Liz Flaherty's Blog, page 180

Much Ado About Nothing

I took the day off from the day job today. Toothache that lead to a headache. There's a  Star Trek marathon on, and I've been vegging for at least the last three episodes. The house is empty. Toothache aside, I'm enjoying myself.

I love my do nothing days. Time to decompress. Let my brain reboot. No one to answer to, to pressing business, no drama. I don't have to be bothered if I don't feel like it. It's freeing. Could I get used to it? No. As a matter of fact, my do nothing days wouldn'...

Share Your Beginning

A new book is like a new day - filled with possibility.

I love the beginnings of books - my own and other writer's. I like them to be eerie or funny, sweet or sad. I guess you could say I like all of them. Because the beginning of a new book has such promise. There are 300 pages just waiting for us to read and enjoy or, when it's our own beginning, 300 pages to cry over. Start and stop and start again.

While the starting and the stopping sometimes makes me crazy, I can't stop doing it.

I started...

Ride A Falling Star--cover reveal

Good morning!

Yesterday, I unveiled my new cover! Isn't he it pretty? I love the model portraying Levi so much! I just want to kiss his handsome face. Ha!

And I just love the girl who brings Ava to life. In this case, the models portray my characters perfectly. I searched high and low for them, let me tell you. Site after site. But then, finally, there they were!

I've been very lucky with my covers. Crimson Romance's artists are adept at bringing my characters alive, and so far, have hit...

Andrea Downing's Wrong Turn Works Out Well

Please join the Wranglers in welcoming fellow Wild Rose Press author to our corral today.
Andrea Downing likes to say that, when she decided to leave New York, the city of her birth, she made a wrong turn and went east instead of west.   She ended up spending most of her life in the UK where she received an M.A. from the University of Keele in Staffordshire.  She married and raised a beautiful daughter and  stayed on to teach and write, living in the Derbyshire Peak Distric...

Never Thought I'd be a Virgin Again!

Last week, I attended the National RWA Conference for the first time. I was nervous and excited. When I registered at the desk of the Marriot Marquis, I was given a bag of books (very nice) and my name badge. In the envelope with the badge was an orange ribbon that read "FIRST TIMER". I was a little skeptical about attaching the ribbon. I felt like I had the word "virgin" tattooed on my forehead. As if reading my mind, the lady registering me said, "Make sure you wear your ribbon. When peopl...

MY CHARACTER DEVICE

Yesterday, Kristi wrote about her storyboards and I didn't leave a comment, because I don't really utilize them--what? have a plan? Yep, total pantser here--but also because I didn't think I had a writing trick to share.

But then last night as I was wondering what I should blog about, I thought about characterization and one thing I've been thinking about trying lately. And it has to do with magazines. People and US to be specific. 

Each of them has a column that I think could be beneficia...

Wednesday Writing Tip: Storyboarding

I storyboard my wips. A lot. I have a large storyboard on a big chalkboard that I salvaged from a garage sale a few years ago. It covers the main events in the story arcs of the hero/heroine and the main events in the story.

But I never thought about doing minor storyboards for the secondary characters until I started working on my Sooper Sekrit Projekt a few weeks ago. I was in a meeting (that had nothing to do with writing) and we began storyboarding different goals, etc. and something just...

Sara Walter-Ellwood and Texas

Why Texas?Thank you, D’Ann, for having me today on Word Wranglers!This is a question I get every time I tell people what I write—contemporary western romance set in Texas. Anyone who knows me knows I was born, raised and have always lived in Pennsylvania. In fact, it’s a joke some of my western writer friends know that I’ve never been west of Ohio. Yet I love to read and write about it. But why Texas? Colorado is a beautiful state as is Montana, the other common setting for us western romance...

Finding the Right Point of View

Most contemporary romances are written in the third person. Often from the point of view of both the hero and heroine. My recently completed project, Love Me Not, also follows this format. But my debut novel, Making the First Move—which releases today—does not. The story is told in first person from the point of view of the heroine. So why did I break rank? When I wrote the story—many moons ago—I considered it romantic women’s fiction. Getting inside the head of my heroine’s love interest was...

Another Edition of Random Thoughts

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