Susan Stephens| Happy New Year

Happy New Year, everyone!

It’s great to be here so I can wish you all the very best for 2008.

I’m thrilled to announce the release of 3 books in January and February.

The first, Laying Down the Law, is particularly dear to my heart, because it tells the story of a young trainee barrister and her bad-boy American Italian pupil master, Lorenzo Domenico.

I can’t deny this UK Modern Heat release was inspired by my daughter training to be a lawyer- but she now complains she never got to meet anyone remotely like Lorenzo!

Bought: One Island, One Bride, is a Harlequin Presents release in February, and was inspired by my meeting a passionate environmentalist while I was holidaying in the Greek islands.

It was impossible not to be inspired by the romantic promise of such a fabulous setting, and by the passion of Jamie, the young man who opened our eyes to the vulnerable eco-systems surrounding us. (I only hope Jamie hasn’t minded my changing him into my heroine, Ellie Mendoras!)

My third book, The Tycoon’s Virgin

Is a Harlequin Presents 2nd cycle release in February, which means it will be shelved near the Desire titles, and a little later in the month than is usual for Presents.

The Tycoon’s Virgin was inspired by my house move to the remote Yorkshire moors and features a girl with plenty to hide and a hero who is determined to uncover all her secrets- Plus there’s plenty of hot mud and steamy showers in between!

Prize news

Some time in January I’ll be announcing a winner on my Blog, chosen at random from our list of Birthday Babies- and that winner will win a special hamper of gifts to make the New Year start with some much deserved pampering.

Plus, from January to June 2008 I am inviting you to bring two friends to join my Birthday Babies club. All you have to do is contact my assistant Lee at lee@susanstephens.net with your name and the names and info for your two friends who want to sign up and you will be entered into a special draw as a thank you. Yes, you have 2 chances to win!

I’ve also got some super new bookmarks to give away, so if you’d like one just send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to:

Leena’s Goodie Room
Susan Stephens Goodies
4411, 76th Ave. West # 2
University Place, WA 98466
USA

USA readers should put 41 cents postage on the envelope and overseas readers should email lee@susanstephens.net for more information on how to get a bookmark.

Don’t forget, I love hearing from readers at susan@susanstephens.net and in the meantime, I’d like to wish you and those closest to you a very happy New Year with lots of love, laughter and reading pleasure!


Susan

http://www.susanstephens.net/

Laura Drewry | Self Discipline

Last year, I set three goals.

1. Sell more books
2. Lose weight
3. Learn self discipline

Well, to quote the always quotable Meatloaf, two outta three ain't bad. I sold two more books and I lost the weight. So this year I've decided to tackle the whole self discipline thing. How hard can it be? It's simply a matter of retraining my brain, right? (snicker chuckle snort)

In order to lose the weight, I had to learn a bit of self discipline. And although I still believe Reeces Peanutbutter Cups and buttered popcorn deserve to have their own section on the food group pyramid, I no longer believe I'll die if I don't eat both of them every day. So, with the basic principal of "I've sort of done it before, so surely I can expand on it further", I've set out to define the areas in which I need to increase my self discipline:

1. I write in fits and spurts, instead of every day. That has to change.

2. I have convinced myself that plotting is the curse of death and that winging it is the only way I can write. That has to change.

3. I tend to let my 'office' (for lack of a better word) turn into a dumping ground, leaving me feeling overwhelmed and claustrophobic. That definitely has to change.

And

4. I've never exercised regularly. That probably won't change, but never say never, right? :-) After reading Maggie's post from the other day, I'm definitely more inclined, I just need to find the self discipline. Funny how this all comes around full circle, eh?

Every writer has his/her own way of doing things, and they don't always make sense to anyone else. The funny thing is that my way of writing doesn't always make sense to me, and I'm the one doing it! I love writing and I love that every single writer has a different process of getting from blank page to the finished work. What I don't love is knowing that no matter how organized and anal I might be in the rest of my life, I haven't been able to duplicate that methodology into my writing life.

It'll happen, though. I mean, honestly, if I can retrain my brain to believe I can get by without the almighty Reeces, surely I can retrain it to plan and plot a little, right? Right?!?

Laura Drewry

Deborah MacGillivray | A stroll down memory lane…with a small detour through the Twilight Zone…

Inspiration for most writers comes straight from their lives. So it’s not surprising my works all begin with those core pieces. Things I love, people I have met, or the places that have been a part of my life become building blocks of the foundations for my novels and short stories.

Living on both sides of the Pond has given me a diversity of inspiration to tap. I used Scotland for the setting of The Invasion of Falgannon Isle, the first book in the Sisters of Colford Hall series (Dorchester Love Spell, December 2006). However, with Riding the Thunder the second book in the series (October 2007), I drew heavily on a small part of my childhood and early teens to conjure the setting and people for my offbeat world of The Windmill.

People reading the book continually comment that the setting is so strong they almost expect the place really to exist. Well, it did once. Long time ago, before urban sprawl took away the quirkiness of the odd spot on Nicholasville Pike, a halfway point between Lexington and Nicholasville, Kentucky, and turned the area into shopping centers and apartments, there was actually a restaurant called The Windmill.

Mysteriously, the place wasn’t special. Most people who ever ate there would likely have relegated it to labels of ‘quaint’, ‘truck stop’, or even ‘greasy spoon’; just a rundown diner that seemed forevermore stuck in the 1950s. There was also a motel, swim club and drive-in smack in the middle of horse country, as odd as that may seem. Fact stranger than fiction! And The Windmill’s jukebox had tunes years out-of-date, and it either was possessed or created with a mind of its own. Press the buttons on one song and often you’d end up with “Surfin’ Bird”, or “Tell Laura I Love Her” instead of the Beach Boys’ “Help me, Rhonda”.

On Friday and Saturday nights during the summer, the drive-in would run dusk-to-dawn specials, one price for a carload and you were treated to all the B-movies you could want. Generally, the marquee touted titles such as Vincent Price’s The Haunted Palace, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee’s epic battle in Dracula, Prince of Darkness, or the ‘low-rent’ Roger Corman’s The Undead, all following the Woody Woodpecker cartoons.

Some of the people were also real once. There truly was an Oo-it, a funny young man who used to get too excited, though memories of him have since become mixed with images of actor Steve Bercemi,. Sam the cook was based on a janitor in my school. All the kids adored Henry. Laura and Tommy were patterned on a young couple who died very tragically in a car accident. None of these people touched my life in a profound way, other than giving a passing smile, yet they, too, are burned into my memory so deeply that they took root and slowly filled my muse with the story of Jago and Asha, and the weird place called The Windmill.

I only spent a couple weeks each year in the area, thus I am not sure why my brief visits there remain shining in my memories, so special. That they have for decades has been a puzzle to me. The riddle has led me to ponder if the oddball place was on some leyline, that there was some magical force, which made the very mundane very enchanting to me. But then again, perhaps that is what makes a writer a writer. They can look at the ordinary, a place in the middle of nowhere, a small dot on the map that thousands of other people passed through and then quickly forgot, and instead see the beauty and wonder in the sights, the sounds, the smells of a place so out-of-step with time. And dream...





Riding the Thunder with "Lost for Words" by Mike Duncan (mike-duncan.org) used with permission

A big thank you to Fresh Fiction for allowing me to take a trip down the side roads of Memory Lane!

Kathryn Albright | Where do you find your inspiration?

What sparks that excitement inside that urges you to write? Is it a news report, a TV show, a person, or a place?

For my debut book, The Angel and the Outlaw, a historical romance, it was the setting that captured me and begged me to write. Growing up in San Diego, I often visited the Old Pt. Loma Lighthouse with my family. My imagination would take flight there, and I’d conjure up scenarios involving the cliffs, the tide, and the caves. As a child, the news reports of people stranded when the tide came in made me nervous enough to keep a close eye on each and every wave while exploring the tide pools (and have nightmares about tidal waves!) The stories of shipwrecks off the coast added even more adventure to the mix.

The Old Pt. Loma Lighthouse was built in 1854. Through its 36 years of service the light keepers saw many of the things I mention in my book such as the community picnic. The light keeper, having a perfect view of the ocean, would hang a red flag on the railing when he spotted a pod of the California Gray whales migrating to alert the Johnson Whaling Company on the harbor side of the peninsula.

San Diego in 1873, the year The Angel and the Outlaw takes place, was already an international mix of people—much like it is today. The Hispanic culture formed San Diego long before any Anglos made their mark. Then there were the Portuguese whalers and Chinese fishermen, each staking their own area of town. All of these add wonder and interest to the city’s history and also to the setting of my story.

Needless to say—history fascinates me. I’d love to hear how you are inspired. Add a comment here or contact me through my website at http://www.kathrynalbright.com/

Thanks Fresh Fiction for inviting me to blog today!

Kathryn Albright www.kathrynalbright.com/ The Angel & the Outlaw ~ Harlequin Historical, Dec. 2007

Matthew Peterson | Life after Harry Potter

I’ve been talking on the radio all morning long about my new young adult novel, Paraworld Zero... literally. 18 radio interviews, back-to-back. Just about all of the interviewers had one question in common, so I’ll address that topic, which is... drum roll, please. Now that Harry Potter is over (and even that is questionable) how do we get young adults to keep reading?

Being a father of five boys–all of whom enjoy fighting with light sabers on a daily basis–I have my work cut out for me. After watching my book’s video trailer on my website (http://www.paraworlds.com/) a dozen times yesterday, my oldest son said he couldn’t wait for me to put the rest of my book into a movie, so that he wouldn’t have to read it. He’s only eight-years old, so it’s understandable that he’s not into reading just quite yet, but his comment made me realize that I’m going to have to work harder at helping him to enjoy reading.

The first step is to understand your child’s interests. I have boys who can’t get enough fantasy and science fiction in their lives. They breath it in like air. So I naturally need to pick some shorter books that they might enjoy. At that young age the cover matters a lot to them. One thing I can do is to read to them. The time reading with a parent will be priceless and they will equate reading as a good thing, because that’s a time “I get to spend with daddy or mommy.”

When they become teenagers, I’ll need to monitor what they read more closely and keep reinforcing good books. That means I’ll need to read reviews, skim through the young adult section of the library or bookstore, and talk to other parents about what their teenagers like to read. Books like Harry Potter will come and go, but the love for reading is something I want to instill in my boys so that they’re always waiting for that next book to read. And who knows? Perhaps it’ll be my next book they’ll be waiting for.

Visit my website http://www.paraworlds.com/ to read/listen to sample chapters and perhaps order your own copy of Paraworld Zero.

Here's a link to the Paraworld Zero book trailer.



Matthew Peterson