Maddy Barone's Blog, page 54
February 18, 2012
Sherry's Wolf Update and Excerpt
I've been hard at work on Sherry's Wolf, and the end is in sight at last. I won't actually have it done this weekend as hoped, so now my deadline is February 25. In my defense, I have to say that Sherry is a much more complicated woman than I had first believed. I will have to do some fairly major re-writing of chapters 2-5. It will probably be about 28,000 words, a solid novella length and I hope to have it out around March 25. Depends on how long my beta readers and editor take with it and how easy it is to format it for Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Here is a short excerpt of Sherry finally accepting Stag's mate bond. Sherry is sitting up in bed, and Stag is perched on the edge of the bed. This is totally unedited, so please excuse the errors.
Sherry shifted on the bed, a mere inch from Stag's naked thigh. "I guess what I'm trying to say is: I'm sorry I've been so … so dither-y."
"Dither-y?" Stag blinked with adorable confusion.
"Yeah, first I'm coming on to you, then I'm pushing you away." She reached up to put the empty glass on the top of chest of drawers. "I'm done with that. I won't lie; I'm a little nervous about this, so be gentle, okay?"
His mystified expression froze when she put her hands on his warm bare shoulders and dragged them down his pecs and lower. She hesitated at his belly button, all too aware that his nakedness didn't hide his body's reaction to her touch. But she didn't stroke any lower. She didn't dare. Her boldness trembled on the verge of collapsing as it was.
"Stag?" she asked nervously. "Is this okay? Do you mind if I touch you?"
She watched his adam's apple bob when he swallowed hard. "Are you accepting me as your mate?"
Now she was the one to swallow hard. "Yes." The word cracked, so she swallowed again and spoke more firmly. "Yes. Be patient with me. I didn't do a very good job being a wife the first time around, but I'll try harder with you."
"You were a good wife, better than that man deserved." Stag reached a long brown hand to cup her cheek. "I'll be the best mate I can be. I'll protect you and provide for you always. I'm not in love with you. That's for giddy children who base their commitment on feelings. I love you, which is more permanent because it's a choice I've made. I think you're beautiful, and a lot braver than you give yourself credit for. I've seen how good you are with the other women at the Plane Womens' House. You work hard to help them. You deserve to have someone to take care of you. You will always come first with me."
"And you'll let me have a little freedom, right?"
"Right," he agreed. "I'm not the only one of us who will need to be patient. I promise to try to not be a male chauvinist pig, but habits are hard to break."
She suppressed a spurt of surprise that he even knew what a male chauvinist pig was. Of course, he –and all the other wolves– defined 'male chauvinist pig'. "Kiss me, Stag," she whispered.
His hands settled on her shoulders. "I thought you'd never ask," he said fervently. "I promised Taye I wouldn't touch you until you invited me to."
That made her snort out a chuckle. She'd never imagined Taye Wolfe as a chaperone before. It made her like him a little better. "Consider yourself invited, dear."
Stag kissed her lips once gently. And again. Sherry wanted more. She opened her lips under his and licked at his closed mouth.
"Open your mouth, Stag," she whispered against his lips.
"Okay. I just don't want to go too far and scare you again."
"You can go as far as you like now. You can go all the way. You better go all the way. I like you being gentle, but you don't have to be so gentle."
February 15, 2012
13 places I visit online
For Thursday 13 this week I thought I'd write about where I go when I'm online. Most of these are a no-brainer for my witing friends. Others may surprise you. 
1. www.facebook.com Duh. Facebook. I spend way too much time there.
2. www.allaboutromance.com A romance site. I really like reading their reviews and the forums.
3. http://omgthatdress.tumblr.com/ A blog that is almost exclusively pictures of vintage (AND OLDER) clothing. I spend HOURS drooling over the dresses from the 1800s.
4. www.goodreads.com A fun place to troll for new reading material.
5. www.romancedivas.com Yep, my fave place to go for writing help and companionship.
6.http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/ The blog of a very well known and clever knitter, spinner and writer.
7. http://www.istok.net/church-brocade/ When I want really spiffy fabric to make a medieval (specifically, byzantine) dress, this is where I go. It's gorgeous stuff, but since it runs from $40.00 to over $300.00/meter I mostly window shop.
8. www.northshield.org The web home of my SCA kingdom
9. www.ravelry.com A marvelous and addicting fiber arts site
10. http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/ I am a huge baseball geek. Actually, a Twins geek. Last year sucked for them, but spring training is starting and it'll be better.
11. http://www.archaeologica.org/NewsPage.htm A collection of news stories about archeological interest posted daily. There are a ton of great ideas for historical romance stories in these articles.
12. http://www.baenebooks.com/c-1-free-library.aspx Baen books has over 100 books that you can download free in the format of your choice. These are full length sci-fi & fantasy books, by best selling authors like Mercedes Lackey, Andre Norton, David Weber, Jaqueline Carey and lots more.
13. http://thepioneerwoman.com/ Entertaining site with lots of stuff by I mostly go for the recipes.
There. Now, where do you go when you're online?
February 12, 2012
Wolf Tracker Winner
The winner of the free download of Wolf Tracker chosen from the comments left on my blog is DESIREE! Desiree, I've emailed you. All winners from the hop are being contacted by the authors. The Winner of the Nook Touch is YADKNY!
Congratulations, ladies! Hope to see everyone again next time. Happy Reading!
February 8, 2012
Cupid's Choice Bloghop!
Welcome to Maddy Barone's stop of the bloghop! If you've fallen off and want to hop back on, click here.
Wolf Tracker, the third book in my After the Crash series, was released by Liquid Silver Books on Monday February 6, and to celebrate that I am offering a free download to one winner. To enter, simply leave a comment on my blog saying you'd like to read Wolf Tracker. Strong, independent Tami was a survivalist and mountain guide in 2014 when she was flung forward fifty years into a post-apocalyptic future where women are worth their weight in gold. She is taken by four men to be their wife, but when she escapes from them they hire the Tracker, a deadly loner from the Clan with a reputation for being able to track anything, to bring her back. But Tami knows how to ride and how to hide, and she leads him on a chase that rouses his admiration. Behind Tracker's stone cold face is a man who yearns for a wife of his own. When he catches up with Tami and learns that she is not a willing wife, he knows he can't give her up.
I didn't write a short story for the hop, but Valentine's Day usually means candy, so I have a little eye candy for my visitors. My next story is Sherry's Wolf, about plane crash survivor Sherry Rowe and the wolf that claims her as his mate. It will be a free read and I hope to have it ready by the end of March. As my series features Lakota heroes, here are a few hotties that could easily pass as characters in the After the Crash series.
This is Jumping Stag, the patient wolf who claimed Sherry. Sherry is terrified of the werewolf and stubbornly denies his claim.
Sherry thinks werewolves are scary, however playful and harmless they may try to appear. Stag has done everything he can to convince her he only wants to treasure her, but she just won't be convinced. What's a wolf to do?
Here are Des, the Alpha of the small Plane Women's House Pack, and his cousin Stag. People say they resemble each other.
There are tons of prizes to be won on this hop, like a Nook Touch. Light weight, easy to use, and small enough to be tucked into even a smallish purse. Good luck on the hop!
Thursday 13 – 2/9/12
What are the most popular search terms that showed up on my website's admin panel on Wednesday Feb 8?
Maddy Barone
Wolf Tracker by Maddy Barone
italy 16th century formal wear
author maddie barone
sexy sexy
order of the pelican kingdom of northshield
romantic endearments
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cloche
how to make a fabric knitting bag
hip length hair
what happens if my novel is sold
tudor dress styles
Weird, huh? What sorts of things show up on your website's admin panel?
February 6, 2012
Wolf Tracker is here!
You can purchase it at:
Amazon All Romance EBooks
And I'm sure it will be available at Fictionwise and other vendors soon too. Happy Reading!
Strong, independent Tami was a survivalist and mountain guide in 2014 when she was flung forward fifty years into a post-apocalyptic future where women are worth their weight in gold. She is taken by four men to be their wife, but when she escapes from them they hire the Tracker, a deadly loner from the Clan with a reputation for being able to track anything, to bring her back. But Tami knows how to ride and how to hide, and she leads him on a chase that rouses his admiration. Behind Tracker's stone-cold face is a man who yearns for a wife of his own. When he catches up with Tami and learns that she is not a willing wife, he knows he can't give her up.
February 4, 2012
Writing Update
Hello! It's been a while since I gave an update about my writing, so I think it's time.
First of all, Wolf Tracker is coming out this Monday. Yay for February 6! I'm excited about that. Every book is special to its author, because so much work goes into each one. But Wolf Tracker is a little extra special to me. The heroine, Tami, was raped just before the story starts. She has to deal with the aftermath of that for the entire book. In real life, rape has a huge impact on the victim and on the victim's family and friends. There is nothing romantic about rape. But how Tracker treats Tami is romantic. He's not a soft-hearted kind of guy. He's not well educated. He's killed a few men here and there. Nobody would call him sweet. But he always puts Tami first. And that is the most romantic thing a guy can do. You'll see what I mean when you read about their wedding night. Okay, I can admit it, I'm a little in love with Tracker. I adore Taye, but Tracker is my favorite hero. At least for now. 
I'm also working hard on Sherry's Wolf, the free read I intended to have posted by Valentine's Day. For some stupid reason I thought I'd be able to dash off a short story and have it ready to go live in a few weeks time. After all, it was only going to be about 12,000-14,000 words.
Ack! I'm only half done and I'm already at 15,300 words. I guess Stag doesn't want to be hurried. It's harder than I thought it would be to write a free story. I want it to be a good story, not just a hurried, lame attempt. But how much should I say that would be spoilers? Am I putting in enough so that someone who never read the series would be able to follow along? Am I putting in so much detail that someone who has read the other books would be bored? The plan was to have this finished and handed over to the critiquer by February 1. Now I'll be lucky to have the first draft done by March 1. Either I'll have to ruthlessly chop it down or just go with what Stag wants. And I gotta tell you, Stag always gets what he wants!
One more thing is the Cupid's Choice Bloghop. It starts this Friday, Feb 10 and goes through Sunday Feb 12th. Follow the hop to win prizes like a Nook Touch, free books, free downloads of ebooks, giftcards and more. To receive an emailed reminder about the hop, Sign Up Here.
January 29, 2012
My Winnipeg Weekend
This past weekend I went up to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada for the Barony of Castel Rouge's 12th Night event. 12th Night is a common event celebrated in the SCA. I always have a good time up there in Castel Rouge. I'll be up there again in May for the Crown Tourney. I drove up with Tiff and Chris and stayed at Dave and Robyn's. One of the 12th Night traditions is to give small gifts to friends. Robyn gave me this terrific bowler hat. She said I could use it for my steampunk costuming. She's right. I thought it looked pretty nice on me
The theme at this event was Indian, so many of the attendees wore saris and salwar kameez. Others wore the dress of their chosen persona.
A marvellous (really, truly, awesome) henna artist was there to create art on hands, arms and feet. If you ever get to see Kim at www.winnipeghenna.com, go for it! Her work is stunning. I chose a fairly simple design that went from the tip of my left forefinger to a band around my wrist. Kim sprinkled glitter over the wet henna. As the henna dried some of the glitter flaked off, but mostly it stayed until I showered on sunday night. Here is what it looks like now.
I had a wonderful time with old friends and made some new ones too. Here is my friend Lyndi (actually the person I based Rose Turner on) her dad Ron and me.
During court, seeing three knights swear fealty was stirring. Someday I really do have to write some medieval historical romance!
All in all, it was a great weekend!
January 22, 2012
Coming February 6: Wolf Tracker!
Click here to read a sneak peek at Wolf Tracker!!
January 18, 2012
13 Comfort Foods
The winter here in North Dakota has been amazingly mild until today. We've had only a few inches of snow, temperatures have been consistently 20-30 degrees above average, it's been sunny and it's gotten below zero only once. I wonder if this is like to live in the south?
However, that came to a screeching halt today, when the high was -2 F and the wind was blowing strongly. It will be the same or colder tomorrow, with the windchill expected to be -45 to -50. When it gets cold like this I think of comfort food. Something warm and filling and nummy.
1. Mashed potatoes.
2. Home made beef stew.
3. Dad's Favorite. Eggs, sliced potatoes, green peppers, bacon all mixed together in the pan.
4. Super Soup. My family's recipe for minestrone soup.
5. Hot chocolate with whipped cream.
6. French toast made into a ham and swiss sandwich.
7. Mostaccioli. With lots of chicken in the sauce.
8. Bread hot from the over slathered with butter and honey.
9. Chicken and Stars soup.
10. Chicken potpie.
11. Chili.
12. Roast in the crockpot with potatoes and carrots.
13. Beef and Barley soup.
When it's cold what do you like to eat?
