May 31, 2007

You Tell ME the Story

Tomorrow is a very exciting day for me! Tomorrow launches the third of my You Tell Me the Story Events at my website! Here’s how it works. I write the first chapter of a historical romance novella and at the end, I’ll offer you three options for what should happen next. You vote, I write whatever option is most popular. It’s sort of ‘choose your own adventure’ romance! The first two stories, “Her Every Desire” and “A Scandal to Keep” are available FREE on my website.

So what is THIS novella about?

It’s called “A Woman Scorned” and it features characters from the first novella, “Her Every Desire”.

After a being devastated when her engagement was broken two years before, Lady Madeline Reynolds has tried to hide, but the scandal of her former fiancé’s deceits still hangs over her head. When her aunt asks Maddie to come and attend to her in the country during the last months of a difficult confinement, Madeline jumps at the chance to leave gossipy London and avoid another humiliating Season. But a chance meeting with a man unlike any she’s ever known makes Madeline dare to believe in the possibility of love… but only if she can become someone else.

I love letting the readers guide the story, so if you’ve never come and played before, stop on by tomorrow, read the chapter and vote! Everyone who votes will be automatically entered to win a selection of awesome coverflats on the day the voting ends after each chapter.

So why do I do these things? Well, it all started before SCANDALOUS was published. I wanted to let the reader fans have a taste of my writing so that hopefully they would go out in (small) droves and pick up the book. And this idea popped into my head. The first one was so fun to do that I did a second one before FROM LONDON WITH LOVE came out. And poor Maddie has been asking for a happily ever after since I broke her heart in book 1. I love getting the reader interaction and it’s also a totally different way of writing for me (I’m a plotter and this is completely seat of the pants).

I hope you’ll come join in the fun, starting tomorrow!

May 30, 2007

From Brogan MacLochlainn

I thought I’d give the hero of A Warrior’s Taking a chance to tell you about himself and his mission. His book will be released in just a few weeks … June 26th!

The murder of my father, High Chieftain of the magical Druzai people, is the only possible inducement to make me leave my home isle of Coruain. We know that the murderess is the powerful sorceress Eilinora, an ancient enemy of the Druzai, and we have only one fail-proof weapon to use against her.

The witch’s intentions are clear: to destroy the Druzai and enslave the Tuath, the non-magical people of the earth. I have no interest in the inferior Tuath, but ’tis my role as my father’s chief warrior-sorcerer, to keep Coruain safe. In order to do so, I must travel to the land of the Tuath in search of the powerful weapon – a dull, red stone – that was hidden centuries ago. There are two of these so-called blood stones, and the one I seek is hidden in a place called England, stowed away far into my future, in the year 1813.

Since I was warned to use no magic which could draw Eilinora to me, my journey through time was painful and disorienting. I washed up on the beach near my destination, and was ill-equipped to deal with the Tuath lass who discovered me and kept me from drowning in the surf. I felt sure she must have some magic of her own, for she drew me like a moth to flame. ’Twas impossible, yet Sarah Granger was the most compelling female I’d ever encountered, Druzai or Tuath.

I was more than anxious to collect the stone from its hiding place in the ruins of Ravenfield Castle and get away from there, away from my attraction to the Tuath woman. But since I could not use my magic, I had to search the old ruins painstakingly, brick by brick. It took much longer than I’d hoped, and I found myself being drawn into Sarah’s dire circumstances and her intrepid pursuit of a solution to the problems she faced.

Sarah – and the two little orphaned lasses in her charge – are soon to be evicted from the house at Ravenfield, for it is entailed (whatever that means) to some distant cousin of the children’s father. Sarah intends to take the children into the nearby town and try to support them all by giving lessons to the town children, and by selling her homemade baked goods (which are beyond any magic I’ve ever known). But Sarah was an orphan herself, and ill-treated in that miserable little town. It pains me to think of her trying to make a life there, without any help. I feel certain the best thing would be for her to wed … to have a husband to provide for her … to take care of her needs … to love her as she deserves to be loved.

There was one likely candidate to become Sarah’s husband, the local squire whom she has loved for years. But he’s such a milksop, I can hardly stand the thought of him touching her. Especially when I’ve experienced the utter magic of her kiss. I never meant to do it, but her mouth was irresistible. And when I pulled her fully into my arms …

My actions made no sense whatsoever. Even now, when I think of touching Sarah, I feel an arousal so potent it makes my heart pound and my mouth go dry. As a son of the Druzai chieftain, a member of the most powerful Druzai family of all Coruain, it seems unimaginable that I could succumb to the charms of a Tuath lass, no matter how compelling they might be.

Yet, impossible as it is, I find myself falling completely, recklessly, and wholeheartedly in love with Sarah. I say recklessly, because as a Tuath, she cannot come home to Coruain with me. No matter how I might wish to pursue the attraction that burns between us, Coruain is in terrible peril. I have no choice but to go back. I can make no commitment to her.

There is no way ’round it. Sarah is Tuath, and I am Druzai. Our worlds are entirely different. Our peoples must remain separate, as we were meant to be. I have no choice but to deal with the threat posed by the ancient sorceress by finding the stone and returning it to my home isle. I must leave Sarah.

I only hope I can defeat Eilinora before she can harm Sarah and the lasses …

May 29, 2007

Nintendo a cappella

Something silly for a Tuesday afternoon. This is for all of you old Nintendo fans out there.

I dreamt of snow

Last night I dreamt that my husband and I drove to the store in our town and there was snow all over the parking lot. We were wearing shorts because it’s 90 degrees here. Apparently, in my dream, it was only that hot at my house.

I’ve always been a vivid dreamer. An active dreamer. Like get up and walk around and stuff while still dreaming. Sometimes those dreams are reallllly scary. I can hear and smell and taste and feel things in them and it’s hard to recognize where the dream ends and reality begins.

Have you ever analyzed your dreams? What do you think snow in summer except at my own house means?

May 28, 2007

Memorial Day

This is just a brief message to say Happy Memorial Day to all of our visitors. I don’t actually think about my freedom much. It’s not quite something I take for granted, but I’m just so accostomed to being able to do what I do, say what I say, vote what I vote, that I often don’t remember that there are hundreds of places all over the world where I would not be able to do so.

The freedom I have was earned on the backs and through the blood of others, through hundreds of years of our history. So today I say thank you. Which is woefully inadequate, but the words area all I have. A thank you also goes out to the families of those who wait for the ones giving us our freedom on a day-to-day basis.

So Happy Memorial Day everyone!

May 26, 2007

Stories that captivate

I got to thinking today about how each of us have certain stories that we tell in casual company that always get a reaction.

One story of mine is the tale of my mother’s urn. When she died, she was cremated and we put her ashes in this beautiful ceramic urn. She’d always said she wanted to be on my mantle. But we don’t have a fireplace, so her place of honor was the bottom shelf of a grandfather’s clock in the dining room

The clock actually was made to fit into a corner, and since the urn was on the bottom I thought it was well protected.

One day I was babysitting my daughter’s two dogs (a West Highland White Terrier and a Shih Tzu.) My husband and I left them in the house when we went to the store. When we got back, the urn was on the floor…broken. That wasn’t the worst of it. The funeral home had put her ashes in a very heavy plastic sealed bag.

Yep, you guessed it. The dogs had ripped open the bag and scattered the ashes across the quarry tile floor. I had to sweep up the ashes (hoping I didn’t miss any and/or get any dust from the floor). Unfortunately the only thing I had to put the ashes in was a clear tupperware bowl (with a lid). My mother’s ashes stayed in that bowl for almost a year while I searched for another urn like the old one…with one exception. The new one had to be unbreakable!

My mother had a wonderful sense of humor and I could imagine her laughing with her friends up in heaven over this animal escapade.

Anyway, it’s Memorial Day weekend, time for sitting around with family and friends and remembering those who’ve passed on. Also a time for telling stories.

Do you have a story you’d like to share? One that always gets a reaction or a laugh? C’mon you have to have just one…

May 25, 2007

Alice in Computerland

Okay all you computerphiles out there. I’m in a bit of a quandary and could use a little help.

I have been in the market for a new laptop computer since Christmas. Though I have looked around and gotten some recommendations from people, I am not really sure what it is I need to be looking for. Of course, I know less than nothing about computers, so I am inclined to get one with all the bells and whistles just to make sure I have everything I need for the forseeable future. But I hate to spend the money for that if I can get by with something that does what I want, but costs a lot less.

First of all, I rarely use my desktop computer–and more than likely wouldn’t use a laptop–for much more than typing up my manuscripts and surfing the internet. So I guess I need Microsoft Word and an internet connection. Apart from that, most of the programs that came with my desktop have been pretty much wasted, so I don’t need too many of the extras. Not too complicated, right?

Well…here’s the thing. While I’m not a big PC gamer, I do enjoy playing the PC versions of The Sims, and the most recent additions of this game take a mega amount of memory and a more expensive, graphics intense video card. So I think I need a bit more than your standard laptop. I’ve heard a lot about the Dell XPS, but heaven knows that is way more expensive than the Dimension, and I wonder if I even need to go that far, just so I can play The Sims. Sigh. What’s a gal to do?

So, anybody with any advice out there? I feel like Alice lost down the rabbit hole, since I am totally clueless about this kind of thing. Resident computer experts, speak up!

May 24, 2007

Lost it

So how’s everyone enjoying finale season so far? I like how they handled the Sarah/Grissom thing on CSI (and I certainly hope Jorja Fox resolves her contract dispute and comes back next season). I continue to be amazed that House and Wilson are on speaking terms let alone still friends, and can’t they let Cuddy wear clothes that fit instead of a wardrobe that’s one size too small? On NCIS, I’ve enjoyed watching DiNozzo’s character growth all season. Wasn’t that an ooh! of a final scene?

But enough with the small talk. I just watched the season ender of Lost, and must vent with people who won’t say “it’s just a show” like my husband did. I won’t give it all away in case you had something more important to do and recorded the show instead of watching it live (though y’all know *I* don’t think there’s anything of importance going on until 8 pm tonight and yes of course I already have tickets, but I realize not everyone shares my priorities).

Where was I? Oh yeah … honked off at the writers of Lost. Locke is beginning to seriously annoy me (is he so deluded he thinks they’ll live peacefully wth him on the island after what he just did in front of 40 witnesses?), and don’t even get me started on WimpyJack of the off-island flashes. I might be more forgiving once they show us his motivation for such behavior, though of course that’s another of the myriad secrets they’re keeping. (On the plus side, go Hurley! Atta boy!) But when it comes to what they did with Charlie…

They tried to make it seem noble or heroic, but please, it was just plain TSTL. There were other options available. Believable, viable options that seemed painfully obvious even in the circumstances they created. If they needed the same end result, there were other ways to achieve it. With all that Charlie’s been through and the way he’s grown –- surviving an attempted hanging from Ethan, kicking the drug addiction, making a pseudo-family with Claire — he deserves smarter writing.

What do you think?

May 23, 2007

Workshops, workshops

It’s Conference Season for writers. The time of year when there are a million local chapter conferences, the big RWA National conference in Dallas, BEA in New York, and the list goes on. It also seems like the time when online conferences are big on presenting boot camps and special programs. Well, I’m all on board for that. I like teaching classes. I think it’s fun to talk to other authors and if I can help someone on their journey, then that’s cool, too!

Right now I have 4 workshops that I’m actively teaching:

1. The Great Agent Search — My biggest endeavor where I go through everything you ever wanted to know about agents, from searching for them to hiring them to working with them to firing them.
2. The How, The Why and the What of Website Design for Authors — Sort of speaks for itself, doesn’t it?
3. So I Wrote This Book… Now What? — A basic workshop with the nuts and bolts of the industry.
4. Anatomy of a Love Scene — My new baby. To be presented for the first time in June of this year.

But the thing is, I’ve been teaching these same workshops (with the exception of Anatomy) for a long time. I’m going to be retiring Websites after I present it for the last time in September and I’m probably going to shelve Agents for at least six months after the Central Ohio Fiction Writers Conference (just because I’ve been presenting it a lot and it’s not getting as much play anymore).

So that leaves me with two and I think I need some more workshops.

There are so many basic topics that a workshop can cover. There’s craft, which is obviously about the nuts and bolts of romance writing. There’s Industry, which is teaching about elements of this crazy Romance World. There’s A Writer’s Life, which is about balance or motivation or dealing with the forces that keep you from writing. There’s research, too, which is probably pretty obvious. That’s a lot of topics to pick from. And I just don’t know which ones to focus on.

I know there are a lot of writers out there in Jauntyville. Help me out, here. If you were going to attend a workshop taught by moi (or anyone), what topic would you want covered? What do you have the most questions about? What do you think isn’t being taught by the current slate of conference speakers in the world and cyberspace? What is there interest in?

Lord knows I have time on my hands right now. I might as well create something new with it.

Oh, and if I end up using your idea to create a new workshop (first one who posts the idea gets the credit, but feel free to post repeats if you like someone else’s idea, too), I will send you some coverflats. So have at it!

May 22, 2007

They say it’s your birthday…

It’s my birthday too!!!

Well, I’m another year older, not quite sure if I’m wiser. But I’m definitely feeling (and looking older). Grey hair has taken root above my temples which I feel rather certain I have earned, my skin tone has changed, I’m not getting wrinkles yet, but something about it is not the same as it used to be. But as birthdays go, I’m hopeful for this one and hopeful that this coming year is going to be a good one for me.

When I was a kid my mom used to get this cake from Baskin & Robbins, which I don’t believe they make anymore. I used to have the greatest parties too that all the kids at school talked about afterwards. I haven’t had a party since I turned 30 - we went bowling - I totally love to bowl! This year it will be pretty low-key, but should be nice. The Professor and I are going shopping and I’m going to spend my birthday money and then we’re going to dinner. So what do y’all do for your birthdays? Any annual celebrations?

Scroll down to read Shana’s post on wine.