Eleni Konstantine's Blog: Eleni's Taverna, page 15

Writing Buddy Wednesday: Helen Ellis

Welcome to another installment of Writing Buddy Wednesday.  This week I have BF-Fiends buddy, Helen Ellis. Helen is a lovely lady whom I've known online for a while now. She is a Ellinophile (Grecophile) and loves to chat things Greek.


Your latest release is The Chocolate Affair. Can you describe this book for us?

Here's the blurb:

Henrietta Pittman already has three novel manuscripts lying forgotten in the bottom drawer, so why challenge the Delta Cove Writers Group to write another 50,000 words in 30 days? From Day One things do not go well for her. For instance, there's Matt Watson, her critique partner, who's determined to out-write her with his scorching sex romp, "Drop Dead Blonde". Henny can't even make up her mind what to write! Finally she decides on "The Chocolate Affair" - after all, isn't chocolate every girl’s soother of sorrows; panacea of all ills; comforter; consoler; obsession-maker; greed gatherer?

But widowed Henny is also trying to cope with her feelings for Matt, while contending with her daughters, Louise and Allie, and their burgeoning teenage problems. Then there's her boss, Jay Franklin, expecting her to run his garden center business, but not coping with her suddenly popular innovative garden concept. And her psycho cat, Rissole...

So, can she write "The Chocolate Affair" despite all distractions? Can she cope with new disasters, bringing back terrible memories? And can she do it all without Matt? He's become important to her, but he disappears in strange circumstances at a crucial moment, leaving behind a legacy to help her face the future. Will they face it together?

I wrote this book for one of the Nanowrimos. The months always fly by when you get older. It came up to November, and because I always challenge myself to write the required 50,000 words in 30 days, having done it for nine years now, I was suddenly faced with not having a brain in my head! So I decided to write about someone writing 50,000 words in 30 days! And of course they say - write about something you know. Chocolate! Of course!

(EK: Find The Chocolate Affair on  Smashwords .)


Please tell us a little about your road to publication. Why did you decide to go the Indie published way?

I'm getting to be a ditzy old lady. I just got tired of submitting my stuff and either not hearing at all, or waiting months just to be rejected. Now, I can take rejection with the best, but one thing I don't have is a lot of time. Another thing I have to admit to, if I'm honest, is that I'm rubbish at submitting stuff.

Somebody put me onto Smashwords, and I decided to give independent eBook publishing a go, believing it was better to do something positive with my manuscripts rather than have them mouldering away in the computer. I started with my non-fiction writing about Greece. It was a huge learning curve, but I'm a Virgo and therefore fixated, determined, and a perfectionist. I'm pleased to say that I have immediately achieved Premium Status with Smashwords for all my books. 

Many years ago, you published a book with your granddaughter. What was that experience like? 

It was an amazing experience. I wrote "Max, and the Gang of Five" for my granddaughter and her friends, never intending to publish. It's about Monifieth Maximilian, a pedigree Burmese cat - a funny and fast-moving adventure over back fences and through grass, swamps and rivers as Max and his four cat friends try to eliminate from their town the nasty rat, Ragglewort, and his tribe. It tells of friendship, teamwork, and how to clean burrs from your fur… J. It's for children 7 - 12.

Lucy, then aged 12, illustrated it for me. Her lovely drawings of the cats were a hit with the young readers. A wonderful teacher at her school set her class to 'edit' the manuscript as an English exercise! However, everyone liked it so much, kids and adults, that I eventually went through Zeus Publishing to bring it out in paperback. We had a great book launch in Adelaide at her school. I didn't find the publishers particularly helpful at the time, but now I realise self-publishing involves a tremendous amount of your own effort to get the book out there. I'm toying with the idea of re-publishing Max, especially as the sequel book is now finished. 

I love your travel stories. What differences do you find when writing non-fiction opposed to fiction? 

My Greek memoir "Make Mine a Moussaka" was originally created from my copious travel diaries, hand written when in that lovely country. It sat in the computer waiting for me to make up my mind what to do with it. I'm glad I didn't do anything drastic for such a long time, because in the meantime I learned a lot about memoir writing. For instance, in non-fiction travel you are writing about your own experiences, but readers become bored if you continually rave on about what you did here, and how you got there - they aren't really interested in you as a person. You have to bring them along with you, by description and reaction, to enjoy the journey and the places, rather like a tour leader in print. 

In many ways travel non-fiction is not all that different to writing fiction, but I would say there has to be more use of touch, smell, and taste, interaction with the unique ambience of a place, reactions to and with the people, and of course good descriptive writing. It's the old tale of show, not tell, and I think this is the definitive. It's not: "From Athens I went to the Cyclades Islands…" it's, "From pallet-box blue seas, the dry rocky Cyclades Islands rear up like dragon's teeth. Tiny towns, like spilt sugar cubes, cling precariously, scatter across, spill down, or cower between grim, grey mountains…" My biggest challenge was writing 1000 words about Greece for the News Ltd Escape section of the weekend newspapers, and I was gratified that my submission didn't need editing!

I'd be interested in comments from other non-fiction writers about this. 
You can read about my own journey here. 





Are you a plotter? Pantser? Or somewhere in between?

Oh I'm definitely a pantser. It has its disadvantages but I can't help it! I've actually had two characters stuck in a blizzard for two years because I lost the plot and went on to something else! (They've since been rescued *grin*)



What are you working on now? And what’s in the near future for Helen Ellis?

At the moment I'm doing an extensive edit of my chick-lit novel, "Men, And All That Nonsense" with the help of my critique partners who are tough, exacting and thorough. They don't let me get away with anything (fortunately!) I have two novels I want to put up on Smashwords, but as I'm very fussy about the final product which MUST be first-rate, it's a slow process. In my opinion, too many self-indie-pubbed books go out as eBooks without proper editing, with poor results.

In May I'm off on my travels again for three months. When I get back I'm going to write a short book about Greece for over-50 travellers! "Spend the kid's inheritance…" something like that *grin*. I also want to write "The Totally Rubbish Cookbook - for all those who hate cooking and are proud of it." Then I want to get my folio of novels onto Amazon - another huge challenge.



What is your favourite part of the process of writing?

That's a really hard question! I'm a compulsive writer. I have periods of frenzy and periods of disinterest. I just have to do it when the muse grabs me. I write everything and anything. If I have an idea, I just have to go with it, and it's all amazing. But I think my favourite process is getting to know my characters and putting myself into their minds. I love it when I say to them - "You will do this," and they reply - "No I won't. I'm going to do that, so get lost." I also like the "what if…" part of writing, and the challenge of it all. Also I do enjoy the contact with other writers - love my writers group, "the Inkies" in Brisbane, and the great friends I've made through the RWA and writers groups on Facebook.  


What are you currently reading?

Just finished reading Anna Campbell's "Captive of Sin" - a beautifully written historical novel. But before that I was reading some very old Dick Francis books - love his who-dunnits with a twist in every chapter. 
Then I have local author Angela Lyon's "Secrets" which has just been launched - a wonderful love story set in the Second World War. Also I've just systematically gone through the whole nineteen Stephanie Plum books by Janet Evanovitch - I know I'll hear groans from that, but I LOVE them!

~~~
Thanks, Helen! Always fun talking to you.
You can find Helen at her website or her Facebook page. 

Love Is In the Air Blog Hop winner

The winner of a copy of Gateway to Hell (thanks to random.org) is:


Natasha!

I'll get in touch with you regarding your prize.

Thanks to everyone for commenting. Come back soon, y'all.


~yia~

Musa Monday: Wench Lizzie T. Leaf

Welcome to Musa Monday. Today I have Wench, Lizzie T. Leaf, author of the DEAD series, which tickles the funny bone. I loved DEAD Awake and looking forward to reading the rest of the series. 

In fact Halie at Sweet 'n Sexy Divas named the DEAD series a Best of 2012



Take it away, Lizzie!



Humor is Good, Even in Bloodsuckers! 


I like humor in my life. I like to read humor and to write it. So when approached to write a Halloween story, no surprise my mind went in the humor direction.

When I mentioned to a friend the possibility of a vampire story that wasn’t horror, she suggested making the heroine Jewish (which my friend is) and throw in Kosher (yet again, my friend’s food style) to add conflict to the drinking blood issue. I took the bull by the horns and off I went. Thus evolved DEAD Awake, where the heroine is a socialite whose grandmother, a Reform Jew, keeps a Kosher Kitchen.

Our gal, is a little on the wild side and a paparazzi darling…think Paris Hilton. Her connection with the hot guy in a vampire costume at her Halloween party, leads to a life change she’s not too pleased about.

She wakes up smiling pine and discovers, thank to the helpful stranger lurking outside the mortuary, she’s not one of the living dead. And, her new main food supply is blood. Yuk! She doesn’t eat food that’s snuggled with blood, let alone drink the stuff.

Not to bore you with details, I finished the book and moved onto other work—my vampire days behind me—so I thought.

After DEAD Awake originally released (at another publisher & under the title Waking Up DEAD) readers started to ask, “When’s the next book in the series?” Series? My mind hadn’t gone down that path, so what to write next? Then another friend said, “How about a vampire who faints at the sight of blood?”

Once she planted the seed, my mind wouldn’t leave the idea alone and DEAD Faint came to be and with that the DEAD series. After that came DEAD Hunter, about what else…a vampire hunter (or so she thinks…snicker). Then DEAD Memory in which a vampire has lost his memory. The latest entry in the series is DEAD Hot where both the shifter heroine is a shifter afraid of her own shadow and the hero is a shifter with a twist and guess where the hang out.

Vampires don’t always have to be blood thirsty beasts. They can have an attitude that will make you smile and love problems, too. Check out Mary Janice Davidson’s, Undead series (which I had not read until after DEAD Awake released and readers said I had a similar style, to which I say “thank you for the compliment,”) and you’ll find humor. There’s even humor in the Sookie Stackhouse stories by Charlaine Harris. So just like us, even creatures of the night and their assorted friends can have humor.

Are as for the DEAD series I write, there can be moments of horror. That’s part of our lives too. But a steady diet of horror isn’t something I want in my life. Humor makes the days easier to get up for whether you’re DEAD Awake or really alive.

Do you like humor in your reading? 




Deb Stein loved to party until she took the hunk dressed as a vampire to her bed. Now she's one of the living dead and pissed about it. Plus, she has to find a new identity and WORK!


Buy link 





~~~ Thanks, Lizzie.
You can visit Lizzie at her website, blog and follow her on Twitter. 






~yia~

Super Sunday: New Look Website and Blog

It has been a while since I've changed the look of my website and of my blog, so viola - here is the website:



Still at the same address: elenikonstantine.com

As you can see, I've tried to have the same look with the blog. For those reading this in a reader or in an email, it's worth the look :) Yes, I'm biased.

For the banner, I've used the fairy image that I have used for years because I still think she's groovy. And I changed it slightly for the banner of the blog as well....





What do you think?

~yia~

Writing Buddy Wednesday: Anna Hackett ~ Which Anomaly Are You? Plus a FREE Book!

Today, I welcome back all round cool lady, DarkSider Anna Hackett back to the Taverna. 

~~~

Which Anomaly Are You? Plus a FREE Book! 
The first X-Men comic hit the shelves in 1963 introducing Professor X and his mutant superheroes to the world. Today, most of us are more aware of the movies…hello, Hugh Jackman as Wolverine! What a perfect piece of casting. Lucky for all of us, the next movie, The Wolverine hits cinemas in July this year.

Now, it just so happens I have my own mutated gene, superpower characters in my paranormal romance series, The Anomaly Trilogy . They are ordinary humans with extraordinary abilities that make them a target for governments and bad guys everywhere.

Here are the types (and keep in mind, you have to decide which anomaly you’d prefer to be in a minute): 

Time Thieves: you have the ability to steal time. You can stop time for a short period and everyone around you is essentially frozen. If you touch someone when you stop time, they will also be able to move during the steal. 
In the first novella in the trilogy, TIME THIEF, the heroine Bay is a time thief on the run from an ex-Navy SEAL sent to hunt her down. 

Mind Raiders: you have the ability to raid someone’s minds and stop their thoughts. They are then receptive to doing whatever you ask. You can only raid one mind at a time (except for the hero of the second novella, MIND RAIDER, but Callahan is something…else). But the heroine, the fiery Mara, is a mind raider and uses her skills for revenge.

Soul Stealers: you have the ability to steal of soul of someone you touch. It’s an active power (it doesn’t happen by accident). They say it is a painful way to die and the person relives all the terrible things they have done. For the soul stealer, however, it feels good, so there is a risk of becoming addicted to soul stealing.

In my latest release, SOUL STEALER, the heroine Cate has been kept captive, forced to use her ability and is trying to overcome her addiction. Luckily for her she has sexy, smart and a little nerdy, Dr. Gage Walker to help her out.

Okay, so there you have it…all three different types of anomalies. Now it’s up to you, take the poll and tell me which anomaly you’d like to be!

Oh, and TIME THIEF is FREE right now! If you’d like a fast-paced romance will with action and anomalies, then check it out!



Choose Your Anomaly!

Anna Hackett loves action movies, sci-fi shows, short stories, writing her own romantic adventures, her wonderful husband and her little man. 
You can find her at the usual places: Anna Hackett – Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads. Her latest novella, SOUL STEALER, is out now.


Enter the SOUL STEALER Giveaway for a $25 Amazon Gift Card and 3 Carina Press ebooks of the winner’s choice:

The SOUL STEALER Giveaway via Rafflecopter

 





Soul Stealer Blurb

She just wants her life back. After being kidnapped and forced to kill by a vicious crime lord, Cate Hartmann is now a killer with an addiction to stealing souls. On the island sanctuary of Haven, surrounded by other anomalies with secret abilities, she fights to recover. But only one man calms the dark storm inside and makes her believe she can be whole again…Dr. Gage Walker.

Scientist Gage Walker has spent a decade helping anomalies. But every day, he’s haunted by his previous job for the CIA—where he crossed far too many boundaries and hurt so many anomalies. Including his brother. He vows he won’t fail again and will do everything he can to heal Cate—including fighting his attraction to her.

But when the crime lord comes after Cate again, it’s a race against time to find out why he wants her. Amidst the danger, Gage and Cate drawn to each other, even as they fear that one wrong step will send her hurtling back into the depths of her soul stealing addiction.

~yia~

Trekking Tuesday

Hi and welcome to another edition of Trekking Tuesday.



Booktopia's Top 50
The full list is here. Check out some of the romance writers and buddies, including Keri Arthur, Anna Campbell, and Rachael Johns (at No. 10!!)


Art

3D artwork by Tiago Hoisel



I love this one. The wolf look sooo happy. Too bad the Reds don't.


Fashion site
http://www.fashion-era.com/index.htm

Al Gore and his new book

Youtube link

The Big Bang Theory Flash Mob (thanks to Anita Joy)

Youtube link

GenreCon is Go!
Genrecon has early registrations.


Hubble Rules
Check out these great pictures from the Hubble Telescope. Amazing. 

Looks like an angel. 

This made me laugh - over at Bitten By Paranormal Romance, the P.Nis asks for a raise.

Star Wars newsOver on GeekyGirlsLoveSciFi, there's news that Disney plans 3 more Star Wars movies with J.J. Abrams at the healm. Cool! Fingers crossed it has a feeling of the first trilogy. 

Man of SteelApparently, the new film later out this year is going away from it's comic book roots. It'll be interesting to see as it's directed by Zack Snyder of 300 fame (who also did Sucker Punch, which storywise sucked but visually was amazing). Can't wait to see Henry Cavill in action.


SupanovaGeorge R.R. Martin is coming to Adelaide! Hell, yeah. How cool is that?


And that's it for this week.
~yia~

Musa Monday: Wench Rita Monette

Welcome to another Musa Monday. Today I have the lovely Wench Rita Monette visiting. 


  


Your debut release is The Legend of Ghost Dog Island published by Musa (congratulations!). Can you describe this book for us?

This middle grade fiction is set in the Louisiana bayous in 1956. The story is based on my childhood, and the heroine, Nikki Landry, even shares my birth date. Nikki lives in a houseboat and seems destined to move several times a year as Papa searches out new fishing spots to support his family. Nikki’s only wish is to have a house that stays in one place so she doesn’t have to keep giving up her friends. At least she has her companion, Snooper (a beagle that doesn’t track). As she faces her new home in a bayou near Morgan City, she finds the place to be spookier than your normal eerie, gator and snake infested inlet. Papa tells her about a legend surrounding a nearby Island. She’d heard Papa tell lots of swamp stories before, but this one is different. It involves stealing the souls of dogs! But is it just an old tale? Nikki has to find a way to learn the truth behind the legend before it’s too late for Snooper.


Please tell us a little about your road to publication.

I finished the first draft of The Legend of Ghost Dog Island in 2008. While working on edits, I attended conferences and workshops and read lots of books on writing.  I entered it in a few contests and got some valuable feedback. Legend won second place in one contest in 2010. I had started submitting it to agents and publishers in 2009, and by 2011, and after 20 or so rejections, I started getting requests for full manuscripts. I had a couple of editors sitting on it when Musa offered representation. I considered it for a few days wondering if I wanted to go with an e-book. Musa was developing a great reputation. I liked what I saw in them, and signed the contract. I have been happy with the results.


What is it about Middle Grade fiction that attracted you to the ‘genre’?

When I first got the idea to start writing for children, it was picture books I had in mind, since I am also an artist. After writing a few stories, and not totally happy with any of them, I decided to write about my childhood and living on the bayou. It started out basically about bullying, and I had titled it The Levee Rat. The characters in my story decided to take on new adventures, and the story grew into The Legend of Ghost Dog Island . Once I began writing it, I fell in love with creating something with plots and subplots. I also fell in love with the age of my character. I realized I’d found my genre. Middle grade is an age of discovery, of innocence, and of trust.



I love the illustrations on your website. How did this come about? 

Illustrating The Legend of Ghost Dog Island was an afterthought. I think the book was due to be released in a matter of weeks when I asked could I include illustrations. Then I had to rush to get them done. I wanted to include more, but time was running out. The idea came to me because of a teacher who used the first three chapters of my not-yet-published book for a literary circle in her classroom. She shared with me the students’ comments and their drawings. I realized that children nowadays might not know what a kerosene lamp looks like, or a houseboat, or even a swamp scene. So I jumped in and showed them.

Nikki Landry







Are you a plotter? Pantser? Or somewhere in between? 

I am definitely a pantster, although I keep trying to be a plotter. I’ve taken excellent plotting workshops and the whole nine yards. But for me, the plotting and planning thing gives me writers block. I feel my characters are just sitting there waiting for me to turn them loose.



What are you working on now? And what’s in the near future for Rita Monette?

I have a couple more middle grade novels in the works. One is a sequel to Legend. Of course Nikki Landry needs another mystery to chase down. The second one is one that I started a few years ago. An excerpt won first place in a local writing contest, but I can’t seem to finish it. I think I’m trying to plot too hard.



What is your favourite part of the process of writing? 

My favorite part of writing is watching the story unfold and watching the characters get so carried away in their story they leave me trying to catch up and making sense of where they are taking me.


What are you currently reading?

I had started reading Sharon Ledwith’s Last Timekeepers , and Clarissa Johal’s Between , before the holidays.  At that time my Nook became missing in action (I’m wondering if there’s something supernatural going on?  So...I am starting on First Frost , by Liz DeJesus, because I have it in my HP tablet. Technology! I got too many new gadgets for Christmas it seems.




~~~
Thanks, Rita!
The Legend of Ghost Dog Island


Behind every legend lies the truth.

Moving is nothing new for ten-year-old Nikki Landry. Her fisherman father relocates their raggedy old houseboat several times a year in search of better crabbing spots. However, their latest move has brought her to a mysterious bayou where she feels something is watching her from a nearby island.

Nikki learns of a local legend about something sinister inhabiting those swamps, stealing the souls of dogs…which would explain the strange howling sounds. Papa reassures her there’s nothing on the island but gators and snakes. He would know. He’s spent his whole life trapping and fishing those bayous and swamps. But Nikki and her new friends uncover strange happenings from years ago that may have started the old legend, and town folks aren’t talking. Then her beloved beagle goes missing.

Join Nikki as she seeks to discover the real truth behind the legend of Ghost Dog Island…before it’s too late.


Buy link


Rita has a great blog, Tales from the Bayou, where her love of the Bayou comes through. You can also catch her at her website.

And check out the book trailer. 




Youtube link

~yia~

Love Is In The Air Blog Hop

Well I'm not going to talk exactly about Valentine's Day but more why do I put romance in my stories?

Not all of my stories have romance, but most of them do. I've never intentionally put a romance in the story - it just turns out that way.

Romance is an element that is such a big part of our lives and influences people in many ways. It is part of our story as a human being. And since I write about human beings (mostly!), you can't avoid the subject of love - or at the very least, lust.


Take my paranormal romance novella, Gateway to Hell. It didn't begin as a romance. Most of my stories DO begin with a paranormal / supernatural / fantasy element. In this case, I had this woman who could open a Gateway to Hell. Initially GTH started as a short story about us, the reader, not knowing if this woman indeed could do what she claimed, or it was a delusion. But you see I introduced this good-looking Warder guy, and the rest as they say, is history.

The characters told me the story and that story included a big chunk of romance.

Will my other stories in the series have so much romance? I don't know, the characters haven't told me yet, but writing Warder 2, I can already see a romance in the future. So it could be.

To win a copy of Gateway to Hell, leave a comment below on why you or don't like like romance in stories.

And make sure to join in the blog hop and visit the other blogs.

You can find the list on the Under the Covers Book Blog. (For some reason Linky is not working)



Have fun doing the Blog Hop!


~yia~

Writing Buddy Wednesday: Cate Ellink

Welcome to another Writing Buddy Wednesday post. Today, I have the fabulous Cate Ellink joining me. I've known Cate for a number of years via Romance Writers of Australia. She is one of the sweetest people I know and makes everyone around her feel important. Great gift to have. 

Enough from me - over to Cate.


The Author and CFS


Eleni and I both have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and there are quite a few RWA members who have it too.
The symptoms are exactly the name - fatigue after doing things, that never goes away. 'Doing things' can be as simple as getting out of bed for some people. Unless we're really bad Eleni and I are both better off than that - thank goodness!
My CFS came about after I had Glandular Fever and Ross River Fever in 2005. I've never picked up. In hindsight, I ran myself into the ground for the eighteen months prior to getting sick - actually I was always running myself into the ground. Just this time it was the straw that broke the camel's back.
Prior to CFS I was too busy to be creative. I was focused on my agricultural science career. All my creativity went into experiments and getting out messages about what was found.
Once I was sick, I lost myself. My identity was my science career, I didn't know who I was without it. I no longer had that, I had to find me.
I'd always written. When I was seven I was going to take over from Enid Blyton and penned me first story, Ebi The Wishing Dog. My dog was Ebi, and I'd just read The Wishing Chair and I hadn't heard of plagiarism! Somewhere in between uni and working, all my creative writing morphed into science writing. I'd written some erotic stories but never shared them with the world.
In 2005, a friend also wasn't well. She's a journalist by trade and also had a yen to write a book. So in one of our brainstorming discussions (we had hundreds of these discussions) she challenged me to write a book. We settled on a category romance because they we short, had a plan (meet, fall in love after some troubles, live happily ever after), and had to be easy. Famous last words!
So I wrote my story - of course I thought it was brilliant, I had not yet joined RWA - and I sent it away to be published after much encouragement from Helen. It was rejected. I was dejected but not deterred. The writing bug had bitten hard.
Having CFS has allowed me to find my creative side. It's made me learn to be patient, which is something a writer needs in bucketloads, and has allowed me to find a different path in life.
Creativity seems to be something a lot of people with CFS get involved with. I've been a part of two projects with other CFS sufferers, called Creative For A Second. The first project resulted a print book to showcase the talents of CFS sufferers and included things like poetry, pictures, photos. (I proofread it because I had no creativity at that stage.) The second project was journals that travelled around the world, to a dozen people per journal, and were made into electronic books.
I can't say I'm happy to have CFS because it's an awful thing to live with but it has allowed me to find new things, make new friends and explore another part of myself. 


~~~
Thanks for sharing, Cate.I agree with you - I may not like that I have CFS but I've learned a lot from it. 
You can find Cate on her blog.
Check out her Hot Down Under story, A Real Online Fantasy at Momentum.

Musa Monday: Wench Marci Boudreaux

Today, I have fellow Wench, Marci Boudreaux. Marci has a wicked sense of humour and is someone who is as busy as I am.

Welcome, Marci!



Your latest release is Unforgettable You published by Musa. Can you describe this book for us?

Unforgettable You has several layers to it which I just love. So many of my books focus primarily on the hero and heroine and the supporting characters are just that, but with Unforgettable You, there are three main characters. Will Walker, an actor who is simply sleepwalking through his life, Carrie Gable, a widow who is doing whatever it takes to keep her mother-in-law in her family home, and Doreen, the mother-in-law who is suffering from Alzheimer’s and doesn’t realize how much she needs Carrie to take care of her.

I started writing this with the plan of delving deep into the relationship between Carrie and Doreen but as soon as I introduce Will to the story, it became a romance. My books tend to do that. 


Please tell us a little about your road to publication.

It was a long one. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t want to write but never really thought it was possible to get to the point where I am now. I wrote for an online group for years, honing my craft and trying to work up the courage to try to get published. In 2002 I submitted an unpublished manuscript to a Texas Writers’ League contest and won third place. That set me down the road to submitting but after a dozen or so rejections I put the book on a shelf and wrote another, The Messenger . It also was met with a barrage of rejection. After that I put writing aside as a hobby.

Several years later, with writing still just something I did for fun, I started working on getting a degree in Journalism. Between raising kids and working, it took seven years, but I graduated last spring with a double bachelor’s in Journalism and Public Relations. I’m now working on my master’s in Publishing.

That opened the door to getting several freelance editing jobs, which helped me further understand what I needed to do to get published. I was editing for Musa for just under a month when they contracted Unforgettable You . 




You also write erotic romance under the name Emilia Mancini. Is it easy to keep the two sides of writing separate? 
I make it a point to do so. Not everyone wants to read graphic sex so I make sure if they pick up an Emilia book, they know that’s what they are getting. Marci’s love scenes are mildly graphic, but with Emilia, they’re getting the whole play-by-play.

Emilia’s The Rebound was my first ever publication and I had to find a balance on promoting her and keeping my professional life separate. It was a challenge, but it taught me so much about self-promoting that now I’m really glad Emilia’s book came out before Marci’s. 


You also make videos. How did this come about?

Being a journalist is much more than snooping out and writing a story. It’s doing a video, photography, and sometimes graphics. My education prepared me well for this. I had a radio show for a semester, learned radio production, video production, photography, graphic design, and so many other things.

Many of those things I thought I would never use. Then I got published and realized I had to promote my own work. I saw a lot of book trailers that I felt weren’t the highest quality and realized people where charging authors a lot of money for them.

There was no way I was paying that when I could do it on my own. I contacted a local band and got permission to use their music for The Rebound and a lot of people loved it because it was different, the song had lyrics and a life.

Then with Unforgettable You , the book just called for more than a sad musical melody. I went to a recording studio and narrated the slides for that one instead of flashing text.

I was asked by a couple authors to do trailers and found that I have a knack for it. Now, it’s something I offer on a freelance basis.

Being an author, I know how hard it is to recover the money spent on promotions. I’d much rather do it them for small fee and ask that they promote my videos and books on their blogs and videos. I feel we both get more out of it that way. 



Are you a plotter? Pantser? Or somewhere in between?

I try so hard to be a plotter. Sometimes it kind of works. But my mind is always going in a million different directions. I tend to write random scenes because something inspires a section that I’m not quite to yet, then I have to go back and tie them together.

Also, doing it that way, means I often take a different path halfway through.

I fear I can be a bit of a nightmare for an editor if I don’t go back and carefully read a my work. 




What are you working on now? And what’s in the near future for Marci Boudreaux and Emilia Mancini?

If you recall, I said I wrote a book called The Messenger way back in 2002. After Unforgettable You was released, I knew I should get something else out there soon to keep the promotional ball rolling. I pulled The Messenger off the shelf, reworked it, submitted, reworked it again per my editor’s request, and resubmitted.

By that time I had another book written and submitted as well. It was felt the content was too similar to accept both, so The Messenger was once again facing rejection. I love that book, probably more for sentimental reasons than content, so I took its wounded ego and presented it to another publisher. They snatched it up in two weeks. 

In The Messenger, Evelyn Thomas is determined to prove that she has what it takes to be an investigative reporter. When she overhears her brother-in-law saying he suspects insurance fraud at the hospital where she works, she thinks this is her big break. However, when her source is nearly killed, Eve has no choice but to turn to Wes to help her uncover the truth. The pair find themselves in multiple sticky situations and in the end fighting for their lives to break the story.

It will be available in May through Secret Cravings Publishing and I couldn’t be more excited! It has had a rough road to get to this point and I really hope people enjoy it. 

As for Emilia, I am desperately trying to wrap up a book I’ve been writing for some time for her. Seducing Kate is another erotic novel in which a young man, Kyle, finds himself infatuated by his college roommate’s mom, Kate, when his friend takes him hometown of Minneapolis for Thanksgiving break. When Kyle lands an internship in Minneapolis for the summer, he moves in with Kate and…well, you can figure out the rest. 


What is your favourite part of the process of writing?

I love all of it. I’m a writer and an editor so I see the process from so many different angles. I love that the characters get in my head and won’t let me rest until I tell their stories. I love that even after their told, I think of new scenes that I wish I had included and I love that I now get to share those stories with other people.



What are you currently reading?

As I mentioned, I am an editor so most of what I read hasn’t been released yet. I get to work out the kinks in a manuscript before setting it free for others to read, which is great. Right now, I have a new Holley Trent manuscript sitting in my to-do box and I am so excited because she is one of my favorite authors to read and to work with. She has a brilliant dry wit in her writing that I love.

I am also taking a Young Adult Genre Studies class as part of my master’s program. I just finished reading Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson.

Spoiler alert: This story is about a girl who upon entering high school becomes so self-isolated that she eventually barely talks. We are seeing the world through her eyes and she has this great fear of IT. We later learn that IT is a boy named Andy who raped her at a party over the summer and her isolation is a result of that. We see through her eyes as she overcomes her fears and finally speaks out about what happened to her.

It is an amazing story and one that many schools have tried to ban from class reading because of the rape aspect, even though there is no graphic violence in the book. 


~~~Thanks for joining me in the Taverna, Marci.

You can find Marci at marciboudreaux.com

You can find Emelia at emiliamancini.com