Tote Bag of Blogs Presents Special Anne McAllister

Today's contributor to the Tote Bag of Books is struggling to fit everything around the arrival of a brand-new grandchild. The second this year.

This important event means that she has to miss the RWA nationals which is a great pity for two reasons

1. That I won't get to see her there this year

and

2. She has a very special reason for being there if she could. But I'll let her tell you about that.

I am of course talking about Anne McAllister who has donated one of her backlist books to the Tote Bag - The Antonides Marriage Deal. I'll let Anne tell you more about that.

Following the Story

As someone who has just finished writing her 63rd (I think; I've kind of lost track, sacrilege though it may seem) book, I sometimes blink when people tell me they've just read their first Anne McAllister -- and it's my most recent book.

I'm delighted, naturally (if they liked it, at least) and happy that I can point them toward a long back-list if they are interested. But I think, oh dear, at the same time because I worry that I have so little impact on the Presents line (I've been writing for Presents since 1985, so I'm not a newbie).

But then I realize that I wouldn't have a career at all if I hadn't done what I've been doing for the past 25 years -- and that is simply 'following the story.'


Other writers seem to be able to focus their attention on characters whose stories fit into the criteria that editorial and/or marketing has determined for a single or at most a couple of lines. And more power to them. Lucky them, I say, because their readers know where to find them.

Mine, if they are so inclined, have had to follow me all over the map.


My first book, which was the second one published, came out as a Harlequin Romance called Dare To Trust. The second one, which came out first, was a Harlequin American called Starstruck. The third one, which I sold at the same time I sold the first, was a Harlequin Presents called Lightning Storm. The fourth and fifth were Harlequin Americans. All five of them came out that first year. The sixth was a Presents. the seventh an American . . . and, well, you see what I mean: who knew where I was going to turn up next? Not even I knew.


The characters did what they did. I just followed them around and took notes. Editors on both sides of the Atlantic despaired.


And then, just when they thought they had me sorted out, I plunged deep into my well of inspiration -- and my own background -- in the early 1990s and I came up with A Cowboy For Christmas (a Harlequin American). That in short order led me to a bunch of books for Silhouette (both Desire and Special Editions, naturally, as well as a couple of single titles -- all related to each other in a series of my own called Code of the West ) that had to do with cowboys. The last one I snuck in as a Presents last year -- One-Night Love Child. Don't tell.


This detour was basically because Presents wasn't doing cowboy heroes unless, as my then-editor told me, "They owned multi-national corporations on the side."


"Does he, Anne?" he asked me. Well, gosh, no, he didn't own much more than his saddle. He was a "died with his boots on," sort of cowboy, as my long-suffering editor sighed. Imagine that.


Whatever Tanner was, he wouldn't change for editorial, so I followed his story -- Cowboys Don't Cry -- to Silhouette, had a lovely time there, and wrote many books of my heart for them by following a lot of cowboy heroes as they told me their stories.


But all the while I was also still writing Presents because some of my stories belonged there.


There was one here, one there. One in any particular year, then another a couple of years after that. Not precisely designed to build readership, my editor pointed out, er, pointedly. But the characters did what they did and I just wrote. The alternative was staring at the blank screen. Not a good idea. Not lucrative, for one thing. Not as much fun as writing, for another.


But now I write mostly for Presents because, other than cowboys, Presents pretty much lets me write about what I want.



They let me write about men who may or may not be billionaires -- or even millionaires. They don't care that I don't want to write sheikhs. Or if they care, they're polite enough not to tell me so. They let me write McAllister heroes (as long as they don't wear spurs -- though I admit I'm working on that) and they trust that when the time comes a McAllister hero will be able to handle whatever life -- and the heroine - throws at him, which is sometimes quite a lot.


Over the past years, bless their hearts, they have let me have heroes who are architects and surfers and racing sailors. They have welcomed injured soccer goalkeepers, children's book illustrators doubling as recurrent lifeguards, professional beach volleyball players, investigative journalists, New York fashion photographers, oil rig firemen, scuba diving archaeologists, and ex-Navy pilots running their own island transport business.



Last autumn they even asked for a book about my Savas brother physicist, George (this could be part of the "give her enough rope and she'll hang herself" approach to publishing me in Presents, but we won't look too closely at that). Whatever the reason, George is next.


He would be next no matter where his story took him because that's the only reason I can write at all. But I'm delighted that he's in contract for Presents. The expectations of editorial -- and readers -- are bound to make George pull his socks up, get out of the lab and do something heroic. I hope.


I'm equally delighted that my surfer hero, PJ, is a RITA finalist this week which means that at least five people liked him and his story. I'm grateful for editors who see that there is more to 'alpha' that the stereotype and more to success and competence and being a great hero than a big bank balance.



The next one in the publishing schedule is a lawyer (kill me now before I ever suggest writing another lawyer hero), Christo Savas, who has his life very neatly on track and there's no room on that track for a wife. Natalie remembers Christo all too well -- and frankly, she wouldn't have him on a plate. So when she ends up working with him, it's going to be purely business -- they hope.


It's called One-Night Mistress, Convenient Marriage and is coming out in November both as a Modern in UK and a Presents in the US. I hope you'll look for it.



Kate says we are to ask a question that will send you to our blogs. So mine is:

What is the title of PJ's book -- the one that is the RITA finalist this week?

You can find the answer on my blog as I'll be mentioning him this week.

Great Big Blog Party #57 #58 #59 and #60 WInners

So to round off the Great Big Blog Party In have the final set of winners to announce.

Firstly - Anne McAllister's Prize

Anne says that her handsome hound "Gunnar has chosen Amanda and Christina as his winners of copies of The Antonides Marriage Deal. If either of them has it already, I can substitute another book if they prefer. "

Next I have the winner of Zoe Sharp's First Drop.

Biddy wins for her suggestion that the place for a murder mystery "would be Nashville and the time would be February/March when the country radio seminar happens there."

Jane Pollard has picked two winners of her book Dangerous Waters. Jane says:

It really was a tough call. I agreed with so many of their choices. But the two that stood out were
Kate Hardy - who chose Penitence Hurd and Henry King from The Vizard Mask by Diana Norman, and Ilona - who chose Leon/Leonie from These Old Shades and Devil's Cub by Georgette Heyer. (I adore Georgette Heyer. Her books are my comfort reading, and a constant reminder of how authentic and effortless true historical romantic fiction should be.)

And the very last winner of this Blog Party is RobynL who is the winner of signed copies of my books

The Sicilian's Red-Hot Revenge and Sicilian Husband, Blackmailed Bride

in the final Caerleon Special post.

So winners please make sure that I have your addresses and the final prizes will be sent out.

And once again my thanks to everyone who came to my Greate Big Blog Party and helped me to celebrate my 50th title - I hope you had as much fun as I did .

And huge, heartfelt THANK YOU to all the authors, family and friends - all 60 of you who wrote posts, came and visited and donated prizes for this special event - I could not have done it without you and your friendship and generosity is so appreciated.

Now all I have to do is write the books that get me to that 60th milestone!

And finally the winner of the Grat Big 50th Title Celebration Contest over on Leena's Goodie Room is Nathalie D. of Canada

Nathalie wins signed copies of the hardback editions of The Sicilian's Red-Hot Revenge and Sicilian Husband, Blackmailed Bride and the heart shaped necklace. Congratulations Nathalie!

And that's it - unless you've voted for your favourite Kate Walker Top Five Titles where I still have one more set of prizes to give out. (You still have time to VOTE for your favourite books if you want to enter - just send me an email listing your top 5 )

Watch out for another exciting contest coming soon.

Great Big Blog Party 57 - Anne McAllister

There is another great writer friend that you must very important to me. And if you don't then you haven't been paying attention and Sid at least will be shocked to the ends of his whiskers. Because not only is Anne McAllister a very special and Dear friend of mine, she is also the Cat of Superior Breeding's beloved Lady Across the Pond.

The lady who knows just where to rub his head in exactly the right place, who brings him treats of salmon and occasionally greenies when she comes to visit. She is also the LATP who appreciates the long emails he sends her and replies to them in person.

Anne is another author whose books I 'met' before I met the author herself. And I loved those books.Again I still do. Anne is an author who can put a subtly different slant on a Presents book - she creates a hero who is so clearly an Anne McAllister hero. (To those who say that the books are all the same, I'd suggest you take a look at these two special authors -Anne McAllister and Michelle Reid and see how differently that Alpha hero can be created). And not just in the Presents novels -Anne's Code of The West books for Silhouette have that unique, individual slant that marks out a brilliant writer in my mind.

As a friend, Anne is another for whom the term 'soul mate' was invented - and the scary thing is that without the internet she and I would probably never ever have met. And so our husbands would never have met - perhaps and even more scary thought because if they hadn't then who would they ever have talked to quite so much!

If you check back in this blog you'll read about trips I've taken with Anne -research trips but at the same time trips that have been so much fun as we investigated either her ancestors or the Prof's - or occasionally mine. Seeing things through her eyes is a great way to refresh my own ideas and to look at things anew. As a result, I can never ever drive through the nearby village of Spital in the Street without thinking of explaining to Anne where the name came from

( The first part of its name, "Spital", comes from the ancient hospital for the poor which was situated there, this had its origins in a Hermitage. The Hermits or “Eremites” dwellers in the Eremos or wilderness, commonly placed their Hermitages in remote spots, often on lonely highways in order to extend hospitality to travellers)

Anne is the friend I shared a wonderful tour of Ireland with, who shared a fantastic seafood meal with me (and Marion Lennox) in Coogee , Sydney, Australia - And of course Anne is the other half of the Hugh-in-a-towel promotion campaign.

If you want to read more about my meeting with Anne then you'll find it here when I celebrated her books and our friendship back in 2006. And if you visit the Pink Heart Society today you'll find that she's writing about some of her favourite writing books in her first article as a PHS Columnist who's topic this week is FindDaBoo .

And here's Anne McAllister herself

(Kate crosses fingers that the paragraphing in this post works out right)

It all began with a castle. Maybe it was in Scotland. Maybe not.

It was close to ten years ago now, I know that. We authors had a Mills & Boon authors loop going and we were heady with the ability to finally contact each other instead of living in our isolated little garrets where we wrote our books and never saw another soul (well, another writerly soul at any rate). And in this headiness of instant contact, I asked for recommendations of castles to visit in Scotland as a son of mine was looking to visit Britain and thought focusing on castles would be a good way to go. Actually, I believe he thought focusing on whiskey would be a good way to go, but he didn't tell his mother that.

Anyway, I asked. And this Kate Walker person answered. I had known Kate's books for years (we began writing for Mills & Boon at about the same time), but I didn't know her personally. That began to change with the castles.

Then it turned out that we shared a childhood obsession with actor Robert Fuller in his role as Jess Harper in Laramie (and if you share a hero with someone, it means that you are On The Same Wavelength for sure), and since this has now evolved into an on-going international involvement with a certain man known as Hugh-in-a-towel, it's clear that Our Wavelength is strong indeed.

It also seems that we married men who never say a word to anyone for a year at a time (well, the BM basks in the glow of his admirers' fond glances and smiles, and even speaks to them, I suppose), but the minute they get together (hers and mine), they Never Shut Up. They have talked their way around England several times, from Guildford to York, from Millom to Bole. They have talked their way around a very large pond (a very large pond indeed) in New Zealand while mine was getting progressively later for a plane he had to catch. They have endured RWA and RNA conferences together. They have even talked all the way from Chicago to Denver (in a car, not on a plane) -- and all the way back. They apparently have a lot to say (to each other). Who knew?

So, this has given Kate and I even greater cause to bond. And talk to each other.

I have met a lot of wonderful writers and friends over the course of the last 25 years. I don't have enough fingers and toes to count all of them. But there are some -- like Kate -- who stand out as the ones who will be life-long friends, who have a generosity and kindness and enthusiasm and genuineness to make you thank God every day for bringing them into your life. They enrich your life in ways you never imagined (who'd have thought that I'd have a several volume correspondence with a cat, for example -- or an overhead projection of you-know-who-in-a-towel or memories of wandering up and down the hills of Millom and going into the bookshop which was formerly my gg-grandparents' house or of a house party in an Irish manor house that brought my book to life). Kate is responsible for all those things . . . and many many more.

There are far more than 50 reasons that I'm delighted to call Kate Walker friend -- and I can get there without even mentioning those 50 wonderful books. Congratulations, Kate! Here's to many many more -- and many more years of friendship as well.

ps: if this doesn't paragraph, would you please go back and put in the Hecks' "nevertheless" between each of them. It's a brilliant idea. Tell Sidney he deserves an extra cat crunchy (or ten) for that suggestion.

GIVEAWAY QUESTION:
pps: I have just realized that I need to come up with a question. So here it is: You are an an Irish manor house having a weekend houseparty. You can invite whomever you want (up to ten people). Who would you invite? Why?
Yes, I know it's two questions, but I'm always interested in the reasons (what writer doesn't want to know about motivation and inspiration?). And who knows, I might want to invite them to my next houseparty!

GIVEAWAY PRIZE:
Two winners will get copies of the book that started my latest mini-series, The Antonides Marriage Deal.

Anne's next book is The Boss's Wife For A Week which is out in September. You can read more about it on her web site or on her Blog