Allison Knight's Blog, page 24

The end of the month

Tomorrow is April Fools Day. I'll have to research that
and find out how it started. It's been around for a long
time which suggests there might be a historical reason
for it. Ah ha! A plot idea. We'll have to see.

In the meantime, I just finished the Contemporary I
was working on. Wrote the end at twelve o'clock last night.
It's always a great feeling to write 'the end'. Now off
to my first reader - editor for analysis and questions.
I'm sure there will be a few.

While he reads, I get to start on the last song book.
I have some nasty plans for Arvel. Just wait and see.

Allison
www.AllisonKnight.com
Heart-warming Romance with a Sensual Touch

Weddings

Nope, not mine. Not one of my children, thank the lord.
But a granddaughter. This one spent a lot of time with
us and she's a sweetheart. I'm delighted to be able to
be present at her wedding, but truth be told, I'm not
fond of weddings.

I can't explain it, maybe because they do things so much
differently now than when I was got married. Back then
a wedding was a big, big deal. And you planned for
months and months before the big day. Everyone in your
family and his family were sent invitations, even if
some of the members didn't speak to each other.

There were books on how to plan a wedding, who pays
for what, what gifts were appropriate, what your
invitations should say and on and on. Today it seems
much more relaxed. In my day it was a very formal
day.

I suspose there are a few of those kind of weddings
going on today, but most of the ones I've heard about
have a party like feel to them.

Have I given away my age, or am I just getting old?

Allison
www.AllisonKnight.com
Heart-warming Romance with a Sensual Touch

How about that - blogging two days in a row!

I worked on my Contemporary today, yesterday, and
even the day before. I'm getting back in the swing
of things again. Surprising how a lung infection
has a tendency to grab any creative juices and
destroy them. When you can't let your mind flow
'cause you're coughing all over the place, have
a fever and are stuffed with high powered
antibiotics, it useless.

I'm much better now and want to be at the keyboard.

In each story, there's a point where everything
begins to jell. The characters are known,
the plot is moving in the direction you want,
you can see the end and the growth of your characters
is nearly complete. I've reached that point. And, it's
hard to stay away from the computer. Here's hoping
my editor likes it and it will soon see the light
of day.

But there's a serious problem with writing novels.
Before you finish one, another plot, a character,
a beginning, even an ending occurs and you KNOW
you have to start on that story. The temptation to
leave your wip and start the new book is teeth gritting.
I'm holding off. My next 'song' book is mentally
taking shape and I want, really want, to start on it.
However...

Whoever said writing fiction was easy is nuts! Or
the authors are. That's up for debate.

Allison

www.AllisonKnight.com
Heart-warming Romance with a Sensual Touch

A nomination

Will wonders never cease! I have been
nominated for 'Author of the Year'
for Champagne books.

The company has grown so much over
the course of the last several years.
Champagne books are winning awards
right and left. The talents I'm competing
with is fantastic. I never expected anything like this.

On April 10th at 9 EST we hold our Award Ceremony.
It's great fun, there are prizes, and lot of fooling
around. I've attend the last four and had an evening
of true entertainment. I'll ask you to join me
on the 10th for the ceremony. It will be held
online at www.Champagnebooks.com. The ceremony
will be held in the chat room.

Allison, who is still in a bit of a shock
www.AllisonKnight.com

I'm so ashamed

Here I am giving other writers advice on blogging
and I can't even keep my own blog up.

For shame.

Back at it, finally. I'm well again, got the taxes done,
the office cleaned up, ready to start on new projects.
I have the Contemporary wip (Work in Progress) well
underway. This one, even though it's a Contemp, took
a lot of research. Parts weren't working, I didn't
even know who the villain was. Now I do. Bad, really
bad.

So back at the computer making the lives of my
characters miserable.

By the way, The Writers Vineyard authors are putting
together a cookbook. a FREE cookbook. It will be
digital, because we are, and I've seen some of the
recipes. Oh, boy, I love trying new dishes. Should
be ready by mid April. Crossing fingers.

Not only are the recipes good, but each author explains
a bit about the recipe and where it came from.
This one is gonna be fun!

Later

Allison
www.AllisonKnight.com
Heart-warming Romance with a Sensual Touch

Doing Better

I'm doing much better. The exercises are killing me,
but I'm slowly recovering. I can now write which I've
been dying to do for over a month.

I'm working through my current work in progress, a
contemporary romance with a twist. I'll say no more.
Only that my DH (Darling Husband) offered a critique
of my ideas and pointed out why the original theme
wouldn't work. So, I've spent the last week, going
back over the first three chapters and changing
things.

It's great to have a partner who is willing to offer
suggestions and discuss my plans for the book. I've
come to rely on his opinions a great deal, because
he's so right.

I'm aiming to have this one finished by the end of
April, edited within an inch of its life and then
off to the publisher.

Arvel, the healing brother in the 'song' books, is
yelling his head off to get on with his story. Poor
guy thinks I've forgotten him, but I haven't. Just
wait until he meets the heroine. She's gonna drive
him crazy. Got to hurry up, finish "Betrayed Bride"
the contemp so I can get to "Lovesong". That one is
Arvel's story. Oh, do I have things planned for him.
(I'm grinning from ear to ear. He's such a charmer,
but this time it doesn't work. Ha! just wait.)

Allison
www.AllisonKnight.com
Heart-warming Romance with a Sensual Touch
"A Matter of Passion" available from Champagne Books,
or wherever digital books are sold.

At it again

Since the last post, I've been back in the hospital.
Did the bronc thing, but this time I got to go home
with a pic line and 12 days of at-home IV anitbiotics.
At first, I thought, I can't do this, but it was
not difficult at all. No goof-ups, no problems,
no drippers, no clogged tubes. Only one time did
I forget to flush the line and I remembered
before the meds started to flow.

Which just goes to show, if you make up your
mind, you really can do just about anything.

Better now and ready to get on with the taxes.
Stories germinating like crazy and I can hardly
wait to get back to the keyboard to tell more
tales. It should be soon. I have about all the
tax info together. A little bit yet to arrive.
With any luck the PO won't lose anything and
I will escape with no lengthy phone calls to
get the info I need.

Then back to the book. Oh and do I have a
goodie ready to go.

Allison
www.AllisonKnight.com
"A Matter of Passion" a short story,
available from Champagne Books

TAX TIME

That time of year again. All I want to do is write
but there are records and receipts to be organized,
spread sheets prepared, data amassed. Not much fun,
but I've been doing it for years.

You'd think by now, I would have found an easy way to
handle this stuff, but it seems to get more
complicated every year.

Lucky for me, my dad worked for the IRS years ago,
and spent much time in instructing his kids in
filing your information. Great instructor and
probably one of the most honest men I've ever
known. What a shame there are not more just
like him.

As he always said, you gotta pay your taxes.
So, I'll be busy for the next week or two.
Sigh!

Allison
www.AllisonKnight.com
"A Matter of Passion" a short story
from www.ChampagneBooks.com

Internet Frustration

I can not believe it, but my internet has been kicking up
big time. We switched to ATT and nothing but trouble this evening.

One of these days I'll become a geek - I hope.

In the meantime I'm working on two books, a contemporary and a
medieval romance.

I had trouble with both original plots; I'm a plotter and it just
didn't work. But, as usual, while I was trying to go to sleep
the trouble solved itself. My contemporary heroine was involved
in the wrong profession.

Same trouble with the medieval. My hero was in the wrong
situation. Now he is where he should be, (grinning!) and my
heroine now is what she should be.

I can hardly wait to get back to the books.

Allison
Three reads available!
Two from Champagne Books
"Windsong" a medieval romance and "A Matter of Passion" a short story
One from Red Rose Publishing "A Christmas Story" another short story
www.AllisonKnight.com for more information

Come meet a fabulous author

Today Linda LaRoque is visiting. Her books are getting rave reviews.
She's also awarding prizes and possibly a new Kindle to one lucky
commentor, so meet Linda.

Born in Ice
This futuristic romantic suspense story grew from a dream, one of a woman frozen in a block of ice and found by fishermen from an undersea world. She's taken to their home and with the help of advanced medical technology, she recovers. In time she learns she must learn to fit into their social system, one different from what she's known.

Blurb:
Pulled from an icy grave…into a world of doubt and danger.

Frozen in ice for seventy-five years, Zana Forrester suffers the agony of rebirth to learn her son is dead, and her daughter's whereabouts is unknown. The year is 2155. A man's soothing voice and gray eyes haunt her drug induced dreams. When she recovers, she meets their owner and finds her heart in danger. But, a relationship isn't a consideration; she must find her daughter.

Brock Callahan is drawn to the beautiful woman taken aboard his salvage ship. He's determined she'll be his wife and a mother to his young daughter, but he vows not to love her. All the women he's loved died. While Zana searches for her daughter, Brock must protect Zana from the evil that threatens.


My editor for Champagne Books has graciously given permission for me to post the Prologue and Chapter One of Born in Ice, so for 10 days I'll be sharing another installment.

Chapter One – installment 6

"Shit," growled Brock. Probably that damned rogue Rafael. Not that
the Cuban was the only pirate to roam these waters, but this particular one
took excessive joy in stealing from him. Brock didn't doubt for a minute that Rafael would shoot him in the back without an ounce of remorse. Rafael's hatred, a festering sore, grew worse each time they met on the water. The man blamed him for taking Marta from him and for her death.
One day Brock would have to kill his nemesis. Today might be the
day.

His well-seasoned crew scrambled to battle stations. Arms were
manned, ready for word from him. Pepe had one tow chain attached and
dragged the additional one Brock tossed over to add extra security.
Brock yelled into the intercom. "Prepare to cast off."

Shots zinged overhead sending shards of ice into the air. Brock's
men returned fire as Pepe dodged, stumbled, and went down to his knees.
Brock's heart jumped into his throat. Damn, not the boy.

He jumped across the small expanse of water. The berg wobbled
threatening to toss him into the icy sea. He braced to maintain his footing,
and then grabbed Pepe by the seat of his suit and the scruff of his neck. Two crewmen stood at the rail ready to catch the nearly unconscious young man.

With a heave, he tossed him to the waiting crew members.
An explosion burst on the port side sending water thirty feet into the
air, rocking the craft and the ice floe. He almost pitched head first into the water. Damn, that was too close. Pushing off from the ice, he made the jump across to the craft. "Cast off. Put a hole in the motherfucker, Digger."

Thirty seconds later, the shell hit the pirate vessel. It burst into a ball
of fire. Brock didn't find pleasure in killing, but if Retriever was overtaken, he doubted Rafael or any other buccaneer would spare their lives. Hell, pirating was a dangerous profession.

Brock picked up the intercom mike. "All speed ahead, Luke. Get us
out of here."

"Aye-aye, sir," boomed from the exterior speakers.

The engines roared to life as Luke accelerated. Brock gripped the rail
to brace himself as they shot forward. Three crafts were in pursuit.
Within seconds, Retriever had pulled ahead and was out of the line
of fire of the pirates. His superior craft had no difficulty out distancing their attackers. The buccaneer's outdated weapons couldn't compare to what his craft carried, but he wasn't taking any chances. Retriever was his pride and joy. He thanked his lucky stars his father had the foresight to purchase the salvage ship with his grandfather's ill-gotten gains. The Callahans had once been pirates, but no more.

Buy the book from Champagne Books here
or from Amazon here


Tomorrow I'll be on Holly Hunt's blog at http://rhythempoets.wordpress.com with installment 7.


Please leave a comment today to be entered into a drawing for an ecopy of A Way Back, my time travel set in the 1930s oil fields of Texas. Your name will also be entered in the GRAND PRIZE drawing for my blog tour—a KINDLE. A name will be draw at the end of my tour on December 16th.
I also have a release contest going. Sign up for my newsletter by emailing me at linda@lindalaroque.com with Born in Ice in the subject line. Your name will be added to the drawing for this rhinestone frog pin.For each of my releases I try to find a piece of jewelry significant to the story. After reading Born in Ice you'll understand why I chose this frog.

Thank you, Allison, for having me here today, and thank you readers for stopping by. Good luck in all the give-a-ways!
Happy Reading and Writing!Linda LaRoque is a Texas girl, but the first time she got on a horse, it tossed her in the road dislocating her right shoulder. Forty years passed before she got on another, but it was older, slower, and she was wiser. Plus, her students looked on and it was important to save face.
A retired teacher who loves West Texas, its flora and fauna, and its people, Linda's stories paint pictures of life, love, and learning set against the raw landscape of ranches and rural communities in Texas and the Midwest. She is a member of RWA, her local chapter of HOTRWA, NTRWA and Texas Mountain Trail Writers.

Linda
www.lindalaroque.com
http://www.lindalaroqueauthor.blogspo...
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tinym...
http://twitter.com/#!/LindaLaRoque