Gina Wilkins

Anyone who knows me either in person or through this blog is aware that I am not a fan of hot weather. The past couple of weeks in Arkansas have been sweltering, with temperatures hovering in the upper nineties and heat index readings in the hundreds. As much as I enjoy going on nature walks, or attending Arkansas Travelers baseball games or just sitting outside on the patio, all of that has to wait until a break in this heat! At least I’ve gotten a lot of writing done, sitting in my air conditioned den with a glass of iced tea and admiring nature from inside the glass doors.

For those of you also looking for ways to escape the summer heat, here are a few suggestions:

Find a shady spot by a cool lake. The photo above was taken at a popular shore-fishing spot on Lake Conway here in central Arkansas. Imagine sitting there with a cold drink and a nice breeze coming off the water. Ah.

Enjoy the World Cup games on TV. I have to confess to being somewhat of a soccer novice, but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the games, despite the U.S. team’s heartbreaking loss to Ghana. As I write this, the Netherlands and Slovakia are fighting for a place in the next round. I’m thoroughly impressed by the athleticism of the players — and amused by their theatrics. I find it funny that they will writhe on the ground in simulated agony when barely touched in an attempt to draw a penalty, yet when they’re really hurt — broken ribs, split lips, slashed legs or bloody noses — they’ll suck it up and keep playing. I can see why football (as the rest of the world calls it) is so popular all around the planet.

Sno-cones! Every year, as soon as the thermometer begins to rise, I start craving a cup of finely shaved ice flavored with syrup. Vendors in brightly-colored trailer-stands begin to appear in area parking lots, and I always have a hard time driving past without stopping. I had my first sno-cone of the season yesterday and it was delicious. The most difficult part is trying to decide between the dozens of flavors displayed on the menu.

Games. I love playing games with my family. Scrabble, Apples to Apples, Yahtzee, Phase 10, Uno, Canasta Caliente (Kerry and I turn that into a full-contact card game! No one else will play with us). My daughter and son-in-law introduced us to a new game during their Christmas visit — Settlers of Catan. That was a lot of fun. I can’t wait until they come home from Massachusetts for a visit in August and we can gather around the kitchen table again for an evening of board games and laughter.

Enjoy a good book. A blazing summer day is the perfect time to find a shady spot or a cool corner and escape into fantasy. Of course, cold winter days are also good for that. Let’s face it, any time is the right time for a good story.

Speaking of which — you were expecting this plug, right? — my new Silhouette Special Edition, THE DOCTOR’S UNDOING, will be available in stores in the coming week. This is the third book in the Doctors in Training series — Ron and Haley’s story — but if you missed the first two, don’t worry. Each book stands alone.

Wherever you are, whatever your weather, I hope you enjoy this last week of June.

Cover art used by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises Limited.

All rights reserved.

One of the fun questions I’m often asked when I speak to schoolchildren is, Do you draw the covers for your books?

I wish I were that talented an artist!

So, how do the artists hired by Harlequin/Silhouette know what to depict on the covers? They don’t have time to read the books first — often the cover art is in process before the book is even completed. So, the author has to somehow convey to the artist enough information that the cover fits the story, which isn’t easy. Usually, I find it less stressful to write the scene than to try to describe it.

For each category book, the author fills out an “art fact sheet.” We give a brief synopsis of the story, describe the characters as best we can envision them, and then suggest three scenes that might make a good cover. We tell the artist what the characters are wearing, what’s the mood and setting of the scene, any little details that bring our story to life. And I’m often amazed at how well the artist translates our words into pictures! I don’t see the covers until I receive my books because with the tight schedule of producing category romances there is little time for pre-approval on the author’s part. It’s always exciting for me to open the box from the publisher and see those new covers. No, the people on the books don’t always look exactly the way I imagined them, but even with as many covers as I’ve had, I’ve rarely been disappointed by the results.

Maybe sometimes there are picky little details I would change, being the control freak I am. For example, the cover above is for my July release, THE DOCTOR’S UNDOING. The hero’s white coat on the cover is too long for a medical student — med students wear thigh-length coats; after they graduate they switch to the knee-length coats he’s wearing in the drawing. My daughter will certainly point that out to me when she sees this cover — so I’ve preemptively let her know I’m aware of it. But that’s not really important. I was very pleased when I received my copies of the book and saw the cover; the people look very much as I pictured Ron and Haley and the setting really conveys the hospital atmosphere of the story.  I think it’s a great cover — and I hope you enjoy the book!

I must confess to a more serious quibble about one cover I had several years ago. The book was set in the South, as so many of my stories are, and the artist wanted to convey a Southern feel, so magnolia blossoms were used as a border. Unfortunately, the magnolia blossoms on the cover were growing on a vine! Obviously, the artist was not from the South. And yes, I heard from a few readers asking what I was thinking putting “magnolia vines” on the cover. I thought you might find it interesting to know the process of cover art for category romances — and how such glitches occasionally occur. (I still can’t explain how a friend ended up with a three-handed heroine on one of her covers many years ago, but that’s a different story — and a different publisher.) Yet somehow, with such little information, most covers are excellent and amazingly fitting for the stories they accompany.

I have to applaud the very talented artists employed by Harlequin/Silhouette for such consistently excellent artwork.

The winner of today’s drawing is Jessica Faulkingham of North Carolina. Congratulations, Jessica! I’ll get the book in the mail to you this week.

I’m finishing a new book this week and eye infections and other life annoyances have me running a few days behind, so I’ll post a new blog entry and the new contest details within the next few days. Please check back! In the meantime, if you want to be entered for the July 1 drawing (prize to be announced soon), send an email to me at gina.w@live.com by June 30. Click the Enter to Win! tab for official rules.

The morning news-and-features program I usually watch while I eat my oatmeal had a discussion today about Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the top 500  (rock) songs of all time.  The new edition of the list will be released Friday, but they discussed the top five this morning, conceding that the choices would be hotly debated over water coolers, coffee cups and dinner tables. As for myself … I wouldn’t have put any of those songs into my personal top five, but I could see the argument for each of them being there.

I’ve mentioned before that music is a vital part of my life. The little songs my mother sang when I was a child. The hymns we sang in our little country church, and the  choruses our church youth group  performed for the congregation. The pop and rock songs that played from my transistor radio and stereo record player when I was a young teen, from the 8-track, cassette, CD and MP3 players as technology and I matured.

Most days I turn off the TV as soon as the morning program is over and turn on my music player in its stead. I write to music. Music plays in my car between home and the grocery store or the mall. Our children played piano and violin and guitar and tin whistle as they grew up, and all three sang in high school choir.  I miss hearing their practices and performances. Our son-in-law is also musical — he’s playing the guitar in the photo above. Music is one of the many common bonds that have drawn him and my daughter together.

Our middle child, Kerry (the one married to the guitarist), has often mentioned that one of her cherished memories of childhood is riding in the back seat of the car on late night trips home from some visit or vacation, dozing with her sister and brother and listening to the music playing from the car speakers while her dad and I talked quietly in the front seats. I can identify with that memory; hearing certain songs from the late 60s and early 70s can send me straight back in time to summer car trips with my own parents and three brothers, often to Branson, Missouri or Galveston, Texas. I cannot imagine a world without music, nor do I want to try.

As the program concluded this morning, the on-air personalities were asked to name their all-time favorite songs, and I found their choices interesting. They mentioned yesterday that they would be doing so, and I’ve thought about it on and off since, wondering what I would name as number one on my list of favorite songs. I have a favorite gospel song, How Great Thou Art, and a favorite Christmas song, O Holy Night (followed closely by the secular White Christmas), but favorite pop/rock song was harder to choose. There are so many, some with deeply personal meaning, some I simply love to hear or to sing in the shower. Some that evoke special memories, others that can bring me to tears.

I’ve decided to try to compile a list of my top 25 favorite pop/rock songs sometime, just to see what others think the list says about me. I can already name a few of the songs that will pop up — When Doves Cry, Stairway to Heaven, Old Time Rock and Roll, I’ve Done Enough Dying Today, Cherish, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, I Still Burn, From Where You Are, The Dance … oops, that list is already growing. It would be somewhat easier for me to name my top 25 favorite bands/singers — there are so many wonderful songs! But what would be number one for me?

I think it would have to be In My Life by the Beatles (I was pleased to hear someone else name that one this morning, after I’d already chosen if for my own number one). I was just a little too young to be part of Beatlemania back in the day, nor do I listen to their music often now, but this song has always spoken to me, more so as I grow older. Every time it pops up on my work playlist — the newest of which includes 539 songs — I have to stop, close my eyes, and just let the memories and emotions flow.

What does this choice say about me? I think it illustrates that I’m sentimental, nostalgic and have a weakness for simple melodies and harmonies. What songs would be on your life’s soundtrack? Which would be your number one, and what does that say about you?

Until next time — may your days be filled with the music you love most.

I learned a new medical term last week. Blepharoconjunctivitis. The basic definition is inflammation of the conjunctiva (the membrane lining the eyelids and covering the eyeball) and the eyelid.

I wish I could say I learned the term while doing research for my current medical-themed book for Silhouette Special Edition. Unfortunately, I heard it from my doctor when I went to see her last Wednesday with my right eye blood-red, swollen almost closed, and leaking tears and goo (sorry for the image — I actually tried to understate how bad it was). She prescribed an antibiotic ointment I’ve used before that’s so thick I’ve always compared it to smearing axle grease in my eye, which makes it interesting trying to see through the resulting film.

I have to admit my eye bothered me for a full week before I saw the doctor. I have a chronic problem with my right eye being irritated and developing styes, so I just assumed it was my usual and treated it with eye drops I keep on hand. By the time I broke down and went to the doctor, it was pretty nasty – and it got worse during the weekend. I missed the monthly meeting of my local Romance Writers of America chapter that I was really looking forward to, and I spent the weekend whimpering and feeling sorry for myself.

Would it have gotten to that point if I’d seen the doctor earlier? I don’t know, but I suspect I waited a few days too long to go. As the mother of three medically-inclined offspring, I have an odd aversion to going to the doctor. Those of you who’ve been reading my blog for a while know that I occasionally veer into rants about taking care of yourself — having your regular mammograms, physicals, colonoscopies after 50. Let me add a new piece of advice: see your doctor promptly when you develop a problem that needs intervention! I should start paying a little better attention to my own advice (and the long-distance counsel of my exasperated physician daughter — sorry, Kerry).

I did get a little writing done last week, peering through my one good eye and the hazy slit of the other at the computer screen I had to darken quite a bit for comfort. It was nice to have my fictional world to escape into since I couldn’t physically leave my house for a few days. My doctor heroine would be as exasperated as my doctor daughter if any of her patients were so hesitant to seek treatment, I’m sure.

As promised, I have a title and publication date for you for this story about the workaholic couple — a busy surgeon and a single-dad attorney — trying to find time in their schedules to fall in love. THE M.D. NEXT DOOR will be on the shelves in January, 2011. Before then, you can find THE DOCTOR’S UNDOING in July and PROGNOSIS: ROMANCE in September. (Click the Books Available Now tab for details on upcoming titles).

Don’t forget to enter your name in the June 1 drawing! Click the Enter to Win! tab for details.

Until you visit again — take good care of yourselves!

The winner of this month’s drawing for two baby-themed books is Lydia Cheatham from my home state of Arkansas! Congratulations, Lydia, I’ll get those in the mail to you this week.

We had a scary weekend of storms and power outages, but today is simply beautiful here in central Arkansas.  My prayers go out today to those who lost their homes and to the families of the two people who lost their lives here in this state during the weekend, and to the thousands now dealing with flooding across the South.

…

The prize for the June 1 drawing is detailed on the Enter to Win! page. Don’t forget to send me an email to let me know you want to be included in the drawing.

The hero of the book I’m writing now for Silhouette Special Edition (title and publication date to be announced later) is a single dad of a thirteen-year-old girl. I love writing about dads and daughters. There are so many intriguing angles to explore of those relationships. My husband is simply nuts about our two girls (our son, too, but that’s another type of bond). He has worried about them, over-protected them, battled with them and guided them during their lifetimes, but mostly he has loved them and taken such pride in their amazing personalities and their accomplishments. It has been especially hard for him to see them grow up and leave the nest — and his protection. It was particularly difficult for him to accept that time when he had to let them go on to lead their own lives so far from home.

I’m fortunate enough to still have my own father. I have very special memories of times with my dad. Camping and cookouts. The times when he and my uncle took me fishing (with three younger brothers, I always enjoyed being the center of Daddy’s attention). Walking me down the aisle in a ruffled, brocade tuxedo he absolutely hated (and rightfully so — what was I thinking? Oh, yes, it was the 70s). Always being there for me to call when I need him.

It’s fun for me to put myself into the head of my single-dad hero and explore his pride, his worry, his bafflement and his love for the little girl who’s growing up all too quickly. Adding a romance to the mix makes the whole adventure even more fun, especially when the heroine is a workaholic surgeon who never imagined herself becoming an instant mom to a teenager. I hope you’ll enjoy getting to know them, too, when the book is published early next year.

In the meantime, the next installment in my Doctors in Training series, THE DOCTOR’S UNDOING, will be available in July. If you’ve missed the first two books in the series, check eHarlequin.com to see if they are still available, or check with me at the email address given on the Contact Me tab above. All the stories stand alone, so you won’t be confused if you miss one or read them out of order.

Don’t forget to sign up for this month’s drawing for two baby-themed books (in honor of spring). Click the Enter to Win! tab above for details on how to enter.

So if someone told me tomorrow I had only a few days to live, my first thought would be, “But I would miss the finale of Lost!”

Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration. But I am very much invested in that serialized television program, I’m loving the unfolding of the story lines this season, and I can’t wait to see how it all wraps up. Will all our questions be answered? Will the writers remember to tie up all the lose threads from past seasons? (I fear that some will be forgotten.) Who will survive and who will be sacrificed to the mysterious island? And does Richard really wear guyliner? Perhaps we’ll never know the answer to that last question.

I’ve grown up in the television generation. I clearly remember watching the Beverly Hillbillies on our old black-and-white set when I was only 5 or 6 years old. I remember the first color program I ever saw (Flipper). I remember our first color set with its spindly antennae that had to be  adjusted constantly. And the programs — lots of Westerns in the beginning. The Rifleman. Sugarfoot. Gunsmoke. Wagon Train. I remember watching Captain Kangaroo, and loving the stories he read in his soothing, cheery voice. The sitcoms — Dick Van Dyke, Andy Griffith, Leave it to Beaver, Danny Thomas and Patty Duke. The variety shows — Dean Martin, Perry Como, Andy Williams.

In my teens, I began to form my own tastes in programming. I remember falling desperately in love with Jeremy Bolt (actor Bobby Sherman) in Here Come the Brides. With Johnny Madrid (James Stacy) in Lancer. I loved Star Trek and Batman, Lost in Space and The Monkees. It Takes a Thief, Dark Shadows, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. I spent hours playing girl spy!  (My chronology is probably hopelessly muddled – I remember the programs, but not the years they aired). The Wonderful World of Disney movies. Laugh-In and The Smothers Brothers. That Girl and Cagney and Lacey. The Mod Squad. All of those programs and others I’ve neglected to name from my youth have influenced my imagination and undoubtedly my writing career.

I married another television buff, and I confess we’ve logged many TV hours during our thirty-three years of marriage. We don’t always agree on shows we like. He likes his dramatic programming grittier and plot driven, I prefer fluffier, character-based shows with romantic potential. I loved Remington Steele (well, the early seasons), he hated it. I find Criminal Minds generally depressing, it’s his favorite program. Two and a Half Men sends me screaming out of the room, while he never misses it. I enjoy So You Think You Can Dance (not scripted, but fun to watch), which he doesn’t like at all. But it’s fun when we do follow the same programs. We generally view an hour of TV an evening together. It’s fun to watch a story unfold, to speculate together on what will happen next, or to see favorite characters develop and grow. During the years, we’ve enjoyed all the Star Trek series, dramas such as La Femme Nikita, L.A. Law, St. Elsewhere and The Pretender, classic sitcoms like Friends and Cheers and Frasier. We’ve watched Lost from the beginning. We like Fringe and Eureka and Castle and Burn Notice and House.

I will always be an avid reader, finding so many friends and adventures in books, but reading is pretty much a solitary activity. Yes, I can discuss the books with other readers, but fewer people read the same books than watch the same TV programs. There’s a bond in sharing those unfolding stories that can unite strangers at the water coolers, or spark discussions at on-line fan sites (such as Television Without Pity) that can lead to actual friendships. I have several good on-line friends I’ve “met” through those sites, a few of whom have enriched my life for several years now, making me feel as though I know them quite well. Our shared pleasure in the stories led us to discoveries of other things we have in common.

Just as earlier civilizations bonded with tales told around the campfire, television is the flickering light around which we now gather to have our imaginations captivated by clever storytellers. Yes, I have a “real life” — quite busy at times, though not as hectic now that I’m an empty-nester as it was when I had three kids in choir, drama, piano, church activities, drill team and school clubs. I admit cheerfully that TV is a part of that life. The kids bonded with us over quite a few shows in their childhoods. As it was for me, TV was part of their youth, though I kept a fairly close eye on the programs they were allowed to watch (the variety being so much greater than the 3 networks available when I was young). They’re too busy these days to watch much (not having yet reached the slower-paced life stage their dad and I have achieved). In addition to establishing their careers in science and medicine, they like to travel and socialize and hike and ski and play board games and video games and play music and many other activities, but they also enjoy a good story — whether in a book, on a stage, on a theater screen or on a monitor (TV or computer). I like to think I’ve nurtured the fanciful side of their personalities along with the practical.

I have a blessedly free evening ahead, so once I finish my work for today, I’ll relax with the book I’m reading from the top of my teetering to-be-read pile, and new episodes of House and Castle. I’m so grateful for all the gifted storytellers who have provided so much pleasure during my life — and I can’t wait for the next great virtual adventure!