Silhouette Special Edition Author BLOG

I hate waiting.  At the doctor’s, for stoplights, in traffic.  Yuck.  Drives me crazy.  I just have no patience for it.  Which is a little odd, since I love fishing.  And what’s fishing, if not lots and lots of waiting?

I've only hosted Thanksgiving at my house one time in 22 years of marriage. Shocking, I know. It's not that I haven't offered before but all my husband's family lives two hours away and my family is a little too big to fit comfortably in my house. As a result, we alternate between driving two hours to my sister-in-law's or to my sister's house, about 45 minutes away. And sometimes we hit both! Either way, we always spend a bit of time in the car.

It was in the morning.  I’d had my shower and I was on my way through the dressing area in search of something loose and comfy to wear for my usual day of staring at a computer screen, arguing with imaginary people until blood pops out on my forehead….

I read the other day (and would give credit to the proper person for it, if only I could remember which blogger announced it) that even in these tough economic times, children’s books, YAs, and Harlequins are doing well. 

Hi, all!

When I was thirty-five years old, I adopted a dog. Now, this might not sound that surprising except I had never had a dog before. Not as a child, not growing up. If my friends had dogs, I wasn't really that interested. So, the idea of bringing a dog into my neat, tidy, little home was a shock to me.

Margie -- contact me at KarTempBer @ aol.com (w/out spaces) to claim your prize! And, as always, I can always substitute prize books for others on my backlist, if that works better for you. :)

I did something completely spontaneous and self-indulgent yesterday. Let me preface this blog by explaining I don't do a lot of things that are solely for myself. I'm not a martyr or anything like that, I'm just a harried mom and writer trying to juggle kids and a career and bills and life. Other than my seemingly endless passion for new books (and a TBR pile that's always taking over my bedroom and my office!) I don't buy many things for me. I'm not a big clothes shopper, I'm not into gadgets  -- though I confess, I would love a Kindle! -- and I tend to find more joy buying stuff for my family and house than strictly for myself.  

For my birthday recently, my family gave me a Kindle, the e-reader from Amazon.  I never would’ve asked for it, because it’s really pricy, and I probably wouldn’t have bought it for myself for the same reason, but do I ever love it!

I’m hosting 21 guests for Thanksgiving this year.  I’m experiencing a little bit of a freak-out over the number of people who will be crowded around the table at my house.  But since I grew up sharing Thanksgiving with massive head counts, fewer than ten guests just doesn’t seem right.

And the Winners Are: Nancy and Tammy.  Congrats!  Email through my website:

And the winner is...Melody Rose! Contact me at kartempber @ aol. com (w/out spaces) to claim your signed book!

That's Gnorm the garden gnome on my front porch in his Halloween duds.

Last week as I was mulling the appeal of romance and then as I read Susan's blog, one particular thing really struck me. Our lives or so incredibly hectic. I run from soccer practice to parent-teacher conferences to doctor appointments to the grocery store. And I know I'm not alone. I see my friends and neighbors doing the same thing and it occurred to me that for most women, our lives are about serving others. Our kids, our spouses, our parents, our boss. Often stepping off that insane treadmill and settling in with a great book at the end of a long, tiring rat race is the only thing many women do for themselves all day long.

That would be me in the picture. Devoured by mice.

I like the connection between these words:

- housework
- girlfriends
- movies
- grandchildren
- vacations
- writers conferences

Hi everyone!  This is my first time author blogging, and I’d like to celebrate it by talking about friendships, a theme running through my current Silhouette Special Edition miniseries Home To Firewood Island.  While some of us have sisters and some of us don’t, we all have friends.  In my miniseries, the theme of sisterly friendship runs deep.  The first book, THEIR SECRET CHILD (May 08), sees sisters Addie, Lee and Kat meeting several times a week to either walk or jog their local island trails.

I have a rather unique opportunity next week -- one that suddenly scares me to death! I was contacted a few months ago by the director of the Utah Humanities Council's Festival of the Book, who asked me to be a guest lecturer at the literacy festival, in its seventh year.

It's great to be back, blogging again on the Silhouette Special Edition author blog.  This Harlequin/Sihouette line is my favorite and I'm thrilled to be writing for them.  

Fifteen years ago, my husband and I moved from sprawling Los Angeles County to a small semi-rural Northern California community.  We’d both grown up in the city--him in Beverly Hills (really!) and me the L.A. suburb of Hawthorne.  We were used to lots of pavement and a pretty faceless society.  We knew our immediate neighbors and had family nearby, but we never had much of a sense of community where we lived.

I love our local farmer’s market, smack in the middle of Albuquerque, held in a back-to-the-past, bare-bones building, the walls choked with hundreds of vibrant red chile ristras and equally vibrant, gaudily framed amateur art keeping watch over bins bulging with fresh produce.

Yesterday in Susan Crosby’s posting, she asked about quotes we live by and I added my favorite:

“Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the number of moments that take our breath away”

Which of course started me thinking about specific moments that did indeed take my breath away (and like the scene from the movie “City Slickers” --- no fair using the day your kid was born!)

Like most people, I love quotations--ones that inspire or make me smile or touch my heart. I write them down on colored index cards or scraps of paper and put them in a place where I notice them now and then. Occasionally I pull out the pile to read and enjoy all over again.

He:  Honey, let’s invite all the neighbors over for a wine tasting party.  I’ll do everything.  All you have to do is play hostess.

Hi, all—it’s good to see you here on the Special Edition
blog!

I'm giving a workshop this weekend at a conference for my local Romance Writers of America chapter on how to increase the emotional intensity of a story. As part of my workshop prep, I have revisited some of my favorite novels to examine why they impacted me so much and I came to the conclusion it was because of the emotional journey the writer invited me to take.

I'm so excited! Today marks the release of my first Silhouette Special Edition, Accidental Princess!  To celebrate, I’m going to give away a prize… read on to find out how to win… 

I am at a certain time of my life (ahem), when changing diapers, school plays and Saturday soccer games have given way to hot flashes, foggy brain and sleepless nights.  Sleep has been a bit tricky for me since my teen years; in my 50s it’s an even more hit or miss proposition.  But at least the three-hour wake-fest the other night was a more useful insomnia than usual.  Yeah, I freaked about

I’m a new author to Special Editions, but I’ve written twenty books for Silhouette Desire and three for the Next line.  I loved writing all of them, and now I’m thrilled to have switched to Specials, where I feel my voice and romantic sensibilities fit so well. 

I’ve been married twice.  The first time was…well, a lot of it was great.  But it didn’t work out in the end.  The second time around, I like to think I’ve learned a little about what makes a relationship work.

Who is Cindy Kirk and what does she like to write?  That's easy, I'm Cindy Kirk and I like to write books for Special Edition.  Why?  Because in a Silhouette Special Edition I can have my characters be part of a community.  There can be kids and quirky aunts and grandmothers looking a romance of their own.  You can have secret babies and marriages of convenience and books with nannies and ranchers.

Speaking of ranchers, my next book out will be in March 2009. The title is Claiming the Rancher's Heart.  Can you guess what it has in it?  If you guessed a rancher you are absolutely correct!!    

My husband and I just returned Saturday from a week-long cruise to Alaska. We left the kiddos -- 18, 11 and 5 -- at home and enjoyed a rare vacation, just the two of us, in part to celebrate our 22nd anniversary (and yes, I was a young bride. Last year was officially the year I was married longer than I was single, so you do the math!). 

Color me excited.  Color me ecstatic.  Color me thrilled.  Because I am.  I’m so glad that we Special Edition authors now have our own blog here at eHarlequin.  

Since this is my first post, I suppose I should introduce myself.  I’m Christine Rimmer.  I write contemporary series romances for Silhouette Books.  I’ve written seventy books for various lines and imprints.  But most of my stories come out in…you guessed it: Special Edition.  

All in all, I had a pretty good childhood.  Yes, my parents divorced when I was young and I went through some confusing times.  I ultimately spent a good chunk of my childhood being raised by my grandmother, but Mom and Dad were never far away.  I later lived with my mom and then my dad (Dad got the crazy teen years—poor guy) and always had a great relationship with them both.