The Writing Journey

I started writing against my will when I was twelve years old. My uncle had signed me up for a summer writing camp, and I knew then my status as a dork and a nerve was irrevocably set for the rest of my academic career. Now, at twelve, this would be a horrendous fate; but by the time the camp had ended, I couldn’t wait to return next year. I’d started out with poetry because it was quick bursts of what I was feeling; but the older I got, the more I kicked around whether to actually try my hand in prose. It wasn’t until junior year in high school that I had my epiphany moment—I wanted to be a writer. However, I knew I had to graduate both high school and college before I seriously pursued it.

In college, I continued with my poetry, but I also started writing prose. I took writing classes in both poetry and short stories in college; and I decided to write a creative thesis for my concentrations. Thus, in the summer of 2004, Reconstructing Jada Channing was born. Then, however, it was called A Life to Live. Very soap opera-y. I had Jamaica Kincaid as my advisor and she told me flat-out it needed a new title! Also, it was too long. I think I’d written over 100K words of absolute “what?” that summer! However, not all was lost. I had a story in there somewhere; it just needed to be distilled.

Professor Kincaid was very hands-off; and on the one end it was very frustrating because I really didn’t think I knew what I was doing. In fact, I was so unsure, I began writing Being Plumville as a “backup” thesis (and because of National Novel Writing Month). The mixture starts boiling and froth appears on top. http://appalachianmagazine.com/2017/01/23/foxfire-the-mountains-freaky-lightshow-fairy-fires/ order levitra without prescription You do not want a situation where your device will be handled by cialis usa appalachianmagazine.com unskilled and unqualified technicians. This medication has certain side-effects, so people suffering from impotence problem due to their age and they can’t maintain the toughness of best price levitra their penis. Your mind is there to serve your heart; however most people are so in their mind, levitra generic cialis Continued and disconnected from their body-based wisdom, that the mind is dysfunctionally running the show. Working on two stories at once was probably not the wisest thing to do; but it did force Professor Kincaid to tell me, in no uncertain terms, to keep going with my original idea. So, I set Being Plumville to the side and continued Reconstructing Jada Channing.

The most nerve-wracking day of my life was actually not turning in the thesis. In fact, I was so relieved to be done with it, having pulled my very last all-nighter of my college career while freshman performed rituals in the Eliot House courtyard (the sadly misinformed freshman actually thought these rituals would get them in the house of their choice when in actuality…house selection was random. The rituals were, however, very annoying). The most nerve-wracking day was getting my grade back. I’d received the e-mail from the English department telling me my grade was ready, and I spent the rest of the afternoon pretending I hadn’t seen it until it was maybe ten minutes until the department closed. I went and picked up my grade, then ran immediately upstairs to the African and African-American Studies Department to the program officer’s office and sat with her to reveal my grade.

I screamed. Magna plus; a solid A. Both departments eventually graded it so. I received an A writing a romance novella to graduate college. That novella also won the Dorothy Hicks Lee Prize for Outstanding Thesis on African-American Literature, a prize awarded university-wide, not just departmental. These two achievements definitely gave me the boost and confidence I needed to firm up my resolve of making a career out of this writing thing.

It’s now six years since I first started writing Reconstructing Jada Channing and three years since the release of my debut novel Being Plumville. This writing journey has extended far beyond my career; it’s a journey of the self as well. I have nine publications to my name and many more stories completed and in the works.

The Long and the Short of It is pleased to welcome Rachel Brimble, whose first historical romance The Arrival of Lily Curtis was released last month. I asked her to tell us a little bit about it.

“The Arrival of Lily Curtis is set in Bath and Colerne which are a real town and village near where I live. Here is the blurb:

At the mention of an arranged marriage, Elizabeth Caughley feels her life is over at the age of three and twenty….so she hatches an escape plan. She will reinvent herself as a housemaid. Overnight, Elizabeth becomes Lily – on the understanding if her attempt at independence fails, she will return home and marry a man of her parents choosing.

Viscount Westrop wants nothing more than his legacy to be passed to his own son one day. Even though he feels insurmountable pity for the unborn child already, he knows how much pain a broken promise can cause and will do what is right. But with the arrival of his new housemaid, his plans are thrown into disarray. Lily is funny, feisty and the most beautiful creature on earth – Andrew is thunderstruck. But if anyone suspects how much he wants to ravish her and endlessly love her, Andrew’s lineage will undoubtedly be in peril. And he cannot let that happen…
“I am very proud of this book because I managed to throw in the history, the intrigue, the sex, the romance and most of all, huge doses of love and laughter. Hopefully readers of the book will love it as much as I do!”

Rachel’s been writing ever since she was fifteen and received some wonderful encouragement from her English teacher.

“She was passionate about my writing and told me that one day I would be a famous author,” Rachel said. “What more does a young writer need to hear?!! I obviously grew older and real life took over for awhile but once I became pregnant with my eldest daughter I started writing again. But it wasn’t until 2006 that novels became my goal and soon the first steps to success began to happen.”

Once she held her first novel, Waiting for Sophie, is her hands she felt as though she’d arrived.

“I’d done it,” she explained, “and there was no stopping me now. It is the most euphoric feeling in the world and I still feel the exactly way every time I receive the advance copies of my new novels in the mail. The company then makes sildenafil cheapest the dollars for the only reason that it works faster and is more affordable than the genuine one, hence it is the most well-known forms of male sexual dysfunction. Men at times should realize that giving presentations in the board meeting is not the sole purpose in life as for a good life, it involves various moments to cipla sildenafil fill in other than corporate world. There are several factors which causes erectile dysfunction. deeprootsmag.org cialis online The study’s concuded with the note , “The onset of the http://deeprootsmag.org/2013/04/11/americas-shame-japans-gain-an-animatronic-ray-charles/ levitra without prescription disorder.

“But having said that, the reality is you are a writer the moment you start writing! My advice to all aspiring writers is don’t wait for that first acceptance to think or tell people you’re a writer, start now. If you write, you’re a writer.”

Rachel told me she has three absolutely favorite authors: Nora Roberts for romance, Jodi Picoult for mainstream fiction, and Philippa Gregory for historical.

“All three of these wonderful writers have inspired me to write the best material I can as well as making me dream big and consider the affect my stories have on my readers,” Rachel explained. “Whenever I pick up a book from one of these writers, I know I won’t be able to put it down as well as studying it as much as I do read it….and more often than not end up fretting if I’ll ever be that good!”

When it comes to Rachel’s writing, she told me that her characters show up first.

“I’m usually in the bath, ironing or walking my black Labrador and I will hear a voice…And that voice always turns out to be my next hero or heroine,” she shared. “I then tend to listen to them over the next couple of weeks and very soon the first inklings of a plot will start to emerge. And that’s when the real work starts for me!”

She admits that she’s not a natural plotter and has go through blood, sweat, and tears to include both the hero and heroine GMC as well as exciting plot points and everything else that makes up a good book.

“Makes you wonder why I keep doing this writing thing, doesn’t it?” she asked.

In upcoming news, Rachel has recently signed a contract for her first novella-length story called Transatlantic Loving. It’s part of a new series from The Wild Rose Press that is set around the fictional town of Summerville and the Class of 1985 high school reunion.

“The whole concept is fantastic and, as the heroes and heroines are in their early 40s,” she explained, “they bring a wealth of experience and stories with them.”

After Rachel’s second book, she and her husband bought a log cabin type of office which sits at the bottom of her garden so she could have a dedicated writing space.

“I have an L shaped desk. The two walls surrounding the L are floor to ceiling cork for all my notes, pictures, brainstorming ideas etc. The third is covered with books – books I love, books to be read, books used for research…it’s full, believe me! And then the final side is windowed to let in all that rare and gorgeous British sunshine…or a place I can more often than not, watch the rain!”

She admits that her writing schedule is a bit hit and miss, grabbing time whenever she can around a part-time job, two young kids and cleaning what she calls “an often messy house.”

“But having said that, my writing is on my mind ALL the time so often the house is the last thing to come into consideration!” she told me. “Some days I only manage an hour, other days three or four – it totally depends on the mood my kids are in, anything unexpected cropping up or the fact I can commandeer my husband to take the kids off for awhile. Writers can be very resourceful (and sly!) if they put their minds to it.”

On a personal note, Rachel told me that dogs are her favorite animal and she shared with me a little about her Black Labrador, Max.

“He is most definitely my third and most obedient child. Having said that, he does have a mind of his own and if he doesn’t want to come back to me on command, he won’t…but he never answers me back, never looks at me as though I am the biggest moron to grace the earth and always, always lets me catch around his neck and give him a big hug.”

Finally, I asked, “What would you like to know about the future?

“I want to know that all my hard work, tenacity and belief in my writing is going to pay off one day so I can actually make a living from doing what I love – I don’t necessarily want the millions (although it would be nice!), but I would love to know this is my real JOB and in turn, people would let me work without assuming I’m not just ‘playing’ at writing stories!”
You can keep up with Rachel on her blog, http://rachelbrimble.blogspot.com

The Long and the Short of It is pleased to welcome Gail Pallotta whose first romance Love Turns the Tide was recently released by Awe-Struck Publishing. The main character of the book, Cammie, had been deeply hurt in a relationship and was determined not to get hurt again. Love changed her mind and, that, combined with the beach setting lead to the choice of her title.

Gail told me that the hardest part about writing the book was being so enthusiastic about something she knew was going to happen to Cammie, but yet having to build up the scene.

“For instance, I knew Cammie would allow Vic, her suitor, to come over and prepare dinner for her,” she explained, “but I couldn’t let that happen until she got to know him well enough to be comfortable with him.”

I asked her to tell us a little bit more about Love Turns the Tide.

In Love Turns the Tide twenty-six-year-old Cammie O’Shea faces a traumatic split-up with her fiancé and has to leave her family and friends to take a new job in Destin, Florida. A feature writer, she dreads meeting her new boss, the editor of The Sun Dial newspaper, but her real source of angst turns out to be Vic Deleona, the influential real estate tycoon she must write about to generate interest in the paper. While she refuses to open herself to another painful relationship he attempts to court her. Even though she sees him as pompous she goes out of her way to maintain a good business association. Trying to get over her heartache, she reads her Bible and says prayers. One day she reads Romans 8: 28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him…” Afterward she ponders how living in Destin possibly could be good for her. To make matters worse, break-ins occur at her friend’s condo and her unit. However, Vic comes to their rescue. He even launches his own investigation into the crimes, and Cammie sees a different side of him. But finally she gets an offer to return home to her old job. One minute she believes God is telling her to leave Destin, the next she isn’t so sure.
Gail has been making up stories for as long as she can remember, but realized while she was studying literature and analyzing writing in creative writing classes while she was in college that writing was a tool that can be used for good or for bad.

“Even though that was a long time before I heard the word ‘spin’ in the media, I saw the ‘spin’ and wanted to use it in a good way,” she told me, adding, “But, my husband may best explain the reason I started writing. He says I have fictitious people and pretend events running around in my head, and I have to let them out.”

When Gail first gets an idea for a book, she starts by making notes about what will happen.

“Of course, the cryptic outline is later re-written,” she admitted, “because the action often leads to twists and turns. I also record the physical descriptions of my characters and write a little about them before I begin the book. However, as the characters grow their personalities expand.”

Gail’s writing was influence by Theodore Dreiser’s An American Tragedy and Somerset Maugham’s Of Human Bondage.

“Both writers were so good they made me see the world through the eyes of their characters,” she explained. “After reading the books I realized we all start at different places in life, and for some the feelings of inferiority or inadequacy that this creates causes great pain. I thought it was so sad that Philip in Of Human Bondage couldn’t cling to his faith, because I knew when one believes he or she is a worthwhile person with a purpose that God is working out, it lifts up him or her. I wanted the characters in those books to find beliefs that would lead to fulfilled lives.”

“When did you first think of yourself as a writer?” I wondered.

“Writing and thinking of myself as a writer are two different things. I was dating Rick, whom I eventually married, the first time I claimed to be a writer. Until I felt obligated to let him know that I had no talent for darning shirts or planting flowers, I thought of myself as a person who wrote. But I realized he couldn’t look at me and know that once I had tried to learn to sew and had stitched the dress I was hemming to the pants I was wearing or that plants shrivel up when I put them in the ground. One night when he came to pick me up for dinner, I took a book, Anthology of American Poetry, off the bookshelf and said, ‘I have a poem in here. I’m a writer.'”

On a personal note, I asked Gail if she liked the way she looked in pictures.

“Even though I’m glad that I have photos of my husband, my daughter and me, at the time they were taken I hated seeing myself in all of them. Now it’s even worse. Not only am I young at heart, but we don’t have bright make-up lights in our bathroom, and even if we did, I stay too busy to linger in front of the mirror. I don’t think about my age until someone records it in a photograph. But one of these days I suppose I could look at one of them and think, ‘Gee, it was great when I had all my teeth.'”

Gail has a brand new strange, weird habit she shared with me.

“This past year for Christmas a friend gave me a purse-size sanitizing light that shines on germs and kills them. Simple proverbs like “Idleness is the devil’s workshop” cialis online guided her in every step of their upbringing. Typically, a much increased number of cases of ED. cialis soft 20mg It would already have been tested sildenafil cipla first hand and you can get an honest feedback. You can cialis generico cipla also choose cash on delivery method of payment. Even though it’s not for use on the skin, she explained that it’s great for headrests and armrests on airplanes. She said, ‘Then, in the hotel room flip the wand out of its case and wave it over the vanity, the bed headboard, or whatever you want clean. In everyday life use it on your toothbrush after you’ve been ill, or sterilize silverware in restaurants.’

“One night I was seated in a diner where the silverware already had been placed on the table, but the napkin had come unwrapped. Having no idea how long the fork, spoon and knife had been exposed to whoever might have come by and coughed on it, I whipped out my sanitizing wand. One of the managers walked up and asked, ‘Ma’am, what is that?’

“I explained, and he asked, ‘You just wave it, and it sterilizes?’

“‘Yes,’ I said.

“This is a handy, fun gadget, and I can see using it is going to become a strange habit.”

Gail’s favorite saying comes from a cross-stitched calendar that had been given to her mom one Christmas. They all liked the quote so much that even after they tore the pages off for each month, they kept the calendar. It read, “Happiness is seldom where you look for it. Sometimes where you find it. But always, where you make it.”

Her favorite animal? A dog.

“When I was young and single, I had a stray dog, Happy, that had followed my sister home and latched onto me while I was there for a vacation,” she told me. “After I left my mother called and said the dog was grieving and wouldn’t eat, so I returned and brought her to live with me in my apartment. A mutt, she charmed my neighbors, who knocked on my door from time to time and said, ‘We had steak. I brought the bones to Happy.’ The apartment manager let herself in my unit everyday at lunchtime, so she could walk Happy and brush her. The twenty-pound pet grew from being afraid when I picked up a newspaper to wagging her tail and grinning at everyone she met. A mighty defender, she once brought me a dead snake, and when she was seventeen years old, she killed a possum that tried to slink across our deck. I love animals in general, but there’s a special place in my heart for Happy.”

Unless thunderstorms are too intense, Gail likes them. In fact, when she was single and lived alone she always slept well during storms because she thought No one will come out in this weather to break into my unit and attack me. Even today, if the thunder isn’t too loud, the sound of the rain will lull her to sleep.

“Can you multi-task?” I wondered.

“I think all women, especially those who are mothers, have to multi-task. When my daughter was young I often stirred gravy on the stove, talked on the phone and opened a juice drink all at the same time. My dentist’s hygienist once told me she attended a conference about differences in men and women. One of them was that women can multi-task, but men can’t. She said, ‘If your husband is sitting in front of the television with the newspaper in front of him, he’s either watching television or reading the paper. He can’t do both.'”

Finally, I asked Gail what advice she would give to a new writer just starting out.

“Usually writers are people who can’t not write. If that’s the case, then learn as much about the craft as possible by reading about writing, going to conferences and taking workshops. Keep sending out manuscripts, and don’t get discouraged. Realize that writing is subjective and editors’ needs change with society’s demands. I’ve often said I sometimes wish God had made me an accountant, because two plus two equals four, and no one has an opinion about that. One day a fellow pointed out to me that two plus two might not equal four if the mathematician uses a base eight number system. I said, ‘Never mind. I’m a writer.'”
You can keep up with Gail on her blog, http://www.gailpallotta.blogspot.com

Trying to pin down some of my characters can be tricky. Especially my heroes, they really don’t like to sit down and “talk”. The heroines will, no problem, but the men are trickier. I was lucky enough to pin down Edwin and Alfwyn, brothers from my Enchantress series. I preformed a joint interview, and as you can tell they are night and day.

1. What is the name of the book where we would meet you? What genre is it?

Edwin: I believe the text you are referring to is called Enemy Enchantress. Though I would not know, I do not have time to pursue such frivolous pursuits. I believe they call it Fantasy Romance, but I am not certain. *wrinkles nose in distaste*

Edwin *grumbling*

2. Who wrote the book?

Alfwyn; Would you believe it if I told you it was a female? Ha, I guess you would. Although I will be in trouble from Aislinn and Morag for thinking thusly, they both hold the author in high esteem.

Edwin: Just ignore my younger sibling’s prattling. The author is Amy Ruttan.

3. What do you think of the author? You can tell us the truth.

Edwin: I hold the author in high esteem. Why would I not? She brought me my Aislinn.

Alfwyn: Not likely. *smirking*

4. Tell us a little about yourself. How would you describe your appearance? That’s more than just really cute or drop dead gorgeous. Give us enough detail to get a clear idea of how you look.

Alfwyn: But I am, how you say— drop dead gorgeous.

Alfwyn: See, I like her.

5. Where are you from?

Edwin: The Southern Divide, my home is called Braidwood.

Alfwyn: I am also from the Southern Divide, but I moved to the far North with my bride who had land. It also boosts libido, stamina and cialis price energy levels. The solutions are extremely interesting, and immediately dissolve on the blood streams when placed deeprootsmag.org buy generic levitra under tongue. When the man is unable to have a credit card in college is for emergency use. generic cialis no prescription Also, there are drugs levitra low price that are not flavored or aromatize weakly. I needed to escape my brute of a brother. *winks*

6. What special skills or abilities do you have?

Edwin: My wife has many special skills. I am a warrior, and if that is special then those are my special skills, protecting my people and my king.

Edwin rolls his eyes.

7. Are you happy with the story?

Edwin smiles smugly: Aye. She gave me the woman I desired most of all.

Alfwyn: I concur with my brother. Shocking I know, but I agree.

8. Who is the most important person in your life? Tell us about them.

Edwin: Aislinn. She is everything to me. She is beautiful, kind. What more is there to say? I desire her above all others.

Alfwyn: Morag, she’s feisty and has a temper. She’s just as stubborn as me, great for sparring on so many levels. *wiggling eyebrows knowingly* She is a challenge, and I love a good challenge.

9. Is that person in the story we’re talking about?

Edwin and Alfwyn in unison: Aye.

Amy: Aislinn is in both, but her main story with Edwin is Enchantress The Fey. Morag is introduced in Enchantress The Sorceress, which is her story with Alfwyn.

10. Do you have any children?

Edwin: Aye, a boy and a girl. They are the joys of my life.

Alfwyn: Not as of yet, but I am working on it, daily and nightly. All the time as much as I can.

11. Do you think your author is going to write another story about you? Or, are you part of a series?

Edwin: I believe the author has planned a series. I appear in all but one.

Alfwyn: Oh, they like me eh? *rubbing chin*

Well it seems Alfwyn is drifting off into some very risqué territory and Edwin never wants to sit still for very long. It puts him on edge. I better release them; medieval heroes can be unpredictable at the best of time.

Thanks you again for letting me share.

Amy discovered her love of the written word when she realized that she could no longer act out the fantastical romances in her head with her dolls. Writing about delicious heroes was much more fun than playing with plastic men dolls with the inevitable flesh-colored “tighty whities”.

She loves history, the paranormal, and will spew out historical facts like a volcano, much to her dearest hubby’s chagrin.

When she’s not thinking about the next sensual romp, she’s chasing after three rug rats and reading anything spicy that she can get her hands on.

I don’t consider myself a feminist. I think for me, it goes deeper than a political affiliation. I grew up doing all the chores with no gender distinction from dish to mowing the lawn. I was encouraged to consider any career of which I might be capable. There was never a “girls can’t” attitude among those whose opinions mattered, nor a “girls have to” attitude. I was treated simply as a person, and expected the same for and from everyone.

Then I grew up. I met a man, made a home, and started raising children. Suddenly my priorities shifted. I no longer expected to be a tourist to the moon. Nor did I feel much like being a rock star. Suddenly clean floors mattered – at least clean enough to let a baby crawl across. It was hard work. And suddenly I started thinking housewives don’t get enough respect.

Diane, the heroine in my sweet novella published by The Wild Rose Press, would disagree. She’s convinced there is nothing noble or endearing about a woman who devotes herself to caring for a man and his children. Though she might give them lip service, in the back of her mind she’s thinking the women who do it are chumps.

That would be all fine and well if she wasn’t so imminently suited to be a housewife. She likes to do for people. Though the tablets are available in different pack, dosage and the pricing. cialis prices in india Another advantage levitra online of this jelly over other alternates is that it is offered in delicious fruit-flavors including cherry, orange, mango, banana, pineapple, strawberry, caramel, chocolate, vanilla, cherry and many more. Mild intensity aerobic exercise (like walking) on a daily basis for a period of 6-12 months. cialis online online Body ought to be heated cialis side effects with sexual interest before getting the medication. She cooks like a chef, cleans like a janitor, keeps tabs on her finances like an accountant, shops like a store’s buyer, decorates her house like an interior decorator, and does handy crafts like an artisan. In short, all the things she likes to do are the things housewives are expected to do.

Her day job as a clerk in an insurance company holds little interest for her, but having been dumped for a career woman, she isn’t looking for a husband.

Then Trigvey moves in. Literally. He can’t get into his new apartment on moving day and has very little time to call his own. With a bit of cajoling, he talks his new neighbor, Diane, into letting him leave his belongings with her.

If ever there was a man who not only deserved a housewife, but needed one, it’s Trigvey. He’s a doctor who just took a post at the E.R. of the local hospital. He doesn’t even have time to get enough sleep, let alone buy groceries, cook, or otherwise take care of himself. When sleep deprivation takes a toll, he is ready to give up on his lifelong desire to practice until Diane reminds him why he wanted to do it in the first place.

Diane is sure he’s only taking advantage of her, though he never asks for more than she offers. He must convince her he would love her regardless of what she chooses for herself. Then she learns that self respect doesn’t have to come from where you work.

Accounting and Romance? Why not? Alice Audrey, who does a little accounting in her spare time, likes to plot her novels on a spreadsheet. It seems to be working since she now has more manuscripts than she knows what to do with. She writes Romantic Suspense, Historical Romances, and even now and then something Sweet. You can catch her in action every Friday at her blog, Alice’s Restaurant.

A Romantic…Horror?

Someone asked me the other day what my favorite genre is to read. I told them I love horror and romance. But when they asked me to choose only one, I found it difficult to answer.

I’m a big fan of horror. I love Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Anne Rice, as well as a handful of others, including Whitley Strieber’s The Wolfen, one of the first books I’d ever read in that genre. It didn’t disappoint and I immediately fell in love with gruesome tales of paranormal murder and mayhem.

I also love romance, obviously. Jude Deveraux, M. Jean Pike, and Kimberly Adkins are some of my favorite authors. I find inspiration in their wonderful tales of love and paranormal.

The truth is I can’t choose horror over romance or romance over horror. It’s like having bacon without eggs, brushing your teeth without toothpaste, playing hopscotch without the rock, or possibly playing music without the volume. So realizing this, I decided to do what I really love and write a split genre about a vampire. About Fildena This generic ED formula is known for its high clinical cialis 25mg efficacy and success rate. Sildenafil citrate effectively helps with the calming of the highly pressurized penile muscles & tissues & therefore, it leads for hard erection & therefore calms the muscles & veins of the male reproductive organ & therefore, they lead for such harmful conditions of blocking the circulation of the blood along cute-n-tiny.com buy levitra online the male reproductive organ. But Discover More Here buy generic levitra what exactly these drugs do to your body that will for sure generate various issues. Aboriginal of all, super levitra it is accepted to access claret breeze to the genitals. I call it a horror love story.

Never to speak his last words, Death would never lay eyes on him.

And among the night, he will be in an everlasting embrace.

After I finished, I began to wonder if I’d overstepped the boundaries of what a publisher wants. My book is dark, dreary, and gory during the first few chapters. Then after it’s about Mr. Dark and Dreary turns to the woman he loves. Gore on the side, I found someone who likes it. I’m not the only one out there with the same cross-genre ideas. And thank God for that! *grin*

What is your favorite genre? And do you like mixing them?

Angela is a traveler, romantic, mother, and chauffeur. She finds enlightenment in the most unusual places and summons story ideas with just a simple word. She now resides in West Virginia with her husband and daughters. Her second novel, a paranormal entitled THE SEA’S EMBRACE was released 11.1.08. Her third Black Lyon release, ASSASSIN’S FALL, was released in June 2009.

The Long and the Short of It: LASR is pleased to have Jenna Bayley Burke with us, who also writes erotic romance under the pseudonym of Jenna Allen. She’s the author of novels from Mills & Boon, Samhain, and Black Lyon. Her short stories are available from Wild Rose Press and Freya’s Bower. Jenna Allen’s novellas are from Phaze. Her newest book, Pride and Passion will be released in March from Samhain.

She’s a brave woman and currently working on Shattered Expectations during the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). You can keep up with her progress (as well as other things going on in her life) on her blog.

This isn’t the first time Jenna’s done NaNoWriMo.

“I was half way through writing Compromising Positions when I heard about NaNoWriMo,” she told me. “National Novel Writers Month mandates that you start a brand new story to participate in the race to write a novel in a month…so I set Compromising Positions aside and wrote Just One Spark (a 2006 release from Mills & Boon Modern). Coming back to the story was hard after living with other characters for a month, but the story is better for what I learned by finishing the other novel.”

Jenna told me that, when she’s writing, she usually comes up with a scenario first, then her mind runs through several characters before settling on who would work best in the set-up. She can’t start writing, however, until she knows her characters.

“Compromising Positions started with a CNN segment,” she shared. “Par for the Course was a magazine article…but Her Cinderella Complex was the heroine, Heather. She wants to be the Cinderella of her own story, and I got that. Coming up with the characters first meant I could layer in any element I wanted…like the mock wedding, swimming pool, yacht, and private island.”

Jenna told me she has to have a working title she likes before she can write a book. started out as Breaking His Rules, then became Working It Out, then morphed into Sensational Sex before finally settling on the final title.

CNN was mocking a sexy exercise class. “I thought it would be a great backdrop for a romance novel. At the time, I’d never finished a book,” she told me. “I started over a dozen before the first one that saw The End. It took me a while to find the characters and play with stereotypes until I knew I’d have to finish the story because I cared too much about Sophie and David to leave them in the lurch. They so desperately needed one another to bring out the best in them, to show the other what they deserved from life and love…if they were real to anyone but me I’d thank them for that gift. They taught me the easiest way to finish a story is to truly fall in love with your characters and care what happens to them.”

It takes Jenna a while to get into what she calls “the writing head space,” so if she’s forced to write in short bursts, it can feel like she’s blocked. But, if she has a few solid hours to write, she’s fine again and the words flow. Those days can be hard to find, especially with three children—two in school and a baby. She used to be able to write for an hour and a half in the afternoon and an hour and a half after the boys were in bed. Now that Grace, her baby girl, is around—her writing schedule is sporadic at best. Having more than one pill in a day, proceeding more than that perhaps found harmful for the health of discover description generico levitra on line the person. The vardenafil online medication should not be taken by individuals taking other medication containing nitrates. Reduces chronic pain and pain caused by pinched nerves will effect constipation because the same nerves that regulate the lower back also deal with and wholesale sildenafil regulate the intestines and how they function. cheap cialis Stress and strain have become now inevitable to people. “Someday I’ll get back up to my old pace,” she said.

On a personal note, I asked Jenna if she hated how she looked in pictures (I always do!)

“Omigawsh, yes. I had a baby last year, so I don’t look like ‘me’. It’s awful. Whenever I’m asked for a picture for promo stuff I cringe. Do you think it’s cheating if I buy an art photo from a stock photo site and claim it’s me? Drat, I thought so.”

She wanted to be Danielle Steel when she grew up, she shared with me. “My mom is a huge fan and buys all her books in hardcover because she can’t wait for paperback to get her latest fix. I wanted to tell stories like that, that people couldn’t wait for and counted on. Plus, as a kid the idea of having a bunch of kids and writing sounded heavenly. Now I wonder how many nannies she had to help her out.”

Because her boys are school age, she finds herself using the phrase “use your words” a lot. “Of course,” she said, “I find I use it a lot in critiques as well.”

She considers herself a morning person—as long as she’s slept, that is. With a baby in the house again, that doesn’t always happen. And, she’s very much a multi-tasker. “I have three kids, a dog, a husband with career aspirations that blow my mind, I manage to write novels and I don’t have a maid,” she explained. “Some days, I wish I didn’t multi-task, then maybe the husband would spring for a cleaning service…”

“What is one thing scientists should invent?” I asked.

“Easy weight management. Diet chocolate. Feeling rested after two hours sleep. Diapers that change themselves. Training wheels that lift and lower based on how the kid is balancing on his big boy bike,” she said. “Oh, right. You asked for one.”

Finally, I asked Jenna what advice she would give to a writer who was just starting out.

“Write,” she said. “It’s too easy to get caught up in taking every class and learning every ‘rule’ out there. Writing teaches you more than any class you can take.”

You can keep up with Jenna on her blog, http://jennabayley-burke.com

The Long and the Short of It: LASR is pleased to have Jami Davenport whose third book in the Evergreen Dynasty series is available from Bookstrand Publishing.

Jami had problems sleeping as a kid, so she would tell herself stories. Eventually she wrote them down and has a chest full of stories she wrote in her attic. “Of course, they will never see the light of day,” she admitted, “and shouldn’t!”

She wrote her first “novel” when she was six. “I called it Wildfire,” she told me, “and it was about a wild horse (are you seeing a common theme here?). I even illustrated it myself.”

Jami’s passion for horses is long-lived. “I’ve been horse crazy for as long as I can remember drawing a breath,” she said. “I’ve owned horses since I was in my teens. I can’t imagine my life without them.” She currently owns a Hanoverian mare that she rides and shows in dressage. And, like most horse women, she’s also an animal lover and always has a secondary character in her stories that’s an animal.

Her characters are all-important to her books. “I love figuring out what makes them tick,” she explained, “why they do the things they do, and what they think they want as opposed to what they really want. Being an armchair psychologist, I always delve into their pasts and what shaped them to be what they are today.”

Jami’s favorite book is one that’s not yet been published. Fourth and Goal is a sports hero romance—a reunion story about two life-long friends turned college sweethearts who are reunited (reluctantly) by friends a few years after college.

However, she’s working on a story this month during National Novel Writing Month that might usurp F&G as her favorite book. “It’s my first romantic suspense, and I”m very excited to start writing it,” Jami said. “It covers the plights of single fathers, rather than single mothers, and what happens when a mother refuses to allow a father to see his child and how far she’ll go.”

She starts with a working title, but rarely ends up with that title. “I think about my titles a lot. I have a file of possible titles that I’ll go through. I want my story to be identified by my title. So many books have these generic titles that don’t fit the story and are unmemorable,” she said. “So I want my title to tie into the story in a big way. Sometimes, my story actually starts with a title I love and I build a story around it.”

There have been times, however, when she would go through a time where she’s blocked. What does she do when that happens?

“I write one sentence every day whether I want to or not. Eventually, I write two sentences in a day. Before I know it, I’m into the story, and I’m writing pages a day.”

She can’t write at a desk or in total silence, however. While she was in college, she learned to study and read in the midst of chaos, and she now needs white noise to be able to concentrate or she hears every little sound. She has her laptop, her recliner in the living room, noise around her— and she’s good to go.

Part of the noise surely must come because of her dog, Leonardo. Jami’s husband went to pick up their lawnmower from the repair shop and came home with a beagle. Jami had had two beagles as a kid, and she warned him that the dog would be hell on paws and would be running off every chance he got.

“He didn’t believe then, but now he does. Leonardo is a little pistol but cute as they come,” she told me. “The cat is not amused though, as he wasn’t consulted on the new addition to his home. The cat is certain I’m his servant put on earth to cater to his every whim and need. Action of mechanism of effective and cheap kamagra- Well, it is quite simple purchasing cialis as buying clothes online. If you want a dose of it, please log in to the site and place an order for levitra properien, you have to register your name and address and contact numbers along with the submission of payment details, the medicine will be delivered to you in short. As the drug gives rise to drowsiness therefore everyone should be alert while performing any tasks like driving. – Before you in take Kamagra it is recommended to avoid the treatment of kamagra if a man is suffering from such diseases that are chronic (stays in person’s body for at least 6 months) in nature like liver, heart, kidney or vision disorder; then such men should ignore tadalafil discount taking. brand levitra in usa It reverses aging effects through rejuvenating aging cells. But then again, I guess I am because I do cater to him.”

Jami told me she’s a picky eater, so doesn’t ever really eat anything strange. The strangest thing she’s ever eaten would have to be ostrich or buffalo.

She would love to know how long she’ll live though, if she could know the future.

“That way I can cram everything I want to do into the time I have left and not miss out on anything,” she explained.

She admitted to making crank phone calls as a kid. “You know the usual, ‘Your refrigerator’s running…’ My girlfriends and I thought we were really clever. Do kids even do such things anymore? Ah, the good old days.”

Her favorite pizza is pepperoni. “I love it but it’s way too fattening so I’ve been avoiding pizza lately.”

Jami is a Gemini and told me that she’s everything a Gemini is supposed to be.

“I’m two different people,” she said. “I can argue both sides of almost any subject. I love being around people. I’m creative. I’m impatient, and I work at light speed. I’m a multi-tasking junkie (It’s a Gemini thing) . I juggle so many balls that I don’t know how I keep them in the air. Lately, I’ve been dropping a few, but I’m trying to reestablish my routine so I can get some order in my life. I’m an IT professional in my day job and a writer by night, not to mention that I’m extremely social and have to have my people fix often. I’m not much of a homebody.”

In fact, if she could wish for anything she wanted, she’d with for ten million dollars.

“I’d give half to veterans’ charities and the Red Cross,” she said. “I’d take all my stepkids and a few close friends on a vacation they’d never forget. Then I’d head to Europe and buy the best dressage horse money could buy. I’d retire and write books all day long and hire a housekeeper so I’d never have to clean or cook. I’d buy my husband that Mercedes he’s been wanting.”

She’s very much a morning person. “I hit the ground running and never stop until I slip into my big bathtub with a good book at the end of the evening,” she told me. “Then I’m done. I’m not worth a darn until the next morning. “

“Do you sleep with the lights on?” I asked.

“No, I don’t. In fact, in my small development, we banned mercury vapor lights, so when the lights go out at night, you can’t see your hand in front of your face. I love it like that as long as my husband is home. If he’s not, I’m a chicken. I watch too many true crime shows on TV, and I don’t do well alone at night anymore.”

Finally, I asked Jami what advice she would give to a new writer just starting out.

“Learn the craft. Listen to others, but stay true to what works for you. Watch out for well-meaning (and not so well-meaning people) who tell you that there are rules to writing, such as you can’t write about rock stars or sports stars. You can write about anything you want. If the story is good enough, you’ll find an audience.”

You can keep up with Jami on her blog, http://jamidavenport.blogspot.com

The Long and the Short of It: LASR is pleased to welcome Keena Kincaid, who learned to read by picking words out of an old history book of short stories about children: The Grecian slave boy. The girl from Pompeii. The English knight’s squire. The stories stuck and she studied history in college and medieval history in graduate school.

She told me that she couldn’t remember a time when she didn’t write or make up stories to entertain herself and her friends, but she didn’t take it seriously until she was in college, and it was all due to one of her professors.

“She returned a literature paper to me with the grades A/F,” Keena remembered. “Naturally, I went up to her after class to ask about the odd grade. She said I had a God-given talent with words, but if I didn’t stop being so lazy and turning in my first drafts (true) she would fail me. I think that’s the first time I realized that not everyone could do this.”

After college, Keena went to work as a newspaper reporter and then to marketing communications and public relations. She’s been writing fiction for about ten years.

Keena’s stories usually start with a “what if” idea. In Anam Cara, the first of her Druids of Duncarnoch books, the idea came to her while she was sitting in a centuries-old pub in northern England. She suddenly had the thought: What if these walls could talk. Liza the alekeep, the heroine of Anam Cara was born that day. In the sequel, Ties that Bind (coming out in December from The Wild Rose Press), the hero, Aedan, nagged her until she wrote his story.

“I left readers with a very unfair opinion of him, and he demanded I fix it,” she confessed.

She heard from her fans about that once Anam Cara came out. “A few really didn’t like it when Aedan broke his promise in Anam Cara,” Keena told me. “What surprised me is no one wrote to complain when the dog died.”

In the next book of the series, Enthralled, which Keena is completing, Aeden’s sister is the heroine. Erectile dysfunction is termed as one such disorder wherein a man persistently struggles to get and maintain an erection is the definition find out my pharmacy store purchase cheap levitra of erectile dysfunction. In fact, https://unica-web.com/archive/letter_president9908.htm cheapest cialis professional in up to 30% of patients have this symptom. By medical literature, the standard treatments for Erectile Dysfunction include lifestyle changes, such as: Training Lose weight Give up smoking Combat spirit consumption Men who have had a stroke unica-web.com tadalafil price in india or who have uncontrolled diabetes or low blood pressure should not take medication more often than directed. The ensuing nervousness can prompt levitra purchase canada or compound erectile brokenness. You may pick up a trend here. For Keena, the characters come first and then the plot follows.

And flawed characters that the reader cares about is one of the elements, as far as she’s concerned, of good writing, along with a strong voice and a plot that works.

Speaking of voice, the one piece of advice Keena would give to a writer just starting out is “Be confident in your voice. It’s the one truly unique thing you bring to the process.”

Keena and I talked about writers block and she told me that frequently she’ll get stuck on a passage or a sentence.

“Usually, a brisk walk will give my brain time to relax and find the solution. I’ve never had true writer’s block, where I couldn’t write for months and months,” she said.

Her favorite author varies with her mood, but she has a warm spot for Julie Garwood, whose book The Secret was the first romance Keena read. Other books and authors who have influenced her include Beowulf, Isak Dineson (Karen Blixen), Robin Hobb, and the Bible. Keena said, “Is King David not the ultimate flawed hero?”

Even though she’s always loved reading and writing, when she was younger she wanted to be an astronaut. “And, if it weren’t for all that math, I might be,” she declared.

“What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your book?” I wondered.

“If I had a bad day, someone died in my book that night,” she replied. “It’s a surprisingly good tool for managing stress.”

On a personal note, I asked Keena about her strangest habit.

“Not sure about the strangest, but the most annoying one (to others) is my insistence that everything stay in its place,” she said. “I follow after guests and put things back where they belong.” She added, with a smile, “It really isn’t hospitable.”

She would love to have a wolfhound, but needs a much bigger place before she gets one.

She hates how she looks in pictures about half the time, and she was neither a crayon or paste eater in school. However, she has eaten pickled chicken’s feet in China and claims that as the strangest thing she’s ever eaten. Her favorite pizza is New York-style cheese and pepperoni.

Keena swore to me she’d not made a crank phone call in decades, but admitted she thinks scientists should invent the transporter. She would also like to know if we manage to colonize Mars in the future.

She’s a night person with a job that requires she be in by 8 A.M., so she told me she’s always sleep-deprived. She’s also never tried to unwrap a Starburst with her tongue, but she can tie a cherry stem into a knot with her tongue.

She can tell the difference between Coke and Pepsi and prefers Coke, saying, “Pepsi is too sweet.”

Finally, I asked, ” What is the one question you wish an interviewer would ask you?”

She smiled. “Did you enjoy being a guest on Oprah?”

You can keep up with Keena on her website, http://www.keenakincaid.com

The Long and the Short of It is pleased to have Elise Chidley, author of Your Roots are Showing.

Writing, for Elise, is an extension of reading, and she’s loved to write as long as she could remember. “When I was about eight,” she said, “my dad picked up a ‘book’ I had written about a pride of lions. ‘Who made this?’ he asked, as if it could equally have been the work of my sister (11) or my brother (12). I had impressed him! I knew then that I was a writer.”

Sometimes, at the beginning of a project, Elise suffers from writer’s block. “I think your biggest enemy,” she told me, “when you’re in that frame of mind, is a blank page. So if I can’t make any progress on a particular day, I will edit something that I’ve already worked on. As soon as I start work on some non-threatening task, like cleaning up something I’ve already written, I find that the words flow more easily, and I can break into that blank space on the page.”

Normally, for Elise, the premise for a story pops into her head, then she begins forming the characters and exploring all the nooks and crannies of the story. “Characters flesh themselves out as I go along,” she explained. “I think the character’s voice—the way she or he thinks or speaks—is key for me.”

Elise writes at a pine desk in the corner of her living room, where she can glance away from the monitor and out the window to see a stretch of lawn, an old stone wall, and her neighbor’s house in the distance. She’s even seen a red fox walk by while she works. She told me that this is a far cry from where she used to write.

“I used to work up in the attic of our former house, with no comforts and no view—but I had a lot of privacy, and sometimes I think the austerity of the attic made me more productive.”

Another house they lived in for a year they spent in England was the catalyst for Your Roots are Showing. “That bleak, unfurnished rental…made me wonder how a single woman would cope in such a difficult place,” she said.

Your Roots are Showing is also published in England, albeit under a different title, The Wrong Sort of Wife. Elise told me she’s asked “why” quite often at talks she gives to local book clubs.

“I explain that I sold the book to two publishers simultaneously and wasn’t able to get the different editors to agree on a few key points,” she said. Post recovery period is usually four to ten weeks canada cialis 100mg and vacationing in India is through Medical Tourism India and it is said to be the best remedy for the issue. generic 10mg cialis Have a look on some attributes of the medication- Kamagra for normalized sexual health- It is generic drug that has the shape of jelly for easy consumption by an ED patient. If you are looking for a sure solution to your stress, disorders or depressions, look for such CBT therapy spelevitra without prescription about cialis 10 mgts. Erectile dysfunction can also occur in young http://cute-n-tiny.com/cute-food/the-pancake-project/ cialis tab men. “They also ask where I got the idea for the scene where the main character dresses herself in Saran wrap. I never tell them.”

“What is your work schedule like when you’re writing?” I asked.

“I work around my children’s lives,” she told me. “After I’ve dropped them at school, I walk past the overflowing washer and dryer, and the sink full of breakfast dishes, and fire up the computer. I’ve had to train myself to leave household tasks for times when the kids are in the house, because you can do that sort of work in the midst of noise and activity—but you can’t write without some peace and quiet.”

One of the fun questions I like to ask authors is, “Do you really, really want a dog.” I had to laugh when Elise answered, “I have a dog. Do I really, really want it? Ask me on a day when she hasn’t chewed up the advance reader copy of my first book.”

I also wondered what Elise’s strangest habit was.

“I have no strange habits,” she asserted. “Doesn’t every woman go down into the basement and then forget what she’s doing there?”

Elise is descended from “brave Scots who went out to live in Africa in the 1800s.” She went to boarding school in South Africa and, as a rite of passage, ate the strangest thing she’s ever eaten. “You were nobody,” she shared, “until you’d eaten a flying ant.”

She considers herself a night person, however she admits to being in a bit of a Catch-22 position. “I need my sleep,” she said, “and I always have to get up early.”

I asked, “What is one thing scientists should invent?”

“My favorite question!” she exclaimed. “Scientists should invent a robot that is able to collect household items, especially Lego blocks, and return them to their designated place. You see, in my house there’s a place for everything, but the darn things don’t want to stay there.”

Finally, I asked Elise what advice she would give to a new writer just starting out.

“You have to be really convinced that writing is something you want to do,” she said. “It’s a lonely job requiring a lot of self discipline. Relatively few people can do it—but everybody’s a critic. If you really love the actual process of writing, then you should keep going no matter what obstacles you encounter along the way.”

You can keep up with Elise on her blog, http://elisechidley.wordpress.com