Victoria Janssen's Blog, page 106

Origin Stories - Cate Hart

Please welcome my guest, Cate Hart!#So I'll start at the beginning. My mom read to me every night. As a teacher, reading has always been a very important part of her life. When I could read to myself, I devoured everything I could get my hands on – Carolyn Keene, Beverly Clearly, Judy Blume, Laura Ingalls Wilder, everything. But it was in the 3rd grade that I discovered what it was to write my

Origin Stories - Nell Dixon

Please welcome my guest, Nell Dixon!#Victoria's kind invitation to write a piece for her blog about my writing journey sounded really simple. Then I realised it was going to be difficult to choose which aspect of my road to publication might be useful or interesting to someone. I started writing when I was in my early teens; that's when I joined my first local writers group and sent off some of

Origin Stories - Mima

Please welcome my guest, Mima!#Out of the Black by MimaIn the fall of 2005, my husband dared me to stop writing scenes and openings in my pretty journals. He dared me to stop bitching about the books I'd paid good money for and throwing them across the room and moaning to him about how I could have written better. And he reminded me how I glowed when I finished a wonderful story and sighed about

Origin Stories Week

This week, four different guests will be posting on my blog about their origin stories, Tuesday through Friday.(Not their origins in the comic book sense, though!)They'll be talking about when they began to write seriously, and why, and where that journey's brought them, and what they've learned about themselves in the process.#And the winners of the Friday book drawing, thanks to random.org, are

Rupert Brooke, "The Soldier"

The Soldier If I should die, think only this of me: That there's some corner of a foreign field That is for ever England. There shall be In that rich earth a richer dust concealed; A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware, Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam, A body of England's, breathing English air, Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home. And think, this heart, all evil

Rupert Brooke, "Safety"

SafetyDear! of all happy in the hour, most blest He who has found our hid security, Assured in the dark tides of the world that rest, And heard our word, 'Who is so safe as we?' We have found safety with all things undying, The winds, and morning, tears of men and mirth, The deep night, and birds singing, and clouds flying, And sleep, and freedom, and the autumnal earth. We have

Happy Birthday, Blog! And Giveaways.

Today's the first birthday of this blog.It's been lots of fun so far. Here's to another year!If you'd like to be entered in a random drawing for a signed book, please comment below with your preference (or you can say "no preference," and I'll choose). The three books are: The Moonlight Mistress; The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom and Their Lover; and the erotica anthology Cowboy Lover (which

Proposing and Disposing

"I shall now defuse this highly explosive bomb while simultaneously, and at the same time, reciting from the works of Percy Bysshe Shelley." --Gonzo the GreatWhile I'm writing my Crimean War time travel story, I'm also thinking about the second book on my current contract.I am planning to propose another World War One paranormal, this one heavier on the paranormal elements. It would be a sequel

The Perfect Beginning

As I've mentioned before on this blog, this month I'm writing a short story, for submission to a romance anthology. It's been a long time since I've written a short story, because I've been busy writing contracted novels for Spice; I paused a couple of times, and started stories, but didn't finish them.This past weekend I began remembering how writing short stories is different from writing

Snow Pictures!

We interrupt your regularly scheduled blog for pretty pictures of a snowstorm in Philadelphia, and its aftermath.