by Sarah | Sep 21, 2013 | Books, Dark Territory, Publishing Credits, Secret Cravings Publishing, WeWriWa, Writing
Welcome back to the Weekend Writing Warriors!
Book 3 of my Dominion Falls Series released this week over at Secret Cravings Publishing. But today, I’m keeping you all intrigued with the beginning of the series [amazon_link id=”B00BEMN5SC” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Changing Tracks (The Dominion Falls Series book 1)[/amazon_link].
My amnesiac with the eidetic memory, Jane Doe, has been awake and about town for a couple of weeks. She and Cole Mitchell have been allowing their friendship to blossom. Despite the teasing and clever word play that haven’t yet taken it to the next level:
Setting down the orange she’d been holding, she straightened. “Well, I’m afraid I have a list of things to do today. And you know what? I could search all day and amusing Cole Mitchell would not be found there.”
Saucy. What a challenge she could be. He doubted she could be tamed, but he’d love to try anyway.
With controlled eagerness, he leaned into her, fighting off a groan as her curves molded against his body. Damn, she fit perfect.
*~*
Did you like this sample, too? You can pick up the whole series now!!
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Head back on over to the Weekend Writing Warriors to read many more wonderful offerings!
by Sarah | Sep 19, 2013 | Friday Dialogues, Guest Authors, Writing
Personal
- Can you tell us a little about yourself? I live in Michigan with my husband and teenage son. I have two older sons and a daughter-in-law who live nearby. I like fishing, camping, and going for long walks. I love books, so I have a collection of old books and paperbacks. But I mostly read books on my Nook now. I leave reviews on books I read.
- Do you have a day job? Sort of. My husband and I love to buy things at auctions. We resell those items at the flea market, and online auction sites such as ebay, webstore, and ebids.
- What was the greatest thing you learned at school? My school days were a long time ago. But since I have been out of school I have learned you never stop learning. I’m not a big fan of research, but I believe it helps my writing and I always learn something new.
- Do you laugh at your own jokes? Sometimes.
- Have you ever found true love? Yes. I’ve been married for 29 years. And we are still in love. If that isn’t true love, I don’t know what is.
- What is something you never leave home without (apart from keys, phone, money, and ID)? My Nook and notebook. I used to carry a book in my purse, but now it’s my Nook. I always like to read, and you never know when an idea will hit you.
- Where can people find you on the web? Where can they read more about your books?
www.kaylalone.weebly.com (website) www.kaylalone.blogspot.com (blog)
Your Novel
- What is your book about? Sarah Kay gets help from her dead grandma to find her father who she thought was dead.
- What inspired you to write this particular story? My grandma. I was about Sarah Kay’s age, main character in Ghostly Clues, when my grandmother died. I remember one night seeing a ghostly hand creep up on my bed. It scared me at the time, but it is a memory that has haunted me. I do include that ghost hand in Ghostly Clues.
- Are the names of the characters in your novel important? I think so. Sarah Kay is a name I always liked. If I had a daughter, that would have been her name.
- How much of yourself is hidden in the characters in the book? Sarah Kay is a lot like me.
Writing
- How many stories are swirling around in your head? Do you keep a mental list, a computer file, or a spiral notebook filled with the ideas? There are a lot of ideas swirling around my head. That’s why I carry a notebook with me. I always try to write down my ideas in a notebook.
- Who gave you the best writing advice you ever received and what was it? I don’t remember who gave me the advice, but the best writing advice I received is write, write, write, and read, read, read.
- Where do you get the names for your characters? They just pop into my head.
- What are you working on now? I have several project in different stages that I am working on.
- Have you written any other books? I have one manuscript, Family Secret, which I have sent to my publisher.
Fun (Crazy, odd questions just for fun)
- Have you ever gone out in public in mis-matched shoes, or with your shirt on backward, and when you realized it just said ‘eh, screw it’? Yes, I’ve gone out in public with my shirt on backwards. No one noticed and I didn’t tell them.
- Are you a neat freak? Or clutter-bound? My house is a clutter zone because of all the things my family collects and things we buy to resell.
Quick Questions
- Sing in the rain or dance in the streets? Dance in the streets
- Pen or pencil? pencil
- Summer or Winter? summer
- Movies or TV? movies
- Theater or DVD? DVD
- Rural or Urban? Rural
- Facial hair or clean shaven? Facial hair
- Marvel or DC? Marvel
- Cowboy or Bad Boy? Bad boy
- Sunrise or Sunsent? Sunset
- Fall leaves or Spring flowers? Fall leaves (fall is beautiful in Michigan)
- Peanut butter or jelly? Peanutbutter
- Spender or Saver? saver
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| [amazon_link id=”B00AFGJRLM” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Amazon[/amazon_link] | BN | Smashwords | MuseItUp |
Blurb
The sweet scent of lilacs permeates the air around Grandma’s gravesite. Only Sarah Kay can smell Grandma’s favorite flower, and they’re not even in bloom.
Sarah Kay and her best friend, Mary Jane, believe the lilacs are a sign from Grandma’s ghost. The girls follow one ghostly clue after another, uncovering a secret that Mom never wanted Sarah Kay to know.
Grandma makes sure Sarah Kay gets the message even from the grave. As the evidence piles up, Mom still refuses to accept the possibility Sarah Kay’s father is alive.
Sarah Kay finds Dad’s parents. A set of grandparents she didn’t realize existed. They make it clear her father is alive but days and miles separate the father and daughter reunion because Dad is a truck driver on a long haul.
Sarah Kay waits. The news reports a fatal car accident involving a semi and Sarah Kay fears the worse. She runs away which leads to Dad and the truth, Mom wanted Dad to remain dead.
Dad had faked his death so why not just stay dead. The ghostly clues of Grandma wouldn’t allow Dad to remain dead to Sarah Kay.
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Excerpt
The house was blanketed in a quiet slumber. I snuggled under the sleeping bag with Allison, trying not to think about ghosts, as I drifted to sleep.
Random pictures floated in my mind like ghostly images.
I tiptoed among tombstones and my heart ached as if I had lost something or someone. He had to be here, somewhere. The gravestones rose like stone walls. No names engraved on them. No dates. No R.I.P. Nothing. Just smooth, flat stones. Ghosts—grayish, smoky forms with black eyes—floated over the tombstones. I shivered, suddenly cold, freezing. My breath visible like a little ghost. I didn’t want to look at the ghost anymore so I looked down at my feet. A tombstone with Grandma’s name appeared out of nowhere. The earth moved. The dirt around the headstone broke away and gnarled fingers clawed their way into the air, searching, grasping. Shriveled fingers clutched my leg.
Something grabbed at my leg—the hand, I screamed and frantically wiggled out of my sleeping bag, bumping MJ as I tried to get away from the hand I thought I felt grab at my leg.
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Bio
I’m Kay LaLone. Ghostly Clues is my first middle grade novel published by MuseItUp. I live in Michigan with my husband and teenage son (two older sons and a daughter-in-law live near by) and two dogs and a cat. I love to get up every morning and write about ghosts, the paranormal, and anything that goes bump in the night. Or anything that interest my characters. Making my characters come to life for readers is important to a good story. I’m an avid reader of just about any type of book. I do reviews on the books I read and post them on my website and blog.
My website www.kaylalone.weebly.com
My blog www.kaylalone.blogspot.com
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ghostlyclues
Twitter https://twitter.com/kaylalone
by Sarah | Sep 18, 2013 | All About Denver, Cystic Fibrosis, Hospital, PICC, Special Needs
The hospital the kids go to for their CF is a teaching hospital. It always has been.
There have been many times we’ve gone to clinic and met new residents or fellows that were learning the craft from our top-notch pulmonologist.
Some don’t stick around for a while, others are around for at least a year.
The changing faces can get confusing when you’re in a long-term treatment plan like we are (or are terrible with names like I am).
When you’re in the hospital there are some definite positives – and definite negatives.
Positive – you have a team of doctors working your case. You know you’re getting the best care and a variety of input on your treatment.
Negative – you have a team of doctors working your case. Every morning each member of that team comes in to check breath sounds. Not all together to get it done once…nope, one by one over the course of an hour.
Positive – There are more nurses and therapists working your treatments and procedures.
Negative – sometimes the room is overcrowded with people each dedicated to your care.
This hospital is the best place for care. I know the people care about my child and making him healthy.
I know that there are many people working his case.
But it’s still overwhelming and frightening.
by Sarah | Sep 17, 2013 | 100 Words, Challenge, Writing
It’s been a while since I joined the word nerds on the weekly challenge. I’m so happy to be back among old friends, I hope you enjoy my latest piece inspired by the prompt – Reset. Click on the Word Challenge image to find more participants 100 words!
Reset
Thin red line grants entrance.
One finger, then two widen the split.
I peel back the layers.
The pool of red grows, blocking my view.
I scoop it out into any receptacle, onto the floor, wherever it’s out of my way.
Organs shift under my grasping fingers, oozing and giving way to the pressure of my forward course.
Find the root cause.
Find the source of the bleeding.
Clamp a vein, stitch it closed.
Before it’s too late.
The bleeding slows, but not enough.
I must work fast.
Faster than this.
There is no reset button on a human life.
by Sarah | Sep 16, 2013 | Guest Authors, Top Ten Tuesday, Writing
One of the most difficult things about being an author is taking criticism. It’s one thing to get a critical review, because as authors we expect those. However, it’s quite something else to get critiqued and edited by your editor.
Your editor is an extension of yourself. What I mean is that he is the extra pair of eyes that will pick up on any errors you have missed. He or she will tell you exactly what is wrong with the story regarding, flow, plot, characterization and other technical parts of writing. Now unless you write a perfectly balanced piece every time, chances are you are going to need an editor to correct and help you polish your story for publishing.
I don’t know about you, but I’m not perfect. With each new book, I’ve gotten better thanks to the awesome editing skills of my Sensei.(the nickname I gave my editor.)
However the secret to getting that book polished up and ready for my readers is my ability to take the advice and constructive criticism my favorite editor gives me.
However, sometimes that advice comes with some very witty quotes, I have made a list of my most favorite quotes that my editor has given me while working on my manuscript.
Here are ten of them.
- You are a writer not a painter. –in response to a scene where I described the man’s male part in as “a turgid work of art.” Ew….WTF was I thinking.
- Cock hole IS NOT SEXY.—in response to a term I used for a certain part of the female anatomy during a love scene.
- F___ing Really?—in response to my writing a toilet scene into one of my stories.
- You gotta change this! Hahahaha—in response to my description of a “pearl necklace” given to my heroine… (heheheh)
- Meat? LOL! No.—in response to me trying to sneak in that “male” term into one of my sex scenes.
- I KNEW I wasn’t drunk. This is a POV switch without making it obvious.—in response to something I’ve been trying to perfect and finally did!
- Petals? Really? Females do not have petals, Flowers have petals.—one of the many responses to horrible prose I used to use.
- ???—in response to a piece of dialogue that made no sense what so ever.
- WTF oh God no.—remember the “cock hole” term, this was in response to me trying to change it to Cock pocket. He also told me to burn that edit and never used it again. Heh…
- Bwaaahaaahaaaaahaaaaa….Oh wait this is a serious scene?—he really thought it was a comedic scene, then realized I was trying to be dramatic and sort of over did it. There is such a thing as over use of adjectives in one sentence…Who knew?
My Editor has a way with words at times but to me that’s what makes working on his edits more fun. After all if we can’t laugh at ourselves and accept our own mistakes, how can we ever become better writers?
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| [amazon_link id=”B00CIKK6Y0″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Amazon[/amazon_link] |
On Corbin’s world women are desperately needed as Breeding-mates to keep his race from extinction. Having been betrayed by his former Breeder, Corbin has given up on ever having another Breeding-mate in his life.
On one of his trips to the hedonistic planet Azuri, Corbin runs into Princess Yani, a beautiful woman who calls to him in a way he can not understand.
Princess Yani hates her life, and the man she is being forced to marry for the sake of politics.
Fleeing the nuptial feast, Yani runs straight into one of the planet’s most popular dives, where sex and sensuality abound. There she meets Corbin and sparks fly. One night of bliss in which he takes complete possession of her seems to offer the possibility for escape from her marriage – until Yani learns Corbin’s deepest, darkest secrets and needs. Needs she isn’t sure she can fulfill.
Can Yani and Corbin find love together, or will Fate tear them apart, dooming each to to a dull, lonely existence?
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Bio
Emma Paul lives happily in Connecticut with her husband, daughter and a very pampered Himalayan cat named Chyenne. She loves creating the fantastical tales that seem to manifest every second of every day within the confines of her mind. Emma loves writing and sharing her imagination with anyone willing to read or listen to her stories. She is passionate about her writing and loves pushing the limits if her imagination. Erotic romance is her favorite genre. Combined with her love of fantasy and science fiction, she found her calling. Her entertaining tales are hot, fun and wildly creative.
Emma is currently published with Renaissance E Books and their imprint Sizzler Editions.
She is also published with Silver Publishing Inc.
Her Works Include,
Soulmate’s Touch– Erotic Paranormal Romance- Sizzler Editions (First book in the Gargoyle Soulmate Series)
Kaden’s Breeder – Erotic Science Fiction Romance- Sizzler Editions (First book in the Galactic Breeders Series)
Prisoner of Darkhaven – Fantasy-Erotic Romance Fairytale- Sizzler Editions
Personal Tutor- Contemporary Erotic Romance- Silver Publishing
Reviews, What readers are saying about Emma Paul’s Books,
Prisoner Of Darkhaven,
“ With all of the shows and movies about the beloved children’s fairy tales, the Prisoner of Darkhaven offers an erotic flavor for a classic. Damien’s character is everything I think a demon would be in human form, and when his demon persona comes to the surface I was still able to see and feel the sexuality. Elise is a very headstrong and independent character who just happened to be in a bad situation. I loved that Elise didn’t shrink in fear when Damien showed his demon self or when the goblins were around. The sex between Damien and Elise is very hot, spicy, dirty…and did I mention hot and just plan old sexy as heck.”
“Prisoner of Darkhaven is a very fun book that will have you searching for your very own demon.” –Just Erotic Reviews
Soulmate’s Touch,
“There is just one word for Ms. Paul’s Soulmate’s Touch…juicy! From the first page to the last, it keeps the reader enthralled. Soulmate’s Touch demands the reader’s full attention. One skipped page and you’ll be lost. It’s not often that you see this level of complexity in the erotic romance genre. This felt more on par with something written by leading authors in the mainstream suspense genre.”
“Brava to Ms. Paul for reminding readers that erotic romance isn’t just about the bump and grind, but about the journey the characters take to earn their HEA! Soulmate’s Touch was a joy to read and very deserving of a JERR Gold Star Award.”
–T.S. Peters, Erotic Romance Reviews
T
Kaden’s Breeder,
“This story is a rocking 18+ read 🙂 A woman gets abducted by aliens from Earth, she is then cleaned and prepared to be in a breeding event. Stupidity she leaves the path made for the females to run on and ends up in danger, but wonderfully the man who decided to make her his came to her rescue 🙂 The man who rescued her is apart of a planet that has no females any more, so they rely highly on the breeder event to find fertile females to have their young. Talk about hot aliens, they are drool worthy in many ways 😀 God why can’t all males have those Dredlocks 🙂 You will see what I mean”
–Amazon Customer—Review by Beth
Book 3 of my Dominion Falls Series released this week over at Secret Cravings Publishing. But today, I’m keeping you all intrigued with the beginning of the series [amazon_link id=”B00BEMN5SC” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Changing Tracks (The Dominion Falls Series book 1)[/amazon_link].
