I Don't Do ...

Remember that infamous line “I don’t do windows”

Well, I don’t among other things.

Do you notice that people tend to typecast you by your looks or your manner? So many quips are out there that we latch on to for that reason.

I Don’t Do Perky

Leave Me Along Until I Have My Coffee – Definitely me

I’m Not A Morning Person

And do people describe you as something you don’t see for yourself? I’ve been called bubbly and I don’t see myself as that way.

More like I didn’t snap or snarl at anyone when I was at Walmart. Yes, that’s way more me! Not that I’m cranky, but there are times.

So what about you? How would you describe yourself but also, how do people see you? Do they go together?

Fall In Love Like A Romance Writer

I was very lucky to be asked to participate in this project. I hope you'll check the book out.

Linda

Amelia Grey unveils the secrets to real romances . . .
from the masters of the fictional world.
On sale February 1, 2011
Fall in Love
Like a Romance Writer
available at your
favorite bookstore
or one of these websites . . .
www.amazon.com
www.barnesandnoble.com
www.booksamillion.com
www.borders.com
chapters.indigo.ca
HCI
Trade Paperback
ISBN-10: 0757315542
ISBN-13: 978-0757315541
www.AmeliaGrey.com
Linda Lael Miller, Mariah Stewart, Robyn Carr, Heather Graham, Karen Robards, Joan Johnston,
Kat Martin, Pamela Morsi, Sabrina Jeffries, Eloisa James, Rachel Gibson, Susan Anderson,
Bertrice Small, Jennifer Blake, Mary Balogh, Teresa Medeiros, Cathy Maxwell, Victoria
Alexander, Laura Lee Guhrke, Mary Jo Putney, Jill Marie Landis, Meryl Sawyer, Stella Cameron,
Stef Ann Holm, Elizabeth Hoyt, Kasey Michaels, Julianne MacLean, Loraine Heath, Gaelen
Foley, Haywood Smith, Wendy Corsi Staub, Elizabeth Boyle, Christie Ridgeway, Jane Porter,
Elizabeth Grayson, Amanda Scott, Gayle Callen, Annette Blair, Amanda McCabe, Jean Brashear,
Suzanne Forster, Karen White, Stephanie Bond, Judith Arnold, Patricia Potter, Barbara Samuel,
Dee Davis, Robin Lee Hatcher, Shana Galen, Leigh Greenwood, Deb Stover, Linda Wisdom,
Jasmine Cresswell, Shirl Henk, Judi Fennell, Jo Ann Ferguson, Michele Ann Young, Nicola
Cornick, Kate Austin, Geri Buckley Borcz, Cheryl Brooks, Nicole Byrd, Sharon Lathan, Jade Lee,
Terry Spear, Jannine Corti Petska, and Ciji Ware tell about how they met the love of their lives,
or how they made their love last through the years, or what they believe makes love and
romance timeless. Some of the stories are heart-warming, some are inspiring, and others are
filled with humor, but they are all sprinkled with that magical feeling of being in love.

Midnight Lady Available Again!

One of my favorite books to write was Midnight Lady for Bantam Loveswept that was released in 1994.

Since I'm a big fan of horror movies, especially the classics, I wanted to feature a family who produced the kind of films Vincent Price, Boris Karloff, and Bela Lugosi would star in.

I'm happy to give the book a new life and a new cover.

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/39247

http://www.amazon.com/Midnight-Lady-ebook/dp/B004KABFVE/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1296061427&sr=1-5

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/books/product.aspx?ean=2940012173850


Kyle – A dangerously handsome creature of the night …

He’d expected an unusual greeting when he knocked at the door of the spooky manor house, but Kyle Fletcher wasn’t ready for the fireworks in Samantha Lyons sparkling violet eyes! He’d come to interview her movie-legend grandfather, but the mysterious wildcat who ran Baron Lyons’ film stupid captured Kyle’s interest more … even if courting her meant facing down ghosts!

She made him dream of silk sheets and thunderstorms.

No one else dared call her Sam, dared stroke her with sensual magick until she lost control in his arms – but still she fared Kyle was the enemy; a reporter who might betray her family .. or break her tender heart. She had a talent for making illusions seem utterly real, yet desperately yearned to believe in the truth of Kyle’s love. Could he convince his stubborn witch that he adored the woman she was?

Kyle Fletcher had expected an unusual greeting when he knocked at the door of the spooky manor house, but he wasn’t ready for the fireworks in Samantha Lyons sparkling violet eyes!

Samantha feared Kyle was the enemy; a reporter who might betray her family .. or break her tender heart. Could Kyle’s love convince his stubborn witch that he adored the woman she was?

Writing 101 -- Book Beginnings

Some writers will sit down and those all important first words will just flow from their brain down their arms to their fingers and to the keyboard.

Every word is pure gold.

Others will sit there, write the first line or even go so far as write the first paragraph. Read it. Hate it. Delete it. And start all over again.

I’ve started thinking about book beginnings lately after reading a lot of them.

I guess you can say I went overboard since I can download book samples on my Nook. I saw it as a great way to find new authors for me.

And since I don’t have a lot of reading time right now I figured it would be good to start reading those book samples. Some samples were around 20 pages, others unfortunately were only a few. But there were times when even those few had me wanting to read the rest of the book.

I admit there were a few that I deleted the sample, but there’s a lot, many of them authors new to me, that I know I’ll be purchasing along the way.

Then I wonder if I shouldn’t have given those authors a chance. Tried one book and maybe it was a slow start. And that has me wondering.

How does that work for you as a reader? Is the first part of a book a make it or break it for you? Are you willing to give some of them a chance or do you move on?

Has there been a book beginning that ever totally turned you off?

Linda

Post Holiday Blahs

Do you have them?

After all the energy of the past few months do you experience a sort of letdown once January comes? Or do you look forward to the new year and what you want to do during the next twelve months?

Think about making resolutions and whether you’ll keep them or not?

I stopped making resolutions since it’s too easy to forget them as soon as I’ve written them down.

All I have is my list of what I hope to accomplish during a year’s time. What ideas I hope to write and sell heads the list. And anything else that might tempt me.

I’m also known to offer myself incentive. “Okay, Linda, if you finish this you can have that.” And I stick to it no matter how hard it is or how hard I beg “But I tried! Come on, let me get it anyway!”

Yep, I’m a tough customer.

So what do you do to get through the post holiday blahs or are you one of the lucky ones and doesn’t have them?

Plus, there's an article about me and my books on line!

http://www.examiner.com/fiction-in-san-diego/romance-and-witches-are-author-s-forte

Linda

Ebook Monday -- Guest Blogger Barbara Keiler

Please welcome good friend Judith Arnold and a peek into her latest books!

What’s the best thing about winter in New England, where I live? Not skiing (unless you’re one of those crazy people who like to strap plastic sticks to your feet and hurtle yourself down a mountain.) Not ice-skating (same idea, except for steel blades instead of plastic sticks, and a pond or a rink instead of a mountain.) Not sledding—which can be fun but leaves you cold and wet and sniffly. Not driving. (Definitely not driving!) Not the beautiful scenery, which looks like all those evocative Grandma Moses or Norman Rockwell or Currier & Ives paintings and etchings for a few days before the once-pristine snow turns slushy and gray. And let’s face it, scenery can only take you so far.
No, the best thing about our snowy, sleety, icy New England winters is reading. When the world is buried in cold white drifts and gusts of wind howl outside the window, what can be better than curling up in a comfortable chair by a crackling fire with a cup of steaming tea or cocoa and a good book?
Well, one thing that might be better is curling up in a comfortable chair by a crackling fire with a cup of tea or cocoa and an e-reader loaded with good books.
E-readers are convenient. They’re compact. They don’t get dog-eared. One little device can hold so many books—and those books cost less than paper books. The fifteen dollars that buys one trade paperback can buy five e-books.
Even better, books that have been out of print and unavailable for years may now be available as e-books.
I’m an old friend of Linda Wisdom’s. (No, we’re not old! We’re long-time friends!) I remember reading many of her wonderful Silhouette Special Edition romances years before e-readers were a twinkle in anyone’s eye. I’m sure she remembers reading some of my Harlequin American romances and Superromances from the late ’80’s and ’90’s. Those books we wrote back then were great books. They’re still great books. And now, thanks to e-book publishing, authors like Linda and me can make those books available to new readers.
So curl up in your comfortable chair beside the fireplace with your e-reader and lose yourself in the pages—correction: the scrolling screen—of some classic Linda Wisdom and Judith Arnold romances. I’ve published three of my backlist titles as e-books so far: Cry Uncle, Barefoot In the Grass and Safe Harbor—and you can buy all three of them for significantly less than the cost of a single trade paperback. Visit my website (www.juditharnold.com) or Backlist Ebooks (http://backlistebooks.com/) for easy links to these books. And visit Linda’s website (http://www.lindawisdom.com/books.htm) for links to her reissued ebooks.
Happy reading!

Judith Arnold

EBook Thursday -- What's On My Nook

love my mysteries and thrillers. Having my favorite authors on my Nook is even better and more so when I discover a new author to me.

Jefferson Bass is one of the latter.

The writing duo of Dr. Bill Bass, founder of the Body Farm in TN, and Jon Jefferson meld fact and fiction so seamlessly that you can’t stop reading.

I discovered the series when their first book, Carved in Bone, was a free offer for the Nook. Thanks to a B&N gift card I wasted no time downloading the rest of the books.

The fictional Dr. Bill Brockton is a forensic anthropologist who heads up the University of Tennessee’s Body Farm where donated bodies are left outside in various methods to explore the manner of decay.

I read Dr. Bass’s book on the Body Farm when it was first released and I enjoyed his methods of discovering how a body decays whether clothed, unclothed, in a building or left to the elements. At the time I wrote a lot of romantic suspense and anything that would help me better understand forensics was my excuse for research. And I’m still doing it.
The Body Farm novels feature Dr. Brockton, his graduate assistant Miranda Lovelady, and a variety of characters, some based on real people gives you a look into forensic anthropology and how it can even solve murders. One book even gives you a peek into a town built during World War II and the secrets it held then. And I’ve got to say I enjoyed ‘Grease’ a defense attorney who you love to hate.

Have you discovered any new authors lately that you think I should add to my Nook?

Happy New Year!

It's now 2011 and the beginning of so much.

I have a lot going on that I'll be talking about, not just writing, but other subjects too and I hope you'll come back to see what I'm chattering about.

Let's break out that champagne, shall we?