So much for attempts to post here on a regular schedule. I have many excellent reasons for slacking—some of which I plan to blog about in the near future.
For now, know I’m neck-deep in edits for BREAKING ALL THE RULES, my spring 2015 Turquoise Morning Press release.
Yes, I prefer to make edits by hand. Maybe it makes me a dinosaur, but I see things differently on paper. Besides, it feels more real somehow. I love the heft of a pile of manuscript pages.
There’s only one problem with editing this way: Sometimes—OK, more often than I care to admit—I can’t read my hand-written scribbles.
Ahem. The trick, of course, is to finish edits and get them back in my typewritten manuscript quickly enough that I can still remember what I was trying to say.
That’s the goal, anyway.
I’ve slowly been whittling down the to-be-edited pile. As of Saturday afternoon, it’s officially a shorter stack than the already-edited pile.
Progress!
It’s the small victories, right? I need a few of those in my life right now.
Because I write contemporary romantic comedy, my books have no carriage sex. There are a few sexy moments in cars — but the scene I’m featuring for this week’s My Sexy Saturday post isn’t one of those, either.
This scene is from SLIDING INTO HOME, Book 3 of my All Is Fair in Love & Baseball series, published by Turquoise Morning Press. I went the short route this time — only 7 sentences. The better to share it in a fun, pinnable quote card!
Most conference attendees fly to the conference city. Me? I’m not big on airplanes—and even less tolerant of airport hassle. Schlepping a suitcase between terminals? Barefoot strolls through security? Interminable layovers?
Thanks, but no thanks. When it’s at all feasible, I’d rather travel by car.
A car trip from Flagstaff to San Antonio for Romance Writers of America’s 2014 National Conference seemed do-able. At least that was the conclusion my NARWA chapter mates Anne Marie Becker and Alison DeLaine and I came to.
I can hear you now: Two days and 14-plus hours in the car is do-able? Are you nuts?
Quite possibly. But when you regularly drive an hour and a half just to get to RWA meetings, 14 hours in the car doesn’t seem nearly as ludicrous. (Lengthy drive time is one of the—er—perks of a chapter that encompasses the northern third of Arizona.)
Believe it or not, there are advantages to taking a real road trip to and from conference.
9. Better scenery. Instead of staring at clouds and an endless expanse of blue sky (if you’re lucky enough to get a window seat), you get to see giant windmills dominating the plain and farmers in their fields. Texas farmland is is just as green as Indiana’s. Smells the same, too.
Near Sweetwater, TexasTried to take a photo of the sunset reflected in the mirror. It kinda works, right?
8. Time for side jaunts. As we drove through New Mexico on our way to Texas, we took a short detour to Billy the Kid’s gravesite. Just outside of Fort Sumner, the sign beckoned us … so Anne Marie turned down the side road and drove until we reached the historical marker at the cemetery.
Being a fan of “Young Guns,” I didn’t turn down the chance to stop.
7. Cargo room. Unlike the poor suckers who flew to San Antonio who had to pay to ship stuff home, we had plenty of room to bring back swag. That I didn’t come home with a ton of new reading material is because I still have unread books from Anaheim in 2012. And I only fit all my clothes in one smallish suitcase because I didn’t have that many clothes to pack. Four dresses, two pairs of pants and matching shirts, sleepwear and (too many) shoes.
Apparently, I pack light.
Note to self: Next time, don’t bother with the sneakers. You won’t make it to the gym anyway.
6. Crazy timetable. If you decide to make the return trip all in one day (instead of splitting it in two) because one of you (*cough, cough* ME) is scheduled to work Monday afternoon, no one will stop you. The SUV put up a bit of a protest, dishing out hot air through the air conditioner vents in the midday Texas sun. But we drove with the windows cracked for about an hour and then, when we turned the AC back on, it was fine.
5. Excellent conversation. Sitting in the car for so many hours, you have nothing but time to work out sticky plot points, brainstorm ideas for the chapter and sing along with Apple’s “Ladies of the 80s” station … at the top of your lungs, of course. Car singing is best done at full volume.
4. Plenty of diet Dr Pepper. Only in Texas, where you see billboards advertising my favorite diet soda every 30 minutes or so, can you get diet Dr. Pepper at most soda fountains. Look hard enough and you might just find an entire refrigerated case full of Dr Pepper. (This one was in Texico … N.M., I think. But it’s on the border.)
Only in Texas …
3. Flexible arrival/departure times. On our way to San Antonio, we crossed two state lines—and lost an hour each time. It didn’t matter much on Monday, when we went from Arizona to New Mexico. But Alison and I had dinner get-togethers planned Tuesday night. We didn’t properly account for the lost hour from N.M. to Texas and had to book it through Texas to make it to dinner.
2. Ample rest stops. You never know what you’ll find in those convenience store/gas stations. I considered buying this mug — until I figured Starbucks didn’t sell a drink big enough to fill it.
Everything?
1. It’s a grand adventure. From racing a monsoon storm to Interstate 40 to touring beautiful downtown Clovis, N.M., by moonlight on the way to our mid-point hotel, you make countless memories. I think I Instagrammed more photos in that one week than in the whole month prior.
Bonus: (Mind you, this has nothing to do with the car trip, but I couldn’t resist adding it anyway.)
RWA14 was a blast—not that I doubted it would be. For me, it was a true road trip. Two of my chapter mates and I carpooled from Flagstaff to San Antonio (more on that soon). I caught up with friends old and new, and learned so much from the workshop sessions I attended. I went to so many marketing/social media sessions that my head threatened to explode.
One of the key points emphasized in many of them? You need a blog.
Umm … Does it count if I have a blog but post sporadically?
The experts’ answer, of course, is a big, fat “NO.”
So now that I’m back in Flagstaff, trying to resettle into what passes for a normal routine, I’m going to aim to blog more regularly. (How is it possible that my last post was in mid-June?) Blogging is heaped on top of all the Twitter/FB/Pinteresting things I should be doing—and none of them are as important as actually writing the next book.
Anyway …
It occurred to me that My Sexy Saturday is a great way to guarantee I post something fresh on my blog every week.
A quick refresher on the rules:
Post 7 paragraphs or 7 sentences or 7 words ONLY. The choice is yours. It can be from a WIP or something you already have published. Your post should be live by 9 am US Pacific Time on Saturday. Put those lucky 7s to work for you!
Here’s a snippet from my June release, BLIND DATE BRIDE. Who needs “Married at First Sight” when you have Kari and Damien?
***
Damien leaned across the table, and for a second, Kari thought he’d kiss her again. Her lips parted in anticipation. However, he merely turned her hand over, palm up, and ran his thumb over the skin at the base of her fingers. She watched it move back and forth, fast then slow, fascinated by the friction-generated heat.
His eyes never left hers, so she saw the instant his desire flickered back to life. Her thighs clenched as her body answered Damien’s call.
The dampness she felt provided a rude wake-up call. She clamped her knees together as she jerked her hand out of his grasp, ruthlessly reminding herself how badly her last run-in with lust at first sight had ended.
Seemingly undeterred, he grinned. “You ready to head to my place?”
“Y-your place?” Surely he wasn’t a mind reader.
“Or yours, I suppose.”
“My place?” This time, Kari’s voice came out in a panicked squeak.
Complete strangers getting married the first time they meet?
Sounds crazy, right? There’s no way it would happen in real life.
Umm … think again. Turns out the premise of BLIND DATE BRIDE isn’t so far-fetched after all. It was just years ahead of its time.
When I came up with the idea of two losers at love finally winning the “Get a Love Life” contest they never entered (way back in 1990-something), it might have been out there. Not so today, when reality TV show premises get nuttier and nuttier.
Married, an adaptation of a hit Danish format, will also include four specialists who will create what they believe are three perfect couples based on scientific matchmaking. The first meeting for these couples, each comprised of people who’ve had no prior luck in the love department, will be as they walk down the aisle.
(Emphasis is mine.) Sounds vaguely familiar, doesn’t it?
Of course, my Kari and Damien don’t win the contest’s grand prize based on scientific matchmaking. They’re merely the folks with the worst love lives in America, as selected by a panel of experts that includes Dr. Drew and Danielle Steel. And they marry and live together to get the prize money, of which there appears to be none in the A&E show.
“Married at First Sight” premieres on A&E’s FYI network (formerly BIO) on July 8. Find more info here.
As a romance writer, I sincerely hope they succeed. Realistically, I know they probably won’t.
I’m celebrating the release of BLIND DATE BRIDE with a Goodreads giveaway.
Three print copies of the book are up for grabs. The giveaway ends July 10 and is open to readers in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. (Expanding my reach this time around …)
Well, not all reality TV. I’ve never watched a full episode of “Big Brother” or “The Amazing Race”—and I quit watching “Survivor” several years ago, about the time the networks decided to make me choose between it and “Grey’s Anatomy.”
But before my day job became a “night job,” forcing me to work through prime time TV hours, you could find me glued to shows like “Mr. Personality,” “Joe Millionaire,” “Temptation Island” and “My Big, Fat Obnoxious Fiance.”
Notice a pattern there? All FOX shows, the trashier the better. 😉 Seriously. If it had train-wreck potential, I tuned in and eagerly awaited the derailment. (Anyone remember “Playing It Straight”?)
My love of trash-tastic reality shows probably made it easier for me to dream up BLIND DATE BRIDE. I had no problem imagining a reality show run amok.
The story starts with two reluctant grand-prize winners in Romance TV’s “Get a Love Life” contest. Their “prize” for having the worst love lives in America—as selected by a panel of experts that included Dr. Drew and Danielle Steel—is a blind date wedding. To claim the prize money, Kari and Damien must marry and live together for ninety days.
When the ratings from the wedding special are through the roof, the network offers Kari and Damien another opportunity: More cold, hard cash to let a camera crew film them 24/7 for a “Newlyweds”-type show called “Just Married.” Because they both have plans for the cash, they agree.
And that, my friends, is where the craziness really begins. Because marrying someone you’ve never met before isn’t crazy enough, right?
BLIND DATE BRIDE, my first single title indie-pubbed novel, goes on sale tomorrow. I hope you have as much fun reading it as I did writing it.
The blurb:
Nearly a decade ago, accountant Kari Parker shed 220 pounds of dead weight — her hulking, abusive college boyfriend. The last thing she wants in her life is another man — especially one as tall as a Windy City high rise. Yet when her best friend enters her in Romance TV’s “Get a Love Life” contest, another man is exactly what she gets. As much as she’d love to just say no, she can’t turn down the prize money that will allow her to help her parents save the restaurant they’ve run all her life. Sparks fly between Kari and her bogus groom, and as she and Damien share close quarters, intimate meals and — gulp — his bed, Kari doesn’t stand a chance of resisting his considerable charms. Even worse? She might not want to. But building a real future out of their sham marriage will be tougher than baking a wedding cake from scratch … with no flour … in a broken oven.
As you might know, my mother’s no longer with us. She died in 2003. That was 11 years ago? Wow. It doesn’t seem possible that she’s been gone so long.
Maybe that’s because I always carry her with me, courtesy of all the lessons she taught me over the years.
At their engagement party. My brother thinks Dad has a bit of a Conan O’Brien look going on.
Before I was born, my mom taught English and math—to high school students. I can’t imagine. Seems like they’d be the worst age to handle, with all the raging hormones, overwrought teen drama and bad attitude. But she seemed to have liked it—and her students seemed to have fond memories of her, too. (I went to school with a lot of the kids of the kids she taught.)
Among her lessons:
1. Reading is fun.
I can’t count the number of times I saw my mom with a book. She was always reading, everything from classic Updike to Danielle Steel. It was the influence of her and my dad, another voracious reader, that got me reading at age 4. My parents read all the time and I wanted to be like them, so they taught me to sound it out.
Naked butter cookies.
2. Butter cookies rule.
There are two types of people in the world: Sugar cooke folks and butter cookie fans. Our family falls into the latter category. Mom’s butter cookie recipe, which she got from her mom (who apparently shared it with Kelly Ripa), is flaky, crisp and just sweet enough.
About Kelly Ripa: I’ll never forget Mom calling me, excited because Kelly made her family’s favorite Christmas cookies on her show—and it was mom’s recipe that she shared. I guess Grandma got it off a box of butter or something?
Every year, after Mom baked the cookies (which I now know is a pain in the butt, rolling out the dough and cutting the shapes), she’d frost them while my brother and I decorated with sprinkles, colored sugar and other fun toppings. (My fave was the tiny candies shaped like flowers.)
3. Live life—and attack problems—with humor.
This is probably the biggie. My mother had a great sense of humor. She was the mom who sat in the back of the band bus and told jokes, or sat around the Girl Scout campfire telling funny stories.
She laughed a lot, and was first to deflect sadness with a joke or smile. Er, actually my whole family is like that. I remember when Dad died, my brother, cousins and I broke from the funeral home for pizza, and laughed jokes and funny stories until our sides ached.
I, for one, am glad, because I got my sense of humor from her. I’m quick to laugh and I crack jokes at what some people might call inappropriate times.
Every time a line in one of my books makes a reader laugh out loud, I hope she hears it and knows that she had a hand in making the world a happier place.
To celebrate the release of my third book, SLIDING INTO HOME, I’m embarking on my first blog tour.
I’ve enlisted the wonderful Alex Rosa of Wanderlust Book Tours to run it and keep me organized—no small feat, let me tell you. Somehow the gal who used to turn in papers two weeks early in college now bumps up against every deadline she meets. (You can read my lament on that subject here.)
She created this gorgeous banner (currently my Facebook Author Page header).
Stop by for chances to win free ebooks or a fabulous gift basket that includes an autographed print copy of DIVA IN THE DUGOUT (All Is Fair in Love & Baseball 1), as well as $5 gift cards to Dunkin’ Donuts and Amazon, baseball-themed trinkets, an iPhone 5 case with my logo and some Cracker Jacks. (Gotta have snacks while reading, right?)
I picked up the basket at Safeway before Easter, thinking it’d be perfect for the giveaway. Only when I snapped this photo for Alex did I notice the typo, front and center.
What the heck is a “perfert game”?
Further proof, if any was needed, that everyone needs a proofreader. 😀
Cellphone is one word now—at least according to the Associated Press. And since AP style is drilled into my head at the day job, one word it shall stay, even if it drives me up the wall.
The AP also recently changed style on under way. After two decades of swearing “under way” was two words in all uses except nautical ones—as in underway flotilla, whatever that is—it’s cropping up in stories as “underway”—and … you guessed it … making me crazy.
Enough about AP style—or lack thereof. I wanted to talk about cellphones for a moment. Coconino County, where I live, recently passed a ban on most cellphone use while driving. (Hands-free devices are an exception.)
What’s that you say? A great idea?
There was a time I’d have agreed with you. I remember when I got my first cellphone, circa Y2K. I swore I would NEVER talk and drive. I’d pull off the road to answer and/or make a call.
For a while, that’s what I did. But as time passed, the phone’s newness wore off and I developed new habits.
I found myself answering the ringing phone on the road. Then I started actually making calls from a moving vehicle. A few months ago, I caught myself checking the screen when I heard it beep with a text message. (I didn’t answer it, just quickly read the preview on my lock screen—but even that made the Boyfriend yell. Like he never uses his phone while driving …)
Even worse, when I’m sitting at a stoplight, out comes the phone so I can scroll through tweets or Facebook posts … or take a quick peek at how well my latest release is doing on Amazon.
Hey now—I never said they were good habits.
They are, however, habits I’ll have to curb—and fast. The county’s ban takes effect in a few short weeks. Maybe I’ll start keeping my purse in the back seat instead of the passenger seat. I’m just afraid that when it starts ringing, it’ll drive me nuts.
Speaking of Amazon, I woke up this morning (well before my alarm) to an email advertising not one but two of my books. Beauty is No. 1 on the list; Diva is No. 4.
I love it when Amazon advertises my own books to me. Hopefully it’s an indication they’re being pushed on other folks, too.
That’s what I’m assuming, anyway, despite the well-known dangers about what happens when you assume.
SLIDING INTO HOME is getting its fair share of attention, too. Earlier this week, it received not one but two reviews on Amazon. One was a four-star, one was a five-star.
The highlights:
While reading this book I felt happy, I laughed out loud. One of my favorite quotes is “ So help me, if you apologize for kissing me, I will stab you with the scissors that came with my new desk set.” “ I wouldn’t dream of it.” …
This is my first book by Arlene Hittle and it definitely will not be my last. It’s a very fast paced story, I couldn’t put it down. I read this book in less than one day! Arlene is a very talented author!!
— from a 5-star review by Bre
I really liked this book. It was funny and romantic and sexy. Greg struggles with all these emotions about his relationship with his father. He feels like he is always in his father’s shadow and can’t find a way to get out from underneath it. Jenn is sweet and really like Greg. She wants to find a way to help him. They have great chemistry. The book was very well written and the characters were engaging. I will defiantly be reading the other books in this series.
— from a 4-star review by badkat17us
Now when I pull up SLIDING’s Amazon page, DIVA and BEAUTY pop up as “also-buys.” Not too shabby, I’d say.
Your turn: Do you have any bad cellphone habits? How do you break yourself of them?
