Cover artist Natalie Winters did an amazing job. This certainly wasn't an easy assignment, I'm sure. I mean, I doubt she's had to make covers for too many funny/sexy historical romances with pseudoparanormal hooks lately. But when I filled out my cover art worksheet, I said, "When people see the cover, I want them to think - 'OMG, that is too funny. But also hawt.'" And didn't she just nail it?

As the release date approaches, I'll be blogging more about this zany little story and how it came to be. Until then, enjoy your weekend, everyone!

It's Tuesday, and I try to always blog on Tuesdays.  And usually I blog about something related to writing, because...uh, because I really have no life.  Seriously.  I write, I take care of my kids, I work at the library from time to time, I spend some time with Mr. Dare, and I try to keep the laundry pile from growing large enough to develop sentience.  That's about it.

But wow - this week, I had a social life!  I went to a movie.  I went to a wine-tasting party on Saturday, and then a Super Bowl party on Sunday.  Whee!!

The movie I saw was Slumdog Millionaire.  And if you only see one movie this year (says the girl who only sees one movie a year), I suggest you make it this one.  Wow.  So gutwrenching and so heartwarming, so awful and wonderful, all at once.  It reminded me of that oft-repeated writing advice:  Make your characters suffer.  (Oops, I'm blogging about writing after all.  Oh, well.)  The protagonist, a Mumbai orphan named Jamal, has to go through so much crap (literally and figuratively) in this movie, by the last half-hour I just wanted to find director Danny Boyle and wring his guts until they felt as knotted as mine did.  But oh, how deeply it made me care.  And ah, how sweet the ending was, after all that pain.  As I left the theater, I felt resolved to put my characters through hell in this next book--and I immediately had this sinking feeling, because I knew just what I'd have to do... *sob*  I don't wanna!  But I know I should...

'Tis the season for award-winning, thought-provoking movies!  Any recommendations?  If I see two movies this year, which should I make my next one?

I mean...I found some online.  If Random House can post them on their site, I figured it should be safe for me to do the same, right?

Aren't they pretty?  I really have to hand it to the Art Department at Ballantine - they worked very hard to get so many details right, when it came to the heroines' physical characteristics and the settings of the books.  These must have taken so much time and effort.  I'm really impressed and very grateful.

Cover art for Goddess of the Hunt exists, but I cannot yet show you.   It's pending approval by...all those mysterious, powerful people who approve such things.  Covers for the second and third books are in the works, and I hope to get a peek at them soon!  My relatives can breathe a sigh of relief, because (unless something drastically changes) the "look" for the trilogy is very tasteful and pretty, with nary a nipple in sight.

I am expecting my line and copy edits on GOTH any day now...I've been assured I'll have a whole week to go over them.   My second book, Surrender of a Siren, has been sent off for copy editing too, after I added a few pages to the epilogue at my editor's request. No word yet on the third book, A Lady of Persuasion.

I was mentioned in Romantic Times!  Okay, so it was half a sentence (maybe a third-sentence?) in a 2009 preview article (page 10 of the current issue, if you're curious), but hey - Romantic Times!

Oh, and this is super exciting for me - that little novella I wrote over the summer?  It's going to be published as an e-book with Samhain Publishing, next May!  SQUEEE! So there will be a little taste of Tessa Dare out there in the world a few months before my print trilogy releases.  More about that in months to come...

And of course, I continue to work on The Desire of a Duke, AKA Stud Club, book one.  LOL.  You don't know how much I want to write a scene with this dialogue:

"The first rule of Stud Club is: You do not talk about Stud Club."

"The second rule of Stud Club is:  You do not talk about Stud Club!"

Um, that would be referencing this movie, for anyone who's scratching her head.

Oh, what the heck. While we're breaking the rules and talking about Fight Stud Club, let's have some shirtless Brad Pitt.

I've got characters, a vague plot built around these "moments", and I've started my research.  As part of the research, I collect pictures.  I find it helpful to imagine my settings and characters' physical traits from the foundation of a painting or photograph of an actual place or person.  Or horse.

For example, for the book I'm working on right now (working title The Desire of a Duke, since it includes the essential Tessa Dare titling element: the word "of", LOL), I'm loosely basing the hero's estate on an actual estate in Cambridgeshire: Wimpole Hall.  Pretty impressive, no?

And there's a very important racehorse in the book, who I am making the fictional "great-grandchild" of the famous stallion Eclipse.

Lastly, I also pick celebrity models for my hero and heroine.  I know different authors have mixed feelings about this - I don't know why I find it so helpful, but I do.  It's important that it not be just a photo of a model, but someone I can watch in action, on TV or in movies.  Somehow this helps me develop a visual image of how my character moves, reacts, stands, sits, relaxes, and so forth.  Seldom does the character in my mind match up exactly with his/her inspiration, but it's just a helpful starting place.

If you're one of those readers who prefers her own imagination, I'll put the pictures of my Spencer and Amelia inspirations below the fold:

My inspiration for Spencer, aka the Duke of Morland:  Rufus Sewell.  Tall, dark, lean, slightly brooding, unnervingly handsome.  Something about this man's features and bearing just projects the right mix of sexy confidence, sly wit, and above all, extreme intelligence that I need for Spencer.  And he often gets cast in villain roles, which is appropriate for Spence, too.

To "cast" as his heroine, I needed an actress who is not a conventional beauty - someone who can look (with all due apologies to her) sort of common on first glance, but exceedingly lovely on closer inspection.

For Amelia, I'm using English actress Anna Maxwell Martin.  You may recognize her from supporting roles in North and South (Bessy Higgins) and Becoming Jane (Cassandra, Jane's sister).  She's also got a great deal of intelligence and confidence that comes through in her physicality, but in a distinctly feminine way--all this makes her very Amelia.

So there they are!  What do you think?