Attracting the Press

Not very long ago, I spoke to the Long Island Romance Writers, a great group who are very interested in marketing. During my presentation, we discussed press kits, what goes in them, and who they should be sent to. I rattled off the list like I always do: author bio (long and short), author photo, cover flat, business card, endorsements from other authors and reviews, if you have them, and your press release. As soon as I finished, hands flew in the air. One of the members said, “I have press kit materials available for download on my website, but I don’t think anyone’s ever used them.”

That got me thinking.

The LIRW member was probably right. No one had used the press materials she spent time and money creating. Then, I asked a few of my own chaptermates and got the same answers. Yes, it was all up there: author bio (long and short), author photo, cover flat, endorsements from other authors and reviews and the press release, but never downloaded.

Why? My best guess? Most authors aren’t taught how to attract the press. Therefore, I’m using this article to put together a cheat sheet for how it’s done.  And, I’ll prove to you this method works by using RWA Member Kourtney Heintz and the press coverage she received for her book “The Six Train to Wisconsin” as my example.

Step One:  Create a Hook

Just as you would create a hook for a query letter or pitch, you need one for your press release, especially if you are soliciting a feature story. Ask yourself, “Why would anyone care?” Your answer, the hook.  In Kourtney’s case, she used her contest results to create her hook. “Author Jumps from small town Connecticut to Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Semifinalist.”

Step Two:  Start small

            Your local, hometown paper is your best friend. Start there first. Most local papers like stories about residents who are newsworthy. Generally, their contact information is easy to find. If it’s not printed in the paper, it is usually listed online. Ms. Heintz sent her press release into the Waterbury –Republican, hoping for a mention in their “Book Briefs” column.

In response, got a photo of her book cover and a nice mention. But it didn’t stop there. They followed up with a short article on her called “Hot Wolcott Author Makes Appearances at Waterbury Venues”. Then she received a call from an award-winning reporter to schedule an interview.  Ms. Heintz was given a full-page feature and her photo was placed on the cover of the Accent/Women section. Her article was then uploaded to the AP, where it was run in the Newsday Long Island. http://www.newsday.com/news/region-state/author-turns-wall-street-layoff-into-second-career-1.5195361.  And, it didn’t stop there. It was also picked up and published in The Republic, in Columbus Indiana, http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/82e9d9a861834e6588cbcde4e40927a9/CT-FEA–Second-Career-Author

Step Three: Solicit everything free

            Most regional newspapers and arts & entertainment sites have a section on line for readers to submit stories, events and press releases. Take advantage of these opportunities and upload like mad!  Kourtney uploaded her press release to the Hartford Courant, http://articles.courant.com/2013-04-27/community/hcrs-74087hc-statewide-20130423_1_heintz-book-signing-oliver

Step Four: Branch out Past Newspapers

            Once your story runs locally, and regionally, it’s time to take it to other media sources. Radio, podcasts and daytime television are your next step. Email your press release with links to where your articles have run online and in the paper; include copies of all the press you have received. By attaching links to past coverage, you are showing the media that you have a story people are interested in. No piece of media coverage is too small. Using this approach, Kourtney was featured on WTNH’s CT Style, a local daytime news show. http://www.wtnh.com/dpp/ct_style/wall-street-to-wolcott-author-kourtney-heintz#.UZWY5rXqlZ4

She also snared a radio interview, EVERYTHING INTERNET 660AM Dallas/Decatur with Ed Frazier and Lisa Mckibben to talk about her book.  http://208.78.223.6/EIradioshow/EINSHOW051113Seg3.mp3

The above was Ms. Heintz’s approach to earned media. If you pay to have something distributed, then it’s paid media. But if someone else distributes it for you, like the Associated Press, then it’s earned media. Earned media takes a good story, perseverance and a great deal of luck.

The last step is always national media coverage with solicitation of national newspapers like USA Today, and morning shows like GMA. Now, a little birdie told me Kourtney is working on these, I’ll let you know how it goes.

As for the rest of us, while a press kit hosted on your website is nice to have, it’s passive. Don’t be afraid to actively solicit your local newspaper and see what happens. Press releases are easy to write. If you’ve never written a press release, please remember to write it in the third person.  Always include, “For Immediate Release” at the top of the page. This lets the newspaper know they can proceed with the story. List all of your contact information, including your address and phone as well as links to your social media profiles. Finally, make sure you call yourself by your last name. In Kourtney’s case, she is referred to as Heintz, not Ms. Heintz.

So, tell me. What tactics have you used to attract the attention of the press? What has worked? And, what hasn’t?

Premonition of Terror by Kathryn Orzech

Hi All,

Happy Wednesday.  I was called out of town for the day job and am unable to be with you today. So, I put a call out for reinforcements to take my place and the lady who answered will freak you out!! (She probably already knew I needed a guest, if you catch my drift!)

Please give a big ole’ Scribes welcome to: Kathryn Orzech!!!

Paranormal. Fiction. Fact. While writing Premonition it was difficult to tell them apart. 

Hi everyone. Thanks for coming. And thanks to Seven Scribes for the invite. KO here.

Premonition of Terror began with a dream, shifted into paranormal, and I’m not sure it has ended with this book. Much of my writing explores what happens when ordinary people find themselves in extraordinary circumstances, when fate has another plan for them. I’m no more psychic than most, but I accept and trust my sixth sense and pay attention to signs.

Decades ago when I was lost, I asked higher powers for direction. I woke the next morning with the idea to create a website where ordinary people could share psychic dreams and premonitions. Okaaay! The supernatural curiosity of my twenties had long faded so this came from afar. The internet was new to my town and I’d heard of it, but I sure wasn’t on it, yet the site idea was so specific—and so clear. I’d follow the path until I hit a roadblock.

That day at work I looked over the shoulder of a young woman as she surfed websites and it was obvious I could use my graphics skills to design a site like those on her screen, so I took it as a sign. Same day, a co-worker asked if I’d be willing to trade services: a logo design for his son’s new software company in exchange for free website hosting. The second sign. I swear this is true.

He’d register my domain name (huh?) and get me online as soon as I wanted. He warned that .com names might be taken, but they were gold, so my list of alternates should be generous. Overnight, I listed thirty names in preferential order and he’d work down the list until he snagged one. Dreamwatch.com—my very first number one choice—was available. The third and flipping HUGE SIGN.

Seeing the signs. And we’re off … 

People actually wrote to the site and I posted their paranormal stories, submitted from at least 20 countries and 36 U.S. states. I’m no longer surprised that people wrote. They’re often frightened and seek validation. Family and friends called them crazy. They wrote about personal events, like knowing who’s calling, seeing an auto accident days ahead, or smelling a loved one’s perfume the moment they had died.

Like my protagonist Kate, I imagined Dreamwatch to be important and relevant, a warning system—before the bridge collapsed or the plane crashed or the mud slid—you get it.

But that’s not what people wrote about … until they did 

I just slipped into fiction because the site submission’s don’t predict world events (well, a few did and my stomach sank when I read them) but I had a solid story idea: What if similar premonitions from around the world predicted the same deadly event? Who would I tell? What would I do? If you were the only person who knew, what would you do?

The plot for Premonition of Terror was born and from the start I had my hook:

Dreamwatch.com, true paranormal experiences, began as a hobby. It was supposed to be fun—until premonitions from around the world predict the same catastrophic attack. 

Beyond coincidence? A true premonition? 

I wrote Premonition of Terror in less than six months, research and all. I couldn’t type as fast as my brain was working. The original title was Dreamwatch.com but Premonition of Terror seemed better for a “Premonition of …” series if that happens. But the title change (May 2011) seems even more important because of recent events and the whole idea of it chills me. My two terrorist characters—with a Russian connection—plan an attack in a major northeast city. You can guess which one. And though it’s taken a couple of years of revisions, conferences, professional editing, pitching and queries, agent then no agent; if I hadn’t asked BookBaby to make changes, Premonition would have been released on April 15, 2013. What are the chances? Seriously!!!

When coincidence stretches beyond belief I look elsewhere for answers. More often for me I don’t look for them, they knock me on my head. If the story was a true premonition of terror, I had only grasped its fringe with sloppy details, still, it makes me ask: How can we know of a future event unless it’s set and destined to unfold? Are some major events our inescapable fate? What do you think?

Premonition of Terror 

Premonition of Terror, a paranormal thriller with strong romantic elements, has just been released in ebook format at most major book retailers, softcover in summer 2013. View the trailer with no ads at Dreamwatch. Or on Facebook or YouTube.

Read what others wrote or tell your spooky story at Dreamwatch.com.
If a premonition warned you of a tragic event, what would you do? Who would you tell?

Getting in the Mood: Playlist to Lurve

Happy Wednesday, all.

It’s Hell Week at the day job and I had to call for back up. Thank goodness, that ho-bag LIssa Trevor wasn’t doing anything but hanging around Spankin’ Mr. Darcy.  LOL!   Making her Seven Scribes debut, please welcome the lovely and talented, Lissa Trevor!!!!

Dorothy had “Off to See the Wizard.”  Rocky Balboa had “Eye of the Tiger.”  Mrs. Mia Wallace had “Girl You’ll Be A Woman” by Urge Overkill.  Music matters!  I always write to music.  I’m a big fan of 80’s hair bands.  Duran Duran’s Hungry Like the Wolf brings to mind adolescent fantasies of Simon LeBon stalking me through the jungle and I can’t hear Warrant’s Cherry Pie without thinking of a dance club in Poughkeepsie NY called Primetime where a boy named Adrian serenaded me.  Yo Adrian!

But when I had to write in 19^th century English for my erotic Pride and Prejudice mash-up SPANK ME, MR. DARCY, I couldn’t have TLC’s “Waterfalls” playing in the background or anything that I knew the words too.  When you’re trying to write authentic dialogue, having Pitbull crow, “Mr. Worldwide I pop up and greet her. PPP Peter Pumpkin Eater.  With no religion, make them believers.  I always hit two.  Call me Jeter,” just snaps you right out of the story where you’re having a polite battle of words before the master gets out the whip.

But I had to persevere.  I put on Bizet’s Carmen.  But I wound up singing the lyrics I hadn’t spoken since high school French class with Madame Cohen. Realizing I was easily distracted, I tried Vivaldi and Mozart. But I wound up nodding off in the writing chair, leaving Jane and Bingley staring at each other longingly. Andreas Vollenweider and Bond helped.  They were classical, but edgy and it allowed me to get into the groove.  But once I was there and the scene was set – or rather the dungeon was occupied, I needed something with a beat and heart.  I needed something as passionate as Elizabeth’s fine eyes and something as fierce as Darcy’s pride.

I reached deep into my 80’s roots and here’s what I came up with, The Netherfield Dungeon Mix:

“Love Story” by Taylor Swift

“A Kiss From a Rose” by Seal

“I Want to Sex You Up” Color Me Badd

“Killing me Softly” by The Fugees

“Payphone” by Maroon Five

“Africa” by Toto

“Obsession” by Animotion

“Sweet Child of Mine” by Guns and Roses

“Butterfly” by Crazytown

“Tonight I’m Loving You” by Enrique Iglesias

“Whistle” by Flo Rida

“Love Bites” by Def Leppard

“Whenever, Wherever” by Shakira

“Wannabe” by The Spice Girls

“Bad Romance” by Lady Gaga

What’s your theme song?  One lucky commenter will receive a pdf copy of SPANK ME, MR. DARCY.

Lissa Trevor has her stilettos firmly entrenched in the romance community.  Spank Me Mr. Darcy is her debut novel from Riverdale Avenue Books.  She is a frequent reader at Manhattan’s Between The Covers events, where her novellas Wild Oats and Timelash from Coliloquy’s Entwined volumes 1 & 2 have been very popular.  Lissa also created an erotic story template for Coliloquy’s ValEntwined promotion that allowed readers to download a personalized ebook starring themselves and their significant other. You can find her at http://lissatrevor.wordpress.com/

WWFD

A few weeks ago, a collective gasp was heard throughout social media when Amazon acquired Goodreads. This strange, yet brilliant acquisition got me thinking.  WWFD. What would Fusco do?  What would I do if I owned Amazon, acquired Goodreads, and planned to take over the book buying universe?  Yeah, my brain can be used for evil. I have a day job. I’m well versed in sinister.

So, I did what I do when the axis of evil takes over my brain: I listed all the ways I’d put the collective fuck to authors, publishers, and the book buying public by ram-rodding them into buying what I, Great Ruler of Amazon, wanted.

Here’s how:

1. Consume data like it’s covered in chocolate: So far, Goodreads users have treated the site like it was their own personal safe haven. They added, uploaded and reviewed books, and they thought, quite foolishly, no one was watching.  Oh. Hell. No. Not only were the good folks at Goodreads recording everything you clicked, liked, and TBR’d. Now, they’re turning that data over to Amazon, to make the company smarter, faster and more efficient at selling you shit you don’t need.
2. Biatchslap the Author:  I love authors.  Some of them are my friends, clients and BFF’s. However, nowadays, thanks to Amazon and CreateSpace, everybody’s a fucking author. Whether they should be is another blog for another day. But, if I owned Amazon/Goodreads, anybody who could form a complete sentence would get the screws handed to them if they wanted to advertise on my site. You see, now, I’ve got the data to the readers you want.  Look out bitches, it’s gonna cost ya. Sure, I’d sell it–if it were legal. Thank God it’s not. So, instead, I’ll tell you to bend over and reach for your ankles while I decrease your royalties and up your cost to target your readers.  Just leave your money on the nightstand, dear author. Oh. Wait. You don’t want to pay me to advertise your book? That’s alright.  “NEXT!!!”
3. Beat the Big 6 into Submission: See that, that’s me, Amazon/Goodreads, the fat kid in the sandbox. It’s time to play by my rules. While over the years I’ve appreciated your love of the written word, chase of trends, and airplane reads, I’d plan to send to you running for cover and only publish shit no one reads, like poetry and recipe books. In fact, I’d beat you back so far that it would force you to become smaller, niche, and more nimble by keeping your overhead low, print runs smaller and expectations realistic.  My plan wouldn’t be to shut you down altogether. While I could easily be the only book selling game in town, I do need a dog to kick once in a while.
4. Line my pockets with gold: Amazon is in the publishing game for one reason, and one reason only, to grow revenue.  And once my pockets are filled to the brim, I’m going to look to other ways to exploit the arts for my own financial gain.  I’d fool the public into recording their own music, creating their own video games and to share with friends, or starring in their own feature film.  Who needs Hollywood when you’ve got me Amazon/Goodreads/Chocolate Data Covered Fat Kid?

It’s probably a good thing I don’t run Amazon. I’m old school. I like things the way they were. I like to read books and not feel forced to write a review, like the author on Facebook, or download the next series to my Kindle HD, superfast e-reader spy gadget.

So, no more Goodreads for me, if you need me, I’ll be reading a good book, in hard cover, at the library.

Confessions of a Workaholic

Me?  A workaholic?  Mmmm.  I had to think about this one, long and hard.  Was I simply an overachiever who liked money?  Did I have drive that couldn’t be tamed in 40 hours a week?  Was idle time the devil’s playground?  Um. No.

The answer, I am a workaholic. My brain is addicted to the  adrenaline rush of productivity. While it sounds like every employer’s dream, I assure you, it’s not.

Walking around stressed out and burnt out inhibits your ability to be creative, react to stress appropriately and takes a toll on your body.  And, well, that was me.

I mean, that’s the first step to recovery, right, admitting you have a problem.  I fit the classic symptoms of workaholic-ism to a T.  If you are unfamiliar with them, they are:

• Working outside the office
• Inability to relax
• Never fully disconnecting
• Refusal to delegate tasks
• Constantly talking about work

For years I’ve worked 40 hours at my day job and 20 or more at my own company, Market or Die Author Services, add to that being a wife and a mother.  Mixing all of those jobs together, I work about 80 hours a week and I’m “on” 24/7.

AND I AM CONSTANTLY EXHAUSTED!

I knew I hit rock bottom when I’d rather work than schedule my 6-year-olds birthday party. Even if it was at Chuck E Cheese and scheduled with the click of a mouse, I was too busy.  Problem.  Acknowledged.

So, I’m happy to report to you that I’ve made some changes.  I’m passing along these changes in case any of you want to join me sometime.

• I’ve scheduled a once-a-month “me” day.  Maybe it’s a haircut, going for botox, a pedicure or massage.  I’ve vowed to spend one day a month totally on me. And, I promise I’ll leave the cell phone at home.

• I listen to my dog.  Most of you have seen my spoiled Portugese Water Dog “Grissom” on Facebook.  He’s a nut.  And, spoiled rotten.  So much so that he barks at me every night at 9pm until I shut down my PC and sit with him on the sofa.  He doesn’t allow me to bring the PC to the sofa or he will paw the keyboard until I put it away.  Call him spoiled or genius…I don’t care.

• Drink if it helps. There’s always room in the day for a single glass of red wine.  It has heart benefits, too.

• Diet. By the time you read this post, I’ll have already started.  Damn. There goes that glass of wine.

• Schedule time with friends.  Self-explanatory. I miss you guys.

• Find someplace, anyplace, where your cell phone doesn’t work.  And go there.  My cell phone doesn’t work at the pool where my son takes his every Saturday swimming lesson. So, I make sure I take him and fully engage in his lesson without the temptation of scrolling through emails.

• Taking a day off.  For a few weeks, I haven’t worked on Sunday.  And I won’t, not anymore. Even God rested.

So, what are your addictions?  It doesn’t have to be as damaging as mine to be shared.  Go ahead, spill. Chocolate?  Reality TV, Booze or Gambling?   Come on….Inquiring minds want to know.

Q&A with Agent Christina Hogrebe

Was it our mutual love of books and good writing that compelled Christina Hogrebe and I to start talking? The love of the craft?  What’s going on in the industry today?  Nope.  Folks, today I bring you the coolest literary agent ever.  Why? Well, anyone that loves ZOMBIES as much as I do has to be cool, right?

You know it!! So, I invited Christina Hogrebe here today to dish on everything from books to writing to The Walking Dead.  Join me and please welcome, Miss Christina!

JF: If you had a crystal ball, what do you think it would tell you about the state of the publishing industry five to ten years from now?

CH: I hope in ten years there will be a crystal ball!  But I think it’s safe to say that a handful of things will be true in ten years–or a hundred and ten years: 1) readers will still desire compelling stories and 2) they will seek platforms to discuss those stories.  3) Storytellers will feel compelled to tell stories.  4) Some of those writers will be able to find the readers on their own;  5) other writers will prefer to devote their time to the exercise of writing, necessitating a staff of professionals to connect writer and reader.

JF: If you were not a literary agent, what job would you do? 

CH: I’m a lifelong Girl Scout (I have the badges to prove it), and for years I romanticized the notion of working for the U.S. Forest Service.  But in the end, I was always better at selling cookies.    

JF:  Ah, now I know who to hit up for more Thin Mints!  So, we all know you read a ton.  What is your favorite book and why?

CH: I’m your basic fickle reader, so my favorites are always changing.  But I’ll say that the book obsessions that shaped the way I read today were the entire Anne of Green Gables series and Romeo & Juliet (and the Franco Zefferelli film) when I was younger, and more recently, the Twilight series  and the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon.  Do you see a theme?  For me, these books showcase the kind of can’t-live-without-you emotions I look for when I’m considering new projects.  

JF: So, then, what do you look for in a client?

CH: Of course I’m looking for writers whose work leaves me breathless.  But the ideal business partnership is when an author’s goals align with the services I can offer in the commercial fiction marketplace.  In addition, the clients for whom we’ve been able to achieve the most success are engaged in the business of publishing, they are dedicated to adhering to a commercial production schedule (meaning at least a book a year, usually more) and they are interested in being involved in their own promotional efforts. 

JF: What is your advice to new writers?

CH: Become involved in the book world.  With very few exceptions, authors can no longer produce a book and ship it off to the publishing team to shepherd into bestsellerdom.  These days, so much more is required of an author in addition to mastering craft.  Read your peers, digest their reviews, subscribe to deal newsletters and industry blogs, attend conferences, participate in critique groups, review others’ work online, create a dialogue with other authors, and read, read, read. 

JF: Do you see the attitude toward self-publishing changing now that more traditional published authors are taking steps in that direction?

CH: I see the attitude changing, but I would venture to say it’s more because technology has allowed for readers to become connected with the stories that appeal to them with less effort than in past. 

JF: Okay. Now, the real reason I asked you here today.  The Walking Dead.  Who is your favorite character?

CH: Now we’re getting serious.  Michonne.  She has figured out how to navigate the apocalypse but is a fish out of water when it comes to existing within the group.  More than any of the other characters, she’s the one I look forward to deciphering since she’s such a mystery.

JF: If you were stranded alone at the prison, which WD character would you want to have your back?

CH: Daryl Dixon, and only because he’s a slightly better conversationalist than Michonne.  You want someone to chat with after you kill that many walkers. 

JF: Good point.  And, you can’t count on Rick these days….chasing those ghosts and all…What would you enjoy most about being a zombie?

CH: Not having to pick out my clothes…?  Actually, this question of identity is one that Isaac Marion explores beautifully in Warm Bodies.

JF:  Thanks so much for Talking Dead with me today, Christina.  But before I let you go, this is what our audience really wants to know, are you acquiring new clients now?  If so, what genre are you looking for?

CH: I’m always on the lookout for new clients.  My areas of expertise include women’s fiction, young adult fiction, and mystery, but my biggest pleasure is finding a timeless tale set in a surprising setting, as in Courtney Summers This is Not a Test or Beth Revis’ Across the Universe.  Those teen reads might be described as paranormal or science fiction—labels I might typically resist—but the human story at the heart of those novels is precisely what blows my hair back.  

So much fun!  Thank you for being here today.  I’m sure our readership has questions.  So guys, topics include books to the industry to zombies….ask away!

Tawny’s Top Ten Reasons to Read Romance

Years before I started writing romance, I was a voracious romance reader.  It was that love of reading romances that eventually sparked the dream to write one of my own.  To this day, my favorite way to relax is to curl up with a romance novel and get lost in the wonder of a fabulous story.

This got me thinking about all the reasons romance rocks (and hopefully reasons that people might be reading my books *g*) so I pulled together a fun top ten list…

Tawny’s Top Ten Reasons to Read Romance

• Happy Every After’s Rock
• Hellooooooo…  Hunky Heroes
• We can see the world without leaving our reading-spot
• We can travel through time in the pages of a romance
• Did I mention hunky heroes?
• Living out a love story as we empathize with the heroine lets us explore the wonder of falling in love
• Romances have a message of hope, and they make us better people
• Strong heroines teach us to be strong ourselves
• We get to explore a plethora of job options, without having to be qualified for any of them
• And once again, the hunky heroes!  Because it’s those sexy heroes, their enticing personalities and their many… um, shall we say talents that we love to read about in great detail

And speaking of talented heroes, here’s a peek into my latest release, A SEAL’s Surrender:

“Do you do these things just to keep me in practice?” Cade asked, grinning at his favorite perpetual-victim, her silky brown hair a dark curtain over a face he knew would be sliding into a sheepish smile.

Eden Gillespie always looked sheepish when she had to be rescued.  Something, if he’d ever considered it, he’d have figured she’d outgrow.  He eyed her legs, smooth and bare all the way to the top of her hot pink panties thanks to the way her dress was hanging.  Her arms were wrapped around the tree limb and one foot dangled while the other was caught in a snarl of branches and leaves.  Clearly he’d have figured wrong. 

“Consider it my welcome home,” she muttered, blowing a puff of air so her hair cleared enough that he could see the resigned amusement in her big brown eyes.

That was one of the things that he’d always admired about Eden.  She could laugh at herself.  So many of the girls he’d grown up with, and the women he’d dated for that matter, took themselves and life way too seriously.  They were so worried about controlling the impression they made, they didn’t let themselves just live.

Without thinking, his eyes shifted back to Eden’s legs.  Long and sleek, they wrapped around that big, hard branch.  He frowned at the scrapes and faint reddening of her tender flesh, for the first time ever, tempted to kiss away a boo-boo.  All the way up to her panties.  Practical cotton, he noted, his mouth going dry, but in a fun sassy color.  Since she was face down on the branch, the curve of her butt was perfectly highlighted in that pink fabric.  His fingers itched to touch, to see if her curves were as firm as they looked.

Whoa.  Not cool, he lectured himself.  Lusting after the sweet girl next door was walking an awfully close line to planning to settle down.  Nothing wrong with it in the big picture, but in his personal rulebook?  Totally out of the question.

“Want me to help you down?” he offered, wondering how many times now he’d had to hurry these rescues along thanks to a hit of inappropriate lust.  Because he was pretty sure he’d been hauling her out of scrapes since his pre-teen days.  But it’d only been since his rescue a couple years ago, when he’d seen her naked, that the sight of her made him instantly horny.  He sighed with relief.  There, now he was only a standard guy, not a weird pervert with a superman complex. 

“I can do it,” she muttered, tugging her foot to try and loosen it from the branch.  Her shoe, a cute little black strappy thing, was good and stuck.  She sighed and slanted him a rueful look.  “But maybe you could just unhook my shoe for me?”

Cade didn’t bother arguing.  He reached up and pulled the twigs from her shoe.  Then he wrapped both hands around her surprising narrow waist, easily lifting her from the overhead branch.  Like doing a military press, he thought with a grin as he lowered her body toward the ground. 

Except he hadn’t counted on her shocked reaction.  She gasped, struggling a little as if wanting him to let her go.  Since he wasn’t about to drop her three feet to the ground, he shifted.  Her breasts skimmed his chin.  He froze.  Other than to gasp and grab onto his shoulders for support, so did she. 

Cade had felt the same energy pounding through his body when he held a live grenade.  Danger, excitement, all senses on full alert.    

Wrong, his brain screamed.  She was the sweet girl next door.  The same girl he’d been rescuing for years.  She wasn’t supposed to inspire this degree of lust.  The kind that made him want to take her, right there against the tree.  Regardless of the fact that they’d only said a dozen or so words to each other in years, or that her friend was over there, face pressed against the window of the wrecked car, watching. 

It was neither of those things that had Cade ignoring the hot need in his belly, or his body’s demand that the taste her, touch more.

It was the flutter of Eden’s lashes.  The way her pulse trembled in her throat.  The tiny trembles of her fingers where they dug into his shoulders.  He, and his prurient desires, were out of her league. 

So, nope.  Not giving in to the need. 

But that didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy himself up to that limit line.

How about you?  Why do you read romance?  Beside the hunky heroes, that is.

Tawny Weber has been writing sassy, sexy romances since her first Harlequin Blaze hit the shelves in 2007.  A fan of Johnny Depp, cupcakes and color coordination, she spends a lot of her time shopping for cute shoes, scrapbooking and hanging out on Facebook. 

Readers can check out Tawny’s books at her website or join her Red Hot Readers Club for goodies like free reads, first chapter excerpts, recipes, insider story info and much more.  And for a limited time, she has a few open spots on her Street Team! 

From Prose to Comics…with Corinna Lawson

Hi Scribes Fanatics —welcome our guest today, the incredibly talented, Corrina Lawson!!

From Prose to Comics:

I’ve been addicted to reading comics since before I could understand words. My very first authorial ambition, when I was five years old, was to write comics.

But that seemed to be a pipe dream to a girl from a small Vermont town. Instead I became a journalist (thanks, Lois Lane!) and eventually, a fiction writer. I never lost my love for comics, however, and one of my main pleasures on the internet is hanging out on comic book boards.

That led to two things I never expected. The first was that my fellow comic book board writers asked me to write a script for a comic, which led to (so far) limited career as a comic book writer. Second, writing the comic scripts made me a better prose writer. That’s the important part to all the writers reading. J I learned three main lessons by switching gears from prose to comics.

Lesson #1: Put People in Space

My first drafts are invariably tons of dialogue and banter. Setting is hard for me. I hear the voices before I see what is around my characters. My second drafts mainly consist of filling up that white space and making it relevant to what is happening in the discussions or action.

Comic scripts demand a clear setting right from the start. It’s not enough to say a young girl is in a bedroom, surrounded by some scientists. I have to fill in all details. I have to say “Beth is about eight years old, she’s in a bedroom stuff with dolls, toys and a overly girly bed and she’s hugging her stuffed bunny close to her. She’s scared and she’s surrounded by men in lab coats.”

That’s a clear visual image and absolutely necessary for the artist to draw the story. In this case, my fabulous artist, Cassandra James, added in pigtails for my little heroine.

And yet if I’d written the story in prose, I would have focused more on the people talking than what was in the background. I probably wouldn’t have known about her stuffed bunny, which is so key to the tale. And I definitely wouldn’t have thought about what the bed looked like.

Lesson #2: Dialogue

I LOVE banter. I could write it all day. And I could bore you with it all day too. Oops. I like the rhythm of the back-and-forth between people, to the point where it goes on far too long. Know what happens when you write a scene with lots of a dialogue in a comic script?

Your editor says “um, hello, we cannot have all these people talking in a scene! The letterer will kill me.”

My editor was talking about a scene set in a bar for my erotica comic script. (No, no, no sex in the bar! My heroine is with her friends, waiting for a booty call. Jeez, people. Bars are no good for sex. Too many sticky surfaces.) The scene the editor made me change has the heroine in a booth with a bunch of her friends from work, teasing and laughing with each other. I initially gave them all dialogue. And that’s when I received the note from my editor.

Keeping it focused is a valuable lesson for prose, almost like keeping a tweet to 140 characters. There is little room for long banter in a comic. It overshadows the action and movement. And that can happen to me in prose as well.

Lesson #3: Blocking

Fight scenes are hard because all the action has to be described and make sense. It’s the same with sex scenes. The writer has to be very aware of where hands and arms and various equipment might be in the scene, lest someone can develop three arms or someone similarly amusing rather than sexy.

In a comic panel, the specific movements of all those involved have to be described exactly. In the case of the panel from Beth’s story, I had to include in the script that she was huddled on the bed. I had to include how the white coats loomed over her, and what he stuffed bunny looked like.

In the sex scenes for the erotica script, I had to describe exactly how many clothes were off (or still on!) for each of the two participants, how they were positioned relative to each other, and where they were in the room. (You know, against the wall, on the couch, on the bed…etc, etc….)

I have no shame writing sex scenes in prose. But it was weird, somehow, to describe the sex to an artist for a script. I blushed when writing it. But doing so gave me a much more detailed image of what was happening on the page.

What did I learn overall?

Writing a comic script helped give me a far clearer visual of what was happening in my prose books and helped me trim dialogue so that every single word uttered mattered. Now, when I get stuck on an action scene or even a sex scene, I swap my brain back to what a comic script of that particular scene might be like and it breaks the writer logjam.

There is one other final benefit: the overwhelming feeling of euphoria when seeing the finished comic pages.  The pages arrived via email from my artist and editor and when I opened them, I stared with my mouth hanging open. To see something that came from my imagination transformed into something so amazing was magic. Tears came to my eyes.

It was one of the best feelings of my career. And now I can’t stop writing them. So here I am, four decades after my very first ambition to write comics and I’m finally doing it.

An Interview with Author Joy Smith

JF: Welcome Joy!!  Tell us a little about GREEN FIRE.

JS: Thanks for inviting me today, Jennifer, and allowing me to share my writing experiences. My romantic suspense, GREEN FIRE, is due for release February 2013, so I hope all your readers will put it on their must-read list. I had a lot of fun writing Victor, a high end gigolo who is losing business to younger men. After receiving a phone call from a man claiming to be his brother, he flies to Colombia, South America with plans to find a more profitable career in the emerald market while he verifies the relationship. There, he gets tangled in his brother’s web of deceit, which becomes a problem because he has fallen in love with a pure and honest woman (Marisol) who appears numb to his charisma.

JF: What inspired you to write it?

JS: During the course of researching Colombia, South America for another story, I was fascinated by the fact that the finest emeralds in the world are mined in Bogata. I mean, what woman doesn’t like emeralds? With further research, I found a news story about drugs being smuggled out of Colombia packed in flower crates. (Flowers are a prime export of Colombia). Voila! A story set at a flower plantation in Bogata, Colombia involving emerald smuggling.

JF: If you could cast GREEN FIRE, who would play your hero and heroine and why?

JS: Jennifer, you know I hate this question because it will date me, but I’ll give it a shot. I’d say Hugh Grant with a sun tan as Victor because he could pull off being a pompous ass turned nice guy. Penelope Cruise kind of fits the description of my heroine, Marisol, and has enough talent to play a strong, very moral woman.

JF: Tell us about the Publishing process, once GREEN FIRE was sold.

JS: Muse It Up is an e-book to eventual print publisher out of Canada. After a welcome note from the publisher outlining the procedure, I was assigned a primary editor who has stayed with me as a go–between throughout the process. I suffered through a couple of rounds each of content editing (I ended up rewiring an entire chapter to include more details about the mining process), followed by line edits. That done, the book went to cover design, and to the publisher, Lea Schizas, for final review.  All in all a positive experience.

JF: What’s the next story you are working on?

JS: I’ve got a romance started about a woman charged with restoring an aged hotel on an island, despite a penny-pinching accountant. Working title is “Heartbreak Hotel.” (a throwback to Elvis’ song.) What I’ll most likely spend my time on, though, is overhauling a paranormal romance I wrote a couple of years ago called “Burden of Promise.”

Learn more about GREENFIRE here:

http://museituppublishing.com/bookstore2/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=574&category_id=69&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1

Saying No by Lynne Silver

“I’m drowning!” That was the Facebook status update of a good friend recently. Was she really drowning? Of course not. iPhones don’t work under water. Yet. But I saw her cry for help and picked up the phone and talked her off the ledge.

Why was she drowning? Because she has three kids, a full time job, a husband, and is in the process of selling her house and living in a temporary small apartment with the kids, dog & husband. Add on top of that all the volunteer work she agreed to do for the school, her kids and her work. Sound familiar?

I encouraged her to vent all the things dragging her down then we talked through what small steps she could take to take some burden off her shoulders.

The first step (after hiring back the weekly housekeeper they’d let go after moving to the apartment) was learning to say NO.

The vast majority of us in RWA and in romance writing in general are female. We are trained from birth to smile and say yes. To all variety of things. It’s how so many of us end up experiencing that drowning sensation. We want to be liked. We want to be helpful and so we say yes, even if we don’t have the time or desire to do something.

So in 2013, I’m encouraging you to say NO. For your own good, say NO. I’m not saying to say no to everything. I sit on the board of the Washington Romance Writers and I love the experience. But I did say no to chairing the auction at my children’s school.

We only have room for so much in our lives. If we try to cram too much in, things we love and care about will get squeezed out. Like our writing. How many of you met your writing goals in 2012? Show of hands please. Why not? Was it because you said yes to other things leaving out the time for writing?

It’s my belief that people’s lives are like a Bento Box. There are only so many boxes of varying sizes. Pick and choose carefully what you want to put in your Bento Box.

Mine is filled with the following things:

1. My family
2. My writing career
3. My volunteer work with WRW and my kid’s school
4. Fun: I Zumba, I read, I take a religious study class

I think I can squeeze a bit more in. I’ve been relatively lazy this past year, planning on dedicating more time to my writing career, but I’ve noticed that with the extra free time, I’ve squandered it. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to say yes to a huge project that will squeeze something else out. Pick and choose carefully what goes in your box.

What’s in your bento box this year? Are you happy with it, or do you need to say NO to something?

***This photo is my child’s bento lunch box from www.laptoplunches.com  We LOVE our lunch boxes because they hold up well and enable us to pack a healthy trash free lunch.

Author Bio: By day, Lynne Silver lives the suburban soccer mom life; volunteering with the PTA, doing laundry and working. By night she enters the sensuous world of alpha males and passionate heroines.

She calls the nation’s capital home and lives in an old fixer-upper with her husband and their two sons. When not writing romance, she reads it. Lots of it. Over and over and over again, preferably with a bag of M&Ms in hand. She is represented by literary agent, Jessica Alvarez of Bookends LLC

Where to Find Lynne:

www.lynnesilver.com  (be sure to sign up for the quarterly newsletter! There be prizes)

Twitter: @LynneSilver

Facebook: LynneSilverAuthor

 Conquered Match Book two in the Coded for Love Series.

When genetically enhanced soldier Ryan Lopez learns his beloved wife Thea has betrayed his team by going to the news media and spilling Program secrets, he takes responsibility for her punishment the only way he knows how—seducing her until she’s begging for release. But the more he takes control of her body, the more he tests both their limits, and realizes he’s never fully understood his wife’s dark desires. It will take every bit of Ryan’s enhanced strength to prove to them both that the woman he loves is also his conquered match.

Excerpt: “Ryan,” she said, looking over at her beloved husband. “I’m sorry.”

He didn’t respond. His resolute profile remained locked, staring straight ahead.

For the first time since going to the press, doubt crept into her belly, causing an uncomfortable lurch that threatened to come up her esophagus. “I am sorry, I swear.”

Finally, he slowed his gait and looked down at her. “Are you? Or are you sorry you were caught?”

Ouch. Okay, she probably deserved that. By going to the press, she’d betrayed not only her husband, but his team and everything he’d spent his whole life working toward. But she’d had her reasons, if only he’d give her a chance. She could explain. An unfamiliar lump formed in her throat and tears welled in her eyes. If only she could go back a few days and talk to Ryan before talking to the press. But she’d been sad, so sad, and Ryan had treated her as if she were made of porcelain, too scared to talk about their loss.

Would she go back if given the choice? If she could reverse time, surely she’d go back five weeks to the day she miscarried and do something different. Stay in bed with her legs elevated or remember to take her prenatal vitamin, maybe. But that was crazy thinking. The doctors had assured her it was nothing she’d done. Her body had simply seen the genetically enhanced baby as a virus and expunged it. No, not it. Her. It had been a girl. Against Ryan’s concerns, she’d begged to know the gender of their dead child.

“What are you going to do to me? Feed me bread and water? Lock me up? Beat me?” she asked as they stepped into their tiny two-bedroom house on the compound.

He turned with a look she’d only seen once before on his face, the day she’d finally agreed to marry him after leading him on a merry one-year chase.

Desperation and dominance. A scary combination.

“Don’t tempt me. I’ve never hit a woman, and I certainly won’t start with you.” The small foyer’s creamy yellow walls seemed to squeeze in on her husband’s wide shoulders.

She released a breath. She hadn’t truly believed Ryan would ever lay a hand on her in anger, but she’d pushed him to the edge of control. Given that he was a genetically enhanced soldier, he’d probably kill her if he ever lost his physical temper with her.

Ryan stalked away from her, and then spun to face her. “They all laugh at me, Thea. My friends. They think I’m a wuss and let you wear the pants in the family. And I’ve been able to shrug it off, because I know how it is between us. You like to think you’re in charge and I’ve been content to let the illusion stand, because where it counts we have an equal partnership.”

She opened her mouth to speak, but shut it after his eyes glinted dangerously.

“But I’m done.”

She nearly vomited. What did he mean done? Was he done with her? She’d never be done with him. It would kill her if he left her. She’d known it was a possibility when she’d told a reporter all about her life in the Program, America’s top-secret military compound for breeding enhanced soldiers, but she’d been in a grief-fueled rage, uncaring about anything other than her own agenda. With a few weeks’ distance, she owned her mistakes and alienating her husband had been the biggest one.

“I’m done letting you have the power in the relationship. From now on I decide.” His palm slammed the wall, missing a wood-framed wedding portrait by inches.

She stared at him, not sure how to handle this. Ryan had always left decisions up to her. Whenever she asked his opinion about movies or dinner, he shrugged and told her it was her choice. So she’d stopped asking. “I knew you wanted pizza last night. Why didn’t you say something? I didn’t need Chinese takeout that badly,” she burst out, unable to keep silent. It went against her nature to not talk.

“You think I care about dinner last night?” he asked with narrowed eyes. “Jesus, Thea. I don’t give a shit about food. You can eat shrimp lo mein every night of the week for all I care.”

“Then what…”

“I was talking about sex, and our careers and our living situation, but mostly about sex, dammit.”

Oh.

“When we were first matched, I was so happy to be done playing games. No more lying to strange women about my job or excuses of why I could never stay the night or invite them to my place. I was happy to have a woman who knew what I was and where I worked. But no, you had me panting after you for a year, sneaking into my apartment at night, like I was your dirty little secret.”

“Everyone knew we were a match,” she protested. “It was hardly a secret.”

“And yet you kept me craving you, chasing you, doling out your favors when you decided you wanted sex. I thought things would be different when we married, but nothing’s changed. I’m still never sure where I stand with you.”

“What are you saying? You’re going to take me whether I want you or not. That’s rape.” The look on his face actually had her stepping back and mentally measuring the short distance to the door.

“Screw you, Thea.”

She tossed her head with a carelessness that was at total odds with her actual emotions. “What then?”

There was a long pause. She bit her lip, waiting for his sentencing. “I’m using the only option open to me. You’re going to have to beg, Thea.”

She swallowed.

“Turn around.”

She stared at him a beat before obeying. In a deft move, reiterating he was a highly trained special ops warrior, he slid plastic zip ties around her wrists, binding them behind her back. Not tight enough to hurt, but enough that her breasts were thrust forward by her arm position.

“Thea Lopez…” His husky whisper tickled her ear. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be held against you.”