Blog: Wearing the PP Crown today is guest Delaine Roberts & Running to You

Hi, Delaine and welcome to

the Plotting Princesses.

Let's jump right in and

get to know more about you!

How did you get from your day job to writing romance? I’ve always played around with writing. During my Master’s Degree program, my professors suggested that I explore writing. I decided to listen to them. So many things happen in my day job as a Medical Sales Rep that I think “that would make a great story!”

What are your three favorite books of all time? Palomino by Danielle Steel, Exposed to You by Beth Kery and Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie.

Morning, afternoon, or evening person? Evening for sure!

Music--with or without? With!!! What kind? Pop and Jazz

First or third POV? First

Blog: Where are Liese Sherwood-Fabre and Vicki Batman?

Over here! *waving hands wildly* at the

DPL International Book Fair, 4/27 12-5

Founded in 2006 the Dallas International Book Fair is an annual literary event showcasing works by national and internationally acclaimed authors as well as regional and local authors representing diverse regions of the world. This family event offers artistic and cultural performances, film and book presentations, educational workshops and children’s activities. The goal is to promote a love for books, reading and literacy through multilingual and multicultural activities.

Hopefully, you can say hi, buy a book, get an autograph, just have fun.

The library is located at: 1515 Young St. Dallas, TX 75201

And for more information, go to: http://DallasInternationalBookFair.com

Blog: The Plotting Princesses' Guest-Eva Gordon & Apocalyptic Moon

 Today, the Plotting Princesses are handing off a tiara to Eva Gordon for a special author interview. Welcome, Eva. Sit back, hang out and let me peel you some grapes while we probe your thoughts.

How did you get from your day job to writing romance?  My day job used to be teaching high school AP Biology and Anatomy/Physiology and though I loved teaching, I caught the writing bug and was never cured. It all started when I began telling my students fictional stories about my life. I had my first fantasy published and I decided to quit teaching and devote my life to writing stories waiting in line to be told.

What are your three favorite books of all time?  So many, yikes. Hmm. I loved the Outlander series, Kushiel’s Dart series, and the Sword of Truth series.

Morning, afternoon, or evening person? Morning.

Music--with or without? What kind? Always music. Long Spotify and Pandora play list. The music depends on what novel. Heavy metal to classical. While writing Apocalyptic Moon, I listened to many renditions of The Walking Dead, Evil Residence and other soundtracks that reflected the zombie apocalypse mood. For Lycan Gladiator I listened to the soundtrack for The Gladiator and real ancient Roman music.

First or third POV?  Third person. One day I will attempt first person.

PP Guest: Tiffinie Helmer-EDGE

Hi, Tiffinie, and welcome to the PP where everyone wears a crown.

Here's yours and may I say you look fabulous!

Let's get to know Tiffinie!

How did you get from your day job to writing romance? I’ve always written romances, since I love a happy ever after. But it wasn’t until my husband finally finished college, and my last child of four entered kindergarten, that I started writing for publication.

What are your three favorite books of all time? Wow, this is hard. I have so many authors that I love to read. To Die For by Linda Howard, Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie, and A Grave Denied by Dana Stabenow. I have a love for sex, murder, and humor. Hmm…that about sums up the books I write.

Morning, afternoon, or evening person?

Oh, evening. There is magic at midnight.

Music--with or without? What kind?

Definitely with music. I actually chose music depending on the scene I’m writing. BEARING ALL is a spy story, and I wrote the whole thing to tango music.

Michelle Miles: How popular are you?

Photo courtesy Zimbio.Com

A few days ago, my son (who is 11) and I were running a few errands. One of the stops was the post office in which I was mailing a box of swag and a free book as well as an envelope with some swag. He held up the envelope and asked if that was bookmarks. I said yes and that they were for a reader.

Then the conversation went like this:

"Mom, how popular are you?"

"What do you mean?"

"In your book stuff. How popular are you?"

I couldn’t help it. I laughed. "I’m pretty much a nobody, son."

He didn’t seem to believe me. "But on a scale of 1 to 100, how popular are you?"

I laughed again. I guess to him I am SUPER popular because I have books and talk about writing pretty much 24/7. I’m sure my husband and son are sick of me. It’s all consuming. Just ask them. Poor guys.

When I didn’t respond, he said, "Like...are you a 60 or an 80?"

Bless his little heart. He thinks I’m that popular. I muttered, "More like a 20."

And then we had a long discussion about genre fiction. One of his questions was, "Why don’t you write science fiction or fantasy, Mom?"

I think that’s a sign, don’t you?

Blog: Vicki Batman-Stinky Cheese?

Stinky Cheese?

A while back, I told a girlfriend I was in a rut. I wanted to do some new things. Here's some ideas we explored:

Tatting-need more lessons.

Mah jongg-still learning, but have improved.

Basketweaving-class cancelled.

Crochet-liked, but went back to needlepoint.

Basic Plumbing-shall try when offered again.

But when this one caught my eye, I was all over it in a heartbeat. Cheesemaking 101.

The only thing I knew about cheese is eating it. But this store and the founder has a world-wide reputation. The Julia visited here. The cheese is served on American and Virgin airlines. The best restaurants use it.

The company is located in a reviving area of town. Part of the 100 year-old tile floor is in the entry. We signed our names, got aprons, hairnets, washed hands. The class, led by the founder and owner, started with the company's history. Then, we toured the facility with her describing the various cheeses in the cooler.

PP Guest: D'Ann Lundun & Desert Heat

         

A warm Plotting Princess welcome to D'Ann Lindun who is sharing a bit about her new contemporary western, Desert Heat

Have you ever seen petroglyphs? If not, I have to tell you they are the neatest thing ever! Carvings etched into rocks, hundreds, if not thousands of years old.

I have been lucky enough to see them here in Colorado and also in Arizona. Both times on trail rides, right next to the trail. I don’t usually take something straight from my life and put it into one of my books, but this scene is very close:

At the boulders overlooking the ranch, she dismounted and tied Zorro to a Palo Verde’s branch.  She gave his neck a quick pat and turned to admire the view.  Sitting back on her heels, she studied the land.  No one seemed to be around on the ranch, so she lifted her face and looked into the distance.  Even the brown cloud over Phoenix was less today.  The Superstitions looked like rolling green hills, thanks to the rain.  From here she could almost see to Mexico.   She noticed Canyon Lake in the distance and where Tortilla Flat should be, but she couldn’t see it from here.

Nothing jumped out at her, so she stood and moved to the rock with the Native American drawings.  Tracing her fingers over the rough surface of the rock, she didn’t see anything she knew.  A stick figure looked like a man, and another figure might’ve been a horse or a mule.  But she wasn’t sure.  Some symbols resembled letters, but she didn’t read Apache or whatever language they were written in.

Closing her eyes, she traced the marks again. 

Her fingers slid over rough granite, but nothing struck her. 

Something here had drawn her back, but what?  Just the mystique of the characters?  No, it was more.  She opened her eyes and stepped back. 

Then she saw it.

What Makes A Perfect Hero?

Short answer: his imperfections.

But which imperfection? Which flaws make us love a hero most? And which redeeming qualities
make our hearts go pitter-pat? 

Is it the dark brooding hero who finally learns to love? Or is it the bad boy with an engaging sense of humor? The aloof arrogant fellow with a secretly sensitive heart? The wounded beast who risks everything for the woman he loves?

Undoubtedly, the answer is different for each of us.

We could talk about hero archetypes. But I prefer not to use archetypes in my writing. There’s nothing wrong with them and in the end I suppose we could squish most characters into one archetype or another. But for me it spoils the fun of developing a character. Just as I don’t categorize my real live friends I don’t want to pigeonhole my characters. I enjoy the surprise of unraveling a character’s psyche as I write the story. So just for today let’s ignore archetypes and talk about what specific characteristics makes us fall in love with a hero.

Let’s analyze a couple of the fictional heroes we love...

Michelle Miles: Tempting Eden Release Day!

Hi, everyone! I'm super excited to release my erotic paranormal romance today! TEMPTING EDEN is the first in the new Guardians of Atlantis series and is full of hot sex and hot Atlantis guys. It's available from Smashwords, Amazon and Barnes & Noble (and coming soon from All Romance eBooks!).

To celebrate today's release, I'm giving away one eBook copy to a lucky commenter so be sure to stick around to the end of the post.

Blurb:

Eden doubts a trip to the Bahamas will make her forget her cheating boyfriend, empty bank account and dead-end job. But when her best friend insists the trip is what she needs to forget her troubles, Eden can’t refuse the all-expenses paid vacation. Little does she know a new kind of trouble awaits.

As an elite Guardian of Atlantis, Sabre is on a mission to bring back human females from the surface. The lost continent’s lead geneticist wants to impregnate the women, mixing Atlantean DNA with human genetic material in order to save their dying race. If Sabre refuses, his sister will be killed. Despite his revulsion to such a mission he has no choice but to obey.

When Sabre walks out of the sea and finds Eden on the beach, he can read her deepest fantasies loud and clear. At first it’s enough to simply bring them to life, touching her to ecstasies she’s never before experienced. But when his heart falls under her spell he knows he can’t take her back to the scientists and a life as a guinea pig. He intends to keep her for himself…no matter the price.

Excerpt:

ESCAPING REALITY by Kathy Ivan

ESCAPING REALITY WITH A GOOD BOOK

I've had a lot on my mind lately that hasn't been writing related. The real world seems to be flexing its muscles and put me in a headlock and it hasn't been fun. Between job stress, deadlines, health scares with dear friends and associated other things, taking a little time for myself ends up at the bottom of the list.

It shouldn't. Not for any of us. Life's stressful enough—we can use a little escapism from reality. It's healthy for our psyche and our spirits. A fresh new book does that for me.



I can immerse myself in the life and times of people I don't know, places I've never been, or even a galaxy far, far away. Starting a new book is grand adventure for my mind. I get to know each character, care about their goals. I root for the good guys to overcome every obstacle the villain throws their way, urging them to pick themselves up and persevere.

Dog Or Cat Person

We have two dachshunds that we just love to pieces. Our little male Putz would lick you to death and is a cuddler. He has to be in the same room you’re in or right up next to you if you’re on the couch. He's always close.  (Putz is the light brown long haired and Ashley is the dark wire haired dachshunds. They like to sit on my husband's desk while he works.)

Ashley, our little female dachshund, is head dog. The toys are all hers, both dog beds are hers, the food is all hers and yet she loves Putz. She will bite him on the ear and pull him in the direction she wants him to go. She’s the fierce protector and barks at anything that moves or sometimes doesn’t move. Yet she’s afraid of everything. She will be barking one moment and cowering under the bed the next.

Their personalities are so different and yet we enjoy both of them. Our vet calls them the wild bunch, and when we go into the vet’s office, they cower in fear while the office staff loves on them. They know, the visit is not going to be fun and when we leave, they prance out the door so happy to be going home.