So the beauty of the writing life is that I might not write at all some days if I don’t feel like it. I might work in my garden, work on my house, read, take care of mundane things that have to get done, go out with friends, or spend time with my family. I also work a freelance editing job for a technical trade magazine, and my flexible timeline allows me to be available when those demands arise.

Then there are the times, when revisions must be done now, or when the ideas and the characters are pushing me, and I will spend all day writing, sometimes writing evenings, weekends, or whenever the spark sets fire to my imagination.  When this happens, it’s like the idea won’t let go and I have to keep writing, nothing else matters. Sometimes I’ll even have more than one book going at a time, but if I am into it, they just fly. I’ve found this happens more often when I just let it happen, as opposed to forcing it. When I sit down and make myself write, try to force or construct ideas, what I come up with is almost never as good as when I have an idea emerge in my mind and I have to rush to the chair and sit down and write. When that happens, things come out quickly and in whole chunks, and those have inevitably been the stories that sell the fastest and the easiest for me.

So, a day in the life for me can vary a lot. In some way, everything I do revolves around writing because my best ideas usually come to me when I am working in my garden, sewing, cooking dinner, walking the dogs, or maybe even removing wallpaper from a wall. But the point of the writing life is that I get to enjoy both writing *and* life.

Samantha Hunter’s Web Site

The Reviews are in:

Pick Me Up

Friction

Untouched

Flirtation

Would you like a copy of Pick Me Up?  Samantha has a copy that she wants to give you, just enter below for your chance to win.

Yeah, I was afraid of that. I promised to send this blog entry about a typical day in my writing life and I promised that I’d send it by today.

Well, it’s 7:00 p.m. and I haven’t written it yet, much less sent it, and that’s because I’m in a hotel room in Americus, Georgia, rather than at my happily cluttered desk back home in Alabama.

And that’s because this week has been ANYTHING BUT typical. Two days ago I got a call that my grandmother, an inspiring woman in her eighties, had passed away – not understanding, of course, that I’m currently writing under a tight deadline and that now was not really a good time for me. My grandma Hazel did really love me and was proud of my writing, so I feel sure she’d have scheduled her funeral for a more convenient time, if she could have.

But as I’m here, sharing memories of my grandma’s long and happy life with a sundry assortment of aunts, uncles, and cousins, while also hanging up my clothes in the tiny hotel closet and trying to find the nearest iron and ice machine… the thought does occur to me that maybe this is, after all, a pretty typical day in my writing life. It only seems like it isn’t because, thankfully, funerals don’t occur all that often.

But interruptions, hindrances, unexpected delays … those things are the stuff of my daily life.

I haven’t yet reached the point in my writing career where my name is a household word. Nora Roberts hasn’t much to fear from me – not yet, anyway. I still have a full-time teaching career and a busy life as a Methodist preacher’s wife, so you’d think I’d be getting used to the unexpected and unforeseen by now.

And maybe I am. Because thinking back to the five completed manuscripts (two of which I’ve sold) and the sixth one, now underway, I realize that each one of them was written in tiny pieces of time sandwiched in between all the more important stuff that makes up life. Just like now, I fought constant distraction to find a few quiet moments to sit down and let the daydreams roll.

Just like now, I wondered if the daydream caught on paper was coherent enough to make sense to a reader someday. And if it didn’t quite, in places, I had to find yet more time to make it work out better.

Everybody who’s ever tried to create probably has had to do so amidst this amazing contradiction – life gets in the way of our art, but we need life to create the art. We need our relationships with their inherent joy and anguish. We need the busy days and the quiet moments. We need both happy memories and  painful grief. These things are the fuel on which we thrive and we cannot possibly write truthfully about life until we have lived and experienced it.

So maybe someday, I’ll try to put this wonderful feeling of connectedness with my large and talkative family down on paper. Maybe my heroine can be standing stocking-footed in her hotel room listening to her sister’s latest tale of potty-training woes while digging in her suitcase for the toothbrush that probably got left behind at home…

Or maybe not.

But anyway, I got the blog entry written and sent on its way while reminding myself of something important: Living well IS a creative act, and an art unto itself.

Thanks, Grandma, for that one last gift.

Lyn Randal’s Web Site

The Reviews are in:

Tempted by Innocence

Would you like your own autographed copy of Tempted by Innocence?  Lyn has one just for you.  Just fill out the form below to be entered to win this wonderful prize! 

Once she’s finished with exercising, she makes one final cup of coffee and heads for her upstairs office, settles herself on a comfy leather sofa, boots up her laptop, and begins her writing day.  Usually, Cara writes from 8:00 AM until between noon and 2:00 PM.  Lunch is usually a quick snack she can eat in her office—while she channel serfs on her TV.  By the time she checks all 350 plus channels and reassures herself that she’s not missing anything, it’s back to writing.  Or maybe a quick power nap.  (Lately, the power naps are becoming more frequent.  She suspects it has something to do with that Fluidity Bar.)

What is her writing time like?  Usually, she begins by going over what she wrote the day before.  After revising and polishing that, she brainstorms the next scene on a legal pad.  The dialogue usually comes to her first, then when she begins to word process the scene, she “paints” in the scenery and adds narrative.  How many pages will she write?  A minimum of seven to ten pages is what she aims for—but that doesn’t always happen.  A love scene (3-5 pages) may take a day or two.

Sometime after lunch (or the power nap), Cara will go to her downstairs office to check her email and do “writing business’ things, such as check her website, answer emails from fans and/or her editor.  (Notice that she does not allow checking her email to interfere with her morning writing time.) 

Three days a week, Cara teaches college level writing classes in the afternoons or evenings.  On those days, she’ll stop writing at 1:00.  Two days a week, she’ll continue writing until dinnertime—which she actually cooks and sits down to eat—and not in her office.  On the days she doesn’t teach, especially if a deadline is pressing, she’ll sometimes continue to write into the evening.  But most evenings, she turns into a couch potato and tries to find something interesting to watch on TV.  Her favorite shows in order are The Closer, NCIS (totally because Mark Harmon is great eye candy), House, Bones, Monk, 24, and CSI Miami.  She’s also been known to watch Gray’s Anatomy (again, totally for the eye candy) and she’s recently started watching The Starter Wife. (Note: the TV watching is often interrupted by phone calls from her three sons.)

Does Cara do anything for fun?  Absolutely, when she’s not chained to her laptop or doing battle with her Fluidity Bar, she roller blades at a nearby park, drives around in her 1990 Miata with the top down, and she flies frequently to Florida to visit her two grandchildren—Marian who is five and Andrew who is two and one half!            

Cara Summers’ Web Site

The Reviews are in:

The P.I.

Tell Me Your Secret

When She was Bad

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Once the computer is booted up, I check my email and answer any pressing queries, then I work on the manuscript – hopefully getting in a good hour before the rest of the house wakes. If I have any critiquing to do, it is when I do it. My youngest always comes down first. When he gets up the ducks and hens, as well as seeing to the dogs that is my signal to do the Mother stuff – make the breakfast, make the lunches, ensure all will go smoothly off to school.

After the school run, I settle down for several hours of writing. Depending on when my deadline is, my writing goal varies but as a general rule of thumb I like to write  between 1,500 and 3,000 words per day in addition to any editing that I am doing. I tend to take breaks to clean the house. As I hate doing housework, this ensures that I go back to my work as quickly as possible. I also generally have a cup of tea by the side of my computer.

At some point during the day, I will do a bit of gardening. The garden is about an acre with a stream running through it. It is mostly laid to terraces with a greenhouse and vegetable garden as well. There is always something to be done in the garden from cleaning the henhouse to inspecting the beehives or simply just pulling nettles and ground elder. Working in the garden helps to clear my mind.

Around four the children arrive back home and serious work has to stop unless I am in the last phases of a book. Luckily my husband enjoys doing the grocery shopping and so he does that. He also generally cooks the evening meal as it helps to relax him. As I enjoy cooking as well, the tussles are far likely to be over – who gets the chance to cook! The dogs have to walked and homework vaguely supervised. The house is generally a chaotic hive of industry.

In the evenings after the washing up, I tend to read or do needlework. Or there might be meetings to go as I am on the Board of Governors for my youngest’s school as well as active in my church. If it is light out, we might do a bit more gardening. The ducks and hens go to bed when it starts getting dark. Every night, I have the chore of herding the ducks into bed. Ducks tend to be late night party animals but with the help of the dogs, we get there.

Before I go to sleep, I try to think about my work in progress so that I can wake up with fresh ideas.

Michelle Styles’ Web Site

The Reviews are in:

The Roman Virgin Mistress

Michelle is offering one lucky winner a copy of The Roman Virgin Mistress .  It is easy to enter below.  Good luck! 

Yeah, right! Here is the real deal based on a Tuesday I had the other day…

Up at 5.30am, brew a pot of tea, and check emails. Switch on the brain and do an hour of my non-writing job. Come downstairs and greet DH and DS1 at the breakfast table. Make lunches and supervise piano practice. Shoo people out the door, have a shower and then greet DS2 who staggers out of bed looking bleary-eyed. Can it be morning already? I eat breakfast with him, supervise piano practice and walk him to school. Come home, put on a load of washing, dump breakfast dishes into the dishwasher, turn on the answering machine and head upstairs to the office. Check emails, which I really shouldn’t, and then start writing. Later, I take a stretch break, peg out the washing, and then finish off the other paid job before doing more writing.

Grab lunch on the fly and race to school to spend an hour in the classroom in celebration of education week. DS2 is in grade three and they are studying aboriginal culture. We have great fun decorating a giant kangaroo with dot paintings…parents love to be ‘allowed’ to cut and paste!  The bell rings at 3.30pm and it’s straight to the pool for a 4pm swimming lesson. Home at 5pm and I combine cooking dinner with hearing spelling and times tables. Tuesdays is a late night for DS1 and he arrives home at 5.45pm, muddy from soccer practice. He catches half an hour of homework before dinner. DH walks in at 6.30pm and we all sit down to dinner, catching sound bytes of everyone’s day. Then it’s DS2 into bed and reading stories and goodnight rituals. DS1 and DH are hopefully clearing the kitchen and discussing the intricacies of Pye. We tag team and DH does the goodnights to younger son. Now I collapse on the couch for half an hour (this doubles as time with DS1) watching “Myth busters.” What a boy show! Still he does enjoy the movie ‘Love Actually’ so I do have some hope for him J After TV half hour I head back upstairs to finish off the other paid job because the “Open afternoon” stole that hour. More emails and some promotional blogging and then it’s hot chocolate, talking to DH, crawling into bed and realizing that the washing never got brought in from the line! Oh well, will try and remember tomorrowJ. I attempt to read but never quite manage to get past four pages. 5.30am will come around again way too fast!   

Fiona Lowe’s Web Site

The Reviews are in:

The French Doctor’s Midwife Bride

Fiona is offering one lucky winner a copy of The French Doctor’s Midwife Bride.  It is easy to enter below.  Good luck! 

After that I breakfast with the dh before dashing (if it’s raining) or wandering (taking time to check out the flowers if the sun is shining) down to the Snap & Scribble to get on with the thousand words that I’m locked into for the rest of the year if I’m going to deliver on my contract – three books before the end of January, plus a short story.   Oh, and say “Hi” to the cows who come and peer over the fence at me. 

I’ll stare my screen in a blank minded panic for way too long, then stop for lunch.  I had a fried egg sandwich today, which was yummy.  The diet can wait until tomorrow – again. 

Then, before almost anything is better than writing, I take time off to do a couple of PR things.  I love the back-to-school feeling I get from chopping up bits of paper and sticking them through the laminator.  Then I stare at the blank screen some more until it’s time to cook the evening meal.  Mow the lawn (actually it looks like rain, so maybe I’ll put that off until tomorrow – something I’ve been doing all week) and then I can fall asleep in front of the television.

Honestly.

Occasionally things happen to liven up the mix.  Yesterday I had a couple of foreign editions in the post, which is always fun.  One was a French reprint of His Desert Rose, the other a Spanish translation of The Bachelor’s Baby, which I’m sure has been published in Spain before, although there was nothing on the copyright page to say so.  Must check that.

The post also brought me a copy of Dinner with Giovanni by Kate Hardy, Billionaire on Her Doorstep by Ally Blake and Hired by the Cowboy by Donna Alward.  So that’s my reading sorted for the next couple of weeks. <g>

Then there’s the email.  Today I had revisions for the “purple shoes” book from my editor.  Nothing especially heavy or  – having had a couple of weeks to think about it – that I hadn’t expected, but it’s going to be tricky unpicking one particular thread of the story and replacing with a slightly different angle.   There was also news of colleagues in Australia suffering from the effects of terrible storms. 

Also there were notes from the ds with news of his wedding plans (autumn is going to be a seriously busy season!) and ideas for  PR play with a couple of friends.  What did we do before email? 

The days around a book release do tend to be a bit more exciting.   There are the ups and downs of reviews.   Interviews with the local media.   A trip to the local radio station in my glad rags – no, I promise, the pink feather boa is a myth – and a visit from a local journalist meant deep dusting in all the “on show” parts of the house.  According to the dh, it’s the only time I ever make an effort, but that is sooo not true!

Somehow, despite the hours staring at blank screens and grabbing all and any distractions, the books do get written.          

Liz Fielding’s Web Site

The Reviews are in:

Reunited:  Marriage in a Million

The Valentine Bride

Liz is one of our Featured Contest Authors here at Coffee Time Romance this month.  To win a wonderful prize from Liz, click here!

So, as soon as the first strains of music emerge from my husband’s clock-radio, I creep downstairs, make myself a giant vat of mostly-decaf coffee, and launch myself into a fantasy world. Okay, I admit I check email first, while the coffee is dripping My daughter is still an early riser, so she usually interrupts me by about six-thirty, and I spend the next hour and a half getting the kids ready for school. Once they are on the bus, I generally go for a run. I live in a beautiful rural area so I enjoy watching sunlight peek through the leaves and seeing deer scurry out of my way while I unwind. Often solutions to tricky plot problems will pop into my mind while my brain soaks up oxygen from all that deep breathing. I find exercise leaves me relaxed and energized and ready to take on the day.

After breakfast and a shower, I sit back down at my laptop. I set myself pretty modest page goals, rather than trying to write flat out, as that makes me more creative. I allow myself breaks to check email, hang out at my favorite sites, which include eHarlequin and Romance Divas, and I’ll also pause to do some gardening, eat chocolate, and drink loads of cups of green tea. I do avoid time-suckers like going shopping, or purely social get-togethers, and I save those activities for after school and weekends.

Around three o’clock my writing day comes to a close when I head for the bus stop to pick up my kids. My brain is pretty fried by then anyway, since I’m naturally more alert and productive early in the day. I spend the rest of the afternoon hanging out with my son and daughter, then with my husband in the evenings. As you can imagine, I go to bed pretty early—always with a good book to read!

My first book, The Boss’s Demand comes out July 10th from Silhouette Desire, my second book, Seduced for the Inheritance comes out in October 2007 and my third, Black Sheep Billionaire (you know he’s bad!) comes out in January 2008. I consider myself incredibly lucky to spend my days doing what I love best, and I hope to continue writing passionate, steamy love stories for a long time to come. For more information about me or my books, please visit http://www.jen-lewis.com.

Jennifer Lewis’ Web Site

The Reviews are in:

The Boss’s Demand

Jennifer is offering a copy of her new release The Boss’s Demand for one lucky winner.  Enter below for your chance to win.

Find out more about Jennifer at The Pink Heart Society

6.30. Wake just before alarm goes off. Get up, switch on computer, switch on kettle, let dog out, take husband cup of coffee. Check emails/sort out blog post for the day/tinker a bit with the current book.

7.30. Get children up and ready for school. Put washing machine on, make packed lunches, check they both have their PE kit/violin/swimming stuff, breakfast, nag about teeth, nag again about teeth. School run. Lots of traffic because back roads closed due to floods. Switch radio to classical station to chill out, and use time in queue to think about book. Weather forecast: sigh, it’s rain again. Where’s summer?

9.30. Get home, switch on computer and kettle, put washing in tumble dryer. Explain to dog that I am on deadline so no, we’re not going out for a walk in the rain and no, he’s not going to bounce round the garden woofing at the birds/hunting under the shrubs, getting thoroughly wet and then dry himself off on me, either. Make coffee. Dog, doing the ‘big sad spaniel eyes’ thing in the hope I might change my mind, follows and curls up on the rug next to my chair. Soon there is the soft rhythm of doggy snoring: my background ‘music’ is in place.

Check email. Decide which book I’m working on (I normally have a local history book on the go at the same time as a romance – so if I get stuck on one I can switch to the other). Very tempted to sneak in some time on the history book, but the romance has a fairly tight deadline and the history book isn’t yet agreed with publisher, so promise self half an hour of history when I’ve made today’s wordcount. (I have something like those wordmeters you see on blogs – except mine’s not for public consumption! It’s a spreadsheet, which shows me each chapter’s wordcount, the total wordcount, how much I still need to do and how much per day I need to write in order to meet my deadline. That way I can see if any of the chapters are particularly short or overlong and need more balance.)

Read the last chapter and tinker with it. Back in the flow of the story and my characters are talking to me. Except they’ve decided that they’re not who they were in my outline. And they’ve changed their occupations. Fine, it’s a medical so the actual cases aren’t going to change… but my heroine is now a nurse practitioner so her part in the treatment will change. And my hero is very proud of being Catalan, so all the Spanish phrases I had sorted out will have to be changed because he speaks Catalan rather than Spanish! Do some extra research to sort out stuff characters just threw at me.

Post arrives. Greek translation of The Cinderella Project and US version of Mistress on Trial, next month’s Promotional Presents – yippee. Set of corrected proofs from proofreader (part of project management – as soon as I get corrections from author, can collate these and send to typesetter). Couple of letters. Tax bill. Put bill on my ‘to be done this week’ pile. Look at desk. Is utter mess. Will tidy it when I’ve finished this book. Look at desk again. Actually, can’t work in this mess. Need clearish desk. Sift very quickly through papers on desk. Put ‘to be done’ pile on top of printer. Put rest in empty A4 paper box to be filed. Promise self will keep on top of filing in future.

Check emails.

• From publisher: can I do a book signing, plus an interview which means going to the local radio station, and write an article? Email back – yes, yes and yes, let me know dates and deadline.
• From school: governor meeting has had to change date. Email back – yes, can attend.
• From lovely ed at local paper: do I have jpeg of photo on p124 of my history book in colour, can he use it, and can I give more information? Dig out information, quick conversion of measurements from metric to imperial, email back with jpeg and other information requested.
• From friends, and I can’t be rude and ignore them, can I? (Deadline guilt…)
• From people involved in a joint present which I’m coordinating – everyone agrees with suggestion so flick into internet and order pressie.
• From people doing my blog party to celebrate my 25th Mills & Boon – email back to say thanks and confirm which date they’ll be appearing; also filch pictures from their websites and Amazon ready to go with blog pieces).

Phone call from lovely agent: local history publisher likes the new outline, can we firm up delivery date and how many pics we’re going to use. Quick update on the other projects (one book in, awaiting ed’s verdict; another due in week after next, going to schedule; not had my author copies of last nonfiction yet, and she will chase for me; and yes, I really am taking a whole week off in a few days).

Feel all inspired and raring to go. Think about whether I need to buy a better camera for new nonfiction book (which is agreed do I can work on it officially now). Do some research. Once online, get distracted by just a quick game (or three) of WordMine… (Console self with fact that word-games are good for limbering up the brain. Perhaps less limbering-up needed tomorrow.)

Look at clock. Is practically lunchtime. Might as well spend ten minutes practising the Sor piece for guitar lesson next week and ten minutes practising ‘Yesterday’ for piano lesson; pleased with self as the left hand on the piano is better than it was yesterday. By lesson it might sound half decent and then we can add in some chords.

12.30. Lunch: chicken salad, shared with dog (the ‘big sad spaniel eyes’ thing works, this time). Read cookery book and decide to cook something different for dinner tonight.

1.00. Check emails. Typesetter wants to confirm specs for project A, author replies to my copyeditor queries for project B, different author sends me proof corrections for project C (to go with proofs received this morning). Good, all going to schedule. Reply accordingly; will do proof collation tomorrow morning and post to typesetter on way home from school in afternoon.
 
1.10. Go back to book. Characters are behaving now I’ve let them have their heads. Write happily.

2.45. School run. Meet littlest in playground, walk down hill to meet eldest. Chat to children about their day; go home.

4.00. Nag eldest about homework; listen to littlest read; neighbour’s children come round to play; kids busy so decide to be Bad Mummy and sneak into office (opposite living room, both doors open) and do some work with one ear on the kids.

5.30. Husband comes home; check if kids’ friends staying for dinner or if it’s just the four of us; cook dinner (while thinking about book); call troops to dining table; family time.

6.30. Back to work for me while husband plays with the kids and sorts out bedtime. Get very lost in book.

9.00. Husband walks in and reminds me it’s time to stop for the evening – this is our time together. Yay, it’s House (which counts as research because it’s medical drama). Feel horribly guilty as dog missed his walk (but am not doing it in torrential rain). Promise dog Will Try Harder tomorrow…

Kate Hardy’s Web Site

The Reviews are in:

His Honorable Surgeon

Her Honorable Playboy

Kate has her 25th book with Miles & Boon out and wants to give you a copy of your very own.  If you would like to win, Breakfast at Giovanni’s please enter below to be added to the drawing.

6:30 -  Hit snooze button and go back to sleep.

6:40 – Hit snooze button and go back to sleep

6:50 – Jump out of bed in a panic. Turn on computer to see if editor or agent has called with million dollar offer overnight.

6:51 – Decide editor or agent will email tomorrow morning and check to see if high school kids out of bed yet.

7:00 – Construct contents of first two lunch boxes for the day.

7:25 – Wave goodbye to two eldest. Resume vigil in front of computer in case editor/agent comes good today after all.

7:30 – Rouse two youngest.

7:45 – Rouse two youngest again (who do they take after?) Construct contents of two more lunch boxes. Locate school skirt, socks and sundry items that were apparently “right there” yesterday. Breakfast.

8:45 – Walk youngest to school and take dog for walk.

9:45 – Check emails to see if editor/agent working extra late because of million dollar offer.

10:00 – First (and hopefully last ) load of washing on. Think about opening latest ms file but decide to check a dozen websites first to warm up muse.

11:00 – Hang out washing. Sulk because no million dollar offers and if something doesn’t happen soon, I’ll actually have to sit down and write something.

11:15 – Open file. Frown. Decide maybe I should wash all the towels after all.

11:30 – Make cup of tea.  Survey contents of pantry despite knowing contents and their barcodes intimately.

12:00 – Is that the time? Force myself to sit in chair. This time I open my eyes. Grit teeth and fix up what I did yesterday. If I’m lucky, add something new.

3:20 – Muse kicks in. We’re off!

3:30 – primary school kids home. Muse stamps off in disgust.

4:00 – high school kids home. Hear about scrapes, tests, transgressions and what happened on the bus. After school activities.

7:00 – Dinner

8:00 – resume place at computer. Delete last page because have better idea.

8:01 – Get asked to help with homework.

9:00 – resume place at computer. Great idea forgotten.

10:00 – too tired to write. Hit the sack. Promise to do better tomorrow…

Trish Morey’s Web Site

The Reviews are in:

The Spaniard’s Blackmailed Bride

Trish wants to give you a copy of The Spaniard’s Blackmailed Bride for your library.  Enter to win below.

For the most part, life starts around 7 am.  I despise getting up early and I do not know how I survived for so many years as a nurse who had to actually be conscious and at work at 7 am!  Although I still work as a nurse, my schedule is also varied.  But I do try for a few minutes of writing in the early morning.

The feeding the various animals in my house comes first.  The two dogs are an Australian cattle dog and a blue heeler/black lab mix.  So they do like to follow me all over the house most of the day when I’m home.  They are also incredible mooches, always on the lookout for a stray biscuit.  I also have a cage of finches that require a little care and have just brought home a newly adopted brown throated conure, so I’m going to enjoy getting to know this little parrot. 

Once the husband is off to work and the kiddo off to school I usually swing by my local Starbuck’s for the requisite mocha (hot) in the cooler months and then a large frosty mocha frappuccino in the summer months.  For whatever reason, I’ve grown accustomed to and enjoy my three shots of espresso every morning.  Gets the brain moving in the right direction for me.

If I’m not off to work I do like to hang out at the coffee shop for a couple of hours or as long as I can get away with, to work on the current project.  I’m new to Harlequin Mills & Boon as a writer of medical romances and am on my third book for them.  So I’m still learning the routine that works best for me.  So far loading up on caffeine in the morning and hitting the writing has worked the best.  But I also work in very short spurts during the day, sometimes just a few minutes at a time, in between household chores that I always seem to  put off until the last minute. 

If I’m called to work for the hospice I work for, I could go just around the block or off to an Indian Reservation many miles away, the day and the patients are never the same.  I do enjoy the work, but all in all, I’d rather  just stay home in my jammies and write books!  For me, that’s the dream and I hope to be able to do that one day.

Another area I spend probably too much time is on crafts, but I try to work on scrapbooking and quilting and other little projects in between the book deadlines.  It’s good fun, my son enjoys playing crafts and we usually come up with some strange adaptation of what the instructions actually said to do.  Being creative is great.  By doing crafts I feel as if I have accomplished something artistic quickly.  When writing books, the end result often takes so long that  I don’t feel as if I’ve accomplished much.  When I look back from the end of the book to what I have actually accomplished, then I am amazed.

After work my son has been in baseball during the spring, so we had practices or games several evenings and/or Saturdays.  When approaching the deadline of my last book, I took my laptop to games and did some revising in between watching the game.  Made the deadline and got to see my kiddo play.

In the evenings I sometimes take the laptop to my bed and work a little after a soak in the tub.  My brain seems to work best in the mornings and sometimes in the evenings.  If the brain cells have been on overload all day, I usually try to read in the evenings while watching a favorite animal show.  The History Channel, Animal Planet and Sci-Fi are favorite channels as are all of the forensic shows.    My reading tastes vary widely.  Love romantic suspense, straight romance, paranormal.  But today I’m reading a non-fiction book on past life regression and it’s absolutely fascinating!

That’s the snapshot of a day in the life of Molly Evans.  Feel free to drop by my website and tell me about yours!

Molly Evans’ Web Site

The Reviews are in:

The Surgeon’s Marriage Proposal

Michelle has generously offered to give away an autois offering one lucky winner a copy of The Surgeon’s Marriage Proposal .  It is easy to enter below.  Good luck! 

I am up by about seven most mornings.  I have breakfast wearing a bathrobe, catching a bit of the news on TV before coming upstairs to run my bath.  I always open my email while the water is running, and when there is a heavy post from one of my groups I sometimes have to run to turn it off – usually too late! After the bath I take a walk to fetch the paper if it is an at-home day rather than a shopping day, and then I get to the computer.  I like to write between ten and twenty pages a day – up to about five thousand words on a good day.  If I do that I’m shattered when I’ve finished, because it takes so much out of me.

Some days I finish writing at lunchtime and then I like to sit in the sunroom, perhaps with a book or just talking to my husband.   If the weather is nice we often go for a walk together, especially when we are in Spain.  Over there I do a lot more walking, swimming and dining out on the sea front.  I love people watching!  I love the sea too, and we go quite often, perhaps once a week in summer.  When I’m in my study I can watch the squirrels jumping through the trees in the wood opposite my window.  It makes a break to watch them, and I feed them so they come often to our garden.

Linda Sole’s Web Site

The Reviews are in:

Too Hot to Handle

Linda hand a copy of her first in a new Regency Trilogy by Anne Herries called Marianne & The Marquis to one lucky winner.  Enter below for your chance to win.

The stationary bike starts whirring, and in a few minutes my eyes open. I scour the shelf next to the bike for something to keep me going – Blaze, Presents, RDI, a book on writing, and Why Do Men Have Nipples? Why do men have nipples? I couldn’t tell you, I need the decadence of a Presents this morning.

By the time my husband emerges from the bathroom I’m glistening with sweat. Ladies glisten. We don’t drip and reek. I doubt Hubba agrees with my theory, since he never tries to kiss me before he rushes off to work. After my shower, I try to coax my curly hair into compliance and hope for ten minutes to check my email. No such luck. Two-year-old BabyBoy was wakened by the garbage truck.

A half dozen books later, four-year-old BigBoy joins us downstairs. While making breakfast I talk with my mom on the phone to quell my nerves about chatting up my new editor tomorrow. After breakfast, there is a slight scuffle when I have to de-syrup BabyBoy, and another when I explain that he cannot spend his day naked. By nine-thirty we’re all dressed and ready for our day at the zoo with Grandma. It’s not until we’re in the car that I wonder if I have enough gas to make it there and back.

My mother-in-law and I each focus on one boy as we trek through the zoo. While the boys inspect bugs, I try and think of a way to roll three scenes into one in the book I’m revising for my agent. Before the elusive answer solidifies, we are on to the wilds of Africa. The giraffes are no help. Zebras either. The fornicating bats present an interesting option, if a bit gratuitous.

The tangle didn’t unsnarl as we made our way to the boys favorite salad bar buffet restaurant for a nutritious lunch of croutons, pizza, and honeydew melon. Surely I’ll make parent of the year. Back at home, I put the boys down for a nap and fire up the computer, and proceed to spend two hours on the internet. Two hours? I’m coordinating a workshop on Romance Divas, blogging, keeping up with forums, entering recipe contests…and guess who’s awake?

Naps are over before I get any actual work done, so I vow no distractions tonight while I work. Egad. Survivor is on. I’ll have to be strong. The afternoon is a walk to the park with the boys and my Presents from this morning. But I don’t read it – other moms are there so I opt for adult conversation. After two warnings and a time out, we head home. I politely suggest the boys play in the backyard while I make dinner. BigBoy not so politely declines, until BabyBoy finds a slug. I add slug bait to the grocery list and grill salmon to top our Caesar salads for dinner. I make a mental note to try a salmon salad pita sandwich for lunch tomorrow with the leftovers. I’m always developing recipes which have appeared in Better Homes & Gardens, Cooking Light & Sunset.

After dinner we take a walk as a family, and the knot of a problem in my story finally yanks free! Back at home I attack my computer, one eye at the clock in the corner, mocking me that Survivor starts too soon. I revise twelve pages before I give in and flip on the TV, swearing I will work through the show. When a contestant is taken off the island by helicopter for a medical emergency I stop, but get right back to it at the commercial.

Survivor is over and it’s bath time for the boys. Hubba earns his place in my heart every night by handing the bath and bulk of the nighttime routine. I’ve revised thirty pages before my exceptional story reading, prayer, and hugging skills are requested. Once the boys are tucked in, I work in earnest, trying like heck to finish these revisions so I can ship them off to the agent and concentrate on the revisions the editor requested on another book.

My husband tried to speak to me around eleven, but gives up when I merely nod and stare at the computer. I work on a laptop on our bed, so he’s forced to pull the covers over his head and try to sleep while I wrestle with my ending. I finished. Just before midnight. Knowing a call is coming from England in eight hours I email the revised book to my gmail account as backup and power down, glad my editor won’t be able to notice my dark circles over the phone. Because I work so close to the time I need to sleep, I brush my teeth and meditate before attempting it, But by then, it’s tomorrow. Another day in the life, and you only asked for one.  

Jenna Bayley-Burke’s Web Site

The Reviews are in:

Jenna has a copy of Cooking up a Storm for you to add to your private library.  Enter below for your chance to win!

Well…..are you ready?

I am not a normal person, OK? Let’s establish that right here and now. I am high energy and driven so what I pack into a day most people would do in a week: some wouldn’t even do it in a month!

I wake early, not by choice really but my brain clocks on about four a.m and decides any more sleep after that is superfluous. But rather than toss and turn and get agitated, I have found this to be a really good thinking and mulling over time. I don’t get up but stay snuggled there thinking about my latest plot and characters and what they might get up to that day when I finally get in front of my computer to interact with them.

Breakfast is my favourite meal of the day. I usually have it alone reading the paper and drinking a couple of cups of tear, the second one never tastes as good as the first one for some reason! The newspaper gives me a lot of inspiration and so too do magazines so I usually have a pile nearby I can flick through.

I usually check my emails as this point and see to any pressing business. That’s the part of a writer’s life I was totally unprepared for when I was first published. The business side of things takes up a lot of time, consequently cutting into writing time. I have to be really organised so things don’t slip out of my grasp so I have notes and reminders everywhere.

The next chore for the day (and to me it isn’t really a chore) is I go for a swim. I am a competitive Masters swimmer so training sessions are regular and hard but I love the challenge. I don’t swim any less than 3 kilometres, yesterday I did 4 and today’s program is similar. I love the thinking time if affords me as I follow that black line. It’s amazing how many plots I’ve thought of while I’ve been swimming.

After my swim I usually rush past the deli or the butcher or grocery market to stock up on supplies. I think I would have made a very good French woman as I nearly always shop daily. I never seem to know what I want to cook until that day. That’s the impulsive part of me, I guess. Today however I had to also drop in on my financial planner to sign some forms and I also went to the bank. Phew! Are you still with me?

Unless I am meeting someone for lunch I usually have it at home. I bolt down some protein-rich food and yes another cup of tea. I have to share everything of course with my two little writing companions, Pippi my little fox terrier and Polly our new baby miniature Poodle. They sit at my feet with beseeching black/brown eyes waiting for a crumb or two to fall. I usually take them for a decent walk after lunch as it gets my head around the prospect of sitting for several hours in my office and it also gets them off my back. They don’t really settle until I take them out. I sometimes take my mobile phone with me and catch up with one or two friends. It’s yet another way of multi-tasking!

Of course there is always a load of washing and pot plants to water but the busier I have become the more I have had to outsource those tasks. Actually I think I need a wife!

As soon as I sit down at about one in the afternoon I read through what I wrote the day before. If I have been interrupted say because of a copy edit that came in or a request for some revisions from my editor on a recently submitted novel, I will have to reread the whole thing to remind myself what colour eyes everyone has and who is who! I am fortunate that most days the writing just flows. I don’t have a problem with ideas or plots or characters, it all seems to come together quite easily, but having said that some novels do occasionally give me trouble.  I hate those days! I feel like every word is being squeezed out of me like cold honey out of an eyedropper. However it usually passes once I work out what is wrong with the plot or scene or the point of view I’m in. Some writers have a set word count they aim for each day but I am a little more flexible. I try to aim for at least a chapter but that can be anything up to fifteen pages which is not always possible if there are other things going on. Working from home I am constantly interrupted by phone calls or people dropping by or relatives or friends needing me for something.  I don’t like to lock myself away from genuine requests but there are days when I feel like putting a note on the door: Do Not Disturb.

One of the biggest challenges for me, particularly in the last two years as my schedule has risen to seven books a year is I have had to work out which days are just not writing days. Of course with such a big contract hanging over my head I can’t afford to have too many days off, but I am now starting recognise when it’s time to curl up with a good book instead to recharge my batteries. 

I sometimes listen to music when I write but lately I haven’t as I have enjoyed the peace and quiet of the house. Also I love hearing Polly playing with Pippi or our newly acquired cat Mango.

I have heard it said that writers are mostly solitary people who prefer their own company. I would never have thought that particularly true of me as I am known for being an extrovert but over the last year or so I have found the need to be alone much greater. I guess it’s the need to centre myself, to gather my thoughts in order to express the deep and heart-wrenching emotional stories I like to write.

Writing a romance novel can be a very emotionally draining exercise that is why I think it’s important to have balance in your life. I am at my creative best when I have lots of exercise, lots of rest and reading time and not too much pressure. I keep well ahead of my deadlines as although I can work well under pressure I prefer to be organised and in front.

I am usually in the middle of a really great scene or idea when it is time to think about cooking the evening meal. Although lately we’ve been trying to share the domestic load, I am afraid being married to a surgeon for all these years has made me automatically assume that if the meal is not cooked by me by about seven p.m it might not get cooked until ten p.m at night or even worse not at all! I don’t dislike cooking but I find it very time consuming now so we eat out at least once a week which is a nice break. We often have friends over too which is fun but I am much more relaxed these days about what I cook.

After dinner I love to catch up on news and current affairs and lately have taken to watching a little more television than usual, perhaps as it is winter here now. I also love watching a thought provoking movie.

Bed time varies as some nights I love to cuddle up and read for an hour or so, although I often nod off and then I can’t sleep later!

Well I hope my average day hasn’t exhausted you!

All the best, Melanie Milburne 

Melanie Milburne’s Web Site

The Reviews are in:

A Doctor Beyond Compare

Melanie is offering to give away a copy of her newest book which is released in August. Enter to win below.

Melissa James’ Web Site

The Reviews are in:

Her Outback Knight

Melissa is offering one lucky winner a copy of Her Outback Knight.  It is easy, she is a Featured Contest Author this month at Coffee Time Romance.  Click here to win! 

I know, I know, I should move back to the spare bedroom, away from all distractions. But that’s on the cold side of the house, looking at our side fence. Not inspiring. Anyway, I mainly write when no one else is around, or take the laptop to another room if I need peace and quiet. Besides, the family room has the best view, out across the pool to the tall eucalypts. I can see part of the garden and the bird feeder where lots of parrots come to visit.  

Computer on, kettle boiling for a hot cuppa. Our beagle is scratching at the door. She loves to come in and curl up on her bed by the computer and go straight to sleep again.

A quick download of the emails and before you know it I’ve spent my quiet time answering mails and checking out websites. So much for an early start on my pages!

There’s a flurry of activity as the family gets ready for work and school. Bliss – I don’t have to dress for the office today, I’m on vacation. Isn’t it great being a writer and not worrying about a dress code? There’s the usual routine: breakfasts, finding lost articles of clothing, conjuring money for school activities, hosing down squabbles over who’s spending too long in the bathroom… By the time they’ve gone there are clothes in the washing machine, I’ve tidied the kitchen and head for the shower.

Back to the computer. I always read through the beginning of the latest scene or the end of the last chapter. It takes time but it helps me back into the flow of the story. I do a little editing but soon I’m starting fresh stuff and it’s flowing quite well. I like this scene as it’s a high stakes one. Both heroine and hero have a lot to lose and they feel passionately about their predicament. Plenty of dialogue and they’re nicely at odds. Yes! If only it could all be like that.

A quick break to make coffee, hang out the washing and do a few chores. The writing is slower now. I’ve got to the transition scene – just a few pages to cover some important stuff, but it’s not as absorbing as the scene I just finished. I’m back to ‘teeth-pulling’ mode.

I save what I’ve done then race out the door, after jotting down a stray thought about a possible point of view change. It’s a fifteen minute drive to where I’m meeting my parents for lunch. We’ve got a view of the lake from the huge windows where we sit and catch up on the latest news. Nice food (always nice when someone else prepares it!) and very relaxing. The tiny local art gallery is in the same complex so we wander in and take a look.

Back home via the library, the post office (why does postage cost so much?) and the supermarket. Pass the gym and plan an early visit tomorrow. Pack away the groceries and back to the manuscript. I’ve sorted out that point of view question as I drove round the lake. Funny how looking at a nice scene (in this case yachts racing in the sunshine) can help me think more clearly. I make it to the end of the transition scene – slow going but I’m so glad it’s done. I start the new one, a clash between hero and heroine and I’m just getting into the swing of things when the world (ie. my teenagers) arrive. I struggle through the rest of the page, answering the inevitable ‘what is there to eat?’ then note down ideas of where the dialogue will go next.

No writing now. There’s news to catch up on and homework questions to answer so I log off and play Mum. Manage to do a little gardening (who invented weeds?), finally remember the washing and cook some muffins (they’re quick and tasty and I get brownie points with the family for playing domestic goddess occasionally). Do the taxi run to a late appointment and music lessons and home again to cook a late dinner and listen to the news. I ponder the mysteries of life. How much food would it take to fill a teenage boy completely? Where has that new school sweater gone? What’s the best way to invest $500,000? (Not that I’ll ever have to worry about it, but commerce projects have to be done!). Most important: how is this next scene going to end?

I sneak to the computer to jot down a line of dialogue that came to me while I was cooking. Typical – it’s when I stop writing to do something else that inspiration strikes! A minute turns into an hour as it always does when I actually know what I want to get down. Finally log off after answering a few emails. Time now for some TV and a book. The book is a good one – the best of all treats. I go to sleep wishing I could write as well as that.

Annie West’s Web Site

The Reviews are in:

The Sheikh’s Ransomed Bride

For the Sheikh’s Pleasure

For chance to win a copy of The Sheikh’s Ransomed Bride, see Annie’s Featured Contest here at Coffee Time Romance.

Find out more about Annie at The Pink Heart Society

…It’s that blasted alarm clock again!  Breakfast time seems to come around every twenty minutes in this house.  In summer, five am is the best time of day, when the sun is shining and the birds are singing.  It isn’t quite so lovely on a wet Wednesday in winter, though.  The first job is to feed and water everything outside – that means plants and livestock (when we have any).  We try and produce as much of our own food as we can, but that’s almost a full-time job in itself.  By daybreak, Jynx the cat has finished terrorising wood mice out in the shed and comes strolling home for breakfast.  That’s my cue to have a cup of tea and catch my breath before the children get up.  Then it’s breakfast and ‘personal admin’ in shifts – oh, for the luxury of a second bathroom!  For the next couple of hours my life is a blur of packing lunches, pouring cereals and getting everyone to the right destination, with the right kit, at the right time.  Luckily, my children are old hands at this routine.  We don’t have too many hitches, although I hope that’s not tempting fate.

I start my ‘second shift’ just after 8am each morning. Writing has been my life ever since I first picked up a pencil. If I’m not working on a Mills and Boon Modern Romance like The Italian Billionaire’s Virgin or Count Giovanni’s Virgin, then I’m developing magazine articles, or short stories.  My non-fiction appears in specialist publications, and the BBC has broadcast some of my short stories.  My writing is fuelled by gallons of tea.  Cake and chocolate feature a lot too, so plenty of snacking goes on until lunchtime.  Then I grab a sandwich, while getting the evening meal ready.  This saves time later.  Working outside with the plants and/or animals is squeezed into any spare moments before the mayhem of the school runs start again.  Then it’s the morning routine in reverse, only worse.  This time, there’s the added complication of after-school clubs, or sleepovers to factor in.  Sometimes, my gorgeous husband and I only catch sight of each other in daylight as we pass on the threshold!

We sit around the table together for a cooked tea or dinner each evening.  The number at this homespun feast varies, as does the time of the meal.  It depends who is going to be at home, and when.  We talk about what we’ve all been doing during the day, and then it’s washing up time.  There’s no room for a mechanical dishwasher in our house – just the tall, dark, handsome sort!  Then, unless there’s baking or chores to be done, we all flop in front of the TV for a while.  I love programmes on architecture, the others like science and technology, and we all enjoy ‘Time Team’ specials on archaeology.  It’s a treat to see somebody else getting muddy, for a change!

I’m usually the first to stagger up to bed, to catch up on my reading.  I love all romance.  It’s impossible to choose favourites, but Kate Walker, Penny Jordan and Anne McAllister are way up among the leaders, for me.  My husband is an avid reader, too.  Mind you, we always make sure there’s plenty of time for the two of us to relax together on a more personal level, if you know what I mean…

Christina Hollis’ Web Site

The Reviews are in:

Count Giovanni’s Virgin

Christina has a copy of Count Giovanni’s Virgin to give away to one lucky winner. Enter to win below.

I don’t!

When I enter my home office, I’m there to work. Actually, I start before that – while I’m in the shower. It’s a pity I live in the driest state of the driest continent on earth because I could do good work in the shower. But then again, I wouldn’t want to leave South Australia.

So, I start work around 7.30am and check emails, visit loops for an hour or so, then I move on – physically – to writing. I move away from my desk and into a comfortable chair in the corner of my office. I have to do this or I’d never get off the internet.

The radio is on for company, but once I start writing I become oblivious to what’s happening around me. I wouldn’t even notice the doorbell if the dogs – Monty and Phoebe – didn’t go berserk.

At midday my stomach tells me it’s lunch time and I take an hour’s break. It doesn’t take long to eat a Vegemite sandwich so I read for the rest of the hour.

After lunch, I write for a short time then lose steam so I deal with emails, do research and website updates.

Mid-afternoon, my husband arrives home from work (he’s a very early starter) and we take the dogs for a long walk in cool weather or swim in our pool in hot weather.

Exercise done, we relax on the verandah with a coffee and watch the rainbow lorikeets feeding in the palm trees at the end of the garden. I love this part of the day.

After the evening meal, I usually do something connected with writing – research, plotting, editing, or going to a writers’ group meeting.

Then finally, to bed, to think about the next day’s writing.

Claire Baxter’s Web Site

The Reviews are in:

Best Friend, Future Wife

Claire is giving away a copy of Best Friend, Future Wife to one lucky winner!  It is easy to enter and easy to win… below.

Once I am up my routine follows the pattern of the path from the bedroom to my office – downstairs, open door, let cat in, fill the kettle, switch on computer, feed cat while it is booting up. Then back to make a pot of tea – one for me, one for my husband, and it’s time to trawl through the blogs I visit regularly. Those of author friends and the Pink Heart Society always come first while I’m thinking of a theme for my own blog. Posting something almost every day gets me into the swing of writing, so that I’m ‘warmed up’, ready for work. But at the moment I’m able to take life a little easier as I’m running a Great Big Blog Party for The Sicilian’s Red-Hot Revenge which is my 50th title for Harlequin Mills & Boon.

At this stage I have to be careful that I remember to get dressed! Often I will read blogs, write my post, answer emails while still in my dressing gown –and while waiting for my turn in the shower and if it’s one of my husband’s days working away from home (he lectures in Writing and is a Writer in Residence in a prison) then I can get busy and involved and suddenly realise that I should have put some proper clothes on an hour or more ago. But that’s one of the great bonuses of working from home – it doesn’t matter very much what you’re wearing. Sid doesn’t mind either – he sleeps on my desk, curled around my keyboard while I write and he doesn’t care what I’m wearing.

I’m what I call an ‘all or nothing’ writer so when I’m deeply involved in a book I tend to work ridiculous hours. I’ve been known to start at 6am and work through until 10 pm when the ideas are flowing – but then, when they’re not, I’ll work on my web site or perhaps my teaching commitments. Since I wrote Kate Walker’s 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance, I’m often asked to run workshops or weekend courses – I have two coming up in the next 6 months – and I need to prepare timetables and handouts for those. In fact, I’m often so busy that I have to remind myself to actually get out of the house or I could be hibernating totally. I do try to switch off for a while – either reading or, more often, with a long phone chat with my special friends Michelle Reid or Anne McAllister – but these are still ‘work’ as we talk about writing, the books we’re creating and ones we’ve read. If we worked in an office or some other place where we could actually meet then we’d be able to talk over coffee or lunch break – but separated by hundreds of miles, we have to use the phone or the internet.

If my DH is out of the house then I continue working till he comes home. If he’s writing (he writes true crime books/local history/poetry ) then it will depend on who’s on a deadline or what other commitments we have to make us decide when to stop. Though, of course if I work too late then there will be a loud protest from Sid because his tea must be served at precisely 6pm or there will be trouble. Luckily my DH is less demanding – and we take it in turns to make the evening meal.

Evenings tend to be quiet – time with the TV (I’m a ‘soap’ addict) or a book – I need a story fix to feed my imagination so that I have plenty of inspiration for the next book and the next. The quiet routine of life suits me for so long and then every now and the DH and I break away completely – we head for London, or Wales, visit friends in America or Australia – again to refresh my mind and fill up those imagination banks. That’s when I’m between books and deadlines though. When a book is growing and a deadline looming, I’ll go to sleep with my head full of the characters and the plot, letting problems untangle themselves overnight so that my mind will be clear and the next scene ready to write just as soon as Sid wakes me by wailing outside the window the next morning.

Kate Walker’s Web Site

The Reviews are in:

The Sicilian’s Red-Hot Revenge

Sicilian Husband, Blackmailed Bride

Kate is ready to celebrate her 50th book release by giving away two books, Sicilian Husband and the Sicilian Red Hot Revenge.  It is easy to win, just enter below! Good Luck!