Ellen Hartman

How'd you meet your honey? I'm in the mood for some romantic stories. (Or funny ones. Or weird ones. Or sad ones with a happy ending. Or just, you know, whatever you have. Your story. ) Here's mine: New Year's Eve, early 1990s... I'd be more specific but I suck at dates. I honestly can't remember what year I met my husband. I'm sooo not a satisfactory spouse.... My best friend was dating a guy who was friends with a guy on whom I'd had a massive crush in high school. (My hometown is like that.) We'll call my crush FBIL. (This acronym makes sense. I promise.) So my friend told me she'd set me up with FBIL (pronounced Fibill) as my date to this fancy party we were going to. I got dollied up. I had a new dress I'd bought for my company holiday party. A new hair cut I'd gotten for the same occasion. I was also newly free of my most recent odious boyfriend and ready to celebrate with a no strings New Year's Eve good time. I went to the p...

My friend, Diana Holquist, posted a reading challenge on her blog . I decided to take her up on it. The idea is that you post 12 books you're planning to read in 2008. She posted all romance, I'm not doing that because my romance choices tend to be based on my mood--I can't plan ahead! I'm also joining the 100,000 Book Challenge at eHarlequin. If the participants read 100,000 books in 2008, Harlequin will donate 100,000 books to a charity. Sounds pretty nice! The "rules" say you should try to read 100 books, you have to keep a blog about them, and 50% should be published by Harlequin. I was a perennial participant in the summer read-a-thons at my neighborhood library when I was a kid so I hope I'll be able to keep up with this challenge. Here are the 12 books I've preselected. 1. Choke by Chuck Palahniuk -- I LOVE his books. 2. The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman -- My mom gave it to me and she'll keep asking until I read it. Also, it...

When I started writing romance, I memorized the "rules." 1. Do write a happy ending. 2. Don't confuse a misunderstanding with dramatic tension. 3. Do make your characters honorable even when they're doing bad things. 4. Don't, under any circumstances , write about a rock star. Oops. [/whiny voice on] I couldn't help myself. [/whiny voice off] This guy showed up in my brain one day and he was a rock star. He just was . And I had to write about him, despite the romance rule that says rock stars don't sell. Because he was hot and funny and really wounded by life. Oh, dear. So I wrote His Secret Past and I like it and Harlequin said they'll publish it and I'm glad. Because I don't get it, what's not to love about a man with a guitar? Close your eyes for a minute and imagine your favorite rock guy. (If any of you are seeing a member of KISS, please close the blog and back away slowly until you can think of a more appropriate image.) Aren't...

On the eHarlequin boards earlier this week we were talking about satisfying romances. In my opinion, (This is my blog, do I even need to say “in my opinion?” It’s pretty much a given, right?) it's harder for me to be satisfied by a romance than by literary fiction. I read a lot. All the time. I'm one of those reading-and-walking people who are always bumping into stop signs. Luckily I work at a college and the sidewalks are kept up so I haven't broken an ankle. Yet. I read a lot of literary fiction, some fantasy, and, of course, romance. (Thrillers give me nightmares and mysteries make me feel stupid.) I'm much more willing to keep reading literary fiction even if the book isn't working for me on some level. For example, I’ve been satisfied by great writing without much plot. (See Ford, Richard. The Sportswriter .) I’ve been satisfied by great characters even when they aren’t people I’d ever want to meet. (See Bukowski, Charles. Factotum .) I’ve been utterly satisfi...

Pandora is an online radio service. You tell it some songs or artists you like and then it creates a radio station for you based on your taste. It matches songs based on their musical qualities, as opposed to Amazon where the matches are based on what you buy. Dear Amazon.com, I bought that poker book for my brother-in-law. I do not like poker books. It's been two years now, can't we just forget the whole poker purchase and move on? Ahem. Sorry. I started a Pandora station and I was so excited. Until it kept playing Waylon Jennings. Yeah. That's right. I don't have anything against Waylon Jennings, per se. I was just surprised. And dismayed. I called my friend and she pointed out that I was feeling offended by my own taste. Hmph. I should say, I called my former friend... Luckily you can persuade Pandora to stop playing Waylon Jennings an artist by giving the thumbs down. My station is now better educated and plays just the kinds of music I love. My husband is appall...

Well, I'd pretend I put names in a hat to pick a contest winner, but that would have to be an awfully small hat... Patricia, Ellen, Rita, Sam, Carrie-- if you'd like a signed copy of "Wanted Man," send me your contact info. My email is ellen (at) ellenhartman (dot) com. Thanks for stopping by. I'm taking my kiddos for haircuts and then straight to the bookstore to spend my coupon on some nice big books! Ellen

A friend went to see Salman Rushdie speak at Cornell last week. She mentioned that he advised the writers in the audience to write shorter books. According to Mr. Rushdie, you get paid the same amount of money for shorter books and can write more of them. To this I say, "Whah!" I love long books. Long, good books. Long, deliciously written good books with characters I can really care about. I'm looking at you, Miss Scarlet O'Hara. I don't need to go into the reasons for this. A quick, top of the list survey would include "lazy" and "cheap." Those aren't the only reasons, though, I swear. I like to settle in and enjoy a time and place and people. My astrological sign might be a factor in this--we Aquarians prefer a few special people rather than hordes of acquaintances. Huh. Anyway!! Recommend a long book! Who knows a good one? I'm rereading a favorite right now but I have a coupon for Borders burning a hole in my pocket. I'll send a...