Category Archives: writing

A Little Quiet Time–Sort Of

Thank you to everyone who popped in to visit the variety of blogs during the last few weeks of the Rulebreaker Blog Tour! I’ve been getting some great feedback and have had a lot of fun interacting with readers and other writers. Some folks who hadn’t read much science fiction romance or F/F fiction have told me how much they enjoyed the story. I can’t tell you how fabulous that makes me feel.

So if you’ve read Rulebreaker, or any other story outside your normal fare, tell me what you thought.

Here, I’ll start. I recently read my first M/M, Muffled Drum by fellow Carina Press author Erastes. I’d read snippets of M/M before, but it really wasn’t my thing. But Erastes’s story touched me. There was such tenderness and heartache. Yes, there were some love scenes, but they were tasteful and poigniant.

I’ll probably read more of her work, and perhaps look for other M/M stories of similar sensuality.

In a couple of weeks, I’ll have a guest blogger here and there, but for the most part things will be a little quiet as far as all out promoting and touring. Which is good. I’m scheduled to work through the middle of September and have a manuscript to revise, another partial to tweak, and a WiP to flesh out. I’ll keep things up to date and let you know how things progress.

In the meanwhile, have fun out there and be kind to each other.

Posted in Carina, guest, Rulebreaker, writing | Comments Off on A Little Quiet Time–Sort Of

Bella Street’s “Kiss Me, I’m Irish”

One of the great things about the internet is hooking up (no, not *that* kind of hooking up) with people who share interests. Writing is no different in that respect, and the beauty of digital publishing is when you find a new author you can immediately download and read their books.

Bella Street and I are members of the same writers’ loop. We “met” when I asked about blog tours and we hit it off. Bella is the author of paranormal romances (and a So I Married an Axe Murderer fan, so you know she’s cool πŸ˜‰ with a new release out called Kiss Me, I’m Irish.

Here’s the blurb:

In 1830, Emily Musgrave is heading to a convent for misbehavior. In modern-day Tennessee, Liam Jackson is playing his Dobro in seedy bars. It’s doing nothing for his career and even less for the dark places in his soul.

Pixie mischief can not only change time-lines, it can change hearts. Because sometimes a girl just needs a little magic in her life.

Here’s an excerpt:

He stared at her without answering. Emily returned his gaze, realizing this was the first time she’d seen him in full light. His hair was coal black and mussed from sleep. His skin, tan and ruddy, as if he were a field laborer. And his eyes were the intense blue of a milkwort blossom, with a telltale darker ring around the outer edge of the irises. Of course! With a name like Liam she should’ve realized it sooner. He wasn’t a gypsy at all.

He was an Irishman.

That meant this was some form of purgatory. Jem, Donnelly, and Our Lady of the Portal had had their revenge after all.

Crinkles formed at the edges of Liam’s eyes. β€œSo you’re still holding to the story that you’re from another time?”

β€œI believe I’ve already made it clear I don’t tell falsehoods, Mr…” She bit her lip. β€œAs we have not yet properly been introduced, I’m afraid I am ignorant of your formal title.”

β€œMy last name is Jackson, but you can call me Liam.”

β€œWell, Mr. Jackson,” she said, lifting her chin, β€œI am Miss Emily Musgrave recently of Trethwick Hall, Truro, Cornwall, 1813.”

And here are the purchase links:
Amazon link

Smashwords link

Emily is out of her element, but with the help of musicians Liam and his sister Tinker, she gets a quick education about 21st century living. It’s a sweet time travel tale set in the South that has fun characters and interesting twists. I enjoyed it quite a bit and look forward to reading more of her work.

Check out Bella’s Kiss Me, I’m Irish and bring a little magic into your life.

Posted in books out, Fantasy, paranormal, romance, writing | 4 Comments

Bella Street’s “Kiss Me, I’m Irish”

One of the great things about the internet is hooking up (no, not *that* kind of hooking up) with people who share interests. Writing is no different in that respect, and the beauty of digital publishing is when you find a new author you can immediately download and read their books.

Bella Street and I are members of the same writers’ loop. We “met” when I asked about blog tours and we hit it off. Bella is the author of paranormal romances (and a So I Married an Axe Murderer fan, so you know she’s cool πŸ˜‰ with a new release out called Kiss Me, I’m Irish.

Here’s the blurb:

In 1830, Emily Musgrave is heading to a convent for misbehavior. In modern-day Tennessee, Liam Jackson is playing his Dobro in seedy bars. It’s doing nothing for his career and even less for the dark places in his soul.

Pixie mischief can not only change time-lines, it can change hearts. Because sometimes a girl just needs a little magic in her life.

Here’s an excerpt:

He stared at her without answering. Emily returned his gaze, realizing this was the first time she’d seen him in full light. His hair was coal black and mussed from sleep. His skin, tan and ruddy, as if he were a field laborer. And his eyes were the intense blue of a milkwort blossom, with a telltale darker ring around the outer edge of the irises. Of course! With a name like Liam she should’ve realized it sooner. He wasn’t a gypsy at all.

He was an Irishman.

That meant this was some form of purgatory. Jem, Donnelly, and Our Lady of the Portal had had their revenge after all.

Crinkles formed at the edges of Liam’s eyes. β€œSo you’re still holding to the story that you’re from another time?”

β€œI believe I’ve already made it clear I don’t tell falsehoods, Mr…” She bit her lip. β€œAs we have not yet properly been introduced, I’m afraid I am ignorant of your formal title.”

β€œMy last name is Jackson, but you can call me Liam.”

β€œWell, Mr. Jackson,” she said, lifting her chin, β€œI am Miss Emily Musgrave recently of Trethwick Hall, Truro, Cornwall, 1813.”

And here are the purchase links:
Amazon link

Smashwords link

Emily is out of her element, but with the help of musicians Liam and his sister Tinker, she gets a quick education about 21st century living. It’s a sweet time travel tale set in the South that has fun characters and interesting twists. I enjoyed it quite a bit and look forward to reading more of her work.

Check out Bella’s Kiss Me, I’m Irish and bring a little magic into your life.

Posted in books out, Fantasy, paranormal, romance, writing | 4 Comments

Rulebreaker Release Date

August 8, 2011 will be a heck of a day here in the Hopefully-Not Frozen North. My F/F SFR Rulebreaker debuts at Carina Press. Here’s a blurb:

Liv Braxton, a small-time thief stuck on a backwater planet, takes on the gig of a lifetime filling in as executive assistant at Exeter Mining Company. Her job is to download incriminating files, but Liv finds herself unexpectedly torn when she falls for Zia Talbot, the beautiful and alluring VP she is supposed to betray.

It seems unreal that this story, that ANY story of mine, is going to be published. But there it is. Or will be.

I’m getting up the nerve to contact folks for a blog tour, which should be fun/chaotic. I’ve never done one before, nor hosted any other person on my blog, so we’ll see how it goes.

IRL, I want to have a release party, but other than displaying my cover (which I can’t wait to see because Carina puts out some awesome covers!) it’s not like I can sign anything. Still, any excuse for a party, right?

August 8 is also the start of Science Camp week. We will have at least two house guests, possibly three, to add to the mix. That’ll be fun, but we’ll have to keep things family-rated, as two of our guests are under 13.

So there you have it. August 8, 2011. Mark your calendars and stay tuned. I’ll post a cover and, hopefully, a blog tour schedule.

Posted in book coming out, SFR, Woo hoo, writing | 6 Comments

Title Me This

A lot of writers have difficulty coming up with titles for their work. You want something that conveys the tone and perhaps the genre, but it should be dynamic, gripping. Different. Because despite the fact that titles aren’t copyrighted, do you *really* want to call your book “Gone with the Wind” or “The Bible?” Probably not.

I’m a hit or miss sort of titler. My first foray into fantasy (boy, that sounds kinkier than it is) yielded “The Guardian.” Rather generic, in the scheme of things, and at the time I didn’t realize that everyone and his/her brother/sister had a book with this title. An Amazon search recently came up with 11,000+ hits. Yeah, that book will be retitled. (After it’s revised. It was a first foray and it shows. I still like it well enough, but I’m betting my skills have improved in the years since it was written. Gosh, I *hope* they’ve improved!)

My next writing/titling project was a trilogy that is still waiting for fantasy romance to take a bigger upswing, and yes, for me to revise the daylights out of it. But the titles rock! The first is “What Price the Crown” (zero hits on Amazon–Yay!), the second, “Once a Princess,” (18 hits, mostly for the same book) and the third, “Queen without a Country” (9 hits, all about Queen Mary). Not that the titles alone will get it sold, but they are good titles, if I do say so myself.

My paranormal women’s fiction, “Haunted,” is another okay title on a particularly favorite story. That one will need less revising (I hope) to let it see the world some day.

My SFR “Bad Girl” was called that for lack of a better idea as I wrote it. The title fit, since the MC is a thief, and I really didn’t think much of it as I queried. No one at Carina Press asked about changing the title when they offered for it. But recently, I was once again at Amazon and put it in the search box. 702 hits, including this gem from 1946 . So I contacted my editor and asked about changing the title. She said no one at Carina had suggested a change, but if I wanted to offer some alternates she’d see what the team thought (side note: *love* the idea of having a team : ).

So we brainstormed. And brainstormed some more. Several words kept coming back to me–rules, felon, thief, breaking rules–words that would give a sense of the story, combinations that would hopefully catch a readers attention. Between the two of us, we had six or seven. Kym told me to pick the 3-5 I liked and she’d let me know. As I ran through them again, I was telling my kids about the situation. My youngest piped up, “How about ‘Rulebreaker’?”

Huh. How *about* “Rulebreaker?”

I put it in the mix, told Kym my 10 year old suggested it as a “What the heck” idea, let my agent know what was in the works, and waited. Well, the team liked it. My agent was good with it. So now, “Bad Girl” is “Rulebreaker,” and I’m thrilled. And I know who to consult when titling my books.

Posted in Fantasy, SFR, writing | 6 Comments

Title Me This

A lot of writers have difficulty coming up with titles for their work. You want something that conveys the tone and perhaps the genre, but it should be dynamic, gripping. Different. Because despite the fact that titles aren’t copyrighted, do you *really* want to call your book “Gone with the Wind” or “The Bible?” Probably not.

I’m a hit or miss sort of titler. My first foray into fantasy (boy, that sounds kinkier than it is) yielded “The Guardian.” Rather generic, in the scheme of things, and at the time I didn’t realize that everyone and his/her brother/sister had a book with this title. An Amazon search recently came up with 11,000+ hits. Yeah, that book will be retitled. (After it’s revised. It was a first foray and it shows. I still like it well enough, but I’m betting my skills have improved in the years since it was written. Gosh, I *hope* they’ve improved!)

My next writing/titling project was a trilogy that is still waiting for fantasy romance to take a bigger upswing, and yes, for me to revise the daylights out of it. But the titles rock! The first is “What Price the Crown” (zero hits on Amazon–Yay!), the second, “Once a Princess,” (18 hits, mostly for the same book) and the third, “Queen without a Country” (9 hits, all about Queen Mary). Not that the titles alone will get it sold, but they are good titles, if I do say so myself.

My paranormal women’s fiction, “Haunted,” is another okay title on a particularly favorite story. That one will need less revising (I hope) to let it see the world some day.

My SFR “Bad Girl” was called that for lack of a better idea as I wrote it. The title fit, since the MC is a thief, and I really didn’t think much of it as I queried. No one at Carina Press asked about changing the title when they offered for it. But recently, I was once again at Amazon and put it in the search box. 702 hits, including this gem from 1946 . So I contacted my editor and asked about changing the title. She said no one at Carina had suggested a change, but if I wanted to offer some alternates she’d see what the team thought (side note: *love* the idea of having a team : ).

So we brainstormed. And brainstormed some more. Several words kept coming back to me–rules, felon, thief, breaking rules–words that would give a sense of the story, combinations that would hopefully catch a readers attention. Between the two of us, we had six or seven. Kym told me to pick the 3-5 I liked and she’d let me know. As I ran through them again, I was telling my kids about the situation. My youngest piped up, “How about ‘Rulebreaker’?”

Huh. How *about* “Rulebreaker?”

I put it in the mix, told Kym my 10 year old suggested it as a “What the heck” idea, let my agent know what was in the works, and waited. Well, the team liked it. My agent was good with it. So now, “Bad Girl” is “Rulebreaker,” and I’m thrilled. And I know who to consult when titling my books.

Posted in Fantasy, SFR, writing | 6 Comments

Science New Post…Elsewhere

Kind of a “cheat” post today. I recently joined the Carina Press SF/SFR blog “Contact–Infinite Futures” and I’ve put up a piece about science news. Pop on over. I have a few things brewing at the moment and will share soon!

Posted in writing | 4 Comments

Making My Mark

I’ve been reading up on marketing strategies and branding for authors. With a book coming out in August or so (still on track there, as far as I know) I need to get word out every way I can.

I’ve taken mini courses, subscribed to marketing groups, looked into what others have done, to glean what may work and what may not. For instance, a Real Live book signing isn’t going to do me much good because mine will be an ebook. What would I do? Sign the readers’ computer or Kindle screens? That would be annoying. A reading at my local bookstore or library might fly, but again, I wouldn’t have much in the way of tangible “goodies” to sell or share. OK, I could do give away items, so that one is still on the maybe list.

One of the things I see as working is a virtual book tour. It sounds like fun and a lot of work, but marketing is work. And if I want my next book published I’d better show some effort in getting word out. So, I’ve been checking blogs where science fiction romance is reviewed/discussed/revered/mentioned. I’ve started a list of places I will be asking about blog stops and such. Offering exchanges is important, as in, “I’ll have you over this day for your book if you’ll have me over that day for mine.” It’s a lot like arranging playdates in that way : )

One of my stumbling blocks, however, has been my “brand.” Everywhere you turn, authors are talking about branding. Branding isn’t about that particular book (I’ve leaned something, anyway), but about the author. What represents *you*? What phrasing/terms show a reader who *you* are and what they can expect from one of your stories? Does your website/blog reflect the tone of your work?

Oy.

So here’s my challenge. What catchy line(s) can I use as a brand? What reflects me and my writing? First, I tend to write SF/F/Paranormal stories. Even if I TRY to start off with a non SF/F/P genre it ALWAYS gets some sort of woo-woo treatment. So let’s just assume everything I write will have some kind of otherworld feel to it. Second, while I write m/f or f/f romances they aren’t erotic or even steamy. I think I have one love scene in each of the books I’ve written. Maybe two. But while they may be sensual, they aren’t graphic. So the “Hot lovin’ for long, cold nights (since I’m in the frozen north)” idea won’t work. Really. It won’t. Lastly, I don’t think of my tone as overly dark or light and fluffy. There are some serious situations and places I hope elicit a chuckle or two, but I wouldn’t categorize my work at either extreme.

You understand my problem now. I fall in the middle of most scales.

So what’s an unbranded author to do? Help me, Obi Wan!

Posted in SFR, writing | 4 Comments

Writing: It’s in the Genes

(Nearly late January??? How did that happen? I guess I can still say Happy New Year. I have until the end of the month, don’t I? Okay. Good. Happy New Year!)

Unlike some children, both my kids love to write. School assignments that ask for a paragraph get a page or two. A simple question turns into a thesis.

My youngest, who will be 11 this year, has been writing and illustrating stories since kindergarten. We have stacks and stacks of books she made at school. Pages and pages of drawings of characters that live in her head. There are documents on two home computers, a 3-ring binder, and at least two spiral notebooks filled with her squished-together printing. She loves to talk about her stories, loves to brainstorm with me or her sister. There are two writing contests she’s preparing to enter in the next couple of months.

My oldest, soon to be 14 (yikes!), caught the writing bug a little later in her young life. Only within the last year or so has she seriously sat down to put a story on the page that wasn’t a school assignment. She even attempted the young writers’ version of NaNoMo and asked her Language Arts teacher if it could be part of their classwork/extra credit. The teacher was happy my daughter was writing, but the current curriculum was already full. Creative writing on that scale would have to wait. That didn’t stop my daughter. She stuck with it, wrote every day, and I believe completed the 20K word requirement. She is also working on at least two Sci Fi stories and does a little fan fiction here and there. For her research paper in L.A., she is writing about what it takes to get published.

Some of our best times together are when we’re discussing one of their stories or something about the craft. It’s amazing to see where their imaginations go. (Strange places indeed, but not a shock there.) I love it when we’re talking about plot or characterization or pacing or what have you and I see in their eyes the sudden dawning of comprehension. That light bulb moment where it all seems to make sense. They get it. They apply what they’ve learned to their personal writings as well as assignments.

My kids are not athletic. They aren’t social butterflies. For the most part, they aren’t “joiners” of activities. They are more introverted and tend to observe rather than participate. In other words, they have the makings of writers. No, not the makings. They ARE writers.

Could a writer mom be more happy? I think not.

Posted in on my mind, writing | 8 Comments

What a Deal!

I’ve been sitting on some news for nearly two weeks, waiting until things were more “official.” My lovely agent Natalie Fischer posted this, so it looks like we’re a go : ) Carina Press made an offer on Bad Girl! Yay!

Excited doesn’t describe how I’ve been feeling for the past twelve days. I simply can’t believe it at times. I know the real work has yet to begin (edits will be coming soon), and I’m sure I’ll question my sanity for ever starting down this road. But for now, all I can say is WOW!

And a huge thanks to my crit partners Sharron and Jody. Because without them there would be no Bad Girl. Without them encouraging me and kicking my butt, I would have quit writing a long time ago. So thank you my friends! You are the best!

OK, back to the wip so I can show Natalie and Carina I’m more than a one hit wonder πŸ˜‰

Posted in SFR, writing | 12 Comments