As an author, one of my favorite things in the world is coming up with ideas for new stories. I never know when they’ll hit me or where the inspiration might come from. Sometimes it’s a song on the radio or something I see on TV. Sometimes they just come out of the blue. Whatever the case, I don’t question it, I just go with them & try to do them justice.
But when it comes to my October Brava release, THE BITE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, I can’t take full credit for the ideas on the pages. Instead, I must thank two very special people who are—sadly—no longer with us.
First is the late, great Kate Duffy, original Senior Editor of the Brava line. You can imagine my delight when I discovered she was interested in my work, but since I didn’t have anything particularly suited for Brava, we had a couple of brainstorming conversations over the phone where we (or more to the point, I) tried to come up with an idea she liked & could get excited about. Then one day, she said, “You know, I’d really like a Christmas vampire book. Think you could come up with something like that?” I remember that it was a Friday & that my response was something along the lines of, “Um…let me think about it.”
Now, I love vampires. I had even written a sexy, funny vampire story way back when that had actually finaled in the Golden Heart competition three years in a row. (Yeah, it was that good, thankyouverymuch. 
) Unfortunately, my timing—much like vampires themselves—sucked. At that particular moment in publishing, paranormal was the kiss of death. I couldn’t give that book away, even though just a few years later, paranormal started to become all the rage. Of course, by then, I had sold other books & was busy fulfilling other contracts, so again—my luck & timing sucketh. And even after Kate asked me to consider doing something with vampires, I couldn’t send her that book because A.) it didn’t have a whiff of Christmas anywhere in it, & B.) it would have needed some major overhauling. (It’s true that I harbor dreams of selling it one day, but the overhauling would still be required. 
)
Which brings me to the second person to whom I owe a debt of gratitude for THE BITE BEFORE CHRISTMAS’s concept. My best friend, Joanne Emrick, who also very sadly has passed away. Joanne was a writer, too, with dreams of selling to Harlequin Presents. But no matter what the idea or who it was targeted toward, she was the best plotting partner ever. As soon as I got off the phone with Kate, I called Joanne & filled her in. She suggested we get together the next day (Saturday) at our usual haunt to see what we could come up with. So we did. We were there when the restaurant opened & closed the place down, spending all day eating, drinking, & being very merry while we tried to come up with a Christmas vampire idea that would knock Kate’s socks off. I don’t mind telling you that there were some very rough starts & stops. And some of the ideas we came up with had us laughing out loud at how truly hideous they were. But by the end of the night, I was ecstatic—& charged to get home & start putting together my proposal.
I worked on it all the next day (Sunday), & by Monday morning thought it was ready for public consumption. First with my agent, who thankfully declared it “delightful.” Then with Kate, who was probably more than a little surprised to hear from me again so soon. But she loved it, thank goodness, & that is how THE BITE BEFORE CHRISTMAS was born.
From there, things got a little bumpy, & circumstances on both ends kept my Christmas vampires from seeing the light of day (which they aren’t particularly fond of, anyway) for a while longer. They’re here now, though, & I’m delighted to finally get the chance to share them with the world.
My only regret is that Kate & Joanne are no longer here to enjoy this moment with me. But I’m sure they’re looking down from Heaven, grinning from ear to ear at the book they helped bring into existence.
