Barbara Elsborg's Blog: https://www.barbaraelsborg.com/blog, page 23
February 4, 2012
The Special Gift
What seems like eons ago (actually 2008) I wrote a little story - The Special Gift - and 'sold' it to Ravenous Romance. Sadly the contract stated that I couldn't be paid until the income from the story reached $100 - guess what!!! I finally made that magic figure. So I just need to ask for a check now. I'm not implying any criticism here - when you publish a short story, you don't get much money per sale so I quite understand why companies would want to wait until the royalties reached a reasonable amount. Finally, they have.
I think The Special Gift might be my favorite short. It was inspired by the children's book An Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks. How my kids loved that story. The idea of putting a little figure in a cupboard and it comes to life the next day - still miniature. They made a film of it but I loved the book best. My heroine throws something into her closet and has a surprise when she opens the door!
http://www.ravenousromance.com/ravenous-rendezvous/the-special-gift.php?keyword=the+special+gift
February 1, 2012
A taste of what's to come -7th Feb
Less than a week to go before my two guys explode onto the world. I've had a few strange looks when I say I've written a totally MM book. Guys like to fantasize about two women getting down and dirty, so why shouldn't women like the idea of two men doing the same? It comes as a great surprise to most people that the biggest readers of MM books are women.
Not for everyone I know, but I really enjoyed writing this one.
http://store.samhainpublishing.com/cowboys-down-p-6636.html
January 30, 2012
What would you do?
What would you do if you were taken at knife-point from your apartment?
How would you try to get away?
What if your abductor threatened to kill anyone you asked for help?
What if you saw him do just that?
My psychological suspense novel CHOSEN is on SALE. 77 pence in the UK 99 cents in the US!!!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Chosen-ebook/dp/B00546EM5Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327916035&sr=8-1
http://www.amazon.com/Chosen-ebook/dp/B00546EM5Y/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1327915997&sr=8-2
January 27, 2012
Circles
Much to my huge relief, I set aside my writing last night feeling that current pile of crap was finally heading for a finale. I'd brought all the protags together, just one last bust up before bed and voila, it will be done.
Then I can't sleep because the thing is repeatedly circling in my mind. I tried to think it through - useless - so in the end, so as not to disturb husband, I wore one of the silly little finger lights I put in the family's crackers at Christmas. It made a lovely red circle on the ceiling, so I played with it and woke husband. Oh dear.
Started to think about next story and that sent me back to sleep.
Started to write today and realized I don't actually have a proper ending that makes sense for WIP.
Darn it.
Leibster blog award
Huh - I'm supposed to thank the person who gave me the award. Thanks, Arlene!! So what else do I get? Champagne? Flowers? Chocolates?
What do you mean NOTHING!!
Just so you can see what a friend this is - here's a link to the wretch's website.
http://arlenewebb.blogspot.com/
She's actually been a fantastic friend to me and I wouldn't be where I am today without her. And where I am is shivering in a cold room, chained to my laptop. Not even a cup of coffee at my side.
AND I have to pay this thing on. Five more suckers- oops - friends.
Oh darn it, I don't have any. Arlene nicked them all.
January 26, 2012
The price I pay for not liking shopping
I worry when husband goes out and is a long time away from the house. He loves shopping. He loves a bargain. The sales are like nectar to him. He can't resist. So this is what he came home with today. Our friends are going to love him. They'll be getting frying pans and saucepans and baking sheets for presents!
Note buddha in the background, throwing up his hands in horror.
January 24, 2012
Things that make me cry
I DON'T like things that make me cry. I might be one of the few inhabitants of the world that never watched Titanic. I knew it would upset me, so I just avoided seeing it. I wasn't always like that. I was fine watching disaster movies and I didn't mind if I came out of the cinema weeping, but something changed. Maybe an awareness of mortality, a strong love for partner and kids so that the thought of something happening to them, as it did in a film, was too much to bear.
So stands to sense that if I don't go to see sad films, then I don't read sad books. Of course, I don't mind 'happy' sadness or the odd little scene where a minor character dies and I shed a tear, but full-on sad books - no, I don't want to read them.
Husband bought 'Me before you' by Jojo Moyes - home from his shopping trip. I'd read the blurb in the shop and put it back. I feared it wouldn't be happy. Since he'd bought it, I read it, but I was right. Oh gosh, it made me sob.
Will Traynor is paralysed from the neck down in an accident and wants to die. He gives his family six months to 'change' his mind and a carer - Lou - comes into his life. Lou falls for Will. So it is a romance but not as we know it, Jim. It's a story about family, friends, the way the able bodied treat the disabled, it's a story about love and hard decisions and I'm crying even as I type this.
You have to go into this book with your eyes and heart wide open. I wish in many ways, I hadn't read it. I didn't need to. I already know a family whose son was injured in a sports accident and left paralysed from the neck down. I know how hard his parents fought for him. Sadly, he died in hospital during an operation. Maybe because I've had that experience, it made the book more poignant, I don't know. But it was a compulsive read. I started it last night, finished it this morning. Yes, the ending was sad - but it was the perfect ending and it did finish with hope.
So stands to sense that if I don't go to see sad films, then I don't read sad books. Of course, I don't mind 'happy' sadness or the odd little scene where a minor character dies and I shed a tear, but full-on sad books - no, I don't want to read them.
Husband bought 'Me before you' by Jojo Moyes - home from his shopping trip. I'd read the blurb in the shop and put it back. I feared it wouldn't be happy. Since he'd bought it, I read it, but I was right. Oh gosh, it made me sob.
Will Traynor is paralysed from the neck down in an accident and wants to die. He gives his family six months to 'change' his mind and a carer - Lou - comes into his life. Lou falls for Will. So it is a romance but not as we know it, Jim. It's a story about family, friends, the way the able bodied treat the disabled, it's a story about love and hard decisions and I'm crying even as I type this.
You have to go into this book with your eyes and heart wide open. I wish in many ways, I hadn't read it. I didn't need to. I already know a family whose son was injured in a sports accident and left paralysed from the neck down. I know how hard his parents fought for him. Sadly, he died in hospital during an operation. Maybe because I've had that experience, it made the book more poignant, I don't know. But it was a compulsive read. I started it last night, finished it this morning. Yes, the ending was sad - but it was the perfect ending and it did finish with hope.
January 22, 2012
A good day
Excuse me if I quote from Maya Banks blog - YES Maya Banks - I couldn't believe it! She liked two of my books - Strangers and An Ordinary Girl. This is what she said......
Awhile back I did a shout out on twitter to see if anyone had read Barbara Elsborg and if so what they thought? I didn't get many response and they were varied but nothing just overnethusiastic. But there were two of her books that I had bought because the blurbs intrigued me. This was a few months ago and I finally decided to take the plunge last night.
Holy fuck, people.
Ok, I get that maybe I might be in the minority. Maybe a lot of people just haven't read her. But wow did I love the two books I read. They were An Ordinary Girl and Strangers. I really don't have the words to describe how compelling I found these books. I mean it was like I just couldn't stop reading. They weren't easy, "fluffy" reads by any means and I kept reading with this sense of dread KNOWING that the entire world was going to go to shit at ANY minute. I was holding my breath at some points and then was cursing because I was like damn it, this is stressing me out. Strangers was my favorite of the two but they were both just so good. Anyone who knows me, knows that I love me some angst and drama, the more the better and Strangers had it in spades. The ending of that book just had a huge knot in my throat and my chest was tight because I just knew what conclusions the hero had drawn based on how they "met" and that he was going to think she was dead because he couldn't find her anywhere. And then they find her abandoned car… Ok I'll stop but wowza, those books just hit all my buttons. They were meaty reads that had me absorbed from beginning to end.
http://www.mayabanks.com/blog/2012/01/reading-report-card/comment-page-1/#comment-9717
And to make a good day even better - I had a 5 star review for Just One Bite from Sensual Reads http://sensualreads.com/?p=8619
Awhile back I did a shout out on twitter to see if anyone had read Barbara Elsborg and if so what they thought? I didn't get many response and they were varied but nothing just overnethusiastic. But there were two of her books that I had bought because the blurbs intrigued me. This was a few months ago and I finally decided to take the plunge last night.
Holy fuck, people.
Ok, I get that maybe I might be in the minority. Maybe a lot of people just haven't read her. But wow did I love the two books I read. They were An Ordinary Girl and Strangers. I really don't have the words to describe how compelling I found these books. I mean it was like I just couldn't stop reading. They weren't easy, "fluffy" reads by any means and I kept reading with this sense of dread KNOWING that the entire world was going to go to shit at ANY minute. I was holding my breath at some points and then was cursing because I was like damn it, this is stressing me out. Strangers was my favorite of the two but they were both just so good. Anyone who knows me, knows that I love me some angst and drama, the more the better and Strangers had it in spades. The ending of that book just had a huge knot in my throat and my chest was tight because I just knew what conclusions the hero had drawn based on how they "met" and that he was going to think she was dead because he couldn't find her anywhere. And then they find her abandoned car… Ok I'll stop but wowza, those books just hit all my buttons. They were meaty reads that had me absorbed from beginning to end.
http://www.mayabanks.com/blog/2012/01/reading-report-card/comment-page-1/#comment-9717
And to make a good day even better - I had a 5 star review for Just One Bite from Sensual Reads http://sensualreads.com/?p=8619
January 19, 2012
The cover!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://store.samhainpublishing.com/cowboys-down-p-6636.html
This is it. The cover for Cowboys Down. Scott Carpenter has done a fantastic job. Thanks so much to him and to my editor Sue-Ellen Gower for all her hard work and support.
I've fallen in love with these two guys. Pity they're not interested in women.
This is it. The cover for Cowboys Down. Scott Carpenter has done a fantastic job. Thanks so much to him and to my editor Sue-Ellen Gower for all her hard work and support.
I've fallen in love with these two guys. Pity they're not interested in women.
January 18, 2012
Gold star for An Ordinary Girl
http://www.justeroticromancereviews.c...
JERR has reviewed An Ordinary Girl and given it a fabulous gold star review. Yippee!!!!
