The Dynamic Trio - Blog

First - there’s this gorgeous, talented author and her name is Anya Bast, I happen to be fortunate enough to call her a dear friend and also to write with her in Harlequin Spice’s first anthology - What Happens In Vegas coming to bookstore shelves May 1, 2008.

Anya creates book videos and she made this one for the antho. It’s fabulous, no?

Then there’s the uber squee-worthy fact that yesterday we got an offer on a joint project Megan Hart and I worked on together called Trade Secrets. We actually brainstormed it in a long line for one dinner or another at RT in April so whee! More details later when we can give them.

Got first round edits back on Cascadia Wolves: Standoff and thank goodness, Angie loved the book. I’ll get them out of the way this weekend around working Battlefront, which by the way, I just hit 65K on so I’m really happy with my progress.

I’ll leave you all with this youtube video featuring Julian McMahon. He’s sort of the man I have in my head when I’m working on dirty/bad/wrong, the story in Trade Secrets.

It’s snowing here. This makes me smile. Everyone have a great weekend!!

Hello! (Tah-loh-fah)

It’s not my day to blog but I thought I’d pop in and say a quick hello. Mr. Munro and I had a wonderful time in Western Samoa.

We swam, snorkelled, ate and drank lots, did a little sightseeing and relaxed. I read so many books I think my eyes have changed shape!

This is a photo taken from the resort beach. The water was like a warm bath. The holiday really was wonderful, but it’s back to reality tomorrow. I have to knock my WIP into shape so it’s ready to send off to my agent. We’ve picked up the dog from the farm and given her a bath to get rid of the layers of mud. As I said - back to reality!

A week or so ago we were discussing time travel on the Ellora’s Cave chat list. Most of us loved the idea of time travel but realized the lack of modern amenities plus disease and other nasties might send us back to the present in a hurry. Then there was the question of traveling forward in time or traveling back. Which would you choose? Decisions, decisions.

Time travel and history has been on my mind recently since I’ve felt a yearning to write a historical or two. I’ve filed an idea in the filing cabinet inside my head. My naughty muse keeps dragging my idea out and shoving it into prominence. “Brilliant,” he raved. “Absolutely brilliant. We should do this RIGHT NOW.”

My flat no took him back a bit, and he threatened to run off with TJ’s muse again. When I vetoed this idea, too, he sulked for a bit but did get back to work on our current work in progress, a feline paranormal. Color me one relieved author!

Anyway - back to time travel. As long as I could visit for just a short time, I’d go to the 18th century and Georgian England. Where would you go?

I’m a huge sports fan. Actually, living in New Zealand makes it difficult to avoid coming into contact with a sport of some kind since the outdoor life is part of our culture.

This weekend the Sevens Rugby tournament is being held in Wellington. Teams from all over the world are competing including one from the US and another from Canada. While I’ve never been to the tournament, I usually watch some of the games on TV. It’s just as much fun watching the shots of the audience as the rugby because the attendees dress up in all sorts of costumes. Last night I saw green aliens, an entire family all dressed in superman suits, a bunch of smurfs, and a few mystery costumes. Everyone was having a great time and the rugby wasn’t bad either!

This weekend also marks the start of the Super Fourteen Rugby tournament (14 teams from Australia, NZ and South Africa fight it out over several months to find a winner). I’m so glad the rugby season has started again. I’m not a cricket fan at all, which is the summer alternative. I tell my husband I watch rugby for research purposes. Call me shallow, but I love it when our Sevens team wins and they take off their shirts and do a haka. It’s definitely research then, but the rest of the time I watch because I love the game. And, I’m actually a really good ref. Sometimes I shout at the referee from my easy chair and order him to search for his glasses. *blush*

I’ve taken my love of rugby and written a few stories featuring the sport. ISSY’S INFATUATION is out in March. I also heard from my editor yesterday and BEST MAN (also a little rugby) will be part of the Ellora’s Cave Naughty Nuptials series due out in June. Yay! Quietly pleased about another sale and doing the happy wiggle.

Do you like sports? Are you a watcher or a partcipator? Do you like sport-themed romances? Do you have any favorites? Any sports you’d like authors to include with their romance?

Shelley

Vanity plates are big business in New Zealand. I hear they’re big business in Australia and Great Britain as well. We are constantly bombarded with ads on the radio telling us we need a personalized number plate on our car. People drive around with their nicknames attached to their cars or sometimes work related things. I’ve noticed some good plumbing ones with H2O on the plate. There are a few clever and witty plates and there are others that are just plain perplexing. They’re quite expensive over here, so my number plate is the plain variety that comes with the car when you first buy it.

Some questions for you:

Do you have vanity plates in the US or where you live (if you’re in a different country)?

If you could have a special vanity plate for your car, what would you choose? (remembering that you need to keep it for a while - it could become embarrassing like a tattoo of your ex-boyfriend’s name on your person)

I’ve thought about this quite a bit today and I just couldn’t decide. I don’t think I’d like a nickname on a plate. I suppose I could have something like SHELLSCAR but that seems a bit ordinary. What do you think?

And finally, have you noticed our flash new home? I think Frauke is a genius. I keep looking around at the sparkling new walls and the pretty artwork. It’s just beautiful.