Jade Lee | It's All In The Accessories!

My mother always stressed accessories in dressing. Me, I wanted to be DOING something, not fussing with finding the perfect earrings (which always fell out) or the best necklace (which banged against things when I played). The worst, of course, was when she criticized my footwear. I was a sneaker girl. Actually, I didn’t mind nice shoes. A good pair of heels could give me a lift. But I HATED pantyhose. And since every good girl (in my mother’s mind) wore nylon stockings with her shoes, I became all about the sneakers. She allowed me to wear footies with athletic wear. (Remember footies? Cotton socks with little balls on the end or low socks that weren’t even seen beneath your Keds? Much better than pantyhose!)

Well, childhood habits (or traumas) shape the adult persona. I became one of those women who silently abhor her LACK of a shoe fetish. I never understood the desire to wear 5 inch platforms or those spike heels that left pock marks in the linoleum. Pedicures felt good, but why get the nail polish when no one ever sees it? In short—I wore athletic shoes. Good, closed toed, comfortable, arch-supported New Balance footwear.

And then Love Spell (Dorchester) asked me to write a novella about shoes that gave the unknowing wearer a magic power. Well….MAGIC POWERS I could understand! Oh wait, they warned me, I would have to WEAR these wonderful magic shoes (minus the magic) in public, too. My fellow anthology mates went on a festival of possibilities. Leather boots or delicately sculpted sandals? Iron toes or black leather? The possibilities were endless! But for me, the idea of spending an entire conference in spike heels sent me into a spasm. Until it occurred to me that SOME footwear is comfortable AND cool! And if I had a heroine, for example, who felt just like me—simple practical footwear required—then I could give those lovely Chinese Mary-Janes an awesome KUNG-FU POWER!!!! Even better, I could wear those shoes all day, every day and not fall on my face. Score!

So, if you like awesome kung-fu powers (even if it is shoe-inspired) then please check out our new anthology: These Boots Were Made For Stomping! My practical and sweet high school English teacher kicks gang butt in…you guessed it…”Kung-Fu Shoes!” And if you are one of the millions of women who understand the search for the perfect shoes, you can visit http://www.hiheelia.com/ where awesome boots and strappy sandals are available for your purchase! Seriously! (Not, alas, my cute little Mary-Janes.) My publisher has created the website to sell the shoes available in the book! How cool is that? (Though your magic power may vary.)

Enter my ONE DAY ONLY BLOG contest, TWO winners will win a copy of DRAGONBORN!

Jade Lee
www.jadeleeauthor.com/

Dragonborn, March 2008

The Tao of Sex, Blaze Jan 2008

TemptedTigress, June 2007

Diana Holquist | What Makes You Mad?

Some writers start their books with a character they love. Others start with plot. Then there are the folks who look to the market to see what’s hot: a vampire lesbian spy thriller shape-shifter historical—count me in!

And then there’s me.

Me, I get mad.

Here’s something that made me mad: reading a twenty-something’s blog about her search for the “perfect” husband. He had to be tall, rich, successful, etc. I wanted to smack that woman. I wanted a mysterious Gypsy psychic to swoop in and rock her world by telling her that her one soul mate on this earth was a penniless single father, down on his luck.

Hey, wait…that would make a good book. (My first book, Make Me a Match.)

But I was still mad. Which was good, because I had another book due.

This time, I was mad about reading my 7,436th kick-ass heroine romance novel. Enough already with the spy/killer/half-beast/vamp woman who does it all in heels. Not that I don’t love those books; but I needed a change. I wanted to read about a heroine like me, an overweight mother of two…

...um. Okay, so I didn’t want to read that. But what about a shy heroine who kicks ass in her own quiet, low-heeled way? So I wrote my next book, Sexiest Man Alive; the shyest woman alive finds out her soul mate is People magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive.

What makes you mad? Hey, you never know, maybe some author here will read your idea here and write it. Maybe it’ll even be me, since I’ve got another book due soon...

Diana Holquist

http://www.dianaholquist.com/

Robin D. Owens | Writing Fantasy

One of the wonderful things about writing fantasy is that you can make up your own worlds – and all the names. :) Sometimes naming things – planets, continents, rivers is fun (Huckleberry Finn River, Great Platte Ocean, Hard Rock Mountains). It can be easy. I knew I wanted a Celtic background for my "Heart" series so naming the planet Celta didn't require much thought.

But naming the planet in my Summoning series (average American women summoned to an alternate dimension to fight invading evil) was harder. This planet was sentient (and who's to say they aren't?), it's weak because an evil, alien Dark has been feasting on it for years. But it loves the people who are trying to save it and themselves (oh, and creatures – the flying horses and magical shapeshifter animal-companions). The language is French based, and I tried several names that didn't work. I finally decided that the defining characteristic of the planet was love, so it became Amee.

It's also very cool to map the planets. I did a hand drawing of Celta, found software to make it more real looking, then have recently gone beyond my drawing of two continents to the whole world. All fun and motivating to write more about wonderful places.

The best thing about writing your own worlds, though, is sharing it. All my coworkers at my day job got to pick a river or a mountain or whatever to name. I got the Ruby Ananda River from that. Or I can offer contests to name things. I have a passion flower called An'Alcha from that, and, of course, the Plano Straight – that's a huge geographical feature on Celta. I've had characters (murder victim and cop in Heart Quest) named by my readers.

That's the most fun of all, sharing the world with readers who enjoy it as much as I do.

Blessings

Robin D. Owens
Robin, EXCERPTS: http://www.robindowens.com/reads/reads.htm
On Writing & Publishing http://www.robindowens.blogspot.com/
2002 RITA(c) Winner

Stephanie Tyler | Writing Side of Writing

Thanks to Fresh Fiction for the invite to blog! It’s great to be here.

This month marks the publication of my fourth and fifth books – one under Stephanie Tyler called Beyond His Control and the other called Unleashing The Storm under Sydney Croft, the pen-name I co-write under with Larissa Ione.

And I’ve learned a few things since getting the call. For one thing, every book is harder to write than the one before it. I recently had an aspiring writer - a solider working on his memoirs from Iraq - ask me if writing ever got any easier.

My words of wisdom were – you get better but it never gets easier.

Or, at least it shouldn’t. And by that, I mean, you have to try to grow with every book you write. I’ll admit that writing Unleashing The Storm with Larissa was the easiest book writing experience ever. Beyond His Control, my 3rd Harlequin Blaze, was the hardest book I’d ever written to that point.

I say that because, having written 3 books and a novella since then, my current book is currently kicking my ass. I know I’ll look back and see that it was a good thing, but right now, I’m calling in chocolate for backup.

But today, I’m not going to talk about the writing side of writing – I’m going to tell you the three important things I’ve learned about what happens when your books begin to hit the shelves.

The first is that total strangers will most likely be far more excited with the fact that you’re a writer than your family will ever be, especially after the bloom is off the rose after the publication of the first book. I have a feeling a large part of this has to do with the fact that the general public doesn’t see me in my pajamas glued to my computer and ignoring everything around me. But there’s no excuse for my extended family. I guess I liken it to the fact that everywhere we go, people seem fascinated by the fact that my husband works for The Weather Channel – it’s like he’s some kind of celebrity, with people confessing, it’s my favorite – I love The Weather Channel to him. And I’m like, dude, he works in sales... and when I call him, he doesn’t even know what the weather is.

So yes, keep in mind that while your family might love and support you, it is the total strangers who will treat you like a rock star. Thank goodness for total strangers.

The second is that, if anyone in your family publishes a book on demand, every member of your family will own copies of that book and only a handful of those same family members will buy yours. And if they do buy it, the few that read it will say things like, your husband’s a lucky man. Which leads me to number three...

The third is that, if you write romance, your family and close friends may, in fact automatically assume that every love scene is autobiographical – even if they involve people who aren’t actually human. And then they will say things like, I had to put it down because I couldn’t stop thinking about you.

Yes, you can stop and have an EWWWWWWWW moment along with me.

I’ve been an avid reader my entire life and never ever once have I confused the author with the characters in the book. In fact, in a recent interview, someone asked me which character was most like me and that question took me hours to answer, because that’s how little my characters are like me.

I guess it could be worse. Recently, a friend of mine (non-writer) said that her cousin published a book. She bought it and read it and found that it was a thinly veiled account of her cousin’s life (in real life, cousin is a traveling salesman and basketball coach, in book, the lead character is traveling salesman and basketball coach.)

But what horrified my friend was that, in the book, the lead character is also a serial killer, murdering people when he goes out on his sales calls and then returning home to live a normal life with his family and coaching the team.

I told my friend she should be worried if her cousin suddenly shows up for a visit – and I told her to tell him that she adored the book.

So really, I guess I can see why in that case, people might confuse you with your characters. But it’s not like I write heroines sitting around in their pajamas typing all day when suddenly there’s a knock on the door and a traveling team of SEALs shows up...

Oh, sorry – got to go…there was just a knock on my door :-)

Oh, but before I leave, I’d love to give away an autographed copy of Beyond His Control. Just enter my one day blog contest and let me know if you’ve ever wondered about the secret lives of authors.

**And please note that I love and adore my family and friends, extended and otherwise, and the content of this blog contains nothing I haven’t spoken about with them in person. When I’m not busy with the SEALs…

Stephanie Tyler
Sydney Croft
www.stephanietyler.com/

Paula Quinn | Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone!

Even as a child growing up in an Italian-American household, March 17th has always been one of my favorite days of the year. My dad loved to celebrate every holiday with a bang, and this day, celebrating the Irish culture, was no different. After donning our Kiss Me, I’m Irish buttons, we would head into downtown Manhattan to see the parade, and then go back home for dad’s famous corned-beef and cabbage. It’s a tradition I still carry on with my husband (who is, of course, Irish) and our kids.

Imagine how happy I was when I discovered that this time of Celtic appreciation had been extended for a few more weeks. Tartan Week in Manhattan runs from the end of March to the beginning of April. Scottish pride abounds at such glorious events as the Dressed To Kilt fashion show, the Tartan Day parade, The Scottish Village in Grand Central Terminal, and the 10K Scottish run in Central Park.

It was at the Scottish Village where I met the hero of my next Grand Central release, A Highlander Never Surrenders, in the flesh. His name is Chris Capaldi, model and former rugby star from Edinburgh. (Or as I now affectionately refer to him, Graham Grant—notorious Highland rogue.) Here’s how it went down. The Scottish Village hosts a small fashion show that was about to begin. I love kilts. I’ll watch.

Donning a kilt of black leather and matching jacket that he held closed at his chest, Chris stepped onto to stage like he owned it. His tousled mop of deep amber hair eclipsed killer green eyes that sparkled with confidence and a hint of wickedness. All he did was smile and a horde of women behind me started whooping and cheering in a dozen different languages. Oh yeah, he knew the ladies were digging him and he fed the frenzy by sliding the jacket off his bare bronze shoulders and curling his sulky mouth into a grin so salacious I swear every woman in attendance sighed at the same time. Six feet three inches of pure rogue. Grand Central was never so hot.

Did I mention I love Scotland…and kilts? Oh, right, and St. Patrick’s Day! I’ll be celebrating today, but next week I’m off to the Scottish Village to see Chris again. Research purposes, you know. Sigh, someone’s got to do it.

Visit my website to read a free chapter of my August 2008 release, A Highlander Never Surrenders, and check out more pictures of Chris! www.paulaquinn.com/ timessquare.com - Great Scots, It's Tartan Week!

Paula Quinn

www.paulaquinn.com/

Available now
Lord Of Desire
Lord Of Temptation
Lord Of Seduction

Available Dec '07
Laird Of The Mist

Available Aug '08
A Highlander Never Surrenders