…And I am going to answer them. You may, or may not know, but I asked my wonderful and enthusiastic Facebook friends if they had a question or questions for me, what would they be? Bless their hearts, they flooded me with a tide of questions for me to answer on my blog.

Quite frankly, I was sitting down to blog and getting a bit stumped. It could be that I am nearing my deadline, so I am just a bit focused, ahem, elsewhere. Happily, these questions have certainly refreshed the blog well, and I will probably use them for my Monday and Saturday blogs for a while. Or until you all are a bit stumped and beg me to write about something different.

I’ll start right off with the questions from Sheri Fridley:

Where do you get ideas for your characters’s names?

I get names from all over. I actually collect them–I have a small notebook and I write names down as I hear them, see them, read about them in the paper or a magazine. I’ll ask the clerk in the grocery store how they pronounce their name and how they got it. (Embarrasses my kids to no end!) Then I also have a stack of naming books, including my fav, A World of Baby Names by Teresa Norman. I also have several books on British place names and surnames (English Surnames) and their origins, which makes it easier to find the best names for the nobility, since many of their surnames and titles are based on specific places.

Finally, I’ve also donated naming rights for characters for charity auctions. This has helped raised a lot of money for autism research and family support, and gives me the challenge of putting a character into a story with a name that may be a little unusual. Good example? Jamilla Kounellas in Love Letters from a Duke. She became Princess Jamilla, and the inspiration for the Bachelor Chronicles‘s Nannies. I may never have come up with that idea without Jamilla’s generous donate to FEAT, and a great name.

How many books did you write before one was published?

I wrote five books over a five year period. Writing is definitely a craft that takes time, talent and most of all, practice.

What were those first books? Two historicals, A Crusader’s Heart, and The Spanish Blade, and two contemporary comedies, Debutante on Work Release, and When A Star Falls. After being kindly rejected all over the place, I settled in and wrote Brazen Angel which won the Dell Diamond Debut and went on to be published and eventually won the RITA for Best First Book. I can honestly say that if I hadn’t written the four books prior to Brazen Angel, I would not have sold that book.

(BTW, my first three Brazen books are currently out of print, but I will be bringing them out as e-books later this year.)

Frappe or latte?

12 ounce double shot nonfat latte with one raw sugar.

Thank you, Sheri, for these awesome questions. Come Monday, I will answer more questions from this Facebook post.