Dreamin' in Dallas 2011

I am so very excited tonight. DARA has posted information about the Dreamin' in Dallas conference next April. I am thrilled beyond belief!! The conference will have workshops, speakers, agents, publishers, book signings. It is going to be a thrilling day! I am delighted that the key note speaker is none other then the New York Times Bestselling Author Richelle Mead!!!
Every inspiring writer should make plans on attending this conference, This conference will change my life!

Memorial Day Weekend...How to be inspired

People watching is a good way to be inspired. Go to a coffee shop or a book store, sit and watch the people around you. Picture what that person's life is like. Who could be involved with them. Put them into your story. It's a great way to get inspired. So take some time this weekend and get inspired.

In the works

I am hot with a new story on my mind. I truly wanted to write a paranormal romance but this new vision is hot on my mind. I have casted my crew of actors and plotted out the general synopsis. This will novel will entell a love triangle. Two men who are long time friends fall in love with the same woman.

Love and Honor cover Art??

Finding Time to Write

Sometimes life can get in the way of your dreams. Work, school, bills, kids, traffic. The list goes on and on. If you want to truly be a published writer you have to find the time. A few minuets before bed, before you get out of bed, even on your lunch break. I try and write when I'm resting for the night. Unfornatually I have so many fantasies/dreams floating around in my mind at the moment I have many story lines falling into place. I have come across a abundance of inspiration from TV shows to real..not so real life. For me it just takes one person, a movie/tv charater or scene, or even a song. All of these have been inspiring latley.
I think that it just takes inspiration or a muse to get a writers creativity jucies flowing.

What the future holds?

Since I finished Love and Honor, I've had many ideas for my next book. I've actually started a few of them. Honestly I want to try my hand at a paranormal romance. I've been playing with the idea of playing off the mystic ways of the Incas with my "two love birds". I've got a LOT of research ahead of me if I want to pull this one off. I've already started my research. There is no title at the moment. I'm still in the process of casting my characters. All I have right now playing in my head is one sexy love scene that plays out in the dark caves of Matchu Pitchu.

My other idea has to do with a jet crash somewhere in the South Pacific...think Love Triangle.

Why people read romance novels.

Many men wonder why women are addicted to reading romance novels. Many women love the feeling that romance novels give them. When you engulf yourself into the character the reader can feel what the charater is feeling (only if well written).The butterflies, the anticipation, the heat. Other women use romance novels for the escape of their mundane lives. For myself I love the feeling and the escape. I feel that if you love romance novels for both you have it in you to write a romance novel.

Surrender

This is a work in progress. Something that's been in my head. The best thing for a writer to do is PUT IT OUT THERE!!

When he looked at me I felt lost to the world. The passion that burned deep within his eyes ignited the flame that kindled deep inside of my soul. I'm locked in his hypnotic gaze. Trapped like a confined tiger in it's cage, I was anxious to escape. Whatever he wanted I was compelled to give, he had me mesmerized. He reached down and gently caressed my cheek. My knees began to give under me. I felt as if I was falling. His breath blew warm against my lips as he descended down towards mine. The anticipation was killing me as he hovered over me. Then his lips touched mine. The sweetness of his lips intoxicated me. He kissed me softly savoring the taste of me. The world vanished around us as his kiss deepened. There was no resisting him there was no denying him. All there was, was surrender.

In the mood

Romance is something you feel. Just like writing, your not always in the mood. I sometimes find myself with writers block. Other times I find that I can not find a computer fast enough to write down all the thoughts running through my head. Writing a romance is like falling in love all over again. When I write a good scene between my main character I can feel the butterflies. You know the butterflies I mean. The kind you get when you first meet someone your attracted to. This is what I mean when I say "In the mood". The mood can not be forced but it sure can be pushed along lol. What I do when I know I need to get scenes done, I will listen to a sexy song for example the song that gets me in the mood at the moment is "Within Temptation- All I Need" the guitars are so sexy in this song. Listen and you'll see what I mean. The video is not so hot so just close your eyes and feel it. Another thing I do is watch a romatic movie. Music does the best job for me though.

Insert from Love and Honor.

Here is an insert from Love and Honor.

Max watched her eyes dance with fire as she watched him. "I'm sorry...I..just.."he couldn't resist her lips any longer; they beckoned him. He knew it would be wrong but he couldn't find the strength to fight the urge to touch her, to kiss her any longer. He quickly leaned toward Sarah and pulled her to him as he tenderly kissed her lips. He savored her sweet taste. Neither of them had the strength to pull away. Kissing Sarah was better then he remembered. Not being rushed and being able to hold her made a world of difference. He had only kissed her once, but oh how he missed kissing Sarah's luscious lips. It was all he could think about for weeks.

Max felt Sarah's lips slowly part, accepting his kiss, accepting him. He couldn't help but to let a tiny moan escape as he slowly slid his tongue inside of her parted gentle lips. He felt as if he was on fire and, by accepting him, she was stroking that flame that burned so long for her.

Critique your work

Getting your work critiqued before sending your manuscript to publishers I found is a really good idea. Having your peers critique your work will help in finding mistakes you've over looked. With Love and Honor I had three people who are avid readers critique my work. They found mistakes in grammar and in my time line that I missed. When you are deep in writing it is easy to miss the small things. There are many critique services out there. Look within your writers group for assistance or even a good friend. The time spent on getting this done in the beginning is worth it in the long run. At the moment I belong to the DARA chapter of Romance Writers of America, they have a really good critique program I found really helpful and insitive.

How I wrote the Villain

In Love and Honor you got to meet Jeff, Sarah's ruthless manipulative ex husband. For me writing the villain and fight scenes were the hardest. Jeff had to be gut wrenching you had to hate him from the get go. When I wrote the fight scenes between Jeff and Sarah I put myself in her place. I felt her pain and I felt her fear. I used that and translated it onto paper. I am very proud of how it turned out. The actor I pictured in my mind as Jeff was Christian Bale. Have you seen him in American Psycho. OMG! That's why I choose him. When you write your villain you have to be able to despise him. A friend of mine once told me that she hated Jeff, that Jeff was so evil. That made me very happy, I wrote Jeff well that is what I wanted the reader to feel. I did have to watch one thing in writing Jeff. I had to try an not go overboard with his anger and cruelty. After all it is a romance novel.

Query Letters

You've heard me mention Love and Honor in other postings. Love and Honor is my first book. Right now I'm trying to find the right Agent to represent me. Finding the correct agent to represent you I feel is the hardest and most agonizing thing about being a writer. I've gotten many positive reviews on my book, but the only thing that matters to an agent is "THE LETTER". Yes I'm talking about the query letter. If the agent does not like your letter they will not want to look at your manuscript. Talk about PRESSURE! I have tested the waters with Love and Honor. I've gotten very generic responses back. Examples are: We are not looking for new writers or Your manuscript is not the right fit for what we represent.
I will be attending the query workshop next month before I persue any agents.

A great workshop for writers who want to be published

I found a great workshop I wanted to share with everyone.

Get your Foot In the Door: Query Letter and Synopsis Workshop

Sponsored by: Yellow Rose Romance Writers

Fee: $15-$25

Date May 31st-June 11th, 2010

http://www.yellowroserwa.com/

I will be taking this online workshop. I suggest it to all writers.

Paranormal Romance

The hottest ticket in books today are books categorized as paranormal romance. Since the phenomenon which is Twilight, it's become the more hip thing to read and write about. It has gotten many teens to put down the remote and pick up a book! We can all rejoice in that. Vampire's have a forbbiden sex appeal. But I was not convinced to read a book about teenagers. I'm more hard core I want sex in my books. My best friend Belinda convinced me to give it a try. Once I started reading I was hooked. Now I'm a big TEAM EDWARD fan. I love the fact that Stephenie Meyers took a dream she had and was able to write a novel from it. That is what I feel I have done with Love and Honor. Since the twilight series I've branched out to other paranormal romance such as Jessica Andersons' "The Final Prophecy" series. Which is also a kick butt sexy book! I'm seriously thinking about trying my hand at paranormal romance. I love writing contempoary but why not branch out and do both.

What to write next?

Now that I've finished my first novel, it's time to start my next magical creation. During one of my D.A.R.A meetings the key note speaker Christie Craig suggested to start your new novel as you try and get your first novel published. Agents will want more then one book and you will want to be prepared.

I've got a lot of ideas and I've already started writing at least 10 pages of 3 of them. All of the star my new hero, but sorry I'm not ready to revel him just yet.

Okay now that Love and Honor is finished it's time to send out to the agents. This is the part of writing that makes me nervious. So much pressure on one letter. I've read many websites on "how to" write a query letter, some have been helpful but I sure could use someone's opinion on how I did.

Visualize your Charaters

When I write I have to visualize my characters. To be able to get into their emotions I have to see them in my mind acting out my scene. I try and pick out the actors I want to cast in my "movie" before I start a new project. In Love and Honor I did start with one hero but as I continued to write Max, the charater I had "cast" no longer fit the charater I was writing. I feel that it is okay to recast, remember you are writing the story not the charater. For the role of Max I orginally cast Josh Hartnet. But as I wrote it became clear he no longer fit how my charater evolved. In the end Max was awarded to Ben Browder.

My first time

When I was single I use to have this reoccuring dream about meeting a tall sexy stranger on the beach of an unknown tropical island. It was always love at first site between me and the stranger. He was always faceless. I started to write my dreams down on paper. I was surprised at what I had done. I wrote my first short story. I was amazed as I questioned myself. Did I really write this? It was such a thrill. A dream was born! From then on I knew I could not rest till I became a published romance novelist. I do not want to write just one book, I want to be just like Danielle Steel. The women who inspired me many years ago.

In the beginning

I love writing and reading about romance and sex. I rememeber the first romance novel that I read. I was in middle school and a classmate introduced me to Danielle Steel's "Jewels". That changed my life forever. I didn't actually pick up a pen and paper until after my divorce in 2002. While going though my divorce, I wrote many emotional poems. I entered them into the International Libary of Poetry. From what I hear now, they were a scam, but they helped build my confidence by giving me awards. My feelings were not just garbage, people actually understood what I was feeling; they understood my words, and they understood me.

I never thought I would want to pursue writing. I mean look, I have horrific grammer and spelling! But writing is about dreams and feelings for me. Writing is a way to escape everyday life. It's a fantasy. But I can touch more on all of that later. For right now, I just want to say thank you for taking the time and interest in me!