Alison Kent's Blah Blog

The winner of the Mon/Tues prize pack is: Shannon. Email me your mailing address, Shannon, and I’ll get the books sent out!

Apologies for not getting back to answer more questions. I’ll do so as soon as I can, but there’s a lot of life demanding my time at the moment.

I hate the word “wordsmith.” When I hear it, I immediately think, “Cheesy.” I imagine a New Age-y guy wearing a blacksmith’s smock, holding a feather pen [aka, “quill”]. Why isn’t “writer” a sufficient title? It’s mysterious and provocative all on its own. Why the compulsion to dress it up, make it cute, trot it out on a business card?

I found the above quote by Meg Galipault of The Kenyon Review on the blog of author Brenda Coulter, where Brenda herself then added:

A writer is someone who writes. If you just started, or if you’ve been doing this for years, the term still fits. If you’re J.K. Rowling or J.K. Nobody, ditto. It doesn’t matter if you write full time or part time. It doesn’t matter if you’re published or unpublished. If you write, then you are a writer.

When I hear a writer call herself a wordsmith, I assume she’s more interested in being admired by the world than she is in communicating with the world. And I can’t respect that.

The post is from a year ago, and you can tell it stuck with me because when I decided to participate in LB&LI, I knew I wanted to talk about being a wordsmith. Merriam-Webster online defines wordsmith as: a person who works with words; especially: a skillful writer. Dictionary.com gives two definitions: 1) an expert in the use of words, 2) a person, as a journalist or novelist, whose vocation is writing. Even WordNet at Princeton.edu defines it as “a fluent and prolific writer” . . . so why all the negativity? I cop to all of those.

You know what comes to mind when I hear the word “wordsmith?” Barbara Samuel. Laura Kinsale. Lydia Joyce. Authors whose stories come to life on the page the way stories should, and do so because of their wordsmithing. I’m going to use examples from their work as I go over my . . . Top Ten Things That Make A Wordsmith

1 – Avoid telling what you’ve shown

I wrote this sentence the other day:

He grabbed his Blackberry from his waist to check the time. “It’s already six. I might not get out there till ten.”

I then realized I had my character checking the time (showing) and telling the time. Yes, this is very picky, but it stopped me during edits as being redundant. I changed it to this:

He grabbed his Blackberry from his waist and glanced at the screen. “It’s already six. I might not get out there till ten.”

The action is the same, but I’m not focusing twice on the time. The first example is probably fine, and nothing most readers would notice. But as the wordsmith, I do notice and want to do better for the story I’m telling. A simpler example would be this:

Joan looked at her watch, needing to let Helen know she was going to be late. “Helen, I’m going to be late.

The “needing to let Helen know she was going to be late” is totally unnecessary because it tells what her dialogue shows immediately after.

2 – Avoid being repetitive

If you read through a page of your work – or even worse, a paragraph – and find you’ve used the same word or version of a word (think, thinking, etc.) multiple times, change it.

Ben slid behind the wheel of the car, needing to get to Kara’s place pronto. Knowing the car vehicle was on its last legs meant pronto was out of the question. He was going to have to baby the car engine or end up stranded halfway between his place and hers.

We’re wordsmiths. Why use the same word repeatedly when there are others waiting in the wings?

3 – The devil is in the details

Any time you use words like “it” or “something,” ask yourself if your prose isn’t better served by something more specific. Readers have an easier job connecting with a concrete “thing” than an vague “something” that makes them go, huh? Specific details bring prose to life. From Barbara Samuel’s MADAME MIRABOU’S SCHOOL OF LOVE:

From the linen cabinet by the downstairs bathroom, I took a blanket that smelled of the lavender stalks that I tuck into all the drawers and closets. The pale purple scent eased my tension as I carried the blanket into my study, where the computer was breathing steadily, softly, its lights blinking comfortingly in the darkness.

I turned on the small, art deco lamp I’d found on E-bay and settled into my chair, blanket around my shoulders and opened a novel I’d checked out of the library. At least some things were reliable.

Unlike the furnace. Which exploded exactly one hour later with a noise you can’t even imagine.

The lavender stalks, the pale purple scent, the computer breathing, the lamp found on eBay . . . the book that came from the library and not a bookstore. All of those details give life to this scene.

4 – Paint a believable image

Make sure the image you are painting makes sense. Bubbles of fear are not going to claw their way up someone’s throat because, well, bubbles don’t claw. Fear can claw, I suppose, but bubbles are going to float and pop.

5 – Paint the right image

Make sure you are painting the image you want to paint with your word choices. A man’s arm snaking around a woman’s waist brings to mind the picture of a snake for a lot of readers. It’s evocative, but what it’s evoking is reptilian, not romantic.

6 – Pay attention to the impact of your sentences

One of the very first writing workshops I attended was given by the fabulous author LaVyrle Spencer (and I’ve told the story several times of her singing Janis Ian’s “JESSE” to me when I went up to her after). One of the things she said that has stuck with me for all these years is how much stronger the impression of a sentence will be if it’s ended with the right word. Here is something from my WIP that I’ve written two versions of.

And it didn’t help that she was still working five days a week with her estranged husband a closed door away.

And it didn’t help that five days a week a closed door was the only thing keeping her from her estranged husband.

Does one of those resonate more strongly when you read? I’m not saying either is wrong, or one is better. I’m just pointing out the differences.

7 – Make descriptions fit the viewpoint character

As I said on Monday, all scenes / stories have a viewpoint character (unless told by an omniscient narrator – a character unto himself/herself) and therefore descriptions need to be written in that viewpoint character’s voice. If your alpha hero spy thinks your heroine’s eyes look like robin’s eggs, he’d better be a birdwatcher, too. If he describes them as being the color of bluebonnets, he’d better be a Texan. (More on writing men on Friday.) Don’t have characters using descriptions that don’t fit their character. Simple as that.

8 – Don’t stop a scene to add description

The surest way to lose a reader is to stop a scene’s action to add description. Weave description into the scene as it happens, otherwise a reader is very likely to skip right over those lovely words you’ve labored over to get to the good stuff. From Lydia Joyce’s SHADOWS OF THE NIGHT:

Fern’s father stepped forward, and she found herself borne along in the wake of the bridesmaids and her flower-strewing nieces. The organ blast trembled in the vaulted ceiling, the vast space muddying the sound until it arrived as one great crash in her ears, and the scents of roses and toilet water crowded thick, hot, and cloying around her.

She wanted to press a hand to her roiling stomach. Instead, she tightened her grip on her bouquet and continued to smile for the staring faces, white as the orange blossoms that wilted in her grasp, and for the gray rapier figure that waited at the other end of the carpet.

Rather than stopping Fern’s procession down the aisle to describe her bouquet of orange blossoms, or to describe the scents of roses and toilet water, the sound of the organ, etc., Joyce paints a picture in Fern’s mind while she is walking. A less skilled author might have Fern stop in the foyer and reflect on the sights, sounds and smells, but here Joyce shows how to weave the information into the active scene.

9 – Get rid of words that add nothing

And I’m not even talking about the dreaded “then” or “just” or “even” that I love and use often. I’m talking about words that do nothing but add to your total count. It can be yet another description of the above blue-eyed heroine. Or an adjective that is a synonym for the descriptive word right before. It can be another way to rehash or repeat what you said a couple of pages ago, but is a little darling of creativity you have to kill because it does nothing but make you smile when you read it.

10 – Keep it simple stupid

Apply the KISS principle. A single perfectly-chosen word can evoke an emotional response better than overdone prose. So what if finding the word takes an hour? Rodale’s Thesaurus is your friend for a reason. From Laura Kinsale’s SHADOWHEART:

The leafless bushes cast a wavering light in the doorway, but the old mill was empty and silent. She put her palms against his chest, as if to hold him off, but inside she was praying that he would kiss her, that at last, after weeks of this dangerous play and ferment between them, she would know what it was like.

She didn’t say excitement or agitation. She didn’t talk about something growing, ripening. She chose to use the word ferment. And it makes all the difference.

Additional Resources:

WORD PAINTING by Rebecca McClanahan

WHEN ONLY THE RIGHT WORDS WILL DO by Shannon Stacey

If like me you have craft-oriented blogs on the list of those you visit, you’ll no doubt have seen a lot of posts on voice, defining it, analyzing it, wondering what it is. Sasha White is doing a workshop this week called VOICE: The Magic Behind the Words, and says:

What is it that makes a story stand out? We all want to know the secret, but the truth is…there is no secret. What makes one book stand out from the other, what makes one story memorable isn’t always the complicated plot or the unique characters. More times than not, it’s the author’s voice.

Jordan Summers recently wrote about uncovering one’s writing voice, saying:

Voice is something a reader recognizes instinctively. It’s what makes bestselling authors. Sure skill comes into the picture, too. You have to know how to plot, pace, create settings and characters, etc. But voice is what readers really fall in love with when they’re reading. It’s ‘HOW’ you tell your stories.

Wikipedia defines a writer’s voice as follows:

Writer’s voice is a literary term used to describe the individual writing style of an author. Voice is a combination of a writer’s use of syntax, diction, punctuation, character development, dialogue, etc., within a given body of text (or across several works). Voice can also be referred to as the specific fingerprint of an author, as every author has a different writing style.

Voice is an author’s fingerprint. It’s *how* she tells her stories. It’s what makes one book stand out from another. Yep. Gotta agree with all of that. Now let me take things in a new direction and see if I can fog up your brain the same way I regularly fog up mine!

How often have you heard said that it’s easy to tell a favorite author has written a book by doing no more than reading a few pages, the author’s voice being so unique, so individual, so strong, etc.?

How often have you heard said that editors are looking for fresh new voices?

How often have you heard said that voice encompasses not only an author’s word usage, sentence structure, and other elements of style, but her world view, her favorite themes, her outlook on life?

Final question. Where in the discussion do character voices come into play?

Now onto the tricky brain fogging part . . .

If it’s possible to read a few pages and know a favorite author has written the book, does that mean all her characters sound the same?

I struggle with this subject as I’m writing dialogue, but even more so as my characters internalize their thoughts. When I am deep in their point of view, am I writing with my voice or their voice? Do I inadvertently make the same word choices for one character as I do for another in a different book? I suppose a character’s voice could be considered part of characterization, and it is, but I posit it goes beyond.

If a reader can open a book and tell immediately who wrote it, I can’t help but surmise that the author is using her voice rather than her character’s (or narrator’s) voice. And as important as voice is to readers and editors, I wonder if an author’s books shouldn’t sound as unique as the characters whose stories are being told . . . because there *is* a narrator telling the story, whether a point of view character or an omniscient voice, and it’s one that belongs to that story alone. Isn’t there?

Trust me. In no way am I saying I’ve mastered this or even thought it through completely. I know much of what I’ve written sounds like *me*, the author, and not the character telling the tale. And this is why I’m fascinated by the mingling of character voices in a book. I want a scene in a heroine’s point of view to reflect who she is – her word choices, her rhythm, her outlook on life, even her mood at the time, and not mine. I want the same when I move into the hero’s head. What I don’t want is a reader to say, “Oh, that sounds just like Alison,” rather than to *hear* the characters’ voices. (And I often wonder if blogging makes it easier for a reader to hear *us* as authors in our books.)

What do I know about my voice? I write in incomplete sentences. A lot. I write in threes, explaining, defining, honing – and I leave out the conjunctive *and* in such series. (Note: I am NOT a grammarian and remember nothing about English classes!) I use passive voice on purpose in many situations, and “to be” verbs a lot. I also use dialogue tags more often than not because the flow reads better to me. I’m a definite wordsmith, and love the poetry and rhythm in well written narrative.

So, let’s look at some examples of voice. These tidbits are from something I’m working on, and this project is what has me thinking about what voice means in a whole new way. I have four viewpoint characters. I’ve posted sections from three of them, and will point out how I think an author’s voice and a character’s voice merge.

The boy! What was he thinking? Running like a fox with a mouth full of hen away from the house to the stables!

Kitchen shears in one gloved hand, Maria Ballestero spun away from the utility room window and hurried across the floor of red tiles to shoulder open the adjoining kitchen’s screen door.

“Rafael!” she called across the hacienda’s expansive grounds. “Rafael!” But she might as well have summoned the wind because Rafael was not to be seen.

Since the day he had learned to use his two feet, had she not warned him of the need for calm when working near the horses of Esteban Vargas? ¡Diós! The boy was going to be the death of her, if not first the death of himself!

Surely she had been loco, crazy, to think he would stay this evening and help her greet guests and pour drinks to toast the return of Senon, Don Esteban’s son. Rafael was seventeen. Maria well understood seventeen. She understood, too, that between her nephew and Senon Vargas there was no love had, or love to be lost.

Maria lives in Mexico, and English is not her first language. Because I’m writing in English, however, I’ve made her voice more formal, somewhat stilted, as if she’s looking for the right words (though in reality she would be thinking in Spanish). That’s her voice. But in *her* thoughts, *I* have used incomplete sentences along with painting poetic word pictures. Those choices belong to me. The result is, I hope, a combination of Maria’s voice as narrator, and my own.

He was only thirty-four. Not quite ready to be put out to pasture. Though more and more often these days he was feeling a strange creak in his bones. A stiffness in his back after a long one in the saddle. A sharp catch in his hip when he first swung his left leg out of bed.

He’d always thought age was more a state of mind than body, but lately, well, time was taking its toll on both. Battling Mother Nature had long been a part of a rancher’s life, but the last four years she hadn’t given an inch.

At every setback, he’d reconnoitered, using the arsenal the family had built up over three generations. But this drought? She was one dried up withered old bitch, sucking the soul from every precaution he’d taken, leaching his strength the way she did flesh from a bone.

And until they got some rain, some sticking rain, some staying rain, she’d continue to purse her fat lips and suction every ounce of sweetness from his spot on this earth. That left Kit feeling like a man spent, a man fresh outta options, walking the edge of a dime.

Kit’s a cowboy, one who happens to have four years of military service under his belt. Here are more incomplete sentences, and several “series of three,” but all those style elements that are my voice are written in Kit’s words – words which would never be Maria’s. Even Kit’s poetry is harsher, more brutal, sharp and cutting rather than flowing. His voice is gritty compared to Maria’s that is thoughtful.

She’d left for college a young girl of eighteen, returned a graduate with her ingenuousness, if not her innocence, intact. Her parents had died four years later, and in the four that followed, she’d had no choice but to toughen up like a cowboy and his gear, seasoned by exposure to the elements, hardened by a life that ran thick through a rancher’s veins.

Now she was the boss who signed his paycheck. And through it all, she’d been the daughter of the man who’d given him a job and a home and a chance when jail time had thrown the long shadows of steel bars across the window to his future.

Cullen Sloan leaned a shoulder into the door frame and remembered the promise he’d made to Doc Mason. To make sure Cassie was taken care of in the event of his death. To keep away the sons of bitches who’d take advantage of her tender heart to get at the part of her they wanted.

Well, hell. What was Cullen supposed to do with her now? When she’d gotten in this bad habit of sizing him up the way a woman sizes up a man, her eyes doing that slow dance across his shoulders, waltzing with a lazy grace down his chest, two-stepping gingerly from his belly to his legs? Wouldn’t Doc be rolling in his grave if he could see his only daughter making a move on his foreman with nothing but a look?

Like Kit, Cullen is a cowboy, but he’s older and has a completely different background. He looks at things with the eye of a romantic rather than a realist. Where Kit’s tone is pessimistic and tired, Cullen can’t be anything but an optimist – and that’s reflected in the rhythm of his voice as he works through solving what he doesn’t want to see as a problem. Again, my voice is present throughout his viewpoint, but the scene sounds like him – not like Kit, not like Maria.

So, bottom line, is an author’s voice more than her style? Is her voice also the composite of all her characters’ voices? It is a bad thing if a reader can recognize an author’s writing without seeing her name on the page? Or is it a good thing because the author tells such a strong tale, even if the reader hears *her* instead of her characters?

There is a NYT author whose early series category work I devoured, but when she moved to hardcover telling a different sort of story, she lost me as a reader. I think with those hardcovers she found her voice, but her voice became so strongly identified with her, she’s the one I heard. I never heard her characters. Even when in her hero’s point of view, I still heard her speaking the words. And I truly think having this happen made me aware of how important it is to let our characters tell their stories in their voices.

Additional Resources:

Julie Leto’s DITCHING “THE BOOK OF MY HEART” for “THE BOOK OF MY VOICE”

Holly Lisle’s Ten Steps to Finding Your Writing Voice

Thaisa Frank’s and Dorothy Wall’s Finding Your Writer’s Voice: A Guide to Creative Fiction

I’m not loving that I’m staying home instead of attending the RWA national conference this week. I love going to conference because it’s the only time I get to see the dozens of friends I chat with online throughout the year. My best writing buddies are scattered around the country, even the world, and two that I know in Great Britain are coming this year for the first time. I would love to be there to meet them, to meet my new agent in person, but this year things just haven’t worked out to let me make the trip.

That said, I am *very* happy to be participating (though in a limited fashion) in PBW’s Left Behind and Loving It. If you’re not familiar with her workshop series, in its 3rd year, she explains the concept this way:

For those of you who aren’t familiar with this summer ritual, it’s something I started doing a couple of years ago for writers like me who don’t attend RWA National. We spend a week sitting around in our pjs and bunny slippers while we talk shop, I give away goodie bags, and we have fun.

I’ll be doing three workshops, though organizing mine more as topics of discussion than lectures. I know that not everyone is going to agree with my take on things, so I want to share my thoughts and give my reasons for my way of thinking, then open the floor for discussion. The give and take is how I better define my own viewpoint. (This is one of the things I miss about RWA, the sitting around and discussing writing as well as the industry with peers.)

Here’s my schedule:

• The Voices in Your Head
  When discussing “voice,” where and how do character voices fit in?
  Monday, July 28th
• All Authors Should Be Wordsmiths
  Wordsmithing is not a dirty word, and deserves as much focus as all craft.
  Wednesday, July 30th
• We’re Writing Men
  Men will be men; don’t write them as she-men.
  Friday, August 1st

The posts will go up at midnight of each day, and then on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, I’ll address any comments I don’t get to the day of the post. One of the reasons I’m not going to San Francisco is that I have a lot of writing to do this week, so that has to come first each day. I’ll check in late afternoon to join the discussion, but may possibly bring comments forward to the next day for further contemplation.

As far as goodies go, I’ll be giving away three sets of AT RISK, IN DANGER, DEEP TROUBLE, and THE COMPLETE IDIOT’S GUIDE TO WRITING EROTIC ROMANCE. I’m aware that not everyone reading the discussions here willl be writing romance, much less the sexy stuff, but there is a lot of information in the CIG that can be applied to all writing.

“The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Writing Erotic Romance is one of the most enjoyable and informative books on writing that I have ever read. From the creative process to the publishing marketplace, there is not one aspect of our business that Alison Kent has overlooked and the anecdotal information that she includes illustrates just how just how personally invested in these books we all are. (…) Alison has furnished a Masters Class in writing and while the emphasis is on erotic romance, all genres of fiction have at their core the art of storytelling.” ~Kate Duffy, Editorial Director, Kensington Publishing Corp.

I’ll also be giving away one complete set of the workshop CDs from the RWA national conference. You can see the full list of workshops at this link. I will draw the winner of the CDs next Sunday, August 3, 2008, at 8:00 p.m.ish CDT. Anyone who comments on the discussions during the week is eligible.

The winners of the 3 sets of books will be drawn on Tuesday (7/29/08), Thursday (7/31/08), and Saturday (8/2/08) also at 8:00 p.m.ish CDT, but for each of those prize packs, I will draw a name from those who’ve commented on either the original topic post or the follow up discussion post, i.e., I will draw one name from the Mon/Tues discussion, one from the Wed/Thurs discussion, and one from the Fri/Sat discussion. To be eligible to win, you must comment on the appropriate posts between midnight when the topic is introduced and 8:00 p.m.ish CDT the next day.

Looking forward to it!

The winner of RECKLESS is: Darcy! Darcy, send me your mailing info and I’ll forward it to Saskia.

At the age of twenty-nine, London valuation expert Katrina Hammond is evolving into a stronger, more sexual woman. When she subsequently finds herself at the center of a struggle for power and dominance between two brothers, she welcomes the darkly erotic charge the situation brings.

Katrina’s job is to value a collection of art objects for auction in the Catalonia villa of the Teodoro family, where Sergio Teodoro rules. Sergio is a dominant master who compels her attention. Nicolas, his younger brother – a disinherited artisan – also seeks her out. As Katrina uncovers the subterfuge surrounding the collection, she finds that there is more to Nicolas and Sergio’s battle than meets the eye, and more to her growing allegiances than may be good for her.

Post a comment here if you’d like to be entered to win a copy of RECKLESS from Saskia Walker. Winner will be drawn, Sunday night, July 27, 2008, at 8:00 p.m.ish CDT. (Authors interested in having their books advertised, click here.)

The winner of LAST CHANCE, MY LOVE is: Karen H! Karen, send me your mailing info and I’ll forward that to Lynne. Check back next weekend for a chance to win Saskia Walker’s RECKLESS. Also, I’m giving away my ARC’s of MAXIMUM EXPOSURE to reviewers and blogging readers; click here (or scroll down) for details. Now it’s back to work for me for another week, but you can still ask questions and I will get to them as soon as I return (which I’d hoped would be today, but as you can see, I’m hiding). Have a good one!

more cat pictures

I have 19 ARCs of MAXIMUM EXPOSURE (I always keep one for myself) to go to reviewers and to bloggers who will blog about the book, good or bad. You must have an established blog with an existing readership. I’m trying to reach as many readers as possible, so that’s the only stipulation. That, and you have to post the blog / review and send me the link by mid-November as it’s a 12/08 Brava release. I’ll then posts your links here.

You can read an excerpt and the back copy at this link and another excerpt at this link. NYT Bestselling author Cindy Gerard says, “MAXIMUM EXPOSURE is sexy, smart and suspenseful. As usual, Alison Kent delivers in style!” If you would like a copy to review or blog about on your site, email me at reviews @ alisonkent.com (remove the spaces before and after the @) and I’ll give you instructions. That’s the only addy where I’ll accept requests as otherwise I’ll never be able to keep anything straight, being as I lack any sense of organization these days! Oh, and include the URL to your blog / review site. Also, it would help me out a lot if you’d be willing to send me an SASE as my postage budget is kaput. So if all that works for you, let me know!

What if you’re in love-but you can’t make love?

Can Daniel and Miranda give in to their love and save their marriage? Find out by reading the first book in the new Triple Countess series from Lynne Connolly!

Post a comment here if you’d like to be entered to win a copy of LAST CHANCE, MY LOVE from Lynne Connolly. Winner will be drawn, Sunday night, July 20, 2008, at 8:00 p.m.ish CDT. (Authors interested in having their books advertised, click here.)

Like an athlete that can’t retire, you only know you’re done when you no longer feel the guilt that soaks into your guts and brains and makes everything else around you seem dull and drab and gray; the guilt of knowing that if you were writing, the world would be sharper, more vivid and visceral — more important and worth living than when you are sitting around knowing that you’re not doing what you’re supposed to be doing.

That would be “heads up” for you, “head down” for me. There won’t be any blogging around here this week until Saturday when you’ll get the chance to win a copy of Lynne Connolly’s LAST CHANCE MY LOVE. (Read the rest of the above quoted post here.)

I’m hard at work on A LONG, HARD RIDE, and though I’m not in my closet (where I have actually written before – hmm, that picture is so old, I don’t even have that laptop anymore, and my closet floor isn’t even visible for all the crapola I’ve tossed in there), I’m not near a machine with Internet access. Okay. I’m near one. But it won’t be turned on. I will Twitter occasionally from my phone, and you can see those tidbits in my sidebar, or on my Twitter page. (The RSS feed for that is here.)

Also, I know a lot of you are waiting on me to mail out your prizes, and they will be going out tomorrow! But for now I’m giving you this chance to ask me anything you want to know. It can be a craft question or a writing life question or whatever. And if you don’t want to know anything, that’s fine, too! I’ll answer everything next week when I plug back in. Just post your questions here, and wish me luck!

The winner of DANGEROUS TO TOUCH is: Ellen! Ellen, send me your mailing info so I can forward it on to Jill. (And sorry about that. I timestamped the post early in the weekend, then forgot to pull the winner before going to bed last night!)

Read more about Christian here, and see additional photos here.

All her life Sidney Morrow had tried to repress her disturbing psychic visions. Until a vision of murder shattered her fragile serenity. She had to go to the authorities—make them listen. But Lt. Marc Cruz didn’t trust her one bit. In fact, the sensual homicide cop treated her like a suspect. And sent her senses haywire.…

The dark-haired beauty knew something about the serial killer Marc was after. But he was certain “visions” had nothing to do with it. Determined to be her constant shadow, Marc wasn’t prepared when desire blindsided him—and put them both in the path of a relentless killer.

Post a comment here if you’d like to be entered to win a copy of DANGEROUS TO TOUCH from Jill Sorenson. Winner will be drawn, Sunday night, July 13, 2008, at 8:00 p.m.ish CDT. (Authors interested in having their books advertised, click here.)