Poppy Dennison's Blog, page 8

Suit Up Sunday: Joe Manganiello

A lot of writers "cast" their books with models and actors. I'm one of them. For me, it's an easy way to keep certain details of my characters appearance in mind.

Take, for example, the absolutely incredibly handsome Joe Manganiello. Really, the man is too delicious for words. Very inspiring.

In fact, he's so inspiring Silvia Violet and I are hosting an event this week where we are challenging other authors to write an original story based on an image of Joe.

You can learn more about the event here:
http://www.facebook.com/events/268273789919410/

Next Friday, March 11, is "Joe Day" and we'll be having a blog roll for all of the Joe inspired stories.

Should be a ton of fun. I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!!

So who inspires you?

Music Monday: My Boyfriend's Back

For those of you who follow me on Facebook, you'll know that I might have been caught yesterday dancing and singing this song at the top of my lungs.

I love that whole "cause he's kinda big and he's awful strong" line. Yet another alpha thing?

Anyway, hope you sing and dance along as well. Just, you know, close the blinds so the neighbors don't see you.

Manic Monday

One of the things I'm known for (quiet peanut gallery) is making lists. I like lists. If I don't have lists, I forget things. I'm also very fond of spreadsheets, but that's another post. Along with my list comes a very complicated system of email/phone/pop-up reminders on my laptop. Really, I have no excuses for forgetting things.

Why blather on about lists? Because one of my buddies asked me what I was working on at the moment and when I ran through the list, she got very quiet. (And not in the hunting wabbits kind of way). I got a little nervous, but when she finally regained her voice, she asked me how I kept everything straight. I assured her that I have my list.

And then, horror of horrors, what did I do this weekend? I tossed the list out the window. Okay, I really didn't. I made sure it was backed up in google docs, and then I threw the printed version in the trash. (I haven't totally lost my mind!)

Thing is, sometimes you need a fresh start. Last week, I was bogged down under minute details that did nothing but stress me out. I fretted, I worried, I whined and complained. Until I got rid of the list. Funny how that works, isn't it?

One of the things that no one warns new writers about is the importance of prioritizing. Well, maybe someone has, but I've never seen it. Feel free to link me up!

At the moment, I have four major projects in the works. One book in edits with my publisher, the second in first draft edits with me, a third in first draft stage, and a free serial online read.

That's a lot of balls in the air, and I'm not a juggler. Funnily enough, I actually finished my edits this weekend. Because I didn't try to do twelve things at once. I stopped and focused. And crossed one thing off the list. (Oh come on, you know I had to reprint the list first thing this morning!)

Now why didn't I think of that sooner?

Suit Up Sunday: Mr. Darcy

Most of us have that go-to movie or book that makes us mushy or gets us out of a funk. Mine? Pride and Prejudice. Book or movie, I'm not picky. There's something about Mr. Darcy. Particularly as played by the hunky Colin Firth.

Consider my butter melted.

I've loved the book since the first time I read it, way back in high school. Every time I read it, I find something else to love. For me, Darcy is the epitome of the romantic hero. Why? Because he's flawed. He's not perfect, but by golly, he thinks he is.

Until Lizzie gets ahold of him that is. *g*



And let's not forget the other Darcy. You know, the one from Bridget Jones's Diary. Also played by Colin Firth. What? I'm consistent!

Happy Sigh. I really am terribly easy to please most days. Give me a grumpy fella who looks great in a suit, who is charmed by (and possibly driven slightly crazy by) their romantic interest.

I'd love to write an M/M version of Pride and Prejudice some day. It's on the to-do list, for sure.


Which romantic hero inspires you? Who would you love to write some day?

My Wildest Fantasy, or Why Alphas?

Recently over on the M/M Romance group at Goodreads, the topic of Alpha males emerged. There was a bit of contention, some of it on my part, as to what *exactly* being an alpha means.

Dear Santa, I've been a good girl. Can I have him? Love PoppyHere's the thing. As far as I'm concerned, an alpha is that dream man who will come along and sweep me off my feet. He's handsome and strong, and will beat the tar out of anyone who messes with me. Okay, I may have embellished that last bit. I can't help it. I've been listening to this Bubblegum Rock station on Pandora and "My Boyfriend's Back" was playing. Oh yeah, you're gonna be in trouble!

Most of us get tired of carrying the burden all alone. Some of us are lucky enough to have Spouses, Mates, or Significant Others who help us out. Some of us aren't.

There's gotta be a good reason the alpha male trope has been around for such a long time. He fulfills a fantasy that's hard to come by in real life. Then again, most of us don't want him around all the time. We're strong enough on most days to kick ass and take names on our own. But some days, oh some days wouldn't it be nice to have someone be our white knight upon a fiery steed?

Can I quote any other songs here? *must turn off the Bubblegum Rock station*



So, I'm curious, what does an alpha mean to you? Why do you want them in your romances?

Music Monday: Do you love me?

I think there needs to be an M/M version of Dirty Dancing. *nods* Nobody puts Baby in a corner!

Suit Up Sunday: The Naughty Nobleman (NSFW)

There's something so incredibly sexy about this picture. I will have to write a story about it one day. Have to. It can't be helped. Perhaps some rakish Duke out for an evening of pleasure.

Yeah. That's it.

Suit Up Sunday: Colton Fold

No one who knows me will be surprised by this...I have a WEE tiny little crush on Colton Ford. Wee tiny. Really. Miniscule, really truly. A smidgen of a crush. That's all.

Oh who am I kidding...that man melts my butter twelve ways from Sunday.

And in a suit? *whimper*

Or in his birthday suit? *flails* I swear, I wouldn't kick that man out of bed unless he wanted to do it on the floor.

I pretty much can't think of a better way to start my week.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go clean the drool off my laptop.

Flash Fic Friday: Jonathan's Hero

What can you do with an hour of time and a random prompt? I found out this week with my first entry into the FlashFic Friday blog hop. You'll have to let me know how I did!


Jonathan shrieked when the stage door slammed closed behind him with a resounding thud. With a laugh at his own foolishness, he gave a furtive glance around the dark alley. Oh good, no one around to hear that. He hefted his duffel bag further up onto his shoulder and began the long walk to the cast parking area.

Being an actor in community theater fulfilled his need for artistic expression on most days. But nights like this, when rehearsal ran long and he had to be up early the next day for his day job, made him wish he could chose one over the other. No such luck. Unless by some miracle an agent from one of the big theater cities showed up in his small Indiana town to discover him, he needed the steady paycheck he brought in being an administrative assistant.

His beat up gray Honda looked abandoned in the parking lot. Luckily, he'd gotten a spot underneath one of the few working floodlights so he didn't have to worry too much. Then again, some sixth sense told him he needed to hurry and get in the car. Jonathan always listened to that little voice, so he picked up his pace and made a quick dash the last twenty five yards to his car.

The keys trembled for a moment in his hand, but he managed to get the door unlocked. He tossed his bag inside and scrambled in behind it. Once the driver's door was slammed and locked behind him, he let out a little sigh of relief.

His reprieve only lasted a few seconds. A shadowy figure lurched from the gloom in front of him. Jonathan jammed his keys into the ignition switch and started the car. But nothing happened except for an eerie click...click..click.

"Oh shit, not now Betsy! Start damn it!" He turned the keys again, but the car's engine still didn't turn over.

Jonathan looked up again, and the man...oh hell, no way was that a man. What the heck was that thing? Whatever it was, it's gaze was focused on his car. He gave the car another frantic try, but nothing happened. He grabbed his cell phone from the side pocket of his bag and flipped it open.

The battery warning light flashed at him before the phone shut itself off automatically. "Oh, fuck my life!"

He searched through the car for some type of weapon and came up with the window scraper he used in the winter to remove snow and ice. It wouldn't do much, but hell, anything was better than nothing.

By the time the creature was close enough for Jonathan to make out it's glowing red eyes, another figure emerged from the darkness. This one moved like a man, but faster than any man Jonathan had ever seen. He swooped through the empty lot and tackled the beast like one of those huge professional football players.

Jonathan cheered him on, and watched in abject horror as the man pulled a hatchet out of his long black leather coat and buried in the creatures skull with a sickening squelch.

His stomach turned and Jonathan let out a little whimper. Maybe he shouldn't have eaten those salt and vinegar chips for a snack. They probably wouldn't taste as good the second time around.

With the monster out of commision, Mr. Hero stood and sheathed his make-shift weapon back in his coat. He turned to Jonathan and asked, "You okay in there?"

Oh hell to the yes was he ever okay. Mr. Hero put Superman's good looks to shame. His jet black hair had just enough curl to give it the tousled look Jonathan could never manage with his straight blond locks. And dear god in heaven, the man had dimples. Jonathan loved a man with a sweet little dimple to lick.

He regained his composure long enough to nod and smile. Mr. Hero came over to the car door and leaned against the closed window. His eyes were an unnatural green color. Maybe it was just the reflection from the florescent lights? Yeah, that must be it. He pushed the button to roll the window down an inch or so and smiled at his rescuer. "Thank you. I have no idea what that thing was, but I would've been a goner if you hadn't come along."

Mr. Hero reached his fingers in through the glass and used brute strength to shove the glass down. "Who says you aren't a goner now?" He grinned before he lunged in through the now open window.

Time Wise: An Author Survey

As I wobble with coltish legs on my journey to becoming an author, I've realized something: It takes Time. I know, shouldn't have been a great epiphany. To help me get an idea of how other others do it, and to get a little advice, I went to some of my favorite authors and asked them how they manage their time. The answers are enlightening!

Question 1 : How many hours per week do you spend on your writing career? (including writing, editing, blogs, social media, etc)


I wasn't surprised to see that the majority of authors I interviewed spend the equivalent of a full time job on their writing. 


Here's what Stephani Hecht had to say about her writing hours:


Stephani Hecht: Treat your writing as you would any other job and give it the attention and dedication it deserves. All successful writers say that you need to write each and every day to make it and I agree, writing should be more than a hobby, it should be what motivates you to get up every morning.




Question 2:  Of that time, what percentage is spent writing your books (not including any blog posts or interviews)?


True confession time: This is where I get caught up! I've heard other writers saying the same thing, and often see Facebook posts that say "Shutting this down so I can work!". 


It was good to see that it wasn't just me! Most of the authors I interviewed spend around 25% of their time doing things other than actually writing. 






Here's what T.J. Klune and Clare London have to say about it:


T.J. Klune: Don't let the social media aspect of becoming a writer end up taking up more of your time than the actual writing.  It's very easy to get sucked into Facebook, a blog, or any other number of social sites.  That being said, social media is a wonderful tool to help promote new works and it also allow readers contact with the authors they like.  Use these sites wisely!


Clare London: It's very easy to tip over the balance into more blogging/chatting than writing. It's important to be accessible, to make friendships, to network, to support other writers, to listen to feedback from readers. But the reason most of us got into the business is to write, so that should be your prime concern. Most people engage with your fiction, not necessarily you, and they're always keen for more. It also gets more and more difficult to balance everything, the more books you have out. It's great to build a backlist, but each one adds another call for attention. It's what I call a snowball effect. So I don't think everyone should periodically recalibrate the percentage of question (2) to give more time for writing! J


Question 3: How does the rest of your time break down in percentages?


No fancy graphs for this one. The results were pretty simple. When not writing, the authors I interviewed divided their time pretty equally between editing and social media. 


Here's what Mary Calmes and Stormy Glenn had to say about it: 


Mary Calmes: I think that as far as time management goes, I get sucked into checking review sites, looking at Good Reads, and not spending that quality "awake" time writing. I wish I was a better blogger, but unlike others, I don't think I have anything that interesting to say. And as I am completely tech challenged, chatting moves WAY too fast for me. I always think of something witty to say after the topic has moved on. I think that promising to write at least 3 hours every single day is an excellent commitment. If you do that, at the minimum, 7 days a week, your story will stay fresh in your mind.


Stormy Glenn: Time management is a tricky thing. I can have one day where everything flows perfectly and I get tons of work done. Others days, I get emails, phone calls, general interruptions, and nothing goes right. This biggest piece of advice is one I used when raising six kids all born in the same 5 yr period, operating a daycare for fifteen years, and writing (this includes general writing, blogs, social media, editing, and dealing with the world in general as a writer)…"You are going to have a hundred battles a day. You are only going to win ten. So, pick the most important battles and forget the rest."


Question 4: Any words of wisdom/advice/warnings on time management and its importance to your career?

Ellis Carrington: Write every day, and don't hurry too much. Take the occasional writing course through a place like savvyauthors.com or the Romance Writers of America, and do basic stuff like run spell checker. No matter how much you know, you can always learn more. 

M.J. O'Shea: I guess my advice is you have to know how fast you write and go from there. If you're someone who can pull out a chapter in an hour or two, then you can spend more time messing around (or keep working and have more books out!) If you work slowly when you're writing and are more of a perfectionist in the early drafts, don't let the internet distract you as often:)  

Eric Arvin: Don't spend too much time on any one project. If it's giving you a hard time put it away for a bit.           Give it time to form.

Looks like I have some work to do! Some great advice here, and what I learned is this:If I'm going to commit 40 hours per week to my writing career, at least 30 hours (75%) should be spent actually writing. The remaining 10 hours can be divided between Social Media and Editing. 
Easy enough. I suppose that means I'd better shut down Facebook and get to writing! Thanks to my fellow authors who answered my questions. You can find more information about them below. 
  


Eric Arvin resides in the same sleepy Indiana river town where he grew up. He graduated from Hanover College with a Bachelors in History. He has lived, for brief periods, in Italy and Australia. He has survived brain surgery and his own loud-mouthed personal demons. Eric is the author of GALLEY PROOF, WOKE UP IN A STRANGE PLACE, SUBSURDITY, SIMPLE MEN, and various other sundry and not-so-sundry writings. He intends to live the rest of his days with tongue in cheek and eyes set to roam. You can find Eric at: http://daventryblue.blogspot.com
Mary Calmes currently lives in Honolulu, Hawaii, with her husband and two children and hopes to eventually move off the rock to a place where her children can experience fall and even winter. She graduated from the University of the Pacific (ironic) in Stockton, California, with a bachelor's degree in English literature. Due to the fact that it is English lit and not English grammar, do not ask her to point out a clause for you, as it will so not happen. She loves writing, becoming immersed in the process, and falling into the work. She can even tell you what her characters smell like. She works at a copy store but has been unable to incorporate that into a book... yet. She also buys way too many books on Amazon.  You can find Mary at: http://marycalmesbooks.blogspot.com/
Ellis Carrington is a wild child who hates to color in the lines, but who lives and loves passionately. Ellis can be found in and around the Washington D.C. area, swilling Starbucks with her real or imaginary buddies. Her greatest loves are good friends, good music, and of course reading M/M romance. Find out more at EllisCarrington.com, on Facebook, or on Twitter. Her latest is a contemporary short story from Dreamspinner Press called Feeling Neighborly.Also coming soon, a sexy boy-meets-vampire romance about a one-night stand on Valentine's Day that becomes forever. Look for Immortal Valentine on 2/12 from Amber Allure:
Stormy believes the only thing sexier than a man in cowboy boots is two or three men in cowboy boots. She also believes in love at first sight, soul Mates, true love, and happy endings. You can usually find her cuddled in bed with a book in her hand and a puppy in her lap, or on her laptop, creating the next sexy man for one of her stories. Stormy welcomes comments from readers.You can find her at:
My website: http://www.stormyglenn.comMy email: stormyglenn@hotmail.comMy yahoo group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stormyglenn/Siren-Bookstrand: http://www.bookstrand.com/authors/stormyglenn/Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/stormyglennMy blog: http://stormyglenn.blogspot.com/Manic Readers: http://www.manicreaders.com/StormyGlenn/Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/people/Stormy-Glenn/1510233687
Stephani Hecht is a happily married mother of two. Born and raised in Michigan, she loves all things about the state, from the frigid winters to the Detroit Red Wings hockey team. Go Wings! You can usually find her snuggled up to her laptop, creating her next book or gorging on caffeine at her favorite coffee shop. You can find Stephani at: http://www.stephanihecht.com
TJ Klune is the author of Bear, Otter, and the Kid.  His new novel, Burn, releases 2.6.12 from Dreamspinner Press.  He can be found at Facebook under TJ Klune and his blog is www.tjklunebooks.blogspot.com.
Clare took the pen name London from the city where she lives, loves, and writes. A lone, brave female in a frenetic, testosterone-fuelled family home, she juggles her writing with the weekly wash, waiting for the far distant day when she can afford to give up her day job as an accountant. She's written in many genres and across many settings, with novels and short stories published both online and in print. She says she likes variety in her writing while friends say she's just fickle, but as long as both theories spawn good fiction, she's happy.  Most of her work features male/male romance and drama with a healthy serving of physical passion, as she enjoys both reading and writing about strong, sympathetic and sexy characters. Clare currently has several novels sulking at that tricky chapter 3 stage and plenty of other projects in mind . . . she just has to find out where she left them in that frenetic, testosterone-fuelled family home. All the details and free fiction are available at her website. Visit her today and say hello!
Website : http://www.clarelondon.co.ukBlog : http://clarelondon.livejournal.com/Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/clarelondonTwitter: http://twitter.com/clare_london


M.J. O'Shea has been writing romance since algebra class in sixth grade (when most of her stories starred her and Leonardo DiCaprio). When she's not writing, she loves listening to nearly all types of music, painting, reading great authors, and on those elusive sunny days in the Pacific Northwest, she loves driving on the freeway with her windows rolled down and her stereo on high. You can find M.J. at: http://www.mjoshearomance.comhttp://mjoshea.com/http://mjandpiper.blogspot.com/