A free trip for two to London, a romantic hotel and the chance to soak up an atmosphere of passion and intrigue. What’s not to like? All you have to do is enter the Weekend in London Giveaway Sweepstakes –details on Kensington Facebook/and back pages of The Darkest Sin. I’m thrilled with Publishers Weekly review which describes the story as a “robust plot of mystery, passion and vengeance…” with sizzling passion, intriguing secrets….”

So if you were to win — how would you spend your time in London?

When it comes to heroes, who keeps you hot and bothered, intrigued and absorbed and, of course, a little bit in love?

Thanks to the talents of Kensington’s Kristine Mills-Noble and the insights of editor Kate Duffy, all my covers from Explosive to The Midnight Man and — wait till you see Dangerous Games in 09 — feature images of amazing men daring you to pick up the book and get involved in their lives. They’re not easy guys to get to know for the reader or the heroine, but then, what woman doesn’t like a challenge?

So let’s do a survey. Please let me know which hero types do it for you — and why:

1. The rogue, playboy who puts up a fight and refuses to fall in love
2. The dark, brooding enigma with a mysterious past
3. The dangerous man on a mission to save the world
4. The everyman whose strength and charms are gradually revealed

Probably a writer’s greatest fear is getting sucked into the vortex that is cyberspace. It happens all too easily. You’re stuck, don’t know what to write next, the characters aren’t cooperating. What to do?

I check into any one of my fifty or so bookmark favorites. Arts and Letter Daily to get my mind working; Smart Bitches for a load of snark; The Onion for a laugh; the Animal Rescue Site to do the right thing and Brava, of course, to find out what’s going on in the world of romance.

Where does the time go? And that’s my question for you — what are your terrific time wasters, in cyberspace or anywhere else?

P.S. My second book, The Midnight Man, is out. The reviews are great and I’m thrilled!

I was at a party the other night and, as usual, eavesdropping on other people’s conversations. Not polite, I know, but ultimately a good habit to develop if you’re a writer. A great opportunity to pick up on speech patterns (useful for dialogue) and bits of gossip (fun for later — nothing to do with writing). I noticed that people don’t really ask each other a lot of questions but mostly talk, monologue style, about whatever.

Nobody asks the surgeon what it feels like when she first slices into the flesh of a patient. Or the electrician about the worst thing that could happen if you tried to wire your house yourself. But when it comes to writers, everybody has questions. When do you write? How do you write? Where do you get your ideas? The sad truth, in my case anyway, is that I’m nowhere close to as exciting as the characters I write about, never mind the surgeon or the electrician.

So why are people so interested in the writing process — and in writers’ personal selves?

Are all those actors, writers and musicians who claim they never clap eyes on a review of their work for real? Because, honestly, who can resist?
Those first reviews are agonizing, in a pleasure/pain kind of way. You want to look. Then you don’t. It was a rush to discover that Romantic Times gave my first novel, Explosive, 4.5 stars and a Top Pick rating. And five stars from Harriet Klausner, the top reviewer for Amazon. Yes, it’s all good but then you wait for the other shoe to drop. It’s a wildly subjective business after all — a fave for one reader is a snooze for another.

In any case — do you believe in reviews? Do you read them, search them out? If that’s a yes, which blogs, websites, magazines, Amazon?

A great scene has a heartbeat or, at the very least, a pulse. I know what my favorite scene is in my recent book, Explosive. I’ll never forget writing it, the part where Blackburn storms back into Devon’s life in Paris, hell be damned. And in my upcoming novel, The Midnight Man, it’s the scene that even Kate Duffy had trouble getting over. Let’s just say Nicholas Ramsay is one bad boy.

What makes for a sizzling scene? Heightened emotion, for sure. Tension that won’t let you out of its grip. An overwhelming feeling that you’re in-the- moment, right along with the characters. What are some of your favorite scenes and why? How about Rhett Butler finally telling Scarlett he’s really not that into her anymore. Barbara Streisand and Robert Redford, haunted by the way they were, in front of the Plaza in NYC?

As a kid I used to read under the bedcovers with a flashlight. Fast forward several decades and not much has changed. Sometimes I find myself wide awake at three in the morning, mind racing, unable to get back to slumber land. And that’s when I reach for a book. If I can’t escape into my own dreams at least I can borrow somebody else’s.

While a small book light has replaced the flashlight, and it’s not the Angelique series by Anne Golen that I’m reading but something by a wonderful Brava author, the result is the same — a flight from the to-do lists bouncing around in my head and into a world populated by gutsy heroines and the guys who love them.

What are some of your favorite midnight reads?

Happy New Year and I have to ask — have you made a list?
Sure I could lose a few pounds, learn Spanish, sleep less and write more. But I decided to give myself a break in 2008. The only item on my list is to go to the local bookstore tomorrow because that’s the day my first historical romance, Explosive, hits the shelves. I’m thrilled. The rest can wait until 2009.

So how about you? Once you’ve cleared away the champagne glasses and shortbread crumbs are there any resolutions, goals or must-do stuff on your horizon?

I’ll go just about anywhere for a good laugh. That’s why at the close of each year, I look forward to one of the most fun literary awards around — the Literary Review Bad Sex in Fiction prize. Given that we Brava Authors are committed to serving up the hot stuff in the most convincing and engaging way possible, this award gives us pointers on what not to do!

It’s amazing the heavy-hitters that are short-listed. This year’s pantheon includes John Updike, Salman Rushdie, Gabriel Garcia Marquex, Paul Theroux and the 2007 winner — wait for it — Norman Mailer, who died just in time to make sure he doesn’t have to show up to claim his prize. Check out the excruciating samples yourself — just google bad sex awards 2007.

Now that you’re back — wasn’t that fun (o.k. maybe a bit painful). And honestly, what went wrong? You’re devoted readers of sensual romance, so I’d love to hear what you think makes for good writing around sex. Is it characters, setting, atmosphere, detail, too much detail?