Welcome Kate Hill

Hello Kate. Tell us about yourself.

I’m a forty-something vegetarian New Englander who loves to read, write, work out and watch horror and action movies.

I love connecting with readers, so I visit my publishers’ yahoo/chat groups as often as I can. Also I enjoy hosting special events at my site, such as my annual Halloween page. I have a blog, yahoo group and a website that’s regularly updated. I’m also on Twitter.

My latest series is Combustion, which is published by Changeling Press. It’s erotic science fiction that focuses on a group of aliens who are temporarily stranded on Earth. Trouble in Paradise is my first independently published story. It’s a traditional romantic adventure.
I wanted to write a traditional romance with a heroine who was a little unconventional for her time. Also I wanted to work on a story with a bit more of a buildup to the hero and heroine getting into bed than what I generally write for my current publishers.

Are you a plotter or a pantser, Kate?  

I guess I’m a bit of both, although I’m more of a plotter. Before I start writing, I like to know my characters pretty well and I also need to have a loose outline so I know where the story is going.

Are you traditionally published, self-published or both? 

Both. I write regularly for Changeling Press and I’ve also been published by Ellora’s Cave and New Concepts Publishing. They’ve been fantastic to work with. Trouble in Paradise is my first self-published book. I didn’t feel it would fit well with any of my publishers, so instead of submitting it I decided to publish it independently. Right now I’m revising a previously published story to re-release independently. It will probably be out toward the end of this year or early next year.
I’ve only had one book self-published so far, but I found it to be a lot of work and pretty stressful. With a publisher, you have a lot of help. You’re supplied with editors and cover art. The publisher oversees distribution of the book. Self-published authors are in charge of everything and it takes a lot of time and effort, but it has a tradeoff. You get to see the kind of story you want to write done exactly how you want it, from cover art to characterization. It took over a year of revisions before I felt Trouble in Paradise was in shape to be published.

How do you create sexual tension in your romances? For me it depends on the characters. For some, lust-at-first-sight works. Others take more time before they get together. In Trouble in Paradise, when Grace and RC first meet, she’s completely disgusted with him and with good reason. Once he cleans up his act, she finds him hard to resist.

Do you have any rejection stories to share? Tons!! Rejection just goes with the territory. One that stands out in my mind is a rejection letter that told me my character who was a college student acted too much like a college student. I’m still trying to figure that one out! I eventually sold the story, but I’m still amused by that particular criticism.

What is your writing routine like? I set aside a certain amount of time each day for writing, editing and promo. Since I love keeping calendars and charts, I use them to keep track of my time and drive my family crazy leaving them all over the house.

What are you reading now? Right now I’m reading Making Waves by Cathryn Fox and Jaci Burton.

We’d love a blurb and an excerpt from your latest book.

Trouble in Paradise by Kate Hill (Romantic Suspense) Available at
All Romance Ebooks
https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-troubleinparadise-1153845-152.html
Barnes & Noble
http://tinyurl.com/d2ok42u
Smashwords
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/302667

Before cell phones and reality TV, when women had big hair and men were all about action and adventure, a girl walks into a bar searching for a hero. She finds R. C. Benson, a soldier turned grave robber wallowing in past sins. With a marriage of convenience, a pet shark and a shady butler, Grace and R. C. have their work cut out for them, but that gives them the perfect chance to fall in love.

Excerpt:
“That was some night.” Grace slipped off her shoes once she and R. C. returned to their hotel room. “I can’t wait to get to bed.”
He rubbed his hands together. “Now you’re talking.”
Grace shot him a serious look and pointed in his face. “Remember this is not for real. If you think I’m having sex with you, you’re crazy.”
“Of course I’m crazy. I’ve gone along with this ridiculous idea of yours, haven’t I?”
“I mean it, Benson. You come near me and I’ll castrate you.”
He chuckled and winced at the same time. “Oh and you’d try, too.”
“You can count on it.”
“Well you can’t blame me for trying.” He hung his jacket next to the others in the closet and removed his tie. He unbuttoned his shirt, revealing the lean, hair-dusted chest she longed to caress.
“I’m changing in the bathroom,” she said.
“You like the right side of the bed or the left?”
She glanced over her shoulder, one hand on the bathroom door. “I said I’m not sleeping with you.”
“No. You said you’re not having sex with me. If you think I’m going to sleep on the floor, you’re the one who’s nuts.”
“Fine. I’ll sleep on the floor, seeing how you’re such a gentleman.”
“The bed is king size. You don’t even have to touch me.”
“Damn right about that.”
“Look.” He piled pillows down the center of the bed. “How’s that?”
She narrowed her eyes. The thought of sleeping on the floor wasn't appealing.
“When we get to the island, we’re going to have to share everything, so we might as well start now.”

http://www.kate-hill.com
http://www.twitter.com/katehillromance
http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/katehill/info

Kate is giving away a pdf copy of her book to one lucky commenter.

6 Books for 99 cents!

I have joined forces with five other authors in publishing an anthology of romance stories that is now on sale for a limited time for only 99 cents. See details at the end of the blog.
One of my fellow anthologists is Mona Risk. She is my guest today talking about the book she contributed to the set, Neighbors and More.
Welcome, Mona.

Anna, thank you for inviting me to your beautiful blog and allowing me to present my romance novel, NEIGHBORS AND MORE, that is one of the ebooks bundled in THE ULTIMATE ROMANCE box set.

Where did the inspiration for this book come from? The dictionary defines neighbor as someone who lives near or stands next to another. In my book, the neighbor is any one of the people living in the four-hundred condos of the Blue Waves High Rise on the beach.

Ten years ago I moved from a house to an apartment in a multi-unit building. Downsizing and getting rid of numerous souvenirs was painful enough. Little did I know that living next to so many neighbors would involve losing part of the freedom I took for granted when I dwelt in a house.

My neighbors consist mainly of retirees who live all year round in their condos—and keep a pair of binoculars within reach to peek into their neighbors’ places, the pool area, or the beach terrace. In addition, you can count several snowbird couples who fly to Florida in winter, a few young working white collars who rent for a year or two to enjoy the proximity of the beach, and two or three families with a child. Our high rise is quite cosmopolitan, with South American, Russian, Canadian, French, Swedish, Greek condo owners,... A real Tower of Babel.

Soon enough I realized that the gorgeous and serene scenery surrounding us could hide many potential tempests. And I am not talking of the hurricanes or tropical storms only. Passions can simmer and sizzle when you live too close for comfort.

The real examples following astounded me and became inspiration. The woman on the fifth floor broke a stormy affair with her lover from the tenth; the old widower on the twentieth floor married the young divorcee from the third floor, and died three months later. The neighbor on the seventh floor got drunk and drowned in the hot spa. A lady from the tenth floor disappeared for several days and was found floating on the shore five miles away.

As you can see, life was not boring in a high rise. Actually it was too eventful for my taste. I changed building, and discovered a new set of stories. That is when I decided I absolutely had to write a romantic suspense set in a similar high rise.

Neighbors and More is a contemporary romance novel with elements of suspense and humor.
In the Blue Waves High Rise where so many neighbors live too close for comfort, Dante, the handsome Sicilian lawyer, and Alexa, the wealthy young divorcée, try to hide their idyllic romance. When a neighbor drowns in the Jacuzzi, life will forever change in the Blue Waves.

Excerpt:
Wandering to the wall-to-wall bay window, Alexa glanced at the children playing in the pool, the sunbathers lounging on the beach, and the magnificent view of myriad boats gliding on the ocean, on a glorious April afternoon. Too numb to be excited by sceneries she’d always favored, she locked her heart against sentimental regrets and strode to her bedroom where she’d already packed two suitcases.

Get a grip, girl. She needed space to be herself and breathe freely. She’d leave first thing tomorrow, while her nosy neighbors still slept. Would they call her a quitter and other malicious names as they’d called her mother? Maybe the beautiful Annabelle had gone through the same hell before running away with her lover.

Unable to stay a moment longer in her apartment, Alexa slipped on a bikini covered with shorts and a see-through top, ready to go for a last swim and a farewell walk on the beach. As she opened her door, she was caught in a bear hug and pushed back into her condo.

“Oh my God.” Alexa squealed. Her breath jammed in her throat as Dante Cantari kicked her apartment door closed behind them and squeezed her against his chest. “Dante…” A masculine scent mixed with a whiff of lemon enveloped her.

“Cara mia, you are even more beautiful than when I left. Bella... Bellissima.” The Italian hunk in swimming shorts and tank top held her at arm’s length, and offered her a wide grin that brightened her living room more than a noon sun.

Her gaze roamed over his raven black hair, curly and thick, and in need of a cut, a strand falling over his sapphire blue eyes. “I thought you weren’t coming back. I thought you moved somewhere else without telling me. I thought...” Oh dear, she was babbling nonsense. Still unable to believe he was here, holding her, she blinked, glad she hadn’t left in the morning.

“Oh Alexa, I’d never do such a thing. You’re more important to me than you think.”

What do you know? Her wish had come true after all. Right away. She almost giggled. “When did you get back from Sicily?” To make sure she wasn't dreaming, she stroked his chiseled jaw with her fingertips.

Mona's Bio:
From chemistry in the lab to chemistry between people.
To be honest, I never thought that hazardous waste analysis would lead me to write novels, but I grew up surrounded by books, thanks to my father who was a professor and a published author. When my Ph.D. and work in chemistry landed me contracts to refurbish laboratories abroad, I traveled to more than fifty countries on business or vacation. To relax from my hectic schedule, I avidly read romance stories and mentally plotted my own novels. Eventually I left a scientific career to share with readers the many stories brewing in my head.

I write romantic suspense, medical romance, contemporary romances, and paranormal fantasy. Sprinkled with a good dose of humor, my stories are set in the fascinating places I visited, from exotic Belarus, and historical France, to the beaches of Greece, the monuments of Egypt and the mysterious Islands of Seychelles--or more simply in Ohio, Florida, Boston and Washington, DC.

My books have garnered: Top Picks; Outstanding Read; Sweetheart of the Week; Best Book of the Week at various reviewers, and won several awards, from Best Contemporary Romance of the Year at READERS FAVORITE with two Gold Medals, to EPPIE award finalist and Best Romance Novel of the Year at Preditors & Editors Readers Poll. More recently, my ebooks landed on the Amazon bestseller list for contemporary romance and medical romance and my name was posted in the list of The 100 most Popular Authors in Romance for several months.

If you like to travel and love to read, come and enjoy my international romances. Meet the spirited heroines and the alpha heroes who share irresistible chemistry in stories that simmer with emotion and sizzle with heat.

http://www.amazon.com/Mona-Risk/e/B002E1GCIM
www.monarisk.com

Thanks for being here, Mona.

THANK YOU for the opportunity to feature my book on your blog. Click here for the Box Set.

Lynda Bailey

Welcome, Lynda.

Thanks so much, Anna, for letting me hang out with you today!

I live in Reno, Nevada with my Prince Charming of 30 years. I’m a former stagehand, certified welder and fitness instructor. When not in my cave writing, I divide my time between digging in the dirt and walking the dogs.

A welder! Fantastic. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be?
Actually I don’t think I’d choose to live anywhere but in Reno. I know it sounds corny, but I've got mountains, desert, the beautiful Lake Tahoe, all within an hour’s drive. And San Francisco is a mere four hours away as are the awesome wineries in Amador County, California. 

Sounds wonderful. How did you get started writing?
I suppose like most authors, writing has been a part of my world since I was a child. I've always loved making up stories, whether in my head or on paper. It such an added bonus to actually get paid for doing what I love!

I agree. Tell us about your current WIP.

My newest release, BATTLE-TESTED LOVE, is the second book in my *Battle for Love* series. It’s about a decent guy who does a bad thing for a good reason – and the adventure-seeking gal who gets caught up in the action.

I'm intrigued. What was the deciding factor in self-publishing your books?
I simply wanted them published. I’m not one to send out query after query, waiting for a traditional publisher to notice me. I’m just not that patient.  I’m more an instant gratification person, which meant overcoming my techno inadequacies and self-pubbing my books.

You sound like a gal after my own heart! What advice do you have for other authors wanting to self-publish?
Make sure the mechanics of your stories are the best they can be: the plot, the characters and their motivations, the conflict—everything. I’m extremely blessed to have several terrific critique partners as well as some great beta readers who don’t allow me to get away with shoddy work.

Can you list some Pros/Cons of self-publishing?
There are two major *cons* for me in self-publishing: techno problems with formatting and having to promote yourself. Fortunately, there are numerous Yahoo and Google author groups where information and expertise is freely shared. The biggest *pro* for me is having my books available to readers – right now.J

What is most difficult for you to write? Characters, conflict or emotions? Why?
My greatest issue is nailing down the characters’ motivations. If I get that wrong, I spin in circles worse that Roger Rabbit.

Are you a plotter or a pantser?
Total plotter.

What do you have planned for the future? How far do you plan ahead?
I've got a Christmas short story coming out in late November. It’s part of a new anthology of short stories titled *Holiday Hunks* which will center around the different holidays. In 2014, I plan to release the third novella in my *Heartache and Hopeful* series as well as the first story in my *Trustworthy Texas* trilogy. I like to have at least three releases per year.

Where can readers find you?
Readers can check out my website: www.lyndabailey.net;

Like me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LyndaBaileyRomanceAuthor;

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/authorlyndab; 

Or find me on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6472849.Lynda_Bailey

Where can readers find your books? Print/Ebook?
All my books are available at Amazon.com and most are for sale at Barnesandnoble.com. Three of my books, BATTLE-BORN LOVE, WILDFLOWER and NAUGHTY NEIGHBORHOOD are also available in print through Createspace.com.

Thanks again to Anna for hosting me today!

Thanks for sharing, Lynda.

E. Ayers and the Rejection Letter

   Hi, Anna, thanks for inviting me to be on your blog. Waving a big hello to all of Anna's friends. I love meeting new people so don't forget to leave a comment, because someone is going to win a free book if they do!
   Anna and I were talking about the road to publication and I think I got lucky, very lucky. I started this journey writing books for my children. Then I got serious and decided that I'd like to write for actual publication, even though it was a tough field that wasn't open to many authors. Seems the publishing industry thought if you were in a certain grade then you should be reading …and that didn't work for me, my children, or my grandchildren, but things have changed over the years and so did my writing.
   My dearest friend has a daughter, Marjorie, who is multi-published in romance. That daughter told me to write romances. I laughed at her. Then she told me a few things and I quit laughing. I sat at the computer and wrote my first romance over fifteen years ago. Except, it wasn't exactly a romance because it had very strong mainstream elements. I sent it to Marjorie who by this time was part owner of an epub. She wrote me back and told me it wasn't sexy enough. Well, needless to say, this kind of passing the manuscript back and forth went on for months. I found out about things like point of view. Oh my gosh! I had a crash course in writing, or at least, I thought I did, except I had barely scratched the surface.
   Then my friend's daughter suggested that I submit to the editor of her publishing company. I was concerned that my name might be too well known because of the closeness to Marjorie, so I submitted under a different name and held my breath. And held it, and held it. Then it came…THE REJECTION LETTER!
    By that time, I had joined a local RWA group, and had started taking several writing classes online. I knew about those horrible rejection letters. The ones that make people cry for weeks and tell them how English must not be their first language or worse, it's a form letter that says almost nothing other than no thanks. I had a real letter and it was nice!
   I picked up the phone, called across the USA to Marjorie, and asked if she told the editor who I was. Marjorie said no. She didn't even know I had received a letter. I read it to her. I had a three-page letter from the editor, Stephanie, telling me how wonderful my story was and with it, several suggestions to make it better.
   Now here comes the fun part. That small pub was going to be at a conference that was being held near me and I was slated to go to it, which meant meeting that editor. I was so excited. Marjorie even gave me the hotel room number. I wasn't going to stalk Stephanie to her room. But I did set up an appointment to meet with her.
   I promise the last thing an editor wants to do is meet with someone they just rejected. But when Stephanie realized I was not some crazed woman, and I only wanted to chat about her suggestions, she definitely chatted! She spent two hours with me explaining things. All these years later, I know that rejection was the best thing that could have happened to me. I don’t write erotic and I never will - it's not in me. That publisher is best known for its erotic romances. That's not where my stories belong. I write adult as opposed to children's stories, and I expect that my readers are mature enough to know that there's more than simple kissing in a loving relationship.
   Stephanie went one step further and personally introduced me to several well-known authors including Janet Lane Walters who co-wrote a book on writing. I got Janet's book and we stayed in touch. That's when I learned that it wasn't just a matter of telling a good story - I had to learn to craft it. Every time I learned something new, I went back and fixed that very first story.
When I was certain that it was the best possible story that I could write, I submitted it to a well-known agent whom I'd pitched at another conference. I held my breath…and held it…and held it. She sent me a brief letter about nine months later saying she had read the story, and it was under consideration. Okay, I was excited, but what exactly did under consideration mean? So I held my breath for another six months. In the meantime, every author I knew who had submitted to her had been rejected before that nine months had lapsed.
   Marjorie had told me to keep writing. Write the next book, so I did, and I wrote another. By that time, I had a New York Times best-selling author who was mentoring me. She kept saying that no news is good news, and that my work was worthy of being represented. Then it came. I ripped that envelope open and held that letter in my hands. My insides were quivering. I was afraid to look.
   Three times I read it. "I loved this story… I must be very selective…" She turned me down! Okay, I cried that time. I called my mentor and with tears blurring my vision, I read her the letter. How can someone praise my story and then turn it down?
   The answer was not that difficult to understand. At the time, there were big publishing houses and a few epubs. You had to fit into the big houses' little pigeonholes or they wouldn't accept it. I didn't fit. I also didn't fit with the epubs that tended to publish hotter stories. I kept writing. Then I got my lucky break and a contract. Except, I watched my story being changed in edits to match a more traditional romance. I didn't like what was happening to my story or my characters. It was not what I wanted. Instead of being happy, I had this horrible, suffocating, wet wool blanket of depression being heaped on me with each batch of edits.
   Break a contract? That was insane! But I did it. It was my name on the cover, and I wanted to be proud of what I had written. I had to stand up for myself and my characters.
   Then I sat on my derrière, watched, and waited for something wonderful to happen. It didn't happen to me, but I saw another author independently publish a book and then a bunch of books. They sold like crazy. She talked me through the steps. I published a novella and waited. I was told if I sold twenty-five books that first month, I would be very lucky. I sold one hundred. I published another novella, then I published that very first novel, Wanting.
   It was a long road to get where I am now and I learned a lot along the way. Wanting was the first in my River City novels about young urbanites who are trying to make their world a little better. Think mid-sized city tucked in the middle Atlantic states of the USA. It's totally fictional but very similar to several such cities. I followed the novel Wanting with A New Beginning, then A Challenge, Forever, A Son, and A Child's Heart. And there are more coming! They don't need to be read in order. The glue that holds them together is the city.
   They all have those heavy mainstream elements, but they also have the happily ever after of a romance. Just as people in real life have plenty of problems, so do my River City characters. A Son deals with prejudice. Some folks believe it doesn't exist, but it still does. Lucky are those who never feel it. Most of my novels tackle some gritty subjects from sexual abuse to trying to mesh different lives on different schedules into a cohesive relationship. People have complicated lives, they have jobs, they have skeletons in their closets, and falling in love is never easy. Well, maybe the falling is but fitting it into a life isn't. And people aren't perfect. I do not write normal romances. It's called slice-of-life writing and I write the romantic slice. That means all the other stuff in life comes with it.
   I love writing the River City novels. My latest one, A Child's Heart, wasn't always easy to write. There was so much going on and so many conflicting emotions. When I'm writing, these characters are alive within me, and what happens to them affects me as the author. I become the means for them to tell their story. They drive me. And these two drove me crazy!

    Trent was a young widower. With his mom's guidance, he grew into a wonderful father. And Cassie…Well, Cassie is Cassie, and she's older than Trent. She has this tremendous passion for history and she loves her job as River City's museum curator. On the outside, she looks sweet and conservative, but inside, she's got a wild streak. And she's being harassed by the city manager. She also understands the relationship between Trent and his mom. She's a PhD from a wealthy Boston family, and he's blue collar from the low end of middle class in River City. Just be prepared for a roller coaster ride as Trent and Cassie figure out that they have a relationship worthy of a lifetime commitment, while Shawn's life dangles precariously as he awaits heart surgery.

Excerpt? You want an excerpt? Okay. How about that first kiss? I love first kisses. Who doesn't?

Cassie pulled in front of a small home that looked exactly like every other house in the working class neighborhood. Tiny, cookie-cutter houses sat on postage-sized lots. The Callahan home was painted a pale yellow with dark gray shutters and trim. The grass was recently cut, and a few petunias were planted around the base of the lamppost. She parked her car and drew in a deep breath as she gathered up the two books.
“Hi,” she said when Trent opened the door. “I brought something for Shawn.”
“Come on in. He’s not here right now. My mom took him shopping for some slippers and a robe. He’s going to need them for the hospital. They say he’ll be there for a while.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I should have called first. Tate gave me your address, and I thought I’d stop on the way home, since you weren't very far out of the way.”
“You live in the area?”
“Not really. I have an apartment in Sweet Grandview.”
“This is not exactly on your way home from the museum.”
“It’s not, but it’s not that far, either.” She forced another smile.
He glanced at his watch. “They should be home soon. Would you like a glass of iced tea?”
“Thanks. I’d appreciate that.” She gazed at Trent standing there in his work uniform, his name written in an oval under the embroidered company name. “What exactly does River City Manufacturing manufacture?”
“Countertops. We measure, custom cut, and install counters for both commercial and home use.”
“Oh. What do you do?”
“Everything. Mostly, I handle the computer and oversee the shop. It’s a rather involved process. The measurements are dropped into the computer, which then runs the saws that cut the counters.”
She followed him through the tiny house to the modern kitchen. “Cute kitchen.”
“Thanks. My mom loves it. I tore out what existed a few years ago. I made the cabinets from scratch and the countertops are leftovers from a large job the company did awhile back.”
“Granite?”
He nodded, opened a cabinet, and withdrew two glasses. “I've got a small woodshop in the backyard.”
“I’m impressed. You do beautiful work.”
“Thanks.” He handed her a glass of iced tea.
She put the two books on the counter and accepted the glass. Her fingers touched his, sending a spark though her body. Gazing into his eyes, she smiled. A golden blonde lock fell across his forehead, and she noticed slight dimples when he returned the smile.
Broad shoulders filled his shirt, and golden hair covered his forearms. Desire filled her as she stared at the man with gray-blue eyes.
He returned the stare and she found herself lured to him. Golden-brown eyelashes framed his penetrating gaze. Taking a sip of the sweet liquid only enhanced the burning inside her. His fingers wrapped around the glass and removed it from her clutch as his mouth covered hers.
Sweet, probing kisses caused her to close her eyes, as she was drawn to him by the magnificent sensation that streamed through her body. Her hands found his shoulders, as his arms locked her into his embrace. Her hips swayed against the soft bulge in his pants. His hand on the small of her back pulled her tight to him. The room vanished. All that was left, were two bodies pressed together.
His tongue danced with hers as her pelvis rode his hardening length. Her breasts burned. She clawed at the fabric covering his shoulders. It was primal and she lost herself in the ancient ritual. Heat flowed through her until it peaked, causing a groan to escape her throat. Her lips unlocked from his, and she buried her face into his chest. The course material was permeated with the pungent smell of perspiration and oil. Inhaling deeply, it was nauseating, exciting, and very masculine. Reality hit, sending a jolt through her system. She let go of him and turned away. “I’m so sorry. I can’t believe I just did that.”
His hands grabbed her shoulders and pulled her back to him. “I’m not sure exactly what happened, but it was terrific." His breath flowed over her face as he spoke. "I should be apologizing to you. I've never spontaneously kissed someone before.” His voice was deep and raspy. “I've heard it said that you can tell a lot from a first kiss, and that was one hell of a first kiss.”
“I’m so embarrassed.”
“Why? It was awesome.” He pulled her tight to his body.
Her gaze locked with his as his lips once again touched hers. Her knees weakened and her body trembled. Wanting to flee, she found herself riveted in place. His tongue found hers. Heat coursed through her as the room began to swim. A gray cloud enveloped her until there was nothing.
“Hi, welcome back. Feeling any better?” Trent asked.
Cassie looked up at the man kneeling beside her. “What happened?”
“You fainted. I was about to call 9-1-1. You've been out for a few minutes.” She started to sit up, but he gently pushed her back down. “You’re not going anywhere. Take a couple of deep breaths.”
“I’m fine.”
He ran a finger across her cheek as he stared into her crystal blue pools. “You remind me of a china doll, perfectly beautiful.”
“Please, let me get up.”
“Slowly.” He offered her his hand.
Making her sit at the kitchen table, he brought her the glass of iced tea and then pulled out a chair across from her. As he sat, a grin split his face and erupted into a chuckle. “I've kissed many a woman in my life, but I've never had that effect on one.”
“I’m sorry, I have no idea what came over me.”
“There you go apologizing again for something that requires none.”
“I've never been that lost in a kiss, and I've never fainted before in my life. No, that’s not right, I fainted one time after I gave blood when I was still in college.”
“Gave blood on an empty stomach?”
“Probably.”
“Bet you've got a empty stomach now.”
She shook her head, as if trying to clear it. “Maybe. I ate a banana at some point today.”
“That’s it?”
“Ah, I think so. I skipped breakfast and drank a pot of coffee at work.”
“You’re not leaving here until you've eaten something nutritious and filling.” He opened the refrigerator, put a generous helping of pot roast in a bowl, and stuck it in the microwave. When the microwave beeped, he handed her the bowl and a fork. “I’ll be right back.”
Her taste buds savored the delicious beef and potatoes. She devoured it with lightning speed. It had been years since she had a home-cooked meal. Memories of her family flooded her mind: the beautiful, old, stone house on the outskirts of Boston, her mom and dad, Emily Zoot making dinner for the family, and several noisy brothers teasing her. Now she was sitting in Trent’s tiny kitchen, scraping the bowl with her fork to get every precious drop of gravy.
“Looks like you’re ready for a piece of apple pie.”
“It was delicious, but I’m not sure I have room for pie.” She gazed at Trent, now freshly showered and wearing a tee shirt and jeans. Her heart sighed.
“Make room.”
Her heart had plenty of room for him, but she wasn't sure her stomach could handle more.

***

My heart goes out to any parent with a child who is fighting for a chance at life. And if you know someone with that child, do whatever you can to help that family. Even something as simple as mowing their yard gives them an extra hour to spend with the child. A new book, toy, or a puzzle will brighten a child's day. They don't need to know who did it, but you'll know you did something special for someone.

What's coming next? I have three historical westerns all set to release between October and December. Writing historical westerns is a new genre for me. The last one to be released will be the diary of Clare Coleman, which was mentioned in A Snowy Christmas in Wyoming. And with a little luck, I should have the next River City novel out before Spring 2014. Yes, I've been very busy. But I love writing. It is my job.

Don't forget to leave a comment, then drop me an email at e.ayers@ayersbooks.com and say you've commented. I'll be giving away a few copies of A Child's Heart to some lucky people.

Bio:

About the Author

Born and raised with wealth, E. Ayers turned her back on all of it and married her prince charming a few days after her eighteenth birthday. Her family disowned her, and her friends were shocked. A firm believer in love conquering everything, she never looked back. The love she and her husband shared became the springboard for her novels. Fascinated with the way people deal with everyday problems, E Ayers has always been an observer and a listener. A simple problem for one person is a mountain for another. She utilizes those common predicaments which is why her books touch so many lives. Today, she spends most of her free time writing while living in a pre-Civil War home with her two dogs and a cat. Rattling around in an old money pit gives her muse plenty of freedom. Her idea of a perfect day is to spend it at the keyboard of her computer, coffee in hand, and everything in the house actually working as it should. She's the official matchmaker for all the characters who wander through her brain, and she likes finding just the right ones to create a story.

Once in a Blue Moon by Diane Burton

Dreamstime Image

Did you happen to see the full moon last Tuesday night? Not just big, huge. That was a Blue Moon.
What, you may ask, is a Blue Moon—besides an interesting beer? The most common definition (the one I was most familiar with) is the occurrence of a second full moon in a calendar month. Last week’s Blue Moon was different. It’s the third of four full moons in a season.
How many times have we said or heard the expression “once in a blue moon”? Is a Blue Moon really that rare? By either definitions (above), a Blue Moon occurs every two or three years. That’s a lot less rare than I would have thought. And, no, that moon is not really blue. However, on rare occasions dust particles caused by volcanic eruptions or huge fires can make the moon look bluish in color even if it’s not a full moon. Considering the fires in the western part of the U.S., we may very well see a moon that looks blue.
So the next time you say your kids will clean their rooms once in a blue moon, it may be sooner than you think.
As for me, I think I’d rather have the beer.
Moons, planets, and starship travel are fodder for science fiction romance writer Diane Burton’s imagination. She takes her readers on adventures that are out of this world. Her latest release, Switched Resolution, concludes the Switched series about twins switching places—from Earth to a starship and the reverse.

Excerpt:
With duffle bags slung over shoulders, banging against hips and each other, Scott Cherella and Veronese Qilana raced through the Malawea Spaceport terminal. His ship was gone. Stolen. Not just by the rebels incarcerated on board but by three of his own crew.

“I still can’t believe Drakus and Usolde took the Freedom.” Neese panted from running.

Scott was surprised at how many people either milled around or strolled down the terminal’s main corridor in the middle of the night. He and Neese attracted attention. Maybe Serenians didn’t run through public buildings. Too damn bad. This was an emergency.

“Those two have a lot to answer for,” he said.

Once they got to the hangar—or whatever Serenians called the area where various flight vehicles landed and took off—he let her lead the way. He’d only been through there once, yesterday, after arriving aboard a shuttle from Space Station Alpha where the Freedom had docked. Where it should still be docked.

“This way.” Neese darted down a narrow passageway. “I want to know about the other man. Both Drakus and Usolde mentioned a he who tricked them. Any ideas?”

“You know the crew better than I do. Well, longer anyway.” He had only been aboard the Freedom for three weeks, ever since he switched places with his twin. And, holy shit, what a time it had been. Sabotage, capture, rescue, ecstasy, betrayal.

Yeah, he wanted to know the other guy’s identity, too. A member of the Freedom’s crew had not only masterminded the recent sabotage but also the release of war criminals and the theft of Scott’s ship. How the hell had they gotten it out of spacedock? There had to be controls. Clearance requirements. On top of that, he wondered why the Freedom. The rebels needed a ship to escape. Surely, other ships were easier to take out from under Space Fleet Security than an Alliance battle cruiser. Or maybe that had been the point. A way of thumbing their noses at The Powers That Be.

“Wait.” He snagged the strap of Neese’s bag. They’d gotten to the end of a long hall. She turned to him, questions in her Lake Michigan blue eyes. God, he loved seeing them without the silver lenses she had worn to pass as Serenian. He couldn’t wait for her short hair to grow out. Like wearing camouflage lenses, she’d dyed her hair black to look like a Serenian. He bet if left to nature, her hair would be a deep auburn like Jessie’s. With waves, too, once it was long enough. Or maybe it would curl cutely around her face.

Nah. Neese was many things—striking, intelligent, strong-willed—but never cute.

Edging her into the corner, he dropped his duffle and pulled her into his arms. “I gotta do this before we meet up with the others.”

She opened her mouth in surprise as his came down. He hoped the kiss he planted on her made her remember what they’d been doing two hours earlier. Finally alone and no longer worried about non-fraternization rules, they’d made love in a proper bed. It had been perfect. Perfect until she beat him to the punch and proposed. If the damn computer hadn’t interrupted with urgent messages, he would have made sure she understood there were some things a guy just had to do on his own.

Independent little cuss.

She broke off the kiss, her eyes huge. “We—We shouldn’t do this. Someone might—”

“Relax, Neese. Nobody’s around.”

“There could be.” When she scooted past him, her bag swung out and caught him in the side. Uttering a quick apology, she opened the door to a spacious hangar. “Chief Luqett and Mr. Glaxpher said they’d be waiting for us in Area 72.” She pointed overhead.

Up in the rafters, large white lettering designated areas. Naturally, he couldn’t read them. He didn’t think his link, which she’d programmed to translate Serenian symbols, would be able to “read” that far away.

“Where are we now?” he asked softly as he followed her.

“Area 51.”

That stopped him. “You have got to be joking.”

She turned to him and shook her head. “I do not understand.”

“Area 51. Aliens. Roswell, New Mexico.”

“Oh, that fiasco when the Cardijian ship crashed. We need to hurry.”

“You mean that was real?” He started grinning. “Hot damn.”

Switched Resolution is available at:
Amazon : http://amzn.com/B00CNJEO1C
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/313093
Bio:

Diane Burton combines her love of mystery, adventure, science fiction and romance into writing romantic fiction. She is the author of science fiction romance the Switched and The Outer Rim series. With One Red Shoe, soon to be published by The Wild Rose Press, she takes her writing in a new direction into romantic suspense. She is also a contributor to the anthology How I Met My Husband. Diane and her husband live in Michigan. They have two children and two grandchildren.

Connect with Diane around the Internet
Website: www.dianeburton.com
Blog: http://dianeburton.blogspot.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/dmburton72
Facebook: http://facebook.com/dianeburtonauthor
Goodreads: Diane Burton Author
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/dmburton72/
Amazon author page: http://amzn.com/e/B00683MH5E

Cara Marsi is Today's Guest

Welcome Cara!

Share with us how many books have you written. Do you have a favorite?
Thank you for having me today, Anna. I've written nine books, with a tenth ready to publish (seven are published now) and fifteen short stories plus an anthology of six short stories. Like a mother with many kids, I love all my books, but in different ways. A dozen of my short stories were published in national magazines. I’m an eclectic writer. I write contemporary romance, romantic suspense, paranormal romance, erotic romance and short stories.

What is your next project and when will it be released?
I hope to have my Christmas novella, A Groom for Christmas, available in October. I have a short story with paranormal elements, Love Potion, from Boroughs Publishing Group coming out in October. I’ve recently had another short story, The Ring, released from Boroughs, and I’ve written a short erotic romance story, Capri Nights, which I hope to release by the end of the year. Then I’ll start on book three in the Redemption series, Anita’s Temptation.
When I got the rights back to my romantic suspense, Logan’s Redemption, an online friend who is a top-selling indie author urged me to publish Logan myself. I did and I’m so very happy that I did. Logan’s Redemption has been a top seller at Amazon and Apple. It was in print with The Wild Rose Press. Although my new cover is different, the book is mostly the same so I haven’t put the indie version into print. Two of my other books are in print: Loving Or Nothing and Murder, Mi Amore. I enjoy self-publishing because I have more control over the contents, cover, promotion, and I get to keep more of the royalties myself. I also like the idea of keeping all my options open, so I consider myself a hybrid author, a combination of traditionally published and indie published, with more emphasis on the indie.

What went into the process? Writing, editing, cover design, formatting, etc. Share your ups and downs and how you went about it. If you used a service, can you share?

My online friend, Sandra Edwards, who urged me to go indie does all my formatting, and she does a wonderful job. My editor at The Wild Rose Press, Laura Kelly, freelances, and I hire her to edit my indie books. Three of the four books she edited for me have placed in prestigious contests. The fourth book, Franco’s Fortune, is relatively new, and I haven’t yet entered it in any contests. The wonderful cover artist, Harris Channing, does most of my covers.

What did you do to promote your work?
I maintain a constant online presence. I guest blog; I belong to a group blog, Romance Books 4 Us. I take out ads. I try to be careful of what promo money I spend, but I’m rarely sure which ads work. You know what they say about advertising: Only half works but no one knows which half.

All self-pubbed books are rumored to be shoddily edited. What do you say to that?
Some may be, but most of the indie books I've read are very well-written and edited. I always hire an editor for my indie books. I wouldn't put up a book that wasn't edited. I believe most of the indie authors who have also been traditionally published recognize the importance of good editing.

Do you have critique partners? How did your critique group form?
I have a face-to-face critique group that meets weekly. One member has over 20 books with Harlequin; another has 10 books with large publishers. The other two members aren't published yet. I also have an online critique group that reads the finished product after I’ve revised according to feedback from my face-to-face group. I can get a little obsessive about polishing my story.

How likely are people you meet to end up in your next book? The mean girls from high school and ex-boyfriends and my ex-husband end up in my books. They’re always the villains. We writers have ways to exact our revenge.

Was your road to publication difficult or a walk in the park?
Very difficult. It took 10 long, hard years of writing, learning, rejections before I sold my first book, A Catered Affair, to Avalon Books. I have the rights back to that book and digitally published a sensual version under the title A Catered Romance.

Give us an elevator pitch for your book.
Here’s the pitch for my recent release, Franco’s Fortune, (Redemption Book 2), the romantic suspense sequel to Logan’s Redemption:
"When a female bodyguard is hired to protect a rich playboy, she finds saving his life is easier than protecting her heart."

Tell us about your hero. Give us one of his strengths and one of his weaknesses.
My hero Franco Callahan in my latest book release, Franco’s Fortune, is the reformed playboy brother of the heroine Doriana from Logan’s Redemption. In Book 1, Franco is a selfish womanizer. I had to figure out a way to reform him. The Franco you meet in Book 2 is still fabulously wealthy, handsome and sexy. But he’s grown. He’s been forced to take over the family’s multi-national construction business. We learn things about Franco’s past, things he’s hidden from his family, that show he has a kind and caring heart, that he suffered from some of the same self-doubts that plague many of us. He used his playboy persona, not that he didn't enjoy it, to hide his true character. Jo Fortune, his bodyguard, brings out all Franco’s protective instincts, even though she’s the one who’s supposed to protect him. These two help each other heal from deep hurts in their pasts.

Do you write under a pen name? Why or why not? How did you choose it?
My first book, with Avalon Books, was published under my real name, Carolyn Matkowsky. I always wanted to publish under my real name because I worked hard for lots of years and I wanted everyone to know I’d finally made it. However, readers had problems spelling and pronouncing my last name. In 2003 I was nominated as an up and coming author in a romance magazine’s readers’ poll. They fractured my name so badly I felt I couldn't use the honor for promo. I decided then to take an easier name. I chose Cara because it’s a shortened form of Carolyn. I chose Marsi because it’s the name of a tribe from the region of Italy where my grandparents are from. We actually belong to another tribe, but that name is very long and difficult. 

Blurbs, excerpts and buy links for all my books are on my website, www.caramarsi.com
Buy links for Franco's Fortune:
Available on Amazon, BN, Kobo, Smashwords and Apple.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BNA3JQI/
http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Francos-Fortune-Redemption-Book-2/book-GZCdUB8ocEGHiMVgsdgyLA/page1.html
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1114740547?ean=2940016234403
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/290943
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/francos-fortune-redemption/id615111080?mt=11

Thank you very much for sharing the wealth of your experience, Cara.

Florence Witkop Shares the Wealth of Her Experience

A warm hello today to Florence Witkop. Tell us about yourself, Florence.

Wife, mother, grandmother, writer, slow workaholic (can't sit still but I'm never in a hurry), reader, political junkie.

I'll have to remember that one-slow workaholic. Have you had other careers before becoming a writer? I've been a teacher, census taker, fishing resort owner, information technology person.

How did you get started writing? I live in the north woods and had to drive many miles over roads that weren't the best to a teaching job. One day I decided I'd rather work right in my own home as a writer. And I've been doing it ever since.

Sounds good! What genre do you write in?
Romance because I want there to be a romance in everything I read and I write what I like to read. I live in the wilderness and that seems to creep into my works until my stories have been described as eco-fiction, a genre I didn't even know existed until it was used in conjunction with my books. And I love supernatural elements so, even though I write small town, rural and/or wilderness romances, they often have a supernatural theme or element. I don't do erotic romance because I can't write and laugh at the same time and that's what happens every time I try to write one of those really steamy scenes. I do have sex in my books if it's appropriate, just not the steamy kind.

I can empathize! How many books have you written? Do you have a favorite? I've written short fiction for over thirty years. I just started writing novels and now have three done and am working on a fourth. I've discovered that writing novels isn't just writing longer short stories. Instead, it's a whole different way of telling a story.

Tell us about your current series.

The 'Legend' series is about legends that turn out to be true. The first, Spirit Legend, is about a legend of a spirit living in a remote, wilderness lake that will die if the lake it lives in is allowed to drain dry. The second, Wolf Legend, that I'm almost done with, is about a legend of huge, dire wolves that people insist have been sighted on a remote island, one of which shares thoughts with the heroine. The third book of the Legend series, which isn't on paper yet but is pretty well worked out in my mind, will be about the legend of Ceres, the goddess of the harvest, and one of her descendants who stows away on a space ship carrying people planning to colonize a far distant planet. She knows their crops will fail if she isn't there to oversee things. I can't promise that there will be more Legend books but there will be if my subconscious is working normally.


What inspired your latest book? I live in an area where wolves are found so there's a lot of talk in my neighborhood about wolves, both favorable and unfavorable. My characters know both sides. I personally love some things about wolves (their family life is admirable and they are beautiful animals) but I do not romanticize them and I do respect the fact that God or nature has decreed that they be intelligent predators.

Where do you get the ideas for your stories? Everywhere.

Do you have a blog? I have a blog. http://FlorenceWitkop.com I try to post at least one a week and most of my posts are tips for writers in which I pass on things I've learned over the years, mostly from other writers, about the craft of writing fiction.

What is your favorite part of writing? Rewriting. Definitely. Because I can take something and make it better, smoother, easier to read and understand.

What is your least favorite part of writing? The first draft. Hate it.

What is your typical day like? All over the place. I try to find enough time to actually write but sometimes that's hard.

How does your family feel about your writing career? They are okay with it. Great conversational gambit.

How has your experience with self-publishing been? It's a whole new world, one that's both fascinating and daunting.

What was the deciding factor in self-publishing? Did you decide on ebook or print only or both? I'd been writing short fiction for magazines (confession) for years. The publishers worried about marketing, not me. But print publications are going out of business daily so I decided to become my own publisher. What a shock! It's a whole different thing!

What did you do to promote your work? At first, nothing because I didn't know what to do. I'm learning and I think Goodreads is the most wonderful online site there is because it caters to both readers and writers and brings them together.

How long have your books been out? I dipped my toe in the waters of self-publishing less than a year ago with one short story. I then went on to novellas and then to novels. Each publication has been an interesting journey and I look forward to more such journeys as I continue to write and to learn the process of self-publishing.

What advice can you offer readers of self-pubbed books in making a decision on what to read? Go with your gut. You can't judge how good a book is by price, cover, or blurb. Just by gut.

How likely are people you meet to end up in your next book? It happens occasionally. My family likes the fact that I'm a writer but they don't like appearing in my stories, which they sometimes do.

What is most difficult for you to write? Characters, conflict or emotions? Why? I'm the peacemaker of the family so intentionally creating conflict is almost impossible. I can only do conflict well if it's in the situation, not between the characters because I think any characters who can't settle their own conflicts aren't worth writing about.

Was your road to publication difficult or a walk in the park? Easy. I set a goal and met it originally, writing for magazines, and set another goal of self-publishing last year and met that too. Getting rich from my writing? That's another story!

Give us an elevator pitch for your book. Two people save the life of an immortal spirit.

Do you have a view in your writing space? I look out the window into the north woods, which can make writing difficult and daydreaming easy.

Are you a plotter or a pantser? Parts of both. I need a general guide, a chapter-by-chapter synopsis, but after that I need to give my characters the freedom to get where they are going in whatever way works best for them.

Tell us about your hero. Give us one of his strengths and one of his weaknesses. My heroes are all kind of alike in that they are normal, decent human beings. Because my stories are about normal, decent human beings who somehow got caught up in abnormal, scary situations. It's like a famous writer once said: 'Jack has his fanny in a bear trap and the story is getting out.' I like to see nice, normal people fall into extreme situations in which they must overcome overwhelming odds and not only survive, but thrive and fall in love in the process.

Tell us about your heroine. Give us one of her strengths and one of her weaknesses. Same thing. I like normal people in abnormal situations. Okay, I do prefer a bit of difference between the heroine and hero, usually their backgrounds, but that's so they'll have something to talk about more than to cause conflict or raise the tension. I figure the situation itself should be tense enough that they don't need any artificial conflicts to add to the problem. 

What genres are you drawn to as a reader? I love hard science-fiction, the kind that relies on proven laws of physics and then adds the human element and a romance. And I love thrillers if they depend on known technology used in innovative ways instead of just being an endless series of chase scenes.

Do you prefer to read in the same genres you write in or do you avoid reading that genre? I can't do thrillers because I find building tension to be difficult. I can do psychological fear but not the physical kind. So I stick to what I can do, not what I like to read.

How far do you plan ahead? I have a computer file that I fill with ideas. When I have time, I expand on those ideas until I have a chapter-by-chapter synopsis. Then I know I'm ready to begin writing.

Do you have any words of inspiration for aspiring authors? Becoming a successful writer has as much to do with how you work at your craft as how much ability you were born with. I've met dozens and dozens of gifted writers whose careers went nowhere because they wanted to do their own thing in their own way instead of approaching writing as a profession and a business that provides readers with stories they want to read so much that they are willing to give some of their time and money to do so. 

Did you always know you wanted to be a writer? I always knew that eventually I'd be a writer. I wasn't in any hurry, I figured it would happen when I got around to it. Like I said, I'm a slow workaholic, never in any hurry but eventually I get there. Usually.

Do you or have you belonged to a writing organization? I was one of the founding members of a local writers' organization, the Jackpine Writers Bloc. We publish a literary book every year that's now quite well known. In fact, one of our members who joined in high school and was published in our literary journal, came back during a college break to say that one of her English teachers was envious because she'd been published in the Talking Stick, something he'd been trying for years to do.

Why have you become a published author? Because everyone has to do something with their life that's just for them and no one else and that's what I chose to do with mine.

Do you have any rejection stories to share? Not exactly a rejection but a story: When I first started out, my daughters were my most honest and most brutal critics. Later someone asked me to read a story she'd written and tell her what I thought. It was pretty bad, a fact that I mentioned to one of my daughters. Her response was, "So what? You've written a lot of really bad stuff and it got published." That popped any ego I might have had and I'll never forget her words.

Where can readers find you? My blog is http://FlorenceWitkop.com

Where can readers find your books? Amazon and Smashwords and my blog has links to buy my books. But if you don't want to go there, links are:

The Eye of the Universe:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007N6K964
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/142206
When Dreams Come True:
http://Amazon.com/dp/B008GTI2JS
http://Smashwords.com/books/view/178408
Wanted Sharpshooter:
http://www.Amazon.com/dp/B009R6WMT0
http://www.Smashwords.com/books/view/287109
Spirit Legend:
http://www.Amazon.com/dp/B00BH607S6
http://www.Smashwords.com/books/view/287198

It's been great getting to know you, Florence. thanks for being my guest today.

Welcome Sharon Kleve

Good morning Anna,
Thank you for having me on your blog today.

Welcome. Great to have you here. Tell us about yourself.
I was born and raised in Washington and currently live on the Olympic Peninsula with my husband.
(Not too far from me on Vancouver Island)
I am a writer of paranormal and contemporary romance. I love romance. I love reading romance, living romance, and especially writing about romance. I get no greater feeling than watching my characters come alive in each other's arms. Most of all, I love giving my characters the happily ever after they deserve—with a few bumps and bruises along the way.
One of my favorite things to do is picking up a new book and sinking into the story, immersing myself in the emotions between the characters. I hope to inspire my readers the same way my favorite authors have inspired me.
When not writing, I can usually be found either curled up in my recliner with my cat and a good book, or in the kitchen baking sourdough bread or bagels.

Have you had other careers before becoming a writer?
Oh, I had a cosmetology license at one time, worked at a fish cannery, sold cosmetics, I waitressed, who hasn't, right? 

Quite a variety. Are you a full time writer or do you have a “day job”?
The last 18 years I've worked as a government contractor. But I started about 2 1/2 years ago at night, weekends and any free moment I had.

How much time do you spend promoting your books? What method of promotion works best for you?
Well, it all depends on if I have a new book coming out. I spend a couple hours a day with a new book and then it trickles down to a couple days of week. I always answer fan email and check Facebook, Twitter and my blog daily though.

Do you have critique partners? How did your critique group form?
I wasn't part of a critique group until recently. When I was invited to join an established group of best-selling authors I was thrilled, nervous and worried I couldn't contribute the quality they deserved. Now I realize how important this kind of group is to an author. You need support, constructive criticism and great food and wine..ha ha!

Was your road to publication difficult or a walk in the park?
Unless you're super human it's never a walk in the park to get published. I was fortunate to meet my Publisher at my first Romance Writers of America meeting. Jennifer Conner at Books To Go Now gave me support and encouragement throughout the editing and re-writing of my first story. In December of 2011 Books To Go Now published my first story and have subsequently published five more stories, three anthologies and my first print book will be available very soon.

Do you have a view in your writing space? What does your space look like?
At home, I have a huge bay window that opens and looks out into out front yard. I have multiple bird feeders scattered everywhere so I get a variety of birds and critters visiting. Sometimes it's distracting but for the most part it relaxing.

Sounds wonderful. You live in a beautiful part of the world. Tell us about your hero. Give us one of his strengths and one of his weaknesses.
The Corny Myers Series, Steve Spears is tough, sexy cop who loves Corny. He has a weakness for the spin cycle on the washing machine.

I am intrigued! Tell us about your heroine. Give us one of her strengths and one of her weaknesses.
She loves animals and will do anything to keep them safe, which brings me to her weakness. She'll do anything to keep them safe.

Will you share some encouraging words for authors still struggling for that first contract?
They should contact Books To Go Now. Their Mission is to Support our Authors. Promote their Works. Help them to Achieve Success.
Their staff works one-on-one with authors to help them to create wonderful works of fiction. Upon publication they use a successful multi-platform strategy to promote and market their work. They have helped many authors become International and Domestic Best-Sellers.
Books to Go Now offers professional editing, cover design, multiple book format file creation, and most important--publicity. Here is their link. http://www.bookstogonow.com/

Sharon will give away a copy of The Corny Myers Series to one lucky commenter. Please be sure to leave your email address, substituting at for @ and dot com for .com.

Where can readers find you, Sharon?
http://www.sharonkleve.com/
http://authorsharonkleve.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/sharonrkleve
https://twitter.com/SharonKleve
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5399389.Sharon_Kleve
http://pinterest.com/srkleve/
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/sharon-kleve/56/ab/691/
http://www.authorsden.com/visit/author.asp?authorid=170105
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Sharon-Kleve/e/B006JAH14S

Thank you for guesting with me, Sharon.

Jill James Shares the Wealth

Please welcome author Jill James to my blog today. Jill will give away a $5 Amazon certificate to one lucky commenter. 
Tell us about yourself, Jill.
Great to be here. I've been writing seriously since 2004 once my baby was in high school and I finally had “me” time. I live in Northern California with my husband who is the inspiration for all my romance novel heroes. I write contemporary and paranormal romance.

How great to have such an inspirational husband. Have you had other careers before becoming a writer? If you can believe it, I was a junior tax accountant and went to college to become an accountant/computer programmer.

Quite a switch to writing then. How did you get started? I think I've always written stories. At ten I was writing plays and acting them out in my garage with sock puppets and charging the neighborhood kids a nickel to watch.

A born entrepreneur! Tell us about your current WIP. My upcoming release is an urban fantasy/horror; Love in the Time of Zombies. I love zombie books and movies and wanted to write one of my own. I have this theory of why they are so popular, especially the ones that have even a smidgen of romance. If in the middle of mayhem, zombies going for your brains, renegades going for everything else, limited resources, and death and destruction you can find true love, how hard can it be in real life?  It should be available by the end of June.

Where do you get the ideas for your stories? Most of my books started as dreams. I dream in Technicolor Movie Vision. By the time I wake up I have a whole book in my head.

That's amazing! I dream about my books, but in bits at a time. What is your favorite part of writing? Taking something from my imagination and putting it down on paper.

What is your least favorite part of writing? Trying to take something from my imagination and put it down on paper.

LOL! Do you send out a newsletter?  I love doing a newsletter. I only send it out if I have news, like a new release or a piece of my current work in progress. About once a month, sometimes I skip a month if I’m deep in the writing or editing cave.

How has your experience with self-publishing been? Slow, but steady. Kind of like the tortoise. I started with a small e-press, so I learned many lessons to take and carry over to self publishing.

What advice do you have for other authors wanting to self-publish? Know yourself. Can you set your own deadlines and keep them? Can you do all the work? Or do you know what you can’t do and you are willing and able to delegate?

All self-pubbed books are rumored to be shoddily edited. What do you say to that? Never speak in absolutes. You can’t say all traditionally published books are perfect or even necessary (hello Snooki), so don’t assume a self-published author hasn't done their homework and put their best out there. Some are great. Some are not. Just like those out of New York.

Find my books at http://www.jilljameswrites.com or http://www.amazon.com/author/jilljames

Rose Anderson Shares The Wealth

I am delighted to welcome Rose Anderson as a guest blogger today. Have you had other careers before becoming a writer, Rose? 
I’d like to begin with a thank you Anna. Thanks for having me today. To answer your question, yes I have done a few things. I've raised my two children – best career in the world. I also taught middle school science many years ago, then I retired from that and got involved in historic preservation. I’m still a mom and both of my other careers lasted about twelve years each. Nearly two years ago I left preservation and took up writing full time.

We have teaching in common. It was my career and I agree it's a wonderfully rewarding one. Do you have other talents? Or is there a talent you don't have that you wish you did?
I have a few things that tickle my fancy. One is that I’m a world drummer. If you don’t know what that is, it’s making music with different types of drums from all over the world. I have a lot of percussion instruments –everything from African djembes to conga drums and beaded gourds to Scottish bones. I even have this marvelous talking drum – picture the old Tarzan movies where the explorers always hear the drums of hostile natives playing in the distance. I’m fortunate to have a very close community of friends and we are all drummers. In my humble opinion, I think we’re good enough to go pro. One of these days…
As far as talents I wish I had…I’d love to play the fiddle. I could really get into welding for metal sculpture. I’d also like to learn to build stained-glass windows and make glass beads over a torch.

They say drumming is very cathartic. How did you get started writing?
It all began in high school. I had an honors English class and the teacher set the theme for a composition after we’d read The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien. I wrote about a dragon waiting on her egg to hatch. That first composition put me in the zone. It basically wrote itself. The teacher kept it with praise saying I needed to pursue writing. I didn't take her seriously but I did take journalism classes and got on the school paper because of her. Boy I wish I still had that dragon story. I have a perfect dragon illustrator and I’d publish it. Unfortunately that was written before xerox  and long before computers became a household item. As a student, I wasn't about to write the thing out by hand twice!
It wasn't until my son was little that I started writing again. I created a seven book series to teach him to read. I’ll publish that one of these days too. Years later, I wrote a youth story about a historic preservation project I was involved in. At the time email submission wasn't possible. I sent full manuscripts to so many publishing houses. I didn't have an agent so I didn't get a nibble. Out of all the manuscripts sent, only one was deemed worthy of a reply. And that was a form letter saying no thanks. That was so discouraging I walked away from writing for nearly twenty years. I got back in when I had a story that needed being told.

What genre do you write in?
The reason I write erotic romance? To begin, I’d have to say I never set out to be a romance author. Simply put, it was a fast way into the publishing world. It’s extremely popular, so new is always in demand. I really just jumped into it to learn the ropes on. I have a much larger project I've been working on for five years – my five-book, 500k word, as yet unnamed, Magnum Opus (affectionately called my MO). When I return to it, I’ll take everything I've learned so far and apply it. I've changed so much as a writer and improved like I’d hoped I would. I’m thinking I’ll lose 100k words of the MO right off the top.

Ambitious! How many books have you written? Do you have a favorite?
I currently have six erotic romance books encompassing four stories. You know, it’s funny to think about a favorite. They all become the favorite for a while.
For my breakout novel Hermes Online, I wrote a hook, meaning I put everything I had into it to get noticed by a publisher. It worked! My second, Dreamscape, was written as a reader’s puzzle. My third, written in two parts is The Witchy Wolf and the Wendigo. The fourth is, in many ways, my best work. Like Dreamscape, Loving Leonardo is also a reader-interactive story. These last two novels are told in two books each. Loving Leonardo and Loving Leonardo – The Quest as a whole is one of those color outside the lines stories for me. I so enjoyed my Victorian trio that I have the feeling they’ll soon be whispering to me about further adventures they’d like to take. It will likely be my favorite until the next. :)

What inspired your latest book? 
My latest is the sequel to Loving Leonardo: Loving Leonardo – The Quest. I've mentioned here and there around the web that this tale came right out of the American headlines last summer. The news was filled with women’s issues and negative talk of “progressives”. There was something about a newscast one day that grabbed my attention. I’d heard the term women’s issues combined with progressive, but the word progressive was said with a sneer. It was presented as though the concept of women making their own decisions was unthinkable, and that was the point to the Suffragettes more than 100 years ago. Before I knew it, I had a very American, very unorthodox, Victorian progressive heroine named Ellie and she was as annoyed about the politics of her times as I was about the politics of mine. What’s more, whom you love, and who you wanted to commit your love to, were hot issues as if love itself was a social condition and not a deeply personal thing.

Where do you get the ideas for your stories?
From everywhere! Headlines like I mention above. Funny or interesting things I encounter here and there. My life and the lives of people I know make cameo appearances in all my books in one form or another because it’s easy to draw from the familiar. I’ll borrow our furnishings for my stories, or our cars, our pets, and I even add things we’d love to own or owned once upon a time. As for my characters, they’re all composites of me. They have my values, my fears, my wit etc. Yes, even the bad guys are composites of the darkest corners of my imagination combined with the ugly things found in the world.

Do you have a blog? 
I do, several in fact! I have a main blog and three satellite blogs that I use a little less frequently. I have a handful of stationary blogs that act more as posters for my work than anything else. I figured as they’re all connected, I could use them for different things that happen to fall in the same time frame. That idea came about because I erroneously signed up for two blog hops that overlapped in the same week. It’s been tremendously useful. For one, I've signed up for more hops and broadened my exposure. The thought being other participants are sometimes more into social media than I am. If they promote themselves, they promote me along with them. I do the same.
Until recently I've steadily blogged about the whole author experience. Surprisingly, the posts where I add things about my childhood in the 1960’s are popular. I participated in the A to Z Challenge for the first time this year. The idea was to post a topic a day through the month of April corresponding to the alphabet. That’s when I discovered what a popular post really was. My historical posts draw the most attention and interest.

What a neat idea! What is your favorite part of writing?
Seeing appreciation for my work lighting other people’s eyes. I love stories, hearing them, telling them. My wonderful family and friends are so encouraging. Because one dear friend and her husband always have something nice to say. I find myself wanting to create scenes I know they’d enjoy. I also have an artist friend who periodically reads my scenes. I know we’re on the same page when he comments on my characters and scenes as if he sees them as real because they’re real to me. That does something to me; it fills me up in some inexplicable way and makes me want to write more complicated scenes to see if he can follow me there. I've always been sort of an oddball that never fit anywhere; I suppose it validates how my mind ticks.
I love writing the classic light vs. dark/ good vs. evil scenario with twists on a theme. Writing conflicts where right triumphs over wrong is the best thing about creating literary worlds. Authors have control over weighty issues and are able to change negative situations to positive outcomes. The real world doesn't always allow for that. I get frustrated by things in life – environmental issues, political garbage, societal woes and ills. In my fictional worlds, where my god complex shines, I can virtually eliminate them. So I do!
I’m a very detail-oriented person so I love the challenge of making impossible concepts possible and implausible scenarios plausible, especially in conflicts between good and evil. In Hermes Online there wasn't evil but there was darkness to overcome. In Dreamscape the impossible needed to be possible because what future can one have loving a ghost? In Loving Leonardo there’s prejudice vs. tolerance. In The Witchy Wolf and the Wendigo there’s hopelessness vs. hope. You can’t have the good without the bad to contrast it with. You can’t have the light without darkness, because darkness makes you appreciate the light more. I think I’m drawn to writing the opposites because life needs balance.

Too true! All self-pubbed books are rumored to be shoddily edited. What do you say to that?
Not mine! I have a professional editor with a background in history and a keen eye for grammar and punctuation. She also holds my feet to the flame where historical anachronisms are concerned. Typos happen. We live in a text-driven society. In both my traditionally published and self-published books, I have had a typo now and then. I will say this though, if a typo works its way into my self-published novel, the instant it’s brought to my attention, I fix it. 

Exactly! Tell us about your hero. Give us one of his strengths and one of his weaknesses.
Nicolas Halstead from Loving Leonardo and LL-The Quest by far possesses the most depth of any character I've written to date. He’s an art historian who sees the world through the artworks he loves. Because all art is a manifestation of emotion, Nicolas wears his depth, compassion, sensitivity, and passion upon his sleeve. He’s also witty and intelligent and terribly romantic. I find him an utterly fascinating character. I love seeing the world through his eyes. I suppose his greatest strength would be his capacity for love. His weakness would be an external element. He must hide the truth of himself from a prejudiced world.

Can't wait to get to know him. Thanks for being my guest today. Rose will give away a copy of Hermes Online to one lucky commenter.

About Rose
I love descriptive words and choose them as carefully as an artist might choose a color. My active imagination compels me to write everything from children’s stories to historical nonfiction. As a persnickety leisure reader, I especially enjoy novels that feel like they were written just for me. It's hard to explain, but if you've ever read one of those, then you know what I mean. I tend to sneak symbolism and metaphor into my writing. You might say it's a game I play with myself when I write. And I so love when readers email to say they've found something. I’d like people to feel my stories were written just for them, for that’s the truth. These hidden insights are my gift to my readers.
My links -
All books on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Rose-Anderson
Main Blog: http://calliopeswritingtablet.com/
Satellite Blog: http://calliopeswritingtablet.blogspot.com/
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com//MusesWritingTablet
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rose.anderson
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/FollowTheMuse/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/roseanderson_
Too many author pages and mini blogs to mention here but you can see them all by visiting my main blog, I’m just about everywhere!