Thursday, April 30, 2015

Grave Touched by Erin Zarro



Today's guest is my friend Erin Zarro, who's new book Grave Touched has an official release date of May 1, 2015 (but just between you and me, if you go to Amazon, it's live NOW!). Grave Touched is published by Turtleduck Press, and is the sequel to Fey Touched, and if you're not familiar with Erin's work, check it out because it's good stuff...


Interview


LR: What’s the most compelling thing about Grave Touched, the thing that’s kept your butt in the chair through hours of writing and revising?

EZ: I think the most compelling thing that kept me moving was the battle that the characters had to fight to save themselves, their loved ones, and ultimately the world. They were being possessed by restless dead called the grave touched who wouldn't stop until everyone in the world had been possessed and the world turned into a version of their world, an icy cesspool of dead things.

Also, the love story between the two main characters. Watching it unfold was like watching a movie -- at times beautiful, at times heartbreaking. It kept me focused because they needed their story told.

LR: Does all of your writing have a fantasy element? What’s the appeal there? Does fantasy cross over into your poetry & photography?

EZ: I would say 95% of my stories have some type of fantasy  element in them. I love being able to do virtually anything – create a new world, make up my own magic system, invent a new culture and/or language (which is really fun!), and do things we can't do in the real world. There is no limit to what a writer can do with fantasy, and I love that.

Poetry for me is deeply personal and very autobiographical, so fantasy doesn't really creep into it. Maybe someday I'll give that a try. ;) 

With photography...sometimes. When I was in college, I created a book of Victorian pictures and poems, using pictures I'd taken of my sister and I in Victorian garb. It was pretty neat. I also do double exposures (the real way – shooting a roll of film, rewinding it, and reloading it) and sometimes the resulting pictures will have a sort of fantasy quality to them. And black & white infrared is hauntingly beautiful, with everything glowing.  I have a ton of ideas for new shoots that will incorporate more fantasy elements.

LR: Turtleduck Press’s co-op model is different from other publishers. How’d you guys gets started, and where did you get the name?

EZ: Five years ago we (KD Sarge, Siri Paulson, Kit Campbell, and myself) were discussing KD's book that had been with an agent for a year, and lamented the difficulty of getting an agent to take on less commercial books, even though they were of good quality. We thought, hey, we can do something, and we started making plans. Originally we were an alliance, but later on we incorporated as a company. And the rest is history.

The name came from the turtleduck being a blend of a turtle and a duck, not wholly one or the other. And our mission is to bring works to the public that are different in some manner that would otherwise fall through the cracks.

LR: Who do you read when you want inspiration? 

EZ: I have a lot of go -to authors: Nalini Singh, Karen Marie Moning, Larissa Ione, Melissa Marr, JR Ward, Dean Koontz, SM Reine, Dan Rix, Maggie Stiefvater, Sharlaine Harris, Lynn Viehl, Holly Lisle, Richelle Mead, and Terry Goodkind.

LR: Clutter or quiet? Describe your perfect writing situation.

EZ: I would be in my home office, listening to music that inspires me, no distractions, just in the zone, watching the story unfold in my head.

LR: In your bio you describe your cat as part vampire? Why? Do you have photographic proof? 

EZ: LOL. I actually don't have proof as such, but I have some pictures I can share. Hailey is a loving cat...when she feels like it. Any other time, you get bitten. I can't tell you how many bites I've gotten from her over the years. But she's my baby, and I love her anyway. 


"But I don't look evil...mostly..."


LR: I also read that you’ve got a couple of tattoos. Have you added any since the interview on your website? Do you have more planned?

EZ: I haven't added any more due to finances. Tattoos are so expensive! I have several planned: fairy wings on my back (huge!), a celtic cross on my opposite shoulder, the words "nolite timere" (Latin for "Do not be afraid" -- my motto as of last year) just below the tribal band, and Karen Marie Moning's Fever series motto, "Hope Strengthens, Fear Kills" somewhere. I'm also considering getting a small tattoo somewhere that says "j'écris" (which is French for "I write"). I'm a huge fan of body art.
Hailey is looking for tattoos...

LR: What’s next on your horizon? Describe your current WIP(s) or other upcoming project.

EZ: Well, I have several in the hopper. The main one is Fireborn, a novella in the Reaper Girl universe (which started in TDP's anthology "Under Her Protection." My novella was "Reaper Girl"). I need to finish it and will possibly publish it this year sometime or next. I have a psychological horror novel, Survivor, that's eleven years old and in rewrite (it keeps pulling me in!). And finally, book 3 of the Fey Touched series, Ever Touched, featuring precognition, clones, and neural implants. Should be fun.

If you're interested in reading more about Erin & her work, jump HERE - she's got another interview on my friend Ellen Gregory's blog.


Blurb



Fey Touched – humans, genetically engineered for immortality and flight, tasked with protecting the rest of the world from rogue Fey...

Grave Touched – dead souls in search of living bodies to possess, especially those who’ve had a brush with death...


When Fey Touched Hunter Emily wakes up in a hospital, she doesn’t know that she was in fact dead. Nor does she know that her lover, Nick, broke all kinds of rules to bring her back. But the grave touched do.

Fey Touched Healer Asha does know that her mate, Joe, saved her when her abilities nearly killed her. And she knows the voices in her head are the grave touched trying to stake their claim. Asha needs Joe’s help again, but unfortunately she’s the only one who believes the grave touched exist.

The grave touched are plotting to take over the corporeal world, and they’re gaining strength. Only Emily and Asha stand in their way – and both are about to be possessed.

Grave Touched.



Buy Link


Available from Amazon.


Bio





Erin Zarro is an indie novelist and poet living in Michigan. She's married to her Prince Charming, and she has a feline child named Hailey who she's convinced is part vampire. She loves all things scary and spooky, and is on a mission to scare herself, as nothing lately has scared her. She writes in the genres of sci-fi, fantasy, and horror. Her first published novel, Fey Touched, is a blend of sci-fi and fantasy. She is currently working on Book 3, Ever Touched, and is trying to stay out of trouble. Mostly. Her website is at erinzarro.com.

Monday, April 27, 2015

Thinking Too Much

This is a self-portrait. Of a sort.
So Mondays are usually my issue posts - either I respond to something that's going on or I dig into some aspect of writing that's caught my attention.

Today I couldn't bring it.

It's been a long weekend of family stuff and switching gears on projects and beta-reading for friends. (And I love beta-reading. The only reason I mention it is that I'm stressing over taking too long.) So instead of coming up with a rambly ol' blog post, I decided to play. Me n' Gimp n' a bunch of beach blanket bimbos are celebrating my natural state.

Overthinking things.

I hope your Monday is going well, and I'll be back in a day or so with something a little more articulate.
Cheers!
Liv



Friday, April 24, 2015

Hot Kiss Friday

Chet Baker partly inspired my character Skip.


Every week on Friday, the Book Boyfriends Cafe runs a Hot for Friday meme, and the last Friday of the month the theme is "Hot Kiss". There are a bunch of blogs participating (jump HERE to see the full list), so you'll have plenty of Friday kissing action. The rules don't specify whether it's the characters' first kiss or not, but in this case, it is. This snippet is from my mid-century m/m romance Aqua Follies. Russell & Skip are at a bar that caters to "their kind", and after a long and tortuous delay, things finally heat up...


Blurb


The 1950s. Postwar exuberance. Conformity. Rock and roll. 

Homophobia.

Russell Haunreiter accepts his aunt’s offer of the assistant coach’s job for her water ballet team, and travels with them to Seattle, where they will perform for the Aqua Follies. He’s just along for the ride until the night of the dress rehearsal, when the trumpet player’s solo hits him like a torpedo, blowing apart his carefully reconstructed life.

From the orchestra pit, Skip Johansson watches Poseidon’s younger brother stalk along the pool deck. It never hurts to smile at a man, because who knows what will come of it, so once the last note has been played, he gives it a shot. A flash of panic and heat tells Skip he’s guessed correctly. None of the girls on the team are Russell’s type, but even Skip can’t see the wounds the other man is carrying. 


Seattle may be more open than Russell’s home town of Red Wing, MN, but no place truly welcomes their kind of love. Is the strength of their bond enough to take a chance on a very uncertain future, or will the ghosts of Russell’s past stop them before they get started? 


Harry Connick Jr is also an inspiration for Skip. Because yum.


Hot Kiss


The bartender interrupted Skip to ask if they wanted another round.

“What time is it?” Skip guessed it was close to midnight.

“Half past twelve.” Russell’s eyes were heavy, and Skip’s alarm was going to go off at five o’clock. It was time to move.

“We can sneak out the back,” he said. “It’ll be closer to where we parked the car.”

He hadn’t quite told a lie, but close. They paid for their drinks, and he led Russell toward the back of the narrow room. As soon as they were in the dark hallway, between the tavern and the restroom, he launched himself, forcing Russell against the wall. He gripped his face with both hands, holding him in place.

“Nobody can see,” he murmured, so close the warmth of Russell’s breath moistened his lips, his internal thermostat driven to the red line by all the teasing and flirting.

“Mmm.”

For a screaming instant he almost stopped, afraid of chasing Russell off. The man had been so skittish, so to make his intentions plain, Skip pinned him with his hips. In return, Russell’s hard heat thrust against his thigh. 

“Last chance to stop,” Skip said.

“Oh God.” The words came out in a gasp, and Russell closed the distance between them, meeting Skip’s lips in a soft, tentative brush. 

Skip didn’t need any more of an invitation. He rocked his hips a couple times and dove in, satisfying an urge that had been growing since he’d first seen Russell stalking along the pool deck. 

Russell’s body was solid, his touch was warm, and he tasted of whiskey. His lips softened under the rush of Skip’s kisses. A groan vibrated up from Russell’s belly, and Skip went crazy, both hands gripping the lapels of the other man’s jacket to keep from reaching for his cock. The energy running through him since the gig went off like a match thrown in gasoline. It was hard to breath, hard to stand still. Kissing the gorgeous swimming god took every ounce of his concentration and hardened a harmless flirtation into bone-deep need.

Russell’s lips parted, giving him something new to attend to. He opened up, sliding his tongue along Russell’s lower lip, letting his hands roam over his high cheekbones and close cropped hair. Their tongues tangled. Rough whiskers burned. Russell nipped his lower lip and almost dropped him to his knees.

They didn’t ease off the throttle until someone came looking for the rest room. The man passed them with a murmured, “Careful, boys,” and kept moving. 

Russell jerked, stiffened, and pulled away. Skip rolled to the side so they stood shoulder to shoulder, their backs to the wall and fingers interlaced, their hearts pounding on a backbeat.

“Okay, so this wasn’t my classiest move, dragging you back to the john.” Skip flipped his head to clear the flopping bangs out of his face. “That fellow’s cool, though. He won’t rat on us.”

Russell shook their clasped hands. “You don’t hear me complaining.”

“Yeah, but if Demetrio or the bartender finds us, we’ll be out on our cans.” Reality kept raining down. “I’d bring you home with me tonight, but I have to work early in the morning.”
Russell tipped his head back against the wall and chuckled. “What are we doing here then?”

“I told you. I wanted to spend some time with you.” Skip kissed the back of Russell’s hand. The kiss turned into a caress. 

Russell cleared his throat, more of a grunt, as if he was cramming something down deep. “I’ve got to lead calisthenics at seven in the morning, anyway.” 

Skip knocked him with his shoulder. “Do you have to be coach all the time, or can you break away?”

“Saturday afternoon.”

“It’s a date.”

This one's out on submission, and you will hear it here first when it gets contracted. Happy Friday! Cheers!
Liv

Don't forget to check out the full list of participating blogs on this Hot Friday. And if you want to see more of the pictures that inspired Aqua Follies, check out my Pinterest board HERE.


Tuesday, April 21, 2015

FRACTURE by Amanda K. Byrne (@AmandaKByrne #hot #contemporary)



This is so cool! Today is the release day for my good friend and critique partner Amanda K. Byrne's first full-length novel, Fracture. I had the great good fortune to be one of the beta readers for this project and I can honestly say I LOVE THIS BOOK! It'll hit you right in the feels! So check it out, and keep reading for my girl Amanda's thoughts on the playlist for Fracture...

I’m a big fan of playlists. I make one for the majority of my stories, though I rarely listen to them while I’m writing. But they do a fantastic job of setting the mood, and with my newest release, Fracture, I needed it.

Fracture is set in present day war-torn Sarajevo, so I wanted intense, angry music. Songs like “I Stay Away” by Alice in Chains and “Metal Heart” by Garbage. Or Kasabian’s “Switchblade Smiles”, and Linkin Park’s “Castle of Glass”.

And since U2 is my favorite band, I had to include one of their songs, and it’s such an obvious one, too – “Bullet the Blue Sky”. Another war song, “Zombie” by the Cranberries, made the list, but I chose an acoustic version over the album version. It’s got this haunting quality to it that brings to mind an almost visceral image of the destruction and havoc war wreaks on humanity.

My taste in music can be rather eclectic, though, so there’s a few songs that kinda sorta don’t make a lot of sense (Morten Lauridson’s “O Nata Lux”, which is absolutely gorgeous, and “Central Reservation” by Beth Orton). One scene takes place in a dance club, so I threw in some David Guetta (“Turn Me On”, featuring Nikki Minaj) and Bassnectar (“Ping Pong”). 

But if I were to pick a theme song off the list, it would be “Gorecki” by Lamb. Declan, for all his cruelty and thoughtlessness, turns out to be exactly what Nora needs, and their connection is this fierce, adamantine bond forged in the chaos. The melody and the beat combine into something dark and sensuous, full of heat and lust and need. When Lou Rhodes sings, “Here my heart knows calm”, I can imagine Nora thinking those very words.

Got a Spotify account? You can listen to the full playlist here.


Blurb


Every nightmare has an end.

There’s no way Nora can ignore the beating. Same heavy boots. Same curses, same pained groans. But that was two years ago, and this a different man, a different part of war-ravaged Sarajevo. This is her second chance. She has to try.

And then she’s stuck with him, nursing him, putting up with him. Declan’s an ass. He’s rude and tactless. He’s arrogant. Dismissive.

Charming. Intense. Caring when she needs it most – and least expects it. He tears away the numbing fog that’s been her constant companion and offers her a way out and a way home.

And it damn near destroys her.

Nora’s survived two years in a war zone. Can Declan show her how to live?


Buy it here 


AMZ | BN | KOBO | iBooks | GR





Bio


The official version:

When she’s not plotting ways to sneak her latest shoe purchase past her partner, Amanda writes sexy, snarky romance and urban fantasy. She likes her heroines smart and unafraid to make mistakes, and her heroes strong enough to take them on.

If she’s not writing, she’s reading, drinking hot chocolate, and trying not to destroy her house with her newest DIY project. She lives in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, and no, it really doesn’t rain that much.

The not quite as boring version:

I didn’t set out to be a writer. A lot of people say that, and they say it because it’s true. More, I didn’t set out to be a romance writer. I wanted to be a jockey when I was younger. Yes, I wanted to ride racehorses for a living. Then I wanted to be a juvenile probation officer. At some point, I wanted to be a teacher, a princess, and an actress, and I ended up doing none of those things.

I adore reading. In fact, I love it so much I review books as well as write them. I review for My Bookish Ways and Vampire Book Club, and sometimes I’ll post a review on my own blog. I grew up reading literary fiction, mysteries, thrillers, and the occasional chick lit thrown in for spice. The only romance author I’d read for years was Nora Roberts (closing in on twenty years with that relationship) and while I’ve since expanded my romance reading horizons, she still remains one of my go-to authors for comfort reading.

I have the world’s neediest cat and the most amazing partner. I also have a massive number of shoes and sweaters and can’t bring myself to part with any of them. If you bring me green Sour Patch Kids, I will love you forever, but I could (and do) live happily without brussel sprouts. I drink too much Pepsi, guard my free time fiercely, and swear a lot (except on Facebook, because my mother doesn’t like it).

Why Amanda K. Byrne? Because if you google my name without my middle initial, Google thinks you’re talking about a former Nickelodeon actress with some…issues. Go on and check it for yourself. I’ll wait.

*cricket chirp*

See? Anyway.

I have a love/dislike relationship with social media. I’m all over it, but I don’t spend too much time in one place. You can find me on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, a sorely neglected Tumblr, and you can check out the playlists for some of my books over on Spotify. Or you could, you know, be old fashioned and send me an email.


Monday, April 20, 2015

The Feels. Do we want them? How do we get them?

So...the other day my friend Irene posted to Facebook that she was reading the 4th book in a series by an author we both really like. That motivated me to get my but in gear and read the same book - I'd been saving it for a special occasion, and a Hawaiian vacation seemed special enough.

Loved the book. Hard.

(Jump HERE to see the book's Amazon link. I don't mean to be coy, but I blog about this author a lot, and there should be a limit to the fangirl action, you know?)

(Okay, fine. It's Jackdaw by KJ Charles. Fantastic story. Go read it. Seriously.)

At any rate, after I finished the book (for the 2nd time) I messaged Irene to ask what she thought. She loved it as much as I did, because unlike the other books in the series, this one was all about The Feels. A while later she dropped a different author's name, saying how much she admired her ability to write The Feels.

Those words again.

The Feels


Now, I haven't been living in a box, so I've seen people use the phrase before, but I'd never really connected it to my own writing. Should I try and write The Feels? What does that mean, exactly? And how would I go about doing it?

The best way to understand something is to start with an accurate definition. I went to Urban Dictionary, however had trouble finding something short AND grammatically correct AND F-bomb-free.

Not that there's anything wrong with that...exactly...

Then I found knowyourmeme.com, where there was both a definition and some information about the origin of the term. Check out the link if you want to feel like an expert on The Feels. For the rest of you, here's their definition:

“Feels” is a shorthand for the word “feelings” that is used to describe an intense emotional response, such as sadness, excitement or awe. The term is also commonly associated with the phrase “right in the feels,” which indicates that something has deeply affected the speaker.







Intense emotional response. That's what I want for my readers, maybe not on every page, but often enough to keep them turning those pages. Assuming my characters are more perceptive than poor Sherlock up there, how do I communicate their emotional response to any given situation?

After reading through a few blog posts (links below), I came up with six basic guidelines for adding emotional depth to your fiction.



1. Show, don't tell.




Every writer, everywhere has been told to 'show, don't tell' at one point or another. But how do you do that? It's not easy, or it wouldn't be something every one of us needs to be reminded of. As an example - and making use of Mr. Ackles, above - it's the difference between saying,

"He got all excited and started playing air guitar."

and

"He high kicked and grabbed his own damned leg, strumming his thigh like a guitar and shouting out the lyrics of some rock song."

The first sentence tells you he's excited, the second one communicates his emotion through word choice and detail. Giving your character physical cues that illustrate what's going on inside their head is much more powerful than baldly stating what they feel. T
he Emotion Thesaurus is great for this, providing a lists of behaviors associated with a host of different mental states.

You can and should amplify a character's emotions with visceral responses, with cues like a racing heartbeat or a twist in the pit of their belly, and you can use the choreography of the scene to provide clues to what they're feeling. A character who spends an entire conversation folded in a ball at the far end of the couch is giving a much different message than one who is straddling her love interest's lap.

You need to really know your characters, because the same situation can produce different responses in different people and you want to capture each character's unique truth. You also need to be willing to get down and dirty with your own feelings...but we'll get into that more in #3.


2. Give the reader something they can relate to.




There aint' nothing sadder than a bummed-out baby.

Look at that kid's face. You don't even need to know the cause to see his little heart breaking. Almost everyone's got some experience with babies, and as a story element, they're something most readers can relate to. I'm not saying every book needs a baby, but even the oddest, least-human character needs some aspect the reader can grab onto and say, "yeah, I know that."


If the reader connects with your main character in chapter one, they'll be sobbing or screaming or tearing their hair out when they get to the climax of the story. Readers are pretty forgiving, and will add their own layers to the information the writer gives them, but there needs to be a foundation of believability for them to work with.

Establishing a reader connection can make your antagonist more powerful, too. Not too many writers can get away with creating a Sauron. Most of us need to construct bad guys who have a little bit of good to offset all the evil, or whose motivations - selfishness, greed, addiction - can be understood by the reader.

I may not be telepathic, but I do know what it feels like to be the odd one out, to be the one who doesn't quite fit. So by the end of the first chapter of Dead Until Dark, I was pretty sure Sookie Stackhouse was someone I could be friends with, someone who would understand my own feelings of alienation, because she'd been there and done that. I rode that feeling of connection all the way through thirteen books and quite a few seasons of the television show.

Charlaine Harris won my loyalty by her ability to consistently get at honest emotional truths (and Eric Northman). In order to do that, she had to be willing to go there first.


 3. Open yourself up.




Basically, if you're not feeling it, your readers won't, either. 

I've heard writers say their best scenes are the ones where they made themselves cry, and there's something beautiful about that. To take your character into their blackest moments by digging into the time you hit rock bottom takes a fair amount of courage. Readers know what bad feels like, what hurt feels like, what fizzy infatuation feels like, and when you find a compelling way of communicating basic emotional truth, the words pop right off the page.

Which is not to say your writing should be limited to those things you've already experienced. You just need to come up with the next best thing. Probably Charlaine Harris has never met a vampire, but she makes a pretty good case for what it would be like. Most of us have met someone who was extremely charismatic and kind of frightening. Like, you know, a vampire would be. Ms. Charlaine's ability to convey the competing dynamics of attraction and fear gives her work the weight of truth, even though the situations are complete fantasy.

What's that I just said about competing dynamics? It's just a fancy way of saying a character's emotion rarely plays only one note.



4. Layer emotions.





Remember the time your sister came home and told you she'd made the cheerleading squad, and you were happy for her because you're sisters, after all, but you were also a teeny weeny bit jealous, because you're sisters, after all, and you were also also kind of excited because maybe your own dating cred would go up because of some trickle-down cool?

Because you're sisters, after all. Remember?

It's entirely possible for your characters to have mixed emotions about any given situation. To use an example from the KJ Charles book Jackdaw, Ben hated Jonah, except for how much he loved him. And Jonah loved Ben so much, he destroyed their relationship to keep him safe. The complexity of these extreme emotions (The Feels) drove the plot hard and made for compelling reading. 

(This post from Janice Hardy's Fiction University does a great job of detailing how to identify the different emotional layers in a scene. Check it out - it's worth a read.)

5. Use your setting



 


In #1, I talked about using behavioral cues, visceral reactions, and choreography to illustrate a character's mental/emotional state. Another way of reinforcing what's going on inside their head is to highlight details from the setting. The details you choose should help deepen the reader's connection with the character, thereby heightening their emotional response to the action on the page.

Think about it. Wuthering Heights is a very different book if it's set in contemporary L.A. (And I'm already playing with that idea, so don't even go there.) The whole dark-and-stormy-night vibe fosters a feeling of dread in the reader, one that reinforces the pathos and destructiveness of Cathy and Heathcliffe's doomed love.

More subtly, if most of your action takes place in a fairly benign suburban ranch house, maybe there's a dying potted plant in the corner that comes to represent the stress between the husband and wife who live there. A little bit of setting can go a long way, but a couple choice details can really hook your reader, increasing the emotional resonance of the scene.


6. Show some restraint.



  


Melodrama.

It's not usually what you're after. Melodrama happens when your character's emotional intensity is constantly turned up to eleven. (That's a random Spinal Tap reference.) If the hint of love has them singing about daisies and rosebuds, and a bad cup of coffee brings on tears, you might have a problem.

A character doesn't have to express over-the-top feelings in order to be dramatic. You're striving for the truth, right? And just as people quite normally feel more than one emotion at a time, there are also ten steps on their emotional volume control before they get to eleven. To avoid a melodramatic, potentially comedic, overreaction, make sure you calibrate the character's response to the situation you're creating.

There may be times when you want a character to overshoot, for a deliberately humorous effect. Janet Evanovich is pretty much an expert at this, and Stephanie Plum's sidekick Lula gets just as excited about a bucket of chicken as she does about a bad guy with a gun. In general, though, it's best to leave the melodrama to Snidely Whiplash and his pals.






So there's my take on how to hit your readers right in The Feels. Show, don't tell. Give them something to relate to. Open yourself up. Layer emotions. Use your setting. Avoid melodrama. And while you're doing all that, strive to put the truth on the page, because that'll give you the biggest feels of all.

Cheers,
Liv


If you've got any tricks for getting The Feels on the page, leave 'em in the comments!

Wish I'd known she was going to do this so I could have worked it in earlier...my friend Irene took my post and did it one better. Here's a link to The Feels (topic shamelessly stolen from Liv Rancourt)! She pretty much nails it....


If you'd like to do some more reading, here are some links...

http://theeditorsblog.net/2011/01/30/creating-emotion-in-the-reader/

http://theeditorsblog.net/2011/01/21/writing-for-the-emotions/

http://writershelpingwriters.net/2014/02/writing-extreme-emotion-without-melodrama/

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2011/10/do-you-feel-it-plotting-with-emotional.html

Friday, April 17, 2015

There's No Place Like....


Aloha!

Yeah, I'm back. I'm not sure if this'll be an actual blog post, or just an excuse to show off more of the photos I took in Hawaii last weekend. Like this one...


Waimea Bay from the Puu O Mahuka Heiau
I ate and drank and reconnected with old friends. I climbed Diamond Head and took my first-ever hot yoga class. Even more exciting, I actually relaxed enough to step away from my iPhone for at least a couple brief periods of time.


Sweaty selfie with Bex from the top of Diamond Head

There was some writing involved - there's always writing involved - and two days in, I finished the first draft of my current project. I also got feedback on the first seventy pages of that project from my girls Amanda and Rhay. I've decided to upgrade them from beta readers to alpha readers, because, first draft. Hello! They had some pretty rough going, but they hung in there.

(HERE'S a link to a Janice Hardy post on the alpha reader concept.)




Sunrise over Kailua
The other writerly thing I've been thinking about is what to do with Aloha, Baby, now that the whole thing is published on the blog. I'm debating whether to make it a free download on Smashwords, post it on Wattpad, or just make a page for it here on the blog. While I work out the details, you can always jump HERE for the first section of my sweet contemporary(ish) romance. It's split into eight sections, but they're all linked so you can keep reading. It's a free read, and free is good.


My feet in the sand on Makapu Beach. TMI?
And on that not-so-serious note, I'm going to wrap things up. Mahalo for your support of Aloha, Baby and for visiting my blog. Below is a 30-second video I took from the trail on Diamond Head. It's looking out toward Koko Head Crater, with Black Point and Kahala in the middle. I took a number of these short videos, mainly to share little bits of the island with my kids, and this one captures how windy it was up there, and the intensity of the colors. Enjoy!
Liv

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Show Me How To Love by Synithia Williams

Love. This. Cover.
Now you know I'm nothing if not a rebel, so when I heard my friend Synithia was having trouble with Facebook because there was too much skin on her new book cover, I immediately started thinking of ways I could help. Like, maybe, making a blog post and sharing it in the comments? We'll see if my sneaky idea works...

Above and beyond that, I'm pleased as peaches to promo this book, because it's one I beta-read a while ago and I thought it was a fantastic story. I love her writing (& I LOVE her heroes! *ahem Kareem ahem*), and I hope you check this one out, because it's too fun!

Blurb:

Just when Mikayla Summers is convinced dating her boss is a good idea, she discovers him having sex in the closet with someone else. Refusing to stick around for further humiliation, she escapes with the one other person affected by what happened, her now ex-boyfriend’s cousin, the sexy, Andre Caldwell. 
Though Andre believed the feud between him and his cousin over, he wasn’t surprised by what happened. What is surprising is how much he’s attracted to Mikayla’s personality and charm. As he gets to know her better, he realizes there is more than betrayal bringing them together 
But the Caldwell feud runs deep, and when family obligations threaten the fragile connection between Andre and Mikayla they’ll both question if their love is real or a result of revenge.

Excerpt:

He smirked and shook his head. “My family doesn’t marry for love. You only briefly met my dad and step-mom, but a few minutes in a room with them will quickly reveal there’s no love between them. They started as an affair that resulted in both of them dumping their old spouses for a newer model.”

“Don’t you want to love someone,” she asked.

“No.”

Simple, abrupt, with no explanation. 

“I’ve been in love.” Some of the wistfulness of what she’d once felt floated with her voice. “It’s not so bad.”

He leaned back and crossed thick arms over his wide chest. “Ryan?”

She shook her head. “No. My college boyfriend. We met our junior year and dated all of our senior year. He asked me to marry him.”

“What happened?”

“He died in a car wreck.” She said simply. 

Andre’s dark eyes lowered briefly. “I’m sorry.”

She shifted and toyed with the edge of her shirt. “I’ve come to terms with my loss. Cried enough tears to fill Lake Michigan and yes, I still miss him. But his mom insisted that I live after it was over. He wouldn’t want me to cry every day.”

“What was his name?”

Brown eyes that crinkled when he grinned in a thin face tanned from spending so many days outside flashed across her mind. “Brenden.” She smiled. “He made me laugh, all the time at the silliest stuff. He was such a great guy.”

Andre slid closer, wrinkling the patterned quilted bed cover and her will to slide away.  “The look on your face. You didn’t have that look with Ryan.”

She lifted then lowered her shoulders. “No, I didn’t.”

Andre lifted a hand and brushed the hair from the side of her face. His fingers trailed down the side of her cheek, sending shivers across her skin. A warning flared somewhere deep that they were getting too comfortable again. Mikayla ignored it and turned to rest her cheek against his palm. 

She met his gaze. His dark eyes were alive with desire. Heat sparked between them. She took a stuttering breath and blood pounded in her veins like a rushing stream. Too many emotions swirled inside of her. She hadn’t talked about Brenden in years, mainly because she didn’t want those old feelings brought up. Andre was the last person she should trust with those feelings, but after he’d spent the night keeping her nightmares away it seemed silly not too.

“You don’t talk much, but when you do you get right to places I don’t like going,” she said in a wobbly whisper. 

“If you’re going to talk, it might as well be about something.” He slid a hand to the back of her head. Long fingers gently twisted in her hair, which was probably now a mess. He pulled her closer.

Anticipation ignited and flared along her skin. As much as she’d wondered about Ryan’s kiss, she’d never longed for his lips to touch hers the way she did now for Andre’s. She called on reason to stop her now.  “We shouldn’t do this.” 

“No, we shouldn’t.” If she loved his voice before, she was completely enamored with the thick layer of desire flavoring the deep rumble.  “That’s why it’s just going to be a kiss.”

(Blogger's note: Sigh...)

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Bio:

Synithia Williams has loved romance novels since reading her first one at the age of 13. It was only natural that she would begin penning her own romances soon after. When she isn't writing, this local government gal balances the needs of her husband and two sons. You can learn more about Synithia on her website: www.synithiawilliams.com, Facebook: www.facebook.com/synithiarwilliams and Twitter: www.twitter.com/SynithiaW 

Friday, April 10, 2015

Aloha, Baby (A Short Story Serial - The Big Finish!)

Blue eyes, dimples, and a hot surfer's body means trouble, right? There's only one way for Katie to find out...

Here we are, at the final installment of Aloha, Baby. If you've been following along, MAHALO! and if you're just checking in for the first time, you can catch up by reading  Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 first. Or you can read the big finish, and wonder how we got here. (LOL!) At any rate, by the time you read this, I'll be on a plane to Honolulu for a little fun in the sun. Have fun with the story, and have a great week!


Our VRBO has a pool....hoping this guy is waiting....

Losing seventy pounds was sure something to celebrate, but at the same time it created problems Katie never expected to deal with. Like, what to do when the hot-bodied surfer, Jack, turned out to be the DJ at her roommate's favorite dance club. Katie was positive he had ‘Trouble’ stamped on his butt. Didn't he?

When we left Katie, Jack had just dropped her off after a most romantic ride home...

The next morning my head ached a little. The sky was partly cloudy, although the clouds would likely burn off and let the sun through by the afternoon. I said good morning to Hula Girl. When I passed by to open the lanai door, she winked at me. For a plastic doll she was kind of a smarty-pants.

I stepped out so I could watch the water and smell the plumeria. The traffic zipping along the highway hummed like a swarm of distant bees. My presence triggered a startled cough from Darla, who was out on her lanai in a purple and hot pink flowered bathing suit finishing her morning cigarette.

“Goodness, lady, you look like crap. I hope it was worth it.”

I was a little embarrassed. “Yeah.” I glanced down at my Swatch. It was ten thirty in the morning.

“Want some coffee?” Darla held up her cup.

“I would love some.”

Darla ducked into her apartment and, in a minute, she was back with a second mug. It tasted fine, clearing the fuzz off the back of my tongue and propping my eyes open. “Thanks,” I said, raising the mug as a toast to Darla.

“No problem. You have fun last night?”

I grinned, unable to find the right words.

“It’s about time.” Darla raised her mug, toasting my success. A muffled thump came from Meli’s room, and a minute later she stumbled into the bathroom.

“Look who’s livin’ large,” I called to her.

Darla laughed. “She’s a kicker, your roommate. I used to know her Auntie Esmie. We had some wild times, back in the old days.”

“Meli must have inherited her auntie’s genes.”

“She got her name. Esmerelda.”

“Ack, Darla, don’t tell her that.” Meli stepped out onto the lanai and dumped herself into our one plastic chair. She was wearing a man’s t-shirt and a flowered sarong skirt tied at the hip. “You have fun last night with Mr. Trouble?”

I felt my cheeks turn to flame. “Yeah.”

“Gonna see him again?” By now Darla was leaning over the lanai railing, anticipating my answer.

“Tomorrow.”

“Our work here is done, Darla.” Meli pushed herself up, gave Darla a high five, and went back into the apartment. She called over her shoulder as she left. “Let’s go out for breakfast.”

That sounded pretty good. A couple of over-easy eggs and some orange juice would be okay if I just had a salad for lunch. Meli would probably order eggs benedict, and normally I would weaken and help her finish what she couldn’t eat. Having Jack around was likely to be pretty motivating. As they say at Weight Watchers, nothing tastes as good as being thin feels. I got a fluttery feeling somewhere under my belly button. For sure, I’d be buying myself a couple new bras.

“You want to come with us, Darla?”

“Oh no. You girls go have fun. I’m glad you got out last night. For a sweet girl, you’re kind of distant, you know? I can tell you’re holding everything back.”

Sounded like someone you’d call Shave Ice. “I’ve heard that before.”

When the coffee was gone, I took a long shower. The red light on the answering machine was flashing when I got done. The message was from Jack, just checking in. He left phone numbers for his apartment and his car phone.

“I’ll call him back later,” I told Hula Girl.

Her skirt swished in the breeze as she laughed at me.

“What? It’s not like he’s really got ‘Trouble’ on his butt.”

“Who are you talking to?” Meli asked as she came out of the bathroom.

Hula Girl kept laughing.

“No one, Meli. Let’s go.”

Of course, by the time we got done waiting for the elevator and rode to the ground floor, I started freaking out. Maybe I should have returned Jack’s call before we left.

“What if he doesn’t call again?” I wailed at Meli. Guys could be so fickle.

She rolled her eyes and headed across the lobby, her flip-flops slapping on the tile floor. “He’ll call again.”

I followed her, wishing I had her confidence. She looked casually sophisticated with her flowered skirt tied on her hip, carrying a purse that should have looked too dressy, but didn’t. Beside her, my faded sundress was shabby. At least my hair looked kind of cute, done up in a messy bun, and I’d slapped on some tinted lip-gloss.

When we pushed through the double glass doors of the apartment’s main entrance, I wished I’d paid a little more attention to my appearance. A dark-colored Camaro pulled up in front of us. We stopped near the passenger door, and Meli glanced at me over top of her sunglasses. The tinted passenger window rolled down, and Jack leaned over from the driver’s seat.

“What’s up, chicas?”

“Morning.” I clipped Meli gently with my elbow because I knew she was about to start giggling.

“We’re going over to the Wisteria for breakfast and thought we’d see if you wanted to come. Since we were in the neighborhood.”

The restaurant he’d named was on the other side of town. Realizing there was no way they happened to be “in the neighborhood,” I started to grin. After a glance at Meli, I nodded. “Let’s go.”

“Get out of the car, Kalani.” Jack shoved his roommate’s shoulder.

Kalani was staring at Meli like she was a cobra and he was about to get bit. “You get out of the car. The girls can sit in back.”

“Get out.”

Kalani opened the passenger door, climbing out with an exaggerated sigh.

“Now be a gentleman and help her in.”

Kalani stuck a hand in Meli’s general direction and she gave him a look that said she’d slap him if he touched her. I bit my upper lip to keep from laughing out loud. They were going to be fun to watch.

When Kalani was in the back, I settled myself in the passenger seat and smiled over at Jack. He picked up my hand and kissed the back of it. The air around me started to glow, and I was pretty sure I could get used to the warm buzz that started in my heart and traveled south.

I had to clear my throat before I could speak. “Sorry I didn’t call you back. I was in the shower.”

“It’s alright, Cuddles.”

“Gah, are we going to have to listen to you get all mushy?” Meli bleated from behind us.

Jack and I started to laugh, and I let my hand rest causally on his thigh. As he put the car in gear, I heard Hula Girl tell me how much fun it was to fall in love.

Thanks again for reading!