Writer's Workspace: Cindy Kirk

This week the PHS visits Special Edition Author Cindy Kirk and gets a sneak peek into her office.

Hi, I’m Cindy Kirk and I’m very happy to be here.  One of the reasons is that taking pictures of my work area forced me to do some “Spring” cleaning. 

Just to be clear, my work area isn’t always messy, but it can get that way fast when I’m approaching a deadline.  This might be a good chance to show you how I keep track of my deadlines.

A little history first.  I started writing in 1996 and sold my first book in 1999.  For those first few years, my “office” was a corner in the bedroom. The computer was on a lower shelf (not a desk) and on the shelf above it was a dot matrix printer.  When the paper came out of the printer, it would either A) fall on the floor, B) fall on my head or C) I would catch each sheet.  Ahhhh, the good old days.

Shortly around the time that I sold, we did some home remodeling and what should have been a spare bedroom became my office. I’ve included several pictures for your viewing pleasure.  The first is my computer.    You’ll notice the laser printer to one side.  It prints SEVENTEEN pages per minute and NONE of those pages fall on my head.  I consider this exceptional progress.

When I moved from the corner to the spare bedroom-turned-office, I decided my book covers would be my office art.  Thankfully I continued to sell (30 sales and counting) or my walls would have been pretty bare.  I also keep a copy of all my books, including all the foreign editions in a bookcase in my office.  If you have eagle eyes and notice all the children’s books…yes, I have a collection of books from my childhood.  They never fail to make me smile when I see them.  So many good memories.

I’ve got a good amount of desk space   when it’s not cluttered with papers and post-it notes that I write to myself to remind me of different points in my current work-in-progress.

 Unfortunately some of my desk space is taken up by my office cat, Oreo.      I wish I could say she’s a big help, but she’s really more of a hindrance.  She sits in front of my monitor, sprawls on my papers and kicks my notes off the desktop.  But I love her anyway.

What I really like about my office space is it feels like home to me.  I can sit down at any of the day or night and do what I love to do best…write.  It doesn’t get any better!

Cindy’s latest release from Harlequin Special Edition is The Doctor’s Not-So-Little Secret and it’s on sale now!  You can learn more about Cindy and her latest books on www.cindykirk.com

Friday Film Night ~ Danny Deckchair

This week's choice for Friday Film Night, chosen by Jeannie Watt, is a 2003 Australian romantic comedy starring Rhys Ifans.

I almost didn’t watch this film because of the title, but I’m a Rhys Ifans fan, so I figured what the heck? My kids—who were also highly suspicious of any movie with the word “deckchair” in the title—and I ended up being quite entertained.

Danny Morgan (Rhys Ifans) is an Australian cement truck driver and construction worker who is becoming increasingly disenchanted with his life. He’s an idea guy and spends his free time working on whacky experiments as a way to escape his mundane existence. No takes the experiments—or Danny, for that matter—seriously, so he feels alone and unappreciated.

Danny’s live-in girlfriend, Trudy is also frustrated with her existence. Trudy dreams of fame and fortune, but instead works in a real estate office and lives with a cement truck driver. Danny is adequate as far as boyfriends go, but he is not her dream man. When Trudy blows off a camping trip that Danny has been planning for a year in order to work, Danny is upset. When he discovers the real reason she won’t go on the trip is because she’s secretly meeting with a handsome celebrity sports reporter—a man she believes could help her go places—he’s done.

To make a point about his trip during a barbecue with friends that evening, he ties helium balloons to his deckchair and then accidentally lifts off. He rises high into the sky, sailing into a thunderstorm that carries him across the continent to the rural community of Clarence, where he drops into Glenda (Miranda Otto) Lake’s backyard.

Glenda is the town meter maid/spinster and has given up on finding a decent man.  She lives alone and people talk about her. When Danny lands in her backyard, neighbors come to investigate and Glenda impulsively introduces the disheveled stranger as one of her old college professors who dropped in on her.

Suddenly, now that people think he’s a professor, Danny’s ideas are being taken seriously. And he’s taking himself seriously. He makes a new life in Clarence and he and Glenda realize that they are very attracted to one another. Glenda hasn’t asked about his past and Danny hasn’t volunteered any information. They are both happier living in the here and now. Meanwhile,  back at home, Trudy—much to her delight—is garnering a great deal of media attention as she looks for Danny with the aid of her sportscaster beau, who also enjoys the attention.

Everyone would, of course, be happiest if things continued as they were—Danny living under his new identity, Trudy basking in her newfound fame as she searches for Danny, and Glenda enjoying the attention of a decent fellow for once. But of course Danny’s secret does come out and everyone has to deal with it—especially Glenda, who feels betrayed and sends Danny packing.

There are no real surprises in this film,but the characters are charming and the plot just quirky enough that I didn’t care.  I thoroughly enjoyed Danny and Glenda's journey to HEA and I’d watch Danny Deckchair again in a heartbeat.

Jeannie Watt's latest release is Just Desserts, the last book of her  Harlequin Superromance series Cooking Up Trouble.

Jeannie's website

Introducing The Irish Brides Continuity

Award winning Historical and Love Inspired Historical Autor Cheryl St John introduces the new Love Inspired Historical Continuity -- The Irish Brides Trilogy

The mysterious inheritance is the answer to a prayer. Now Irish lass Maeve Murphy and her sisters can come to America. She's sure happiness awaits her, even if it won't--can't--come from widowed ship doctor Flynn Gallagher. Yes, he made her his assistant, but she's not foolish enough to fall for the man all the eligible, wealthy female passengers admire.

Flynn Gallagher may have his pick of ladies, but only one cares as he does for the sick and poor. Flynn vowed never to marry another woman who would break his heart. With Maeve, has his heart found safe harbor at last?

When Renee, Winnie and I received the “bible” for the Irish Brides continuity, we had a lot to think over, plan and work through. We were each assigned a sister and given loose suggestions for how the stories should unfold. In that first outline my book was called The Ship Doctor’s Bride. My personal affectionate working title was Irish Sister. I have to have a title before I can get words on the page, but I somehow ignored the lack of a decent title and plunged forward. It wasn’t until much later and the book was nearly finished that I gave the editors a list of title suggestions and they chose The Wedding Journey.

The three of us worked together to pull together the threads of the story, keep the characters straight and create logical stories with believable characters. As I look back, I recognize this was one of the most challenging stories I’ve ever done, but also one of my favorite projects. I thoroughly enjoyed saturation in the Irish history and culture. I watched every Irish movie I could find. I found myself thinking with a brogue! So you can imagine my delight when Love Inspired Historical asked me to write a prequel to the trilogy—an online serial for the Harlequin site.

I had never written anything of such a short word length. (Not counting my amateurish attempts at short stories many many years ago.) What a challenge! But I was completely caught up in 1850 Irelend, so I created a love story, with the Murphy sisters as walk-on characters. You can read the entire story Donnelly’s Promise on my blog.  http://cherylstjohn.blogspot.com/p/free-story-donnellys-promise.html

You can read more about Cheryl St John and her award winning books on her website http://www.cherylstjohn.net/

Call Story: Naomi Rawlings

The Pink Heart Society is delighted to welcome Love Inspired Historical Author Naomi Rawlings with her heart warming call story.

Authors wanting to be published often dream of “the call.” As you might image, this is this phone conversation where the editor to whom you’ve submitted one of your books calls you and says, “We want to buy your book.”

As an unpublished author who’d been writing for three years, I was talking to an agent, winning writing contests, and submitting my manuscript to Love Inspired Historical.  I had dreamed of the moment when that editor would call me.

And imagined it.

Replayed it in my mind the way most people replay scenes of their favorite movies.

I’d had conversations in my head with the editor, though I’d never met her. And I had practiced acting calm and controlled on the phone. I wouldn’t scream into the poor editor’s ear, or shout for joy or start crying or do anything else to embarrass myself. Oh no. I was going to be a complete professional (even though I hadn’t the vaguest concept of how a professional author was supposed to behave).

I had told myself that I wouldn’t hear back from the publisher until July or August. After all, a publisher would need at least four months to review the manuscript and decide whether they wanted to buy it. And with that happy news, I left on a little anniversary trip with my husband in early June, while my mom visited for a week and babysat our two kids.

My husband and I returned home early and found an empty house, as my mom had taken the kids to the park. When everyone got home an hour later and we’d exchanged hugs and small talk, my mom goes, “Oh, by the way some editor from New York City called earlier today.”

The world froze at that moment. It must have. I barely remember anything more. In truth, I probably jumped at my mom and nearly strangled her as I demanded every detail of the conversation. “What did the editor say?” “Did she leave a call back number?” “Surely she said more than just to have me call her back!”  “What do you mean their offices close early on Fridays in the summer? How am I supposed to wait all the way until Monday to call her back????”

But alas, the Love Inspired office did close early on Fridays during the summer months, and I had to wait all the way until Monday to talk to the editor. In the meantime, I contacted Natasha Kern, the agent who had offered me representation and was waiting for my response. I sent her a calm, polite, professional email. I believe the subject line said something like “Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Natasha confirmed that Love Inspired Historical would only be calling me because they wanted to buy the book. They wouldn’t waste their time calling me with a rejection. So I signed a contract with Natasha, letting her handle the details of the sale to Love Inspired Historical.

Except I still had to call the editor back on Monday morning, and now my brain was whirling with instructions from my agent. “Don’t make any commitments. Absolutely do not say the word “yes” to anything while you’re talking to her. Refer her to me and I’ll handle it.”

And still, in the back of my mind, I was half convinced the editor was calling me for some reason other than to buy my book. So I impatiently waited through the whole weekend until 8:05 Monday morning, when I called the editor. And she said those wonderful, dreamed of words “We want to buy your book.” And I nearly fainted, but it was the first time in my life anyone had called one of my stories a book. I’d never let myself think of my stories as books. They were manuscripts or works in progress, and not to be called books until I’d gotten a publishing contract.

Still trying to act professional (and not shout or scream or cry or faint), I referred the editor to my agent, and the deal was finalized a couple weeks later. 

Now I have an agent and an editor and a real, legitimate, tangible book that coming out in April 2012. Plus I’m writing other manuscripts that my agent can sell to my editor, who can turn those into tangible books.

And somehow I still manage to act profoundly unprofessional most of the time. So much for that dream of being a “professional” writer.

*******

A mother of two young boys, Naomi Rawlings spends her days picking up, cleaning, playing and, of course, writing. Her husband pastors a small church in Michigan’s rugged Upper Peninsula, where her family shares its ten wooded acres with black bears, wolves, coyotes, deer and bald eagles. Naomi and her family live only three miles from Lake Superior, where the scenery is beautiful and they average 200 inches of snow per winter. Naomi writes bold, dramatic stories containing passionate words and powerful journeys. Her debut novel, Sanctuary for a Lady releases in April of 2012. You can visit her website at www.naomirawlings.com or her blog makinghomeworkblog.blogspot.com

A Writer's World - Setting as Inspiration - Annie West

Welcome to another instalment of my Writer's World. This month I'm endeavouring to do justice to some questions sent in by a reader. Don't forget to let me know if there's something you're particularly curious about. It may feature in a future post.

So, the question related to finding inspiration and how that translates into stories.

Often it's hard to know what inspires a story and it's usually an amalgam of experiences and ideas. Sometimes I find it easier to talk about my inspiration after I've written the book as then I can recognise tiny seeds of ideas that might have come from particular places.

For me one of the strongest sources of inspiration is place. A location might not inspire the story idea, but it's a big part of what keeps the story strong and real in my mind, even if I'm writing about a fictitious place. Especially if I'm writing about a fictitious place. Then, more than ever, I try to ground myself in aspects of a locality that seem real.

So, for an example. My current US release GIRL IN THE BEDOUIN TENT is set initially in a massive, luxurious tent in the middle of a wilderness. Later it moves to a thriving middle eastern city and its fabulous royal palace. I was lucky to be able to draw on some of my own experiences while writing this. No - I don't mean being kidnapped and presented to a sheikh for his pleasure. I think my husband would have something to say about that! But there were plenty of other inspirations. These photos are some I took a couple of years ago, and they helped inspire me as I wrote.

So too did memories of being in the desert, especially at night when the cold bites your bones and makes you think of snuggling up to someone. The scent of the wilderness, not just sand, or gravel, but vegetation too. The aroma of meat roasted with spices over charcoal (mouthwatering). Seeing sprawling black nomad tents and wondering what they were like on the inside. The rhythm of a camel's gait as it carries you high above the ground. The creak of the saddle as the animal rises and its strange, disdainful comments on your riding ability (well, that's what it sounds like).

Then there were the towns and cities with traffic ranging from luxury cars to donkeys. I remember particular scents I can't identify, but which convinced me more than anything that I was in a foreign place. The tastes, of course, which I loved. The spice markets with huge conical towers of cumin, coriander, saffron and so on.

The streets full of metal work, gleaming in the sun or perhaps in a covered bazaar, lit by electric light. Jewellery shops that make your jaw drop, filled to the brim with gold bangles, necklaces and earrings. Shop after shop filled with vibrant materials your fingers just itch to touch. Perfume stores containing the most amazing array of scents. I remember my first visit to Egypt and the heady scent of attar of roses. I fell for the Cleopatra fantasy then and there.

For something completely different, my April UK release, UNDONE BY HIS TOUCH is set in Australia. It's partly located in central Sydney, a place I know and can write with ease. However, much of the book takes place in the Blue Mountains west of the city.

The mountains are incredibly scenic and fascinating, and dangerous too. Lives have been lost over the years as bushwalkers got lost and climbers and canyoners came to grief. It's a climbing misadventure that is the catalyst for this story where the hero loses his brother and his eyesight. He then determines to bring to book the woman he blames for his brother's death. Despite the dark start to the story it was written from a deep love for this area. Here's one of my favourite walks, near Wentworth Falls.

You can see the landscape is imposing. As well as that, there's a tradition of wealthy Sydney people building their holiday retreats in the area. There are some gorgeous old homes there - gracious and with commanding views from the plateau. The perfect place for a recuperating billionaire to retreat and lick his wounds in private. Till he finds the woman he's seeking is right under his nose.

For me the mountains conjure images of crisp days, shimmering summer heat and curling winter fog, birdsong, fantastic cafes and bookshops, immaculate gardens and of course stunning scenery.

Are there places that inspire you? Special places that make you feel good? Maybe somewhere you'd like to write about or have written in. Or if you don't write, somewhere you just love visting?

I'll give away a signed copy of one of my books to someone who leaves a comment.

In the meantime, you might like to check out my latest releases. You can read about them on my website and learn more about what inspired these particular stories. GIRL IN THE BEDOUIN TENT is out now in North America. UNDONE BY HIS TOUCH is an April release in Britain, then May for Australia and New Zealand and June for North America.

Male On Monday: The Sexiest Man of the Year.

Love Inspired Author Margaret Daley explains why she chose Hugh Jackman as the embodiment of the Sexiest Man of the Year and her inspiration for a Texas Ranger.

I'm a visual person and when I write, I visualize my plot. So when I began planning my first book in the Men of the Texas Rangers Series, it was important that I selected the right male to be cast in the role of Wyatt Sheridan in Saving Hope. Then I remembered seeing Australia with Hugh Jackman and I knew he was perfect to be my Texas Ranger.

He embodied everything I wanted: hunky, well built, handsome, rugged looking, confident, protective--an alpha male.

  On top of those qualities he looked good on a horse.

   Cowboys are popular in romance books for a reason. Modern day cowboys remind us of our past when the Wild West was conquered by those cowboys (risk takers, fighters, protective, sometimes loners). I sometimes think of them as American's knights. But it isn't just cowboys that give that persona but so do police officers, firefighters and men in the military. Their job is to protect the public--to keep evil at bay.

There is something about a man in a uniform that is sexy, appealing--whether a firefighter, police officer or in the military. To me their uniform is like a knight's armor.

           

A uniform commands our attention. Draws our attention to the man wearing it.

            With my series about the Men of the Texas Rangers, I got to combine the lure of  the cowboy and a police officer. Texas Rangers are the state police for Texas. There are only a few of them (around 140) to cover a big state. They do have a uniform they wear that reflects their origins from the Wild West (when they were formed in the nineteenth century in Texas) and their police duties. A Texas Ranger's uniform is slacks, dress shirt (light solid color, often white), a conservative tie, boots, cowboy hat (usually, tan, ivory or white) and their silver star worn on their shirt over their heart. There can be sight variations depending on the captain of the company.

 My series is about the modern day version of the Texas Rangers. I have three books coming out in the next year. Saving Hope is out now. Shattered Silence is coming out in October and Scorned Justice will be out in March 2013.

What is your favorite uniformed hero? Why do you like that type?

Visit Margret Daley's website http://www.margaretdaley.com/ to learn more about Margaret and her fascinating heroes.