May 29th, 2012
Live in your own skin this week. Enjoy this amazing video by Ingrid Michaelson, Blood Brothers, then take another look at yourself and others, seeing what we all are rather than the differences between us.
“We’re all the same, under a different name… We’re all blood and bone.”
May 24th, 2012
You wanna sell in romance and women’s fiction, give your heroine a strong hook. But don’t make her too damsel in distress, don’t make her too bitchy, don’t make her so smart she’s bossy, don’t make her too dumb, and don’t, don’t, don’t do anything to run away the average reader who buys the majority of books like the one you want to sell. Or should you? Because if she’s a down-the-middle kind of gal, where’s the hook? I’m just askin’.
In my Naked Hero blog post yesterday (over there I’m the Goddess of Mischief), a bunch of us chatted about favorite hero attributes. Now it’s the girls turn. And while I’m all for pleasing the reader, it can get a little crazy-making, talking with a publishers and editors about what they’re looking for in a heroine, what makes them want to pull their hair out about an over-used cliche, or want to smack a whiny leading lady, or turn a book down flat, because the female protagonist, in their opinion, just won’t sell to readers, she’s just not what most everyone is looking for in an easy read like a romance.
Okay, but what about the widow of a defunked televangelist. A man who was exposed as a lying, cheating sinner, run out of town, on the lamb from the law, then turned up dead, leaving his wife and son destitute and at the mercy of the small town he swindeled?
Or a former snotty, priviledged, cruel small-town beauty queen who’s fallen on bad times and wants to make amends/start over, only no one’s buying it? Read the rest of this entry »
May 23rd, 2012
What’s your hunky hero must have? What grabs you every time, makes you drool, and refuses to let you go? Even if he’s imperfect, ESPECIALLY when he’s imperfect, what is that one thing that makes you melt at first glance? If you’ve read me, you know I like myself a damaged guy, a wounded warrior, and (as my editors know better than anyone), I’m soooo much more interested at first in what’s going on inside a guy than on the surface.
Today I’m blogging over at The Naked Hero, about favorite external AND internal hero attributes. Join the fun! And just to get you started, here’s a sneak peak of some of what you’ll see ;o)
May 19th, 2012
Nope. No Her Forgotten Betrayal cover yet. Entangled’s got big plans for the Dead Sexy launch book cover reveals… But, I have the official cover copy, and it ROCKS! Plus killer cover quotes from some of your favorite authors. And an excerpt’s up on my homepage, so check out all the yummy gothic goodness of my June release and report back. Whatcha think?
Here you go. Nina Bruhns’ amazing cover copy. That smile you’re feeling even though you’re not smiling yet? It’s me, projecting happiness into the universe, hoping some of the excitement I’m feeling finds you and makes this a kicking Saturday for you, too ;o)
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Remembering will save her life. But will the truth destroy their love forever?
When the CEO of a global technology empire retreats to her ancestral mountain mansion to heal from a brutal shooting, she discovers the danger has just begun. Suffering from amnesia, she is at the mercy of nightmares that soon morph into something much more real…as well as a menacing stalker determined to toy with her sanity.
The FBI suspects her of illegally selling top-secret research, and has sent an agent to find evidence of her treason. She doesn’t realize the man who sweeps in from the cold claiming to be her protector, and her former love, is keeping dangerous secrets from her. She begins to trust him, unaware that he is about to repeat the most painful betrayal of her past–a past she doesn’t remember…a past that may kill her.
“Dark danger and lush romance, Anna DeStefano mysteries deliver!” —Catherine Mann, USA Today Bestselling Author
“DeStefano crafts a tense and touching suspense about forgotten pasts and reunited lovers.” —Caridad Pineiro, NYT and USA Today Bestselling Author
“Intrigue, danger, and a hero to die for make DeStefano’s Her Forgotten Betrayal a page-turner!” —Rita Herron, Award-Winning Harlequin Intrigue Author
May 18th, 2012
When the teen who cringes every time you want to talk about something serious, opens the conversation with, “I need to talk with you,” it’s time for a savvy parent to buckle up for a bumpy ride. An even savvier mom might pack a bag and head for Bermuda. But I simply turn from where I’m standing on our deck enjoying a refreshing spring breeze and follow him inside. “I wanted you both together,” he says, “before I said anything…”
Yes, I’m bracing for the worst. This is not a normal teen-parent convo in our house. What heart-to-hearts typically look like, is us chasing the kid down, hog-tying him like a steer and sitting on him (metaphorically, of course, so take you finger off speed-dial, no reason to send in DEFAX), until the teen stops squawking long enough to listen to whatever we need to sink in, FINALLY, so we can move forward as a family from whatever challenge we’re currently facing. It’s the kind of dynamic that reminds me of a cartoon I read once.
Which is pretty much how I’m feeling today, as I stare him down, waiting. It’s been a good day. A good month. We’ve made so much progress and had some real breakthroughs with school, and I’m actually breathing a little easier and settling into a nice routine of having to only worry about my own stuff for a change. At least I was.
“What?”I ask, once his dad’s joined us from where he’s working on the teen’s car. Read the rest of this entry »
May 17th, 2012
We’re creative creatures, writers. We’re artists. We want to imagine our worlds into being what we need them to be, how we need them to feel, and we need others to share in that vision, to see us. Unfortunately, for those of us who want to make a living from our art, we typically need to do all of that on deadline. And there’s the rub. A brief workadayreads interview with me went up yesterday, talking more about the business/insides of writing than my recent guest posts, so take a look. Then shoot back over here, and lets get down to the nitty gritty of how to focus when you have to. Because you have to. No matter how much you love your story or characters or your readers, this writing/creating gig becomes a job at some point, and if you can’t focus your energy on your creating long enough to actually create something on deadline, you’ll be writing for yourself and friends for a long, long time–but the new hearts and souls that you could have reached with your work won’t ever get to share in your creative journey.
Think of focus as a tool. A zoom lens. It’s the determination that you will get whatever you need to get done today, DONE TODAY. In however much time you have, you will make the impossible happen. Because you have to. Even if what needs to be done is an intensely personal, creative thing. Even if it’s like pouring your heart or rage or fear or insecurities onto a page, that’s your job today. And you’re focusing until your job is done.
Your goal must remain your focus until you reach, well, your goal. Sounds easy, right? RIGHT.
Today, my goal is to get to the midpoint turning point of my book, Read the rest of this entry »
May 15th, 2012
I’m not your average mother (I know. Hard to believe, right?). What with the staying up all night, or basically for weeks at a time except for catnaps. And then there are the cooking and cleaning binges I go on, once the deadline’s met. And, oh yeah, my Mother’s Day ideal is dragging my family on mile after mile of interior hiking to untouched waterfalls. Dozens of them, that you can only get to by climbing down steep embankments from the safer high ridges where the rough trail runs, then scrambling over fallen trees and up steeper rises to the next ridge that’s been cut off by last year’s storms. Doesn’t that sound divine? Take a look at the presents you get, if you’re along for the ride.
Most of these were taken actually in the middle of “creeks” that are running high still from the spring thaw and a few weeks of steady rain. You have to get close, where the rush of the water is making you shiver, even though you’re wearing a sweatshirt and jeans in mid-May. You have to feel the mist after it crashes into the rocks that over time are worn smooth and covered in the greenest moss you’ve ever seen. You have to reach your hand into the ice-cold softness of this eternally-running perfection while you’re hunting for the ideal picture to remember your day by.
May 10th, 2012
I’m talking up my June release today, by taking a look at what part of a story readers like best: the dark and stormy beginning (at least in my novels ;o), or the big pay off, happy ending. You know me. I make my characters hard for their emotional pay off. But even in lighter novels, the story and the characters have to arc. What’s you favorite read, when it comes to a killer story journey?
Join me today at the Writing Playground, chat it up in the comments, and you just might win a FREE Her Forgotten Betrayal downlaod!
Don’t forget to check out HFB’s Pinterest Board for all the latest updates and special bonus material!
May 8th, 2012
“How do you keep a writing schedule like that, ” one of my weekend students asked, “when you’re editing and teaching and everything else? How do you know you’re going to be able to write, when you sit down at your desk every day?”
My answer–I don’t know if I can do it, until I do it.
Then again, I don’t let myself up from that desk, until I’ve found a way to plug into the muse, the creative inspiration, that will take me a step or two closer to realizing my dream for this new book, the way I have for all the other ones that have driven me equally crazy. Crazy, you understand, having become my natural state, so it’s not so strange a thing to be asking myself to dig deeper into the crazy well, whether I feel like it at that moment or not.
I love talking with small groups of authors, many of whom aren’t yet writing on publishing deadlines. Their energy is kinetic, frenetic, and contagious. They’d do almost anything to make their stories better and sellable and one step closer to being published. No matter how busy their lives are, no matter how much trouble they’re having with everything else, these hungry writers are dying to get back to their books and their critique groups and their creativity and make something happen on the page.
I need to see that as often as possible, which is what makes weekend events like the one I just taught with my literary agent–and the first pitches I’ve officially taken for Entangled Publishing ;o)–exactly what I need when I’m too mired in my own impossible deadlines and creative low spots. Because fresh, energetic, wanna-be-published-at-all-costs authors like the ones at Carolina Romance Writers have just as much of a message for me as I do for them. Read the rest of this entry »
May 3rd, 2012
Romance Bandits gets the exclusive this release. The first excerpt from Her Forgotten Betrayal goes live over there this morning as part of Nancy Northcott’s fun interview ;o)
Scoot on over, read some creepy, psychological-thrillerish prose, comment to win a FREE download, and have yourself a fine “bandit” day!
And just to set the tone a bit better, here’s some creepy, Gothic imagery to get your morning going on the right note. Bwahahahahaha…
Don’t forget to check out Her Forgotten Betrayal’s Pinterest pagefor the book’s growing playlist and video collection!
