Writer's Workplace: Jeannie Watt + Giveaway

Writer's Workplace is a sneak peak into where series romance authors create their books. First up Superromance (and new PHS editor!) Jeannie Watt shares where she works!

For many years I dreamed of having a dedicated place to write—a place where I could have references at my fingertips, files in a file cabinet, stacks of fresh legal pads and new typewriter ribbons…did I mention that I started writing a long time ago?

It took a while to achieve my dream. Every place I lived was too small, too crowded, too cramped. When my husband and I finally bought a larger house (or perhaps I should say a slightly larger house) we instantly had kids and all available space was given over to Lego’s and other kid paraphernalia.

At that point in time, I had a typewriter, and a pretty good one at that—a correcting Selectric. I would set the monster up on the kitchen table and during naps and the occasional Disney video, I’d work on my stories. When I needed the table for other things, such as eating, the Selectric and my legal pads would go onto the floor until it was time to write again.

Eventually, after the Selectric gave up the ghost (or maybe the ribbons became impossible to find) I progressed to a small word processor, which I set up in another high traffic area of the house—my bedroom. It wasn’t until the kids graduated high school that I finally achieved my dream of having a dedicated Lego-free writing area. I bought a computer and a desk, which I set up in an office-like room that had once been my daughter’s bedroom. That wonderful place was where I wrote my first Superromance, which didn’t sell, and my second Superromance, which did.  It was too good to last.

Shortly after I sold that first book, we decided that we had to get the TV out of our small living room. The solution was to make the office into a TV room and move the computer downstairs into the basement bedroom. It sounded wonderful in theory. The basement has windows and sunlight and was quiet. I splurged on a better computer desk and an actual file cabinet, but in spite of that, when I sat down at the keyboard, it just didn’t feel right.  Too quiet. After a few weeks of trying to write in my new office, I gave up and moved back upstairs to the kitchen table and started to write. The words began to flow. I decided to stay.

My writing laptop, which I recently replaced with a tiny netbook, needed a bit of a home, so I bought a small computer stand which I wedged between the wood cook stove and the buffet. My husband swore the stand wouldn’t fit in that space, which was really code for “it’ll look bad,” but I didn’t care. I shoved the desklet against the wall and started writing books.

The kitchen is now my dedicated writing area. When I get stuck, which is often, I sometimes turn my chair around and move the netbook from the computer stand to the kitchen table. For some reason facing the opposite direction helps me when I hit a creative wall.

Every morning before I go to my day job, I unplug my netbook and pop it, along with the legal pads on which I keep notes as I write, into a tote bag for the 45 minute drive to work. If I’m on deadline, I’ll often write on my way to work while my husband drives. When I get home in the evening, the netbook goes back onto either the kitchen table or the computer stand and I’m ready to write.

After several productive years spent at the kitchen table, I’ve decided that dedicated writing spaces are great—and perhaps I’ll have one again— but right now I’m more than happy to move my netbook when it’s time to put dinner on the table. It just feels right being where I am.

My question to you is where do you feel comfortable working? Do you have a dedicated area? Or do you shift things around like I do? I’m giving away a complete set of my Superromance trilogy Too Many Cooks? to a randomly chosen commenter. I hope to hear from you.

To learn more about Jeannie Watt and her books please visit her website www.jeanniewatt.com/

Date With Kate - Starting Again

Happy New Year! 

 I hope you had a lovely holiday,  plenty of rest, relaxation and fun, and that  having seen  the new year in in whatever way you choose, you are now ready to take on whatever 2012 might bring.   You might even have decide on some new year resolutions and are determined to put them into action.

If so, well, congratulations – and good luck. I’m not a  great  person for resolutions. The whole idea of  ‘paying for’ the fun and indulgence of Christmas by launching into a period of dieting, detoxing,  denial, all seems a bit  puritanical to me.  After all, how many of us really need to do much more than just ease up on the eating/drinking/inaction we’ve enjoyed over the holidays, which we would have done anyway, simply because we (well OK, I know I can’t!) can’t keep this up for much longer without feeling ill.

But I do think that it’s a good time to draw breath, to take a look at where we’re going/how we’re living, and whether it’s the best way for us.  And if anything is really wrong and damaging us or blocking the way forward then to change it, rework it. But I also think it’s a time for looking at just what is good and right in our lives and planning how to keep those – get more of them if necessary. And as a famous astrologer  said on January 1^st, we can do that any time – and at  some far more auspicious time than the arbitrary date decided long ago as 1 – 1 – 2012.

What has this to do with romance writing? I’m not going to write about plans and projects, goals and ‘must try harders’. I’m not even going to declare the need to lose X pounds  or write XXX words. What I’m thinking of goes deeper and is far more essential than that – at least where we as writers, and our characters are concerned.

It’s most important though when we are looking at our characters.  When we write romances we are going to give our hero and heroine the best of all possible chances to start again. We start them out on a journey where everything seems stacked against them,  when they are in conflict and possibly even hating each other – seeing no way out of the situation into which they’ve got themselves -  and show  them how to  take the necessary steps to the ending we have planned  for them – that Happy Ever After ending that all good romances have. Just as at the start of the new year – or any other date – we can set out  on the road towards the changes we would like to see in ourselves

But new year, new you?  Well no, not really. I’ve never truly though that  I needed to create a ‘new me. That implies that the ‘old’ one was not worth having. But a few tweaks here and there,  a fresh approach, a bit more discipline – more hope, more belief . . . that’s what can be implemented. And it’s just the same with our characters. They don’t come to their HEA by total transformation. I’ve never been a real believer in  the total ‘redemption’ approach of a happy ending – one where  the hero (it’s usually the hero but it can be the heroine )has to ‘grovel’  in order to win his lady’s love. Where he has to refute all he ever was, how he has behaved, his thoughts, his beliefs, his actions, in order  to deserve to love her and have her love him.  In a short novel,  these transformations have to be so dramatic (I’m tempted to say melodramatic ) as to be  verging on the miraculous, unbelievable, unconvincing – and I’m inclined to think that they’ll never last.

But a steady, strong-rooted change that comes about gradually as bits of their characters change and adapt, see things through a new perspective, consider different ways of thinking, those are the developments that lead to a HEA  that convinced me and makes me feel this one really can be ‘ever after.’  And those changes, those  ways of thinking need to be there in the characters right from the very beginning of the book so that they  each can bring the ‘new’ – the best out of each other as they get to know each other and grow closer.  Personally I don’t want to see, say,  a dramatic   declaration that ‘I hated  all women, thinking they were shallow, promiscuous, and money-grabbing’  but now  because of you I see I was wrong,’ as a declaration of love – for me that’s like   an alcoholic declaring he will never touch a drink again when so many times  they go back on their word and are not to be trusted, no matter how forcefully they vow to be different.  A man who has lived with  such a low opinion of woman isn’t likely to be converted overnight  - and stay that way.  The changes that come in our characters need to have strong foundations, to be there in their characters from the start – they just need a little digging to bring them out. So  we need to show the potential for the ending has been there all along and not suddenly spring it on the reader at the very end in a flash of lightning and explosion of enlightenment.

Just as at New Year, if we’re not careful, we  can rush into the self-improvement with a range of resolutions that can make us seem as if we’re  too fat, too lazy, too untidy,  too  . . . too everything that’s possibly wrong. . . so we need to make sure that, even with the most alpha of males, the most conflicted of couples, there is something in there, something to be unearthed, that can make the hero or the heroine – the hero and the heroine – into two people who can actually fall in love with each other,  and stay that way  for the rest of their lives.

So just as when you are  considering possible New Year resolutions, you need to consider  what is already in you that is fine, that just needs a bit of tweaking or polishing to be everything you can be proud of, not uprooting , reworking and totally transforming, so too with your characters. You need to start the story with the end in mind – knowing how these people are going to change, adapt, how they are going to bring out the best nits of each other and bring them to the fore – not totally create another persona who is not the hero or heroine we started out with. Only then will you convince your reader that these two truly will be happy ever after.

One way of looking at it is perhaps to consider giving your hero and heroine  their own personal set of resolutions for the new book, just as they might make them for a new year. Does she need to trust a bit more?  Have more confidence in herself? Does he need to lose the cynicism a past relationship left him  with and realise that applying it to all relationships now just doesn’t work? Or can he accept that because one woman broke his heart it really doesn’t  mean that everyone else will do the same? Not – I must  trust everyone I meet – but I must learn to let trust into my life more.  Not I need to stand up to everyone I meet and defy them – but I should  accept that I am worth better than this and make sure I don’t let people walk all over me.  If you think about the resolutions they need to make to change their way of thinking, their mistaken beliefs at the start, then you will see the way they need to grow and develop  -to become someone who can fall in love – and someone with whom their hero or heroine will fall in love. Because that, after all is the emotional journey that a romance novel tells, the story that a reader is looking for.

So what about you? Are you a great resolution maker – wanting to aim for the new you? Or are you like me, more likely to think I’m doing OK as I am -  just a bit of  dust and polish will bring out the best?

And what about your hero and heroine?   Can you list the resolutions they want to make  - or, perhaps more importantly, the resolutions they  need to make but are not yet able to see or are running away from  right now and need to be brought face to face with them before they can head towards that Happy Ever After?

I hope 2012  is a wonderful year for you.

 

Kate Walker’s next title - The Devil and Miss Jones - is out in the UK in March and published on April 3rd in Presents Extra in America or Sexy Romance in Australia. You can find out more details over on Kate's Web site – with all the most up to date news on her blog.

Setting The Scene with Linda Style

This year at The Pink Heart Society we're inviting your favorite authors to share with us how they create those settings that take us away from the every day. First up is SuperRomance author Linda Style.

THE MONSTER UNDER THE BED

The best scenes are those that pull us in and make us feel as if we are there seeing the sights and feeling the action for ourselves. Right?

I recently watched a Stephen King movie, “Bag of Bones” and was struck by how masterfully the scene was set. But it was more than just scene setting. The director gave us a quick glimpse of what the place looked like, then went directly to the main character who, after hearing a noise…a scratching sound…awakens from a nightmare. He reacts by sitting up. The room is semi-dark and ominous. My heartbeat quickens, not because of the dark, but because of the sound. The man, still groggy from sleep and reliving the nightmare about his dead wife, listens and hears nothing. He begins to relax. I relax, too, but not completely. And just at that moment, a rustling, snuffling, deep breathing sound comes from under the bed. My heart leaps to my throat, a cold chill runs up my spine, and as the man slowly leans down to look under the dust ruffle, I instinctively cover my eyes. In setting the story up this way, the writer/director has immediately tapped into one of the greatest childhood fears…the monster under the bed.

And I felt the same fear I did as a child.

In that one scene, he’s set up far more than a simple description of the setting could ever do. He sets the tone. He lets you, the reader, know…this is going to be a scary story…and you will be afraid. There’s no question that the hero is going to be in deep and scary trouble. We know little about the story, but already, we’ve felt the character’s pounding heart, the sense that he’s not alone. We know that fear first hand and we can empathize…and because we do, we want to know what’s going to happen next.

Like movies, setting the scene in a novel is about so much more than telling the reader where the character is and what the place looks like. It’s about tapping into the reader’s psyche so he not only visualizes the setting, he “feels” it. He relates.

Using emotion to set the scene is one of the most powerful ways to make your setting do double duty…and hook the reader at the same time.

Holy Sedona by Dennis Mojado

The setting my new book, A SOLDIER’S SECRET, was inspired by my fond feelings about a place in my home state. The story is set in the small town of Spirit Creek, Arizona, near Sedona, a setting that rivals the Grand Canyon in its magnificent landscape. Arizona is my adopted state and I frequently go hiking in the red rock mountains near Sedona, so it seemed natural to choose that as a setting for my three connected books. (A SOLDIER’S SECRET is the last ) But I was truly inspired when I realized how much more I could do with it. It isn’t the magnificence of the setting that’s important to my heroine, it’s how living there makes her feel. The eons-old rock is a testament to longevity, a symbol of stability, and gives her a sense of permanence, something she’s never had. She feels as if she’s finally found her place in the world…that she belongs, and I use those emotions to help set the scene.



Photo by Linda Style

Setting the scene with emotion was especially important since the setting plays into the heroine’s internal conflict. Hiding the fact that she has PTSD, she’s careful not to expose herself to things she knows might trigger an episode. Something as simple as a car backfire or the evening news can set her on that path and when she feels the first signs of an episode, she focuses on her surroundings--her physical reality--to bring herself down. In writing from this perspective, I focused more on the surroundings than I ever have and in doing so, I added another layer and made the story and characters more complex.

When I begin a scene, I orient the reader to time and place. Sometimes that’s all I need to do, but 99 percent of the time, I want the setting to do double or triple duty. I want the setting to come alive for the reader. The most powerful way to do that is through my character’s emotions…and I get to his emotions through his senses…what he sees, hears, smells, touches and tastes. Whenever I find myself simply describing the setting, I stop and ask, ‘what is my character feeling…and why does he feel that way?’

When your protagonist sees something, he has an instant, visceral reaction based on his unique experiences. Maybe he winces at seeing a mother slam her child into a wooden chair in the corner of the spare, dingy room …because in the back of his mind he remembers how his mother used to beat him. Or maybe he smiles at seeing a cluster of childish drawings on the wall in his doctor’s otherwise sterile office, the same kind of pictures his dead son used to like to draw.  The scent of cinnamon in a modern stainless steel kitchen might make him think of his grandmother, the only person who ever cared about him. Maybe the bitter taste of chicory coffee served at the 1950s style all-night diner with posters of iconic movie stars plastered on its walls and juke boxes in every booth jacked up the exhilaration he felt he night he killed his first victim--and recreating that feeling is why he goes there after each kill.

When tempted to simply describe a place, try using your character’s emotions to convey the setting and see how it changes things. Try it on any kind of description and see what happens.

When reading, do you pay attention to descriptions of the setting or to what the character is thinking and feeling?

When writing, what techniques do you use to set the scene?

I’d love to hear your thoughts, and if you leave a comment, you may be the one to win a copy of A SOLDIER’S SECRET.

Happy New Year and Happy Writing!

Linda Style
A SOLDIER'S SECRET - JAN 2012

THE PROMISE HE MADE and
THE MISTAKE SHE MADE, still available online
4.5 Stars Top Pick RT "...an original story with wonderfully compelling characters."
http://www.lindastyle.com/  http://www.bootcampfornovelists.com/

A side note: Writing this book gave me a special interest in the issue of PTSD and made me realize how many of our heroes now returning from Iraq will be affected by this debilitating disorder. My interest led me to the Wounded Warrior Project, to which I’ll be donating a percentage of the profits from this book. You can learn more about the project at www.woundedwarriorproject.org.

Writer's Wednesday: Beyond the Word Count – finding Balance in your New Year Resolutions

Riva and Presents Extra Author Natalie Anderson explores goal setting.

I just couldn’t have the first Writer’s Wednesday post of the year and not mention the RESOLUTION word, now could I? Did you make any resolutions for 2012? It’s not too late you know, you don’t have to wait a whole year before setting some goals and plans in place!

I’m sure you all know about setting goals and the SMART way to do it (specific, measureable, achievable realistic, timely) – just Google for more info and you’ll find a wealth of how-tos – but today I wanted to write about what kinds of goals to set.

As always, I made some resolutions. Usually I set a few goals for the upcoming year and write them into my diary – kind of plotting out what I’d like to have achieved in each month etc. But I think we writers can get too fixated on those things like word-count or weight-loss – well, I know I can! For 2012 I wanted to make some goals that would enrich my life as a writer more, and help achieve that very difficult thing known as ‘balance’ while still contributing to my long-term overarching goal of writing for a living and loving it!



picture by Pixomar, www.freedigitalimages.net

2011 was a hard year for me, we had over 7000 earthquakes and they’re still going (we had 48 last Monday alone) – so our housing situation has been disrupted, my children needed more support – as did I! And I found I struggled to write and much of what I did write didn’t have my usual tone – it was all a bit gloomy! I just got worn down and really needed to rest and refill. So that’s something I’ve planned for in my New Year’s goal setting exercise. I also didn’t want to burden myself with a ton of un-meetable goals, so I’ve kept the aims on the light side – more is a bonus, but I’m not going to set myself up to fail, especially not when life is literally still rocking!

Here are the topics I’ve been setting goals for:

Writing

I do believe in the ‘write every day’ school of thought. I know it can be really hard, especially if you’re working a day job or running ragged round the house after your kids, but even 500 a day keeps you on the way. Writing daily keeps your head in the story – you think on it in quiet moments during the day. And 500 should be achievable in an hour’s quiet time. You’re allowed at least an hour to devote to something so important! Of course if you have more hours to write – then use them! But if you struggle to find the time, here are some ways to find it: turn off the telly, get up an hour early, use a portable wordprocessor when you’re on the train to work, require a ‘half hour silent reading’ time for the kids – they read, you write. Rewards for all at the end!

Don’t put too high a word count pressure on yourself, keep it achievable, enjoy meeting it, enjoy beating it even more!

My goal is a simple 1k a day. But in term time, that’ll be more!

Reading.

You can’t be a writer without being a reader. Reading is something I’ve missed so much this year. I love to lose myself in a book for hours at a time but life pressure just wasn’t going to let that happen. I’ve been reading a lot of my daughter’s middle/grade early YA books for fun because they’re often a quick read and there is some phenomenal literature out there for kids. Also, I get to talk to her about the stories. I think it’s wonderful to read outside your own genre as well as in it. Reading for pleasure is just a must.

My goal is to read at least 1 new book a week.

Refilling.

Yes reading does help refill the well, but I want to hunt out other sensorial experiences as well. I want to go to a gallery, a concert, travel somewhere, visit a garden… something like that. That’s a bit tough in Christchurch at the moment as our main Art Gallery is still being used as the Civil Defence/Council headquarters, and so many others are shut. But in the face of disaster, creativity abounds. We have these amazing ‘gap filler’ projects where artists put in installations in the ‘gaps’ where buildings once stood. There are gorgeous gardens on the outskirts of town and in the nearby countryside to visit, and there are towns not too far away with galleries and pottery shops. The theatre has just reopened, concerts are happening… it’s just a matter of being organised and keeping an eye on what’s going on. My goal is to ‘do’ something ‘culturally enriching’ at least twice a month.

Records.

Ugh. Whether you’re paid to write or not (yet), you need to keep up to date with your tax records. Says me, the woman who was up til beyond midnight the other night entering in all her expenses for her overdue return. Many of us loathe having to do it, but its so much worse to leave it all ‘til the last minute. (trust me). We’re businesswomen, right? My goal is to keep on top of my paperwork – I now have a designated ‘filing’ day once a week to maintain spreadsheets and put away the papers.

Promo.

It’s just a part of life for writers now. The trick is to decide what you’re going to do, how much time you’re going to put into it and when that time is going to be. A website is a must, more is up to you. But I do suggest you designate a certain amount of time a day (or week) and ringfence it. It is so easy to spend too long on social networking sites instead of writing! Make a plan and stick to it!!! The day after my records day is now my promo day for writing blogs etc.

Revising.

I’ve written 20 books and still make stupid mistakes! I want to revise aspects of craft – re-read seminal texts, go to conferences, do a couple of online courses, get together with other writers and talk craft.

Retreat.

Linking in with revising, I’m planning a weekend retreat with a fellow writer. We’re going to an alpine village where there are thermal springs and we’re going to submerge our bodies in warm, restorative water, talk books and writing and maybe even drink wine! I’ve been longing to do this for years and in 2012 it’s finally going to happen J

Health.

Oh yes, we can’t ignore the weight thing. Deadlines, stress, Christmas indulgence… I’ve got a sugar addiction that I need to kick! And a few kilos could take a hike from my frame too… Plus there’s the sedentary aspect of this job – hunching over my laptop in my beanbag probably isn’t doing brilliant things to my spine and arms. Some daily exercise and eating well are my aims. I refuse to use the D-word, I go on auto-rebellion at the mention of it! But feeling fit and healthy helps in so many ways to finding balance.

Holidays.

I’m so planning for these this year! I’m setting aside some non-deadline time to spend with my family. Too many times I’ve had revisions or edits come in around the school holidays, while some of that is beyond my control, much I can try to manage better.

Of course I’ll revisit these goals through the year but I think most are achievable and *should* help me regain a better balance. I adore writing, I know I am so lucky to be able to write and have my stories published and I want to keep doing that as long as I possibly can.

So, do you think I’ve missed any important ones – in what other areas in life do you plan for come New Year and how to you help to achieve balance in your writing life?!

Natalie Anderson’s current release – an Antarctic-set novella titled MELT – is available now through Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Melt-ebook/dp/B006O59TDO/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_t_1

 while her next M&B Riva FIRST TIME LUCKY is on the shelves in the UK this month.

For more info, head to her website: http://www.natalie-anderson.com and be sure to sign up to her newsletter as she has a signed book offer for subscribers only running at the moment!

Kate's Kitchen: Carrot, Ginger and Sweet Potato Soup with home-made bread

I’m thrilled to be starting a new column on the PHS – Kate's Kitchen. Thanks very much to the PHS editors for indulging my foodie side!

Foodwise, January’s an odd month. It’s just after the holiday season, which tends to come with too much rich (not to mention time-consuming to prepare) food, so you need something simple and quick to balance you out again. Early January is the time of year when everyone’s still sticking to a new year resolution to eat more healthily/lose weight. And in the northern hemisphere it’s usually cold and damp or icy, meaning that comfort food is the order of the day (which would probably scupper any good intentions on the diet front!).

How do you get something that fits all three?

For me, it’s soup. This one is warming, comforting and yet light (and I love the scent of fresh ginger).

The colour is just glorious on a dull January day.

Carrot, Ginger and Sweet Potato Soup
Ingredients:
500g carrots, peeled and sliced
1 medium onion, peeled and sliced
1 sweet potato (about 200g), peeled and diced
25g fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
750ml water or vegetable stock

Method:
Place everything in a pan, bring to the boil, and simmer for 30 minutes or until the carrots are soft.

Cool, then put through a blender.

Heat through to serve (though, in the southern hemisphere, it’d work nicely as a chilled soup).

Alternative:
If you’re not a fan of ginger, replace the ginger with the grated rind of an orange or lemon at the start, and add the juice of the citrus fruit to the blended soup just before serving.

Now, it wouldn’t be me if I didn’t add a little naughtiness. What better to serve with soup than warm home-made bread? (This lasts about 5 seconds in my house.)

Bread

Ingredients:
500g strong white bread flour
25g butter
1 tsp fast-action dried yeast
1 tbs sugar
1 tsp salt
320ml warm water

Method:
Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs, then stir in the yeast, sugar and salt.

Add the water gradually and mix until you get a soft dough.

Knead on a floured board for 10 minutes, and leave in a warm place to rise in the bowl for about an hour.

Knead again, place into a 2-lb loaf tin, and leave to rise for another half an hour.

Bake at 230 degrees C for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and sounds hollow when you tap the base.

In the UK, you can get a copy of The Doctor’s Royal Love Child (from the first Penhally series) as part of a four-in-one book, ‘Secrets in the Village’; in the US, you can still get a copy of her ice cream book, ‘A Moment on the Lips’, from the eHarlequin website.You can find out more about these books, and Kate, on her website (http://www.katehardy.com/) and her blog (http://katehardy.blogspot.com/)

Male on Monday: Polo Players

Harlequin Presents Susan Stephens explains why polo players always set her pulse racing.


Tan, buff and cover boy pretty - or dangerously different with a knowing look in the eyes? Well, I know which I prefer, ladies. Things rarely stop me dead in my tracks - a handbag did that once - I couldn't sleep until I went back to the shop and bought it. It was the wrong colour - the wrong shape - and DEFINITELY the wrong price - but it was MINE MINE MINE and I went straight back into town the next day and handed over my money with what could only have been a slight mad gleam in my eyes.

So it was with my humble submission of a red hot polo player for the Male on Monday slot.
 
Already with Nacho Figueras in my mind as I began writing my polo series, this man knocked everyone else out of the picture for me. I'm not a fan of dreads - or particularly a fan of men who look as if they could crush a rock in their fist (they scare me aaaargh!) (only joking) But yes, I'm more than happy to make an exception in this case. Plus the photo raises so many questions...

Who tied that little ribbon on the pony's bridle? I'm guessing not the hunk sitting on its back that light to fire in his eyes? The man's eyes, not the pony's. And how big is he exactly??? (Wouldn't it be disappointing if he dismounted and only came up to my shoulder) But enough of that! I based my latest polo player, an American called Luke Forster, known as The Enforcer, on the polo circuit on this man, so he'd better be six foot four tall (we can see the shoulders wide enough to hoist an ox and we can guess what's in the breeches)

And if you want some more polo playing action I have my four polo playing brothers coming out in 2012 - and I promise you, none of them will disappoint in the Male on Monday departments. Diego Acosta in The Argentinian's Solace Luke who gets it together with the boys' sister, Lucia Acosta Nacho Acosta, the oldest brother and finally, Kruz Acosta, the baddest polo playing thug of the lot And if you want something to ease you into the New Year, I have Working With The Enemy coming out in the US in January with my bare knuckle fighter, Heath Stamp.

What is it with these tough guys, Susan?

Heck if I know, but let's have some fun! Happy Monday, everyone.

You can read more about Susan Stephens and her inspiring polo players on her website. http://www.susanstephens.com/ Be sure to look out for her latest Working with the Enemy.