Sandi Shilhanek | Anthology - Book Counts

As I contemplated this week’s blog I was really struggling for a good topic, and decided to read instead of worrying over the blog…either an idea would come to me or it wouldn’t!

The book I chose to read is titled Believe by Sharon Sala, but what it is really an anthology collection of three of her earlier releases; Miracle Man, When You Call My Name, and Shades of a Desperado. Now this poses an interesting set of questions…when you read a book that has three complete stories in it, do you count that as one book or as three separate stories? Do you like when the book is stories by just one author, or do you prefer two or more authors to have a story in one volume? Do you want each book to be a full length story, or when you buy an anthology do you prefer short stories that you can read here, there, and everywhere?

Here my indecision comes shining through. I like to have more than one author in the book because it’s a great way to experiment with new authors, but I will only buy the anthology if an author I either love already or having been wanting to try is featured.

I guess this week my question boils down to are you an anthology lover or hater? Longer previously released single titles or a variety of short stories? Do the stories need to have a common link or just be entertaining?

Until next week happy page turning!

Jasmine Haynes | Working Life really is like “The Office".

Thanks so much for having me as your guest. I’m excited to have Berkley releasing SHOW AND TELL this month, the second book in a trilogy that began with THE FORTUNE HUNTER, which won the Holt Medallion for erotic romance.

Here’s a little tidbit about SHOW AND TELL to whet your appetite. All her life Trinity Green has been a pleaser, first her mom and dad, then her husband. When she walks in on her husband with another woman, she realizes that trying to be the perfect wife with never a hair out of place or a smudge of makeup beneath her eyes was all for nothing. Now she's going to indulge herself, with good food, delicious wine, and hot sex. Then she meets the perfect man under the oddest of circumstances...

And Trinity also needs to get a job! That’s where my experiences working in an office atmosphere comes into play for the book. This spring I rented all the DVDs for “The Office.” You might think that show exaggerates what it’s really like, that no real boss is going to say or do stuff like that. But, swear it, they really do. I had a wonderful boss who drove me insane. I remember a time he walked up behind me and snapped my bra strap. I was in shock as he ran down to HR to ask if I could sue him. Another time he asked if I was sleeping with the VP of Manufacturing because the guy had given me such a glowing review. Of course, he didn’t just ask that in private, he yelled it out from his office door over to my cubicle. You might think I disliked this man, but for the most part he was actually a really nice guy. He just had this problem with saying and doing things before he thought them completely through. So, like “The Office” I had to bring along some characters that I worked with for SHOW AND TELL. Specifically, there’s lovely Inga Rice who gives Trinity hell on her new job. In my real life, she was a he. It was a nightmare from which I couldn’t seem to wake. But you know, I was kind of proud of the way I handled this guy in the end. Which is why I’m proud of the way Trinity handled Inga, too. So while much of what I write is totally fiction, a lot is also based on real events, maybe my events, or maybe a story someone else told me.

So, care to share any stories you have from your work? Any bizarre things happen to you recently? Any interesting characters that you’d like to share?

FAIR PLAY, the third book in THE FORTUNE HUNTER trilogy arrives sometime in April 2009. I also have an anthology coming out in December 2008, UNLACED, with stories by three other great writers, Jaci Burton, Joey Hill, and Denise Rossetti. In addition to Jasmine Haynes, many of you know me as Jennifer Skully, writing over-the-top (hopefully hilarious) romantic mysteries, and as JB Skully, I’ve created the Max Starr psychic mystery series. Readers can learn more about all my pseudonyms at http://www.skullybuzz.com/.

Enter my Fresh Fiction blog contest today.

And don't miss my contest with lots of free books and lots of winners, going on now at http://www.skullybuzz.com/contest.html

Jasmine

Gemma Halliday | In Search of Prince Charming…

Dating is hard. I mean, way harder than writing a book. Way harder than getting published. Even harder than walking in five inch stilettos. Mostly, I'm convinced, due to the inordinate amount of frogs out there trying to pass themselves off as Prince Charming. Some of my recent forays into Toadville: a man who, after three weeks of dating, admitted to me he was actually married, a guy who committed a felony (While on a date with me! Hiding from the cops – not my idea of foreplay.), a man who learned English from watching old Seinfeld reruns (If everything in your life relates back to Kramer, you have a problem.), and Hairy. Nope, I didn't spell that wrong. The man was a walking wookie. But, the one that capped it all off, my favorite amphibious fellow, the man with one leg. That's right, just the one. Not one to discriminate (Hey, love comes in all shapes, right?), I went out with him anyway. Until he dumped me. That's right folks, I was dumped by the guy with one leg. See, what I mean? Dating is really hard.

So, as I set out to write my latest story, I'll admit, I was kind of in a jaded place. (Understatement alert.) I decided I was going to write a short about a woman that worked as a decoy to bust cheating husbands. She was hot, kick-butt, and had a bunch of James Bond worthy gadgets. I loved her. (Okay, I'll admit, kinda wanted to be her.) The story started out with her waiting for the mark she was totally going to bust for cheating on his wife. She was all set to seduce him, take photographs, and present them to his wife so she could milk him for beaucoup alimony. (Bwhahaahaha!) But as I wrote, somewhere along the line the story took a turn. Instead of busting him, she started falling for him. Instead of being a cheating creep, he turned into a sexy, suave and actually truly caring guy. Oh, no, what had I done! Despite the frogs I'd kissed lately, I'd turned my story of kick-butt girl revenge into a romance. I realized that no matter how rough it was out there in the dating world, something in me still wanted to believe in real heroes. What can I say? I guess that's why I write romance.

And, I'm happy to report that, while I haven't yet found my frog that morphs into Prince Charming, I'm not giving up on real life romance, either. You can read about my latest dating triumphs and disasters every Friday on the Killer Fiction blog at http://killerfictionwriters.blogspot.com/ And if you're in the mood to have your faith in romance renewed, too, be sure to pick up my short story, "Mark of a Bond Girl", in the Dreams & Desires Vol. 2 anthology to benefit victims of domestic violence, out February 1st!

Gemma Halliday
http://www.gemmahalliday.com/
http://killerfictionwriters.blogspot.com/

Kate St. James | "Good Vibrations" & The Power of Goals

"Good Vibrations" in Red Sage Secrets Volume 21: Primal Heat is my first erotic romance novella. I had a blast writing it, and I'm thrilled to share the story with readers. My heroine, Lexi O'Brien, is funny and practical and dead-set on her goals. She's about to give notice at her quirky aunt's love shop where she works so she can enter a competitive MBA program. In the past, mixing her studies with dating has caused Lexi's grades to suffer, so she's decided to remain celibate for the next two looooooooong years. Then Gage Templeton, her favorite out-of-customer, shows up as she's about to close shop for the night. Lexi realizes this might be her last chance to see him...and her last chance for some hot loving before she straps on her chastity belt. So she does what any bright girl in her position would do--she modifies her goals. Lexi's new goal is to share one wild weekend with Gage and then go merrily on her way. However, Gage has other ideas. Unknown to Lexi, he was raised in her city and is moving home. He has no intention of settling for a short-term affair. So...Lexi's plans are turned upside-down. Have no fear, she rises to the occasion, just as readily as Gage does (sorry, couldn't resist the double entendre).

I'm talking about Lexi's goals because we're about to embark on a new year, and I don't know about you, but I'm allergic to New Year's Resolutions. They make me nervous. They make me feel pinned down. They make me feel like an ant has a greater chance of surviving a volcanic eruption than I do at keeping my New Year's Resolutions. I mean, how many of you have made a Resolution to stop biting your fingernails, for example? To lose ten pounds? You do great for a month or two, and then next thing you know you're nibbling again (on fingernails or snacks!). And now you're a failure, because apparently you have no Resolve.

I changed my feelings about New Year's Resolutions by deciding not to make them any longer. Instead I write up a list of potential goals for the year. Some might say it's just semantics--writing down goals instead of resolutions--but in my mind goals are more malleable. They are subject to change as life changes around us. Let's say, were I making New Year's Resolutions (which I'm not!), I might resolve to sell a single title manuscript. After all, resolving to attempt to sell a single title manuscript doesn't sound very determined. However, by changing the resolution to a "goal," suddenly the pressure decreases. My "goal" might be to sell a single title manuscript, but I can't control if an editor buys it. All I can control is that I send it out and keep sending it out if the rejections trickle in. I'm still putting forth my best effort, I am resolved, but using "goals" instead of "resolutions" helps me break down the goal into baby steps: polishing the manuscript, researching the market, targeting the correct editors, spelling their names right, licking the stamps, slamming that baby in the mail box! Achieving every tiny step toward the larger goal is a mini-goal and achievement in itself. Plus, at that point, aside from following up on the submission, I've done all I can. My "goal" might be to sell the story, however, if the manuscript sits on an editor's desk for over a year, I still have resolve, I've done everything I can to sell that book within the year's time frame. If the story doesn't sell, I can modify my goal: maybe look at the manuscript again with a new eye after (hopefully) getting good feedback from editors and agents, search out new markets, set a new and perhaps more reasonable time-line for hearing back from certain publishers...or even decide to stick the story on the back burner until the market changes.

Or...wonder if another of my goals for the year is to write a story in a new genre? What if, by some miracle, that story sells right away? Suddenly, I could have a new career taking off and so the goal to sell the single title manuscript in the first genre might decrease in importance. I might even strike that goal off my list, temporarily or permanently.

See what I mean about goals being more malleable than resolutions? I'd still have resolve, but my goals would have changed...as life changes.

How about you? Do you make New Year's Resolutions? Or, like me, do they make your head spin? What are your goals for 2008? If you don't achieve the goal, what will you do?

www.katestjames.com/
myspace.com/katestjames


Kate St. James **New Web Site!** www.katestjames.com/
Good Vibrations in Secrets Vol. 21 PRIMAL HEAT, Dec 07
Exes & Ahhhs in Secrets Vo. 26 BOUND BY PASSION, Dec 08

Sabina Jeffries | Why Write Series?

Why NOT write them? The connected series is a staple of most genre fiction. Mystery series have abounded for decades, as have fantasy and science fiction series, but only in the last fifteen years has the romance series become popular. At the beginning, they were rare. When an author did write them, as with Johanna Lindsey’s Malory series, they weren’t necessarily planned out ahead, the way they are now, with publishers announcing the series connections from the beginning. More often, authors wrote isolated connected books here and there, like Jayne Ann Krentz's Gift of Gold and Gift of Fire (two of my all-time favorites).

Eventually the romantic series came into its own, and now authors write them more often than not. My own School for Heiresses series, Regency-set historicals featuring the spirited graduates of Mrs. Harris’s School for Young Ladies, is the fourth series I’ve written. These unconventional heiresses who prove a match for society’s most irresistible rogues are connected only by their association with the school, but I’ve also written series where the characters were friends, royal half-brothers, and sisters. Here’s why I like writing them:

1. The over-arching themes—in this particular series I include a running thread in the epigrams, of letters between Mrs. Harris and her anonymous benefactor, “Cousin” Michael. It’s such fun to play around with those two characters without actually revealing who Cousin Michael is.
   
   
2. Seeing the same world through the eyes of more than just one book’s hero and heroine gives me a broadened perspective of the milieu.
   
   
3. For faithful readers of the whole series, I can include inside jokes that only they would get. It enhances the experience, for me AND for them, while hopefully not alienating readers who pick up only one book.
   


4. If I fall in love with a secondary character, I can have a second go at him or her. That’s what happened with Eliza, a minor character in ONLY A DUKE WILL DO. She just sprang off the page, so I had to include her in a future story, which turned out to be the novella in the SCHOOL FOR HEIRESSES anthology.
   


5. I can explore a character outside his/her relationship to the heroine/hero. That’s hard to do in one book. I can also explore a character’s growth over a longer period than one book.

So what about you? Do you read series? Do you like them? If so, why? If not, why not?

Sabrina Jeffries

http://www.sabrinajeffries.com/