Tag Archives: Literature

Oh my gosh, I am such a wuss. I don’t think I can do this

Posted on November 29, 2012 | 19 comments

Have you ever written something, thought it was great, but had second thoughts?  Ugh.  I am soooo there right now.

I’ve mentioned a few times that I’m working on a Paranormal called Une Variante.  I am a Fantasy writer at heart, but I like to stretch myself.  My first publication (Last Winter Red) is a Dystopian, and my second and third publications are contemporary “Sweet” Romances.

So why the second thoughts about Une Variante?  Well, the problem is that there is a heat rating.  It’s not kinky or anything, but there is definitely and “open door” to the bedroom.

Having always “faded to black” in the past, I am understandably nervous about this.  I have two people lined up to do a full beta on Une Variante as soon as it is complete. I’ve asked them because one looks for open door romances for her recreational reading, and the second is a writer of open door (and far worse kinkier stuff).

That aside….. Today, I sent the first ten pages to my local critique group.  You know what I did?

**blush**

I CENSORED MYSELF. [Smacks head on desk]

What am I doing?  Ugh.  I just couldn’t send it out in its “True glory”.

Now, part of the problem is that the word count would have dropped them right in the middle of “the scene”.  I didn’t want my critique session to be just “about that”, and I was afraid it would deter from what I really wanted … which was a critique of the beginning.

I considered asking if anyone would find it offensive, and just send “the scene” to people who wanted to read it… but I wussed about that too.

I gotta admit that I also didn’t want to look into the eyes of people after them just having read “that”.  Ugh… I am such a wuss.

Part of me is hoping that the Romance Reader and Erotica Writer tell me that the heat scene stinks, because that would give me an excuse to fade it to black.

[smacking myself again]

Have you ever had second thoughts about something you’ve written?

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Road to Publication #22: You liked it? You really liked it?

Posted on November 5, 2012 | 26 comments

I just had one of those “no way” experiences. Silly, I know… but this is what happened.

The review ARCs went out, and as I mentioned a few weeks ago, people are contacting J.Taylor publishing to ask to do interviews/ book reviews/ or otherwise host the website.

Someone contacted them and asked to do an excerpt from the Anthology. The story that they asked for was Last Winter Red.

How exciting is that? Most of the people are asking for multiple authors, but this person was interested in my story in particular.

What a rush…

Now I have to go and do an intelligent sounding interview with her.

Hmmmm… intelligent? How about moderately sane and able to spell. That I can do.

Errr.. hmmm. The spelling might be a problem too… [**GACK**]

Have you ever gotten all giggly about a reaction when someone read your story?

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I’m on a roll! More Exciting News

Posted on November 2, 2012 | 45 comments

I am super excited to announce that I have signed a contract with Still Moments publishing for my single short “A Test of Faith”.

This is a really big step for me, because this will be my first publication outside of an anthology.  Yep, that’s right… only my name on that cover.

Yeah, okay, maybe that sounds vain — but tough cookies!

“A Test of Faith” is part two of the Jack and Jill story that begins with “Connect the Dots”, which will be published by Still Moments in their “For the Love of Christmas” Anthology that will be released December 4th.

“Connect the Dots” takes place during the stress-filled week before Christmas, and closes on Christmas morning.

“A Test of Faith” picks up a few hours later, and follows our characters through a very bumpy week leading to New Year’s Eve.

Yeah, it looks like this is going to be a holiday thing.  I have an idea for Valentine’s day, but I decided to shelve it temporarily because another project is tapping on my head and screaming “write me first!”

So Yay! Three contracts for me this year!  Two publications in December, and this new one is tentatively scheduled for January 2013.

For the first time in maybe EVER I can honestly say that I have lived up to my New Year’s resolution.  I hope some of you guys have done as well!

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Six Sentence Sunday – Playing up the Romance card

Posted on October 28, 2012 | 7 comments

Here is another Six from my Short “A Test of Faith”. No laughing. I know I’m not the Romance type.

Hmmm… but I can write in a rocket, and have it crash and explode into the office building….

No! No! No! This is the quiet-time… The gentle loving side of me… sit back and relax… *COUGH COUGH*

I ran my fingers down his cheek, my nails scratching against a day’s worth of stubble. “I don’t think you officially asked me out yet, mister.”

The left side of his mouth smiled before the right side. Gosh I loved that little quirk about him.

“Ya gonna get all technical on me now?”

“Sorry, a girl likes to be romanced.”

Yeah, what can I say… It’s romance… It’s just a little something fluffy I do to gear myself up to EXPLODE SOMETHING! Buts it’s nice to write a sequence once in a while that doesn’t make you tense. You know what I mean?

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Flash Finish Contest for a FREE COPY of “For the Love of Christmas”– Part of the Still Moments Halloween Blog Hop

Posted on October 22, 2012 | 20 comments

This post is just supposed to be a spooky story, but I decided to bend the rules a bit and have fun.  Yes, this is a giveaway.

One random participant will receive a free copy of Still Moments Publishing’s “For the Love of Christmas”, so you can cuddle up with my Holiday Tale “Connect the Dots” as soon as it is available.* Yay!  It’s so cool to be giving away something I wrote!  Wahooo!

Oh Yeah!  By entering here, you will automatically be entered into Still Moments’s main prize drawing, where you can win one of the prizes listed here:  Click me to see the pretty jewelry PLUS books too!!

Okay.  Rules.  Don’t worry, I’ll make it easy.

Click here to follow me on Goodreads (Extra brownie points if you add my book to your “to read” list

Follow this blog (Easy.  Just press the follow button on the right)

Click here to make friends on Facebook.

Okay.  Now the fun part.  I’m going to start a short Halloween story.  All you need to do is finish the story in as few as one line, or as many as 100 words.  (I won’t count your words 🙂 )

NOTE:  YOU MUST INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS IN YOUR COMMENT TO BE ENTERED INTO THE GRAND PRIZE DRAWINGS

Winners will be chosen at random from everyone who’s followed the rules.  (Which means this isn’t rocket science.  We are out to have fun here, by golly!)

Oh Yeah!  By entering, you will automatically be added to Still Moments list of participants, where you can win one of the prizes listed here.

Okay… The spooky story all ready for you to finish… Here we go!

The hinges creak as I push the door open with trembling fingertips.  The light from my candle casts an eerie glow throughout the chamber.  I set the taper down, and search the room.  Where had that sound come from?

A dull thud from behind chills the very blood in my veins, cooling my heart and transfixing me. No one else should have access to this hall.

The glow of the candle flickers over the poker leaning against the fireplace, the only weapon close enough for me to …

A footstep sounds behind be, and cold fingers wrap around my arm.

***

There you go!  What happens?  It could be one sentence, or a few.  I can’t wait to see what you come up with.  Have fun!

The contest will close October 26th and I will announce a winner soon after.

Note:  Still Moments will draw their Grand Prizes from all participants across the entire blog hop.  Please feel free to visit the other participating blogs to increase your chances.  Grand Prize drawings will take place on October 26th. Email Addresses are required for the Grand Prize drawings.  Entries without email addresses will be discarded.

Want extra chance to win?  Hop along the Blog Hop trail below, and good Luck! (I want that stinking necklace… so cool!)

Participating SMP Authors:

October 22, 2012
Terri Rochenski – http://www.terrirochenski.blogspot.com/
Jennifer Eaton – http://www.jennifermeaton.com/
Ceri Hebert – http://cerihebert.wordpress.com/

October 23, 2012

Liv Rancourt – http://www.livrancourt.com/
Denise Moncrief – http://denisemoncrief.blogspot.com/
Dani-Lyn Alexander – http://www.danilynalexander.com/blog.html

October 24,
2012
Mackenzie Crowne – http://mackenziecrowne.com/
Maggie Devine – http://maggiedevine.blogspot.com/
Liberty Blake – http://libertysspells.blogspot.com/

October 25, 2012

Darlene Henderson – http://dandwh.wordpress.com/
Em Epe – http://www.emeperomances.blogspot.com/
Clara Waibel – http://www.pomadness.blogspot.com/

*Note:  “For the Love of Christmas” Will not ba available until December, BUT I’M GOOD FOR IT! — PROMISE!

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The Proper (and easy!) way to Market your Novel #2

Posted on October 12, 2012 | 34 comments

Last week we talked about the best way to market your novel.  I promised the secret magic recipe from established author Danielle Ackley McPhail.  Are ya ready for it?

Think that over.

Most people don’t go out looking for a particular novel.  They go looking for an author… even if they don’t even know it.  Consider this:  If you are breezing through an Amazon page full of novels, who are you going to click on first— the unknown, or the name that you recognize… even if you cannot remember why you recognize the name.

Chew on this for a little while, and next week I’m going to fill you in on what I thought when I really considered what she said.  This works, because I’ve seen it. Think about your own experiences, what you think has worked, and hasn’t worked for people.  Let’s chat it up!

In the meantime, can you think of a time when someone marketed themself, and it worked?  Can you think of a time when someone marketed their novel and it didn’t work?  (That one should be easy)

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It’s been all about memes lately. Whatsa Meme anyway? AKA Another Lesson in Writing Without Looking — Oh! And we have a winner!

Posted on October 7, 2012 | 17 comments

Well let’s start out with the winner of the Make Believe Anthology.

Of course, we can only have one winner, but for everyone else, the Make Believe Anthology releases December third, and you may be able to pick up another free copy during the MASSIVE blog tour in December.

Drumroll Please!

By YOUR VOTES The winner is:   Vanessa Chapman

Congratulations!  And Thanks for everyone who pleaded with the Little Blue Lady to set me free.

Do you think we’ve seen the last of her yet?  I don’t know… She sais she’s sorry, but still seems to want an interview.

Anyway…

It’s been all about memes lately.  I keep getting slapped with one meme or another.  It got me thinking… What the frig is a meme anyway?  (Except being something like a blog chain letter)

Definition time (Off Wikki):

A Meme (pronounced Meem, as in dream), is generally defined as anything that can be transferred from one mind to another. Glenn Grant defines a meme as “A contagious information pattern that replicates by parasitically infecting human minds…

Ummm… Okay…  Anyway…  In the blog world, a Meme is something you have to do, and then tag others to do it also.  I have to pass on a lot of these, unless I think they are valuable.  The one I was tagged in today was a good one that every author should do anyway.  Soooo… here we go!

This is the “Look” Meme.

The rules are to run a search on your current work in progress, and count how many times “Look” appears.  Why look?  Well, Look is one of those nasty telly words that get editor’s britches all in a bother, and (even worse) can get your manuscript rejected by a publisher or agent.

I’d like to pass a special thanks to ultra-cool author Claire Gillian (From “The Pure” fame (Yes!  She actually remembers me!)) For tagging me with a constructive meme.

So, the WIP I have chosen is my Single Short Romance, A Test of Faith.  It is 5,902 words.

Searching for…. “look”

There we have it.  “Look” appears 13 times.  Hmmm.  That’s not so bad.  Now, what I need to do, is show a few examples.  Let me page through them.

Okay… so, it seems that out of the thirteen, eight of them are “good looks”, which means they are in dialog, as in:  “Don’t look at me like that!”  Those don’t count.  They are legal.

Here are the five that remain (Hey, only five?  Statistically, that’s pretty good!)

Anyway… here they are:

1.       She ran up the steps, stopped mid-way, and looked down toward us.

2.       I looked up into the warmth of his eyes.

3.       He ran his finger under my chin. I looked away self-consciously.

4.       The redness in his face cut a hole into my heart, severing the arteries and forcing it into my throat. I looked away.

5.       He looked to the side, pursed his lips and walked into the kitchen.

Now, you are supposed to give a little bit of the paragraphs around the “look” as well, but I want these to really stick out.  ERRRRR.  They don’t look as good here as they do in the manuscript.  My inner editor is screaming.

So, what do you think?  Are these too telly?  How would you change them to Write Without Looking?

I’m gonna tag EVERYBODY on this one, because I think it’s a great exercise.  If you don’t strive to make your writing better, ignore it.  If you want to be the best writer you can be, give it a try.   Wether or not you post it is up to you.  🙂

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I’m sorry. I like you, I just didn’t like your book.

Posted on September 22, 2012 | 34 comments

It was bound to happen sooner or later.  I read a book by a friend of mine, and I just didn’t like it.

Was there anything wrong with her writing?  No, not really.  It was just a disappointing read for me. So, what did I do?  I finished it, and I moved on to something else, kept my mouth shut, and I didn’t do a book review.

At one point, in a forum we are both on, she said, referring to me finishing her novel:  “I guess no news is good news, yikes”.  Well, there was no actual question asked in the statement, so again, I kept my mouth shut.  I thought I had ducked the bullet.

Today she sent me a private message. (Almost a month later) She asked me if I hated it.  My heart sank.  What the heck do you say?  I don’t want to lie. It’s not that it’s a bad book.  It was traditionally published, so someone had to think it was good, and it had a few good reviews.  I just happened to agree with the bad ones.  I would have given the book three stars if I’d reviewed it, but in doing this, I felt like I would have to list the things that I didn’t like.

I have a policy not to review books I don’t like at all.  (Although some would say I’m lethal even when I do like a book 🙂 )

The way I figure it —  It doesn’t help the author any to bring their rating down because I didn’t care for it.  That’s why you have only seen four star reviews so far.  The stuff that I haven’t liked, I’ve set aside (except for that one I reviewed without giving the author’s name or book title)

So now, I’m stewing, and writing a blog post about it.  I need to say something to her by tonight.

Whattya do?

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I’m still eating chocolate — So how about a free copy of the novel “Surrender”? Guest Post by Author Aimee Laine

Posted on September 11, 2012 | 19 comments

***If you are looking for Write a Story with Me please check back tomorrow.***

I win!  While Jennifer is out gorging herself on chocolate, I’m here to talk about writing a second book. Not a first second, but a second second.
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If you’re going ‘huh?’, then I shall explain.
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One can write many, many, many first books. First of a series. First of a trilogy. First of a set of books in some set of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, etc. These are still all ‘firsts’, no matter how many you’ve written.
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But if you take even one of those ‘firsts’ and then add in the 2nd, that’s where things get different.
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First off, you have to know if it’s a series 2nd or a sequel. One is very different than the other. In a series, you might change main charaters, the first book’s plot was fully resolved and/or a new conflict arises, and all books may be standalones. In a sequel set (like a trilogy or epic), the story continues, the plot has not been fully resolved and if you didn’t read the first book you will very likely be lost.
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Secondly, no matter which you are writing, you have to decide how much it matters if the readers have read book 1 to understand book 2. In a standalone series, it might be useful to have read book 1, but not necessary. There are often hints toward a first book, but not the outright retelling or recapping of the plot.
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Now, let’s say you’re writing in a series, where every book builds, this is even trickier because if someone is keeping up, adding in the backstory takes away their need to read book 1. But … you don’t want to whole heartedly confuse them (in case you can make them love book two enough to want to buy book 1) so you have to add little drips and drabs for clarity but not too much.
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What’s the balance?
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That depends a little on the writer, a little on the editor and a little on the reader.
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Are you willing to anger readers by forcing them to read book 1? You could. Not all will get mad. Some will go, ‘uh, but oops … I started in book 2, guess I need to read book one’. Others will turn away from the series altogether.
The reality is, you’ll never satisfy all readers, so, it comes back to what YOU as the writer wants to say. Some books literally have no book 1 backstory. Some are full of it to the point that by book 3 or 4 or 5 the reader is bored to tears with the same repeated description of characters already well known.
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So writing a book two is even more subjective than first books! Crazy, huh?
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I will say, though, that the key to clarity is having someone read book 2 who has not read book 1. Then, right there, they can tell you where they needed a little more backstory and you can determine how best to fill in the blanks and to what level.
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Writing a book 2 is far harder because of this logistical aspect, but as a writer of 3 book 2s, now (two standalone series, Surrender which JUST released this month, Silent Echoes which releases in March, 2013 and 1 trilogy book 2 – Day After, the second in the 19th Year by Emi Gayle) I find it even more fun because I get continue on with characters I’ve already fallen in love with, get to experience more of their life and get to enjoy them all over again.

So all that being said, I have a book 2 giveaway for you, and you can decide if I’ve managed to confuse or entice you to read book 1.
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Just answer this in the comments of Jennifer’s blog, today or tomorrow, and we’ll randomly choose one person for an ebook of Surrender as well as a signed bookmark!
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The question: “What else do you think has to go into a 2nd book to make someone want to read book 1?”
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I look forward to reading your responses!
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Visit Aimee’s blog:  http://www.aimeelaine.com/blog/
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Road to Publication #15: My Goodreads page

Posted on September 3, 2012 | 28 comments

Yay!  Another “Me” page.  This is starting to sound a little self-centered, but geeze it’s exciting to see yourself “out there” other than on your own web-site, where you are in complete control.

I’m not going to get into all that “tingly” stuff again.  But yes, this is incredibly cool.

Here’s the link to my Goodreads Author page.

Yep, that’s me with my own Goodreads author-page.  There’s a link right there to “Make Believe”.  The Christmas Anthology will be featrued here as soon as Still Moments Publishing releases to cover.  Anything else I am lucky to get published will also get listed under my picture and profile.

So cool.  Really.

Oh — Shameless self promotion — while you are there you can slip “Make Believe” into your “To read” list — if ya wanna 🙂

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