Plot Monkeys

The winner of the yummy Hershey’s chocolate, crystal Kiss dish and signed copy of THE BACHELOR is … (my youngest daughter’s favorite # 18 because it’s her birthday and Johnny Damon’s #)

VICKI

Email your mailing address to: carlyphillips@mac.com and I’ll send the chocolate direct from the website and the book from me!

And now for the Sunday funny. I hope you found this as relevant as I did. Some of these are SO me! (So much so that I put my personal comments after each one!)

YOU KNOW YOU’RE LIVING IN 2007 WHEN….
1. You accidentally enter your password on the microwave. (OK I haven’t done this one!)

2. You haven’t played solitaire with real cards in years. (Actually I prefer the real game)

3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of 3. (Try filling out those emergency cards for my kids’ schools!)

4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you. (My family emails not just room to room, but right next to each other in the same bed)

5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that they don’t have e-mail addresses. (Yes, their loss. Email is the only way to go!)

6. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if anyone is home to help you carry in the groceries. (And American wonders why everyone’s gaining weight!)

7 Every commercial on television has a web site at the bottom of the screen. (If they don’t, they should have!)

8. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn’t have the first 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go and get it. (And a dead cell phone with no charger in sight is cause for an actual anxiety attack)

10. You get up in the morning and go on line before getting your coffee. (I go online before getting out of bed! Laptop …)

11. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. (LOL!)
: )

12. You’re reading this and nodding and laughing. (Aren’t you?)

13. Even worse, you know exactly to whom you are going to forward this message. (Well normally yes, but I saved it especially for all of you. I was afraid another plotmonkey would steal it

14. You are too busy to notice there was no #9 on this list. (I’m too busy to notice the day of the week)

15. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn’t a #9 on this list (Not until I read # 15)

AND NOW YOU ARE LAUGHING at yourself…. BUT OF COURSE … AREN’T YOU?
Go on, forward this to your friends. You know you want to….

MY FAVORITE AND THE ONE MOST RELEVANT TO ME IS # 4 - EMAIL from bed to bed; # 5 No email address, don’t expect to hear from me; # 8 Heaven forbid I forget my cell; and last but not least # 10 Email and blogging first thing in the morning! What’s your favorite?

HAPPY SUNDAY!

First off: A fabulous announcement. Next Thursday, March 15 (beware the Ides of March!) our amazing editor Brenda Chin, of Harlequin, will be our special guest blogger. Mark your calendars–if there’s a more well-respected, successful editor in this business, I don’t know who it is. Brenda is our dear friend, and our treasured colleague and we’re all very excited that we’re going to have her here.

Now…back to my post…

It’s 11 o’clock Friday night and I have JUST remembered that we haven’t posted a Saturday Chit-Chat question for this week! For the past several weeks, we’ve had fun relating our “first sale” stories and Carly updated us on her Kelly Ripa story last week. It’s been a long time since we’ve just had an ask-and-answer question.

So I thought (being the industrious monkey that I am) that I’d post my own question, and my own answer, and invite Carly, Janelle and Julie to jump in and answer at their convenience.

Here’s the question…

What are you working on…and how’s it going? Give us the latest!

LK: This should be easy for me to answer since I asked the question! I am working on…nothing! Well, nothing that I’m contracted to deliver. I turned in my next Blaze, due out in September (it’s called OVEREXPOSED and it’s the next in my Santori family series.) Anyway, that was my final “contracted” book for now. I know I’ll be doing more Blazes, but it’s not exactly “official” at this moment. And I’m feeling pretty free…and pretty terrified. No contracted books = no deadlines…but it also = no income. :o

Anyway, while I await my next Blaze deal, I am working on a proposal for something completely different…a romantic suspense trilogy that the other monkeys helped me plot out during our Nashville retreat. It’s going well and I’m excited about it…I’ll be sure to let you know how it turns out!

JD: I’m finishing up (FINALLY!) Joel Wilde’s story in BORN TO BE WILDE. With luck, I will be typing the end by Monday. The book will be released in September 2007. What’s up after that? Laundry, house cleaning, and lots of sleep!

CP: I’m writing HOT PROPERTY (Roper and Amy’s story). I’m actually revising the first quarter of the book for oh, about the fourth time. I had Brenda read and give me suggestions and now I’m going in and fixing. I hope once I nail this I can go forward for good. It seems this is my process. I always struggle in the beginning and have to keep going back and going back. The only good part about it is that each time I have to go in and add something, it gives me more pages!

JEL: Sorry I’m late with my post! I’d like to say I’m working on my tan, but did anyone mention it is cold in California this time of year? I sat by the pool day before yesterday in a long sleeved shirt, jeans, socks and I had a beach towel as a blanket! But while wrapped up, I did write quite a bit on the paranormal gypsy-curse book due in May. The book is coming along well, though I decided to concentrate on a secondary story line while I’m out here and I miss my hero and heroine! The book is currently titled PHANTOM LOVER and will be out next February. BTW, we went to Disneyland yesterday. As you all know, I’m a Disney freak, so the happiest place on earth made me the happiest woman in the world. And we saw Chuck Norris walking around the park with his adorable son and very pretty wife. Several times. I’ve always liked his movies and tv shows, so that was a thrill. (And no, we didn’t say anything to him…I think it’s rude to interrupt a celebrity’s day with his kid to act like a stupid fan, LOL!) I will say I’m wondering why we don’t have the Indiana Jones ride in one of the Florida parks (or do we…is it at MGM? I never go there!) because it was super-cool!

Since you all seemed to love the St. Patrick’s Day theme last week, I’m continuing it this week with the best thing in the whole wide world: CHOCOLATE! Hershey’s Chocolate. (I may not celebrate the holiday but I can party anyway, can’t I? And I definitely can help YOU enjoy!).

Post for a chance to win a personalized CRYSTAL KISSES® Candy Dish with Green KISSES® including a half pound of green foil wrapped HERSHEY’S KISSES Milk Chocolates inside an elegant CRYSTAL KISS Candy Dish. Plus, there’s a special surprise inside - a big 1.45 oz. HERSHEY’S KISSES Milk Chocolate personalized with a personal message from me!~

And since no giveaway would be complete without a book, I’m offering a blast from the past, a signed copy of Kelly Ripa’s pick, THE BACHELOR.

Just to let you know, I’ve had one of these candy dishes for years and I love it!

Check back Sunday for the weekly funny and winner!

(since I’m sending directly from the Hershey’s website, USA only. I’m sorry!)
:love2:GOOD LUCK AND HAPPY FRIDAY!:love2:

The other day when I was walking into the house from our garage, I noticed that one of my daughters did a very strange thing (at least for her, LOL!). The door leading into the house from the garage is spring loaded so it will automatically close behind the person, and my daughter was right behind me. I had my hands full so I didn’t hold the door open for her, and the door started to close after me – but instead of my daughter pushing it back open for herself, she went to great pains NOT to touch the door at all and make sure she squeezed past before it closed, and as a result literally fell against the washing machine in the laundry room. I thought this was extremely odd since she only had her backpack slung over one shoulder and could have easily pushed the door back open with her free hand, but didn’t. So, I turned around and asked her what the heck happened, and she very sheepishly admitted that as she was walking behind me she’d made a little pact with herself that if she could make it inside the door behind me without the door touching her, or closing on her, then a certain “wish” would come true (which would explain why she’d crashed into the washing machine in her attempt to NOT let the door touch her in any way). Kind of like “step on a crack and break your mother’s back”, kind of thing.

Ooookaaaay, I thought, and of course I laughed. But the more I thought about what she said, the more I realized that even I’ve done that kind of thing before, too, or rather, there are certain superstitions I was taught growing up (either by siblings or friends, etc), that have always stuck with me. Some I follow, others I don’t. So, in a way, this was like her own personal superstition, and hey, I can respect that, LOL!

But it really got me thinking about superstitions in general, and how many of us really believe in that stuff – and how many of us adhere to a superstition because we truly believe it will affect the future, or the outcome of a certain situation.

I don’t consider myself a very superstitious person, but how many times have I found a penny on the ground and haven’t picked it up because it was “tails up”, thus would be bad luck if I did pick it up and keep it? Then there’s the superstition that bad things happen in threes, and knocking three times on wood after mentioning something good, because if you don’t, it may not happen! Or how about a black cat crossing your path, or walking under a ladder, or opening an umbrella in the house, all of which will curse you with bad luck. Who really knows if superstitions are really true . . . or are they more a matter of coincidence?

It’s an interesting question, and as I decided to write this blog and searched out the internet for various “superstitions”, I came across some that I’ve heard of, and others that made me laugh. Some are serious, and others downright silly. So, I decided to share some of them here, and see what you had to say about superstitions.

1) If you fasten a button into the wrong buttonhole, it’s bad luck. (I didn’t know this, but I’m sure I’ll remember it. Do I believe it’ll bring me bad luck? No, not really, because I’ve done it many times in the past with no bad results that I can remember!)

2) Breaking a mirror means 7 years of bad luck, unless you take the pieces outside and bury them in the moonlight. Also, if an undisturbed mirror in a house suddenly falls and shatters, then it means that there will soon be a death. (Yes, I’ve broken a mirror before and I didn’t bury it in the moonlight – I can’t say it brought me bad luck, either.)

3) If you go to the bathroom in the night with no clothes on, insects will fall on you. (Oh, this one had me laughing out loud, because it made me think of Leslie’s blog about going to the bathroom in the middle of the night and sitting on a frog! Leslie, were you naked at the time? Inquiring minds want to know! LOL!)

4) Watching someone else yawn makes you yawn. (I don’t think of this as a superstition, but I know it happens to me all the time!)

5) A yawn is a sign that danger is near. (Yeah, the danger of the person falling asleep! I mean, who really yawns when their life is in danger?)

5) If you blow out all the candles on your birthday cake with the first puff, you will get your wish. (I think all of us were taught that from our very first birthday! However, I’ve blown out all the candles on my cake with one puff, and my wish didn’t come true, so what does that say?)

6) Keep cats away from sleeping babies because they “suck the breath” from the child. (Okay, I’ve heard of this one before, but I’m not sure I believe it. However, if I had a cat when my girls were babies, I might have thought twice about letting it near my child while sleeping – just in case, LOL!)

7) Cut your hair on Good Friday to prevent headaches in the year to come. (Hmmm, I’m thinking Carly needs to try this one for her migraines!)

8) Spilling wine while proposing a toast means good luck. (So why wouldn’t you fill your glass so that you DO spill some wine for good luck?)

9) A bat flying in the house means bad luck. (Uh-oh, didn’t we have someone here that had a bat flying around in their house? Did it bring you bad luck?)

10) An itch inside your nose means bad luck. (What? Are they serious?)

11) If the palm of your right hand is itchy, then it foretells that money is coming to you, but don’t scratch it as that stops the money from coming! If it’s your left palm that is itchy, then scratch away, as that means you’ll soon be paying out money! (I always thought it was the other way around, that if your right hand was itchy you would be getting money, and if it was your left hand that was itchy you’d be paying out money. See, what do I know!)

12) Spilling salt. If both salt and pepper are spilled at the same time, the force of this ill omen is doubled. (So, does this mean you have to toss both salt AND pepper over your shoulder to break the spell?)

13) Ahh, the bad luck number 13. No 13th floor in hotels, Friday the 13th, etc. (I choose to believe that Friday the 13th is a GOOD day, since that’s when my oldest daughter was born.)

14) Dogs howling in the dark of night, howl for death before daylight. (If that’s the case, then me and my neighbors should be dropping like flies, because ONE of the neighbors has a dog that howls all night long!)

15) A person who dies on Good Friday will go right to heaven. (I guess you get a free pass on that day!)

16) If 3 people are photographed together, the one in the middle will die first. (Okay, so what happens when those same three people have their picture taken together more than once, and each time someone different is in the middle? Do they all die at the same time?)

17) If you believe in a superstition, it will always follow you! (See, that’s why I don’t take much stock in superstitions!).

Seriously, I do think if you believe in something enough, it will or can happen. Positive thoughts bring positive energy, and negative thoughts brings negative energy — that’s my way of thinking!

So, how many of you are superstitious and how many of you believe a lot of what happens (good luck or bad luck), is pure coincidence? And if I haven’t listed one of your superstitions above, go ahead and share it with us! We all need to be aware of these things!

Getting old bites the big one.

I’m not saying I’m old…42 is NOT OLD. (Repeat…repeat…

But I FEEL so old. Especially this week.

Some of you might know I had some pretty serious back issues a few years ago. Had to be rushed to the ER due to numbness down my right leg–after dealing with debilitating back pain for 2 years. Turned out I had 2 herniated discs which were pressing on my nerves and I had to have a radial microdiscectomy. Which was a HUGE RELIEF. Fixed the leg problem (mostly, though I have about a 2″ wide numb spot to this day…that’s kinda weird!) And the back pain is waaaaay better. (I can get by for a few days without any Motrin, which is saying a lot since I lived on it, 4 x every 4 hours, for a good year.)

But…every once in a while, my back decides to remind me that I am not the 25 year old I picture in my mind. (Not in the mirror…that old bag should be *happy* to be only 42 some days!)

This weekend, hubby and I went to Florida to do some work on our as yet unsold house, getting ready to put it back on the market. I had a looooong list for both of us. So the first day, I get to work out in the front, cutting back some huge, out-of-control Birds of Paradise bushes, which wasn’t difficult work, but did involve some bending.

Well, I bent…my back, however, did not. It instead popped and started screaming at me, which basically put me out of commission for the entire weekend!

It is so darned frustrating, because, as I said above, I still mentally see myself as the strong, active 20…okay, that’s a stretch…30-something I was a few years ago. To be very painfully reminded that I’m not just TICKS ME OFF! Especially when it’s caused by something so simple. I mean, I didn’t throw my back out when sliding down the ice and crashing into the trees two weeks ago, or while tubing down the mountain at the ski resort. No. I did it trimming some stinking bushes in my yard.

Yep. Getting old really stinks.

Anybody else have back issues? Any suggestions on how to deal with them? (beyond copious amounts of drugs? )

PS: VOTE!
Julie, Janelle and I, along with some of our Plotmonkey pals including Kimberly Raye, Rhonda Nelson, Julie Miller, Jill Shalvis, Joanne Rock and other Blaze authors are all nominated for awards in the eHarlequin Reader’s Choice Awards. (Actually, Boys of Summer, by me, Julie & Kimberly, is up against Janelle’s Christmas Blaze anthology! ACK! Good thing we’re such good friends or we’d have to have a rumble over that one.

Anyway if you’d like to vote for your favorite Harlequin releases of 2006, CLICK HERE.

*****
Carly’s winner from yesterday is …
# 24
Jolene Fehr
Congratulations!
Email Carly at: carlyphillips@mac.com with your mailing info. and thanks everyone for participating!
Come back friday for more Jungle Madness
*******

Many of you have seen this if you already get my newsletter, but just in case you aren’t on my list (if not, what are you waiting for? Subscribe to my Newsletter!

As you all know, again I hope, just 4 months until the paperback release of CROSS MY HEART (July 2007). Many of you who read Cross My Heart in hardcover have written asking for Hunter and Molly’s story and I’m happy to say it’s on its way! SEALED WITH A KISS (Hunter and Molly’s story) will be in stores just three months later (October 2007). Those of you who missed CROSS MY HEART the first time, get ready. My books have hot new covers and a hot new look and I could not be more excited!

So in appreciation for you buying the books (again, I hope - are you seeing a theme here?) I’ve created brand new bookmarks, a flyer with an exclusive excerpt for each book, calendar stickers so you won’t forget when the books come out, and matching autographed bookplates.

HOW TO GET THE GOODIES: Send me a self addressed stamped envelope (legal sized envelope – no big brown ones and no mini ones please! And one stamp only!) to:

Carly Phillips
Plotmonkeys - CMH and SWAK
P.O. Box 483
Purchase, NY 10577

SPECIAL DRAWING!
And as a special gift, I will draw random winners from the envelopes I receive and those people will get blue and gold, custom printed CROSS MY HEART and SEALED WITH A KISS MnM’s!

BUT BECAUSE YOU ALL COME HERE SO OFTEN, I’LL BE GIVING AWAY THE SPECIAL PRIZE HERE TOO - FOR EXAMPLE, I’LL CHOOSE FROM ANYONE WHO POSTS TODAY AND SEND THE LUCKY WINNER THE MNM’S AND A SURPRISE SIGNED BOOK!

All this to thank you for your support, dear readers!

So what do you think of my new cover look?

Wait! Where’s Leslie? It’s Monday, isn’t it? She’s without Internet and since I’m traveling Wednesday, we switched!

I did a crazy thing last week when I was too sick to do much of anything…I cleaned my office. Not a big cleaning, mind you…I only do that when I’m done with a book, not in the middle of one. But the mess had gotten so bad, I could hardly put my laptop on my desk…and I have a very small laptop.

While cleaning, I made a fabulous discovery of old pictures! In fact, since the Plotmonkeys have been waxing nostalgic for the past couple of weeks, I thought I’d share the pictures because this is the first conference where I met (in person), Carly and Janelle. I’m pretty sure Leslie and I had already gotten to know each other in Atlanta by this time, but my other friendships were all online and it was fabulous to hook up with all these new friends in my favorite city in the world…Chicago.

We look so young! And I look so skinny (this is the first conference after having my baby, so I’m very impressed with myself, LOL!) I also wasn’t a redhead yet…just a reddish wash in my naturally brunette hair. I was testing the waters, I suppose. This is me, our esteemed editor, Brenda Chin, Janelle and Carly outside the landmark where we agreed to meet–the Ghirardelli cafe just off Michigan Avenue. I don’t believe we ate there…in fact, I can’t really remember what we did that day. Shopping? I’m guessing shopping!

If memory serves, this is dinner before the Harlequin party. I seem to remember more people being there, but this may have been our half of the table. That’s Julie Kenner, me, Brenda, Janelle and Leslie. We went to this favorite Italian restaurant of mine on Ontario Street and the air conditioner wasn’t working. Ugh! Was it hot! There was a heatwave in Chicago that weekend and for a city more used to harsh winters, they didn’t deal with it very well.

This is a picture from the Harlequin party and I believe Janelle is behind the camera. I know this because I don’t take pictures and if I own them, it is because someone gave them to me…and it’s usually Janelle. This is Julie Kenner, Leslie, me, Carly in the front row and Temptation authors Donna Sterling and Jamie Denton in the back. The party was at the Planetarium. They had yummy desserts that were melting in the heat. This is also before I figured out how to effectively straighten my hair.

One night, a bunch of us went out for pizza. Before we made our way to Pizzeria Uno, we stopped to admire the cow exhibit that was all over this city. I can’t remember the theme of this particular one…but they were all fun and cute. This was, I believe, the original display of cows long before it became de rigeur for cities to pick an animal and have them decorated in various themes for charities. It was manatees here in Florida. But the cows were always the coolest, IMO.

I’m not quite sure when Julie Kenner, me and Janelle made it back to Ghirardelli for ice cream…but here’s the guilt-laden shot. Oh, those sundaes were so yummy! They always are. My daughter and I often go there after shopping at American Girl (right across the street) and count it as lunch. It counts, right? There’s dairy, protein, fruit, nuts…

This is from the RITAs. I remember well when I could fit into that dress! That’s Carly, Stephanie Bond, me, Kimberly Raye and Janelle…a part of the 1965 group! I don’t remember a thing from that night except that I had a great time.

Walking down memory lane was a blast…do you ever do that? Find old pictures and spend way too much time looking through them and trying to remember all the details? I guess that’s what pictures are for!

Congratulations to grand prize winner JEN HALL (message #48) who has won Friday’s Jungle Madness contest, including the T-shirt, Irish themed Oreos, copy of Wicked & Willing and a copy of Alison Kent’s The Perfect Stranger.

Runner up AMY S # 78 also wins a copy of The Perfect Stranger by Alison Kent!

Way to go ladies–hope you enjoy your prizes! Please write to me at author@lesliekelly.com with your snail mail addy so we can get your prizes out asap.

Congrats again!

Now, just for fun…in honor of my “snow day” post of last Monday…thought this would make you laugh.

The first time I told this story I used the Cinderella perspective because let’s face it, that was the best way to describe what I felt like when Kelly Ripa chose my book THE BACHELOR for her Reading with Ripa Bookclub. But when the subject came up last week on my Saturday Plotmonkey blog and there was interest in hearing it again, I realized I wanted to retell the story. That I was interested in looking at what happened to me that year – from a brand new perspective … So here it is:

Carly Phillips’ Kelly Ripa Story Five Years Later.

Let me start by saying that I’ve always been a planner, a plotter and a thinker – not book plotting – that’s what I have the Plotmonkeys for – but for my career. I tend to look at where I am, look at where I want to be, and try to figure out a way to get there. I don’t always take the right road or the most direct road but hindsight is 20/20. When I started writing, I wanted to write category novels, Harlequin Temptations for the rest of my life. That lasted until I sold my second and third Temptation or maybe my fourth or fifth. Then the idea of selling a novella came to me next. I think that was the point where I realized I had aspirations beyond category – but still writing romance. I wanted to do a short story for a new publisher and start to make a bigger name for myself. (I bet you’re wondering what this has to do with Kelly Ripa – but like I said, I’m writing in hindsight and I guess I have to tell this my way, so please bear with me and keep reading!).

Where was I? Oh yes. Novellas. I thought they were the key to building a name. I’d seen other authors use this device successfully. It didn’t work that way for me. Yes I did a few novellas but none were the huge vehicle I’d hoped for, but that’s okay because I loved writing those stories and I met new editors that way! Obviously I needed a new plan, however the plan wasn’t mine – the plan found me. My first lucky break leading to Kelly Ripa came when my then agent had lunch with Maggie Crawford, an editor who had just begun working at Warner Books. Maggie had an idea for a trilogy about three bachelor brothers and a meddling mother who wanted grandchildren. My agent pitched me for the idea and I put together a proposal and a few chapters and I sold three books to Warner. This was huge and practically unheard of, a category author who had never written single title, selling a trilogy on basically an outline. I still had books to write for Harlequin and so I wasn’t going to start writing this trilogy for over a year – and do you see how fate and timing works? If I’d written the books immediately, there wouldn’t have been a Kelly Ripa bookclub yet. And by the time I did write the books, Maggie Crawford had already left Warner for Pocket Books (which as much as I love Maggie turned out to be a good thing because she wanted me to write the stories on a ranch and I knew nothing about horses and cowboys!)

So I wrote THE BACHELOR and I began new scheming. How could I get this little book recognized on a bigger level? I hadn’t been paid enough money to be able to promote it on a huge level. I didn’t have a track record with single title books, so how could I get a big enough sell in to hit any lists …? I hired a publicist who didn’t work on retainer but who worked hourly which was a help at the time because I could control the payout a little more. (Not much, mind you. PR is EXPENSIVE). But it was worth it because in my mind I would put whatever I had behind this book. I only had one first shot to get it right. That was my mindset.

Now the Kelly Ripa story. And I really want to tell it differently this time. The basics I can’t change. The facts. I was watching LIVE! And saw Regis and Kelly joking about Kelly doing a bookclub. She said if she was in charge, the bookclub would have beach trash, smut, hot men on the cover. I admit I have never been someone who worried about the negative terms applied to romance IF those terms are used by people who actually read or respect the genre and in a bizarre way, yes you can both use those terms and like the genre. By believing this, I decided to jump on the Kelly Ripa bookclub joke in the HOPES that something could come of it.

In my heart and soul I believed I had this cosmic connection with Kelly Ripa. Why? I watched All My Children since I was a preteen. I always thought her character, Hayley Vaughn, was one of the best drawn on soaps. But most importantly I FELT it. So I called my publicist and ran the idea by her and she didn’t laugh at me, she said she’d get right on it. In the meantime, turns out I wasn’t the only one who’d seen LIVE! And the message boards online were buzzing with the information. I’m superstitious. And I don’t like to discuss things in case they don’t pan out I jinx it. So I shut my mouth, let people talk, did not get involved in the conversation, and I IMMEDIATELY sent out a copy of my book via my publicist. Months passed in which we heard nothing. But I never forgot and in case they were overloaded with books, in case there was a chance, I brainstormed with my publicist and we then decided to send another copy of the book along with a cookie basket custom made with cookies in the shape of the lips on the book cover of THE BACHELOR.

Let me say a few things: To this day I do not know which copy of the book Kelly Ripa or her people saw first. I don’t know if she received the basket or not. But I don’t believe that the gimmick of the basket sold LIVE! On the book. I have to believe the book sold itself. I was told it came down to two books in the end (no, I don’t know the name of the other one) and they chose THE BACHELOR. Let me also say I can look back and see that this was my first single title and I’ve grown a lot since writing that one, so it is doubly an honor that she chose this story. Anyway, there’s more.

After sending the basket, that was it. Although my publicist continued to follow up with phone calls, we never heard anything. Until one day in late May or June (I’m no better with this date than I am with remembering the exact date of my first sale, LOL), I was getting the kids ready for a quick McDonald’s run with a friend and her kids. This was 2002 and my girls were six and ten. My editor from Warner called with good news. My girls didn’t want to hear Mommy had to take a phone call. They were hungry and they wanted McDonald’s. Until my editor told me Kelly Ripa had chosen THE BACHELOR for her July bookclub. I screamed and told the girls. Then my editor said I couldn’t tell anyone until Kelly announced it Monday morning. Was she kidding? I’d just told two little girls with big mouths and I had to go to a party with friends asking how my writing career was going over the weekend, and I couldn’t say anything! I told the girls to keep it a secret and off I went to McDonald’s.

Preparation is key. I learned a lot over that long weekend. Despite the promise to keep quiet, we readied my website to reflect the announcement so the site would go live after the show. And then we waited. Of course I told my husband and the girls knew, my parents knew, and late Sunday night, early Monday morning I told people close to me who I wanted to see the show. Then I panicked that she’d pick someone else’s book and I’d be a disappointed fool.

I wasn’t disappointed. In fact, looking back, Kelly gave the book so much fanfare and buildup that day, it couldn’t have been more perfect. I think what I found the most amazing was that I never heard from the show directly, never spoke to anyone from the show except for the one online chat and the day I did the bookclub show. It was very informal and surreal.

My expectations were also completely unrealistic. I thought that I’d have a quick fifteen minutes of fame and it would be over. In retrospect, in a way that is what happened only on a huger, grander scale. For one thing, the books’ rise to # 1 on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.com exceeded anything we’d hoped for. The day passed in a blur, with phone calls and craziness. Again, I didn’t have any contact with Kelly Ripa or the people from the show. But over the next few weeks, Kelly continued to mention the book, to tell viewers how it was doing on the New York Times Bestseller List, etc. THIS more than anything kept the book in people’s minds during the month leading up to the bookclub show in August. I think this helped account for how well the book did and why it had staying power. I’ve thought a lot about this over the last few years, because Kelly Ripa did have quite a few books in her bookclub, but I can’t recall the continuous mentions and I know that had to have helped.

If you want the details, the funny and specific details, read my Diary of the Cinderella Story.

But for the rest of this blog, I’m here to tell you what happened next. The story nobody knows or really ever asked about.

While the insanity was going on that summer, I had another book to write and thank goodness when this news broke, I was nearly finished with it, so I couldn’t angst about how ever would I compete against myself. How could I possibly put out another book when I knew it could never do as well as THE BACHELOR? And then there were the nasty whispers and the nasty overt talks – “Let’s see her do it without Kelly Ripa.” Yes, the world can be a mean, mean place. But I’m not asking you to feel sorry for me. For one thing, I don’t deserve or need it and for another I had the Plotmonkeys who never left my side, deserted me, or more and most importantly, who never resented me.

In the end, the next book, THE PLAYBOY did well. Not as well as THE BACHELOR but well enough to show people it wasn’t a fluke. I did have a semblance of staying power as an author. And I’ve worked very very hard to prove that with each book since.

I’ve made good steps and missteps along the way. I did four hardcover releases and discovered that for now, paperback should be my home. I’m happy since I know this makes my readers happy and happy readers are those who can afford to buy books. I went back to Harlequin as my publishing house and I do believe they understand what I write and who my readers are, just as do.

I knew from the beginning that I couldn’t hit number one and go anywhere but down. That doesn’t mean I gave up. But from post-Kelly Ripa onward, my career has been a process of rebuilding and not taking anything for granted. I’ve treated each book like it was my first and worked to get it into the hands of readers. Old readers and new readers. I also need to grow with each book I write and to that end, I took some detours that led me from CROSS MY HEART (7/07) and SEALED WITH A KISS (10/07) back to what I’m writing now, HOT PROPERTY (7/08) that is vintage Carly Phillips. Sexy fun.

And I am still scheming. Still doing everything I can to push and promote and reach out to you, my readers. And that is ultimately what the Kelly Ripa story is all about – proving that romance is for everyone. That people who don’t think they like romance can read THE BACHELOR or any romance novel and be proven wrong. The best thing that came from my book being chosen by Kelly for her bookclub was to bring romance novels into mainstream America’s homes and to have a celebrity stand up and say hey, “I read this book and I loved it. You will too.” So beyond you and me, the typical romance reader, there are so many others out there who we as romance writers and readers need and want to reach. And that is the goal of my most recent scheming – (no, I won’t tell what that’s about. I already said I am always scheming ).

Just know there is always another book around the corner and there is always opportunity – if you’re ready and know to be looking for it.

Welcome to Friday in the Jungle! It’s a great day to be here because we happen to have a super “double” prize this week!

First of all, we’re only two weeks away from another of my FAVORITE holidays…St. Patrick’s Day! It’s not that I like green beer (I don’t even like the regular stuff) but I am a fan of all things Irish. After going on a dream vacation there two years ago, it’s become my favorite place other than the good old U.S. of A.

I know it’s a little early, but I wanted to offer a goody that someone would get in time to use/wear/eat on St. Patty’s Day itself. So this week’s winner will get a “Kiss Me I’m Irish” T-shirt…

AND a box of specialty St. Patty’s Day Chocolate Covered Oreos!

AND a copy of a book featuring my 1/2 Irish 1/2 Italian heroine Venus Messina…WICKED & WILLING

BUT WAIT…THERE’S MORE!

(Did she say MORE? She did!)

Because our amazingly talented, wonderfully gracious friend ALISON KENT is offering a special giveaway right here, too.

Her new release THE PERFECT STRANGER is coming out in a few days, and to celebrate, she’s giving special exclusive excerpts to bloggers all over the blog-o-sphere. And we Plotmonkeys definitely didn’t want to be left out.

So, not only do you get to read this “nowhere else” excerpt…today’s winner will get all the Irish themed gifts above, plus a copy of THE PERFECT STRANGER! And because Alison’s so generous (and such a good friend) she’s offered TWO copies of the book…meaning we’ll pick a runner-up to get their own copy.

Just comment and you’re entered…hope the luck of the Irish is with you!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

He shook his empty canteen. “I need water.”

“You’ve emptied that already? No wonder you keep having to stop.”

He’d stopped once. “What? It’s hot. I’m sweating. It wasn’t full to start with.” He could see the steam coming out of her ears when there was no need. Her response had crossed the line from reaction into over. “Besides, this is your backyard, not mine. I need time to acclimate.”

“I told you. We don’t have—”

“Time. I know.” She was nothing if not a broken record. “But you can’t tell me taking fifteen minutes now to refuel won’t save us thirty down the road when I pass out and you have to do mouth-to-mouth to revive me.”

He had her there. He watched her expression shift from dark to not so, watched the fight go out of her on a long exhalation of breath.

Watched as she hung her head and accepted the inevitable and what he’d known all along.

He was right.

“There’s a spring that feeds the stream we’ve been following. It’s not too far.”

The fact that they’d been following a stream at all was news to him, and sent a volley of Swiss Family Robinson points into her corner.

He’d been too busy breaking leaves and bending stalks and snapping twigs, marking the path, to notice that they were indeed climbing steadily upward.

“Then let’s go,” he said, adding, “quickly and quietly,” just to get a rise if he could.

She dropped back so they could walk side by side, his thigh bumping her hip every few steps. “I meant what I said, you know. You really are a pain in the ass.”

“Comes naturally. Like my good lucks and charming personality.”

“You argue. You give me a hard time. You’re always wanting your way. What part of that is charming?”

“What? Nothing about the good looks? The tight ass? The killer smile?”

“If you’re fishing for compliments, give me something to help us get to where we’re going, and I’ll think about it. Or at least find me a six-pack I can drink because as nice as they are?” Her scarred brow came up. “Your abs aren’t doing me a bit of good.”

Ha, he mused. But she had noticed. And he wasn’t above using that physical attraction as leverage, or seduction as a weapon.

He could hardly forget the way she’d responded to the touch of his finger when they’d been sitting in front of Gabriel’s tent.

And he’d take the memory of her body tumbled on top of his there on the jungle floor to his grave.

He shook off the thought and found another nudging into its place. Something she’d said about having cut off all contact with her family.

He wondered how that played into her decision to drag her kid through the jungle.

“As long as you’ve been down here, I would think you’d have figured a way to get the things you need. Even if it meant getting it from your family.”

“I told you. I don’t talk to my family.”

“Ever?”

“Ever.”

“A bad estrangement?”

“You could say that.”

“What about your son?”

She slowed, her voice tightened. “What about him?”

“Doesn’t he want to see his grandparents? Don’t they want to spend time with him?”

She came to a stop. She turned. She didn’t bother to cloak the emotions in her eyes. “My son is my business, Jack. Not yours. Who he sees? Who he spends time with? None of that is your concern, okay?”

Her voice, her words, both were deceptively calm. But her eyes? They gave her away. He sensed an explosion, and because he was who he was, he pushed.

“Why play violent video games when you can live one, eh?”

She swung. Her fist flew toward his jaw, a full right hook that answered any question about whether or not she hit like a girl. She didn’t.

But he knew how to duck, and so caught the blow on the shoulder and spun to the side, grabbing the whip and machete from her belt as he fell.

The momentum she’d put into her swing sent her stumbling forward, and it took only a well-placed boot tangling between her feet to put her exactly where he wanted her.

On her back. On the ground. On his good side.

He hooked his leg over hers and flipped himself up to straddle her hips, grabbing her wrists, binding them with the whip and pinning her down.

Her chest heaved, and her eyes burned with a volcanic fire, searing him with all the fury she’d convinced herself her circumstances demanded be kept bottled up.

She was the hottest thing he’d had beneath him in longer than he could recall, and his body didn’t care about the severity of her crimes.

“Don’t ever hit me again,” he said, breathing hard, weighing this chance he had against never having another, wondering about the cause of his hesitation before his mouth came down.

Like it???? Click the cover to order!

From the back cover:

Some like it hot.

The men and women of Alison Kent’s sizzling SG-5 series like it hotter. In this all-new novel of steamy suspense, the jungle is the only place wild enough for a hotshot helicopter pilot and a renegade rich girl with one hell of an agenda…

Bachelor parties are fun, as long as you’re not the poor sap getting hitched…or slipped a Mickey and waking to discover you just became the poor sap. Not to mention that your “wife” is pregnant, and if you don’t go along to her village to meet the in-laws, the nice police comandante will be muy unhappy. Just another day in the life of helicopter pilot J. Jackson Briggs? Not so much. His Smithson Group gig wasn’t supposed to be dangerous, but the the woman who drugs him, then knocks him out, then drugs him again certainly is. She also may or may not be a nun. She’s definitely a lying, scheming, lethally gorgeous…American. Jack’s light years from believing the story Jillian Endicott gives him about her noble cause in the sweltering wilds of San Torisco, but he knows one thing: he’ll get the truth—and plenty more—from her, one way or another…

Being an Endicott of the Boston Endicotts taught Jillian plenty about the haves vs. the have-nots—and made it easy to choose sides. But there’s nothing easy about her mission in San Torisco, and things only get harder when Jack Briggs is thrown into the mix. Six-foot-three of big Texas mouth and big…other things…Jack’s pegged her as a bored little rich girl. Hey, he can think what he wants, as long as he does what she wants. Do unto others what needs to be done—that’s Jillian’s motto. Problem is, Jack knows how to push her buttons from minute one—and the closer he gets to pushing her over the edge, the more she wants him to…

Now under dark velvet cover of jungle nights, two rebels with a cause are going deep—and falling hard—for the perfect stranger…

View the trailer: