can’t stop the signal

[*Bonus points to anyone who can identify that quote. :winkwink ]

So last week, I escaped from The Dungeon long enough to do two guest blogs for my brand new Harlequin Desire release, ON THE VERGE OF I DO—a Cyber Launch Party at AuthorIsland & an interview at Get Lost in a Story.

Sadly, neither went particularly well because both sites are run by Blogger, & Blogger hates me.  Not just a little bit, either; I mean, Blogger really despises me.  No matter what I do or how hard I try, I cannot comment on Blogger-run websites.  (From now on, I should only accept invitaions from WordPress blogs. :moon )

But I feel badly that readers dropped by to chat about ON THE VERGE OF I DO, but never got their questions answered.  So I’m going to do a bit of cutting & pasting & try to answer them here! :twirl

Do I have to read the first three books in the Kincaid Dynasty series?

Absolutely not.  There are characters & storylines that are carried all the way through the series, & that can be fun for readers who enjoy the whole “Dynasties”/saga-type thing.  But if you just want to pick up a book & read it, then be left alone, ON THE VERGE OF I DO (& the other books in the series, I believe) stands perfectly well on its own.  It is very much the love story of Eli Houghton & Kara Kincaid, but with some details about other characters & an ongoing plotline thrown in to make the series a bigger, more encompassing kind of thing.

How did you decide what job to select for the heroine?

Since ON THE VERGE OF I DO is part of Harlequin Desire’s “Dynasties:  The Kincaids” continuity series, I didn’t actually choose the heroine’s occupation this time around.  For continuities, the editors pre-plot the storylines & characters before the authors become involved, so by the time I jumped on board, Kara was already an event planner & Eli was already a successful hotelier—engaged to Kara’s sister.

I’m wondering if your Darling Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson can portray Eli in a movie.

As much as I would love to see my Daring Dwayne in the movie version of any & all of my books, he & Eli don’t really have much in common, especially in the looks department.  Personally, I picture Eli as more of a Patrick Dempsey type…but I’d love to hear who readers would cast in the role!

U of L or Kentucky? Answer wisely Heidi! Your “first” gut feeling is the best to go with.

I’m actually going to plead the Fifth on this one, refusing to answer on the grounds that it might incriminate me…or tick off readers who are fans of whichever I don’t pick. :dropmouth

I love your books they—they are funny and have a lot of hunks and romance!  How do you come up with your characters?

Thank you so much!  Funny + lots of hunks & romance is exactly what I aim for! :thumbsup   As I mentioned above, I didn’t come up with the characters for ON THE VERGE OF I DO; they were already mapped out for me—at least in a general sense—when I was handed the continuity bible.  But I did Heidi-ize them, of course, to make them truly my own.

And for other characters, it really depends on the story.  Sometimes, characters pop into my head full-blown, just waiting for me to tell their story…& being none too shy about telling me how to do it, either.  Other times, I get the story idea first & have to decide what type of characters the hero & heroine would be, then build from there.

(Doubling up here, because my answer to both questions is basically the same.)

I’m so super excited to read this book. Most of us already know it’s going to be a huge hit, so what are you going to write for us next?

So my question is what’s next? I know you just finished this one – but with the amount of time it takes to go from finished manuscript to launch gives some time to go on to the next.

Awww, thank you! :blowkiss

Well, in September, Kensington Brava is reissuing my sexy, funny vampires-in-Las Vegas paranormal romance MUST LOVE VAMPIRES in mass market paperback, which is exciting.  It’s even getting a brand new cover treatment! :peekaboo

Then in November, I’ll have another Harlequin Desire out.  That’s the one I just finished…literally just delivered it to my editor yesterday. :jumping   I’m very excited about it, too.  It’s got a little bit of everything—mistaken identity, secrets & lies, a secret baby, revenge…  Whew.  So much fun to write.

And after that…  I’m not quite sure yet, we’ll have to see. :Huh

Do you have any stories locked away that you are thinking about looking at again to work on?

Oh…always. LOL  There’s always some idea or some half-written manuscript that I’d love to revisit, but I’ve been kept so busy with new projects that so far I haven’t had time to dig any of them out.  One of these days, maybe… :runrun

Do you have a favorite genre?

Of reading or writing?  Either way, I suspect the answer would be that I pretty much love everything.  As long as it’s romance, I’d probably be happy to read it or write it.

Is there a genre you would not consider writing?

Chances are, you won’t catch me writing romantic suspense.  I absolutely love to read it (you have no idea how much :kitty ) but it’s not something I think I could write well.  Like, if I knew who the bad guy was, within about ten pages, you would, too. :rolf

Is there a particular romantic theme that you haven’t written about yet that you’d love to do?

Hmm.  That’s a good question, & I honestly don’t know.  I guess I don’t think much about theme when it comes to writing.  I just like to tell good, fun stories & sort of go with whatever theme works best for a particular book to get the job done.  Maybe I should pay a little more attention from now on & see if anything crops up. :winkwink

What’s the hardest lesson you’ve had to learn over the years as a writer?

Boy, that’s a tough one.  There are too many lessons to learn as a writer, I’m sorry to say. :sick   One that comes readily to mind is that the more books you write & the more successful you become, the less time you have to write.  Just writing the books turns into writing, marketing, blogging, promotion…  Don’t get me wrong—the promotional aspect of the job is sometimes the most fun. :twirl   And it’s certainly necessary, but it does take time away from the writing.  And the more advanced technology becomes, the more seems to crop up—simply having a website becomes needing to have a website & a blog (not that I’m knocking my blog…I  :heart my blog…& you’d better :heart it, too, or risk facing Mistress Heidi’s wrath :whip ); MySpace became Facebook & Twitter & Google+ & Pinterest…  If only we could get paid to tweet all day, huh? :peekaboo

I’ve gotten hooked on Heidi’s blog and would love to know where she comes up with the madness that she puts out every day.

:muahaha  Ancient Chinese Secret.  No, wait—I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.  Yeah, that’s it. :whip

It’s not always easy, but basically, I just like to have fun & figure if you enjoy my books, you’ll enjoy my quirky (silly? bizarre? scary? :dropmouth ) sense of humor.  So I just post stuff that I find amusing & hope you do, too. :moon

I hope that’s everything.  And remember, I was giving books away at each of the guest blogs, too, & those announcements will be handled by the respective sites, so be sure to check back to see if you won.

*P.S.  Here’s the answer to the bonus question at the top of this post, in case you haven’t figured it out yet:

Comments

13 Comments  •  Comments Feed

  1. Jane says:

    What did you do to Blogger to make it hate you? I did notice that you had trouble commenting to our comments and questions. :kitty :twirl

    On April 10, 2012 at 12:28 am

    • Heidi says:

      Good question – I have absolutely no idea, but I can *never* seem to comment on Blogger-run blogs. The only one I think I’ve ever been successful with is Darling Jess’s “Sm:)e Feel Good.” Other than that, it doesn’t matter what I do, I’m totally blog-blocked. :curses

      On April 10, 2012 at 10:31 am

  2. Froggy says:

    are you going to do a follow up to must love vampires??

    I love mcdreamy…that pic is a good one!

    On April 10, 2012 at 12:11 pm

    • Heidi says:

      Hey there, Froggy. Love your new avi. (But then, I’m a frog girl myself. *G*) :thumbsup

      I’d definitely like to do more sexy, funny paranormals, but I don’t know if it will be an actual follow-up to MUST LOVE VAMPIRES. I’m not sure what else I’d do with that story; it didn’t leave a lot of room for a spin-off. But I could maybe set even more vampires in Vegas, huh? :winkwink

      On April 10, 2012 at 4:58 pm

  3. Glittergirl says:

    I knew the quote came from Mr. Universe from Serenity as soon as I read it at the top. Firefly was such an AWESOME :jumping series. Darn the network for not giving it a chance :curses

    On April 10, 2012 at 3:50 pm

  4. Laura J. says:

    I should have asked what is the meaning of life or why is the grass green. :Huh

    But I do have a question that I thought of today….

    Why does it “seem” in romance books today (or at least the ones I’ve read lately) that it’s always the guy/hero that is so anti-commitment/marriage? I would love to see a book where the guy really has to pursue and convince the girl/heroine that marriage is a good idea/okay/worth the risk!!! Make her the commitment-phobe for once. Let her be the last one to realize that she’s really is in love with the guy. :curses

    On April 10, 2012 at 7:32 pm

    • Heidi says:

      I’ve got answers to all three questions, but I’ll focus on the book-related one. :winkwink

      I think there *are* books out there where the hero is the pursuer. Even in I DO, Eli goes after Kara a bit more than she’s ready to give in to him. It’s just maybe not an often-seen theme because most men *do* run from commitment & we’re trying to keep these stories realistic. :rolf

      On April 10, 2012 at 9:54 pm

  5. TamVan says:

    After the day I’ve had, I needed to come and hide in the Dungeon. :curses My happy place. And question for you… How long of a break do you take after finishing a book before the urge to start writing again takes over? Have a great night. :cuffs

    On April 10, 2012 at 8:13 pm

    • Heidi says:

      Yay! So glad The Dungeon is your happy place. :whip

      I do try to take a little time off between projects, but how long depends on what else is going on. Sometimes I’ve got another deadline already set up, so I need to get started again fairly quickly. And then there are times when I don’t know what I’ll be writing next, so there can be a little more down time *or* the “down time” is actually spent plotting & outlining a new story before the true writing begins.

      For some reason, it never really feels like I’m *not* working, because even if I’m not actively writing, I’m still usually mentally working on something. :runrun

      On April 10, 2012 at 9:58 pm

  6. Jessica Lemmon says:

    But *I* have a Blogger blog! *cries*

    I lovelovelovelovelove Patrick Dempsey! And that pic of him is…WOW. He’ll be a fine Eli, tyvm! :dropmouth

    On April 11, 2012 at 7:28 am

    • Heidi says:

      Did you see my comment to Jane? Yours is, like, the *only* Blogger site I’ve ever managed to comment at without trouble. Don’t know why. :Huh

      And yep – Patrick Dempsey near water…that’s my Eli. :winkwink

      On April 11, 2012 at 9:24 am

  7. Kassandra Stout says:

    http://www.johnythegame78r2.com

    On October 6, 2012 at 3:04 pm

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