Category: Creativity

Creativity, Indie publishing business, Romance, Writing

Emerging from the Salt Mines

. You know you’ve done your job right when you raise a son who’s comfortable dressing as a pink unicorn while he enjoys the last day of the season at Heavenly with his cousin. He’s had a hard time the last few years, and it’s great to see him enjoying himself. His 4 year old daughter will be so proud of her daddy, the Unicorn.

But I digress. I’ve been working my tail off, trying to get Heartless ready for take off. I’m thinking that May 15th will be publication date, but man, there’s so much to do for indie publishing. I’m not a control freak, so it isn’t a total thrill, but it’s interesting enough for me to enjoy. I’ve got a fabulous cover, slaved over the cover copy, I’m still dealing with challenging edits, then proof reading, formatting, and … ta da!

I’m still trying to figure out how to balance a second full-time job in my life (publishing as well as writing) but the freedom is enormous, and since I’m very much “the glass is half full” kind of gal I expect, as Crusie says, nothing but good times ahead.

And I’ll get back to my new stories! Ooops and Not Quite a Miracle and Forever Autumn and Mary-Stewart-in-Spain and eventual Ice – the Next Generation and …

Interesting. None of those are historicals. Well, I’ve just spent two years immersed in HEARTLESS (what with the shoulder replacement and family traumas it’s taken me longer to write than usual, plus it’s probably my longest book, and you should have seen how much I’ve cut!)

But for today I finish the revisions, run through every kind of checker I can get to pick up typos, and then pass it to my proof reader while I wait to hear from Mollie, my marketing and web guru. Fortunately I’m in love with the book, with Emma and Brandon, and they’re going to be so happy to see the light of day after maundering for three years.

Oh, and if anyone out there loves a book of mine (I tentatively assume there are) go post a review somewhere, like Amazon or Good Reads. I went searching for reviews last week, always a bad idea but I needed to check feedback on a certain plot point in a certain book, and I was surprised at how few there were. Only if there’s a book you love that you feel hasn’t got enough attention.

Or hell, if there’s one you hate, go ahead and trash it. I’m a firm believer in honesty.

I’ll have more deets on HEARTLESS, including the cover. In the mean time, be excellent to each other and party on, dude.

Creativity, Hiddleston and all the rest

Heroes Pt. I

There’s an old song from the Shangri-la’s (a girl group from the ’60s who did Leader of the Pack) called “Give Him a Great Big Kiss” that starts out with someone saying in a heavy Long Island accent, “when I say I’m in love you’d best believe I’m in love.”
Which brings me to my little friend. (As in “say hello to my little friend.”). Gorgeous isn’t he? A company called Hot Toy makes some incredibly accurate head casts of cult characters – actually they make the whole toy and they cost about $300. I’m not going to throw that kind of money at my latest inspiration (hero of Wildfire, Heartless, and probably something else) but on ebay you can buy the heads separately for about $30 and a body for just a little bit more. So my darling, long-suffering husband attached Tom’s head for me, and I managed his feet (his hands were already attached). I stripped an old GI Joe and dressed Hiddles up like Jonathon Pine and now he sits in my window and I smile at him.
My darling husband has had to live with this all our long, married life (43rd anniversary next Thursday), and he just rolls his eyes and rolls with it. He’s not a man who’s easily threatened, God bless him, and I always put my passions into books. Starting with … oh, Jesus, starting with Troy Donahue when I was in fifth grade (I’m ooooold) through Jerry Orbach in 8th grade. I even wrote a beginning with John Lithgow as a Scottish hero (the Laird of LinLithgow), when I was a freshman in high school and he was a senior and president of the student council. Sigh.
Richie survived androgynous Japanese rock stars, Don Johnson (I’m sorry, I’m sorry but Long Hot Summer was hot!). I imagine I’ll be in my nineties, we’ll be sitting in rocking chairs and I’ll be cackling about how lustworthy Hiddleston’s son is (no, his son hasn’t been born, don’t panic). I’m irredeemable. My cousin Helen, who’s 8 years older than me, chastised me a couple of years ago (I was lusting after an Irish actor in our local theater group who would have been a perfect person to play one of my heroes but then he turned out to hate children and shag every available female in the troupe so alas, he got ditched) – anyway, Helen said I was too old for such shenanigans. Never! I cried.
Not even in my 90s.
Anyone want to admit their secret lusts? Mine tend to be elegant and British, ones who could easily play a vampire, but I have a weakness for Vin Diesel and Russell Crowe as well, two exceptionally manly men. There are just so many luscious creatures out there.
And I won’t bring you down by telling you what I really think of men in general. Just that Richie broke the mold, and the rest of them ….
No, Krissie! Behave yourself. I love people on a one to one basis. People in groups or strata, not so much. And I’ve always been a mouthy, uppity woman. It’s likely a very good thing that I wasn’t pretty – I would have destroyed the world.
If anyone’s interested in seeing Tom in action, Wildfire and the two preceding books, Consumed by Fire (fabulous) and Driven by Fire (not so much) are on sale through the end of the month, with the audio versions ridiculously cheap. At Amazon, of course, since they published them, as well as the House of Russell historicals with three sisters going undercover in service to discover their father’s killer.
Montlake thinks my heroes are too dark. I think they’re yummy.
Ok, that’s the end of the advertisement. Tell me who you think is hot. I’ve got Adam Driver for the MIP, but I have an unending need for hero fodder.

Creativity, Writing

Groundhog Day

Well, I suppose I could do the same paragraph over and over again in honor of Bill Murray’s movie, but I’ll resist the temptation. But man, I love Bill Murray!

So someone came up with the idea of doing a piece of art every day in February on Instagram. Unfortunately I don’t remember who it was, but the suggestion was mostly for visual art, drawings etc. Of course I’ll take it one step further – it gives me a way to explore Instagram and connect with more people.. I’m relearning how to play the guitar, and last night I worked out “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow.” Key of C, which is a pain because F-chords have always been a pain, but it’s good key to sing in. I think I’m going to have to accept F chords if that’s my new key.

Upate on everything – I’ve started the process of getting HEARTLESS edited – I never need heavy editing so it shouldn’t be much, and then we go forward with covers, etc. (unless some traditional publisher swoops in with an offer I can’t refuse). So HEARTLESS, Brandon and Emma’s story, is getting closer to the light of day.

The Harlequin Reprints are momentarily on hiatus while I rework them – I have interesting ideas about things to do with them.

Ice/Heat is on hold for its turn in the line-up. I want to do Remy’s story in New Orleans, then enough time has passed for Peter and Bastien’s children to grow up. I’ve got so many books in my head that I’ve forgotten who has who, but I know Bastien has a daughter and Swede, and Peter has a daughter and Mahmoud (wasn’t that his name?) plus Dylan from On Thin Ice. Anyway, I love the idea of Mahmoud and Dylan both wanting the same young woman, who loves them both (normally I don’t like triangles but this might be a quadrangle or an incredible tangle of emotions while the fate of the world hangs in the balance, and I’m going to love playing with them.

In the meantime I’m playing with a new idea that I’ve wanted to write for probably 25 years – I remember Harlequin shied away from it and that was looooong ago.

So masses of things to do and not enough time to do it.

I do have a question, but there’s no need to answer if you don’t have an opinion. I’m wrestling with POV and tense on the new MIP (Mess In Progress). It’s almost definitely going to be alternating first person hero and heroine, but for some reason I started out in present tense. It seemed to demand it. Now I’m rethinking the whole thing.

Some people find present tense incredibly annoying. For me it’s basically invisible if the book is good.

Does anyone out there have a strong opinion for or against present tense? (You know the Dracula comes into the room instead of Dracula came into the room).