When a reader asks me what my new novel, A MARRIAGE OF INCONVENIENCE, is about, I usually say, “It’s a Regency Cinderella tale,” or, if they seem like they want a slightly longer answer, “A historical romance about a marriage of convenience that’s almost destroyed when the bride’s family secrets come out.” But the real answer is “control freaks in love.” James Wright-Gordon, my hero, is a wealthy viscount who inherited his title at the age of 15 and came into full control of his estates, fortune, and political birthright in the form of a seat in the House of Lords at 21. He doesn’t know what it’s like to NOT have power, and he’s confident enough about his intelligence and view of the world to have no qualms whatsoever about wielding it. Because he really IS smart and well-intentioned, 90% of the time he uses his powers for good. Everyone from the tenants on his estate to his wife’s impoverished relatives are better housed, fed, and educated because James is so eager to decide how to improve their lives and then spend the money to make it happen. Heck, he’ll leave England itself a better place than he found…

Though I did not consciously plan it this way, I find I like to write about brave women who live unconventional lives, not always by their own choice. My new novel  SONG OF THE SILK is a romantic adventure on China’s fabled route and the Taklamakan Desert with the lure of a three million dollar reward. I owe my this novel to a brave and unconventional writer — and a dream. A Taiwanese woman who called herself Echo was one of my favorite  authors. She was much loved by Chinese readers but, sadly, her work has never been translated into English. In the seventies, her descriptions of her adventures with her husband in the Sahara Desert captivated many readers, including myself. One episode – I won’t give it away here – is based on something that happened to her husband. Inspired by her, I always wanted to write about a young woman’s adventures in the desert. I had thought of drawing on Echo’s life for my desert novel, but then found my imagination led me in a different direction. A lifelong fascination with the romantic history of the Silk Road was brought to life when I traveled there a few…

Yesterday I did my first school visit as an author.  The occasion was the career fair at my great-niece’s middle school.  Yeah, my sister is old enough to have a granddaughter in middle school! The PTO (Parent Teacher Organization) was looking for people with interesting jobs to serve as presenters for their eighth-grade career fair.  Although I live 100 miles away, I raised my hand and volunteered to take a day off from the day job and show up.  Besides, it would give me the opportunity to combine the trip with a visit to local bookstores, so I would get double use of my travel time. I asked them to list my job title as “Mystery Writer,” figuring that might sound more exciting than “Published Author.”  Or at least friendlier somehow. In the days leading up to the event I found myself worrying about a million things.  What if I dressed like a dork?  What if they didn’t want to know about writing?  What if they thought writing wasn’t cool?  What if nobody talked to me? Good grief!  It was like being in junior high all over again! The big day finally arrived.  I put on my best outfit, loaded…

A compelling and great writing draw us into a story—but what we stay for is the characters. Elizabeth Bennett and Darcy; Jane Eyre and Rochester—what’s a romance without great lovers who come alive on the page? Giving life to characters is the best part of writing. I love creating a small town of my own, peopled by characters who hopefully come alive for the reader. They’re certainly real to me! I spend a lot of time in my fictional universe, and my characters become like friends—or maybe more like family, because much as I love them, they sometimes drive me crazy. Demanding, difficult, and determined—they’re just like real people. Teague and Jodi have been with me a long time, waiting for their story to be told and gradually revealing who they are and what they want. By the time I actually sat down to write the book, they’d taken on so much personality that it was all I could do to keep them under control. It wasn’t easy to keep them out of bed, either. These two were definitely made for each other. The best part about having a new book released is knowing that my new characters are out…

As I type this, I have butterfly bush in my pants. This sounds like a wonderfully naughty Brazilian wax, but I mean it literally. I was cutting back the butterfly bush in my yard, and the flecks of last year’s petals rained down the back of my shirt and into my long underwear. Not sexy at all, though probably not quite so uncomfortable as waxing. This led me to thinking about all the ways in which I am NOT like the heroine of my latest book, VOWED IN SHADOWS. Nim—aka, the Naughty Nymphette—would know all about waxing. She is a pole dancer; I sit at a computer for ten-plus hours a day. Nim goes on dangerous adventures fighting monsters; I avoid looking in the back of the fridge toward the end of the month. Nim is possessed by a demon….Okay, that one we kind of have in common. Although hers is a repentant demon trying to earn its redemption, and mine is the demon of writing. That demon can never be redeemed. People often ask which parts of the characters are the author, at least in disguise. Sometimes I wish it was more. Like when I see the covers of…

Okay, you’re in a pickle.  A fix.  You didn’t put yourself there, but in it you are, and now you must choose: Do you do the right thing?  Or do you do the easy thing? Oh, the temptation is strong.  You’re weary and worn and you silently scream, “Easy!  Can I just this once go Easy? I’ve fought the good fight.  I’ve tried to be a good person, to treat people well, to do what I say, and not be a jerk about things.  I do what I can to help others—even though when I need help, often no one’s home.  And for my trouble I’ve been betrayed, stabbed in the back, unjustly accused, stepped on, lied to—you name it.” Sound familiar?  We’ve all been there.  We’ve all felt that way at one time or another.  And we’ve all been so weary of it all that we just want to duck our heads back under the covers and block out the world. But we don’t duck because we know the world won’t go away.  Because we know we have to come out sometime.  And if we don’t deal with “this junk” (whatever it might be) now, we’ll have to deal…

I grew up loving science fiction.  My earliest sci-fi memory is of my dad coming home one rainy day and, with all the furtiveness of a spy, closing the shutters and hunkering down in front of the television to present my brother and me with his valuable prize: a bootlegged videocassette of Star Wars.  This was way back in the late ‘70s, when Star Wars mania gripped the world.  I don’t remember ever seeing the first film in the theater, but I do remember watching that video tape over and over again.  I think my brother and I saw it almost fifty times—maybe more.  We knew every line, and quoted them back to each other endlessly, much to our parents’ dismay. That bootlegged copy of Star Wars began a lifelong love of sci-fi that’s with me to this day.  Of course, Star Wars was always my first love.*  I remember lining up around the block to see The Empire Strikes Back, and how the audience clapped when C3-PO and R2-D2 appeared at the beginning of Return of the Jedi.  I thought Luke was a dork, and Han Solo indescribably cool.  And Princess Leia was not only a take-charge woman, but…

I was listening recently to writers wailing on a historical mystery discussion list about readers who say they find historical fiction boring. Among the theories proposed was these readers are themselves boring, which I guess might be true, but I think it’s more like…just as some readers can’t get into fantasy, some readers can’t relate to historical fiction. In fact, for some readers, historical fiction might as well be fantasy! I’m not sure what sales are like for regular historical fiction, but I write mystery and romance, and to my way of thinking there are two schools of thought, and possibly two sets of readers for that kind of historical genre fiction. One set favors the romantic historical — the kind of thing where history is altered as needed to make for a “better” story — and the other set favors historical romance — where the writer works as hard to get every detail accurate as would a writer of non-fiction. Of the two schools, the romantic historical typically sells better. That probably doesn’t come as a shock to anyone. Dessert is generally more popular than broccoli. In my opinion, the very best historical fiction combines all the elements we…

Celtic legends often speak of warriors so overcome by bloodlust in battle that they are changed. The fury and killing, the peril of certain death, and the instinct to survive merge into something that overcomes the warrior’s humanity, leaving him a savage beast bent on destroying his enemy. Men who have lived through war recount the moments up to the first strike but often have no memory of what came after until it is all over and they wake, as if from a nightmare, to find themselves blood drenched and exhausted beyond belief. The Celts had a name for this phenomenon: Riastradh. Tiarnan, the hero of HAUNTING DESIRE, is no stranger to the frenzy of battle. His entire life has been spent defending his way of life, his family, his lands. If the memories of the bloody battles he’s fought had stayed with him, he would likely go mad. It is not until he meets Shealy O’Leary, HAUNTING DESIRE’s heroine who has traveled through time, that he learns why he is such a formidable warrior. When his enemies take Shealy from him, he will stop at nothing to get her back and that means embracing the beast within him and…

Readers always ask me what my book’s hero looks like.  I’m lucky enough to almost always have an answer for them, even if I don’t know how I got it.  Sometimes I “see” the hero’s face and sometimes I know how he moves.  But sometimes he reveals himself piecemeal – and only after I’ve started working on his story.  (The rat!) That’s the way Jake Hammond, the hero of THE SHADOW GUARD, told me about himself.  Astrid and his story rumbled around in my head for years before I could write it.  I knew all sorts of personal stuff about him – his blind dedication to being a cop, his love for his family and hometown, his fumbling inability to form a long-term relationship with women, you name it. But could I have recognized him on the street?  Not a chance. That’s very painful for a romance author who has to write scenes from her heroine’s point of view.  What kind of guy makes her swoon?  Tall and dark, with six-pack abs the envy of everybody else in the gym?  Blond and handsome, chased by women of all ages?  I had no idea because neither of them would tell me….