August 2017

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Saturday, August 26, 2017

WeWriWa: The Future’s Not Set . . . Not Yet!


I’m in that limbo between waiting for edits on one book and planning to start another, so I thought I’d share a little more about my next hero and heroine with the rest of a scene from UNLEASHED BY SHADOWS in which the two meet . . . and stars align. 

A shiver of heat coursed through him when her fingertip traced lightly along the creases of his palm as she read, “I see a good heart, a long life, and a very healthy libido, everything but your name.” 

Her gaze flirting with his while he told her, she added, “Well, Kip Terriot, Mademoiselle Phe will answer all if you’ll let me draw you.” She dragged out an artist’s pad and pushed him into one of her folding chairs, the tip of her pen scratching over the surface of the paper without her glancing down at it. 

In answer to her husky prompt of, “Your question?”, he tried to ignore his attraction to the artist while explaining his interest in the van, to which she shrugged and replied, “Oh, sure, I see it all the time. The a-hole driver blocks in my pick-up so I’ve had to report him more than once.” She set down the tablet to rummage in a huge crocheted bag that lounged at her feet like an old hound, pulling out a card and scribbling on the back saying, “Here’s his plate number . . . and my phone number. I’m Phe, Ophelia Brady, but you can call me anytime . . . if you have any other questions.” 

She picked up the pad and turned it to show him the lines capturing his profile, the curve of his ear, hollow of his throat, but all the attention went to his eyes and lips, then, as she stripped the drawing off the pad and quickly rolled it into a tube, she pointed the end toward one of the alleys leading off the Square, saying, “Third door, top floor.” 

Kip took the sketch with a quiet, “Thank you for the information and the picture . . . and the future.” 

“Oh, that future isn’t set,” she promised with a wink, “not yet.” 

I’m setting aside more plotting (hahahaha, like that’s going to happen!) while heading out of state for an annual lakeside Legal Secretaries Gone Wild Weekend with three of my former co-workers, one of which happens to be my d-i-l! Sunscreen, check, bathing suit, check, but no computer so I’ll be checking in with everyone’s posts on Monday.

If you’d like to read more about my “in the veil” transition period between heroes, you might enjoy my Friday’s post at Paranormal Romantics on It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye.

Here’s me and Grandguy from last weekend’s Double Digit Birthday celebration, all glassy-eyed from too much fun wishing you Happy Back to School and Happy Reading!



Weekend Writing Warriors is a weekly hop for everyone who loves to write! Share an 8 to 10 sentence snippet of your writing on Sunday. Visit other participants on the list and read, critique, and comment on their 8sunday posts.


Spread the word, share the love, warriors - Hashtag #8sunday.

Sunday, August 20, 2017

WeWriWa: Stay With Me!


As promised, here’s the last part of the scene between Amber and Rico in PRINCE OF FOOLS. She needs to keep him at arm’s length for both their safety, forcing him to sacrifice everything he desires . . . if she says the word. But can she? His last petition to her was, “Just don’t push me away.”


Her shaking hands covered his, squeezing until they grew numb. "I don't want to hurt you."

"The truth won't hurt me,” he said, adding with a gruff little laugh, "well, it'll sting a bit, but I need to hear it. If you really want me gone, you tell me now, and I'm gone. I'll head home tonight, 'cuz I'm not strong enough to stay here in the same city with you and keep my distance. Tell me what you want. Do I stay or go?"

Rico waited, not daring to breathe, balancing the way he had on that post as a boy, at the end of his endurance with so much at stake, knowing he'd have to abide by whatever she said, no matter how difficult, no matter who else he had to let down.

Finally, when there wasn't a scrap of air in his lungs, he heard her whisper, "Stay."



FINALLY! And yes, finally PRINCE OF FOOLS is up for pre-order on Amazon (with Nook, Kobo and iBook to follow as well as the trade paper!). If you need an extra push, here’s the book blurb to tease you . . .


PRINCE OF FOOLS
“House of Terriot” Book 3

A dark prince to her Cinderella barmaid . . .

Rico . . . Prince in the shapeshifter House of Terriot

Reckless, hotheaded Rico Terriot seeks purpose and a sense of pride training the resentful guardians of New Orleans to defend a city besieged by a deadly outside force. Torn between his desire for his brother’s mate and the woman tied to the child of another, protecting their future happiness means denying his own on a dangerous path to redemption.

One night of stolen pleasure he didn’t remember and she couldn’t forget…

Amber . . . a single mother hiding a terrible past

Rico Terriot was the stuff of dreams . . . lately all of hers. But there’s no happily-ever-after for someone living in the shadows, protecting dangerous secrets that threaten her and her daughter. Dare she believe in a fairytale prince when he comes to her rescue, not knowing the price he’ll pay for making her troubles his own? From world’s so far apart, is love strong enough to hold them together . . . and keep them alive?

Woo Hoo! That says it all. And I’m going to be saying an awful lot more this weekend speaking at our Mid-Michigan RWA chapter meeting in my old hometown and celebrating my grandguy’s 10th birthday! Friends and family. It doesn’t get much better!

Happy Weekend! And don’t go peeking through your fingers tomorrow!



Weekend Writing Warriors is a weekly hop for everyone who loves to write! Share an 8 to 10 sentence snippet of your writing on Sunday. Visit other participants on the list and read, critique, and comment on their 8sunday posts.


Spread the word, share the love, warriors - Hashtag #8sunday.

Sunday, August 13, 2017

WeWriWa: Let's Stay Together . . . and a Pre-Order Announcement!


Let's start off with a continuation of last week's emotional scene from PRINCE OF FOOLS . . . then, to the Big Announcement!

Things are bad all over for poor Rico as he tries to convince Amber to believe in him, the way no one else ever has before. He's finally made the commitment in his own heart and mind that she and her daughter are his future. But she seems less certain it's a road they can travel together, not with all the ugly stuff she has packed in her past baggage. Last week's excerpt ended with Rico claiming, "Ammy, you don't have to carry whatever this is alone.”


“I may not be smart, but I can lift heavy things. Trust me to help you carry whatever this is. Please, please, let me help you."

A sob escaped, "I can't."

"Yes, you can. I'm right here, where I'll always be for you and Evie, and nothing, nothing will change that. I'm your guy. I will fight for you, I'll protect you, you know I will. If it's something you can't talk about just yet, I'll wait until you can. Just don't push me away."

So, what do you think she's going to do?? The rest of the scene will play out next week.

Now, the ANNOUNCEMENT!

PRINCE OF FOOLS will be up for Pre-Order on Kindle at any minute. SQUEEE! Yes, I still have some revisions to finish, but you can be first in line when October 23 rolls around to have this HOT ("House of Terriot"!) cover set Fire to your e-reader screen:



How's your August shaping up on the keyboard, fellow Weekend Warriors?



Weekend Writing Warriors is a weekly hop for everyone who loves to write! Share an 8 to 10 sentence snippet of your writing on Sunday. Visit other participants on the list and read, critique, and comment on their 8sunday posts.


Spread the word, share the love, warriors - Hashtag #8sunday.

Sunday, August 06, 2017

WeWriWa: Don't Go Breaking My Heart . . . Release Date Announcement!


It's getting down to the panic wire regarding PRINCE OF FOOLS now that I've set an October 23, 2017 release date. I know, it sounds so faaaaar away but when you start blocking out the time for BETA reads (now reading!), final revisions, professional editing, cover, format, proofing, setting up PR events, October is knocking on the door! So, to make my life easier and multitask, I'm taking one of my favorite scenes and breaking it down into 8-10 line bits over the next three Sundays, accompanied by tunes I'm considering for my playlist. Have a read and take a listen...

"What did I do?" His voice, so low and broken, brought tears to her eyes with his vow, "I can make it right, there has to be some way."

"There's nothing." Amber swallowed hard through the words, barely recognizing them as her own, telling him, "Please, Frederick, don't make this more difficult for either of us."

His brow bumped the back of her head, uneven breaths scorching her neck as he whispered, "Then tell me you don't want me, tell me you don't love me, and I'll leave you alone. You'll never see me again. Tell me, if that's what you really want."

She couldn't force those lies through the tightness in her throat, not with him standing up against her, supplying that heat she'd longed for. As the silence stretched out, his shivery exhale stirred her hair and his hands came up to rub her forearms, a slow, gentle friction.

"Ammy, you don't have to carry whatever this is alone.”



What do you think? (I'm still loudly singing along here at work while typing this up in the absence of attorneys or clients! Sic: Friday). Hopefully, I'll be keyboard deep this coming week in my final draft to get it to my eagle eye editor.

How's your weekend shaping up?


Weekend Writing Warriors is a weekly hop for everyone who loves to write! Share an 8 to 10 sentence snippet of your writing on Sunday. Visit other participants on the list and read, critique, and comment on their 8sunday posts.


Spread the word, share the love, warriors - Hashtag #8sunday.

Wednesday, August 02, 2017

IWSG: Pet Peeves - A Horse of a Different Color


Today we insecure folk address not our own perceived failings, but look toward the objects of our own annoyances - our pet peeves when reading/writing/editing. I have to look no farther than a multiple NY Times bestseller who in her sexy western historical changed the heroine's horse from a stallion to a gelding, from a roan to a horse of a different color all while galloping the span of two chapters. And then unzipped the hero decades before that convenient access was invented.

Inaccuracy, thy name is my pet peeve!

When I wrote my first published novel back in the mid-'80s, it was a historical in Regency garb, printed by a major New York house (with a 2nd printing, no less). Avenues for research were the local library, and deets were scarce. There were no special interest loops, no blogs devoted to topics, no Google Search. You were on your own to thumb through musty tomes in hopes of catching errors before they reached reader's always discerning eyes. Your one saving grace was that your editor or copy editor would pick up the slack in spotting erroneous gaffs. But I didn't and they didn't, and I was slammed by a nameless judge in my first major contest. Lesson freaking learned. Accuracy matters.

Whether in historicals, paranormals, contemporaries or eroticas, facts is facts, and it's our job as authors to get them right . . . and keep them consistent. Earmark factoids and questions while doing that first draft and look them up before you go on to the next (and news flash: Wikipedia isn't always right). Keep a running log of details involving characters (and horses) for names, colors, etc., of weather conditions, time of day, distance time lines, all those nitpicky details that some OCD reader (not mentioning any names) will immediately spot and not be able to get over.

But it's hard to fix something that's wrong when you don't know something's wrong. Read extensively in your genre/era, not just fiction but non-fiction, too. Search out those unique tidbits of setting and dialogue and fact. Ask someone familiar with the genre to BETA read, and ALWAYS have your work professionally edited before it gets released to sniff out those miraculous (and annoying) changes of sex and hue . . . unless its Sci-Fi/paranormal and could believably happen.

Writing and editing is more than gerunds and Oxford commas. The devil is in the details . . . so get them right.

So what's your on the page pet peeve?



Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer - aim for a dozen new people each time.



The awesome co-hosts for the August 2nd posting of the IWSG will be Christine Rains, Dolarah @ Book Lover, Ellen @ The Cynical Sailor, Yvonne Ventresca, and LG Keltner!

Let’s rock the neurotic writing world!


Twitter hashtag is #IWSG