UNDERSTANDING THE NEED TO BE ORGANIZED

My guest is historical paranormal author, Brooklyn Ann. Her topic is one that many writers have struggled with--being organized. How does one keep track of those great snippets of ideas that come to us a midnight-thirty when we're just falling asleep or organizing different story lines and the stray scene that pops into our head--usually when both hands are involved with something else. 

Organization, it’s a horrifying, mystifying word of which I can barely grasp the meaning. One thing I know for sure is that it’s a necessary evil.

One author friend has a notebook filled with story ideas. Another has spreadsheets and all sorts of things to organize everything from stories to workout schedules. Others focus on one project at a time with the tenacity of a bloodhound. And some just seem to wing it.

I long to be more organized, but my cluttered house and the toxic waste dump of my car's interior seem to indicate that I'll never be an orderly person. However, there is still a method to my madness. I do have a notebook, though no one but me will likely ever make sense of it. The pages contain everything from random scenes, quickly jotted notes indecipherable to all but myself, to do lists, rough synopses, etc.

A little more sensible are my files dedicated to each series I'm working on. I have one for my historical paranormal series, one for my New Adult paranormal series, one for my contemporary rock star novellas, and another for random ideas. Each time I have a new idea or a quick scene pop into my head, I do my best to put them in their corresponding file.

Little by little, each "project to be" becomes more detailed and clear. One or two are usually close to actual books. Some are the basic building blocks for a story. Most are still pretty fragmented and incoherent.

Crazy as it is, this method seems to work best for me. I am able to focus on whatever project needs the most attention as well as placate my muse by assuring him or her that a new idea will be addressed in the future.

However, things don't always work out and often I forget ideas before I can get them typed up. Especially when an idea comes when I'm trying to sleep. For that, I wish I had some device in which a notebook, pen, & flashlight are mounted on the wall by the bed w' chains so I can write them down and not worry about forgetting it in the morning.

• How organized are you? What methods do you use to keep track of your projects?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

BUY: AMAZON, B&N, WALMART

BITE ME, YOUR GRACE
Brooklyn Ann

London's Lord Vampire Has Problems

Dr. John Polidori's tale "The Vampyre" burst upon the Regency scene along with Mary Shelley's Frankenstein after that notorious weekend spent writing ghost stories with Lord Byron.

A vampire crazy broke out instantly in the haut ton.

Now Ian Ashton, the Lord Vampire of London, has to attend tedious balls, linger in front of mirrors, and eat lots of garlic in an attempt to quell the gossip.

If that weren't annoying enough, his neighbor, Angelica Winthrop has literary aspirations of her own and is sneaking into his house at night just to see what she can find.

Hungry, tired, and fed up, Ian is in no mood to humor his beautiful intruder...Excerpt

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

A lover of witty Regencies and dark paranormal romance, Brooklyn Ann combines the two in her new 
vampire series.

The former mechanic turned author lives with her family in Coeur d' Alene, Idaho. 

She can be found online at http://brooklynann.blogspot.com as well as on twitter and Facebook.

WITH TIME ON MY HANDS—Isabel Cooper

My guest is debut author, Isabel Cooper. She writes historical paranormal romance. 


I warn you, her article cracked me up. I love her sense of humor. I'll also tell you I read the excerpt and promptly bought the book.


Isabel shares with us how she came to write this story and The Call. My understanding is Leah suffered no lasting hearing loss. 

So I wrote this novel: No Proper Lady. 


It was the first romance novel I’d written, and perhaps not-so-coincidentally the first novel I’d written that actually stood up to a second reading. (I’d written a couple in college, since I needed something to think about during class, but going back to all of them was less “hey, I can fix this” and more “what was I thinking?”) I had a lot of fun in the process, since I got to write about weird dystopian futures and fancy dresses and really cute guys, and I kept myself occupied on a number of vacations and train trips. As I’d read you should do, I put the manuscript away, or at least closed the file, and waited six months to start revisions.

Six months later, it was January of 2008. My day job, reasonably enough, decided that “editorial assistant” was not exactly an essential position, considering the impending societal collapse and transition into Mad Max-style chaos. 

I had some time on my hands, is what I’m saying.

Some of this time, I used to look for another job—the endless train of hate that is pantyhose, interview skirts, and cover letters. Everyone knows it; nobody likes it. I facilitated communications! I synergized win-win situations! I got my nails done and then had to get them done again, because my lifestyle is not compatible with manicures that last more than an hour. I did some temp work, which mostly took place in tunnels under Harvard Business School, and pretended to be a Morlock. I spent a lot of time hating the weather, the T, everyone on the T, and everything in general.

But I also spent a lot of time writing. I think every friend who expressed any tangential interest in No Proper Lady got a look at the manuscript, and then had me pestering them about it a day later. (“What do you think?” “Well, my house was on fire, and a spider’s eating my face right now—“ “Yeah, but did you like the book?”) I put in scenes. I took out scenes; I actually took out a lot of scenes, since the first draft was something like a hundred and three thousand words. A background in fantasy had convinced me that a novel had to be long enough that you could use the hardback version to kill large insects, and I hadn’t researched length requirements in romance nearly enough before I first wrote.

I realized that I’d spelled the heroine’s name—or at least her alias--two different ways throughout the book, and hated everything. My computer broke, and I hated that too. My boyfriend let me use his computer, so I didn’t hate him so much.

I revised. I wrote cover letters. I wrote other cover letters. I realized that my job application cover letters were bleeding into my romance cover letters and vice versa. “Dear Ms. Jones: I am applying for a position as a heroine with nothing to lose in a world she never made.” “As passion grows between them, they will become valuable team players with an eye for customer satisfaction.”

I played a lot of music, fairly loudly, and tried to pretend that this was just a montage of hardship and would be over soon. I prayed that I wouldn’t get cavities or appendicitis.

I went on interviews, and more interviews, and developed a nervous tic any time someone asked me what my greatest weakness was. (I seriously considered answering “Kryptonite” or “the color yellow” later on. As far as I could tell, it would probably have worked out the same either way.) I started going out to lunch with friends after the interviews, because why not?

I had to get a new cell phone, because my old one succumbed to a deluge.

And then I came home from a post-interview lunch and found an email from Leah Hultenschmidt asking me to call her about No Proper Lady.

The first thing I did was make myself some tea. This seemed important. This didn’t keep me in any way from squealing like an anime schoolgirl when Leah offered to buy the book. She was very nice about the hearing damage and everything.

In the time since, I’ve gotten a new day job, written the sequel to No Proper Lady, and gotten to meet some incredible people in the romance field. It’s been awesome—and it totally makes those months in 2008 worth it.

Though I would still have preferred a montage.

NO PROPER LADY BY ISABEL COOPER – IN STORES SEPTEMBER 2011

It’s Terminator meets My Fair Lady in this fascinating debut of black magic and brilliant ball gowns, martial arts, and mysticism.

England, 1888. The trees are green, the birds are singing, and in 200 years demons will destroy it all. Unless Joan, a rough-around-the-edges assassin from the future, can take out the dark magician responsible. But to get close to her target she’ll need help learning how to fit into polite Victorian society to get close to her target.

Simon Grenville has his own reasons for wanting to destroy Alex Reynell. The man used to be his best friend—until his practice of the dark arts almost killed Simon’s sister. The beautiful half-naked stranger Simon meets in the woods may be the perfect instrument for his revenge. It will just take a little time to teach her the necessary etiquette and assemble a proper wardrobe. But as each day passes, Simon is less sure he wants Joan anywhere near Reynell. Because no spell in the world will save his future if she isn't in it.EXCERPT

Buy: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books a Million, Indie Bound 

Debut author Isabel Cooper lives in Boston and maintains her guise as a mild-mannered project manager working in legal publishing. She only travels through time the normal way and has never fought a demon, but she can waltz. Her next book, No Honest Woman, will be in stores in April 2011. For more information, please visit http://isabelcooper.wordpress.com.

THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP—Lydia Dare

My guests today are Tammy Falkner and Jodie Pearson and known as Lydia Dare. As a team they write historical paranormal romance. I had the chance to read the latest book for review and it was actually the first of their books I had read. I loved their story. Part of what drew me, aside from a well put together story and sexy hero, was the strong ties between the heroine, Rhiannon, and her sister witches—none of which are actually related. I personally have friends that feel more like family than unrelated friends and so I could relate to this story. It is an engaging page turner. 


You can read my review here.

There are two of us who make up the writing team of Lydia Dare. And we’ve had the pleasure of writing some truly wonderful heroes over the last couple of years. Gentlemen we’ve fallen in love with right alongside our readers. Sometimes we even make ourselves swoon – over different heroes, of course. We agree on very little in real life and our choice in men is no different. 

We’ve spent the best time with the wolfish Brothers Westfield, a tragic lone werewolf, and a trio of vampyres who are more chivalrous than their human counterparts. And while we love each of these gentlemen from their wolfish tails to their vampyric charm – there is something magical about the women who have captured their hearts. And not just because they’re witches. But because of who they are.

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart.”

When we first created the Còig, an ancient coven of Scottish witches whose powers and membership pass from mother to oldest daughter, we knew we were creating more than just five friends. We were creating “sisters” in a sense who were devoted to and would do anything for each other. In a lot of ways, these lasses are closer to each other than they are some members of their own families.

We've written a lot about the members of this revered coven:

Elspeth – the healer (Tall, Dark & Wolfish)

Caitrin – the seer  (The Taming of the Wolf)

Blaire – the warrior (It Happened One Bite)

Rhiannon – the controller of weather (In the Heat of the Bite)

Sorcha – the plant manipulator (Never Been Bit, to be released September 6^th)

These five ladies were first introduced in our 2^nd book, and since then they’ve dealt with werewolves, vampypres and each other. But through all their ups and downs, their loyalty and bond has held them together and made them stronger than ever.

Our witches are far from perfect. Some are hardheaded. Some are a little spoiled. Some have tempers. We could go on and one. But despite each lass’ flaws, her coven sisters love her like nothing else.

We've both been lucky enough to have had some very good friends over the years, friends we would do anything for and vice versa. And it is those ladies and those friendships that inspired us to create the Còig in the first place.

• We’d love to hear all about your best friends, the friends who've stood by you through thick and thin, who've been there when others weren’t, and who you love like they were your own family.

In honor of our Scottish witches, we are giving away a set of the first four books that features the coven  - TALL, DARK and WOLFISH; THE TAMING OF THE WOLF; IT HAPPENED ONE BITE; and IN THE HEAT OF THE BITE to (2) lucky US or Canadian commenters who tell us what makes their best friend so special.

In The Heat Of The Bite

Chivalry is far from undead...

Matthew Halkett, Earl of Blodswell, is one of the few men in the ton who can claim to be a knight in shining armor- because that's precisely what he was before being turned into a vampyre. When he spies a damsel in distress in the midst of a storm in Hyde Park, his natural instinct is to rush to her aid...

But not every woman needs to be rescued...

Weather-controlling witch Rhiannon Sinclair isn't caught in a storm-she's the cause of it. She's mortified to have been caught making trouble by the imposing earl, but she doesn't need any man-never has, and is sure she never will...

But when Rhiannon encounters Matthew again, her powers go awry and his supernatural abilities run amok. Between the two of them, the ton is thrown into an uproar. There's never been a more tempestuous scandal... Excerpt on Amazon

BUY: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Powells, Indibound

As Lydia Dare, like most of us, work outside the home, they will be stopping by as they can today.

Lydia Dare is the writing team of Tammy Falkner and Jodie Pearson. Both Tammy and Jodie are active members of the Heart of Carolina Romance Writers and live near Raleigh, North Carolina. They are working together on their next paranormal historical trilogy as Lydia Dare, which will be released by Sourcebooks Casablanca in Spring 2011! For more information, please visit http://www.lydiadare.com/.

Book Winners

FEBRUARY WINNERS!

We had five authors giving away books in February.

I don't have all your email addresses. Please either leave your email addresses in the comment section or contact me at siamckye@gmail.com with your physical address.

All addresses are kept strictly confidential.

The winners are as follows:

JUDI FENNELL:

LuAnn

Tetiwe

TERRY SPEAR:

Elli Rossi

Anna Shah Hogue

AMANDA FORESTER:

Tomi
Mason Canyon

DONNA GRANT:

Chellyreads

Sue A

DONNA MACMEANS:

Vivian Archer

Congratulations!

Be sure to contact me so we can get your books to you.