Last Updated: 3/3/2003
Once Upon A Mattress
After I sold my Bachelorette Pact series to the Temptation Line, my editor asked me to write a Wrong Bed book for 2003. So, at the RWA Denver Conference in 2002, my editor and I brainstormed the book over dinner. I had made a list of all the places that had beds: hotels (been done), resorts (been done), apartments (been done), houses (boring), hospitals (too sick), and a mattress factory (not done before). From there, is was just a tiny leap to one of my favorite musicals, Once Upon A Mattress. This book is my own version of Princess and the Pea, and uh, there's a little twist....
Just Kiss Me
My first thoughts of Just Kiss Me were of a wild, roller coaster ride where a woman really lets go of all her inhibitions. After that, it just sort of took off. I really enjoy writing anti-heroes, guys that would never appear in romance novels, and I thought how much fun it would be to have an airline mechanic for a hero. A blue-collar guy who lives in a white-collar world, and just can't forgive himself for his own perceived failures. From the mail I've received so far, it seems I'm not the only one who thinks that a man who's good with his hands is very, very sexy. I'm trying to talk my editor into giving Avery his own book (I have this really great idea <wink>), but I've got my other books to write now and I suppose I'll have to get those off my plate first (although secretly I'm hoping I can work it in).
A Christmas Carol
I got the inspiration for A Christmas Carol while musing about the excruciatingly steamy scenes I had just read that involved elevators (Nobody Does It Better, Harlequin Temptation, Julie Kenner). Everybody always seemed to be having a good time in the elevator, and I was thinking, what if something really BAD happened in an elevator? What if a guy had a, um, reaction to a girl in a elevator and she caught on and what if that was such an awful thing that the guy was willing to lie about the whole thing. And thus, Blame It On Viagra -- no, A Christmas Carol was born.
All the characters are fictional, except for Pat. Also, I do share a few traits with Carol. I never met anyone like Aunt Eleanor, although I sure wish I had. If you know any Aunt Eleanor's please let me know.
My apologies to any Texas Tech Red Raider fans. A&M lost too many times in Lubbock for me to just let that slide.
Touched By Fire
I got the idea for Touched By Fire from an article in Glamour about children of rape. Most of the adults in the article seemed very well-adjusted and only had trouble with the idea of conceiving a child with their bloodline. I thought about what would happen if a child was raised to believe he was evil and how he would cope. Immediately, I thought of creating a mythical figure that a child could pretend to be. In Regency England, you can't be Wolverine or Batman or Superman. The most revered hero figure seemed to be St. George, thus the DragonSlayer.
Colin is a character that I'm very proud of. He has the brutality and violence that is bred into him, and yet there is an innocence about him that captured my heart. I hope you like him as well.
As for the secondary characters, the early comments from those who have read the book seem to be divided equally into Giles and Iris camps. I must say, Giles is my favorite, although please don't tell Iris I said that.