The Character I Hated

One guess who forgot her post last month? Yes, it was me. Sigh. My posts are due the first Friday of each month. Last month I suddenly realized late on the first day of May "Wait a minute. Today is the first Friday of the month." So, to make sure I don't do that again, I'm writing this post well in advance of the due date.

I'm super excited that Dances with Werewolves, the newest entry in my Kudzu Korners sweet paranormal romance series is now live! You can see the details HERE.

Livia did a wonderful job on the cover!

Sydney Hall is the heroine of Dances with Werewolves and readers and I both met her for the first time in Dial V for Vampire, the first book in the series. I worked on the first draft of Dial V one year during NaNoWriMo. My husband made it a point to check in with me every day and ask what was going on in my story. One of our conversations went something like this:

Hubby: "So, what's going on in your story?"

Me: "I really hate my main character's best friend."

Hubby: *blinks* "What do you mean you hate her? You created her!"

Me: "Yes, but that doesn't mean I like her." (Writer brain completely baffles my husband.)

Not only did I not like Sydney upon our first meeting, I pretty much detested her. This was a problem because I knew she was supposed to be the heroine in Dances with Werewolves. How could I expect the hero to fall in love with her if I couldn't even like her? Fortunately it turned out that once I got to know Sydney a little bit better and understood why she was the way she was, I liked her just fine. Crisis averted!

I guess even in the world of fiction it pays to get to know someone before judging their actions. Who knew? #lessonlearned

Until next month, take care and keep reading!

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Magpie Syndrome

I admit it. I love anything that glitters or sparkles. My husband calls it "Magpie Syndrome." (I haven't had the heart to tell him that recent studies have shown that magpies are NOT attracted to shiny objects.) However, this attraction to the new and shiny extends beyond just jewelry and clothing - it permeates my writing as well. A new story idea is so exciting and holds so much promise - what will it be when it grows up ? A short story? A novella? A novel?

I'm not a plotter, I don't outline. It has just never worked for me. Even in high school and college, I never wrote the outline until after I was done with the paper and then only because it was required. I mean, how could I know what I was going to write until I wrote it? When I begin developing a story I know who the main characters are, I know how the story begins, how it ends, and have a few miscellaneous scenes that go somewhere in the middle. The rest evolves as I write.

Oooh, shiny!

When writing was something I only dreamed of doing I often worried that I wouldn't be able to come up with enough story ideas. Ha! I have so many ideas I can't keep up with them. At this point my primary focus is on Dances with Werewolves, the second novel in my Kudzu Korners sweet paranormal romance series. (You can read about the first novel, Dial V for Vampire, here.) But, at the same time I have ideas for at least 15 other stories percolating in my head. Heck, I even have covers for books that I haven't written yet.

It would be easy to let all of these ideas distract me because of their freshness - so many unknowns waiting to be discovered! However, if I flit from story to story like a hummingbird nothing will ever get finished. I am (mostly) able to focus on my work in progress (WIP) but I have learned that when an idea won't quit going "Mom, mom, mom, mom! Pay attention to me, Mom" it's best to put the WIP aside for an evening or so and pay attention to it. This normally consists of just making notes to get some of the ideas out of my head. On occasion, "notes" become chapters. But, this means that when those other stories have their day in the sun, I'll already have a good start.

I know I'm not alone. This cartoon was recently shared on the Writing About Writing Facebook page. It's perfect! :-)

Distractions are a part of life, not just writing. How do you stay focused?

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Meet Zombie

Several years ago my youngest son and his then girlfriend went out for a walk. Less than thirty minutes later, his girlfriend came back and announced, "Your son just rescued a sick cat." Little did I know that this "sick" cat would become the inspiration for my newest release, DIAL V FOR VAMPIRE, and the world of Kudzu Korners.

So, how did I go from meeting our newest rescue cat to world-building for a paranormal romance series? Join me, if you dare, for a journey through the workings of my writer brain.

We are a multiple cat household so, any new cats that show up are kept isolated from the others until we can have them tested to make sure that they aren't carrying any diseases such as feline leukemia or FIV (feline AIDS). We put the new guy in my husband's man cave until we we could get him to the vet. While we waited, we tossed around ideas for names but nothing quite fit. Then, while we were waiting in the exam room at the vet's office, I couldn't help but chuckle when I looked at the old man. He was deaf, missing most of his teeth, had a crumpled ear (probably from chronic ear infections) and, to make matters worse, when my husband and son had trimmed the mats out of the poor guy's long fur, they nicked his skin in a couple of places. The shorter fur also revealed a few cysts on his flanks. I shook my head and told him, "Dude, you look like the walking dead." That's when it hit me. His name was Zombie! It was perfect.

The view that gave Zombie his name

I have had dozens of cats (both my own and fosters) over the years. Zombie was easily one of the most awesome cats I have ever known. He was very laid back, but didn't take any "lip" from the others. (He was given a clean bill of health so, he moved out of the man cave and joined the rest of our clowder.) The other cats were confused by why he didn't react to their growls and hisses. But, whenever they got a bit too uppity, Zombie would give them a good whack (or several) with his paw. He would never use his claws, but the force of his slap would echo through the room.

Who could resist that face?

I played around with the idea of creating a blog called Life with Zombie in which I would post about Zombie the cat as if he were the stereotypical brain-eating zombie. Then, one day, my husband made one of those casual, life-changing statements: "Why don't you let your characters write some of the things you talk about?" That was it! I think I heard angels singing. At that point, my heroine Maggie became the author of the Life with Zombie blog, which, in turn, lead to the creation of Kudzu Korners, a small Southern town inhabited by humans, vampires, werewolves, zombies, and occasionally the fae. However, my vampires, werewolves, and zombies are anything but stereotypical.

My handsome old man

Sadly, our Zombie was roughly fifteen years old when my son rescued him and he was already in the advanced stages of kidney failure. We only had him in our lives for four months before his condition deteriorated to the point where we had to release him to run free at the Rainbow Bridge. Letting go of a much loved pet is never easy, even when you haven't known them long. However, in this case, Zombie lives on as a character in DIAL V FOR VAMPIRE. As a matter of fact, the story is dedicated to him:

To Zombie, the coolest rescue cat ever. I miss you, bud. You will live on in my heart, and Kudzu Korners, forever.

Would you like to meet Zombie for yourself? Are you interested in learning more about DIAL V FOR VAMPIRE and the world of Kudzu Korners? If so, you can find the blurb, an excerpt, and the buy link HERE.

Until next month, happy reading!

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The Art of the Blurb

Some would say that the first thing that attracts a reader to a book is the cover. Personally, I think it’s the title. The book’s title is the first thing that entices me to go further. From the title, I’m drawn to the cover. Is it colorful? Does it tell me something about the genre? If the title and cover have piqued my interest, I go to the blurb. The blurb, for a book, is the description you find on the back of a paperback book or online at your favorite ebook retailer. 

I seem to be a bit of an anomaly among writers. Most authors seems to look forward to writing a blurb for their book with all of the enthusiasm usually reserved for a root canal or colonoscopy. Not me—I enjoy writing blurbs! *ducks to avoid thrown objects* 

The purpose of the dreaded blurb is to give enough information about your characters and your story to entice a reader into purchasing your book. Therefore, the blurb must reference the genre and introduce the main character. Or, in the case of a romance (my chosen genre), both the hero and heroine should be introduced. The conflict between the characters must be hinted at but a good blurb, never ever contains spoilers. I mean, if you give everything away in the blurb, there is no reason for anyone to read further!

So, why am I talking about blurbs this month? Well…. Drumroll, please! I am excited and pleased and thrilled—and did I say excited?—to announce that if all goes well, Dial V for Vampire, the first book in my sweet, humorous, paranormal romance series will be released by Fire Star Press by the end of the month! I’m so excited I can hardly stand it so please forgive my overuse of exclamation points in this post. In honor of the pending release I present the unofficial blurb for Dial V:

Maggie Robinson is a full-time server, part-time blogger, and 24/7 skeptic. Her love life? Non-existent. Why bother? Her parents' divorce is proof that "happily ever after" is a fairy tale. To make matters worse, she has no idea that her tongue-in-cheek blog, Life with Zombie, has placed her at the top of the werewolves' Most Wanted list.

Noah Townsend is a vampire with a broken heart. It has been two years since his wife's death and he is still recovering. Instead of dealing with his grief, he has thrown himself into his duties as the head of a security firm that specializes in protecting paranormal beings and hiding their existence from humans.

Worlds collide when Noah saves Maggie from a werewolf attack. Can Maggie overcome her skepticism and Noah his grief in time to realize that they were made for each other? Or will the ripples started by Maggie's blog grow into a tsunami that will tear them – and Kudzu Korners - apart?

And, just in case you are wondering what makes a blurb unofficial, this is the blurb as submitted to Fire Star Press, it may undergo some changes before publication.

If you need me, I’ll be over here squealing and happy dancing until release day, then I’ll hyperventilate!

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