Shiloh Walker's Blog, page 34
February 19, 2016
Troped Out
Do you have a romance trope you can’t stand?
I do. Pregnancy amnesia. Now, let me preface this by explaining a lot of the problem is my nursing background and I just see too many flaws in the amnesia thing and combine it with the pregnancy thing…eh. Nope. Doesn’t work for me.
So when my editor with St. Martins and I were discussing things for my new series (The McKays), she was offering up ideas and we were going back and forth…woman on the run, woman in danger, bodyguard…pregnancy amnesia…
I sort of snorted at that and said:
That ain’t happening…I don’t do pregnancy amnesia.
She assured me it was just one of the popular tropes and to go with what was right for the story.
So as I was writing book one, things were coming to a head with two secondary characters, Brannon and Hannah–who would be the hero and heroine of book two.
And damn it.
I emailed my outline/notes to my editor and told her she sucked.
Book 2 will open with Hannah in hospital after wreck. Tests will soon show that she is also pregnant.
Naturally, she loves amnesic pregnancies.
Her response was along the lines of…
Amnesia!
This is why I should never say I’ll never write a_________ (fill in the blank) book.
I end up doing it.
Do you have tropes that you hate?
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February 12, 2016
Gearing up for conference season…
I’m not doing as much this year, because the guy and I are looking down the barrel at our 20th wedding anniversary. That’s right… we’ve held it together for twenty years.
And we’re going to the Riviera Maya this summer. Hot damn. Never been, can’t wait. Okay.
Anyway, not traveling as much, but I’m doing a couple of new ones…starting off with the Barbara Vey Reader Luncheon.
See my pretty swag and the flowers?
It also came with a burn from a hot glue fun-for me, not you. If you’re able to get to Wisconsin in April, you should check it out. The luncheon is sold out, but breakfast is open and I think the pizza party is…Info here!
There’s also a new event in the fall down in Orlando. I’m going down Thursday. Because I have a date with Harry Potter. Um…well, the theme park, but that’s beside the point. O.O Wanna come join us at Shameless Book Con? Please do!
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February 10, 2016
‘he was MASSIVE…6’5…230lbs AT LEAST… #protip
Okay, so the nurse has had enough.
I know body types. Screw me. Sue me. Whatever.
Some of the best writing advice I ever got didn’t come from a writer. It came from a reader who had a husband in the military. She told me…
People don’t want to know how the clock works. They just want to know that it works.
So…what does this mean? It’s simple. Really. Don’t get too technical.
I’m reading/listening to a book and it’s good, but I keep having to quit because the main character is a doctor and I kid you not…every time the character takes a Tylenol, she calls it an ‘analgesic’. Nobody in medicine calls it an analgesic when we take it. To avoid copyright issues with Tylenol in writing, we might call it acetamenophen, or with Motrin, ibuprofen. With documentation, yes, we’ll use the generic name…again, acetamenophen or ibuprofen.
But an analgesic? No. I kid you not, I haven’t used that term used outside of educational learning since I was in nursing twenty years ago.
If you get to technical or too indepth, you run the risk of throwing people out of the book.
So…back to that…he was massive 6’5, 230 lbs, at least.
I’ve read this description–or variations of–so many times and it always throws me out of the story.
Why?
Well…because massive.
It makes me think of the Hulk. As in Hulk Hogan who stands 6’7 and weighs 300lbs.
It doesn’t really even make me think of Dwayne Johnson, unless we’re looking at his role as Hercules. He’s 6’5 and while he’s solid, he’s proportionate. Actors drop and gain weight for their roles although from what I can tell, when he was at his largest/heaviest, it was for Hercules, when he weighed 260. See bodybuilding.com
Dwayne Johnson | HerculesThen we have Chris Hemsworth. Again solid, but proportionate. He packed on muscle for the role several times over.
Thor | Image Bodybuilding.comChris Hemsworth as Thor at 6’3, weighs in at 215. (see Bodybuilding.com)
Dwayne Johnson and Chris Hemsworth are solid guys, muscular through and through, absolutely. The stats given are pretty representative of that body type. But do I seem them as massive?
DJ on a regular basis might fit the 6’5 250 cut off for what some call massive, but even at his largest (from what I can tell) in Hercules, he just topped at 260 and still managed to look more solid than massive. This is the thing with stating outright numers and then a subjective statement–massive.
Then again, I’ve seen people on the scale who weight in 215…or 260…and are much shorter and larger. But it’s not muscle that’s carrying the weight. See, muscle weighs a lot. So, it’s going to be heavy. So when a big guy –as in a muscled–weighs in at 250, 260 and stands some inches on over 6 foot, it’s believable. That’s why a guy like Michael Phelps can be well over six feet and weigh over 200 but still be skinny.
And here is where writers mess up.
If you try to get too specific?
Those in the medical field (like me and oh, so…a few million others) you get us to figuring. I start seeing things like in my head. You call a six foot five guy muscled and you give him a weight without really understanding body types–and a lot of writers don’t get body types.
This is what happens.
He was six foot five and weighed well over two hundred pounds, built like a brick shithouse.
Ummm….
Are we talking THIS | Alain Bernard. 6’5, weighing in at 200?Or
OR ARE WE TALKING THIS? Gabe Carimi, 6’7, weighing in at over 300?What’s the difference, you might ask? Well, somebody who knows body type is going to get it. It’s a few inches…and over a hundred pounds. The difference? Well, to start, one is a football player, the other is a swimmer. Swimmers are long, lean muscle. The other guy plays football. Take a guess at which one.
Alain Bernard is 6’5 and weighs 200 lbs. Gabe Carimi is 6’7 and weighs 330.
I’d personally call Carimi massive, but Bernard is closer in weight to what I’ve seen described in books on a regular basis.
It’s easy enough to see which one is which when you are looking.
But when you spend half your life weighing people, of all sizes, you get a decent feel for what is well…massive, whether it’s athletically massive or not.
So…to all the writers all there, I’d like to offer the same advice I received. Readers don’t want to know how the clock works. They just want to know that it works. Call him big. Give his height. Call him lean and muscled, or big and muscled or whatever.
But if you’re going to peg his height and his weight? Then I’d recommend you learn more about body types. Start by visiting this link…Writerups.org, height and weight values for superheroes.
Whether or not you are writing a superhero. If you are writing a solid guy, make sure he fits the definition of solid…not lean.
Things like this make the reader pause, if she’s in the know. And you’d be surprised how many of your readers are in the know.
Be it the medical field. The athletic field. Or even the ‘we pay attention to the WWE field or any other kind of field’. And when we see
He was six foot five and weighed over two hundred pounds…AT LEAST…we’re going to scratch our heads and wonder.
Are you talking…
THIS | Alain Bernard
OR THIS?Know your body types. It’s part of the writing. 
February 9, 2016
An epic sort of weekend
I almost sold out of books. But if you’d like a signed copy, Turn The Page has these…
I signed with this lady. Do you recognize her?
If not, look at the books in front of her or click on this picture. This is like… a romance writer’s dream.
And if that wasn’t enough…this lady bought my book and had me sign it to her. Cuz she likes me. Like…seriously.
That’s Eloisa Frickin James…and she likes my books. She had me sign it to her. Seriously…
I just wanna swoon from all the happy.
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February 8, 2016
Those #notchilled titles…Releasing One of The Guys soon
Releasing the first at the end of the month. It’s a friends to lovers, one night stand…if you like that kind of thing.
If you review and are interested, leave a comment and where you’d like to post a review below.
2016 Reissue
Complete and utter humiliation—that was what Jaynie felt as she stood in the doorway watching her fiancé playing out his ménage fantasies with his best friend and the cute neighbor from across the street. Bad enough that the cute and sexy neighbor is the woman her fiancé clearly wants her to be, but now she finds the man she loves in bed with the woman. To add fuel to the flame, he later tells her that she couldn’t be a real woman if she tried.
Humiliated and hurt, she’s hiding out at her best friend’s house and ends up coming across her friend’s older brother Brian. Brian…hot, sexy…also her partner from work. The last thing she needs is another complication, but she can’t think about that right now.
The heat in his eyes, the desire she can see on his face—that is something she does need and she offers him one night, no strings.
But one night of no strings turned into something neither of them could have counted on. Brian’s take-charge attitude in the bedroom and his oh, sexy, smile are getting to her.
Friends all their lives, they’ve played together, now they work together. Faced with the most important question of all, Jaynie has to figure out…can they work together?
The post Those #notchilled titles…Releasing One of The Guys soon appeared first on Shiloh Walker.
February 2, 2016
Thirty Nights With A Dirty Boy – Releases Today
Have you had a chance to read Thirty Nights?
Money Can’t Buy Love…
Ella Cruise doesn’t like to be touched. A survivor of childhood abuse, she craves security in all aspects of her life: fulfilling work at the nonprofit she runs, more than enough money to live comfortably, and a good friend and confidant. But none of it can ease her longing for intimacy, even if just for a night. When she meets a gorgeous bartender who moonlights as a male prostitute, a bold idea begins to take shape…
But It Can Buy a Night of Passion–or Thirty…
Sean Lachlan is stunned by the cool beauty’s offer: 30 nights of no-strings sex in exchange for all the money he’d need to start over. The deal seems too good to be true, especially since his desire for her is no act, but Sean finds he can’t turn her down. Before they know it, Sean and Ella realize they’re in deep, their defenses crumbling. Will thirty nights with a dirty boy be enough after all, or will love lead Ella and Sean back to the negotiating table?
Now in ebook
“Ella. You’ve been walking around Chicago all day with boots that go almost up to your ass and a pair of stockings?” His grin went wolfish.
“They’re thigh-high boot socks,” I snapped defensively. “And they are warm.” A lot warmer than pantyhose or stockings. Maybe when the wind snaked up the hem of my skirt I felt a chill on the few scant inches left bare between the tip of the wool socks and the bottom of my cheeky boyshorts, but my legs were far warmer in these socks than they’d be in anything else.
“Boot socks. Stockings. They cover your legs and leave your ass bare. It was just you and your sexy little knickers and these fantastic boot socks. I think socks are now my new favorite garment in the whole bloody world.” He crowded up against me until I was off-balance and leaning against the bed. Then he reached down and started to toy with the pattern top of the left sock. “You know, I think I’m going to fuck you right like this, with your boots and socks on.”
His hand moved to splay out over the left cheek of my butt. “Might have to take off the knickers, though. Not quite ready for that, although I really think I need to get inside you now.”
The words caused a riptide of want, but when he went to tug at the panties, I caught his wrist.
His pale, beautiful eyes met mine, and I shoved lightly at his chest.
He moved back, but I caught him by slipping my fingers into the loops of his belt and guiding him around. At my urging, he sank back against the bed, his hips resting on the mattress. “I want to touch you,” I said haltingly, blood rushing up my neck to burn my cheeks. I felt like I was on fire, but I was also stupidly proud of myself. It was something I’d been thinking from the first time I’d seen him, and I’d finally found the courage to say it.
Sean’s hands fell to his sides. His lashes lay low, hooding his eyes, while that familiar half smile twisted his lips. “Touch me then. I’m yours to do with as you will.”
If only . . . A knot settled in my throat. So he wouldn’t see any of the gut-deep longing that had been growing inside me, I looked down, watching as I dragged my hands down his chest.
His heart gave a demanding thump against my palm. My nipples tightened, and my sex began to ache and pulse. I imagined it was pulsing in rhythm with the beat still pounding under my hand. The thought pleased me, and I realized I was smiling only when Sean brushed his thumb across my lower lip.
“Hands off,” I said, tugging his wrist down. If he touched me, I was going to get distracted.
And I wanted to do this.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
The post Thirty Nights With A Dirty Boy – Releases Today appeared first on Shiloh Walker.
January 29, 2016
That’s a wrap…#notchilled. In more pleasant news…
So some more #notchilled news, and probably the last you’ll hear from me on it.
The rights for the titles below will revert to me on 2/8. Once that is done, I’m done with EC. There are a couple of titles tied into anthologies and that sort of thing that they will still have but as far as I’m concerned, that’s it.
Her Best Friend’s Lover
Never As It Seems
It was an amicable enough solution, although not what I’d hoped for. But at least it’s done.
In more pleasant news…Thirty Nights with A Dirty Boy will be out in in ebook next week for those looking to buy. 
I had fun with these. You should enjoy my fun and…ya know…go buy them. We’ve got a reclusive billionaire…a prostitute. And I should mention she is the billionaire. He is the prostitute.
Part I
Part II
Part III
The post That’s a wrap…#notchilled. In more pleasant news… appeared first on Shiloh Walker.
January 26, 2016
News…on the #notchilled front AND more stuff
Let’s talk the more stuff first, because hey… fun stuff is cool. I’m giving away some signed copies of HEADED FOR TROUBLE over at Dear Author. Want to win one? Go here…
Now. In #notchilled news, several EC titles have been reverted to me, effective 1/31. Please do not go out and buy these titles before then. EC and I have reached an agreement. Rights are being reverted to me in exchange for unpaid royalties.
I assure you, I’ll do my best to get titles out as timely as I can. They do still need to be re-edited, some needing more than others.
The titles reverting to me on 1/31 are:
Belonging
Guilty Needs
Lacey’s Game
One of the Guys
Silk Scarves and Seduction
I appreciate the support people have given me over the EC titles. It means a lot.
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January 22, 2016
Upcoming events…
Just a reminder, I’ll be signing at Turn the Page in Boonsboro in a few weeks. If you would like to pre-order signed books from me, they ship everywhere!
If you want to come to the event, the info from TTP’s newsletter.
Coming up on Saturday, February 6 from 12pm-2pm, we’re hosting another Book Signing. Featured authors will be:
Nora Roberts/ J.D. Robb
Shiloh Walker
Kimberly Kincaid
Sheila Connolly
Cathy Maxwell
Virginia Kantra
Eloisa James
local history authors Roger Engle and Alexander B. RossinoSee our Event Page for a listing of the newer offerings of the authors and our Rules and Etiquette Page for more detailed information on our signing procedures.
If you can’t make it to the store on the Book Signing day, take advantage of our Virtual Book Signing. Pre-order what you’d like signed from the Book Signing event page, and we’ll ship them on Monday after the event. Looking for a book you can’t find on our website? Just give us a call; we can have it waiting for you if you give us enough time.
Hee hee. I’m a featured author. See that? With Nora Roberts. (Yes, I’m still geeking out when it happens.)
Also… if you are in the Wisconsin area, I’ll be there at the Barbara Vey event. There are still tickets available for breakfast. Go here to buy… I’ll have goodies!
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January 19, 2016
Thirty Nights…in just a few more days
Just under two weeks, I think…did you read the serial? I always said if I ever did a billionaire romance, I’d make her the billionaire and he’d be the one down on his luck. So that’s what I did.
Also, he’s a male prostitute.
Thirty Nights With A Dirty Boy
Part I
Money Can’t Buy Love…
Ella Cruise doesn’t like to be touched. A survivor of childhood abuse, she craves security in all aspects of her life: fulfilling work at the nonprofit she runs, more than enough money to live comfortably, and a good friend and confidant. But none of it can ease her longing for intimacy, even if just for a night. When she meets a gorgeous bartender who moonlights as a male prostitute, a bold idea begins to take shape…
But It Can Buy a Night of Passion–or Thirty…
Sean Lachlan is stunned by the cool beauty’s offer: 30 nights of no-strings sex in exchange for all the money he’d need to start over. The deal seems too good to be true, especially since his desire for her is no act, but Sean finds he can’t turn her down. Before they know it, Sean and Ella realize they’re in deep, their defenses crumbling. Will thirty nights with a dirty boy be enough after all, or will love lead Ella and Sean back to the negotiating table?
The post Thirty Nights…in just a few more days appeared first on Shiloh Walker.
