J.J. Devine realized it's been a while since we've done a Flash Fiction so she assigned us the following: a scene of 500 words that contain the words, happiness, egg, and purple. If you joined me from Xio Axelrod, welcome! Here's my contribution... She was the most unnatural mother in the world. The most unloving, the meanest, the crankiest and the cruellest. “I’ll clean it up.” He trudged to the cupboard under the sink and pulled out the roll of paper towel. The top of his head barely cleared the top of the counter. “I made the mess, so it’s my job.” Thanks for joining us again this week! I’m sending you onward - why not see what Tracey Gee came up with!
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It's been an exciting week for a couple of my RWW friends. First A.S. Fenichel with her cover reveal for Deception - and now a sneak peak at Cookie Cutter by J.R. Richardson. Enjoy! Iris Alden and Carter Blackwood couldn't be more different. Change-averse Iris likes her life neat and organized, while Carter's itchy feet mean he doesn’t plan to stay in the same place for long. When Carter moves into the house across the street from Iris, to renovate it, she fights the disruption it causes in her life. Before long, though, it's not simply the house Carter's rebuilding, but Iris's heart, too. Intrigued? Here's an excerpt: “What are you doing here?” It’s Carter freaking Blackwood. Of course. He smiles that ridiculously bright, white smile of his and lets out a soft snicker. “I’m fixing a floor for a friend, what are you doing here?” It’s completely obvious what I’m doing here, seeing as I’m carrying two huge trays of sugar cookies in my arms. “A friend? You just moved in. How do you have friends already?” I say it a bit harsher than I probably should but honestly, how does he have friends already? James and I were here a good six months before people started really talking to me. It was a year before I could call any of them friends. The edges of Carter’s mouth turn down and his head dips to one side as his shoulders hunch then settle. “People like me, I guess.” The smug look on his face is enough to make me want to slap it. Or kiss it. Wait. Not kiss it. I didn’t mean kiss it. Why am I staring at his lips? Drumroll, please! I’m so excited to be able to reveal the cover of “Deception”, Book Two in A.S. Fenichel’s series, The Demon Hunters. Love historical? Love paranormal? You won’t want to miss this! When Demons threaten Regency London, only a Lady can stop them. Lillian Dellacourt is beautiful, refined and absolutely lethal. She’s also the most feared and merciless demon hunter in The Company. She’s come a long way from the penniless seamstress’s daughter sold to the highest bidder, and it wasn’t by trusting a man, let alone an exiled Marquis with more on his mind than slaying the hellspawn . . . For Dorian Lambert, Marquis de Montalembert, being sent to keep track of Lillian is no mean task. He’s wanted the fiery vixen since he first heard of her five years ago. But wooing the lady while fighting the demon uprising is no easy feat, especially when the lady’s tongue is as sharp as the Japanese sai blades she favors for eviscerating the spawn of hell. These two will have to learn to trust each other fast, because the demon master is back, and he’s planning to turn Edinburgh into a living hell… “Deception” will be released July 7, but you can pre-order it now at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Kensington. Also, be sure to enter the draw to win a $25 GC to the book retailer of your choice. Deadline is this Friday, so get your name in now!
A.S. Fenichel is sick and tire of the cold. She wants to know our favorite vacation spot. I love this topic – so many to choose from! If you joined me from Xio Axelrod, welcome! When I think about my favourite vacations spots, I realize there is a common thread – water. I’m sure I’m not alone in this – there is just something about water that adds to the romance and beauty of a place. I live about 8 hours drive from the coast, but my area is blessed with many beautiful lakes. While I enjoy a vacation exploring the tidal pools at the ocean’s edge, I also love camping next to the calm, quiet waters of an inland lake. Vacations aren’t only for relaxing. They can also be exploring new, exciting worlds. A couple of years ago, we went to the Azores, a tiny group of Portuguese islands in the middle of the Atlantic. My husband’s parents emigrated from there to Canada in the 1950’s, and the whole family went back to learn about their heritage, see where they had come from. Now, I love to read books set in places I have been. And I had never read a book set in the Azores. So I decided to write my own! In “No Life But This,” my third completed manuscript, Abigail Garsson is trapped in her safe, boring, conventional life. Desperate for an exciting escape, she signs up for an adventure vacation on the Portuguese island of San Miguel, Azores. That’s where she meets Santos Carregado, a handsome, confident tour guide. A holiday fling becomes something more for both of them, until the realities of Abigail's life reach across the ocean to shatter her holiday daydream. My time for daydreaming about holidays is over. Outside the window the snow is piled high, and inside writing awaits. Why not head over to Kim Handysides now and see where she likes to vacation. I’m pretty sure it might have something to do with sand and surf! But before you go, I invite you to come back to my blog tomorrow as my Romance Writer Weekly friend, A.S. Fenichel, is stopping by to reveal the cover for her new paranormal historical “Deception”. And then on Friday, I’ll have another cover reveal for another RWW pal, Jo Richardson, and her contemporary romantic comedy, “Cookie Cutter”!
This week, Mishka Jenkins is challenging us to reveal our writing strengths – and our weaknesses! If you’ve joined me from Collette Cameron, welcome! I like to think my greatest strength is my dialogue. Having written for radio and TV for a long, long, time, I’m used to “writing for the ear”. By this I mean, writing so that when the words are read aloud it has the right rhythm and understandibility (how’s that for a made up word?). Dialogue needs to be easy to read, but also reflect that it is spoken word, not narrative. I also think I’m pretty good at description. I don’t just focus on what people and places look like – I think about how the sound and smell and feel. I think our sense of smell gets left behind a lot in writing, when it is one of the strongest ways to evoke memory and emotion, so I try to use it often. That being said, my liking for description leads to one of the challenges I have while writing – when to stop! Description is easy. Writing down what I experience in my head is like taking dictation. But there comes a point when that bogs down the pace of the story. Readers like to be able to experience what the characters are experiencing – but most importantly, they want to feel what the characters are feeling. And feelings are hard! So when I have a choice over writing the hard stuff or the easy stuff, I sometimes fall into the trap. I also berate myself on my plotting ability. I’m always questioning my characters choices, wondering whether they really would have done this or said that. I like to be able to surprise a reader, too, and I’m never sure whether I’ve given even information to tease, or too little so they are confused. It can be a fine line! One thing I can say – every word I write makes me better. Even exercises like these are good, because they make me think about my writing. So, back to building on my strengths and strengthening my weaknesses! And while I’m doing that, head on over to Veronica Forand for the next stop in the blog hop. You'll want to check out Veronica Forand and Susan Scott Shelley's romance, "Flirting on Ice", a sweet, sexy novella set in the world of professional hockey. This week's assignment is from me! J I wanted to know how my RWW pals choose the setting for there books. Do they draw on real life, or make it all up?
Welcome to those of you joining me from Jeanne McDonald! In some novels, the setting can almost be a character itself. I just recently read SOPHIA’S SECRET (or THE WINTER SEA) by Susanna Kearsley, and the whole book revolves around the setting – it simply couldn’t have happened anywhere else. (It's very good, by the way...) As a reader, I love to read stories set in places I’ve been – New York and London come to mind. And if I haven’t been to the location, reading about it can certainly pique my interest – Australia is on my bucket list for a number of novels I’ve read. While I don’t mind stories set in fictional settings, I often have trouble believing that those places (often small towns) have the variety of personalities, businesses and drama that are depicted. My first published novel, MOUNTAIN FIRE, is set in my hometown in Northern British Columbia for a couple of reasons. One – tackling a novel was scary enough that I didn’t want to have to think about the location. I wanted to know exactly where my characters were at all times, and what that place looked, smelled and sounded like. Two – the suspense revolves around a grizzly bear poaching ring, and Northern BC is definitely a good place for that! I ventured a bit further a field with my second novel, CHEF D’AMOUR, but just a few hours down the road to Vancouver. While I work at the TV station in my hometown, the kind of reality show that forms the backbone of CHEF D’AMOUR needed a much larger, cosmopolitan market. But again, I stayed within an area I was comfortable with. The trend has continued with my third and fourth manuscripts – one set on the Azores, which I have visited, and the next set back in my hometown. If other readers are like me, it may spark their interest in visiting a part of the world they haven’t seen. Now hop of on over Leslie Hachtel and she how she uses setting. |