Plot Monkeys

Welcome to the Saturday Chit-Chat, where Plotmonkey readers just like you post a question for all four Plotmonkeys to answer! It’s a chance to get to know us and our books better. If you have a query, please send it to carly@carlyphillips.com!

This one is from Kelly Francis (who sent us a bunch of great questions…thanks, Kelly!)

I have read many of your novellas from all the authors. What I would like to know is how does the concept come up when you are working with two or more people?? Who chooses which author goes first and what characters to write about? And who decides which authors are writting together, you or your publishing companies?

CP: Sometimes the publisher comes up with the concept and asks you to participate - this happened to me in Naughty or Nice? to be reprinted next month with a new Jennifer Crusie and an old Lori Foster in a book called SANTA, BABY!. The concept can be as vague as “Christmas Novella”. Sometimes the authors come up with an idea and pitch it to the editor (Invitations to Seduction) and the editor says we need a lead author that has more clout - (I’m hoping one of the other monkeys wants to tell this story, LOL!) and then we work things out around the publisher’s wishes. I’ve been in various situations. I’ve chosen authors to work with (Janelle Denison and Jacquie D’Alessandro) and I’ve chosen storylines and I’ve been asked to do things and told what the story is and who I am working with. Sometimes the stories are connected, sometimes not. Novellas are unique experiences - each one is different.

JEL: Okay, I’ll tell it (but I warn you…it’s a long one!) Many moons ago, when Carly, Janelle and I were mere baby authors (and Leslie, I believe hadn’t yet sold…or we just didn’t know her yet!) we had an idea for a novella collection we called Invitations to Seduction. Way back when, convincing editors to give a novella collection to baby authors wasn’t an easy task…so we had to be creative. We flew to Arizona for a conference our editor (Brenda Chin) was attending and schemed to a) get her drunk and b) sell her on our idea. Now this isn’t as easy as it sounds because Brenda doesn’t drink. She does, however, love Sangria, so we used that as the bait. We lured her to my hotel room, drank, laughed (I laughed the most because I got drunker than the editor :wallbash and pitched her our idea.

She loved the idea, but insisted we needed a big name author to lead the collection. And the problem arose that Harlequin never puts four authors in a collection, so one of us had to back out. I volunteered and in return, got a two-book Blaze contract to write “wrap around” books. My book, LOOKING FOR TROUBLE, introduced the series idea, the setting and some of the characters, which were picked up in the collection, INVITATIONS TO SEDUCTION, which now “starred” Vicki Lewis Thompson, who conveniently, was in Arizona, so we recruited her right away. Then my book UP TO NO GOOD finished out the series. Of course, before the collection came out, Carly was tapped by Kelly Ripa and had hit all the major lists…but none of us anticipated that…and of course, Vicki was chosen soon after!

I’ve done lots of novellas, too–with the one I did for NAL, I was invited. The stories were each independent of each other, so while I love Cherry Adair and Jill Shalvis, the extent of our working together was making sure we didn’t write stories that were too similiar, as well as meeting with our editor to help with the title and then banding together when the first version of the cover came out and scared all three of us. (We got a new one!) On my BOYS OF SUMMER collection with Leslie and Kimberly Raye, we worked very closely together…same with A FARE TO REMEMBER with Vicki and Kate Hoffman. Both of those had continuing storylines/secondary characters, so we all kept in touch. I’m doing the same right now on a novella collection with Rhonda Nelson and Mia Zachary…very close working together. I’ve been very lucky to work with some of the most fun, creative and cooperative women in the business!

LK: I’ve actually never sold a novella I’ve “pitched” it’s always been something i’ve been invited to do by my publisher. Usually, they look to pair up-and-coming authors with more established ones to try to help build the readership of the newer author, and I’ve been very fortunate to be involved in some really fun projects! (Like Behind The Red Doors with Vicki Lewis Thompson & Stephanie Bond, and That’s Amore with Janelle and Tori Carrington!) I also had a great time doing the in-line Blaze anthology with Julie and Kimberly Raye–I was kind of called in on that one last minute when a slot opened up. As for content, it really varies. Sometimes the publisher has a big “concept” and you just have to fit your story to it (like, in That’s Amore, the idea of “ethnic weddings.” Or sometimes the stories tie more closely together–like in Behind The Red Doors when the three shops tied together, heroines knew each other and there was an overall story arc that took place through all three. (Boys Of Summer was like this also.) I like doing it both ways–loosely, by theme, but also with tighter connections, especially when I’m working with authors I really like and respect. Julie and I have worked together several times and have always had a ball. We’re doing it again next year on a Blaze miniseries…and Janelle and I are cooking up something a little fun with our September 07 releases, a sort of a “tip off the hat” to our regular readers. More on that next year… :P

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know it’s not officially winter. Hey, it’s 80 degrees here and clear and sunny. You don’t have to remind me. But I have a Christmas book out, so let’s be patient with the silly little blogging lady.

Here’s the prize for this week if you post a comment and live in the continental US.

A signed copy of I’LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS–which, btw, hit #35 on the NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER LIST this week!!!!!.

And if you want it as a gift for someone, let me know and I’ll sign it to them. In fact, how about TWO books–one for you and one to give away. I’m feeling generous.

But of course, this is PLOTMONKEYS. A book alone is never enough! How about a set of six acrylic snowflake ornaments in either blue, pink or lavendar?

And because I’m buying one for myself…how about a soundtrack for when you sit and read with your hot cider, my book, the light twinkling off your snowflake ornaments (which are totally non-denominational and can be enjoyed by anyone who celebrates winter!)

I suggest this one:

It’s awesome for the “Linus & Lucy” song alone.

Enter now!

I’ll admit, I love watching Fear Factor on TV. I have from the very first episode. Even now, I’ll catch repeats of the show and watch in fascination as entrants eat disgusting things like beetles, pig testicles, and fish eyes, or dangle from staggering heights while doing a stunt, wrangle with alligators, or be buried alive with scorpions, snakes, rats, spiders, or other creepy-crawlies.

While watching one of these Fear Factor episodes lately, it got me thinking of what my Fear Factor might be. I’m not afraid of eating gross things – I would just choose not to. Heights don’t bother me, and I could probably handle having bugs crawling all over me. Again, it’s not something I would volunteer to do, but those aren’t things that make my heart pound in fear. I’m one of those people that can put myself “in the zone”when I have to do something that I don’t like to do. Like getting shots. I used to fear needles, but learned to make myself relax enough that I can handle getting a shot now.

So, after giving the question serious thought, I realized that there are two things that strike real fear in me.

The first thing is the fear of drowning. I don’t know where this fear comes from, because I’ve never had a near death drowning experience – although my youngest daughter did a few years ago when we were at the river (and yes, she had a life jacket on, too!). For me, there is just something about the thought of being under water and not being able to breath that makes my chest hurt. Or being trapped underwater somehow. It’s just something that makes me queasy just to think about!

The other thing that I’m really, really afraid of is aggressive dogs. The kind that lift their upper lip when they snarl and show sharp teeth. Now, this fear is based on a personal aggressive dog experience when I was a little girl, and has stayed with me ever since. At the time, I was five years old and I was rolling skating with a friend (who was riding her bike) on a sidewalk that bordered an elementary school. There were two boys on the school grounds, and their dog was barking viciously along the chain link fence that separated me from the dog. He obviously wanted a piece of me, LOL. Well, the boys took their rabid dog and dropped him over the fence to my side, and the dog chased me down, growling and fangs bared, and bit me in the butt! I ended up in the hospital, but thank God I didn’t have to go through a series of rabies shots. However, the incident truly traumatized me. Now, whenever I’m near a snarling, vicious dog, my hair stands on end, my heart beats hard and fast, and I become paralyzed with fear.

So, what are your personal fears for yourself? What are you the most afraid of? What sends chills up your spine and puts your adrenaline in the danger zone?

So I was watching Dr. Phil. He was doing one of his mish-mash shows–no specific theme. One, however, was about a woman who was a self-declared “doormat.” She’s the woman who sits in the waiting room for three hours without ever asking why the person who came in two hours after her has already been seen. She’s the woman who gets the wrong dinner at a restaurant, but who doesn’t say a word to the waiter. She’s the woman who believes the bank when they tell her that she couldn’t possibly have deposited $500 in her account (despite her deposit slip) because they simply have no record of it.

In other words, she is not me.

But then, those of you who have been around here a while knew that already.

What interested me most about the show was Dr. Phil’s explanation of the difference between being aggressive and being assertive. Aggressive, according to the good doc, is the need to be right at the expense of someone else. To cause pain in order to attain power. Honestly, that’s not me. I don’t want to hurt anyone else–I just want to get what I asked for, or in most cases, what I paid for. I can be very polite and very reasonable. I simply don’t give up.

Assertive is simply someone who demands what they are due. They do not go out of their way to hurt others, but my addition is–they will if they have to. If you push me, I’ll push back. This is the result of being raised with three brothers, six male cousins and assorted and various guys in the neighborhood raised in classic, Hispanic households, if you get my drift.

I have to tell you that having an assertive personality isn’t always fun. Sometimes, you just want to walk away from conflict. Trust me on this. But that would ruin my rep, wouldn’t it? Whenever something goes wrong, you can see all the heads of my companions swivel toward me, expecting and anticipating my response. Most of the time, I’m game. It’s fun to see the look on people’s faces when you establish that you aren’t going to take any crap from them. But a lot of the time, it’s just infuriating.

Like the trashmen. I told ya’ll I’d tell you about the trashmen.

First, let’s set the scene. I live on a cul-de-sac. My driveway is pretty much the extension of the street and my driveway is separated from my neighbor’s drive by about two feet. When it’s garbage day, I let my neighbor have the two-foot strip of grass to put out her cans and I put mine out near my mailbox (even though this annoys the heck out of my mail carrier.) There’s simply no room for my cans anywhere else. If my neighbor were to go to her left, she’d be blocking her mailbox. It’s either her or me. Luckily, our mail carrier is a good guy.

Anyway, about two years ago, I started to notice that more often than not, my trash cans would end up in my driveway. Not just a little bit in, but totally blocking my ability to pull into my garage. Usually, I’d just pull them out of the way. Whatever. But then it happened in the rain.

This pissed me off. You have to understand that I struggle to keep my hair straight. A light mist will turn my ironed hair into a curly-cued mess. I do not like getting wet, especially when my nice, clean, dry garage is a mere few yards away.

So I called the Waste Management people. Lodged my complaint. The operator assured me the workers would be reminded not to do this. She apologized profusely.

I forgot about it.

Until the next time.

And the next.

And the next!

Each time I called, nice as can be, realizing that the poor girls who answer the phone do not personally come out and deal with my trash cans. (See, assertive–not aggressive.)

After a while, their cheery promises no longer worked for me. I wanted a supervisor.

He. Never. Called. Back.

Now I’m ticked off. Now the aggressive behavior starts to come out, I’ll freely admit. When I finally get the bozo on the phone, I’m not so nice. The issue becomes his inability to return the call of a customer in a timely fashion and without me hunting his sorry ass down. (I can say that now because he’s since been fired.)

How do I know this?

Because this was the picture outside my driveway about three weeks ago…

I should note that the only can that is mine is the one with the great big K on it. The rest belong to my neighbor. But I don’t blame them. They are very careful to block their own driveway when they have a lot of trash to put out. No, it was the trashmen, whom I am certain do it on purpose. I mean…come on. This many times? After this many reported reprimands? They’re messing with me.

And just because I’m paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get me.

I went with the big guns this time–I wrote a letter to the county commissioners–the guys I pay my check to, the guys I elected to take care of this stuff. I got a phone call from an employee of the county who was appalled and about an hour later, I had the route supervisor knocking on my door. He waited outside my house until the trash guys came and then gave them all a talking to (though honestly, they could have been discussing the Buc’s losing streak for all I know.)

But I felt better.

One underling at a certain county commissioner’s office also wrote me back…and his letter spawned more ire. These guys don’t get paid a lot he says. (Oh, yeah…what do you want to bet they make more than most writers? And they get health insurance.) Besides, the amount of a paycheck shouldn’t determine the level of customer service. If I go to McDonald’s and order and PAY FOR a Big Mac, it’s not okay to give me a Quarter Pounder with Cheese just because the guy behind the counter is only pulling in $5.15 an hour.

See? That’s assertive. The guy never wrote me back when I pointed out this little metaphoric example. Coward.

Last week, this was the picture of my garbage cans…

I guess they decided to only annoy me half as much. I didn’t call. This time. I was feeling too tired to take them on again.

But next time…watch out.

So…are you assertive or a doormat? Are you happy with your choices? Why or why not?

A WARNING TO ALL WOMEN!

THIS COULD HAPPEN TO YOU….. IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOUR MOTHER …. OR TO YOUR SISTER.

I was sitting at a local outdoor cafe having lunch by myself and two men came and sat down at my table….. I gave them the death look, but they just casually stayed at my table and wouldn’t leave me alone. I shined up the ring on my married finger, then placed my hand on the table and I hinted to them that I was married and that I was not interested in them.
Luckily for me they got the hint and left, but thankfully the whole thing was captured on the Cafe’s camera. I’m sending you this picture as a warning…………… just in case they try and pick you up too.
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Honestly, some men think they’re God’s gift to women.

So who are YOUR visions of God’s Gift to Women? I’d take these two (Brad pre-Angelina) … but the love of my life has always been George and Mike. (Piazza for thsoe of you just joining us here.) href=”http://www.plotmonkeys.com/images/mike_piazza01.jpg”>
And Michael Vartan
… and Josh Duhamel …

Okay I’m being greedy. So who are your choices again?

I tend to think of myself as someone who is pretty low on the nostalgic scale. Yes, of course, I have lots of the girls’ “special” school papers, artwork…momentos belonging to my mother, letters, special things from my romance with Bruce. But in general, I am not a saver. (Definitely not like my mother-in-law…oy!) I don’t like clutter–throw away the Christmas and birthday cards after the holidays are over, don’t see the need to hang on to every report card from every year, and have never been known to press a flower or save a lock of hair. (Though, I do have a rather gruesome collection of baby teeth from my Tooth Fairy Days. They’ll come in handy someday when I want to gross the girls out by playing a game of “guess whose tooth is whose?”…like I know!?!)

Anyway, I have a pretty streamlined house, right down to few pictures on the walls, almost no bric-a-brac, no plants (they’d be dead, anyway…I have a thumb as black as coal.) I don’t even have coffee tables because I like seeing lots of open space…clutter is my enemy.

But I realized something while I was packing up my house for our move: I DO have crap. TONS of crap. It’s just hidden.

Most people have a junk drawer. I have about ten. Two or three in the kitchen where things like loose batteries and flashlights compete for space with old repair receipts and that last zip-loc sandwich bag from the box I threw out last winter. Two drawers at the bar, where I must have about eighteen different styles of wine opener and 948 wine glass charms, all of which are tangled together in a metallic mess. In my office, there are drawers filled with Post-it pads complete with two sorry, dusty remaining sheets of paper, one last envelope from a box long since thrown away, a half-dozen paper clips lurking around the bottom of the drawer, crusty rubber bands in varying sizes, magnets from insurance agents I never used and calendars from real estate agents I never met. Day planners from 1998 (as empty now as they were then) half-empty bottles of glue with dried on crust over the tip so they can never be used, rusty pen knives, tiny keys that open heaven-only-knows what locks, scribbled notes with telephone numbers of people who probably died five years ago.

I just have accumulated so much STUFF.

So, it’s time to move. Time to get rid of the stuff, right?

But, uh…no. You want to know the weird part? I was packing recently and about halfway through I realized I was NOT THROWING IT AWAY! I put this crap in boxes, as if I really WANT to move into a new house a thousand miles away and, uh, you know, DUMP it into a new drawer in a new office or kitchen. So I can then let it sit there for eight or ten years until the next time I move and have to decide whether I need it or not.

Well, you never know, I guess. I might someday find a need for the 83 different wine corks in the drawer in my bar. I mean, a winery might move in next door and suddenly knock on my door asking if they can borrow a cork. Or eighty. It could happen…right? RIGHT??

And maybe someday Ernie and Bert will move in upstairs and I’ll have to add to Bert’s paper clip collection.

In the meantime, please, somebody send me more moving boxes, okay? Because I have a new motto: have stuff will travel!

ONE MORE NOTE:
Don’t forget to come back next Monday when a special Guest Blogger will be visiting! She’s super-smart, super talented and one of the nicest people you’ll ever met. But you’ll have to stop back in to see who it is.

The winner of this week’s Jungle Madness Friday contest is…

Helen Mac! Message # 68!

Congrats Helen. Drop me a line with your snail mail addy and I’ll get your prizes out to you right away. author@lesliekelly.com

Now for a chuckle…ain’t this the truth?

How do you handle the nature of your material when it comes to your children and their desires to read what you’re writing. How do you explain that what you write isn’t appropriate for them to read?

JEL: Right now, my daughter isn’t really interested in what I write, so it’s not an issue for me. She knows I write books “for adults” and that probably translates for her to mean “boring” LOL! My nephew, who is 15, is starting to ask why his girlfriend can’t read my books…and honestly, I don’t have an answer. I was reading some pretty hot stuff at 15! Virginia Henley, Linda Lael Miller, Jude Devereaux. I think every parent has to make this decision keeping in mind the individual child. My daughter is very sheltered from all things sexual right now, but I’d rather her read about the healthy, monogamous relationships in my books rather than watch the O.C. or Veronica Mars (as much as I love that show and as much as I think it’s realistic, there’s a lot of mixed messages about sex on that show.)

CP: Ever since discovering that the Gossip Girls and Clique books have things in it that would curl my hair, I am less inclined to have a problem with my older daughter (14) reading my books because as I tell her: I write books about romance and love and the struggles people have finding themselves and each other. It’s monogamous, it’s healthy, it’s safe sex, and once the hero and heroine meet, there is no other person for them. Therefore I’d rather she read my books than some of the other things out there. That’s not to say she is reading them or she reads them all. But she has read some. I also find that saying no will encourage sneaking and what is the point in that? I’d rather she come to me and ask. As for the ten year old, she is intuitive enough to know she isn’t ready for them. She’s not ready for some Meg Cabot books that she thought she could handle. So I will give her the same spiel when she asks, and let her read when she’s ready.

JEL: Carly is right about the sneaking. I read a lot of books I wasn’t supposed to, so for now, I’d like to think I won’t do that for my daughter. But I have a few years to go yet. I hope!

LK: I have offered my older daughters my books but they’re just too grossed out to read them…lol! (My oldest can’t even read books by my friends-anyone she’s read.) I think I started reading spicy romance at about age 13, and there are some of my books I would give to a 13 year old (though not all!).

JD: I have two daughters, ages 14 and 16, and both have known from a very early age that I write romance books. For years, neither of them were interested in reading what I’ve written, but recently my 16 year old asked to read some of my books. So, I started her out with the Harlequin Romance books that I wrote, since those are “sweeter” and more traditional. There are love scenes in the books, but they aren’t explicit. I also told her that if she had any questions whatsoever after she read the stories that we could talk about it, which we did. She really enjoyed them, and after reading a few of those books I think her “curiousity” was satisfied. She’s a teenager that enjoys paranormal and vampires more than romance, so it’s not as though she’s anxious to read my sexier stories. As for my 14 year old — she’s expressed no interest whatsoever, even when I asked if she wanted to read one of the Harlequin Romances, and that’s okay with me!

Not only is today…

…it’s also just a few weeks from my very favorite holiday.

So…LET’S HAVE SOME HALLOWEEN FUN!

In honor of Halloween, I’m giving away my very first Halloweeen themed book Trick Me, Treat Me

This one is a Harlequin Temptation novel from October, 2003, and it comes complete with secret agents, amnesia, mobster’s molls and ghosts. (Click here if you want to read an excerpt that’s still up at my website.)

But wait, there’s more…

The winner will also get the sequel: Thrill Me, a novella in the Reading Between The Lines collection. Thrill Me is the 2nd story in my Derryville trilogy, and features one of my all-time favorite heroines, Sophie Winchester, a hack-em-up thriller writer disguised as a church secretary. I had such a ball with her. Plus, this anthology includes the incomparable Vicki Lewis Thompson’s award-winning book Mr. Valentine, for those of you who like that sappy romantic holiday rather than this spooky, thrilling one.

(PS: This book was a limited release and is pretty hard to find…I think about 18 people in the whole world bought it, and I have only ever given away a couple of them.)

But there’s still more…

Because while you’re reading your books, you might want to sip on a blood-red beverage, here’s a little something to sip from:

I’ll have a set of four of these wickedly fun Halloween spider glasses shipped directly to the winner.

You know the spiel…just comment for a chance to win. And to give you something to comment about, beyond just “I wanna win!” why not tell us what you’re going to be for Halloween this year? Or, if you’re not doing the costume thing, tell us about the best/most creative costume you’ve ever personally seen.

As for me…my personal favorite was when I was chained down, being cut in half by a guillotine. Or maybe this…when I was dinner. (Hubby is Igor…have I told ya I like Halloween?)

Today I’m pre-empting my regular weekly blog to make a special announcement on behalf of all us Plotmonkeys (Myself, Julie, Leslie, & Carly), and to help author Julie Kenner raise awareness of an Ebay Auction fundraiser she’s hosting to benefit a charity she is involved with.

All proceeds from the Ebay fundraiser will go directly to Love Without Boundaries, a non-profit charity that does so much for orphans in China. The fundraiser is specifically for medical care for these orphans, who depend on donations to help fund their care and surgeries. Julie Kenner has a very special interest in this charity, since she has recently adopted a little girl from China and will be heading there with her husband and daughter this month to bring her home. (Yay, Julie!). You can read all about Love Without Boundaries and exactly what they do by visiting their website here.

And if you’d like to read all about Julie’s adoption journey, you can visit her adoption blog here.

Now, about the fundraiser – Julie has managed to get over 130 donations from authors, agents, editors, and others to help raise money for her cause. There are signed books from authors, gift packages, Hollywood memorabilia, and even critiques of your book or screenplay from knowledgeable people (agents, authors, editors) in the industry! There is something for everyone in this auction, and the best thing is, every bit of the proceeds will go directly to Love Without Boundaries!

Also, be sure to check out these special donations from our very own Plotmonkeys!

Leslie Kelly - A 30 minute VERBAL critique and brainstorming session for the winning bidder’s contemporary romance manuscript (first 3 chapters and a synopsis). Telephone time will be prearranged and coordinated between Leslie and the winner!

Julie Leto - All SEVEN of her 2006 releases, signed to the winning bidder! Titles include: Seducing Sullivan, New Orleans Nights, A Fare to Remember, Boys of Summer, The Domino Effect, Dirty Little Lies, and I’ll be Home For Christmas.

Carly Phillips - All three of her Hot Zone books, personally autographed to the winning bidder. Titles include: Hot Stuff, Hot Number, and Hot Item.

Other items also include a first chapter and synopsis critique by Harlequin Blaze editor Brenda Chin, critique of first 15 pages from agents Jenny Bent and Kimberly Whalen, Christine Feehen’s entire Ghostwalker series, Harry Potter posters signed by the director and producer, and so much more.

Be sure to check it out here, but hurry because the auctions end this weekend. Let’s help Julie Kenner made this fundraiser a huge success. And don’t forget that these items make wonderful gifts for the upcoming holidays!