On the road again . . . again

After you have written 61 books (which I have, apparently) and you are embarking on the 62nd, you begin to think you've been this way before.

Maybe not quite this exact same way, but some of the memories evoked are the same even if the sights along the way are not.

When I was reading Twyla Tharp's The Creative Habit last spring I wrote several blogs -- one of which is here -- about it which, having gone back and re-read them now, make me recognize the efforts. It isn't that I wasn't aware of them before, but I think it's the ritual I am more aware of now.

There is, of course, the box. Or the collage. Or the heap of papers, books and sundry junk piled in the corner that is my treasure trove for the book. Every book has one. Or at least it has something -- some collection that I go to in order to discover the flotsam and jetsam that I will need to create the novel.

Oddly, though, when I did the collage for Flynn and Sara, nothing in the book turned out like the collage -- well, except for O'Mally and Liam.

Flynn changed as the book went on. Sara did, too. So did the castle. And the setting? Well, it started out in New York and never went there at all in the finished book.

Much the same thing happened to Sebastian and Neely and their box. The box is wonderful -- very impressive. And nothing much remained of the things I put on the box, either. The story took on a life of its own.

It began with the box, yes. But then it took off from there.

So starting over with Christo and Natalie, I don't expect to end up with what I start out with, either.

Just as well. It shows the characters are growing, developing their own story, finding their own way to their happily ever after.

At least I hope that's where they're going. They haven't seen fit to tell me yet.

But I'm turning up every morning -- and so far it's working.

The bus stopped!

Happily Christo and Natalie and I are no longer standing on the corner watching all the buses go by. Ours has stopped, the door has opened, and we have hopped on.

We have a story!

At least we think we do. And we're giving it a shot. It remains to be seen how long the euphoria lasts. But at least the bus hasn't passed us by. We even have something of a route map. Though I don't put a lot of stock in them as they've been known to mess me up before.

Still it's fun to be underway. Keep your fingers crossed that we have a good trip.

We get to go to Brazil for part of it. That should be exciting. Sadly I'm not going to get to go in person. Not this time.

But I have a friend who lives there, and a son who spent a year working there, and surely there must be some of you out there who would like to chime in with details I can't live without.

Christo's father is a former footballer (soccer player for the Americans among us) from Brazil. I haven't decided where he's from yet. Sao Paulo? Rio? Fortaleza? My son's friend from work was from Fortaleza so he spent time there. My friend lives outside Sao Paulo. I have another friend from Rio.

But Brazil is a big country. Suggestions, anyone?

I'm filling the box for Christo. And while I'm at it, I'm filling a couple of other boxes as well.

Remember George, the physicist who never comes out of the lab? He's on the list, believe it or not. He's actually going to get a book! He even has a heroine. Who knew!

So does Demetrios, his brother. Not the same heroine, I'm happy to report.

Three new heroes. Yikes.

So Christo and Nat and I have to get moving -- otherwise Demetrios and George will be misbehaving. Heroes don't like to stand around. If they have to wait in line for their books, they are inclined to be difficult.

Standing at the bus stop

That's what I feel like I'm doing.

Me and Christo and Natalie, all of us together -- not quite looking at each other as people at bus stops don't -- while we wait for the bus to come along and pick us up and take us where we need to go.

That would be to The End.

But first we need to have the bus show up, and then we need an open door. The bus had better show up by Monday when I intend to start C&N in earnest. The door had better materialize by then, too.

It feels odd to have a story and no way in. I usually have a first scene in mind long before I ever get to the book. And ordinarily that's good and works well -- except in the case of Flynn and Sara where it worked for about 35 pages and then not only the door vanished, but the bus did, too.

So I'm working at coming up with some scenes that will work for them -- something that will throw them right at each other -- so I can step back and let them carry on from there.

I like them both. They don't much like what they know about each other at the moment. So that's good. A little conflict never hurt anyone.

I hope.

The Name Game

I ended up writing about names today over on Tote Bags 'n' Blogs.

It was a topic in the forefront of my mind this past week because I was still aware of Natalie and Christo and how they came to have their names (two of my cousin's grandkids sport those names as a matter of fact, and I thought the name Christo suited my hero, and my cousin's descriptions of Natalie made me think she'd definitely be A Force!)

But after that, I kept thinking because my friend Anne Gracie bullied me into writing up two more ideas for books because she kept saying, "What if --" and "I like that. I think you could get more out of this if you only -- " and so pretty soon, there I was, looking for more names.

They were heroine names because I already had heroes -- two of the Savas brothers, Demetrios and George -- and I needed heroes equally as strong as the men in question.

And, as luck would have it, I got both women's names wrong the first time around. Adriana is right -- but her nickname I thought would be Addie. Turns out it's Annie. She won't answer to Addie. Interesting.

Even weirder is Sylvie -- but I think I owe that to Liz Fielding. She had a Sylvie not long ago and I could see the picture of her Sylvie as being rather like George's heroine. But my fingers knew better. They've been typing Sophy ever chance they get. No question now but that she's a Sophy.

Makes me wonder what my fingers know that I don't.

Titles and Possessives

I think there is a trend in titles (at least in MY titles) toward possessives.

It goes back a long way -- maybe the mid-90s -- when I wrote Finn's Twins, shortly thereafter followed by Fletcher's Baby and Gibson's Girl.

Not to be outdone, the cowboys in my Code of the West series started getting possessive, too.

They went from titles like Cowboys Don't Quit and The Cowboy and the Kid to A Cowboy's Tears and A Cowboy's Secret and A Cowboy's Pursuit.

Not long ago back in Presents, I had Nathan's Child and McGillivray's Mistress as well.

And in October I have a reprint in a book called His Child (with Sharon Kendrick and Catherine Spencer). I don't know which story it is, but presumably the hero has a child (Nathan again? Or maybe my very first Presents, Lightning Storm, which also had a hero with a child, who is old enough, come to think of it, to be a hero now in his own right!).

His Child (whoever he is) will be followed immediately in UK and slightly later in the US by two more possessive heroes.

Antonides' Forbidden Wife (that's Elias's brother PJ's story) will be out in November in UK and January in the US. And then sometime next year we will see Savas' Defiant Mistress, which is what they are intending to call Seb and Neely's book.

This is all news to me.

I don't even try to come up with titles anymore. I just use heroes' names. It's easier. It's just their book.

I suppose the possessive angle makes it his book for marketing, too. And then they add on a couple of buzz words.

Do you think? Or is there more to it than that?

Whatever. It seems to work -- or they say it does. And sales seem to be improving (thank you, all of you). So who am I to quibble with them.

Though I did find admitting to having written something called One-Night Love Child a bit, er, dicey. I'm sorry but I generally still call it Flynn's book.

Flynn's book means something to me. But I realize it's not likely to get anyone to pick it up.

And hard as it is to admit it, Savas' Annoying Roommate doesn't have quite the same ring as Savas' Defiant Mistress, does it?

over my head

I'm taking a course in using law libraries and government document repositories in genealogical and historical research.

I'm drowning.

And you're reading a woman who grew up in libraries and who worked in one for five years at university.

But I don't have a clue.

Fortunately I have good teachers who are doing their best to make sure I get clues and are working me to a frazzle with lots of "problems" to solve and stuff to find -- and the means to find it, if only I can figure out how.

I had an aha! moment at the very end of this afternoon's class on using computer search engines like LexisNexis and Readex and several others. It made me fall in love with Readex because I actully found one of the people I was looking for using it. But I'm supposed to figure out how to use books as well.

That's going to be more than a week's worth of work, believe me.

I think maybe Natalie dropped out of law school. That's about as much inspiration as Im capable of at the moment.

Oh, and I think I terrify one of my professors who is afraid he might turn up in a book someday.

On the move!

I don't know where I ever found time to write books. It seems like I'm never home.

Saturday I'm leaving to attend Samford University's Institute of Genealogical and Historical Research for the third year in a row. I'm taking a course in Government Documents and Law Libraries.

Lest you think this is all very dusty and boring, let me tell you what it really is -- it's about people. It's about stories.

I was thinking the other day about the "theme" of my blog, because while it's largely about writing and writing-related stuff (yes, Hugh-in-a-towel is writing related. How could you think otherwise?), it's also about other things that interest me -- like genealogy and local history, about travel and books and films, about dogs and grandchildren.

And I got to thinking what they all had in common -- and basically, it's story.

Genealogy and local history are means of learning about peoples' stories, who they were, what they did, why they did it. All the things plot-challenged people like me love to learn about.

Travel brings me into the sphere of other people, teaches me about their lives, their culture, their stories. Books and films, of course, do exactly the same thing.

Dogs -- well, dogs are stories in and of themselves. And grandchildren are both the continuation of my own story as well as stories unto themselves.

All of it is grist for the mill. I never know what's going to spark off an idea. It will be interesting to see if Christo and Natalie get any new bits this week while I'm gone.

Speaking of ideas and bits, last night I had the pleasure of meeting fantastic medical thriller writer, Tess Gerritsen, for the first time. Her books are fantastic (and give me the creeps), and it was great fun to listen to her talk about how she gets her ideas for stories.

Not the same stories I get, that's for sure. But the gut level instinct that says, Yes, I have to write about this -- that's the same. I was comforted, too, when she said she didn't plan her books but just wrote and discovered what happened.

I have a signed copy of her Mephisto Club that I'll be giving away next week when I get back. If you want to be thrilled and scared by a very fine writer, drop in and comment sometime this week. I'll put your name in the hat.

Catching Up

I have been to Missouri -- and back.

I'm about to head off on Saturday to spend a week in Birmingham, Alabama at Samford University's Institute of Genealogical and Historical Research.

In the meantime I've gone a hundred odd miles in each direction to visit the 100 year old cousin and celebrated her birthday in grand style .

Perhaps "catching up" is not the right term. I feel like I'm still driving. And driving. And I have another 1000 miles to go later this week.

But it's been good -- and I will share some of the art gallery opening with you when I finally drag my camera out of my bags and can upload the photos.

I'm very glad that I had the chance to go, to visit old friends and make new ones. It's a little bit amazing how peoples' lives intersect and move apart and at a much later date, intersect again. It's rather like a tapestry, warp and woof and all that sort of thing. Though heaven forbid I should actually see any pattern to it.

Makes me think, though -- about ideas and where they come from, about characters' pasts and present and future. About the influences that occurred many years ago that may serendipitously come back to touch them when they least expect it.

I'm discussing this with Christo at the moment. And with Natalie. I'm still looking for Natalie. Anyone got any good pics?

Christo and Natalie are talking to me about the past. It's funny about that. Some of the things Christo talks about are things a very early hero of mine, Jake Brosnan in Lightning Storm, talked about. I think it's because a guy I knew used to think about those things. I don't know him anymore. Have no idea where he is, but his influence is still here.

I don't see much of the future yet. Maybe a couple of scenes. Not sure how they're going to play out. Maybe Christo and Jake's far distant source will tell me if I think about it long enough.

Good thing I don't have to come up with a notion of the whole story in the next week or two. Maybe by the time I get back from Alabama I'll have an idea.

In the meantime I need to do quarterly taxes and clean my house and post something about the art retrospective and celebrate the publication of the first novel of a wonderful British writer who very kindly hauled me all over Millom a couple of years back.

I'll be back tomorrow to do that.

While I'm doing that, see if you can find some pix of Natalie, will you? Think of it as your contribution to Christo's future happiness. And mine.

My new box

Those of you who have been here a while remember when I was reading Twyla Tharp's The Creative Habit.

I blogged about it a lot and probably sold quite a few books for her along the way. I still find myself going back to it again and again, thinking about the current book or about the books to come or just about being creative.

As Seb has now gone on his merry way, I needed to go back to the beginning -- to ideas and inspiration and suchlike -- the flotsam and jetsam out of which, eventually, a story will appear.

Often that starts with characters. Sometimes with a situation. Rarely with a plot (sometimes there never is a plot, or so it seems). Occasionally with a place.

This book started with names. In a conversation about our family history that I had with my cousin a week ago, lots of names appeared. Most of them disappeared again back into the family pictures and stories and whatnot, and will doubtless appear again when next we talk.

But two stayed. Two said, "I have a story." They weren't the people we'd been talking about at all. But they shared their names. I wondered if they would stay around, tell me their story, or if they would drift off again. Some do.

These aren't going anywhere. They've moved in, settled down and are raiding the refrigerator even as I write. He's every bit as hard-edged as I need him to be. His mother's Greek. His father's missing. But he wasn't Greek. He might have been Portuguese. My hero has a soft spot for only one woman -- the heroine's mother. He doesn't know the heroine exists. Yet.

The heroine knows he exists. She's never met him. She's bound to run into him. Our house isn't that big -- and we only have one refrigerator. And then there's her mother who has plans of her own.

The new box is filling up. I don't have a location yet. Some big city. Maybe SF. Maybe Seattle. Maybe NYC. Maybe London. Maybe LA. I haven't done an LA story in years. Still thinking. I think I'd like an ocean nearby. LA is sounding more and more likely.

This actually is fun.

Check back in the coming days and you can meet my hero.

Free Time

This business of 'no revisions' has freed up my time. From waiting for the other shoe to drop, suddenly they've been neatly put away in the closet and I am allowed to get on with my life.

Weird.

Pleasant, of course. Don't get me wrong. I love not having revisions. But weird all the same.

It's giving me time to go visit with friends I haven't seen since Christmas. It's allowing me to actually read books written by other people in the middle of the day. It's given me the luxury of saying, Why not? when someone suggests a last minute, Why don't we do thus and such?

I could get used to this.

But I probably shouldn't. I should just get on with the new book. I'm giving it serious -- well, sort of serious -- thought. I get bits and pieces as I think about other things. Or I get glimmers of ideas that might work. It's sort of interesting, this watching myself pick over pieces of flotsam and jetsam and evaluating them. I've never done it before. Haven't had the time to do it.

Is this a good thing?

Who knows? But I'm enjoying it.

By the way, pictures have not been loading on my blog since sometime on the weekend. So if they start showing up, you'll know the problem is fixed. They're there. But they don't get up on the site. And today nothing much is loading. Hmmm.

Truth in Fortune Cookies

We had take-out Chinese the last night my cousin was visiting. No one was especially inclined -- besides me -- to enjoy the fortune cookies at the end.

I am a sucker for fortune cookies, untraditional though they may be. I am not necessarily a believer in the fortunes -- because my local restaurant seems less given to fortunes than commentary, perhaps -- but I like the taste and texture and ever since I got one that said "beware of bananas," I've been bemused by them.

This week's were perhaps truer than most. I picked a cookie and took it out of the cellophane and broke it -- and it fell on the floor -- to be instantly consumed by Mitch who is vigilant when it comes to anything on the table that might have gravitational pull.

The only thing he left was the fortune. It said: "Your mind is precise and discriminating."

I think that's why I dropped it. Not that Mitch is more precise and discriminating than I am, but there is that possibility.

Still I am not given to precision or, in those terms, discrimination. I'm pretty waffly and not exactly detail oriented. Mitch is very detail oriented when it comes to food (though not precisely discriminating, though at least he didn't eat the paper).

So I opened the next one. It didn't fall on the floor. I ate it (minus the paper).

It said: "You are a dreamer and your thinking is inspirational."

See what I mean?

How true is that? If it had said, "You will never get to the bottom of the mess in your office," it would have been only slightly more accurate.

Then just to prove whether or not it was a fluke, I opened the third one (I told you no one else wanted any), and it said: "You believe in the goodness of people."

Of course I do. Three out of three.

So, I'm a believer.

Now I just wish they would print plots on fortune cookies. It would make life much easier. On the other hand, maybe they have.

If a precise and discriminating hero met a dreamy inspirational heroine who believed in the goodness of people . . .

There's certainly potential for conflict at least.

Cleaning Up

I've had a busy week. My cousin's visit meant I spent a lot of time with him and not so much time with you (apologies, but I did enjoy his visit a lot).

Now I am faced with MY OFFICE which is beyond awful, because I cleaned out our bedroom to paint, and then I cleaned out the guest room to make sure he had plenty of room and somehow all of the excess ended up in my office. So there are STACKS and STACKS of books and papers and whatnot (it's the whatnot I'm particularly concerned about) that I need to go through and sort and get rid of or file or figure out what to do with. And it's not like I have a spare bookcase or a spare filing cabinet just sitting around looking hopefully for STUFF to fill it.

Sigh.

Anyway, that's my job this week unless Seb reappears for revisions. We shall see. For the first couple of weeks after I finish a book I feel relieved and glad not to see him. But by this time he's beginning to feel like another shoe about to drop -- and I wish he would so I can deal with him and get on with things.

I don't multi-task as well as I used to, and I don't like having him hanging fire while I'm actively trying to think about characters from another book. I spent a while last night in search of a hero. I think I have found a pic of him. Just need to let him 'simmer' a while and see if that's really him or not. I thought I knew who Seb was, and he turned out not to be anything like, so I had to do a new search halfway through the book.

So . . . today I look for more pics in between shoveling out the office. Tough work, but someone's got to do it!

Making Other Plans

I realize that I said I would post Ellie pix this week. Actually I think I said, "tomorrow," a few days ago.

But while I was planning to do that, life was making other plans.

My cousin has come to visit and we've been going places and doing things -- as you do when you have a life and not only a book -- and today we are going to visit the old home of our grandfather and the cemetery where his parents are buried.

Then we're going to visit our almost 100 year old cousin (June 1 is the Big Day!).

We discovered we bought her the same birthday card because, actually, how many cards do you suppose Hallmark makes for 100 year olds? And don't they realize that when someone reaches that amazing milestone that lots of people will buy them cards -- AND THEY WILL INVARIABLY BE THE SAME ONE?

Well, we hope she enjoys the symmetry of it.

No word from the ed yet, which is good since I have no time to do anything about any 'tweaking' of Seb she may want. Seb thinks tweaks are beneath him, but I've assured him they aren't.

I'm quite taken with the Greek with the chip on his shoulder and the taming of the shew notion set in San Francisco that lots of my fence painters on the Pink Heart blog were suggesting for a follow-up to Seb.

The Greek with the chip has a name. I think the heroine is coming into focus. She may have a name. She definitely has an attitude. No story yet, but the people are getting sharper.

Wrangling Frogs

The ducks were easier.

But only because they're finished. It's while you're rounding them up that they seem so difficult. Now I sit back and think, "Ducks? Get 'em in a row? Easy. Piece of cake."

Frogs? Different story.

The chapter eight frog -- who took his own sweet time showing up -- was an absolute angel when he got here. It's chapter nine who is cutting up rough and making me nuts. So I've taken him to task and we've had a long chat.

I even brought in a frog counselor to discuss his errant ways with him. Now we've figured out his issues -- he has to learn to trust -- and I am hoping we can go on from here.

Actually I'm confident we can go on from here. I have my airline ticket to prove it. So excuse me while I go finish the book. I'll be back when I have.

In the meantime, think positive things about frogs on the march.

The 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance

Kate Walker wrote a book a few years back called The 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance. As she has been published by Harlequin Mills & Boon as long as I have, she's been around the block a few times and she knows what she's talking about.

Lots of people besides me think so. Kate's book was an enormous success. It sold out pretty much everywhere it was on sale. And recently her publisher came to her and wanted to reprint.

Kate had a better idea. She knew that some writing advice is timeless, but some depends on publishers and the market. In order to give fledgling writers the best chance possible, she was determined to make the book as timely as possible. So she rewrote and updated the book.

The new revised second edition of The 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance is launching this month. In fact it's making its official debut at the London Book Fair, which is pretty impressive.

Kate is off to London to hobnob with the bigwigs next week and promote her book. I haven't seen it yet, though I offered some "timely" advice for it. I have no doubt, though, that it's every bit as good as the first edition. Probably it's even better.

Check it out via Kate's blog. And if you are a writer, especially a romance writer, looking for a lot of good advice by someone who knows what she's talking about, pick up your own copy of The 12 Point Guide. It's like being walked through the process of writing by a cheerful, knowledgeable expert who understands what you need to know and tells you before you even think to ask.

There is a blog party launch celebration going on over at Kate's right now. So if you hie yourself over there, you might win a copy of it or of any number of terrific books.

If I had a copy, I'd give it away here.

I don't. So I'll just have to add another of my recent reads to the pile of Give-Aways for this week.

It's Julia Harper's novel Hot. I think it may be her first novel. It was a fun read. Turner Hastings, small town Wisconsin librarian turned criminal-on-the-run, and John MacKinnon, the FBI Special Agent who, the longer he chases Turner, loses sight of exactly what his priorities are officially supposed to be, are fun to spend time with.

A veteran of lots of upper midwest summers -- and the ticks, bugs, sweat, and heat that go with them -- I had no trouble putting myself right in Turner's shoes. That isn't the only thing that makes it hot, by the way.

Parenthetically, I'm blogging today over at Tote Bags 'n' Blogs about writing. Stop by and leave a comment there and you could win Flynn's book. And you can read my 'wisdom' too, of course! It's about writing (and if I didn't say it for Kate's book, I should have. It's good advice).

Miranda's Big Mistake

Here's another book I wouldn't be parting with if I didn't have another one on my shelves.

A friend visiting London brought it back to me, without realizing I'd already ordered my own from an online bookseller the instant it came out.

Miranda's Big Mistake by the wonderful witty Jill Mansell is a BIG book. 506 pages of delight in which to wallow as you watch kind-hearted, mistake-prone hairdresser Miranda make a mess of her life.

There are, as there always is in every Jill Mansell book -- great characters, joy, humor, pain, wisdom and, of course, a satisfying ending when Miranda, bless her heart, finally gets it right.

When I was writing The Great Montana Cowboy Auction, I read a lot of Jill's books because they're fun and humorous and because she handles legions of characters and more plot twists than I could write in 50 books with great aplomb.

I did my best to figure out how she did it.

I don't do it nearly as well, but I learned a lot. But even if I weren't reading it to learn, I'd read any Jill Mansell book that came my way.

In fact, I have them all on standing order so that I get them almost before they even hit the shelves.

Leave a comment if you haven't already and you could be the one who gets Miranda as well as Carla Kelly's book, Liz Fielding's book and Tempting by Susan Mallery.

Gunnar says that he is susceptible to bribes, too, but I probably shouldn't be telling you that!

As for me, I wish Jill would write a book about an architect with a leaky houseboat. Seb and I could use some advice.

Tempting!

That's the name of Friday's book by Susan Mallery.

And tempting it is, too.

In this year of political campaigns, if you can't get enough of them, you'll have a blast with Tempting, which is the story of restauranteur Dani Buchanan who discovers she's the biological child of Senator Canfield -- who just happens to be running for president!

Unaccustomed to being someone's 'secret' Dani makes the acquaintance of the Senator and his wife and their family -- all children they've adopted and one, in particular, extremely suspicious of her. That would be Alex, the oldest, his father's campaign manager, who has his suspicions about whether Dani's story is true or if she's trying to stir up trouble.

That would be bad enough, but the attraction that springs up between them is worse.

Dani has been around in several of Mallery's other books about the Buchanan family. And they get back in here to form Dani's support group and prove to her that being family isn't a matter of blood. Not that she ever thought it was.

Tempting is far more tempting than reading about the real political scene, if you ask me. Someone (Gunnar hasn't picked yet) will get to enjoy it next week.

So, there you have it -- this week's 5 Give-Aways:

• Dark Lover by J R Ward
• The Education of Mrs Brimley by Donna MacMeans
• Spellbound by Nora Roberts
• Brighter Than the Sun by Julia Quinn
• Tempting by Susan Mallery

Gunnar will be picking a winner of this week's books from among those who have commented on the blog this week.

* * *

I'm back in Twyla Tharp mode and "scratching" for bits and pieces of Seb's book.

It's what she calls the part where you go looking for those bits of inspiration that will give you something to build on to get the finished book.

The idea is there, lots of the story arc is there. It's the concrete details I need now to hang the story on -- or the handholds I will be scratching out of the mountain this month as I work my way to the top.

Right now, though, I'm thinking a space break looks appealing!

10,000 Words Down . . . A book to go

I realized this morning that I have a month to finish Seb and Neely.

Last week that sounded like plenty of time. But last night I threw out the better part of a chapter. And so I'm in the hole.

I've also got other commitments this month. Seb and Neely and I, sadly, do not live an in vacuum. We have taxes, we have articles, we have wallpaper to scrap off (remember the wallpaper?). We have paint to choose and walls to scrub, and we have blogs -- like this one -- to write.

So this morning at 6 a.m. I got up and set to work.

I wrote three articles today. I wrote four blogs. I sorted and added all the expenses columns for my quarterly taxes. I'm too fuzzy minded to add them tonight (I do know my limits). But I still managed to sort them.

I figure that today I have written -- conservatively -- 10,000 words. If I could write a book at that rate of speed I'd have it done by Friday.

Hahahahahahahahaha.

What is it about non-fiction that is so darn easy to write? I guess it's that you've got facts, building blocks, as it were. And while you have to make it make sense and sound like someone over the age of four wrote it, you aren't obliged to make up the motivations of everyone you're writing about.

I can't tell you how restful it to write 10,000 words none of which has anything to do with motivation -- at least not any motivation that I'm responsible for. It's positively liberating. I love it. I know if I did it every day, I wouldn't love it at all. I'd feel worn down by it.

But right now, I'm feeling really accomplished. As if I've scaled a foothill and dumped half a dozen rocks out of my rucksack on the way up. It's pretty much me and Seb and Neely now for the rest of the month (once I add my columns of figures).

Wish us luck!

If you write, do you multi-task? I mean, of course, most of us do to some extent, but do you like to multi-task? Or do you like to focus singlemindedly on the story at hand? I'm usually a multi-tasker. But there is such a thing as being toooooo fractured. That was going to be me if I didn't have a day like I did today.

Whew.

Prowling the bookshelves

Or, dusting, part II . . .

One of the books I dusted the other day was Donald M Murray's Shoptalk: Learning to Write with Writers.

A Pulitzer Prize winning columnist and writing teacher, Murray died in late 2006. But his books live on and continue his mission to teach.

Shoptalk is a book I've had for probably ten years. And it isn't one that I have listed in my top four or five that I turn to again and again, but it probably should be as it's a collection of significant writerly wisdom. It's definitely a book to keep.

If you're unacquainted with Shoptalk, it's sort of a commonplace book for writers. In it Donald Murray has gathered quotes from many writers -- novelists, poets, non-fiction authors, pretty much a Who's Who of those who make their vocation working with the written word. He introduces each chapter with thoughts of his own on the topic, then he lets the authors speak for themselves.

It's not a book you read from cover to cover. It may not even be a book in which you read an entire chapter.

It's a book to dip into, to read here and there, to listen to soundbytes of wisdom,
and find one that speaks to you right where you are.

It's sort of an I Ching of writing aphorisms.

You can take your current problem -- a scene, a character, an inability to sit down at the computer (or anywhere else) and actually write -- and find someone else whose words resonate with your dilemma. It gives you a different perspective from which to study it, someone else's view to filter it through.

It's a comfort -- and it's a challenge. And I'm glad I plucked Shoptalk off the shelf to dust -- and re-read bits and pieces of.

The quote that resonates with me at the moment is in the chapter called "Planning for the surprise."

It's about that curious dichotomy that exists between planning a story and being surprised by it as you go along. While certainly some of us are more plotters and some are more pantsers (those who fly by the seat of theirs), each book, I think, has an element of both.

I'd be hard pressed to imagine a book plotted so tightly that the author was never surprised by anything the characters did or said. And equally, I would find it hard to imagine a book coming to a satisfactory conclusion if the author had absolutely no idea at all where it was going or whether he or she was writing horror or romance or a western.

So . . .

as I am in the "oh-gosh-there-is-a-Saturday-in-Seb's-week" and something has to happen then (surprise!), and I have lots of plans for Sunday, should we ever be lucky enough to get there in the book (debatable at this point), I particularly appreciate William Maxwell's comment.

He wrote: "Undoubtedly if I knew exactly what I was doing, things would go faster, but if I saw the whole unwritten novel stretching out before me, chapter by chapter, like a landscape, I know I would put it aside in favor of something more uncertain -- material that had a natural form that it was up to me to discover."

Ah, yes. I, too, am a fan of the surprise. And I don't think I would like everything plotted and sorted and neatly boxed.

So I'm out here in Saturday of Seb's week and looking for the surprise. It's not exactly comfortable, but it's challenging.

I can't think of anywhere else I'd rather be.

The trouble with dusting

Dusting is no bad thing. Let me say that up front.

Dusting blinds is, if not entertaining, at least mindless and usually (but not always) there is a view to behold behind the dust cloth.

Dusting pictures is trickier because you pick them up and look at them -- and then you remember where you were when that happened, and how young your youngest looked then (Was he only twelve? And sitting at a bar on a Caribbean out island! Good heavens). And you do that, say, times twenty odd pictures and you've frittered away a whole afternoon.

You have some very good reminiscences, but it is

• a. not getting the book written
• b. not getting the room ready for George the school teacher turned painter
• c. making you want to go to the Caribbean again. Also to Barcelona and Vienna and Scunthorpe and St Erth and Fermoy and all the other places in those photographs.

Worse, there is dusting bookshelves.

It wouldn't be bad if you could just dust the shelves, but you have to take out the books and open them. Not to dust them, of course, but to see if that scene you remember in Jill Mansell's Perfect Timing is as good as you remember it being.

And it is, and so you stand there reading it. And then you go sit down and read it because it's swept you right up in the story again and you can't not read it.

Until finally you need to go put the dogs out. And call George and tell him maybe next week the room will be ready to paint.

And then you have to go back to dusting because there are several more shelves on that particular bookcase and unfortunately they are all "keepers" or you wouldn't have kept them, would you?

But maybe you could get rid of a few of them. Of course you have to read them first to be sure you were ready to part with them.

Which is why I hate dusting.

What about you?

Spring Cleaning

I'm not a big fan of spring cleaning.

Truth be told, I'm not a big fan of cleaning (the act of) in general.

I acknowledge that it's necessary and it makes life more livable. But I don't go around looking for things to clean, dust, sort, straighten and otherwise meddle with. I'm a live and let live sort of person when it comes to, um, clutter.

Which is not to say I don't vacuum and dust and deal with it as it comes along.

However . . .

There comes a time, say, every twenty years or so, when it's time to paint a bedroom.

And if we're going to paint, we probably ought to put down new carpet. And if we're going to go to all that trouble, the mattress on the bed is pretty awful and isn't that a spring jabbing me in the back every night?

And, well, one thing leads to another (though I've tried telling Seb that to get him through this chapter and he just shrugs and goes back to his CAD program as if to say, That's your problem, not mine).

So I've left him to his CAD program and I'm stripping wallpaper.

Did I mention the wallpaper issue? Probably not. The wallpaper is, thankfully, only on one wall. It will be gone by noon tomorrow. I guarantee it. Then I can get the paint and call George my friendly retired school teacher painter person and say, The room is almost ready.

And that, of course, will galvanize me to get the rest of the stuff cleaned out, boxed up or thrown away. You'd be amazed at the books I've discovered that slipped off the cedar chest and are lurking behind it. Well, maybe you wouldn't be -- but I am.

And while I'm doing my painting, Seb will be doing his. Always nice to have art imitating life as well as the other way round. I started feeling a bit smug when I wrote that. And then I turned back to the chapter and discovered he's just showed up with a violin that belonged to his grandfather.

Where did that come from?

It seems to be staying. So I'm going to have to think about that. It will give me something to do while I clean.

Does cleaning inspire you with creative thoughts? Are you a Natural-Born Neat Person? If so, I'm really impressed.

What do you do to get creative juices flowing?

Cleaning the oven seems like overkill somehow. But what do I know? I so rarely try it!

He did it!

No question about it.

Seb's my hero.

I don't know how he's going to deal with Neely. Frankly, I don't care.

All I know is, after standing there last night watching me flail about and bang my head against my computer in frustration, he said, "Let me" -- in just the right tone of voice.

No condescension. No "I can do it better than you, stupid woman." No "move over and let the expert at it."

Just a quiet, "Let me." With even a hint of question in his voice.

Who knew he had it in him to be tactful?

So I let him. I'm a sucker for polite.

He didn't know how to do it either. Not at first. And he did a bit of cursing under his breath and muttering about software design and more especially about the folks who write manuals without telling you anything you want to know. But he persevered.

I got on with writing my book review for another project, and periodically I checked with him. Once, early on, he kind of smiled wryly and said, "Why isn't Flynn Murray doing this? It's his book."

Which it is -- I needed to put up the cover for One-Night Love Child on my website, which is what started all of this.

But before I could reply, he said, "Never mind. We're almost there."

And, amazingly enough, we were.

Or he was. Anyway, he did it!

He got the colors matched and the layers fiddled with and a little consultation between him and my webmistress, and voila, we have a cover -- on the website, properly tilted, with the right color background. And a preliminary contest page, too. He got them both up -- despite the error messages and "you can't do that" flashing signs.

My hero. Mr Competence.

Kate Walker would tell you that's one of the hallmarks of an Anne McAllister hero. He gets the job done. He is -- whatever else he might not be -- competent.

I owe Seb a story for that.

He just lifted one of those very expressive brows and said, "Oh, yeah? I do you a good deed and you think that gives you license to make me suffer?"

Obviously he had been listening to our discussion about what makes a hero great.

"Not suffer," I said. "Well not much. Only so you'll grow. Change. Become more than you already are."

"More?" he said. The brow hiked a little higher. Then that gorgeous knee-wobbling grin flashed at me. "As in . . . even bigger?"

Men!

Of course, I ignored him. "Scram!"

He was still laughing when he went out of the room.

But now that he's gone, I can tell you that I do admire competence in a hero. And honor -- and a sense of humor.

Yes, I think Seb will make it as a hero, after all.

In the meantime, let me know what you think about a hero with a sense of humor. Does it work for you? Or not?

Is passion serious stuff? Too serious to laugh? Why? Why not?

The Hero's Journey

Back on Wednesday we had a lot of comments from some great writers and avid readers about what makes a hero.

You are very welcome to go read them, because they articulate better than I can sum up the gist of what makes a great hero (in our estimation).

Seb took notes.

Then he came into my office and stood there staring down at me after they were gone. The silence went on for ages. I figured it was up to him to break it.

Finally he said to me, "So . . ." thirty second pause at least " . . . you're saying you want me to change."

It wasn't a question. But he didn't look convinced, either. He was tapping the edge of his design sketch book against the palm of his hand. His jaw was tight.

"Well," I said slowly, trying not to be confrontational just yet, "I think you'll want to change by the end of the book."

"Why?"

He didn't mind being confrontational. I could see that.

"Because things aren't exactly the way you think they are."

"Says who?"

"Well, I do. And I have information you don't."

"And you're not going to tell me." That wasn't a question, either. He knows me pretty well.

"It wouldn't be fair if I did," I explained. "Having a hero is like having a teenager -- you can't tell them anything. They have to go through a learning process. Go on a journey if you will. Start out one place and end up somewhere else. And they have to figure things out for themselves."

"A teenager? You're saying I'm not grown up."

"I'm saying you're just a little bit blind to certain things. And, um, maybe a little opinionated."

"It's not an opinion when you're right."

"Which is why we need to get you through chapter one. So you won't be quite so cocksure of yourself."

A dark brow lifted. "Nothing wrong with self-confidence."

"Nothing at all," I agreed. "And it's because you have it in abundance that I know you'll weather this and come out the other side a better man."

He narrowed his gaze at me and gave me the cool appraisal that got him the nickname "Iceman."
"Nothing wrong with me the way I am."

"Indeed not," I said. "You're almost perfect."

"Almost?" Now he was offended.

"You only need the love of a good woman."

He crossed his arms over his chest. "Not going to happen."

I just smiled. "That's what you think."

"What are you up to?" He glowered at me.

I shrugged. "Show up for work tomorrow and find out."

More steely-eyed gaze. Just a hint of grinding teeth. A little stubborn edge to his jaw. "We' see," he said. Then he turned on his heel and walked out.

What do you guys think? Will he be back? Does Seb have it in him? (God, I hope so! I don't know what I'm going to write if he doesn't. But for heaven's sake, don't tell him that!)

If you're a writer, what about the guy you're writing about now? Does he ever make you wonder if he's got it in him? Is he so hard-edged you wonder if he'll find the gentleness he needs? Or is he so mellow you wonder if he'll even bother? Do you audition your heroes or do they just show up and take over?

And if you're a reader, who are some of your favorite heroes? In books? In plays? In films? In real life?

If you're into family history, what about all those dead ancestors? Any heroes among them? Favorite characters?

Hey, ideas are everywhere.

What Makes a Hero?

Inasmuch as Sebastian and I are not seeing eye-to-eye on what makes a hero at the moment, I thought discussing the topic might be a good idea.

I've been accused of having a "McAllister hero." Kate Walker describes them that way -- and I suppose to an extent it is true. They probably do have certain qualities in common, notably the things that I find heroic.

I've been telling Seb what they are. He says he's taking notes.

Since he's nowhere near a pen and pad of paper, I'd like to know how. But I'm not going to fight with him. I hope he's simply absorbing some of what I say -- and what other authors say.

I'll be asking some of my favorites to drop by and talk about what makes a hero in their eyes, what they look for when they 'cast' the main man in their books (besides whether or not he looks good in a towel).

I look on it as given Seb a few lessons. But sadly there's no such thing as hero school. One of the things I think all my heroes have in common is that they just get 'thrown in.' They are probably not innately even 'heroic.' They're accomplished in some area. Maybe they're even more than accomplished. Maybe they're 'the best there is.'

But that's not enough.

And what they think is enough -- or the direction they first choose to go in -- is quite often wrong. It's the path they think they should take. It's the one that's taken them where they've arrived to this point. But to become a hero means they have to take things to a different level, they have to open themselves to danger -- sometimes physical, always emotional. They have to go where they've never been before.

Seb is glaring at me. He says I'm full of it. But I think I'm right. I think he needs a challenge, one that will make him stop and question everything he's assumed about life so far.

Yesterday, when I was chatting with the Romance Banditas and with Anne Gracie, and we were discussing heroes, in response to Anne's asking me what makes a great hero, I said, "Great heroes? Guys with a flaw. A blind spot. Something that they've dealt with on a superficial level and think is behind them and they've got things under control -- and then, whoops, bang, it's back -- and it threatens to undermine the most important things in their life.

"Almost every hero I've fallen in love with has had to make a major readjustment during the story. He has to rethink his fondest views or come to terms all over again with an issue he's figured he has already resolved -- and very often it involves the one woman he discovers he can't live without -- damn it."

And she replied, " I purely LOVE that moment, too, when he has to really dig deep -- and guys hate that so much -- and then make the difficult decision. It's what I meant when I talked about taking emotional risks."

The terrific Presents author Annie West then chimed in with, "That point about the hero needing to deal with something he thought he'd already finished with is so right. And isn't it lovely when that blind spot is something to do with the heroine? That's when it all comes together for me. She makes him face up to the truth he's been avoiding."

I made Seb read this all over last night. He said he thought he was doing just fine, thank you very much. He didn't see any reason to change. He had what he wanted, didn't he?

And I just looked at him and said, "Is it what you really want?"


He says it is, but I hope over the next couple of months to change his mind.

Let's give Seb something to think about. If you're a writer, what's your definition of a great hero? What sort of guys do you write? And if you're a reader, what characteristics make a hero appealing to you?

Do you like him to change? To develop? Or do you want him to be 'the perfect man' in the beginning -- the Prince Charming who rescues Cinderella and takes her to a happily ever after in his castle?

Contrary to what some people think, there are no right and wrong answers to this question. They are simply responses to different 'romantic fantasies,' to the notion of what constitutes a romantic hero.

What do you think makes a great hero?

Besides a looking good in a towel, of course.

Speaking of heroes . . .

Well, I don't suppose we were, except tangentially. Not here anyway.

But over on the Romance Banditas site, Anna Campbell did an interview with Anne Gracie that started us off on a discussion of what makes a good hero. I said a few things off the cuff, but it started me thinking about it because I'm trying to convince Sebastian to be a good hero.

And it seems that his idea of being a good hero and my idea are not converging at the moment. He's being, um, difficult. He knows exactly what he wants -- and he expects me to hop to and get it done.

I expect him to have just a bit of patience. Books weren't written in a day, I told him.

"Not at the rate you're going anyway," he said.

I told him sarcasm causes baldness. He rolled his eyes.

So I've told him we are going to discuss heroes on Wednesday right here on this blog, and he'd better pay attention because there was going to be a test at the end -- to see if he'd got the drift.

So bring your ideas and let's tell bloody Sebastian what's what. If he's going to get a whole book about his life -- and love -- he's got some wising up to do.

I haven't told him yet who his heroine is. He's going to be appalled.

See? He has a long way to go!

And get ready for the Here Come the Grooms contest, part II -- on February 1st, when my guy, Flynn, is joined by Kate Walker's new hero and Liz Fielding's new hero. Theo promises to come back and give them all a bit of moral support.

He could give Sebastian a lesson or two as well.

A Little Cooperation

I can hardly believe it.

Sebastian is cooperating.

He seems quite happy to have my attention again. We sit down at the computer in the morning and he hops right to it. He's taking charge, getting things done, snapping his fingers with impatience when everyone doesn't just 'jump to' and do what he wants.

How quaint. Wonder how long it will last.

Well, I'm not going to ask. I'm just going to sit back and watch -- and type. He's meticulous and detail oriented when he's absorbed in a project (he's an architect). I figured on that. But the rest of the time -- in his daily life -- he just 'gets things done.' They don't matter. He's focused on what he thinks is important, and the rest can go hang.

Looking around his high-rise condo, I can tell you he's definitely a minimalist. His place is all very modern, sleek, unadorned. No clutter in Seb's life. Not much 'life' either, from the looks of things.

Of course he'd disagree.

But good grief, talk about a workaholic.

I haven't introduced Neely yet. She's coming along later this chapter. He isn't going to think much of her, I can tell you that right now.

She sets his teeth on edge -- and he doesn't even know her. Not really. He just thinks he does. He's got her pegged, knows what she's after.

And he's not happy about it. He's going to do something about it, too.

Uh-oh.

I have my Seb and Neely box out on my desk, and I'm discovering I need to 'paper over' some of it since the houseboat moved fro