I’m standing behind a podium at the front of a room with my heart beating double time.  Tables arranged in a U-shaped pattern fill the small room.  Sitting at those tables are writers.  Writers staring at me expectantly waiting for me to tell them something they don’t already know.  The three page handout in front of me starts to blur and a sheen of sweat breaks out across my forehead.

You’re probably thinking I’m describing one of my worst nightmares.  But no.  I’m describing my Saturday afternoon. 

This is what happens when you attend a writing conference, take a bunch of kick-ass workshops, then float into your next chapter meeting on that conference high.  I still have no idea what possessed me to volunteer back in the fall, but this weekend I gave my first workshop ever.

I wouldn’t say I got off to a flying start.  And as my chapter is filled with talented writers who have many titles under their belts, it’s no surprise they looked at this still-aspiring-as-yet-unpublished author with a bit of skepticism. 

But then I decided to get them involved.  My workshop was called “Digging Deep With Your Characters” and my goal was to get them to look deeper into their characters my asking questions you might not usually think about.  I asked an off the wall, detailed question regarding characters and gave them a minute or two to write an answer.  Then I made them share those answers. 

That’s when one established author said this little exercise gave her an idea for her current WIP.  And again later in the workshop she got another idea.  By some miracle, I had helped someone.  Believe me, I’m as amazed as you are.

Now it’s time to get you involved.  One of your characters, hero or heroine, has an old shoebox under their bed.  What’s in that shoebox and why is it under the bed?  What would be the consequences to your character if that box is discovered.  Why?

PS:  Nine years ago today I was in the hospital giving birth to a beautiful baby girl.  Happy Birthday to Isabelle.  She is my life and my light. 

Tomorrow is July 14^th and that means it’s Bastille Day here on the ship.  I’m sure you thought we were only American pirates, but no.  We are International Pirates and with one of the greatest pirates to ever sail the seas being French, we must honor this day.  In case you haven’t figured it out, that’s Jean Lafitte.  His true origins are sketchy but the name sounds French and we’re going with it.

Anyvous, Bastille Day celebrates the raiding of Bastille prison by Parisian peasants on July 14, 1789. This is basically the French version of our 4^th of July.  And it also happens to be my daughter Isabelle’s birthday.  See, she even has a French name in celebration.  (Happy Birthday, Isabelle.  And you better not be reading this blog!) 

In order to celebrate the day, I thought we should add a Hottie Frenchman to the crew.  And so I went searching.  It’s actually more difficult to find a French Hottie than you’d think.  At least from this side of the water.  But in my *cough*hour*cough* of scoping out pictures of potential candidates, I came across the French Rugby Team.  Turns out they do a Hottie award winning calendar every year called Gods of the Stadium.  Does this look good or what?

I even found video of the making of the calendar.  More than one.  Audition tapes if you will.  I had to check them out, you know, in the name of research.  Gosh, this is such a tough job. *bigevilgrin*

This Tuesday, July 15, we are excited to welcome Megan Kelly to talk about her new Harlequin American Romance, The Fake Fiancee. This story is for all the moms out there who give all to their families. The hero is trying to avoid his matchmaking mama by bringing home a fake fiancee; and the heroine agrees to pose as his soon-to-be wife in order to earn money to get her son into a special program. If you like your stories sweeter, your characters more real–Megan is the author you need to add to your list of must-haves. Plus Megan and Hellion used to be in the same local writing chapter–total “dish the dirt” potential!

So join us this Tuesday with Guest Pirate, Megan Kelly and try not to hurt yourself today Googling the French Rugby Team.  I highly recommend finding those videos.  They are completely in French so I have no idea what they are saying, but that really doesn’t matter anyway.

*dun dun dun dun dadun dun dun dun dun dadun*

Your mission, should you choose to accept, is to write a Romance novel.  Don’t be fooled by how simple this sounds.  There will be many who work against you.  Your greatest enemy is the evil I.E.  She’s sly, unpredictable, and as mean as they come.  She’ll throw up road blocks, make you doubt your skills, and leave you crying in your rum if you let her.

Then there’s I.E.’s second in command, the Regulator.  Don’t let the taped glasses and scrawny frame fool you.  The Regulator is the keeper of *the rules*.  He’ll tell you over and over these supposed rules cannot be broken.  You must stay strong and keep writing.  Rules were made to be broken.  Break them and move on.

Don’t be lulled into a false sense of security once you’ve silenced the Regulator.  Because the next villain is always waiting around the corner.  The dreaded Big Chill.  The Big Chill wants everything cold.  No sexual tension.  No sizzle.  No sex.  Whatever you do, don’t let the Big Chill win.  Close the door on the sex if you must, but don’t lose the sizzle or the mission is over.

This mission requires all of your covert skills.  You must get inside your character’s minds.  Know what they think, how they feel, and most of all their greatest fears.  You must test them, torture them, tempt them to touch the fire.  You must raise the stakes.  Throw obstacles in their way and make them choose between fear and love. 

Yes, you see now why this is your greatest and most difficult mission.  Love is the prize.  The most desired and illusive treasure in the world.  It’s fickle yet steadfast.  Fragile yet resilient.  Free yet always comes with a price. 

Now, do you accept this mission?  If you do, how do you plan to defeat these evil villains.  And once these villains have been slain, will you be ready to face the next wave of terror – the Editor, the Publisher, and the Reviewer?

Let me start off by introducing myself.  This is NOT Bo’sun Terrio.  This is Bo’sun Terrio’s muse.  It seems the lure of 4^th of July sales has left the Bo’sun too busy to be bothered with this blog.  The damn woman is out dropping dollars like she drops modifiers.  It’s not pretty.

Luckily, she left me with the Hottie Casting couch and I do believe I found the perfect candidate for this holiday weekend.  You can’t celebrate Independence Day without a flag.  Of course not.  I’ve dubbed this one Patriot Buns.

Now I know what you’re thinking.  “What flag?!”  If you keep looking, you’re bound to notice it eventually.  Not that I have to tell you to keep looking.  Hey, are you still reading?  I’m down here?  The words, damn it!  Look at the words!

Anyway, we have a great Guest Blogger line up for the rest of the summer.  Mark these dates on your calendar.

July 11 – Erotica author Dee S. Knight brings out her sister, Anne Krist (it’s really Dee but don’t tell anybody) to talk about her latest sweet release Burning Bridges.

July 15 – Contemporary Harlequin Romance author Megan Kelly hops aboard to talk about her latest Harlequin release The Fake Fiance.  With a title like that, how could you NOT be intrigued?

August 12 - Teresa Medeiros (yes, THE Teresa Medeiros) joins the crew for a day to talk about her much anticipated summer release, Some Like It Wicked.  Which Bo’sun just happened to win an ARC of on the Eloisa James/Julia Quinn Bulletin Board Auction.  Huzzah!

August 19 – We hop over to the Paranormal realm when Angie Fox drops by bringing danger, demons and…a biker grandma?  Join us to talk about The Accidental Demon Slayer and be prepared to laugh your eye patch off.

August 26 – Everybody bring your Kevlar and your Girl Scout Cookie money for an all day party with Leslie Langtry.  We’ll be talking about the next release in her Bombay Family series, Stand By Your Hitman.  And since she and the Captain are identical twins separated at birth, I’m sure we’ll veer onto many other topics, all hysterical.

August 29 – We scored a major GET (as the network talk shows would call it) on this one.  The wonderful and talented Candace Camp will be visiting to dish on the latest release in her Matchmakers series, The Wedding Challenge. Personally, I think she gets kudos right away for writing a Historical WITHOUT the word “Duke” in the title.  Just sayin’…

More big names on the calendar after Labor Day including Christie Craig & Faye Hughes, Mindy Klasky and Loucinda McGary.  Plus, we’re always looking to add more fantastic guest pirates to the ranks. Check back often for more Guest Blogger updates.

Now, feel free to go stare at the flag a little longer. 

And I mean that literally.  Sort of.

This weekend my local RWA chapter held our yearly writer’s retreat.  About twenty of us spend the weekend at a secluded resort type place where we hold workshops and bond in our writing insanity.  When we’re not talking craft or bonding, we’re writing. 

On the first day we all set writing goals for the weekend.  It can be anything from writing one sentence to writing one hundred pages.  Because I was psyched and ready to go, I set the goal of twenty-five pages.  *waits for everyone to stop laughing then continues*

I’ve been stuck on the same scene for a couple of weeks now.  It’s actually a pivotal part of my story where my hero and heroine, who have each vowed to avoid the other, realize they must work together.  If I blow this scene, I could lose my readers completely and my story is dead in the water.  No pressure, right?

My first attempt came from the heroine’s POV.  Four pages in I realized it wasn’t working.  *delete delete delete*  My second attempt came from the hero’s POV, but three pages in it wasn’t working either.  *delete delete delete*  At this point I was sitting at negative two pages for the weekend.  Now you get where the retreat part comes in.  I took it a little too literally.

The common denominator in both of these attempts was the fact it started with the heroine being late for work.  So when I started my third attempt, I took this aspect out and the scene practically wrote itself.  Turns out, my heroine flat out refused to be late for work.  If she had just told me this weeks ago, it could have saved both of us a lot of stress.

All in all, I had a great weekend.  We laughed our butts off (sadly mine grew back), we cried out our frustrations, and we challenged ourselves to keep going.  Writing is a solitary pursuit.  But thanks to the internet and writing organizations like the Romance Writers of America, we can be solitary together. 

If you’re a writer, do you belong to your local chapter or an online chapter?  If you’re a reader, have you found a book club in your area where you can share your love for a good story?  Maybe it’s quilting or scrapbooking. Tell us about your group and if you don’t have one, what kind of group would you like to find?

Today’s Hottie additions were inspired by this week’s guest blogger.  Kimberly Killion will be with us Tuesday to celebrate the release of her debut novel, Her One Desire, the story of an executioner’s daughter and a Scottish Lord on the run together in 1483 England.  What does this mean for you?  It means I’m going medieval on your….arse.

First let me say, I know 1483 isn’t exactly medieval, but I’m going with it anyway.  This is about Hotties, not historical accuracy.  Now you know why I write Contemporaries.  Anyway, on with the hotness.

I decided we don’t have enough knights on this crew.  And you can never have just ONE knight.  How are you going to form a Templar with only one knight?  So I found a few to fill out the ranks. 

We start with the Knight we’d most love to cuddle up next to.  Or twirl around on the dance floor with while Queen plays over by the fire.  Next we move onto his enemy.  This Knight may be smug and conniving, but he’s still pretty to look at.  If we keep these two separated I think they’ll be fine.

Our next Hottie deserved two shots.  And I’m pretty sure he’s going to feel right at home on a pirate ship.   You have to admit, the size of his sword is pretty dang impressive.

Since the hero of Her One Desire is a Scottish Lord, I decided to round out today’s Hotties with a little kilt action.  Now THAT’S an impressive sword.

Just in case you haven’t figured it out yet, Kimberly Killion will be joining us this Tuesday, July 1^st, for an in depth interview with our very own Captain Hellion.  Sassy, sexy, and toting a Scottish Hottie, you won’t want to miss this one.

This weekend I’m attending a writer’s retreat with my local RWA chapter.  For fun, it was suggested that we try to write an 850 word piece in a genre in which we would never write.  That meant I could write Inspirational or Paranormal.  I chose Paranormal.

First I have to say I have nothing against Paranormal.  It’s a huge seller right now and offers lots of great stuff for readers.  But my practical streak together with my lack of ability to suspend disbelief has always made it difficult for me to enjoy it.  Which is why I was so surprised to find myself enjoying the writing.

It turns out, when you create your own world and you put it in the Paranormal realm, you can do anything you want.  Who knew?!  It’s like when you become a parent and finally get to use the answer, “Because I said so.”  It’s so cool.  I created demons that can blend in with humans, but unlike humans don’t need food, water or sleep.  And if someone asks why, I can say, “Because I said so.”  I am LOVING this. 

So, bad guys are done.  Now I needed an Alpha hero (something I’ve never done), a kick ass heroine (something I’ve never done), and darkness (something I’ve never done).  No problem.  My hero was inspired by a Breaking Benjamin song called Evil Angel.  Here’s his description.

Eyes the deep blue of lapis lazuli stared into my soul.  Hair the color of blackest night fell in waves around his shoulders and made the fairness of his skin and the luster of his eyes all the more pronounced for it’s darkness.  He wasn’t the largest man I’d ever seen, but he had to be close.  Power poured off him like radiation, and a voice in the back of my mind warned he was likely twice as deadly.

The story is written in first person from the heroine’s POV which limited much description of her, but we do learn she works on the Termination Team, a group that battles the demons, and she does get to kick one of the bad guys in the nuts.  Other than putting her in leather, that’s as kick ass as I managed to make her.  But if there were more words, she’d kick lots more ass.

Now I needed darkness.  That was going to be the tough part.  You see, my voice calls for sarcasm and humor.  Unless I make a concerted effort, sarcastic lines show up in my stuff with little or no effort on my part.  After much struggle and at least one rewrite, here’s the opening that sets the scene.

Evil permeated the air.  It lingered around the dumpsters, lurked in the shadows, and oozed in the scattered pools of water like an oil slick.  A bulb at the end of the alley flickered dimly every few seconds, providing little light to battle back the dark.  The sliver of moon over head provided no light at all.

This may never grow into any more than 850 words, but doing this exercise has taught me several things.  The most important being that I can write in a genre that I never believed I could.  And enjoy doing it.  Again, who knew?

If you’re a writer, is there a genre in which you truly don’t believe you could write?  If so, what genre would that be and why?  If you’re a reader, is there a genre you’ve never tried because you don’t think it’s your thing?  If so, what is that genre and what would make you change your mind and give it a try?

In the last couple of weeks, I’ve seen the subject of Last of the Mohicans brought up several times.  Mostly ladies extolling the lovely attributes of one Daniel Day Lewis’ portrayal of Hawkeye.  I admit I’ve never watched this movie all the way through. *ducks banana peels*  And I probably couldn’t recognize the soundtrack music if I had to either. *ducks whole banana*  Well, I might recognize it as something I should know but couldn’t put my finger on it.

Anyway, since there seems to be some fantastic scene under a waterfall or something, I figure I’d better add it to my Netflix so I can join the DDL fan club.  Consider it done.  Now, with all this swooning over the movie, I figured it must be a sign.  It’s high time we add a Mohican of our own to the crew.  I give you……Hawk. 

What do you think?  LOL!  Can we keep him, huh, can we keep him?  I’ll keep him real busy so you won’t even know he’s here.  Well, there might be some *noise* coming from my cabin from time to time, but y’all should be used to that by now.

Moving on.  This weekend marks the official first day of summer which means yes, we’ve had heat waves, wide-spread tornadoes, incredible flooding and numerous wild fires and it wasn’t even summer yet.  Doesn’t that leave you excited about what might be in store from here? 

Reminder that coming up in July we have not one, not two but THREE terrific guest bloggers coming your way. Historical author Kimberly Killion’s interview with Captain Jack pulls into port on the 2^nd.  Erotica author (and CP extraordinaire) Dee S. Knight hops aboard on the 8^th, and Harlequin American Romance author Megan Kelly joins the crew on the 15^th.  And don’t forget Santa O’Byrne and I will be reporting back from the RWA National Convention in San Francisco the first week of August.

Plus, in the months ahead we have more fantastic authors such as Leslie Langtry, Teresa Medeiros, and the team of Christie Craig and Faye Hughes.  I’m telling you, this ship just gets better and better!  Now, be honest, can Hawk stay?

Today is all about giving awards.  We start off with the winner of the Bailey’s Irish Crème filled chocolates from Loucinda McGary.  Thanks to everyone who came by last Friday to give Loucinda a warm welcome.  And congratulations to Tina Ferraro on winning the much coveted chocolates! Tina, send your information to Loucinda here and she’ll get those chocolates out to you.

Now onto the Excellent Blog Awards.  Back in May, the lovely ladies over at The Romance Roundtable awarded us Pirates the Excellent Blog Award which originated here.  I know what you’re thinking.  Believe me, we were as shocked as you are.  But once we got over the shock and finished a couple kasks of rum, we got down to figuring out to whom we were going to forward the Excellence.  I give you, in no particular order, the blogs we feel deserve this award.

Pamela Clare

Killer Fiction

Erotic Muses

Vauxhall Vixens

First Edition: A Place for Originals

Romance Bandits

Maggie Robinson Means Romance

Manuscript Mavens

Word Wenches

The Book Bitches

We thank the Romance Roundtable for this award and we won’t even ask what they were smoking when they put us on their list.  If you haven’t heard of any of the blogs above, we encourage you to take the time to check them out.  But first, let us know what awards or prizes you’ve won lately.  I know Ely over at the Vixens blog recently finaled in the Fool for Love contest so big CONGRATS to Ely!  Who else deserves some kudos today?

A special HUZZAH! of thanks goes out to my fellow pirates for stepping in this week and really helping me out.  As my friend J would say, Love Your Guts, Ladies!

The Romance Writer’s Revenge presents another fantastic guest blogger.   With her debut novel, The Wild Sight, hitting shelves October 2008, it’s only a matter of time before this author’s career shoots straight to the stars.  Loucinda McGary, a.k.a. Aunty Cindy on the Romance Bandits blog, blends suspense and magic while still delivering a satisfying love story.  She was generous (read: brave) enough to agree to an interview so without further ado, I give you my chat with Loucinda McGary.

Loucinda, welcome aboard and thank you for blogging with us today.  We can’t offer the cabana boys you ladies keep in the Bandita Lair, but we do have a rather generous crew of Hotties.  Feel free to flag any of them down should you need a drink.  Or a foot rub maybe. Or you just want to, you know, try one on.

Why thank you, Bo’sun! As you know, Aunty likes her hotties tall and lean (a la Hugh Jackman, Eric Bana, and Paul Bettany) and a foot massage is almost The Best Thing Ever! What’s not to love about having a hottie at your feet?

Having one on his knees. J But lets get down to business. Your debut release, The Wild Sight, hits shelves October 1.  I’m stealing a page from the Bandita book and asking if you could share with us your *call* story?

Actually, I never get tired of telling this story, because truth really is stranger than fiction. And the truth is that I met my editor in an elevator at RWA’s National conference in Atlanta. My room was on the 20^th floor and there were already two people in the elevator when my roomie and I got on, headed to breakfast. One introduced herself as an editor, and when she saw my Golden Heart finalist ribbon on my name badge, she asked me about it. I told her I was a finalist in romantic suspense and she said, “I’d really love to read your book.” And gave me her business card. Her name was Deb Werksman and she was acquiring for a new romance line for Sourcebooks.

Of course, I sent her my manuscript as soon as I got home. No, she did not buy it, though it took her six months to reject it. L However, at the urging of my CP and fellow Bandita Jo Robertson, I sent Deb a query for my work in progress. Three months later, she asked to see the partial. Then, on July 27, 2007 she called my house to ask me to submit the entire manuscript. I was out to lunch with three of my best friends and when I got home, my DH started babbling incoherently and shoved a piece of paper at me. He had answered the phone and when he realized it was an editor, he wrote down every single word she said, because he knew “…Cindy will kill me if I screw this up!” (And he was correct, I would have! J)

I emailed her the whole thing and promptly convinced myself that there was no way a manuscript ever sold to the very first editor who read it. Happily, I was wrong! On the morning of September 14, 2007 my ringing phone awakened me from a dead sleep. I am not a morning person, and everyone who knows me knows better than to call before 9 a.m. Expecting some dire emergency, I answered only to have Deb Werksman identify herself and say she wanted to buy my “beautiful book!” After I screamed “Oh my God!” in her ear about nineteen times, she told me she wanted to release the book in the fall of 2008. I believe it is the first romantic suspense in the Sourcebooks Casablanca line. 

So there you have it – I sold my manuscript to the very first editor who read it, and I met her in an elevator. Truth really is stranger than fiction!

I love *call* stories. They always give me goose bumps.  Someday…someday. Where was I?  Oh yes, tell us about The Wild Sight.  Especially Donovan O’Shea. If that isn’t the perfect name for an Irish hero, I don’t know what is.

Faith and begorra, Bo’Sun! Like so many of my characters, Donovan arrived with his name intact, first, middle and last. But I did use some Irish census data (broken down by county) to come up with authentic names for many of the characters in the book.

The Wild Sight is actually my third romantic suspense manuscript. The previous two were set in Italy, and since nobody was exactly beating my door down to buy them, I decided that I would set my third book in Ireland. The DH and I are both of Irish lineage. In fact, his maternal grandmother emigrated from Ireland to America and he still has relatives who live there. However, they live in Northern Ireland, not the Republic. This is the Ireland I’m most familiar with and the one I chose to write about, even though I’ve never seen another contemporary romance novel set there.

Makes sense. But The Wild Sight is more than a contemporary romantic suspense, isn’t it?

Yes, all of my romantic suspense tales have what I call paranormal elements. In my first book, the hero and heroine may or may not be reincarnated 15^th century lovers. The heroine of my second book receives “messages” from her recently deceased aunt in her dreams. I have always been fascinated with the Celtic notion of second sight, and decided to use it in my third book. Most of the time, female characters seem to be the ones who have this ability, so I started thinking, “…what if a man had it?” And that is when Donovan Joseph O’Shea appeared. J Here’s a bit of the back cover copy to whet your appetite:

He was cursed with a “gift”

Born with the clairvoyance known to the Irish as “The Sight,” Donovan O’Shea fled to America to escape his visions. On a return trip to Ireland to see his ailing father, staggering family secrets threaten to turn his world upside down. And then beautiful, sensual Rylie Powell shows up, claiming to be his half-sister . . .

Was it difficult to convince an editor a book that starts with the hero and heroine thinking they are brother and sister would sell? 

*ahem * Technically, the hero never believes she is his sister… But, I will say that I had several people who read the opening chapter or heard the idea react with, “EWWW!” One went so far as to tell me I’d never sell the book (Never say never!). I knew it would probably be a “make it or break it” issue. However, my critique partners were very supportive and said they couldn’t wait to see how I got my characters over this huge stumbling block. You’ll have to let me know how I did after you read the book.

As for my editor, the possible half-siblings turned out to be one of the things she loved about the book! Have I mentioned how much I LURVE my editor?

Can you tell us what’s up next?  What are you working on now?  Sequels maybe?

As a matter of fact, I am working on a sequel. When my editor told me she wanted to buy The Wild Sight, she said in a rather off-hand way, “You did intend for this to be a series, didn’t you?” And I said, “Sure!” even though I’ve never before written a sequel. GAH!

But did I mention how much I LURVE my editor? Plus, she’s a very smart woman, so if she wants a series, then I’ll write one.

Here’s hoping she likes my latest ideas and decides to buy the sequel!

I think you’ll find big fans of series here on the ship.  What about it Wenches?  Since Ms. Loucinda here is just starting on her whirlwind promotional tour, and we are honored she included us in her itinerary, how about everyone give her a little info on what makes you pick up a book?  What makes you buy it?  And what makes you tell all your friends about it?

Yes please! I’d love to know, and I’ll give away some Bailey’s Irish Crème filled chocolates to one lucky commenter.