I’m blogging over at Access Romance today. Stop by if you get a minute…

So here’s what happened.

At the RWA national conference in Atlanta this past July, I was at dinner with my agent, Sha-Shana Crichton, my workshop co-presenter and another of Sha-Shana’s authors, gothic historical writer Eve Silver, and historical author Caroline Linden. I think I ordered the fish sandwich, and Eve, who, in her day job, is the type of scientist that deals with the germs and whatnot that cause food poisoning (I forget her official designation) grossed us out with tales of what disgusting things contaminated food can do to you. It was a lovely dinner. In between saying “Ewwww,” and “Yuck!” to everything Eve said, and talking about the upcoming RITA awards, we agreed that it might be fun to have a group blog.

Fast forward a couple of months, and Caroline talked to historical author Kristi Cook who (I think) was in touch with historical paranormal author Colleen Gleason. Kristi and Colleen also wanted to form a group blog. We talked, we procrastinated, we talked some more, and somewhere along the way historical author Sally MacKenzie, RITA winner Stephanie Feagan, and mystery author Wendy Roberts signed on.

Are you keeping all this straight?

Anyhoo, the upshot is that I’ve joined a new blog! Here’s the title: Muse, News … and a Few Loose Screws. We have not, thus far, been unable to agree about which of us are the loose screws, but we won’t worry about that now.

We’ve been blogging amongst ourselves for several days now, and we think we’re ready for prime time, even though we still need to design a template and logo. So stop by and say hi if you have a minute. In the meantime, here’s the lineup, in no particular order:

• Colleen Gleason
• Stephanie Feagan
• Kristina Cook
• Caroline Linden
• Sally MacKenzie
• Eve Silver
• Wendy Roberts

Well, another week has come and gone, and my enormous pile of books to be read has not, alas, gotten any smaller. Right up near the top of said pile is Divine Destiny, an erotic futuristic romance by my friend and sorority sister, not to mention college professor and incredibly busy woman, Gwyneth Bolton.

Darwu the Warrior Prince, an alpha male to the nth degree, has just discovered that his mate, Kara Millan, whom he’d presumed was dead lo these many years, is: a) alive and well; and b) the leader of a rebel alliance against him.

Talk about your serious conflict …

Darwu, being a quick thinker, decides to kill two birds with one stone by seducing Kara, so to speak, over to his side. Much sex and a happily ever after presumably follow.

You may recall that I tagged Gwyneth Bolton as an author to watch months ago, when her first novel for Harlequin/Kimani Press, If Only You Knew, came out. If you like passionate stories with vivid characters, anything by Bolton is the book for you.

Now if I can only get my act together and find the time to read her book, I can invite Gwyn over for an interview…

Before everyone’s day gets started with revelry, gluttony, and football, I just wanted to pause and wish you a wonderful new year. Last year I used the Irish Marriage Blessing, and it’s so lovely I think I’ll use it again—maybe make it my yearly tradition.

May God be with you and bless you.
May you see your children’s children.
May you be poor in misfortunes
and rich in blessings.
May you know nothing but happiness
from this day forward.

See you in 2007!

Santa has hit the road—sky, rather—and is winging his way to the houses of well-behaved children everywhere. If you’d like to check his progress with your kids, here’s a really cool program called Santa Tracker.

I’m wishing you a wonderful Christmas, filled with peace, love, good food and, of course, good books.

The other week I mentioned attending a holiday romance signing at a Barnes & Noble here in Cincinnati. Well, I finally got around to installing the software from my new digital camera, fiddling around with it, and, finally, in a triumph of perseverance, figuring out what the &^*#!! to do with all the pix I took. The upshot is that I can now show you a few images from that fun day.

Here’s my friend, Dafina romantic suspense author Patricia Sargeant.

From left to right, back row: B&N bookseller extraordinaire, Linda Keller, Patricia Sargeant, Paige Cuccaro, me. Front row, left to right: Elizabeth Bevarly and Toni Blake.

Elizabeth Bevarly, Toni Blake and Billie Warren Chai.

I’ve posted an excerpt from my March, 2007 Harlequin/Kimani Press novel, Just About Sex, over on the site. Check it out if you have time. Oh, and feel free to pre-order six or seven copies for all your closest friends…

Hey! A girl can hope, can’t she?

Yes, you’re in the right place. Don’t adjust your computer screen. I’ve updated my blog.

Like it?

It occurred to me that everyone else’s blog was fancy-schmancy, with lots of pretty colors, fonts, smileys, and pictures. And I thought, I want one of those. So I e-mailed my intrepid web person, Frauke at Croco Designs, and, bada-boom, bada-bing, she hooked me up.

Love Frauke.

Now I’ve got all the bells and whistles. Maybe it’s just wishful thinking on my part, but I’m hoping that now we’ve got all these smiley face choices, all you readers—and I know you’re out there—will comment a little more often.

Let’s start right now, shall we? Tell me… what do you think of the blog’s new look?

Being a newbie author myself, I love to read and promote books from other new/young authors.  Last week, you’ll remember, I mentioned Patricia Sargeant’s first romantic suspense, You Belong to Me, and posted a review over on my What’s Ann Reading page:http://www.annchristopher.com/reading.htm

This week, I read Maureen Smith’s novel from Kimani Romance, A Legal Affair. In it, P.I. Daniela Roarke, in an attempt to collect dirt on his family’s alleged criminal activities, goes under cover as a law student in Professor Caleb Thorne’s class.

Sparks fly, of course, and Smith does a great job of maintaining the sizzling sexual chemistry between Daniela and Caleb.  Daniela’s deception, as you can imagine, leads to a big blowup, and I kept flipping pages to see how the lovers worked things out.

Smith has a great voice, and I think we’ll be seeing much more of her work in the future. Pick up A Legal Affair when you get a chance.

Yesterday I participated in a holiday romance signing at the local Barnes & Noble, along with such luminaries as Lori Foster and Elizabeth Bevarly. A bunch of authors chattered, laughed, ate chocolate candy, drank lattes from the café and signed the odd book here and there.

It was lots of fun, and I took lots of pictures with my cool new digital camera. Later, I will try to upload (download?? Upload??) the pictures from my camera to the computer, and then, if that goes well, from the computer to my website. Wish me luck.

One of my great new author friends, Patricia Sargeant, was there. I’ve mentioned Patricia before. Her first book, You Belong to Me, a romantic suspense for Kensington/Dafina, is now out, and you’ll want to pick up a copy. I read it this week, and posted a little mini-review over on my What’s Ann Reading page. Check it out if you have time.