My Pinterest Addiction Saves the Day! Again.

There's this little website a few people have heard of....Kidding! It's PINTEREST! My crazy enthusiasm is in direct correlation to my obsession with this site. A friend of mine sent me an invitation to join Pinterest a while back when the site was just getting off the ground. I registered, then left it alone, unsure what to do with such a strange animal.

Then, while on twitter (where I live and breath and haunt) I saw an agent posting links to recipes. I don't cook, but they were pretty pictures - from Pinterest. Then, one of my favorite authors shared pins of funny things that inspired or encouraged her. It got my attention. I wandered back to my account and looked at my very pitiful and mostly empty boards, then left again, but within a few months everywhere I turned was another post, update or tweet about the site and I took the hint. There was something about Pinterest that attracted everyone. I was missing it. So, I gave it another try. (I HATE missing out on things).

I logged in, took a deep breath and started a new board. I gave it a lame title and I searched for things that went with the manuscript I was working on at the time. Four hours later....<-- see what happened there? I had a nice arrangement of things that inspired me and my story. As the days went by, if I struggled with the plot, I looked at the board. I used all the visual clues I saved up to deepen my internal picture of the island where my story takes place. I read the little funnies I thought my characters might say, and I found a renewed vigor in my voice. Now, I'm not completely crediting Pinterest with my success, I mean, I had a little something to do with it...I hope, but that fateful board led me to the completion of my very first cozy mystery novel. That same cozy mystery landed me a gig with Carina Press! Not too bad for a site I didn't know what to do with for months.

As it turns out, I'm a visual person too. Who knew? For years, I've thought of myself as limited to words and imagination. Using a new site to match visuals with my ideas opened doors for me and taught me things about how I think and what I believe and how badly I need new clothes! I now have dozens of pin boards (You can see my Pinterest here) and I've created one for each of the books I started working on. I'd love to share the board for my upcoming cozy, Murder by the Seaside. If your curious about the board that kept me going, that was the one. That's where it all began AND as an added bonus, when the publisher contacted me looking for the tone and feeling of my book - they were putting together a cover. (A COVER!!) I used words as well as possible to answer their questions, and then I pointed them to Pinterest! Hey, my board says things with pictures that I can't always capture in words - at least not without rambling, which I do, as you see :)

If you're on Pinterest, look me up! I love finding new pinning pals to follow :)

Sexpectations

As a Romantic Suspense author I'm in the enviable position (sometimes) of attracting readers from across both the Romance and Thrillers/Mystery genres. But though I might attract more readers by crossing genre lines, I also get a little more criticism. What gets me in trouble the most is never how graphically I kill someone, but how often and how explicitly my hero and heroine have sex. For some people--a small minority who probably don't realize the books are Romantic Suspense or just have no idea what the Romantic Suspense genre entails--murder and maiming is fine, but god help me if someone has an orgasm :) I am totally okay with people having their own set of values when it comes to reading about 'bedroom acts' (or 'kitchen' or 'wherever'...) but it never fails to amaze me that people can be fine with killing--gleeful even--and yet recoil at the idea of a little physical intimacy between people who are falling in love. 

I remember watching a Desmond Morris TV series in the nineties that took married couples who were very much in love and making them abstain from sex for several months. It didn't take long for cracks to form in the relations. What had been mutually supportive relationships became fractured and tense. The researchers postulated that men and women are different (ha!) in that men need sex to feel love and women need love to have sex.

It's an interesting idea.

Sex is important in a relationship. Even when people aren't having any, sex is very important in a relationship.

Love and romance are all tied up with sex in my mind. Maybe its the biologist in me, trying to make sense of something which is essentially nebulous. I mean, why is one person attracted to another? I really don't know on a general level, but I do know when it comes to the characters I create.

I personally like to read Romances that are both sexy and subtle. I like hot and I like sweet. But for some reason my stories generally veer toward hot. I have no idea why. I hope I don't upset readers with my sex scenes. I'd hate to do that. But I also don't write sex scenes wondering how people might react (else I might have anticipated my sister-in-laws comment about the height of kitchen counters while we were eating Christmas dinner). I'd never write another word if I allowed readers to intrude on my thoughts when I'm supposed to be in someone else's head. (Is this complicated enough for everyone? Multiple personality head hopping during the writing of sex scenes?).

However, my latest book, The Killing Game, only has one sex scene in the whole thing (that's what the story needed). Ironically I'm now worried I'll be criticized for not having enough sex in an action-adventure romance. For the main part, I am blessed by having readers who happen to like the same blend of Romance and Suspense that I do.

So, the climatic question of the day: How much is too much??

Wildlife biologist Axelle Dehn isn’t about to let anyone harm her endangered snow leopards—not the poacher intent on killing them, nor the soldier who wants to use them as bait. But Axelle is unknowingly entangled in a conflict that stretches back three decades, a conflict that could spark a war between two of the world’s great nations.

​

British SAS soldier, Ty Dempsey, is on a mission to hunt down an infamous Russian terrorist in a remote region of Afghanistan. Dempsey hasn’t failed a mission yet, but when Axelle is kidnapped by the Russian, he is forced to choose between duty and his heart. He risks everything to save the determined, prickly woman he’s fallen for, but in doing so sparks a deadly series of events that threaten to expose the most successful spy in history. A spy who will destroy anyone who gets in his way.


The Killing Game is available from Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.co.uk, Kobo, nook, Smashwords, and Apple. And in print from Createspace.

A Friend Who Helped Me Face My Fears

When I learned the date I was scheduled to write a post for this blog a chill ran down my spine. April 24th was the day a very close friend died suddenly while running in Rock Creek Park in Washington, DC.  Jim was a divorce attorney—a mediator, really, because he was a big believer in there being two sides to every broken relationship. I never watched him mediate between two angry, hurting people, but I spent enough time around him to know he was perfect for the job. Jim was one of the clearest thinkers and best listeners I've ever known.

Like most of my friends in Washington, Jim was way into politics and international affairs, and loved to debate and argue the issues from all sides. But what really fascinated him was listening to people's personal stories, the more complex the better, and analyze how their childhood scars and adolescent traumas shaped them. So when I started writing romantic suspense featuring deeply flawed, damaged characters, Jim eagerly offered himself as a sounding board. I didn't have much confidence as a writer back then, and he was a very busy man, so at first I declined his help. But he was the kind of guy who inspired trust in people, and he ultimately persuaded me to go out on a limb and let him read my very first manuscript. I still cringe at the memory of how afraid I was that he'd think less of me for having written such schlock.  

Looking back at that first book, which I called Headmistress, it's clear that Jim was not only generous with his time (the thing was a 500-page monster), his critique was incisive (and kind!) and challenged me to stretch myself as a writer. He insisted I send it out to editors, which I did, without success. Years later I borrowed from that early manuscript, and Jim's critique, to launch a dark, sensuous book about a school mistress called Son of the Enemy, which will be released in June. I like to think he would be proud of me if he read it.

Was there someone in your life who inspired you to break through your fears and go for it?  Please share your stories!

—Ana Barrons

STANDING THERE NAKED

STANDING THERE NAKED

Have you ever considered how much your writing reveals?  I don’t mean what you write, I mean your handwriting.  How you use what your grammar school teacher called the Palmer Method.  It gives you away.  Every time.

            Take those long, loopy “y’s” and “g’s” at the end of a word when the final loop swings back up—that means you’re sensual and making the most of it.  Those “a’s” that don’t quite close?  You’re talkative, great company, but maybe, just maybe, you spill secrets.  Like what happened last night at . . .

            Is there a little hook at the beginning of capital letters such as “H,” say or “M?”  If so, you want to keep a grasp on everything you’ve worked so hard to achieve.  A husband?  Those royalty checks?  Then there are people who top off their lower case “i’s” with little round circles . . . . do you do that?  Hmm.

For graphologists, hundreds of subtle nuances in strokes like these expose our well hidden selves, the ones we think we’re keeping private.  The truth is that every time we take pen to paper, the story we’re really telling, whether we know it or not, is about ourselves.

But not to worry.  The Age of Texting has arrived.  We’ve been saved by the iPad.  Or the Smart Phone.  For who writes in cursive anymore?  Writing with a pen is becoming a dying art.  In fact some schools no longer teach cursive in the beginning grades. And u can 4get about spelling while you’re at it.

For those of us who make a career out of the written word, what we say has always been the primary way we reveal ourselves to others.  So the loss of cursive writing may not affect us deeply.

Come to think of it, not having to take pen to paper may come as a big relief to a lot of people.  Take the college sophomore who recently wrote a note to his Aunt Jane.  She read it, realized he was depressed—she could tell from the way his final words drooped on the page—and told his mother to get to him immediately before something dire happened.  All he thought he’d done was write a thank you for the Christmas fruitcake.

P.S. For an excerpt  from Killer Kitchens, Jean’s  latest cozy mystery, take a peek at www.jeanharrington.com.  She didn’t take any chances at being psyched out through her penmanship though, so the whole excerpt is typed in Times New Roman. 

Why, Why, Why!!! Tell my Why-eye eye

I was recently editing an MS making sure I’d answered all the whys in the story and I realized I had my own real life unanswered why questions. Like:
WHY doesn’t someone make a riding vacuum cleaner?

Why do people going to the gym look for a close parking space?

Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are about dead?

Why do banks charge a fee on 'insufficient funds' when they know there is insufficient money?

Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but they fricking have to check when you say the paint is wet?
Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle?
Why doesn't Tarzan have a beard?
Why does Superman stop bullets with his chest, but ducks when a revolver is thrown at him?

Why does a slight tax increase cost you $200.00 and a substantial tax cut saves you $30.00?

Why did people in the 60s take acid to make the world weird and now that the world is weird take Prozac to make it normal?

Why do hot dogs come 6 to a pack and the buns come 8 to a pack

If people evolved from apes, why are there still apes?

Why is it no matter what color bubble bath you use, the bubbles are always white?
Why is there never a day that mattresses are not on sale?

Why do people touch a pregnant woman’s belly and say congrats but never touch a guy’s penis and say good job?
Why do people constantly return to the refrigerator with hopes that something new to eat will have materialized?
Why do some people keep reading a bad book to the bitter end to see if it’s going to get better?

Why when you finally get time to watch TV there is nothing on the 10 million channels you want to watch?

Why did I get such pleasure naming my wifi connection FBIsurvan?
Why is it that whenever you attempt to catch something that's falling off the table, you always manage to knock something else over?

Did you ever think that-

Someday health nuts are going to feel stupid dying of nothing.

All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism.

Good health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.

Give a person a sandwich and you feed them for a day, teach a person to use the internet and they won't bother you for weeks.

Men have two emotions:

Hungry and Horny. ;-)  BTW if you see one without an erection, make him a sandwich.

 Some people are like a Slinky ... Not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you shove them down the stairs.

 Life is like eating a jar of Jalapeno peppers.

What you do today, might burn your ass tomorrow.  

We know exactly where one cow with Mad-cow-disease or one chicken with bird flu is located among millions but we haven't got a clue as to where criminals and terrorists are located. Maybe we should put the Department of Agriculture in charge of finding them.  

The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four persons is suffering from some sort of mental illness. Think of three friends -- if they're okay, could it be you.

Can you answer my questions?  Do you have any unanswered why questions?

Rita writes sexy stories about Extraordinary Women and the Men they Love.  http://ritahenuber.com

Can I quote you on that?

I love quotes. Little nibblets of inspiration. Lessons. Advice. I write them on post-its and stick them to my monitor. I flag and dogear keeper books where a line surprised my heart. I rip chunks out of newspapers and magazines and pin them to my bulletin board.

At times my office resembles a Rose Parade float, it’s so covered in little flaps of paper.

There are so many I love…

Sometimes they remind of who I want to be when I grow up:

Carolyn See: “All writing, all art, maybe all of life—is exactly like dating. Write one charming note to a novelist, an editor, a journalist, a poet, a sculptor, even an agent whose professional work you admire, five days a weeks for the rest of your life.”

Sometimes they remind me of how good days feel:

Gabriel Garcia Marquez: “The writing became so fluid that I sometimes felt as if I were writing for the sheer pleasure of telling a story, which may be the human condition that most resembles levitation.”

Sometimes they remind me how to survive a hard day:

Samuel Beckett: “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail better.”

This one echoed for days after a recent trip to the theater:

Shakespeare: Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt.

I took a trip recently and visited the Alhambra in Spain. 

It's a breathtaking old castle on the top of a mountain, built by Muslims over thousands of years. The Muslim faith restricts depicting certain artistic images and as a result they create amazing graphic displays of color and shape. 

And calligraphy...oh mama! they have some pretty handwriting.

It seemed to me as if the buildings of the Alhambra worshiped words. Thick tiles made of white marble are carved with swirling inscriptions and mounted along halls, or all the way around a room. 

At first, I didn't recognize I was looking at words, the shapes were so pretty. Now I can't get them out of my head. So much nicer than post-it notes!

If only I knew how to carve stone....

So...do you save quotes?

I’d love to hear some of yours!

CLICHES -- LOVE 'EM OR LEAVE 'EM?

We've all heard them, seen them in used in television, movies and advertising, or read them in books. The dreaded cliché. People use them all the time while talking. It's as natural for some as talking with your hands (which I'm totally guilty of—never stand too close when I get going—you could lose an eye. LOL) They also tend to be a regional thing. I'm from the South . . . we spout cliches here like well—like water off a duck's back.

There's a natural rhythm and familiarity to the cliché. They can be a comforting turn of phrase which takes us to a special place and time. Or reminds us of a particular friend who always used those particular word(s). In writing using cliches can be great as long as we don't overuse them. Too many and the reader will start rolling their eyes to the back of their heads.

Still they can add a nuance or flavor to the story that might not otherwise be there. Like adding an accent to the dialect, the cliché can change the ordinary to the extraordinary. Here are a few examples of some cliches I'm sure you've heard before.

Avoid it like the plague

Deader than a doornail

Grab a tiger by the tail

If these walls could talk

The pot calling the kettle black

Think outside the box

Thick as thieves

Banging your head against a brick wall

All dressed up and nowhere to go

Plenty of fish in the sea

Every dog has its day

He/she was like a kid in a candy store

Back to the salt mines

The best thing since sliced bread

Crying all the way to the bank

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet

Absence makes the heart grow fonder

These are a handful of cliches I know I've heard or read over the years. Sometimes they make a character unique and stand out in a crowd of same old, tired caricatures. But, and this caveat I'll give you for free—don't overuse them. Sprinkling a few of them throughout your story or conversation can be fun and light but too many and your creativity can be called into question, thinking you're using them as a crutch. (I've been guilty of having a few too many cliches running throughout my books and my critique partners call me on them every time.)

So, how do you feel about cliches in your stories? Do you love 'em or would you rather do without them altogether?

Why not add your own special cliches to the above list. Post them in the comment section for everybody to see and enjoy.