Hugh and Dan's WInner!

I didn't forget. It just took me a while to get Micah and Mitch's paws cleaned off enough to allow them into the living room where the names of the contestants and the treats were all set out so they could choose.

We spent a lot of the last week under water -- or so it seemed. And almost every day was a "96 dog foot day" -- one where I measure the day in terms of how many dog feet I wipe. It used to get to 96 a lot faster when we had four dogs. But these guys go out often enough that I had a lot of paw-wiping to do here, too.

All of which is prelude to saying that they have finally come in and made their choice -- and the winner of the Hugh and Dan contest is Jillian from Ohio!

Congratulations, Jillian!

And many many thanks to all the hard-working contestants who entered and who took the time to look up the answers to the questions. You are all wonderful. And I hope you all have Hugh's and Dan's birthdays on your calendars now, so that when I ask again next year (you don't think I will?) that you won't have to go looking for them.

Jillian's prize, including DVDs of Defiance and X-Men, as well as my new book One-Night Mistress...Convenient Wife, some other books and goodies, will be going out to her today. I hope you enjoy them, Jilian.

On the home front, besides mud, there's not much new. I do have the galleys back for Demetrios's book, which also now has a title. Did I tell you that? It's called The Virgin's Proposition. It actually has something to do with the book! Imagine that.

I don't know when it's coming out yet, but they seem to be moving it right along, so I hope it will turn up mid 2010 sometime.

George went back to the drawing board because he had far too much backstory in the first three chapters. So I'm pruning him and hoping that his book moves faster now.

Speaking of Georges, Liz Fielding has a terrific book out in November with a hero named George She sent it to me because she knew I was working on a George, too. It's supposed to be inspiration, but it's so wonderful, my George is despairing of ever living up to the name.

Her book is called Christmas Angel for the Billionaire and it's out in North America by itself as a Harlequin Romance, and in UK as part of a two-fer with Jessica Hart's Under the Boss's Mistletoe (another really lovely book).

Liz's George is a wonderful George (all Liz's heroes are wonderful) -- with a teenage daughter who is giving him fits and a father he's never been able to please.

I fell for her George the first time I saw him. I wanted to be Annie, her heroine. I loved the way Liz brought them together, loved the way Annie found herself (her real self, not her royal self) in George's family. And I loved the way Annie gave him the support he needed to make peace with the people he loved the most but couldn't seem to connect with.

As always, Liz did a terrific job with her people. I always like to spend time in Liz Fielding's world, and George's book was pure delight.

I'm looking forward to Her Desert Dream, the other half of the "trading places" duo where I get to find out what happened to Annie's look-alike Lydia who took her place and, from the look of things, may end up with a sheikh!

Watch out for Liz's book this month. And keep your eyes open for Lydia's book as well.

I loved the first. I can't wait for the second.

Happy Hugh Day!

I feel as if I've failed.

I offered a free contest entry to my Hugh and Dan contest last week by telling anyone who could tell me whose birthday it was today that they were automatically entered.

The paltry number of those who wrote in with the information that today is Hugh Jackman's birthday (and also my niece's) is dismaying. Disheartening. Downright disturbing.

So, here we are on Hugh Jackman's birthday, and now to enter the contest -- unless you're one of the few with the free pass -- you have to tell me:

• Daniel Craig's birthday

• the name of the play they are starring in together right now on Broadway

• the name of the author who first mentioned Hugh Jackman to me as a potential hero by telling me he was playing the role of Curly in Oklahoma in London. (hint: check old Hugh birthday posts)
  

• the name of the hero of my upcoming (later this month) Presents book, One Night Mistress...Convenient Wife.

Which means you have to work lots harder to win. The prizes are pretty good, though -- a couple of DVDs starring Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman (no, not together), some books including a my newest one (the said One-Night Mistress...Convenient Wife), some chocolate, some other yummy edibles and, well, who knows?

It would have been sooooo much easier if you'd just known what today is. I can see that this year we will have to have monthly quizzes or something to make sure that everyone knows the important dates in history.

Why is he important? Because he's inspired a whole battalion of books that might never have seen print if he hadn't been cast as the romantic hero. He certainly has inspired mine -- and I give credit where credit is due.

So, while you're coming up with the answers, here's a bit more inspiration for you to sustain you. Kate Walker says she's getting him a new set of towels for his birthday. This one will do for me.

Send me an email through the "contact Anne" link at the bottom of the page -- or go to my contest page and enter there.

Blown Away

I saw A Steady Rain on Thursday evening.

It stars, as you undoubtedly know, Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman. They filled the seats. They are A-list actors.

Last week in previews A Steady Rain became the highest grossing non-musical play in Broadway history based on a comparative week's receipts because, let's face it, of Hugh and Dan.

It blew me away. I didn't get to spend my hour and a half (no intermission) watching Hugh and Dan. I got to spend it with two stressed-out, over-worked Chicago cops named Denny and Joey whose lives and decisions were thrown in my face.

Hugh Who? Dan Who?

It was all Denny and Joey.

I rarely -- if ever -- get sucked into a play. Movies, yes, I'm fair game for those. Books, absolutely. But plays, while I love them, not so much. Maybe it's due to my bad eyesight. I can never get close enough to see what's really going on.

I had a good seat Thursday night -- and that helped. But it was, frankly, the actors who drew me in, who made me forget who I thought I'd come to see, and who became those cops.

Pretty amazing.

Well worth the trip, research aside. But in the aftermath, I discovered that subliminally I did some research as well -- about intensity and focus and motivation. Things that will help me not just on George, but on all the heroes to come.

There is talk that it may go to London next year -- with Dan and Hugh -- they hope. I'd be interested to see how Londoners (and those further north, from, say, Lincolnshire, who live with C.A.T.S -- like, um, Sid) react.

It's a very American play, for all that Hugh and Dan are not. The sensibilities are American and the cops are definitely American. It will be interesting to hear what people think. Maybe they will only go for Hugh and Dan and that's all they'll see.

I hope not.

Counting the Minutes

I spent the day walking miles around the Metropolitan Museum of Art wondering if George might do that, too. Don't think so, but who knows? I think he enjoyed the armor exhibit as a boy.

And now I'm back at my friends' house and counting the minutes until we head out to our Ethiopian dinner, followed by the evening with Hugh and Dan.

Kate Walker just sent me an email telling me to do lots of good intensive research. No fear, I wrote back. Will be paying deep and unrelenting attention, believe me.

Reporting back tomorrow, I hope.

Over at Tote Bags 'n' Blogs

I have begun blogging again once a month at Tote Bags 'n' Blogs -- and the 22nd of the month is "my" day.

So you can stop over there and visit me if you want. I'm talking about the up side of research. In this case the very very very up side -- which entails a trip to New York City tomorrow.

I'm working on George's book, so I'm going to be prowling around Columbia University and, I hope, meeting with a physicist to ground George a bit (not that George isn't grounded. Dear heavens, he's as grounded as they come).

And then I'm going to a play.

Kate Walker wants to go to the play with me. She's been machinating and muttering because she's trying to figure out how to get across the pond and do away with Nancy the cat slayer and take her place (Nancy is coming with me).

Thursday I am going to see A Steady Rain on Broadway. Have you heard of it?

It's a two-man production -- over-lapping monologues, I hear. Stark, disturbing, tough -- about two Chicago cops and the night that changed their lives and their friendship.

Two Chicago cops played by Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig.

Do you think I'll even blink?

Now you see why Kate wants to come along.

I sent her a clipping last week that said they are considering bringing it to London. So she may get a chance to see it there. Hope so.

In the meantime, I'lll be enjoying it on her behalf -- and anyone else who wants me to enjoy it on theirs as well.

When I get back we'll celebrate with a Hugh and Dan contest, so keep an eye out starting October 1st.

Sadly you won't win either Hugh or Dan, but you'll get a chance to win a couple of DVDs starring you know who and some good books and other treats.

Check back!

Do You Hear What I Hear?

Today on the Pink Heart Society blog, I have a post about sound or silence when writing. I thought about this as a result of reading Fiona Harper's blog the week before when she talked about finding music that matched her books or even creating sound-tracks for them.

I thought it sounded like a great idea. And it still does -- if you can do it.

I can't. Music interferes with my brain when I'm writing, which surprised me at first because I'm pretty much an auditory learner.

I always learn stuff better if I hear it. I think in terms of sounds -- and when I write it's the voices of my characters I hear, and the background sounds I pick up far more than any sort of visual cues. Even "seeing" Hugh Jackman in my head doesn't work for me if I can't hear the 'voice' that would go with the man. Well, Hugh-in-a-towel works on one level, but not on getting the book written.

Once I have a character's voice, though, things flow. But until I do, nothing happens. It's like moving paper dolls around on a stage. And while I might be able to pick up songs that capture a side of a character, they have done their job if they spark that voice. They can't come with me on the trip. If they do, I get stuck.

But just working from auditory details makes a book, um, one-dimensional. Even though I'm not primarily kinesthetic or visual, I need both to round things out.

The kinesthetic isn't as hard to come by as the visual. I understand emotion. I know those pit-of-the-stomach feelings, the highs and lows of euphoria and despair. I know how they make me feel and I can mine them, even if I don't do it as readily as I do aural memories.

It's usually the visuals that give me trouble. I can tell you how snow sounds at a variety of temperatures. I can tell you how cold it feels. But as far as visuals? Well, it's white. And . . .

Exactly. When I need 'visual' details in my books I tend to have to work much harder to come up with them. A number of years ago I learned to keep notebooks about places I went that I wanted to use as settings. I didn't write down the sounds I hear. I had no trouble remembering them. But I needed a detailed list to remember the visuals.

I take a lot more photos now that I have a digital camera. And I go over them carefully when I'm writing, looking for something that will capture the details and show (I was going to say 'resonate' -- how's that for an auditory attempt at visuals?) the ambience to my readers.

I also learned to put my visually-oriented friends on my speed dial. I have one who is my source for all things visual to do with skiing and winter stuff. I have another who does glitz and glamour visuals for me. They're very tolerant of my questions, though occasionally they will say, "Um, why are you asking me? You were there, too."

Yes, but I didn't 'see' anything -- not the way they did. But I don't think they heard the snow underfoot the way I did or caught the sounds the insects made zapping against the huge spotlights at the outdoor concert.

There are some interesting tests to determine whether you are primarily a visual, kinesthetic or auditory learner. I took a couple on the internet this morning which confirmed my very auditory approach, but offered suggestions on how to compensate in the other areas. If it's a topic that interests you, too, put "tests of learning styles" in Google and check out the variety of resources available.

Let me know what style you prefer!

A Matter of Perspective

My new webmistress, Heather, tells me I need to work on my blog titles. I'm trying.

But there is just so much you can do with what I write about. And today's blog is a case in point.

I intended to write about writing because that's what I did at the Pink Heart Society where Wednesday's blog (which I wrote) is already up. I talked there about first chapters because when you're just starting a book, they are, um, pretty significant hurdles.

Almost every writer has qualms when she starts a book. For one thing, unless you've plotted the whole thing out ahead of time, you aren't quite sure precisely where the "beginning" is.

It's when things change, yes. But change can be abrupt or it can be subtle. If it's the former, well, you've got a point to begin at. If it's not, you need to do a bit more thinking. And even when you find it, what's the right way in?

And then there's the point of view.

Whose? Is it a given? Or is it a toss-up? See what I mean?

Every story, and the way you tell it, is a matter of perspective. Like life.

Which brings me to the other bit that I wanted to comment on today because it made me smile. I have a google alert for Hugh Jackman. Is that a big surprise?

Of course not. And I'm not the only one who finds him an "inspiration" for heroes in romance novels. So I never mind getting a daily dose of 'news' about Hugh.

Today my google alert on Hugh came, I skimmed over it and found the wonderful meme of "My 25 Things . . . or 15" written by Stephanie DePrez who writes for The Observer at Notre Dame and St Mary's Universities.

If you've blogged for any length of time at all, you've been tagged for that one, and it's making the rounds again.

I liked Stephanie a lot just from reading hers.

She made me smile. She made me remember conversations I've had with attentive squirrels, too. She made me remember college life.

She made me laugh -- especially when I read #6 on her list.

"I have crushes on old guys. Hugh Laurie, Nathan Fillion, Hugh Jackman, Sting. The young ones, eh. They do nothing for me."

Old guys.

Like Nathan Fillion. Like Hugh Jackman.

See? It's all a matter of perspective.

(I just went to IMDB and checked. Nathan Fillion is a year younger than my oldest son. Yikes.)

Frankly, though, I agree with Stephanie. I think Nathan is pretty impressive. As are Hugh One and Hugh Two.

I might give her Sting, but other than that, I'm right there with her on her choice in men.

Even if they are old guys.

One of the joys of writing romance, as I see it, is free license to appreciate guys -- old or young.

But it does make me wonder why all the good ones seem to be too one or too the other.

Is Harrison Ford the only hunk in my generation?

Happy Birthday to Hugh!

I've surfaced -- albeit briefly -- because there are some things that cannot be left by the wayside, and celebrating the birthday of Hugh Jackman, aka Hugh-in-a-towel, is one of them.

I will regale you with tales of Cannes and Cornwall when I get home, which will, I hope, be tomorrow evening. So look for something the following day.

Right now I am celebrating Hugh's day with Sophie Weston and her splendid cat, Tom, and enjoying the last day of a wonderful two plus weeks in England and France.

Happy birthday to Hugh!

Up, Up and Away

Everyone who is going to the Romance Writers of America conference in San Francisco is probably already there. I would be, too, if Sister Camp hadn't intervened.

And frankly, despite loving to see folks at RWA, I'm glad it did. I get to see my sister far less often.

But Friday morning The Prof and I are flying out to SF, then after the conference, to Seattle to see sons and families and do a little R&R on Lake Chelan.

Never fear, Christo and Natalie are coming along. It's a 'working trip.' But I'm going to enjoy the change of scene. I'll be back by the 13th, I hope -- and planes willing.

Meanwhile Gunnar and friends will be holding the fort with their favorite dog-sitter, Keith. They are never really sad to see us leave (well, not much) because Keith is very high on their list of wonderful people. He's on mine, too, since he takes such good care of them.

I'll get in here as I can. No promises except to see you round about the 13th. Maybe earlier. Be good. Don't do anything I wouldn't do. Here's someone to keep you company while I'm gone.

Happy Birthday, Hugh!

Lucy Gordon was the first person to call my attention to Hugh Jackman.

We were working on the Silhouette Desire, Blood Brothers, that we wrote together back in 1999 -- she doing the story of the English lord Randall Stanton while I wrote about his Montana-bred cousin, rancher Gabe McBride -- and I was trying to get a picture of Gabe in my mind.

She said, "Hugh Jackman."

I said, "Who?"

She said, "He's an Australian actor playing Curly in Oklahoma in London now."

I said, "Yeah, right." And didn't think any more about it. Somehow I couldn't imagine an Aussie making a believable Curly -- except maybe in London he could.

But she was talking to a writer whose Dad was born in Oklahoma, whose grandfather was born in Oklahoma, whose great-grandmother was born in Oklahoma.

Off the top of my head I couldn't imagine that I could manage the suspension of disbelief.

I was wrong. I saw the DVD of Oklahoma and believed. But even before that I saw Hugh in Paperback Hero (thanks to Kate Walker's son who was working in a video store at the time and got me my own used copy). I was sold.

After I watched him as Jack the truck driving romance writer, I figured he could do anything. I've been pretty much right. I've now seen him be lots of different characters. I've had him in my head for countless heroes.

And since the New Zealand and Australian Romance Writers Conferences in 2004, Kate Walker and I have a running theme of Hugh-in-a-towel that allows us to use one photo to capture thousands of words we might have to say if we didn't have that picture.

I must say, I quite like that bit of shorthand.

It's Hugh's birthday today.

So happy birthday, Hugh. And thank you for all the inspiration -- not just in a towel but in so many other respects as well.

And Lucy, I'll never doubt you again.

The Legend in a Towel

While Eamon is quickly becoming legend of sorts here, the first LEGEND I've been part of is the story of Kate Walker's and my talks at the RW New Zealand (they say RWNZed) and RWAustralia (they said RWA and pay no attention to the one across the sea) which were punctuated by the appearance of a certain man in a certain towel whenever we needed to make a point.

It's amazing how often we needed to make a point.

Hugh-in-a-towel's appearance at our talks became noteworthy. I'm fairly sure that if the Christchurch journalist who interviewed Kate and me had known about H-I-A-T, he would have been scandalized and even more dismayed than he already was. He thought we were "condescending" to write for "stupid women" and should be ashamed of ourselves for taking advantage of them.

I'm not quite sure how we were taking advantage or why these women were "stupid" (anyone who finds Hugh-in-a-towel appealing and believes in a happy ending is not stupid at all in my book!). And I am quite sure I've never ever condescended to anyone in my romance novels because I love writing them and love writing about relationships and I would write them even if no one published them or paid me (but you don't need to tell Harlequin that).

But I'm sure he would have Disapproved. Too bad.

I doubt Hugh would disapprove. And his being there -- albeit two-dimensionally -- made the talks more fun. Not to mention memorable -- as they are continuing to be a point of reference three years later.

Actually the talks aren't, but Hugh definitely is. And RNA (that's UK for RWUK. Well, not really, but there are similarities) have invited me to speak next year on the Myers-Briggs Temperament Indicator. That's what I talked about (theoretically) Down Under, so maybe they are hoping for an appearance of Hugh-in-a-towel as well.

Anyway, the point of this is to say that the Powers That Be at the Pink Heart asked me to write about the Legend of Hugh-in-a-towel -- how it began and what it all means -- and so I have. And it's up on the Pink Heart blog tomorrow (which is already today in Australia and UK so it's already up there, which is why I'm writing about it here now).

So if you have not yet had your fill of the Hugh-in-a-towel Legend, please drop by. Find out why a picture is worth a 1000 words -- and what those thousand words are.

The PHS Hugh Jackman Tour 2007

Those lovely ladies over at The Pink Heart Society in their zeal to celebrate the lil pink dancin' man's first birthday have launched The PHS Hugh Jackman Tour 2007.

Because Hugh was the first Male on Monday at the PHS -- and because he is so very easy on the eyes, thus making research not especially strenuous (except on the heart rate) -- we've been given the green light for a second go round.

"Pick your favorite Hugh Jackman pic and post it," they said.

Yeah, sure. Like there's one.

I have a whole folder dedicated to Hugh on my home computer. Sadly it hasn't traveled with me to the granddaughter's so I'm having to research all over again -- what hardship!

But here are a few of those recently grabbed that appeal to me. I don't think you need further commentary, do you? Just enjoy.

And be sure to stop in at the Pink Heart on Tuesday September 18th when I will be revealing all about the legend of Hugh-in-a-towel.

The PHS Hugh Jackman Tour 2007

Those lovely ladies over at The Pink Heart Society in the attempt to celebrate the lil pink dancin' man's first birthday have launched The PHS Hugh Jackman Tour 2007.

Because Hugh was the first Male on Monday at the PHS -- and because he is so very easy on the eyes, thus making research incredibly appealing -- we've been given the green light for a second go round.

"Pick your favorite Hugh Jackman pic and post it," they said.

Yeah, sure. Like there's one.

I have a whole folder dedicated to Hugh on my home computer. Sadly it hasn't traveled with me to the granddaughter's so I'm having to research all over again -- what hardship!

But here are a few of those recently grabbed that appeal to me. I don't think you need further commentary, do you? Just enjoy.

And be sure to stop in at the Pink Heart on Tuesday September 18th when I will be revealing all about the legend of Hugh-in-a-towel.