Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Spaghettios, professional wrestlers and oooh, those Brits


Welcome Pat White to the convertible today!

I write to stay sane. And to feed my family: literally.

See, when I’m struggling with a book I tend to busy my mind with other things, like cooking. Actually, my family can tell how a book is going if:
a) I’ve made five dinners for two people. (Characters are fighting me every with every word I type).
b) There are no groceries in the house. (Book going great – stay away from mom!)
c) The house is so clean the dogs want to move out. (Mom’s in plotting mode, remove sharp objects from her hands).

So, when the book is slogging along I cook for everyone: my family, pets, neighbors, the crossing guard down the street. It’s pretty weird. But it’s good therapy and everyone eats well, so that’s a plus.

On the other hand, when a book is going well I’m incoherent and everyone is stuck eating canned spaghettios, well everyone BUT the cats. They’d never put up with that.

Here’s the result of this afternoon, as I was thrashing about on the page and cooking between scenes. My teenager was so confused with all his choices that he just sat there and stared.

It’s no surprise that I have such completely different responses to the writing process. I’ve been told I have a split personality because I write such different kinds of books.

I started my career writing romantic comedy. My fourth romantic comedy, Love on the Ropes, was out last fall.
This book was part of my series set in professional wrestling. Whenever I say that in public people look at me with their eyebrows all scrunched up like I’ve just spoken Chinese, then they burst out laughing.

Then in 2005 I sold my first romantic suspense to Harlequin Intrigue. Very exciting stuff. I’m the nutcase who stays up till Midnight watching Law & Order reruns. Doesn’t matter if I’ve already seen them already they’re still fascinating. (And yes, I know, I should be writing .)

This month marks the release of the third book in my Intrigue series featuring The Blackwell Group. I couldn’t resist creating a series featuring British heroes. Those accents are too sexy, yeah?


This month’s book, Miss Fairmont and the Gentleman Investigator is set in the Highlands of Scotland. Talk about a beautiful place! As Grace Fairmont searches for answers to her dead mother’s past, she’s warned to leave the country by an attacker. The sexy Bobby Finn comes to the rescue and, unbeknownst to Grace, is assigned to act as bodyguard to protect her from the mysterious dangers of her mother’s past. All Grace wants is some closure in regards to the mother she never knew, but at what price?

Speaking of sexy Brits , I can recommend some movies featuring some of my favorites. Children of Men starring Clive Owen is released on DVD Tuesday. Also, 300 starring (Gerard Butler – Scottish!) is currently in theatres. Talk about six pack abs… hubba, hubba. And I hear Christian Bale, another Brit fav, is due out in a movie soon. Movies are my other passion. I use them to bribe myself to make my page count for the week.


What’s coming out this weekend I wonder? Oh, do I wish it featured Clive. Then I’d get my pages done for sure! ;-)

Who are some of your favorite hotties?

Thanks to Michele Hauf for inviting me to blog today. I’m thrilled that she and I have conspired to write the Dark Enchantment series (with Nina Bruhns and Cynthia Cooke) for Nocturne. Michele’s book, Familiar Stranger, will start us off in August. I can’t wait!

Cheers from the Pacific Northwest,

Pat White
www.patwhitebooks.com

Michele's comment: I've had the best time and the neatest opportunity to be able to work with Pat on the Dark Enchantments series. If you like demons and alpha heroes and very capable heroines, you should probably check it out. :-)

Do stop by Pat's website to read more about her books and check out the sexy Blackwell Group covers!

23 comments:

Shelli Stevens said...

Pat I looove your Blackwell Group series, but then you know that by now ;)

My favorite hotties are (Yes, Clive Owen) Matthew Mcconaughey and Joaquin Phoenix.

Jacquie Rogers said...

OMG, you cook, too? Baking is my downfall. When I'm stuck, I bake something. There are two problems with that: I don't have enough people to eat what I bake anymore, and two, I'm the last one who needs to eat this stuff. But what do you do when the dough is already rising before you know you started a batch of bread? LOL

Thanks for the blog article, Pat. You're a terrific writer!

Jacquie

Morgan Mandel said...

Hi Pat,
I don't cook much, but your blog reminds me of my high school and college days.
Whenever I had a big test or paper due, all of a sudden I felt a big urge to clean my room instead. My room was never cleaner around that time!
Love your books,
Morgan Mandel

Helen Brenna said...

Hey Pat, welcome to the convertible!

You and I must are kindred spirits. The guys you picked in your blog are 3 of my top 4. The only one I'd add would be George.

I'm sneaking out to see 300 this weekend while my son and husband are out of town. If my twelve year old finds out, I'd dead!

Anonymous said...

Hi there Pat

Yes, I know what you mean about British accents; I moved to the U.K. from New Zealand five years ago and I never get tired of listening to them! (I now realise how brutally we Antipodeans murder our vowels, though!)

I think we need to add Daniel Craig (as Bond) to the eye candy list - lovely to listen to and lovely to look at ...

Michele Hauf said...

Gotta love a woman who uses Gerard Butler for a hero in her story! (hint: I know SAVING DESTINY, Pat's November Nocturne does just that.)

Can you come cook for me, Pat? Seriously. When I'm on deadline, or just really into the story the family either gets frozen pizza or McDonalds. Heck, it would be so much easier if I could just toss them a Luna bar and let that be it, but they'd probably camp outside my office door and stare at me with the big sad puppy eyes if I did that.

Michele

Pat White said...

Ah! Michele gave me away -- yep, my November Nocturne features a hero inspired by Gerard ::: sigh ::: What a hottie. And I agree, Bella, Daniel Craig is another favorite. I liked him ever since I saw him in a movie called The Jacket. But don't get me started on movies...I could go on all day!

So, folks, what movies are we looking forward to? Anything special?

Cheers!

Pat

Anonymous said...

Hey Pat,

I love to cook too, and I have to agree....when the writing is going well, the kitchen is a ghost town. No meals, the dust accumulates and my husband starts bringing in take out.

Having been young and impressionable when the Beatles came to town, I fell in love with the accents and Sean Connory finished it off. Yep, I know he was a Scot, but (cover your ears any Brits)they all sound very similar to me....yummy!

Judy Wiebe

Unknown said...

Pat, welcome to the back seat! What a hoot-- the food thing.

I used to get an urge to clean or do laundry when I was stuck on a book. Baking was something I did for pleasure, so I couldn't contaminate it with work. But when deadline dementia hit-- too many pages, too fast-- I'd get spacey and the kids would start to worry. Once I actually thought the Parmesan cheese I'd just sprinkled over my vegetables was talking to my broccoli. Where else could that noise be coming from? I was floored. . . until my eldest son picked up the newly poured Coke by my plate, which was still fizzing like mad, and said "Mom, it's not the broccoli. Are you all right?" Apocryphal story at my house.

But hey, we writers have a right to be a little loopy at times. All in a good cause.

And Daniel Craig. . . Gerard Butler. . . yeah, the stuff of dreams. And did you hear that Gerard is going to redo Kurt Russell's role as Snake Pliskin in "Escape from New York?" That will be one to see. And Daniel is starring opposite Nicole Kidman in a sci-fi flick called "The Invasion." Can't wait for that!!

Then there's Clive. sigh. What is it about the Brits (the accents?) that makes us all weak in the knees?

Personally, I blame Ian Fleming. That "Bond. James Bond." thing.

And Now I'll have to hunt up the Blackwell guys. . .

Have fun today, Pat! Hope to see you again in the convertible!

Kathleen Eagle said...

Welcome Pat!
Hey, Jacquie, waving madly! I took the link to your site and, yep, it's the one and only Jacquie Rogers. So cool! I see that you're writing like crazy and that Mark's still smiling, so it's all good.

So the question of the day, like spring, turns a woman's fancy to thoughts of hotties. Among the Brits, Clive is my fave. Although Ray Stevenson from ROME--I assume he's a Brit since ROME was, I think, my first encounter with him (and, no, I'm not going to shut up about ROME anytime soon even though the series ended Sunday)--certainly does it for me, too.

And, oh, Judy, the Beatles made their mark on me back in my salad days, too. I had friends who actually started speaking in tongues--er, fake Liverpool accents. Said they couldn't help it. Right. None too original, I loved The Cute One. Still do.

Hellie Sinclair said...

Favorite Hotties:

Johnny Depp
Orlando Bloom
Jack Davenport
Joseph Fiennes
Owen Wilson
Ioan Gruffudd
Gerry Butler
Michael Fassbender (also in 300)
Danny Masterson
Topher Grace
Mel Gibson (when in Braveheart)
Kevin Costner (in Bull Durham)
Christopher Melloni (from Law & Order)
Josh Holloway
The Alex guy from Grey's Anatomy
And McDreamy, of course
Josh Lucas
James Garner (more so when he was young, but the whole package wise--personality and looks, he's still got it)

Hotties in Heaven:
Cary Grant
Gene Kelly
Frank Sinatra
Rock Hudson
Howard Keel
James Coburn

Well, that's my short list for now. I'll let you know if I think of any others.

Hellie Sinclair said...

Movies I'm looking forward to?

The Last Legion (due in April and has Colin Firth--Colin! I knew I forgot someone off the hottie list! What am I thinking!?)

Pirates of the Caribbean 3, obviously.

Harry Potter 5.

Anonymous said...

Pat ~~

Too, too fun with the cooking and where the cats rate in the White household :-) Does hubby, sons and the dogs know the correct pecking order? Off topic but one does wonder :-) I'm collecting my Blackwell books for an official PW signature. In the meantime can you tell us about the project that's creating the gastro delights?

All the best ~~ Mary B :-)

Debra Dixon said...

Pat-- I'm late welcoming you to the convertible, but Welcome!

I love sound of "The Blackwell Group." Isn't it funny that once you've found the perfect 'fit' or label for something in your book you wonder how it could ever have been anything else. It suddenly just IS that. Period.

Anonymous said...

Kathleen, I love your description of the Liverpool accent ; - ) Tongues indeed! Personally, it's the Cockney rhyming slang that gets me into difficulties - I was once asked if I "fancied a butchers" in the middle of an artwork meeting by a male colleague. OK, I thought, this is either some sort of kinky proposition or I'm being asked about some sort of meat product ... (Both options seemed unlikely given the company and the circumstances!) Turns out "a butchers" means "look"; "butchers hook" rhymes with "a look", hence "a butchers". (Yeah, made perfect sense to me, too!)

Christie Ridgway said...

Hi, Pat! I'm with Deb. The Blackwell Group is the perfect name. Love it.

Wow, if cooking was my vice when the writing was going slow, I'd have a happy family. I keep forgetting to feed them these days. They ask me those immortal words, "What's for dinner?" and I have to wonder at their eternal optimism.

Don't they know by now I haven't given it a thought and that they better hope there's some pizza in the freezer?

Anonymous said...

Pat--
Just wanted to stop by and say hi--I'm so pleased for your continued success. Look, if your next book isn't going well, I would be delighted to let you clean my house and cook for my family--anything for a friend, you know!

Susan Kay Law said...

So what did you cook? I cook when I'm avoiding writing, too.

Can't say the same about cleaning. I wish. Well, not really, but it'd be useful.

Susie

Bridget Locke said...

Nice blog entry! :)

I'm totally stuck on Gerard. *sigh* It might be that he's taller than me (I'm 6'1"), or the accent, or the gorgeous eyes, or the build. LOL!

My other eye candy is Michael Vartan from Alias, Matthew MacFadyen from the most recent Pride & Prejudice and Clive Owen. Yum!

I've always loved accents and distinctive features. I'm not really into the whole girly men thing that seems to be the big deal right now. I LOVE masculine men. Yummy! :)

Bridget Locke said...

*smacking forehead* Are all of your books still in print? I don't read a lot of serials, but if you based one of your heroes on Gerry...well, now I've got to read them. :) I always like to try something new. Yay! :)

Pat White said...

Ha, ha! Glad to know I'm not the only one to get weak in the knees when I hear those Brits or Scots (had better not call Gerard British!) speak.

Don't get me started on Rome, Kathleen. Man, oh man, why did I discover it a few weeks ago??? What an amazing show. And if Ray is who I think he is, did you see King Arthur, starring Clive? Man alive, that movie had TONS of hotties!

Cheers from Sunny Seattle (no, I'm not kidding!)

Pat

Pat White said...

Susie,
As to the cooking... here's what I created:
Chicken Parmesean
Pork loin & Mashed potatoes
Burritos
Quesadillas (spelling?)
Chocolate cake with frosting and sprinkly thingies
Chef's salad
Sloppy Joe's

As for the book that inspired all this cooking...it's called Soldier Surrender for Intrigue featuring an ex special forces dude who is asked by a former girlfriend to find her son, taken by her ex, up into the mountains. I love, love, love the mountains so what's the problem? Me thinks it's too much sunshine! We're not used to it here. HA!

Peace,
Pat

Anonymous said...

can you call me when you are stuck? cause that food sounds great! dang im hungry!
love your books!

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