Friday, October 7, 2011

A million ideas - Too little time

A well known author once remarked how when anyone discovered she was an author, they seemed to feel compelled to share their ideas for a book they wanted her to write. As if she didn't have any ideas of her own!

As a writer, even when I occassionally experience the dreaded writer's block, it's never from lack of ideas.  More than likely, it's rather from having too many -- like shadows milling just beyond my reach. If I lived several lifetimes, it wouldn't be long enough to write all the stories I have reeling through my mind.

If you enter my workspace there are notes upon notes, a word written here or there, titles, characters' names, and concepts posted on white boards. Sticky notes are everywhere and ideas noted in my phone, on my computer, or in my wallet. Ideas spill from my head like water from a waterfall -- sometimes a trickle -- often more like Niagra's flow. It's the ability to pick through them, gather what I need, organize them, and come out with some semblance of a story, after piecing the ideas together, that makes me a writer.

Writing is the ability to know which ideas to keep, put together in a certain order, and which ones to toss. Finally, an author shows the picture that's been in his/her head to the reader in words. SHOWING the story in actions or dialogue from the point of view character with the most at stake brings the reader into the story and intensifies the reading experience.

And if a picture's worth a thousand words then use them for inspiration.  Here's a picture. What's the story?

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Chatting Sep 8

ROMANTIC HEARTS AND SEXY TARTS (multi-published authors Eliza March, Elizabeth Marchat, Kathy Lane, Lorelei Confer and Sharron Riddle) will be chatting at the Latte Lounge at Coffee Time Romance on Sep 8 from 10 am to 9 pm. They each will also be giving away a copy of an eBook and all you have to do is click on the following link and you're there. Leave a comment along with your email address to be eligible for one of the drawings. Hope to see you there!!
http://www.coffeetimeromance.com/board/forumdisplay.php?f=435

Monday, August 1, 2011

Deadly Revenge, Excerpt #1

Excerpt #1 from Deadly Revenge, now available at www.bookstrand.com/deadly-revenge and Amazon (on sale)


Suddenly, Dave heard a shot and saw Tory flying through the air. She landed on the ground and didn’t move.

Dave quickly pulled his horse up and jumped off. He grabbed his snub nose forty-five from his ankle holster and ran crouched to the ground to Tory’s side. He searched the area where he thought the gunshot had come from. Damn! I wish I had my binoculars. He returned his gun to its holster and directed his attention to Tory. When he felt for a pulse in her neck and found a strong one, he was relieved. He exhaled a deep breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding.

With squinted eyes, he searched again for a sign of movement or a reflection of any kind in the direction from which the shot had come. When he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, he waved to Sue and Brandon across the meadow as he reached for his cell phone and dialed 911.

Tory coughed. Dave turned to her while waiting on the line. When the call dropped for the second time, he threw his phone on the ground and muttered to himself, “damn thing.” Then he gave Tory all his attention. He patted her cheeks and talked to her.

“Tory, can you hear me? It’s Dave. Remember me? Tory, can you hear me?”

Tory turned her head from one side to the other while Dave ran his hands along her arms and legs feeling for anything broken.

“Dave, I’m okay, I think.”

Dave moved within view and looked at her face, and she was smiling, her eyes wide open.

“Can you tell me how many fingers I’m holding up?” He held up two fingers in front of her.

“Two. Listen, I just fell off my horse. I’ve done it lots of times before. Just gotta get back on, that’s all.” She sighed.

Dave laughed. “I think it was a little more than that, sweetheart. Someone shot at you, spooked your horse and you went sailing off. Do you remember anything?”

Tory rubbed the back of her head. “Ouch, no wonder my head hurts. I have a big bump on it.”

Dave reached behind her head to feel the lump and brought his hand away with blood on it. “I think you’ll need to see the doctor and maybe get a few stitches, Tory. Do you hurt anywhere else? Can you move your arms and legs?”

She raised her hand, rubbed his cheek and gazed into his concerned eyes. “I’m fine, really. I just have a little bump on my head. Stop worrying, okay?”

“Do you remember anything that happened before you fell?”

“Uh, I don’t know. I heard something near my ear like a big whistle, but that’s all,” she said as she sat up.

“That ‘big whistle,’ as you call it, was a bullet meant for you, me, or one of the horses. Who do you think would try anything like this?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t been in town long enough to make any enemies or cause any trouble,” she said with a grin. “Give me time though, and I’ll probably have a few.”

* * * *
Sue and Brandon both heard the gunshot coming from the left, and Sue started to cross the meadow when Brandon stopped her.

“Whoever’s shooting may still be out there and able to shoot at us. We’ll head back to the barn and change out the horses for the truck and come back. Tory may need our help and a ride to the hospital. We need to call the police, too.” He flipped open his phone, punched in 911, and explained the situation. Chief Carr was on his way.

Without wasting time and at a much faster pace, they turned the horses around and headed to the barn. The return trip was always shorter since the horses were anxious to get back to their stalls.

“Miguel, would you brush down the horses and put them away? Also, be on the lookout for anyone suspicious that may have been on our property. Someone shot at Tory. If you find anyone, you’ll need to detain them until Chief Carr can get back to the ranch. I’ll have the radio with me at all times if anything comes up. Also, better keep your pistol nearby.”

“Si, senor.”

Sue ran to the house for the first-aid kit, and when she returned, she and Brandon jumped into their beat-up pickup truck with rifles on the back window and headed to the meadow, taking the dirt road along the main highway. They kept their eyes peeled for anyone coming onto or leaving their property.
* * * *
Sue checked Tory’s injury herself and decided she didn’t need stitches after all. “Tory, I think you’ll live to ride another day.




Monday, June 27, 2011

Guest Blog tour for Deadly Revenge

Last week was so exciting for me. Not only did I have a new book release, Deadly Revenge, but I did something new, for me anyway. I did a small blog tour Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday with some great bloggers all over the world to promote the second book in the series of 'Deadly' which deals with human trafficking.


First, on Tuesday, release day for Deadly Revenge, I visited with Jillian Chantal at www.jillianchantal.com. It was a great visit with comments from other Siren pubbed and unpubbed authors. I also had a contest to give away a copy of my new release. I put the names of each commenter on a small piece of paper and put them all in a hat. Yes a real hat. Then I had my husband draw one of them and the lucky winner is Ciara Knight. Congratulations Ciara and enjoy.

On Wednesday, I visited with Jocelyn Modo at www.jocelynmodo.blogspot.com and once again had great comments and chatted with authors and readers. The interview she prepared for me was very interesting and a few commenter's that knew me learned a few new tidbits about me. I met and made so many new friends.

Then on Thursday, I guest blogged with Margaret West from England at
Margaret-paranormalromanceauthor.blogspot.com. A psychic from England, Margaret had a great interview prepared for me and it was lots of fun. I think, according to the comments anyway, it opened both our readers to another realm all together. Human trafficking is a world-wide epidemic not just third world countries and effects all of us everywhere.

I'd like to thank Jillian, Jocelyn and Margaret for having me and introducing me to the blogging world. I had so much fun I'm doing it again on Tuesday, June 28th with Dawn Roberto from Dawn's Book Nook at www.lovesbooksandmore.blogspot.com. I'll also be guest blogging again July 6 with Liz Velez and then on Bonnie's blog July 15th. Hope to hear from you all soon.

Monday, May 23, 2011

Featured Author - Eliza March

Across a Crowded Room won Whipped Cream Book Review of the Week at the Long and Short Reviews. Please visit their Author Spotlight. I'm being featured at

Whipped Cream Reviews all week. There's a new blog up every day and a contest to win one of my ebooks at the end of the week. I'm looking forward to reading your comments.
~~~ Eliza March  
also writing as Elizabeth Marchat

Monday, May 16, 2011

New Blog Up at Eliza's place


Here's the link. http://elizamarch.blogspot.com/ Stop by and leave me a comment. Did you see the movie yet? Do you plan on it? Let me know.
Eliza March

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Please check out my review!

http://www.theromancereviews.com/viewbooksreview.php?bookid=1106

Please check out the excellent review of To Kill a Vampire at The Romance Reviews! My book was a top pick! Woo hoo!

Monday, January 17, 2011

Plotting Sunday


This looks like the perfect place for a group of romance authors to meet and plot a murder, a horror, a Gothic romance, a time travel, or thrillers.

Yesterday, six of us gathered together and outlined ideas for our next books; munched on chips, dips, veggies and desserts; planned strategies for ghost hunting to kidnapping, art thefts to abductions and white slavery; and scheduled our next get together  ...

But alas it wasn't here and probably won't be there next month either. Someday, maybe. then as long as we're using our imagination, I'm going to schedule the valet to look like this. 

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Hot Guy & Eliza On Writing - Identifying Your Author Voice

I added the Hot Guy to tease you. The stats show our eye-candy Blog posts rated the highest, so I guess I know what you're all here for. But try to think about what you're reading and writing for a minute while you're looking at this tempting Hunk.

When you "love" an author and can't wait until the next book comes out, I think the reason might be less about the story and more about the way the author tells it than you think. Visit my blog where we're discussing Author Voice this week. I think you'll find the comments interesting. It's a subject often misunderstood and highly under-rated. I hope you enjoy it. http://elizamarch.blogspot.com/

And in the mean time enjoy this hot guy. GRIN . . . Eliza M.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Blogging at Vamp Chix on Jan 10th!

Please join me Jan 10th. I'll be guest blogging at http://vampchix.blogspot.com/. Leave a comment and you could win a copy of my book, To Kill a Vampire!

Thanks,

Sharron aka Julianna