Fun Friday--For Real at Chez Krotow!

Wooo Hooo!!! I just finished another book, and I've met another deadline. There's nothing that compares to this, except perhaps when we birth our sweet children, if we're so blessed.
I plan and manage my time for each project, but the last week or two can be very "tense" as I await my final ideas, re-read each page, have a trusted friend check for typos.

But then the sun rises--and I print out the entire manuscript. I add any proposals I have for new story ideas. And send it all off to my dear editor.

This second story is another Harlequin Everlasting Love, tentatively scheduled for a February 2009 release. The heroine is a fiber artist, and knits, as I do. It was a joy to include knitting as a backdrop, and a relief, as the emotions these characters go through got quite intense along the way.

I'm celebrating by enjoying my daughter's birthday sleepover tonight. We're going to make iron-on t-shirts, and eat junk food. Plus watch a silly pre-teen movie or two, I'm sure. I can knit while the girls giggle and get popcorn kernels all over the house. Of course, our black-lab mix dog, Shadow, will be a great vacuum cleaner. And did I mention our parrot, whom we've had for nineteen years? He'll be mimicking the giggles and squeals at the top of his lungs, just for effect.

I hope you get to celebrate this three-day weekend (if you're in the States) in a special way with your family. I've heard it said that suffering is inevitable but joy is a choice. I do my best to have at least a little joy in each day. How about you?

Character Thoughts

Today I'm supposed to talk about what's on my mind. What am I thinking about?

My main thought is that I finished my new manuscript and have it ready to go out with the courier when she arrives this afternoon. When I signed up for this date, I thought I would write about something else. But as I headed toward the end of this manuscript and sending it off, I knew there wasn't much else that would be on my mind until the pages were signed, sealed, and delivered.

While I'm writing, I'm thinking about my characters constantly. They often speak to me at the most inopportune times. I'm in the middle of traffic and the heroine finally, finally! explains why she's been upset at the hero. Then I have to wait until I get home and can grab a few minutes to get to the computer. And, sure enough, I find that all the signs were there. I just wasn't listening well enough.

The other thing I find interesting is that I can carry on a perfectly normal conversation with a real live person. . . and have my character giving me information in my head at the same time. I used to worry about that until I discovered other writers do the same thing (right, lovelies? don't leave me hanging alone out here).

So, how do you deal with the invasion of your characters into your thoughts? Or do you just accept that this is your world and go on? And if you don't have characters chatting at you in your head, what do you think about?

Writing Wednesday -- The Joy of Revising

Have you ever thought of a snappy comeback you wish you'd made to someone who annoyed you ... only you think of it an hour, a day, or a week later?

Well, that's one of the reasons I love to write. I can take that rather lame, "Yeah? Well, you too!" reply and turn it into something poetic in its pointed intensity, or hard hitting and clever, or dripping with sarcasm. And I don't have to worry about the bully hitting me in the nose!

A writer can have a character say whatever they want. Can test out this or that until it's just right. There's no time limit. You are in charge. All you have to do is go back to the page in question and fix it.

Ahh to revise! What joy! Too bad we can't do that in real life.

Ginger

Dining on Memories

I learned to cook watching my grandmother on summer afternoons in August, when the Feast of the Madonna of the Water was celebrated in her neighborhood and twenty or more of our family would gather under the grape arbor in the backyard for dinner every evening before wandering out to the street fair. Homemade fettucine with fresh pesto; meatballs filled with garlic, parsley and Parmeggiano; fennel sausages and chicken salmi were the staples of her repertoire.

My mother continued my education in the kitchen, and by the time I was an adult, I knew I loved to cook. Wherever I found myself in the world I gathered recipes and techniques, and when I moved to the Rheingau in Germany—a Riesling wine region—I taught friends how to make American apple pie in exchange for their traditional recipes.

The first time I tasted winzergulasch I had spent the day hiking the vineyards with my eight-month-old son in a backpack. We ate in the open air at trestle tables set up on the top of a mountain. I recreate the hike and the meal in my novella, “The Hand That Gives the Rose,” (in the February 2008 anthology THE VALENTINE GIFT) as Marielle remembers a carefree and secure past far different from the challenges she faces as a young woman taking on her family’s winery.

Although the preparation requires some work to chop the vegetables, once you throw everything into the pot and get it simmering, you can walk away and go read one of our books!

Winzergulasch (Vintner Stew)

One pound cubed chicken or pork
Canola oil
2 medium onions, chopped into quarter-inch dice
1 large leek, sliced into rings
1 large carrot, chopped into quarter-inch dice
1 bay leaf
A pinch of dried tarragon
A pinch of dried oregano
1 cup water
1 cup Riesling wine (or substitute 2 cups of chicken broth for the water and wine)
¼ pound grapes
Salt and pepper

Brown the meat in a small amount of oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Add the onions, leek and carrot and sauté until onions are golden.
Add the herbs, the water and wine.
Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for 45 minutes.
Add the grapes and simmer for 10 more minutes.

Serve over noodles or dumplings.

Do you have recipes that stir memories? Share them with us!

The Moments

I met my husband while we were both in high school. I was working at an ice cream store and he liked my chocolate shakes! It was a match made in heaven. LOL We married early and have been together now for more than twenty years. If asked why I'm so enjoying writing for Everlasting, it's pretty simple...because of my husband.

You see, over our twenty plus years together we've had four kids, and dealt with everything from illness to first days of school–everything from scrounging for every penny while he was in college and we had two kids, to being not rich, but at least comfortable now. We've dealt with terrible twos, hormonal teens and eventually, kids leaving the nest. We've lost loved ones and found new friends. We remain in awe of what neat people are kids are growing up to be. Our life isn't just that initial zing where we met and fell in love. It's the little moments along the way. The tears and the laughter. The scares and the incredible joys. Our romance wasn't just a few months or a few years, it's been a few decades and its still going strong.

There are two themes in my first Everlasting book, The House on Briar Hill Road, and it's accompanying eHarlequin short story, The Moments that I love. One is Live out loud, the other is Life is punctuated by the big events, but it's lived in the moments. My husband and I have been through many big events, but truly, if asked to describe our life together, I'd have to say it's chocolate shakes, quiet Sunday mornings with a coffee, the paper and each other...and hanging with our kids.

So, how about you? What little life moments are your most treasured?

Holly

The Moments, an Everlasting Love short stor on eHarlequin.com starting 9-10-07

The House on Briar Hill Road, Harlequin Everlasting Love, 10/07

Is it Friday already?

Have you ever wondered how we ladies manage to keep all the parts of our lives moving along in some semblance of order? It’s called multi-tasking in some parts of the world. I call it keeping the chaos organized…or not.
Take today, Friday, for instance. I have galleys to get into Harlequin by next week for Heart of My Heart, my first Everlasting Love book, a house full of company, groceries to buy, an attention seeking assistant, Emma Jean, also known as my Maine coon cat. Then there’s the usual emails, the phone calls, the drop in and drop off traffic, and the people who depend on me to help them with their lives.
Approaching the bottom of the list these days--I’m sad to say--is my husband.
He’s been in my life for years, and he’s a very patient man. Believe me.
So, the weekend’s coming and what part of it will we manage to carve out for just the two of us?
What sort of fun things can we do this weekend that will break the pattern of rush and scramble that is the hallmark of our joint lives these days?
When I finally found five spare minutes to myself last Monday, before the chaos took over for the week, I thought about it. And here’s my list of fun things I want to do with my hubby this weekend.
On Saturday we’re going to take the phone off the hook, hunker down with the coffee pot and the long-awaited New York Times--last Sunday’s edition, mind you. But I can’t complain, I have books on my ‘To read list’ that are older than my cat! On Sunday we’re going to escape on a boat to go whale watching in the Bay of Fundy. No cell phones, no computer, no fax machine…
And there’s this perfect little B&B nestled along the edge of the ocean, a delectable overnight adventure. It has a hot tub, and we've had the bubbly stashed in the cabinet, waiting for a chance like this.

Writing The Bracelet

Hi! I'm in Pennsylvania. It's great to be here. I thought I'd start out with a little about my August book, The Bracelet...what it meant to me to write it...and why it's the book of my heart. I want all of you to feel free to ask questions and talk about whatever you'd like. If you've read The Bracelet, I'd love to hear what you think of it.

The idea for this book began long ago...when the 60's impacted me...when I wrote to a serviceman in Vietnam...and shortly after when I fell in love with my husband. Although it's fiction, it's set in my hometown of York, PA and has more of "me" in it than any book I've written. It's my 59th. I know--what took me so long? Maybe just the passing of time and the ability to see life more clearly than I did when I was younger.

I attended college in the late sixties and early seventies and I was part of the moratorium day for peace that swept the country, especially on college campuses. In 1969 my husband and I faced the draft lottery. I still remember my anxiety about it and his and how we had to wait to see what happened to figure out when we could marry.

The plotline of this book unfolded so naturally that at times the depth of it and the memories that rushed back were overwhelming. My childhood neighborhood is my heroine's childhood neighborhood. Brady's childhood neighborhood is where some of my friends lived. Each landmark I named--like the hospital, the library and the Yorktowne hotel--had personal significance for me. That's why I included pictures of them on my website.

I wrote The Bracelet as a single title. It's a family story as well as a love story. It's about my hero and his adopted son as much as about his 33 year marriage. (I've been married 36 years.) Everything about this book hits me at an emotional place. I'd like to talk to you about all of that and whatever else that comes up. Pop in and out whenever you'd like. I'll be in and out often!

Karen

Finishing a Manuscript aka The Last Mile of a Marathon

It's Writing Wednesday and I'm in the midst of my final round of edits before I send my second contracted book off to my editor at Harlequin. I'm proud to say it's another Harlequin Everlasting Love story.

I've found myself learning to balance. Balance the excitement of the publication of my first book, A Rendezvous to Remember Harlequin Everlasting Love Nov 2007, with the need to focus on this current manuscript.

Not to mention all the wonderful story ideas that keep coming at me, begging to be written up into proposals, which I'm doing.

How do I multi-task as a writer?

I draw from my real life, of course!

I was a runner for years (past tense intentional) and I ran Big Sur Marathon in 1991. Running a race is a great analogy for my writing process.

In the beginning I'm all excited to take on the story that comes to me, to put the amazing characters on the page. It's the same thrill I'd get from filling out a race application, thinking "yeah, I can run that distance by then, no problem."

As the enormity of my task looms before me--will I do the characters justice? Will my reader "get" the story and "feel the love?" Will I be a one, two, three book wonder, never to be heard from again?--I can look at the blank page with dread. On race morning, in the minutes up to the start, I've often thought "what was I thinking? Am I nuts? Look at all these other runners--they're in such better shape than I am!"

Once I'm a few chapters into the book, it's a relief. I'm getting to know the characters better, I'm doing research as needed, it's humming. It's the middle miles of any race. I'm on pace, my breathing in rhythm with my steps. I'm a runner, darn it. I'm a writer, too.

Page by page the story adds up. The miles add up.

Then I get to where I'm at today.

The end is in sight. And my vision for the story has changed, improved. There's nuances and character details I never dreamed of. It's exciting, exhilarating.

It's also darned frightening. Maybe the great story is in my mind, only. Maybe what I put on the page is going to make my editor cringe. I suddenly see all the places I could make the story flow better, make the description and emotion "pop."

But like all good marathoners, I banish any negative thoughts. I stay positive. That's how I've gotten this far. Writing and publishing aren't easy vocations, but they're my vocations and I'm so grateful to be blessed with the duty to put stories on paper.

So I keep editing, adjusting timelines, checking my transitions. Writing Harlequin Everlasting Love is unique in that I'm writing contemporary and historical at the same time. They're the kind of stories I like to read most, and now I get to write them. Fiction with that very real ring of emotion and true events. Yet enough of a love story that I can get lost in it and have hope that love can be and is indeed everlasting.

The last mile of any race is tough. But crossing the finish line, the sense of accomplishment, is always worth it.

What's the race for you? Are you a writer? A lawyer? A stay-at-home Mom? How do you keep the push going through the end of your race?

Thanks for letting me chat with you today!

Chocolate Sin --Need I Say More?????

I love to cook and will try just about any recipe once. From Asian/Mexian fusion to Egyptian family recipes, I love experimenting, twisiting recipes and tweaking things just enough to make them my own. Which is why, and I can't reiterate this enough, I am not a baker. Any recipe that requires measuring cups and spoons and an exact amount of anything is definitely not for me. So when I find a dessert that doesn't require much of that stuff, is super-easy and still tastes phenomenal-- it quickly(like with supersonic speed) joins my admittedly small after-dinner repetoire. The following recipe is one of those:

Chocolate Sin

1 package brownie mix, prepared according to directions
2 packages chocolate mouse, prepared according to directions
1 medium tub Cool Whip
2 large Heath Bars, smashed to bits (great stress reliever, btw)
About half a cup of Kahlua (optional, but yummmmmm)

Now, basically you're making about the best trifle in the world (but then, I'm addicted to chocolate so take my words with a grain of salt).

Crumple up half the brownies and layer in the bottom of a trifle bowl. Pour half the Kahlua over brownies and let stand for a minute or two. Layer half the chocolate mousse over the brownies. Layer half the Cool Whip over the chocolate mousse. Top with half the Heath Bar crumbs. Repeat layers one more time and let chill for at least an hour before serving. Yum!

Now, because I love to cook, at least one of my recipes always seems to pop up in each of my books. In my first novel, The Turn for Home, A Harlequin Everlasting Love release for 2009, my main character Desiree makes Chocolate Sin for Jesse when she's trying to seduce him. Of course, it's not until much later in the evening that they ever get around to tasting it. But I think they enjoyed it . . .

So, ladies, what truly decadent chocolate recipes do you have hanging out in your kitchen closets? Tell us about them and the yummiest one will win an autographed book.

A bit about Roz

It's Monday morning here in Tucson. The Everlasting writers are going to tell our bloggers a snippet about our individual love lives. So here goes mine.
I met my husband when one of his sisters, with whom I worked, decided she wanted to break up a romance between him and someone the sisters didn't like. Denny was due home on leave from the Marine Corp to attend this sister's wedding.
What neither of his two sisters banked on was that he and I would hit it off and within a week decide we were going to get married, too. Which we did the following month.
I'd grown up in a small town where everyone knew everyone forever. My friends went to my parents and said "you have to stop her from marrying this stranger". They also said it would never last. Denny and I, at each anniversary, laugh about that, as truly the majority of the doubters have been married several times each while we're still marching along together.
His sisters, though, have both since decided he made the best choice and we're all good friends.
I hesitate to tell how long this marriage has lasted---so I won't.
I got into writing romance stories because I love the concept of Everlasting Love. It can't always happen for everyone, but it's a lovely concept.
Happy Monday everyone.

The examined life...and love.

Along with the other "Lovelies," I'm truly happy and proud to be a part of Harlequin's new "Everasting Love" series. The kind of love that is deep enough and stong enough to survive through years of NORMAL wear and tear is well worth examining. The kind of love that manages to withstand heart wrenching loss or tragedy is even more remarkable. Why is it that some relationships are able to endure the test of time and heartbreak, while others cannot? The books of the "Everlasting Love" series try to answer this difficult and ancient question by chronicling the vastly different lives of couples who have at least one thing in common. Through good years and bad, and through happiness and sorrow, their love has somehow been able to survive and even grow stronger.

My own book, "The Secret Dreams of Emily Porter" will join Holly Jacobs' "The House on Briar Hill Road" as the new Everlasting Love selections for October. Each book in the series (And I've read every single one of them!) has contained beautiful and important messages about courage and survival...and everlasting love. I can only hope that my own book (my first) will be as moving and honest as these have been.

True love, Everlasting Love

It's a joy to be among this fine group of writers who tell such wonderful stories. And to be a part of this new blog.

Love, in the beginning, is filled with wonder and excitement. A glow surrounds the happy pair. The real world is somewhere over there--set apart where it can't intrude. But the real world has a habit of muscling in and creating complications to test the bonds that hold the couple together.

To me, true love--Everlasting Love--should have its own special glow brighter than that of new love. The couple has earned it!

Stella MacLean

Wow! I made it to the Everlasting Love Blog! Just dusting off my fingers from way too many sorties into all the wrong parts of the blogging world. This is my first blog and I'm so pleased that it's all about Everlasting Love, a fantastic Harlequin series with great authors and stories. Speaking of stories--My cat, Emma, is perched on the deck watching a hummingbird feeder, expecting her lunch at any moment, no doubt. The truth is--Emma has never caught anything in her nine years of being my writing assistant. But she has high hopes, and all day to sit on the deck and watch from behind the potted herbs.
Because Emma loves my lap when I'm writing, I included her as a character in my second Everlasting Love book, tentatively titled, Love Always.
The FedEx man is at my door, so I got to go. But now that I've found my way here, I will be back.
Stella

A new everlasting home

Welcome to the Everlasting Love blog! I'm excited to be here!

Writing for this line is a big departure for me. My first book for the line, The House on Briar Hill Road, is one of the first non-comedies (not even light humor) stories. It features a family dealing with a profound loss. We lost my MIL, one of my best friends, to breast cancer in 2004, and though our reactions were very different than my characters, imagining them acting the way they do wasn't a stretch.

This story also gave me the opportunity to try something different. I did a short story for eHarlequin.com that will start on 9-10-07. The Moments is a secondary character's romance and fills in 'missing years' from the book. It was so much fun writing this tied story.

I look forward to hanging out with these other great writers, and our readers!

Holly

Now and Forever

I'm excited to be part of the Harlequin family with the Everlasting Love books. As I mentioned in my letter for FAMILY STORIES (May 2007), I love collecting stories of people. I especially like to know how people met, why they stay together, and what happens along the way. It used to be to help with the blueprint for my own life. Now I have the joy of writing some of these stories into books for the Everlasting Love line.

Just yesterday I was visiting with a non-writing friend about Happy-Ever-After endings. She said that when she went into her marriage, she planned on the "I Do" lasting forever -- and that an HEA has never been unrealistic to her! A great way to mention our books. . . and the wonderful stories that I've found from the Everlasting Lovelies! A great name for us, Linda.

WRITING ABOUT FOREVER

I’m excited to be a part of new Everlasting Love Books. And it’s a pleasure to blog with the Everlasting Lovelies, great authors and great books.
Our stories are about true love and real life—what happens after boys meets girl and they fall in love. A love that span a lifetime, ah, doesn’t that just melt your heart. It does mine. Everlasting love is what we all what. I’m happy to say I found my everlasting guy and I’m sticking with him forever. We’ve had bad times, but we’ve made it through. And that’s what I love about this line – writing about forever - a love that can survive the good as well as the bad.
My heroine in ALWAYS A MOTHER faces an unplanned pregnancy that could destroy her 25 year marriage. And it comes out in May – Mother’s Day month. How wonderful is that?
Linda Warren

Living the Happily Ever After

I'm so thrilled to be a part of this truly unique and wonderful line from Harlequin. As I am in the middle of living my happily ever after (complete with a husband, three sons and a house growing more dilapidated with each day my children are home for summer vacation) I love the idea of reading about couples who are also living theirs. So grab a book and a cup of coffee and come join us-- we're shaking things up and writing all the exciting ups and downs that come after you find the man of your dreams.

Excellent Beginnings

I'm delighted to be blogging with my Everlasting writing friends. Our stories should lead to much discussion - a lifetime of love cannot be boring! I'll be out of town, however, starting this afternoon, so will have to catch up later. Once benefit of an everlasting love and family is celebrating a grandchild, and that's what I'll be doing with my four-month-old Alexis Michelle this week in Connecticut. Yay!

Take care,
Linda B.

May Your Glass Be Ever Full/Irish Blessing

This is so great. I'm excited that I was able to find my way into this blog since navigating my way through blogspots hasn't been my strong point.
I love the books in the line, and hope readers have discovered how great the stories are.
How do we tell readers to come visit us here?

Everlasting Love Builds Everlasting Friendships

It's a great honor to be part of this incredibly talented group of authors, and to be writing for Harlequin Everlasting. In Everlasting my writing voice has found a home, and I hope readers find a home for their need (and mine!) to read a story that includes more than just the meet and first kiss. Life is challenging, often difficult, but we can have joy each day if we're blessed with an Everlasting Love in our own life.

How about you--what's your Everlasting story?

Peace,

Geri Krotow
A RENDEZVOUS TO REMEMBER November 2007 Harlequin Everlasting Love

A New Place to Be (Tara Taylor Quinn)

I love our new blog!! It truly is lovely. Our new line is great, too. Everlasting Love. What a concept. And yet, as those of us who are writing the books have found, also very very true. Love can and does stand the test of time. I love writing for the Everlasting Love series. I can tell stories, yet make them so real they emulate the lives we all live, or want to live. And my sister authors do the same. We're a great group of writers. I hope everyone enjoys our new community!