DEATH TO THE FAINTING VIRGIN!

      Back in the “old days” of 80’s romance, when the label “romance” sent female readers (and probably some male readers) swooning, the primary plot of our stories usually involved a young virgin who was ignorant of the power and influence of the tall, dark, handsome, experienced (and sometimes dangerous) hero. She fainted at the very thought of being at his mercy and her heart and body being overtaken by the alpha male who always knew how to handle a woman. The “innocent virgin” in these stories conjured up all kinds of scenarios, and led to steamy, usually forbidden sex throughout or near the end of the story.

     Of course, as time marched on, society demanded we write much stronger heroines who could stand up to the skilled, magnificent heroes, but for the most part, those heroines continued to be young and not always experienced in the ways of love and the consummation of that love. She remained wide-eyed and a bit frightened of allowing the hero to “make a woman” of her. This basic theme kept evolving and changing over the years as sexual behavior and what was allowed in our books also changed - and writers became bolder in describing the act of having sex. The young heroine was no longer always the inexperienced beauty who fainted at a man’s touch. We grew into tv programs like “Sex and The City,” and our heroines weren’t always even virgins any more. But there was still that “big, bold hero meets beautiful, young heroine” theme.

     Through all of this one thing remained the same for writing “romance.” 90% - 100% of the time, the heroine was young, somewhere between 16 and 22. She was always slim and pretty and usually “feisty” and independent. And she makes sure the hero knows she can “live without a man.” The hero is usually older, but almost never beyond 30. He must be “buff,” with distinct pecks and abs and glutes and hard biceps. He must have a square jaw, a couple-day old beard growth, a straight nose and high cheekbones and dark, penetrating eyes. And he, too, has to be young – mostly 20 to 30 years old, and of course, he can “live without a woman.”

     Today, romance is finally beginning to move away from the constant “young and beautiful and perfect” characters, and publishers are beginning to recognize there is a market in writing the older couple. Some publishers are beginning to actively seek stories involving the older hero and heroine. I have always believed there is a market for the older couple, even in romance. There is nothing more beautiful (to me) than sex between two people, married or not, who know what it’s all about – know what they want and how to do it right – who are solid in their confidence (whether having sex with someone new, or if they have been together for years and know each other’s bodies intimately) – a man and woman who know what “turns on” their partner – and who (as in most of my books) are so familiar with each other that one can hardly breathe without the other and each usually knows what the other is thinking.
    

      I often write older couples, and the love scenes they share are absolutely the most satisfying for me to write.  It isn’t just about lust and sexual satisfaction. They aren’t just out to “get laid” and having sex and naming body parts they want their partner to toy with. They are having sex with their emotions, their memories, their hearts. There is nothing sexier than a man “wanting” to be inside a woman because it’s one way of showing her how much he adores her and wants to please her – and he once again claims her for himself and reminds her she belongs only to him. At the same time, the woman takes her man out of real love, not just because she wants to “feel good.” She wants HIM to feel good, too, and he does because he knows she wants him with every fiber of her being and because they have been having sex for years with only each other. They are still finding new ways to please each other.

     Couples who are totally familiar with each other and know all the little things each enjoys – know where and how each other wants to be touched – and who have such a history together that memories become as much a part of sex as does the act of sex itself can be incredibly sexy. Those memories and idiosyncrasies about each other’s thoughts and needs can also lead to some wonderful banter, even during the act of sex. I used a lot of banter in the love scenes between Jake and Miranda Harkner in my Outlaw Hearts series. That banter, and being able to laugh with and at each other, only makes the sex even “sexier.” Believe me, as you get older, there are plenty of things to laugh about. If you can’t joke about the changes that occur with ageing, where is the fun in still being together and still “getting it on?”

     Teasing and laughter can be just as fulfilling and tantalizing as sex between two younger people with perfect bodies. Recognizing things have changed and all that perfectness has changed with it – and being comfortable with that – only shows a love that runs far deeper and is much more beautiful than wild sex between two young and perfect people just out of lust and a desire to have a climax. It runs far deeper than how long a man lasts or how perky the woman’s breasts are. When those things don’t matter anymore, that’s real love. And truly realizing that if and when one or the other dies – or if part of the danger in the story is that one or the other might be killed - and if that loss would mean far more than losing a sex partner, then your story truly becomes a LOVE STORY. When losing your partner means losing part of your heart and soul – and literally losing a part of your very being, your very spirit – that’s the kind of love story that becomes a memorable tear-jerker.

      The days of the young, fainting heroine are long gone. Women today want strong heroines who, in some instances, seem even stronger than the hero, even when they ARE virgins. But I believe it’s important that in certain ways the hero remains in control and can always match the heroine in skill and passion. Of course, to keep the “sexiness” alive in advanced years, we still tend to keep our hero and heroine in good shape. It’s kind of a “must” for romance. But we still need to be realistic about certain changes. The fact that (in my Outlaw books) Jake understands that things have “changed down there” for his wife and enjoying sex takes “special handling” because of those changes, only makes the reader think, “Awwww, look how much he loves her and cares that she still enjoys having sex with the man she loves.” They love Jake even more for how much he cares about his wife’s pleasure. And when she is pleased, that turns him on and only helps him enjoy it more himself. After all, men change, too, and they need to find ways to keep their own sexual stimulation as virile and satisfying as possible.

     I suppose some of this stems from being older myself.  I understand things that younger writers haven't even experienced yet and have no idea  (or simply don’t believe) their sex lives will change, whether they like it or not. They don’t see how much more beautiful a love story between an ageing hero and heroine can be, just because of what they have been through together and how hard they try to keep their sex life vibrant and alive.

    I’ve written many books that involved older couples. In WILDEST DREAMS, the hero and heroine meet at a young age and they go through many trials and tribulations that only strengthen their love until in old age it remains beautiful and fulfilling and memorable. In my SAVAGE DESTINY series and my OUTLAW HEARTS series, the same thing takes place, and I go into the lives of the hero and heroine’s children and even grandchildren – yet the primary hero and heroine remain vital and active and the main highlight in every single book of the series. By the end of the series the readers are totally, completely attached to the hero and heroine, who remain memorable to them for years after finishing the series.

That First Page

“That first page” is probably the hardest thing there is for writers to deal with. When it is time to start that “next” story, we sit staring at “that first page,” trying to decide what to do with it. Sometimes we just want to write “Once upon a time,” and hope that great idea strikes us then and there. But in today’s time, we need something more catchy than “once upon a time.”

We are told “that first page” can make or break us, and it truly has done both to a lot of writers.There are readers who will judge your book by “that first page,” and if you lose them there, you’re doomed. Or, if you totally catch their attention, they will likely buy your next book, as long as what follows “that first page” doesn’t disappoint them.

It isn’t easy to find just the right words for “that first page,” let alone the words for the first line. That, too, is important. But sometimes it takes a full first page to hook your reader. Most readers will give you at least that much if you don’t grab them with the first line.

The biggest problem with how to start your book is that sometimes things need to happen before you get to the real hook for a line or page. The author has to figure out how to get to that defining moment without leaving out important story events. Just always remember the READER, and that you want something that will quickly get them involved in your story.

I usually get to the good stuff right away – something that makes for a good first line or a “first page” that pulls the reader into the story. I can always find a way to give the reader more details about that event later in the book. Ninety-Nine percent of the time, the things I think I need to write first, as a build-up to my “hook,”end up being unnecessary after all. It’s important to find other ways to tell the back story that led up to what happens on “that first page” than to bore the reader with it at the beginning of the story. Telling back story later also makes for more active writing from there on, as the hero or heroine, through action and dialogue, gradually explain how he or she reached that point and ended up in that dire situation with which you opened your story. 

In my book PARADISE VALLEY, the story opens with Maggie Tucker digging a grave for her husband. How did he die? Why is she alone in the middle of Wyoming? No one knows at first. Readers wonder those things, and they keep reading to find out. The first chapter of my story ends with Maggie collapsing after a stranger (the hero, of course) comes along and offers to help. So by the end of Chapter 1, the reader has been introduced to both the hero and heroine, and in a way that makes them wonder about both characters and makes them want to read more. Then, as the story progresses and they get to know each other, Maggie reveals what happened, while at the same time we learn more about the hero.

I could have started PARADISE VALLEY with Maggie on her way to Oregon with her husband when they are attacked by outlaws, but I kept thinking how much more mysterious and interesting it would be to open my story with Maggie digging her husband’s grave. Plus, telling too much too soon would have brought Maggie’s husband into the picture, and I didn’t want to do that. I wanted all the attention to be on the hero, who comes along later to help Maggie. I didn’t want to give my readers a third character to have on their minds or to feel sorry for. Yes, he was Maggie’s husband, but he was not important to the story, strange as that sounds.

In my newest book, LOGAN’S LADY, (March 2019 – Sourcebooks) the story starts with the heroine (who lives with her wealthy older brother in London) involved in a huge family argument that keeps you reading to learn what it’s about and how it will be resolved. In that first chapter the reader learns a lot about the heroine’s rather brave and daring personality, and it ends with her deciding she will leave London and go to America. By then I have set the reader up to wonder what will happen when she gets there.

Chapter Two introduces rugged, ruthless, rather unkempt Logan Best, an American bounty hunter with no real home. He drops a dead body onto the floor in a sheriff’s office and asks for the bounty on the man. His attitude is, “Here he is. He was wanted dead or alive and dead was easier.”

Here I took TWO chapters to really capture my readers. The first one hooks them, the second one reels them in because they just KNOW the lovely, educated, sophisticated “Lady” from London is going to end up somehow mixed up with the rugged, ill-mannered, uneducated Logan Best, and the pairing is going to be very interesting, let alone humorous. For the first half of the book, one chapter follows Lady Elizabeth, and the next follows Logan, back and forth as each character takes an exciting path that readers can tell will lead to the inevitable “clash” of personalities and culture. There is a lot of great humor in this book, as well as adventure and, of course, romance.

You do not necessarily need a first line that “hooks” your readers, but it should at least hint at what’s to come; and by the end of that first page, what’s to come should be pretty darn obvious. Most readers will stick with the book through the first chapter, so by then make sure you have made it pretty clear where your story is going, and that it’s going to be exciting.

As a writer, don’t spend too much time fretting over “that first page.” Just consider what is most exciting about how your story begins, and even if something has to happen before that, get to the good stuff and find a way to cover the pre-events after you have your readers hooked. Sometimes you can include those events, but don’t dwell on them for pages and pages.

“That first page” can be a real challenge, I know, but remember the READER at all times. Pretend you are the reader. Where would you like the story to start in order to make you want to keep reading?

In the book I just started writing for Sourcebooks (the first in a trilogy of books set against the Outlaw Trail) the story opens with the heroine, who is lost and hungry and thirsty and alone in a wild, untamed western landscape, coming upon a gang of men about to hang a man. She ducks down out of sight, not sure what to do.

Immediately the readers will wonder - Who is the man about to be hanged? Who are the other men, and can they be trusted? Are they good, or are they outlaws? And how did the heroine end up wandering alone in lawless country without food and water? How can she possibly help the man about to be hanged? And should she help him at all? Maybe he deserves it. Either way, it’s a terrible thing to see, and when the other men ride off while the hanged man’s feet are still kicking, the heroine, of course, decides she has to do something to relieve the hanged man’s agony.

Is he worth saving? Is he truly guilty of something terrible? Or is he an innocent man who’s just been robbed? (The other men ride off with his cattle.)

This opening leaves a lot of questions readers will want answered, so they will keep reading to find out who the man is, and also – what led the heroine to the situation in which she finds herself. And, of course, will she be able to save the man? She is driven not only by a desire to help his awful suffering, but also by the fact that his accusers left the man’s horse and supplies behind when they rode off – things the heroine needs to survive.

Just always remember – “That first page” needs some kind of hook, and that the best way to start your book is with that first exciting event that leaves an opening for all kinds of exciting story that in turn, KEEPS THE PAGES TURNING! And good luck with your “first page!”

Characters And Covers

In all my years of writing, I very seldom get a cover that accurately depicts my characters the way I see them. Usually the background scenery is perfect. The pose is perfect. The blurb is perfect. The colors (usually) are gorgeous. But out of all 68 books I’ve had published so far, only a few depicted the hero close to how I saw him. The ones that come to mind that (to me) came closest to my hero’s looks were the following – (I have underlined the word original because many of my books have been reissued several times, each time with a new cover.)

My three Blue Hawk books – SAVAGE HORIZONS, FRONTIER FIRES and DESTINY’S DAWN. There have been several versions of these covers, but the original covers were the best. I also liked the reissued covers that had a couple on them (a bit sexier - by Hot Damn Designs) came very close to my hero, Caleb Sax, and the heroine, Sarah.

  

  

Possessiveness – A Roadblock to Finishing Your Book

As writers, we sometimes feel very possessive of our characters. Deep down inside, I don’t always want to share my favorite story and its characters with my readers. Sounds crazy, I know, but then I haven’t been totally sane since I started writing. I often feel a little jealous that my readers get to walk into my personal and private world, my thoughts and loves, my personal story ideas that belong only to me. As a writer, I am forced to give these things away once I finish a story. If I want to make a living at this, I have no choice. And yet for me, it’s never been about money. It’s always been about the stories, and my desire to tell them and to share them. Yet when I do, I feel as though I’ve lost a part of myself to the whole world and to a host of strangers who are reading about my very personal thoughts and dreams.

Focus: The Key to Finishing Your Book

I have talked to many “would-be” writers who never seem to finish a book and/or never even start one. One thing that seems to be a common problem in this situation is that many new writers have so many story ideas in their heads that they can’t decide which one to work on. Or, even if they have only one idea, they can’t decide on a firm direction for their story. They spend months, sometimes years, trying to decide how to flesh out their story. Often, this indecision ends up being an excuse to not write anything at all. They think they have accomplished something just by having all those great ideas, or just that one great idea. I have spoken with too many new writers who claim that as soon as they decide what to work on, or how to develop their story, they will finish their book and start submitting. Sometimes a year or so later, I learn that they still haven’t decided which story to write, or they have “started” 2 or 3 different stories and never finished any of them, or they still haven’t moved past the first couple of chapters of that one great idea.

The Value of Those Voices in the Night

A few nights ago I woke up with a great idea for a blog. By morning, I forgot it! I am so upset that I didn’t write it down. That in turn gave me a different idea for a blog, so I’m writing about the value of remembering to write down a good idea RIGHT AWAY! Those voices in the night are simply the product of your writer’s brain offering up ideas. 

Riding The Outlaw Trail …

I am currently reading THE OUTLAW TRAIL by Robert Redford (yes – the actor). In the early 1970’s he actually rode the old Outlaw Trail so that he could experience what it was like and then write about it. The trail runs from Canada to Mexico. Mr. Redford started at Hole-In-The-Wall in northern Wyoming, and traveled mostly by horseback to south of Robber’s Roost in southern Utah. There couldn’t be more spectacular pictures of the fantastic landscape involved along the Outlaw Trail than in this incredibly beautiful book. It’s a big, roughly 9” x 11,” hard cover, with a great sexy picture of Mr. Redford on the cover and pictures and conversations with some very crusty and rugged characters inside the book. I can already see in this book the nostalgia Mr. Redford had for the “Old West,” which I am sure prompted his starring in the movie THE ELECTRIC HORSEMAN, where he steals a beautiful but doped-up show horse out of Las Vegas and rides the horse into the wild plains, where he turns it loose and lets it run free with mustangs. 

Nostalgia

We all get a case of nostalgia once in a while - you know, another one of those “diseases” they are always talking about on TV. If your ear itches, it’s a disease. If your eyes get a little dry, it’s a disease. Used to be a disease was something serious that you usually died from. Now the drug industry wants you to think a mosquito bite is a disease. 

Writing – A Joy, Not A Job

I was answering someone else’s blog a couple of days ago, and I ended with saying writing should be a joy, not a job. Soon as I wrote that, I realized it was a great topic for my own blog!

I write every chance I get, any time of day, deep in the night when I can’t sleep, often while my hubby is watching a movie. I just put on my ear phones and listen to my favorite “mood” music and shut out the TV.

I just sold three more books (still to be written) to Sourcebooks, which, when finished, will bring my total published books to 72 over about 39 years. Those years have gone so fast. I have no memory of even writing many of those books. It’s all kind of a blur. But I do remember the plot of every book. Sometimes I have to look at the blurb on the back to remind myself of the names of the characters, but most of the actual story quickly comes back to me.

I squeezed most of those books into my life while working full time and raising two active boys, then spending a lot of time with grandchildren. I’ve always led a very, very busy life, and when working full time, I often sat up after everyone else went to bed and wrote until 1 or 2 am – then got up at 5 am and put in another long day.

Yes, it was hard. Very hard. Yet I enjoyed every word I wrote because I love writing and have loved every character I’ve ever written.

And that’s what writing should be to any writer – a JOY, not a JOB. You should be so “into” your characters that you can’t wait to get back to them and continue their story. In my case, I want to see what happens to them, because even I don’t know until I go into the “next” chapter. I don’t use an outline and don’t plan out my books. I just start one and let the characters take me where they want to go.

Too often I talk to other writers who have been working on the same book for years. I don’t understand that. If you aren’t interested enough in your book to finish it and start submitting it, then don’t write it at all. Start a different story, something that keeps you so excited that, like a reader who can’t put down what she’s reading, you can’t stop writing your story!

I can tell those writers who look at their writing as more of a job than a joy. They struggle to find the time to write and come up with all kinds of excuses not to sit down and keep going. My problem is usually finding time to do everything else, but I never have trouble finding time to write. My stories and their characters are with me 24/7, 7 days a week. When we stay at our condo in Vegas winters, while my husband plays poker, I sit at Starbucks and proofread my daily writing. Why waste money gambling when I could be making money on my writing?

A true writer never sees her work as a job she dreads or struggles to find time for. A true writer can’t wait to get back to the computer, and she not only works on the story at hand, but she also has more stories in her head just itching to be told. A true writer never runs out of ideas, and she is so excited about the story she is working on that she gets in as much writing time as possible every day. She doesn’t sit watching TV for 3-4 hours every night. She sits and writes 3-4 hours every night. If you have time to do nothing but watch TV, then you have time to write. Once you get into the groove of working writing into your day, it gets easier and easier.

If you let writing be a JOY and not a JOB, you’ll find you can produce a lot more books in a lot less time. That joy has allowed me to produce an average of two big books a year for the last 35 years, and all those older books are still selling, a lot of them having already been reissued two and three times over the years. That’s how you build your name, which in turn builds your sales.

Write! Write! Write! You don’t get published by wishing it, and you don’t get published by working on the same book for years. I’ve heard some writers say they don’t want to “work” that hard. Honey, if you’re calling it work, you aren’t a real writer. Let it be a JOY!

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Birds of a Feather Flock Together

This weekend I’ll be attending a small weekend writers’ retreat, and I can’t wait! (See details at the end of this blog.) Writers love hanging out with each other, because only other writers can counsel each other on our own unique problems. Only other writers understand where we’re coming from when we talk about our characters like they really live(d). Another writer once asked me how I make my characters so “real.” My answer was because they are real … to me. They are people from the past, speaking to me in spirit. And the more “real” I write my characters, the more real they become to my readers. Only another writer would understand how “alive” our characters are to us. 

Becoming History

Our area newspaper has a “Local History” section, where it reprints news from 100 to 75 to 50 years ago and so forth. Recently, there was a section under “35 YEARS AGO,” and it was about my first publication, SWEET PRAIRIE PASSION, Book #1 of my SAVAGE DESTINY series. Apparently, I am now a part of “history.” Well, being born just five months before WWII ended, I guess I qualify, but I’m not terribly happy about the fact that that was 73 years ago! 

The After-Book Let-Down

The theme of this blog refers to how I feel when I am done with a book and I send it in. When I finish a book, and probably because my books are so long, I feel a big let-down and am depressed for several days afterward. After writing a 400-500 page book, usually 100,000 to 110,000 words, it’s hard to let go of the characters and “send them away” to the publisher.

Imagine packing up your own children and sending them off to a stranger who will then manage their lives from then on (i.e. edit your book and do things to it to make it even more marketable) – and knowing once you send your children away, they will never be returned to you. That’s kind of how it feels to work on a big novel and then send off the finished product.

Writing a story doesn’t involve just sitting down to the computer and putting an idea into words. That idea might have been brewing for months or even years, the characters living in your heart and mind all that time. Jake Harkner from my Outlaw series has lived in my heart and mind since about 1991, when I wrote down the idea for his story on the back of a check book with an eyebrow pencil because it suddenly came to me and I didn’t have a pen handy. That first book was published in 1993 and it took me 20 years to convince a publisher to let me write a sequel, which of course turned into four books and now I want to write a fifth. Part of the reason I want to write that fifth book is because I DON’T WANT TO LEAVE THESE CHARACTERS! I want to keep them alive for me and for my readers.

And now I know why it has taken me so long to even begin writing the contemporary Native American romance I talked about on Facebook a few days ago. The characters have been inside my heart and head for about 20 years now – maybe longer – and I know that if I write this book and actually sell it, I will have to “let go” of these characters. They won’t be just mine any more. Sounds strange, I’m sure, to non-writers, but I suppose as a reader who might love my characters as much as I do, they get the same feelings when the finish reading a book for which they have waited months to be able to read, especially books that are part of a series. They get done and they wish there was more because they don’t want to leave those characters.

Back to my comment about writing not being about just sitting down and getting it into a computer. Any well-written book takes weeks or months (sometimes years) of research before you even write it. So you go through all of that, and then you write the story – which normally takes 3-5 months for me. Sometimes, though, as with DO NOT FORSAKE ME and with my recent new book LOGAN’S LADY, the story is so real and already written in my head that it just pours out of me. I’ll sit for hours and days and weeks on-end doing almost nothing else but write – in which case I can turn out a 400-500 page book in about 6 weeks.

Either way, that first draft is not the finished product. I print it out – read and edit – go back to the computer and enter the edits – print it out again – read it again to check those edits, in which case I find even more things that need to be “fixed” – go back to the computer and enter all the new edits – read it again for even more edits – go back to the computer and enter those edits – then print it out once more and read the whole thing before I send it in to the publisher. So overall, you are with the characters night and day for weeks or months.

Then you send in the book. It’s like popping a balloon. Your elation at finishing a big book lasts only a day or so and then it’s – “Now what?” I want to go with my characters to the publisher and “protect and defend” them. “Don’t mess with my babies,” I want to say. The publisher has ripped them out of my arms. Plus, I feel like someone just took away my job and now I have to find a new one. “What do I work on now?”

My husband says I deserve a break, and I suppose I do, but I begin to panic. What if this book bombs? What if I never sell another book? I need to start another story and work on more ideas and make sure my publisher will take more – or make sure I have new stories ready to publish on Amazon so that my readers always have yet another book to look forward to.

If I had my way, I would continue my series books on and on into the children and grandchildren. I would stay with those families or couples I created for as long as possible. And if it was physically possible, I would publish a new story every month to keep my readers happy. Alas, there is only one of me and this old body can only sit for so long without aches and pains. Still, I try to ignore them because I want nothing more than to keep writing and keep turning out new stories.

Yet through all the 67 books I’ve now had published, so many of my characters will live with me forever and ever – most notably Zeke and Abbie Monroe from SAVAGE DESTINY – Caleb and Sarah Sax (from my BLUE HAWK trilogy) –Maggie Tucker and Sage Lightfoot from PARADISE VALLEY, Sunny Landers and Colt Travis from THUNDER ON THE PLAINS, Gabe Beaumont and Faith Kelley from TAME THE WILD WIND, Addy and Parker Cole from UNTIL TOMORROW, Lettie McBride and Luke Fontaine from WILDEST DREAMS, Two Wolves and Claire from CAPTURE MY HEART and A WARRIOR’S PROMISE, and of course Jake and Randy Harkner from my OUTLAW books. There are so many more! If you go to Amazon.com and type in my name, you will find pages and pages of my titles.

Sometimes I scan all my books and I wonder what will happen to all those characters after I am gone. Who will love and cherish them as I do? I’m so glad to realize that my readers will. And if they keep recommending those books to their family and friends, most of my books will continue to sell for a long time after I'm no longer in this world, which means my characters will live on for a long time to come. As far as I am concerned, they did live once for real and they told their stories to me from the past. I guess that’s why most of my books came out of me so easily. Those characters just visited me for a while and whispered their stories to me. I simply wrote down what they told me happened and how they felt about it. And yes, I’m just crazy enough to think that I just might meet some of my characters in another world, another life.

Can you tell I’m feeling sentimental? I hope Sourcebooks takes good care of my new “baby.” They are already working on a cover!

What’s In a Name?

Recently I eMailed my local writers’ group (Mid-Michigan Romance Writers of America) and joked about how sometimes we writers get our characters’ names mixed up. For the last two months I’ve been writing almost constantly to finish my newest book for Sourcebooks – LOGAN’S LADY. In the midst of that, I had to stop and work on edits to my March book for Amazon, A WARRIOR’S PROMISE. The heroine in WARRIOR is named Claire – and in LOGAN’S LADY the heroine is named Elizabeth.

Fiction vs Reality

Writers are often asked if their characters are based on someone they know. I have realized that my reply to this always seems defensive – “Heavens, no! I don’t want my friends or people I know casually to think I am writing about them! They might be offended, and I live in a small town. My characters are purely fictitious.” 

Don’t Get Sad … Get Mad!

Did you just get another rejection?

Has someone dissed your book?

Has someone said that if you write romance, you’re not a “real” writer?

Are you stuck with your “sagging” middle? (I mean your book, not your body).😉

Focusing Your Ideas

Any “born” writer knows that it’s pretty hard to shut off your brain when practically everything you read, see and hear becomes a possible story idea. The news is packed with them – crimes of every sort – governmental espionage – historical events – major auto accidents – and even (too rarely) GOOD NEWS stories that give you an idea for a sweet, romantic tale.

Stick to Your Guns

“Stick to your guns” is not just fitting for my theme, which is to write from your heart and write what you believe in, but also fitting because “guns” are most certainly a big part of what I write!