Lorenda Christensen's Blog, page 15

Meant To Be

2013 GH Finalist: AE Jones

Please join me in welcoming AE Jones to our Firebirds blog today!   Growing up a TV junkie, AE Jones would oftentimes rewrite endings of episodes in her head when she didn’t like the outcome. She immersed herself in sci-fi and soap operas. But when Buffy hit the little screen (don’t talk to her about the movie, it still gives her nightmares) she knew her true love was paranormal. Now she spends her nights weaving stories about all variation of supernatural – both their angst and their  humor.  After all life is about both…whether you sport fangs or not.

AE’s website can be found at www.aejonesauthor.com

Mind Sweeper
Born with the ability to erase memories, Kyle McKinley is summoned to cover up a supernatural smackdown between a sword-wielding angel and a demon. When the police step in, she is partnered with Joe Dalton, a by-the-book human cop with the sexiest turquoise eyes. Together they protect humans from becoming pawns in an apocalyptic showdown by
unraveling the events that forced an angel to pick up a sword.

Nationals is Upon Us – Don’t Forget to Reboot

Oh so close to Nationals and excitement is building! We’re making lists, buying clothes, and preparing ourselves for a wonderful time. So I thought it appropriate to talk about one of the most important things attendees forget to do when they are at conference. Now before I come across as being condescending (after all the Firebirds did attend conference as finalists last year for goodness sake), let me explain what we all need to do at least once at Nationals.

You have to allow yourself to take a break—to walk away from the pandemonium. Whether it is for fifteen minutes sitting in the lobby people watching or decompressing for an hour in your room. You owe it to yourself.

But ‘no’ you say, there is too much going on. Workshops, spotlights and book signings to attend, business relationships to foster, old friends to catch up with, new friends to make…

Let me digress with a story as explanation (Are you really surprised? Writer here – stick with me).

The first year I went to Nationals (which was Orlando in 2010) I was in awe for DAYS. How could I not be? Thousands of people who talked and thought the same way I did and an agenda of hundreds of things to do and see and absorb. And I was determined that I would do them ALL. So I went from morning until late into the evening to everything I could, even going so far as sitting in the bar after dinner since I had heard ‘deals were made over drinks’. And at the end of the week, I was exhausted and foggy on all those wonderful people I had met. And this was without the extra pressure of being a finalist.

Look at it another way. If you are trying to put your best face forward and instead come across tired and cranky you could miss an opportunity right in front of you. Take a few minutes. Regroup. Reassess. Especially if you tend to be high-strung like me. I can be like that obnoxious Energizer Bunny until I crash into an exhausted pile (matted pink fur and a smashed drum – not a pretty picture). We are all ‘ON’ during Nationals and four or five days of being on all the time is a lot for anyone to handle. Even your phone, computer or ereader needs to be shut off every once in a while or it won’t work efficiently. So don’t be afraid to reboot, log off, clear your cache, delete your cookies, and recharge those batteries! (Can you tell I work with systems at my day job?)

The last thing I want to do is fall asleep in my dessert at the awards ceremony Saturday night. Although I’m sure it would make good YouTube fodder!

And another thing…

I couldn’t help myself. I had to offer a little ‘funny’ up as we prepare for Nationals, so in the spirit of the season (conference season, that is), I have fashioned the little ditty below.

 

The Twelve Days Before Nationals

On the twelfth day before Nationals I packed so frantically… A box of sparkly-new business cards. (not truly sparkly, I’m using a colorful descriptor…writer’s prerogative)

On the eleventh day before Nationals I packed so frantically…My notes for my pitch appointments (which I will fret over and change on the plane, in the cab to the hotel, in the elevator, in my room before I fall asleep, in line while I wait to pitch…we will speak no further of my OCD)

On the tenth day before Nationals I packed so frantically…Several pairs of comfortable shoes (I know- how many times do we have to hear about comfortable shoes?)

On the ninth day before Nationals I packed so frantically…My assorted collection of pins for my badge (including my GH pin, tee hee!)

On the eighth day before Nationals I packed so frantically… My snacks for my hotel room (I need nourishment and paying ten dollars for a bag of peanuts is so not in my budget…I could buy a book at the literary signing for that!)

On the seventh day before Nationals I packed so frantically…My planned itinerary for the week (workshops and spotlights, and book signings, oh my! What to do? What to do?)

On the sixth day before Nationals I packed so frantically…My ‘plan for every contingency’ kit (it includes a small sewing kit, pain reliever, lint roller, stain remover, Dramamine, etc. Hey, quit staring at me. I thought we weren’t going to bring up my OCD again??)

On the fifth day before Nationals I packed so frantically…My dress for the GH ceremony (and purse  and jewelry and killer shoes and Maalox )

On the fourth day before Nationals I packed so frantically… A little extra spending money (for literacy signing, and drinks in the bar, and dinner out, and tips, and cab rides and…well, it’s a good thing I’m bringing plastic too)

On the third day before Nationals I packed so frantically… A box of blister Band-Aids for my feet (cause let’s face it, we never pack comfortable shoes)

On the second day before Nationals I packed so frantically…The rest of my clothes for the trip (oh yeah, as much as I love my dress, I can’t wear it all week, and I would definitely make an impression running around naked now wouldn’t I?)

On the last day before Nationals I packed so frantically… My acceptance speech for my Golden Heart (note to self – if I am lucky enough to win, looking like a deer caught in the headlights with nothing to say while my face is projected up on a jumbotron is so not attractive)

So what is your ‘must pack’ for nationals?

Reboot! 2013 GH Finalist: Sonali Dev

Please welcome Sonali Dev to our blog today!!  We had some issues with our site the last time Sonali posted so we thought we’d reboot her post … and 2 posts are always better than 1, right?

Sonali is a Single Title finalist with her entry “The Bollywood Bad Boy”.   

A child bride grows up and finds out she’s married to the wrong man. Unfortunately the right man is her husband’s brother. And he’s only charming the pants off her to help his brother get rid of her.

My Writing Journey- A Series of Very Fortunate Events.

Ever since I finaled in the Golden Heart and got my book deal with Kensington, the question I get asked most is what my writing journey has been like. And boy do I love that question. Because it makes me feel like such a writer. And although I’ve written and loved to write for as long as I can remember, I still can’t believe that I am a writer and I have a contract to show for it. I even have the black and blue pinch marks to show for how insanely incredulous I am about the fact that my book actually comes out next year. And I will be able to photograph it on bookshelves and post the pictures to Facebook like a for-real-for-real writer.

As for the journey, I’d love to sound all brooding writer and say it’s been long and arduous, but really it’s been crazy fun, and in tracing it back, I see that it has been the perfect little medley of accidents. Starting off with the flu ten years ago, when in a horrific turn of events I ran out of things to read. I mean, what kind of person can be horizontal without a book in their hand? Like the distressed damsel I was, I turned helpless eyes upon my gallant husband and sent him off in his noble Honda to the library. And despite how terrified he is of the fiction section he did what any hero would do, he retrieved the very first book he found on the display shelves and then raced right back home bearing the fruits of his campaign- Catherine Coulter’s Rosehaven. I took one look at it, bared fangs I didn’t possess and went, “You’ve  been married to me for gazillion years and you brought home a ROMANCE??”

Needless to say, I had never until then read a true blue romance. I’d just been a romance-hunter within mainstream fiction. Which is to say when I read, say, My Sister’s Keeper I read all of Campbell and Julia’s parts before I went back and read the rest of the story.

So, after I’d projected the heat of my fever into undeserved wrath and volleyed it at his unsuspecting head for a bit, I opened the dreaded book. And then didn’t put it down until I had consumed the last word, one sleepless night and several heart-to-belly zings later. You know that feeling of coming home after seven days of camping in the cold rain with sand pricking in your every crevice? And taking a hot shower and finding your warm bed? Bingo. I read everything Catherine Coulter had ever written and then discovered Lisa Kleypas, Julia Quinn, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, and on and on it went. I was hooked, lined and sunk.

Even as I consumed romances, I continued to write columns and blogs, and drive myself crazy trying to figure out what kind of writer I wanted to be. In that phase when I was trying to decide between journalism school and an MFA, I got on the phone for my daily chat with my best friend. This was accident number two. It might help to mention that my BFF and I have been BFFs for, well, forever. We grew up in the same apartment building in Mumbai two decades ago and living on two different continents with an eleven hour time difference is no reason to break the habit of a daily chat.

She’s a movie producer (another thing I never ever get tired of saying). She had just completed an award-winning film and she had been reading through an endless supply of scripts that just weren’t exciting her. We’ve both always been film buffs and we both love commercial Bollywood films. After an awfully satisfying whine session about all the sucky films we’d recently watched (at this point I must share that the best part about Bollywood films is that they’re almost as much fun to make fun of as to watch). We wondered, in one of our signature moves of saying things simultaneously, why it was so hard to write a good film. At that moment the light bulb flashing over her head sparked all the way across eight thousand miles as she said, “You should write me a script!”

Instead of laughing it off, I actually had the arrogance to say, “You know, I’ve been reading these books (my newly discovered romances) and reading them is exactly like watching Bollywood films. They have the exact same structure.” (Yup, we’re just fancy enough to pepper our conversations with terms like ‘structure,’ ‘method,’ etcetera.)

That was it. I wrote her a script. It had a hero and a heroine (actually two pairs of them) and they were these gorgeous people at the lowest points in their lives, only they didn’t know it. And they had all these awful things keeping them apart, but the only way to fix these awful things was for them to heal each other and themselves, and then live happily ever after. There was much witty conversation and even some socially relevant issues. I didn’t know it then but I had just written my first romance!

The script never got made into a movie. The three scripts I wrote after that never went anywhere either. But boy were they fun to write. And once I had lived with the characters I had created there was no getting clean from that addiction. There was no more wondering about what kind of writer I wanted to be. I wanted to write stories. And since I had no idea which genre my stories fit into I figured I was writing literary fiction.

My first attempt at a novel was a rather complicated plot of four (yes, four) couples from four strata of Indian society with all sorts of mangled inner and outer worlds. I spent a year chiseling away at my genre-less story trying to make sense of it. I took writing classes, joined critique groups, really got into the whole Starbucks-and-wine writer thing. And then accident number three happened. In the form of Tuberculosis. When your friendly neighborhood TB came a-knocking and locked me up in the house for six weeks of quarantine, I thought, Yay! I can finally finish my book. But with all that coughing up my lungs, I needed something life-affirming, something escapist, something that went straight to my ovaries and made them cramp with hot emotion. I finally, finally, had to write what I loved to read. And I did. For all the trouble I’d had finishing my previous story, The Bollywood Bride, which had been revving in my brain for years, shot from my fingers with a force I couldn’t control. And except for minor hiccups, it didn’t stop until I had typed ‘The End’.

The number of slips and herculean pushes that it then took to spit, shine and sell it, is an entire different blog post. But my first complete manuscript, the one that will finally fulfill my lifelong dream of having a book on the shelves that people not related to me can buy, was the result of not just these but many many random accidents. I believe with all my heart that the universe gives you what you desire. But the trickster that the universe is, you never know which nudge will start the cascade of dominoes. All I can say is that you can help it along with an open mind and the readiness to jump on a bus as it goes by. Where you end up might be exactly where you’ve always wanted to be.

2013 GH Finalist: Dawn Marie Hamilton

Please join me in welcoming Dawn Marie Hamilton to our Firebirds blog today.  Dawn Marie Hamilton dares you to dream. She is a 2013 RWA® Golden Heart® Finalist who pens Scottish-inspired fantasy and paranormal romance. Some of her tales are rife with mischief-making faeries, brownies, and other fae creatures. More tormented souls—shape shifters, vampires, and maybe a zombie or two—stalk across the pages of other stories. She is a member of The Golden Network, Fantasy, Futuristic & Paranormal, Celtic Hearts, and From the Heart chapters of RWA. When not writing, she’s cooking, gardening, or paddling the local creeks with her husband.

Blog: http://dawnmariehamilton.blogspot.com

Website: http://www.dawnmariehamilton.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dawnmariehamilton.author

Facebook Fan Page:  https://www.facebook.com/authorDawnMarieHamilton

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DawnM_Hamilton

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/DawnMarieHamilton

 

Blurb for Sea Panther

After evading arrest for Jacobite activities, Scottish nobleman Robert MacLachlan turns privateer. A Caribbean Voodoo priestess curses him to an eternal existence as a vampire shifter torn between the dual natures of a Florida panther and an immortal blood-thirsting man. For centuries, he seeks to reverse the black magic whilst maintaining his honor. Cruising the twenty-first century Atlantic, he becomes shorthanded to sail his 90-foot yacht, Sea Panther. The last thing he wants is a female crewmember and the call of her blood. Although she swore never to sail again after her father died in a sailing accident, Kimberly Scot answers the captain’s crew wanted ad to escape a hit man. She’s lost everything, her fiancé, her job, and most of her money, along with money belonging to her ex-clients. A taste of Kimberly’s blood convinces Robert she is the one woman who can claim the panther’s heart. To break the curse, they travel back in time to where it all began—Jamaica 1715.

A big thank you to Nikki and the Firebirds for the invitation to appear on their blog as a guest, as a 2013 Golden Heart® Finalist. Wow! It’s an honor.

My journey into indie-publishing:

Over the last several months, I’ve been living within a whirlwind of activity. Just prior to learning of my final in the Golden Heart, I’d made the long-debated decision to indie-publish the first two books in my Scottish historical time travel series, Highland Gardens. The announcement was out, the first book was with the editor, the cover was ready, and then the Golden Heart call came. What to do?

A fellow writer said, “Of course, you’ll cancel the release.” I wasn’t sure that was the right thing to do. I’d carefully made the decision to indie-publish. Unfortunately, the comment made all of the warnings I’d heard over the years plague my mind. “Your writing career will be ruined.” “No agent will take you seriously.” “No editor will touch your work.” “You can’t make it on your own.” On and on. Self-doubt can be an awful thing. However, that is something, as writers, we often face. Considering the number of rejection letters received over the last ten years, it’s amazing I’ve continued writing.

After several days of discussion with my husband, I decided to move forward as planned. A month has passed since ‘Just Beyond the Garden Gate’ was released. I’m very happy with the results-to-date. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not all rosy. Promotion is time consuming. It’s difficult to balance writing time with promoting time. Releasing two books within a few months creates a lot of non-writing work. My advice to pre-published authors is to get on all the social networking platforms before releasing your book(s). I’ve had a huge learning curve. But it’s been a fun ride.

I’d like to see SEA PANTHER traditionally published and will continue querying. I have a couple of friends who are both traditionally published and indie-published, although they were with their traditional publishers first. In the future, I believe we’ll see more and more authors wearing both hats.

So what is right for you? Do you want to publish traditionally? Have you considered indie-publishing? I’d love to learn your thoughts.

2013 GH Finalist: Sandra Owens

Please join me in welcoming Lucky 13 finalist Sandra Owen to the Firebirds blog today.

I’m Sandra Owens and I live in Asheville, NC, famous for our mountains, the Biltmore Estate and some of the best microbreweries in the country. A good part of the location for my Golden Heart® final CRAZY FOR HER takes place in Asheville, and it was so much fun to make my hometown a part of my book.

 In addition to contemporary romance stories, I also write Regencies, two of them recently published by The Wild Rose Press.   

THE LETTER is the story of a betrayal that wasn’t. On the eve of their wedding, Michael Jeffres, Earl of Daventry, found his betrothed in bed with his cousin. Lady Diana remembers nothing of that night. Forced to marry Michael’s cousin, Leo, she spent the next eleven years in hell. When Michael and Diana are brought back together again by a letter from Leo a year after his death, they must struggle through all the lies and secrets before they can find a love that far surpasses the one of their youth.

 THE TRAINING OF A MARQUESS is the story of a woman who conceives of a daring plan to win the heart of a man who has vowed to never love again. Claire Tremaine, the widowed Marchioness of Derebourne, wears leather breeches, trains horses and helps the damaged ones find their lost spirit. Chastain Warren, Earl of Kensington, isn’t pleased when he learns he’s inherited the title of Marquess of Derebourne. Nor does he want to be attracted to Derebourne’s widow, but he is. It doesn’t take Claire long to realize she wants this man but when he resists, she comes up with a plan she calls The Training of a Marquess and works her horse whispering magic on Chase.

You can visit me at www.sandra-owens.com

First, I’d like to thank the Firebirds for inviting me to blog today. It’s an honor I don’t quite know what to do with. I’m not a blogger and this is only my second blog post. I often think now that I’m published, I should be blogging, but what would I talk about?  Not me, that’s for sure. As for the publishing industry—writing tips, that kind of thing, there are already hundreds of people who do it much better than I ever could.

As I sit here staring at this blank page, I got to thinking about the different posts my Golden Heart® sisters have written about their journey to getting The Call on March 26th. (Where have the last two months gone?) Some have shared excellent writing tips they’ve learned, some why they write what they do, others fascinating stories of the journey itself.

 So, still sitting here and wishing I were someone with something amazing to say, I remembered a long ago incident and realized I’d found my theme for this post.

 Years ago, my husband and I were out for a day of fun on our Harleys. We pulled into a gas station to fill up, and next to us was an SUV towing a sleek sailboat. The female passenger glanced over at me, then jumped out of her car and approached. 

“Will you trade lives with me?” she asked.

Since then, I’ve often thought about her question. I’m something of a thrill seeker and daredevil. I’ve done some awesome things in my life such as parachuting out of a plane, flying upside down in a stunt plane, taking to the air in an ultra glide powered by a lawnmower engine and riding a motorcycle for many years. Nothing anyone else couldn’t do if they wanted, including the woman at the gas station who apparently wanted to be me. 

Why wasn’t she satisfied with her pretty sailboat? Perhaps, as a female on a motorcycle, I represented a sense of freedom that was missing in her life. Or, maybe it was the thrill of danger she envied. I don’t know and never will, but here’s the thing.

No one’s days consist solely of beautiful Saturdays spent with the man you love while doing your favorite thing. There have been times when I might have been tempted to take her up on her offer to trade lives. The day I lost my mother to brain cancer might have been one, or the day my only brother committed suicide or the day my beautiful niece died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Bad things happen to good people, but somehow, we soldier on.

As writers, we create stories and in each tale is a piece of us. Sometimes it’s intentional, other times we don’t even realize it’s there. Without those past experiences—both good and bad—our stories would have no heart, nothing to make a reader catch their breath as a sentence, a phrase, a paragraph resonates to the depths of their soul. That is storytelling at its best.

The next time something or someone hurts you, the next time you’re given a reason to laugh or cry…use it! Write down what you’re feeling at that very moment and save it. At some point, you’ll find yourself pulling that note out and realizing those words are perfect for your heroine to angrily sling at your hero when he just turned stupid.

When my niece, Stacey, died of SID’s, my sisters and I each took a dove off a wreath someone had sent. Six months later Christmas rolled around and I decided to put the dove on my tree. When I took it out of the box, the glue in one of the eyes had melted and it appeared the bird was crying. I sat down and wrote a short story called A Dove’s Tears. It won a short story contest but in the back of my mind, I have a story brewing for a novel of a young mother who loses her daughter to SID’s. One day soon, I will write the book.

The message I want to get across is don’t let an experience that affects you in any way—happy or sad—get lost by time. Take a few minutes to write down what you’re feeling. Right then. You never know when a few words turn into a book.

Crap, I feel like I’m starting to preach. I’ll shut up now. Before I leave you though, here’s a blurb about my Golden Heart finalist manuscript.       

In CRAZY FOR HER, very bad things happened to my hero, Logan Kincaid, during his youth. As a means of escaping home, he joined the military and became a SEAL Commander. When he returned to civilian life, he started his own business, K2 Special Services, a highly successful security company. You could certainly say he soldiered on, making a productive life for himself.

Even so, he would have traded it all for the love of a woman he didn’t believe he deserved. As Logan learns, sometimes fate will dangle a set of keys in your face and you can dare to grab them for the ride of your life.

So, to the woman who wanted to trade lives with me, no thank you. Get your own damn motorcycle.

Oh, if you’re wondering, my hero does ride a Harley.

What’s the most daring thing you have done, and have you used it in any of your stories?

 

Interview with Three-Time Golden Heart Finalist Kay Hudson

I’m nosy, so when the opportunity to interrogate, interview three-time Golden Heart Finalist Kay Hudson, came up, I jumped at it. She writes paranormal, one of the genres I’m least familiar with, and I had questions. Lots of ‘em. Thankfully, because she is a rock star, she tolerated my nosiness.

 

But first, here’s the blurb for Jinn & Tonic, her Lucky 13 Golden Heart Finalist manuscript.

 Mix two lonely mortals, two meddlesome jinn, and a collection of classic Errol Flynn adventure films, and you have the ingredients of Jinn & Tonic.
Susan Sheridan may have her doubts about Bock, the jinn who pops out of her antique tonic bottle, but she loves the vividly real dream worlds he builds after watching her favorite movies. Then she discovers that the hero of her dreams, dashing pirate captain Rob Flynn, is also a mortal dreamer, as real as she is.

Rob wants to meet in the waking world, but Susan resists. It’s bad enough that he’s a lawyer and she’s on parole. It’s even worse that she tied him to a bed and had her way with him–in a dream they both remember!

As their adventures carry them through the pirate world of Captain Blood, the saloons of Dodge City, and Robin Hood’s Nottingham Castle, can Susan and Rob risk their hearts to find love–and their mortal lives to defeat the evil jinn whose ambitions would separate them forever?

1. You write paranormal on the lighter side of the spectrum. What draws you to the genre and your style of writing? Have you ever thought about changing your style to fit the trends?

I’ve always written humor, even when it hasn’t been totally appropriate. I’m probably one of the few people who can say she made people chuckle over environmental impact statements written for the US Corps of Engineers, an organization not known for comedy. The impulse is just too strong to resist.

Of course, not everyone finds humor in the same material or style, so I feel extremely lucky that five Golden Heart judges appreciated mine. As for following the trend toward dark and edgy paranormal, I wouldn’t be good at it, and I wouldn’t enjoy it, so I don’t try.

2. Speaking of trends, the romance genre is all about trends. A few years ago, it was all about paranormals, then small town contemporaries, then erotic romance hit the mainstream, now New Adult is all the rage. How do you view the paranormal market? Where does it stand?

I really don’t know what to think about market trends, in paranormal or any other sub-genre. Years ago a presenter at a local writers’ group, an author successful with her own work as well as work-for-hire projects, told us that she always had several manuscripts and many ideas waiting to come back into fashion. I have several friends who have done quite well with light paranormal series, so I know there’s a market out there. It’s just not as strong as the market for dark paranormal—at least for now.

3. What is your dream scenario for your career? What is your game plan? Are you holding out for a Big 5 contract? Are you looking for an agent or planning to pitch directly to the editors at the RWA conference? Have you considered self publishing?

I have appointments set up with an editor and an agent at the conference, and I’ll be happy to talk to anyone who’ll hold still long enough. I would rather write than handle the business end of things, so my ideal plan would be to work with an agent. And although I have and enjoy an e-reader, I still prefer paper books and hope to see my name on one (or more) sooner or later.

As for self-publishing, who hasn’t considered it? I have friends who are doing well that way—but they’re working at it full time. I’m working at a day job full time. I don’t think I will seriously look at self-publishing until I cut back my work to about half time in a few months, and until I have at least three related books to put out. Then I’ll see what looks right for me.

4. Tell us about your GH finaling manuscript. How many times have you entered it in the GH? What did you change, if anything that made the difference this year?

The opening of Jinn & Tonic sat in the back of my mind for a long time, but that was all I had, just a vision of a handsome, naked, eight-inch-tall man lounging on a bed. When a group of friends started a “one hundred words, one hundred days” challenge several years ago, I started from there, and wrote (long-hand in spiral notebooks) every day for 400+ days until I finished—and then took several more months to transcribe and edit it.

I then entered it in the Golden Heart at least four times (might have been five)—I’m nothing if not persistent. (Of course, there’s also that well-known definition of insanity: repeating the same action over and over and expecting a different result!)

In 2011, I finaled with an American historical romantic comedy (another extremely soft market) called Paper Hearts, and in 2012 with my second jinn story, Bathtub Jinn (see, I can’t even do things in order). I couldn’t resist entering again last fall, so I did some line editing on Jinn & Tonic—I really couldn’t tell you what I changed—and sent it in one more time.

5. As you mentioned, you’re a three-time finalist, which makes you amazing, by the way. What writing advice would you give an unpublished writer who dreams of finaling in the GH?

I don’t know about amazing, but I’m definitely amazed by it all. As for advice, I’d just have to say keep at it. Read books (novels of many genres, craft books, non-fiction, everything), take classes, enter contests. Write. We’re so lucky in the romance genre to have RWA and the chapters, workshops, contests, and above all friends that come with it.

6. Anything else you want us to know?

Just that I hope to see all my Golden Heart sisters in Atlanta. I wasn’t planning to go until I got the GH call. Now I’m looking forward to seeing so many old and new friends in person.

Thanks, Kay, for joining us today. Anyone else want to pick Kay’s brain for wisdom?

2013 GH Finalist: Chris Taylor

Please welcome Chris Taylor to our Firebirds blog today.   Chris lives in a small, town in rural Australia and has wanted to be a writer for as long as she can remember. A career in criminal law, marriage and five children later, she is finally dedicating the time she needs to carve out a writing career. Having grown up devouring romance novels, combining her love of the law with her love of happy endings came naturally and she has now completed seven single title romantic suspense novels set against the Australian landscape. They are all part of a loosely-based series centring around the hunky Munro brothers. You can keep in touch with Chris on Twitter: @christaylorbook  Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/Chris.Taylor.Writer Or at her website:  www.christaylorauthor.com.au

I’m so proud and honoured to be invited to the Firebirds’ blog as a Golden Heart Finalist® of 2013.  Being a GH finalist has been an amazing dream. When I commented to this effect on Twitter recently, one of my followers responded by saying that dreams come true with hard work and talent and I guess that’s true, but I think you also need to throw in determination, confidence in yourself and your work and a decent pinch of luck.

My 95-year-old grandmother offered me some advice a little while ago. She told me to do my best to live my life without regrets. She went on to tell me about how, when friends called upon her unexpectedly, she’d refuse to let them inside her home because the house was a mess. She thought back to all the times she let pride and something as trivial as an untidy house (hey, we’ve all been there), interfere with an opportunity for friendship and conversation.

Looking back on her life, she wished she’d done things differently.

Her words struck a chord with me and my writing journey. It’s a journey that’s been full of ups and downs, like life. Whenever I’m faced with a tough decision, I recall my grandmother’s words and try to make decisions that won’t lead to regrets, regardless of what others might be saying around me.

For those of you who don’t know, I write Australian Romantic Suspense. I was told early in my career (about 4 years ago) that there wasn’t a market in the US for this kind of story. This statement was made by a reputable US agent, someone I knew had a handle on the market.

Now, I won’t lie. I was deflated. My determination was dented. At least for a little while. I mean, I was always told to write what you love and write what you know.  I’m Australian. I love romantic suspense. And so, I write it.

While I thought about what this agent had told me, I remembered what my grandmother had said. I decided I didn’t want to live with regrets and especially not in relation to my writing career, which is so important to me. So, I chose not to let the agent’s negative words deter me. I’m writing what I know, I’m writing what I love. Whether I sell, that’s a matter for the future, but so far, the journey’s been pretty darn exciting.

How has your writing journey been so far? What kind of setbacks have you faced? What kind of triumphs? I’d love to hear about them.

 

2013 GH Finalist: Sonali Dev

Please welcome Sonali Dev to our blog today!!  Sonali is a Single Title finalist with her entry “The Bollywood Bad Boy”.   

A child bride grows up and finds out she’s married to the wrong man. Unfortunately the right man is her husband’s brother. And he’s only charming the pants off her to help his brother get rid of her.

My Writing Journey- A Series of Very Fortunate Events.

Ever since I finaled in the Golden Heart and got my book deal with Kensington, the question I get asked most is what my writing journey has been like. And boy do I love that question. Because it makes me feel like such a writer. And although I’ve written and loved to write for as long as I can remember, I still can’t believe that I am a writer and I have a contract to show for it. I even have the black and blue pinch marks to show for how insanely incredulous I am about the fact that my book actually comes out next year. And I will be able to photograph it on bookshelves and post the pictures to Facebook like a for-real-for-real writer.

As for the journey, I’d love to sound all brooding writer and say it’s been long and arduous, but really it’s been crazy fun, and in tracing it back, I see that it has been the perfect little medley of accidents. Starting off with the flu ten years ago, when in a horrific turn of events I ran out of things to read. I mean, what kind of person can be horizontal without a book in their hand? Like the distressed damsel I was, I turned helpless eyes upon my gallant husband and sent him off in his noble Honda to the library. And despite how terrified he is of the fiction section he did what any hero would do, he retrieved the very first book he found on the display shelves and then raced right back home bearing the fruits of his campaign- Catherine Coulter’s Rosehaven. I took one look at it, bared fangs I didn’t possess and went, “You’ve  been married to me for gazillion years and you brought home a ROMANCE??”

Needless to say, I had never until then read a true blue romance. I’d just been a romance-hunter within mainstream fiction. Which is to say when I read, say, My Sister’s Keeper I read all of Campbell and Julia’s parts before I went back and read the rest of the story.

So, after I’d projected the heat of my fever into undeserved wrath and volleyed it at his unsuspecting head for a bit, I opened the dreaded book. And then didn’t put it down until I had consumed the last word, one sleepless night and several heart-to-belly zings later. You know that feeling of coming home after seven days of camping in the cold rain with sand pricking in your every crevice? And taking a hot shower and finding your warm bed? Bingo. I read everything Catherine Coulter had ever written and then discovered Lisa Kleypas, Julia Quinn, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, and on and on it went. I was hooked, lined and sunk.

Even as I consumed romances, I continued to write columns and blogs, and drive myself crazy trying to figure out what kind of writer I wanted to be. In that phase when I was trying to decide between journalism school and an MFA, I got on the phone for my daily chat with my best friend. This was accident number two. It might help to mention that my BFF and I have been BFFs for, well, forever. We grew up in the same apartment building in Mumbai two decades ago and living on two different continents with an eleven hour time difference is no reason to break the habit of a daily chat.

She’s a movie producer (another thing I never ever get tired of saying). She had just completed an award-winning film and she had been reading through an endless supply of scripts that just weren’t exciting her. We’ve both always been film buffs and we both love commercial Bollywood films. After an awfully satisfying whine session about all the sucky films we’d recently watched (at this point I must share that the best part about Bollywood films is that they’re almost as much fun to make fun of as to watch). We wondered, in one of our signature moves of saying things simultaneously, why it was so hard to write a good film. At that moment the light bulb flashing over her head sparked all the way across eight thousand miles as she said, “You should write me a script!”

Instead of laughing it off, I actually had the arrogance to say, “You know, I’ve been reading these books (my newly discovered romances) and reading them is exactly like watching Bollywood films. They have the exact same structure.” (Yup, we’re just fancy enough to pepper our conversations with terms like ‘structure,’ ‘method,’ etcetera.)

That was it. I wrote her a script. It had a hero and a heroine (actually two pairs of them) and they were these gorgeous people at the lowest points in their lives, only they didn’t know it. And they had all these awful things keeping them apart, but the only way to fix these awful things was for them to heal each other and themselves, and then live happily ever after. There was much witty conversation and even some socially relevant issues. I didn’t know it then but I had just written my first romance!

The script never got made into a movie. The three scripts I wrote after that never went anywhere either. But boy were they fun to write. And once I had lived with the characters I had created there was no getting clean from that addiction. There was no more wondering about what kind of writer I wanted to be. I wanted to write stories. And since I had no idea which genre my stories fit into I figured I was writing literary fiction.

My first attempt at a novel was a rather complicated plot of four (yes, four) couples from four strata of Indian society with all sorts of mangled inner and outer worlds. I spent a year chiseling away at my genre-less story trying to make sense of it. I took writing classes, joined critique groups, really got into the whole Starbucks-and-wine writer thing. And then accident number three happened. In the form of Tuberculosis. When your friendly neighborhood TB came a-knocking and locked me up in the house for six weeks of quarantine, I thought, Yay! I can finally finish my book. But with all that coughing up my lungs, I needed something life-affirming, something escapist, something that went straight to my ovaries and made them cramp with hot emotion. I finally, finally, had to write what I loved to read. And I did. For all the trouble I’d had finishing my previous story, The Bollywood Bride, which had been revving in my brain for years, shot from my fingers with a force I couldn’t control. And except for minor hiccups, it didn’t stop until I had typed ‘The End’.

The number of slips and herculean pushes that it then took to spit, shine and sell it, is an entire different blog post. But my first complete manuscript, the one that will finally fulfill my lifelong dream of having a book on the shelves that people not related to me can buy, was the result of not just these but many many random accidents. I believe with all my heart that the universe gives you what you desire. But the trickster that the universe is, you never know which nudge will start the cascade of dominoes. All I can say is that you can help it along with an open mind and the readiness to jump on a bus as it goes by. Where you end up might be exactly where you’ve always wanted to be.

Interview with RITA Finalist Tracy Brogan

Please join me in welcoming 2013 RITA Finalist, Tracy Brogan, to the Firebirds blog today.

Tracy Brogan read her first swashbuckling romantic adventure at age sixteen and knew right then she was destined to become a novelist. She now writes fun and breezy contemporary stories about ordinary people finding extraordinary love, and lush historical romance full of political intrigue, damsels causing distress, and the occasional man in a kilt. She is a Romance Writers of America RITA Finalist for Best First Book and a two-time Golden Heart Finalist in both contemporary and historical romance.

CRAZY LITTLE THING and HIGHLAND SURRENDER have both hit #1 on the Amazon Best Sellers list in their genre. Her next contemporary romance, HOLD ON MY HEART, releases on June 25th, and she’s currently at work on another two books set in Bell Harbor. Tracy resides in Michigan with her bemused husband, their above-average children, and their overly indulged dogs. Tracy loves to hear from readers so please contact her at tracybrogan@att.net  or visit her website at www.TracyBrogan.com

 

Tracy, welcome to the Firebirds Blog. Being a 2012 Firebird was exciting and now that you’ve been nominated for a RITA, how do you feel? 　More pressure to perform, angst over deadlines and new plots or are you just enjoying the moment?　Talk about what went through your mind when the RWA Board member called to tell you you were a finalist.　 Did you maintain your polished professional veneer, or did you take on another life form?

When Diane Kelly called to say I’d been nominated for Best First Book, I tried to argue with her because I didn’t think you could get nominated for that category and not in your genre category. She was very gracious but I must have sounded as if just ONE nomination wasn’t enough! As for how I feel? I can’t seem to process the notion. Whenever anyone mentions the RITA, it’s as if I’m hearing it for the first time. Being on deadline for another book (as I am) makes everything else less relevant at the moment. I’m thrilled beyond measure, but all I can think about is getting this next manuscript finished. And yes, the pressure to perform is ever-present. It’s like a Dementor who has followed me around since the day I signed my first publishing contract. Apparently he sucks all the good ideas right out of my head. I think his name is Roger and I wish he would go away.

 

Congratulations on your honor. Obviously readers and judges love your work, but out of all the books you’ve completed, which is your favorite? And why?　

 Oh, that’s like choosing a favorite child! I can say that HOLD ON MY HEART may be my best book so far but it was also the most difficult to write. I’ve gone through a lot of growing pains as a writer in the last few years. Ignorance was bliss and I had to push my way through this phase. I think I’ve come out on the other side as a better story-crafter, though. And I’ve finally come to a place where I trust my voice to tell the story the way I want to tell it. CRAZY has brought lots of great things my way so I’ll always be fond of that book. HIGHLAND SURRENDER is the book I carried around in my mind for years before committing to being published. And HEART was a beneficial learning experience. 　How’s that for diplomatic? I will say that I think this book I’m working on now is my favorite. I don’t have a title yet but it will be released February, 2014.

 

We all know that writers wear lots of hats, but with the changes in the industry bringing more to our desks, what things do you not like to do?

Asking for cover blurbs. I’ve decided I’m not going to ask for them anymore. Writers are all so busy and most of them don’t want to give you a straight up “no” so they say they can do it but they never get around it to it. Then you feel stupid for asking in the first place.

 

If we’re sitting here a year from now celebrating another great year for you, what did you achieve?　

I have dreams of fun stuff to come, but not specific expectations. It’s the Irish Catholic in me. I’m genetically engineered to assume I’ll be smited at any given moment so I dare not hope for grand things! BUT, if I was to pretend… I’d say I have finished writing two more contemporary books and I’m sinking my teeth into my next historical which has a fabulous plot! 　I have new car. My dog is housebroken. Exercise has finally become a part of my daily routine… Oh, and the movie rights for CRAZY LITTLE THINGS have been optioned into a movie and I’m in charge of casting.

 

If Jeff Bezos [Amazon] walked into your office and offered you a million dollars to launch your best plot idea, what would it be?

I’d like to do a series about a travel writer/food critic/modeling scout who goes to exotic locales all over the world interviewing the sexiest men imaginable, and eating the best possible meals. This would require extensive research, of course. I’d like it optioned on proposal to ensure my publisher would cover all the costs. Of course, I’d need to add paranormal element to this story to make me thin and alluring at all times!!! I just met Larry Kirshbaum, Vice President of Amazon publishing, at the Romantic Times Convention. I should have pitched this to him. Wait here. I have to make a call.

 

What’s on your desk right now? Any favorite go-to items when you’re stressed?　

 Coffee, ironically. It doesn’t remove the stress but it’s my go-to item. I also have a Jane Austen action figure, a “good karma” bracelet given to me by Kimberly Kincaid, Post-it notes from Cherry Adair and her plotting workshop, a picture of Paul Walker because he brings me joy, and a handwritten note from my daughter that says, “Dear Mom, I believe in you.” I also have a big bottle of multi-fiber cleanse tablets for good colon health. I have no secrets.

 

Tell us what’s next for Tracy Brogan fans?　

 I’m writing two more books set in Bell Harbor, the same town as CRAZY LITTLE THING. These are not sequels but readers may recognize a few characters wandering through. Then I’m writing a historical. I’m not going to share any details about that, except to say that it’s NOT set in Scotland. It’s a big departure from my last historical but it’s a story I’ve been dying to write for years!!!

 

I thought challenge Tracy to some tough questions and she accepted the challenge with a bright smile and a lethal pen. The last question is the hardest…. 　What’s your favorite dessert?

I have yet to meet a chocolate covered anything that I don’t like. But my best friend since 2nd grade and I get together about twice a year for facials at a nice salon. Then we go have hot fudge sundaes served on top of a warm chocolate chip cookie. We reminisce and laugh like idiots. It makes me feel like we’re still ten years old.

 

Thanks, Tracy, for joining us today. Everyone, be on the lookout for Tracy’s new book, HOLD ON MY HEART which releases in two weeks on June 25th!

 

2013 GH Finalist: Amy DeLuca

Firebirds, please welcome Amy DeLuca to our blog today!   Amy writes YA fiction. Her manuscript, HIDDEN DEEP, is a finalist in the Young Adult category of the 2013 Golden Heart® contest. It’s set in a version of our present world where beautiful and powerful Dark Elves use glamour enhanced by modern technology to hide their existence and get whatever they want.

 You can find her on Facebook as AmyDeLucaAuthor, on Twitter @amydelucaauthor and at www.AmyDeLuca.com as well as amydelucaauthor.blogspot.com.

 Here’s a blurb from Hidden Deep:

Sixteen-year-old Ryann has just run into the guy who saved her life ten years ago. You might think she’d be happy to see him again. Not exactly. She’s a bit underdressed (as in skinny-dipping), and he’s not supposed to exist.

After her father’s affair, all Ryann wants is to escape the family implosion fallout and find a little peace. She also wouldn’t mind a first date that didn’t suck, but she’s determined not to end up like her mom: vulnerable, betrayed, destroyed. Ryann’s recently moved back to her childhood hometown in rural Mississippi, the same place where ten years earlier she became lost in the woods overnight and nearly died.

She’s still irresistibly drawn to those woods. There she encounters the boy who kept her from freezing to death that long ago winter night and was nowhere to be seen when rescuers arrived. He’s still mysterious, but now all grown-up and gorgeous, too. And the more she’s with him, the greater the threat he poses to Ryann’s strict policy– never want someone more than he wants you.

Seventeen-year-old Lad knows the law of his people all too well: Don’t get careless and Don’t get caught. It’s allowed the Light Elves to live undetected in this world for thousands of years, mentioned only in flawed and fading folklore. Lad’s never been able to forget about Ryann since that night ten years ago. When he sees her again, his fascination re-ignites and becomes a growing desire that tempts him to break all the rules. He’s not even supposed to talk to a human, much less fall in love with one.

 

Thank you so much for having me here with the Firebirds! The whole GH finalist experience just keeps getting better. The best part so far has been getting to know my fellow Lucky 13’s through the chat loop. Being in their company is at many times so uplifting—“I’m here! With these girls!” – and at other times makes me think, “How did I get here—with these girls?” My fellow finalists are so much wiser and more experienced, and so very, very good.

As a new-ish writer, I’m soaking up every bit of advice they have to offer. And today I have question for you. But first, a little background on my “relationship” problem:

I’m in the middle of a breakup. Actually, it’s not the first time—we’ve separated before, but I keep going back. I know it can change, be a better book, of only I give it another chance…

Ours is a typical book-meets-girl story. It was love at first concept, and I fell hard. In the beginning, I wanted to spend every minute with it. It was so exciting, always on my mind, it could do nothing wrong. Then as our relationship matured and mellowed out, I started noticing some flaws. Not that I didn’t love it anymore—I did. Part of me always will, I’m sure.

Let’s just say there were a lot of late-night conversations about where this whole thing was going. I just wasn’t sure anymore that this was the ONE.

I guess you can never know if it’s the real thing until you give it the freedom to meet other people, do its own thing. If it’s meant to be, it’ll happen, right?

And okay, I might as well admit it … there’s someone else. It started as just an idea, an innocent flirtation, but you know how it goes. We’ve spent some time together, things have blossomed, and well … I think I might be in love.

My Golden Heart YA finalist, Hidden Deep, is my first love (my first ms—the 1000th revision of my first ms). And yes, during the past year, we’ve starting seeing other people. It’s time.

But how do you know when to let go? No, really—I’m asking—because I sure haven’t figured it out yet. I don’t want to be that ignorant head-in-the-sand writer who says “My ms is perfect … just like it is”, and believe me, I’m not. But I also know there’s a danger of revising your voice right out of the story if you listen to too many opinions, and if you stay in revision Purgatory indefinitely and don’t put it out into the world, that little ms will never grow up to be a big, strong published book.

I said I was going to be one of those who doggedly sent out my query again and again and again until it found the agent who would take it home and love it and feed it and brush its fur and give it a pet name. Author Rob Thurman was an inspiration for that attitude. If you’d like to hear about her “discovery” story, you can find it here: http://amydelucaauthor.blogspot.com/2012/07/on-never-giving-up.html

But instead, I’ve found that I’m falling more into the camp of considering each rejection deeply and determining to revise (again!) until it’s just right. I mean, they’re big-time agents for a reason, right? I KNOW they know more than I do. So even though I’ve gotten relatively few rejections, I find myself a little bit stalled. Is it ready? Is it good enough? Is it time to let go?

I’d love to know… How do you know when it’s time to let go?