Plot Monkeys

I would hope that most of you are done with your holiday shopping, or at least the bulk of it. Now comes the chore of wrapping all those gifts. I know people who are very creative when they wrap holiday gifts, and the present is so beautiful you almost hate to rip off the handmade bow and ribbons and meticulously folded and taped wrapping paper. Me, I’m a quick, get-it-done-as-quickly-as-possible wrapper. In fact, most of gifts are wrapped, taped, and topped with a pre-made bow within two minutes. Better yet, I LOVE gift bags — no wrapping required! I just don’t have the time, or the patience, to create this gorgeously wrapped gift, only to have the recipient rip it apart in thirty seconds flat.

So, what kind of gift wrapper are you? Slow and meticulous, or fast and efficient?

And now, a little holiday humor that will hopefully make you laugh. Here is the reason why MEN don’t design Christmas wrapping paper :

HAPPY HOLIDAYS, Everyone! Only 4 more shopping days until Christmas!

Yesterday, I finished a marathon.

I won a gold medal.

I received the Nobel Peace Prize…and I had all the laundry done, the kitchen clean and the toilets sparkled.

Okay, that last part isn’t true. Well, none of it is true.

But I did finish my book!

And trust me, there were many victory laps around the house. And dancing. Lots and lots of dancing. I don’t think there was any music in the house, but it was playing loud in my head!

Something along the lines of “Ding, dong the witch is dead!”

No, I didn’t kill my witch heroine…though at times, I really, really wanted to.

The creative process is a fascinating thing and even though I’ve been writing seriously since 1987, I haven’t figured it out. I think at one time or another, all of the Plotmonkeys have ruminated over the difficulties and the joys of writing. We spend a lot of time when we go on our plotting weekends talking about not just the stories themselves, but the process. And no matter how long of us have all been doing this, no matter how many books we’ve written, every book is a different journey.

This book has been particularly hellish for me, truth be told, and I don’t have enough distance from the story yet to be able to figure out why. A huge part of the problem–if not all of it–had nothing to do with the book itself, but with the things going on in my life and career while I was trying to write it, the largest part being the uncertainty about my Marisela series, my editor leaving, my publisher and I parting ways and the search for a new publisher. All writers go through these ups and downs–trust me, I’m not begging for sympathy for here! It’s just the reality.

Now, keep in mind that nobody’s life is ever perfect. We all have to do our jobs while the stress and pressure of every day life bears down on us. Trust me, I’m completely aware of this truth. Sometimes, writing books can be a wonderful distraction, a safe haven from life. I can control the characters, tell them what to do, bend them to my will.

But then some books come along that will not be controlled, will not listen to me and fight against my will.

This wasn’t one of those books. I wish it would have been because that particular problem I’ve dealt with before. But nooooooo. This book was different.

And frankly, I’m still not sure what the trouble was overall. Once I got into the book, certain parts sped out of my fingers. Other parts I struggled with. One issue that did crop up is when I write my single title books, like my Marisela books, I can go off on tangents and work them back into the plot so that everything is smooth and related. When I’m writing a Blaze, something I admittedly haven’t done in a while, I have to focus on the romance. That can be a problem when you have cool witches running around, in addition to evil warlocks. I wanted magic! Action! Exploding balls of magic fire and spells and wands and…well, you get the idea.

But this is a BLAZE. It’s about the romance. Not that it’s a bad thing…but emotional stories are HARD.

Boy, do I sound like a whiner or what?

All in all, I’m happy with the final outcome. The last chapter has lots of action, exploding balls of magic fire and all the stuff that literally fires me up. The rest of the book has a romance that turned out to be very sweet, very poignant and very fun and sexy, too. Give me a few weeks, and I’ll love the book. Unlike Leslie, I never love my books until a long time after they’re done–usually right before they are released after all the revisions, line edits, copy edits, galleys and such are done. After all the work is done. After the readers start writing in and telling me how much they enjoy the story. Trust me when I tell you that every kind word an author hears from a reader is pure gold. I’m going to need a lot of that come August 2007…and trust me, I’ll remind you all!

Anyway, I’m off now to spend a day catching up on all the things I’ve let fall by the wayside. Things like, oh, CHRISTMAS SHOPPING and baking and spending time with my family. I’m probably going to grab all my nieces and nephews and take them all to the movies. Eragon. A Night At The Museum. Charlotte’s Web. I don’t care! I’m free, I’m free!

For at least two weeks…and then, it’s back to my witching world.

Until then…let’s party!!!!!

Preview

Because you’re all so wonderful and loyal and visit us here every day or close to it, I decided to give you an explanation of the news you read in my latest newsletter which dealt with the scheduling of my books.

You all know (or maybe you don’t and if not you’re going to learn) that authors aren’t solely responsible for their book schedules. Of course the first criteria for a publisher is to have a book in hand and so it depends on how fast an author can write. Once authors have established themselves with their publisher, they have multibook contracts and deadlines which the publisher relies on so that we can tell our readers in 2006 when our books will be out in 2007 or 2008 even if the books aren’t yet completed. Then the publisher can determine what works best for them and within these parameters, they figure out which other books they are putting out each month, which authors they can slot in the same month, etc.

I’m going to finally walk you through how my book schedule has worked because a lot of you have wondered and written in to ask why so long between books … and then I am going to fill you in on what my schedule looks like going forward (sort of – I’m thinking this is the way it will work beyond 2007 but I can at least give you 2007 right now).

As you all know, when I wrote for Harlequin Temptation and/or Blaze, what are commonly called “short” or “long” contemporary category romances, you often got 2 – 4 books a year out from me, including an occasional anthology (short story). Why then were you recently only getting two books a year? Because the single title books, (i.e. any of the HOT Zone books or hardcovers) are longer titles that take longer to write. Page count-wise, you are getting essentially the same work from me per year, FYI. Many people wonder about this so I hope this helps.

More recently, we (myself and my publisher) were giving you two DIFFERENT story lines/series a year. For example in 2006 there was CROSS MY HEART and HOT ITEM. CMH was hardcover and Hot Item was paperback (this is a publisher driven decision). What this meant was that you’d wait a year between HOT books, and a year for the publication of the sequel to CMH which is called SEALED WITH A KISS. And for those of you who don’t buy hardcovers, you also had to wait an extra year for the hardcover to come out in paperback. (I hope I haven’t lost you yet …)

In between you’d also get reprints of hard to find books that were originally published as Temptations and Blazes and so you’re able to finally read those with new fun covers. However, they are reprints and not new stories, so this didn’t solve the problem of the time lag between series stories.

The good news is THINGS ARE CHANGING. As you all know, I signed a new contract for 3 paperbacks last year and I recently negotiated yet another new contract for another 3 paperbacks this year. Why? Because HQN and I hear you and we understand the frustration inherent in this wait.

Note, before I explain changes, reprint wise, things stay the same as I’ve said: January will give you the SIMPLY reprints and BRAZEN at a great $4.99 price each – because these have already been reissued once, now they’re out with great new matching covers; and SIMPLY SEXY will be reissued for the first time, and this is a story you’ve all been asking for. (Again I hope no one is confused!)

THE SOLUTION

July 2007 – CROSS MY HEART – out in paperback (with a new cover so don’t be confused if you already read it!)

October 2007 – SEALED WITH A KISS – out for the FIRST TIME in paperback! That’s right, SWAK will NOT be out in hardcover and so you can read both books in the series back to back.

THEN IN 2008 you will get two NEW Carly Phillips (probably) HOT ZONE titles (possibly just one, HOT PROPERTY, Roper and Amy’s story) and then maybe begin a whole new series. As of now we are looking at continuing the July and October dates for NEW Carly Phillips books for consistency from year to year. The dates may not be firm for 2008 and beyond but at least I can tell you that you’ll be getting TWO NEW paperbacks a year, without lag time waiting for the next book in a series.

The little problem is that you’ll FEEL like you’ve waited a long time for the HOT BOOKS since we’re talking 2008 but that is because of the order in which the books were written. Let’s not make things more confusing, let’s just know we’re getting onto a REGULAR schedule that you can COUNT ON and as soon as I have those 2008 dates for the next Hot Zone book, HOT PROPERTY, you will too.

For now, you’ve got 2007:
January - first-time reissue of Simply Sexy; and $4.99 reprints with matching new covers of Simply Sinful, Simply Scandalous, Simply Sensual and Brazen!
July - Cross My Heart (paperback reprint, new cover)
October - Sealed with a Kiss – CMH sequel – first time in print in paperback!

Clear as Mud?

What are your thoughts? I can’t wait to hear.

Well, to start off, THANK YOU everyone for pulling for me on the book–I did end up getting it finished. A whopping 443 pages–but I loved every one of them and so did my editor–yay!

Anyway, I’m actually starting to think about the holidays now that SHE’S NO ANGEL is behind me. I’ve been doing a lot of shopping online, so I’m okay there, but I now am looking forward to diving into another holiday tradition: baking!

I am not a huge fan of cooking most of the time. I mean, I do okay–there are a couple of dishes I make that are extremely good. But on a daily basis, I’m pretty lazy. My hubby is much more creative in the kitchen.

But I really do love making Christmas cookies. I have a whole list I have to repeat every year, some from my childhood, some that I’ve added to my holiday tradition as my kids have grown. I like trying something new every year and there have been a few that have been so fabulous, they “make the cut” for the entire family and get added to the list.

That list is long.

So’s my shopping list.

So’s the number at the bottom of the grocery store receipt when I buy everything on that shopping list! Chocolate’s expensive!

Here are a few that I’ll be tackling with my girls in the upcoming week…(note: that’s all 3 girls…my oldest baby came home from college Thursday night. YAY!)

Pecan Sandies –a holdover from childhood–my Mom always made them and I still love them, simple little vanilla cookies with pecan chunks tossed in powdered sugar. Yum.

Chocolate-Caramel thumbprints–this is one of those recipes I found in a cookbook a few years ago, tried, and the whole family went nuts over! They’re like those jam thumbprints you see everywhere only the cookies are chocolate based and have a melted caramel & cream center, with dark chocolate striped over them. Unbelieivable!

7 Layer bars (easy but so delicious!)
Fantasy Fudge (the kind on the Marshmallow fluff jar. Anything with marshmallow fluff in it has to be good.)
Fruitcake Cookies (I know, everybody hates fruitcake, but these cookies are soooooo good! They don’t taste like the cake, they’re just yummy.)
Rum balls (my 11 year old’s favorite…lol!)
Strawberry cookies (another newer favorite. They never really get eaten, but they’re just so darn pretty on a platter–shaped like strawberries complete with almond stem!)
White Chocolate Raspberry bars — To die for. They have a cream cheese/white chocolate layer, a raspberry layer and dark chocolate smeared over the top. Oh, man.
Rum Cake– my favorite holiday dessert. I follow my Mom’s recipe which is just perfect.
Peanut Butter Balls–a homemade version of Reese’s cups but BETTER.
Almond Rocka–my mother’s top secret recipe. It’s like homemade Heath Bars. I have scars on both hands from making this every year and having 310 degree boiling sugar & butter splatter on my hands. Hard Crack? They should call it 3rd Degree. But it’s worth it. I’d tell you the recipe, but then I’d have to kill you.

Here’s one I gave up on but only under diress: Almond Cookies from the old Betty Crocker cookbook I got as a wedding gift 20 years ago. These cookies were absolutely amazing–everyone who ever tasted them begged for the recipe. Then, when they found out one of the key ingredients is lard, they vowed to never taste one again. I know, I know, lard…might as well just smear it on my ass. But I sometimes dream about those cookies…

There are a few other basics–sugar cookies, gingerbread, etc.–that I’ll make just so the kids can use the cookie cutters, sprinkles and icing. That’s always a fun cookie decorating event.

I am already excited about getting started! Can’t do it too soon or they won’t be fresh for Christmas Eve, which is the first time any of them will get put out. Then they’ll be dragged out day after day through the holidays as we go visiting and have visitors, have game days and movie nights and just enjoy each other for one of my favorite weeks of the year.

Just for fun, I thought we might do a little cookie recipe exchange. If you have one that’s fabulous, post it and we’ll see who else decides to give your special recipe a try!

I’ll offer up the Chocolate Caramel Thumbprints…be warned, they’re addictive.

½ c Butter or margarine, softened
½ cup sugar
2 (1 ounce) squares semisweet chocolate, melted
1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons Vanilla extract
1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup very finely chopped pecans
16 milk caramels
2 ½ tablespoons whipping cream
2/3 cup semisweet chocolate morsels
2 teaspoons shortening

Beat butter at medium speed with mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating well. Add melted chocolate and egg yolk, beating until blended. Stir in vanilla.

Combine flour, soda and salt; add to butter mixture, beating well. Cover and chill 1 hour.

Shape dough into 1” balls; roll balls in chopped pecans. Place balls 1” apart on greased cookie sheets. Press thumb gently into center of each ball, leaving an indentation.

Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes or until set. Meanwhile, combine caramels and whipping cream on top of a double boiler over simmering water. Cook over medium-low heat, stir constantly until caramels are melted and mixture is smooth.

Remove cookies from oven, cool slightly, then press thumbprint again. Quickly spoon about ¾ teaspoon of caramel mixture into the center of each cookie. Remove cookies to wire rack to cool.

Place chocolate morsels and shortening in a heavy duty, zip-top plastic bag. Seal and microwave on high for 1 to 1 ½ minutes, squeeze bag until chocolate melts. Snip a tiny hole in one corner using scissors. Drizzle chocolate over cooled cookes.

Makes about 2 ½ dozen.

ENJOY!

The winner of this week’s delicious chocolate and a copy of any of my books published in 2006 is Joy, commenter #74! Congratulations! Please send me an email at julie@julieleto.com with your snail mail address and the title of the book you’d like.

And here’s a funny…so it’s sick humor. Sue me. Rudolph has always been my favorite…since learning Vixen was probably a boy.

(BTW, if you read here earlier and saw a different funny…like, the same one Carly posted LAST week, blame the old DD again–deadline dementia!)

Jeannie asked this a few weeks ago in the comments section…and it’s a GREAT question! Thanks!

How does a female author really know how a male thinks and feels? Do you ever ask a male if in this situation or that he would think it like you write it?

CP: GREAT question. First, I went to a workshop years ago by Elda Minger and I will never forget some of the advice. Real men don’t apologize or ask questions/permission. OK I don’t always stick to this but it helps as a guide. There are also words I think of as girly that I just would never let my men use or at least I try to catch it. I have asked my husband on occasion too. But I think there is a huge difference between male and female POV, thought, dialogue and it’s important to try to be aware of it when writing.

LK: Great question! As a reader, it always really drove me crazy when I read books and a hero would think, say, or do something a guy SO wouldn’t think/say/do! So I am very conscious of that as I write. My hubby and I joke all the time that I was the guy in our last life–I’m a linear thinker, a little aggressive, not terribly sentimental, and a total remote hog. Anyway, for me, for some reason the guy’s pov comes pretty easily. My husband reads all my books (so does my Dad) and if I do slip up hubby will point it out. Most of my readers (and reviewers, really) often mention my “guys being guys” as a strong point in my books, so I think I am doing it right. But I have to say I have a couple of rules: Heroes don’t whine. They don’t jabber. They don’t talk about their feelings until forced to, they think about sex a lot, and they speak differently to other men than they do the heroine.

JEL: I listen to guys a lot. I grew up with three brothers and each of them had at least three friends at the house all the time, all the way through, well…now. I still see most of them and I listen a lot. I watch men on television and in movies. I still slip up, I’m sure, but when I do my final read through on a book, I’m very conscious of point of view and try to really take out anything that doesn’t fit. I hope I do a good job! None of the men who read my books (my older brother, my father and my husband’s two best friends) ever complain!

JD: I also grew up with two older brothers, but unfortunately I never paid much attention to their “male talk”, LOL! We all know that men do think differently than women, and I try to keep that in mind as I write. However, when I do slip up, Carly, who reads my stuff, is quick to point it out and has no problem telling me when my hero sounds like a sissy!

Just yesterday, I received an amazing gift in the mail from brand-new author Tawny Weber, whose first Blaze will be out next spring…a box of See’s Chocolates! Being that I’m from Florida and See’s is sold on the west coast, this is a delight I don’t get to partake of often. I was so excited to see Tawny’s gift…well, screaming was involved. Buy her books when the time comes, people. The woman is not only talented, but she has the absolute best taste in chocolate. (What is it with California chocolate…Ghirardelli is my second favorite, but at least it’s nationally distributed.) Anyway, inspired by Tawny, I’m giving away a 1lb box of assorted See’s chocolates to the continental US resident who posts here and whose name my daughter chooses! I’ll also throw in a copy of any of my books published this year. Your pick!

Thanks for playing!!

Dieting during the holidays is the worst! There are so many wonderful food items out there (and candy!) that you can only find or buy this time of the year. So, it’s hard not to indulge. Also, there are holiday parties to attend, family gatherings, and co-workers who bring in home-made cookies, candies, and other treats for everyone to enjoy. It’s so hard to resist!

I thought it was important to let everyone know that there are special rules for dieting during the holidays, and I decided to post them here so no one feels guilty about eating and enjoying themselves.

1. If you eat something and no one sees you eat it, it has no calories.

2. If you drink a diet soda with a candy bar or other “sweet treat”, the calories in the candy is cancelled out by the diet soda.

3. When you eat with someone else, calories don’t count if you do not eat more than they do.

4. Food used for medicinal purposes NEVER counts, such as chocolate, brandy, and Sara Lee Cheesecake.

5. If you fatten up everyone else around you, then you look thinner.

6. Movie related foods do not have additional calories because they are part of the entertainment package and not part of one’s personal fuel. Examples: Milk Duds, buttered popcorn, Junior Mints, and Tootsie Rolls.

7. Cookie pieces contain no calories. The process of breaking causes calorie leakage.

8. Things licked off knives and spoons have no calories if you are in the process of preparing something.

9. Foods that have the same color have the same number of calories. Examples are: spinach and pistachio ice cream; mushrooms and mashed potatoes.

10. Chocolate is a universal color and may be substituted for any other food color.

11. Anything consumed while standing has no calories. This is due to gravity and the density of the caloric mass.

12. Anything consumed from someone else’s plate has no calories since the calories rightfully belong to the other person and will cling to his/her plate. (We ALL know how calories like to cling!).

So, there you go – go forth and enjoy yourselves!

One of the bad things about being on a hellacious deadline during the holidays is that you miss a bunch of fun stuff. Two of the moms I hang out with after school are both university students. One will soon be a nurse, the other a teacher. Today, being that their semester ended yesterday, they went out to lunch. They invited me and you have no idea how much I wanted to go. But I had to work.

Bah, humbug.

However, one other advantage of being on deadline at the holiday time (for those who are looking for silver linings) is that you can, on occasion, get out of chores you HATE.

For me, that would be decorating the tree.

Now, let me say that I spent many years and a lot of time and money designing my tree. It pretty much looks the same from year to year, but I love the way it looks when it is done. It’s a Victorian tree to go with the antique Victorian furniture that is in my formal livingroom, inherited from my husband’s grandfather as well as pieces from my aunt, who is still alive and very much a knowledgable antique collector. All of the ornaments are in pink, light green and pearl. The garlands are beads and ribbons. I even have pink Santas! I have birds–lots of birds–in either pink or white (the swans are my favorite) or minty green.

The collection is amazing. My favorite is this Victorian fairy that I won at one of TARA’s famous Christmas parties. Isn’t it gorgeous? It is sort of fun to go through my ornaments and remember which ones were bought when or who gave me this or that, but I relive those memories while I’m unpacking. Putting them on the tree is a different matter entirely.

Luckily, the daughter is at the age where she is finally old enough to handle all the glass and handblown ornaments and is still excited to do Christmas. So she did it this year and I’m so proud of her!

I suppose I could spend time regretting how we didn’t do this task together, thus enjoying a seasonal tradition of mother/daughter time. (My husband puts up the tree and helps with the lights and then he’s done. He does the entire outside by himself, so he gets a pass.) But I’m looking at it on the positive side so I can avoid the guilt that is so a part of my nature. I was just in the other room while she decorated. I popped in fairly regularly to give her both tips and praise. We put the star on as a family. It’s a good thing.

And it’s even better because I didn’t have to do it!

Here’s another favorite ornament…which I was surprised wasn’t buried at the bottom of the tree somewhere because while my daughter likes to take pictures, she isn’t crazy about looking at them afterward. I do not ordinarily post pictures of my daughter, but this one, I think, is safe because you can’t really see much…except her open mouth! She’s actually dressed as an angel. It was taken on the beach in Key West about four years ago (maybe three) and she was yelling about something. I mean…can this kid be more like me or what?

I’ve been praising and thanking her all night for taking on this task–one I’m very particular about (lights first, then garlands, then glass globes, then specialty ornaments, then birds, then flowers, then icicles) but that I do not enjoy doing. Christmas just got easier…even if just for one night, thanks to the Christmas enthusiasm of a child and the blessings of her teacher, who did not assign homework.

Which tasks at the holidays do you dislike…and how can you pawn them off on others?

Ahhhhh…’tis the season!

We’ve talked about this before. I’m a hair junkie. I love changing colors, changing styles, looking for new products and goop to slap on and hope it will transform me into everything I want to be. Okay maybe not that life altering, but the fact remains, I like change. The problem with this change is that as a published author, I have a public persona. My website is the ME that the world sees. I like to keep it current and up to date. I like to make sure I keep you coming back for more.

Hmm. Could that be behind my chameleon like appearance? Who knows. I just know that I make my family and my web mistress (who doesn’t know this yet because she’s a new webmistress at least new to me) insane.

I must admit the “new” me is really more the original “me”. I have naturally dark hair although this is isn’t completely natural because you see I also have a thing for shine and gloss which you can only get out of a bottle. So even if I go dark (a la more natural), I still like it professionally colored. Then there’s the new red highlights. I hate hate to be boring so those are a must.

Let’s see. What else? Oh, I know. Style. I have naturally curly hair. Many times in my life, I hate my curls and other times I embrace them. Last year, the blonde me, wanted straight hair. This is easier to do with blonde coloring because it gives the hair texture and it’s easier to straighten. Unfortunately after months and months of both, the result is fried hair. Not pan fried, just fried. As in ick. Nobody likes icky hair. So with the blonde, I started to go curly. The word unfortunately comes into play again – because the hair is so chemically textured, it doesn’t want to curl softly the way it does when unprocessed. Again, it’s hard, it’s frizz prone, and it’s ick. Icky hair.

That’s the point when I knew I was ready for a change. Thing is, change isn’t easy on chemically swamped hair. Soooo …. We slowly eased the hair back to color and not bleach. AND we cut. A lot. My family HATED this in between stage and I have to admit, so did I. I couldn’t blow dry it straight b/c darker hair for me won’t straighten and I couldn’t curl it b/c there was still bleach in the hair frizzing it.

But time passed and really it’s only been a few months, and I am finally where I want to be with style and length and color. At least for now.

So here are some THEN (oh about a year ago) and NOW (last Sat. night) photos.

My website still has the then. Will it/should it have the now instead?