Monday, December 23, 2013

Christmas Blogging 101

BLOG HOPPING OVER CHRISTMAS...OH WHAT FUN IT IS TO BLOG...

Thanks to Brenda Taylor and Margaret Daly for inviting me on this blog tour. My week is December 23-29. Check out Brenda's blog  at: http://www.houseofpassage.org/bethabara-journal/ -

See more at: http://www.margaretdaley.com/2013/12/

Be sure to check out Margaret Daley's blog information too. Lots to see; Lots of giveaways listed there. Watch for Margaret's Special on December 30th. http://cyberlaunchparty.blogspot.com/2013/12/celebrating-claire-fullertons-debut.html


Debut author for you to look into also. You'll want to celebrate with Claire Fullerton! Her new book A PORTAL IN TIME is an exciting read! http://cyberlaunchparty.blogspot.com/2013/12/celebrating-claire-fullertons-debut.html 

Speaking again of Brenda B Taylor, check out her books: HEAVEN MUST WAIT, FOLLOW YOUR HEART, and HEALING in HIS WINGS. You can find out more at:  http://www.houseofpassage.org  and beth@houseofpassage.org

I am looking forward to doing a giveaway of my newest release SECOND TIME PROMISE. (A Christmas Story)
Drop me a note over the holidays. I love giving away presents.

Some of you have not met me. Here is a little about my newest book and me and a small glimpse of my writing world.  Some of the questions that have recently been asked me are the following:

1.    What are you working on right now?

My work in progress is the fourth book in my Decisions series for Desert Breeze Publishing. I began this series with Book One - Say Goodbye to Yesterday, Book Two  - That Impossible Dream, Book Three - Second Time Promise. Book Four (my WIP) is Not Quite an Angel  

2. How does it differ from other works in its genre? 

As I am continuing to work with various members of the same family - The Virginia Jordans. (I have been pleased by the encouragement I have received from my readers who look forward to finding out what happens to the younger sister, or the twin brother, or a cousin in the Jordan family.) It shows me they are engaged in the family saga. 

What's different for this fourth book (also historical-inspirational romance) is the setting change. (in Not Quite an Angel, we have moved over to the West Coast in 1906 where before we were back in the late 1800s back east in Virginia, New York, Mississippi, and Louisiana. This story will take my main characters to England.) It's a traveling crowd. J

I write character-driven stories, but I also like to include a good amount of suspense and unusual conflict situations -- events that happened during the particular time period. For example, The War Between the States, during a train wreck that truly occurred at that time, during a tornado that actually happened, and the one I'm in now is still a surprise. (I suppose knowing it's in 1906 and in San Francisco, might offer a hint to those familiar with this time period.)

3.  Why do you write what you do?   

 
I love historical romance. I love the culture of the past, the research the writer needs, the dress, the mannerisms, and the sense of innocence even though that innocence was not real. I especially like digging deep to bring out what's so often hidden to the world about what many went through during the Victorian and Elizabethan Eras. They weren’t near as innocent as given to believe.

Some readers have at first wondered at the believability of the stories. Research reveals amazing information. J

4. How does your writing process work?

 
I start early in the morning and write off and on throughout the day with a continuous cup of coffee until about 5:30 or 6:00 at night. My editor will testify that I tend to write slowly. I wander backward on a regular basis to make changes, and to tighten up my prose and tweak the characters as I move from one chapter to the next. I love that about writing. It's your story so you can make changes whenever you feel like it before you get to wherever it is you are going. I am also a seat-of-the-pants writer for the most part. My plots develop gradually, though I know how the story will end before I arrive there.

You may want to include a blurb and excerpt from the book you are promoting.

At present I hope to share with you a little about Book Three (Second Time Promise) which was released in E-Book in October and will release in print next month.

My back page blurb just to entice you a little:

Raised by an unstable and controlling guardian, an over-protective brother, and a boat-captain grandfather, Collette Moreau's upbringing has hardly been conventional. Seeking a more refined future, she sets her hopes on marriage to an English Baron's nephew -- a choice any woman would make.

When the wedding gets postponed, Collette decides to visit an ailing uncle and learns he's not only been keeping family secrets, he disapproves of her fiancé. Uncle Henry engages the services of the passionate Christian Jordan -- suspected womanizer. His plan is to induce Collette away from her betrothed toward Mr. Jordan, or, if necessary, toward Christian's pious and meddling brother, the community parson.

Should Collette comply with such a preposterous whim of some distant kin? What sensible woman would agree to be wooed by a possible Romeo or religious zealot when she's about to wed Baron Kirkland Dewey's distinguished nephew?

Here is an excerpt:

"Didn't expect you'd be entertaining a man so early, did you?" he perused her.

Collette flushed. How would he know what I'm thinking? She limped toward the door, trying to appear at ease, but stopped at the arch before entering the hall. She glanced back. "Well, I must be going. Goodbye…" she started but didn't finish.

He lowered his gaze. "Please don't think you must leave, Collette, unless you wish to go and tend your unfortunate injury." He gazed briefly over at the display table. "Though I'm sure anyone would be pleased nothing happened to your vase, for this would have also been unfortunate. Naturally, you did your best to save the poor thing. At the same time, I do feel sorry for your poor table's leg." He chuckled. "If there's anything I can do…"

She rolled her eyes.

"Apparently not."

She started out toward the hallway. "I must be going.'

Christian meandered toward her. "But you were admiring the view, and here I've disturbed you. Don't think you must leave on account of me."

Collette waved her hand. "This is the first day of 1900, sir. I merely wanted to welcome in the New Year. Now that I'm finished…I'll be on my way."

He chuckled again, drawing attention to his white teeth and deep dimpled cheeks. "As I was about to do." He drew in a bit too close.

Edging away, she glanced warily at the stairs. Oh, to get back to my chamber right now.

"Who knows what this year shall bring us, eh, Collette?"

"Yes, who knows?" She swallowed. Swinging back, she looked directly into his sparkling eyes, the heat rising from her neck and onto her cheeks.

Christian twisted his mustache. "Hot?"
 
She scowled at him. "Of course not." She cleared her throat. "I really must be..."
 
"Take our departure tomorrow, my dear Collette," he interrupted. "I can't think of a more interesting way to bring in all kinds of surprises, don't you agree?"

 

Come see me at my Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/ShirleyKigerConnollyAuthor 

And at Twitter:


All my books and those of the authors listed above can be found anyplace on line, to include, Amazon, Christian Book Distributors, Barnes and Noble, and mine, through my publishers at Desert Breeze Publishing, and Vinspire Publishing.

As I mentioned above, I will be doing a Christmas giveaway of one of my books (Flame from Within, Say Goodbye to Yesterday, That Impossible Dream) in print or ebook, or one of my newest release, Second Time Promise (in ebook) for a who leaves a comment.

 
 



 

1 comment:

  1. a very interesting information, with this insight we are getting, thanks a lot for various information
    obat dakriosistitis tradisional

    ReplyDelete