Cindy Lynn Speer's Blog, page 85

welcome B.J. Scot, who is on a Highland Quest…

You know, I have a weakness for Scotland. And Scottish men. And kilts. And accents…and…let me put that all aside and introcude today’s guest, B.J. Scott, who wrote a lovelt book with most of those things in it:

No longer content in the shadows of his older brothers and on a quest to find his destiny, Bryce Fraser’s chosen path is fraught with danger, passion, and decisions. Can his unspoken love for spirited, beguiling Fallon be triumphant in a time of war and uncertainty, or will they both fall prey to the devious plans of a traitorous laird from a rival clan?

Also, the author will be giving away some awesome prizes: The author will award gifts of swag (including a canvas tote bag, a mouse pad, a pen, book thong, bookmark, can cooler, magnet, and key chain — US/Canada only) to randomly drawn commenters from this tour and her Virtual Book Tour, and a grand prize of one $50 Amazon GC to one randomly drawn commenter from this tour and her Super Book Blast.

Follow the tour and comment to win! The more you comment, the better your chances are. The dates are here.

I am fond of this cover, even though I feel evil and all objectify-ey

1. Tell us a little about one of your favorite minor characters. Will they show up in another book?

I have a soft spot of Alasdair, the oldest of the three Fraser brothers and the least likely to fall in love or take a bride. He is big and gruff and not as handsome or debonair as his two younger brothers, can be a bit awkward, especially around woman and likes to present a tough exterior. He is the hero in my third book Highland Homecoming, when we get to see the real man, he truly is.

2. How do you go about picking your character’s names?

I try to select names that would be not only memorable, but ones that would suit the time period or the theme of the book. I try the name on for size as I develop the character and if it fits, I keep it. I have been known to change a name part way through a book.

3. What does your family think about your writing?

My family members are my biggest supporters and fans. My husband, Steve, is very encouraging and thrilled that I am realizing my dream. My mom, a long time romance reader loved the book and so did my other family members. But they have to say that, don’t they lol

4. How do you come up with your ideas? Do you start with an image, a character…?

I know it sounds cliché, but the ideas just come to me. Sometimes, like with my first book Highland Quest it was the idea for a story and the characters evolved. In Highland Quest, it was a little of both, but primarily the need to tell Bryce and Fallon’s story.

5. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you go? How about anywhere in time?

I would live in Scotland. Mind you we visited Hawaii and it was pretty nice. I would likely go back to medieval times or mid 1800s, two of my favorite time periods to write about.

6. Do you have any writing rituals?

Not really. I work full time, have a small business on the side and have a hubby, house, four dogs and a cat in my life so write when and where I can. I do like to have some background noise going on while I write. I don’t like total silence.

7. If you could have a truly unusual pet, what would it be?

A Giraffe. They are my favorite animals, so unique and such gentle creatures.

8. If you had to share a house with a vampire, a werewolf or a ghost, which would you pick?

A ghost. I have lived in several homes that were reported to be haunted by spirits and always felt comfortable. I love reading stories about ghosts and watching TV specials about them. I have never been fond of vampires or werewolves. When I write paranormal it is with ghosts.

9. What are you working on now?

I am currently working on the third book in my series, Highland Homecoming. This is Alasdair’s story and surprisingly enough, I think it might end up my favorite of the three.

10. If people from the future could describe you or your career in one word, what word would you like it to be?

Chaotic

11. Do you have any hobbies?

I have lots of hobbies, but since I started to write, that takes up most of my free time. I do a variety of hand crafts, like to read, go antiquing and camping.

12. What are three of your favorite movies?

Braveheart, Dances with Wolves, Gone with the wind

13. When did you realize that you were a story teller?

A true Gemini I was born with the gift of gab and need to tell a story. However, I first got the urge to write in earnest after taking a creative writing class at college and the teacher told me she thought I could write for Harlequin. Never really though it possible until then.

14. What is the biggest mistake that new writers make?

Thinking that once their book is done and in the hands of the publisher their work is done. It is only beginning and the promo end of writing has to be the hardest part.

15. City or country?

Country

16. What is something that always makes you happy?

Cuddling with one of my dogs. They love you no matter what.

buy links:

Amazon

Soul Mate Publishing

Barnes and Noble

Kobo

The things we say…

I’ve been thinking a bit about the things we say to each other.

For example: “If I don’t see you again, have a nice weekend.”

Now, I know the intent behind this phrase is good…after all, I use it and I think of myself as well meaning. But you are, actually, saying “Have a nice weekend if I don’t see you again.” So, am I also saying “And if I do see you again, may your weekend be completely horrid!” or something else?

I know we use a lot of short hand when we talk…people usually don’t have the patience to let you form and speak a pretty, well crafted sentence *all* the time, after all. But still, maybe we should modify this line. “In case I don’t see you, I wanted to wish you a nice weekend!” Because that will save me from the awkward “Or if I do see you, of course!” Or maybe just skip the first bit and say “Have a fantastic weekend!”

Which leads me to another one. I’d taken to wanting to make my useless things that I say because I am doing socially correct things (Like wishing people a nice weekend. Most of the time I don’t really care…I mean, if they had a terrible weekend I would feel badly, but I doubt my banal phrase really impacts it. But it does make people feel good, I think, so I’ve been trying to up the ante and make it nicer.) and make them more meaningful, or at least cooler. So I say things like “Have a spectacular weekend!”

Which is also not really good, because aren’t I wishing them a weekend full of spectacles? And spectacles aren’t always great, are they? I mean, when you are “making a spectacle of yourself” you are basically doing something embarrassing. So I’m refraining from that one, because I don’t want to wish people a weekend full of knocking over things at parties or falling down stairs. Or maybe I’m wishing them bad eye sight.

OK. Those are my two…what else can you think of?

Oh, and have a wonderful weekend, whether I see you or not.

The Heat of Another Sun

One of the inescapable and somewhat annoying facts about this world is if you want to have a career as a writer, you have to treat it like your day job. You have to clock in every day, you have to produce to much, you have to stick to a schedule, you have to network and market.

But, that also means you can have vacation days. I firmly believe that you need to feed your mind with experiences – conversations with interesting people, cool books, museums, natural wonders…everything. Everything we do feeds the mind and gives us the raw elements that become our stories.

One of my obsessions then, it won’t surprise you, is road trips. Are road trips? Eh, moving on. Last March I went to New Orleans…a place I had no desire to visit previously, and had a blast. This year, I’m not so sure where I want to go, but I’ve been playing with possible destinations.

I was playing with maps in Google Maps, and when I came back to see my stuff, I was able to bring the map back up easily…but I couldn’t change it. I was seriously annoyed. I tested out Yahoo Maps (no) Rand McNally (kind of cool, but you can’t save them) and Bing. Trip It was OK, but not geared to what I wanted to do (Trip it gathers all your info in one spot.)

So, I ran across Roadtrippers.com. It rocks! Not only can you save your itinerary, and come back to it later, and add to it. The map tells you how many miles and how many hours total, as well as a gas price estimate. (Though there is no way to change grades…) When you look at the list of places you want to go, you can add way points between each, making it easier to arrange where you want to go, and it also tells you the time and distance between points. The find places tab on the side has a ton of options, you click on them and they tell you places along the route to do anything from sight see to eat to sleep. If you want to see zoos but not national parks, you can click that. The map becomes covered with all sorts of balloons showing you the places you can go…if you hover, it’ll tell you the name of the place, and you can click on it for more info and add it to the trip.

There is a limit of 25 way points (hey, I was day dreaming!) per map, but you can divide the trip to more than one map. And it says it’s 100% free, so I’m completely into it. It also looks really attractive. And no, I didn’t get paid for this review, it’s Saturday night and I need things to blog about. *grins*

So, I’m spending a dreary winter day day dreaming about travel.

Hazel Statham – For the Love of Sarah

Today’s guest is the author of a really exciting sounding Regency Romance, For the Love of Sarah. Sarah and Alexander were a perfect love match, but shortly after their wedding Sarah runs away, leaving Alexander with a broken heart. When he sees her again five years later, will the mystery finally be solved? Will they be able to reconcile?

Before we get into the interview, I’d like to let you know that Hazel Statham will be giving away several lovely prizes to a lucky commenter…pearl earrings, a pearl necklace, and copies of His Shadowed Heart. More tour dates (and more chances to win) can be found here.

1. Tell us about the inspiration for your book?

Whilst finishing my previous manuscript, I had a vague idea for a story that wouldn’t be ignored, but I had no beginning. The only part I had was Alexander’s accident, which I checked out with a doctor to make sure my plot was plausible, then watching a play one evening, I heard the words Alexander utters at the beginning of the first chapter, “Why now? Dear God, why now,” spoken in a totally different context, but at last, I had my beginning. Sarah’s reason for absconding so soon after the wedding took some fine tuning and it wasn’t until I was about a third of the way into writing the book that it all fell into place. Zander was a pleasure to write and I looked to my own grandson for inspiration there. Even Mollie our lovely Labrador has a place in the plot but she masquerades as a Pointer in the book.

2. What genres do you write in? What are your other books?

I write Traditional Regency and Georgian romance. I have dabbled in medieval times, but nothing significant. My currently published works are, The Dukes of Lear trilogy, which can be read in any order as each one is a standalone novel – Consequence, Dominic,& My Dearest Friend, other traditional Regencies, His Shadowed Heart, Lizzie’s Rake & The Portrait. My current release is For Love of Sarah.



3. How does what you are writing effect what you choose to read?

I love to read anything historical but love the romance and elegance of the Regency and Georgian eras. I have several reference books of the period as well as hundreds of novels in my bookcases and on my Kindle and Sony readers.

4. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you go?

We live in the UK but have visited the USA on numerous occasions. At one time we talked of owning a condo as a holiday home there but my health made it impossible.

5. How do you feel about time travel? Is there anywhere you would like to visit?

It would be fantastic if you could hop between different moments in time and witness all the memorable happenings throughout history. Of course, it would be pure indulgence to be able to visit Almack’s at the height of the season and meet all the notables of the day.

6. If you could go to a party and meet any one of your characters, who would it be? What would you ask them?

Any one of my heroes would make a wonderful party companion but one character I would definitely not wish to encounter is Pike from For Love of Sarah. He is most certainly one person to avoid.

7. If you could be an amusement park ride, what would you be?

As I suffer dreadfully with motion sickness, I think I would have to content myself with being Imagination at Epcot.

8. What is the biggest surprise you’ve ever gotten while writing?

When writing My Dearest Friend, the sergeant just strode onto the scene and announced that Stephan had an illegitimate child. It was totally unexpected but it worked and added yet another element to the story. Sometimes, my characters take me completely by surprise.

9. What makes you happy?

Reading, writing and spending time with my family and all our various animals.

10. Do you have any preparations for writing…any “writing superstitions” such as only using certain pens or writing during a certain time of day?

When I was younger, before we had the luxury of the computer, I always had to start a new project with a new pen. Now, with the advent of the laptop, I need only open a new Word document.

11. What are you going to work on next?

My current work in progress is tentatively titled, The Honorable Heart, but is not set in stone.

12. How do you balance your writing life and everything else?

I don’t write to a formula and now that I’m retired, I have the luxury of being able to write as and when the muse strikes. My only requirement is that the house is quiet.

13. If there could be one word to describe you, what would you like it to be?

Caring.

14. What do you do for fun when you aren’t writing?

Despite no longer being able to ride, I love to go to the stables to visit the horses I own with my daughter. Now, at the age of 66, I am part owner of a Gypsy Cob, a yearling, a foal and a Section B Welsh Pony. Horses and dogs have always been my passion and often find their way into my writing.

15. What’s the best way to bribe you?

Depends how big the bribe need be – for something small, Thornton’s Fruit Creams, hit the spot. For something larger, a pup or a foal (in fact, any animal).

Top Ten Tuesday: Settings I’d like to See More of.

These would not be straight fiction, mostly…I do read straight fiction but I’m really, really picky about what I read.

So, let’s say these are settings for mysteries for the most part. I tend to think that mysteries need something else besides the promise of someone dying and someone else finding out why. So I like to read stories in interesting settings or with characters with occupations that I don’t usually encounter…I like to feel like I’m exploring something I usually wouldn’t get to, whether it be the racing world of the Dick Francis stories, the Regency of Stephanie Barron, or Nevada Barr’s National Parks working heroine.

1. More proto-steampunk. Most of the books I’ve read, the things that make a world steampunk are in full swing. I’d like to see the roots.

2. Medieval Japan/China. That is such a fascinating time period.

3. Books set in Southwestern PA, because it’s so much fun to read a book and go, “Oh, wow! I’ve been there!”

4. Age of sail. I am extremely fond of tall ships.

5. India. I love exotic locales.

6. And, actually, how about Hawaii? (It’s 20 degrees outside…so you may get an influx of warm weather places.)

7. I miss Hillerman’s Jim Chee books…so it would be neat to have some more books in a Native Indian setting.

8. My fascination with Gypsy Wagons predates my love of camping with the SCA, so a mystery or fantasy involving these in some setting is absolutely on my list.

9. I am in love with the late Renaissance/Tudor times right now, so I will happily read stories there.

10. The early times between high Medieval and Roman –exploring some of the interesting laws and politics of the Danes, for example, could make for some nifty mysteries.

Snag a copy of The Chocolatier’s Journal

Today until the 18th, you to can snag a copy of The Chocolatier’s Journal for free…no quests, no comments, just grab and go here.

A couple of times people said that they can’t have these things because they don’t have a Kindle. I don’t, either…I read Kindle stuff on my PC and iPad. There’s software on the site here.

I am really kind of pleased that it’s free…it was meant to be a teaser, and I do worry to a certain extent that people will be disappointed because they are purely fantasy and no mystery, but the William one does build towards a possible sequel.

Now to go make myself some Monkey King tea. I am absolutely obsessed with Numi monkey King right now. It’s lovely. Especially in a pottery cup…do you ever notice that? That a pottery cup is better for certain teas that your normal glazed porcelain? I think it might be because, though the pottery cups are glazed, there is still a little porousness that changes something. I find that it takes the edges off Earl Grey nicely.

The Nature of the Net

Once, upon a time, I spoke to Neil Gaiman on the phone for three hours.

There’s a point to this, beside name dropping.

Today I read my LJ…his blog is in my feed, and I found out that his dog, Cabal, died. I felt terrible…I’d had dogs, my last one had had a long illness that I could do nothing about, and it was heart breaking, knowing any day that I went out to feed her, she could be dead. And death, in general, is a tender subject for me right now.

So I felt moved to write him a note. I have his email, that I used to write businessy emails to him. And without actually thinking, I wrote a pretty, delicate, kind note.

(And so I say now, I am so sorry. I’m not dumb enough to think this will ever be read, but still, I am so sorry.)

And I deleted it immediately. For a few moments, he’d been a human I knew. He’s on my LJ, he’s on my Facebook…I have a ton of friends on these, many of which whose voices I’d never heard in my ear. I’d read his blogs, just like I read their’s. Any one of them, I’d have written them, in comments, in an email, in an FB message, without a second thought.

The beauty of the internet is that you can reach out and be kind to people you’ve never met.

But…Neil’s in a different place. He’s a celebrity. Anyone else, I would have been judged as a person who was kind. (Well, not anyone else…but you get it…) but in someone I have called one of my favorite authors I would be judged less kindly.

So. I will forgo being kind, today. I tell myself the same thing I told myself when I hit the discard button…who am I? He’s marvelously kind, and he probably remembers me because I am the girl who does this sort of thing for his webpage, but really, in the end, I am not so vain as to believe that I would not be intrusive on his sorrow…because we aren’t friends.

And that, I think, is something the internet makes everyone forget sometimes.

So, who do you feel worse for? The people who forget, or those who are considered celebrities, and therefore must be considered differently?

An update to prove that I live!

Let’s see. What’s new?

I’ve been writing, and that means my head has been somewhat empty of words by the end of the day…I like what I’m writing (yes, I always say that) and this time I am on a strict regimen, hoping to get a book done. I wish dearly that I was a woman of leisure simply because it is so hard to get the energy to keep the mind firing, to stay creative. I’ve been playing with all sorts of theories as to how to keep myself awake and filled with energy and they are not panning out.

So let’s see if sheer stubbornness and a little discipline work.

I am also thinking about making a schedule to see when I can do more fencing. My life goals are:

1. Keep my job until I can afford not to

(because I like having heat, a home, food, and book money….and travel money…and fabric…and…)

2. Become a well beloved author who doesn’t need to do number 1.

3. Become a well rounded swords woman. That means that I am someone that people don’t want to fence because they know they are going to lose, but it also means that I’m a good teacher and that I help grow the rapier community and improve it.

I also have three more rooms to fix up in my house…nothing huge, just plaster and paint and flooring and whatever needs to be done to make the room better suited to each purpose. I am hoping to be in possession of a sewing/scribal/general craft room by the end of Spring. Wouldn’t that be awesome? Then I’d have a whole room dedicated to messy procrastination! I am one of those people who loves to craft. I have tons of yarn, fabric, embroidery/cross stitch stuff, and recently I’ve gotten into painting illumination. And there are tons of other things I want to do…carve wood, cast pewter, tablet weave…so I have lots of things that I’ve stored up for these projects all over the place. You find something that can “be useful” and you put it away somewhere “safe” and then you can’t find it. Or, if you are like me you get into a frenzy of cleaning and stuff gets shoved into a drawer, and drawer, as long as the item is no longer cluttering table tops or floors. This adds up to some interesting things ending up in mystifying locations…sword blunts in the underwear drawer, (yeah, have no idea how that happened), buttons in the medicine cabinet (nor that, either.) and more. Which, honestly, isn’t not being able to find about the same as not owning it at all? Except if you break down and buy it anew, then it’s like, twice as much as it was, in a manner of speaking.

So, that’s my excitement.

Happy Christmas Eve…

So, how does a best selling author spend her Christmas eve? (OK, the best selling part is semi tongue in cheek…right now The Chocolatier’s Wife is ranked at number three on Kindle books romance/fantasy ranking, which is kind of awesome…it’s because the book is on sale for .99 cents right now, I guess. But I will take what joy I can from any situation, because if you wait to be happy you are probably never going to be. That’s my sage advice for today. I’ll stop now.) Thank you, by the way, if you helped me out!

Well, I slept late, because I was up reading late. I went to Half Price Books yesterday and bought some awesome books, and there are more awesome books wrapped up under the tree, so I can indulge in my hedonistic reading extravaganza…I love reading in bed, all snuggly and warm. And I’m actually caught up on my sleep enough that it’s not lay in bed and try to read but fall asleep instead.

I baked double chocolate cookies: http://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/29644/double-chocolate-chunk-cookies/detail.aspx

I contemplated making myself a mudslide, as I have an obsession with Baily's Irish Cream of late, but have no vodka. *sighs*.

I am waiting to watch Wild Wild West …I rediscovered the TV show on Me TV (one of the few TV stations I get, living where I do) and am currently shamelessly in love with Artemus Gordon. It’s a 60′s show and so sometimes I get irritated with the women on it, but mostly it works well. And as I tend to a lot of blood and guts dramas, Bones, Fringe…it’s a nice change. I still think it is equal parts annoying and funny that the show got cancelled because it was too violent.

In a little while I’ll make stuffing for the turkey, we’ll make soup for dinner…just a quiet day, really. The snow’s being rained away and every thing’s sort of peaceful and calm. I always take this time of year to renew myself, to find balance, and I’m working on that, working on that whole clearing the mental garden thing I mentioned before.

I hope that today and tomorrow are wonderful for you. Good, peaceful days where you find much more joy than sadness.

Chocolatier’s Wife on sale!

Hello! So, The Chocolatier’s Wife is on sale for .99 cents over on Amazon Kindle…just in case you need something happy to read during the Holidays…in fact, the book has a definite holiday feel. While it is set in a fantasy world, the clothes, the general feel was meant to evoke the Regency, and part of the mystery takes place during their equivalent of Christmas.

While you are there you might see The Chocolatier’s Journal, which you can get for free if you follow any of these easy steps…

The sale lasts until the 27th.