Hi, everyone.

I’m so excited that the paperback edition of SOME NERVE is out. Sure, it's my 13th novel and I'm probably supposed to act all nonchalant at this point in my career, but I still have to pinch myself that I have a career as a published author.

Why? Because I never dreamed of being a writer. I worked in book publishing for ten years promoting other writers. But then one day, I got an idea for a story of my own. It was about a suburban woman who becomes a maid to make ends meet and manages to find love and solve a murder while cleaning somebody's house! I love romantic comedies--books and movies--so I guess it was only fitting that I'd end up writing them.

I was living in L.A. and trying to come up with an idea for Book #13, when I had a phone conversation with my agent. She was in the process of pitching my last Avon novel, AN EX TO GRIND, to producers and I said, "Can we send it to Julia Roberts? She'd be perfect for the heroine and she already optioned my earlier book, SIS BOOM BAH." My agent said, "Nope. She's pregnant with twins, on bed rest at Cedars-Sinai hospital. Why don't you sneak in as a volunteer and slip her the manuscript?"

We had a good laugh at her joke and that was that. Until an hour later when I said out loud, "What a funny idea for my next novel!" (Yes, I talk to myself. Writers are lonely, lonely people.) So I came up with a story about Ann Roth, a celebrity reporter who gets fired from her job at an L.A. magazine because she can't score an interview with a surly, obnoxious (but Brad Pitt-gorgeous) movie star. Determined to reclaim her career and make this guy pay for all the trials he's put her through, she signs up as a hospital volunteer after learning he's a patient there.

But what did I know about being a hospital volunteer? To me, they were ladies in pink smocks who directed visitors to the cafeteria. I was clueless. I needed to do research. I decided to sign up as a volunteer and I've never regretted it for a second.

I live in Santa Barbara now and volunteer once a week at Cottage Hospital. I walk into patients' rooms, try to cheer them up, listen to their problems, and help them in any way I can. Like the heroine of SOME NERVE, my priorities changed as a result of being a volunteer (although unlike Ann, I didn't fall in love with any of the patients!).

Please visit my website, www.JaneHeller.com, to let me know your thoughts about the book. If you're on Facebook, check out what members of the Avon Reading Group are saying about it.

Happy reading!
Best,

Jane Heller