Author RaeAnne Thayne

SNOW ON THE BEACH

I've been in Costa Rica the last few days. Sandy beaches, fringy palm trees swaying in the ocean breeze, waves gently lapping at the shore. Ahhh, Paradise.

Not really, alas. Physically, I'm still in my messy house in Utah with two out of three kids sniffly and cranky, laundry to do, and a miserable spring blizzard lashing snow against the window. But in my head, I'm on that beach sipping virgin piña coladas with a couple of my new best friends.

I'm plotting my next book, a Silhouette Intimate Moments. And, you guessed it, I'm tentatively setting it in a tropical location.

This is my favorite part of the whole writing process. It always seems like a miracle to me -- three days ago I was finishing my last project and panicking because I had nothing else in mind for a proposal that's already overdue. And then overnight, the characters appeared in my brain, poked me awake and said hello. They're still a little hazy, like ghosts that don't quite have full substance and form yet, but I can work with hazy! I love that I have a world of possibilities in front of me where I can take these characters. I imagine it's the same thing a sculptor thinks as she looks at a hunk of clay or an artist facing a blank canvas.

Anything is possible right now in the genesis of this story's little universe.

I'm waiting for the author copies of my 19th book, LIGHT THE STARS, for Silhouette Special Edition, which will be showing up in stores next month. It always amazes me when I leaf through the pages and realize this is something I created, completely out of my own mind. I never quite know how it happened, how something that started as just a tiny kernal of an idea became this tangible thing I can hold in my hands, these characters who seem absolutely real to me now. It's a heady, powerful thing!

So I'm now heading back to paradise. I'll let you know if I decide to come home!

WHAT I'M READING: Lord Perfect, by Loretta Chase. Loving it so far!