By Christie Craig and Faye Hughes

 

 

Thanks, guys, for having us at your blog, and for helping us to celebrate the launch of our new non-fiction, The Everything Guide to Writing a Romance Novel from Adams Media.  We’re sharing a few snippets from the book today, on staying motivated as a writer and on the importance of setting and pacing in your novel. 

 

We hope you enjoy!

 

Christie and Faye

 

Stay Motivated

Because the main entrée of writing automatically comes with a side dish of rejection, it’s important that you work at staying positive. Staying motivated.

 

This may mean ridding yourself of the negativity demon that lurks within most people. You know that demon, don’t you? It’s the one that whispers in your ear that you’re wasting your time writing.  Well, it’s time to send that demon packing!

 

Start the exorcism of pessimistic thinking by changing all the negative thoughts that imply you can’t do something, to ones that say you can accomplish anything. Remove all the can’ts and shouldn’ts from your internal thoughts. To paraphrase and take creative licenses with the old adage: “If you think you can write and believe you’ll sell soon, you are right. If you think you can’t write and will never publish, you are probably also right.”

 

Start believing in yourself and you might be surprised how other people will believe in you as well.

 

Tips on Staying Motivated:

 

·         Get Rid of Negative People

 

While generally, you will be your own worst enemy, there are some people who are just inherently negative—people who make you doubt yourself and question your sanity for even wanting to become a writer. If possible, eliminate these people from your life.

 

When eliminating a negative person isn’t an option—for example, when the person is a part of your immediate family—explain to them that you need to focus on the positive. Ask for their support.

 

·         Surround Yourself with the Positive

 

Removing the negative influences from your life will leave you with some room—room for the optimistic influences. Positive people, people who believe in you, can be essential to your outlook and long-term success. This is why a lot of authors find attending writers’ meetings and visiting with other authors to be so helpful. Sometimes, only another writer will truly understand your woes about this career.

 

·         Write It Down

 

Getting published involves a lot of small steps. Each step is another goal completed. Write down these goals. Make sure your goals include both the larger and the smaller steps. Large, as in finishing a book. Small, as in finishing a scene or polishing a chapter.

 

·         Never Stop Learning

 

Feed the brain, nourish the soul.

 

Something amazing happens to your spirit when you are learning. Knowledge offers a sense of empowerment. Feeling empowered, you are able to overcome hurdles, make wiser decisions, and persevere. With the numerous online writing classes and the amazing amount of how-to books available for purchase, you don’t even have to leave the comfort of your own home to learn.

 

·         Dedicated Versus Obsessed

 

Every writer who made it to the bookshelves will tell you that it took serious dedication to get there—giving up some lunches with the work colleagues, staying home to write while the rest of the family goes to the latest blockbuster movie. Being dedicated to your career goals is a must in the writing business. However, sometimes there’s a fine line between dedication and obsession.

 

Importance of Setting

 

You’ve probably heard the old adage that in real estate, location is everything. It applies to romance novels also. From small towns to big cities, from barren, alien landscapes to lush tropical forests—the options for a setting for your book are endless. But it’s how you use the setting that is important in a romance novel.

 

Remember, it’s not paragraph after paragraph of dry information about your setting that the reader expects in a romance novel. It’s the integration of that setting into the novel. Is your novel set in the tropics? If so, describe the warmth of the sand on the beach beneath the heroine’s bare feet. Explain how the scent of the flowers growing in the garden outside her room reminds her of an event from her childhood—a good memory, perhaps, or a sad memory. Incorporate the setting into your novel and give the details an emotional impact, rather than simply provide a travelogue description.

 

Using the Five Senses

 

Evoking the power of the five senses can bring a scene to life in the reader’s mind. After all, romance readers, more so than the readers of any other genre, want to experience the novel as though it were happening to them. They want to pretend they are the characters you’ve written about on the pages of the book. They want to live your story.

 

To make this happen, always ask yourself the following five questions when writing a scene:

 

1.       What can my POV character hear?

2.       What can my POV character see?

3.       What can my POV character smell?

4.       What can my POV character taste?

5.       What can my POV character touch?

 

While it’s important to know the answers to these questions when you write your scene, you don’t have to include an example from each of the five senses. Just choose the most vivid ones that best describe the scene you’re writing.

 

Writing a Book They Can’t Put Down

Do you remember the first time you got so swept up in a novel that you stayed up half the night reading it? As a reader, you hope you’ll find that with every book you read. As a writer, you hope yours is the book that readers can’t put down. There are many reasons why a reader finds a book a compelling read—great writing, wonderful characters, unique plot. But pacing, or the speed with which an author tells the story, is why they keep turning the pages.

 

Understanding Pacing

 

Pacing plays an important role in creating a saleable romance novel but it’s probably one of the least understood elements of the craft of writing. Basically, pacing is the author’s way of controlling how fast—or slow—a reader reads the book. The author does this by controlling the length of the sentences and paragraphs, the ratio of dialogue to narrative, and the amount of descriptive details offered in a particular scene.

 

Think of a scene as a song. Just as each song has its own rhythm and tempo, some fast, some slow, so will your scenes. Your choice of words, how short or long you make the sentences and paragraphs, the ratio of dialogue to narrative in your scene—all of these combine to form the pacing or tempo.

For a romance novel to succeed, it will need scenes that take away the reader’s breath (fast pacing) and scenes that make the reader sigh with pleasure (slower pacing). Like most aspects of writing, finding the right balance is critical.

 

Generally, when you want to speed up pacing, you will use the following techniques:

 

·         Shorter sentences

·         More dialogue

·         Crisper, sharper nouns and verbs

 

Conversely, the following techniques result in a slowing pacing:

 

·         Longer sentences

·         More narrative

·         More descriptive passages

 

So, how do you strike the right balance? The answer largely depends upon the type of subgenre you’re writing. After all, a lushly sensuous historical romance will usually have a much slower pace than a tightly plotted contemporary romantic suspense. Still, even within the same subgenres, certain scenes and situations call for a specific type of pacing.

 

Another way to balance your pacing is to vary the sentence structure you use. Instead of writing sentence after sentence that follows the same “subject-verb-object” format, mix it up by trying “predicate-subject” or other variation. This, combined with varying the length of your sentences and types of scenes, should ensure your pacing is well-balanced.

 

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THE EVERYTHING GUIDE TO WRITING A ROMANCE NOVEL is available wherever books are sold.  For more information on Christie and Faye’s book, including how you can purchase a copy directly from them (with an addendum of 25 additional pages not included in the book), you can visit their website, www.writewithus.net.

As a special bonus, one lucky commenter will win their very own copy of THE EVERYTHING GUIDE TO WRITING A ROMANCE NOVEL.  So join in the discussion and fire away with those questions!

We have a new CD for my BodyPump class, and as I’ve stated before (without exaggeration) this is basically my only experience with music that is not sung by George Strait or Brad Paisley. My newest brush with relatively current pop culture: Candyman by Christina Aguilera. God, I love that song. I could YouTube it all day long if I didn’t think my co-workers would take my computer away.

 

I met him out for dinner on a Friday night
He really had me working up an appetite
He had tattoos up and down his arm
There’s nothing more dangerous than a boy with charm
He’s a one stop shop, makes the panties drop
He’s a sweet-talkin’, sugar coated candy man
A sweet-talkin’, sugar coated candyman

Man, do I love the Candyman. I’m a charm-lover all the way. Oh, and tattoos.

 

We talk about Alphas and Betas a lot. A lot. And the mysterious Gamma, who’s the best of both worlds. But that’s like picking “extrovert” versus “introvert”—it’s rather broad. One of the few writing books I paw through frequently (I have dozens, but few are as dogearred as this one) is The Complete Writer’s Guide to Heroes and Heroines. I like it because I already have an idea what my character is like, but strangely, I don’t know how to brand him.

 

Debra Dixon teaches this fabulous class about GMC (Goal, Motivation, & Conflict). If you ever have an opportunity to go to it, do so. One of the assignments we did in her day-long seminar was, basically, brand the characters. You defined who the character was in two words. Essentially an adjective and noun that sums up the core of your character. For instance, you might refer to Mr. Darcy as: “stuffy prig” or “honorable gentleman”—both of those would rather fit, but at the core, Mr. Darcy is more the latter. Anyway, when branding my characters, I usually read through the descriptions for the heroes for inspiration. It sometimes jogs my brain into finding the right adjective.

 

Then I try to tape the character name and descriptors somewhere so they are there in my mind. (This is a necessary step. I forget about my breakfast toast most mornings until about 11 am or so, so taping the reminders keeps the core branding words in my mind as I’m letting the scenes I’m writing unfold.)

 

For me, it’s like improv acting. You give the actor the type of character they’re playing and then tell them to make up a dialogue with that character. The grumpy professor is going to have a different sort of scene than the perky cheerleader. It helps me keep in character. Otherwise everyone would act like Captain Jack Sparrow in my books all the time. Which doesn’t work nearly as much as you might think.

 

If you want a brief breakdown of the character types, go here: http://www.tamicowden.com/heroes.htm. They’re really good. Me, Candyman lover, find Charmers the most irresistible. Though Charmers with a layer of Swashbuckler are even better.

 

Hardy Cates is the protective bad-boy. Or maybe the bad-boy warrior. Your pick. He definitely has a core of protecting those he loves, but he’s so clearly from the wrong side of the tracks.

 

Gage from Sugar Daddy was the overbearing chief. Which is why I spent so much of the book thinking, “What a jerk.”

 

One of my other favorite heroes, Richard, from Jill Barnett’s Dreaming was the “Lost Soul” sort, but also a hero, protector. Like a “brooding warrior.” He wanted to protect Lettie from himself, because he believed he was unworthy of love. Lettie on the other hand was a cross between a waif and a free spirit, with the free spirit predominant. Definitely a girl who marched to her own drummer. She was an “innocent optimist” which Richard tried to rub out of her again and again, to protect her. In every scene, you’d see the innocent optimist crop up and play against the brooding warrior. Everyone learned from each other until it all worked out to the happy ending. Everyone stayed in character with their branding.

 

If I were to character brand one of my characters, just for practice, let’s use Luc: Luc is definitely the charmer type. Easily the charmer. With a wide streak of swashbuckler thrown in to make up for the fact he hasn’t been able to do anything for thousands of years. A dash of bad boy to account for his cynicism. But definitely the charmer because he’s got irresponsibility down to an artform. Luc is my “Machiavellian charmer” and that is unlikely to change much.

 

There. Done. Taped on my keyboard for easy reference. Scenes might go a little more smoothly when I improv along now. Now it’s your turn.

 

Okay, so can you guys “brand” your characters in two words? Give it a whirl.

Beware, the Capt’n, Jack and Bo’sun’ let me have Monday to blog this week and everyone knows letting me loose on a Monday is bad news. Weekends off the ship get me all worked up into a frenzy. And I know where you’re going- straight into the ship gutter.

Are you there yet?

 

Yeah?

 

Good ‘cause it means I’ve got you right where I want you. *wink*

 

All wench pirates know that in order to be a successful pirate you have to talk a good game. We can’t just saunter up to some black hearted pirate out to get our goods without seducing him out of his intentions with a little whisper in his ear. It’s an art form perfected from birth. From the first time you batted your eyelashes framed around those pretty little eyes to the first time you smiled coyly at a hot piece of pirate from across the tavern. Our subtleties are what separate us each as individuals. The art of pirate seduction is a finely tuned weapon in our arsenal that is sharpened to a point that the victim isn’t aware what hit them until we’re long gone.

 

Applying everything you know and have learned is the key ingredient to making or breaking your reputation as a pirate. Any pirate can sneak up and take a ship. Where’s the fun in that? Not every pirate can walk up to the Capt’n of the ship, take the wheel of the ship steer it in the course you want to go and leave the Capt’n standing beside you with a goofy smile on his face and nary a question from his lips. That takes finesse. Finesse that wench pirates perfect with each breath they take. It’s all about how fast I can wrap you around my finger and leave you wanting more.

 

Those trademarks and subtleties often translate into our heroines and heroes. Even if they are toned down or embellished (depends on where you are in the spectrum on the art of flirtation or seduction, whichever game you like to play), we still use a little bit of our own techniques when writing any scene with the slightest bit of heat in them. Mental role playing is fun in these situations. I often sit down and think about the scene I’m about to embark in. What about the scene have I experienced myself? Usually nothing except for the interaction between a male and female, but it’s all about the thrill and excitement of the chase. I’ve been playing the chase since I was a little girl. I learned to flirt before I learned how to talk. Flirting is all about signals and getting what you want. Every pirate needs to learn these things before taking over a ship and just as a writer these are employed into your characters through every interaction.

 

This doesn’t take a lot of thought. Yes, devising the ultimate plan of action against the blackheart does, but that can happen with just an instant. You have to have the right form of attack and we all know ultimately what the blackheart wants but he isn’t going to get it the way he wants it. You have to make him work for it and that’s the easy part.

 

How does real life experience with the opposite sex play into your scenes? How do you get what you want- play the seducer or the seduced? How about a new pirate pick-up line? Let’s have some fun today.

 

As a bonus, I came across some female pirate pick-up lines from Cap’n Slappy and Ol’ Chumbucket at http://www.talklikeapirate.com  

 

Surely we can think of some new ones.

 

10. What are YOU doing here?

9. Is that a belayin’ pin in yer britches, or are ye … (this one is never completed)

8. Come show me how ye bury yer treasure, lad!

7. So, tell me, why do they call ye, “Cap’n Feathersword?”

6. That’s quite a cutlass ye got thar, what ye need is a good scabbard!

5. Aye, I guarantee ye, I’ve had a twenty percent decrease in me “lice ratio!”

4. I’ve crushed seventeen men’s skulls between me thighs!

3. C’mon, lad, shiver me timbers!

2. RAMMING SPEED!

…and the number one Female Pirate Pick-up Line:

1. You. Pants Off. Now!

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this in enough places around the web, but I happen to be moving.  Next weekend.  Yeah, it was sort of a spontaneous decision.  And threw me into a tizzy for a short while.  But then I realized I had much to do and got right to work.  That work included finding a little muscle to help move all my crap from my third floor apartment to a second floor apartment.  And did I mention I have about A MILLION BOOKS?  Yeah, I’m going to need some muscle.  Here are some of the volunteers I found.

 

You might recognize that last one.  He was looking for some side work and wanted to get out of the Hollywood scene for a while.  What’s a girl to do when a six pack like that asks to help?  That’s right, that’s exactly what a girl is to do.

 

This is a super week here on The Revenge.  In addition to great blogs from all the pirates but moi – they were nice enough to give me the week off to finish packing – we have Christie Craig and Faye Hughes hopping aboard Wednesday to talk about their current release, The Everything Guide to Writing a Romance Novel.  With a title like that, how could we go wrong?!  And one lucky commenter will win a free copy of the book, so be here Wednesday for all the fun.

 

Then Friday we finish out the week with a return visit from Kimberly Killion, author of Her One Desire.  Kim was a treasure chest of fantastic advice the last time she was here and I’m sure she’ll drop even more pearls of wisdom this time around. 

 

For all those in the path of Ike, keep your head down and your oars close at hand.  We’ll be saving an extra ration of rum for you when your galoshes finally dry out.  Oh yeah, and stay safe!

 

There are a number of secondary characters in my WIP that I’ve come to adore.  It’s lucky for me as I’m going to hopefully write two more stories using this same cast.  If I didn’t like them, two more stories would be drudgery.  But, as it is, I’m pretty excited about seeing them all again.

In my story, some of my favorites are my heroine’s quiet sister who prefers solitude because she sees visions of people’s future all the time.   Add standard ton chitchat to visions and I’d imagine I’d avoid that mishmash of stimulus too.  Another is my hero’s meddling aunt.  She’s a doll, but in the way of using sweetly worded requests/demands to manipulate others (for their own good, of course).  And finally, my hero’s best friend, the earl who works with the Bow Street Runners.  Sexy and sarcastic.  My favorite kinda guy.

As a general, I don’t like stories that have too many secondary characters running around.  I don’t want to feel like I need air traffic control to direct everyone about.  I get distracted easily.  I feel like characters should be directly involved in the plot.  If the plot can’t move on without them, they can stay.  Otherwise, a quick mention in passing, ok, but leave their characterization to a real minimum.

Some secondary characters take on a life of their own.  Lady Danbury from Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton series.  What a fun and well-rounded character. 

What other secondary characters do you think are particularly well done?  What do you think makes a good secondary character?  Are you cool with a huge cast?  What role should secondary characters play in a novel?  And finally, do you have any favorite secondary characters in your story?

Also:  A big thank you to Sabrina Jeffries for bringing Jane and Will and talking pirates with us yesterday!

Yes, I own a set of mini marauding pirates. I couldn’t resist–I got them from this online site called Archie McPhee’s that had a whole slew of pirate stuff. I also have a pirate Mickey Mouse and a POC puzzle that came with a poster of Captain Jack Sparrow. The poster is now firmly attached to my wall. My favorite cereal as a child was Captain Crunch (yes, I know he wasn’t a pirate, but they didn’t have pirate cereal). You could say that I’m a bit of a pirate-lover. Just a bit.

 

So how far does YOUR pirate obsession extend? Do you

 

a. Own any pirate action figures?

b. Own any pirate DVDs?

c. Actually talk like a pirate on Talk Like a Pirate Day? (It’s only a week off, you know)

d. Dress like a pirate on any day OTHER than Halloween?

 

Come on, fess up! Anybody get all four? *G*

So I was doing what I typically do in my cabin all day: surfing on the internet. Instead of looking for guided tours to Ireland or scenic pictures of waterfalls, preferably with a naked Jack Sparrow posed in them, I focused instead on improving my writing by looking for online courses that might be beneficial to me. There was one called, “The Natural History of the Romance Novel”, and it listed the eight essential elements of a romance novel as: Society Defined; The Meeting; The Barrier; The Attraction; The Declaration; The Point of Ritual Death; The Recognition; and The Betrothal.

 

Which I recognized most, except the Declaration and the Recognition, and it took me a while to figure out what they were. Then I realized they’re only the two most important aspects of the eight. They’re central to the novel—without them, you wouldn’t have your arc. And if you have a story without an arc, you have a book that’s completely flatlined.

 

Now granted, I didn’t take the class, but here are my theories on the two.

 

The Declaration and The Recognition are based on the inner conflict of your characters. The Declaration hinges on whatever fatal flaw your character is in possession of. The Recognition is when your character realizes this flaw—then chooses to do something about it. Failure to fix the flaw results in an non-happily-ever-after.

 

The Declaration is the point where the character’s Fatal Flaw becomes obvious to everyone. Except the character itself. And it’s the point of the book where we know if this characteristic doesn’t change, the character won’t grow…and he/she will not get their happily ever after. The big dummies.

 

Take Pride & Prejudice. Mr. Darcy makes his proposal (the worst in the history of proposals) and basically declares himself as a complete stuffed shirt prig of the highest order. It is abundantly clear to all of us, Dear Readers, that if he doesn’t get enlightened soon, he will be doomed to be a stuffed shirt prig of the highest order for the rest of his life, with no Elizabeth to buffer the slings and arrows of boring society with him. Elizabeth, meanwhile, makes her declaration that she is absolutely right in her perceptions of people; her instincts are never wrong; and he is a complete stuffed shirt prig of the highest order.

 

Strangely, our Fatal Flaws are usually our strengths: Elizabeth’s perception of being able to read people helps her from taking the world so seriously. She is a lot happier that way; and it’s only when Mr. Darcy finds her wanting that her usual perceptive nature is blocked by prejudice. It doesn’t matter if she finds out Mr. Darcy saves orphaned kittens, he’s clearly a jerk and she wants nothing to do with him. And yes, she’s well aware her family is far from perfect, she may even be the first to mock them—but if someone else mocks them, look out! She’s fiercely protective of Jane, who she knows doesn’t displace her emotions lightly and can be misunderstood.

 

Mr. Darcy’s strength: he’s a perceptive guy too, but he doesn’t perceive people with an ironic smile and a sense of the absurd like Lizzie. He too makes knee-jerk decisions about people and doesn’t second-guess if he might have misjudged. And he too is a protector: as is revealed when he protects his sister from Wickham and his friend Bingley from a lukewarm marriage.

 

Elizabeth and Darcy are so caught up in being right about their perceptions, there is no chance of them falling in love…not without a major catalyst that makes them re-evaluate their positions. The major catalyst would be the “Ritual Death”, by the way.

 

The major catalyst is followed by character rebirth: The Recognition. The point where your character realizes the problem, and their part in it. This is a two-fold recognition, because not only do you have recognize you’re doing it, you have to do something about it. The character makes a concerted effort to mend his ways. After Elizabeth bawls out Darcy for the worst proposal in the history of proposals, Darcy learns from Elizabeth just exactly the extent of how badly she thinks of him. “So this is what you think of me?”—and he leaves, rather hurt and pole-axed. He goes home, then writes her that letter that explains why he did the things he did…leaving Elizabeth to realize she knee-jerked as well.

 

And then Darcy goes about rectifying his mistakes, because he cares what Elizabeth thinks of him. He doesn’t send out a parade when he does these things; Elizabeth finds out Darcy’s the man behind the scenes, the man who’s singlehandedly saving her family from complete ruin…and her sister from being separated from the man she loves. [Insert *swoon* here.] When Mr. Darcy’s aunt comes to confront Eliza and make her promise not to become engaged to him, she refuses. (Granted, her rectification isn’t quite on the same scale, but it can be forgiven. Darcy had a lot more to make up for.) Then there is this magnificent meadow reunion scene…and, well, you’ve seen the movie.

 

 

Summary:

 

Your central conflict of your book is the inner conflict of your characters. Because all action taken by your characters, even though that action propels the plot, is based off whatever neuroses your characters are suffering. Whether they’re suffering from trust issues or daddy issues—it creates the external plot.

 

The inner conflict of your characters comes from the Fatal Flaw, which is usually the dark-side of the character’s strength. The Declaration is the recognition of this flaw, the realization that if this flaw is not overcome that the Happily Ever After will not come. The Recognition is the place where the character figures out the flaw herself and makes a change to overcome it. It usually involves some grovelling. And an awesome meadow scene.

 

Okay, so those are my theories. What do you guys think? What do you think the Declaration and the Recognition are? Where does your external conflict come from? Circumstances or neuroses? Who’s with me in thinking all books should end with an awesome meadow scene? Who just caught on that the hotties have nothing to do with this post and are only here in an effort to keep everyone awake?

Let me start by saying this is my second blog of the day. To all those who commented on my earlier attempt, thank you.  But I decided I didn’t want to keep that one up.

 

From my title I’m sure you can figure out our topic for today – dead characters.  Now, I do not mean characters who are deceased when the story begins.  Nor do I mean all those hapless victims in Romantic Suspense.  I mean killing off characters that are established in the story.  Writing deaths by accidents, natural causes, or some other medical reason.

 

In my WIP, I do have a character that dies about half way in.  I say about because I haven’t gotten there yet, so I’m not sure exactly when the event will occur.  But I do know this character will die and I’ll be honest and say I have a very good reason for the death.  It’s a major turning point in both the story and in the life of one of my characters.  It throws this character into another gear, forces them to deal with things they’ve long buried and hopefully, serves to bring this character closer to my other character.

 

Am I being vague enough here?

 

Anyhoo, we’ve all heard never to kill the pet.  That’s pretty much a given.  But what’s the rule on other characters.  In Sugar Daddy by Lisa Kleypas, a somewhat main character was killed off and I’ll admit, I never saw it coming.  But I think that character had to die for the same reason I mention above.  It’s a major turning point in the story, forces the main character to grow up, and brings that character closer to someone else.  Plus, it makes the main character’s life all that more difficult.

 

What’s your take on killing off characters?  We’re not talking the hero or heroine, but what about the trusted sidekick?  Or the mentor?  We all know HP will come up right here.  If you’ve killed off a character in a non-RS novel, how did you do it?  What books have you read that included a death that took you by surprise?

I’m in a mood this weekend and decided it’s time to shed some light on those Hotties that don’t get enough attention.  The underrated Hottie.  After an evening of dinner and go-kart racing (yes, we have a track on the ship), I came home, plopped onto the couch and found the movie My Best Friend’s Wedding on television.  And this is where I was reminded of this weeks Most Underrated Hottie of the Week – Dermot Mulroney.

 

With an acting career that spans twenty years (I know!  I couldn’t believe it either!) and a talent for aging well, this man definitely deserves a little more attention.  From the original Young Guns in the 80s to My Best Friend’s Wedding in the 90s and even today in work such as Must Love Dogs, The Family Stone and who can forget The Wedding Date, Mr. Mulroney has more than earned a spot on our Hottie Crew and several spots in our DVD collections.

 

Now to the big announcement.  This Thursday, September 11, mark your pirate calendar and set your compass for fun.  The highly talented, highly successful and incredibly sweet Sabrina Jeffries will be joining us as our special Guest Pirate of the Day!  Her latest re-release, My Pirate Lord, hit shelves this month and we could not let a pirate book get by us!  Why, what kind of writing pirates would we be?!  Rumor is Sabrina might be bringing Will & Jane with her for a visit.  I hear they may have encountered some pirates of their own lately, but you’ll have to be here Thursday to see if all the rumors are true.