We Give You Fever … Again!

Hey, everybody. Suze here.  I’ve preempted your regularly scheduled J Monkeys programming to bring back Kensington author, Joan Swan, whose debut novel FEVER releases on February 28. Read through to the end to find out about Joan’s giveaways!  Welcome back, Joan.

Yowza! I’ve been waiting months for this book!

Now that your release is almost here (February 28!), how excited are you?  What’s going through your mind right now?

Thanks for having me back!!

I’m actually really excited!  What’s helped create excitement vs. anxiety is that Fever has already received many wonderful reviews.  (You can see them here.)  For a debut author, this is a huge relief knowing the majority of people who’ve had the chance to read an early copy have enjoyed the story!

What’s been going through my mind?

“ACK!!”  Yep, that actually does run through my mind about every twenty minutes, punctuated by, “What’s next?”  “What have I missed?”  “What haven’t I done yet?”  “What do I still need to do?”  “What am I going to have to let slide?”  and “Can I sleep yet?”

Tell us a little bit about FEVER.  I know I’m hot to buy it!

Thanks Suze!!

A mysterious explosion at a military warehouse injuries a team of seven hazmat firefighters, killing one.  The contents of the building, chemicals used by the Department of Defense, have inflicted the team with various paranormal abilities.  Abilities the government wants to study covertly.  Abilities the team wants to understand and expose.

FEVER is about one of the seven firefighters, Teague Creek, convicted of a murder he didn’t commit, framed by a government threatened by his prying questions into the warehouse explosion.  Teague has been denied an appeal, lost the daughter he lived for, and the career as a firefighter he loved.  With no hope left, he plans an escape.  But his plan goes wrong when the woman he kidnaps as leverage to get his daughter back turns out to be someone else.  And this woman quickly clues into the abilities he tries to hide, creating a bond neither can afford while they’re on the run from both the cops and undercover operatives who want Teague silenced.  This time, permanently.

You are doing an amazing job of marketing and promoting your debut release.  I see you everywhere.  Can you reveal what your strategy was/is and how you’ve gone about implementing it in the months leading up to FEVER’s release?  How much assistance did your publisher give you, and how much did you put together on your own?

I have an intricately choreographed strategy of throw everything I can grab against the wall and see what sticks.

Actually, I’m being only slightly sarcastic.  Though I never meant it to turn out that way, in retrospect, that is what happened.

Basically, my publisher gave me little to no help.  In their defense, publishers give most authors very little resources now, and debut authors typically get nothing.  There is a publicist at Kensington who has gone out of her way to help me with ideas and contacts and providing extra copies of my book for the extensive blog tour I’m doing so I can offer giveaways of Fever at each stop, which has been fabulous.

Some of the things I’ve done that have worked best have been:

• Starting early:  I built a website, engaged in social media and built relationships well before I sold.  This all gave me a leg up when that time came, and a head start now, when my book is being released.
• Networking:  By building friendships and professional relationships with other authors, I’ve built a web of support, strength, intelligence and resources.  We all have unique things to offer each other—as friends and business associates.  Banding together we are so much stronger than standing apart.  This was one of the best things I’ve ever done.  These relationships have brought me readers, contacts, alliances, information and friendships that will last a lifetime.
• Giving:  When you give, you bring people to you.  Yes, for some it will be simply for the prize.  But you are imprinting your name and your brand on them.  And for some, it will develop into more.  When you give, you inspire the same in others and they give back.  The generosity I have received from both writers and readers as a result of giving in some way has astounded me.
• Consistency:  Building a following takes time and consistency.  If you’re not always there, if you’re not sending a consistent message, people won’t stick.
• Authenticity:  Promotion is about building relationships, not selling books.  People don’t buy your book because they meet you on Twitter or read your blog.  They buy your because they see you have something valuable to say, because they see you’ve studied your craft, you have an engaging voice, you have heart, you have personality, you’re real.  People buy your book because they’ve gotten to know you and they believe in your ability to entertain them through your work.
• Supporting the bigger picture:  It’s great to talk about your work, share great reviews, tell them where you’re going to be and when you’ll be giving something away.  But it’s also great to talk about others’ work, share others’ great reviews and tell them where others’ are going to be and when others’ will be giving something away.  We’re all in this together and helping someone else now means they’ll be around to help you sometime too.

How are you juggling having a day job, a family life, and a blossoming writing career?  I know we’d all love to hear about (and be inspired by) your time management process.

Um…sorry.  I won’t be providing any inspiration here—unless it’s inspiration to do it differently.

Honestly, I’m very imbalanced.  On the up side—I know it.  This is a conscious choice.  It’s also a short term choice.  I’m of the belief that one works hard for what one wants, and that one reaps what one sows.  Therefore, I’m putting everything I’ve got behind this debut book:  FEVER.

But I think it’s important to point out that while above I mentioned in regards to tactics, I may be using the al Dante method, in vision, I am crystal clear.

What I’m doing is investment marketing.  Investment marketing is dumping a lot of resources into something now with the bet/hope/gamble it will pay off in the future.  I am investing in my career as an author and I’m using FEVER, my debut novel, as a vehicle to give me a running start.  Because FEVER only has a limited life cycle, I’m putting every scrap of time and energy I can generate into revving that baby up, so it will spring me as far as possible—the way you stretch a rubber band as much as you can to get the biggest snap.

Once my appearances end and the blog tour ramps down, I’ll find my balance again.  I’ll regroup.  I’ll examine all my marketing efforts for FEVER and restrategize for BLAZE—hopefully in a far more sane and manageable fashion.

Great progress takes great sacrifice.  So, for now, I’m surviving.  I’m meeting my obligations, getting my family to pitch in, taking care of myself and letting others take care of themselves.

How do you plan to celebrate on February 28 when FEVER is released?  Will it involve chocolate and/or champagne?

*laughing*  No.  My extensive blog tour has me managing about 9 blog posts (and all the comments and giveaways for them) per week…which means the ones that have passed, because comments continue for about a week’s time, the ones for the current week, and making sure I have all the blogs coming up written and turned in.

In addition to that, I’m revising a two-time Golden Heart finalist manuscript for Indie publication in April and it needs to be into the editor by the end of February.  With my promotional crush for FEVER, I’m working down to the wire on that project.

I imagine February 28^th will be spent writing, writing and writing. J  I’m livin’ the dream!  Livin’ the dream!

What’s next for you?  Is your next book finished, or still in process?  Can you give us a hint?

Book 2 in the Phoenix Rising series is BLAZE, which releases in October.  I recently received the back cover copy of BLAZE, which ROCKS!  And I’ll share it with you here:

                            The hotter they come, the harder they fall…

                 With a man like him, every mission becomes personal…

Ever since FBI agent Keira O’Shay started tracking a young boy named Mateo, she’s felt a connection even her empathic abilities can’t explain. She needs to save Mateo from the cult leader holding him hostage. Nothing can interfere with that—not even the reappearance of Luke Ransom, the hot-as-hell fire captain she’s regretted walking out on for three long years.

Losing Keira left Luke vulnerable—in every way. When they were together, the powers each possesses were mysteriously enhanced. But it’s the sexy, surprising woman beneath the tough exterior that Luke’s really missed. Even if she betrayed him utterly. And even if agreeing to help her uncover a government conspiracy means watching his life and his heart go up in flames again…

And the Indie book I mentioned above is a romantic suspense and releases in April.  Here’s a little about INTIMATE ENEMIES:

Cassandra Christo is on a quest for answers. Six months after the mysterious yacht explosion that killed her mother and stepbrother, authorities still have no answers to the cause. Searching for closure, Cassie returns to her childhood home on the Pacific Coast of Baja, Mexico, where she launches her own investigation into the accident.  But there she runs into two major obstacles: her stepfather, a man Cassie despises and who she suspects is involved in illegal activities, and Rio Santana, Saul’s right hand man and the person she unknowingly let into her heart after he comforted her during the darkest moment of her life.

Rio’s been fantasizing about reconnecting with Cassie for months. But not here and sure as hell not now, when he’s only weeks away from finalizing transport of a terrorist cell over the U.S.-Mexico border. As an undercover agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he’s working the biggest sting operation in all of northern Mexico, and he definitely doesn’t have time for the wild attraction he feels for Cassie, let alone the risk it poses to his cover.

So when Cassie’s stepfather grows nervous about her investigation and orders Rio to use seduction as a last ditch effort to keep her from learning too much, Rio thinks he’s found the perfect solution. Until, that is, the heat between them turns into a full blown inferno. Suddenly, Rio’s not sure who’s doing the seducing. And not only is his cover on the line, so is his heart. Because as the end of a yearlong operation draws closer, Rio knows if he tells Cassie the truth about who and what he is, it won’t only jeopardize his mission, it may result in him losing her forever. And if he doesn’t, his lies and deception could get them both killed.

Author Bio:  Joan Swan is a triple RWA® Golden Heart finalist and writes sexy romantic suspense with a paranormal twist.  Her debut novel with Kensington Brava, FEVER, releases February 28, 2012.  Her second novel, BLAZE, follows in October, 2012.

In her day job, she works as a sonographer for one of the top ten medical facilities in the nation and lives on the California central coast in beautiful wine country with her husband and two daughters.

Book Blurb: Release Date: 2/28

When Dr. Alyssa Foster is taken hostage by a prison inmate, she knows she’s in deep trouble. Not just because Teague Creek is desperate for freedom, but because the moment his fingers brush against her skin, Alyssa feels a razor-sharp pang of need…
A man with a life sentence has nothing to lose. At least Teague doesn’t, until his escape plan develops a fatal flaw: Alyssa. On the run from both the law and deadly undercover operatives, he can only give her lies, but every heated kiss tells him the fire between them could be just as devastating as the flames that changed him forever…

Giveaway:

• ·         A print copy of FEVER, US/Canada shipping.
• ·         All comments are eligible for tour grand prize of either a COLOR NOOK or KINDLE FIRE. Enter: http://joanswan.com/giveaways/blog-tour-ereader/

Buy links:  Amazon| Barnes & Noble | Booksamillion

My links:  Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Thanks so much for being with us today, Joan!  It’s only a few more days till FEVER releases, everyone! And as you can see Joan’s got plenty more in store for us.  Questions, anybody? Commenters here and on Joan’s other blog stops (see above) are eligible for some really great prizes, so don’t be shy!

Lasting Impression

Happy Friday everyone! Casey here.

Once upon a time, when I was six years old, my family took a vacation to Salem, MA. And I never forgot it. Even though I was only six, I retain vivid memories of Salem: Our view out the window of the Hawthorne Hotel, quizzing the tour guide at the House of Seven Gables, and seeing mustard seeds for the first time at the Lighthouse. I experienced an awakening on that trip – my love of old houses and history was born in Salem.

But, alas, the trip also had a dark side. The Salem Witch Museum made an extreme impression on me. Maybe it was the fact that we were ushered into a dark room and told to stand in an illuminated circle in the center. Or it could have been the first display: two red eyes gleaming in the dark accompanied by a loud voice declaring the devil exists. And possibly it was the tableau of Giles Cory being pressed to death.

Yeah, that made a lasting impression.

So what does this have to do with writing? Everything!

We need to make an impression on the reader. If they enjoy your story, then they will add you to their TBR list (to be read!). The best stories are the ones that make us feel something (fear, love, sadness, joy) and those are the books and authors we come back to time and again. Because the reader wants to go on a journey and they want to be immersed in a world. Forget this at your peril!

Several years ago, I returned to Salem with my husband and children. And you bet, I visited the Salem Witch Museum. Youngest son was the only one interested in going. Hubby and older son heard the word museum and decided to shop instead. To my surprise, the museum has not changed its presentation. We stood in the circle, we saw the same displays (I’m guessing they’ve been updated or at least refreshed) and I still felt awful for poor Giles Corey.

In a way, it was a relief that the museum hadn’t changed all that much. It meant that my recollections weren’t my imagination. I felt vindicated. Even better, youngest son, who was ten at the time, thought it was a cool place.

You’re turn to share – what stories or places have made a lasting impression on you? Which stories or writers do you go back to time and again? And why?

All Hail The Queen … Stephanie Queen, That Is

Greetings, loyal subjects. HRH Stephanie Queen has granted us an interview.  Get ready for the royal treatment!  Welcome, Stephanie!

Tell us about your newest release, PLAYING THE GAME.

It’s about the “Priest” of professional basketball meeting his match, but not on the court.  He’s in deep and can’t shake the seductive socialite who’s accused of murdering her wealthy husband and who’s bound to kill his career. The high stakes game Barry and Roxanne are playing has nothing to do with basketball—and everything to do with his little girl’s life.

PLAYING THE GAME is available for FREE for three days only, Feb 24^th – 26^th on Amazon.com. Don’t miss your chance to try it and let me know what you think. (Suze here.  I’ve read this book and I highly recommend it! Click here)

How do you battle the doubt monster? Doubt Monster: the nagging feeling that your prose is terrible, you plot is silly, your characters are insipid, and no one in her right mind would read this drivel, let alone buy it.

Battle him?  The Doubt Monster is one of my best friends—no really—I’ll introduce you to him at my next cocktail party. His name is Guido and he’s a laugh riot if you can get past his spouting off about insipid drivel. Keeps me in line with my over-inflated ego problem, too.

Have you thought about writing something that is completely different for you? Perhaps writing in a new genre or just taking a story someplace that you haven’t done before?

Can I just take myself someplace I haven’t gone before and leave the story home?

What story haven’t you told yet that you want to tell? What is holding you back?

The story I haven’t told yet is about my own life–it’s about a powerful struggle culminating in a fabulously exciting event. I don’t know what the details of the story are though, because it hasn’t happened to me yet. That is somewhat of a hinderance.

What is the most surprising thing that has happened in your writing career?

No surprises here. I’ve had a predictably brilliant career with a meteoric rise to stardom. The only surprise is that you haven’t seen my name in lights in Times Square yet. (see over-inflated ego problem above)

They say that every author has a partially completed, quite-possibly-terrible half a story shoved in a drawer somewhere. What is yours? What is it about? What makes it terrible? Would you ever consider picking it up and finishing it?

No one told me there was supposed to be only one half-finished dust-bunny-collecting story under my bed (the drawers were full).

What makes a Stephanie Queen book unique?

I think it’s the curly-q font I use for the “Q” in Queen that most distinguishes my novels. As far as my writing goes, well, quirky is quirky, right?

Can you give us some hints about your next project?  Scribes love Secrets!

My next release will be THE HOT SHOTS, the second book in the Scotland Yard Exchange Program Series. I call it a romantic comedy action adventure mystery. But whatever the genre label, it’s a lot of lighthearted, fast-paced fun. (So “they” tell me.)

What was your biggest misstep in your writing career so far?

The first misstep is always the biggest one. After that, well, you’re pretty much rolling down the stairs screaming.

Do you have a word-related pet peeve?

All my pet peeves can be described using words. Lucky thing since I’m terrible at miming.

Anything else we should know?

I have a terrible time taking interviews seriously. But I do take writing my novels seriously. If you have a chance to read one, I’d love to hear what you think. Visit my website at http://www.stephaniequeen.com/.

Thanks for being here today, Your Highness!  Anyone have any questions for Stephanie?

You can follow Stephanie at the following links:

www.stephaniequeen.com

Twitter: @StephanieQueen

Romantic Times 4.5 Star Review – The Throwbacks

Between a Rock and a Mad Woman available now

Playing the Game

The Family Memoir

Several years ago, my cousin’s youngest daughter got married in a fabulous setting deep in the heart of PA — it was a living Andrew Wyeth painting:  a sparkling pond, rolling green hills, deep blue sky, old red barn silhouetted against the blaring hot sun, a rustic stable opened to provide a dance floor and seating where you could take the barbeque that was served on the adjacent side porch.  A little stone house where the bride had the privacy to dress.  A hundred friends and family, kids running around, playing ball, playing games.  People rocking out on the lawn.

And there I was, sitting with my husband, thinking:  this perfect day, when, maybe, someone is found dead in the pond;  or maybe that little girl in the yellow dress disappears and someone doesn’t want the mother-in-law to write the family memoir.

Honestly, it was the best wedding ever.

And subsequently, a couple of years later, my cousin asked if I’d like to read those memoirs, with his mother-in-law’s permission.  This was such a privilege.  The author is in her 90‘s;  she wrote about 28 single spaced pages.  Her voice, dry, humorous, pragmatic, came through so clearly. And there was so much more under the surface that I wanted to know. And I wanted so much more of HER — her reactions, her responses, her true feelings.

What a gift to her family, that she’s able to translate her memories into words.  I told her all this when I wrote back, and that I hoped she’d continue to add to the memoir, more of her, more of what she experienced, what she felt. I had particularly strong feelings about it because now that my parents, and aunts and uncles are gone, there’s no one left who knows all my family history.  And no one who had the wont, the patience or the will to write it all down. They were children of immigrants who’d had unspeakable childhoods and just didn’t want to talk about it — ever. So a first wife we were never aware of, a brother whom no one knew was really the child of a first marriage, a runaway child, — all nebulous stories dredged up through cryptic statements over the years which told no more than that.

I was struck forcibly that I knew nothing, really, about our grandparents in either family.  We do have my maternal grandfather’s immigration papers from which we make inferences and piece together some of the story,  but dad’s history remains opaque: I know his mother came from Romania to join her sister in America.  She was the second wife of a man with two children. Her husband died very early in the marriage after she bore him four children.  She never wanted to talk about any of it.

My sons know everything about their dad and me, but I never thought, maybe never maybe could envision a time when my parents wouldn’t be there to answer questions.  And for some reason, one never asked.  Later, when I got curious, my mom didn’t much want to talk about it either.  Or claimed she didn’t remember.

I now have a bound booklet of those memoirs, complete with pictures.  How lucky my cousin is that his mother-in-law decided to talk about her life in a concrete and lasting way.  It inspired him.  He now wants to aggregate as much of our maternal family’s history as possible.  I’m happy he wants to take on that pleasurable task and I‘m hoping he can fill in some of the blanks.

But better than that, it leaves me (selfishly) free to contemplate the fictional problem of who was killed at the wedding and the even greater pleasure of writing it..

As you can see, I’m obsessed by my family’s history now. What about your family?  Is someone writing a history? Researching the family tree?  Have you ever been at an event where you were plotting fictional murders while talking to your husband’s boss or a relative you hadn’t seen in years?

Thea Devine is the author whose books defined erotic historical romance for which she was honored as a Romance Pioneer by Romantic Times.  The Darkest Heart, Pocket/Gallery, June 2011 is her 25^th novel. Visit www.theadevine.com for excerpt and video.

Interview with author Michele Drier

PJ Sharon, here. Well, not really here, since I’m over visiting Sonya Weiss today. Be sure to stop by and check out my interview with her. She asked some great questions. And since I’ll be there, I thought I would leave you Scribes fans in the capable hands of a lovely new author friend of mine, Michele Drier. Enjoy her interview and an excerpt from her book,

 Snap: The World Unfolds

Here’s a brief synopsis of the book:

SNAP, a multinational celeb TV show and magazine, is the holy grail for Maxie Gwenoch.  When she snags the job as managing editor, she’s looking for fame, fortune and Jimmy Choos.  What she finds is a media empire owned by Baron Kandesky and his family.  A family of vampires.  They’re European, urbane, wealthy and mesmerizing.  And when she meets Jean-Louis, vampire and co-worker, she’s a goner.

The Kandesky vampire family rose in Hungary centuries ago.  They gave up violence and killing to make a killing on the world’s commodities markets and with that beginning they built SNAP, an international celebrity multimedia empire.  Now cultured…and having found food substitutes for killing…they’ve cornered the world market for celebrity and gossip journalism.

They haven’t fully left the past behind.  Their Hungarian neighbors and rival vampire clan, the Huszars are starting to ramp up attacks, maybe looking to start a war to take over all the Kandeskys have built.

Maxie believes she’s found her ultimate career.  She doesn’t realize that she’s found a family feud like none other, a centuries-old rivalry between vampire families, with her as the linchpin.  Bells ring with Jean-Louis, but she doesn’t realize they’re alarm sirens until she learns that Jean-Louis is second in command of the Kandeskys…but by then it’s too late.

Available on Amazon, B&N, and Smashwords

Author Bio

Michele Drier was born in Santa Cruz to a pioneer family and is a fifth generation Californian.  She’s lived and worked all over the state and has called both Southern and Northern California home.  During her career in journalism — as a reporter and editor at large and small daily newspapers – she won awards for producing investigative series.  She lives in the Central Valley with cats, skunks, opossums and wild turkeys.

Her most recent book is the traditional mystery “Edited for Death”, available online at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Visit her website at www.micheledrier.com

Take it away, Michele!

 1.    How do you battle the doubt monster? Doubt Monster: the nagging feeling while writing, that your prose is terrible, you plot is silly, your characters are insipid and no-one in their right mind would read this drivel, let alone buy it.

Hoo boy, me and the Doubt Monster have been going steady lately.  This is a tough one to fight because it’s so personal.  And as writers, we do what we do alone.  This is not teamwork, it’s the “I”, and it’s absolutely subjective.  Both the work and the feedback come from our own internal spaces.

First, I try and leave writing for a bit.  Take a walk, go visit a friend, even clean the house.  Something that I can complete easily and quickly and I can’t mess up. The only way to mess up cleaning the house is, I think, to NOT clean the house, so anything I do in that direction is a positive.  And it’s satisfying to walk through a tidy, clean room or get into a bed with fresh linens.

Then I call a cousin.  I’m blessed with a supportive family, but one of my cousins is an unflagging cheerleader for me.  People like this—whether friend or family—can lift you out of that mud-hole you’re wallowing in.

Then I go back and read something that I wrote that got positive feedback.  It could be a good review, a good comment from your critique group, a passage that you feel really sings!  For me, there are a couple of, I guess fans, women whom I’ve never met but who’ve been touched by my words.

One of them wants to buy the Champagne when the film of my book premieres. The other says she’s waiting for the HBO series.  These are my peers, women who are writing in the genres that I am, and women who review books on a regular basis.  I asked them cold if they’d be willing to write me reviews, and reading and rereading these is priceless.

Even though the Doubt Monster keeps calling for a date, I have a few people who are nagging me to keep writing; they’re waiting to read it!

1. 2.    Have you thought about writing something that is completely different for you? Perhaps writing in a new genre or just taking a story someplace that you haven’t done before.

I did do that and it’s exciting!  I always wanted to write mysteries.  I love mysteries. The British women, Dorothy Sayers, Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham, and New Zealand’s Ngaio Marsh, are peerless.

So I wrote a traditional mystery called Edited for Death.  It was published last fall by a small press and has had several nominations for an Agatha (not a finalist), got included in the Memorable Books of 2011 on the Dorothy L list, and was called “Riveting and much recommended” by the Midwest Book Review.

While I was waiting for that book to come out, I wrote a vampire romance.  Not a genre that I usually read and certainly nothing that I ever thought I’d write, but my daughter and son-in-law kept nagging.

What fun!  I discovered that writing SNAP: The World Unfolds, gave me a wholly different way to react to my writing.

1. 3.    What story haven’t you told yet that you want to tell? What is holding you back?

The story of my family.  Particularly the women.  I have a great-grandmother who divorced two husbands before she died in San Francisco in the 1890s. Her mother immigrated from England in the 1850s and at one point lived at the copper mining camp of Bisbee, Arizona long before it was a state.

I have a great-great-grandmother who came to California to be with her husband who’d come for the gold.  She crossed the Isthmus of Panama by mule back in 1852.

I have a grandmother who went to a Catholic boarding school and took ferry boats up the Sacramento River from San Francisco to get to school. She wasn’t a Catholic, but her grandmother thought that the nuns gave her a better education.   This same grandmother also went to a Catholic finishing school in the Hudson River Valley, was trained as a classical pianist, and went through the San Francisco earthquake.

I want to write this as a piece of fiction, but it will require a longer period of uninterrupted time than I have right now, as I’m trying to establish myself as an author.

1. 4.    Author Jane Haddam says that anyone who seriously annoys her gets bumped off in her next book. How do you incorporate your real-life experiences into your stories?

For the mysteries, it’s the fact that the protagonist, Amy Hobbes, is a newspaper editor, a career that I had for about two decades. I incorporate both the good AND the bad in these books and part of the bad is that Amy is fighting against the demise of newspapers while trying to rally the troops to put out an issue every day.

I don’t bump people off, but I do include character traits.  Many of my characters are an amalgamation of people I’ve known and worked with in the business.

That’s not to say that I might not use a voodoo doll approach to someone in a future book.  Hmmmm, an intriguing idea! 

1. 5.    Do you have a word related pet peeve?

I’m going to sound like the language curmudgeon, but I have a couple.  The first is what I call the “verbalization” of English.  It comes from jargon used by professions.  Law enforcement gave us “exited” as in “he got out of his vehicle”.  Government (I think) gave us “tasked” as in “I was assigned this job”.  And always and forever there’s the gratuity of using “utilized” for “use” and “fatigued” for “tired”.

My other peeve is homophones.  “Peeked” for “peaked” or even “piqued”.  ”Sight” for “site” or “cite”.  We have better than 230,000 finite words in English according to the OED (actually, we have more words than any other language on earth.  In May 2011 the Global Language Monitor estimated that there were 1,010,650 words, the one-millionth being “web 2.0”)

Homophones abound, so we need to be careful.

Read on for an EXCERPT From SNAP: The World Unfolds

PROLOGUE

It was blood.  It looked like somebody dropped a cup or glass.  It puddled in front of the sinks and filmed out on the bathroom floor.

I was startled; usually the bathrooms at SNAP Magazine were spotless.

It didn’t smell like fresh blood, that odd, kind of tangy, metal-y smell, but for sure I wasn’t going to touch it to see if it was warm.

I couldn’t scream, but I was suddenly queasy.  My makeup didn’t need a touch-up that much.  My knees shook as I spun back through the door and headed straight to my assistant’s desk to have her call maintenance or whoever and clean up the mess.

She looked up at me.  “There’s what on the bathroom floor?”

“A big puddle of blood,” I whispered.  “Come see for yourself.”

I didn’t want to run, didn’t want to incite concern in the rest of the staff and have it spread out through the cubicles, but we walked fast.  When we got across the office and down the hall, I pushed open the door and said, “Look!” with a flourish.

“Look at what?” Jazz’ eyebrows disappeared up under her bangs.

I turned my head and saw…nothing.  No blood, no remains, no pink sheen, not even water on the floor.

“Are you sure you saw it?”

“Of course I saw it,” I insisted.  “It was right in front of the sinks.  It covered a patch of the floor.”

Jazz shook her bangs out of her eyes and gave me a withering look that could have dried grapes into raisins.  “I know you’ve only been here a few days, but I can’t think you found blood on the floor.  SNAP has a reputation to keep up and they wouldn’t let something like that sit there for anyone to find.”

“I don’t think anyone would wander into a bathroom back here,” I said.  “Isn’t this for employees only?”

“It’s supposed to be, but sometimes people who are here for a meeting or a shoot use these bathrooms instead of walking up front.  These aren’t nearly as nice as the ones off the lobby and main conference rooms, but it’s quicker.”

I wasn’t happy.  I saw the blood.  I knew it had been there.  I didn’t know why it was gone, but it wasn’t my imagination.  There was nothing I could do about it now, but I was going to be on guard whenever I walked into a bathroom at SNAP.

CHAPTER ONE

When you get to the top savor it; it’s a long way down, my mother’s mantra, hummed through my head as the elevator rose.  On the eighteenth floor, a muted sound chimed as the doors slid open, and there it was.   The headquarters of SNAP, the newest, cutting-ist edge gathering-of-information machine covering people who matter in the world.

As I stepped into the lobby I was deafened by the silence.  Two receptionists sat behind the black marble counter, showing only their heads with headsets.  They were murmuring something, but so quietly I couldn’t hear words.  The famous SNAP logo etched into the wall-to-wall, ceiling-high mirror reflected the backs of their heads.

The reflection only showed my head and shoulders, my body disappearing as I neared the black slab.  The receptionists were both blonds, so fair their skin had a translucent pale blue tone sliced by mouths slathered in Russian Red lipstick.  At least I hoped it was lipstick.

The one at the right glanced up, murmured something and clicked a button.  Up close, I could see that the phones were set into the marble counter and had no sound, only buttons that were lighting up.  The receptionist tapped an earbud, pulled it away from her head and asked, “May I help you?”   Her red mouth formed to something not quite a smile and her eyes looked through me.

“Good morning.” I used my best professional voice. “I’m Maxmillia Gwenoch.”

She looked, she continued gazing through me, she didn’t speak and didn’t blink an eye.  I was startled.  I’d never before seen anyone who could go that long without a blink.

It was clear my name meant nothing and she wasn’t going to deign to ask me why I was there, so I added. “I’m the new managing editor.  I’m starting this morning.  Can someone show me to my office?”

She blinked.  Then she sighed.  “We didn’t expect you so early.”

Early?  I knew that SNAP staffers worked all different shifts.   A 24-hour news day means that the old nine-to-five grind doesn’t cut it anymore.  But I never thought that 11 a.m. was early.  I’d timed my arrival so that I could find my office, check in with the HR department for the forms packet and still have a leisurely lunch with some of the executives.

“Just a moment,”  The blond stuck the earbud back in her ear, pushed a button and murmured some words.  Apparently all was well, because she looked up at me and nodded before she punched another flashing button and started murmuring again.

Hands down, this was the oddest reception I’d ever gotten at any of the many jobs I’d had.  I was so stumped that I hitched my bag higher on my shoulder and slowly turned around, looking for a chair or couch or door, something.  But this was it.  The polished steel elevator doors behind me, the high, long, black marble counter in front of me and endless reflections of blond heads.

Suddenly the reflections wavered and broke as a door opened at the far end of the mirror.  A young woman with pixyish brown hair, dressed in a brown suede mini, a forest-green top and brown stiletto boots came over and held out her hand.

“Hi, I’m Jasmine Fall, but please, just call me Jazz,” she bubbled.  “I’m your admin assistant.  I came in early this morning because I knew this was your first day.  I hope you’ll like it here.  SNAP is just too fabulous to work for; I’ve gotten to meet SOOO many famous people already.  Follow me.”

First impressions don’t always hold up, but I’ll never forget my SNAP introduction.  I followed Just-Call-Me-Jazz through the mirror and into my new workplace.

This is what T.T. Thomas says about Michele’s book:

Without giving up the, may I say the word, delicious intrigues and plotlines, I have to say that Drier’s witty repartee is ripe with understatement, and then hyperbole and then, just to spice it up, drop dead cinema-speak, the kind that goes so well with those proverbial Hollywood air kisses. Among my favorites in this class of well-timed one-liners were the wonderful outtakes from her mother’s mantras–Example: Don’t get involved with someone prettier than you; they know it. (Did Drier’s mother know my mother?).

At first, I wondered why a writer of Drier’s abundant talent would pursue the vampire genre, but I have to say, she pulled me in, and I kept reading. Her vampires are sophisticated, urbane, worldly, clever and just bitchy enough to be interesting. I found some of the female vampires edgy and beautiful enough to be worthy of their own HBO show, and I look forward to the future roles of the characters called Demons, who are somewhere between babysitter and martial arts killers. All in a night’s work!

Drier has a second in this delightful series coming out in spring of 2012 called SNAP: New Talent. Watch for it, and pick up this hefty first one for many long nights of bloody good fun!

Thanks for being with us today, Michele.

If any of you have questions or comments for Michele, she’ll be happy to respond.

Dear Misbehaving Manuscript,

It’s not you it’s me. Okay, so maybe it is you. We’ve been together for two months now and honestly there were points when I loved you. Oh we used to be so good together! Remember that time we added 3,300 words to our word count in one afternoon? Remember that time we laughed over that little joke in chapter three? Or the times I thought we were going so strong that nothing could break us apart?

What happened to us? There are some days when I don’t even want to work on you. Days when you cause my characters to say boring things and do stupid stuff. Times when there are so many typos you could have been written by a sleepy second grader.

Le-sigh…Even though right now you are causing me to want to pull my hair out, I still believe in you. In us. And I won’t give up on you. At least not today. So please stop misbehaving or I might be forced to punish you by… inserting so much purple prose even Stephanie Meyer would be jealous? ( His eyes were like the clearest of diamonds, sharp enough to cut through her tender heart and bruise her sweetly innocent soul.)  Or  I could end every sentence with an exclamation point? You wouldn’t like that, would you?!!!! !  Maybe I should let my grandmother read you? “He put his what, where?! Really, Jamie!” (How does one punish a manuscript anyway?) Regardless of what I do, what I won’t do is give up on you, no matter how badly you tick me off. So shape up. Pretty please.

Love always,

 Your crazy writer Jamie.

Am I crazy? Absolutely. But all writers go through a time when they are just not getting along with their WIPs. So how do you renew the magic? I do what many writer’s are loathed to do. I stop wherever I am and go back. Sometimes all the way to the beginning(AH!) and read it all over to see what I liked about it, what I think can be improved and to check to see if things are going the way I planned. This way I can fix it before I do major damage.  But most of the time it’s not the big stinking mess I think it is. Having an honest critique partner you trust or a good mentor is also helpful. Sometimes just to cheer you on or the steer you in the right direction.

Sharing time! I want to know what you do when your manuscript is misbehaving. Do you write it a letter? Do you take a break? Move on? Cry a little? Drink? Play Angry Birds? Tell your friends. Any and all comments are welcome.

Judging Writing Contests

Hello, Katy Lee here. First off, the winner of the Catherine Anderson Lucky Penny book goes to Gail Ingis! Woo-Hoo, Gail! Congrats! Catherine will be mailing the book off to you shortly. Enjoy! 

Now, I have just finished judging eight entries to CTRWA’s Write Stuff Contest. I always look forward to the many contests I participate in throughout the year. I love reading works-in-progress in all its various stages, but I really get excited to see a work ready for an editor’s eyes. If I reach the last page of the entry and am mad that I can’t continue, I stress my frustration to the writer. “Get this book on the shelves!”

I’ll be honest, though, typically those entries are few and far between. But that is okay, because writing contests are not just for the perfect entries. They are also a way for a new writer to put their baby in front of another pair of eyes. It is an opportunity for them to receive some helpful feedback before sending their work out to editors and agents. (Who typically don’t give anything other than the dreaded rejection letter.) There’s no shame in submitting a story in its beginning stages. If you are entering to win, that’s different, but if you are just looking for a quick critique of the direction of your work, I encourage you to send it in. It’s a learning opportunity to perfect your craft. And not only that, it’s a motivational tool to press on.

For me, as a judge, seeing the shiny finished pieces, knowing they, too, once fell into the “ugly baby” stage, is a testimony to never give up to all writers. They prove that with dedication and hard work there is hope for us in all our stages. I do my best to be kind and constructive when giving ideas or pointing out better words that could be used in certain places, but I know the writer may still misconstrue my feedback and take it personally.

And maybe they are right, but not in the sense they think.

I personally want to encourage all writers to keep at it. As a judge I see in front of me all the stages a piece goes through before it’s ready for the shelf. I know with hard work and dedication even the baby entries can be transformed into shelf worthy. So, enter your works and let the judge’s words motivate you, not discourage you. Keep at it until your baby is on the shelves, too.

The Unlocked Secret: It may be called judging, but I like to consider it more as cheerleading. Someone who has seen the beginning and end results and cheers writers on to their dream of publication. Go for it!

Question: If you have judged writing entries before, what have you learned from the process? Or, are you a writer who thinks their story isn’t ready for a contest?