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.

We here on the Romance Writer’s Revenge are proud to welcome, once again, Erotic Romance author, Toni Blake.  Toni is a favorite here on the ship and definitely a total pirate.  No one could create heroes the way she does and not be a pirate.  Without further ado, the lights are up and the cameras are rolling, and here’s Toni.

If you’re young, you might not know that the above is a paraphrased line spoken by a character named Norma Desmond in the 1950 movie, Sunset Boulevard.  And now that you know that, you might be thinking:  Hey, I thought this was a blog about writing, so what does a movie have to do with writing? 

Lots, actually.  In fact, so much that I couldn’t begin to cover it all in one tiny blog post.  So in this blog post I just want to talk about “writing as acting.”

Now I myself am a victim of severe stage fright.  I’m pretty sure this links back to some bad elementary school experiences, but whatever the cause, I’m not comfortable “performing” in front of others, be it on a stage or in front of a video camera.  (Although I do these things from time to time anyway, because a girl’s gotta confront her fears, right?)  Anyway, despite my dislike of being on a stage, when I’m writing a book, I feel I’m every bit as much an actress as Julia Roberts or Reese Witherspoon.  (Okay, not really, but bear with me.) 

I may not be up on a stage or screen, but I’m still performing a role – in my head.  And then I’m putting it on paper.  At any given moment, I am my book’s heroine, hero, or a secondary character to whom I’ve given a point of view.  Because if reading a book can be equated to watching a movie, then writing a book is like making the movie.  And the best movies and books hinge on emotion.    

My main job, when I’m at the keyboard, is to be deep inside my point-of-view character’s head at all times and make sure I’m conveying their world, experiences, thoughts, and emotions in a way that the reader will feel.  I can’t leave anything out if I want the character to be complete, and by the time I finish a book, I want the reader to feel they know my characters so well that they could probably tell you, (within reason, of course,) what that character would do in almost any situation.  I want the reader to completely relate to the heroine and be totally in love with the hero. 

And how do I try to accomplish this?  I “get inside their skin.”  (The characters’, not the readers’. )  Actors do this, too.  I’ve read that Johnny Depp spends time preparing for roles by dressing as his character dresses or doing things his character might do.  And as many of you probably know, Daniel Day Lewis stays “in character” on the set for the duration of every movie he shoots.  Like these guys, I spend a lot of time with my characters up front, in my head, before I ever write a word of their story, and when I do finally sit down to start writing, I am “in their skin” and I see myself as acting their roles. 

In my new book, LETTERS TO A SECRET LOVER, my main characters have very diverse backgrounds and differing personalities.  Rob’s past is a difficult one, and seeing myself as “acting” his role when I wrote his point of view gave me a sense of connection to him that I don’t think I could achieve otherwise.  Writing Lindsey was easier – I’m actually a lot like Lindsey, at heart – but writing her role was still just as much a job of acting to me, (figuring out her lines, her facial expressions, her reactions,) as it was writing.

There are probably as many methods for characterization as there are writers, but the “writing as acting” analogy works for me, thus I consider it a big part of my process.  So how do you get close to your characters?  Does the idea of being an actor when you sit down to write work in your mind?  Why or why not?  And for readers, how do you liken books to movies?  Do you see the book you’re reading like a movie in your head?  Do you imagine your favorite stars in the “roles”?

And of course, I’m happy to chat about pretty much anything – craft, industry, other stuff writers can learn from movies, LETTERS TO A SECRET LOVER (now available in a bookstore near you ), or whatever else floats your boat – or, I should say, your pirate ship. J

Welcome, Colette Gale aboard the RWR. She is joining us today, on the day of her new release Master, to tell us about the ins and out of writing erotica. Please give a hearty welcome to Colette! *yelling and screaming*

What I love most about her books is that she writes from characters we know and love–and gives them the happy endings we wished for them. (Anyone as unhappy as I was about Phantom of the Opera? She fixed it! And she did it with lots of hot, spicy scenes. Good thing my sheets are flame-retardant. Had to get those after Jack arrived….)

The first time I watched Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera, I was entranced. I loved it! I cried at the end, though, when Christine chose to go with Raoul instead of the Phantom. After all, it was obvious to me that they belonged together.

I saw the play over and over through the years, and its soundtrack became one of my favorites. When the movie version, starring Gerard Butler, came out, I hoped….hoped!…that Webber would give me that happy ending.

Alas, he did not.

So I set out to write my own happy ending…and that was my first foray into writing erotica.

I’ve always been a fan of erotic novels–I count among some of my favorite reads The Story of O, Ann Rice’s Sleeping Beauty series, and Bertrice Small’s ground-breakiing Skye O’Malley saga (ground-breaking because it was erotica, but marketed and sold as part of the romance genre).

All of these books influenced my writing when I sat down to work on what later came to be officially titled Unmasqued: An Erotic Novel of the Phantom of the Opera….but at the time was, really, just an experiment for me. Could I write erotica?

Well, apparently, I can, since my second erotic novel, Master: An Erotic Novel of the Count of Monte Cristo is released today!

So how and where do I get these ideas? Do my husband and I have a harp in our bedroom? Have we done all these things?

Er. Without divulging too much information…no. Sorry.

Just as writers of psychological thrillers, who often get inside the heads of their murderers–and victims–couldn’t possibly have done those things, so can I say that, no. Only in my fantasies.

Here’s the important thing about erotica: it is fantasy. Remembering that is key. Just because I (or you) fantasize about something doesn’t mean we really would want it to happen. Just because we have fantasies about forced seduction, bondage, menage a trois, etc., doesn’t mean that we would really indulge in those activities…although there are certainly people who do put their fantasies into play.

But my erotic novels are also romances at the very heart. There is one man and one woman who ride off into their Happily Ever After at the end of the book. That’s part of the story–that’s why I wrote Unmasqued and Master.

And even though there is a lot of sex (a lot of sex) in the books, every single sex scene has a purpose. It moves the plot and it demonstrates the relationship between the two main characters. Or, in the subplots that happen around the hero and heroine. In fact, my rule of thumb is: at least one orgasm per chapter. Someone gets the happy at least once in each chapter–and it’s not always the hero or heroine.

In fact, in my books, the hero and heroine can and do interact with other characters…but…and here’s the very subtle place where I draw the line: they never have intercourse with anyone but each other.

A very subtle split of hairs, I know, but that’s where the line is drawn.

So. I’m very excited to announce the release of my second erotic novel, Master, based on Alexandre Dumas’s The Count of Monte Cristo. It is a revenge love story and I absolutely loved writing it. I think it’s my favorite book, even moreso than the Phantom book because this one has three love stories entwined in it.

I’m late getting this blog post to the ship, so in apology, I’d like to offer a copy of Unmasqued and also a copy of Master as prizes today…along with my heartfelt apology for my tardiness, my thanks to the Yoho Ladies for having me, and my promise to stick around an answer ANY questions you might have!

Thanks so much for having me!

Colette

I had a very schizophrenic reaction to being asked to blog with the pirates today.  Terri responded to one of my comments hinting that she may ask me to guest blog someday and then Hellion chimed in saying “Yeah, Irish should guest blog”.  I read their posts and thought… Yea, this is cool.  The cool kids want me to come out and play with them.  This is so awesome.  Sure I can blog.  This’ll be fun!  So I posted that sure I’d love to come be a guest blogger. 

The day wound down, I scrolled back over the posts for the day and thought… Holy #$%&, what the hell did I agree to?!  I don’t blog.  That’s not who I am.   I have nothing interesting to say.  I read.  I comment.  Every once in a while I say something semi-noteworthy.  I’m not a blogger.  I’m a poster.  Actually, I’m a weenie lurker most of the time.  When I get my courage up I post (and let’s face it - how much courage do you really need to anonymously state your opinion while sitting comfortably at your desk in your home, who knows where, wearing bunny slippers and drinking tea?).

Then a thought hit me…  I can be a blogger.  Why not?!  There was a time I didn’t think I could ever leave home, but I did.  I moved 2,000 miles away and lived in a different city, living with people I’d never met before, doing a job I knew nothing about and survived a riot and an earthquake.  There was a time I didn’t think I could be in a healthy relationship and I’m a happily married woman now.  There was a time I didn’t think I had what it took to be a mother and I’m a mother of two happy, fairly healthy, semi-intelligent children seemingly headed for college and not the State Penn. 

There was a time I didn’t think I could write anything beyond a grocery list and … you guessed it… I’m writing.  Nothing monumental, but the snippets I have are coherent and make sense.   My 43 year old self is capable of so much more than my 18 year old self because I’ve changed.  I’m not the same person I was then, but every now and then, the insecurities and doubts surface.  So much of who we are and what we think we can accomplish is formed in our childhood and stays with us in some form for most of our life.

I grew up the sixth child of seven in an Irish Catholic middle class family.  My therapist could tell you with very impressive words and lots of examples why I am the way I am, or to be more accurate, why I was the way I was.  But basically the upshot is that I have baggage.  Most of us have baggage and most of it we accumulated between birth and 18 years of age.  Good or bad, the people and experiences in our lives form us.  We all grow up with a perception of who we are. 

We’re all familiar with the typical stereotypes – jock, cheerleader, druggie, geek, the quiet one, the outgoing one, the nerd, the brain (and just so you all know I’m not completely out of the loop, we now have the goth girl and the skateboarders).  In families it can be the caretaker, the screw-up, the controller, the baby, the negotiator, the black sheep, and my personal favorite – the enabler.  That last one actually sounds like a super hero, doesn’t it?  Anyway, you get the idea.  Whether it’s an image given to us or one earned, it defines us until we decide to be more than the labels put upon us. 

I know I could pull a couple of the descriptions from above and slap them right on my forehead.  The funny thing is that some of them applied to me once and no longer do and vice versa.  I could have stayed the way I was and let my baggage define me, but chose instead to travel a different path.  Even with that being said, so many times when asked if I’m capable of a certain task I don’t look at my confident 43-year-old-woman self, I look at my insecure 18-year-old-girl self, and respond accordingly.  A more accurate description would be I’m a little bit of both and depending on the day one is stronger than the other.  Today I’m the happy, well adjusted wife, mother, writing, BLOGGING woman.  There was a time none of that description seemed possible.

My husband once told me a story about a classmate of his that has always stuck with me.  This guy was from a pretty messed up family and acted out a lot.  He ditched school, vandalized things, but his favorite thing to do was set things on fire.  When he was 17 his family moved out west.  He came back to his 10 year high school reunion a changed man.  He, basically, grew up.  He’d identified the problems in his life and fixed them.  Wore a suit, had a steady lucrative job and couldn’t wait to come back and catch up with all his old friends. 

Except no one saw the grown up man, all they saw was the kid who liked to set things on fire.  By the end of the evening he was pretty weary of everyone’s attempt to put that old label back on him.  He hasn’t been back since and I’m guessing he won’t be.   I went to my grammar school reunion about ten years ago and I had the strangest reaction to the greeting “Wow, you haven’t changed a bit!”  I felt like giving a PowerPoint presentation on how much and in which ways I’ve changed since they saw me last.

It’s corny and simplistic in a sense, but I truly and with all my heart believe one of life’s greatest gifts is our ability to change.  Our past does not have to define who we are or where we’re going.  And nothing touches or moves me more than a novel that drives that point home.  One of the things I love most about the romances I read (apart from the obligatory HEA) is that the redemption or growth of the hero or heroine plays such a huge part in so many of my favorites.   It does something wonderful to the human spirit to read about someone just like yourself, who isn’t perfect, or is as far from perfect as you can get, that learns and grows and ends up with their own HEA.

So, tell me how you’ve morphed into the person you are today.  Are you the same person you were in your teens, twenties, thirties?  Do you like where you are in life more than where you’ve been?  Do we have any head cheerleader/valedictorians who dated the football quarterback out there?  What book contains your favorite redemption/metamorphosis storyline or character?  What type of character do you think is harder to write - a flawed character or a perfect, larger than life character?

The Romance Writer’s Revenge is proud to welcome our first guest blogger since setting sail on the new ship.  Today we welcome Erotica author Lacey Alexander, aka Erotic Romance author Toni Blake.  That’s right, a RITA nominated author is on the decks!  How cool is that?!?  Lacey’s latest release, SEVEN NIGHTS OF SIN, can be found at a bookstore near you so be sure to run out for your copy today!  And now, herrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrre’s Lacey!

EVERYTHING I KNOW ABOUT WRITING I LEARNED FROM EINSTEIN

Okay, that’s a rash exaggeration.  But I did learn one important thing about writing from Einstein, and I’ll get to that in a minute.

First, though, lets talk about creativity.  A simple subject, right?  Yet so very complex, too. 

I believe that for many of us, creativity is something we’re born with.  I was living in my head (making up stories about how Donny Osmond was in love with me, don’t ya know) at the age of five.  In fact, Donny doesn’t know this, but he drove me to school quite frequently when I was in the first grade, and no, he didn’t care about the age difference. J  By seven, teachers were telling me how creative I was, and I wasn’t trying to be creative – but it was something they saw in me.

What can be trickier is containing your creativity.  The creative mind can be all over the board, spouting so many ideas that they can never all be pursued, starting one project but then hopping onto another because you just can’t help yourself.  In the novel-writing world, controlling creativity is a necessary skill – you have to stay focused, and you must weigh all sorts of practical issues against your creative ones and hope they all balance out.

And where does creativity come from?  Who can say what creates that initial spark, but as we grow in our creativity, I think it’s possible to start recognizing what ignites it, what really sets it off in each individual person.

For me, I get very creative when traveling.  I don’t think this is at all unique – I’ve always read that seeing new places and things naturally triggers new ideas – but what amazes me is how consistent this is for me.  I never plan to come up with new book ideas on vacation – and really, it can be a hindrance, because I’m on vacation, trying to relax and clear my head.  But I always, always, always come home from travel with one or more entirely new book ideas plotted from start to finish. 

Creativity also extends into problem-solving, and this is where Einstein comes in.  I once read that Einstein believed we are at our most creative when we are just about to drift off to sleep.  And that he would test this by sitting in a chair, holding a spoon, and letting himself nod off.  The second he fell asleep the spoon hit the floor, waking him up.  This enabled him to recall the thoughts and ideas in his head right before be drifted off, and I believe he is said to have done this when he was having trouble solving scientific problems – and he would often get the answer in those last moments before sleep.

If this sounds like a bunch of hooey, it’s not.  I know because I use this method of creative problem-solving all the time.  I don’t do the whole spoon thing, but very often when I am confronted with a plotting problem or just can’t quite figure out something in my current story, I go take a nap.  Sounds unproductive, I know – but actually, it’s work.  (Very relaxing, cozy work, I admit, but I still say it’s work. J)  As I lay down, I think about the problem, the characters, whatever they’re facing, whatever the dilemma is.  I just start turning it all over in my mind, and sometimes asking myself a series of “what if” questions.  Before I know it, I’m waking up from my nap – with the answer to my problem.  It’s really quite amazing and almost always works for me.

So what makes you creative or inspires you?  Where do you get your story ideas?  And how do you use that creative mind of yours to work through plot problems?  If you’ve got new solutions I haven’t heard before, I want to hear ‘em!  And I’d love to talk more about creativity in general.  Do you believe you’re born with it or can it be learned?  Is it like a muscle – if it’s not used, will it wither and die?  Talk to me, pirates.

And, of course, feel free to stray from the subject if you like, too.  I’m happy to answer any questions about writing, the industry, whatever floats your boat.  And since I have a new book out (SEVEN NIGHTS OF SIN, by Lacey Alexander, at a bookstore near you!) I’m always happy to talk about that, too! J