The Big Day has arrived! Moonlit Encounters is now live!

This has been a  long time in the making, but we are proud to announce that MOONLIT ENCOUNTERS is finally released.  My story "Sun Woman meets Moon Man" is a cute contemporary romance.  I love Sam and Melanie :-)

Whoo hoo!

Here are the details: 

Title and author:  Moonlit Encounters by Various Authors (Jennifer Brassel, Kitty Bucholtz, Shannon Curtis, Coleen Kwan, Maggie Mitchell (me), Shannon Peters, Paula Roe and Deborah Tait)
Publication date: 20 Dec 2012
Publisher: TWC Press
Format: eBook (all formats)

Words: 97,444 

Blurb: 
A diverse collection of short romantic fiction from eight different authors, from different genres, for all readers.
A Victorian woman must chose between family loyalty and a chance at love...
With a little help from a sexy neighbour, a nurse must find strength in vulnerability...
A medieval warrior struggles with his duty when a healer captivates him...
Convincing a cynical workaholic to take time to smell the roses is more challenging than this talented empath could imagine...
A curious voyeur discovers getting involved can be dangerous...
Her family's happiness is at risk unless this widow puts her trust in a stranger...
An independent ranger learns that wolves come in all guises, and secrets can be deadly...
Jilted in a foreign country, a woman struggles with trust and a second chance at happiness...

Here are our links: 

Website: http://www.twcpress.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/twcpress 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/twcpress?ref=ts&fref=ts
Blog: http://twcpress.wordpress.com

AMAZON: http://www.amazon.com/Moonlit-Encounters-ebook/dp/B00ANR89BW

SMASHWORDS: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/264089 

Go check it out!  For a limited time it's only 99 cents!  A bargain for such a long book!

I'm excited! Are you?

Just a quick note to let you know the sekrit writing project story will be released soon!

My story is a contemporary romance featuring a girl who's given up on men, and her hot neighbour who wants to change her mind. When they are locked on the roof for the night she has to face her fear of heights as well as relationships, but her neighbour knows just how to distract her.

The anthology features eight stories by eight authors (including yours truly) and will be published by TWC.  If you head over to Facebook and like our page, that would be fantastic! Don't forget to add the page to your interests list as well - that way you can see our posts!

Here's the link: https://www.facebook.com/twcpress

Don't you just love the logo?

Watch this space! I'll post a teaser very soon :-)

Versatile BLOGGER awards

Mohadoha nominated me for the Versatile Blogger award. How cool is that?

To accept, I state seven random facts about myself and tag fifteen other bloggers. A great way to get to know more about me and for you to meet other bloggers I’m a big fan of.

Here goes:

1. I was once a contestant on "It's Academic", which is a quiz show for schools. My team won through two rounds, but we lost the final, darn it!
2. Even though reading has always been my passion, when I was at school, English was my worst subject!
3. I've lived in 3 different states of Australia
4. I'm completely in love with the movie "Moonstruck"
5. When I was pregnant I had a craving for sauerkraut. (Ew...)
6. I can't roll my tongue (apparently it's genetic LOL)

7. But I can do the "Live long and prosper" Vulcan sign!

And the fifteen bloggers I'm nominating:

Paula Roe  Keziah Hill  Shannon Curtis Word Trix  Karen Rose Smith  Krystal Shannon Taryn Raye Heaven O'Shea Hesperia Loves Books Tina Glasneck Patricia Zick Kate Kelly Janna Shay Juliet Madison   Victoria Adams

So what 7 things don't we know about you? Don't forget to check out everyone else's blogs!

My week in writing...19 Aug 2012

Hi folks

I'm checking in to let you know how my week went, but also to keep myself on track. I'd love it if you're a writer and leave your progress in the comments, but if you don't want to do that, that's okay too.

It's been a tough week watching all my friends trot off to the Romance Writers of Australia conference on the beautiful Gold Coast.  My writers group buddies Paula Roe, Shannon Curtis and Keziah Hill sent me lots of tweets about what was happening, but it was so hard! I was missing out!   But I'm going to get to the next one for sure. It's in Fremantle in Western Australia next August and I've already put the dates in the diary. I'm planning my trip already :-)

And what would top off next year's conference for me? Why a few book sales for this version of me of course! So that's why I spent the weekend with a concerted effort to get the writing back on track.

I have a story finished that I'm doing some heavy duty editing on. It won an Honorable Mention a few years ago in the Stroke of Midnight contest with the RWA Passionate Ink group, but I haven't sold it yet. I decided it still needed some work and that's what I've been doing this weekend. I am about half way through and I hope to have it ready for a beta read by the end of this coming week. So fingers crossed for me that it happens :-) After that, a few more fine tunes and I'll be submitting it. Whoo hoo!

The other project I worked on this week was a story for my other persona. I added about 2k words so that's not so shabby. I hope to finish this one asap as my publisher would love it!

Did I tell you that I subbed a romantic suspense novel of mine?? Go ME!   Now the nail biting wait continues.  I've been good - no obsessive checking of emails :-) We'll see.

So that's how I went. How did you go?

My weekend in writing...

Happy weekend folks. I hope you're getting to all those jobs you want to achieve this weekend. I know I'm doing pretty well myself so far, so fingers crossed the momentum continues.

Goals for this weekend:
1. Finish editing short story for TWC anthology - check!
2. Finish revising RS and submit to publisher - check!
3. Work on novella for my other persona - not yet but hopeful!

I suppose I should tell you a little bit about numbers 1 & 2 :-)

The short story is for an anthology with my writers group - we're forming a co-operative to publish our own work. There are 9 of us, and several are published already, so we're all helping out with content editing, line editing and formatting. It's almost ready to go so watch this space!  My story is a contemporary romance and it's set in Sydney. That's all I can tell you for now. You'll have to be patient :-)

The romantic suspense is a novel I wrote some time back, had it published briefly with a now defunct publisher, so I revised it and updated it and I've sent it off to a new publisher. Hopefully they'll like the partial and ask for the full - but geez Louise it's so long since I sent in a submission to a new publisher, I am so nervous!  I'm trying hard not to second guess what they will say, plus making sure I don't re read what I wrote because there's nothing I can do to change it now!  Talk about scary!

So that's my weekend in writing - how's yours going?

CRAFT: Increase the Intensity

WRITING ROMANTIC SUSPENSE PART SEVEN - Increase the Intensity

One sure fire way to keep the intensity of the romance balanced with the suspense is to have the characters together as often as possible. In some cases you will find them together all the way through the book. This forces the protagonists to grow together emotionally. They need to build a relationship of trust for each other while at the same time battling the bad guys.

The suspense plot itself can create a rollercoaster ride of emotions as events occur and the characters are placed in such danger or action that it makes our hearts pound in fear and worry. Will they survive? How do they get out of this seemingly impossible situation?

You can go about this a few ways. First you can keep your reader guessing as much as your characters. When something happens, they are as surprised as the characters involved. This works well in a number of situations.

Another way is to have the reader know the facts while the characters have no idea. The reader knows that a villain is watching and waiting for the heroine to arrive home late at night. The heroine has no idea and goes happily along,

following her normal routine while the readers are on the edge of their seats worried about the heroine and what is going to happen to her. They might even shout at her to run while she still has the chance. 

This emotional involvement of the reader enhances their enjoyment, and when the main characters eventually get together there is more satisfaction due to this higher degree of caring for the welfare of the characters.

After a suspenseful event, there is an affirmation of life as the characters and the readers rejoice in another escape from danger.

So now you have some ideas to work with…

Creating romantic suspense can be a very rewarding experience. Getting the balance between the romance and the suspense is a simple process if you remember that there are no hard and fast rules. The characters have a need for each other that is enhanced by the danger of the suspense, and the thrill of being together through the experience. This is what makes for satisfying reading and is why we continue to come back for more.

Thank you for dropping by and reading my seven part series on Writing Romantic Suspense.  I'll be sharing more craft at a later date. In the mean time stick around and share my writing journey with me. I'd love to have you :-)

CRAFT: Make the conflict strong!

Writing romantic suspense: Part 6

Make the Conflict Strong

Robert McKee says that nothing moves forward in a story except through conflict. Not only is conflict a necessary part of the story, but both the internal and external conflict must be strong enough to last until the end of the story. Conflict adds excitement and suspense to a story. In romance fiction, there has to be valid reasons to keep the main characters from forming a lasting relationship until the end of the book. 

Internal conflict is a struggle that takes place in a character's mind. For example, a character may have to decide between right and wrong or between two solutions to a problem. Sometimes, a character must deal with his or her own mixed feelings or emotions.  It can be as simple as a need for independence or as complex as some deep-seated fear from childhood. 

In allowing the reader to have knowledge and understanding of this emotional baggage or internal conflict, you also give the characters room to evolve and grow. As the story progresses, the internal conflicts assume less importance as the characters learn to trust each other and gain in maturity. If done well, this process of character growth enhances the romance plot and can provide the resolution the reader is waiting for.

The external conflict is the circumstances that keeps the characters apart. In suspense, this is often the obstacle of the situation. For example a crazed killer may be stalking the heroine and she is in constant danger. The hero and heroine are working undercover thus preventing them from being together at least until the case is resolved.

Some common examples of conflict in an romantic suspense...

Internal Conflict (character against self)

The heroine has a deep fear of clowns, but finds herself hiding in a circus community. She needs to overcome this fear to help solve the mystery and save her life.

External Conflict (character against character/s, or character against nature, or character against circumstance)

Just when the hero and heroine begin to feel something for each other, the villain captures the hero and threatens his life. The heroine must outwit the enemy, even though she's never held a gun before in her life, and there is no one she can trust.

EXERCISE:

Write down an example of an internal and an external conflict?

You can use characters you have already created, or new characters