On March 25th this year, I was running around looking for my wallet and keys so I could leave the house for a routine doctor’s appointment. When the phone rang, I snatched up the receiver and muttered a distracted “hello” as I tried to close the zipper on my purse. On the other end was Romance Writers of America board member Priscilla Oliveras. She quickly had all of my attention when she asked me if I was sitting down and then told me my debut novel, VIKING WARRIOR RISING, was a RITA® finalist in both the Best Paranormal Romance and Best First Book categories. I don’t remember what else Priscilla told me as I blabbered and cried in response. I was so loud, my husband and the dog rushed into the kitchen to see what had happened. On the drive to the doctor’s office, I called my agent and my editor to give them the good news, which led to more happy tears. And when I rushed into the medical clinic, I told the receptionist and all the people in the waiting room. They had no clue what I was talking about, but nodded and smiled. Maybe they just wanted…

One of the main plot concepts in my small town romance novel FINDING HIM AGAIN revolves around an adopted dog who helps serve as the catalyst that finally ties the hero and heroine’s lives fully together. FINDING HIM AGAIN centers on RaeAnne, a single mother who returns to her small, rural farming hometown after the unexpected passing of her own mother and who brings her young daughter with her when she returns. In her hometown, RaeAnne ends up having the one romance she always regretted not pursuing. It turns out to be more than a fling and grows into something strong and everlasting. When RaeAnne arrives home, much to her surprise, she finds that her father has adopted a dog named Blue from an animal shelter. RaeAnne questions her father’s decision to have gotten the dog so soon after her mother’s death but eventually Blue ends up winning over even the reluctant RaeAnne. In fact, possibly more than anyone in the story, she wants Blue to stay in their lives. Blue is based on an actual adopted dog, my own, who I can say, has definitely won me over. Both dogs, fictional, and real, are hound mixes who were adopted…

Be free and happy and danceful and uninhibited and now-y! ~Terri Guillemets I love that quote. And I love summer. It’s my favorite season. I love the warm weather and sunshine and lazy days spent with my family, a good book, or in front of the television (while still in my pajamas, of course). I love wearing flip-flops and my favorite Writer Chick T-shirt. And right now I also love Songs by DNCE, Flume, Justin Timberlake, and Calvin Harris. Indulging my sweet tooth with a little tiramisu gelato from Haagen-Dazs. Curse you, Haagen-Dazs for making something I can’t resist! The beach. Okay, I love the beach every day of the year, but I have especially happy memories of days at the beach during the summer months. These gorgeous pictures of waves that look like brushstrokes are pretty awesome, too. This book dedication page. (It totally makes me smile.) Instagram. I’m fairly new to the social media site, but really enjoy it. I’ve always liked taking pictures, much preferring to be behind the lens instead of in front of it, and it’s been great fun trying to capture parts of my days to share with people. I love looking at other’s…

Ready to play Author Match? I hope so because I’ve got an author on hand who you’ll want to check out ASAP! Writes: Contemporary romance with my latest release, BREAK OF DAY, book #2 of the EXCLUSIVE ROMANCE series now on store shelves. About: Contemporary romance author seeks readers for a novel with both heart and heat featuring a poor but determined heroine who’s clawing tooth and nail to get ahead in her TV news career and a rich, surfer weatherman hero whose happy-go-lucky attitude hides his deep, scarring family secrets. Must like workplace romance, humor, and John Hughes plotlines. What I’m looking for in my ideal reader match: Likes their beach reads with emotional depth. Enjoys stories with some heat, but a lot of heart. Has always wanted to live in the sunshine of Southern California. Thinks surfers are super hot. Is curious what goes on behind the scenes in a TV newsroom. Wants a hero you can root for and fall in love with. Likes an ending that is not only happy, but filled with hope. What to expect if we’re compatible: Two more books in the series (JUST THIS NIGHT, already released) and AT FIRST LIGHT (coming…

I love music, from the sounds of Motown and funk of the seventies, eighties girl groups like The GoGos and Bangles, through country and bluegrass to modern music like Bruno Mars, Rumer and light jazz artists like Stacey Kent and Karen Souza. I love classical music, too… Rachmaninoff, Mendelssohn, Copland and lots of others. But I would never have imagined getting hooked on… opera. OPERA?? Well, yeah, opera. I started researching some opera just to reference pieces for Pish Lincoln to listen to for my Merry Muffin Mysteries. And I listened on YouTube, to some of the greats. And a funny thing happened; I was listening and watching Pavarotti signing Nessun Dorma, and realized… tears were streaming down my face. It was like my very own Pretty Woman moment (except I do NOT look like Julia Roberts); remember when Julia’s character is watching the opera with tears in her eyes? I got it… I finally got it. Opera done right is an extremely emotional experience, a revelation, really. I went from doing research to get Pish’s picks correct, to becoming more interested, and watching opera videos for entertainment. But it is important to watch quality singers. I’ve found that opera…

You hear it at every Q and A: Where do you get your ideas? The question makes most authors cringe because the answer is silly and obvious: Everywhere. But it’s especially hard on mystery authors, because of a guilty secret. A Saint Paul police investigator and I were having a lively conversation about some of his cases when he said, mildly surprised, “You have a criminal mind.” He expanded on that. “A professional criminal is always looking for an opportunity to commit a crime. He goes into a grocery story and automatically looks for the location of the office and whether the door stands open and if it does whether the safe is also open. He goes to a bar and notices if there’s a drunk with a fat wallet. He sees a car in a driveway outside an upscale house being loaded with suitcases by a family going away on vacation and stores the address away in his head. You do the same thing, except you turn all those things into stories rather than actually committing the crime.” Yes, and so the proceeds of the crime come to my pocketbook legally. But he’s right. Actually, it’s worse than that….

When I wrote the first book in the Material Witness Mystery Series a few years ago, I had the luxury of establishing some murky backgrounds for the series characters—dropping in just enough to let you know who they were, but leaving myself some room to dig in to their pasts in the next two books. So when it came time to write book 3, SILK STALKINGS, I had to ask myself: what questions do I need to answer in order to give closure to the three books as a series? There was the question of what would happen between Vaughn and Poly (can they get past their differences?), and the question of whether or not Poly’s fabric store would succeed (there’s that loan that she has to pay back—yikes!). There were questions about Duke (what was the accident that left him paralyzed?) and the Lopez family (is their cat still blue?) But the overwhelming question had to do with the background of Charlie Brooks, auto mechanic, Van Halen fan, and new friend of Poly, so I knew book three would delve into that. Charlie has been one of my favorite characters to write. She’s a tough girl to the point…

Point of view and perspective. There’s a difference between the two. Point of view is the manner in which the story is told by the protagonist. I generally write romance novels in first person point of view from the female and male character’s perspective, alternating chapters between the hero and the heroine. Perspective is how the character views the scene being described. The male and female perspective differs greatly in life; therefore, it should differ greatly in writing. Men tend to focus much more on what they see and less on how they feel, while women are quite the opposite. The differences between the two certainly don’t stop there. Statistically speaking, on average, women speak almost three times as much as men. Men, when describing an intimate scene will focus on what they’re touching, while a woman’s description of the same scene will be driven by emotion. Women view conversation as an opportunity, while men see it as a means of solving a problem. In short, the variances between a man’s and women’s perspective are vast. Knowing the many differences between men and women, and describing the scenes from an accurate perspective are crucial in allowing the reader to see…

I sometimes think that it would be healthier if my characters and I had slightly different ideas about what made up an ideal weekend. Now my characters are somewhat younger than I am, so maybe I’ll try winding back the clock and seeing what happens with the heroes and heroines of my first two Delta Force novels. Perhaps I should preface this: I’ve never served in Delta Force. The team that kicks ass in my latest Delta Force novel, HEART STRIKE… well, that’s their gig. Team Leader Kyle “Mister Kyle” Reeves He’s the steady hand at the very core of the team. But his idea of an ideal weekend is to curl up with his wife, preferably somewhere that no one is trying to kill them. Maybe go for a ride in the country. A sleeping bag beneath the stars by a quiet campfire is right in the sweet spot for him. My wife and I have lived most of our lives rural (often in communities well under a thousand people). The woods is something that draws us both. Almost twenty years together and I still think that a weekend curled up with my lady is one well spent. Carla…

I have a confession to make. I’m one of those writers who dreams of having their books made into movies. Of all the stories I’ve written to date, I think The Summer Park Psychics series is the best match for the screen. Books give us a chance to stretch out inside a character’s mind and really delve into what makes them tick. If all three of these books were condensed into a movie… Wow, that would be action-packed. I’ve even toyed around with turning the series into a screenplay myself (I haven’t ruled it out yet). As such, I’ve absolutely daydreamed about who I would cast as each character. Lingering Touch is full of beautiful people. Part of Finn’s character is that he’s constantly wondering if people are more interested in him for his looks than who he is as a person. It’s something he struggles with throughout the book. The perfect actor to play this part is Bradley Cooper. I think he could capture the nuances of that issue incredibly well. For Jazz—the strongest female character I’ve ever written—Ming-Na Wen. I mean, seriously. Have you watched her? Rachel and Garrett feature strongly in Lingering Touch as well (the events…