Showing posts with label Nine Questions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nine Questions. Show all posts

Friday, November 6, 2009

Nine Questions for Sydney!

Last but not least, right? ;) As I'm answering these, I'm finishing up my next book, entertaining my nightowl 8 month old and thinking I should totally have a whip to go with my kickass leather boots, no? :)

On to the questions:

1. If you had to choose only one form of chocolate for the rest of your life, what would it be?

I'd have to say Caramilk bars. You just can't go wrong with creamy, milk-chocolately goodness drenched in the ooey, gooey caramel. Yum!

2. What author got you started reading or writing romance?

I have a really clear memory of my mother handing me a copy of Judith McNaught's, Perfect, and telling me to give it a try. I'd been reading a lot of suspense books up until that point, some Anne Rice and Stephen King too. I'd dabbled in writing off and on before that, but once I finished that book and glommed up her backlist, I was sold on the genre. Although a lot of her books rely heavily on the "big misunderstanding" type conflicts, I adore them, especially her historicals.

3. What's the naughtiest thing you've ever done?

Well there is a light bondage scene in Enslaved and a steamy little shower scene in Primal Hunger. And that handcuff one in Unbreakable. Oh wait, the naughtiest thing I've done, not written? Hmmm, I guess that would be the time I @%^$#& %#@ &*(( #@$ #%$# @!%@ &*#.

Huh, wonder what's up with that weird formatting. ;)

4. What do you like best about the heroine in your latest book?

I love that Kennedy (Primal Hunger) isn't afraid to speak her mind or take a stand, whether that means pulling a water hose on her boss, or admitting she doesn't have all the answers and never letting that stop her from following her gut.

5. What is a must have in your writing routine?

Notes! I'm a plotter, so having something, whether it's a few lines of dialogue that came to me earlier, or a little behind-the-scenes description on a particular character's motivation, really helps keep me on track. Without some direction, I wander all over the place. Being a writer, I come across eccentric enough (with the voices and all) I really don't need to be sabotaging myself any further.

6. What was the most interesting thing you learned in researching your
most recent release?


Since much of my world building was inspired by Arthurian Legend, I've looked a lot of stuff up on the myths surrounding King Arthur. One of the things that surprised me was how many Knights of the Round Table have made appearances in the numerous tales written about King Arthur. From the portrayals in movies and the like, I always thought there were only a small handful of knights, not upwards of a hundred, as some authors have used in their stories.

7. You're marooned on a tropical island, what sexy celebrity and comfort
reads would you want with you?

Since I've just caught up on my Smallville episodes for this year, I'd be more than happy to be stranded with Tom Welling (Clark) and Justin Hartley (Oliver a.k.a Green Arrow). As for books, who would really be up for reading with them around? :) But since I'm craving a good romantic suspense/adventure at the moment, I'd love to have something of Karen Robbards with me, like Night Magic or Walking After Midnight.

8. Do you listen to music while you write? If so, what's your favorite, or does it change from book to book?

Unless I'm working on a really intense scene, I absolutely need music to write. Once upon a time that kind of distraction would have driven me insane. I think I'm just used to listening to something to help drown out the sounds of Sesame Street running in the background. LOL As for music, my playlists vary for each book, but there are some bands I tend to favor over others. Like Lifehouse. I LOVE their stuff.

9. What's your favorite writing procrastination trick?

I could probably have another book written by the time I finished listing the many, many ways I've avoided writing. It's practically it's own art form. LOL But if I had to give just one, I'd have to say reading. Lots and lots of reading.

And just before you go off in search of whatever you do to procrastinate, here's the blurb for latest release, Primal Hunger.

When the sun goes down, passion is unleashed.

Kennedy Beaumont loves her bartending job, even if her spirited nature sometimes gets her in trouble. Like threatening to hose down one of Pendragon’s co-owners. When it comes to Tristan, she could use a good hosing down, herself—maybe it’ll help her stop casting him as the star in her wickedest dreams. Since he goes out of his way to avoid her, it ought to be easy to put him out of her head—until he reluctantly offers her a ride home.
Gargoyle shape-shifter Tristan Callaghan hasn’t had time for anything other than recovering the mystical dagger that was used to permanently lock his brother in a prison of stone. The cat inside him should have stopped craving Kennedy’s touch long ago, but now that she’s sitting next to him in his car, his very human need for her is sharper than ever.

The distraction is costly. In a split second, Kennedy finds herself thrust into a dangerous, millennia-old hunt for Excalibur. A hunt that marks her for death—and leaves Tristan with a painful choice—sacrifice his family, his quest…or the one woman meant to be his.

Drop by my Website to read an excerpt and get a sneak peek at Chapter One!

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Nine Questions for Meg


Okay, y’all, today it’s my turn. Meg Benjamin, formerly of South Texas, currently of the Front Range in Colorado. I write books about the Texas Hill Country, particularly about a town called Konigsburg (of which I’m sole owner and proprietor).

1. If you had to choose only one form of chocolate for the rest of your life, what would it be?
I’m not a big chocolate lover (salty stuff is more my weakness—cheddar cheese Lay’s Potato Chips, anyone?), but I’m found of the little Ghirardelli chocolate-raspberry squares.

2. What author got you started reading or writing romance?
Linda Howard got me out of reading the mysteries I’d been focused on (fortunately, the library shelved her stuff with the mysteries). I read her Dream Man, and thought, “Hmm, this is different!” It made me realize, little by little, that I was really more a romance writer than a mystery writer since the mysteries I’d been working on concentrated more on the romance than solving the murder.

3. What's the naughtiest thing you've ever done?
Hey, I’m a former teacher. “Naughty” for me involved sneaking tea and cookies into the University of Washington Graduate Library.

4. What do you like best about the heroine in your latest book?
Jess is my first sort of thriller heroine. She’s in a really tough spot, trying to protect her infant son from a very powerful family, but she doesn’t cave. She figures out how to get away from them and how to hide out successfully. But when the time comes, she’s also willing to accept help when she recognizes that she needs it.

5. What is a must have in your writing routine?
I set goals for myself—I have to or I get anxious. I have a certain number of pages to do every day (three, usually), and most days I make it. Actually, most days I go beyond it, but at least I know I’ve made my minimum. This is probably a great example of neurosis, but, hey, it works for me!

6. What was the most interesting thing you learned in researching your most recent release?
I had to find out about Tasers, particularly about what it felt like to actually be Tasered. I found a few descriptions, along with a lot of medical research about the effects. Suffice it to say, if somebody has a Taser, I’m going to do my best to make them like me!

7. You're marooned on a tropical island (yay!!!), what sexy celebrity and comfort reads would you want with you?
I’m not big on celebrities, actually. With a few exceptions (George Clooney, Paul Newman), they don’t seem like people who’d be very interesting to be around in real life. Now fictional characters, hell yeah! Indiana Jones, for example, could probably figure out a way to get us off the freakin’ island. As for reading matter, I’d go with the big three—Linda Howard, Elizabeth Lowell, and Nora Roberts. Between them, they’ve written enough books to keep me occupied for a couple of years at least.

8. Do you listen to music when you write? If so, what's your favorite, or does it change from book to book?
I so wish I could listen to music while I write, but I can’t—it’s just too distracting for me (I have to listen to the words). I do have my characters listen to music, though, and I have them dance a lot. In Wedding Bell Blues, the hero first decided the heroine was hot when he saw her dance to James McMurtry’s “Red Dress” and the heroine of “Venus in Blue Jeans” dances around her shop to Joe Ely’s “Cool Rockin’ Loretta.”

9. What's your favorite writing procrastination trick?
Besides the entire Internet, there’s always Ultimate Solitaire. Just a couple of quick games to shake loose the cobwebs, honest.


My newest release is Be My Baby, due out on December 8. It’s the third in my series about Konigsburg, Texas (after Venus In Blue Jeans and Wedding Bell Blues), and my first mystery/thriller. Although since it’s me, and since it’s a Konigsburg book, there’s also some humor involved. Here’s the blurb:

There’s no room in her life for love. Love has other ideas…
Konigsburg, Texas, Book 3
If Jessamyn Carroll had only herself to consider, staying in Pennsylvania after her husband’s death would have been a no-brainer. Her vindictive in-laws’ efforts to get their hooks into her infant son, however, force her to flee to a new home. Konigsburg, Texas.
Peace…at least for now. She’s even found a way to make some extra money, looking after sexy accountant Lars Toleffson’s precocious two-year-old daughter. She finds it easy—too easy—to let his protective presence lull her into thinking she and her son are safe at last.
Lars, still wounded from enduring a nasty divorce from his cheating ex-wife, tries to fight his attraction to the mysterious, beautiful widow. But when an intruder breaks into her place, and Jess comes clean about her past, all bets are off. Someone wants her baby—and wants Jess out of the picture. Permanently.
Now Jess has a live-in bodyguard, whether she wants him or not. Except she does want him—and he wants her. Yet negotiating a future together will have to overcome a lot of roadblocks: babies, puppies, the entire, meddling Toleffson family—and a kidnapper.
Warning: Contains Konigsburg craziness, creepy in-laws, a conniving two-year-old, a lovelorn accountant, a sleep-deprived Web developer, and lots of hot holiday sex.
Meg Benjamin
Romance on Wry


Friday, October 30, 2009

Nine Questions for Kate

Kate Tackles the Nine Naughty Questions:

1. If you had to choose only one form of chocolate for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Ooh, tough question! I'd have to vote for hot. I would drink hot chocolate every day of the year, even in the dead of summer, if I could get away with it.

2. What author got you started reading or writing romance?

Literally, it was Lucy Monroe, who bounced over to me at my first-ever RWA meeting and encouraged me to give it a try. We were critique partners for a while until life and publishing got in the way, and now we're just great friends (though there's really no "just" about it). I fell in love with romance as a genre, after resisting for many years, thanks to Suzanne Brockmann. Back when I first started exploring the genre, I stumbled on an RWA Ten Best Books of the Year list. Suz was listed two or three times, and I remember thinking that no author deserved to be on there that many times. Clearly, her readers had stuffed the ballot box. So I ran out and got the books just to prove my theory correct. Of course, I was wrong. I absolutely fell in love with her writing, her characters, and romance as a whole, and haven't looked back since.

3. What's the naughtiest thing you've ever done?

Taking the Fifth, here. Let's just say that I live vicariously through my naughty characters. :)

4. What do you like best about the heroine in your latest book?

Sam is really wounded, but she never gives up. She fights her way past her fears and emotional scars to find her happy ending. I love that about her.
5. What is a must have in your writing routine?

Hmmm...very good question! With kids, a day job, and a very busy schedule, I don't actually have much of a writing routine. I tend to fit it in around all the other things that keep me running. I have found that when I've got a deadline staring me in the face, I do very well writing in the car. There have been times where my husband spends entire weekends shuttling me hither and yon while I type madly away in the passenger seat.

6. What was the most interesting thing you learned in researching your most recent release?

My most recent release is set at the rodeo, and I got the chance to go behind the scenes and interview the sports medicine pros who take care of the participants if there are injuries. It's amazing how much pain the riders will tolerate! I returned to the rodeo recently and actually saw the sports medicine team in action after a bullfighter was injured. He's since made a full recovery, but it was scary to see something very similar to what I'd written happen in real life.

7. You're marooned on a tropical island, what sexy celebrity and comfort reads would you want with you?

Can I pick two celebrities? Because I'm totally bringing Igor Dolgatschew and Dennis Grabosch from the German show Alles Was Zaehlt. (I know, you're saying "who?", but I'm a HUGE fan.) Bonus – depending on how long we're marooned, I might even learn some German! And my comfort read would have to be Suzanne Brockmann's Troubleshooters series, because 1) I love to re-read them, and 2) there are eleventybillion titles in the series so they'd last me a while.

8. Do you listen to music while you write? If so, what's your favorite, or does it change from book to book?

I'm always in awe of writers who develop a soundtrack to write to, especially when it's made up of songs that relate to the characters/themes/plot of the book. Me, I'm not nearly that organized. So my "soundtrack" usually ends up being silence, the kids chattering, or whatever TV show is playing in the background. If I do pick songs to listen to while I write, they've either got to be instrumentals or in another language, because otherwise I'll end up singing along and getting totally distracted.

9. What's your favorite writing procrastination trick?

I'll let you know as soon as I'm done watching just one more video on YouTube.

And here's some info on my rodeo book...


The Devil Inside

It’ll take more than one go-round to win this rodeo of the heart…

Thirteen years after her father was killed in a rodeo accident, Samantha Quincannon is facing her worst nightmare. An EMT, she has avoided rodeo duty like the plague. Now her career depends on her ability to face down her fear.

Cody Shaw hasn’t seen Sam since the night of her father’s accident, and their reunion is anything but typical. So is her reaction when a bull ride gone wrong lands him, broke and bleeding, in her reluctant care. And, until he’s well enough to travel, in her bed. He knows he’s far from a model patient, but would it kill Sam not to act like she’d rather climb on a bull herself than have him underfoot?

On thing hasn’t changed—their off-the-charts sexual tension. They both put up a good fight, but soon the heat burns through their resistance.

Even as Sam fights to protect her heart from the one danger she didn’t see coming, something else becomes clear. Rodeo is in Cody’s blood, and nothing, not even Sam, can make him quit taking crazy risks.

It’s up to Sam to decide if she’s ready to put on her big-girl boots—and ride.

Warning: Lots of hot, sweaty, down-and-dirty lovin'. Cowgirl up!
You can find me here:

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Nine Questions for Erin!

It's day TWO of our new blog! How exciting!



So, here are some things you may, or may not, want to know about



Erin Nicholas!










Nine Questions for the Nine Naughty Novelists:



1. If you had to choose only one form of chocolate for the rest of yourlife, what would it be?
While this should be a difficult question considering I don’t go one single day without chocolate, it’s really pretty easy… white chocolate mochas from Starbucks. I truly believe Heaven won’t be Heaven without fountains of this stuff (and unlimited free refills, of course!).

2. What author got you started reading or writing romance?
LaVyrle Spencer was who I first read. Separate Beds is still on my keeper shelf. While I’d always written and every story had romance in it, Susan Elizabeth Phillips was the author who really made me say “I want to do this!” and inspired me to try to get published. Eileen Wilks was the first author I ever wrote a “fan letter” to and who gave me writing advice .

3. What's the naughtiest thing you've ever done?
Well, um… nothing… (my mom might be reading this!). Okay, but honestly, the naughtiest thing I’ve ever done was steal another girl’s boyfriend, totally on purpose! (and no he wasn’t really worth it in the end!)

4. What do you like best about the heroine in your latest book?
Jaden is completely sure of herself, what she believes and what she wants and she doesn’t let anyone tell her different! Even when that makes this more difficult for her I love that. I also love that she’s a physical therapist. I’m a physical therapist myself and I’m so glad to share this book as a little tribute to the amazing professionals I’ve worked with over the years!

5. What is a must have in your writing routine?
Scented candles! I try to use a different scent for each book. It’s amazing to me how that scent can take me into the book and characters so quickly when I sit down to write! It’s a great trick that I just stumbled onto. (the scent for No Matter What was Pumpkin Spice, by the way!)

6. What was the most interesting thing you learned in researching yourmost recent release?
My heroes daughter is in a wheelchair and she discovers some new friends and inspiration with a wheelchair basketball team. I learned a ton about wheelchair basketball, and other sports! Amazing athletes!

7. You're marooned on a tropical island, what sexy celebrity and comfortreads would you want with you?
Matthew McConaughy—shirtless—and he would have to read the comfort reads out loud to me in that sexy southern drawl! The comfort reads would be anything by Lori Foster, Cherry Adair, Susan Elizabeth Phillips or Julia Quinn for me. Don’t really care what Matthew wants to read… if I’m going without Internet, indoor plumbing and the aforementioned mochas, then at least I can choose the books, right?


8. Do you listen to music while you write? If so, what's your favorite, ordoes it change from book to book?
Sometimes. Frank Sinatra is always my first choice, but anything country will do as well. Sometimes I want the background noise. Sometimes I have to shut it off and just focus. A lot of the time I write with other noise… the TV, my kids, etc.


9. What's your favorite writing procrastination trick?
There are so many! Playing with my kids is the best because it’s guiltless! But reading is a big one too. Sometimes I call it research… and sometimes I’m honest!



And... My first book is coming out in 6 days!!




No Matter What is coming from Samhain on November 3rd!




Blurb




Adam Steele is good. Good at using his money to get his way. Money always works—until he realizes he can’t buy his daughter’s way out of her new wheelchair. Three private physical therapists later, he’s almost given up on Emily walking again. Then he meets Dr. Jaden Monroe. And his match.

Jaden doesn’t know the meaning of the word “quit”. But she knows a lot about “fired” after a public blowout with her ex jeopardizes the donation her hospital was counting on. Now the most tempting man she’s ever met has made her just the offer she needs to save the new children’s rehab wing—one million dollars to rehabilitate his daughter. In return she finds herself making Adam rash promises: that his daughter will walk in time to take the lead in the school play. And that he won’t entice her into his bed. No matter what.

But Jaden didn’t anticipate a teen whose injuries are more than physical. Or a man so passionate and devoted—and as tenacious as she is. As Adam wears down her defenses with kiss after kiss, the only thing harder than keeping her promise will be keeping a hold on her heart.



You can check out more about me and my books at http://www.erinnicholas.com/!