The HEA Cafe

So here come the holidays, and I am hopelessly behind schedule — again. My neighbors have already strung lights on their houses. People are flooding the malls. One woman I know is busy baking and freezing cookies — whereas I dread opening the mailbox because I know that any day now, some organized soul will send me that first holiday card.

And, of course, I’ve done nothing — no gifts, no cards, no decorating, no baking. The freezer is empty. The fall leaves still haven’t been raked. My house is torn apart from my unending painting project, with ladders and paint cans everywhere (update: the upstairs is finally done!).

Worse yet, I probably won’t do much. I’ve got a deadline to meet. My characters are stranded in the mountains — injured, in danger, far too aware of each other for comfort, and I’ve got to get them out. I can’t leave the house to go shopping when they’re consuming my thoughts.

The thing is, I LOVE the holidays. I love the music, the decorations. I have holiday dishes I never use, holiday recipes I never try out.

And every year I vow that this won’t happen again. Next year I’ll start shopping in September. I’ll get the cards addressed in October, have the baking done by Thanksgiving. And then in December, I’ll just sit back and relax — or finally host a holiday party with that fabulous homemade eggnog…

Instead, here I am with December looming, and I’m more behind than ever. The decorations are still in their boxes, the cards unbought. I seem to be spending my life in a hamster wheel, spinning wildly, unable to ever catch up. I’m now resigning myself to the knowledge that at least I won’t have a lot of post-holiday clean up to do…

So how about you? Are you hopelessly behind like I am? Or are you one of those organized souls? If you’d like to commiserate (or offer holiday tips), I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Oh – and I forgot to mention my greatest distraction: To Protect a Princess is on the shelves! I’ll be signing both of my Crusaders books (Heart of a Thief and To Protect a Princess) with Nora Roberts/JD Robb, Kathryn Caskie, Elaine Fox, and Dolly Nasby on December 6th, 1-3pm in Boonsboro, Maryland, so if you’re in the area, please stop by! For more information, or to get signed copies via a virtual booksigning go to: ttpbooks.com.

And happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

I went walking in the woods last night.  We’re nearly into fall here in the Mid-Atlantic region, and a few leaves are starting to turn, nuts and acorns litter the ground, the scent of woodsmoke is in the air.  And I started thinking about how much I enjoy walking in the woods on an autumn day — and how much pleasure I get from other simple things.

 So, at the risk of sounding as if I’m in The Sound of Music, I thought I would compile a (partial) list of my favorite things:

-Freshly laundered sheets. 

-My house when I’ve had the windows open, and the air smells fresh.

-Flowers, whether they are in a vase or planted in pots on my deck.

-A fire in the fireplace.

-Watching a flock of birds twist, expand, and dip in the sky.

-Gray skies.

-Walking on a dirt trail in the warm sunshine.

-Cuddling up with a good romance novel (of course!).

Well, I could go on, but I won’t.  But it occurred to me while I was compiling this list that many of the things I enjoy the most have to do with my environment or setting.  I’m very affected by what’s around me — colors, scents, scenery.  I love to drive in my car and look at the trees, the sky, the way the colors merge or contrast.

So it’s no surprise that the setting of my books is also very important to me.  Since I’m so influenced by my surroundings, I assume my characters will be, too.  Showing the setting of a scene can be a challenge, but it’s also a fabulous way to foreshadow danger, show the character’s mood.  In fact, the setting is usually the first thing I decide on when beginning a new book.

So is anyone else out there a setting fanatic?  Any simple pleasures you enjoy?

Today’s my birthday!  Okay, I’ll admit that at my age, that’s not the momumental event it once was, but it’s still worth celebrating, right?  And to make this birthday particularly memorable, my November book cover just came out!

Now that might not mean much to you, but for me, the first glimpse of a new book cover is a major, life-changing event.  Each time I see one, I spend the entire day enthralled, scrutinizing every detail, emailing the jpeg to my friends.  I’m like a mother eyeing her newborn child for the first time (Are his toes and fingers all there?  Whose eyes does he have?  Look at his beautiful hair!)

So you can imagine my excitement the other day when I saw the cover of TO PROTECT A PRINCESS, the second book in my Crusaders miniseries.  All work ground to a halt.  I spent the afternoon staring at the picture, studying every inch of it, flipping through my mental checklist to see if the artists got it right:

-Is the hero attractive?  Yes (huge relief)!

-Do the cover models resemble my characters?  Yes again.  The heroine’s coloring is a bit light, but that’s minor.  No one will notice.  And the red tinge is probably due to the explosion in the background, not the color of her hair.

Do the clothes work?  The heroine’s jeans and t-shirt are perfect.  The hero is wearing a leather jacket that isn’t in the book, but again, no one will care.

The background: I love the lights, the intensity, the way the artists caught the moment when the bridge blows up.  They made the Inca suspension bridge out of wood instead of rope (a minor mistake) but the overall effect is still great.

So I’m thrilled, relieved.  They gave me a good cover.  What a wonderful birthday present.  I can’t wait to show it off.  Here’s a link so you can see it better:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/0373276087/sr=1-1/qid=1219087084/ref=dp_image_text_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books&qid=1219087084&sr=1-1

And in case you’re thinking I’m neurotic, I can justify this obsession.  In a recent Live Journal poll, 63% of readers said they purchased a book based on the cover art.  That’s not as significant as familiarity with an author’s work (99.1%) or the recommendation of a friend (91.1%), but the cover can certainly influence sales.

So what do you think?  As a reader, does the book’s cover matter to you?  Can it influence whether you buy or reject a book?  How about my new cover?  Do you like it?  Any thoughts?

And if you’re wondering how I’ll spend my birthday…  I’ll be staring at my cover, of course. 

This week, I finished writing another book.  Hurrah!

I’m always surprised by how few people understand exactly how difficult it is to write a novel.  It takes planning, plotting, thinking.  The characters and fictional world consume my thoughts for months, even before I sit down at the computer to write it.  The actual writing is frustrating, grueling, sometimes exhilarating, but mostly it’s just plain hard work.  And I mean hard!  Anyone who thinks a writer just sits down at the computer and lets the words pour unedited on the page is delusional.  And even after I’ve finished a manuscript, it still occupies my mind for weeks.  I wonder how I could have made it better.  I begin second-guessing the plot points.  I anguish over how my editor will react.

What’s odd is that no matter how many times I start a new project, it doesn’t get any easier.  That defies logic.  A task should get easier with repetition, shouldn’t it?  But perversely, each subsequent book becomes harder to write, probably because I keep raising my expectations and can more easily spot the flaws in my work.

Despite all that, it’s still enormously satisfying to finish a book.  Sure, the work isn’t as brilliant or perfect as I’d hoped it would be.  Maybe it won’t win awards or hit the best seller lists.  But I brought my vision of a story into existence, and that deserves celebration.

So how do you celebrate when you’ve finished a book?  Do you have a routine you follow, any special treat you reward yourself with?  Please share!

Maybe I’m hopelessly out of touch, but I have to admit that I’m one of those people who doesn’t “get” Facebook and other similar communities.  Yes, I understand that they’re a way to network with people, form communities, post photos and other news.  And in theory, that sounds great.

But here’s the problem.  I joined Facebook recently because one of my former students was spending a semester in Spain, and I wanted to see her photos.  I’d heard other writers extol the virtues of Facebook (as well as My Space) as a way to increase visibility, so I thought I’d have the added bonus of getting my name out there a bit without much effort or expense.

So I joined.  Pretty soon, I started getting requests to add friends to my page, which I did.  Then someone sent me a “hug,” whatever that was.  Again, no big deal.  I went to my page every few days, resisted the invitations to post what I was doing at that moment, and pretty much left it alone.

Okay, I completely ignored it.  After a few attempts, I decided it took way too long to find my student’s photos.  Sure, it was fun to get messages, but I simply didn’t have time to post things on her wall.

Then today I got another request to add a friend, so I went back to my page.  And I was shocked.  I couldn’t believe all the messages I had.  The messages were requests to send the following items:

Shoes, hearts, growing flowers, pieces of flair, candy, gifts, hugs, fashion gifts, sweets, good karma, Swarovski crystals, stuffed animals, Baskin Robbins, cookies, butterflies, spies, my fairy, eggs, top friend, Haikoo zoo.  I had other messages wanting to know who my celebrity boyfriend was, what kind of warrior and Jane Austen heroine I was.  Was I addicted to Lost?  Would I become a knight in a game, a forever friend?

Stranger yet, most of these were from one person, who I promptly deleted from my list of friends.

And I couldn’t help but feel appalled.  Who was this person?  How did she have time to send all these things?  And what was she doing with her life?  Shouldn’t she be out there living, traveling, having relationships with people instead of sending nonsensical requests on the internet to someone she didn’t know?

So how much time do people spend on Facebook and other similar communities?  What is the appeal?  Surely I’m not the only one who doesn’t get this.  Enlighten me, please!