Barbara Elsborg's Blog: https://www.barbaraelsborg.com/blog, page 22

Editing

How I love editing!! I mean it. I'm not being sarcastic. I much prefer it to creating the first draft of a story. My latest editing marathon has been of another thriller. It's about the Russian mafia and set in Miami. I actually went to the place where I'd set it to check out beach access and things like that! I'd made assumptions that turned out to be wrong so I prefer to go in person to a place if I can.
The book is called - 'Crossing the Line' - and it's a theme that runs through the story. How far should you go in any given situation? Is there a point at which you should say no? My heroine wants revenge for the murder of her family but what is she prepared to do to get what she wants?
Trouble is - 'Crossing the Line' - isn't a very unique title and I probably ought to find something else to call it. Son suggested 'Katya if you can'. Katya is the name of the heroine - but it sounds bit too flippant to me.
I'm also fairly sure I'll self-publish this one. Whilst it has a much stronger romantic element than 'Chosen', it's not a book that fits well with a romantic publisher. But there's a lot to do before I get that far- another line edit, a cover, maybe a new title, formatting for publication etc
Maybe the host of New York agents reading this will be rushing to send me emails to grab first option on it.
Oh look, I grew wings!

A little plea

I realise I don't have a huge number of followers on this blog and not many comment - thank you faithful few!!!! - I hope there are millions who read and don't comment. (Though judging by my viewing stats that's not true but I can dream) What I'm asking for is a few reviews on Amazon. If you liked any of my books, please just put a few lines saying so, preferably on the dot com site and the .co.uk site too. Amazon use some fancy-schmancy algorithms to work out stuff and reviews make a huge difference.I have a reasonable number of reviews on Goodreads but not many if any for a lot of books on Amazon. So if you have a spare few minutes, I'd really appreciate a few lines. I'm not asking for 5* grades. Whatever you want to give me is fine! But if you're thinking 1* - ignore this post....

New paperback out!

My little paranormal romance - Power of Love - has been released in paperback. My copies arrived yesterday. Hope the UPS guy wasn't too disturbed by my happy dance. At least I didn't kiss him. He was luckier than the last one!
I've had lots of lovely comments about this story and it's one of my favorites. Apart from being available in paperback - it's also very cheap as an ebook - only 99c

I wanted to call the book - Letting Go - but the title was already taken. I think it fits better than Power of Love - but in fact that's what the story is about - how powerful love can be - that it transcends death. The book has a happy ever after - all my books do, but you might shed a tear along the way!

http://www.jasminejade.com/p-9919-power-of-love.aspx

http://www.jasminejade.com/p-7254-power-of-love.aspx

What I write

I sometimes feel the need to point out that I write stories in which things happen. Not just sex between hero and heroine or whatever combination I've gone for in that particular book. Yes, there's lots of sex - I write erotic romance, that's a given. They're not for YA - I thought that was a given too but maybe not.
I don't write about on-off relationships. I don't write sex-based stories that are little more than a series of sexual encounters. My books are also adventures and THINGS HAPPEN. Are they realistic? Well only within the bounds of writing fiction. I don't think much that I write could actually happen in real life. If you ever meet a vampire at the bottom of a cave, let me know. If you meet guys as funny and good-looking as I write them, let me know.
I write stories where the characters are put under pressure - not just emotional angst - but worries about their lives, their jobs, their families, their ability to jump off a cliff. I like imagining them in all sorts of situations and the fun for me is that those situations aren't entirely realistic. EG Are you likely to meet the love of your life by crashing your car into his on a snowy lane? Or by having wild monkey sex in a Venice garden? Well, maybe, or maybe not, but I hope readers just travel the road with me and enjoy the journey. If you don't like books where stuff happens apart from the sex - then don't read me. I'm fine with that.

I begin again

Off with the old, on with the new. I've set aside my - untitled - finished masterpiece (I have to brag - no one else will) and have started another MM story - despite the brickbats for the first. Well, some readers loved it. This one - also untitled - has a real solemn feel to it. Not the light-hearted stuff I usually produce. It's definitely going to be romantic suspense - I suppose a little like Cowboys Down - in that there will be villains and violence and voracious sex. I've written the first chapter and unusually for me - I'm actually happy with it. I've lost count of the number of times I write the first chapter and then it ends up as chapter 2 or 3 but this time, it feels right. I've nicked one of Arlene's names for one guy - Logan - and the other is Zak - which is a bit of a risk since I used Zach in 'Snow Play' but I'm hoping readers won't notice. So ignore this post....

The picture is the setting for the first scene in the book. It happens to be the church where my daughter got married. Chilham is a gorgeous village in Kent. Very old!!

How can you resist?

My friend, my superb crit partner, Arlene Webb, is offering the first in her FABULOUS series for free on Thursday and Friday. Splintered Energy is the first od four books - the last is due out soon, others are already out. It's the story of what happens when one day - dawn actually breaks. Light is splintered, seven die and seven come to life. The book - well all of the books - are funny, compelling, exciting and heart warming. I defy anyone not to fall in love with at least two of the characters.

So please help Arlene out by downloading this book for free. It will help in the Amazon numbers game and if you could LIKE or TAG while you're there, so much the better.



Here's the blurb:



Waves of pure energy are quite happy hanging in the cosmos, traveling at the speed of light to brighten up the sky--until dawn breaks. Literally.

When sentient light fractures, it zaps into human bodies and becomes trapped. Without any memories to guide them, a handful of confused beings whose skin tones are now specific colors, struggle to understand humanity while it's quite clear they shouldn't be in this world. The few humans clued in to Earth's invasion don't flutter, but are drawn to their fiery fate with hearts wide open as they fight to survive.

California. A widower's twelve-year-old son is rather young to bring home a woman, especially a collapsed green beauty too frightened to open her eyes.
Arizona. A divorcee blinks hard, but the gorgeous red guy stepping in front of her car is still red. She serves to avoid hitting him and ends up in the ditch. When she comes around, she wonders which layer of hell she's fallen into.
Ohio. A teen also fears he's dealing with the demonic, but no matter how dangerous things become, he's determined to stand by a man with inhumanly blue eyes.

Splintered Energy is an Earth based sci-fi/suspense/romance novel and the first in a four book series. Book 2, The R Word, and book 3, House of Seven, are available. The final is scheduled for March-April 2012.



Here's the link : http://www.amazon.com/Splintered-Energy-The-Colors-ebook/dp/B0055L2FHU/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1329848371&sr=1-1

Most of all, Arlene hopes anyone who does help by taking a copy of Splintered Energy for free, finds the time to read it and enjoys it as much as she did writing it. Reviews are like gold dust - even a few smatterings are welcome!

A good photographer I am not

Just been on a little trip and had a great walk alongside a mangrove swamp. A little too close to the alligators but they look so sleepy and dopey and all the other seven dwarves, I wasn't worried. Then saw five or six big fish leap out of the water and the next moment, a gator came up with a fish in its jaws. And ate it. of course, by the time I had the camera out the moment was gone, but I've never seen an alligator eat before - outside of those places that you pay to see idiots dangle chickens over their heads.

Yippee - nearly done

I plugged the hole in my plot - current story is almost done. Nearly 107,000 words so a bit long but we'll see. Now I have to wait for critique partners to read it, I have to write the synopsis - not the terror it once was but also write the blurb which is torture. I'm not yet set on the title. Second Chances isn't very original. I like Girl Most Likely To - though that's not original either and not sure it exactly fits the story. Maybe I'll be inspired when I've written the synopsis.

Photo is remains of snow in our garden. I gave up making a snowman and went for a roman pillar on it's side. It now looks like a line of polo mints.

Time

When I come across a book I really like, I want to take a look at all books by that author regardless of when they were written. That tends not to be an issue with romances because they generally transcend time. Not so straightfoward with thrillers. The advent of mobile phones that would fit in your pocket has made many old plots nonsensical. You have to remind yourself that they weren't around when the story was written. In fact, mobile phones have made plotting thrillers more difficult because they can pinpoint your location, so they are the first thing the murderer needs to get rid of. I've had to make sure some of my characters are parted from their cell phones to make plot points work. Since my son has lost, destroyed, mislaid numerous mobiles in his time, I don't feel I've stretched the truth too far.
What I hope I've managed in my romances is that they are pretty much timeless. I try not to mention specific events, or actual people (as far as I'm able). I wonder if people will still be reading my stories in ten years time!

Out today

Any excuse to show off the fabulous cover Scott Carpenter did for Cowboys Down - which is finally available from Samhain Publishing.
I wrote a blog on their site as well - with a picture of me standing on one of the locations I used.

Cowboys Down

Stockbroker meets stock breaker. But who's taming whom?

London stockbroker Jasper Randolph flies to Jackson Hole with hopes as high as the Grand Tetons. Hope that the getaway will force him to let loose, get dirty, and overcome a deep-seated phobia about horseback riding.

He hadn't counted on an attraction to the dude ranch owner's son, a man with sun-tousled hair, eyes bluer than Wyoming skies…and a father who'd rather eat tofu than accept his only son's sexuality.

The moment Calum lays eyes on the uptight, buttoned-down Brit, he's lost. But with his own saddlebags full of emotional baggage, he knows he should be looking at anything but Jasper's spotless riding boots and tight-fitting jodhpurs. Trouble is, Jasper makes his heart buck like a wild horse trying to break free.

Despite the differences that set them oceans apart, they fall hard and fast. Trouble isn't far behind, and they're in for a rocky romantic ride. Especially since there's growing evidence that someone is willing to do anything—no matter how dangerous—to poison their love.

http://store.samhainpublishing.com/cowboys-down-p-6636.html?osCsid=20a99cd12b1e9ad0d9cb7903353c7c0b