Weekend Wind-Down : : Thanksgiving Memories

Anne McAllister is not lying in a hammock like the PHS kitten this week. She's gearing up to cook Thanksgiving dinner with one hand come Thursday while she writes a book with her other hand. So life is not exactly restful and there's not much winding-down. But it's definitely one of her favorite times of the year.

I love Thanksgiving.

Other people are crazy about Christmas (and I like it, too, but sometimes I think it's too much of a good thing). Or they go all out for Valentine's Day. Or they celebrate another holiday in their own tradition and in their own country every year that means a lot to them.

For me, in the USA, it's Thanksgiving.

When I was a kid I wasn't so keen on it because it meant getting dressed up ("Why?" I used to say plaintively to my mother. "It's just family." And I still don't think there was a good answer to that except maybe we were supposed to be impressing each other) and going to my grandparents' house to spend the entire afternoon and evening with my grandfather's multitude of eccentric sisters.

There were good bits, though. There was fabulous food. There was the chance to play with cousins I didn't normally see. And there was my uncle George who always said the same things every year: "Who made the dressing? The dressing is soooo moist. Did you make the dressing, Minnie?" As the dressing was inside the turkey and my grandmother had made the turkey, it was pretty much a given who had made the dressing. And her name wasn't Minnie, either -- that was the name one of the cousins called the cow creamer pitcher. But on Thanksgiving it was my grandmother.

We always smiled about that. And now that I think about it, maybe that was the starting point of why I like the holiday so much.

It is what you make it.

It has the requisite good food, but the rest is up to you.

But the essence, I think -- and why I like it -- is that it's inclusive. It makes you a part of something bigger than yourself. It connects you -- to the past, to the future, and to the people around you that day.

There are traditions that have grown up in various places and parts of the country -- we have a Thanksgiving day Turkey Trot race and football game where I live -- and one of my boys has played football in it when he's come home. It reconnects him with people he doesn't see any other time. It connects him -- for now at least -- to people with a common goal, often people he doesn't even know.

There are similar connections on a national level. There's the Thanksgiving Day Parade and a couple of televised NFL football games. When my dad was living, those games were a big part of his day -- partly for the football, of course. But also because on another level, watching even from his own home, connected him with other people. They shared something. And the next time he played pool with his buddies, they talked turkey -- and football. He was connected.

I learned to love the eccentric great-aunts more when I had gone away to college and didn't get to see them at Thanksgiving. I found that I missed them. I remembered their stories, their eccentricities, their hip flasks -- and I understood later what I hadn't understood at the time -- the value of connection.

When we moved to Iowa and had no family nearby -- before I realized I was related to an entire county not so very far away -- our neighbors invited us to dinner. We didn't know them well yet, but the friendship grew out of that Thanksgiving. It made us feel at home. It connected us to our new home.

Over the years we've had so many people for Thanksgiving that I can't begin to remember them all. Embarrassingly, I invited someone last year who said she just loved coming to our house for Thanksgiving, and I didn't remember that she'd been with us before!

My only excuse is that I'm so often in the kitchen cooking that I barely seem to know who is there. I just know I'm glad they are.

As I cook that day, I will again be using my grandmother's recipes and I'll feel connected not just with the people who are coming for dinner but with her -- and with my aunt who made all the same recipes at Christmas, and my great-grandmother who did the same thing a hundred years ago.

I'll feel connected to Uncle George who is probably hassling "Minnie" up in heaven about the dressing. And I expect I'll even feel connected to the eccentric great-aunts who have provided me with many wonderful family stories, even if, in person, they were sometimes a little, er, challenging.

Someday I hope to have all my kids -- and the ever-increasing horde of grandkids -- around for Thanksgiving. Last year we Skyped with all of them. One of them even 'joined' us for dinner via Skype. It was a new sort of connection. A new way of connecting.

A new tradition, maybe? I don't know. I just know I'm looking forward to it.

What about you? Do you have a favorite holiday? Particular traditions you relish every year? What are they and why are they special to you?

When she's not messing with cranberries and stuffing birds, Anne is working on her latest Savas family book for Presents. The most recent one, One-Night Mistress ... Convenient Wife is a November release both in UK and US. You can read an excerpt on her website.

Must Watch Friday - NCIS

Fiona Harper tells us about her must-watch Friday – because every Friday night she really is glued to her television, waiting to catch the latest instalment of her favourite TV show: NCIS.

NCIS stands for Naval Criminal Investigative Service, and this show is about a team of specialist investigators who work for the US Navy. Oh no, I hear you all cry. Not another CSI-type programme with moody lighting and people who use torches to look at things in broad daylight. And you’d be right. It’s not another show like that (although I do confess a weakness for CSI as well). The cases are clever and the forensics complicated, but what makes NCIS is the characters and the wonderful interaction between them. I honestly can’t pick a favourite character out of the cast, because they are all so compelling.

Team leader is Leroy Jethro Gibbs, played by Mark Harmon (see above). He’s an ex marine sniper who says little and doesn’t suffer fools gladly. He’s fiercely loyal and protective of his team, even if he has to give them an ‘affectionate’ slap on the back of the head every so often, just to keep them in line. If you like tough mavericks with slow-burning sex appeal, Gibbs is your man.

Senior field agent is Tony DiNozzo, played by Michael Weatherly, who has filled the Male on Monday slot more than once here at the Pink Heart Society. He’s one of those irresistible charmers who seems completely shallow and full of himself, but underneath there is tenderness and depth – he just doesn’t let anyone see it very often. Although he paints himself as a playboy, he fell in love with a woman he’d been told to date so he could gather information on her arms-dealer father, and he’s been guarding his heart very carefully ever since.

Tony sees it as his job in life to torment junior agent Timothy McGee, or “McGeek” as he calls him, played by Sean Murray. McGee is a super-brainy computer whizz-kid, who secretly wrote a thriller based on his colleagues and gets plenty of stick for it. His writing almost gets one of the team killed, as a stalker who thinks his books are real tries to defend his writing hero.

Last member of the field team is Ziva David, a former assassin, played by Cote de Pablo. She’s a feisty lady who drives like she has a death wish and knows how to handle herself. There’s been plenty of sexual tension between Ziva and Tony since she joined the team, and I keep watching hoping that one day they might get together. Ziva has a long and complex history with her father, the director of the Israeli security agency Mossad, and underneath the tough exterior she’s much more vulnerable than anybody realises. Ziva is a tough and multi-layered woman. Sometimes, I would just love to be her. Although I might draw the line at sleeping with a gun under my pillow.

Down in the lab is forensic scientist Abby Scuito, played by Pauley Perette, the sunniest, most affectionate goth you are ever likely to meet, even though she sleeps in a coffin and drives a hearse. She talks to her lab machines as if they are her babies and is the only member of the team who can get away with hugging Gibbs without losing a limb. I love Abby. She rocks.

And I can’t leave out the wonderful David McCallum who plays Dr “Ducky” Mallard, the teams’ medical examiner, who is a fount of useful (and useless) information. The episode where Ducky had to bring his rather senile elderly mother in to work with him has to be one of the funniest I have ever seen!

I could go on for pages about the wonderful, fast-paced dialogue, the quick humour, the gripping storylines that keep me rooting for the characters week after week, but the best way to share the magic of NCIS with you is to leave you with a fast-paced clip that sums up the sharp writing and humour that makes me love this show so much:

Thursday Talktime: Daring to Dream

Dreams are more than just one book, or one appearance

Sometimes you just know. When I saw first the you tube video of Susan Boyle doing her audition, I thought -- yes this is what dreams are made of. Many thought the final of this would be Susan winning the talent contest. Indeed if it was a hollywood film, she would have.

She came second and the pressure became far too much. She went through the valley of shadows and some dismissed her as not up to it. But her dream was not to win a talent contest, her dream was to be a professional singer and she had an inner core of strength and resolve, bolstered by her faith.

With help, she came through and her first album I Dreamed a Dream is released on 23 November. She is living her dream -- a career as a professional singer. Dreams should never be about just one contest, one performance or one song but about achieving something life changing and lasting.
This is something that all authors of series romance can identify with. It is never about just one book, but about forging a writing career. And walking through the valley of shadows makes the sun filled uplands that much brighter.
The first video is about Susan Boyle and her life and career thus far. It is about hope. Dedication, desire, determination, discipline and most of all persistence.






But is she any good? Is her album all hype and no trousers?

The second video Wild Horses shows why you should buy her album. Not because of her story, but because of her voice and the heart she puts into her songs. If this video doesn't convince, listen to the free samples of the various tracks on Amazon. Her voice conveys a richness and a depth that is sometimes missing in younger singers. She puts her heart into her work and really that is all you can ask.
I know that I will be listening to this album for inspiration again and again because of the depth and complexity of her voice, rather than her story. Bring on the next album! And congratulations to Susan Boyle for having the courage to dream her dreams and not give up.





What dreams have you dared to dream? And what have you done about them lately?

Michelle Styles's latest historical romance The Viking's Captive Princess is a December 2009 release and you can read an excerpt on her website http://www.michellestyles.co.uk/ .

Writer's Wednesday - THE CALL with LIZ TALLEY

A huge Pink Heart welcome to brand new author Liz Talley!  This Pink Heart editor admits that she read Liz's story before posting - and had to wipe a tear or two.

Congratulations Liz!


Pst! Let me tell you a secret – one that is familiar to every writer, actor, or singer. It’s the secret desire that lurks in the bottom of the heart. The one you nurture in the wee hours of the morning, playing out over and over in your mind. It’s “the call” fantasy. You remember it, right? In fact, you’ve probably traded it for the Rita acceptance speech. Here’s how I envisioned my call playing out:

Twenty pounds lighter, I would be out and about, bustling around the metropolis of Shreveport. The kids would be yelling, horns honking, and music blaring. The phone would ring and I wouldn’t bother to look down at the caller. It would be my mom. Of course. But I couldn’t hear because the kids were yelling at each other about someone eating all the red skittles. So I would say, “Sorry. Hold on, Mom.” Then I would yell at my kids, give the rude driver honking at me a deserved finger-shake and manage to turn down the radio. Finally I would say, “Sorry.” And she would say, “Amy? Hello, this is Wanda Ottewell. I want to buy your book.” Then I would scream, hit the car in front of me, slide out from behind the wheel and dance in the middle of the intersection.

Sounded like a good story to me. I could even see myself telling it (as I stood on the stage accepting my Rita). Everyone would chuckle and think how clever I was . .and how good I look in my gown after losing another ten pounds.

But it didn’t go quite like that.

It went more like this.

I had been out all morning running errands with my husband. We’d unloaded a huge bag of dog food and I stepped in to heat up our lunch. So I popped the leftovers in the microwave and spun around to check caller id. First number up, my mom. No surprise there. Next number, Harlequin Enterprises. My stomach hit my knees. No kidding. I thought I might vomit.

I set the phone back down on the receiver and said, “huh.”

My husband, walking into the kitchen, said, “What’s wrong?”

I said, “Nothing.”

He said, “Good, then let’s eat.”

I said, “It’s in the microwave. I’ve got to check something in my office.”

So I calmly walked to the back of the house, holding the phone. I had the number on ID, but I hadn’t listened to the message yet. I pushed the dial button and waited to hear the message. Instead a voice said, “Harlequin Enterprises.” I panicked and hung up.

Shaking, I made it to my desk and sunk into my chair. I dialed the voicemail and tried to look nonchalant, like I called publishers every day. The message was from Wanda Ottewell. She wanted me to call her. Okay. Call her. So I managed to dial the number and tell the receptionist who I’d just hung up on that I needed to be connected to Wanda’s extension. And then I said a prayer. Please, Lord, don’t let her tell me she liked the revisions, but they just wouldn’t work. Please. Wanda said hello before I could get any further on the prayer. We exchanged pleasantries and I prepared myself for the worst. Instead she said, “Amy, I’m right in the middle of something. Do you mind if I call you back in about 30-45 minutes?”

I gulped. “Sure.”

Then I hung up and stared at the phone. My husband appeared at the door. “You gonna come eat?”

I nodded.

“Hey,” he said, “Who was that on the phone?”

“Um, Wanda Ottewell.”

He grinned. “Is she going to buy your book?”

“I don’t know,” I said, trying to rise on shaking legs.

“You don’t look so good,” he said. “Why are you shaking?”

I shrugged. “I’m nervous, I guess.”

So forty three minutes, four trips to the bathroom, and one xanax later, the phone rang. I picked it up and looked at my husband. He nodded.

“Hello”

More pleasantries and then finally….”Well, Amy, I liked your revisions. You did a good job with that, and I want you to know I want to make an offer for this book.”

“Great,” I said.

I rose, closed the door in my husband’s face, and got out a pen and paper. She told me what she wanted, how everything would go down and what I needed to know. Mid-way through the particulars, Wanda stopped and said, “You’re really very calm about this.”

I said, “I’m medicated. I had to take a Xanax.”

She laughed…and laughed….and finally, I laughed too.

Because I’d done it. Finally. I’d done it. After I got off the phone, I climbed into my husband’s lap and cried. “I did it. I sold it.”

He patted my back. “That’s great, honey. How much money are you getting?’

And then, through my tears, I laughed some more.


Vegas Two Step, Liz's Debut with Superromance, hits the shelves in June 2010!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Temptation Tuesday: Make 'Em Miserable

Please welcome Allie Pleiter to the Pink Heart Society!  Thanks for joining us, Allie!

Anyone who knows me knows my number one temptation is yarn. As in the thing I knit. It’s my obsession, my passion, my craft, the thing I’m never without.

As I writer, though, I have another guilty pleasure: making my characters miserable. Why? Because we love characters who go through the ringer in books. We’ll pull for the hero under the gun and for the heroine who’s had the rug pulled out from under her. To be honest, part of the fun of being a writer is having the chance to make folks genuinely miserable before we make them deliriously happy. It’s a very productive place to take our your frustrations. And so, in the spirit of confession (and because you may not really be interested in hearing about all my yarn adventures, although if you are go to www.destiKNITions.blogspot.com and you’ll get more than you ever wanted), I’m going to share my top five favorite ways to make characters miserable.



1. Meet his match

A dominant, controlling guy deserves to lose his heart to a woman who won’t let the world push her around. We love to watch his character grow when he falls for the gal who won’t fall for his usual tricks. He has to dig deep, to relinquish some control, and pursue partnership instead of mastering manipulation. She’ll make him a better man by the end. Think Matthew McConaughey in How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days.

2. Take away her toys

Pluck her away from her comfortable surroundings, and your heroine will discover new abilities (and annoyances) in the challenge. She may even do it willingly, in an attempt to change her life, but when it ends up costing her more than she imagined, it’ll reveal her true character. It’s that true character that makes love happen. Think Reese Witherspoon in Sweet Home Alabama.

3. Give him nothing left to lose--or everything to lose

The bigger the battle, the mightier the hero. When the woman he loves costs him everything, we’ll cheer him on to his just reward. An epic love sweeps us away from the ordinary in our lives. Throw in a few extra challenges, like a war or a sinking cruise liner, and we’ll love him to the end. Think Daniel Day-Lewis in Last of the Mohicans or Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic.


4. Let her fall on her face

Bumbles in the name of love are, well, lovable. How many of us can recall times we’ve been that “fool for love?” Let her go to extremes in the name of impressing her beloved--we already know he loves her warts and all. Have her lie to save him when the truth is actually what’s needed most of all. Let her affections drive her to irrational, consequence-laden behavior, because we know that resolution will be sweet indeed. Think Renee Zellweger in Bridget Jones Diary.


5. Make him think he’s no good for her

Oh, we love our dark and brooding heroes, bent on denying himself his true love because he’s too dangerous, unworthy, too wounded or, say, a vampire. We know she’s up to the task of loving him, but he’s unwilling to risk hurting her. We’ll watch him rip his heart out of his chest for want of her, and we’ll break out the tissues when he finally allows her inside his dark and tormented soul. Think Robert Pattinson in Twilight or Tobey Maguire in Spiderman.

Every one of these miserable moments paves the way for a happy ending. Mac and Mary make each other supremely miserable before they make each other blissfully happy in Bluegrass Christmas. Because where’s all the fun if they’re happy the whole time? Remember what they say...”you always hurt the one you love.” And when a whole lotta hurt brings a whole lotta healing, you’ve got yourself a keeper of a book.

I'll give away a signed copy of Bluegrass Christmas to one commenter!

BLUEGRASS CHRISTMAS

An Old Fashioned Christmas...


That’s what led new believer Mary Thorpe to start over in quaint Middleburg, Kentucky. As director of the church’s Christmas pageant, Mary’s job is to bring the townspeople together, to remind them what the season is really about. But everyone is all riled up over one very handsome man: the man daring to run against Middleburg’s popular long-standing mayor. Mac MacCarthy wants change. Mary wants things to stay as they are. Is there a happy medium? Both Mac and Mary are in for one very big Christmas surprise.


Visit Allie at www.alliepleiter.com

Male On Monday - My Perfect Presents Hero

Sabrina Philips is back at the PHS with her perfect Presents hero - Christiano Ronaldo! 

Being allergic to sport myself I used to avoid watching it at all costs. But when I got together with my now husband, a die-hard sports fan, there had to be a little compromise in the television department. Which was why, in summer 2006 I found myself watching the football world cup and getting suitably whipped up in the hysteria along with the rest of the country. And that was when – during the quarter final between England and Portugal – Cristiano Ronaldo first came to my attention.

And not in a good way. At first. Along with the rest of the British public I was appalled by what the press branded as his conspiracy to get Wayne Rooney (his team mate at Manchester United) sent off (he protested to the ref about a move by Rooney, and was seen infamously winking at the Portuguese bench when Rooney was indeed shown a red card, and England subsequently lost the match)

He was totally arrogant, totally ruthless, but in typical Harlequin Presents fashion, also (in my opinion) totally sexy.

When the media storm died down (the ref said his decision had nothing to do with Ronaldo, and Rooney encouraged him to stay at Man Utd when he considered leaving, following the backlash) I started to feel a little less guilty about my crush. Particularly when I caught up with the rest of the world and realised that Ronaldo is one of the best football players there has ever been.

As a result, he’s currently the highest paid player in the world, and the most expensive in footballing history since Real Madrid bought him from Manchester United for a whopping 80 million last June. But apart from the fact that he’s loaded, got an incredible physique, dark Mediterranean looks and is still undeniably arrogant, the main reason why, to me, he’s the perfect Harlequin Presents hero, is his drive and passion. When I watch a match (something I’m no longer quite so ‘allergic’ to), there’s no one else who can match him for single-minded focus. And it’s paid off - he bounced back from the media storm and has gone on to score an incredible number of goals, and deservedly win award after award for it, including World Player of the Year.

And he’s still just twenty-four. Which means, by my estimation, it won’t be long before he discovers that he has everything but it’s not worth anything without the love of a good woman …well at least that’s the way it goes when I’m writing the story!

Sabrina’s latest book, Prince of Montéz, Pregnant Mistress, hits the shelves in November in the UK, and January 2010 in North America. Check out her website www.sabrinaphilips.com for more details.

Wild Card Weekend - The Best Christmas Present Ever!

Please welcome brand spankin' new, debut Harlequin American Author CC Coburn to the Pink Heart Society!

This week my debut novel, “Colorado Christmas” goes on sale in North America, making this a very special Christmas for me!


It’s been quite a year (and a bit) since I got The Call in person at the RWA conference in San Francisco.

Although I was overjoyed that a twenty year undertaking had finally been realized, in some ways it didn’t feel quite “real”.

It started to get real around the time, “Colorado Christmas” was listed on Amazon. Up until then, I couldn’t help thinking it could all fall in a heap. Not that I didn’t have confidence in Harlequin or my wonderful editor, Paula Eykelhof, or even the belief in the evidence of my advance check – it was just that somehow, until that concrete proof that my book was actually in production and people could order it—it was still all a little surreal. Like I might wake up and find it was all a dream.

It’s been an interesting journey since the 2006 Romance Writers of Australia conference where I met Paula Eykelhof and pitched what was then called, “Judge Becky and the Scoundrel” to her (very badly I might add, since I forgot the rest of the story after the elevator pitch!)

Fortunately, Paula’s 25 years in the business helped her see through my tangled tongue to the essence of a story that showed potential for the Harlequin American Romance line. She patiently worked with me on the ms and several revisions for two years and then at the RWA San Francisco conference, Paula and American Romance editor, Kathleen Scheibling, gave me The Call in person. Believe me, after 20 years, I thought that day would never come and it took a moment for the info to sink into my brain!

After getting the longed-for Call, I thought that I was nearing the end of the journey to publication. Little did I realize how much more is involved in bringing a manuscript to publication standard. I’m still not sure of the difference between line edits and copy edits, am still finding my stories are riddled with head-hopping and clichés, and a hundred other writing no no’s, but with Paula’s guidance, I’m getting there.

There’s also the difference in language between English Australian and English USA and I don’t mean just the spelling. Paula often queries me on things like – “rugged up” (meaning dressed warmly) “wrapped the baby in a rug” (no, I didn’t mean a floor rug, I meant a blanket!) She was particularly alarmed that in book #2 the hero is nursing a baby. Hey! What’s wrong with that? Australian men nurse babies all the time! (nurse, means hold, in OzSpeak).

I eagerly awaited my author copies, but in the meantime, A Top Pick review from Romantic Times had my head swollen bigger than a watermelon and I received some lovely fan letters from readers on Harlequin’s direct marketing list – but still not sign of my author copies!

But they eventually arrived and were duly sent off to friends and relatives who’d supported my career over so many years. I read my very own copy and was surprised how much I enjoyed it.

Even my husband liked it: “Apart from spoiling it with all that mushy stuff”. Any wonder I write romance? (grin)

Still, he did love Louella (the very naughty pig) and asked if she’d be returning in any other stories. Well… no… she wasn’t but then I ran it by my editor and she thought Louella deserved an encore performance. So Louella is back in book #2 of The O’Malley Men series, “The Sheriff and the Baby” (the one with the “nursing” hero (wink!).

It’s interesting hearing from readers what they liked about the book, each one so far has remarked on something different which surprised me. Some enjoyed the light-hearted moments, others the romance, or the quirky characters and yet others remarked on impact of the… well, I can’t tell you about that because it would be giving away the ending! So you’re just going to have to read the book and tell me your favorite part of “Colorado Christmas”.

I hope readers will enjoy Colorado Christmas and want to read more of the O’Malley Men series and subsequent books of mine. I love writing for Harlequin American Romance and I love my fellow authors!

Write and tell me what would be the best thing you could imagine getting for Christmas and I’ll choose a winner to receive an autographed copy of “Colorado Christmas”.

Till next time - happy reading everyone!



CC’s debut novel, COLORADO CHRISTMAS is on sale now in North America. You can check out a review or order it through Amazon or eHarlequin via her webpage www.cccoburn.com