GUEST AUTHOR- Marilyn Baxter

I am pleased to have Marilyn Baxter as my guest today. Marilyn and I met when she searched for other 'finalists' in the "What's In A Name?" competition through Boroughs Publishing Group almost a year ago. I am blessed by her initiative. 

Marilyn's novella, BETTER AS A MEMORY releases TODAY! And she's here to celebrate with us. 

Welcome, Marilyn!

1. Better As A Memory is due out today with Boroughs Publishing as a result of a contest your novella was a finalist in last summer. We were to be inspired by a song title. What about this song inspired the story?
The story was originally titled Seduction with Style, and it was going nowhere.  I was stuck.  Then a friend who writes for Harlequin Desire (a big shout-out to Kristi Gold!) was helping me brainstorm and she uttered the magic words, “Have you ever listened to ‘Better as a Memory’ by Kenny Chesney?”  I had not, but I’ve listened to it repeatedly since then and that’s when the story began to really move forward.  The line “I’m better as a memory than as your man” nagged at me until I realized it was the motivation for the heroe’s actions when he and the heroine were in college together. Then later he comes to understand the mistakes he made are better as a memory than something keeping the two of them apart.

2. What do you hope your readers take from Better As A Memory?
This is a reunion romance about second chances and happily ever after.  I hope readers will see the healing power of love whether it be romantic, familial or platonic love. Love does conquer all.

3.  I know you love tea and enjoyed the availability of quality tea on your trip. What types of tea do you enjoy and do they change with your mood or just ‘this sounds good’?
Black teas are my favorite, and for the last year or so, I’ve been drinking a brand called Builder’s Tea. I can’t buy it in my town but it’s available at a store where my son lives.  So when I visit him I usually buy several boxes. I like it because it brews in 20 seconds, and that’s often all the time I have, especially when I’m trying to get up and at ’em in the morning. But I also like English Breakfast and Irish Breakfast teas and I found some Welsh tea in a shop recently that’s good as well. When I was in London last fall I bought and shipped home a lot of tea. And I mean a LOT! It had names like Jubilee (in honor of Queen Elizabeth’s 60 years on the throne) and Afternoon Blend (great for an afternoon tea party). And I bought a spice blend that was terrific on cold wintry nights.

I’m not so sure my tea choices change with my mood, but I sure do buy some because “this sounds good!”

4. What is the best advice you have ever received about the publishing journey and how have the words of wisdom helped you?
A very wise women (cough Roxanne St.Claire cough) once told me to forget about the rules while writing the first draft because that can suck the joy right out of writing.  That’s what had happened to me.  When I first started writing, I had no idea about rules.  I had no clue about POV or GMC or any other letters of the alphabet except the ones spelling the words of my story.  Then I began to go to workshops and read books on the craft of writing, and I became so bogged down with trying to follow all those rules that the story almost became an afterthought.  By following my friend’s advice and just writing through the first draft, I could concentrate on my characters and getting the bones of the story on paper.  Once that was done I could go back and make sure I’d followed the rules.

5. You made a trip across the pond last fall. Having read your interview at Paula Millhouse’s blog, was your new project inspired on your visit? 
Absolutely!  And in case anyone didn’t see the interview at Paula’s blog, here’s what the new project is about.

A pregnant American woman walks into a Dublin pub looking for the man with whom she had a fling several months before.  After that?  Not sure yet.  The idea is still percolating.

And it’s still percolating.  LOL!  I have another idea about a woman who inherits her grandmother’s home in Ireland and the handyman who helps her fix it up to sell.  There’s a matchmaking neighbor who’s afraid the cottage will be torn down to make way for some sort of ghastly newfangled house, too.

I fell in love with Ireland, especially the town of Killarney, which is where the second idea is set.  I’d love to visit again, but at least I can visit vicariously with writing.  And it gives me a good reason to look at my photos again and again and again.

6. Will you share a bit from BETTER THAN A MEMORY with us?
Sure!

BLURB: 
Looking at her potential client, Atlanta image consultant Victoria Sharpe is convinced the job will be a cross between What Not to Wear and Man vs. Wild. She’d love to turn down the offer, but refusing it—not to mention the referrals it could generate—just might break the bank. Yet, agreeing to make over this man’s image might also break her heart. Again. 


Max Brown will tolerate anything to gain access to his trust fund. Returning to work in the family business, even submitting to his mother’s demands to trade his comfortable flannel for Armani is worthwhile if he can get the money necessary to start a camp for at-risk boys. But then he sees he’ll be working with Victoria Sharpe, his college girlfriend, the one who got away. Or, really, the one he left. The impression he makes here will be the most important of his life, and the person most as risk is himself.

EXCERPT:
“You certainly are set for the next trip through the Donner Pass,” she said. One corner of her mouth turned up ever so slightly.

“Come along with me and I promise I won’t eat you up,” he replied without thinking of the double meaning his words might have. “I’ll protect you.” He grunted and pounded his fists against his chest.

“If you think you’re getting out of our shopping trip by sweet talking me, think again, wild man.”

“Sweet talking? Me?” The easy banter between them felt good. It felt right. Just like it had before he’d decided he couldn’t live in Tripp’s shadow anymore. “That wasn’t sweet talk, but I can turn it on if you like.”

I could turn you on, too, just like you’ve done to me. The rogue thought sped through his mind.

Just then, Victoria knelt, and when she rose, his underwear hung from her index finger. 
“I see you weren’t joking about black silk boxers.” She swung them back and forth like a red cape in front of a bull.


He grabbed her hand to still it and took the garment from her. “Sweetheart, I never joke about anything black or silk.”

Thank you for joining us today, Marilyn and good luck with sales for this wonderful story!

You can find Marilyn Baxter:

Website: MarilynBaxter

FB: https://www.facebook.com/marilyn.baxter.372

Twitter: https://twitter.com/marilyn_baxter

BETTER THAN A MEMORY

Boroughs Publishing 

Amazon

 as well as her previously released

TEA FOR TWO 

Boroughs Publishing 

                                            Amazon

CONFERENCES & CONTESTS - ORA 2014 Writing Competition Now OPEN!

ORA's annual Weta Nichol Contest is now open for submissions!

Weta Nichols Writing Contest
Ozark Romance Authors

Entries accepted April 8-July 15.

FINAL ROUND JUDGES: To be announced

GUIDELINES:
Submit the first chapter (up to 2,500 words) of your unpublished novel to win prizes and a chance to be read by one of the agents or editors serving as our final judges.

Contest is open to both published and unpublished authors, but the piece submitted must be:
- unpublished (traditional, self-pub, or e-pub)
- not under contract to be published.

Categories in which entries may be judged are:
- Historical
- Contemporary
- Paranormal/Sci-Fi
- Young Adult/Middle Grade
Entries are open genre and not required to contain romantic tones. Membership
in Ozarks Romance Authors is not required in order to enter.

There will be three prizes awarded in each category:
1st place: $75 and a 1-Year ORA Membership
2nd place: $50
3rd place: $25

Please read all guidelines carefully at
http://ozarks-romance-authors.com/annual-contest/2014-weta-nichols-writing-contest/

If you have questions about the rules,
please email us (with WETA QUESTION in the subject line) at
OzarksRomanceAuthors (at) gmail (dot) com

CURRENT PROJECT- Yes! The Fiction Flows

With all of my attention focused on the music industry and freelance of late, I have struggled with writing fiction. The characters are still talking to me but I just tell them to sit and wait their turn. They listened... for awhile.

With the deadline for the Arkansas Writers Contest drawing near ( entries have to be postmarked by April 18th), I opened up the floor for character discussion. I've revisited a couple of early pieces as well as dove into research for three new groups of folks.

One of those folks is the legendary Hank Aaron. I am sure I am in the minority (as opposed to the minors) when I say I don't enjoy baseball. I never have. So imagine my surprise yesterday when as I researched historical events over the past seven decades, Hank Aaron's name came up multiple times. By the time the afternoon was through I had learned more about the Home Run King than I ever thought I wanted to know. The poem I thought I was going to write morphed into something totally different. By the way, I'm writing this when I should be working on that poem.

The 'write what you know' thing comes into play once more because I now know enough about this baseball legend to write something with my own voice. Will this piece be a home run? I'd like to think it will at least place. But even if I do not, at least I learned something new on this journey.

Speaking of new... that fish bowl thing I talked about last week? The algae is clearing in the tank. I'll let you know when the water is free of gunk and let you see for yourself.

Creative Blessings!

MY HEAD IS A FISH BOWL- Too Many Fish

If only my brain held only one idea. One thing to focus on. Instead, my head feels more like this:

As a writer, I am always plagued with an abundance of what to write about.  I find stories in multiple sub-genres of romance. My favorite is paranormal or time-travel. There's something about putting a contemporary girl in close proximity with a ethereal hero that creates a sizzle like no other. While I love these stories, I also write sweet contemporary with other premises in a variety of settings. 

While settings are important, I feel for any artist to establish themselves, they need to find their niche. That one spot in the pocket of coral where they can snuggle in, do their thing and watch the rest of the world go by. This applies to any art form. Just as there are sub-genres of romance, you will find them in tangible art and the music industry. And it is only when an artist finds their niche, do they begin to blossom - to come into their own. 

With my background in the music industry, I'm discovering that is where I am most comfortable when writing a story. My passion for the trials and tribulations of what someone in that field goes through on a daily basis to live their dream is something I get. They say 'write what you know'. 

In the mean time, Somewhere Down the Line still does not have a release date and that troubles me. So add that water nyph to my fishbowl brain and my head truly hurts with what to do about the situation. I think I'm closer to an answer. Check back next week to see if more fish have been added or if I'm beginning to see my way through the junk.

GUEST AUTHOR - Lisa Medley

 Today I want to introduce you to a talented new author. Lisa Medley is a member of Ozarks Romance Authors, of which I am also a member. I've had the pleasure of beta reading not one but two of the books in her Reaper series debuting with Harlequin E this week.

Lisa Medley writes reapers. The grim kind. Her urban fantasy romance, Reap & Repent is available now in a Harlequin E Box Set with three other Harlequin debut authors. A lover of beasties of all sorts, she has a farm full of them in her SW MO home including:  one child, one husband, two dogs, two cats, a dozen hens, thousands of Italian bees and a guinea pig. Not so in love with the guinea pig. She can do ten pushups IN A ROW and may or may not have a complete zombie apocalypse bug-out bag in her trunk at all times. Just. In. Case.

Reaper Rules: The Basics 

How will you know if you meet a reaper? Two ways. One you’re dead already and it will become obvious rather quickly or two…you’ll never know. Reapers blend into the background. You may have already crossed paths with one. If you did, and you’re reading this now (which means you are NOT dead) you’ll never remember him.

You’ve probably heard the stories of the “mysterious angel” who showed up at the scene of an accident, lifted the car off a child, pulled a driver to safety, saved a drowning person, _____________ (fill in the blank), and then disappeared. No one got a description. No one took a photo. No one remembers clearly what the helpful stranger actually looked like. 

There’s a good chance, they met a reaper on his way to or from collecting a soul. 

There are two rules of survival as a reaper: 

1. Keep your energy.

2. Keep your head.

Everything else is survivable but it also means that even reapers are not immortal. They can live for a long time but usually flame out after a couple of centuries. Ferrying the dead is a soul-sucking job (pun intended). 

Reaping is a full-time proposition with a human population over seven billion. And that does not even count all of the other creatures with souls that need reapers. Yeah, there are reapers for every creature with a soul. And they all meet in one place. Purgatory. 

While they might not get along topside, Purgatory is supernatural Switzerland. Forced détente. Conflict will get you smited, lickety-split. 

And no one enjoys a smiting.

Want to know more? Reap & Repent, from Harlequin E, is now available at all ebook retailers.

   

Reap & Repent Blurb:

Deacon Walker is a burned out loner, whose two hundred years as a reaper have left him empty inside. But when he meets Ruth Scott, a gorgeous shut-in with unusual gifts, he’s forced to set his career complacency aside to train her for a destiny she never knew existed. Soon the two will face the ultimate test: a battle against demons determined to destroy humanity, one soul at a time

Excerpt from Reap & Repent:

Prologue

What does a guy have to do around here to get some service? Deacon Walker marveled as he glared at the undulating queue of grotesque reapers in front of him.  

For all that’s holy, move the hell along already. 

It had been a long week, and it wasn’t over yet. He needed to make at least one more pass through the hospital circuit before he could call it a day. He could already feel the tug of a freshly departed soul. Again. People were dropping like flies lately.

He massaged his brow, trying to soothe his exhausted patience as the line inched forward at a snail’s pace.

He was worn thin. Over the past few weeks, three demon soul poachers had popped up in his fair city of Meridian like poisonous mushrooms after a hard rain. While it wasn’t unheard of for one to slip out from Hell every now and then, three was a nightmare. 

BUY LINKS: Reap & Repent is available March 3, 2014 in a Harlequin E Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance Box Set with the works of three other amazing new Harlequin authors! Reap & Repent will be available for single-title release June 2, 2014.

AMAZON

B&N 

Follow Me: 

Website: Lisa-Medley.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lisamedleyauthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/lisamedley

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/medley3/

PROJECT UPDATE

Sorry to say I do not have anything new today unless you want to know my art studio is finally shaping up or peek in on the day job that keeps me busy... http://kellyscountry.blogspot.com

However, I do want to give you a heads up for tomorrow just in case this latest winter storm takes my power and I can't remind you.

You WILL want to be here tomorrow to meet my friend Lisa Medley. She is releasing the first book in her Reaper trilogy with Harlequin E. I've read the first 2 books in the series. WOWSERS! I'm not a reaper kind of gal but loved these and felt privileged to be a Beta for her.

So come back tomorrow. In the mean time, please be safe and stay warm
Angela!

PROJECT UPDATE - Finding a Pace

For the past few weeks my life has been all about music - primarily the Texas Music Awards coming up next month. But I've also made connections in Nashville and getting requests for album reviews. I love my job but I am missing working on fiction.

In the snatches of time I've taken to work on Heart on the Line, I've been working on the historical time line of the hero's family. Some incidents have a marked effect on the story so it is important to know what happened when and who was (or was not) responsible.

I'm getting there. I can trace Bo's family back to his grandfather - which is as far as I needed to go. And I found out Kassie's mom deserted her at the age of 16. While Kassie was at school, and later at Granny Pearl's (Bo's grandmother), Kassie came home to find her mother had up and left. She never heard from her again.

Now I'm down to how some of the scenes need to work in correlation to the time of year. The story takes place from late August through to Valentine's Day the following year. There are tour schedules to work out, funeral arrangements to be made and a wedding to plan... if all is to work out as it should.

I'm getting closer. I'm trying to grab a couple hours every day - not even the same time each day - but every day to work on my story. Writing every day is important. I will get back into the habit.

Happy Writing - and Reading!
Angela