I was warned in advance that the Harlequin headquarters in Toronto is housed in a square, nondescript, plain-paper-wrapper kind of building. I thought the person telling me this was joking. I mean, come on. Harlequin? Home of red hot sexy Blaze stories? Wait. This is reverse psychology, right? Must be, because, yes, the building doesn’t scream romance. But like that sexy librarian who whips off her horn-rim glasses and slowly unbuttons her starched white shirt when the man of her dreams appears, inside this plain tan wrapper beats the heart and soul of romance–people who love what they do and are proud of the books they produce.

Here’s Paul standing on the steps of the building. He’s carrying my gift to our hardworking editors–Buchanan Hollow Nut pistachios. I knew they wouldn’t work for peanuts. (Wince. Sorry. Bad joke.)

My editor, Wanda Ottewell, met us at the reception desk on the 9th floor. On the wall were rather understated tributes to Debbie Macomber (Way to go, Debbie, on the New York Time’s #1 Bestseller kudos!) and a selection of manga titles. Huh? I didn’t ask but assume it has something to do with Harlequin’s success in Asia.

We then visited the editorial offices. Wanda’s was just what you might imagine–only neater. Lots of published books on the shelves. Lots of stacked manuscripts in various stages of the editorial process. She told me she’d already read the one I just turned in–PICTURE PERFECT MOM. Gulp. She said it made her cry. I’m sure she meant in a good way.

We popped in to say hi to the ever-adorable Victoria Curran.

Then, Wanda dropped us off with Darrell Cowan. I’m not sure what his exact title is…head of production, director of all things book, God… Darrell is amazing. He can also talk “guy”, which meant he had Paul in the palm of his hand when he started describing the number of train cars loaded with paper that arrived at the production plant each week. Remember: I do words, not numbers, so I’m not even going to try to summarize. All I can say is: we’re talking a lot of books. He’s also in charge of making the art, editorial, PR and ISBN numbers all come together so each author’s blood, sweat and tears comes out as close to perfect as possible. I love this man. In this photo he’s showing me a 36 (I think. Again with the numbers!) This is how our covers are printed.

My last photo in this blog is my fave. This is going to sound so suck-up, but honestly, how often do you get a chance to sit down in the CEO of your company’s office and chat? Donna Hayes is a busy woman. She has better things to do with her time than hang out with one author, but she’s also very gracious, extremely knowledgeable and easy to talk to. AND she gave me a inside tip that I’m generously passing along to you: read

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. I read it on the plane ride home. It truly is one of those books that you can lose yourself in. The members of the Wine, Women and Words book club are doing this book in January. We all thank you, Donna.

More to follow…
Deb