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Getting that First Kiss 'High'
from Fiction
Isabo Kelly
I can’t really remember my
first kiss with my husband. After ten years, and
many, many lovely kisses, the first one is a blur. I
have vague memories of the thrill of those initial
moments, the tension, the excitement and
anticipation. But one of the things you accept when
involved in a long term relationships is that there
will be no more first kisses for you—at least that’s
the hope!
Accepting that you won’t have
any more first kisses doesn’t mean you don’t miss
the rush of that experience though. So if you are in
a long term relationship, how can you experience the
“first kiss” without getting yourself into trouble?
(But I want to get into Trouble!) |
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Authors Kiss and Tell!
Carolan Ivey
For this article, at first I was going to
poll authors about their first kiss. Then I
got to thinking… how many of us look back on
our first kiss with fondness? I for one,
when I think of my very first kiss, wince at
the memory. The awkwardness, the fumbling,
the worry (Does my breath smell? Am I
drooling? Eyes open or closed?)
Then there’s my sense of humor.
Um, maybe we’d better not go
there, either.
(Bring on
the KISSES!)
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To Organize or Not to
Organize
N.J. Walters
Back when I was a
kid in the late nineteen sixties and into
the seventies, people didn’t seem to worry
so much about having their lives organized.
Of course, North American consumerism hadn’t
quite hit its stride yet. Advertising had
yet to hit the big times, and celebrity
culture was only just beginning to take off.
The only electronic equipment people had
were big, clunky televisions and stereos,
which were pieces of furniture that also
stored the records inside them.
We didn’t seem to need
as much stuff to get by. Kids weren’t as
concerned about brand name clothing, and a
bike and a skipping rope were all that were
needed to enjoy your summer vacation.
Somewhere along the
way, the world went a little crazy.
Advertisers learned that they could use sex,
violence, and scare tactics to sell
products. If that didn’t work, they’d appeal
to our vanity—we want to be in style, don’t
we? The electronic age came rocketing into
our lives so fast we could barely keep up.
We buy the latest technology only to find it
obsolete in two years—and that’s only if
we’re lucky.
(I
can't find anything!) |
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The Writer's Moon
Barb Baldwin
Romance.
It’s the characters, the setting, the plot.
It’s the words spoken, the gazes exchanged,
the touches shared. It’s also the mood
we create as we write scenes that can be oh,
so important to the emotional pull of the
story. And of course, what can be more
romantic than the moon? We recently had a
full moon, and as happens every time I
chance to watch, it drew me in to the
mysticism that surrounds it…
A full moon illuminated the night, shining
over fallow fields and dancing across the
pond like a thousand fireflies. It beckoned
me to sit outside on the prairie, cuddle up
next to my lover, or listen to a favorite
melody of songs. But most of all it
whispered to me in the night -- "Come with
me and listen to my story. Let me teach you
to love."
(Blue
Moon) |
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Tips for Totally Tricked-out Trailers
Allie
Boniface
So we’ve all heard the
buzz by now that book trailers, or book
videos, are the latest and coolest way to
promote your book. They’re fun to watch and
fun to make, if you have the time and the
technology. You can certainly hire a
professional production company to create
one for you, but expect to pay anywhere from
$200.00 and up. In contrast, it isn’t hard
to create a trailer for yourself that costs
only a few dollars.
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Either
Power Point
or
Windows Media Maker
are good options for easy-to-use programs.
And you can definitely find trailers to
watch on
www.youtube.com or
www.previewthebook.com that will give
you ideas.
(No
Trailers for You!)
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Staying Motivated Through the Rejections
Anne Rainey
That’s the toughest
thing to do, isn’t it? We get that blasted
rejection letter and our backs slump, our
eyes tear up and we’re just dying to shout,
“It’s not fair!” Being an author means we
have to say thank you for your time even
though we’re really thinking something
entirely different, and not at all
appropriate for general audiences.
The truth is you aren’t unique. We all get
rejections and we all hate them. If an
author tells you it gets easier to take,
they’re lying. It’s never easy to see what I
like to call the “you suck” letter.
Why? Because someone has just made your
worst fear a reality. In the back of every
writer’s mind is the idea they aren’t good
enough. When we see it in on paper, it
cements the feeling.
(Reject
me, I can take it!) |
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Letting Go
Kerri Augusto
It took
twelve months to write it, twelve months to
sell it, twelve months to bring it into the
public eye. Throughout those many weeks, I
fantasized about how I would celebrate the
release day of my debut novel,
Strawberries in Winter. I thought I
might have a party, drink champagne, or at
the very least, take a day off of work! I
imagined myself like Snow White, dancing
around the house with little woodland
creatures cavorting at my side and singing a
celebratory tune… (Okay, I probably watch
too many Disney movies with my kids.) What
I didn’t imagine was that I’d spend the
whole day feeling sick with a kind of worry
I haven’t felt since I gazed with
tear-blurred eyes at my oldest child,
peering out the window of the bus on first
day of kindergarten.
(Release
Me) |
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I
was writing (no to
passive tense), On Writting,
Right from Home… A
Judge’s Tip: Avoiding Editing No-no’s
Marie Harte
I’m currently a
judge for a writing contest. I don’t know the
author’s names, only their genres and stories. And
I’m learning a ton from the entries received. I can
tell the authors that are relatively new, because
they make the same mistakes I made (and hopefully
have corrected) when I first started submitting.
Then there are the authors who sound a bit more
seasoned, yet there’s something lacking in their
stories.
(I
said no, no, no!) |
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Want Your Sex Scenes to
Sizzle? Build Before You Burn
Charlene Teglia
Lorelei James wrangled me into
writing an article on a topic near and dear to my
heart (and my fingertips); putting sizzle in your
love scenes. The common mistake is to jump straight
to the action. More sex! More graphic description!
More kink! That’s how you set the page on fire,
right?
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Um, no. Think of it this way.
Your significant other comes up to you and says “Get
naked NOW,” and you’re in the middle of a project
that’s due Monday, the kids need help with homework,
dinner isn’t done, and you can’t remember when you
last had eight consecutive hours of sleep. Are you
going to get naked? Or are you going to take a rain
check because the stage has not been set for instant
naked and three minute orgasm to happen?
(It's Getting Warm In Here)
Promo Pointers
This month’s tip
comes from all-around fabulous author, nice gal and
classy, effective promoter,
Mandy Roth.
Times are tight and
writing a good book isn’t always enough to convince
someone to take a chance on you. You need to go the
extra mile to ensure they have a reason to consider
it.
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Establish a web
presence—website, social network sites, blogs,
cover ads, forums, groups and stick to them.
Don’t set them up and do nothing with them. Be
sure to keep your content fresh to give people a
reason to visit again.
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Seek out
opportunities to guest blog, to do interviews
and so forth.
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Don’t just push
your book, push yourself.
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Don’t shy away
from promotions. Embrace them. Not only are you
putting your name before potential readers,
you’re making valuable connections within the
writing community.
Mandy’s latest Samhain release, Magnetic
Attraction, is now available!
J.C. Wilder's
Brownie Decadence
When
I say decadent, I mean...decadent. I only use this recipe for
special occasions. The center of these desserts will be hot and
gooey and they should be served warm. Perfect with a glass of
ice cold milk. You can used flavored chocolate chips - I've
never tried it but I don't see why it wouldn't work.
Butter
for ramekins
3/4
cup semisweet chocolate chips
4
ounces unsalted butter
2
large eggs
3/4
cup powdered sugar
3
tbls flour
1/2
cup white chocolate chips
1
tsp vanilla
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat
oven to 400 degrees. Butter four 2/3 cup ramekins and set aside.
Using
a double boiler, melt the butter and semisweet chocolate chips
and set aside to cool. In
a separate bowl, mix together eggs, sugar, flour and vanilla.
Add cooled chocolate mixture and mix until blended. Fold in
white chocolate chips. Divide
between the ramekins, place on baking sheet. Bake 20 minutes
until tops are shiny and cracked (the insides will be hot and
gooey).
Besitos Recipe
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Gabriella Hewitt
What is better than getting kisses on Valentine’s Day? How about giving kisses served up hot and Latina style! Besitos de coco (Coconut kisses) is a special treat in Puerto Rico
and other Caribbean hot spots.
Want to make them extra sexy? Dip the tips in melted chocolate and
feed ‘em to your lover.
Besitos de Coco (Coconut Kisses)
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Preheat oven to 350 F
Serves 20 – 24
Ingredients:
3 ¼ cups fresh frozen
grated coconut (available in the frozen food aisle
of Latino
food stores)
1cup brown sugar,
firmly packed
8 tsps all purpose
flour
¼ tsp salt
4 tbs butter at room
temperature
3 large eggs yolks
½ tsp vanilla
Place grated coconut
in a bowl. Add brown sugar, salt, butter, yolk and vanilla. Mix
well. Grease a 9x13 in. glass-baking dish.
Take mixture by
teaspoon, shape into balls and arrange in baking dish. Bake for
35 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool 10 minutes. Carefully
remove besitos with spatula and place on a platter.
Gabriella Hewitt loves to cook and write romantic
suspense. Dark Waters is currently available at
Samhain Publishing. (www.gabriellahewitt.com)
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River's Edge
Barb Baldwin
It happened a
very long time ago, when the mist still
curled up the bank of the river and the
silence echoed against the shore. Few houses
had yet been built along the gentle curve of
the water, for people appeared to like the
safety offered by the closeness of town.
There, houses were stacked tightly together,
along streets almost too narrow to allow
carriages to pass one another.
Laurie Elizabeth Victoria McCluer,
however, lived high on a hill overlooking
that magnificent Charles River. Her father
was a wealthy tea merchant and without being
pretentious, still liked to let his friends
and acquaintances know that he had made a
name for himself in the town of Boston.
Their home was large and spacious, with a
wide marble stairway, mahogany banister and
a crystal chandelier that her father had
imported from England.
(Gimme,
Gimme!) |
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;)
