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Inspiration – Moonlight

26 Feb

Moonlight plays a part in many of my stories’ scenes. My characters might take a quiet walk as the day settles. The intimacy of the night’s shadows closing in can allow a private moment to steal a kiss, or two, or lead to much more. The dark and silvered lake water might lure them to peaceful, sensual swim. It can encourage quiet conversation. Or the night’s shifting light might be a welcome cloak to mask troubling  emotions.

What does moonlight inspire for you?

I also wanted to share this wonderful piece from The Piano Guys. I love Beethoven and cello.

Photo by: Thom W

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2011 NJRW Put Your Heart in a Book Conference

18 Sep

I’ll be attending this wonderful conference next month. It’s a great conference for learning, networking and socializing, with a wide variety of workshops and the opportunity to pitch to editors and agents.

Hope to see you there.

2011 NJRW Put Your Heart in a Book Conference

Empower Your Muse

October 21-22, 2011

Renaissance Woodbridge Hotel

Iselin, NJ

Hurry! Registration has been extended until September 30!

Are you ready to Empower Your Muse? Our Conference is scheduled for the weekend of October 21-22. Our featured speakers are Suzanne Brockmann, Rachel Gibson, Victoria Alexander and Brenda Novak.

Don’t miss this opportunity to take your writing to the next level. We’ve got over 45 workshops for writers at all levels. Plus, we have twenty-seven editors and agents scheduled to attend:

Agents -

Jessica Alvarez, BookEnds, LLC

Claudia Cross, Sterling Lord Literistic, Inc. (panel only)

Jennifer Didik, Loretta Barrett Books, Inc.

Stephany Evans, FinePrint Literary Management

Louise Fury, L. Perkins Agency

Anne Hawkins, John Hawkins & Associates, Inc.

Christina Hogrebe, Jane Rotrosen Agency

Miriam Kriss, Irene Goodman Literary Agency

Kevan Lyon, Marsal Lyon Literary Agency

Beth Miller, Writers House

Courtney Miller-Callihan, Sanford J. Greenburger Assoc., Inc.

Lauren Ruth, BookEnds, LLC

Susannah Taylor, Richard Henshaw Group

Carlie Webber, Jane Rotrosen Agency

Editors -

Patience Bloom, Harlequin

Stacy Boyd, Harlequin

Karen Chaplin, HarperCollins Publishers

Kelli Collins, Ellora’s Cave

Susan Litman, Harlequin

Margaret Marbury, Harlequin (panel only)

Wendy McCurdy, Berkley Books

Tara Parsons, Harlequin

Lauren Plude, Grand Central Publishing

Aubrey Poole, Sourcebooks

Latoya Smith, Grand Central Publishing

Shana Smith, Harlequin

Leonore Waldrip, Harlequin

We will be adding to the list of agents and editors, so please check our web site frequently for updates. Sign up early – don’t miss your chance to meet these editors and agents!

And, here is the list of our workshop presenters:

Tasha Alexander… Victoria Alexander… Laura Marie Altom… Toni Andrews.. .Gina Ardito… Marlo Berliner… Annette Blair… Terri Brisbin… Suzanne Brockmann… Mary Burton… Christine Bush… Dianne Castell… Karen Chaplin… Anna DePalo… Stephanie Draven… Cara Elliott… Marie Force… Jacquelyn Frank…Rachel Gibson…Laura Griffin…Winnie Griggs…Nancy Herkness… Kristan Higgins… Eloisa James… Sophie Jordan… Mary Kennedy… April Kihlstrom… Cindy Kirk… Eliza Knight… Caroline Linden…Denise Little… Kathleen Long… Janice Lynn… Kevan Lyon… Sally MacKenzie… Brenda Novak… Robin D. Owens… Tessa Radley… Isabel Roman… Renee Ryan… Ruth Seitelman… Karen Rose Smith… RR Smythe… Mariah Stewart… Hope Tarr…Stephanie Tyler… Lauren Willig… The Grammar Divas

Registration

NJRW Member: $190.00

Non-NJRW Member: $210.00

Pre-conference Workshop: Emotion: The Heart of the Novel, with Brenda Novak (Friday, Oct. 21,from 9 AM to 12 PM) – $30.00

If you have questions, please contact: Marlo Berliner, 2011 NJRW Conference Chair, at confchair@njromancewriters.org or, Ruth Seitelman, Assistant Chair, at ruth.seitelman@gmail.com

For registration questions, please contact: LoriMarie LaSpada, Registrar, at registrar@njromancewriters.org

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Thursday 13 – Dave’s Guitar Playlist

17 Mar

I write to music, and I’ve always enjoyed listening to guitar music, but while writing Love Burns and exploring my hero Dave Knight’s character, he expanded my listening horizons, sharing his eclectic love of the guitar through Blues, Bluegrass, Country, Jazz, Classical, Flamenco, and Metal. Here’s a sampling of the playlist from Dave’s story:

  1. Dead End ~ Leo Kottke
  2. Classical Gas ~ Mason Williams
  3. Caminar Solo~ Ottmar Liebert
  4. Solemn Vespers ~ Christopher Parkening
  5. Perfect Moment ~ Peter White
  6. Nothing Else Matters ~ Metallica
  7. Blackberry Blossom ~ The Tony Rice Unit
  8. Riding with the King ~ BB King and Eric Clapton
  9. She Just Wants to Dance ~ Keb’ Mo’
  10. Dueling Guitars ~ Heitor Pereira and Doug Smith / August Rush Soundtrack
  11. Hook ~ Blues Traveler
  12. My Guitar Lies Bleeding in My Arms ~ Bon Jovi
  13. Bad Love ~ Eric Clapton


Get a playlist! Standalone player Get Ringtones

Top Photo: Cameron Allan
Bottom Photo: siewlian

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Group Creativity Experiment 1: Litanie des Saints

7 Apr

Moriah Jovan, author of The Proviso and Stay, has issued a challenge to join in a Group Creativity Experiment in which she posts a song to spark our imagination and we all see what we can create. I love using music as I write, so I was happy to join in with Experiment 1: Litanie des Saints by Dr. John.

I’ve been looking at adding Nate’s viewpoint to my story Clear As Day, and this song seems perfect for him. The piece inspired by the music began with a love scene which was . . . ahem . . . a little steamy to post here, so this is the second half:

*~*~*~*~*~*~

She still hadn’t said yes.
His body and mind were all worked-out with that loose-jointed, post-sex mellow buzz that should have felt so good, but was no help when he needed to think. So much for trying to talk it out. Women were supposed to want to talk, right? He hadn’t meant to go all Neanderthal and ultimatum her. He was pathetic, really. Letting his mouth and frustration run loose had nearly blown up in his face.
Kay walked alongside him, her hand relaxed in his. That gave him hope she wasn’t too pissed at him.
What more could he do? What else could he promise her? She said she believed he loved her. She hadn’t said no. She hadn’t thrown his ring back in his face. It was still on her finger. She hadn’t told him to go fuck himself. He was making some progress, yeah?
What now? Thank God for sex. And yeah, guilty on pushing her there, too, but seeing that numb despair in her face, well he’d been more desperate than sensible. Maybe he could just make love to her constantly for the next eleven days, until neither of them could see or think straight. Just keep on showing her and telling her. Well, he was good, but not that good. He laughed.
“What’s funny?” She paused their walk.
“Life, the universe and everything.” He winced at his glib answer.

Kay laughed, slipped her arm around his waist, and sent his heart into a relieved lurch. “You’re not kidding.” She sighed, squeezed a hug around him again, and her body went soft against his. They stood in in companionable quiet, looking out at the still, dark lake and star-filled night sky.
The hungry whine of mosquitoes nudged them onwards with their walk back to camp.
They reached the bottom of the trail into her camp. “Kay–” His head was too crowded with what he wanted to say. Apology, plea, demand, all snarled up in his mind, lodged in his throat. Shit.
She backed a step away. “Nate, honestly, I need space on this.”
“Is it because I asked wrong? I fumbled that.” Great, now you sound even lamer.
She sighed and looked away. “No, that’s not why. I just never planned on ever marrying, anyone.”
“I believe we can make it work.”
“But I don’t know if I believe it.” She turned to him with such a seriously sad and confused expression.
His heart clenched. He was dealing with something far heavier here than her simply having cold feet about their relationship. With no clue what else to do, he caught her hand and pulled her close. She tensed, but he just wrapped his arms loosely around her, enough to hold her where he needed her. A long knife-edged moment, and then with a sigh, she slid her arms around his waist and rested her head against his shoulder.
“I swear you can talk to me, Kay. Whatever the problem.” He stroked his hand over her hair, nuzzled her cheek, pressed a kiss to her cheek. “Anything. Anytime.” Why couldn’t he have fallen for someone easy? But apparently he liked a challenge. God help him.
She sighed and slowly relaxed against him. So how did he go about convincing Kay, heck, coercing her into seeing she loved him? How did he fix what hurt her? Eleven days, he only had eleven days. And what the hell was he going to do if he failed?
He couldn’t deal with that thought right now. No.
“Let’s get some sleep, okay?” He caressed his hands over her, ignoring his cock’s happy twitch at the idea of being in bed with Kay. Give it a rest, dude. Whatever the hell she wasn’t talking about wasn’t going to be fixed with sex.

*~*~*~*~*~*~

Here’s Litanie des Saints on YouTube for your listening pleasure:

A

Photo: anza borrego starscape by Anthony Citrano / CC BY-ND 2.0

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