There are several Key Moments in a romance novel. The first time the reader meets the hero or heroine is one. Of course the first kiss, the first love scene, (especially the first love scene) are all important too! But when the hero first meets the heroine is a defining Key Moment.

That scene is usually one of the few I have in my mind before I sit down to write the book. The place, the context, the emotional state of both characters – all are critical to establishing the foundation for those characters’ progressing relationship. It sets a tone and a mood, and I can’t write onward until I get that First Meet scene just right.

Sometimes the hero and heroine’s eyes meet and they just know. You know? The joy in those stories is watching that love blossom and grow from moment one. Then again, sometimes their eyes meet and sparks shoot, swords duel – because they THINK they don’t like each other. Of course WE know differently and part of the fun of those books is watching them come to the conclusion to which we’ve already jumped.

Here are a few of my favorite First Meet scenes from the silver screen and the printed page:

1) Rick and Ilsa in Casablanca meeting in Rick’s bar- of course this is a re-meet, but still right up there

2) Ian and Elizabeth in McNaught’s Almost Heaven – when she comes down the stairs and he can’t quite breathe … Ahhh.

3) Brian and Abby in The Truth About Cats and Dogs – they meet on the phone and he falls in love with her voice. Then later, they have their love scene on the phone – oh baby

4) Daniel and Alex in my own Scream For Me – He’s investigating a day-old murder with ties to a thirteen-year-old murder of a teenager, when the woman murdered thirteen years before walks into his office. For a moment he’s simply stunned, then finds Alex is the murdered girl’s twin. Why she’s there and who both characters are in that moment of time, drive their relationship for the rest of the book.

There are so many others – I could go on all day!

What’s your fave First Meet scene? Do you like it better when they just KNOW from the bat of the first eyelash, or if they have to work at it a little bit? Do you have your personal First Meet story to tell?

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This is a picture of my kitchen.  You would think that someone with a kitchen like this would be into cooking, but I’m not.  I’ve tried, believe me, but I can’t get into it.  If meal prep is going to take more than about a minute, I am irritable and surly for the rest of the evening.

This week, I wanted to store something.  Look at all those cabinets.  Tons of space, right?  There are cabinets under the island, and where I stood to take the picture are even more cabinets.  But when I went to store my stuff, I found my cabinets were full.  How can that be?  I don’t even cook!  Because my cabinets are full of stuff I don’t use.

I have a big toaster.  I don’t need a toaster oven because I don’t toast.  See that blender on the counter?  I actually listened to Nicole and Claudia talk about their protein shakes and thought I’d do that, too, and bought a blender.  But the protein shake preparation takes more than a minute and the clean up is way more than a minute.  I’ve made maybe two protein shakes, and the last one was many months ago.

I have lots of bowls and serving dishes that have been passed down or given to me as gifts, but I don’t serve.  I rarely host Thanksgiving or Christmas, and when I do, I have it catered.  My mom once told me she was going to leave her china to me, and I had such a knee-jerk reaction that she said, “Fine.  I just won’t leave you anything,” and flounced off.  But come on, Mom, what would I do with china?

I have a coffee maker that I never use.  Every so often, some house guest will want coffee and I can’t convince them to go up the road to Starbuck’s, so I have to get the damn thing out.  It’s another item that takes too long to use and clean, and I make sure my house guests know it.

Lest you think we are starving, we’re not.  I am very good with a microwave and easy stuff like salads and broiled chicken.  But casseroles, or fancy dishes that require spices or butter are not served here, and God forbid you want something baked.  That’s what restaurants are for.  I was at a birthday party recently, and I asked the lady where she got the cake.  She said, I made it!  I said, you MADE that?  And her ten year old daughter snorted and said, “Did you think she BOUGHT it?”  Well yes, as a matter of fact, I did, because that is where I get my cakes.

What’s your kitchen like?  Do you toss stuff you don’t use, or let it pile up?  Are you a cook or a whiner, like me?

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Last Saturday at our barn’s small charity hunter horse show, my trainer brought in a Pet Psychic (actually this lady prefers the term “Pet Communicator”) to give readings for horse owners and their horses. So I asked her to talk to my 4-year old mare, Riva, and find out what’s up with her.

Riva said some very interesting things! The communication that made me feel the best was that she’s happy in her new home so she says I don’t need to worry about her so much. She doesn’t miss Florida, which surprised me because Utah has no grass pastures, whereas central Florida has countless acres of delicious grass and great turnout so horses can play and stretch their legs. Riva also said she was very proud of her success in that morning’s show and knew she had done well. And that she didn’t know what to make of my trainer’s goat since they didn’t have goats at her former home. (I have it on good authority that other horses in our barn like the goat a lot and enjoy his stall visits.)

As for me, Riva said I worked too hard and that she would like me to come out to see her more. That makes two of us! Oh, and she wants to go on a trail ride instead of just working in our outdoor arena.

I’ve know friends who’ve had their dogs “read” by a different animal physic, and supposedly, she sees images and pictures from her animal subjects. Our lady communicator said she gets pictures, thoughts, and feelings, and can even read over the phone. Which makes me a little suspicious, I admit. As an engineer by education, I tend to be skeptical of things that can’t be proven.

On the other hand, my friend had his husky “read” last year, and she was able to diagnose a potentially life-threatening thyroid problem that the dog’s vet had completely missed. A blood test confirmed her reading, and medication has since totally controlled the dog’s symptoms.

So… I’m not quite sure what to believe. Is this like magicians? Once you know the tricks you can figure out “how they done it?”

I’m sure psychics are very observant and perceptive. They’re good at reading body language and tone of voice, and picking up on cues we people give off unconsciously. And then they make excellent educated guesses. On the other hand, sometimes they really do seem to know things they couldn’t possibly know any other way than if they truly read animals’ minds.

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The sexiest, funniest, best-all-around Regency-set anthology published in 2008 is coming out TODAY — SNOWY NIGHT WITH A STRANGER.

TWO of our very own goddesses contributed to this anthology! Yup, Goddess Sabrina Jeffries and Goddess Julia London have combined their considerable talent (along with some chick named Jane Feather — doesn’t ring a bell, but that’s ok), to produce this MASTERPIECE.

Now, to celebrate, I thought we here on Mt. Oly could write our own short story with each of us authoring a section. I’m going to start it, so grab your cuppa tea or coffee, open that diet coke or pour some Crystal Light and get those imagination neurons humming because this is going to be one wild ride!

A few rules:

1) Nothing raunchy or blue. We’re a family site here so while our couple can share a passionate kiss or so, nothing beyond a melting of the lips.

2) It has to fit within the word limits of one post, so if you get cut off, edit it down so it fits.

3) You can write more than one section, so if you’re really, REALLY bored at work and can get away with it, jump right in as many times as you want!

Ok, that’s enough rules. I’m too tired to write more and what the heck, ya’ll know how to play nice.

Here’s a pic of our hero, Stern Lockheart:

And our heroine, Mitzy Barnhoff:

And here’s the first paragraph:

The rain had long since stopped, though water dripped from the portico of Eversleigh Manor and plopped upon the worn stone steps as if tapping out a dirge. Mitzy Barnhoff shivered as the cool wind whipped through the open French door and stirred her blue silk gown, bringing with it the tang of sea air that hovered over the house and surrounding marsh like a heavy blanket. As she stood looking out at the gray wet-washed day, the door behind her opened. She knew it had to be Stern because no other man–

Ok, my darling goddesses, after you’ve picked up your copy of SNOWY NIGHT WITH A STRANGER, come on back and GET TO WRITIN’!

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Last spring Mr. G asked me if I’d ever want to go “zipping.” For those of you who don’t know, zipping, or zip lining, means that you get strapped into a harness and attached to a cable, or zip line, and speed through the air at thirty miles an hour or faster. Since I’m afraid of heights, I was fairly certain that I would never have to actually “zip” so I lied. “Sure,” I said. “Why not?”

Fast forward three months to my birthday. I was lounging around wondering what really decadent thing I was going to eat next when Mr. G told me to put on some shoes. We were going zipping. I thought he was joking. I mean, Mr. G loves me. Why would he want me to die? Had he taken out a super secret life insurance policy on me? I asked him, “Are you planning to kill me?” To which he rolled his eyes and said, “You’re so annoying. Why do you always ask me that?” We both knew the answer. I watch too many true crime shows.

So, to make a long story short—I zipped. On eight different zip lines and I had a great time. Thats me zipping out of the top of a hundred and fifty foot tree. I Rachel Gibson who am a very big wuss and terrified of heights, zipped at speeds of up to fifty miles an hour. I’m not sure I would do it again, but I’m really glad I was able to over came my fear of heights and certain death. At least for a few hours.

Have you all zipped? Done anything scary that you didn’t think you could do?

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LisaK gifted us with yet another handsome, FROS-worthy man. Unfortunately, the picture was a bit racy. Even Zeus got red when he saw it.

Because some of you have kids who might see over your shoulder while visiting us here on Mt. Oly, I sent the picture to Julia London for her magic Photoshop Touch.

And oh, just wait until you see what she did! Believe it or not, the guy — who was UBER sexy before — looks even sexier now!

So, without further ado, here’s another gift from LisaK to us here on the Mt.:

By the way, have ever seen such thick, fluffy towels?

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Last week I finally got to play tourist in New York City. I’d visited there three times before, but always for business. This time I got to mingle business and pleasure, and it turned out to be a great trip.

I admit in the past I’ve always been a little intimidated by NYC, but now it’s so much cleaner, both physically and in terms of crime, that the atmosphere seemed totally different. Plus a friend whose been there dozens of times and knows the ropes went with me, and she proved to be a wonderful travel guide.

We stayed right next to Times Square, so now I know exactly where the ball drops on New Years Eve. We ate fabulous dinners out for three nights (Mediterranean, French, and Cuban). And we saw three Broadway plays (The Thirty-nine Steps, a comedy based on a Alfred Hitchcock movie, which was lots of fun; Mary Poppins, a musical which I found a bit disappointing; and Billy Elliot, which I thought was spectacular and well worth the expensive ticket prices.)

I spent nearly a full day in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and another morning in the Frick Collection, both of which were great for my soul. And I walked home through Central Park both times. (CP is much lovely in person than it looks on Law and Order, even though I felt a little sorry for the carriage horses having to work that hard!)

But there is sooooo much more that I missed this time. New York City has it’s own electric vibe, and while I’d don’t think I could live at that frenetic pace all the time, it’s now on my list of cities I would love to visit regularly if I could (San Francisco and New Orleans are my fave U.S. cities to visit; London, Paris, and Athens outside of the U.S.)

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