Christina Dodd lights a CANDLE IN THE WINDOWA lot of you know (if you’ve read my bio or heard me speak) that before I was published I spent ten years writing and not-writing and making excuses and writing badly and very slowly and not-writing some more and whining and writing for six years on a really awful, long, dreadful historical set in Guatemala, then on a short contemporary, then on another historical set in Medieval England, then on another contemporary … then all of a sudden, the historical set in Medieval England sold and I was a published author. And you’re thinking, Christina, how could it be all-of-a-sudden when you’d been working toward that goal (sporadically, badly, but still working) for ten years? It’s easy. One minute I’m writing on my fourth book because by now I’m convinced I’ve died and gone to unpubbed hell, and the next the phone rings (on Friday, February 2, 1990 at 3:30pm) and I’ve sold a book. That book was CANDLE IN THE WINDOW. The first print run (the number of books printed to be sent out to the market) was 25,000 — a really, really low number. The advance was $5,000 — also a really, really low number, especially if we figure a 40-hour week x 52 weeks a year x 10 years =20,800 hours. We then divide that by $5,000 and realize that my salary for that ten years, I made a whopping 24 cents an hour. Do I have a point (other than to make you giggle)? Why, yes. Yes, I do. This month, after almost sixteen years of being in print, a Golden Heart award, a RITA award, a Romantic Times award, and its third, brand-new cover, CANDLE IN THE WINDOW has been re-released with a print run of 60,000. CANDLE IN THE WINDOW been reprinted so often, I have no idea how many copies are in print, but I estimate close to 300,000. I’ve earned out my advance. I know it’s corny, but it’s the New Year, so I get to be sincere — if you want to do something badly enough — to write, to lose weight, to get a degree — then do it. If it’s too hard, quit. If you fail, take off some time to mourn or, better yet, whine. Then come back and do it again. The Japanese say it very well — “Fall down seven times; stand up eight times.” Posted: 07/07/2008
Christina Dodd speaks IN PRAISE OF TORTURING MENI don’t mean that I like to torture men, or that I enjoy it when men are tortured. Not really. Not much. Well, kinda. Because, let’s face it, a little torture makes a man angry. Vindictive. Determined. Strong. Intelligent. A survivor. In other words, it makes him wounded, and darlings, there is nothing any woman loves as much as a wounded man. As Debbie Macomber said to me one time about the Phantom of the Opera — “He should have come to me. I would have cured him.” Yeah, baby. Remember THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO? No, not that unromantic novel by that guy (with the emphasis on guy) Victor Hugo. I’m talking about the movie with James Caviezel. The main character is an honorable man who gets involved in a scheme … oh, who cares? All I know is he gets thrown into a dungeon for twelve years, is beaten annually, is starved, descends into the depths of despair. He finally manages to escape, find a cache of gold, remake himself as the Count of Monte Cristo and return to avenge himself on his best friend who unjustly sent him to prison, and his former lover, who married said treacherous friend. But little does he know that the reason his former lover married the man who betrayed him is because … well, you really ought to get the movie, but if you’ve read one single Harlequin Presents, you’ll see the twist coming a mile away. Suffice it to say, his former lover has believed he was dead and she has suffered all these years — suffered, suffered, suffered — and with her eternal love, she heals his wounded soul. Because that’s what women want. We all want to take a guy who’s been tortured and heal his wounded soul. How about JR Ward’s LOVER AWAKENED, about vampire warrior Zsadist, kept as a sex slave for a hundred years? Remember Jamie from OUTLANDER, a man in love with a female time-traveler, a man tortured, but never broken? And Laura Kinsale’s FLOWERS FROM THE STORM, set in Regency England, with the brilliant, rake hero who suffers a stroke which leaves him unable to speak, and is committed to an insane asylum where he’s beaten by brutal guards and rescued by a Quaker woman … man, was that great stuff. I suffered along with Christian. I walked in Maddy’s shoes as she fought good guys and bad guys for his soul. I adored that book so much that when Rhapsody Book Club re-released it in hardcover as a classic romance, they asked me to write the foreword. Why am I talking about tortured heroes during the week THE PRINCE KIDNAPS A BRIDE comes out? Well, you remember Prince Rainger in SOME ENCHANTED EVENING? Remember him in THE BAREFOOT PRINCESS? Remember the guy Crown Princes Sorcha was betrothed to in the cradle? The guy who, it was rumored, was dead? Guess what? He isn’t dead, but he might as well be, for he spent eight years in the deepest darkest dungeon and emerged furious. Wounded. Strong. Wily. Willing to do anything — steal, cheat, kill, to get his revenge on the tyrant who murdered his father, tortured him, destroyed his friends, and stole his kingdom. Prince Rainger would even disguise himself, lie about his identity and seduce Sorcha in pursuit of his goal. Sorcha is not amused. THE PRINCE KIDNAPS A BRIDE on the shelves now. Who are your fav tortured heroes? And why? Why why why do we love these tortured guys? Posted: 07/14/2008
Christina Dodd HOLDS HERSELF UP AS A BAD EXAMPLETHE PRINCE KIDNAPS A BRIDE is my thirty-first book, and my first book published in December. I’ve been lucky. A December book is an author’s least favorite fate. The bookstores are swamped selling books for Christmas, so the paperback romances are frequently late getting on the shelves. The readers are so busy they don’t have time to read. Somewhere in the country there’s a blizzard, and people, selfish beings that they are, are more concerned with having electricity and staying warm than in braving the icy roads to get a book, no matter how much they want it. On the other hand, THE PRINCE KIDNAPS A BRIDE has a lot of pluses going for it. For one thing, no one ever asks what’s it’s about because … get it? THE PRINCE KIDNAPS A BRIDE. It’s the third book in the Lost Princess series. The cover’s sexy and romantic. And there’s the dedication … To Bernadette and Roberto — It was truly awful. Oh, and did I mention it was set in Guatemala? But I had a great time writing ETERNAL SPRING, and THE PRINCE KIDNAPS A BRIDE is my twenty-fifth historical. I wanted to acknowledge the two characters and our long relationship. So not only do I mention them in the dedication, but if while you read THE PRINCE KIDNAPS A BRIDE, you’ll catch a the brief glimpse into the opening scene of that first book where Roberto catches Bernadette bathing under a waterfall (I said it was awful!). And the scene in the House of Ill-Repute contains characters I know very well — the madam and her working girls I invented in ETERNAL SPRING. When I talk to unpublished writers, especially the writers who have been writing for a long time and are getting discouraged, I remind them I wrote for ten years without any publisher interest. I talk about six years spent with Bernadette and Roberto in Guatemala, doing everything wrong while learning my job, and pretty soon they realize if I can do it, they can, too. That’s me — the bad example that gives every writer (or artist or musician or chef or dancer) hope. I once heard a story about a woman, born in the twenties, who wanted to become an artist. Her parents, of course, wouldn’t allow such a thing, so she said, “When I grow up, I’ll paint pictures.” But when she grew up, she got married and had children and she didn’t have time to paint. So she said, “When the kids are grown, I’ll paint pictures.” But her husband died, and she had to go to work to support herself, and she said, “When I retire, I’ll paint pictures.” But when she retired, she had arthritis and couldn’t hold a brush. So she said, “When I go to heaven, I’ll paint pictures.” The holidays are a time of hope, and the New Year is the time to reflect on your deepest dreams and desires. What are your hopes and aspirations? What are your goals for 2007 and forever? You can tell me — I’m your bad example … and you don’t want to wait for heaven before you paint your pictures. Posted: 07/29/2008 Back to Previous Page | Back to Blog Home |
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