Nancy Gideon's Blog, page 20

IWSG: The Best Surprises are Unexpected!

It’s May, a time of flowers blooming, getting a year older (for me), and writing another Insecure Writers Support Group post. This month’s question is a pleasure to answer in recognition of some wonderful people.

Our IWSG May 5th question is “Have any of your readers ever responded to your writing a way that you didn’t expect? If so, did it surprise you?”

My writing career has been full of reader surprises that began with fan letters. Does anyone get those stamped envelopes anymore? Something about those handwritten notes of excitement and praise kept a mom of two young boys at the word processor from the time they napped, which eventually became the time they went to school, until the dog told me that lunch had long since passed. That these people I didn’t know took the time to write a letter or send a card blew me away (and I still have my favorites tucked away with my other valuables). This was before Facebook and Twitter and online writers forums . . . or actually, online anything! Just strangers writing to a stranger because they were somehow touched by a turn of a phrase. Just . . . wow!

When I released the first trio of books in my “By Moonlight” shapeshifter series ten years ago, another huge surprise – a fan made me a book trailer (this was waaaay back before they became a thing or had all the cool graphic programs we have now) and set it to music. Come to find out, she was working as an assistant for bigtime bestseller Darynda Jones, who happened to be a fan of my vampire romance series. I’ve enjoyed meeting Darynda several times since then at book events. Small world! Here’s the trailer:

My most cherished reader fan turned writer friend is Sandra Hoover . . . a former IWSG pal! She unashamedly called Max, my hero, her book boyfriend and formed an entire Goodreads Group to share her enthusiasm for him and my shapeshifter books! My “Nancy Gideon By Moonlight” group now boasts close to 500 members who read, support, and help me promote my new releases through a monthly newsletter and a variety of fun and informational forum discussions as well as some great book chat topics. And the wonderful Sandra just surprised me with this gift any bedtime reader would adore – a gorgeous book sleeve with a quote from my “By Moonlight” hero.

And by far my greatest surprises came from two different groups of Michigan writers, one in Mid-Michigan and one in Greater Detroit. When the Detroit chapter invited me as a guest speaker, I was able to sign copies of my latest Dana Ransom historical. One of the attendees surged up to get her copy signed – because her name was Dana. That enthusiastic fan became multi-published author Dana Corbit Nussio. Later, a group of Mid-Michigan writers who carpooled to meetings in other cities when I first joined that RWA group invited me to ride with them. Those brainstorming drives were the highlight of my month because I never talked about my writing, let alone allowed anyone to read my WIPs. When I found out they also meet for critiquing, I self-consciously asked if I could join them. To my surprise, they’d been too afraid to ask me! Hey, even published authors need support, right? The six of us, Detroit Dana and my other five Mid-Michigan pals have now been meeting for critiques for over twenty years!

The best surprises come when you least expect them and, if you’re lucky, make a lasting mark on your work and your life.

Now, I need to uncover your surprises!

The Insecure Writer’s Support Group
Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer - aim for a dozen new people each time.The awesome co-hosts for the May 5th posting of the IWSG will be Erika Beebe, PJ Colando, Tonja Drecker, Sadira Stone, and Cathrina Constantine!
Let’s rock the neurotic writing world!
Twitter hashtag is #IWSG

WeWriWa: Heaven and Hell . . . TEXAS DESTINY

April showers have brought fragrant May flowers and I’m loving the scent of apple blossoms on my desk, freshly clipped from the tree out back. Breathe in and Ahhhhh! I’ve been doing lots of spring cleaning, reading through my Texas-set historical series, first pubbed back in the ‘90s, in anticipation of finishing the final book I started years ago and never completed.

Today’s WeWriWa clip is from Book 2, TEXAS DESTINY. My honorable Texas Ranger hero, Jack Bass, leads the daring rescue of a female captive living amongst the Apache. Emily Marcus is everything he’s ever desired . . . everything but free to share his future. Here’s a tease.

It was heaven and hell.

The woman in his arms was everything Jack desired – strong, brave, sweet-spirited, and beautiful. Her touch made everything inside him all hot and fluid, like the spring waters at Boquillas. She was the kind of woman a man looked for all his life, and if he was lucky enough to find her, he was smart enough to never let her go. Most of his fellow rangers were happy with the solitary life, content to roll themselves in a blanket under the stars, eat their meals out of a tin, and wash when they started scaring away game. They had no dreams beyond the moment, and most didn’t care if the future lasted fifty years or fifty minutes, but Jack wasn’t like them. He’d come from a solid family background, had seen the love between his mother and Will, between his uncle and Amanda, had held his baby brothers and sister in his arms and had known right then that he wanted children of his own. He wanted the vision Harmon had given him years ago, of looking out over land of his own, a wife and kids beside him, a table to sit at, and the satisfaction of belonging. Heaven was finding the woman to make that dream come true.

Hell was having her belong to someone else.

Now that I have the rights back to the series, I plan to self-pub them AND tie the Bass family into my just finished contemporary romantic suspense through one of the Texas Rangers assisting my hero. What a fun way to expand both those Texas-based series. I love it when a plan comes together. Especially when most of the research is already done!
May is also my birthday month, and I got one heck of a fabulous surprise from the organizer of my Nancy Gideon “By Moonlight” Goodreads Group. If you’re like me, you do a lot of your reading in bed before lights out. Now, my Read-in-Progress can await me in style in this AWESOME bedside book sleeve. See! Perfect, right?! Sandra, you are da bomb!

I’m off to visit your posts and then, weather willing, out to do some grilling. We’re celebrating my household being fully vaccinated!

Happy May, fellow Warriors!!

Weekend Writing Warriors is a weekly hop for everyone who loves to write! Share an 8 to 10 sentence snippet of your writing on Sunday. Visit other participants on the list and read, critique, and comment on their #8sunday posts.
Spread the word, share the love, warriors - Hashtag #8sunday.

WeWriWa: Back in the Saddle . . . Temptation’s Trail

While waiting for the results of BETA reads for my Texas-set romantic suspense, I started thinking about what to do next. I’d been looking ahead at ways to begin a “Cowboys and Lawmen” series set in Texas and came up with a half-dozen contemporary plotline options. Then I started waxing sentimental. Instead of looking ahead, maybe I should also be looking back to where my love of Texas westerns began . . . back to the book that started it all.

Back in the ’90s, I’d never attempted a series, but when I created Harmon Bass, a legendary tracker who answers a naïve young Eastern heiress’s call for help in the lawless Bend of Texas, I couldn’t walk away. She’d thought she’d hired the strapping, elegant hero depicted in her favorite dime novels. Imagine her surprise when confronted with a short, soft-spoken half-breed who went hatless and without a sidearm.

“There’s been some mistake,” she murmured faintly.

As she started to rise, his hand closed around her wrist. It wasn’t a painful or aggressive grasp, just a firm, controlling circle of rough, dry fingers. She stiffened all over as he spoke softly with a steel-threaded quiet.

“I’ve just ridden a hundred miles for the promise of pay. I’m thirsty, I’m hungry, I’m tired and right now I’m getting more than a little annoyed, so you just sit yourself back down.”

Amanda dropped into the chair without so much as a whimper to asked, “Who are you?”

“I’m the man you sent for.”

“How did you get that letter I posted in care of the Texas Rangers?”

“They sent it to me.” One corner of his mouth crooked up wryly as he tapped a dirty forefinger on the cover of her dime novel. “You wanted the heroic Harmon Bass bad enough to offer up a thousand dollars, and here I am to collect.”

(and the rest of the scene . . .)
She studied him candidly for a moment as the violent shock wore offer, returning her usual brash spirit. “Please don’t take this the wrong way, but I don’t plan to offer up that money to just anyone and I don’t believe for a second that you’re Mr. Bass.”

His amusement had affected the rest of his mouth by then, shaping it into a small smile. “And why’s that, Miss Duncan?”

“If you can read, you’d know perfectly well that you are nothing like Harmon Bass.” She sized up his insignificant appearance with a clear eye and a cool word. “Why, you’re too young, not much more than twenty years old, you don’t carry a gun, you don’t dress like any gentleman I’ve ever seen, you let yourself be pushed around by a stranger, and you’re—you’re shor—you’re not tall.”

No, ma’am,” he claimed calmly in the face of her fierce blush, “tall, I’m not, but I can read, and I can tell the difference betwixt fact and fiction. Whether you like it or not, I’m the man you want. If you were counting on some steely-eyed, quick-fingered fool like the one in that there book and like our dear departed neighbor, then no, I’m not what you want. I’m no gun-handy hero, but in your letter, you said you needed a tracker, and ma’am, I’m the best there is.” He paused and said, softer still, “And I need the money.”

While re-reading the original five-books to which I’ve gotten the rights back, I’m researching ways to get them scanned into an editable format since I no longer have the original drafts, and doing one of my other favorite things—playing with cover concepts. I’m also digging up that Book 6 I’d started long, long ago when I had plotlines to bring the historical family up to present day. Suddenly, I have a ton of long-anticipated work to do that will more than fill the rest of 2021! Happy Trails, and Happy Writing, fellow Warriors!!

Weekend Writing Warriors is a weekly hop for everyone who loves to write! Share an 8 to 10 sentence snippet of your writing on Sunday. Visit other participants on the list and read, critique, and comment on their #8sunday posts.
Spread the word, share the love, warriors - Hashtag #8sunday.

WeWriWa: Take a Bite Out of Life . . . MIDNIGHT KISS $0.99!

Sometimes, what sustains also drains . . . as my naïve heroine discovers when she falls for her father’s mysterious patient who is undergoing secret treatments to cure his “condition.” Word of advice to heroine: Undergoing secret treatments for a “condition” is not something you look for on a dating app! She should have read this week’s excerpt. Here’s a taste . . .

“Where is your father?” Half whisper, half growl, his voice startled her as he demanded, “Get him here, now!”

“What is it? Is there something I—”

“Come no closer.”

Arabella gasped at the sight of him—so pale, in the dimness his flesh seemed almost translucent, lean features drawn into taut relief of highlight and hollow, as if ravaged by a wasting sickness. Wet hair clung sleekly to the contour of his skull from which his eyes burned, just a trick of the light, surely, for in that moment, she could have sworn they blazed like coals beneath the dark slash of his brows. Then he turned his head away, denying her the sight of his misery.

“Leave me, please. I will be fine if you leave me.”

He wouldn’t be fine. She could tell by watching his agitation that something was so dread­fully wrong, he’d come to her father for help . . . but Stuart Howland was not at home.

(And the rest of the scene . . .)

“Please,” she cried out softly, “please tell me what I can do for you.”

For a moment there was silence, then the slow, hissing draw of his breath as he came about to face her. They were quite close, so he had no diffi­culty reaching out to catch her by the upper arms, long fingers biting into tender flesh with hurtful pressure. What kind of illness left such strength in a man’s hands, she wondered somewhat frantically? But she couldn’t move, couldn’t complain, for he was staring down into her eyes and suddenly nothing else existed beyond the pull of his unblinking gaze. An odd lethargy spread through her as she heard him speak, his tone quiet and somehow soothing, seeming to melt her very bones.

“What can you do for me?” he repeated, as if con­sidering the question. His arms bent to compel her forward, until she could feel the force of his rapid breath against her upturned face. There was no warmth to it. Nor was there any sign of weakness or distress in him.

Power . . . she sensed power. It en­gulfed her, swallowing her whole.

“Arabella.”

MIDNIGHT KISS, the first book in my “Touched by Midnight” vampire romance series, has taken on a surprising life of its own over the past decades. First released in 1994 as the first of three (ultimately nine) books that move through the same vampiric family from the Regency era to modern times, it was raised again through Belle Books in 2015 and shows no sign of going gently or quietly into that goodnight. If you like a darkly delicious romance, a bite of the paranormal and a taste of history, sink your teeth into MIDNIGHT KISS for only $0.99 through April 15th! You may find yourself hungry for more . . .

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I’m happy to be back with my friends at WeWriWa after a week of wonderful relaxation with a critique partner pal doing final edits on my Texas-set romantic suspense, AN UNTARNISHED HERO. It’s off for BETA reads so I’m somewhat at a loss of what to do next. The search for an agent is foremost on my agenda. Any suggestions . . . ? Looking forward to seeing what’s been playing on your keyboards in this beautiful month of April!

Weekend Writing Warriors is a weekly hop for everyone who loves to write! Share an 8 to 10 sentence snippet of your writing on Sunday. Visit other participants on the list and read, critique, and comment on their #8sunday posts.
Spread the word, share the love, warriors - Hashtag #8sunday.

IWSG: A Risk Worth Taking . . . and a $0.99 SALE!

Our Insecure Writers Support Group question for April is: “Are you a risk-taker when writing? Do you try something radically different in style/POV/etc. or add controversial topics to your work?”

Though basically a corner-seeking wall flower, I’ve been around too long as a writer to have not taken my share of writing risks. Safe sells but novelty catches the eye of new readers who’d have never looked my way otherwise. Here are just a few of the blind leaps of faith I’ve taking in the past thirty years:

My Lauren Giddings’ SWEET TEMPEST (also my first published book) was a sizzling Regency-set historical when proper lords and ladies still slept behind closed doors.The one-of-a-kind two-sided playing card my printer ex-husband created from my design for one of my early Dana Ransom historicals was credited with helping kick off the brand new (in the ’80s!) bookmark craze and won me my first industry award!I forced myself out of my comfort zone to approach the head of my publishing company to ask if there was anything in development that I might submit to and ended up writing out of my traditional genre as one of the launch authors for Zebra/Kensington’s “Lucky In Love” contemporary line.The three books that started my “Touched by Midnight” series were pitched to my editor within an hour of the word vampire being whispered at a writers conference (too soon it seems, as bookstores didn’t know where to shelf them and I often ended up nudged in with horror).My 15-book “By Moonlight” series broke all the rules by continuing with the same hero and heroine beyond more than one book. I don’t know how many times I heard “You can’t do that!” Though regularly practiced in Urban Fantasy, it was unheard of in romance at the time. Now, I’m glad I was deaf in that ear. That series broke many of the rules I’d “grown up” with in publishing including having a say in cover creation and writing my own back cover content, guest blogging on the launch of Simon & Schuster’s interactive publisher site (one of the first, if not the first!), filming a promo for my series while at a conference in New York, and creating one of the early author-made book trailers on a shoestring budget. All cutting edge back then. I’m surprised by how far writers have come since with all the advances in technology. Hats off to the risk-takers, the rule breakers, the line crossers, the unicorns in the pony corrals who bravely ride the swell of that new wave that now carries so many of our careers! I’m proud to say this dog-paddler was one of them.

Here’s one of those early risks that’s still playing well on the tables . . . MIDNIGHT KISS, the Regency-set Book 1 in my “Touched by Midnight” vampire romance series (in its third incarnation!) is on sale April 1-15 for only $0.99!! Talk about an unexpected life expectancy!

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The Insecure Writer’s Support Group
Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer - aim for a dozen new people each time.The awesome co-hosts for the April 7th posting of the IWSG will be PK Hrezo, Pat Garcia, SE White, Lisa Buie Collard, and Diane Burton!
Let’s rock the neurotic writing world!
Twitter hashtag is #IWSG

#WeWriWa: The Bed She’d Made . . . An Untarnished Hero

Taking a stand to make a point comes with its own risks. You have to be willing to do whatever it takes to defend it if that point is challenged. But what if it’s simply . . . ignored? Which would bring the greatest regret for the heroine in my romantic suspense WIP?

He’d told her with soul baring honesty right from the first that what he saw when he looked at her was everything he’d ever need.

Was that still true?

It was for her. No denying it, no escaping it, no avoiding it. Jimmy Redbone was her past, present, and future . . . and tonight she’d remind him in case he’d forgotten.

Hearing the front door creak open and close below, Willa pressed palms to her belly to stop its quivering. Tonight was only about tonight, a time to reconnect and reawaken all the things that worked so well between them. Tomorrow, they’d sit down for that long overdue conversation to make a path for the future . . . together.

With a deep inhale and shaky gust out, she climbed under the covers and waited.

And waited.

No sounds from below. No bootsteps on the stairs. Nothing.

The house settled into a sigh of silence while she lay on her back, wide-eyed and awake.

Alone in the bed she’d made for herself.

Pride is a funny thing. It clouds what’s really important, what’s ultimately at stake if push comes to shove. My frustrated heroine is spoiling for a fight to confront all the wrongs and fears she’s endured for six long, lonely months. No confrontation means no answers, just a lonely bed and another lonely night with temptation just a floor away. But a reckoning is coming whether she’s ready for it or not.

I’m MORE than ready. I’m just finishing up my last read through before AUH is off to my critique group for BETA reads. While I’m waiting, biting my nails, I’ll be research avenues of publication (EWWW!). I’ve got a long, enjoyable week, staying with one of my critique partners (both of us are fully vaccinated!), to get things figured out and to start deciding on a next project. And maybe an agent/editor . . .

Hope things are brightening up for all of you on these longer, warmer days. I, for one, can’t wait to start basking on the patio.

Weekend Writing Warriors is a weekly hop for everyone who loves to write! Share an 8 to 10 sentence snippet of your writing on Sunday. Visit other participants on the list and read, critique, and comment on their #8sunday posts.
Spread the word, share the love, warriors - Hashtag #8sunday.

#WeWriWa: What Did She Want? W-I-P

Just finished the edit of my contemporary suspense, AN UNTARNISHED HERO and am getting ready for the hard swallow that precedes sending it to BETA readers. While I’m waiting, I need to research markets and whether I want to go the agent route or self-pub. Decisions, decisions. But mine aren’t nearly as critical as those my heroine has to make when her long absent husband returns home without any explanations.

Well, Willa asked herself as she stalked about the bedroom, wrestling blood-stained sheets off their big bed, wasn’t this what she’d wanted? He was here, within arms’ reach, so tempting her sports bra could barely restrain a lunging heart. Injured pride was a small price to pay for the soothing stroke of his voice and low music of his laughter. Dignity too high a fence to put around a body needing the security of his embrace wrapped tight around her.

Linens clutched to her heaving chest, wadded up as tight as her emotions, she paused to slow those jerking breaths.

What was she going to do about Jimmy Redbone, errant husband, and man of her every good or bad dream?

Willa forced an achy inhale, releasing it in a fragile shiver.

What did she want from him, from their relationship moving forward, not looking back? If pride had its way, she’d march down the narrow hall, throw clean linens on one of the extra beds, and toss his sparse clothing into distant dresser drawers. That might soothe the hurt prickling beneath her indignation, but it wouldn’t ease the empty pain of nights alone.

I’ve had such fun taking my sparring yet made for each other couple from tense reconnection to that ultimately satisfying HEA. Now comes the hard part – the business end of writing. It’s like going from music to math . . . Thank goodness it’s a drinking holiday week (not that I indulge in anything stronger than caffeine!). We’ll need it after losing that hour of sleep here in Michigan.

Ahhhh, St. Patrick’s Day! A bittersweet reminder of that longed for vacation to the Emerald Isle, now rescheduled for the fourth COVID extension to three weeks in September. Sigh. This time, I’ll go even if I have to walk . . . well, maybe not ALL the way there. I’ve been teasing myself with packing lists and new travel accessories now that I’m twice vaccinated as well as passported. Those five months will just FLY by . . . but not without me, this time! What dream destinations have you been pining for?

Off to visit your pages!

Go Green, fellow Warriors and Happy Writing!!

Weekend Writing Warriors is a weekly hop for everyone who loves to write! Share an 8 to 10 sentence snippet of your writing on Sunday. Visit other participants on the list and read, critique, and comment on their #8sunday posts.
Spread the word, share the love, warriors - Hashtag #8sunday.

#IWSG: The Reading Spice of Life - Variety!

Our Insecure Writers Support Group question for March is: “Everyone has a favorite genre or genres to write. But what about your reading preferences? Do you read widely or only within the genre(s) you create stories for? What motivates your reading choices?”


I started picking out books from our local Bookmobile as soon as I was old enough to have a card. My mom’s only codicil was that I could read whatever I could reach (the children’s books being on the lower shelves). Silly Mom. There were step stools! Though I started out with all the Black Stallion books, I quickly branched out to The Hardy Boys and Trixie Belden mysteries. Then a Folklore phase when I devoured the stories and legends from every country I could find. Georgette Heyer Regency romps were followed by Alistair MacLean’s thrillers and Ray Bradbury mindblowers, all the way to Stephen King and Dean Koontz horror and anything suspense. There was never enough time to get between the pages of everything I was dying to read.

Actually, I voraciously read every genre except what I finally started out writing: Romance. I blame Kathleen Woodiwiss for changing that.

Even while writing romance, I enjoy paying homage to the genres I cut my teeth on, adding in action, adventure, suspense and the paranormal. Everything I was tall enough to read and eventually able to add onto my Kindle gets sprinkled into the huge, ever boiling pot of plot ideas, bringing spice, heat, spooky times, and variety to the expected love story in genres from that first historical Regency and western historicals to category suspense, vampires and shapeshifters.

Variety is more than the spice of life. It’s also the spark I look for when I read and what keeps my titles, now entering 70+, interesting enough to keep me at the keyboard.

I can’t wait to find out what motivates you?

The Insecure Writer’s Support Group
Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer - aim for a dozen new people each time.The awesome co-hosts for the March 3rd posting of the IWSG will be Sarah - The Faux Fountain Pen Jacqui Murray, Chemist Ken, Victoria Marie Lees, Natalie Aguirre, and JQ Rose!
Let’s rock the neurotic writing world!
Twitter hashtag is #IWSG

#WeWriWa: Last Chance . . . and Last Day for $0.99 S*A*L*E!

Max Savoie and Charlotte Caissie are the “Happily Ever After” couple from my “By Moonlight” shapeshifter series. But the love they’ve fought for and struggled to maintain is now threatened by a presence from his past who has stolen away his memory of the enduring love they share. This might be their last chance to recover what they once had. Here’s a clip from REMEMBERED BY MOONLIGHT . . .

“I’m so used to you getting me. You know me better than I know myself. I don’t have to say a word for you to read between the lines, always been one step ahead, knowing what I want, what I need, just the right things to do or say. I never had a connection like that to anyone else. Not to my father who I thought walked on water, not to Babineau who’s had my back on the street for years, not even Mary Kate who shared all my secrets. None of them understood the things I kept in my closet.”

Silence, then a husky, “What do you have in your closet that you only shared with me?”

She chuckled and gave him a swat. “Not a literal closet, Savoie.”

(and the rest of the scene . . .)
“Oh. Forgive me for thinking naughty thoughts. You tend to inspire them, sha.”

Her arm tightened about him as he lifted her other hand to his lips for a light stroke.

“It’s where we locked away our fears, our darkness, our pain. We’d just started to do some serious housecleaning together when—I lost you.”

“You haven’t lost me, Charlotte. I’m right here.”

“I know you are.” Her voice hitched slightly. “It’s just so hard, Max. So hard to be with you and still feel so far apart. To expect things that aren’t returned. Silly things like a joke that only we understand. Signals that aren’t received. I feel like I’m standing on the outside again, and I know it has to be the same for you. I tend to forget that I’m not the only one frustrated here. I’ve been too focused on my own situation to consider yours. That’s why I’m sorry. I want us to be in this together, not standing apart and alone. I don’t want to lose you, Max. I can’t go through the pain of that again.”

He turned, releasing her hand so his could cup her cheek in his palm. His thumb brushed away the tears that threaded through rain drops. His features were drawn in dramatic plays of light and shadow, his eyes bright, the only splash of vivid color upon that stark palette. He was breathtaking, and hers was gone. She held herself still and left herself open, something she’d never been able to do with anyone but him. She didn’t try to hide to her vulnerability. Or her longing.

“I’m not going anywhere, Charlotte.”

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Today is the final day of my $0.99 sale for REMEMBERED BY MOONLIGHT and for MIDNIGHT REDEEMER from my “Touched by Midnight” vampire romance series – two books for half the price of one! Time to celebrate that gorgeous full moon out there with these paranormal favorites.

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Having survived the reroofing of our tri-level house (yes, in the middle of a Michigan winter!) and the necessary shoveling of several hundred pounds of ice and snow (all 12” of it!) from driveway and patio to prepare for it, I’m wishing for a hot tub but am grateful to have a hot pad and a warm cat (or three). And for the arrival of March, that capricious month of winds that blow both warm and cold . . . depending upon the day. But it’s one month closer to spring and five days until my second vaccination. I’ve hauled out my Ireland itinerary for September and am refusing to be discouraged after already postponing it three times. This is obviously the fourth petal on that clover leaf!

Now then, back to the getting close to final edit of my romantic suspense while trying not to choke at the thought of marketing it . . .

Happy Almost Spring and Happy Writing, fellow Warriors!

Weekend Writing Warriors is a weekly hop for everyone who loves to write! Share an 8 to 10 sentence snippet of your writing on Sunday. Visit other participants on the list and read, critique, and comment on their #8sunday posts.


Spread the word, share the love, warriors - Hashtag #8sunday.

WeWriWa: Sink Your Teeth Into Midnight Redeemer - $0.99!

I love smart men and women playing dangerous cat and mouse games. But which one is which? Scientist Stacy Kimball is looking for a cure for the blood disease that will eventually kill her, as it did her mother. Gorgeous, reclusive philanthropist Louis Redman could provide the answer. All she needs is a sample of his rare blood type. What Stacy doesn’t know, is they share the same driving interest. He wants her blood, too. Here’s a peek at MIDNIGHT REDEEMER.

Vampire.

Nonsense.

Then, Stacy made herself look beyond the logical. In this case, the impossible could be the only possible answer.

But that led to another question.

How did one go about tracking down a supposed vampire to ask for a sample of his blood?

She had a name: Louis Redman. Redman’s influence on the Powers That Be was like a seducing drug. No one wanted to risk alienating his affection. Well, she wasn’t interested in his affection. She was interested in his blood chemistry.

I loved writing this book because it’s got a bit of everything I like to read: A paranormal love story, a Who Done It mystery, Frankenscience ethics, sneaky government ops, and a return of characters and complications I adored from previous books (You don’t have to have read them to appreciate them here). And a setting that’s almost another character – Seattle! All this for only $0.99 through the end of the month!

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Besides this fantastic sale, I’m celebrating the finish of my second edit of my WIP, An Untarnished Hero, which is a return to my contemporary romantic suspense roots and another of my favorite settings, West Texas. My current conundrum is whether to use my own name or return to my Dana Ransom pen name to tie the Texas setting into the planned reissue of a series of historical western romances I’ve gotten the rights back to. To self-pub or go back to a traditional publisher? Things to brood over when the world outside looks like this . . .

I plan to spend the rest of this wintery day visiting your excerpts before our roof comes down – literally, tomorrow. With leaks galore all over the place, we’re hoping to have new shingles to keep the weather out and our heat in. If the roofers can get through a foot of snow . . .

Stay warm and Write On, fellow Warriors!!

Weekend Writing Warriors is a weekly hop for everyone who loves to write! Share an 8 to 10 sentence snippet of your writing on Sunday. Visit other participants on the list and read, critique, and comment on their 8sunday posts.


Spread the word, share the love, warriors - Hashtag #8sunday.