Sara Reyes | Book Cleaning...Only the Brave Can Do It!!!

Books are the New Wall Lining Originally uploaded by freshfiction

I can still remember the first time I actually threw out a book. And it wasn't just a damaged book with a ripped corner, pages no longer with glue scattering hither and yon, but a perfectly intact book, just one I didn't want to read ever again. But it was still a very painful experience and I suffered book lover guilt for a long time. In fact unless it's an ARC or galley, it is almost impossible for me to throw out a book. But the situation has reached a head or I've come to realize 40 years of books and a family can't really co-exist in a single house. It's sad but true.

So, the winnowing has begun...to give a little history, last time we actually counted the approximate number of books I owned, our move in 2003, we stopped at 38,000. After that it was just get the book boxes loaded and we'll deal with them later. Could be a few aching backs too. After the move, we had over 200 boxes of clearly labeled books and then a large unknown quantity of boxes with books. We unpacked two 30 feet long, 8 feet high bookcases, layering them double double stacked in some instances and still had two rooms filled with boxes of books. This has existed with sporadic attempts at cleaning out old reads until last winter. When I decided it was time to get ruthless. Of course, my idea of ruthless was to attack one room and remove the books I could spare. We ended up with almost one box of spares to offer to the DFW Tea Readers Group. I will say my husband and son were very very supportive and didn't seem to mind too much if I came across a book and had to sit down to look at its pages, uh, read it. In fact, if I remember correctly, I ended up with two boxes of books brought downstairs to re-read!

Well, we've gotten a little smarter. I know I'm not going to re-read all those books. Some of them certainly aren't worth the time to try a second time, and they aren't all collector pieces so maybe just maybe it's time to clean house and let go. It's a first step and I'll probably need coaching and therapy during the process but I think seriously it's time to reclaim the media room!

My husband's second solution was to apply technology to the problem -- natural response on his part. He installed Book Collectorz on my computer and waited. I'm not sure what he was waiting for me to do but whatever it was, didn't happen. So after sighing a bit, he installed it on his lap top and with a scanner started scanning in books, putting them in boxes and giving me a printout each day. I was to go down the list of books and mark the ones I definitely needed to keep, ones for book club, and ones that were "collectible." Unfortunately, even with my sharp memory, I couldn't always remember title author combination and if I wanted to keep it. So he adapted and didn't seal up book cases until I had the list and the opportunity to "double-check" the box. So after scanning, printing lists with short summaries and "Sara's reviews" my husband has managed to box, seal and label 18 boxes or 878 books that we're going to be able to give away.

Of course, the neatly sealed and labeled boxes are still lining my dining room, think of it as an artistic decorating statement, but they will be going to a good home (or homes) on October 11th. My precious books, along with some collectibles from Pat Cat Books will be the "foundation" of the inaugural DFW Tea Readers Book Swap at the Readers 'n 'ritas Convention. So, for another two months I'll still be able to take pleasure in all my books. I do promise NOT to open ANY OF THE BOXES again! I promised Tom I would NOT! Otherwise they go to the garage where it's hot and they might not like all that heat! *grin*
So, if you're curious you'll have to come to Readers 'n 'ritas Convention and check out the book swap. It's Saturday, October 11th and you'll also get food, margaritas, friendly readers and a few authors to chat up. How much fun is that? And possibly be able to give my babies a nice new appreciative home!

Sara Reyes Fresh Fiction.com ...for today's reader
Don't miss THE Fresh Fiction Readers Conference on October 11th, 2008! With Sherrilyn Kenyon and many other favorite authors. Details at Readers-n-ritas.org -- celebrate passionate literary obsessions

Michelle Maddox | Bad Boys

I'm not sure what it is about bad boys that make them such great characters. In real life, the bad boys - at least to the extent they're shown in fiction - wouldn't make such wonderful boyfriends or husbands. But in the imaginary worlds of novels, they're just what the reader (or writer) ordered!

I remember reading on somebody's blog a very important sentence that changed everything for me, and it was something along the lines of "books are fantasies." I'm not sure why that clicked for me, or why I hadn't made the complete connection before, but it made everything very clear. We might not want the hardened criminal with a heart of gold, the devastatingly handsome demon, or the world-weary master vampire in real life. But we might want him in our fantasies. He represents adventure, excitement, and intrigue - and let's face it, most people don't have much of that in real life. Nor, if we were suddenly given the chance, would we want it!

But in the safety of our imaginations, a rip-roaring adventure with the baddest of bad boys, is exactly what works.

In my Michelle Maddox release, COUNTDOWN, my characters are forced to play a reality gameshow where their lives are at stake. My heroine finds herself paired with a major bad boy - a convicted mass murderer. You can't get much worse than that. However, she starts to think there might be more to the story. Is he really as bad as she's told? Did he even commit the crimes he's served four years for before being released to compete in the game? After all, if he's so bad, why is he trying to protect her?

Food for thought for my heroine as she embarks on the adventure of her life - for her life.

And, after all, this is a romance novel.

COUNTDOWN was loads of fun to write from my very safe desk in my very safe home. ;-) Check out the first chapter on my website.

Happy reading!

Michelle Maddox

aka: Michelle Rowen

www.michellemaddox.com/

www.michellerowen.com/

Julia London | Reading for Pleasure: History

Writers are readers, first and foremost, and I know a lot of my romance-writing pals read romance for pleasure. I used to read romance for pleasure, but when you write romance all day, it can be sort of a stretch to try and relax with one. That’s not to say I never read it—of course I do—but I don’t read it like I used to.

For BOOK OF SCANDAL, my latest release (in stores now), I read a couple of riveting biographies. You would think it really dry reading, but if you are into the regency period like I am, sometimes those books can read like the People Magazine of its time. There was some down and dirty goings-on!

The first book I read, The Princesses, by Flora Fraser, was about the six daughters of King George III. I didn’t even know he had six daughters. They were strictly monitored and kept close to the king and queen so as not to gain reputations—while their seven brothers were out gallivanting around and being accused of all sorts of things: adultery, secret marriages, incest, and even murder. Moreover, the king and queen were pretty picky about who they would marry their girls to, and as a result, none of them married until they were in their thirties, and two of them never married at all. I thought about writing a book to include them, but finding the romance in that was too hard.

Then I read The Unruly Queen by Flora Fraser, about Princess Caroline, who came from Brunswick (Germany) to marry the Prince of Wales, the future George IV. That is where I found the genesis for the idea behind BOOK OF SCANDAL. George agreed to marry Caroline so that Parliament would pay his debts. He lived the life of a profligate, complete with a “secret” wife, numerous mistresses, and some really bad debts from his extravagance. Caroline of Brunswick was not particularly handsome, nor was she very genteel. There were concerns about her hygiene habits and her own family seemed to be glad she was gone.

Whatever the truth, the two did not suit at all. They managed to consummate the marriage and produce an heir in one or two tries, but after that, they were permanently estranged. They were both awful—they both were rumored to have adulterous liaisons, they both participated in bawdy games, and they both continued to sling mud at each other, principally through an aging and ailing king. But did that stop them? Hardly!

Here’s another one you might enjoy: Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire by Amanda Foreman. Now here was a chick who was dragged through the proverbial wringer. It’s another book that reads like pulp fiction, and I gobbled Reading for Pleasure: History

Writers are readers, first and foremost, and I know a lot of my romance-writing pals read romance for pleasure. I used to read romance for pleasure, but when you write romance all day, it can be sort of a stretch to try and relax with one. That’s not to say I never read it—of course I do—but I don’t read it like I used to.

I hope you will pick up a copy of BOOK OF SCANDAL, released just this week! Please stop by www.julialondon.com/ for excerpts, message boards and monthly giveaways. This month, we’re having a fabulous giveaway to celebrate the release of the book. it up. But if you don’t think reading Georgiana is your bag, by all means, wait for the movie. It comes out this fall.

Julia London

Karen Kendall | Preparing for a Hurricane

Hello, Fresh Fiction!

As I’m writing this, Tropical Storm/Hurricane Fay is barreling towards lucky south Florida, and nobody is sure where she’s going to hit. This means that I am not writing outside at the wrought-iron table, looking at the water.

It means that I have piled that wrought-iron table, along with all the chairs, chaises, potted plants, plant stands, decorative garden objects and my husband’s green froggy ashtray into the formal living room . . . which is now not looking quite so formal. A pool net will do wonders for anybody’s décor, know what I mean?

I’ve been wrestling with hurricane shutters, making room in the garage for the cars and hitting the grocery store, gas station and ATM like every other person around here. It’s probably all a lot of overkill, but you can never be sure. And I have a friend who writes weather-related thrillers which keep me up at night, so I take these little ole hurricanes seriously.

Typical writer, though: I’m so glad that I met my revisions deadline on Friday, because now if rogue electricity streaks, say, from a window to my coffee table, through the couch, around the doorframe, down the pool net pole, past the dogs, under the cat, sets the rug on fire, misses me or my husband by a hair and then evilly zaps the computer, destroying it with an accompanying clap of theatrical thunder . . . well, at least my editor will have a cyber-copy. (How’s that for an 83 word sentence? LOL.)

And hey, if the house floods or the roof blows off, same goes.

Authors get a little neurotic about their manuscripts, as you can see, even when they live in laid back, sunny (uh, most of the time) south Florida.

Can I say that I get especially crazy about my manuscripts for the TAKE ME series? I don’t know why, but by the time I’m done with them I’m exhausted. I’ve told people the story: I tossed 200 pp. and started over when the villain stole the hero’s spot in TAKE ME IF YOU CAN. (That Liam is one talented thief.) And now, for TAKE ME TWO TIMES (to be released April of ’09) I’ve tossed 7-10 of the original chapters and rewritten a lot of the rest. Why? Well, for one thing, the cops were trying to take over, and that’s just unacceptable in a series that revolves around an agency that recovers stolen art. Move over, boys in blue, and make way for the girls in black!

These are tough women with a license to steal. They’re the high end, glamorous ‘repo men’ of the art world, and they’re armed to the teeth. If you’ve got an artifact, painting or sculpture that doesn’t belong to you . . . watch out, because they’ll be paying you a visit. And whether you’re a professional cat burglar, a captain of industry, a statesman or a pope, these art recovery agents aren’t intimidated.

They’re probably not even afraid of hurricanes. But I am! So I’m going to get back to fighting with the big accordion shutter that pulls across the sliding doors in the living room. Please keep everyone in south Florida—and the Keys—in your prayers. Thanks. All the best,

Karen Kendall
www.karenkendall.com/

Angela Benson | Siblings

I've been thinking a lot about siblings these days. I only have one -- a brother -- though there were many times growing up when I thought there were six of him. The boy was a holy terror, sometimes without the holy.

I have the funniest memories of him growing up. Though he's three years younger than I am, when he was around five or six, he used to beat me up. He did it because I'd never hit him back. Well, I woke up to that pretty quickly, and accidentally socked him one day. Guess what? My brother's love of hitting his big sister suddenly faded.

My brother used to torture me with dessert. Like a normal person, I would eat my dessert immediately after the meal. Not my brother. He'd save his for later that night when I had none. Then he'd sit in front of me eating his, waiting for me to ask for a bite so he could deny me. I wish I could say I never asked, but I always did.

As we grew older, I seemed to get the upper hand on my little brother. My mom worked two jobs when we were kids, so when I was old enough, she gave me cooking chores. My first dish was fried chicken. How hard could it be? I'd seen my mother cook it often. So I fried this chicken. It looked golden brown on the outside but I wondered about the inside. I didn't know but I knew how to find out. I served my good-looking chicken to my brother. As I watched him take his first bite and saw the streams of blood flowing out, I concluded the chicken wasn't quite done yet. Guess what? I never had to cook again. Why? Because my brother refused to eat anything else I cooked. That bloody chicken ended it for him.

To be honest, I didn't lose any sleep about not cooking. What kid wants to cook? What kid wants to do any chores around the house? Not me. I soon figured out how to evade all chores: pretend I was reading or doing homework. You see, my mom was a strong proponent of getting a good education. Unfortunately for my brother, he never figured this out so he did a LOT of chores. Sometimes I felt sorry for him and wanted to clue him in on my chore evasion strategy, but I couldn't trust him not to tell mom. So I watched him cook (yes, he cooks), clean, and iron, while I pretended to study.

As we grew older, things got a bit more serious. I remember an incident that occurred when I was off at college and my brother was still home. He called me to share a secret about a problem he was facing. He made me promise not to tell our mother. Of course, I promised. Unfortunately, as soon as we hung up the phone, I dialed my mom and told her the secret. Now I love my brother, but there was no way I could keep that secret. To this day, I don't remember what the secret was, I just remember feeling that it was too big for me too handle. It took my brother a while to get over this one and share another secret with me, but he did.

One of the dearest memories I have about my brother is the day I realized he'd become an adult with insights to help me with my problems. I remember pulling the phone away from my ear and looking it, while thinking, "When did my little brother become a man?" A very precious moment indeed.

I cherish my relationship with my brother, as you can probably tell from these stories. Because we live 13 hours apart, we don't see each other often, but we talk several times a week. There's a richness to our relationship because it has its ups and downs and because it seems to grow stronger and deeper through those ups and downs.

I like to read about relationships that remind me of me and my brother. I love to read about people caring for each other, through the good times and the bad. The bumps on the relationship road only make the relationship more cherished. I like to think that I'm a relationship writer.

My latest book, Up Pops the Devil, has two very different brother-sister relationships. There's the relationship between the main character, Preacher Winters, and his sister, Loretta. Though they spent much of their childhood in separate foster homes, their sibling bond remained strong. As adults, they became partners in an illegal business activity. Their relationship and their love is challenged when Preacher decides to get on the straight-and-narrow and leave the illegal activities behind.

The other sibling relationship in Up Pops the Devil is between Barnard Jenkins and his sister, Natalie. Barnard and Natalie's sibling bond is more like mine and my brother's. They tell each other hard truths that sometimes lead to uneasy moments between them. You know the moments I'm talking about when your sibling says something you need to hear, but you don't want to hear it at that particular time.

Siblings. Mine's a keeper. I hope you know yours are, too.

Angela Benson is the author of Up Pops the Devil ($13.95, Avon A). You can find her on the web at www.angelabenson.com/, where she blogs regularly.

Angela Benson

Melissa Walker | Trusting Young Adult Readers

My Violet series is about a not-so-confident model named Violet Greenfield, a real girl who finds herself under runway lights and in the clutches of an overbearing (and sometimes cruel) agent. Over the course of the trilogy, Violet tries to navigate the crazy fashion world, hold onto her real friends and discover who she is on the inside while attention swirls around her outside.

In the Young Adult genre, there's been some talk about "message books," books that teach lessons, essentially, and whether YA authors have an obligation to write this kind of book. I say absolutely not--why should YA authors be held to a different standard than Adult authors? Teen readers are smart, imaginative and endlessly savvy. They deserve characters that ring true, that grow, that inspire them. But they don't need Pollyannas at every turn.

That's why I sometimes wanted to explore the dark sides of the fashion industry with the Violet books. In Violet on the Runway, Violet encounters drug addiction; in Violet by Design, she faces immense pressure to stay skinny in order to be "runway ready;" and in Violet in Private, she has to make a choice--stay in the spotlight or give up modeling and risk becoming a wallflower once again. Is there character growth? Yes. Sugar coating? No. Violet doesn't always make the right decisions--in fact she makes a lot of wrong ones.

But that's the beauty of real life, right?

The Violet series is featured on readergirlz.com this month, where there's a soundtrack, a downloadable poster, discussion questions and more.


Melissa Walker
melissacwalker.com
myspace.com/melissacwalker
twitter.com/melissacwalker