Travels with Dave

One of the fun things about traveling is bringing friends along. I love to show them new spots, share things I love, and discover things they love. Well, I've taken it to a new lever recently. One of my good friends died suddenly last year. I say he was a good friend; his wife is a better friend. She's the person who greeted me my first day in the ED years ago. She's the person beside my husband who encouraged me to write. Katie and I have been friends through years of trauma, marriage, children and her divorce. I had moved to a different hospital by the time she met Dave, so I heard about him at lunch one day. Her eyes glowed like a little girl's as she told me of this younger paramedic/firefighter who approached her at work. He was handsome, he was fit, he was an adventurer, which Katie had never been. She became an adventurer with Dave. Anybody would. Dave had a way of bringing everybody along with him before you even knew you were going. Sailling, climbing, hiking, climbing, flying. Especially flying. I never got the chance to go up in the plane Dave and Katie built. But I've certainly heard about it.

Two years ago this June, Dave took his plane up and never came back. He suffered a heart attack up there in the air. I want to think that he died when the world was the most sublime for him, that he never knew what happened. I do know that since he died, we, his friends, have been carrying him around with us. Not in spirit, although there is that. Katie divided his ashes into little pill bottles, and we carry him nestled in our purses, backpacks and luggage around the world.

Today i'm in Ireland, and on this trip, I've brought Katie along. We're going to take Dave around with us, and on the last night, we're going to give him an Irish wake in a pub, and sing to him The Parting Glass. The last lines are "But since it falls that I should leave and you should not, then gently rise and softly call, good night and joy be too you all." It's an amazing trip to take. I'm writing a journal about it. so's Katie. But for now, raise a glass to my friend Dave, who you see in this photo taken in a music pub in Kinvara, enjoying the music. He'd be honored.

Eating My Way Around the World

I've set myself a goal, and it involves travel and food, two of my very favorite things. I want to not put a pin in every country I can find on the Trip Advisor map, I want to eat there, too.

I haven't done too badly so far. According to that Trip Advisor map, so far I've made it to 450 places in 15 countries. But I tend to focus more on the space on the Trip Advisor that does not have pins on it and wondering when I can rectify that. I spend the time between trips talking about the last one and planning the next one.

Which is where you come in. No, you don't have to call Travelocity for me. But I'm a writer. I write about things that interest me. So I've decided that every Wednesday, I'm going to dedicate my blog to traveling, and it will be under the subheading "Eating My Way Around the World." Because, of course, that's what I'm attempting to do, and I'd love to invite you along....well, via blog, anyway.

Because I've done so much traveling when not blogging, I'll share both the trips I'm taking now and the ones I've already taken. I'll share tips I've figured out myself(like not wearing ballcaps, white tennis shoes and sunglasses to foreign countries--they call that the American Uniform), and some I've collected from other people. And, of course, how my travel impacts my writing, because it always does. Travel is my idea of advanced education.

So fasten your seatbelts and come along. I can't wait to get started.

Everything Changes

I've been trying to figure out how to introduce this newest stage in my career. Oh, I've talked about the idea for my new book. I've shared the early progress of selling the book. And then, I know, I dropped the ball. I'll tell you something I found out a few years ago. I have ADD. I seem to be the last to know. What that means is that I finally have to admit that no matter how hard I try, I have an exceedingly difficult time organizing myself. There are simply patches of time when I can only do one thing. There are other times, like now, when I'm happy as a clam doing eighteen things at once. I'm blogging again. I'm starting to tweet. I'm planning trips.I'm writing three different books. But for the last two years, I've been much too quiet on the blogging front. That is because I've been consumed by writing the first two books of my new series. I'll talk a lot about those later. Now, I'd like to simply reintroduce myself.

I am Eileen Dreyer. I write historical romance.

My suspense readers might be surprised. I'm actually a bit surprised myself. I thought I'd be publishing my historicals under my romance pseudonym, Kathleen Korbel. I'm very proud of Kathleen(yes, I speak of her in third person). She is responsible for all my publishing awards, and my place in the RWA Hall of Fame. But, you see, Eileen is responsible for my RWA Honor Roll, which is what happens when you reach the New York Times Bestselling list. And I did that with the book I wrote with Jenny Cruise and Anne Stuart, THE UNFORTUNATE MISS FORTUNES. The decision was the publisher's, and, as I've said before, if you think I'm going to pass up a chance to work with those two women just because I preferred to use another name, you don't know much about me.

Well, the thing about making the New York Times list, is that it's a powerful thing(I plan on having it engraved on my tombstone. HERE LIES NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR, EILEEN DREYER). And poor Kathleen had never made it. So when my new publisher, Grand Central, decided which of my names would better sell a book, Eileen it was. And so it is that my newest book, BARELY A LADY, which makes its debut this July, is by Eileen Dreyer.

I don't want any of my readers to be confused. It's one of the reasons I've always used two names. The types of books each of my evil twins has written has been very different, from emotional relationship books to serial killers on the loose. And I don't want my suspense readers to think they're getting a book about serial killers when they see my name on the cover. On the other hand, one look at the cover should tell them. It doesn't exactly say 'serial killer.'

So I hope you'll hang in there with me. I can't tell you how much I'm enjoying this new path in my career. I love history. I love trying to fit a strong woman into a historical context. And, okay, I put nefarious spies in the series, so I can still kill people. I just do it with dueling pistols instead of mac 10s.

This does not mean I am finished writing suspense. It means I'm not doing it this year. Who knows what next year will bring? Because if there is one thing that doesn't change, it is that everything changes.

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Let's See; Where Were We?

Rejoice, my druids!

Yeah, I seem to have a lot of flower pictures latey. But I just walked out my door to see that there were tiny irises blooming by the walk. Deep purple ones. It hit me right in the head that it's spring.

You might think that is a fairly obvious conclusion. But we've had a miserable winter this year. Cold, wet, icy, snowy, and just dismal well past the time we usually see the first shoots poking through. So the fact that the first time I see the daffodils poking through the mulch at the end of March is inconceivable here(usually it's the end of February, and then we have a big snow at the end of March and kill everything. A usual rule in St. Louis is that if the tulip trees bloom before the middle of March, just kiss those flowers good bye).

The other reason I'm so excited is that I decided long ago I must have been a Druid in a former life. Or many former lives. Several of my less complimentary friends have said I was actually an Irish fairy. The short kind. It doesn't matter. I live for the color green. I wilt and die in the winter when everything is dead. Or I should say I endure. From that first fallen leaf in September to the first tiny iris in Spring, I hold on, because I know spring is coming. I even realized a few years ago that all the artwork I buy has at least a bit of spring green in it. This last year I took that one better. My little writing office is painted entirely in neon spring green. My husband won't come within fifteen feet of it. I love it. It always makes me smile. And I don't fall asleep if I'm in there(a great peril in the winter).

Which is why you'll never see me relocating to Arizona(the only thing you should rake on a lawn is leaves). I can't tolerate anyplace that doesn't have trees taller than I. Believe it or not, deserts make me claustrophobic. I literally can't breathe. I swear I can hear the animals screaming for water--especially if the city has golf courses it's wasting water on. Also no surprise that the most holy place for me on earth is Ireland. And right now the lambs are arriving, and soon the bluebells and wild iris will take over. And it will be....GREEN.

I can breathe now. Wait til I get back to my writing. It's spring!

Eileen/Kathleen, the evil twins

The Continuing Story of Eileen and the Book

When last heard from, my manuscript was languishing in publishing purgatory(that place where you sit for eons thinking on your sins)(in publishing, those are mostly of pride). The good news was that two editors reacted very well to my manuscript--actually it was more than two, but the sales forces got in the way of one. The bad news was that another five houses couldn't figure out what to do with me(not unusual in my career. I tend to write about fifteen months ahead of the curve).

Well then, off I went to Prague to visit already existing publishers and sightsee with my husband. I'll have my report on the historic Prague on my travel page soon. But wheil I was there, I was fortunately connected to Wi-Fi, because I actually got two offers. TWO. That's never happened before in my life. I actually had to make a decision.

It didn't come down to money. It never does with me. Of course, nobody's ever offered me the kind of money that makes your mouth go dry, so I don't know what would happen in a case like that. I would call these offers respectable. Both from successful houses, from editors I respect. And both from editors who said that they loved what they saw on the page, even the history that had confounded a couple of the other houses. What do do? What to do?

I'm not going to get into all my deliberations. Suffice it to say that I'm very grateful to have a very left-brain engineer of a husband, because he sat down with me and did a very credible 'pro and con' list for each house. I contacted authors from each house to ask their experiences(and let me say right now, that in my experience, authors--especially romance authors--are some of the most generous, helpful people in the world. They didn't just offer help, they offered the truth).

The outcome? I got to take my husband out in Prague to a fabulous restaurant to celebrate the sale of my historic trilogy to Grand Central Publishing(formerly Warner books). We've talked a lot back and forth, and God willin' and the creek don't rise, they will be out in succeeding months in 2010. I feel bludgeoned. I feel exhilerated. I feel....of course. Terrified. I'm now on a very tight deadline. But then, my cousin, who once wrote scripts with me assured me that I was no damn good til the two minute warning. So I figure I'm in the perfect position.

I'm still trying to convince myself I'm a historical romance author. It's such a new place for me. But I absolutely adore the period, and I find that there's enough action amid the romance for the heart of any suspense writer.

I'll keep you posted on my progress. I'm also going to add a research page to the Kathleen side of my website. I'm using a lot of the same old research, but I've found some really cool things to add to it. Because to me, historical means historical. Not just dressed in outdated clothes. I just hope I make my history fun.

Kathleen and Eileen, the evil twins

A small break in writing

I'm interrupting the saga of Eileen and the New Book to present you a quick recommendation. Prague. There. Can't say it any faster. I'm here now, because my husband has business, and I have business.I'm seeing my agent and publishers. Yeah. Does that sound cool or what? Believe me, a girl from St. Louis does not think she has that combination of words in her vocabulary. Turns out, I do.
The Czech people are famous readers. One of their political heroes, Vaclav Havel, was a playwright. They have the largest bookstore in Europe in Wenceslaus Square. I've been there, and I can tell you they aren't exaggerating. I was on a cruise ship once, and I think it was smaller. As a matter of fact, that store was my definition of hell. Four floors of more books than I'd seen in one place in almost my life, and I couldn't read any of it.
I couldn't' even fake it. The Czech language, being slavic base, is so completely different than English that they have sounds that we simply can't make(I told one person that I think they use that sound just to prove that we couldn't). It's a beautiful language, soft and rhythmic. But terrifying at first glance when you walk down into the train line and all the signs are a variation of Vindhradska. And I'm not even adding the diacritical marks. I was paralyzed, until I realized that there was a lot of English around, and the universal symbols actually are universal. Taking the metro was a breeze(I also found that almost everyone speaks English--except all the Russian tourists)
The city itself is a fascinating mix of ancient history(I was staying at a hotel they said was "only built in the 17oos, as if that didn't count as historical)(it was haunted, too, but that's a different blog), modern progression and the remnants of communism. In fact, I think we Americans should make it a point to come here, if only to talk to people who had only recently fought themselves free of a totalitarian regime. It makes you realize how much we take our freedom and democracy for granted. It's a humbling experience.
Just as an example, if you look closely at Czech architecture, it's very ornate. Eastern rococco, I call it. Beautiful and expressive, with fantastic creatures spouting from eaves and churches topped by onion domes. Imagine that culture being constrained by another that thinks square block concrete highrises are the way to build a city. I think it would kill a soul.
Tonight we're in a business hotel in the burbs, but tomorrow we move to a hotel in the historic district, a 14th century convent that's been renovated(there seem to be a lot of hotels that were old religious houses). I'll let you know how it was on my travel page. But I can't wait, because I think that's the real Prague. I've only gotten a taste so far. And I still recommend it.

Eileen/Kathleen, the evil twins

Late Frost in the Garden

So I got the first news on the latest proposal. And, contrary to the sad flower to the left, it really is a mixed bag. One very veteran editor said it made her cry(that's like making Dick Cheney cry). One said that there was too much history(in a historical romance), and another said it simply didn't fit their current requirements, which is perfectly valid.

It's not enough to have a great(if I say so myself) manuscript. Your story has to fit into the editorial slant of a certain house. For instance, I wouldn't think of sending a 300,000 word Viking Vampire Time Travel to Harlequin Historicals. They have a very strict word count.

True story. I sold my first suspense, A MAN TO DIE FOR, on a two-page proposal(never happened before, and certainly never since). By the time I finished the manuscript, the buying editor had left, and the editorial policy had shifted. I sent in the manuscript knowing that, so I wasn't surprised when they called to tell me that what I'd written no longer fit their list. Considering the fact that I sold the project on lines like "Her best friend still drops acid. Her ex-husband is a cross -dressing psychiatrist, and her mother has turned the third floor of the family home into the Chapel of Eternal Vigilance," you can probably pardon the publisher for thinking they'd get a light, fast, funny read. Unfortunately, once I figured out just why the mother had done this, the book had taken a much darker turn. So it was still funny(one editor calls my suspenses the funniest serial killer books you'll ever read), it was fast, but it was no longer light. I'd stepped away from genre, and the publisher didn't know what to do(The story ended well. I even won a RITA Award for the book).

So I'm not surprised that I don't fit somebody's parameters. But does that make me feel better about being rejected? Don't be silly. I still feel as if I've just been hit in the face with a swinging door. Huh? What? Ow, that hurt. Because the long and short of it is that my perfect fantasy has been run over by reality. It doesn't matter how good the manuscript is. It matters what's going on--or not going on--in publishing. My lovely young garden has been hit by bad weather, and the lovely green shoots are a bit curled and brown.

But not dead. I won't allow it.

Eileen\Kathleen, the evil twins

The First Test

The other day I posted about submitting my newest proposal. It is officially called THE THREE GRACES, a Regency historical romantic adventure(good heavens. How many labels can a person put on one book? Be happy I didn't include time-traveling or vampires. You could have been here all day). The heroines of this series are Mrs. Olivia Grace, a widowed companion, Miss Grace Fairchild, the daughter of a Guards colonel, and Her Grace, Catherine, Dowager Duchess of Murther. All three meet on the eve of the battle of Waterloo, and end up ensnared in a plot to overthrow the British throne. This is the first time except for my proposal that I've actually put that into words. It is something I've never done before, and I have to admit, I'm having the time of my life(nothing like beating up a hero to relieve your stress).

I wrote about the stage of proposing when the project was still pristine. The perfect moment in a book when it is still perfect and the next #1 on the New York Times . The next stage, inevitably, is to show it to a professional. If you have one, your agent. Well, I did that. And I have to admit, I did it with trepidation. I don't think I have to tell you that these are uncertain times for publishing. Everybody sees the numbers changing and nobody is quite sure how to stop the slide. What is selling? What is the next thing? What does the audience want? So giving your brand new, beautiful baby to an agent is akin to handing it over to Andy Rooney and hoping he's in a good mood.

I handed it over. I went to New York last week to talk to my agent. I think I held my breath through the entire plane flight and three acts of Cyrano de Bergerac(Kevin Kline. Be still my heart). I faced my agent over mineral water and prayed she would at least like the heroines' names. And I'm not sure what this means, but she didn't think we needed to change anything in the book. She liked it as it was.

I should be delighted, right? Please. Don't you know authors better? I'm looking over my shoulder, wondering what I missed. After all, she's sent the thing in to publishers, and I'm sure there's something both of us have forgotten to include. Another hero. An alien who exchanges Napoleon for Stephen Colbert. More sex(in romance that's never a mistake). And I'm ignoring it all while I write on the first book, because if I really thought of the fact that this brand new twist in my career is in the hands of editors who might like me but haven't ever seen me write historical romance and don't know whether or not they can really support such a thing(or more importantly, pay for it), I'd end up immobilized in a bathtub with a quart of Haagen Daz and wrinkled toes.

Now, I wait And write. And hope that what I'm working so hard on now doesn't get thrown away late. Cause I have to tell you, I think it's great. At least I'm having a great time with it. I'll let you know if anybody else does.

eileen/kathleen, the evil twins

It is finished. It has begun

Actually I should have written this post about three weeks ago. But I've been having problems with my blog server, and if anybody hasn't told you already, I'm the last Luddite.

Be that as it may, the important thing is that I've put together a proposal for a brand new genre for me. Suspense fans, I'm afraid I have to disappoint you. It's going to be a bit before I can get my suspense in and see if it can be published. Which means that I'm focusing for a bit on romance. To that end, I did what I've been dying to do for years. I've begun a historical romantic adventure trilogy. The long and short of it is that I'm having a blast.

But the point today is that the proposal is put together. It has been sent in to my agent. And this is the most perfect point in a book's life. It reminds me of a garden in spring, when the detritus of winter has been removed, and the beds are pristine, the new mulch laid, and tiny green shoots forcing their way through the soil to prove that creation does repeat itself. At that moment, all is possibility. There have been no weeds or grubs or beetles to destroy the beauty you can still only imagine in those green shoots. Everything is tidy. The plants thrive. The flowers you wait for are still in the anticipation stage, and are still as bold and sweet-smelling and hardy as promised by the garden who supplied them to you. All is wonderful.

That is where I am(was three weeks ago. Bear with me here) right now with my next project. The idea that has been tugging at me for a good five years has found a voice. A face. A focus. I've defined my characters to the point of giving them family trees. I've scoured the internet and the British Heritage sites to come up with the perfect places for all my characters to live(I am not ready to launch a character until I know where he or she lives. It's stage setting for me, like Annie's house in Bull Durham. The minute you see that, she doesn't have to say a word to tell you who she is). I've put together a package of three books that involve sex, violence, pathos, suspense(okay, I couldn't get away from it completely), and humor. Not necessarily in that order. I madly love all my characters, eve the bad guys. I can't wait to see what happens. I can't wait to get to the desk to write(rare enough in an of itself) I've spent literal weeks trying to organize it into a comprehensive outline that will attract only the most enthusiastic editor.

And, like green shoots in the soil, it is still all possible. It has not been touched by editor or agent who think that if I'd just change a few things it would sell better. It hasn't been criticized or cast aside. It hasn't had a marketing department question its viability (are you sure the heroine has to be a duchess? Duchesses just aren't selling this week. Could we make her a prairie teacher instead?) It is still perfect in my mind, its future limitless, it's form perfect. It is a garden in spring. It is a young girl who sees her whole life spreading limitlessly before her. It is possibility.

Next comes the visit to the agent, who has the first chance to put a pin in my pretty balloon(okay, I'm mixing metaphors here). Meanwhile, I have to get back to see what happens to my heroine, who has just found her husband on the field of Waterloo in an enemy uniform.

eileen\kathleen, the evil twins

Taking a Breath

Those of you who are stalwart enough to hang in waiting for me to post a blog, your time is now. I actually posted two other blogs, and thought I'd done so successfully. Such is my keen knowledge of the internet, that I evidently didn't notice for four weeks that I failed--miserably. So when I logged in tonight, imagine my surprise to find that I hadn't actually posted since June, when the Miss Fortunes came out. A lot to catch up on, for sure.

First of all, thank you to everyone, and I mean EVERYONE who shared the experience of the Unfortunate Miss Fortunes with Jen Cruise, Anne Stuart and me. Because of you, Anne and I are first-time New York Times Bestsellers. We weren't WAY up there, but ya know, it all counts. As Nora Roberts said years ago when she made 17 and then failed to return for at least five more books. "I can still put it on my f&^*$# tombstone. New York Times Bestseller." I'm following Nora's advice. In fact, the granite company might be inscribing it right now, just in case my family forgets in thirty or forty years from now when I need it.

Secondly, hang on for a few days, and I'll catch you up on what's next. For my suspense readers, things are going to be slow again, I'm afraid. I'm working on a new book--and it's a doozy. I can't tell you about it, because it's something new and I"m just superstitious enough not to want to put the idea out into the ozone where somebody else can catch it(last time I did that, Ridley Pierson snatched it up and made a bestseller out of it--and no. He didn't steal anything. The ozone is where we float all our cool ideas, and suddenly they all come out in print at the same time). Anyway, the problem is that I lost my suspense house. St. Martin's finally admitted that they simply don't know how to promote me. I don't do a standard suspense. I'm different. So I'm writing half of the new book on spec(without contract), and taking my chances.

In the meantime, I'm playing over in romanceland. Not only am I finishing the trilogy for Silhouette Nocturne, featuring the horniest fairies in the Northern Hemisphere(Daughters of Myth--Dark Seduction out in Feb '08)(in case you wanted to know--and Deadly Redemption in the works now), but I just sent in an outline for a trilogy that's been in my head for the last seven years. I don't know if any of you remember Melinda Helfer, one of the original reviewers for RT, who reviewed contemporaries and regencies, but Melinda cursed me. Right before she died, the last thing she ever said to me was, "Eileen, you have to write a Regency." Well....

All I'll tell you is that it begins at Waterloo, and is as much adventure as romance. I decided to follow in the footsteps of Patricia Veryan, who did the best historical adventures I've ever read. More on her later.

But right now, I'm in Alaska. Yeah. The big A. My husband and I needed some serious time off together, so before I attend Bouchercon in Anchorage the two of us are taking the Dreyer Wilderness Tour(did I tell you I'm the queen of internet travel), the particulars of which will be up on my travel page when I get home. I tried to upload a photo from the Anchorage to Seward rail trip, but evidently I can't do that in Alaska. So I'll try again when we get back to Anchorage. And for a few days you might have to set publishing aside to hear my travel rants.

Now, it's time for some rest. I have to get up early tomorrow to walk a glacier and sail a fiord. It's a filthy job, but somebody has to do it....

eileen\kathleen, the evil twins

Creativity Central

I always seem to begin my blogs by apologizing for not posting. I'm afraid that I don't have that wonderful brain that can schedule stuff like that. I just suddenly look up and think, "Oops. I haven't posted in a month." Which is actually probably better, since that saves you from my rants. I have trouble editing those down to acceptable statements, so you get the full blast of my momentary indignations.

The good news is that I am rant-free at the moment. That's because I'm in one of my most creative places on earth. We got to have a second week on the beach in Michigan, and besides playing dominoes, reading, reading, reading(I FINALLY got to read all the Harry Potters. Finished Deathly Hallows yesterday. Hooray, Harry!) and having happy hour as we watch the sunset, I've been doing some prodigious writing.

It's the most amazing thing. I never write with other people around. I'm writing out on the deck as the rest of my family lobs breakfast products over my head. I never write in the morning(I rarely even see the morning), but here I am on the deck overlooking the lake pounding keys so fast I forget to space between words. I never actually write more than one book at a time. But in the last two days I've completed 20 pages on the regency historical adventure series I'm proposing(and oh, baby, is there action), and another 12 on the last of my fairy trilogy for Harlequin Nocturne. Orla is having her day in the sun, and she's about to cause a world of trouble for the Dubhlainn Sidhe, the patriarchal fairy clan. I'm having a blast. I wish I had another week or two. Unfortunately(and only in the context of what I want to get written), my husband and I go to Alaska next week. I'll try and find cyber places to post my impressions( I AM going to see the aurora borealis if I have to track it like wild ox).

In the meantime, a reflection. I've decided that what I really am is a water person. I don't have to be in it. Matter of fact, I prefer not to be in it(especially Lake Michigan. We go in once a year, just to say we did, and last a good fifteen minutes). But I need the sight of it, the smell of it, the sound of it. And it has to be water you can see across(the Mississppi doesn't count as I frequently tell my husband). Lake Michican, the Irish Sea, the Pacific. Any will do. I just need to be there. There's something about the edge of the world by the sea that unleashes my creativity.

Imagine my chagrin when I came to that realization at the age of thirty, sitting in St. Louis, where the nearest ocean is over a thousand miles away. Sigh. Well, Michigan's only 500 miles, so I do get here. But oh, boy, do I wish I could do it more. Til then, though, I'll get back to torturing fairies and imperiling Dragoons. After all, I have twelve more hours of lake time left.....

eileen\kathleen, the evil twins

Because I'm too stupid to post sometimes

Okay. You're wondering what the picture is. The picture is the prize I"m offering over on the Unfortunate Miss Fortunes blog. You see, we're having this contest about the book, and people are supposed to say what they'd like to do with the power my character Dee has(which is shapeshifting). We pick one answer, and they are awared the beautiful needlepoint I did of butterflies, all framed and ready for hanging. It's about 21" x 21". And it's a prize. It's not pictured on the Miss Fortunes blog yet, because I can't figure out how to load the #$%$ thing. It's a different program than the one I'm used to, and it's got me completely bamboozled. So in the meantime, I'll show it here. I can also invite you over to the Miss Fortunes Website(www.unfortunatemissfortunes.com) so you can post on the What You'd Do with Dee's Powers, if you want to. Or just laugh at me, since I'm so cyberstupid.

Back to your regular programming....

eileen\kathleen, the evil twins

And now, ladies and gentlemen.....

Funny thing about a publication date. In the end, it's more frustrating than rewarding. THE UNFORTUNATE MISS FORTUNES, the (funny, erotic paranormal) novel I did with Jenny Crusie and Anne Stuart premiered yesterday. I should have felt better.

Don't get me wrong. I'm thrilled it's out. I'm so glad that we've reached the culmination of about three years of hard work, and as anybody who reads this kind of blog knows, only about half of that work was writing. We blogged, we websited, we contested(and still do). We cross-posted and sent books in a kind of author merry-go-round so that all three of us could sign each copy. We created needlework briiliance( I did needlepoint, Anne quilting and Jen knitting). We contacted everybody we knew and quite a few people we didn't, to let them in on the publishing news. Jenny's daughter Mollie did yeoman's duty on our website and newsletter. We've been stoking people's anticipation for at least nine months. And then on the day the book actually came out....

Well, I was sitting at home working on a new book. Publishing is kind of like that. I think it's why so many of us do needlework(one of the prizes in our contests over at www.unfortunatemissfortunes.com) or gardening or gourmet cooking(that last one would not be me). We need just a bit of immediate gratification. We work so hard on our books, from inception to publication, but by the time the book actually comes out--even by the time the reviews come out--we're at least one or two books down the line, usually stuck at the point(again) where we're questioning our wisdom in going into this business in the first place. We think we stink(we always do in the middle of the book) and carry around a sneaking suspicion that any reviewer who really liked our work was either paid by the publisher or two weeks off her meds.

So think how refreshing it is to focus on flowers(my addiction). After all, all they want is a little water and food, and they'll bloom happily for the rest of the summer. They don't want rewrites or better numbers or a new author photo from you (since the one you're now using was taken at highschool graduation). They don't care what your numbers were last year, or how much you're promoting yourself this year. They just want to make you happy, right this minute. It's refreshing.

I'm not actually at the "I stink" phase. I'm more at the "I'll never finish another project" phase, which often happens when the rest of my family interferes. But the message is always, "when they find out how bad I actually am--how I can't finish anything--they'll dump me faster than Britney Spears panties".

Add to that the fact that numbers come out so fast now, that we're all holding our breath (and praying, and lighting candles and invoking any household god of our acquaintance) that we show up ANYWHERE on a list. That's what publishing survival is all about.

So, am I excited that THE UNFORTUNATE MISS FORTUNES is out? Absolutely. It's my most dominant emotion of the day. Right behind terrified and wary.

eileen\kathleen, the evil twins

Will give free books for review

I might actually be too late on this. I'm in Michigan on vacation with the family, and only able to get internet in town(which, if you're on a beach in Michigan, you tend not to frequent). But here it is. My book with Jenny Crusie and Anne Stuart, THE UNFORTUNATE MISS FORTUNES, premieres very soon. In the spirit of sharing, we would like to offer a whopping 50 copies to people who have an active blog that's at least two years old. The only caveat is that we'd like you to blog a review of it on your site.

So, if you're interested in a free copy, please contact

http://www.unfortunatemissfortunes.com/2007/06/19/free-books/

Molly our brilliant webqueen will randomly pick fifty names, and send the books off post haste. And then we'll link with your site on the Miss Fortunes site. And if I can figure out how to do it here, I'll do that, too.

But don't think that's all. We're having ongoing contests through the end of August over at the www.unfortunatemissfortunes. com site. And I'm giving away three copies myself here. So sign up. And stop by the UMF site and see what you think. I do know that the reviews are coming in(posted on the UMF site), and with the exception of Publishers Weekly, who seem to think that it is not necessary to actually read a book to review it, have all been wonderful.

So stop by. Sign up. And let us know what you think. A good review is NOT a requirement. We just would like a review.

Now, back to the beach. I'm thinking of you all as I watch the waves and birds and sun. Really.

Eileen/Kathleen, the evil twins

What I'm Writing on my Summer Vacation

Tomorrow morning--early--well, for me early is any time before they stop serving Egg McMuffins at McDonalds, I'm heading off with my family to the vacation cabin we've gone to since I was a year old. Now when I say my family, I don't just mean immediate. I mean siblings and families. This year I think it rounds out to about 30 people. I've said before that a drunk lady once labeled us "The Last Functional Family in America." It was on the beach in Michigan we had our run-in with her.

We have a whale of a time here. The kids are kids, the adults are kids, and the entertainment is watching storms come across the lake(the rule is that we all sit on the deck with our gin and tonics until lightning hits the flagpole). There are no TVs, no radio, and only one emergency phone. Cell and wi fi can't make it around the surrounding dunes. It's....QUIET. It's away from everything. It's heaven.

So what am I going to do while I'm there? Why, write, of course. Actually, during the day I'm going to be doing research. You can't really research a fairy kingdom you've made up yourself, so that's a gimme. But I can reread Infamous Army by Georgette Heyer to get me in the mood and place for my regency adventure series. I'm also reading books on regency etiquette and battle tactics. I can't wait. I'm also going to give that collage thing a try. If this series goes the way I want it to, I'm going to have to put together about ten extended peerage families. They need faces, names, houses and animals. So I'm bringing magazines on English architecture, history, etc, and those People magazines with beautiful people in them. I guess if I have ten families, some of them are going to have to be blondes(have you ever noticed that there are more dark haired-blue-eyed English heroes than you'll find in the entire empire....including Wales?) So I'm going to be cutting pictures like a third-grader.

For my suspense I'm reading books on criminal motivation by John Douglas and psychiatric disorders. I'm going to be putting down the basic plot. I already have the okay from my most important forensic research person for the plot and characters. I really would tell you who she is and what her expertise is, but I"m just too superstitious. I don't want to ruin my mojo for the book.

Okay, I'm going to be doing that all out on the deck in the sun with my daughter, sister and sisters-in-law while my brothers play golf. I'll get the research in around long, convoluted discussions on the family(especially the ones not there) and breaks for storms and the hot event of tankers coming into the harbor(I wrote a romance called Hot Shot that I set in Grand Haven, and my favorite scene involves a tanker arrival). Not that I really need to soak up even more atmosphere, but I will. The beginning of my suspense takes place in a town called Blue Harbor, Michigan which is really Grand Haven(but which I change the name to so I don't get caught in mistakes---"No, the Prontopup hotdog stand is in the first block of Washington. Not the second.")

And then, at night, when everybody but me is in bed, I'll pull out the laptop and play in the world of faerie. Nights are the best time for faeries, after all. And there won't be anything to distract me there....except the moon on the water, the sound of the waves, the raccoons digging in the trash cans....

So, if I can stir myself to get off the deck and into town where they swear the whole town is wi-fied, I'll blog for you then. Otherwise, see you in a couple. I'll be busy working.....yeah.

eileen/kathleen, the evil twins

Old Eclectic Me

In about two weeks, The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes, the book I wrote with Jen Crusie and Anne Stuart will be out. It's a bit of a departure for me, so I thought this might be the time to discuss why I tend to write so many different kinds of things. It's not that I'm trying to follow the
market. I'm not that smart. Or that fast. I used to be fast, but that's a different blog. No, the truth is that I just like to write....everything. Mystery, suspense, fantasy, romance, history, blogs.... Anyway, as I thought about it, I considered what I'd been doing the last couple of weeks and thought it might shed some light on the matter.

Let's see. First, I went to see La Traviata at the St. Louis Opera Theater. Great, grand opera: lots of emotion, lots of angst and gorgeous music with a bit of consumption thrown in(when my daughter saw a production, she said, "I had a patient with tuberculosis this week. She couldn't sing like that). Then I went to New York and saw a musical, 110 in the Shade. I'd never seen the musical, but it's a version of one of my favorite movies of all times: The Rainmaker with Katherine Hepburn and Burt Lancaster. This was all that and wonderful music: lush, fun, bright, and with a great happy ending, handsome men and a manly chorus(I love manly choruses). It was the perfect romance. To balance that, I went the next night to see Kevin Spacey in Moon for the Misbegotten by O'Neill. And Jenny Crusie would be more than happy to tell you that watching O'Neill is comparable to whacking yourself in the forehead with a ballpeen hammer for three hours. Nobody gets out of that one alive. And I loved it(but I"m Irish. We have an affinity for hammer-whacking).

When I got home I went back to the Opera to see the Mikado, Gilbert and Sullivan's delicious ly satirical operetta about bureaucracy in Titipu,Japan. If you're not familiar with G&S, Stephen Sondheim is their direct musical descendent. It was brilliant. I knew the company had updated the book, with the chorus(manly) in business suits, briefcases and PDAs (and a Titipu Hard Rock sign), but you got the full message when, during the overture, a lovely geisha tiptoed out holding a paper model of a Japanese temple. She very carefully laid it on the stage and left. Music swells, we're about to get curtain up, when out from stage right, Godzilla clumps over, steps on the temple and leaves. It was that kind of night.

So then I bought Allison Kraus and Union Station tickets, got another copy of Moody Blue's Days of Future Past and cheered on Rags to Riches as she took on the boys at the Belmont Stakes. Yeah, I'm a horse racing addict. Blame it on Dick Francis. Yesterday I went to a Cardinals baseball game and cheered on my boys. Yeah. Serious and lifelong addiction. Blame that on my mother. She and her dad taught me to keep score when I was four. In fact, when my kids want to make me cry, they make me watch Field of Dreams. And it's my mom I miss.

A bit of gardening, a bit of Monty Python, a bit of Irish music, and a book on bloodspatter patterns. Oh, and registration for the 10th Masters Course in Death Investigation. I guess the point is, I can't sit in one place too long. Some would blame it on my ADD. I think it's just a broad range of interests. Three of my favorite movies? Lethal Weapon, To Kill a Mockingbird, Holiday(a great romance with Catherine Hepburn and Cary Grant). At any time you might find on my CD player Evanescence, Willie Nelson and Porgy and Bess. I think the only place you'd probably never find me is at a Toby Keith concert or playing golf. Other than that, I'm open to about anything.

It translates into my writing. I think it's because I read everything. But if I'm caught too long in one genre, I feel suffocated. There's just so much to see, to say, to create. So many different ways to do it. And I want to do them all. Which, of course, does my career no good. But the sad truth is, I can't write to order. If I'm not involved with the words, they simply don't end up on the page. So I'm researching another medico-forensic suspense, finishing the last of my fairy trilogy for Silhouette and seeing an erotic paranormal published with two other people. And I'm about to put together a proposal for something completely different(can you hear my agent groan?). It's why I'm evil twins. For now. Who know? There may be more of us? It's the only way I can do it.

eileen/kathleen, the evil twins

Life Interferes

I love to blog. I love to read blogs. But when life happens, it's the first thing to fall by the wayside. My dad was diagnosed with cancer. He's 86, he's had a magnificent life, and we have no idea what the future holds. But for five weeks, I was the one in charge of all the details. Yeah, I'm the oldest daughter. It's always our job. I've often said that oldest Irish daughters have been classified by the AKC as a herding group. The problem is that this tends to splinter all concentration(which in me is marginal at best).

In the moments at home I'm not on the phone with doctors, therapists, the thirty thousand or so relatives I have, insurance companies, and the like, I find myself staring at the wall. Not very productive. There've been a lot of times I thought, "this would make a good blog subject". Then I got home and forgot what it was. Then, when I thought about blogging, I found myself reading somebody else's blog(I spit coffee through my nose reading Smart Bitches Who Love Trashy Novels May 16th offering, including the warning system for hero clothing that is brilliant--and color coded). I discovered a huge controversy over a rather scathing review and an odd response by Kathryn Falk. Makes me feel as if I've been hiding in a cave.

The good news is that over on the Unfortunate Miss Fortunes website, we ran a contest for the bloggers who have been faithful til now for taglines, and the winners are posted over there. That was great fun, and we got some fabulous answers. I'll talk about them on next blog. I'm still using this one to apologize for not posting sooner. The better news is that I'm actually writing. I got a pub date on my next Silhouette Nocturne, and I'm researching the suspense. It's going to be so much fun!

And finally, I got back to my blog. I feel MUCH better now.

Eileen\Kathleen, the evil twins

Mystery Research

Hmm. That title looks as if I mean that the research itself is a mystery. Like I open a phone book, close my eyes and try and point to a forensic specialty that looks interesting. I may actually do that one day. In the meantime, let me tell you how I research my mysteries.

You'll notice that the picture accompanying this post is different than the last. That's because the research tends to be different for each genre. Romance demands more ambiance. Suspense demands calibers and dimensions. The similarity is how I research. When I began to write, I realized that research was my biggest weakness. I had lots of friends who wrote historical fiction, and spent their time in libraries(that's how old I am. They didn't even have internet then). Well, I'm a nurse. And nurses don't do libraries. We play with things. So I had to figure out how to use my strengths rather than my weaknesses. Which is why I am trained in death investigation, forensics, and tactical medicine.

I do my best research hands-on--as you can tell from the picture. That was taken at Tactical EMS School at Camp Ripley in Minnesota, where I took the training to be a medic on a SWAT team for my suspense With a Vengeance. Yeah, oh yeah, it was tough. I've been gassed, I've been flash-banged, and I've stood on the top of an 8-foot ladder and fallen backwards into a crowd of medics, assuming they'd catch me(they did. The only problem was that one guy, who really wanted to keep me safe, was 6'5". We hit heads so hard I still can't remember my social security number). But I can't begin to tell you what a difference it made for me. Because I need to use all my senses in research. I need to taste it, see it, hear it, smell it, feel it. I need to find the symbolism and ritual in what I'm researching as much as the details of the science.

A good example is the research I did for my first suspense, A Man to Die For. I have a good friend who was a St. Louis City homicide officer.
"John," I said. "Would you take me down to homicide so I can research?" I asked.
"Why?" he asked.
"So I can smell it."
As you can imagine, there was quite a silence. "So you can smell it."
"Uh huh. What does homicide smell like, John?"
Another silence. "Homicide."
Just so you know, at that time, the St. Louis city homicide bureau, which was in a building erected in the 1920s, smelled like coffee, cigarettes, floor polish, and air freshener. That kind of thing cements a place, a job, a scene for me. Not only that, but as I was sitting there, two of the detectives had to leave. They stood up and picked fedoras off of a hat rack.
"What are the hats for, John?"
"Tradition. When you get transferred to homicide, you go down to Levine's Hat Shop on Tucker Blvd and get a fedora, then have the brim trimmed to 3/4". It's called a Stingy Brim. Then you flip up the back like a duck's ass."
"But why?"
He laughed. "Do you know how messy a jumper scene can be?"
I shook my head. "Wow. By the time we get them, we worry about our shoes."

Yeah. The entire conversation went into the book. More important, the hat went in. It became the symbol for my character, who was an ex-Marine, ex-Jesuit cop(and before you ask, I met one at the homicide department). Ritual and tradition are vital to him, as they are to most cops, most Marines and most priests. I think that stingy-brim hat says it all.

That's why I do hands-on research. I'm in the process of putting an outline together right now for my next suspense. I'm afraid I'm too superstitious to tell you what it is(the big thing right now is for an author to have a fresh idea nobody's done. I think this is fresh. So I don't want anybody to see it before I sell it). And as I put the outline together, I'm lining up my forensic research. In fact, I'm going to be spending the day in Philadelphia with one of my experts I was able to train under last year. I'll also be talking to my police and ME friends, a forensic psychiatrist, a regular psychiatrist, and a stained-glass maker. For some reason, my heroine makes stained glass. So I have to learn how to make it, so I can make her behavior as real as I can. I have to see what it smells like to create stained glass(does soldering smell?).

I truly believe that there are some things about writing that are fairly universal: characters, motivation, plotting, outlining, that kind of thing. But I believe that every author has to find his or her own way to getting all that stuff done. I had to find mine. I had to adapt it to each genre I write. And I had to adapt it to my own strengths and weaknesses. But I think I'm going to talk more about that in my next blog.

So come back next week, and we'll discuss learning styles, Meyers-Brigg personality tests, brain hemisphere dominance, and research. Oh, and I may even discuss ADD. Because at 54, I was finally diagnosed---evidently I was the last one to find out. And I finally got to admit that there are very good reasons I have to do my work in a certain way.

But that's for next week. In the meantime, if you write, think about how you research. Think about how you think you might enjoy researching. I think I can explain why. Next week.

eileen\kathleen, the evil twins