woman worthy of winning the noble adventurer’s heart.


Can we have a peek inside the book?

Steven rose to his knees, forcing a calm to his movements he did not feel. He scanned the elaborate system of knots wrapped around her body.

“Where is your knife?”

“In my shoe.”

He moved to the clothing piled upon the chair, all save her shift. The madman tied a woman like an animal, yet folded her garments neatly for reuse. Steven drew the tiny weapon from the lining of the costly leather boot and turned back to the bed.

“This will not be of use upon most of the knots. They are too close to your skin.” Watching her pale face, he sat at the foot of the bed and grasped the rope stretching from her ankle to the post. He set the knife to it.

“No.” Her voice was rough. “Do not use it. Then he will know I have it.”

Steven regarded her steadily, a rush of sharp heat sweeping through him. Valerie’s body, clad in the sheerest fabric, tensed against the bindings. Color dusted her cheeks. She craved freedom, but from much more than these tethers. She would not allow this setback to cow her into submission or carelessness. Desire curled in Steven’s blood, mixing with respect and fresh anger.

He pushed aside the sensations. “I should have thought of that.”

“Why?” She scanned his clerical robe. “Are you accustomed to concealing knives from pirate captors?”

He lifted a brow and returned to his task. “I will break the glass on the lamp. It will appear I used that to cut the rope.”

“Clever,” she murmured. “Perhaps you are a dab hand at deception after all, despite your avowal the other day.”

Steven did not respond. He could not. He had told her he preferred the truth, but everything he let her believe about him was a lie.

He cut into the rope.

“It is a very small knife,” she finally said, quietly this time.

“It will do.”

“I never imagined it would be of any use, and now I have employed it twice in a single day.”

He felt her gaze upon his back as he worked, like a touch. The blade was thin but sharp. The rope snapped and Valerie curled up her leg, her bare skin brushing across linen. Ignoring his heightened pulse, Steven moved to the other side of the bed and set to the bonds attached to the foot-post there. In a minute, the sliced rope slipped through his hand. She drew her knees together.

“And for the rest?” she asked.

He turned to face her, unsurprised at the upward tilt of her chin. A brave woman, Valerie Monroe, and infinitely more seductive in her defiance than any man’s warped fantasies could render her with ropes and gags.

Steven studied the complex network of twists and loops and drew in a long breath.

“He has contrived a series of lynch knots. Not impossible to unravel, but each connected to the next, beginning at the top. This will take some time.”

“That’s all right. I have no other engagements this evening.”

Steven met her candid gaze. In the gathering twilight, her eyes glowed the color of storm-tossed waves. One slender, dark brow perched higher than the other. He allowed himself a muted grin.

“No names yet upon your dance card, my lady?”

“Not yet, although I still have hope.”

Oooh, terrific! What’s next for you?

CAPTUERD BY A ROGUE LORD, the second book in my debut trilogy from Avon, will be in bookstores April 2011. London society knows Lord Alex Savege as a devastatingly rakish earl. In his secret identity as the pirate captain Redstone, Alex seizes the yachts of spoiled nobles and donates the swag to charity. But years ago he began his double life with less than noble intentions. Now a lovely minx, Serena Carlyle, is determined to halt a band of smugglers. When she begs Redstone for help, will Alex finally become the real hero she desires?

For more information about Katharine and her books, visit her website.

Katharine is giving away one copy of SWEPT AWAY BY A KISS to a commenter, so tell us, what's your favorite first meeting between a hero and heroine? Your favorite rescue story? Your favorite tale of political or social intrigue?

Bandita Booty!!!

The winner of Heather Webber's

Deeply, Desperately is CHEY !!! Please send your contact information to DMacWeb@wowway.com and we'll get the book right out to you. Thanks for visiting the Romance Bandits.

Cheap & Easy

by Susan Sey

Okay, it's late summer. It's too hot to think hard. School won't start again for a month but I've already trotted out all the kid-distracting tricks I know. The excitement of summer travel wore off about six weeks ago but there's still at least one road trip on the old calendar. The novelty of the grill wore off a month ago but there are still dinners to be fixed.

At this point, I'll do just barely enough to get by. I'll continue to feed the family but it'll be absolutely without ambition or pizazz. That grilled pizza thing I was so into a while back? Yeah, that was June. That smoothy jag? July.

It's August now, & I'm all about cheap & easy.

Last night I fed the family a big bowl of baby spinach covered with chopped up garden burger, cottage cheese & salsa. I called it a salad. They ate it but were dubious. I don't blame them.

Here are a few of my shortcuts this month that are going to save my sanity:

1) No More Mommy Martyr. Our roles in the family go something like this: My husband suggests outlandish things we can't afford--anything from a big screen TV to eating out seven nights a week--and I say, "What?? No way!" He gets to dream big & I get to be a control freak. It works for us. These days, however, at the merest suggestion of eating out, I say, "Absolutely! What a great idea!" I generally produce a coupon, or insist on someplace cheap, but I'm all about not cooking dinner.

2) Playground Group. I'm a stay at home mom, & I resent paying for childcare. I *am* childcare. That's why we don't pay for it. But I'm on page 74 of the first draft of my most recent masterpiece & I'm aiming to have it done by December. I need to get a move on. Therefore, in spite of my moral objections, I paid for the kids to go to an organized playground thing a couple hours a day, a couple days a week this month. I drop them off, take my computer to my beloved Bruegger's & work without interruption. It's bliss. I totally get why lots of women view work as a cherished respite rather than a hassle. I never had a job I liked that much before, but I like writing enough to finally understand.

3) Precut veggies. Okay, I'm embarrassed about this one but hell, I'm among friends. I'll admit it. I'm a big fan of natural foods, foods in their rawest format. The less processed the better. I'm one of those shop-around-the-perimeter-of-the-grocery store freaks. Even under duress, I'm not going to buy my kids those Trix yogurt tubes that have as much sugar as a can of pop. But I recently discovered that my beloved Sam's Club carries a ginormous bag of pre-cut, pre-washed broccoli florets. I can grab a handful & shove them in the steamer five minutes before dinner & voila! Fresh veggies for the family. And all I had to do was pay like twice as much for it as I do a regular old head of broccoli.

But desperate times & all that.

So how about you? Are you cutting any corners here in the dog days of August? Confess them here & make me feel better. If they're particularly good, I'll probably use them myself. So thanks in advance.

Bandita Booty - Tessa Dare

Bandita Booty !!!!!!

Sheree has won a copy of Tessa Dare's Dark Embers. Please send your contact information to DMacWeb@wowway.com and we'll get that right out to you.

Heather Webber, Casting Director

Hosted by Donna MacMeans

Back in February, I was participating in a book signing in Cincinnati and discovered the lovely Heather Webber sitting beside me. Heather grew up in a suburb of Boston, where she learned early on how to ride the T, skip rocks in the ocean, and root for the Red Sox. As a young mother, she tried her hand at writing novels and hasn’t looked back. These days she lives in southwestern Ohio with her high school sweetheart and their three children. She is currently hard at work on her next novel.
Join me in welcoming Heather to the lair.

I think every author at some point is asked who they would like to see playing their characters in a movie. This question is so popular that there’s even a website dedicated to it. http://www.storycasting.com/browseauthors.aspx

Yet, for nine books I’ve avoided this question, passed it off, or pleaded the fifth. Not so much because I didn’t have actors in mind, but because as a reader I always like to form my own vision of a character and didn’t want to ruin that experience for others out there who like to do the same. There’s no one more perfect than the characters I create in my own mind. I can see the exact color blue of an eye, the slight wave to their hair, the smooth, sculpted muscles of a stomach… And no matter how much an actor may come close to what I envision, in my mind, no one compares.

The question of who I’d cast, however, persists. And I’ve come to realize that readers are just curious. No matter what I say, they’ll still have that perfect vision they created in their mind. So I’ve decided to play along this time, with my new series.

The black sheep of her matchmaking family, psychic Lucy Valentine uses her abilities to reunite long lost loves and solve cold cases for the state police. She’s tall, blond, brown-eyed. There are hundreds of actresses that fit that bill, but not so many that have that je ne sais quoi, that special something that makes a character come alive on a big screen (or a small screen—hey, I’m not picky). The actress needs to have the magic to express why Lucy would take in handicapped animals (a three-legged cat and one-eyed hamster), put up with her matchmaking grandmother, consider Twinkies a part of a balanced diet, and live with the knowledge that thanks to a family curse she can never find true love.

Then there’s sexy PI Sean Donahue who becomes Lucy’s business partner and falls hard for her. He has secrets of his own—big ones—and the actor playing him needs to convey more than dark hair, pearl gray eyes, and superhero jaw. This actor needs to express Sean’s inner pain—the knowledge that a physical ailment may cause his death at any moment, and that because of his illness his whole life has had to change. He has had to change.

Remember, no one can live up to the characters in my mind, but if I were to choose actors to play Lucy and Sean, I’d pick:

Piper Perabo from USA’s Covert Affairs and Matt Bomer, from USA’s White Collar. They are closest I’ve seen to match the images in my mind. Now I just need someone to offer me a movie deal…

Do you cast characters in your mind as you read? Or choose to create your own images? One person posting a comment will win a copy of Deeply, Desperately. You can find more info at www.heatherwebber.com

Camp Prom

by Susan Sey

When I was in high school, we referred to the junior/senior prom simply as Prom. Not the prom. Prom. Proper noun. As in, "Are you going to Prom?" "Anybody ask you to Prom yet?" "I found a wicked awesome dress for Prom this weekend. It'll rock with my black lace half-gloves & asymmetrical haircut."

Maybe it was a generational thing. (Those gloves sure were.) Because I also seem to remember referring to summer camp that way. "You sign up for Camp yet?" "I'm doing the two-week Camp this summer, plus a week of CIT training." "I can't wait for Camp."

I, like many geeky misfits, lived for Camp. (Prom not so much.) Camp was time out of time, a brief respite from a social hierarchy cemented in elementary school. Camp was full of kids who didn't know about the time in 3rd grade when you barfed corn dogs all over Mrs. Ecklestein's floor, and had never heard about your ill-fated flirtation with the crimping iron and stirrup pants.

Camp was a new wardrobe, a clean slate & a fresh start.

But more than that, Camp was also full of friends. Not just friends, though. Peers. Like-minded souls. Camp usually self-selects--church camp, horse camp, choir camp, sports camp...whatever it is, you're suddenly surrounded by people who love what you love.

Camp means finding your People. And time with them is precious. Brief. A cherished few weeks or days once a year.

I have finally realized that RWA's national convention is my new Camp.

I take a few days each summer to spend with my People. People who understand that the only thing scary about hearing voices in your head is the possibility that one day they may disappear.

People who fling around terms like Pantser & Plotzer with completely straight faces.

People who nod with grave sympathy when you tell them you chickened out of a fan girl moment for the fifth year in a row & tell you about the time they had one too many glasses of wine and didn't chicken out of their fan girl moment but sincerely wish they had.

I'm home now, exhausted from the travel & late nights. Terrified by the work ahead of me that seemed so possible and thrilling when I discussed it with my People just a few days ago.

And I have a whole year to walk through before it happens again. A whole book to write. Maybe two.

But I'm also energized from floating on all that creative energy, and motivated by having spoken by goals out loud to people who won't hesitate to kick my butt for me should I hesitated to follow through.

So now? Now I get to work. Wish me luck. And don't be afraid to drop me a stern email every now & then to make sure I'm on track.

How about you? What's your oasis every year, your respite from the grind? Who are your People, & where do you find them? How do you keep going between visits?

Coming Right Up....

by Susan Sey

BREAKING NEWS: Last night, our own fabulous BETH ANDREWS won the RITA Award in the Best Contemporary Series Romance category for her wonderful book A Not-So-Perfect Past. Congratulations, Beth!!! You can check out all the winners at the RWA National website. PARTY IN THE LAIR!!!

August! Welcome home, all you RWA goers! I know you miss all your writing friends like crazy, so here's a little something to cheer you up: A preview of August's fantastic features!

August 3: Donna MacMeans will host Heather Webber who'll be talking about her casting decisions for her latest release Deeply, Desperately.



August 5: Nancy interviews Avon debut author Katherine Ashe about her dynamite historical, Swept Away by a Kiss.



August 6: One of the Lair's favourite visitors, Eloisa James, returns to talk about fairy tales, Cinderella and her eagerly awaited book, A Kiss at Midnight.
August 16: Best selling author Brenda Novak will return to the Lair with JoMama to discuss her new trilogy and answer questions most asked by her fans.




WHITE HEAT releases on July 27 and Brenda's throwing a fabulous cyber-party to celebrate. Visit www.brendanovak.com for the deets. Her annual Auction fo Diabetes Research reached the one million mark this year!

Also, Brenda's been nominated for a 2010 RITA for her ON A SNOWY CHRISTMAS. Congratulations! We're so fortunate to have her return to the Lair again!
August 15: Trish Milburn's (or should I say Tricia Mills?) release party for her newest young adult novel, Winter Longing. Love Alaska? Love tales of first love? Books that twist your emotions like a dish cloth? This book has it all!




August 19: Suzanne Ferrell brings Wendy Watson to chat with us about her second in the Murder A La Mode series, Scoop To Kill. Wendy and Suz will serve up some fun, mystery and maybe an ice cream or two in the hot summer fun!

August 20: Tawny's release party

August 27: Barbara Monjem returns to chat with Nancy about Tastes of Love and Evil, the second in her Bayou Gavotte paranormal romance series (which was also an unpubbed Maggie winner!)
August 31: Grab a gladiator & a drink (not necessarily in that order) and get ready to get sinful as we celebrate Jeanne Adam's smokin' new release Deadly Little Sins!





And warm up that lucky rabbit's foot, because we have contests, too! From Anna Campbell:


Anna Campbell is giving away TWO Change of Season Reading Packs in her latest website contest. Each pack will include signed copies of MY RECKLESS SURRENDER by AnnaCampbell, SWEETEST LITTLE SIN by Christine WElls, IS MISTRESS FOR A MILLION by Trish Morey, THE GREEK'S CONVENIENT MISTRESS by Annie West, DARK DECEIVER by Pamela Palmer, and either DOES SHE DARE? or RISQUE BUSINESS by Tawny Weber. Just email Anna on anna@annacampbell.info and tell her one other book by each of these authors (the website links are on her contest page to make it easy) to go into the draw. For more information, please visit Anna's contest page.