Cheers to Romance!
Happy new week! I can’t believe we’re now well into December, it’s feeling like the end of the year wants to go out on a quick flash instead of a slow burn. I wouldn’t mind a bit of a slow down right about now. Just to savor the end a little.
I had a wonderful weekend, heading into the city to meet with my RWA NYC chapter for our annual end of year holiday brunch which, as always was lovely and so much fun to relax with my old and new writerly NYC friends. Well, this year’s brunch will be one that I will always cherish and never forget as I got the shock of all shocks when our wonderful president, Maria Ferrer stood to handle end of year business, announce the new board and then to finally announce the chapter’s member of the year, which I almost fell over when the name was called and it was … ME!
Talk about humbled and grateful. Writing is such a solitary career and for me to have found such a talented and supportive group of like minded friends and fellow colleagues that I can call on makes me feel truly blessed. I will cherish my RWA service pin always. Thank you RWA/NYC with all my heart!
And then to top it all off another fabulous thing happened this weekend when my 2nd book: Seduction’s Canvas was one of 12 Crimson Romance books picked as part of the Amazon Big Deal and are on sale from now until December 22nd for only $.99! Just click to the link on the right for Seduction! Cheers to romance!
All the best,
KMJ
Oh yeah, I’m bad!
Happy New Week and Happy December! I hope all who were celebrating had a great Thanksgiving and a Happy Hanukkah. My Thanksgiving was lovely and full of Turkey and fun, though also quite full of my book 3 edits which I’m happy to report after a grueling process are now done and sent off to my editor.
This was a killer round that I times made me want to throw up my hands and throw in the towel. Thankfully I didn’t do that. I took that towel and cleaned my glasses with it, wiped my brow & rolled up my sleeves and got in there and got it done. Dreaming is easy but making it happen is gonna cost you.
Go me! I’m giving myself a high five for that one. Who knows what the next round of edits will bring, but at this point I’m living victory by victory. So whoo hoo!
And congrats to Roxy for her win in Lena Hart’s giveaway. Roxy please send me your info so Lena can send you your prize! Thanks to all who entered 🙂
All the best,
KMJ
image from here
Writing the Secret Baby Novel- Meet Mikey! Because This Is Forever- Guest Post and a giveaway! with Lena Hart
I’m so happy to have my friend and chaptermate Lena Hart guest posting here today talking about her latest novel BECAUSE THIS IS FOREVER and a fun romance trope the secret baby! Please be sure to click on the raffle to enter her great giveaway! Take it away Lena!
Meet Mikey: Writing the Secret Baby Novel + GIVEAWAY
By Lena Hart
I have to admit, I never imagined I’d write a secret baby story. It’s a romance novel trope that’s been overdone and I just didn’t think I could write a unique enough story where the heroine would have a compelling enough motivation to keep her pregnancy from the hero.
But alas, I have written such a story and boy, was it a journey!
The most challenging part of writing the secret baby story: the “research”. This was a struggle for me—and a learning experience—because, not only did I have to learn to be a mother of an overly energetic 4-year old boy, I also had to get into the mind of said 4-year old. I don’t have any children of my own and don’t have much exposure to young children so writing about Mikey, my hero and heroine’s son, took a bit of Googling, ease-dropping, and quite a bit of people-watching.
During my online and field research I got to learn the dynamics of what eventually became Mikey. I learned that the average 4-year old speaks their minds—to the point of tactlessness—that they are picky eaters, occasionally demanding, and are a potential danger to themselves. Though some of my research came from watching the mothers on the bus or train, I have to give many thanks to the Mommy-blogs and YouTube videos that provided me with more insight into the mind of a toddler then I would have probably never gotten elsewhere.
The snippets I read and video clips I watched convinced me that there is little exaggeration needed when writing toddlers. They are truly natural-born entertainers. My heroine, Mia, certainly had her hands full with her chatty, energetic son and though I didn’t put in everything I gleaned from my online and field “research”, just having the knowledge made it seamless for me to channel the patient and occasional sternness my heroine needed in handle her son.
Ultimately, what I’ve learned about writing this story trope is that it’s one of those classic storylines that readers not only enjoy but can also connect and relate with. Yes, it’s a trope that may present little originality but like apple (or sweet potato) pie during the holidays, it never gets old. It’s a trope that introduces circumstances centered around some truth and I believe that provides a sort of comfort and familiarity to readers who enjoy reading about family and second chances at love.
I enjoyed writing Mia, Nate, and Mikey’s story—despite the mental and emotional rollercoaster this family put me on. And now I’m more than ready to take on the challenge of writing my next “Mikey”.
What do you love about the secret baby novel? Leave a comment and one lucky winner will be selected to win 1 of the 5 secret prizes. Prize and winner will be announced on December 1st.♥
Lena Hart writes sensual romances with a hint of mystery and suspense. Her bestselling debut novel, BECAUSE THIS IS FOREVER, was released October 2013. To learn more about Lena and her work, visit www.LenaHartSite.com or find her musing out loud at www.scatblogging.blogspot.com.
More about “Because This Is Forever”:
Read the excerpt | Watch the trailer
Purchase here:
Amazon | B&N | All Romance eBooks
Thanks so much for being here today Lena!
All the best everyone and best of luck!
KMJ
Business Time
Happy Friday and Happy Weekend! Good for us making it through the week. Though you know me when I’m in deadline mode weekends mean nothing and it’s business time and not in the HA HA way, but in the get down to business and get these edits done way.
That’s ok. The weekend are for everyone and business is what you make of it. Enjoy!
All the best,
KMJ
image from amandaonwriting.tumblr.com
Press Pause
My weekend:
write,
edit,
write,
edit,
edit,
edit,
pause to refill
church &
this perfection:
Edit
now back to editing as deadline looms. What’s your week looking like?
All the best,
KMJ
Flipping the Script
I have gotten my edits back from my lovely editor on my final book in my Crimson trilogy and to say my head is spinning right now is a huge understatement. I have to keep cleaning my glasses to see the black left on the pages through all the red at this point (yes I know a necessary evil but still, WAAAA!). So to that I will be a little MIA for a bit while I clear the fog in my brain, try to flip colors and turn my frown upside down to bring some order and control back to this story. See you on the other side and I hope your week is fantastic.
All the best,
KMJ
Image from Amanda On Writing Tumblr
Persistence
Yesterday I met with my buddies, The Knitsters for the 1st time in a long time. It was wonderful to step out of the Bat Cave and into the light for a few hours and it was also great to pick up the knitting needles again after being away from them for so long.
In anticipation I bought some new heather gray yarn in order to start on shawl that I had been admiring my friend knitting with a beautiful open weave stitch that was a step up from my usual knit/purl action.
I cast on the 97 stitches and got to the point where I needed some help so I got my friend to show me the steps in the stitch that I didn’t know. Here’s how it went: K1*yfwd, k3tog,yrn,P1,rep from*
No you’d think I’d be able to count, pay attention, and get that pattern but, um, no. My 1st try and I ended up off by 20 stitches. My 2nd try and I ended up off by 3, my 3rd try and I was off by 1. Yes people it took me 4 tries and this was no small scarf, I was casting on 97 stitches with each go, but after 4 times I finally got the row right and was so pleased with myself.
I think this says something to my never give it spirit (or just shows I’m loopy). Now I have to turn this attitude back toward my writing but remember to move away from the keyboard at times and bring it back to the needles.
Have a great weekend and I hope you try something new or an old fave this weekend.
All the best,
Kwana
Being Jack
I had to give Jack a bath yesterday as well as the rest of the house since he got up high and got into the dangerous leftover Halloween candy. I swear having Jack around is like having a very bad teen. I’m thinking I may finally need a liquor cabinet with a lock to keep the bread and chocolate away from him. Yep, he got into it all and ended up sick all over himself and the house. Nope, things have not been fun for the past few days. Not fun at all. But, thankfully we’ve made it through fresher and cleaner.
And I’m glad to see in the end he’s thinking about his actions. Or maybe he’s plotting his next mission. Who knows?
All the best,
KMJ
Goody Two Shoes!
Thanks so much to all who entered my Goodreads SEDUCTION’S CANVAS giveaway. I’m excited to say I had 929 entries and Goodreads picked the two winners. One from California and the other from Great Britain. The lovelies Sarah and Sheila.
How cool that Seduction is on the way across the States and across the pond?! Feeling quite good about that. Makes me want to do a little Sunday Goody Two Shoes dance which I would be doing if I didn’t dance so much out with the DH and friends last night. Sidebar: me and a heels just don’t mix. Oh well, I can always chair dance to Adam Ant!
Thanks again to all who entered and I hope you will be seduced by Seduction’s Canvas.
All the best,
KMJ
Friday Hangover and a Winner!
Happy Friday! I hope you all had a good night last night with plenty of treats and no tricks. Things started out slow over by me. I decorated the porch along with Jack who was without a costume this year but still feeling festive and we sat and waited.
And waited some more. But once it got dark and my purple lights came up the kids really started to come out and it was quite a lot of fun answering the door in my Witch’s Hat. It started to drizzle around 8:45 which put an end to the Trick or Treaters wich was fine by me because it was getting on time to settle in for the real Halloween scare with Scandal.
Wow! It was so good. You can check out my recap for the week over at Heroes and Heartbreakers. I’d love to hear your comments.
A big thank you to all who commented on the fab Lise Horton’s WORDS OF LUST interview. I’m so grateful to Lise for being here. Thanks to random number generator I have pulled a name for her book giveaway and the winner is Maria Ferrer! Congrats Maria! Lise will be in touch. And no worries if you didn’t win you can click here to buy your own copy of WORDS OF LUST.
Have a great weekend!
All the best,
KMJ
image from Scandalabc tumblr
