At the best of times, naming a book is difficult for me. What usually happens is that I give Avon 50 or so titles and they reject all of them and come up with one on their own. The only title I’ve ever kept for any of my books is Tangled Up In You.

Yesterday my editor at Avon emailed me. They’re having a cover conference for my May 2009 book and they need a title. As always, I gave them a bunch and they rejected them all. So, I am appealing to all you goddesses out there to help me name my new book. Here’s a short synopsis:

Heroine Faith Duffy was a stripper turned playboy playmate. For the past five years she has been married to a man fifty-one-years older than she is and living as his trophy wife. The book opens with the death of her old rich husband who leaves her his hockey team. Until the death of her husband, she’d been socializing with the Seattle elite and doing charity work. After her husband dies, she becomes persona non grata in that society and gets kicked out of their clubs. Now she must figure out where she belongs, and what she’s going to with the twenty-two hockey players she suddenly owns.

Hero Ty Savage is captain of the hockey team. His main goal in life is to win the Stanley cup championship. He is not happy that the new owner is a trophy wife who knows nothing about hockey. He thinks she’s a gold digger and a bimbo, and the last thing he needs is to feel an overwhelming attraction for the new owner.

Yeah, I know that the synopsis pretty much sucks. Which why I never write a synopsis anymore. But here’s the deal. If Avon uses one of your titles, I’ll announce it here in the Goddess Blogs and send the winner a copy of my very first hockey book, Simply Irresistible.

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During the entire writing and publication process, there’s only one part that requires almost no work from the author and is just plain ole fun . . . sometimes. That part is the development of the title and cover, both of which come from a mysterious mechanism known as The Cover Conference.

It’s fun if you get a great title and an eye catching cover. It’s not so much fun if you find out they want to name your book THE GRANNY WHO LOVED ME and the art department is ‘excited’ about the possibility of using ‘Depends’ on the cover.

I’ve been very fortunate in the covers and titles I’ve gotten. VERY fortunate. More fortunate than, say, these poor authors . . .

This is probably a great anthology. It’s probably witty and humorous and well-written . . . but somehow, somewhere, someone thought the title BIG SPANKABLE ASSES would make the book leap off the shelf.

It certainly caught my attention. Due to my family’s unfortunate allergy to chocolate, desserts, and food which causes various parts of our bodies to swell to ginormous sizes, I’ve seen a lot of big asses in my life (and some spankable ones, too, but that’s another story). So I’m something of a ’spankable ass expert’. As such, I have to say that the one on this cover . . . nuh uh. That ain’t ‘big.’

In fact, I think it’s actually quite petite. Perhaps they should have called this book TINY SPANKABLE ASSES. At least then it would have been anatomically correct.

Just sayin’.

Ok, if you’re through admiring that Big (Tiny) Spankable Ass, go vote in the cover contest and let us know which covers you loved and hated. By the way, you just might see some of your goddesses listed on the pages and, just for the record, we ALL have BIG SPANKABLE ASSES.

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I love villains. I love them mean and smart and sometimes just plain crazy. They scare you and make you wonder if they will indeed win. A good villain makes you look over your shoulder, makes you wonder about the Ned-Flanders-esque guy that lives next door. Could he really be that nice? What about all that banging you hear from his basement? He says he’s hanging shelves - but is he really?

Memorable villains - Jack the Ripper, Mr. Hyde, Dracula … Bad, bad, bad! Most of these guys work alone - but what about the villains who partner up? Bonnie and Clyde, the James gang, Leopold and Loeb. I always wondered if they really thought this through before deciding to take a partner - what if one folded, told the story, turned them in?

Ben Franklin said, “Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.” In my upcoming release, SCREAM FOR ME, I played with that very premise. What would happen if a group committed a crime together and devised some way of keeping everyone quiet? If one told, they all went down. And what if those people were forced to live amongst each other, in a very small town? They’d watch one another as the years passed, and wonder, and seethe and mistrust.

Add to that a very hunky hero, Daniel, and a strong, capable, smart, feisty heroine, Alex, (I liked her!) and the noose tightens until the nightmare makers are forced to do something to make it all stop. SCREAM FOR ME is released on May 13 - that’s just 2 weeks! And it will be excerpted in Cosmo as July’s RED HOT READ! And check out the BOOK TRAILER: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2I3CJ8rvq8 - but be sure you’re in a place where the screams won’t bother anyone!

So who is your favorite villain - and why? Did they work alone? Did they have a partner? Are you planning to SCREAM FOR ME? 

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I read Gone with the Wind as a teenager while on a trip with my family. I was about 40 pages from the end when Mom called curfew in the motel room we were sharing. I sat on the floor in the bathroom to read the rest, sobbing the whole time. I think you could say it had an impact.

I still love it, both the book and the movie, though I always wish she won him in the end. But Rhett Butler …. yum!

So, did you ever read GWTW or do you just know it as a movie? Did the ending ruin it for you or make it only more poignant? And did any of you read any of the Mitchell-estate-sanctioned sequels?

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Brenda Novak is the national bestselling author of 25 novels. Summer 2008 will see the release of her next three romantic suspense stories—TRUST ME, STOP ME, and WATCH ME. Visit www.brendanovak.com to participate in her annual on-line auction for diabetes research which takes place May 1 – May 31st. So far, together with her generous donors and shoppers, Brenda has raised more than $250,000 to help her son and others like him.

So without further ado, here is the awesome Brenda Novak!
As a writer, I always get asked whether I write from personal experience. In ways, I do, and the new series I’m kicking off this summer is a perfect example of that. TRUST ME (May 27^th), STOP ME (June 24^th) and WATCH ME (July 29^th) are based on a fictional victim’s charity in Sacramento called The Last Stand. The three heroines met at a victim’s support group after each one experienced a different kind of violence. They’re determined to heal, to fight back and to help others do the same, which is why they decide to start The Last Stand.

While my fictional charity is geared toward violent crime because I write romantic suspense and thought it would be fascinating to see these women tackle some very interesting and difficult cases, the concept of using personal passion to motivate came from my own desire to make a difference to those struggling with diabetes.

Six years ago, when my youngest son was diagnosed with Type 1, I felt hurt and wanted to fight back, too. Desperately. I just didn’t know how. I had five kids at home and some very tight book deadlines. But then I attended a silent auction at the local elementary school and realized that I could do a similar event on my Web site, where I could utilize the traffic I’d already established.

In my first three auctions, I managed to raise a combined total of $250,000, and the 2008 auction looks as if it will at least match that amount. A shopper’s paradise, it will have plenty items to fit every budget from a drumhead signed by a whole slew of famous music artists (Michael Jackson, Ringo Starr, Bruce Springstein, and far too many others to list) to a treasure trove of miscellaneous items donated by aspiring author Lauren Hawkeye. And that’s not all. For those who are aspiring to become a novelist or to advance their writing career, there will be AMAZING opportunities. Many of the most powerful agents and editors in the business have donated evaluations—some with the promise of a 24-hour response (which is unheard of in the publishing industry).

How does it all work? Just like E-Bay, except this auction runs at www.brendanovak.com and only through the month of May (May 1 – May 31^st). Visit that URL to register. When the bidding is over, you can pay with Paypal, credit card or personal check/money order. In most instances the donor even picks up the shipping. And the person who places the highest number of bids over all, even if that person doesn’t win a single item, will receive a fabulous prize package including a brand new camcorder (worth over $1,000), Your Name in My Next Book, an autographed copy of TRUST ME, and chocolate (lots of chocolate!).

Check out the auction, and while you’re at my Web site, enter to win a spectacular trip to Port Orchard and Bainbridge Island (sponsored by Allison Brennan, Debbie Macomber, Susan Wiggs and myself), and receive a $10 gift certificate you can use toward your auction purchases. Here’s to making a difference!

Have you ever wanted to fight back? How did you do it? Do you have any questions about the auction? What cool items have you won in past charity auctions? Do you prefer on-line shopping to brick & mortar shopping? Do you think this “wave of the future” will eventually overtake traditional fundraising? I’ll be giving away an ARC from TRUST ME to one lucky blogger today!

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Join us in welcoming the lovely and talented Brenda Novak to Mt. Oly on Monday, 4/28!!  Brenda will be sharing info about her new book TRUST ME (that starts a brilliant new trilogy) and her annual auction for Juvenile Diabetes. 

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Got Hugh?

Sigh. Sometimes a picture says it all.

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So last week I attended my very first Romantic Times Booklovers Convention.

For years, I’d heard to expect a lot of wild fun, and wow, was it true. The RT attendees do like to party! I only poked my head in the Faery Costume Ball, but I got down at the Vampire Ball (my dinner companion that night was one of the male romance novel cover models, who was truly charming and had an interesting day job as a bigwig in hotel management.)

The convention wasn’t all play, however, since they also devoted many hours to professional tracks. Every day was packed with different workshops and panel discussions for readers, unpublished authors, published authors, booksellers, publishers, and the press. And since it was RT’s 25th anniversary, they pulled out all the stops.

I don’t have any pics yet, but if you want to check it out, here are links to videos and blogs with great shots and descriptions of the convention, plus the latest issue of the RT e-newsletter by publisher Carol Stacy. (And in case you’re interested, the next RT Booklovers Convention will be in Orlando next year so start planning your costumes early - go to romantictimes.com for info.)

RT Booklovers Convention

RT Publisher’s Newsletter
 
I had a great time and was busy every minute. I hung with my long-time writer and reader friends and got to meet lots of people I’d only known through e-mail and publicity (including our fellow goddess Charina, who is beautiful and loads of fun.) I gave a workshop on writing love scenes (wonder why they asked me?) and participated in a panel on Regency historicals. And I was honored to receive the 2007 Career Achievement Award for Historical Romance.

I was even more thrilled when at the Friday awards luncheon, they recognized some of the dinosaurs — er, long-time writers — who started their careers in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s — as Pioneers of Romance, and they included me.  It was amazing to be up on stage in front of 1200 people in the romance industry with the likes of such legends as Jennifer Blake, Roberta Gellis, Beatrice Small, Mary Balogh, and Mary Jo Putney.

Then at the huge book fair on Saturday, I snagged a signed copy of Mary Balogh’s latest for my mother, since Mary is my mom’s fave author. And Cathy Maxwell asked me for a signed copy of a Nicole Jordan book for her mom, since she says I’m her mom’s fave author, which tickled me greatly.

But to bring my ego down to size, at the awards luncheon, one leg hem of the expensive pantsuit I bought just for the occasion fell out ten minutes before I had to go up on stage to make an acceptance speech. Panic nearly ensued, but thankfully one of the authors at our table had some promo buttons/pins, so I was able to pin up my hem with her buttons before I killed myself climbing the stage stairs wearing heels for the first time in over a year.

So my question today is:

Have you had any clothing disasters or near disasters happen to you?  Were you able to salvage the moment using promo buttons or something else?

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I was just reading another blog about comfort reads and re-reads, and it got me to thinking. I read A LOT of books as a kid, from kindergarten all the way up through high school and college. But there are a couple of books that I read, mostly between ages 9 and 15, I would say, that truly struck a chord with me. They literally influenced my life and the kind of person that I am. And the fact that I’m a writer.

To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee – I remember feeling like I was Scout, and I could almost touch those warm, lazy days of summer.

Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey – I still to this day want to be able to ride a dragon. What an amazing world she created. I own all of the Dragonrider books, and they’re all tattered and frayed.

The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart – the first book in her trilogy (the other two are The Hollow Hills and The Last Enchantment), all of which turned me into a fan of the whole King Arthur and Merlin legend, and an Anglophile. Hm. Whatever happened with that?

Which books do you remember from when you were a kid/young adult? Why were they important to you?

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I don’t know about you all, but I want a Taser gun. I want to carry it in a holster strapped to my hip like John Wayne.

Okay, so maybe people shouldn’t be allowed to run around Tasering each other, but I swear to God some people need a good Tasering. I was at Panda Express last night and the woman in line in front of me insisted on tasting a sample of everything on the menu before she could decide what she wanted to order. If I’d had my trusty Taser, I would have zapped her, stepped over her flailing body, and ordered my Kung Pao Chicken. I’d have been in and out of there in five minutes.

I’ve made a list of people who need Tasing

1) People who sit through green lights
2) People who cut in line
3) Jim Carrey for subjecting me to The Mask and The Cable Guy
4) People who act deaf when their children scream in the grocery store
5) The neighbor’s dog for crap in my front yard all the time and the neighbor for letting him

Who or what would you Tase? Or are you a lover not a fighter?

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