Archive for March 2014 | Monthly archive page
It’s a lot like life …
And if that doesn’t set you to humming Depeche Mode’s “Master and Servant” … you’re not as big a fan of that group as I am.
My parents didn’t have cable until I went to college (and even then no MTV), so I didn’t get to watch a lot of music videos. Imagine my surprise when I caught the “Master and Servant” video, years later. I had no idea they were talking about the corporate world.
Yeah, right. We know what that song was really about.
Anyway, that’s all just a tangent. It’s how my brain works (or doesn’t). I’m popping in today to share my guest post over at Just Contemporary Romance. I’m waxing poetic about baseball as a metaphor for life.
OK, I’m mostly quoting other folks who’ve waxed poetic about baseball as life. But I only picked out the quotes I agree with.
Isn’t “Beauty’s Release” the title of an Anne Rice book? Haven’t read it, but I was in high school when I first heard of it. I remember being intrigued by the mere idea of her Sleeping Beauty Trilogy, written under the pen name A.N. Roquelaure. I’d just read—and fallen in love with—THE VAMPIRE LESTAT, and wanted to read all the Anne Rice books I could get my hands on.
You can imagine that, in small-town Indiana in the late 1980s, the Beauty trilogy wasn’t readily available on the library shelf. I wonder if they have it even now …
Ahem. File that under “jaunt down memory lane.” Funny how the strangest things send you down that road, eh? When I typed in my blog post title, I was off.
Welcome to the My Sexy Saturday in which I get to celebrate the release of BEAUTY AND THE BALLPLAYER. BEAUTY, which went live Thursday, has been many things to me — my first manuscript set somewhere outside the Midwest (in Flagstaff, Ariz), the first one with a baseball player hero, the first (and only) one to final in the Golden Heart (and win the FCRW Beacon).
Yet it’s the second book in my All Is Fair in Love & Baseball series. How’d that happen?
Not only was BEAUTY the second book I sold to Turquoise Morning Press, it fell second in my Arizona Condors timeline. Dave and Mel had already bumped into one another and reconciled by the time Matt meets Meg. In fact, Dave’s experience, which Matt went through alongside him, plays a role in Matt’s reasons for doing some of the things he does to piss Meg off. (DIVA IN THE DUGOUT came out of Matt’s explanation to Meg.)
You know the My Sexy Saturday drill by now, right?
Post 7 paragraphs or 7 sentences or 7 words ONLY. The choice is yours. It can be from a WIP or something you already have published. Your post should be live by 9 am US Pacific Time on Saturday. Put those lucky 7s to work for you!
This scene, from the early chapters, finds Matt kicked out of his hotel room while his brother, super-stylist Stan, cuts Meg’s hard-to-manage hair. Roping his brother into cutting her hair was Matt’s “in” to see her again. While he kills time in the lobby, one of his teammates tries to pick up the hotel restaurant’s hostess. The kid enlists Matt’s help, and Matt realizes she’s a baseball groupie just as Meg and his brother get to the lobby. But Meg doesn’t know he’s a ballplayer, and that’s the way he likes it … so he has to get her out the door before the hostess exposes his identity.
****
Matt pushed the door open and dragged her through it just as flashes started going off behind them.
Desperate that she not turn around to try to see what—or rather who—someone was attempting to photograph, he wrapped an arm around her waist and bent his head to kiss her.
Her lips were soft. Extremely soft. Beyond that, she tasted like something he couldn’t put his finger on. Slightly salty, but comforting.
As he maneuvered her away from the doors and into the darkness, he deepened the kiss. She responded in kind, and he forgot where he was. Forgot everything except kissing this woman who didn’t want him only for his talent.
Oh, she wanted him all right, but not because he could play baseball. That couldn’t be why; she had no clue.
Spurred by the thought, Matt pushed Meg against the wall. He was about to hike her leg up over his hip to draw her closer when his brother’s voice whispered in his ear.
“Matty, you don’t want people to see you out here like this, do you?”
Beauty and the Ballplayer, available now from Turquoise Morning Press and other e-tailers.
When BEAUTY AND THE BALLPLAYER finaled in the RWA® Golden Heart contest in 2011, I was floating way beyond Cloud Nine.
Now, my manuscript is a full-fledged book, released today by Turquoise Morning Press, and I find myself back on Cloud Nineteen … maybe even Cloud Twenty-Nine. Y’all already know numbers are not my strong suit. (That’s why I chose to work with words for a living instead of earning the big bucks as an engineer.)
The short blurb: After finding herself alone and pregnant at the advanced age of thirty-two, Meg Malone plans to avoid men — until Condors catcher Matt Thatcher throws her plan a curve.
You can find BEAUTY at the Turquoise Morning Press bookstore, as well as at Amazon, Smashwords and All Romance Ebooks.
If your favorite e-tailer isn’t on the list yet, check back. It should be available at IBooks, B&N, Kobo, Diesle, library and subscription channels within the next week or two.
There are so many blog hops in cyberspace that the Easter bunny would collapse, exhausted, if he tried to hit them all.
Heck, I’m exhausting myself, and I’ve only done a couple. The latest one I signed on for has questions mighty similar to the last one, although I didn’t realize it when I volunteered. For the sake of not putting y’all to sleep, I’ll try to answer them differently this time.
This time, fellow Arizonan Connie Cockrell asked me to join in the fun. I met Connie through the online Power Writing Hour group, and she’s been an unfailing source of support ever since.
What am I working on?
Perhaps a better question is “What am I NOT working on?” These days, I feel as if I never slow down. I’m in the middle of promo for my March Turquoise Morning Press release, BEAUTY AND THE BALLPLAYER (coming this week—eep), and I’m gearing up for a blog tour for my April TMP release, SLIDING INTO HOME.
I also recently received feedback from my editor on BLIND DATE BRIDE, the first of my “Reality (TV) Bites” stories. I plan to release it independently in June.
How does my work differ from others of its genre?
Ack. Not sure this question can be answered differently. If so, my frazzled brain is unable to make the leap. Instead, let me refer you to this blog hop post.
Why do I write what I do?
Like Huey Lewis, I believe in the power of love. (A few months ago, I waxed poetic about the power of love and laughter while trying to get feedback on new business card designs.) I enjoy knowing that, no matter how much crap they have to go through to get to it, there’s a happy ending for each of my characters.
Finally, how does my writing process work?
I think I’ve said it before, but I’m a definite pantser. Because I work evenings, I tend to write in the early afternoon, before work. I hit Starbucks by noon or 1 p.m. at the latest, but sometimes as early as 11 a.m. if I wake up sooner. I write better at the Bux than I do at my house (fewer distractions in the form of slobbery dogs and demanding cats).
Next up on the list:
Laurie A. Green is a three-time RWA® Golden Heart® finalist and science fiction romance enthusiast who founded the SFR Brigade community of writers, which now totals over 300 members. Her extended family includes her husband, David, four dogs, three cats and several horses, all who reside on a ranch in beautiful New Mexico. When she’s not writing, networking, or searching out the perfect cup of Starbucks, she’s usually busy exercising her left brain as a military budget director. She blogs at http://www.spacefreighters.
Debra Jess is Connecticut Yankee transplanted to Central Florida, Debra Jess writes science fiction romance, urban fantasy, and superheroes. She began writing in 2006, combining her love of fairy tales and Star Wars to craft original stories of ordinary people in extraordinary adventures and fantastical creatures in out-of-this world escapades. She blogs at http://debrajess.com.
Kimberly Kincaid writes contemporary romance novels that split the difference between sexy and sweet, taking the traditional idea of boy-meets-girl and infusing it with a sassy magic all her own. She believes in fiery yet flawed characters destined for a crash-course in falling in love– usually the hard way– and injects her trademark humor as well as poignant touches into her writing to create her stories. She doesn’t have a blog, so she’ll be guest posting right here next week. Her website is http://www.kimberlykincaid.com.
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