Ann Stephens's Blog, page 10

Thanksgiving at Authors by Moonlight!

My first post of this week's Thanksgiving Blog Blitz is up at Authors by Moonlight! You know how we all have old family recipes? What happens when no one likes them?  Hop on over to ABM & leave a comment, and your name will be placed in a drawing for a Barnes & Noble gift card!

Playing with my Blog Thingie

That's was BLOG thingie, not…um, never mind.

I just realized that Ann Stephens Romance is nearly a year old! I'm kind of excited by this, as I've been a lot better about posting entries here than with my first attempt at a blog.  In the spirit of reviewing & revising, I'm looking at some changes down the road that I hope will make things easier for me and more interesting for readers.

Posting here about once a week works well for me and I don't plan to change that. I've got to be  the most boring person I know, so it's hard to believe that anyone would  want to follow my non-fictional opinions or adventures. (To those of you who stop by regularly, all I can say is bless you and thank you!!!) And for now the blog's appearance still works for me.  It's clean and restful, which I like, and I can change the header photo to my heart's content. Widgets may be appearing or moving around my sidebar as well.  If there's something that is more interesting or appealing to you readers, let me know!

Starting in December, I'll categorize each week's post ahead of time, in part to keep me on track.  Selfishly, I'll use areas I enjoy discussing, like the craft of writing, upcoming romance releases, historical hobbies or lifestyle or even a bit of background on my own books or WIPs. I might even consider a few snippets of what I'm working on if any of you are interested.

Also, I thought it would be fun to answer questions from readers periodically, so check back here to see when you can ask that burning question you've always had about my writing or hobbies or whatnot.  Just bear in mind, you can ask…but I may decide something is too personal to answer.   I don't lay awake at night worrying about stalkers or anything, but my children are concerned that what I write might infringe on their privacy. (In other words, they're just plain mortified that their mother writes smut and they don't want their friends to find out about it.)

Some of the pages accessible above my header photo may change as well, depending on what readers enjoy and show interest in.  I wasn't sure about this whole 'blog thingie' when I began, but as it's become part of my routine, I find it gives me a lift.  What do you readers enjoy seeing when you check an author's blog?

Tagged: writing routine

Tomorrow is Veterans Day!

I posted a bit info about the day's origins and some of my thoughts about the men and women who have served at Authors by Moonlight — stop by and tell us about your military service or that of someone you know!

By the People…Eventually

Tuesday night, I watched reports of record low voter turnout in numerous places during the U.S. midterm elections.  Despite its flaws — government is a human construct, after all, and therefore imperfect — a democratic political system offers its citizens the opportunity to take charge of their own governance.  It is also the responsibility of those citizens to go to the polls and use their best judgment to select representatives to serve in their local, state and national governments.

If the numbers are correct, a lot of Americans are not stepping up the plate.

This is ironic, considering how few of us would be permitted to vote if the constitution remained in its original state.  When it took effect in 1789, not even being white, male, and 21 automatically entitled a person the right to vote.  As the constitution was written and interpreted originally, only those adult white men owning a certain amount of property  were allowed to participate in elections.  The amount required in order to cast a ballot varied, though in some states the minimum was as high as 50 acres. Other states allowed income to replace part of the real estate requirements, but the guiding principle was to restrict the vote only to the wealthiest members of society. Depending on how local authorities interpreted the law, even non-citizens who met the property requirements might be allowed to vote while working Americans were denied a voice in their government.  And don't forget the Americans who, being neither male nor white, had no legal standing as individuals, much less the power to decide how they should be governed.

Before the end of the eighteenth century, lawmakers recognized the injustice of reserving voting rights only for rich men.  Vermont, admitted to the Union in 1791, required only a minimum age, residence in a district and "quiet and peaceable behavior" for a man to vote.  Very likely surrounding states regarded Vermonters as the Far Left of that era, for no other state came close to such universal male suffrage. Property requirements did start to erode, although they were replaced by tax requirements.  This allowed far more Americans to vote than originally planned for by James Madison and the rest of the Constitutional Convention.  Fortunately, Madison and Co. also understood that they could not possibly fortell the future needs of their new country, and included a mechanism so that later generations of Americans could amend their governing document.

It took three amendments to the U.S. Constitution to extend the right to vote to all adult Americans, the most recent one enacted in 1964.  People died for the democratic principles set forth in the Fifteenth and Twenty-Fourth Amendments.  The Nineteenth Amendment took eighty years of steady agitation and painful defeats by our foremothers so that my daughters and I are able to participate in our own government.

One more amendment affecting suffrage in the U.S. was enacted in 1971, when the voting age was lowered to 18, in recognition of the sacrifices made by young Americans serving in our military.

So next time an election comes up in your area, remember that somebody, somewhere, had to fight so that you could fill out a ballot and participate in your own governance.  Learn about the issues you care about.  Then step up and vote!

Tagged: Elections, Vote!!

True Companions

The world can be divided into two categories: Pet People and Non-Pet People.  I am a Pet Person from birth.  My sisters and I grew up with varying numbers of dogs and cats. Yes, at the same time — my mother loves cats and we almost always had at least one, while my dad considered hunting dogs indispensable.  I like both cats and dogs, but I married a man who spent large chunks of his youth as a paperboy being chased by neighborhood dogs.  Ergo, our pets have always been felines.

The current non-human population of our home consists of two cats and a refugee gerbil from my oldest daughter's dorm room. I have written thousands of words with one or both of our cats curled up beside (or on) me.  Nominally they belong to our children, who selected them as kittens from our local Humane Society.  (Unless you want a specific breed of animal for a particular reason, I strongly encourage adopting from a shelter.  Even if it charges fees for spaying/neutering and micro-chipping your new pet, it's a bargain compared to pet stores and you are likely saving an animal's life.)

Star is our Siamese mix (we believe the other part is moose).  She's sort of like Dory from Finding Nemo, if Dory shed a lot and weighed 20 pounds.  Star suffers from short term memory loss, except when she can see the bottom of her food bowl.  At those times, her determination to get our attention and bring us to the site of the disaster would put Lassie to shame.  Star doesn't care for laps, but she likes to curl up beside me when I write notes on the couch or when I sit downstairs at my desk.  Her weakness is clean socks, which she steals and hides in her lair under the bed.  We once found a dozen pairs there.

Tiger, our 'plain ol' cat', is just plain rotten.  I knew this the first time I set eyes on him flipping  dried poo outof the litter box in his cubicle at the Humane Society and batting at it.  Unfortunately, when your 7-year-old looks up at you and says "But Mommy, he looked right in my eyes and said he wanted to come home with me," you know you're doomed.  Luckily for him, he grew up into a very handsome fellow with the softest fur ever, and he loves having a writer in the house.  When he's not making himself comfortable on my lap, he's happy to chase down the Evil Crinkly Balls of Paper after I wad up my notes or other scribblings.

The companionship of pets bring so much into our lives.  Their dependence on us calls forth our best qualities: love, caring and patience.  They love us unconditionally,  listen to us when we need to talk, and sometimes when we need to cry.  Food and a clean litter box are a small price to pay, though I'll admit I could live without the hairballs.

Are you a dog person or a cat person? Or even a reptile person? (I have always found monitor lizards and smaller members of the constrictor family fascinating.) Tell me your favorite pet story or memory!

Tagged: Cats, Pet

Being Here

Dry.  Blocked.  Stuck.  Staring at the screen.

One of a writer's many nightmares is sitting down, putting her fingers on the keyboard and…nothing.  No words, no idea, no clue comes on how to finish this wretched story.  She has to write the scene — she wants to write the scene — and her mind says 'beeeeeeeeeeeep', like those old 'end of the programing day' screens before television was on 24/7.

I think every writer deals with this syndrome at some point.  Most of us call it 'writer's block' though my mentor, S. J. Walker, calls it 'writer's procrastination' with some justification.  When the words don't come it is too easy to turn off the computer or set aside the notebook and say "It's just not working today.  I'll do something else."  Don't get me wrong, everybody needs mental breaks, even from work  they love.  But the biggest secret to accomplishing any creative endeavor?  It ain't talent or unlimited time or an independent income.  It's showing up, plain and simple.

If you don't make it a habit to pick up the needle or the paintbrush or sit down at the computer, then the quilt, the drawing, the story will never get done.  You gotta set a schedule to give yourself creative time, whether it's your full-time job or weekend projects, and you gotta show up on the schedule you set for yourself, be it daily or weekly.

My goal is to write for a set number of hours, six days a week.  Even though I've been spinning my creative wheels for the last month, I am still here.  I haven't felt so unproductive in years, but I am following my friend Sally's dicate: "Write anyway."  My frustration shows in stilted dialogue and entire scenes that have nothing to do with my story.  (Another important part of writing is accepting that the first thing I come up with is usually crap.)  I groan, hit 'delete' and try to remember that one point the chance to write these characters and their story thrilled me.

I've lived long enough to learn that creativity, like the rest of life, goes in cycles.  I'm in a dry spell where the right words are as scarce as water in the desert.  But if I show up and keep stringing one word after another, I will find my way back to the story I hope to write.  And then the words, like rain, will come again.

Then I'll probably whine about drowning.

Tagged: Creativity, Writing, writing routine

Free Book Winners Announced

Congratulations! MJ and Kelly have won signed copies of TO BE SEDUCED.  Ladies, you can send me your addresses at AnnStephensRomance@gmail.com and I'll get them right out.

Tagged: Contest winners, romance novels, To be Seduced

Sneak Preview of Her Scottish Groom

The cover and 2 excerpts from HER SCOTTISH GROOM are up today at Authors by Moonlight! Check it out & leave a comment there — my fellow Moonlighters & I love to hear from you!

Tagged: Her Scottish Groom, romance novels

Birthdays and Books

I turned another year older in September.  Although I think attaining another year is always worth celebrating, especially when you notice that they're starting mount up, ahem, this one was pretty quiet.  A number of family members have been hospitalized for various ailments this month, so there wasn't a lot of motivation to hold a big party.  Besides, last year I pulled out all the stops & spent the day with a girlfriend who treated me to a day in a gorgeous spa.

I did feel guilty about such indulgence, but only a bit.  After spending four years either at or driving home from a figure skating competition with my oldest on my birthday, I felt entitled to some pampering!

My friend and I had a blast.  We got mudwraps, which sounds disgusting but which felt like being brushed with a thick layer of warm chocolate.  We got facials.  We got manicures.  It was just marvelous!  Much as I'd like to, I won't be celebrating other birthdays in such sybaritic luxury in the foreseeable future, but I will always treasure the memories of this particular one.

In honor of my birthday month, September, and the arrival of the cover for Her Scottish Groom, I'll give away up to 5 copies of my current release, TO BE SEDUCED, this Friday!  I'll draw names from among commentators to this post, so tell me how you feel about birthdays and which ones were your most memorable.

And don't forget to check out Authors by Moonlight tomorrow, when I'm unveiling the cover of HSG!

Tagged: Birthday

An Evening's Entertainment

Nellie Melba as Ophelie in Thomas' Hamlet

I love dance and theater history, and it's hard for me to resist references to plays, operas and ballets when I write.  The British public embraced theatrical entertainment well before Shakespeare blazed his way into history during the Elizabethan Era.  After the Restoration, London society, high and low, attended plays and concerts.  Even uber-sourpuss Oliver Cromwell enjoyed music and singing so much that he permitted opera performances during the...