Six Sentence Sunday

I'll show you mine if you'll show me yours! :)

From my work in progress, Three Dog Night, wherein my heroine struggles with her inner wild thing. Literally.

Miracle. That’s the only word Bijoux could come up with to explain why Fluffy hadn’t pitched a fit the second the door closed on Luke and Mary’s lovemaking. Best not to mistake the old girl’s silence for complacency, though. Fluff was probably doing what she did best, lurking in the shadows of Bijoux’s soul, masterminding another bid for control of Bijoux’s body. Fine, let the wild thing scheme. In the meantime, she'd souse Fluffy too silly care why Bijoux sought the company of the nearest witch. Until Bijoux got her drunk on, she’d be wise to focus on something unlikely to peak Fluff’s interest. Something…asexual.

(Yikes, that's more than 6. But whose counting?)

Romancing a Miracle

Silence...

That's what woke Geo. Not the idyllic, ocean whisper that made Sanibel Island the perfect retreat for some downtime with his kid. Oh, hell ,no. This particular hush was tense, thick, the proverbial calm before the storm. The storm in this case being his nine-year old son, Blaise.

Where the hell was he?

Sitting up, Geo pushed a hand throug his hair and shook the cobwebs from his mind. A quick scan of his surroundings revealed no evidence of the boy's whereabouts.

"Blaise!" he shouted.

His words were devoured by the pounding surf. Brilliant move, Sherlock. But since when had calling out for his kid had precipitated a response, much less offer a clue to his whereabouts?

Christ, what kind of father was he?

That's an excerpt from my new work in progress, Passion Storm. Natch, it's a parnormal.

A lot of people feel writing is therapeutic, but I've always argued that for me, story telling is escapism in its purest form. Reality kinda blows right now, so it's no accident that my work leans heavily on magic and supernatural elements. Contemporaries have this way of veering off in a direction that risks coming too close to home. Close to home right now = not so good, especially since my oldest son's difficulties with autism were compounded by schizophrenia.

The culmination of my boy's illness led to the partial burning of our home. Nuf said. Suffice it to say, this last year has been a painful one for my family. We are in recovery mode. So escapism has remained the rule of the day when it comes to writing.

Or so I thought.

When I began my latest piece, all I knew was a few sketchy details. My hero, Geo, is a widower. He is also unknowingly allergic to the toxins in the Red Tide, and he has visited Sanibel Island with his son, Blaise.

When his boy goes missing, Geo goes off in search of him. As his quest to find his son before the season's first hurricane breaks grinds on, the Red tide sickens him to the point that he develops amnesia. He wanders aimlessly through the mangroves until he comes upon a lovely mermaid who has been exiled from her brood for reasons unknown to him. With her is a beautiful young boy....

My mermaid, Arabeth, has her own problems. She is infertile. In this world, mermaids get only three moons in which to breed and hers are over. Unless she wants to serve her brood as a servant to her sister's child, her life is over. Instead of spreading her toxic resentment to her innocent nephew, she exiles herself from her brood.

Solitude brings it's own brand of misery until Arabeth finds a mute child wandering alone in the mangroves. Surely Triton has heard her prayers!

As I began pounding at the keyboard, I discovered that my hero's son wandered off in search of the elusive seashell that would complete his collection. By the time I go to the end of that scene, I realized that the boy in my story has autism.

Woah. Stop typing. Did I really want to go there?

Guess so, because I filed the story away for a couple of days, but it continued to haunt me...

Turns out, Geo brought his son to the islands because the lull of the ocean is the only place in the world where the kid can escape some of his sensory difficulties and simply be a kid for a while.

Or so Geo thought...

Little does my amnesiac hero know that the child he has assumed belongs to the Arabeth is actually his son...until she tells Geo that he is her mate. Since he doesn't remember squat, and he and the boy have matching birthmarks, he accepts her statement as truth. And she's a really hot mermaid. :)

Problem is, Red Tides don't last forever. With the end of this one drawing near, Arabeth knows the man who believes himself her mate,the man she has fallen hopelessly in love with, will soon remember who he is. When he discovers what she has done, he will stop loving her and take away her last, best hope for true love and motherhood.

Looks like this story doesn't intend to leave me alone. Yes, I thought my writing was escapist. And in a way, it still is. In this alien world, I feel safe exploring my greatest fear: that I'll wake up someday and my boy will be missing.

Have there been tears as I've worked on this piece? Um....yeah. But there's also hope growing here. Love makes miracles happen. Love heals. Love transforms....

Love is all about believing in happy endings.

And that's why I write romance.

More good news! (And vote tarting again!)

In case you haven't heard all the squealing on Twitter and Facebook, (much of it done by me!)my novel, Muse Struck, has made it to the top ten in Dorchester Publishing's America's Next Best Celler contest. Yeah, that's the good news. And trust me when I say I know my book would have never made it this far without all of your votes, comments, and input. I truly appreciate each and every one of you.

The bad news? Starting on Friday, I'm back to hard core promo--this time in hopes that you'll be so kind as to leave me a comment on my jacket copy for Muse Struck at both Text Novel and Dorchester's Sites.

More news on that to follow, but I will say that whether Muse Struck makes the top five cut, or not, at the end of this thing, I'll be drawing from all of my supporters to say thank you in a big way.

I've said it once, and I'll say it again. A story means nothing if there are no readers who love it. Thank you for being there for this story.

HUGS to all of you, and a Happy Turkey Day, too!

Blogging today!

What to autism and becoming a better author have in common? Come and join me at Text Novel Divas to find out. While you're there, feel free to make a donation to Autism Speaks via our official hot link.

New, news of the best possible kind!

I have news! :)

For those of you who have been so supportive during my son's journeys in and out of the hospital, he is home now, and doing much better. Even better, my darling husband is headed home from Afghanistan.

If all that isn't enough to make these November days a little brighter, thanks to your support, my novel, MUSE STRUCK has made the semi finals in Dorchester Publishing's America's Next Best Celler contest, hosted by Textnovel.

Muse Struck is a story near and dear to my heart, and it represents a lighter turn in the darker fare I've recently put out. I'm well aware that my readers did a lot to put Muse Struck where it is. So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for your support, your input, and your votes.

The top ten finalists in the contest will be announced around November 16, so here's hoping I'll have more good news to share with you then.

As always, I'm blogging at Writers Gone Wild every Friday and Text Novel Diva's every Monday. Be sure to stop by, because you never know when I might spring a drive-by contest on you.

Speaking of contests, I have a copy of Secrets, Vol. 27 that is unclaimed by "Bella". If your name is Bella and I owe you a book, please re-send me your email address with "CONTEST WINNER" in the subject lineso I can get this out to you. If you've already sent the information, I may well have missed your original email while my son was so ill. Please forgive me!

Thank you!

Plotting for (Certified and Hopeless!) Pantsers

*Reprinted from my post @ Texting Between the Sheets*

If any of you have been following my work at Textnovel, then you've probably figured out that I revise, obsessively and often. True, I spend (waste) lots of time wishing I was one of those writers who can see her way clear to "the end" from the very beginning, but I've put enough stories behind me to acknowledge that it's not going to happen, because I'm just not wired that way.

Not that I haven't tried to plot. I have. But no matter how exhaustive the advanced planning, my beginning product and my end product have little to do with one another.

True, some stories come easier than others. Take my two textnovels in progress, for instance. Muse Struck is a lighthearted, paranormal romantic romp. It's also a gift from my muse. The story has written itself from day one. But my other romance at textnovel, Surrender the Night, is dark and angsty. It also began as a vampire novel. Yeah, I know. How did I get from vampires to hellhounds turned Navy SEALs?

Umm...truth is, I have no idea! For me, stories, well, they just happen! That makes me what is known in author-land as a "pantser." I create plots by the seat of my pants, literally. That was fine until I actually sold something, only to bring these pesky little things called deadlines into the mayhem I call my life.

Only trial by fire has allowed me to keep the spontaneity in my writing that I love while disciplining myself enough to get to the end within a reasonable time period. When I put some of these tips out on twitter, I got a few requests to post them.

So, for those of you who asked, here goes! I hope you find them useful!

Ten Coping Strategies for (Certified) Pansters (as put out over Twitter, emoticons, shorthand and all!)

Pantser Survival tip #1: If you know it, write the ending first & let characters drive you toward it.

Pantser Plotting tip #2: Write the scene burning bright in your mind. Print, put in a binder @ look often @ progression. Is a plot being born?

Panster plotting tip #3: What's the worst thing that could happen to your character right now? Make it happen. w/ gusto. :)

Pantser plotting tip #4: Happy characters don't dance for the muse. Throw every form of misery at them & make 'em sweat. On page 1. :)

Pantser plotting tip #5: Stuck? Double break, pick an obstacle: organic, inorganic, elemental, suprnatural or internal. Proceed w/ story.

Pantser plotting tip #6: (Thanks to author friend, Tracy Madison)Start w/ your hook, 2 plot turning points, ending. Split the story's action b/t 20 2K chapters for an 80K book. So, up to 20K sets up beginning, 20K marks first turning point, 40K turning second point, 60K final turning point/complication and on to resolution near 80K

Pantser plotting tip #7: No plot? No problemo! Just ask, what does your character want right now? Time to throw up a roadblock.

Panters Plotting tip #8: Let go and let Muse. It will all shake out in the revision. (Love this method, but involves mucho rewriting. Not good for looming deadlines!)

Pantser plotting tip #9: Read your latest work before going to sleep. Ask your subconsious work on it as you sleep. Strangely effective.

Pantser plotting tip #10. Open a new email. Summarize your story like you'r emailing a friend about great movie you saw. At the point of your story's block, write, "and then ___" (Fill in blank.)___ You can play w/ multiple scanarios here if you like.

And finally, the one Pantser plotting tip I rely on most often: Prayer. :) If this fails, move on to another story for a week. Then come back. New pespective can work miracles on even the most stubborn story.

coming out of the closet today at....

I'm coming out of my literary closet today at Writer's Gone Wild. Come join me to talk about your naughtiest reading and writing secrets.