Cassandra Dean's Blog: Blog of Bloggy Blogness, page 39
August 9, 2011
Contest!
Hi peeps,
Well, I'm gearing up for the Romance Writers of Australia's annual conference (I'm leaving for Melbourne tomorrow!) and as such, things are a bit quiet writing-wise. However, my dear friend Kylie at the Rockgarden has interviewed me and is offering an ebook copy of Enslaved! Check her out here!
August 1, 2011
And the winners are…
All who commented! I was a little too optimistic with my parametres 
So congratulations Jodi, Jessica and Kylie, you have all won a prize! And the grand prize winner is…
Jodi Moose!
Jodi, please contact me with your details to receive an ebook copy of Enslaved, a magnet, a signed postcard and a keyring!
Thanks to everyone for entering!!
xx
July 26, 2011
Check me out, I'm, like, all over this thing called the "web"
Hey peeps,
Enslaved has been out for well over a week and I'm receiving some really awesome comments about it's awesomeness! Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah!
I've also been hanging out on other people's blogs. Check me out!
Babbling about Books and More
Desert Island Keepers
Romance Author Hotspot
Decadent Publishing
Also, I have various contests around the place, including on this very blog. An extra reason to check things out!
July 24, 2011
An Interview with Lucy Clark
Hi all!
We have a very special treat today – an interview with Lucy Clark! Besides being an awesome and prolific author for Mills and Boon, Lucy Clark is my awesome and prolific Critique Partner (makes sense, right?)
Without further ado, here's Lucy!
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Cassandra Dean: Lucy, thank you for joining us. First up, how do you develop your ideas into novels?
Lucy Clark: As I write as part of a team, we usually just start discussing an initial concept. This concept can come from something we've heard or read etc. As an example, I got lost on a Doctor Who site one day – clicking from one thing to the next and came across an old interview Michael Parkinson did with Billie Piper – who of course played "Rose" on Doctor Who. Michael asked her about the anorexia she'd suffered as a teenager and why she'd starved herself. She'd said that back then, as a pop star, her entire life had been controlled and that the only thing she'd had control over was what went into her body. This started us thinking about control issues and how something like this can seriously affect a person's life. Then we start with the usual expanders of What, Who, Why, When, Where and How. From this, the clay-idea starts to take form beneath the masterful talent of the serious artiste!
CD: What was your inspiration for choosing romance as your writing genre?
LC: I'm a sucker for a happy ending. That's it, in a nutshell!
CD: As you've already said, Lucy Clark is a partnership of husband and wife – how do you go about working in a partnership? What are the advantages and difficulties?
LC: The partnership is great, especially when the ideas are new. It's fun to discuss and formulate and plan and mould. It's great when I'm not sure where next to take the characters or how to accurately convey an emotion because I have someone who knows as much as I do about the story to just talk things over with. I think the most difficult part is when we disagree. This usually happens when my "right-brainedness" clashes with his "left-brainedness" and it can take us quite some time to find the correct path for the characters to take. In the end, whether we agree or disagree, it's the path that's going to tell the best story that wins. Usually, if we can't agree, we'll throw it to our editor and let her decide but for the most part, the partnership is quite smooth. We're able to separate work and private life so that's good, too.
CD: What would you say is the most important aspect of a successful story?
LC: Characterisation. Good, well rounded, three dimensional characters. You can have the best plot in the world, the best setting, the best grasp of the English language but if your characters don't come to life, then all you're left with is typeface on a piece of paper.
CD: How do you inspire yourself to keep writing when the Evil Spectre of Procrastination raises its head?
LC: Coffee. Berocca. Vanilla Coke. Loud music. If none of them help – get out of Dodge or in other words, leave the house, meet a friend for coffee, change the scenery and refresh the mind. Bum-glue helps too.
CD: As I understand it, you are totally obsessed by Doctor Who and Buffy! What is about these shows that fascinates you? Also, what is it about the writing of the showrunners (Doctor Who – Russell T Davies and later Steven Moffat; Buffy – Joss Whedon) that particularly draws you?
LC: Obsessed? Hmm… I don't know if I'd say I'm "obsessed"! Oh hang on a second, if you mean thinking about it, watching it, analysing it, buying the merchandise etc etc… then well yes, I guess I'd use the word "obsessed". Basically, it's brilliant writing. It all starts with the writing. The writers for these shows work incredibly hard (as do all writers of course) and they're 100% committed to making the best show possible. I love the way they don't take the easy road with their characters, that they take time to delve into the emotions that are important in creating three dimensional characters, that they understand their demographic and don't pander to the studio execs who are usually only interested in making money. For a writer – a true writer – story is key. These writers understand that and apply it to the shows they write/direct/produce.
CD: What advice would you give about writing?
LC: Keep writing. Every day. Even if it's just a shopping list. Be creative.
CD: Would you tell us about your next release?
LC: The next release is a Medical Romance Duo – two stories in one volume, out in UK and NA in August 2011, Australasia and France in August/September 2011. The first title is: "Wedding on the Baby Ward" – which is a story about Janessa and Miles. Both are neonatologists and are involved in caring for and separating conjoined twins, Ellie and Sarah Woodcombe. Oh and Janessa flies a bi-plane. Good stuff. And the second title is: "Special Care: Baby Miracle" – which is a story about Sheena and Will. Sheena is the mother of conjoined twins, Ellie and Sarah, and Will is an old flame who's come back into Sheena's life right when she needs him the most.
Thanks, Cassandra, for the opportunity to chat. It's been superfun as always.
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And thank you, Lucy, for a wonderful, informative interview!
Please check out Lucy's website and purchase her latest release!
July 14, 2011
ENSLAVED is here!
July 13, 2011
OMFG!!!
Oh my lord, peeps, not long now! Enslaved is almost here!
In preparation of this momentous day, I'm in full promo mode and as such have ordered some little goodies from Vistaprint, as below:
Postcards and magnets and (invisible) keyrings, oh my!
How super cool, right? I ordered me some postcards, magnets and keyrings, as well as a nifty pen for me to use when I'm feeling all writerly.
So if you feel the need for some Cassandra Dean goodness, leave a comment below and let me know the most amazing promo item you've come across. Five lucky commentors will receive a magnet and signed postcard, and one will receive the grand prize of a magnet, signed postcard and keyring, as well as their very own ebook copy of Enslaved!
So get excited, peeps, and get commenting!
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The small print: Comment before midnight on 31/7/2011 (Australian Central Standard Time) to be entered to win the grand prize of one (1) ebook copy of Enslaved, one (1) keyring, one (1) magnet and one (1) signed postcard. After grand prize winner has been selected, five entrants will be selected to receive the second prize of one (1) magnet and one (1) signed postcard. Winners will be selected via random.org, with winners' names posted on this blog by 15/8/2011. Cassandra will also contact the winners by e-mail; the winners need to reply with their mailing addresses so Cassandra can send the prize to them. Only one entry per ISP address. International entries are welcome. No purchase necessary to enter. Odds of winning depend on number of entries received. Void where prohibited.
June 29, 2011
I should probably write something
Hey all!
Not much is happening in the world of Cassandra. I'm gearing up for Enslaved's release on 15 July, as well as working on other sundry projects, including Enslaved's follow up. Apart from that, I've enjoyed some lovely superhero movies lately.
Thor was a bit of an awesome flick, although I was not convinced by the love story. Of course, not being convinced, I immediately started thinking of ways to improve it… Did anyone else think Natalie Portman's character should have been more socially awkward, more into the astrophysics and the love story really should have ended the movie with "hey I like you, let's date" instead of undying love. There just wasn't room for the love story in the running time.
That being said, I LOVED the relationship of Thor and Loki. So super awesome. Kenneth Branagh did a fabulous job of showing the scale of Asgard, the brothers' relationship and I can totally forgive him for the crappy love story.
X-Men: First Class had Michael Fassbender in it. Enough said.
June 18, 2011
June 17, 2011
Not happy Jan
Hi all,
Well, I have awoken today to the fabulous news that my website has been hacked and, consequently, all my blog posts have been deleted. Yeah. Totally not happy. So now I'm in the process of trying to recover and repost them. Fun times.
So peeps, please bear with me while I labour through this process. I will apologise now for any comments that have been lost. Know I appreciated your kind words and really do wish they could have been preserved for posterity.
I swear to god, if I ever encounter the suckers who did this, there will be much stabbing involved. Preferably with blunt instruments and in vulnerable fleshy areas.
May 31, 2011
The big let down
You've finally finished your big project. You've worked on it and loved it and you've spent every waking minute thinking about it. You've been sat in front of a computer feverishly typing away, adhering to a deadline you may have established or your publisher has established or you are going away on that holiday to Thailand and you really, really have to get it finished-
Any-the-hoo, you've been working away like a busy little bee, and then it's finished-over-and you wonder what on earth you're supposed to do now.
You feel like you should be working but there's nothing to work on. You feel like you should be starting the new story but you are too burned out. There is a constant feeling the other shoe is about to drop and you wonder what is wrong with you that you feel this way.
I felt like this after finishing big university assignments and of course, recently, after finishing Enslaved. In regards to Enslaved, I was working away like a mad thing, trying to finish before my self-imposed deadline of 28 February. Every weekend I worked, in the evenings, at odd moments during the day. I spent my downtime thinking about Enslaved and was generally consumed by the story for a few weeks. Then, I handed it in to my editor…and I was at a complete loss.
I felt like I needed to do…something. Didn't I have a manuscript I needed to work on? Was I supposed to be editing? There was an extra scene I needed to write, surely. I should be in front of my computer, tap-tap-tapping away at the keyboard, but, of course, I had no manuscript to work on. I had finished. Finished, I tells ya!
So how did I combat it? I talked about how I felt 'let down' with my friends. I discussed it with my critique partner. I tried to start the next project. It's a strange feeling when you think you should be doing something even though you know you have finished. Your head is saying one thing and your heart (for want of a better term) is saying another and you just can't reconcile the two. You tell yourself to have a break but you've been working so hard for so long, surely you should be continuing with that?
Next question – how successful was I? Well, I'm still trying to discover that. I think the only way to combat the big let down is to allow time to pass. I think you need time to adjust back to normal, to find your creativity again and be able to shift into the new story. There's no point writing a historical romp through Romania in 1845 when you're still mired in an operatic space drama set in Galactic Space Zone Trifixidoria, Quadrant Alpha-Numrea G7.
I guess what I'm saying is it's okay to do nothing. To relax. Wind down. Learn how to be calm and collection again 
Have a glass of wine, eat that chocolate, enjoy a walk along the beach. You need time to recharge so you can tackle the next big project and go through the whole process again!
- originally written for the newsletter of Society of Women Writers South Australia Inc.
