Cate Masters's Blog, page 35

She speaks

Or I will. Tonight. On BlogTalk Radio.  Nice Girls Reading Naughty Books was lovely to invite me to chat with them. I hope you'll join us! Hopefully after so much time alone in the writing cave, I'll be coherent.

Tune in at 8:00 p.m. EST. at
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/bernadettewalsh/2013/11/14/nice-girls-reading-naughty-books--cate-masters

Notes from the writing cave

Just popping out of the cave for a quick hello. And to give a Tarzan yell because I did it! This weekend, I hit the halfway mark - 25k. Roar!


Okay, before I crawl back inside the cave, a few notes...

On Wednesday, I'll have a short post with a link to a Blogtalk radio interview that evening. I would love for you to join me. :)

On Friday, a special (and easy) post. I'm revealing the covers for two upcoming releases with Decadent Publishing - Blue Moon Over Bliss Lake and A Wedding at the Blue Moon Cafe. Though similar in tone, the stories aren't related except for the "Blue Moon" title. They're both contemporaries, and both novellas of about 40,000 words. I've had plenty of short stories this year and needed to write a bit longer ones. A little more room to explore, and go in-depth into a world. One of my NaNo projects is a third Blue Moon novella and will also top out at 40k.

After November (and revisions to the two NaNo stories), I'm going even deeper and finally finally getting around to the next Goddess Connection novel, started almost two years ago. Crazy how things can be stowed away like that. But not forgotten. It won't let me. I swear I can hear those characters grumbling at me from the next room.

How's your writing going? Anything new you want to share? I'm always willing to help spread the good news, so if you have any just shoot me an email.

Week 1 is done!

Most normal people don't mark the end of the first week of November by partying. Writers who signed up for NaNoWriMo are a little different than most. :)

The end of week 1 is a cause for celebration! We pause to check our progress, encourage one another, do a very fast happy dance and - most importantly - get back to writing.

If I can remember, I'll post my updated word count here. :) But as of Wednesday evening, I'd just crossed 16k. Okay progress, but I really need to stay ahead because I have to go out of town the weekend of November 23-24. Yikes, the pressure

So my personal goal is to hit the halfway mark this weekend - at least 25k.

Are you a NaNoer this year? How's it going?

Go NaNo writers go!

Hey NaNo-er, how's it going? Keeping up with your word count?

If you started late or are behind your word count for other reasons, you might want to take a few minutes to check out this helpful post about fast drafting. Because if there's ever a time to get on board with fast drafting, it's now. :)

And Alexandra Sokoloff has great tips on her blog for NaNoWriMo too. Definitely worth a visit.

Okay, back to writing! :) Catch you Friday.

Have you checked out BTSE Magazine?

If you haven't, you're missing out! You might find a new great read through their ads or featured authors. Articles cover the gamut of the industry. Oh, and lots of reviews!

I have a lovely four-star review for Cursed in the November issue on page 80. It says, in part:

"I really enjoyed reading this book for more than just its genre. Cate has done a really great job drawing the reader into her Carnevale world – which is very well described to the point of being real if you got sucked into the pages. An additional note of interest was that her characters weren’t just interesting creatures of the paranormal world because they were just that way, they were made into what they were and changed by their environment.

I really enjoyed reading Cursed and I’m anticipating more in the very near future."Reviewer Krissy Malott, BTSE Magazine (p. 80) http://issuu.com/btsemag/docs/november2013
I hope Krissy takes note of the ad on page 72. I'd love for her to read Charmed and Claimed as well. :)
Okay, back to the writing cave. I have to bump up my NaNo count this weekend! Have a great one. 

Ready.... set... NaNo!

November 1 strikes fear into the heart of many a writer. Yes, it's that time again - NaNoWriMo.

Although I've been an official participant in past years, I skipped it the past few years. Instead of only one month a year, I tried to apply the NaNoWriMo principles to every month.

This year's been a little crazy, and life sidelined my writing. So to get back on track, I'm shooting for 50k through NaNoWriMo and another program. I'm aiming to complete two novellas rather than a full-length novel, but the end result will be the same - 50,000 words, or if I'm able, even more.

Writing two stories within two programs might make it slightly more manic. Alternatively, if I look on the bright side, it's double the team support! In any case, I still have that final word count total to get to.

I'll be posting here less this month to concentrate more on my writing.

Are you doing NaNo this year? Have you ever? Would you again?

Happy Halloween!

For everyone who celebrates, have a safe and fun holiday. Chairman Maiow asks that you be extra nice to black cats today!

Hauntings in Gettysburg

More tales of hauntings in Gettysburg exist than can be told in one blog post. The site of the nation's bloodiest battle, this little town is supposedly one of the most haunted places in America. No wonder. According to some, thousands of bodies were never recovered.

This Haunted History episode claims many spirits intend harm to visitors, something I hadn't heard before (and am not convinced is true).



Not all the spirits in Gettysburg are from the Civil War, though. On our ghost walk last weekend, the guide told several such stories. Inside a bell tower on the campus of Gettysburg College, some have supposedly seen a young woman beckoning to them. The tour guide said after hearing the story that two young lovers had made a suicide pact, but only the girl leapt to her death, someone researched it and found two young women had committed suicide in Gettysburg in the late 1800s. No one's ever confirmed that either happened at that spot, but the men she appears to (yes, only men) might argue otherwise.

Unfortunately, my camera doesn't like to take night shots. The few times I tried to take pictures during the tour, it simply refused to focus (not the result of paranormal activity, just a stubborn camera).

I did get a few during the day though. I love the funky architecture there.

I'm pretty sure Zoltar is a rarity - surprisingly, this one's outside.


If you ever go, I highly recommend this little bistro.


You might want to get a vintage photo taken. Without the nameplate, I doubt I'd recognize some of these guys




On the ghost tour, we learned that a home close to campus is haunted by a former maid. Two college girls moved in one day, went out before unpacking and when they returned, their things had been arranged. When they complained to the landlady who lived downstairs, she said she'd never intrude unless it was an emergency. A few weeks later, the distinct sound of someone falling down the steps alarmed the landlady, but when she checked the hallway, her tenants, who'd heard the same noise, looked down the stairs at her. Not until the landlady renovated her back porch did they discover the name Joanna carved in a stone block. The tenants researched it and learned that Joanna Craig had been a maid in the house, but died - you guessed it - after a fall down the staircase.

The video above touches on the sad history of the Gettysburg Orphanage, opened after the Civil War to care for the many, many children who lost parents in the war. The woman who ran the orphanage at its opening loved the children, but the second woman to run the orphanage inspired only terror in the kids - she tortured them by locking them away, starving them, or having an older child beat them. One little boy who ran away found shelter with two girls in the third floor of a Gettysburg College dorm house. The house mother was strict, and suspected the girls of doing something, but she wasn't quite sure what. One winter's night, the girls hid the runaway on the ledge outside their bedroom window during the house mother's night rounds. Something about their behavior raised the suspicion of the house mother, who took the girls downstairs to question them - for two hours. When they returned to their room, they couldn't find the boy, nor any telltale signs in the snow that he'd fallen. Many years later, girls who occupied that room saw the blue face of a little boy in the window. One girl reported he'd scratched something across the pane. It didn't make sense until she realized the lettering was backward and spelled HELP ME. *shudders*

If you do take the time to watch the video, a few people talk about the Farnsworth House (about 32 minutes in). You might remember the photo below I'd taken of the top window in the inn. I still see the face of a man in a floppy hat. Ghost hunters have seen him up close when they go inside the room (which we weren't able to do - that must be the more expensive tour, lol). I was surprised to learn that a soldier's shot from this window might have been the one to kill Jennie Wade, the only civilian killed in this battle - which is amazing, considering a good part of the fighting went on in the middle of town.

I've looked over and over the photos I took on the battlegrounds, but I don't see anything resembling a spirit. If you do a search on YouTube, you'll find plenty of videos of ghost sightings that may or may not be real, but I guess it depends on your feelings toward ghosts in general. I've never seen one but I am sure they're there. Maybe someday they'll appear to me other than the one in the window, above.

At the time this plaque was erected at the National Cemetery, I'm sure they didn't have a clue just how long the bivouac would continue!


Have you ever captured a ghost on film? Or otherwise electronically? Or just seen one hanging around?

Boo!

Do you believe in ghosts? What about spirits who communicate through dreams? Pop over to my post at LASR's Halloween Blogfest and I might change your mind if you're a nonbeliever!

Plus LASR is giving away some sweet treats. :)

Taryn Kincaid stirs up Sleepy Hollow

Cate: Yay, Taryn Kincaid's here to my special Halloween celebration. Taryn, please tell us a little bit about yourself.
Taryn: BOR-ING.


Cate: Aren't most writers? lol What do you love most about Halloween?
Taryn: I write erotic paranormal romances. So let’s just say…some of my favorite books come out just before Halloween!


Ooops. There goes one now


Cate: Whew, is it getting hot in here? :) Do you have a favorite memory of a Halloween past?
Taryn: Well, okay. If you insist. Scary, isn’t it?




Cate: Love the hobo outfit! Have you ever had an unusual experience you couldn’t explain?
Taryn: Pretty much all my experiences are unusual. And inexplicable.


Cate: What frightens you the most?
Taryn: People with fewer working brain cells than soap sludge who are elected to the U.S.  Congress.


Cate: lol Ever gone on a ghost tour? Or ghost hunting on your own?
Taryn: Once, back in my newspaper days, I went to interview a professor at a local Catholic college. He claimed that he lived in a Haunted House (which, coincidentally, was not far from Sleepy Hollow). The entire house creaked, from the rickety stairs to the squishy lawn. He would enhance the effects for his students and other neighborhood kids for Halloween. Which, when you think about it, might be kind of weird for a priest.


Cate: Any favorite Halloween recipes you’d care to share?
Taryn: Tons, now that I have discovered Pinterest! You can check out my “Happy Halloween” page here: http://www.pinterest.com/tarynkincaid/happy-halloween/. There’s everything from the “Bloody Dexter Broken Glass Cupcake” to the “Dark and Stormy Death Punch” and “Halloween Eyeballs Jello Shots.”


Here are some little Halloween Oreo Pumpkin Cheesecakes to melt in your mouth:


Ingredients:
1 8-oz package of softened cream cheese
½ c. sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
½ c. pureed pumpkin
1 egg
¼ tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
2 tbs all purpose flour
Pinch of salt
12 Halloween Oreos (the ones with the orange icing in the middle)
Chocolate chips, optional


Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners. Place 1 oreo in the bottom of each. Whip cream cheese and sugar together until smooth. Stir in vanilla, pumpkin, egg, cinnamon, nutmeg, flour and salt until smooth.Spoon mixture over oreos.Bake 20-25 minutes, until cheesecakes have set.Remove from oven to cool.When cool, remove from muffin tin and discard paper wrappers.Microwave chocolate chips until melted. Drizzle chocolates in circles on top of each cake, then drag tip of toothpick or fork through the chocolate circles to create a spider web effect.Refrigerate and serve!
Cate: Sounds dangerously good. Tell us about your latest release, and where readers can find it online.
Taryn: Sleepy Hollow – it’s the anthology of all four of my erotic paranormal Sleepy Hollow series 1Night Stand stories for Decadent Publishing (Lightning, Thunder, Frost and Heat Wave), plus Blizzard, my erotic contemporary for Decadent’s The Edge line.


It’s available in paperback and digital. Here’s the back cover copy:

Welcome to steamy Sleepy Hollow, where lightning strikes, the temperatures are HOT, and the erotic sparks fly! 
You wouldn't think three sultry succubi sisters, two sexy fire-demons, a reluctant witch and a couple of mega hunky mortals would need hook-ups courtesy of Madame Eve's ultra-exclusive 1Night Stand agency…but hey, the dating scene can be rough, even if you've got extraordinary paranormal powers and live in a mystical village populated by supernaturals… where things tend to go bump in the night.


Taryn Kincaid's erotic 1Night Stand stories, LIGHTNING, THUNDER, FROST and HEAT WAVE are a little snarky, a lot smokin' and will melt your heart! And then BLIZZARD will set you aflame!





Available from Decadent Publishing | Amazon Amazon  US | UK| DE |Canada | ARe |


Cate: Love. This. Series.Woot! You lucky readers - Taryn has a giveaway!
Taryn: Will give away an ebook copy LIGHTNING, the first book in my Sleepy Hollow series to one random commenter. Tell me YOUR favorite Halloween recipe or a leave a link to it!
Cate: Thanks so much for the spooktacular fun, Taryn! Happy Halloween!