Monday, October 30, 2006
Synopsis Insanity!
What is it about a synopsis that's so incredibly hard? For me it's trying to sum up a 40k story in 4 pages. Gotta have all the major stuff in there too. Can't leave anything out. Gee, no problem!
Beyond writing a synopsis I've been trying to come up with my own newsletter. I've seen plain ones. Simple text. I've seen snazzy ones. Like Carly Phillips and Diane Whiteside. Very nice, very eye catching. But, how do they do those things? It's a puzzle to me...So far everything I've come up with I've deleted, because it just looks...stupid.
Last, I'm going a little crazy with this Pen name issue. I know it needs to be done, but I'm really wishing I'd thought of this way back in the beginning. I feel invisible or something. Very odd and a lot of work. If you are considering a writing career, come up with one name in the beginning and then stick to it. Don't do like I've done and change your mind half way into it. Grrrrr.
That's all the bitching I've got for now. Back to what you were doing. LOL!
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Anyone Have the Time?
because I don't. Lately my world--which used to be very orderly--has been scattered and rushed and filled with chaos. It's to the point where I'm now forgetting things and am forced to write things down.
Finding the time to write has not been easy either. If it's not the phone ringing, it's some task that needs my attention. Whether online or off. Laundry, dishes, email, groups...there's always something pulling me out of my 'zone'. I don't see much of an end either...maybe after the holidays, but I won't be holding my breath on that.
However, I have gotten some writing done this week, despite all the craziness. I've been working on my suspense thriller, Spilled Blood. So far so good. Also, I've been working on my synopsis for the story I just finished. Gotta get that baby sent in soon!
How's everyone else's week been going? Hopefully slightly calmer than mine!
Saturday, October 21, 2006
a fun new yahoo group!
Click to join Romance_Bistro
Okay Ladies...this is it...the hottest thing since Nathan Kamp appeared on the cover of Wildly Winston. Romance Bistro features a little something for everyone. They'll serve you some spicy excerpts. A flavorful mix of hot hunks and great conversation.
Their smokin' authors include:
Kelley Vitollo
Stacy Dawn
Rene Lyons
Megan Rose
& Anne Rainey
Stacy Dawn gives romance a wake up call and Anne Rainey will give you a passionate encounter in a cabin in the woods. Kelley Vitollo will be glad to tantalize you with a dream man ready to be your sexy Mr. Right. Let Rene Lyons give you a succulent sampling of the paranormal. Maybe Megan Rose will quench your thirst for revenge...or Emma Sinclair will be glad to serve you a tempting dish of fate...
Whatever your taste,
Whatever you crave,
These ladies deliver!
Thursday, October 19, 2006
by
Calista Cahill
you are the painter of my life
bringing to life the masterpiece
that is me
a vision of hope
a smile when there is nothing but cold shoulders
my friend when all has turned to dust
most of all you are me
the one who is always with me
the one who won't betray me
or openly lie to my face
although at times you have changed
more or less you are the same
you dream with me
you cry with me
you seemingly understand my world
but you are just my reflection
my image cast in a glass
you will not betray my trust
for I know when you are false
for you are me
for only I can truly trust myself
before I can trust and love another
and only you can understand me
before you can release my heart to care again
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Sunday, October 15, 2006
I completely soaked up "Take Me"!
I ended up reading all day today. Took the time to just veg and read and eat. What a way to spend a chilly Sunday. Curled up with a good book. Lucy Monroe always gives me my money's worth, ya know? While your heart is in your throat and your feelings are being tossed about, you're also dying from the heat these her stories create. Great love scenes! Great ending! Great tortured hero in "Take Me".
...Beauty and the Beast, only better, so much better. If you don't have this series, you should buy it. I'm totally not into historicals really, but I made the exception with this series and I'm glad I did, because it went beyond my expections.
Touch Me
Tempt Me
Take Me
get them. read them. trust me!
Friday, October 13, 2006
This poem is a Villanelle. Which is nineteen lines long, Tercets with only two rhymes. The first and third line of the first stanza alternating as the third line in each successive stanza and forming a couplet at the close. Make sense? LOL…it will once you start reading. I enjoy trying different strict forms of poetry. Forces me to go outside my comfort zone…while I like free verse, I think the fixed forms have a more lyrical sound when read aloud.
Mary’s Song
Cries carried upon the night
Pale skin, her body frail,
Poor Mary’s sorrowful plight.
To stare brings such fright,
Such a ghostly pain-filled wail,
Cries carried upon the night.
Bloody lips eager to bite,
Taunting with night’s eerie gale,
Poor Mary’s sorrowful plight.
For her curse burns ever bright,
She’ll pound your last coffin nail,
Cries carried upon the night.
Hold your blessed child tight,
Don’t let her catch you in the dale,
Poor Mary’s sorrowful plight.
As she will shed no merciful light,
And she’ll laugh at your urban tale,
Cries carried upon the night,
Poor Mary’s sorrowful plight.
Thursday, October 12, 2006
I found "Take Me" by Lucy Monroe today and I swear I thought I'd hit the jackpot. It just made my day. This lady is such a fabulous author. I never get tired of her imagination. If only I had her talent!
here's a quick blurb of the book:
Jared, Viscount Ravenswood, has no choice but to honor the deathbed wish of his ailing servant. All she asks is that Jared introduce her soon-to-be orphaned daughter to the notorious and reclusive Calantha, Duchess of Clairborne. No ordinary request, for this is no ordinary child. She is, in fact, the key to the Duchess's most private secrets, and to Jared's own past-one that has branded him Lord Beast among the ton.
But when the Viscount meets the Duchess, he finds not the pitiless dowager he expected, but a lovely and wary angel-survivor of a brutal marriage left now with only her roses and the breathtaking mystery that is her life. For Jared, to solve it is to fall in love, to make her believe in the impossible, and to follow the promise that comes with the most intimate whisper of all... Take me...
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Tender and passionate and everything I love about romance!
A champagne toast between three beautiful best friends—and a pact to make their fantasies come true before their thirtieth birthdays. Catherine, Kellie, and Gina, three very different women, but with one goal and the race is on.
As I read these three stories my initial reaction is that Ms. Maynard has a created a very nice mix. She didn’t go into the more wicked world of erotic romance but it’s still not your granny’s romance either!
The first story in this trio…mmm, very hot. I know these stories don’t have the Scimitar flavor behind them, but they aren’t tame either. In Still Waters, Catherine is a painfully shy Archivist in a local Charleston museum and completely fascinated by the hard working, wealthy Phillip Trent. Feeling a moment of brevity, Catherine decides to stop by Phillip’s office, only his secretary lets her know in no uncertain terms that he’s busy and has no time in his schedule to fit her in. She leaves feeling downhearted and uncertain she’ll ever work up the nerve to talk to Phillip. Just then, Phillip comes running down the street after Catherine. He asks her out. She accepts and this story gets emotional and steamy from there. A masked ball. A promise of passion. Glorious! Catherine pulled at me the most, because I know how it feels to be so painfully shy, esp. around men. It reminded me of a modern day version of Prince Charming.
My favorite story is the second, however. This one is about Kallie and Beau. Big huge sigh here, ladies. I do so love the friendship type romances. In Skin Deep, artist Kallie Bradshaw has had a thing for restaurant owner Beau Donovan for a very long time, but she’s been too afraid to act on her feelings. Fear of ruining a great friendship while getting her heart crushed has kept her from making a fool of herself. Fortunately, Beau isn’t so immune to her as she thinks he is and he’s not plenty ready to change their friendship to something much deeper.
The last story, Party Girl, was a perfect way to wrap up this anthology. Gina is very hardened, but with such a sensitive core. Trey is the perfect man for her. He’s so kind and yet so anxious to make her his and his alone. To make up for the past. To let her know just how stupid and wrong he was about her. I love a hero like that! And when he keeps getting jealous over the two guys staring at her chest when they go parasailing, he’s also very much the typical guy--possessive and predatory. I love it when an author throws those types of feelings in there. Vulnerability, protectiveness, and a need to forget the past and start fresh. Do you see now, why this is a great way to conclude these three stories?
~It’s a truly excellent trilogy. Gentle and romantic. It’s a fairy tale/prince charming tale--only with HOT love scenes! Oh, and I loved the epilogue! What a great surprise for Gina! You’ll have to read it to know what I mean!
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
I am the type of person who hates having schedules, but I need them. I need to have some idea of what I'm doing from day to day. I find that I hate last minute changes, big pet peeve of mine. Or, when someone who doesn't bother much with schedules calls you at the last minute wanting you to go here or there.
Writing without a schedule is like traveling cross country without a map. You may not like needing it, but you aren't so crazy not to have it as a guide. I try to give myself a set number of pages per day. I like working in the mindset that if I get my pages done, then I've put in a good day. If I get more done then that's just a bonus, it doesn't mean I take the next day off. LOL! Also, giving myself goals and deadlines, helps ensure that I get to take the weekend off with a clear mind. Nothing weighing on me.
Vacations are another story. They are great. We all need them. It gives us time to unwind and spend time with family. We eat too much and over sleep and we love every minute of it. However, my schedule goes right out the window and it seems to take forever to get back on track once vacation is over. Also, I go insane when I can't write! I'm like a little kid and someone is forcing me to sit still in a starched dress in church. Itchy and distracting and it just plain makes me want to shout!
Okay, I feel better. On with your day... :-)
Monday, October 09, 2006
As I read through all the comments it's driven me to add a little more about this topic.
The main reason for the Rumors post is to remind ALL of us (including myself) that these things happen. We can't do anything about them. If someone is going to talk about you that's their problem, it's out of your control. However, maybe it will make us think twice before doing the same thing to someone else. For myself, I think it helps to remember that dwelling on issues that you cannot fix or solve is futile. It can eat away at you until, at some point, you are losing sleep or you may even do something you regret. I have two daughters. I sent the Rumors poem to both of them because let's face it, most of this sort of thing is learned by watching mom and dad. So if they see me gossiping or feeling bitter because I've been the fodder for gossip, what message does that send? On the other hand, if they see that mom has better things to do rather than sit around and talk about someone else's life, then I think they'll get the point.
Mostly, I just think it's a good idea to always learn from your mistakes. While we've all been hurt by gossip, we've probably been the one doing the gossiping a time or two as well. What goes around comes around! I'm sure that I was only getting what I deserved. Well, maybe a bit more than what I deserved, LOL. Still, it's taught me to keep my trap shut.
Lastly, it's not really a matter of who or what hurt me that prompted me to post about it, but mainly to remind myself (and maybe a few others) of what my mom used to say when I was a kid. "Use that filter God gave you, it's there for a reason." So, think long and hard before you decide to start spewing out hateful things, because they will undoubtedly hurt someone down the road.
Friday, October 06, 2006
Rumors: They Hurt Everyone
Deviating from my usual writing/books discussions to talk about rumors. You know what those are right? We've all spread them. We've all gossiped at some point. Don't deny it, because if you do, you're lying to yourself. Whether it was a friend who told you a secret, asked you not to tell anyone, then you turned right around and told. Soon, the news was all over the place and your friend looks at you with hurt in her eyes. Or, that annoying family member who gets under your skin and you just really want to tell someone about her/him. Soon, you're telling everyone nasty things about this person and then you wonder, "gee, why is she so mad at me?"
The thng is, I've recently been the butt of some rumors and I know how much it hurts to know someone has been talking about you. To know that someone you considered a friend was really anything but! It taught me a hard lesson. So, as a writer I wrote a poem about it in the hopes that maybe next time you feel compelled to stab someone in the back, you might think twice, because Karma is a bitch with a keyboard...
Monday, October 02, 2006
Keeping 'it' fresh!
This post is thanks to Jenn, as she got me thinking about this particular topic. How do we as writers keep the sex in a story fresh? How do we keep it from sounding and feeling like every other love scene we've ever read? Some say, cross a few boundaries. Go where most authors don't dare tread. For instance, there’s the idea of multiple partners or maybe tossing in a bit of Dom/sub. Then again, even others say don't show the sex at all...stop it at the bedroom door. However, some of the old school authors advise that with a fun and exciting plotline the love scenes won't matter. Keep the sexual tension going and that will carry you through.
For me, I don't stop at the bedroom door. Those types of stories, while fine for some, are simply not what I want to present to the reading public. I think showing the sex between a loving couple is a glorious thing and nothing to be ashamed of, nor is it something to skim over or take lightly. I think a great love scene stays with a reader. Be honest as you read this, don't you always remember the authors that made you burn? Don't you go back for more? I know I do.
Every favorite author of mine is a favorite in part because they've managed to take me into another world. A world filled with sensuality and eroticism. It creates for me, the reader, a beautiful and thrilling scenario that I remember for days to come. I reread such authors as J. R. Ward, Lori Foster, Shannon McKenna Jaid Black, and Janice Maynard (to name a few) partly because they have scenes that get my heart pounding and my blood running hot. If you've ever read these talented ladies then you already know what I mean.
In closing, as a writer, it's my wish to leave the reader wanting to reread my book. I want the reader to whisper to her friend, "hey, did you read Boyer's story? Was that hot or what?" "Haley's Cabin" is due for release on February of 2007...we'll see then what readers think. Will I be a reread or a toss back to the UBS?
Only time will tell…
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