Kate Noble's Blog, page 31

Draft Days

I'm heavy into the draft stage of my next novel, which means I generally walk around in a distracted state, mutter to myself constantly, and leave the house with food in my hair. Draft Days are distinguishable from Outlining Days and Editing Days mostly by my ability to carry on non-writing related conversations, which, during Draft Days, is fairly non-existent.

People who don't know the writer's life are often baffled by my state. It can't be that difficult, can it, to write a couple thousand words a day? I bet I do that much in email on a daily basis, they'd say. You get to sleep till noon if you want to!, they crow with as much scorn as they do envy.

Well, for the uninformed, let me take you through an average Draft Day:

9:30ish – wake up with boyfriend's alarm. I was dreaming about my heroine. She was on a boat. Why was she on a boat? Should I put in a nautical sequence? Mystery is solved by looking out the window and realizing its raining buckets outside, and my subconscious was merely trying to prepare the ark.

9:35-10:35 – make breakfast and complete domestic chores, kiss BF goodbye as he leaves for his alarmingly normal job at 9:55. Spend 20 minutes in the shower trying to work through heroine's mindset for current scene – inspiration strikes, making me flee the shower with soap in my hair to locate the pen and paper I keep on my nightstand, which is filled with scribbles from the dialogue lines and thoughts that woke me up last night. They are mostly illegible.

10:40 — check Twitter.

10:45 – check Facebook.

10:50 – check Twitter again, see if anyone responded to my witty observation/obligatory animal picture/blog-giveaway nudge.

11:00 – head out the door. I have recently started meeting up with a few similarly Drafting friends, at coffee shops around the city. I find it much easier to force myself to work when I'm sitting in an uncomfortable chair, have a ready supply of coffee and people who are working nearby to shame me into getting down to business. Also, human interaction saves my sanity.

11:30 – since its raining we chose the indoor coffee shop. Get coffee, sit down. Find outlet. Plug in.

11:35 – check Twitter.

11:40 – check Twitter.

11:45 – check Twitt… oh, you get the idea.

11:50 – ok, seriously totally seriously have to start working. Just let me check Twitter one last time…

12pm-4pm — Work. Type until my fingers feel funny. Oh, of course I occasionally stand up to stretch my legs, and get coffee, but once my head is in there, its in there. It has to be. There's a deadline coming up. And yes, I did get on the internet, but it was to check a fact on Wikipedia. And maybe check in on Twitter, but I wasn't posting. Nu-uh.

4:15 – I am bleary. My brain is still tuned to what will come next in the story. I know I could write more, but I have no faith that it would be any good, I must work out what happens next in my head first.

4:17 – drive home. Realize it's my turn to make dinner. I go to the grocery store. Buy a pie.

4:45 – at home, go up to my office. Do any number of the administrative tasks that come with having a book release in 6 weeks, including but not limited to: talking to agent/talking to in-house publicist/writings blogs/arranging blog visits/arranging bookstore visits/arranging review copies for reviewers/running a Facebook contest to drum up interest/work on the book trailer/looking up advertising rates, debate which is most worthwhile/creating pitch documents for possible new series.

6:30 – check Twitter

6:35 – have about an hour before BF gets home. Somehow I have already eaten half a pie.

6:40 – I begin to read over what I wrote earlier today. Review and refine. Some writers prefer to do this in the morning, after a night's worth of distance and perspective, but I prefer to write early, and review before I go to bed, so I know where to begin in the morning.

7:30ish – BF home. Appalled that I didn't save him any pie.

8pm – Stop working for the day. Need some primetime TV to decompress my brain. Now, you'll notice that I didn't do anything particularly strenuous – I didn't run a marathon, or perform brain surgery. All I did was sit in a coffee shop, drink some java and eat some pie. But by all that is holy, I am EXHAUSTED. The mental stamina it takes to focus on one story for a few hours drains me, and now, it's time to veg.

9:30ish – Go to gym. Lethargically work the elliptical while reading on my iPad. But the brain, having been down for an hour or so, is starting back up again. I am struck by inspiration and since I don't have a pen and paper, try to type out my idea on the iPad so I hold onto it, while still on elliptical. It ends up mostly illegible.

10:30 – 12ish – Interact with BF. Like many houseplants, he only requires attention once a day or so. This involved me watching him kill people in Call of Duty, and then our shared guilty pleasure, The Jersey Shore.

12ish – Go to bed. Brain, however, is still working. Make sure pad of paper and pen rests on the bedside table, in preparation for the half dozen times that I will be waking up with ideas to jot down.

12:01 – But not before I check Twitter one last time…

Well, I have a lot of drafting days in front of me this week, so I'll be super busy. I recommend popping on over to Ashley March's March Madness Blog – where I'm guesting today! — for lots of good giveaways, including an Advanced Reader Copy of Follow My Lead! Definitely worth the trip.

Until next week – happy reading everyone!

Watching BBC Miniseries (Soapy History at its Awesomest!)

Is everyone here watching Dowton Abbey?  If not, you should be – a British series that has already aired its first season in the US on PBS, it is a marvelous example of something the Brits do wonderfully well: the historical miniseries.  (We might call them mini, because where as American television seasons last anywhere from 13-24 episodes, a British TV season, which they call a series – it can get terribly confusing sometimes — is generally around 6 episodes.)

Maybe it's because they have all the history, all the literature.  Maybe it's because when Britain came up with their system of government subsidized television production they threw in a quality clause, so they have to create some shows that meet certain critical standards, not just ones that earn ratings.  But whatever the reason, they do soapy, history-packed, literature-based shows better than anybody.  And thanks to Netflix, I've been able to discover a BUNCH of them.

Now, I'm not going to talk about your Pride and Prejudice/North and South/Cranford, all of which have been so lauded of late. (But I could. Oh, I could.)  Instead here are some lesser known, but ultimately awesome finds –made all the more awesome by the then-young-now-hot actor spotting one can do…


 

Lilies (2007)

Set in post-World War I Liverpool, three sisters face the usual coming-of-age struggles in a world that offers few choices to women of no financial means.  But the Moss sisters make ends meet, and go through life and one even meets and marries a guy that had something so bad happen to him in the war OH MY GOD I CAN'T EVEN TALK ABOUT IT!!!  Ahem.  Lilies also has the benefit of featuring a pre-Sookie Stephen Moyer as an aristocrat that takes an interest in his new parlor maid, who happens to be one of the sisters…


 


 

Berkley Square (1998)

Set in 1903, this is a decidedly downstairs look at the posh British way of life, the story centering on the nannies of three aristocratic families who live around the exceptionally posh London enclave of Berkley Square.  None of these young women are Mary Poppins, but each has their own past, and are trying to do the best they can for these children of privilege, some of whom don't see their parents above once a day – or even once a week.  There's the country one, who comes to terms with being in a big city, the one with a hidden scandalous past… and the one who falls in love with a remarkably young Jason O'Mara (pre-Life on Mars, the American version) who plays the footman who gets into the occasional street brawl.


 


 


 


 

He Knew He Was Right (2004)

Based on the Victorian-era Anthony Trollope novel of the same name (and Trollope is not known for being happy) this one is about a young aristocratic marriage that is broken up by the husband's jealousy over his wife's friendship with a notorious flirt.  Never mind that the flirt is her godfather, the husband spends the whole time sending his wife off to the country and becoming more and more paranoid until he cracks up and dies because, gosh darn it, HE KNEW HE WAS RIGHT.  This one will make you rethink every single fight you've ever had with your significant other, because jeez, if he – or she – could have just given in a little, it would have all amounted to nothing.  Added benefit: DAVID TENNANT ALERT!  Just one year after this production, Mr. Tennant would morph into Dr. Who, but here he plays a very confused and unfortunately priggish vicar, stuck between two sisters who both want to marry him.


 


 

The Buccaneers (1995)

Hey! An American wrote this one!  Edith Wharton's – also not known for happiness – tale of four "new-money" American girls who have trouble making good marriages in New York Knickerbocker society, go to London in an attempt to get some polish and meet potential husbands.  And they do.  Because nothing is more appealing to impoverished Aristocrats than American money, new or old.  But finding happiness in these unions is harder than finding the husbands, as all four girls learn pretty quickly.  Mira Sorvino and Carla Gugino are two of the female leads and James Frain – pre Where the Heart is and pre-crazy True Blood vampire – shows up as Carla's husband… who takes a little too much interest in the stable boys, if you catch my meaning.


 


 


 


 

The Way We Live Now (2001)

Did you ever look at pyramid schemers like Bernie Madoff and wonder where they got the idea that they could get away with it? It's possibly because people had been getting away with it ever since Trollope's day, when he wrote The Way We Live Now.  When a financier with an unknown past moves with his wife and impetuous daughter to London, and starts up a railroad company that is meant to lay train tracks in America, he swindles and smarms his way into the pockets of the aristocracy around him.  His promise of huge returns on investments but not actually able to prove it sound alarmingly familiar to those of us who've read the New York Times financial pages any time in the past couple years.  Bonus points for spotting Cillian Murphy, Matthew McFayden and Miranda Otto (doing a decent American accent) in supporting roles.


 


 

Wives and Daughters (1999)

Far more cheerful than any of the preceding, I first discovered Wives and Daughters (based on the Elizabeth Gaskell novel) when I was doing a semester abroad in London (and considering that was 1999, I just dated myself horribly).  Set in the 1830s or so, the story begins when long widowed Dr. Gibson remarries, giving his daughter Molly a new stepmother as well as a new stepsister, Cynthia.  Cynthia is sweet, but shallow, and as the prettier of the two, catches the eye of studious Roger Hamley, who is the object of Molly's silent affection.  It's a timeless plot, and this is easily the mini series that truly kicked off my appreciation for the BBC (Pride and Prejudice aside, of course).


 


 

Think of any I've missed?  Tell me in the comments below!

That's all for me this week – I have a ridiculous amount of writing to do to get myself back on schedule (what can I say, The Summer of You Guest Blogging Extravaganza really took it out of me – but thank you so much to everyone who made it possible! It was so much fun!) but I will be at fellow historical author Ashley March's March Madness Blog Party on March 20th, with fun stuff and giveaways, so keep an eye out!

Until then, happy reading!

Six Silly Questions with Jane Porter!

Jane Porter is the indubitably awesome queen of women's fiction, having written such fantastic books as The Frog Prince, Flirting with Forty, and her latest, She's Gone Country.  Between writing fabulous novels and having them made into TV movies (starring Heather Locklear, no less), being a mother of boys and a surfer chick, she somehow scraped together the time to be the grand finale to The Summer of You Guest Blogging Extravaganza — please welcome, Jane Porter!


 


 


 

1. How does a Fresno-born surfer gal end up writing romance novels for a living?

I was a Central California, land bound girl. Loved to swim but definitely didn't surf, or even hang out on the beach while at UCLA, unlike my Orange County room mates. And then at forty, I met a very hot hunky surfer who changed all that and has given me a whole new appreciation for the ocean. Now I'm definitely not as comfortable on a surfboard as I am at my desk, but that's probably because I started writing my first romance when I was an 18-year- old the summer before I started college. I was dating a very sexy baseball player and wrote "Struck Out in Love" for Silhouette Romance. It didn't sell, but I found writing category romance completely addictive. It took me 15 years to sell my first book, and 13 rejected manuscripts, before I got my first sale with Harlequin Presents but its been an amazing 10 years since.

2. You built a career in category and then transitioned to women's fiction. How did you pull that off?

I grew up reading category romance and loved them and had the goal to write 30-40 category romances, and then try single title romance the way a lot of the "big names" did. Unfortunately, after writing only 15 category romances for Harlequin, I was struggling with writing all the happy ever after endings when my marriage was in trouble, and needed to write something that wasn't about falling in love with a man, but rather, falling in love with yourself. And that story became The Frog Prince. I loved writing The Frog Prince and have written one women's fiction book a year since, while continuing to write 2-3 Harlequins a year. It's a bit of a juggle, but it works because I'm completely myself in both — my voice, my themes, my idea of fiction.

3. You write a great deal in your women's fiction about a turning point in your character's lives. Whether it be dealing with a divorce (The Frog Prince, She's Gone Country), a possible change in career direction (Easy on the Eyes) or moving across country to care for a declining parent (Odd Mom Out), what draws you as an author to women in transition?

Change is an inevitable part of life but change can really throw us…make us feel unstable and insecure and afraid. I love confronting those hard changes and showing that we can get through whatever life gives us. Sometimes we need to lean on friends. Sometimes we need to reach out to family. And sometimes we need to dig deep down inside ourselves to find our real strength. I guess that's heroic to me—women finding themselves and discovering they can take care of themselves, and have a happy life—with or without a man, with or without children, with or without money.

4. You also write for Harlequin Presents, where you've got a following for your exotic heroes. What's with the sheikh love?

I adore the whole Valentino fantasy! The undulating sand dunes kissed by the setting sun…the luxurious tent in the middle of the desert…silks, jewels, chests of gold coins… the handsome half English, half Arab sheikh with the Oxford education and the ability to give a woman the most unbelievable orgasm(s)…

Okay, so it's a fantasy, but fantasy is soooo fun. Fantasy makes reality feel better.

4a. Will a sheikh ever meet with a chick lit woman-in-transition in your writing world?

Um, unlikely. There are so many stories I still want to tell and I don't see the fantasy translating all that well.

5. My desk is populated with a combination of important papers and silly knick-knacks. What is on your desk right now?

A funky little face that holds my reading glasses. A painted rock that was a Mother's Day gift from son #2 when he was 3. A framed photo of my surfer and me. Loose photos of my boys that I just love and enjoy flipping through when I'm on the phone. Stacks of magazines that haven't been read. Bills that I don't want to open. Articles and research material that relates to the new book I'm working on.

6. Obligatory The Summer of You question: What do you do in the summer that officially makes it summer?

Take my boys to the beach! Once we hit the waves in Waikiki I know summer has arrived. And it's not summer until all 3 boys are there with me. I love Hawaii, but I love Hawaii best when I get to have all three kids and Surfer Ty with me.

Thank you, Jane, so much being the grand finale of The Summer of You Guest Blogging Extravaganza! And I'm not ashamed to admit that I really want to try surfing now. What about you? Leave a comment below telling us what you do in summer that official makes it summer and win your choice of Jane's books! You can read all the excerpts and decide which you'd like on www.janeporter.com.

Winner will be randomly chosen on Monday March 7th!

A conversation with Liza Palmer and Megan Crane!

Internationally bestselling Liza Palmer and USA Today bestseller Megan Crane were my first-ever writer friends. They let me tag along with their group when I didn't know anybody at RWA 4 years ago, and when I moved from New York to California, it was right into the lion's den and hanging out became a regular thing. (Liza even made me a "welcome to CA" CD. She's old school.) We recently sat down in front of our computers and talked about snow, our love of Supernatural, and all things writing… Er, once we figured out how to open a group chat, that is.


 


 

Be warned: as evidenced by the completely unprofessional candid photo above, we we get together, we are very silly. (Liza's the one getting bunny ears, I'm the one giving them. Megan stands by, appalled.)


 

Liza Palmer: THERE YOU ARE!

Megan Crane: My god. How many writers does it take to open a chat?

Kate Noble: Getting 3 people on one chat was a lot harder than I thought it would be. How do the teenagers do it?

LP: They're smarter than any of us. Well, smarter than you two at least.

MC: Eh. They have less going on. They can monitor more stuff. I'm still mulling over 1991.

LP: Srsly. That's how the kids say SERIOUSLY.

KN: Just because you have teenage nieces, you think you know everything that's cool.

MC: She totally does. Like there's teen osmosis at work.

LP: I'm down, ya'll. DOWN.

KN: You're down? I thought you were at a Starbucks in the San Fernando Valley somewhere. Is there snow?

LP: Beautiful snow topped mountains.

KN: That is a sign of the apocalypse, right? Snow in the valley?

MC: I heard it snowed in San Francisco. TOTALLY the end times!

LP: Dean Winchester started the apocalypse, so…

MC: Dean is mine!

LP: You can't have Angel AND Dean?!?!?!

KN: Dibs on Castiel!

LP: I'm not getting stuck with Sam. You bastards. I'll take Tim Riggins. TIM RIGGINS.

KN: Ok, reign in the Tim Riggins love. Let's get down to the chat, shall we?

MC: CHAT US UP, KATE!

LP: I WANT TO SHOW PEOPLE MY BRILLIANCE!

KN: Question #1: Tell me how you guys met and got started in the writing deal. Which came first, knowing each other or being published?

LP: Aw, I feel like those couples in When Harry Met Sally.

MC: Well, we met to do promo for the new 5 Spot line at what was then Warner Books.

LP: It was a little Italian place in Westwood. One day was lunch with the independent bookstores and the next day with the big chains.

MC: Liza's debut (Conversations with the Fat Girl) was the lead title. I'd had a book out the previous summer, so was going 5 Spot for my second. We hid in the Borders after each and talked for hours about everything…

LP: We drank terrible coffee and just drooled on ourselves.

MC: I don't know about that. I feel certain it was tea and chat, no drool.

LP: I'll just speak for myself then.

KN: And you've been joined at the hip ever since?

MC: I don't know what you mean, Kate. I hardly know Liza. (snerk)

LP: It's all a facade (pronounced fa-kade)

KN: Don't destroy my image of the two of you in my head…

LP: What exactly IS the image of us you have in your head, Kate? Are we making out?

KN: One day, fifty years from now, the two of you will be sitting on a southern veranda, sipping tea and snarking at each other. This, is my dream.

LP: I think in this business — biz, if you will — having someone to talk about writing with is the difference between staying in it, staying sane and just giving up and going back to the daily grind.

Finding Megan and then you, Kate, Michelle Rowen and Jane Porter has been my saving grace.

MC: Hey, I like all those people too!

KN: Liza found me wandering around the Harlequin party at the San Fransisco RWA, friendless and alone.

LP: Oh yes…. in the buffet line, I believe. As I find most friends.

KN: I have to admit, it was my first RWA, and I was surprised to find women's fiction represented there. (Now I'm not at all surprised, but at the time I sort of thought RWA was a bodices and heroes kind of place.)

MC: There's now a WF chapter of RWA. It's new, and pretty cool. They're having a mini conference in NYC this summer.

LP: I love them. Being surrounded by writers…it's like camp. You don't feel crazy for those few days.

KN: How do you think women's fiction is perceived by the romance industry, the publishing industry, etc?

MC: I've always thought of chick lit and women's fiction as offshoots of romance, because romance is my foundation, so for me, they're all connected.

LP: I feel the same. Relationships should be a symptom/embodiment of the success or failure of your hero's journey.

MC: It's hard to think of how others might see them. But I think there is and always will be a place for stories about women, women's lives, etc. If the focus is on the romance, it's a romance. If it's on the woman's "journey," it's a women's fiction.

LP: Of course we're silly sentimental women – so our take on the lives of women isn't as meaningful.

MC: I think of it as choosing different lenses. Narrow focus: a romance. Wider focus: the woman and her wider sweep of life. Etc.

KN: Megan — you mentioned your foundation is romance. Or should I say… CAITLIN CREWS.

MC: Yes. I have two names. I love romance novels. I found them in roughly the seventh grade and I never looked back. I read them voraciously, and now I write them, too!

KN: You write category for Harlequin Presents, and always have very pretty covers.

MC: I've really loved the majority of my Presents covers! I know some readers are embarrassed by the "clinch" covers, but not me. Either on my own books or on the books I'm reading. I love them!

KN: The perception is that since its shorter, writing category is easier. True/false?

MC: Ha! I wish! Categories are much, much harder. The very things that people criticize (i.e. the short length, the "formula") are what make them so hard.

LP: I can attest to them being harder to write. Not that I write them, but Megan looks like she's really working on them, you know? When I'm, like, asking her if she wants to see a movie. She growls at me.

MC: Because how do you keep to the short length, and utilize the expected formula, while also telling a fresh, hopefully exciting and intense story? How do you make the book seem like it's 5 times its size?

KN: And then write 5 of them in a year…

MC: It's so hard. But so rewarding. I'm in awe of the authors who have been writing 4 or 5 books a year for the line for twenty, thirty years. They amaze me.

KN: Liza, it's your turn. Tell us what you're working on. Give us a little preview.

LP: I just got my page proofs for book four – which has yet to be titled or is going through last minute title difficulties.

KN: What are your title choices?

LP: One is White Picket Fences: And Other Crimes Against Humanity. It's about how we, as women, can only be Rosie the Riveter or the Happy Homemaker and never the twains shall meet. And that if they do meet – that we'll do anything to keep up appearances. Anything.

MC: Are twains plural? I thought there was only one twain, which never met.

LP: I thought it was between twains. You have to know that I am the queen of getting that stuff wrong.

Here are some of my doozies:

I'm going to take the bull by the horns and run with it.

Like a fly to a light.

I have a new leash on life.

You can't win for trying.

KN: One of those should be your title: Take the bull by the horns and run with it.

LP: So, the book takes place in a school and the Headmistress is this totally Mrs. Perfect…and all hell breaks loose when her husband walks in and shoots her. And our hero has to unpack why this woman would rather die than admit that her life was less than perfect. I think the theme of book four is that we're only as sick as our secrets.

KN: So I'm assuming you've never been a headmistress of a school or been shot by your husband…

MC: I offered to shoot her, but she declined. Ours is a giving relationship.

KN: But I do know that your writing has a lot of yourself in it — what's your research process like?

LP: I did work in a school for several years and I certainly used that…just the comings and goings. The layout of a school, a day in the life kind of stuff. But research is key. Because it's those offhanded comments that can pop one out of the story if they're not spot on. I did a ton of it for Seeing Me Naked, learning about the life of a pastry chef. And I'm going to have to do a ton for North Star – book five, which takes place in a prison. I know more about the death penalty than I should at this point.

KN: What about the hero of book 4?

LP: Tortured. I love dealing with heroes who only want to be normal and it's the one thing they can't be.

MC: Kate, you've done some amazing tortured heroes. The one in The Summer of You was DELICIOUS.

KN: Thank you.

MC: I expect no less in Follow My Lead!

KN: Um… I wouldn't say Jason's tortured. But he does spend an awful lot of time trying to do the right thing, and getting it spectacularly wrong.

MC: That's okay. Your writing is so lush and good that you could publish a grocery list and I would sink into it like a warm bath.

LP: MEGAN WANTS TO SINK INTO YOU LIKE A WARM BATH, KATE.

KN: Well, Megan knows a thing or two about seriously rockstar heroes.

MC: I do, since I have I have TWO books coming out in March! To wit: Katrakis's Sweet Prize, a Presents with a very yummy hero and an awesome heroine.

KN: is the guy royalty or a billionaire? Those are your options.

MC: He's a self-made Greek tycoon. Obviously. Although there are other options for Presents heroes, silly. I'm thinking of making one an MMA fighter. And the other is I Love the 80s, featuring an ACTUAL rock star hero!

KN: I Love the 80s has the world's most fabulous premise: time travel nostalgia awesomeness. How did you come up with it?

LP: It's such a good book…

MC: I was procrastinating, as I do, and found myself watching all these YouTube videos of 80s music I used to love. And I started thinking, what if you could go back to like 1987 and be a grown women interacting with, say, Simon LeBon at the height of his 80s fame–instead of a 12 year old girl?

LP: Dude.

MC: What if you were the only one who knew he was going to die in a few months? What if he didn't fall in love with you as you always thought he would–AT FIRST SIGHT?

KN: Um, I would like to read this book now please.

MC: You can read it in a few short weeks! It's coming out in England, but everyone everywhere else can order it with free worldwide shipping through Book Depository.

KN: Will it be e-reader available? Because I'm all up on my iPad now, dontcha know.

MC: I believe so…

KN: Ok, obligatory The Summer of You question: What do you do in summer that officially makes it summer?

MC: Summer? It's always summer in LA. I just go outside.

LP: Despite thinking that I hate summer, it's actually the time when I'm most productive and the most at ease. I love the cold, but something about the heat and freedom of the season must do something.

My family has a house up the coast a bit and we go through for weeks on end and just languish. It's beyond anything. And there are brown butter cookies…so…

MC: People not in LA please note: when Liza says "cold," she means "LA cold." Like, 40 degrees.

KN: there's snow in the San Fernando Valley, Megan!

LP: SNOW!!! …ish…

MC: I think real summer is a perfect day in Cape Cod. Breezy, blue, beautiful.

KN: Are you going to get to Cape Cod this summer? What the rest of 2011 look like for you ladies?

LP: The rest of 2011 is going to be about finishing Book Five and getting started on some pretty amazing super secret projects that I can't wait to get started on.

MC: I have four books to write between now and next March or so. I'm hoping I might make it up to the Cape after RWA this year.

LP: Ooh, that's a plan. I'm invited, right? RIGHT?!?!?

<< crickets>>

Well, I know one thing we'll be doing in 2011: we'll be seeing the new Jane Eyre….right?!?! Michael Fassbender? Mr. Rochester?!?!?!

KN: RIGHT

MC: DEFINITELY.

Thank you so much to both Megan Crane and Liza Palmer for visiting with me today, and making me giggle. In celebration of the reissue of The Summer of You, Liza and Megan are giving away a book a piece! Just leave a comment below, telling us how you like your heroes (Tortured? Greek Billionaire?) and we'll chose a winner on Sunday, March 6th!

(please note, due to spam issues, all comments have to be approved, meaning they may not show up in feed immediately. But do not fear, they have been received, and will be shown ASAP)

Six Silly Questions with Christie Ridgway!

Thank you everyone who entered the Christie Ridgway giveaway! A winner has been chosen and it's… Sally! (Sally, we'll be in touch shortly.)

Christie Ridgway is quite possibly, the nicest person I've ever met in my life. Being as we write for the same house (Berkley Sensation) and are repped by the same agency, she graciously took a shell-shocked newbie (me) under her wing and introduced me to everyone in the publishing world at my first RWA. Oh, and she writes a pretty awesome romance novel, too. Please join me in welcoming Christie Ridgway to The Summer of You Guest Blogging Extravaganza, as she answers all my silly questions!


 


 


 


 

1. How much wine tasting did you do to "research" your latest series? Be honest.

Beyond my customary at-home imbibing, my husband and I spent a few days in Napa and Sonoma, those famed wine counties in NoCal. Tasting is hard work! We tasted at about 3 wineries each day (trying 3-5 wines) though visited more. I don't think I could take more than that. Our last day, we ran into a couple who recommended 1 detox day for every 2 days of tasting.

1a. Cabernet? Pinot Grigio? (I'm a Sauvingon Blanc girl, myself).

Napa is known for its cab and chardonnay, so we had a lot of that. Pinot noir in Sonoma County. I'm a Sauvignon Blanc girl too! My fave! That's more commonly found in the "wetter" counties…those grapes more prevalent in the central coast. I did bring home a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc from Chateau Montelena which is the winery in the movie Bottle Shock, and its chardonnay won a blind tasting in the 1970s… the beginning of the Napa region's fame. (Great movie, highly recommend!)

2. You started writing category for Silhouette. How did you transition to contemporary single title?

Big contemporaries were just coming into fashion and I thought those kind of stories would suit my voice. I love the subgenre! I can be sexy, quirky, emotional, and humorous all at the same time. I still love category romance, though. Pearls of fiction, those books.

3. What's your day –to- day writing life look like?

I'm a morning person, so I do my best procrastinating then. I do intend to get right to the pages every day, but I get sidetracked by email, web surfing, twitter, etc. Then I finally get good and guilty and start with my day's goal. My usual production rate is 7-10 pages a day (that's when my deadline is staring me in the face).

4. You're latest series centers around the Tanti Baci Winery, run by the Baci sisters. When building a story, do you automatically think in terms of series, or do you start with the first story, and see where it goes? i.e. – how did you come up with the Baci sisters?

I thought of the winery first. You need conflict to sustain stories, so I thought of a struggling winery. I read about internal family strife in some of the famous wine families, the Gallos and the Mondavis, and then it all came together.

5. What is your absolute favorite thing about the Baci sisters and the Bennett men?

I love the passionate Italian girls going up against the more controlled Bennett men (this is particularly the situation between Giuliana Baci and Liam Bennett, the main characters in the last book in the trilogy, Can't Hurry Love.) The Baci women are resilient too…you can't keep Alessandra, Stephania, and Giuliana down.

6. Obligatory Summer of You question: What do you do in the summer that officially makes it summer?

There's a lot of summer where I am in SoCal! I think it's officially summer when I take my 1985 Cabriolet convertible out of the garage and have it become my go-to errand-mobile. Gotta love tooling around town with the top down and the sun on my face!

Thank you so much, Christie for visiting with us today for The Summer of You Blogging Extravaganza. In celebration, Christie is giving away one copy of Then He Kissed Me (Three Kisses series, book #2) to one lucky commenter! Just leave a comment telling us your favorite kind of wine (sauvingon blanc girls unite!), and a winner will be chosen on Saturday, March. 5th!

(please note: all comments have to be approved – it's a spam thing – so yours may not appear in the feed immediately. But it has been received and will be visible ASAP. Trust me.)

A Conversation with Sarah MacLean!

Thank you all who entered. A winner has been chosen and its… ClaudiCG! We will be in contact with ClaudiCG shortly…

Sarah MacLean is *the* new voice is Historical Romance. Her first adult novels, Nine Rules to Break when Romancing a Rake, and Ten Ways to Be Adored When Landing a Lord, burned up the bestseller lists and her next, Eleven Scandals to Start to Win a Duke's Heart, is poised to do the same come May. I met her when we both read at Lady Jane's Salon, and found her to be as delightful as her writing. She graciously agreed to be a part of my The Summer of You Guest Blogging Extravaganza, and we spent a recent morning on iChat, writing in emoticons and making ourselves giggle.


 


 


 

Kate Noble: Good morning!

Sarah MacLean: Good afternoon.

KN: Ah yes, you and your east coast time, always getting the jump on us west coasters. How goes it?

SM: It goes well. I'm finishing up some day job stuff… and then I have to take the dog to the vet.

KN: You have a day job?

SM: I quit my day job and then accepted when they offered me a 2-day a week gig when someone went to maternity leave. I was like, OH I MISS PEOPLE YES YES I'LL DO IT!

KN: I miss people too.

SM: It's the dirty little secret of writing.

KN: If I go one more day where the only person I see is my boyfriend he will suffer for it. So I joined a vague writing group.

SM: Heheh. My husband comes home and I'm like HOWWASYOURDAYWHATDIDYOUDOAND-WHATDIDHESAYANDWHATDIDYOUSAYANDWHATDIDYOUEATFORLUNCHANDHIHIHIHIHIHIHI! He wants to murder me.

KN: Exactly! And then I'm like: LETS GO OUT AND DO SOMETHING FUN!!!!!PLEASE GOD!!!!! To which he says, "I'm playing Call of Duty with my friends online in 15 minutes, so…"

SM: LOL. You're SOL

KN: But anyway — let's get down to chatting. I wrote questions and everything.

SM: Wow. You're so professional. I will try to sound brilliant and witty.

KN: Question #1: How many times in the last 2 years have you compiled a list of 9, 10, or 11 items?

SM: Ha! Too many times to count! Why do you think I've stopped with the numbered titles? Numbered lists are deceptively simple. And now, I hate them. I have turned to bullets.

KN: I think you chose too high of numbers. Then you sort of have to pad out the middle.

SM: Possibly. Unfortunately Nine's title came after Nine was written…so…it was either a high number or a short book.

KN: Hee. OK, question #2: You and I are both (relatively) young historical romance novelists — and by young, I mean we've been in the business less than 5 years.

SM: And that we have great skin.

KN: And we DO have great skin. But for me it's because I wear a pail of sunscreen every day.

SM: Oh. I thought it was because you'd sold your soul to the SoCal devils.

KN: They're called the Lakers, not the devils. BUT the question: How have you found the reality of the industry to be versus what you thought it would be?

SM: I think there are two big things that I've found to be different from what I expected. First, I wasn't expecting other writers to be so supportive. It's a distinctly romance-thing. Everyone in the genre is willing to take your call or reply to your emails or chat with you at a signing or a conference. It's a little unsettling at first, because you're sort of expecting these rockstar authors to be…well…divas. And I've never had that happen. Although I did lose my courage at RWA when I saw Lisa Kleypas. I couldn't bring myself to introduce myself. I'm told she's fabulous…but I'm scared of her because she's SO AMAZING OMG.

KN: My first conference, I was eating with some other (then) unpubs, and Lisa Kleypas was eating alone — one of my table buddies went up and introduced herself and got a hug. It was a face palm moment for me, b/c I couldn't do it.

SM: awwww… see? I love her. But I get tongue tied just thinking about talking to her. Anyway, I worked in publishing for many years before I was published…and other genres are not so chill.

KN: YA's cutthroat, is it?

SM: Heh. I actually wasn't referring to YA either…I'm very lucky to write in two genres that are super welcoming. Maybe because romance and YA are too-often perceived as some kind of literary step-child.

KN: Exactly! I think romance is so welcoming partially because we get so much guff from the outside. In this community, it's like "it's ok to like happily ever afters here, come in from the cold."

SM: Heh.

KN: I think one thing I didn't expect joining the publishing industry is the way publicity and social media have to become an ingrained part of your life.

SM: Oh, I know. The thing is, I was a total social media geek before I got published. And now, I never do personal social media stuff…everything is done professionally. And the internet becomes such a time suck…I literally have to block my internet connection to get work done.

KN: I just leave the house. That's what the coffee shop vague writing group is for. If someone is sitting directly across from me writing, I feel tremendously guilty not writing myself.

SM: What you don't know is that that person is on the internet.

KN: Don't destroy my illusions, Sarah!

SM: Sorry. Right. No. That person is Jonathan Franzen. Working very hard. But I wonder if this is a romance thing, too… I mean, are the literary fiction writers online so much? I mean, I love how close it lets me be to readers. They can FB me and email me, etc.

KN: It's amazing. I love that you get feedback instantly. That you get to know who is reading your books.

SM: But it's not so common with literary authors. I mean, I can't imagine John Irving replying to my email. (Though I would DIE if he did.)

KN: Have you ever emailed him?

SM: No! OMG! That's like talking to Lisa Kleypas at RWA!

KN: OK, this RWA, we are going to break you of one of your fears. Either talk to Lisa Kleypas or email John Irving.

SM: DONE. Stay tuned, readers…it's gonna get wild in NYC this RWA. Sarah MacLean will use her words.

KN: or, her computer.

SM: hehe

KN: Ok, next question: I have read both 9 and 10. I have not yet gotten an ARC of 11 (AHEM) — but I'm struck by the very real cast of characters you surround your hero and heroine with. Which secondary characters do you wish you could give their own story and why?

SM: First of all, did you ask me to blog with you simply so you can get an ARC of 11?

KN: …maybe…

SM: Second, thank you! That question means a lot coming from you…I love your secondary characters. Why do you think I'm so excited for Follow My Lead? Uhm, cuz I heart Jason.

KN:

SM: Obviously, Juliana and Simon get their love story finally in Eleven… And I have a soft spot in my heart for Benedick, Callie's brother…but his heroine just hasn't shown up yet. But I really really wish I could tell Nastasia's story — she was Gabriel's mistress in Nine – she remains my favorite character.

KN: Oh, interesting! She wouldn't be your average aristocratic virgin heroine, would she?

SM: I have this whole backstory of hers in my head…

KN: Novella! Novella!

SM: Maybe someday.

KN: I really loved Kate and Joan in 10. I thought they could spark their own series. In an upstairs/downstairs kind of way.

SM: I love those girls. Minerva House comes back for a bit in Eleven… and I realized how much I wished I had had time to really dig in to the lives of the women there.

KN: See, you've got me thinking now: If I had to chose from my own characters, it would probably be the Wilton Boys from The Summer of You. But they are 7 and 9 in that book, so I'd have to jump a head a couple of decades.

SM: That would be fabulous! They're such trouble!

KN: Ok, next question: Let's talk about sex!

SM: oooh. yes.

KN: (…that's really all I had…)

SM: Haha. Ok…well, when a man and a woman love each other, Kate… No. honestly… writing sex is hard. It slows me down a lot. Because it can devolve into slot A – tab B. And that's no fun.

KN: It takes me a bottle of wine to get through writing my characters' first sex scene. I think its because since it's new to the characters, its ten times more awkward. Writing a second sex scene for a set of characters actually comes easier.

SM: The worst part is when they won't HAVE it. I just finished a book in which there is a very noble hero. And OMG. I couldn't get him to do it! He just wouldn't ruin her!

KN: Damn that noble hero!

SM: And I'd get them right there, in the room, ready! And he'd put a hand to his brow and say, "oh, no. I can't." STOP RUINING MY BOOK.

KN: He's gay.

SM: HAHAHA. No, he managed to do it fine in the end. And he was not at all gay. But he was not having me force his hand. Or any other parts of him, either.

KN: OK, obligatory The Summer of You question: What do you do in the summer that officially makes it summer?

SM: Ooooh… the park. We live a block from Prospect Park in Brooklyn, and during the summer, I love meeting my husband after work with the dog and some take out and just hanging out in the park. We watch little league games and Baxter gets to play in the dog pond, and it's a total summer thing.

KN: That sounds beyond awesome. And now, I'm jealous.

SM: Hehe. Come visit!

KN: I will, in June! For RWA!

SM: I might be too busy for summer park days then…but drinking! That is also summery!

KN: Yay, outdoor drinking!

SM: We'll fit right in, in Times Square.

KN: Ok, last question: What's the rest of 2011 going to be like for Sarah MacLean?

SM: I hope it involves holing myself up in my office and finishing a few more books.

KN: Good plan.

SM: I'm also hoping that it involves hanging out with the fabulous Kate Noble at RWA in June.

KN: Yay!

SM: And I might send an email to John Irving. But that might be overkill.

Many thanks to Sarah MacLean for chatting with me today. And to help celebrate the re-release of The Summer of You, Sarah is giving away an ARC of Eleven Scandals to Start to Win a Duke's Heart! Just leave a comment below to enter telling us if you've ever emailed John Irving (or your heroic equivalent), and the winner will be randomly selected on Friday, March 4th!

(please note: due to spam issues, comments have to be approved. As such, they may not show up in the feed immediately. But any comment has been received and will be visible ASAP. Thanks for your patience.)

Six Silly Questions with… Miranda Neville!

Welcome to Day 1 of The Summer of You Guest Blogging Extravaganza!

Miranda Neville is a marvelously witty writer of historical romance for Avon, but if both of our names hadn't started with N, I don't know if we'd have even met. Being alphabetically compatible, we were seated across the aisle from each other at the RWA Literacy Signing. I'm absolutely thrilled that she's here to celebrate the reissue of The Summer of You, and answering all my silly questions. Please welcome Miranda Neville!


 


 


 


 

1. You're actually British! How'd that happen? Where in Britain are you from?

I'm not sure how, because I wasn't born yet. You'd have to ask my parents. I was born in Salisbury in southwest England and grew up nearby. If you often find Wiltshire as a location for my books, that's because I can describe a place without looking it up.

2. As an honest-to-goodness Brit, who happens to write historical romance set in England, I wonder about your opinion of the vast number of American authors who write British-set historical romance. Are we getting it right, or are we co-opting your history because we like the dresses?

It's handy knowing stuff like geography (see above), plants and animals, architectural styles, and of course the ever-important weather. But Britain now is different from Regency England. We've got plumbing and dentists and cars and TV. I don't know any more about what it was like back then than you do. I have to look it up. There are lots of absolutely brilliant historical romances written by Americans and it's also where the market is. The Brits don't seem to have quite the US enthusiasm for hot rakish dukes. Perhaps because the real dukes show up on page 6 of the tabloids and they tend to be rather boring.

3. In both of the books of yours that I've read, The Wild Marquis and Never Resist Temptation, (I'm working my way down the pile to The Dangerous Viscount ) I was struck by the incredible detail you gave your worlds. From bibliomania to profiteroles, how do you do your research, and how much time do you devote to it?

I find I have two levels of research: there's the broad background stuff – the pastry cooking in Never Resist Temptation and the rare book collecting in my current series. It takes a lot of work and happens before I plot the book — I find the information I gather helps me frame the story. Then there are those pesky details. I'll be happily writing away and suddenly I need to know what a piece of furniture looks like, or exactly what word would be used for something. Things grind to a halt for the next two hours while I try and figure out something I need for a sentence that may end up being cut. It's amazing how much can be done online now. I used to visit rare book libraries to read books that are now available on Google.

4. Let's talk about your heroes. Can I just say Wow? If you had to choose one of your heroes to spend an eternity with, which one would it be and why?

Well thank you, darling. You've written some pretty wonderful guys yourself. I'm always in love with the hero I'm writing. I think that's a job requirement. Of my backlist (I have three books out so I can claim to have a backlist, can't I?) I think I'll always have a soft spot for Sebastian in The Dangerous Viscount. There's something about nerd with glasses who turn out to be really hot. He's smart and curious and he takes the trouble to learn what a woman needs.

5. Keeping in the vein of heroes and their general sexiness, you have some terribly eyeglass-steaming sex scenes in your books. Personally, it takes a couple of days of procrastination and a bottle of wine for me to get through writing a sex scene. How easy/difficult have you found them to be?

You too? I told a friend that I had to drink a couple of glasses of wine before I wrote my first sex scene and she responded, "oh, just like having sex for the first time." As in real life it got easier, but it's also harder to keep thing fresh and different. And it's such a challenge because you have to be dealing with where his hands are and can her leg do that as well as keeping the emotions front and center. I enjoy writing a love scene as long as I have set it up right. If it comes at the right place in the story, the couple are ready to do it and I'm ready to make them. I think it would be very hard to write about sex "cold" with no set up and without knowing your characters.

5a. And, I know you have a college-aged daughter… what's her opinion on those scenes?

She refuses to read my books because she won't read smut written by Mom. But she recommends them to her friends.

6. Obligatory The Summer of You question: What do you do in the summer that officially makes it summer?

As I look out of my window at acres of snow, I wish I was drinking coffee outside on my terrace admiring my flower garden which will, of course, be weed-free. Last year I had a September 1st deadline (a mistake I'll never make again) that ruined summer.

To me one of the pleasure of reading is traveling to new places, but I also enjoy reading about places I know. Which do you prefer? Have you ever read about a familiar setting and found a mistake? One commenter will win her choice of one of my books. For more information and an excerpt, please visit www.mirandaneville.com.

Thank you, Miranda! Leave a comment below and the lucky winner will be randomly chosen on Thursday, March 3rd.

(please note: due to spam issues, all comments have to be approved, and therefore may not show up in the feed immediately. Rest assured, they have been received and will be visible ASAP.)

WATCH THIS SPACE

The Summer of You Guest Blogging Extravaganza is almost upon us! Every day this week, I'm having friends over and you are all invited. Here's the guest schedule:

Mon, 2/28: Miranda Neville

Tues, 3/1: Sarah MacLean

Wed, 3/2: Christie Ridgway

Thurs, 3/3: Megan Crane and Liza Palmer

Fri, 3/4: Jane Porter

We will be asking many silly questions and giving away some fabulous books, so stop on by!

Tomorrow is the official start of The Summer of You Guest Blogging Extravaganza, but I would like to take today to tell you how excited I am for The Summer of You to have a chance to reach a wider audience in mass market come March 1st.

This is a very special book to me – it's setting in particular is meaningful. I basically wrote about every summer of my life, growing up spending July and August in a very small lakeside community. It was a magical childhood, and I wanted to honor it, give it resonance.

Jane and Byrne are very close to me too – Byrne is trying to figure out how to be who he is now, and Jane is trying so hard to take care of everyone. They definitely earn their happy ending.

You can read an excerpt of The Summer of You here. I truly hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

I'll be very busy week this week, partying it up with all my writer-friends, so WATCH THIS SPACE!

Until then, Happy Reading!

It's Only XXXX Days…

It's that time of year again – the time when we are all playing the waiting game. The holidays are behind us and summer vacation is a long way off, and as such, we watch the calendar and count down the days until what we are waiting for is here.

But how long will it take to arrive? Let's look at the numbers:

It's only THIRTY days until SPRING.

I don't know about you, but I'm tired of winter. (And I live in southern California!) I want daffodils! Crocuses! I want legitimate reasons to get a pedicure (i.e. sandals)! I want to ride my bike on the beach *without* a sweatshirt! See, even winter in LA can be cause for consternation, so I can truly empathize with everyone who has gotten 12+ feet of snow for the past two months.


 


 


 

It's only SIXTY-EIGHT days until THE ROYAL WEDDING.

The nuptials of William and Kate have taken over all BBC America interstitials and over my brain. What will Kate's gown look like? Which tiara will she wear? Oh my god, she gets a tiara!!! Unsurprisingly, my imagination is not really taken up with anything regarding William, other than how many middle names does he have and will Kate remember them all when she has to recite them in her vows. That said, however, I plan on having tea and crumpets and wear one hell of a hat in front of my TV on Friday, April 29.


 

It's only FORTY-FOUR days until the ROMANTIC TIMES CONVENTION!

Better late than never, I finally signed up for the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention, being held on April 5th in downtown LA at the Bonaventure Hotel. (Remember the climactic fight between Clint Eastwood and John Malcovich in In the Line of Fire? In those glass outdoor elevators? Those are the Bonaventure's elevators! I will be riding in those elevators!) I'll be signing at the Book Fair on April 9th, and soaking in the giddiness of being around readers and writers who just so happen to love romance novels. I. Can't. Wait.


 

It's only SEVEN days before THE SUMMER OF YOU comes out in Mass Market.

And as you well know, to celebrate this, I'm having some friends over! Starting next week, on Feb. 28th, I'll be visited by Miranda Neville, Sarah MacLean, Christie Ridgway, Liza Palmer, Megan Crane, and Jane Porter! There will be free books given away at many a turn, so I hope you'll come by and say hello!


 

And if it's only a week until The Summer of You reaches the masses (mass market-wise, that is) it means…

It's only SEVENTY-TWO days before FOLLOW MY LEAD is out in stores!

Are you excited? I'm excited.

Lots of work this week, but be sure to come back next week when The Summer of You Blogging Extravaganza begins!

Happy Reading!

Strong Like Bull

I hope everyone is having a great week, and eating chocolate by the pound with those they love.

My life tends to converge at certain times: i.e. I won't have one house guest, I'll have ten at once. Or as it happens to be right now, I don't have just one thing due, over the course of the next two weeks, I have deadlines for no less than five projects. So, I've discovered the best way to deal with this is to put my head down, and plow through, like a bull in a crowd in Pamploma.

How does one face all the crazy and plow through, you might ask? Well, I have a very simple two-step process.

1. Make a list.

Once you have it all down and organized, no matter how much crazy you face, a list makes it look manageable. Unless of course, your list happens to literally be the size of a wall.

Size. Of. A. Wall.

2. Take this list and cross things off one by one.

Honestly, is there anything more satisfying in this world than crossing of things on a list? So far, on my wall, I have crossed of four things. Only 31 more to go!

Big week for me: On Saturday the 19th I'll be a guest over at Monica Burns' massive Pleasure Me With Romance Event. I'll be giving away a copy of THE SUMMER OF YOU and an advance reader copy of FOLLOW MY LEAD, so be sure to stop by on Saturday!  (Also, Monica has a huge grand prize to give away, so I recommend visiting…)

Also, a reminder: When The Summer of You comes out in Mass Market on March 1st, I'm celebrating by inviting some friends over to the blog that week – Feb. 28th thru March 4.  Visit Recent News for details, and Mark. Your. Calendars.

Until then, I'll be keeping my head down and plowing through. Happy Reading!