Cheryl Harper's Blog, page 13
August 22, 2013
Music icons
Blog tour, Day Four. This time…it’s a review (cue suspenseful music…nah, it’s okay, it’s good, I already peeked): Click Here.
And I’ve also been interviewed by my friend Codi Gary HERE. Check it out!
And…my Giveaway link…
Tomorrow I’ll post a sneak peek of the final Rock’n'Rolla Hotel book, Santa, Bring My Baby Back…it’s weddings and Christmas and second chances and first love.
But today let’s talk music icons. I’m not sure we can even call Elvis an icon. He’s like super-duper mega iconic. And until I started working on these books, I had forgotten how mesmerizing he was. But as an 80s teen, I had a serious thing with Madonna. Actually, with the Material Girl to be specific. And, yes, I can still sing the song. And with an invitation to the right party, I’d totally do rubber bracelets, black lace in my hair, and gloves. I would not do the bustier. Ain’t nobody wants to see that. Then she went arts-ier, Vogue-ier, and political-er, and we parted ways, but “Like a Virgin” still has to be sung along with.
Or maybe you thought I was going to say Michael Jackson. I do remember very vividly when MTV came to town and the Thriller video was amazing. Is amazing. I think that might be another sign of an icon.
Which icon gets your toes tapping or your boots scooting? I find it amazing that a Garth Brooks song, even one I’ve never heard before, comes on the radio and I know his voice. That’s an icon, right?
August 21, 2013
And what about the heroine? Randa Whitmore
Blog Tour, Day 3…Click for EXCERPT!:
And the Giveaway link: Click and comment to enter
My favorite part of beginning the book is dreaming up the hero and I can usually see the first scene in my head. Then I launch from there. I’m a pantser so I don’t have much idea where I’m going from the first scene, but I trust the story will show up. And panic when it doesn’t. But I knew I had a tough guy with a hard past and a hotel heiress (whose past hasn’t been all happy spending sprees) with a secret. I knew she was blonde and beautiful and looked expensive. And she had to love dogs. Things Randa and I have in common: the dog thing. I think that’s it. But that’s enough. We could be friends.
When you read, do you fall in love with the hero or identify with the heroine first?
August 20, 2013
A word about heroes: Tony Ortega
Blog tour, stop 2 is a hero profile HERE, complete with excerpts and another excerpt HERE (but it’s not up yet as far as I see).
And if you’ve missed the giveway, CLICK HERE and leave a comment to enter to win.
And now then…I love casting heroes (also known as watching television and/or movies). Sometimes I start with a certain actor or role in mind. KT from Stuck on You was Nathan Fillion as Castle. Easy. This time, I started with Jon Huertas, Esposito on Castle. I need to watch other shows, cast other actors. But Esposito isn’t quite rough enough, although there’s the seed (military, tough guy), so he might look like the actor but he’s a mashup of characteristics from my BRAIN. This makes it harder to explain what the cover should look like.
I have a long list of heroes, enough for many books (Jane and Cho from the Mentalist, every role Jeremy Renner has ever played). What about you? What actor and/or role would you like to see star in his own romance?
August 19, 2013
Movies, music, and memorization
BLOG TOUR…pulling out of the station! First stop (with a chance to enter to win):
http://www.blueeyedbookblog.blogspot.com/2013/08/cant-help-falling-in-love-by-cheryl.html
And also, if you missed it, here’s the post about my GIVEAWAY: Books + tote + gift card
And now, 5 things you don’t know about me, music, movies, and memorization.
1. The very first movie I watched on continuous repeat was Grease 2. It was on one of the fancy new cable channels and I watched it every time it came on that summer. I was old enough to understand “Reproduction” (maybe…actually I had a good feeling I should be shocked at how the pistil and the stamen worked so I loved it more).
2. The first fan letter I ever wrote was to Adrian Zmed, Johnny Nogorelli, in Grease 2. It was also the only fan letter I ever wrote. I composed it carefully while I sat in the Corvette I made out of a cardboard box. So that’s how old I was. I never did understand how Stephanie could go for the British baby face. Now that Maxwell Caulfield and I are both older, I get it better. Plus, accent.
3. I can still sing all of those songs and do enough of the dialogue to frighten friends. “Cool Rider” still comes to mind at unexpected times. Oh, and also, I had never seen Grease, the first. Somehow that makes it all better. I was a little let down when I saw it. John Travolta is no Adrian Zmed.
4. I can do the same thing with Dirty Dancing (and The Breakfast Club, although it’s not really so musical. Just awesome.). Somehow I missed Say Anything, but my college roommate fixed that for me.
5. And I have not quite given this up. Pitch Perfect is now on repeat. I don’t seem to have as much time to work on memorization as I did, but I still know how to work in “horizontal running” and “mermaid dancing” at the first opportunity.
You know who did a lot of musical movies? Um, ELVIS. Do you have a favorite?
Tagged: Can't Help Falling in Love, Grease 2, musicals
August 13, 2013
BLOG TOUR INFO: Can’t Help Falling in Love (I am excite)
Just got the list of blog stops and found some cool new places to lurk check out for good book recommendations!
The tour starts Monday, August 19, and runs through August 30. There will be reviews, excerpts, guest posts, and giveaways. DOES IT GET ANY BETTER? Sorry for all the shouting. I’m calm now. Really. If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, I’ll be sending out links every day so…
I’m also adding a link to the sidebar for easy clicks.
And next week, I’ll be doing giveaways too. And there’ll be an excerpt of the last Rock’n'Rolla Hotel book: Santa, Bring My Baby Back, coming December!
Aug 19-Blue Eyed Book Reviews
Aug 20-A Tasty Read Book Reviews
(Stop 2) Deal Sharing Aunt
Aug 21-Rose & Beps Blog
Aug 22-Crystal Blogs Books
Aug 23-Literary Chanteuse
Aug 24-Flirting with Romance
Aug 25-
Romance Bookworm
Aug 26-Harlequin Junkie
Aug 27-Paws and Print
Aug 28-Read Your Writes
Aug 29-Faerie Tale Books
Aug 30-Storm Goddess Book Reviews
Tagged: blog tour, giveaway, review. Can't Help Falling In Love
August 8, 2013
Printed books…in my hands!
Sometimes you just gotta stack your books up and take a picture, am I right? I have no idea, but I had to as soon as I got the printed copy of Can’t Help Falling in Love in. I’ve been writing posts for the blog tour (August 19-30, I think, more info coming as soon as I have the stops) and remembering how much I like Tony, the hero. And Misty. Also, there’s a kiss in front of a bookstore that seems to take up a lot of my attention.
Maybe it’s time for a giveaway…
Tagged: Avon, Can't Help Falling in Love
July 25, 2013
Back to work now
I’m so happy to be back in my shorts and T-shirt this week, although I had such a great time at the conference last week. And I immediately plunged back in the cold waters of day job number crunching, but now I’m caught up on (most of) my email. So it must be time to unpack my suitcase. Who knew Delta was so judgey, right? It’s all book weight, people, and nobody should hold that against me.
This conference stretched me…book signings (fun), parties (fun), just standing in line shooting the writerly breeze (also fun). For most of it, I was battling the flop sweat of social anxiety and fear silently (while in my head I could hear “ahh-ooga! ahh-ooga! Do not open your mouth! Do NOT open your mouth!” and then Famous Author sat next to me and all I could hear was the rushing sound of impending doom. She didn’t seem to notice. My garbled hello must have been fine.) and doing my best to keep my ears open and my mouth shut, always my strongest position. I wish I was different. But I’m not. At some point, I just have to say “I did the best I could,” go back to my room, order a club sandwich, and flop on the bed until the nerves settle again. Usually some pieces of my outfit come off too. This is why I can’t have a roommate.
But here are some random things I loved:
1. Meeting old new friends. Or is it new old friends? Doesn’t matter. It was wonderful, great, so much fun to meet people I’ve been emailing with and sharing some pretty cool adventures in publishing with.
2. Putting my business hat on. This is the first time I’ve ever been in a business-y meeting of real life publishing types like this. And it was awesome. There was Powerpoint. I love a good Powerpoint presentation, y’all. It’s a thing. If someone had fanned me with an Excel spreadsheet, it would have been a perfect meeting. Seriously, I was so impressed with everyone at Avon and HarperCollins, and so happy to be part of the group. This is the place I wanted to be, and I spent most of my time there trying to wrap my head around the fact that I was ACTUALLY doing it.
3. Basking in cover compliments. I had nothing, zero, zip, nada, nothing to do with the cover design of Stuck On You in the big scheme of things. I did put a dog in the story. I asked to make sure she was a girl. And then I was dead of excitement when it showed up. I still accepted all the compliments. Someone should really get the use out of them, you know? (And you aren’t even going to believe how beautiful the December book’s cover is going to be. It might actually need an “AWESOME” warning.)
4. How things change. Avon’s digital copies for the signings and the Autography signing were just really…amazing to me. I remember not too long ago how people would curl up their lips at the idea of digital books. No file would ever replace the solid, comforting weight of a book. And I brought home books. Lots of books. Enough to raise Delta’s ire. But nothing like I have in the past. Because things are changing so fast!
5. And the way things stay the same. My first conference was a few years ago now, but what struck me then is still true…romance writers are so very friendly. And helpful. I literally fell into a conversation at a party when I paused to look for someone to talk to. It was really that easy! Plus, I got some really interesting YA book recommendations! And there’s a positive vibe in the air that’s hard to explain, but to anyone who reads or writes romance, you get it. Whether we’re still striving or sitting on top or somewhere in the middle, we can be optimistic and share because we believe in happy endings.
And now, back to the December book. That awesome cover needs an awesome book!
June 11, 2013
Changing horses in midstream
I know nothing about horses. They are large and have big teeth. People ride them. And it is apparently not the best idea to change horses in midstream, thus we have the saying. Google says we owe the saying to Abraham Lincoln. And it’s on the Internet so it must be true.
But I’m going to do it anyway.
I’m pretty sure I’m a pantser at heart. I always have been. When the assignment required an outline, I wrote the paper first and then the outline. I think this is because I have so many words and it’s hard for me to know what they’re going to do without spreading them out and rearranging them.
But I want to be a plotter. There are good reasons to plot first and then write. Being able to tell an editor what you’re going to do without writing the whole dang book would be a very good reason. Also, being able to follow an outline should mean you know what to put down every single day.
I got closer with the Rock’n'Rolla Hotel because I thought out a series. So, now that I’m at the last one, everything should be easy. I’ve set up the place. I know the secondary characters very well. But I’m going to tell you, the hero and heroine of this one are giving me heartburn. Part of that’s because my editor and I made a change in the first book that impacts this one. And it’s so cool that I can’t even believe how things work out. But now I’m having trouble figuring out who this guy is and what kind of girl he needs. Have you ever been there? No? Just me? Fine.
I mean, his backstory is set. We’ve been reading it already. What is the deal?
It doesn’t help that my day job has hammered every single bit of imagination into pulp lately. Or that the clock is ticking. But…today, I think I nailed the Jell-O to the wall. This is who he is (until my editor says differently) and this is who she is. And I’m starting over. This will be version three of Chapter 1. Third time’s the charm.
Anybody know where that saying comes from? If it’s Abraham Lincoln again, I’ll know it’s all meant to be. Just in case it isn’t, I’m not going to look it up. Here’s my new, impossibly ambitious plan. I still have the day job. I still have edits on Can’t Help Falling In Love. But I need this story done. So it’s crunch time, yo.
Tagged: Rock'n'Rolla, Santa Bring My Baby Back, writing
June 10, 2013
Look-a here, look-a here. The Rock’n'Rolla Hotel books, graphic-style
Look what my friend Codi made me! Plus, click her name and check out her way-cute website. I haz website envy! Also, the cover for her upcoming book, Things Good Girls Don’t Do, is way hot. I haz cover envy! The envy’s out of hand around here. So’s my to-do list. THROW CHOCOLATE, PEOPLE!! Also, bless good friends who brighten up days, you know? Chocolate for Codi too! I can’t wait to get to Hotlanta to meet up!
