Terrific Releases Tuesday

I’ve decided to use Tuesdays to discuss new releases. They can be just released or coming soon, but I will talk about one new release each week.

Since the author is not only a friend, but an extremely talented writer who’s won the RT Reviewers Choice award for regency romance two years running, I’ve chosen A Night to Surrender, by Tessa Dare as the first book on my Terrific Releases Tuesday. This is the first book of her newest trilogy, and it is available today.

Blurb-

Welcome to Spindle Cove, where ladies with delicate constitutions come for the sea air, and men in their prime are…nowhere to be found.

Or are they?

Spindle Cove is the destination of choice for certain types of well-bred young ladies: the painfully shy, young wives disenchanted with matrimony, and young girls too enchanted with the wrong men. It is a haven for those who live there.

Victor Bramwell, the new Earl of Rycliff, knows he doesn’t belong here. So far as he can tell, there’s nothing in this place but spinsters…and sheep. But he has no choice, he has orders to gather a militia. It’s a simple mission, made complicated by the spirited, exquisite Susanna Finch—a woman who is determined to save her personal utopia from the invasion of Bram’s makeshift army.

Susanna has no use for aggravating men; Bram has sworn off interfering women. The scene is set for an epic battle…but who can be named the winner when both have so much to lose?

Excerpt-

Sussex, England
Summer 1813

Bram stared into a pair of wide, dark eyes. Eyes that reflected a surprising glimmer of intelligence. This might be the rare female a man could reason with.

“Now, then,” he said. “We can do this the easy way, or we can make things difficult.”

With a soft snort, she turned her head. It was as if he’d ceased to exist.

Bram shifted his weight to his good leg, feeling the stab to his pride. He was a lieutenant colonel in the British Army, and at over six feet tall, he was said to cut an imposing figure. Typically, a pointed glance from his quarter would quell the slightest hint of disobedience. He was not accustomed to being ignored.

“Listen sharp, now.” He gave her ear a rough tweak and sank his voice to a low threat. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll do as I say.”

Though she spoke not a word, her reply was clear: You can kiss my great woolly arse.

Confounded sheep.

“Ah, the English countryside. So charming. So . . . fragrant.” Colin approached, stripped of his London-best topcoat, wading hip-deep through the river of wool. Blotting the sheen of perspiration from his brow with a handkerchief, he asked, “I don’t suppose this means we can simply turn back?”

Ahead of them, a boy pushing a handcart had overturned his cargo, strewing corn all over the road. It was an open buffet, and every ram and ewe in Sussex appeared to have answered the invitation. A vast throng of sheep bustled and bleated around the unfortunate youth, gorging themselves on the spilled grain—and completely obstructing Bram’s wagons.

“Can we walk the teams in reverse?” Colin asked. “Perhaps we can go around, find another road.”

Bram gestured at the surrounding landscape. “There is no other road.”

They stood in the middle of the rutted dirt lane, which occupied a kind of narrow, winding valley. A steep bank of gorse rose up on one side, and on the other, some dozen yards of heath separated the road from dramatic bluffs. And below those—far below those—lay the sparkling turquoise sea. If the air was seasonably dry and clear, and Bram squinted hard at that thin indigo line of the horizon, he might even glimpse the northern coast of France.

So close. He’d get there. Not today, but soon. He had a task to accomplish here, and the sooner he completed it, the sooner he could rejoin his regiment. He wasn’t stopping for anything.

Except sheep. Blast it. It would seem they were stopping for sheep.

A rough voice said, “I’ll take care of them.”

Thorne joined their group. Bram flicked his gaze to the side and spied his hulking mountain of a corporal shouldering a flintlock rifle.

“We can’t simply shoot them, Thorne.”

Obedient as ever, Thorne lowered his gun. “Then I’ve a cutlass. Just sharpened the blade last night.”

“We can’t butcher them, either.”

Thorne shrugged. “I’m hungry.”

Yes, that was Thorne—straightforward, practical. Ruthless.

“We’re all hungry.” Bram’s stomach rumbled in support of the statement. “But clearing the way is our aim at the moment, and a dead sheep’s harder to move than a live one. We’ll just have to nudge them along.”

Thorne lowered the hammer of his rifle, disarming it, then flipped the weapon with an agile motion and rammed the butt end against a woolly flank. “Move on, you bleeding beast.”

The animal lumbered uphill a few steps, prodding its neighbors to scuttle along in turn. Downhill, the drivers urged the teams forward before resetting their brakes, unwilling to surrender even those hard-fought inches of progress.

The two wagons held a bounty of supplies to refit Bram’s regiment: muskets, shot, shells, wool and pipeclay for uniforms. He’d spared no expense, and he would see them up this hill. Even if it took all day, and red-hot pain screamed from his thigh to his shinbone with every pace. His superiors thought he wasn’t healed enough to resume field command? He would prove them wrong. One step at a time.

“This is absurd,” Colin grumbled. “At this rate, we’ll arrive next Tuesday.”

“Stop talking. Start moving.” Bram nudged a sheep with his boot, wincing as he did. With his leg already killing him, the last thing he needed was a pain in the arse, but that’s exactly what he’d inherited, along with all his father’s accounts and possessions: responsibility for his wastrel cousin, Colin Sandhurst, Lord Payne.

He swatted at another sheep’s flank, earning himself an indignant bleat and a few inches more.

“I have an idea,” Colin said.

Bram grunted, unsurprised. As men, he and Colin were little more than strangers. But during the few years they’d overlapped at Eton, his younger cousin had been just full of ideas. Ideas that had landed him shin-deep in excrement. Literally, on at least one occasion.

Colin looked from Bram to Thorne and back again, eyes keen. “I ask you, gentlemen. Are we, or are we not, in possession of a great quantity of black powder?”

~*~

“Tranquillity is the soul of our community.”

Not a quarter mile’s distance away, Susanna Finch sat in the lace-curtained parlor of the Queen’s Ruby, a rooming house for gently bred young ladies. With her were the rooming house’s newest prospective residents, a Mrs. Highwood and her three unmarried daughters.

“Here in Spindle Cove, young ladies enjoy a wholesome, improving atmosphere.” Susanna indicated a knot of ladies clustered by the hearth, industriously engaged in needlework. “See? The picture of good health and genteel refinement.”

In unison, the young ladies looked up from their work and smiled placid, demure smiles.

Excellent. She gave them an approving nod.

Ordinarily, the ladies of Spindle Cove would never waste such a beautiful afternoon stitching indoors. They would be rambling the countryside, or sea-bathing in the cove, or climbing the bluffs. But on days like these, when new visitors came to the village, everyone understood some pretense at propriety was necessary. Susanna was not above a little harmless deceit when it came to saving a young woman’s life.

“Will you take more tea?” she asked, accepting a fresh pot from Mrs. Nichols, the inn’s aging proprietress. If Mrs. Highwood examined the young ladies too closely, she might notice that mild Gaelic obscenities occupied the center of Kate Taylor’s sampler. Or that Violet Winterbottom’s needle didn’t even have thread.

Mrs. Highwood sniffed. Although the day was mild, she fanned herself with vigor. “Well, Miss Finch, perhaps this place can do my Diana some good.” She looked to her eldest daughter. “We’ve seen all the best doctors, tried ever so many treatments. I even took her to Bath for the cure.”

Susanna gave a sympathetic nod. From what she could gather, Diana Highwood had suffered bouts of mild asthma from a young age. With flaxen hair and a shy, rosy curve of a smile, the eldest Miss Highwood was a true beauty. Her fragile health had delayed what most certainly would be a stunning ton debut. However, Susanna strongly suspected the many doctors and treatments were what kept the young lady feeling ill.

She offered Diana a friendly smile. “I’m certain a stay in Spindle Cove will be of great benefit to Miss Highwood’s health. Of great benefit to you all, for that matter.”

In recent years, Spindle Cove had become the seaside destination of choice for a certain type of well-bred young lady: the sort no one knew what to do with. They included the sickly, the scandalous, and the painfully shy; young wives disenchanted with matrimony and young girls too enchanted with the wrong men . . . All of them delivered here by the guardians to whom they presented problems, in hopes that the sea air would cure them of their ills.

As the only daughter of the only local gentleman, Susanna was the village hostess by default. These awkward young ladies no one knew what to do with . . . she knew what to do with them. Or rather, she knew what not to do with them. No “cures” were necessary. They didn’t need doctors pressing lancets to their veins, or finishing school matrons harping on their diction. They just needed a place to be themselves.

Spindle Cove was that place.

Mrs. Highwood worked her fan. “I’m a widow with no sons, Miss Finch. One of my daughters must marry well, and soon. I’ve had such hopes for Diana, lovely as she is. But if she’s not stronger by next season . . .” She made a dismissive wave toward her middle daughter, who sat in dark, bespectacled contrast to her fair-haired sisters. “I shall have no choice but to bring out Minerva instead.”

“But Minerva doesn’t care about men,” young Charlotte said helpfully. “She prefers dirt and rocks.”

“It’s called geology,” Minerva said. “It’s a science.”

“It’s certain spinsterhood, is what it is! Unnatural girl. Do sit straight in your chair, at least.” Mrs. Highwood sighed and fanned harder. To Susanna, she said, “I despair of her, truly. This is why Diana must get well, you see. Can you imagine Minerva in society?”

Susanna bit back a smile, all too easily imagining the scene. It would probably resemble her own debut. Like Minerva, she had been absorbed in unladylike pursuits, and the object of her female relations’ oft-voiced despair. At balls, she’d been that freckled Amazon in the corner, who would have been all too happy to blend into the wallpaper, if only her hair color would have allowed it.

As for the gentlemen she’d met . . . not a one of them had managed to sweep her off her feet. To be fair, none of them had tried very hard.

She shrugged off the awkward memories. That time was behind her now.

Mrs. Highwood’s gaze fell on a book at the corner of the table. “I am gratified to see you keep Mrs. Worthington close at hand.”

“Oh yes,” Susanna replied, reaching for the blue, leather-bound tome. “You’ll find copies of Mrs. Worthington’s Wisdom scattered everywhere throughout the village. We find it a very useful book.”

“Hear that, Minerva? You would do well to learn it by heart.” When Minerva rolled her eyes, Mrs. Highwood said, “Charlotte, open it now. Read aloud the beginning of Chapter Twelve.”

Charlotte reached for the book and opened it, then cleared her throat and read aloud in a dramatic voice. “’Chapter Twelve. The perils of excessive education. A young lady’s intellect should be in all ways like her undergarments. Present, pristine, and imperceptible to the casual observer.’”

Mrs. Highwood harrumphed. “Yes. Just so. Hear and believe it, Minerva. Hear and believe every word. As Miss Finch says, you will find that book very useful.”

Susanna took a leisurely sip of tea, swallowing with it a bitter lump of indignation. She wasn’t an angry or resentful person, as a matter of course. But once provoked, her passions required formidable effort to conceal.

That book provoked her, no end.

Mrs. Worthington’s Wisdom for Young Ladies was the bane of sensible girls the world over, crammed with insipid, damaging advice on every page. Susanna could have gleefully crushed its pages to powder with a mortar and pestle, labeled the vial with a skull and crossbones, and placed it on the highest shelf in her stillroom, right beside the dried foxglove leaves and deadly nightshade berries.

Instead, she’d made it her mission to remove as many copies as possible from circulation. A sort of quarantine. Former residents of the Queen’s Ruby sent the books from all corners of England. One couldn’t enter a room in Spindle Cove without finding a copy or three of Mrs. Worthington’s Wisdom. And just as Susanna had told Mrs. Highwood, they found the book very useful indeed. It was the perfect size for propping a window open. It also made an excellent doorstop or paperweight. Susanna used her personal copies for pressing herbs. Or, occasionally, for target practice.

She motioned to Charlotte. “May I?” Taking the volume from the girl’s grip, she raised the book high. Then, with a brisk thwack, she used it to crush a bothersome gnat.

With a calm smile, she placed the book on a side table. “Very useful indeed.”
—-

Visit her website for more information.

A Night To Surrender
Spindle Cove, Book One
Coming August 30, 2011 from Avon Books
ISBN-10: 0062049836 ♦ ISBN-13: 978-0062049834
Get your copy here.

—–
Why I’m excited-
I love the humor, wit, and emotion of Tessa Dare’s novels, and from what I’m seeing in reviews, I don’t think this one will disappoint. I don’t know about you, but I’m on my way to the bookstore now.

—-
April Dawn
-Author of Crushing Desire and Bound by Love available now through Breathless Press, All Romance, and Kindle.

Ah, the Magical Power of Three

By Kay Springsteen

We’ve watched its magic in Charmed. We learn about the number three in church (the trinity). Celtic lore places great store in the number three as well – with the maid, the mother, and the crone. Three has been a number of power in many cultures throughout the ages. And it translates itself to art. When I was learning flower arranging, the basic rule was to work with threes – three main flowers, three complementing flowers. In the art of Bonsai, trees are encouraged to grow into rough triangle shapes. In drawing, painting, and photography, we have “the rule of three” and “the golden triangle.”

So, aside from the above mentioned TV show, how does any of this relate to fiction? Well, whether you’re a plotter or a pantser or whether you fall somewhere in between, you still have to follow one of the rules of story structure. If you just start writing and finish when you think you’ve written enough, it’s likely you apply the structure after the writing, but you still have to have a beginning, middle, and end to your story, no matter how many subplots you develop along the way.

As a photographer, I learned the rule of three/golden triangle as a way to set up my photographs in such a manner as to bring the viewer into the picture. In art, this is done by means of lines and shadows that make up lines. Sometimes, in a picture, the line is obvious, as in a road, and sometimes it’s not as obvious, perhaps being in the movement (yes, even still photos have motion) of the picture. Motion in a photograph is brought about by the way the eye sees it. You might think that people look at a photo, see the subject, and that’s the end of it, but in truth, in photographs, as in any picture (from oils painted by the masters to your child’s refrigerator art), the eye tracks the lines. The stronger the line, the easier to track, and the more understood the picture.

In the rule of thirds, the idea is for the main subject to take up roughly a third of the picture, either centered or off to the side. The strongest line in the picture should draw the viewer in and end up at the subject. Take the first picture below. This is a train on the D.C. Metro line. Can you see the obvious line leading to the subject? From the lower left corner to the back of the train, it’s the track. The next picture, petunias growing in the crack between the sidewalk and a many-centuries old building in Annapolis, Maryland, has a couple of lines leading to the subject. From either side, or an obvious sidewalk crack leading right from the front edge of the picture to the flowers. But what about lines that aren’t as obvious? The single droplet of water on the onyx stalactite in a Virginia cave? The edges of the rock formation itself – the very thing the water is dripping from. Now, note the picture with the long shadows, taken at Market Square in Annapolis. Of course, it’s the shadows leading from the front of the picture to the mid-point.

But what about the imagined lines? The golden spiral is another form of the golden triangle, and is also part of the rule of three. In this case, best illustrated by pictures of flowers (and if you’re interested enough to go looking, in hurricanes). Take this water lily. If you start at the lower left edge and follow the line of the petals, you will be following a spiraling pattern to the yellow center of the flower, even though that center is not the exact center of the picture.

We can follow these rules for lines as we lead our readers through our stories. The writer is basically taking readers on a journey. We want the reader to start at one place and end at another and experience all of the carefully crafted detail of the tale along the way. But how those readers get there is important so they do get the full experience. We want our lines to draw the reader completely into the story the same way a photo should draw a viewer in. We may direct them along a path or road, maybe make them take a detour or two, push them through some shadows and doubt, or even take them on a roundabout (spiral) path. But the strongest line – the main plot – should lead the readers from outside the story to being completely embroiled in the story and invested in the outcomes for the characters.

However we lead the readers, though, it’s important that we have some idea as we write and/or edit of basic story structure and the rule of three. Take the example of a three-act play, and adapt it for your novel (no matter how long or short this may be).

Act One:  The setup. Characters are introduced to the readers and sometimes to each other. The very beginning details of events (sometimes no more than a hint) are set in motion; the readers will see the inciting incident, even if they don’t recognize it as such until later in the story. This does not have to be a full third of the story; it can and often is much less than a third—I try to keep it to about a fourth, but it should definitely not take longer than one-third of your overall story or you will lose the reader to the boredom of the setup because this typically shows very little action.

Act Two:  This is the center point of your story, where the confrontation between characters and plot occurs, and in most cases is filled with fairly intense action, with any subplots shooting off from here, as well as introduction of red herrings in mysteries. The story must escalate through this act, in terms of action and what characters have at stake. My stories are typically two-fourths Act Two (half the story). Again, as with the photo lines, the readers have been led here either directly, as along a path or road, or indirectly with shadows and imaginary lines, and the line leading them in may be straight or curvy, so long as everything included here can be tied up at the end of the story. The point of no return occurs just about at the end of Act Two. The point where no matter what the possible outcome, the characters cannot turn back from their chosen course of action.

Act Three: After passing the point of no return, the final act (roughly a quarter of the story) begins to rush toward the end. This is the part you want to write so tightly that when readers get here, they will be driven to finish the story rather than put the book down for later. The final act, the one that includes the climactic action cannot lag. If you look in the spiral photo of the lily, you see the flower seems to wind tighter and tighter, the petals growing closer together. In Act Three, your characters definitely do not do mundane chores, or throw a casual dinner party just for the heck of it, nor do they take naps. Everything in Act Three revolves around the tension of the approaching climax. And, perhaps most important, this is not the time to introduce new characters. As a writer, you must be fair to your readers and the villain, whether she or he is recognized as such or not, must be introduced along with everyone else in Act One (or in very rare cases at the beginning of Act Two). You can’t just pull a convenient villain out of your hat. Nor, in the cases of a story without a specific villain, or where a circumstance is the villain rather than a person, not have some sort of foreshadowing that something (the particular circumstance) could possibly happen. For example, if the circumstance that’s going to be at the heart of the climax is an airplane crash, give a foreshadowing of it – depending on the genre, if paranormal, a character can dream it; if mainstream, a pilot or passenger can hear a noise or feel some turbulence, and so forth). Most of all, Act Three must resolve any detours you took with your characters, and with the climax must come resolution and a solid ending. Even if you are writing a series with a cliffhanger ending for each book, it is imperative that you end each portion of the story on a satisfying note for the reader. Finish off a subplot even if the main plot remains unresolved.

Remember the rule of thirds – beginning (introduction/inciting incident), middle (confrontation and subplots), and end (climax and resolution). If you follow the rule of thirds, how you get your readers from Point Start to Point Finish can be as simple or as complicated as you desire to make it – as long as the lines are there as your readers’ road map.

Guest – Annabel Aiden Diving into Life

Please welcome our newest guest, author of Assumption of Right, by Annabel Aidan.

—
One of the exciting things for me, as a reader, is learning about interesting vocations or hobbies through fiction. I love it when a character has a rich life, both inner and outer, and gets excited by people, places, and work.

We spend so much time at work, between a third and a half of our lives. Some of us love our jobs. We are lucky. We are excited to go to work every day. Those who hate their jobs try to punish us for it because they don’t have the courage to make positive change. The first big Broadway show I worked was MISS SAIGON. I was there the last five years of its ten year run. When the show closed, I even missed the people I hadn’t liked all that much! To this day, my memories of the show are fond and passionate, even about the rough times. We were an endless font of creativity and support. Everyone was dedicated to each performance, but we also created work outside of the show, shared it with each other, honed it together, and turned out to support each other, whether it was someone singing original songs in a bar or running a marathon. Our lives, both inside work and out of it, were enriched by our connection to each other in that specific environment at that specific time.

The point of some novels is the lack of inner and outer life of some of its characters. the emptiness. Or that the inner/outer, work/personal equation is out of balance. In that case, I need characters around the central character to have full, rich lives, which point up the contrast even more sharply.

As a reader, I enjoy novels where the protagonist is a professional in an area where I know very little, but am interested. I have slogged through some awful writing set against the backdrop of art restoration and forgery because it fascinated me. I’ve also read some novels on the same subject that soared. I like to read about scientists and archaeologists, cabinet-makers and bookbinders. I wouldn’t pick up a novel and use it as an instruction manual, but when a character is deeply involved in something, I want to live it with the character. If I’m fascinated by the topic, and the novel holds my interest, I’m likely to not only read more of that author’s work, but read more on the topic, and approach each additional book with even greater appreciation.

I also like to read about subjects with which I am familiar, such as writing or working backstage or reading tarot cards. There’s always a chance of frustration, though. If the author tells me that the character is a writer, but I never see the character at work, I think, “Some writer!” because I know how much time and work and joy and energy it takes to be a working writer. When the author sets something backstage on Broadway, and it’s obvious that the only research the author’s done has been watching television shows and going once on a tour of a community theatre, when the author portrays all the people back there as self-centered cliches, I get frustrated. I’ve spent over twenty years of my working life backstage in the theatre, everything from community theatre to Broadway. Each type of theatre is valid, but the atmosphere and the stakes at every level are entirely different. And, when you get to the level of Broadway, few shows can have a long run if everyone behaves like a selfish jerk all the time. You spend too much time together for that type of behavior to last. If a character who reads cards gives silly, vapid readings or uses the Death card to mean literal death, I lose interest — unless the author is making a point that this reader is a charlatan. It’s along the same lines as geography for me. As someone who lived in New York City for many years, if an author sets a book in New York without walking the streets, and has a character in Harlem at one point, then turns a corner and is in Greenwich Village without using teleportation, my trust is broken. If I can’t trust an author on something as basic as getting the streets of New York correct, how can I put any emotional trust in the story?

I want to know the sights, the sounds, the smells, the tastes, the textures of the environment and the lives of these characters. I want to feel that I am within the context of the book, living it, not a voyeur. That’s what I want to do as a reader, and what I try to do as a writer.

When I decided to write ASSUMPTION OF RIGHT, I wanted to dip my toe into romantic suspense. Since it was a new genre for me, I wanted to set it somewhere I knew intimately — backstage on a Broadway show. But what would create suspense and allow for love to grow? A VIP under Secret Service protection. I combined my own experiences (I’ve worked when Secret Service were backstage while a VIP was out front), did research on the elements I didn’t know, raised the stakes, and cut out the boring bits. As dedicated as both my primary protagonists are to their work, they also have rich lives outside of work. Hopefully, someone who’s never been backstage during a Broadway production will get a good sense of the hard work, camaraderie, joy, and wonder of it, the same way I get a sense of the passion and attention to detail that go into conserving a master painting.

Annabel Aidan is a full-time writer who publishes under a half a dozen names in fiction and non-fiction. Her latest release, ASSUMPTION OF RIGHT, is available in both print and digital editions from Champagne Books (www.champagnebooks.com). Keep up with her on her web page: http://www.devonellingtonwork.com/annabelaidan.html.

Be Prepared to Catch the Bug

Most of the authors reading this blog have their book published in ebook format prior to it going into print. Most of the time they don’t even consider getting out there into the real world to promo.  Remember, it’s very important to get some face time with your readers and/or potential readers.  So it’s time to get up, get out and talk, talk, talk.

It’s important to get out there face to face and hand to hand to meet people.  It is the real life person that buys your book.  You aren’t the boogie man behind the computer that wrote the book, and they are not the nameless face behind the credit card.  I’m not sure about you, but I would be far more likely to buy a book from someone I have met in real life (Nancy Henderson) than from someone I have not.

Imagine this….You are a writer from Georgia, your book isn’t due out for several months, but there is a book fair or conference coming up in about 83 days.  What you should do is email a chairperson on one of the committees and more than likely you will be handed your fifteen minutes of fame.  Fifteen whole minutes to read a piece from your book.  Guess what?  Hundreds of people, who are now fans, have just heard your book and want more.  Do you have business cards?  Maybe some post cards with information about your old books on them?  Your web address?  Anything?  Come on, now’s the time!

Another step you can take is to stop by your local library, let them know that you are a local writer and you would be interested in donating a copy of your book to their local authors collection.  And while you’re there, ask them if they would mind if you did a book signing or reading in the near future?  Try doing the same with local book stores.  They enjoy having local authors stop in. This shows that people from your home town can make it as a writer.  Now let’s say that your book has a scene in it that is set in a hair salon, would your local salon be interested in holding a book signing for you?  Use the resources you have at hand.  You never know what possible networking contacts you may end up with while you are at one of these face to face events.  Until you are out there and are ready to catch the bug (possibly in the literal fashion, sniff sniff, can you pass me a tissue?) you may never know the extent to what you have passed by.

Local radio and TV stations love to do pieces on local artists.  You could contact stations and see if they have a community section that would be interested in spotlighting a local writer.  BUT BE PREPARED, most of these spots are taped EARLY in the morning.  Trust me I have tried.  And be prepared with every answer you could possibly think of to answer, because they will ask one that you are not prepared for.  If possible, ask them for a list of questions ahead of time to prepare yourself mentally for the interview.  The interview I did was over the phone and I was a wreck. I stuttered and stammered and couldn’t get the answer right to save my life, but it was a very early segment and I am sure only several thousand people heard me anyway.  Nothing like listening to a blubbering idiot on your commute to work.

Remember the most important piece of information that I can possibly give you.  The worse thing that someone can say to you is, “No.”  You will not be out anything if they do, but you will have gained more confidence by getting out there and exposing yourself to one more line of questioning.  You will have one more ‘no’ behind your back and are one more ‘no’ closer to a ‘yes’.  When you receive your nos they may actually be accompanied by a “but”….and a compromise.  So don’t give up, and keep plugging.  Your writing deserves to be put out there and given just as much work that you put into the writing!  Now Remember, Tomorrow Never Comes!  So come back next week and see what you can do about it.

PS…..have to leave you with a few that my friend Kissa told me about as she was reading this for me before posting.  When she is traveling, she leaves business cards with her tips.  She leaves them in book stores on the shelves.  (I think I personally would put them at the register, but that’s just me!)  When she sends promo items to her readers she sends extras and asks them to pass them along to their friends.  Thanks so much Kissa for sending those ideas along to share with my great readers!

Special excerpt from Kaden’s Breeder…

Okay, So I’m shamelessly promoting…but I’m sooooo happy about this next book I wanted to share some of it with my readers before it comes out… here is an Excerpt from Kaden’s Breeder…..

The Mantra appeared suddenly, interrupting their conversation. They were flashed in by some kind of Star Trek-like transport tech, and began ushering the women out of the dormitory. The women were led in single file down the hall to a large rectangular cargo hull.

     A hatch opened in front of them and bright light ushered in, filling the room with a warm glow.  The smell of fresh grass and clean air filtered in.  The breeze smelled incredibly good. 

      Carina had gotten so used to the stale odor of the Mantra’s ship that it stunned her when she first inhaled the familiar scent of earth and vegetation.

Before leading the women off the ship, the mantra separated them into groups of ten.

    There were approximately three hundred women in all aboard the ship. However, only eighty disembarked for this stop and she was one of them. Her line of ten was the last led outside onto a planet called Yor.

The inhabitants were called Dregs and in desperate need of “Breeders”.  “Yippy,” she thought sarcastically as she stepped out of the open hatch into …”Oh crap!”

    Her mouth hung open the moment she surveyed her surroundings. The lush green and brown landscape was breathtaking.  They had landed in a large clearing that appeared manmade for that purpose.

The Mantra leading her group chirped something at her telling her to keep moving. 

When they reached a dugout looking structure, the women were spaced about an arm’s length apart from each other.  They all stood there naked. If that wasn’t bad enough, hundreds of men opposite them loitered about, looking as though they hadn’t eaten in week.   Christ, she felt like filet mignon.

    It was extremely discerning to be on the receiving end of so many hungry lust-filled male eyes.  Worse there wasn’t a single human male among them.  They all looked humanoid … well most of them anyway.  

A large pale skinned male walked towards her stall. His body was massively muscled. He was bald with large cat-like ears that stuck out from his temples. His face was rather feline, with slanted eyes and a wide flat nose. He snarled. One side of his thin lips lifted revealing a rather large, sharp fang.

Carina shrank back, feeling quite intimidated and thoroughly exposed. Knots of nervous tension twisted in her stomach. She looked away from his intensely predatory stare. Her eyes traveled lower to his packed abs, and lower to his…holy shit!

It was then that she noticed all the men were naked. Catman’s cock stood fully erect, long and as thick as her wrist. Her head spun and she felt a bit woozy.  She grabbed and held on tightly to Zya’s hand, thankful that someone was there to catch her should she pass out.  

   Zya stared at her as if she had just grown a horn in the middle of her forehead. 

Carina shook her head, “I don’t think I can do this!”

Zya patted her hand, then indicated the open encampment next to a lush green forest on a small hill about twenty feet away. “Look there is a Dreg camp; no doubt they are here to choose their Breeders as well.”

There on the hill stood two incredibly muscular men. They were human looking in every way except for the lack of body hair and the strange looking dreadlocks on their heads that seemed more like thin appendages growing from their scalp and they were …moving?

 Yes moving… braiding themselves around each other to keep away from the men’s faces.  Now that was just bizarre.  Beings with living hair…err…things on their heads. 

She couldn’t pull her eyes away from them. Like her reaction to the previous cat-like alien, her belly knotted. However, anxiety had nothing to do with it. She recognized the instant pull of sexual attraction.  Oh God.

Even with the strange “hairdo”, these men were incredible to look at.  Now these beings were definitely male.  Their physiques were amazing. The most muscular and toned bodies she had ever seen on a man, lean, smooth, defined, and utterly delectable.

Time seemed to slow down. Everything around her blurred and she could feel her pulse quickening. She roamed her eyes slowly over each Dreg man. Her mouth literally watered and she swore drool was seeping from the corners.  Her gaze settled on the area below their waist.

Each man wore a simple loincloth that covered an impressive bulge. 

Carina stared, entranced by the two men, who each appeared no shorter than six-seven or eight from head to toe. Zya said something, but whatever it was, sounded muffled. Her entire focus was now on the face of the larger Dreg. Her pussy tingled. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from him.

His piercing stare went straight through her. 

God, his face was absolute male perfection.

He possessed sharp features, which reminded her of the Native American Indians back on earth.  High cheekbones, squared jaw that were nothing less then perfectly chiseled. His eyes were slightly slanted and his nose was straight, perfectly complementing his already flawless visage.  Lips full and kissable curled slightly into a wickedly sexy grin. 

It didn’t matter that his skin tone was a little on the greenish side, while his companion’s was more bluish, he was easily the most attractive man she had ever laid eyes on.  Not even the hottest male cover model back on Earth could compare.  Carina wondered if the Dregs were really living Gods. 

Her belly tightened and a sharp warm trickle of sensation flooded her pussy. It caused her to squeeze her thighs together in an effort to sooth the sudden arousal.

 “God what is wrong with me?”  Never in her life had she become aroused just looking at a man, interested yes even a little turned on, but not full on arousal.  A new surge of anxiety went through her as she read the possessive look on his face…Oh crap!

 He wanted her, and he looked like the kind of man who always got what he wanted.  What scared her though, was that she was actually kind of hoping he would get it.

Do This, Don’t Do That

By Kay Springsteen

A lot of how-to writing has been dedicated to the craft of fiction. Tell this, show that, use the senses, don’t use a passive voice, watch your point of view. . . Lots of good advice is to be found out there from other writers – seasoned writers, writers who made it, writers who took a class and want to share. Lots of questions are being asked by writers just starting out, writers seeking to improve, and writers looking to try a different approach.

With all the tips out there, it’s important to remember that many writing techniques—or the need for their use—are open to individual interpretation. What one person understands about a technique might be different from another’s perspective. In addition, writers may place different emphasis on what is most important in a manuscript. One writer may develop the ability for crisp, snappy dialogue and might suggest this as the best way to move a story along. Another might prefer to evoke strong imagery as a way of involving readers in the story, and thus may concentrate on how best to do that. If those striving to learn or improve at writing could absorb the how-to of all the varied techniques as presented on all the blogs and books about the subject, we would all be powerful writers, wouldn’t we?

Or we could simply find our brains cluttered with the advice of others, with no room left to develop our own writing voices.

The market changes constantly and you never know who might be the next big thing in fiction. That doesn’t mean all you have to do is sit at the computer and write and you might pound out the next Harry Potter. But it does mean that amid all the advice, you have to hold on to who you are as a writer, and your own sense of style. You also have to understand the market you are seeking to join. The best way to do this is to write the kinds of stories you enjoy reading. At least I believe that’s the best place to start. Pay attention to the small details in the stories of your favorite authors. What techniques have you read about that they utilize? How do they move the story forward? How do they handle dialogue? Back story? What makes you want to continue reading? What makes you put a book down? Sometimes reading your favorites authors with an objective eye will help you see and understand the various skills they employ to pull their stories together.

So research the market of your chosen genre. The best way is to read the top sellers, even if they didn’t necessarily appeal in the past. An author is a best seller for two intertwined reasons: (1) They got the attention of an editor, and (2) the public likes their writing. So find out what works for other authors, even try to figure out why. Discuss the work with others in noncritical forums – at this point, you don’t want to hear why someone doesn’t like certain top-selling authors. You want to know what people like about them. Talk to other authors who write the kinds of stories you do. Join a critique group, if you haven’t yet taken this step. A critique partner is good; a group is better. The more people who look at your work, the more chances you have that what they concentrate on in your writing will balance and compliment each other’s perspective. But, as I stated earlier, you must understand that everyone has an individual understanding of the writing craft. So don’t make yourself crazy trying to employ every single bit of advice from crit partners/groups. You risk losing yourself in the voices of others.

Ultimately, the choice of who you listen to, of what advice you heed is up to you. So, don’t stress out if you feel you aren’t “getting” something, and don’t feel you have to be perfect at every aspect of writing. The art of writing fiction is a process. You don’t just sit down and automatically have a great story and the tools to know how to tell it. A good author is a combination of born storyteller and attentive student, always changing, always developing his or her skills, always evolving. If you don’t understand a technique, not stressing over it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t learn about it, but stressing because you don’t get something seldom leads to understanding. Asking questions, on the other hand, will help lead to understanding. Find someone knowledgeable on a particular subject or technique and ask them to explain not only the skill but the reasons for its use.

Research and learn. Ask questions of other writers and learn. Take a course. Read books you enjoy and consider why you enjoy them. But above all, become aware of your own writing voice. Whatever you learn along the way, remain true to yourself, and never stop evolving as a writer.

Guest – Vonnie Davis – Strong Women Rock

Welcome our guest Vonnie Davis, author of STORM’S INTERLUDE

–
I love the typical alpha-male in romance, but what I love even more is when a strong female gets in his face and tells him what he can do with his alpha-nonsense. Don’t you? I mean, really…

In years past, heroines in many romances were frail, emotionally fragile, weepy things. When I’d read their stories, I’d grit my teeth and mumble remarks equivalent to the modern day slogan: Put on your big-girl panties and deal.

They weren’t reality. What is reality? Strong women.

Look around you; they’re everywhere. They’ve survived more of life’s storms than the Caribbean Islands have hurricanes. Yet women are still standing, still surviving and still struggling in this crazy world. Whether they’re corporate executives or stay-at-home moms or single mothers holding down two jobs to keep hearth and home together, they’ve all brought multi-tasking to an art form. Women are steel wrapped in warm, loving flesh.

So to honor women’s strength—whether innate or gleaned from the school of hard knocks—I create strong heroines in my books.

These are women, like you and me, who have turned adversities into advantages. Women, who like the old toy “weebles,” wobble under the weight and strain of life’s many problems, but they don’t fall down.
When I’m starting a new story, I try to create my characters from the inside out. First I decide on their points of pain. We all have them. Perhaps we feel our parents loved a sibling more than us. Or we have feelings of abandonment because our fathers were absent. Perhaps there’s a weight issue we’ve battled most of our lives, or fears of public speaking or heights or confining spaces. How have we been hurt in the past? These are our points of pain; things that make us act and react in a certain way to situations.

Then I decide on education levels and interests. I choose a favorite color and food cravings. Will my heroine crave chocolate or cheesecake? When she’s angry, will she grab a pint of Ben and Jerry’s or snatch an apple? What things pluck my characters’ last nerve? Lastly, I think about appearance. For what does it matter what they look like if I don’t have them nailed emotionally and mentally? They need to be complex, multi-layered women just like all of you.

We’ve all gotten into situations that once we got out of it, we’ve stated, “Never again.” That’s what has happened to my heroine in Storm’s Interlude. While Rachel was reeling over the sudden death of her father, a man entered her life under the guise of taking care of her while she mourned. He wormed his way into every aspect of her world while she was blind with grief. Slowly verbal abuse began, followed by physical abuse. Finally her eyes opened, and she ended the relationship. Now she’s determined never to back down from a man again. This is the inner conflict that propels her. So when she meets a handsome man with an overbearing personality, she reacts as any woman would. She puts him in his place—repeatedly.

Early today I received an email from the One Hundred Romances project. They’re on a quest to find the best one hundred romances of 2011, published by ePublishers. Since my publisher, The Wild Rose Press, publishes full-length novels in both paperback and eBook, I entered Storm’s Interlude. Imagine my shock when it was given a 5-Star rating and added to the list of the top romances for this year! I’d love to share the review:

I’m in love with this book! Amazing! Storm was just so… Wow. And Rachel was just darling. Our hero was just a magnificent piece of man, and our heroine was a lovely complex woman who felt all the same things any other woman would have felt. What I enjoy the most was that even the secondary characters were amazingly well written and added a wonderful blend to the story as a whole.

Vonnie Davis wrote such wonderful real characters that once I started this book I finished it in hours! I’m disappointed with myself because I skipped over this book originally when it was on the list of books to review. This author is now on my auto-buy list. Please keep them coming Ms. Davis!

Please drop by my blog to visit. http://www.vintagevonnie.blogspot.com.
My website is http://www.vonniedavis.com

Guest – Karen Frisch – Time Out: Starting from Scratch

Today we have a guest. Welcome Karen Frisch author of Murder Most Civil
——

One of the biggest challenges for writers is getting started again after time away from writing. The struggle is almost as bad as writer’s block. For writers not under contract without a book on the horizon or those struggling with family or work commitments, breaks between books can be a death knell for creativity. A break in the routine can derail even the most dedicated writer and cost writing time as you try to reestablish a pattern that works.

Most of us know what genre we’re doing next. The basic story elements have to be confronted whether you’re writing romance or mystery, even if the whole process feels like a mystery to you. To kick start your writing routine, try some of these shortcuts to help you plan your next book. Use the ideas as springboards and writing prompts to get the ball rolling again. Come out fighting, and make a strong statement. If you’re less than 100 percent happy with your story, chances are your readers will be, too.

Characters – The old rule still holds true. Opposites not only attract, they create conflict. In my book What’s in a Name, a December release from Avalon, my hero and heroine are thrown together when she travels from rural Maine to Boston in 1871 to bring home her orphaned nephew and discovers he’s been working in a fish market to survive. The heroine is a schoolteacher; the hero owns the fish market. She’s the daughter of a professor; he’s an immigrant with little schooling. She believes in educating children; he believes in the value of hard work. When they suspect her nephew and his sister have run off with a traveling circus, they’re forced to pursue the runaways together while surviving a series of misadventures that test their mettle. To help create characters, use personality types that work for you, such as the range you’ll find in astrological signs or Myers-Briggs classifications. Introduce characters with strengths and weaknesses to make them not only appealing but realistic.

Setting – Since writing is stronger if you have some emotional attachment to your setting, select a location that has meaning for you. Choosing a place you know well gives you the advantage of an authoritative voice while letting you focus on little-known elements that fascinate you. If you feel like exploring, research allows you to be an armchair traveler. Stimulate your creativity by immersing yourself in learning about a state you’ve always wanted to visit—Alaska, for instance. Relating your setting to the plot adds richness, depth, and complexity. Look for settings that can be used as integral parts of the plot. Using Victorian Boston as the backdrop for my novel Murder Most Civil allowed me to use the tension between abolitionists and slaveholders to put my heroine’s brother in danger of hanging for a murder he didn’t commit.

Plot – Do you already feel a sagging middle coming on at the idea of plotting a story? A big stumbling block is the question of what to do with your characters. Establishing a strong conflict from the beginning and making your hero and heroine face the worst circumstances possible will challenge you to find answers to hard questions, but it will create tension and keep readers guessing. Not only will it strengthen your characters, it will help you grow as a writer. Find obstacles for heroes and heroines to overcome by forcing them to make difficult choices and to face their fears. You’ll probably face your own in the process, but you’ll learn along with your characters.

Conflict – We know opposites create conflict. The more your characters have at stake, the greater the chances they will be forced to take, and the more your readers will care about them and want them to succeed. Make their quandary so problematic even you aren’t sure how they’ll get out of it. If your characters are as real to you as flesh and blood people, you’ll find a way to help them rescue each other. Let their difficulties build toward the black moment when all seems hopelessly lost. Make your story a page-turner by putting your characters in the most difficult situations possible. Challenge yourself by asking, “What could be worse than…?” Name the dilemma, and make your characters suffer through it. Everyone loves an underdog who finds a way to overcome insurmountable difficulties despite the odds.

Now what’s your excuse not to write? The basics remain the same. The twists and turns are up to you—and that’s the fun part.

Karen Frisch is the author of Murder Most Civil, a Victorian mystery published by Mainly Murder Press in 2010, and Lady Delphinia’s Deception, a Regency romance published by ImaJinn Books in 2011. Both are available from the publisher or at Amazon.com.

Love at First Sight & Why Must We Fight?

I write Romantic Suspense. I love the genre. Who wouldn’t? At its best, it combines spine-tingling suspense with hot romance. However, I believe two accepted “conventions” associated with the Romantic Suspense genre are overworked by authors in their efforts to earn acceptance from agents/editors, who say these elements are key.

Convention #1: When the hero first appears on the scene (preferable in the first couple of pages), the heroine must find him so sexy and exciting her heart goes into overdrive—even if she’s in shock and initially thinks he’s a despicable human being with the personality of Attila the Hun.

Convention #2: For the romantic arc to succeed, Convention #2 argues that each time it looks as if the hero and heroine will find bliss in each other’s arms an internal conflict must arise to pull them apart. This push-pull aspect of the relationship is credited with building tension and keeping the reader flipping pages to see if the star-crossed lovers will overcome these roadblocks. Of course, all these horrendous conflicts disappear like magic at the end of the book with the happy-ever-after ending.

Okay, what’s my problem with Convention #1? In Romantic Suspense, the book often opens with the heroine in great danger and/or scared out of her wits. Someone’s just tried to murder her…or kidnap her child…or rape her. You get the picture.

Now I ask you would a woman who’s just been used for target practice by a madman with a sniper rifle waste any brain cells cataloguing the physical assets of the hunky policeman interviewing her? I don’t think so.

She might find the cop’s size frightening or his brusque tone intimidating, but I doubt her frazzled mind would let her notice the officer had chocolate brown eyes, a strong jaw or a firm butt.

I’m much more apt to buy into a story premise if the author doesn’t stretch/abuse the heroine’s point of view in order to establish that the man who’s just come on stage is, in fact, the hero. Let the reader discover the man’s heroic qualities when it’s logical that the heroine would start to appreciate his physical and/or mental attributes.

Convention #2: I get it. Internal conflicts up the stakes and build tension. Yet I find it difficult to swallow that a heroine and hero will squander time squabbling if they’re fighting for their lives. Once the hero and heroine join forces and begin working as a team against the exterior threat, I think all their energies would be directed toward eliminating the threat not nitpicking their relationship.

Yes, the couple might be allowed to have private reservations about their long-term relationship because (fill in the blank). However, too often it seems that stupid misunderstandings are used to pry the heroine and hero apart at a crucial moment simply because it’s “time” for a breakup.

I think author J.D. Robb has aptly demonstrated that a couple (Eve and Rourke) can have a hot romance, fight bad guys and treat the reader to lots of tension without wasting time on quarrels that make a reader want to scream “You idiot!” at the hero or heroine or both.

What do you think? Let’s hear it from you readers of Romantic Suspense. How do you feel about these conventions? Are they overdone?

About the Author

Linda Lovely is the author of DEAR KILLER, a mystery with strong romantic elements that’s set in the South Carolina Lowcountry. The heroine is a 52-year-old retired military intelligence officer who works part-time as a security officer on a private island.

Despite the author’s objections to Convention #1, Lovely freely admits that Marley Clark, DEAR KILLER’s heroine, notices plenty of appealing aspects about the hero—Braden Mann, a 40-year-old homicide detective—the minute she meets him. However, Marley has just discovered a body and she’s not in personal danger.

Once the duo forms a partnership, Marley and Braden may debate tactics and strategies but they don’t waste a lot of mental energy on imaginary slights. When they’re not chasing the killer, Marley and Braden savor the opportunity to rediscover the joy that comes with a new romance.

 

Blogtour Time

Blogtour Time
I’ve always clutched the keyboard whenever anyone mentioned the word ‘blogtour’. *gulp* As I discussed in a recent post, I’m pretty introverted, and I don’t feel very comfortable with ‘face-to-face’ stuff like blogging. That’s part of why I make myself do it. And usually I can fake it, put on a character, or think of interesting new ideas—like the dating game style blog I wrote for Whipped Cream on August 24th—but I’m very nervous about the whole concept. Are my topics going to be worth reading? Is what I have to say going to be interesting enough? Etc…
Well, I’ve decided it’s time to jump out of my comfort zone and have a blogtour. (Dates and info below). I hope you’ll stop by and visit each stop to say hi.
Since I’m hoping to have lots of visitors to keep me company, I’ll be giving away an advanced copy of A Soldier’s Woman (9/09) to one lucky commenter. You just have to comment on any of my blogs to be entered, and if you comment on more than one blog, you get more than one entry. Up to 11 entries if you comment each day (including this blog).
Plus, if I get more than 40 comments total, I’ll give away a second prize to one random commenter, so be sure to tell your friends to come by. The more the merrier. Hope to see you, and your friends, tomorrow.
Ava Delany

Correction- Crazy for Bookss changed their name. My blog can now be found at Books N Kisses Feel free to check it out and comment.

August 15 – Crazy 4 Bookss – Guest Blog
August 16- Seriously Interviewed – Interview
August 17 – Got Romance Reviews – Character Interview
August 18 – Nocturnal Nights – Guest Blog
August 19 – Cynthia Selwyn’s blog – First page Friday
August 20 – G Jillian Stone’s Blog -Guest Blog
August 21 – Blackraven Reviews – Guest Blog
August 22 – Anna James Blog – Interview
August 23 – Total Ebound – Guest Blog
August 24 – Whipped Cream – Guest Blog
August 25 – Dawn’s Reading Nook – Interview

Family and Romance

Sorry for the delay folks. I have had no internet access until today as there is no wi-fi where I am at. So this is late for you guys.

What do we know about romance? What do we know about family? Can we write about it? I think that all of the classes that we take all together will help us make a happy romance. Do you now I don’t believe in romance per se but I believe in the “believability of romance”? What does that mean? It means that the story line that I write for you has to have the ability for you the reader to suspend disbelief in your understanding of the novel. You have to believe that the heroine is not so laughable as to do something as stupid as some of the characters do and that the hero’s are no so laughable as to fall for it. Kind of like real life.

I had a writing class and that was wha we discussed on one of our lessons-was the ability of the writer to have the reader suspend their common knowledge of how things work and believe the unbelievable. For example, you get pulled over for a traffic stop and you are able to miraculously move time backwards and not get that speeding ticket. Or that the guy whom you slept with really wasn’t dating your best friend after she told you and introduced you to him when he confirmed that he was dating her. The fact that a person who has a terminally ill disease that should die will not die. Suspending your common knowledge of that. And if you the writer can have your reader do that, then you have accomplished something a writer must do in order to have the reader read your story-believe you.

Do you know how many times when we are in school did I hear you must connect your story from paragraph to paragraph from my teacher? How do you do that? Well, what my senior English teacher said in high-school was that if the first and last sentenced of every paragraph can make a synopsis of your story, then you have a well written paper. Now can you do that in a novel? I don’t know that you can or you can’t. We can try an exercise. The article written by Tom Joyner under the Culture section, with the title, “On to the Next: keeping Family Traditions” which is found on page 29 in the July 2011 edition of Ebony Magazine which is the Collector’s Edition is a good article to this exercise with actually. Follow along with me:

“I’ll never forget the day my two sons said on national TV that their names were dumb…When I see kids today named
after athletes, cars and alcoholic beverages, I sometimes wonder why their parents went in that direction…Passing
on family traditions doesn’t have to include names.”

You have to read the rest of the article but this section should help. You can see a cohesive story begin to take hold for you to read. This I was told is the mark of a well written paper. Now, I am not saying that all novels can do this. I don’t believe that all well written stories have the ability to have this done. But they are a good start to writing your novel or short story.
Put together the ability to suspend believability with your cohesive first and last sentence exercise and you might have a well written novel. Because you now have a story written that is easy to follow and understand that entertains you the reader and the writer so that they have the gumption to finish the novel.

Spending time with Abbey MacInnis

I want to thank April Dawn and the other contributing authors of Let’s Talk Romance for having me here today.

I love reading books in several genres. My favorite genre, obviously, is romance. Within romance, I love contemporary, paranormal, erotic, and everything in between. Historicals though, have always held a special place in my heart.

As a teenager, I fell in love with authors Julie Garwood, Judith McNaught, Johanna Lindsey, Elizabeth Lowell and many many many others, and the fabulous historical romances they penned. There’s just something about historicals that I absolutely love. It’s a combination of the characters, the story, and the setting that reel me in.

It’s easier for me to get swept away into a story that’s an historical than any other genre. There’s so much that an author can utilize to up the conflict between the characters that simply wouldn’t work in any other genre. It’s fun to see how a regency miss will get herself out of a compromising position with London’s most notorious rake. Or how a Medieval damsel will rescue her knight in shining armor. LOL

For years, I always said I’d write an historical someday. It’s extremely daunting and fun to finally do it. I love doing research, and could get sucked into it all day. I’m a stickler for accuracy, so when I finally pinned the bull by the horns, and decided to write one, first thing I did was the research. His Fifth Avenue Thief isn’t set in a setting or time readers are probably familiar with. I didn’t plan on setting it in NYC in 1850. I was aiming for twenty years prior, but once I did the research, I knew that time would be perfect. The big famine in Ireland in 1848 killed millions, and sent thousands from their homeland and turning to America as a place where they could make a new start. My hero and heroine were no different. Congress passed the compromise of 1850, or the Fugitive Slave Law, making it a crime to aid a runaway slave. This act, and the publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin a few years later, would send the country down the inevitable path to war. I wanted to capture a time of peace.

I love writing books that I’d want to read. I got the idea for this book, in part, from Jenny’s character from the movie Gangs of New York. As a refresher, Jenny’s a turtle dove. She dresses as a maid, sneaks into mansions, and robs their occupants blind. Other than that commonality, that’s all my heroine, Cathlene has in common with her.

Once I established the setting, Aaron and Cathlene took over. It was their story, so I let them tell it. And boy did they. I was just along for the ride.

I have several more historicals planned. I had to get over my initial fear of writing one. LOL I had fun, and I feel my voice is more suited for historicals, but I’m not ditching contemporaries. *g* I’m so glad I confronted that fear. If you’re a writer considering writing something different, go for it. Things might turn out better than you anticipated. If you’re a reader, what’s your favorite type of Historical to read? What would you love to see more of?

I’m continuing my blog tour on Tuesday at the

Mystery World of P.A. Brown

Where I’ll be giving away an Amazon gift card. I’d love it if you stopped by.

Bio:

Abbey MacInnis is a published author of Contemporary Western romance. Along with Contemporary, she writes Historical, Paranormal and erotic romance. Whether she’s being swept off her feet by a Medieval knight, regency rake, or cowboy or cop, her heroes are always strong men who’ll love their women unconditionally.

On most days, Abbey can be found at her computer, penning her latest tale. A tale where love, respect, and passion combine to create a satisfying and happy ending. She invites you to step in to the pages of her romances, to leave your worries behind and get swept up in her world.

His Fifth Avenue Thief blurb:

Two years prior, Irishman Aaron O’Connel took his life from rags to riches. Chance and wits have kept him alive in 1850’S New York City. But no amount of money or success can bring his love Cathlene back from the dead. When a thief sneaks her way into his mansion, the last woman he expects to find absconding with his belongings is his long lost wife.

Abandoned on New York’s shores, a widowed, penniless, and ruined Cathlene O’Connel was left to fend for herself in an unfamiliar world. Fear and circumstance drove her to a life of thieving in order to survive, but her heart risks the biggest danger of all when Aaron hands her a scandalous proposition: A son in exchange for her freedom.

Now that he has her back, Aaron doesn’t intend to let Cathlene slip between his fingers. He’ll do whatever it takes to regain her trust and love. But when an enemy from Cathlene’s past resurfaces, Aaron not only faces battling for Cathlene’s heart, but also her life.

To read an excerpt, go

here.

Buy it at:

Amazon

All Romance Ebooks

Smashwords

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Come follow my blog.

Gathering All Your Friends Around with AJ Best

OK, you’ve finally got some people following you around.  (Relax it’s just me and about 1000 of your closest fans!)  It may be that manly body spray or the pheromones that you put on this morning, but whatever; it’s working for you.  We’re here and we want to know where you are going.  You need to make sure that you are SPECIFIC when you tell us where you are hanging out.

• Instead of, “Hey, I’m going to be over at AJ’s blog tomorrow, why don’t you stop on by!”  Consider the following.  “Hey guys, I’m going to be over at AJ’s blog tomorrow (www.ajbestwrites.com)  The blog post is going up sometime around 8am and I will be answering questions on and off throughout the day.  So stop by and see me!  I need all the support I can get!”

When you give all the pertinent information make sure to include everyone in there.  There may be people who honestly don’t know who I am.  (I know, I know, I can’t imagine it either, but seriously they don’t!)  And there are people where you do your promo work who have never been by AJ Best’s website (shock of all shocks since I’ve been slow to post!) and don’t know when the blog normally posts.  So tell them these things.  Maybe AJ is a night owl and likes to have her posts run at  night, so your friends and followers may end up confused and lost in a time warp.  (You may stop dancing now, we are not at a showing of Rocky Horror Picture Show! Attention here people, attention!)

• Signatures lines baby, signature (sig) lines!  Now don’t get over zealous here.  I have seen some sig lines that are actually longer than the email message that the author sent me.  That is a little bit much. If your audience gets bored after two lines then you have just over two lines too many!  So keep it to the point.  Where do you REALLY want to have them come see you?  Where do you spend the vast majority of your time working the crowds?  Start with the most important thing first your website.  They have to know where to find your important information.  Then list things in order of importance from there — blogs, and then social networks. Now let’s say you have a MySpace page, and a Facebook, but spend 85% of your time at MySpace, well for goodness sake, put that one in your sig tag and leave out Facebook.  No need to clutter it with everything else.  And if you have 12 lines of text about all of your books that you have out, do you really think that a flashing neon sign flashing the book covers, your name AND your website will get them to pay more attention to you?  All things in moderation.

• OK, so you have the readers hooked on you, and they are on your website.  They are searching frantically for your contact information so they can tell you just how wonderful you really are.  Hold on, they can’t find it?  It’s not there?  WHAT!?  Make sure that if you want readers to contact you, that you are available.  Even something as simple as a contact form enables them to get in contact with you without giving out your email address if you are afraid of getting too many emails or getting spammed.  Remember, you can’t gather your friends around if they don’t know where to find you!

• Twitter (www.twitter.com) is a great way to get in touch with people quickly to let them know what is going on in your life.  You have 140 characters to get in there, and leave a message letting them know where you are. You can shrink the URL down by using a number of different methods (http://bit.ly/) which is a website you can go to that will enable you to shorten the URL.

• Calendars!  They are the easiest way in the world to keep in touch with your readers.  I have created calendars for friends and they have added them to their page so their readers can keep up with where they are blogging, chatting, and guesting.  It’s very easy to do with Google (www.google.com/calendar) and you are able to give access to all of your friends, family and relatives.  It’s a great way to keep everyone up to date on what’s going on in your life.

So you need to make sure that people can see where you are, when you are, and who you are hanging out with.  Make sure to keep the lines of communications open, because we all want to be around you, — Don’t You Know That You Are A Shooting Star?  Don’t believe me?  Just ask Bad Company.  Catch you next week when I have to tell you to Be Prepared to Catch the Bug!

An Oldie but One of my Favorite Posts…

Sorry, but I’m double dipping today, this was a blog post I did for one of my guest blogs. I’ve been distracted last couple of weeks with edits and family issues, (which thankfully have settled down). Now I’m the one who’s run-down and coughing up a lung…  Anyhow, here is one of my favorite posts to write and I want to share it with Lets Talk Romance Readers…(I will e back on track next Wed…)  if I can shake this virus! Happy Reading! : )

Four things I learned the hard way as a writer?

Well actually I learned a lot more than four, but if I were to list every one this blog may never end. So, I’ll try to squeeze the most humbling into four lessons.

Like most writers I strive to be published. However, it’s not the only reason I write. Truth is I’ve been writing for several years. Since elementary school. I know it’s the same story as several other writers. But I believe, the fact we writers have this in common is a testament to how important writing is in our lives.

For me it is both therapeutic and fun. I enjoy my stories just as much as I hope my readers do. Still, even though I’ve been writing most of my life, I truly didn’t know “everything” I thought I did…

Number Four: Just because you can doesn’t mean you know how…

Okay, so many of you reading this are probably saying right about now, “what is she effin‘ talking about?” Trust me there is madness in my method and eventually it will all make sense. Twenty-five or so years, probably more, is how long I’ve had a passion for writing. In my mid teens, I’d write lyrics for the songs that my heavy metal rock band, Paper Dolls, would one day play for thousands of screaming fans. I never did learn to play that guitar…and…I never did start that band. Anyhow, I did write an awesome song. Well, at the time they were awesome. Now when I pull one out and start to read it…

In the land of paper dolls…

no one knows my darkest hour…

into to the night they hear my calls (pronounced C-O-L-L-S)

the wind takes me away…

I’m amazed by your power…

Okay, okay, I’ll stop. Hope none of you lost your lunch on that one.

Hey at least it rhymed…sort of. But that is my point. Not the rhyming part, but the fact that I could write, yet I had so much to learn. And the learning doesn’t end. Oh I got better as I got older…and past my “dark Period”. However, it wasn’t until I took my writing to the next level of “publishing it” that I truly learned how to do it.

Don’t be ashamed to admit that you might just need that grammar course or the creative writing workshop…read everything you can about what published books have that yours might not. Absorb the knowledge like it’s your first day in kindergarten and you’re about to learn your ABCs. I shot my load to fast with my first MS. Thinking it was going to WOW the publishing world…I would get deals up the yin-yang and become the next Kenyon, or Jaid Black…

Boy was I mistaken, the only thing I got up my yin, was a foot full of yang from several editors, who suggested I go back to…”the Basics” and take a few grammar classes. Despite my crushed ego, they were 100% right. Today I have four short erotic stories published with Every Night Erotica, and A book, Soulmate’s Touch published with Sizzler Editions, an imprint of Renaissance E Book Publishers, and another title on the way.

Number Three: Never take criticism about your work personally…

When I got back all those rejections on my first MS, I decided, well actually it was strongly recommended by an editor at Loose Id, that I join a critique group. I joined four. I took the suggestion very seriously. My first few crits were eye-openers, to say the least. The masterpiece that was my MS, went through the ringer and then back. Some crit partners were very supportive, and constructive. Still others were straight forward, no-shit-give-to-ya straight-and made me cry. It was the rough ones that almost had me toss-up my hands and give up writing forever. Fine, if they hate my work that much then, screw-em all! I’ll just go learn how to play that guitar that’s been sitting in my attic gathering dust for the last twenty or so years.

Then it hit me. Duh! The rejections from all those publishers, this was what they were talking about. All the areas of work my crit partners pointed out…that’s why my MS had been turned down.

“LIGHT BULB” Hey what if I take those critiques, find a few courses and workshops and then apply it to my MS. Slowly the old spark of determination started to get brighter. My dashed hopes turned into sudden realization that the critiques of my work were tools to help me NOT hinder. Tools that would bring me more than half way to my goal. Eventually I began to get “Bravo” comments from my crit partners. I was so proud of my self.

Number Two:Thank you goes a long way…

Rejections are going to come your way. I don’t care who you are. No matter how good you know your novel is, when you finally get it critiqued, polished and ready for submission, someone is going to reject it. Just move on.

Don’t send a nasty letter back explaining how you slaved over, revised, edited your ms; and how all your crit partners, some of which are in the publishing industry absolutely LOVED it and that they wouldn’t know a GOOD story if it slapped them in the face. First off, do you really think that editor will be convinced to give your MS another glance…? I don’t think so. If any thing they will most likely take your MS and put a burning match to it.

If you’ve worked so hard on it, and know it has potential, then send it to someone who is looking for that kind of stories. Like everyone else, editors and agents have different tastes and preferences. It’s not you, it’s just your particular story was not their cup of tea or they just didn’t like it. And that’s okay.

However, always, always send a thank you to that editor and/or agent. Keep in mind that you may at some point want to submit to that publisher again. Don’t burn those bridges. You may think that it’s a waste of time, no editor is going to bother reading your “Thank you for your time or consideration…” And that may very well be true. But what if they do. What kind of impression do you want to leave with that publisher.

Number One: Stay humble, keep an open mind and never discourage another writer…

Although I’ve never been one to toot my own horn, I have come across some very arrogant writers. I find it abhorrent for a writer to tell another aspiring author that their work simply sucks. Yes, I have come across some people who have used that very word to describe stories they have read. My preferred genre, writing style, topics, premises…etc…isn’t what you prefer to read and yours may not be mine, but don’t tell me it sucks…if you find technical issues with some one’s work, point it out and make suggestions. If it’s not your genre, refer that writer to someone with similar tastes. Never discourage another writer from doing what they love. Everyone has to start somewhere.

I once had a friend of mine email back my short story I sent her with an icon of a cartoon Satan, ripping it in half and tossing it into the fires of Hell. I was so depressed by that. What really hurt was that she hadn’t even read the whole story, just the first two paragraphs. She told me the whole sci-fi premise just wasn’t what she was “into”. Eventually, she apologized. I still kicked her ass, the Bitch. But that was for a whole different reason.

In conclusion Keep writing and let your imagination take off. Here is my motto…,

 Read, Write and Live.

Emma 

The Best Writing Advice Ever

By Kay Springsteen

You have your story. You’ve had it critiqued. You’ve followed your publisher’s guidelines…well sort of. What exactly do they mean by first line indent, anyway? And even though they ask for 12 PT font in Times New Roman, your manuscript looks so much classier in 10 PT Book Antiqua. And you know it’ll get much more attention with a flourish at the top of each chapter. And maybe they asked for line spacing of double, but doesn’t 1.5 look much nicer? And of course, when they say nothing over 100,000 words, no one will REALLY say anything if your manuscript is submitted with 102,000 words, right?

Again, with my editor cap in place, would you care to know what would really make your publisher’s day?

Following the submission guidelines.

If their submission guidelines are present on their website, they’re there for a reason. If they want double spacing, give them double spacing. If they want 12 PT Times New Roman or Courier, send it in one of these fonts. As far as content, know the publishing house where you are submitting. If it’s a sweet house, they aren’t looking for threesomes. And I haven’t found a press yet that wants submissions that include graphic depictions of rape or even a hint of pedophilia. If the guidelines say “no cursing,” don’t try to sneak “what the hell” in there.

But very honestly, the best advice I can give is about something that occurs before you type the first words of your story. With your word processing program. Learn it inside out. Read a book on it. Take a class in it. Find out how to do the most basic of functions, from setting line spacing to learning what keys do what.

I can’t tell you how many people center something on a page by using the tab key. Or how many use the space bar and space in five times for the line indent. And at the end of a chapter, instead of a hard page break, they simply hit the enter key until they’re at the top of the page. It all may look pretty good when it’s submitted. But with the first edits, all of these formats are useless. A hard page break will remain in place and the chapter headings will always be at the top of the page no matter how much material you add or remove during edits.

Classes in software are generally very inexpensive, and often tutorials are all you might need and many of those are offered by the software companies free of charge with purchase. Using your software the appropriate way will cut down on your editing time because you won’t have to stop to reformat when you are polishing your manuscript prior to submission. But mostly, your publisher will offer you sincere thanks for turning in a manuscript that’s easy to work with.

Happy writing!