Thank you to Shirley McCann for inviting me to the “Writing Process” Blog Hop. Shirley is a founding member and former President of Sleuths’ Ink Mystery Writers. She is the author of several books including her newest, Anonymously Yours. You can find her answers to the blog hop questions and get to know her at http://shirleymccann.blogspot.com ....
1) What am I working on? Whew...sometimes it feels like ‘What am I NOT working on?’ Because I have so many projects I find it hard to make myself focus. Still, my main project for the past month and into this month, April, is getting the next book in my Take Ten Tales series ready to launch. Undercover Love & Other Tales should be out on Amazon by the end of April. It is a collection of ten sweet romance short stories (there is the usual bonus story, too). A second project, not receiving much of my time, is getting a book-length manuscript a bit more polished and updated. An editor requested the first chapter and synopsis and I’ve been super slow in getting it done and to her. That book is a romantic suspense under a couple of working titles -- Kilroy Was Here, or Cakewalk.
2) How does my work differ from others of its genre? Geez. Well, unlike Shirley McCann, who said in her Blog Hop answers that she doesn’t write about vampires and shape shifters, those creatures or others could show up in my stories--or not. Generally, I consider much of what I write as cross genre. I love suspense...and romance...and odd things. Maybe that’s why I have three books of short story collections which vary from mystery/suspense (Death of Bigfoot & Other Tales) to horror/suspense/paranormal (Truth or Dare & Other Tales) to sweet romance (Undercover Love & Other Tales)?
3) Why do I write what I do? I must. I have always wanted to be a writer, an author, ever since I can remember. My favorite childhood books were Black Beauty, Swiss Family Robinson, and the Golden Book Encyclopedia. Then throw in TV westerns with John Wayne as the ultimate hero, Star Trek with Mr. Spock and Captain Kirk and their out-of-this-world adventures, and my teenage crush Magnum P.I. and I guess that explains why I write what I do.
4) How does your writing process work? I get an idea. I think about it. I write. I rewrite. I put it aside to cool. I read it again. I self-edit. I get someone else to read it. I rewrite. For the short story collections, I hire an editor to go over my stories. I rewrite. I publish. Most often I write in my office at home using my laptop computer. Sometimes I will take my recorder on a walk and tell it my story. That is transcribed as soon as possible after I get home. I generally write tale by tale. If I have a deadline, I am pretty disciplined and write several hours at a time. Mid-morning to late in the afternoon is usually when I write. I will occasionally use a pen and paper, but that is mostly for brainstorming.
You can find my books listed on Amazon.com. Simply click on the covers at the top left. Keep watching, Undercover Love & Other Tales will be out ASAP. Thank you for reading my blog.
Call to Action:
On Monday, April 14th, please continue enjoying the “Writing Process” Blog Hop by visiting:
Lisa Wells at http://lisawellsauthor.blogspot.com/ and
Tierney James at http://www.ptierneyjames.blogspot.com/.
You can find Lisa Well's titles at Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com and at The Wild Rose Press.
You can find Tierney James' books An Unlikely Hero and Zombie Meatloaf on Amazon.com.
Monday, April 7, 2014
Friday, March 21, 2014
Springing Into Action - A Writing Lesson
Hi--I was thinking about Spring because it officially arrived yesterday. From that thought came the idea of springing into action.
If your character springs into action by kicking a golf ball in your story, that golf ball and action has to have meaning. Duh. So what the heck does THAT mean?
1) The action could show that your character is upset or angry and taking it out on the golf ball.
2) The golf ball may indicate setting, placing your character on the golf course.
3) The action may show that your character is the 'bad guy' and is cheating. This could be an indication of his or her lack of, humph, character and build to what happens later in the story.
4) The golf ball may be used later as a murder weapon in a thriller or mystery, as a comedy prop in a humorous story, as a 'remember when' in a slice-of-life story. And so on. You have foreshadowed by placing it into the story to be used later.
I forget who said it, but this is true: A good writer wastes no words.
What do you think?
If your character springs into action by kicking a golf ball in your story, that golf ball and action has to have meaning. Duh. So what the heck does THAT mean?1) The action could show that your character is upset or angry and taking it out on the golf ball.
2) The golf ball may indicate setting, placing your character on the golf course.
3) The action may show that your character is the 'bad guy' and is cheating. This could be an indication of his or her lack of, humph, character and build to what happens later in the story.
4) The golf ball may be used later as a murder weapon in a thriller or mystery, as a comedy prop in a humorous story, as a 'remember when' in a slice-of-life story. And so on. You have foreshadowed by placing it into the story to be used later.
I forget who said it, but this is true: A good writer wastes no words.
What do you think?
Saturday, March 1, 2014
REAP & REPENT -- Lisa Medley's Book is Out!
Welcome to my guest blogger, Lisa Medley.
Lisa Medley writes reapers. The grim kind. Her urban fantasy romance, Reap & Repent is available now in a Harlequin E Box Set with three other Harlequin debut authors. A lover of beasties of all sorts, she has a farm full of them in her SW MO home including: one child, one husband, two dogs, two cats, a dozen hens, thousands of Italian bees and a guinea pig. Not so in love with the guinea pig. She can do ten pushups IN A ROW and may or may not have a complete zombie apocalypse bug-out bag in her trunk at all times. Just. In. Case.
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How did you come to write Reap & Repent?
Writing Reapers Was All A Mystery To Me--I didn’t originally sit down to write a book about reapers. Reapers aren’t sexy. Reapers are death. And skeletal. And…grim. I first tried writing about vampires because, well, VAMPIRES. When I gave my first 30K of my first real novel attempt to my BFF, her reply was, “It’s good, but what makes it different?”
Erm, nothing. Same old story. Same old (okay, old but HOT vampires). I needed something that hadn’t been reincarnated for the umpteenth bazillionth time. Something that might stand out in a crowded field of paranormal monsters in love.
I chose reapers. And then I set out to make them better. Still human looking but human DELUXE! Lots of dark potential there. I sat down and got to work making a world for them to live in, threw in some demons, an evil fallen angel and the Reaper Series was born.
Reap & Repent is Deacon and Ruth’s story.
Once I started writing, it didn’t take long for Deacon and Ruth to take over. I wasn’t telling their story. They were telling their story. About halfway through, I realized we all three needed a plan and finally sat down and organized all of the sticky notes, which had previously been decorating my car dashboard, writing cave desk and notebooks. I typed them up and printed them out.
HOLY COW, I had a plot! So THAT’s how that happens.
From that point on, I put Deacon and Ruth in peril, threw roadblocks in their way, and let their love grow until I reached the end, some eighty thousand words later. And THE END ends with one of my favorite things. BACON.
Where can we buy Reap & Repent?
Reap & Repent is available March 3, 2014 in a Harlequin E Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance Box Set with the works of three other amazing new Harlequin authors! Reap & Repent will be available for single-title release June 2, 2014.
AMAZON: http://amzn.to/1gF6Q98
B&N: http://bit.ly/1gz4x7M
KOBO: http://bit.ly/1cSZBam
ITUNES: http://bit.ly/1njOngj
Harlequin: http://bit.ly/1gf0Cbs
How can fans follow you?
You can follow me on social media here: Lisa Medley, Author Blog, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Amazon Author Page, Pinterest
What is a summary of Reap & Repent?
Deacon Walker is a burned out loner, whose two hundred years as a reaper have left him empty inside. But when he meets Ruth Scott, a gorgeous shut-in with unusual gifts, he’s forced to set his career complacency aside to train her for a destiny she never knew existed. Soon the two will face the ultimate test: a battle against demons determined to destroy humanity, one soul at a time.
Would you give us a sample of Reep & Repent?
If you’d like to see how it all plays out, here’s your chance. Book one of the reaper series, Reap & Repent, is available now. Here’s a taste. This is from the prologue:
What does a guy have to do around here to get some service? Deacon Walker marveled as he glared at the undulating queue of grotesque reapers in front of him.
For all that’s holy, move the hell along already.
It had been a long week, and it wasn’t over yet. He needed to make at least one more pass through the hospital circuit before he could call it a day. He could already feel the tug of a freshly departed soul. Again. People were dropping like flies lately.
He massaged his brow, trying to soothe his exhausted patience as the line inched forward at a snail’s pace.
He was worn thin. Over the past few weeks, three demon soul poachers had popped up in his fair city of Meridian like poisonous mushrooms after a hard rain. While it wasn’t unheard of for one to slip out from Hell every now and then, three was a nightmare.
When it got topside, a demon’s M.O. was to steal a human body, poach a few souls from the dead and dying, and then make its merry way back to Hell, taking its host’s soul along for the ride. The only way to save the souls a poacher was carrying was to behead the host with a scythe. Not a pretty thing to do, but the poor suckers were too far gone by then to survive anyway. No human could withstand the pressures of being ridden by a demon. And it was worth it to save a handful of souls, not to mention inconveniencing the demon.
Deacon refused to lose any souls from his territory. At all.
So far the score was Deacon, 3. Demons, 0.
As a reaper, carrying souls to Purgatory for judgment was his job and he wasn’t about to cede his territory to poachers who used up their hosts like they were disposable Tupperware. So now, in addition to his normal day job, he also had to keep an eye out for more demon invaders.
While demons burned through most human hosts in a matter of days, some in a matter of hours, they had discovered long ago that under the right circumstances they could ride a reaper. Of course, they couldn’t just worm their way in like they did with humans—they had to be invited. But once a deal was struck? They were in.
And reapers? Yeah, they could hang on for decades inside a reaper. Deacon knew that fact firsthand.
His stomach twisted at the thought, but he shook it off, looking ahead with a heavy sigh.
Seriously, this line? Still. Not. Moving?
God, he needed a freakin’ vacation. Extended. He dragged a hand through his hair in frustration as his mind flipped through postcard-esque locations of reapings past. He snarled at the thought of New Orleans in summer. He would definitely want to go someplace cool—cool as in frigid, not hip. He was sick of the heat, and it was only the beginning of summer in the semitropical Midwest.
Come to think of it, he was sick of a lot of things.
This place was high on the list. It was as hot as…well, Hell actually. Or at least what he imagined Hell to be, although he’d never actually been there. Thank God.
Steam rose from random cracks in the stone floor of the underground station, veiling the place in a humid sulfur stench.
He pushed forward, finally making his way to the front to deposit his cargo of souls. He didn’t bother chatting. In. Out. Move on. It was a motto that served him well.
Mission completed, he hustled through the crowd, forgoing the bar-side frivolity of some of the more socially inclined reapers and their small talk about their glory days in the field or—even better—the missteps of the newest reapers. Newbies often tested their limits to humorous if not disastrous effect at least once in their early careers. That was exactly why new reapers had mentors or at least worked in teams. From all the laughter, he could tell that the stories were good ones. It didn’t tempt him.
He slapped his palm against the black granite monolith and flashed out of Purgatory to what he prayed was his last stop of the day.
If you are like me, you want more…check out the links above to buy your very own copy of Reap & Repent. :)
Lisa Medley writes reapers. The grim kind. Her urban fantasy romance, Reap & Repent is available now in a Harlequin E Box Set with three other Harlequin debut authors. A lover of beasties of all sorts, she has a farm full of them in her SW MO home including: one child, one husband, two dogs, two cats, a dozen hens, thousands of Italian bees and a guinea pig. Not so in love with the guinea pig. She can do ten pushups IN A ROW and may or may not have a complete zombie apocalypse bug-out bag in her trunk at all times. Just. In. Case.How did you come to write Reap & Repent?
Writing Reapers Was All A Mystery To Me--I didn’t originally sit down to write a book about reapers. Reapers aren’t sexy. Reapers are death. And skeletal. And…grim. I first tried writing about vampires because, well, VAMPIRES. When I gave my first 30K of my first real novel attempt to my BFF, her reply was, “It’s good, but what makes it different?”
Erm, nothing. Same old story. Same old (okay, old but HOT vampires). I needed something that hadn’t been reincarnated for the umpteenth bazillionth time. Something that might stand out in a crowded field of paranormal monsters in love.
I chose reapers. And then I set out to make them better. Still human looking but human DELUXE! Lots of dark potential there. I sat down and got to work making a world for them to live in, threw in some demons, an evil fallen angel and the Reaper Series was born.
Reap & Repent is Deacon and Ruth’s story.
Once I started writing, it didn’t take long for Deacon and Ruth to take over. I wasn’t telling their story. They were telling their story. About halfway through, I realized we all three needed a plan and finally sat down and organized all of the sticky notes, which had previously been decorating my car dashboard, writing cave desk and notebooks. I typed them up and printed them out.
HOLY COW, I had a plot! So THAT’s how that happens.
From that point on, I put Deacon and Ruth in peril, threw roadblocks in their way, and let their love grow until I reached the end, some eighty thousand words later. And THE END ends with one of my favorite things. BACON.
Where can we buy Reap & Repent?
Reap & Repent is available March 3, 2014 in a Harlequin E Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance Box Set with the works of three other amazing new Harlequin authors! Reap & Repent will be available for single-title release June 2, 2014.
AMAZON: http://amzn.to/1gF6Q98
B&N: http://bit.ly/1gz4x7M
KOBO: http://bit.ly/1cSZBam
ITUNES: http://bit.ly/1njOngj
Harlequin: http://bit.ly/1gf0Cbs
How can fans follow you?
You can follow me on social media here: Lisa Medley, Author Blog, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Amazon Author Page, Pinterest
What is a summary of Reap & Repent?
Deacon Walker is a burned out loner, whose two hundred years as a reaper have left him empty inside. But when he meets Ruth Scott, a gorgeous shut-in with unusual gifts, he’s forced to set his career complacency aside to train her for a destiny she never knew existed. Soon the two will face the ultimate test: a battle against demons determined to destroy humanity, one soul at a time.
If you’d like to see how it all plays out, here’s your chance. Book one of the reaper series, Reap & Repent, is available now. Here’s a taste. This is from the prologue:
What does a guy have to do around here to get some service? Deacon Walker marveled as he glared at the undulating queue of grotesque reapers in front of him.
For all that’s holy, move the hell along already.
It had been a long week, and it wasn’t over yet. He needed to make at least one more pass through the hospital circuit before he could call it a day. He could already feel the tug of a freshly departed soul. Again. People were dropping like flies lately.
He massaged his brow, trying to soothe his exhausted patience as the line inched forward at a snail’s pace.
He was worn thin. Over the past few weeks, three demon soul poachers had popped up in his fair city of Meridian like poisonous mushrooms after a hard rain. While it wasn’t unheard of for one to slip out from Hell every now and then, three was a nightmare.
When it got topside, a demon’s M.O. was to steal a human body, poach a few souls from the dead and dying, and then make its merry way back to Hell, taking its host’s soul along for the ride. The only way to save the souls a poacher was carrying was to behead the host with a scythe. Not a pretty thing to do, but the poor suckers were too far gone by then to survive anyway. No human could withstand the pressures of being ridden by a demon. And it was worth it to save a handful of souls, not to mention inconveniencing the demon.
Deacon refused to lose any souls from his territory. At all.
So far the score was Deacon, 3. Demons, 0.
As a reaper, carrying souls to Purgatory for judgment was his job and he wasn’t about to cede his territory to poachers who used up their hosts like they were disposable Tupperware. So now, in addition to his normal day job, he also had to keep an eye out for more demon invaders.
While demons burned through most human hosts in a matter of days, some in a matter of hours, they had discovered long ago that under the right circumstances they could ride a reaper. Of course, they couldn’t just worm their way in like they did with humans—they had to be invited. But once a deal was struck? They were in.
And reapers? Yeah, they could hang on for decades inside a reaper. Deacon knew that fact firsthand.
His stomach twisted at the thought, but he shook it off, looking ahead with a heavy sigh.
Seriously, this line? Still. Not. Moving?
God, he needed a freakin’ vacation. Extended. He dragged a hand through his hair in frustration as his mind flipped through postcard-esque locations of reapings past. He snarled at the thought of New Orleans in summer. He would definitely want to go someplace cool—cool as in frigid, not hip. He was sick of the heat, and it was only the beginning of summer in the semitropical Midwest.
Come to think of it, he was sick of a lot of things.
This place was high on the list. It was as hot as…well, Hell actually. Or at least what he imagined Hell to be, although he’d never actually been there. Thank God.
Steam rose from random cracks in the stone floor of the underground station, veiling the place in a humid sulfur stench.
He pushed forward, finally making his way to the front to deposit his cargo of souls. He didn’t bother chatting. In. Out. Move on. It was a motto that served him well.
Mission completed, he hustled through the crowd, forgoing the bar-side frivolity of some of the more socially inclined reapers and their small talk about their glory days in the field or—even better—the missteps of the newest reapers. Newbies often tested their limits to humorous if not disastrous effect at least once in their early careers. That was exactly why new reapers had mentors or at least worked in teams. From all the laughter, he could tell that the stories were good ones. It didn’t tempt him.
He slapped his palm against the black granite monolith and flashed out of Purgatory to what he prayed was his last stop of the day.
If you are like me, you want more…check out the links above to buy your very own copy of Reap & Repent. :)
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