Sandra Cox's Blog, page 324
February 8, 2011
Lead by Example
If you can't be a good example~You'll just have to be a horrible warning.
Catherine
Always something of interest at:
Amarinda Jones'
Julia Barretts'
Mona Risk's
and
Anny Cook's.
Addies at right and bottom.
February 7, 2011
February 6, 2011
And The Winner Is...
Suzanne is the winner of the Moon Watchers contest. Congrats, Suzanne.Night Writers will be hosting a contest February 14th. The winner will receive 7 downloads, a paper copy of DO YOU BELIEVE IN MAGIC, a notebook and your name in one of Kerri
Nelson's upcoming manuscripts.Other fun blogs:
Anny Cook
Amarinda Jones
Julia Barrett
Cindy Spencer Pape
Mona Risk
February 3, 2011
Toni Sweeney
With us today is TONI SWEENEY. Toni, tell us about your current project.
Glad to, Sandra. You know we writers love to brag about our books! My latest novel is Wizard's Wife, a fantasy. It starts off harmlessly enough, as a simple romance centering around the problems newlyweds David and Megan McMuir face when an unexpected pregnancy occurs, and quickly changes into an other-world fantasy as David reveals to his new wife some very startling facts about himself because of that pregnancy…about what he is and why he's been sent to Earth. He's a faery, it turns out, a faery wizard, complete with gossamer wings and antenna, spilling woofle-dust all over the carpet, and he's been sent from his home in another dimension to protect the earth from an invasion by an evil fae wizard.
What will I as a reader like best about your hero?
David's handsome, of course; being a fae, he's naturally good-looking. And he loves his wife, so much in fact, that he goes against his father's wishes to marry her. It's because he realizes the problems a fae-mortal marriage holds that he suggests they practice birth control but when he discovers such precautions don't work when one of the partners is a supernatural, he accepts the situation readily enough. Though at first, he's stunned, he rallies, and his attitude becomes: "Hey, so we're having a halfling. No prob. We'll love him anyway." Sometimes, however, David is just a little too optimistic.
He keeps a lot of secrets from Megan, but it's only because he believes if she found out, it would hurt her, so, he just stays silent. There's always the possibility those secrets may one day rear their ugly heads and bite but David's confident if and when such a thing happens, he'll be able to handle it. That doesn't mean his sins of omission don't weight heavily upon him, however.
When it gets to the bottom line, however, David's a very brave man who'll do whatever it takes to protect his beloved wife and unborn child.
How will women identify with your heroine?
Megan's a mortal, and while she's a bit of a romantic—why else would she have fallen in love with David at first sight?—she doesn't allow herself to get swept away by his silver-tongued blarney and hop right into bed with him. Theirs is a pretty chaste courtship, in fact, mostly because of the way David acts when he's around her but once they're married—watch out! The lad makes up for lost time. When he confesses he's a fae, she doesn't believe it, preferring to think her husband's delusional rather than that he's a faery wizard. It takes some fancy magic on his part before she actually accepts the fact, and even then, she makes him promise he won't use any more glamour on her. 
She wants to see everything as it actually is.
When David returns to his own dimension to prepare for the coming invasion, Megan follows. Not because she's curious about the realm of Ais Linn,--she's scared to death, in fact—but because she thinks she should be with her husband, and will be safer there than in her own world. After all, when an enemy sends a bain sidhe galloping through the halls of your home, why not go to the place where such a thing is a common occurrence and 
people know how to deal with it?
Megan's resourceful and determined, and quick with a smart comeback. If David's a warrior, she's just as brave in her own mortal way.
What is your favorite genre to write in?
Any of the speculative genres: Sci-fi, fantasy, horror, because there's so much leeway to write it your own way. Of course, if you're writing about vampires or werewolves or faeries, there are some basic rules you have to follow but you have the freedom to tweak those rules a lot and make a new highway, and who's to say it can't be so? In sci-fi, that's even more so. You can create entire galaxies, planets, and species, and boldly go where no writer has gone before.
.Do you think a writer needs an agent?
Some people say yes, some no; I think, if you're wanting to run with the Big Boys, an agent is a necessity and that's a pity. It's my opinion the big publishing houses are denying them some very good talent by adhering to that iron-clad rule. And I'm not just saying that because I've been turned down by 24 agents thus far. The next Margaret Mitchell or Stephen King is probably standing there on the other side of the transom right now, begging to be let in but their "no unagented material" law keeps them from answering the door. Too bad. Their loss, some small publisher's gain.
What are your thoughts on e – pubs?
I may sound like a dog in the manger since I have several books available as e-books only, but I feel the publishers which have only e-books are doing themselves and their reading audience a great disservice. Out of 12 people I know, 3 don't have computers, and only 1 has an e-reader, and that one is myself. A good many people, especially older readers, don't have access to e-publications but they do read and will buy printed novels readily. Any publisher which does away with its printed books because "e-books are the way of the future" is going to lose a great many customers.
Don't get me wrong. I'm certain that one day, printed matter will be a novelty and e-readers will replace them (and I've noted that fact in several of my sci-fi stories), but I don't believe it's going to be anytime soon. At least not until e-readers are much cheaper and there's a lot less "mystery" attached to obtaining downloads. They're certainly going to make books a lot cheaper and that will, coincidentally, make them more available in the long run. I began writing novels because I couldn't afford to buy them. If e-reads had been available back then, I might not ever have written that first book. Scary thought!
.What books of yours are currently for sale and where can a reader buy them?
How much space do we have? LOL Here's the 411 on my writing credits:
http://www.double-dragon-ebooks.com:
The Chronicles of Riven the Heretic series (3 books so far)
The Adventures of Sinbad series (3 books so far)
Walk the Shadow Trail
Vengeance from Eden
Murder in Old Blood
The Rose and the Dragon
Dragon in Chains
Blood Sin"Love Vampire Style"
"Demon in Blue Jeans"
Serpent's Tooth
Wizard's Wife
Trailers: http://www.youtube.com/tvsweeney
Website: http://www.tonivsweeney.com
Wizard's Wife was released January 15, 2011, by Class Act Books and is available in both print and e-version. For a glimpse into Chapter One, click here http://www.classactbooks.com/The-Wizards-Wife-Trade-by-Toni-V-Sweeney_p_269.html
February 1, 2011
Blogging at Moonlight
I'll be doing a four-part interview series this week at Moonlight, Lace and Mayhem. Hope to see you there.
Tomorrow is the last day of the Moon Watchers contest.
~*~
Blogs to visit:
Julia Barrett
Amarinda Jones
Anny Cook
Mona Risk
January 31, 2011
The Crystal and Night Writers
The paperback version of The Crystal is on sale at Ellora's Cave for $3.
~*~
I'm pleased to announce the opening of Night Writers, a magazine style blog, on February 14th.
I'll be writing on all things cats; rescue, shelters,
adoptions, etcSherry Gloag will be writing on meditation
Julia Barrett on recipes and the great outdoors
Rhobin Courtright on gardens and fantasy
Sherry Morris on hearth and home
Jewel Adams on romance writing tips
and
Kerri Nelson on parenting
January 30, 2011
Blogging with Voices
Today I'm Blogging at Voices of the Heart. If you have an opportunity drop by.
And don't forget the great blogs at:
Amarinda Jones'
Julia Barrett's
Anny Cook's
Cindy Spencer Pape's
and Mona Risk's
addies at bottom right
The contest is winding down, if you haven't entered yet and would like to, its at www.downtownya.blogspot.com
January 29, 2011
Blogging with Rhobin
Today I'm at Rhobin's Rambles. I love the background color of her blog. If you have an opportunity stop in and say hey.
Don't
forget the contest. There's still a few days left to enter.Just leave a comment and mention Moon Watcher at www.downtownya.blogspot.com. The winner will receive:an autographed copy of Moon Watchers, a protective necklace and a Starbucks gift certificate.
For anyone who's been following the adventures of Dennis the Menace he went to a new home yesterday. Our other cats were quite happy. The hh said if they'd been in a cartoon they'd be dancing on their hind legs singing 'Ding Dong the A--hole's gone':) Needless to say, Dennis is a great cat, but he did tend to terrorize the group.
Other blogs to check out:
Amarinda Jones
Julia Barrett
Anny Cook
Cindy Spencer Pape
Mona Risk
Sherry Morris
January 28, 2011
Blogging with Anny
I'm bloggingwith Ms. Anny today. If you have an opportunity stop by and say hey.
And don't forget Amarinda Jones and Julia Barrett
