Nikki Duncan's Blog, page 6
November 5, 2012
Hawaiian Heroes are Blooming in The Wild
Hawaii’s Legends; As Hot and Sexy as the Islands
Aloha! Ah, Hawaii. A tropical paradise. One of my very favorite places on earth. And I’m not alone.
Hawaii was settled long ago by courageous people who set out over trackless seas in their dugout canoes, carrying food, water, plants and even livestock. They brought their beliefs with them. But their new islands were built in fire, and they soon learned they must share their islands with active volcanoes. This uneasy alliance inspired a set of creation myths and legends.
Pele is the patroness of Hawaii’s volcanoes. To anger her will bring swift retribution in the form of hot lava, flowing over the island home of feckless humans. Pele is a jealous goddess, prone to lust after those handsome, scantily clad Hawaiian chiefs and warriors. Any who refuse her advances are in big trouble–unless of course they can outwit the goddess.
A traditional Hawaiian sport is He’ehölua, or “sled surfing”. Brave warriors surf mountain slopes and lava fields on a special sled of wood lashed together with coconut fiber, at speeds up to 50 mph, over rock lightly covered with pili, a Hawaiian grass. Why? To honor Pele. According to the Hawaiian Boarding Co., (http://www.hawaiibc.com/holua.htm) who still make the sleds, “He’ehölua is a unique athletic performance of cultural expression and self-sacrifice of the Hawaiian willing to risk his or her life in an attempt to successfully ride the waves of Pele.”
He’ehölua inspired this legend. A warrior carried his sled up Pele’s volcano to surf down the pebbled lava slopes. Finding him handsome and virile, she made certain advances. When he refused her, he had to sled for his very life, with Pele chasing him in the form of red hot lava. Aue! or wow, as Hawaiians say. What a ride that must have been. (Never been sure why he wanted to get away, lol. I mean, a goddess? She must have been something.)
Hawaiian artist Herb Kane (http://www.herbkanehawaii.com/) loved to paint the legends of Hawaii. His gorgeous Pele mural is one of the first things we see inside the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park display at Kilauea Volcano. Check out the hunk on the left side of the mural—making his offering to Pele. What goddess wouldn’t want him?
This mural inspired my very own Hawaiian Heroes—modern Hawaiians gifted with special powers by Pele, to guard her islands as she sleeps. Only she can heal them from the deadly wounds incurred in their fight to protect Hawaii. And only she is wise enough to show these stubborn warriors that they also need love.
My Hawaiian romances have been called hot, steamy, tropical mini-vacations by readers. They are all available, along with reviews and excerpts @ http://www.cathryncade.com
The newest Hawaiian Hero is a heroine, debuting today @ Samhain! If you’d like to meet Bella Ho’omalu for FREE, leave a comment here, and I’ll enter you to win 1 of 5 FREE copies of this ebook. Be sure to leave your email address so I can contact the winners!
Mahalo to Nikki Duncan for hosting me, and to YOU for stopping by,
Cathryn Cade
Hawaiian Heroes are Bloomng in The Wild
Hawaii’s Legends; As Hot and Sexy as the Islands
Aloha! Ah, Hawaii. A tropical paradise. One of my very favorite places on earth. And I’m not alone.
Hawaii was settled long ago by courageous people who set out over trackless seas in their dugout canoes, carrying food, water, plants and even livestock. They brought their beliefs with them. But their new islands were built in fire, and they soon learned they must share their islands with active volcanoes. This uneasy alliance inspired a set of creation myths and legends.
Pele is the patroness of Hawaii’s volcanoes. To anger her will bring swift retribution in the form of hot lava, flowing over the island home of feckless humans. Pele is a jealous goddess, prone to lust after those handsome, scantily clad Hawaiian chiefs and warriors. Any who refuse her advances are in big trouble–unless of course they can outwit the goddess.
A traditional Hawaiian sport is He’ehölua, or “sled surfing”. Brave warriors surf mountain slopes and lava fields on a special sled of wood lashed together with coconut fiber, at speeds up to 50 mph, over rock lightly covered with pili, a Hawaiian grass. Why? To honor Pele. According to the Hawaiian Boarding Co., (http://www.hawaiibc.com/holua.htm) who still make the sleds, “He’ehölua is a unique athletic performance of cultural expression and self-sacrifice of the Hawaiian willing to risk his or her life in an attempt to successfully ride the waves of Pele.”
He’ehölua inspired this legend. A warrior carried his sled up Pele’s volcano to surf down the pebbled lava slopes. Finding him handsome and virile, she made certain advances. When he refused her, he had to sled for his very life, with Pele chasing him in the form of red hot lava. Aue! or wow, as Hawaiians say. What a ride that must have been. (Never been sure why he wanted to get away, lol. I mean, a goddess? She must have been something.)
Hawaiian artist Herb Kane (http://www.herbkanehawaii.com/) loved to paint the legends of Hawaii. His gorgeous Pele mural is one of the first things we see inside the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park display at Kilauea Volcano. Check out the hunk on the left side of the mural—making his offering to Pele. What goddess wouldn’t want him?
This mural inspired my very own Hawaiian Heroes—modern Hawaiians gifted with special powers by Pele, to guard her islands as she sleeps. Only she can heal them from the deadly wounds incurred in their fight to protect Hawaii. And only she is wise enough to show these stubborn warriors that they also need love.
My Hawaiian romances have been called hot, steamy, tropical mini-vacations by readers. They are all available, along with reviews and excerpts @ http://www.cathryncade.com
The newest Hawaiian Hero is a heroine, debuting today @ Samhain! If you’d like to meet Bella Ho’omalu for FREE, leave a comment here, and I’ll enter you to win 1 of 5 FREE copies of this ebook. Be sure to leave your email address so I can contact the winners!
Mahalo to Nikki Duncan for hosting me, and to YOU for stopping by,
Cathryn Cade
Samhain Editor Tera Kleinfelter talks about Her Miracle Man
We are welcoming my awesome editor Tera Kleinfelter to the party today! Tera is answering questions from writers and readers on writing and Her MIRACLE MAN.
What’s the “dreaded” synopsis used for? How much emphasis is put on them?
At Samhain, we use the synopsis for writing the cover copy. We send a draft of the cover copy to our blurb wizard along with the synopsis. Because Carol looks at almost every blurb for every book for Samhain, there is no way that she would be able to read all of the books and know the entire story. With the synopsis, it enables her to know the major plot points and “secrets” and make that the blurb compels a reader to buy the book while not giving away anything important.
You contracted HER MIRACLE MAN off the synopsis. Can you tell us one of your first reactions to the HER MIRACLE MAN synopsis? What did you see in it that made you know you had to have the story?
Nikki and I actually spoke in length about the story and her ideas for it before I ever saw the synopsis and I was pretty much sold on it then. I knew it was the kind of story Nikki could do justice to, and I knew she was going to put in the work to make sure it’d be as accurate as possible. Once I got the synopsis, it was all done. =)
What was one of your favorite memories of the research you did with Nikki?
Oh man, there are so many! I think the day we went to the zoo and The Children’s Museum. Nikki’s daughter Destruction was absolutely cracking us up. She decided she was going to be our tour guide and we had to call her by her tour guide name. She had quite a few…Dime, Chime, Diamond… And she wouldn’t answer us unless we called her by that name. You should have seen the looks we were getting when we were yelling “Diamond” at her. And then there was the meerkat who was very happy to see us…but I’ll let Nikki go into that one. LOL!
Had you ever gone on a research trip like that before with an author? What kind of things were you and Nikki looking for when you went around Indianapolis?
I’ve never done research with one of my authors before, and I have to say, I loved it! It was especially handy as I was editing. There were a few parts where I was able to say “Hey, why don’t you say why there are clouds painted on the ceiling, because that’s an awesome story”, and things such as that. It also helped that Nikki did it in Indianapolis, which is a city I am familiar with since I only live forty-five minutes away and am there on a regular basis. “Hey, Nikki, dude, you can’t take a carriage ride that far.” I don’t think we were looking for anything in specific. Most of the questions we asked were sparked from something the people we interviewed said. The people we spoke to were amazing at giving us the rundowns of things and supplying us with all the information we needed, and more!
Why is this story, and the setting of Riley’s Hospital for Children, important to you?
When Nikki presented this story idea to me, she didn’t have a children’s hospital in mind to use and actually thought about making one up. I immediately suggested Riley’s, because of how amazing I know the place to be. A friend of mine has a son who had a brain tumor rupture. Had he gotten to surgery just a couple of minutes later, he would have died. I know firsthand how amazing Riley’s is and just how far they will go for their patients and their families. And just a few months ago, after the story was written and we were working on edits, my 4yo cousin was diagnosed with a late-stage leukemia and Riley’s was just as phenomenal. I can’t say enough good things about them. What they do goes way beyond the medical.
A beta reader/reviewer wants to know what it’s like to work on a story that balances so many emotions? Humor. Love. Grief. Healing.
The research was the hardest…hearing those stories, and knowing what people have gone through. Once we got to the edit stage, I knew what I was in for and I knew the ending, so it wasn’t the shock to me that it could have been. There were a couple of lines in the story, one in the beginning, where I remember I called Nikki and told her she sucked because she actually made me cry with just those few words. I think knowing what I was going into made it easier to detach, so to speak, so I could look at it from a more objective standpoint than the emotional one that I would normally be in going into it blind.
What do you hope readers will give HER MIRACLE MAN a chance? Is there any one thing you hope they take away from it?
OH, the story is just amazing. And the accuracy and the detail in it make it wonderful. Everything in the story could really happen…and I think that’s what I’d love for people to take away from it. That little things and a little effort can make all the difference in the world. Yes, the hero happens to be rich and can buy presents that most people wouldn’t be able to, but look past that to the simple things. What little pieces of joy can be brought to others so easily…
Did it make you cry?
One line in the beginning made me cry, simply because it was so stark and emotional. The parts that will make everyone else cry didn’t make me, because I knew they were coming.
And the always important debate question… Coffee or Chocolate?
What do you mean “or”? Does not compute.
Do you have more questions for Tera? Chat it up and be entered into the drawing for Saturday’s Giveaway.
November 3, 2012
Who needs Cinderella when you can have THE CINDERELLA SUBSTITUTE?
We’re welcoming Nell Dixon to the blog today, and she’s talking a bit about the first book she sold.
The Cinderella Substitute was the first book I ever sold. Originally it was out with Moonlit Romance another specialist sweet romance publisher. It sold well, garnered great reviews and made the shortlist for several awards. Then my publisher folded.
Audiolark produced it as an audiobook and I waited for the right time and the right publisher to come along, polish it up and re-introduce my firstborn back to the e book world. I’m thrilled to say Astraea Press loved The Cinderella Substitute and now it’s out once more in the big wide world.
Here’s the blurb! In the two years since the tragic car crash that killed his fiancée, Nathanial (Nate) Mayer has successfully avoided another relationship. His family and especially his twin sister Nathalie are worried. Jennifer (Jenni) Blake is Nate’s personal assistant. Hired after the accident, she has her own problems to deal with, including the deaths of her adoptive parents and the debts incurred by their nursing care. But those difficulties pale into insignificance when Jenni finally traces her birth mother…
Nate is very much a tormented hero with a dark secret but Jenni has secrets of her own and for all her shyness and drab exterior she is quite a feisty, independent girl.
Available as audiobook from Audiolark or from all good etailers, it’s a Christmas story with a difference. I hope you’ll love this story as much as I do.
You can read about the rest of the Mayer family and their love lives in Be My Hero and Dangerous to Know also available from good etailers!
Don’t forget that chatting will enter you into Saturday’s drawing!
Party and Prizes and Saturday Treats!
I want to welcome everyone to the blog and thank those of you who’ve commented so far on the posts this week. One person has already won an ARC from Phoebe Conn and I have another one to give away today! Before I announce today’s winner, I want to remind you all that there are still many guests to come over the next 4 weeks. I really hope you’ll chat with each of them and check out there books.
Today’s winner is Laura! Laura will win:
~ An ARC of FIERCE LOVE by Phoebe Conn
~ A $5 gift card to Amazon from Meg Benjamin
~ A $5 gift card to Samhain Publishing
~ A Locks of Love teddy bear that served as donations to Locks of Love (your choice of pink or brown)
The remaining prizes that will be given out over the coming weeks include:
~ ARCs of HER MIRACLE MAN
~ An ARC from Vivi Andrews
~ A HER MIRACLE MAN Amethyst ring made by Anara Bella – this is a replica of a ring in the book
~ A sterling silver and diamond, dolphin shaped necklace – the dolphin is important to HER MIRACLE MAN
~ 2 Locks of Love teddy bears
~ Gift cards to Amazon, B&N, Samhain
~ Vouchers for Airline tickets for 2 to one of 50 destinations (choices include Acapulco, Calgary, Cancun, Honolulu, Montreal, Puerta Vallarta, Naples, and many more)
The remaining guests include:
Nov 4 – Nell Dixon
Nov 5 – Tera Kleinfelter (my editor)
Nov 6 – Cathryn Cade
Nov 7 – Midweek Miracle
Nov 8 – Casea Major
Nov 9 – Vivi Andrews
Nov 10 – Gift Giveaway
Nov 11 – Marie Harte
Nov 12 – Sara Megibow (an amazing agent)
Nov 13 – Sidney Bristol
Nov 14 – Midweek Miracle
Nov 15 – Donna Alward
Nov 16 – Missy Jane
Nov 17 – Gift Giveaway
Nov 18 – Lissa Matthews
Nov 19 – Angie Waters (cover artist for HER MIRACLE MAN)
Nov 20 – Heather Long
Nov 21 – Midweek Miracle
Nov 22 – Jenna Bayley-Burke
Nov 23 – Denise Patrick
Nov 24 – Gift Giveaway
Nov 25 – A Cover Vote
Nov 26 – The NDcent Dames (my book launch team)
Nov 27 – HER MIRACLE MAN Releases!
Nov 28 – Midweek Miracle
Nov 29 – Candace Havens
Nov 30 – Jodi Redford
Dec 1 – Final Gift Giveaway
November 1, 2012
Words, Words, Words! Or, How NaNoWriMo Can Help You Be a Better Lover
National Novel Writing Month began the 1st of November. It is a month-long, international event where folks can write, and do so with abandon, egging each other on. The objective of NaNoWriMo is simple: write a complete novel of at least 50,000 words, during the month of November. It doesn’t have to be good, it doesn’t even have to make sense – it just has to exist.
What good is that?
Quite a lot of good, actually, is to be had from the process of writing a NaNo novel. For one thing, one learns to simply show up at the page and put down words. For another thing, one learns to simply show up at the page again the next day. A lack of drama about the words means that the words get onto the page, rather than being edited ahead of time. The critical, “but I don’t know how to spell,” or other such sayings, are ignored in favor of simply accumulating words.
I think this sort of approach makes us better at all sorts of things, including, as I said in the title, being better lovers. Rather than rationing ourselves for fear of doing something wrong, we learn to run at the wall, full speed ahead, and learn in the process of doing. The old adage, “How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice!” applies here. How do you finish a novel? By writing one!
Rachel and I have written two novels and a short story using this method of drafting: accumulate the words, edit later. It’s useful to us to get onto the page because otherwise the critic interferes and nothing gets written. By “critic,” here, I refer to our internalized critic, the little voice that whispers, “you’re not a writer,” or “you can’t spell,” or “you call that a plot??” That little voice is wrong. You can write. If you are a voracious reader, for example, chances are you have a good gut-feel for what makes a good story. If you like to talk with your friends a lot, and tell stories about all sorts of things, you’re probably a born storyteller. Why not experiment with NaNoWriMo?
If you’re curious to find out more, visit the website, www.nanowrimo.org. You will find all sorts of support, all over the world. There are online forums, in-person write-ins, and even places for graphic artists to share ideas for cover art. It’s an all-out extravaganza for writers and authors to play together. The best part is, you don’t need to be a professional writer to participate – you don’t even need to have written anything before today. If you want to go for it, then go for it – write some words today, and write some more words tomorrow, and so on until the end of November. Sounds easy, doesn’t it?
–
“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.”
- E.E. Cummings
My links: Blog | Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon | LinkedIn | Pandora
Knoontime Knitting: Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Ravelry
Noon and Wilder links: Blog | Website | Facebook
Team Blogs: Nightlight | The Writers Retreat Blog | Beyond the Veil | LGBT Fantasy Fans and Writers
Publishers: Samhain Publishing | Torquere Press
Check out BURNING BRIGHT, available from Samhain Publishing.
Check out EMERALD FIRE, available from Torquere Books.
Check out “Taking a Chance“, part of the Charity Sips 2012 to benefit NOH8, available from Torquere Books.
Watch for TIGER TIGER, coming soon from Samhain Publishing.
CHAT IT UP TO BE ENTERED IN TOMORROW’S SATURDAY GIVEAWAY, AND TO BE ENTERED INTO THE GRAND PRIZE DRAWING OF 2 AIRLINE TICKETS!
October 31, 2012
Fearless Love: Series Roulette, the Old and the New
Let’s welcome Meg Benjamin to the blog today! Remember, chat it up and you’re automatically entered into the drawings for some great prizes. Meg is also kicking in an Amazon gift card for this Saturday’s Giveaway.
My goal with my Konigsburg, Texas, books has always been to create stories that fit together but that also stood alone. I wanted readers to be able to start anywhere in the series and still feel like they understood what was going on because I know how frustrating it can be to wander into a series and feel totally lost.
But those of us who write series walk a kind of tightrope: we want to introduce new characters and situations, but we don’t want to lose track of the old ones. In fact, we can get into trouble with readers if we don’t check in with older characters from time to time.
My most recent Konigsburg book, Fearless Love, picks up some of the characters from my last two books (Don’t Forget Me and Brand New Me), but it also introduces a lot of new characters. And it’s my first Konigsburg book without a Toleffson brother or spouse. I did this sort of deliberately. I love the Toleffsons—and it was a wrench to do a book without Docia Kent Toleffson, my alter ego—but Konigsburg has a lot of citizens and I wanted to branch out a little.
Not all my readers have been happy about this. I’ve already gotten a couple of pointed comments about how much they missed the old gang and how they hoped my next book would go back to the Dew Drop Inn. I know where they’re coming from. I would have happily gone on reading about the Bridgerton family indefinitely (Julia Quinn knew enough to limit the number siblings to eight) and I was sad to finally come to the end of Mary Balogh’s Bedwyns and Jo Beverley’s Mallorens. And I also remember how annoyed I was with both Ed McBain and Tony Hillerman when they published books that didn’t feature the characters I’d come to know and love.
But I also look at it from my own point of view as a writer. You’re always in danger of repeating yourself, of telling the same story over and over. Introducing new characters gives you a chance to branch out, to move in new directions. I want to go on doing that too.
So I promise I’ll work a couple of Toleffsons into my next Konigsburg. In fact, I’ve already started thinking about it. But I’ll also work in some new people. And maybe I’ll pick up a few secondary characters who’ve been standing around in the background, hoping I’d tell their stories too. Konigsburg, Texas, is a surprisingly big small town. And I hope I can go on discovering the stories of its citizens for a while yet.
Fearless Love Excerpt:
She handed him a bottle, then headed for the back door. “We can watch the sunset if you don’t mind the chickens.”
“MG?”
She turned. He stood in the middle of her kitchen floor, watching her, the unopened bottle dangling from his fingers. “On second thought, I don’t really want a beer.”
She blinked. “Okay, well, there’s some iced tea.”
“I don’t want tea right now either. Or the chickens. Or the sunset, nice though it probably is.” He paused, watching her. “I mean, I came here to take you out to dinner, but on second thought, I don’t think I can wait that long after all.”
Her shoulders suddenly felt tight and there was an twinge in her belly. “Wait that long for what?”
“You.” The word seemed to drop into the silence of her kitchen. He put the beer bottle back on the kitchen table, dropping his hands to his sides.
Her shoulders ached. She took a step toward him, then stopped. What the crap do I do now? “Oh.”
He frowned slightly. “Of course, you can say no if you want to. If I misread whatever this is between us, I’ll head off home. No harm, no foul.” He watched her again, blue eyes dark in the late afternoon sunshine.
“No,” she said slowly. “You don’t need to do that.” She took a few more steps back across the suddenly broad expanse of her kitchen. She was almost next to him now. Would it look too eager if she took the last few steps at a trot?
He grinned again, his lips spreading slowly. “Glad to hear that. I didn’t want to.”
MG’s brain seemed to have gone on vacation. Have I ever made love with a man who had a beard before? Right off hand, she couldn’t think of anybody. And the list wasn’t all that long to begin with. She stood looking up at him, then placed a tentative hand on his chest. “You realize I’ve got a really crappy bed. It’s one Great Aunt Nedda left behind.”
His grin delved a dimple in one cheek. “Trust me, your Great Aunt Nedda is the last thing I’m going to be thinking about.”
“Good,” she murmured, licking her lips. “Me too.” She clasped her hands behind his neck, pulling him down toward her.
Buy Link: Samhain: http://store.samhainpublishing.com/fearless-love-p-7011.html
Meg Benjamin is an award-winning author of contemporary romance. Her Konigsburg series for Samhain Publishing is set in the Texas Hill Country. Book #3, Be My Baby, won a 2011 EPIC Award for Contemporary Romance. Book #4, Long Time Gone, received the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award for Indie Press Romance. Book #5, Brand New Me, won the Holt Medallion from Virginia Romance Writers and was nominated for Book Of the Year at Long and Short Reviews. Meg lives in Colorado with her DH and two rather large Maine coon kitties (well, partly Maine Coon anyway). Her Web site is http://www.MegBenjamin.com and her blog is http://megbenj1.wordpress.com/. You can follow her on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/meg.benjamin1), Pinterest (http://pinterest.com/megbenjamin/), and Twitter (http://twitter.com/megbenj1). Meg loves to hear from readers—contact her at meg@megbenjamin.com.
Why are everyday miracles the ones we rarely hear about?
I’ve said it here before that miracles happen every day. They’re all around us even when we don’t see past ourselves and our lives to notice them. This weekend I was chatting in the Samhain Cafe with the awesome readers and authors there and asked people to tell me what the coolest or biggest miracle was they’d ever seen in their life. I got some cool answers.
A few of them said that as “common” as it is, childbirth was their miracle. I have to say that I don’t think there is anything common about this one. Every child is a miracle. They are all special and different and unique and if we let them they all bring something to our lives.
One woman witnessed someone close to her being shot by their spouse and surviving. I know there is a story there, and I may ask for details at some point, but do you really need them to know how miraculous that is? How miraculous it must have been to see someone you love survive something so tragic?
Another miracle was a car literally running over a woman. All she got was a bruised pelvis. Yeah, that’s another story. 
The miracle of getting married was also mentioned. I talked about this one some when I blogged about my sister’s recent wedding.
One woman’s miracle came when her BFF was dying of cancer. The miracle came in the amount of love she was showered with by friends. She was made to feel blessed because she had obviously blessed so many around her with an amazing spirit.
Another woman shared stories of her husband and her daughter who are both miracles. Miracles have kept them alive and it was a miracle that brought them all together into a warm and loving family.
And then there was this one that I thought I’d share in more detail:
“…a few months ago in my town. A little boy 3 yrs. old was diagnosed with leukemia in July. By August he had so many complications the doctors were not giving his family any hope of survival at all. He was on life support and they didn’t think he would make it. A few days later he came out of it all and he’s doing great. He is in remission now. Still having some treatments but its amazing to see him outside playing when just a couple months ago he was barely alive. Our town lost a lot of people this yr. including my brother in law so this was a miracle that we needed.”
It’s cool to hear about a story here or there that touches your heart, but when you have a group of people all talking about the things that have touched them… It’s an amazing feeling. It’s that feeling that had me writing HER MIRACLE MAN and that had me planning this month long blog party. I hope you will chat with all the guests lined up. Some of them will be giving away prizes on their day, others will be kicking in things for the Saturday giveaway, and there are some great things I have planned. Chatting this week enters you in this Saturday’s drawing as well as the grand prize drawing at month’s end that is for 2 airline tickets to 1 of 50 destinations. Maybe winning a trip could be your miracle. Or have you already witnessed one?
October 29, 2012
Chatting with Meg Lacey will be anything but a MILLION DOLLAR MISTAKE
It’s day two of the blog party and the fun is just beginning. Before I turn things over to today’s guest, I want to remind you to chat it up. All comments through the week are entered into the drawing for Saturday’s Giveaway. The list of prizes and authors who’ll be blogging can be found here. Now, though, let’s hear it for Meg!
Hi everyone. I’m Meg Lacey.
I love random thoughts. The strangest thing can spark an idea. For example, the other day I attended a Belly dancing Halloween concert given by local studios. Before you jump to conclusions, no I am not a belly dance student. I have problems walking, talking, snapping my fingers and chewing bubblegum at the same time. I’m notorious for my ‘graceful’ falls. LOL
Anyway, a friend sent me an invitation to the event so I went. Once there I had an absolute blast looking at the costumes, makeup, and enjoying the dances. It was while I was watching a Tribal Belly dance Act (who knew there were different types of belly dance) that it hit me. (Random thoughts always start with a ‘What if?”)
It was a random thought that gave me the first spark for my new contemporary romance, “Million Dollar Mistake,” which is now out from Samhain Publishing. I was looking at a tabloid magazine, and realized that I didn’t have the slightest idea who some of the women were who were on the covers. I’m talking about the people who are famous for no reason, the Paris Hilton’s, the Snooki’s, the number of other women who are there, but haven’t really accomplished anything I considered substantial, except for their fifteen minutes of fame.
Then I thought, what if I have a tabloid bad girl, who is bored and accepts an offer to go away for the weekend with a man, and then realized this type of tabloid lifestyle is no longer what she wants. She wants to be loved for herself, not because it would be a good headline. That was the idea that sparked Million Dollar Mistake
When the book starts, Raven Rutledge is the ultimate tabloid bad girl. Nicholas Demetrious is the very distant family connection who has always been the one designated to get her out of trouble, while trying to avoid falling into trouble with her. After all, a bad girl is just as appealing as a bad boy when she looks and acts like Raven. Raven is impulsive, wild to a fault, and secretly hoping someone will stop her before she destroys herself. Nicholas on the other hand is cool and controlled, except when it comes to Raven. He’s forced to rescue Raven from her most recent disaster, because her presence is messing up a very lucrative business deal. Taking care of the family business and the family fortune is his job, and he takes his job very seriously. It’s not the noblest reason for his actions, but, when you consider he’s always been halfway in love with Raven, it’s understandable.
Anyway, the two of them spar, seduce and use their wit to bring the situation to a fun romantic conclusion. AND, I forgot to tell you; this book actually offers two romantic stories in one. Did I mention there is another couple involved when they are all snowed in by a blizzard in the Adirondacks? If not, well I hope you’ll all want to find out more about it by yourselves.
I’m also running a giveaway contest for Million Dollar Mistake, with terrific prizes. Sign up: www.meglacey.com to sign up. Visit Facebook: www.facebook.com/meglaceybooks.
Have you had any random thoughts today? Tell me about them?
Meg
Joyful Book Clubs – A Phoebe Conn Post
We’re officially kicking off the Month long blog party today! Our first guest is New York Times Bestselling author Phoebe Conn and she is giving away a free pdf copy of FIERCE LOVE! She is also adding a copy into the Saturday Giveaway that Nikki will do. The details on the party, prizes and how the giveaways work are here. You can also enter another contest here by spreading the word about the party!
Now, on to Phoebe’s addition!
Phoebe Conn is a New York Times bestselling author who adores romance. She writes adventure-laced historicals, futuristic books with heroines adept at space travel and contemporary romances with a touch of suspense.
I love to read and belong to three monthly book clubs. Thursday’s group loves mysteries and avoids non-fiction. Monday’s tends to choose what is referred to as Women’s Fiction. The Sunday group picks far more challenging fiction and non-fiction. We’re reading HALF THE SKY by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, a Pulitzer prize winning couple. It’s a riveting account of the plight of women in developing countries and was recently featured as a two night series on PBS.
The Sunday group has the most exciting discussions, and we make a quick check-in of what’s new in everyone’s life. At our last meeting, our one male member was in New York attending his high school reunion, so we felt free to discuss dating, which we don’t usual do when he’s there. We’re all single, some of us looking for love, others quiet about it if they are. My dating stories would make great skits for Saturday Night Live, and when they stopped laughing, my book club thought I really should put my latest memorable date in a book.
Occasionally a man will ask if I date to gather material for my romance novels, and I assure him absolutely never. Frankly, most men aren’t that exciting, but I don’t dare tell them that. I’ve belonged to several on-line dating services, as have my book club friends. One man who came up as a match lived not too far from me, which is a big plus in Los Angeles suburbs. I’m near Pasadena, and he was too, so we got together for coffee one afternoon. He is an attorney, and this is the only time I’ve ever received a note with the word pursuant in it.
He arrived with the hiccups and drank tea with honey to get rid of them. It didn’t work, but that’s a minor problem. Men want to impress women, and let’s face it, their favorite subject is themselves, but this man regaled me for an hour with stories about money. He’d wanted to move, bought a four million dollar house, put two million into renovations and then decided he didn’t want to live there. He was only able to sell it for $5,900,000. “What a shame,” I murmured sympathetically. He assured me it was a loss and tax write-off.
That’s only a tidbit of our conversation, or his conversation, I should say. He spent a great deal of the time talking about a woman he’d been engaged to. He’d bought her a $100,000 diamond ring, but got it for only $50,000 in Los Angeles’s jewelry district. When they broke up, she’d sold it, bought a new car and had her house painted. He didn’t think she’d gotten what it was really worth. I could only nod. He asked if I’d like to go to dinner with him and mentioned a really nice restaurant. I hoped there was something more to him than money, and I said I would, not really expecting him to call.
He did call and picked me up in a new BMW sedan. It was a tax write-off because he needed a car to get to court. He impressed me with his concern for his personal injury clients, but soon after we’d ordered dinner, he finally switched topics and chose politics. I’m as liberal as it’s possible to be, and he asked, “Didn’t I tell you I was a conservative?”
If he had, I wouldn’t have been there. (He’d won $2,900 on a $1,000 off-track bet that afternoon and urged me to order whatever I wanted.) Gag.
After a really uncomfortable dinner, I bid him good night. He sent me an email saying he’d really like to see me again. I was flattered, but pointed out our political views didn’t match. He didn’t care. He liked me. I’d had enough. What particularly bothered me were not only his inane views, but he didn’t care at all what I thought. That was a waving red flag if I ever saw one. The whole interlude would make a good scene for a heroine to suffer through on the way to true love, but I’ll probably never use it. It was a fun story to tell at book club, but not something I’d care to spend more time on writing.
My May 2012 book from Samhain Publishing, FIERCE LOVE, was inspired by a family friend who married a bullfighter’s daughter. When we received the wedding invitation, I wrote A Bullfighter’s Daughter in my idea file. Most editors cringed at a story with a matador hero, even if no bullfights were in the book. My editor at Samhain responded, “I love matadors!” The second book in the series, FIERCE PRIDE, a February 2013 release, is the story of the matador’s son, and I’m working on FIERCE PASSION, the story of the matador’s mistress. These books have really been a treat to write and while the matador’s family is wealthy, they never mention money.
Here’s the link!
www.SamhainPublishing.com has a terrific Retro Program to make popular historical romances available again. BY LOVE ENSLAVED is a November 2012 book, and SWEPT AWAY, is a December 2012 book.
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