Sneak Peak Sunday: A HERO'S SPARK!

Good evening!

Well it's done...at least the cover art is.  And I've managed to settle on a title.  So, ladies and gents, take a look at the cover for my upcoming novel:  A HERO'S SPARK

This is the final book in my Wicked Women series.  The other two, Lies in Chance and Fresh Ice don't tie to each other, but both books are tied together in A Hero's Spark.  So my advice, before this is released in early May, would be to read the other two books.  You don't have to, to understand this one, but really, why wouldn't you want to?

Meanwhile, here's a tidbit from Spark to whet your appetite:

COLLIER

          What woke him, Collier didn’t know, but even still in the haze of deep sleep, he knew he wasn’t alone in the loft. Someone latched the door quietly and stepped closer to the bed before turning on the overhead light.

          “Who’s there?” he called out as the light flashed on, momentarily blinding him. A woman’s scream pierced through the shock of light and he squinted in her general direction. He recognized the black hair immediately. “What are you doing here?”

          “I could ask you the same thing.” She held her bulky shoulder bag in front of her like a shield. “Who are you?”

          Collier shifted to sit up. She froze. “Don’t move.  I’ve got mace in here.”

          “Calm down. I’m not going to move, since I’m pretty much naked here.” Collier grinned at her. “But you don’t have mace in there.”

          The angry light in her eyes quavered, giving way to uncertainty. “How would you know what I have in my bag?”

          “Well,” he kept his voice calm, sensing she was more afraid than dangerous, “because if you had mace in there, you would have started spraying it the minute you realized there was a man in the room. That’s what I hear from most women, anyway.”

          She blinked away the uncertainty, her face settled into a mask of defensiveness. “Oh, and you know most women, do you?”

          “No, Miss, I don’t. But I’m pretty sure most women wouldn’t ask any questions before mentioning they have mace. So relax, put the bag down and tell me what you’re doing here.”

          “Shara lets me stay here sometimes, when I need to.”

          “Sound mysterious. And also like a complete lie.”

          “Yeah, well, I’ve lived here almost my whole life, and you’re a stranger.  That’s enough mysterious for me to call the cops. Give me one reason why I shouldn’t.”

          “My uncle said I could stay here and Molly Hunter brought me here.”

          She seemed less likely to want to kill him, but her countenance remained stony. “Who’s your uncle?”

          “Archibald James.”

          “The lawyer?”

          “The same.”

          She relaxed. “Okay, maybe you’re not a mass rapist.” She sat in the rocker. “But still, you can’t stay here.”

          “Why not?”

          “Because, I’m staying here.”

Collier chuckled. “I was here first. And, I’m not wearing pants.”

          “I’ll close my eyes. Get dressed, and get out.” Her tone was clipped, cold.  Collier again sensed she was covering fear.

          “Why should I get out? I got here first. I was sound asleep, and you woke me up.” He gave her a small smile, hoping to soften the deep furrows in her brow.

          She shrugged. “Not my problem. You can’t stay here.”

          “It is your problem. I’m not leaving.” He grinned. “We could both stay here. It’s a big enough bed.” He patted the spot next to him.

          She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Of course that’s what you want.” Her eyes flashed hot and angry.

          “It’s not what I want, Ma’am. I want to go to sleep. But if you have other ideas, well, I am from the South.  We believe in accommodating women whenever we can.”

          She stared at him, and Collier doubted his humor was warming her attitude toward him. Clearly, some sort of battle waged behind her emerald eyes.

Her face slacked into exhaustion.  “Look. I need to stay here. Alone.”

          Collier’s curiosity made him push the point further. “Well, I’m from out of town and have no place else to go. From what I hear, Miranda Peirce, you live in Rock Harbor which means you do have someplace else to go.”   

          “Don’t call me that.”

          “Isn’t it your name?”

“Call me Mira.” A shadow crossed her face. “I’m not going to that house tonight. You can’t make me.” her voice held the echoes of a willful child. “And how do you know my name…oh, wait…”

          “Molly Hunter.”

          Mira nodded. “She knows everyone and everything thing in this town. Steer clear of her if you want to keep anything private.”

          “She didn’t strike me as a person who spread gossip.”

          “She doesn’t.  She just knows everything.  The potential is always there.”

          An interesting read on the lovely Miss Molly.  “So the two of you aren’t grand friends then?”

          She leaned back in the rocker. “I try not to make attachments. It’s easier to leave if there aren’t any attachments.”

          “Sounds like someone who wants to run away.”

          “I’ve always wanted to run away. I feel like I’m running away from something every day of my life.”

          Collier wanted to be annoyed by her cryptic statement, but he sensed it was probably the one completely truthful thing she’d said. Collier studied her, trying to assess her age. “You’re what, thirty? You’re old enough to go out on your own. What’s stopping you?”

          “I’m twenty-eight, thank you.”

          “Oh that’s a huge difference.” Collier nearly laughed out loud at the wounded expression on Mira’s face.

          “I can’t leave because it’s complicated. But I can’t go home tonight.”

          The glimmer of true fear returned in her eyes. Collier relented. “Fine. Just go…go in the bathroom for a minute, let me get my crap together and I’ll go sleep on the hay downstairs.”

          “You sure you’re okay?” She suddenly sounded younger, almost childlike.

          “Oh now that you’ve won the bed, you want to know what my opinion is?”

          The softness melted from her face and her jaw line hardened. “Not really. I couldn’t care less where you sleep tonight, so long as it’s not in here.”

          “Suits me fine. I’d rather sleep with horses than up here with you. Less shit to deal with.”

          “Oh very nice. They teach you that language in the south where men are supposed to be so mannerly?” She glared at him as she stomped into the small bathroom and slammed the door.

          “No!” Collier yelled as he pulled on his jeans. “I learned manners just fine, because where I come from the women aren’t complete bitches!” He stuffed a few things into his duffle bag and slammed the door behind him, startling the horses in the stalls below.

          There was a blanket hanging from a hook near a stack of hay bales. Collier spread the blanket over the bales and stretched out on the hay, thankful his years on the road in the Renaissance Faire circuit had toughened him. Staring at the ceiling, he watched the light that glowed from between small cracks in the loft floor. When the light switched off, he closed his eyes. Still, she is pretty.

          Pretty bitchy.

MIRA

         

          Mira waited for Collier to settle downstairs.  Within a few minutes, everything was still and quiet. She sat on the edge of the bed and pulled off her boots, letting them drop to the wooden floor with a loud thud.  Collier’s muttered curse made her smile.  She wasn’t sure why annoying him gave her pleasure.

          She stretched out on the bed, still warm with his body heat.  She pushed her face into the pillow and inhaled his scent.  It wasn’t unpleasant.

          Closing her eyes, Mira saw him again, sitting in the bed, shirtless, the sheet and blanket pooled at his waist.

          Also not unpleasant.

          She shook her head.  Now is not the time to be thinking about a guy. No matter how good he might smell.

          She picked up her boot and tossed it in the air, giving it more velocity so that when it hit the wooden floor it sounded like a thunder clap.  The sound of the horses below whinnying and rustling in their stalls didn’t cover Collier’s curses, this time spoken at volume she knew was meant to reach her ears.

          Mira smiled, closed her eyes, and went to sleep.

Sneak Peak Sunday: Spark of a Hero

Good morning friends!

I've been slaving away at cover art and the first round of serious edits this weekend and I thought I've give you another little peak at the new novel.  This has been a challenge for me because I'm using characters from both Lies in Chance AND Fresh Ice to create a new romance.  It's been a challenge, but I'm also really, really excited about it!

To the left here is one of the rough ideas I'm working on for a cover. You can vote for which cover you want by reading my last post on this blog and voting here or by going over to my Face Book page and voting.

Meanwhile, ENJOY!

The rain north of Green Bay fell mercilessly. By the time Collier reached the city limits of Rock Harbor, he was exhausted and unable to find the county highway address Archibald gave him. Collier eased the Mercedes into a muddy parking lot outside a bar called "Dirty Dog Dave's." He parked as close to the door of the hulking building as he could, and ran inside.

The inside of Dirty Dog Dave's was cavernous. The place seemed deserted, though the lights were on. Collier took a seat at the bar and tapped his fingers. "Hello?"

The only answer to his single word was the click of a hand gun safety releasing. Collier stopped tapping his fingers, his blood frozen.

"Put yer hands on the bar where Ah ken see them."

Collier squinted to the darkened end of the room, searching for the face to match the low, guttural voice and the completely fake Southern accent. He splayed his hands out on the dented bar, trying hard not to recoil at the sticky feel of the scarred wooden surface. "I'm not here to cause trouble. I just need directions."

"Ah'll just bet y'all do."

In spite of the clear danger he was in, Collier struggled not to smile. The hidden man's accent was simply too funny. "No, really. I'm trying to find Shara Jacobs' place."

As if his words were some sort of incendiary device, the man with the gun leaped from around the corner, and grabbed Collier by the collar. The man was enormous, and holding an even more impressive handgun. "Just whut would y'all be wantin' with Miss Shara?"

"Oh for the love of all that's holy, Dave, put that man down!"

Collier held his breath as Dave's grip on his collar tightened. He heard woman's quick foots steps behind him and in a beat a tall, beautiful woman the color of a perfect cup of mocha stood next to him.

"Chanel, now this doesn't concern y'all."

"It does when you're pointing a gun at a customer. Put that thing away and give the man dinner or something."

Dave didn't loosen his grip on Collier. "Chanel, this man is driving Mr. James' Mercedes. But look at him, he's no driver for Mr. James. So either he stole the car...or he stole the car. Plus, he's lookin' fer Miss Shara."

Chanel turned her focus to Collier. "Did you steal Mr. James' car?"

"No." Collier tried to swallow, but Dave's enormous knuckle was in the way. "No, I'm his nephew."

"Ah don't buy it."

"You don't buy anything." Chanel frowned at Dave. "Look, Mister. Dave here just got his concealed carry permit and he's itching to use that beastly thing. If I were you, I'd say something a bit more convincing."

"My uncle, Archibald James, sent me here. I'm a..." Collier struggled for air.

"Oh for heaven's sakes, Dave, put him down and let him talk."

Reluctantly, Dave let go of Collier, sending him back to the bar stool with a thump. "Now talk...and Ah'd best lahke whut you say."

"I'm a musician. I'm a singer, and my uncle thought I should work with Shara Jacobs. Said she's a client of his. He's letting me use his car because mine is back home."

"Where's thet?"

Collier cleared his throat and turned a baleful eye on Dave. "Nashville. Tennessee. Where people have real accents."

Chanel burst out laughing. "Dave, you have to give this man free burgers for life or he may just blow your cover!"

Collier allowed himself a weak smile. "I don't want to blow anyone's cover or anything. I just...I'm looking for this address." He held up the piece of paper. "I can't find it in the rain."

"Of course you can't, Sugar." Chanel strolled behind the bar and filled a glass with beer. "Here you go." She slid the glass to Collier.

"Now just a minute! Since when do we give free beer to strangers?"

“Oh, about the same time we started pulling guns on people who show up looking for directions.”  Chanel grinned at Collier. "Dave, you say one more word to this boy and I'm going to let him tell everyone that you've never been further south than Kenosha." Chanel turned back to Collier, her voice easing back to a warm tone reminiscent of thick hot cocoa. "Now, go ahead and finish what you were saying."

Collier took a swallow of beer, the amber liquid warming him. "I'm a sort of traveling musician, but my band...broke up. So my uncle sent me here to do some recording work with Shara Jacobs. He said I could stay at their place."

"Probably means the loft."

Collier didn't miss the softening of Dave's features. "You know Miss Shara?"

Dave chuckled. "Know her? I discovered her."

Chanel clicked her tongue against her teeth. "You did not discover her, Dave. She had to beg you for months to let 'Teachers' Pets' play here, and you know it. Now, what's your name honey?"

"Collier. Collier James."

"Okay, Collier James, I'm about to open this place up for the evening, but I promise you, if you don't mind sitting here a bit and having the best burger you're ever going to eat, I'll see to it that someone gets you out to the Jacobs' place tonight." Chanel patted him on the shoulder.

“We’re giving him food, too?  What, you’re trying to bankrupt me?”

“No, Dave,” Chanel rounded the bar and stood in the kitchen doorway, “I’m trying to keep him from suing us.”

Collier was amused by the couple. His initial fear of Dave melted. The smell of grilled meat emanating from the kitchen made Collier's stomach growl. "Ok, I guess I wouldn't mind a burger at all.”

*

Time in Dave’s, Collier realized, was a relative thing. It seemed like hours before the first customer crossed the dank threshold and yet when he looked at his watch at the height of late night revelry, Collier was astonished to see that several hours had passed.  Dirty Dog Dave’s transformed from a dark cave to the epicenter of sound and music and joy. It reminded him of Second Chance’s in Nashville, and Collier felt a rare pang of homesickness.

          “Collier James, I’d like you to meet a good friend of mine,” Chanel took a break from waiting tables to talk to him. Next to Chanel stood a beautiful, older woman, the kind of woman, Collier sense, got more attractive as she aged. Though she was, Collier assessed, probably in her fifties, she retained a youthful glow and smoothness of features most would envy. “This is Molly Hunter.”

          “Miz Hunter, pleased to make your acquaintance,” Collier extended his hand.

          “Shara told me to expect you.” Molly shook his hand with a firm grip, “Pleased to meet you. Chanel tells me your Mr. James’ nephew?”

          “Yes Ma’am.”

          Molly smiled. “I see you have his wonderful manners too.”

          “Molly here is a good friend of Shara Brandt’s. I told her you needed some help finding the place.”

          Collier nodded his thanks to Chanel, who faded back to the welling throng of people.

          “So what does Mr. James want you to do with Shara and Bryan?”

          Collier shrugged. “I’m a musician. I guess he thinks I should work with Shara.”

          Molly nodded. “He’s a wise man. Come on, I’ll lead you up there.”

          “You’re sure it’s okay?”

          “Absolutely. If Mr. James sent you, you have every right to stay there.”

          Collier pushed his glass away and turned to leave the bar when the singer on stage caught his eye. She was striking with long raven colored hair that flowed to the middle of her back. As she settled herself onto the stool and shifted her guitar to a comfortable place on her lap, Collier could not help feeling he’d seen her before.

          “Who is that?”

          Molly glanced over her shoulder. “You’ve got an eye for beauty. That’s Miranda Peirce. Sometimes she’s goes by the stage name, ‘Mira Star.’”

          “Is it wrong that I think that sounds like a stripper name?” Collier laughed. “Guess I’ve been doing it wrong all these years, going under my given name.”

          “Some say she’s explaining away that huge star tattoo on her upper arm.” Molly shrugged. “I think it’s more to put distance between herself and her sister.”

          “Why’s that?”

          “Oh they haven’t liked each since Miranda was little. The older sister is married to a state senator, very prim and proper and serious. Miranda’s much younger, and she’s always been a bit of a free spirit.”

          “She’s got a decent voice.” Collier studied her with a critical eye. “And she’s pretty.”

          “She is. I liked her better before, though.”

          “Why’s that?”

          Molly opened the door and stepped into the rain soaked night. “I think she looked better with her natural hair color.  It was a really pretty sandy brown. She dyed it black recently. The dark hair makes her look older.  Although, now that I think about it, it does bring out the green in her eyes.”

          Collier glanced over his shoulder and trying to picture the woman on stage with blonde hair, and realized why she seemed familiar. She’s the woman from the Renaissance Faire. No hair color change could hide eyes that green.

          Molly was already to her car, starting the engine. Not wanting to be lost again, Collier let the door close and headed for his uncle’s Mercedes.

Cover art...I need your help!

Good afternoon!

I'm NOT what one would call an excellent cover artist. But I do enjoy the process and, with much trial and error, I've been able to create a couple fairly decent covers for some of my books.

Now, with Spark of a Hero's release announcement just around the corner, I need to do come cover art.

I also need to decide what the title is actually going to be.

Friends, I need your help BIG TIME!

I need you to vote on the art and the title.  Now, please forgive me, the pictures are rough and they do have the watermarks of the stock photo websites where I got them.  (Thank you, Dreamstime and Shutterstock!  I'm a faithful customer!!  But if you look at the two covers I've cobbled together today, as well as the titles, I'd like some feedback.  Which direction gives you a more favorable response?

COVER/TITLE  A

COVER/TITLE B

Now, in order to vote, either leave a comment here on the blog or hop on over to my FACE BOOK PAGE and leave a comment on there.  All you have to do is say "cover A"  or "Cover B" and "Title A" or "Title B"

I am definitely on the fence with both of these, and I know cover B is not as large, so it's not as easy to make out.  But there's a lot going on in both pictures.

And yes, I am leaning one way...slightly.

Readers, I depend on you for help!

And OF COURSE, everyone who votes will be entered into a drawing for a FREE COPY of the new book when it comes out!

Where there's cover art, can a new book be too far behind????

Good evening!

So in the past few months I've been working on creating my own cover art.  While I'll never reach the perfection I had when working with Nicola Martinez on my first two books  (both covers of which I've had to change recently)  I am pretty excited about how some of this is working out for me.  I'm learning a lot by simply trial and error.  Mostly a lot of error.

But recently I finished the cover for my first Elsie W. book, a book I really hope to release yet this month. 

Ladies and gents, I give you:

Don't let the size of this picture fool you...this book is going to be HUGE!  Tee Hee!

Okay, the size of the thing is...wee.  I'll give you that.  But it looks FANTASTIC on Face book.  (Are you following my author page yet?  Click here!)  And I'm sure it will look just as good on Amazon and Barnes and Noble and all that once I send it out into the world.

You'll note I'm working under a bit of a different name.  I didn't want to lose my first name,  because this book is a direct descendant of my It can Only Happen to Sarah! blog and I don't want to lose that connection.  Also, I have a plan, it's a big plan and part of that plan involves me spending WAY less time working for someone else and way MORE time writing the stories I love to write.  But somewhere, somewhere way down the road, I can see the initials SJB being a cornerstone to several lines of books. 

I'm so excited about this new direction.  Don't get me wrong, I have romance novels in my head...all kinds of great heroes and lady loves and whatnot.  But telling funny stories about my completely boring life and making people laugh is so important to me...and I can't wait to share it with you all!

Will a new cover mean new sales?

Good afternoon!

So recently I got my rights to my first novel, Dream in Color from the original publisher, the Wild Rose Press.  We parted on very good terms, and I highly recommend submitting your first romance novel to them if you are ready to do so.

But in getting back my rights, I lost the cover art.  So I had to get new cover art and since I didn't feel like paying someone else to do my cover art, I went and did it myself: 

 

A front and back cover, and I did it on my own!  I was pretty impressed.   But what impressed me more is that, while sales for Dream haven't exactly made me independently wealthy, I have in the last month, outsold what I did all last year for this book.

 

Was it the cover art, I wondered, or the lower price?  Or both?

 

So I went to my second novel, Lies in Chance. I loved that cover art, but sales were very, very slow.  So I thought I'd spice it up a bit and see what happened.  This one took a lot more work because it's a much more complicated story and because I really wanted to capture the essence of the book.  And because I had no idea what I was doing  

 

Front cover.

Back cover.

I love it.  But does it mean more sales?  I thought the first cover was awesome, but readers didn't gravitate toward the book.  I'm hoping this is a bit more attractive.  I won't know for a while, since it just went live late yesterday.

The other thing I'm wrestling with is "To Kindle Select or NOT to Kindle Select."

Common sense says not to put all your eggs in one basket.  But reality is, I'm selling books on Amazon, and I'm not selling books too many other places.  In fact, the only thing I've managed to get on the Barnes and Noble website is a negative review talking about how the characters are too likable to be real...and how the book needs proofreading.  The funny part is...the author of said review misspelled at least two things.  I love irony.

So do new covers mean new sales?

I can't wait to find out!

(Oh, and lest we forget, I have a third novel out...Fresh Ice and I have no intention of changing the art on that one! 

 

One small step for publishing, one giant step for me!

Good morning!

So I've been teasing my Face Book Faithful with an announcement about my first book, Dream in Color.  I'm ready to make that announcement public right now.

After three wonderful years with The Wild Rose Press, I decided it was time to bring Dream in Color in with the rest of my books, and I requested Wild Rose revert the rights for that book back to me.  Since my contract with them was fulfilled anyway, Wild Rose was kind enough to give me back my rights.

They just had a couple things they wanted to make sure I understood.

1)  They would be removing the book from their website and other sales outlets.

2)  I had to make a couple small changes to the book itself, so that it wasn't the exact same book they'd sold.

3)  I would lose my cover art.

I expected the first two points.  The third one knocked me over.  I love that cover art and, up until last night I had zero knowledge in anything about creating cover art.  But hey, Wild Rose said all this would happen in 90 days.  I had, I told myself, lots of time.

Until the other day, when I saw that the download format for Dream was no longer available ANYWHERE!  GACK!  I needed to change the book, format the book, and make cover art for the book RIGHT NOW, and I had no idea how to go about that.

But last night I had a break through, and I spent some quality time glued to my desk.  I hit my favorite image website Dreamstime and learned the ins and outs of how to purchase images.  I then spent a lot of time with my paint program, you know, that thing on your computer you usually use to scribble on but haven't really learned how to use?  Oh, wait, that's just my issue?  okay then.

Finally, I went to the dreaded place where book covers struggle to get published, Create space.  This is where I've uploaded my other two books for print publication, but I always wrestle with book covers.  Last night was no exception.  However, I'm fairly confident, and very, very excited this morning to show you the result of my work.

 

I still have a number of things to work on before I am ready to re release Dream.  But after last night, I'm feeling far better than I did this past week and I can't wait to share everything I've learned, along with this book I wrote  (Your first one is always going to be your baby).

Ladies and Gentlemen: COVER ART!

This has been a sort of lousy couple days for me, I'm not going to lie.  About 3 this morning I woke up with horrible back spasms, unable to breath.  This is the culmination of three days' worth of spasms that made it hard to sleep, but since I really have slept much since the accident, I was used to that.  The new wrinkle this morning was spasms so intense I could not breath. Fortunately for me, we live a few blocks from the hospital, so hubby and I drove in and they put me on a magical little pill...Valium. Have you heard of it?

I can't drive when I'm taking this pill, and I can't breath when I'm not.  So, do I go to work and die, or stay at home and live? It's the question for the ages.

Well anyway, I got a very nice surprise in my in box from my critique partner, who is now a cover artist, author Kelly Moran:

How great is this cover?  I still have a couple editing things to deal with...Kelly is a harsh taskmaster on the edits as well as the pictures!  But it's getting close, my time to release my third novel, and I cannot wait!

This is the first time I set out to write a romance, and I think I achieved that goal.  My goal is November first, but given my health set backs of late, it may be a few days after that.  Still, I'm so excited to share the story of Izzy and Quinn with you.

Stay tuned!

It's a happy day for this writer!

Hello all! 

So I've been absent lately, but with good reason.  I've been slaving away at the second draft of "Fresh Ice," and I've just sent the final chapters to my dear critique partner.

It's exciting, getting to this point.  I like this point. This is when writing is fun.  Gone is the stressful "blank pages" stage, when you have no clue who your characters are, or what they're going to do.  Gone are most of the dead end chapters, the pages of pointlessness.  Instead, you know your characters so well, you're the puppet master making them dance.  (And then if you sit too long on a book, the characters make you dance.)

I'm also excited because I finally found a cover artist, I hope. She's tackling the cover for this book, a cover I have seen so clearly since the first time I pictured a cover for the book.  I hope she can manage it for me.  I'm confident she can!

Not the new cover.

So it's a happy day for me.  I toasted myself with a glass of Pinot Noir, and now I'm going to tuck myself on the futon and watch a movie of some sort until I fall asleep.  Hubby is in the next room, and I don't want to disturb him, but my eczema is flaring  (I've neglected pretty much everything in the past week to get this draft finished) and I don't sleep well when that happens.  So, I'll find something calm on Netflix, lotion myself up, and drift off blissfully, dreaming cover art and release dates.

Today I love being a writer!

Pirate, Cowboy, Scottish Lord...where the *$^&#(#% is the "Normal" hot guy?

Cover art is hard.

I should amend that.  Cover art is hard in one of two ways:

1)  You're writing for a big publishing house that gives you stock art and you have no say in what goes on the cover of your magnificent opus and therefore you wind up with a skinny, short metro sexual tidy boy when your hero is a rough and tumble bad boy who is six feet tall and may...or may not...smell like leather, sweat, and tequila.  (or, vice versa)

2)  You're one of those rogue e-pubbers who does everything from the ground up and, while you revel in the freedom to chose your own art for your cover, you realize that you might not have a great eye for cover art and may make a very wrong decision.

For "Dream in Color"  I worked with the fantastic artist, Nicola Martinez, through Wild Rose Press.  (See cover art above.)  All I had to do was fill out the form they sent me and POOF, I got the cover of my dreams.  Well, not precisely, but it was really close and actually more beautiful than I could have come up with.

For "Lies in Chance"  I wanted something edgier than "Dream" and since I was picking on my own, I spent a very long time working on the cover art...again with Nicola Martinez.  (She's great and she's FAST.  Contact me if you need a cover artist...I have her email here somewhere...)  So I found the amazing, I thought, pic of the girl climbing out of a river.  Pretty much the first five pages of the book.  Sales have lagged, so I'm not sure if I'm a terrible author, or if the cover art isn't good.  I love it...it's mine...and I would never change it.

Now I'm working frantically to have "Fresh Ice" out either before Christmas or shortly after the first of the year.  Since I've managed to vomit out the first draft, I'm optimistic, and therefore looking again for cover art.

I have a very specific image in mind.  But, after spending quite a lot of time searching the Internet for something close to that image, I'm at a loss.  I'm looking for a tall, dark, handsome, fit but burly sort of guy...with green eyes, and a small blond woman.  (Clearly, I give a lot more thought to my heroes.)

I'm looking at various images and I realized something:  romance covers fall into three basic categories:  Pirates, Scottish Highlander Lord guys, and cowboys. 

WHERE ARE THE "NORMAL" hot guys?

Seriously...where are they?  Where's the guy in the half unbuttoned white shirt with pecs that go on for days, but he's got a haircut guys would wear in 2011, and he's wearing jeans...and not a cowboy hat?

This sort of fits with my angst about literature in general. The modern day alpha male in woman's lit and romance is a dying breed, and I blame Lifetime TV.  I like Lifetime, but I do get tired of a steady diet of "strong woman rescues self while Hot man looks confused."  Please.  I already work full time, keep a house, volunteer, and help raise two kids.  I'm tired of doing it all...can't I have a screamin' hot guy come and rescue me?  Would that be so wrong?  Do I have to turn in my woman card?  I WANT A MODERN DAY ALPHA MALE TO RESCUE ME FROM THE BAD GUY AND NOT APOLOGIZE FOR IT LATER.

 Emily Bronte is my hero because she created a dark hero...set in her time.  I want to create a dark hero...in my time.  Unfortunately for me, romance novels seem to be stuck in the idea that guys like that existed in the 1800's and sailed pirate ships while wearing kilts.

Sheesh.

I'm not a graphic artist, and I can't draw.  This is why I hire a cover artist.  But I'd like to be able to hand her something and say, "now put hockey skates on him...in a sexy way."

That's just not going to look right if he's wearing a cowboy hat and a kilt.

And now Ladies and Gents...I give you this!

Good afternoon all!

A big Happy Mothers Day to all you moms out there!  For my international readers, I don't know if you celebrate Mother's Day or not, but my family asked me what I wanted to do...I said I wanted my family to do whatever gave them joy.  So, the Boy is off with his girlfriend, the Girl and Hubby are shopping and the cats are napping on the porch.  A perfect day.

Meanwhile, I'm editing.  Why...BECAUSE, I have cover art!

Now you all know that cover art means I also have a deadline!  I have less than three weeks to get my 95000 word masterpiece edited and cleaned up for the formatter so it can be released to the reading public in June!

Which means, my friends, I might be absent for a couple weeks while I'm doing this!  I'll see you when I have a release date for you!

Meanwhile!  GO FORTH AND WRITE!

Methinks she needs glasses...

Good morning!

So, as anyone out there, both of you, has read, "Dream in Color" is now on the Wild Rose Press website as a "Coming Soon," novel. (4-23-10...if I haven't mentioned it!)

I sent out an email to every friend and relative I've ever had in life announcing this yesterday. Got back many congrats from many folks, but one really stuck out in my mind. A friend of mine, a lovely woman who is my age (in those delightful 40's, ya know) responded that she loved my cover art, and that she was convinced she recognized the two young women on the cover.


Ummmmmmm.....two young women?

For the record, I adore my cover art. It's gorgeous. A very, very talented artist named Nicola Martinez did the cover for me. You can see more of her work on the Wild Rose Press site. AFter the horror stories I've heard about first time authors having their book sales destroyed by bad cover art, I was nervous, but I could not be happier with my cover.

Yes, the couple looks a little familiar. The girl child, who is twelve, is convinced that the male in the picture is Joe Jonas, (the one I call "the pretty one." I also call him the Erleane Mandrell of the Jonas Brothers, and if you remember the Mandrell sisters, you know exactly what I mean.) The girl looks a tiny bit like any number of the Disney starlets, probably Demi Levado (I know I have the spellling wrong. I'm thinking I should not have to know how to spell that name. That would mean I spend too much time watching the Disney channel, and that's creepy.)

I sort of laugh because the book is actually listed in the "LATER IN LIFE" category for The Wild Rose Press. Yep, mid thirties, later in life. Don't I feel ANCIENT? LOL! Obviously, the two on the cover aren't quite "later in life." Still, it's a gorgeous cover, and I love it.

But back to my friend who thinks it's two girls. I think I'll leave it to you, my readers. You be the judge. You can check out my cover here on the blog, or go to the Wild Rose website and take a closer look:

www.thewildrosepress.com

Check it out under "Coming Soon" and "Contemporary/Later in Life"

Let me know if you think it's two girls or a girl and guy. Hey, maybe I should market the COVER to a whole different crowd!

Have a groovy one!