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A New Attitude

Published October 8, 2015
Beaches make me feel peaceful!

I’m about to confess a thing or two. A year ago, I was diagnosed with diabetes. At the same time, I was writing the first full-length book on my Heartwarming contract. The diabetes was really bad. Four days in the hospital and insulin four times a day. (Although, with good fitness habits, excellent nutrition advice, and guidance from my amazing daughter, who happens to be an NP and who saved my life because she heard something in my breathing–over the phone–and she forced me to go to the ER, I’m off insulin now.)

Tangent: I’m fretful about that run-on sentence, but it leads me to my second confession.

The book I was writing was filled with diabetic gibberish. Turns out when your body’s not using sugar properly, your brain truly suffers. So–after I finally managed to stay awake (huge fatigue with ketoacidosis) long enough to read, I realized a book that didn’t make sense wouldn’t be a good submission. It’s not fun to cut about 30k of gibberish and rewrite a book a few weeks before it’s due. And from there, I had two more books and a novella, and by the time I finished them all, I was frozen in fear.

Frozen fear does not feed the creative mind.

I want my mind to be creative again. This is going to seem like another tangent, but I went through a time when I was bullied as a kid. Not a big deal, just mean girls, feeling out the shy kid who had some stuff that bothered her. Only these mean girls followed me all the way to high school before I finally stopped dreading seeing them, and thought “What the ef?”

If you’ll pardon the language. And by the way, if there’s a gift we could all give our children, it would be having them reach that “What the ef?” moment in kindergarten!

So, back to that year of frozen fear: Will I die? Will I be able to see again? (Thankfully, that question was beautifully answered a couple of months after the DKA.) Will I be able to think again? Will I be able to foist the internal editor off my shoulder?

I finally reached “What the ef?” I wrote a holiday novella that was less joy of the season than how depressed can I make a reader? Had to delete 18 of 20k and rewrite that in a week. But I love that story now. It is hopeful, and it makes me cry a little. (Home by Christmas, A Heartwarming Christmas.) And it taught me a lesson. Loosen up. Writing should be joyful, not one disappointment after another. Writing is better if it’s not built out of blocks of frozen fear.

So–I’m running with that, and I’m trying to incorporate it in all my life. What’s the worst that can happen? Some mean girl will make fun of me?

What the ef?

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A Heartwarming Christmas

Published October 7, 2015
A Heartwarming Christmas

I’m in a sweet set with several of my Heartwarming author friends. Twelve stories, all set in Christmas Town, Maine, where Melinda Curtis, Anna J Stewart, and I set Christmas, Actually last year.

This holiday season, warm your heart with 12 connected sweet holiday romances from 12 Harlequin Heartwarming authors who are USA Today, national bestselling, and award-winning authors.  A Heartwarming Christmas will bring you laughter, tears, and happily-ever-afters (no cliffhangers), for more than 1200 pages. Foreword by small town lover and New York Times bestseller Kristan Higgins.

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1TDjGEK
iTunes: http://apple.co/1OkXsV9
Kobo: http://bit.ly/1CEnSA7
Google Play: http://bit.ly/1J0Qg08
B&N: B&N: http://bit.ly/1LaVnNT

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Peril on the Screen: iZombie

Published October 6, 2015
R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril

R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril review  for Peril on the Screen!

Just what I didn’t need! A new Netflix binge! I accidentally started watching iZombie because it happened to be on the screen when I turned on Netflix, and I clicked. It’s the cutest thing.

I’m already hooked on The Walking Dead, and I have an extremely wonky stomach, so I watch zombies through my fingers, wishing I couldn’t hear the gasping sounds. (So much so that when I heard a woman with a cold in the canned tomatoes section of the grocery store, trying to breathe, I thought “Walkers!”)

Anywhooo, iZombie is different. There are zombies who think and talk and act in this version. You fall for Olivia, who’s a zombie, but she was a heart surgeon resident until she attends a lake party that leaves her in a zombified condition. Olivia’s trying to be a kinder, gentler zombie. It’s funny and touching, but it’s also a little scary because there’s a suspense thread that makes you worry for other characters.

Can’t say more without spoiling, but you definitely need to watch!

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Wednesday, and still at the synopsis!

Published September 30, 2015
Why is there a British cop show on top of our synopsis?

I love Wednesdays, because you still have a few days of week left, but I start to feel all crowded by the things I haven’t done. Today, I have to have my nails done. It’s the only girly thing I do, and they look as if I’ve been grinding them on sandpaper. Could have done it yesterday, but by the time I thought of it, I was at the gym, and no one wants to face me in a nail salon after that. I need them done by tomorrow for a conference I’m doing that starts tomorrow night. So–that’s one thing.

Another is the synopsis. I’m still not finished. Gave up on typing. I started taking notes on paper. Then, I gave up on that and went to bed. I had breakfast in the workspace (guest bed), and turned on Vera (another Peril on the Screen post to come) to watch while I devoured my boiled egg, string cheese, and toast with a schmear of peanut butter and blackberry Allfruit. Mmmmmmm. (Rambling here because you aren’t allowed to ramble in a synopsis. I’m getting it out of my system.)

Georgie, the Writing Assistant, clearly feels Vera and breakfast time are over!

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Rule Breaking

Published September 29, 2015
Is the grass always greener on the other side of the Characterization Fence?

I’d love to break the rules. I’m naturally someone who wants to do the right thing. I come from a long line of rule breakers, and while they terrify me, I secretly wish I could be a little more like them. A friend once told me that behind my back in high school, people called me “Miss Pure Panties.” That probably tells you all and too much about me. I have a super-sized conscience, but I’m not proud of it, and I don’t love toting it around. (Often frozen inside it.)

Today, I’m writing a synopsis on a new project. I’m about to submit to agents, and I’m scared I can’t do it. I’d love to break the rules and fling out a flashy synopsis that can’t possibly seem as if it came from follow-the-rules Anna. I’ve heard of people who just go “I sat down and it poured out.” That’s not who I am. I’m digging deep and finding some answers. Sadly, I discovered my heroine, who’s broken the rules all her life is now afraid of breaking them because she’s done some ugly things. But at the same moment, I realized I really am that boring do-gooder girl from high school.

Maybe my heroine and I can learn from each other.

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Where’s Your Place?

Published September 28, 2015
My Place

Mine is the beach–the place where my soul is at peace. There’s an old Little River Band song, “I was born in the sight of water…” Every time I hear those words I think, that’s who I am. I lived on a small island with water as the background to my life. Walking to school, walking home, walking the beach in the morning before anyone was awake. I remember when my dog had puppies, and they all followed us one wintry night on a walk to the beach. By the time we turned for home, my parents, my four brothers and I each carried a pup while Sammy jumped at us, making sure her babes were in good hands.

Splash!

That’s one of my favorite childhood memories. We were a family. We loved each other. We laughed our way along the jetties while high tide splashed all around us and Sammy doubted our abilities to keep her young safe. My family later split up in an unkind way, but these are the memories that bind me to my past and to happiness. And to water.

This past weekend I was at the beach, writing, working in my place, being happy.

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Peril on the Screen

Published September 24, 2015
R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril

This is a review for R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril. I’m a touch behind in my reading, but I’ve watched some TV mystery. I have this subscription to Warner Archive Instant. I love that service. They provide movies and TV that you can’t find, including Hawkins, a mystery movie series starring Jimmy Stewart.

Hawkins is a West Virginia lawyer who demands huge fees for solving the most improbable crimes. He has a family as large as my Tennesseean branch, and they sometimes help him work on a case–or they provide the case as they’re accused of murder or something dastardly.

I love Jimmy Stewart, and doesn’t this sound like Matlock? I’m pretty charmed by the show, and I sometimes don’t “catch” the killer before he explains who the bad guy is. So far, it’s never been a branch on his family tree, but there’s only one season, and I’m trying to pace myself. Apparently, he asked CBS to cancel the show. He was older by then, and maybe that was a pain. Maybe he worried they wouldn’t keep up the quality. Either way, I’m sad there are only a few episodes.

I’ve watched a few other crime shows, too. The one that owns me right now is Vera. Brenda Blethyn stars, and she does tortured, emotionally unavailable police detective like no one outside of Kenneth Branagh’s Wallender. Actually, Wallender makes an effort to connect. Vera manages to say the comforting thing when you least expect it, but she doesn’t extend herself into admitting she even has a relationship–which she totally does with her detective–but this is a Peril post for another day. Let’s stick with Hawkins.

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Working on Something New

Published September 23, 2015

I’m writing with abandon, something I haven’t been used to in the past year and a half. Funny how you lose that ability if you don’t use it.

When I finished the last book in my contract, I had this rush of freedom and excitement. I sat down at the computer and the words flew from my fingers.

Then, out of nowhere came the moment all writers face. Fun became work. Words became scary objects of self-annihalation. I got scared. I was used to some rules I don’t have to pay attention to. I’m afraid I don’t have the right conflict. I’ve discovered I can’t write in a linear fashion any more, but no agent or editor wants pieces of a quilt with the promise that I’ll fit them together with the other pieces I don’t have yet.

That would be a crisis of confidence. I enjoy drama, but not that kind. I prefer a fictional crisis that requires some fancy writing.

And really, that’s all I have to do. Some fancy writing that looks simple and touches a reader’s heart. I’ve opened my own heart to those words. I want to feel I’m living in my story.

And one day this story may live for readers, too.

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Don’t Stop Dreaming with Kimberly Dean’s Dream Weavers Series

Published September 22, 2015

Today I welcome author Kimberly Dean, who’s excited to announce the release of the second book in her Dream Weavers series, Dream Walker. To celebrate, she’s offering the first book, Dream Man, for free for a limited time on Smashwords!

Dream Walker by Kimberly Dean

Dream Walker

Take a walk on the wild side!

Research scientist Shea Caldwell has always had a thing for security consultant, Derek Oneiros. He’s smart, handsome, and built like a Greek god. As attracted as she is to him, though, she’s afraid to let him into her bed – because she’s dangerous when she sleeps.

Derek is known among his brothers as “The Machine,” yet his carefully cultivated control is put to the test whenever he’s around Shea. The woman is as beautiful as she is intelligent, but they’ve always kept things professional – until Derek learns why. Shea is sleepwalking again, but what she doesn’t know is that he may be the only one who can help her. For he is a Greek daemon, and he’s charged with protecting her dreams.

With Shea threatened, Derek makes things personal, and their nights together turn steamy and intimate. He’s ready to battle against the Somnambulist that’s been controlling his lover in her sleep, yet is the night creature really causing all the harm? When Shea’s groundbreaking research notes are stolen, it’s clear that other evil forces may be at work.

Excerpt

He’d let her fall asleep.

It was the first clear thought that ran through Shea’s mind when she opened her eyes. That and the fact that Derek was still with her. His heat pressed against her back, and his arm draped heavily across her waist. They were lying side by side on her bed, her body tucked up close against his.

Yet even as she responded in pleasure, she tensed.

Darkness was falling. They’d spent the day making love, and now the sun was setting. Night was creeping in. She stared at the oil painting that hung on the wall until her nerves began to crawl. Even the littlest thing could set her Somnambulist off—and today had been anything but normal—yet she’d let herself be lulled into sleep.

What had she been thinking?

“There you are,” a deep voice rumbled. The hand against her stomach flexed, and she was pulled more tightly against the big male form behind her.

A muscled thigh slipped between her legs, and Shea arched as a soft kiss was placed on the side of her neck. The intimate embrace had her groaning. Obviously, she hadn’t been thinking. Her brain had been shorted out, disconnected, and thrown right into the bathwater.

How could she have let her guard down like that? The freedom had been fantastic, arousing and intoxicating as fine wine, but how could she have forgotten what had been happening to her? What had happened just this morning?

Had she… Oh, God. Had she done anything in her sleep? With Derek here?

“How long have I been out?” she asked in a rush.

“Not long.”

That rumbling voice was too disconcerting, too sexy. She had to look into his eyes. Tucking the sheet up high under her arms, she rolled over to face him. When she did, her breath caught in her chest. His short hair was mussed, and dark shadows lined his jaw. The bad boy look didn’t fit his character, but it was so incredibly hot she had to press her legs together.

Unable to help herself, she let her gaze drop. She took in the well-drawn lines of his body, his muscled chest and rippling abs, but the sheet sitting low on his hips wasn’t what made her look up again. It was the relaxed look on his face. She’d never seen him so calm, so relaxed, so at ease in the moment. It made her belly warm.

Relaxed had to be good, right? If she’d gotten up and danced zombie pirouettes around the bedroom, he wouldn’t be relaxed.

Or so obviously ready to make love to her again.

Available at:  Amazon │ Nook │ Google Play │ Kobo │ iBooks

Dream Man by Kimberly Dean

Dream Man

What happens when your dream man is real?

Devon must decide if Cael Oneiros is the man of her dreams – or the demon of her nightmares.

 

Available for free at Smashwords. Use coupon code AD78Z at checkout. Expires Oct. 31, 2015. Reviews appreciated!

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R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril X

Published September 4, 2015
R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril

I can tell Autumn’s finally coming! The #RIPX reading challenge has started. In years past, Carl V Anderson at Stainless Steel Droppings hosted the R.eaders I.mbibing Peril challenge. This year, The Estella Society is hosting. You can choose the challenge you want to do–reading books or short stories, watching movies or television, joining a group read. All the challenges are listed by a type of “peril.”

 

Choose Your Poison!

 

 

 

I’m planning to do a combination of perils. For Peril the First, I’ll be reading four novels. Right now, I’m thinking The Grey Mask, by Patricia Wentworth, In a Dry Season, by Peter Robinson, which I’ve been meaning to read for years, Wolf to the Slaughter, by Ruth Rendell because I can’t believe there won’t be more Inspector Wexfords, and The Chancellor Manuscript by Robert Ludlum. Mind you, I could change my mind and read something else altogether. The big thing is, I need to do some reading. I’ve been so busy for the past two years, writing and having diabetes that reading has gone by the by. (The good thing about diabetes and reading–I have to exercise. Kindle works well with a treadmill!)

I’m also planning to do Peril on the Screen. Have to watch Arsenic and Old Lace. Tradition! I’ll probably add some Midsomer Murders and Vera and who on earth knows what else?

If you sign up, too, leave a link! Can’t wait!

(All the art in this post was done by Abigail Larson. She’s amazing!)

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