Laura Wright - Romance Author

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

2007-12-31T09:32:00.000-08:00

Hi All!

Sorry I've been MIA. Besides being swallowed up by the Christmas Fairy (or 2 very cute elves) I'm in living in the new town of major deadline-ville. I'm writing the 2nd book in the 2008 Desire continuity, and I want it to be my best, as it will be my last Desire for a little while. This continuity is set in New York City, baby - and I think it's going to be awesome. Our editor, Melissa J is so amazing at coming up with storylines for these 6-10 book continuities, I can't wait for you to read them.

I had a wonderful Christmas. The kids got way to much stuff, but hey it's once a year, right? One very special prezzie they received was from Daniel and I. For awhile now I've been making up stories for Isa and Lucca as we take a walk or play at the park - and these stories are based on two characters named, Duka and Misa, a brother and sister (get it? get it?) Anyway, this year, I actually wrote one of the stories down and Daniel did the illustartions for it. It's very sweet and suprisingly, not half bad - I might have my agent take a look at it. I'll let you know what happens :-)

Well, I'd better get back to work. I'll try and post more in 2008 - 2008, how did it happen???... in the meantime tell me...
WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE PRESENT?

Laura

What I am Thankful for...

2007-11-24T20:28:00.000-08:00

And this is in no particular order...

My Sweet Ones...(and a pretty good hairday for me.)

My Sexy One (this picture was taken almost a year after having Lucca...just want to say that I am not thankful I have gained back 5 lbs since then...)

The last of my three. My dog Thompson, who just turned 10 and is watching over his family...

The newest member of our clan, Miss Ivy. A crazy, lovely one year old Berner, who needs us just as much as we need her.

And last but not least, to all of you. My ever supportive, ever forgiving readers. I'm very thankful for you.

RECIPE THURSDAY

2007-11-15T07:10:00.000-08:00

As wintertime sets in, and the nights get colder, I turn to soups to make me feel comforted and sastified. Here is a recipe I found several years ago that sounded strange, but is, in fact, one of the most delicious soups I've ever tasted.
Enjoy.

AFRICAN PEANUT SOUP

(yummy with crusty bread)
serves 10-ish

WHAT YOU NEED:
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
2 large red bell peppers, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes, with
liquid
8 cups vegetable broth or stock
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
2/3 cup extra crunchy peanut butter
1/2 cup uncooked brown rice

HOW TO MAKE THE MAGIC HAPPEN:
1. Heat oil in a large stock pot over medium high heat. Cook onions and bell peppers until lightly browned and tender, stirring in garlic when almost done to prevent burning. Stir in tomatoes, vegetable stock, pepper, and chili powder. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes.
2. Stir in rice, cover, and simmer another fifteen to twenty minutes or until rice is tender. Stir in peanut butter until well blended, and serve.

AND THE WINNER IS....DRUMROLL....

2007-11-14T13:56:00.000-08:00

##########CrystalGB###########

Congrats girl - so funny!!

Send me your email address.

OUR BELOVED PETS

2007-11-12T08:37:00.000-08:00

In May of this year our sweet Bernese Mountain dog RIVER passed away. He was only
6 1/2, not all that young for this breed, but the lose of him was breathstealingly sad for me, Daniel, Isa and our 2 other dogs.
I have never been through the death of a pet, not that I can recall anyway. There was probably a few kitties that passed when I was little, but I just don't remember it - I don't remember the feelings that come over you when someone you love is ripped from your life.
These feelings of loss and loneliness, and just plain wrongness, were all new to me. And on top of it all, he passed so quickly I had no time to prepare - it was like, "He has cancer, we need to do a biopsy, sorry the needle pierced a vital organ..." Just a day and he was gone...

Well, since then, we have all felt an emptiness in the house. We've thought about another dog, but decided it would be sometime in the future.
Well, future came in an unexpected way.

We barely had time to move through the grieving process over Rivey when Pilot, our golden got sick. Now, Pilot is a retriever so she loves to chew and eat things she shouldn't - and in our house that is toys. We put them away as best we can, but she always manages to find something. Normally she will just poop the toy or sock or piece of cloth out (sorry)
But not this time. She had an obstruction. All last week she was at the hospital, in and out of surgery, highs and lows, and hopes that she would be back at home where she belonged by the weekend.

Unfortunately, this weekend came and so did the horrible infection. She was very sick, and we were not going to put her through another surgery. When I visited her on Friday afternoon I saw "it" in her eyes. Dogs are not like humans. When they've had enough, they've had enough - and I believe she'd had enough.
Regardless I wanted to see if she could make it through the night, maybe a miracle...but she couldn't. She became septic, and at 3 a.m. Saturday morning my husband held her as she slipped from this world.

I don't tell you this story to depress you, but I'm a writer and if I don't write about what's on my heart, I'll lose my mind.
Pilot and River deserve to be remembered.

Today, they will be...

"God saw you were getting tired
And a cure was not to be.
So He put His arms around you,
And whispered, "Come with me."
With tearful eyes we watched you suffer
and fade away
Although we loved you dearly,
We could not make you stay.
Your loving heart stopped beating,
Hard working paws to rest.
God broke our hearts to
prove to us,
He only takes the best."
~ Author Unknown

AN EYE FOR AN EYE contest

2007-11-07T09:33:00.000-08:00

Okay, so it's a good thing that this blog is anonymous because I'm going to ask you to give me your best REVENGE STORIES - or your best FANTASY revenge story. I know mine. It has something to do with a vat of mud and drivers who ignore the rules of the road!

In honor of my sexy, MAC VALENTINE (from Playboy's Ruthless Payback) who lives by the moto, "eye for an eye," I'm going to be looking for the greatest story of revenge that you've got.

And hey, it's fine if this is about your "sister" or your "friend" :-)

You have until SATURDAY NIGHT to get your stories in and I'll read them Sunday and decide! ***********UPDATE: DUE TO THE THOUGHTFUL NATURE OF THIS CONTEST - I'M GOING TO GIVE YOU GUYS A FEW MORE DAYS TO GET YOUR ENTRIES IN. DEADLINE WILL NOW BE TUESDAY NIGHT. THANKS!

!!!!The winner gets a $25.00 GC from Amazon!!!!!

Good luck

THE HOLIDAYS APPROACH-ETH

2007-11-05T08:49:00.000-08:00

SOME SAY That when Halloween is over - and I mean literally when the clock strikes midnight on November 1st - the holiday season has begun. Now this would be an easier concept for me to embrace if I didn't live in Southern Cali, where just yesterday I was at an outdoor birthday party, singing and sweating in the 80 degree weather.
Seriously people, I'm from Minnesota, where snow on Halloween isn't all that big of a fluke occurence.
I think the thing is I need cold weather to accept the fact that Christmas is coming.
Perfect example...WE BUY OUR CHRISTMAS TREE AT NIGHT TO RECEIVE MAXIMUM COLD FEELINGS!

So what about you?

When do get yourself in the holiday mood?

And more importantly, WHEN DO YOU START SHOPPING???

*****some INCREDIBLY LARGE pictures from Halloween of me and my little spooks:-)

AND THE WINNER IS....DRUMROLL....

2007-10-26T07:00:00.000-07:00

***"You should see the Easter Bunny tatoo on my other cheek."***

Congrats, CHRISTYJAN!!!!!
Email me your address and I'll send out your GC!

Happy Fall Everybody!

Get out there and get you some pumpkins and candy!

NAME THIS PHOTO CONTEST!!

2007-10-24T07:00:00.000-07:00

$10.00 GC to Borders!
Deadline for entries is Thursday 8 p.m. PST

NEW PHOTO CONTEST ...

2007-10-23T11:07:00.001-07:00

Hey Everyone,

Because of the fires here in Los Angeles, Internet has been shaky,
blogging and uploading photos along with it..(this is my tenth try at posting)
So I couldn't
post pictures on Monday.

But...we will be having the photo contest tomorrow.

Come on back for a great new GC!

2007-10-23T11:07:00.000-07:00

2007-10-23T09:54:00.000-07:00

MCBB IS #2 ON THE BORDERS/WALDENSBOOKS BESTSELLER LIST!

2007-10-19T09:35:00.000-07:00

This is in romance, of course, and I'm thrilled!
So... thank you to everyone who went out and picked up a copy, or told a friend - you made the 1st book in the NRR series a hit!

Today, I'm putting up a link to my new interview with hot romance blog, Romance Reviews Today...check it out!

http://romrevtoday.blogspot.com/

PRE-SCHOOL ANGST

2007-10-17T06:40:00.000-07:00

A few weeks after my fourth birthday my mother sat me down on our cold, concrete back stairs and told me I would be going to pre-school. I had no idea what this meant, and my mother, bless her heart, didn't really fill me in all that much except to say that I would have fun and make some new friends.
I did and I did. Very simple.

But it's just not that way anymore.

Here is Los Angeles, there are 10,000 preschool to choose from (slight exaggeration) with varying philosophies. With some, an interview with your child is necessary, others are so fancy the yearly tuition is equivalent to a year at Yale. (Seriously) Some are 8 hours a day, some 3, some play based, others academic...some are geared toward children with special needs, others for children who have a love of tennis.

So, on one hand, the variety can be great - but on the other glass-half-empty pragmatic side of things, the idea that we need so many choices is nuts!

For years, my daughter went to the same place - a school that embodied my philosophy, which simply stated goes like this, "IF THE KID COMES HOME CLEAN AND PAINT-FREE, THE SCHOOL AIN'T DOING THEIR JOB!"

This may sound crazy to some of you. I mean, who really wants to deal with washing severely painted-on clothes and giving their child a bath every night because their face is painted like a tree frog?

I do.

For family reasons, we had to switch Isa a few months ago, into a different school for her last year of preschool. All through the school tour, through parent night and these past several months, I've tried to convince myself it's no biggie - it's a sweet school, lovely campus, even lovelier teachers - and not for nothing, but the kids who went there 30 years ago now send their own children!!
What the hecks my problem?
But every day, when my daughter comes out to the car, dirt free, paint free and passion free, I ache inside.
I know my mother didn't worry about this back in the day - and I constantly ask myself, why me? It's a preschool, for heaven's sake!! But I do...I want her back there where art is tops, dirt reigns and her friends, like Cheers, know her name...

So... I'm trying to get her back in the other school, and have already put my little boy on their list for next year... crazy L.A....crazy L.A. and all their damn choices...

"I NOW CROWN MYSELF YERTLE, QUEEN OF THE TURTLES"

2007-10-16T07:16:00.000-07:00

This was SO hard. You guys are too funny and clever. I LOVED the Tortoise and the Hair. Loved Turtle is the new Black. Loved the bike helmet and the clips.

But Yertle is SOOOOOOO my daughter. This is exactly what she would be thinking and it just made me smile, made me think of her!

lisalmg, send me your name and addresss, and I'll get that GC out to you!

*****Next Monday, a whole new contest and a whole new prize!

PHOTO CONTEST MONDAY!!

2007-10-15T07:00:00.000-07:00

THIS WEEKS PRIZE - 20.00 GC TO TARGET

ENTRIES MUST BE IN BY MONDAY AT MIDNIGHT PST

ETHAN CURTIS REVEALED

2007-10-12T08:49:00.000-07:00

This cover is not my favorite, and sometimes I wonder why I made him blond, but despite all of that, Ethan Curtis of MILLIONAIRE'S CALCULATED BABY BID, is one of my favorite characters of all time. He's cruel, damaged, but at his core, he's desperate to be loved. My favorite type of hero...
When I write a character, I usually have someone in mind - as in, "Who would play this guy in a movie."
But this time around, I didn't.
I don't know why, maybe he was just so crystal clear to me from the get go.
At any rate, I thought we could play a little game today and see who you all think should play our man Ethan in the movie version of MCBB.

First up we have PAUL BETTANY. Don't think of him in DaVinci Code, with all that red eyes and chalky skin - that will just throw you off...

Up next for your viewing pleasure is HEATH LEDGER. Normally he doesn't do it for me, but he is blond and this picture is...well, NICE...

LEGOLAS.
Yes, I understand he's a fictional character.
And that his hair is long, and his ears are elf-like.
And sure, he's not wearing a suit.
But, you can kind of see it, right? Right? RIGHT?

Chef god, GORDON RAMSAY
As I said up top, I have a thing for angry, damaged men...and if they can cook - WELL...

Next is, JAMES BOND/DANIEL CRAIG
What is there to say...
Seriously, look at those eyes..

Okay, last but not least, THAT GUY FROM SEX AND THE CITY
...I love you Samantha Jones...

So? What do you think? Whose going to play the part of Ethan??

P.S. DON'T FORGET, PHOTO CONTEST MONDAY

AND THE PHOTO CONTEST WINNER IS......DRUMROLL PLEASE....

2007-10-09T20:03:00.000-07:00

"MOMMY.....I DON'T WANT TO BE AMERICAS NEXT TOP MODEL!!!!!!"

mslindagene, you are HILARIOUS! CONGRATS!

******* BECAUSE THERE WERE SO MANY GREAT, AND INSANELY FUNNY ENTRIES, I'VE DECIDED TO GIVE OUT PRIZES FOR 3 HONORABLE MENTIONS! ***********MY OCTOBER BOOK, MILLIONAIRE'S CALCULATED BABY BID COMES OUT TODAY AND IS ALREADY #5 ON THE WALDENS BESTSELLER LIST. TO CELEBRATE, I'D LOVE TO GIVE OUT 3 COPIES OF THIS FIRST BOOK IN MY NO RING REQUIRED TRILOGY TO THE FABULOUS ENTRIES BELOW!!

********THANKS FOR PARTICIPATING, AND COME BACK NEXT MONDAY FOR ANOTHER PHOTO CONTEST!!

"Help me! I look like I've just survived an explosion in Elton John's closet!

"Ohhhh Mommy! How could you! You know that pink makes me look bloated."

"It's my party and I'll cry if I want to."

WHAT A GREAT CONTEST. THANK YOU ALL FOR ENTERING, AND KEEP COMING BACK!!

WINNERS, PLEASE EMAIL ME YOU ADDRESSES!!
laura@laurawright.com

NAME THAT PICTURE AND WIN A 20.00 BORDERS GC!

2007-10-08T07:00:00.000-07:00

DEADLINE FOR ENTRIES IS TUESDAY 8 P.M. PST

My son.
Lucca.

PRADA MOM DOWN ON THE FARM

2007-10-04T21:42:00.000-07:00

I'm a country girl.

Well, I'm from Minnesota. And that's close enough.

I am one of five kids. "A litter," my mom used to say. She used to say this on Saturday morning with a psychotic glint in her pale blue eyes as she speedily got us dressed and ready to go out. Every week was a long week and by Saturday my mom was done. My father totally got this and wouldn't complain as he stuffed us all in the car and dragged us to one of his three favorite saturday morning haunts.
(As I'm sure you're asking yourself, "what could these haunts be?" I will list them below)

1. The car dealership.
aka, A young child's paradise where one can always count on a fabulous nutrient-free brunch...hotdogs, popcorn, donuts.
Oh My!
While we kids sat inside the largest Chrysler in the showroom, my dad would wander around and pretend to be interested in something topless and cherry red. Of course, the car salesmen all knew he would never part from the frugal little forest green Omni he'd sold them five years before.

2. The airport.
aka - Super cheap fun.
We all sat, scrunched up on top of the Omni and drew handfuls of peanut M&M's from the pounder bag my dad always had stashed in his glove compartment as we watched planes take off and land.
(fun as a kid, but at 14 I seriosuly wanted to throw myself down in front of a plane and end it!)

3. Apple Picking!
My favorite. My sister's favorite. My brother's favorite.
Whether it was apples, raspberries, beans or tomatoes, nothing was more fun than going to the farm. The fresh air and perfectly ripe whatever just changed our whole outlook on Saturdays...until we returned home anyway...but that's a story for another day.

Living in L.A. you'd think that finding a farm would be a next to impossible task, unless it's a farm of the FAT variety. But after living here a few years I actually found one. A real farm, and it rocks! I take the kids there all the time, and we pick the same kinds of things as my sisters and brothers and I picked - tomatoes, beans, raspberries... (my brood are great fruit and veggie eaters because of this farm.) It's a great way to get out of the actual city of Los Angeles and breathe some smogless air.

There's just one small issue.

Other Moms in L.A. have also heard about the Farm, and these chicks weren't raised in Minnesota so they don't understand the rules of working outdoors. Rules like, TALKING ON YOUR CELLPHONE IN THE MIDDLE OF A STRAWBERRY FIELD MAKES YOU LOOK LIKE A TOOL. Or this one, IF THERE'S MANURE WITHIN A ONE MILE RADIUS, DON'T WEAR YOUR HIGH HEEL JIMMY CHOOS. And their poor kids.. They walk around like little freaked out robots..."There is mud and animal smells here, Mommy."
Listen people, the Farm is a place to get dirty, talk only to your kids and leave wanting a nap. Get it or get out!

Of course, the Prada Moms will never abide by these rules, and will most likely keep wearing their Manolos instead of their shitkickers, but hey, I'm in L.A. - I'll take what I can get...

p.s. REMEMBER - MONDAY, PHOTO CONTEST - BORDERS GC

AND THE WINNER IS...

2007-10-03T21:14:00.000-07:00

PLAYGROUND MONITOR.

lol, I just couldn't resist, "Listen to my Face!" Priceless.

MARILYN, send me your address, and I'll get that GC right out to you - CONGRATS!

Crystal - I have a 16 monther with a squirt gun too..I laughed so hard reading yours!
J - Hiiii-larious!
Maureen - I wanted to punch that nurse..
Tonya - what a story!!
Cherie - Love the "here comes trouble"I can just see it..
Jen - I get it..I totally get it!

Thanks for the entries everybody, and come back on Monday for...

NAME THAT PHOTO, with another great prize!~!!

Laura

MOMMY CONTEST UPDATE!

2007-10-02T07:56:00.000-07:00

Hi All

Well, since this is such a new blog, and my newsletter isn't going out until today, letting everyone know about this contest, I'm going to change the end date of the contest to WEDNESDAY 8 P.M. PST.
Good luck!

Laura

Mommy Contest Monday

2007-10-01T09:28:00.000-07:00

If you know me at all, you know I have an obsession with MOMS. Rich ones, granola ones, nanny ones, snooty ones, clique-ee ones etc! There are so many different types of 'em here in L.A. and I find each type utterly fascinating. Sometimes I can't believe how crazy judgemental the "no TV/no refined sugar moms" can be, or how high school clique-ish the "five baby classes a day" moms can be, or how uninterested in their children the "Prada moms" are.

Yes, these sound like stereo types.

But I see it and live it here every day, folks...and...

I LOVE IT!

Soooo, I thought it would be fun to have all of you share your crazy mommy stories with me, and each other, on Mondays. And what fun would it be without a prize for best story, right?

Here are the "sorta" rules:

*Story can be your encounter, something you observed, or one you were told about and, "you just can't believe she'd do that!"

*Make sure you give your story a title, so I can announce it on Wednesday.

*You have until 10 p.m. PST on Tuesday to enter.

*Best story wins a 20.00 GC from Starbucks.

Good Luck!

I SHOULD BE WORKING, but...

2007-09-28T08:41:00.000-07:00

...I'm arguing with my 4 year old daughter about who gets to use the computer, me or her.

I will always win this. My work buys toys, cookies, trips to the farm, the zoo and the Disney store. Ha!

...I'm reading Perez Hilton.

I'm completely obsessed by this Charlie Sheen/Denise Richards situation. What's going on there? Does he have issues with young girls? Did she really ask for his sperm so she can have another child? Does that girlfriend of his really love him or does she turn a blind eye to the bad side of him because he's rich and famous? Is she a great mother who's caught up in an impossible media situation?
I want to think that he's as evil as they come and because she exposed him to the media to protect her kids, she's getting royally f-ed right now...

...I can't stop thinking about J.R. Ward's new book. (SPOILER-ish alert)

I'm 400 pages in, 100 pages to go and I have no idea how this book is going to end. I have a few issues, like why all men (the male doctor for example) speak like the brotherhood, and why JM has to have sexual issues, too. But I can get past this because she's such a kick-ass writer, and I'm so invested in these characters. I know there is some big frustration out there with what happens at the end of this story, and I so desperately want to read people's reviews and talk about it, but I have to finish it first. I don't want to ruin the "gasp" or the "shudder" or the "damn you for going there, J.R."
...guess i should forget all of this and get back to work...later!

coming next week...
Mommy Monday - check out the blog, post and win...

My Addictions

2007-09-26T07:54:00.000-07:00

COFFEE
I like the ice cream variety, but I was never a coffee drinker. Not until my second child came along anyway. Then there was this day, after this horrible night, where I felt like an alien had implanted a balloon filled with idiot gas inside my head. I couldn't think, make even the minor-est of decisions. I went to the "S" place. I'd been their before to buy a hot chocolate and a pastry, but this time I bought a half caf non fat latte. Ten minutes later, I was myself again. It was a miracle. From God - or Juan Valdez...doesn't matter. Later that day, I told myself it was just going to be a one time thing. Seriously, only my mother drinks coffee and angry office type people.
But that one time thing has morphed into an almost everyday Grande Non Fat Latte with 2 pink packets stirred in - addiction. I actually wake up with it's beautiful foamyness on my brain..... coffee, coffee, coffee.
Sad.
(I'm going to save this blog right now. Need to go out. Go somewhere... early in the morning, down to the corner to place that starts with "S")

MY WEIGHT
I had a baby 16 months ago. 4-6 weeks afterward I felt extraordinarily uncomfortable with my weight.

Side note: with my daughter, I felt none of this and ate 3 doughnuts a day for months after I gave birth - hey, I was nursing and needed to give my baby some good fat!

Okay, yeah, I was nursing this kid too, but for some reason I just couldn't stomach more than 1 doughnut per day. At the six week post baby mark, I joined WW. The place is great, and I ate what I wanted, but didn't go nuts. The weight came off and by Christmas time (6 months after Lucca arrived) I was down to a weight I hadn't been to since I got married. My sister even gave me the skinny jeans that she had cast aside for a size smaller!! (hate her)

I was so proud of myself!

And hey - I deserved a reward!

Now, 16 months later, I have re-joined WW to lose the 7 lbs I rewarded myself with...

MOTHERING SKILLS
This is a hard one for me to admit. Yes, even harder than the weight gain, doughnut thing.

I imagine myself as a very non judgemental person. I tell my kids that life would be awfully boring if we were all the same size, same color, same religion etc. But the part I leave out is,
Life Wouldn't be Boring At All If Everyone Mothered Just Like Me.
Okay, before you start sharpening your files and pick axes, I know, logically, that the majority of mothers out there are great. But I live in L.A. and my view is skewed...or is that screwed... With nannies taking care of kids 24/7 - seriously - I have become simultaneously jaded and superior in how I raise my little ones.
My addiction here is my desperate need to find other mothers with alike mothering skills and bond with them over food, drink and a mutual disgust of the less superior mothers in town...

commence pick ax filing now...

CLEAN KITCHEN
The rest of the house can look like 10 rabid dogs went through it looking for a fresh carcass, but the kitchen must be spotless for me to be happy...
'Nough said.

GOSSIP
This is my most favorite addiction.
One I will share proudly with you.
I used to buy rag mags (or what I lovingly refer to as Brain Porn) and a box of Oreos or something from Hostess, and I would stretch out on the couch and eat and read - this was when Daniel was in rehearsal, so I was alone...as if I could do this in front of my husband. The kids were sleeping and it was just me and dogs. Pure Bliss. Well, this got quite expensive, considering the first addiction on this list which I refuse to give up! So I switched to Internet gossip. Perez Hilton, to be specific. He's a total jerk, but honest and funny and free. But the thing is, I got so addicted to this site, that I was checking it many times a day - (so many I won't tell you because you'll think I'm pathetic and deranged)
Now, I have used PH as a reward for 5 pages written, bathroom cleaned, making it a whole day without going over my 24 WW points etc. God, I feel so much healthier!

p.s. and for those of you who couldn't pull up the picture i sent to Miss Blogger Dorothy of my "husband" riding our VERY normal pet sicock..this link works ...
http://www.weirdclipart.com/imagepages/oldmcweirdo/sicock.html