Chaos to Calmness

The last two months have been a wild ride for me. I had to take a break from writing because my personal life blew up. Now I’m settling into a new life as a single mother, living on my own for the first time in my life (yes, first time. I moved straight from living with momma and daddy to living with my future husband). I’m also working a full time job for the first time in six years. Talk about some major changes. Luckily, things are starting to calm down and I’m falling into a routine, which is actually giving me time writing again. I’m very glad about this. I’ve missed writing.

Before the explosion of doo, I had landed a contract with Carina Press for an erotic paranormal romance titled The Panther’s Lair. Between living with my wonderful friends who took me in (Thank you again, Heather and Jeff), looking for a job and finding an apartment and moving in, I was in deep edits with this release. I’m so proud of this story and my editor, Kym Hinton, was awesome to work with. I’m ecstatic about being part of the Carina Press family.

The Panther’s Lair is set to release on June 28th (the day after my birthday). Unfortunately, I don’t have an approved excerpt yet.

But I have a killer cover-->

See. Isn’t he hot? I know. I know. The whole cover is gorgeous, but I can’t stop looking at him. The cover artist, Angie Waters, did an excellent job of capturing the image of my hero, Raimond—a French-accented, drool-worthy shifter. Don’t you agree? He’s simply breathtaking.

I also created a trailer with my blurb:






I can’t wait to share this release with everyone. And thank you for letting me share this bit of information I have.
Esme

http://www.esmereldabishop.com/

No More Construction Zone

...at least in the bathroom. A few weeks ago I posted about writing in a construction zone while we were remodeling our bathroom. I'm happy to say the bathroom is finished now and I'm thrilled with the results. To refresh your memory, here is our old, tiny, dark bathroom.


We bumped out 12 inches into the next room (my office) to sink in the vanity and give us a little more floor space. In the early days of de-construction, it looked like this.


We took out the big window in the shower and put in some glass blocks for light.


Now we have a beautful tiled shower (we splurged on some glass mosaic tiles) and a heated tile floor. The room is much brighter and we actually have floor space now!



Yes, the work and mess was definitely was worth it. Now just to get the walls finished on the office side...

Natasha
www.natashamoore.com

My First Romantic Times Convention

Last week I attended my very first Romantic Times Convention. I'd heard so much about this convention from my author friends that I couldn't wait to get there and experience it for myself. I just have to say that I wasn't disappointed.

My trip started off with a 6 hour drive from Chicago to Columbus, Ohio. The one thought that comes to mind about that is thank goodness for satellite radio! The music kept me sane while I jogged for position around more semi trucks than I'd ever seen in my life. But, I finally made it to the hotel (in one piece!) to find my roommates, Samantha Kane and Mari Freeman, already checked in. After a round of hugs, we were all dolling up to head out to dinner with our editors from Ellora's Cave.

I'm not going to lie, after dinner and heading to bead early Tuesday night, followed by a yummy brunch Wednesday morning, the rest of the trip flew by in a blur. Meeting authors, readers, editors, publishers... Lunches here, workshops there. Spotlights, ice cream socials, handshakes with Mr. Romance contestants (what a hardship that was!). Book expos, book signings, passing JR Ward by the elevators. Mint Juleps while sitting in the bar watching the Kentucky Derby, eating mini cheeseburgers and kibitzing with MA Ellis every night at midnight. EC's awesome Paint the Town Red party, the Fairy Ball, and the great skit during the Vampire Ball. Meeting author LB Gregg, who I now call a friend, and rooming with the 2 best girls EVAH! All this is just a quick run-down of everything that happened.

At Ellora's Cave's Paint the Town Red Party

Yummy EC Caveman!

Mari Freeman, LB Gregg, Samantha Kane, and Me at the EC Party.

Saturday's Book Signing (pictured with LB Gregg's coffee and phone!)

Go Seabiscuit!
Mari Freeman, Samantha Kane, MA Ellis, and me.

Samantha took this picture of me while we were helping set up for EC's party.
It's one of the few I've ever had taken of me that I actually like!

All in all, the trip was wonderful. Highly recommended to any author, aspiring or otherwise, as well as any reader of romance. If you've never been, I encourage you to go. For everyone else, see you next year in LA!

What I'm Reading...

I have to admit, it's not easy for me to get any real reading time in these days. It's even more rare to truly sink myself into a story. Usually, I'm rushing through a book, because there are fifty other things demanding my attention. So, when I find an author who can make me tune out all of lifes little dramas I hang onto her with both hands and I don't let go.

That's been the case with Christine Feehan's books. From the very first Dark book I was hooked. I've read every single book she's published and they're all great. However, now that she's picked up the Leopard series once more and seems to be concentrating on getting these stories out faster for us avid readers, I'm even more hungry! This series started back in 2002 with the anthology Fantasy. She had a novella in that book and it grabbed me. It was different than the Dark books but every bit as fantastic. Every bit as steamy. I worried when the series seemed to stop. Was she going to write more of these fantastic shifters?

The answer is a definite yes and I'm so thrilled. The latest and fourth Leopard book is "Wild Fire" and it's so good I'm having a hard time giving a crap about my own writing, the dishes, the laundry that's piling up. All I want to do is read!

And what a great cover, right??

Called on a dangerous assignment, leopard shifter Conner Vega returns to the Panama rainforest of his homeland, looking every bit the civilized male. But as a member of the most lethal of the shifter tribes, he doesn’t have a civilized bone in his body. He carries the scent of a wild animal in its prime, he bears the soul-crushing sins of past kills--and he’s branded by the scars of shame inflicted by the woman he betrayed.

Isabeau Chandler’s a Borneo shifter who’s never forgiven Conner--or forgotten him. The mating urge is still with her, and when she crosses Connor’s path, passions run like wild fire. But as Connor’s mission draws Isabeau closer, another betrayal lies waiting in the shadows--and it’s the most perilous and intimate one of all.

Read Chapter One

Anyone else around here reading something so wonderful that they simply do NOT want to put it down??

Cape Cod

Last weekend I went down to Cape Cod, a long island off the coast of Massachusetts. I thought I'd share some pictures. This is a typical Cape beach, maybe not as grand as some fancier beach paradises, but the atmosphere is relaxed and family-oriented.

This particular beach is where the movie "The Lightkeepers" was filmed (starring Richard Dreyfuss). I can't say I've seen the movie, but my sister and her family watched them filming it. They snuck onto the beach by muttering "Crew" to the security guard. Amazingly, it worked.

President John F. Kennedy saved a large section of the Cape beaches by establishing a park, the Cape Cod National Seashore on the outer Cape. The park has 40 miles of continuous beach and is a well loved and well-protected seashore. Except for the ocean, which continually eats away at the land. This is a picture of Nauset Light, one of the many lighthouses dotting the Cape. Most of them have been saved and renovated by private and federal funds. This particular lighthouse had to be dismantled and moved when the encroaching sea threatened its stability.

Speaking of lighthouses, they are a well-known architectural theme on the Cape. I took this picture of a fake lighthouse right near the beach. (It's part of a private residential property.)

The Cape Cod of my childhood was a laid-back, friendly and uncrowded summer paradise. Lobster, clams, corn on the cob, and ice cream were the four food groups. Your beach pail, the sand and the water were all you needed for a perfect day.






Things have changed and the Cape bustles almost year round today. But there are still some oases of calm.





Once I posted a picture of an airport and asked if anyone could identify it. Someone did. So can anyone tell me in which town the beach (top of the blog) and the church in these photos are located?

Writing from a Villain Point of View

Do you like to include the villain’s point of view in your stories? I didn’t in the past, but now I’m finding more and more that I like to include it. It seems to round out the story more. Villains are people, too, and almost like main characters. They are certainly more important than secondary characters. For that reason, it’s imperative to give them strong motivations for doing their evil deeds. What better way to show this motivation than to get inside their heads?

What’s weird about writing villain deep POV is that you need to become the bad guy in order to do this effectively. You have to become bad and think in malicious ways. Sometimes you have to plot and plan to kill your beloved main characters. Of course, you know the villain won’t succeed, at least we hope not. But a strong villain is vital because they need to give the hero and heroine a run for their money. A weak villain would be no challenge and would not force the hero and heroine to live up to their fullest potential. A strong villain can cause your hero and heroine to grow and change in interesting ways. I love it when realistic bad guys force the main characters to do drastic things they wouldn’t normally do to save their own life or the lives of those they love.

A villain who is nothing but evil isn’t 100% believable unless you show exactly why he/ she should be this way. If instead you show at least one positive thing about the villain, show a vulnerability, or delve into something he/ she cares deeply about, this can make the villain more three-dimensional and believable. Someone once said that the villain sees himself as the hero of his own story. This a fantastic way to look at the situation. The villain believes he is right and believes in his own cause.

Another great thing about villain POV is that you can use it to increase the suspense. The reader gets to see what’s going on behind the scenes that the hero and heroine don’t know. Therefore they can be biting their nails long before the hero and heroine realize they are in danger.

Sometimes I’ve been known to freak myself out when writing villain point of view. I didn’t know I could think in such evil ways. LOL I can’t say that I enjoy it as much as hero and heroine point of view, but I do love the way it rounds out my story and provides added suspense, drama and action.

Do you enjoy writing villain point of view? If so, what has it taught you? Who is your favorite villain from TV, a movie or book?

Nicole

www.nicolenorth.com

Guest - Alice Gaines : Ferocity

Today our special guest is Alice Gaines. Welcome, Alice!

Ferocity

I love that word and its counterpart, fierce. It suggests intensity and passion. Total concentration on conquest.

I often wonder what it would be like to have a lover who brought the same ferocity that he uses in battle into the bedroom. Imagine your warrior returning from the fight – adrenalin still pumping – to take out all that extra energy on you. As gentle as he might be at other times, as polite as he can act when the situation requires, right now the heat in his blood means he can’t take no for an answer.

Okay, that sounds a bit like Bruno Tonioli critiquing a tango, but I think you get my point. This is fantasy, not reality. If I want reality, all I have to do is get up in the morning.

For real life, I want a considerate lover – a guy who’ll run a bath and pour me a glass of wine when work was rough. I want a guy who’ll listen to my worries and tell me everything will work out. Oh hell, I want a man who’ll take my car to be smogged.

In fantasy, I want the Viking warrior who’s just breached the castle walls and now charges up the tower stairs to find me at the top. Not only is that sexy as all hell, but it relieves me of any responsibility for what happens next. “I had to have hot, luscious sex with that stranger. He gave me no choice.”

My novella for Red Sage Publishing, My Lady’s Pleasure, isn’t quite that extreme. But, the Lady Josalyn has no choice but to marry the Viking Ulric, and she has the mysterious minstrel Trey to ease her way to lust with her husband through his music and his aphrodisiac potions. For a while, she has the good services of both men and ends up with a life of passion with her fierce Viking.

Close enough to fantasy for me.

What about you? Do you love fierce heroes?

P.S. My Lady’s Pleasure is part of the Three Kinds of Wicked series.

Please visit Alice's website at: www.alicegaines.blogspot.com