Today's the day! Happy 6 Month Anniversary to the Romance Writer's Weekly! Head over to our Facebook Page and join in the fun!
But before you do, our blog hop this week is all about our favourite romances. We're supposed to list our top ten – be they books, movies, songs, or anything else. If you've joined me from Victoria Barbour, welcome! Here's mine, in no particular order... Pride and Prejudice I'm sure this is going to show up on a lot of lists, but I'm sorry, it has to be here. Romances are all about relationships (the sexy stuff is fun, too, but it doesn't have to be on the page) and Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett have two of the all time greatest character arcs ever. And the BBC miniseries is the best book adaptation I've ever seen Sabrina The original movie, with Humphrey Bogart and Audrey Hepburn. This is honestly one of the only movies I've seen where I've felt the connection between the characters so strongly. Again, very little sexy stuff, but such amazing chemistry. The Pina Colada Song I know, it's cheesy as hell. But I love the thought of people falling in love with each other for the second time. Claire and Jamie Fraser These are two of the strongest, most realistic characters to ever have a series woven about them. They argue and annoy each other, they are baffled by each others actions, and yet their love and commitment to each other is unquestionable. This Heart of Mine I've blogged about this Susan Elizabeth Phillips novel before. Utterly heart-breaking and heart-warming at the same time. My favourite SEP for sure. Anything (almost) by Nora Roberts No list of top 10 romances would be complete without LaNora. But there is no way to narrow down which one of her books I love the best. Although if someone threatened to pull out my fingernails unless I answered, I'd have to go with “New York to Dallas” (yes, I know, it's JD Robb. Same diff') Unraveled No one does complicated heroes like Courtney Milan. And Smite Turner, who survived an abusive mother, is one of her most bewildering and lovable characters The Princess Bride Falling into both the book and movie categories, this is one of my all time favourite non-traditional romances. “As – you – wish.....” The elderly couple I saw holding hands Connections are so important. Holding hands is one of the simplest ways to say “I'm here.” And when the couple is well into their later years, shuffling slowly down the sidewalk, its a powerful statement. Taking out the garbage Doesn't sound very romantic, does it? But romance isn't only the big grand gestures. It's getting up to rock the baby in the middle of the night. It's folding the laundry even though it's not “his job.” It's doing things you don't want to do, because you know your partner doesn't want to do it either. Now, hop on over to see what Jeanne McDonald lists for her top ten favourite romances!
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If you like to read romance novels of all genres, join the writers of Romance Weekly as we go behind the scenes of our books and tell all...about our writing, of course! Every week we'll answer the same questions. Once you've read my blog, the link below will direct you to another. Tell your friends and feel free to ask questions or make comments.
There are only a few weeks left before our blog tour will be six months old. On July 29th, join us as we celebrate our first milestone, and give back some of the love. We have incredible prizes on offer, including a Kindle Fire and multiple romance libraries. Enter for free HERE! If you're joined me from Carrie Elks , welcome! Here are today's questions. How often do you write? The Catholic guilt answer to this question is “Not as often as I should.” But the I-have-a-family-and-a-full-time-job-and-need-some-down-time-too answer is “As close to every day as I can.” It's so easy to find excuses not to write. But if I do that too often, I get cranky. I start to berate myself and get down on myself and generally wonder why I ever thought I could do this writing thing in the first place. Which makes it even easier to not write. So I do my best to write every day, even if it is only a couple hundred words. My daily goal is only 500 words, so once I get about half way there I can usually flog myself into finishing. If I can write 6 days a week, I am happy. Do you think it’s important to your craft to write as much as you can, and as often as you can? The more practice, the better, of course. That's why I try to write every day. But everyone needs a break. Saturday I spend most of the day driving (we're on a short holiday right now) and while I didn't write, I did manage to work out what was wrong with the pacing in one section of my work in progress, so I was happy with that. Sometimes you need to step back and just look. And besides – while most people consider writing the act of putting words on paper, those words wouldn't be worth much if we didn't do the thinking and plotting and planning part, too. So really you could say I write almost 24 hours a day (wink-wink). What is your opinion on the saying “if you don’t write every day, you’re not a writer"? Can't say I've ever heard anyone say that. Can't say I agree with it, though. I suppose it depends on your definition of writer. Some say you're not a writer if you're not published. Some say you're not a writer if you write romance. To all those, I say – blehhhh (imagine me sticking out my tongue). One of my favourite writing books is “Telling Lies for Fun and Profit” by Lawrence Block. One of the chapters is titled “Sunday Writers” (or something like that – I don't have it in front of me right now) where he discusses why amateur painters and sculptors and crafters are often proud to share their work, while amateur writers shove their work in a drawer (it's an old book – now we just hide in on our hard drives) and don't tell anyone they've even attempted to write. Maybe it has something to do with how words communicate our thoughts in a way other artistic endeavours don't. But we should be encouraging anyone brave enough to give this writing gig a try, whether it's for cash or creativity Now head on over to visit Sarah Hegger! I am pleased to welcome J.J. Devine to my blog. J.J. is a member of Romance Writers Weekly, and she is thrilled to announce the release of her new paranormal romance, INTO THE DARKNESS, today, July 9! Find out more about J.J. on her blog, Defining J.J. Devine. And I believe if you head over there now, you'll find details about a scavenger hunt, which will put in you in the running for great prizes. Here's an excerpt from INTO THE DARKNESS: Raven awoke with a start. A single candle penetrated the darkness engulfing her. Her body began to tremble as she assessed her strange surroundings. She smelled Dragon; he was close. Her body hummed its need for him. What happened tonight? Where am I? Reading and writing have been J.J.'s passion her whole life. Starting out with being the poet, everyone came to in high school to get that "perfect" poem for his or her boyfriend/girlfriend. She spent her weekends locked away in her room, curled up on her bed, writing short stories for only a selected few readers. She has been happily married for 28 years to her trucker husband. She is a mother of three, grandmother of three; a lover of dogs, cats, and fish. J.J. started to pen historical romance as a hobby when her youngest child was a year old, creating the Acceptance Series. She got serious about her writing career joining Romance Writers of America and Indiana Romance Writers of America moving on to help start Crossroads Romance Writers in 2014. She penned her first paranormal romance, Into the Darkness, in 25 days, taking herself beyond her comfort zone and just giving the characters free reign of their story. Since taking herself out of the outside working world, she has dedicated her life to her writing and her writing world and raising consciousness for Domestic Violence Awareness. Author Links: Website: http://definingjjdevine.weebly.com/ Blog: http://definingjjdevine.weebly.com/ramblings-of-a-writer.html Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JJDevineAuthor?ref=ts&fref=ts Twitter: https://twitter.com/JjDevine2010 If you like to read romance novels of all genres, join the writers of Romance Weekly as we go behind the scenes of our books and tell all...about our writing, of course! Every week we'll answer the same questions. Once you've read my blog, the link below will direct you to another. Tell your friends and feel free to ask questions or make comments.
There are only a few weeks left before our blog tour will be six months old. On July 29th, join us as we celebrate our first milestone, and give back some of the love. We have incredible prizes on offer, including a Kindle Fire and multiple romance libraries. Enter for free HERE! If you've joined me from Dani Jace, welcome! Here are my answers: How did you go about choosing the names for your characters? Oh, god, names. I remember when I was pregnant with our first child, I thought choosing a name would be fun and exciting. Instead it turned out to be one of the most stressful things ever! A boy name was easy – after my grandfather, my father and father-in-law – but the girl name? The ones I liked, my husband didn't – and vice versa. Plus, we have a rather unusual last name, so choosing one that fit it was even tougher. And hanging over the entire decision was the thought that this name was going to be stuck to this poor child. For. The. Rest. Of. Its. Life. I feel the same way about my characters. The name has to fit, and that is completely and totally a gut reaction. I do seem to have a thing for the letter J, however. Heroine's 1 and 2 are June and Jemma, and Hero 4 is Justice. I have to admit, Justice is my all time favourite name for any of my characters. I was driving nine hours to a writer's conference, and in one of the small towns I passed through was the sign “Justice Motorcycles.” I knew immediately that Justice would be the first name of my next hero—and he would have to be an amazing man to live up to the name. So far, I think he is! Where did the inspiration for your current book come from? Well, you now know the inspiration for my current hero's name. The inspiration for his book came from the fact I wanted to write another book set in my hometown. MOUNTAIN FIRE is, CHEF D'AMOUR is not, Book 3 is bookended in the city, but I wanted Book 4 to be immersed in it. The story is a romance between an ex-hockey player turned university security guard and a big-city professor 'slumming' it for one year in the Great White North. And because it's set during the school year, that means the story is set during winter – the deepest, darkest, coldest time of the year. I love the challenge of showing how great my city is, no matter what the season. What methods do you use to ensure you have no plot holes (journal, storyboard, outline, editor, etc.)? I do use a spreadsheet to outline each book, but usually a quarter of the way in I have to start changing the spreadsheet to match the book. During the first draft, I do my best to keep the plot holes to a minimum, of course, but there's always a couple that sneak through. I hope to catch them on my first read-through – and I always ask my betareaders to keep their eyes open. Now, I invited you to move on to the incomparable Sarah Hegger! And come back tomorrow, when I'll be hosting another Romance Weely writer, J.J. Devine . She's celebrating the release of her new paranormal romance, so be sure to come by again for a chance to win prizes! |