A MUST READ BOOK!

Good Morning. I was recently given a gift by the lovely Anne R. Allen of the book INDIE CHICKS an anthology of personal stories from Indie women writers.





If you are woman

A writer

A Mom

A survivor

If you are overwhelmed, prone to anxiety, unsure, or just have no clue how to manage writing and the stress of real life at the same time

This book is for you.

Twenty-five personal essays from women Indie Writers that will leave you laughing, crying, shaking your head, and saying, "Oh my God, that is so MY life."

Not only are there the personal essays, but sneak peeks into the latest books of the writers and where to find them on the interwebs. I put so many books on my TBR list just compiled from this anthology, my reading list will take me into 2014 I'm sure.

This book is ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC and I can't rave about it enough.

Also, all proceeds go to the Susan G. Komen foundation for cancer research, so it's a win-win all the way around.

You can buy it here on Amazon.

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In other news, I'm posting tomorrow on a special cause that won't cost you anything but a click of your mouse, so please, please, please stop by. Here's a hint... and with that face, you won't be able to say no.




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And I'll be at Nicki's on Wednesday for another interview, and she found my favorite song in the whole world on You Tube, so I hope you'll swing by for that.

Friday's at the Piedmont Grille

On Today's Menu -- BOOKS!

Traditional ones, indie ones, books that speak of rocks.
Short ones, long ones, books made with great Word.docs.

Today is THE day to help Jessica Bell's debut, STRING BRIDGE, hit
the bestseller list on Amazon, and receive the all-original soundtrack, Melody Hill: On the Other Side, written and performed by the author herself, for free!



All you have to do is
purchase the book today (paperback, or eBook), November 11th, and
then email the receipt to:


jessica.carmen.bell(at)gmail(dot)com


She will
then email you a link to download the album at no extra cost!

To purchase the paperback:

Amazon USA

Amazon UK

To purchase the eBook:

Amazon USA

Amazon UK

To listen to samples of the soundtrack, visit iTunes.

If you are
not familiar with String Bridge,
check out the book trailer:

Rave Reviews for String Bridge:

“Jessica Bell’s STRING BRIDGE strummed the fret of my
veins, thrummed my blood into a mad rush, played me taut until the final page,
yet with echoes still reverberating. A rhythmic debut with metrical tones of
heavied dark, fleeting prisms of light, and finally, a burst of joy—just as
with any good song, my hopeful heartbeat kept tempo with Bell’s narrative.” ~ Kathryn Magendie, author of Sweetie and Publishing Editor of Rose & Thorn Journal

“Poet and
musician Jessica Bell's debut novel String Bridge is a rich exploration of desire, guilt, and the
difficult balancing act of the modern woman. The writing is lyrical throughout,
seamlessly integrating setting, character and plot in a musical structure that
allows the reader to identify with Melody's growing insecurity as her world
begins to unravel … String Bridge is
a powerful debut from a promising writer, full of music, metaphor, and just a
hint of magic.” ~ Magdalena Ball, author of Repulsion
Thrust and Sleep Before Evening

“Jessica Bell is a brilliant writer
of great skill and depth. She doesn't pull back from the difficult
scenes, from conflict, pain, intensity. She puts it all out there, no holds
barred, no holding back. She knows how to craft a scene, how to develop
character, how to create suspense. This is an absolutely brilliant debut novel.
I look forward to reading her
next novel, and next and next.” ~ Karen Jones
Gowen, author of Farm Girl, Uncut Diamonds and House of Diamonds

Connect with Jessica:

String Bridge: http://www.stringbridge.com/

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/jessica_bell

Website: http://www.jessicacbell.com/

Blog: http://thealliterativeallomorph.blogspot.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/author.jessica.bell

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/MsBessieBell

Publisher: http://www.luckypress.com/


Please TWEET and/or FACEBOOK this post using #StringBridge!

ALSO Ali Cross and a few of her Ninja Crew have all released today.

There's a Twitter feed that's also happening at 11am (MST) at #DARKCARMA with great prizes and book give-aways so go join in the fun!

At the Grille -- R Mac Wheeler

Good morning everyone. We're straying a bit from my usual posting. As you can see, my blog has been taken over by this giant. I've long wanted to do an interview with my absolutely fabulous crit partner Mac Wheeler, and after having gone round in a number of conversations, he finally consented.

Mac's a prolific writer, authoring over 19 books, and has finally gone the self-publishing route, putting his BLACK LAKE series out to Kindle. Filled with ogres, orcs, dragons, wizards, daemons and trolls, it's a character driven fantasy epic that enthralls and delights those who have a hankering for the "other" side of life.



1. How did you end up becoming a writer?

Sitting at a traffic light one day on my way to work, my door flung open and an ogre ripped me out of my car. I knew he was an ogre just like that. Ya can't miss the tusks and snout, let me tell ya. He dragged me along on this epic journey to secure peace for his warlock and witch friends. Oh, the stories I could tell ya about them dragons we came 'cross. We experienced many near-death events that changed me—in a dark way, let me tell ya. We became great friends after a time (wrapping up each other's knife wounds, wizard afflictions and such can bring two critters together like nothing else), and I decided to dedicate my life to erasing the unfair prejudice against ogres and their cousins (orcs, dwarves, elves, trolls, goblins and daemons). They aren't such bad folks. Just misunderstand. Just because them trolls think centipedes make a great snack….

2. What is your favorite genre to write?

Non-fiction—such things as brain surgery and rocket science. But since I don't know much attall about those things, I make up lies about my neighbors and their late night séances, my ogre and elf friends and such. Actually most what I right about is the bare butt truth, cross my heart. I just change the names to protect the guilty, as they say.

3. Are you a plotter or do you follow the muse?

As a former draftsman, I've used many different plotting devices, but I can't imagine why anyone would refer to themselves as a graphic printing apparatus. During a recent trip to Black Lake, I met a wizard who went by the name The Muse. Funny coincidence you would ask about him. He was a cranky, smelly troll though, and I wouldn't follow him out of a blizzard.

4. What do you read? Who are your favorite authors?

I read the back of the cereal box every morning. I have the intention of one day pulling the A section of the encyclopedia out and starting on a new world exploration. But that sounds like a lot of work. Tony the Tiger has interesting things to say.

5. Where do you get your ideas for your stories?

I like to stay up into the wee morn' hours and watch my drunken neighbor stagger into his house (if he gets started in the right direction—sometimes he doesn't, and ends up at Tom's house, but since his key doesn't fit Tom's door….) Most of my stories are naked truth. Cross my heart. My ogre friend and I experienced many a knee slapper crisscrossing the Range. Oh, let me tell you about this one ogre bar wench we met with the grandest pair of….

6. What is the most difficult part about writing for you?

Getting the right edge on my quill. Aggravating as all get out how quickly those things get rubbed to a stub and you have to start all over. I mean, really. Can't they develop a better method for getting ideas on parchment?

7. How long were you trying to get published before you decided to self-publish?

I woke up last Tuesday and said I just ought to do it. I grabbed up a handful of my scrolls and went down to the corner where this printer set up a shop a few years back. I told him what I wanted to do and he just glared at me. Well, I'll tell you that put a damper on my publishing plans, so I came home and opened a Kerr jar of brew and read the back of my cereal box for an hour until I calmed down.

8. What is the most surprising thing you discovered during the self-publishing process?

After a couple Kerr jars, the print on the back of the cereal box gets right fuzzy.

9. The Black Lake series consists of four books. Give me a little blurb on each.

There's volume one. Volume two. Volume three. And volume four. I gotta tell ya I went through a ton of quills.

Mac on Kindle

I'm On the Veranda Today

Good Morning. Today I have the honor and priviledge of hanging out on the veranda with Christine Glover. She's going to interview me, a la Barbara Walters style. I've long admired Christine's interviews with other authors and I can't believe she's going to interview ME! I'm so excited. So I hope you'll stop by as we dish the dirt on writing, self-publishing, and other little tid-bits about the craft.

photo courtesy of FeatherStone Winery

Friday's at the Piedmont Grille

On Today's menu -- Champagne! Let's celebrate!






First up, I just want to say how really blown away I was by the response I recieved last Friday on Tara's blog. I was really touched by all the warm feelings toward me and my books. You know it's hard sometimes to really grasp the scope of what I'm doing, trying to achieve, by self-publishing. It's hard also to accept the good wishes and pats on the back, even from total strangers. So to all of you, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I also want to thank all my new blogging friends. I've met so many wonderful and fascinating people on this writing journey, it's mind blowing. I've reached the elusive 300+ followers and I just don't know what to do with you all. Big group hug comes to mind. It's such a humbling experience to know 304 people stop by here and read what I have to say. You guys keep me so real and I thank you for that.

Also, just for fun, (and some really mad prompting from Tara) I am now on Twitter. I know, can you believe it. Never thought I'd see the day. But I Tweet. Albeit slowly, and not everyday, but I am there. See, it's right there on my sidebar so it must be true. As for FaceBook...that's a whole other ugly monster.

On the writing front, I'm deep into the middle of THE DUKE'S DIVORCE, book three in The Reluctant Grooms series. I so wanted to finish this by Thanksgiving, but I'll have to do some wicked mad writing to achieve that.

I also recently finished reformatting REMEMBERING YOU, (for those of you who remember Genna and Tony and Pete) and I'm hoping to get that bad boy out to Kindle shortly. One more quick line edit, just to make sure I've got all the nasties out, and I'll be good to go. A couple more days I think.

And, I'm also getting my act together to get THE LADY'S FATE out in paperback. I've got to do a little more research, and reformat, but I'm hoping to have paper soon.

And although I'm not doing an "official" blog tour, I will be stepping out from the Grille on a few occasions, next Monday as a matter of fact. I'll be sitting on the Veranda at Christine's where she will be conducting an interview with yours truly. She has some pretty snazzy Barabara Walter's type questions, I might add. So if you're not busy, mark it on your calenders and take a spin over. Also on the 16th, I'll be hanging at Nicki's for some more fun back in the 80's, so hope you'll stop by for that too.

Thanks again, so much for all your support. It really does mean the world to me.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Overlapping Series

If you missed the post on my author blog on Monday, it was about how I got into writing a series. When I first began working on THE LADY'S MASQUERADE, it was suposed to be a simple love story between Penny and Will. As the story progressed, other characters naturally evolved and because they were Will's friends, I found myself with three other single male characters who had to find brides but didn't want to. Hence, The Reluctant Grooms Series was born.

However, because I'm a pantster, I began writing these books without rhyme or reason, doing the research into the era as I went along. The stories were supposed to be in succession, each man finding his bride a year after the other. At one point, however, I hit a giant snag. One of my characters had to be in London for the Parliamental session. I dove into my research and found, Parliament wasn't in session for that month. Nor, for the remainder of the year in fact.

I had three books begun, each with about 40K words each. And now, each of the these stories wouldn't work. I'm a stickler for accuracy in my facts, (I hate it when reading an historical and there's a mistake.) I didn't know what to do. I couldn't throw away all these books and start over. I needed to find a way to make them work.

And so I decided to make them wrap-around each other, or overlap, if you will. For those of you who remember THE LADY'S MASQUERADE, this is the story which began it all. We have William, Robert, Richard, and Ellis.

THE LADY'S MASQUERADE --

March 1810 -- September 1810.

William requires help finding out who is after Penny. Robert and Richard play significant roles. Ellis has two small scenes.

THE LADY'S FATE -

May 1810 -- June 1811

Robert plays a significant role for Ellis in helping him aquire the hand of Violet.

THE CAPTAIN'S LADY --

September 1810 -- February 1811

Robert and William help Richard fight for Amanda.

THE DUKE'S DIVORCE --

March 1811 -- July 1811

Ellis and William seem to be able to help Robert with his bride Fiona.

THE EARL'S ENIGMA --

May 1811 -- October 1811

I haven't quite figured out this story yet. Rory is still new to me. But he still overlaps with the others somewhat.







Now, writing the stories this way solved several problems at once; allowed me to combine characters and storylines from one book into another, kept me from having to do uncessary research (and therefore allowed me to write more), and kept all the characters fresh in my mind. They're all friends and friends lives do tend to overlap

However, the biggest drawback to writing a series in this way is keeping all the characters where they're supposed to be in all the other books. For example, at one point in THE LADY'S FATE, Violet is waiting to hear from Ellis. He explains, he was in Trilling for the nuptials of his brother William. Because in THE LADY'S MASQUERADE, Ellis does indeed show up for the wedding. In THE CAPTAIN'S LADY, Robert needs to be single as the villain mistakenly identifies him as his wife's new lover, and William needs to be married, because Penny and Amanda both need to be pregnant at the same time. And somewhere in THE EARL'S ENIGMA, all the characters from all the books need to be at the Prince Regent's grand party in June of 1811.

Yes, I have a lot of notes.

But I'm loving the way it's turning out.

Tell me -- Do you read series novels? Do they overlap or are they progressive?

Stay tuned next week when I discuss overlapping characters... especially these two.

The Great Debate....Prologues

Happy Halloween Everyone. Today is kind of a mish-mashy post, but I will try and keep it together to form a cohesive essay.






Yesterday morning, while listening to "Flashback" on the radio, they played Elton John's Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding. The Monster Child was with me and as we pulled up to my mother's house, I remained in the car. Funeral for a Friend was still playing and I wanted to hear the opening to Love Lies Bleeding so I would have a good song in my head for the rest of the day instead of the stupid deoderant commercial. The Monster ran down to the house, went in, and then came back out two minutes later very upset that I still sat in the car. "I'm going to be late," she yelled. Funeral for a Friend was just ending.

"No, you're not," I replied. "Here's what I've been waiting for." And the opening chords to Loves Lies Bleeding struck. I began singing the song, beating my fingers on the steering wheel, while she just rolled her eyes and ran back down the driveway.

And it got me thinking...

Back in the 70's, rock bands would have these long musical introductions. Some of them were good, some not so good, but you'd have to wait to get to the real "song". Think Lynard Skynard, Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull. (I'll bet half of you have never even heard of these bands.)

Any-hoo, it got me thinking...

Those musical introductions were prologues. Depending on the composition, some evolved into the song lyrics, some were of a different nature altogether and didn't make any sense. (Perhaps the composer smoked a little too much gange and thought it would fit, I don't know.)

But it got me thinking...

About the great debate of prologues. Depending on how they're written, they either serve the book well by giving us a piece of the story we wouldn't find in the natural progression of the plot line, or is just something the author wanted to throw in just to keep us guessing.

I had a prologue in THE LADY'S MASQUERADE. It was one page, 263 words total. It was a snippet of the villain's character from his POV that allowed for a bit of intrigue before the story began. I always liked it, I thought it was wicked cool. But then, I took it out because I found while querying, prologues weren't in fashion anymore.

Having gotten back into revisions on MASQUERADE again, I think I'm going to put it back in, because up until page 256 out of 260, we don't see or hear from the villain. We don't know who he is until he makes his very short lived appearance. And you know what, not having to deal with an agent, editor, or publisher, I can do whatever I want.

Tell me -- Do you write prologues? Do they leave your readers guessing, or are they an intregral part of the plot that needs to be told, but not in the story?


And now for your viewing pleasure, as it is Halloween, some pictures I dug around for last weekend. Dressing up on Halloween was not one of my strong suits, but these pictures are proof that I did.



Halloween 1992. Me and Lawrence. My true soul self harking back to 1973 (incidentally the year Good-bye Yellow Brick Road was released).





Halloween 1998. Me and Jed. That, my friends, is a fake tattoo, but the boobs are real.





Have fun and be safe tonight!

Oh, and PS, on my author blog I discuss how I came up with my series if you'd like to take a peek.