The PP Gals welcome Keta Diablo & her historicals, Sky Dance & Sky Tinted Water

Why I wrote Sky Tinted Water and Sky Dance

First of all, I'd like to thank the Plotting Princesses for hosting me today, and I'd also like to thank you for stopping by. Much appreciated.

Some readers have asked how I choose certain time settings for my books, or maybe a better question would be why? You've probably noticed there aren't many romance novels set during the Civil War, but it happens to be a period in our history that fascinates me. I think about the thousands of lives lost and the boundaries crossed when family members chose sides. It wasn’t uncommon to find cousin fighting against cousin or neighbor against neighbor. The Civil War was a deeply personal war for many, and yet in the end, many soldiers forgot why they were fighting.

It's hard to imagine a country so divided, harder still to think families were torn apart by principles, beliefs and ideals. Imagine drawing a line across the United States – the top half fights for one side and the bottom for the other. And suppose you had beloved family living in Texas and you live in Wisconsin? You can see where I'm going with this, right?

 

Vicki Batman: A Wacky Romantic Getaway-San Diego or Bust launch party!

Ever had a Wacky Romantic Getaway?

Launching:

San Diego or Bust!!!

  

Blurb: When a young woman plans a romantic getaway with her boyfriend, disaster strikes, and she finds her Mr. Right could be a different guy.

          My boyfriend is a dirt wad. I just decided.

          With a humpf, I dragged my pink tote up the narrow aisle to the plane's exit, accidentally banging it into the seats along the way. The relieving notion of being back home in Sommerville caused the tension in my chest to fade a smidgen.

          A quick peek to the exit told me where Davis, my boyfriend, stood waiting for the okay from the ground crew to head out. His glance my way didn't look at all pleasant. Similar to one wrapped in disappointment with a downward tilt of his mouth.

          I didn't care much. I just decided.

          The words creep, jerk, moron, and “why in the hell am I still dating him??” jumbled my thoughts around. My heart pounded as anxiety ratcheted inside me again.

          Maybe I shouldn’t. Maybe I should not put up with him anymore.

          The deepest part of me knew I shouldn’t be with Davis Griffith Swansea, III any longer. I was just in denial. Over the past year, I’d had brief, momentary twinges of dumping him; then, he’d go and do something incredibly romantic like bring me Godiva chocolates—“I know how you love these.” Or buy me a new book by my favorite author—“I happened to see this today.” Or whisk me off to an intimate dinner à deux at the latest and greatest bistro--"I know you'll like this place."

          My head had gone stupid.

PlottingPrincesses: Complete the sentence day!

Complete the sentence day!

We provide the sentence and you fill in with another or even a paragraph!

Happy imagination!

Once upon a time, a husband gave his wife three wishes. The first was_______.

National Celebrate Your Genre Day

I write mysteries. You write or read the (fill in the blank) genre. What makes us so different?

I’ve been thinking a lot about this since my latest book SHATTERED released last week. If you ask me about my stories, I will tell you every time that SHATTERED is my favorite, the book of my heart. This was the first book I ever wrote, and I don’t even want to tell you how long it took!

It was also the book that got some of the best rejections I’ve ever had. The consensus was that although there was much to be loved about it, you can’t have a romance set in a Third World country nor can you have two heroes in one book. And God forbid if the hero doesn’t show up until the middle of the book. I’m pretty sure the guns and explosions didn’t win anyone over, either.

You see, I was trying to sell SHATTERED (originally titled SHATTERED DREAMS) as a romance. I even had an excerpt from a poem in the front of the book from the great Kahil Gibran’s The Prophet about how love can make you feel like you’re on top of a mountain one minute and then shatter your dreams the next. That makes it a romance, right? Wrong.

Hi, my name is Michelle. And I’m a Trekkie

I have a confession to make. Long before the days of ST:TNG (that’s Star Trek: The Next Generation for those of you who don’t know), I was into Star Trek. I watched the original series with humble devotion. Back then there was no such thing as a DVR (horrors) and I set my VCR (remember those?) to record every episode of the old three-season show.

Was it cheesy? Yes, of course it was. We always expected at least one Red Shirt to get killed during the show. Because, as we all knew, Captain Kirk, Spock and Bones would never get a scratch. “The Trouble With Tribbles” was a natural favorite. “A Piece of the Action” another. I loved seeing Kirk & Co. in 1930s Chicago-esque clothes toting real guns.

Plotting Princesses: Just Because We Can

Just Because We Can…

Recently, the Plotting Princesses issued our first newsletter. (In case you want to sign up, put your email in the comment section below this post or sign up on our site: http://plottingprincesses.blogspot.com/.)

Lots of you were very kind and enthusiastic with your yes! when we asked for subscribers. So totally unbeknownst to you, Vicki decided to do a drawing from the email list.

And our winner is... SHARON BUCHBINDER!!!!

Sharon is a longtime friend of the PP and we are thrilled she has won.

So stay tuned to the PP, join our mailing list and maybe--Vicki has that twinkle in her eye--we'll do something when our June newsletter is issued.

Again congratulations, Sharon!

Blog: Plotting Princess Vicki Batman on Writing Love Letters?

Love Letters

Two days after Valentine's Day, I received a hand-written letter from Handsome. It is quite...beautiful.

After I finished re-reading it, I began to think about when was the last time I'd written a love letter or even a letter.

Nothing.

When my elderly neighbor moved to the East Coast to be near her family, I wrote letters quite frequently for I knew how much she'd cherished the ones her family had written. She read them over and over and shared bits of information with her close neighbors. I felt like I knew them like my own family. 

PP Vicki Batman-Something for Nothing: STORE WARS

It's Free: Store Wars!

Today, MuseItUp Publishing is offering my fun and sexy contemporary romance, Store Wars, for free.

Blurb: Janie's heart's desire is to open her own store, but that could be thwarted when her old love is back in town, running the competition's business.

Excerpt:  "Store Wars"

How to Seduce a Girl in the 30's by Alisha Paige

Come on, beauty queen, we better get going,” Cliff said as he led Louise to the front door and out into the February night air.
Louise smiled to herself as he helped her into her father’s sparkling Tin-Lizzy. He always said the sweetest things. No one had ever called her a beauty queen. Always the charmer, she thought to herself. No wonder the women were coming in droves.
Cliff whistled as she pulled her leg into the car. He had never seen her wear stockings and he instantly hardened at the sight. God, he had always thought of Louise as a little girl, but lately, she didn’t look like one so much. In fact, she looked darn right delicious in that red velvet dress and her hair all done up in a bow, revealing that creamy, delectable neck of hers that just went on and on.
Cliff had never been tempted by all the women that flung themselves at him, practically on a daily basis. He was waiting for Louise, but it stunned him that he no longer had to wait for her to grow up. Louise had become a stunning woman and though she was only sixteen, he was going on twenty and he wondered how much longer he’d have to hold off. He told himself to drive straight to the dance. One kiss on the side of the road could be dangerous and he didn’t want to risk it. My, she was a vision and he couldn’t wait to show her off.
“Tell me something, Louise,” Cliff asked, squeezing her hand.
“Yes,” Louise asked, batting her eyes at him in the moonlight. She knew for sure that she was beautiful tonight. Even she felt it and she could tell that Cliff was pleased. He reminded her of a hungry wolf and in a way, she liked it, though she was a little afraid to explore her feelings.
Lily had already been with a man, but Louise was in no rush. It didn’t sound too fun to her, but Louise didn’t see how it couldn’t be grand with Cliff. Lily wasn’t picky and never in love with any of the boys. Louise figured love might make all the difference in the world.
“When did you decide to grow up?” he asked, cutting her a devilish grin.
“Whatever do you mean, Cliff?” Louise asked, smiling even more wickedly than he, sending his male mind whirling.
Cliff couldn’t help it; he pulled over to the side of the road and turned the engine off.
“Oh, baby, you’re so beautiful,” Cliff breathed softly as he cupped her face gently in his palms, not wanting to muss her hair or her make-up.
Louise noticed his hands shaking and his hot breath fogged up the windows in an instant.
“You like my dress?” Louise asked sweetly.
“Oh, honey, I like you and I think you know how much,” he added as he kissed her softly on the lips.
Louise closed her eyes and was in her perfect place with the perfect boy. She never wanted to leave. This memory would definitely be colored candy apple red. She kissed him back gently and could tell it took a lot of effort for him to hold back and not mess up her lipstick or her powder that mama had so carefully applied. His breathing was ragged and it made her heart race. His tongue teased her tiny lips and she opened them just enough for him to graze past her small teeth and touch the tip of her tongue. The mere hint of her taste sent a whirlwind through Cliff.
Oh, how he wanted his woman-child, but he knew he had to hold back. Suddenly he felt guilty for steaming up her father’s car, even though he knew Bill would never know and probably wouldn’t care. Shoot, Cliff was nearly twenty, how long was he expected to wait? He sighed deeply and touched his forehead to Louise’s. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw at her temples, tendrils of blonde locks bouncing. He was so close to her that he could feel her heart beating. It was beating so fast it was causing her curls to bounce. He was touched as he took her face in his large hands again and kissed her fully on the mouth, forcing her mouth open. He tasted her, devouring her warmth and perfection. Louise pushed gently on the lapel of his overcoat and he released her softly.
“I’m sorry, sugar. I didn’t mean to make a mess of your lipstick.”
Cliff put his hands on the wheel and started the engine. “I couldn’t help it. You’re better than homemade ice cream.”

Want to hear what happened next to Lousie and Cliff? GO HERE TO FIND OUT

Happy Spring Break!

Alisha Paige

Plotting Princess Pamela Stone on Sometimes Life Takes an Interesting and Unexpected Turn

Sometimes, life takes an interesting and unexpected turn. Back before Christmas, I received an email from a guy whose family lived next door to my parents when I was born. He'd tracked me down through my website and wanted to know if I was 'the Pam' who was born in Dallas and lived off East Ohio. If so, did I remember Jimmy from next door?  Oh man did I remember. He and his brother, Robert, were a huge part of those first eight years of my life.

As Jim and I emailed back and forth and swapped memories, he'd send me pictures of some of the things we did as kids. Talk about a stroll down memory lane. Robert was cool too, but he was older and ran around with my aunt and the other teens in the neighborhood. Jim and I were the youngest kids on the block and he got stuck hanging out with me. We were united in our mutual dislike of our red hair and freckles.

My dad had lots of hobbies and Jim and Robert were always in on the fun. Go-karts, fishing, bow and arrows, and even an RC plane. Once when it snowed, Daddy built a cage that we could spread bread crumbs inside. When it filled with birds, I'd pull a string from our warm seats inside the house and the cage would drop the last few inches and trap the birds. Then we'd bundle up and tromp outside. Daddy would point out the different kinds of birds and we'd get a close up look before he'd release them and set the cage up to catch more. We worked all day to catch a cardinal. Here is a picture  Jim sent of him inside the bird trap.

Spring - New Beginnings

When I think of spring, I think of new beginnings, rebirth, changing and falling in love.  I think there is a cliché about in spring a young man’s thoughts turn to love. I love the way the seasons are changing and flowers are blooming, the trees are budding, and the earth is turning green again. Just like the earth, people also have times in their lives when they change and evolve, are reborn or fall in love.

When I was in my thirties, after fifteen years of marriage, I walked out the door and decided this was not what I wanted in life. I had been extremely unhappy for probably fourteen of those fifteen years. There were times it got better, but I could never say I was happy. Not only did it reflect in my marriage, but it reflected in my personality.  I hated my marriage, I hated my job, I hated my life. When you’re an unhappy person, it radiates from you. You become toxic. I was a walking, toxic ball of unhappiness.