Top Ten Signs that a Piece of Fiction Was Written by Me

Zaza tagged me with the Top Ten Signs that a Piece of Fiction Was Written by Me. So here goes:

1. What's With The Ducks? - I didn't realize I did this until Booksquare pointed it out to me, but I seem to have a "thing" for ducks and they appeared in the first few books of mine she critiqued. Around the time I wrote Share The Darkness, came a post from her asking, "What's with the ducks?" The answer - I don't know. I don't (that I know of) have a fascination for ducks. I don't have any artwork or duck decorations in my home. The best I can figure out is that they are good symbols of both chaos and order, which you can read most easily in Share The Darkness. Now I put the ducks in on purpose, just to mess with Booksquare.

2. Heroines with careers I find interesting. I read in college that the average person has 3 careers in life. So far, I've had two - educator and writer. But with my writing, I've had dozens: computer programmer, anthropologist, private investigator. If a heroine has a career in my book - chances are it's a job auditioning for my career #3.

3. Fast-paced dialogue. I like a lot of back and forth and prefer characters talking over anything else.

4. Law-breaking fathers for the heroine (although I'm straying away from this more now - I think).

5. No moms. Usually the mothers in my books are long gone or completely off stage. I hope my own mom doesn't think this is weird, and I have no idea why they aren't around. I'm so close to my own mom, you'd think I'd give my heroine a great mom like my own to lean on. I'm chalking it down to not having any mother issues to work out through my writing.

6. Dedications. I try to make my dedications something interesting to read. In my Feb '08 book, Primal Instincts, the dedication is to an inanimate object I stole. My favorite dedication is in Hitting The Mark. I've only ever had one person comment on it though.

7. A little heartbreak.

8. I like a strong, alpha hero, but I always try to have the woman save him in some way. I get the most comments on this from my first book, Never Naughty Enough. Annabelle saves Wagner is a most unusual way.

9. Make 'em wait. Since I write Blazes, my books are pretty hot - BUT I make my hero and heroine suffer (especially the hero) a lot of sexual tension before they hit the sheets.

10. Eating. Whether it's a meal at home or going to restaurants eating plays a HUGE part in all of my books. I think it's because my critique meetings are done while out to eat!  Or maybe I have a weird food obsession.

Okay, that's the Top Ten from me. I'm not going to tag anyone, but I'd love to read yours if you do it. Give me the address in the comment section.