Celia Yeary's Blog

START WHERE THE STORY BEGINS

HOW to get a-WAY with MUR-der

No, this post isn't about writing murder mysteries. It's about great beginnings that "start where the story begins."

This new TV series starring Viola Davis (The Help) opened to a roaring beginning. The way she says the title, "HOW to get a-WAY with MUR-der," might be the most clever way to open a series ever. I read that the producers and Viola worked a long while to get the cadence and the emphasis just right. And, wow, did they ever. I listen for that before every episode.

What grabs your attention when you choose a book? It's been argued that the cover is most important, or the blurb alone determines whether you read it or not, or perhaps the first line, the first paragraph, or the first chapter.

Or if the book starts "Where the Story Begins."

Beginnings. That's what it's all about--how to make a reader choose your book. For this little exercise, I have chosen first lines from ten books written by author friends or acquaintances. In other words, this list does not contain, "It was the best of times, it was..." Or with the weather. You get the picture.

Want to take this poll? Read the ten lines and choose three you like best, or those you think would make you buy the book. Rank your three choices using the letters...and tell me in a comment. If you want to take the time, tell me why your first choice caught your attention.

List them in order of best first in your comment. Ready?


A-The front door slammed shut, silencing Lizzy's eighteenth birthday celebration.


B-"He has walled us in alive! Our own lord has abandoned us!"


C-Gideon entered his sister's crowded SoHo gallery in Manhattan and glanced at his watch.


D-"Reese, if you weren't dead, I swear I'd kill you!"


E-Her swift fingers rushed over the keys like a flood of water tumbling over a dam.


F-"Sorry you got shot, Cole. Damn, this is gonna mess up all our plans."


G-Dallas McClintock sprawled on the ground, three rifle barrels pointed at his chest.


H-'...but other women my age have a lover.'


I-"Don't kill me! Please!"

J-Absorbed in her thoughts about Mark, the man who jilted her on what was to be her wedding day, she almost drove past the baby grand piano sitting out in the front yard of a little cottage.

~~*~~
Celia Yeary-Romance...and a little bit 'o Texas
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/author/celiayeary
My Website
My Blog
Sweethearts of the West-Blog
My Facebook Page

How Do You Measure Success?

How Do You Measure Success?
For the sake of argument, let's agree that our personal lives and family fall into a different category from our writing life. Okay? So, with that out of the way, how do you measure success in your writing life? Many of us are published, most of us are at least writing something, and some certain number probably considers themselves successful.
So, exactly what is your definition of success?
You might consider these categories of success:
A NUMBER of books published.
A CATEGORY that has sold a nice amount.
A SERIES in which readers ask, "What will happen to...so-and-so?"
A SERIES that has taken off and hit best seller lists on Amazon.
A CONTRACT for the manuscript of your dreams.

I'm sure we can name other situations in which we say to ourselves, "Wow. I am now successful! I feel so good about myself and my writing!"

For me, I find I can't even answer my own question. In truth, I don't feel successful, but I feel very good about myself...at certain times...and always, always look ahead and think...What if? Suppose? Imagine?

As of this week, my biggest selling story is a 99 cent Dime Novel from Victory Tales Press, titled Addie and the Gunslinger.

For me, this is a thrill, a lovely moment, a wonderful event. But does it represent true SUCCESS? Not really. I'm certain there's something more to this thing called "success."

I watched the Academy Awards Sunday Night, and just loved the presentations and seeing the stars all dressed up, and waiting in anticipation to learn the winners. Each person up for an award, in my opinion, was already successful. But did you watch George Clooney's face? This was really his big moment, his big chance for an academy award, and from what I read, this movie was his shining glory. It was his turn!

But a foreigner took the Oscar. I was sick for George Clooney. And from the look on his face, he felt like...a loser. Didn't he? His disappointment was written all over his face. Still, don't we see him as successful? Yes, of course! But...he did not see himself that way at all at that moment.

Success. Such an elusive, emotional, gut-wrenching feeling.
How do you measure success?
Celia Yeary-Romance...and a little bit 'o Texas
http://www.celiayeary.blogspot.com
http://www.celiayeary.com

Born Mediocre--is that so bad?

The world is made up of mediocre people, and I'm right there in the middle. So, is that a bad thing? Maybe it's all in our perspective--join me as I mull this over, on:
http://www.celiayeary.blogspot.com
Celia Yeary-Romance...and a little bit 'o Texas
http://www.celiayeary.blogspot.com
http://www.celiayeary.com
http://sweetheartsofthewest.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Celia-Y...

Contemporary Texas Romance-Heart of a Hero

HEART OF A HERO-Celia Yeary-
Matt Carrington escapes a terrorists’ prison while in the Army, but he has difficulty escaping a demanding fiancé and his own parents. Lauren Delaney is an independent young woman who quickly befriends the soldier hero who comes to town. A hurricane almost destroys the town and the two work together to save as many residents as they can while falling in love. Will happiness win, or will pain?
~*~*~*~
In the distance, they heard a deep rumble. It became louder by the second, crashing, roaring, and more crashing. The crest rolled forward, like a gigantic alien machine, sucking up everything in its path. Certain death would be the fate of anyone caught out in the water. The monster would sweep anything in its path, all the way to the ocean, and nothing would live through it.
The rescued residents crawled up on the truck and pulled others, and hung on for dear life. The scene was mad, straight out of a disaster movie, but this was about real people, not celluloid characters.
Matt came last, closing the distance to the fire truck. The driver revved the engine and prepared to pull away as fast as he could. Just as Matt began to step onto the truck running board, a child fell from the truck into the rushing water.
Without thinking, Lauren jumped down into the water to grab the child. She grabbed his shirt and just as she began to drag him up, a large ripple, a wave preceding the crest, swept by and took Lauren and the child.
Matt screamed at Lauren. “Hold on!”
Lauren held tightly to the child’s shirt, hoping and praying that it would not come off his little cold, wet body. She could stand upright, but the ever-increasing depth and pull of the water made the process next to impossible. She held on to the little boy with every ounce of strength she had. She managed to get her arm around his back to hold on to his arm, so that she had him clutched to her body. A wave knocked her down, but she struggled upright once more, still holding the child. Now, the water rose to her armpits, and the child’s neck.
In a brief flash, she saw hysteria nearly overcome Matt. He looked like a crazed man. Surely, his training, steel nerves, and strong body would come together in one clear plan. Please, God, help Matt.
He jumped into the water and grabbed the trailing rope. Madly, he sought to find the end of it, but it was a long rope and the end trailed forward with the force of the water. He screamed at Lauren. She was too far away to reach very quickly.
“Grab the rope! For God’s sake, grab the rope!” All the while, he was making his way toward her as she struggled with every ounce of energy she possessed against the current.
~*~*~*~
HEART OF A HERO, a contemporary romance set in Texas, is now available at:
Amazon Kindle--- http://www.amazon.com/Heart-of-a-Hero...

and eBook on Smashwords by Whimsical Publishing: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/...

PRINT AND EBOOK FOR THE NOOK:
B&N- http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/heart... y

Celia Yeary-Romance...and a little bit 'o Texas
http://www.celiayeary.blogspot.com
http://www.celiayeary.com
http://sweetheartsofthewest.blogspot.com

I Read Banned Books (maybe)

BANNED AND/OR CENSORED BOOKS

Conversations about banned books have been prominent on FaceBook this week. The topic always interests me. Who has the right to ban or censor reading material for another? I realize the words have different meanings, but in reality they result in the same thing: one person or institution placing limitations on the reading material for another person.
This is just not the American way!

The Texas prison system routinely censors all reading material for inmates. What do the officials look for? Anything that promotes or describes explicit sexuality, plans for escape, extreme violence, or fighting tactics is placed on a banned list. This might be well and good, but the topic only interested me because none of us is completely exempt from censorship sometime in our lives.

J. D. Salinger wrote in such a way his most famous book became the focus of censorship. I thought about his one great success, the book Catcher in the Rye, published in 1951. I was a young girl at the time, so I probably did not pay attention to the release of this novel. As I grew up, though, I learned groups had challenged and censored it many times. Why? It contained profanity, sexuality, and teenage angst. While he wrote it as an adult novel, what do you suppose teenagers did? They sought out the book whenever possible. As a teen, I knew not to touch that book. I never read it. I should, though.

Gustave Flaubert wrote Madame Bovary in 1857. The novel contained adulterous affairs and obscenities. I knew about the book but did not read it until I was in my thirties. Even then, I timidly read it, hoping no one would discover my little secret. I liked it, even though it was rather depressing and dreary.

Even comic books have landed on a censored list. As a child in the third grade, my parents forbid me to read horrid comic books. They allowed Archie comics, Little Lulu, and Casper the Friendly Ghost, but nothing bad. Truthfully? I didn't know bad ones existed. But I played with a classmate—a boy—who lived down the block. Guess what he had under his bed? A big flat box filled with comic books about crime and horror. I read and saw the graphics depicting murder, gore, severed heads, cannibalism, and torture. I wonder if his parents knew he had them. If not, where did a nine-year-old obtain enough money to buy these—and where did he find them? I'll never know, but I do know I never wanted to see them again. I am a real scaredy cat.

As a teenage girl, my mother told me never to read romance magazines. I didn't know about those, either. One of my girlfriends did, though, the one who was just a little different from the rest of us in my little "crowd." She read Modern Romance, Secrets, and Revealing Romances. I went through a time in which she'd bring a couple to school, hand them over to me, and I'd stuff them in my thick, leather zippered notebook to take home. I soon became bored with them.

Certainly, we need to protect our children and grandchildren. I wouldn't have wanted my children reading some of the things I did, either, but probably they did and I never found out. And you know? They…and I…turned out to be worthwhile adults without any serious psychological problems. I've often wondered—should we allow any person to read whatever he could understand? No matter the content? For myself, I have always censored certain literature, movies, and music. Why? Because of my personal preferences—not moral standards particularly. I really don't care about the reading material of others, as long as it doesn't affect me personally.

Censorship will always be with us.

Celia Yeary
Romance…and a little bit o' Texas
http://www.celiayeary.com/

What Would You Do Over In Your Writing Life?

Now that you have more than one book published--some of you with several--what would you change in your writing life if you had it to do over? Read my opinion on:
http://www.celiayeary.blogspot.com
Celia Yeary-Romance...and a little bit 'o Texas
http://www.celiayeary.blogspot.com
http://www.celiayeary.com
http://sweetheartsofthewest.blogspot.com

Books, Books, Debate...uh, Books

Hello--I don't know whether to concentrate on what I love--books! Or stop and listen to the GOP Presidential Debates.
Okay, for now, books win out.
My spirits were lifted this quarter with very nice royalty checks, so now I can almost see the long, hot, dry summer in my rearview mirror. Whew! Now, I feel better. Surely we'll have rain soon, and with cooler weather drifting down from the north...I can move ahead with new projects and also promoting my books already available.

Speaking of books--I have an older blind friend, and a lady visits her every morning for an hour and reads aloud from
The Help. My sweet friend is thrilled. She usually listens to audio books, but hearing this great novel read by a "real" person is a thrill for her. She likes to discuss the book as she hears another couple of chapters.

See if you can help someone in your neighborhood or in an assisted living facility "read" books. Bless you.

Celia

What are We Looking for In a Book?

This is my question, but I'm not sure what I mean by it. What do I look for in a book I choose to read?
I suppose I'll go back to my tried and true list of why I like a book...it should either: make me cry, or make me laugh a lot; or make me contemplative; or make me pump my fist in the air and say...Yessss!!!
Or, hey, all three would be good.

On a more realistic level, I want to feel good when I finish the book. If it's not designed to make me feel good, then it should make me ponder on it for a few days.

An example is Cutting for Stone...yes, I liked it...it a way...yes, I could not put it down. Even when it became almost too hard to bear, I could not stop reading. I suppose that in itself make a good book.

I just read a Regency romance by the only Regency romance author I read. This book bordered on being boring, and I feel so badly about this, as if it's my fault somehow. But it's not.
I know what was wrong with the book.

So much of it was the same...over and over and over, so that I skipped large portions...because I knew what would happen and how.

Now that I've rambled enough for one day, I'll stop and get back to my next novel. Which is pretty good.

Celia Yeary
Romance...and a little bit of Texas

The Camerons of Texas-Geneology

TEXAS BLUE, TEXAS PROMISE, TEXAS TRUE--sounds like a trilogy, doesn't it? Exactly, set in the later Nineteenth Century.

Before I began to write, a series held my attention more than single titles. Still, today, after ten novels of my own, a series or a trilogy still attracts my attention. Susan Mallery, Mary Balogh, Linda Lael Miller--a few of my favorites.
But I live in and know Texas, so my first three novels were about the Cameron of Texas.

TEXAS BLUE-Marilee Weston meets Buck Cameron. They marry after many adventures and mishaps, and he adopts her little four year old daughter--Josie. In a year, they have a daughter they name True Leigh Cameron.

TEXAS PROMISE--Little Josie grows up and as Josephine Cameron, marries her childhood sweetheart, Dalton King. Their marriage and life are a mess..trust me..but after three years of involuntary separation, Dalton returns and...then the story really begins.

TEXAS TRUE--Baby sister True grows up and impulsively marries...maybe the wrong man. But True is not the hothouse flower others think she is...she goes after her man.

Thank you for reading...Celia Yeary.

A CONTEMPORARY TEXAS LOVE STORY

FIVE HEARTS for The Stars at Night+Book of the Week from TRS! http://www.theromancestudio.com/revie...
EXCERPT:
She was a big city girl, but not once had she put on airs, talked down to him or his mom, or worried about her hair or make-up. If he didn't know better, he'd think she was a country girl -- born and bred.
"Is that the one you want, Nicky?" Jesse asked, as Kate sauntered from the sunlight into the dimness of the barn. "You can pick her up and hold her so she'll get used to you."
Kate squatted down with her hands on her knees to peer at the kittens. "Aren't they darling? Could I hold one?"
A fuzzy little gray one tottered toward her and climbed up her jeans leg. Kate gently picked it up, held it between her breasts, and stroked its tiny head and cooed. Jesse couldn't keep his eyes off her long fingers, as they petted and stroked the kitten nestled against her chest.
No, he wasn't being honest. He couldn't keep his eyes off her breasts. The tiny kitten caught its miniscule claws in the knit of her crop-top, and in trying to loosen itself, pulled and kneaded against one full, firm breast. The action caused Kate to laugh deep in her throat. She glanced up, and Jesse slowly looked from where she held the kitten, into her eyes. The moment stretched out, until he gave her a grin, meant to knock her socks off. He wanted her to see how he admired her.
Nicky carefully held the kitten against his chest and began walking away from the barn to the house. "Be sure to close the gate behind you," Jesse called as the child continued on, completely engrossed in the little yellow tabby.
"That's amazing, Jesse. I thought I'd have to drag him kicking and screaming out of the house. This is a totally new experience for him and look how he's taking to it."
"Yeah," he said and chuckled. "Say, listen. Marie is coming over to stay with Mom this morning, and I'm driving into town to pick up a few supplies from the ranch store. Why don't you and Nicky come with me? We can be away for three hours. I could show you the sights."
Laughing, she teased him by saying, "You mean there are actual sights around here?"
"Yes, ma'am, there are. We have the most amazing farm and ranch store in nine counties. And wait until you visit our Dairy Queen, and our…"
They laughed together. Jesse wondered what kind of man she was involved with back in New York. Jesse rarely lost his temper, but when he did, he almost went crazy. Just thinking about the man on the phone stirred his emotions, and that was completely out of line. He took a deep breath and smiled.
"Lead the way," she said. "I wouldn't pass this up for anything."

BUY LINKS:
http://www.amazon. com/The-Stars- at-Night- ebook/dp/ B0058U7T7
http://stores.desertbreezepublishing....

THANK YOU--
Celia Yeary-Romance...and a little bit 'o Texas
http://www.celiayeary.blogspot.com
http://www.celiayeary.com
http://sweetheartsofthewest.blogspot.com