Taking a Movie Break
March 31, 2006 by Melissa · Leave a Comment
It has been a long week but I had a lot of fun teaching my first online class. Great bunch of writers, very inquisitive. Now, I am hunkering down to finish up Sinner’s Delight soon. It is due in April, I always make my deadlines, and then I will have some breathing space. But tonight, I think I am taking a movie break.
I have had Goodnight and Goodluck since is came out on DVD and my daughter wants to watch it. So I think tonight we will. Not sure she will understand a lot of it, but she loves history and is very interested in politics. Since I keep up with that stuff, I think it only natural. And, I think it important that I spend some time with George Clooney. There is always time in my schedule for that.
I’ll give you an opinion when I get done. And, well, there is always Serenity, which I can’t watch enough times. I just love that movie!
Evaluating My Career Goals
March 30, 2006 by Melissa · Leave a Comment
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I have been doing this a lot lately. Mainly because we had a rude awakening, thanks to the USAF. There is talk of major cuts soon to come, and not knowing who will be safe, we have to plan for the worse. Les is actually in a year group that would leave him pretty safe because they didn’t recruit enough those years. But, after 35+ years of dealing with the military, I know that you look at your worse case scenario and go from there. Then you will be pleasantly surprised if it all works out better, lol.
So, I have to change my tune, and work differently. I make money, but not enough that it would help if something happened(esp since the federal government has a nasty habit of taking things away, like retirement, and stuff like that). I still have a few contracts here and there, but I have to take time to write. That is the reason for the concentration on print, and I think I am ready. The story I am plotting, the whole series really sounds more like it would be for NY. Not that I think they will jump at the chance, but it might happen, lol. Either way, time online is going to become nonexistant as I work with some friends on projects, and gear my writing toward NY. One last stab before I go to culinary school, lol.
Working, teaching and planning
March 29, 2006 by Melissa · Leave a Comment
I have had a good time teaching a class at Passionate Ink this week online. There hasn’t been that much interaction, but I hope that the authors get something out of the class. I have moving right along with Sinner’s Delight, and I think that one will be pretty good. I had a new idea hit me this week, which completely threw me for a loop.
I won’t reveal what it is, seriously, but it is tied to a curse, is a planned five book series, and will be action/adventure, romance, paranormal all rolled into one. Oh, yeah, and the kitchen sink, lol.
It is something that is new for me to try. It is equally hard because I really need to keep some of the ideas to myself, and I am just dying to tell people. But other than Kally and Steph, I haven’t really given much detail to others. I am going to try it out on my retreat sisters in a few weeks. The idea that I might actually do this scares the hell out of me, but, once an idea takes hold, it won’t let me go. It does involve murder, jewels, Scotsmen, and a centuries old curse. Hope it works:) Now, I have to get all these other things I have been working on out of the way so I can embark on this. It is a series that I plan on pitching to NY. Wish me luck:)
Teen Movies
March 24, 2006 by Melissa · Leave a Comment
There has been a little bit of discussion about teen movies on some of the blogs since someone mention Red Dawn, not one of my favs. Anyway several bloggers mentioned the 80s and their offering of teen movies including Pretty In Pink, The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and Some Kind of Wonderful. Several people have talked about how the movies today don’t rate, and I kind of disagree. I haven’t seen a lot of them, we are in preteen stage in my house, but I have noticed a few of the movies hit the 
important bits, at least important to teens. The feelings of being left out, being the outsider, the underdog is a common theme because that is a pretty universal theme.
The reason I ramble on about this is because I think it pertains a bit to romance. Romance is about finding love and HEA. We want the hero and heroine(or any combo thereof) to find happiness. Is it basically the same story? Pretty much. But it is the characters who stay with you, that make you want to read another. That is what a lot of teen movies bring to the targetted age group. We identify with the characters. Not because we are the same gender, background, religion, or color(although I do make a bit of complaint that ALL movies still lack enough persons of color in positive roles). It is because teens identify with the shifting world around them. You are stuck between adolescence and adulthood, expected to act more mature but not really given that many more freedoms. Teens are testing their wings and learning that they are no longer alone in their feelings. The Breakfast Club is probably one of the best in displaying that no matter what your background, we all deal with crap when we are teens. As I have said before, I am a BIG TIME character driven writer. Plots are great, I like adding twists no one expected, but if I can create great characters that readers connect with, I am happy. I have had readers say they identify with my heroines in more than one of my books. Considering in the last year I have.0.jpg)
written about a Regency miss who becomes a Countess, a southern girl who spreads her wings and learns about BDSM, a librarian in love with a 2nd Century Celtic Warrior, and a smart talking, gun loving rich girl in the future, that is amazing to me . Again, doesn’t matter about background, time period, color, or looks. It is their character, their quest for happiness that connects them all and hopefully connects with the readers.
And you knew I would leave you with a purty pic, lol
Learning to say NO
March 23, 2006 by Melissa · 2 Comments
I am one of those people who a lot of time will step in and do things. It is my nature…the way I was raised. My father was career military(which made me swear to never marry it, but now I am and that is another whole diary entry, lol) and my mother was the typical military wife. You are on your own a lot and you just do things. You don’t wait, because it might never get done.
I have followed on with this, although I am lucky enough to have a husband, who, while we are stationed here, isn’t away a lot. His job, and the strained budget, has cut a lot of non-essential TDYs(what they call short business-like trips in the military). And, Les is one who is willing to help out, with the kids, the laundry…research.
But, I have been noticing a trend lately with some people I know. They expect me to always be there to help with nothing in return. I guess because I am a bigmouth and on the loops a lot, people seemed to have forgotten I have a personal life and a career. Two kids, RT, a deadline for Sinner’s Delight approaching, and a move this June, not to mention a job switch that could put my husband on a direct line for deployment to hot zone, has me sort of stressed. I know I sound like a whiney baby, but everything piling on is really getting to be too much. Last year about this time, as I have talked about, I almost completely fizzled. One factor, I take on too many duties. No one pushes me, seriously. I volunteer all the time, it is a sickness I have. The problem is when I try to pull back, people bitch. But, while I am doing these things, no one really thanks me, no one gives me any special acknowledgement. I don’t need a plaque, but I think I deserve a little respect. I apparently garner little to none with some of the people I have been there for. I have to learn to say no to people.
This has nothing to do with my readers. I have the best readers in the world, seriously. And I am going to be on my loops, posting Midnight in San Antonio, my first vampire story I am writing just for them, and keeping up with them. But I think I might just take some time off from everything else for awhile. No committees, no volunteering, no meetings, NOTHING. I know, I need a twelve step program to break my sick cycle. Just writing, chatting with my readers, and spending time with my family and friends.
I like that concept.
Characters who won’t speak
March 22, 2006 by Melissa · Leave a Comment
Well, I had to pull my first book. It was a witch story I had pitched but the characters refused to cooperate. When I came up with the idea, they were full of conversation, but as I tried to write them last week, they refused to help. The only other time that has happened to me I had a downward spiral and didn’t finish a damn thing for two years. Not something I want to repeat. They company was very understanding. I really loved the idea and what little I knew of the characters but maybe they aren’t ready yet. Either way, it means when I am done with Sinner’s Delight, I can start work on A Little Harmless Request. Talk about chatty characters. Evan and May have been running around in my head for months, and they are getting louder by the day. For all I know they have my witch and warlock bound and gagged somewhere because they wanted to be first, lol.
Just like most of my stories, music is really pushing this one. There are a few songs already that really speak to me about them, one is Urban’s You’re Not Alone Tonight, off his Golden Road album. That really is Evan who had a really bad childhood and he sees himself as tainted by his experiences. He will be my first kind of brooding hero, so I am really interested on how we work together. May, she is a nuturer. She cares for a family of men and runs roughshod over them. This one will have bit of BDSM in it, as Evan is a true Dom. And, May, although the one who always wants to take care of people, needs someone to take control in the bedroom. It is a bit exciting to her. I do know out of the bedroom, she is going to run things. Just the way she is. One of the reasons she is such a good manager. But, at the moment I have Sasha and Vicentes on the run from guys with guns, and each other emotionally, lol.
If you get a chance, check out Cindy’s blog. She is trying to gain some points for her kids for Toby Keith items and running a contest with free books.
Working again
March 21, 2006 by Melissa · 2 Comments
Well, I wrote like a beast last week while my husband took the girls out of town and left me with a quiet house. Not as much as I wanted, but I did get a lot done. I also did some thinking about my future and where I want to go with my writing career. Some changes are coming for me, big changes. Not any kind of contract, no, but I believe I have to start thinking more for myself, not others. It has weighed on my heart and mind for months, and I think last week I had an epiphany.
It will mean doing longer works and submitting to different houses, print houses, and doing things that are better for my personally. It may really irritate a few people on the business side of my writing, but I think that the changes will be good for me. I want to write longer books, and I can’t do it if I keep signing contracts for novellas or short novels that have to be done ASAP. I need some breathing room and hopefully, the results will be wonderful:) Plus, I want to offer my readers something else, something more than novellas. It was of my own choosing but I think I need to move onto something more. I have another regency sensual romance brewing, a suspense, and a futuristic I am doing that will all be over 60K. Once Sinner’s Delight is in to my editor, I will have time to play and I have a feeling it will fun.
I don’t like erotic romance, but I write it for the money
March 20, 2006 by Melissa · 9 Comments
About a year ago, I attended a workshop from a woman who said this and a year later I am still irritated. It wasn’t that she didn’t like writing it, but she actually said she had problems with the genre. She hated the explicitness. She had a problem saying the word cock. IMHO if you have a problem saying it, don’t write it. And definitely don’t offer a workshop on it where you will have to say the word. It was painful to watch a woman so uncomfortable with her genre. But, of course, there is money in them there erotic romances so she wanted to make sure she cashed in. She sacrificed her good name(not really because she writes under another name) to make money. On top of everything, she said you don’t need romance in erotic romance, just sex.
That one comment still aggravates me to this day. I like romance. I like happy endings, even if they are happy for right now endings, and like to write things that gives people warm fuzzy feelings. I just happen to write my love scenes pretty explicit. I am worried that this rush to sell erotic romance is going to flood the market with people who don’t understand the genre, which has already happened, just as it is gaining acceptance in more and more publishing circles.
My books tend to be pretty character driven, as most romances are. My plot has the regular GMC(goal motivation and conflict) that most romances have. I write romance, erotic romance and sensual romance, but I don’t write erotica. I have nothing against erotica. But I am pretty damn sure they don’t want to be lumped in with romance authors any more than we want to be lumped in with them. Erotic romance and erotica are different genres, and apparently some of the people confused about that are some authors themselves. Publishers are even being confused by it. When EC hit the market with the big ONE TWO to the chin, there was a rush to publish anything hot. Well, erotica has been around a long time. Erotic romance, on the other hand, has not. There is a group of woman, and apparently it is a big group because they flocked to EC, and then later to places like LI, for hotter romance. Now, every publisher is jumping on the bed, even in NY. The problem is more often than not, they say they don’t actually want romance. Good luck with that. What I think irritates me is because of these books, the wider audience is going to think it all about sex, but it isn’t, at least mine aren’t. But then, with a publishing industry that seems not to get it, and some of the authors, it’s no wonder that there will be consumer confusion. And really, more power to them if there is a base market for it. But, I have heard from readers they don’t like it without romance, and some have been a tad disappointed in some of the new lines. I have no idea, because I have picked up a couple to read but haven’t had the time. I am going by what readers have told me, and really, they are the important factor. There was a reason many erotic romance lovers turned to ebooks. They couldn’t find romance with hot love scenes and no euphemisms like his throbbing sword of man power. Hopefully they just picked up a book or two that leaned toward less romance than the others. If not, I guess there is no place for my romances in NY. Not that that surprises me, lol.
Her Wicked Warrior
March 19, 2006 by Melissa · Leave a Comment
Well, my next sweet shoppe is here, and I think it is the best yet. Seamus was a joy to write because he was an normal warrior in an abnormal situation. He was so sure he was Paige’s soul mate and when she didn’t immediately jump at the chance right away. Paige had to learn to take that chance.
If you are looking for something sweet and wicked, Her Wicked Warrior is just the thing to help you along.
Is that cover art not wonderful? Scott Carpenter is a god.
Fun, work, and blogger finally likes me again
March 19, 2006 by Melissa · Leave a Comment
Well, I had a fun week. Les, my husband, took the demons…er…children to their Grandparents’ for a visit this week so I could work. And just to make you even more jealous, he suggested it. On Tuesday, Kally got here and we had a lot of fun. Brainstormed, shopped at Bath Junkie, and went to see Failure to Launch.
Friday, everyone was in town for Epicon and although Kally didn’t win, I am so happy for Maggie Casper and Lena Matthews won for their book from EC. They are such wonderful people and writers, they definitely deserved it. Friday night was a dinner with Loose at Mi Tierra, a Cantina down in the Marketplace. During dinner I learned a little too much about Lena’s future plans with teddy bears. If you see her at RT ask her about. I also got to meet a few other authors, and stayed up until the wee hours of the morning chatting with Kally Jo, Devi Sparks, and Pearl Jones. A good time was had by all.
I finally have blogger being nice to me, so I posted my newsletter and will be posting info about my release this week. Check out the newsletter, Melissa’s Boudoir.
