Isabel Roman's Blog, page 58
January 29, 2011
Saturday Excerpts
Check out the latest excerpt at Slip into Something Victorian. Every Saturday, the Scandalous Vics are posting an excerpt from their books, most Victorian, some not. During the week we try to tie in our research with our stories, or just post interesting tidbits
of Victorian lore, so be sure to check back!
Caroline Clemmons talks her American western The Texan's Irish Bride. Neat cover, eh?
Blurb:
Cenora Rose O'Neill knows her father somehow arranged the trap for Dallas, but she agrees to wed the handsome stranger. She'd do anything to protect her family, and she wants to save herself from the bully Tom Williams. A fine settled man like Dallas will rid himself of her soon enough, but at least she and her family will be safely away from Tom Williams.
Texas rancher Dallas McClintock has no plans to wed for several years. Right now, he's trying to establish himself as a successful horse breeder. Severely wounded rescuing Cenora from kidnappers, Dallas is taken to her family's wagon to be tended. He is trapped into marrying Cenora, but he is not a man who goes back on his word. Ah, but what is he to do with a wife and her wild Irish family?
of Victorian lore, so be sure to check back!Caroline Clemmons talks her American western The Texan's Irish Bride. Neat cover, eh?
Blurb:
Cenora Rose O'Neill knows her father somehow arranged the trap for Dallas, but she agrees to wed the handsome stranger. She'd do anything to protect her family, and she wants to save herself from the bully Tom Williams. A fine settled man like Dallas will rid himself of her soon enough, but at least she and her family will be safely away from Tom Williams.
Texas rancher Dallas McClintock has no plans to wed for several years. Right now, he's trying to establish himself as a successful horse breeder. Severely wounded rescuing Cenora from kidnappers, Dallas is taken to her family's wagon to be tended. He is trapped into marrying Cenora, but he is not a man who goes back on his word. Ah, but what is he to do with a wife and her wild Irish family?
January 28, 2011
Friday? Already?
Where'd the time go? It's already one month into 2011 and I feel like I haven't stopped for breath. Work, write, work, write. It's a cycle!
But then I love what I do and enjoy playing in the imagination sandbox.
Still, January 28? Sheesh.
What have you done this month? Make any resolutions? Keep any of them? What are your goals for February?
Do More
By William Arthur Ward
Do more than belong: participate.
Do more than care: help.
Do more than believe: practice.
Do more than be fair: be kind.
Do more than forgive: forget.
Do more than dream: work.
But then I love what I do and enjoy playing in the imagination sandbox.
Still, January 28? Sheesh.
What have you done this month? Make any resolutions? Keep any of them? What are your goals for February?
Do More
By William Arthur Ward
Do more than belong: participate.
Do more than care: help.
Do more than believe: practice.
Do more than be fair: be kind.
Do more than forgive: forget.
Do more than dream: work.
January 27, 2011
Thursday Progress
Writing.
Editing.
Writing.
Plotting.
It's a never eding cycle of plot, write, and the self-edit.
But I love it, despite the suspicious keyboard marks on my forehead. Not so attractive but I don't seem to leave this computer so no one really notices them anyway.
ACK! And let's not forget the synopsis!
Synopsis.
'Nuff Said.
Editing.
Writing.
Plotting.
It's a never eding cycle of plot, write, and the self-edit.
But I love it, despite the suspicious keyboard marks on my forehead. Not so attractive but I don't seem to leave this computer so no one really notices them anyway.
ACK! And let's not forget the synopsis!
Synopsis.
'Nuff Said.
January 26, 2011
Wednesday Reviews: A Woman of Choice
A couple weeks ago I had
Kris Tualla
here as part of her Norway is the new Scotland blog tour. She graciously offered a PDF copy of her book,
A Woman of Choice
for me to read. Which I did...devoured more like it.
No, it wasn't one of those I stayed up reading until 4 am the night before an important meeting ( Catching Fire ) but that was an extenuating circumstance. I don't usually do that any more, I tend to pace myself with reading and sleep, sleep usually being the more important of the two.
Sad but true. But I did find myself reading as my eyes drooped, and that's always a good sign.
Now, A Woman of Choice...
This is the blurb and it's tantalizing in and of itself:
A woman is viciously betrayed by her unfaithful husband and left for dead. She is rescued by a widower not interested in love. But he offers her shelter, purpose, and passion. She offers herself. But she never expected his best friend to offer her marriage! One woman, three very different men. Life is about CHOICES.
Norwegian in America. Yummy Norwegian in America. Frankly, Nicolas could have been anywhere and I'd have jumped his bones. But besides all that bone jumping, it was a great story. History of America aside, which I love, it also delved deeply into the history of Norway.
Sydney is strong, trying to overcome her past, trying to deal with, well, quite a bit. But she's not prim & proper which is just as well considering it's 1819 Missouri.
Also, this is but the first leg of Nicolas and Sydney's journey. I don't have yet but will get the next two books ASAP . I like reading about a couple beyond book one, because while I adore the Happily Ever After, I know there's always something after that. A good writer can move beyond trite soap opera cliches to break up the characters and show what really happens in a relationship.
I have every confidence Kris is a writer who can pull that off.
Now, because I feel I need to at least add this is, Kris did self-publish this. At least that's what I get from the publisher site. If I'm wrong, Kris, I apologize. However, my addendum to that caveat is that it's still a damned fine book and definitely worth reading.
No, it wasn't one of those I stayed up reading until 4 am the night before an important meeting ( Catching Fire ) but that was an extenuating circumstance. I don't usually do that any more, I tend to pace myself with reading and sleep, sleep usually being the more important of the two.
Sad but true. But I did find myself reading as my eyes drooped, and that's always a good sign.
Now, A Woman of Choice...This is the blurb and it's tantalizing in and of itself:
A woman is viciously betrayed by her unfaithful husband and left for dead. She is rescued by a widower not interested in love. But he offers her shelter, purpose, and passion. She offers herself. But she never expected his best friend to offer her marriage! One woman, three very different men. Life is about CHOICES.
Norwegian in America. Yummy Norwegian in America. Frankly, Nicolas could have been anywhere and I'd have jumped his bones. But besides all that bone jumping, it was a great story. History of America aside, which I love, it also delved deeply into the history of Norway.
Sydney is strong, trying to overcome her past, trying to deal with, well, quite a bit. But she's not prim & proper which is just as well considering it's 1819 Missouri.
Also, this is but the first leg of Nicolas and Sydney's journey. I don't have yet but will get the next two books ASAP . I like reading about a couple beyond book one, because while I adore the Happily Ever After, I know there's always something after that. A good writer can move beyond trite soap opera cliches to break up the characters and show what really happens in a relationship.
I have every confidence Kris is a writer who can pull that off.
Now, because I feel I need to at least add this is, Kris did self-publish this. At least that's what I get from the publisher site. If I'm wrong, Kris, I apologize. However, my addendum to that caveat is that it's still a damned fine book and definitely worth reading.
January 25, 2011
Losing a friend
Last night I found out that a man I never met in person passed away. He was a great online friend, who loved to read such a variety of genres it was amazing. I respected his views, his comments, and most importantly him.
Doesn't matter that we never met, had a phone conversation, or that I even knew what he looked like. I'll miss him.
RIP Jack.
I'd also like to post this article I read Sunday about an American football rivalry and how it changed two men's lives.
Doesn't matter that we never met, had a phone conversation, or that I even knew what he looked like. I'll miss him.
RIP Jack.
I'd also like to post this article I read Sunday about an American football rivalry and how it changed two men's lives.
January 24, 2011
Monday Musings: Quotes
Better to be in demand than ignored.
~No idea who said this an an internet search produces way too many hits to sift through.
The only reward to be expected from the cultivation of literature is contempt if one fails and and hatred if one succeeds.
~Voltaire
How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.
~Henry David Thoreau
I will never stop writing. People often ask when I will retire, but I say it's none of their business. Writing defines who I am. I love the feeling of holding a finished book in my hands, and then I can't wait to start the great adventure of writing the next one.
~Barbara Taylor Bradford
If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn't brood. I'd type a little faster.
~Isaac Asimov
~No idea who said this an an internet search produces way too many hits to sift through.
The only reward to be expected from the cultivation of literature is contempt if one fails and and hatred if one succeeds.
~Voltaire
How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.
~Henry David Thoreau
I will never stop writing. People often ask when I will retire, but I say it's none of their business. Writing defines who I am. I love the feeling of holding a finished book in my hands, and then I can't wait to start the great adventure of writing the next one.
~Barbara Taylor Bradford
If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn't brood. I'd type a little faster.
~Isaac Asimov
January 21, 2011
Friday Guest: Denise Eagan
It's been almost a year since you last stopped by, how's the 
writing going?
It's been a tough year, with a death in the family and my youngest son applying for college and then leaving home. Lots of emotional changes, which can get in the way of writing romance. Romance novels, almost by definition, require a writer to pour emotion onto every page, and that's pretty difficult if you're already emotionally exhausted.
But these things are passing now and I'm starting to get back into writing again. One of the wonderful things about taking a forced sabbatical, is that while the words aren't getting on the page, the creative process is never truly quiet. I've continued to plot, and I've built up this enormous back log of writing energy. It's really starting to flow now.
What are your 2011 goals? If you have any!
I have goals but please, oh please, don't call 'em resolutions! Goals are something you plan to do, resolutions are things you have to do, and I've got a terrible rebellious streak in me. As soon as I hear "must" I think "why?" So yeah, goals. Definitely goals. And I've got a ton of 'em, the typical lose 10 lbs, exercise more, eat healthier, yada, yada, yada. I have serious doubts about those.
I haven't done it before, why believe I'll do it now?
On the other hand, I have some pretty concrete writing goals. Having taken that little sabbatical I now have two books I want to finish this year, and I've only really just started them. I've got another that I'd like to do a substantial re-write as well, and one more that I want to do some serious plotting on. All of that, of course, requires research. And I'd like to become more publicly involved. I love Victorian history, and I really would like to share more of it. I think a lot of people have a misconception about the era, and I'd like to help change that a little. So I've gotten on twitter (after a lot of hand wringing because it's more technology to learn!) and I'm trying to set things straight with 140 characters a day.
Twitter isn't bad, Dee, once you get used to it. @ladyisabel Dee's Twitter: @DLEagan
How do you overcome life-interference when it comes to your writing?
Chocolate? Okay, that doesn't overcome it, but it sure helps with the depressing parts of that interference. I guess the best way I overcome it is to keep my brain working no matter what.
Lots of days my fingers don't get to the keyboard. I can, though, always think about my stories, and I keep a pad of paper in my purse to write down random ideas that occur to me while shopping or driving or whatever. Eventually I get them all in a file on the computer. I also put myself to sleep pretty much every night "listening" to my characters. I starting a scene in my mind—dialogue, thought, some description—and continue to construct it until I fall asleep. That way when I do get a chance to write, a lot of the words are already there.
No, they aren't exact. Sometimes they're worse, sometimes better, but one way or another I've always got a story going. As I said, life's challenges can interfere with the writing, but it rarely stops the creative process.
What are you working on now and what are your plans for this story?
As I said, I'm working on two stories. One is a contemporary, with a screenwriter heroine. In 30 years of writing I've only written one contemporary, so it's a stretch for me. But I like challenges in writing and once I got over the initial "can I do this? Do I have the voice for it?" it wasn't as difficult as I thought. The second one is in Victorian America 1870's ish. Both have light paranormal elements as in psychic connections and spirits, which move me away, again, from what I've traditionally written.
While the characters in the contemporary are fairly light, which is where my writing over the last years has gravitated, the hero in the historical is pretty dark. That, too, is a bit of a challenge, but fun. The biggest challenge is writing two entirely different stories at the same time. Lots of characters and plot twists to keep track of. It's requiring a lot of organization.
Of course both stories have my traditional murder element, because I just love how throwing that into the mix alters relationships. For me, that's what's most fun about writing romance: creating characters, putting them together and watching how they work things out. It's the discovery process that is such a kick! And not just the relationship between hero and heroine, it's the other characters in the story and how the developing romance affects them.
As for plans, no special plans other than to finish them and submit them. We'll see what happens after that.
Thanks for stopping by, Dee! And good luck with your goals-not-resolutions. Any time you want to visit, feel free to do so.
Both Wicked Woman and The Wild One is available in paperback ad e-book form.
writing going? It's been a tough year, with a death in the family and my youngest son applying for college and then leaving home. Lots of emotional changes, which can get in the way of writing romance. Romance novels, almost by definition, require a writer to pour emotion onto every page, and that's pretty difficult if you're already emotionally exhausted.
But these things are passing now and I'm starting to get back into writing again. One of the wonderful things about taking a forced sabbatical, is that while the words aren't getting on the page, the creative process is never truly quiet. I've continued to plot, and I've built up this enormous back log of writing energy. It's really starting to flow now.
What are your 2011 goals? If you have any!
I have goals but please, oh please, don't call 'em resolutions! Goals are something you plan to do, resolutions are things you have to do, and I've got a terrible rebellious streak in me. As soon as I hear "must" I think "why?" So yeah, goals. Definitely goals. And I've got a ton of 'em, the typical lose 10 lbs, exercise more, eat healthier, yada, yada, yada. I have serious doubts about those.
I haven't done it before, why believe I'll do it now?
On the other hand, I have some pretty concrete writing goals. Having taken that little sabbatical I now have two books I want to finish this year, and I've only really just started them. I've got another that I'd like to do a substantial re-write as well, and one more that I want to do some serious plotting on. All of that, of course, requires research. And I'd like to become more publicly involved. I love Victorian history, and I really would like to share more of it. I think a lot of people have a misconception about the era, and I'd like to help change that a little. So I've gotten on twitter (after a lot of hand wringing because it's more technology to learn!) and I'm trying to set things straight with 140 characters a day.
Twitter isn't bad, Dee, once you get used to it. @ladyisabel Dee's Twitter: @DLEagan
How do you overcome life-interference when it comes to your writing?
Chocolate? Okay, that doesn't overcome it, but it sure helps with the depressing parts of that interference. I guess the best way I overcome it is to keep my brain working no matter what.
Lots of days my fingers don't get to the keyboard. I can, though, always think about my stories, and I keep a pad of paper in my purse to write down random ideas that occur to me while shopping or driving or whatever. Eventually I get them all in a file on the computer. I also put myself to sleep pretty much every night "listening" to my characters. I starting a scene in my mind—dialogue, thought, some description—and continue to construct it until I fall asleep. That way when I do get a chance to write, a lot of the words are already there.
No, they aren't exact. Sometimes they're worse, sometimes better, but one way or another I've always got a story going. As I said, life's challenges can interfere with the writing, but it rarely stops the creative process.
What are you working on now and what are your plans for this story?
As I said, I'm working on two stories. One is a contemporary, with a screenwriter heroine. In 30 years of writing I've only written one contemporary, so it's a stretch for me. But I like challenges in writing and once I got over the initial "can I do this? Do I have the voice for it?" it wasn't as difficult as I thought. The second one is in Victorian America 1870's ish. Both have light paranormal elements as in psychic connections and spirits, which move me away, again, from what I've traditionally written.
While the characters in the contemporary are fairly light, which is where my writing over the last years has gravitated, the hero in the historical is pretty dark. That, too, is a bit of a challenge, but fun. The biggest challenge is writing two entirely different stories at the same time. Lots of characters and plot twists to keep track of. It's requiring a lot of organization.
Of course both stories have my traditional murder element, because I just love how throwing that into the mix alters relationships. For me, that's what's most fun about writing romance: creating characters, putting them together and watching how they work things out. It's the discovery process that is such a kick! And not just the relationship between hero and heroine, it's the other characters in the story and how the developing romance affects them.
As for plans, no special plans other than to finish them and submit them. We'll see what happens after that.
Thanks for stopping by, Dee! And good luck with your goals-not-resolutions. Any time you want to visit, feel free to do so.
Both Wicked Woman and The Wild One is available in paperback ad e-book form.
January 20, 2011
Thursday Progress: Synopsis
Synopsis.
'Nuff Said.
Working on that now.
Seriously, how do you take a 70,000 word story and condense it into a 500 word overview? How do you take the next 3 books and show enough of them to entice without adding another 1500+ words to the synopsis?
Synopsis.
'Nuff Said.
'Nuff Said.
Working on that now.
Seriously, how do you take a 70,000 word story and condense it into a 500 word overview? How do you take the next 3 books and show enough of them to entice without adding another 1500+ words to the synopsis?
Synopsis.
'Nuff Said.
January 19, 2011
Wednesday Review: The Walking Dead
Finally managed to finish the series. I don't like horror, I don't thrive on it, laugh at it, or collect it. I think the last horror movie I saw was Halloween H20...and it was bad. This is my horror level, get it?
But zombies. I wasn't going to watch this, I was perfectly happy
ignoring the latest in the zombie trend. But then I heard everyone (and I do mean that literally) talking about it. Not just zombie lovers, but people I wouldn't have thought knew what a zombie was.
So I caved.
And it was pretty good! AMC did a great job with the characterization, with the aftermath, and unlike The Road (2 thumbs down!) they explained the overall world and what happened. Whereas The Road left the apocalypse as a vague explanation you had to guess at and were left wondering if the water they drank and the air they breathed was contaminated or not, The Walking Dead (based on the long-running comic series ) created a disease.
A mysterious, deadly, infectious disease, but one that left the survivors unscathed and able to survive without those pesky is-this-safe? questions.
Granted, the sheriff, was entirely too stupid to live, and should have stayed with the always stellar
That's beside the point...it's about the survivors, which all the best post-apocalyptic stories are about. Give it a try, it's worth it.
Hungry for Your Love: An Anthology of Zombie Romance
But zombies. I wasn't going to watch this, I was perfectly happy
ignoring the latest in the zombie trend. But then I heard everyone (and I do mean that literally) talking about it. Not just zombie lovers, but people I wouldn't have thought knew what a zombie was.So I caved.
And it was pretty good! AMC did a great job with the characterization, with the aftermath, and unlike The Road (2 thumbs down!) they explained the overall world and what happened. Whereas The Road left the apocalypse as a vague explanation you had to guess at and were left wondering if the water they drank and the air they breathed was contaminated or not, The Walking Dead (based on the long-running comic series ) created a disease.
A mysterious, deadly, infectious disease, but one that left the survivors unscathed and able to survive without those pesky is-this-safe? questions.
Granted, the sheriff, was entirely too stupid to live, and should have stayed with the always stellar
That's beside the point...it's about the survivors, which all the best post-apocalyptic stories are about. Give it a try, it's worth it.
Hungry for Your Love: An Anthology of Zombie Romance
January 18, 2011
Tuesday Comings and Goings: Travel
It's cold and dark out. You get home it's dark, there's probably snow on the ground. Again. You'd rather be anywhere but here. There.
So where would you rather be? Somewhere warm? A Caribbean island? Florida Keys? Central America? Hawai'i? A Polynesian island?
Or are you one of those I'd rather be skiing people? I like skiing, don't get me wrong, but am more of a weekend skier. Anything more and my knees give out. Badly. With swelling.
Play with me: Anywhere but here. Where would you like to be (assume money and time off from work is no problem *G*)
So where would you rather be? Somewhere warm? A Caribbean island? Florida Keys? Central America? Hawai'i? A Polynesian island?
Or are you one of those I'd rather be skiing people? I like skiing, don't get me wrong, but am more of a weekend skier. Anything more and my knees give out. Badly. With swelling.
Play with me: Anywhere but here. Where would you like to be (assume money and time off from work is no problem *G*)
