Tag Archives: MFRW

December 1, 2017 · 9:29 am

5 things on my #BucketList

Lovelovelove this challenge this week!!!

We all have (or should have) dreams, wishes, desires that we want to accomplish/do someday. Just like the movie it was named for, these dreams are called our Bucket list.

I will admit, mine was an empty list until 2 years ago. Up until then the only thing I wanted to do was make it through the day, upright, healthy, and fairly unscathed.

Then I got a book contract….and retired from the work force.

And then I allowed myself to dream about what I wanted for my future. I’ve narrowed it down to five because that’s all the blog post allowed for, hence the title!

In no real order, the top 5 things I have on my bucket list are:

Visit Hawaii – and not just visit – take a helicopter flight over the islands, swim under a waterfall, climb the Road to Hana

Visit the Great Barrier Reef before it erodes away.

Skydive with my daughter. She’s already done it so I figure, go with an expert!

Make the USA bestseller list – this one is a little farfetched, especially since I’ll need a runaway bestseller in a category that’s glutted ( contemporary romance) but hey! It’s a wish list, so why not?

Open a charitable foundation – the concept of to whom much is given, much is expected rings sosososos true to me. I have been blessed. Spiritually. Career-wise. Financially. I want, one day, to empower others the way I have been. By paying forward my blessings, I can accomplish this.

I can’t wait to see what some of the bucket list items for my fellow blog challengers are. Click on their links to find out:

1. Filling The Bucket	2. Home Improvement Plans
3. 5 Items on my Life List	4. My Easy Want to Do List for Someday…or Today
5. Filling the Bucket	6. Bucket list? What’s a bucket list?
7. There’s a Hole In My Bucket	8. There’s a hole in the bucket
9. Unless You’re Scared	10. 5 things on my #BucketList

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Filed under #Mfrwauthors, Author, Contemporary Romance, Romance, Romance Books

Tagged as #amwriting #amblogging, #bucketList, #MFRWauthorBlogChallenge, #PayItForward, #readromance, #yourFuture, bucket list items, MFRW, MFRWauthor, Pay it forward, Retirement, Sky diving, USA Bestseller list

August 11, 2017 · 8:54 am

2027…

Because I have a scientific background, I’m a planner. That’s why I classify myself as a plotter for writing. But I digress….

I plan. For everything, Disasters, worst case scenarios, major illnesses, disease, pestilence, and plague. I have enough non-perishable food to last through the next zombie apocalypse, and if we get hit with a nucelar warhead, we’ll have clean water to drink..and douse ourselves in (!) So it’s no secret I’ve got a plan for the next ten years of my career.

Originally, when I started writing full time in 2015, I had a 5 year plan. I exceeded all the goals on that plan by 2017, so I broadened and increased it to 10 more years at the beginning of 2017.

Here are a few things on that new career plan:

Get an agent

Have at least 1 NYTimes and USA Bestseller, if not more.

Have a movie made out of one of my books – a good movie, at that, None of this wrecking the story by putting it on film crap!

Have at least 2 books per year, if not 3, published every year

Make enough money to hire a personal assistant who will do all my web media. ( since you all know how much I hatehatehate self marketing!)

Win a RITA ( or 2)

There are more things, but I didn’t feel I needed to share everything.

So…check back in 2027. Until then, I’ll be working on my plan.

Check out the other authors in this blog challenge and see where they see themselves in 10 years. This should be fun!’

1. A Glimpse Into The Future	2. My Predictions for 2027 – Robin Michaela
3. Ten Years Down the Road	4. “Magic 8 Ball, Please Tell Me. . . . . “
5. Making a Ten Year Plan	6. Ten Years And I’m Living The Dream
7. In Ten Years	8. Who the Heck Knows?
9. Looking Forward, But Not All That Eagerly	10. Life Happens – Linda McLaughlin
11. Predicting the Future – Valerie Ullmer	12. 2027. . .
13. 10 years–A Lifetime

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Filed under #Mfrwauthors, Author, Author Branding, branding, Contemporary Romance, Kensington Publishers, Life challenges, love, Lyrical Author, NHRWA, Romance, Romance Books, RWA, Strong Women, WIld Rose Press AUthor

Tagged as #Mfrwauthors, 10 year career plan, career planning, Contemporary Romance, digital first publishing, Goals, Kensington Publishers, Lyrical Press, MFRW, Romance, Romance Author, Weekly Blog Challenge, wild rose press

February 24, 2017 · 9:40 am

What’s in a title? A lot more than you think, #MFRWauthor

I’m sure this is an easy feat for most writers, but not for me. I agonize over book titles. Are they too long? Too short? Do they convey the correct theme of the book? Do they even convey the theme of the book? Will it be a memorable title, or one that is easily forgotten in the myriad of published books these days?

Titles can, in all truth, make or break a book. Would you have read any of these books if these were the titles?:

The High-Bouncing Lover
The Last man in Europe
The Dead Un-Dead
Mistress Mary
Nothing New in the West
Wacking Off
The Don’t Build Statues to Businessmen
The Kingdon By The Sea
At this point In time
Private Fleming, His Various Battles

I was a bit surprised at a few of them, and I can in all truthfulness say I wouldn’t have read any one of them except for the Dead Un-Dead, because I think it was a cool, really out-there title. To see the titles these books were actually published as, scroll down when you’re done reading.

You can’t, apparently, trademark a title. I found this out when I wrote my third book, FIRST IMPRESSIONS ( which, BTW was the original working title of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice) and did a search to see how many books with the same title there were (423). My second book I called THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME. 366 other authors also called their works of fiction that. SO, how the heck can I can up with a title that (1) hasn’t been used before, and (2) will make the random reader interested in it enough to pick up the book and check it out? Again, no easy feat.

I used to make lists, pages of lists, with book titles. Even then, choosing just one was torture.

I’m so lame at coming up with my book titles I left the naming of my second book in the Will Cook For Love Series from Lyrical/Shine to the editors. They came up with A SHOT AT LOVE. When you read the book you’ll know it’s the perfect title, but I didn’t have anything even close to that I was working with! Thank God for the people in the know who really really really know what they are doing.

Naming your book is an awful lot like naming your child. You want to give it something with character, essence, personification, and beauty. And your book, to the writer, is your baby, your child, your creation, so you don’t want to let it down by giving it a crummy moniker; one that will inspire ridicule and laughter. Honestly, I pity the poor children of celebrities who have been named after fruits, compass directions, and astrological projections. Sad.

See? You probably thought the title was the easiest thing to come up with. I bet you didn’t know how hard it really was to name a book? Well…at least it is for me!

Here’s what the above titles were actually published as, and thank goodness they were!!!

The Great Gatsby
1984
Dracula
The Secret Garden
All Quiet On the Western Front
Portnoy’s Complaint
Valley of the Dolls
Lolita
All the President’s Men
The Red Badge of Courage

When I’m not agonizing over naming books, you can usually find me here:Tweet Me//Read Me// Visit Me//Picture Me//Pin Me//Friend Me//Google+Me//

Since this is a 52 week blog hop challenge, here are some other authors who are also taking about how they name their books today. Stop by and check out their blogs.

1. Tonight you’re mine	2. Book Titles: How I Choose
3. By Any Other Name	4. A Book By Any Other Name Still Needs A Title
5. Must Have a Title	6. Welcome to the World Baby Book–Your Title Is. . .
7. titles titles whos got titles	8. My Process The Perfect Book Title-MJ McCoy-Dressel
9. “Too Hot to Handle” and other titles…	10. What’s In A Title?
11. Working Title	12. How I Hatch My Books From a Sentence & a Title
13. Name the blossom – Rose or Tulip Henderson	14. How to Select an MPNTLP Title Without HCs
15. Choosing a Book Title	16. A Rose by Any Other Name (Shari Elder)
17. Robin Michaela – How To Choose a Book Title	18. Mission Impossible: book titles
19. What’s in a title? A lot more than you think. . . . .	20. A Rose By Any Other Name
21. Branding that Book Baby	22. Titles and Other Paintful Decisions
23. It’s All In The Name	24. No, I have to Choose a Book Title?
25. Name That Book In ~One Line Cathy Writes Romance	26. Struggle to Choose a Book Title – Linda McLaughlin

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Filed under Author, Characters, Contemporary Romance, Cooking, First Impressions, Kensington Publishers, Lyrical Author, MacQuire Women, Romance, Romance Books, Strong Women, The Laine Women, The Wild Rose Press, There's No Place Like Home, Uncategorized, WIld Rose Press AUthor

Tagged as #amreading, #amwriting #amblogging #amcooking, #Mfrwauthors, #MFRWBlogHop, authors, Blog Challenge, Blog Hop, book titles, books, contemporary romantic fiction, fiction, MFRW, publishing, Romance, Romance readers, writing life, writing tips

February 17, 2017 · 10:14 am

#Music to write by…or not. #MFRWauthors

The topic of this blog is supposed to be the music we, as writers, listen to when we are in the creative mood. I have to be honest about this – I need total silence when I’m in writing mode. If I put on any music – even classical without words(!) music, I will invariably stop what I am doing just to listen. God forbid I put on pop music. Then all I will do is sing along. And believe me – no one wants to hear my rendition of Baby, Baby, or Stop in the Name of Love.

Insert full body shudders here at the thought!

Music is very distracting to me when I write, so I’m going to talk about the music I listen to as I Prepare to Write. That, at least, is something I do, do.

Once I have my characters thought out and the storyline plotted, I go back to the characters and insert little idiosyncrasies into their backstories, which include the kinds of books they read and the music they listen to and favor. For my newest release, COOKING WITH KANDY, my heroine Kandy Laine is a total pop/rock-diva listening gal. If she is alone at home, or driving in her car, she will have Pat Benatar, Madonna, vintage Joan Jett, or the Heart sisters blasting away and she will be singing at the top of her lungs, not caring a whit she can’t carry a tune in a bag! These rock warrior women are her musical soul sistahs. In the privacy of her kitchen she will dance like no one’s looking, a wooden spoon as her microphone as she belts out Heartbreaker or I Love Rock and Roll to her heart’s content. When I was trolling around on Pinterest trying to find the perfect image of Kandy, these were the ladies I listened to in order to find Kandy’s essence.

My hero, Josh Keane is a little more, shall we say, sedate, in his musical tastes. He’s a Jazz and Blues man, pure and simple. He’s got Al Jarreau and Miles Davis CDs by the truckload in his car and when he’s doing corporate computer research, or simply kicking back in his condo with a glass of Glenlivet 21 after a hard day, he’s a man who likes the complex simplicity of a solitary horn or a raspy, tortured voice weaving a tale of love, loss, and redemption. As Josh’s soul and spirit came to me, I had my iTunes opened, listening to jazz and blues by the hour. Those discordant chords and slip-timed keys brought to my mind the man Josh was, through and through.

Listening to music is, like writing, an individualistic endeavor. Whether for inspiration, motivation, or clarification, music helps a writer dig deep down, straight to the heart and soul, to bring forth the crux and core of character and story.

Plus, singing at the top of your lungs like no one’s watching is pretty fun to do!

When I’m not listening to music, you can find me here:Tweet Me//Read Me// Visit Me//Picture Me//Pin Me//Friend Me//Google+Me// Triberr

Stop by the other #MFRW authors participating in this 52 week hop and leave them some love.

Blog Hoop Author:

1. Heather Boyd	2. Me, Music and Writing, Oh My!
3. Music Fuels Me	4. Music or Silence?
5. Songs that Have Inspired Me	6. Robin Michaela – Music to Write by
7. The Sound of Music	8. (No) Music to Write By
9. Adriana Kraft	10. Let the Music Play~Cathy Writes Romance
11. What Kind of Music Do You Feed Your Ears?	12. The Music Of My Soul
13. The Write Tune	14. Silence is My Sanctuary (Shari Elder)
15. Silence is Worth a Thousand Words	16. Finding THAT song. . .
17. Kenzie’s Place	18. The Tunes in My Head
19. Musing on Music	20. Music Like a Declaration of Love Demands a Respons
21. What Gets Me In The Mood	22. In the Mood
23. #music to write by. . . or not	24. Dance, Fu!*%!er, Dance
25. Music & Writing My Two Favourite Things!	26. Soundtracks: Music To Write By
27. Madness – Music to Write By

Reputation is everything…or is it?

MFRW BOOK HOOKS BLOG HOP is today!!!

click on the link at the bottom and discover your next favorite author! But first…..

Here’s a little sumthin’ sumthin’ from my new release OUT TODAY, FIRST IMPRESSIONS:

Clarissa sighed and settled back against the doorframe. “Can I be honest?”
“I would hope so.”
“I’ve been hearing about your reputation with women since I moved here, and I’m not looking to be the flavor of the week.”

He stared at her for a second as hurt washed through him. “When you say honest, you don’t pull any punches.”

She reached out and gripped his forearm. Her hand felt so good against his skin, he instinctively laid his own over it. He swore he saw a flash of lightning spark from underneath his fingers when he did.

Blurb:
Family Practice Doctor Clarissa Rogers’ first impression of Padric Cleary is biased and based on gossip. The handsome, charming veterinarian is considered a serial dater and commitment-phobic by his family and most of the town. Relationship shy, Clarissa refuses to lose her heart to a man who can’t pledge himself to her forever.

Pat Cleary, despite his reputation, is actually looking for “The One.” When he does give his heart away, he wants it to be for life. With his parent’s marriage as his guidebook, he wants a woman who will be his equal and soul mate in every way.

Can Pat convince everyone – including Clarissa – she’s the only woman for him?

MFRWBookHookHop

Buy Links For FIRST IMPRESSIONS:

Amazon Wild Rose Press Barnes & Noble

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Picture Me: Google+ Me

1 Comment

Filed under Alpha Hero, Alpha Male, Author, Contemporary Romance, First Impressions, Friends, MacQuire Women, Strong Women, Uncategorized

Tagged as #MFRWBookHookBlogHop, Contemporary romance, First Impressions, MFRW, romance blog hop, Romantic Fiction, TWRP

September 16, 2015 · 9:11 am

Hungry for something spicy and new?

MFRW BOOK HOOKS BLOG HOP is today!!!

click on the link at the bottom and discover your next favorite author! But first…..

here’s a little sumthin’ sumthin’ from my new release, FIRST IMPRESSIONS. Padric Cleary is hungry and not just for food!

“Clarissa,” he whispered, his nose nuzzling along the outer edge of her jaw.

“Y-yes?”

His lips skimmed her throat, trailing lazily along the column of her blouse. He placed an open-mouthed, wet kiss along the skin beneath her ear, and she finally let out the breath she’d been holding, fearful she would faint dead away if she didn’t.

“I smell turkey,” he said softly, and took her ear lobe into his mouth.

As he gently sucked on it, Clarissa felt a punch of lust straight through her midsection. “Wh-what?” She gasped when his tongue slid against her throat.

“And biscuits.”

“Biscuits?” Confusion vied with a hunger that had nothing to do with food.

“Mmmm. Turkey and biscuits.” He licked her collarbone and then sucked at the skin covering it.

“Oh, sweet Jesus.”

With a smile dancing on his lips, he pulled back and looked at her face. “Clarissa, I’m starving.”

She blinked a few times.

“You wouldn’t, by any chance, want to share your dinner with me, would you? Friend.”