Patti O'Shea's Blog, page 178
September 8, 2011
Writing Is Writing?
Writing is writing, right?
Actually, no.
Different types of writing demand different skills. I can't write a short business letter to save my life--make that I can't write any type of business letter. It's excruciatingly painful for me and I usually come across as terse or stilted. Among the challenges for me (and there are many) is length. One sentence doesn't look too good. There should be more. I end up with a few sentences, but that still looks sad on a 8.5 x 11 piece of paper. I put in more spaces between the addresses. I add spaces at the end.
It doesn't help.
I can spend four hours writing a business note and end up with two sentences after I cut everything I think is too stupid or sounds too rigid.
I'm running into this trying to write a 50 word blurb about Enemy Embrace. Once upon a time, when I was an advertising major in college, I could bang out something like this in no time. It really is a kind of advertising copy. The thing is that I haven't used that type of writing much since I got out of college. My publishers provide the back cover copy for the books and I'm happy to let them.
After thinking about the copy for days, spending hours trying to write something, I have the grand total of 0 words.
This is where you expect me to say I have new appreciation for the art of writing back cover copy, but I'm not going to. I've always appreciated the skill it takes. I'm merely reminded of how much blood, sweat and tears it involves.
Back to the drawing board.
Actually, no.
Different types of writing demand different skills. I can't write a short business letter to save my life--make that I can't write any type of business letter. It's excruciatingly painful for me and I usually come across as terse or stilted. Among the challenges for me (and there are many) is length. One sentence doesn't look too good. There should be more. I end up with a few sentences, but that still looks sad on a 8.5 x 11 piece of paper. I put in more spaces between the addresses. I add spaces at the end.
It doesn't help.
I can spend four hours writing a business note and end up with two sentences after I cut everything I think is too stupid or sounds too rigid.
I'm running into this trying to write a 50 word blurb about Enemy Embrace. Once upon a time, when I was an advertising major in college, I could bang out something like this in no time. It really is a kind of advertising copy. The thing is that I haven't used that type of writing much since I got out of college. My publishers provide the back cover copy for the books and I'm happy to let them.
After thinking about the copy for days, spending hours trying to write something, I have the grand total of 0 words.
This is where you expect me to say I have new appreciation for the art of writing back cover copy, but I'm not going to. I've always appreciated the skill it takes. I'm merely reminded of how much blood, sweat and tears it involves.
Back to the drawing board.
September 6, 2011
Email Oops
While I was on deadline for Enemy Embrace, I did something I've never done before, not on any other project. I turned off my email.
Gasp!
I didn't have time to deal with it and it was coming fast and furious in amounts that were mind boggling. It was purely self-defense. I checked it after I finished my project, answered a couple of emails, but I was too tired to deal with the rest. My plan was to get caught up this weekend.
Only that didn't happen. It seems that I got so used to not looking at email that I forgot to check it all weekend. Gak! I even sort of forgot that I had notes to answer. Not completely. There was this nagging sense of something hanging over my head. But by and large, it was out of sight, out of mind.
Then I remembered late Monday evening when I needed to send an email to someone. The sight was not pretty. I might have whimpered.
So I have notes from the weekend, notes from the week I was writing, and notes I didn't answer prior to the week I was off work to write because I didn't have time to take care of it. If you're thinking I have an avalanche of email, you'd be right. I will get caught up. Eventually.
Gasp!
I didn't have time to deal with it and it was coming fast and furious in amounts that were mind boggling. It was purely self-defense. I checked it after I finished my project, answered a couple of emails, but I was too tired to deal with the rest. My plan was to get caught up this weekend.
Only that didn't happen. It seems that I got so used to not looking at email that I forgot to check it all weekend. Gak! I even sort of forgot that I had notes to answer. Not completely. There was this nagging sense of something hanging over my head. But by and large, it was out of sight, out of mind.
Then I remembered late Monday evening when I needed to send an email to someone. The sight was not pretty. I might have whimpered.
So I have notes from the weekend, notes from the week I was writing, and notes I didn't answer prior to the week I was off work to write because I didn't have time to take care of it. If you're thinking I have an avalanche of email, you'd be right. I will get caught up. Eventually.
September 4, 2011
The Wallflower by Jan Freed
The Wallflower by Jan Freed is another of my favorite books. The heroine is a twentysomething professional woman and witnesses a murder. She's put under protection until she can testify, but someone betrays her. Not knowing who to trust, she decides to hide on her own--by pretending to be a high school senior. The hero is her English teacher.
This is one of the few old books that I loved that's actually available for the Kindle! I'm not getting rid of my paper copy, but it's appealing to me to have the books I really loved in multiple formats so I can read it wherever and whenever and however I want. (Since it's a July 2011 reissue from Harlequin, I'm assuming that it's available for all the different ereaders. No links for them, sorry. I have a Kindle, so I was on that page.)
The book is just plain good and a lot of fun. One of the things that appealed to me was the idea of going back to high school and being cool. The heroine, Sarah, gets to do this and she helps the other geeks live up to their potentials.
Okay, well, I just stopped to reread the book. Some of the references are a bit dated since the book was published in 1998, but I still enjoyed it. The heroine's growth arc was something I'd forgotten. She starts the book as an ambitious career woman just looking for feathers in her cap, but not really thrilled with her job, to someone who uses her professional skills to do something that matters to her.
The relationship she had with the kids was one of my favorite parts of the story. This is a book rich with secondary characters. The heroine's best friend and their relationship was strong. The relationship among the secondary characters. It wasn't as if they all revolved around the hero or heroine; they felt as if they had lives of their own. If that makes sense. Some books make the secondary characters feel as if they don't exist out of context of the h/h, but Jan Freed does an tremendous job making everyone feel 3D and real.
The book isn't a true romantic suspense. (It was originally published in the SuperRomance line.) The suspense aspect is really just there to set the story in motion. There's a bit of wrap up of that at the end, but by and large, it's a contemporary (circa 1998 contemporary) romance. It's also a relationship book. Not only the relationship between the h/h, but their relationships with other people as well.
Highly recommended.
This is one of the few old books that I loved that's actually available for the Kindle! I'm not getting rid of my paper copy, but it's appealing to me to have the books I really loved in multiple formats so I can read it wherever and whenever and however I want. (Since it's a July 2011 reissue from Harlequin, I'm assuming that it's available for all the different ereaders. No links for them, sorry. I have a Kindle, so I was on that page.)
The book is just plain good and a lot of fun. One of the things that appealed to me was the idea of going back to high school and being cool. The heroine, Sarah, gets to do this and she helps the other geeks live up to their potentials.
Okay, well, I just stopped to reread the book. Some of the references are a bit dated since the book was published in 1998, but I still enjoyed it. The heroine's growth arc was something I'd forgotten. She starts the book as an ambitious career woman just looking for feathers in her cap, but not really thrilled with her job, to someone who uses her professional skills to do something that matters to her.
The relationship she had with the kids was one of my favorite parts of the story. This is a book rich with secondary characters. The heroine's best friend and their relationship was strong. The relationship among the secondary characters. It wasn't as if they all revolved around the hero or heroine; they felt as if they had lives of their own. If that makes sense. Some books make the secondary characters feel as if they don't exist out of context of the h/h, but Jan Freed does an tremendous job making everyone feel 3D and real.
The book isn't a true romantic suspense. (It was originally published in the SuperRomance line.) The suspense aspect is really just there to set the story in motion. There's a bit of wrap up of that at the end, but by and large, it's a contemporary (circa 1998 contemporary) romance. It's also a relationship book. Not only the relationship between the h/h, but their relationships with other people as well.
Highly recommended.
September 1, 2011
Done
Yes, dancing Hobbes means the project is done! Enemy Embrace is part of the Crave the Night anthology and is slated to be released in October 2011.I'd tell you more about the story, except I'm brain dead right now. More later.
August 30, 2011
Here's The Power of Two
I've had my covers for a while now, but wanted to wait to show them off. I'm impatient, though, and I couldn't wait any longer to share. I'm showcasing them one at a time. The appearances on my blog are the grand premiere. :-)
Without any further chatter from me, I present The Power of Two!
[image error]
Isn't it awesome? I love the background especially. It has a really nice future feel to it. I did the searching for the couple on the cover. It was amazingly hard to find a picture that fit and I finally had to go for the best that I could find. The woman in the picture was listed as being Chinese and my heroine, Cai, is 1/4 Vietnamese. Also, both models look older than my hero and heroine are in the story. Cai is 21 and Jake is in his mid-20s. Like I said, though, there were very few pictures to choose from and I picked the best one available. But while the couple isn't exactly right, the cover is still awesome!
This concludes the new cover premieres. I hope you enjoyed looking at them as much as I enjoyed showing them off!
Without any further chatter from me, I present The Power of Two!
[image error]
Isn't it awesome? I love the background especially. It has a really nice future feel to it. I did the searching for the couple on the cover. It was amazingly hard to find a picture that fit and I finally had to go for the best that I could find. The woman in the picture was listed as being Chinese and my heroine, Cai, is 1/4 Vietnamese. Also, both models look older than my hero and heroine are in the story. Cai is 21 and Jake is in his mid-20s. Like I said, though, there were very few pictures to choose from and I picked the best one available. But while the couple isn't exactly right, the cover is still awesome!
This concludes the new cover premieres. I hope you enjoyed looking at them as much as I enjoyed showing them off!
August 28, 2011
Flashback
Flashback by Terri Herrington is a time travel romance originally released by Silhouette Shadows. I really loved the Shadows line, and except for a few titles that I still need to hunt down, I have (nearly) the complete line. To my great disappointment, Silhouette ended it after a few years.
In Flashback the heroine is a photographer who has some old man come up to her at a shoot and say some weird stuff. It freaks her out and then he rushes off, gets hit by a car, and dies. This shakes her up and she feels responsible.
She picks up an old camera and she decides to do some shooting with it in her home. It ends up transporting her to the 1950s, but it takes a toll on her health. In the 50s, the hero lives in the house that's now hers. He's a doctor, but he's not practicing thanks to some traumatic stuff from the Korean War. They fall in love, but the heroine's sister keeps calling her back to the present. Every time the heroine travels either to the 50s or back to the present, her health is impacted more. Finally the hero tells her she can't come anymore, that he couldn't live with her dying.
The old man that said something weird to the heroine? That, of course, was the hero. :-)
I loved that this was a time travel to an unusual era. Normally, with time travel romance to the past, it's almost always somewhere in the 1800s. I've enjoyed many of those books, too, but it was nice to see something different. The 50s are definitely different.
There's angst in this story. The hero is beating himself up over Korea and the heroine is torn between the hero and her love for her twin sister. Since her sister can call her back to the present at any time, the heroine can't have any contact with her if she wants to stay with the hero. She'll be forced to choose--if she can find a way to stay in the past at all.
Now I feel like rereading this story, but I've wanted to do that with almost every book I've reviewed here.
In Flashback the heroine is a photographer who has some old man come up to her at a shoot and say some weird stuff. It freaks her out and then he rushes off, gets hit by a car, and dies. This shakes her up and she feels responsible.
She picks up an old camera and she decides to do some shooting with it in her home. It ends up transporting her to the 1950s, but it takes a toll on her health. In the 50s, the hero lives in the house that's now hers. He's a doctor, but he's not practicing thanks to some traumatic stuff from the Korean War. They fall in love, but the heroine's sister keeps calling her back to the present. Every time the heroine travels either to the 50s or back to the present, her health is impacted more. Finally the hero tells her she can't come anymore, that he couldn't live with her dying.
The old man that said something weird to the heroine? That, of course, was the hero. :-)
I loved that this was a time travel to an unusual era. Normally, with time travel romance to the past, it's almost always somewhere in the 1800s. I've enjoyed many of those books, too, but it was nice to see something different. The 50s are definitely different.
There's angst in this story. The hero is beating himself up over Korea and the heroine is torn between the hero and her love for her twin sister. Since her sister can call her back to the present at any time, the heroine can't have any contact with her if she wants to stay with the hero. She'll be forced to choose--if she can find a way to stay in the past at all.
Now I feel like rereading this story, but I've wanted to do that with almost every book I've reviewed here.
August 25, 2011
Here's Ravyn's Flight
I've had my covers for a while now, but wanted to wait to show them off. I'm impatient, though, and I couldn't wait any longer to share. I'm showcasing them one at a time. The appearances on my blog are the grand premiere. :-)
Without any further chatter from me, I present Ravyn's Flight!
[image error]
I really love this cover! The guy has shorter hair, and since my hero is in the army, this was important to me. I also really like that the woman is wearing his camo shirt. There's actually a scene in the book where Ravyn is wearing Damon's shirt, so it's as if this picture was meant for my book!
Without any further chatter from me, I present Ravyn's Flight!
[image error]
I really love this cover! The guy has shorter hair, and since my hero is in the army, this was important to me. I also really like that the woman is wearing his camo shirt. There's actually a scene in the book where Ravyn is wearing Damon's shirt, so it's as if this picture was meant for my book!
August 23, 2011
Here's Eternal Nights
I've had my covers for a while now, but wanted to wait to show them off. I'm impatient, though, and I couldn't wait any longer to share. I'm showcasing them one at a time. The appearances on my blog are the grand premiere. :-)
Without any further chatter from me, I present Eternal Nights!
[image error]
Without any further chatter from me, I present Eternal Nights!
[image error]
August 22, 2011
August 21, 2011
Dreamer's Heart
One of the books on my keeper/reread shelf is Dreamer's Heart by Lynn Turner. This came out in the mid-90s and has a story I really enjoyed.
The heroine dreams about a bomber blowing up things. The dreams come true, and when she has another, she knows she has no choice except go to the police. She knows they won't believe her, but her conscience won't let her ignore it.
The hero is a police detective, and because he's the most patient one on the task force, he gets assigned the job of taking statements from the public about the bombings. Rhys calls these people who come in the screwball brigade. The heroine picks up this phrase (she's psychic), and fires it back at the hero as she leaves.
Then the bombing happens, exactly the way she told him it would, and Rhys turns up on her doorstep the next morning. When the feds show up and take over, the heroine is the only way for him to catch the bomber.
I really loved this story! The h/h have great banter back and forth throughout the book and Rhys was hot. :-) The heroine is no one's pushover.
A reviewer on Amazon compared this book to Linda Howard's Dream Man. There are some similarities, but I didn't think the books were that close. Yes, both heroines are psychic, see crimes, and help the police, but those are macro things. At the micro level they're different stories.
The fun for me was the interaction between the h/h more than the suspense. They're just so good together and I was pulling for them to become a couple early in the book. Rhys is alpha, but he's not a jerk and he doesn't use the heroine or betray her. They're a team all the way through and I love it when a story is setup that way. Not that there isn't some friction between the characters--they're attracted and don't want to be--but they both have the goal of catching the bomber and they both need each other to reach this end.
The heroine dreams about a bomber blowing up things. The dreams come true, and when she has another, she knows she has no choice except go to the police. She knows they won't believe her, but her conscience won't let her ignore it.
The hero is a police detective, and because he's the most patient one on the task force, he gets assigned the job of taking statements from the public about the bombings. Rhys calls these people who come in the screwball brigade. The heroine picks up this phrase (she's psychic), and fires it back at the hero as she leaves.
Then the bombing happens, exactly the way she told him it would, and Rhys turns up on her doorstep the next morning. When the feds show up and take over, the heroine is the only way for him to catch the bomber.
I really loved this story! The h/h have great banter back and forth throughout the book and Rhys was hot. :-) The heroine is no one's pushover.
A reviewer on Amazon compared this book to Linda Howard's Dream Man. There are some similarities, but I didn't think the books were that close. Yes, both heroines are psychic, see crimes, and help the police, but those are macro things. At the micro level they're different stories.
The fun for me was the interaction between the h/h more than the suspense. They're just so good together and I was pulling for them to become a couple early in the book. Rhys is alpha, but he's not a jerk and he doesn't use the heroine or betray her. They're a team all the way through and I love it when a story is setup that way. Not that there isn't some friction between the characters--they're attracted and don't want to be--but they both have the goal of catching the bomber and they both need each other to reach this end.
![[image error]](http://www.pattioshea.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/PowerofTwo_400.jpg){kind=link}
![[image error]](http://www.pattioshea.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/RavynsFlight_400px.jpg){kind=link}