Monday, December 16, 2013

BETSY KINCAID TO UNDERGO INTERROGATION

Betsy Kincaid, the heroine of my recently released novel, SIZZLE, will be given the third degree...uh...I mean, be gently interviewed by the awesome, multi-published author Mackenzie Crowne on Tuesday, December 17th.

The brave, and slightly wordy, manner in which she faces this challenge can be seen at www.mackenziecrowne.com.

Sunday, December 1, 2013

SANTA’S JOURNEY FROM NORSE MYTH TO YOUR ROOFTOP

I’m participating in the Wild Rose Press’s “25 Days of Christmas” Blog Extravaganza that will run from December 1-December 25. My post on how Santa became Santa is scheduled for Tuesday, December 3rd, but visit the site every day and leave a comment for a chance to win gift cards. www.thewildrosepress.blogspot.com    


Thursday, November 7, 2013

November 7th Visit With Melissa Snark



Today, I’m visiting author Melissa Snark’s Snarkology blog to discuss writing in general, my book SIZZLE in particular, and my interpretation of Stephen Sondheim’s “Finishing the Hat,” the remarkable song about the obsessive nature of creativity that he wrote for his musical “Sunday in the Park with George.” http://is.gd/qM56Jx

A copy of my book, FINDING YOU AGAIN, will also be awarded to one person who comments.

Monday, September 23, 2013

Thursday, September 12, 2013

FALL INTO ROMANCE BLOG HOP



From September 13 to September 21, The Romance Reviews is holding its Fall Into Romance Blog Hop. Prizes galore will be offered, including free books. One of the books will be my recent release, SIZZLE. It’s being featured on The Reading Addict’s blog on Friday, September 13, the first day of the blog hop. That’s right. The dreaded Friday the thirteenth. Anyway, if anyone wants to check it out, here’s the link: http://is.gd/ijqw1A


Monday, August 19, 2013

My Turn on "50 Shades of Sexy" Blog Tour sponsored by RWA/NYC

Monday, August 19, and the “50 Shades of Sexy” Blog Tour, sponsored by the New York City Chapter of Romance Writers of America, continues. Today, a short excerpt from my novel, “SIZZLE,” is featured, but visit the Blog Tour every day to sample the variety of literary offerings the talented members of RWA/NYC have to share. http://is.gd/RhhDxZ  


Thursday, August 1, 2013

"45 Shades of Sexy" Blog Tour Is In Progress

The August Blog Tour of the New York Chapter of the Romance Writers of America starts today. It originally began as “31 Shades of Sexy,” then quickly morphed into “40 Shades of Sexy” and is currently at “45 Shades of Sexy” and runs from August 1 to September 15. But whatever the number of happy participants is, check in every day to see what the Chapter members have to offer with either their published or pre-published books or their works-in-progress.




Here’s the quickie link that will take you to 45 days of fabulous excerpts designed to either warm your heart with their sweetness or titillate your…umm…whatever with their heat: http://is.gd/RhhDxZ

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

BOOK NUMBER TWO IS FINALLY SET TO ARRIVE

It's been a long, crazy slog for me to reach book two, but I finally made it. My second book, titled SIZZLE and published by Secret Cravings Publishing, will be coming out soon.


This is the back cover blurb:

Betsy Kincaid has no sexual sizzle.
At least that’s what her boyfriend claimed before he dumped her.
Determined to prove him wrong, Betsy puts learning to sizzle at the top of her to-do list. And who better to provide the lessons she needs than the safe and oh-so-willing gay guy who just moved in with her gay buddy?
Matt Pollard has had his share of disastrous relationships, so when the chance comes to help a foxy lady develop her sexual mojo while also enjoying some no-strings-attached bedroom action, he’s happy to oblige.
Unfortunately, they get more than they bargained for when romantic emotions threaten to complicate their simple arrangement.
Then Betsy discovers Matt isn’t gay. Her sense of betrayal at being misled is matched by his resentment at being blamed for an innocent mistake. But their anger could cost them the thing they both want most: a chance at true love.

And this is the cover itself, courtesy of  author/artist Dawné Dominique:





Okay, so is that one hot picture or is that one hot picture? Or as my editor said when she saw it: "Whoa! That, is a spicy cover! Very nice!"

Friday, March 1, 2013

LOVE, THE ULTIMATE FOUR-LETTER WORD






My article, FOR A ROMANCE WRITER, LOVE IS…WELL…VIRTUALLY EVERYTHING, was published in the February 2013 issue of KEYNOTES, the monthly newsletter of the New York Chapter of Romance Writers of America. It was subsequently also picked up by the Romancing the Lakes Romance Writers Chapter of Romance Writers of America for publication in their LAKE WAVES NEWSLETTER.

I thought I’d also post it on this blog, so here goes:

FOR A ROMANCE WRITER, LOVE IS…WELL…VIRTUALLY EVERYTHING

Love may be the ultimate four-letter word. Not in a bad way, of course, but in a way that amazes with its ability to grab and hold our attention.

Certainly throughout the ages it has meant many things to many people.  Shakespeare likened it to “a child that longs for everything that he can come by.”  Laurie Colwin glowingly called it “a work of art,” and Ben Hecht more sadly termed it “a hole in the heart.”

Back a number of decades, Erich Segal’s bestselling novel Love Story declared that “love means never having to say you’re sorry.”  To which, someone immediately countered, “On the contrary, love means always having to say you’re sorry.”

Then, of course, there’s the ever-popular, and often snarky, Anonymous, who on various occasions has compared love to a cold (“easy to catch but hard to cure”), equated it to a repeating decimal (“the figure is the same but the value gets less and less”), and insisted it was like a lizard (“it winds itself around your heart and penetrates your gizzard”).

For romance writers, this much-described, and frequently abused, word is always at the forefront of what we do. It’s the bedrock of our storytelling; the core of our plots.

When I began my most recent manuscript, I imagined I was creating a story that traced the growing romantic bond between heroine and hero. It wasn’t until I finally wrote “The End” that I realized the “love” involved in my book dealt not only with their relationship, but with other kinds of love as well. There was the love of parent for child, an emotion so deep it could survive even death. Then it occurred to me that in a strange way even the villains of the piece also acted out of love. Granted the things they did were inexcusable, but as evil and destructive as their actions were, their love was equally real.

For some reason, that surprised me, until I belatedly recognized the basic fact that no matter how it is expressed or who expresses it, love—much more than greed or the desire for revenge—is a chameleon that can exist anywhere and everywhere, giving us free reign to use our imaginations and talents, as we choose to create the best story that is in us.  

On Sunday, December 23, 2012, in the New York Daily News, writer David Hinckley dubbed the 2003 film “Love Actually” the best modern Christmas movie. In part he gives it this title because it possesses the same heartwarming sentimentality as the best-loved old Christmas films and yet also has a more modern sensibility. But in part he lauds it because its many vignettes show and celebrate love in all its guises, from solemn and heartbreaking to goofy  and sweet.

Well, that’s what romance writers do every day. We hop on that chameleon-like emotion and steer it to the happily-ever-after ending of a wild and bumpy ride.

Probably at base we do it because we’re all eternal optimists who want nothing more than to prove that the idea of love-forevermore isn’t just an empty catchphrase. Even in this tumultuous world, it’s still a genuine possibility.