Brrr! I’m sitting here finding it quite hard to believe that it is December and that 2011 is almost at a close. The chilly weather is keeping me soundly indoors where I can get lots of writing done. Now I’m the first to admit that I’m not much of a winter person. Ironic, as the universe has seen it fit for me to be born Canadian. But winter does bring with it the holidays, and Christmas is a personal favorite celebration for me. Not because of the presents, but for the wonderful opportunities that the holidays give us to spend with family and friends. Those opportunities are wonderful, even if our family can drive us around the bend on occasion. I love building those familial connections in my stories. This fall, I have been very fortunate to have been able to share the Long family with you. Three siblings, each with their own challenges, scars and hang-up, each one looking for love while they run their coffee shop, Pulled Long. This way my first go at really trying to show the strength that people can draw from their families. Not to mention, I loved being able to give each of…

Though not all children who are avid readers grow up to be prolific writers, there are few such writers who weren’t also lovers of words from an early age. And I am no exception. I’ve authored/published more than thirty books of my own, plus ghostwritten/edited scores of others. I’ve also published countless newspaper and magazine articles and stories, devotionals and poems, and I constantly get the question: How in the world do you produce so much on such a regular basis? Though I give credit to my journalism training and experience, I always go back to my passion for words, which was evident even before I started school. My mom always told I was reading the comics when I was three, and my favorite outing throughout my childhood was a trip to the library. I read voraciously! And if I found myself without something to read, I immediately set out to write my own stories. One such story, which I wrote in the third grade, was turned into a play for the entire PTA—parents, teachers, and students. I was hooked! I went on to write for the school newspapers and won writing contests throughout junior and senior high school, and…

I’ve got a serious addiction, Angel Trees. Maybe you’ve seen one in your favorite restaurant or coffee shop. The Salvation Army sets up the trees in hopes of gathering gifts for underprivileged kids. That doesn’t sound like such a bad addiction, you might say. It’s not—if I’d just take one or two and walk away. But like Lays potato chips, I can’t take just one. This year I grabbed four tags off the Angel Tree in the Embassy Suite’s lobby. That’s a far cry from last year when I de-angeled the tree at our local Denny’s, so I’m doing better—addiction wise. Usually I look for kids ten and under. I know what this age group likes. But wait, what about teenagers? You know they’re losing out to those sweet toddlers, so I’ll grab a few 13 and 14 year olds. After all, it wasn’t that long ago that I was a teenager. *cough-cough* I try to place myself in the shoes of a teen. What would I have liked to receive if these were the only gifts I’d get? Personally, I’m all about comfort, writing, reading, and art. I prefer to nurture their imagination, not their physical appearance, so I…

I was reading a review of my new book, WILD THING and it talked about how my hero and heroine are total opposites. Maybe at first blush you would look at them and think so—New York Goth Girl Meets Idaho Outdoorsman—but when I really examined them, I found them to be very much alike. Toni is deathly afraid of the outdoors and Hunter is a total outdoorsman—opposites for sure until you realize Toni is from New York, and is very much at home in the concrete jungle the same way Hunter is in the mountains of Idaho. They’re the same, but different. Toni and Hunter are both very funny and they use their humor as camouflage, a shield, and sometimes a weapon. They are also champions in the art of verbal sparring—a lot of the time they’re sparring with each other. Their banter is so much fun! Hunter dresses in what Toni sees as a survivor man get up and Toni is a Goth. Different, yes, but they both dress for necessity. Hunter wears the necessary clothes (good hiking boots, helmets, personal flotation devices) to be safe in a physical sense allowing him to do his work, whereas Toni dresses…

If the amount of romance in your books tells something about how romantic you are, then I think I’m in trouble. It isn’t that I don’t like romance, because I do! I love it in books. In fact, I often feel something is lacking if there isn’t a little bit of lovey dovey stuff. There characters don’t even have to get together (or stay together), but I love that kind of strong emotional connection. I can think of several books where the romantic aspects either made or broke the story for me. My plots are never romance-propelled. I always write stories about something else with a bit of romance weaved in. HUSHED isn’t a romance. It’s a thriller that happens to have a weird twist of love in it. Sometimes, this makes me sad, because I know so many readers love the romance in books and I don’t feel like I can deliver these epic love stories. All I can do is write what I write and hope people enjoy it, romantic or no. I like slow-burn romance. (Evan and Archer are very much that way.) The instant love-at-first-sight stuff very, very rarely works for me. I like tension building,…

Petra is vexed by Cheveyo, the mysterious shapeshifter who captured her heart but walked out of her life. He’s been watching over her from the shadows, but a supernatural evil threatens Petra and her people, forcing him to step in and protect his beloved. Now she must become a warrior to face down enemies with fur and claw … and dare to love a man whose darkness could destroy them both. MY FIRST SHIFTER I know, it sounds like a YA novel about first … love, I guess. See, the funny thing is, I never planned to write about shifters. I read a couple of series about werewolves and werelions, but creatures aren’t my thing. I like to write about psychic stuff, people who have these crazy abilities to, say, set fires with their minds or remove view. I like to write about things somewhat based on reality. So this guy pops into the beginning of book 2 in my Offspring series, OUT OF THE DARKNESS, and freakin’ turns into a panther. Really, I was like … whaaa? I had no idea who he was, why he was saving the heroine, and I already had her hero figured out. If…

That’s the great thing about fiction.  There’s always something new to read.  I love fresh fiction.  I also love fresh food.  So what better way to combine my two great loves into one than write a book featuring magical, mystical Indian and its fabulous food? BUSTED IN BOLLYWOOD is a contemporary romance/romantic comedy/chicklit/women’s fiction novel. Shari Jones needs to get a life. Preferably someone else’s. Single, homeless and jobless, Indo-American Shari agrees to her best friend’s whacky scheme: travel to Mumbai, pose as Amrita, and ditch the fiancé her traditional Indian parents have chosen. Simple. Until she’s mistaken for a famous Bollywood actress, stalked by a Lone Ranger wannabe, courted by an English lord, and busted by the blackmailing fiancé. Life is less complicated in New York. Or so she thinks, until the entourage of crazies follows her to the Big Apple and that’s when the fun really begins. Shari deals with a blossoming romance, an addiction to Indian food and her first movie role, while secretly craving another trip to the mystical land responsible for sparking her new lease on life. Returning to her Indian birthplace, she has an epiphany. Maybe the happily-ever-after of her dreams isn’t so far…

I love a surprise! I never peeked at my Christmas gifts.  I don’t read the last few pages of a book until I get there.  La La La–don’t tell me how a movie is going to end. The anticipation increases the reward. The surprise is worth the wait. Bless those folks who didn’t clue me in on The Crying Game or The Sixth Sense. She’s what?  He’s what?! I never saw that coming! And oh, how satisfying that is, because I’m a good guesser.  Half the fun is trying to figure out where a plot line is heading. Without the surprise, the suspense, the anticipation, a key element is missing from a story . . . at least from the stories I enjoy.  If it’s too obvious, I’m disappointed.  If it’s too What the Heck? Where did that come from? I’m equally let down. The setup is everything. I love to surprise my readers. When they open one of my books, they should expect the unexpected. Sometimes it’s planned, a crafty lying in wait to jump out and shout, “Boo!”  Sometimes it sneaks up on me while I’m writing and takes me unawares. Oh, wow! I never thought of that. …

We can learn so much about people from what they have on their Christmas wish lists.  So I decided to ask some of the characters in my new “Elite Force” book – HOT ZONE – to share their Christmas lists with you!  So, here goes, the Christmas lists for the heroine, hero and a few of his squadron buddies…. Amelia Bailey: “Christmas is going to be amazing! I have a new nephew since my brother and sister-in-law are adopting a toddler in the Bahamas.  So I could use new flip flops and a sarong.  A Kindle too, please, so I can bring lots of books to read on the beach!” Master Sergeant Hugh Franco: “No Christmas list.  The season brings too many painful reminders of my family.  They’re… uhm… There’s no easy way to say this.  They’re dead.  I’ll be working over the holidays so that others in my unit can stay home.  If you have to buy me anything, I’ll take new strings for my guitar.” Liam “Walker” McCabe – “Kitchen gadgets.  Every time I get divorced, the ex-wife gets all the kitchen stuff, which sucks since I really enjoy cooking.” Wade “Brick” Rocha – “Only junk food in…

Behind-the-Scenes Science in ACQUAINTED WITH THE NIGHT For the last thirty-three years, the dinner table conversations in our house has centered around cloning, stem cells, MRSA, and H1N1—that’s what happens when a nurse marries a doctor, and their son becomes a biochemist. When we’re around our medical friends, the talk often turns to the future of science—and also the history of diseases. For a writer, this is great fodder for a paranormal novel. When I began writing ACQUAINTED WITH THE NIGHT, I wanted to honor the immortals’ mythology, but I also wanted to give it a twist. Like most predators, the vampires in AWTN have a biological edge. They are physically attractive. Their brains are more developed than a human’s—some are quite gifted with telepathy. They are physically superior. They run faster, never become ill, and heal at an extraordinary rate. But my main character was an ex-historian, presently working as a London tour guide. She wouldn’t know a test tube from a turnip. Luckily, Jude Barrett walked into the book and told me to stop fretting. Not only was he a biochemist, he’d worked at a pharmaceutical company in Yorkshire, conducting research on mice, and he’d discovered something extraordinary….