Wishing for Rain with Rula Sinara!

Happy Monday, all!

Hope everyone had a WONDERFUL Christmas! (I did!!) But it was exhausting. On Christmas Day, I went to bed at 8PM and woke up at 7:30AM the next day. I think the last time I slept that long, I was in college! LOL

Anyhew, I'm so happy to have one of the nicest bloggy pals I know here today:
Rula Sinara.

In just a few days she will be a published author with Harlequin. Yay!! I'm so proud of her!

Take it away, Rula!

Jennifer, thanks so much for having me here today!

I’m feeling a bit nostalgic, being here on the eve of New Year’s eve…a day symbolic of endings and new beginnings. You see, everyone, I ‘met’ Jennifer when I started blogging the summer of 2010. She was already a successful blogger and I was a newbie nobody, yet she reached out. I was blown away by how warm, welcoming and loyal she was to both her readers and fellow bloggers. I’ll never forget that she was there when I began that adventure.

And now here I am, ready to embark on a new one. Tomorrow night my life as an unpublished writer comes to an end and, on New Year’s Day, my debut Harlequin Heartwarming, The Promise of Rain, will be released.

Of course, I’m thrilled, but change—even the good kind—can be a scary thing.

Change forces an individual out of their comfort zone…out of the emotional, mental or physical sanctuary they’ve established for themselves. In The Promise of Rain, my hero and heroine both witnessed, at a young age, the death of a loved one. That kind of emotional trauma is devastating and not easily forgotten, even for the children of other species, like the baby elephants my heroine rescues when they’re orphaned by poachers. That kind of baggage can either hold a person back or it can motivate them to take action.  To make a difference. To step outside their sanctuary and dance in the rain.

Rain.

A catalyst for both life and death…but most importantly, it brings new life.

When it rained on my high school graduation day, my mother promised me it was a good omen. That rain symbolized both the washing away anything bad from the past, as well as a new beginning or phase of my life. A ‘fertile future’, as she put it.  I did end up with three kids, LOL. I know what she meant though. A new beginning with wonderful things to come.

So for 2014, I wish you all rain.

I love this! That is so sweet!!! Thank you, Rula!

Rula's new sweet romance fascinatingly enough is called THE PROMISE OF RAIN.  

Here is a little bit about it:

He wants to take her child out of Africa…

The Busara elephant research and rescue camp on Kenya's Serengeti is Anna Bekker's life's work. And it's the last place she thought she'd run into Dr. Jackson Harper. As soon as he sets eyes on her four-year-old, Pippa, Anna knows he'll never leave…without his daughter.

Furious doesn't begin to describe how Jack feels. How could Anna keep this from him? He has to get his child back to the States. Yet as angry as he is with Anna, they still have a bond. But can it endure, despite the ocean—and the little girl—between them?

Available here: Amazon –B&N – Harlequin -

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Find Rula HERE:

Website: www.rulasinara.com

Blog: www.awritersrush.blogspot.com

Twitter: @RulaSinara

Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/RulaSinara

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Thanks so much, Rula! I don't think anyone has ever wished me rain before. LOL!

I wish you all a great week and a Happy New Year!

Any big plans for the New Year--either New Year's Eve night or the upcoming year?

Guest Blogger: Melissa McClone and a Giveaway!

Happy Monday, all! Hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving!
I actually ended up losing weight on Thanksgiving (long story. More on Friday)

Anyhew, my friend Melissa McClone, who writes for the Harlequin Romance series, has a new romance out now just in time for the holidays and to put you in the mood for Christmas. It's a sweet romance called Firefighter Under the Mistletoe.

When she told me the title, I was immediately interested in how she knew enough information about firefighters to write the story and thought it would be neat for her to share it with you all.
So, Melissa take it away!!

Thanks, Jennifer, for hosting me. I always have fun being at Me, My Muse and I.
I want to tell you about my November Harlequin Romance release, Firefighter Under the Mistletoe, and the research I did for my heroine, Leanne Thomas, a firefighter paramedic and volunteer mountain rescuer.

Back when I was writing Rescued by the Magic of Christmas (Harlequin Romance November '98), I took four male members of Portland Mountain Rescue (PMR) out to dinner at a local brewpub to learn more about mountain rescue and their camaraderie. A fun and educational time, but shades of my time as an engineer days kept flashing back. I knew I needed a woman in my fictional mountain rescue group to balance out all the testosterone.

Enter Leanne Thomas. She was female, but one of the guys, too. I made her a paramedic due to plot necessity, never thinking at that time she would end up the heroine of her own romance.

When the time came to write her story, I was a little worried about making Leanne realistic as well as relatable to readers. Here was a woman who was surrounded by men both at work and at play. She worked at the fire station with male firefighters. She could climb and ski as well (and sometimes better) as the men she hung out with. She was one of the guys, but I still needed to be a romance heroine. That meant I needed help.

Three women came to my rescue—Fran and Kellie, two climbers who are members of different mountain rescue groups in Washington State, and Karyn, a firefighter paramedic who works in Oregon. I never had a chance to meet them in person, but after initial phone calls with two of them everything else was done via email. Lots and lots of emails!

Fran and Kellie answered so many questions about mountain rescue and being a female climber. The technical stuff helped so much, but just as important, if not more so, was hearing about their experiences both as climbers and rescuers. They told me about the dynamics of being on a mountain rescue unit with a group of men. It was interesting to hear the similarities between the two rescue groups as well as the differences.

Their experiences helped me shape Leanne. Fran is married to a fellow mountain rescuer. I thought about making one of the rescuers as trying to figure out who would be the perfect hero for Leanne. But given the first two books in the series as well as the ones I want to write next, I decided against having another mountain rescuer hero. Kellie provided an itinerary for my hero's climbing road trip based on a trip she took. She also told me about her platonic relationship with a climbing partner that helped me with Leanne's working relationships and friendships.

Karyn gave me so much information about firefighting and being a paramedic. (Thirty-nine email replies answering my many questions!) I knew nothing about this part of Leanne's life/character. Karyn helped me understand life at a fire station (i.e. how does cooking work, where does she sleep, what does she wear to bed, etc.) and what she does on a call. She went so far as to read scenes to help me make sure what I wrote was plausible.

She also helped me figure out what kind of hero would be a good match for Leanne—a fellow firefighter! Karyn is married to a firefighter. They don't work in the same city so I often received two views of how things worked since each department and station can operate differently.

If you'd like to meet Leanne, she makes an appearance in Snow-Kissed Romance, a free on-line read at eHarlequin.com. The novella was used to promote the second book in the series, Christmas Magic on the Mountain, released in November 2010. In case you were wondering, the stories share the same setting and secondary characters, but each is standalone.

I can't thank Fran, Kellie and Karyn enough for all their research help. Leanne Thomas is a better character because of the assistance I received from women who live and play in the same world as her.

Are there careers and/or activities that you would like to learn more about?


Christmas magic in Hood Hamlet...
For Leanne, infuriatingly charming firefighter Christian Welton is out of bounds. Not only is he too young for her, but his trail of broken hearts is legendary. Leanne's fought hard to be one of the boys, and won't let anyone see that Christian's smile makes her want to melt into his arms!

Christian wanted to discover the softer side of the tough-talking paramedic, but hasn't counted on how much the real Leanne affects him. He's vowed never to settle down, but under the mistletoe it's certainly the season to be tempted....

Available on Amazon and Kindle, Harlequin.com and other book stores.

For more information on Melissa, check out her website HERE.

CONTEST: Melissa has generously offered to giveaway a $10 Amazon gift card to some lucky commenter!
Contest runs from now until Thursday, December 1, 2011 11:59 pm EST.

On Writing Princess Romances by Harlequin author Melissa McClone

Happy Monday! My friend Melissa McClone has a new Harlequin Romance book out this month called NOT-SO-PERFECT PRINCESS and is on a book tour now!
I'm thrilled that she's stopped here today to talk a little about the recent subject of her book: princesses in romances.

So please welcome, Melissa!

A little bit about her: Melissa McClone writes for Harlequin Romance. Her November '10 release Christmas Magic on the Mountain is a RITA® Finalist in the Contemporary Series Category. She graduated from Stanford University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, but quit her job to write romance novels. Writing happily ever afters is a lot more fun than analyzing jet engine performance. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, three children, four cats and a dog named Chaos.

I'm so happy to be back at Me, My Muse, and I. I had a lot of fun here during my visit in February! If I was a new-to-you author then or am a new-to-you now, a look at my new release Not-So-Perfect Princess and my February one Expecting Royal Twins! might lead you to assume I write a lot of princess books. In fact as this virtual book tour was being set up, my gracious host today, Jennifer, told the organizers, "… she does a lot of themes with princesses, maybe she could talk about that and why."

Given the popularity of royal romances, I'm happy I've been able to write three of them. One for Silhouette Romance and two for Harlequin Romance. All three stories feature prince heroes, but only the most recent two had princess heroines. The stories are standalone, but one character makes an appearance in all three books—Princess Julianna of Aliestle. I've been dying to write her story for years now!

It all started when I wrote a manuscript called If The Ring Fits… It was a Golden Heart Finalist in 1998. (I'd sold another book to the Silhouette Yours Truly line in late 1997 but due to the rules at that time I could remain in the contest.) The hero was a prince, but the heroine was a klutzy American. I love rags-to-riches stories, but I wanted to flip it. I made my heroine wealthy and tired of the privileged life. Her ideal Prince Charming wasn't a prince, but a cowboy. She didn't want to live in a castle, but a ranch.

To counter my so-not-ready-to-be-a-princess heroine, I created a secondary character who was the perfect European princess, the kind of woman my hero should marry (except for the fact he fell in love with the klutz!) From the minute Princess Julianna appeared I knew she should have her own story. My critique partner at the time even said Jules would be the perfect Sleeping Beauty heroine. I agreed.

I eventually sold If the Ring Fits… to Silhouette Romance. It was released in early 2000. I kept telling myself I wanted to write Jule's story. By then I had already sold a third book. I had an almost two year old and was expecting another child in a couple of months. My editor suggested I write something else, so I wrote about my klutzy American's cousin. I kept telling myself someday I'd write Jule's book!

Someday took over a decade! My love of reading royalty-themed books made me want to write another. By this time Silhouette Romance had merged with Harlequin Romance so I developed a brand new story, what eventually would become Expecting Royal Twins!

I wanted to add a twist to this royalty story so I had my princess, Isabella aka Izzy, not know she was royalty (something that has been done many times in the past) but I also gave her a non-traditional occupation—a car mechanic who dreamed of working on a NASCAR pit crew. The last thing Izzy wanted to be was a princess, married to a crown prince and forced to wear gowns, heels and a tiara!

I needed a foil to Izzy. Someone who could be a mentor and a friend, a fairy godmother so to speak. I knew the perfect person…princess…Julianna. I asked my editor if I could resurrect Jules from my old Silhouette Romance. As soon as I received the okay, I couldn't stop myself from brainstorming about Jules' own story.

As the days and weeks passed, I knew I needed to ask my editor if I could write her tale next, but part of me was worried. It had taken ten years for me to write a second royalty-themed story. Would it be another ten years before I got the chance?

Imagine my surprise when my editor asked if I wanted to participate in the Once Upon a Kiss miniseries where each story is loosely based on a fairytale. I knew right away I wanted to write Princess Julianna's story and use Sleeping Beauty. My editor agreed. I actually screamed when I read her email!

In Not-So-Perfect Princess, Julianna strives to be the most dutiful, perfect princess she can be. Not easy when she's from an archaic country with outdated views of gender equality. But she believes she can make a difference to her countrywomen by doing what's required of her—marrying a crown prince she doesn't love. But to do that, she'll have to sacrifice her own dreams and keep sleepwalking through life. Not the best existence even if you get to wear a tiara! Unless a handsome prince can awaken her!

I don't know when I'll get the chance to write another princess story. My next heroine who'll be out in my November '11 release is a paramedic and volunteer mountain rescuer. But I hope it's not another ten years! I think princesses make really great romance heroines because from the time I was a little girl I've wanted to be a princess. But since my Prince Charming came without a royal pedigree and a castle, writing about a princess is the next best thing!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks so much, Melissa! I LOVE princess themed romances!

Here's a little more about Melissa's book:

While the Princess was sleeping…

Dutiful Princess Julianna has a secret—she’s actually happiest makeup free, sailing with the sea breeze in her hair. Her attraction to rebel prince Alejandro is instant—but her intended is his brother, the proper but dull Enrique!

For the first time, Julianna’s irresistibly tempted. Before long, she’s spending her nights sailing with gorgeous Alejandro while the rest of the palace believes she’s sleeping. Soon she’ll have to choose—remain the perfect princess, or follow her heart and stop sleepwalking her way through life.…

**CONTEST**MELISSA WILL BE GIVING AWAY a $20 Amazon gift certificate to a random commenter from her tour; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found HERE.

I love that Melissa's book has a Sleeping Beauty theme instead of the classic Cinderella theme (although I'm a sucker for both)!

Have you written or read a fairy tale themed book? Do you like them?

Do you have a favorite fairy tale themed book? What fairy tale would you like seen done?

RWA Pics! (finally)

Yay, I'm finally caught up on emails (and laundry)!
So now for some RWA poop:

My first night in town I met with some Liberty State Fiction Writers. We ate at Becco on 46th st. (Honestly, if I didn't want to make a good impression, I would have totally licked the plate) It was THAT good. It was so awesome getting to know authors I already knew as well as meeting new writers. So much fun!

Wednesday morning I was able to make the Samhain author breakfast (which was AWESOME) and sat down right next to head editor Heather Osborn, who I had a lovely chat with. While I was there, I saw Sourcebooks editor Leah Hultenschmidt walk in with literary agent Kristin Nelson (they must have been invited) but didn't have the nerve to say anything to them.

Yeah, I'm a weenie.
Speaking of acting like a weenie...

After breakfast, I met up with my roommate. The two of us where alone waiting for an elevator when a woman comes up and stands there with us. I'm looking at this woman, thinking, Hmm, how do I know her?

Then I look at her name tag and I see it's SUSAN ELIZABETH PHILLIPS. (um, just my all-time favorite author. No biggie) :-)

Well, she turns to us and my friend starts talking to her (TALKING TO HER!) while I say NOTHING (nothing!!!!), standing there in an upright coma.

So finally my friend turns to me with a smile and says, "Jennifer, do you know who this is?"

I'm like, "Of course, I know who this is! She's only like my favorite author ever!"

So Susan is like, "Well, next time you could show some enthusiasm." (Which totally cracked us up since I basically stared at her like a deer in headlights)

Fortunately I remembered I had my camera with me and asked for a picture, but then our elevator came. So we all got in and Susan says, "I'd like to see you try to get that picture now."

<---Not one to back down from a challenge, I snapped this picture. LOL


But then she was totally gracious and kind and allowed me to take a proper picture after we got out of the elevator. (LOVE her!!)

Wednesday night I had THREE parties set to attend.

The first one was the Avalon author party which was at Avalon Books on Madison Ave. A bunch of us authors took a cab over together.

This is me with author Carolyn Brown, author Julie Stone and on the right end, my editor Lia Brown.

My book, GEORGIE ON HIS MIND (green cover) on Avalon's shelf. --->






Julie Stone and I had such a good time, we decided to grab dinner together after the party, so I ended up blowing off my roommates and one of the parties. (sorry, ladies) Dinner was yummo and Julie's company was fun so it was worth it. :-)

But I did end up shooting over to the Harlequin Pajama Party for a tiny bit and met in person some of the authors and writing friends I've known online there. It's funny to meet authors and have them say, "I already know you. We're Facebook friends." LOL

Here I am with Harlequin Romance author (and P90x Twitter buddy) Donna Alward.

Whew! That was all the FUN bits. Well, most of them, anyway.

More to come I'm sure. :-)

Writing for Harlequin Romance by Melissa McClone

Good Morning, all!
I'm so happy to have a special guest author on my blog today: Harlequin Romance author Melissa McClone. My blog happens to be one of the stops on her whirlwind blog tour.
So please give Melissa a hardy welcome and hear how she got started writing sweet romances for Harlequin.
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I never thought a high school English assignment would lead to a career as a romance writer, but that's exactly what happened to me. I was a senior in high school. Our class had taken the A.P. English test, and we still had a few weeks until graduation. Our teacher decided to expose us to various forms of writing. This included advertising copy and genre fiction.

One of those genres was romance. A classmate's mother loaned my teacher a brown grocery sack full of Harlequin Romances. I'd never read a category romance before. Each of us, including all the boys, received a book to study so we could come up with an original storyline. The assignment was to write the back cover blurb for our own romance novel.

The book I received was set on the Canary Islands. I can't remember the title, but I recall a postmark on the cover. (Today, I'd call it a flash.) I read the book that night. I attacked the writing assignment with vigor. Not everyone was as serious as some of us—okay, me—but we had fun listening to everyone's back cover copy.

I enjoyed my book so much I wanted to read another. I borrowed more of my friend's mother's books to read. I spent my summer devouring Harlequin Romances. I remember one book in particular, The Devil in Disguise by Jessica Steele. It featured a Greek hero and an innocent heroine. I'm not sure I'd feel the same way about the story today as I did when I was a teenager, but I must have read that book half a dozen times. Maybe more.

I loved the exotic settings, the emotion and the characters. Most importantly, I loved the happy endings. Harlequin Romances were so different from the other books I'd been reading at the time. When I'd finish a Harlequin, my heart would sigh. I loved that feeling (and still do!)

During college, reading romance novels became my escape from studying engineering. My reading expanded to include more category lines, both Harlequin and Silhouette, as well as Loveswept. I remember heading to the Waldenbooks store at the Stanford Shopping Center when the new batch of books arrived each month.

I also bought a book titled something like How to Write a Romance. That thin, little book inspired many daydreams. But I never wrote more than a line or two before a problem set or my work-study job at the engineering library would pull me back to reality.

After college, my reading expanded across the romance genre. But category romances, especially the "sweet" or "traditional" romances, appealed to me the most. I liked being able to finish a book in one sitting after a long day at the office or a night class working toward my MBA. I knew I'd fall in love with the hero right alongside the heroine. I'd be smiling and feeling all warm and fuzzy when I read the words "The End." I also appreciated the characters not having sex unless they were married.

I was in my early twenties. There was enough pressure in real life to have sex. "Sweet" romances gave me what I craved the most…romance. Sure, the rich, powerful, gorgeous hero would have slept with the heroine if she'd said yes, but he was willing to wait (and wait and wait) if she said no.

Fiction. Fantasy. Totally refreshing.

A perfect escape from the reality of the dating world.

When I decided to write my own romance novel, I knew I wanted to write a sweet. I wanted to make readers feel the same way my favorite authors made me feel when I finished reading one of their books.

So that's what I wrote. Rather, attempted to write. I didn't have any luck with the sweeter lines. Harlequin Mills & Boon rejected everything I submitted. But an editorial assistant at Silhouette was willing to read my stuff. In spite of her rejections, she told me to keep submitting. I did. I even quit my engineering job to pursue my writing full-time.

Soon, I began thinking I didn't have a "sweet" voice so I wrote a short contemporary. I sold that one to Silhouette Yours Truly. When that line ended—my book was the last published—I was moved to Silhouette Romance. I was so excited to be at one of my favorite "sweet" lines and wrote nine books for them until that line also closed.

I was then brought over to the Harlequin Romance line edited out of the Mills & Boon office in the UK. Finally. After all those years since my high school A.P. English class, I was writing for the line that first introduced me to category romance. I felt as if I'd come home!

Do you read category romances? Do you have a favorite category line you read?
If so, what line is it?

**********
CONTEST:
The tour will run February 14-March 1. Melissa will be giving away $20 Amazon.com GC to one randomly drawn commenter from her tour.
For Melissa's blog tour schedule, click HERE.



Suddenly a Princess...

It's not every day that a tall, dark, handsome prince strides into your workshop and announces he's your husband! Mechanic Izzy nearly drops her wrench. Never in her wildest dreams did she imagine that she'd become a princess!

Independent Izzy struggles with exchanging her oil-stained overalls for silken gowns, let alone becoming responsible for an entire country! Yet her attraction to Prince Niko tempts her further into the fairy tale. And then two small surprises change all the rules of the game....

Sounds great! Thanks for stopping by, Melissa!



****Side note: The winner of Friday's book giveaway, A Billion Reasons Why, is....
Cindy R. Wilson!!***** Congrats!!

The Little Things and other Things

IN THE NEWS:Nebraska's 'toilet-paper bandit' pleads guilty. Read more HERE.
RECENT IPOD DOWNLOAD: "More than This" by Roxy Music.

Hey, all! Right now I'm in the writer's cave so if I've been a little MIA, you know why.
But I am around...

In fact, I'm around in my local library to be exact! I went online to my library to see if a book I ordered was in and then --since I was there at my computer already, mind you--decided to see if MY book was there. And it is! In fact, my lovely library ordered two copies, which was a nice surprise. One is out (thank you for reading!) and one was listed as "displayed".

Hmmm...displayed?

I was intrigued so needless to say. So I hightailed it on over there. And this is what I saw:

(FYI mine is the lime green cover on the right)






Two books away from Sophie Kinsella!

How cool is that?








Keep in mind it was not easy to whip out my camera phone and take these pictures, especially since this table is smack dab in the middle of the library.

By the circulation desk.

By the front doors.

With tons of people passing by giving me strange and somewhat pitying looks.

But it was worth the embarrassment for this fun blog fodder. :)

(Sometimes it's the little things.)

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Okay, enough of that. Onto other sundry things...


Like the Harlequin/Mills & Boon NEW VOICES contest. Alas, the contest is now closed. But if you are a romance writer and ever thought about writing for Mills & Boon, I suggest you take a look at the entries and READ. On September 27 the TOP TEN list will be decided by expert judges. So I think it is worthwhile to take a look and see what entries are drawing their attention.

It's almost like a reality show where they're picking the NEXT ROMANCE AUTHOR. Pretty cool, so check it out!


That's it for me.

Did you enter the New Voices contest?
Have you entered any other contests lately?