Wildcard Weekend: Mens sana in corpore sano by Kate Hardy

It’s that time of year – the one where people resolve to eat properly, exercise properly, tone up, yada yada yada. (Or do I mean it’s the time of year when people start slipping from their resolutions? *g*)

I didn’t do the ‘diet and fitness’ resolution exactly, this year. What I resolved to do was to find some exercise I actually enjoy, and stick to it.

Dog-walking - well, Dog hates the 'Gentle Leader' (which turns his head gently to the side to stop him pulling) collar, but if he would get it into his little doggy brain to stop pulling so hard, then walkies would be nicer for both of us. Plus... I confess, he is the laziest Springer in the world and he gives me The Look if I suggest walkies in the rain. (The Look meaning, 'Are you nuts? When I have a nice comfy bed waiting next to your desk and you should be working?') So dog-walking really works best when DH is there to be firm with Dog, and I can just trot along beside them.

The obvious solution would be to do some kind of class. So I asked around a bit. Nicola Marsh has been saying for ages how fab Zumba is. Julie Leto suggested Jazzercise (I liked the sound of that, but sadly the nearest class to me is a half-hour drive away). My neighbour suggested going to Salsa classes with DH (I liked the idea of that, too, but I couldn’t talk him into it).

So, classes. I used to love Step classes in my ratrace days (I did two or three lunchtime classes a week, back then). Then I did Aquafit for a while (switching to the antenatal version when I was pregnant with son).

However, all the morning classes near me (whatever sort they are) don’t start until mid-morning, and I know I’d just faff about until it was time to leave for class instead of working, so it’d be a wasted morning. Then I’d feel guilty about not doing any work, and that’d defeat the object of having a healthy mind in a healthy body.

How about going to the gym? Hmm. I’m not really into weights and machines. (I own a decent treadmill. When it was still in my office, I, um, used it as an extra bookshelf. DH has moved it and occasionally uses it, but when it’s too hot or too cold or… You get the picture. Not used.)

How about doing an exercise DVD? Yeah. I have some of those, too. Somewhere in the house. (Maybe in the attic?)

But then… we all know what I like. Tecchie stuff. Toys. (Yes, I still love my iPad and want to marry it.) I used to enjoy Wii Fit, but to be honest the gaps while you have to ‘wait and watch, then repeat the action’ are a bit tedious, and you can’t fast-forward it to actually doing the stuff. So I fell off that wagon, too.

But my son had been talking about Project Natal. It was a system with a sensor that meant you controlled an X-box game with your body movements. I loved the sound of it, but was it going to live up to the promise? And, more to the point, would a fitness program work?

Well, I talked myself into it last week and bought Kinect (aka Project Natal), along with a fitness program (Your Shape Evolved – at the moment, well… I’m that blue blob below. Hopefully I will evolve into something a bit more twiglike. And I think wearing leggings rather than wide-leg trousers might improve my tracker skeleton a bit!).

It’s great. You really can control the program by movements - stretch your arm out, and your hand appears on the screen. (There's also a kind of negative image in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen showing you in the play area. The dog looks way cool there.)

The sensor puts my image up next to the trainer (and the dog!), and I can see for myself where the movement needs correcting, so it's much more effective. The class is easy to follow (I don’t mean easy to do – it does make you work! – but you don’t get lost), and you can track your progress. It tells you how many calories you've used (these are zero, btw, because I was taking photographs of the screen rather than actually doing the exercises.)

You can choose whether you want a nice girly trainer or a hunky hero. (My choice is a girl for personal trainer, and a hunky hero for cardio-boxing. Haven’t got to Zen yet – and no, I don’t mean gorgeous Rufus Sewell in Zen, nice as that would be, I mean Zen as in a tai-chi type class – but am looking forward to it.)

There’s also a place to play, too. And you can do multi-player. There’s a light-stepping game (a bit like a dance mat, really - only one flaw here, i.e. you can't put your own music as the playlist, but the ambient stuff isn't that annoying); and a game where you do cross-body punches and kicks to break ‘boxes’. (See right. That one’s really good when the revisions aren’t going so well and you need a break. As good as kneading dough, but without the pain of trying to resist carbs once the bread is out of the oven, if you know what I mean!)

So I think I might just have found some exercise I enjoy doing – and I love the tecchy element of it!

What’s your favourite form of exercise? And does it inspire you to work?

Champagne with a Celebrity is out in the US this month – and, despite the name, it’s actually all about perfume! In the UK and US, you can still get hold of A Christmas Knight from the Mills and Boon/Harlequin websites – it’s also on the shelves this month in Australia this month.You can find out more about these books, and Kate, on her website (http://www.katehardy.com/) and her blog (http://katehardy.blogspot.com/)

Special Announcement: Flooded Communities Book Appeal

We've all seen the devastation the recent Queensland floods have wrought and have wondered how we can help. We know that for many affected families, books will not be high on their priorities list for some time to come.


But...

We also know how valuable books can be in providing time out when reality gets tough.

So…

With the aid of some wonderful volunteers, we've put together a Romance Writers of Australia Flooded Communities Book Appeal.

What we need?

FICTION BOOKS! Romance books, children's books, young adult books, genre books, whatever – either new or in sparkling condition.

Please send them to:

RWA Flooded Communities Book Appeal
PO Box 1717
Noosaville Post Office
Noosaville BC
Queensland 4566

When to send them?

Now! And any time over the next few months. The books will be boxed and delivered to the appropriate libraries/schools/neighbourhood centres/community centres in batches as soon as the communities are ready to receive them. We’ll be liaising with councils, libraries and schools to ensure this is done appropriately. Feel free to pop a note inside, or if you're an author, sign it.

All languages welcome - please repost.

Must Watch Friday: The King's Speech

Riva/Presents Extra author Heidi Rice enjoys a beautifully nuanced English Heritage drama and marvels at how Colin Firth manages to make stiff upper lips sexy!

First of all I'll admit that I'm not a big fan of films about the British Royal Family... Stiff upper lips and restrained emotions are not usually my thing, I like my movies to wear their heart on their sleeve and all that etiquette and manners and pomp and circumstance (and often hopelessly pompous dialogue) tends to send me into a coma. Okay, enough about me. So it was with a certain amount of reserve of my own that I went to see The King's Speech on Sunday night with my DH.

All right, I'll admit it, the only thing that got my bum on that seat was Colin Firth. Because here is a man who excels at playing men whose passions smoulder beneath a surface of cast-iron reserve. And it's the process of watching that control crack and then break that makes his performances so emotionally satisfying. Think of the moment in the BBC's Pride and Prejudice when his uptight Darcy finally loses the battle against his feelings and declares himself to Lizzie (only to have his love thrown back in his face) or the scene in A Single Man when he is told by a stranger over the phone that his long-time gay partner has died. The agony of a grief he is forbidden to express is clearly etched on his face as he continues the unbearably polite conversation to its conclusion - and discovers he is not welcome at the funeral.

So, I have to say, the historical story behind The King's Speech seemed like the perfect vehicle for Firth's particular talent for subtle, nuanced - and smoulderingly passionate - performances.

If you're not British you may not know that way back in the 1930s the new King Edward VIII did the unthinkable and abdicated the throne to his younger brother Bertie (George VI) so he could marry divorcee Wallis Simpson. But what I didn't know (despite being a Brit) is that Bertie had a terrible stammer. In a family where 'doing one's duty' was the only measure of love, Bertie's father had virtually disowned him ('Speak up, boy') and his older brother had teased him mercilessly all through his childhood. Public speaking was a humiliating ordeal that was cruelly exacerbated by the advent of radio broadcasts. Thus the strain of being forced to take over the monarchy was made a thousand times worse by his speech impediment. But as catastrophe looms for him, he has to rely on the love and support of his wife Elizabeth (the Queen Mum!) and the help of wildly unconventional Aussie speech therapist Lionel Logue. It was their friendship that became the defining feature of Bertie's monarchy, as Logue not only gives Bertie back his voice, but also helps him to face and eventually break free from the traumas of his childhood with the simple offer of genuine friendship.

Now, whether all that's true or not, who knows. But watching Colin Firth's Bertie being forced out of his shell by Geoffrey Rush's deliberately insubordinate Lionel and being supported by Helena Bonham-Carter's wonderfully pragmatic Queen Elizabeth is an absolute joy - made all the more poignant by three faultless central performances and a sharply witty and irreverent script.



The final scene, as Bertie delivers his first radio address to the nation after the declaration of the Second World War - without a single waivering word - evokes all the power and passion of one man's triumph over adversity (and a hopelessly sterile and unforgiving family life) while also celebrating the healing power of friendship.


Heart on sleeve time? You betcha!

Heidi is currently writing her next Riva (she hopes!!). Her Christmas book Surf, Sea and a Sexy Stranger is available on Amazon in the UK, and is due out in the US as a Presents Extra in April. While her first Riva, Cupcakes & Killer Heels will be on shelves in the UK in May. Come have a natter on her blog, Facebook or via her website.

What are you reading...Lee McKenzie?

Harlequin American Romance author Lee McKenzie talks about how she got hooked on romance.

I’m currently on deadline to finish a book and when this happens I tend to not read anything but draft manuscripts. There are several reasons for this. For one, I can’t spare the time because when I start to read I will sit for hours, happily lost in a story. For another, when I’m writing I get completely wrapped up in my characters and need to stay focused until the book is finished. I don’t know if this is true for other writers, but it is for me.

Right now, in addition to being on deadline, my newest American Romance—The Wedding Bargain—was released this week and I’ve been doing some promotion, including a telephone interview earlier this week for an article in my local newspaper. When the reporter asked how long I’ve been reading romance novels, I told her since I was a teenager in (ahem) the sixties. My best friend’s mother would read the new Harlequins every month, then my friend would read them and pass them along to me. It only took one and I was hooked, and every month I looked forward to the new books.

If you’ve been around as long as I have, you’ll remember them—books like The Girl at White Drift by Rosalind Brett (April 1967).



“When Jerry arrived, all the way from England, to start a new life on her unknown guardian's farm in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains he was angry and taken aback to find that she was not, as he had assumed, a boy. Jerry, who couldn’t see that it mattered anyway, deeply resented his attitude, and in no time the sparks were flying between them. But ... a short three months later, how thoroughly each of them had changed their minds about the other!”



In those days the heroines were virgins and the heroes were alpha, and the conflict, often based on misconception and misunderstanding, totally worked for me. And what can I say...I adored stories about young women and their handsome guardians.
This week, after I finished the interview and got off the phone, I thought some more about the early romances I’ve read and realized my answer wasn’t accurate. I did start reading Harlequins as a teenager, but I started reading romance years earlier.




I grew up next door to a woman who was the children’s librarian at my local library, and when I was nine or ten she got me hooked on the classics. The first really romantic story I remember reading was the Anne of Green Gables series by Lucy Maude Montgomery. It took several books for Anne and Gilbert to get together but even for a child, the anticipation was positively delicious.

From L. M. Montgomery, I moved on to Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, and I identified with Jo every bit as much as I had with Anne. Her uncertainty about her feelings for Laurie, the boy next door, her disappointment when he married her sister Amy, and then her meeting and ultimately falling in love with the professor, Fritz Bhaer. Ahhh. I’ve reread that book more times than I can count.



Numerous other childhood favourites held, for me at least, an element of romance—Heidi and Swiss Family Robinson, to name a few—but Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House series was a particular favourite. It’s the pioneering spirit and historic details described in those books that give them their enduring quality—I even read to them to my own children when they were little—but for me the love story became every bit as important. And even though it’s been years since I’ve read them, the description of Laura and Almanzo traveling by sleigh across the lake in the winter is permanently etched in my memory.



When did you start reading romance? The next time someone asks me that question, I tell them I’ve been reading it forever



Lee’s new Harlequin American Romance, THE WEDDING BARGAIN is in stores now! Seductive entrepreneur Michael Morgan is offering the deal of a lifetime, but should Jess Bennett mix business with pleasure when it means risking everything, including her heart?



She’s also celebrating her first foreign sale! WITH THIS RING was reissued in December as a Mills & Boon Desire  in a duo with Michele Dunaway’s BACHELOR CEO. Join Brent Borden and Leslie Durrance for a merry little Christmas in July as they unwrap the greatest gift of all...love.

You can visit Lee at her website .

WRITER'S WEDNESDAY: Karen Whiddon

Karen Whiddon joins us for Writer's Wednesday to talk about living in 2011…

Another year has begun. Everywhere I look, I see writer's resolutions, plans, and forecasts. But this year I truly hope will be my year of simply.... living.

In 2011 I plan to take the plunge and quit the day job so I can write full time. This is terrifying to me in so many ways, not the least of which will be the loss of a steady paycheck. Yes, writing does pay money, but there's not a regular paycheck every two weeks like I'm used to. I like to shop and have been gradually working on down-scaling that hobby.

I cannot wait to experience the first time in my life (other than vacations) where I won't be ruled by a clock. Oh, don't get me wrong - I have to have a routine of sorts if I want to get anything done. But there are so many things I want to do and don't have time for now. Reading for one thing. My TBR stack - both in book form and on the Kindle - is daunting and every month brings new releases that I badly want to read. And not just fiction - fitness books and birding books and dog books and creativity books - the list goes on and on.

But still, with all this creativity waiting to explode within me, I remain cautiously terrified. Self-doubt, self-awareness (I love being lazy a little too much, LOL!) threaten to mar my rosy outlook.

To help myself (and maybe you), I've come up with a few guidelines. Now you may have heard some of these before, but I think they bear repeating.

Write every day. Goes without saying. Even if it's a blog or a long email or a diary entry. Write something.

Experience life. Watch some good movies, televisions shows. Listen to music and sign along. Talk to people, smile, and don't be afraid to compliment others. Taste delicious food. Read poetry, view (or make) art.

Leading to - keep your creative well filled. For me, mine can get pretty darn empty. Often all it takes to fill it is a great romantic song, or a moment in a movie where the hero grabs the heroine for a hard, heated kiss, and I'm good to go. I also like to read a good book, especially out of my genre (like YA), and lose myself in another author's world.

Keep your body healthy. Over the last year and a half, I've discovered the joy (yes, joy!) or resistance and weight training. I've had a personal trainer on and off for eighteen months and to my surprise, I mostly LOVE IT! (Mostly because there are still those days where I'm inherently lazy!) I've lost weight and am gradually building muscle and tightening and firming up my body. I'm also reading up on nutrition and supplements and hope to soon be entering the most healthy period of my life. You might have to start slow - maybe walk an extra five minutes a day, then ten, then twenty, but push yourself up out of that desk chair and start. You'll thank yourself for it later.

This year I'll celebrate the publication of my 27th book - my 17th book with Harlequin (wow!) This book is LONE WOLF, a Harlequin Nocturne that's out now.

LONE WOLF BLURB - Disillusioned from his time serving as a Protector under a corrupt Council, Anton Beck has vowed to have nothing to do with anything Pack. He is looking forward to a few months of peace and quiet deep in the Big Bend Mountains of Texas. That quiet is shattered when he's abducted and held captive with none other than his ex-lover-turned-nemesis, Vampire Huntress Marika. But that's not all. She bore his miracle child. And that child has been taken…. It becomes clear that an ancient Vampire priestess is behind the kidnapping, but why? To exploit the child's rare gifts? In a race against time, two former lovers must overcome bitterness and broken hearts in order to save their daughter—and save themselves in the process.

In other news, I have a Harlequin Romantic Suspense schedule for June and another Nocturne for January 2012. And I'm working on yet another Nocturne (a Pack story) that I'm guessing will be out in 2013 (Yikes!) Here's to a happy and productive 2011!

Karen Whiddon

KarenWhiddon.com
Coltons Christmas Baby - Silhouette Romantic Suspense - Dec. 2010
Lone Wolf - Harlequin Nocturne - January 2011
The CEO's Surprise Baby - Harlequin Romantic Suspense - June 2011
The Wolf Whisperer - January 2012

Karen Whiddon spun fanciful tales for her younger brothers as early as the age of eleven. Growing up in the Catskill Mountains of New York, then the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, she found enough magic in the rugged peaks to keep her imagination fueled for years.

Now making her home in North Texas, she shares her life with her hero-like husband and three doting dogs. She has published five short contemporaries for Kensington Books Precious Gems and five long paranormals for Leisure Lovespell . Currently she writes for Silhouette Romantic Suspense and Harlequin Nocturne.

You can email Karen at KWhiddon1@aol.com or write her at P.O. Box 820807, Ft. Worth, TX 76182.

CRAFTY CORNER - CROSS STITCH

This week our columnist Annie West talks about one of her non-writing passions - cross stitch embroidery.

I've met people who reckon they don't have a creative bone in their body. If you've longed to try some handicraft and thought it all too hard, cross stitch may be just the thing for you. Learning to sew a cross in fabric that already has neat squares formed in it is as easy as pie. Plus there's the advantage of being able to make something beautiful, whether simple and bright or a more complex design and having the satisfaction of knowing you did it yourself! Even if you're an experienced embroiderer, cross stitch offers a wonderful world to explore.

I grew up with a female family tradition of handicrafts. There were embroidery cottons in rainbow colours, delicate crocheted edges to towels (for best of course) and some delicate heirloom pieces which my mother still uses. I learned to set a satin stitch at an early age and got taught to knit (a skill I've since forgotten). Try as she might, my mother tried to teach me to sew my own clothes but it was the less useful side of sewing that always drew me.

As a teenager I learned tapestry stitching and spent hours engrossed while half listening to TV. Then one day in a craft store I saw gorgeous cross stitch pictures on the wall . It hooked me - easy to make if I could sew a cross and count my stitches. There was an infinite variety of designs to tempt, from the small and simple to the large and intricate. Here's my first cross stitch piece - I love samplers as they make an impact but you don't have to embroider the whole cloth. This one has an Australian bird, animal or flower for each letter and I fell in love with the lazy koala sprawled in the centre.

While finishing that piece I did a couple of tiny monograms for relatives that took only a couple of days and looked fabulous. My family adored the fact that I'd made the effort to create something personal for them.

Since then there have been larger projects like this Noah's Ark - lots of fun for an expectant mother to work on, as well as a range of smaller projects that make me smile, either because they're light-hearted and cheeky (I have a dragon devouring chocolate that's waiting for me to stitch him) or because of the reaction of people who receive those pieces.

Cross stitching is marvellously relaxing too. I can concentrate on my work and have a chat or listen to music and there's plenty of time to ponder. I think the repetitive movements are particularly soothing when life gets a bit too frantic. But if you want to be challenged there's always the option of designing your own cross stitch project. I was daunted at first, but with graph paper and patience it's not too difficult. If I can do it anyone can!

In the last few years, especially as I focus on a computer screen so much for my writing, I've had less time for other activities and my sewing has stopped. Look at this project - so close to completion and I haven't touched it in ages. The nice thing about writing this blog is that I'm determined to make time for the pleasure of cross stitch, even if only a little each week.

Have you tried cross stitch or some other sort of decorative sewing? Do you have a favorite project you've always wanted to try?

Annie's current heroine, Tamsin, has never tried embroidery, she's been too busy learning old languages and the care of ancient books. You'd think she'd have plenty of time on her hands now she's living in a picturesque alpine kingdom where roads get blocked by snow in winter. However, I suspect that her handsome prince, Alaric, may have other plans for her spare time. Their story, PROTECTED BY THE PRINCE, is a Presents Extra release in early February. You can read an excerpt or enter a contest to win it on Annie's website. Or if you don't want to leave it to chance, you can buy a copy from Harlequin, The Book Depository or Amazon.

Male on Monday - Sid the Kid

This Male on Monday PHS editor Donna Alward goes local - and golden.


It was almost a year ago that the world watched with held breath as the men's hockey teams battled it out for Gold in the Vancouver Olympics. In our time zone, it meant staying up until the early morning hours to watch every Canadian game and bags under the eyes the day after. Line assignments were debated, hands wrung, fists pumped...it was craziness in the best possible way that ended perfectly - with Sidney Crosby scoring the gold medal goal in overtime.

Sid "The Kid" grew up about 20 minutes from where we live and everywhere he's spoken of with affection and pride, so I thought that since he's local - and since the Pink Heart Pick Review this month is a hockey book (Calling the Shots, Ellen Hartman) - he'd be the perfect choice for my first Male on Monday slot of 2011.

Sidney Crosby was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1987 to Troy Crosby and Trina Forbes-Crosby though he grew up in nearby Cole Harbour. Crosby lived with the Lemieux family in Sewickley, Pennsylvania from 2005 until 2010. In the spring of 2010, Crosby purchased his own home in the same area. In the summer of 2006 he bought his first house in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Growing up, Sidney admired Steve Yzerman and, like his father, was a fan of the Montreal Canadiens. Crosby's number (87) and 2007 contract signing ($8.7 million per year) reflect his birthdate (8/7/87).

From age twelve to fifteen, Crosby attended Astral Drive Junior High School. He was a straight-A student and, according to the vice-principal, "an amazing role model who was really kind to students in the learning centre and to special needs kids." When he was fifteen, Crosby transferred to Shattuck-Saint Mary's in Faribault, Minnesota. Crosby then graduated from Harrison Trimble High School, in Moncton, New Brunswick in 2005.

In time for Crosby's first season, Gare Joyce issued a biography, Sidney Crosby: Taking the Game by Storm. The November 2005 edition of GQ Magazine featured him in a series of shirt-less photos.


The Pittsburgh Penguins drafted Sidney Crosby as their first overall pick on July 30th, 2005. Crosby entered the NHL as an eighteen year old and was put under the tutelage of the great Mario Lemieux. Even though Mario had to retire a few months into the season due to some health concerns, Crosby clearly took over the team as their best player on the ice. He finished his rookie season with 39 goals and 63 assits for 102 points and second in the Calder Trophy (rookie of the year) voting to Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals.

Some highlights -  on April 17, 2006, Crosby collected 3 assists against the New York Islanders to become the youngest NHL player (18 years, 243 days) to score 100 points in the regular season.


May 31, 2007 - The Pittsburgh Penguins made Sidney the youngest team captain in NHL history (19 years and 297 days old). The previous mark was held by Tampa Bay's Vincent Lecavalier (19 years, 324 days).


And then of course there's that game-winning Gold Medal goal in the 2010 Olympics - believe me all of Halifax was screaming when the puck went over the line! Just looking for pics made me want to dig out the dvd's (yes, we actually bought them!)!

I went looking for a few quotes but the one I like the most is the following, because it speaks of a level of comfort and certainty. Sidney always comes across as polite, well-spoken, and grounded - a wonderful example of a young, successful athlete:
“I don't think there's ever a time where I step back and say I wish I was something different. I'm doing what I love to do.”

Donna's latest book is Proud Rancher, Precious Bundle, out now in Australia and New Zealand, and available via www.eharlequin.com until next month when it hits stores. You can read an excerpt from it in any Harlequin series book this month!