Jane Porter's Blog, page 15

Getting Going: Goals & Writing

I often get questions from fellow writers about the writing life, and I forget that Tule has put out a great book with articles and essays and writing tips with lots of my thoughts and advice on the writing life, but not everyone wants to read a book with tips and suggestions.  Many people just want the short version, or the secret to getting words down.

Well, there is no secret.  It’s work.  It’s always been work, and yes, it was maybe more fun before I made it a full-time job, but it’s actually really fun being comfortable with what you do, and having some skills and the ability to manipulate craft to get the story you want.

So as I start a new story, Dillon Sheenan’s story, I thought I’d share with all how I keep on track with my writing.  It’s not new, or revolutionary, it’s just three little things I do that are essential for me to getting the work done even when family and other commitments press in.

1) Set a goal or have a firm deadline for your WIP.

When a publisher gives me a deadline and money, I have to deliver.  But before I was contracted or had sold a book, I gave myself firm deadlines, too.  I HAD to meet those…which is how I sold.

2)  Create a writing ritual.

Some authors work out, some take a bath or shower, some reread their work from the day before.  Whatever it is that helps you settle into writing and focus, do it.  My ritual is:  clear off desk, make a cup of tea, light a candle, sit down, put on headphones and play music or white noise and get to work.  I have to stay off the internet, too, and obviously the point is get your butt in a chair and to write.  Not to fiddle or do Pinterest or answer email.  The goal is word count.  The goal is immersion in your story.  Clear everything from your head–and desk–that isn’t related to the story.

3)  Enjoy your story and characters.

If you don’t like them, and enjoy them, and believe in the world you’re creating…no one else will.  Whenever I’m struggling with a story it’s probably because I don’t love them yet.  So figure those characters out.  Make them real.  Make them honest and raw and give them goals and needs and dreams that matter.  And then those characters become important…not just to you, but to your reader, too.

Still want more writing tips?  You’re in luck!  I’m giving away a writer’s giveaway, with a Grand Prize filled with my favorite writing reference books (several taken straight from my shelf as I have more than 2 copies of many) plus a copy of Tule Publishing’s Writing the Bestseller, along with a $10 Starbucks drink card, a Tule tote bag, water bottle, pens, notepads and fun reader/writer swag.  But that’s not all….  I will also be drawing 3 runner up prize winners who will each receive a copy of Tule’s Writing the Bestseller, a $5.00 Starbucks card, a Tule tote bag, Tule water bottle, pens, and reader/writer swag.  Winner will be announced on January 1st so please check back then!

Now go get writing, or if you’re not a writer but have another goal, something that’s important to you, focus on it, and make 2015 about you and what you want to do!  

Did you win?

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas!

We have unclaimed prizes from previous posts and if I don’t hear from the winners soon, I’ll be doing a big giveaway for the New Year with mystery prizes. 

So readers, if your name was picked as a winner on one of my recent blogs, please email me right away with your mailing address.  I would hate for you to miss out on the goodies!

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays!  It’s my middle son’s 16th birthday this week and we’re heading to Disneyland with my sister’s family and brother’s family for a Porter holiday.

I hope your baking is done and your shopping is finished and now you’re just left with wrapping and celebrating.

I’m sharing a few of my favorite carols to keep things festive and fun!

and this one:

What is your favorite carol, and do you have a song by a favorite artist?  Let me know and one of you will win a box of holiday treats, sweets, great reads and so much more!  Winner will be announced on the 26th of December.

Holiday baking – Such sweet goodness!

Hi Readers,

I’m hosting a cookie swap for the awesome Tule team this week and baking dozens of my favorite holiday cookies for the party, along with cookies and candy for the family.

Growing up, it was the tradition to begin holiday baking right after Thanksgiving and my mom would make roll out sugar cookies, butterscotch scotties, Spritz cookies, pralines, fudge, and so much more.  But this recipe below is one my boys love, and so of course Trey Sheenan (The Kidnapped Christmas Bride) is one of my boys, too, so I’ve put McKenna in the Cray Cabin kitchen making cookies for Trey and TJ.

Trey’s Favorite Peppermint Pinwheel Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter, softened

1 egg yolk

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp red food coloring

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp peppermint extract

Directions:

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg yolk and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and combine well. Divide dough in half; add extract and red food coloring to one portion.

On a work surface, roll out each portion of dough between waxed paper into a 16″x10″ rectangle. Removed waxed paper. Place red rectangle over the plain rectangle. Roll up tightly like a jelly-roll. Wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight or until firm. Unwrap the dough and cut into 1/4″ slices. Place 2 in. apart on lightly greased baking sheets.

Bake at 350 degrees for 12-14 minutes or until set. Cool for 2 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

And here’s another favorite from Harley’s kitchen that she loves to make for Brock Sheenan’s family  (Christmas at Copper Mountain) every Christmas.

Harley’s White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

Ingredients:

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup margarine or butter, softened

1/2 cup shortening

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 egg

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/3 cups white vanilla chips or 8 oz. vanilla flavored

1 (3 1/2 oz) jar macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped

candy coating, coarsely chopped

Directions:

Heat oven to 375*F. In a large bowl, combine brown sugar, sugar, margarine, and shortening; beat until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and egg; blend well. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt; mix well. Stir in vanilla chips and macadamia nuts. Drop dough by tablespoonfuls 3 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 375*F. for 8 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets.

Do you have a favorite cookie you have to make every year for your family?  Share with me—yes, I know, I know, I ask this every year but I love talking cookies!—and one of you will win a holiday box filled with great reads and festive cheer!

 

Make a Memory…

Thank you readers for your support of The Kidnapped Christmas Bride.  I am thrilled so many of you are reading it and enjoying it, and thank you so very very much for the reviews.  Those reviews really matter so I’m hugely grateful that so many of you have taken time to post one at Amazon!

I was asked recently about the inspiration behind the story, and this story really comes from Trey and McKenna themselves.  They’ve been dating since high school and have a long, intense history…17 years of history…so their ‘story’ is emotional and bittersweet, and in Trey’s case, filled with yearning and regret.  So when I sat down to write their romance story, one song really stood out in my mind, and that was Bon Jovi’s “Make a Memory”.  

The song, “Make a Memory” even helped inspire the back cover blurb with “All he wants is a Christmas memory…”

Are you familiar with the song?

Let me know if you’ve read the story yet and I’m dying to hear what you think!  I’ve got a thank you prize for one of you so comment and a winner will be drawn Monday morning, and the prize is a box of holiday cheer that includes the print anthology, A Very Marietta Christmas, a Starbucks drink card and lots of reader treats.

 

Dani Collins: Community

I think everyone knows that I find most of my favorite new authors through Megan Crane who knows great books, as well as my taste in books—emotional, tautly paced, compelling, and incredibly satisfying–and she raved about Dani Collins‘ first Harlequin Presents, insisting I read it.  And Megan was right.  It was fantastic.  And so of course later, when Tule was founded and Tule was hungry for wonderful, compelling, sexy stories, we all thought of Dani.

As part of my holiday countdown, I’ve invited Dani to join me on my JaneBlog, to talk about her Christmas story, and the connected stories she’s writing for Montana Born.

Thank you, Dani Collins for joining us!  I’m so delighted to have you here. –

If you’ve been following Jane’s Blog for a while, I’m sure you already know what a warm and generous person she is. I first ‘met’ her when she was starting out with Presents. She was signing her book at a writers’ conference in Victoria and we all whispered her name in awe. She was the first new writer that Harlequin Presents had acquired in years.

I envied her passionately for that and was quite intimidated by the sheer magnitude of the accomplishment. I’m not being funny. I’d been trying (continued to try) to sell to Harlequin Presents for years. Jane became one of those authors I watched with amazement as her career grew and blossomed. She flew so far up in the stratosphere, I knew I’d never touch her.

In 2012, my dream finally came true and I sold to Harlequin Presents. For a lot of reasons, I had pretty much dropped out of the writing community. I had moved and mostly lost touch with my local writing friends. Time was precious so I didn’t socialize online. I worked a day job, had a family, and wrote when I could. When I sold to Harlequin, I didn’t feel like a Presents author. They were all Jane Porters in my mind: brilliant and capable while I was pretty sure I’d be called out as a fake at any moment.

But I quickly learned they’re actually the most welcoming, bighearted bunch you could ever hope to meet. I had forgotten how supportive the writing community was. One of them, Megan Crane (Caitlin Crews), said to me at conference in 2013, “You should meet Jane.”

I’m pretty sure Jane has better things to do, was my first thought, but I did meet her and she was funny and normal (in her bubbly, vivacious way) and I was intimidated all over again. Then she invited me to submit a story to Tule’s Montana Born Homecoming series. I honestly didn’t know what I was getting into. I just figured, if Jane Porter invites you to do something, you say a firm “Yes” and show up in your best frock.

Writing for Montana Born has turned into one of the best experiences of my life. After focusing on writing tycoons, I wasn’t sure I could write novella length small town ranchers, but I’m a small town girl at heart and I love Marietta. I love writing about the tight community and I love that I feel part of a community in all the ways we wind up interacting with Tule’s amazing staff.

I realize this post was supposed to be about my two—yes I’ve already written two books for Montana Born and I’m working on my third. They came out in September and October and I’m so proud of them I’m completely impossible to live with.

So I’ll tell you that, like me returning to the writing community, Chase in Hometown Hero returns to Marietta and is surprised by how real the sense of Homecoming is for him. And Liz in Blame The Mistletoe is pretty intimidated by the tight circles at the cocktail party she attends, but it only takes one friendly face—Blake’s—to make showing up the best chance she ever took.

Thanks Jane (and Megan!) for inviting me to Marietta.

Have you ever been new to a community? Or gone back to an old one? Has anyone reached out to help you feel like you belong?

Skye Wolcott planned to marry, have children, and live happy ever after in her hometown of Marietta, Montana.  Then her marriage imploded in a cloud of scandal. Now she’d be happy if people would just stop talking about her.
Chase Goodwin worked hard to get away from Marietta, where poverty colored his past. Living his dream as a major league baseball player, he has no reason to return beyond helping his half-brother escape as successfully. The last thing Chase would consider is staying. Then he sees Skye Wolcott, a girl he always had a thing for in high school. They get off to a rough start, but are soon carrying on like high schoolers.  Chase wants her to join his fast-paced, larger than life world, but Skye’s a small town girl at heart. Can she convince him that Homecoming is more than a game and he’s back where he belongs?

 

Liz Flowers has never enjoyed Christmas, but this one is shaping up to be the worst by far. She let her ex take her daughter to Mexico while she stays behind in a strange town, sitting her former mother-in-law’s high strung little dog. It’s an opportunity to meet new people, but this California girl doesn’t have much in common with the ranchers in small town Marietta.
Blake Canon perks up with male interest when he sees a new face at his friend’s Christmas cocktail party. His son is away and a light affair would take his mind off his financial troubles. Then he realizes he knows Liz. She was once married to the brother of his ex-wife.Their children might be cousins, but Blake and Liz do the kissing—under the mistletoe. It’s the beginning of a new view of Christmas for Liz, but when their children arrive home unexpectedly, and family secrets are revealed, Liz isn’t sure she’ll stay in Marietta for Christmas after all.

~ * ~

Here’s an excerpt from BLAME THE MISTLETOE:

“You don’t have to walk me in,” she insisted as she shifted the leftovers to the floor and swung her legs out the open door.

“All part of the service, ma’am.” He steadied her as she slid to her feet in front of him then started to reach past her for the leftovers.

“Wait, I won’t eat all of that. You should take some.” She started rearranging the contents of both boxes. They dithered over the different items while the snow fell and the door crowded them into the tiny space next to the truck. “Coconut?” she asked.

“Hate the stuff,” he said.

“Good, I love it, so I’ll take yours, but here, you have the mushrooms—”

“Ah to hell with it,” he muttered, stealing the container from her hands and dropping it on the seat as he swung her to face him. “Come out to the ranch tomorrow and I’ll give you whatever you want.”

He kissed her. Pulled her into the wall of his hard body and kissed the hell out of her and she locked her arms around his neck and kissed him back like it was the only kiss they would ever have. They kissed until she didn’t feel the cold, until she sensed by the way he locked his hand on her butt and pressed her into him that he was very aroused behind their layers of clothes. She was. God, he tasted good. They French kissed and breathed heavily and finally came up for air.

Little clouds puffed around them as they panted and stared at each other.

“I don’t know how to get to the ranch,” she said.

He grinned, kind of triumphant, while she mentally shook her head at herself. Just say no, Liz, but for once she didn’t have the sick feeling in her stomach as she searched for the word and couldn’t find it. She felt melty and yearning and like she’d been smiling for so long her face would stay that way.

“I’ll call you in the morning, get your email and send you a map.

~*~

Award winning author Dani Collins writes Harlequin Presents, romantic comedy, medieval fantasy, erotic romance, and lately, small-town rancher novellas. Whatever the genre, Dani always delivers sexy alpha heroes, witty, spirited heroines, complex emotions and loads of passion.

Stay current with Dani’s new releases by joining her newsletter or visiting her here:

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Amazon: US | Canada | UK

~~

Dani, thank you so much for chatting with us.  I love your voice and stories and can’t wait for your next book!  Readers, treat yourself to two fabulous holiday reads and download Dani’s stories soon.

And as always, no blog is complete without a fun giveaway and this time, you can win a Dani Collins prize package.  Just comment for a chance to win!

The Kidnapped Christmas Bride

The last couple of weeks have been intense with lots of gorgeous changes here at JanePorter.com and tons of late night writing but it’s finally time for the reward!  I am beyond thrilled to share that The Kidnapped Christmas Bride, Trey Sheenan’s story is finally available for download.

I started the Taming of the Sheenans series with Brock Sheenan’s story in Christmas at Copper Mountain and followed it with Troy’s story in The Tycoon’s Kiss and now it’s Trey Sheenan’s turn.  I loved writing his character and I hope you’ll love him too!

All he wants is a Christmas memory…

Trey Sheenan has cultivated his reputation as Marietta’s resident bad boy, until one day he lets things go too far and he loses everything—his freedom, his fiance McKenna Douglas, and his infant son.
McKenna has loved Trey since they were kids, but she’s had enough. When Trey is sent away for five years, McKenna is determined to do what’s right for her and baby TJ, which means putting her mistakes—namely Trey—behind her, and move on.
When Trey is released early, he returns to Marietta determined to beg McKenna’s forgiveness and become the father TJ needs him to be, only to discover that he’s too late. McKenna’s marrying local insurance agent Lawrence Joplin in a candlelight Christmas wedding.
Or is she?
Once again, Trey risks everything, but this time it’s for love… and the memory of one perfect Christmas together as a family.

Read an excerpt for The Kidnapped Christmas Bride and if you love it, download the story right away for the special ‘loyal reader’ price of just .99 cents! It’s only going to be .99 cents for a short time so do grab your download soon. I’m so excited about this book and I really want to hear what you think.  I hope you’ll take a moment to share your thoughts with me!  I’d love to hear from you.

Since I’m in the mood to celebrate, I’ve also got a fun giveaway for you too!

For a chance to win, leave a comment and tell me what you think of the Sheenans so far.  Is there a Sheenan Brother you’ve loved better than the others?  Or tell me what you think of my new website.  It’s so gorgeous and shiny and I simply love the fabulous job my web team did for me.  Share your feedback and you’ll be entered to win!  I’ll pick a winner on Saturday!

All this, and more to come!

I’ve done some re-decorating here at my home on the web. Welcome!

JanePorter.com on your phone!

My old site served me well and through it I have connected with so many of you. But it was time for a make-over, and besides, I wanted to make sure that I was accessible to those of you who come here to visit on your phones. Yes, JanePorter.com is now fully responsive — visit me here via your phone or your tablet, the site will now be as easy-to-read and easy-to-interact-with regardless of how you come here.

Why make this big change? Because I adore you all.

I loved my red site, and over the years I poured all kinds of content into it to help extend your reading experience with me. To be honest, I’d forgotten about some of the cool stuff I’d posted years ago to support so many of my books, classic romances and modern lit alike. It’s been like getting surprised with a This is Your Life party each time my webmistress asked me: “And what about this feature?” There is no way I could have gone through it all at once — fourteen years of Book Extras and cool photos and articles and videos… But as it was fed to me piece by piece, and I got to enjoy the content all over again, I got to thinking… And then it hit me: THROWBACK THURSDAYS!

Right now this new JanePorter.com features dedicated pages for only a handful of my books — just the most recent ones (and even for these, not everything is in place yet — the website is a work in progress, thanks for your patience!). If you go to my bookshelf, you’ll see them all, of course. But while some click over to excerpts for you to enjoy, many simply lead to the Kindle page on Amazon. With so many of my previously out-of-print books now available in eBook format, I didn’t want anyone to have to look that hard while Team Jane was working at converting all the wonderful old content into this new format. There’s a lot more coming, including longer excerpts, more international covers and links (because I know so many of you are coming here from outside of the English-speaking world), all that previously buried content, and then, here and there, I might be able to dig up something totally new.

These Throwback Thursdays won’t start up until after the holidays… But in the meantime, please head over to my bookshelf… Help me grow this new site. Please tell me which of my books that click over to Amazon and not yet to a JanePorter.com page you would like to see come back to your viewing enjoyment first? Leave the title below in a comment, and I’ll pick one commenter before December 1st to receive a fun package of some vintage promo swag from years gone by, a $10 Starbucks gift card, and a book, too, of course.

I hope you all enjoy the new site, and how easy it is to get around. Of course, as with any brand new site, there are bound to be hiccups — please don’t post those in the comments or on social networks, my web team doesn’t check there. But if you report errors via my site page, the web team can fix it quickly. I appreciate the assistance.

I’m really looking forward to lots of reader interaction here on the new JanePorter.com. Welcome!

Jackie Ashenden: Sheikhs are the Ultimate Fantasy

I became a huge fan of New Zealand author, Jackie Ashenden, the very first time I read one of her books.  Her strong writing style coupled with a sharp wit and intense, sexy characters made it all too easy to get hooked. Then Jackie wrote Never Seduce A Sheikh, featuring a bad boy who is also a Sheikh… two of my very favorite types of heroes rolled into one.  Isma’il is a delicious bad boy and so very easy to fall in love with!  What more could a girl ask for?

Jackie and I had a quick chat about Never Seduce a Sheikh and bad boys and here’s what she had to say –

Okay so I LOVE a bad boy. Especially their flaws because it’s their flaws that make them human and not just some cardboard cut-out, perfect man. But a bad boy who’s also a sheikh? Well, that’s one of my ultimate, alpha fantasies. A sheikh is a king, a warrior, a man whom no one can say no to. He rules his domain with an iron hand, is strong and in total command of himself. Yes, he may be arrogant, but if you’re a king you need a certain amount of arrogance, not to mention confidence, because who wants an uncertain, unconfident king?

So why is he an ultimate fantasy? I think the appeal of this kind of hero lies in the idea of a strong man brought low and changed by the love of his heroine. And it’s appealing because it makes the heroine a very powerful force. And what woman doesn’t want to feel that powerful?

How deep into the darkness will she have to go to help bring him into the light?
Oil baronness Lily Harkness isn’t so much steel magnolia as titanium cactus. She’s used to living in a man’s world and when she plays, she plays to win. She wants exclusive oil rights to ensure her company remains at the top and she’s not walking away empty handed.
Sheikh Isma’il al Zahara rules his country his way. Always in command, he has his own plans for his country’s oil and it’s not just about the money. But he’s intrigued by the buttoned up business woman who’s come to his country to strike a deal. He can’t help but wonder what’s beneath her icy facade.
Lily’s desires are buried down deep, but her attraction to Isma’il is too strong to deny. Will seducing the sheikh cost Lily her body and her soul?

~~

Thank you, Jackie!  For those of you who haven’t yet read Tule’s Bad Boys series, do be sure to grab Jackie’s Never Seduce A Sheikh soon.  This Sheikh is simply irresistible!

I also have a special giveaway for you.  For a chance to win, tell me if you’ve read any of Jackie Ashenden’s stories before and if so, which title you enjoyed most.  Or just tell me about your weekend reading!  One lucky winner will win this awesome prize package!

Original article: Jackie Ashenden: Sheikhs are the Ultimate Fantasy

©2014 Janeblog. All Rights Reserved.

Terri Reed’s Home For Good

I love stories about hearth, home and happiness, especially during the holidays and Terri Reed‘s Home For Good was a perfect fit.  A sweet story that delivers on it’s promise of love and family and second chances, and packed with lots of emotion too.

Terri is an award winning multi-published author with lots of romance and romantic suspense novels on her list of impressive accomplishments.  She also loves to cook and I invited her to share one of her wonderful recipes with us.  I’m so glad she’s writing for Tule!  Please help me welcome Terri Reed!

Thank you Jane for hosting me and for giving me the opportunity to write Home for Good. This story was born out of preparing for a workshop that I was giving to my local Romance Writers group. Once the characters grabbed ahold of me they wouldn’t let go. Setting them in Marietta was a perfect fit. I so enjoyed living in the world of Marietta Montana and getting to know the other characters in town. I’m planning on writing one of Home for Good‘s secondary characters story next.

Follow her dream…
After making a deathbed promise to her father, Joelle Winslow is ready to seize the NYC business opportunity to take her jewelry designs global. All she needs to do is cash out her inherited half of the family ranch in Montana—which means convincing her childhood rival, and now co-heir, to sell or buy her out. Sparks fly when Matt, no longer a gangly, solemn teenager, but a tall, handsome cowboy with work-hewn muscles, is unwilling to give up on the legacy he’s worked so hard to keep without a fight. And part of his bargain includes Joelle staying at the ranch with him through Homecoming Weekend.
The son her father never had…
The Winslow ranch rescued Matt Locke from a life in the foster-care system. As an orphan boy adopted by Clark Winslow and groomed to take over the ranch, he wants nothing more than to marry, raise a family, and continue the legacy of the man who became a father to him after his parents’ tragic deaths. Matt can’t imagine a life anywhere else, and he definitely can’t afford to buy Joelle out. Can he convince the dark haired beauty to not walk out on him and her home a second time?

Since the holidays are fast approaching and we’re all starting to think about our menus I wanted to share this recipe for Italian Sausage Spaghetti–Squash.

Italian Sausage Spaghetti–Squash

½ pound butter

1 pound Italian sausage

1 yellow onion, diced

4 stalks celery, diced

5 gloves of garlic, crushed

1 tsp fresh thyme

1 tsp marjoram

1 tsp fresh sage

¼ cup Sherry wine (I substitute Marsala wine)

½ cup chicken broth (more if you want it soupier)

salt and pepper to taste

1-2 large spaghetti squash(depending on the ratio you prefer of veggies/sausage to squash)

Pre-heat oven at 450 F degrees.

Split the squash in half, scrape out seeds. Drizzle the inside with olive oil. Use a non-stick baking tray or line an oven tray with foil. Place flesh side down and roast for 30-40 minutes until fully cooked. The shell will be soft. Remove from over and let rest until cool enough to handle.

10 minutes or so before the squash is done, heat butter in a sauté pan, add sausage and brown. Add veggies, garlic and spices and sauté until the veggies begin to cook. Add the wine, salt and pepper, if desired.  Remove from heat and cover.

When the squash is cool enough to handle, using a large fork or kitchen spoon, scrape the strands of squash from the inside of the skin, it will unfurl like strands of spaghetti.  Toss the spaghetti squash with the ingredients in the bowl. Serve and enjoy!

~~

Thank you, Terri, for sharing your favorite holiday recipe!  I can’t wait to try it!

Readers, please get your copy of Home For Good today and please help Terri feel welcome too.  Leave a comment for a chance to win this awesome prize Terri’s offering to one lucky winner!

Original article: Terri Reed’s Home For Good

©2014 Janeblog. All Rights Reserved.