Sunday Summary & #ROW80

1. The Writing: My Margie Lawson Writer’s Academy class ended this week. I still have a few assignments to do that I haven’t been able to get my head around or just ran out of time. I have all the lessons and got some great feedback on some WIP related assignments which will definitely help with revisions/edits of one story. I think I better bake up some brownies and crack open that bottle of chocolate wine for the muse… Hope she’ll share
2. Have your characters ever surprised you? Check out Joely Sue Burkhart’s guest post about some of the surprises her characters hit her with during the writing of Yours to Take. Psst…there’s a giveaway.
3. SynTAROTis posed an interesting question this week: Can a skeptic use Tarot cards for introspection? Of course, the site’s tagline is ‘the skeptic’s tarot’ so obviously she does. What I liked about the post was I could see applying the process to writing.
4. The Reading: I just finished The Last Good Man by Kathleen Eagle. Fabulous. Savannah was completely relatable in her struggle to heal from depression to hope and finding her HEA. This story touched a cord with me. I’ve lost a grandmother and an aunt to breast cancer but, thankfully, I also have three aunts and a cousin who’ve beaten the beast.
5. Roni Loren had a fascinating post about the hard truths readers are facing in today’s new world of books. As writers, there are more options for getting our work out there to readers. Kait Nolan mentioned last year, eBooks are the new pulp fiction (not the movie, LOL) in which authors are — or should be — learning on the job. Then Maria Zannini posted about the free book paradox. As readers, that means our job of selecting books is tougher. How do you select what you read?
6. The Blogging: Ha! Built the queue back up this week. Whew! What a relief. That counts as writing, right? I think I hit my comment goal but the three-day weekend and more mice babies born Friday threw my tracking for a loop. Can’t imagine why :snicker:
7. The Social Media: I ‘think’ I did pretty well here. I had a Twitter conversation with @neostateofmind (aka Angela Brown) and some fun with Jenny Hansen on Facebook. And I even updated Goodreads, LOL.
8. The Health: Dog walking pretty much sucked this week. I need to get new shoes that’s all there is to it. I can’t deal with the blisters on top of the blisters on top of the blisters. Sugar and caffeine reduction is on track and I’m feeling really good about my progress. The water intake went well 5 of the last 7 days though I failed to reach my 8 glasses per day goal. As we’re in the triple digits, and not likely to dip below that for the next 3 to 4 months, I really need to get a handle on this.
9. Once again the fabulous August McLaughlin covered healthy eating with her 5 Steps Toward Healthy Sweets Success post. She even shared a delicious flourless cake recipe!
10. Maria Zannini also had an excellent post on pet first aid. I have a pretty well stocked general first aid cabinet in my house due to the wee beasties, which carries over nicely to the fur babies, thanks to my mum being a nurse and teaching its importance at an early age. Are you ready for an emergency?
11. To support the awesomeness that is ROW80 you can go HERE

Character Surprises with Joely Sue Burkhart

I met Joely Sue Burkhart through one of Lynn Viehl’s Left Behind and Loving It ‘online conferences’ and began stalking reading everything she wrote. Over the years we became friends: cheering, crying, supporting, and giving the occasional kick in the arse to each other. It is with extreme pleasure I welcome Joely here today.

Take it away Joely!

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Surprises

It never matters how much plotting I do — the characters still manage to surprise me before I hit “the end.” When I started planning and writing Yours to Take, all I really knew up front was that Vicki wanted a menage. I didn’t know who the men were or what brought them together at first. So here are a few surprises that she sprung on me as I started writing…

1. Vicki’s a switch. I suspected, given her family history (Victor, Conn, and Mama Connagher are all dominants) that she’d be dominant too. But until Elias walked in, I didn’t know that she’d also play a more submissive role. Granted, she makes him work for it…
2. Jesse’s so submissive he’s scary. He’s willing to do absolutely anything Vicki tells him, which petrifies her (and me!).
3. But Jesse’s also got a very strong core. I knew he was a survivor and he’s certainly seen a lot in his life, but it surprised me when he stood up to Rodgers and even Elias when it came to Vicki’s welfare. Jesse may be putty in Vicki’s hands, but if she’s ever threatened or upset, he’s a strong shoulder for her to lean on.
4. Elias can be an alphahole. I love alpha men, don’t get me wrong, but he can be a jerk too. His pride is a problem that gets in the way of him reconciling with Vicki after they separated three months before. He recognizes when he’s being a jerk, but he’s not a warm and fuzzy sort of guy. He’s certainly not going to quote poetry like Conn! Luckily Vicki doesn’t take any of Elias’s shit. She’s more than strong enough to smack him down when he’s being too arrogant.
5. Vicki’s favorite pastime (other than designing her own line or loving her men)… zombie movies. I love zombie stories, don’t get me wrong, but I haven’t seen too many zombie movies that I could watch more than once. She loves them all, from the old black and white Night of the Living Dead
   to Zombieland.

If you’re a writer, what’s the biggest shocker your characters have pulled on you?

Readers, what has surprised you in a favorite book?

One commenter will win a free eCopy of Yours to Take: The Connaghers, Book 3!

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All fire and gunpowder need is a stray spark…

The day one of her old clients gunned down a cop, former defense attorney Vicki Connagher lost everything—her passion for justice, and her lover, Detective Elias Reyes. The dead cop’s partner.

Even though she’s following her dream to start her own fashion line, it’s tough with heartache as her only companion. Until she brings Jesse, a wandering street artist, in from a freak Texas snowstorm. His submissive flirting brings out dominant tendencies she never knew she possessed, yet she hesitates to let him take her as far and as hard as she wants to go.

Some homeless junkie in Vicki’s house? Not on Elias’s watch. Pride kept him away, but as long as Jesse is staying in Vicki’s downstairs shop, he’s staying with Vicki. On the couch, but it’s a start.

As the days go by, the three work out an uneasy alliance. But Vicki’s joy at having Elias back in her life is tempered with a growing desire to have it all. Elias in her bed, and Jesse under her command. The only question remaining is if her tough alpha cop is willing to embrace all that she is…

Bio: Joely always has her nose buried in a book, especially one with mythology, fairy tales, and romance. You can find her on her website, Twitter, and Facebook. Be sure to check out her free reads!

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Congrats Natalie Hartford you are the winner

of the Yours to Take giveaway!

Sunday Summary & #ROW80

1. The Writing: Still muse-less. I’ve done some morning pages but nothing is being unlocked. I’ve done some work on blog posts. So not a completely writing free week. Since nothing is speaking to me, I decided a class was in order. I started The Art of Developing Great Conflict through Margie Lawson’s Academy on Friday. Unfortunately, my muse-less state is making the very first exercise a challenge!
2. Roni Loren had a fabulous post on her pre-writing steps which I loved as it feels a lot like what I do but more.
3. The Reading: I read Rise From Darkness (Battle for Souls) by Ciara Knight. I’d picked it up when it was first released but hadn’t got around to reading it. Then I recommended it to my niece and was grilled for details, LOL. So I read. Still haven’t decided on a craft book but I think the above mentioned class counts.
4. My friend and mentor, Joely Sue Burkhart has a new release coming out on Tuesday, book three in the Connaghers series. Yours to Take is Vicki’s story. And oh what a story. Additionally, Joely will be stopping by the blog later in the month. Squee!
5. The Blogging: Check with the initial goal (blog 3 times a week, comment on at least 3 blogs per day, and 2 new blogs each week). And Check with the new goal of writing and scheduling a post toward my month’s worth of posts.
6. Speaking of blogs, my friend and mentor, Maria Zannini has started a new blog about Getting Back to Basics. She’s going to have tips on budgets, saving on groceries, shopping garage sales, and many, many more subjects.
7. The Social Media: Not so good on the conversation or non-blog related updates end of this goal. I’m feeling rather uninteresting at the moment, LOL. I’m pretty sure I meet the sharing part though.
8. The Health: I think I averaged 5 glasses of water a day. As we’ve already jumped above 100 for a few days this year, I really need to focus on getting up to 8 glasses, minimum, and maintaining. Sugar reduction is going a lot easier than I expected. Perhaps because it’s a reduction not a deletion. So using the same mindset, I’m going to add reducing the caffeine as well. I probably drink 6 to 8 caffeinated beverages a day, not counting other caffeine sources. Dog walking went pretty well. We got in 3 quality walks (25 minutes each) plus 2 meet the kids at the bus stop/park kind of walks. Still aiming for the quality walks every morning, baby steps, then increasing the length of time of those morning walks.
9. The Life List Club blog is full of uplifting and supportive posts. This week’s offering is from Sherry Isaac, Weigh the Method, Relish the Outcome, and I was struck by the question “are you ‘disturbed’ enough to effect the change?”
10. To support the awesomeness that is ROW80 you can go HERE

Teaser Tuesday: Yours to Take

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

It’d started innocently enough. Every time she was over by the park for lunch, she’d stop by his favorite bench beneath the largest tree.

Yours to Take

by Joely Sue Burkhart

releasing May 8th.

Your turn. In the comments, share your 2 sentence teaser, because our reading lists can never be too long