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Thursday, March 29, 2012

Friday Plot Swap: Awkward Family Photo Style

Dawn's Plot Swap
Have a plot? Leave one.
Need a plot ? Take one.
 It's been a difficult week for me. A really, really difficult week. You can read this post or this one for details. 
But, the week is over! And, so is this month (almost). 
In honor of that, I needed a good laugh.
is one of my "go-to" sites for a giggle.
 So, here is our plot swap for this week. Under what circumstance would these pictures EVER make sense? What dialogue would be involved? What if your hero or heroine found one of these of their love interest? 
 Out of work children's show actors? 
 
  um, yeah...I got nothing on this one.
 Future romance novel cover models! 
 
 Swap with me! What would you make of these? What photos do you have floating around that would spark an interesting plot? Feel free to share a link if you are brave enough to post them on your own blog. 
 
If you need more inspiration, you can check out the previous Family Photo Plot Swap. 

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

The Reason Is You~ Book Review

Thinking about Thursday

Sharla Lovelace
      As I mentioned in the interview with Sharla last week,  I loved this book. Yes, Sharla is my friend and I respect her as a writer, but even if I hated her, I would still love this book.
 Here is a short synopsis for you:
 
Dani Shane just wants her daughter to have what she never did—a normal life.  But “normal” leaves the equation when sixteen-year old Riley is found talking to Dani’s only friend, Alex—who has been dead for forty years.
In the small river town of Bethany, Dani never fit in.  Being different pushed her to the fringes of society, and even leaving town for two decades didn’t stop the talk.  Now that she’s back, so is Alex.  Mischievous and sexy and still hot enough to melt her shoes.  Between his popping in at inopportune moments and her having to hide her daughter’s new talent, Dani fears that her plans for staying under the radar may be short-lived.
As Dani scrambles to get solid footing under her family, secrets buried for forty years begin to unearth themselves.  She and Alex have always been connected, but he is hiding something.  The computer is making her hear things.  Weird memories that she doesn’t recognize keep popping up in her mind.  Then there’s that little thing she hasn’t told her daughter yet—that some of the people she sees aren’t breathing.

The voice of the characters is what sucked me in. I felt an immediate connection to Dani and to her daughter. It was like reading about a family I already knew.

Dani is a frazzled, mom-trying-to-do-her-best, type character that any of us 30-40 somethings can identify with. She is flawed and honest, which makes you root for her without pitying her.

Riley is a quick-witted, sassy, teenager who doesn't come off as annoying or stereotypical. I love that her reactions to her situations are authentic and not glossed over.

And, Alex? Well, Alex is just flat hot... especially for a dead guy!

Psst, I'll let you in a little secret... There may or may not be another guy who is pretty steamy, too!

More than once I laughed aloud and more than once I teared up.

Sharla weaves the story in a way draws you in and makes you want to stay in Bethany. For the record, I read it mostly in one sitting. My kids had popcorn for dinner and my husband went to work the next day wearing mismatched socks because all I did was read.

Days later, I was still thinking about the characters. Now, that is a sign of a good book!

 releases April 3rd. 

You can connect with Sharla at www.sharlalovelace.com, as well as… Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads under ‘sharlalovelace’.





Thursday, March 22, 2012

Friday Plot Swap~ Weirdness

Dawn's Plot Swap
Have a plot? Leave one.
Need a plot ? Take one.
Here is what I have for you this week. 
Just general weirdness.

AMERICAN narcotics agents have intercepted two parcels of marijuana valued at $70,000 en route to one of the nation's biggest publishers, St Martin's Press
 
I bet if they dug to the bottom they would find a query letter and manuscript. Just a hopeful author trying to stand out in the slush pile. 
 
 
This gives new meaning to "things that go bump in the night". 
 
A Malaysian shoe store has launched a promotion that is too bizarre to make up: "Get a pair of shoes from Shoes Shoes Shoes and get a free man."

There are just so many ways this one could go. It is actually an online dating site...kind of. 

So, swap with me! What kind of weirdness is going on in your world these days? 
 
Need more weirdness?  
 You can check out the previous Weirdness Plot Swap here.
Or some Things that make you go hmmm here.

 
 
                                 

Why I hate March

Thinking about Thursday

I hate March.

I hope you will forgive me a little slip into the puddle of self-pity today. I don't do it often, and rarely in public.  You see, eight years ago this month was the worst moment of my entire life.

But, it was eight years ago, and I'm supposed to be passed it now. I am supposed to be a grown up and reasonable. I'm not supposed to sit and cry like it was yesterday or throw myself on the floor and scream, "It's not fair!" like I really want to do. Anyway, I've tried both and neither are particularly productive.

Usually, I just keep going. That's what we do, right? Just keep swimming in the sea of denial. Because if you stop, you might have to deal with it, and if you deal with it, it might be real.

So, ignore the fact you can't hardly breathe, plug your fingers in your ears and sing happy thoughts to yourself while pretending everything is fine.

Works for me. Or at least it did until my neighbor two doors over lost her father today the same way I lost mine.

Then March jumped up and smacked me in the face.

So, I hate March.
Cancer sucks.

I'll be better tomorrow.
That is all.




Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Sharla Lovelace

Tell Me Your Story Tuesday



Welcome

I am so excited to have Sharla with us again. We got to hang out last year at DFWCon and she is just awesome! 
She visited with us once before. You can read all about that here.

Today, Sharla is here to talk about her debut release

Which I have read and y'all should be jealous because it is great! 

So, Let's get to know more about Sharla! 

First, tell us about The Reason Is You.  
Dani Shane just wants her daughter to have what she never did—a normal life.  But “normal” leaves the equation when sixteen-year old Riley is found talking to Dani’s only friend, Alex—who has been dead for forty years.
In the small river town of Bethany, Dani never fit in.  Being different pushed her to the fringes of society, and even leaving town for two decades didn’t stop the talk.  Now that she’s back, so is Alex.  Mischievous and sexy and still hot enough to melt her shoes.  Between his popping in at inopportune moments and her having to hide her daughter’s new talent, Dani fears that her plans for staying under the radar may be short-lived.
As Dani scrambles to get solid footing under her family, secrets buried for forty years begin to unearth themselves.  She and Alex have always been connected, but he is hiding something.  The computer is making her hear things.  Weird memories that she doesn’t recognize keep popping up in her mind.  Then there’s that little thing she hasn’t told her daughter yet—that some of the people she sees aren’t breathing. 

 It has such an interesting premise. What inspired you or planted the seed for you to write this book?
Honestly?  A hot vampire.  Mick St. John on the long gone Moonlight television show.  

Think of Mick, the blue-eyed, gorgeous vampire always in black, with the sexy smile and snarky wit, that was basically forbidden for Beth to be with.  Yeah…. I was smitten.
I was heavy into reruns of Moonlight when I was playing with a story of a single mom of a teenage daughter.  I’m a character-driven writer, finding my peeps before I find the story, and all I knew so far was that my main character’s name was Dani Shane, and she was stressed and tired and headed back to her hometown to start over.  Someplace she didn’t want to go.
Then my show ended, and I wanted more.  And suddenly Dani needed a forbidden love like that.  Maybe someone she could never really be with.  Maybe someone that was going to make her return home both exciting and migraine-worthy.  While I love vampire shows, I don’t write about them, so it couldn’t be a vampire.  But a ghost….ooooh, someone she couldn’t even touch.  That was the ticket.

Who was your favorite character to write in this book and why?
Probably the most fun was Riley, the sixteen year old daughter.  She was a blast, with all her snarky little quips and knowledge beyond her years demeanor.  And she came very honestly, as some of her ways and comments came straight out of my daughter’s mouth.  I live with my research.  Miss Olivia was fun, too, because she holds nothing back.

What is your favorite part of the writing process? First draft, editing, etc.?
I have a crazy process, since I don’t plot.  I come up with the idea and start playing with it, and then once I start writing, I edit as I go, constantly going back and feeding things in as things change.  It’s exhausting and exhilarating and I curse it and love it at the same time.  So my first draft is nearly done, it’s just line editing after that, but that first draft beats me up every single day.  J  Probably my absolute favorite time is the very beginning infatuation stage when all the ideas are new and nothing has given me heartburn yet.

Tell us about getting the call from the agent that the book had sold. What was the first thing you did?
I squealed like a girl.  My agent laughed, as I’m sure she’s used to that sort of thing.  I was pretty much useless for the rest of that day.

What has been the most unexpected (good or bad) part of the publishing process for you?
Being out of the loop on what happens next.  I think I thought that making it through that “door” would be like Heaven when all is made known to you?  LOL!  Trust me when I say that before this time you know more than you will ever know about the stage you’re in.  As a pre-published writer, there is everything under the sun out there in articles and classes and blogs…how-to’s on everything from writing to queries to agents and editors.  It’s covered.  The other side of that door is like an ant bed.  The people that need to know, do.  They handle their part.  Other people handle their parts.  You find out what you need to do as they feed it to you.  There’s no manual or process and every book is different so I can’t even say I’m prepared now for the second one.  It’s all crazy, but it’s the best kind of crazy. 

What was the best thing you did to help yourself through this process?
Started writing another book so I could stay in my happy place.

 What suggestions would you have for others trying to make the leap to "published author"?
Learn about publishing houses ahead of time.  I knew nothing about any of the houses, because I assumed my agent would know all that for me.  She does, and I’m lucky to have her, but one of the first questions she asked me was, “What houses do you want to pitch to?  Which ones do you visualize working with?”  I was like, “What?”  I had no clue.  So we went with her instincts, and I was lucky to get into Berkley, but I wish I would have had some knowledge beforehand.

Tell us about your next book. When can we look for it?
The next book is called BEFORE AND EVER SINCE, and it is due out November of this year.  It’s not a sequel to REASON, it’s a whole new story.  I’ll tell you the tagline for it…  “Is there really such a thing as a little secret?”    The blurb and new cover for it will be revealed on my website the week after REASON releases.

Where can we find you? 

At my website
www.sharlalovelace.com, as well as… Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads under ‘sharlalovelace’.

Want to know more about Sharla? You could ask her about her 19 cocktails, her old lady dog or crab hunting in an Honduran jungle. No, I didn't make the last one up!

Also, next week I will be posting a completely unbiased review of The Reason Is You. Spoiler Alert: LOVED IT!

Friday, March 16, 2012

Police, Pranks and Popping the Question

Dawn's Plot Swap
Have a plot? Leave one.
Need a plot ? Take one.
I went for a little bit of variety this week. 


You know this is a "Rogue, hard-boiled detective gets slapped back to traffic duty but uncovers the crime of his career" story waiting to happen! Or, if you prefer romance, "speeding woman swerves to miss a leprechaun in the road and is ticketed by the hot police officer of her dreams." 
Can you think of any better ideas?
 
My first thought with this one was
But there are several other ways this could go, maybe the number wasn't random. Maybe the girl knows something and was trying to get help. Or maybe it doesn't go to a police officer, but someone else who strikes up a friendly conversation claiming to be a classmate from her school, but is he really what he says? 

The lure of a $6000 diamond ring on the special date of February 29 prompted a Dunedin woman to pop the question...

I loved that she asked him. Evidently, there is some kind of English tradition of woman asking men on Leap Day. So much you could do with that. 
 
So, Swap with me! Could you make something good out of these? What do you have going on in your WIP right now? Heard any good plots lately ?
 
 


Saturday, March 10, 2012

Friday Plot Swap~ Spring Break Style





Dawn's Plot Swap
Have a plot? Leave one.
Need a plot ? Take one.
         As my fabulous critique partner, Teri Anne Stanley, said yesterday:

Well, Heaven knows we all have a few spring break stories that we should NEVER EVER tell.

As usual, she is right! 
So, instead of telling mine, I thought some 
 might do the trick. 



(914):

Have you seen Dave? He's not on top of the bar anymore but I found his shirt.

(201):

Dude, so the police showed up at my house with my wallet told me they found it in the church fountain then handed me a pamphlet on AA saying it was from the pastor. What happened?


 

 

 

 

 

 

(772):

So I met my girlfriends dad last night. Or should I say I re-met that mall cop that had to tackle me.







 So, swap with me! In what kind of wild situation could  your characters use these lines as dialogue? Got any good Spring Break stories you want to share? Let it all out. We won't judge!