Dani Jace's Blog, page 10

Oddest Google Search – Romance Weekly

This week on Romance Weekly, Carrie Elks wants to know as an author what are my oddest Google searches.  Hope you’ve already visited Victoria Barbour on the blog hop.

Compared to a mystery writer, my search history is pretty tame. I haven’t researched how to emulsify dead bodies, but I can tell you the various evolutions of the local fire department’s certified abilities test and that you must complete the test within ten minutes or fail.

Researching my first manuscript,  I culled extensively through the Roman culture. And while the Romans bathed regularly, interestingly enough, they the didn’t use soap. They used oil and a tool called a strigil to scrap dirt from their skin.  Further investigation revealed that  soap is more complicated to make than I’d imagined. Be glad you can just buy some from the store.

For another manuscript, I researched the earliest cervical cap and other means of ancient contraception. The Egyptians  used barrier methods.  One was a mix of acacia and ground dates with with honey.  Lint was moistened with the mixture and placed at the opening of the cervix. The lint acted as a barrier against the passage of sperm and honey was used to maintain the lint’s position. Acacia is a tree sap found to have spermicidal properties. Ancients were pretty smart for the time.

My most recent odd Goggle search was on how the male orgasm feels. I found an answer on a reputable site that included comments from men which were straightforward and realistic. I’d list the link but don’t want to get spammed.

Oddly, my most bizarre internet searches were done right after 9/11 when I was concerned about dirty bombs and a small pox outbreak.  I decided I better quit scaring myself  and before the FBI showed up at my doorstep. ;)

Let’s see what Jeanne McDonald says about her darkest Google searches.

BTW my newest release, Hot as Blazes is on sale for $.99 at Amazon, Barnes and Noble,  and Kobo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rewrite the Scene

This on week on Romance Writers Weekly, I posed rewriting a short scene from  a book, TV or movie.  One that you would have rather gone a different direction. S C Mitchell and Gemma Brocato took the challenge. I can’t wait to read their scenes.

My change-up scene is from the movie, Something Borrowed. I read the book as well but the film is more ingrained in my memory because of Colin Egglesfield. I became enthralled with the GQ hottie and eventually based my hero, Jax, from Sand and Sin on Colin’s looks.

Colin plays Dex and my hero’s name is Jax. Geez, I’m just catching my subliminal name association as I write this! Here’s the set-up: Dex has been in love with the protagonist, Rachel, but is engaged to her best friend, Marcie.

Dex is handsome but also a gentleman and all about doing the right thing. He’s weak willed in standing up for what he wants in life, ultimately make everyone happy but himself. In the last scene of the movie, he hides when his ex-finance shows up at Rachel’s apartment and overhears Marcie telling Rachel she is pregnant with another man’s child. In my opinion, he should have manned up to complete his character arc. He would have eventually found out about Marcie’s cheating ways.

I’ll start the scene where Dex is waiting outside of Rachel’s brownstone apartment building. She’s just returned from England. A trip she took after she spilled her heart to Dex and he said he couldn’t call off the wedding. From his POV:

My heart is lodged in my throat as I stand on the steps of Rachel’s apartment building.

She exits the taxi, turns with her suitcase and stops. “You need to go. Marcie deserves better, so do you. So do I.”

Sweat prickles at the back of my collar. I should have told her my feelings back in law school. Years wasted trying to please everyone but myself and the woman I love. “I called off the wedding.”

Her beautiful brown eyes widen. “When?”

“The night you left.” I’d let Rachel walk away in the rain after she confessed her love me and told me she wished she’d never introduced me to Marcie.

Rachel arches her brows. “How’s she taking it?”

Rachel always thinks of others first. Possibly the reason we never made it to becoming a couple.  “She’s pissed.” But if I knew Marcie, she’s was only worried over what everyone would think. “I love you, Rachel. It’s always been you.”

Her eyes water. She motions me inside as she opens the door.

I grab her suit case and follow her up the stairs.

She closes her apartment door, tosses her keys on the foyer table then faces me. “So what now?”

I drop my jacket on a chair and step close. Brushing her dark bangs from her eyes, I tell her what’s in my heart. “Can we take up where we left off the night we celebrated passing Torts? Before Marcie showed up.”

“You know how many times I regretted leaving you there with her?” She sighs.

“I never should have gone back inside the bar after following you.”

“I told you to.”

“And I should have told you I was in love with you, then.” I press my lips to hers and am lost.

A banging at the door follows with Marcie’s shrill voice, “Open up Rachel. I have to talk to you!”

Rachel jumps and pulls away. “Ahh, give me a minute, I’m changing clothes.” She motions for me to hide.

I grab my jacket and start for the spare room then stop. “No.”

Rachel pales. “Dex. Please.”

“Time to take a stand.” I slide my arm around her and open the door to a new life of freedom.

Pardon if I missed a tense as I’m not used to writing  in present tense. Check out  Gemma Brocato’s awesome rewritten scene next!

 

 

 

 

 

Guilty Pleasures

This week, Sarah Hegger wants to know our guilty pleasures. Hope you hopped over from Carrie Elks blog.

The  fifties have made me more feisty and diminished my tolerance of BS. On bad days, a certain brand of whiskey calms my beastly attitude triggered by day job and helps with the writing flow.

Another secret pleasure is a private Pinterest board more naughty than my Stealth Bods board and why it remains secret! It’s a visual mantra and bank of potential heroes.

For all my guilty love of techno gadgets, I still don’t have a smart phone. Besides hubs, who still has a flip phone, I’m the only one I know who still has a qwerty keyboard. Adding another $30 dollars a month to the bill for access to braggart social media during working hours seems excessive.

Candles are another indulgence. My favorite, Harvest Moonlight, has been decommissioned by Yankee, so each fall I order a couple from an independent seller. The sweet mysterious scent puts me in a writing mood and really should be considered a business expense along with my buddy, Jack Daniels.

Well, that all I have for today that printable. Let’s see what guilty pleasures Meggan Connors  is willing to share.

 

Fan Fiction on Romance Writers Weekly

FAN FICTION :  Stories involving popular fictional characters that are written by fans and often posted on the Internet —called also fanfic. This week on Romance Writers Weekly, Jo Richardson wants to know what fandom do RWW authors have a thing for, and what would we write if so inclined. Hope you’ve visited Tracey Gee’s blog for her fandom likes and wished her a Happy Birthday!

While recently checking out fan fiction on the internet for this post, I found a site listing 15 fan fiction sites so the genre is thriving.  Even more to my amazement Amazon introduced a fan fiction section called Kindle Worlds a couple of years ago. Authors may submit and receive payment for some fan fic stories. The giant entity works the deal with the copyright holder according to CNN’s 2013 article, Amazon’s “Kindle Worlds” lets fan fiction writers sell their stories .

If I chose to write fan fiction, I’d probably pick the Cinemax show, Strikeback. It’s about a couple of military bad-asses, Sargent Michael Stonebridge of British Section Twenty and the ever notorious former Delta bad boy, Damon Scott.

I’d make it a steamy action series entitled Blow Back!! LOL! To make the story more fun, I’d set it in the future where they could be intergalactic special ops teaming up with sexy alien females. For an opening scene…

“How’d we wind up playing security guard for the winged diva?” Scott cast a glance to the green fairy like songstress belting out a rock opera tune as she hovered over the stage on huge iridescent wings.

Stonebridge straightened his bow tie, grateful he and Scott were under cover. The guards standing out in front of the stage wore short jackets and jodhpur pants like riders would have worn on a fox hunt back home. Except they wouldn’t be in eye-popping pink and green. The whole show could have been out of the old Earth movie, Wizard of Oz. He nodded to Damon as they moved into position backstage. “And just think the diva fairy could pin you up against the wall with her ten foot wingspan.”

Damon laughed and pulled on his ear lobe, activating the implanted comms device. “Alien or not, I still get more tail than you my friend.”

Michale squinted. “Right, and tail is literal appendage in this space sector, buddy .”

Let’s we what Veronica Forand has for today’s Fan Fic day.

 

Hot as Blazes: Wet T-shirt on Weekend Warriors

This week on Weekend Warriors, I’m taking an excerpt from my novel, Hot as Blazes.

Jo has recently returned home to the Outer Banks of NC and learned her brother’s best friend and her her high school fantasy is a firefighter. Of course she’d be behind the car who snags a cyclist and then takes out a fire hydrant. Ray arrives on scene with the crew and offers his bunker coat as she is soaked to the bone.

Before returning home, she hadn’t thought of sex in months. Now

every time he was near, her body tightened with desire.

“Come on. I’ll get your truck off the bike.” His hulky form slid behind

the wheel.

The sound of her Bronco mangling the rest of the bike beneath its

rear wheels set Jo’s teeth on edge.

Ray hopped from her truck and held the driver’s door open.

She shrugged off his coat and immediately missed his essence. “Thanks again.”

His gaze wandered to her chest. “Didn’t want everyone to see you

could win a wet T-shirt contest, Dahlin’.”

The Weekend Writing Warriors blog hop is a great way to find new authors. Hope you’ll  take a look!

Hot as Blazes is available in e-book and print copy at major on-line retailers.  Reviews are a readers voice. Authors need your voice!

 

White Doe: Shots and Daggered Gazes

This week on Weekend Warriors, I’m taking a snippet from my erotic novella, White Doe which includes shots and daggered gazes.

Shane and Cheyenne Native Americans descended from a long lost tribe on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  Chey has returned for their chieftain’s funeral who is Shane’s great grandfather. The former lovers find the flame between them is still hot but secrets separated them years ago and will keep them apart until they are willing to trust one another.

Shane sat at the small kitchen table, his long fingers wrapped around a frosted glass of whiskey. A bottle of Jack and Stoli sat on the counter

Guess he watered more than the cat when her mother visited her.

“Didn’t know your pleasure or if you imbibed,” he said lowly, pointing to the liquor bottles. His wicked golden gaze delved into her.

Leaning against the counter, she barked a short laugh as her blood pressure spiked under his heated stare. “Just because I’m adopted, Shane, doesn’t mean I didn’t pick up family habits.” She poured a shot of whiskey and instantly felt the liquor still the warring cells in her body.

“Thought that’s why your mom spirited you off to Florida years ago—to get you away from my habits with you.” The muscle of his jaw tightened.

The Weekend Writing Warriors blog hop is a great way to find new authors. Hope you take a look!

Available at Amazon and major e-book retailers.  Also in paperback.

grannie07 reviewed White Doe [shapeshifter romance / romantic suspense]
Good read!
Being of Native American heritage I always love a good shifter romance of the People. This story pulled me in and never let me go..a few surprises toward the end too. Please continue with these stories..awesome.

Flash Fiction: A Photographer and Insurance Agent Meet

This week on Romance Weekly – Fiona Riplee asks for a flash fiction of five hundred words or less  for a cute meet between a professional photographer and an insurance agent.  Check out Fiona’s post who is ahead of me on the hop. I already had an idea for a steamy to erotic story about a photographer on the Outer Banks of NC, so this post helped me write the heroine and hero’s first meeting:

During the final heat, McKenzie held the shutter button, snapping shots of both surfers ripping through the waves using amazing cutbacks. She’d need to up load the pics to her editor before dinner time to make the deadline for the current issue Surf Zone.

After removing the elephant gun lens, she clicked on the standard lens for some casual pics of the competitors gathered around the judges’ area. All young and hot. She sighed in memory of the wild times you used to have at the competition after parties.

Now pushing thirty-five, she’d just a beer, offer congrats to the winners and upload the shots that paid the bills rather than be labeled a cougar. A least she hadn’t resorted to getting a cat…yet.

Before she turned for the crowd, another surfer caught the biggest wave of the day. Mesmerized she admired his grace and confidence. Not a hotshot, but definitely a worth some digital space on her card. She rushed to the shoreline and zoomed in with the fifty-five to two hundred fifty millimeter lens.

After he finished a set, she waited as he waded from the shallows.

“Nice rides.” She grinned.

He swiped a hand to his short hair that had started to gray at the temples. Dark lashes outlined his ice blue eyes. “Nothing like those guys.” He smiled, nodding to the group wearing numbered surf shirts.”

“I’m McKenzie Pratt.” She extended her hand.

“I remember.” He grinned, accepting the handshake.

Shit. She’d partied hard, but she’d always remembered names and faces. And she’d definitely remember his hot body. “Refresh my memory.”

“Kyle Tate. I used to compete, but I was also the insurance agent when you had your camera equipment stolen about a dozen years ago.” He unhooked the board leash from his ankle.

“Back when agents actually saw the customers about claims.” Talk about having matured. Lord, he found the weight room and learned to groom his sexy stubble .So what was he doing now, besides making her drool?

“Yeah, it was more interesting then.” He winked. “I switched to handling annuities and also run wild horse sightseeing tours in Corolla.”

“Yeah? I’d like to get some pictures while I’m in town.” And spend some time sightseeing him.

“You staying on Hatteras tonight?” He checked his watch.

She placed the lens cap on her camera. “I gotta send in these pictured to my editor and then I’m headed back to my sister’s in Nags Head.”

“How about dinner at The Dunes?”

She knew the place. How could she say no? “Sure, then I can book a tour to catch a tour to see the ponies tomorrow.”

“Let me get my phone.” He motion for her to follow him. “I’ll make is a personal tour if you like.”

She liked the innuendo and knowing glint in his gaze. “Personal is always better.”

Next on the hop is Jenna Da Sie. Let’s find out how her photographer and insurance agent meet.

Weekend Writing Warriors – Diamond Glitter

On this week’s Weekend Writing Warriors, a story I started a couple of years ago.

Cody’s mission plan for the night? Drown missed opportunities and forget his lack of future before stumbling home to his nearby rental. His second whiskey sufficiently numbed his pride and loosened his tongue while the beauty dancing near his seat at the bar distracted him in other respects.

A short chain of glittery diamonds dangled from her navel as she rocked her hips. No ink graced her honey brown skin, but the way her hips, he’d be willing to bet a Benjamin one lurked somewhere beneath the slinky gold halter top or the skin tight jeans. Dark loose curls swept down her back bouncing in time with the pounding bass of the dance tune.

Except for the mini lights strung along the glass rack of the bar and a few sporadic red bows hung in the seaside tavern, it didn’t look or feel like Christmas time. The Outer Banks’ balmy weather had the Casino II’s patrons dressed in summer attire.

Swiveling back to face the bartender, he ordered another round.

“You on the hunt, bro?” Jake eyed the woman among the gyrating bodies while serving Cody his drink.

Check out the other amazing authors at Weekend Writing Warriors!

9/11 A Day of Remembrance

9/11 is a day to remember those who perished in the attacks on our country on 9/11/2001  and offer condolences to those who lost loved ones.

Thanks to those who put their lives on the line to save others and continued to worked tirelessly in the aftermath.  It took an horrendous event to united people of the US.

We seem to have forgotten. Fourteen years later we live in a seriously divided America. People judge on every belief or disbelief and bias.  New ways to discriminate, discredit and divide are perpetuated every day while the media rallies at the lengthening crack in the Liberty Bell.

The pendulum needs to swing back toward common sense and realization that nothing in this world is perfect and we must take accountability for our own actions.

Freedom does not mean one person’s beliefs and convictions matter more than another.  Show respect to others the way you wish to be respected.  All lives matter.

Honor those who gave their lives to create and maintain this country as a  free nation. Remember those who died on this day on September 11, 2001 and pray to whatever you believe in to help heal the United States of America and bring her back to great.

 

 

Sand & Sin Cover Reveal

My cover for Sand & Sin was revealed this morning according to my twitter feed. Now that the “SEAL” is out of the bag so to speak, what you think of my  Navy SEAL hero,  Jax?

His hot self is available on December 22nd just in time for a Christmas kiss ;)

The heart has a mission of its own…

Wounded in more ways than one, Navy SEAL Jax Taylor only understands short-term commitments. And when he walks into the Trident Bar in Virginia Beach, beautiful bartender Peri Halstead sizes him up right away. But that doesn’t stop her from teasing him with her sultry sarcasm, or taking him home—after she finds him passed out cold in the parking lot…

Soon enough, Jax is recovering at Peri’s in return for doing some handyman work, and the sexy sparks are flying—in almost every room in the house. Peri tells herself she deserves some fun, especially now that she’s a single mom with a cheating ex to deal with. But when it’s time for her and Jax to go their separate ways, the miles between them—and the danger that’s about to touch both their lives—has them wondering if Jax can learn to love more than the mission…

Excerpt:

Jax climbed from the compact car. Stiff from the transatlantic trip, he limped a few steps but righted his gait before opening the heavy oak door. In his bar experiences, such an entrance usually led to a man cave.

Inside, darkness enveloped him, matching his mood. Pain meds and exhaustion made him irritable. He was still pissed about not being allowed to rejoin his team, and doubly so because TJ had a training op circumventing their party. So much for buddy reunions.

Behind the bar, a tall, lean beauty glanced up from the beer taps. The gnawing ache in his leg disappeared under scrutiny of wide, sea green eyes. Long, wavy hair surrounded her shoulders like a lion’s mane. His fingers itched to tangle in the strands. Other more intimate visions flitted through his mind.

Months without a woman made him a sick bastard. Probably in stark contrast to the public’s standard perception of a SEAL, but they didn’t know or understand a Special Operator’s life. What they did for love of country and their brothers in arms. For him, the best antidote after a gruesome mission was down-and-gritty sex.

Before he readjusted his sour expression, she stepped in front of him. Her lovely gaze branded him with I got your number, sailor.