Quick Five for Sunday!

by Anna Sugden

It's that time again?! Isn't time flying by fast, these days? Or is it just me? It seems like it was only yesterday that we were moaning about the winter weather and looking forward to summer!


Anyway, as usual, I've been trying to catch up with things and feel like a mouse on one of those little wheels. Completely forgot what day of the month it was!

So, here is a Quick Five post for you to enjoy. Simple, really, five quick questions for you to answer.

1. Which musician/band, living or dead, do you wish you could see?

2. Which musicians/bands have you seen which you think are the best?

3. Which famous actor/actress would you like to meet?

4. Which famous person would you like to meet?

5. Have you met any famous people?

Here are my answers:

1. Queen. I really wish I'd had the opportunity to see them before Freddy Mercury passed on.

2. This was tough - loved Cher, Springsteen, Clapton, Madness and the Stones. My favourites for sheer entertainment would probably be David Bowie, Meatloaf, The Dixie Chicks and Status Quo.

3. I'm torn between classical favourites like Cary Grant, Errol Flynn, Katherine Hepburn and Audrey Hepburn and modern favourites like Susan Sarandon, Goldie Hawn and Jeff Bridges.

4. Other than certain hockey players *g*, I'd like to meet Laura Ingalls Wilder - she sounded such an interesting person and I loved going to De Smet to see where she grew up.

5. Again, other than certain hockey players *g*, probably my most famous would be the Queen Mother - when I was younger I went to tea at St James' Palace!

Over to you - what are your answers to my Sunday Quick Five?

Prize Winner!

by Anna Sugden

Sorry!! I meant to post this a long time ago!

Some of you may remember that I had a post about my visit to the RNA Conference in Greenwich and asked you to come up with a name for my little feathered friend - the Golden Rooster's English cousin.

As much as I loved Pink Peony's suggestion of Royal Pecker, I had to go with Fowling!

Congratulations to Jane!

If you send your snail mail details to anna@annasugden.com, I'll pop your prize in the post to you.

And as runner up, Pink Peony, if you send your details I'll pop a runners up prize of a Romance Bandits bookmark (signed by me) in the post to you.

Bandit Booty!

It's Booty Time--with lots to give away!

The winner of the fabulous Blood Brothers and two other books from my Synergy and Geekdom blog is Helen!

A copy of Katharine Ashe's wonderful Swept Away by a Kiss goes to Melinda Leigh!

The winning commenter today, receiving a signed copy of Demonkeepers and two other books is Janga!

Winners, please email your contact information to me via the link at the top of the blog and put "for Nancy" in the subject line. Thanks to everyone who stopped by. If you didn't win, better luck next time!

Here Be Dragons

by Nancy

"Here be dragons," read the margins of old maps, warning of dangers in the seas beyond the known (flat) world. Today, however, we know what's in those spaces, or think we do, and dragons are consigned to the realms of myth and magic.

A book I've been using for research on the current wip says dragons are part of almost every culture on the planet, that they're associated with the Great Goddess and are symbols of power and royalty. Pretty cool.

The book also mentions an herb called dragon blood that's used for a variety of magical purposes, such as those involving love, purification and protection. Some sources say it can add power to particular spells.

Helping carry a long paper dragon is part of Chinese New Year celebrations. King Arthur's surname has come down to us in legend as Pendragon, and Wales historically used a red dragon on its flag. Beowulf fought his last battle against a firedrake, a winged serpent that breathed fire.

The Vikings, as I imagine we all know, carved dragon heads onto the prows of their ships. In Norse mythology, the dragon Fafnir guarded a treasure hoard until Sigurd, or Siegfried, slew him. Jormungand, the Midgard Serpent, coiled around the world with his tail in his mouth and created the oceans.

One of my favorite children's songs is "Puff the Magic Dragon" by Peter, Paul and Mary. If you're too young to know who they are, click on the link. I think "Puff" is probably available from iTunes or from their website. It's a sad song about what happens to our childhood's imaginary friends when we move on, but it has an upbeat ending. And no, I never made the counter-culture associations with it until someone pointed them out to me.

The boy has led us to many fictional and fabulous dragons. Playmobil makes wonderful, if pricey, knights and dragons. One of the boy's favorite Pokemon was the orange dragon, Charizard, who had a very obstinate and independent personality. From Pokemon, our son moved to Yu-Gi-Oh, which featured the Blue Eyes White dragon and several others.

If you like dragons, you should check out the beautiful, detailed children's book Dragonology, which I would never have seen if the boy hadn't been the right age to care when it came out.

Much as Sherlock Holmes's adventures are presented as John Watson's chronicles, the material here is supposedly the result of extensive research by a Victorian dragonologist into types of dragons, preferred foods, ability to fly, ability to speak, and pretty much anything else a person might ponder about dragons.


The boy also had a gorgeous picture book about why dragons left the world, but I can't remember the title. One of his favorite picture books was Saint George and the Dragon (original cover pictured at left), with text by Margaret Hodges and illustrations by Trina Schart Hyman, who won the Caldecott Award for it.

The tale of St. George and the dragon, of course, is an old one. This version comes from Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queen, but it's beautifully retold. When the boy weeded his childhood books, we refused to let him discard this one or Dragonology.


Our search for adventure books to share with our young son, who had no bias against stories starring girls, led us to Patricia C. Wrede's wonderful series about Cimorene, a princess who hates court life so much that she runs away to cook for a dragon. When knights come to her aid, she finds creative ways to discourage them because she has no desire to be rescued, thank you very much.

The first book, Dealing with Dragons, is pictured at right. The books are rich in story and humor, and the princess has major but endearing attitude and quick wits. She eventually finds true love. The last book in the series, actually the first published, features her son.


Now the boy is into Naomi Novik's Temeraire series, an alternate history of the Napoleonic Wars in which the armies have air forces mounted on dragons. In the first book, His Majesty's Dragon, a Royal Navy captain captures a rare dragon egg, only to have it hatch on his ship. The dragon, Temeraire, chooses the captain as his rider, changing his life forever.

Novik won SFWA's John W. Campbell Award for the most promising newcomer with this book. The series is now up to six and still going strong. They're on the "must read" list for me, but I'm putting them off until the first of the year, when I'm not teaching, lest I be swept up and unable to stop until I reach the end. The Aerial Corps, as England's dragonriders are known, seems like the Napoleonic equivalent of World War II's RAF, and I'm a real sucker for Battle of Britain stories. And dragons.

As an adult reading Tolkien for the first time, I met Smaug, the greedy creature who has a riddle match with Bilbo Baggins in his cave outside the town of Dale. Given my weakness for archers and Smaug's sly malevolence, it's no wonder I loved the scene where Bard the Bowman's expert shot brought down the dragon. I didn't love the Bakshi version, so I'll be interested to see how this comes across in the forthcoming movie.


The first dragons I remember finding really cool were in Anne McCaffrey's Dragonflight (pictured at right with the beautiful Michael Whelan cover that graces my copy), the book that launched her epic Dragonriders of Pern series. The planet Pern suffers from periodic invasions by something called thread--long filament spores that fall from the sky, starting fires and eating through anything they touch. To combat them, the Pernese bond with dragons when they hatch. As pairs, they take to the sky to fight thread before it reaches the ground. The riders feed the dragons stones that help generate fire breath, and the dragons destroy thread before it reaches the ground.

F'lar, the dragonriders' leader, knows a queen egg is about to hatch. Because dragons choose their riders, not the other way around, he needs a selection of girls available to greet the hatchling. When he rescues Lessa, an abused servant, and takes her back to the weyr for the hatching, he doesn't realize she and the golden queen, Ramoth, will win not only the planet's future but his heart.

I also loved Melanie Rawn's Dragon series, which starts with Dragon Prince. In a land threatened constantly by war, a new ruler and his wife struggle to protect the dragons tradition demands he slay. Doing so may be their best hope of avoiding war. There are six of these, shelved in fantasy but including a lot of romance. Another wonderful book is Barbara Hambly's Dragonsbane, which kicks off her Winterlands series.

There are plenty of other dragons out there. Allyson James's Stormwalker features a shapeshifter dragon as a hero, and Deborah Cooke has a series about shapeshifter dragons, just to name two. One of my favorite guilty pleasures movies is Reign of Fire, starring Christian Bale and Matthew McConnaughey, an alternate future tale about humans trying to destroy the dragons that have decimated them. Dragonheart, with Dennis Quaid and Sean Connery, has lots of fans, and How to Train Your Dragon has done well in theaters this summer.

So what are your favorite stories about dragons or other mythical creatures? A package of books I picked up from RWA National, including a signed copy of Jessica Andersen's wonderful Demonkeeper, will go to one commenter today.

It's Party Time!!!

by Tawny

Wooohooooooooooooooooooo!!! It's that time again - Par-Tay Time in the Lair. I'm sooo excited to celebrate the release this next week of my 8th Harlequin Blaze, RIDING THE WAVES. Here's the blurb, in case you are wondering what kind of waves are being ridden *g*:

What happens in Mexico... doesn’t always stay there!

All uptight workaholic Drucilla Robichoux wants is to experience incredible sex, at least once in her life. So she heads off to Mexico for some sun, sand and sin. And she finds the perfect playmate in sexy surf instructor Alex. Her temporary boy toy teaches Dru to ride the waves, all right...
...right into the most intense climaxes she’s ever had!
But all vacation flings must end. When Dru heads home, she buttons up tight again. Might as well keep this delicious fantasy right where it belongs... in her naughty memories.

So it sure is a shock when she walks into work Monday morning and finds her secret fling is her new boss! And he’s definitely still interested in catching the big one with Dru.

Yeeeehaw! Drinks all around! The margarita fountain is flowing, party-hat wearing hotties are coming around with appetizer trays and wine and I think the tequila shooters are over there (pointing to that corner over there, where Madame and Aunty Cindy are whistling for the cabana boys).

This was a fun book to write. I got to learn to surf (virtually), learn new things about the science of astrophysics (virtually) and spend a whole lot of time thinking about fantasies. RIDING THE WAVES is a Forbidden Fantasy story. Which means Drucilla thinks she's in this perfect place where she can give herself over to all KINDS of indulgences. And her first indulgence she sees? It went something like this:

Reveling in the feel of the tiny grains shifting around her feet, Drucilla headed straight for the water. It wasn’t until she was halfway there that she saw him.

Her heart, and her feet, stopped.

Her mouth went as dry as the sand clinging to her ankles. She didn’t blink when the soft breeze sent tendrils of her hair into her eyes, just batted it away so it didn’t interfere with her view.

Oh. My. God.

He was incredible. Like some water god, he flew over the waves. The water glistened on his golden muscles like jewels in the fading light. Arms outstretched, biceps glinting as he balanced on the deep purple surfboard. Was he real? A figment of her lusty imagination? The manifestation of her every sexual fantasy? Dru’s breath came in long, labored bursts. Her eyes watered because she was afraid to blink, fearing he’d disappear.

Her hands itched to touch that bare chest, to run her fingers down the dusting of dark hair that perfectly highlighted his well-muscled chest. She stared as he got closer to shore, watching him shift his knees to a low crouch as he rode the wave all the way to the beach.

There was something so amazing about surfers. She’d always imagined them to be fearless. Able to embrace anything life handed them and ride it to success.

And talk about muscle control. That was the kind of guy who rock against-a-wall sex and not drop the woman as she melted in orgasmic glory all over him.

Was he real? Or had her sex-deprived imagination conjured up the perfect man to fulfill her every kinky fantasy?

About thirty feet away, she watched him walk across the sand. This close, she could see how young he was. Mid-twenties at the most. His dripping hair fell in inky black curls around his head, his beautiful face adding to the image of a Greek God come to life.

He stopped at the brightly decorated surf shop bungalow, and she watched him key in a code, then open the door and store his board. His familiarity made it obvious he wasn’t a guest. Did he work at the hotel?

Whatever he did, he was obviously out of her league. Not that it mattered. It wasn’t like a sweet young thing like him would have any interest in an almost thirty-year-old scientist with social anxieties and repressed sexual needs.

Needs she’d been perfectly fine ignoring until Nikki had gotten her all riled up over her crazy ideas. Insane ideas. Dru had no idea how to flirt, how to attract a man’s attention. Especially not a man like that. No matter what Nikki had suggested, Dru wasn’t here for a fling.

Except here he was. The most incredible man she’d ever seen. A man who would definitely not stop mid-thrust, but know how to bring a woman to a screaming orgasm, then make her writhe and beg for more.

And then he turned. Their eyes met. Dru’s breath lodged somewhere between her aching nipples and her suddenly dry mouth. His gaze holding her captive from twenty feet away, one corner of his mouth quirked in a charmingly adorable little boy grin.

And he walked toward her. Frozen in the sand, Drucilla didn’t know if she should pull back her shoulders, stick out her chest and smile beguilingly. Or turn on her bare heel and run like hell.


Whew! I think we need to have cake and ice cream, and celebrate now, don't you? Who has the cake knife? Trish? Nancy?

I loved writing a Forbidden Fantasy. Don't you love the sound of that? Both forbidden and fantasy make me just sigh and go into dream-mode.

In the story, Drucilla gives in and indulges in her ultimate forbidden fantasy - a vacation fling. She also indulges in wildly patterned dresses, kicky heels and decadent breakfasts. The dresses, the heels and the food are all lovely vacation memories when she gets back home. And the fling? Ooops, he's her new partner! And as hot as that vacation fling was... this is when things really heat up!

How about you? What's your favorite fantasy? Would you go for the all night party? The hot young thing? A weekend of margaritas and a chocolate covered Johnny Depp (oh wait -that's my fantasy!)

Come on in, grab a drink (what're you having?), grab a fantasy hunk (who're you having?) and share a little vacation fantasy indulgence. And what's a party without party favors? I'll offer a book (anything from my back list) to three random commenter's today!

Wendy Watson Returns With More Mystery Ice Cream!

interview with Suzanne

Wendy Lyn Watson writes deliciously funny cozy mysteries with a dollop of romance.  Her Mysteries a la Mode (I Scream, You Scream (October, 2009) and Scoop to Kill (September 7, 2010)) feature amateur sleuth Tallulah Jones, who solves murders in between scooping sundaes.  While she does not commit--or solve--murders in real life, Wendy can kill a pint of ice cream in nothing flat.  She's also passionately devoted to 80s music, Asian horror films, and reality TV.  (www.wendylynwatson.com)

Suz: Welcome back to the Bandit Lair, Wendy, and congratulations on the upcoming release of your second book, Scoop To Kill, in your cozy mystery series Mystery A La Mode! We so enjoyed having you with us last year. Pull up a chair, Sven brought us a pitcher of cool Mojitos to share while we chat, and tell us what you've been up to the past year.

Wendy: Thanks for the cocktail, Sven! And thank you, Suz, for inviting me back to the Lair.

It's been a busy year, Chez Wendy. I've been so busy promoting my Mysteries a la Mode, going to conferences and book festivals, talking to writing and reading groups . . . I think I've traveled more this year than in the five years before. And, of course, I've been writing, both the second and third Mysteries a la Mode and developing a few other projects (both cozy and dark). Stay tuned!


Suz: So, book 2 is titled Scoop To Kill (I love these titles) and has the same heroine as in the first book, I Scream, You Scream, Tallulah Jones. What trouble does she get into this time?

Wendy: This time around, Tally's neice Alice, who is a student at the local college, stumbles over the body of a murdered graduate student. When Alice's favorite teacher looks like Suspect #1, Alice rushes in to prove her innocence, and Tally is not far behind ... trying to protect Alice. Together, they uncover all sorts of Ivy League shenanigans.


Suz: I see her old boyfriend Finn is back for book 2. Without giving away details, want to fill us in on their relationship?

Wendy: Oh, yes. Finn. Tally and Finn are still trying to work out their relationship, how to know each other as the adults they are now and not the kids they were when they dated in high school. But the sparks are flying . . . and in Scoop to Kill, Finn has some competition for Tally's affection.



Suz: Your secondary cast of characters are a hoot. Did you base them on people you know? And how important of a role do you think they fill in cozy mysteries?

Wendy: I sometimes borrow bits and pieces of people--physical characteristics, quirks, turns of phrase--for my secondary characters, but I never take anyone wholesale. Honest.

Secondary characters are critical to cozies. To sustain a series with the same core group of characters, they all have to pull their weight; you can't rely solely on your heroine to keep things interesting. A lot of secondary characters end up with a very important role: suspect. Those people have to be complex, even if they're only in a few scenes. They have to be capable of murder, but not downright evil. Developing characters to the point that readers can say, "yes, pushed in just the right way, I can imagine this person committing the ultimate crime," that takes a little effort.

Suz: Last time you gave away a great ice cream sauce recipe in your book. Any special items for your readers this time?

Wendy: Absolutely! This time around, there's a great recipe for Peanut Butter `Smores Ice Cream Cake and an interesting milkshake recipe. It involves a Dr Pepper reduction . . . but you have to trust me, it's delish.

Suz: Peanut Butter 'Smores Ice Cream Cake? Girl, you are trying to kill me. (Sven, quick copy down that recipe!) Ahem, so, Wendy, when can we expect the next book in this series? (Please don't tell me one a year? I really can't take it!)

Wendy: Not quite a year ... Book Three (tentatively entitled "A Parfait Murder") is due out in June of 2011.

Suz: Have you thought about writing in another sub genre?

Wendy: I have! I love cozies--the humor, the whimsy, the heartfelt emotion--but I've got a project in the works that's straight suspense. It's been a trip, exploring my darker side. (People who know me might be surprised to find out I have a darker side ... but somewhere beneath the homemade cookies and giggles, I've got a real edge.) The real trick is balancing the two, moving between light and dark. Light comes naturally; I have to do some mental gymnastics to get into that frame of mind.

Wendy: So, since we were talking about secondary characters, Bree is Tally's cousin and also her side-kick. She is so much fun that she even gets her own fan mail. Do you have any favorite sidekicks in books? Who are they and what do you like about them? I'll be giving away a signed copy of to one lucky commenter.

Counting Drool Worthy Heroes

posted by Loucinda McGary aka Aunty Cindy

Thanks to the wonders of Google Alerts, I encountered this particular blog topic. The lovely Kylee J from Kylee's Journal included my hero Keirnan Fitzgerald from The Treasures of Venice in her list of Top 5 Male Crushes.

This exercise involves listing your favorite male "crushes" from books you've recently read. Or perhaps it was your top male "crushes" from any book, which makes me feel even more complimented that Kylee included Keirnan on her list.

That forced me to think (always a painful process) about which drool worthy heroes I would include on MY list of crushes, besides my own three yummy hunks, Donovan, Keirnan and Kevin, of course. How to chose from so many worthy candidates?

ANY of Anna Campbell's gorgeous, tortured hunks (Kylemore, Gideon, Eirth) are certainly drool worthy, as are Christine's dangerous Max Brooke, and the scrumptious Jardine. And I can't forget Christie's scandalous William Atherton or Donna's naughty Lord Nicholas! Plus on the contemporary side are Jeanne's dark and dangerous Caine Bradley, and Kate's sexy Derek Stone. Susan and Beth's reformed bad boys, Patrick and Dillon, and Tawny's cursed reporter Sebastian. And I'm not even through with just Bandita books yet.

Clearly this is a case of "too many heroes, too little time!"

So besides all those already mentioned, here's who would make my short list:

1. Roarke from JD Robb's In Death series -- he's sinfully gorgeous and rich, plus he's Irish! Just can't beat that combination.
2. Jamie Fraser from Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series --he probably single-handedly made both red heads and Scot heroes sexy.
   
3. Rupert Carsington from Loretta Chase's Mr. Impossible --he's pretty much impossible to improve upon.
4. Ranger from Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series -- Okay, okay! I know Stephanie will probably end up with Morelli, and she probably should. But Ranger is the one who makes my lil heart go pitty pat the loudest!

All righty, I'll stop there and let you have a turn. Who are some of the drool worthy heroes on your short list?

Of Pigs and Printers

by Christie Kelley

Technology is my friend…except when it’s not. It’s great when technology works properly and everything goes smooth. Unfortunately, Saturday wasn’t one of those days.

I seem to have an issue with printers. When I need them the most, something always seems to go terribly wrong.

I used to have my office in an open area of my old house where my boys would run through while playing or annoying each other. One of the many things would they do is fling rubber bands at each other from across the room. More than once, I found a rubber band in the paper tray blocking the paper from feeding correctly.

I’m currently in the middle of revisions for my fifth book, which I believe is now titled, ONE NIGHT SCANDAL. So on Saturday when I went to print out the book one more time, the printer wouldn’t feed the paper correctly. Hmm, the boys have seemingly outgrown the fine art of flinging of rubber bands at each other, so my first thought was the darn thing was broken.

I did my usually tech support thing, took the paper out, looked inside the paper feed and found nothing. I pulled out the can of air and sprayed it in the paper feed. Then, of course, I tried to print again. Once again, the paper jammed. More than a little frustrated, I did a little more in the name of research. I unplugged it and turned it upside down just in case something had fallen into it.

As I did this, I noticed something peculiar on my desk. I usually have three small “lucky” pigs sitting on my desk near my printer. Only today, instead of standing up and looking lucky, they were laying on their sides and horror of horrors—there were only two pigs!

Suddenly I remembered that my cat, Misha had been “playing” with them lately. And by playing, I mean picking them up in her mouth and carrying them to the floor. I glanced around and didn’t notice a pig on the floor. Where could little pig number three be?

I quickly grabbed a flashlight and peered inside my printer. What did I see? A little pink pig leg stuck down deep inside the feeder! One unlucky pig must have been picked up and dropped inside the printer by my cat! After a little pounding, the little pig came out. And yes, my printer started working again!!

So does anyone else have any funny technology stories? If not, how about a good pet story. I’m sure we all have one or two of those to share.

Book Winner

The winner of a copy of Winter Longing from my launch party yesterday is...Barbara Monajem. E-mail me at trishmilburn AT yahoo DOT com with your mailing address, and I'll get it out to you.

Thanks to everyone for making my launch party so much fun yesterday!

Welcome Back, Brenda Novak!

Jo Robertson, Hosting

We're happy to welcome NY Times and USA Today Best-selling Author Brenda Novak back to the Lair. This month Brenda released the first book in her new Department 6 series, WHITE HEAT, followed by BODY HEAT and KILLER HEAT. These stand-alone stories revolve around a private security company whose members work as "hired guns."

In WHITE HEAT, Nate Ferrentino and Rachel Jessop are hired to infiltrate a dangerous cult that has recently settled in the former ghost town of Paradise, Arizona. Members of this cult worship at the feet—and in the bed--of its charismatic leader, Ethan Wycliff. But with one woman claiming to have been stoned, and another missing, Wycliff might be more of a devil than the prophet he claims to be….

I attended Brenda's launch party for WHITE HEAT yesterday, picked up my own copy, and started reading last night. You'll enjoy Brenda's latest book! To one lucky commenter today Brenda's giving away a signed copy of WHITE HEAT, along with a lip gloss created especially for Brenda by Three Color Specialists, and named after her newest book -- that's right -- the lip gloss is called White Heat!

Join me in welcoming my good friend, Brenda Novak, back to the Lair to talk about "Writers Block" or ""Filling the Creative Well."

WRITERS BLOCK OR FILLING THE WELL

One question I get asked more than any other is whether or not I ever get writer's block. That dread inability to produce so often depicted (comedically and otherwise) in the media strikes fear into the heart of any writer at the mere mention of it.

But I don’t believe in writer’s block as something that can inexplicably steal my muse and thwart all my efforts to turn out a good book. There are days when I get stuck, however, when my scenes seem to be turning to drivel or I can’t get them to hold any emotional tension.

That’s when I know something is wrong. I’ve taken the story where it wasn’t meant to go, for lack of a better way to describe it. Fortunately, there are methods I can use to get myself “unstuck.” Experience has taught me to mentally step away from the manuscript and examine it from a macro perspective, always asking myself, “Where did you go wrong?”

I start from the beginning and check the story as a plumber might check a series of pipes for leaks. I feel my way along, testing each scene to see if it’s “holding water.” I read, consider, read, consider and read some more until I find the “break” or part that isn’t in harmony with my intuition.

Sometimes I do this by reading the manuscript aloud to my husband and asking for his input. Then we both look at the reasons my story isn’t coming together and hash it out between us. Maybe I’m forcing my characters to do or say things these types of characters would never do or say. Maybe I’m ascribing a certain trait or pathology to my villain that just isn’t ringing true. Maybe I’ve veered too far away from my “core story.” It’s a bit of a hassle to go back, and definitely risks some unraveling and rewriting, but if I take the time to do this I almost always find the point that’s troubling my subconscious and interrupting my ability to proceed. And once I find the break, I can fix it simply by figuring out WHY is isn't working.

Sometimes my production will fall not because the story isn’t coming together but because I’m too distracted to concentrate properly, or I’m emotionally exhausted. At these times, I need to “fill the well” by reading for pleasure, listening to music I find deeply stirring and emotional, or reading quotes or poems that resonate with me. The musical score from Les Miserables fires me up every time. Same with Phantom of the Opera. Watching a good movie will also jumpstart my muse.

My favorite is Last of the Mohicans. That emotional scene where the hero (played by Daniel-Day Lewis) is forced to leave the heroine (played by Madelyn Stowe) behind at the waterfall never fails to rejuvenate me. Taking a break to be with people helps, too. Laughter is a general cure-all.
The most important thing I can do when I run into a glitch in my story is to give myself time to work with it instead of overreacting. Panicking only makes it more difficult to fight through the rough patch. Occasionally, all I need to do is sleep. Somehow, my subconscious continues to mull over the problem--and when I get up in the morning, the path is once again clear.

Thanks, Brenda! It's comforting to know that the best-selling novelist of 35 books still needs to replenish her creative well.


What about you, readers? What do you do to replenish yourself creatively or to get back in touch with your core self. Don't forget -- one commenter will receive a copy of WHITE HEAT and a White Heat Lip Gloss created especially for Brenda.

It's Party Time!

I'm thrilled to host a launch party today for my newest young adult book, Winter Longing, written as Tricia Mills. I love this story, and I've been very, very happy to be getting good reviews for it from everyone from teen book bloggers to Publishers Weekly. Here's a bit about the story:

Winter Craig finally gets up the nerve and tells her long-time friend Spencer that she likes him as more than a friend. The best part? Spencer likes her as more than a friend too. With the perfect boy to love and be loved by, she begins her senior year at her small Alaska school and indulges in the dream of becoming a costume designer for the movie industry. Life is perfect — until tragedy strikes. Winter’s perfect life turns upside down as she deals with an unbearable loss, doubts about her future, a best friend whose home life is getting worse by the day, and unexpected feelings for an unexpected boy.

Typically, I write about places I've been, but an Alaska setting called to me for this story. I didn't have the moolah to plunk down for a trip to Alaska, so I did copious amounts of research. I picked the brain of a friend who once lived there. I read books, perused blogs of Alaska residents, utilized Google Earth and maps to get the lay of the land. I filled my TiVo with everything Alaska-related I could find -- everything from nature programs about the flora and fauna to Deadliest Catch, Discovery's show about crab fishermen on the Bering Sea. I tried to pepper in bits and pieces of this information to give the story an authentic feel.

I have long been fascinated with Alaska. I'm not sure when it started, but it's possible it was during the years of Northern Exposure. Though the show was actually filmed in Washington state, its setting was rural Alaska. I loved the interesting characters, the gorgeous vistas, the sense of community that came from living in one of the harshest places on earth. It takes a certain type of person to live in Alaska, whether they're a native or someone who moves in from "Outside" (what Alaskans call the Lower 48).

My fascination grew as I began to read Dana Stabenow's Kate Shugak mystery series. Her depictions of Alaska and its residents are so vivid that I'd swear I'd been there. I aspire to that as a writer. The series is currently in the works for a TV series, and I can't wait! Though I've always pictured Irene Bedard playing Kate (as I think Stabenow has too), I'm not sure how that will work out.

Men in Trees, starring Anne Heche, was another favorite. Again, it was full of quirky, fun characters, and a fish out of water story much like Northern Exposure. I hated that it got canceled when it did.

One of my current favorites is actually a reality show set in Alaska, Deadliest Catch. This show is full of interesting characters too, but they're real people doing the deadliest job in the world. When Captain Phil Harris died this year, it wasn't just a character viewers lost. It was a real man with a real family. This show illustrates the harshness of the seas off of America's last frontier. I've always been a fan of stories that pit man against the elements, so that's part of the appeal of this show and many other stories set in Alaska.

Is there a particular setting that calls to you as a reader or TV/movie viewer? If so, what is it and why does it appeal to you? One commenter today will win an autographed copy of Winter Longing.

You Make Me Feel Like Dancin'

by Beth

My younger daughter is going to see Step Up 3 tonight and can’t wait to see if this third movie lives up to the first one of the franchise. We both loved the original Step Up – her because of Channing Tatum and me because of the dancing *g* (Okay, Channing’s cute, too!) I’ve been a fan of musicals and dancing movies (movies with dancing IN them, not movies that can dance *g*) ever since I was little and saw Grease. I sang along with the album daily and even had a Grease book I read so many times, the binding came apart!

Some of my favorite movies with dancing in them include:

Footloose. Oh, how I loved Kevin Bacon as Ren, a city boy forced to live in a small, country town where one of the rules was No Dancing. And how about that soundtrack? Hearing any of those songs takes me back in time!

Dirty Dancing. This one came out during my teen years and all of my friends and I LOVED it! How awesome was Patrick Swayze as the boy from the other side of the tracks? *sigh* Nobody puts Baby in a corner! And the dancing? Soooo sexy!

Flashdance. I’m not sure which I loved more—the movie, the soundtrack or the off-the-shoulder-sweatshirt trend *g* It was a bit risque but the dancing was fun and fabulous!

Singing in the Rain. A wonderful classic with Gene Kelly that had it all: superb dancing, great songs, romance and humor! Still an all-time fave *g*

Do you like dancing movies? Which ones are your favorites? And a very important question: Are you a good dancer?

Stuck in The Middle

So the other day, I was fussing at my daughter. “Cricket Marie! Get out of the toilet bowl!”

Ahem, yes I’ve managed to give my sweet furry little girl a middle name.

That got me to thinking about middle names. The origins, the stories behind them. Mine is, as you might surmise Marie. This reflects my Catholic heritage when it was common (whispers) back in the 60’s to honor the Blessed Virgin by giving your daughter a variation of her name: Marie, Mary, Marion etc.

It has a good ring to it. “Joan Marie get your chin away from that hot cookie sheet!” Um, despite the exhortation from my mother, I didn’t and have vivid memories of the burn on my 4 yo chin and the great big Band-Aid on it.

Middle names did not begin until the late Middle Ages and not with English speakers until the 1600’s. As you can imagine with most history, the practice started among the aristocracy. In America middle names gained popularity after the American Revolution in, the South. “Fannie Mae, would ya’ll pass those biscuits please.” The enlistment form for World War I was the first form to provide space for a middle name.

The source of middle names began with lineage connections…great grandfathers, favorite aunts, rich relations. Many women took their maiden names as their middle names. This is the case our own Suz who can trace the practice in her family back to the 1800’s

Eventually, bestowing middle names became a way to differentiate people as the population increased where in any given area you may have fifteen “John Smiths”. So now you had “John William, John Davis, and maybe a John Jacob Gingleheimer Schmidt. Soon doing so became a custom and people drifted from familial monikers to names of people they admired.

So here’s a short quiz.

1. This new teenage idol’s middle name is Drew
2. His sister may have been reincarnated but Henry Beatty goes by this middle name.
3. Suave and debonair James Niven is known by this name.
4. She served hot dogs to the Queen of England…that Anna Roosevelt.
5. Christopher…not a very swashbuckling middle name for this popular pirate.
6. You’d expect something a bit more wolfish than Michael for this Aussie hunk.

Even the Banditas have middle names. Susan’s middle name was a tribute to her father, Roberta. JoMama’s middle name is Jo which often happens if you don’t care for your first name, hence my mom was always Thelma instead of Frances. And in the course of composing this, I found out one of our Bandita’s middle name is JOAN! Can you guess who it is?

So. What about you? Do you like your middle name? If you’re comfortable sharing we’d love to hear it. If you’re like Jeanne and Anna S. who have no middle name, or would change yours what would you change it to and why? What do you think the Golden Rooster’s middle name is?