Romance Writers Facebook Tag

I was tagged by Kayla Hampton to take part in a romance writers Facebook tag. Thank you Kayla! @HamptonBooks

Here’s how it goes:

You write 7 lines from your current work in progress, starting with the seventh line on the seventh page.

This is from my novel Exquisite Destiny, (a paranormal romance). This is Book 2 in the projected 5 book series. I hope to have the first 2 novels out by the Spring of 2015.

The juncture froze in the same way that time stands still the instant before a near death impact. 

When we both became aware of the connection he pulled his hand away as though unexpectedly uncomfortable and asked me again, “Do you mind if I join you for just a little while?”

The seconds seemed to hang almost pregnant in the air, charged with expectation. I was barely able to nod my assent motioning to the seat across from me, after feeling forced, against my will, to relinquish his hand.

What was that, I wondered? I gently probed his mind and found he was wondering the exact same thing. Sitting across from him I was momentarily distracted by his perfectly manicured nails. Was he a dandy?

©by Raina Schell

Twitter @RainaSchell

Please like me on Facebook!! Raina on Facebook

www.RainaSchell.com

MEET MY CHARACTER Blog Hop!

I was invited to participate in a blog hop titled: “Meet My Character Blog Tour” by the lovely and talented Regina Kammer – thank you Regina!! This blog hop highlights a main character from an author’s work-in-progress (WIP) or recently published or soon-to-be-published work. Regina Kammer introduced Joseph Phillips from her Historical Erotica, Disobedience by Design, which I am currently reading and thoroughly enjoying! In this book, which takes place mainly in England in 1860, Joseph is a very experienced and quite gorgeous 21 year old American from NYC. Read more aboutJoseph and Disobedience by Design! More links can be found at the bottom of this entry.

The Character from my Destiny Series that I will briefly discuss here is… dun dun dun... LIZZY

1) What is the name of your character?  Is he/she fictional or a historic person?

Her full name is Elisabetta Moretti but everyone calls her Lizzy. She is fictional but please don’t tell her that. She may come after you.

2) When and where is the story set?

The story is set in modern day Sicily, Italy.

3) What should we know about him/her?

Lizzy grows up, the only daughter of a hard working fisherman, in a small Sicilian fishing village some 77 kilometers from the capital of Palermo. She has no mother but she does have a brother that she's never met.

Lizzy becomes a trained thief possessing the paranormal abilities of telepathy and mind control. She's endowed with at least 2 other abilities that are not fully realized until much later. In book 1 Lizzy is a young girl, growing up in Sicily. In book 2 Lizzy is 23 years old, while traversing the Atlantic, aboard a vast ocean liner. In book 2 Lizzy is introduced to her soul mate Vincent. Lizzy, is a stunning Sicilian female of course, who, though well versed in all areas of self defense and other criminal underground activities, is naïve in the ways of love and life.

4) What is the main conflict? What messes up his/her life?

In Book 1 - Lizzy’s main conflict is that she doesn’t fit in. She has no friends as a young child and feels like an outsider looking in. All she wants is to belong… so when she finally finds a place where she does feel a part of - she becomes internally torn because this place is teaching her the prowess needed to be part of the criminal underground. These new skills and new friends come with a price she’s not sure she can pay. In order to truly be a “part of” Lizzy must abandon her father and ultimately relinquish her own integrity.

5) What is the personal goal of the character?

She wants to be loved and accepted for who she is not for what she can or can’t do. She spends a lot of time proving herself and trying to build up a family from a wild cast of characters all imbued with paranormal abilities, who are misfits just like herself.

6) Is there a working title for this novel, and can we read more about it?

The working title is Exquisite Destiny and it is now a projected 5 book series currently being called The Destiny Series. It took on a life of its own and sprouted babies.

7) When can we expect the book to be published?

That’s a good question and I don’t have an answer to that yet. I am currently re-writing book 2. The bulk of Book 2 was written during NaNoWriMo 2013. Book 1 will be written during NaNo 2014. My website will be updated with current information but I’m hoping for Spring 2015 at the latest.

More about the Meet My Characters blog hop!

I was tagged by Regina Kammer who introduced the dashing young Joseph Phillips in her Meet my Character Blog Post.

Regina Kammer is a librarian, an art historian, and best-selling, multi-published writer of erotica and historical erotic romance. She has been published by Cleis Press, Go Deeper Press, Ellora’s Cave, House of Erotica, and her own imprint, Viridium Press. She began writing historical fiction with romantic elements during NaNoWriMo 2006, switching to erotica when all her characters suddenly demanded to have sex.

You can follow Regina on:

Twitter-@Kammerotica

Her website and blog

I’ve tagged Kayla Hampton and Maya Goode who will be posting their blog spots on August 25^th

Kayla Hampton has always been fascinated by the dark and sexy creatures that live in our dreams (or nightmares).  Bringing these characters to life in her books is what she wants to do when she “grows up”.  When Kayla is not writing passionate stories of love and war, she loves spending time with her husband and daughter on the Canadian West Coast. 

Follow Kayla:

Website: kaylahampton.com

Blog: http://kaylahampton.com/blog

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KHamptonBooks

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kayla-Hampton/208367729335283

Maya Goode is a short story author, novelist, and poet. Raised by an amazing mercurial woman who shared neither blood nor race, she lives on the edge of identities and writes deeply honest stories about the human journey. She is an alumna of Dominican University of California and resides somewhere between mountains and the ocean. Her first novel, Remigium Rising, will be published in Spring 2015. You can visit her at www.mayagoode.com

Twitter http://www.twitter.com/quotidianlight

Google Plus https://plus.google.com/+quotidianlight
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/user/quotidianlight

Are you ready to take the lottery challenge?

The most ridiculous, yet true epiphany I had shortly before I wrote the first draft of my novel in a month was, “if you don’t play the lotto you won’t win.” Simple, true and everyone knows it. I’ve always known that and still I don’t play the lotto and probably never will. That’s not why that simple statement came to me though. It was about my 1^st novel, Exquisite Destiny. I started writing Exquisite Destiny about 15 years ago, yes you read that correctly. FIFTEEN YEARS AGO, more or less, give or take a year or two.

I was a different person back then, completely different. The only thing that remains the same is that I look relatively un-aged (thanks to cosmetic surgery – just kidding! Thanks to good eating and even better genes).

The first thing that happened was that I birthed the character. From the “Artist’s Way” book given to me by my still amazingly close friend Max I began writing morning pages. Morning pages is an assignment in the book where you write either 3 (I think it was 3) pages or you write for an allotted period of time, 10 minutes maybe, I can’t quite remember now – it WAS a long time ago. Regardless, my character Lizzy was born. And once I gave birth to the character she needed a venue.

Her playground was hammered out in my then office/closet. I wrote like a fiend for a month, maybe two. I had a full time job then too so I wrote whenever I could and though I don’t remember for sure I think I probably managed a few pages a day. At some point I had 50 pages and I thought they were good. I really did. My then husband (exh) wanted to read them as did a couple of friends so I started on the rewrites, without ever finishing the first draft. I re-wrote for another month or so. Ecstatic to get everyone’s opinion and not knowing the “rules” which consist partially of DON’T LET YOUR FAMILY OR FRIENDS READ YOUR WRITING, especially if you’re unpublished and have an easily crushable ego. So I did what any other eager young writer does – I printed out my pages and I handed them to my exh, who by the way doesn’t actually have a name, and 2 of my closest friends. I sat and waited with baited breath.

When the jury came back it looked something like this…. My exh hated it and thought I should shred the entire thing immediately. My “best friend” at the time, who it turns out was actually my exh’s best friend said “it’s ok.” But my other friend, oh Liisa thank you for believing in me! She LOVED IT!!! She ranted and raved and said these words, “please keep writing because I want to know what happens next, I couldn’t put it down.” Why didn’t I listen to the sage Goddess and her knowledgable advice? After all her husband is a professional writer, she would know!!!

But no, my ego was fragile and my exh’s demeaning opinion mattered to me. Still I sent out the first 3 chapters to an agent and got turned down and that was it. I gave up. Looking back, the agent’s letter was really nice and open ended but I didn’t realize that then. Sadly what happened was I put my stock and belief in the jealousy and control issues of another and I stopped working on my novel – for 15 years.

Why is this a blog topic? It will hopefully inspire others not to listen to naysayers, not to put their dreams on hold but instead to move forward with them. And don’t show your first time novel to friends and family, unless they are 100% supportive. I have a current critique partner who runs her writing by her husband and he is nothing but supportive. It can happen but often times it doesn’t and when it doesn’t, the results can be catastrophic.

If you don’t play the lotto you can’t win. If you don’t write on your novel consistently you’ll never finish it. If you don’t practice your sport of choice you’ll never be good at it. If you don’t play your instrument regularly you won’t get better. If you don’t speak the foreign language you’ve been trying to learn you’ll never learn it. Simple, very simple and we all know it but knowing it and doing it are what separates the doers from the dreamers. Are you ready to take the lottery challenge?