I had a blog post all ready, then decided it was more of a personal post than a group blog post AND BESIDES, after spending the weekend cleaning/rearranging/sorting/filing/throwing away stuff from my “writer’s” Closet I found myself filled with a burning question.

What the hell do you do with the accumulated writer paraphernalia? You know…the research and book ideas you’ve accumulated over the years. Because I write mostly contemporaries, I have a lot of stuff on different cities, as well as research on BDSM, classes I’ve taken, articles I’ve printed out that interest me…you name it, it’s in there. And I can’t stand to throw any of it away especially sine most of it is on books I haven’t finished yet/will write in the (hopefully) Near Future.

I forgot the digital camera so when I get home I’ll upload some before an after pics of the closet……My two hour project ended up being a TWO DAY Project after I pulled a Michelle and didn’t have the right size shelves. I cried and pulled my hair and gnashed my teeth, teetering on the brink of inevitability–going back to Lowes to get the f*)(&*#g shelves cut.

*sigh*

I didn’t WANT to drive to Lowes–Target was four minutes closer to home! And besides…every girl needs a saw, right?

It took me all evening to charge that LOVELY PRECIOUS SAW and get that first shelf done, then fight with the stupid bracket but I did it (in between solitaire breaks and cleaning breaks). Then three holes in the wall later, I got the support thingy’s up in just the right spot because frankly I think they were made wrong but that’s another blog post. (LURVE that technical lingO) Then…THEN I spent from about 7 am to 5 last night CLEANING out the closet, putting stuff back where I wanted it and just admiring my handiwork.

So, how was your weekend?

MAUREEN is my winnAH!!!!!! Maureen email me at amie at amiestuart dot com with your address and I’ll get some books out to you. Stand by……..I’ve got LOTS more LOL

This week’s guest blogger is Dee Tenorio. Dee has several best selling titles out with Samhain Publishing, but decided to do something a little different with her current release and turned up the heat in her usually very sexy story lines to something that approached scorching! But you’ll still find her trademark humor and depth of emotion. So don’t forget to come on by and take a glimpse into the inner workings of the Dee’s thought processes. ::be afraid. be very afraid:: lol.

Don’t ask but throw your name in the hat for free books. I”ll choose winners from the comments here when I blog on Monday.

TTFN

I have a love of art that’s probably secondary only to my love of fine writing.

I have books, books, and more books on my favorite artists.  Paintings featured in gorgeous galleries worldwide.  Prints, posters, postcards of the ones that take my breath away.  And a few sketchbooks and canvases of my own.

But this is the painting I have on my bedroom wall.  It’s the last thing I see before the lights go out, and the first thing in the morning.

Why this painting, out of all the masterpieces available as prints?
Because it inspires me.  It reminds me that I’m greater than the sum of my poor parts, and that we’re all “creators” in one way or another.  It’s a comforting thought, even when I’m not feeling that spark of the divine—or even particularly human, lol.

Who—or what—inspires you?

Okay, so you’re in the bookstore and you’re about to decide what to buy. Now look at the cover below. Does anyone remember this debacle? I do. I have this book and I was shocked. SHOCKED I tell you. And so was Suzanne Brockmann. This is what she had to say:

“The cover for GET LUCKY is so awful, I didn’t want to put it right here on the main page for this book. It’s pretty funny, actually. Here I’ve finally written the story of the best-looking guy in Alpha Squad, and they give me the Pillsbury Doughboy on the cover of the book! For those of you who aren’t familiar with the series, this character, Luke “Lucky” O’Donlon is a real fabulous looking man. He’s what I think of as “Hollywood handsome.” Picture Brad Pitt. Now make him much more blond and about ten times more handsome. That’s what Lucky looks like.”

Me here again. Having ‘known’ Lucky the hunk from the other books, I was invested in this series, so I bought the book anyway, despite the horrific cover.

But what about the stories we’re not invested in?

Are you a cover, blurb, three pages, or first paragraph type of reader? What will make or break the sale for you? If you weren’t familiar with Brockmann’s series, would you have bought that book?

Please join us in welcoming Historical Author, Gina Black. Her debut novel, The Raven’s Revenge is a new release from The Wild Rose Press. After you read her fabulous post, leave a comment or a question and you’ll automatically be entered in Gina’s book giveaway. One lucky poster will win a copy of The Raven’s Revenge.

And now here’s Gina!
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Thank you Southern Fried Chicas for your gracious hospitality in inviting me to blog today. And Tanya, thank you for the tea. It’s so very . . . sweet of you. But enough about you. This is about me and my first published book, right? So let me take you back to the beginning . . .

Once upon a time there was a fledgling writer named Gina Black who decided she’d write a story set in England’s Restoration period (around 1660 right after Cromwell died and the English decided they wanted their fun–and their King–back and they invited Charles II home to govern). One of my favorite books, The Fireflower by Edith Layton, is set then and it starts with the hero returning to England after years abroad to reclaim his ancestral lands. He arrives as London is going up in flames during the Great Fire of 1666. So, I thought, let me take that same premise, put it a few years earlier with a different man and see where it takes me.

Characters always come to me first, and the hero, Nicholas (Edward Henry Philip Montford, Seventh Earl of Ashton), jumped into my imagination fully formed (and named). A passage in one of my research books gave him to me:

“The family life of the rural gentry, that had produced generation after generation of Verneys, Hydes, and Hampdens, had now for twenty years been broken up; its traditions were therefore unknown to the younger generation. While his sisters had been living in a corner of the sacked manor-house under the charge of the steward, the heir had been seeking bread for his mouth among the bullies and sharpers of low life in Dutch port towns, or sponging on the vicious nobility of France and Spain . . . with no instruction in morals and dignity of conduct beyond salt stories of Puritan hypocrisy, in which the defeated veterans found solace and revenge.” –England Under the Stuarts, G.M. Trevelyan

That was my Nicholas. A man who’d grown up without roots or moral direction, but who’d managed to scrape his way through life and survive. Now he was in a position to return home to the land of his birth and fulfill the promise he’d made to his dying father: He would get back the family lands.

The heroine, Katherine, did not come so easily. I wanted her to be a woman of her times facing a problem so big that she had to disobey her family and risk everything. I wanted her to be intelligent and thoughtful. I wanted her to be strong. That meant she’d also endured much, and had learned to keep her thoughts to herself. In fact, Katherine was so very good at that, she kept many of her thoughts from me, finally loosening up on the fourth (I kid you not) draft.

So, she disobeys her father and refuses to marry their evil neighbor, and makes a pact with Nicholas–who, while masquerading as a highwayman (it’s a long story, you should read it sometime) gets shot–and they’re off on the road to London. A very bumpy road. In fact, in Restoration England, the roads were notoriously bad, especially after the rains. And yes, it does rain in the story, how nice of you to ask! (And, thank you, I will have some more of that tea, if you don’t mind.)

I had loads of fun writing a “chase” romance. Being on the road together is a great way for a Puritan and a Cavalier with nothing in common to get to know each other. Also a wonderful way for me to puzzle over maps for hours and hours. (And send lots of SOS emails to anyone who knew about horses.)

It wasn’t long before several really fun secondary characters showed up, and then, wouldn’t you know it, the king himself made a cameo. Once he appeared, he pulled me aside and told me he wanted an even bigger role. What could I do? One cannot gainsay a king!

I finished the book, revised it half a million times, entered it in a biznillion contests (which is one of the ways we got to know each other, isn’t it Tanya?) finally sending it to Dorchester for the American Title II competition. It finaled! I was over the moon and learning how to promote all of a sudden. The Raven’s Revenge stayed in the competition into the fourth round. (My characters were quite put out that their love scene was not up for votes so I posted it in the American Title archive on my website to make them feel better.)

Then, last March, I submitted the book to The Wild Rose Press and they offered for it within a week of receiving the full manuscript. Nicholas and Katherine were elated. We revised. We copy edited. We threw out one epilogue and wrote another.

And now The Raven’s Revenge is out in the Big World. My characters have not stopped preening, and–wouldn’t you know it–one of the secondary characters is beginning to demand a book of his own.

Characters. Can’t live with ‘em. Can’t write without em. How do you develop yours? (And how do you keep them in line?)

~~Gina

I don’t know that I have any odd fetishes (well not that I’d share anyway), but I was watching my husband one day–he was tying his shoe, very bland, nothing exciting–and I was watching his hands. He has pretty strong hands. And it got me thinking, I ALWAYS look at men’s hands. Don’t know why, but I always have.

As a matter of fact, there is this particular guy from my “list” (you know the married couple list, usually celebs and whatnot whom you never have a shot in hell meeting but if you do you’re allowed to–hmm-hmm with them and not get in trouble). I was looking at his hands and they were nice strong and …small. Kinda bothered me. I didn’t take him off my list, but it made me consider knocking him down a notch or two.

I never thought I was quite so opinionated about hands, but the more I thought about it I realized I am. I also thought over all my heroes and, while I may not write it in the book as a descriptor, I can tell you how each and every one of theirs hands are–down to scars or freckles.

I don’t like when guys bite their nails or have manicured nails. Tattoos and hands are dependant on what and where it is (saw one in a movie the other day I kinda liked, gave him an edge).

Again, I can tell you about each hero in my books and I think it affects how I feel about them when I write and how my heroine feels about him and whatnot. Is this weird? Aside from actual fetish books, do other writers have that “thing” they know in great detail about their heroes (or heroines)?

and please . . . don’t get me started on feet–UGH!

Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews?

Mercenary Kate Daniels cleans up urban problems of a paranormal kind. But her latest prey, a pack of undead warriors, presents her greatest challenge.

Or…….

Unshapely Things by Marc Del Franco?

In the alleys of the decrepit Boston neighborhood known as the Weird, fairy prostitutes are turning up dead. The crime scenes show signs of residual magic, but the Guild, which polices the fey, has more “important” crimes to investigate and dumps the case on human law enforcement.

Boston police call in Connor Grey, a druid and former hotshot Guild investigator-whose magical abilities were crippled after a run-in with a radical environmentalist elf. As Connor battles red tape and his own shortcomings, he realizes that the murders are not random, but part of an ancient magical ritual. And if Connor can’t figure out the killer’s M.O., the culmination of the spell might just bring about a worldwide cataclysm.

Hmmmmm I ordered the first book but you know, there’s so much to choose from, I feel like a kid in a candy store! There’s a couple others I’m eyeing but I can’t remember hearing anything about them (Karen Chances Casandra Palmer series comes to mind). What are you reading? What are you looking forward to in the upcoming months? And how do you keep track of them all?

And on another note, if you run someone over with a 76 Monte Carlo, do they go over or under? (let’s assume for the sake of argument they’re drunk and walking down a dark road and you hit them going about 50 miles an hour).

Talk amongst yourselves…..

This Wednesday we’ll have Wild Rose Press Author and my pal Gina Black blogging with us. I’ve known her since our RWAOL days many moons ago on CompuServe. Gina is a witty and talented writer whose first book, The Raven’s Revenge was a finalist in the American Title Contest sponsored by Romantic Times and Dorchester Publishing.

So check back in on Wednesday, January 16th for Gina’s post. In the interim, here’s Gina being interviewed about her debut novel. It’s hilarious! Enjoy!

Yes yes I KNOW it’s not Monday, but Raine’s taking a little break so you’re stuck with me. Who is neither as good looking nor as smart and witty as Raine is. So I’ll leave you with my friend Kyle………