Why Can't Blurbs Write Themselves?

 

        Hello, gentle readers! Hope you are all well and staying safe!

So, I’m working on the Cover Art Form that my publisher sent me for The Maverick & Miss Miller. This is what an author fills out for what they’d like to see on the cover of their book (the manuscript is currently with my editor and I’m so excited!).

        Most of the questions are basic. What does your hero look like? What does your heroine look like? How are they dressed? What would I like to see in the background? Easy stuff really because I’ve lived with this story and these characters for a long time. I know what he looks like (tall, dark and handsome, of course), how his smile is a little bit crooked but utterly charming, how he moves, how he thinks.

        I know the same about her (because I wrote her…or rather, I started her but she kinda took over after a bit). I know she prefers split skirts and frilly blouses when working on the ranch. I know she loves to grow roses. I know she loves her nieces and nephews, their spouses, and their children—after all, she raised them. I know she is beautiful, inside (where it counts most) and out. And yes, I know exactly what she looks like.

        So, the form was being filled out fairly quickly because I know this stuff…and then I came to a crashing halt.

        One of the things I need to provide is the blurb that will appear on the back of the book…and I am struggling, which begs the question, how can I write a ninety-seven-thousand-word story, but struggle over a 150-word blurb? I struggle with synopses, too, again, asking myself how in the world can I condense that many words into two or three pages?

        It ain’t easy!

        I’m working through it though (with help, thankfully). Seriously, I couldn’t do this without my fabulous critique partner or generous-with-her-time dear friend who always have ways to make things better.

        In the meantime, one of my beta readers sent back her comments and suggestions for Wife By Surprise so I’m working on that as well. And I’m working on The Marshal & Mrs. Morgan, too. I think I’m a little bit busy (and that doesn’t include the day job, which is crazy at the moment!).

        All that being said, I need to get back to that blurb. As much as I wish it, it won’t write itself.

        Stay well! Stay safe! And remember to spread kindness wherever you go!

Marie

Golden by Shannon Mayer

 A wickedly cute read!  Cats, dogs, wolves, and witches collide to figure out how to kick ass on the bad members of the community.

Cin is nearly murdered in a violent display from her wolf brothers directed by her witch of a mother.  And her mother has a powerful enemy who takes it out on Cin.

The curse Cin isn't able to avoid turns her into a golden retriever by day and she's herself for the nighttime with the codicil that she can't talk.  This is quite the problem when her appointed mate, Havoc, adopts her fury self.  Havoc's brother Han is a lot nicer to her, in a way.

Cin makes a handful of great friends after she leaves her pack and is in hiding from the relatives.  Great friends with great magic and schemes to save her, but with the constant and treacherous scenes that seem inescapable.  

Back to Havoc and Han and their family feud.  Can the fight between the brothers help Cin and lead her to a loving mate?  As long as she doesn't get killed.  I like to believe love is stronger than murder and root for Cin and her gangly group of friends to bring love as the final straw.

Happy reading,

Dawn

Editing Can Be Brutal

 

        Hello, gentle readers! Hope you are all well and staying safe!

Hope you all had a Happy Fourth of July weekend! My respect, as always, to those who fought for freedom…and continue to fight for that freedom to this day.

        It’s early Sunday morning as I write this (and already hot…but what do I expect living in Phoenix?). Apparently, we broke a record recently (I think it was 118 degrees on Friday…not really the kind of record I want to see broken). It’s all good though. I’ve been hibernating in my house…in the air conditioning (yes, listening to the constant hum, praying it will last the rest of this year).  

So, what have I been doing while I’ve been hibernating? I took advantage of the holiday and added a day of PTO so I’ve had four days off from the day job (which is really nice but I’ll be paying for it on Monday…and probably the rest of the week) and printed out Wife By Surprise. You may remember that I finished writing the story in May, but I’ve been letting it sit for a bit before I begin editing. That’s part of my process. That space of time lets me look at the story with fresh —sorta—though I’m always surprised when I read something I wrote and it’s particularly striking and I wonder ‘who wrote that?'. The opposite is true as well. The dogs can vouch for me when I frequently  ask aloud, ‘who wrote this $&#$#*&$?’ as I brutally cross it out with my red pen.

Yeah, sometimes there’s a lot of red on my pages (I can be pretty ruthless with that red pen) but that’s all right. It’s part of the whole writing thing. And it’s an opportunity to make the story better (and find those too often repeated words and phrases), which is the whole point. I read the entire thing out loud on Thursday (no, I had no voice left after that) and made all my corrections on Friday (with the help of several very good writing tools, books I cannot live without).

Now that all the corrections have been made (and I'm still happy with the results), I’m ready to send it off to my beta readers, the next part of the process. And while they are reading and making comments, I’ll continue working on The Marshal and Mrs. Morgan, which is coming along pretty well.  

Stay well! Stay safe! And remember to spread kindness wherever you go!

Marie

Make Me Shiver by Heather Slade

 There are still dukes and duchesses, spies, and assassins in the current world.

The Duke of Wells, nicknamed Shiver, is in line to move up when his ailing father dies.  Intelligent and iconically good looking, he has a problem that keeps him on his toes other than running a county in the near future.  His problem comes in the female form with a lot of metaphorical fires to put out.  

Losha is her name.  The rest about her is unimaginable such as she is a former Russian assassin on the run with her baby.  Once the property of Russia, it's impossible to divorce yourself from the government's grip.  She has a bounty on her head and only a few people she can trust to help her escape.  

With a large team to help him find Losha, Shiver will not stop his search and believes he can save her and the baby, no matter who the father is.  

Their past, filled with intensity and lust and love, does not allow Losha to give in to Shiver.  It's a path of deception, killing, and hiding until a romance may have a chance if the heart wins on both sides of the game.

Happy reading,

Dawn

Surprise! It's Me Again!

 

Are you surprised? 

You’re probably asking yourself—didn’t she post last week? The answer would be yes. I did BUT if you’ve read any of my blogs before, then you know what a routine oriented person I am and well…last week’s post was a week late! I know! How did that happen? I don’t know but this is my effort to get back on schedule!

        Speaking of breaking routines, the DH and I went to a movie. AT THE THEATRE! ON A SCHOOL NIGHT! This was also out of routine, not to mention out of character…the DH and I very rarely ever go to the movies…the last time was when ‘The Lost City’ with Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum came out! So it’s been what? Two years? Longer?

        Anyway, our neighbors (very lovely people…we are so fortunate to have them) invited us. We saw The Bikeriders (the DH, before his back surgery, used to ride motorcycles so we both wanted to see this). The movie was based on a true story and I thought it was very good, very well done. I thoroughly enjoyed it (so did the DH). And that Austin Butler is so easy on the eyes. Now, to the important question…did I have popcorn? Oh, you bet. Love movie theatre popcorn. I’m ashamed to say I nearly finished the bag (the BIG bag) and what I didn’t finish that night, I finished the next day. I know. Shouldn’t have done it but I couldn’t seem to resist. Even cold, movie theatre popcorn is the best (not to mention highly addicting).  

        Breaking my routine and going to a movie was a nice respite from the day job, which is crazy busy (but when isn’t it?). I feel like I’m a day late and a dollar short, but that’s the nature of the beast, I guess. I just celebrated my five-year anniversary there (I was a contract employee for eighteen months before I was hired on full time…on my grandfather’s birthday, which I consider a good omen).

        The writing is going well, too. The romance between The Marshal and Mrs. Morgan is progressing as it should, which makes me happy and I hope makes readers happy.

And here we are! I am back on my schedule! Whoooo-hooo! That makes me happy!  

Stay well! Stay safe! And remember to spread kindness wherever you go!

Marie

BETWEEN A ROCK AND A COWBOY by Lexi Post has released!

 

Between a Rock and a Cowboy (Rocky Road Ranch: Book 1) 

by Lexi Post

has released!

Tanner Dunn must take the reins of the Rocky Road cattle ranch after his father’s stroke. With a brother long gone, a brother deployed, and his youngest brother wanting to leave for his own career, he has his hands full. Still, he’s adamant his father receives the best care. But when their adversary’s daughter, Amanda Hayden Davis, arrives to provide his father’s therapy because she’s the best, it becomes more than he’s willing to shoulder.

Amanda is not happy she’s been assigned to the patriarch of the Dunn family, nor that she is the first Hayden to step foot on Rocky Road Ranch in over twenty years. But she’s a ray of sunshine compared to the grumpy eldest son. When she’s told to leave before she’s started her work, she doesn’t budge. No one tells her what to do. She willingly argues with Tanner, often winning. Despite that, she finds herself respecting his work ethic, his moral compass, and his heart. It doesn’t help that he also has the shoulders of her dreams and looks amazing in a suit.

Tanner admits he’s grateful for Amanda’s efforts with his dad, but that doesn’t mitigate the damage her family has done to them over the years. It’s the Hayden’s fault Rocky Road may have to become a Dude ranch, something Tanner has fought against for the last year. The problem is, he’s fighting his attraction to Amanda as well. Not only is she kind, but she has a zest for life that he can’t resist. But if he gives in to her, will he lose the ranch? Or will resisting her be the biggest mistake of his life?

Amazon 

Amazon CA 

Amazon UK 

Amazon AU  

About Lexi:

Lexi Post is a New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of romance inspired by the classics. She spent years in higher education taking and teaching courses about the classical literature she loved. From Edgar Allan Poe's short story “The Masque of the Red Death” to Tolstoy’s War and Peace, she's read, studied, and taught wonderful classics.

But Lexi's first love is romance novels so she married her two first loves, romance and the classics. Whether it’s sizzling cowboys, dashing dukes, hot immortals, or hunks from out of this world, Lexi provides a sensuous experience with a “whole lotta story.”

Lexi is living her own happily ever after with her husband and her two cats in Florida. She makes her own ice cream every weekend, loves bright colors, and you’ll never see her without a hat.

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BETWEEN A ROCK AND A COWBOY by Lexi Post is available for Preorder

 

Between a Rock and a Cowboy (Rocky Road Ranch: Book 1) 

by Lexi Post

is now available for Preorder

Releasing June 25th

Tanner Dunn must take the reins of the Rocky Road cattle ranch after his father’s stroke. With a brother long gone, a brother deployed, and his youngest brother wanting to leave for his own career, he has his hands full. Still, he’s adamant his father receives the best care. But when their adversary’s daughter, Amanda Hayden Davis, arrives to provide his father’s therapy because she’s the best, it becomes more than he’s willing to shoulder.

Amanda is not happy she’s been assigned to the patriarch of the Dunn family, nor that she is the first Hayden to step foot on Rocky Road Ranch in over twenty years. But she’s a ray of sunshine compared to the grumpy eldest son. When she’s told to leave before she’s started her work, she doesn’t budge. No one tells her what to do. She willingly argues with Tanner, often winning. Despite that, she finds herself respecting his work ethic, his moral compass, and his heart. It doesn’t help that he also has the shoulders of her dreams and looks amazing in a suit.

Tanner admits he’s grateful for Amanda’s efforts with his dad, but that doesn’t mitigate the damage her family has done to them over the years. It’s the Hayden’s fault Rocky Road may have to become a Dude ranch, something Tanner has fought against for the last year. The problem is, he’s fighting his attraction to Amanda as well. Not only is she kind, but she has a zest for life that he can’t resist. But if he gives in to her, will he lose the ranch? Or will resisting her be the biggest mistake of his life?

Amazon 

Amazon CA 

Amazon UK 

Amazon AU  

Releasing June 25th!