Category: Writing Life

The One Who Got Away

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The One Who Got Away…We all have one, which is to say a “The One.” You know what or rather who I mean. The O-N-E. Maybe he was your first love or your first big love. Maybe he was both. Maybe you broke up with him–but I’m betting my next book advance he broke up with you. Maybe you never really had him in the first place…but again, I’m betting you did. At least long enough for a part of him to sink into your psyche and your soul. Like that tattoo you rethink years later, you can obliterate the image but not the experience. That shiny white scar is yours–for keeps.

Only by definition The One Who Got Away isn’t a keeper, or at least he hasn’t been so far. And yet who among us hasn’t been moved by those real-life stories of high school sweethearts who find each other on ClassMates.com or reunion night after years, decades apart and fall in love all over again, even marry, in mid- and sometimes late life?

In Every Breath You Take, my January Harlequin Blaze release, former FBI Special Agent Cole Whittaker and microbiologist Alexandra–Alex–Kendall meet again after five painful years apart. Like so many real life reunions, theirs is completely unexpected, the circumstances far from ideal. Alex is about to marry another man, the same man who’s hired Cole as a bodyguard to escort her on her upcoming overseas business trip. Crazy in love with her, Cole still can’t envision his life having room in it for more than The Job. And yet they have a chance, a slim one, to get it right this time: four days of 24/7, up close-and-personal togetherness in steamy Belize.

I hope you enjoy my newly posted sneak peek excerpt — it’s only going to be on my site for a blink of time, to be replaced by a more permanent excerpt in a bit, so don’t let it get away. When you get two ticks, please post a little note to let me know what you think. Or feel free to share a snippet of your One Who Got Away story, especially if he didn’t stay away forever. Happily Ever Afters, we like those around here. 🙂

Hope

Blog-o-licious

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Hi All,

Tomorrow, August 26th, I’m over at Elizabeth Kerri Mahon’s “Got It Goin’ On” blog–and boy does she ever. Along with being an uber-talented author, British history buff, and president of the New York City chapter of Romance Writers of America, Elizabeth finds time to blog–every day. Her Scandalous Women blog is one of my favorite places in cyberspace, especially on those days (and you know “those days”) when I really need to remember that “Well-behaved women don’t make history.”

And then repeat it like a mantra.

Also, I posted more photos from my Ireland trip to my Facebook page, so when you find two ticks, check it out.

Happy Monday,

Hope

More Photos from the RWA Conference in San Francisco

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Hi All,

I’m back from hiking Ireland–okay, not exactly the whole country but The Burren and Connemara. Despite an unfortunate lack of gills or fins–can we say “record rainfall”–I managed to stay afloat without floating away. But more on that later this week when I post my vacation pics.

Yummy news: I got back to find a “wee giftie” waiting in my email mailbox–more photos from the RWA Conference in San Francisco courtesy of fellow Washington Romance Writers (WRW) member, Yvonne Yirka. Thanks Yvonne!

Unfortunately being the Shutterbug means not being in so many pictures, at least not your own. The Fab Threesome, taken on a “real live” San Francisco streetcar which we actually rode is (from left to right), Terri Ridgell, me, and former WRW prez, Deborah Barnhart.

Girlfriend time, take time to savor.

Hope

Going Green…

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In many ways Manhattan is a very European city. For sure it demonstrates that a pedestrian society can not only work but work well. If I kept a car here, I think I’d probably end up having to shoot it like in those old spaghetti westerns when the trusty stead went lame on the trail and there was, well, nothing left to be done. (Really, did those wagon trains not have room for at least one veterinarian, for gosh sakes!).

Fortunately I don’t need wheels here in the Big Apple unless you count my shopping pushcart. Here not only the trains but yes, the subway and buses all run on time. Since moving, I like to say my “carbon footprint” has shrunk from small to minuscule. Think bound foot.

But for the next week I’m not only going green, I’m going to the Green as in Ireland. Or at least a small part of Ireland: Connemara and Galway. I’ve wanted to take this trip for more than ten years, no joke, and a few months ago I decided to make like the Nike ads and “Just Do It.”

And yes, you guessed it–I’m walking.

Well, first of course I’m flying. Once there, though, in the main I’ll be traveling not by horse power but person power. Mine. Got my back pack, got my Timberland hiking boots, and yes, my rain poncho all packed. Fortunately the seasoned guides with the tour group I signed on with, Country Walkers, won’t let me veer too far off course. At least I’m hoping not…

While I’m gone, hopetarr.com will remain in the capable hands–and under the 24/7 watch–of the fabulous folks at WaxCreative Design, so no worries there.

Many of you have emailed to congratulate me on launching Harlequin’s Blaze Historical Miniseries with Bound to Please. Thank you–and please keep the encouragement coming. It means a lot. Though I’ll be mostly offline this week, once I’m back home from the Emerald Isle I’ll be reading and responding to every single email in my in-box as I always do. In the meantime…

Happy Trails,

Hope

Calling All Shoe-a-Holics: Better a glass slipper than a glass ceiling

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Still waiting on all those RWA photos to rush in geyser style but in the interim Alert Blog Watcher and historical romance author, Diane Gaston sent me this link to author Esri Rose’s shoe review.

I met Esri briefly as she worked her way through the throng at RWA’s Saturday night Awards Ceremony dessert reception. Her mission: to snap as many photos of authors’ shoes as she possibly could. I, or at least my feet, are in the White Out Section, third photo down (and just above the really cool Italian glass beaded babies).

Oh, and btw, she’s running a poll so you can vote!

Keeping up with the Cinderella theme, Manhattan is a place where magical moments are happenstance, where expecting the unexpected quickly becomes a way of life. Last night I was savoring a lobster salad at A.O.C. Bistro in the West Village when who walks in but actor Mary-Kate Olsen. Or was it Ashley? Or does it even matter?

What I really want to know is where I can get a pair of those glass slippers.

Hope

Puttin’ on the Ritz

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Okay, so I sent out a Nag-O-Gram to all my nearest and dearest conference buddies and slowly but surely (and for sure, slowly) photos from last week’s Romance Writers of America Conference in San Francisco are beginning to t-r-i-c-k-l-e in.
The above photo was taken at a pre-Awards cocktail party on Saturday night. From left to right are authors Sophia Nash, Elaine Fox, Kathryn Caskie, and some brunette chic in pewter who apparently didn’t get the memo on the basic black cocktail attire.
Oh, yeah, right, she’s me. 😉
I’ll be posting pics daily, at least that’s my plan, so please don’t be a stranger.
Hope

July Contest Winners

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Okay, I am if not exactly fully rested up from the RWA Conference in San Francisco, then certainly back on the J.O.B. And one of the very best parts of this particular J.O.B. is announcing contest winners–and giving away books!

Jane C of New York, NY is the Grand Prize Winner of my previous month’s contest. Like the two runners up, Jane knew that “caudle,” a mulled wine with bits of brown bread, sugar, eggs and spices, is the drink Brianna first serves the captured Ewan in Bound to Please. Jane’s prize is a signed copy of The Haunting, my time travel Harlequin Blaze romance set in Fredericksburg, VA, and a signed copy of Monica McCarty’s Highlander Untamed, the first in Monica’s blockbuster trilogy about the MacLeods of Skye. Bound to Please also features the MacLeods albeit more than a century earlier.

Robyn L of Portage, PA and Andrea A of Bath, NY are my two additional winners. Robyn and Andrea will each receive a signed copy of Vanquished, the kick-off to my “Men of Roxbury House” historical trilogy along with a signed cover flat for Bound to Please.

Per my previous post, I’m still waiting on all those fab RWA Conference glam shots, so if you’re one of my shutterbug buddies, don’t be shy. Send ’em on. (Memo to self: next time remember to take digital camera. Also, remember to learn how to use said digital camera). 😉

Hope

Back from San Francisco

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Hi Everyone,

I’m jet-lagged but grinning big time after wrapping up yet another fabulous Romance Writers of America Conference. This year’s setting was San Francisco, one of my favorite US cities, second only to–you guessed it–New York. As always the conference was a fabulous forum for mixing business with yes, pure fun.

Determined to log in a little sightseeing, I got into San Francisco on Tuesday and hooked up with my posse of conference buds, including the lovely and prolific Kathryn Caskie, for a fortifying seafood dinner at Scoma’s in Fisherman’s Wharf. Set back from the main drag on Pier 47, Scoma’s bills itself as offering San Francisco’s freshest seafood. The cracked Dungeoness Crab was to die for as was the Lobster Thermidor and Lobster Newburg. I know because I had them all!

The conference officially kicked off on Wednesday night with the annual charity literacy autographing. Hundreds of romance authors from Nora Roberts to Julia Quinn to yes, Yours Truly packed the SF Marriott’s grand ballroom to sign our latest releases and chat with readers and the press.

The Harlequin Party on Friday was held at the ever elegant Four Seasons Hotel. In between fortifying forays to the food stations for an array of Asian dumplings, succulent cheeses, and completely calorie-free desserts (yeah, right)–hey, a girl’s gotta keep up her strength–I shook my booty and ground my groove thing to the 80’s tunes rocking the house.

On Saturday romantic suspense author, Terri Ridgell and I gave our workshop on Tracking Trends, Fording the Future. To the strappy souls who turned out for us despite the 4:30-5:30 time slot, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

All that talking turned out to be thirsty work. After whetting my whistle with some lovely champagne at an awards pre-party, it was time to settle down to the Awards Ceremony emceed this year by best-selling author, Suzanne Brockman. In addition to doing a bang-up job keeping we attendees rolling in the aisles with laughter–and the program rolling along right on schedule–Suzanne is well, a pretty cool chick. You’ve got to hand it to a woman who accessorizes a floor-length ballgown with…cowboy boots.

Sunday morning was time to pack in the razzle dazzle and come back to home and yes, “reality.” Now that I’m back, my first official action item (okay, second) is to announce my July contest winners, so please check back tomorrow (Tuesday) for details on the latest three lucky ladies (or gentlemen, as the case may be). The grand prize includes a title from bestseller Monica McCarty’s Highlander series.

Finally, to all my shutterbug buddies who also attended the conference–and yes,I know not only who you are but where to find you–this stands as my official shout out. All those group photos you made me mug for, and which I valiantly worked not to ruin by blinking, send ’em on. I’ll be posting the images as they trickle–make that rush–in. In the meantime…

Happy Monday,

Hope

Red Shoes Diary…

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Okay, so last night I had one of those quintessential Manhattan evenings that makes me proud to be a newly minted New Yorker tricked out in four inch red platform heels. Recently I reconnected with romance writer extraordinaire, Liz Maverick. Liz and I met “back in the day” at a Celebrate Romance Conference but beyond quick catch-ups at a conference here and there, we kind of lost touch. Like me, Liz is a recent transplant to the city, in her case from the West Coast, and a Saturday night out seemed as good a time as any to compare notes on our Single Girl in the Big City experiences so far.

Start point: Blue Ribbon Sushi in Soho where I met Liz and her buddy, Bonnie, for an early (for New York) dinner. After pounding down a truly amazing amount of excellent sushi, we headed Uptown to Terminal 5 where not one but three great bands were playing. The headliner, She & Him, was seriously amazing. The lead vocalist, Zooey Deschanel, who also happens to be a song writer and pianist, is so over-the-top talented it’s well…pretty insane.

This week my Manhattan adventuring will be put on the back burner as I head to San Francisco for the Romance Writers of America national conference. The conference kicks off on Wednesday night with a charity autographing to benefit literacy programs in the area. I’ll be signing copies of Bound to Please as well as Enslaved and later in the week giving a workshop on “Tracking Trends” in romance fiction with my friend, Terri Ridgell. In between taking care of “bizness,” there’s the Harlequin party at the fabulous Four Seasons Hotel and of course the conference finale, an awards ceremony and desert reception on Saturday night. Once I’m back in the city to catch my breath, I’ll be dishing on all of it–I promise!

In the meantime, have a great week…

Hope

Win, win–win!!!

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Congratulations to the winners of my June contest, all of whom knew that in Bound to Please, Brianna says that love potions are for silly young maids. The grand prize, a signed copy of my paranormal romance, The Haunting, and of the talented Monica McCarty’s Highlander Untamed, goes to Jennifer T of East Millinocket, ME.

But, as they say, there’s more… My two second prize winners, Kitty S of Muncie, IN and Christine W of Lawton, OK, will each receive a signed copy of Vanquished, the first book in my “Men of Roxbury House” historical trilogy and signed cover flat keepsakes for Untamed, the final book in the series.

Many thanks to all of you who took the time to stop by and enter. If you didn’t win this time ’round, no worries. I’m repeating the same great prizes for the current contest, so if you haven’t yet, please take a moment to try again.

Hope