I’m the most un-sportsminded person in the world, but I do know what the Triple Crown is, and I do watch, when possible, so today I was glued to the set to see the Kentucky Derby run, and –if you tivoed it, spoiler coming!–saw a great come from behind win!  An experienced jockey (but his first KD win!) put his horse in 19th place and then, when the time was right, urged him on to pass every horse but the single one behind him and passed them all, then won by several lengths, and wow, what a finish! 

Don’t we all love that kind of race, and don’t we all love underdogs and stirring last minutes wins!  I’m not that much of a racing fan, per ce, and I don’t bet, but I was the kind of little girl devoted to horses, read all the Black Stallion books, and similar books and series, and always wanted my own horse, but alas, never could fit one in my closet or our garage, as my military family made our frequent moves. 

As an adult, when I lived in Britain, I was able to take riding lessons from an expert to learn to ride with an English saddle, one of my  longtime ambitions.  Tho the lessons didn’t last as long as I wished, I relished every moment.  I try to make my use of horses in my Nicole Byrd historicals as accurate as I can–no mad love making on horseback as they gallop through a forest, for example. 

I did once (in Vision in Blue) lead into a nice love scene after the hero and heroine had, for direst reasons, spend hours on a frantic horseback ride across England–he is a seasoned rider and she is not–and after the ride, he tries to sooth her aches with a warmed oil massage, which leads to, um, some delightful passion.

Lots of nice things begin with horses!

 I’m just home after a month of traveling, Hawaii and then several places in California…much of the travel writing related:  speaking, signing books, conferences, but some of it was pure bliss. 

There were several days spent in Hawaii with the Man in My Life at a wonderful hotel, a place old enough to have character and style, but renovated so that it had all the comforts and great service. . . a veranda on the back with huge white columns where they served a great English tea in the afternoon.  Of course,it also had a patio bar in the back that led down to the beach; we sat there beneath a beach umbrella, sipped cool drinks and enjoyed the luxury of no deadlines to meet.              

What is it about waves and palm trees and balmy air that makes everything seem more romantic?  It was an enchanted week!  The last night we held hands and walked on the beach, waves rippling over our feet, Diamondhead in the distance, hotels lit up like Christmas trees on one side, the warm tropical ocean with its white-capped waves rushing in on the other, a huge golden full moon above us–total romance and a picture I want to hold inside me always!  (Mind you, it helps to have the perfect person to share this all with!  )

Smiling as she types–

Nicole

Now that I’ve turned in the deadline ms., I’m out enjoying a holiday, you say?  Ha.  No, I will do that, I hope, in March.  Now I’m writing a proposal for the next book (already contracted) for my editor and catching up on other put off work, but there is one bright spot among all this–I’m reading the box of Rita books that I was assigned to judge.  I picked paranormal because I enjoy this category.  And it’s of special interest this year as I have just sent in a paranormal proposal to my editor, as I consider what to write after the next book is done.

But–I made a major booboo, as I found out when I saw my editor on a recent trip to New York.  So I may not go ahead with it, and she may not want me to go ahead with it–(she’s not yet read it)  I didn’t know that paranormals with historicals backgrounds don’t always sell well.  What can I say–I LOVE historical backgrounds, and that’s what I love to write.  But I support myself, so sales figures are a pertinent consideration.  The gas company doesn’t care what I love to do, alas, nor does the supermarket.  And I like to eat and stay warm!

And darned if the first Rita contest book I picked up didn’t have bits of my wonderfully original (I thought) concept in it.  (#@$@)  But after I read a bit, I was reassured.  The tone, style, voice, and details are all different, as they would be, and dammit, there are only so many story ideas in the universe, and fantasy has certain constants.  But it was still an unpleasant shock. 

One of my friends, who writes both fantasy and mainstream suspense, used to say that  ideas swirl in the cosmos and often writers in Peru and Los Angeles and New York all seem to come up with a great ‘new’ idea at the same time.  Or maybe we are affected by events around us–I was fortunate enough to hear Susan Cooper speak at the SCBWI winter conference in New York recently.  As a child, she saw London burning during WWII, ("half the sky was red") and that image helped fuel her ideas for her Newbery winning The Dark is Rising fantasy written much later as an adult.  Good against evil–fantasy’s classic theme, love triumphant–romance’s eternal theme; they go together rather well.  And I always put adventure in my books, whatever I write.  So whether I do the paranormal idea or not, my heroines and heroes will never lead staid or boring lives!

So back to work, and hope you’re enjoying whichever book, or type of book–would love to hear which type–you’re currently reading!

Nicole

 The ms is in by deadline, hooray!

 Now I can angst over the new book, A Lady of Scandal, which is out in Feb.  (Sell, baby, sell!)  Nothing like that feeling,  either, when you see a new book on the shelves, cover all bright and shiny, and your name on the cover, your characters inside–almost but not quite like seeing your baby in sweet blue/pink lace and booties…

When I saw my very first book on the bookstore shelf, I walked into a bookstore with my daughter, then about fourth or fifth grade, and I yelped, then did a little dance…she was excited, too, tho much more mature about it   When the first Nicole Byrd book came out–the one we co-wrote–Michelle was grown up by then–we sneaked a tiny bottle of champagne and two crystal goblets into a bookstore and toasted ourselves in front of the book–for good luck

So good luck now o A Lady of Scandal, which has a bit of laughter, suspense, and lots of romance, and to all of us Berkley Babes with new books this month–and happy Valentine’s to all!

My daughter and sometimes writing partner Michelle says she dislikes winter, the cold, bleak, and, in our area, often rainy days.  (Due to my wanderings, she was born in very rainy Scotland–not sure if that contributes to her feelings or not!) 

Right now I’m feeling for all the people suffering through ice storms (we do get those, too, sometimes, in the Midsouth area) and glad we only have rain. 

I like rainy days, actually, esp if I can curl up with a hot cup of tea, a good book, my cat nearby, and stay inside.  Or if I’m writing a good book <G> and I can still stay inside. . . which is my segue to slip back to my wip, due in ten days, yikes!

What’s your favorite–or least favorite– kind of weather?

So the holidays are over, and my January book deadline looms, and my New Year’s resolution has to do with how many pages a day I will be writing, and–voila–the January cold-and-crud bug strikes. Never fails! So I’m hacking and sniffing and wheezing and miserable and just back from the dr armed with prescriptions, and still, I’m going back to the sofa and the laptop and a cup of hot tea and my cat gazes at me with sympathetic cat eyes as that deadline still looms–and those pages WILL be written, and my characters and my readers are counting on me. . .

Happy new year to all–

Nicole Byrd

PS Don’t you love the cover of the Feb Nicole Byrd title, A Lady of Scandal? I’m crazy about it!

Okay, hands in the air, who’s ready for Christmas?  (Or Hanukkah–which is already underway! or other holidays you practice) Not me, I sadly report.  The small artificial tree I finally gave up and bought a couple years ago is upside down ( not the fashionable  way) –after I dragged it down from the upstairs closet, in the living room floor, but not yet trimmed.  I did venture into the garage and located the Christmas wreath, stuck it on the front door in place of the harvest wreath that had been there since before Halloween and put that back into the garage–total time expended, about twenty seconds–and it took me two weeks to get that done! 

Hopeless.  I knew when I scheduled a deadline in Jan how it would be, but that’s how it works sometimes.  Christmas cards are beyond hope, and I usually twine ivy around the banisters–my favorite–and put other decorations here and there around the house, on the mantel, etc, but that’s out…  I am cooking a turkey on Christmas eve, when the family gathers at my house, and I have precious grandchildren to enjoy, and that, by humbug, will happen. . . as some things do trump even a deadline!

 Seeing all those people in line, fighting to get into the stores for holiday sales, as the TV clips showed us over the recent holiday weekend, mostly makes us think ‘greedy,’ ’selfish’ and other negative adjectives, especially when we hear some comment that they’re planning to sell the electronic goodies on ebay. . .

But just when I’m feeling really disillusioned, I remember the year when Cabbage Patch dolls were the Toy That Could Not Be Found.  After I had spent weeks searching–it seemed–every West Coast store in vain, my military dad heard about a shipment arriving at the base exchange, and he stood in line for hours because my daughter’s dearest Christmas wish was for one of these elusive dolls.  When he got close enough to plan his stragedy, like a good soldier, he saw that one doll, with short hair and wearing jeans and a tee shirt, had been passed over because–he suspected–the people in front of him thought it was a boy doll.  But he noted the name on the birth certificate (remember, they have names and birth certificates) and he saw it was a girl, so when he got to the front and had his turn to pick a doll, even tho few were left, he triumphantly carried it off.  So when we made our holiday trip back east, he and my mother had the pleasure of seeing Michelle’s excitement when she opened her gift and discovered her long sought doll. 

My parents are both now gone to a place where no lines–I’m pretty sure–dampen any good times, and I think of them often and miss them at the holidays.   And maybe some of those people we see in long lines at the stores are not just in them to make money, but to make some kid as happy as my dad made my daughter, years ago–at least, I hope so.  I hope they are, in fact, celebrating the real Christmas spirit.

One sign that I am getting back into the current book is that I almost forgot all about posting in our Berkley Babes blog–sorry to be late, guys!  I was a bit blocked -like, what happens, now–so had stopped to do more research, and came across a fascinating tidbit which gave me an idea, so jumped back into the story and was humming merrily along when I paused to check email and, thank goodness for the computer -generated reminder–and here I am.

But I really want to get back to my WIP  (work in progress) because I have a character who’s about to be in danger of her life, you see, and–I know, I know.  My characters do tend to have their lives at risk a lot (the author says with sheepish grin) but it makes the books more interesting. (I hope!)  It does of course get to the point where one has to stop and look back and say, okay, the heroine was kidnapped in the last book, and they had a carriage accident in the book before, and there was a hidden treasure in this book, so I shouldn’t do that again too soon. . .

We do work hard not to repeat ourselves, altho once you’re in a new book, that story consumes you, so it can be hard to remember other adventures when you’re barreling down a London back alley fleeing for your life from a gang of bad guys. . . or chasing the bad guy who has the clue you need to find the kidnapped child. . . and on and on.  The only thing more fun than working out the tangled threads of the mystery is allowing the romance to grow and the sexual tension to sizzle. . . Oh, writing is such fun!  So if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to slip back to the computer now   (And BTW, writers really love to hear what works, and even what doesn’t, so don’t hesitate to email us with comments! We do pay attention to our readers!)

Nicole Byrd

So I attended the writers’ retreat at Silver Falls, Oregon, and yes, it’s a totally beautiful spot–tall trees, woodland green and lush, and the falls themselves spectacular. They drop into a deep open bowl in the earth cut into layers of rock formed from cooled lava that covered Oregon long long ago… The writers were talented and congenial, and weather even cooperated, no rain until the last day, when I discovered I had forgotten to pack an umbrella–I always pack an umbrella, but not this time, of all times. As one of the presenters I received a goodie bag with small treats, including pamphlets on bears and cougars and what to do if you encountered one of the beasties while hiking, and a jingle bell to wear on your athletic shoe to let the animals know you are coming (so they can better plan their attack?) and for some unknown reason a chart of good and bad insects which I put beneath a layer of paper and tried not to look at… I am–I’m sorry to report–the most inside person you will likely ever encounter, and anything with more legs than my cat belongs, to my mind, out THERE while I stay in HERE, and never the twain shall, I hope, meet. I enjoyed talking to the writers over the weekend, my workshop went well, and I did not encounter any wild animals, except that on the way out of the state park, we saw a bobcat–I think–one of the other speakers thought it was a young cougar, but I voted for bobcat as the shape was wrong for cougar, I thought, and it had tufted ears….and I was quite happy to see it from the relative safety of the inside of a car. And so ended my commune with nature, and I headed back to the city! Nicole Byrd