Miriam Newman, Ireland and the Pesky Muse

Karen: I'm thrilled to introduce Miriam Newman, the author of heartfelt historical romances and adventure-filled science fiction tales. Teas brewing so sit back and enjoy your stay.

In Miriam Newman's Words:

Once upon a time there was a poet.  She was a poet because she had no time to write.  When you have a husband, five kids, a full-time job and you like to raise horses, you have NO time.  That was my drill for years, and since penning a sonnet took considerably less time than knocking out 90,000 words, I wrote poetry.  I did well at it.  Still, there was always a little voice in the back of my mind whispering, “But I wanna write a book!”  That voice was so persistent that I finally realized it was a muse and I named her The Wench because she was totally annoying.

Then my fairly happy if somewhat madcap life began to fall apart.  The kids grew up, my husband died after a 4 ½ year battle with leukemia and my job was history because I had left it to care for him.  I could no longer afford horses.  My muse was peeking at me around corners, trying to get in, but I was so annoyed I renamed her Persephone.  You know…the Queen of Hell.  Eventually I decided I was going to blow my entire small fortune on a plane ticket to Ireland, with no plan to return any time soon.  Despite the pleas of family and friends who thought I was out of my mind, I did.  What I didn’t realize was that Persephone was in the cargo hold.

She finally announced herself in a sheep pasture on the west coast of Ireland where I was sitting sort of like J.K. Rowling with one of those ubiquitous yellow legal pads, since I couldn’t afford a laptop.  I had a fantastic view of the Atlantic Ocean pounding green surf against 300-foot cliffs, but even above the noise of the waters I heard Persephone whining at me like some sort of literary mosquito.  “What if you were a princess, sitting at your castle window, watching that surf?” Seph whispered.  “What if your father was a king bound on using you as a pawn to save his kingdom?  What if…”

“STOP!” I screamed.  “I’m writing a poem!”  But Seph just smiled.  I put my pen to the paper and started writing—or should I say SHE started writing?

133,000 words later, she finally stopped.  Some poem.

* * *

I was the King’s daughter once, so many years ago that sometimes now it is hard to remember.   Before the tide of time carried away so many things, so many people, it was worth something to be the daughter of a King.

Our little island nation of Alcinia was not rich, except for tin mines honeycombing the south.  It wasn’t even hospitable.  Summer was a brief affair and fall was only a short time of muted colors on the northernmost coast where my father sat his throne at the ancient Keep of Landsfel.  Winter was the killing time and spring was hardly better, with frosts that could last into Fifth-Month.  But from the south, where men cut thatch in a pattern like the bones of fish, to the north where rock roses spilled down cliffs to the sea, it was my own.

One thinks such things will never change, yet all things do.

* * *

That was “The King’s Daughter,” Book I of The Chronicles of Alcinia.  Book II, “Heart of the Earth,” I wrote a little later--in a pub in Killarney.  But that’s a story for another day.

You can purchase a copy of The King's Daughter at:

Publishing with Rebecca J. Vickery

About the Author:

Fantasy poetry driven by myths and legends has been Miriam’s passion for as long as she can remember.  She was published in poetry before catching the romance writing bug.  She brings that background to her writing along with a lifelong addiction to horses, an 18 year career in various areas of psychiatric social services and many trips to Ireland, where she nurtures her muse.  Her published works range from contemporary fantasy romance to fantasy historical, futuristic, science fiction and historical romance.  Currently she lives in rural Pennsylvania with a “motley crew” of rescue animals.  You can view her books at www.miriamnewman.com.   

Vonnie Davis and the Men in Her Life

Karen: Welcome Vonnie! I had the pleasure of reading Storm's Interlude. What a wonderful read and the hero—definitely caught my attention. lol Let's give Vonnie a warm welcome. Please feel free to leave a comment or a question. Vonnie loves to hear from the readers.

Behind the Scenes with Vonnie Davis:

I might be coasting into sixty-four, but I have more men in and out of my bedroom than women half my age. I’m also lucky my husband Calvin doesn’t seem to mind. No, we aren’t into ménage a trios, but we’re both writers and understand how characters from our stories come to visit us at night.

Take the tall, wide-shouldered Texan who sauntered into our bedroom, wearing nothing but a cowboy hat and a pair of boots. Calvin barely noticed, but I was certainly all eyes. He became my hero in my debut book, Storm’s Interlude.

When an ex-Marine roared into our bedroom on a Harley, I merely groaned and rolled over. I was too tired to be bothered. Not to be ignored, he drove into our bedroom again, took off his helmet and struggled to adjust his stance to accommodate his prosthesis. Now, he had my attention. How had he lost part of his leg? What or who put that haunting look into his eyes? His name was Win, he told me, and would I write his and Evie’s story? Those Violet Eyes will be out June 27^th.

I was writing my first romantic suspense, set in Paris involving a band of terrorists, an older American woman and a younger French government agent. Somewhere around three in the morning, someone slammed our bedroom door. I sat straight up. What the heck? Bleary-eyed, I glanced around; everything was fine. I must be dreaming. I lay back down and snuggled next to Calvin.

Once more, the bedroom door slammed shut and Niko charged in, mad as hell. What is his problem? He stood there glaring at me. I was dead tired, so I glared right back. At least until I fell asleep on him. Determined to get my attention, he charged into my bedroom again and slammed the door.

“What is it?” I moaned.

“Watch,” he commanded.

He shared a vision of his walking down a hall, his fists clenched. Then he opened the door to an interrogation room, stepped in and slammed the door. My heroine was blindfolded and tied to a wooden chair. Her head swung in the direction of the noise. That quickly the vision was gone.

“That’s it? You woke me for that piddlin’ little bit? Why are you angry? Why is she tied to a chair? If you want me to write about that scene, I’m going to need more info.” I realized I was talking to air; air punctuated by my husband’s snoring. It took me four chapters to set up that door slamming scene in Mona Lisa’s Room.

Tumbleweeds blew into our bedroom one night, chased by a cowboy and his three-year-old son. Tumbleweed Letters is with an editor. I’m waiting for that “yay” or “nay.”

I was struggling with the beginning of Rain is a Love Song, the book in my romantic suspense series after Mona Lisa’s Room. One night I dreamed of Calvin and me sitting at a sidewalk café in Paris, across the street from the Pompidou Museum. A man coasted by on his motorcycle, his angel wings trailing on the pavement. It was a comfortable dream since we’d seen that very thing while in Paris. Then the man got off the bike—all muscles and attitude. He strolled over to me and got down on his hunkers. “I’m here for you, Vonnie. Your hero for your next book.” Now, we’re talkin’!!!!

Book three of the series has a saxophone player wailing out some soulful jazz notes, the kind that make you want to sigh and cry. One night after playing a song at the foot of my bed, he told me he was also a German counterterrorism agent. Really? Oh, the possibilities. I’m on chapter four of Jazzbeat of Surrender right now.

Unfortunately, that book is sharing my writing time with a pair of eyes that glowed fiery golden in our bedroom one night. I nearly wet the bed when I first saw them—especially when I realized they were set in the head of a huge bear. Then the bear morphed into a Scottish man in a kilt. I shook my head. “Sorry, you’re in the wrong bedroom. I don’t write paranormal stuff.”

He lifted the covers and slipped into my bed. “Aye, I am in the right bed chamber. Let me tell ye why bears are extinct in Scotland and about me family’s curse.” Did I listen? Of course! I mean, what woman would chase a man in a kilt out of her bed?

Then there’s the polite World War II pilot who occasionally sits on the edge of my bed, leans over me and whispers, “Let me tell you about my gal, Pearl. She’s really swell.” I run my fingers through his dark hair. “Not yet, Ben, you’ll have to wait your turn.”

You see, a woman can only handle so many men.

About the author:

Vonnie attended Penn State University and Wilson College where she majored in both Business Administration and English. Like most writers, she started penning stories in elementary school with the hope of becoming an author. Then life got in the way--marriage, children, job, college and, after twelve years of being alone, a new love. She is now retired, embarking on her second and long-desired career--writing. She lives in Lynchburg, VA, with her husband Calvin, a man she met online. Ah, now there's a romantic story. 

You can find Vonnie at:

Website

Facebook

Vintage Vonnie (Blog)

Purchase Storm's Interlude at:

The Wild Rose Press

Amazon

A Sneak Peek into the Author's Mind with Gloria Davidson Marlow

Karen: Gloria Davidson Marlow is an author of romantic suspence. Sweet Sacrifices is her latest release with The Wild Rose Press and she's here today to tell us about the inner workings of her stories. Let's give her a warm welcome!  
Please feel free to leave comments or ask questions. She'd love to hear from you.

The Inner Workings of a Novel by Gloria Davidson Marlow

It’s always hard for me to say what inspired me to write a book, because I never can really pinpoint the answer. Sweet Sacrifices, like all of my novels so far, began with just one scene: a woman on a bus, a baby carrier beside her, and a crumpled letter bearing her husband’s last known address. This scene was followed quickly by another of her and the baby on a dark, dirt road, a truck pulling to a stop beside her, and in the soft glow of the overhead lamp, the face of the husband who abandoned her. Seconds later, she and I both knew it wasn’t her husband at all.

I’m not much of a plotter, so I’m never actually certain where the story will take me. Sweet Sacrifices took me down several different roads before finally becoming what it is today. When I began to write the story, it was set in the twenty-first century, but as it went along, I had the feeling that it didn’t quite fit here. For one thing, and this is certainly not to belittle the struggle of today’s unwed mother, women have so many more options for independence and self-reliance now than they did just a few years ago, and being an illegitimate child certainly doesn’t hold the same stigma it did back then. I plodded along, however, and it wasn’t until after I was finished the first draft, that I moved the characters from their awkward perch in the present and placed them in the midst of the Great Depression.

One of the driving forces and most difficult things for me to portray in Kendall’s story was the contrast between her life and her mother’s. As I wrote, I became increasingly attached to Lydia, Kendall’s mother, and I wanted the reader to see her as the sympathetic character that I did. Doing this without beating them over the head with it became my most difficult task.

The funny thing about a novel is how often the outer shell will change during the creation, but how similar the inner workings will remain. Regardless of what century it was set in or whether the background story was told in flashbacks, vignettes or dialogue, the characters in Sweet Sacrifices remained the same. Without Kendall’s hope-driven resilience and Luke’s persistent sense of responsibility, without all of the secondary characters being who they were, it would have been a completely different book. In fiction as in real life, people react to circumstances differently, and by doing so, they write their own stories.

As crazy as it may sound, I have to admit that as a writer, I put the story into words, but it is hardly my story. What inspired me to write it? A brokenhearted woman, a fatherless child, a man looking for the kind of love he’s never known, and the desire to make sure they found their own happily ever after.

About the Author:

Gloria Davidson Marlow was born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida. She married her high school sweetheart two days after graduation.

As a writer, she loves telling the story of a somewhat damaged heroine and a somewhat damaged hero who are ultimately a perfect match.

In the pages of her books, you'll find a great blend of romance and suspense, a dash of faith,  and a happy ending every time. 

Author's website:
www.gloriamarlowbooks.com

Purchase your own copy of Sweet Sacrifices at: The Wild Rose Press Amazon

**Available in Print and E-book.

Sneak Peek into an Author's Mind: Linda Swift

The CONTEST is CLOSED. THE WINNER IS BRIANA NICKOL! CONGRATULATIONS!

Karen: Linda Swift is the guest author today with her journey into publishing her historical romance, Maid of the Midlands. Let's give her a warm welcome. Please feel free to ask questions or say hello. Enjoy!

Matilda's Long Journey by Linda Swift

If Maid of the Midlands hadn't been an historical, it would have become one during its circuitous route to publication. It was my second book accepted by my first digital publisher and scheduled for release in 2009. Unfortunately, before that happened, they sold to another publishing house who required a different cover. It had final edits in 2010 but still was not released so I obtained rights and submitted it elsewhere and it was accepted. Another long wait followed due to the publisher's problems. After several months, I again requested rights and submitted to a third publisher who has released it. And  ironically, I was able to use the first cover which I had bought from an artist with the first publisher who had accepted it. So after four years, four contracts, and four editors it is now an ebook and print.

This seems to be a reflection of the roundabout journey that Mary Queen of Scots took for the twenty years of her captivity in England. And that unfortunate queen has a major role in this book. It is really the love story of Matilda and Jondalar. She was a young lady-in-waiting who was chosen by her mistress to serve the queen when she was sent as a "guest" to Hafton Castle.

And he was a stalwart castle guard who stole her heart. But that wasn't all Jondalar stole in his ambition to get ahead. And although the queen was supposed to be seen and not heard when I placed her in the story, she soon became a dominant character who defied my careful plotting. And much to his later regret, Jondalar was slyly plotting, too and it almost cost him all that he desired.

This book was the outcome of living in England in 1999 and 2000. My husband and I were located in East Yorkshire, in the city of Kingston-upon-Hull. Every day I was exposed to the Yorkshire accent and when I wrote the book, I tried to use that for my dialogue. At first, I had used it quite heavily, and not a single editor objected to it, even though I always asked if they were bothered by it. But with each edit, I omitted just a few more of the odd spellings of words to make it flow better in my own opinion.  I have read many historical books that have totally modern speech including current slang and this bothers me immensely. One of my favorite English authors uses the Yorkshire accent in every book and I enjoy reading it that way. But she is English and I'm sure has every word exactly as it was spoken.  Since I speak "American" and "Southern American" at that, I had some misgiving about trying to recreate the 1573 speech patterns. But I reasoned that even English readers wouldn't be certain exactly how the characters spoke in the sixteenth century. And when an English author friend told me I had recreated the Yorkshire accent well, I felt vindicated.

I am familiar with a map of England. In fact, wherever I am at home, I have my trusty Michelin Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland. The only problem was using the names of towns that didn't exist in that time period. And I had an actual castle in mind and wrote the story using that name and names of the family living there. Research showed that descendants with the family name now lived elsewhere in the country and I wasn't sure they would appreciate having an American write a story about their ancestor's imaginary bastard offspring. So this led me to change the castle's name and location and rename the characters. Then I was faced with trying to sort out the confusing issue of titles, who is called what, and inheritance legalities. I can only hope I got it right.

Meanwhile, as I waited for Maid of the Midlands to become a published book, I was busy writing about the children of Jondalar and Matilda.  I think since this a romance, it is obvious that they did get together in the end so I'm not spoiling the story by telling you this. Mistress of Huntleigh Hall is the title of this sequel. And Alice Wykeham, the heroine is in love with Malcolm Gray but a tragic accident causes her to marry another. This story is set in 1605 and the characters are involved in the Gunpowder Plot to kill King James, son of Mary Queen of Scots. I have never written a sequel to any of my books before but this one demanded to be written. I hope you will read Matilda's ondalar's story and want to know their children's story, too.


Contest: Leave a comment about a challenge you've had in "getting it right" and you'll have a chance to win a digital copy of Maid of Midlands.

MAID OF THE MIDLANDS

Blurb:

When Mary Queen of Scots is sent to Hafton Castle in the Midlands, Matilda becomes her waiting-lady. The comely maid loves Jondalar, a stalwart castle guard who returns her affection but places his greed to succeed above all else. After Matilda nurses the queen through a fever, she rewards the maid with a valuable ruby. Jondalar plots with the young lord of the castle to rid the Crown of the captive queen in return for a promotion in the guard.But when Matilda learns of the guard's  betrayal of the queen she must chose between loyalty and love.

Author: Linda Swift

Website: www.lindaswift.net

Publisher: Publishing by Rebecca J. Vickery  http://rebeccajvickery.com/

Release date: March 9, 2012

Available: E-book and print

Genre: Historical Romance

Rating: Sweet

Page count: 135

Buy link: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=maid+of+the+midlands

Also at Smashwords, Monkeybars, and other distributors

About the Author:

Besides writing, I enjoy reading, ballroom dancing, traveling, visiting Gulf beaches, and keeping in touch with friends far and near.(Much to my husband's regret, cooking does not make the list!)

I have been a nomad all of my life, calling many places home from California to New York to England. I share my life with my husband, a great musician, golfer, power plant consultant, and in-house computer tech.
We now divide our time between homes in Kentucky and Florida, stopping en route in Tennessee to visit our children who live in Tennessee. I am the only member of my family who does not sing or play an instrument, but I like to think I make music with words.Although I am an only child, I have never been lonely because my head has always been filled with imaginary people. I love giving them a chance to tell their stories and I hope it brings you pleasure to read them.

Sneak Peek Into The Author's Mind: Loretta C. Rogers

Karen: Welcome to Sneak Peek into the Author's Mind. My guest today is Author Loretta C. Rogers from The Wild Rose Press. Find out what inspired her to pen the tale Forbidden Son.

Title: Forbidden Son

Author: Loretta C. Rogers
Website: http://www.lorettacrogersbooks.com
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Release date: March 9, 2012
Available in both print and ebook
Rating: Spicy
Page Count: 254
Print ISBN 978-1-61217-000-8
Buy Link to Forbidden Son from – The Wild Rose Press http://bit.ly/zShp1l
Buy Link to Forbidden Son from – Amazon.com http://amzn.to/z55cqh

Loretta: Forbidden Son a vintage romance with political overtones, is my first non-western romance. Actually, I was testing the waters to see if I could write in different genre. My intention was to write a sweet, homey, inspirational romance. However, my hero and heroine had different ideas. They wanted to have sex. Once I allowed the characters to dictate the story the plot took a totally different direction than my original plans for the book.

There are some weepy scenes, so tissues are a must-have.