Joely Sue Burkhart's Blog, page 29

Scorching Summer: Shelli Stevens

As part of our Scorching Summer giveaway, I’m thrilled to have New York Times bestselling author Shelli Stevens stopping by today!

Scorching Summer is here!

Are you ready to get hot? Scorching Summer has arrived!

In case you don’t know me, I’m Shelli Stevens, and I’m seriously excited to be sharing an upcoming release day with some fun, talented authors! Check out these fantastic books releasing June 11th from Samhain Publishing.

Good Girl Gone Plaid by Shelli Stevens (that’s me!)

Her Grace’s Stable by Joely Sue Burkhart

Full Moon by Mari Carr

Brothers of the Wild North Sea by Harper Fox

She’s the One by Erin Nicholas

Today Joely is allowing me to hang out on her blog and share a bit about Good Girl Gone Plaid, and sneak you a pic of my prize! Thanks, Joely.

Let me say the title of this book came to me first, and I developed the series around it. I adore The McLaughlins, my imported Scottish family who now resides on Whidbey Island in the Pacific Northwest. And, seriously, I hope you adore the first in the series, too!

Falling for the bad boy is even more dangerous the second time around.

* * *

The McLaughlins, Book 1

In high school Sarah fell for her best friend’s older brother—one of the sexy, Scottish McLaughlin boys. But a painful betrayal showed her she’d been a fool to give her heart to a bad boy. At least it made it easier to leave him and move halfway around the world when her Navy dad got stationed in Japan.

Eleven years later, the death of her grandmother has forced Sarah back to Whidbey Island for a month. It’s the length of time she must stay in her inherited house before she’s allowed to sell it, take the money and run. But when she sees Ian, bad as ever and still looking like sin on a stick, she can’t keep her mouth from watering.

One look at Sarah stirs up the regret lingering in Ian’s heart—and never-forgotten desire lingering in his body. He should walk away, especially since divorced single mothers aren’t his style. But when she starts showing up at his family’s pub, he can’t resist a little casual seduction for old time’s sake.

One thing quickly becomes clear, though. The heat between them is causing an avalanche of secrets and betrayal and nothing will ever be the same.

WARNING

A bad-boy hero who’s good with his hands, a heroine who’s trying to be good. Contains liberal consumption of Scotch whisky, a Highland Games competition, men in kilts wielding large poles, and a potential Sarah McLaughlin of the non-musical kind.

Now available for pre-order on Kindle | Nook | Kobo | Samhain

Excerpt

“Give me a Glennfidich 18. Neat.” Ian kept his hands folded and his gaze on the bar counter, but he could still feel the surprise in his eldest brother’s stare.

The pub was near empty—apparently Old Man Cooper had gone home already as well.

“You do realize it’s just about lunch time.” Aleck made his way down the bar until he was positioned right in front of him. “And you’ve gone and ordered one of the most expensive spirits we have?”

“You think I’m daft, big brother? Shut your mouth and just pour it already.” Scowling, Ian lifted his head to make sure his brother hadn’t taken offense.

Aleck, the eldest of all the McLaughlin kids was now sole owner of the pub. He didn’t seem the slightest bit offended by his brother’s comments. He was used to Ian’s quick temper. Instead, his green eyes crinkled around the edges with laughter and his mouth was twisted into a slight smirk.

“Aye, I’ll give ya your drink. So long as you fill me in on why the fook you’re in such a foul mood.” Aleck’s accent had always been the thickest and slowest to fade.

“As if you don’t know.” Ian accepted the shot and glared at his brother. “Go bring Kenzie a tire, you say. As if you don’t know just who exactly you were throwing in my path.”

“No. I haven’t a clue.”

The genuine bewilderment on Aleck’s face convinced him that maybe his brother wasn’t lying.

“Look, Kenzie called and said she was in a bit of a mess and needed me to come out and bring her a tire. She didn’t say she was with anyone.” Aleck placed the bottle of scotch back up on the shelf with the other bottles of spirits. “Fill me in already. Who was with her?”

“Sarah,” Ian finally growled.

“Sorry, who? Tera?”

Ian tipped back the scotch and slammed the glass on the bar. “Sarah.”

“Sarah?” Aleck went still and tilted his head. “As in your Sarah? The good girl you shagged around with in your youth?”

“Aye. That’d be her.” He stared into his empty shot glass, not seeing the drop of amber liquid, but instead the image of Sarah half-naked in the back of his Camaro. “And I wouldn’t necessarily call her a good girl.”

“Wasn’t she now? One step from the nunnery from the impression I got.” Aleck grinned. “Though I’m sure any corruption she acquired back then came from your doing.”

“Hmm. Maybe.” The single malt scotch had warmed his insides and taken the sharp edges off the memory of his encounter with Sarah.

“So, how was it seeing her again?”

“Oh just fucking fantastic.” He gave a harsh laugh and pushed the empty glass to his brother. “Nearly as fantastic as taking a foot to the balls, I’d imagine.”

“That lovely? Was she mean? Did she go and hurt your feelings?” Aleck teased good-naturedly.

“No.” Ian hesitated, unable to share the humor. “More like I hurt her. I probably said some things I shouldn’t have.”

Aleck nodded. “Well, it wouldn’t be the first time either one of you has let your temper best you. You want another drink?”

“No.” Ian thrust a hand through his hair. “Wait, aye. One more.”

His brother grabbed the bottle and poured another glass. “I’m sorry. But let me guess. She’s fallen toward the ugly side and is as warm and cuddly as a porcupine?”

“Perhaps on the porcupine bit, but she’s not ugly.” He drank the second round. “She’s prettier now, if you can believe it.”

“Hmm. I’m trying to remember her. Short?”

“Petite. And she’d punch you in the stomach if she heard you call her short.”

“Which is probably as high as she can reach,” Aleck mused. “Long black hair, I think?” Ian nodded.

“Aye, I remember her hair. She was a pretty thing. Quite exotic. She had that hint of olive skin, but blue eyes. I’m surprised you captured her interest. Back then she was too innocent for the likes of you.”

And maybe still was. He’d calmed down considerably from what he’d been in his teen years. But he wasn’t an idiot. Ian knew his reputation on the island, and his bad boy image hadn’t fully gone away. Then again, he hadn’t done much to dissuade it.

“Will you see her again?”

“I doubt it. I don’t think she cared much for seeing me today, to be honest.”

“Aye, well you didn’t end on the best terms. Am I right?”

No. They certainly hadn’t. Just the memory of it was like taking a two-by-four to the chest. His jaw clenched against the wave of guilt and pain. Both emotions had been violently at war that day—as much as they still were now. Beneath those two emotions had been another one. Bitter disappointment. And it was always there. Hot and dark, running a river of anger through his blood.

He didn’t think about it much. Couldn’t go there in his head, because it was all such a mind fuck.

“There’s a reason the past is behind you.” Aleck’s quiet words resonated through the warm haze the Glennfidich had left.

“Aye. And it’ll stay there, no need to worry about that.”

Be sure to check out all the other gals’ blogs and don’t forget to enter the big contest—lots of great prizes and chances to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Scorching Summer from Samhain

I’m thrilled to share a June 11th release date from Samhain with fabulous authors Mari Carr, Erin Nicholas, Shelli Stevens, and Harper Fox!  To celebrate, we’re offering a really cool prize package, including a $50 gift certificate and individual prizes from each of us.

My offering: a Jane Austen Royal Mail stamp set I ordered from the UK, featuring images from Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice and more.  It’s just gorgeous!

June 1-10 we’ll be hosting each other on our blogs, so be sure to visit for your chance to win.  Entries will be managed via Rafflecopter.  Note:  the giveaway is already open and working, so I’m going to go ahead and post this so you can start entering!  Just click through to Rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

On Plotting

As I’ve been working on the new PNR idea, I’ve been thinking about my plotting processes and how they’ve evolved over the years.  There are so many different ways to think about story structure, from the Witch’s original “Block” idea, to the Marshall Plan, the Hero’s Journey, Save the Cat…

All of them speak to me at various stages or for different things.  Save the Cat has really taught me to come full circle, to think about how I’m going to start and how I’m going to end, and what that means from the very beginning.

Breaking out all of those worksheets for the Marshall Plan is not for me.  It’s just too tedious.  I still learned a lot though, mostly to keep that push through each and every scene for what changed.  Why include it here?

The Hero’s Journey still speaks the most to me, but sometimes I need something a little simpler.  One thing I’ve read more about this year is the try/fail sequence.  Sometimes that helps me come up with what I want to happen in the middle.  (How can I make this worse?)  There’s also the 7-point plot.

And if your head is whirling now…  You’re not the only one.

What I’ve decided is that just like I prefer a different tarot deck for each major story world, I sometimes need a different way to think about plot for each story too.  Sometimes I use a little Save the Cat combined with try/fail until I get to the end.  Sometimes I’m hero’s journey all the way.  Sometimes I have a character show up in my head and just take over the whole damned show and all I can do is hang on for the ride.  Other times, it’s the world that comes to me first, and I have to figure out how to populate that world with cool and interesting characters who have something to say.

In the end, use ALL or NOTHING or PART of any of the methods to help you.  The more you know, the better.

Just for kicks and giggles, I’m building a simple one-page spreadsheet that highlights all of these plot methods so I can see the major points at a glance.  If you’re curious, take a peek (pdf).

RT13 Swag Giveaway

I’m going to start parceling out all of the goodies I brought home from KC, including all sorts of books, pens, postcards, bookmarks, and even an Ellora’s Cavemen calendar.  I have enough goodies to make a nice package for *at least* five winners.  If I still have stuff, I’ll pick more winners from the entrants.  Each package will include a book and as much goodies as I can stuff in a mailer.

You can enter by commenting on this post and the other Rafflecoptor options listed.  In addition, I’d like to get as many reviews as possible for Her Grace’s Stable (coming June 11th) and/or Lady Doctor Wyre (already available).  (If you need a review copy, please contact me.)  If you have an online review posted anywhere (even ones you already did for either book), post a comment on this blog entry containing the link.  Even if it’s the same review posted in multiple locations, eg GoodReads and Amazon, post both links separately for maximum entries!

This giveaway is open to the planet, even if you’ve won something from me before.   Yes, I’ll ship the prize package internationally!

Giveaway closes 5/24/2013 at midnight EST.

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Writing with Tarot

I’ve posted before that I often turn to tarot for brainstorming (my friend Raelyn Barclay has lots of good posts here).  What I’m finding (for me) is that I end up buying a new deck for each new idea.  *sheepish*

For Lord Regret’s Price, I used the Steampunk Tarot exclusively.  The gorgeous, rich artwork and the Victorian/steampunk elements really spoke to me. I hope I can continue to use those cards for other books in the series.

But when I sat down to work on the new paranormal idea, I didn’t want to use that same deck.  It just didn’t work.  It didn’t say masks or shifters or demons or anything spooky.  I was wandering around on Amazon for something and saw the Deviant Moon deck and it was like cymbals started crashing in my skull.  Yes, yes, yes!

Looking at the cards is even more exciting.  I’ve been working with them all week with mixed results (so I thought).  First, I used their recommended “deviant moon” spread for my villain and got some incredible ideas.  Then I tried the same spread for the hero, and I just didn’t seem to feel it.  I mean, the cards just didn’t seem connected.  I couldn’t visualize anything, it didn’t spark a plot point, or anything.

When that happens, don’t despair!  Here’s a few things I tried:

I took notes anyway and saved them for later.  Upon reflection and some shifting in my mind, the cards filled a gap for something else that I needed.
Try a different spread.  When all else fails, I go back to the simple 3-card past, present, and future.  I got lots of good stuff for the hero then.
If nothing seems to gel, maybe just flip through the deck and examine cards for fun.  See which ones seem to speak and take notes.

All of these options paid out cool ideas this week.  The cards I drew the first day that didn’t seem to work for the hero were actually calling up a missing character I needed.  (They were all strong women, like the Empress, the Queen of Wands, but I knew it wasn’t the heroine.)  I got another card that gave me a plot point that had nothing to do with the hero — but did involve the book.

And when I just picked some cards that really seemed important, I ended up building characters around those cards.  I just KNEW they needed to be used because they were so cool.  This time around, I’m actually building most of my cast straight from the cards themselves.  Not all of the characters are a single card.  e.g. the hero begins as a mix of the hermit/magician, but ends as the Ace of Pentacles.  Without going into too many details about what I’m doing, here are a few pictures of how I’m pairing stuff up.

These cards represent my hero and heroine’s growth throughout the book.  For the heroine (right), she has to make a choice.  The bottom card is what will happen if she falls to the Dark Side.  She’s quite dark, so while I know she’s not going to make that choice…I want to remind myself of that risk as I write.

For my villains (yes there’s more than one), I knew the card on the right was significant.  It was a meeting between my two major antagonists.  But I wasn’t sure where else she might show up.  I flipped through the cards looking for a woman colored the same way to get other clues.  I did the same thing for my heroine — looking for other cards that had wings.

So I guess my point here is that it doesn’t have to be based on random chance.  You can sit down and look through the cards for specific characteristics to get ideas too.

Man, I’m loving this creepy weird deck!  I’m getting so many wicked ideas!!!

Reviews: Her Grace’s Stable

Two reviews for Her Grace’s Stable are in!

From Vivian Archer via GoodReads:  4.5 stars

If you’ve read many of my reviews then you know I’ve fallen out of favor with a lot of MF literature, and technically this is MMF, but usually the women in those configurations are a waste of space, too. Burkhart has always been an exception–Love her writing. Her women are intelligent and emotionally balanced–not a twit or basket case in the lot!

I was a little leery of a book that leaned as much to femdom as this one promised just because in so many of them the dommes come off as psychotic bitches–I don’t enjoy abuse masquerading as power exchange. The relationships between the main characters are definitely symbiotic and NOT parasitic.

Recently, I’ve been finding stories that feature puppy or pony play that is not humiliation driven, but rather a celebration and joyful experience. I was thrilled to find that here in HER GRACE’S STABLES. The interactions between the Duchess of Blackmyre (Violet), Cole and Arthur are beautiful. The dynamics are sexy with one gentle pony and one stallion in the mix under the direction of a firm but loving hand. This is the most sensually erotic pony play I’ve read.

The other review is 4 stars from RT Book Reviews and will be in the July issue!  “Character development is excellent, especially that of Arthur, who must re-discover his humanity.”

If you’re interested in reviewing HGS please contact me.  Thank you!

Categorization

I realized yesterday that I’m a complete and utter blockhead.  Yeah, I know you’re all shocked.  *rolls eyes*

I’ve referred to my totem animal the horse many times.  How sometimes I just want to kick the stall down and charge off into the hills, wild and free.  How hard it is for me to settle under the saddle sometimes, or to take my place in the harness.  It’s not the work I mind.  I love the work.

It’s the idea of constraint.

I’ve always had a super hard time categorizing myself.  Early on, I was told I was too category when writing contemporary romance so I gave it up a long time.  Yet my category efforts weren’t category enough.  My fantasy is often too fantasy for romance readers, yet I can’t call a book a romance when major characters die, even if the ending is super happy and positive.  My Jane Austen Space Opera series isn’t really SFR.  But it’s not really steampunk either, unless you widen up the accepted time period and allow nanobot technology instead of steam.

I finally realized yesterday where I get myself into trouble.  It starts at the very beginning, when I’m brainstorming an idea.  Here’s how the last few days have gone.

I want to develop a new paranormal romance series.
I don’t want to do vampires or werewolves because everyone does them.
I don’t want to do demons because I love Larissa Ione’s demons.
I don’t want to do witches or angels either.  Everyone’s done them already.
Hmmm.  Change gears.  What about the underlying mythology?
I don’t want to do Celtic.  Everybody’s done Celtic.
I don’t want to do Norse.  Egyptian.  Same reason.
I picked Maya because a). I love pyramids and b). blood sacrifice and c). not very common when I started the idea.  But I had several comments about the weird/unusual/hard to pronounce/understand names.  The blood stuff was “disturbing.”  Hmm.

Hmm.  So I went to Amazon and started looking through the bestseller lists to look for trends.  What’s popular right now?  What’s selling?  What kinds of titles are people using?

Right away, I noticed there were 15,000+ books listed generically under “Romance->Paranormal.”  Hmmm.  That’s a TON of books.  Then I noticed that there were only a few sub-sections of Paranormal listed, like Demons and Devils.  Not shapeshifters.  Interesting.

So then I went to the publisher’s store where I plan to submit this idea, and examined their tags under paranormal romance.  They were different tags than Amazon, but still very specific.

Now here where’s I’m a blockhead.

My gut reaction:  I can’t do something in those tags.  It won’t be different enough.

*headdesk*

Yes, that’s the horse kicking down the stall and running away for no apparent reason.

I asked myself.  Self?  Do you want to be 1 book in 15,000 paranormal romances?  Or do you want to be 1 book in 700+ Demons and Devils?  Or less than 300 psychics?

Wow.  Yeah.  I’m ashamed it took me so long to figure that out.  I’ve only been writing something like 9 years now…

In my efforts to always be unique and different, I make myself hard to categorize.  I don’t fit within boundaries very well because I DELIBERATELY choose to find something outside of the box.

That’s not a bad thing, if I control it.  I have to stand out in some way, but I need to narrow the field if I can.  It’s only smart.

I want to be smart.

So yes, write what I love.  Find the unique.  But also pick something that is easily categorized.  I don’t have to write vampires.  I don’t have to write werewolves.  But there are other things I do love that will keep the muse interested and excited.

While I’m writing Mama C’s first draft, I’ll be building a paranormal romance trilogy that fits squarely in my sweet spot.  It will have shapeshifters, masks, demons, and Native American mythology and I’m quite excited about what I have so far!

Planning and Goals

Returning from RT13 inspired, I spent the day planning my next projects and administrative tasks.  I’ve got 12 non-writing items on my to-do list.  Gulp.  Things like sending Her Grace’s Stable out for reviews, buying ads, gathering prizes, writing guest blog posts, etc.  It’s insane!

Then I sat down and made a list of all the projects I want and have to do work on.  There are only 8 on the list.  *laughs manically*

I made a list of what I need to do to get moving on Mama C again.  I re-read everything I’ve written so far, made some light edits, and jotted a few notes.  Then I worked on the story until I got 500 words.  It was pretty slow going — it’s been at least a week or two since I last opened the file.  But I did finally get the words I needed and the story was starting to flow better.

My plan was to get as much set up today as possible so I can return to D&E writing tomorrow.  I have a hard time dragging myself up out of bed that early, though, if I’m not already knee-deep in the story. e g. the characters need to be talking in my head without effort and I need to know exactly what comes next.  However, Mama C isn’t fully plotted yet.  I had a neat twist come to me that’s going to require some additional work.  I don’t have the middle-end of her story plotted at all–just a few scenes for the first Act.  That’s it.  I don’t want to write too far and then get stuck…

But I can’t sit around waiting to plot this book either.  I’m wasting too much time.

So what I’m going to try to do is work on my plot at night, at least far enough that I can get up the next morning and write the next scene.  Hopefully I’ll be able to keep ahead of myself.  Usually the ideas spawn other ideas, so as I write, I should get more and more future scenes falling into place.

I’m also going to come up with some kind of schedule to handle all the administrative tasks before my next release.  e.g. I need to write one guest post a week or something or I’ll lose my ever-loving mind again.

In addition, I’m building a new idea that I started developing this past week in KC.  I’m shuffling it a little higher on the list just below Mama C, with the goal of having it built and plotted so that as soon as I finish Mama, I can switch gears and immediately begin to draft the other project.  I need to get better at handling multiple projects in various stages of development at the same time, or I lose months as I try to get a new project moving.

I have a feeling Mama C’s going to run in the 70K range instead of the

That’s the plan and I’m sticking to it.  For now!

RT2013 Summary

I’m home from Romantic Times in Kansas City.  Sorry for the blog silence this past week but I was insanely busy and there wasn’t wireless internet at the hotel.  It was easier to do some tweeting and posting pix on Facebook via my phone.  So stop over on FB if you’d like to see some pictures of the giant book fair or my costumes.

It was a fantastic trip.  I got to meet Laura Kinsale and managed to talk like a reasonable human being until she asked if I had a card.  Then I turned into a blushing stammering idiot (but I did give her my card).  I also met Lauren Dane, Jaci Burton, and Shannon Stacey.  At once!  It was amazing.  I had dinner with my editor, Tera.  We had a blast at the Carina author get-together (AND THEN SOME!!!!), the Here Be Magic breakfast, and the Carina cocktail party.

Ann and I successfully room-mated for the second year in a row.  And we’re even still friends!

I gave away lots of masks, tons of pens, and even managed to sell a few books.  I loved meeting readers and fans and bloggers alike.  I wore my costume several times and even participated in two contests.  I walked at least a mile every single day, most days 2-3 miles.  Food was at times a problem — dinner at 9 or even 10 PM, no lunch, etc.  But I totally fell in love with Panera’s.  What a lifesaver after the crappy $20+ breakfast at the hotel the first day.

I even learned that the Sheraton was actually the old Hyatt where walkways collapsed and over 100 people were killed.  (Now we know why getting to the other side of the hotel was such a pain at times.)

I came home with two tote bags full of books.  Not as many as last year, but still a ton.  I also have a huge tote full of promo swag that I’ll be setting up as giveaways here on the blog.  Yes, I fully intend to share the wealth of goodies!

So stay tuned!

(And yes, as soon as I can swing it, I fully intend to reserve my slot for 2014 in New Orleans!)

Scrambled

I’m in full panic frenzy mode.

Tomorrow’s my last day at the Evil Day Job until May 7th and I’ve got soooo much to do!  We’re in the middle of a large project with a hard deadline, and I’ve got to try and come up with enough stuff for a very efficient programmer to work on while I’m out.  She whizzed through all the stuff I did this week already so I have absolutely NO CUSHION.

Oh, and I’m getting yet another new boss.  My current new boss gave his notice and is moving to a new department within the company.  Third boss in less than 5 months.  My mantra:  Change is a good thing.  Change is a good thing.  Change…

I still have to finish gluing my mask promo items.  We only have about 25 or so done.

I still have to find more clothes to wear during the day, although I’m covered for the nightly events for the most part.  The dress I bought for the award ceremony is gonna be snug.  Thank God for Spanx.  I want to get at least one more pair of black jeans.  Maybe another shirt or two.  I’ll see what I can find this weekend, but I’ve struck out on my favorite brand of jeans once already.

Granny brought by the cute little vest thing to wear beneath my corset.  The only problem I see with it:  it’s extremely short.  I don’t know how comfortable it’ll be if I’m fighting it all the time, but I suppose under the tight corset it probably won’t go anywhere!

I put on the beaded corset yesterday to practice lacing myself into it.  It has back ties, which are really hard to do alone.  Littlest saw me working on it and came in to help me again – by planting her foot on my butt and hauling on the laces.  *can’t breathe!!*  Thank God she’s not coming with me….  Although dang, she managed to suck me in pretty well!  (I could barely move, though, let alone sit down.)

I’m breaking in some new boots to wear during the day.  Yeah, not my brightest idea, but I fell in love with these red Dr. Martens.  In all my internet reading, I found that Dr. Martens are notoriously tough to break in, but these aren’t bad at all.  Of course I am wearing two pairs of socks with them… but I’ve been able to wear them all day without issue.  Will I be able to walk all around KC next week in them without crippling myself?

We shall see!