Travelling Tuesday : : The Tour de France

Anne McAllister is in that lovely place called "between books" which means she is refilling the well of creativity, pitting cherries and making pies, reading books that are not about sailing, welcoming yet another new grandson, feeling a bit despondent that Andy Roddick didn't win at Wimbledon, and watching the Tour de France.

July at our house means that we watch stealth bombers fly four feet above the house on the 3rd of the month because where we live we don't get the air show on the 4th (presumably big cities get them then). It means one of the dogs huddles nervously in the basement because she hates fireworks. It means the appropriatedly aged grandkids come to attend sports camp at the local college.

And -- this is the part I really like the best -- it means that for most of the month I get to ogle extremely fit, muscular men in skin tight lycra pedalling their way around some of the most gorgeous places in France .

I call it research. Most people call it watching the Tour de France.

This year I'm finding it particularly interesting because 7 time winner Lance Armstrong has come out of retirement to ride again in an effort to create global awareness and involvement in his campaign to combat cancer.

Will he win an unprecedented eighth time? Who knows? As I write this, he's in the top 10. He has a chance. But he's nearly 38 years old. On the first day he posted, "Kreuziger just moved into 2nd. I raced with his dad!"

But whether he wins or not, he's making it interesting this year. And if you aren't already following him on Twitter, check it out.

His pre-or-post race videos are definitely a quick inside look at the tour from a racer's perspective.

The tour has been around a long time. It began in 1903, as a publicity stunt for a sports newspaper called L'Auto. It covered a distance of 2428 km, taking place over 19 days in six stages and rankings were based on the cumulative time over the course of the tour. It attracted sixty tough gutsy cyclists then. It's been attracting the world's toughest gutsiest cyclists ever since, and has been raced since that time except for the years spanning World War I and World War II.

Originally a race by individuals, it is now raced by teams -- usually around 20 -- with nine members apiece, selected for their particular strengths. Some are time trial experts, some are mountain climbers, some are good teammates who ride well in support. The winners tend to be those who can endure the mountains and still prove themselves fast on time trials.

The teams are no longer 'national' teams in general, but sponsored teams, who may have a 'national' sponsor as well as commercial sponsors. And the riders for any given team may come from all over the world.

Armstrong's Team Astana is sponsored by the nation of Kazakhstan. The riders are from the Kazakhstan (Dmitriy Muravyev), USA (Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer, Spain (Alberto Contador, Haimar Zubeldia), Germany (Andreas Kloden), Ukraine (Yaroslav Popovych), Switzerland (Gregory Rast), and Portugal (Sergio Paulinho). So if you're looking for international hero material, here's a good place to start.

And if you want to watch men endure, this is the place to do it, too. The race takes place over 23 days and covers over 3,500 km (2200 mi). There are two 'rest' days which are often spent moving from one place in France to another. Most of the stages are raced in France, though stages may begin or end or pass through a neighboring country.

This year's tour, for example, began in Monaco. It will end, as all the recent tours have, on the Champs-Élysées in Paris.

Because it's a little tricky to tell who's actually 'leading' when well over a hundred cyclists are whizzing past, the tour makes it a bit easier for the folks on the sidelines -- as well as those watching on television -- by awarding the 'yellow jersey' to the over-all leader of the race.

The 'green jersey' is awarded for sprint points. At the end of each stage, points are earned by the riders who finish first, second, etc. Sprints are more likely on the flat stages and more points are awarded for those.

The 'polka dot jersey' is worn by the "King of the Mountains" or the rider who has the best times in the mountain stages.

The rider under 25 who has the best time wears the 'white jersey.' The 'combativity prize' goes to the rider who attacks the most any given day, thus animating the race and challenging the other riders. There's also a 'team prize' but it doesn't have a jersey to go with it.

Lots of jerseys to keep an eye on, in other words. And lots of great scenery -- besides the guys on bikes -- as well.

If you're not travelling yourself this July, consider taking a trip around France with the men of the peloton. You might find it as inspiring as I do.

Do you have favorite sporting events? Which? What do you particularly like about them?


Anne McAllister's most recent book, Savas' Defiant Mistress, can still be had through online bookstores. She's waiting with bated breath to see the cover of her next release, One-Night Mistress, Convenient Wife, which is coming in November from Harlequin Presents and HM&B Modern. If you see it before she does (always a possibility) drop by her blog and tell her where to find it!

Also consider dropping by her website to participate in her new contest in honor of most recent grandson, Sol. You could win lots of books and other goodies (including chocolate because there is no such thing as a contest without chocolate).

Male on Monday :: THE "LIST"

Today is Ally Blake's birthday so she's giving herself a pressie. not one but five guys worthy of hero inspiration who make up her "list".
You've all heard of the "list" right? That's the top five celeb guys you're allowed to have an affair with without any repercussions from your hubby.

Those of you Friends lovers out there might remember Ross had one when he was going out with Rachel. Isabella Rossellini was on that list. After much thought he eventually took her off the list, laminated his 'final' list, and then, wouldn't you know, met Isabella Rossellini!!! Foiled!!! And hilarious...



Anyhoo, considering I am at home with a toddler and a newborn, my "list" is currently on haitus ;), so instead I'm going to give you my top five guys I have yet to use as hero inspiration, what I like about them, and why I haven't used them yet.

JOSH HARTNETT

Why do I adore him? Cause he's hot! Super, duper, yummy, dark hair dark eyes, great voice, yummylicious hot. So heart-achingingly adopring in Pearl Harbor. So darkly dark in his tiny part in Sin City. And ohy my did he break my teenaged heart when I first saw in in The Virgin Suicides.

Why am I yet to use him? Too young. That's the only reason I can think of. Or maybe he's just too beautiful. A scar, a broken nose, something needs to roughen the guy up a bit. This picture shows he's on his way!

EDDIE CIBRIAN

Why do I adore him? Ummm, just look at the guy! If anyone can rival Hugh in a towel, he's it. He was super empathetic and fabulous in the execllent night time soap Third Watch. Gorgeous in his memorbale though blink and you'll miss them spots on Dirty Sexy Money and Samantha Who?.

Why am I yet to use him? Maybe because I haven't seen him in anything in ages. When casting a hero it absolutely helps if they are current. Any new little angle, or expression can create a lightbulb moment for any new hero.

DAVID DUCHOVNY

Why do I adore him? The guy makes for a brilliant romantic hero. Please tell me you've ALL seen his turn in Bonnie Hunt's beeeeautiful "Return to Me". I think of him as the thinking woman's crumpet. But he also has a delicions dark side - see the delicious Californication. Likable, warm, shady, naughty, funny, quirky and with a voice like melted chocolate.

Why haven't I used him? Have yet to find the right vehicle.


PAUL NEWMAN

Why do I adore him? To name a few reasons I'd go with Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. The Hudsucker Proxy. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The Sting. He's pure class. He had one of the great Hollywood romances. He was self-deprecating and funny. Oh, yeah, and he had the face of a Roman god.

Why haven't I used him? I have a book in mind, I just haven't been quite ready to write it as yet.


HUGH JACKMAN



Why do I adore him? He's 6'5", has a smile as wide as Australia, is madly in love with his wife, has the kind of magnetism that makes women love him and men go out and see his movies in droves. This choice is a total no brainer. Yet, in 20 odd books I've yet to use him as inspiration for a romance hero!

Why haven't I used him? I know! I know! He's the absolute prince of romance novelist hero inspiration, right? I've tried. Really I have. But each and every time it just hasn 't worked. The casting has been all wrong, and when I've finally found the right guy for the job the work has become a thousand times easier. That said, I'm not giving up. The dozens of pictures of the guy in my "Heroes" folder in my computer will not go to waste ;).

Now come to think of it, if I had to give you a list like Ross's in Friends, the above would have come pretty close.

So now, I have a question for you... Which five guys would be on your list? Hero inspiration or as per Ross's instructions - your choice!

Give Ally a birthday pressie by checking out her current releases!!!


Meet Cameron Kelly in Dating the Rebel Tycoon, out now in the UK and North America as a Harlequin Romance. then check out his brother Dylan Kelly in Getting Red-Hot with the Rogue, out now through Modern Heat in the UK, and come November as a Harlequin Presents in North America.

Find out more at Ally's website.

THE KELLYS OF BRISBANE

They're rich, they're powerful, they've always had everything they've ever wanted. Is there hope for them yet?

Wild Card Weekend - July 4th

Please welcome Susan Page Davis with this year's Independence Day post!

This Saturday will be a family 4th of July celebration for me, my husband and children. We’ll travel about 200 miles to connect with others in the family and enjoy the day together.


That means a day off from working on my upcoming book, but I’ll probably be thinking about it in the car on the way. I love writing historical romance, and several of my past books fall into this category.

My Maine Brides series featured different generations of the Hunter family. In each book, the hero was somewhat of an outcast. But by the end, the family had reason to celebrate. Family, forgiveness, and reconciliation are themes in many of my books, and those things dovetail nicely with holiday celebrations.

In contemporary books, I love to work in holiday celebrations—Christmas, Memorial Day, 4th of July. It takes a little more work in historicals, because you have find out if that holiday was celebrated in that place, at that time, and if so, what the customs were.

My characters in Frasier Island, first book of my American Heroes Series, were isolated on a remote island in the North Pacific. One of the few naval officers on the island brought sparklers along for the July Fourth celebration. When you’re far from home, keeping traditions can be especially meaningful.

I like to read about holidays in books. If major holidays are “skipped over,” I wonder why. So I use a calendar when I’m planning and writing, to make sure I don’t do that. If the book is releasing near a holiday, that makes it even more fun.



Whatever your idea of a perfect Independence Day celebration, I hope you enjoy it with your family and give thanks for the freedoms it represents.




Susan's latest Love Inspired Suspense is On a Killer's Trail, Feb. 2009.

Must Watch Friday - Amelie

This week Silhouette Desire author, Bronwyn Jameson, is delighted to present the quirky French romantic comedy (well, sort of) Amelie. Or, in its original full title, Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain.

Yep, I am absolutely delighted to talk about Amelie ...although I must admit it wasn't my first choice. I was going to do a piece on Cinderella movies, with a smooth segue to the Cinderella touch in my July book Magnate's Make-Believe Mistress. (I love everything about segues, you see, including the feel of the word on my tongue.)

But a quick search of the PHS archives revealed that both my favourite Cinderella-themed movies, Pretty Woman and Ever After, have been done already. Sooo, I thought I could do Gossip Girl but that's only "must watch" television if you want to study the Upper East Side and soap opera excesses of bad behaviour. My third thought was The Proposal, which I saw this week, but it's not out in the UK until later this month so that wouldn't be fair, would it?

And then, serendipity. One of my all-time favourites on pay-TV! Smiling, I settled in to enjoy...and didn't stop smiling until long after The End. That's one of the reasons why Amelie. sits at the top of my favourites list -- no matter how many viewings, I'm left feeling completely satisfied and joyous. And smiling. And wanting to make others feel good as well. The perfect choice for a Must Watch Friday.

So, Amelie. . It's told in a different narrative style--the narrator and subtitles are part of the story, part of the appeal!--quirky, very French, and irresistible. Because Amelie, played brilliantly by Audrey Tautou, is irresistible. She's a naive young Frenchwoman embarking on a new life as a waitress in a Montmartre coffee shop, and through the opening series of vignettes of her childhood you learn why she is such an extreme introvert. That backstory is comic and poignant and, for the writers amongst us, a master class in showing-not-telling backstory.

The story proper commences when Amelie moves to Paris, although she is still an observer of life and of people -- in the coffee shop where she works and in the apartment building where she lives. The first turning point is when she discovers, in a secret hidie-hole, a box of treasures from a previous tenant's boyhood. She sets out to find him, to return the treasures, but because of her shyness she does so from a distance...although she watches and when she sees the man's joy, she has found her life's mission. She will stop observing, listening, she will start doing something about the inequities she sees around her.

I should mention at this point the movie's logline. Amelie -- she will change your life.

Amelie's missions are many and, given her imagination and her extreme shyness, they're not approached in a usual or straight-forward fashion. At the coffee shop, she dabbles in a spot of match-making which provides some of the movie's funnier moments. She convinces her housebound father to follow his dream of world travel with true inventiveness and the help of a garden gnome (I did mention this movie was quirky, yes?) She turns around a neighbour's sadness over her cheating husband, and her vengeance against a pig of a shopkeeper is a thing of charm and beauty. I defy anyone not to fall in love with Amelie based on this alone!

In betwixt all her anonymous do-gooding, Amelie becomes embroiled in a minor mystery involving pictures of a man taken and discarded in rail-station photo booths. The photos have been found and collected by a mysterious stranger, Nino (Mathieu Kassovitz), to whom Amelie is drawn. She melts, literally. Although her shyness proves a huge barrier when it comes to meeting the man. And so we get to the real heart of the story: Amelie has been busily changing other lives, but what about her own? Can she stop observing life and grab it for herself? Can she change her own life?

Amelie has developed a friendship with a housebound neighbour, who spends his life painting Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party over and over. There's a girl in the centre background (observing the central characters!) that he can't get quite right and their dialogue about this girl, about the parallels with Amelie, bring her inner conflict to the fore. The movie's climax is her quest to meet Nino although, being Amelie, this is neither straightforward nor simple. It is, however, whimsical and charming and original. Which pretty much sums up Amelie, the character, and Amelie. , the movie.

Why do I love this movie so much? For its joie de vivre, its touches of dark humour, its unexpectedness, its bright colour and detail (I swear, I see something new with every viewing.) For Amelie's unique character; she is what Regency novels refer to as a "true original". For Audrey Tautou, who lives and breathes the character. For Paris, as seen through Amelie's childlike eyes. For how all the subplots play together to enhance the theme. For its core message, that little touches can bring the most happiness.

And for our irrepressible heroine's own happy ending. Hooray!

Warm and fuzzy rating: 10 out of 10.


What is top of your Must Watch list? Which one movie is your perfect 10 out of 10 feel-good experience?


Bronwyn's current release Magnate's Make-Believe Mistress--the one with a touch of Cinderella--is a July, 2009 release from Silhouette Desire. It's a story about a woman who needs to find her own happiness instead of always looking out for those around her. Read the behind-the-book stuff at her website.

Thursday Talktime: Location, Location, Location

Ann Roth talks about the key to any story -- its setting

We writers love to talk about our craft. Today is travel/settings day, so I thought I'd talk about setting, aka atmosphere, background. The overall setting is the town or city where the story happens-including those little details that bring the place to life. On a smaller scale, setting is where each scene takes place. Setting plays a role in any story, sometimes a huge role. Take a story where characters must battle the elements in order to survive. Those elements, whatever they are, become so key that they are every bit as important as the main characters.

Sometimes setting serves as metaphor. A raging storm and a hero's anger that he can't control a situation. Fireworks in a star-studded sky while a couple enjoy great sex. A childhood home burning to the ground just as a character forgives the past.

Setting can have a huge impact on who the characters are and how they view life. Take a character, say the novel's hero, born and raised in Big Sky country, where the population is limited and the terrain is vast and open.

Now imagine the heroine born and raised in Manhattan, with its concrete and tall buildings, and the non-stop hordes of people.

How might these two view the world?

Chances are, not at all the same way. Your Big Sky fella might be used to a slower tempo, thinking huge and speaking his mind. If he needs to get away, he might hike or take a long drive. Whereas Ms. Manhattan might be on espresso time, fast, fast, fast. Her world might be limited to the people in her apartment building or her work. Maybe she hides her thoughts in order to get ahead. When she needs a break, she shops or dashes into a coffee bar. The hero might quickly feel overwhelmed in the Big Apple, and the heroine would quite possibly freak out at the quiet and space in Montana.

In Harlequin American Romances the sense of community is all-important. Setting can augment that community feel. My American novels take place in small towns to underline the community element, but a writer can do the same in any big city. It's all in how we present the atmosphere and background and the characters involved.

For my Halo Island series, I chose a small island with a big summer tourist business. I like the sense of separateness and intimacy created by the island. Some of my other story settings have been in fictitious towns on the Oregon Coast, in towns on the outskirts of Seattle, and in a fictitious Midwest town. Each is a unique atmosphere that in some way highlights or adds to the story.

I could go on and on about the settings but due to space constraints, I won't.But I would love to hear from you.

What kinds of settings do you enjoy? What settings would you like to see in future novels?Looking forward to your comments, and thanks for letting me visit today.

Ann Roth's latest A Father for Jesse is out now. You can learn more by visiting her website

Writer's Wednesday - Good Narrative or Cutting for Pace?

This Writer's Wednesday, Donna Alward heaves a sigh and discusses trying to find the balance between cutting for pace and narrative opportunities....

I don't think there's a romance writer alive who hasn't at some point heard the words "cut for pace" either in regards to their work or in regard to someone else's. It's a necessary thing; readers need to keep turning the pages and every now and then certain things need to be sacrificed or tightened to keep that PTQ - Page Turning Quality. I don't cut for pace that often, usually it involves tightening a scene and making it work harder and on more levels. Every scene has to work - and work hard. Sometimes it's not enough for a scene to have one single purpose.

The flip side of that - and isn't there always a flip side? - is that you should never miss an opportunity for good narrative. So while in some places you can jump cut without needing that five or six paragraphs of transition, getting to the meat of the matter, there are definitely other times you DO jump cut and reveal what happened and miss a great opportunity.

How do you know which is which?

You know what? I don't know. Bear with me here. I recently finished a first draft of a book and because of scheduled holidays and National conference coming up, I scrambled to write the last 25% in the last week. The problem with writing something so quickly, at least for me, is that at times I skim, rather than savour the scenes. A few chapters it worked...I was in the zone. The last few chapters? Not so much. And the thing is, a lot of times you don't know what you need to cut, or the opportunity you missed, until you get that draft out and SEE it. It's right back to that famous Nora quote, you can't fix a blank page. You can't see an opportunity you missed until you actually MISS it. You can't tell if you need to cut something to keep the pacing going until you've written it and know it's slowing things down. In other words, unless you're very fortunate and the book comes out of you easily (which is a beautiful and rare thing), you need to screw up before you can fix it.

It's probably easier to explain if I give a bit of an example. My critique partner, by the way, is brilliant in spotting this kind of thing. At the beginning of my chapter eleven, she pointed out that the first page was mostly unnecessary and I could start the scene midway down page 2. I haven't done it yet, I'm thinking about how to take the things I wanted to point out and filter them in through the scene in another way. Instead of that page + of information dumped at the reader, I can feed those points through in individual beats later, without sacrificing pace. It doesn't always have to be a whole scene; sometimes it's just a page or two that needs to go, so you can get to the purpose of the scene faster. What does the scene need to accomplish, and what way can you do that to get the most impact?

Alternatively, she has sent back my last 2 chapters and while I am going to edit out the story details, her comments go something like this: "You missed an opportunity for great narrative action at the start of the chapter and thus the entire chapter feels flat and without tension... You need a short scene between Ella and her editor... Rather than the scene of introspection that you have now. It makes her be proactive and adds to the question... You can then cut to...

It is about getting that tension sky high with showing and narrative rather than the exposition that you used. It is simply tweaks but it will add considerably to the layers. You can do this and it will increase the PTQ no end."

So while I overdid it in one spot, I underdid it in another - and didn't show what I should have. And I know she's right. This is the second-last chapter. This is the part where we need the stakes sky-high, and be at the pinnacle of the growth arc. We need to see Ella's actions to feel her triumph and to also share in the sacrifice she's made - and feel good about it. It engages the reader far more.

Will I make this mistake again? Of course. It is why you give yourself permission to write crap. It is what first drafts are for - so you can look at them, put what you've done in perspective, decide what needs to be fixed. There is no magic formula. It's a great deal of trial and error, and what works for one set of characters and story may not work at all for another. So go ahead, get your hands dirty, and then cultivate your story until it blossoms.

Donna's current release is HIRED: THE ITALIAN'S BRIDE, finishing up its North American run and enjoying a July release in Australia and New Zealand.

Today is Canada Day and she's officially on holidays - sharing the day with friends, food and fireworks. And gardening. Lots and lots of gardening....