Lori L. Robinett's Blog, page 7

Cover Reveal: Celtic Fire by Liz Gavin

Celtic Fire

Liz Gavin

(Highland Celts Series, #1)

Publication date: January 31st 2017

Genres: Adult, Historical, Paranormal, Romance

REDUCED PRICE UNTIL RELEASE DAY ONLY

This is a standalone, historical/paranormal romance. Its mature themes – violence, religious war, and pagan rituals – might not be appropriate for audiences under 18.

When ancient gods ruled and Druids kept Faith alive, the Celts thrived as a democratic, matriarchal society. Then savage Roman soldiers swept across Europe, killing and enslaving. The Celts did not succumb without a fight. Their Old Ways survived centuries of ruthless domain until another menace loomed: a tortured god worshiped in cold stone buildings. The sacred shores of Avalon began to drift away, the mists threatened to hide the island from mortal eyes forever.

Against the bleak backdrop of war, the gorgeous Scottish Highlands stood tall, sheltering its inhabitants from greedy invaders. Yet the reach of the eagle banners was long and the highlanders turned to the Goddess for protection. However, the sacred groves felt silent and grim as Avalon faded away. Once sad, pealing bells began to sound strangely comforting while the high walls of monasteries offered an alluring barrier from violence. Caught in the middle of this centuries-old war, a young High Priestess might be Avalon’s last chance.

Wise beyond her years and powerful like no other Priestess in her lifetime, Rowen had served the Goddess faithfully, forsaking her family and the company of her soulmate. When the Lady of the Lake asks for another sacrifice, it might be one too many for her scarred heart. How could she obey the Goddess without betraying Caddaric? Could she trust Eochaid, who embodied everything she despised and hated? Would she be able to fulfill her duties without losing her soul?

Caddaric had been Rowen’s companion in countless lives; but, now, they existed in different realms. Beautiful Rowen lived in the mortal world while sweet Caddaric remained in the sacred isle of Avalon, watching over her. Could he step aside to allow another man – a flesh and blood man – to become her protector?

Eochaid had sworn to protect the Old Ways. The rude warrior never quite understood his faith yet his loyal heart belonged to the Goddess. A gorgeous, fiery High Priestess was not in his plans. He would risk his life to protect Rowen; but, would the Goddess safeguard his heart? Could he defend the bewitching maiden from himself?

When stakes were so high that a simple mistake could cost their very world, a priestess, a Druid, and a warrior must learn to trust each other and the mysterious ways of the Goddess. Their success would save Avalon. Their failure would tear the island from the human realm forever, condemning it to oblivion.

Failure was not an option.

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Author Bio:

When Liz Gavin was in Second Grade – just a couple of years ago, really – her teacher told her mother the little girl should start a diary because she needed an outlet for her active and vivid imagination. She was a talkative child who would disrupt the class by engaging her colleagues in endless conversations. She loved telling them the stories her grandfather used to tell her.

Apparently, the teacher wasn’t a big fan of those stories, and Liz’s mother bought her a diary. She happily wrote on it for a couple of months. Unable to see the appeal of writing for her own enjoyment only, she gave up on it. She missed the audience her friends provided her in class. She went back to disturbing her dear teacher’s class.

Since then, she has become a hungry reader. She will read anything and everything she can get her hands on – from the classics to erotica. That’s how she has become a writer of erotica and romance, as well.

As a young adult, she participated in a student exchange program and lived in New Orleans for six months. She fell in love with the city and its wonderful inhabitants. NOLA will always hold a special spot in Liz Gavin’s heart. Nowadays, living in Brazil, Liz’s creativity has improved many times because it’s such a vibrant, gorgeous and sexy country.

Welcome to her world of hot Alpha males and naughty, independent women. Add a touch of the paranormal in the presence of some wicked souls and you’ll get the picture.

Sit back, fire up your Kindle and enjoy the ride!

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter

 

Social Media: The Art of Listening

Social media is overwhelming right now. I can literally feel my blood pressure rising when I look at Facebook and Twitter. Here is the problem: Everyone is talking and no one is listening. We have one mouth and two ears, but social media is nothing but spewing out. We’ve forgotten how to listen. We’re dismissive of other views or, even worse, hateful.

So, the next time you’re faced with a viewpoint that you do not agree with, do not dismiss. Do not hate. Listen. That doesn’t mean you have to agree with them, but it costs you nothing to listen. (just remember to breathe!) (oh, and remember, you don’t have to respond to everyone who disagrees with you – it’s okay to keep scrolling.)

If you need me, I’ll be over here breathing.

Alfred Hitchcock: Master of Suspense

In honor of Halloween, I’m spending the day as a couch potato, watching an Alfred Hitchcock marathon. Vertigo is on now. Jimmy Stewart is an actor I never tire of watching, and Hitchcock is a director I never tire of studying.

I’ve studied the craft of writing for years and, as a writer, you’ll find inspiration and nuggets of wisdom flying at you from every direction. I saw an interview with Hitchcock many, many years ago where he described HOW to create suspense. He said imagine you have two men sitting at a table in a cafe. If the writer/director knows there is a bomb under the table, the writer/director feels the suspense, but the key is to show that bomb to the reader/viewer – without showing it to the character sitting at the table. Instant suspense.

I try to follow Hitchcock’s advice. In Fatal Impulse, I wanted the reader to know who the bad guy was, to see where the danger was, but I wanted Andi to miss the clues. She is a broken individual, who doesn’t look at things the way most of us do. She has been abused for so long, she can no longer see things clearly. Relationships are skewed in her mind. But the reader knows she is walking into danger, and wants to scream at her to stop.

The same thing is happening in my new novel. Sophie is totally different from Andi, though. Sophie is a tough survivor, who grew up in foster homes. But the reader sees danger where Sophie does not.

I’m certainly not comparing myself to Alfred Hitchcock, but I hope I’ve learned something from his methods.

Have you ever watched Hitchcock? If so, what’s your favorite movie (or episode)?

Why WriteScouts?

You may have heard me talking about WriteScouts. What the heck is it anyway? Well, you’ve heard of the Girl Scouts and the Boy Scouts, where kids learn skills that make them better people, right?. As I began taking my writing seriously about 13 years ago, I started by stumbling along. I wrote and thought it was amazing (oh, the joy! I was going to be rich! Everyone would be blown away by my brilliance!), but a writer friend (Hi, DaLynne!) pointed out places where I could improve my writing and I was crushed. but determined to do better.

I read blogs, craft books, magazines. Essentially, I needed to know how to do everything. I started a novel and sent a few chapters to a writer I met online who agreed to give me feedback. Yeah, that feedback was kinda brutal. I worked and reworked and revised, but got stuck in perfection stasis. I couldn’t get past 25K words.

Then I found National Novel Writing Month and learned how to lock up my Internal Editor and get that first draft DONE. That was huge for me, because you can’t edit a blank page. The second year I did NaNoWriMo, I met a fantastic group of people and a few of us started a critique group. That was in . . . 2005, I think. We are STILL meeting and those women are some of my closest friends.

Together, we’ve learned all kinds of things about characterization, plotting, suspense, pacing, setting, etc. I discovered that there are a myriad of skills that need to be learned to make one a better writer, and then I thought, wouldn’t it be cool if there was a group that would teach you those skills, and help you keep track of the skills that you learn (and, I have to admit, I kinda like the idea of earning badges)?

WriteScout was born.

To celebrate the birth of this new program, I’m giving everyone who signs up a copy of my Novel Idea Generator. This is the exact method I use when I’m brainstorming ideas for a new book. The workbook contains step-by-step instructions, a series of exercises that will help you find the book that YOU are meant to write.

Do you want YOUR Novel Idea Generator?

Are you interested in learning the skills to make you a better writer?

What are you waiting for? Sign up today.

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Want to Write a Novel? Introducing the Novel Idea Generator

Drum roll, please (go ahead, I’ll wait . . . )

I’ve been working so hard over the past few months putting together some exciting things for you and, tonight, I’m happy to show you the very first offering of my new WriteScout school. People often ask me where I get the ideas for my novels. The answer is . . . in me. The nuggets of ideas are within me, just like you have nuggets within you. That’s how two people can write two different stories based on the same basic premise. But the trick is to mine those ideas, to unearth those gems. And I want to help you do that.

Are you ready to find the novel within YOU?

I use a set of questions when I get ready to write a novel, so I put my ideas together in a series of questions that can be used over and over again, in workbook form. The Novel Idea Generator is available on Amazon, but . . . you can get your Kindle copy FREE.

If you’ve ever wanted to write a novel, but didn’t know where to start, this workbook will get you started. Are you ready?

Get your FREE Novel Idea Generator!
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If you’ve signed up for National Novel Writing Month, but you don’t know what your story is, this workbook will give you at least three ideas for to make you a WINNER. These are the step by step techniques that helped me write ten novels, three of which have been published. The exercises are designed to give you characters, settings and plots that combine to form the story that YOU are meant to write. Now . . . are you ready to start YOUR novel?

Get YOUR free Novel Idea Generator workbook now
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Happy Birthday to the Hubs

Today is my hubby’s birthday (obviously, that’s not him above – that’s me, several years ago. Don’t look at the mess.). It was a low-key celebration. Sunday we went out to eat and I (hopefully) surprised him by having our daughters (and their significant others) meet us there. Tonight, we met after work and had dinner at Texas Roadhouse. Nothing spectacular, but I hope it has been a good day for him. I wish I could’ve done more for him, but $$ is tight right now.

But it isn’t always about money.

This past year, I had one of the best birthdays I’ve had in years. And it was low-budget. I picked up a Papa Murphy’s pizza and beer and we watched the movie, Paul (click HERE for a clip). It was relaxing and fun. Truly a good night, and a good birthday.

Now it’s your turn. Tell me about a good birthday you had.

Trump . . . and the normalizing of abuse

Don’t worry. I’m not going to get all political. Vote for whoever you want. I won’t judge you. That’s the great thing – we don’t have to agree to be able to get along or have a reasonable conversation. But this election gives us a reason to discuss an important topic.

Trump made news last week for a hot mic video that surfaced of him engaging in what he describes as “locker room talk” about women. When I wrote Fatal Impulse, I did a lot of research about abuse. Here’s the thing about abuse – it isn’t all the Burning Bed kind of abuse (if you haven’t seen that Farrah Fawcett movie, watch it – it’s powerful). Sometimes the abuse is more subtle, emotional abuse, where the woman is put down so much, she starts to believe it. This isn’t something that only affects a certain demographic or economic class. The man has the power in the relationship, and he uses that power to take what he wants, regardless of how it affects the woman, or how she feels about it. She is not an equal partner in the relationship. That use of power is wrong, plain and simple. No means no. Consent is required for any type of sexual contact. If it is not welcomed, if it is not wanted, don’t do it. Plain and simple, but men who think of themselves as powerful see women as objects don’t get it. The way we fix that is to talk about it, to recognize that it happens, and to acknowledge that it is not acceptable.

Though Fatal Impulse is a work of fiction, the abuse it describes was inspired by real events. Though there are some protections in place for women who strike back at their abusers, it isn’t always cut and dried. There are women sitting in jail right now because they fought back, but the system didn’t protect them. Women who are in an abusive relationship don’t always see a way out. It’s not as simple as getting a divorce. The abuser often isolates his victim, and denigrates her to the point that she doesn’t see any option but to stay with him.

If you are in an abusive relationship, reach out for help. Tell someone, call someone, make a plan and get out. Start HERE.

You deserve better.

(By the way – abuse can happen regardless of gender. I use his/her here simply because that is the most common domestic abuse.)

 

Fall Forward

As I drove to work yesterday, I noticed one of the trees along the drive was turning a brilliant orange. Such a beautiful, striking bit of nature . . .

CRAP!!

Summer is over. And that sucks. Gone are the days of floating in the pool while reading a book all afternoon long. Gone are the long days of sunlight. Vacation is over (Gatlinburg . . . Pigeon Forge . . . Margaritaville . . . Sugarlands moonshine . . . ). The Star Trek convention is over (wowzers, that was a fun, fun, fun weekend!). Penned Con is a memory.

So, what is there to look forward to now?

Fall. Painting pumpkins. Scarecrows. Ravens. Roaring (electric) fire. Hot cocoa. And reading. Though I love reading during the summer, there’s something about it getting dark earlier that makes me want to curl up in a comfy chair with a warm throw, a cup of tea and a good book.

And that’s what I think I’m going to do right now . . . any suggestions for what to read next?

Penned Con: Fun for Readers & Writers

Last weekend, I went to Penned Con in St. Louis. I’d never been to a readers’ convention like that before, and was nervous as all get out about it. Had no idea what to expect. What I discovered was that being around so many people who enjoy reading is a delight.

If you enjoy reading at all, I highly recommend that you look into book festivals. There were so many authors there, with gorgeous banners of gorgeous couples and stacks of books. Panels were held on topics like book boyfriends and villains and self-publishing. Fun events like a tacky tourist race and a reader-writer nerf gun war filled the days. The event ended with a luau, where the authors walked the red carpet before entering the banquet hall where we had – seriously – a roasted pig. Like, with a face. It grossed me out, but it was darned good. And (BONUS!), the event raised over $10,000 for Action for Autism.

I returned home with a whole list of new authors that I want to read (I read almost exclusively ebooks), and a new circle of acquaintances.

WriteScouts: the Quick Start Guide

Last week, I gave you a heads up that I’m finally starting the online writing school that I’ve been thinking about for years. Even though I was at the Star Trek convention, my 30th high school reunion, and Penned Con this past weekend (which was AWESOME!!!), I still made time to work on the first course.

The first class is going to be a quick start guide to writing a novel, inspired by the instruction manuals that I never read. A couple of weeks ago, I bought two end tables in boxes. Opened it up and there were 16 pages of instructions. I searched the box but alas, no quick start guide. ARGH!!

We’re so spoiled these days. We want everything quickly. In college, we want Cliff Notes. In electronics, we want quick start guides. Be honest . . . if you want to write, you want to get started quickly, right?

Well, why not? Because here’s what I’ve discovered: the best way to learn to write is to write.

So, how do you get started? You write. If you want to be a writer, get a notebook and write three pages longhand every morning. It can be about anything. Talk about what you want to do, what you need to do, what you want to write about, what rolls around in your head. I often find that I’ll run through almost a laundry list of things that I need to do. Once I get that down on a page, I feel freer. Try it and let me know if that works for you.

Comment and let me know what sorts of things you’d like to see covered in the first class. And stay tuned – those who sign up for my mailing list early on will get first dibs at freebies offered in my new online school.