PLAYING PRETEND IN REAL LIFE

If any of you have read many of my blogs in the past, you’re familiar with how much I enjoy research. To me, it's a chance to experience a little bit about the lives other people live and the careers in which they work. Kind of like playing pretend in real life, if you will. ;) The specific detail and fresh way of looking at things that come from real life research provides grist for the imagination mill and enables a fiction writer to draw readers in to their characters’ world.

The photo to the left is from one of my experiences in my local fire department citizen's academy. I'm prying apart a car using a giant spreading tool. You know, the jaws of life. Let me tell you, that sucker was heavy!

Although most writers I know believe in researching the books they write, all writers don’t feel the same way. Here’s a humorous look at a writer who doesn’t believe in research in a fabulous old radio bit from comedians Bob and Ray.

Oops! The audio clip won't upload. Wouldn't you know. If you want to hear it, you'll have to go here. It's a political blog, but the audio clip itself isn't political. It is, however, pretty amusing.

After all my trouble with the audio clip, I almost forgot to ask my question. If you could choose one career to live for a day, what would it be?

***Just to let you know, eHarlequin is doing a big ebook giveaway today to celebrate their 60th anniversary. Free ebooks. Really. Click here to check it out. They're going to be having a lot of special events this year, so you might want to keep an eye on eHarlequin. And we'll try to pass the news along to you here, too. Happy reading!

Southern Snow Day!

Ahh, the glorious feeling. You wake up in the morning and turn on the television to see names scrolling across the bottom of the screen. You watch in breathless anticipation…searching for your school. When you see it, it’s wonderful. That feeling of respite. No school today! You turn off your alarm and roll over to snooze for a few more minutes. And you’re not even a student….you’re a parent.

It's a snow day. Or if you live in Dallas, an ice day. We have no idea how to drive on that stuff down here. Ice just bamboozles us Texans. Fearful of our driving skills, school administrators wisely close school house doors at the drop of a hat— or in this case, a slight freezing mist. It was somewhat unexpected for me this time. I hadn't been paying much attention to the weather reports.

But I must say the expression on my son’s face was something I won’t soon forget when he woke up and wandered into my office at 7:30 am. Normally I have him up quite a bit earlier.
“Mom, why didn’t you get me up? I’m gonna be late for school.”
I got to be the bearer of very glad tidings.
“School is cancelled.”
First there was a look of disbelief, then pure joy, then a loud “Yes!” as he pumped the air with his fist, jumped up and down and even gave me a big hug and a smacking kiss on the cheek.

This is a surprise holiday. And you folks up north are laughing at me, I know. But we get snow and ice so infrequently, it’s quite an event and perfectly okay to roll your eyes at our antics! Because I’m only talking about the one-day "happenings” (two max), not the horrific weeklong storms you have to endure or the huge mess that's sweeping across the midwest as I type.

I see snow so rarely, southern "snow days" are etched in my memory— making snow ice cream, snow angels, sledding, building the one snowman I’ve made in my lifetime. Since it’s only misting ice instead of snow this time, we’ll be inside most of the day. Sitting in front of the fire, we'll watch movies and hopefully play some board games. Probably eat junk food that’s terrible for us. And I won’t get much work done. By tomorrow my kids will be back in school.

I look forward to these days almost as much as my children do.

So what about you? What’s your favorite “snow day” memory or what’s your favorite thing to do on a "snow day" when you get to stay home?


Kay


KayThomas.net
BETTER THAN BULLETPROOF ~ in stores now!
4 ½ stars Romantic Times ~ 5 stars Cataromance
BULLETPROOF TEXAS ~ April 2009

Spring Cleaning Prizes for you!

And the winner is lastnerve!!!
Contact me to claim your prize.

I'm inspired! All this talk about spring cleaning is making me look at my office and all the BOOKS I have in it. I'm ready for a little spring cleaning of my own, and that means chances to win for you! All you have to do is jump over to my website and tell em which one of my heroines you like best and why in a comment on this blog and you'll be entered in a contest to win the prize package shown. One catch? You have to come back to the blog to see if you won and let me know if you did so I can get an address to send it to you!
Yes, you'd be surprised at the number of unclaimed prizes... So jump to my site at www.ellejames.com and come right back with your comments!

Oh, and check out my April Book cover for Baby Bling! Love a sexy cowboy holding a baby? Me too!

SPRING CLEANING

Ah spring. Ah--choo! (Yep, it's from an old TV commercial.)

But it's also how I feel about spring. Here in Mississippi, spring is yellow pine pollen all over cars, roofs, roads, and me, rain, allergies, and oh yeah, beautiful blooking plants and trees. Did I mention spring is not my favorite season?

Okay, enough complaining.

This year I am looking forward to spring, because I'm on a campaign to clean out, clear out, scale back and simplify. I've warned my husband--he knows to stay out of my way when I'm berserker-cleaning (his word.)

Currently, I'm putting bags of clothes, books, et al into the garage. For me, our garage is a way station for items that are leaving the house. I have a very hard time throwing things away, but if I can get them to the garage, I've got a better than 50-50 chance of successfully ejecting them from there.


Attacking all the junk in my house is helping me with another kind of clearing out. I'm working on clearing out all the clutter in my brain as well as in my home. Old worries, resentments, hurts, even a few regrets--those things that can't be changed--I'm slowly ejecting those too.

A dear friend of mine, when she was 85, told me "I'm getting rid of all the clutter in my life. I don't have time for clutter." She then went on to name issues, problems, and people that she was no longer allowing to waste her time. Fortunately for me, she didn't consider me clutter :) so I remained her friend until she died a few years ago.

But I'm just now understanding what she meant. Life IS too short for clutter. There's barely enough time to enjoy the new growth of spring, the miracle of the hot hot summer sun, the beautiful colors of autumn and the crisp smell of winter. There's barely enough time to appreciate the people who enrich our lives, to marvel in the changes we've witnessed in the world during our short lives, to indulge in the joy of being alive.

This past year has made me realize that I've taken for granted the wonderful days I've had, the remarkable people I've known, and the exceptionally fortunate life I live. I hope I can enjoy each wonderful hour to its fullest--even those hours I spend on spring cleaning.

Any of you who are about to embark on spring cleaning--good luck. If you have any war stories, I'd love to hear about them.



Mallory Kane
If you're looking for a hero...

Great Expectations

When we pick up a romance we expect a happy ending. That’s the agreement the author has made with the potential reader. For that matter, when we go to see a comedy film, we expect to laugh and feel that all is well at the end of the story, right?

Imagine my shock when I discovered that a certain movie promoted by a funny trailer featuring a silly dog, did not, in fact have a happy ending. In fact, it was just the opposite.

Call me crazy, but when movie-goers buy their tickets they, too, have expectations about the story they’re about to see. They’ve invested a fair amount of money—$10 here in Seattle—to sit through two hours of entertainment. When they leave, they have nothing to show for it, no book to re-read because it was so good, and quite possibly they might have indigestion from eating a bucket of popcorn.

Just as romances make an agreement with readers to deliver a happy ending, shouldn’t movie trailers reveal what the movie is about in such a way that people won’t be blindsided or frustrated? When I spotted a mom buying tickets for the above-mentioned dog movie, and standing beside her were two little kids, I wanted to shout – “Don’t do it!” But, alas, it’s not my place.

I figure my job is to provide thrilling and engaging entertainment that allows you to escape, and warms your heart with its happy ending. So there! I’m off my soapbox.

I must post this before the Oscar nominations are announced, but I’d love to know…do you have any favorites? Which ones and why?

Cheers!

Pat White
UNDERCOVER STRANGER, Feb. ‘09

The Happy Ending

When I talk about books in public, I try to stick to the ones I like. But I’ve just finished a “guy book” that upset me a lot. So I want to discuss it a little. I won’t tell you the name of the book. But it was about a woman lawyer whose husband was accused of murder. She loved him and defended him at his trial. During the course of the book, I got to know and like the heroine. Several times during the story, she questioned whether her husband was really innocent. But each time, she regained her faith in him. She won an acquittal, and they joyfully went home again. Then the author had the brilliant idea of having her find out that the guy was really guilty. Not just guilty, but a psychopath. When she confronted him, he tried to kill her. And she ended up shooting him in self-defense.

What fun! Not!.

I’d gone through a deeply emotional experience with the heroine. I rooted for her to win the court case–in the face of a hostile judge and a lot of dirty tricks from the prosecution. Not only that, during the trial, she almost gets fired from her job. But she triumphed over all of that.

What was her reward? Her life was destroyed. Why? Because it was a neat twist for the end of the book?

As I read, I started suspecting that the author was going to pull a zinger at the end. But I kept hoping for the best and I kept going because I liked the heroine and wanted her to win–and walk away happy. I was involved with the story, but now I’m really upset with investing so much time and emotional energy in the plot–and the characters.

There is no way I’d ever write a story like that. I put my hero and heroine through terrible trials. I test their resolve and their character and their love for each other. But I end the story with them happy together. Because that’s what I want to read. And write. There’s enough bad stuff going on in the world without inventing more.

So what do you think? Do you hate being jerked around by an author who gets you hooked, then pulls the rug out from under you?

Rebecca York

New Beginnings

Today as our country transfers power to a new president, I’m thinking about beginnings. The beginning of the Obama administration. The beginning of a new era where our presidents no long have to physically resemble our founding fathers, but can still carry forth the ideals on which the country was built. And the beginning of my work-in-progress.

Sure the last one isn’t as important and sweeping as the first two. But for me, right this minute, as I’m replotting and rewriting the mess that is my current book, it’s the one that occupies my mind the most. You see, this book is not working...yet. It’s not even close. And all of my problems start with the beginning.

There are many different ways to begin a book, but for me, there’s one way I like best. Fast. Intense. Urgent from page one. I’ve kicked off books in different ways, but the thriller-style beginning is my favorite to read and to write. My problem is that this story doesn’t lend itself to that kind of start. It has a little bit more of a cat-and-mouse plot. The tension is there, but it needs to linger, build, then explode, instead of exploding on page one.

So while I’m trying to get a feel for this story so I can finish it, I have a question for all of you. What kind of beginnings do you love in a story? Do you like your breathtaking romantic suspense to start with a bang? Or do you like it to begin with the time bomb ticking under the table and the characters unsure from where the danger might come? What are some of your favorite beginnings in the books you’ve read?

--Ann Voss Peterson