An Eclectic Author: Real women kick butt

An Eclectic Author: Real women kick butt

I'm guest blogging today on Brenda Williamson's blog, An Eclectic Author. My topic is heroines, as in, What makes a good one. Yeah, I realize that can be pretty subjective. But I couldn't resist comparing Xena, Warrior Princess, and Sailor Moon. Click the link above to give it a read.

Video memories

I was listening to the radio one recent night on my way home from work and the hosts were talking about what albums were their picks of the week. One was listening to Crowded House, and that brought back a lot of memories for me -- hanging at the mall with friends, buying lipgloss in the drug store and trying to decide between cassette tape and album in the record store. (Ouch! Has it really been that long?)

Anyway, that got me to thinking of some of my other favourite songs and music videos. Here's Duran Duran and Election Day, from their album Arcadia. I figured it was appropriate, considering the big day in the U.S. is coming closer.

The vote may be a right, but it's also an important duty. I urge everyone to exercise it. Happy voting, my American friends!

Why I write

(Originally posted on Delilah Devlin's blog, Nov. 1, 2012)

“Why do you write?”

I think that’s a question some writers struggle with answering in their own minds as much as they do answering it when someone else poses it.

The responses run the gamut from a shrug and an “I don’t know, I just do,” to, “I’m a writer; I have to write” to, “the characters won’t let me sleep.” I’m not making fun, here. I believe those are all honest answers. I know writers who get fidgety if they can’t let the words flow. I know others who say it’s a job, and has to be treated as such – but still feel over the moon after writing a tight scene or solving the crime or reuniting lost lovers.

My reasons for writing are entirely selfish. Well, not entirely – I’m more than happy to let readers in on the game, too.

It’s the vicarious thrill.

There, I’ve said it. And you know it’s true.

Who hasn’t imagined themselves as one character or another? Wanted to be Harry Potter, one day a normal kid, the next a magical defender against the ultimate evil. Or Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum, who gets to eat junk all day, try to chase bad guys, and be faced with the tough decision of cuddling up with Ranger or Morelli. (Forget choosing, I say – go with both!) Or be Linda Howard’s Cate Nightingale from Cover of Night, a widowed mother of two who makes the sexy town handyman stutter with lust and love.

That’s the whole point of reading a great book – the escapism of imaging yourself as someone else, somewhere else, doing something else.

I write because it puts me in charge of the fantasy.

I’m not supermom, but I can write a character who manages to start a business, attend soccer practice, make home-cooked meals and win the love of a rock star.

 I’ve never been a dancer – think more Elaine’s weird dance from Seinfeld – but one of my characters can seduce the pants off the man in her life, and take to the wild side while she’s doing it.

 And no way am I a soldier on a world far, far away, but my heroine can kick asses, take names and win the love of not one good man, but two.

Now there’s living vicariously.

Time flies

It seems we just packed away the Christmas decorations, and here it is, already approaching the end of January.

Well, OK -- so I really did just pack away the Christmas decorations last week. I figure since I go to all that effort of putting them up, we should at least get to enjoy them for a while. Right? That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

I also really need to do something with all those cranberries I bought. Sure, they're a hardy fruit, but how much longer will they really last in the fridge? The clock is ticking on the freshness time bomb. I came across this fabulous recipe for cranberry shortbread bars and its a huge hit. I had planned to make a whack more batches -- hence, the cranberry surplus in my fridge. I'll have to put it on my to-do list for tomorrow.

On a more positive, taking-care-of-business note, things are moving right along on my current work-in-progress, tentatively titled Jewel Ascendant. It's a sequel to my futuristic erotic romance, The Family Jewel. My heroine is Denali, eldest daughter of Shantay and Mikah of Black Moon Clan. She's a lieutenant in the Galactic Fleet, home on leave. My heroes are bond brothers from Geminus, one of the worlds introduced in my futuristic western, Marshals' Most Wanted. I'm having some fun with it. :)

I have a few shoutouts:

... to Cara Covington/Morgan Ashbury, on the runaway success of her latest Lusty, Texas, novel, Love Under Two Navy SEALS ...
... to Kate Watterson/Emma Wildes, on the runaway success of The Best Mistake ...
... to Elle Saint James/Lara Santiago, on the runaway success of the latest in her Double Rider Men's Club series, Unbridled and Unclaimed ...