FRIDAY FIRSTS with Darcy Burke

The first five sentences of... HER WICKED WAYS
“Stand and deliver!” Montgomery Foxcroft demanded a second time as he and the other four members of his band stepped out from the trees lining the rutted and muddy road. They’d scouted the two coaches for the last quarter mile. Each had a coachman at the reins and a footman on the back. The footman on the rear coach crouched low as both vehicles rumbled to a halt.

Genre: Regency romance

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FUN FIRST FACTS ABOUT DARCY

1. What was the first romance you ever read? I'm not sure, especially since my mother recently told me that we read a lot of Harlequins. I have no recollection of reading Harlequins! I do remember reading Kathleen Woodiwiss' Ashes in the Wind and thinking it was the best book ever written.

2.What’s the first thing you do when you start writing a new story?Buy a composition notebook for research and plotting notes. It becomes my "bible" for that story. I think I'm going to run out of space in the notebook for my WIP. That's never happened before! But it's a contemporary paranormal, which requires a lot of world building and it's so important to keep all of that straight. I actually find it more challenging than writing historicals!

3. When standing in front of a buffet line, what’s the first food that catches your eye? Dessert, but I rarely leave room to eat it! I also think many desserts look better than they taste. And this may shock you, but chocolate is not my first choice. I'll usually go for lemon or a creme brulee or similar.

More about Darcy:  Darcy Burke wrote her first bookat age 11, a happily ever after about a swan addicted to magic and the female swan who loved him, with exceedingly poor illustrations. An RWA Golden Heart® Finalist, Darcy loves all things British (except tomatoes for breakfast, or any other time of day, actually) and happy ever afters.

A native Oregonian, Darcy lives on the edge of wine country with her devoted husband,their two great kids, and three cats. In her “spare” time Darcy is a serial volunteer enrolled in a 12-step program where one learns to say “no,” but she keeps having to start over. She’s also a fair-weather runner, and her happy places are Disneyland and Labor Day weekend at the Gorge.

You can find Darcy online here:
http://www.darcy-burke.com
http://www.facebook.com/darcyburkefans
Twitter - @darcyburke

Give Away! Sign up to receive Darcy's newsletter (go to her website-http://www.darcy-burke.com) before May 25, and be entered into a drawing to win an advanced electronic copy of Darcy's June release, His Wicked Heart!

FRIDAY FIRSTS with Diana Ballew

First Five Sentences of...THORNS OF EDEN

“Oh, Father. If we’d only known,” Eden Blair whispered. A stiff poke gouged the small of her back. She turned around and glared at her stepmother, Ann. “Ouch! What did you do that for?"

“Father? Oh, do move on, Eden. It’s been a whole year, for heaven's sake.”

Genre: Historical Romance
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press

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FUN FIRST FACTS ABOUT DIANA

1. What was the first romance you ever read?

Geez. We’re going way back. I was thirteen. I think I was feeling particularly rebellious that day because I checked out two books from the public library: The Exorcist (scared me silly!) and Coffee, Tea, or Me, a book about lusty “stewardesses,” as they were called back then. I kept both books stashed under my bed so nobody would find them. It didn’t take me long to discover Kathleen Woodiwiss, Rosemary Rogers, and one of my all-time favorite books, The Proud Breed by Celeste De Blasis. I loved that book so much I recently bought a used hardback copy on Amazon for my personal library.

2. Tell me about the first novel you ever wrote? What ever happened to it?

Thorns of Eden is the very first full-length manuscript I wrote. I actually started writing that book about twenty years ago (titled Heart’s Besieged back then) and stashed it away. In 2010 I plucked the manuscript from a dusty file in the back of my closet, read it, and realized it was a damn good start to a story. I finished the book, edited it, and sold it to The Wild Rose Press in 2011.

3.What’s the first thing you do after you wake up in the morning (other than using the restroom LOL)?

First thing: I have to have my coffee in the morning. No way around it—I’m worthless without that early jolt of java to my brain. While drinking my coffee, I check e-mails, Facebook, Twitter and then play some FarmVille and CastleVille. Yep, I love playing some early morning games to get my mind going. I play the same games in the evening, too. I find it very relaxing. Last year I gave up the online games for three months, thinking they had to be a waste of my time. I was surprised when I realized they actually helped me budget my time more wisely. I was more productive with my writing when I had online games in my life than without them. Go figure! I also love the social aspect of the Zynga games. Most of the people I play with are other writers.

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More About Diana: Her writing combines her active imagination with her love of history and research to create vibrant characters in sizzling tales blending vintage vixens with haunting heroes. Her debut novel, Thorns of Eden, is a steamy and suspenseful tale set in the American Civil War during the Peninsula Campaign of 1862.

Diana is an actively engaged member of Romance Writers of America and a member in the local chapters in Seattle, Washington, and Tucson, Arizona. Additionally, she is a founding member and vice president of Evergreen RWA, located in Everett, Washington. You can find out even more about Diana on her website.