"Novelist time is reptile time; novelists tend to be ruminant and brooding, nursers of ancient grievances, second-guessers, Tuesday afternoon quarterbacks, retrospectators, endlessly, like slumping hitters, studying the film of their old whiffs." ~ Michael Chabon
"Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on." ~Louis L'Amour
"As for my next book, I am going to hold myself from writing it till I have it impending in me: grown heavy in my mind like a ripe pear; pendant, gravid, asking to be cut or it will fall." ~Virginia Woolf
"Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it." ~C.S. Lewis
"The storyteller is deep inside everyone of us. The story-maker is always with us. Let us suppose our world is attacked by war, by the horrors that we all of us easily imagine. Let us suppose floods wash through our cities, the seas rise . . . but the storyteller will be there, for it is our imaginations which shape us, keep us, create us - for good and for ill. It is our stories that will recreate us, when we are torn, hurt, even destroyed. It is the storyteller, the dream-maker, the myth-maker, that is our phoenix, that represents us at our best, and at our most creative." ~Doris Lessing
"Can I be blunt on this subject? If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that. Reading is the creative center of a writer's life."
~Stephen King
"You know, I'm a storyteller. We are storytellers. And ours is an ancient tradition, contemporized by the cinema and the capturing of light. And we should all be very proud of our place in society. On any given night, millions of people across the world buy a ticket for adventures that only we as storytellers can provide. We release burdens, we galvanize emotions, we make people laugh, we make people talk over breakfast. This is a great job and I want to encourage every one of you in this room to give everything you can to the story. God bless narrative. God bless originality."
~Russell
Crowe
2002 SAG Award Winner
"When I write, I feel like an armless legless man with a crayon in his mouth."
~Kurt Vonnegut
"Don't be afraid of your material or your past. Be afraid of wasting any more time obsessing about how you look and how people see you. Be afraid of not getting your writing done." ~Anne Lamott
"America is now wholly given over to a d****d mob of scribbling women, and I should have no chance of success while the public taste is occupied with their trash--and should be ashamed of myself if I did succeed. What is the mystery of these innumberable editions of The Lamplighter (by Maria Susanna Cummins), and other books neither better nor worse? Worse they could not be, and better they need not be, when they sell by the hundred thousand." ~Hawthorne's 1855 letter to his publisher William D. Ticknor, quoted in Pattee, Fred L. The Feminine Fifties. NY: Appleton-Century Co., 1940. p. 110.
First up, the winner of NETHERWOOD is: Paula! Paula, if you’ll send me your mailing info, I’ll forward it on to Michele so she can send it out! Secondly, I’ve contacted the two winners of PHANTOM PLEASURES and am waiting to hear from one of them, so that’s it for winner announcements! In other news, our wonderful server god at DFM moved 100 or so accounts over the weekend with ZERO DOWN TIME! How often do you see that, eh? A server move where the sites don’t vanish in the interim? I’m so p-p-proud!
This week I’m putting the finishing touches on KISS & TELL, my November Blaze, and need to stay cloistered so I can remain in the story as much as I can. That means very little internet for me. What I’m going to do is have this one post going all week long, Monday – Friday, and each day I’ll add another Brava that I’m going to give away. Yes, that’s right. A chance to win FIVE Brava releases, because really. Who doesn’t love a Brava!?
For your part, you have to come back and post every day to be eligible to win. If you’ve already read that day’s book, you can tell me who you’ll give it to if you win it. If you haven’t already read that day’s book, tell me that. But you still have to do one other thing.
You have to tell me something about your day, like . . . what you had for breakfast, or something funny one of your kids said, or one thing you accomplished and got off your plate, or an exciting event that you witnessed, etc. Anything at all. Be creative!
Usually I draw a winner randomly, but this time I’m actually going to pick a winner based on how entertaining I find the comments. See, I need some entertainment this week, so if you make me laugh or go awww or sniffle, you’ll be ahead of the game! (Consider this a taste of what we authors go through with every word we put on the page, LOL!)
I’ll draw the winner of the five books on Saturday, April 5th, 2008 at noonish CDT. DON’T FORGET: You must post a comment on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday AND Friday to be eligible for the prize package of FIVE Brava releases! ETA: If you’re late to the party, you can still win. (I run the show and can adjust rules as I see fit!) You just have to make the five comments, telling me something about each day and whether or not you’ve read the book, etc. – and you have to make individual comments, not one long one!
“A cross between ‘Mr. and Mrs. Smith’ and ‘True Lies,’ RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW is the perfect blend of suspense and comedy.”
-Romance Junkies, 5 Ribbon Review
“Dimon combines fresh, solid character voices reminiscent of chick lit with love scenes that sizzle with the passion and intensity of any hot erotica. The result is one comical page-turner.”
-Romantic Times
“Hot And Bothered has it all. It’s funny, all out sexy, a bit of suspense and a ghost or two along the way. The characters have such depth and feel like long lost friends. Charlotte and Griff’s friends and their adventures add another fun and sexy layer to this story. This book is a beautiful blend of southern charm with a taste of mystery.”
-Judy, a reader
If it’s Wednesday?
It’s time for Sylvia Day’s DON’T TEMPT ME. Click here for an excerpt.
“Set against the backdrop of pre-Revolutionary France, this bold, erotic tale of passion and revenge features a cast of colorful characters and a complex and intriguing plot. It will appeal most to readers who like their romantic adventures fast paced and laced with earthy language and graphic sex.”
–Kristen Ramsdell, The Library Journal
“COSMIC SEX is a laugh-a-minute, out-of-this world romance. I love Kia’s quirky personality and her no-nonsense attitude. She never lets Nick get away with anything. Nick is a hero with a lot to offer once he gets over his love ’em and leave ’em attitude. The explosive love scenes scorch the pages of this amazing sexy book. I could not put it down and read it in one sitting! Karen Kelley’s creative writing ability and sense of humor is obvious throughout the entire book. I am eagerly awaiting the next chapter in this awesome series.”
-Romance Junkies
” . . . the real meat of the book is the relationship between Jess and Smitty. Laurenston does a great job of building the tension and setting enough obstacles between them that is really satisfying to watch Jess and Smitty work for their happily ever after.”
–melindeloo, a reader
Remember this tomato plant from March 1st? With one leaf stretching to reach over the lip of the pot? Here it is 20 days later after sun, water, fertilizer and Miracle Gro Potting Mix.
There’s a new sheriff on the planet of Fresh Havens.
And her name is Talia Fortune. Her mission: capture the cyber outlaw, Kovner, who has smashed the computer interface on the offworld colony of Fresh Havens. His Sherwood: the sentient Gray Forest, where he and a band of rebels hide from a deadly menace. Scion of the Fortune family and primary shareholder of the mega-conglomerate FortuneCorp, Talia is desperate to prove her worth to her family, the residents of Fresh Havens, and to herself.
Kovner has discovered a dangerous secret that threatens Talia’s world and everything she’s ever known. And Talia has sworn to destroy him – the outlaw she knows and loves in an alternate reality, the only man who can teach her how and why to survive.
Post a comment here if you’d like to be entered to win a copy of NETHERWOOD from Michele Lang. Winner will be drawn, Sunday night, March 30, 2008, at 8:00 p.m.ish CDT. (Authors interested in having their books advertised, click here.)
(Over the weekend, my site is moving to a brand spankin’ new whiz bang of a server. That means from Friday till Monday, things could get a bit hinky around here. (Same goes for all the sites run on the DFM server.) I’ll still be running the weekend giveaway BUT if you post to win and then later find your comment missing, don’t worry about it. That’s just the database moving. I get emails from all comments sent to a non-server related addy, so whether the comment stays or goes, I’ll have the record of it being made.)
Over the weekend, my site is moving to a brand spankin’ new whiz bang of a server. That means from Friday till Monday, things could get a bit hinky around here. (Same goes for all the sites run on the DFM server.) I’ll still be running the weekend giveaway BUT if you post to win and then later find your comment missing, don’t worry about it. That’s just the database moving. I get emails from all comments sent to a non-server related addy, so whether the comment stays or goes, I’ll have the record of it being made.
If you shop at Diesel eBooks, you can get a few of my books electronically (both Brava and Blaze, though only 4 or 5 titles) at a 20% discount until May 5th (I think it is). You can see my Diesel eBooks here, and for the discount use this code: KENT22ccb
This last Monday, #2 daughter was called into Houston for jury duty – and got picked. She sat through the trial all of Tuesday and part of Wednesday, then through deliberations the rest of Wednesday and all of Thursday. She has a new found appreciation of The System.
Friday is a Sam day – for the husband. I have to write, but Sam’s babysitter is out of town and the kid isn’t quite old enough to be left on his own. *g* Here he is with his mom, Taylor, and his aunts. #1 daughter is the long-haired one jumping. The dog is Snickers’ brother Tobi Wan, and belongs to #2. The husband is the videographer. I’m off screen! This was on Easter, and yes. It was warm enough for him to be out in just the diaper!
For the most part, I don’t like to discuss any story-in-progress. I certainly never show it to anyone. My struggles over a story are always absolutely private, and no one ever seess the darn thing until I think it’s polished and ready.
In a cold January morning in 1856, Evelyn Atherton’s husband is found murdered after attending an exclusive séance. Having “married up” into New York society, Evie herself is the immediate suspect. Ostracized and vulnerable, she knows that to clear her name she must retrace her husband’s last steps. And so, joining forces with her husband’s best friend–and the only Manhattan lawyer who will accept her case–Evie dives into the mysterious underworld of the occult.
Before long, the trail brings them to a charismatic medium, Michel Jourdain. Evie’s instincts tell her the smooth-talking Jourdain is a charlatan–and her only hope for exoneration. But getting close to Jourdain means embracing a seductive and hypnotic world where clues to murder come through the voices of the dead.
Caught in a perilous game in which she is equal player and pawn, predator and victim, Evie finds there is no one to trust, perhaps not even herself. As her powerful in-laws build a case against her, and with time running out, Evie must face the real ghosts of her past if she is to have any hope of avoiding the hangman.
Megan’s AN INCONVENIENT WIFE is one of the best books I read in recent memory, and since my memory is shot, looking at it now I see it was out in 2005, oy! My mad writing rush will be over by the time THE SPIRITUALIST comes out, and I plan to plop my butt down and dive in the moment the Amazon box arrives – since I’ve already ordered!
Since I didn’t enter anything in the RITA contest, I didn’t realize calls were today. (Totally off my radar this year!) Anyhow, there is a list being compiled at this link of GH and RITA finalists as they become known, should you wish to check it out.
This week over at Plotmonkeys, I’m doing a seven day promotion where I’m posting a chapter a day of my upcoming book, PHANTOM PLEASURES. I thought long and hard about what to do to get people excited about this book and when the excerpt idea came to me, I shared it with a few friends, who were worried. Seven chapters? (It’s actually a prologue and six chapters…but really, same difference.)
I based the idea on the fact that lately, it’s been de rigueur for publishers to offer entire books for free on the Internet, concurrently with their print release. You’d think that this would mean that print sales would tank because why buy what you can get for free? However, this hasn’t been the case. Sales for the print books have actually gone up.
Why?
My theory? And it’s only a theory…word of mouth.
Although the Internet permeates the lives of all of us who use it, there are still a whole heck of a lot of people who do not live and die by their Internet connection. They check email, if at all, once a month. They still watch the news on television or read the print news…they still watch television shows when they are on, not on YouTube or streaming from the studio. They buy books by walking into their grocery store or maybe, if we’re lucky, in a Barnes & Noble. They may know what Amazon is, but the word “blog” conjures images of a 50s horror movie.
But by generating excitement for a book online, a writer, I believe, can reach those readers who are otherwise disconnected because they likely have a friend or two who ARE connected.
Imagine this conversation in the car line at the elementary school:
“I just finished the book I was reading for my book club. Very depressing. I want to read something else, but I don’t know what,” says the mother who has, yet again, left her cell phone at home. Though it doesn’t matter. It wasn’t charged anyway.
Mother #2 looks up from her Blackberry. “What? Oh, I read this book online that was really terrific.”
“Online?” gapes Mother #1. “I don’t have time for the Internet. The kids are always on that Webkinz website or Bob is surfing around for that Fantasy Basketball stuff. Sometimes I look for recipes.”
“Well, I read the first quarter of this really great book and I’m going after school to pick up a copy.”
“What’s the title?”
“Phantom Pleasures. It’s about this hotel heiress,” Mother #2 says, then stops to explain, “No, not like Paris Hilton. More like Ivanka Trump.”
Mother #2 nods and smiles.
“Anyway, she inherits this haunted island with a castle and she wants to turn it into a hotel, but she finds there is this very sexy phantom that she has to help free from the gypsy curse that traps him there.”
“Really? Does it have all that hot, trashy sex?”
“Oh, yeah. In chapter four…”
See? Wouldn’t that inspire you to go buy a book? To talk about it to your friends?
I have no idea if my experiment will be effective. I can’t, contractually, offer the entire book. Just short excerpts. So that’s what I’m doing.
Part of the challenge is getting the word out. So if you’re interested, please come over to Plotmonkeys and see what you think. And tell a friend!
*****
Alison here. I’m going to give away two copies of Julie’s book. To be eligible to win, you have to sign up for her newsletter. Here’s the link to do that. You’ll then get a confirmation email, click the link in there, and voila! You’re entered to win! NOTE: Be sure to click the confirmation link in the email or you won’t be signed up, and therefore won’t be eligible for the drawing! I’ll draw the winners’ names Friday, March 28, 2008, at 8:00 p.m.ish CDT.
"Every time you write, you go to a construction site in your head. The words are waiting there, like a couple truckloads of loose bricks. They're not going to build themselves into anything, no matter how often you talk to your hands or mouth-breathe or get in touch with your inner Tinkerbell. You pick up the bricks. You mortar them together on a page. You build a story out of them. And that's it. The sweaty, nerve-wracking, non-glittery, unglamorous, orc-free work of writing."
~Paperback Writer
"Writing’s not rocket science. It’s a helluva lot harder. Because once you learn all that rocket science crap, you can (at least in theory) build a rocket. On the other hand, you can read every writing book known to man and attend classes and work with critique partners and get pages of editorial input and still end up with a book that doesn’t quite hit the high notes. Scary, but true." ~Karen Templeton
"My New Year's resolution is to focus on the book and forget all the crap that surrounds the writing business. To lose myself in a story, and not give a damn if it makes any lists, has a good sell-through, gets glowing reviews on Amazon, pleases my editors, hell, even pleases my readers. I want to love what I'm writing so much that none of the rest of it matters, and if I don't, I won't write it. Life's too short to abuse the muse." ~Anne Stuart
What I love: Cookies that log me in @ sites I only visit this time of year. As if I would remember my account info otherwise. Also, cookies. 2011-12-01
How much is too much?
