Liz Flaherty's Blog, page 111

In Defense of Young Heroines

Okay, not this young!This week, both Liz and Nan posed the question: Why aren’t there more heroines “of a certain age?” There were a lot of great comments and some excellent points made about a need for more Baby Boomer romance, especially in light of the fact that many romance readers are well past our 20s and 30s.

So why aren’t romance heroines more reflective of their target market demographics? I have a (no doubt very unpopular) theory about that.
First, let’s set aside talk about historic...

SUMMER DAYS

 by Margie Senechal

When I was growing up, my grandparents were part owners of a property on the Lewis River and when it got really hot out, Grandma would say, "Let's go to the Place."

We'd pack a picnic lunch, load up the station wagon and Grandpa's truck and head out. We wore shorts and our oldest tennis shoes because you didn't go into the Lewis River barefooted.

It wasn't that deep where it ran along their property, but the rocks in the riverbed were sharp and slick

Man, that cool water...

Sometimes, I Wonder

I like a good mystery. As a girl, I devoured Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books, and by about fourteen or fifteen I'd discovered Harlequin's Intrigue line, and Nora Roberts' mysteries are still among my favorites. Every year when she updates her publication calendar on her website, I mark my own calendar with the release dates.

It isn't just in books that I like a little mystery. When I was a kid I often wondered where Amelia Earhart was and would watch the sky for a while, searching for her plan...

Still Sexy After All These Years

Liz's post yesterday got me all stirred up about romance novels with seasoned characters, something I am deeply passionate about. I'm so stirred up that I dug out an old blog post from a couple of years ago and am reposting it today, just to ask the question again--why do romance publishers seem to be ignoring the largest demographic in the country? Especially considering we are the demographic that is spending money on books . . . so, here we go . . .

I’m bugged, so get ready. There’s a chanc...

...a thunderous roar...

Congratulations to all 2016 RITA and Golden Heart winners!

And to me, while we're at it, because I finally, finally typed "The End" on my WIP. I'm happy with it. It's with readers now and we'll see what they think. And now I'm in a kind of limbo.

Usually, when I don't have anything to write, I sew while people appear and stories percolate in my cluttered little mind. But this time a song title came to me (actually only part of the title came--I had to look it up) and made me think, Hmm..., and...

What I learned from my Author Signing

Last week, it was suggested that I re-cap the Author Signing Event which I participated in last weekend… and which had me so tied up in knots. What a great idea! So, here goes:

Bring a great assistant. This also fall under the header “two heads are better than one.” I brought An awesome-looking table and assistant!my best friend, who turned out to be the best person for the job. Not only did she help me navigate to the event safely (and kept calm when I realized the car was running on fum...

Gardening With Phil

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It's All In The Details

Those of you who are regulars here already know this but, in my oh-so-humble opinion, The Princess Bride is the best book/movie combo out there. Seriously. Twilight? Pales in comparison. The Princess Diaries? Inconceivable!

My favorite part of The Princess Bride - book, not movie - is the introduction. Sure, the actual description of The Pit of Despair is amazeballs. But the introduction is killer. It's the part where the author goes on for pages and pages about how bad the first book was...

Setting, Situation, Scene . . . Continued

Yesterday, Liz talked about using the same settings and situations from novel to novel and I was fascinated with the idea. Of course, I immediately looked to my own writing, searching for situations and settings that I use regularly. I found some, but before I tell you about them, I just want to say that I think that is the nature of writing. We write what know, as Liz pointed out, and what we love. Our own lives and our own settings will be reflected in our stories.

Good examples of that are...

Setting, situation, scene...repeat?

There are things I use a lot in writing. Settings, situations, scenes. Not in every book, but often enough that I notice and--once or twice--a reader or critique partner has noticed, too.

For instance, there's the shopping scene. I have been dinged for this. "What's the deal with the shopping?" I don't have a clue what the "deal" is, but most of my protagonists buy food, clothing, or something else at some point in the book. They usually talk to the cashier, meet someone in the parking lot, or...