Silhouette Romantic Suspense Author Blog

I need help! The thing I hate most in the world is to have my picture taken. Not a unique aversion, but for me it’s especially strong. Number one, I don’t photograph well and never have. Some do, some don’t  regardless of looks. Number two, I’m always a little chubbier in reality than I am in my mind. I prefer the image in my mind to the real one because… well let’s face it, the image in mind makes it okay to have fries or a burger or chocolate or wine once in a while.

The image in reality should be on 24/7 restricted calorie watch!

For the last few years, I’ve been writing a mini-series for SRS about fire investigators.  The stories in The Hot Zone have included stalkers, revenge seekers, killers trying to cover up a murder.  My editor wanted something different and one day when we were talking, she threw out the line, “Oh, give me a hostage situation.”

Discovering characters is, in my humble opinion, one of the most interesting parts about being a writer.  I say this because I've just started a new book and am in the process of learning the characters.  It's fun.  And weird, too. 

Recently I received a note from a reader who took me to task for not describing the wedding dress in one of my books. I don’t always have the wedding take place in the book, but when I do, the last thing I consider describing is the dress.  A wedding and the happily-ever-after are what the hero and heroine have been anticipating and I want to know their emotional state, not what they’re wearing. 

Am I wrong?

Though I write about and live in the Southwest, I'm a Jersey Girl by birth, which means I'm hard-wired to love most anything Bruce Springsteen sings. This afternoon, I dragged out a CD I haven't listened to in some time called We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions. 

Why I’m Not Blogging Today

What do y’all think about the new covers?  I think they rock and I’m amazed at how much the model on my cover looks like the hero of this book.  That’s a first for me.  

Not only a new year, but a new decade…and fittingly, I just sent off a long-overdue proposal for not only a new book, but a new series.

Hi Everyone

HIS WOMAN IN COMMAND, Silhouette Romantic Suspense, is book one of a contracted trilogy.  Those who loved the original Black Jaguar Squadron series set in Peru, will find this the second series set in Afghanistan.
We pick up with Captain Nike Alexander, a kick-butt, take-names kind of woman.  Before being transferred to BJS 60 in Afghanistan, she was stationed in Peru with the original squadron.  There, she flew the Apache combat helicopter and interdicted drug trade that was being flown out of Peru by smugglers.  While there, she fell in love with a Peruvian Army officer.  Everything went well until he was killed in a fire fight with smugglers.  Heartbroken, Nike swore she would NEVER fall or marry a man in the military.  EVER.

Oops. I was supposed to post this yesterday. Sorry, everyone!

Welcome to the New Year, everyone!  I just love this time of year.  If I haven’t always been on my best behavior over the last twelve months, I can start fresh with the year change. It’s time for a brand new calendar.  Brand new resolutions.  A brand new outlook.  And a brand new book!  It reminds me of opening up a new book to read and feeling the anticipation of getting lost inside characters and a story that’s unique.

Here it is, just over a day left in 2009 to finish all those goals I set for the year. Writing projects, home renovation, dog training, horse training, travel...not likely to happen in the next 29 hours. I am sad that not all of the things I had planned came to fruition. But I look back on the year (who can help but look back at accomplishments at this time of year?) and I am satisfied.

I can't say I actually enjoy the act of decorating my house for the holidays.  All those boxes to drag out of the attic.  I seem to acquire more and more things every year, so it's a full three days work put into it.  But the transformation is worth it.  My house always looks it's best when it's decorated for Christmas.

I'm nearly set.  I've got the presents wrapped, cookies baked, and eggnog in the frig.  I've got some great romance novels waiting on the bedside table, my favorite holiday music stacked by the CD player, and enough left-overs to last through the snowstorm bearing down (anywhere between three to twelve inches expected, depending on the forecast).   I just need one more thing to really get into the holiday mood -- some feel-good movies to watch.

Which leads me to this blog post -- favorite holiday movies.  I have a list, but it's fairly short and I desperately need more ideas.  Here it is:

Everybody have their Christmas shopping finished? I’m almost there. My honey keeps threatening to get me one of those “Snuggies” for Christmas. Did you know they even make them for dogs?

What is it--the Christmas Spirit?  Does anybody really know?  I mean, you know when you've got it, and when you don't, but...what IS it?

I know it's still early, but yesterday I decided to make a list of New Years Resolutions.  Every year I do this, and every year I only stick to one, maybe two resolutions, and usually only for a couple of months before I forget about it or simply give up.  "Exercise" and "Quit smoking" have been on the list year after year, and yet I still smoke, and still can't climb a flight of stairs without gasping for breath.

The holidays are quite easily the most distraction filled time of the year, at least for me.  There's shopping and cooking and cleaning (so the guests don't freak out!).  Plus there are the normal time fillers - the day job, and my writing.

Hi Everyone!

The Black Jaguar Squadron was created because I had a real tiff with the military about women in combat.   Specifically, flying the Apache gun ship, the state-of-the-art combat helicopter used by the US Army.

I’ll bet you think we authors pick the titles of our books.

Ha!

Would you believe that of the twenty-two books I’ve published so far (as Nina Bruhns), I have gotten to keep exactly two of my original titles? What’s with that?

Now, I’ll admit, grudgingly, and only after many, many unsuccessful attempts at choosing titles for my books that would both convey the story as well as entice readers, that, well, my publisher knows this stuff better than I do. And damn, isn’t that annoying? 

Nothing much has changed since I last posted two days ago. Feel free to wander away should the whim hit you. No new revelations will be forthcoming, just more of the same.

It doesn't take the upcoming holiday to make me think of all the things I'm thankful for.  Not really.  Little thihngs pop into my head on a daily basis that have me sending up a silent prayer of thanks.  I'm frequently thankful, for example, for men.

I'm expecting pups in two weeks -- well, not me, but this gorgeous black boy and his missus are, and I hope one of them will be mine. I am so excited I can think about little else ... other than names now.

Any wonderful suggestions out there? For a shiny strong black lab like dad here? We'll be learning to track together if that helps with ideas. 

The holidays are here, and I don’t know about you, but I’ve got some heavy-duty cooking in my near future.  No more scrambled eggs or leftover Chinese takeout for dinner -- at least for the next few days.  Relatives are on their way...and they will need to eat. 

King crab dipped in real butter is better than chocolate for me! And I can already hear the uproar.

So I know it's still a month away, but I'm already excited about the holidays.  We do Christmas and Channukah at my house (double the fun!) and this week I started doing some of my holiday shopping.  Normally I'm the stressed-out shopper scouring the stores at the last minute, so this year I decided to be smart and do it early.  I've already checked off half the people on my list, and I feel so much better knowing I won't be rushing a month from now.

Hi Everyone!

I really JAZZED about SRS’s NEW book covers for 2010.  Lucky me!  I just got my March 2010 A cover, HIS WOMAN IN COMMAND and I loved the new look.

There’s almost nothing as pleasurable as having a moment alone to lose yourself in a good Silhouette Romantic Suspense novel.  With the possible exception of chocolate.  Chocolate is a weakness of mine. 

I found this quote online   “…the taste of chocolate is a sensual pleasure in itself, existing in the same world as sex… For myself, I can enjoy the wicked pleasure of chocolate…entirely by myself.  Furtiveness makes it better.”   Dr. Ruth Westheimer

My very first novella, KISS ME ON CHRISTMAS, is out this month in a three-in-one titled BLACKOUT AT CHRISTMAS. It was so much fun collaborating with two awesome writers, Beth Cornelison (STRANDED WITH THE BRIDESMAID) and Sharron McClellan (SANTA UNDER COVER).

Good morning everyone and Happy November!

Are you one of those who like to walk on the spooky side once in a while?  October seems to be the month people most enjoy trying to scare themselves silly.  For those who like the chills and thrills that can be gotten from traveling to reputedly haunted places, I’ve made a list of the places that intrigue me most:

The J.B. Moore house, Villisica, Iowa
In 1912, the J.B. Moore family, their four children and two overnight guests were murdered in their beds by an axe-wielding assailant.  The killer has never been brought to justice.  Local law enforcement found the doors all locked from the inside, which would suggest that the offender walked in the unlocked house and then locked it after him with the key that had been left in the lock.  The bloody axe had been left behind, after an attempt had been made to clean it.  All curtains had been closed and for those windows without curtains, the family’s clothes had been hung up to cover the windows.

The murders remain unsolved.

What's everyone reading these days?  I'm not reading anything, but I will be.   

Who knew that painting a house could cause such pain?  My arms hurt.  My back and neck hurt.  Even my toes and the soles of my feet hurt.  My knees are chafed from painting baseboards.  My shins and hips are bruised from dragging a big wooden ladder around the house.  I’ve climbed up and down that ladder so many times that my legs keep cramping, making it impossible to sleep.

At my last critique session, a discussion on pacing came up. How do you know when your pacing is off? Your head is stuffed with your story, so sometimes it’s hard to step back and see it with fresh eyes.

One of my critique partners has a story where the suspense doesn’t start until manuscript page 60. We thought the pacing was slow getting there but could be fixed by not spending as much time as she did on one topic. Get the story question out early, then move on to spicy character development full of tension and motives and driving dialogue that can carry everything to the moment of suspense. Maybe it takes another reader to tell you when your pacing is off, maybe you see it when you go to polish the rough draft. 

I thought long and hard about whether to write the blog I’d planned for this date, the one dealing with yet another of the comments and questions we writers get so often.  Finally, though, I decided it would be a copout, maybe even dishonest, after sharing so much of my journey over the past few months of my husband’s battle with cancer with you, not to share with you the journey’s end.

I lost my love, my Gary, ten days ago.

So I'm coming out of the writing cave for the day to blog about...too much romance in a romantic suspense.  I've been working on my latest SRS and decided to take a break this weekend and do some reading, and maybe get some inspiration for my story since it seems to be moving unbelievably slowly.

Remember:  These lists are subjective and have nothing to do with the author or the book itself.   Everyone feel free to add your favorite!

I'm currenty in the last heat of an impending deadline for my next Silhouette Romantic Suspense, the third book in The Cordasic Legacy, and the sister's story.  Sometimes books come easier than others.  This book has not been one of those.  It's been a very difficult book to write.

My apologies to Charles Dickens for paraphrasing his words, but what the heck is going on with titles these days? Or do titles really matter anymore?