heidi's blog

...Woman's World, for promoting romance novels in an extremely positive light.

On the inside cover of the February 13th issue of Woman's World magazine, they claim that this week--well, Valentine's week--is a great time to read a romance novel!

They go on to mention that a romance novel is sold every five seconds. (Yippee! :-D) And that the stories have come a long way since the early "bodice-rippers," with strong heroines who are more than a match for their male counterparts. (Glory be, somebody finally noticed! :-p)

They also say that "nothing beats being swept away by the fantasy of a sensitive, handsome hero saving the day!" (You can say that again. *g*)

Forget a single rose. For giving such a great nod to the genre & not making even one snarky comment, they can have a whole bouquet of roses!


Currently watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Currently reading Sleeping with the Agent by Gennita Low

I did it! Been trying & trying, & this is the first time I've succeeded at getting my new artwork to post!

So here it is, the absolutely stunning, gorgeous, hot & sexy cover for HEAT WAVE, coming in July 2007. Am I the only one who loves it?!?

And I want that bikini, even if it wouldn't look quite that good on me. *vbg*

By the way, I owe the success of finally being able to post this cover art to the new Blogger. They switched over to a new system...don't ask me what the difference is, I honestly don't know...& I for the longest time, I fought having to make the jump. (Apparently, I don't deal well with change. :-p)

This week, however, they gave me no choice; it was do or die. I'm happy to say that the switch was practically painless, & as many times as I fought with the old Blogger to get this artwork to post, it popped up on the very first attempt with the new Blogger. Way to go! For that reason alone, I'm definitely liking the new Blogger better than the old. *g*

And don't you just LOVE this cover?????

Well, maybe not in all respects *vbg*, but according to Patti Fischer of Romance Reviews Today, BLACKMAILED INTO BED certainly is! :-D

Got the most wonderful review this morning, & I couldn't wait to share. You'll be able to read the full write-up at the Romance Reviews Today website starting February 10th, but here are the highlights:


"...so hot it will singe your fingers...sexy as sin... The sensual interaction between Chase and Elena sizzles right from the first page of BLACKMAILED INTO BED and provides readers with a very compelling couple to enjoy. With dazzling writing and fascinating characters, all pulled together into a captivating plot, BLACKMAILED INTO BED has my vote as one of the best books of 2007 so far, and it richly deserves a Perfect 10 rating! I highly recommend that you put BLACKMAILED INTO BED on your book shopping list today."


Weeee! This one definitely had me dancing a little jig. Actually, when I saw the "Perfect 10" notation, I think I squealed. :-D

This one seems rather appropriate given yesterday's post. *vbg*

"Anyone who writes something wants to ultimately control the whole piece. It may be s---, but at least it's going to be mine."
~Christopher Guest

I've got this book coming out in June...you know, FORTUNE'S FORBIDDEN WOMAN, the sixth & final installment of the "Dakota Fortunes" continuity series for Silhouette Desire. And while I loved the characters & enjoyed the storyline, I have to admit it wasn't the easiest book to write.

Add to that the fact that my editor asked me for some fairly extensive revisions on the story before it went on to the copyediting stage. Oy, by the time I finished those, my eyes were crossed & I didn't know which end was up. There were times I found myself holding stacks of manuscript pages with...thanks to cutting or adding chunks of text & re-numbering pages...no idea where they belonged.

So I've been a little concerned about this story. I worry that it may not be the strongest I've ever written. That it may be lighter in plot & conflict than I'd like. That somewhere during that painful revisions process I somehow screwed things up so badly, no one will ever make sense of the text again.

Um, did I mention that writers can be somewhat neurotic? :-p

Then on Monday, the galleys for FORTUNE'S FORBIDDEN WOMAN arrived. The dreaded galleys, I should say, since I have not been looking forward to those at all. And because the deadline for this story was so tight & I ended up doing the revisions over Thanksgiving, I never got to see the line edited manuscript. This only worried me more, as I was afraid the galleys would then be riddled with problems, both due to the revision process & copy editing that I didn't get the chance to double-check or approve.

My mom always reads through my galleys before I do. She's a fast reader, has a keen eye, & I can always count on her to be brutally honest if she spots a problem. So I handed the book over to her--along with a warning that this might not be the best book I've ever written. I was under a lot of pressure & it wasn't my storyline & the revisions were from hell &...just don't judge me, okay?!?

But today, when she returned the galleys with her little post-it notations sticking out, she said it was a good story & not bad at all...& she actually smacked me with the manuscript for making her think it would be. Ouch. (Hey, we're talking 200 pages here, & she is not a gentle woman. It hurt!)

So maybe I don't have that much to worry about, after all. Maybe I won't bite my nails all the way down to the quick prior to its release, worrying about negative reviews & nasty reader mail. Maybe you'll actually like it & agree with my mother--no smacking, please!--that it's a decent story.

Maybe. :-)

The real test will be when I read over the book myself, though, because I'm the only one who knows what I wrote, how the story should flow, & can spot any glaring errors. There's also an online review site waiting for an early-early copy so they can give me an advance review quote. If I can pass both those hurdles without wanting to slit my wrists, then I may just have a shot at getting excited about this book again. *g*

Fingers crossed.

And, oh, yeah...don't judge me!

Today, I received a sneak peek at the cover for HEAT WAVE, the anthology I'll be in this July with Stephanie Bond & Leslie Kelly. It is sooooooo nice.

And I would happily show it to you, except that I can't get it to load onto Blogger. :-((((( That means I'll have to wait until I've got it added to my website (which hopefully won't be much longer), then steal it from there because the file I have is just too large.

I can describe it to you, though :-) Picture crystal blue water & golden white sand as the entire back drop. (This is a hot & sexy beach read, after all.) Then there's a woman standing off to the right in a really cute bikini. The string of her bikini bottoms crosses the T in "Heat Wave," which I think is adorable, & beneath the title is says "It's gonna be a hot one...". And our names (the authors) are done in multiple, rotating colors taken from the bikini. Then on the back cover, it's very similar, only the woman is turned in the other direction with her back to us & she's topless, holding the bikini top in her hand with the wind blowing at it.

I think it's very sexy, very sharp-looking, & that it will really stand out on the shelves. I'm wondering if it will be a eye-catching as a half-naked man on the beach would be, but that doesn't make me like this artwork any less. *g*

Oh, & I love the blurb for my story on the back! Here it is:

Abby Weaver abandons the cool haven of her pharmaceutical basement for a girls-only week of sun, sand, & fruity drinks. That was the plan...until Abby finds herself going solo. But the beach is a funny place--you never know just what (or who!) will wash up onshore...

Isn't that cute? No mention of my big, buff Marine hero, but I guess that's okay. In fact, all of the blurbs seem more focused on the heroines than the heroes. That means y'all will have to read the book to find out just how hot & steamy these guys really are. I can attest to the hotness of my guy & the love scenes, & from what I've heard, the other two authors have done a good job of keeping the temperature up, too. :-D

Okay, that's all for now. I promise to post the HEAT WAVE cover just as soon as I'm able.


Currently watching NCIS
Currently reading Truly, Madly, Dangerously by Linda Winstead Jones

Not just reviewed...& this site always does a fabulous job with reviews, imho--not that I'm biased or anything *g*...but recommended.

I get to be in pink on the main review page, & I get a special graphic next to both the title there & the book cover on the actual review page.

Check it out & let me know what you think:

BLACKMAILED INTO BED

This is kind of last minute, but I just found out about it myself...

Over at eHarlequin.com, they're offering BLACKMAILED INTO BED (by yours truly *g*) for only $2.23...that's 50% off the regular $4.50 cover price.

But hurry! The offer ends at 11:59pm tonight, EST, & I guess a new title will go up tomorrow.

This is a great sale, though. I even ordered a few copies for myself because I tend to run out of my author copies & like to have extras. :-) I just wish I'd known about it a little sooner so I could have posted the information first thing this morning instead of only three or four hours before the sale ends. :-p

Oh, & it's also Free Book Friday, which means that if you order two or more books, you get a featured title free. Can't beat that. (Might I recommend that you order at least two copies of BLACKMAILED INTO BED & give the extras as gifts or some such? *vbg*)

Good luck getting over there in time!

A couple of weeks ago, my neighbor called to ask if there was any way I could give blood in her little girl's name for a blood drive they were holding at the school. Apparently, if the kids got at least one person to sign up, they would get a prize, and my neighbor can't give because she's anemic. (And her daughter really wanted a prize. :-))

I am not anemic, & happen to have really good blood, actually. The Red Cross loves me--I always have good iron, my blood runs fast, & I never get dizzy afterwards. *g* So I said sure. I haven't been to a blood drive in a while & was feeling guilty about that, anyway, so this seemed like the perfect excuse to get back.

And it was. It all went very well, & now my neighbor's daughter will get her prizes. :-)

But it doesn't end there. This neighbor also happens to be one of the nicest in the world. To thank me for giving blood in her daughter's name, she bought me pizza for supper. Awwwww! LOL Her little girl is having a sleepover tonight, so she had to run into town for pizzas, anyway, & she picked one up for me while she was there. Like I said, Awwwww! I thought that was about the sweetest thing ever. I'd give blood just about every day if I thought there was going to be a pizza in it for me. :-D

Been having some trouble with Blogger this week, but here's the quote I meant to post yesterday. I know this happened a while ago, but it just cracks me up...


"There was another seismic shift in our nation's leadership. Of course, I'm talking about People magazine's Sexiest Man [Alive]. Last year's winner, rugged good ol' boy Matthew McConaughey, is out. Leftist pretty boy George Clooney is in... Nation, we are at war. You don't change sexy horses in midstream, no matter how good that other sexy horse looks bathing under a waterfall."
~Stephen Colbert on The Colbert Report


And, frankly, I'm not sure which sexy horse I'd pick if I were forced to choose. They'd both look darn good under a waterfall, don'tcha think? :-P

Had a minor panic attack over the weekend when I went to change one of the ink cartridges in my printer only to discover that the box of back-ups I had was filled with the wrong type.

Aack! I don't know if I accidentally ordered the wrong kind or Dell accidentally sent me the wrong kind, but it was obvious there was no way these were going to fit. And wouldn't you know, I ordered them way back in September, just before I knew I'd be printing postcards for my November book, BEDDED THEN WED. (I thought I'd run out of ink before I finished the project, but apparently I didn't or I'd have discovered this little snafu sooner, huh?)

So I e-mailed Dell's customer service center, hoping against hope that they would let me return the incorrect cartridges & replace them with the right ones. But, yes, I was more than a little worried that they'd say tough luck because I'd gotten them five months ago.

Instead, they replied & said they would be happy to take the incorrect cartridges back & send me the ones I actually need. Whew! Yes, I am definitely loving Dell. :-D

I am completely out of ink at the moment--a corner I try hard never to paint myself into :-p--but hopefully I won't run into anything urgent that needs printed before my new, correct cartridges arrive. If I were finished with CHRISTMAS IN HIS ROYAL BED already, I'd probably be pulling my hair out trying to figure out a way to get it printed & in the mail on time, but thankfully my deadline is still a little ways off.

Since I wore my new Mutts "Saving the World One Kitty at a Time" pajama top to bed last night, I had to cut the tag off, & that's where I found the URL for the adorable Mutts website.

It has a fabulous quote on the home page, a Mutts comic strip (of course), &...drum roll, please...a "store" where you can buy all kinds of fabulous Mutts merchandise. I've just begun checking out those pages, & I haven't actually run across anymore stuff with my favorite quote on them (see above *g*), but I think I'm going to have fun looking around.

So check it out if you get the chance: www.muttscomics.com

Okay, I don't have worms, personally, but I discovered last night that the new little guy, Tigger, does. Just tapeworms--kind of typical & no big deal. I'm just surprised that he's been here for two months without any signs of them. And I was looking, believe me, because when you take in a stray, you know there are any number of little ailments that will need to be treated.

So I ran over to the vet's office first thing this morning to pick up some pills, & Tigger will hopefully not have worms much longer. And as long as I was over there, I decided to look for a new space heater for my office.

I literally found one--only one on the shelves, & it had been opened before. (Yes, I know--you should never shop for heaters in the winter or air conditioners in the summer, but what's a girl to do when she's freezing her butt off? :-p) I liked the looks of it, & it was a brand I like (Honeywell), so I grabbed it. The store also promised I could bring it back if there was anything wrong with it, since it had apparently been returned once before.

But I brought it home & plugged it in, & it's just lovely. Very toasty & warm. In fact, the one side of my body is getting a little too toasty. *g* It's completely silent, which I love, & it also oscillates to spread the warmth. The only down side is that it only has two temperature settings--Hi & Off. On the coldest days of winter, this will be great, but on the days when it's just a bit chilly, that may be a problem.

I'm happy for now, though, & I still intend to look for a second heater to warm the other side of the room, so maybe that one will have a Low setting. :-)


Currently watching Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Currently reading Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

A few days ago, I claimed chilly was good, but now I've changed my mind. :-p

Turns out, the space heater I use to heat my office is apparently dying. I have my office in a small, enclosed porch off the one side of my house, so there's no basement underneath the floor & the room can get exceptionally cold in the winter. (Exceptionally hot during the summer, too, because of all the windows, but that's a whole different whine session. *g*)

Anyway, I've always needed a heater to help warm up the room during the winter months. And I'm not completely dense, so, yes, I had noticed that the one I've used for years was starting to leak little spots of oil. I didn't think much of it, though. And, yes, I'd noticed the past few months that even though it wasn't all that cold outside, my office still seemed oddly chilly. I kind of thought it was just me. :-p

But just recently I started to realize it's not just me, it's the darn heater. Apparently the fact that it's been losing oil also means it's unable to heat up as much as it should. Even turned all the way up, it barely takes the chill off the room.

So... I'm very, very cold at the moment. I've been wearing two & three layers of socks, plus nice, thick slippers, extra sweatshirts, & even at some points, gloves. Sheesh.

Needless to say, buying a new heater has gone to the top of my To Do list. And I've got to get out to find one before it gets much colder. I still think I'll ask around & see if this one can be fixed, though, because it's a good heater, darn it. Even if I get a new one that I like just as much, it can't hurt to have a back-up, right? :-)

Or Rum-&-Coke-ville, but it still counts, right? :-)

Spent the weekend writing on CHRISTMAS IN HIS ROYAL BED & revising SHAKEN AND STIRRED. And for a change, both went really well.

Got a couple chapters done on CHRISTMAS. This book gave me fits in the beginning...the opening just would not seem to work no matter how many different angles I tried. But now that it is started, it's zipping right along. (Knock on wood.)

And the revisions for SHAKEN AND STIRRED were fairly simple. The first three were pretty easy to implement, & I got them done on Saturday. The last one gave me a bit more trouble...mostly just a matter of figuring out where I could stick some added mention of the hero's family & why he'd become a Marine in the first place without throwing off the flow of the story. So that took me a bit longer, but I still got it done & was able to send the revised story back to my editor yesterday afternoon. Fingers crossed she likes it.

Aside from that, not much is going on around here. Just the same old-same old. Finally woke up to a bit of snow on the ground this morning, & it's been snowing on & off all day, but I don't know if that means winter is actually going to kick in now or not. Guess we'll have to wait & see. :-)

Stayed up late last night to finish Chill Factor by Sandra Brown, & those of you who suggested I read it next were soooo right. It was fabulous!!! (Thank you. :-D)

When I first started it, I thought the story was a bit slow in places--but only because there were a lot of characters & a lot going on, & I always just wanted to get back to the hero & heroine, who were trapped together in a mountain cabin during an ice storm/blizzard. (Hey, what can I say? I'm always eager to get to the good stuff. *g*) But the story was great--lots of twists & turns, lots of suspects, great tension & suspense, & most especially lots of romance. Sandra Brown is a master of her craft, that's for sure.

And the epilogue... Oh, the last chapter & epilogue were terrific! They were actually what made me decide that Chill Factor is definitely going to be a Keeper. :-) I'm even kind of hoping to discover that she writes a spin-off one day so I can follow up on this hero & heroine again. Don't know if it will ever happen, but I'm going to remain optimistic.

So if you haven't read this one yet, get to it. It gets two very happy thumbs up from me!

Yay! Got a call today from the editor I'm working with on the HEATWAVE anthology (hot summer beach read coming in July 2007, with Stephanie Bond & Leslie Kelly), & I officially get to keep my story's title of "SHAKEN AND STIRRED." In fact, they liked it so much, they want me to add a couple of tidbits to tie the title into the story even more. :-D (Martinis, anyone? *g*)

This is good news, especially since I've been using that title very tentatively when I talk about the anthology, & I always kind of expected it to be changed. But now, if I want to stick it on bookmarks or add it to my website without worrying that I'll have a giant typo on my hands, I can!

There are a couple of other minor revisions she wants me to do--by Tuesday, no less--but I don't think they'll give me any trouble & hope to get them done over the weekend.

Mostly, I was just thrilled to hear that she loved the story--loved my characters, loved the set-up, loved the love scenes. Whew! It's always such a relief to hear that your editor likes your story. I certainly loved this story, but I was extra nervous about it, since I'd never written a novella before & wasn't sure I'd done exactly what they were looking for. There was also the added concern that there had been an editorial switch in mid-stream, so the editor who was going to be reading & approving my story was not the same editor who had approved the idea in the first place. Aack!

But all is well because she did like it, & now I just can't wait for this book to come out! Weeeee!


Currently watching Garden State
Currently reading Your Cheatin' Heart by Nancy Bartholomew

I just found this quote & absolutely adore it, so I had to share. I certainly know how he felt. LOL

"I became insane with long intervals of horrible sanity."
~Edgar Allan Poe

Don't judge me as being too much of an odd duck for this, but I keep a calendar of all the books I read throughout the year. So of course now that we're starting a new year, I needed to start a new calendar. And I got to go through the old one to see exactly how many books I read & what they were.

Sadly, I only read 50 titles in 2006...& this is counting novellas or short stories. I hang my head in shame & wish that number could be much, much higher. But it was fun to remember some of the books & how much I enjoyed them.

That got me wondering if I had discovered any new & fabulous authors this year... I did, but only one--Andrea Kane's Scent of Danger.

Then I wondered if I'd read any books/authors I didn't like & probably wouldn't buy or read again... I didn't. And that's good news, because I love to love books & authors, & don't like being disappointed. :-)

Instead, what I seemed to do this past year was re-introduce myself to authors I'd read in the past, knew I liked, but had maybe not read in a while. Dinah McCall (Bloodlines), Sandra Brown (White Hot), Rachel Gibson (The Trouble with Valentine's Day), Virginia Kantra (Stolen Memory).

Now I'm wondering what your reading experience was like in 2006.

How many books do you think you read this past year?

Did you discover any new-to-you authors that you really liked & will continue to buy/read in the new year?

Did you read any books you didn't particularly enjoy, or discover any authors you probably won't read again in the future?

And last but not least, did you read anything this past year by an author you already knew you liked but had forgotten just how much?

It occurred to me--rather belatedly over Christmas--that since I've got another book coming out in February, I really need to do a big bookstore mailing. Especially since I bought a buttload of bookmarks to promote the February & June books. Eeek. (I don't actually do that much promotion-wise, but I try to send bookmarks for upcoming books to those stores & libraries I've had contact with in the past & that I know will pass them out to readers.)

Of course, I don't actually want to do all the counting & envelope stuffing myself, so it's good that my mother is now retired. I gathered up all the bookmarks, envelopes, labels, etc., dumped them at her feet & put her to work. LOL

This was supposed to be my brilliant attempt to avoid manual labor & buy myself some much-needed writing time. So what did I do instead? Doggone it, I got it into my head to clean a little bit & ended up knee deep in hauling & moving & dusting. And God help me, but I decided to reorganize some of my books, which turned out to be a way bigger job than I'd planned on.

Those of you who have similarly towering TBR piles can sympathize, I'm sure. In my case, I don't bother with piles anymore; I've got boxes upon boxes of books stacked everywhere. Do not ask me why I decided to open them up & root through. Normally I'm smart enough to ignore them unless I'm actually looking for a particular title...it's better that way, believe me. But, oh, no. I had to open them up & see what was inside. I had to glance at titles & authors (I weeded a little, I admit) & move things here or there, depending on empty spaces.

This took me all day. Two days in a row. Ugh. Of course, now that everything is neat & clean & organized again, I'm feeling pretty chipper. The only down side was seeing all those luscious books & not being able to read them right now. Again, I'm sure the rest of you bibliophiles know exactly what I mean.

But I"m going as fast as I can. I'm halfway through Chill Factor, nearly a quarter of the way through Half-Blood Prince, & I just finished Bubbles. Whew...I may be slow, but that's what I consider progress.

How about the rest of you--have you done any "winter" cleaning or read any good books lately?