Ten Things About Hannah

I hate writing bios. First, there's never enough room to write everything that bears mentioning - I am an incredibly complicated human being (as we all are) and my life and accomplishments cannot be summed up in three paragraphs. So my bios tend to be really long winded, and then of course I never believe that everyone actually sits down and reads the whole thing.

But I figure if you're here reading this, and you don't already know me, you might be a little curious about who I am. To that end, I'm doing a Ten Things About Me list. Oh, there's a traditional bio up on my website, which you're more than welcome to go check out - but I figure I can be a little less traditional on a blog. And just to make things fun, I'll tell you that there's nothing on this list that also appears on the bio.

1. I think the alphabet is arranged in the wrong order - "S" should come later, so should "Q"; the positioning of "H" is completely wrong and don't even get me started on "U"
   
2. I take horseback riding lessons (dressage)
3. I’m an excellent baker, but a mediocre cook
4. I spent my junior year of high school in Brazil as an exchange student, and can speak, read, and write Portuguese
5. In junior high I did my hair just like Jon BonJovi - mostly because I was too lazy to resurrect a dying perm
   
6. I love to laminate things - anything that can be sealed between two pieces of heated plastic is not safe around me
   
7. I can never keep a manicure looking good for more than 48 hours
8. I work out five days a week, and have learned to trick myself into thinking I like it
9. I like eating raw rhubarb
10. The only photograph in my house of me - that shows my face and was taken after the age of five - is of me with the Stanley Cup
    

Hannah's the Talker; I'm the Sulker

The problem with weekends at the spa is that they wear off so darn quickly. While Hannah and I had a lovely experience in Seattle this past weekend, it's now Tuesday and it's back to the grindstone with me. I returned to find two envelopes staring at me: one containing the copyedited manuscript of Big, Bad Wolf (an expanded version of Missy and Graham's story, originally published as an e-book called Fur Factor) and the page proofs for "Devil's Bargain" (my contribution to the Huntress anthology, due out in July). Both need to be reviewed, revised and returned to my editors in New York. Preferably no later than three days ago. Plus, there's the new book (the seventh new Others novel) that needs to get underway, and the super-secret side project I keep trying to find time to work on in between everything else. So what am I doing this evening? Blogging, of course!

Actually, I'm doing what I often do in the evenings, which is balance my HP notebook on my lap in between trips between the sofa and the back door to let my ridiculous puppy in and out of the house. And chatting with Hannah (while she indulges her intractable addiction to The Golden Girls reruns). And trying to defend my place on the sofa from Hannah's encroaching hound. He's a total cushion thief. And me? I'm a softie. (Though if you go by that last post Hannah put it, I think the word "lush" would be the first description of me that comes to mind! No matter what she says, I swear I don't have a drinking problem. Unless you count occasionally sputtering latte onto my clothes because I've just been tackled by my insane puppy while trying to caffeinate myself at the local dog park).

I suppose I could try to tell you more about myself here, but really, in the interests of mystery, I think I'll let you pick things up as the blog goes along. Since I'm a writer, I should show, not tell, right? Plus, I'm really pretty lazy and don't find myself all that interesting (after all, I've known me for years) so listing a bunch of details about what I like and dislike and where I live and what I do for fun seems rather tedious. I'd like to think of this forum as a place where we can all get to know each other along the way.

So stay tuned. The chances are that when the details about Hannah and myself do come out, we'll find a way to make them interesting. And if all else fails, we're never above lying.

Where It Began

As I write this inaugural post, our first ever here at Sweet Savage Thighs!, I’m sitting in a gorgeous hotel room in Seattle after a day of truly decadent pampering at the spa. I have a bottle of Prosecco, some pretty awesome room service (I love this spinach salad!), and my best friend to share it with.

“That’s lovely, Hannah,” I hear you all saying, “but what the heck is Sweet Savage Thighs!, and who the heck are you?”

First, introductions. I’m Hannah Murray, and if you glance to the right of these words you’ll see an entertaining little blurb about me. Done reading that? Okay, now for a little more detail. I’m in my thirties, never you mind exactly where, and I write contemporary romantic/erotic comedies. I say romantic/erotic because I consider all of my books to be romance novels at their core, so I don’t think the word “erotica” applies. But there’s always a splash of the erotic in my tales, so it bears mentioning (I’ll get more into all of that in a later post, I promise). I’m a sucker for happy endings and sexy cars, and I have a completely inexplicable addiction to reruns of The Golden Girls. Which doesn’t make me weird.

And my best friend, who is currently pouring herself a third glass of wine, is Christine Warren. She is, as I’m sure many of you know, the author of the Others Series, a paranormal world inhabited by shapeshifters and vampires and all sorts of not quite human creatures. You can take a peek over to the left for a brief snippet about her, and while I could expound on those words as only a best friend can, I’ll leave it to her to tell you more about who she is, what she writes, and how she got here when she’s not half in the bag. But I will tell you that she is also in her thirties, though she’s a few steps behind me (and never lets me forget it). In fact, her birthday is the reason we are currently big puddles of relaxed girl goo – this spa trip was her birthday wish.

Now, on to the important thing: what are we doing here? Well, it occurred to us a while back that we’re both highly verbose, fairly charming women who actually have a lot to say on a lot of different subjects. And from this yen to express ourselves to the world at large emerged Sweet Savage Thighs! (a nod to the bodice rippers of years past, we’ll explain more later). Romance novels in general and our own work in particular will, of course, be the main topic we choose to discuss in this space, and you can expect plenty of excerpts and other insider information. But we can and will talk about a lot of other stuff too – topics like current events, fashion, wine, food (we talk about food a lot), shoes (we talk about shoes even more than we talk about food!), pets, parents, family, etc., will I’m sure all make appearances here.

And now, since I would like to enjoy the rest of my spa-bliss and Christine is getting ahead of me (three glasses of wine to my one), I’ll bid you farewell for now. We’ll be back with more soon, but if you’re curious in the meantime you can check out our respective websites for more information (www.hannahmurray.net and www.christinewarren.net).

On behalf of Christine and myself, thanks for coming by to check us out, and we sincerely hope you stick around!