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Time Out For Writers ANWA's 22nd Conference will be held at the Mesa Hilton from February 20 through February 22. Attendees can participate in a query/pitch workshop, attend two full days of classes with industry professionals, enter our "BOB" contest (Beginning of Book) and win fabulous prizes, and pitch their work to both national and local agents and editors.    Gregg Luke  WRITING WHITE-KNUCKLE SUSPENSE Ever wonder why some pages burn with the intensity of whitewater rafting while others are like floating down a gentle, meandering brook? It all comes down to the six elements of suspense writing. This course will demonstrate various techniques to writing page-turning, white-knuckle suspense in any genre. The discussion will include compelling characterization, good pacing, anticipation vs. thrills, detailing and techno stuff, resolution, and the trimming of all fat. Gregg R. Luke, R.Ph. was born in Bakersfield, California, but spent the majority of his childhood and young adult life in Santa Barbara, California. He served an LDS mission in Wisconsin, then pursued his education in Natural Sciences at SBCC, UCSB, and BYU. He completed his schooling at the University of Utah, College of Pharmacy. Gregg currently practices pharmacy in Logan, Utah. He is a voracious reader and has been writing stories since childhood. He has been published in Skin Diver Magazine, the Oceanographic Letter, Destiny Magazine, and the New Era Magazine. His fictional novels include The Survivors, Do No Harm, Altered State, Blink Of An Eye, Bloodborne, and Deadly Undertakings, five of which were Whitney Award finalists.   Gratitude Giveaway!     As a huge thanks for all the early ANWA Conference registrations, everyone  who registers by Thanksgiving Day (Next Week - 11/28/13) will automatically be entered into a giveaway for $15 at the conference bookstore!  If you haven't registered  yet, there's still time. Arizona Educator Licensing "Time Out for Writers" offers Professional Development hours for Arizona Educator Licensing. Receive up to 17 Professional Developmental hours that can be applied toward the renewal of your Arizona Educator's License! Register Today! Thursday, Friday and Saturday February 20-22, 2014 Hilton Phoenix/East Mesa 1011 West Holmes Avenue Mesa,  Arizona   85210-4923  STAY CONNECTED

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Stale Writing Week

Commentary

Lest any of you feel for me over the Stale Writing Week---don't. It's been a productive week. This exercise was for any writer that hits the proverbial wall. Some do even though it is NanoWrito Month.  And if by chance these tips have helped you in some way, feel free to share them.

(Of course I wouldn't complain if you linked a comment back here to me. J)

$3.99 on sale at Amazon for undisclosed time.

Stale Writing Day 7

Stale Writing Tip: Day 7

Okay, it's been one of those weeks. Let's not drag it out…

…take the day off, dagnabit!

Or,----you can spend the day making up cuss words that aren't cuss words like dagnabit, beetlefuzz, fatosis, halawhatcha…

You get the idea, now run with it (or walk).

Stale Writing Week muddles on to Day 6

Stale Writing Tip: Day 6

If you are a religious person, think of the creation. God didn't stop creating on the sixth day, he lined everything up and took it all to His main character, Adam, and had him name everything. What would your main character name your villain? Your love interest? And every character in the book? Now, go back and have the main character tell you why each name was chosen.

Go for a walk.

It may not be Friday but it is Day 5 of a Stale Writing Week

Stale Writing Tip: Day 5

Think of the last five days as a work week. It's been a bad week. Time to look forward to the weekend. Fridays are always the best day of the work week. Why is that the case for you?

 Humor in the office? Try telling a joke or better yet, writing one.

 Friday after work mean cocktails…for you? Not recommended while trying to write, but if what you've been doing all week isn't working, it's time for a change up.

Dang that Stale Writing Week continues...

Stale Writing Tip: Day 4

Still stymied? Attend a writers group, or start one, and take care to compliment others on their writing. (It helps if you are honest here, but stretching the truth to help another feel good about their work is allowed in this case.)

Stale Writing Week Hump Day

Stale Writing Tip: Day 3

That quagmire still looking a bit cloudy? Warning: Day 3's cure is dangerous. Repeat Day 1 but with a different friend. Try chatting with a friend that is recovering from surgery. They need your brand of cheering up. Go for a longer walk with company. (If you choose to take your dog, make sure he/she is wearing his/her listening ears.) Now, try out that last scene with your dog or the friend you are walking with as the main character. (Not recommended if the scene was a sizzling sexy scene.)

---Local law enforcement may take steps in the later case and haul your butt/bottom/a--/tail/rump/posterior/derrière to the tank to cool off!

A Week of Stale Writing continues...

Stale Writing Tip: Day 2

So, you say talking with your friend didn't get you out of the quagmire of flat writing. Cure # 2 for day 2 and this one you may want to repeat after your first exposure to it.

Go walking with a friend. (The endorphins need more than your writing cave to bounce around in.)

A week of Stale Writing

Stale Writing Tip: Day 1

Let's face it writers, there are days that the muse didn't bother showing up for. Talk about a bad hair day! Stale writing makes even the worst hair day look good. There is a cure for those  bad and sometimes really bad days.

Warning: Try only one per day.

Talk with a friend about their problems. (This can be writing related but often it is not since writing is the center of your world, not theirs.)

                               

                                  So excited!!!

The charm for Dark Days of Promise arrived today. Isn't it pretty?

The glare is bad but that must be in part because it is so shiny. That and I'm still learning to use the ipod.

In Her Hands Update

Just when I thought I was doing an awesome job on In Her Hands, I took a hard look at the word count and choked, only 45,000! Cough, cough and this rough draft is done. Time to go back and fill out the pages before the climax (currently sitting at page 116). Yikes! I only need to write 30-40 pages of description, details, sequels, and maybe a bit of back story... Back to the writing cave for me…

Key Chain Charm



Mock up before binding into charm



Ordering my Charm for Dark Days of Promise. Loving the looks of it! It costs more than an e-copy of the book, but (me singing) - I'm so vain, this key chain is all about my book…

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/2014-ANWA-Writers-Conference--Time-Out-For-Writers.html?soid=1107257096875&aid=nuIz1dCK7jU

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/2014-ANWA-Writers-Conference--Time-Out-For-Writers.html?soid=1107257096875&aid=nuIz1dCK7jU

WIP Update

In Her Hands (Book Two), which follows Her Promise is well under way. I'm so excited to tell "more of the story." Book Three, His Journey will tell the rest of the story. Who knows how it will end? Or where?

Her Promise and In Her Hands Update

I'm so excited! Swoon Romance has asked for the full manuscript of Her Promise! Thank you, Mandy Schoen and Louise Gornall for giving me this opportunity. The full manuscript has been sent and now we go into round two of the waiting game with Swoon Romance. Cross your fingers, let your engines idle, maybe even a prayer or two (if that is your thing).

What will I be doing during the next 6 - 8 weeks? Writing, of course! Mercedes has her story to tell and she has my ear (and my fingers) for In Her Hands.

Trevor? Poor baby, he has to be a gentleman and wait, if he can stand the pain… hehehe yes, there is a reason for his pain…

Yikes!

That was a quick turnaround! Harlequin (Corina Press) doesn't want Her Promise.

Good news though. They invited me to submit any future Romance I may write.

WIP Update

It's been a busy week and with a few unexpected changes to my baby, the biggest being her name.

You've read the announcements, but this one is the final (until a publisher adds their two cents.) The title she went to the publishers with is Her Promise. Why have I finally settled on this title, you ask? Because it is all about the protagonist's promise made and kept at great sacrifice.

Sizzle Non-kiss Style Part 3

"Close your eyes and trust me."

She gazed at the controlled smoldering of his eyes before she allowed her eyelids to slide shut. With his fingers spread wide, he placed his hands on her hips. A moment later he held her buttocks. His hands roamed up her back. With his left hand at her back, he caressed her arm with his right. His caress didn't stop there but continued up her arm to her neck. His touch continued feather like as his fingers traced around her ear, along her jaw bone, each of her lips, across her cheek, up to the outer edge of her eye and back to her ear. At the same time his warm breath marked the same path pausing at her lips.

Sizzle Non-kiss Style Part 2

Experience told her she better not tease him with her answer, but bursts of unwelcome sexual acts demanded to be thrust to the foreground of her thoughts. She wanted more of his kisses, but she didn't want him to take advantage of her. "Yes and no."

Trevor raised his eyebrow, a decadent smirk etching his features with smoldering heat. Placing his hand, fingers spread on her abdomen, he moved her back until she bumped against the horse and saddle. Duke sidestepped.

"Whoa." Trevor commanded the animal. Duke stood firm. Trevor kept his hand as he'd placed it until horse and Porsche stood firm. "I'm not going to kiss you."

Porsche gulped in anticipation.

Trevor stepped closer until she could feel the heat of his body.

And Start Your Engines, the Heat is just starting. Sizzle Non-kiss Style.

"Shh." He came around the front of Duke, pausing to rub the horse's nose. He resumed his deliberate observation, this time beginning at her feet, pausing at her hips with a sultry expression. A smile pulled at the corner of his lips.  His gaze meandered to her bosom briefly while he moved to stand in front of her, his attention on her lips.

"You are a lecherous man," Porsche accused, her breathing irregular with expectancy.

"If I'm not mistaken, you are the lascivious vixen that hinted at more of my brand of 'doctoring' a few minutes ago. Do you know what you want?"

Porsche knew she wanted him to kiss her. She also wanted him to touch her, to caress the curves he had so blatantly evaluated. Her mouth went dry. She licked her lips.

WIP Update - New and improved Title

Beta Readers comments all merged and applied! Whoot! Thank you Betas! Great job! Now for another go over by yours truly to see what looks out of place and yes, there are always a few things.
Writing Cave it is for me again tomorrow, but this time I get to sit back and enjoy the ride.
Big Change today the title...instead of Porsche's Prologue, I'm going with...Sworn Off Men...

WIP Update

Porsche's Prologue, Book One in the Arbon Connection Trilogy, is now in the hands of beta readers.

My turn to balance on the tender hooks. Six readers, six opinions. Sleepless nights and long days. Wait with me and I'll share their overall impressions. (This is almost more nerve raking than waiting for Tuesday and the Award ceremony where My Constant Companion is being represented.)

Sharing My Latest Victory

Dear Shaunna:

Congratulations! Your entry titled My Constant Companion is a finalist in the autobiography category for 2013 Writers Unite to Fight Cancer Writing Contest: The Drive to Thrive.

We hope you or a representative will be able to attend the Awards Ceremony on Tuesday September 24th, 2013 at Changing Hands Bookstore located at 6458 S. McClintock in Tempe, Arizona.

You will be contacted in the next couple of weeks by a WUFC editor to work with you on polishing your project for publication in the Drive to Thrive Anthology.

Well done! Thank you for supporting Writers Unite to Fight Cancer.

Margaret Turley, WUFC Administrator

Tension in Every Scene

"Shh." He came around the front of Duke, pausing to rub the horse's nose. He resumed his deliberate observation, this time beginning at her feet, pausing at her hips with his expression growing knowing when his gaze rested on her bosom briefly before standing in front of her, his attention on her lips.

"You are a lecherous man," Porsche accused.

"If I'm not mistaken, you are the lascivious vixen that hinted at more of my brand of 'doctoring' a few minutes ago. Do you know what you want?"

Porsche knew better than to tease him with her answer, but she owed him an answer. She wanted more of his kisses, but she didn't want him to take advantage of her. "Yes and no ."

The preceeding is the last bit written in my WIP today.

Natasaza Waters reminds me and many of her other author friends of this today.

Another WIP Update

Don't you hate it when an author and blogger (in this case, me) hides in their writing cave for weeks without out a sound?

My apologizes. But I don't promise it will never happen again. (I've been fighting with Blogger you know.) Blogger has won but I think I've figured it out. Don't hold your breath.

Some of you have watched me share tidbits of what I'm working on over at Facebook and it dawned on me that I re3ally should share here as well. So recently I've been tagged to share the last paragraph that I've completed in my WIP. Tough in my situation as I'm cutting, pasting and rewriting to back it stronger, bigger faster than it was before…oh wait, that might have been the Six Million Dollar Man.

Joking aside, here are a couple of paragraphs from Porsche's Prologue, book one in the Arbon Trilogy.

"I remember a horse squealing, you know that shrill scream between a whinny and a stallion's whistling call?  It made my hair stand on end. It still does. I found out later it was Buckle. She had step on a hollow lava bomb, she must have busted through and broken her leg," her voice hitched.

"I was lucky she couldn't break free. She probably would have trampled me. I couldn't move. I tried to, until I saw the snakes. Hundreds of them slithering and coiling to rattle. I couldn't move then and I knew. I knew they were going to get me." She stared at the ground several feet away as if the snakes were there and yet her tone remained calm, her expression vacant. "I don't know why they didn't bite me. They should have. I should have been bitten a hundred times or more, but I wasn't."

Before you stone me, this is the manuscript with the flying or is it dancing(?) goat.

WIP Update

Today is a BIG day for me. I have completed the rough draft of "Torrid Summer Heat."
This is my most recent romance novel with just a hint of PTSD. I'm so excited to learn more about PTSD and how it isn't limited to those who have served or are currently serving in the armed forces.
From here it is time to start the polishing process, not always a pretty task but totally necessary to bring you, the readers a novel you can get lost in.
With a list of things to watch for, reminders to KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) (Okay, that isn't what veterans know it as), a submission guideline to tweek the manuscript to, and a colledtion of notes to myself, I'm headed back to my writing hole. I promise to come up for air and sustenance as needed.