Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Why We Write Where We Write

Where we write...I had a laptop years ago, back in the earlier days of
laptops. It was relatively heavy as far as laptops went, relatively large as far as
they went too, but I was thrilled with it. I could work with it at the kitchen
table, at the dining room table, at a table not in the house, in bed, even. I
was Freed! Freed, I tell you! (Not that my NAME is "Freed," but...you know.)
The disadvantage of it was its relative clumsiness in editing. And in those
days I was doing a LOT of freelance editing. So much so, in fact, that during
the longest, most painful assignment, I broke down and upgraded to an iMac. It
was one of the early models, a lime green one (which I chose because it clashed
with everything, a fact I found charming in a computer), and it sat square in
my office, and it didn't travel (except to the repair shop, but that's
another story, and should not be taken as a negative reflection of the iMac in
general, because it's just mine, which is usually the case). And you know what? I
LIKED the fact that it didn't travel. And that's how I realized I was a
stay-in-one-place kind of editor and writer. I can do both while traveling, but not
with a laptop.

Where we write...locales. I like making 'em up, myself. That way I don't have
to worry about getting everything right. In FESTIVAL OF STARS, I used West
Seattle and Mercer Island as locales. One I had some familiarity with, and when
real life kept changing it on me, I decided to keep it the same, because it's
a fairy tale, and I didn't see any reason to make the locale any more real
than the story. In THE SLEEPER AWAKES, it was easier...because the only thing the
locale in the story had in common with reality was the name "Seattle."
Nothing else, and then the locale moved to a fantasy, so I didn't have to worry
about it.

I also remember the fretting before I let the details go. I don't see how
people writing nonfiction keep up with reality. It keeps changing!

Eilis Flynn
www.eilisflynn.com, eilisflynn.livejournal.com
THE SLEEPER AWAKES and FESTIVAL OF STARS, cerridwenpress.com
<BR><BR><BR>**************************************<BR> See what's free at
http://www.aol.com.

Posted by EilisFlynn :: Link :: 6:21 AM :: 2 Comments

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

It's almost here!

Only two more days until the release of my first Cerridwen Press novel Dragon in the System, and I couldn't be more excited. This book is a favorite of mine, full of geeks and geeky references to TV, movies, games, and more.


Blurb:
Computer science professor Eric Gordon has been asked to find the hacker responsible for a virus that is embezzling from University accounts. When his investigations indicate that some sort of large reptile may be living in the steam tunnels under campus, he turns to biology professor Lori Tremain for help. Lori’s life is crazy with her tenure review looming, but she’s too curious and attracted to turn down Eric’s request. Together, Lori and Eric start to uncover things that their scientific minds can barely imagine. Can they find the thief and still find time to fall in love? Is everything on, and under, campus what it appears? Or could there truly be a dragon in the system?

Excerpt:(This is a never-before seen excerpt!)
She squirmed beside him and the arousal he’d managed to keep at half-mast all evening unfurled completely. She was feeling it too, he thought, gazing down into her face. Her eyes had darkened to almost black and a rosy flush spread across her cheekbones. She peered back at him, breathing rapidly, her full lower lip caught sexily between her front teeth.

Eric shifted so his arms could encircle her. When she didn’t hesitate, but instead twined her own arms about his neck, he very slowly lowered his head to hers. He barely heard the tiny catch in her breathing as their lips met.
Her soft, pliant mouth opened generously and Eric plunged inside hungrily. He wasn’t sure if the soft moan he heard was hers or his own. She shifted to face him fully, coming up onto her knees on the sofa and molding her body tightly to his.

God, she felt good. She tasted even better. Her hands had apparently gotten inside his shirt somehow. He wasn’t sure exactly when. Her soft sweater was no barrier at all. He marveled at the play of textures as his hands slipped between the fluffy cotton and the even silkier skin at her waist. Without conscious thought, Eric fell back against the rolled upholstered arm of the sofa, pulling Lori down to lie on top of him. When her thigh settled over the bulge in his jeans, Eric groaned huskily at the pain and pleasure of the position.

Lori dropped a series of soft, nipping kisses along his throat and jaw line, while Eric concentrated on getting a hand up under her skirt. Damn, there were layers there, he noticed as his hand tangled in gossamer fabric. She must be wearing a petticoat of some sort underneath. Meanwhile, Lori’s busy fingers had pushed his rugby shirt up under his armpits and she was wrestling with him to get the garment off of his shoulders. As his hands finally found the soft skin of Lori’s thigh, his lips found the tender hollow at where the side of her throat met her shoulder and he sucked gently, pausing briefly to allow her to tug the shirt off over his head.

The cool evening air on his sweat-coated skin broke Eric’s concentration, just for a moment. His hands had already found their way back under Lori’s skirt and were each cupping one rounded buttock and squeezing gently. Lori was twisting lightly, her center rubbing hungrily against his straining erection. It took every ounce of control he possessed to pull his hands back up out of her clothing and cup her chin. She stared at him, eyes glazed with desire. When she spoke, her voice was nothing more than a breathy whisper.

“What’s wrong?”

Eric smiled tenderly, stroking her flushed cheek with his thumb. “Not a damn thing, in my book. But I got the impression earlier that you wanted to take this a little more slowly.” Lori closed her eyes, as though she was in pain and Eric’s gut twisted. “If we don’t stop right now,” he continued. “I’ll have to swing by my place in the morning for a clean shirt.”

Posted by Cindy Spencer Pape :: Link :: 9:33 AM :: 0 Comments

Sunday, June 17, 2007

What a difference time makes ...

Two weeks ago I didn't have time to blog because we had just adopted two cats (since named Whodini and M.I.A., or 'Mia'), and they were getting into all kinds of trouble. Whoodie, in particular, seemed to delight in flinging himself at the basement walls and scrambling up into the drop ceiling, where he would vanish for hours.

My DH decided it was man vs. cat and he came up with a clever way to prevent this (by weighting down the ceiling tiles so Whoodie couldn't butt the tiles up and vanish inside).

Now here we are, two weeks later and I have 13 pounds of blond cat-boy sitting on my lap, purring contently and interfering with my typing. He and Mia have settled in, they're calm (or getting there), and we are adapting to two new cats in our lives after decades with our other cats (who have since gone to the Rainbow Bridge).

Time ... all it takes is a little time. That brings me to my book, releasing in 10 days or so. Your Saving Grace is all about time -- the precipitating event for the whole book takes place 30 years ago, when Hannah Paxton witnesses a brutal murder in a bar (yes, I did see a brutal beating in a bar once. That's where that scene comes from).

Once events start to unfold, it only takes a week or so for Hannah's life to turn completely upside-down. When she meets Jude Brenner , she realizes how much in her life has been put on hold because she's worried about how her past will affect her future. Once meets Jude and gets to know him, she sees the effect such actions can have, because Jude has been doing the same thing -- keeping love at bay because of what happened in his past.

All it takes is a little time for them to realize what's important. Of course, that's assuming a killer doesn't take the future away from them ...

It's really all about time ...

Posted by J L :: Link :: 5:50 AM :: 0 Comments

Saturday, June 16, 2007

On meeting and making friends

In this electronic age, our friend/acquaintace base far exceeds people we actually meet, so it was a pleasure to hook up with another Cerridwen Press author, Lise Fuller, and her husband for dinner the other night. Lise and I met on chats, and have exchanged a few chapters for critiquing. Her husband's been a most kind and generous source of information for the book I'm writing.

Lise and I met again for coffee the next morning and did some book brainstorming. I'm looking forward to continuing working with her. If you haven't read any of her books, by all means, do so. She's written Cutting Loose, Intimate Deceptions, and my favorite, On Danger's Edge.

And, just for your viewing pleasure, here's a picture from Garden of the Gods.

We're on our way home today. Back to reality and the flat heat & humidity of central Florida.

Posted by Terry Odell :: Link :: 7:01 AM :: 2 Comments

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Book 3: ILLUMINATION Sneak Peek!

I'm very excited to announce that Cerridwen will be publishing the third book in my AFTER SUNDOWN series, entitled ILLUMINATION! This third paranormal tale belongs to that hard as a rock, but anything but stone cold gargoyle, Jason. You've heard from him in both REDEMPTION AND SALVATION, but now he wants to tell his own story. Watch for all sorts of folks, from vampires to fairies and witches to sirens of the sea in the this upcoming urban fantasy. Here's a short snippet to whet your appetite. Enjoy!

A Sneak Peek at
Book 3 in the After Sundown Series:

AFTER SUNDOWN: ILLUMINATION


Rebecca could only stare.

No words came to mind. She knew her mouth was probably hanging open, but she couldn't help herself. The man standing in her doorway took her breath away.

"I'm Jason. I'll be handling the night shift."

His voice was deep and sexy. Rebecca couldn't respond. Her mind just didn't want to wrap around the idea of speaking. It was too busy wrapping itself around the hunk in front of her. She had woken up a few minutes earlier, and discovered she had slept most of the day away. Just as she was trying to decide what to do, a soft knock had sounded at her door.

She had called out a welcome without another thought.

"Come in."

As the door opened, she had gotten an eyeful of one incredibly good-looking man. Unfortunately, she had also somehow lost the ability to form coherent thought in the process, as if the very sight of the guy had caused her to become a bumbling idiot.

Jason’s expression grew puzzled. He looked back at the room number on her door, then returned his gaze to her.

"You're Rebecca Vanderhoss, right?"

Rebecca wanted to answer, she really did, but she just couldn't seem to bend her lips to form the words she wanted to say. She finally managed to nod her head silently. The man was absolutely gorgeous. That was the only word she could think of, and one she had rarely used when referring to a guy. His midnight black hair, hanging just past his very broad shoulders, surrounded a face made up of hard angles. His face was all male, no soft curves found any place but one.

His lips.

Just looking at them made Rebecca wonder at their soft lushness. Those full lips were made for kissing a woman, and not just on her lips. All over her body, over and over again, if she had her way about it.

What was she thinking?

A slow heat crept up her neck.

Great. She was blushing. Now what would the guy think? That she was acting like a silly schoolgirl instead of an adult woman, that’s what. She needed to get a handle on her libido, and fast.

Rebecca tried to clear her mind, wondering how it had gotten lost so quickly along this wayward path, but at that particular moment the man shifted slightly, leaning his weight against the doorframe.

Her attention was immediately drawn to Jason’s body.

And if she was getting heated up before, now she was down right boiling.

His muscular build bespoke many hours of hard work, yet he moved with an unusual grace belying his size. He was taller than most men, especially next to her petite 5’4 frame, she had to look up and up and up to meet his gaze. And what a gaze it was. His unusual silver eyes shined so bright it almost hurt to look at them, yet she was drawn back to those liquid silver pools again and again. His searching stare called her closer, while delving into her very soul. The end result left her feeling attracted, restless and vulnerable, all at the same time.

Jason’s gaze lowered and he began a slow perusal of her from head to toe.

Rebecca resisted the urge to cover herself. Maybe it was because his eyes were gentle and he took his time, oblivious to the fact that she was quite aware of what he was doing. Or maybe it was because each spot his stare caressed started a slow burn that heated her up in ways she had only dreamt about. Whatever it was, instead of crossing her arms defensively against her chest, she held her shoulders squarely back, raised her chin proudly and let him look his fill.

She wanted Jason to see her, to be as attracted to her as she was to him.

This was no easy accomplishment for Rebecca, because while growing up she hadn't been very confident. She had become acutely aware of her plump, curvy and well developed body as her teenage years arrived and the boys around her starting taking notice. It had taken her a long time to come to terms with not only her own body, but also what the boys around her wanted.

Rebecca gasped and took several steps backwards, almost stumbling as the back of her knees hit the side of her bed. She sat down. She had just remembered something more from her past! The memory from her high school years had come easily, surprisingly clear in her mind.

Jason walked to where she sat, squatted down in front of her. Despite this, she still had to look up to meet his stare. His brow knit in concern.

"Are you okay, Rebecca?"

As their gazes met, Rebecca felt a tingling sensation shoot through her that started at the top of her head and ran down to the tips of her toes. It was as if she had gotten a light electrical shock. She could tell Jason felt it as well because his eyes widened with awareness and his jaw clenched tightly. He searched her face then. It wasn't a casual glance either. It was intense, as if he thought he would find the solution to some great puzzle in her features. When his piercing silver stare ended on her lips, they began to quiver. It felt like fingers were lightly skipping along them, tauntingly, teasingly causing them to swell with anticipation of a deeper touch.

Rebecca’s eyes closed without thought and she tilted her chin up, closer to his mouth. Just one kiss, that’s all she wanted. All she needed. If she didn't get it she would die, she was sure of it.

Jason moved closer.

She could feel his warm breath brush her face as he whispered words she didn't understand.

"M’Tali. Ti sa movra."

His voice was filled with wonderment and surprise. It was as if he couldn't believe he was saying the strange words. She didn't recognize the language he spoke, yet the sound of it resonated deep inside her, as if she had been waiting a lifetime to hear it. She let the feeling flow through her. The rightness of it filling her with intense happiness. Startled by such a strong reaction, Rebecca opened her eyes to stare into his beautiful gaze once more, but found he was gone.

She was alone, again.

© Copyright Eden Robins

Posted by Eden Robins :: Link :: 9:53 PM :: 1 Comments

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Forgive me

Good morning, I have messed up! I thought I was Blogging on the Goddesses Blog and must have clicked on the CP blog instead. What can I say? Make merry with my Blog if you like. Now you know more about how I started to write and where I am now. Thanks for your patience and enjoy the rest of the day.

Anita Birt
www.anitabirt.com

Posted by Anita Birt :: Link :: 11:59 AM :: 0 Comments

How did I get here?

And where am I going? Good morning, Goddesses. It's my day to Blog. Sorry about the late start. It's 11.26 am out here on the west coast. My husband and I were out with friends last night and I slept in - a little.

How did I get here and where am I going? It all began in the 1990's when we were visiting our Franciscan friends at their home/convent at Bridal Veil, Oregon. I was strolling the grounds with Mother Mary Michael. I looked up at the gorgeous house they had saved from ruin and said, "Someone should write the history of this place." And Mother Michael said, "Why don't you?"

How could I refuse? That's how my writing career began. I had to find as many people as possible who had ever lived in and been connected to the Jacobson mansion during and after it was built in 1917. The architect was Morris Whitehouse. Little miracles happened along the way when an unexpected source of information turned up and helped to fill in historical details about the inhabitants of the house and how the glorious house eventually was left uninhabited for many years. If you are interested in the story I wrote, it is called The House at Bridal Veil. It is available, second hand, at Amazon.com and ABE books. Have a look at my website www.anitabirt.com to learn more.

So I had actually written a book. I had a computer and a printer - what to do? I studied the racks of paper back books in various shops and decided I would write a romance and send it to Harlquin. And so I did. I sent out a query letter with the first three chapters and, full of condence, I waited.

I knew nothing about the publishing business. I didn't know other writers. I had never heard of RWA. Of course, Harlequin rejected my precious manuscript.

It has been a long and interesting journey from then to now. The journey continues with a Regency I am plotting and writing and tangling myself in knots as characters do the unexpected and lead my in directions I'm not sure I want to go.

Enjoy the rest of the day. I hope to go for a long walk but the rain won't stop

Anita

Posted by Anita Birt :: Link :: 11:24 AM :: 1 Comments

To Be Read Piles

I spent most of yesterday cataloging part of my fiction library. (okay, I'm only a little obsessed about being organized. Honest!) I only got through three cases (six shelves each) before aching muscles made me quit. I have approximately double that to go to finish both fiction and non-fiction.

My database is rather simple so it doesn't take long to do - I just have author last name, first name, title, genre, notes and whether it's TBR - to be read - yet.

Of the 605 books I did yesterday, 197 of them are TBR. 197!!!!! That completely flabbergasted me. Figuring if I read even one book a week, that's nearly four years of reading. Before I started writing and editing for a living, I used to read three or four books a week, now I'm lucky if I read one a month. But 197! Yikes. I need to get reading.

I told my husband I'm not allowed to buy any more books until I whittle the piles down.

And if you know me, you know that's not going to happen. I'll keep buying them and adding them to my piles and read when I can.

But six more cases to catalog? And that doesn't count the e-books on the computer. Some of my favorite authors are only available as e-books and I've got dozens (I refuse to count) there.

Time to stop typing and get reading. :)

Vicky Burkholder
http://www.vickyburkholder.com
http://vickyburkholder.blogspot.com

Posted by Vicky B :: Link :: 4:52 AM :: 1 Comments

Friday, June 08, 2007

You Can't Make This Stuff Up

I've had lots of different types of jobs during my time on this planet. I've been a dish washer, a dietary aide, worked in a convenience store, been on an office cleaning crew, receptionist, automotive service cashier, banquet server, used car salesperson. (Of course, being a writer is the most fun.) Each of these jobs was amusing in their own way but I have to say that my time working in a rest home was by far the most humorous.

Meal time in a retirement home is not just a get together to eat. Oh, no. The social functioning of the entire rest home is evident. The who's who of pensioners. Who gets along, who doesn't. Who shouldn't be allowed to eat in the dining room. Who doesn't know they're in the dining room at all. Things could get pretty interesting, especially during a full moon. It's really funny to watch two old people argue when neither of them can really hear what the other person is saying. I know, I'm going to hell.

There was one old guy that on occasion would just start yelling profanity for no reason. And he wasn't very creative about it. He would holler the same two curses over and over. Then an old lady in the corner would pipe up, saying, "Shut up! Just shut up! We don't talk like that down here." I heard one time that the cursing resident had propositioned a nurse's aide, telling her, "I need a woman!"

Another resident would ask me the same questions every time she saw me. She would ask where I was from and how many sisters and brothers I have, then tell me a story about how she was in my home town once and she didn't know it was a town. Then she would tell me the story about how her mother once had a goiter.

I didn't appreciate it at the time, but those days of low-paying grunt work jobs have given me a wealth of experience to draw on for my writing. As they say, you can't make this stuff up!

Jessica Shin

A Rapture of Centuries coming from Cerridwen Press 7/5/07
www.cerridwenpress.com
http://www.myspace.com/jessicashin

Labels: full moon, jobs, rest home, writing

Posted by Jessica Shin :: Link :: 2:12 PM :: 0 Comments

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Why We Write Who We Write

After I wrote about why we write what we write in an earlier CP author
blogpost, I started to wonder about the other journalistic questions: how, where,
why ... and the topic of today's post, the who. How do we create our characters?
Some of us create characters out of the air, and then the story, while others
create the story and then the characters to suit. Sometimes they leap into
our imagination out of the blue, while others have to be dragged out of our
consciousness, inch by determined inch. I don't know about you, but I much prefer
the former.

Before I wrote THE SLEEPER AWAKES, I was musing about how sometimes people
rise to the occasion, or don't. And then I was musing about someone who had a
terminal illness and what they would do or decide if they knew they had a
limited time. This isn't a new idea in fiction: I didn't see it, but I know that was
basically the story in a recent movie with Queen Latifah. And I came up with
the story of Cat Deveney, who had an inoperable tumor, a bad boyfriend, and o
nly a little time left...when she found herself with an opportunity to help
someone else, an entire people, after an earthquake trapped her under a table,
facing off a civil war and a weather phenomenon that is sentient.

With the story of FESTIVAL OF STARS, though, I had the plot already because
the plot was centuries old: the legend of Tanabata, the festival of stars, when
two lovers up in the sky can only meet once in a year -- if it's not raining
and they're helped along by their servants the ravens (or magpies or crows or
blackbirds -- always a black bird of some kind). Not a story original in
Japanese myth, because the Chinese have the same legend (they call it the weaving
maiden story, though), but one that can be translated into any time, any
situation. And with that I gathered the bits of the story of Kristin Olafsson and
Dare Borodin, who both stared into a cultural mirror...and came up with
differing interpretations.

I'm always on the lookout for memorable characters and memorable situations
to put them in--and I'm always curious to see which comes first, the character
or the plot!

Eilis Flynn
www.eilisflynn.com, eilisflynn.livejournal.com
THE SLEEPER AWAKES and FESTIVAL OF STARS, cerridwenpress.com
<BR><BR><BR>**************************************<BR> See what's free at
http://www.aol.com.

Posted by EilisFlynn :: Link :: 6:25 AM :: 0 Comments

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Hello from out of town

I'm in Albuquerque, New Mexico (is there another one?) for a week while my husband attends a conference. I've loaded my eBookwise with CP books. Right now I'm reading Lise Fuller's Cutting Loose. I used to work for the Zoological Society in Miami, so there's a good connection with her heroine. It's a great vacation read, and I'm loving my e-book reader -- it even makes a great night light when navigating a dark, unfamiliar hotel room!

I'm going to be blogging about my trip on my personal blog -- please drop by. There's an interesting story about this clock:

And if you visit my website, there are some details about my June contest -- you can win a deck of the Ellora's Cave/Cerridwen Press playing cards they were handing out at RT.

Labels: and cards, clocks, vacation

Posted by Terry Odell :: Link :: 6:20 PM :: 0 Comments

Sunday, June 03, 2007

Can't blog today

I was signed up to blog today, but we're having a crisis. My husband is sick and we adopted two cats from the Humane Society. One has gone AWOL, I'm afraid in the walls of the house 8(

I'm going to be busy today...

Someone else ... take it away!

J L Wilson

P.S. First release out in a couple of weeks. Let's hope we find the absent cat by then!

Posted by J L :: Link :: 7:23 AM :: 1 Comments

Friday, June 01, 2007

Birthday contest!

Heather/Anh's birthday is this month, and to celebrate she is giving gifts! Two of her newsletter subscribers will receive a gift. Recipients can chose from electronic copies of romance Cards Never Lie from Cerridwen, erotic romance quickie Lucky Number Seven from Ellora's Cave, or science fiction short story Looking Forward, Looking Back from Lavender Isis...or a deck of the famous 2007 Ellora's Cave cowboy playing cards! The winners will be announced in her newsletter when it releases around June 13th.

If you aren't a newsletter subscriber now, sign up at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Coffeeonsundays/

Have a great June!

Heather Hiestand/Anh Leod
www.heatherhiestand.com
Lucky Number Seven releases June 13th from www.ellorascave.com

Posted by Heather Hiestand :: Link :: 3:59 PM :: 1 Comments

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