Cheyenne McCray's Blog, page 3

Newly beautified updated website and #bookgiveaway!

My Cheyenne website has been updated! It looks super cool if you’d like to take a look around. My Jaymie Holland site is also part of my Cheyenne McCray site now and has been updated as well.

Comment at my newly beautified blog and let me know what you think! You’ll go into drawing for one of two signed print copies of ZACK: Armed & Dangerous!

~Cheyenne

Angels of Darkness: CHAINED April 12, 2016

“Lawmen” Box set #30%off sale at Kobo!

For only a few days, Kobo has select books on sale for 30% off, and the “Lawmen” Box Set was chosen for the sale.

Normally $8.99 you can grab the box set here for 30% off!

Use Promo Code: OCT30.

The first three books in the series are included in the box set:

HIDDEN PREY

Tori Cox heads home to a small Arizona town, fleeing an abusive relationship. She arrives in Bisbee and ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time. She witnesses the execution of a Federal agent by the son of El Demonio, head of the Jimenez Cartel. Tori and everyone she loves is in danger as the cartel comes after her before she can testify.

Landon Walker, special agent with the Department of Homeland Security, rescues Tori when he sees her running from members of one of the most ruthless cartels in the world. Soon protecting her isn’t enough. The fire between them makes him want her in ways he’s never wanted another woman, despite his wounded heart.

El Demonio will do everything in his power to kill the woman who threatens his business and family. No one lives to testify against his cartel.

Landon won’t let the cartel get hold of Tori. He’ll go to the ends of the earth and back to protect her—and show her he’s never letting go.

NO MERCY

Twenty years ago, when she was a teenager, Belle ran from everything to escape her abusive stepfather. She left behind the boy she loved and a circle of friends who’d been family to her since childhood.

Now, years later, the death of one of the circle brings her face-to-face with the boy she left. Only now he’s not a boy.

Dylan never got over Belle running away. Their friend’s death brings them back together and it’s not long before Dylan realizes he has a second chance.

Another reason Belle left could ruin any future she might have with Dylan. The secret hangs over her while she falls in love with him all over again.

A dangerous drug cartel starts targeting the circle of friends and Dylan uses all his law enforcement training and contacts to stay one step ahead. He must solve clues Nate left behind before all of them end up dead.

SLOW BURN

A heart-stopping, blood-racing, western romantic suspense. In this standalone short contemporary suspense from the Lawmen series, Trace Davidson is determined to protect Christie Simpson from her ex-husband who has ordered a hit on her from his jail cell. Salvatore Reyes intends to make sure Christie never makes it to the witness stand to testify against him. In the midst of danger, Trace and Christie find love—but first they have to make it out alive.

Enjoy!

~Cheyenne

Angels of Darkness: CHAINED April 12, 2016

Creative process: Ideas for writers when you get “stuck”

The Creative Process: ideas to get you going when you’re stuck

There are so many interesting ways for writers to brainstorm and get our motors revved if we’re stalled or just need some fresh new ideas. Not all, but most of the below I’ve done on different occasions, and have been just the right thing to do for that moment. Others I intend to try for the fun of it

I write an e-mail to my main crit partner. I will go on about all angles of the story that I’m having trouble with–and then I’ll find
that I’ve come up with my answers! So I end up not sending the e-mail in a lot of cases. I’ve already answered my own questions.
Sending that e-mail. Sometimes we definitely need that feedback from our online crit partners or others who might think in the same vein as we do.
Have an in-person brainstorming session with fellow writers. The energy of everyone talking and building on ideas can turn out some fabulous concepts.
Help crit partners brainstorm their books, and it might loosen the ideas in your own mind and get those creative juices going.
I got the best idea to solve a problem for one of my future books from my teenage son. I told him what my weakness my beings needed, and he came up with something brilliant. Normally my family is no help at all, but sometimes they have gems. :-) Anyway, utilize those around you when you’re stuck. They just might have something perfect in response to your question.
Astrology—give your characters birthdates and signs and have a little fun with it. How would your character’s personality as laid out by his or sign cause him or her to react in a certain situation?
Index cards. Take a bunch of index cards and write down an idea on each card, in no particular order. Just keep jotting down anything that sparks in your mind. When you think you’re finished, you can even put them in an order that you don’t have to stick to. That’s actually called storyboarding, and a way some people outline. But it’s truly a method of brainstorming, too.
Write ideas down on sticky notes in the same way as you would with the index cards, but arrange them a large surface, like a dry erase board, poster board, or foam-backed poster board.
Here’s a fun one. Buy magazines that might relate to what it is you’re writing. Like fantasy or Wiccan magazines in my case. Or just general magazines, like People Magazine, etc. Then flip through them and cut out everything you think relates or has some significance in your story. OR find pictures on the internet and do the same thing!
Also, some people make 3-D collages where they take actual things that relate to their books and arrange them in a group, a shadow box, etc. Sometimes just relaxing your mind by doing these things will free up your creativity.
Graph paper and a timeline. This was an interesting one for me that I used for MOVING TARGET. I have a gigantic graph pad. I wrote a long line down the center and started putting ideas on it, as to what I thought should happen where. Or what could And they helped throw out ideas to put on my timeline.
Take a nap! This often works for me and is how I get some fabulous ideas. If I’m stuck, I’ll lie down, and in between that place of sleep and wakefulness, my mind relaxes and great ideas will come to me.
Watching movies or reading books might spark ideas or a twist in your story you haven’t thought of.
Tarot often gives authors creative ideas .
Rifle through unfinished pieces to see if a character or plot line jumps out at you as ready.
Write down the weirdest, most embarrassing moment of your life and imagine how a different person would have reacted to it.
People watching. Go to the mall, a park, or other public places and watch people–how they interact with one another, if they’re hurried as if single-mindedly focused, or move slowly and pause to window shop. Imagine what kind of character they would make in a novel.
Write letters to your characters. This is one I’ve heard a lot of writers say they’ve used. I haven’t, yet. But with the book I’m writing now, I just might!
A suggestion from an author is to try Magnetic Poetry. Grab a handful and see what comes out. Sometimes just seeing a unique combination of words will spark an idea.
Write down the last 10 books you read that you adored and analyze what you adored by them, and even what you might have done differently despite the fact you loved them. Also write a list of books that you hated and what you would have done differently.
Some authors write scenes from another character’s perspective. When you get stuck, it might be because you’re not sure how a certain character is going to react. So in going back and revisiting an old scene, from their perspective, you could get a better peek into their head.
Sims: my crit partner Anna Windsor uses these for her fantasies. She builds worlds from her imagination and it sparks ideas that get her ideas flowing.
Handwrite a scene. It works!
And even for those of you who resist it, write a bullet-point outline of a scene. Brief and just writing things you’d like to see in a scene.

For those of you writers, I hope these give you some ideas. Have some fun with it!

~Cheyenne

Angels of Darkness: CHAINED January 19, 2016

Back to the Future 2015

The future is finally here! The real day. Not the photoshopped version of the original dates pictured inside the DeLorean in the movie.

Or is it?

CNN says it’s so, which means it’s gotta be! CNN Entertainment 



I can remember the day I was dragged to the theater in the Foothills of Tucson, AZ with a couple of (dumb as rocks) guys. The movie title didn’t intrigue me, and I had no idea what it was about. Back to the Future?

And then the movie turned out to be one of the best things ever. The guys got something right.

Hey, it had Michael J. Fox in it, and he was such a hottie. Christopher Lloyd was a riot, the characters fun, and Huey Lewis and the News sang The Power of Love.

How could it get any better?

The storyline was imaginative, unpredictable, and it was pure entertainment.

Clearly I’m no film critic, but I’m a fan, a huge fan, of the trilogy. I’ll even give a thumbs up for ZZ Top in the wild west version, which was not my favorite of the three movies, but had its moments. My first love will always be Marty McFly in the first movie, the inside jokes, and the things the movie poked fun at.

Oh, and don’t forget the dress code of 2015. You have some shopping to do.

I also think I’ll turn on the Apple TV, head back in time and, and watch the movie all over again.

BTW, the DeLorean is still the coolest car ever, 30 years after the movie premiered.

Happy Back to the Future Day!

~Cheyenne

4 Succubus in Hell’s Version of the Witness Relocation Program – The Sisters of Darkness

First in a sexy new series featuring four succubus sisters fighting demons and desires.

Jezebeth is living out the centuries as any succubus must-seducing men to survive and corrupting souls to make her quota with her queen, Lilith. But, when she’s attacked by a bounty hunter demon, it’s a handsome human who saves her.

Noah Halston is a horror writer who owes his life to Lilith. Now he must pay up by eluding the fearsome beasts of hell while escorting a very attractive and tempting succubus safely to Lilith’s lair-or else he will forfeit his soul to an eternity of torture.

Trouble is, if he spends too much time with the all too tempting Jezebeth, he may just lose his heart-or, even worse, his life.

If you enjoy a little walk on the sexy side in the fight between good and evil, then come and meet The Sisters of Darkness.  Along with Archangels, demons, Djinn and a host of other supernatural beasties!

Seducing the Succubus is book 1.  The Demon & The Succubus is Book 2!

Cassie Ryan aka Tina Gerow

Cassie Ryan aka Tina Gerow

 

~*~

Join me every day for our daily theme:

Mondays On Location
Tuesday Teasers
Wednesday “What the %$!! is next?”
Thursday Reader/Writer Fun
Friday Freebies
Saturday is Sexy
Sunday Guest Stars

Sexy Saturday: the Supernatural Hot Guy

Sexy Saturday: the Supernatural Hot Guy

This week, let’s focus on the next type of sexy man we are going to feature: the supernatural hot guy. He can be anyone from a superhero to a spaceship captain, but each has one thing in common: he can turn you on like no other.

Since most supernatural heroes are larger than life (we hope!), it’s easy to spot the type of guy you are interested in. Check out the following supernatural hotties, and pick one (or more!) you like the most.

The Hero type:  The hero has self confidence that at times can border on sexy cockiness. He generally possess a huge….set of muscles, and is focused on keeping you safe. The hero isn’t even close to meek, and will have no trouble telling (or showing) how much he wants you.

 

The Haunted Hero: The cocky hero often becomes the haunted hero when he suffers a loss of a lover or good friend. He blames himself for this loss, but the right woman can nurse a haunted hero’s emotional health—so break out

your best nursing outfit. (Kinky!)

The Regular Guy: The regular guy doesn’t have any superpowers aside from being amazingly hot. He might have a great skill or two, but he’s basically just a normal guy doing his best to make the world a better place. The regular guy is the best of both worlds because he has sexy self-confidence, but underneath it all he has human emotions and depth. He often hides this through sarcasm, though, so be

prepared to engage in some banter.

 The Villain: There’s always the girl who likes the bad boys, and not just because villains in the supernatural universe tend to wear a lot of tight black leather (although that certainly helps!). The sexiest of these guys usually has a beef with the main protagonist and is seeking revenge. The villain has the most self-confidence and is convinced his cause is righteous (not to mention his plan can never be foiled). The girl

who likes the villain is into excitement and living in the moment. Women hooking up with the villain shouldn’t stay too long though, since he’s usually caught

So what’s your favorite kind of supernatural hot guy?

~Cheyenne

Angels of Darkness: CHAINED January 12, 2016

Freebie Friday! #freebooks #bookgiveaway

It’s time for Freebie Friday! #freebooks #bookgiveaway

I missed last week, so I’m going to double up this week! I’ll be giving away 2 copies of ZACK: Armed and Dangerous, in the St. Martin’s Griffin print version.

For fun, this time to enter, answer the following question:

What do you love about cowboys?

I’ll do another random drawing and you’ll have an opportunity to win a signed print copy of ZACK!

Armed and Dangerous! ZACK, LUKE, CLAY, and KADE are available now. ALEX will be here 11/3!

Armed and Dangerous on Amazon

Hope you all have had a fantastic week and that your weekend is going to be even better!

~Cheyenne

Angels of Darkness: CHAINED January 19, 2016

Getting ready for and conquering #NaNoWriMo

Getting ready for and conquering #NaNoWriMo 

National Novel Writing Month. It’s coming around the corner, and it’s actually a thing, and they have their own website. It’s a pretty neat website and if you’re interested in writing a book in 30 days, I’d recommend checking it out and participating.

NaNoWriMo

Just to be clear, I’m not affiliated with NaNoWriMo in any way. I do think it’s cool, as long as a writer doesn’t think that’s all there is to writing a book.

A lot of different advice is out there on how to write a book in thirty days. I have written more than one book in a 30-day timeframe and that has been since my early writing days, before I heard of NaNoWriMo.

In my case, I spent an entire year writing my first book in 2000, and I’m glad I did. I wrote and rewrote and rewrote and rewrote that novel as I learned, studied, and honed the craft. I intentionally spent that year developing skills that aided me in having the ability to write as quickly as I have over the years since then. I write fast and clean, and I still revise.

Fast forward 15 years and I have written almost 100 novels and novellas. My current work in progress is my 98th. I have 62 full-length novels in print and 45 novellas of all sizes in anthologies, collections, box sets, and more. I am a hybrid author and have written for St. Martin’s Press, Ellora’s Cave, and have been in anthologies with HarperCollins and other publishers. I chose to go Indie 4 years ago–best decision of my career.

One of my bestselling novels with my first publisher, a book that won a “RT Book Reviews Reviewer’s Choice Award,” along with other honors, was written in 30 days–not counting revisions. That book was published as King of Hearts with Ellora’s Cave and as Taken by Passion with St. Martin’s Griffin. To be honest it needed another revision, which I gave it when the rights were reverted back to me and I republished it in early 2015. It’s a stronger book now, and even though it won the honors it did, I wish I would have given it that last revision. Maybe I just needed 12 years to think about it. ;)

It’s not easy to write a book in 30 days and you have to know that it’s not going to be your finished product. It’s a draft. Few mega-hit bestsellers were written in 30 days. I personally don’t know any, but there are a couple that make you wonder if they were written in 30 days with no revisions. ;)

Let’s get started. My post is not so much about NaNoWriMo as it is about writing  a solid draft in 30 days.

This example applies to any book, any goal, any timeframe, any month of the year. Break down your manuscript into smaller pieces to make everything more palatable:

What length do you want your novel to be? Example: 60,000 words (NaNoWriMo uses 50K as a goal)
What is your timeframe? Don’t say “November.” Consider days you may need to take away from writing. Let’s take Nov 1st to Nov. 30th = 30 days, less those you may be taking off, such as Thanksgiving. For good measure, throw in a couple of other days for the unexpected where you might be forced to be away from the computer. Life happens.
Break your word count down per day. Let’s say you have 27 days of the 30 to write.  Words per day to obtain your goal  of 60,000 words divided by 27 days =2222 words per day

Easy-peasy right? Here are a few of my recommendations to help you reach your 30-day goal.

–It goes without saying, but I’m going to say it anyway: you MUST exercise discipline. Sit your butt in that chair and WRITE. Writing is a discipline. People don’t become novelists if they don’t sit in their writing space and start putting down words. Hopefully in a logical manner that makes for a good book. ;)

From what I understand, NaNoWriMo is about pantsing it–writing by the seat of your pants. I used to be a pantser. Or at least I thought I was. Years into “pantsing” and I realized that all of the storyboarding; post-it note organizing; collage designing; bullet-point brainstorming–all of it was an attempt to organize and outline my thoughts in some manner. So what do I do now? I do brief outlines. Bullet point outlines.

Plan:

I suggest that before you start, you write at the very least a brief outline of what you want to accomplish when you start writing that book. For you pantsers, it isn’t going to physically hurt to write down some ideas in a specific order. (Like I said, I was a pantser for years. I get it.) Easy one-liners written in a simplistic manner as a guide never hurt anyone.

Think of it as someone giving you directions because Siri or your GPS isn’t cooperating. (Like that never happens, right? Ha.) You call your friend who tells you “take your first left, the second right, keep going until you pass a park on the right, before you take another left, and my house is the third on the left.” There you are. SIMPLE. An itty bitty map.

Know what your beginning, middle, and end will be. Have a pretty good idea one way or another. What are a few scenes that you know need to happen to reach “The All-Important-End?” You don’t want to be staring at the screen when you need to be typing words in that once blank doc.

Start writing:

DO NOT go over and over a scene, trying to make it perfect. This is not the time, and nothing you write will EVER be PERFECT. It is not possible to be perfect. If you are, you belong on a cloud on the other side of pearly gates wearing a golden halo. That or walking on water, take your pick.

The time for editing will be when you reach THE END! Make notes along the way. If you use the notes feature in Word, leave yourself bubbles with comments of what you need to go back and work on. And if you realize about 2/3 of the way through that you need to have something foreshadowed, like the smoking gun, leave yourself a note to fill it in later.

Sometimes I will have 50 to 100 notes to myself on things I need to go back and work in or check to make sure I didn’t forget to put it in. That’s something you can do during the revision process in December after you’ve reached “the end” of the damn book.

Notice I never say FINISH the book. You’re going to write it, speedy rough draft, and then you are going to fix it over the next few weeks.

One more time. JUST WRITE. Don’t correct. WRITE. This is not to see how fast you can write a book, it’s to teach you not to edit yourself over and over and over again. You’ll never get through a book at that rate. Nothing, nothing, is ever perfect.

Did I make that perfectly clear? ;)

Let’s say you’ve jotted down some directions that equal your idea of a brief outline. Once November 1st hits, you’re ready to write those 2222 daily words. You’ve been excited about this for weeks and it’s finally here! Your fingers fly across the keyboard and you’re on a total high. Before you know it, 2223 words are written. Woohoo!

However, when you get to those 2222 words for the day (Or whatever your daily goal is!), KEEP GOING. It’s possible the next day you may have something urgent come up with the kids, a pet, your significant other, and you’ll be glad you padded your word count for each day you write. Things are bound to come up no matter how well you plan. LIFE HAPPENS.

A good idea is to keep a notebook with you just in case life happens. If you have to take the dog to the vet because she can’t poop (true story) and you’re waiting for the vet to X-Ray and then flush out poor dog ($300 later–poor wallet) you can write a scene in your notebook.

Odds are you’re going to be sitting in a waiting room for a while. You can use that time toward making your goal. Sometimes you can get the BEST ideas when you physically put pen to paper. Then go home and type the scene into your doc.

The end of November is approaching. You’ve planned well. You’ve been ready for anything that might pop up and try to get in the way. And you type:

THE END

Congratulations! Now take a day off or five and treat yourself to a pedicure, a nice dinner out, or some other treat.

Then get your ass back to work. It’s time to rewrite that mess you made in November.

Good luck!

~Cheyenne

Wednesday: What the %$!! happened? Happy Birthday to my Baby Boy

Happy Birthday to my Baby Boy

My over 6′ 20-year-old baby, Matthew. I’m not old enough to have a 20-year-old! Oh, wait. I’m 50 and I have a son who will be 28 next month. I guess I am old enough. ;-)

This is my favorite pic. My grandson, Evan, is with his favorite uncle. Evan is pretending to be one of the puppies, and everyone looks thrilled but Matthew and Checkers.

Matthew has always loved bright colors and has worn all kinds of tie-dye shirts since he was somewhere around six. His dad and brothers wanted him to wear solid colors or black, and I said hey, let him be an individual. He likes bright colors, so as long as he wants to, he can wear whatever he wants.

The one he’s wearing in the pic is one of his subdued shirts. LOL. I didn’t know they made so many different types and colors of tie-dye shirts until I started searching for them to give him something fun to wear. There’s even a site, MadebyHippies.com, where you can find some pretty cool shirts.

MadebyHippies.com

But no, he’s not a hippie. LOL.

He’s got a wicked sense of humor. His senior year, during Spirit Week, they had a tie-dye day and everyone wanted to know what he would wear.

He wore solid black.

Yes, that’s my son. LOL.

Happy Birthday, Matthew. If I could make a decent cake, I’d make you one of these. :)

I love you!

~Mom

Teaser Tuesday! An excerpt from Point Blank

An excerpt from Point Blank of the Lawmen series

Brooks took the butterfly and set it on the round coffee table before he reached behind Natasha’s head. His touch was simply erotic as he pulled her loose braid completely apart. He slipped his fingers into her hair and cupped the back of her head.

He didn’t seem inclined to break the kiss. Instead, he deepened it until her mind was flying and her thoughts and hormones threatening to spin out of control. But it was clear he was fully in control and he was going to hold her together despite the circumstances.

Circumstances that right now started to slip away to the back of her consciousness.

His stubble was harsh, abrading her skin until it felt raw. Somehow every brush, every touch, made her come alive in ways she hadn’t felt in a long time. If she was honest with herself, he made her feel in ways she’d never felt before.

He slid his hand from her hair, trailing his fingers along the side of her neck to her throat. He skimmed her breast, the light touch through her flannel shirt sending tingles through her. She caught her breath when he cupped her breast. Even through the light flannel she could feel it as if the shirt wasn’t there, and more tingles shot straight through her.

His lips were firm yet soft. He broke the kiss and nibbled and kissed his way to her breast. She held her breath as he undid the top three buttons of her shirt. He pushed it aside, exposing her pink lace bra.

She cried out and slid her fingers into his hair when he wet the lace with his tongue. She arched her back and held his head to her breast.

Her body was on fire, her hips squirming. He slid her onto his lap, and she saw him wince and remembered his injured thigh. Still, he shifted her so he could suck her the pink lace of her bra. A moan rose inside her and escaped in a loud sound that spoke of how much she wanted him.

“I need you, Brooks.” Her voice was shaky. “Now. Please.”

He scooped her up, one arm beneath her knees, and one around her waist. He rose to his feet, easily bringing her up with him. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he started back toward the room they’d come from.

“Your room through here?” He carried her in that direction even as he spoke.

She kissed the line of his jaw as he entered the room. “First door on the left.”

He turned and swept her through the open door of her bedroom and carried her to the queen-sized bed. He set her on her feet beside the bed and he glanced to the window, which was covered by closed dark blue curtains. He turned his attention back to her and kissed her before raising his head.

“Are you sure, baby?” He ran his hands up and down her arms. “You regretted it the last time. No regrets allowed this time.”

“I didn’t regret our night.” She swallowed. “I was terrified that Mark would find out or already knew. I think if it wasn’t for the circumstances, things would have been a lot different.”

“In what way?” Brooks held her to him, their bodies pressed together. It was clear he was aroused, but he wasn’t acting on it in this moment.

She searched his gaze. “I think we would have eventually ended up in bed together, but in a much better situation.”

He smiled gently. “I think you’re right.”

She rose onto the toes of her Keds and kissed him again. He unbuttoned her shirt the rest of the way as they kissed and pushed it over her shoulders. She let it slide down her arms and fall behind her. She toed off her shoes and kicked them aside. He reached around her and unfastened her bra, and she helped him pull the pink lace down her arms and it dropped to the floor.

Point Blank

Amazon Kindle
BN Nook
Kobo
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All Romance eBooks

Don’t miss the Lawmen Box Set along with Point Blank!

Kindle
Nook
Kobo
iBooks
All Romance eBooks

~Cheyenne

Angels of Darkness: CHAINED January 19, 2016