Mia Marlowe

noreply@blogger.com (MiaMarlowe) — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 11:31:00 +0000

This is the final post for this blog. From now on, you can find me at my new cyber-home: MiaMarlowe.com I hope you'll bookmark the site and drop by to visit me often.

My blog is now beautifully integrated into my new website, but don't worry. You'll still have the regular features you've come to expect from me--lots of guest bloggers and giveaways, Red Pencil Thursday, and updates on my Bucket List! In addition to my blog, you'll have access to all the latest about my books, events and contests.

See you there,
Mia

Help Egyptian Author Olivia Gates

noreply@blogger.com (MiaMarlowe) — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 08:17:00 +0000

My friend Bonnie Vanak (who writes Egyptian-set historicals as well as wonderful Nocturnes!) alerted me to the plight of Harlequin author, Olivia Gates. Here's the info from Bonnie's blog:

As you know, protests are taking place in Egypt and the government has shut down internet communication. Author Olivia Gates, who lives in Egypt, has a February 1 release by Harlequin Desire called To Tempt a Sheikh. We'd like to get out the word about her book since Olivia cannot.

Let's support an author who cannot access the internet to promote her book.

To Tempt a Sheikh by Olivia Gates

He rescued hostage Talia Burke from his royal family's rival tribe and swept her into his strong embrace. But Prince Harres Aal Shalaan soon discovered there was more to the brave beauty than he knew. Talia held information vital to protecting his beloved kingdom…and she had every reason not to trust him.

Marooned together at a desert oasis, Talia couldn't resist Harres. Yet even as his sizzling seduction entranced her, his loyalty to his family and country would always make them enemies. Falling for the sheikh would be her heart's greatest mistake…but she feared it was already too late….

In stores February 1!

Available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Borders, Books A Million and bookstores everywhere. Also available at eharlequin both in print and as an ebook.

To read a first chapter and visit Olivia's webpage, click here.

As a side note, my Emily Bryan title, Distracting the Duchess is also being reissued in tradepaper TODAY! As you can see, the publisher has even rebranded this reissue to reflect my new pen name, an unusual situation which makes this book something of a collectors' item.

I love this story of an artistic duchess who mistakes Her Majesty's agent for her next nude model. Hope you will too.

To read an excerpt: EmilyBryan.com

To order your copy: Amazon

Ashley March's Giveaway Winner

noreply@blogger.com (MiaMarlowe) — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 14:41:00 +0000

Thanks to everyone who dropped by and made our conversation with Ashley March such fun. As promised, one commenter will receive a copy of Ashley's Seducing the Duchess.

Congrats to Revbritton. She's our randomly picked winner!

SEDUCING THE DUCHESS by Ashley March

noreply@blogger.com (MiaMarlowe) — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 17:52:00 +0000

Please welcome debut author Ashley March to my blog! I know you're going to love both her and her fabulous story, Seducing the Duchess!
_____________________________________________
Sharing Reading and Romance with My Daughters

When I first had the dream of becoming a romance writer, I was newly married. I knew that a family would come down the road, but I didn’t really think about how being a romance writer might affect my children. Now that I’m published and have a 19-month-old as well as a 2-month-old daughter, I can’t help but think about the day when they actually understand what I write about.

My own mother never read romances. Actually, she didn’t read much of anything. I think the only book I remember her reading was a picture biography of Princess Diana after she died. But she wholeheartedly believed in the importance of reading, and always encouraged my brother and me to read.

Like my mother, I want to instill the importance of reading in my daughters. One of the first things we bought my oldest daughter when we found out we were pregnant was a book. Whenever we go out to the bookstore, she gets a book. We have a tradition of buying books for presents. To us, books aren’t a luxury; they are a necessity.

Now that I’m a mother, I get to look back at my own mom and see what I want to do differently. There were so many things that she did right, but still I want to take it a step beyond. I want to be able to read together with my daughters, to share their delight in the worlds created by words. I hope they develop a crush on Gilbert Blythe in Anne of Green Gables like I did; I want to be able to discuss our disappoint in Jo letting Amy have Laurie in Little Women instead of choosing him for herself, but also discuss how that plot point actually fit with the characters.

And if they ever decide they want to read romance, and I think they’re mature enough, I’ll allow them. Just like Anne or Jo or Scarlett O’Hara—one of my personal favorites—I believe girls can learn from romance heroines.

I know that the heroines I write about are strong women, independent and intelligent. They are women who are vulnerable enough to fall in love, but don’t need a man to rescue them from their problems. A romance heroine isn’t afraid of what society thinks about them if they depart from the expected…or, if they are, they learn how to stand tall and embrace who they are over the course of the character journeys. I want to be able to read together with my daughters, and that includes romance novels. I want to sigh over heroes with them, and cry at one of those my-chest-literally-aches moments. I want to talk about the morals of the characters in romance novels, about what my daughters do and don’t like. I want to discuss our favorite authors and laugh together about some of the absurd titles.

I want to share with them.

And when they grow into young women and begin dating, if they compare all the boys to the romance heroes they’ve read about and the boys come up lacking…well, then they’ll make their dad happy by staying single forever. ;)

Does your family share a love of books? Are there any particular books that have become family treasures? Please share!

One lucky commenter will win a copy of Ashley’s debut, SEDUCING THE DUCHESS, which features one of the strongest and most independent women you could ask for…and one who knows the only true chance at happiness she has is to trust her heart with the man who once betrayed her.

Great Things Are Coming!

noreply@blogger.com (MiaMarlowe) — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 16:35:00 +0000

So sorry I haven't posted for a few days. I'm working fast and furious on content for my new website. The super talented techies at Wax Creative are going to be importing my blogposts to my new cyberhome, so I thought I'd give them a break and let this blog settle for a bit. In the meantime, please join me on Facebook and Twitter for all the latest.

I'll let you know when MiaMarlowe.com goes live. Stay tuned for the "BIG REVEAL" coming soon!

Spit-shining a Manuscript

noreply@blogger.com (MiaMarlowe) — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 13:06:00 +0000

It's Thursday, but after the holiday season, I'm out of volunteers. If you'd like to have 500 words of your current WIP used for an upcoming Red Pencil Thursday, please drop me an email.

But in the meantime, since I'm deep in polishing mode on TOUCH OF A ROGUE (Brava, Feb. 2012) I'll share my final preparations before I send in a manuscript to my editor.

First, I let my trusted beta reader and critique partner take a look at it. A second and third pair of eyes is invaluable. Notice I didn't choose a family member to do this. I need opinions that are a little more disinterested. My DH would read my work, but he's not my target audience. He also wants to continue sleeping with me, so he might not feel he can be as candid with his suggestions.

I give myself at least a week away from the story. Christmas fell perfectly in my writing schedule to give me a break from this manuscript. Once I came back to it, I skipped through the manuscript, noting all my beta reader and crit partner's observations. I agreed with some comments and made changes. Others I left as they were. As I counsel the volunteers for RPT, ultimately, the writer is the only one who knows how her story should be told.

Then I start my read-through. I read aloud, listening for word echoes or awkward sentence structure. I tighten my prose wherever I can. I catch inconsistencies in dialogue or characterization. I cut adverbs with viciousness. I run spell check over the whole thing.

I ask myself how I can make my scenes pop more, if I can add sensory details. I look for passive voice, head-hopping and other faux pas. Then once I'm satisfied it's as good as I can make it right now, I'll send it in. Since my editor is expecting TOUCH OF A ROGUE tomorrow, time is nipping at my heels a bit.

There are always ways to improve a manuscript. If my editor requests revisions, I'll get another crack at it. Then I get to negotiate with the copy editor over details and nitpicks. Finally, I'll make one last sweep for typos in the proof pages.

Good thing I love my characters. They're going to be with me for a long time!

If you're a writer, what trick helps you prepare a manuscript for submission? If you're a reader, have you ever been pulled out of a story by a problem that should have been smoothed over by the writer before the book went to print?

Desperately Seeking Beta Testers

noreply@blogger.com (MiaMarlowe) — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 11:49:00 +0000

When Wax Creative asked me about colors for my new website, I panicked a bit. Those of you who know me know I'm very hesitant about color choices (witness my white walls!) But I do enjoy colors other people have thrown together.

So I decided to punt to a painting by Russian artist Brodinsky. I love the vibrant hues and the broad spectrum palette, so I sent this to my designer at Wax Creative. She pulled colors out of this canvas for my new website and came up with a lovely design that's soft, elegant and will spotlight my covers beautifully.

The day for my website's launch is coming quickly and my current job is to come up with a pool of "beta testers." These are people who are willing to help me run Quality Assurance on the site. I will need people who are willing to:

-- spend 1-2 hours on the site.
-- hit as many links as possible. Find the broken one.
-- maximize and minimize and resize your browser window looking for anything in the window to distort
-- up your text size and see if you can make a mess
-- cruise around and report any place you get confused.
-- browse for information and errors (even if you aren't sure if the error is an error or if you are just seeing it funny).
-- spot and call out any weird wording/typos
-- give an overall impression of the site. I need honest feedback and I have a rhino's skin. Did you get bored? Did you get frustrated? Did you get lost? Did you love it? Did you want more?

In a recent Beta Testing that Wax Creative ran, a good friend of the client wrote "looked fine" for all the pages. This is most definitely NOT what we need here. If everything works for you and you find no broken links, etc. AND you love the site... then we need to know why you love it -- what works best. Positive feedback helps far more than "all links work".

I have a starter document tracking all the pages on my site that I will send each tester which will help track all observations.

I am asking more people than I need in hopes of getting the most diverse test bed (I could use at least one person who uses a browser other than Windows IE 6.X or 7.X). If you are interested, please let me know by dropping me an email through the Contact page of my current website. Once we have a pool of volunteers, Wax Creative will choose based on creating a diverse group. The testing will take place over a few days in mid January.

So, if you're a picky person, if little errors drive you crazy, if you have strong opinions about what works for you, I'd love to hear from YOU!

Thanks!

Gone to the Dogs

noreply@blogger.com (MiaMarlowe) — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 11:44:00 +0000

Mack the WonderDog is a pretty smart boy. He knows a lot more of our language than we do of his. We have to routinely spell things around him and even then, he's already deciphered O-U-T.

One time he masterminded an ambush of my little poodle's bowl. He barked at the front door, which made her run to see if there was anything there that required her to yap along with him. Meanwhile, he slipped around the circle in our floorplan to the kitchen corner where he wolfed down the supposedly "superior" food in her dish before she realized he'd set her up. It was a diabolical plan, flawlessly logical and executed with perfect timing.

To be fair, he only fooled her that way once.

Over the years, I've had a number of pets--cats, dogs, horses, an assortment of fish and tadpoles and a veritable Methuselah of gerbils. While I've loved and enjoyed them all--with the possible exception of the gerbil--I have to confess that dogs are my favorites.

It's hard to beat their uncritical companionship and they've always fallen in with my lifestyle. Even Mack, who according to his breed should be an energetic handful, has learned to snuggle into the writing chair with me for hours at a time and saves his exuberance for when we make our squirrel patrols in the park around our building.

But I know others have different opinions so I'm willing to listen. What do you think? Do you prefer a different sort of pet? Or no pet?

Happy New Year!

noreply@blogger.com (MiaMarlowe) — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 11:55:00 +0000

Welcome back to my blog! Hope you had a splendid Christmas and New Years. We enjoyed a wonderful, relaxing break with family. I'm excited to see what 2011 has in store for all of us.

Today, I'm blogging at Brava Authors, so I hope you'll join me there. I'm sharing an update on my Bucket List items. Hope you'll share your goals (I never do resolutions) for the new year as well!

Talk to you soon...

Distracting the Duchess is Back!

noreply@blogger.com (MiaMarlowe) — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 15:41:00 +0000

Merry Christmas!

noreply@blogger.com (MiaMarlowe) — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 08:05:00 +0000

My Favorite Christmas Painting

I want to share this amazing artwork with you, because it means a lot to me. I first encountered THE NATIVITY AT NIGHT in the National Gallery in London a few years ago. It's by the Dutch artist, Geertgen tot Sint Jans and was painted in oils on an oak panel sometime between 1455 and 1495. It's small--only 13 by 10 inches. You might easily walk past it in search of larger works by better known artists, but I confess I spent quite a while standing before this little jewel.

It's a dark painting. There's a small fire in the distance where a shining angel is announcing the birth to terrified shepherds. Light emitted from the manger shows a serene Mary and, deep in the shadow behind her, Joseph stands guard. There's a donkey and cow gazing down at the baby with interest. A quintet of little angels occupy the left side of the scene, all lit only by the light coming from the Baby. The artist took real gold and painted narrow beams radiating from the Child--his spin on Jesus as the Light of the world.

But strangely enough, the focus of this painting for me isn't the shivering baby. It's the little angel standing behind the manger, the one closest to the cow. All the other angels are in lock-step worship mode, somber expressions and folded hands. But her hands are lifted in surprise and though you can't see it clearly here, she has a look of utter astonishment on her face.

You can almost hear her thinking, "God in this tiny bundle of flesh? What on earth is He up to now?"

Political Correctness . . .

If you do not celebrate Christmas, I mean no disrespect. I am frequently wished Happy Hanukkah. I return the greeting, though I do not keep the Feast of Lights. Many of my writer friends celebrate the winter solstice. I respect their choice, but it's merely an astronomical event to me. I am not offended when they share their celebration with me.

I'm a Christian, so I celebrate Christmas and to wish you a generic "Happy Holiday" or "Season's Greetings" offends my writer's soul. Stephen King is big on specific, descriptive nouns. Why say 'bird' when you can say 'cardinal' or 'penguin' or 'vulture?" Same goes for Christmas. Let's call it what it is.

So please accept my hearty Merry Christmas. When I say it, I wish you joy and light and love.

Thank you . . .

I'm getting ready to take a little blog break till the end of the year, but I couldn't let you go without telling you how much I appreciate you. So many of you have been with me since my blog tour in 2009 and some even before that. I love the little cyber-community we have here and look forward to sharing 2011 with you too. I'm so blessed to count you my friend. See you in January!

Wishing you a little Christmas magic,
Mia

File This Under Fun!

noreply@blogger.com (MiaMarlowe) — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 08:34:00 +0000

My friend Elizabeth Boyle sent me a note the day before yesterday letting me know she'd seen one of my books in PEOPLE magazine. I was totally floored, and wondered if Elizabeth had made a mistake. So I hoofed it down to the Walgreens and flipped through the PEOPLE on the rack and sure enough--there was DISTRACTING THE DUCHESS on page 64 of the Best of 2010 issue.

I'm tickled pink about seeing one of my books in a national magazine. Makes me feel like I opened a Christmas gift early.

We're celebrating the holiday today because our daughter is working on Christmas day. After presents and a turkey dinner, we'll go to the Christmas Eve service at our church.

How will you be celebrating?

Christmas in a World lit only by Fire

noreply@blogger.com (MiaMarlowe) — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 09:34:00 +0000

Christmas celebrations borrowed freely from the mists of the pagan past. During the Regency era, the custom of dragging in a near tree trunk to provide heat for mid-winter festivities was adapted to celebrate the birth of Christ, the Light of the World.

The log was selected well ahead of time and allowed to dry. It would be taken into the house on Christmas Eve and was lit with a piece from the previous year's Yul log. The log was expected to cook the dinner, heat the nog and wassail, and provide a merry flame all through Christmas Day as well. If it failed to last for the full day, it was considered an ill-omen for the coming year.

I first ran across the custom a Yul log when I researched Norse culture for my Viking stories (written as Diana Groe). Norse people celebrated a mid-winter festival called Jul. Along with burning the Yul log, it was a day of copious eating and drinking. When night fell, a vigil was kept and even the most battle-hardened warriors trembled a bit in the flickering light of the central fire. They believed the veil between the worlds was thinnest on that night and the dead would cross through to visit the living. The table was set with rich meat and drink and left for ghostly visitors, hoping the specters would bear the living no grudges for any slight given them in life.

We don't have a Yul log. We don't even have a fireplace in our condo, but when I was a child, my grandmother solved the problem with a cardboard fireplace. She set it up every year in her living room with all the grandkid's stockings hanging in a row. How Santa Claus managed to make it into the house through that cardboard portal was one of the great mysteries of my childhood, but since St. Nick was always kind to me, I was prepared to take a few things on faith!
Do you have a favorite childhood memory you'd like to share? I'd love to hear about it.

The Twelve Days of Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (MiaMarlowe) — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 07:26:00 +0000

The Regency Christmas season lasted from Christmas Eve till Twelfth Night, the eve of the Epiphany (when the arrival of the magi at Christ's side is celebrated). Each day was filled with music making, skating on frozen ponds, and gentle rustic pursuits.

The custom of the First Foot on New Years Day was particularly important. It was considered very lucky if the first visitor to "set foot" over one's threshold was a well-favored, dark haired man. (How very practical! When isn't a tall, dark and handsome man at one's door good luck?) Often in small villages, a fellow who fit the description would be appointed to visit every home, bringing symbolic gifts of salt for wealth, coal for warmth, and bread for food. The householders would offer him food and drink in return and an auspicious year was assured.

Twelfth Night was filled with even more revelry than Christmas Day itself. This was a time for amateur theatricals, music and games. A bean was hidden inside a cake and the person who discovered the bean was proclaimed the Lord of Misrule and might dictate the events of the evening. With wassail flowing and spirits high, Twelfth Night was a fitting end to the Regency Christmas celebration.

We love to make the holidays last, so my DH and I are heading back to Missouri after the 25th to be with our oldest daughter and my parents. Christmas will come with us.

Do you extend your holiday celebration beyond December 25th?

On the Regency Sideboard

noreply@blogger.com (MiaMarlowe) — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 09:15:00 +0000

While roast beef and venison were the main course of the dinner, along with goose, capon, pheasant, bustard, swan and/or peacock, the real treat of the Regency Christmas meal was the pudding.

A pudding needed to be started before the first Sunday of Advent in order to be considered a true Christmas pudding. It was thought to improve with time. The recipe called for a mixture of thirteen ingredients (to represent Christ and the twelve apostles) which was boiled in a pudding cloth. Usual ingredients included suet, brown sugar, raisins, currants, citron, lemon and orange peels, spices, crumbs, flour, eggs, milk and brandy.

Other Christmas deserts included gingerbread, butter shortbread, trifle and syllabub (a milk, brandy and wine concoction which might be drunk or later whipped, gelled and eaten.) Children delighted in sugar plums and ginger nuts.

What sort of goodies will your family enjoy for Christmas? I'm always looking for a good EASY recipe...

The Family that Plays Together...

noreply@blogger.com (MiaMarlowe) — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 06:25:00 +0000

There was no NFL football or cable TV to occupy Christmas revelers in the Regency era. People had to make their own fun. In the case of this picture of a game of 'Blind Man's Bluff,' it looks as if rakish young fellows might have a good deal of fun indeed.

But Christmas was also a family holiday. Source documents record the glee of boys and young men returning home for Christmas from their boarding schools. It was almost as if they were inmates suddenly freed from prison! To celebrate their return, their families enjoyed parlor games, many with unlikely names: Shoe the Wild Mare, Hot Cockles, Steal the White Loaf, Bob Apple and Snapdragon.

Snapdragon was played by filling a shallow bowl with brandy, sprinkling raisins in the liquid and setting it alight. Players were expected to snatch the raisins from the flames and extinguish them by popping them in their mouths. Needless to say, there were some burned fingers and tongues, but the reward for plucking out the most raisins was the promise of "meeting one's true love during the coming year." In another variation of the game, a gold button was inserted into one of the raisins and the one who snagged that raisin could ask a boon of anyone present.

According to Robert Chambers' Book of Days (1879) this rhyme was chanted while the game was played:

Here he comes with flaming bowl,
Don't he mean to take his toll,
Snip! Snap! Dragon!
Take care you don't take too much,
Be not greedy in your clutch,
Snip! Snap! Dragon!
With his blue and lapping tongue
Many of you will be stung,
Snip! Snap! Dragon!
For he snaps at all that comes
Snatching at his feast of plums,
Snip! Snap! Dragon!
But Old Christmas makes him come,
Though he looks so fee! fa! fum!
Snip! Snap! Dragon!
Don't 'ee fear him but be bold —
Out he goes his flames are cold,
Snip! Snap! Dragon!

Still sounds like a good argument for cable TV to me. However, spending time with loved ones, flirting, having a jolly time with one's family and friends -- it seems a Regency Christmas shares much with present day celebrations.

Does your family play games together during your holiday celebrations?

Red Pencil Thursday with Writing Partners Shirley and Janet

noreply@blogger.com (MiaMarlowe) — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 07:30:00 +0000

Today for RPT we have a team of writers from Charter Oak RWA as our volunteers. I'm always interested in the writing process so I hope Shirley Webb and Janet Moreland will share how their partnership works in the comments section below.

As always with Red Pencil Thursday, my comments are intended to help other writers think in new directions. However, no one can tell your story but you, so feel free to accept or ignore me. My comments are red. I have not yet received responses from Shirley and Janet, but if some come in today, I'll add them in blue.
______________________________________________
When Sunrise Comes
(Book Two in the Choosing Love Series)

Chapter One

June 6, 1983, was rainy, windy, and grey, much like any other Monday in Cara Landry’s world. But today would be different; today a phone call would begin a chain of events that would change her life forever.
By giving a date 27 years ago, you're dating this contemporary so you'd better be ready to really lay on the 80's vibes. Plus this whole first paragraph smacks of "author intrusion," meaning you're inserting yourselves into the story in order to give us information the heroine doesn't have yet. It's better for the reader to learn things as the characters do, otherwise, they may get impatient if the heroine doesn't catch on quickly enough.

She sat at a desk in the intensive care ward of London’s Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital, watching the scene before her. Nurses, seemingly happy, were walking to and fro, giving diligent care to their young charges.
By saying seemingly happy, you're telling. It's always better to show smiles and let us overhear positive, happy conversation instead of telling.

Cara hugged herself and sighed. I was like that once, she thought. I’m not sure I can bear another year of clinics, text books, and classes to become a doctor.
When you do a direct thought, like I was like that once, underline it. That signals to the copy editor that the text should be in italics.

At twenty-two, Cara had on an armor that unrelentingly weighed her down. It could not be seen, and it was not material, but she could not for the life of her begin to take it off. She felt guarded, hurt by what had been kept from her and what had been taken away.
Unless she's studying to be a psychiatrist, she ought not be self-diagnosing about the armor. Show us she's guarded. Give her a friend who asks how things are going and have her clam up.

She knew she could attribute most of these negative feelings to the breakup with her boyfriend, Harry Wilhelm. It was hard to believe it had come to an end, four years of living with Harry, whom she thought would be with her forever. She had been kidnapped when she was seventeen, and Harry had been instrumental in helping with her rescue. He was her hero as well as her best friend.

But last night he had ended the relationship. They had such great plans—her ambition to be a pediatrician, his career as a lawyer, and years of sharing everything. Suddenly now, she felt as though all the good times were over, as though her life were slowly and steadily unraveling.

It had to be someone’s fault, and today she started blaming herself. Harry told her that for the past several months he had been dating someone else. He said he’d put off telling her, because he hadn’t wanted to hurt her. Cara assumed it must be someone she knew, since he refused to reveal the person’s name.

The three previous paragraphs are quite a bit of back story instead of immediate action. Especially at the beginning, limit going back except in very small amounts. A flick of a gaze at one of the nurses and having Cara wonder if she's the one Harry was dating now would get this info introduced. By giving Cara a conversation with someone (here's where a BFF for your heroine really comes in handy) , you could cover as much of this as necessary. The trick is always to give your reader ONLY enough information to continue. Wait till they are emotionally invested in Cara before you bring up the kidnapping, for example.

An intercom voice from the hospital’s reception desk jarred Cara back to reality. “Miss Landry, you have a call on line three."

“Hello, Cara Landry here.”

“Cara,” the warm southern voice of her young American aunt was welcoming. “I hope I didn’t catch you at a bad time.”
The comma after Cara should be a period, then capitalize The. Since she's southern, I expect her syntax to be different from a Brit's. Instead of you how about y'all? You want your character's speech patterns to be distinctive enough, readers can tell who's speaking even without dialogue tags.

“Aunt Katie, how good to hear from you. No, it’s fine. I don’t have rounds again for two hours. I’m just catching up on some reading,” Cara said as she closed a medical journal. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, Cara, although I need to shop for clothes that will fit around my expanding waist.”

I’ll never let myself get in that situation with a protruding stomach, Cara thought. Uncle Adrian and Aunt Katie may want children, but it’s all too much for me. I’ll take care of other people’s children.
Again, underline the direct thoughts. Thanks for letting me take a peek at your work. You've presented a number of good conflicts for the heroine in her past. I'm anxious to see what's about to happen that will change her life.

__________________________

Bio - Shirley G. Webb, in Connecticut, and Janet M. Moreland, in Nevada, have developed a unique voice for their stories written for Young Adults and Adults and filled with soft romance, inspiration, drama, and suspense. When Sunrise Comes is book two in their “Choosing Love” series, and Echo of a Dream is book one. They are also the authors of the three books in “The Howell Women Saga”—Cherokee Love, Dance in the Rain, and Song of Love. The partners met online in 2002 and having been collaborating ever since.

Both authors are prolific in their marketing, with presentations to middle schools, writers’ groups, book signings, and craft of writing programs for reading teachers. One of their seminars was selected by the Clark County, Nevada education system as a PDE credit program for their teachers. Shirley is a presenter at Uconn, as well as a large number of writing groups. Janet also does poetry readings and workshops. In addition, their marketing includes their own web site, cross referencing on other web sites, staying in touch with the media, and networking with other professionals in the literary field.

Web sites: www.shirleygwebb.com/home and newsfromjan.homestead.com/

And now it's your turn. Since you're here, you're part of this online critique group. I hope you'll share your thoughts with Janet and Shirley.

Playing with Words

noreply@blogger.com (MiaMarlowe) — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 10:55:00 +0000

I love word games, so pardon me for reposting this little article. It comes from the Washington Post.

The Washington Post's Mensa Invitational once again invited readers to take
any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing
one letter, and supply a new definition.

Here are the winners:

1. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject
financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.

2. Ignoranus : A person who's both stupid and an asshole.

3. Intaxicaton : Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you
realize it was your money to start with.

4. Reintarnation : Coming back to life as a hillbilly.

5. Bozone ( n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright
ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign
of breaking down in the near future.

6. Foreploy : Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid..

7. Giraffiti : Vandalism spray-painted very, very high

8. Sarchasm : The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.

9. Inoculatte : To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

10. Osteopornosis : A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)

11. Karmageddon : It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really
bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a
serious bummer.

12. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.

13. Glibido : All talk and no action.

14. Dopeler Effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

15. Arachnoleptic Fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.

16. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

17. Caterpallor ( n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you're eating.

Hope you enjoyed a giggle or two.

Made up words can serve all kinds of purposes. In our family, we made up a "code" word for our kids in case someone said we'd sent them to pick the girls up. If the person didn't say the word, our children would know we hadn't sent them and they shouldn't go with them. Since the word was an amalgamation of a couple of other words unique to our family, no one could ever guess the right word.

Do you have a favorite made up word?

Movie vs Book?

noreply@blogger.com (MiaMarlowe) — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 12:40:00 +0000

My fam and I are going to see VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER this evening. Usually, I say the book is better than the movie, but so far in the Narnia series, the movie makers have made it a point to adhere pretty strictly to the books. I hope that continues because the Dawn Treader is one of my favorite stories in the series.

The Chronicles of Narnia was written for children, and I first discovered it when my kids were small. But what a delight at any age! I fell in love with the magical world of CS Lewis.

For one thing, the books are wickedly well-written. Take the opening of Dawn Treader for example.

There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubbs, and he almost deserved it.

That's up there with Melville's "Call me Ishmael" for using a name to paint a deft character sketch. In those few words, we know Eustace is a real stinker and we'll read on to see what happens to him because we love to see fellows of his sort get what's coming to them. I'm not going to be a spoiler, but I will say following Eustace's journey is well worth the trip.

So I'm looking forward to the movie this evening.

Have you ever been disappointed by a movie after reading the book or vice versa?

Plain Brown Wrapper

noreply@blogger.com (MiaMarlowe) — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 06:26:00 +0000

I'm as old school a bibliophile as they come. I actually like the musty smell of books. I love the sight of a fresh uncracked spine because I know I have hours of delight ahead of me.

But lately, I've been happily reading on the Kindle app on my cell phone. No one is more surprised than me. For me, it's a question of convenience. As long as I have my phone, I have something to read. Plus as a condo-dweller, I'm really excited about how many shelves I can clear because my library is now digital. At least partially. There are some physical books I'll never part with.

However, the NYTimes has come up with yet another reason that romance readers are switching to ereaders. They think privacy is a good motivator. The writers at the Times think romance readers are embarrassed by the cover art of their reading choices and an ereader serves the same function as a "plain brown wrapper." The ereader makes a guilty pleasure possible on public transit or in a professional waiting room without telegraphing what the reader is indulging in.

Yet more evidence that mainstream publishing believes romance is thinly veiled female pornography.

What they don't understand is that the relationship between a hero and heroine is the primary focus in romance. The sensual connection is only one component of that larger story. We want emotion. We want a love that tugs at our hearts. And a non-negotiable Happily Ever After.

What do you think? Is the Times onto something? If you use an ereader, are you more adventurous in your reading choices because no one but you sees the cover art associated with your titles? Or do you love the cover art on your books and don't give a flying fig who sees you reading them?

A Good Agent is Hard to Find

noreply@blogger.com (MiaMarlowe) — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 13:17:00 +0000

I've always said the wrong agent is worse than no agent and cautioned aspiring writers against leaping into representation. I've heard so many horror stories of authors who were ripped off by the person who was supposed to be in their corner.

But the right agent is like having a superhero at your side. Fortunately, my superhero is Natasha Kern. She finds the right publishing home for my work, guides me through the legal maze of contracts and advocates for me at every step along the way. When it's time to put together a new proposal, she's a creative sounding board for my ideas. For Natasha, it's more than selling the next book. She's got her eye on where my writing career is heading and how she can help me get there. I know she gives all her clients that same nuturing care.

This year, she's been a godsend as I made the transition from Emily Bryan to Mia Marlowe and a new publishing house (or two! More about my exciting new venture in future blog post...). Natasha is incredible. That's why I'm so pleased to share that she has reached a professional milestone of her own.

Natasha Kern recently sold her 1000th book.

Let that sink in for a minute. It's a huge accomplishment. And since she passed that marker, she's sold two more in a publishing climate that can fairly be described as brutal. I'm totally in awe of her and so blessed to be part of her family of clients.

If you're a writer, you'll appreciate her Writer's Corner where she shares some articles on her ideas about fiction and what makes for an engaging read that "works in all the worlds." If you're on Facebook, be sure to drop by Natasha's profile and congratulate her on her 1000th sale!

Is there someone in your life who's helped you reach a goal? I'd love to hear about that person and how he or she has impacted you.

Red Pencil Thursday with Helene Wallis

noreply@blogger.com (MiaMarlowe) — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 09:45:00 +0000

Welcome to another Red Pencil Thursday. My victim/volunteer is a brave member of Charter Oak RWA, the Connecticut chapter I spoke for last Saturday.

It requires courage to take your bath in public and I want to thank Helene for letting the rest of us go to school on her efforts. My comments are in red. Helene's responses are in blue. A critique group needs input from all its members. Please add yours in the comment section at the end of this post!

The Spy and the Reluctant Bride

A title should set the mood and hook the reader into opening the book. The style of this title is a little "old school," reminiscent of The Wolf and the Dove, or The Flame and the Flower. Take a look at the titles in the romance department in your local bookstore. Jot down some of the ones that pique your interest. It may spark a fresh idea for you and maybe our commenters will have a title suggestion for you too.

Thank you Mia for your input. The titles were to be a Brides series but then Stephanie Laurens came out with a bride series: The Untamed Bride, The Brazen Bride, The Elusive Bride and the Reckless Bride. The time period was just after mine. So my Abandoned Bride, Reluctant Bride, Vengeful Bride, etc. became The Twisted Killer Spy and Bride series. In fact, I am wondering if I should entitle the book The Twisted Killer Spy and the Reluctant Bride? .

You mentioned in an email that you were considering a single word title like RELUCTANT. I like single word titles. They make a strong statement and work well if you hope to draw in male readers.

Bryon Dalton, Viscount Winship, reluctantly disentangled himself from his newest love interest. He wanted one more session of lovemaking but he had that demned meeting of The Kings Men to go to and it was getting late.

Newest love interest sounds too modern for a historical. Also, the term lovemaking as a euphemism for sex is fairly modern too (circa 1950!) You don't name a date here, but it sounds Regency-ish. Lovemaking would have meant "to pay close attention to," in other words, courtship, which is not what you're describing here.

Yes, they are in the early Regency era.

Perfumed sheets and a willing warm body were most compelling. He certainly found himself at attention but there was nothing for it. He had to leave.

Found himself at attention made me smile. :-) There's something to be said for not naming body parts before we've had a chance to like the characters enough to care about the state of their parts.

He leaned over to give a kiss, reluctantly and sadly. He wanted to partake..no, what was he thinking of? He had to leave. He shook his mind clear of those thoughts. He had to go to the meeting. He could see her on the morrow.

You're missing her in the first sentence, but I'd really rather see the girl's name here if she's going to be an important character.

No one knows her name. Not even Madame. She is the woman in the blue room. Trust me, they will be looking for her. All of them, including the Spy.

Notice that I turned a number of -ly words red. Try to limit the number of adverbs you use. Descriptive verbs and specific nouns will make your prose cleaner.

How about if he shakes his head instead of his mind?

He and his friends had discovered a new place to help vent their frustrations and angst. Among themselves they called it The French Whorehouse because the Madame and all of the girls spoke with a very bad French accent.

Most guys wouldn't think they were venting frustration and angst with a whore.

All that is except one. He had found a very real French woman in the house who was pretending to not be French.

OK, now you've hooked me. Good job. Is this the woman he's been bedding? I'd really like to know her name and I think you've missed a chance to introduce her to us by not having any dialogue between Bryon and this young woman. By redoing the opening with dialogue between the two of them, you'll avoid the trap of having Bryon ruminate in silence about things. You'll be showing instead of telling.

It was a little amusing and at the same time a little sad.
I don't understand this observation.

It was not difficult to understand how an émigré' could end up in difficult circumstances. He did not want to know how she ended up here but he was interested in who her companions outside of the house were, if she had any. One of her other lovers was a French spy. Of that he was fairly sure. Unfortunately it was impossible to have the house watched. So many men came and went, including his fellow spies. The Madame certainly would not tell him who came to see her, not without him spilling his own secret connections.

Now you're ratcheting up my interest. He's a spy who spends his time in a brothel. Why? Did he have a connection to someone there before he met this girl or is it just a happy accident that he's sharing a ladybird with a French spy?

For someone was seeing her and talking to her.

Someone who had a great deal of information on what was going on in France. Perhaps someone who also knew she was French and was being careless or boastful. Men like that were very dangerous. Perhaps someone in his cups who was careless with his speech? Perhaps someone she knew in France or was a connection of hers? Like a relative? And how and why was he giving her this information? The most likely explanation? Pillow talk, no doubt. Who ever he was he most likely did not know she talked in her sleep. Not rambling words but complete lucid conversations. He worried that someday her other lover would come to know this and do away with her. He grimaced when he thought of the methods of torture he was acquainted with. Not a happy thought.

We have a lot of information being dumped here. I wonder if you might start out with her talking in her sleep and having Bryon realize she was both a source of information and in danger because of it. Again, I'd rather have you show me than tell me.

Perhaps she would be lucky and he, whoever he was, would not guess.

You set me up to worry about her and then yanked the suspense away by saying "Oh, well, maybe she'll be lucky." I'd rather she stay in jeopardy for now. It's a better hook.

He even considered telling her what she was doing, but the information she was supplying was too important.

Because I want your hero to be honorable, there needs to be a really compelling reason for him to continue to use this woman. Is she talking in her sleep about an assassination attempt on the queen? A military invasion? What is more important than the value of not letting a woman he at least likes remain in danger?

Too bad he could not have her ask questions of her Frog.

Tall, handsome and intelligent, and most importantly very generous with the ready, he was
everything she could want in a lover. She hoped he

This last paragraph is in the unnamed young woman's head. We've changed POV without a change of scene, which is a no-no for unpublished authors. I know Nora does it, but she's Nora. If you must change POV within the scene, pull back with a paragraph that isn't specifically in anyone's POV--a more omniscent view--then come in with your new POV character.

Would she think of him as a lover? If she was his exclusive mistress, yes, but since she sees more than one man, I think you need a different word here. And since she does have other "regulars" this is a problem if she is your heroine. It's a romance reader expectation that the heroine will not be promiscuous after she meets the hero (and vice versa). This is something you need to give some serious thought.

She is not the heroine of the story but a vehicle. She may end up at the end of the last book as a heroine of sorts but not before because when he goes back to rescue her (at the end of the first chapter) she has already fled. In thinking it over she has decided she fears the other man more than Madame.

Maybe I started in the wrong place and that this should have been a flashback. I could try that and see if it works better. I need to introduce her at some point, as she has a pivotal role in the last book and he is the last man to see her. So I will begin again and see what happens.

It's not uncommon for an author to begin in the wrong place. I remember writing 12-15 pages on one story only to discover I was merely "clearing my throat" and getting acquainted with my characters. The story starts at a pivotal moment, a moment when everything changes for your main character. Hit the ground running and don't look back. And think long and hard before doing anything as a flashback in the first chapter. A flashback removes the reader from the immediate action. Save it for later, when your reader is invested enough in the characters to wander down memory lane with them.

Thanks for letting me take a look at your work!

Helene's Bio: I am a single mother, twice divorced, who raised six children basically alone and now have eight grandchildren to brag about. When I retired after twenty years in nursing (as a psychiatric, forensic and home care nurse) I decided to reinvent myself as Regency suspense/romance novelist. I did win first prize in the Connecticut Authors and Publishers contest a few years ago for a personal essay on the Hartford Circus fire "A Day at the Circus(Fire)." My only writing experience, besides in charts was as a photographer and regional features editor for a weekly newspaper many years ago.

Thanks for being our volunteer today, Helene. Now it's your turn. Do you have suggestions for her? Beginnings are a delicate time. Have you ever read a published novel that didn't seem to start in the right place?

Hold the presses! Helene just sent me a revised opening that shows some definite improvement. One of the goals of Red Pencil Thursday is helping writers think in new directions. Click here if you'd like to check out Helene's newest version yourself.

Decking the Regency Halls

noreply@blogger.com (MiaMarlowe) — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 10:55:00 +0000

In the Regency era, there were no Christmas trees in the parlors of London. Christmas trees were a custom that wouldn't catch on till Queen Victoria and Prince Albert imported the tradition from Germany. But that doesn't mean there were no decorations for the holiday season--which began on Christmas Eve and continued till Twelfth Night (which coincides with Epiphany, January 6th).

It was considered unlucky to bring greenery into the house prior to Christmas Eve, but Regency folk used evergreens for that special day. The most popular decoration was a "kissing bough." It was fasioned of ivy (to symbolize women), prickly holly (to represent men) and mistletoe (to give young men an excuse to claim a kiss!)

Each time a kiss was forfeited, the gentleman was supposed to reach up and pluck off one of the mistletoe berries. When the berries were all gone, no more kisses could be stolen.

Kisses freely given? That's another story!

Another Regency tradition was the Christmas candle, which was lit on Christmas Eve. It was expected to burn through Christmas Day. This may have been a nod to the older custom of a Yule log which provided heat during the 12 days of festival, but by the beginning of the 19th century, few fireplaces would accomodate such a monstrous-sized log!

I love the smell of a real tree but haven't had one in years, because of the fire hazard. I wonder if we limited our celebration to the 12 days of Christmas I'd feel differently about it. We start running ourselves ragged over Christmas starting with Black Friday.

Is there something to be said for an abbreviated holiday season?

Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet

noreply@blogger.com (MiaMarlowe) — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 11:06:00 +0000

When my DH and I were in Amsterdam last month, we encountered a Christmas celebration at the Church of St. Maarten in Utrecht. The picture at the left shows Zwarte Piet, the Dutch equivalent of Santa's helper. (Behind the garishly dressed little gift giver, you can see my Dutch friends Alfke, Nynke and Asbjorn having a great time!)

Nynke explained that St. Nicholas comes to the Netherlands each year on December 6th to leave gifts in children's shoes. Of course, good children receive good gifts and bad ones find only switches and lumps of coal in theirs. The historical St. Nicholas was the bishop of Myra (part of present day Turkey), but in Dutch tradition, he comes not from the North Pole, but from Spain! And his helpers aren't elves. They are Moors.

Nynke says the Dutch news media has a great time reporting on SinterKlaas's progress toward Holland. His ship is often lost at sea or threatened with delay, but somehow, he always manages to arrive in time.

The children obviously love Zwarte Piet, and his smiling face was in all the stores as a reminder to parents that the Feast of St. Nicholas was coming. (It's an ill tradition that doesn't blow a spending windfall into the economy.)

The custom of Sinterklaas bringing gifts is an old one. When we visited the Rijkmuseum (a fabulous collection of Dutch masters!) we saw this painting by Jan Steen called the Feast of St. Nicholas. Like our Santa Claus, Sinterklaas keeps a book in which he records the deeds of children and bases their gifts on what's written there. The little girl in the foreground clutches her lovely new doll while a boy to the left knuckles his eyes to swipe away tears. He was obviously a naughty child who received only switches and coal.

I'm always fascinated by how Christmas is celebrated in other cultures. My husband's family is Norwegian, so that means they have lefsa (a delicious potato-based flat bread) and lutefisk (codfish stored in lye, then smothered in butter once it's cooked so it will slither down your throat on its own. It's something of a rite of passage.)

Does your family incorporate any elements from other lands into your celebration? Any special recipes or traditions you'd like to share?

A Victorian Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (MiaMarlowe) — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 12:46:00 +0000

Ready for a little Christmas cheer? I'm blogging at Brava Authors about how the Victorians celebrated the holiday. Hope you'll drop by for a cup of cyber-wassail. Be ready to share your holiday traditions.