Saturday, October 29, 2011

Six Sentence Sunday

"Cali? Cali, honey, is that you?"

"Yes, Dad, it's me. Is everything okay?" she asked, worried.

"No, sweetheart, it's not. I need you to come home."

                                    Cali and Alvin Stanton, Hidden Threat
 
Want to see other author's six sentences? http://www.sixsunday.com/

Friday, October 28, 2011

Flash Fiction Friday 10/28/11

Flash Fiction Friday. What can you do with only 100 words?

 
The hairs on the back of her neck bristle. Looking up, her gaze fell on a man and his cat. His eyes were black, as black as the cat he held.

A shiver ran through her as he continued to stare at her. For some reason she was frozen in place.

Then, he was moving. Slowly, he walked toward her.

Her heart quickened. He was close now, only a few feet away. His eyes never left hers.

Suddenly, he stopped. Knelt down, and placed a single rose on the grave next to where she stood before turning and walking away. 

Thursday, October 27, 2011

It's PUB Day! - Season of Love and A Banshee's Tale

Today we are celebrating the release of two new TWCS books. A Banshee's Tale, by Veronica Breville, and Season of Love: A Holiday Romance Compilation. Books can be purchased directly from the TWCS website and ibooks. They will also be available soon on Amazon.

A Banshee's Tale by Veronica Breville

Category: Supernatural


Catherine Dalry feels like a normal child, growing up in a normal small town, raised by normal, middle-income parents. That is, until she starts school. Children and adults alike look at her with trepidation and scorn. She learns quickly that her version of normal and theirs differ greatly. Just as Catherine is preparing to turn sixteen, she is forced on a journey that will change her life in ways most only dream of. An ancient book teaches her of the connection between her freaky eyes and the secretive ranks she is now forced to join by matter of inheritance. She is a Guide, or in the old country, a Banshee. As far as the masses are concerned, Catherine’s destiny is to be the wailing spectral woman that wanders the land lamenting and signaling the impending death of a loved one. As her life is pulled in countless directions, she leans on her best friend and psychic, Will; her beloved aunt, teacher, and fellow Guide, Lucie; and her attractive and terminally arrogant Caomhnóir or protector, Zane. The world of myth, mystery, and fairytale monsters engulfs Catherine and sets her on a course of self-discovery and life altering responsibility.

Season of Love: A Holiday Romance Compilation by Sherri Hayes, Lindsey Grey, Jennifer Schmidt, and C.M. Smith
Category: Romance

 
A Christmas Proposal by Sherri Hayes -
Matthew Andersen knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Cali Stanton. Since she came into his life just five months ago, his world had completely changed for the better. With everything in their lives finally coming together, he was determined to make their first Christmas a memorable one.

Not the Same Season by Lindsey Gray -
Two broken hearts embarked on a holiday season in a way they never had before. Divorced Mitch had been badly burned by love, but was willing to take a chance . . . with the right woman. Hannah had lived everyday with the grief love had brought her that followed her everywhere. Can two hearts find love and heal each other during the most difficult season of the year?

A Christmas Kiss by Jennifer Schmidt -
Christmas Eve for Emma Callaway is just another night stuck at the office fetching coffee and being ignored by her workaholic boss Jarrett Mackenzie. But when a snow storm forces them to spend the night together Emma learns her boss isn’t quite what he seems. And when Jarrett finally notices his assistant the only thing he wants for Christmas is her.

Bone Deep by C. M. Smith - 
Matt Kulver never wanted a steady girlfriend. Being able to come and go as he pleased, not having to answer to anyone, and able to sleep around with as many other girls as he wanted was something he prided himself in. That all changed when the one girl who stuck by his side in spite of the jerk moves he would pull. When she, his best friend, starts to pull away, he's forced to face the truth.  This Christmas, Matt has a lot to make up for.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Men and Sex

Yes, that's right. It was another crazy day for me in book research land. lol. Today was all about how often men have sex.

First, I want to think all the ladies over on Facebook who gave input on this subject. What did writers do before they could just post a question in cyber space and receive an answer?

What surprised me was some of the responses I got. They went from as little as two days to five years. Two days? Do guys really have that little restraint?

Just to get an additional perspective, I googled it and wound up on Men's Health. Their answer was that married men have sex about twice a week. Single men, about once a week. And if a guy is single but 'shaking up' he averages three times a week. http://www.menshealth.com/mhlists/16_ways_to_get_better_sex/How_Often_Do_You_Have_Sex.php

What I found interesting was that there was a) no mention of age in this article, and b) most of the women who posted comments disagreed. I don't know what the target audience age for Men's Health is, but I find it hard to believe that a single man in his 40's or 50's is out trolling for sex as often as a man in his 20's. I could be wrong about that as I'm not a man, but I would think that to be logical.

So after a little research on the subject, I came back to my original conclusion: It depends on the man. Too many factors come into play when you are talking about someone's sex drive or even need for sex no matter of their gender.

What do you think? Did I come to the right conclusion?

Friday, October 21, 2011

Flash Fiction Friday - October 21, 2011

Flash Fiction Friday. What can you do with only 100 words?


She couldn’t believe he was lying there so calm and cool after dropping a bomb on her like that. Did he even care how she felt?

Even as the thought crossed her mind, she knew that he did.

Rolling over, she thought of the long week ahead. She was not one for sharing, especially when it came to her husband.

The numbers on the clock continued to move until she couldn’t avoid it any longer. Standing, she pulled on a pair of jeans, looked down at her man, and resigned herself to her depressing fate. One week with her mother-in-law.

Friday, October 14, 2011

Research - Is this woman crazy?

As a writer of contemporary fiction, I like for my stories to be as realistic as possible.  Sometimes that means having to do research.

Yesterday I was going through some edits that were sent back to me on a story. My editor was questioning part of one of my character's histories. And although I was fairly sure that what I had written was fine, I wasn't one hundred percent sure so research was in order.

For this particular research, I needed to call an insurance company. Now, let me tell you, calling anyone you don't know and who doesn't know you and asking for information ...well it's tricky. You never know what kind of response you're going to get.

In this particular case, I was given a different number to call as the person said they didn't know. She was nice, but I've got a feeling I made 'water cooler' talk for the next day.

When I called the number the woman had given me, after getting transferred, I reached a gentleman who, while again was nice enough, was left rather speechless. He had no idea how to answer my question either and ended up transferring me to a team lead in the claims department.

In the end, I had to leave a message for this team lead. Twenty-four hours later, I'm still waiting for a call back. Will I get one? Probably not. My guess is that they will pass it off as some crazy lady.

With my background in customer service, I'm used to calling people for out of the way things in order to solve a problem. This, however, had to be one of the strangest.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Hello

Welcome to my new blog!

For those of you following my Finding Anna series blog, have no fear, I'm still continuing it. This new blog will have a slightly different and wider focus. I am hoping to include author interviews and maybe a few reviews of books I'm reading along the way.

If you are new to me as an author, let me take a moment to introduce myself and maybe explain the above. I am a romance author, however, I have a series of books that falls under the erotica category so I set up a separate blog for that. If you are interested in visiting that blog it can be found at www.findingannaseries.blogspot.com. As with this blog, there is adult content, so please use caution if you are at work or there are children around.

To date I have published two books, Hidden Threat and Slave, Finding Anna Book 1. I have a short story coming out in November as part of a holiday romance compilation my publisher has put together titled 'A Christmas Proposal.' It is a stand alone story, however, you will enjoy it more and understand the characters better if you read Hidden Threat first as it continues Cali and Matthew's story.

I am also in the process of editing my third full length novel, Behind Closed Doors. It is a romantic suspense novel set in the small town of Springfield, Ohio. My publisher has set it to be release in January. I'll share more details with you on that as the publication date draws closer.

In addition to everything else, I've also begun work on the second novel of my Finding Anna series. Beginning the edits for Behind Closed Doors has pushed that to the back burner for now, however I am hoping to pick it up again no later than mid November. I'm anxious to get back to Stephan and Brianna's story.

Also, if you are a book reviewer interested in reviewing one of my books for your blog, please click on the 'Bloggers' tab at the top.

Happy reading. :)