Writers' Holiday Wish List

It's that time again: wish list time! Whether you've been naughty or nice this year, here are a few goodies you'll more likely than not find on writers/readers' Christmas list:


The NOOK. This e-reader has jumped bookstore chains and is now available not just from its creators at Barnes & Noble but at Books-a-Millions across the southeast as well! The fun thing about the Nook is its accessories, in my opinion. You can color code it and even truck it around in its own custom satchel. A fun gift for those who don't already have a Kindle, a Sony, or a Nook of their own yet. I hear it's definitely worth the big bucks....


LAPDESK. For every writer especially, a lapdesk is definitely a plus. It makes your workspace that much more portable. Also when laptops are balanced on the sheets of the bed or even your lap, the air vent is blocked, causing the laptop to overwork and even overheat. Usually lapdesks come with built-in wrist support and these days several even come with their own lights (usually LED) and an adjustable base.


BOOKENDS. Barnes and Noble this year in particular has some really great bookends. Rodin's Thinker and Shakespeare made of black stone are some of my favorites. The hub loves the chess pieces. There's something for everyone - children to adult and quirky to intellectual. If the readers and writers in your life are anything like me, they have books lying all over the place. Structure and organization are always a plus.



GIFT CARDS. Some say that giving gift cards to people you know and love is taboo. But for me, there's nothing better - especially if the gift cards can be used online. They give me the freedom to buy whatever's on my to-read list - which, by the way, takes up a good chunk of my Chrstimas wish list. Online gift cards are awesome because they allow readers to purchase ebooks instead of paperbacks at lower prices as well as avoiding shipping costs altogether. (Note: if your writer friend likes to jam while working on his/her latest WIP, an iTunes gift card works wonders too!)



LEATHERBOUND CLASSICS. Nothing makes me geek out more than the words "collector's edition." Especially when it comes to names like Jane Austen and William Shakespeare. My personal favorite leatherbound classic available now at Barnes & Noble? Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales. There's also a three-in-one set called The Supernatural Collection which includes Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles, The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, and Gregory MacGuire's Wicked and Son of a Witch. Also? The Fantasy Collection (H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, and Douglas Adams' The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy). Are you geeking out yet? No, just me? Okay, moving right along....



2011 PLANNER. Purse-sized works best, in my experience. Writers, especially those on multiple deadlines, need to have their ducks in a row, whether those ducks be marketing, editorial, writing, plotting, networking, etc. Usually when buying planners, I look for those that leave plenty of space to note details. This works especially well for guest apperances on the web as well as agent/editors' email or physical addresses. A contact resource in the front or back of the planner works well, too. Also a planner that notes holidays and special occassions is a plus. When I'm sunk deep in plotting or writing, I all-too-easily lose track of things like that.



BOOKLIGHT. Night writers love this little gadget because nothing is better than reading a chapter before bed...and by the time we come to bed, the lights are already out. A booklight works well for travel, as well. Just be careful when picking one out. I've had three that didn't last long because they were cheap. The batteries have fallen out. The lightbulbs themselves have gone mysteriously missing. Durable is best because they'll probably end up chucked in a purse or travel case at some point.



SUBSCRIPTIONS. This works for both writers and readers as well, whether they're into romance or not. A subscription to Writer's or Reader's Digest every year is something I know a lot of book lovers had to give up during the recession and, chances are, they probably never got it back. Nothing says love more than a year's free subscription to a Digest or, for romance fans, Romantic Times.


The TRUSTY NOTEBOOK. For most writers, it all goes back to the handy-dandy notebook. I'm always in need of a good brainstorm/plotting/random ideas notebook. Like the planner, the best notebooks are portable for purses. And, like the booklight, the best ones are durable. My spirals go through a LOT by the time they're full-up. They could practically tell their own story - and it wouldn't reflect very well on my TLC skills....


So there you have it! Cozies, I'd love to hear what's on your bookish or writing-related wish list this holiday season!

TALKING INSPIRATION w/ Rachel Brimble

My birthday blog extravaganza continues with TWRP author Rachel Brimble! Welcome, Rachel!

It’s great to be here today, thanks for inviting me, Amber! I want to take this opportunity for your readers to get to know a little bit about me and my books.

To start with a little about me, I’m married with two young daughters and live in South West England, just a few short miles from the beautiful, historical city of Bath (yes, the place where Jane Austen set Northanger Abbey and Persuasion).

I began writing once my second daughter was born and it soon became a hugely important part of my life. Many writers will tell you they NEED to write and I couldn’t agree more – I write everywhere…doctor’s waiting rooms, while the kids are at dance practice, on holiday (my husband does not find this amusing in the least)…basically as much as I possibly can around a part-time job, two kids, a home and social life.

Romance as a my chosen genre happened organically – I decided to sit down and attempt a short story one Sunday afternoon and before I knew it, I was on the hazardous, bumpy path of boy meets girls, things going wrong, they try to be together, they fail, they try again and eureka! Happily Ever After triumphs!

And on it went, and after MANY short story rejections and two years had passed, I decided to forget the short story and go full steam ahead with a novel idea that had been bouncing around in my head for almost a year. The result? My first romantic suspense novel `Searching For Sophie’, which was accepted for publication by The Wild Rose Press in 2007.

Since then I have published a book a year. Another romantic suspense in 2008 called Reluctant Witness, a romantic comedy in 2009, The Sharp Points of a Triangle which I am here to talk about today…and for 2010? My very first historical, The Arrival of Lily Curtis.

The inspiration behind The Sharp Points of a Triangle was a newspaper article about a couple who met again after years apart and were married within six months – a bit cut and dried for a page-turning romantic comedy so I added one or two (or maybe closer to a dozen!) problems to keep my hero and heroine, Jamie and Hannah, apart….here’s the blurb…

Hannah Boyd has been crowned the youngest Independent Financial Adviser in the UK. She has kicked out her boyfriend whose idea of romance is leaving a present of skid-marked boxers on the bedroom floor, or sharing a chilli-kebab in front of the football on a Saturday night. She is successful, single and about to secure the one of the wealthiest men in England as a client. But then the one person she never wanted to see again reappears as her biggest competitor…and temptation.

Jamie Young never stopped loving her but is now competing against Hannah in the cut-throat business world. He has to find a way to secure both the lucrative client and her. Will she agree to work to him so he can keep her close and let him mend the heart he broke so badly? Or has he lost her forever?

I am thrilled with the reviews so far! Check them out at LASR and Got Romance Reviews! If you fancy reading the entire book, it is available direct from my publisher’s website! I LOVE hearing from readers of romance fiction or anyone generally interested in talking about books and writing, feel free to contact me anytime on rachelbrimble@googlemail.com.

Rebecca Brimble is an author of both Romantic Suspense, Romantic Comedy and most recently Historical Romance. She lives in Chippenham, England, a small market town near the famous Georgian city of Bath or Jane Austen country as some people like to call it. Find out more about her upcoming releases at her website!

Spreading the Love Day #1

It's my official countdown to Valentine's Day and Day #1 of "Spreading the Love" here at Cozy. For romance readers, there's no better way to celebrate Valentine's than with an HEA love story. I'll be spreading the Valentine's Day cheer with a book-a-day giveaway today, tomorrow, and Sunday (+ an additional prize drawing for those who comment all three days).

Today we're talking about the classics. One of my favorite classic romances is Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind. Before it was a movie, it was a sought-after, Pulizer Prize-winning piece of southern literature. The leap the story made from book to Technocolor screen was not an easy one. When filmmakers first considered the screenplay, Civil War movies weren't popular at the box office. It was clear up front that the only actor who could portray hero Rhett Butler was Clark Gable who was more than reluctant to take the role. The search for the right Scarlet O'Hara was a near disaster. After months of searching, luck brought Vivien Leigh to the night-time set of the Atlanta burning. The movie opened in 1939 in Altanta and was celebrated by parades, fanfare, and droves of screaming fans. For twenty long years, it held Academy Award-winning records with ten wins and is ranked number four American Film Institute's Top 100 American Films of All Time - beaten only by The Godfather (3), Casablanca (2), and Citizen Kane (1). Gone with the Wind was oddly the only book Margaret Mitchell completed before her untimely death. At a whopping 1037 pages (first edition), some might say it's no wonder she never sought to publish another manuscript.

When I picked up Gone with the Wind, I was already a fan of the movie. And though Clark Gable brought Rhett Butler to life onscreen, he was just as alive on the page. From the first paragraph, Mitchell painted plantation in full color. The journey through the Civil War, the death of the Old South, and the political intrigues of post-war Reconstruction in Atlanta swept me away. Though it was the longest book I'd ever read at the time, I couldn't put it down. And so Gone with the Wind remains one of my favorite romantic novels of all time.

Unfortunately, this story doesn't come with a HEA most of today's romances do. One that does though and is as richly vibrant as Margaret Mitchell's classic is another Civil War tale by the late Kathleen E. Woodiwiss: Ashes in the Wind. Romance readers never forget their first Woodiwiss romance. This was mine. It starts in New Orleans with the hero, Yankee surgeon Cole Latimer, convinced that heroine Alaina MacGaren, a wanted southern woman, is a boy. While Gone with the Wind's focus centers around the events of the Civil War, Ashes in the Wind follows the events of runaway Alaina's life and the delightful events of her relationship with the dashing Yankee. Published in the early days of the reigning romance industry (1979), it remains my favorite story of this classic author's backlist (and a recommended comfort read for snowy weather).

Last we come to the queen of romance herself. In an industry that pressures authors to be "hotter", we too often forget what romance really means. Whenever I need this reminder, I turn to Jane Austen. For me, Austen's books are the epitome of romance. Rhett Butler may be the first rogue hero, but Darcy was the first romance hero. His character and that of heroine of Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennet, and some of the most celebrated characters in all of literature. And at its core, Pride and Prejudice as well as Sense and Sensibility, Northanger Abbey, Mansfield Park, Emma, and Persuasion are all love stories with HEAs. Austen opened the doors to not only women's fiction but the romance world as well and tops my list of classic favorites.

Today we'll close with out first book-a-day giveaway. I have a hardback edition of The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler. To enter the win the drawing for it, just comment and tell me what classic romance novels (prior to the 1980's) top your favorites list! The winner will be chosen randomly and announced on Monday, February 15th so check back in to see if you have won. (Chances of winning depend on the number of entires. You must be 18 years or older to enter.)

And spt! There's only a couple more days to vote historical romance Forever Amore Best Book of the 2009 at LASR! Polls close on Valentine's....

What's in a Man?

 As romance writers, we have the undeniable pleasure of bringing the men of our dreams to life. This is what drew me to writing love stories to begin with. I wanted to bring my daydreams as close to live and living color as possible. Wouldn’t it be fun? How hard could it be?
I knew from the start my heroes would have to be as irresistible as fiction’s favorites. Historically, my heroes would be competing with the likes of Jane Austen’s deliciously broody Mr. Darcy and Margaret Mitchell’s simply irresistible Rhett Butler. In the contemporary world of romance, my boys would have to go up against the unswerving devotion of Nicholas Sparks’ Noah Calhoun and Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb’s most insurmountable and fascinating leading man, Roarke—for me, this name is synonymous to perfection.
My first hero, a young, World War II Air Force lieutenant named Charles Tyler was too much of a boy. He was almost too wimpy, and I quickly grew tired of him. I had to revise the entire book just to give him some “meat”—a tasty term for muscle as well as grit and fortitude. My second attempt, an Italian man named Alex Cappollo, was far too moody and complicated. As the heroine became increasingly exasperated with him, my own consternation began to churn.
Third time’s the charm, they say. For me, this was fortunately right on the mark. I was writing a contemporary romance about two wronged jewel thieves who form an unlikely partnership and eventually end up falling hopelessly for each other. This brought me face-to-face with Todd Orso.
Todd has all the ingredients for “dreamy.” He’s from Texas, and his yummy accent just can’t be beat. I’m not referring to George W. Bush twang here. It’s more rugged and sophisticated than that. Not only is my heroine, Celestia, melting on the spot; I’m getting pretty hyped up just writing the dialogue! The voice is just one of the delectable things about Todd. He has a penchant for worn jeans and whiskey and has a striking resemblance to Brad Pitt. (“Coincidence? I think not!”)
It’s pretty much love at first sight for Celestia…and me. I know she’s a goner because I am. It’s a good thing this man is fiction because he might give my husband a good run for his money if he showed up on my real welcome mat.
Since I finished my third novel, I’ve found it easier to create several different intriguing heroes. Cole Savitt, a haunted cop in search of solace. Gerald Leighton, a British writer on a quest for the perfect muse. Mark Welles, a burned-out bodyguard determined to protect a hunted woman. Brock Sullivan, an Alabama boy who does everything he can to wrangle the heart of a stubborn, childhood sweetheart. They get better and better every time. They are a joy to write. They are one of the main reasons I eagerly sit down at my desk every morning and stay there as long as I possibly can—on lucky days, that’s until after midnight!
I believe that a writer can only make readers love his/her characters if he/she truly does. A writer’s affection for his/her protagonists shows. When I entered Lt. Charles Tyler’s revised story into a summer contest, a judge commented on my score sheet, “I see your heart in it, so please keep at it!”
Love your characters. Have fun writing them. I can guarantee, when they finally do get the recognition they deserve, the reward will be all the sweeter because of it.