Where am I?

You may have noticed my lack of posting recently. Why is that?

This pretty much captures how I'm feeling at the moment.

I've been finding it a struggle to keep up with everything lately and so instead of trying to, I've been taking the rest I need while keeping up with some things that have to get by certain times like my assignments. 

That means my writing has been pretty non-existant as well. Poor writing. I'm jotting down my ideas for when I'm feeling better to do the ideas justice.

I hope not too be as long between posts, but please bear with me during this time. Oh, dear, that was an unintended pun :)

~yia~

Musa Monday: Eva Scott

Eva Scott is a Musa author who is also an Romance of Australia member. Great to see fellow Aussies with Musa! 

Your most recent release is The Marriage Makeover (out with Musa Publishing on the 24th May). Can you describe this book for us?

A Marriage Makeover is a bit of a departure for me. It deals with the serious issue of SIDs and marriage breakdown between childhood sweethearts. The story isn’t all gloom and doom. There is some lightness and humour in the form of Talia’s best friend Davan and little dog with attitude.

Please tell us a little about your road to publication.

It all began with an entry into the RWA Emerald Awards. I came fourth and that really encouraged me to send my manuscript out to publishers. Of course I had rejections but I had some really great feedback too which changed my writing for the better. I’ll always be grateful for those rejection emails! Then I landed a contract with Musa Publishing and the rest is history.

You write both contemporary romance and ancient historical romance. What has attracted you to these genres?

I’ve always read both avidly. I began in contemporary before dipping into historical as a result of a call out for a short story anthology. I hadn’t meant to write historical before that! I liked the story so much I kept it and lengthened it. I couldn’t leave my characters – I needed to know more about them.

Are you a plotter? Pantser? Or somewhere in between?

I’m half and half. I’ll spend some time plotting things out. I like to peg out the characters, the main plot point and the outline for the story chapter by chapter for example. Then I get writing and let the characters take me where they will. Sometimes it’s in a completely different direction to the one I planned for them.

What are you working on now? And what’s in the near future for Eva Scott?

I’m half way through my second historical called The Barbarian Bride. It’s about one of the minor characters who appears in The Last Gladiatrix. My editor was curious as to what happened to her so we get to find out. After that, who knows? I think I might write something more contemporary for a change of pace.

What is your favourite part of the process of writing?

That first rush when a storyline comes to you. It’s a magical moment in time (before the reality of writer’s block and plot tangles get in the way).

What are you currently reading?

Cassandra Clare’s City of Fallen Angels. It’s the fourth book in the series and I’m off to the library to pick up number five. I’m addicted. 

What would be your ultimate research trip?

To Central America where I want to set a steam punk story I’ve been tinkering with. And really just because I’ve never been to Central American and I’d like to go.... 

~~~

Thanks, Eva!

You can visit Eva on her website, blog, and Twitter. 

Check out A Marriage Makeover's blurb

Nick and Talia Carmichael were childhood sweethearts. Grief over the death of their baby daughter from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome crushed their marriage.

Talia moved to a new city, with a new career and life. Now it’s time to close the door on the past and ask Nick for a divorce.

Nick has other ideas. Once his wife, always his wife. He has no intention of letting Talia off so lightly and proposes terms and conditions to his agreement. It will mean moving back into their marital home, and force her to face long buried grief. Can she do as he asks?

Being with Nick causes her to question everything she thought was true. Has she made a mistake thinking her love for Nick is dead? Can he still love her? More importantly, can he again trust after everything they’ve been through?

Writing Buddy Wednesday: Kate Belle

Today in the Taverna, I have Kate Belle. I met Kate via FB being another member of RWAus and met her in person at ARRA. She spoke at the same Meet The Author session as me and was a great speaker. 

Take it away, Kate.

Confessions of obsessions 

by Kate Belle

All writers have obsessions and I’m no exception. Mine comes in the form of a dark handsome man. Nope, not my dearly beloved. Not an ex-boyfriend either. He’s imaginary. And I’m completely, utterly, bone-shakingly in love with him. It’s weird, but it’s the twisted truth.

How did a relatively sane (?) middle aged woman allow this bizarre, secret love affair begin? 

I think it has something to do with all the fairy stories I read as a child, or one story in particular, Snow White. There’s a scene in my new book, The Yearning, where the protagonist as a little girl settles into her grandmother’s comfy side while she is read that very story. The little girl becomes excited as the pages turn ever closer to her favourite picture – the darkly handsome Prince Charming standing by his strong horse and preparing to bend down to kiss Snow White’s cold lips.

This little scene comes straight from my childhood. I got excited about exactly that picture in my Grandmother’s copy of Snow White. I remember gazing at it longingly, then going out to play in the castle out the back (an abandoned and very stinky old chook shed) pretending I was the one marrying that delightful Prince.

Something about that vision of man-hood must have struck a chord in my subconscious because I’ve been writing out my secret, imaginary lover ever since. Ask me to write about a hero who’s a fair-skinned blonde with blue eyes – (go on, I dare you) – and watch me crumble into clichés and crap. There are no blue eyed blonde heroes in my head. Nor do I think there ever will be.

The truly sad thing is when I’m not writing about this imaginary lover of mine, I’m still thinking about him. Yep, I treat him just like a real boyfriend. I catch myself smiling as I’m hanging out the washing because I’m imagining him coming home to a candle lit dinner. Or I almost miss my stop on the train because I’m imagining him sitting next to me fondly fondling my fingers. I hear him talk to me while I make a cup of tea. And when I close my eyes at night...

Am I alone? Judging by the many ‘Fictional boyfriend’ facebook pages and blogs, I think not. Their existence only emboldens me to admit to my peculiar proclivity for a pretend boyfriend. And while it might be weird to imagine he’s really interacting with me, it’s essential for my writing. While he is vibrant with life in my mind, he is vibrant with life on the page. He steams into my female character’s lives, bursting with charisma and sensuality. He seduces them, as he seduces me. I feel him leaning over my shoulder as I write, instructing me as to what he says and does next. I sense his smug satisfaction as he sees himself spilling onto the page, ready to take an unsuspecting reader in ambush. He is my devil, my god, my muse all rolled into one and I can’t do without him.

Do you have an obsession you can’t do without? 

~~~

Thanks, Kate!

Check out Kate's info below. 

Kate Belle Bio

Kate lives, writes and loves in Melbourne, juggling her strange, secret affairs with her male characters with her much loved partner and daughter, and a menagerie of neurotic pets. She holds a tertiary qualification in chemistry, half a diploma in naturopathy and a diploma in psychological astrology. Kate believes in living a passionate life and has ridden a camel through the Australian desert, fraternised with hippies in Nimbin, had a near birth experience and lived on nothing but porridge and a carrot for 3 days.

Blog/website

Facebook

Twitter: @ecstasyfiles

Books by Kate Belle

The Yearning – First love. Forbidden love. An obsession that should not be fulfilled.

It’s 1978 in a country town and a dreamy fifteen year old girl’s world is turned upside down by the arrival of the substitute English teacher. Solomon Andrews is beautiful, inspiring and she wants him like nothing else she’s wanted in her short life.

Charismatic and unconventional, Solomon notices the attention of one student, his new neighbour, who has taken to watching him from her upstairs window. He assumes it a harmless teenage crush, until the erotic love notes begin to arrive.

Solomon knows he must resist, but her sensual words stir him. One afternoon, as he stands reading her latest offering in his driveway, she turns up unannounced. And what happens next will torment them forever – in ways neither can imagine.

The Yearning is already attracting 5 star reviews. Buy links:

Amazon | iTunes | Local independent bookshops, including Eltham Bookshop.

Master of Love series featuring the charismatic lover of women, Ramon Mendez.

Breaking the Rules: Grace is a beautiful woman in complete control of her world. A long time ago she chose a career over children and marriage, and has never regretted it. Then Ramon Mendez, her new PhD student, walks into her office. Aware of the need to maintain her professional reputation, she rejects his advances, but he persists. And during their intimate supervision sessions, her defences start to crumble, for Ramon’s work is exposing desires within Grace she never knew existed.

Follow this link for a sample chapter.

Breaking the Rules: iTunes & Amazon 

Bloom: Thirty-six-year-old Emma’s life looks as perfect, but something is missing. Her husband, Gary, hardly notices her anymore and she feels frumpy and invisible. When she joins a social boot camp class at the local gym, Emma immediately recognises their instructor as the gorgeous runner she sees each evening in the park. In spite of herself Emma is besotted. One evening, when things at home have become too much to bear, she bumps into him and an opportunity presents itself. Ramon promises and delivers everything that’s missing from her marriage – passion, romance and excitement – but Emma must discover if they are the things she really wants.

Follow this link for a sample chapter:

Bloom: iTunes & Amazon

~yia~

Heroes & Villains Blog Hop

I'm sure my blog post is not going to be filled with the intelligent musings that my co-blog hop hosters will talk about. But here goes....

Basically, I believe that on the whole, a hero can not exist without a villain. Sure, there are people that do heroic things, but in the terms of fiction - and let's face it we are talking speculative fiction here - there really has to be the conflict between the two. This would drive both of them forward to stop the other.

In many cases, the hero is not all good, and the villain, all bad.  They have different points of view and if done correctly, as a reader, you can see where they both come from. You may not do what the villain does - but understanding why a villain is bent on their course, helps us understand that for them, this seems like the best course. Unless they are a psychopath or sociopath. And even that label goes on to explain their behaviour.

I'm reading George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series and there are so many different points of view and so many reasons for people doing what they are doing - you wonder if most are truly the villain the others see them as. I mean do you want the Starks to win? - who seem to be the good guys but who all have faults - or do you want the Lannisters? - who you get to know via Tyrion and later on Jamie. Or Daenaerys - a young woman who is from the deposed royal family across the sea.  Who has the claim?


Usually there are reasons for people being the way they are. Joffrey is a little snotty psychopath who likes to belittle and hurt people, but who is a boy who really wanted his father's love and approval.


Does this give him an excuse to behave badly? No. It doesn't. Sorry, Joffrey, slapping around or getting others to slap around people is just wrong. Wanting to kill people for being poor and yelling at you is wrong. I could go on, but I don't want to spoil the story.

Let's take Tyrion. The Starks see him as a baddie. He is after all a Lannister, but he does have heart and we see his struggles of what must be done compared to what he really wants to do. As an 'imp', he uses his wit and sharp tongue to deflate any barbs or any physical challenges.  He knows he is not safe despite being a Lannister (from the Lannisters themselves), and the one thing that makes him falter all the time is need he has for his family to accept and love him.  Hero? Villain? Both?

Okay, let's go for the 'hero' side - Catelyn Stark. Usually a level headed woman who does the best for her husband and her children, but has a total disregard for John Snow, the bastard son of her husband. Her sense of honour has never allowed her to accept him and has treated him like a leper, while most of her children treat him as their brother. It's the one action that has not made me completely love Catelyn - that a woman with so much love to give to her family can't find it in her heart to love a boy whose status of being a bastard is not his fault.

In the world Martin has created, Catelyn's attitude is normal but my 21st century mind finds it hard. So is she a villain?


In the end, the difference between a hero and a villain, is that even if a hero has a dubious moral code, in the end they will do the right thing for others. While the villain only ever thinks of themselves.


What do you think?


For your chance to win a $20 Amazon voucher & a copy of one of my releases, just comment below.

You can read blurbs and extracts of my Musa books here. 

You can read blurbs and extracts of my short story, Sealed With a Kiss here. 

Please don't forget to visit the other folks who are talking heroes and villains.

1. Nyki Blatchley
2. Martin Bolton
3. Debra Brown
4. Adrian Chamberlain
5. Mike Cooley
6. Karin Cox
7. Joanna Fay
8. Peter B Forster
9. Ron Fritsch
10. Mai Griffin
11. Joanne Hall
12. Jolea M Harrison
13. Tinney Sue Heath
14. Eleni Konstanine
15. K. Scott Lewis
16. Paula Lofting-Wilcox
17. Liz Long
18. Peter Lukes
19. Mark McClelland
20. M. Edward McNally
21. Sue Millard
22. Ginger Myrick
23. David Pilling
24. EM Powell
25. Kim Rendfeld
26. Terry L Smith
27. Tara West
28. Keith Yatsuhashi

~yia~ 

Writing Buddy Wednesday: Shona Husk

Today on Writing Buddy Wednesday, I have the very amazing Shona Husk. I've known Shona online for many years (especially via the paranormal group and being a blog team member of the DarkSide DownUnder blog. I also have designed three covers for her as HelzKat Designs - see end of post). 

I finally met Shona in person this year at ARRC2013 and she's just as amazing in person.

Let's meet Shona...


Your most recent release is Ruby’s Ghost. Can you describe this book for us?

Ruby’s Ghost is one of those stories that took me a long time to write as it kept getting put aside for other projects (contracted books and editorial deadlines always come first), yet I kept going back to it because the idea of being caught between life and death, the past and future was really interesting. Because the characters are at college they are also on the cusp of becoming an adult and making decisions that will affect their lives. For Tate quite literally after he is involved in a car accident.

It is probably my least paranormal story and probably the trickiest to write, what does it feel like to be kissed by a ghost?



You went the novella route initially. Can you tell us why you chose that path to publication.

I was made redundant in the GFC and around that time I’d had the epiphany that if it took me a year to write a novel it would take me a long time to get my craft right and get published. I’d been reading a lot of novellas at the time from various publishers and I decided that I’d give writing them ago. Write shorter gave me the opportunity to play around with different characters and plots and find my voice faster. Once they started selling was able to use what I was learning by working with editors in my next novel (The Goblin King) and it sold. The thing to remember is that novellas and novels are different beasts structurally, but character and voice and dialogue and conflict and setting can be learned by writing short.

What attracted you to the paranormal genre?

I grew up reading fantasy novels and discovered romance in my mid-twenties. Paranormal romance seems like the perfect blending of real world, fantasy and hot heroes :) From a writing perspective I love making stuff up.


Are you a plotter? Pantser? Or somewhere in between?

Plotter. I need to know my characters and the big turning points of the story before I start—that said my characters and still take unexpected turns.

You are a prolific writer – how do you balance life, work and writing?

I work part time ;) I have 2 days a week where I get to write while the kids are at school. The other days I write for at least an hour, if I’m on a deadline sometimes more, but I do it after the kids are in bed. I’ve also developed ways to help me write faster. I spend more time plotting and mapping out the book as it saves me time when writing (and also editing as I often restructure during that mapping stage). I think some of this stuff comes from practise and learning how you work and how to make you work more efficiently. 

What are you working on now? And what’s in the near future for Shona Husk?

I’m working on Lord of the Hunt (Annwyn #2) and Annwyn #3 (#1 The Outcast Prince comes out in July) as well as a couple of sci fi romances for Ellora’s Cave, the first of which Lunar Exposure comes out May 10. 

What is your favourite part of the process of writing?

I really like plotting when the idea is shiny and new, but I enjoy the writing as well and even the edits which make the story shine. The bit I don’t like is reading the final page proofs as it’s a combination of being sick of the story and anxiety because it’s the last chance to find any typos.


What are you currently reading?

I’ve just finished The Lone Warrior by Denise Rossetti (book 3 in the four sided pentacle series) and started The Risk Taker by Kira Sinclair (M&B Blaze which was in the ARRC goodie bag— Blaze is my favourite line, plus it has a military hero so I was thrilled to find it in my bag).


What would be you ultimate research trip? ;)
One that was all expenses paid:) I’d love to go to Europe or South America.

~~~

Thank you, Shona!

You can catch Shona at her website, the WINKgirls blog, the monthly What We Are Reading posts on the DarkSide DownUnder blog, Twitter, Goodreads and Facebook.

  

~yia~