Dialogue That Made Me Swoon

 DIALOGUE THAT MADE ME SWOON

 Hi everyone.  Thea Devine here. It probably won’t come as a surprise to anyone who knows me that GWTW is among my favorite books.  I first read it when I was sixteen, and you can probably guess my teenaged reaction to the love story.  But, as I subsequently discovered, it’s wholly different book when you reread it when you‘re older (say, oh — thirty and forty), and as I did recently with my sister-in-law.  However there’s one thing in GWTW that never changes and that, for me, was always the whole key to anything about romance.

It’s the moment at Twelve Oaks before the picnic, when Scarlett — in the book — has just encountered Charles Hamilton on the staircase, and turns to see Rhett staring up her, and indignantly thinks, “he looks as if — as if he knows what I look like without my shimmy.” (sic — my edition).

I love that moment. I always thought it went beyond prurience, that he was not envisioning her naked, he was not thinking sex; rather he was seeing her whole, her beauty, her vanity, her greed, her flaws and phony flirtatiousness, and everything about her right there that made her “her” — and he decided in that moment, he wanted her, that he loved her.  Not just the body, but the whole person, just as she was.

Don’t we all?  Want the  guy who wants us just as we are?  Without lists, demands, requirements must-haves, guarantees?.  Don’t we want to say to him, “I love you,” and have him respond, as does Han Solo in a critical moment to Princess Leia in The Empire Strikes Back, “I know.”

Oh, be still my heart.  That he knew in his deepest core that she loved him.  That acknowledgement was more than him saying “I love you.”  It said that he’d always known and everything he’d ever done was colored by that, in spite of the bickering, the clashes, in spite of everything.

I love that.  Who wouldn’t love that?  But even better — a moment on House:  you can quibble about whether House and Cuddy belonged together (and I will, because I didn’t think they did), but when he said to her in a last year’s episode, “I always want to kiss you,” –   I melted into a puddle of swoon.  Always .. Are you imagining that?  Always … God, I wish I’d written that line.  Think what means. Always …

But then, I’m hopeless romantic. I love love.  I love being in love.  I think love is forever, in spite of all the recent public and humiliating break-ups in the news. I think those moments above expressed in dialogue are at the heart of romance — and that we all yearn for that deep visceral knowledge of the other person that transcends everything but the need and desire to be together because …

Because we love – and they know.   Always …

Do you have a favorite line of dialogue?  Or something amazing your husband ever said to you?  Or something else that made you swoon …?

Thea Devine is the author of twenty-five historical and contemporary novels and a dozen novellas.  She was honored as a Romance Pioneer by Romantic Times. She’s currently working on a sequel to her June 2011 release, The Darkest Heart.

Heroes We Love To Love

Thea Devine here, ruminating this week about heroes we love to love, the ones who drive us nuts, but we know we can’t have a fabulous story without them.   This is my list, in no particular order:

 The Good Guy: 

Everyone loves the good guy. He’s the renaissance man who’s just been waiting for the woman of his dreams.  Healthy childhood, no wounds, handsome, successful, willing to cook, change diapers, the best best friend when you need someone to listen.  He’s the one you lean on when your life is turned upside down;  he’s steady, gives fantastic advice, is decisive, funny, and loves his mother (always a prime point for a mother of sons).   And he’ll always fall for the woman who is in critical chaos because he’s the problem solver, the rock, the calm center, and he’ll always be the thing a woman wants most:  an anchor.

 The Bad Boy

He’s experienced, and knowing.  He’s that guy in high school that had that gleam in his eye.  He’d take one look at you, and he knew everything:  who you were, how far you’d go,  and where he’d like to take you.  He’s magnetic, a little rough, a little rakish, a leader without really wanting to lead;  strong, decisive, probably doesn’t like to talk much, especially about his feelings — but oh, man, does he ever have them.    He loves women, but no woman is ever going to tame him.  And when he falls, he takes a nosedive to eternity.

 The Wounded Hero

He’s the guy who suffers  There’s some great trauma in his past, or something in his present, something with his parents, another woman, his best friend, the war:  he is psychically damaged and  he’s not going to let any woman into his life because he can’t give her what she needs.  He’s too busy tending that crippled inner self to give anything of himself to anyone.   He doesn’t want to feel,  and he habitually picks fights, so he can chase everyone away.  He can’t share his life, can’t allow the heroine to assume his stain, his burden, his guilt.  She, of course, won’t rest till she does, so while he just wants to be off on some island, alone, nursing that part of himself that needs to be made whole, guess who’s right in the rowboat behind him?

 The Unobtainable Man

This guy seems not to like women at all.  No one gets to him.  It’s like battering at a wall.   He’s cool, logical, seemingly without emotions.  He never lets you see him sweat. He’s an island unto himself.  He’s got all the answers.  And he always reveals them first so he can cover his behind.   He doesn’t need anyone, which he won’t hesitate to tell you..  But of course, he’s the one who needs someone most of all. The heroine must storm the fortress, and if she can find his tender spot, he is hers forever.

Mr. Unflappable

Nothing rattles this guy.  He can be in the  middle of a war and crack a joke.  Nothing scares him; there’s no problem he can’t solve, no situation he can’t get out of.  He’s walking the line, but he’s got such a sense of humor and irony, nothing jolts him. He doesn’t take anything seriously, and he takes love too lightly. Forget about prising up his past. Some days the heroine can’t even get him to commit to saying hello.   He’s a pretty happy guy, probably real successful, and not in a button down kind of job;   but somewhere along the line, someone probably hurt him, so his deal is, don’t get too close too soon.  And of course, the heroine can’t get too close soon enough.

The Scoundrel

He was badly hurt by a woman sometime in his murky past.  So he loves ‘em and leaves ‘em, uses ‘em and loses ‘em.  Takes out his anger on all womenkind, especially the heroine, and particularly because she gets to him and he doesn’t want to be gotten to.  But she’s under his skin and before you know it, he’s protecting, defending and loving her, protesting his misogynist nature to the very end.

 The Outlaw

He’s been convicted of murder or some other heinous crime that he didn’t really commit.  But they’re after him.  He’s a loner.  He may be on the run. but he’s always got a reason, and it’s always plausible as hell.   He’s going to protect the woman he loves by NOT letting her into his life, and by reappearing in hers often enough to drive them both crazy.  And she can’t stay away.  Truth to tell, he doesn’t want her to, but he’ll never tell her that either.  It’s always her choice, and she believes in him in spite of all evidence to the contrary.  She’s so loyal, she’ll go on run with him, or be the first one to ferret out the clues that will vindicate him.   She knows what she’s letting herself in for — and she always believes he is worth the effort, because in the end, she will make him vulnerable — and hers.

And, isn’t that the ending we strive for, in fiction, and in life?

 

So who’s the hero you love to love? Any of these guys sound like your husband/boyfriend/significant other?  (My theory is all romance authors are married to the same man — and he’s usually an engineer or should be one.)  Any of them sound like anyone you know?

Thea Devine’s latest book, The Darkest Heart, was a June 2011 release from Gallery Books.  She’s currently at work on a sequel.

YA Love

Happy Valentine’s Day Scribes fans! In honor of romance, I’ll be giving away double the love with an e-book copy of each of my books, On Thin Ice and Heaven Is For Heroes to one romance-loving commenter to be chosen at midnight tonight! Also in honor of good old Saint Valentine, I’d like to talk about YA love.

I’ve been asked several times why I write Young Adult fiction, specifically, YA Romance. When I began writing for publication, I started by writing adult romances, but I had some issues with it. Other than needing to learn a lot about the writing craft, I was also incredibly uncomfortable with the idea of people I knew reading my romantic scenes. I’m a massage therapist by day and my clients were very supportive of my writing from the very beginning, but thinking about them reading the steamy scenes I was putting on the page had me breaking out in hives. Ironically, that was the best part of my writing and like most of my own adult relationships, my adult stories all seemed to lead to…well…sex. So what’s a die-hard romantic to do?

Oh Dear!

As any smart girl will tell you, romance novels aren’t just about creatively writing sex scenes. Romance novels are about capturing the emotions, building the tension, bringing those romantic moments to life for the reader. I wanted to do that with my stories, but I wasn’t comfortable with the down and dirty details. Once I realized that my “voice” (that elusive quality that makes each writer unique), was best suited for first person narrative and that I had a rather “young’ perspective, I realized that my heart was in sharing “extraordinary stories of an average teenage life.” I had loads of teen experiences to draw from and it was a way for me to share some valuable lessons I’d learned along the way.

Perfect Love

As a wonderful bonus, it turns out that the inspirational life lessons that come through in my stories are as meaningful to adults as to any of the teens who might read my books.

Let me be clear in saying that I have nothing against those that write the higher heat level books. I love a good rogue Duke or Chaps-wearing cowboy. Even in YA romance, the steaminess level runs the gamut. There are graphic scenes in many YA novels on the shelves these days. Even though the topics in my own books are mature, they lean toward the sweeter side of first relationships. I like offering an option that fills a gap between young adult and adult romance.

Sweet Love

I’ve also come to realize that it’s not always necessary for adult romances to draw the reader a blow by blow (pardon the pun) description. In fact there are many romances that are sweet and romantic and very successful without that (ie: Kristan Higgins’ novels and our own Katy Lee’s upcoming release, Real Virtue).

I enjoyed writing those steamy scenes, but I needed to find a way to tone down the intensity for my own comfort level, so I started thinking about my own life and who I was BS (before sex). I was immediately struck by all the first times that came to mind. I love writing YA romance because I get to travel back to all those first times and in some ways re-write them. You remember that first kiss, your first Valentine, and maybe even your very first date? Everything for teens is so immediate, so crucial, and so DRAMATIC!

Eternal Love

Romance in YA fiction is all about falling in love, mending a broken heart, finding that one person who completes you and makes you feel whole—much like adult romance, but with the freedom to end on a hopeful note rather than attaining that ultimate HEA ending. I like the idea of leaving my characters room to grow up.

 How do you like your romance? Hot and heavy, or sweet with a little steam? Have you read any YA romance? If not, you might find it surprisingly satisfying.

Will the Real Mrs. Jeter Please Stand Up? Interview with Avery Flynn

How’s your first week of 2012 going, Scribe friends?  We’ve got a special treat for you today.  Please welcome AVERY FLYNN, author of UP A DRY CREEK and the just-released A DRY CREEK BED. 

A Dry Creek Bed

First, let’s get this Derek Jeter thing out of the way.  Who is the real Mrs. Jeter — you or Kristan Higgins?  Can you prove it?

First, thanks so much for having me! The scribes are my morning tea tradition so it’s really exciting to be a part of it. Yeah! OK, now on to me and my sweetie pie, Derek.

Well, I hate to break Kristan’s heart, but yeah it’s pretty much Avery and Derek forever. We’ve had to keep our marriage a secret for years, hiring actresses to act as a cover. Recently, I finally relented to Derek’s begging that we come out in the open. Do I have proof? Of course. Here’s one of my favorite shots (see attached).

What a stunning couple!!!

P.S. Don’t tell my husband. He’s a good Catholic boy and the bigamy would send him straight to the confessional.

How do you battle the Doubt Monster–the nagging feeling that your prose is terrible, your plot is silly, your characters are insipid, and no one would read your drivel, let alone buy it?  What are your secrets for conquering Doubty, or have you ground him to dust under your stilettos?

The Doubt Monster blows, he’s sort of like the mother from Everybody Loves Raymond sitting on your shoulder criticizing your chicken parm. However, I try to look at Doubty as a motivator pushing me to get my butt back in the chair, stop deleting every other word, to work on craft and – most importantly – suck it up and write.

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?

All the time! I have a story rolling around the old noggin right now that has a paranormal twist and no sex. Ha! Just kidding. My stories will always have sex, I’m kind of obnoxious that way.

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

Getting published. No really. Every time I hit send on a submission my heart is in my throat, I worry it was all a fluke and they’re going to say, “Thanks, but this sucks.” It’s the author version of stage fright, but the upside is that the acceptance is always that much sweeter.

A DRY CREEK BED is your latest release. Can you tell us a little bit about it, as well as the first book in the series, UP A DRY CREEK?

Sure! The Dry Creek series is a steamy romantic suspense series set in fictional Dry Creek, Nebraska.

In A DRY CREEK BED, readers discover Beth Martinez still mourning the deaths of the grandparents who raised her after her parents died in a car accident. Beth has seen her share of tragedy, including having the dream of starting her own family ripped away from her. Though quietly in love with Hank for years, she knows they’ll never be together. Hank, now the Sheriff of Dry Creek County and divorced from his first wife who lied to him about her desire to have children, wants a family, something Beth can never have and can’t give him. Despite their mutual desire for each other and Hank’s determination to pursue her, she manages to keep him at a distance.

All Beth has left of her family is the home built by her grandfather. So when a mysterious developer makes an offer on the property, she refuses. Soon she’s receiving threats and can no longer hide what’s happening from Hank. Forced together by circumstances, it becomes harder and harder for them to rein in their passion. Suddenly, the stakes go higher. Coercion turns into murder and it’s up to Beth and Hank to uncover who wants the land and why—before they both end up dead.

In UP A DRY CREEK, Claire Layton expects the usual busy Saturday night at Harvest Bistro to be killer on her stiletto shod feet. She never imagines there’d be an actual murderer on the loose at her restaurant in rural Dry Creek, Nebraska. But when she discovers a customer dead in a dumpster, the killer demands she find the victim’s phone and flash drive or face fatal consequences.

Jake Warrick, a cocky and mind-numbingly hot private investigator, becomes Claire’s unlikely ally in the search. Jake just wants to solve the case and get out of this hick town, but the diminutive and curvaceous Claire turns his plan upside down as they uncover a more complex crime than they ever imagined. The two bicker and banter like Tracy and Hepburn caught in a whirlwind of intense sexual attraction as they try to find the killer before it’s too late.

I just finished UP A DRY CREEK and loved it!  What’s next for you? Can you give us a hint about your next novel? The Scribes love secrets!

I’m hard at work on High and Dry Creek (are you noticing a pattern here?), which is Sam Layton’s story. And let me tell you, he’s really met his match in Josie Winarsky, a tall, platinum blonde, tattooed painter who is hell bent on finding a long-buried treasure. With Sam at her side and a Las Vegas loan shark’s muscle hot on her trail, the treasure she finds turns out to be much more valuable than emeralds and rubies.

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?

Well now I feel like a freak because I don’t. UP A DRY CREEK was the first book I sat down to write and I was lucky enough to have it published. Now are there a lot of crazy pants ideas rolling around in my head. Oh yeah. I’m still working out the details for a story about a superhero who had a brain transplant and is battling steampunk pirates.

I would totally buy that one!  Be sure to let us know when it’s ready.  Do you have a word or grammar-related pet peeve?

Yes! Those (&%^&*&^%$% people who are so in love with alliteration they misspell words. I’m looking at you Karl’s Krazy Kars.

What is your junk food of choice?

Oreo cookies – I can eat an entire bag myself in an evening and have done so many, many times, which is why I don’t let them in my house.

What’s the most dangerous or risky thing that you’ve done?

Getting out of bed. OK, I’ll be serious for a moment. I have to say falling in love. I grew up the child of several divorces. My dad died when I was in first grade. To say I didn’t have strong male role models or healthy examples of relationships in my formative years is putting it mildly. So, when I met my dashing fellow it was not a pretty transition to admitting I was in love. There was a lot of ugly crying freak outs on the phone with my friends. Right around this time I got fired from my first post-college job and I had to move across the country for a new one. The day I moved, I left behind a letter to my honey letting him know that even though we weren’t going to be together any more that he had changed my life for the better. I’d barely crossed the state line before I got the call from him declaring his love. We’ve been together for 15 years and married for 12. We have three crazy kids, two ancient dogs and an entire lifetime still to spend together. Have to say falling in love was a risk that paid off big time.

Awww!  I love that story!  So romantic!  What is your guilty pleasure? {Remember: this is a PG-rated blog! }

Watching TMZ – yes, I am deeply ashamed about this. Also, pretending to sleep on Saturday mornings while my three kids reenact Star Wars battle scenes in the living room.

Avery Flynn

Thanks for being here today, Avery.  Scribe Peeps, you can follow Avery here:

Avery Flynn

www.averyflynn.com

avery@averyflynn.com

Twitter: @averyflynn

Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Avery-Flynn/177161972329973

And you can buy Avery’s books here:

http://www.evernightpublishing.com/products/Up-a-Dry-Creek-by-Avery-Flynn.html and here: http://www.evernightpublishing.com/products/Up-a-Dry-Creek-by-Avery-Flynn.html

Questions for Avery?  Ask away!

Dark Hearts and Chocolate – Interview with Thea Devine

Happy last Thursday of 2011, Scribe fans.  Suze here.  I’m absolutely thrilled to bring you a special guest today.  THEA DEVINE, author of THE DARKEST HEART, is with us.  If you haven’t read THE DARKEST HEART, get it!  It’s hot and it’s scary in the best tradition of a Gothic thriller — but I don’t recommend reading it alone at night!  Welcome, Thea.

Irresistible!

Your name, Thea, is beautiful and unusual.  Is there are a story behind it, or did your mother just choose really well?  (FYI, the mother of one of the Scribes is named Thea!)

Thea is my real full name, not short for anything, and I have no idea why my mom and dad chose it for me.  Devine is my married name, so in reality, I owe everything to the amazing John Devine.

You have a long-established (the fan girl in me wants to say “legendary”) career as a writer.  Do you still battle the Doubt Monster–the nagging feeling that your prose is terrible, your plot is silly, your characters are insipid, and no one would read your drivel, let alone buy it?  What are your secrets for conquering Doubty, or have you ground him to dust under your stiletto?

I definitely have my moments — ask my husband.  I love starting the story.  It feels like flying.  And when things are going right, or unexpected things are happening that grow organically out of the story and take me by surprise, it’s biggest high.  When the plot isn’t moving, it feels like slogging through molasses.   I bullet-train my way through.  The point is to finish the book.  Everything else can come later.

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 would love to write hearth and home novels.  I love a good cathartic novel, one that gives good cry — like Luanne Rice’s books for example.

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

That I even have a writing career.  Back when I was writing as a hobby, I never dreamt in a million years that anything I wrote would be published.   My cousin Anita ,  who remembers way too much about our childhood, will tell you that I was always at the typewriter and I didn’t want to do much else.  A slight exaggeration, but I still have things I wrote in high school and college where when I reread them, I can see vestiges of the way I write now.  And that has changed dramatically over the years as well.

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?

I actually do.  I started a sprawling civil war historical back in … well, I won’t tell you the year but it was when I was working in advertising in the “Mad Men” days where everyone in house was writing a novel, by the way. The problem was I didn’t know how to write it back then even though I have reams of manuscript on it.  But I DO know how to write it now, and I’m slowly excavating and reconfiguring it, and I’m enjoying the process a lot.

Countess Lazlaric in THE DARKEST HEART is so deliciously bad.  How much fun was she to write?  Was there a real life inspiration?

Countess Lazlaric was the first character actually that came to me for The Darkest Heart.  She’s an amalgam of several types, among them, the patronizing aristocrat, the secretive monster and the uber-mother.

Plotter or Pantser?  When you are working on a new novel, how aware are you of character and plot archetypes (i.e, chief hero + waif heroine = woman in jeopardy plot)?  Do you plan this out ahead of time, or does it happen organically as you go along?

I am a pure pantser.  I do do an outline, about 5-10 pp.  I know, from working as a manuscript reader for many years, that the dreaded feared outline is not the deal breaker in a proposal — it’s a guide to show the editor you know how you will get from here to there.  It doesn’t have to be super detailed — mine are not — I just want give an overview of what will happen and how it will end.  For me, after that, all bets are off.  Things happen.  I love the process of discovery as I write.  I’m a big fan of “what if-ing” the problems.   I do know the main motivations, weaknesses and strengths of the hero and heroine before I begin, but I don’t chart that out according to types or archetypes.  I make lists and notes as I go along, and I believe things will happen.

THE DARKEST HEART is your latest release.  Can you tell us a little bit about it?

My husband actually gave me the idea that motivates The Darkest Heart.  I couldn’t see a vampire as a hero, really — even though I can list all those things that are on the surface so attractive about him as a character.  I asked my husband why he thought vampires were so alluring, and he said, they’re victims.  They had no choice. That observation gave me the whole key to the story.  And you see that theme echoes throughout The Darkest Heart, which begins with the return of Dominick, who having been turned into a vampire to save him from dying, has come to wreak revenge on his Maker, only to find his plans disrupted by a flim-flam artist who has taken up residence in his mother’s home pretending to be an indigent relative, unaware of the teeming danger that surrounds her.

What’s next for you?  Can you give us a hint about your next novel?  The Scribes love secrets!

I’m doing a sequel to The Darkest Heart, because there are things unresolved at the end of The Darkest Heart, and I’m working on several other projects just because I love them, including my bottom of the drawer Civil War historical.

You also read and evaluate manuscripts.  Do you have a word or grammar-related pet peeve?

Oh, do I.   In brief, my three (among many) top peeves were (and are):  using “may” for “might” — which almost seems like common usage now and is still jarring to the ear;  “drug” for “dragged” (also coming into common usage);  and “that’s why” when, how, what — instead of “that was why” — again using present tense inappropriately.

How many books do you read in a year, other than the manuscripts?

Well, I’m not reading manuscripts now, and I read lots — during the summer outages, I devoured all of Karen Rose’s books, even by a teeny reading light late at night.  I periodically revisit old favorites like Emilie Loring and Elswyth Thane’s Williamsburg novels.   I read some Nancy Drews last winter — the ones I remember with the frocks and roadsters — great fun.  I love the old girls’ series books — this summer I got one called “The Red Cross Girls at the Russian Front.”  Honestly, could you have passed that up?  I love romantic suspense, and ”object of desire” thrillers, cathartic women’s novels, cozy mysteries. Right now, I’m reading Carla Neggers’ The Whisper, and the Mysteries of Udolpho, one of the first gothics, and the House at Riverton, by Kate Morton.  (Suze here.  I loved the title so much I had to see if I could find The Red Cross Girls — it’s available for free  at Project Gutenberg: click here.  You can find The Mysteries of Udolpho (I read this recently, and loved it!) at Project Gutenberg as well)

How long does it take you to write a first draft?  How do you handle revisions?  Do you revise as you go along, or do you save them for after you type “The End?”

It takes about five or six months to write the book — I revise as I go along, make changes, reroute things, gut other ideas that I think will work in my current book.   There was one time I was hemming and hawing about using an idea that I wanted to save for a different proposal, and my husband said to me, but there’s always another idea.  That was so brilliant.  Always another idea.  That really frees you up as a writer when you embrace that thought.

What is your junk food of choice?

Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate.

What’s the most dangerous or risky thing that you’ve done?

Can’t think of a thing.

What is your guilty pleasure? {Remember: this is a PG-rated blog! }

This is going to really disappoint you — I love curling up on the couch on a weekend and watching Hallmark Channel movies.

You can get THE DARKEST HEART here.  Wanna see a hot book trailer?  Click here.  And be sure to check out Thea’s website, which has more information about Thea and links to all of her books currently in print.  Thea is here to answer your questions, so ask away!

Spice, Spice, Baby! Interview with Harlequin Nocturne Author Mina Khan

Hello, everyone!  Suze here.  Business first:  the winners of Joan Swan’s giveaway are:  Amazon gift card: Jennifer Mathis.  Gorgeous bookmarks: Ashley, Nancy, Jamie Pope, Kristan Higgins, and Highland Love Song.  Congratulations!

The Djinn's Dilemma -- Hot, Hot, Hot!

Today I’m thrilled to bring you another debut author, Mina Khan, whose novella THE DJINN’S DILEMMA was published by Harlequin Nocturne Cravings.  Welcome, Mina!

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 their right mind would read this drivel, let alone buy it.

When I’m plagued by the Doubt Monster, which is often, I take a deep breath & remind myself that I wouldn’t have the life I have if I hadn’t trusted myself: travelling half-way across the world from Bangladesh to America, venturing out to West Texas by myself, marrying a cowboy, daring to have a second child after I almost died the first time, and writing despite the Doubt Monsters and Naysayers in my life.

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 gone before.

Each story is unique and I’m always surprised by how different each one is. For example the second Djinn/genie story I have turned in to my editor is so different, it scared me. LOL. But in the end I had to trust my gut feeling that it was a good story, this was how it was meant to be written and send it in.

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

It’s a story that has haunted me since childhood and I hope one of these days I will have the courage to write it down. I think it will be a quieter, more literary story.

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

I always expected to sell a food-related book before fiction, so when THE DJINN’S DILEMMA sold…I was ecstatic but surprised.

What would you do if you couldn’t be a writer any longer?

I’d own a small café and cook to my heart’s content

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?

I don’t give up on stories. I may put them aside and focus on growing myself as a writer and then come back to them. I have been writing since third grade, so I have quite a collection under my bed , including the book of my heart and a screenplay.

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?

I cull down to the very emotions of the experience and try to incorporate that into my writing. Also, my food writing slips into my fiction from time to time, so Rukh, the hero of THE DJINN’S DILEMMA, tastes like dark chocolate!

Mmmmmmm, chocolate. . .   Tell us about THE DJINN’S DILEMMA. What’s it about, and where can we buy it?

THE DJINN’S DILEMMA is a paranormal erotic romance where an otherwordly assassin falls for his human target.

Rukh O’Shay, half-djinn and assassin, is used to taking out the bad guys. But his latest assignment, Texas Journalist Sarah White, is nothing like he expected. A glimpse of her bright aura reveals her gentle spirit, while her beauty makes him long for only one thing—to taste her.

Sarah shares the raw desire to connect with Rukh. He can turn her on with a glance, and satisfies needs she didn’t even know she had.

But Rukh had been hired to kill her—and the only way to save her is to find out who wants her dead before someone else finishes the job….

You can buy THE DJINN’S DILEMMA on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBook, and Harlequin’s eBookstore. Last time I checked both Amazon and Harlequin were giving a discount

What is your junk food of choice?

Chili-Cheese Tots …um, yes they are as dangerous as they sound.

What’s the most dangerous or risky thing that you’ve done?

Not saying “I love you” back when the love of my life said it to me…I had to know exactly, truly, how I felt and for that I needed some time. Fortunately for me, he stayed around and eventually even asked me to marry him.

Author Mina Khan

That’s so sweet!  What is your guilty pleasure? {Remember: this is a ‘PG’ rated blog! 

Sriracha Hot Sauce ( Lol, I like my food & my fiction Spicy!)

Bio:

Mina Khan is a Texas-based writer and food enthusiast. She daydreams of hunky paranormal heroes, magic, mayhem and mischief and writes them down as stories. Between stories, she teaches culinary classes and writes for her local newspaper. Other than that, she’s raising a family of two children, two cats, two dogs and a husband. She grew up in Bangladesh on stories of djinns, ghosts and monsters. These childhood fancies now color her fiction.

You can find her at :

http://www.facebook.com/Mina.Khan.Author

http://minakhan.blogspot.com/

Twitter: @SpiceBites

Thanks for being here, Mina!  Questions, anyone?  You want to know about that cowboy husband, don’t you?

Julia Rachel Barrett – Ghostly Love

Happy Freakish Friday everyone! Casey Wyatt here.

Welcome Julia!

Please welcome today’s guest  Julia Rachel Barrett.  If you haven’t read any of Julia’s books, you are missing out on some great reads. Click here to read my review of her book Beauty and the Feast.

 And in  the spirit of our  Spooky Week theme – please check out her ghostly love story Incorporeal.

Let’s here what Julia has to say about romance.

****

Why Write? 

Perhaps the better question is, why not? I have a spotty history in the world of literature. Like so many readers, I knew I wanted to be a writer from the time I was very young, maybe five or six years old. Here’s a truism, if you love to tell stories, to make up stories in your head, you probably love to read and chances are you’d like to write.

It’s not as simple as it seems and a lot depends upon what your goals are. Do you want to sell a whole lot of books? I suspect anybody can sell bunches of books if the subject matter is prurient enough. Do you want to be a damn good writer? Takes work.

A Tale of Ghostly Love

How did I begin? I began by reading everything in sight, in every genre available to me. My early loves were poetry, mystery stories, fantasy/science fiction, and even comic books. Don’t laugh. Comic books are great for learning economy of words. The creator has to express an emotion and move a story forward in very few words. Of course comics also contain expressive action words like Pow! Bam! Smack! Crash!

I moved from poetry to short stories – which are making a comeback with the advent of e-publishing – to nonfiction articles for nursing and medical journals to literary fiction. Aside from freelance articles, finding a publisher for my works of fiction was an exercise in futility. I queried agents and publishers for too many years without results. While I was raising small children and working part time, I filed the manuscripts away and focused on my job as a hospice nurse.

Smokin' Hot Good Read

In 2007 I found myself sidelined by a climbing injury…tore my left knee up pretty bad. For a year I either wore a titanium brace or used crutches while researching surgeons and then waiting for the surgeon I chose to fit me in for a repair. A friend took pity on me and brought me a romance novel – Kill and Tell, by Linda Howard, and I was hooked. I had always dismissed romance as ‘bodice rippers’ and it was one genre I ignored. Linda Howard told a damn good sexy story. I went on to read everything she’d written up to that point and moved on to Karen Marie Moning, then Hannah Howell and Lynsay Sands. I realized that with the life I’d lived, I had stories to tell, romantic stories, gripping, touching, loving stories, and I wrote my first romance.

Never looked back. Now I look forward to a brave new world of self-publishing. I can revise and release the series of short stories I worked so hard on years ago. In the meantime I have a full-length paranormal romance available on Kindle, Incorporeal, and I’ll soon release the sequel, In the Flesh. I have nine romances out to date with publishers in ebook and print and I’ve self-published another five books in a variety of genres and lengths.

Coming soon!

Come visit me anytime on my site – Julia’s World – http://juliarachelbarrett.net

Thanks for having me, Casey!

Any time Julia. Thanks for being our guest today. Please feel free to leave Julia a question.

Tell us, what are your writing goals? And why do you write? And for our readers, what are you looking for when you choose your next book?

Chocolate Cupcakes of Doom

Happy Friday everyone! Casey Wyatt here.

Let’s talk temptation. We’re all tempted by something. My particular culinary weakness is cupcakes. Throw in chocolate and peanut butter and my will power is toast.

These are chocolate cupcakes filled with peanut butter cup filling, topped with homemade chocolate icing. Mmmmm. I made these for a party. It was tough to give them away.

Yeah, you know you want one.

It doesn’t matter how many “points” the cupcake may be (for all you Weight Watchers folks, you know what I mean). Put cupcakes in front of me…ahh one won’t hurt right? Stay tuned at the end of the post for the recipe for these bad boys.

Temptation is a requirement in romance novels. No one wants to read a story where the hero walks into a room and sweeps away the heroine away at first contact (the book would be over in one chapter).

No, first they have to suffer. They have to pine. To squirm.

Like the evil cupcakes, the hero and heroine have to want each other first, but can’t act on their desires immediately. They’ll each have different reasons why they can’t be together. They must travel the road of trial and tribulation before their happily ever after is a reality.

Kind of like I’m making you wait for the cupcake recipe. But, seriously, while it seems counterintuitive, readers want your characters to have to climb mountains to be together. Temptation makes a page turner. The push, the pull. And if you notice, even if/when they consummate the relationship, the situation grows worse!

Just when it seem impossible for them to be together, there will be a breakthrough and happily ever after will be in sight.

Yay!

What is your temptation? Do you fight it? And what makes a good romance novel (or any story) for you?  As promised, the cupcake recipe is here.

True Confession: I Write Smut In Public

Hey – Vivienne here.  I haven’t talked much about my slightly stalled Work In Progress.  It’s a very adult story tentatively entitled The Good Ship Lollipop.  I will likely have to change the title to avoid a lawsuit by Shirley Temple’s family, but I’ll let the eventual publisher worry about that.

TGSL is an erotic novel, set on a cruise ship where college kids (over 21!) and other folks get up to all kinds of hijinks that aren’t suitable for detail on this G-rated blog.  But what I wanted to blog about today is the fact that I’ve written this steamy story while out in public.  And to make matters worse, I had to do some research on various…items…through Google Images while in public.

Why, you ask?  The answer is pretty easy – that’s where I happened to be when inspiration struck.  I started writing TGSL during Nanowrimo to boost my word count.  I was working on a different story which had a complicated plot and I was struggling to pull the story out of my head.   My word count was suffering. 

For the uninitiated, Nanowrimo is a contest/writing exercise where you write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days.  To stay on track, you need to write 1667 words per day.  I was agonizing my way to 1000 words a day on the more complicated story, so I boosted my word count by writing this more straightforward story.  Sure, I might have been technically cheating, but I like to think of it as creative winning.  The prize is the satisfaction of having accomplished something so crazy, so I wasn’t cheating anybody else. 

Anyway, I found the act of writing smut in public to be quite freeing.  I had previously been too embarrassed to write those kinds of words down, let alone put a story like that together.  Sure, I did my share of strategic laptop placement, and if anyone walked behind me, I was very quick to change the image on my screen to something more appropriate.  And I probably blushed a lot, but I didn’t get caught even once! 

Today’s Secret: Sometimes you might get further if you leave your comfort zone behind.  Write something different or do it in a different place to jump-start the creative juices.

Today’s Question: What is the silliest place you go to write?

Word of Mouth – Power to the People

Happy Friday! Casey Wyatt here.

Today’s topic is good, old-fashioned word of mouth. Like any avid reader, when I find a book I really like, I want to tell all my friends about it. I believe that word of mouth is still a powerful force in the book reading world.

Many of my favorite books were suggested to me by someone else. A few examples: The Lord of the Rings given to me by my cousin when I was fourteen. I loved them! I still own that original boxed set. Another is Garden Spells by Sara Addison Allen, a magical romance about love and family. And a children’s book about a boy wizard, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, ’nuff said there.

In the spirit of passing on a good read, I’d like to share one with you. Recently, I had the pleasure of reading a fantastic contemporary romance – Beauty and the Feast by Julia Barrett. This book has it all, great food, sizzling sex scenes and engaging characters.

Smokin’ Hot Good Read

Sparks fly when Eva Raines, a country girl with killer cooking skills, is hired by wealthy entrepreneur and philanthropist, Gabriel Abbott. He is quickly seduced by her amazing culinary creations. Eva, eqaully smitten, is a bit overwhelmed by the handsome man’s interest in her.

Once I started reading this book, I couldn’t put it down. The sex is hot and had me squirming in my seat (so adults only, please). If you’re looking for a romance with spicy scenes, witty dialogue, and a heartwarming plot, this is the book for you. Check it out!

What good books have you read lately? And what initially drew you to pick up that book in the first place (word of mouth, the cover, the blurb)?