WOOT - Breaking Free Giveaway

I just got the best email from Vivien Dean, saying she and her writing partner, Pepper Espinoza, are doing a giveaway of Breaking Free at their Jamie Craig LiveJournal site. Vivien says she picked the book because of the cover but hopefully she'll enjoy what's inside it as much LOL! All you have to do it leave a comment to be entered for the giveaway--

And because I can't resist, here's the cover again :-D

Release day!!!

Release day, and I was stuck in the office having to smile and pretend I really, really didn't want to be doing a jig and shouting, "Breaking Free is here!!!!" It's like watching your child graduating College and, with that beautiful cover, graduating summa cum laude. It's on sale now over at Samhain Publishing (excuse me while I scare the heck out the husband, kid and cats with a scream of joy.)

Since I haven't posted it here before, I thought I'd share the trailer for Breaking Free, and let you know I'll be guest blogging next week over at Amy Ruttan's. Speaking of Amy, I want to say "Happy Release Day!" to her for tomorrow, when her novel Enemy Enchantress will be released by Eternal Press.

I hope you enjoy the trailer, and my latest book!

Breakin Free...YEAH!

Hooray!
I just got the final copies of Breaking Free!!

I’m so excited that this book is finally going to be released. It was the first erotic romance I ever wrote and, although it’s gone through extensive and repeated re-writes over the last five years, it’s still one of my favourites.

There’s something about Claire I really love. She’s worldly, having seen and done more than many women would ever want to, but still maintains a core of honour and basic goodness. It would be easy for her to become jaded—she has no illusions about the consequences of her past—yet she’s determined not to give in to sadness or regret.

And what’s not to love about Xavier? His past is riddled with sadness, with regret. He’s never experienced love really, yet there is a part of him that knows it exists, even if not for him. How could he resist Claire’s offer of passion—of a chance to experience all the warmth and eroticism she has to give?

I just had to share my excitement and show you my cover, which I think is absolutely gorgeous!

The menagerie of the mind

I haven’t blogged in a coon’s age, and while there was a part of me wondering why I wanted to start again—add one more item to the to-do list—there was another chomping at the bit. Life has been a whirl of crazy activity the last couple of years, with a couple of moves, a couple of new jobs, and a lot of asking, “What do we do now?”

I’ve swung from depression to elation, determination to confusion, and every other emotion one can think of along the way. There’s nothing like seeing things falling apart around you and having to hang on for dear life to put you through the emotional wringer. The only two constant mental processes tying all of that time together were best described by my friend Amy Ruttan as visits from the Plot Monkeys and Doubt Weasels.

No matter what else was going on my writing was never far from my mind, but how I felt about it depended on which part of the menagerie was visiting. I LOVE hearing the Plot Monkeys chattering and yammering. They always have interesting snippets of ideas, crazy but somehow viable ideas for new stories. When the Plot Monkeys come to town suddenly you know that, despite what you were thinking the second before, there really are a whole host of stories still waiting to be told. They’re fickle beasts, easily distracted, and you have to be careful they don’t clog your head with so many ideas you spend all your time researching and none writing. But if you can latch on to one idea, hold tight and get the story told, you have something to work with.

Unfortunately, after the Plot Monkeys go scampering off to harass some other writer their distant cousins the Doubt Weasels usually move in. These guys are dour, full of doom and gloom. They’re the equivalent of the friend who goes to the amusement park and spends the entire day predicting when and how the equipment will fail while you’re on the rides, and what you’ll sound like as you fall, screaming, to your death.

Sort of takes the joy out of the day...

If I’m lucky the DWs wait until I’m finished the story before slinking in through the door. Even though hearing them gossip and moan about how slim the chances are any publisher will acquire the “drivel” you’ve subbed is demoralizing, by that time the die is cast. If the weasels arrive while I’m still working on the book, there’s a good chance it won’t get finished until I can evict them again. It’s just impossible to get much done with all their Doomsday predictions whispering in my head.

So, with the help of friends, family, chocolate and a couple glasses of wine, the Doubt Weasels must be vanquished before further work can be done. Unfortunately, sometimes then the Plot Monkeys come charging back in. That’s why my “Unfinished Work” folder is bulging with snippets of ideas and half-done stories, and why I’m so grateful and happy to have three books coming out in the second half of 2010.

Take that, Doubt Weasels!

And, in honour of Canada Day, enjoy this video, filmed right here in my home town!

Long Dry Spring into Summer

I’ve always been the kind of person who tries to keep their mouth shut if I don’t have anything relevant to say, and it’s felt like I’ve had mental amnesia for the last few months, and this blog has truly suffered. If there is anyone out there who, in the past, has followed it, I sincerely apologise.

This is supposed to be a writing blog. I’m not a particularly ‘private’ person...in fact I’d go so far as to say I’m quite capable of telling people far more than they want to know about supposedly private things. However, the journey that brought me to the point where I even WANTED to blog was taken on the road to publication. I didn’t think it fair or particularly wise to share more intimate details of my life in general with the world at large. My life is intertwined with so many other people’s—my husband, children, friends outside of the writing world who have no need or wish for wider publicity—I didn’t, and still don’t, think it would be right.

So what happens when my life outside of writing takes a left at WTFville? I find myself with nothing relevant to say about writing, stop blogging for a while and hunker down, trying to get a handle on it. I even sometimes stop writing, although that is a painful and rather depressing place to be. I take my hat off to the bloggers who always seem to have something interesting to impart. Me? Sometimes I just have to keep my mouth shut, so as not to cross the line into the forbidden territory of sharing stuff no one on the internet really needs to know.

Having said all that, I have to say I’m slowly getting back to a place where writing is at, perhaps not the forefront of life again, but certainly closer to pole position. I have some exciting news I’ll be sharing with my blog readers soon, and next month I’ll be the wrangler for the Samhellion, the Samhain author’s official newsletter. The theme for the month will be History and Research...right up my alley!

So if in the past you’ve been a reader of my blog, and wondered why I fell off the edge of the earth...can I tell you, WTFville is not the kinda place I would wish for anyone to have to visit. It’s too damned easy to get lost going through there, and sometimes feels like you might never get back out. But sometimes, just sometimes, the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t a train.

A Hint of Wicked is, well, wicked!

With all the craziness, I missed my good friend and critique partner, Jennifer Haymore’s release date for her Regency set, A Hint of Wicked.

My bad!

Okay, to be honest, I’ve enjoyed this book from the very first time I saw it as a beta reader, and I’m thrilled beyond words to finally see it in print. I'm also so very happy to see I'm not the only one who appreciates Jennifer's amazing plot and prose. She's garnered some amazing reviews. And yes, you can eat your heart out...I have a signed copy of this gorgeous and enthralling tale in my grubby little hands.

Now I’ll be pestering the author to get the sequel, A Hint of Scandal, finished...
*cracks whip*

How things change!

So I went to visit my pal, Franny, of ParaNovelGirls and what does she do? She not only feeds me delicious things I shouldn't eat, puts me up for the night, introduces me to her gorgeous family and lets me hear a fox in the wild for the first time (VERY FREAKY when it's at two in the morning, on a full moon night) but when I was leaving she gave me a bag of books.

So what? I hear you ask.

A GARBAGE BAG OF BOOKS.

Yeah, you read right, a garbage bag...

I could see the look on my husband's face when I walked in with it but, bless him, he said nothing. I was on hiatus from writing, and reading is just as good in keeping me mellow (that's my story, and I'm sticking to it).

That bag of books ranged from newer releases to some older stuff, and it's the older stuff that made me realise how things have changed in the last number of years, and also how true it is that you can get away with breaking some of the writing rules.

First I read a couple of old Nora Roberts books, Truly Madly Manhatten (2003) and part of the Donovan Legacy series, Entranced (1992). I'll be the first to admit I haven't read a Queen Nora in a while, although I have read several in the past. What did I learn from those older books? Nora Roberts head-hops- a lot - or used to anyway. But the only reason I noticed is because I'm a writer too. I never gave it a second thought when reading BD BW (Back in the Day, Before Writing). What Nora Regina has is the ability to tell a damned good story, and that reinforces what I've believed for a long time: a great storyteller trumps a great technician every time. I don't think it means I, or any other writer, can get away with sloppy craft. Just that if you have the gift of being able to pull the reader (read editor or agent, first and foremost) completely into the tale, maybe you can get away with some of the writing habits touted as 'verboten.'

Or is it that with so many of us striving for the few publishing spots, publishers/editors/agents can now be extra picky? Hmmm....

Another book I read was Donna Kauffman's The Legend MacKinnon (1999) and the first thing that struck me, as I read the back blurb was, "Why wasn't this a series?" Series seem to be all the rage now. Then I laughed to myself. I'm one of the people who really sees both sides of the issue, even though I don't like this particular trend much. On the one hand it's great for a writer/publisher to have a series of interconnected books coming out at intervals, hopefully with the readers salivating for the next one. On the other hand, what the hell is wrong with a stand-alone book? Sometimes I really just want something I can read all the way through without any unresolved questions. I also think some authors just don't know when to quit and series go on far too long, becoming either predictable or too complex.

And it seems a shame when I hear of a book being rejected by a publishing house because they can't figure how to make it into a series. Not everything should be a series...some books are grand just as they are. (And no...it wasn't one of my books that was rejected that way! Such a cynical world we live in, I thought I'd just say...)

Sure, Ms. Kauffman might have been able to expand the three interconnected stories in The Legend MacKinnon into three books. There was enough plot there, although the timeline would have had to be severely altered. But would it have been as much fun to read? Probably not.