Wild Card Weekend - Beach Reads!!

It's that time of year when we pack up our lives and spend most of the day outside. Some of us are at the beach, some of us are searching for shade while our kids are at flag football. Still, we need something to read...

I wish I were always lucky enough to spend my summers under a beach umbrella, listening to the waves, a frosty margarita that never seems to empty in my hand...but since I'm more likely to find myself under a picnic shelter, listening to muggles play, a sippy cup in one hand and water-filled sport bottles at my feet. So, I REALLY need an escapist book to make my summer complete.

I have lots planned. In addition to selling my house and moving to a place where my office will be separate from my bedroom and I'll be able to open my oven and my refrigerator at the same time...I'm planning on heading to Martha's Vinyard withTrish Wylie for One Night with the Rebel Billionaire. What summer is complete without a brief foray to Greece? Annie West 's The Greek's Convenient Mistress should fit the bill. I may extend my stay with Marie Donovan's My Sexy Greek Summer...

You can see where I'm going with this...we're all busy, deadlined, trying our best to keep all the balls in the air so we seem to be in perfect control of the inner chaos. But summer gives us a great oppportunity to break away and indulge in a moment for just ourselves. Whether it's a desert prince, a Greek tycoon, Sicilian millionaire, or a cowboy in need of taming, there is something about disappearing into a romance novel that charges us emotionally, the way the sun can envigorate us physically. Go on, pack a book on your summer jaunts. You know you want to.

**What will you be reading this summer?**

Jenna is hard at work on getting her house ready to sell - it keeps her from thinking about what her editor might think of her next title for Mills & Boon Modern Heat. In the meantime, Compromising Positions is available with chocolate, Kama Sutra yoga, a decade old crush and a steady addiction to sugar. To find out what Jenna is up to now...check out her website or blog.

Must Watch Friday : Soaps

PHS columnist Kate Walker gets herself in a bit of a lather this week as she admits to her addiction to the 'series' stories on TV - the soaps.

I was never really a fan of the soaps until I became a writer – and then my addiction to both - that’s writing and soaps – came about at almost the same time. Just after the acceptance of my very first title, The Chalk Line, I had a severe dose of glandular fever (mono) from which I didn’t recover properly and the resulting two years of chronic fatigue syndrome meant that my life was very restricted. I could manage to get through a day – even write as well as caring for my son – but the evenings were spent flat on my back, unable to do anything. Even reading was a strain on my eyes. So I resorted to watching TV.

I’ll admit that in the past I’d mocked the soaps. They were melodramatic, mindless, repetitive- boring. Or so I told myself. But now I was in a very different position – I was desperate for something to entertain and relax me – and I was involved in popular culture with my own new career, so who was I to criticise something as popular and with such a long lasting history as the soaps?

Coronation Street was the first one to grab me – that took me back to the days when I used to live in the North of England and I had seen some of the early episodes, but not enough to understand all the family connections, the past histories and the interwoven lives that so many of the characters had read. But I soon got to know the personalities better and to get more and more involved. Eastenders followed , though I swore I was never going to get hooked . . . .hmm – that resolve didn’t last long. I took a long time to get to warm to Emmerdale – when it was Emmerdale Farm it just wasn’t my sort of thing but when new producers, new scripts, new plots were introduced, I found I could enjoy it ore. I even flirted with a couple of Aussie soaps – Neighbours and Home and Away were required viewing as my son was growing up so I shared those early evening slots with him even when I had recovered and didn’t need to collapse at the end of the day.

And actually if you ask my son now what he remembers about those shared times – we watched Eastenders together too – then he’s probably tell you that that’s how he got his first lessons in plotting a book (or in his case more likely a screenplay) of planning out a story so that it flowed from the characters and developed along the lines that they would take it.

Because that’s what brings me to the soaps, silly and over the tops as they can sometimes be. They are the programmes where simple, old-fashioned story-telling that answers the questions ‘And what happened next?’ ‘And then?’ over and over again. My son and I would sit and watch the first hints of a plot – an new lover for Grant Mitchell - or the murder of Liam Connor – and I’d ask ‘where do you think this is going?’ and we’d work out a possible scenario that we could then test out against the way that the script writers would build it in the coming weeks.

One of the things that it showed me was just why Category Romances are so very clever in that they deal with the really interesting bits of a relationship – the awkward, uneasy, uncertain times at the beginning of a love affair, the conflicts that come between the hero and heroine – and then bring the book to an end at the time of resolution and the promise of a Happy Ever After.

Soaps don’t do that – they can’t – the characters have to stay around and as the shows go on it soon becomes clear that really Happy Ever After couples are boring – in fiction at least. Nothing happens. They fall in love, get married , have children . . . Which is why so often the soap characters who are the most blissfully happy on their wedding day are also the ones who are most likely to have a major break-up, with shattered hearts, infidelity and maybe even death the next time the script writers want to inject a little excitement into their lives.

Category Romance authors don’t need to do that. We can leave the hero and heroine of our last book to be happy ever after while we create another pair whose lives we can turn into total misery.

And that’s another thing that soaps have taught me. I can sit and watch a storyline and work how I could turn it on its head. How I could make it follow a very different path with perhaps her being unfaithful rather than him – or that secret being the fact that he is already married . . . And when I’m stuck for a plot or an idea to spark off a new line of story, taking the current soap plots and turning them inside out and upside down is one of the ways that I use to answer that question that I’m asked so often ‘where do you get your ideas?’

I can’t actually watch a soap without doing this any more. Even when I think I’m relaxing I’m really looking at the way things are going, working out what’s coming up – and what’s better than the ending of an episode for showing the importance of the hook to grab the viewer/the reader and bring them back for more? The chapters in my books don’t actually end on a ‘dum, dum, dum . . .’ snatch from the theme tune, but it’s that sort of image that I have in mind when I write them.

Soaps are one of the ways that I feed my imagination, they are simple straight forward storytelling about people – it’s the characters that grab the viewers and keep them coming back. A dramatic plot won’t do it if they’re not involved with the people it’s happening to – all valuable lessons for a writer of popular fiction.

And I’ve even found the names of some of my characters from the character lists of some of the programmes. Some time ago I even got hooked on Sunset Beach – affectionately known in our house as Sunset Bitch. The characters were cardboard, the plots way over the top, but it was on TV at lunch time just when I needed a break from the words and to keep my storytelling muscles going. And I will always be grateful to that programme because it gave me the surname of my very first Mediterranean hero - Constantine Kiriasis .

as his book, Constantine’s Revenge has just been reprinted for the third time in Japan, I am very fond him.
So what about you? Do you watch soaps or totally ignore them? Which ones do you follow avidly, watching every episode – or really can’t bear to see?



Kate's latest Mills & Boon Modern Romance Cordero's Forced Bride is on sale on the Mills & Boon website and Amazon.co.uk. . The Presents edition is still available on eHarlequin and Amazon.com
Her 2006 title At The Sheikh's Command is re-issued in a 3 in 1 volume Sold to the Sheikh out in May.
You can find out more about Kate and her books on her website or for the most up to date news, visit her blog.

Thursday Talktime - Soundtracks

Singer Songwriters – The Girls

As many of you know my other great love, other than books, is music, especially country music. As I’ve said before and I’ll say it again romance writing and country music are like two sides of the same coin. And with category romance it is even clearer. A category romance novel has to tell a story in a very short word count, nothing can be wasted. And in music you have to tell a story in three or four minutes, nothing can be wasted. OK so not every country song has a happy ending but there is a lot of love, loss and yearning which is great fuel for inspiring you romance writers.
Back in February I took you through my soundtrack for my book 'Dream Date' (RIP) and I realised that most of the music I chose was from male singers. This month I thought I would redress the balance and talk about the female of that species called ‘Singer/Songwriter’. Now a singer/songwriter does what it says on the tin, these are the people who write and sing their own songs. Not that there is anything wrong with those great artists who interpret other peoples work. Sometimes I am interested in people telling/singing their own stories. (And I apologise to Kate Hardy and her family now if I cause her to shell out money on music)

Country music these days are full of talented ‘Girl Singers’ (as they were traditionally called *rolls eyes*). And some of the most successful are young singer/songwriters. If any of you have teenage girls I’m sure you have come across the phenomenon which is Taylor Swift. Taylor made a name for herself on MySpace before being picked up by Big Machine in Nashville. I was lucky enough to meet her just before the craziness took off and she is as lovely as she is talented and gorgeous. She doesn’t pretend to be anything but a high school aged girl, her songs deal with all the agonies of growing up, boys and best friends. My particular faves are ‘Tim McGraw’, ‘Teardrops On My Guitar’ and ‘You Should Be With Me’.

Another great singer songwriter who is going great guns these days is Miranda Lambert. I *heart* Miranda’s work. It is grittier than Taylor and has a bit of a rockier vibe, I have been known to sport my camouflage fan t-shirt when out and about (hey it has got crossed smoking guns on the front – who wouldn’t want to wear it!). Miranda hails from Texas and hit Nashville a few years back when she was in Nashville Star (country music’s American Idol). She didn’t win but she didn’t need to. A platinum selling album and a gold selling album, one best album award, a gorgeous boyfriend in Blake Shelton
and opening for Kenny Chesney. The girl done good. Her songs deal with break ups and lost loves along with small town life and general ‘kick ass-ness’. Great tracks include ‘Kerosene’, ‘Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’, ‘I Can’t Be Bothered’ and ‘More Like Her’.



If we go off chart, one of the great singer songwriters is Lucinda Williams. No happy endings here but great gritty heartrending stuff. Check out tracks such as 'Passionate Kisses' and 'Words'.

And who can forget Dolly Parton, the greatest girl singer of all time! Her prolific songwriting is almost as amazing as her business acumen. This is the woman who wrote ‘I Will Always Love You’ and ‘9 to 5’ but also ‘Coat of Many Colors’ and ‘Two Doors Down’ to name but a few.

I’m going to leave it here because I could go on about some great female songwriters out there Lori McKenna, Allison Moorer, Alison Krauss, Sarah Buxton and that’s just in country music! But I think the one thing these ladies all do well is to tell a story. A story full of conflict and resolution, a story full of love and pain and a gift to the listener just as category romance is a gift to every reader.
So who are your favourite singer songwriters?

Biddy is currently faffing around trying to finish ‘Bah Humbug’. She is hoping to have her thinking cap on soon for her next story. She’s thinking unrequited love.

Writer Wednesday: Money, Money, Money

SuperRomance author Linda Barrett takes a look at the question of How Much Does an Author Earn?

The subject for today is money. Moola. Dough. Bread. Lucre (filthy or otherwise). Gelt. Shekels. Call it what you want, I’m talking about a writer’s take-home pay. Can we, authors of romance, support ourselves with this gig? Does it really matter?

Ten years ago, before my first manuscript was bought by Harlequin, talking about a writer’s earnings was taboo. Editors made no promises, gave no estimates regardless of how excited they were about a story. Published authors seemed to have a tacit agreement among themselves: discussing earnings in any form was off-limits. Money was simply not discussed at all – not at local meetings, over lunch, or even at writers’ conferences. (Although, I admit to picking up a lot of misinformation at one conference.)

Back then, newly published authors jumped blindly into their writing careers. We had high hopes. Such amazingly high hopes.

My hopes were shattered in 2001 by my first royalty statement, and I wondered why no one had prepared me.

I held onto my day job. The day job - that’s the one that offers a regular paycheck, health insurance, paid vacations, paid sick days and a lousy commute in bumper-to-bumper traffic. But did I mention the regular paycheck? Did I also mention that most writers want to leave the day job ASAP after getting The Call? To us, that call is the genuine call to adventure, not for just one book, but for a career. It is the call to fulfill our biggest dream and the one we all want to answer.

But can we afford to?

“A living wage” will be defined differently by each one of us according to our financial responsibilities and lifestyle expectations. Those writers with rich or even not-so-rich patrons won’t have to worry too much. I’m talking about a recent college grad living with parents, or the wife of an oil executive. (Of course, in these economic times, patrons may be in short supply anyway). Lined up at the other end of the spectrum is the rest of us with children, mortgages, dental bills, and college tuitions not to mention the mundane necessities of groceries and clothes. You can choose the items which apply to you and tack on your own. The bills add up. Nothing new here - except for that big conflict. We yearn to write full-time, but those royalty statements… hmm…not so helpful to the big financial picture.

I wrote more books on nights and weekends. By the end of 2005, I had eight books out. Still, the royalties were erratic. My best year brought in 10K less than my modest daytime earnings at a non-profit social service agency. Add in the 15% social security tax for self-employed folks as well as all the expenses associated with writing – home office, conference, membership dues, books/magazines – well, you get the picture.
While brooding over those royalty checks, the sad truth finally seeped in. Writing romance would fulfill my creative drive, but would not fill my pockets.

Maybe this gig would be more lucrative if the road beyond publication were not as bumpy as the road to publication. But it’s a tough industry, before and after. I’d hoped to have at least two books released each year. Sometimes, I did. Sometimes I didn’t. Some proposals were turned down; sometimes, editors were late in responding to them which eroded my prospective timetable. Editors leave. New editors arrive. The specs change, and lines close. It’s no one’s fault. It’s the way of the business. And good stuff happens, too. I won several prestigious awards with my work and garnered excellent reviews. Vindication!

My career has been focused on writing series romance for Harlequin Books (Superromance & Everlasting Love), but my research has shown that many single-title, mid-list authors can easily earn the same or less money than I do. Sure, there are exceptions - those authors who seem to fly to the top of the lists from the git-go. But the key word here is exception. There are no guarantees. Competition is fierce – just check out any of the big bookstores. Can you actually count the number of romance books on the shelves? Every author, whether a high ranking best seller or a brand new debut hopeful, worries about sales. This worry club includes me.

I kept the day job until the very end of 2007 when changes occurred in my personal life. My husband switched jobs for the better and obtained health insurance for me; the kids had become adults by this time with exciting careers of their own. My dh and I became empty-nesters. In the end, I stayed at the day job until I was comfortable leaving it.

My twelfth book, SUMMER AT THE LAKE, is out this month with another on the way for next year. The money is still lousy. But I’m still writing.

Many of us have said at one time or another that we love writing so much, we’d do it if we weren’t paid at all. (Scout’s honor, I’ve heard this too many times to count).

Do you believe it? Does the money matter?

Looking forward to your comments,
Linda

Visit Linda at: http://www.linda-barrett.com/
I’ve got a contest going on right now for a $10.00 gift certificate to Barnes & Noble and a signed copy of any backlist book.

Linda’s latest book, SUMMER AT THE LAKE, is available now in all book stores, Wal-Mart’s and on-line at: http://www.eharlequin.com/ and at other on-line venues.

The reviews are coming in!

4 ½ STARS – RT Book Reviews: “Linda Barrett’s touching story is about the power of love…to help us heal.”

5 STARS – Cataromance Reviews: “another Linda Barrett classic…brilliantly written”

5 STARS – Huntress Reviews: “Linda Barrett pens the most heart-warming stories!”

Temptation Tuesday: Growing Your Own

Mary J. Forbes explores the temptation of getting back to the basics.

These days, people talk about eating their own produce.
They talk about growing a garden. Vegetables, herbs, fruit...homegrown and harvested without chemicals or pesticides.
Given the economy, it’s a temptation that has me reconsidering my options.
See, several years ago I grew a garden. Each spring I planted carrots, peas, beans, potatoes...anything that put fresh produce into my family’s meals. But then...I gave up my garden. Life just got too hectic. Oh, I still have flower beds, but it’s just not the same as pulling a carrot out of the soil.
So, I created gardens for my characters—and lived vicariously. Some of my heroines planted vegetables. Some planted flowers. Others grew both. And a few admired gardens from afar.
All, however, loved the outdoors, and don’t mind “getting their hands dirty,” so to speak. It’s as though that outside garden symbolized an inner garden where they toiled in the soil of conflict, weeded through the baggage of their past, and nurtured the hope that things would get better. In the end their garden within transformed into something bright and beautiful: a future of love and happiness.
But I’m not my heroines. My garden within is flourishing.
I just want to grow a vegetable garden again. Nothing big. A few small planter boxes around the back deck. Carrots, beans, tomatoes, lettuce; maybe a spice or two. Truth is I need to dig in the dirt. I need to weed and foster the hope that the outcome will be—plainly—lush and green and inviting to the palate.
Yes, my temptation comes partly because of the economy, but more so because I cherish the idea of simplicity. Often we begin the New Year with a grand list of resolutions, and before we realize it, it’s May and almost half the year has vanished. We’re suddenly aware that what we set out to achieve has fizzled to nothing, or grown arduous and boring.
A garden can change that. A garden represents growth, accomplishment. A sense of moving forward in the most elemental way. Plant a few seeds and watch them flourish under the warmth of the sun.
So, yes. This summer my family will munch on food I’ve grown in my backyard—and know a garden offers more than vegetables. They’ll know it’s a chance to step back from the hurry of life and purely...enjoy.
This year I’ve been tempted.
And I’m planting a garden.

If you want to learn more about Mary J Forbes's books with their gardens visit: http://www.maryjforbes.com/.

Her latest, The Doctor's Surprise Family is out now.

Male on Monday: Peter Facinelli

PHS Editor Donna Alward is back, with future hero casting in the form of actor Peter Facinelli!

Hey all - I know I was here before and blogged about hearthrob phenom Rob Pattinson from Twilight. But personally - I like my guys a little more mature. So while I can appreciate the sexiness of Edward Cullen, the real attraction for me was Carlisle.

I think it's super cool when an actor who perhaps isn't so well known suddenly pops up on everyone's radar and you think GOSH! I didn't know he was in that/married to her/had kids.

In this case, we're talking not vampiric foster kids but real life cuties. Yep, Peter Facinelli is a dad, and devoted husband to Jennie Garth of 90210 fame. Lightbulb! That was where I recognized him from - Jennie's appearance on Dancing With The Stars and Peter always being supportive and super dad!

So let me grab a few of his stats and have some fun with some pics....

New York City-born Peter Facinelli comes from a big Italian family. He and Garth met on the set of "An Unfinished Affair, where Facinelli then played Tim Matheson's son and the target of his father's jealous ex-lover (Jennie Garth).

While he and his wife Jennie Garth welcomed their first child (Luca Bella) in 1997, Facinelli also found his career settling into a comfortable groove. He had a feature role in the Jennifer Love Hewitt teen hit "Can't Hardly Wait" in 1999, and appeared in the sci-fi film "Supernova" starring Kevin Spacey in 2000. Solid roles in "Riding in Cars With Boys" in 2001 and "Scorpion King" in 2002 were soon followed by a leading role in the hit Fox drama "Fastlane", and a second daughter (Lola Ray) for the Facinelli-Garth household. I don't know about you, but I likey the Fastlane longish hair. Verra sexy.

Things got busy - fast. After his recurring role in HBO's critically acclaimed series "Six Feet Under" in 2004, Facinelli tacked a few more films on to his resume, and then starred in A&E's made for TV movie, Touch the Top of the World. The true life story of Erik Weihenmayer, the first blind man ever to reach the top of Mount Everest. Since then, Peter has added a third daughter (Fiona Eve) to his expanding family, and tackled the role of Gregory Malina in FX's hit TV series, "Damages".

After wrapping up "Finding Amanda" with Matthew Broderick, Facinelli joined the cast of the highly anticipated feature film 'Twilight" as Dr. Carlisle Cullen. With another television series for Showtime called "Nurse Jackie", and no sign of slowing down, fans can rest assured that Facinelli will continue to provide the outstanding character portrayals that he is known for, for a long time to come. Facinelli is currently on the set of New Moon reprising his role of Carlisle Cullen.

Personally, I prefer the dark hair to the blonde, and it is true that he looks younger than his 36 years. But I do have a hero in mind. And there are times, in certain pictures, he reminds me of Eric Bana. Check this out - Peter from The Scorpion King and Eric from Troy....

Now wouldn't you like to be the middle of THAT sandwich?

Donna's newest release features her own Italian hero, Luca Fiori. Like Carlisle, Luca tends to be a leader and protector all wrapped up in a whole lotta sexy. And that makes Mari a very lucky heroine...