I’ve moved into my new house, more or less unpacked and have just returned from a welcome and relaxing few weeks at the cottage.

It’s time to get back to work. Actually, it’s time to get to work since the move means I’ve been on scheduled hiatus.

September is “back to school” month at my house and I’m no exception. I’m back in the virtual classroom with two courses next month. And, I’m very excited to offer a new course in October.

Here’s the listing:

The Journey Cycle

coming September 2010 through Yosemite Romance Writers — Heart of California RWA

Course Description:

Is your protagonist poised at the Edge of the Forest, negotiating the Trail of Breadcrumbs, or facing the Mirror on the Wall? To reach a satisfying ending to any story, be it romance or another genre, each step in the Journey requires careful deliberation if your hero or heroine is to pass the Glass Slipper Test.

This course uses the familiar, symbolic world of Fairy Tales to reinterpret the Hero’s Journey into easy to understand motifs. As a story building tool, the course examines key issues and poses a series of questions about each stage to help writers “troubleshoot” their way to the next “level”. A 2-part assignment is included with each of the 12 lectures.

Whether you are seeking a better understanding of the journey process to create a stronger story structure or you are looking for some brainstorming ideas to conquer a certain leg of that journey, this course is for you!

Power Promotion

coming September 20-

October 1, 2010 from Lowcountry Romance Writers  

Course Description:

When you know everything there is to know about your story, it’s hard to stay focused on the Big Picture.

This intensive 2 week workshop teaches you how to convert your creative concept into bite size promotional chunks that will allow you to effectively market your manuscript.

Learn:

4 pre-writing exercises to presenting characters;
3 pre-writing exercises to synthesizing your plot;
and 2 key issues that will help you identify the unique features of your story.

Alphas: Leaders of the Pack

coming October 2010 from Savvy Authors

Course Description:

You don’t like me, Bond. You don’t like my methods. You think I’m an accountant, a bean counter who’s more interested in my numbers than your instincts. … Good, because I think you’re a sexist, misogynist dinosaur. …

Judy Dench as M to Pierce Brosnan as James Bond in Goldeneye

Someone has to save our skins. Into the garbage chute, fly boy.

Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia to Harrison Ford as Han Solo in Star Wars: A New Hope

Who is he and what’s her story?

Using numerous examples from movies and books, award winning author Robin Matheson demystifies the male and female alpha archetype.

Topics include:

1. The Basics behind Pack Mentality and the Dominant Wolf

2. Key Personality Profile Traits of a Typical Alpha

3. Identifying an Alpha Skill Set

4. Goals and Motivations: The Focused Alpha

5. Archetypal Alphas

6. On Being a Man—On Being a Woman: The Alpha’s Emotional Vulnerabilities

Title: Lord Carew’s Bride 

Publication date: 1995;  re-issued as one volume with Dark Angel in 2010

Book Blurb:

Her Heart’s DilemmaSamantha Newman’s heart skipped a beat when she found herself dancing with the irresistibly handsome and notorious Earl of Rushford. This ruthless libertine, who had betrayed Samantha six years ago, was waltzing back into her life. She had vowed never again to become his plaything, yet she could not deny the strong attraction that drew her to him.

Faced with a marriage proposal and feelings that have been stirred by Rushford’s charming cousin, the Marquess of Carew, Samantha must decide if she can ignore the embers of an old passion–and ignite the flames of a new one….

Why the Book is a Keeper:

This Regency take on Beauty and the Beast is an understated treat of a read.

Balogh has a wonderful way of delving deep into the complexities of human relationships and Lord Carew’s Bride is no exception. As with the first book in the series, Dark Angel, Balogh explores society’s perceptions and assumptions about physical beauty in this story.

Disabled after a childhood accident, Hartley, Lord Carew neither whines nor pities himself. But this nice, quiet friendship turning to love story doesn’t mean these two protagonists are wimps. Disturbed by a villainous rake, who happens to be Carew’s cousin – both Samantha and Hartley show what they are made of.

The boxing match at Jackson’s where Hartley defends himself and his woman is a wonderfully written scene.

Favorite Passage:

During a ball, Samantha arranges to meet her husband before the supper waltz in the garden. Instead she meets the man who betrayed her six years ago and finds her backbone:

He had her backed up against the fountain. She could go no farther. But she was boiling with rage. …she was not going to let such a snake steal any kisses without putting up a decent fight.

She brought her knee up sharply before he got quite close enough to make it impossible. He grunted with pain and surprise and folded over, presenting his face as a tempting target before he dipped too low.

“That was for Hartley,” she said, feeling a wonderful sense of exhilaration. … She stung her hand so sharply across his face that she almost cried out in pain herself. But she was not quite done. “And this one is for me.” She snapped his head the other way with a slap to the other cheek. “Now, what was that you had to say about tasting?”

“I think,” a quiet voice said from the shadows, “my wife has made her herself perfectly clear, Lionel.”

Check out Balogh’s A Precious Jewel at Danger Zone Authors.

I’ve moved! And I’m now typing this blog post in my shiny new office. In fact, the white diamond (name of the paint color) walls are in desperate need of some art work on them. But unpacking the dozen boxes of books so I could get my desk into the room took precedence.

Nearly a month ago, I wasn’t so sure I’d make it to moving day.

In fact, my life was beginning to feel very much like a series of scenes and sequels from a comedy of errors. Only this was reality!

Quite simply a scene is an action sequence that moves the story forward. The protagonist begins the scene with a goal, which is generally thwarted (conflict). This leads to a sequel = a reaction, in which the protagonist contemplates the ramifications of the complication to her goal. She makes a decision, thus setting up the next goal, which in turn leads to the next complication and so forth.

Let’s take a look:

I arrive at the house bright and early on Day 8. The painter is behind schedule, but assures me he’ll be finished by the end of the week. I’m not worried. One wall at a time the house is being transformed into our home. This morning the closet organizer is due to arrive at 9:00a.m. to convert the his and her walk-in closet.

At 9:30 I place a call. Mr. Closet Organizer answers. Not a good sign, since he’s supposed to be here. He is coming, he assures me, but he’ll be late because he’s still filling out police reports. Two of his vans were stolen the night before.

It doesn’t take me long to decide that his situation is way worse than mine. I head off to a nearby nursery. By noon I have a new closet and a new flowering plant to brighten my backyard.

Day 9 and things are looking up. The carpet installers arrive on time. But when I check in at 3:00 in the afternoon, they are still working away and predict it will take a few more hours to finish the job. Turns out they had to go back to the shop for a special machine to smooth the surface of the floor because the old carpet had been glued to the concrete.

I decide it was the best money I ever spent to have the installers tear up the old carpet and haul it away. So what if dinner is late.

Day 10 and the electrician is on the job cutting holes in the walls to bring cable lines through so I can connect to the internet. Very important job, this, though others in the household believe the television cable is infinitely more critical. Regardless, we’re all thwarted when the electrician goes AWOL by mid-morning. Turns out a major restaurant in town had some sort of electrical emergency.

Obviously, since I’m online, the electrician reappeared. The house got painted. The movers came and moved our stuff. It’s true that I haven’t quite finished organizing the kitchen, despite being here for a week.

But I’ve decided I can’t keep my polar bears waiting any longer. Tomorrow, I’ll be hanging a few pictures in my office.

June is a traditional month for weddings, so I thought it appropriate to take a look at two stories that deal with this very subject.

As romance writers, our goal is to provide a satisfying story that closes on a Happily Ever After ending. As readers of romance, we enjoy the twists and turns of events that lead the protagonists to that very conclusion.

Although a wedding, or at least the anticipation of one, is no longer necessary, or even desirable for the HEA to occur, the stories of Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and other Fairy Tale heroines continue to reinforce weddings as the gateway to achieving that HEA state.

Which is one of the reasons I so enjoy these two stories. In reality, a wedding is really the Inciting Incident for a whole other journey.

Title: Born to Wed in Marriage for Keeps

Publication Date: 1999

Author: Gina Wilkins

Book Blurb:

Sasha and Alan have known each other their entire lives. Their parents are best friends, and even own a vacation cabin together. Neither the anxious bride nor the jittery groom realize that the other has beat a hasty retreat to the cabin to figure out how to call off the perfect wedding!

Why the Book is a Keeper:

For starters, I loved the opening line: “Sasha Gregory was being smothered by satin and lace, strangled by strands of pearls, buried beneath boatloads of silver-wrapped presents.”

It brought back a few memories and a nostalgic smile or two of the chaos and stress that surrounds a wedding day.

But this story isn’t about a wedding. It’s about two people taking a second, good hard look at the person they are imminently about to marry, foibles and all and deciding—because yes, there is a Happily Ever After ending—to “go for it” anyway.

Favorite Passage:

Sasha and Alan are eating lunch at the cabin discussing what to do about a stray dog they’ve found. Alan reminds Sasha that his apartment building has a no pets rule:

“I know,” she said grimly, watching him take another neat bite of his sandwich. … “Don’t you ever eat clockwise around your plate?” she asked in a sudden burst of irritation. “Or take two bites of something before moving to the next item?”

He faltered. His eyebrows rising. “Excuse me?”

She pushed her plate away, the meal only half eaten, but her appetite gone. “One bite of every dish, counterclockwise around your plate. When you eat ice cream sundaes, you eat the cherry first, then the whipped cream. You finish each layer of a strawberry shortcake before moving to the next layer. It drives me crazy.”

“I didn’t realize my eating habits were so annoying to you.” His voice was chilly.

“They’re so…predictable,” she complained. “Just like so many other things you do.”

“Such as?”

“The way you read the newspaper. You first stack it in the same order every time—news first, then business, then sports, then entertainment, then the rest. After you finish each section, you fold it, set it aside, then wipe your hands on a tissue before picking up the next section.”

“I don’t like newsprint smudges on my hands,” he said stiffly.

“And the way you get dressed in the morning.…

On a roll now, she forged on, unable to hold in observations that had been nagging at her for weeks. “…And then you recheck everything before you leave your apartment. Twice.”

His expression was thunderous, his voice icy. “At least I don’t have to go back inside half a dozen times every time I retrieve things I’ve forgotten.”

She lifted an eyebrow, realizing he’d just struck back. “I beg your pardon?”

“Every time we try to go someplace, I have to wait because you forgot your lipstick. Or your contact case. Or your jacket. Or your checkbook. Or maybe your…”

“I get the picture,” she cut in through clenched teeth.

But now he was on a roll obviously as bothered by her quirks as she was by his.

Find out what my second wedding related story pick is at Danger Zone Authors.

Author: Loretta Chase

Publication Date: 1995

Book Blurb:

They call him many names but Angelic isn’t one of them…

Sebastian Ballister, the notorious Marquess of Dain, is big, bad, and dangerous to know. No respectable woman would have anything to do with the “Bane and Blight of the Ballisters”–and he wants nothing to do with respectable women. He’s determined to continue doing what he does best–sin and sin again–and all that’s going swimmingly, thank you…until the day a shop door opens and she walks in.

She’s too intelligent to fall for the worst man in the world…

Jessica Trent is a determined young woman, and she’s going to drag her imbecile brother off the road to ruin, no matter what it takes. If saving him–and with him, her family and future–means taking on the devil himself, she won’t back down. The trouble is, the devil in question is so shockingly irresistible, and the person who needs the most saving is–herself!

Why the Book is a Keeper:

There is a reason this historical take on the classic Beauty and the Beast tale appears on many Top Ten lists. Dain is a wonderfully realized Tormented Hero, whose journey to personal growth and happiness is at times humorous, at others heartbreaking. He’s brash and crass and very used to getting his own way until he meets his match in spunky spinster, Jessica.

The verbal sparring between Dain and Jessica is worth the price admission.

Case in point is their first meeting in an antique shop in Paris, which Jessica enters with her non-too-bright brother who engages Dain in conversation while Jessica looks about:

All Dain could ascertain was that the female wore a blue overgarment of some sort and one of the hideously overdecorated bonnets currently in fashion.

“I particularly recommend,” he went on, his eyes upon the female, “that you resist the temptation to count if you are contemplating a gift for your chère amie. Women deal in a higher mathematical realm than men, especially when it comes to gifts.”

“That, Bertie, is a consequence of the feminine brain having reached a more advanced state of development,” said the female without looking up. “She recognizes that the selection of a gift requires the balancing of a profoundly complicated moral, psychological, aesthetic, and sentimental equation. I should not recommend that a mere male attempt to involve himself in the delicate process of balancing it, especially by the primitive method of counting.”

For one unsettling moment, it seemed to Lord Dain that someone had just shoved his head into a privy.

The dialogue and the story only get better and better.

Favorite Passage:

Jessica has taken Dain to the moors. Up until now, she’s taken care of a difficult and delicate issue that Dain wants no part of, but when she faces an ultimatum that requires her to do something Dain may never forgive she demands he hear her out:

He swallowed nausea and pride in one gulp. “Jess, the only unforgivable thing you can do is leave me,” he said. “Se mi lasci mi uccidio. If you leave me, I’ll kill myself.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” she said. “I should never leave you. Really, Dain, I cannot think where you get such addled ideas.”

Whose idea was it to move anyway? Oh, yes. Mine. So, really, I can’t complain. Besides, in between the sorting and the packing, I take a forbidden break, sit down in my office chair and indulge in a favorite read.

This made me wonder how my opinion stacked up. A quick search on the internet led me to several diverse lists on the subject: 

 Everything Valentines Day Top 10 Romantic Books

All About Romance Top 100 Romances (2004 Poll)

The Top Tens Top Ten Romances of All Time

Goodreads Best of the Best Romances of the Twentieth Century 

Despite the differences, what intrigued me were the titles that kept appearing. Are these the real keepers?

What qualities make a book a “keeper”?

A story that pulls you into the story world.

A story you hate leaving.

A story you want to return to.

What romances are on your top 10 list?

Stay tuned. Over the summer I’ll be sharing some of the titles that are on My Keeper Shelf.

Congratulations, Stephanie on the print release of Feral Passion at Samhain Publishing.

This isn’t your first vampire book—what attracted you to these mythical creatures?

What I love most about writing about vampires is that it’s a very versatile myth. Every culture has some kind of vampire legend. It’s amazing how much variety there is! So I keep coming back to vampires because there’s so much to work with as a writer.

To date I’ve written two vampire novels as well as a number of novellas, novelettes and short stories. I’ve done serious vampires, funny vampires and even a vampire pumpkin.

I’ll be sure to watch my step next Halloween!

In the opening excerpt, your heroine, Xandra Wheeler seems fully prepared to defend herself against a feral horde of vampires. What classic protection and weapons work in your vamp world?

Xandra’s arsenal includes wooden stakes, wooden bullets and a neon-coloured water pistol loaded with holy water. She also protects the veins in her neck and wrists with a silver torque and gantlets.

And yet, your story is firmly set in the twenty-first century—

In Feral Passion vampires have been discovered and are living openly in society. But the transition hasn’t gone all that smoothly. Some people and some vampires are happy with the change. Others…not so much.

Your hero, Dante is blond, yet he’s a vampire. What other attributes set him apart from the rest of his race?

Dante is faster and stronger than the rest of his species, almost a super-vampire. And, as Xandra find out, his blood has some very special properties.

Sounds intriguing. J

Tell us a little bit about the mission that forces a vampire hunter to work with a vampire liaison officer.

As a vampire hunter, Xandra’s duties include tracking down and neutralizing rogue vampires. In the world of Feral Passion, these cases are somewhat rare. So when dozens of rogue vampires appear in the city, Xandra investigates immediately. Of course, it also comes to the attention of the police who put Dante on the case. When a mob of feral vamps attack an underworld kingpin, both Xandra and Dante find themselves in the middle of the fray.

Too bad they’re on opposite sides!

Not for long, I suspect. LOL Tell me, w

hat are you working on now?

Right now I’m working on a follow-up novelette to Feral Passion, called Feral Hunger due out later this year.

Thanks for joining me today, Stephanie.

Thanks so much for having me!

To learn more about Stephanie’s vampires, visit her website.

Brenda’s 6th Online Auction goes live today:

This year I’m offering a Love Partner Jewelry Gift Set which includes a signed copy of my 2006 Dream Realm Award winning book and a gorgeous beaded necklace and matching filigree earrings.

Please visit—and make a bid!

I’m over at JK Coi’s blog today [Monday April 26, 2010] talking about the latest book in the Heartbreak Anonymous series, Getting It All.   

Please join me. J

Actually, I’m getting back to my writing after a busy month.

My latest creative endeavor was to stage my house before we put it on the market.

Staging isn’t simply making sure your house is clean—and stays that way. It means packing up all that “stuff” that gives your house that cluttered, lived in feel. About 25 boxes later, our garage became our temporary storage unit. It means rearranging furniture—in our case to showcase our gorgeous hardwood floors. Several chairs and tables found their way into the garage cum storage space along with a bookcase. And I discovered my hallway upstairs was bigger than I thought. J It means depersonalizing your home, so potential buyers admire those hardwood floors and not the series of generational photos up on the wall. A few telescopic boxes of pictures headed to the garage.

Our garage is now full. Our home was impeccably staged. And in three weeks we bought our new home and sold our old one.

Now that I’m not busy constantly tidying up after myself—and before I gear up for The Move in June, I’m looking forward to a couple of weeks of writing before I start teaching again.

In May I’m back at the Kiss of Death chapter teaching Crisis, Climax, Resolution, Writing to the End:

Introducing a 5 Point Plot Structure, this workshop examines the crucial psychological factors facing the protagonist at both the Crisis and Climax points within a story. Using easy to understand Fairy Tale motifs, the impact of the protagonist’s choices and actions are reviewed in light of possible Resolutions.

I look forward to seeing you on the loop.