WHODUNNIT? Contest - Sponsored by Sleuth's Ink Mystery Writers

Do you like a little Mystery and Suspense with your Romance? Or do you just like to write Mystery? Either way, I have the perfect contest for you!

Join the ranks of mystery writers and try your hand at writing a mini-mystery. If you've never written this genre, we suggest you read Woman’s World magazine, which publishes a new mystery weekly. The mysteries are located near the back, are always 700 words, and a solution is provided.

These mysteries are fun and interactive. And who doesn’t like to solve a whodunnit? Put on a Columbo trench coat and try your hand at this genre.


Guidelines and Word Count:
Simply write a short "solve-it-yourself" mystery of 700 words. That count must include the narrative and the solution. Stories should be fun and entertaining with an ending that challenges to the reader to figure out whodunnit or howdunnit.

Submission information:
Send your entry to Sleuthsink95 [at] gmail (dot) com.
Write "Contest Submission" in the subject line.

Payment information:
Include a $5 entry fee per entry. (You may enter as many times as you want, but you’ll need to mail $5 for each entry.)

Mail your entry fee to:
Stephanie Jarkins
Sleuths' Ink Treasurer
6911 N. 23rd Street
Ozark, MO 65721


You will receive a confirmation once we’ve received your entry and your fee.

Cash Prizes for first, second and third place winners.

Additionally, all entries will receive feedback by at least two published WW authors! What have you got to lose?

Deadline: May 31, 2014 (winners will be announced in early July)

Note: This is a contest sponsored by Sleuths' Ink Mystery Writers, and has no affiliation with Woman’s World Magazine. We do, however, encourage you to submit your finished story to WW. Remember, you are eligible to win cash prizes, plus your stories will be judged and critiqued by at least two published Woman’s World authors.


Questions? Email us at Sleuthsink95 [at] gmail (dot) com and good luck!

WRITING ROMANCE - Reality Check

Writing is hard. Period. But when writing romance, reality sets in. It does not matter whether you are talking straight romance or any of the sub-genre's, there still has to be a thread of reality. While we write to give our readers an escape, I think as writers, we have a duty to still 'keep it real'.

We can take our readers to far away places, let them go on exciting adventures, dark heroes, mysterious scenarios in lavish settings but when we get down to brass beds, our readers still want passion, commitment, love. On the journey they will experience the highs and lows of any relationship. But we have the opportunity to promise them something that in real life they feel may be beyond their grasp -  A Happy Ever After.

As we write, let's be prepared to give our readers the Valentine they most want - the security in knowing that regardless of the roller coaster ride, LOVE will win in the end.

Love and Blessings!
~Angela

COMING UP FOR AIR!

February 3rd, the ground hog was blessed with his shadow and JANO 2014 is behind me. That about sums up the past two weeks.

I did not finish the rough for Heart on the Line. The story just did not want to come out. I didn't have writer's block by any means. Words were flowing fine on everything else but my characters, Kassie and Bo, were determined to hide on the tour bus and not deal with their feelings. On January 30th, they decided to step out of the shadows and begin their journey to man and wife - thanks to a nudge from deceased Granny Pearl. I wrote over 4,000 words in the last two days of JANO, turning in a total word count of 25,038. Half way is good.

Our JANO after-party is scheduled for this Saturday and snow is in the forecast so as of right now, I'll be missing the celebration (4-hr round trip in snow does not sound fun!) But that's okay. Hubby is only home one more week. Once he is back on the road I can work round the clock again to get more accomplished in a day (and half a night).

For now... I just want to get business done during the day and spend time with him in the evening.

Happy Writing!
Angela!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! - A New Year with a New Plan

Wow!
I've had a couple of surprises this morning. First thing I thought of as I got out of bed was that I had not been in here to update you guys. Shame on me! My music blog and my creative blog have been humming with activity this week. But sadly, not here.

The second surprise came when I noticed I had not posted so much as a Merry Christmas since Cara Bristol stopped by in November. Okay... that six weeks I can understand and once I give you a quick rundown, you will too.

I spent the remainder of November scurrying to finish the bedroom remodel and start putting the house in order for the holidays. Right after Thanksgiving I made a trip to Nashville to get my granddaughters for 10 days while my daughter and son-in-law flew to WA state to do a meet and greet for her new job. There are a lot of miles between my home in southeast MO and their new up in northeast WA state. So I had to get in all the grandma love I could. I'm use to seeing my girls whenever I want so this move for them is really hard on grandma and grandpa.

While the girls were here, we hosted a luncheon for the Polish Sinfonia of Krakow Poland and our friends Maestro Steven Byess and his fiance Sara Graef.

After the luncheon my oldest granddaughter, Adrian (6) and I went to the local nursing care facility where the chamber orchestra entertained the residents with some holiday music. This while my supportive husband cleaned up and put food away. Right after the performance, we loaded the girls up and headed to Nashville.

Back from Nashville and time to breathe before we went back to Nashville for Christmas with the girls. They left for Arlington WA on January 7th and are on the road the final 14 hour drive of their journey as I speak. 

Since the new year I've been striving to get blogs on a running schedule, focus on work (and not how far away my babies are!) AND doing JANO with the Sleuth's Ink group. I have basically started my Nano book, Heart on the Line, from scratch. I want the rough draft of this novella finished THIS month. If determination counts for anything...

I have already scheduled blog guests for the coming months beginning in February. I also plan to revamp the blog a bit to make Who I Am and What I Write more clear. (Thanks to the fabulous advice from author Mia Marlowe) Check out her link for some great tips on what to look for when setting up or reconfiguring your blog.

So hang in there. I am! and 

Keep Writing!

~Angela

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT - Cara Bristol - Putting Romance into Science Fiction

Today I am pleased to have Cara Bristol with me in the Writer's Studio. Author of the famed 'Spanking' series, Cara brings us a wonderful read in BREEDER, an erotic Sci-Fi tale of another world where men are the Alpha species - or are they? Hmm

Rather than the traditional Q & A, I asked Cara to share a bit of her expertise with us. Please welcome Cara Bristol.

What comes to mind when you hear science fiction?
Sky labs, space ships, strange alien creatures, explosions, and light shows?
That’s a common perception of sci-fi, and people love that stuff—or they don’t. But science fiction is so much more than spaceships and aliens, more than Star Trek and Star Wars. It’s Jurassic Park, 1984, Andromeda Strain, A Handmaid’s Tale, Blade Runner, Logan’s Run, the Terminator, and Twilight Zone.

Sci-fi can be set far in the future or just a few years ahead. It can be set on Earth or in space or on another world. Serious or funny. Dystopian or utopian.  It can be almost indistinguishable from a contemporary story, or it can blend into fantasy and paranormal.
Most of all, it can be a love story. Science fiction romance is a subgenre that turns the futuristic into the setting for the romance.

When I started writing Breeder, I ventured into a “brave new world” of unchartered territory for me and my readers. But Breeder, a story of forbidden love, couldn’t be told any other way than as a sci-fi romance. However, I feared losing my contemporary romance readership base.
Emotion, I thought. Emotion is the key to success. Make readers feel what the characters feel. Make them gasp in shock, rail in outrage, cringe in dread, and weep in despair. Make them vested in the outcome. But let them finish the novel feeling good.

I set the stakes high every step of the way. I didn’t shy away from anything—not violence, not sex, not love. It’s all there in vivid detail. Show, don’t tell, became the mantra as I wrote the story.
I strove to avoid the elements that often bump me in sci-fi. I can accept strange aliens as secondary characters, but I want to fall in love with the hero. And spotted blue men with three eyes don’t do it for me. So the “aliens” of planet Parseon in Breeder are humanoid in appearance. Because reading sci-fi sometimes is like trying to decipher a foreign language, I created character names (and “foreign terms”) that were easy to pronounce: Omra, Dak, Corren, Sival, Marlix.
I tried to make the alien world relatable by making comparisons to earth.

Most of all, I offered story. Breeder can be read on two levels. The first level is the romance: a man and a woman triumphing against the odds to be together. But Breeder has a deeper message, which I never overtly state, but “show” throughout the book. I trust that readers will see it.

Dak, a ruling Alpha of Parseon, purchases Omra, a breeder slave. He intends to impregnate her and hand her off to his partner. As Dak and Omra discover a sexual bliss banned by law, he begins to question the ways of his people, jeopardizing his command and her life.


If not for the sneeze, Dak would have exited the musty, dank corridor. But the muffled sound caught his attention. When he squinted into the darkened cell, he spotted a female crouched on a straw mat in the corner. He hadn’t noticed her on his way into the Breeder Containment Facility; the habitation unit had appeared empty.

Dak turned to the BCF director and sighed. “What about her?”
The beta’s already crooked mouth drooped farther in distaste. “My apologies, Commander. You don’t want that one.”

Sival’s disparagement piqued Dak’s interest. The director’s opinion had proven worthless; none of the breeders he’d preselected for inspection had rated close to satisfactory.
“I would like to see her,” Dak insisted.
“Very well, Commander.” Sival saluted and opened the habitation cell with a master entry card. Dak stepped into the small enclosure. The director followed, and the metal gate clanked shut.


About Cara Bristol:
Cara Bristol has written everything from mainstream long and short fiction to nonfiction magazine and newspaper articles. She sold her first erotic romance in 2009. Now multi-published, she has ten erotic romances and two anthologies to her name. The author of the popular Rod and Cane Society domestic discipline series, Cara writes spanking fiction most often, but her published works also include contemporary and paranormal erotic romances. Breeder is her first science fiction novel and the start of a series. She lives in the Midwest  United States with her husband. When she’s not writing, she enjoys reading, traveling, and watching reality TV shows.

Author website: http://carabristol.com/
Twitter  @CaraBristol
Facebook
Email: carabristol50@yahoo.com
Breeder Buy Link – Amazon
Breeder Buy Link - ARe

THE WEEK AHEAD - November 11 Coming out on top

Last week was pretty much a wash for me. Though we had a couple of mild pre-winter days I did not feel up to anything except taking cold meds and snuggling on the couch. 'Tis the season for the ABC Family Channel 'Countdown to Christmas'. They always have an amazing line-up of heartwarming stories of love and family during the holidays. 'Scrooge' is always thwarted in the end. And though predictable is not always something we like in a story, when there is potential for cold medicine to knock you out part way through the movie, you know there is going to be a HEA so it's all good.

I read the new book in the 'Hannah's Daughters' series by Emma Miller. Rebecca's Christmas Gift tells the story of another of the widow Hannah's daughters, Rebecca. I have loved this series set in an Amish community from the very first one, 'Courting Ruth'. There are several other books by Ms Miller and I look forward to reading them all.

As you can see by the sidebar, my Nano total is not so great. I wrote approx 900 words while we were in Nashville, which is where I caught this silly cold. So I did almost not writing on Heart on the Line until yesterday when I rocked out about 5000 words! Although I knew this was a story I could love, I wasn't feeling the passion for the characters like I did Trey and Ali in Somewhere Down the Line. But while trying to get a few words in Saturday I found my muse... my late stepmother, Grammy. She is Granny Pearl and in many ways, I am Kassandra Ewards. Not in the relationship with the hero, Bo Peterson, but in Kassandra's love of Granny Pearl and all the things Grammy taught me. Once I made that connection, the words began to flow. But then it was time for the Broncos vs Chargers game and life became the couch and a crochet hook for the next three hours.

I have been a Broncos fan since John Elway's first year on the team when I met him at a backyard BBQ. I don't care what people say about John. I met him off the field, away from press, just hangin' out and he is a good and decent man. I have a poster of John that my daughter gave me for my birthday one year. Though I have almost no wall space in my office, that poster hangs prominently next to my computer. Beneath the picture is the word DEDICATION - and the dictionary meaning of the word. John has dedicated the majority of his life to the Denver Broncos in some form to this day as VP of the organization. Some might think him an odd example to follow, but I think he's done okay for himself. May we all be half as blessed in doing what we love.

As a side note for all you John Elway fans, Stanford University will retire his #7 Jersey in a ceremony on Thursday, November 14th. He will join Jim Plunkett (No. 16) and Ernie Nevers (No. 1) as the only players whose jerseys have been enshrined by the program. Congratulations, John!

THE WEEK AHEAD - Nano Week 1

And We're Off!

Well, some more than others. Off to a good start, I mean. Not in an 'off' way, though maybe those of us who take on this crazy challenge are a bit 'off'. But knowing we are not alone is what makes the journey so much FUN!

I don't have much of a word count yet but I knew I would be slow out of the gate. Spending time with my daughter, son-in-law and granddaughters (Adrian and Abigail) is so much more important to me. I know they will not always live close enough for me to visit whenever I need those precious hugs so I take all the opportunities I can now.

Amid the chaos of Abigail (2) pretending to be a puppy (something she learned from her big sister) and Adrian (6) playing Candy Land at the other end of the table with Grandpa (they are quite competitive LOL), I did manage almost 900 words.

Now we are home. This is Day 4. I've been getting some business stuff caught up while the washing machine gets a workout. But I'm almost through with the 'have to' projects for the day and ready to open up the manuscript. I left Cassie gathering up the band's personal items from the concert hall dressing room, making sure everything is back on the bus before they pull out to the next town on the tour. Soon Cassie's phone will ring with sad news and then the fun begins.

How's your Nano projecting going?