Writing What You Want To Read

I want to welcome Blaze author, Karen Foley, to Over Coffee. Karen is a deeprooted New Englander, who has written the third of the mini-series Dressed to Thrill.


Her topic is timely, since we've heard ad-nauseum, "Write what you know." Karen's philosophy is, "write what you want to read." She is also an advocate of being willing to step out of your comfort zone, as a writer, and try something new.



Growing up, my English teachers would always say, “Write what you know,” which nearly became a major impediment to my writing career. After all, what did I really know? I’d spent most of my teenage years devouring historical romances and knew that when I finally grew up, that’s what I wanted to write. So instead of writing what I knew, I decided to write what I wanted to read.


I joined the Romance Writers of America and over the next several years, I wrote five historical romances. I’m a big fan of RWA-sponsored contests, and between 2003 and 2006, I think I entered more than sixty contests. It was late in 2005, when I noticed a trend developing; whenever I entered a contest where Brenda Chin, senior editor for Harlequin Blaze, was the final judge, my entry finaled or won. At one point, she even included a personal note with my score sheet, saying she loved my voice and my characters. Unfortunately, she wasn’t acquiring historical romances.


While I’m not an advocate of chasing market trends, I do believe that occasionally stepping out of your comfort zone can help you grow as a writer. I’d never written a sensual contemporary romance before, and had never read a Harlequin Blaze novel. But the fact that Brenda Chin apparently liked my writing style was incentive enough for me to give it a try.


I devoured Blaze novels at the rate of 3-4 books per week. I even developed a spreadsheet to analyze the different aspects of these books, like what constituted the sexy premise, how explicit was the language, and how many sex scenes were included in each novel? What I found really surprised me. There was no “formula” to writing a Blaze novel. There were no prerequisite number of love scenes, and each story was as unique as the author who penned it. They ran the gamut from light and funny, to dark and edgy, with everything in between. They included paranormals and time travel romances, bad-boy alpha heroes and boy-next-door beta heroes.


I already had the outline of a story taking shape in my head, and when I felt I had a good handle on what constituted a Blaze novel, I scribbled down a one-page synopsis and handed it to Brenda during one of her workshops at the 2006 RWA conference (this was a solicited request for ideas; I promise I did not waylay her in the ladies room!). Three days after the conference, I had a call from Harlequin, requesting the full manuscript. I wrote that first book in a fast and furious ten weeks, and received my first book contract three months later.


It’s been exactly three years since I first submitted that manuscript to Brenda, and it’s hard to believe that my fourth Blaze book is out on bookstore shelves right now. Hold on to the Nights is book #3 in the Dressed to Thrill continuity series. (A continuity is where several authors work together on separate books linked by a common premise, and sometimes by common characters, and the books come out together, one after the other, since they are linked.)


Samantha Hunter invited me to participate in this series, along with Tawny Weber and Lisa Renee Jones. We came up with the premise of an online costume shop that ships out the wrong costumes to heroines, and how these costume mix-ups change the heroines’ lives and enable them to be more than they thought they could be. It was such a fun series to write, and I really loved getting to know the other authors.

• I had a chance to ask Karen a few questions:
  
  Tawny's heroine was a bit of a sexy footloose geek and Sam's was is an overly responsible big sister who lived in the shadow of her younger, sexier sister. What's the deal with your heroine?
  
  

My heroine, Lara Whitfield, is a huge fan of actor Graeme Hamilton, and writes erotic fan fiction based on the television character he portrays. But only she knows that her stories are based on personal experience; she was once married to the Hollywood hunk, before he became a celebrity. The marriage was annulled just days later…or so she thought. When her lawyers tell her that the marriage was never legally dissolved, she decides to attend a celebrity fan festival for Graeme…dressed in a Princess Leia slave girl costume! She thinks she’s incognito, but Graeme instantly recognizes her.

• Which scene in your novel did you love writing and why?
  
  

There’s a love scene that takes place at a little inn in Scotland, where they spent their wedding night five years earlier. Being at the inn resurrects all kinds of memories for both of them and makes them realize that they’re still completely in love with each other. The sex is amazing, but the new emotional intensity brings it to a whole new level. Then there’s the scene in the bathtub…

• Hmmm, Scotland, amazing sex, a bathtub scene...Okay, I'm hooked already. So what’s next from you?
  

My next Blaze release is in July 2010, as part of a 3-story anthology with Rhonda Nelson and Jill Shalvis, called Born on the Fourth of July. Each story will feature a military hero. My story, Packing Heat, is about a Marine sniper who just wants to come home from Iraq and be a regular guy, especially if means spending time with the sexy schoolteacher who has been sending him care packages for the past six months.

After that, I have two more Blaze books coming out in 2011, each featuring a military hero. The first one involves a bad-ass special ops soldier who has a thing about women in combat; he doesn’t like it. But when a female civilian ends up assigned to the remote outpost where he is stationed, he finds he can’t concentrate on anything but her. The second book involves a female soldier who rescues the man she loves during an ambush and is hailed as a hero, and how this impacts their relationship. Both books are still in progress, and no titles have been selected. While both books definitely have a serious side, there is also a lot of sexy fun in both of these stories, and I think readers will really enjoy these heroes!

Karen, I know you're in the middle of some edits and such for Harlequin, so I really appreciate you taking time to not only be here, Over Coffee, but answer some questions.

• Writers: How do you feel about stepping out of your comfort zone, as a writer, and trying something new?

• Readers: Do you like it when authors try something new?
  

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Growing up, she could always be found curled up with a book. When she wasn't reading, she was writing, trying to capture on paper the endless stories that filled her imagination. Nothing gives her more pleasure than creating a story with memorable characters, a seemingly insurmountable conflict and of course, a happy ending.

After graduating from the University of New Hampshire, Karen married her high school sweetheart and moved to Europe, where she worked for the U.S. Department of Defense. During those five wonderful years, she and her husband skied the Swiss and Italian Alps, hiked through the Scottish Highlands, explored Etruscan ruins, searched for Celtic ring forts, and traipsed through every 13th and 14th century castle she could find. Although living overseas was a wonderful experience, she was eager to get back to the States and start a family.


Karen continues to work for the Department of Defense and says that supporting America's men and women in uniform provides her with lots of inspiration for her military-themed romances.

Karen lives in Massachusetts with her husband, two daughters, a big, black dog and a Maine Coon cat. She loves her small town, but if the opportunity to travel presents itself, she's never one to turn it down! She enjoys hearing from her readers, so feel free to drop her a line at karenefoley@comcast.net.

What I love About Coffee Get-Togethers

My guest Over Coffee is debut author, Marilyn Brant. Winner of the 2007 Golden Heart Award for Best Novel with Strong Romantic Elements.

• Marilyn tags herself as an introvert, a Mom with an unhealthy attachment to Carbs, requires excellent cookies, likes dangerous things like chocolate martinis, neighborhood relationship intrigues and '80s Music. Best of all, she won my heart, when she told me she loves chatting over coffee with friends.
  

Thank you, Sia, for inviting me here! It’s a pleasure to be a guest on Over Coffee today. :-)

It’s particularly exciting to get to take part in a coffee-talk gathering online because, in real life, this is one of my very favorite things to do. I have a few friends I love to meet for coffee. Some I’m able to get together with frequently, others only once in a while, but in all cases I usually leave our morning coffee dates feeling buoyant and primed to tackle my infinite writing projects at home.


What makes it even more special is that I’m a true introvert. Unlike my VERY extraverted mother (!!), I’m not typically energized by social gatherings. (And, oh, I have stories I could tell about the endless stream of social events I was dragged to as a kid…wanna hear about wild double weddings, anyone?) Parties and conferences and things like that take a lot of concentration for me, largely because I can’t stop my writer self from collecting details and feeling a bit pummeled by observations. This was true before I ever actually became a novelist, by the way. Once I started writing, I was relieved to finally have a place to put all of those observations I’d been accumulating for years and tucking into my mental anthology of human behaviors--LOL!


So, what I love about the coffee get-togethers with my friends is that I actually feel like an extravert for those precious few hours. Because we know each other well, we dispense with small talk rather quickly. We’re then able to delve right into some very meaty conversations and get to the heart of a deep philosophical and/or emotional discussion after little more than half a cup of hazelnut mocha and a few bites of a chocolate-chip cookie. (We go to a shop with EXCELLENT cookies. I consider this a requirement.) And I’ve come to rely on these meetings as a helpful—perhaps even essential—part of my writing process.

• Here’s why: I write women’s fiction. I’m passionately interested in women’s stories and our shared experiences. When my friends are telling me about their in-laws, their children, their wacky adult siblings…or they’re recollecting tales of old boyfriends or the qualities they love best in their husbands…I’m listening. I’m checking their stories with my own. Comparing them in the sense of discovering the emotions and reactions we have in common. They know this and, because they’re absolutely awesome, they enthusiastically help me make those connections.
  

Recently, one friend said, “So, okay, you’re a writer. Have you ever read any novels about a woman who’d lied to her entire family about having to go out of town at the end of November just so she wouldn’t have to suffer through another Thanksgiving dinner of being asked why she was still single?”

I said, “Got a call from your mother yesterday, huh?”

“Oh, my, God, yes!” she shot back. “I love her, but if she asks me about dating one more time—argh!!”

And so it begins, the fun and frequently funny back and forth banter between friends. The commiserations we share when we've had a crazy work week, an eye-rolling sibling moment or a feverish child. The innate understanding that each of us will pull together whatever knowledge, resources or background we can to help each other gain perspective on whatever might be perplexing one of us. It’s become such a powerful form of preventive medicine in my life that I look forward to it for my own mental health and, also, as a way to keep the pulse of my characters strong and true.

More than once, I’ve been the one to open our coffee conversation with something like:

• “Okay, I’ve got this one character. She’s 43. Divorced. Ambivalent about relationships. But then she meets a younger guy and, strangely, they hit it off. What are her hopes? Her fears?”

And a friend will say, “She’ll worry about needing a boob job.”

“Or a tummy tuck,” another friend will chime in.

“But mostly she’ll be concerned about her teenage son and his reaction to the new relationship…”

And, with that, they’ll set me on the road to making sure I create a character who feels real to them. One who’s almost as multifaceted and three-dimensional as they are. I’m so grateful to them for that. Not only do their insights improve my writing, but they enrich my life and my understanding of the people in it. I’d give up my computer before I’d give up my coffee dates!

• What about all of you? When you get together with your friends—over coffee, dinner, dessert or drinks—what do you tend to talk about? Work-related stuff? Kids and spouses? Sports, hobbies or pop culture?

• Have these discussions ever made you think about your writing, job, or your family any differently? Looking forward to hearing your thoughts! :-)

~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Marilyn Brant has been a classroom teacher, a library staff member, a freelance writer and a national book reviewer. She lives in the Chicago suburbs with her husband and son, surrounded by towers of books that often threaten to topple over and crush her. A proud member of the Jane Austen Society of North America, Marilyn’s debut novel featuring "Jane" won the Romance Writers of America’s prestigious Golden Heart® Award. When not working on her next book, she enjoys traveling, listening to music and finding new desserts to taste test.
Readers can visit her website at http://www.marilynbrant.com/

In Marilyn Brant’s smart, wildly inventive debut, one woman in search of herself receives advice from the ultimate expert in matters of the heart…

It begins one day in sophomore English class, just as Ellie Barnett’s teacher is assigning Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. From nowhere comes a quiet “tsk” of displeasure. The target: Sam Blaine, the cute bad boy who’s teasing Ellie mercilessly, just as he has since kindergarten. Entirely unbidden, as Jane might say, the author’s ghost has taken up residence in Ellie’s mind, and seems determined to stay there.

Jane’s wise and witty advice guides Ellie through the hell of adolescence and beyond, serving as the voice she trusts, usually far more than her own. Years and boyfriends come and go—sometimes a little too quickly, sometimes not nearly fast enough. But Jane’s counsel is constant, and on the subject of Sam, quite insistent. Stay away, Jane demands. He is your Mr. Wickham.

Still, everyone has something to learn about love—perhaps even Jane herself. And lately, the voice in Ellie’s head is being drowned out by another, urging her to look beyond everything she thought she knew and seek out her very own, very unexpected, happy ending...

"Marilyn Brant's debut novel is proof that Jane Austen never goes out of style. This is a warm, witty and charmingly original story of a modern woman coming of age and finding her own happy ending--with a little help from the ultimate authority--Jane Austen herself."~Susan Wiggs

Struggling With Validation

~Readers who loved the sly fun, humor, and romance, of Ripping the Bodice will be blown away by the sensuality and lushness of Champagne.~



My guest is Erotic Romance author, Inara LaVey.

I admit I have some interesting friends, and have met many fascinating authors Over Coffee, but not many with multiple personalities. When I asked Dana Fredsti if she’d like to be a guest Over Coffee, I wasn’t expecting her equally sexy alter ego to jump into the fray and demand her turn on my blog. Inara is saucy, sly, chocked full of humor. She can also be a demanding wench. I like that about her. :-)

Inara’s topic is one that many writers, published and unpublished, struggle with—validation. What does it take to make a writer feel validated? Is it when you finish a novel or two? When you start getting partial or full requests? Snag a good agent who believes in you? Getting a contract? Selling X number of books? All are forms of validation.

I have a friend, who has finished at least six novels that I know of, and she said, not long ago, “So when does the validation come? Am I wasting my time? Do I need the huge advance check and the mansion?”

We all struggle with validation on some level or another. We'll let Dana and Inara discuss their struggles:

The last two years have been busy for me as a writer. Both of me. See, I write under two different names: Inara LaVey for my spicy romances and my real name (Dana Fredsti) for almost everything else (I say ‘almost’ because, for several reasons I won’t go into here, I also co-wrote a non-fiction book called Secret Seductions under the one time pen name Roxanne Colville). My co-author and long time friend Cynthia Gentry also brought me in to co-write another non-fiction book, What Women Really Want In Bed, for which I got my first substantial advance. It was a ‘nice’ advance, as they say in the publishing biz. Certainly more than I’d gotten in the past.

What else? I promoted my mystery Murder for Hire: The Peruvian Pigeon with blog tours, book signings at stores and libraries, and a fun Northwest coastal Thelma and Louise type tour with fellow mystery writer Jess Lourey (Murder by the Month series). I published two short stories and two novels for Ravenous Romance (my latest RR novel, Champagne, was released this month, woot!) and I’m currently working on my third, as well as the sequel to Murder for Hire.

I have a multiple book contract with Ravenous, including a zombie novel (Dana and Inara both do love the zombies). One of my RR titles, Ripping the Bodice is part of the Escape to Romance package on Home Shopping Network and they’ve been selling really well. The recently released Hungry For Your Love, an anthology of zombie related romance in which I have a story, just had the print rights bought by St. Martin’s Press.

All of these things are good things and when I look at the list of what I’ve accomplished and/or been a part of, I can see I haven’t exactly been sitting back, waiting for the world to hand me my goals on a silver platter. And yet somehow I still wake up wondering when the world is going to discover I’m just a big old fake.

I’ve tried to figure out what my problem is. Why I haven’t been able to just enjoy my successes without constantly questioning my validity as a ‘real’ writer?

Logic and emotions definitely refuse to meet in the middle here. Maybe it’s because I don’t have an agent. Maybe it’s because, despite my best intentions, there are nights I sit with my laptop for the requisite two or three hours, but sometimes no real writing comes out of it. I dunno.

Maybe it’s because when I wrote Ripping the Bodice, I had epic writing sessions of three to four thousand words a day. Now the old goal of five hundred words a day seems paltry. And if you were to tell me you were writing a consistent five hundred words a day, I’d say you were doing a great job. And I’d be perfectly sincere. I’d also tell you it’s okay if some nights you just needed to take a break and watch, So You Think You Can Dance, instead of write. Everyone needs a break. I just can’t seem to cut myself the same slack. I’m constantly comparing myself to my fellow writers and always coming up short. And frankly, I’m irritating the hell out of myself. :-)

How about you? I’d love to hear about other writers and their own struggle with validation, be it from readers, authors, publishers, agents… or themselves.

By the way, if you have any suggestions to get one’s inner critic to just shut the hell up, I’d love to hear that too! Mine’s been a real whiny bitch lately and my muse is on strike until I treat her with the love and respect she says she deserves.

Blurb for Champagne:

• Jeanette Wilson is an American girl on the trip of a lifetime to the wine regions of France. Unfortunately, she's trapped with her soon-to-be-ex-boyfriend Darryl, a self-absorbed, self-aggrandizing, self-styled wine expert bent on swirling, sniffing, sipping, swishing, chewing, swallowing and occasionally spitting his way through the wineries of France. Between his endless lectures and insufferable putdowns, her insignificant other is quickly turning her dream vacation into a nightmare.
  
  But things change for Jeanette once they come to the zenith of their French road-trip, the Champagne house of Chateau Roux-Dubois. Their hosts, Amaury and Marie-Elise Roux-Dubois, turn out to be both charming and attractive, and go out of their way to extend a warm welcome to her. And they make it very clear that it is she, not Daryl, who is their special guest, particularly when the striking Marie-Elise takes Jeanette down to the wine cellar for a very personal tour, followed by an unusual French lesson from Amaury.


• 
  When she and Daryl are invited to stay and participate in the harvest festival, Jeanette finds herself caught up in a ménage a trios with the Roux-Dubois, both intent on teaching her many things…

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Inara LaVey is the erotica-writing nom de plume of a San Francisco mystery writer and former B-movie actress who has lived many of the experiences she writes about in her sensuous fiction. She has traveled throughout Europe, and worked in the uncharted wilds of Hollywood as a screenwriter, a script doctor, an award-winning documentary producer, a stunt woman (her background is in theatrical sword-fighting), and actress in more than one cult classic.

Along with her best friend, she created a mystery-oriented theatrical troupe in San Diego, which formed the basis for her Murder for Hire mysteries. She's written numerous published articles, essays and shorts, and is active in the Northern California chapter of Sisters in Crime.

She has a deep passion for all things feline, and for many years has worked with her beloved tigers, leopards, jaguars and other exotic cats at an exotic feline conservation center.

Another love is the sea; she adores living by the beach, surfing, strolling the strand and beach-combing. Her many friends know she can always be tempted by bad movies or good wine, preferably combined. When she is not hard at work writing or preparing for the coming zombie apocalypse, she can be found doting on her cats or sword fighting with her Irish lover.

• MURDER FOR HIRE: The Peruvian Pigeon (James A. Rock Inc, Yellowback Mysteries Imprint) RIPPING THE BODICE (Ravenous Romance, as Inara LaVey) www.danafredsti.com Member, Sisters in Crime (National & NorCal Chapters) Events Coordinator, SinC NorCal
  
  Vist with Inara/Dana: Zhadi's Den
  
  

Doing It Like You Mean It

"The writer’s state of mind is an effort of perception, a sustained devotion to the equal observation of things without and within."

My guest is Anthony Flacco. He's worn many professional hats in his career. Anthony writes both non-fiction true crime, has a historical crime series out with Ballantine, and screenwriter for Disney, Discovery, and NBC Studios.

Anthony is well aware of the difficulty writers face in pursuing publication. The sheer numbers of submissions we're competing against for attention. His topic covers the need of well crafted proposals and queries, as well as developing, what he calls, a writers state of mind.



It was just over six years ago when my partner of fifteen years left independent publishing in Hollywood to open her own literary management company (Sharlene Martin of Martin Literary Management). She was already an entrepreneur who had crafted a successful and nationally recognized business on her own, and by the time that she went forward with literary management her expertise had been fortified by her years of watching me engage in those same struggles known by all of us who write for commercial publication--especially with regard to the securing and maintaining of effective representation. She decided to specialize in nonfiction books because they are what she most likes to read. For her, the result was a rapid rise to success and power in the nonfiction book world. For me, there has been a backdoor benefit that I never could have anticipated beyond collecting jokes about sleeping with your agent or having a representative who returns my calls.

That unexpected benefit rose from my work as editorial consultant for her company, which I originally took on in the inevitable need to help her run her business in the afternoons while I did my own writing throughout the night.

• My prior one-way experience of the literary marketplace expanded exponentially once I crossed to the other side of the desk and began to read and evaluate incoming submissions, edit book proposals and book manuscripts to put them into sellable form, and—most gratifying of all—converse with my partner every day on issues of writing and the publication game.
  
  That’s how an afternoon job that I never applied for became the most important one of my writing life outside of the writing itself. It stabilized my psyche in ways I could not have predicted, to the point that in a perfect world I would love to be able to rent my seat at the editorial desk to any one of you, perhaps charging by the hour or by the day (you know, just to keep the lights turned on), and thereby provide you with the same invaluable bird’s-eye view on the profession while you watch the tsunami of hopeful manuscripts wash across the transom. I’m pretty sure that the experience would change a lot of things for you as it certainly has for me, all for the better.
  
  
  You would find that the chance to watch and sometimes assist other writers who struggle with the same issues that you do is revelatory in its power to take the sting out of the blows that you often endure in the marketplace, since they turn out to be the same ones suffered by virtually everyone striving for authorship. (And I include the wildly successful ones who rake in royalties of seven figures.) Are there exceptions? Maybe. And they are about as relevant to the rest of us as the knowledge of who won this week’s Lotto—loose factoids.
  
  
  The revelation’s power arrives in two separate forms. The first is common to all who struggle to get published, since it involves the process. The second is typical of every writer—and this part includes those rich ones with the big waterfront mansions—because it involves living the writer’s life and maintaining a writer’s state of mind.
• 
  
  Regarding the first, the real and relevant truths about the struggle for a contract with major publishing houses is this: those publishing house slights, those yawning chasms of silence that loom up right where a response to your submission ought to be, were never the personal affronts that they seemed, not to me and not to you. The onslaught of material is daunting in the extreme.

For sad example, in the past I confess to having written to publishing house editors to ask if they would be willing to read and evaluate my work—and was genuinely disappointed by their indifference. If I had a rationale at all in wasting my time that way, other than that of seeking a toe-hold anywhere I could find one, it would have been something to the effect that I hoped for my work to be strong enough to grab them in the first few lines, they might be willing to invest their time and energy on my behalf out of sheer excitement over the stuff on the page.

It’s painful to admit to that now, because during the intervening years I have witnessed countless such requests coming in over the transom and I can’t help but appreciate the vast quantity of time and work that each would involve. Impossible. But the world is full of people who will ask for it anyway.

• The result is that as a writer, I still look for feedback all the time—but never inside of the profession. Writers’ groups and literate friends are there to do what busy professionals simply cannot.

When you stop by to rent your time in the editorial seat, you will likely find that the amount of work and creative energy that you see being wasted by many prospective authors will knock you backward. The sight of it will permanently change the way that you go about things. Conversely, the stunning work of serious contenders who bear a passion to tell their stories will keep the high water mark clear before your eyes. Perhaps not all of us feel driven to seek the highest level of quality in our work—ordinarily—but you can bet that an awareness of the avalanche of competing manuscripts will amp up your energy for excellence.

And yet in our enthusiasm for a new book idea and our desire for a major contract, it’s easy to forget that ideas—good ideas, even great ideas—are like that shared anatomical trait on our collective nether regions. It takes so much more, more, more than that in the outrageously competitive world of nonfiction books.

• From the editor’s side of the desk you observe how many intelligent and often supremely well-educated writers will try to cut corners on their queries, their proposals, their drafts. Even the most brilliant among them will frequently reduce their rationalizations for sloppy work to the same handful of familiar excuses that my ears burn to consider:
  
  “But I’m so busy (or) I can’t afford the cost of doing it right (or) Hey--if you appreciate my work, you won’t need a well-crafted query letter and a fully completed book proposal. You’ll cut me some slack and give me a boost. Why? Well, naturally, because I’m meeeeeeee…”

If that sounds laughable, it only emphasizes the extremes to which any of us can wander if we look for easy ways to publication. We ignore the broad statistics of more than a quarter million titles coming to the market each year, forgetting that each and every one of them represents a single find among a daunting pile of rejected works.

• The second big reveal from this side of the desk:

I am now immune to the delusion that any amount of literary success can relieve a whittle or a jot from a writer’s responsibility to maintain the writer’s state of mind.

The challenge is difficult enough when you are balancing jobs and family along with your writing sessions, all the more so when you are juggling the endless temptations and demands of a life of privilege. No serious writer is ever free of the fear of wasting our fleeting moments on earth by neglecting opportunities to keep our thoughts primed and our discipline tight toward capturing those fleeting flashes that drove us to write in the first place. The writer’s state of mind is an effort of perception, a sustained devotion to the equal observation of things without and within. My time behind the editor’s desk has left indelible memories of those who achieve and maintain that state of mind, and who produce their work from within it.

As for me, I’ve started a collection of jokes about the wisdom (or folly) of sleeping with your agent. But the real result of my afternoon job has been to slap a pair of glasses onto my head with mirrors attached to the sides. They provide a clear and present view of the pack with whom I have chosen to run: countless thundering feet that will trample the ambitions of anyone who refuses to keep pace.

• As for wealth and glory, they are always the most unpredictable girls at the dance. It does no good to chase them--they come to you on their own. We all know stories of brilliant writers with exquisite works who were derided by critics or initially ignored and then later rediscovered. Therefore, regarding the writer’s state of mind, “doing it like you mean it” reveals a writer who never forgets that public appreciation and acceptance of one’s work may be the result of someone else’s subjective call, but the excellence of it is there to be guaranteed by you.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Anthony is the author of the new historical true crime book, The Road Out Of Hell, which has just been released by Union Square Press at Sterling Publishing. It tells the true story behind the murders that formed the basis for the movie “Changeling,” but focuses on young Sanford Clark, the thirteen year-old who was held for two years at the Wineville murder ranch and forced to participate in the most gruesome of crimes.

Anthony’s primary research source for that story is Jerry Clark, the surviving son of Sanford Clark, which is why Jerry’s name is on the book. Anthony is also the author of the nonfiction book ”Tiny Dancer” from St. Martin’s Press, which earned high praise from the NYT Book Review, and the true-crime book, “A Checklist For Murder” from Dell Books, which sold to NBC Studios as a TV movie.

He has two historical crime novels from Ballantine books, “The Last Nightingale,” nominated by the International Thriller Writers Assn. as Best Paperback Original for 2007, and also the novel, “The Hidden Man,” in 2008, which continued the San Francisco murder mystery series.

He is a masters degree graduate of the American Film Institute, where he won A.F.I.’s Paramount Studios Award for his screenwriting. He has worked as a screenwriter for The Walt Disney Studios, NBC Studios, and The Discovery Channel. His work was also featured in the 1000th issue Commemorative Edition of Reader’s Digest.

He is currently a member of the Writers Guild of America/west, the International Thriller Writer’s Association, and the Mystery Writers of America.


Anthony Flacco website You can see the book trailer and blurb for the book here as well.

Wild Blue Under Review and Interview with Judi Fennell

~If you liked, In Over Her Head, you are gonna LOVE Wild Blue Under!~

Wild Blue Under
Tritone Mer Trilogy
Book 2

Judi Fennell

Sourcebook Casablanca

Book Blurb: Rod Tritone, heir to the throne of the undersea world, needs a queen capable of ruling the oldest kingdom on earth. Someone regal, learned and of noble birth. Problem is, the only eligible noble-born Mer princess is half-Human - and she doesn't have a clue about the non-Human part.Valerie Dumere has screwed up her life at every turn, so when her mother dies and leaves her the family business, Val realizes it's up to her to buckle down and get her life on track. No more excuses.So when a guy shows up claiming to be her destiny, she scoffs. No way. She isn't running away from her responsibilities ever again - no matter how good the guy looks without a shirt.But Rod isn't going away. He can't claim his inheritance without her - and Val will lose hers if she goes with him.It's going to take one whale of a tale to get her to chuck it all and follow him off into the wild blue under...

• "A delightful, quirky blend of humor, adventure, and passion."

Star-Crossed Romance

My Thoughts:

Growing up, some of my favorite TV shows were a blend of comedy and serious.

I loved the touch of paranormal/comedy in I Dream of Jeannie and Bewitched. The comedy was focused on normal humans coming into contact with humans with magical/mythical powers. The fun part was the reaction of everyday people when they did. Magic that got out of hand and the dashing about to save the day. Explaining the unexplainable. Yet, these shows dealt with serious issues and human emotions: love, jealousy, aging, job security, raising kids, nosey neighbors, national security, and interfering in-laws. They all had a ‘twist’ and they made you feel good when the show was over.

This is what I love about Judi Fennell’s books. Romance that’s funny, engaging, definitely hot, and makes you feel good when you’ve finished the book. I loved it!

Wild Blue Under is the second book of Judi’s Tritone Mer Trilogy. It’s even better than the first. Like my favorite shows, it deals with serious issues—life and death but Fennell maintains her theme of Fairy Tales With A Twist. Take the improbable, add superb characters, and then build a marvelous story, filled with laughter, dangerous adventure, romance, and a happy ending.

What would you do if you found out birds could talk, and not only talk but plan out evasive maneuvers when under attack? Or that the talking Sea Gull was the Chief of Aerial Security tasked with the responsibility keeping the Heir to the throne safe? Or that birds could become terrorists and close down airports and create havoc on the highways to stop traffic?

This is just some of the many things that normal, Valerie Dumere, has to not only deal with but also make sense of while dealing with a not normal, hot hunk named Rod Tritone. Valerie is determined to stick to one thing and which is making her mother’s shop a success. She’s done with her restless wandering.

Rod is the sexy, highly responsible heir to the Mer throne. His assignment is to bring half Mer princess to Atlantis. Valerie, on the other hand, doesn’t know she’s half Mer and is deathly allergic to saltwater. Rod fabricates an inheritance to get her to come from the landlocked mid-west to the Atlantic so he can prove to her what she is, and fulfill his assignment.

What follows is a face-paced series of misadventures that will have you not only laughing but also rooting for Val and Rod. Rod’s life is in danger. Valerie thinks she’s lost her mind. Toss in an impossible romance and Livingston, a wisecracking Sea Gull is the Chief of Aerial Security tasked with the responsibility of keeping Rod alive and Valerie to the coast, and you have a highly entertaining read.

If you liked In Over Her Head, you are going to LOVE Wild Blue Under!

Look out world; Judi Fennell’s star is rising high.

I had a chance to ask Judi a few questions about her book and writing:

• What's special about your hero? What makes him different from his brother, Reel?
  Rod is the older twin and, therefore, he's The Heir who will inherit the throne. His upbringing diverged from Reel's about the time of The Incident, when he had the seriousness and importance of his position hammered into him. As The Heir, Rod had to learn all about the Mer culture, their laws and history, how to behave, etc. He didn't get the carefree life he thought his brother had. In In Over Her Head (Reel's story) we see that this wasn't quite the way Reel saw it.


• What was the most fun about writing this story?

I loved re-visiting the undersea world and I loved writing the chase scenes with the dive-bombing peregrines and fish bombs from an albatross. Writing a Mer-out-of-water story puts certain restrictions on my imagination that writing a Human-under-the-sea story didn't, in that I had to adhere to what we know and what is reality about living on land. However, when you toss birds into the mix (wait for it...) the sky's the limit. Both literally and figuratively.

• What was the hardest to write?

Hmmm, good question. I don't know that there was a hard part to write. People always say "the sagging middle" but in my stories they're on a quest or running (swimming) for their lives, so there's no chance to have a sagging middle, and I pretty much know the beginning and ending, so...

• You mention you like words, puns, alliteration, and obviously humor. Having read all your books, the humor is a bit *fishy*. What made you choose to play with undersea terminology so much?
  
There was no "choice" involved. From the minute Chum opened his mouth in In Over Her Head, the puns just started flowing. And, apparently, they don't stop. :) I've always done things like that, and found them funny when others do them. I like nuances to meanings and giving "nods" to pop culture, and I love twisting cliches. It wasn't a conscious effort, which means it was a subconscious one, and I take no responsibility for my subconscious. It's an entity unto itself.

• What is your greatest challenge as an author and how do you deal with it?
  
Greatest challenge.... hmmm... pick a day. LOL I'd have to say the challenge would be working real life in when I want to be writing. I have a husband and kids, dogs, a kitten, a house, a social life, a gym membership, extended family nearby, school commitments... Juggling all those balls is tough, but my family knows that writing is my full time job now and I have to treat it as such. But then life tosses in a sick kid or someone forgot a project that has to be driven to school, or my DH (used to be Darling Husband, but is now Domestic Hero) has to travel so I have to single-parent it... Yep, that's the challenge.

• How did belonging to a writing group, such as RWA, your Writin' Wombats, play into your success as a writer?
  
I wouldn't be where I am today if not for the incredibly helpful people in the RWA organization. From my critique partner, Stephanie Julian, who gave me my first unbiased feedback ("It's good but you need to get rid of the first 20 pages" ouch! but she was right!), to the other writers of my local chapter who shared so much of their industry knowledge, to the RWA organization as a whole for the monthly publication that's an invaluable resource, both for writing information and industry stuff, and the online community of Writing Wombats who encouraged me to enter that second First Chapters Romance contest which helped me along to publication, the intensive critiques/feedback they're willing to do for me - and quickly! - to the support for getting the word out (bookmarks all across the country!)... The Writing Wombats rock! And as more Wombats are selling, I get the chance to give back, well, aside from bloodying up their manuscripts when they send them to me for critique. :)

• What can we expect from you next? Can you discuss your new series at all?
  Oh, sure! My next series, pitched as I Dream of Jeannie meets Indiana Jones will release in Fall 2010, with the first story (tentatively) titled, I Dream of Genies. Look for more action/adventure, life and death, bad guys, a few talking animals and a magical city of the Djinn (where the word "genie" comes from). And, yeah, maybe a reference to Sydney Sheldon. :)

Many don't realize just how hard authors work. It's not only the writing and editing of the book, but the enormous time involved in promoting the finished product through blog tours, booksignings, and interviews. So, I know your time is valuable.

Judi, I want to thank you for spending today with us here Over Coffee. It's been a pleasure speaking with you.

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Judi Fennell has had her nose in a book and her head in some celestial realm all her life, including those early years when her mom would exhort her to "get outside!" instead of watching Bewitched or I Dream of Jeannie on television. So she did—right into Dad's hammock with her Nancy Drew books.

These days she's more likely to have her nose in her laptop and her head (and the rest of her body) at her favorite bookstore, but she's still reading, whether it be her latest manuscript or friends' books.

A three-time finalist in online contests, Judi has enjoyed the reader feedback she's received and would love to hear what you think about her Mer series. Check out her website for excerpts, reviews, contests and pictures from reader and writer conferences, as well as the chance to "dive in" to her stories.

Visit Judi HERE

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How Do You Measure Success?

My guest today is Romantic Suspense Author, Loucinda (everyone calls her Cindy) McGary. She is also known as Aunty Cindy.

Her topic today is one that many an author has wondered. How do you measure success? These days, authors must do self-promotion for their books and that's true whether you're published through a small Indie press or with traditional publishers. As an author, Cindy also speaks about blog tours, are they worth the whirlwind of time involved?

To promote my recently released romantic suspense, The Treasures of Venice, I did a ‘blog tour’ that required me to post on eighteen blogs in three and a half weeks. Yes, after eighteen blogs in twenty-four days, my head was spinning. Plus, I was left with the nagging question: Was all that effort really worthwhile?

Back in the not-too-distant past when I still had a Dreaded Day Job, I worked for many years as a policy analyst. In those days it was my job to dredge up data or find some other method for quantifying the success of a recommendation, a project, or sometimes an entire program. My bosses wanted numbers and I had to find them.

The saying goes “old habits are hard to break,” and I’ve definitely found this to be true in my new career as a romance novelist. Let me get back to my earlier question about the eighteen blogs in twenty-four days. I quickly discovered there was no ‘hard evidence’ (in other words--numbers) to prove that blogging is an effective promotional tool. However, my in-house publicist, and more importantly her boss, my publisher believe it is. Since I know they want my book to succeed as much as I do (they’ve put time, effort, and money into it too), I just have to take their word for it.

But what is success in this crazy publishing business anyway? Okay, I suppose we can all agree that hitting number one on the New York Times List or being one of Oprah’s Bookclub picks is successful. But it’s also not a very realistic goal for the vast majority of us, so why set ourselves up for failure?

Until Sept. 14, 2007 (the day I got The Call), my entire measure of success hinged on selling a book – ONE book – to a publisher. Of course, as soon as I achieved that goal, I immediately saw that publishing one book was not enough. Margaret Mitchell and Harper Lee notwithstanding, I did not want to be a ‘one hit wonder.’

Shortly after my first book, The Wild Sight was released last October; I was thrilled to sign a contract with my publisher for two more books. As I mentioned, The Treasures of Venice was just released, and The Wild Irish Sea, will be out next July. And, you guessed it, I’ve decided three published books still doesn’t meet my elusive definition of success. Please wish me luck on my new proposals.

Phyllis A. Whitney was one of the first romance author’s whose work I loved, and I’m proud to claim her as an influence on my own writing. She published scores of novels during her long career, her last at the age of ninety-three! Another author I idolize, J.R.R. Tolkien published only four novels in his lifetime, but what novels!

Clearly the number of books published is not an accurate way to measure success, but what about sales? Again, this seems to be very subjective to me. Again, in the days when I was still unpublished, my little pea-brain couldn’t even conceive of 10,000 people reading my book. Such a thing was on par with when the pilot comes on the intercom and tells us passengers we are cruising at 35,000 feet. That is too vast a distance for me to fathom, so I don’t even try! So for the unpublished, or newly published, 10,000 copies sold might sound like a huge number. But it could be very disappointing for an author who previously hit one or more best-seller lists and is accustomed to sales over 100,000. Plus, copies sold are not the same thing as copies read.

One of the most exciting things I discovered was Library Thing. This site shows you every library in the US (and a few foreign countries) that has a copy of your book in their collection. Seeing my book in the library was a huge success for me! From the time I learned to read until I graduated from college and finally got a full-time job, I couldn’t afford to buy many books. The library was my own personal refuge, and is still the place I go for most hard-cover novels and research books.

I feel the same when people tell me they loaned their copy of my book to a friend. I have to really love a book before I’ll loan or recommend it to someone else to read, so I consider this a very high compliment. And that brings me around to the thing I love most – hearing from readers!

The main reason I write stories is for people to read and enjoy them. Entertaining an audience is my goal and having my books published helps me to achieve that goal. I’ll never forget the happiness I felt the week after The Wild Sight was released and I received three pieces of honest-to-goodness fan mail. I knew that hearing from readers would be wonderful, but I never imagined just how much! I’ve received dozens of emails, snail mails, and even in-person praise since then, and I treasure every single one of them! Knowing that someone read and enjoyed my story makes all the hard work and hassles of writing and publishing worthwhile.

So maybe readers are my true measure of success. As long as I know I have one or two (or more) people out there somewhere who are reading my books and eagerly turning the pages to see what happens next, I don’t need to crunch numbers or collect empirical data or anything else. I have achieved my ultimate goal.

Blurb for The Treasures Of Venice:

When American librarian Samantha Lewis and Irish rogue Keirnan Fitzgerald set off to find priceless jewels, they become embroiled in a 500-year-old love story that eerily prefigures their own...

In 15th century Venice, beautiful and wealthy Serafina falls in love with Nino, a young Florentine sculptor. They decide to flee to Padua, and to fund the trip, Nino copies a set of jewels that then disappear.

In modern-day Venice, Keirnan needs Samantha's help to locate the jewels so he can pay his sister's ransom. Samantha must decide whether the man she's so drawn to is her soul mate from a previous life...or are they merely pawns in a relentless quest for a priceless treasure?

Question for readers: Out of curiosity, how many of your books were chosen because you read a blog about the author or their latest book?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A life-long avid reader, Cindy writes the kinds of stories she likes to read – stories with danger, romance and a touch of the unexpected. Cindy likes to read and write about wonderful, far away places and people not so very different from her or someone she knows. Her characters must overcome physical and emotional obstacles, sometimes risk their lives, and eventually discover love.

• Cindy discovered and joined Romance Writers of America in 2001. But her stressful career as the manager of a multi-million dollar State and Federally funded program prevented her from doing much writing or traveling. She still managed to squeeze in a little of both, but not enough of either to be truly satisfying. Finally, at the end of 2003 she decided to take an early retirement from her career to fully pursue her twin passions of travel and writing. Cindy likes to set her novels of romance and suspense in some of the fascinating places she has visited.

Cindy loves to hear from her fans and you can visit her Here.

Odds And Ends

Recently, I had two wonderful romance authors visiting with us Over Coffee. Amelia Grey, October 13th and Anna Campbell, October 21st. Both offered prizes of their books to commenters of the day.


My mystical faerie, Lady Brianna, is happy to announce those winners. Don't mind her mischievous expression or her mussed hair. Brie has been frolicking with my hunky Scot and consequently is quite satisfied with herself and said Scot. Something about loving a tough Scots in chains, or was that with chains...hmmm, well whatever. She's shameless. I like that about her, lol!

Amelia Grey offered two books from her Rogue's Dynasty Series:

A Duke to Die For

What is a roguish young nobleman supposed to do with a shockingly lovely young ward?

The Duke of Blakewell believes he'd better marry her off as soon as possible, before he gives in to temptation himself...

But Henrietta doesn't want a husband— she wants her independence...

• Sure that she carries a curse that killed her previous guardians, Henrietta just wants the duke to sign over her inheritance before something terrible befalls him...
  

And book two:

A Marquis To Marry

Alexander Mitchell Raceworth, the dashing fourth Marquis of Raceworth, is shocked when the alluring young Duchess of Brookfield accuses him of stealing priceless pearls belonging to her family.

• Susannah Brookfield is the most beautiful, enchanting woman he has ever met, but despite his attraction, he's not about to hand over the pearls. Though suspicion and mistrust drive them apart when the pearls are stolen, Race suggests they pool their resources to recover them.
  

If they do find them, will they finally be able to give in to love, or will the truth of the elusive necklace tear them apart once and for all?

• Congratulations to:

Carolyn Goff

Terry Dubbs

We had a very lively discussion with Anna Campbell on October 21st. Anna said, "My favorite comment wins a signed copy of my new release, CAPTIVE OF SIN! Good luck!"

Captive of Sin

He pledged his honor to keep her safe...

Returning home to Cornwall after unspeakable tragedy, Sir Gideon Trevithick comes upon a defiant beauty in danger, and vows to protect her whatever the cost. He's dismayed to discover that she's none other than Lady Charis Weston, England's wealthiest heiress-and that the only way to save her from the violent stepbrothers determined to steal her fortune is to wed her himself! Now Gideon must hide the dark secrets of his life from the bride he desires more with every heartbeat.

She promised to show him how to love - and desire - again...

Charis has heard all about Gideon, the dangerously handsome hero with the mysterious past. She's grateful for his help, but utterly unwilling to endure a marriage of convenience-especially to a man whose touch leaves her breathless. Desperate to drive him mad with passion, she would do anything to make Gideon lose control-and fall captive to irresistible, undeniable sin.

Congratulations to:

Kat Sheridan

Congratulations Winners!!

Next Week's Over Coffee guests (and more goodies):

• Cindy McGary-The Treasures of Venice

Judi Fennell-Wild Blue Under Review and interview.

• Book Recommedations:

• A Journal for Jordan, Dana Canedy
• Dawn's Prelude by Inspirational Fiction author, Tracie Peterson Book 1 in the all new Song of Alaska series