Friday Fun Facts: From a Man's Perspective

“Women still remember the first kiss after men have forgotten the last” ~Remy de Gourmont

The nice thing about having male friends is that occasionally you can call on them to give you the man's perspective in relationships. Yes, I do often ask my husband for that POV, but believe it or not, not all men are created the same, and they do think and act differently. Plus I think my male friends can be a little more honest because, you know, they don't have to live in the same house with me!

Anyway, I asked one of my friends what a guy thinks about (besides the obvious) when he's first getting to know a woman. This was his response:

He replays every thing he has said in his mind, wondering if he might have said anything "wrong". He thinks about what he should have said to make himself sound more (the things she likes) intelligent, more or less aggressive, more in tune to her. He thinks about the things she has done, said, worn, and smiled at and imagines future situations where he can recall them, knowing these things are pleasing to her in such a way to generate a smile. He wonders if it is real? He thinks about the things in his past that have generated pain in other relationships and does his best to avoid them. He thinks about her flaws and imagines whether or not they are big enough to prevent going further. He wonders if he should wait to call her or if she will call him. he thinks about what it is he can do to impress her, but not in a way to seem too forward. He thinks about his flaws and wonders if she will like him once she is made aware....

Kind of poetic, huh? And lots of information there for a writer to draw upon, too. Seriously, talk to your friends when you're carving out relationships: male, female, young, old, straight, gay...there's such a wealth of experience and advice out there you can draw upon!

Writers' Wednesday: The Brenda Novak Auction!

It's almost time for the annual Brenda Novak Auction! This is a fantastic event organized by a NY Times best-selling author to raise money for juvenile diabetes research. Every year there are some amazing items up for auction, for readers and writers alike. My local RWA chapter is putting together a basket of signed books/author critiques, and I'll make sure to post the link when it's up. The auction runs from May 1st through May 31st, so you definitely have time to think about donating an item. Writers, if you haven't donated, consider doing so this year. The auction supports a great cause AND allows you a terrific promo opportunity as well.

You can find out more information here.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

All Hallmark commercialism aside, today is a perfect day to tell your loved ones how much you care about them. I know, we should do this every day, but we forget, don't we? So take the opportunity today and under the guise of Valentine's Day, spread some love to your friends and family.

And maybe buy a romance novel or two while you're at it! There are some great ones out there...

I love this song, and it's perfect for today. Have a wonderful Valentine's Monday!

Writers' Wednesday: Some Random Thoughts and a Helpful Blog Post

Some random thoughts today:

I really like the covers over at Carina Press (Harlequin's new ebook imprint). Check them out - really lovely.

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At my last book signing, a woman brought in her Kindle for Cat Johnson, one of my fellow romance authors, to sign. Times, they are a-changin', huh?

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And finally, for all your writers out there (or readers interested in one of the painful parts of seeing a book to its final stage, copyediting), here's a great blog post by fellow Absolute Write author Stacia Kane. She talks in detail about copyediting and includes a number of her own edited pages, scanned in FYI. Thanks Stacia!

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Happy reading and writing, everyone!

Monday Mentionables: Finished!

Finally finished (the 5th draft of) Entwined, the contemporary romance I've been working on for about 18 months now. Hoping this will be the last big push, because if not, it's getting put away for a long time. Maybe forever! This latest version is 12,000 words shorter than earlier ones and has one less sub-plot and one less minor character. When I think back about where this story started, it's been through so many changes! You definitely learn as a writer every time you tackle a new story, and some are definitely easier to write than others.

Anyway, one of the conventions I kept throughout every draft of this book was the idea of poetry - the poems are central to the story and to some of the characters' identities. Wrote the last one last night and thought I'd share it with you. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out :)


It is you, finally, that I have
Found to make me strong, to make me whole, and on
This night even the stars sing down and make me want
To draw my life with you in a thousand different colors. It is now,
I find, I cannot live in this world alone. My existence means nothing if I
Cannot share it with you. You are the other part of me, the part I lost when the sun
First rose, when the universe shattered and separated all souls. I have spent a lifetime
Searching for the one who completes me. No more. You are here, we are one, my love – entwined .

Friday Fun Facts: It's February!!

In the coldest February, as in every other month in every other year, the best thing to hold on to in this world is each other. ~Linda Ellerbee

Five fun facts about February, just because:

1. February is, of course, the shortest month of the year, with 28 days until Julius Caesar gave it 29, and 30 days every four years. According to tradition, Augustus, the Roman emperor, took one day off to add one day to August, the month named after him. We now have February with 28 days, and 29 on leap years.

2. As a result of being only 28 days long (usually) it's the only month that can pass without having a single full moon.

3. The Supreme Court of the United States met for the first time on February 1, 1790.

4. The flower of this month is a violet or sometimes a primrose and the birthstone is amethyst (which represents sincerity).

5. My sister turns 37 this month!! Happy birthday sis!!

Writers' Wednesday: A Massive Storm and a Contest...Both of Which Inspire!

So tell me: how is this massive storm affecting YOU? Unbelievable, the range and volume of it. Here, we're onto our second snow day. Yesterday it snowed until early afternoon, with probably about 8" total accumulation. Then, around 9:00 at night, the lightnsleet began. Sometime overnight that must have gotten worse, because it woke me up, against the house. Today we're supposed to get ice and snow all day.

I have a friend who was supposed to fly out to Hawaii yesterday morning - she made it, barely! And now she is drinking mai tais in Maui, lucky thing.

Here's a contest for both Readers and Writers. You can submit your manuscript starting now, and each week beginning in March readers can vote on excerpts from their favorites. Sort of like an "American Idol" type advancement process, I think, through June. Winning manuscripts will receive editor critiques from Carina Press, and readers can win ebooks every week! Sounds like fun, right? Here's the link.

Now I have to go check the fire and assess the food situation in the fridge (I'm blaming outr Norwegian exchange student, by the way - she spent most of December wishing for snow :) After that, I'll hunker down and write...now I have 2 good reasons to do so!

Writers' Wednesday: ROOM by Emma Donoghue

Just a quick post today, to share the latest book I'm reading, one that I highly recommend, though I'm only 1/3 of the way through: ROOM by Emma Donoghue. The voice of the main character, 5-year old Jack, is terrific. If you haven't read it yet, you should - and if you HAVE read it, what did you think?

To five-year-old-Jack, Room is the world....

It's where he was born, it's where he and his Ma eat and sleep and play and learn. There are endless wonders that let loose Jack's imagination-the snake under Bed that he constructs out of eggshells, the imaginary world projected through the TV, the coziness of Wardrobe beneath Ma's clothes, where she tucks him in safely at night, in case Old Nick comes.

Room is home to Jack, but to Ma, it's the prison where she's been held since she was nineteen-for seven long years. Through her fierce love for her son, she has created a life for him in that eleven-by-eleven-foot space. But Jack's curiosity is building alongside her own desperation—and she knows that Room cannot contain either indefinitely....

Told in the inventive, funny, and poignant voice of Jack, Room is a celebration of resilience-and a powerful story of a mother and son whose love lets them survive the impossible

“Donoghue’s Jack is precocious but entirely believable; his passage out of cloistered innocence more universal than you might think….As for Ma, parents everywhere will relate.”
—People Magazine, 3 ½ out of 4 stars, “People’s Pick”

“Though the story's chilling circumstances reflect the horrors endured by tabloid-famous abductees, Donoghue avoids all sensationalism. Instead, she gracefully distills what it means to be a mother — and what it's like for a child whose entire world measures just 11 x 11.”
—Entertainment Weekly, grade A-

“… Seen entirely through Jack's eyes and childlike perceptions, the developments in this novel--there are enough plot twists to provide a dramatic arc of breathtaking suspense--are astonishing… And while Donoghue…brilliantly portrays the psyche of a child raised in captivity, the story's intensity cranks up dramatically when, halfway through the novel and after a nail-biting escape attempt, Jack is introduced to the outside world. While there have been several true-life stories of women and children held captive, little has been written about the pain of re-entry, and Donoghue's bravado in investigating that potentially terrifying transformation grants the novel a frightening resonance that will keep readers rapt.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred)

Monday Mentionables: Upcoming Author Appearances

Happy Monday everyone! I have a few upcoming appearances to share:

For my local friends, I'll be signing books with a few other romance authors at the Borders in the Galleria Mall on Saturday, January 29th, from 2-4 pm.

I'll also be on a Sweet Romance panel at the Authors After Dark Conference in Philadelphia in August - more details to follow.

And finally, I've just signed up for the Brooklyn Book Festival in September! I'll be at a table with other romance authors - more details to follow.

As always, I keep my appearances listed over on the right sidebar - please stop and say hi if you're ever in the same place I am!

Writers' Wednesday: Be Persistent, Always

"Writing a book is an adventure. To begin with, it is a toy and an amusement; then it becomes a mistress, and then it becomes a master, and then a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster, and fling him out to the public." ~Winston Churchill


If there is one piece of advice I give new writers, it's this one: be persistent, and develop a thick skin. That second bit is especially important when it comes to hearing the words "No" from an editor, agent, or even reviewer, but it's also important when that voice comes from inside your own head.

What I mean is that it's really important to keep going, keep trying, and if necessary, write and rewrite no matter how many times it takes to get the story right. Most of you know I've been working on my contemporary romance novel Entwined for about a year now. It's messy because it has a few different plot lines and a twist that can't be revealed until precisely the right momet - and I've been having a really tough time putting it all together.

This weekend I got about 3/4 of the way through my 4th draft when I realized, yet again, that certain elements weren't working.

So I stopped. Opened a new draft. Eliminated a huge plot point that I think has been getting in the way, and now I'm on draft #5. Yes, true. Sigh. It's been frustrating for me, I won't lie. And this may end up being a story that doesn't ever find publication. There are some like that. Still, I'm not ready to give up on it just yet. I think Summer's Song ended up with about as many drafts, and it was about 8 years from first draft to final print publication.

So, new writers, stay strong when your manuscript takes a turn (or many turns) for the worse. Be patient with your characters. Call on your beta readers to help you. And hang in there.

Monday Mentionables: A Day of Remembrance

In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, here's his great "I Have a Dream" speech. It's definitely worth watching/listening to. Enjoy & be inspired :)

Friday Fun Facts: A New Zodiac?

Did you see the latest article about the zodiac signs changing? According to the change in the Earth's rotation, I would apparently no longer be a Sagittarius (what??!) but now an Ophiuchus:

According to astrological principles, the Sun travels from the constellation Scorpius and goes directly into the sign of Sagittarius, but due to the constant motion of the cosmos, the Sun enters, for a few days of the year, the star constellation 'Ophiuchus' before entering Sagittarius from Scorpius, thus creating astrologically the birth of a thirteenth sign of the Zodiac, which is named as Ophiuchus the Serpent Holder.

The constellation of Ophiuchus is the only sign of the Zodiac which is linked to a real man. This man lived in ancient Egypt around the 27th century BC, and his name was Imhotep. The attributes of Imhotep can also be found in the Biblical Hebrew man Joseph, son of Jacob.. Imhotep is credited with many accomplishments including the knowledge and use of medicine. It is said of Imhotep that he brought the art of healing to mankind.The symbol of a serpent, which is still widely used today to represent the medical profession, was used to represent Imhotep. Imhotep was also known as 'Aesclepius' to the ancient Greeks.

I'm not sure what to make of this news. You?

Writers' Wednesday: Staying Warm and Watching the Snow

Snow day! That means another day of writing for me (well, in addition to finally taking down the rest of the holiday decorations and doing a little cleaning as well).



Making progress on Entwined, which includes adding a brand new character. I kind of hate doing that, only because it requires going back to the start, but I realized I really think my heroine needs a friend/confidante, so she's getting one.



In other news, check out this website for motivation from fellow authors about staying healthy: The Healthy Writer.



And I wanted to give a shout out to fellow HVRWA member Wendy Marcus, whose debut novel When One Night Isn't Enough... (a medical romance to Harlequin Mills and Boon) is featured in the "First Sales" column of the Romance Writers' Report. Congrats Wendy!!

Monday Mentionables: Write for the One-Inch Picture Frame

Another really good piece of advice from Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, a great little writing book I'm reading now:

The moment you feel overwhelmed by writing a scene or a chapter or - good lord - an entire book, tell yourself that all you have to write at that moment is enough words to view through a one-inch picture frame. This is probably equivalent to the first moment we meet a character, opening a door and walking through it, or a few lines of dialogue between a man and a woman thinking about breaking up, or a lonely dog looking in the windows on a cold night. You get the idea. It's a snippet. A step. That's all you have to do, just enough to fill a one-inch frame.

Lamott writes, "You don't have to see where you're going, you don't have to see your destination or everything you will pass along the way. You just have to see two or three feet ahead of you. This is right up there with the best advice about writing, or life, I have ever heard."

So soldier on, and keep this in mind when you're feeling overwhelmed at that keyboard. One inch at a time. That's all. Happy writing!

Friday Fun Facts

The best fun fact of the day is that we're enjoying our first snow day! Would have had one last week with the big storm, but we were already on Christmas break. Having it on a Friday, making for a 3-day weekend, is a little sweeter.

That also means, since school just started up again, I don't have any paperwork or grading to do, so I can devote myself to writing for much of the day. Hooray!

And just because I love Joshua Radin and this new song of his...Enjoy :)

Writers' Wednesday: Dedicating Novels

Dedications - they're always a fun part of putting the finishing touches on a novel for me. I have 5 books in print, and my 5 dedications have been, in order to the following:

1. My parents & my 5th grade teacher
2. My husband
3. My sister and my best friend
4. My father (after he passed away)
5. Two of my oldest and best friends from childhood/college

My mom emailed to ask me about that last one, after she'd finished Summer's Song. She wondered if I'd told my one friend it was dedicated to her. I hadn't, partly, because by the time a book makes it to print, I've sometimes forgotten about the dedication. And partly, I'm not in close touch with that friend anymore. But it did get me to thinking - since I thought enough of our friendship back then to name her in the opening pages of a book, I probably should let her know, hm?

Fellow authors, what about you? How do you choose your book dedications - and do you always let the person know when you've chosen them?

Monday Mentionables: The Pressure of Publication

"To reach a port, we must sail—Sail, not tie at anchor—Sail, not drift." ~Franklin Roosevelt

For the first time in 4 years, I'm looking at a new year that doesn't have a book scheduled to come out. That is not really a good thing. True, I spent much of 2010 working on a Young Adult and promoting my two other romance releases, but I still can't believe I let a year+ slip away without signing a contract for another book.

It's tough, especially when you are juggling a full-time job along with writing, but here's the thing to be aware of: if you are a new or aspiring author, it's really important to look at your career and build a steady backlist of books. Your name grows with every new release (as do your sales and royalties). Readers grow to wait for your next book, and if it doesn't come, well...

In a very practical sense, I also heard recently from a fellow author that she'd been "fired" by her small press since she hadn't signed a contract with them in 2 years. Now, this doesn't mean a whole lot except that if she chooses to resubmit to them, she can no longer submit to the editor she worked with before. She has to submit through the slush pile along with everyone else. Maybe not as terrible as having rights revoked or being blacklisted from the publishing company, but it's still a step backwards. And that's a step I don't want to find myself taking in a few months!

So my goal is to finish (yes, really finish) Entwined and submit it by the end of January. I'd also like to rework a novella that's about 22K right now and submit that as well, by the end of March. Those are my two goals for the first half of the year...in the spring I'll reassess.

What about your goals, writing or otherwise?

Happy New Year!

“For last year's words belong to last year's language and next year's words await another voice.” ~T.S. Eliot

Wow, here we are, another New Year's Eve. What are your plans? Something out and extravagant? Or something quiet and at home? Will you stay up to see the ball drop or raise a glass earlier and go to bed long before the stroke of midnight?

There's something about a new year that inspires us to change, to reach, to set goals or perhaps reflect on those we set one year ago. It's like a Monday. Or the first day of summer break. Or the day you wake up after a loss and realize this really is the first day of a whole new existence.

I'm not sure what I'd like to accomplish in 2011. I'd like to continue to enjoy my health - that's probably my #1 goal. I'd like to sign another publishing contract - that's a close #2. I'd like to travel someplace I've never been before and I'd like to meet someone new.

I think that's enough for today. Mostly, I'd like to remember to take advantage of every day, to appreciate the little things and always keep a positive outlook. And you? My wish for all you blog readers is that you have a safe, warm, wonderful 2011 - and that whatever your dreams and goals are, they come true!

Writers' Wednesday: Words from Writer's Digest

Time for my round-up of the January 2011 Writer's Digest - there are always so many good nuggets of information, it's tough to pull out my favorites. But here you go!

One author featured in the Debut Writers section talked about finding his first agent. He rewrote the entire structure of his book, which took several months, and then ultimately the agent who requested that change declined representation. In the end, though, he found an agent based on that revision. Talk about believing in yourself even after rejection!

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"8 Ways to Write a 5-Star Chapter Chapter One" has terrific advice for tackling that challenging part of a novel. My favorite piece of advice: agents are editors are looking for "honest, original, and brave" writing - not perfect or careful. Free yourself to be daring & different, and that's what can grab them. Among two "great chapter ones" mentioned: Jane Eyre and Little House in the Big Woods.

"Hooked on a Feeling" talks about emotion-driven ways to develop characters. Among the advice I really liked: make a list of people from your life (include a few physical details & their effect on you) that could include the following: a family member you're close to a family member you dislike, your first love, your greatest love, the person from childhood who annoyed you most, the person from adulthood who annoys you most, your favorite co-worker, an older person who inspires you, a person you deal with on a daily basis...There are more, but that gets you started thinking how many real-life characters you can draw from when you write.

And "What to do When Your Novel Stalls" was great for me because I am STILL struggling through a 3rd? 4th? revision of Entwined. The article compares fixing your novel to diagnosing and repairing a car and has some good advice for jump-starting problem areas or dealing with your own insecurites and doubts: "Expecting too much from an early draft will result in frustration and disappointment. You write a first draft in order to have something to revise. It will be a failure. Writers are the ones who don't let failure stop them."

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There are also great articles on finding a mentor, saving face after email gaffes, and other secrets to great story-telling.

OK, venture forth and create! Happy writing :)

Monday Mentionables: Regrouping After the Holiday

Well, we didn't get a white Christmas after all - but the snow arrived last night, about 6" worth. Depending on where you are, you probably got more than we did!

Hope everyone had a nice holiday - ours was busy but filled with friends and family, all the most important things we need :) I actually blogged over at Samhain on December 25th - if you didn't have a chance to see it, please stop by and check it out :) The post was inspired by a conversation hubby and I had a couple days before the holiday, all about shopping for people and how we decide what to buy.

And here are some pictures from our Christmas!

Stockings (sans mantle)

Smooch helping to open gifts, of course

Hanna, our exchange student, making traditional Norwegian Christmas porridge

Yum!