Saturday, September 15, 2007

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

Thursday, September 06, 2007

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