HARD ROCK: Sedrick Lionheart Interview

TWO COPIES OF ROCK HARD WILL BE GIVEN AWAY BY THE PUBLISHER TO  TWO READERS. US AND CANADA ONLY. Deadline to enter is Sunday at mid-night.

It’s my pleasure to have Olivia Cunning and lead sinner himself, Sed Lionheart, as guests. For those of you who have been on another planet the past few years, Sed is the lead vocalist for Sinners and has been nice enough to stop in to chat with us.

My impression of Sed: Tough, Charismatic and definitely sexy. His eyes are gorgeous as is his smile. Not a man to go unnoticed in a crowd. I can see where he could irritate people because he has a take-charge personality, strong opinions, and not particularly tactful. Sed is very intense, focused, and has little patience with stupid and foolish. For such a large man, 6’4, he moves with the grace of a lion and you have no doubt he’s used to being in charge. When he speaks of his love, Sinners, he’s very professional and proud of the band and it’s members. He’s a very protective person with those he cares about which implies a loving heart under his swagger. Myrna once said of him, “I know he pretends to be tough and all Don Juan Casanova, but he has the most delicate heart I’ve ever seen in a man.”

Sed, welcome to Over Coffee. Sinners are an awesome group and I can tell you’re very proud of both the success of Sinners and it’s members. Sort of like having a family, isn’t it?

Thanks, Sia. Glad to be here. The guys are like brothers to me. Which means most days they’re a pain in my ass.

You were not part of the band originally. How did you meet up with Brian, Trey and Eric?

Everyone always asks me this question. I went to a bar with a fake ID. It was the kind of bar that didn’t really care if you had the ID or not, they just wanted to be able to take the blame off themselves if the cops ever showed up. Anyway, some punk kids, and I do mean punk, Trey’s hair was vivid orange (not his color) and Brian had this three foot high mohawk, I kid you not, were playing. The two of them were amazing together. You’ve heard them play guitar together?


Yes and I agree, they are incredible musicians. They play off each other’s music and revamp it to a better piece.

It’s like they’re two parts of a whole. It’s always been that way between them. Anyway, I just stood there in awe and knew I had to become of part of what they had. I didn’t have anything to offer them but my voice, which at that point in time wasn’t that great.

But didn’t they already have a lead vocalist?

If you want to call him that. Eric Anderson, who now goes by Eric Sticks, was their singer at the time. The guy is still tall and lanky, but as a teenager he was a twig with giant feet. He could sing okay and is a decent bass player, but he had the stage presence of a comatose DMV employee.

A comatose DMV employee? Oh my God, I hope you didn’t tell him that.

Nah, I’m not that crass. I just told him he needed a new goal in life. The guy wasn’t meant to be a front man. He was meant to be a drummer. He has this incredible talent with percussion... He doesn’t just play rhythm. He makes music and melody by banging on stuff. There aren’t many drummers who do that. I know he thinks he got “stuck” playing drums, but he has a gift with them. It would be a tragedy if he gave them up.

Wow. You’re very proud of him. I hope he realizes that.

I digress. Anyway, by a stroke of luck (or temporary good sense), the guys agreed that I could become their singer. Eric switched to the drums permanently and we picked up a new bassist.

Brian mentioned you pretty much took over the band? Pretty highhanded of you, even though the band is quite famous now.

Hey, they could have refused. Or walked away. No one threatened to break their fingers.

Any hard feelings over that move? If so, how did you handle it?

Eric mopes about it sometimes, but it’s Eric. A few shots of tequila and he’s over it.

Lol! If you had to pick a band on today’s scene you respect for their songwriting or music ability, who would it be and why?

Any band that can make a living doing this has my complete respect. Hell, even if they can’t make a living at it, they deserve respect. Connecting with enough fans to turn a profit is a total crapshoot. We all do this out of love for music. That’s what’s important.

You had to cancel some of your tour due to Trey’s injury. He’s a real favorite of mine. How’s he doing these days? When will we see him back on stage?

I can’t speak for him. Last I checked he was getting some rest and relaxation by his parents’ pool.

You have quite a reputation for the ladies, Sed, and more fangirls than Las Vegas has lights. How do you handle that? And what’s this about your shirt. I’ll admit, one the guys mentioned I should ask you that.

Fangirls are easy to deal with. You tell them what to do. They do it. Unfortunately, they think my shirt is fair game. I lose about a shirt a week. Saves on laundry, I guess. I used to wear chains, but it frickin’ hurts when someone gets a hand wrapped around one of them. I’d rather them rip off my shirt if they insist on a souvenir.

You’ve been seen a lot in the company of Jessica Chase, especially in Las Vegas. Are you two back together?


Yes. She’s mine.

Well. That certainly sounds possessive of a known ladies man. Kind of risky considering it’s reported she broke your heart when she left you before. In fact Brian Sinclair doesn’t think you’re over her and he doesn’t understand what you see in her given she walked out on you. Seems like your fan girls agree.

Do I care what Brian or anyone else thinks about any of my relationships? No.

Is it true Jessica is working with Myrna Sinclair and touring with you guys too? How are you and the guys dealing with that?

Jessica needed a job. Myrna hired her. Without consulting anyone. Myrna will be finishing up her study this summer, so all the estrogen on the bus is just a temporary situation. We’re off tour right now, but when we get on the road, the bus is sure to be crowded. The partying will probably all but come to a standstill. I’m okay with that, but I’m sure that will make Trey cranky.


Moving on. Sed, I understand you have two younger sisters. I‘ve seen pictures of your sisters. They’re beautiful women. I’m sure they know all the guys in the band; I’m surprised they haven’t dated one of them, like Eric.


If any member of my band went anywhere near my baby sisters, they’d pay. The guys are not allowed to look at them, or talk to them, and especially not touch them. That goes double for Eric.


Lol! Sounds like a typical big brother.
I know you’ve always had an interest in music and I understand you played the violin in school. You have my curiosity piqued; did you play it as a fiddle as well as in a more traditional mode?



I played violin in a strictly classical sense. Mary Had A Little Lamb is classical, right? I’m no Charlie Daniels, that’s for sure. There’s no chance of me ever winning a golden fiddle from Satan... or even a third grader.


Are you planning on using the violin in any Sinners songs? Like Korn does with bagpipes and Skillet does with violins? Yellowcard does a fabulous job of incorporating violin in Breathing.


Uh, no. Why would I ever use a violin? Not Sinners style. Plus, my playing is a little rusty, to say the least.


Hmmm. Just curious, Sed. I want to thank you for stopping by. Before you go, I happen to have a T shirt with me. Has your Sinner’s logo on it which I got off the website.  Would you mind signing it for me?

No problem, babe. Anything for a fan.

Sed and Olivia will be checking back in around 3:30 this afternoon with a few of the other Sinners checking in too. Since they're not on tour presently, they'll also be around Saturday. If you have a question post it and one of them will get back to you.

~*~*~

Rock Hard blurb:
 
Sinner’s lead singer, Sed, had his heart shredded when Jessica left him to pursue her dreams, so when she dances her way back into his life, he's not sure he's ready for her brand of pain, or pleasure, again.  When she convinces Sed to engage in a benefits with benefits relationship, things seem to be going his way, until one of his fans catches their explicit public display of affection on film and posts it all over the internet.  Will Jessica ever trust Sed again?  And has Sed become the man of Jessica’s dreams or is he just posing to get what he wants? Excerpt

Sed and Jessica are reunited with a bang! Readers will love the characters and enjoy their scorching love scenes and passionate fights. 4 Stars RT Book Review.

Buy: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books A Million, Chapters Indigo

My 5 Star Review of Rock Hard

Living With Imaginary Friends

My guest is the delightful Linda Wisdom. She writes paranormal romance, among other things, and I find her witches irresistible. I’ve read quite a few of Linda’s books and have enjoyed her realistic characters and her sense of humor in writing those characters.


I love the comfortable office she has inhabited with all her imaginary friends. She explains a bit of how she gets the friends to migrate from their 3D form in her mind (I’m sure it gets quite crowded in there) to the pages of her books.


I’m so glad she could visit with us Over Coffee!




First off, thank you so much, Sia, for having me here today!






A kickass witch walks into a bar one night.


Yes, it sounds like the beginning of the typical joke, but what can I say? That’s how Demons Are a Girl’s Best Friend begins with Hellion Guard Maggie O’Malley walking into the underground club, Damnation Alley, looking for a Bloater that’s been a bad creature and needs to be taken in. If she knew that would begin a crazy path in her life, she might have stayed in and let her team take care of the Bloater.


Writing is a challenge. Every day I sit down at my computer with the intention of coming up with ideas that I hope my fans will love or at the very least, not hate.


I’m what you call a pantser writer. Namely, I write by the seat of my pants. For me, it’s all about the characters. They make the story work, so no surprise they’re pretty much formed in 3D inside my head and tend to hang out with me while I write. I like it like that. I want my readers to believe the unbelievable. That there’s nothing unusual about a witch sporting a black widow spider tat that speaks in a French accent and can put a perp down with barely a hiss. Where the local messenger service is made up of over-caffeinated ferrets and the librarian is a stiff-necked wizard who believes in rules with a capital R.


And who wouldn’t want to hang out with a witch who shares your mocha latte addiction and be a shopping buddy? She might even make sure that dress you want so badly is there in your size or at least fits you perfectly. And if your ex-boyfriend is giving you trouble, she just might have the perfect solution to get him to back off or end turned into a warthog.


No wonder I believe my characters live in the house. I was the shy little girl who lived in her own little world populated with imaginary friends. I wrote about them back then and now I have a whole new cast of characters and creatures that I like to think are as quirky as I am.


All you’d have to do is see my office to see just how offbeat I am. You’d see a variety of dragon figurines, witch and faeries, my collection of Halloween Barbie dolls that increase every October, and wonderful magick candles to inspire creativity. I have a plush panda bear my dad gave me when I was three years old, a few plush wolves in sheep’s clothing. Hm, isn’t that how we see some men? And other plush critters that I’ve added over the years. Not to mention my own hellhound, Barney, my white mini-Schnauzer who’s waiting for his turn in one of my books. Between all of that, my DVDs, and a variety of reference books I feel at home in my very own imagination space.


That’s the kind of place I like to play with my ‘what if’ scenarios. I have two large windows where I see trees, rabbits, and birds. Sometimes I’ll even catch a cat on the prowl. Don’t worry, thanks to Barney doing his part to warn the cats off, the birds and rabbits always get away.


The way I see it, my space is perfect for a pantser writer. Nothing is super organized, my favorite figurines that offer inspiration are at hand when I need it, and coffee is always within reach. It’s cluttered and comfortable and I’d say very me. And I’m sure that a tidy minded person would have a heart attack if they walked in. If there’s dust I’m sure it’s faery created. My bunny slippers sneak around looking for licorice root and chocolate and there’s a gargoyle I have to make sure stays away from Pay Per View TV.


Just like my childhood, my characters and creatures don’t just live inside my imagination. They’re as real to me as the animals living outside. The witches tag along to Starbucks or if I window shop at the mall. There’s a vampire who’s with me when I drive at night. Could I have a better bodyguard? A wizard attorney who whispers “are you sure you should write that?” in my ear and now a very sexy half fire demon who just inspires all these sexy thoughts.


What can I say? This shy kid found a way to give life to the people inside her head. I just hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

• Now let me ask you something. Were you a shy kid with imaginary friends? And did they help you? Or did you wish you had a pair of fangy bunny slippers?

DEMONS ARE A GIRL’S BEST FRIEND

A Bewitching Woman on a Mission…


Feisty witch Maggie enjoys her work as a paranormal law enforcement officer—that is, until she’s assigned to protect a teenager with major attitude and plenty of Mayan enemies. Maggie’s never going to survive this assignment without the help of a half-fire demon who makes her smolder…


A Hotter-Than-Sin Hero with an Agenda…


Declan is a proprietor of an underground club and busy demon portal. No way he’ll allow his demon race to be blamed for the malicious acts of some crazy evil Mayans. But he’s already got his hands full when the sexy witch offers him a challenge he can’t refuse…5 star review

I apologize. I don't have a direct link to an excerpt, but both Amazon and Barnes and Noble will give you a preview.

Buy: Books a Million, IndieBound, ChaptersIndigo

~*~*~*~

 

Linda Wisdom has published more than 70 novels with 13 million copies sold worldwide. Her bestselling books have been nominated for RT Book Reviews awards and the RWA RITA Award. She recently won the RT Book Reviews Career Achievement Award for Hex in High Heels. Linda lives with her husband in Murrieta, California, where she is working on her next book, A Demon Does it Better, set to release in January 2012. For more information, please visit http://www.lindawisdom.com/.

Monday Musings: Winds Of Change, Then And Now

Sorry, I'm late folks. Life seems to get in the way sometimes.

I was such a newbie in 2006 when I started writing fiction again and in 2007 when I began querying. I had no contact with writers or industry rags other than the guides to agents and the buying market.


You can imagine the shock to my system when I became part of the online writing community and came face to face with all I DIDN’T know. But I was willing to learn and I had some great industry teachers take me under their wing. I came to realize how little I knew and if I wanted to succeed on this playing field I needed to learn everything I could. So I started to use my training in marketing and promotion to do research.

THEN publishing was on the cusp of change. The industry giants were seeing major losses in profits. My research showed me trends and possibilities. If you followed the dangling threads you could see some sure paths that the future would take. Digital printing was one of those paths and wasn’t going to go away and e-books were an offshoot of that technology. Using techie gadgets and e-readers was on the rise. Not that printed books were going to disappear but the format in which they would be made available would have to change.

The cost effectiveness of Print On/to Demand would have to be utilized by major publishers if they were to stay in business. Even using the new technology they couldn’t be profitable if they used it to produce books in the “old” way they had for the past hundred years or so. They had to change. Reality was and IS (Then and Now, traditional publishers were in the best position (a better one than the small independent publishers springing up everywhere at the time) to make the most of this technology because they had the editing, art departments, connections, and publicity/promotion staff already in place. If they could leave the old business model behind and adapt to the new and make it work for them.

Traditional anything has a hard time with the concept of change.

I remember writing a series of articles on e-publishing and digital formats about, oh, three years ago and before I had a blog (although those articles were published online). I had done a lot of research on digital technology and print to demand. My research showed me that digital was the way of the future. A digital file was the book and then went to print runs and to brick and mortar stores via mass market. I felt that books via print on demand were the future.

In one article I wrote, E-publishing, Print on Demand, and Kindle Markets–Are They The Wave Of The Future? (October 6, 2008) I said,

“How many of you have really considered publishing with print on demand publishers or places like Kindle? It’s the wave of the future, I’m sure. One good indication of that is the hoopla with Amazon and e-books. Most major publishing houses have an e-publishing section because of reading the trends are leaning heavily in that direction. Big publishers, like Harlequin, have had downloadable stories, for a small price, for some time. I rather think they saw the handwriting on the wall and were testing out the market for e-publishing. They now offer some of their author’s print books through e-publishing and other authors are strictly e-published”

A benefit of e-publishing, is a bigger share of royalties for the author, than with a traditional publisher–but not advances–as a rule. Your work is out there, but not necessarily on the local bookstore shelves like you pictured in your mind. You have to be willing to promote yourself and your writing...via blogs, websites, and social networks. Authors have to do that regardless of the medium, but the marketing is pretty much on you rather than assistance from a publisher.”

Oh my god, I was preaching heresy, then. Or so you would have thought, based on some comments and a few diatribes from writers I received. Some were very receptive to the idea and had a far seeing eye and agreed. To add extra feathers to the tar applied, I mentioned that there was a big difference between self-publishing/vanity press and e-books. Vanity press was “where the author paid someone to print their book and not always a good quality of book either in writing style or subject matter.”

I mentioned in another article, Print On Demand Technology vs. Traditional, 2/21/09,

“…Traditional publishing comes with a certain amount of respect for you as an author. You’ve made it through the filters—agents or publishers—and been given a contract. This says your writing quality and story has passed the test to be accepted. You will have at your disposal an editing staff and copy editors to read through and tighten up the quality of writing and story content. You may have several revisions to get the manuscript at its best. Editing staff will also catch errors, insure the book looks professional as far as format. Traditional publishers also provide professional cover designers to put out a cover that will draw readers… Then there is the publicity team to help you promote the book and yourself as an author…

You may choose to go this route (e-books) because you want to write certain style of book that isn’t considered sellable by agents or [traditional] publishers—NOT because your writing quality is poor, or you haven’t good story telling abilities. You might want to have more control over your books and any profits generated.

Whatever your reason is, there are things to consider. [As a new writer] one option might be choosing an [established] e-book publisher with filters in place–submission guide lines, editors, designers, and promotion/marketing departments with the capability of providing readers with a print book (trade paperbacks) if they so choose.”

These are still valid points today.

Then authors used e-publishing to hone their skills as a writer and build a reader base and got traditional publishing contracts later. A couple of authors who come to mind are Donna Grant and Cheyenne McCray. They brought an established track record with them when they got published with traditional publishers.

Now I’m seeing a trend of successful established, traditionally published authors going the opposite way. Self-publishing e-books, but these are authors with years of writing experience and a knowledge of the publishing field along with a solid reader base. Some are publishing their stories as e-books with trade paperbacks for print but will still have the use of a professional editor and or cover designer (some like Connie Brockway, was a graphic designer) to make their books looks professional and be competitive.

As you read the loops and blogs you see that some of these authors are choosing this route because, as Connie Brockway puts it, they are “completely free to write the stories I most want to read. And, I sincerely believe, that my readers most want to read.”

A debut author isn’t going to have the same success as some of these established authors, even with an internet presence, but will have time to slowly build a following. The good thing about e-books, as Joe Konrath says, “…[the] virtual shelf life is forever…ebooks are forever. Once they're live, they will sell for decades.”

Another reason established authors are looking to self-publishing their e-books is purely business. As Connie Brockway puts it, “It doesn’t take too much business acumen to look at recent eBook sales history and project that eBook readers aren’t going to pony up the same amount for an eBook, that exists only as a virtual entity, as a paper book which costs substantially more to produce (printing, shipping, warehousing, distribution, covers etc.) Or if they do, they aren’t going to do it often. And if the publishers set the price too high, it’s the authors that lose the most. I hate losing. ”

Joe Konrath says it even better, “with digital you have the option to put an ebook on sale. I originally self-published The List in April of 2009. It went on to sell 25,000 ebooks at $2.99. Now, two years later, I lowered the price, and it's selling 1500 copies a day. Things like that don't happen in paper. But in self-publishing, I'm seeing more and more books take their sweet time finding an audience, then take off.”

Again, these are established authors with a following but the points they make with their decision to self-pub e-books is a compelling one. New or debut authors won’t have the advantage these two have with a dedicated following but at least the show you can develop one. I concur with both with regard to price. I’m not going to spend the price of a paper book on an e-book or if I do, it’s going to be few and far between. I’ll choose those e-books that are reasonably priced and most I purchase are under five dollars. I don’t see the sense of paying full boat for a kindle book. Hopefully the traditional publishers will get the message.

I have to laugh when I see this turn about. Then and Now. What a difference a few years makes, eh?

• What do you think of these developments?

ROCK HARD: Review

My blogger had to reschedule his blogging date so I decided to give you a treat by posting my review of Rock Hard, by Olivia Cunning. I loved this story!


I will be interviewing Sed Lionheart on April 1st—no fooling—and I'm expecting several of the Sinners to pop in as well. Sure to be a treat not to be missed. Be sure to mark your calendars and let everyone know. It's sure to be a fun time with all the ribbing from the rest of the band and groupies too.

Rock Hard

Book two of Sinners On Tour
Olivia Cunning
Sourcebooks
431 Pages
Release Date: April 1, 2011



Sinner’s lead singer, Sed, had his heart shredded when Jessica left him to pursue her dreams, so when she dances her way back into his life, he's not sure he's ready for her brand of pain, or pleasure, again. When she convinces Sed to engage in a benefits with benefits relationship, things seem to be going his way, until one of his fans catches their explicit public display of affection on film and posts it all over the internet. Will Jessica ever trust Sed again? And has Sed become the man of Jessica’s dreams or is he just posing to get what he wants?  Excerpts You can read chapter one and two.


My thoughts:

Love, Sex, and Rock and Roll. Any one of those items would make a good theme for an interesting story—or a very good one, as Olivia Cunning, demonstrated with her debut, Backstage Pass. But could she do it again? Ah the sixty-four dollar question and not always an easy thing with a second novel.

My answer? She has produced another winner. Rock Hard is not only an excellent read but also, in my opinion, it surpasses her debut novel both in writing depth and entertainment.

Why would I say that? Olivia has taken an arrogant and highhanded character that pretty much everyone wanted to dislike and shows Sed Lionheart as a sexy, loveable hero. Oh, he hasn’t lost his arrogance or dominating personality, but Olivia gives us insight into what makes him tick. His inner vulnerabilities and strengths, and shows us through his actions that he cares deeply for his Sinner family members. We clearly see his motivations for his highhanded ways.

“Isn’t it dangerous to drill a hole in someone’s head?” Sed asked.


“If they don’t, I’ll die.” Trey covered his eyes with one hand. His throat convulsed as he swallowed.


“You’re not going to die, Trey,” Brian said. “If you do, I’ll kill you.”


Trey chuckled. Sed realized he was probably making Trey feel worse, but he didn’t want to leave. He needed to see Trey moving, breathing, joking around. That way he could convince himself that Trey would be okay and that helpless feeling in Sed’s gut would ease…


“What can I do for you, Trey, Sed asked? “Anything. I’ll do anything.”


“Smile.”


Sed tried, but it made his chest constrict in agony.

Sed’s greatest weakness is Jessica, his feisty, very independent ex-fiancée. Jessica is a third year law student; smart, sexy, and gorgeous. She isn’t one to let anyone, much less Sed, control her and when he tried she walked.

Sed’s determined to make her fall in love with him again. Whatever it takes. If she needs hot sex to convince her he’ll give her the fires of hell in their sex.

“He’d always loved her. He’d never stopped loving her…he wouldn’t survive if he had to watch her walk away from him again.”

The dynamics between these two independent and stubborn characters makes for an exhilarating ride to happy ever after.

The sex between these two is on the yowza! I need a cold shower stat, scale. Inventive and hot, but never stuck in the story unnecessarily for the sake of having a sex scene. Just as Brian and Myrna Sinclair have a rich and satisfying sex life, which fits within their needs and fantasies, so do Sed and Jessica. And what better place to explore fantasies than Sin City—Las Vegas.

This is a full, well rounded romance, strong on story, yowza sex, two strong minded people who have to learn giving up control doesn’t mean losing, but winning the best reward of all—love, hard rock style.

Ms. Cunning gives us another dazzling story of Sinners, love, sex, and rock and roll!

5 stars

FINDING IDEAS

My guest today is romantic suspense author, Stacey Joy Netzel. She writes about rugged heroes, resilient heroines, and heartwarming romance. Her latest book is part of her Colorado Trust Series.

Her topic is something I think every reader has asked an author; where do you find your ideas? Stacey shares where she found ideas for several of her books.

This is an often-asked question of many writers, so I thought I’d share how some of my books came to be. Ideas can come from anywhere…a bad situation, a good day with family, and an overheard conversation at the next table while at the coffee shop. Writers are notorious for people watching and listening.

My Christmas novella, Dragonfly Dreams, was born after a conversation that I participated in at one of my parents’ rummage sales. A man told us about when he was a kid; he’d been paid for some yard work for an older woman with an old rifle of her late-husband’s. He in turn took the rifle to a pawnshop and was thrilled to get an awesome price. (I vaguely recall it being around $100-150). Not long after, he and his family read in the paper that the pawnshop owner had sold a mint-condition WWI rifle for over $200,000.00. I took the idea of the story, of how losing that much money could affect someone in a desperate situation, but changed the details by using an antique broach and then added different historical twist.

This next book came about a bit backwards. I heard the Milwaukee area country band Chasin’ Mason and thought it’d be a great title for a book. All I had to do is figure out who Mason was, and why was someone chasin’ him? I then dedicated the book to the band. Someday, I’ll even get a copy to them.

For another book, I drew upon personal experience. Almost fifteen years ago, on my first (and only) international trip, I was left on the side of the road in Italy by my traveling companions…my brother and sister. See, I was busy with my new video camera, and they were more concerned about getting to our hotel. They finally came back after more than twenty nerve-wracking minutes (remember-first time out of the USA and I didn’t speak Italian), and I had a story to tell for life. People still can’t believe they just drove off without me and it took them over ten minutes to realize I wasn’t in the back seat. You might think it was revenge for something I’d done when we were kids *grin*, but really, my sister was crying when they got back, because she was afraid they’d dragged me as I was trying to get into the car. Nope, I was still filming swans on the lake as they zoomed off into traffic. The book isn’t published yet, so I won’t go into detail except to say the heroine had a much more exciting adventure than me. She’s kidnapped by a movie star and her family is held for ransom by the real bad guys. Tentative title: Lost in Italy.

Trust in the Lawe is a sequel written to my very first romance, so nothing too exciting there other than wanting to stay connected to my ‘friends’, Joel and Britt. But the characters in the next book, Shattered Trust, were partly shaped by a work negotiation training that I participated in for my day job as a Travel Agent. I learned different power techniques during negotiations that can give people an edge, so I made sure that my heroine applied them when the hero unjustly fired her and then had to go back to apologize and offer her job back.

If Tombstones Could Talk, a paranormal novella, came about from me seeing a local event in the newspaper about a cemetery walking tour, and most recently, I heard about one of those strange laws in a local town that when you hear it you think, “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me!” It gave me an idea for the beginning of the story, and though I’m still working out the details, I plan to get writing soon!

Ideas abound in just about anything we see, do, hear, and even dream. This is a great thing; it means the well should never go dry. But on the other hand, sometimes I get so many ideas I don’t even bother writing them down because I know I’ll never have the time to write them all. The ones that really catch linger in my mind get written in a notebook. Someday I will get to them.

Question: If you're a writer, where do you get your ideas? Readers, have you ever had an idea you'd love to see written as a book or movie?

Stacy has to work today but she will be stopping by once she's finished.

Trust in The Lawe Blurb

Kendra Zelner has three brothers: Eight-year old Noah she's determined to protect, Joel who has no clue she exists, and Robert who wants her dead.

With reason to be distrustful of cops, she takes Noah and flees their Manhattan home for Joel's ranch in Colorado. Under the pretense of needing a job, she plans to hide out until her twenty-fifth birthday, when she'll inherit her trust fund and legally gain custody of Noah away from Robert's greedy hands. Unfortunately, her brother's sexy, infuriating ranch manager insists on demolishing her defenses and digging into her past.

Colton Lawe has good reason to suspect Joel's beautiful, long-lost sister isn't what she seems—the little liar stole from him! He silently vows to expose her secrets, but long hours together on the ranch fosters a closeness and fiery attraction neither of them expects. Can Kendra trust Colton with the full truth before Robert finds them? Excerpt and  Night Owl Top Pick Review.

Buy: Amazon. Barnes and Noble

Wisconsin native Stacey Joy Netzel fell in love with books at a young age, so for her it seemed only natural to graduate to writing them. A member of Romance Writers of America and Wisconsin Romance Writers (WisRWA), she credits her parents for encouraging her dreams of becoming a published author, as well as the very talented friends she’s made in WisRWA since joining in 2004. TRUST IN THE LAWE is the first release in her ColoradoTrust Series. Next up is Shattered Trust (print available now, ebook available Mar. 30th) and Shadowed Trust, release date TBA. She also has two e-book novellas available online: If Tombstones Could Talk and Dragonfly Dreams. Her three full-length books include: Welcome to Redemption, Chasin' Mason, and Mistletoe Rules. Set in Pulaski, WI, Mistletoe Rules took first place in WisRWA's 2010 Write Touch Readers' Award.

An avid reader and lover of movies with happy endings, Stacey still lives in WI, with her husband and three children, a couple horses and some barn cats. In her limited free time she enjoys gardening and canning, and visiting her parents up north at the cabin on the lake with the whole family.

You can keep up with Stacey and her writing: Facebook and Website.

Monday Musings: Grappling With Spring Clean Up

Spring brings storms. Lots of storms as the ground prepares for the growing season. Aside from the storms, spring brings lots of extra work. We have weeding and preparing those garden beds for planting, cleaning up the debris of winter rains or snow, and working on the outside buildings and the house itself. Finally, we see the yard clean and looking good. Granted it’s still bare bones but it’s ready for the next step, beautifying it.


The work we did in the past, the planting and pruning, is now showing evidence of growth. Shoots from the bulbs we planted are pushing through the dirt. We can almost see what everything will look like when it’s done. We’re not done but we’re on the way. Now comes the mulching, trimming, and weeding.


Isn’t that just like our writing? The initial work is showing promise but there is still much clean up we have to do. Trimming, weeding, fertilizing, and mulching. Not always the fun part but necessary if we want it to match our vision.

I've been writing this winter plus I’ve pulled out some of my older manuscripts and I’m analyzing them. Some are good stories and have good bones but the execution is poor. Editing, pruning and weeding, is necessary. Some are close to the query stage and actually I’ve had some good feedback on them.


Now it’s a matter asking myself questions. Am I telling the reader the story, or are am I putting them on the spot to feel and see things unfold. I learned quite a bit by some of my recent 5 star reading.

• The Second Duchess puts me in Barbara’s mind and environment so I trying to answer the same questions she is. I had no warning that a certain dish would kill a character close to Barbara, but I was there and felt the shock when it happened. My mind was reviewing who would or could have done it and why.

• The Dawn Country puts me in each scene and again I’m there on location as the story unfolds. I’m running with Koracoo and Gondo. I see by their actions they’re terrified as to whether they will be too late and the actions of their guilt for being unable to protect their children. I watch in horror with the kids as their captor orders the death of a twelve-year-old child.

• Rock Hard doesn’t tell me Sed is a controlling man, the author shows me and allows me to see and draw my own conclusions. Ditto with the fact Sed has a heart of gold. I’m in the scene so I’m seeing him pull on the SOB persona to protect his heart. Jessica demonstrates by actions her distrust of Sed and his motives and her own.

Each of these authors has a different writing style and choose different words and phrases to place me there, but all three are highly skilled at showing me the inner character by their actions and connecting me emotionally to the characters. None of the three bog me down in info dumps, their characters are distinct, and everything done moves the story to the next level without losing the momentum or the richness of the setting. To me, that ability is a five star read, or like a friend mine who is also a contest judge, says; that’s a winner.

I want to be a winner too. That means I have to look hard at what I’ve written. I have to step back and not be emotionally attached to what I’ve written. As with my garden, if it’s meant to be for lilies then the daisies, as pretty as they are, don't belong there. I can move them to a place it fits better. So it means being able to analyze the theme of each flowerbed or, in this case, chapter, and pulling out what doesn’t belong or detracts from the theme I’ve developed.

So, I’m grappling with manuscript clean up and questions:

• Am I starting the story in the right place? How do I know? Do I have a hook that draws the reader forward? Do I have a hook at the end of the chapter to make the reader feel they just can’t stop here they have to see what happens?
• Is having your character reflecting on something that happened an info dump? Could I show that worry in a better way? Like my friend said, a well thought out sentence can signal the problem better and give the necessary clue to the reader there is problem without a page or so of reflection.
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• The contest judge says, “Goals, motivations, and conflicts are laid out in the first 7000 words, without TELLING and without infodump/backstory. They are simply integral to the character descriptions.” Have I done that?
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• “Each of the characters has a unique voice, that's conveyed mostly through subtle turns of phrase, word order…” Do mine? Or is the reader lost without tags?
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• What the heck is an inciting incident and how do I know if mine is a valid one?

Ah, spring brings a lot of work, both with my gardens and with my writing.

What are you grabbling with? If you participated in Nano, as I did, what are you doing with your Nano entry?

Up coming guests, Stacy Netzel, Linda Wisdom, and Olivia Cunning and her Sinners



REVIEW: Demons Are A Girl’s Best Friend

Linda Wisdom
Sourcebooks
April 1, 2011


A BEWITCHING WOMAN ON A MISSION…

Feisty witch Maggie enjoys her work as a parnormal law enforcement officer—that is until she’s assigned to protect a teenager with a major attitude and plenty of Mayan enemies. Maggie’s’ never going to survive this assignment without the help of a half-fire demon who makes her smolder…

A HOTTER—THAN—SIN HERO WITH AN AGENDA…

Declan is proprietor of an underground club and buys demon portal. No way he’ll allow his demon race to be blamed for the malicious acts of some crazy evil Mayans. But he’s already got his hands full when the sexy witch offers him a challenge he can’t refuse…

Amidst the rising flames of their steamy love affair, Maggie and Declan are damned if they do, and even more damned if the don’t…



My thoughts:

If you enjoy fun paranormals it’s a must read. I didn't want to see the end!

This is the third book, by Linda Wisdom, I’ve read. If I had to classify her writing I’d say she writes sexy humorous stories with sparkling characters, a hefty dash of danger, and a serious thread of kick ass heroine. Some of her stories are more kick ass than others and this was one of them. I’d say it was my favorite of the three I’ve bought and read.

Maggie is in law enforcement. Like her counterparts on today’s forces, she is a well trained in defense, the use of weapons, and working undercover. Maggie is also good at her job in both research and connecting the dots to bring down the bad guys. The tedious parts.

However that’s where the similarity between today’s law enforcement officers and Maggie end. She works for a secret branch of para law enforcement called The Hellion Guard. They police otherworldly creatures and keep humans and other creatures safe from bad guys. Instead of Kevlar she wears fabric enhanced with protective spells and a diamond encrusted Black Widow Spider with ruby eyes. Looks like a kick ass tat but is very much alive and part of her arsenal. Did I mention she was also a witch?

Maggie is a serious career girl, hasn’t had a date in way too long to remember, and feels she hasn’t a maternal bone in her body and doesn’t want one. She has very little trust for demons as most of them have an agenda and usually on the receiving end of her brand of justice.

Ms. Wisdom then throws her into the worse case scenario and fun begins. Maggie reluctantly becomes a godmother to one of her team member’s newborn—has to be there at the birth (eww and nausea). She’s assigned to be a loving guardian of a teenage girl (I can’t print her reaction here) who’s all mouth, attitude, and just so happens to be #1 on the list for a Mayan human sacrifice designed to free a major bad guy. And worse of all, her libido starts doing the hallelujah chorus when she meets Declan who is half demon and redefines hot sexy male and is her partner in protecting said teen. Yowza.

The only predictability in this story is good guys winning over the bad guys. How that happens leads the reader into a labyrinth of unexpected twists and turns and a very satisfying dénouement.


This is truly a fun, fun story told by a talented author who seamlessly blends paranormal, danger, humor, and love.

5 stars

Linda Wisdom will be my guest on, Wednesday, April 30th. Be sure to stop in and say hi.

Wednesday, April 23rd, Suspense/thriller author Stacy Netzel, author of Trust In The Law.


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