Happy Valentine's Day!

Well, it's that time of year again!

I wish you and your beloved the happiest of valentine's days. Me and mine are having cake with our 86 year old neighbor to celebrate. Also taking flowers to my mother who is in transition from the hospital to wherever she goes after she gets out of skilled nursing.

I'm going to be busy over the next couple of weeks because of that and because Sol, my youngest grandson, is coming to visit! He's bringing his parents, too, but he's the main attraction, as you might imagine. He'll turn 8 months while he's here and he's on the verge of crawling.

As the physical therapists I've been talking to ad nauseum lately say, "He has all the motions." Yes, but does he put them together? Not yet, my son says with a sigh of relief. But it's coming. And it may be here by the time he is. So I'm scrambling to make sure the house is baby-proof again.

So it's a really good thing that it's also time for the 4th annual (can you believe it?) Here Come The Grooms contest that Liz Fielding, Kate Walker and I have been doing every February since 2007.

Liz has kept track. Kate and I know just that we've been doing it for a lot of years.

And so later today Christo Savas will be taking over my blog for the next couple of weeks while I deal with other stuff.

Christo, you may recall, is the hero of One-Night Mistress. . . . Convenient Wife. He's a charming guy -- for a lawyer -- and he's absolutely one of the most honorable men I've ever written about. He's also been seriously tempted in his life -- by one Natalie Ross. He . . . well, never mind. I'll shut up and let Christo tell you all about it.

Also, speaking of prizes, the second week's Great Book Give-Away is wrapping up today.

Winners will be notified by email. If you don't hear from me by tomorrow, you didn't win this week, but you might win next week. Your entry is good for the month of February. But I'd love to have you drop by and comment this week (and get another entry that way!).

Week three is posted on my contest page if you click on the 25th anniversary link. Heather will be removing lists one and two and moving three and four to the front sometime this week (she has a life, too).

In the meantime these are the books for week three and what you need to do to be in the drawing.

Week Three:
Comment on my blog this week (any post, but the post must be one I've made this week) and you could win a book! One of the following books will be sent to the winner (one book per winner):

• Anne McAllister: The Santorini Bride
• Janet Evanovich: Naughty Neighbor
• Marie Ferrarella: Cavanaugh Heat
• Elizabeth Rolls: Lord Braybrook's Penniless Bride
• Kathleen Long: Undercover Commitment
• Julia Quinn: What Happens in London
• Jennifer Ashley: The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie

Please Note:

Easy Entry

To enter most of my 25th Anniversary Celebration Contests, send an email containing the correct response(s). Be sure to include your name and address so, if you win, I can send your book.

Rules, Regulations & Deadlines

The great book give-away contests will run for the entire year. While there are few rules, there are some things to note.

Prize wins are limited to one per person per address per month. That means in an effort to be fair once you enter, your entry will be good for 30 days but if you are a winner during 30 days you can only win one book. So there's no need to enter more than once, multiple entries will not insure you win.

Unless otherwise noted, the prize winners will be chosen in a random drawing by various esteemed members of my crew (Mitch, Micah, the dogs, the dh, etc.).

Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery of your prize. Winners outside the U.S. might take longer.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

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Okay, so there we are.

Christo will be along later today. Check back. Talk to him. He's charming. Handsome. Smart. Honorable. And not quite as fierce as Natalie remembers him. But they have a history . . .

Happy New Year!

There are grandchildren everywhere.

I consider this a good sign for the coming year. I tripped over three bodies in the middle of the living room this morning while trying to get to the kitchen in the dark (hey, it was 4:45!) to make tea before we took daughter and granddaughter to the airport. And there were grandsons scattered all over. They looked like a pile of puppies.

Why -- when there are perfectly good beds upstairs, not to mention two perfectly good air mattresses in the dining room -- they all prefer to sleep on the rug or on the sofa or wherever they drop, is beyond me. Actually I think they must sleepwalk.

But I'm glad they are here -- even if they did create an obstacle course in the dark of earliest morning.

We have been to the airport now -- and returned home -- and the daughter and granddaughter are now in Chicago, where they practically arrived before we got home. (The puppies are still in the living room on the sofa, having moved from the floor).

* * *

Now I'm gearing up for the new year.

I expect George and Sophy to resurface sometime in the next week or two, doubtless requiring revisions of some sort. I hope they are not extensive, but mostly I hope whatever the ed suggests makes it a better book. Usually her revision ideas help. My editor has a good eye -- and a good sense of story.

In the meantime, I'm getting ideas for a new book, which is nice.

I rather like having had a couple of weeks to just be a real person without a book in my life. It was a nice change. I was actually surprised when the ideas began bubbling up for a new story. Not a lot there yet, but it is coming. I hope I get enough to discuss with my editor by the time I've got George back and gone again.

This year is my 25th anniversary of publication. Starstruck, which was my second book, but my first to see the light of day as a published novel, came out in February 1985.

So to celebrate the event, I'm going to begin giving away a book a day starting February 1st. Some of them will be my books. Some will be other peoples' that I've enjoyed. It seems like a good way to celebrate a career in romance fiction -- giving away copies of good books.

Stay tuned and I'll be posting more about the Great Book Give-Away soon. Also Liz Fielding and Kate Walker and I will, I believe, be running our annual Here Come the Grooms! contest before long. I might have to find a copy of Starstruck as a prize in that contest as Joe, the hero, was my first groom. I wonder if there is still a copy back in darkest reaches of my attic.

Will have to go check. If I don't reappear, send search parties.

Speaking of which, The Prof has gone out to look for the daughter's cell phone where they went hiking and climbing yesterday and the cell phone disappeared. It's about 10 below zero this morning, so if he doesn't get back in an hour or two, I'm sending out search parties for him.

Sol's Contest Winner!

Congratulations to Linda Henderson of Missouri who is the winner of Sol's Contest!

Micah and Mitch went to town gobbling treats today and picked Linda's name from among the entries. They were very grateful to everyone who entered -- as was Sol (or he would be if he understood these things. He's working on it. His other grandma assures me that he is getting smarter and more aware every day).

RWA is going on in Washington DC. Lots of partying and conferencing and whatnot going on.

Here we have finished sports camp and have a couple of winners here, as well.

Every year the kids get 'brands' on wooden paddles that symbolize the qualities they are striving for during the week.

This year grandson got LOVE and ENTHUSIASM, and granddaughter got ATTITUDE and DEDICATION. (Her mother says this means she's dedicated -- with Attitude).

I'm delighted for both of them. They worked really hard, had an 'awesome' time, and are both already figuring out what sports they want to major in next year. He's got lacrosse on his mind. I'm not sure what she's settled on yet.

He went home tonight. She's going home tomorrow. It's going to be very quiet here without them.

But I have plenty to do. I need to get Demetrios through his unexpected love scene -- and start packing. The dog sitters are coming . . . the dog sitters are coming . . .

Again, congratulations to Linda from Micah and Mitch and me -- and Sol.

Mom Camp III

Here we are at Mom Camp.

Well, not this pic. This is the grandkids -- and several hundred kids all at the same camp. But because they are, we have Mom Camp for the third year running.

It's the week my daughter and I look forward to all year, when her daughter and whichever cousins are the right age (only one this year) go to our local university sports camp from 8:30 in the morning until 9:30 in the evening and she and I get to enjoy each other's company.

This year Mom Camp has taken a slightly different spin because our side-kick and honorary member, my cousin's 16 year old daughter, isn't here to join us. She thought the Naval Academy at Annapolis was a better alternative. Some people really have no idea about what constitutes A Good Thing.

So it's just been the two of us -- and she had to give a final and do some preparation for fall classes, and I finally have my revision letter. So the mornings at Mom Camp are filled with WORK (and occasional breaks for tea and the Tour de France).

The afternoons, however, we've been doing fun stuff -- and napping. As a rule I don't nap. It usually makes me feel worse than I felt simply tired. But I've been fading in the afternoons so far this week, so I haven't fought it off or 'played through' it.

Last year, you may remember that we had a crisis on the first day of sports camp when the elder child knocked out his teeth. This year -- so far -- no one has done anything untoward. At least no one we're related to.

But the week is early yet. We are keeping our fingers crossed.

Hard to type that way, but I feel it's safer.

The revision letter was very useful. I'm blessed with an editor who has both a grasp of what the book needs and what I do well. And she's probably the only editor for Presents who has ever told ME to make my hero nicer.

Nicer?

Hard to imagine. McAllister heroes ARE nice. They could hardly be nicer.

And yet, I understand what she's saying. When they brood they can get surly and annoying -- and she wants Demetrios to stop being quite so surly.

No problem. I can do that. It's the surly bit that I have trouble with (maybe that's why it didn't work).

I'm very glad she knows what I can do -- what my voice requires -- and encourages me to do it. Don't know how much of it I'm going to be able to finish this week, but if I don't get it all done (and that doesn't seem likely), it will come along with me on our trip west.

I wish I could leave it here for Mitch and Micah and the dogsitters who are living with them, but I can't expect them to do revisions for me, too.

People are beginning to gather in Washington, DC for the RWA National conference. I've had emails from a couple of friends who've arrived today and spoke with Anne Gracie who is in New York visiting her editor and agent before the conference. I envy them the trip, but I have plans of my own for NYC coming up in the autumn.

But more about that later. In the meantime, I'm off to revise chapter three.

Happy Anniversary to Kate Walker and Mr Kate Walker who are, even as I write this, winging their way to Washington. Hope you and the mister enjoy the conference, Kate.

If you were at RNA, did you have a good time? What was the best part? If you're on your way to RWA, I don't expect you'll have time to comment, but I'd love to hear from you about the conference and what you learned.

Don't forget, if you haven't entered Sol's contest, you have until July 16th to do so. Send entries from the contest webpage, please.

Sol's Contest

As Henry had a contest to celebrate his arrival 10 weeks ago, it is only fair that Sol has his own contest now.

He was due on the 4th of July, so the contest officially begins then. But if you jump the gun (as Sol did) and enter early, that's okay with me (and Sol).

His contest is a short one because we've got lots of stuff going on mid-month (other grandkids coming for summer camp) and then we're going to be getting ready to go visit Sol himself and (this is the traumatic part) cleaning the house to get it ready for friends who are coming to stay here while we are gone.

So . . . if you want to win the "Welcome Sol" Goody Box, go to the contest page and answer the two questions you need to answer.

1. Which book of mine is up for the RITA award this year?
2. Which two books of mine have won the RITA previously?

The answers aren't hard to find. They're on my website. One of them is on the blog as well.

Send me an email from the link there with the answers and put "Welcome Sol" in the subject line so I'll know it's a contest entry.

The winner -- drawn by Mitch and Micah because Sol is too little to choose himself -- will be drawn after midnight July 17 and will be posted as soon as my webmistress can manage it on the contest page. I'll also announce it here.

The winner gets a Goody Box of:

• books (a couple of mine, a couple of my friends', some just really good books I'll be talking about in the next couple of weeks including a great historical trilogy by Joanna Maitland, a new book by Carla Kelly and, well, wait and see!),
  
• some chocolate (no contests without chocolate),
  
• other good nibbly things,
  
• a stuffed frog or a stuffed dog (I'll let Sol's parents choose),
  
• and some other things I have yet to figure out.

Stay tuned for details. But stop by the contest page, answer the questions, and send me your entry.

Feel free to say welcome to Sol and hi to Mitch and Micah while you're at it.

Mothers and Babies Contest Winner!

Ellie and Henry have picked a winner from among the entries in the Mothers and Babies contest!

Congratulations to Tara Woods!

Tara, I will be posting your goody box to you when I get home from visiting with Ellie and Henry this week. So it should go in the post around May 18-19. I'll let you know when it has been posted!

Thank you everyone who entered. I hope you'll come back and visit again.

On my way!

I'm leaving bright and early Saturday to go visit Ellie and Henry.

I have Demetrios and Anny packed and they had better cooperate while I'm out there or we are going to be in serious trouble when I get back. Think good thoughts for them.

I'm getting a handle on George. Not the 'inciting incident' -- but the actions he takes once it happens, whatever it turns out to be.

Have fun while I'm gone. I'll touch base when I can, which might be every day or so. And I will for sure be back with Ellie and Henry to choose the winner of the Mothers and Babies Contest which ends at midnight between Saturday and Sunday next week.

If you haven't entered, you should. There are some great books in the goody box by authors like Julia Quinn, Christie Craig, and Jodie Thomas, among others, as well as books from me and Kate Walker and Liz Fielding. There will be other goodies as well -- and a frog from Henry. Who could pass that up?

Check out the contest page on my website, answer the three questions there and send them to me from that page, putting Mothers and Babies Contest in the subject line. I'll be sure your entry gets in the folder.

Winner!

Congratulations, Lidia!

You have won a copy of Savas' Defiant Mistress -- or one of my backlist titles if you would prefer.

Please go to my website and use the "email" link on the bottom of the contest page to let me know your snail mail address and which book you would like (if it's a backlist title, this means I have to find it, so it may not be the one you want!).

I hope those of you who are writing romance have checked out Kate Walker's wonderful week of posts on "alpha heroes" and other heroes. There have been some really thoughtful sensible posts there. I've enjoyed reading all of them -- and I've got some good insights into different authors' approaches to their books now.

Welcome Henry!

Yesterday our seventh grandchild and fifth grandson, Henry Alvin, was born.

He has been much anticipated by his big sister, Ellie, who adores babies, and, of course, by his parents, and by all the rest of the family who know they are going to adore him, too.

He got off to a good start -- weighing in at close to 9 1/2 lbs. -- when he arrived yesterday morning. The nurses in the delivery room already think he'll have a career playing linebacker for Montana State. We'll see.

He was named for two of his great-grandfathers -- wise and wonderful men, both. So little Henry -- or "Big Hank" as his dad called him yesterday -- has some pretty good-sized and well-worn shoes to fill in his own way as he grows up.

Ellie will no doubt be there, pointing the way.

I'm looking forward to going to see him in 10 days. I need to get a lot written before I go, because unless Ellie takes longer naps than she is reputed to take, I won't be getting much writing done while I'm out there.

And why would I want to write anyway when I can bask in the presence of two such wonderful little people for two weeks?

My new "Mothers & Babies" contest should be going live this week on my website. So stop by and enter and you can win a goody box that Henry and Ellie would certainly approve of, if they read romances and ate chocolate and liked fun stuff turning up in their mail box.

Just answer three questions that you can find answers to on my blog and website, and send them to me via the link provided. The contest begins as soon as my webmistress gets up the information. It ends at midnight the night before Mother's Day.

Ellie and Henry and I will pick the winner (since Mitch and Micah will be home) and I'll post it on Mother's Day -- internet connection willing.

Valentine's Day Wishes -- and Fixing Glitches

Happy Valentine's Day to you all. I hope you get to spend the day with the person you love the most! I am.

We're even going out to dinner tonight with old friends he used to teach with years ago. It will be fun to see everyone. Not your romantic dinner for two, but a wonderful way to celebrate the years -- and the people we've spent them with.

In case you have been by the new website -- which I hope you liked -- and tried to leave a comment, Liz Fielding kindly pointed out to me that the comments link under my post has not been working. Apparently neither is the contact Anne link at the bottom of each web page! Yikes!

I just checked the comments page and it's working again now. So I guess it was a Blogger issue, not ours. But the contact Anne page is definitely 'our' issue and when Heather gets back from having a life, I'm sure she'll sort it out.

In the meantime, try to leave a comment (and we'll see if it keeps working). If you want to write me a note, use the contest page link for the time being, and send me a message from there. And while you're at it, match the titles and their characters and enter to win.

While you're poking around, if you see other things that need fixing, please use the link and let me know. We'll get on it as soon as Heather gets back.

Enjoy your day!

We Have A Winner!

Hi. PJ here.

We have a winner here -- Karen from North Carolina is the winner of my third of the Here Come the Grooms contest this year!

Her book (MY book!) is already on its way to her. Hope you enjoy it, Karen.

Jago has written to say that Rachel in New Zealand has won his third of the contest, and her book has gone out today also.

Santos is incommunicado right now as Kate and her spouse and he and his new bride have gone off to Dublin (what is it with Santos that he's taking his writer on his honeymoon? Or isn't it the honeymoon? Maybe not. I'm sure Kate will tell Anne to find her book and let me read it so I'll know!)

As soon as they all get back from Dublin, we'll have Santos's winner to post as well.

Congratulations to Karen and to Rachel. And many thanks to everyone who took the time to find out the answers and enter the contest. We were really glad to see so many people turning out to do it!

Stay tuned because Liz and Kate and Anne are already talking about next year's contest. Should be interesting. Anne said maybe Christo would be up for it. All I know is, it won't be me. I'm going to be on my way to Hawaii for a nice winter break with Ally and the new person in our lives.

How old do you think he or she will have to be before I can get him/her on a surfboard?

Housekeeping

I know I should have done all the housekeeping stuff before the holidays. But when you're going to be spending it with several little and not-so-little-anymore boys -- and their dog -- there really isn't much point.

It was lovely. We had a very good time. Now I am cleaning up.

And while I'm doing that, I am cleaning up loose ends on my desk as well. Some of them have to do with winners of books which will be sent out, weather permitting, tomorrow. Avi and Gina, your books will be on their way first thing. And Mallory, who won 3 Antonides books at the eharlequin open house, yours will be out the door, too.

My apologies for not getting them sent earlier, but the ice, snow and lines at the post office didn't cooperate. The lines are gone now. And, barring major ice, I'll be at the p.o. tomorrow.

Speaking of winning books, it's almost time for the 3rd annual Here Come The Grooms contest which I've been doing with Kate Walker and Liz Fielding. We're getting ready to do it again. So check back for details.

PJ has already agreed to come and blog, which is a very good thing, as I'll be deep in Demetrios's story by then.

Stay tuned.

Gunnar's Winner!

Over on the Tote Bags 'n' Blogs site we discussed (well, I ranted, but other people discussed) books to read on vacation. And I said Gunnar would pick a winner from among the comments.

He chose Maryciao (aka Mary) who offered the suggestion of Dancing With Joy -- a book of poetry that, with a title like that, cannot possibly be a downer.

To illustrate this, Mary offered the poem Blossoms by Li-Young Lee from the book:

"O, to take what we love inside,
to carry within us an orchard"

Sounds wonderful to me. That's what I like about the books I've read -- they are an orchard that I carry within me. They nourish my heart and my mind and my soul.

Gunnar says they nourish his, too.

Thank you, Mary, and thank you to everyone else who participated.

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Happy First Birthday, Ellie!