Judy Griffith Gill

2011-12-09T12:15:00.001-08:00

Hey, Champagne Books is having a Christmas party on Dec. 13th

at http://www.coffeetimeromance.com/Chat.html

Come and join us at Coffee Time Romance (click on the link above), our wonderful. generous hosts for the day, to get in on the fun, prizes and laughs.

And you don't have to be a member of the Champagne Group, either. Writers are welcome, would-be-writers as well, and for sure, the ones who make it all worthwhile--

READERS!

Bad, bad Judy.

2011-12-05T13:32:00.000-08:00

I've neglected this blog for much too long--but only because I've been busy. If you'd like to see some of the books I've edited that are just now available go to http://www.theprosepolisher.com. I put a few up a couple of days ago, and two more today. There'll be more to come on that site.

And now, on this site, www.judygriffithgill.com, I'm offering a poll. Check it out below.

I also love editing.

2011-03-13T10:55:00.000-07:00

Many of the books I've edited are now up at www.champagne books.com Look for titles by Kristi Ahlers, Melissa Blue, Robin Courtright, Stacey Coverstone, Lorna Grae, Veronica Hart, Ciara Gold, Helen Henderson, Romona Hilliger, Linda Laroque, J.L. McCale, Caroline Montague, Eve Pendlebury, K.M.Tolan and T.K.Toppin & Todd Hunter. The last three are among the best science fictions authors out there. I'm proud of the successes of all "my" authors, hope you'll check out the site and pick up their books in either hard copy or electronic versions. Their genres range from Romance, Time-travel, Western Historical, Historical, Fantasy, Thrillers, Women's Fiction, Mysteries, and more--indeed, genres to suit everyone's taste.

Champagne's sister site, www.carnalpassions.com, is where you'll find some of the hottest reading around.(It is an age-restricted site, so don't go there if you're not legally an adult in your jurisdiction.)There, in no particular order, you'll find books my more of "my" authors like Amy Wooley, Lois Sullivan, Julie Grissom, Loren Gallagher, L.A. Witt, Scarlett Parrish, and many more.

HE'S BAAACK!

2011-01-30T08:59:00.000-08:00

Who is? Bad Billy Culver, as handsome as ever, as charming as before, once dirt poor but now stinkin' rich--and all he has in his heart is revenge.

Revenge against Arlene Lambert, the girl whose family and friends "done him wrong", against the whole town that scorned him for what he was, and now fears him for what he is and what he can do to their privileged way of life. Only one major problem--the minute he sees Arlene again, he's got it bad, again.

For her part, Arlene has never stopped loving the boy who was her pal through childhood, then briefly, her lover, before he was "persuaded" to leave town. Though she still want him, Arlene knows she can't have him, for to do so would force her to reveal secrets that would destroy him.

Is there a possible way out for these star-crossed lovers?
Find out by ordering from Kindle. Kindle's reading file is also a free downlod to use on your PC, Notebook, or Laptop.

Things are Popping!

2010-06-28T17:08:00.000-07:00

Check out my new, never-before-published romantic comedy, The Princess & The Popper. http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/17239This book was so much fun to write, I plan to write another one over the next few months, along with editing other people's work, blogging here and there, and enjoying the boating life on the BC Coast.

AND THE WINNERS ARE...

2010-06-15T16:58:00.000-07:00

2ND PRIZE goes to Sue B.
1ST PRIZE winner is Wanda.

Congratulations to you both. I hope you enjoy the books you've won. Let me know which ones you want and I'll arrange to get them to you.

Thanks for coming along to join me on Coffee Time Romance & More.

THE PRIZES ARE...

2010-06-15T11:01:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all of you who visited my site and left comments. Later today, at exactly 4:45 p.m. PDT, I'll be drawing two names (or rather my dh will) to see who gets 1st prize, who gets second.

1st Prize will be two e-books--a copy of my erotica, HEATED DREAMS, by Julie Grissom, PLUS an e-copy of THE PRINCESS & THE POPPER, the next book I'll be putting up on Smashwords. YOU'LL BE THE FIRST TO READ IT! If you don't like/want erotica with a paranormal twist (telepathy) you can choose a copy of any of my other electronically published books.

2nd Prize is a free download of HEATED DREAMS if you like erotica, OR a free download of any of my other e-books from Smashwords, Kindle, Awe-Struck, or Belgravehouse.

The announcement will be made here by 5 p.m. PDT today, June 16, 2010, and on Coffee Time Romance and more. Hint--there is still time to visit my site and make a comment or another comment, to increase your chances.

New Titles Up

2010-06-14T12:31:00.000-07:00

I'm delighted to have a couple of new books for download now at www.smashwords.com

PERFECT PARTNERS
Doug Fountain wants a fake fiancee? He want Marilyn Ross? She thinks not! To embarrass him she agrees to meet him and his granddad for lunch and lays a kiss on him that curls his toes--and hers. Oops! Doug knows quickly he wants Marilyn not just short-term, but long-term. that she's the one who can fulfill his dreams. Marilyn, sadly, knows she lacks one important ability...

AND

THE CINDERELLA SEARCH

Lissa Wilkins plays ghost to scare Steve Jackson out of buying her family’s resort lodge and falls through the ceiling into his arms. She likes it there. Too much! Steve thinks the long slim legs dangling over his bed must lead to a beautiful woman but she scurries back to the attic leaving him with only a shoe. How can this Prince Charming find his lady--when she's determined not to be found?

Conflict and Resolution

2010-04-10T13:56:00.000-07:00

Sandra Brown said, "If he's a fire fighter, she better be an arsonist." Okay as far as it goes, but (no disrespect to Sandra, whom I consider a great story-teller) a bit simplistic and possibly one of those sound-bites she tosses off so well, having a background in radio/TV.

Ms. Brown's example shows external conflict; the hero has one goal, the heroine another, and they are in opposition. But, are they really? A deeper examination shows that the characters' two goals actually compliment one another: Sue starts fires, Rick puts them out. A perfect match! (Pun intended.)

But make this an internal conflict, and it gets harder to handle. Let's say Sue loves starting fires. She has a deep and basic need to start fires and as a result of this, she meets up with the fire fighter hero, Rick, and they begin to fall in love, having many other things in common. Is this likely to develop into an emotional connection that will carry the story to a successful conclusion, or will the basic, external conflicts prevent that by driving our couple apart? If it does, we have no story, so we must make the reader aware of the rationale behind the actions of both characters.

Let’s show our readers why Sue has this need, what part of her past she's trying to eradicate by doing this, why she's so strongly motivated to do it. We're going to have to convince the reader that what Sue is doing is right, at least for her. We can't have her going around burning down orphanages and churches and day care centers. When she torches something, it has to be something the reader can understand and agree requires burning. She has to be a sympathetic character for whom the reader can and will root. But, as an arsonist, can she really be what we want her to be, can she truly appeal to the readers in the guise of an arsonist? Probably not. She’s going to need work. We’ll have to dig deeper. But let’s leave that for now and move on to the hero.

If Rick’s a fire fighter, why did he become one? Is it because he loves playing with hoses, loves the smoke and the sizzle, the crackle and roar and heat? Does he get off on the excitement, the adrenaline rush of the danger? Maybe, but that's not going to make him a particularly sympathetic character any more than burning down buildings makes Sue justly someone the reader can empathize with. Let's say, instead, he abhors fires. He hates the people who start them. He fears fire, and wants to rid the world of arsonists, whatever they're burning and for whatever reason. No reason will ever be good enough for him. After all, a building, no matter what shape it’s in, is a creation of hardworking people and doesn’t deserve to be destroyed in this treacherous manner, putting humans in danger. We need to know why Rick has this fear, this basic loathing. We have to excavate his true motivation.

Let’s say his parents were killed when a firebug torched their apartment building. Or, possibly his father was a fire fighter who died on duty fighting a fire set by an arsonist. Or, bringing it even closer to his heart, maybe his wife and newborn baby were the ones who died. Whatever spurs him, it's got to be strong enough and go deep enough to make him absolutely need to stop an arsonist when he knows one is on the loose.

So back to our heroine’s driving force: What if she's been burning down nothing but old warehouses along the waterfront because she sees them as breeding grounds for rats? She hates rats. What if she was raised in terrible circumstances and rats chewed on her baby sister's fingers, there was no money for medical help, the baby developed infection in her wounds and died? That's getting us somewhere. But can she randomly choose the warehouses she burns? Oh, no! She's picking out the warehouses owned by the man who owned the tenement where her sister was bitten and subsequently died.

Now, let's take her internal conflict even deeper. She gets a job working for the man who owns those properties but he has no idea who she is or that they have a past relationship, however tenuous it was. She has systematically and secretly voided his insurance policies on the warehouses she plans to burn in an attempt, not only to get the rats but to financially ruin him. And because she's a heroine, she feels great guilt over what she's doing, even though she thinks it's right, and she'll ultimately be saving other families from the grief that hers suffered. Naturally, that won’t work because it leave a plot-hole big enough to drive a train through. When the first building burns and there’s no insurance policy, Sue’s boss is going to fire her for failure to renew the insurance.

However, plot holes aside (we are going to close that one up—right now we’re brainstorming motivation and conflict) when she becomes emotionally and/or physically involved with Rick, whom she knows has a passionate hatred for fire and those who set them, she cringes inside. What will he do, how will he react, if he ever learns of her illegal actions? She knows he won’t be able to suppress his horror and will swiftly turn his back on her. She’ll lose him but the drive to destroy the slum-lord is so strong she’s willing to risk that.

Then, back to Rick: Let’s make him more than just a fire fighter—he's a top-notch arson investigator for the insurance companies who hold the policies on the slum-lord’s properties. In the course of his investigation of the fires that are systematically wiping out the holdings of that one particular man, he has to suspect the building owner or someone close to him, such as his family, his friends, even his staff.

Then he sees Sue—or someone who looks an awful lot like her—at the crime scene almost immediately after one of the fires begins. He is stunned. Could she possibly be the arsonist, and if so, why? He has grown to love her, to trust her, but he has a job to do. A background check gives him a clear picture of a miserable childhood about which she has obviously lied. Was it out of pride, or because she didn’t want him to suspect she has strong motivation for working in the office a man she has good reason to despise? Her working for the slum-lord, of course, makes her appear even more guilty to our now arson-investigator Rick. But he can’t really know for certain she’s aware the warehouse owner was the man responsible for the building in which her sister died. He can't ask because she's become his prime suspect. Now he's in conflict with himself, torn between duty and love. Should he turn her in, or try to protect her from not only the law, but herself?

What if, in the end, it turns out he decides he can't live without her—he's simply going to have to take her, gas can, matches, and all, and try hard to keep her from doing wrong, and she decides she can't live without him, and swears to give up her life of crime—is that going to make it all right? No, it's not, because deep inside, he's never going to fully trust her, and she's never going to change so completely. Again, we have to go back into their individual motivations, make them more believable.

The above has been pretty far-fetched. We all know we can't have Sue really acting as an arsonist because arson is illegal and heroines have to be law-abiding citizens, at least in romance.

So, she's not setting the fires, but she suspects the land owner is, and because she's been looking for a way to get him (that's why she's working for him, remember) she starts taking photo copies of new policies he puts on the buildings in the weeks/months before they burn so she can bear witness against him when she finally gets solid proof that he's doing it. She wishes she wasn’t falling for the handsome arson investigator because she believes he's the civic employee he’s pretending to be, attached to the local fire department. She thinks civil servants are all incompetent and willing to be bought off as was the health-department functionary who supposedly investigated her sister's death. After all, the tenement in which her sister was bitten still stands twenty years later, and is in even worse repair. What’s more, it is still housing desperately poor people, people in grave danger, and Rick doesn’t even want to hear about that. It’s not his mandate; he’s there to investigate arson, not act as the public conscience, however much he might like to.

Though she wants to share her suspicions about her boss with him, to be fair, she must wait until she has some concrete evidence. She thinks she can predict by what buildings he has recently upped the coverage on which is most likely to burn next. She sets up remote cameras to try photograph the arsonist in action. It may be the boss himself, or it may be someone he's hired. Suddenly, she discovers it may even be Rick, because he appears on her video tape at the scene shortly before an actual arson occurs. Oh, boy! Now what does she do? Part of her wants to demand an explanation for his presence there and then, while part of her wants to wait a bit and see if her suspicions are all wrong. After all, in the absence of proof, she’s been giving the slum-lord the benefit of the doubt, so she must do the same for the man she’s considering spending the rest of her life with. How can she have so little faith in him that she thinks he's an arsonist? But . . .as a civic worker, he's poorly paid. Isn't he a prime candidate for bribery? And who better to burn a building for pay than the man who's going to investigate the fire? He'll know exactly what to find—and what not to find. She can't quite believe it. She doesn't want to believe it any more than he wants to believe she’s setting the fires.

Once we have both Rick and Sue doubting each other, doubting their own judgments, we're getting into the kind of conflict that will sustain the story.

That's not all we need, though. We have to resolve this one, basic difference between them. Either he's going to have to come to a full understanding of what he sees as her “need” to start fires, and she's going to have to overcome her doubts, her belief that he’s in the pay of the slum-lord and deliberately abetting him by cheating the insurance companies he ostensibly works for. There are multiple ways to do this, but let’s stick with one for now.

Maybe we haven't shown the readers that Sue's innocent of arson, and have allowed them to believe she could be guilty—at least of something—by letting them in on a few of her inner thoughts about guilt and honor, and right and wrong. If the readers see Sue agonizing over what she's doing without coming right out and saying what that is, we’re going to make them wonder if maybe Rick is right. If he is, what is he going to do about it? The element of doubt will be all right because if Sue’s motivation is strong enough, the readers aren’t going to have too much trouble believing whatever these actions are, if they’re not truly acceptable, at least they’re understandable. And readers of contemporary romance have faith in the author—they know she’ll make it come out all right in the end. What they don’t know, is exactly how, and that’s what keeps them reading.

At this point we have Sue unaware Rick suspects her but feeling and acting guilty because she's trying to set up her boss—the man, no matter how lousy his business practices—from whom she accepts her pay check. If she feels guilty, she's going to act guilty, thereby increasing Rick’s suspicions. Morally, she's wrong and she knows it. In her own mind, this makes her as bad as she thinks Rick might be—accepting payment from the insurance company while bilking it and its shareholders. His suspicions of her force him to distance himself from her. She senses his backing away and believes it’s because he’s either the culprit or in on it with the bad guy and afraid she’s on to him. Not being a wimp, she demands to know what’s going on, why he’s acting like a jerk after they’ve grown so close.

So, let’s have Rick confront Sue with his suspicions. She’s furious to think he believes her to be the arsonist despite the relationship they've developed. She’s convinced he's been sleeping with her only as a means to an end, pretending to care for her. She feels betrayed, and doesn't bother denying his suspicions. She's convinced by his accusations that he never loved her, but wanted to be close to her to complete his investigation. Conveniently forgetting that she has also suspected him, she says something along the lines of: Well fine. He can now bug off and get out of her life. He's proved himself to be just one more of the rats she’s always known abounded in civic circles.

How do we do resolve these conflicts, the external, more obvious ones, and the deeper, stronger, more personal ones? If it were as simple as having them sit down together over a glass of wine and discussing the matter, we’d have no story at all. They could resolve it too easily. So, since Sue suspects Rick, and Rick suspects Sue, we’re going to have to show the reader (and Sue and Rick) exactly how wrong both of them have been. There are several ways we could do this, but my way would be to have Sue stake out the place she believes is next on the list, determined to photograph the arsonist, even if it turns out to be Rick.

The fire begins, however, not in the building she is watching, but in one on the next block, where a few people live as squatters. She hears the crackle of flames, the exploding windows, races through the alley and into the burning building to assist the occupants, many of who are oblivious due to drugs and smoke inhalation. Rick, also on stake-out at the first building because of information he’s gotten from the insurance company, spots her and realizes he’s been wrong. She couldn’t have started that fire when she was a block away. He follows her, sees her herding people out, going back in for more and they work together until the fire department arrives. The building they were both watching remains intact, but it is quickly proven that the one that burned also belonged to Sue’s boss. One of the men Sue rescued has, upon investigation, traces of accelerant on his hands and clothing. The arsonist has been caught, and will happily lead the authorities to the slum-lord who hired him.

Yeah. Sure. Sue’s out of a job, but the romantic conflict has been resolved.

And they all lived happily ever after. So there!

Advancing The Plot

2010-04-10T13:41:00.000-07:00

(through action & dialogue)

We could start out a story by giving a lot of background information, telling the reader who the characters are, why they are where they are, and what they expect to eventually achieve. But that would be telling, not showing, and the best way to hold a reader's interest is by showing the action and events, by letting them get involved, by hearing the characters speak and interact with each other, by using their emotions and their senses. We need to pique the reader's interest, make him ask questions, make him want to learn the answers to those questions. We need to give him a character he can care about.

There are many tactics to use, but the best one I've found is by combining action and dialogue. For instance, if I were to write:

Luke sat in his ninth-row window seat of the 737 staring out at glimpses of green water between clouds over the Gulf of Mexico, thinking about how he had come to be there.

He had spent the years since high school behind the counter in his father's hardware store, which struggled under the pressure of big-box chains. Other than that-clerking was all his old man had permitted him to do, not wanting him to know the full extent of the business's tottering health, Luke now supposed-his experience was useless. He had no other training and no education beyond that high school diploma. He was not, in the opinion of a good many job placement people he'd visited, an easily employable person unless he wanted to go on doing exactly what he'd spent the past nine years doing-running credit and debit cards through a machine or taking cash and making change. He was familiar with computers, but so were millions of high-school kids. His knowledge base was a lot less than that of most tenth-graders.

Entry level positions in business were for kids just out of college-and there'd never been time nor money for him to achieve any higher education. When his father died, the store was bankrupt, the house mortgaged and remortgaged, leaving nothing after the sale. All he'd gotten from the old man was a letter he was supposed to deliver in person to a woman in Costa Rica, a woman the old man claimed would want to see him. Who could that woman be? His only other relative had been his mother, who'd died nearly thirty years before at Luke's birth.

He wondered if he was doing the right thing, using his the small, left-over bit of his "inheritance" getting a passport and buying a plane ticket to a place he'd scarcely heard of, let along visited before. But what else should he have done? He had maybe enough cash in his account to pay the first and last months' rent plus a deposit for a one-room apartment somewhere cheap so he had a place to live while he worked at another dead-end job. At least, living with the old man, he'd had free room and board. He really had no idea of the cost of living, except Dad had bitched about it all the time. Maybe what he could earn would pay for either rent or food, but possibly not both. So, get himself somewhere different, where life might offer chances he'd never even imagined or stay home and rot? He'd done a little research on his laptop and learned that the cost of living was a lot less in Costa Rica.

Okay, that's fine. It's a beginning.
* We know our hero is Luke.
* We know he's in a window seat in the ninth row-certainly not first class.
* We know he's going to Costa Rica aboard a 737
* We know he's dirt poor.
* We know he can use a computer.
* We know his father is dead.
* We know a woman in Costa Rica will "want to see" him.

But do we care about him a whole lot? No. Why? Because he has no real, living characteristics, no personality traits we can identify with. What I've given you here is called "an in-transit" opening, a device much used by beginning writers, and much spurned by most editors. They're looking for something with some zip, some zing, some action, some personality. Sitting passively in a 737 and thinking is not action and does nothing to build the character. In fact, it makes our Luke appear wimpy.

Let's try again. Let’s jump into this story in mid-scene, without any background information.

Like this:
* * *
Luke glanced over his shoulder at the disappearing taxi, experiencing a weird sense of abandonment, which he put down to extreme exhaustion and pushed away. He was nearly thirty years old, and if he was next best thing to broke, he had a strong back and an active, inquiring mind. He could look after himself. The unaccustomed humidity clung to him with dizzying intensity. Heat shimmered off a high, white stucco wall before him, blurring brilliant red bougainvillea that tumbled over the concertina razor wire atop the wall. What the hell was this, a private dwelling, a “casa grande” as the taxi driver had said, or a prison? From somewhere beyond came a potent reminder of his intense thirst: the sound of trickling water, a splashing fountain, almost overridden by the rush and recession of the white surf he'd seen during the last half hour of the long drive from Central Costa Rica to the Caribbean coast. He carried his one suitcase and his laptop along a flagstone driveway to the tall, wrought-iron gate and rang the bell, eliciting a cacophony of snarling, barking, and growling as five huge, slavering Rottweilers swarmed toward him.

He just barely prevented himself taking a step back. Instead, he squared his shoulders and strode right up to the gate, planting his suitcase by his feet, hitching the shoulder strap of his computer case into a more comfortable position. Maybe the dogs didn’t welcome him, but according to his father, someone here would. If, indeed, he was at the right house.
* * *

In this beginning scene, we've given the reader a sense of time, and a sense of place, the tropical heat, the flowers, the well-protected property. We've given the reader a few hints as about Luke. We sense he's feeling some apprehension, but is determined to go through with this anyway. This shows courage on his part, or maybe it shows desperation. Whatever it shows, it leads to more questions than it answers.

So let’s carry on with this scene and see what happens:
* * *
Moments after Luke rang for a second time, a female voice issued a sharp order and the barking ceased at once. The dog sat in a disciplined half circle, still slavering, still quivering with eagerness to attack, but obedient. For the moment. Luke heard light footsteps click-clacking along a hard surface and a young woman in a flame-red sundress appeared around a riotously colored hibiscus bush halfway between him and the gates following a flagged path.

She looked him over swiftly but completely as she approached. He looked her over as thoroughly. She walked easily, gracefully. Her dark hair fell onto her shoulders, brushing the skinny straps of the dress that flirted just above her knees. "Yes?" she said. Obviously, his light brown hair and fair skin identified him as a man who spoke English. He drew in a deep breath, picking up a gentle waft of her perfume, a lovely and delicate as she, herself was. It was easy to smile at her, and he did.

"I'm here to see Mrs. Ramirez," he said. "I have an important message from Edward Freeman."

The woman’s face lost every vestige of color and staggered in place for a scarcely perceptible moment. As if it had never happened, her chin tilted and her gaze met his steadily, rich brown, shadowed by thick lashes. “Señora Ramirez sees very few people. Do you have an appointment?”

“No,” he said, sliding one hand into an outside pocket of his computer case. “Just this.” He held the sealed envelope so she could see it. “A letter from my father, with instructions to deliver it into her hands only.”

She stumbled back half a step, eyes widening. “You . . . you are Edward Freeman’s son?”

“And heir,” he replied, his tone sardonic. No need for her to know that the letter of introduction to this Mrs. Ramirez pretty much covered his inheritance from his late father.

“Then,” she said, “I suppose you had better come in.” Her tone was about as welcoming as the expressions on the faces of the dogs, but at least, he thought as he stepped through the man-gate she reluctantly opened, she hadn’t turned them loose on him. Yet.
* * *
Through action and dialogue, what have we established?

* We know our main character is Luke.
* We know he's in Costa Rica.
* We know he's had a long, tiring trip.
* We've seen some of what he's been seeing.
* We've all felt hot and irritated and thirsty and can empathize.
* We know he's pretty close to broke.
* We also know the woman he just met doesn’t want him there.
* What we don’t know is why.
* Is she afraid of him?
* Afraid for him?
* Afraid for herself?
* Afraid for Mrs. Ramirez?

We know nothing about her or how she will affect the development of the story, and that is what we want at this point.

Having questions in the minds of the readers at the beginning, even throughout the story, is a good, though as the work progresses, we will naturally answer many of those questions, fill in the blanks as we build toward one climax and then yet another, and another. We’ll do it through action and dialogue. Remember, each scene must have a purpose, and its only purpose is to advance your plot, to march the story through its paces, its twists and turns. The dialogue, both outward and internal, adds some of what we're willing to share at each given stage of the story and carries it along into its next phase. The action leads to more dialogue, which leads to more action, and so on, and so on, and so on.

If you keep advancing your plot in this manner, your book will be faster paced, more gripping, and a lot more readable than if you simply recite a lot of facts and describe each person in painstaking detail and fill in all the blanks, the back-story, right up front so the reader has no revelations to look forward to.

So, enter into the first scene with gusto. Jump in at the deep end. Feel the heat with Luke. See the flowers, the gleaming white stucco, hear the ocean and the fountain, smell the woman's perfume, taste the dryness of thirst with him, experience his exhaustion and give them to your reader as a gift from your life experiences to his or hers. Luke is only your medium. Use him to impart information, to make the reader feel what he feels, see what he sees, smell what he smells, hear what he hears, taste what he tastes, even it it's only the dryness of his own mouth. By using his five senses, the reader will use his or hers to empathize with Luke, turning him into a character most readers can relate to.

How To Kill Your Chances

2010-04-10T13:37:00.000-07:00

(Without really trying)

How to Kill Your Chances Without Really Trying

• Don’t bother with a hook to grab the reader’s interest right away. If she’s bought your book, she’ll read beyond the first sentence, even the first paragraph and the first page whether it captures her imagination or not. She’ll think, This book was published. It has to get better sooner or later. Or, if she’s an editor, she’ll think, This writer cared enough to finish a whole three chapters and write a synopsis. She must have something good to say.

• Don’t worry about internal and external conflict in the protagonists. Just tell the reader that they have them. No need to waste time by demonstrating (showing) what they are and how they will be resolved. This applies to the synopsis, too. Don’t ever let the editor know how it comes out. Say something like: “If you want to know more, you’ll have to buy my book.”

• Keep the reader guessing as to whose point of view you’re in. Go ahead and blend them, it keeps the reader on her toes. Write something like, “She felt the wind whipping her long, glossy tresses around her face and stinging raindrops pelting her camellia-like skin he as he thought, she’s beautiful, even when she’s soaking wet and her nose is red from cold.”

• Mechanical errors aren’t important. If your story is good enough, the editor will ignore spelling and grammatical errors and poorly constructed sentences so don’t bother taking the time to learn the basics of writing and self-editing before submitting. Just write. Don’t let the creative flow be stifled by attempts to get it right. Technique is of no value to the truly gifted writer.

• Give lots of backstory information right up front. Use long, involved sentences full of adverbs and adjectives that will impress the editor with your erudition. Don’t force the poor woman to keep turning the pages to find out why things are unfolding the way they are. Let her know right away and save her the time and effort of reading the rest of your story.

• Keep things interesting for your editor. Make her open her eyes and gasp with astonishment when your historical character from the 1700s says, “Jeez, Louise, that’s cool!” Or have a four-year-old speaking like a short adult--that’s sure to get her attention: e.g. “Mother, I think the pink blouse would be much more becoming on you that the blue one. It brings out the color in your cheeks. The blue one gives you a certain, shall we say...sallowness?”

• Remember to stereotype secondary characters appropriately: For instance, everyone knows that all Vancouver taxi drivers are East Indians who speak very little English, just as all New York taxi drivers are Iranians with secret plots to blow up something big and important.. All ships’ skippers are keen-eyed seamen accustomed to seeing long distances and they all have crinkly corners around their blue eyes. All grandmothers are chubby and gray haired and smell of cinnamon cookies. All grandfathers smoke pipes.

• Don’t concern yourself with too much research. Historical accuracy is a waste of time. Most editors have no idea at all what went on in the American Civil War, or the War of 1812, or that Potlatches were banned in BC for many years. And if someone else notices, too bad. Blame it in the typesetter.

• Just let yourself go. Write as it flows from your heart. If you wrote it, it must be good. One run through is surely enough. If you go over it again and again, you’ll start second-guessing yourself and probably screw up the next great novel that should be gracing the shelves of every home and library in the world.

Coming down from the high

2009-12-26T14:30:00.000-08:00

After Christmas many people feel a let-down sensation; writers, all of whom are naturally sensitive seem to feel it more than others. For my part, I usually don't even try to write for the first 25 days of December because there are too many distractions. The baking, the cooking, the excitement, the fun, the parties all over for another year except for New Year's Eve, and that's still a week away. At that time, a creeping sadness may overtake you as it does me. Now is the time for you to grab four hours--no less--and call them your own. Make sure your family knows you are WORKING! and not to be disturbed unless flames are licking at the door to the room you've closed yourself into, or arterial blood is spurting from the body of someone near and dear to you. Then:

Pour yourself a large jug of water, add a squeeze or two of lemon juice (this will help purge your system of an overload of eggnog and other indulgences in comestibles you've imbibed/consumed during the past few weeks. Don't forget a glass. Take yourself off to the place where you feel you can write undisturbed, and begin. Do not return to your work in progress if you have one. Instead, look back at the Christmas just past, the Christmases that came before it. Dig deep within yourself for all the varied emotions those memories elicit. They may be happy, may be poignant, even sad, but whatever they are, write them down. Tell yourself--and this, for the time being, is just for yourself--how you feel about those memories, what emotions they evoke. Remember the sights, the sounds, the smells, the tastes, the way things felt to you--lights, carols, evergreens, the bite of icy air, the hiss of rain or the heat of the sun; draw upon recollections of the way snow sprays from your skis as you come to a stop, red-cheeked and elated from a perfect run down the hill, or the way sand feels between your toes as you walk on a tropical beach. Recall from that place within your soul or wherever your deepest emotions are stored, all the things Christmases have meant to you. Remember the people, the happiness, the moments of despair, the exhaustion, the relief, the successes and failures. Bring back to yourself the crinkle of wrapping paper, the shopping trips, the secreting of gifts where no one can find them before the day.

Write these events and your recollection of them all down, preferably in first person. This is your private journal about your private feelings. No one else will ever see it. Don't worry about typos, spelling, sentence structure, anything like that. Turn off the editor on your shoulder and simply write, stream of consciousness.

Then, moving into third person, write a scene using all those feelings you've dredged up, all those emotions, attributing them to characters out of your imagination. Read it over, but don't edit it. Then, write the sequel to that scene, showing how those characters responded to whatever went on in the first scene. Were they happy, melancholy, disappointed, despairing, joyful, even indifferent? Show why. Show who. Show when. Show where. Show what. And even show how. Perhaps most important, show how.

When you have completed your four hours, save the work, put it away, don't even look at it until the dull days of late January and early February. Go on with your work in progress or start a new one. During the rest of the holiday season, take the kids skating, skiing, to the beach or wherever you want to take them and can get them to go. Make special, mental note of their actions, reactions, preferences and dislikes. Ask them how each event makes them feel and don't take "okay" or "I dunno" for an answer. If you have to, make a game of it. Have them tell you stories about the kind of Christmas they wished they'd had. If you don't have kids, borrow some if you can. If that's not possible, dig really, really deep into your own childhood and ask those questions of the child you were.

THIS PHOTO IS OF A GROUP OF COUSINS, NOW MOSTLY GROWN UP. I'M SURE EACH ONE OF THESE YOUNG PEOPLE HAS SPECIAL MEMORIES OF THE TIME THEY SHARED, MEMORIES THEY WILL, IN TIME, DREDGE UP AND CHERISH, CUTTING THEIR OWN TREE IN THE WOODS, DECORATING IT THEMSELVES, AND BEING TOGETHER.

When the time is right, whether your work in progress is finished or not, as I said, long about the end of January or early February, pull up those two scenes you wrote between Christmas and New Years. Reread them. Rewrite them, because in the intermim, whether you were conscious of it or not, probably more memories have worked their way to the surface, enabling you to flesh out those scenes, make those characters come alive, give them stronger personalities, more powerful needs and desires. Show how they feel about their Christmas to come, or Christmas just past. Involve yourself in their lives, their families, draw upon their emotions, emotions created out of your own and those to whom you have talked.

Then, keep writing about them. Show them in action, show their dreams, their smiles, their tears, their hiding of their tears, their bravery in the face of heartbreak, tenacity in times of misfortune. Show, through them, the true spirit of Christmas.

When you've finished, you'll see what you have, a book, a novella, a short story for an anthology, filled with all those emotions you just experienced, just wrote down, just dragged out of your own depths. You will have a piece of work that befits the season just past. You will also have a piece of work to send off to a publisher right away for consideration in the books and anthologies to be published next Christmas.

What? You thought all those delightful Christmas stories available this year were written in October? Not a chance! They were written months before, while the memories and emotions of Christmas were alive and bright in the authors' minds, and your Christmas story will be just as alive and bright and topical because you wrote it now, while memories and feelings are fresh and new, not next October when they've faded.

The writing life--

2009-12-26T14:27:00.000-08:00

I have become an editor, and a more perfect job in addition to writing I can't imagine. I get wonderful books to read, creative and interesting people to work with, and am actually allowed to make suggestions! I think everyone knows what it's like to be reading a book and come across a sentence or a phrase that makes us say "Huh? How did that get past the editor?" Well, now, for some of those books, I'm the editor so you can blame me when something in one of the books I've worked on jars you, such as incorrect word usage, run-on sentences, misspellings, poor punctuation and confusing syntax. And when you find something like that, please do get back to me at jggbooks@hotmail.com because I really do want to know. Remember though, only the books I've edited count. If something bugs you that isn't in a book by one of "my" authors, you have to yell as someone else. Anyway, happy reading, and don't forget to check back often because I'll have new books featured frequently as they come up to their publication dates. Check out the really hot reads, HEATED DREAMS, by Julie Grissom, and ANYTHING BUT INNOCENT by Amy Knowles, both sizzling erotica novels from http://www.carnalpassions.com/ And don't forget that not only do I edit, I'm still writing.

2009-12-21T14:14:00.000-08:00

The tally is in--44% of responders think that subsidy (author pays) publishing is never a good idea for writers. 7% think it is good, 9% said no, 18% think it's okay sometimes. I think, if I had asked the question differently, and said is it ever good for fiction writers, the responses might have been different. What do you think? I'm going to run it again until January 15, with the word "fiction" in it. So come along and register your opinion. At any rate, the outcome of this little poll didn't change my mind one iota.

I'm still a firm believer in an author being worthy of payment for her/his work, and believe me, it is work as any writer, published or otherwise, can tell you. Another thing about writing a lot of people don't seem to understand, is that even the most experienced of writers need editors. I buy a lot of books online, downloading them to read on either my netbook or PDA. When I first started downloading electronic books, I wasn't terribly careful about where I got them. Now, I've learned that if the book hasn't been gone over by an editor, and then by a copy editor, there are bound to be too many mistakes, typos, weird sentences and other little nasties that jerk me right out of what might otherwise have been a really great story. I buy books that I'm pretty sure have been edited, from well-known e-book publishers, mostly members of EPIC, and am usually happy with the result. The publishing house that hires me to edit some of the e-books they sell, www.champagnebooks.com, has pretty exacting standards, for which I am grateful.
This symbol of clinking champagne glasses, the trademark of Champagne Books, is a pretty strong guarantee of excellence in electronic reading. (Especially if I've done the editing. Kidding! All the editors are good.

And now, on to the contest, and the winner is...Ta-da!

2009-12-18T12:07:00.000-08:00

A great new resource for published authors visit this site:
http://www.gatheringauthors.com/

My newest release

2009-11-28T20:28:00.000-08:00

Here it is! MOTHER LOVE. http://www.awe-struck.net/books/mother_love.html

Joanna, long divorced, mother of a single-mom daughter and a younger, rebellious, diabetic teenager, is pregnant, through accident, not design. Her older daughter thinks it's "cool", her teen thinks it's humiliating, and her mother's in such a fog of pot smoke she doesn't care.

In this story of one woman's family and life, she's faced with problems concerning not only the past, but the present, the future, her ex-husband, her troublesome children, her adorable grandson, and her more-than-difficult, law-breaking mother.

Her sometimes lover, a sailor, who is not the father of her unborn child but who wants to marry her is another problem she must face, along with her ambivalence over her former husband's new life style. However, the "sailor" is a "ramblin' man" not a good marriage prospect even if she wanted one. One marriage was plenty! But, when she suffers a serious accident, Joanna discovers her family can pull together, love each other, care for her, and that her mother's advice—"when you find a good man, hang onto him"—is worth listening to, and that a ramblin' man can settle down when the time is right.

Exciting news!

2009-11-24T11:47:00.000-08:00

I now have three books up on Amazon's Kindle list. A Family Affair features a couple who married as teenagers, had two children, then went their separate ways, both with unspoken regrets. Now, a decade later, their matchmaking kids want them to get back together. Do they dare? What happens to their children's happiness if they try again, and fail?

In The Dawning, revamped and with a brand new cover, Serena, a talented telepath must rescue an extremely powerful child, prevent her from broadcasting their whereabout to those who want to kill them. The only person available to help is Andrew, once her lover, and then a vicious betrayers of her family. How can she possibly trust him? But without him, how can she save the child who might save humanity?

Hidden Embers, previously released only in England, now makes its debut appearance in the North American market. Lynne Castle and Cliff Foreman fall for each other almost at first sight, and when Lynne becomes pregnant, despite his absolute knowledge that he cannot be the baby's father, marries her anyway. Lynne, unaware of his belief in his sterility, knows full well there is no other man responsible for giving her the child she's long wanted. Can a marriage based on such diametrically opposing beliefs possibly succed??

2009-09-25T15:03:00.001-07:00

PLEASE NOTE: For new readers of electronic books, please order the free program, ereader, from www.mobipocket.com or the publisher of the books I edit, which will enable you to read them on your laptop, PDA or iPhone, along with other e-reading devices.

Available NOW from www.champagnebooks.com
Marissa is a high energy independent career woman of the 21st century who finds herself on a collision course with destiny when she is thrown 144 years into the past. Confederate Officer Dr. Craig Langston ignites her very soul. Can she find it within herself to embrace a new life in the arms of her Confederate officer or will more sinister forces intervene before she can discover what may be the greatest love of all time?

RED-HOT READS FROM www.carnalpassions.com

2009-09-22T21:30:00.000-07:00

Note: You must be of the legal age of majority in your jurisdiction to read books from www.carnalpassions.com

In Heated Dreams, Julie Grissom brings together a man from the future with a woman from the present, both of whom have lessons to learn, and lessons to teach.

In Arlene Knowell's Far From Innocent, Dex McKelvy breaks Rachel Kenyon’s heart, she thinks life is over. But the sexual appetite of another man soon makes her realize that the hot, lustful life she’d shared with Dex was little more than child’s play.

SOME LIKE HOT COOKIES, OTHERS LIKE HOT QUICKIES!
Cat Lovington brings us Venus, a beautiful, exotic late-night customer at a local bar teaches Jason the finer points of an after-hours game she calls “strip-pool”, a sexy variation of the pool game, Eight Ball. In Venus’s version, the shooters must call their shots, but if they miss, must remove an article of clothing. As the game progresses, sparks fly and heat rises to the boiling point when winner takes all, and with THE COWBOY WAY, Kat's erotica involves a hot young girl with her eye on a dude-ranch cowboy who knows the penalties for touching a guest. But even the strongest-minded cowboy can't resist the determination of a gal who wants to become a woman--ALL IN ONE RAINSOAKED NIGHT!

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2009-08-19T15:41:00.000-07:00

I'm extremely proud to announce the upcoming publication of my latest novel, MOTHER LOVE, by www.mundaniapress.com. You can find the book under their Awe-Struck label.

The novel will be available October or November 2009. Cover art to come, so don't forget to check back.

Mother Love is the story of the women in one family, their trials, their triumphs, their friends and their community. Joanna McPherson, at the age of forty-three, is first of all a mother. She is also a grandmother, a daughter, an elementary school teacher and vice principal who finds herself in the very kind of difficulty she has repeated warned her daughters against. Her elder daughter did not heed her advice--hence making her a grandmother. The other, a fifteen-year-old brittle diabetic heeds no one's advice and is the bane of Joanna's existence--as Joanna is the bane of hers. Joanna's mother, an aging hippie, and her incomprehensible actions add to Joanna's strife until, in the end, she learns that mother-love, often unexpressed, truly does exist and truly is what every family needs to survive.