Cate Masters's Blog, page 101

New perspective

I admit it, I have trouble letting go of a story. My inclination is to revise, revise, revise. And then revise some more. Even after a story's published, I want to tweak it here and there. But at some point, I know, it's better to cut 'em loose. :)

Still, a little hindsight's always a good thing. Which is why I like receiving suggestions from pubs after I submit. This past week I received a "good" rejection - it included notes on specific areas the editor asked me to punch up or make more clear. After a forehead slap, and me telling myself I should have thought of these things earlier, I made the revisions and like the story much better now. I have wonderful crit partners but really appreciate an editor's insight.

So, after resubmitting, now I wait again, but with much more confidence in the story. Fingers crossed! It never hurts.  :) 

Another chance to win an ereader!

Spring is Bustin' Out All Over - especially at The Long and Short Reviews! They'll be giving away your choice of an ereader (a color Nook or a Kindle), or a $150 gift certificate as part of the spring celebration. 

On April 8, I will be guest blogging there as part of the event, so I hope you'll stop by! Lots of other wonderful authors will be participating in the spring blogfest. The more you comment, the better your chances to win!

Watch for more info, coming soon... :)

New cover for Rock Bottom!

Woot! I am so excited for this release. Wish I didn't have to wait till June. :)
The amazing Renee Rocco of Lyrical Press created this wonderful cover for my contemporary romance novel, Rock Bottom. Isn't it great? The hero perfectly captures the essence of Jet Trently, my rock-n-roller looking for love on his reality dating show, Rock Bottom. He gets more than he bargained for when rock reporter Billie Prescott joins the crew to cover the show.
Here's a peek at the blurb:For rocker Jet Trently, success means playing the same platinum-selling hits over and over. Philly rock journalist Billie Prescott thrives on covering the latest releases. When her editor sends her to Malibu to cover Jet's reality dating show, Rock Bottom, her blog's success keeps her trapped there. Her life's at Rock Bottom too, until she hears Jet's new songs. They touch her heart as his music did when she was 15. When Jet touches her heart as well, will the reality show ruin the real thing?
And an unofficial excerpt:The cottage appeared tiny from the outside, but actually had two stories if the bedroom loft counted. A boomerang-shaped overstuffed sofa dominated the main floor, and cabinets topped with bookshelves lined either wall. In a small nook sat a ceramic-topped iron bistro table and two chairs.As cozy as a beach getaway.She swung her carryon bag atop the tufted ottoman. Turning to retrieve her suitcases, she stopped short.Jet leaned against the doorway. If his presence had been palpable in the house, he overwhelmed this small space.His lopsided smile appeared almost shy. "Need any help settling in?"The personal touch. If he hoped to make it literal, he could forget it. Despite her resolve, she found him overwhelmingly distracting. She had trouble recalling what she'd planned to do.Glancing around, she thought she'd be pretty pathetic if she claimed to need help. "Nope, I think I can find everything."Stepping inside, he closed the door and moved toward her slowly. Purposefully.Her pulse quickening, she tensed, but couldn't find her voice to ask what he wanted.He touched the cabinet. "There's a small fridge under here. I'll have Cindy stock it for you."Nodding, she tucked her hair behind her ear. "Great. Thanks." She felt sure he must hear her heart pounding. And think her an idiot. "It's an adorable little place. You're saving the magazine a bundle by letting me stay here."When he moved closer, his crystal blue eyes felt like a laser piercing her own.To clear her head, she turned away. "It's situated perfectly too. Right next to the house." Could she possibly sound any more brainless?She sensed him directly behind her. His soft tone made her muscles go fluid. Her eyes drifted shut, imagining his famous voice singing to her alone."If you look out your bedroom window, you can see into mine. Right over there." His arm lifted beside her and pointed.His warmth penetrated her skin. He smelled like ocean and musk. An impulse struck her to guide his arm around her, fit herself against him. Fill her senses with him.Snapping to reality, she fumed at his flirting, but made her voice sweet as honey. "Oh, over there? I appreciate you telling me." Smiling, she turned. "I'll be sure to keep my curtains closed."Tensing, he straightened, and his nostrils flared.Her muscles drew taut in response. You shouldn't have made him mad--not the first day.But his eyes crinkled at the corners, and he cocked his jaw and nodded. "Billie Prescott." He said her name with a kind of wonder.Not quite knowing what to make of it, she gave a giddy laugh. And wanted to die. "Jet Trently. We finally meet." As though she'd been waiting. Or it had been prearranged. By whom? The universe?To recover her composure, she went to her bag and pulled out her laptop. "Any internet connection in here?"He flopped onto the sofa and extended his arms across the back. "Wireless, pretty much from everywhere." With a kind of amused curiosity, he watched her. "We need to talk."Her mind blanked. The way he spoke sounded so intimate, as if he wanted to discuss their relationship. His gaze seared into her, and she had trouble remembering they had no relationship. "About what?"His mouth curled into a smile. "The show. Don't you want to interview me?"She felt her face flush. He played a cat and mouse game. And he'd trapped her already.

One Soul for Sale on Six Sentence Sunday

 Thanks to all for your comments last week! It's so gratifying to hear positive comments. I truly appreciate it.
This week is the last of four 2011 EPIC finalists, One Soul for Sale. In this scene, Madelyn has just sold her soul on uBuy, and meets with the mysterious man who purchased it, who'd given her a task to complete that day. Feeling that her soul hung in the balance, Madelyn completed the task, but not without cost.

When he walks toward her, smiling as he sits across from her, she finds his perfection a tad irritating. His teeth are too dazzling white, his black clothing too obvious in their wannabe mysteriousness. She wants to reach over and tousle his hair, but he'd probably look even better that way, so she rejects the notion. 
As he reaches for her hand across the tabletop, she's resolved not to be deterred by his many charms. "I had a very interesting day today. But you know that – you were there."

You can see who I'd cast in the movie version, view the trailer, read reviews, the blurb and excerpt here. Don't forget to visit Six Sentence Sunday to check out all the amazing entries this week!

Happy St. Pat's Day

May you have warm words on a cold evening, a full moon on a dark night, and the road downhill all the way home.



Slainte! Here's to you.

A toast to Irish authors

St. Pat's Day is a great time to remember the many wonderful Irish writers. Too many to list at once, but here are a few of the more famous:
Abraham "Bram" Stoker's Dracula was trashed by critics as fantastic nonsense. I just read Dracula last year for the first time to know what started the vamp trend. Written in multiple POV, the story builds suspense in an unusual way. I admit the ending disappointed me a bit, but only because these days, the more fantastic the story, the more celebrated it is.Notably, the original 541-page Dracula manuscript was believed to have been lost for many years. During the early 1980s, it was found in a barn in northwestern Pennsylvania and included many corrections and the handwritten title THE UN-DEAD. It makes me want to go out and search other barns in the Commonwealth.


Frank McCourt grew up in poverty in Ireland, but turned ashes into gold with Angela's Ashes, his memoir. It earned him a Pulitzer as well.  James Joyce is a model of persistence for authors. After 22 rejections, Dubliners finally published, but in its first year, sold fewer than 400 copies, 120 of those to himself (sound familiar? lol) Joyce never gave up. He went on to not only define the Modernist novel, but in the early 20th century, he helped define his native Dublin, where his characters and stories found life.

After Dubliners came A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Ulysses and Finnegans Wake. Praised as a Modernist masterpiece, Ulysses uses a stream of conscoiusness technique to follow Leopold Bloom through an ordinary Dublin day. He layered his prose with puns, parodies, allusions and humor. In 1999, the Modern Library ranked Ulysses first on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.So next time you're tempted to give up, remember James Joyce.
 
Jonathan Swift first aspired to be a poet, but found little success. He later became a master satirist. Though considered a children's story, Gulliver's Travels combines humor and philosophy, and has never been out of print since first published in 1726. Quite a feat!

Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was as well known for his biting wit as for his writing. After writing in different genres throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s. Today he is remembered for his epigrams, plays and the tragedy of his imprisonment, followed by his early death at age 46, destitute in prison.

William Butler Yeats is one of my favorite poets. Yeats' works incorporate Irish mythology, history, mysticism and spiritualism. Writing in traditional form when most poets had turned Modernist, Yeats was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and a founding member of the Abbey Theatre. In 1923, Yeats was the first Irishman to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature for "inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation."
There are plenty more Irish authors to celebrate. So when you're raising a toast with your green beer this St. Pat's Day, send up a cheer for them all.

Don't forget to check the Author Spotlights page!

Every Sunday, a new author will be featured for the week. Just click on the Author Spotlights tab above.


This week, Robert Appleton's here discussing his latest steampunk release, The Mysterious Lady Law.

Leave a comment for a chance to win a copy!

Going into the wilderness for Six Sentence Sunday

Thanks to everyone who visited last week. Your comments mean so much to me! Thank you.


This week, I'm taking you into the wild with my 2011 EPIC finalist, Wilderness Girl. I'm on pins and needles, awaiting final word on how my four finaling books fared. I'd planned to attend the conference but life, as it will, intervened. Eeek! Hope they post the results soon.


This is the very beginning of the story, when Dana goes to Wilderness Outfitters with her boyfriend Sean. Their relationship's been rocky, and she hopes giving in to a camping trip will heat it back up. She thinks he's snuck up behind her in the store, and decides to get a little playful, and is unzipping him when she catches sight of Sean crossing through the main aisle.



"Oh my God." Her breath strangled in her throat and she whirled around.
Six feet of tanned muscle, wrapped in a faded black T-shirt and jean shorts loose on his hips. Eyes like wildfire burning in a sun-kissed face. Grinning like a fox."Well, don't stop there. You have my full attention."


You can view the trailer, read reviews, the blurb and excerpt for Wilderness Girl here.


And don't forget to visit the Six Sentence Sunday main site to read wonderful entries by other talented authors. Thanks again for stopping by!

Twitter tips

Sorry I've been absent this week. I'd intended to be physically absent and attend the EPIC conference, but, as sometimes happens, real life intervened. So I want to wish all the EPIC finalists good luck, and have a great time in Williamsburg.

Real life aside, I wanted to pass along this link - it contains some very useful tips on how to use Twitter, for those authors like me who need someone to hold their hands through the process. Tweet on!

Freebies for Read an E-Book Week!

Celebrate by reading an ebook! Have you read any good ones lately? I have so many on my hard drive waiting to be read. I really need an ereader.
Which makes me curious - how many of you own ereaders? Or do you simply read ebooks on your computer? Have you ever read an ebook on a different device? Maybe your phone?
The industry's shifting all the time, and ever, it seems, in the direction of digital. Ten years ago, I probably couldn't have imagined reading a book on my computer, or even being an e-published author. But now I have fourteen available, and have released four short stories through Smashwords/Kindle. Another three ebooks will release soon.
So I'm definitely celebrating ebooks! These past two years have been an amazing experience. My stories range from sweet to erotic, contemporary to historical, paranormal and fantasy, flash to novel-length. I hope you'll give some a try. :)

For Read an E-Book Week, I'm participating in the Smashwords celebration and making all my titles free. Yes, you read that right - free! They were very affordable before at 99 cents, but now they cost nothing. Nada. Gratis. Grab 'em now!  Most were previously published by small online presses or web zines.



Hotline to Hell's a fun little paranormal story, another cautionary tale about selling your soul without exploring other options.







Reflections is another fun little paranormal, set during one of my favorite times of the year - Halloween. On the night when the veil between the two worlds thins, you never know what might cross over and cause a little mayhem and chaos. :)


Imprints is a more mainstream/literary short story. Much of it was derived from real life, based on the experiences of two reporters whose tales sometimes embodied the old phrase "truth is stranger than fiction." 






 

If your tastes run more to speculative fiction, Trick of the Light is always available for free from Smashwords.




I have another free read available from the Wild Rose Press:
Cinderella Dreams (are tough to shake) is a short Vintage, set in the 1980s. Yes, relive your days of Madonna wannabes and Eighties music. :)








Give them a try! And I'd love for you to come back for more stories. I have lots to choose from. :)