Shelley Bradley | Unintentional Voyeur

It’s an occupational hazard. Authors don’t mean to spy and eavesdrop on people but it happens. Recently, I found myself at a restaurant for a Sunday lunch with my family. It was an upscale microbrewery/sports bar. All dark wood, brass, and plasma TVs everywhere. Great food, too. But even with all that going on around me, I was riveted by a couple two tables away. I couldn’t hear a word they were saying. But their bodies were talking- shouting. I just couldn’t help myself from "listening".

He was huge. I live an area that a lot of pro football players call home, so he may have been one. Regardless, he was at least 6’ 4”, blond ponytail, hulking shoulders. Gorgeous, frankly, with this interesting untamed air. Normally, he would have been enough all by himself to snag my attention. But he was sitting across the table from a woman. She was short and petite with dark, pixie hair. She had this interesting guarded expression. Gorgeous was leaning literally halfway across the table as he spoke, shoulders forward, eyes on Pixie. Whatever he was saying, he meant it. And his attention was nowhere but on her. She looked at her fingernails, her cell phone, her food, the table, and occasionally up at him with a shy glance. I don’t think she had a clue that I could actually see longing on her face. He must have seen it; I doubt the guy was blind. Every time she sent him one of these stares, he leaned a bit more toward her, until I swore he was going to climb across the table to get to her. And when they stood up to leave, he was all protective, possessive touches. She seemed a little jumpy and unsure, but finally settled against him. He honest-to-goodness smiled like he’d won the lottery. Then she moved away again. They walked out the door, her with car keys in hand.

Where am I going with this? Well, anywhere, really. For me, this is one way ideas are born. It was clear this couple knew each other, though my guess is not terribly well. I never heard a word they were saying. So in order to assuage my curiosity and fill in the blanks, I had to make SOMETHING up. The resulting story that’s brewing in my head is so delicious, I can’t stand it. A lot of deadlines are in-between me and this idea, but just seeing these two sent my head in a totally unexpected and thrilling direction.

There’s a saying: "Caution. What you do may appear in my next book." So true. Even if you don’t know it, I might be watching. And you could wind up immortalized in fiction.

What kinds of events or people do you notice when you’re out? Do they make you wonder what their lives and conversations are about?

Shelley Bradley - Sizzle from the Heart
A PERFECT MATCH ~ Samhain ~ May 13, 2008 (e-book)
www.blogger.com/www.shelleybradley.com

Shayla Black - The Wicked Edge of Romance
DANGEROUS BOYS & THEIR TOY ~ Ellora's Cave ~ May 28, 2008 (e-book)
TEMPT ME WITH DARKNESS ~ Pocket Paranormal ~ August 26, 2008
www.shaylablack.com/ www.doomsdaybrethren.com/
MySpace!

Bloggy Giveaway Carnival -- Win a hardcover copy of THE EX-DEBUTANTE by Linda Francis Lee

We're participating in the Bloggy Carnival where all you have to do is to post a comment on a blog to be included in the pool for winners for different items. Since we're FRESH FICTION, what better prize than a signed copy of Linda Francis Lee's latest blockbuster -- The Ex-Debutante???

The Ex-Debutante

When Carlisle Wainwright Cushing left her native Texas to start a new life in Boston, she had no regrets. The former Texas debutante, who never felt at home in her Southern skin, had found liberation--or so she thought. Until the day she gets an urgent call from her mother, reporting that:

One, the Symphony Association Debutante Ball, which Carlisle's family has sponsored for years, is about to be called off;

Two, her mother's divorce has the whole town talking;

And three, the family's good name is at stake and Carlisle is the only one who can fix it all.

So Carlisle takes a leave of absence from her law firm and goes to Texas to help. Her fiance, who has no idea she's an heiress, can't know that she's organizing the ball, handling the dramas of the girls involved, settling her mother's suit--and coming face to face with the true love of her life, whom she ran out on when she left Texas.

Her trip home challenges Carlisle's sense of herself and brings the pieces of her
past together, so that when she finally re-meets the man of her dreams, she's in a perfect place to tempt fate.

Originally uploaded by freshfiction

Linda Francis Lee signing in Dallas on April 10, 2008

Leave a comment below with your email to be eligible.

If you're feeling really lucky, be sure to to stop by the Contests at Fresh Fiction where you'll find 52 contests running through April 30th! All "book" related! So if you're a reader or you LOVE TO SHOP drop by Fresh Fiction Contests and sign up!

Celeste Bradley | When I Grow Up

Why is there no period of perfection between zits and gray hair? Why can't I ever be at the beginning of a trend instead of two years behind it? When exactly do I get to feel like a grown-up?

When I grow up, I want to be that confident woman who smiles more than she worries and who is happy with her body because it is strong and healthy. I want to be the woman who gets dressed only once, who can wear a scarf with flair, who puts on paisley without ever considering if it makes her look just a bit like an overstuffed sofa. When I grow up I want to meet new people and remember their names and their jobs and what makes them laugh--and never ever stare at them the next year without any fragment of recognition.

When I grow up I want to be on time for all appointments, wash my hair before it needs it and be on first name basis with everyone at the gym instead of the ice cream parlor. When I grow up I want to never be late with the light bill or lose a check or forget to give my kids lunch money. I want to listen to people talk about investments without my eyes glazing over or feeling faint. I want to start my taxes on January 1st and start my Christmas shopping in August.

When I grow up I want to be always patient and kind and generous and never make grumpy, envious snap judgements about other women because they wear scarves and wash their hair before it needs it and make regular appearances at the gym.

When I grow up I want to be just like me--only completely different.

Hmm...my forty-mumble birthday is coming. I'd better hurry up.

Celeste Bradley
celestebradley.com

"The Heiress Brides" are racing to the altar!
DESPERATELY SEEKING A DUKE (March 2008)
THE DUKE NEXT DOOR (April 2008)
DUKE MOST WANTED (May 2008)

Karen Harrington | When a man loves a woman…who murders

When a central character is still deeply in love with someone you and I would judge harshly, for, say, murder, that presents a challenge for the writer. How can readers be sympathetic to a misguided, love-struck protagonist? And does a writer necessarily have to sympathize with him?
I know all about this challenge.

In my debut novel JANEOLOGY, Tom Nelson is still in love with the woman who has destroyed his life. He misses her. He craves her. He wants to touch her. He wants to talk to her over a cup of coffee the way they used to as friends. But this is never going to happen.

The story begins with Tom’s horrific discovery that his wife Jane drowned their toddler son. An act he feels is so out of character that it defies logic. Now, he judges himself harshly for still loving the woman he thought he knew. The world quickly vilifies Jane and urges him to join in their group hate. If that weren’t enough, prosecutors charge him with ‘failure to protect’ believing he should have known Jane was ill and shielded his child from her. This legal charge only makes Tom delve deeper into questioning his love for Jane. Was it misplaced, he wonders throughout his own trial? Is he, in fact, partially responsible as the prosecutor alleges? And what does he make of his attorney’s bold defense: that Jane’s nature and nurture conspired to make her ill-equipped to be a loving parent?

I began writing this story with the central question: what causes a mother to kill her own child? I could not ignore this question. It didn’t seem to add up that a mother could be pouring Cheerios one minute and be altered the next. Someone in her family, I reasoned, had to have witnessed the decline. It had to have taken place over a period of days, weeks and months – not overnight. While the horrible murder sets JANEOLOGY in motion, the novel is really a story of a man desperate to for understanding.

The idea that we sometimes miss changes in loved ones precisely because we love them began to take shape. I realized, at least in the fictional world of JANEOLOGY, that a spouse like Tom could indeed still love the person he originally knew without acknowledging the person she had become. We are all guilty of this at times. Time stands still in the face of love. And that is what happens to Tom Nelson to his profound detriment.

I invite you to read an excerpt of the novel by visiting my website http://www.karenharringtonbooks.com/

You can also view the video trailer for JANEOLOGY below, which so hauntingly couples water imagery with hints of dark family secrets trickling down among the generations of Jane’s troubled family. The unrelenting tribal drumbeat of the music ratchets-up the tension until you feel like the hairs on your neck stand at attention and you have to know what happens. (Fortunate author that I am, this trailer was created by THE inventor of the novel trailer art form, Kam Wai Yu, who has been developing this art since the 1980s.)



Thanks to FreshFiction for inviting me to blog here today among so many great authors.

See you on the bookshelves!

Karen Harrington

L. J. Sellers | Taking the Plunge

At the end of last year, I decided that 2008 would be different. I had several goals:

1) start a new novel

2) work on my novel first thing every day, even if I had to get up an hour earlier

3) find or create paying work that I enjoyed more than what I was currently doing to earn a living

4) sell my detective series to another publisher

By March 1, I had accomplished the three things I had control over—although not the way I expected to. January first, I began to outline my new Detective Jackson novel with working title, SECRETS TO DIE FOR. I began getting up at five o’clock to write for an hour before I went to work. At the time, I worked as an editor for an educational publisher, a demanding job that left me too mentally exhausted at the end of the day to feel creative enough to fill blank page after blank page (which is how a novel comes into existence).

Next, I started sending out letters to agents, publishers, and writers, announcing my services as a fiction editor. And I contacted some corporate clients and magazines about nonfiction editing as well. Then I took the biggest step: I asked my employer to let me cut back on my hours at work, thinking it would be long slow transition to self-employment. They promptly laid me off.

Thank you very much.

Terrified, but joyously liberated, I plunged into a new routine: Write for three or four hours exclusively on my novel first thing every morning, break for an hour of exercise, then freelance edit for others. And the work poured in—enough to pay the bills. Now in the evenings, instead of trying to squeeze in a little bit of uninspired writing, I have time to network and market my novel that's currently in print, THE SEX CLUB. Most days I’m at my desk from six in the morning until ten at night, but very little of it feels like work.

I love my new life! My bathroom is perpetually untidy, dinner is often an unimaginative freezer-to-oven meal, and there's laundry backed up everywhere. But yesterday, I passed page 150 on my novel, so who cares? My husband says he's never seen me so happy. It's the first time in my life that I've put my personal writing first. Making a living, raising kids, taking care of extended family, and keeping the house together were always a priority. These things are still important, but they are no longer most important. (Don't call child services; my kids are adults now.)

My goal is keep it going for as long as possible—because I finally feel like my real self. I know that not every writer is in a position to make this kind of change, but I heartily recommend it if you can.

L. J. Sellers

http://thesexclub.net/

Michele Dunaway | Home Cooking

To celebrate the release of The Marriage Recipe, out this month from Harlequin American Romance, I’m celebrating a month of home cooking and made-from-scratch recipes. My heroine is a chef and the hero a lawyer (and also a single-engine pilot). Toss in falling in love with the boy-next-door and the girl who longs to return to the bright lights of the big city, you have a recipe for some craziness, kisses, and love.

Writing The Marriage Recipe was a lot of fun. One of the most important areas of character development is what the characters eat and drink. Seriously. If I’m writing a character who’s from New Orleans, I bet he or she has had crawfish. If not, what does that say about him or her? My characters located in St. Louis eat toasted ravioli and gooey butter cake; while in Morrisville, where my characters live, they would drink “pop,” not soda. Knowing regional food tastes and verbiage helps build a character in subtle ways. This is why I always set my books in places I’ve lived or visited. That way they come across as real. Setting is also another character—could you imagine Pretty Woman taking place in Chicago instead of LA?

What your character eats and drinks says a lot about them. Remember how Vivian (Julia Roberts) had no idea what fork to use at the restaurant? There’s a big difference in a heroine who does whiskey shots and one who sips wine. Same for men: the scotch tumbler says sophistication while the can of beer gives a more rugged, cowboy or every day guy you’d find at home impression. Characters who drink a lot are often frowned upon, while those who drink in moderation can be seen as social. And what about the heroine who has never had a sip of coffee and hates mocha?

Your characters can be suckers for burgers, or instead be vegetarians. Imagine the cattle rancher falling in love with the vegetarian. There’s a built in conflict right there. So don’t forget to pay attention to the food angle. It’s not just fun, but delicious. Or perhaps disgusting if you’d rather (I prefer the yum.) And remember, where else can a person eat whatever she wants and not gain a pound? Only in fiction...

For some of my favorite recipes, go to http://www.micheledunaway.blogspot.com/. For a review of The Marriage Recipe, check out Tonya’s Tidbits at. My next release is Out of Line, from Harlequin NASCAR, in June. My website is www.micheledunaway.com/.

Michele Dunaway