The best Fourth of July

I hope you all had a joyful and relaxed Fourth of July.

Mine was the best.

In addition to spending the morning playing on the beach and swimming with my granddaughters in a crystal clear ocean and I spent the afternoon with my mother. At eight-o’clock at night, my husband and I celebrated both the Fourth of July and my newly released book, BABIES IN THE BARGAIN, a sweet and spicy medical romance in the genre of Grey’s Anatomy and ER, that is bestseller#5 at the Wild Rose Press. Yeah!!!

We had dinner in an overcrowded cafe on the beach, toasted my book with drinks and later sat on the sand to watch the fireworks. It was the most relaxing time I had in months.

I would like to share with you an excerpt from BABIES IN THE BARGAIN.

BABIES IN THE BARGAIN:

Contests wins: The Beacon; Launching A Star; The Suzannah;Great Expectations; Golden Gateway; Gotcha, Enchanted Words;Winter Rose; Duel on the Delta; Linda Howard Award of Excellence....

Short Synopsis:
With only one year left to complete her medical training in Neonatology, Dr. Holly Collier vows not to let anyone mess up her sacrosanct schedule. Especially not the gorgeous Dr. Marc Suarez who broke her heart seven years ago.

When a tragic accident transforms the carefree playboy into a dedicated but novice father to his nephew, Holly gives in to her maternal instincts and turns her structured life upside down for the orphaned preemie. But can she learn to trust Marc again and believe in true love?

Excerpt:
Marc stared at the infant suckling and the gorgeous woman feeding him as if he was her own child. A perfect picture of maternal love. For a moment, he imagined her in a silk dishabille, baring a breast to a hungry child, while his knuckles caressed the baby’s cheek and the mother’s flesh in the same loving gesture.

Blonde and lovely Holly.

Mesmerized, he sucked in a deep breath and squatted beside the rocking chair, clenching its arm with itching fingers.

Paulito needed a loving mother, but even with imaginative effort Marc couldn’t picture himself married. At least not yet.

Holly could be the closest thing Paulito would ever have to a mother, if...

“Move in with me,” Marc whispered.

“What?” The bottle dropped from her hand. Her gaze shot to him, incredulous and bewildered.

“What did you say?” Her voice lowered to a rough murmur.

“Come live in my condo,” he said, with a firm tone to convince himself his request wasn’t completely crazy.

His eyes strayed over her blushing cheeks, her parted lips. He inched closer, unable to resist the sweet temptation...then jerked backward.

Conflicting feelings twitched his insides. His baby needed Holly, the best mother in the world. If she agreed to live under his roof, Marc swore he’d never take advantage of their proximity in the same house. He’d behave like a gentleman—even like a monk—to make her forget his playboy reputation. And he’d battle his attraction to Holly every step of the way, so as not to scare her away.

“Are you crazy?” Her jaw sagged and her eyes rounded, two beautiful turquoise pools shimmering with uncertainty.

“I’ve never been more serious in my life.” He stroked the baby’s scalp. “Paulito needs you and you love him.” It was the only possible way he could give his son a loving mother...and protect himself from a noose around his neck and his Abuelita’s nagging.

She exhaled, her gaze following his fingers’ gentle motion on Paulito’s head. “Of course I love him, but I have my work. I’m as busy as you, if not more.” Her lips pinched as she narrowed her eyes.

“If you move in with me, we could dovetail our shifts and share his care.”

Please, Holly, say yes.

“You and me, living together? Just like that?” She flipped her hand open. “How could you even think about it?”

“Oh, I didn’t mean to imply any...hmm.”

Never.

He blinked. The thought had filtered through his mind, but to his credit, he’d discarded it right away. “It’s just a roommate arrangement. Consider it a business proposal, cross my heart.” With all due respect and no hanky-panky, so help me God.

Marc gazed at her with deep longing. This arrangement would torture him for sure, but to have Holly caring for Paulito, Marc would squeeze every bit of lust out of his system. He silently vowed to maintain his part of the bargain if she agreed.

BABIES IN THE BARGAIN is available for purchase in ebook and paperback at:

The Wild Rose Press,

Amazon.com,

http://amazon.co.uk/mazon.co.uk

Barnes& Noble

You can click on one of these links to buy.

So how did you spend your Fourth of July?

Guarded Beginnings

First of all, to all of those from the US. Happy Fourth of July!

I'd planned something a little different for today, but the last few days have been hectic and I haven't had the time to pull it together. Luckily, I'm not left flailing for something to write about because I do have a release this month, on the 17th. So this is a bit of promo for my new upcoming book.




Blurb:
Denise Arensal is stuck on an isolated planet, trying to protect a man and his flighty sister. When help arrives, at first she’s thrilled, but then she sees the two men from her dreams. Memories of another time tell her she can’t trust them. Her fears can’t hold back her desire, she wants those two men.

Davik and Camin know she’s wary of them. They seduce and tempt her into giving them what they want—her love and trust. They entice her closer with teasing kisses and carnal games, determined to show her she belongs with them.

Denise needs to know if Davik and Camin are offering her more than just hot sex and a warm bed, but time isn’t on her side. Mercenaries have coming hunting the man the three lovers are protecting and they’ll have to work together to survive.

Excerpt:

The entrance door to the bar swung open admitting a sharp gust of warm air, a whirl of needle like leaves and Jasi. Her friend looked shocked. Her eyes were wide and she kept glancing over her shoulder. Denise frowned as the door remained open after the black haired green-eyed woman had stepped through the opening.

A tall, broad-shouldered man stepped into the opening. Her eyes widened as they landed on his face. Short wavy blond hair just brushed the collar of his shirt. That haircut highlighted his pointed ears. She knew the sharp hard lines of his face even though she’d never met him. Almost every night, she dreamed of him and another man.

His blue eyes narrowed as they focused on her. The angular planes of his face became more pronounced as his jaw clenched. He took a slow step forward.

Denise took a deep breath, shaking her head. She couldn’t believe that he was here. She’d known they’d probably been created, but hadn’t expected to see even one of them. Or wanted to see them. Most of her dreams involving them weren’t happy.

The man stumbled forward a bit and then stepped forward and to the side as another man entered the bar. The overhead light glittered off the red-blond hair of the man striding toward her. The harsh light made the long hair seem even redder. If anything, he was larger than the blond man trailing behind him, his muscles more defined. The tight black shirt he wore made that more than obvious.

Eyes a strange color somewhere between brown and gold watched her as if he thought she might run. If her feet didn’t suddenly feel bolted to the floor she might have. Her eyes marked his high cheekbones and the slight shadow of beard on his cheeks. She stared at his lips. She’d never seen a man with lips that full.

A’Camion and Davorik—that had been the names of the men in her dreams. It couldn’t be the names of the men in front of her. Her dreams had mostly revolved around a primitive world. For a long time, she’d thought they were just that—dreams. Only in the last year had she dreamed of A’Camion, the blond and Davorik, the redhead in the prison with her. Well, a different version of her, softer, a victim. It had taken a little time, but she’d realized that those dreams were far from creations of her imagination. They were scenes from the life of the woman from whose DNA she’d been created.

Her gaze flicked past him to the four men who’d come into the bar after him. Nervousness settled low in her stomach. She didn’t want to have anything to do with them, but Jasi wouldn’t have brought them here unless they’d been sent as reinforcements.

Jasi stepped forward and forced a smile. Her shoulder length hair swung gently as she glanced toward the men. “These are the men the tribunal sent to help us. Did you know Nials contacted them again?”

“No, but it wouldn’t surprise me. He’s not exactly thrilled with having us guard him.” Denise shrugged.

Right now, she could care less about Nials obnoxious behavior. She could barely focus on anything other than the two men who now stood shoulder to shoulder in front of her. Emotions rushed through her, an illogical mass of feelings that she couldn’t control or sort through. Attraction pulsed, immediate and undeniable. Just as strong, anger rose and flared.

I've been musing on a pet theme of mine. One I tried to teach my kids. I firmly believe you have more influence that you'll ever know. And I mean everyone projects influence. Don't think you're waltzing through life not making an impact. You do, every day. If you go around with a frown, someone who's already down might get even downer. But if you smile, even a little, even people you'll never know about will unconsciously get a lift in their spirits. I try to remember that, and while I'm not going around smiling like an idiot all the time, I'm darned sure I don't frown. And I definitely don't make negative statements. (Was that one or not?) Hate negativism in any form.

What set me off on this track was a quote from Tom Clancy. "Every person you meet--and everything you do in life--is an opportunity to learn something. That's important to all of us, but most of all to a writer because a writer can use anything." It immediately led my devious mind to my pet theme of how you influence every person you meet, as well as learn from them. And that led back to how every person influences you. As a writer and as a person.

Do you file away bits and pieces of personalities to draw on, maybe putting some together to form a new character? Or do you draw your protaganists from scratch?
I do a little of both. Sometimes a character will appear full blown and demand to be put on paper, and other times I put together traits from very different people. I love it when a character practically tells me what he wants to say.

Is it any wonder we all like being writers....What an opportunity to get so many things out of our subconcsious and onto the computer where you can examine them. What fun, and we even get paid for it! Well, a little anyway. Wish it were more, but you can't have everything...

The Gremlins strike again!

I wrote my post a few days back, and saved it, and then when I come to find it and publish it, it vanished! Oh, it's probably lurking somewhere unsuspected and will pop up when you least expect it, but in the meantime, I try AGAIN.



I confess, I am a techno-ignoramus. I am fortunate in having a son with a degree in Systems Engineering, who works with computers and just about lives for them. (At his wedding, I did mention that I was delighted that his bride had neither pointed ears or a motherboard...) So when I have a problem, I can call him and he will come fix it. Or, at least, he has been able to do so so far! He even does it long-distance -- I had a computer problem while living on the Cayman Isles, and the two (two!) 'experts' at C&W couldn't figure out what was wrong. Well, one was on his lunch break, and the other...less said the better. I called my son. He fixed the problem over the phone.



Back in the olden days, I wrote with a fountain pen on lined legal pads. Then I got a typewriter, and wow, I could churn out twice the amount of rubbish in half the time! (Except when I discovered an error in the middle of a chapter and had to retype the whole thirty pages. My, was the air blue...)



Then I got my first word-processor. That was all it was -- it didn't play games or do emails or surf the Net, it just crunched words. It was a revelation!



I've gone on from there and now I'm a computer convert. But it just makes the tedious stuff easier. When a member of a writers' group asked me what sort of computer he needed to write his magnum opus, I told him he just needed pencil & paper and his own brain. (Sorry, Dell. I love you really, bless your electronic gubbins.)



My creativity is being severely restricted by my paying job. I haven't worked this steadily for years -- covering sick-leave and holidays means I don't have much free time this month. Oh, and there's the summer activities for Cats Protection at weekends, and now that Meri the Somali is a fully-fledged therapy cat, there are his visits to make. (He is a big hit, by the way. The ladies adore him. One, who only speaks Welsh, calls him her 'Cariad' ('darling') and kisses his head. I have wondered, sometimes, what kind of human male he'd be. Sweet-natured, inquisitive -- and handsome, of course...

Want to be an author?

"Stay loose and watch snails." I saw this on a poster in a friend's bathroom and thought it funny. However, that is not my topic for to-day. As many of you know, my husband passed away on December 4, 2008. Before he died and since, I had lost my creative muse. A friend gave me "A Creative Writer's Kit by Judy Reeves," and it jolted me into wanting to write again.

For every day of the year, the Kit poses a question or a comment and I write a page starting with the comment. For instance, to-day, June 30. "Long afterward, I came upon it again ..."

Here's what I began to write. "The copy of the letter I wrote to Maurice disappeared so long ago I had forgotten about it..." I wrote a whole page and my final sentence is - "Maurice is now a famous politician, the story of our affair and the child he fathered might ruin him."

Not exactly brilliant but there's a story possibility. I'm surprised at how quickly I can spin a little tale from a short comment.

On June 28, "Write about small change." This is how I began. "Small Change is my best friend's puppy. Actually, he is three years old now but still looks like a white ball of fur..."

Goddesses, here is the comment for July 1. "The possibilities are endless ..."

If you have time and the inclination, I'll like to read how you'd begin. I'll be writing my comment tomorrow morning and will share it with you if the July 1st Goddess doesn't mind me invading her space. Or, I can wait until it's my turn as Goddess-of-the day on July 15.

However, if you'd rather watch snails and ponder the meaning of life, go for it.

Anita
www.anitabirt.com

Where Are You Going?

I've been writing seriously for four years, though the first year doesn't really count since that's when I pounded out thousands of words of crud. But that's a blog for another day.

Anyway, I just signed my 8th contract. Yeah, I'm very proud of myself (but this blog isn't about that either). I've written one series and have just started a second. All my books, save for one, are suspense. One of them (still uncontracted) is a complex romantic suspense with a stalker and FBI agents and a couple of dead bodies. I like complicated plots with twists and turns. Anyway, I did all those stories by the seat of my pants. Ya know, starting with the "what if" question and letting the story unfold organically from there. I didn't know there was another way because I'd only been on the reading side of novels.

Then I started meeting other writers and learning the basics of the craft. Words that become second nature to writers. Words like goals and motivation, internal and external conflict, hero journeys, black moments and character arcs and backstory. Huh? What do you mean it's boring for the reader if I tell the whole childhood history of my heroine in the first 18 pages? But she's so scarred and flawed ... everything else will make so much sense if you know that her Aunt Betty was actually a man in WWII with a penchant for wearing lady's underwear.

Back when I first made the decision to become an author, I was blissfully unaware of any rules in writing. I was happy just sitting at the computer letting my characters stumble into life-threatening situations, argue, kiss and eventually fall into bed (actually, the falling into bed part seemed to come waaaay to easily to me *wink* anywho...). I was naively typing away letting my characters roam through my stories until something really bad happened which often times included killing the bad guy and then riding off into the proverbial sunset.

But I've grown. I've matured. I've learned that other writers actually plot out their stories ... ya know ... like an outline for a research paper. Oh, I was a scientist in my former life, I've done a lot of research papers. I could do that. As a matter of fact, I thought I might actually thrive plotting a book.

So I signed up for the best plotting class I could find. These instructors were writing pros, presenting the plotting process one step at a time. I'm a good student ... I have always done all my homework ... and I dutifully kept up with the class assignments. We had to describe our hero, heroine and villain, if we had one (ha, mine was eeeevvvil) ... no problem. Then we had to talk a little bit about their childhood, their fears, their dislikes and goals. Okay, I was shaking a little bit ... I'd never really "met" my characters in any of my books until I threw them into some nasty situation. But that's okay ... I pushed through. I tried to discover who they were and what they wanted before writing chapter one.

Then, I had to write ALL their conflicts, internal and external along with the journey I was going to take them on during this story. WHAT? Like I had to know before actually writing the scene at the warehouse what the heroine was going to do with the antique glass vase when she got to the lake? I was breathing in paper bags and bathing in calamine lotion to control my breathing and the hives breaking out on my skin.

When the instructors (all smiles and sweetness) nicely sent out spreadsheets so we could outline our chapters ... well, that was my undoing! How the heck could I tell you what was going to happen in chapter 20 when I didn't even know if my heroine would still be alive past chapter 15? Heck I didn't even know if the story was going to be longer than chapter 10!

I COULDN'T DO IT!

Sorry. *deep calming breaths ... in through the nose out through the mouth* It's still a bit overwhelming when I think about it. But I'll recover. I've set aside all their pretty charts and excel spreadsheets. I gave it a shot, more than one, but my poor muse has an apoplectic fit every time I pull them out. It's just not worth the pitchers of margaritas and soothing music it takes to pull her off the ceiling.

So I'm going to admit it now. Hi, my name is Nina ... I'm a pantser. I've tried plotting because so many writers look so happy with all that information spread out in front of them. Smiling as they happily take their characters on the journey they've taken weeks sometimes months to discover. I can't do it! I just can't ... please don't make me. It's just not in my wiring. I'll happily write my next book having no clue where I'm going or what terrible thing lies around the next corner, but knowing I'll be happy as I travel through the story and even happier when I arrive at the end.

Oh, and while I'm at it ... should I admit I write with absolute silence? Yeeeaaahhh, probably not. That'll definitely make you think I'm totally off my rocker.

Romance Writers for Change-Please Read

Is there anyone who is e-puiblished who isn;t aware of the struggle to gain recongition and legitimacy with RWA? To have a level playing field with the older established print only puiblishers? Today I'm going to tell you about a very large group of authors who have formed together to effect change that will, hopefully, correct some of the inequities. The group is called Romance Writers for Change and is open to any author, published or not. Over the opast several days a great deal of hard work has been done to craft a mission statement and a ressolution to present at the Annual General Meeting in RWA Nationals. There are several authors who have stepped up to run for office. Several people will be carrying proxies to the meeting with them. Here's what's been produced so far:
1. Name - Romance Writers for Change
2. Mission Statement
Romance Writers for Change was formed to help educate and create awareness about digital publishing for all RWA members. We fully support and believe in the RWA organization, and hope to partner with it in a positive, constructive way. To that end, Romance Writers for Change members support the following statements:
RWA members should be offered educational opportunities regarding all aspects of digital publishing and rights exploration/protection.
The creation of a new Digital Liaison seat on the RWA Board of Directors is in the best interest of all RWA members.
RWA’s Publisher Standards should incorporate publisher criteria that recognize digital and small press publishing as legitimate and valid models.
RWA’s Published Author standards should be revised according to a set of criteria that recognizes the specific digital publishing business model.
All romance publications published by a royalty-paying, non-vanity/non-subsidy publisher should be eligible for the RITA, provided the submission meets minimum industry-standardized format requirements. Format requirements should be based on neutral criteria that endorse readability and ease of judging, and should not be based on the method of production or distribution.
*****
PROPOSED RESOLUTION

ROMANCE WRITERS OF AMERICA, INCORPORATED

Resolution # _______________________

WHEREAS, the purpose of Romance Writers of America, Incorporated, is to advance the professional interests of career-focused romance writers through networking and advocacy,

WHEREAS, the current Bylaws and Policy and Procedures Manual of RWA® do not advance the professional interests of all career-focused romance writers, it is

RESOLVED, that the RWA® shall recognize that romance writers can be career-focused if they have (1) contracted with a publisher that pays an advance, or (2) contracted with a legitimate small press or electronic publisher that pays consistent and accurate royalties at a designated rate as defined by contract.

In accord with this, it is FURTHER

RESOLVED, that RWA® should amend its Bylaws and its Policies and Procedures. As soon as practicable, RWA should (1) provide official recognition to legitimate small press and electronic publishers who publish romance; (2) allow all e-published romance works to be entered into the RITA® under clear, accessible rules; and (3) reevaluate the standards for determining whether an author is published.

Dated this ____ day of ______________________.

MOTION CARRIED:

A True Record Attest:

ROMANCE WRITERS OF AMERICA, INCORPORATED


By _________________________________________

Secretary
Romance Writers of America Incorporated


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Submitted by: _________________________________________________________

Approved as to Form by: _________________________________________________

Passed on _____________________________________________________________

The group can be found at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RWAchange/

There is a high volume of email so you may want to join and specify Digest or Special Notice, but that still gives you the opportunity to read through the emails and the information in the files section. This is our best shot yet to create equality fioer epublishers and small presses, so I urge you to take a moment and check us out.