Alison Kent's Blog, page 53

It’s Monday

Here’s what it’s like living with a writer.

A YEAR ON LADYBUG FARM, a mini-review

Their husbands were gone, their families were grown, and the future stretched out before them like an unfulfilled promise . . .

Tired of always dreaming and never doing, Cici, Lindsay, and Bridget make a life-altering decision. Uprooting themselves from their comfortable lives in the suburbs, the three friends buy a run-down mansion, nestled in the picturesque Shenandoah Valley. They christen their new home “Ladybug Farm,” hoping that the name will bring them luck.

As the friends take on a home i

The pleasure of writing

On her blog, my agent asks:

So… what about writing - the act itself - do you enjoy the most? Is it the solitude of communing with your imagination? The act of creation? Getting to know a character you’ve never met before? What?

And, for those of you in the publishing trenches, did you used to enjoy writing, but now find that the goal of publication (whether for the first time or thereafter) gets in the way? And, if so, what do you think could help you re-acquire that old feeling?

Good discussion i

Editors’ Pet Peeves

There’s an article today at eHarlequin about Editors’ Pet Peeves. Here are a few, but click the link for the rest:

“Would-be writers need to embrace feedback—not fear it—and give themselves the space and time to learn their craft. If they can look at each manuscript as a step toward the goal of being published, that is helpful and allows them to grow.”

“Conflicts that would be solved though a conversation. Sometimes authors can be creative and have valid reasons the characters aren’t communicat

Blame it on Ben Franklin

As we all know, I loathe Daylight Savings Time, but who knew I had Ben to blame!

Ben Franklin couldn’t abide wastefulness. So, as an American envoy in Paris, he thought nothing of firing off a crotchety letter to a French newspaper complaining of Parisians who daily squandered daylight.

Les Parisiens, he complained, stayed up late into the night and awoke at noon, wasting 96 million pounds of wax and tallow each year.

Franklin’s solution wasn’t to spring clocks forward and back, as is the modern c

Winners!

I totally forgot to post the winners from the YOUR MOUTH DRIVES ME CRAZY giveaway, so here they are:

MJ who said: I always wished for fuller lips when I was younger. Now I actually like them. (Maybe I’ve just gotten better with lipstick!)

Laura P who said: My mouth works faster than my onboard censor. Sometimes that’s fun. Mostly, not.

Send me your mailing addresses and HelenKay and I will get the books out to you!

HOLD BACK THE DARK, a mini-review

SHE’ S NO STRANGER TO THE DARKEST PLACES IN THE HUMAN MIND…

Devoted to her troubled clients, clinical psychologist Aimee Gannon never thought she’d be entangled in a murder investigation. But a middle-of-the-night phone call from the Sacramento PD delivers a shock: Aimee’s rebellious seventeen-year-old patient Taylor Dawkin could be a suspect in the gruesome murder of her own parents. Traumatized by the events of that fatal night, Taylor is left catatonic…and Aimee is desperate to reach beyond h

Trey Davis

My My Favorite Hero Blog by Trey Davis is up at eHarlequin. Go and see what Trey has to say about groupies. ;) There’s even a comment link at the bottom if you want to talk back! And the next installment of Lori Borrill’s FAST AND FURIOUS is live, too.

It’s Monday

I finally got my blog entry posted at GenReality, and I’m talking today about critique groups. I didn’t share any specifics about the partners I’ve had, just some general stuff about how I feel after my experiences. I also managed to get a blog post for eHarlequin finished and sent off. It’s part of the My Favorite Hero feature, and is a blog written by A LONG, HARD RIDE’s hero, Trey Davis. Oh, and FAST AND FURIOUS, Lori Borrill’s free online read that’s part of the “From 0 - 60″ miniseries is n

Win, win, WIN!

NEVER LET ME GO

Annie Parks came to Hawaii to settle a score, not spend time handcuffed to a sexy stranger’s bed-even if said stranger saved her from drowning after she was pitched overboard by some goons. Looking at six feet of hard, Hawaiian muscle and gorgeous cool that’s making forgotten parts of her say, “Aloha!,” Annie needs to stay focused. But a side dish of Kane Travers is awfully tempting.

Kauai Police Chief Kane Travers is not a vacation kind of guy. So it figures that when Internal Af