BOOM!

Okay, yesterday we had a little bit of a debate about leaving book reviews. First of all, the post is to warn you of the dangers of posting bad reviews as an author. Does it mean you can’t? No. Can you tweet while drinking and listening to LinkinPark? Yes, but you do so at your own risk. Same here. I am not the social media gestapo, but I am here to warn you of the hazards that are REAL.

We Never Know Who People Know

I once commented offhandedly to an acquaintance about a book I was reading. I wasn’t nasty, I just mentioned that I found it confusing and the dream sequences were messing me up. I also added that it could be me. I WAS seven-months pregnant, so I added the caveat that it could just be Baby Brain.

Little did I know the acquaintance was…

I am currently reading Kate White’s I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This: Success Secrets Every Gutsy Girl Should Know. There are bad books, okay books, good books and great books. But there is another kind of book and it’s the rarest.

The game-changer.

White has a witty, sassy style. She is seamlessly intelligent and down-to-earth in her fiction. And guess what? Her nonfiction delivers more of the same.

I’ve never recommended a book I haven’t finished, but this one has me far too excited. Even if Ms. White devolves into dirty limericks for the rest of the book? I still feel I have spent my money well. There are some points she makes which I feel are especially poignant and applicable to writers.

Part of the reason I’m referring to her book in this blog (even though I’m not yet finished) is that I might just chicken out unless I…

It’s here!!!

Two delightfully dark tales of Gothic romance from Elizabeth Hunter and Grace Draven.

BENEATH A WANING MOON

In A VERY PROPER MONSTER, Josephine Shaw spends long nights filling the pages of her Gothic stories with the fantastic and the macabre, unaware that the suitor her father has arranged is one of the dark creatures she’s always dreamed. For Tom Dargin, courting an ailing spinster was only one duty in a long life of service to his sire. But after he meets the curious Miss Shaw, will Tom become the seducer or the seduced? Can a love fated to end in tragedy survive a looming grave?

In GASLIGHT HADES, Nathaniel Gordon walks two worlds—that of the living and the dead. Barely human, he’s earned the reputation of a Bonekeeper, the scourge of grave robbers. He believes his old life over, until one dreary burial he meets the woman he…

ONE DAY MOOOOOOORE!

Why am I getting my Les Mis on, you might ask?

Because NEW STUFF is happening tomorrow!

Grace Draven is a great friend and also a fantabulous author. I love her books, and we collaborated on a holiday collection last year, All the Stars Look Down. (Which is not to say we co-write. We’re both far too controlling and pig-headed for that.) But we had a great time putting the holiday stories together, so when she called me about doing another duo for Halloween…

Grace: What do you think about putting out some Halloween novellas like we did with All the Stars for Christmas?

(Please note: This is greatly paraphrased. I don’t really have that good a memory and this was months ago. Also, I’m a writer. I tend to just make things up when I don’t remember exactly.)

Me: YES! That sounds so fun!

Grace: I have this…

Chatting with the lovely Grace Draven (BENEATH A WANING MOON IS ONLY EIGHT DAYS AWAY!) and contemplating everything that has gone into the first draft of Waking Hearts (which is about four chapters away from finished).

We’ve got:

• Toilets clogged with too much TP.
• World War Yo-yo.
• Hyper little brothers.
• Stretch marks.
• Tattling little sisters.
• Juvenile insults.
• Lack of sleep.
• Whole conversations expressed in “dude.”
• Teenage fistfights.
• Too much laundry.
• Almost-broken eggs.

AND YET we also have:

• Teasing glances
• So much flirting
• Double entendres
• Smoking hot kisses
• Stolen moments
• Heartfelt confessions
• Promises
• Possession
• LOVE

Along with all the usual murder and mayhem in this shapeshifting town.

It’s probably no wonder this is the longest Cambio Springs book so far. Want to read more? Check out…….

The first full chapter of WAKING HEARTS!

Happy Wednesday.

• Kids are fun to write. Why aren’t there more kids in romance novels? Oh…
• Helloooooooo, YouTube.
• What does the fox say? Really creepy horror movie kind of screams, that’s what the fox says.
• Heh. Dogs.
• Wait, I have to pay bills this week, too? Whyyyyyyyyy?
• Yes, I know I shouldn’t hunch over my keyboard, but I wasn’t really thinking about it at the time. Owwwwwww.
• But would all snakes smell the same to a fox? Probably not.
• Ah, Wikipedia, my old friend.
• Writing love scenes when one person is a foot taller than the other is hard.
• Nope, not physically possible. Nope. Yes! Maybe? …but Ollie is not a yoga master. So no.
• Can you reverse-photoshop a picture? Is that a thing?
• Oh, Allie, I feel you on the kid-puking thing.

This has been… Random Writerly Thoughts This Week, brought to you by Waking Hearts, the next Cambio Springs Mystery, coming this…

Today, I have a special treat for you guys. Author, speaker, editor and long-time W.A.N.A. International Instructor Marcy Kennedy is here to talk about internal dialogue—when to use it, why we use it and how not to get all cray-cray with it.

Trust us. As editors, Marcy and I see it all. Often newer writers swing to one extreme or another. Either they stay SO much in a character’s head that we (the reader) are trapped in The Land of Nothing Happening or we’re never given any insight into the character’s inner thought life, leaving said character as interesting as a rice cake.

Like all things in fiction, balance is key. Marcy is here to work her magic and teach y’all how to use internal dialogue for max effect.

Take it away, Marcy!

Understanding why something is important to our writing lays the foundation for bettering our writing because it…