I’m deep in Holiday Frenzy.

The shopping is nearly finished. I haven’t wrapped a thing, but the house is all decorated.

So time to think about the baking…well I was considering trying some new cookies, and not doing the usual candies and cookies that I bake.

Right, you’d think I set fire to the kitchen with the reaction I’m getting from the Santa and the Elves (played by my husband and three sons).

What? No peanut butter balls?

No.

No English Toffee?

No.

What about the caramel turtles? Russian Tea Cakes? Peanut brittle?

No, no and no! I was thinking, Mint cookies, black and white cookies and miniature cheesecakes. Only one of you elves lives at home now, and Santa and I are trying to cut back, so I thought I’d just have enough goodies for Christmas day.

All at once, Santa and the elves cried, NO SUGAR COOKIES? WITH FROSTING, SUGAR CRYSTALS AND CHOCOLATE CHIPS?

Sigh. Want to guess what I’ll be making? Barely a week left, with more shopping to do, nothing is wrapped and yet…

It makes me grin that I set this tradition when the kids were small (they always baked with me, and still will if they are home) and they are very attached to the tradition.

So Mrs. Clause will have to get her oversized butt in gear and make at least some of the goodies. Apparently sugar cookies are non-negotiable.

Your turn! What are your non-negotiable holiday traditions? And just to stay in the holiday spirit, I’ll pick one commenter to win a $15.00 Barnes and Noble gift card. I’ll announce the winner in the comments Tuesday Morning, December 18th. You have all day Monday to comment.

Happy Holidays!

Since today is Halloween, it’s the perfect time to ask: Do you believe in legends? Do you believe that something that has existed for centuries might hold some kind of magical powers?

Like say…two jade statues?

In my book, EXTERMELY HOT— released this week!—there are two statues: The Jade Goddesses of Fertility and Virility. They are centuries old, dated back to the Aztec times and rumored to be very powerful. Their powers are the ability to unleash people’s deepest desires.

Some think they are aphrodisiacs. Some think they are priceless artifacts. And some people will kill to own them.

In EXTREMELY HOT ultimate bad boy Luke Sterling is hot on the trail of the stolen statues—and the trail leads straight to good girl Ivy York. Naturally sparks fly until things get…well…extremely hot.

In the end, both Ivy and Luke end up believing in themselves and trusting their love, than they believe in the statues. When you think about it, that’s actually a powerful kind of magic. And as the author, I can tell you that the statues helped them along!

Writing this book made me think a great deal about legends and their power. Do I believe in them? I believe that sometimes the power really is more within us than any statue or artifact. But still, anything that has “lived” for centuries is pretty awesome.

What about you? Do you all believe in legends?

The other day I was hanging out with Robert Crais… Okay I am totally lying.

Seriously people, I write fiction for a living, you really shouldn’t trust me, LOL!

Truthfully (no really, you can trust me) Robert Crais was the guest speaker at the Orange County Chapter of Romance Writers of America. I did meet him, and much to my surprise, he remembered me from a previous meeting. He has that “Aw shucks, I’m just a regular guy,” charm, and he’s cute.

He’s also a very successful author.

So as I listened to him talk about his career, I was also watching how the women in the audience responded to him. They loved him, but it wasn’t just his looks. While they didn’t hurt, it was something else.

Robert Crais made himself real to all of us. He showed us his vulnerablity by telling us a little bit about his background and how his family really wasn’t supportive of his career choice. He described his mother crying on the phone, and his father refusing to come to the phone and talk to him. He told us about some of his mistakes along the way. And occassionally, he made fun of himself and laughed along with us.

By the time he finished, everyone in the room felt like they KNEW Robert Crais and they all rushed to the bookseller to buy his books.

That’s what I like to see in my heroes. I want them to be successful at some point in the book, but what really connects the heroes to the reader is giving the reader a glimpse of their struggles and vulnerablities.

So now when I think of someone who looks like hero material to me, I think of Robert Crais.

What about you all? Who do you think of as hero material?

Play along for the chance to win an advance copy (uncorrected proof) of my November Brava EXTREMELY HOT! I’ll pick two winners from the comments, and post the winners in the comments section on Tuesday.

Read this quote:

The door to the office kitchen was closed.

Ivy York stared at the dingy beige door, a knot of anxiety ballooning in her stomach. She’d never seen the door closed before. She’d been working at KCEX radio station in Claremont, California, for over two years now. Not once had she seen the door closed.

Nor had she ever heard those particular sounds coming from inside the office kitchen.

She put her hand out and touched touch cold doorknob. Open it, her brain insisted. You don’t want to know, the little girl in her replied. But she was a grown-up woman with responsibilities, not a child. She turned the knob and shoved open the door.

She swept her gaze around the room, barely taking in the left side of the kitchen with the beige Formica counter top, stainless steel sink, coffeemaker, and microwave shoved up against the old brown refrigerator that hummed like a DC-10. The brown table and chairs in the middle of the room didn’t catch her attention either.

But the sight that met her gaze on the right side of the room damn near seared her eyeballs. She got an eye full of…

For the chance to win, what do you think Ivy saw?

Don’t forget to check the comments on Tuesday to see who is the winner!

Hey All!

I totally cracked up at Karen Kelly’s cricket story. It reminded me of when my youngest was around two years old. He used to get really mad when I put my long hair in any version of a pony tail. It took me a long time to figure out why—it usually meant he was going to babysitting at the gym.

Duh. I should have put that together faster. By the way, he liked babysitting okay, he just preferred not being rushed in the morning.

So one morning I bent down to put my blow dryer away just as my little son walked in. When I straightened up from the cupboard, he was staring at my long hair, but he didn’t say anything. Just stared.

I smiled and said, “Honey, we’re not going to the gym today.”

He stayed silent and kept staring. I started to get a weird feeling. And I noticed that he was staring specifically at the right side of my hair. I was just about to ask him why when I FELT SOMEHTNG MOVE IN MY HAIR!

I screamed like girl (I’m not normally a screamer), jumping around and trying to get the CRICKET OUT OF MY HAIR! Finally a big, black ugly thing fell to the ground. I looked at my son and saying, “Why didn’t you tell me!”

“I dunno.” He turned and went to play with his trucks.

Now I had a cricket jumping around my bedroom. But I was not going to let the invader get the best of me. I called out for my middle son. He was about four or five. He came running in, “What Mommy?”

“Cricket! Can you get it?” I pointed to the bug.

Middle son snapped into action. The neighbor across the street taught him how to catch a cricket in his hand. He snatched up the bug in his chubby little boy hands, took it outside and set it free. (I made him wash his hands which he considered a small price to pay for catching a bug.)

That’s my cricket story. We’ve heard Karen’s too. Do you have a bug story? Snake stories are fine too, but just so you know, I am AFRAID OF SNAKES!

I was just reading my RT (Romantic Times Magazine) and saw that Shannon McKenna has a new Brava coming out, EDGE OF MIDNIGHT, this month.

Color me a total fangirl! I love Shannon McKenna’s books!

Being an author has changed me some, it’s inevitable. I meet a lot of authors, and I sometimes forget how really fortunate I am.

Then I do things like get into an elevator with Karen Rose and gush like a fountain. That was a few years ago and I still turn red thinking about it. But I had just read her book and loved it! I couldn’t help myself! Karen was very gracious, impressing me even more.

A lot of Brava authors turn me into fangirls, but I think I’ve embarrassed myself enough since they probably read this blog. Other authors I’ve gushed to include Lisa Gardner who helped me get my synopsis in shape to make my first sale during a class I took from her, then graciously gave me some quotes and assistance for a workshop I gave. I chatted with her several times by email and gushed forth my total awe of her personally, respect for her work and profusive thanks for helping me get published. She was incredibly nice and even suggested that my book got my published not her help with the synopsis.

I saw Linda Howard in an elevator once while I was actually reading one of her books. I was struck silent for a change Actually the elevator was packed and I wasn’t sure she wanted to be recognized but I gushed profusely in my head!

What’s really odd is that when I get approached by a gushing fan, I am just as awestruck. I think I should be thanking them! Not the other way around.

My point is that every time I think I might be getting just a little jaded, I’m doing something like browsing my RT magazine, see a favorite author with a book out, and I’m back in fangirl mode!

Who brings out your inner fangirl?

This is my first Man Cover

Look, my very own hunk for my November 2007 book! Pretty cool for a Man Cover Virgin, huh?

Well I did have a man on my first book DATING CAN BE MURDER:

The only problem there is the guy was DEAD. That works for a mystery, but not a sexy romantic mystery. Dead is so NOT sexy, right?

Men are really popular on covers. My sister and I were in a book store last week, and we were picking out men on covers that we thought were hot. We were just playing around (although both of us ended up buying a stack of books) but it got me thinking, would a MAN on a cover get me to buy a book?

No.

However it would get me to pick up the book off the shelf and take a look. But we all know, looks don’t last. What counts is what’s INSIDE the book.

Just an aside here: The most unusual title I’ve had on any of my books is NINJA SOCCER MOMS. The Extraordinary Editor, Kate Duffy, came up with that. I got quite a few emails from fans telling me they picked up the book because of the title.

But back to MEN. So what about you? Does a hot guy get you to pick up a book? Or am I just that shallow????